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GENESEE COUNTY.
in 1807.1 The first religious services were held by Rev. Royal Phelps, (Presb.,) from Cayuga co.,
in 1809. The first church (Bap.) was formed in 1810, by Elder Benjamin M. Parks.2
DARIEN—was formed from Pembroke, Feb. 10, 1832. ' It is the s. w. corner town of the co.
The surface is hilly in the s. and rolling in the n. The streams are the Eleven Mile, Crooked, and
Murder Creeks. The soil in the n. is a sandy and gravelly loam, and in the s. a clayey loam under¬
laid by limestone. Darien Center, (p.v.,) formerly “Kings Corners,” contains a church,
seminary,3 and 20 dwellings. Darien City, (Darien p.o.,) in the e. part of the town, contains a
church and 50 dwellings. The first settlement was made near Darien City, by Orange Carter, from
Vt., in 1803.1 The census reports 4 churches in town.4
ELBA—was formed from Batavia, March 14, 1820. Oakfield was taken off in 1842, It is the
central town on the sr. border Of the co. The surface is level or undulating. Oak Orchard Creek
flows n.e. through the center of the town to the sr.E. corner, and thence turns w. and flows through
the N. part into Oakfield. The Tonawanda swamp extends along its course in the n. part of the
town. The soil is a fertile, sandy, gravelly and clayey loam. Pine Mill (Elba p.v.) lies near
the center of the town. Pop. 400. Transit,5 on the line of Byron, is a hamlet. Langstons Cor¬
ners, Mills Corners, (East Elba p. o.,) and Daws Corners are farming neighborhoods.
The first settlement was made at Daws Comers in 1801, by Samuel and Amos Ranger, from Vt.T
The first religious meetings were held by Rev. Mr. Mitchell, (M. E.,) in 1807. The first church
(Bap.) was formed by Elder John Miner, in 1821.6
LE ROY7—was formed from Caledonia (Livingston co.) as “Bellona,” June 8,1812. Its name
was changed April 6, 1813. A part of Stafford was taken off in 1820, and a part of Pavilion in
1842. It is the central town on the e. border of the co. Its surface is level or gently undulating.
A limestone ridge, 40 to 100 feet high, extends through the n. part of the town. Oatka Creek, the
principal stream, flows from the s.w. corner of the town n.e. to a point a little n. of the center,
thence turns and pursues a s. e. course to the e. border. Buttermilk Palls, 90 feet high, marks its
descent over the limestone terrace.8 The soil is generally a sandy or gravelly loam. Gypsum and
Onondaga limestone, for building purposes, are obtained in this town. In the e*. part, s. of Oatka
Creek, is an extensive tract of oak openings, covered thickly with stone and hard of cultivation.
Le Roy (p. v.) was incorp. May 5, 1834. It is finely located on Oatka Creek, and contains a
bank, 1 newspaper office, a female seminary,9 6 churches, and several manufacturing establish-
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cloaks and horse hlankets, and attempted to get some rest, but
had a disturbed night of it. Panthers came near ns, often giv¬
ing terrific screams. The frightened hprses snorted and stamped
upon the rocks. Taking an early start in the morning, we soon
came to a settler’s house, and were informed that we had stopped
in a common resort of the panther. My husband built a shanty,
which -was about 10 feet square, flat roofed, covered with split
ash shingles; the floor was made of the halves of split basswood;
no chimney. A blanket answered the purpose of a door for a
while, until my husband got time to make a door of split plank.
We needed no window; the light came in where the smoke went
out. For chairs we had benches, made by splitting logs and set¬
ting the sections upon legs. A bedstead was made by boring
holes in the side of the shanty, inserting pieces of timber which
rested upon two upright posts in front, a side piece completing
the structure, peeled basswood bark answering the place of a
cord. We of course had brought no bed with us on horseback;
so one had to be procured. We bought a cotton bag of Mr. Bris¬
bane, and, stuffing it with cat-tail, it was far better than no bed.
The second year we were in, I had an attack of the fever and
ague, which confined me for nearly a year. That year my hus¬
band cleared four acres, besides taking care of me and doing the
cooking. It was no uncommon thing, in the first years of settle¬
ment, for women in childbirth to be deprived of the aid of a
physician; and often the attendance of their own sex had to be
dispensed with. Mr. Yonngdied in 1836.” Turner’s Pion. Hist.
8 The census reports 5 churches in town; 1 each Bap., Cong.,
M. E., Prot. M., and Friends.
9 Named in honor of Herman Le Boy, one of the original pur¬
chasers of the “ Triangle Tracts
19 When the wTater is low, it disappears in the bed of the
stream about 2 miles above the falls, and finds its way to the
lower channel through a subterranean passage.
11 The Ingham University, late Ingham Collegiate Institute,
was incorp. 1857. The institution was first established at Attica,
in 1835, by Miss Marietta Ingham, and a younger sister, Emily
E. Ingham, (now Mrs. Phineas Stanton,) from Mass. In 1837 it
was removed to Le Boy, and was established as the “ Le Boy
Female Seminary” by the founders, aided and supported by
Messrs. Sami. Comstock, Jonathan P. Darling, Seth M. Gates,
Albert Brewster, A. S. Upham, Enos Bachelder, A. P. Hascall,
Lee Comstock, Israel Bathbone, Bichard Hollister, and Wm. S.
Bradley. It was chartered in 1841; and in 1855 the whole |
1
Among the other first settlers were Hoskins, in 1808;
Elisha Taylor, from Otsego co., (on lot 186;) Thester T. Hol¬
brook, from Cayuga co.; Wheaton Carpenter, from R. I.; and
Elisha Miller, from Penn., on lot 2, in 1809; Nathan Holt, from
Otsego co., in 1810; and Asa Merrills, from Oneida co., in 1811.
The first child horn was a son of Elisha Taylor, in 1809; the
first marriage, that of Sami. Montgomery and Polly Parks, in
18li; and the first death, that of a son of Mr. Hoskins. Thester
T. Holbrook taught the first school, in 1810-11; Ira Newbury
kept the first inn, in 1815; Amos Hewett, the first store, in 1813;
Wm. Shepard erected the first sawmill, in 1813; and Asa Wil¬
liams the first gristmill, in 1814.
2
The census reports 4 churches in town; 2 M. E., and 1 each
Presb. and E. W. Bap.
3
The Darien Seminary was established in 1850, by Robert
Blennerhassett. ,
4
Cong., Bap., P. W. Bap., and M. E. •
5
Named from its location on the E. transit meridian of the
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1 Sam’l Clark, from Mass., and his son Sam’l, settled in 1802,
and Samuel Hall, from Seneca co., and John Young, came soon
after. The first birth was that of Betsey White, in 1802; the
first death, that of David Kingsley, in 1804. Mason Turner
taught the first school, near the center, in 1811; Stephen Har¬
mon kept the first inn, in 1815; and Sam’l Lane the first store,
in 1819, at Pine Hill. Horace Gibbs erected the first sawmill,
"on a branch of Spring Creek, in the e. part of the town, in 1810;
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and Comfort Smith the first gristmill, on the same stream, in
1815. The widow of John Young gives the following account of
some of the trials of pioneer life:—“ My husband having the year
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before been out and purchased his land upon the Holland Pur¬
chase, in the fall of 1804 we started from our home in Virginia,
on horseback, for our new location. We came through Mary¬
land, crossing the Susquehanna at Milton, thence via Tioga
Point and the then usual route. In crossing the Alleghany Mts.
night came upon ns: the horses became frightened by wild
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beasts, and refused to proceed. We wrapped ourselves in our
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