Jan 1
Onondaga Salt Springs superintendent Dr. William Kirkpatrick reports 1813 revenues
of $6,780 on 226,000 bushels.
Jan 7
Rochester politician Thomas Parsons is born in Chievely, England.
Jan 23
Future Buffalo mayor Eli Cook is born in Palatine Bridge.
Mar 25
Brighton and Pittsford are formed from the Smallwood area near Rochesterville.
Pittsford and Brighton (both formerly Northfield and then Boyle) is formed from
an area of Smallwood, located southeast of "Rochesterville". Pittsford is named
by resident and former Vermonter Caleb Hopkins for his home town in New England.
April
Colonel George Mitchell and 336 men march from Sackets Harbor to garrison Fort
Oswego. They find no usable arms but do inventory $8,000 worth of liquor and
provisions. Mitchell orders close to 4,000 gallons of whisky destroyed.
Apr 5
The Town of Sweden is created out of the Triangle Tract's Town of Murray.
Apr 25
Three British boats enter Sackets Harbor, are discovered and fired upon before
they destroy any U. S. ships.
May 1
The first U. S. defenders - under Colonel George E. Mitchell - arrive at Oswego’s
Fort Ontario.
May 5
British naval commander Sir James Yeo proceeds with his fleet to Oswego, along
with a large body of troops under Lieutenant-General Sir Gordon Drummond,
to storm the fort. They arrive offshore and fire a few shots into the village. One
strikes the chimney of Daniel Hugunin’s house. Few other shots are effective, and
at sundown the fleet moves off to prepare for the next day. ** Americans
T. S. Morgan, P. T. Newton, James Stephenson, William Squires and Commissary
Matthew McNair occupy “Half Moon Battery” in the old French Fort at Oswego,
today and tomorrow.
May 6
Colonel Mitchell and his troops prepare for an attack. Dawn brings fog; when it
clears the British are discovered close in, the flagship St. Lawrence directly off from
the fort, in the middle of the line. At 10 o’clock the bombardment is begun, lasting
until 1:30, when the British land below the Fort, and attack on the north side.
Captain Miulcaster I severely wounded. Lieutenant Daniel Blaney is killed; from
40 to 50 men are killed or wounded.. Mitchell and his troops escape through the
south gate, and march to the U.S. Warehouse at Oswego Falls, tearing up bridges as
they pass. The enemy enters the fort and marches through the village, destroying
property and arresting prisoners, among them McNair, Morgan and Stephenson.
A Mr. Dougherty’s blacksmith shop and the home of the widow Montgomery are
burnt. A schooner and three boats are taken.
May 7
The British sail from Oswego.
May 15
The British fleet is sighted from Pultneyville. General John Swift arrives with
close to 130 men. Townspeople convince him to permit one of them to go to
the enemy with a flag of truce and offer them the contents of a storehouse at
the water’s edge. The British land. They only find some moldy flour, other
supplies having been moved away earlier.
Swift’s forces begin harassing fire from a nearby woods. A small number of
the British fire at the snipers and take two U. S. prisoners. Meanwhile a British
soldier ransacking a chest on the second floor of Whipple’s Tavern is killed by
a stray bullet fired by his own side. The British board their fleet and sail away,
taking two Americans - Whipple Tavern bartender Richard White and Samuel
Ledyard warehouse clerk Prescott Fairbanks. The two will be taken to Halifax
then released a few months later.
May 28
U. S. ships enter Sandy Creek to await the delivery of naval supplies from Oswego
to Sackets Harbor. The British learn of the plan. The sounds of artillery are heard
coming from the direction of Sodus.
May 29
The British follow the U. S. ships into Sandy Creek, are ambushed and surrender.
Over 200 officers and troops are captured. New York forces suffer the loss of one
Indian and several men are wounded. The supplies are carried 16 miles overland to
Sackets Harbor for construction of the frigate Superior.
June
Commander Yeo is turned away at Charlotte at the mouth of the Genesee River,
being mislead by local militia into believing their numbers are far greater the they
actually are. The British refuse to believe that the Americans could be intelligent
or clever enough to carry off such a bluff.
Jun 23
Architect Calvin Nicholas Otis is born in Spafford.
Jul 2
General Jacob Brown leads 3600 U. S. troops across the Niagara River into Canada,
captures Fort Erie the next day.
Jul 25
U. S. forces under Brown fight the battle of Lundy's Lane, Ontario, on the Niagara
River. They beat the enemy to a standstill, retreat to Fort Erie. At war’s end, later
this year, he will be appointed commander-in-chief of the American Army.
August
British Lieutenant General Sir Gordon Drummond attempts to capture the blockhouse
and shipyard at Black Rock, fails.
Aug 14
Charlotte Fowler, younger sister of phrenologist Orson Fowler, is born to Horace
and Martha Howe Fowler in Cohocton.
Oct 17
The U. S. abandons its siege of Fort Erie. Part of the fleet retires to Sackets Harbor
for the winter, the rest sail on to Buffalo to wait for the spring.
December
Construction begins at Sackets Harbor on the U. S. warship New Orleans.
Dec 2
A second son, Mortimer Fabritus Reynolds, is born to Abelard and Lydia Reynolds,
the first white child born in Rochesterville.
State
The state canal commission is denied funds. ** A stone arsenal is built near Batavia. **
Future abolitionist Gerrit Smith enrolls in Hamilton College. ** The approximate date
farmer Martin Keiffer builds a two-story log cabin in Rush, near Honeoye Creek.
It will become part of the Genesee Country Museum. ** British investor Patrick
Colquhoun is compensated by the heirs of fellow capitalist Sir William Pulteney
for state lands overlooked by the original 1791 survey. Colquhoun had foreseen the
possibility and written it into his contract with fellow investor Pulteney. ** The Ontario
County Town of Canadice experiences a large influx of settlers. ** Lawyer-poet William
Howe Cuyler Hosmer is born to Avon lawyer George Hosmer and his wife. ** Future
Spiritualist conspirator Leah Fox is born to John and Margaret Fox, in Hydesville. **
The McDowell farm is established on Bath Road in Barrington, Yates County. ** Duty
Waite opens a second Cohocton school. ** 23-year-old attorney Freeborn Garrison Jewett
arrives in Skaneateles from Connecticut to set up practice. ** Tenants on Wadsworth
lands in the Genesee Valley are required to have made certain improvements on their
property and to deliver a portion of their crops to pay the taxes on the land. ** Miller
John McKay, a Scotsman from Shamokin, Pennsylvania, builds a two-story house in
Caledonia. ** The approximate date farmer Martin Kieffer arrives in Rush from
Pennsylvania, builds a two-story, eight-room log house. ** The state has 151,846
eligible voters. ** Cayuga Academy in the Military Tract (Onondaga County,
later Cayuga County) is given Lot 89 of Township 3. Onondaga Academy (Onondaga
County) is given Lot 100 of Towmship 1. ** Capital stock for the Cayuga and Seneca
Canal is increased to $60,000. ** Ridge Road, connecting Rochester to Lewiston
along the Niagara Escarpment, is improved. ** Monroe County has a population of
6,945, broken down by town - Brighton (675), Mendon (1,353), Penfield (1,874),
Perinton (821) and Pittsford (2,222).
Buffalo
Because Buffalo was burned by the British at the end of last year, blacksmith John
Gilbert moves east to Le Roy. ** Winthrop Fox builds a store at 1 Main Street.
Canandaigua
James D. Bemis issues The Farmer's Diary or Western Almanack, the first almanac in
the Genesee Country. ** A home is built at 295 North Main Street for former U. S.
Postmaster General Gideon Granger. ** St. John's Episcopal Church is reorganized,
holds services in the town hall. ** Young Trenton, New York, businessman Bela Coe
settles here. ** A mail stage leaves here for the west three times weekly.
Penfield
Daniel Penfield builds a flouring mill on Irondequoit Creek which will become
known as The Yellow Mill. ** The approximate date Gideon Cobb acquires the
southwest 100 acres of Lot 61, Township 13, Range IV, where Allens Creek enters
Irondequoit Creek. He will build a farmhouse on the top of a Penfield Road hill,
which will become known as Allens Creek Farm
Pittsford
Perrin Glover sells his inn to M. Kempton. ** John Mann rebuilds his mill, destroyed
last year by fire. Shortly afterwards he sells the mill to make way for the Erie Canal.
Rochesterville
Nathaniel Rochester, Charles Carroll and William Fitzhugh divide up the 100-Acre
Tract among themselves. Gideon Cobb arrives, establishes a cattle and hay yard in
the Tract. ** Nathaniel Rochester is chosen as an elector in the Presidential and
Vice-Presidential elections. ** Yeo will be driven off at Charlotte, inaccurately believing
the number of local militia is larger than it actually is. ** The village's first school is built.
London, England
Former stockbroker and future New York State pioneer David Piffard, living in Paris
since 1802 because of his wife Sarah’s poor health, return to England.
© 2011 David Minor / Eagles Byte
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