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maple. This crops out at Miller's quarry, about a mile north of Bath village, and also upon the farm of Charles Longwell, near the Soldiers' Home. At Jenk's quarry, a mile east, is found a rare fossil of the Chemung group, named by Professor Hall, state geologist, Dictyophyton Tuberosum. The soil of the valleys is gravelly, mixed with sand and clay, and favorable to the production of wheat, corn and barley. The uplands are clayey, and better adapted for the production of oats, buckwheat and grasses.
     The town was once heavily timbered with pine, hemlock, oak, beech, maple, birch and hickory. The white pine of the Mud creek valley was famous for its size and quality. Now the forests are nearly all cut away except from the steep hill-sides.
The town has two incorporated villages, Bath and Savona; four post-offices - Bath, Kanona, Savona and Sonora; a national bank and two banking offices, a public library, four weekly newspapers, fifteen church organizations and churches, and twenty-five school districts. The village of Bath was first incorporated by a legislative act, April 12, 1816, but no organization was perfected. By a special act passed May 6, 1836, the village was duly organized. The population in 1889 was 3,360, and the assessed valuation in 1889, $1,925,565. Savona was incorporated under the general act, April 30, 1883. The public buildings located in the town are the county court-house, jail, clerk's office, surrogate's office, agricultural society buildings, Pulteney land office, the county poor-house, the New York State Soldiers' and Sailors' Home, and the Davenport Female Orphan Asylum.
     Historical - Robert Morris, the great banker of Philadelphia superintendent of the public finances during the revolutionary war, and a gentleman of large wealth, on November 18, 1790, purchased of Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham all the lands in what is now Steuben county, with the exception of those in the towns of Corning, Canisteo, Lindley, Erwin and Campbell, which had previously been sold by Phelps and Gorham. In the year 1791 William Pulteney, a member of parliament and a wealthy citizen of Bath, England, for himself, William Hornby, ex-governor of Bombay, and Patrick Colquhoun, a distinguished advocate of Glasgow, purchased these same lands, beside others. Pulteney was interested in the purchase nine-twelfths, Hornby two-twelfths and Colquhoun one-twelfth; but as they were British subjects and aliens, the purchase rested in contract. Soon after the purchase, Capt. Charles Williamson, a Scotchman and a late captain in the British army, then residing in Great Britain, in consideration of a commission on the sales of land and receipt of moneys in lieu of all expenses and charges except for law-writings, deeds and conveyances, entered into an agreement with the syndicate to proceed to America as

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their agent, to settle on their tract, sell the lands and remit the proceeds to London.
To enable the Captain more effectually to accomplish these objects, a letter of attorney in due form was given him. Soon after the arrangement Captain Williamson sailed for the United States, and landed in Norfolk, Va., in December, 1791. He proceeded at once to Philadelphia, and on January 9, 1792, he made application to the supreme court of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, then in session in the city of Philadelphia, before Jasper Yates, justice, to become a citizen of the United States; and having complied with the law he was duly naturalized on the same day. On April 7, 1792, Robert Morris and Mary his wife, in consideration of seventy-five thousand pounds sterling ($333,333.33, U. S. currency), conveyed to Charles Williamson in fee simple all the lands conveyed to said Morris by Phelps and Gorham, lying between the pre-emption line and the Genesee river in the state of New York. The whole tract conveyed was stated by Williamson to be forty-five miles from east to west, and eighty-four miles from north to south, and covers Steuben, Yates, Ontario and Livingston counties and parts of Allegany, Monroe and Wayne counties.
     What is now Steuben county was a howling wilderness as dense and dark as the Black Forest, with the exception of a few hamlets on the Chemung, Tioga and Canisteo, whose total population by the census of 1790 was only one hundred and seventy-seven. There were neither roads, bridges, nor houses of entertainment. It therefore became necessary for Captain Williamson, before he could make sale of his lands, to explore them and open roads from the inhabited parts of the country. He accordingly tells us in his interesting narrative, published in 1798, that on June 3, 1792, he with a small party of woodsmen and surveyors to mark the line, left the West Branch of the Susquehanna at its junction with the Lycoming creek - the site of the now the flourishing city of Williamsport - and entered the wilderness, taking a northerly course. After a laborious exertion of ten days, he came to the Cowanesque river, where he first perceived he was in the county of Ontario, which comprised the whole of western New York. He proceeded then north and northwest and after six more days of travel, pitched his tent at the junction of the Canaseraga with the Genesee river. As he passed up the valley of the Conhocton, he was struck with the beauty of the point where it was intersected from the north by the valley extending to Lake Keuka, called by the Senecas Do-na-ta-gwen-da,* and it being centrally situated in the south part of the tract upon the Conhocton river - at the head of naviagtion,

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with abundant water-power - he determined here to locate the metropolis and agency for the sale of his lands. The location, in outline, bearing a striking resemblance to the beautiful valley of the Avon, which winds gracefully around the base of a hill, forming a charming plateau upon which the ancient city of Bath - then the seat of the Pulteney family - has stood for centuries, led him to adopt the name for his embryo forest city, as well as in compliment to the chief proprietor of the territory, his patron. Being satisfied that a road through the dense forest and over the Allegany range seperating the affluents of the West Branch and Tioga river, which forms a junction with the Conhocton at Painted Post, was entirely feasible, he at once, upon his return to Northumberland, engaged the services of Benjamin Patterson, the famous hunter and scout, and his brother Robert, to take charge of a party of thirty stout axe-men and pioneers to open a highway from the mouth of the Lycoming by way of the Tioga and Conhocton rivers to the Genesee at its junction with the Canaseraga. "This route, as located, shortened the distance from Pennsylvania at least one hundred miles." Early in the autumn of 1792, the work was commenced and vigorously prosecuted. Early in November, about thirty miles of it had been opened sufficiently wide for wagons, and the last of December the working party had completed it to Dansville, Livingston county. It was long known as Williamson's road and became the great highway for emigrants from the south to western New York, and was a noble monument to the Captain's enterprise and pluck. At the suggestion of Robert Morris, who acted as a mentor to the Captain in his great enterprise, a colony of two hundred Germans, newly arrived a Philadelphia sent over by Mr. Colquhoun to make a settlement in the new purchase, were sent forward to aid the road-makers and thus cut their way to the Genesee. But they were ill-qualified for the work, proving an incumbrance and source of much trouble; and they were left at Painted Post until the next spring.
     Capt. Williamson, in 1792, established his headquarters in Northumberland, Pa., at the confluence of the north and west branches of the Susquehanna. In March, 1793, as soon as navigation was opened and before the roads were fairly passable, he organized a party of woods-men, surveyors and settlers to proceed at once to open up and lay the foundations of his new town and settlement on the site previously selected by him, and placed the same in charge of his faithful henchman, Charles Cameron, who in the last days of March pushed out with the party in two Durham boats laden with tools, provisions and necessaries from Northumberland, and made his way up the North Branch to Tioga Point. These boats carry from five to eight tons and are poled up the stream, and where there is a strong current or rift are cordelled or

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"warped" up by means of long ropes by the passengers and crew. From the Point, the navigation was more difficult; so Mr. Cameron left there one of the boats with much of the freight in charge of a few men and proceeded with the others up the Chemung and Conhocton, and on April 15, made a safe landing on the banks of the Conhocton at Bath, near the present location of the Delaware & Lackawanna depot. The whole plain was densely covered with forest; not a tree had been cut save such as were in the line of the great highway that had been opened the previous winter. That road followed the second ridge or bank of the river precisely on the line of Morris street. Mr. Cameron and his helpers on the line of that road, in front of Pulteney Square, proceeded to cut away timber and erect a log house for the accomodation of Captain Williamson's family, and an office for the transaction of his business. They also proceeded to erect a log tavern for the accomodation of strangers on the lot now occupied by Isaac Adams, and also huts for the laborers and surveyors. Mr. Charles Cameron, in giving his account of the affair on April 22, 1848, states, among other things, "We suffered from hunger and sickness a great deal. I am now the only survivor of those merry Irish and Scotch boys who used to be so happy together." He also tells he laid out the village. We know the same was plotted by Thomas Rees, Jr., but precisely when, or whether under Mr. Cameron's supervision is not now known. Rees' plot has never been changed and is the only one referred to in the earliest conveyances, and is now the standard authority. Under date of January 1, 1794, Mr. Rees in the expense account is charged with receiving $772.98 for surveying so that it is quite clear the work was done in 1793.
     Capt. Williamson arrived by way of his new road in May, to give personal attention to the work of improving his town and making the country habitable. It would seem he had previously advised Mr. Colquhoun who had the management of the affairs of the syndicate of this name and location, for under date of June 15, 1793, he writes the Captain as follows: "I am glad you are so much pleased with your new town of Bath. I hope it may prove a healthy spot, for on this much depends. It is certainly a position infinitely more convenient than Williamsburgh, and on this account I am glad you mean to fix your residence there." The Captain, out of compliment to his friends and patrons had named the principal street running east and west Morris; the public square Pulteney; the broad street parallel to it, with a similar square, St. Patrick; the street between them, Steuben, and that connecting them, Liberty; names which they have ever since borne - except St. Patrick which was foolishly changed to Washington a few years since. On July 10th his wife and family arrived as appears by bill paid David Taggart that day for their transportation from Northumberland.

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     A saw-mill was completed in the summer to furnish boards for flooring and roofing. Captain Wiliamson says in one of his letters: "Previous to the setting in of the winter a grist-mill and saw-mill on the same dam, near the town, was in great forwardness." These were located not far from the present mills of L. D. Hodgman. He further states that there was a great scarcity of provisions occasioned by the number of families arriving in the country; that by the end of the season not less than fifteen families had located in the town of Bath, then the center of a wilderness of 900,000 acres. William Aulls, Samuel Baker and Amos Stone having located in Pleasant Valley, and Thomas Corbitt established himself at the mouth of Mud creek.
     In the autumn of '93 or the spring of '94 George McClure, a stalwart young Scotch-Irishman, in company with his uncle, James Moore, from Northumberland, after various adventures, reached the new town, and thus describes his advent:
     "We put up at the only house of entertainment in the village - if it could be called a house. Its construction was of pitch pine logs, in two apartments, one-story high, kept by a kind and obliging English family of the name of Metcalf. This house was the only one in town, except a similar one for the temporary abode of Captain Williamson, which answered the purpose of parlor, dining-room and land office. There were besides some shanties for mechanics and laborers. I called," says McClure, "on Captain Williamson and introduced myself to him as a mechanic.* I told him that I had seen his advertisement, and in pursuance of his invitaion had come to ask employment. 'Very well,' said he, 'young man, you shall not be disappointed.' He told me I should have the whole of his work if I could procure as many hands as was necessary. We entered into an agreement. He asked me when I should be ready to commence business. I replied, as soon as I could return to Northumberland, engage some hands and send my tools and baggage up the north branch to Tioga Point, that being then the head of boat navigation."
     As agreed, he went back, shipped his baggage and tools and forthwith returned to Bath on foot, procured his effects at Tioga Point, boated them up and commenced work with a will to build up the town. Another stalwart young Scotch-Irishman, Henry McElwee (always called Harry) made his entry into the new town on New Year's day 1794, and tells us "that he only found a few shanties standing in the woods." Williamson had his house near the present land office and the Metcalfs kept a log tavern upon Morris street nearly opposite the Mansion House. In the spring, under the direction of Williamson, he made the first clearings, being the Pulteney Square and four acres behind the agent's house for a garden, for the cultivation of which the Captain imported a gardener from England. The trees on the Square were carefully

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chopped close to the ground. A single pine was left standing in front of the agency house for a "Liberty Tree." It was trimmed so as to leave a tuft on the top and it bid defiance to the elements until after 1820, and was blown down not long after that period.
     The previous winter Charles Williamson had been appointed one of the judges of the court of common pleas and general sessions of Ontario county. As yet there were no towns with prescribed boundaries in the county. The act of the legislature erecting the county, provided that the justices of the sessions should proceed to divide the new county into two or more districts for town purposes. They had, in 1791, made the "District of the Painted Post," which embraced the entire territory of the present county of Steuben. All the then-settlers were located on the Chemung, Tioga and Canisteo rivers. In 1793, Jedediah Stephens of Canisteo was elected supervisor of the district. At the January session 1794, through the influence of Captain Williamson, there was made a new district embracing all the territory west of the third range under the name of Williamson as appears by the adjustment of certain acounts between the district of Erwin or Painted Post and the district of Williamson, made by Eli Mead and Eleazer Lindsley of the one part and Jedediah Stephens and George Hornell of the other, on April 26, 1794, recorded in the minutes of the district of Painted Post by E. Lindsley Jr., town clerk of that district. There is no record of this proceeding to be found in the clerk's office of Ontario county. Bath was included in the new district, but when and where its town meetings were held is not now known. The records of the town clerk have been destoryed or lie mouldering in the old rubbish of some garret. If they could only be brought to light they would furnish a rare trat to the local antiquarians.
     In mid-summer, while McClure with his deft workmen was busy in erecting new dwellings and McElwee with his stout woodsmen was mowing down the green forest, and the gallant Captain was dashing here and there projecting settlements and improvements; a real war cloud loomed over his new possessions and caused much alarm. The Indians in western New York were sullen, and by no means pleased with the rapid intrusion of white settler upon their old hunting grounds. The British government still held their posts at Niagara and Oswego. Colonel Simcoe, the Canadian governor, who himself had no good feeling toward the intruders, hearing of Captain Williamson's newly formed settlement at Sodus Bay, in hot haste, dispatched a trusted lieutenant on August 16th, to notify the Captain to "vamose the ranch" forthwith or suffer the consequences. Fortunately, the Captain chanced to be absent or there would have been a genuine casus-belli. The whole country was aroused. An express was forthwith sent to

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Governor Clinton, informing him that the sovereignty of New York was denied. His Scotch-Irish blood was up. On September, 11th, he issued orders to Colonel Gansevoort to prepare immediately for the defence of the new settlements. The Colonel commissioned Captain Williamson to build a suitable block house in Bath, as well as at Sodus for protection. The Captain was not idle; he called for proposals to prepare the timber and prosecute the work. Young McClure, aching to get a blow at the bloody prelatists who had so bitterly persecuted his covenanting ancestors, dropped his hammer, girded on a rusty sword, recruited a company and commenced drilling them at once. The United States Government then took the matter in hand; negotiations were opened; the British relinquished their arrogant demands, offered adequate apologies and the threatened storm blew over. The old swords were turned into plow-shares, the timber for the block-house was used for better purposes, and the stockades for Pulteney Square made capital fence posts. News was first received here of Wayne's great victory over the western Indians in August, resulting in the absolute submission of the whole race, and was transmitted to Albany. In the fall Colonel Pickering held a treaty with the Six Nations at Canandaigua and settled all differences with them and buried the hatchet forever. William Savary, a Quaker minister from Philadelphia, selected by the Indians to look after their interests, attended the conference. He passed over the Williamson road as far as Blood's Corners, going and returning from the treaty. We learn from his published journal that there was not a settler between Bivins (now Bloods) and Bath, and that Tommy Corbitt's tavern at Mud Creek was the only house between Bath and Painted Post. He tells us that Captain Williamson entertained him right royally at his mansion for the night on his way home, but makes no mention of the growth or size of the town.
     Peace being assured and all apprehension from Indian raids having been allayed, 1795 opened brightly for the Genesee country, and Captain Williamson was on his "high-heels," as they say, and pushed improvements vigorously. Strangers came pouring in from far and near, and the Captain sometimes was put to it to entertain them but he did it. McClure tells us that the Captain said to him one day that he expected much company shortly and had not the room to entertain them. "He asked me how long it would take to erect and complete a house forty by sixteen feet, a story and a half in height, all material delivered, no plastering, all ceiled. I replied, 'Three days.' He said, 'Do it.' Working night and day, the work was accomplished to his satisfaction in forty-eight hours." In June the Captain was visited by the Duke de la Rouchefourcauld-Liancourt, a French exile, and several of his compan-

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ions and was sumptuously entertained for many days. The Duke in his published travels writes: "The habitation of the Captain consists of several small houses, formed of trunks of trees and joiners work, which at present, forms a very irregular whole, but which he intends soon to improve. His way of living is simple, neat and good; every day we had a joint of fresh meat, vegetables and wine. We met with no circumstances of pomp or luxury, but found good ease, humour and plenty." He commends the Captain highly for his affability, liberality and business activity, and congratulates him upon the good work he is doing and pays a delicate compliment to his modest wife and two charming children. From the     
Duke we learn that some settlers had this year established themselves at Kanona, but their names are not given.
     This year the sales of land were brisk, emigration heavy, the crops promising; and the Captain resolved to commemorate the same in this town by a grand blow-out on the first of September by opening a grand fair and elaborate races. A race course of regulation standard was carefully cleared and graded east of May street upon the farm now occupied by Freeman D. Hopkins. That the grand affair was widely advertised is clear from a notice inserted by the captain in the "Western Sentinel" of August 11, 1795, a paper published at Whitestown, Oneida county, that, the "Fair and races at Bath were postponed to the 21st day of September on account of the meeting of the court of Oyer and Terminer and Circuit at Canandaigua, of which he as judge was compelled to attend on the first Monday of September." McMaster, in his history, gives the following graphic account of the affair:
     "On the day and at the place appointed for the race in the proclamation, sportsmen from New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore were in attendance. The high blades of Virginia and Maryland, the fast boys fo Jersey, the wise jockeys of Long Island, men of Ontario, Pennsylvania and Canada, settlers, choppers, gamesters and hunters, to the number of fifteen hundred or two thousand, met on the Pine Plains to see the horses run - a number as great, considering the condition of the region where they met, as now assembles at State Fairs and mass meetings. * * The races passed off brilliantly. Captain Williamson, himself a sportsman of spirit and discretion, entered a southern mare, Virginia Nell. High Sheriff Dunn entered Silk-Stocking, a New Jersey horse - quadrupeds of renown even at the present day. Money was pleanty, and the betting lively. The ladies of the two dignitaries who owned the rival animals, bet each three hundred dollars and a pipe of wine on the horses of their lords, or as otherwise related, poured seven hundred dollars into the apron of a third lady who was stake-holder. Silk-Stocking was victorious."
"Early in 1796," writes the Captain, "on an enumeration being taken of the inhabitants in the town of Bath and the eight miles

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around, by the assessors, there were found above eight hundred souls, two schools, one grist-mill and five saw-mills." On March 18, 1796, by an act of the legislature, the county of Steuben was erected from the county of Ontario and the county seat located at Bath, with the following provision:
     "That it shall and may be lawful to and for the justices of the Court of General Sessions for the said county of Steuben, or a majority of them, at any General Sessions of the peace, to divide the county into as many towns as they shall deem necessary, and that the said Justices, at any such general sessions, shall fix and direct the place or places, in each of said towns so made, at which the first town meeting for electing town officers shall be held, and all future meetings in any such town shall be held at such place as a majority of the inhabitants thereof shall by open vote at any town meeting appoint."*
     The county officers appointed by the governor were as follows: William Kersey, Abraham Bradley and Eleazer Lindsley, judges; Stephen Rose, surrogate, George D. Cooper, county clerk; William Dunn, sheriff. All of them duly qualified. On June 21, 1796, in pursuance of the act, the court of common pleas and general sessions of the peace met in the land office at Bath, William Kersey presiding, assisted by Judges Bradley and Lindsley, and some of the justices of the peace in commission and an order was made and entered that the said justices report upon the erection and division of towns at the next October term of the court. At that term the minutes show that all the justices of the peace of the county were present and it is presumed that they then and there performed their duty, but no report can be found. The "Albany Gazette" contains the following statement:
     "Agreeably to a provision in the law erecting a part of Ontario into a new county by the name of Steuben, the court of sessions have divided that county into the six following towns, viz.: Bath, Painted Post, Frederickstown (afterwards Wayne), Middletown (afterwards Addison), Canisteo and Dansville."
     Bath was bounded on the north by the county line, east by Lake Keuka and Frederickstown, south by Painted Post and Middletown and west by Dansville, as subsequent records and the exercise of municipal jurisdiction show.
The next movement of Captain Williamson, after the county seat was fixed at Bath was the establishement of a newspaper. William Kersey, the newly appointed county judge, an attache of the land office, was dispatched by him in the spring to Pennsylvania to procure the necessary material. Kersey, from Yorktown under date of April 18, 1796, writes the Captain: "The printing press is not yet completed but the workmen tell me they will have it done in a few days." James Edie of

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Northumberland, a practical printer, was engaged to bring on the press and material, which he did early in the summer, and formed a partnership with the judge under the style of "Kersey & Edie" and set up their press in a log building on the southwest corner of St. Patrick Square Square, where now stands General Averill's residence. All that part of the town was still in the woods, affording a very convenient hiding place for a non-fighting editor when threatened by a belligerent deadbeat or swindler touched on the raw. It was there, on October 19, 1796, that was issued the first number of the "Bath Gazette and Genesee Advertiser; published by William Kersey and James Edie, Bath, Steuben county, N. Y., $2.00 per year." This was the first newspaper issued in the state, west of the pre-emption line. It was printed as a small folio sheet, fifteen inches by nine, with three broad columns, and was fairly done. According to Turner it was running in 1799. It was probably suspended in 1800 on the retirement of Captain Williamson from the agency. What became of the press is not known.
     The grand Theatre or Opera House was undoubtedly built by the Captain, at the junction of Morris and Steuben streets, the present Captain Stocum place, this same year, previous to the fall races, for in 1797 the "Gazette" advertises the plays and farces to be performed. We subjoin a program as it appeared in the "Gazette" of December 21, 1797:

THEATRE.
ON MONDAY EVENING THE FIRST OF JANUARY, 1798,
will be performed the comedy of
THE SULTAN, OR A PEEP INTO THE SERAGLIO!
(With Elegant Dresses).
SOLYMAN, the Sultan;
OSMYN, Chief of the Eunuchs;
GRAND VIZIER, MUTES AND BOTANG;
ELMIRA, a Circassian Slave;
ROXALANA, an American Slave.
COMIC SONGS,
To which will be added Moleire's Comic Farce, called the
"MOCK DOCTOR," or THE DUMB LADY CURED.
(With New Scenes).
SIR JASPER, Gregory Grunt, (the Mock Doctor)
DORCAS, CHARLOTTE, JAMES, LEANDER, HARRY.
Pit 6| Gallery 8|
Tickets to be had of Mr. Andrew Smith, Capt. George
McClure and James McDonald.
Doors to be open at half past five, and the curtain rises precisely at half
past six.

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     As yet there were but few post-roads or post-offices in the country. The nearest office on the south was at Northumberland, one hundred and forty miles distant. To meet the want, Captain Williamson employed his own post-riders to and from that place, who made the trip once a fortnight. Tommy Corbitt rode to the Block House and exhanged packages with Alexander Smith of Lycoming, who filled the route from that place to Northumberland. Charles Cameron was the local distributer of the letters here. After his removal from the place, William Kersey performed the duties until the government office was established, January 1, 1800.
In 1797 the town organizations were completed and preparations made for the annual town meetings. Bath embraced all the territory now included in the towns of Ubana, Pulteney, Prattsburgh, Wheeler and Avoca. A copy from the town records of Bath is as follows:
     "At a town meeting held at the residence of John Metcalf in the town of Bath, for town officers to serve in said town, on the 4th day of April, 1797. After the votes were taken by ballot, it appeared that the following gentlemen were duly elected, viz.: Chas. Cameron, Esq., Supervisor; James Edie, Town Clerk; William Aulls, Patrick McKell, Hector McKenzie, Commissioners of Highways; Gustavius Gillespie, Collector; Amos Stone, George Dixon, Abijah Peters, Constables; Daniel Cruger, Patrick McKell, Overseers of the Poor; Amos Eggleston, Joseph Inslie, William Read, John Woodard, Henry Bush, Henry McElwee, Jacob Phillips, Overseers of the Highways; Eli Read, Andrew Smith, James McKell, Thomas Streeter, Fence Viewers; Robert Biggar, Samuel Miller, Samuel Baker, Assessors; Samuel Baker, Silas Beers, Pound-masters; George D. Cooper, John Sheather, Charles Williamson, Benjamin F. Young, Commissioners of Schools."
     The supervisor elected at that meeting having resigned, a special town meeting was held on the 19th day of June of that year, when George McClure was elected to fill the vacancy.
     The number of road districts was seven, and two hundred and thirty-five persons were assessed for highway labor.
The court-house and jail were completed this year. The court-house was a wooden structure, a story and a half high with porticoes, flanked by wings, and located on the east side of Pulteney Square. It was built at the expense of the agency. It was a neat and commodious structure, and well fitted for the purposes intended. The first record we have of its occupancy by the court was at the June term in 1798. When the new court-house was built in 1827, one of the wings of the old one was moved on Morris street and fitted up for a dwelling, on the property of the late Matthew Shannon, where it stood till a few years ago. The jail was constructed of squared timber, and stood on the lot in the rear of the Hewitt cabinet shop. The town continued to improve in

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appearance and population. The annual fair and races were held, but not with quite so much pomp and circumstance.
     In the early settlement of the country, the roads, all know, were simply horrible. Ninety years ago on other mode of transportation was thought of than by natural water ways. Great efforts therefore were made hereabout, to remove obstuctions from the smaller affluents of the great rivers, so that navigation would be open from the interior to the sea. The Conhocton from Bath, in the spring and fall, with little labor, was made fairly navigable for rafts, boats and other craft. All the products of the south western part of the state, principally lumber and grain, it was expected would thus reach the great marts of Philadelphia and Baltimore. The experiment was made in this spring (1798) by starting from Mud creek two rafts of boards, which in a very brief time and at very small cost were landed safely in Baltimore. This settled the question of navigation for that species of craft. Immigration was so great into the town and surrounding country, that as yet there was no surplus farm products for transportation. Bath being so situated, it is not strange that a man with Captain Williamson's, sanguine temperment, overflowed with bright anticipations of its growth and greatness and believed that it was bound to become the great commercial metropolis of Southern New York. This year he published his "Description of the Genesee Country" and advertised widely.
A London magazine of August, 1799, gives the following account of Captain Williamson:
     "He keeps stores of medicines, encourages races and amusements and keeps a set of beautiful stallions. Bath is the chief settlement and chief town of the county. At this time he is building a school, which is endowed with some hundred acres of land. The salary of the master, Williamson means to pay until the instruction of the children be sufficient for his support. He has built a sessions house and a prison, and one good Inn which he has sold for considerable profit and is now building another which is to contain a ball room. He has also constructed a bridge, which opens a free and easy communication with the other side of the river."
     The school building mentioned was the first and only one used for school purposes for many years, and was located on the northwest corner of Pulteney Square. The late Colonel Bull has often said that it was there he received the rudiments of his education. The bridge across the Conhocton referred to was located not far from the site of the present one, and was the first river bridge built in the county.
In March 1800 Messrs. Swing and Patterson built an ark eighty feet in length by twenty in width, at White's saw-mill on the Conhocton, five miles below the village of Bath, and loaded it with two thousand bushels of wheat, and on the 14th of that month set out for Baltimore,

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which port they reached in due time with their freight. Two others with like freight, in the month of April followed from Bartle's Mills on Mud Creek, with like success. They were the first ventures of the kind and created quite a sensation throughout the country. This species of craft, it is claimed, was the invention of a Mr. Kryder, who, in 1792, built one on the Juniata, loaded it with wheat and whiskey and ran it down the Susquehanna to Baltimore. It was constructed as follows: A frame was made of three sticks of square timber, eight by twelve inches, the two outside timbers fifty-five feet long placed eight feet a part. The center stick was seventy-five feet long. These were securely framed together by means of shorter ties or girths mortised into them. At the bow and stern a similar timber extends from the ends of the outside pieces uniting at the end of the center piece so as to make the extremities sharp so as to cut the water and meet with less resistance. This frame was then planked completely over and caulked as tightly as possible. The frame was then turned over, the planked side being under and the whole shoved into the water. Studs or studding four or five feet long and five feet apart were mortised into the outside timbers and then completely planked up on the outside to the ends. The inside was ceiled bottom and sides, the whole fifty-five feet. There was a solid post at each terminal point in which was firmly imbedded a stout oak pin upon which hung the oars for the purpose of directing the course of the craft, but not to propel it. The oars were made from small straight white pines, light, dry and tapering, and some thirty feet in length and eight inches at the but, in which was cut a gain for about five feet to receive the blade. This was made from a plank about fifteen feet long and eighteen or twenty inches in width, sawed for the purpose, tapering, being about two and a half inches thick at one end and an inch at the other, rounded at the thicker end and fastened securely in its place in the stem with wooden pins. At a point where the blade and stem will balance, a hole was bored, beveled on the upper side to give play horizontally to the oar when it is placed on the oar pin and so balanced when on the oar pin that the blade would just dip lightly in the water. The small end of the stem was whittled down to a convenient size so that it could be readily grasped by the hand. The ark, except at the bow and stern, and a small space in the center for the cabin was covered with boards, as well to protect the cargo as to furnish a smooth walk for the oarsman. Captain Williamson was greatly elated at the result of these ventures; rafting and ark building became a lively business upon all the streams in the early spring.
     Williamson commenced building his grand country seat on his Springfield farm, so called, a mile and a half below the village, near Lake Salubria, and hard-by his famous race course. It was the largest

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private dwelling in western New York, and calculated to dispense hospitality on an extensive scale. Although constructed of wood, it was considered magnificent, with its spacious parlors, broad halls and grand assembly room, with their high ceilings and heavy mouldings, all finished and furnished exquisitely after the latest style. It was flanked by two wings, each as large as an ordinary dwelling house, set off with piazzas and porticoes. The grounds about were artistically laid out and graced with ornamental trees and shrubs, and the then rare Lombardy poplars. On its completion in 1801, he placed it in charge of Major Presley Thornton, a kinsman of Washington and an officer in the Revolution, who had just come from Virginia with a complement of colored servants, and a young wife of rare wit and beauty. She was long known as "The Madam" from her graceful and commanding ways. The Captain maintained the establishment and made his home with them after he retired from the agency, and dispensed its hospitality with a generous hand. The place became famous for its brilliant assemblies. For there gathered on such occasions all the beauty and aristocracy from all the Genesee country, and even the distant Susquehanna. The Major died in 1806, and the Captain soon after left for Europe and never returned. The Springfield farm, with the appurtenances, passed into other hands. The purchaser failed and it fell to his creditors, and soon the famous mansion, with its garden and walks, showed signs of decay and became a picture of desolation - the abode of the owl and the bat and other uncanny things. Thirty odd years ago it was taken down to give place to the present farm house of Mrs. R. B. Wilkes.
     In 1798 the legislature passed an act enabling aliens for three years to take the title to real estate. December 13, 1800, Captain Williamson and wife conveyed, upon certain conditions expressed, to Pulteney, Hornby and Colquhoun all the unsold lands held by him on their account, with the notes, contracts and mortgages received by him for their account, with the notes, contracts and mortgages received by him for thier benefit, and resigned his trust. Colonel Robert Troup was appointed agent to succeed him. The Captain therefore devoted himself to the management of is own properties, and made the Springfield house his headquarters. The boom in real estate subsided, but the growth of the town was steady and substantial. Large quantities of timber, wheat and other commodities were every spring sent down the Conhocton. By the sale of these productions, the settlers were enabled to pay for their lands and increase their improvements. In 1803 many settlers came in from Virginia and Maryland.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

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burgh, Scotland, July 12, 1757. Captain Williamson, as he was commonly designated, received a good education, entered the army in 1775, as captain, was captured in his passage to join his regiment in America, and held prisoner in Boston until the close of the war. In 1791, he was engaged to take charge of the great purchase of Sir William Pulteney in western New York. He was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the Steuben militia by Governor Jay, and was elected three successive years to the state legislature.
     "He was dark of feature, tall, slender, and erect of figure," writes McMaster. "He was" says McClure "a perfect gentleman, a highsouled, honorable man; generous, humane, obliging and courteous to all, whether rich or poor."
Turner adds:
     "Well educated, possessing more than ordinary social qualities, with a mind improved by travel and association with the best class in Europe, his society was sought after by the many educated and intelligent men who came to this region in the earliest settlement, and he knew well how to adapt himself to circumstances, and to all classes that went to make up the aggregate of the early adventures; changing his habits of life with great ease and facility, he was at home in every primitive cabin; a welcome, cheerful and contented guest, with words of encouragement for those who were sinking under the hardships of pioneer life; and often ready with substantial aid to relieve their necessities; when found prostrated with disease he would furnish some bracing tonic or restoring cordial."
Long after he left the country, a local paper thus sketches his character.
     "Colonel Williamson was a gentleman of great worth and enterprise, and his memory will be cherished by the early settlers of this country with every demonstration of respect to which the character of every great and good man is entitled. Under his agency the settlers experienced the benefits of a liberal and enlightened policy. He was not restrained by those narrow views which covetousness creates in sordid and avaricious men. The rapid settlement and improvement of the country under his direction was beheld with wonder and admiration. Mills were erected, roads constructed, and every avenue to market opened of which the nature of the country admitted. These, with many other improvements, are both an evidence of his zeal for the prosperity of the settlers, of his unwearied exertions to increase the value of the property confided to his care, and form a striking feature in the history of his administration. No wilderness ever disappeared and became the abode of a numerous population in so short a period, as did this under his agency. He projected the great Western Turnpike and the wonderful bridge across the Cayuga Lake."
     He promoted education and aided in the establishment of religious societies by donations of lands and other material aid. He was charged with being speculative and visionary, wasteful and extravagant in the use of his principal's means, but unjustly. It is manifest now that he

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saw clearly that he had found the garden spot of the world, and realized what it must become when fairly developed. Every dollar was, therefore, wisely and propertly expended for that purpose.
     Colonel Williamson married Abigail, daughter of E. Newell of Roxbury, Mass., December 2, 1781. The children born to them were Christian, born November 1, 1786, and died at Bath, September 27, 1793; Ann, date of birth unknown; Charles Alexander, born November 12, 1794. The latter married a Miss Clark, of New York, and resided for a time in Geneva, N. Y., and then took up his abode in Scotland.
The Colonel died in November, 1808, of yellow fever on his passage from Havana. "There are contrary accounts of his position at the time of his death. One is that he had been appointed governor of one of the West India islands, and another is that his adventurous and enterprising spirit had connected him with some of the earliest movements in relation to South American independence, in which he was to have borne a conspicuous part and in pursuance of which he was at sea." * Mrs. Williamson died at Geneva, N. Y., August 31, 1824.
     The first comers with Captain Williamson in 1793: Charles Cameron, born in Inverness-shire, Scotland, April 26, 1773, had charge of the first company of pioneers. His father, Ewing Cameron, occupied a farm on the Lochiel estate. At an early age he went to reside with an uncle, William Stuart, in Dumfries-shire, where he became acquainted with Captain Williamson and engaged in his service. He landed in Norfolk, Va., in December, 1791, and came to Bath April 15, 1793, with thirty Scotch and Irish pioneers to make the settlement, superintend the erection of the necessary buildings and the laying out of the village plot. He was the first merchant, the first supervisor elected in the town of Bath and was the first justice of the peace appointed for the town. In 1797 he married Jane, the daughter of Isaac Mullender. After 1800 he opened a store in Canandaigua and about 1805 removed to Lyons and built a grist-mill. In 1821 he was induced to accept the agency of the Hornby estate in Chenango county and took up his residence in Greene. His wife died January 31, 1841. He was greatly respected for him many virtues and died deeply lamented at Greene, December 26, 1852. He left no children.
     John Johnston came with Captain Williamson and Charles Cameron to the United States in 1791. He was from Dumfries-shire, Scotland, and said to be connected with the family of the Captain, and may have been of the Johnstons of Wester Hall. He was a gentleman of education and ability, as is clearly shown by his correspondence with the Captain in the course of his numerous transactions while in his service.

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After Captain Williamson surrendered his trusts, Johnston was appointed the agent of the Hornby and Colquhoun estates, and took up his residence in Canandaigua. He married a step-daughter of Nicholas Lowe, of New York. He was the father of James Johnston, of Geneva, and Mrs. Leavenworth of Illinois. Mr. Johnston died in 1806 at Canandaigua.
     Hector McKenzie, another Scotchman, followed Captain Williamson to this country in 1792, and came to Bath in 1793. He was said to be the "son of a Laird, and carried his head quite high," says McClure. Robert Morris, upon whom he called upon his arrival at Philadelphia, formed no very high opinion of him, as appears by some of his letters to the Captain. Being a Scot, Williamson kept him in his employ several years. He became quite a land speculator. He had a wife, but who she was or what became of her is not known. It would seem from his letters to the Captain that there was some misunderstanding between them, and he left for the West Indies, where it is said he soon after died.
William McCartney, born in Kirkeudbright, Scotland, 1772, came to America in 1791, and to Bath with the first comers of 1793. In 1794 or '95 he erected the first cabin in Dansville on the farm of the late John McNair and kept bachelor's hall. July 14, 1796, he married Mary McCurdy. He became a leading man in Livingston county, a member of the legislature and for twenty-seven years served as supervisor. He died in 1831, leaving many descendents. His wife died in 1864.
     Henry Tower, born in Alloway, Scotland, in 1771, came to America in 1791, and to Bath in 1793. He was a trusted employe of Captain Williamson, engaged by him to open roads and erect mills. He was a merchant in Newtown (now Elmira) in 1796, and entertained the late King of France, Louis Philippe, and his brother there, when exiles. In 1805 he superintended for Williamson the building of the Hopeton mills at Dresden and afterward the Alloway mills at Lyons. He subsequently became the owner of the latter and was the largest merchant miller in the country. He was deputy commissary during the war of 1812. He married and had a family of children and died at Knowlesville, Orleans county in 1844.
James Tower came at the same time but did not remain long at Bath. He was established in mercantile business in Northumberland, Pa., in 1794 by Williamson. There was a disagreement and a bitter legal and newspaper controversy between them. He joined his brother at Lyons. He was married, but when and where he died is not known.
     Andrew Smith, known as "Muckle Andrew," from his great strength and size, was born in Lockerby, Scotland, in 1761. He was for years Williamson's farmer and manager of his out-of--door affairs. He married Elizabeth Lewis, and settled on a farm three miles below Bath, now

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occupied by the widow of his grandson, Seneca Smith. He died there many years ago leaving a large family of children. William Aulls, a Scotch-Irishman, was the first settler in Pleasant Valley - then the town of Bath. In the month of May, 1793, about a month after Captain Williamson had opened his office for the sale of the lands of his new purchase, Mr. Aulls with his son Thomas came on and located a farm in the valley and comenced a clearing, now known as the Decker farm. They cleared a few acres, put in a crop and erected a log dwelling for the use of the family. Early in the fall he went to Pennsylvania for his family, leaving his son to look after his place. He returned with them over Captain Williamson's new road and stopped at Judge Baker's hostelry on the Cowanesque. Baker came on with him and also loated a farm near him. Aulls was born, it is said, in Londonderry, Ireland, on January 21, 1748, and received a good education. At the age of nineteen he made a visit to America and was so pleased with the country that in 1771 he came to stay. He first engaged in teaching at Boston, and there married his wife, then a widow. He then settled in New Brunswick, N.J., built a mill and engaged in mercantile business. He actively engaged in the war of the revolution, and as a conswquence his property suffered at the hands of British partizans and at the close of the war he found himself penniless. For safety during the war he removed his family to Lancaster, Pa., where they remained until he determined to seek a home in the wilderness of New York. He had two sons and six daughters. He was a staunch Presbyterian and highly esteemed for his virtues. He died February 23, 1816; and his wife, August 17, 1823.
     Samuel Baker was born April 24, 1763, in Branford, Conn., and in March, 1787 he left Hudson in search of a home in the western wilderness. He made his way over the Catskills and struck the head waters of the eastern branch of the Susquehanna river. This he followed until its junction with the Tioga or Chemung branch and up this he pushed his way to its junction with the Cowanesque just over the Pennsylvania border, and there commenced a clearing and erected a cabin. He found a few settlers at Tioga Point and at Newtown. Samuel Harris had a cabin on the Conhocton near its mouth. His biographers do not tell us how he came to pass by the broad and rich alluvial bottoms of the Chemung and Tioga and seek a home in so remote a nook in the deep wilderness. But he had purchased a block from the Connecticut Company which laid claim to all northern Pennsylvania. A color is given to this statement from the fact that is was said he left Pennsylvania on account of the failure of his title to the land occupied by him. His house on the Cowanesque became a favorite stopping place for those journeying from the south to the Genesee

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country. William Aulls and family on their way from Harrisburgh to Pleasant Valley in the fall of 1793 called upon him and Mr. Baker accompanied his guests to the valley, and on October 9, 1793, he purchased a farm adjoining Mr. Aulls, which is now in the possession of Mrs. C. D. Champlin, a grand-daughter of Judge Baker. He proceeded to make a clearing and erect a habitation, and in the spring following removed his family to their new home in Pleasant Valley where he continued to reside in peace and comfort, beloved and respected till his death. He was elected an assessor at the first town meeting in Bath in 1797, and was supervisor and town collector for many terms. In 1813 he was appointed first judge of the county, and in 1817, surrogate. Judge Baker had twelve children all of whom attained their majority and married. He died at his home in the valley December 2, 1842, his wife and ten children surviving.
     John Metcalf was an Englishman and immigrated to this country prior to the revolution. He kept an inn near Philadelphia in 1773. It was in that city he formed the acquaintance of Captain Williamson and was induced by him to come to Bath and open a house of entertainment, which he did in 1793. He died in 1799 and his wife, Ann Metcalf, kept up the hostelry until her death in 1814. They left many descendents. John Metcalf, a son, the father of the late Mrs. Polly Finch, was surrogate and clerk of the county for many years, and died in 1829 while holding the latter office. He was a very popular official.
     Thomas Corbitt, from Pennsylvania, who was one of Williamson's road buildres, settled at the mouth of Mud creek in 1793 and kept a house of entertainment, which was the only dwelling between Bath and Painted Post for a year or more. He had three sons, Joh, Thomas and Michael. He was a revolutionary pensioner.
     John Dolson removed from Newtown to Bath in 1795, and in 1802 and 1803 kept an inn at Mud Creek. He had befriended Captain Williamson and was rewarded by the gift of a farm, it is said.
     Amos Stone, the friend and neighbor of Judge Baker, was born in Massachusetts, September 28, 1759. He was a captain and a prominent actor in Shay's rebellion in 1786, and upon its suppression sought shelter on the Cowanesque in Pennsylvania, where he married Elizabeth Holliday, January 13, 1790. They had eleven children, three of whom were born previous to the arrival of the family in Pleasant Valley, where Mr. Stone took up a farm adjoining Judge Baker in 1793, and there resided until his death. Among his descendents in Steuben county is Mrs. Eunice Lamb of the town of Wayne.
     Samuel Doyle came from Northumberland county, Pa., with Williamson's party in 1793. He, with the three Walkers, was charged with the murder of the two Seneca Indians on Pine creek in 1790, which

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created great excitement. He was arrested and tried for the murder at Sunbury, Pa., in that year, but was acquitted. He lived three miles below the villag eof Bath and died there more than seventy years ago. He left descendants.
Henry bush settled at the mouth of Mud creek as early as 1795, but nothing further is known of him.
Charles McClure was a brother of the General and a merchant in Bath. He died at Tioga Point in 1803 on his journey homeward from Philadelphia.
     John Willson came from Pennsylvania and returned to that State. He was a very prominent man, was appointed sheriff in 1800, elected to the legislature in 1806 and county clerk in 1815.
     George McClure was born near Londonderry, Ireland, in 1771, and died at Elgin, Illinois, August 16, 1851. He states in his narrative that he was kept at school till he was fifteen and then chose the trade of a carpenter. In 1791 he sailed for Baltimore. He readily found employment and worked at his trade in Maryland and Pennsylvania. In the fall of 1793 or spring of 1794 he came to Bath and engaged in the service of Williamson. He was the leading contractor and builder, and emplyed many journeymen. He erected the first framed house in the town. He married, August 20, 1795, Eleanor Bole of Derry, Pa. In 1808, after the death of his wife Eleanor, he married Sarah, daughter of Benjamin Welles. In 1797, on Charles Cameron's resignation, he was elected supervisor of Bath and re-elected many terms. March 25, 1805, he was appointed surrogate of the county, and in the same year post-master at Bath. He took an interest in militay affairs and rose to the rank of general of the militia. He volunteered in the war of 1812 and was ordered with his brigade in 1812 to the frontier, where he performed efficient service. February 12, 1815, he was appointed sheriff of Steuben county. In the years 1823, 1824 and 1827 he was elected to the legislature. He had several sons and daughters, some of whom survived him.
     Finla McClure, his father, came to Bath with his family in 1795 or 1796. He had several sons and daughters, including Charles and George, above named. His son, Finla, resided on a farm a mile above Kennedyville and removed to Illinois over forty years ago.
William Dunn was said to be a native of York, Pa., and became intimately associated with Captain Williamson on his arrival in this country. In 1792 he became a resident of Newtown, and removed to Bath in 1794. For a time he kept a hotel on the southeast corner of Pulteney Square, on the site of the Balcom house. On the organization of Steuben county he was appointed its first sheriff. He built the house on Morris street now owned by Miss Wilkes, which he exchanged in

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1803 with Jonathan T. Hayt for property in Elmira, where he removed soon after and opened an inn, which was kept for many years after his death by his widow who married John Davis. It was a noted hostelry. Charles W. Dunn and Judge James Dunn, of Chemung county, were his sons.
     William Read, a Quaker from Rhode Island, came with his brother, Eli, to Bath in 1794, and settled in Pleasant Valley. He was a man of mark in the new settlement, and held many town offices. He was for years a justice of the peace and also one of the county judges. He was the father of the late Capt. James Read, and died in Urbana, April 21, 1836, aged seventy-six years.
     Henry McElwee came to Bath from the north of Ireland in January, 1794. He was an athletic and active young man, and did about the first clearing on the village plot and the race grounds for Captain Williamson. He purchased a large tract of land on Mud Creek, above Savona, built saw-mills and engaged largely in lumbering and farming. He became wealthy. He died at his home, February 5, 1868, aged eighty-eight years. He left a widow and several sons and daughters. Henry McElwee, Jr., his son, occupied the old homestead till his death a few years ago.
     William McElwee, a brother of the above, came to Bath soon after Henry, and settled also on Mud creek and there died.
     Frank Scott, Gustavus and Brown Gillespie, Sanuel and John Metler, James and Patrick McKell, all Scotch-Irishmen, were among the first comers. James McKell died in Bath in 1802. It is said Patrick McKell, his son, and James McKell, his grandson, afterward emigrated to the West Indies.
     Richard Daniels was the father-in-law of Judge Baker. He was of Dutch origin and came from Columbia county in the wake of his son-in-law, and settled near him in Pleasant Valley in 1794. He is described as a short, stout man, while his wife was tall and slender. The name of her family was Hoose, and she was a relative of Martin Van Buren. Mr. Daniels died in 1810. He had no son, Mrs. Baker being his only surviving child.
     William Howe Cuyler, a son of John Cuyler, of Greenbush, N.Y., was born about 1775. He was employed as a clerk by Williamson in the land office at Bath as early as 1794. He was admitted as an attorney, and practiced law in Bath for some time. He was a resident of the place as late as 1800, as appears by the town records, but soon after removed to Palmyra, Wayne county, and became the local agent of Captain Wiliamson at that place. He was a man of much energy and enterprise, and one of the founders of the Ontario Woolen Manufacturing Company. In December, 1801, at Albany he met a Mr. Dana, who