Wednesday, September 28, 2011

CENTRAL / WESTERN NEW YORK TIMELINE / 1813


Jan 1

Dr. William Kirkpatrick, superintendent of the Onondaga Salt Springs, reports that last year 221,011 bushels of salt, (not including 100 bushels delivered to the Onondaga Indians) at a duty of 3¢ per bushel, have yielded a revenue of $6,630 33.

Jan 7

Cleveland & Sons contracts with the incipient Seneca Lock Navigation Company to erect a lock and dam at Waterloo for $317,646.

Mar 12

The Onondaga County village of Manlius is incorporated.

April

The newly-organized township of Mendon holds its first town meeting at the home of Thomas Ewer. Timothy Barnard is elected moderator and will run the first post office. Cornelius Treat is appointed assessor.

Apr 2

Binghamton is incorporated.

Apr 6

New York's Seneca Lock Navigation Company is incorporated, with a capital stock of $50,000, and secures the rights from the Western Inland Lock Navigation Company to improve navigation on the Seneca River (eventually part of the Cayuga and Seneca Canal). The legislation sets a minimum lock dimension of twelve feet broad at the base and seventy feet in length between the gates. The company has five years to complete the work and provisions are made for the state to subscribe for 500 shares after the first 1,000 shares are distributed.

Apr 12

The Steuben County Town of Prattsburgh is created.

Apr 13

Rochester pioneer Ebenezer “Indian” Allan dies in Delaware (in the future Canadian province of Ontario, at the age of 60.

Apr 18

Lake Ontario ice breaks up at Sackets Harbor.

May 13

A British naval force strikes at the mouth of the Genesee River (Charlotte), on Lake Ontario, remove some stores and depart. They leave a receipt with Bushnell's store. Flour from Brown’s Mill is moved beforehand to the woods to keep it out of British hands.

May 28

British troops under James Yeo, attack Sackets Harbor.

Jun 19

British naval forces attempt a landing at Sodus Point, are rebuffed.

Jun 20

The British land at Sodus unopposed. Not finding any naval stores they burn the village.

July

U. S. General Peter B. Porter leads a force of militia, regular troops and Seneca Indians, to repulse a British attack at Black Rock. ** Future Geneseo schoolteacher Epaphroditus Bigelow enlists in the 1st Regiment, Connecticut State Troops, under Captain Enos Buell.

Jul 11

British forces depart across the Niagara River to attack Black Rock at 2 AM. They drift past the chosen landing site. After landing, Fitzgibbon's force heads for the enemy barracks and blockhouse, burning them before moving on to Fort Gibson. General Porter slips out in his nightshirt five minutes ahead of Fitzgibbon and heads towards Buffalo and his militia.

September

U. S. ships drive off a British naval force at the mouth of the Genesee River. ** ­ Epaphroditus Bigelow receives an honorable discharge. ** While the battle of Lake Erie is taking place Seneca Indians in the southern tier assemble to protect Anna Church at Angelica, alone while her husband's trapped in Europe by the war.

Nov 7

Early Pittsford settler Josiel Farr dies at the age of 66.

December

Troops and civilians fleeing the British arrive in Batavia, which will become the central war office. The postmaster’s wife Lucy Brisbane offers to get food for the wounded Winfield Scott’s troops if he will see that her home is protected. The offer is accepted.

Dec 14

Rochesterville’s first sawmill begins operating.

Dec 18

British Colonel John Murray captures Fort Niagara from the U. S. ** British General Phineas Riall razes Lewiston.

Dec 29

The British under Drummond attack Black Rock and Buffalo over the next two days. The house of Gamaliel St. John will be the only building to remain standing.

Dec 30

Buffalo doctor Cyrenius Chapin, called to military duty, has his two daughters taken to his farm at Hamburg, ten miles away, by 13-year old future Buffalo mayor Hiram Pratt.


State

William Weston turns down an offer to become chief engineer on the Erie Canal. Benjamin Wright accepts the post. ** The Seneca Lock Navigation Company is incorporated and secures the rights from The Western Inland Lock Navigation Company to improve navigation on the Seneca River. ** U. S. politician and Pulteney land agent Robert Troup builds the first house on Geneva’s Washington Street, at No. 98. ** The Ontario and Western Turnpike, between Canandaigua and the Niagara Frontier, is completed. ** The legislature provides for an assistant deputy superintendent for the Onondaga Salt Works. ** John Jennings becomes proprietor of the Painted Post Tavern. ** Canandaigua's Congregational church is built, at a cost of $13,000. ** Monroe County's Town of Boyle has a population of 2,860. ** The region that comprised Ontario County in 1791, in the Census of 1810 had reached 72,774 people, as opposed to 1,075 then. ** The Western Inland Lock Navigation Company pays its second and final dividend - 3%. ** Ridge Road is pushed through from Parma to Buffalo and a bridge built on the Niagara River at Lewiston. ** The family of future western New York settler David Piffard moves back to London from Paris. ** Pompey Academy in the Military Tract (Onondaga County) is given Lot 15 of Towmship 5. ** Canandaigua lawyer Nathaniel W. Howell is elected to the Thirteenth Congress. ** The town of Sweden has a population of 819, with 140 households. ** Daniel Penfield builds a house on the future Penfield Road. In the late 20th century it will become the Yellow Rose CafĂ©. ** Henry Bailey builds a carding mill on Irondequoit Creek, where Thomas Creek enters the creek.

Alden

The approximate date a Presbyterian Church is organized here, the town’s first church. Also the approximate date John Rogers builds the first sawmill.

Canandaigua

U. S. Postmasetr General Gideon Granger resigns, moves here. ** Colonel Caleb Hopkins buys Titus Lord, a teenage slave. Lord will attend Pittsford’s earliest school.

Cayuga County

1360 looms in the county turn out 340,870 yards of cloth annually. Local businesses also turn out 2500 skeins of silk and 60,000 bushels of salt. ** Eliza Davison, mother of John D. Rockefeller, is born.

Le Roy

The town of Bellona is renamed Le Roy, after prominent resident, Herman Le Roy. The Lent Tavern is built by Washington County transplant John Lent. Local land agent Egbert Benson replaces a log cabin at Buttermilk Falls with a brick residence.

Pittsford

Town Clerk Doctor John Ray retires after 17 years of holding the position. ** John Mann’s mills are destroyed by fire.

Rochesterville

Postmaster Abelard Reynolds brings his family from Pittsfield, Massachusetts, builds a home on the future site of his Arcade. The first post office opens, west of the Genesee River bridge ** The village gets its first doctor, Jonah Brown, and its first schoolteacher, Miss Huldah N. Strong, who gives her first classes in a temporary schoolroom. Pittsford minister Daniel Brown travels here to preach the first church service, in the upstairs room over Jehiel Barnard’s tailor shop. Preston Smith begins operating a twice-weekly ox-wagon out to Indian Landing, Rochesterville’s first public conveyance. ** A schoolhouse is built on Fitzhugh Street, later the site of the high school. ** East bank landowners Samuel J. Andrews and Judge Moses Atwater hire millwright Eli Lyon to erect a sawmill for them at the brink of the lower falls, for $500. ** The Seneca Indians celebrate the Sacrifice of White Dog for the last time, in today's Livingston Park neighborhood. The ceremony involves the sacrifice of a white dog to expatiate sins. ** An ox-team and wagon begin regular semi-weekly service between the village and Indian Landing, Rochesterville's first public transportation. ** Twenty-two-year-old Hervey Ely arrives here from Pittsfield, Massachusetts, along with his brother Elisha, and friend Josiah Bissel. In five week he’s started his own sawmill.

© 2011 David Minor / Eagles Byte

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