MAGAZINE OF AMERICAN HISTORY

VOL. XIV

NOVEMBER, 1885

No. 5

TH

HISTORIC HOMES

THE WADSWORTH HOUSE AT GENESEO

HE Genesee was not a difficult valley to explore. Charlevoix, in 1721, gave a minute description, which is correct to this day. The followers of General Sullivan were attracted by the fertility of the soil, by the superior quality of the oak, hickory, ash, and other timber, by the luxuriance of the grass, by the Indian-planted orchards, and by the variety of game. The first settlers who came afterward knew that such a garden spot was useless if the products could not be carried to market. There were numerous settlements to the east, in New York, and to the south, in Pennsylvania, that were waning for the lack of a selling place. A study of the water-courses showed the better fortune of the Genesee valley, which led to Lake Ontario, whence "periaugers" might convey goods to Oswego, and thence along Wood Creek and the Mohawk to the Hudson. Or the Seneca River might be chosen from the eastern part of the tract; or, still further, the upper waters of the Susquehanna might be taken as a means of reaching Maryland and Virginia—a portage of only twelve miles to the Schuylkill giving access to Philadelphia. Thus the white men adopted for the avenues of trade the very routes that were followed by the Iroquois on their earlier errands of blood and conquest. And as those water-courses brought success to the savage, so also they brought success to the white

In the one case the topography of this section was largely responsible for warlike events; in the other case the same topography conserved and forwarded the arts that made for peace and civilization. With such grand results this is indeed a happy valley, by the side of which the fabled one of Rasselas becomes insignificant.

The years that followed the close of the Revolution were memorable for the struggle between New York and Massachusetts for these western lands; while from the Canadian border Governor Simcoe looked upon the peace as a mere truce, and advised the Senecas to renew their allegiance to the British crown. The Indians recalled their triumphs at Minisink and Cherry Valley; but the terrible scourging by Sullivan kept them from

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giving more than a left-handed aid to Niagara and Oswego, which the British still occupied. In the mean time Massachusetts resigned to New York all political jurisdiction west of the eighty-second milestone on the Pennsylvania border; but she reserved-and sold to Oliver Phelps and Daniel Gorham, natives of her own soil-the pre-emptive right so far as the Indians were concerned.

The Indian title was soon partially extinguished through the efforts of the Rev. Samuel Kirkland; but Massachusetts was prevailed upon to take back the territory lying west of the Genesee River. "The Genesee country" was thenceforth bounded by "the pre-emption line" on the east, and on the west by a line running through the "Big Elm" at the junction of the Canaseraga with the Genesee, until, at the south, it met the border of Pennsylvania. At the north the line met Braddock's Bay, after following the Genesee at a distance of twelve miles. This tract was originally in the County of Tryon, or Montgomery, in the State of New York. At the present time it comprises all the counties known as Ontario, Steuben, and Yates; the greater part of Monroe and Livingston; one half of Wayne and the eastern towns of Alleghany.

Still further difficulties arose in the way of settling the country. In 1787 there were formed two corporations, known as "The New York Genesee Land Company" and "The Niagara Genesee Land Company." These corporations were soon found to be not only friendly to each other, but also under the influence of Brant, Butler, and other recent enemies of the United States, who were dwelling at Niagara. All of the land in the Genesee tract, and to the west of it as far as Niagara, had already been leased of the six nations by these companies for 999 years, when the treaty of Fort Stanwix was made in 1788. The "lessees," as they were called, fought this treaty. They also fought the Phelps and Gorham purchase until the proprietors agreed to a compromise. In the mean time Colonel Timothy Pickering, at Tioga Point (Athens, Pennsylvania), for the first time persuaded Red Jacket to allow the six nations to deal directly with "The Thirteen Fires" instead of with the single State of New York. The same process was afterward repeated at Elmira; and in 1794, at Canandaigua, in the presence of General Israel Chapin and fifty-eight Sachems, among whom were Hendrick, Fish-Carrier, Red Jacket, Cornplanter, and Handsome Lake. In all of these treaties the six nations were slow to part with their lands, and the Senecas took sides with the lessees. In fact, there was no absolute safety for settlers, and no surrendering of their territory by the Indians, until after the treaty at "Big Tree" (Geneseo), in 1797.

Phelps and Gorham unloaded most of their purchase upon Robert

Morris, the financier of the Revolution, and Phelps departed to look after the "Western Reserve" in Ohio. Morris acquired additional lands to the westward. In a hasty sale he unfortunately guaranteed the consent of the Indians, and the inability to keep his promise led to his end in a debtor's prison. But in spite of disaster to individuals, the country developed rapidly. The legislature abolished taxes for a term of years, allowed aliens to hold real property, and gave privileges to Virginians and Marylanders who brought their slaves. A State road was opened from Fort Schuyler (Utica) to Geneva, and another from near Geneseo across the Alleghany

Mountains to the Lycoming Creek. Bath was located where this road crosses Conhocton Creek. The exports to Canada were beef, salt, pork, flour, and whisky. The same exports were taken down the Susquehanna in "arks." The tributaries of the Susquehanna - the Conhocton, the Chemung, and the Canisteo-were named by the Indians "A Log in the Water," or "A Board in the Water." Tradition has it that these obstructions were started downward by the settlers building fires on the limestone ledges of the "rifts," and splitting them by pouring cold water or vinegar thereon.

There is a Nemesis in the arts that make for peace even more than in