1797
January
Daniel Faulkner brings three loads of goods to the site of Dansville across the state by sleigh from Albany. He builds a one-story frame house in front of his plank shanty later in the year.
March
Williamson's militia company holds a muster in Bath wearing uniforms paid for by the Pulteney Associates.
April
With a loan from Charles Williamson, Lucius Carey begins publishing the Geneva Gazette and Genesee Advertiser, using the first printing press in Ontario County. He soon moves the paper to Canandaigua, along with the county seat.
May
Williamson pays the Town of Williamson bill for the board of indigent Betsy Prehenos, one of his many charitable contributions. ** Augustus Porter surveys Rochester's 100 Acre Tract, lays out farm and village lots.
May 22
Masonic Lodge Number 57 is established in Bath with the enthusiastic backing of Charles Williamson.
Jun 20
The state legislature having passed laws to regulate salt production and land leases for the purpose in the central part of the state, William Stevens is appointed the first Superintendent of Onondaga Salt Springs.
Jul 16
Rochester congressman Daniel Dewey Barnard is born in Sheffield, Massachusetts, to Revolutionary War veteran Timothy Barnard and Phebe Dewey Barnard.
Jul 17
Rebecca Farr, wife of Pittsford settler Jasiel Farr, dies in her late thirties. She will be the first burial in the new Pioneer Cemetery.
Jul 25
Holland Land Company representative Theophile Cazenove sends surveyor Joseph Ellicott an outline of the company's Genesee Valley lands to be surveyed, after the latter is hired as principal surveyor.
September
Augustus Porter begins working on the Holland Purchase survey.
Sep 2
Charles Sholl, working for land agent Charles Williamson, arrives at the Falls of the Genesee to study the feasibility of putting Ebenezer Allan's mill back in service.
Sep 4
Sholl writes to Willamson, reports that the mill can be improved so as to be profitable, for at least four years.
Sep 15
The Treaty of Big Tree is signed with the Seneca, near Geneseo, New York. They sell their lands and that of the local Tuscaroras (west of the Genesee River, except for a tract at Buffalo Creek) to Robert Morris for $100,000, and are restricted to a reservation of under 200,000 acres. Among the Seneca present are Cornplanter, Farmer's Brother, Little Billy, Little Beard and Red Jacket. Former Indian captive Horatio Jones (Handsome Boy) acts as one of the interpreters. Land around the area of the future Letchworth Park (the Gardeau Tract) is ceded to Mary Jemison, over the protests of Red Jacket.
Sep 20
A stage line begins operating between Utica and Geneva along the Genesee Road, (later Seneca Turnpike, Route 5). The first trip takes three days.
Oct 18
Ellicott writes to Cazenove, reporting that he doesn't trust his circumferator, which depends on a magnetic needle, but that he will have his brother Benjamin build a transit.
Nov 19
Ellicott writes to Cazenove, reporting on the first season of his survey.
State
Columbia County judge John Tryon arrives near Indian Landing on Gerundegut River (later Irondequoit Creek), then builds a large warehouse there. The resulting settlement is named Tryon Town. ** Charles Wilbur sells his Le Roy cabin to Sullivan Expedition veteran John Ganson. ** The office of State Auditor General is replaced by that of State Comptroller, but the change will not be completed until 1812. ** Charles Scholl builds a grist mill, and later a distillery, on a creek in Williamsburgh. ** Charles Williamson, Thomas Morris, Joseph Annin, John Harris, and Wilhelmus Mynderse incorporate the Cayuga Bridge Company to construct a span across the northern end of Cayuga Lake. It will be built by Swartwood & Deman of New York City. ** The first settlement in Chautauqua County is formed by Amos Sottle at the mouth of Cattaraugus Creek. It will become the village of Irving. ** Residents of Bath hold their first town meeting. Provisions are made for fence inspections, with Andrew Smith named fence walker, and for bounties on wolves and panthers. ** Steuben County joins Cayuga, Onondaga, Ontario and Tioga in the Tenth Congressional District. The first town meetings are held in the spring. ** Avon innkeeper Gilbert R. Berry dies. His widow will continue the business until 1812. ** Geneva has its own water supply, using pipes made from tamarack trees with holes bored through them. ** Williamson publishes a pamphlet of five letters extolling the benefits of living in the Genesee country and of subsidies to be provided for settlers. ** The western New York land boom peaks, sales begin declining. ** Williamson obtains legislation permitting up to $45,000 to be raised for roads, , including the Gensee Road, by lottery. He is appointed the sole road commissioner for Ontario County. ** The New York Council of Appointments promotes Williamson from captain to lieutenant commandment of a state militia battalion. ** Williamson's land sales total £228,142:4:7. and estimated conditional sales of £1,022,231:1:9. ** The Surveyor-General lays out a tract of 15,000 acres around Onondaga Lake, to be known as the Onondaga Salt Springs Reservation and used for the production of salt. ** Indian scout Benjamin Patterson, hired by Charles Williamson to operate the Painted Post Tavern, arrives from Northumberland (today's Sunbury), Pennsylvania, by way of the Susquehanna and Chemung rivers. ** The oldest headstone in the Brown Road Cemetery in Caroline, Tompkins County, goes back to this date. ** The first crop of grain in the Genesee region is harvested. ** Connecticut farmer Asa Rice settles the town of Oswego. ** Legal publisher Samuel Jones is named the state's first comptroller. ** Future U. S. secretary of war General Peter Porter build a house at 210 North Main Street in Canandaigua. ** Federalists De Witt Clinton and James Gordon of Ballston are elected to the state senate. ** Dr. Samuel Dungan arrives in Canandaigua from Philadelphia to set up practice. ** The approimate date Massachusetts native Amherst Humphrey builds a home in Lima. ** The King families settle at Genesee Landing (later Hanford Landing). ** Gazetteer author Horatio Gates Spafford visits the Niagara Falls area. ** Quaker traveler Jacob Lindley passes through the future Orchard Park area south of Buffalo. ** Settlers John Lusk and his twelve-year-old son Stephen arrive in the future Irondequoit, where they had purchased 1500 acres of land, from Vermont's western Berkshires. ** William and Ann Agate arrive in the future Northfield, later Pittsford, settle on the future Thornell Road, build a log cabin. ** Early western New York settler Glover Perrin - his name the source of the town of Perinton - has moved to Pittsford with his wife. **
Rochesterville
Jeremiah Olmstead buys two acres of land near today's Lake Avenue, which is laid out this year between Allen's mills and Hanford Landing. The Fishes build a log cabin at Allen's mills.
Maryland
Hagerstown postmaster Nathaniel Rochester resigns to become a Washington County court judge.
France
King Louis Philippe, an exile, leaves for the United States. With his two brothers he visits the falls of the Genesee.
(c) 2011 David Minor / Eagles Byte
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