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SENECA  COUNTY: 1800-1999


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From: History of Seneca County
(Philadelphia: Everts, Ensign & Everts, 1876)


34                           HISTORY  OF  SENECA  COUNTY,  NEW  YORK.                          


the art of dancing neglected or destitute of advocates. An early number of the Waterloo Gazette gives notice of a dancing-school held by one Robinson at the house of Thayer. The rude mills of Bear and Halsey were speedily supplanted by others larger, more durable, and efficient. Mr. Bear, at Seauyes, employed the Yosts to prepare an ample frame. Post, girth, sill, and plate were worked and ready to be framed, when it was found the physical strength of the community was insufficient to raise the new building, and the proprietor was at a loss for help. Word was sent to Geneva, and the officiating minister gave notice to his congregation) at the close of the Sunday exercises of the facts in the case, and suggested that all should lend their aid at once and raise the building. The proposition was favorably received; boats were manned, the mill-frame put up, and the settlers quietly returned home, well satisfied with their having assisted a neighbor in a laudable enterprise, upon a day assigned to rest. The mill at Seauyes froze in winter, and, thawing in summer, when possible kept steadily at work. Too small to store the gathering grists, these were duly labled, placed upon stumps about the mill, and attended to in due time. If the settlers waited for their grinding, the shop of Mrs. Phoebe Smith offered refreshments of cake and beer, unless providentially a lunch was brought along.

Deacon Isaac Rosa, wife, and seven children came in 1817 to Waterloo. Old, he was yet active and enterprising. Having superintended the building of the mills, he was employed to run them. The door in the front of the mill was in two parts. The pigs, attracted by feed, would crowd into the front door, which the deacon would close; then opening a back door, some fifteen feet above the water, he ran them out, and they shot, much surprised, into the water below. Deacon Rosa was employed to put up the frame of the old Presbyterian meeting-house. Messrs. Fairchild, Bacon, and Malthy went to see the frame, and found the plates on and supports placed in the basement for the heavy beams. The roof-timbers were being hauled up with a ginpole and tackle by a score of men, and the studs beneath bent with the pressure. Suddenly, with a crash, the whole frame fell, and seven or eight men lay under and among the ruins. Lorin Wills, a young, recently-married mechanic, was crushed and bruised, and soon died. Deacon Rosa was badly hurt and rendered a cripple for life. Mr. King, a carpenter from an adjoining county, was so injured that amputation of a leg was necessary. Orrin R. Fanisworth got off with a fractured skull, was trepanned, and lived several years. William H. Stewart was severely hurt, but finally recovered, badly crippled. Adon Cobleigh fell uninjured, and Captain Jehiel Parsons caught on the plate and escaped a fall. This misfortune was the event of the time, and can never be forgotten by witnesses. In the summer of 1821, the people of the county seat and vicinity were duly notified that on a certain day a whale, twenty-two feet long, would be on exhibition at the Eagle Tavern. The time arrived and so did the whale. An old resident, who could not be mistaken, describes the object as "a well-preserved real whale, braced internally with wooden ribs, thoroughly dried, and shaped up so as to show the size and form as near as could be of the real fish." It was seen during the day by various parties. Some took the wagon into the street to dump the whale into the canal to see if it could swim, but it was hauled back and locked in the barn. About three A. M., a bright light shone out and aroused the citizens, who hastened out and found the whale on fire and nearly consumed in the middle of the street, just north of the Eagle barn. The hostler, a Frenchman, ran to the showman's room and called out, "Mr. Parsons! Mr. Parsons! Your codfish be all on fire!" Mr. Parsons arrived in time to cut off a tail-piece, about four feet in length.

About the year 1820, Seneca Falls and Fayette were visited by an odd-looking boy, clad in tow frock and trowsers, and barefooted. He hailed from Palmyra, Wayne County, and made a living by seeking hidden springs. This boy was Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism. On September 23, 1823, an angel appeared to Smith at Manchester, Ontario County, and told him that in the hill 'Cumorah' lay buried golden plates on which was engraved the history of the mound-builders, full and complete. The plates were duly unearthed and the translation commenced. Three men believed the new doctrine, Martin Harris, a well-to-do farmer, David Whitmore, and Oliver Cowdry, whose pen gave the prophet great assistance. Harris mortgaged his farm for money to print the 'Book of Mormon,' went to Ohio, lost all, and came back a poorer and wiser man. Mrs. Harris consigned a hundred or more pages of manuscript to the fire, delayed the work; and finding her husband infatuated, left him. Converts embracing the new faith, the first Mormon conference was held June 1, 1830, in the town of Fayette, Seneca County. W. W. Phelps published an anti-Masonic paper in Canandaigua, and Brigham Young is reported to have been a teacher and a religious exhorter in the same place.

Few but are familiar with the heroism of the young Marquis La Fayette. Enjoying wealth, rank, and influence, he nevertheless left all these, and, coming to America, found in Washington a bosom friend. Intrusted with a command, he lavished his fortune upon their equipment, and aided us through the Revolution to its successful termination. Years passed. America developed grandly. Broad domains were peopled and cities by scores sprang into being. La Fayette was invited, in 1825, to visit this people, and when the old man came the enthusiasm was unbounded. His progress from point to point was a continuous ovation; bonfires blazed from the hill-tops, cannon thundered his coming, and deputations from one town escorted him to the next. From Geneva he came to Waterloo and Seneca Falls, and went thence to Auburn. Old soldiers flocked to meet him, and were received with the greatest kindness. Many persons on horseback and in carriages escorted him from Geneva, and when he had taken his position on the chamber stairs in the hall of the Waterloo Hotel, now Bunton's yeast factory, the multitude of men and women thronged in to shake his hand. Fatigued he certainly was, and this penance to a foolish custom marred the pleasure of an otherwise triumphal and happy tour of the country. The festivity of the occasion was interrupted by an accident and loss of life. An old swivel gun, which had been many voyages to Africa on the brig Pegasus, a Newport slaver, was being used to fire the salute. Not content with an ordinary load, a double charge of powder was put in and a mass of flax rammed in upon it, the charge being still further compressed by driving upon the rammer with an axe. The party were afraid to touch it off. Captain J. P. Parsons chanced to pass along, and, ignorant of the dangerous loading, took the burning match and touched it off. A tremendous report followed; the gun burst. A fragment struck and instantly killed the Captain, but of the throng around no one was hurt. Parsons left a mother and three sisters and a brother who depended on him for support, and when La Fayette learned of' the accident he sent them a thousand dollars.

The celebrated preacher, Lorenzo Dow, preached in Seneca County on several occasions, more notably at a camp-meeting held on the west bank of Cayuga Lake, in October, 1821. A temporary log shelter had been erected to provide against storms; in this rude temple he addressed a large audience, drawn together by the fame of his strange manners and quaint expressions. In appearance, he was small of stature, dark complexion, long hair, and poorly dressed. In the pulpit, he was apt in expression, shrill in voice, and earnest in manner. Familiar with Scripture, blunt in their application, he won favor with the old settlers by his knowledge of their needs and evident sympathy with them. His text on this occasion was the well-known verse, "It is appointed unto man once to die, and after that the judgment."

The tour of Andrew Johnson, in his "swing around the circle," brought him through Seneca Falls and Waterloo. He was accompanied by Generals Grant and Sherman, and Secretary Seward, and spoke briefly to the crowds assembled. Various celebrities have, at times, visited the towns of Seneca; among these was Prince de Joinville, who, in 1843, came near closing his career in a Seneca swamp, owing to the act of a gamin in turning the "old turnaround" switch, east of Seneca Falls village, and sending the engine, "Old Columbus," and all her train, off the track....




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FAYETTE.
______

This town was formed from Romulus, and organized as "Washington," at which time it comprised a portion of Cayuga County. The town of Junius was set off in 1803. It is the largest town in the County, lies on the south bank of the Seneca River, and extends from Seneca to Cayuga Lake. The surface is rolling, and forms some of the finest farming lands in the County.

The territory embraced within the boundaries of this County, and more particularly the town of Fayette, formed a part of the celebrated "hunting-grounds" of the Iroquois Indians. Here the circling smoke arose from many an Indian village, and the wilderness was dotted with wigwams. The hunter bounded through the forest after the deer and moose; beavers, otters, and martens were in abundance; the salmon smoked at every camp-fire; the waters of the lakes were parted by the birchen canoe, and the dripping oar of the Seneca glistened in the sunlight. Here was the Indian in all his glory. This was the Indian Eden, and, as far as his unsophisticated vision extended, destined to remain. The unfortunate allegiance of the Six Nations to the British crown soon brought this sweet dream to a close. The butcheries of Cherry Valley and Wyoming called down upon the heads of the red brothers the wrath of Washington, and the result was that terrible blow of Sullivan, when he swept the Indian country, as it were, with a besom of destruction. This town is identified with that invasion. When the stern Indian-hunter returned from the Genesee flats, retracing his line of march strewn everywhere with desolation and ruin, he encamped on "Oakland Farm," and from this point dispatched Colonel Zebulon Butler, with five hundred riflemen, to visit the east shore of Cayuga Lake and inflict the same punishment upon the Cayugas that he had so severely dealt to the Senecas.

It is claimed by some, and we think justly, that Red Jacket, the celebrated Seneca orator and chieftain, was born in this town. Seven cities contend for the birthplace of the poet Homer, and nearly as many places have laid claim to the nativity of Red Jacket. The writer feels justified in placing upon the imperishable pages that he first saw the light of day near Cayuga Lake, on the banks of Canoga Creek, in about the year 1759. He died near Bufialo, New York, January 20, 1830. His Indian name was Sagoyewatha or Suguwatha, signifying "the keeper awake." His English name -- Red Jacket -- was due to a richly-embroidered scarlet jacket given him by the British during the Revolution. He was exalted above his tribe as an orator, and boasted that he was "born an orator." He strenuously resisted the advances of civilization, but gradually gave way to the onward march of the pale-face, and ended his eventful career as a confirmed drunkard. He was not a warrior in the true sense of that term, and was not possessed of those savage elements -- to his honor be it said -- that characterized Brandt. He was mightiest at the council-fire, and wielded the greatest influence at the treaty.

THE  MORMON  PROPHET -- FIRST  BAPTISM.

Joseph Smith, the Mormon prophet, was at one time a resident of this town. Hon. D. S. Kendig, who furnished the writer this information, remembers him very well. He worked as a day-laborer for old Colonel Jacob Chamberlain, and occasionally for others, when not engaged with his mineral rods digging for gold in various places. He was invariable disappointed, though oftentimes striking with his crowbar an iron chest, supposed to contain the desired gold, when by some mysterious agency it would vanish to some other place. On one occasion, he happened to strike the 'Golden Bible,' as he averted, near Palmyra, Wayne County. This Bible he brought to the house of an honest old Dutch farmer, named Whitmer, living in Fayette, about three miles south of Waterloo, and there translated it, and by the aid of one Cowdry, wrote the Mormon Bible, or a portion of it, which was afterwards printed. This was about the year 1829 or 1830. In 1831 he left Fayette, with numerous converts, among whom were the whole Whitmer family and William Jolly. With them also went a family from Junius, named Bennett, and many others. They first stopped at Kirtland, Ohio, and subsequently located at Nauvoo, Illinois. The manner of translating the 'Golden Bible' was a novel one. "Joe" Smith would look into a hat and read, and Cowdry would write down as the mysterious characters on the plates were revealed to his understanding. The first baptism in the Mormon faith was made in this town, by immersion in a small brook, called Thomas Creek.

THE  FIRST  SETTLEMENT.

The first settlement in Fayette was undoubtedly made by a pioneer named James Bennett, from Pennsylvania, who located on the shore of Cayuga Lake in the year 1789.

Captain Ward, an ofiicer in the war of the Revolution, was an early settler on Lot 25, in the northeast comer part of the town. A man named Oves was an early settler on Lot 26, and was somewhat celebrated as a pioneer tailor; but, unlike those of to-day, who form suits from the various kinds of costly material, he had only one known to him, and that was deer-skin. Mr. John Williams, now residing a short distance south of the village of Canoga, relates that he well remem-bers going to this primitive knight of the shears, and having pants cut and made from the above-mentioned material. John Oliver was an early settler on Lot 27, and died thereon a number of yeare ago, at the advanced age of seventy-three. Michael Vreeland was a pioneer on the Canoga reservation. In an early day in the State of Pennsylvania, Mr. Vreeland and his father were captured by the Indians, and the savage spirit of the red man, not content with the simple custody of their prisoners and the torture they might inflict upou them, concluded to dispatch the elder Vreeland, whereupon he was massacred, cut in pieces, and roasted, and the son compelled to partake of the flesh of the father. David Blackney was also an early settler in the Canoga reservation. He met a melancholy fate by burning to death in an attempt to rescue his little child, who was asleep in his dwelling when it was burned in about the year 1815; both father and child were consumed in the flames. James Kilpatrick was an early settler on the site of the present village of Canoga. Mr. Conner and Patrick Fowler were early settlers on Lot 40, south of the village, on lands now owned by A. McDuffie and Alanson Hause. The first proprietor of Lot 41 was G. Johnston, and the first settler John Badgley, on premises now owned by George W. Randall and Daniel Disimger. Dr. Hartshorn and Charles Woodruff early located on Lot 46, Israel Howell and John Baker on Lot 52, and Enos Tooker, from Orange County, New York, on Lot 51, on premises now owned by his son J. H. Tooker. A Mr. Bull was also a pioneer on this lot. Mr. Hortan early settled on Lot 57, near the lake, at the point then called Hortonis, and since known as Hause's Point. Jacob Singer was an early settler on Lot 56; Peter Ditmars on Lot 50; Peter Dear, Jr., James Huff, and Arthur Williamson, familiarly known as Uncle "Ort," on Lot 45; Mr. Emerick on Lot 39, and Cook and Noricon on Lot 34. On this lot is the celebrated Canoga Spring. This spring is about ten feet in diameter, and the water rises to the surface with great rapidity, and is clear, tasteless, and inodorous. The bubbles of gas which rise are pure nitrogen. The water from this spring, which forms Canoga Creek, furnishes a supply for turning several mills, and passes into Cayuga Lake. "The amount of gas given off by this spring is incredibly great, as the surface presents the appearance of ebullition, and on stining the bottom with a stick the supply is so much increased that a large test-bottle may be filled in a few seconds. The temperature of thewater in June was 45 degrees, the air at the same time was 82 degrees." Isaac Coyle and Jesse Boardman were early settlers on Lot 33, on premises now owned by Michael Hoster and Michael Hoster, Jr.

Archibald Mellon, from Connecticut, was the pioneer on Lot 38, where, in an early day, was a large rattlesnake den, the terror of the neighborhood for miles around. John Kuney early settled on Lot 44; the Krumps on Lot 49; Peter Dear on Lot 55; Peter Thayer on Lot 54; Adam Hosstetter on Lots 47 and 48; Geo. Stroub and Jacob Reigel on Lot 37; Ludowick Stofflett on Lot 32; Daniel and Henry Reigle on Lot 28; Wm. Lewis and Phineas Butler on Lot 23; Mrs. Packer and a Mr. Martin, Urias Van Clief and Squire Jacob Knox on Lot 22, on premises now owned by L. Frantz and M. L. Allen; Hugh McAllister and a man named Conner on Lot 27; Christian Hoster and Thomas Disbrow on Lot 31. Mr. Hoster came from Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, in 1803, and settled on this lot, where he died, in 1810, at the age of aixty-four years. The

( under construction )









CENTENNIAL  HISTORICAL  SKETCH



OF  THE



TOWN  OF  FAYETTE


SENECA  COUNTY,  NEW  YORK





PREPARED  BY

DIEDRICH  WILLERS





_________




GENEVA, N. Y.
PRESS OF W. F.HUMPHREY.
1900.





                                        TOWN  OF  FAYETTE                                         47


One of these was established at the Burgh schoolhouse in or about 1819, by the late Deacon Hugh McAlister, which was undoubtedly the earliest Sunday activity conducted in the town.

The chief province of the local historian is to give a statement of facts and events relating to his locality.leaving criticisms thereon, to others.

The Mormon church which has arisen to prominence at the present time, was first organized at the house of Peter Whitmer, a Pennsylvania German farmer (residing upon a farm in the southeast corner of Military Lot No. 13, in Fayette), April 6, 1830.

The founder of this church was Joseph Smith, born at Sharon, Vermont, Dec. 23, 1805, who in 1815 removed to Western New York with his parents. In after years, he made it known, that as early as Sept. 22, 1823, he had discovered certain plates, known as the "Golden plates," buried in a hill, in the Town of Manchester, Ontario County, N.Y., about four miles south of Palmyra, which plates however he did not remove from their place of deposit, until four years afterwards. These plates contained inscriptions in unknown characters, or letters, which soon after he had exhumed them, in Sept. 1827, he began (while living at the home of his wife, in Harmony, Penn.) to translate and transcribe into English, with the aid, as he alleged, of certain mysterious Seer Stones, which he called Urim and Thummim.

In June 1829, Joseph Smith removed from Pennsylvania to the residence of Peter Whitmer, where the work of translation progressed, assisted by Oliver Cowdery and David and John Whitmer (sons of Peter), and the "Book of Mormon," called also the "Mormon Bible," first printed by Egbert B. Grandin at Palmyra, N. Y., was issued in the year 1830.

The organization of April 6, 1830, alluded to, was perfected by Joseph Smith (then known as "the Prophet") and five others, to wit: Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, Peter Whitmer, Jr., Hyrum Smith and Samuel H. Smith.

As early as June 1829, David Whitmer and Hyrum Smith were baptized by Joseph Smith by immersion, in Seneca lake, and one (John Whitmer), was baptized there by Oliver Cowdery.


48                                         HISTORICAL  SKETCH                                        


The first public meeting after the organization referred to, was held at the house of Peter Whitmer, April 11, 1830, at which Oliver Cowdery preached. On the same day Hiram Page, Catherine Page, Christian Whitmer, Anna Whitmer, Jacob Whitmer, and Elizabeth Whitmer were baptized, and on April 18, of the same year, Peter Whitmer, Sr., Mary Whitmer, William Jolly, Elizabeth Jolly, Vincent Jolly and Elizabeth Ann Whitmer were baptized.

In June, 1830, nine coverts in addition to those named, were baptized in Fayette, and a number of others were from time to time baptized by immersion in Seneca lake, Seneca river, Thomas and Kendig creeks, and other streams not far from the Whitmer farm.

Preaching services were held in 1830 and 1831 at Peter Whitmer's house, and at Whitmer's school house, in District No. 17, Fayette (northeast from Whitmer's near Martin Miller's, and the junction of Military Lots 3, 4, and 13). This school district was annulled in 1841, and the school house has since been removed.

Another preaching point was at the school house in school district No. 15 (now No. 7), in the locality known as "The Beach," in northeast Fayette.

The first Conference of the Mormon church was held in Fayette, June 1, 1830, at which thirty members were present.

The second General Conference held in Fayette, Sept. 1, 1830, continued for three days, and a third Conference was held in this town, Jan. 2, 1831.

Joseph Smith removed his family from Harmony, Pa., to Peter Whitmer's, the last week in August, 1830.

Sidney Rigdon and Orson Pratt (who, with Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer were prominent in the early development of the Mormon church), came to Fayette late in the year 1830.

In the latter part of January, 1831, Joseph Smith and wife, Sidney Rigdon and others, removed to Kirtland, Ohio. The Whitmer and Jolly families accompanied, or soon after followed there. A brief mention will be made of subsequent movements, especially as relating to former residents of Fayette. At Kirtland, Ohio, a temple was erected and in 1834, Joseph Smith was chosen President of the Mormon church. In 1838, the Mormons


                                        TOWN  OF  FAYETTE                                         49


then remaining at Kirtland and vicinity, decided to remove to Missouri -- whither a large colony had preceded as early as 1831, locating at Independence, in Jackson County, and afterward in Clay County in that State. The Whitmer family were included in the number which removed early to Missouri, but a part of the Jolly family is understood to have remained in Ohio.

Meeting with much opposition in Missouri, the Mormons removed in May, 1839, to Nauvoo, Illinois, on the Mississippi River. Here a city was founded of which Joseph Smith was several times elected mayor.

A temple of great proportions and indeed a magnificent structure, was here erected and the membership of the church increased -- many foreign converts being of the number of additions. Here again a conflict arose with the local authorities and in 1844, Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were incarcerated in the county jail of Hancock County, at Carthage, Illinois, were both were killed by a mob, June 27, 1844.

The Mormon removal from Illinois to Utah Territory, took place in 1846-1847, in which last named year, Salt Lake City was founded -- the semi centennial of the founding of which was celebrated July 24, 1897.

Utah was admitted as a State of the United States, in January 1896, polygamy having been declared abolished.

It may here be stated, that at the time of its organization in Fayette, and while the members of the Mormon church remained in this county, polygamy was neither avowed, preached nor practiced, nor indeed until about thirteen years afterwards (1843) was it announced by revelation and in 1852, proclaimed as a doctrine of the Mormon church by Brigham Young, then President of that church.

The Whitmer family remained in Missouri and took no part in the Mormon removals to Illinois and Utah. Peter Whitmer, Sr., the head of the family -- born near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, July 14, 1773, and removing to Fayette about 1810 -- was the father of five sons and one daughter, all of whom joined the Mormon church. He died at the house of his son -- Hon. David Whitmer in Richmond, Ray Co., Missouri, Aug. 13, 1854. He is spoken of by old Fayette residents, as a worthy and industrious citizen.


50                                         HISTORICAL  SKETCH                                        


David Whitmer, who bore a leading part in the Mormon movement, while a resident of Fayette, was, after June, 1838, not in sympathy with Joseph Smith and in a pamphlet published by him in 1887, entitled "An Address to all believers in Christ," while avowing his belief both in the Holy Bible and in the Book of Mormon, gives a number of reasons for dissenting from the Mormon church of the Salt Lake City organization, as well as from the Re-organized branch of that church. In his pamphlet, Mr. Whitmer strongly denounces certain changes and additions in the Book of "Doctrines and Covenants," including polygamy, and says: "left the Body in June 1838, being five years before polygamy was introduced." He says of polygamy: "I wish here to state, that I do not indorse polygamy or spiritual wifeism. It is a great evil; shocking to the moral sense, and the more so, because practised in the name of religion. It is of man and not of God, and is especially forbidden in the Book of Mormon itself."

David Whitmer was born near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Jan. 7, 1805, and removed with his parents to Fayette, N. Y. He was baptized and ordained an Elder of the Mormon faith by Joseph Smith in June 1829. On Jan. 9, 1831, before removing from Fayette, he married Miss Julia Ann Jolly, daughter of William Jolly of this town. He removed to Kirtland, Ohio, in 1831 and from Ohio to Missouri in 1834, locating at the city of Richmond, in the latter State in 1838, where he continued to reside until his death. He was a substantial and prominent resident of that city, having been elected its mayor in 1866, where he died Jan. 25, 1888.

In his pamphlet of 1887, he divides the Mormon church into three parts -- naming his own branch as "The Church of Jesus Christ" -- the second division being the Salt Lake City, Utah branch known as "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints," and the third division with headquarters at Lamoni, Iowa, (known also as the Anti-Polygamy branch) as "The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints."

The brothers of David Whitmer were Christian, Jacob, John and Peter, Jr., and his sister married Hiram Page of Fayette.

Two of the Whitmer brothers -- Christian and Jacob -- each


                                        TOWN  OF  FAYETTE                                         51


married a lady by the name of Schott, descending from a Fayette family of that name -- before removing West.

In his pamphlet, David Whitmer says that his brothers, Christian and Peter, died prior to 1838.

John Whitmer became the first historian of the Mormon Church. He died at Far West, near Kingston, Caldwell County, Missouri, a few years ago. Nothing has been ascertained as to Jacob Whitmer and Hiram Page, since leaving Fayette.

Oliver Cowdery, a school teacher, came to Fayette and taught a district school in the Yost district before 1830, * and he with David Whitmer and Martin Harris, constituted the three witnesses certifying to the Book of Mormon. (Mr. Lee Yost, now of Lenawee County, Michigan, aged eighty-five years, attended this term of school.) Mr. Cowdery died at Richmond, Missouri, March 3, 1850.

Martin Harris, of Palmyra, N. Y., an active participant in the early movements of the church in Fayette, one of the three witnesses, and who it is said gave financial assistance in the publication of the Book of Mormon -- was born in East-town, Saratoga Co., N.Y., May 18, 1783, and died at Clarkston, Cache Co., Utah, July 10, 1875.

In the year 1899, several missionaries from the Salt Lake City, Utah, branch of Mormons, visited Fayette (and other parts of Seneca County) and devoted considerable time to a personal house-to-house canvass of the localities visited....

__________

* Transcriber's note: Lee Yost's early recollection of Oliver Cowdery is further detailed in his May 18, 1897 letter to Diedrich Willers, (EMD 5 287-291) where he says: "Oliver Cowdery taught School in our district before Joe Smith said he found the golden plates [Sept, 1827?]... it was the winter school... Cowdery was in the habit of staying in the school house late nights writing about something, no one knew what." -- See David Whitmer's interview in the Chicago Daily Tribune of Dec. 17, 1885 where it is stated: "The father [Peter Whitmer, Sr.] was a strict Presbyterian, and brought his children up with rigid sectarian discipline. Besides a daughter, who married Oliver Cowdery, the village schoolmaster, there were four sons -- Jacob, John, David and Christian..." -- In an article published in the Kansas City Journal of June 5, 1881, David Whitmer reported an early familiarity with Oliver Cowdery: "I first heard of what is now termed Mormonism in the year 1828. I made a business trip to Palmyra, New York, and while there stopped with one Oliver Cowdery.... Cowdery and I, as well as others, talked about the matter." The implication provided in these two interview reports, is that David and his sister knew Oliver Cowdery at an early date, because he had been a "schoolmaster" in their "village," (or perhaps in some other nearby village in the Waterloo-Fayette area). The publication of an unclaimed letters notification, in the Lyons Advertiser of Oct. 17, 1827, in which a letter for "Oliver Cowdery" is listed, shows that some correspondent expected Oliver to be picking up his mail in that place (Arcadia and/or Lyons townships of Wayne Co., where Oliver's father and brother lived). The close proximity of the Waterloo-Fayette area and the Arcadia-Lyons area, is a further indication that Oliver Cowdery could have lived close enough to the Whitmers, c. 1826-27, for David and his siblings to have known Oliver as "the village schoolmaster." See also Larry E. Morris' 2007 JBMS paper, "The Conversion of Oliver Cowdery," where he dates Oliver's arrival in western New York to "the mid-1820s." In his 1938 book, The A. B. C. History of Palmyra, Willard Bean speaks of the young Oliver as having "canvassed the vicinity of the Smith home in Manchester, to get up a subscription school" "where the 'little red' cobble-rock Armington school now stands" in November of 1828. Oliver's educational career activity during "the mid-1820s" may also explain the seemingly strange chronology provided to Thomas Gregg by Lorenzo Saunders in 1885: "Oliver Cowdery, he came from Kirtland [sic - Kirtland Tract?] in the summer of 1826 and was about there until fall and took a school in the district where the Smiths lived and the next summer he was missing and I didn't see him until fall and he came back and took our school in the district where we lived and taught about a week and went to the schoolboard and wanted the board to let him off and they did and he went to Smith and went to writing the Book of Mormon." If Oliver, on different occasions, went about soliciting students "to get up a subscription school," then his activities may account for the report from David Whitmer, of Oliver teaching in the Waterloo area, as well as Lorenzo Saunders' memory of Oliver teaching at both Manchester's Stafford School, "in the district where the Smiths lived" (Ontario Co. District #11) and the Armington School (Ontario Co. District #10) on Canandaigua Road, where the Saunders family lived.


50                                         HISTORICAL  SKETCH                                        




( under construction )







From: "Grip's" Historical Souvenir of Waterloo, N.Y. by E. L. Welch
(Syracuse: 1903)


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"Mormon Joe, born near Waterloo -- Joseph Smith, the Morman prophet, came to Waterloo, or rather the town ofFayette about 1830. He made his headquarters at the farm house of Peter Whitmer, two miles south-west of the village, which was the hirth place of the Morman church; for it was there where Joe Smith first declared the golden plates, and their divinity, which he claimed to have unearthed on a hill near Manchester, Ontario county; and it was at Whitmer's where he received and promulgated "the revelation" for establishing the church and where it also effected the organization. Several weeks following his arrival, Smith was shut up in Whitmer's house, hours at a time, engaged in translating the charactors engraved on the plates which he called "Reformed Egyptian." With two bright, clean stones in his hands -- stones similar in appearance to those usually gathered in fresh water on a gravelly beach -- he sat intently gazing upon them and from time to time uttering in baritone sentences, which, as he spoke them, were written down by a companion named Oliver Courdnay [sic - Cowdery?]. Thus was produced that great volume of manuscript upon "which the Morman church rests the claim of divine inspiration. Smith called the two stones he used, through which he said he interpreted the golden plates, his "divine optical instruments." He said they "had a spiritual reflection from the plates." In the meantime he obtained such funds as he required, by days' work at cutting timber, burning brush and digging dItch. Neighbors came in from time to time but were never allowed to see the golden plates. Smith told them the plates were too sacred for profane eyes.

The half a dozen followers he obtained at that time he took one by one, as each professed the faith, to the nearest shore of Thomas creek, a small stream flowing near the eastern end of the village, where he baptised them. Then he invited as many as could be reached to attend his meetings at Whitmer's house. At last he ostentatiously "enrolled" in "the book of life" his assistant Oliver Courdney and Hymen [sic - Hyrum?] Smith, Peter Wilmer [sic - Whitmer?], Jr. Samuel H. Smith and David Wilmer, and on the 6th day of April, 1830, organized the Morman church at Wilmer's house. The following June a Morman conference was held on the shore of Cayuga lake. Delegate Cannon says the organizatIon of the church was made on a day and after a pattern directed by God in a revelation given to Joseph Smith who was 24 years of age at the time. The revelation gave the name by which the church was to be called as "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints."

To outsiders, especially residents of Waterloo, where Smith was an occasional visitor and which was then a small village, "Morman Joe." as Smith was generally called, occasioned no end of fun and comment. He was often seen in the outskirts of the village, by people still living who say that it was his custom to pace slowly along some favorite walk with his hat in his hand, crown downward, steadily gazing into it. This led his scoffers to say that he was communing with the spirits -- midgets that occasionally infest unclean heads.

It was at that time that Smith attracted the attention of Brigham Young who was then a lad, one of the five sons of John Young who lived in the town of Tryone, Schuyler County. Lewis Halsey says that John Young was a revolutionary soldier from Whittingham, Windham Co., Ct., who became a "traveling tinker and mender and a poor farmer;" and that his sons spent most of their time hunting and fishing; usually in harvest time crossing Seneca lake to work for farmers in Romulus. That was probably how Brigham became acquainted with Smith. The latter upon quitting this country with his followers, repaired to Kirkland [sic] , O., whence "the church" shortly migrated to Nauvoo, Ill., where Smith met his death....


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