An Agricultural History of the Genesee Valley, 1790-1860 9781512818031

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AN AGRICULTURAL HISTORY OF T H E GENESEE VALLEY 1 7 9 0 - 1 8 6 0

Political

Divisions

Within

the

Genesee

AN AGRICULTURAL HISTORY OF THE GENESEE VALLEY 1790-1860

By

NEIL ADAMS M c N A L L ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF HISTORY THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE COLLEGE

Copyright 1952 A M E R I C A N H I S T O R I C A L ASSOCIATION

All Rights Reserved, Including the Right to Reproduce This Book, or Portions Thereof, in any Form.

O r i g i n a l l y p u b l i s h e d in 1 9 5 2 b y U n i v e r s i t y o f P e n n s y l v a n i a Press, P h i l a d e l p h i a

P r i n t e d in t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s o f A m e r i c a

To the Memory of JOHN CHARLES HEINRICH

Preface HISTORY of agriculture and its role in the economic development of the nation can best be written as the sum of studies of special fields of farm enterprise, of agrarian movements, and of the evolution of farming within clearly defined areas and delimited periods. T h e latter approach is used in this volume. T h e area chosen for study is the Genesee Valley of western New York, so defined as to include the five counties of Allegany, Wyoming, Genesee, Livingston, and Monroe, an area of slightly more than two million acres. T h e time span covers from the period of pioneering within the region, through the era of self-sufficient farming and the reign of "King Wheat," to the achievement of a stable, diversified economy on the eve of the Civil War. So defined and delimited the Genesee Valley affords an excellent field in which to study in miniature the agricultural evolution of a considerable section of the northeastern United States in its formative era. It offers also an opportunity to examine the contrasting careers of the broad northern valley and the rolling lake plains, an area blessed with the bounty of nature and the goal of eager settlers, and the narrower southern valley and its surrounding upland, a section endowed with niggardliness and the scene of tardy, reluctant pioneering. THE

T o a great degree the scope of such a project is defined by the character of the study itself. It should include the peopling of the region, the meeting of speculator and settler and the gaining of title to the land. It should examine the characteristics of pioneer farming, the achievement of commercial agriculture, the evolving patterns of land use and their effects. It should assay the importance of transportation media and of markets, the impact of competition from new regions and the consequent modifications of agricultural practice. It should pay attention to the problems of agricultural credit and to the usual and the uncommon in land tenure. It should survey the more mature farm economy which ultimately emerges and the social and demographic effects which arise from its achievement, and finally, it may legitimately hint at what lies ahead. Whether these specifications are adequate, and are met in a forthright fashion, will be left for the critic to judge. Certain investigations of other areas have proved helpful. Harold F. Wilson's The Hill Country of Northern New England and Lewis

ix

χ

PREFACE

Stillwell's Migration jrom Vermont have provided stimulating ideas. David M. Ellis' Landlords and Farmers in the Hudson-Mohawk Region is a highly useful history of eastern New York covering the same period. Works of value which are based in part on the Genesee are Helen I. Cowan's biography of Charles Williamson and Paul D. Evans', The Holland Land Company. Blake McKelvey's Rocheiter, The Water-Power City, and Rochester, The Flower City link the metropolis of the valley to its hinterland. When compared with other regions in the Northeast, the Genesee has been the scene of relatively little "historical squatterism." Professional and amateur historians have crossed it on occasion, leaving their trails, dead or smoldering camp fires, and slight clearings in the wilderness. They have attested to the fertility of its soil for exploitation by the agricultural historian, but they have moved on to other fields. It is the author's hope that this work will be an "improvement" of more substantial proportions, that he may provide clearings of larger size, fence them, and gradually expand them in productive meadows, that the pastures may be stocked, and that substantial buildings will be provided. It is recognized that weeds and clods will remain after clearing, and that stumps, swamps, and areas of virgin timberland will be left for others to eliminate. Failure to remove evidences of ill management in the cleared lands rests upon this particular "squatter"; no others are to be held responsible for them. T h e author recognizes that his is but the claim of a more substantial squatter, a claim unguarded by legal preemptive right. It is hoped that others will be encouraged and challenged by it to delve into the rich soil of the history of the Genesee.

Acknowledgments A N A U T H O R who attempts a complete catalogue of his obligations to others faces an impossible task. Many contribute to his work through their inspiration and their respect for research and for scholarship. T h e y are the unsung heroes of every effort in the field of historical writing. Equally unsung are the uncomplaining staffs of libraries, who can only be listed by the institutions of which they are a vital part. My own indebtedness includes the libraries at Cornell University, the Pennsylvania State College, and those in the communities of Batavia, Canandaigua, Geneseo, Warsaw, and Wellsville within the Genesee. Special mention must, however, be made of appreciation to Miss Edna Jacobsen and the staff of the Manuscripts Division of the New York State Library at Albany and to Miss Emma Swift and her co-workers in the Local History Division of the Rochester Public Library. T h e curators of the Collection of Regional History at Cornell University, Mr. W h i t n e y Cross, and especially Mrs. Edith Fox, have proved very helpful in unearthing manuscript materials. Vital to successful research has been the aid of numerous officials in the county clerks' offices within the Genesee, in Belmont, Warsaw, Batavia, Geneseo, Rochester, Canandaigua, and Bath.

A debt of deep gratitude is owed to Mr. W i l l i a m P. Wadsworth of " t h e Homestead" in Geneseo, and to the Hon. James W . Wadsworth, for making available to me the wealth of manuscript material dealing with the history of their family within the Genesee. Mr. George Skivington of Rochester kindly permitted me the use of the John Grieg manuscripts. A debt must also be acknowledged to those who subjected the manuscript to careful reading and trenchant criticism, notably to Miss Helen A. Fraser of Albany and to Dr. Blake McKelvev, Rochester City historian, both of whom made useful suggestions. An obligation is due the members of the Committee on the Albert ]. Beveridge F u n d of the American Historical Association for their critical reading of the manuscript and their helpful guidance in improving it. T h a n k s go to the New York State Historical Association for permission to use materials previously embodied in articles which appeared in New York History, and to the Cornell University xi

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Press for authorization to include material in The First-Half Century of Wadsworth Tenancy, the second volume of "Cornell Studies in American History, Literature and Folklore." My investigations were furthered in the summer of 1947 by a grant-in-aid from the Social Science Research Council. T h e maps were prepared by Mr. Vincent F. Kotschar of the Geographical Press of Columbia University. More than to anyone else I am indebted to Professor Paul W. Gates of Cornell University. He has followed the development of this work from its inception with keen and unflagging interest and has been always generous in counsel and encouragement. Much of whatever merit the book may possess is due to his careful guidance. I cannot say, with Philip Guedalla, " T o that multitude of critics, my wife." My wife, Kathryn Heinrich McNall, has been on occasion a critic, but she has also been, whenever opportunity permitted, a co-researcher, a copyist, a typist, and a "historical maid of all work." Words are inadequate to convey my debt to her. N.A.M. State College, Pennsylvania July, 1951

Contents Chapter I. II.

Page T H E BACKGROUND OF S E T T L E M E N T

ι

LAND AGENTS AND T H E I R OPERATIONS

17

III.

ACQUISITION OF LAND T I T L E

32

IV.

T H E BEGINNINGS OF FARM TENANCY

52

T H E S E T T L E M E N T OF T H E GENESEE VALLEY

66

A G R I C U L T U R E IN T H E PRE-CANAL PERIOD

78

PRE-CANAL T R A N S P O R T A T I O N AND MARKETING

96

V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. XI. XII.

W H E A T IN T H E FARMING OF T H E GENESEE

109

LIVESTOCK RAISING IN T H E GENESEE

132

DIVERSIFICATION AND IMPROVEMENT

147

AGENCIES FOR A G R I C U L T U R A L EDUCATION

167

LUMBERING AND A G R I C U L T U R E IN T H E SOUTHERN T I E R

183

XIII.

SHIFTING P A T T E R N S OF FARM TENANCY, 1840 i860

195

XIV.

AGRICULTURAL C R E D I T W I T H I N T H E GENESEE, 1830-1860

210

XV.

T H E CONDITION OF T H E F A R M E R IN T H E GENESEE, 1840-1860

XVI.

228

CONCLUSION

240

TABLES

247

BIBLIOGRAPHY

255

INDEX

267

Maps T H F . G E N E S E E V A L L E Y A B O U T 1800

front

P O L I T I C A L DIVISIONS W I T H I N T H E G E N E S E E

frontispiccc

P O P U L A TION OF T H E G E N E S E E — 1 8 1 0 POPULATION

73

O F T H E GENESEE—1860

T H E G E N E S E E VALLEY IN i860

end-paper

231 back

end-paper

Chapter I THE BACKGROUND OF S E T T L E M E N T T o THE Indians the term '"Genesee" signified "a pleasant v a l l e y . " 1 T o land speculators and investors of the post-Revolutionary period "the Genesee country" offered a new field of activity. T o the landseekers of New England it meant a possible site for new homes. A f t e r the Revolution the Indians lost their lands in the Genesee except for small reservations. Soon the land speculators and investors found themselves, the bubble of paper profits pricked, reluctantly retailing hundreds of thousands of acres of virtually unbroken forest, the disposition of which was a long, slow, and not very profitable process. T h e home-seekers f o u n d in the Genesee their goals, but these were attained only after years of g r i n d i n g toil and hardship. THE

PHYSICAL

SCENE

T h e principal stream of western N e w Y o r k , the Genesee R i v e r , rises in Potter County in the "northern tier" of Pennsylvania, flows in a generally northward course across N e w York State, and empties into L a k e Ontario a few miles north of Rochester. W i t h its tributaries it drains much of five N e w Y o r k counties: A l l e g a n y , W y o m ing, Genesee, Livingston, and Monroe. In its upper portions the Genesee flows through a narrow, w i n d i n g valley, acquiring smaller feeders and gradually increasing in volume. T h e valley widens as it crosses Allegany County. As the Genesee leaves A l l e g a n y C o u n t y , it commences a rapid descent through picturesque gorges, w h i c h today make u p Letchworth State Park. T h e r e a f t e r the valley widens greatly and the defining hills become less distinct. T h e serene stream, meandering through alluvial plains, is fed by an occasional tributary, chief a m o n g which are Canaseraga, Honeoye, and A l l e n ι Robert Munro, " A Description of the Genesee C o u n t r y in the State of N e w Y o r k , " in Edmund B. O'Callaghan, editor. Documentary History of the State of New York, II, 1172. T h i s large work, to which repeated reference is made, will be cited hereafter simply as Doc. Hist. 0/ Ν. Y., and this particular account will be cited simply as M u n r o , "Description."

2

THE GENESEE

VALLEY

creeks. In the city of Rochester the calm character of the river abruptly ends, as it descends the N i a g a r a escarpment in a series of three falls of more than two h u n d r e d feet. T h e s e cataracts were long adequate to meet the water-power needs of Rochester. Below the falls the river resumes its unruffled course to L a k e Ontario, f o r m i n g an avenue of approach long used by commercial craft. 2 T h o u g h the Genesee is the d o m i n a n t river of this section of N e w Y o r k , smaller streams f o r m m i n o r watersheds in the five counties under consideration. Parts of A l l e g a n y County f a l l within the drainage basins of the Allegheny and Susquehanna rivers. Other tributaries of the latter stream drain southeastern Livingston County. Western W y o m i n g a n d Genesee counties are included in the L a k e E r i e watershed, f e e d i n g small streams, chief among which are Cattaraugus and T o n a w a n d a creeks. N o r t h e r n M o n r o e C o u n t y , east and west of the outlet of the Genesee, is drained by a series of short creeks emptying directly into L a k e Ontario. Hemlock, Conesus, and Silver lakes lie within the Genesee Valley, but their importance is almost entirely recreational. A cross section of the Genesee R i v e r is similar to a vertical meridional cleavage of the Genesee country itself. Allegany C o u n t y is rugged u p l a n d , with confining valleys and short, turbulent watercourses, and forms part of the A p p a l a c h i a n plateau region, with elevations in the southeastern section of 2,400 feet. Most of W y o m ing and southeastern Livingston counties are also within this plateau area with rolling, broken topography of more than one thousand feet elevation. T h e northern rim of upland terminates in an irregular fringe in southern Genesee County. North of this plateau region the land was once the bed on a prehistoric lake, and is today a continuation of the L a k e E r i e plain. Its surface is gently rolling, with no h i g h hills. T h i s plain is bounded on the north by the N i a g a r a escarpment which forms the falls at N i a g a r a and also those of the Genesee at Rochester. A l o n g this front the terrain drops to the level of the L a k e Ontario plain. T h e latter forms a part of the Hudson-Mohawk-Ontario lowland where most of N e w York's industry and teeming population are concentrated. 3 A traveler to the Genesee, writing in 1804, summarized well the topography of the region. Nearly one half of this country, situated nearest the southern boundary, 2 M u c h of this material on the Genesee R i v e r is based upon George W. R a f t e r , Hydrology of New York State, pp. 209-10. 3 Isaiah B o w m a n , Forest Physiography, p. 687; E l m e r O. F i p p i n , Rural New York, pp. 1 2 - 1 3 ; New York P l a n n i n g B o a r d , A Graphie Compendium 0/ Planning Studies, p. 12.

THE

BACKGROUND

OF

SETTLEMENT

3

is generally hilly and broken, consisting however of many fertile tracts of land. T h e face of the other parts is generally more even, a considerable part, on the east of the Genesee river consisting of low ridges, or gradual swells running parallel with each other, which form handsome uplands and meadows; and on the west side of the Genesee river the country is more level. 4 V e g e t a b l e m a t t e r a n d rocks are the " s t u f f " f r o m which soils are made. T h u s the rock f o r m a t i o n s w h i c h u n d e r l i e a p a r t i c u l a r a r e a a r e i m p o r t a n t to its a g r i c u l t u r a l activities. L i m e s t o n e is the basic source of most g o o d soils. T w o b r o a d belts of limestone e x t e n d across the n o r t h e r n G e n e s e e V a l l e y ; one f r o m O r l e a n s C o u n t y traverses central M o n r o e C o u n t y , the other crosses central G e n e s e e C o u n t y a n d e x t e n d s across L i v i n g t o n , increasing in w i d t h in the Genesee V a l l e y p r o p e r . F r o m this limestone base have been d e r i v e d the soils w h i c h give to the r e g i o n its h i g h a g r i c u l t u r a l r e p u t a t i o n . Shales a n d sandstones y i e l d less p r o d u c t i v e soils than does the limestone. Most of the soils of the southern Genesee V a l l e y a r e of the shale a n d sandstone o r i g i n , a d d i n g to the obstacles w h i c h t e r r a i n places in the p a t h of a g r i c u l t u r e . 5 T h e entire G e n e s e e V a l l e y falls w i t h i n the r e g i o n covered b y the ice sheet w h i c h , c r o w d i n g slowly s o u t h w a r d u p the valleys, g r o u n d a n d m i x e d the soil, f o r m i n g m o r a i n e s of glacial till which rested o n the native rock. As the g r e a t ice cap slowly receded, the w a t e r s w h i c h flowed f r o m the m e l t i n g ice were pent u p a n d f o r m e d lakes b e t w e e n the r e t r e a t i n g g l a c i e r a n d the h i g h e r l a n d to the southw a r d . Streams r u n n i n g i n t o these l a k e b r o u g h t a l l u v i u m w h i c h m i x e d w i t h the g l a c i a l till a n d g r a d u a l l y consolidated. T h e d e p t h a n d c o m p o s i t i o n of this ice- a n d water-borne m a t e r i a l are i m p o r t a n t factors in e x p l a i n i n g the soil f e r t i l i t y of p a r t i c u l a r regions. 6 Soils, c o u p l e d w i t h terrain, c l i m a t e , a n d m a r k e t i n g conditions, a r e the g r e a t d e t e r m i n a n t s of a g r i c u l t u r a l enterprise. T h e soils of the G e n e s e e V a l l e y early a c q u i r e d a r e p u t a t i o n f o r fertility w h i c h b e c a m e a p o t e n t influence in " G e n e s e e f e v e r . " H o w e v e r , this n a m e f o r fertility was c o n f e r r e d o n the soils of the n o r t h e r n p a r t of the valley. L i k e the rest of N e w Y o r k State, the Genesee V a l l e y lies w i t h i n the belt of cyclonic storms w h i c h g i v e to the northeastern U n i t e d States a h e a l t h f u l , v a r i a b l e climate. T h e s e storms g e n e r a l l y f o l l o w a G r e a t Lakes-St. L a w r e n c e course, b r i n g i n g with them alternate p e r i o d s of « M u n r o , " D e s c r i p t i o n . " Dor. Hist, of N. y., II, 1 1 7 2 . 5 Frank B. H o w e . Classification and Agricultural Value of New York Soils, p. 1 3 ; Graphic Compendium, p. 7. β Most of this material on the glaciation of the Gencscc Valley is f r o m H e r m a n L . Fairchild, Geological History of the Genesee Valley and Western New York.

4

T H E GENESEE VALLEY

clear weather and precipitation, and frequent changes in temperature. This variability produces a climate that is conducive to high physical and mental activity. In the Genesee country the average growing season, the period free from killing frosts and therefore important in the determination of crop life, varies from 177 days at Rochester and 162 days at Brockport in Monroe County, to 108 days in Bolivar, Allegany County, which is near the Pennsylvania boundary at an elevation of 1,800 feet. Proximity to L a k e Ontario and the influence of westerly winds which blow off Lake Erie exert a moderating influence on the climate. Increased elevation and the greater distance from the ameliorating effects of large bodies of water shorten the growing season on the southern upland region of the Genesee Valley. Here the climate is almost continental in type, with the dry atmosphere and high altitudes causing high daytime temperatures and rapid radiation making the nights cool. Precipitation throughout the whole Genesee Valley is generally favorable for crops. T h e most arid area, covering much of Livingston and eastern Wyoming counties, receives between thirty and forty inches of rainfall annually. T h e growing season precipitation is more variable, ranging from twelve to more than twenty inches. Here again, climate works in favor of the northern region. 7 A t the outset of settlement in the Genesee the presence of natural, unforested plains surprised travelers and farmers alike. T h e open prairies which became a commonplace to the settlers in the Middle West were small and infrequent in New England and eastern New York. In consequence pioneering had always involved a struggle to clear land of its forest growth. An early traveler wrote, " T h e famous Genesee flats . . . are about twenty miles in length and about four miles wide; the Soil is remarkably rich, quite clear of trees, and producing grass near ten feet high." 8 Charles Williamson, an early land agent, quoted another traveler of 1792 who wrote of the country between Canandaigua and the Genesee ". . . in many places, we found openings of two and three hundred acres, free from all timber and even bushes, which, on our examining, proved to be of a rich, deep soil." 9 Williamson also remarked the wariness of the first settlers who "supposed the treeless land to be barren," and stated that the flats once thought worthless, when their fertility was * R . A. Mordoff, The Climate of New York State is the standard work on this subject. « , "Description of the Country between Albany and Niagara in 1792," Doc. Hist, of Ν. Y., II, 1107. »Charles Williamson. "Description of the Settlement of the Genesee Country in the State of New York," Doc. Hist, of Ν. Y., II, 1132. Hereinafter cited as Williamson, "Description."

T H E B A C K G R O U N D OF S E T T L E M E N T

5

10

discovered, were now sought by purchasers. Isaac Weld, who approached the Genesee from the west in 1795, also mentioned open plains. On the second day's journey from Buffalo Creek eastward he crossed open plains several miles wide and covered with rank grass. Weld believed these prairies were the consequence of deficiencies rather than the depredations of animal life or of fire. Later Timothy Dwight, erudite president of Yale, in writing of the great Genesee flats, ascribed their high fertility to the annual overflowing of the river which left a coating of rich slime on the surrounding land. Other journeyers through the Genesee also attributed the great productivity of the soil to this yearly flooding, which served to "manure" the land. De la Rochefoucault also tells of the luxuriant grass, which grew as high as his horse, and provided great amounts of natural pasturage. 1 1 Of the soil of the Genesee flats Dwight wrote in 1804: T h e soil of these lands . . . is . . . a black, vegetable mould. Beneath this is a deep stratum, f o r m e d by the finer particles of loam, washed from the hills surrounding the headwaters of its tributaries, and floated down a n d deposited, by the river in the m a n n e r formerly mentioned. . . . It ought to be remembered that the vegetable mould, with which they are covered, is the best of all m a n u r e ; that they are therefore in their highest state of productiveness; a n d that, if estimated according to their present fertility they will certainly be o v e r r a t e d . 1 2

Despite the presence of open plains a more outstanding characteristic at the beginning of settlement in the Genesee Valley and for decades thereafter, was the presence of forests. 13 Robert Munro advanced the theory in 1804 that the best use of the underlying soil could be determined from the species of trees growing thereon. "Where the sugar maple and basswood are most common, the land is generally best esteemed for grass and probably for grain. . . ." H e pictured the lower Genesee country as commonly forested with "sugar maple, beech, lyn (here called basswood), oak, ash, and elm; the hilly parts are mostly timbered with o a k . " 1 4 Here were found the hardwoods which were most easily eliminated. In the making of pot and pearl ash they yielded more profit than the conifers. 1 5 1» ibid., p. 1147. it Isaac Weld, Jr., Travels through the States of North America, II, 3 1 3 - 1 5 ; Timothy Dwight, Travels in New England and Neu) York, IV, 53-54; Duke de la Rochefoucault-Liancourt, Travels Through the United States of North America, I, 275-77·

12 Dwight, Travels, IV, 53-54. 1» Henry Tudor, Narrative of a Tour of North America, I, 230-31. James Stuart, Three Years in North America, I, 262-63. Cited hereafter as Stuart, Three Years. 1« Munro, "Description," Doc. Hist, of Ν. V., II, 1173. is Jared Van Wagenen, Jr., The Golden Age of Homespun, p. 66.

6

T H E GENESEE

VALLEY

T h e i r stumps also decayed more rapidly than those of the latter. T h e trees less f r e q u e n t l y encountered were "hemlock, fir . . . a n d . . . spruce p i n e . " 1 6 T h e u p l a n d plateau area, where settlement began later a n d proceeded more slowly, bore trees which were also " d o m i n a n t l y h a r d w o o d s , " though evergreens occurred more frequently than in the lower elevation. T i m o t h y Dwight's e x p l a n a t i o n of the fertility of the Genesee flats in terms of the h u m u s content of the soil helps also to account f o r the ebb and flow of agriculture in the forested sections of the valley. As the vegetable matter of forested areas was lost through careless cultivation, the nature of the u n d e r l y i n g soil, and the rock f r o m which that soil was derived, became increasingly i m p o r t a n t . 1 7 Soils of limestone origin retained their initial fertility largely unimpaired long after those of sandstone or shale derivation decreased in yield. T h u s vegetable mould or h u m u s served to conceal the f u n d a m e n t a l nature of the soils. F u r t h e r , h u m u s was a good retainer of water. Mats of leaf m o u l d would absorb quantities of water a n d thereby decrease the speed of run-off. W i t h the loss of this covering of vegetable matter r a p i d run-off commenced and leaching and erosion started to detract f r o m the agricultural possibilities of the soil. T h e i n f o r m a t i o n which they heard of the Genesee country m a d e it a p p e a r to land-seekers a veritable agricultural paradise. T h e land was ready, and to the east farmers, pressed by circumstance, prep a r e d to move into new areas. T H E BACKGROUND OF S E T T L E M E N T

Activities of British armies a n d their Indian allies checked the advance of the northern frontier d u r i n g the R e v o l u t i o n . In the C h e r r y Valley of N e w Y o r k and the W y o m i n g Valley of Pennsylv a n i a , Indian massacres eliminated promising beginnings, d r i v i n g their survivors back u p o n the older settlements, leaving behind them scenes of death and devastation. 1 8 T h e occupation of V e r m o n t a n d western N e w H a m p s h i r e , which had begun a f t e r the French a n d Indian wars, was halted. T h e American defeat in the Quebec campaign and the advance of B u r g o v n e in 1777 caused panicstricken settlers to flee southward, a b a n d o n i n g their small improvements. 1 9 T h u s outlying fingers of settlement were withdrawn to 16

M u n r o , " D e s c r i p t i o n , " Doc. Hist, of N. }'., I I , 1 1 7 4 . 1 7 H a r o l d F. W i l s o n , The Hill Country of Northern New England, p. 126. is Francis VV. Halsey, The Old New York Frontier, pp. 238-52, 339; W a y l a n d F. D u n a w a y , A History of Pennsylvania, p p . 1 6 1 . 186 87. L e w i s D. Stilwell, Migration from Vermont, p p . 90-91.

T H E B A C K G R O U N D OF S E T T L E M E N T

7

await the end of hostilities. With the coming of peace the expansion of the frontier could continue apace. T h e forces which impelled migration into the new state of Vermont in the last decades of the eighteenth century were the same impulses which were to send other inhabitants of southern New England into the Genesee Valley in the years after 1800. Shays's Rebellion is but symptomatic of broad agricultural discontent. Taxes were high and placed an inordinate burden upon the farmers in the lower economic levels, while appreciation of the currency contributed to agricultural unrest. 20 Migration presented one solution to the defeated rebels. It is estimated that within six weeks after the close of the rebellion seven hundred families deserted western Massachusetts for Vermont. Daniel Shays himself was among those taking refuge there. 21 Pioneers in the back-country of Connecticut and western Massachusetts discovered that when primeval forest cover had been removed the underlying soil was infertile, stony, and difficult to work. It could not endure the exhausting cropping system and poor agricultural practices then employed. Many men migrated with the speedy decline in soil fertility. 22 A cause contributing to migration was the generally unhappy condition of agriculture in southern New England. Especially in the non-coastal areas farming was the sole reliance of the population. As yet there existed no adequate market for the farm produce of the interior. Such a condition of limited markets has been called a "crippled state of agriculture," and could only result in emigration, at least until the growth of markets brought increased demands for farm staples, and consequent specialization of production. T h e outflux from southern New England which stemmed from these conditions continued from 1790 to 1820, with the migrants coming chiefly from the inland areas, and much less commonly from coastal regions where villages and cities provided a market for the products of the hinterland. 2 3 20 J o h n Fiske, The Critical Period of American History, p p . 177-86; W i l l i a m B . Weeden, Economic and Social History of New England, I I , 844-45; J a n e s T . A d a m s , New England in the Republic, p p . 136-44. 21 Ibid., pp. 192-93. It is an interesting and possibly significant fact that Shays went f r o m Vermont to Schoharie C o u n t y , New York, a n d a f t e r several years there removed to Sparta. L ivingston C o u n t y , w h e r e he died. D u m a s M a l o n e and A l l a n J o h n s o n , cds., The Dictionary 0/ American Biography, X V I I , 50. 2- Percy W . B i d w e l l and J o h n I. Falconer, History of Agriculture in the Northern United States, 1620-1860, p p . 7 0 - 7 1 ; R i c h a r d J . Purcell, Connecticut in Transition, 1-J5-1818, p p . 159-60. 23 Percy \V. B i d w e l l . Rural Economy in New England at the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century, p p . 389-90.

8

T H E GENESEE VALLEY

T h e natural increase in population contributed to make migration necessary. A farm youth was the typical individual in the upcountry. Here nearly fifty per cent of the males were under sixteen years of age. 24 In a few years these younger sons sought farms of their own, only to find that most of the available land had been already taken up or else was too expensive for their limited resources. Thousands of young men found that the only agricultural land which they could secure was on the frontier. 2 5 In a later era commerce and industry were to absorb part of the surplus rural population. T h o u g h the ocean-borne trade of the time did employ some of the excess farm labor, the country lad who shipped as a foremast hand was more typical of the second quarter of the nineteenth century. T h e Embargo and Non-Intercourse Acts and the War of 1812 drove the merchant marine from the sea, stranding thousands of sailors. 28 As yet no substantial industrial development cried its need for factory operatives, for factories in the Waltham, Pawtucket, and Lowell manner were in infancy. 27 Other factors than those narrowly economic contributed to emigration. Religious orthodoxy exerted its influence. T h e frontier was often the haven of maladjusted people who galled under the fetters of established religions. T h e Puritan Congregationalism of southern New England stifled the evangelical, unorthodox frontiersmen. In Connecticut the dissenters against the Congregational church resented certification or tithe-paying. T h e y also opposed the Congregational bias of the entire school system, and ministers who cut 24 In Berkshire County, Massachusetts, in 1790 there were more than 13,000 free white males under sixteen years of age and only 14,600 of sixteen and more. In the same year Litchfield County, in northwestern Connecticut, contained 8,000 under sixteen and 9,000 above. This characteristic youth of the up-country is an important explanation of migration from this area. On a state basis, the combined populations of Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts would normally have increased by about 1,600,000 in the three decades after 1790 had no emigration taken place. T h e actual growth of population was, however, only 800,000. From these states, in three decades, about 800,000 migrated elsewhere. (Census Office, First Census, 1790 . . . of the . . . United States.) Estimate of total emigration from Bidwell, Rural Economy in New England, pp. 386-87. 25 Bidwell and Falconer, History of Agriculture, pp. 70-71. Purcell reports that desirable lands in the state of Connecticut were selling in the period before 1810 at from fourteen to fifty dollars per acre, at a time when unimproved lands in the west, of greater intrinsic fertility, were being marketed at three dollars per acre on attractive terms. (Connecticut in Transition, pp. 149-50.) 26 Samuel E. Morison, The Maritime History of Massachusetts, ij8}-i86o, pp. 108-9, 256-57; Purcell, Connecticut in Transition, pp. 115-18. 27 Adams, New England in the Republic, pp. 196-98; l'urcell, Connecticut in Transition, pp. 119-21.

T H E BACKGROUND OF SETTLEMENT

9

wide swaths of interference in matters deemed personal by their performers. 28 T h e r e was little of political democracy in the older areas under the established frames of government. T o democrats Vermont had set up a desirable precedent when the state constitution of 1777 provided for universal manhood suffrage. T o such men the frontier beckoned, for there, if they could not control the government, they would at least be far from the seat of it. Gregarious men sometimes sought to move in colonies, while others yielded singly or as families to the importunities of friends who had gone before them. 2 · New England agriculture was in a state of flux in the period after the American Revolution. Thousands were ready to commence settlements wherever there seemed a reasonable chance of success. Motives of economics, the hard necessity for gaining a livelihood, were most influential in the inception and continuance of migration from southern New England. 3 0 T h e new state of Vermont formed one of the first outlets for the restive agricultural element in the states to the south. It grew in population from about 30,000 in 1781 to 85,000 a decade later, to 154,000 in 1800, and in the next decade to 217,000. In part this growth stemmed from the reproductive qualities of the Vermonters, since in 1800 and 1 8 1 0 fifty-one per cent of the population was under sixteen years of age. Accompanying this high birth rate was a low rate of mortality, since few of the inhabitants were old enough to expire from natural causes. 31 T h i s natural increase in population was a potent factor in decelerating migration into Vermont. Most of the 41,000 males who were under sixteen in 1800 had attained their majorities by 1820 and were casting around for farms for themselves. 32 Vermont soon absorbed all the population her limited agricultural resources could attract. In less than a generation the reproductive propensities of the Vermonters had done their work, and streams of settlers were leaving for northern New York, for the Genesee country, and for Ohio. 3 3 -H ¡bid., p p . 140, 92-97, contain a good discussion of dissenter g r i e v a n c e s in C o n n e c t i c u t . C o n d i t i o n s in Massachusetts were little better. 2® Ibid., p . 149. so B i d w e l l , Rural Economy in New England, p. 3 9 1 . »» S t i l l w e l l , Migration from Vermont, p p . 95-96. 32 United Slates Census-1800. »3 I n 1 8 5 5 the f o u r N e w York counties of C l i n t o n , F r a n k l i n , J e f f e r s o n , a n d St. L a w r e n c e contained a b o u t 15,300 p e o p l e b o r n in V e r m o n t . T h e G e n e s e e v a l l e y counties of A l l e g a n y , G e n e s e e , L i v i n g s t o n , M o n r o e , a n d W y o m i n g h a d n e a r l y

IO

T H E GENESEE VALLEY

Even during the settlement of Vermont, and especially after its attractiveness had waned, the counter lures of other regions were increasing. Pennsylvania, particularly the lands of Wyoming Valley and the Susquehanna Company tract, where settlement had already commenced before the American Revolution, drew thousands of Connecticut and Massachusetts folk. T h e Western Reserve of Connecticut, in northeastern Ohio, drew other thousands like a magnet. Peopling of the region was a direct result of the battle of Fallen Timbers which subdued the Indians, and the Treaty of Greenville of 1795 which opened eastern Ohio to settlement. 3 ·· Once open, the Western Reserve was a natural basin for the New England overflow. Its population numbered only 1,300 in 1800 but increased rapidly thereafter, particularly with the extinguishing of the Indian claims west of the Cuyahoga in 1805. 85 T h e rural sections of the Western Reserve have long retained their early New England coloring. Eastern New York with its quit-rent system and large manorial estates did not appeal to men accustomed to owning their real estate in fee simple. T h e upland holdings like those of William Cooper were settled by some southern New Englanders, as were the lower arms of the east branch of the Susquehanna. Massachusetts and Connecticut elements were the most powerful external forces in this region, for the tremendous exodus from Vermont had not yet begun. 3 4 Overshadowing Vermont, the Western Reserve and other outlets for surplus population, the Genesee country became the promised land of the agriculturally discontented of southern New England in the years before the War of 1812, but before the emigration could commence the promised land had to be opened to settlers. 6,000 Vermonters, a n d t h e New York counties west of them an a d d i t i o n a l 8,000. (Compiled from t h e Census of the State of New-York-passim.) " Carl Wittke, editor, The History of the State of Ohio, I, 342-48. T h i s volume, written by Beverly \V. Bond, Jr., is entitled The Foundations of Ohio. See also H a r l a n Hatcher, The Western Reserve, p p . 62-75. 35 Wittke, ed.. History of the State of Ohio, I, 455. >· Halsey, The Old New York Frontier, p. 339. T h e New York counties of Broome. C h e n a n g o , Delaware, Madison, Oneida, and Otsego in 1855 contained 10,400 born in Massachusetts, 11,500 C o n n e c t i c u t - b o m , and 4,000 Vermonters, t h e l a t t e r mainly concentrated in Madison and O n e i d a counties. (Compiled f r o m the Census of the State of New-York—1855.) See also David Maldwyn Ellis, Landlords and Farmers in the Hudson-Mohawk Region, i-;^o-i8¡o, pp. 20-22.

T H E B A C K G R O U N D OF LAND

TITLES

OF THE

From State To

SETTLEMENT

GENESSEE

11

COUNTRY:

Speculators

IN THE Critical Era and in the decade f o l l o w i n g the adoption of the Constitution, the A m e r i c a n people witnessed an orgy of land speculation without precedent. In a day when stock companies for productive purposes were preadolescent, and when the initial toyings in Federal securities had largely passed, raw frontier land furnished one field for speculation which was used to the full. Paper profits from land transaction lured normally level-headed persons to financial shoals, where some of them were wrecked and from which others slipped free only with difficulty. From Maine to Georgia, and west to the Appalachians and the Mississippi, wild lands were bought and sold with abandon as men anticipated the migration to the frontier which the dangers of the Revolutionary W a r had l o n g pent up. A m o n g the most alluring of these regions for speculation was western N e w York. 3 7 Until late in 1786 the governments of Massachusetts and N e w York asserted strong claims to the western portion of the latter state. Massachusetts' title rested upon her colonial charter, which had granted a long, narrow strip of territory, approximately the width of the colony and extending to the Pacific Ocean. T h e state ceded to the government of the Confederation all claims to land west of the present state of New Y o r k , a cession which took place in 1785. 38 In 1663 Charles II conferred on the D u k e of Y o r k , his brother, the province of N e w York, a tract which extended westward only to the Delaware river. 39 . Her pretensions to territory beyond that boundary were based on her protectorate over the Six Nations of the Iroquois. So tenuous was this right that she relinquished claims to lands west of her present bounds to the national government in 178ο. 40 T h e r e remained for liquidation the rival claims to western N e w York. Failure of the complex system of adjudication of interstate dissi A general discussion of this "post revolutionary wild land m a n i a " is to be f o u n d in A. M. Sakolski, The Great American Land Bubble, C h a p t e r II. 3R T h o m a s C. Amory, Life of James Sullivan, I, 149-59, gives a rather detailed treatment of the charter background of the Massachusetts claim. H o w a r d L . Osgood, " T h e T i t l e of the Phelps and G o r h a m Purchase," Publications of the Rochester Historical Societ\, I (1892), 19-51, affords a good survey of the title derivation. 3β Amory, Sullivan, I, 160. 3 Ibid., p. r,6s; also Turner, Holland Purchase, p. 555. 54 Francis Hall, Travels in Canada and the United States in 1S16 and ι8ιγ, p. 196. »5 James Wadsworth to John Murray & Sons, June, 1807. Quoted in Turner, Phelps and Gorham Purchase, p. 581. »β Francis Hall, Travels, p. 196.

90

T H E GENESEE VALLEY

Genesee to Montreal in 1809. Later thousands of these butt staves were shipped to Montreal from Rochester each year, supplementing the income from potash, which the settlers eked out before the Erie Canal opened a sure market for grain. In the years from 1818 to 1820, 179,000 to 500,000 staves were shipped via the lake each year. 57 In the "Account . . . of the Genesee Tract," the unknown writer included very elaborate instructions for the making of maple sugar upon a large scale. By the author's calculations four men with an outlay of £ 6 5 for equipment could make two tons of sugar in the course of a single season, a source of considerable profit during a "slack time." 5 8 However, the elaborate, optimistic undertaking of Boon and other Holland Land Company workers in eastern New York failed completely to return profits, and the hopes of the Genesee farmers were dashed in like manner. Because of the limited amount of sugar that a single person could produce, and because of an increasing supply of white sugar in the East, "the maple sugar industry never became of any great importance in New York." 8 9 H e m p formed another of the pioneer goods whose value permitted transportation to market. Its cultivation, early introduced by the Wadsworths, was restricted largely to the fertile, moist flats of the Genesee. 80 Letting land for what amounted to a hemp rental figured in the Wadsworth administration of the Mount Morris tract. 81 Those very conditions, however, especially the demands upon a limited labor supply, which defeated the production of hemp elsewhere in the late 1790's, militated against its successful cultivation in the Genesee. 62 Dew-rotted hemp was listed in Wadsworth account books in 1 8 1 0 at from $ 1 0 to $ 1 4 a hundredweight. " I t finally became a losing business; cultivation, harvesting, preparation for market, transportation cost too much. It was abandoned after an experiment of a few years." 8 3 Thus failed another effort at finding a staple product in the Genesee. Tobacco and flax were also raised to some extent in the preErie Canal period. T h e Wadsworths and others raised the former during the early years, but subsequently its culture fell largely into " H e n r y O ' R e i l l y , Sketches of Rochester, p. 354. ** . " A n A c c o u n t . " Doc. Hist, of .V. )'.. I I , 1 1 2 2 - 2 5 . 5 » F.vans, Holland I.and Company, pp. 63-66; Ulysses P. Hedrick, History of Agriculture in the State of New York, pp. 147-48. A summary of efforts at the p r o d u c t i o n of maple sugar on a large scale. 35· 3» Fowler, Agricultural Tour, p. 107. 3» Genesee Farmer, I (September 10. 1831), 28.5. 830-33 (Homestead)]. W i l l i a m W . W a d s w o r t h to B e n j a m i n J o y , A p r i l 18, 1835, I.etterbook 5.?, p. 21 (Homestead); J a m e s S. W a d s w o r t h to W i l l i a m W. W a d s w o r t h , undated, but in Manuscript letters—1839 (Homestead); also J a m e s S. W a d s w o r t h to W i l l i a m AV. W a d s w o r t h , J u l y 8, 1839, Manuscript letters—1839 (Homestead). i s I n 1841 Lee Comstock was given $2,000 with which he purchased one h u n d r e d a n d twenty head of cattle for $1,888 net, a n d with d r i v i n g expenses of $26.00. H e received $34.00 for his services. [ W i l l i a m C. R e e d to W i l l i a m W . W a d s w o r t h , J u n e 28, 184 1. Manuscript letters—1841 (Homestead)]. 20 W i l l i a m F a n n e r to W i l l i a m W . W a d s w o r t h , F e b r u a r y 1 3 , 1835, Manuscript letters—1835 (Homestead). W i l l i a m W . W a d s w o r t h to J o n a s Seely, no date b u t p r o b a b l y October or N o v e m b e r , 1835, I.etterbook 5 8 , p. 100 (Homestead). C h a u n cey R . B o n d to W i l l i a m W. W a d s w o r t h , J a n u a r y 29, 1 8 3 5 , Manuscript letters— 1835 (Homestead). B o n d remarked that there were " a b o u t two drovers to every five steers." 21 T h e r e exists a record of 235 head purchased in A p r i l 1835 at a cost of $3.268.76. T h e expense of the agent was $ 5 1 . 3 1 . On the way to the Genesee the herd consumed 1 |8i/i tons of hay. T h e expense of d r i v i n g the herd to A l l e g a n y a m o u n t e d to $28.21; of s u m m e r pasturing, chiefly for salt, to S28.cn; and of returning the herd to Genesee S23.50. [Accountbook 57, p. 1 1 2 (Homestead)]. T h e record of sales f r o m this herd is not available. 22 B a r c l a y wrote that the stock seemed starved or stunted in their g r o w t h , a n d

136

T H E GENESEE

VALLEY

to roam the pasture lots of the Genesee in the summer, d r i n k i n g f r o m springs, ponds, and the Genesee R i v e r . In winter they were fed from haystacks, and drank from holes chopped through the ice. 2 3 T h e animals emerged in the spring thin fleshed and requiring a summer of excellent pasturage to regain the lost weight and to be ready f o r market. Barclay described the herd of W i l l i a m W. Wadsworth in 1841 as consisting of f o u r hundred cattle, heifers, and steers, and regretted seeing v a l u a b l e land "covered with stock of so inferior a description." 2 4 Y e t the desire of buyers to secure Wadsworth cattle at least partially contradicts this statement. T h o u g h Philadelphia was the easiest marketing place, it was used less than either A l b a n y or N e w York, since it was nearer the O h i o source of supply and competition was keener. 2 5 Also O h i o cattle were fattened on the rich pastures of Pennsylvania, in Chester C o u n t y especially. 2 6 T h e drive to market usually commenced in September or October, f o r to have started later than October would h a v e meant driving cattle over frozen ground, and the trouble and expense of feeding them on hay. 2 7 T h e cost of driving a herd from Geneseo to A l b a n y in 1834 amounted to about $ 1 . 2 5 a head. 2 8 A d d i t i o n a l men were taken along for the first few days to "school" the herd. 2 9 W h e n N e w York City was the destination of the herd, it was driven via Geneva, Ithaca, and Binghamton, and was ferried across to N e w Y o r k f r o m Hoboken. In disposing of the herd in N e w York or A l b a n y the common practice was to employ a man who knew the market to serve as agent. as miserable as the poorest quality of Scotland. By Barclay's account, the m i x t u r e of breeds w o u l d have "puzzled a Wethcrell to analyze.'' Barclay, Agricultural Tour, pp. 39-40. 23 Elizabeth Wadsworth to W i l l i a m W. Wadsworth, J a n u a r y 29, 1839, Manuscript letters—1839 (Homestead). 2« B a r c l a y , Agricultural Tour, p. 39. " Ellicott Reports, II, 395; in October, 183g, J a m e s Wadsworth, writing from P h i l a d e l p h i a , advised his brother against sending more cattle there, telling him to send them to A l b a n y instead. J a m e s S. Wadsworth to W i l l i a m W . Wadsworth, October 30, 1839, Manuscript letters—1839 (Homestead). 26 Bidwell and Falconer, History of Agriculture, p. 227. 27 J a m e s S. Wadsworth to W i l l i a m W. Wadsworth, September 16, 1839, Manuscript letters—1839 (Homestead). 28 T h i s is based on the figure for two herds of 220 and 221 head, on which the driving costs amounted to $261.29 $265.20, respectively. Accountbnok 57 (Homestead). J a m e s S. Wadsworth to W i l l i a m W. Wadsworth, October 6. 1 8 3 1 . Manuscript letters—1830 33 (Homestead). In this particular case a herd of 150 head had just been started f o r New York, and the drover, apparently illiterate, had taken another man as " p r i v a t e secretary."

LIVESTOCK

137

RAISING

F o r his services this i n d i v i d u a l u s u a l l y r e c e i v e d o n e d o l l a r p e r h e a d a n d e x p e n s e s . 3 0 I n cases w h e r e t h e d r o v e r w a s a b l e a n d

trustworthy

h e w a s s i m p l y i n s t r u c t e d t o ask the a d v i c e of t h e c o m m i s s i o n chant

who

handled

the W a d s w o r t h

a f f a i r s in t h e c i t y w h e r e

merthe

marketing was being done. The

Wadsworths

and

other large landowners

marketed

several

h u n d r e d h e a d of b e e f c a t t l e e a c h y e a r in the c i t i e s . 3 1 O t h e r d r o v e r s w e n t o u t f r o m t h e cities a l o n g t h e H u d s o n a n d p u r c h a s e d c a t t l e f o r sale to f a r m e r s in t h a t a r e a , w h o f a t t e n e d the a n i m a l s f o r the N e w York market,

finding

it m o r e p r o f i t a b l e t h a n to raise t h e i r

own.32

S o m e t i m e s W a d s w o r t h ' s d r o v e r s w o u l d a t t e m p t to d i s p o s e of

part

of t h e i r h e r d s to f a r m e r s a l o n g t h e w a y . 3 3 Barreling

beef

largely

replaced

mid-1840's. Transportation

marketing

on

the h o o f

in

costs o n the c a n a l w e r e h i g h , a n d

the boat

o p e r a t o r s p r e f e r r e d n o t to c a r r y live a n i m a l s . 3 4 T h e r e is l i t t l e r e c o r d of b a r r e l i n g b e e f

in w e s t e r n N e w Y o r k b e f o r e t h e m i d d l e

1840's,

'o Lester Barker to William W. Wadsworth, September 14, 1840, and J . Symonds to William W. Wadsworth, August 20, 1840, Manuscript letters—1840 (Homestead). ai Gordon, Gazetteer of New York, p. 506. Unfortunately records of the Wadsworth cattle transactions are often fragmentary and non-consecutive. However, in 1834 William W. Wadsworth sold to Ebenezer Wilson of Albany, a packer, two herds of cattle totaling 435 head at $25.50 each. T h u s the total selling price of the herd amounted to $11,092.50. T h i s was not a successful operation f o r Wilson, who calculated his net loss at $ 1 . 1 1 5 . 8 7 . He wrote that his agent had been " t o o »anguine" in purchasing the cattle. "Should I live another year I will visit you early in September myself and trust I can at that time take your entire lot at better prices than the New York market can warrant you. I stated to Mr. J o y [a Wadsworth agent] that it is not so much the beauty of the bullock that we look at as the quality of hides, fat, and beef." [Ebenezer Wilson to William W. Wadsworth, March 19, 1835, Manuscript letters—1835 (Homestead)]. I n the following year Wilson purchased the herd of William W. Wadsworth, which numbered 480 head at $23.50 each, amounting to $11,280. (Memorandum of an agreement between Ebenezer Wilson and \Villiam W. Wadsworth. September 3, 1835 [Homestead]). Ellis, Landlords and Farmers, p. 200. Jonas Scely, a drover of Chester, Orange County, wrote to William W. Wadsworth, " I f you and some of your neighbors would give encouragement to me I believe I would ride out and try to buy two or three hundred good steers." [Jonas Seely to William W. Wadsworth, October 20, 1838. Manuscript letters—1841 (Homestead)]. Wadsworth replied to his letter quoting prices and remarking, " A l l buyers represent cattle of all kinds very scarce, oxen rather more abundant than steers." Letterbook 58, p. 107 (Homestead). Also William R . Potter to Winans, Wadsworth's farm manager, November 1, 1841, Manuscript letters—1841 (Homestead). as J . Widner to William W. Wadsworth. April 4, 1842, Manuscript letters— 1842 (Homestead). Wadsworlhs sometimes purchased cattle for sale to the farmers of eastern New York for fattening. [William W. Wadsworth to William A. Mills. J r . , November 2 1 , 1841, Letterbook 58, p. 124 (Homestead)]. 34 Cultivator, V I I I (May, 1841), 80.

138

T H E GENESEE

VALLEY

and the opening of railroad routes to market. By that time, however, farmers in the grazing areas had f o u n d that by barreling their beef they could retain and profit f r o m weight which the animals w o u l d have lost on the drive, and they w o u l d also be spared the expense of fattening them in the vicinity of the markets. 3 5 T h e railroads opened a new avenue for marketing live beef. A writer in the Rochester Daily Democrat in 1857 recalled the days of two decades and more before, when the cattle of Ohio, Kentucky, western Pennsylvania, and New York were driven to market " b y short and tedious stages, and at very great expense of feed and loss of flesh." H e was of the opinion that railroad shipment was " a change for the better for both man and beast." 3 6 Stock trains m o v e d across N e w York with speed and " a regard for economy as well as comfort led people to ship by railroad as f a r as possible." A stock train required only twenty hours f r o m B u f f a l o to N e w York, and the cattle were unloaded at Greenbush, outside Albany, for feed and water before being reloaded for shipment to Boston or N e w York City. 3 7 In the late 1850's, however, heavy shipping charges threatened to revive the practice of driving cattle since the stockmen found difficulty in meeting the high rates. T h e r e was talk of throwing all shipments to one rail line to force the others to lower their rates, but at the same time, fear was expressed that the favored line through a pooling arrangement w o u l d divide profits and continue the high charges. T h e high prices had forced some revival of driving from northern Ohio. 3 8 A few months later it was reported that the "universal o p i n i o n " among cattle dealers was that high rates would force a resumption of driving since the cost of shipping by rail was double the expense of marketing on the hoof. 3 9 W i t h the extension of railroads into the Midwest, which brought cheaper meat f r o m that area, the production of beef in western N e w York went into a relative decline. T h i s decline was marked by a corresponding increase in dairying operations. T h e bursting of the M e r i n o bubble before 1820 served to keep »5 American Agriculturist, V (March, 1846), 95-96. T h e writer of this particular article describes conditions in W y o m i n g C o u n t y at this time. T h e earliest mention of barreled beef discovered in the Wadsworth correspondence is of May 30. 1840. In this case reference is made to a consignment of beef shipped the previous a u t u m n . [Henderson Inches to William W. W a d s w o r t h , May 30, 1840, Manuscript letters—1840 (Homestead)]. se Rochester Daily Democrat, February 24. 18">7. " Ibid., December 9. i8r,2. ss Ibid., N o v e m b e r 10, 18^7. " R o c h e s t e r Democrat and American, F e b r u a r y 16, 1858. T h e implications of unduly high freight rates are considered, pp. 236-37.

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RAISING

139

s h e e p r a i s i n g of less i m p o r t a n c e d u r i n g the n e x t two decades. T h o u g h s u b o r d i n a t e d to w h e a t in the l o w e r G e n e s e e , s h e e p h a d a p a r t in the a g r i c u l t u r a l p l a n of that area. 4 0 In the u p l a n d r e g i o n s to t h e s o u t h their p a r t in the f a r m p r o g r a m was m u c h g r e a t e r . T h e b e n e f i c i a l effects of M e r i n o i m p o r t a t i o n h a d not b e e n w i d e s p r e a d a n d as a result there w e r e f e w p t i r e b l o o d flocks in N e w Y o r k State. D u r i n g the t w o d e c a d e s a f t e r 1 8 2 0 s h e e p g r a d u a l l y r e c o v e r e d t h e i r p r e s t i g e a n d increased g r e a t l y in n u m b e r s . M e r i n o s r e g a i n e d some of the g l o r y w h i c h they h a d lost, a n d s u p p l i e d m u c h of the w o o l c l i p of the G e n e s e e . I m p o r t a t i o n s of S a x o n y s h e e p a r o u s e d interest in the 1820's, b u t the m i n o r b u b b l e of this b r e e d b u r s t q u i c k l y , witho u t the d a m a g i n g effects of the M e r i n o d e b a c l e . 4 1 I n the v i c i n i t y of e a s t e r n m a r k e t s the p r o d u c t i o n of m u t t o n b e c a m e of m o r e imp o r t a n c e , a n d crosses o r p u r e b l o o d s of the n e w Leicester's o r B a k e w e l l s g a v e m u t t o n types. T h i s e m p h a s i s , h o w e v e r , l a r g e l y escaped the G e n e s e e w h e r e c o n c e n t r a t i o n on w o o l p r o d u c t i o n c o n t i n u e d . S o m e e f f o r t s w e r e m a d e h e r e to i m p r o v e the q u a l i t y of the sheep. A f a r m e r of G e n e s e o a d v e r t i s e d thirty s u p e r i o r S a x o n y bucks w h i c h he h a d i m p o r t e d f r o m M a s s a c h u s e t t s . 4 2 A s w i t h cattle, it seems to h a v e b e e n a q u e s t i o n of r e l a t i v e l y f e w s h e e p on m o s t f a r m s w i t h flocks of s e v e r a l h u n d r e d o c c a s i o n a l l y k n o w n . 4 3 C r i t i c i s m was d i r e c t e d at the b r e e d i n g a n d c a r e of the a n i m a l s . We find with rare exceptions from twenty to fifty mongrel animals, living at large upon the hundred acres of the typical farm, breeding promiscuously from their own wretched progeny, and yielding a scanty return of perhaps two pounds of indifferent wool per annum per head. 4 4 T h e care w h i c h these a n i m a l s r e c e i v e d was s i m i l a r to that acc o r d e d cattle. 4 5 A m i n i m u m of shelter led to h e a v y m o r t a l i t y , espec i a l l y a m o n g the l a m b s , a m o r t a l i t y s o m e t i m e s r e a c h i n g ten p e r cent. T h e m o s t c o m m o n a i l m e n t of sheep seems to h a v e b e e n foot rot, to Transactions—18.μ, p. 1 r,o. In the wheat area of Monroe C o u n t y it was common to keep about one sheep per acre of the f a r m . Monthly Genesee Farmer, IV ( J u l y , 1839). 108. 3·

152

T H E

GENESEE

VALLEY

t i o n s y e a r b y y e a r m u c h as d i d t h e E u r o p e a n c o r n b o r e r a n d

the

b o l l w e e v i l . W h e r e v e r it w e n t , w h e a t y i e l d s d r o p p e d h e a v i l y . In p a r t b e c a u s e of its r a v a g e s b y 1 8 3 2 , V e r m o n t h a d b e e n f o r c e d o u t of the production

of w h e a t , a n d s o o n t h e b a l a n c e of N e w

England

and

in t h e G e n e s e e V a l l e y . 3 0

The

e a s t e r n N e w Y o r k f o l l o w e d suit. By

1845

the m i d g e h a d a p p e a r e d

i n e x o r a b l e a p p r o a c h of t h e m a r a u d e r w a s v i e w e d w i t h

something

a k i n to t e r r o r . " I t is f e a r e d t h a t the l o n g l o o k e d - f o r crisis h a s a r r i v e d . A n insect s u p p o s e d to b e t h e w e e v i l o r w h e a t m i d g e h a s a p p e a r e d in many

fields

in this v i c i n i t y [ G r e e c e , M o n r o e C o u n t y ] . " 3 1

A

farmer,

r i d i c u l i n g the f e a r s of his f e l l o w h u s b a n d m e n w r o t e : I t is b e c a u s e y o u h a v e d e p e n d e d solely u p o n this c r o p , that its d e s t r u c t i o n s p r e a d s such p a n i c a m o n g y o u . Y e a r b y y e a r y o u saw the n e a r e r a p p r o a c h of the m i d g e , b u t still y o u k e p t o n s o w i n g w h e a t ; a n d the c o n s e q u e n c e has b e e n , that, w h e n this insect d i d c o m e , it f o u n d h u n d r e d s d e p e n d e n t u p o n their wheat c r o p . . . ,32 T h e r e is s o m e r e a s o n f o r this f e e l i n g of i m p e n d i n g d i s a s t e r . W i n t e r w h e a t in w e s t e r n N e w Y o r k is the b r e a d a n d m o n e y c r o p of the f a r m . . . . A l l classes . . . are interested in its p r o d u c t i o n , a n d are m o r e o r less a f f e c t e d by the p e c u n i a r y loss w h i c h results f r o m its f a i l u r e . . . . T h e r e a r e t o w n s in M o n r o e c o u n t y w h e r e the d e s t r u c t i o n of the w h e a t c r o p is so c e r t a i n that its c u l t i v a t i o n has b e e n a l m o s t e n t i r e l y a b a n d o n e d . 3 3 Summarizing

the a d v a n c e of the m i d g e

in the G e n e s e e , J a m e s

S.

W a d s worth reported: T h e m i d g e was seen h e r e [ L i v i n g s t o n C o u n t y ] in 185.1; a little in M o n r o e a n d L i v i n g s t o n c o u n t i e s ; d i d n o m a t e r i a l d a m a g e ; m o r e seen in 1 8 5 5 ; d i d n o m a t e r i a l d a m a g e in this c o u n t y ; c o n s i d e r a b l e in M o n r o e ; c a m e f r o m the east. I n 1 8 5 6 the m i d g e took f r o m o n e - h a l f to two-thirds of the crops of this c o u n t y o n u p l a n d a n d n e a r l y a l l o n flats; at least 2000 acres o n flats, w h i c h w o u l d h a v e y i e l d e d thirty b u s h e l s p e r acre not h a r v e s t e d . W o r s e in 1 8 5 7 , took o v e r two-thirds of c r o p s ; 1 8 5 8 , very little w h i t e w h e a t to harvest.34 I n t e l l i g e n t f a r m e r s r e c o g n i z e d t h a t t h e m i d g e , the c a u s e of t h e i r difficulties, w a s a l s o the e f f e c t of y e a r s of p o o r f a r m i n g . I n the wheat midge w e h a v e the a l l e g e d c a u s e of the f a i l u r e of the w h e a t c r o p . . . . B u t m a n y serious f a i l u r e s o c c u r r e d b e f o r e this i n j u r y b e c a m e so Ibid. 31 Moore's Rural New Yorker, I (July 25, iR.r,o), 233; see also t h e Grnnre Farmer, X X (Septem!>er. iH",()). 273. 32 Cenesee Farmer, X V I I I (August, iHrj), =19. 33/Wrf. XVIII ( M a r c h , 1R57). Hi. 3< L e t t e r of J a m e s S. W a d s w o r t h to t h e E x e c u t i v e C o m m i t t e e of N e w York A g r i c u l t u r a l Society in Transactions—1858, p . 300.

DIVERSIFICATION AND IMPROVEMENT

153

g e n e r a l — f a i l u r e s f r o m p o v e r t y of soil, caused by s o w i n g w h e a t after wheat o r other e x h a u s t i n g c r o p s — f r o m w a n t of d r a i n a g e , a n d consequent winterkilling, or r u s t — f r o m late s o w i n g on imperfectly d r a i n e d g r o u n d , also ind u c i n g blight a n d rust, a n d f r o m p o o r m a n a g e m e n t generally. A l l these causes p r e p a r e the w h e a t f o r the attacks of the m i d g e . 3 5

A p a r t f r o m the direct effects of the ravages of the midge, namely the almost complete a b a n d o n m e n t of the crop, what were the indirect effects? T h e insect accelerated shifts in agricultural stress and diversification of crops and animal products in areas where such trends had already begun and forced almost immediate shifts in areas which had clung in desperation to the cultivation of wheat. 3 8 In the grave situation which the wheat farmers faced with the advance of the midge, it was natural that they should turn their attention to other grain crops offering a possible chance of profit. In some degree this search was facilitated by lower rates on the Erie Canal, rates which permitted the shipment of coarse grains of relatively low v a l u e in comparison with wheat. 3 7 Corn and oats, particularly, received much more emphasis, while rye and barley were also planted in greater acreage than heretofore. Figures for the production of these crops are some index of their rising importance w h e n taken in conjunction with the declining acreage and yields of wheat. 3 8 Indian corn, which had not been profitable when marketed in its native state, by the late 1840's could be produced and shipped by canal. T h e New York price of corn rose to high levels in the 1840*5 and again in the mid-1850's, when scarcity raised the New York price to a dollar a bushel in J a n u a r y , 1855. By i860 the value of the corn crop exceeded that of wheat in the Genesee. 3 9 In small part 35 Country Gentleman, X I I I (February 10, 1859), 89. "Within a few years past the wheat crop, the great staple for which the Genesee Valley has been so long celebrated, has been almost entirely destroyed by the midge. Scarcely an acre of white wheat is now sown throughout the larger portion of our county, and the farmers are compelled to look to other crops, and an entirely different course of husbandry to make their business a profitable one." (William Cushing, Secretary of the Livingston County Agricultural Society in Transactions—1858, pp. 640-41. Cushing was for a long time manager of the William W. Wadsworth estate.) 3' (Second) Genesee Farmer, V I I (April, 1846), 80. Anderson, "New York Agriculture Meets the West," pp. 190-91. 3« See table of wheat production, No. 4, in Appendix. 3» Bidwell and Falconer, History of Agriculture, p. 503. At the time wheat was selling at $2.38 a bushel. Ibid. On the basis of these figures the wheat crop of the Genesee of i8r,) was worth in January. 1855, $7.977,000, the corn crop S2.096.000. With the New York prices of January, i860, wheat $1.41 a bushel and corn $.89. the wheat crop was worth $1.991,000 and the corn crop of 2.761.000 bushels, $2.(03.000; thus corn exceeded the value of the wheat crop of 1859 by nearly half a million dollars.

154

T H E GENESEE VALLEY

the increased production of corn in Monroe County in the 1850's went into the fattening of hogs for the local and eastern markets. 40 Not only was corn raised as feed for cattle, but broomcorn, used, as the name implies, in making brooms, was extensively grown in the Genesee flats, especially in the vicinity of Mount Morris. For several years in the late 1850's hundreds of acres of broomcorn flourished each summer on the Mount Morris flats and paid its producers well. 4 1 It was reported in 1858 that opposite Mount Morris village were 1,000 acres of corn, about equally divided between broom, and Indian, corn. It was estimated that the broomcorn would require 2,500 man days and the Indian corn 500 man days in harvesting, and would involve payment of $3,000 in wages. 42 Broomcorn was not as widely grown as the Indian variety, being restricted to a few favorable areas, of which Livingston County was the only one within the Genesee. 43 Oats, also useful as stock feed, were widely grown in the Genesee, particularly in those sections where the summer season was too cool for corn to prosper, notably in Allegany County. Monroe County, with the convenient and cheap outlet of the Erie Canal, increased its production of oats from 449,000 in 1849 t o o v e r a million bushels in 1859. At the same time wheat production had dropped from 1,441,000 bushels to 306,000 bushels in 1859. Barley to a considerable extent, and rye to a less degree, entered into the grain economy of a wheat area ravaged by the midge. These cereals gained slowly in importance in the forties and much more rapidly in the next decade. 44 T h o u g h severely damaged by the blight of the late forties, potatoes were still an important crop in the Genesee, particularly in those areas where cheap transportation opened an avenue to market. 45 T h e hay crop of the valley was not marketed in that form, its *o F o r a table of c o m production in the Genesee, see T a b l e No. 5 in the App e n d i x . F o r the place of pork production a n d of swine in the f a r m economy, see p p . 1 4 1 - 4 2 . Livingston Republican, September 22, 1859. Genesee County Herald, A u g u s t 7, 1858. T h e census of 1855 of New York gave the broomcorn crop of Livingston C o u n t y a v a l u e of nearly $13,000, easily the largest of any county in western New Y o r k , but small compared to the valuation of $ 1 3 3 , 0 0 0 f o r Schenectady C o u n t y , the $44,000 of Montgomery, or even the $23,000 of A l b a n y , and of Schoharie's $20,000. (Census of the State of New York—1835, 321.) T a b l e s giving production of these lesser grains are included in the A p p e n d i x : T a b l e s No. 6. 7, and 8. « T a b l e No. 8 in the A p p e n d i x includes figures on the potato crop, showing the effect of the rot and complete recovery by 1859.

D I V E R S I F I C A T I O N*• A N D I M P R O V E M E N T

155

t o n n a g e b e i n g s i g n i f i c a n t of t h e e m p h a s i s in livestock p r o d u c t i o n , e s p e c i a l l y of d a i r y c a t t l e . 4 8 E f f o r t s t o w a r d p r o f i t a b l e d i v e r s i f i c a t i o n of c r o p s led t o t h e p l a n t i n g of peas, b e a n s , a n d s i m i l a r c r o p s w h i c h h a d h i t h e r t o b e e n c o n s i d e r e d as b e n e a t h t h e d i g n i t y of t h e w h e a t - g r o w i n g G e n e s e e , 4 7 a s h i f t m o r e s y m p t o m a t i c of t h e l a t e r e m p h a s i s o n c a n n i n g c r o p s t h a n s i g n i f i c a n t f o r f a r m e r s of t h e 1850's. I n c e r t a i n a r e a s of t h e G e n e s e e , p a r t i c u l a r l y in M o n r o e C o u n t y a n d the a d j o i n i n g counties o n the Lake O n t a r i o shore, men tried to u s e l a n d i n d i f f e r e n t ways. I n t h e v i c i n i t y of R o c h e s t e r , w h i c h p r o vided a considerable m a r k e t , the f a r m e r s t u r n e d to c o m m e r c i a l g a r d e n i n g . F i g u r e s a r e a l m o s t c o m p l e t e l y l a c k i n g b e f o r e 1850, b u t i n t h e y e a r s f o l l o w i n g t h a t d a t e t h e r e was a r a p i d i n c r e a s e in t h e v a l u e of c o m m e r c i a l g a r d e n p r o d u c e . T h e b u l k of t h i s i n c r e a s e , however, came in the t o w n s a d j a c e n t to Rochester. T h e acreage of m a r k e t g a r d e n s in 1854 s h o w s M o n r o e f a r a b o v e t h e o t h e r c o u n ties of t h e valley, a n d M o n r o e ' s a c r e a g e c o n c e n t r a t e d in t o w n s close t o t h e m e t r o p o l i s of t h e G e n e s e e . Of t h e 245 acres of m a r k e t g a r d e n s s l i g h t l y m o r e t h a n h a l f w e r e in I r o n d e q u o i t , a n d t h e b a l a n c e l a r g e l y in B r i g h t o n , C h i l i , a n d G r e e c e , w h i c h r a n g e d f r o m 43 t o 20 acres, n o o t h e r t o w n i n t h e c o u n t y h a v i n g m o r e t h a n t e n acres. P e a s a n d b e a n s w e r e also g r o w n t o a c o n s i d e r a b l e e x t e n t in M o n roe C o u n t y . Clarkson, P a r m a , a n d U n i o n [now H a m l i n ] grew f r o m v e r y n e a r l y t w o h u n d r e d t o m o r e t h a n five h u n d r e d acres of b e a n s i n 1855, b u t n o o t h e r t o w n p l a n t e d m o r e t h a n sixty acres; a n d three towns, Chili, H e n r i e t t a , a n d Sweden, p l a n t e d m o r e t h a n a h u n d r e d acres of p e a s e a c h , t h o u g h p e a p r o d u c t i o n was m o r e w i d e l y scattered than the b e a n crop. Elsewhere, Allegany C o u n t y sowed a h i g h e r a c r e a g e of p e a s t h a n a n y o t h e r c o u n t y . 4 8 I n a d d i t i o n t o t r u c k g a r d e n i n g , w h i c h c e n t e r e d at R o c h e s t e r , t h e city s e r v e d f r o m t h e 1840's u n t i l well a f t e r t h e C i v i l W a r as t h e n u r s e r y c e n t e r of t h e U n i t e d States, a n d t h e " F l o u r C i t y " b e c a m e in t h e w o r d s of p r o u d R o c h e s t e r i a n s , " T h e F l o w e r C i t y . " 4 9 E a r l y n u r s e r i e s w e r e e s t a b l i s h e d in t h e 1830's b y Asa R o w e , a n d R e y n o l d s a n d B a t e h a m . T h e l a t t e r a l s o o p e r a t e d a l a r g e seed s t o r e , «β For i h e production of hay sec T a b l e No. 9 in the A p p e n d i x . Livingston Republican, A u g u s t 1 1 , 1859. 2. In 1818 t h e G e n e s e e w a s d e c l a r e d a p u b l i c h i g h w a y f o r the f l o a t i n g of logs. (Fox, A History of I.umbering in Sew York State, p. 2 j.) T h e d o w n passage was cons i d e r e d s h o r t if m a d e f r o m M o u n t M o r r i s to R o c h e s t e r in t w o days. ( R o c h e s t e r Democrat and American, J a n u a r y 21. 1859.)

LUMBERING

AND

AGRICULTURE

IN S O U T H

185

unsuccessful efforts of P h i l i p C h u r c h a n d R o b e r t T r o u p to secure a d e q u a t e roads h a v e b e e n described earlier. 1 0 In the m i d - i 8 2 o ' s n e w efforts w e r e m a d e to secure a h i g h w a y f r o m L a k e Erie to t h e H u d s o n p a r a l l e l to the P e n n s y l v a n i a border, a t t e m p t s w h i c h received the g u b e r n a t o r i a l s u p p o r t of D e W i t t C l i n t o n , w h o was ever b e n t in the d i r e c t i o n of i n t e r n a l i m p r o v e m e n t s . T h i s a g i t a t i o n was unsuccessful, i n s p i r i n g o n l y an A s s e m b l y R e p o r t w h i c h exp a t i a t e d o n the benefits w h i c h h a d r e d o u n d e d to the n o r t h e r n lowl a n d w i t h the c o n s t r u c t i o n of the Erie C a n a l , a n d w h i c h p r o m i s e d a b r i g h t f u t u r e to the s o u t h e r n tier: Although the character of the land in this section of the country does not furnish all those temptations and facilities which are calculated to produce early and rapid settlements, yet it is believed that when cultivated and adapted to its appropriate agricultural purposes, . . . it will steadily progress in numbers and opulence, to a kindred rank with other portions of the state. 11 T h u s the u p l a n d received legislative w o r d s instead of s o m e t h i n g m o r e t a n g i b l e . I t is o p e n to c o n j e c t u r e w h e t h e r a r o a d of the type p l a n n e d , a n d in the c o n t e m p l a t e d l o c a t i o n , w o u l d h a v e p r o v e d either p r o f i t a b l e or p a r t i c u l a r l y u s e f u l w h e n constructed. L a t e r a l roads t o the canals w o u l d p r o b a b l y h a v e been m o r e satisfactory. In lieu of the r o a d f o r w h i c h they a g i t a t e d a n d w h i c h h a d b e e n d e n i e d t h e m , the i n h a b i t a n t s of the s o u t h e r n tier d i r e c t e d t h e i r a t t e n t i o n to t w o o t h e r possible m e a n s of t r a n s p o r t a t i o n , r a i l r o a d s a n d canals; of these the f o r m e r w a s to p r o v e far m o r e practical a n d profitable. Early m e e t i n g s to arouse interest in a r a i l r o a d t h r o u g h the r e g i o n of the u p p e r S u s q u e h a n n a a n d o n t o L a k e Erie via A l l e g a n y C o u n t y d r e w r e c e p t i v e audiences. T h o u g h the strongest financial s u p p o r t c a m e f r o m N e w Y o r k C i t y , m u c h of the e n t h u s i a s m was g e n e r a t e d in h a m l e t s a l o n g the p r o p o s e d r o u t e , for w h i c h the Erie p r o m i s e d to be a l i f e l i n e . A m o n g t h e early m e e t i n g s was o n e at A n g e l i c a in O c t o b e r , 1831, w h i c h s t e m m e d f r o m a notice signed by P h i l i p C h u r c h , l a r g e l a n d o w n e r of A l l e g a n y , w h o s e h o l d i n g s w o u l d b e raised in v a l u e b y the r o a d . A t this O c t o b e r m e e t i n g , n o t i c e was g i v e n t h a t a p p l i c a t i o n for a c h a r t e r for a r a i l r o a d w o u l d be m a d e . 1 2 T h e A n g e l i c a m e e t i n g , t o g e t h e r w i t h several others, p r e c e d e d the m o r e i m p o r t a n t O w e g o c o n v e n t i o n , f r o m w h i c h m a y be d a t e d the real b e g i n n i n g s of the Erie r a i l r o a d . P h i l i p C h u r c h served as chairm a n of t h e O w e g o c o n v e n t i o n . 1° See above, p. 72. »ι New York State, Assembly Journal, 48th Session (1825), 792. 12 Ε. H. Mott, Between the Ocean and the Lakes, The Story of Erie, p. 10.

186

T H E GENESEE VALLEY

Difficulties beset those who built and financed the Erie Railroad. 1 3 T h e inhabitants of the southern tier grew resentful at delays, but lacking strength in dollars could only wait, hope, and petition, though their pressure for the elimination of the Wall Street interest led to the election of a new board of directors, a majority of whom were from the counties along the route of the Erie. 1 4 T h e construction of the line progressed slowly, reaching Binghampton only in December, 1848. Construction moved more rapidly thereafter and Corning was reached a year later, and Cuba, in western Allegany, in February, 1851. In mid-May of 1851 the road was opened to the public after a tour for the benefit of visiting dignitaries, among them President Millard Fillmore. With the passage of the first regular train over its broad-gauge track, one phase of the conflict was over; the southern tier at last had rapid and year-round contact with the eastern portion of the state. T w o other railroads in addition to the Erie benefited the northern fringe of the southern tier. T h e first of these lines to be projected was that from Hornellsville on the Erie to Attica in northern Wyoming County. By January, 1852, trains were running from Portage to Hornellsville, and later in the year, with the completion of the famous Portage bridge, trains ran over the whole length of the line. T h e Attica and Hornellsville road touched Allegany County at Burns, ran to the west of North Dansille, crossed the Genesee and ran through Warsaw; thence looping northward into Genesee it finally dipped back into Wyoming at its terminus at Attica, where it connected with a line running eastward from Buffalo. 1 5 T h e second of these lines, the Buffalo and Cohocton Valley, was incorporated in 1850, though the name was later changed to the more imposing Buffalo, Corning, and New York Railroad Company. 1 ® By July, 1853, the track between Corning and Caledonia was laid, and soon thereafter the line was finished to Buffalo. 1 7 T h e line left its connection with the Erie at Corning, pushed up the Cohocton to the east of North Dansville, passed through eastern Livingston County, turned gradually westward through Avon, and went on to Batavia and Buffalo. These three railroads were the is T h e best brief survey of the history of the Erie is that by Ε. H. Hungerford in Flick, ed.. History of New York, VI, 161-72. 1« Mott, The Story of Erie, p. 67; the Albany correspondent of a Rochester paper wrote: " T h e r e is considerable excitement here about the location of the Erie Railroad. Some fifty lobbies are here from the southern counties." (Rochester Daily Democrat, March 17, 1847.) is Beers, Wyoming County, p. 73. ie Mott, The Story of Erie, p. 361. " Doty, Livingston County, pp. 434-35.

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major lines serving the southern tier of the Genesee before the Civil War. 1 8 T h e early history of the Genesee Valley Canal has already been recounted. 19 A glance at a physical map will show the difficulties which would have to be surmounted before the canal could be completed to its junction with the Allegheny at Olean. A writer from the southern tier suggested in 1829 the wisdom of building a canal only as far as practical in Livingston County, and building a road of wooden rails to connect that terminus with Olean. 20 In 1841 a petition for the substitution of a railroad for that portion of the Genesee Canal still uncompleted inspired an adverse report from the Assembly committee to which it was referred. T h e committee pointed out that the petition came from Mount Morris, which as the current terminus of the canal would be the logical terminal point for such a railroad, and would benefit from the transshipment of goods. T h e committee voted strongly for the canal, denying that the construction of a railroad would save the state treasury $2,000,000 which the petitioners estimated. 21 A few years later it was regretted by one writer that a canal was contemplated instead of a railroad, because of the greater speed of freight and passenger traffic on the latter. " T h e products of the country, aside from lumber are mostly livestock and those of the dairy, which with the advantage in time in favor of New York will seek that market and carry with them much of the trade which a railroad would secure to Rochester." 2 2 Unfortunately for the point of view of the state treasury the idea of a combination railroad-canal between Rochester and Olean did not find wide acceptance. T h e strongest series of arguments against the completion of the canal were those embodied in the report of a New York Senate Committee on Canals in 1844. This document pointed out that those portions of the canal which had been constructed through the grain growing regions had failed to pay the cost of maintenance, to say nothing of meeting the interest on the cost of construction or of retiring the debt. Lumber, the major product of the upper valley, could not in the opinion of the committee profitably bear the cost of transport to Albany by canal, except for the finer woods. T h e cost of shipment via the canal to Albany was estimated as double that of rafting the same amount of lumber to Cincinnati. is T h e railroads of the northern area and their influence on agriculture will be discussed below. is See above, pp. 125-26. 20 Livingston Register, July 22, 1829. 21 New York State, Assembly Document No. 199 (1841), pp. 1-9. 22 Rochester Daily Democrat, September io, 1849.

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Once the timber had been removed the cleared land was good only f o r dairying or grazing, not for growing grain. T h e canal tolls per h u n d r e d miles 011 the grain from a two hundred acre farm were estimated at $16.20, while those for the m a x i m u m of dairy or other products from the same f a r m would amount to less than one-fifth of that figure. T h e report summarized the two outstanding problems in the path of completing the canal, the engineering difficulties in digging and maintaining a water-tight canal through hilly, gravelly upland, and the problem of finding sufficient water to fill a n d operate the canal when completed, the latter problem one which was to bedevil engineers throughout the unprofitable career of the finished canal. 2 3 Notwithstanding the strong phraseology of the report just summarized, pressure for continuation of the canal continued throughout the forties, stemming not only f r o m the southern tier, which saw in the canal its avenue f o r reaching Rochester and the Erie C a n a l , but also from elements in Rochester's commercial classes w h o saw it as a means of bringing more business to their city, at the expense of their rival metropolis on L a k e Erie. " T h e trade of Allegany and Cattaraugus counties in this state and of Potter and M c K e a n counties in Pennsylvania now goes chiefly to B u f f a l o , but will go to Rochester with the completion of the Valley C a n a l to O l e a n , " wrote a correspondent from that town in 1849. 24 A n o t h e r factor which contributed to the interest of Rochesterians of all walks in the completion of the canal was the possibility of bringing coal f r o m the fields of the northern tier of Pennsylvania counties by water. T h e receding fuel supply and the growing cost of wood, the growth of the city, the maws of woodburning locomotives, and the depletion of nearby wood reserves by additional clearing explain this preoccupation with fuel. Coal which could come in via canal seemed the answer to Rochester's fuel problems. 2 5 Support for the canal came, however, in the main, from those rural areas which would derive most benefit f r o m it. T h e i r pressure brought forth a series of small appropriation acts from 1847 onward until the completion of the canal. By 1851 the engineers had surmounted the difficult passage at Portage, and had reached Oramel in northern Allegany. T h e year 1 8 5 3 saw the canal completed to Belfast, and finally Olean was attained in 1856. 2 8 « N e w York « Rochester " McKelvey, 2β W h i t f o r d , County, p. 89.

State, Senate Document No. 98 (1844), pp. 25-44. Daily Democrat, August 3, 1839. Rochester, The Water Power City, p p . 326-27. History of the New York Canals, pp. 7 1 7 - 1 9 :

Beers,

Allegany

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T h e c a n a l p r o v e d a costly project. By the t i m e of its c o m p l e t i o n , t h e era of canals was d r a w i n g to a close, a n d railroads, less e x p e n s i v e t o construct a n d m a i n t a i n a n d u n c h e c k e d by t h e ice of w i n t e r , were t h e most satisfactory m e a n s of t r a n s p o r t a t i o n . T h o u g h t h e c a n a l f a i l e d to m e e t even t h e cost of repairs, it doubtless b e n e f i t e d the dwellers of t h e u p l a n d . T o those of R o c h e s t e r it was e s t i m a t e d t h a t t h e canal saved a n a n n u a l $150,000 in l u m b e r alone. T h e i m p o n d e r a b l e benefits of t h e c a n a l are difficult to weigh, b u t c e r t a i n l y it cont r i b u t e d to s t r i p p i n g t h e hills of their forest cover, a n d o p e n i n g t h e m e a d o w s a n d p a s t u r e s of the commercial d a i r y m a n . W e l l b e f o r e the o p e n i n g of the u p p e r levels of the Genesee Valley C a n a l f r o m M o u n t M o r r i s to O r a m e l , it was estimated t h a t t h e b a n k s of t h e canal were l i n e d w i t h some 14,000,000 feet of l u m b e r , 2,500,000 staves, a n d a large q u a n t i t y of shingles f r o m Belfast a n d C a n e a d e a , ready f o r s h i p m e n t n o r t h w a r d . 2 7 As o t h e r stages of the c a n a l were finished, similar c o n d i t i o n s were r e p e a t e d , as l u m b e r m e n were eager to take a d v a n t a g e of this new outlet. U n f o r t u n a t e l y , f r o m the p o i n t of view of the l u m b e r m e n , the canal p r o v e d a fickle watercourse. E n g i n e e r s f o u n d great difficulty in k e e p i n g w a t e r to a n a v i g a b l e d e p t h w i t h i n the canal. Even the Dansville side-cut gave difficulty in times of d r o u g h t . 2 8 T h e M o u n t M o r r i s d a m , a n imp o r t a n t link in t h e canal, w e n t o u t in a freshet, s t o p p i n g t h e b o a t s o n m u c h of b o t h sections of the canal. 2 9 O n the u p p e r levels i n t e r r u p tions were f r e q u e n t . I n August, 1851, a l u m b e r m a n wrote t h a t because of t h e u n c e r t a i n t i e s of the O r a m e l section, it was d o u b t f u l if half of t h e l u m b e r by the canal could be s h i p p e d b e f o r e t h e close of n a v i g a t i o n , w h i c h w o u l d e n t a i l a heavy loss. 30 T h o u g h the canal p r o v e d u s e f u l in regions r e m o t e f r o m rail c o m m u n i c a t i o n , its usefulness was l i m i t e d by u n c e r t a i n t i e s as to its navigability. At t h e same time, it was r e p o r t e d t h a t t h e Erie was t r a n s p o r t i n g large a m o u n t s of l u m b e r , as the cost of rail s h i p m e n t was b u t little g r e a t e r t h a n t h a t r e q u i r e d to h a u l the l u m b e r to M o u n t Morris. 3 1 A passenger o n t h e first t r a i n over the Erie left a d e s c r i p t i o n of Allegany w h i c h bears r e p e a t i n g : Now comes a long tour through vast lumber regions, showing no evidence of cultivation, except this noble road, and now and then a secluded log hut. . . . Most of these places are in the midst of forests, with few or no houses visible, and wonder is often expressed as to where the assembled 2' Rochester Daily Democrat, J u n e 13, 1851. 28 Ibid., August 2 1 , 185G. 2» Ibid., March 22, May 22, J u n e 19. and September 10, 1852. 30 Ibid., August 9, 1 8 5 1 . ai Ibid.

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crowds came from—but they are there, and thriving settlements will soon begin to show up what they are doing. 3 2

T h e Erie gave a quick impetus to lumbering operations in Allegany County. Mills were erected "in all directions" and the number of workers employed in lumbering increased very rapidly. 3 3 T h e editor of a Western newspaper who moved eastward over the Erie in August, 1851, has left the following: Much of the country through which the road passes is of rough and wild character; heavily timbered, and except for grazing purposes, not very well adapted to agricultural pursuits. Its main business before the railroad was built was lumbering, and that indeed is its chief reliance now; but the opening of the road and the facilities thereby offered have given an impulse to Agriculture in these parts and the country everywhere shows unmistakable evidences of rapid improvement. At every point almost . . . you see in the building of new houses, the clearing of unimproved lands, the commencement of plank roads, the opening of well-filled stores and the beginnings of various other enterprises the practical, incontrovertible proofs of how much the Railroad has already accomplished in the region it traverses. 34

Although no figures are available as to the number of sawmills in Allegany County in 1840 and 1850, the figures for 1835, 1845, 1855 indicate a heavy increase in lumbering in these years. T h e number of sawmills decreased by half between 1835 and i860— from 186 to 95, but the value of the product increased threefold, from $114,000 to $354,000. T h e number of sawmills reached their peak in 1845 when Allegany counted 257 mills, many of them small, since the average annual product per mill was worth less than $i,ooo. 3 5 In these years the amount of land classified as improved also increased very rapidly. T h e railroad and canal increased the profits of the lumbermen, bringing a market to the door for every foot he could saw, and at a higher price than that previously paid after a long haul to market. T h e railroad also lowered the price of necessary supplies. 3 * Under the incentive of high profits the forests were rapidly cleared from much of Allegany County. It is little wonder that Orsamus T u r n e r went into raptures over the effects of the Erie railroad and the canal: 32

M o t t , T h e Story of Erie, p. 103. S3 Rochester Daily Democrat, March 18, 1 8 5 1 . « Milwaukee Sentinel and Gazette, A u g u s t 1 5 , 1 8 5 1 . ss Census of the State of New York—1845. 3β Livingston Republican, M a y 25, 1854; Moore's Rural 8, 1 8 5 1 ) , 150.

New

Yorker,

II (May

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. . . for Allegany the "better time" has come. T h e whistle of the steam cars are startling the deer which yet linger in her forests; the echoes of the boatman's horn [sounds] along the valley of the upper Genesee; the dark forests are rapidly disappearing; the neat frame house is taking the place of the moss covered log cabin; all is putting on an appearance of renewed enterprise and rapid progress. 37 N o t only did l u m b e r i n g become very i m p o r t a n t as the result of new means of b e t t e r transportation but certain by-activities such as asheries early, a n d tanneries later, grew u p in the southern upland. Asheries, linked w i t h the production of pot and pearl ash, receded in n u m b e r s a n d i m p o r t a n c e as means became available for marketing wood in less c o n c e n t r a t e d forms. T a n n e r i e s tended to follow l u m b e r i n g in the cutover areas, using the hemlock which the loggers f r e q u e n t l y left as valueless. However, the growth of commercial agriculture was the m a j o r result of the new means of transportation. R a i l r o a d s b r o u g h t within easy distance the great m a r k e t o f New Y o r k City. T h i s greater accessibility caused a r a p i d increase in l a n d values. It was estimated t h a t the price of f a r m i n g l a n d along the route of the B u f f a l o a n d C o r n i n g line increased by ten to fifteen dollars per acre. 3 8 I n Wyo m i n g C o u n t y f a r m values c l i m b e d from ten to twenty-five per cent as a result of the construction of the Attica a n d Hornellsville l i n e . 3 8 T h e increase in the value of f a r m lands was on some occasions anticipated, one m a n writing from Cattaraugus County that the value of improved farms h a d nearly doubled within the last three years, a n d ascribing that fact to the opportunities offered by the N e w Y o r k a n d E r i e R a i l r o a d . 4 0 F r o m Allegany itself it was reported that there h a d been a great increase in the value of farm real-estate, owing t o the "increased value of the products of the farmer a n d a ready m a r k e t . " 4 1 T h e gradual decline in the i m p o r t a n c e of l u m b e r i n g had a beneficial effect on the farmer, for competition for the available l a b o r supply h a d served to retard the development of agriculture. T h e president of the Allegany C o u n t y Agricultural Society c o m p l a i n e d that because of high profits the l u m b e r m e n were e n a b l e d . . . to pay the highest wages, and command the service of nearly all laboring men. T o such an extent is this monopoly of working hands carried, that the farmer is left at his option, to have his lands cultivated at a price « Turner, Phelps and Gorham Purchase, pp. 456-57. 88 Livingston Republican, May 25, 1854. 3» Transactions—1852, p. 641. «0 Batavia Republican Advocate, August 20, 1850. er, 183G), 1 2 1 ; Genesee Farmer, IX ( J a n u a r y 5. 1839), 4; Transactions—1847, p. 780. 4» Ellis, Landlords and Farmers, p. 181.

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Hence the dairy farmers of the upper Genesee in the forties and fifties had to be content to make butter and cheese. Production of the latter, at least, commenced well before 1830. T h e season's yield was kept until autumn and then hauled to Rochester to market. 5 0 By 1842, shipment of cheese had become a considerable activity in that city. In 1845 some 268,000 pounds of butter and 301,000 pounds of cheese were dispatched eastward over the canal. 5 1 Batavia was also a center of importance in the shipment of dairy products, over 160,000 pounds of butter alone being shipped in 1849. 5 2 On the opening of the Genesee Valley Canal, dairy products from the southern tier were carted to Mount Morris or to Cuylerville and shipped to Rochester and eastern points. 5 3 W i t h the opening of the Erie Railroad the products of the dairies were sent over that line, for the decreased costs of transport gave an additional advantage to the farmers of this area, as cheese could be shipped to the New York market for 44 cents per hundred weight, and butter for 60 cents. 5 4 T h e making of cheese and butter were individual enterprises throughout virtually all of this period, each farmer having his own equipment and manufacturing his own cheese. B u t t e r normally cost about 10 cents to produce and sold at 1214 cents to 15 cents after the opening of the Erie, while cheese cost 5 cents to produce and sold at from 6 to 8 cents. T h e whey, sour milk, and washings were used for fattening hogs, which increased the margin of profit. 5 5 Only after the close of the period under consideration did the "Cheese-factory" system penetrate into the Genesee from its point of origin in eastern New York. 5 6 In New York State as a whole, few cheese factories were opened in the 1850's; not until the sixties did there come any considerable increase in numbers. 5 7 T h o u g h errors in recording are possible, the census of 1865 credited Allegany County with but six cheese factories. Of these, three which reported their production gave a combined total of only 104,000 pounds. Had the three which did not report equaled these in production, the combined total would have been less than one-sixth of the amount of cheese sold in the county in i864- r ' 8 It seems probable that cheese50 Gilbert, Rushford, p. 500. 51 Albany Argus, December 12, 1842 and December 12, 18.15. In both instances the Rochester Daily Democrat is the source given. 52 Batavia Spirit of the Times, December 18, 1849. 53 Moore's Rural New Yorker, I (January 3, 1850), 3. 5« Patent Office Reports—1855, p. 29. 65 Ibid., pp. 28-29. se χ . A. Willard, Willard's Practical Dairy Husbandry, pp. 2 1 5 - 1 7 . s? Transactions—1866, p. 929. 5» Census of the State of New York—1865.

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making by the factory system d i d not invade the southern tier until the late sixties. 5 8 T h e southern tier did not f u l l y come into its own as a dairy region until after the close of our period, though promising beginnings h a d been m a d e as the forests were cleared away. 5« I n 1871 of the 946 cheese a n d b u t t e r factories in N e w Y o r k State, Allegany County possessed 44, W y o m i n g 29, Genesee 1 1 , M o n r o e 4, and Livingston o. (Willard, Dairy Husbandry, pp. 531-37.)

Chapter X I I I S H I F T I N G P A T T E R N S OF F A R M T E N A N C Y , 1840-1860 THE changes which took place in the agriculture of the Genesee in the two decades before the Civil War helped to modify significantly the practice of leasehold tenure used by the Wadsworths on their broad holdings within the valley. A word on the genealogy of the family is necessary at this point. Of the two pioneering brothers, the elder, William, died a bachelor in 1833. His brother James, the land agent and settlement promoter, had four children who reached maturity. T w o were daughters—Harriet, who married Martin Brimmer, one-time mayor of Boston, and Elizabeth, who married Charles Augustus Murray, an Englishman of very prominent family. T h e sons were James S. Wadsworth, the Civil War general, and William W. Wadsworth, who died in 1853, his estate coming under the administration of Daniel H. Fitzhugh, who managed it on behalf of the heirs. It is with the estates of William W. and James S. Wadsworth that the bulk of this discussion will be concerned. In November, 1841, James Wadsworth, nearing the close of an active life, turned over the routine management of his affairs to his sons, reserving to himself the making of all major decisions. 1 From that time forward the brothers took an active part in management of the estates, though both had earlier inherited considerable p r o p erty from their uncle. On the death of the father in 1844, the sons inherited the bulk of his estate, provisions being made for Elizabeth Wadsworth and Martin Brimmer, Jr., a grandchild. T h u s we have the existence of two family estates, that of James S. Wadsworth, somewhat the larger in area, and that of William W. Wadsworth, for which the available records are more complete. Having thus prepared the stage it is now proper to trace the major developments in the tenancy system in two decades characterized by departure from earlier management methods. As has been indicated this early system was characterized by long term leases of relatively small acreages for a carefully stipulated wheat rental. 1 James Wadjworth to William W. Wadsworth, May 3, 1841. Manuscript —1841 (Homestead).

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letters

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A b d y , w h o visited the Wadsworths in 1 8 3 3 , oversimplified their rental system when he wrote, " W h e r e the farms are let out, the rent is usually one-third of the crop, the tenant d e f r a y i n g all the expenses of c u l t i v a t i o n . " 2 T h e leasing practice actually used occasionally called forth criticism f r o m visitors. J a m e s Sherriff wrote f r o m Scotland to W i l l i a m W . Wadsworth that his brother who had visited the estates in 1834 had requested that Wadsworth be sent a Scottish lease. " A m e r i c a n leases are the remnants of a barbarian age and quite inapplicable to the country you inhabit. An American lease ought to be d r a f t e d for the country which w o u l d be somewhat different f r o m the leases of any portion of the g l o b e . " 3 A n important step in the abandonment of earlier practices was the substitution of annual leases f o r the long-term agreements of an earlier day. 4 M a n y of the two-life leases made at the outset of settlement had lapsed through death of the lessees, the farms returning to Wadsworth, reversions which facilitated changes in the tenancy system. 5 A second step was the increase in size of the farms which were let to tenants. I m p r o v e d machinery a n d techniques made possible the operation of larger farms, particularly in grain tillage. M a n y of the units which were leased by the Wadsworths w o u l d be considered large today, in an era of heavy agricultural mechanization. Of seventeen farms which W i l l i a m W . Wadsworth leased in 1844, one was over 700 acres in extent, two were over 400 acres, seven were over 200, and f o u r were over 150, leaving but three of the seventeen which were less than 150 acres, and the average size was somewhat over 260 acres.® It may well be that smaller farms proved less attractive to tenants, and enhanced the problems of supervision on the part of the landlord, since large farms would d r a w able farmers and skillful farmers were difficult to secure. Yet on occasions the Wadsworths had difficulty in securing satisfactory tenants for large farms. 7 T h e a n n u a l lease of the time went into effect on the fourth day of A p r i l , though why this particular date should have been chosen is open to conjecture. 8 It was clearly stated that the lease would be 2

A b d y , Journal, I, 277. 3 J a m e s Sherriff to W i l l i a m W . Wadsworth, March 12, 1835. Manuscript letters — 1 8 3 5 (Homestead). * T h e terms of the Wadsworth a n n u a l lease will be considered below. s Monthly Journal of Agriculture, I I (October, 1846), 1 5 1 . β C o m p u t e d from manuscript leases in office at the Homestead. " W i l l i a m C u s h i n g to William W. W a d s w o r t b , December 19, iH|r,. Manuscript letters—1Β j 15 (Homestead). β T h e lease which is here summarized was for the Story F a r m in A v o n , a farm of 2881/2 acres located north of the outlet of Conesus Lake, leased on M a r c h 10,

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forfeited "if assigned without the owner's consent in writing." T h e name, location, and size of the leased premises were carefu lly stated on the document. T h e landlord reserved "all mines, minerals, stone quarries, and gypsum, with right to access to them at all times, and also 'all the trees, wood, a n d timber.' " T h e rent, which will be discusseti later, was likewise carefully noted and included a cash rental payable half on the first day of October and the balance on March first. W h e a t rent was called for, a stipulated n u m b e r of bushels of "good, merchantable wheat, to be delivered on or before the first day of August at such place within ten miles of the hereby leased premises as said Lessor may direct." In case of default of wheat rent the price was to be estimated at one dollar and twenty-five cents per bushel. G e n e r a l provisions were included in a particular article in the leases. D u r i n g the period of the lease, the tenant agreed to reside with his f a m i l y on the f a r m and " T o cultivate and conduct the same in a good and farmerlike manner; to commit no waste, nor suffer any to be committed. . . . " T h e tenant f u r t h e r agreed to feed out on the f a r m all hay and other fodder raised on the f a r m and to draw out and spread all manure produced on the farm. Specific provisions were made with respect to burdocks and thistles, the tenant being req u i r e d to cut all such noxious weeds once before the first of J u l y and a second time before the first of September. T h e tenant f u r t h e r agreed to pay twelve and a half cents for every burdock or C a n a d i a n thistle suffered to go to seed. Logs and old stumps were to be removed and brush to be grubbed twice a year from each improved field on the premises. " T h e y are not to destroy or suffer to be destroyed, any shade trees," and such destruction was to entail payment of a penal sum of ten dollars for each tree. " T h e y will not sow wheat after wheat without some intervening crop; that they will not suffer their hogs to run at large without the written consent of Lessor. It is also understood that there are no verbal agreements in relation to any of the matters contained in this lease." Article f o u r of the lease related to wood and timber. In these provisions the tenants were carefully restricted. T h e y agreed for themselves not to, nor permit others "to cut, destroy, or remove . . . a n y trees, wood, or timber." A definite woodlot was provided in which the tenant could not cut any timber, the landlord reserving this f o r himself. Article five related to fences. T h e lessee agreed that within nine months all fences would be made shipshape a n d a cer1845, b y W i l l i a m W . Wadsworth lo W. Story and M. P. T h o m a s . ( M a n u s c r i p t leases—1845, Homestead).

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tain portion of them relaid eight rails high, with a seven foot worm, 9 "of good sized split oak or black ash timber." T h e lessee agreed to maintain fences and bars in perfect repair, and to "be liable to an action for damages, for every default in relation to fences, gates, and bars." T h e tenant agreed to pay all taxes, "ordinary and extraordinary, and also to pay and discharge all assessments for highway labor, that may be imposed in respect of the said premises, d u r i n g the term of this lease." Article seven bore on gardens and fruit trees. Stipulations were filled in by w h i c h the tenant agreed " t o enclose within a good post and rail or board fence, a garden of a specified size." If the farm did not possess any fruit trees the tenant also agreed to "set out in the most proper places, a suitable n u m b e r of peach and other fruit trees, and currant bushes . . ." and to care for and maintain the fruit orchard if already planted. Article eight referred to clover seed. T h e lessees agreed between M a r c h 20th and A p r i l 10th toward the termination of their lease to stock down with good clean clover and timothy seed in a prescribed ratio all land w h i c h had been sowed to wheat the preceding fall. In default of such stocking they agreed to pay the owner two dollars per acre. A five-acre plot was to be set aside for saving clover seed for use on the farm and for sale. T h e y further agreed to sow a hundred pounds of plaster on each acre of upland pasture, and also on all lands w h i c h were to be summer fallowed. T h e y also agreed not to feed the lands to be summer fallowed until the first day of June, and then to feed them only with the teams necessary to w o r k i n g the farm and not w i t h cattle. T h e tenant was to pay the landlord two dollars for each acre fed contrary to the lease. Article nine guaranteed to the owner or his agent the right of ingress and egress to the farm at any time for inspection or for "all other l a w f u l purposes." Since winter wheat planted by a former tenant might be growing on the farm w h e n the new lessee went in, the former was guaranteed free access to cut and harvest any grain belonging to him, and also was assured the use of barn space necessary to store the grain. " A n d every such future lease and conveyance shall be subject to the right of entry to claim grain already sown herein specified." By the tenth article the tenant promised to deliver quiet possession, to "peaceably and quietly yield u p to the said Lessor, the pos» T h e " w o r m " of a rail fence is defined as, ". . . the amount of space and angle required for a rail fence that is built in zig zag course." [FunA and Wagnalls New Standard Dictionary of the English Language (1926), p. 2732.]

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199

session of said premises" with the terms of the lease fulfilled. Violations or nonperformance of any terms of the lease were to render it void, and the owner could then enter u p o n the property. By article eleven the tenant agreed "in relation to the cultivation of the several fields in the farm hereby leased to pursue the course of crops and husbandry indicated on the bill or rent endorsed thereon, and also to p u t the f o l l o w i n g fields and no others into fall crops. . . . Space was left on each lease for "Articles S u p p l e m e n t a l " w h i c h dealt with matters w h i c h had not been touched upon in the printed portions of the lease, specific works which were to be done by the lessee, improvements to be made, and deduction in rent w h i c h would be made for these improvements. Every farm lease bore a Bill of R e n t w h i c h enumerated the n u m b e r of the fields of the particular farm, the extent of these fields, the rent w h i c h each field was to bear, and the course of husbandry w h i c h was to be followed for each field. Certain of the provisions of the leases used by the Wadsworths are easily understandable; others require consideration of the reasons for their inclusion. T h e repeated warnings against unauthorized assignment of leases protected the landlord against a tenant w h o wished to move and w h o might find a substitute either u n k n o w n or unacceptable to the landowner. T h e reservation of timber and of mines and minerals is also understandable, for the former on almost all occasions constituted an important aspect of the value of the farm. From the landlord's point of view there was an adequate reason for requiring payment of taxes by the tenant. T h e rights of the ingress and egress were also clearly necessary to the supervision by the landlord. Lastly the requirement of following a stated policy of cropping protected the interest of the landlord by restricting the field of operations of the tenant, particularly the g r o w i n g of a larger acreage of wheat than that stipulated. 1 0 T h e more narrowly agricultural aspects of the lease require greater analysis. First the rent charged for the land was of two types, rent upon the wheat land sown in a particular year and a cash rent. T h i s was a per acre rental of so many bushels for each acre of wheat planted. T h o u g h this rent w o u l d vary from lot to lot in a particular farm, and from farm to farm, it normally ranged from five to seven or eight bushels per acre in wheat. 1 1 Lands in the famous Genesee 10 In the case of the lease summarized above the wheat rent was o n e lot of nine acres charged at five bushels wheat rent, and two others, of eighteen and nineteen acres cach at six bushels per acre, m a k i n g the wheat rent a total of 267 bushels for 46 acres of wheat, r o u g h l y one-sixth of the area of the farm. 11 Johnston, Notes on North America, I, 206; R o b e r t Russell, North America, lis Agriculture and Climate, p. 31.

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flats used f o r wheat paid a somewhat higher rental, up to twelve bushels per acre, but because of their dampness and danger f r o m rust they were less f r e q u e n t l y planted in that c r o p . 1 2 T h e wheat rental was by the terms of the lease to be paid at a mill w i t h i n ten miles of the premises which were leased. Much of it was delivered to the Wadsworth's mill on the outlet of Conesus L a k e , a mill which was normally operated under lease. Another mill and warehouse in C a l e d o n i a on C a n a w a g u s Creek was also leased. T h e m a j o r portions of W a d s w o r t h l a n d holdings were concentrated in the towns of Geneseo, A v o n , C a l e d o n i a , and R u s h , and the wheat rentals could be delivered at the W a d s w o r t h mills or warehouses, or to the Genesee C a n a l . W i l l i a m W . W a d s w o r t h owned farms in Oakfield and E l b a , Genesee C o u n t y , and in Ogden, Monroe County, a n d in both cases tenants of long standing served as sub-agents, arr a n g i n g leases, collecting rents, a n d h a n d l i n g other routine business which saved the o w n e r m a n y trips to his holdings. Moses T r u e , the Oakfield agent, wrote to W a d s w o r t h in August, 1842: I s e n d y o u a r e c e i p t f o r the o n e - t h i r d of C r i t z w h e a t — d e l i v e r e d at A l b i o n a n d s t o r e d b y M c C a l l i s t e r a n d N o r t h r u p . N o r t h r u p wishes to p u r c h a s e the w h e a t . If y o u w i l l sell it to h i m h e w i l l p a y the h i g h e s t m a r k e t p r i c e . C r i t z is in h o p e s y o u w i l l c o m e d o w n to E l b a b e f o r e h e l e a v e s f o r the w e s t . 1 3

E a r l i e r Critz wrote to W a d s w o r t h : I h a v e d e l i v e r e d a t the w a r e h o u s e of D u r r a n c e a n d C o m p a n y in B a t a v i a t w o h u n d r e d t h i r t y o n e , 4 0 / 6 0 b u s h e l s of w h e a t f o r w h i c h I h a v e t h e i r r e c e i p t w h i c h is e n c l o s e d . P l e a s e s e n d m e a r e c e i p t b y m a i l a n d o b l i g e . 1 4

T h i s type of receipt notice occurs frequently in correspondence at the Homestead. W h e a t from the Ogden farms of William W. Wadsworth commonly went to Spencerport and was receipted from that place, while that f r o m the Elba-Oakfield farms were taken to Albion or M e d i n a on the canal, or to B a t a v i a on the T o n a w a n d a R a i l r o a d after the completion of that line. In addition to the wheat rent the leases stipulated payment of money rentals for land put to specific kinds of use. For example, the lease which was outlined above required payment of the following cash rental: 12 Ibid.. p. 28. > a Moses T r u e to William W. Wadsworth, August 25, 18.42. Manuscript — 1ft)2 fHomestead). K J o t i n Critz to William W. Wadsworth, September 3. ι 8 μ . Manuscript — 1 8 4 1 (Homestead).

letters letters

P A T T E R N S OF F A R M Field Stubble West part of E a s t part of Pasture W e s t orchard S w a m p pasture S m a l l orchard

TENANCY

Acres

Price

Amount

12

1.50 2.00 1.50 2.50 1.00 2.50

18.00 10.00 21.00

5 14 %Vz >4 2

8-75 14.00 5.00

201

C o u r s e of Husbandry pasture m o w a n d save seed pasture s p r i n g crops pasture s p r i n g crops

T h u s the cash rent totaled $76.75 on a farm of 2881/2 acres. In this particular lease, however, one lot totaling 311/2 acres was to be planted to oats, one-third of which "cleaned and in good order was to be delivered to the Lessor's B a r n . " 1 5 On occasion single lots were let for specific crops, particularly lands on the flats which were well suited for growing broomcorn, and which commanded a high rental. 1 8 " M r . Wadsworth will lease the dairy meadow for broom corn at $10.00 per acre payable J a n u a r y , 1838."17 H a y land on the flats when leased also paid high rents. Russell wrote, " F o r this land seven dollars per acre is charged when the crop is to be cut, and five when pastured. T h e value of these meadows in 1854 is 1 2 0 dollars per acre so the rental which they yield is but a small return for interest in a country where six per cent for money can be got on good security." 1 8 It should be remarked, however, that though the lease outlined above was more typical, leases were also given for sheep and other agricultural products. W i l l i a m W. Wadsworth leased the Home and Dairy Farms from his father in 1 8 4 1 , the rental to be devoted entirely to permanent improvements. 1 9 W i l l i a m W. Wadsworth came into possession of the farm later and we find his writing to a N e w York commission merchant for assistance in helping the tenant on the farm to market 7,000 pounds of cheese which would "average with Herkimer county [quality]." 2 0 At the division of the livestock in the estate on the death of the father early in 1845, William W . Wadsworth wrote to Cushing: is Manuscript lease citcd above (Homestead). l e j a m e s Hosmer to Hezekiah Allen. March 21. 1859. Manuscript letters—1859 (Homestead). Also William F.. Hall to Hezekiah Allen, November 27, 1858. Manuscript letters—1858 (Homestead). i ' W i l l i a m Farmer to John Raymond. November 23. 1837, I.etterbook 58, p. 23 (Homestead). is Russell. North America, pp. 28 29. 1» Manuscript leases—1841 (Homestead). 20 William W. Wadsworth to N. P. Hosack, October 28, 1842, Letterbook 58, p. 141 (Homestead).

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My flock being selected and remarked in some uniform manner, say with red oil point on the head I authorize you, or Mr. Bond to let them out to tenants on my lands in the following terms: All the ewes may be left in flocks containing from 150 to 300 or 400, in each portions of such age 1, 2, 3, or 4 years; the tenant to return to me at the end of the year a flock consisting of sheep of the same age and in the same proportion, and to deliver me before ist August at such place as I shall direct one pound wool for each sheep. I want the flocks apportioned to the size of the farms and the tenants, and the tenants bound to dispose of the increase. A special agreement on this matter should be inserted, for I want the breeding of the sheep in my own hands. T h e y therefore should, if possible, agree to sell all their sheep. T h e y must also agree to come to me each year on ist December for bucks and return them to me on January ist. T h e tenant should be bound to sell each autumn all the sheep that are five years old the ensuing spring. I think this arrangement will greatly help the tenants in paying their cash rent, and also in their harvest money. This rule is a common one for letting sheep and the farmers will be right glad of it. 2 1 T h e r e g u l a t i o n of the course of h u s b a n d r y m a d e u n d e r the a n n u a l lease system w a s a n a t t e m p t to e l i m i n a t e the worst abuses of the e a r l i e r l e a s i n g system, u n d e r w h i c h the t e n a n t w i t h o u t restriction h a d m i n e d the soil by repeated crops of w h e a t , a practice w h i c h had justified in a l a r g e m e a s u r e B a r c l a y ' s criticism of the leasing system used b y the W a d s w o r t h s . I n 1 8 5 6 W i l l i a m H o g m i r e , a tenant w h o wished to lease a d d i t i o n a l p a t u r e l a n d , w r o t e of the f a r m he desired, " T h e f a r m s h o u l d h a v e rest as there has b e e n a constant succession of crops u p o n the m o s t of it f o r twenty-five a n d some of it f o r thirty y e a r s . " 2 2 T h o s e c o n d i t i o n s w h i c h t e n d e d to e m p h a s i z e w h e a t in the f a r m p r o g r a m of the Genesee, p a r t i c u l a r l y the d e m a n d s o n labor, m i l i t a t e d against d i v e r s i f i c a t i o n . A d o p t i o n of a f a r m p r o g r a m of other than g r a i n w o u l d have m e a n t either h e a v y a d d i t i o n a l e x p e n s e t o the l a n d l o r d o r the a d o p t i o n of a p r o g r a m of long-term leases to assure the tenants a tenure l o n g e n o u g h to w a r r a n t e x p e n d i t u r e s of this sort. 2 3 J o h n s t o n has p o i n t e d out that leasing f o r the w h e a t a n d cash rental m e a n t that the tenant n e e d e d to possess little capital. " T h e s e tillage f a r m s are c u l t i v a t e d by persons w h o d o not usually possess m o r e than £ 1 [ s o m e w h a t over $4.00] p e r acre of c a p i t a l ; they a f f o r d , in fact an o p p o r t u n i t y f o r persons to begin l i f e w h o d o not possess =1 William W . W a d s w o r t h to W i l l i a m C a s h i n g , J a n u a r y 16, 18)5, 58, p. 168 (Homestead). 22 W i l l i a m A . H o g m i r e to H. A l l e n , December G, 1856. Manuscript 1856 (Homestead). 23 Note Barclay's criticism on the f o l l o w i n g page.

Letterbook letters—

PATTERNS

OF F A R M

TENANCY

203

money enough to buy their own farms, at least in that neighborhood."24 T h e Englishman went on to point out that to stock a grazing farm would require three or four times the cost of operating under a grain economy. With a capital of £ ι an acre only, an exhausting system of culture can scarcely fail to be followed—especially as the custom is to remain only from four to eight years, and during this time to save as much as enables the tenant to buy a farm somewhere for himself. 2 5 T h e system of tenancy called forth sharp censure from Robert Barclay, another English farmer w h o in traveling through the Genesee a few months before Johnston, passed some time on the W a d s w o r t h establishments, finding much to praise in their hospitality, but much to criticize in their farming methods and mode of leasing. Mr. Wordsworth has a numerous tenantry, but under a tenure which can yield neither profit to the landlord nor benefit to themselves; they have no leases [here Barclay errs] but plough and sow fom year to year, the landlord receiving for rent a portion of the produce in kind. His portion is ascertained on the field after the crop is reaped, and is delivered by the tenants at an appointed barn where it is instantly thrashed out and the straw given to the winds. Such a system must be a bar to every improvement; in fact it operates as a prohibition [italics Barclay's] of all exertion and expenditure by the tenant for increasing the fertility of his farm, it being unreasonable to expect that any tenant will use exertions or lay out capital, where the landlord is to reap, certainly a large share of the benefit thence accruing, and from the precariousness of the tenure perhaps the whole. Mr. Wordsworth therefore may go on to draw his share of the pittance of grain which his tenants may under present circumstances be able or disposed to raise, but he must lay his account that in these circumstances nothing can be done by them to improve the soil and render it duly productive. Of W a d s w o r t h Barclay wrote: . . . it appears to me he is much wedded to old customs, otherwise he would at once perceive the advantage of dividing his estate into farms of proper size, erecting on them suitable buildings, and granting leases for such term of years as would ensure to the tenants a return for money expended on improvements. 2 6 It should be emphasized that the system of annual leases was being adopted at this time, that the earlier leases had been for longer 2« Johnston, Notes on North America, I, 207. 25 Ibid. 2» Barclay, Agricultural Tour, pp. 44-45.

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p e r i o d s , that the new leasing system r e g u l a t e d the use of the l a n d , a n d that those earlier h a d not been as s h a r p l y defined, p a y m e n t of the w h e a t rent b e i n g d e e m e d sufficient. O n the question of y e a r leases the f o l l o w i n g item is of interest. Peter T o n e , a tenant of some years, w r o t e to W i l l i a m C u s h i n g : Once in a conversation with old William Wadsworth in reference to Short and Long leases I remarked that I thought it better for a tenant to have a longer lease than one year. He replied that he had studied Landlord and T e n a n t for a long time and his invariable rule was to have his agent examine the crop at harvest time and if found to have failed, where they had been managed in a good and farmer-like manner to have a reduction in rent made. For these reasons he considered the short term lease the best for the tenant. 27 T e n a n t s f r e q u e n t l y f a i l e d to f u l f i l l the s t i p u l a t i o n s of their leases, the " t h i s t l e c l a u s e " being p a r t i c u l a r l y neglected. Russell wrote that " B y a clause in M r . W a d s w o r t h ' s leases his tenants i n c u r a p e n a l t y of a d o l l a r f o r every thistle a l l o w e d to r u n to seed; b u t j u d g i n g f r o m the n u m b e r s g r o w i n g over his p r o p e r t y this is surely n e v e r p u t in f o r c e . " 2 8 A tenant c o n t e m p l a t i n g leasing land f o r m e r l y o c c u p i e d by a n o t h e r tenant asked an a b a t e m e n t in rent because of the thistles. 2 9 O n f e w occasions d i d the W a d s w o r t h s h a v e t r o u b l e w i t h dishonest tenants. In one case the t e n a n t w h o h a d been on the f a r m but a short time sold off a considerable q u a n t i t y of t i m b e r contrary to the lease. T h e t e n a n t m a d e r e p e a t e d protestations of innocence, then p r o m i s e d r e f o r m a t i o n , a n d u l t i m a t e l y r e c o m m e n d e d to the W a d s w o r t h s a possible successor on the f a r m . 3 0 D i d the tenant profit u n d e r the system of leasing used in the G e n e see? It is difficult to give a concrete answer to this question because n o records kept by tenants h a v e been a v a i l a b l e ; indeed few a c c o u n t books of the o r d i n a r y f a r m s of the p e r i o d are to be had. R e n w i c k , w h o l e f t a b i o g r a p h i c a l sketch of J a m e s W a d s w o r t h , wrote: Many of the farms held for long terms of years reverted to Mr. Wadsworth before his death; and, while the land itself was generally in good order, the tenants had for the most part, made such profit from the occuPeter T o n e to W i l l i a m Cushing, December 6, 1852. Manuscript letters— 1852 (Homestead). 28 R u s s e l l , North America, p . 34. 29 " I wish you would take the trouble to go over the ' B r i d g e Lot' for yourself. It is one mass of thistles." Brooks and Cutter to Hezekiah Allen, F e b r u a r y 13, i860. Manuscript letters—1860 (Homestead). so R . F. D a y to Daniel H. Fitzhugh, J a n u a r y 9, i860. W. Sheldon to Hezekiah A l l e n , J a n u a r y 16, 26, and 3 1 , and February 14, i860. Manuscript letters—1860 (Homestead).

PATTERNS

OF

FARM

TENANCY

pation as to be in comfortable circumstances. From inquiries and parisons made on the spot it was inferred that the tenants of his were upon the whole successful in their pursuits, enjoyed a greater of comfort, and laid by larger profits than those who purchased upon lands of equal quality in the neighborhood. 3 1

205 comestate share credit

L o c k w o o d L . D o t y i n h i s h i s t o r y of L i v i n g s t o n c o u n t y , w h i c h app e a r e d i n 1876, w r o t e of t h e t e n a n t s of James S. W a d s w o r t h : T h e y were among the best of farmers and the opportunities given them were so favorable that many who are now in comfortable if not wealthy circumstances, laid the foundations of their accumulations as " W a d s w o r t h tenants." 3 2 I n c o n t r a s t to these n e a r c o n t e m p o r a r y a c c o u n t s are o c c a s i o n a l i t e m s f r o m t e n a n t s t h e m s e l v e s . P e t e r T o n e , w h o h a d leased t h e largest of t h e W i l l i a m W . W a d s w o r t h t e n a n t f a r m s , a f a r m of o v e r s e v e n h u n d r e d acres w r o t e b a c k to his b r o t h e r f r o m W i s c o n s i n i n 1857: Mr. Allen and Mr. Fitzhugh both know that I lost my labor and my seed and that he always had his pay for the thirteen years that I was on his place and that he never got his pay before I came onto it. . . . W h e n I went onto the place I was worth two thousand dollars and I left it with nothing. 3 3 A n o t h e r f o r m e r t e n a n t w r o t e , " I h a v e l a b o r e d t w e n t y years u p o n t h e f a r m , t h e best of m y d a y s . " H i s son a l s o w r o t e : T h r o u g h dint of perseverance we did tolerably well until within the last three or four years. W h e n rents were raised some five or six years ago we prospered still, but when the weevil made its appearance then was the time that ground my father sore. 3 4 N o t a l l the c o m p l a i n t s w e r e r e g i s t e r e d f r o m d i s t a n t places. tenant near Rochester wrote Fitzhugh:

A

Please remember that we tenants must live as well as the landlord. . . . in consequence of the weevil I have a very small crop as you are aware we all have in this town. . . . So you can see that it is going to be tight times with us tenants. 3 5 Another tenant wrote: si Monthly Journal of Agriculture, II (October, 18j6), 151. 32 Doty, Livingston County, p. 546. 33 Peter Tone to William Tone, July 20, 1857, and forwarded by the latter to Fitzhugh. Manuscript letters—1857 (Homestead). 3« Andrew Howit to Hezekiah Allen. July 31, 1857, and Andrew Howit Jr. to Hezekiah Allen, August 4, 1857. Manuscript letters—1857 (Homestead). 35 Woodruff Potter to Daniel H. Fitzhugh, September 19, 1854. Mtffiuscript letters—1854 (Homestead).

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I have tonic to the conclusion that if the weevil should destroy the wheat crop the coming season as bad as usual or as bad as last year that if you will make an abatement in the rent so that I can live I will put in 53 acres. 38 B r o o k s a n d C u t t e r , tenants, wrote, " . . . if a n y abatements w e r e m a d e to others o n account of frosts we e x p e c t one also, b u t n o t otherwise."37 O n occasion w h e n c o n f r o n t e d w i t h seasons of difficulty and adversity the W a d s w o r t h s w o u l d a b a t e the r e n t of tenants r a t h e r than p e r m i t them to become debtors and f a l l into arrears. 3 8 H o w d i d the l a n d l o r d f a r e u n d e r the system of tenancy? T h o u g h f r e q u e n t l y questioned, it seems certain that in the Genesee at least the rents on lands d i d not return a h i g h p e r cent of the v a l u e of the f a r m s . J o h n s t o n , a c a r e f u l E n g l i s h observer, r e m a r k e d that M r . W a d s w o r t h , p r o b a b l y the p a t r i a r c h , " c a l c u l a t e d that his land yields h i m five per cent u p o n its m a r k e t v a l u e in the f o r m of rent, . . . " 3 9 J o h n A. G r a n g e r of C a n a n d a i g u a , son of G i d e o n G r a n g e r , w h o h a d been postmaster-general u n d e r J e f f e r s o n , wrote to W i l l i a m W . Wadsworth: Money is generally invested in farms or lands in a settled county more for its safety and to afford occupation with the expectation that it will yield something like five percent than with any hope that it will produce seven percent. Our experience of nearly thirty years has convinced us that the products of our farms have not been over three percent in their value, and with all the system and careful management of your estate during the same period, I do not suppose they have exceeded four percent either on their cost (principal and interest annually) or on their value. 40 C u t t i n g into the i n c o m e of the l a n d o w n e r was the m o n e y ret u r n e d in i m p r o v e m e n t s on the tenant f a r m . In response to a q u e r y f r o m the agent in O g d e n , W i l l i a m C u s h i n g r e p l i e d in 1845, " M r . W i l l i a m W . W a d s w o r t h ' s r u l e here is to e x p e n d one-fourth of the rent in i m p r o v e m e n t s a n d you m a y a d o p t the same in O g d e n . " 4 1 W i l l i a m W a d s w o r t h himself wrote to J a m e s Sperry late in 1845, " I wish you . . . to m a k e out a bill of rent f o r each tenant, suggesting 3« J o h n Hollcnbcck to Hezekiah Allen, J a n u a r y 7, 1855. Manuscript letters— 1855 (Homestead). 37 Brooks and Cutter to H. A l l e n , F e b r u a r y 13, tR6o. Manuscript letters—1860 (Homestead). 3s Doty, Livingston County, p. ~, |f>; Pearson. James S. If'adswortli, p. 32. 39 Johnston, Notes OJI North America, I, 207-8. J o h n G r a n g e r to William W. Wadsworth, J a n u a r } ' 10, 1S jr(. Manuscript letters—1845 (Homestead). W i l l i a m Cushing to J o h n Gott, December 6, 1 8 1 5 , Letterbook 66d/— (Homestead).

PATTERNS

OF F A R M

TENANCY

207

i m p r o v e m e n t s to the a m o u n t of o n e f o u r t h of the rent. I w a n t y o u r j u d g m e n t in the m a t t e r to assist m e in m y e x a m i n a t i o n . P e r h a p s I shall let it g o as y o u r e p o r t . " 4 2 C r e d i t was g i v e n for such j o b s as d r a w i n g stone, m i n o r f a r m b u i l d i n g s , a n d repairs, especially o n e r o u s j o b s of r e b u i l d i n g fences a n d the l i k e — r e p a i r s w h i c h were d e e m e d of p e r m a n e n t n a t u r e o v e r a n d a b o v e the n o r m a l m a i n t e n a n c e of t h e farm.43 N o t o n l y w e r e a b a t e m e n t s m a d e in rent for services of p e r m a n e n t v a l u e p e r f o r m e d by the t e n a n t , b u t in some cases these i n v o l v e d a n o u t l a y of c o n s i d e r a b l e s u m s of m o n e y . T h e latter w a s p a r t i c u l a r l y t r u e w h e n the grain e c o n o m y was b r o k e n u n d e r the o n s l a u g h t of t h e m i d g e a n d as the f a r m e r s t u r n e d to d a i r y i n g a n d o t h e r f o r m s of a c t i v i t y r e q u i r i n g m o r e substantial barns, m i l k houses, etc. 4 4 I n o t h e r cases tenants n e e d e d assistance in s t o c k i n g their dairy farms. 4 5 T h e t e n a n c y system of the W a d s w o r t h s was not w i t h o u t its j o u r n a l ist critics. T h e r e a p p e a r e d in a R o c h e s t e r n e w s p a p e r the f o l l o w i n g item: W e are not Anti-Renters in the modern, radical meaning of that term. But during our ride from A v o n to Mount Morris we were set thinking whether immense landed estates were not a very great evil. It is ten miles from A v o n to Geneseo. T h e land is the best in the state. It is the very Eden of western New York. T h e soil is always prolific and would justify expenditures of far more money in adornments than the same quantity of farming land in any other part of the State. But there are not ten good houses in those ten miles, [italics editor's] and those that are what they should be belong to persons owning from one to four hundred acres of land. T h e houses are generally miserable log or wood colored huts—comfortable enough but adding nothing to the beauty of the country. T h e reason is, that this vast tract of land, with trifling exceptions belongs to the Wadsworths and only houses "good enough for Tenants" are built. T h e same remark holds good for the road from Geneseo to Mount Morris except that the tenements are fewer in number. Indeed for some seven miles there are not more than half a dozen houses. This, however, is none of our business. W e only refer to it because we were driven to the reflection that ert, 3 9 B r i d g e p o r t ( C o n n ), 68 B r i d g e w a t e r (Mass.) N o r m a l School, 179-80 Brighton (Monroe County), 1 5 5 , 1 6 3 Brimmer, Martin, 1 2 1 , 1 7 9 , 1 8 1 , 1 9 5 B r i m m e r , Martin, Jr., 1 9 5 Brockport (Monroe County), 4 , 1 7 5 Brooks (tenant), 2 0 6 b r o o m corn, 154, 2 0 1 Brown, Henry, 2 5 B u e l , Jesse, 1 4 7 - 4 9 , ' 7 ° · ' 7 7 B u f f a l o (N.Y.), 7 1 , 7 2 , 7 4 , 9 9 , 1 0 1 , 1 0 8 , 114, 1 2 0 , 134, 138, 147, 1 6 2 6 3 , 168, 1 7 1 , 186, 1 8 8 , 2 3 4 Buffalo-Albany T u r n p i k e , 7 0 B u f f a l o - C o h o c t o n Valley R a i l r o a d , 1 8 6 B u f f a l o - C o m i n g a n d N e w York Railroad, 1 8 6 , 1 9 1 , 2 3 4 B u f f a l o Creek, 5 Burgoyne, Gen. J o h n , 6 B u r n s (Allegany C o u n t y ) , 1 8 6 Busti, Paul, 3 8 , 3 9 , 4 1 , 4 2 , 1 4 0 B u t l e r , B e n j a m i n F., 2 1 1 , 2 1 3 B u t l e r , Charles, 2 1 1 - 1 2 butter, 1 9 3 C C a l e d o n i a (Livingston C o u n t y ) , 4 2 , 6 7 , 127, 130, 164, 175, 186, 200 C a m b r i d g e (Mass.), 15 Canada, 6 6 , 7 1 , 9 3 , 9 8 , 1 0 1 - 2 , 1 2 2 , 1 5 6 , 1 6 8 ; c a t t l e b u y i n g i n , 9 4 - 9 5 ; price of l a n d in, 4 3 - 4 4 ; t r a d e policies of, 9 9 100 canals, N e w York S t a t e S e n a t e C o m mission o n , 1 8 7 Canandaigua (Ontario County), 4 , 6 9 , 106, 206, 234 C a n a s e r a g a Creek, 13, 66 Canawagus (Livingston County), 1 3 C a n a w a g u s Creek, 2 0 0 C a n e a d e a (Allegany C o u n t y ) , 1 3 5 , 1 8 9 C a r m e r , Carl, 2 1 C a r r o l l , Charles, 1 9 , 2 0 , 5 5 , 5 8 C a r r o l l , C h a r l e s H., 1 6 0 , 1 6 1 , 1 7 1 , 2 3 0 C a t t a r a u g u s C o u n t y (N.Y.), 1 6 , 4 6 , 4 7 , 68, 7 2 . 75-77· ' 0 7 . >25· ' 3 5 . ' 7 2 · ' 7 6 · 188, 1 9 1 , 218-20, 226-27 cattle, 8 0 , 8 2 , 8 9 , 9 4 , 1 0 1 , 1 1 0 - 1 1 , 1 1 3 - 1 4 . 1 3 0 , 1 3 2 f t ; breeds of, 1 5 8 5 g ; breeding o f . » 3 3 - 3 4 . »6». 175; c a r e o f , 1 3 3 ,

1 3 5 - 3 6 ; cost of t r a n s p o r t i n g , 1 3 6 ; dispersal of, 1 6 1 ; f a t t e n i n g of, 1 3 5 ; imp o r t a t i o n of, 159 6 0 ; as p a y m e n t for interest, 2 1 9 - 2 0 ; sale of, 3 8 - 3 9 c a t t l e drovers, 9 4 - 9 5 ; m e t h o d s of, 1 3 4 3 3 ; r o u t e s of, 1 3 6 Cazenove, T h c o p h i l e . 1 5 - 1 6 Cazenovia (Madison C o u n t y ) , 7 0 C e n t e r v i l l e (Allegany C o u n t y ) , 1 7 5 cereal grains, 1 5 4 C h a m p l a i n Valley, 6 9 C h a p í n , Israel, 1 3 , 1 9 Chappell, W. T. and N. (cattle breeders), 1 6 1 C.haptal, M., 9 2 C h a t f i e l d , Levi S., 4 8 - 4 9 cheese, 9 5 , 1 6 3 , 1 9 3 , 2 0 1 C h e r r y Valley (Schoharie C o u n t y ) , 6, »7 C h e r r y Valley T u r n p i k e , 6 9 C h e s t e r C o u n t y (Pa.), 1 3 6 Chicago, 2 3 7 Chili (Monroe County), 2 3 , 1 5 5 , 1 6 3 China [now Arcade] (Wyoming County), 7 7 , 2 1 8 C h u r c h , J o h n Barker, 1 5 , 5 2 Church, Philip, 2 7 , 3 3 , 5 1 - 5 2 , 7 2 , 1 5 9 , 170, 172, 1 8 5 C i n c i n n a t i (Ohio), 1 6 5 , 1 8 4 , 1 8 7 Civil W a r (American). 2 8 . 1 5 5 , 1 7 1 , 1 8 7 , 195, 225, 227, 229, 234-35, 237, 239-40, 241, 244 C l a r k e , Staley N „ 2 2 0 , 2 2 6 Clarkson (Monroe County), 1 5 5 Clarkson, Matthew, 1 5 C l e v e l a n d (Ohio), 2 3 7 Clinton, DeWitt, 8 9 , 9 6 , 9 9 , 1 0 1 , 1 0 7 , 185 clothing, 8 7 clubs, f a r m e r s ' , 1 7 5 coal, 1 8 8 Coe, M a r t i n O., 1 7 0 Cohocton River, 7 0 , 9 7 Colman, Henry, 1 6 9 C o l q u h o u n , Patrick, 1 4 , 2 2 , 6 6 , 1 0 7 Comstock, Elon, 1 6 9 C o n e s u s (Livingston C o u n t y ) , 2 1 3 Connecticut, 7 , 1 0 , 1 2 , 1 3 , 1 8 , 2 2 , 2 4 , 26, 68, 7 2 , 74, 9 1 , 94, 1 8 1 ; population in, 8n Cooper, Thomas, 1 5 , 5 9 , 9 4 C o o p e r , W i l l i a m , l a n d h o l d i n g s of. 1 0 corn, 8 0 , 9 1 , 1 0 9 , 1 1 1 , 1 1 3 , 1 2 8 - 2 9 , •53-54. 165-66

INDEX C o r n e l l , Rol>ert C.. 219-20 C o r n i n g (Steuben Coun(y), 186, 192 Country Getitletnerì, 168 C r a i g i c , A n d r e w , 15 Critz, J o h n , 200 crops, diversification o f , 153-55. 169; rotation of, 8u, 1 1 1 - 1 5 . 1(9-50; v a l u e o f , 238 C r u g a r , B e r t r a m P., 27 C u b a (Allegany County), 120, 186, 192 Cultivator, 1 1 4 , 1 1 8 , • 47-49. 170, 177 C u r t i s , Mr., 19 Curtiss, Lewis, 2 1 9 C u s h i n g , W i l l i a m , 1 2 1 , 180, 1 8 1 , 2 0 1 , 204, 206 C u t l e r (tenant), 206 C u y a h o g a R i v e r , 10 C u y l e r v i l l e (Livingston County), 193 D Daily Advertiser (Rochester, N.Y.), 167 Daily Democrat (Rochester, N.Y.), 138 d a i r y i n g , 59, 1 3 2 , 138-39, 142, 147, 162-64, 189, 192-93, 207, 232 D a n s v i l l e (Steuben County), 174 D a r b y , W i l l i a m , 74 Darien (Genesee County), 163, 16g, 1 7 1 Decline of Autocracy in the Politics of New York (Dixon R y a n Fox), 52 D e f i a n c e C o u n t y (Ohio), 230 Delafield, R . K., 223 D e l a w a r e R i v e r , 11 Democrat and American (Rochester, N.Y.), 157 Detroit, 75, 169, 237 Detroit Gazette, 233 D e v e r e a u x , Nicholas, 77, 2 1 8 D e W i t t , Simeon, 177 D o m e s t i c H o r t i c u l t u r a l S o c i e t y of Western N e w York, 1 7 5 Doty, L o c k w o o d L., 205, 20g D u a n e , J a m e s , 83 D u a n e F a m i l y , 56 D u a n e s b u r g h , leases in, 61 Duer, J o h n , 212, 2 1 3 D u k e of York (1663), 1 1 D u n h a m , S h u b a l , 170 D u r h a m (Conn.). 1 3 D u r h a m boats, described, 1 2 5 D u r r a n c e a n d C o m p a n y , 200 " D u t c h H i l l W a r , " 227 Dutchess C o u n t y (N.Y.), 83 Dwight, T i m o t h y , 5, 6, 44

269 F.

East Bloomfieltl (Ontario County), 237 E a t o n , Amos, 177 t'diKution. j R i K i i l t u r . i l , 176 II. E l b a (Genesee County), 200 Ellicott, J o s e p h , 16, 2 1 , 22, 24, 29. 32-33, 31-49· 53· 63. 70 72, 74-75. 82, 98. 102-3. '06-7, 172 F.llicottville (Cattaraugus County). 220 E l l s w o r t h , Oliver, 26 Ellwanger, George, 173 E l l w a n g e r and B a r r y (nurserymen), 156, 174, 182 E l m i r a (N.Y.), 70 E l y , Hervey, 120, 147 E m b a r g o Act, 8, 97, 102 E n g l a n d , 18, 48, 52, 56, 1 1 6 , 160, 1 6 1 E r i e C a n a l , 74-75, 89-90, 92, 96, 98, 100, 102-3, '06-9. 1 1 9 - 2 1 , 123-26, 147, 154, 185, 234, 236, 242; tolls on, 1 3 1 , 153, 187-88,231 E r i e C o u n t y (N.Y.), 75, 2 1 8 , 223 E r i c R a i l r o a d , 77, 184-86, 189-91, 193, 218 E u r o p e , 23, 48, 55, log; land speculators in, 14 Evans, D a v i d E., 49, 75, 132 Evans, Estwick, 42, 1 1 4 , 2 1 7 evictions, causes f o r , 54, 60

factories:

growth

F of,

8,

68;

cheese,

•93-94 fairs: county, 1 7 2 , 174-75, ' 7 6 : N e w York State, 1 7 1 f a r m buildings, described, 144 f a r m houses (1835), described, 143-44, 207 f a r m e r s : condition o f , 228ft.; d r i n k i n g habits o f , 144 F a r m e r s ' Fire I n s u r a n c e and Loan Company, 2 1 1 , 217-18 Farmers' Loan and Trust Company, 2 1 1 , 216-26 f a r m i n g , i m p r o v e m e n t in, 149-50 F a r m i n g t o n (Conn.), 1 3 f a r m s : average cultivated acreage, 84; choices o f , 82; described, 144-45; prices of, 238; size of (1802-23), 3^ 39· 80; (i860). 33-34, 196, 228-29 fences: described, 145, 198; V i r g i n i a , described, 87 fertilizers, 80, 1 1 3 - 1 5 , 129, 144, i.ig-50, 198, 242

T H E GENESEE V A L L E Y

270

Fillmore, Millard, 186 Fiuhugh, Daniel H., 160, 195, 205, 230 Fiuhugh, William, 19, 20, 55, 58 Fitzsimmons Thomas, 15 Flanders, 100 flax, 82, 90-91 Flint River, 229 flour, 119; cost of marketing, 121 Folts and Hopkins (agents), 121 22 Forsyth, Alexander and Mercy, 59 Fort Niagara, 95 Fox, Dixon Ryan, 52 Francis, Thomas Willing, 15 Franklin, Benjamin, 14 Franklin, William Temple, 14 fruit, production of, 157-58 Fruit Growers' Society of Western New York, 157, 176 Fuller, George N., 233 Fuller, Philetus C., 2 1 3 Fuller, Samuel L., 2 1 3 Fulton County (Ohio), 230 G Garbutt, William, 170, 173, 238 gardening, commercial, 155 Gates (Monroe County), 3 1 , 163 Gaylord, Willis, 168 "Genesee," meaning of, 1 Genesee (steamboat), 125 Genesee County (Michigan), 229 Genesee County (N.Y.), 1, 2, 3, 47, 63, 75, 85, 109. 1 1 5 , 120, 123, 125, 135, 141, 143, 161-63, l 6 9 - 7 ' . >73-75. , 8 6 200, 216, 218-19, 222, 225-26, 228; draining in, 150; farm mortgages in, 214 Genesee County Agricultural Society, 92, 102, 172, 236 Genesee Falls, 2, 42, 66 Genesee Farmer, 123-24, 1 3 1 , 150, 1 5 1 , '59- 167-7°. "75· 177. l 8 ' . 2 2 8 · 233 genesee fever, causes of, 82 Genesee Fever (novel, Carl Carmer), 21 Genesee flats, described, 82 Genesee River, 13, 42, 66, 75, 93, 108, 116, 125, 136, 170, 184, 186, 233,; described, 1-2, 125; tributaries of, 1-2 Genesee River Steamboat Association, '25 Genesee Turnpike, 75 Genesee Valley: cash in, 102-5; cattle

in, described. 131; climatc of, 3-4. 7576, 1 1 0 ; credit in. 102, 2 toff.; crops in, 24-25, 60, 80, 97, 127. 129-31; education in, 167 ff.; exports from, 99, 103; farm mortgages in, 214; food supplies in, 86-87; forests in, 5-6, 24: group colonization in, 67; growing season in, 4; home seekers in, 1, Ü; imports into, 86-87; land debt in, 102-3; markets for, 96-98; New Englanders in, 67 6g; poverty in. 104; rainfall in, 4; routes into, 72-74; soil of, 3-6, 109-10; southern tier of, 183 If.; topography of, 2-3; water routes in, 96-98 Genesee Valley Canal, 124-26, 184, 18789. 1 9 ' · '93. 2 0 0 Genesee Valley Horticultural Society, .76 Genesee Valley Nursery, 156 Geneseo (Livingston County), 19. 21, 23, 2 5 · 29. 3 8 · 53. 6 3 · 6 6 · 7°-? 2 · 71· 7 8 · 97, 101, 116, 122-23. 12Γ). >35"3 6 · '39· 142, 157, 164, 173, 177-7H, 181, 200, 207, 2 1 3 , 229-30, 238 Geneva (Ontario County), 21, 23, 85-86, 101, 136, 175. 2 1 1 Georgia, 11 Goldsbrow Banyan Tract, leases on, 61 Gorham, Nathaniel, 12-14, 25, 50, 53, 70 Gott, John, 29 Granger, Gideon, 107, 170, 206 Granger, J o h n Α., 2o6 granges, farm, 227 Greece (Monroe County). 23, 152, 155, 163.'73 Greeley, Horace, 222-24 Greenbush (Rensselaer County). 138 Grieg, J o h n , 107, 156 Groveland (Livingston County), 54, 160-61, 230 gypsum, 1 1 4 - 1 5 Η Haddam (Conn.), 24 Hall, Basil, 83 Hamilton, Alexander, 15, 52 Hamlin (Monroe County), 155 Hardin County (Ohio), 230 Harmon, Rawson, Jr., 117, 173, 181 Harris, Joseph, 169

178,

INDEX Harrison, George, 15 Hartford (Conn.), 12, 13, 23, 52, 68 Harvard University, 134 Havre de Grace (Md.), 97 Hawley, Jesse, 10G 2 0 1 ! production cost hay, 154-55, of, 127-28 Healy, Horace, 170 h e m p , 80, 82, 89-90; selling price of, 59 Henrietta (Monroe County), 23, 25, 155, 163 H e n r y County (Ohio), 230 H e r k i m e r County (N.Y.), 201 Higbee, Joseph, 15 H o b o k e n (N.J.), 136 H o g m i r e , W i l l i a m , 202 H o l l a n d Land C o m p a n y , 16, 21-22, 29, 32-33. 35· 38-40. 42-51. 53. 6 3 . 7 ' . 75 77. 9°. 99· l o 6 > >>'· >3 2 -34. '7 2 > 212, 216, 218, 221-22, 226; advertisements of, 19; indictments against, 45-46 Holley (Orleans County), 235 Hoopes, M a j o r , 70 Hopkins, Samuel M „ 27, 50, g2, 102, 103, 172 H o r n b y , W i l l i a m , 14, 107 H o m e l l s v i l l e (Steuben County), 72, 186 horses, 142-43, 165 Hosmer, T i m o t h y , 66 house-raisings, 60; penalties for failure to build, 34; premiums for, 28 Hudson River, 70, 71, 75, 101, 106-8, 122, 185, 192 Hudson Valley, 56-58, 148, 236, 241-42 H u m p h r e y s , David, 81 H u n t , Sanford B., 236, 237 Hussey, O b e d , 127 I Illinois, 76, 230, 233, 237, 240 Indiana, 76, 95, 233, 237, 240 industries, development of, 229 inns, services of, 105 insurance companies, 210-26 Iowa, 230 Irondequoit (Monroe County), 155, 163 Ischua V a l l e y , 125 Ithaca ( T o m p k i n s County), 70, 136

J Jackson (Michigan), 169 Java ( W y o m i n g County), 77, 218

271

Jefferson, T h o m a s , 206 Johnston, James F.W., 202, 206, 208 Jones, Horatio, 66 Κ Kalamazoo (Mich.), 229 Kempshall, T h o m a s , 120, 121 K e n t u c k y , 95, 132, 138, 160, 237 Ketchum, W i l l i a m F., 127, 128 kettles, potash, importance of, 28 K i n g Charles II (England), 11 L laborers, availability of, 88; farm, 112, 128, 228, 229 Lachine Rapids, 98 Lakes: C a n a n d a i g u a , 98; Cayuga, 98, 114; Conesus, 2, 200; Erie, 2, 4, 69, 70, 72, 74, 75, 105, 106, 107, 185, 192; Hemlock, 2; O n e i d a , 98; Ontario, 1, 2, 4, 71, 96, 98-99, 107, 120, 155; Seneca, 98; Silver, 2 land: acquisition of title to, 210; cost of clearing, 84-85; delinquency in paying for, 41-42; d o w n payments on, 41; exchange of, 25-26, 27, 230; increased cultivation of, log; increased value of, 191; market value p e r acre, 8«; methods of clearing, 8384; o p t i m u m ratio between cleared and uncleared, 85; prices of, 25, 4445; purchasing terms for, 25, 28-29; receipt of titles to, 40, 51; selling price of, 33; speculation in, 1, 11-13, 226, 240-41 land agents, 17 ff.; commissions paid to, 30-31; competition a m o n g , 42-43; duties of, 52, 55; policies of, 51, 2• 1 l a n d boom, collapse of, 32 ff. land contracts: interest on, 35-36; time payments on, 39; transfer of, 39-40; types of, 34 l a n d leases, terms of, 55, 57-62, 64 landlords, incomes o f , 206-7 l a n d speculators, problems of, 53 L a n g w o r t h y , L . B., 169, 173 La R o c h e f o u c a u l t - L i a n c o u r t , 5, 82, 83, 86, 88

leaseholds, manorial, 56-58, 211; Scott, 242; Sibley, 242; Scully, 242; V a n Rensselaer, 242 leases: farm, d e l i n q u e n t payments of, 204; terms of, 197-99; Livingston, 61-62, 242; V a n Rensselaer, 61-62;

T H E GENESEE V A L L E Y

272

Wadsworth, modification of, ig-,(I.; nature of, 60-62, 2.41 - j2 Lee. Daniel, 169, 178, 181 Lehigh River. 97 Leicester (Livingston County), 172, 173, 215, 230 Le Roy (Genesee County), 120, 123, 141, ' 7 1 . '7Γ, Le Roy, Jacob, 15, 33 Le Roy Family, 52 Letchworth State Park, 1 Lewis, T r u m a n , 22.) Lcwiston (Niagara County), 71 Lima (Livingston County), 70, 173, 216 Litchfield County (Conn.), 8n Livingston, Robert, 6 1 , 81, 92 Livingston County (N.Y.), 1-4, 3 1 , 44, 55. 69, 77, 85, 96, 97, 109, 1 1 5 , 120, 125-26, 130, 141, 143, 152, 154, lfi2, 165, 170-76, 184, 186-87, 205, 2 1 3 , 22728, 237; cattle breeding in, 161; decline of sheep in, 164; farm mortgages in, 214-17 Livingston County Stock Improvement Association, 160-61 Livingston Family, 56 Livingston Manor, leases on, 61 Livingston Republican, 160, 182 Livonia (Livingston County), 38, 39, 70, 164, 175 Lôckport (Niagara County), 72, 108, 234 log cabins: described, 85; symbolism of, 242 London Associates (the), 22-23 Louisville (Ky.), 237 Lowber, J o h n , 219, 220 Lucas County (Ohio), 230 lumbering, 77, 100, 165, 173, 183 ff., 189-90, 232 Luzerne County (Pa.), 42 Lyons (Wayne County), 157, 2 1 1 M McCallister and Northrup (grain agents), 200 McClures (Cattaraugus County), 72 McCormick, Cyrus Hall, 118, 127 McEvers, Charles, 15, 33 McKean County (Pa.), 188 McMaster, Guy H., 48 McPherson, Dan, 53 McSweeney, Miles, 55 Madison County (Ñ.Y.), 69, 84

Maine, 1 1 , 67- 68 malaria. 71-72 Maiiliu^ {Onondaga Countv). 70. 127 Mann, Horace, 178 Manual Labor School (the), 178-81 maple sugar, go markets: competition for, 243; farm. 88-90, 236-37, 242 Maryland, 1 1 5 . 161, i 8 | Massachusetts, 7. 14, 18, 26. 50, 68, 139. 179, 222, 240, 241; claim to New York State land by, 1 1 - 1 2 ; population in, 8n Massachusetts Preemption Line, 12-13, 16, 66 Maude, John, 43. 88, 127 Mauinee River, 230 M. Brimmer and Company, 121-22 Medina (Orleans County), 200 Mendon (Monroe County). 23. 41, 120 merchants, business practices of, 122-24 metals, cost of (1811), 86 Michaux, André, 109 Michigan, 74, 76, 169, 229-30, 233, 236, 240 Michigan Farmer, 169 Middlebury (Wyoming County), 175 migration: causes of, 7, 10, 45, 68, 23233, 240; effect of population on, 8; effect of religion on, 8; system of, 78-79 millers, business practices of, 122-24 mills, flour, 120, 122, 200 Millyard Tract (the), 13, 15, 23-24 Mississippi River, 11 Mohawk River, 96, 98, 107 Mohawk Valley, 17, 56, 67, 6g, 7 1 , 148, 241-42 Monroe County (Mich ), 230 Monroe County (N.Y.), 1, 3, 4, 22, 24, 3 1 , 38, 4 1 , 44, 66, 85, 109. 1 1 4 - 1 5 , 1 1 7 , 120, 125, 142-43, 152, 155. 158. 162-63, 169-71, 173, 175-76, 200, 228, 233-34; cattle breeding in, 161-62; farm mortgages in, 214-15 Monroe County Agricultural Society, '72. '74 Montezuma (Cayuga County), 114 Montreal, 22, 90, 96, 98, 99, 100, 242 Montulc, E., 74 Moore, Daniel D.T., 16g, 175 Moore, Isaac, 170 Moore's Rural New Yorker, 169, 175 Morehouse, Comptroller, 2 1 5

INDEX Morris, Gouverneur, 106 Morris, Roberl, 12, 13, 14, 22, 33, 241; financial difficulties of, 15 Morris, Thomas, 22, 34 Morris Resene, 14-16, 24, 33, 216 mortgages: advantages of, 36; farm, 210-26, ago; types of, 2 1 5 Moscow (Livingston County), 172 Mount Hope Nursery 156, 169, 174, 182 Mount Morris (Livingston County), 25, 59, 66, 90, 118, 120, 125, 126, 154, 187, 189, 193, 207, 216, 230, 234 Muchler, Andrew, 54-55 Mud Creek, 97, 98 mules, 94 · Munro, Robert, 5, 88, 94, 101, 133 MurTay, Charles Augustus, ig5 Murray, John, 29 Murray Family, 82 Myers (agent), 83 Ν Netherlands, 52 New England, 1, 4, 24, 27, 56, 67, 76, 80, 82, 114, 152, 232-33, 240; condition of agriculture in, 7; swine in, 141 New England Farmer, 170 New Genesee Farmer, 168, 169 New Hampshire, 6, 67, 68, 76 New Haven (Conn.), 68 New Jersey, 43, 69, 70, 94, 101 New London (Conn.), 68 New London County (Conn.), 26 New Orleans (La.), 96 New York Central Railroad, 75, 234, 23 6 -37 New York City, 26, 29, 52, 95, 99, 100, 101, 106, 108, 119, 1 2 1 , 122, 134, 136, 138, 160, 169, 185, 187, 187, 1 9 1 , 193, 210, 2 1 1 , 213, 220, 222, 224, 237 New York Farmer, 177 New York Life Insurance and Trust Company, 210-26 New York (province), extent of, 11 New York State, land sale by, 107 New York State, quit-rent system in, 10 New York State Agricultural Society, 149. 170-71, 177, 236 New York State Assembly, 48, 177 New York State Board of Agriculture, 170, 172.

273

New York State College of Agriculture, .78 New York State Fair. 159 New York H'eekly Tribune, 222, 223 newspapers: Daily Advertiser (Rochester), 167; Daily Democrat (Rochester), 138: Tìrmncrat arid American (Rochester), 157; Detroit Gazette, 233; Livingston Republican, 160, 182; New York Weekly Tribune, 222, 223; Republican Advocate (Batavia), 221; Western Repository (Canandaigua), 19 Niagara County (N.Y.), 7 1 , 75, 218, 239 Niagara Falls, 2, 43, 59, 70, 7 1 , 101, 234 Non-Intercourse Act, 8 North Dansville (Livingston County), 120, 1 4 1 , 173, 186, 18g Nunda (Livingston County), 175, 230 nurseries, 155-57 O Oakfield (Genesee County), 200 oats, 129, 154 Ogden (Monroe County), 23, 24, 28-29, 38, 4 1 , 163, 200, 206 Ogden, David Α., 15 Ogden, Samuel, 14, 15 Ogden Family. 52 Ohio, 9, 10, 28, 63, 64, 72, 119, 132, 135, 136, 138. 147, 230, 233 Ohio River, 44, 96, 184 Ohio Valley, 100 Old Rochester Nursery, 15G Olean (Cattaraugus County), 42, 70, 74, 95, 125, 126, 187-89 Olean Point, 72 Olmstead, O.P., 123 Oneida County (N.Y.), 84 Onondaga County (N.Y.), 127. 233 Ontario and Genesee Turnpike Company, 69. 71 Ontario County (N.Y.), 76, 170, 227, 229, 233, 237 Oramel (Allegany County), 188-89 orchards, 62, 144, 198 Orleans County (N'.Y.), 3, 24. 47, 71, 75, 108, 125, ir,7. ir,8, 172, 218, 228, 235 Ossian (Livingston County), 24 Otsego County (N.Y.). O9 Otto, Jacol) S„ 46, 49-50, 75, 76, 132-34. 140 Owego (Tioga County), 185 oxen, 81, 83, 1 1 0 , 142

T H E GENESEE V A L L E Y

»74 p

Pacific Ocean, 11 Palmyra (Wayne County), 157, 158 Parma (Monroe County), 23, 5 1 , 120, 155. '63 peas, 1 1 3 Penfield (Monroe County), 163 Pennsylvania, 1, 17, 43, 68, 69, 70, 72, 1 1 5 , 136, 138, 184, 188; migration to, 10 periodicals, agricultural, influence of, 149, 167 ff., 175 Perrinton (Monroe County), 120, 163 Perry-Castile (Wyoming County), 175 pests, agricultural, 80, 1 1 0 , 1 1 5 , 124, >5°-53· '92. 2 0 5"7· »38-39 Peters, T . C., 149, 169, 1 7 1 , 236 Phelps, Oliver, 12, 13, 14, 19, 25, 50, 53. 7 ° Phelps and Gorham Purchase, 13-14 Philadelphia, 14, 15, 38, 39, 94, 95, 97, 98, 132, 133, 134, 136, 242 Pike (Wyoming County), 180 Pitts, Hiram Avery, 1 1 7 , 127 Pittsburgh, 184 Pittsford (Monroe County), 120 population, 66; decrease in, 228, 23234; increase in, 8-9, 243-44; shifts in, 68 pork, production cost of, 165-66 Portage (Livingston County), 184, 186 Portageville (Livingston County), 237 Porter, Peter B., 92, 101, 104, 106 potash, 5, 28, 89, 98, 99, 183, 191 Potter County (Pa.), 1 1 , 188 Prescott (Conn.), 26 Pringle, Benjamin, 218-26 profit motive, need for, 104-5 proprietorships, 50 Pulteney, Sir William, 14, 23, 26 Pulteney Estate, 3 1 , 47-49, 212, 227 R railroads, 185-88, i g i , 228-29, 234"37¡ beef shipments by, 138 Raymond, Henry J . , 181 Redfield, Herman J . , 218-26 Remsen, Peter, 161 Rensselaerswyck, 60 rent, farm, 199-203; difficulty in collecting, 64 Renwick, James, 205 Republican Advocate (Batavia), 221 Reynolds, W., 95

Reynolds (nurseryman), 155 Rhode Island, 68; population in, 8n Ridge Road, 89; described, 71 Ridgeway (Orleans County), 71 R i g a (Monroe County), 23, 26, 2 1 5 road-building, 36-37, 47, 57-58, 74-75, 198; method of, 145 roads, described, 145; improvements in, 165 Robinson, Beverly, 213 Rochester, Nathaniel, 19, 20, 54, 55, 58 Rochester (Monroe County), 1, 2, 4, 7 1 , 72, 90, 99, 108, 116, 119, 120-26, 1404>> >47· >55-57. > 6 3. >67. 169-7 1 ' >74-75. >7 8 · '82. >84. >87-89, 193, 205-7, 2 >5->6. 2 3 ° . 2 34-36. 243-44 Rochester and Genesee Valley Railroad, 234 " R o c k e t " (bull), 15g Rowe, Asa, 155 Rush (Monroe County), 23, 163, 175, 200; derivation of name, 94 Russell, Robert, 201, 204, 229 Rutland County (Vt.), 27 Ryers, J o h n P., 23 S Sackett and Brookes (cattle breeders), 161 St. Lawrence River, 96, 98, gg, 100, 102 St. Louis (Mo.), 237 sanitation, 86 sawmills, 190 Schäfer, Joseph, 233 Schenectady (N.Y.), 98 schools, agricultural, 177-81 Schuylkill River, 97 Scotland, 15g, ig6 Scott, Gardner, 144 Scottsville (Monroe County), 66 Sedgewick, Theodore, 26 Seneca County (N.Y.), 229 Seneca River, 96 settlers: debts of, 50-51, 76; evictions of. 29, 42; skills of, 79 Seward, William H., 224 Seymour, Horatio, 225 Shaeffer, Peter, 66 Shakers (Livingston County), 126 Shays, Daniel, 7 Shays's Rebellion, 7, 12 sheep, 81, 82, 92, 93, 94, 110, 202; ailments of, 139-40; breeds of, 138-39, 164; care of, 139

INDEX Sheldon (Wyoming County), 161 Sheriff, James, 196 Sheriff, Patrick, 159 Six, William, 23, 35 Six Nations (Iroquois), 1 1 , 17 Skinner, Mr., 13 Smith, Junius Α., sso, 291, 224, 225 societies: agricultural, 170 ff.; horticultural, 175-76 Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, 133 Society for the Promotion of Agriculture, Arts and Manufacturen, 170 Society for the Promotion of Useful ArU,170 soil, exhaustion of, 1 1 1 , 1 1 3 - 1 4 , 148, 153, 202, 242, 243 Sparta (Livingston County), 164, 175, 230 Spencerport, (Monroe County), 200 Sperry, James, 170, 206 Springwater (Livingston County), 227 Springwater Station (Livingston County), 237 squatterism, 42, 54, 221 Stafford (Genesee County), 120, 175 staves, oak, 8g-go, 99, 183, 189 steamboats, 125 Sterrett, Joseph, 15 Sterrett, Samuel, 15 Steuben County (N.Y.), 48, 68, 70, 72. 76, 96, 97, 107, 125, 174, 192 Stillwell, Lewis D., 68 Stockbridge (Mass.), 26 Stoddard, Francis H., 2 1 1 - 1 2 Stuart, James, 83, 84, 88 Sullivan, James, 13, 17 Susquehanna Company Tract, 10 Susquehanna River, 2, 10, 69, 70, 96, 97, 98, 102, 184 Sutdiff, Robert, 98 Sweden (Monroe County), 155, 163 swine, 81, 87, 165; breeds of, 141-42; marketing of, 142 Syracuse (N.Y.), 83, 234 Τ tanneries, 191 tariffs, 100 taxes, 46-49, 53-54, 62, 65, 75, 198, 234, 2J7

tenancy, farm, system of, 53 ff., 195 ff., 241 thistles, 204

275

Thomas, David, 168 Thomas, J o h n J . , 168 T i e m a n , Luke, 55 tobacco, 80, 90-91 Tonawanda Railroad, 200, 234-36 Tonawanda Valley, 125 T o n e , Peter, »04, 205 tools, farming, 79, 1 1 0 , 1 1 3 , 116-18, 12728, 129, 142, 150 transportation, 233, 243; cost of, 75, 78, 86, 89, 92, 95-96, 97-99, 1 0 1 , 104, 106, 108, 126, 1 3 1 , 137-38, 235-37; improvement in, 109 Treaty of B u f f a l o Creek (1788), 13 Treaty of Fort Stanwix (1768), 12 Treaty of Greenville (1795), 10 Trenton (N.J.), 15 Triangle Tract, the, 15, 35 T r o u p , Robert, 20, 23, 26, 27, 28-30, S». 34· 37· 41-4«. 45. 48-49. 5 ' · 7°. 7 s · 107, 133, 185 T r o y (N.Y.), 177 T r u e , Moses, 200 T r u m b u l l , John, 52 Tucker, Luther, 167-70 T u r n e r , Onamus, 45, 58, 190 Tuscarora Tract, 55, 230 U Union Theological Seminary (N.Y.City), 211 United States, 20, 32, 100, 1 5 1 , 168, 218, 240, 241; land policy of, 43; trade of, 99 United States Congress, 182 Upham, A.S., 171 Ure, Masterton, 48 " U s u r p e r " (bull), 160, 161 Utica (N.Y.), 1 1 4 , 1 2 1 , 218 V Van Buren County (Mich.), 230 Vanderkemp (agent), 38 Van Rensselaer Family, 56, 58 Vermont, 6, 7, 10, 22, 27, 67, 68, 6g, 76, 1 5 1 , 152, 167, 233; migration from, 9; population of, 9; universal manhood suffrage in, 9 W Wadsworth, Daniel, 30 Wadsworth, Elizabeth, 195 Wadsworth, Harriet, 1 2 1 , 195

276

T H E GENESEE VALLEY

Wadsworth. James. 19 53, 55, 59, 63-64, 71-72, 75.76, 89, 93-95, 97-99, 101, 103, 105-6, 116, 121, 133, 140, 144, 158, 171, 178, 195, 204; financial difficulties of, 65; land speculations of, 31 Wadsworth, James C„ 181 Wadsworth, James S„ 28, 31, 121, 149, 152, 160, 171, 174, 195, 205, 230, 236, 238 Wadsworth, Jeremiah, 13, 22-23, 5°· ®5 Wadsworth, William, 13, 19, 22, 87, 97, 195, 204 Wadsworth, William W., 116, 118, 12122, 127-28, 132-34, 136, 140, 145, 151, 156, 159, 170-71, 178-81, 195-96, 200oi, 203, 205-6, 208, 230, 241 Wadsworth Estates, criticism of, 207-8 Wadsworth Family: genealogy of, 195; tenancy under, 59 wages, farm, 88, 112, 191 Walker, William, 13, 19 W a r of 1812, 8, 10, 29, 55, 71, 72, 74, 76. 99, 103, 105, 107 Warren County (N.Y.), 27 Warsaw (Wyoming County), 174, 186 Washington County (N.Y.), 27 water supplies, farm, 82-83 Watson, Elkanah, 177 Wayne County (N.Y.), 157, 2 1 1 Webster (Monroe County), 175 Webster, Daniel, 178 Weld, Isaac, 5 West, the, lure of, 229 West Indies, 109 Western New York Agricultural School, 181-82 Western Repository (Canandaigua), 19 Western Reserve, the, 10, 19, 44, 74, 240 Wheat, 79-80, 91-92, 101, 103, 106, 109 ff., 132, 192, 198, 228-29, 238-39, 243;

acreage in, 116; competitive growing of, 147-48; decline in production of, 148; storage of, 123, 126; varieties of, 115-16 wheat-growing, described, 1 1 1 - 1 2 wheat rent, 62, 64, 195, 197, 200 Wheatland (Monroe County), 23, 114, 117, 120, 129-30, 150, 173, 178, 181-82, 238 W h e a t l a n d Agricultural Society, 159-60, 175 whiskey, 89, 91, 101, 104 Wilkes-Barre (Pa.), 114 Willey, Α., i8o Williams County (Ohio), 230 Williamsburg (Livingston County), 66, 70, 71 Williamson, Charles, 4, 14, 18 21, 23-24, 32. 37, 42, 49, 51, 66-67, 69-70, 94. 96. 101-3 Williamson, Dow D., 220-25 Williamsport, (Pa.), 70 Willink, J. and W „ 16 Willink T r a c t , 33, 42 Windsor (Conn.), 26 Winooski, River Valley (Vt.), 22 Wisconsin, 161, 205, 233, 234, 240 Wiskoy (Allegany County), 175 Wolcott, Oliver, 26 wool, 65, 81, 92-94, 130, 139-42, 164 Wool Grower, 169 Worcester (Mass.), 121 Wyoming County (N.Y.), 1, 2, 4, 44, 47, 75, 77, 82. 85, 120, 125 26, 141, 143, 162-63, 1 7 a "75· l 8 ° . l 8 6 > 192, 214, 216, 218-19, 224-26, 232, 238; cattle f a i n in, 161 Wyoming Valley (Pa.), 6, 10, 17 Y Yale College, 5 York (Livingston County), 164, 173

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