If you find these pages useful a small donation towards the cost of running the site would be very welcome. Paypal to kevin@penhallow.net - anything, large or small is gratefully accepted!

CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY, NEW YORK, THE EXODUS FROM CONNECTICUT AND OTHER NEW ENGLAND STATES

(A chapter from a book being written by Ora Palmer Silen, descendant of Walter Palmer.)

By Ora Palmer Silen (C.S.G. #9435)

It is not too surprising to discover that one's line to Walter Palmer, the "Tall Great Puritan", who helped in the settling of Rehoboth and Charlestown, Mass. and Stonington, Conn. is well documented down to the Revolutionary War.
After that it was like pulling teeth to document one's nineteenth century ancestors. The joys of discovery and the detective work in proving the vita having been accomplished one becomes curious. They have become people instead of names on a chart.
As a great grandmother, one wonders why my own great grandfather's story was so elusive. He was a pioneer in the same sense that the Colonial and Pilgrim ancestors were. My father was born in 1879, which certainly gives him a role that era. These people were still pioneers, and I can remember that trait in his personality. He and mother knew what it was like to "pull up stakes" and seek a better life. In his case he would, by family tradition, have been a farmer. However, father was a man with many accomplishments: a teacher a musician, a writer and a painter, none of which in 1901 could earn him a living. Older brothers claimed the farm. So there it was: a frustrated mother, a seeking father, travelling ever westward to discover, along with his ancestors, a better life.
Understanding one's father led to the question of great grandfather Henry Palmer. Why was he born in New York State? Why did his father leave Connecticut? Knowing a little U.S. history, one thought of the Connecticut Reserve. That couldn't be right, because this was a large area in Ohio, and the Palmer ancestors came to Chautauqua County in New York State. However, in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries a great exodus did take place from New England.
It is said that entire families of all living generations and church congregations left for the promised land. Western New York State and the Connecticut Reserve were but two of virgin territories that benefited from the hardy group of immigrants who had left many a town and state suffering because of their urge to acquire their own land. It is something like today, when young people have regretfully decided to leave the overpopulated urban areas to find work in a less congested and far less expensive place to live. The New Englanders lost 23,000 citizens to Ohio alone.
To answer "Why New York?" one had to turn to family histories (when available) and to research Chautauqua County's several historians' accounts of its early settlers. In this case Jonathan Palmer Jr., followed by his mother, Jemima Satterly Palmer, who was recently left a widow, travelled to Norwich, Chenango County, New York, staying long enough for Jonathan to meet and marry Ruth Wilcox, daughter of Whitman and Patience Kenyon Wilcox, who had left Rhode Island not long after the birth of Ruth in 1788. Their ancestors were the pioneers of Rhode Island and Massachusetts and the descendants of the Mayflower Pilgrims.
Jonathan and Ruth came to Chautauqua County in 1814. They had come to claim land purchased from the Holland Land Company. They settled in the township of Busti on Lot 8, in the north part of township, range 12. They were there due to the Company's aggressive campaign for settlers for a virgin region as wild as anything the earlier newcomers to New England had encountered. Busti was named after the overseer of the Company.
Mrs. Helen G. McMahon, a descendant of early County pioneers, tells us that every title to property in Chautauqua County can be traced back to the Holland Land Company. All of Chautauqua, Erie, and Cattaraugus Counties, indeed the whole western part of New York State from the Genesee River, and part of Pennsylvania, was purchased by a syndicate of Dutch bankers - six houses, known as the Holland Land Company. She continues by saying they hoped to sell the land as rapidly as possible at a great profit. Instead, for many years they had to pour money into the purchase, surveying it, building roads, and trying to make it attractive to settlers. As one can imagine the Indians also had to be appeased.
Joseph Ellicott (1760-1826) was the resident-agent of the Company. The Holland bankers never came to America, but transacted business through Paul Busti in Philadelphia. Ellicott was regarded as "one of the greatest scientific engineers of his day". His survey followed the practice used by the Federal Government in the Northwest Territory of laying out the land in townships six miles square. The land was sold for different prices, according to Mrs. McMahon. Most paid about $2.50 per acre, sometimes a musket was enough.
Early settlers, and Jonathan Palmer was one, encountered the artifacts and mounds from the ancestors of the Senecas and Iroquois. There was prime evidence of pre-Columbian Colonization at Westfield. Two of the highest ranking sachems of the Senacas were half-brothers, sons of the same Seneca mother, Cornlanter (1744?-1834) and Handsome Lake (1734?-1815). Cornplanter became a great force for peace here and throughout western New York. The Code of his brother Handsome Lake is made up from the wondrous visions which messengers from above spoke to him. This Code is given in full in a bulletin of the New York State Library
There was evidence of a few French explorers, including LaSalle, having frequented the area, but not as settlers. This did not change the fact that the newcomers of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries had to contend with wild bear and wolves, as well as other, less dangerous animals.
Jonathan had to clear wall to wall trees in every direction. He and his compatriots fished Chautauqua Lake and dragged seven or eight barrels to their log cabin to be salted down for the winter. Andrew Young in his History published in 1875 describes the log cabin as the first thing the pioneers tackled after clearing a space to accommodate the simple structure. When glass could not be obtained, the 7 by 9 hole cut through the logs had to be pasted over with paper.
Immigrants from a great distance brought no bedsteads. A substitute was made by boring holes in the walls, in a corner of the house, into which the ends of poles were fitted. Three corners were thus fastened. It required but a single post. In one corner of the room were one or two small shelves on wooden pins, displaying the table ware. The table was made of a large puncheon plank. Chairs were three legged stools. Cabins were lighted from the fireplace, a requirement for living. This fireplace was made of split logs, tapering to the top.
Mr. Young gives a graphic account of the hardship of clearing the land. The forests were dense and heavy. Mr. Young states that no living person can imagine what the forests were like in the early settlements. The wild bear caused many deaths and children who strayed too far were caught by them. Then too the farmer had to keep close watch over any livestock. Bounty hunters earned a good living from the destruction of these animals.
Ruth worked from sunup until dark. She was the last woman in the area to know how to strike fire with flint. She was called, Lucy Darrow Peaks' History says, when towards seventy years old, in a snow blizzard, to ride three miles to a neighbor to strike fire, where the fire was out and there was sickness in the family.
Jonathan and Ruth Palmer lived out their lives in Busti. They had 10 children, and after each one found his or her way in life, Jonathan and Ruth lived with grandson Whitman, according to U.S. census. Jonathan and Ruth are buried in Busti.
Henry (1817-1870) was the seventh child. He married in Ellington, Chautauqua County, Clarissa House Penhallow. The historian, Andrew Young, mentions Henry, but claimed he was dead. Henry emigrated to Iowa after his marriage to Clarissa House Penhallow.
During the Civil War, there were letters from Palmers, Snows and Penhallows to Charlotte Center. Some were from the ranks, others were quartermasters, living fairly well Mention was made of the notorious Andersonville Prison in Georgia. These letters discussed family, war, and all of them missed "Old Charlotte". They are printed in a family genealogy of the Penhallows by their descendants, DeLong and Harlow.
Discovery that other ancestors were descendants of the early Colonists and Pilgrims came as a gratifying plus in this personal history. It was probably coincidence that led the Penhallows to Chautauqua County. There is no evidence that Abner House even visited his three daughters who married into the Penhallow family. Mention must be made that the House-Hollister research reaped wondrous rewards into history and to England. The "Connecticut Nutmegger" published by the Connecticut Society of Genealogists Inc. on December 1986 gave a the contents of a talk to the members by Robin Hush, the archivist at the Somerset Records Office in Somerset, England, on Saturday, March 16, 1985. He mentions this line to the Treats and Gaylords. This was of special interest to me, as they are in my lineage, and if is true that scholars will be able to read the ancient records back to 1207, that is a most gratifying discovery.
Penhallows settled in several hamlets in early Chautauqua County. Huldah Canfield Penhallow, wife of the Revolutionary War soldier, came with one of her sons (four fought in the War of 1812) to begin a new life shortly after the death of her husband in 1817. She died in Charlotte aged 94. Her obit in the Fredonia Censor of Fredonia, March 11, 1851 reads "She was a relict of Sergeant Richard Penhallow, a soldier of the Revolutionary War. She was a resident of Danbury, Connecticut at the time the town was burned, and with others took refuge in a church, whence she witnessed her uncle shot down and his body demonically (sic) cast into the flames. She was the mother of 12 children, four of whom served their country in the War of 1812. Connecticut papers please copy."
Son Richard Jr. was born in Norwich, Conn. 1781, occupation farmer, married Abigail House, daughter of Abner and Chloe Hollister House. He served in the Conm. Militia War of 1812, and died 1843 in Stockton, Chautauqua County, N.Y.
Reuben Penhallow was born in Conn. in 1795, occupation blacksmith, came to Ellington before 1814. He died there in 1884.
Nathan Penhallow was born in Canterbury, Conn. 1798, occupation farmer, married Rendy House, daughter of Abner and Chloe. He served in the Regular Army War of 1812. They lived in Sinclairville and both are buried in Charlotte Center.
In addition to this connection there must have been a way for the Snows to he friendly with the Palmers, because one of Jonathan's sons Henry had a son Charles who married a House descendant, Henrietta Snow, in Iowa. Henrietta was born in Syracuse, N.Y.
Now we can add John Bidwell (1620-1587) of Hartford, Conn. His daughter Sarah (1653-1700) and her brother John (1648-1692) produced a lineage that resulted in the last John Bidwell and Richard Penhallow being 4th cousins.
This John Bidwell (1819-1900) was born in Ripley, Chautauqua County, N.Y., and became a famous California citizen. In the year 1892 occurred the Presidential election, with Grover Cleveland a third time candidate of the Democratic Party. Benjamin Harrison was nominated as the standard bearer of the Republicans, according to Centennial History of Chautauqua County. The history goes on to mention that John Bidwell of California, and originally of Ripley, was the candidate for the Prohibition or Temperance Party. His father Abraham was a native of Connecticut.
Our John early turned his face westward, and eventually discovered the joys of that distant land and aided in making California a part of the United States. In 1849 he was elected to the first Constitutional Convention of California and in the same year was elected and served in the Senate of the first California Legislature. He was prominent in the early mining and gold discoveries in that state and in 1840 he bought the Rancho del Arroyo Chico. He lived in Chico, where he died in 1900, the owner of one of the finest estates in California.
He married in 1868 Annie Ellicott Kennedy. She was a descendant of the County's original Ellicotts. They lived in a new home that had already been named 'Bidwell Mansion. Spacious grounds were soon developed into a beautiful garden complete with a wide variety of flowers, trees, and shrubs from many parts of the world. This mansion has been restored to its original elegance, and I can attest to its beauty, having researched its history for a painting of the Mansion.
This chapter sets no record in genealogy I'm sure. However it does prove that study of family history produces more than dates. With a little imagination one can see the log cabins in the woods on a Saturday night bursting with the songs and the music of the "fiddlers".

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. "Chautauqua County, A History" by Helen G. McMahon -published by Henry Stewart Inc., Buffalo, NY 1958
2. "Biographical Review of Leading Citizens of Cayuga Co." published Boston 1894
3. "History of Chautauqua Co. and Biographical Sketches From Earliest Times to the Present" by Andrew W. Young - published by Matthews and Warren in Buffalo, NY 1874
4. "Early History of Town of Ellicott" by Gilbert W. Hazeltine - published Jamestown Journal Printing Co., 1887
5. "Chautauqua County History -The Centennial History of Chautauqua" by Chautauqua History Company, Jamestown, NY 1904
6. "Biographies of the Early Families of the Town of Busti, NY" compiled by Lucy Barrow peake, Historian of the Town of Husti, April 1960
7. "Richard Penhallow - His Life and Descendants" by Aileen BeLong and Lorraine Rivers Harlow - published by Gateway Press Inc., Baltimore, MD 1983
8. "Hale, House and Related Families" by Jacobus and Waterman - Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, MD 1978 (reprint)

Information such as this may contain historical innacuracies. The Historical data is not guaranteed

If you find these pages useful a small donation towards the cost of running the site would be very welcome. Paypal to kevin@penhallow.net - anything, large or small is gratefully accepted!