TOWN OF BURNS EQUIPMENT BUILDING,
Canaseraga. 1976 Photo by Gordon E. Willitt
THE WAY
WEST
Before “The World Turned Upside Down” at the Battle of Yorktown in 1781, only a trickle of pioneers had crossed the Appalachians in defiance
of British policy. The numbers soon swelled into a tide once Cornwallis’ troops had stacked their arms on the Chesapeake. Americans were independent and there was a continent “out
there” beyond the mountains. Restless families broke free of their coastal confines, land speculators in the vanguard. Squatters appropriated tribal hunting grounds while land
company manipulators paid the Indians pittances sweetened with trinkets and firewater. Meanwhile the new government signed solemn treaties it would shortly dishonor. A proud people
was dispossessed, broken by a new one in the making. Two centuries later there is growing recognition that grievous wrongs were committed. Now, when it is too late, it is possible to
regard it all from a larger, and more humble, perspective.
In the early phase of expansion the settlers swept past all of Western New York. For two decades their thrust focused upon the middle states
and the Ohio country. Only a dozen years after independence had been achieved, the rapid movement over the mountains brought Kentucky and Tennessee into the
Union, in 1792 and 1795. In Western New York, meanwhile, the Indians still held the Genesee Country.
Simultaneously the government was making arrangements for settlement beyond the Ohio River. The Northwest Ordinance was approved in 1787,
stipulating the requirements for statehood. Shortly thereafter authorized settlements were made at Marietta and Cincinnati. And more people came. By 1803 Ohio had achieved the
necessary 60,000 residents and was admitted to statehood. But another two years would go by before the first pioneers settled on the upper Canaseraga Creek.
By 1800, to recapitulate, a million settlers had established themselves west of the Appalachians. But Western New York had been denied to them. The census that year showed fewer than two persons pr square mile between the Western Finger Lakes and the
falls at Niagara. There were two key reasons why the westward wave had rolled far beyond the Genesee Country, leaving it essentially untouched until almost the end of the eighteenth century. One was the
conflicting lad claims pressed by New York and Massachusetts. The other was the difficulty of negotiating, and duping, withdrawal of the proud
Seneca, Keepers of the Western Door of the Iroquois Long House. These two barriers to settlement in Western New York can be treated together. A brief look at what happened will also
help to explain why the Town of Burns, then part of Ossian, was in Steuben County when the earliest pioneers arrived here.
PHELPS-GORHAM TO PULTENEY
The conflicting claims to Western New York dated from the colonial era. So too, of course, did the commitments made by the British regarding
the parts of New York State where white settlement would be permitted and those where it would not. In 1768 that demarcation line was established between what are now roughly Rome and
Deposit, New York. Settlers continued to press against that line, demanding the right to move into new territory. Accordingly, in 1784 the demarcation line was moved significantly
westward under the terms of a new treaty with the Indians. This was the Treaty of Fort Stanwix, the first one signed between an Indian tribe and the new Untied States Government.
That treaty drew a dividing line due south from Sodus Bay through Seneca Lake to the Pennsylvainia border. It is this line, the Pre-emption Line, which concerns us in describing the events that followed.
At that time both New York and Massachusetts claimed title to the unsettled lands in New York State. The difficulties in resolving these
claims significantly delayed exploration and settlement in what became the Town of Burns. Seen from the other side, it allowed the Indians in the Genesee Country a short reprieve.
The claim asserted by New York to the lands in question stemmed from a century-old grand, made in 1664, awarding the “Province” of New York to the Duke of York. In turn this grant
conflicted with one made by the Crown to the Plymouth Company in 1620. Both grants pertained to the same lands extending “indefinitely westward” at a time when those interior regions
were totally unknown to white men along the coast.
In 1781 New York relinquished to the United States its claims to western lands beyond its own borders. Massachusetts followed suit four
years later except that it retained claim to the lands within New York State beyond the Pre-emption Line, that is to say beyond what are now approximately the eastern boundaries of
Ontario and Stueben counties. This left three parties asserting title to, or jurisdiction over, the 19,000 square miles of the Genesee County: the Indians and the two states.
To settle this issue representatives of New York and Massachusetts met at Hartford in December 1786. There New York gained the right to administration
and sovereignty over the disputed region. However, Massachusetts retained the right to sell the lands subject to valid concurrence by the Indians. This cleared the way for the land
companies, the surveyors and white settlers. Thus after a prolonged delay, while white settlement flowed well beyond the Ohio River, an organized advance into the Genesee Country
could at last get underway.
It began when Massachusetts in 1788 transferred its land claims in Western New York to Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham for a consideration of
$1,000,000. That summer Phelps negotiated with the Indians at Buffalo Creek. He wanted from them the entire region between Seneca Lake and Lake Erie, with the exception of certain
small areas, notable a mile-wide strip along the Niagara River which had earlier been reserved to the Indians. By the Treaty of Buffalo Creek agreed to that July of 1788, Phelps and
Gorham managed to purchase only a portion of the territory, some 2,600,000 acres. For it they paid $5,000 and promised a $500 annuity to be given to the Indians in perpetuity. Known
as the Phelps-Gorham Purchase, this tract consisted of all the land east of a line running due north from the Pennsylvania border to the confluence of the Canaseraga Creek and the
Genesee River (between Mt. Morris and Geneseo), along the river to a point near present-day Avon, then west and down the Genesee Valley 12 miles west of the river to Lake Ontario. In
the southern Tier this Phelps-Gorham Purchase took in all of Steuben County and the eastern range of townships in what is now Allegany County, including Burns.
Looking again at the entire tract, the cost of surveying and the inability to make quick sales of sub-divisions put Phelps and Gorham into early
financial difficutly. They were soon obliged to sell much of what they had bought to other land speculators and to turn back to Massachusetts the lands further west which the Indians
had refused to surrender. In 1791 Robert Morris, financier of the Revolution, bought from Massachusetts the lans west of the Phelps-Gorham Purchase, paying 100,000 pounds for the
nearly 3,750,000 acres. This tract encompassed what is now Allegany county except for the townships in the eastern range, the towns of Independence through Burns. This eastern range
went to Morris as well, along with most of the original Phelps-Gorham tract, but in a separate purchase made from the two land promoters. Immediately Morris sold this purchase to Sir
William Pulteney (a 9/12ths interest) and two associates for 75,000 pounds, or the equivalent then of $33,333.33. Thus in less than 19 months a huge territory between the
Pre-emption Line (Seneca Lake) and the western side of the eastern tier of Allegany townships had gone from Massachusetts and the Indians to Phelps-Gorham, to Robert Morris and on to
become the Pulteney Estate. It is estimated that Morris made a profit of $160,000 by this rapid turnover to absentee landlords. Disposal of the balance of his New York real estate,
the Morris Reserve and the Holland Purchase west of us, is not of direct interest to our story.
There remained, however, the problem of securing from the Indians satisfactory title to these lands. The Seneca and their associates felt that the
arrangements with Phelps and Gorham had been unfair to them. And they had not as yet agreed to abandon the rest of New York west of the Genesee River. Negotiations were conducted
over the next several years and culminated at the Treaty of Big Tree in 1797. There Morrisson, then resident in Canandaigua, effected an agreement by the Seneca to withdraw to several
small reservations. By that time Kentucky and Tennessee, well to the west, had already come into the Union. Thus Seneca had succeeded in further delaying white advance into our
locality.
Meanwhile, however, the Pulteney Estate was being opened up. Charles Williamson had arrived in the United States to handle matters for the new British
landlords. Establishing himself at Bath, Captain—later colonel—Williamson undertook the formidable task of building roads, land offices and taverns for the trail blazers and
surveyors. He remained in the region for several years, noting at one point the difficulties in selling “these mountainous districts”, before severing his connections with the
Pulteneys and returning to England. He was followed by Colonel Robert Troup who handled the affairs of the Estate until his death in 1832. In the interim title to the tract had gone
to Sir William Pulteney’s daughter, the Countess of Bath, and on to her cousin St. John Lowther Johnstone and his heirs. Some of the earliest deeds of land in the Town of Burns, as
elsewhere, carry the names of the Johnstones, with Robert Troup exercising his power of attorney on their behalf.
But we must move on now with the pioneers, to the first white settlements in this locality, to the pong of axes and the howling of the wolves.
PIONEERS
AN EARLY PIONEER. Stephen Mundy, born July 2, 1790. Settled in the Slater Creek area in 1819 about where the Alonzo Mastin family now lives.
The first known clearings were hacked from the forests along the upper Canaseraga Creek in 1805 by Moses and Jeremiah Gregory, Samuel Rodman and John
Gaddis. Where these settlers came from is not known but it is possible Jeremiah Gregory came from West Sparta. At least a man of that name had settled there about 1792. Tradition
relates that Mrs. Rodman was an “uncommonly fast knitter”, footing a pair of stockings while “traveling to her neighbors”. Of course, cabins were not particularly close together in
those days.
The Gregories suffered a double tragedy seven years after their arrival here. On April 4, 1812 Jeremiah—perhaps the original, perhaps a son—was the
first person to die in the Town of Burns. He was killed in the woods where the railroad now crosses S. Church St. in Canaseraga. On September 12 that same year his twin brother as
killed in the same way, by a falling tree.
The next settler in the township was William Hopkins from Pennsylvania who settled in South Valley in 1805, about a mile from Canaseraga near the home now owned by Mrs. Lynn Brownell.
At least seven families settled in Burns in 1806. From Pennsylvania came William Carroll, his wife, five sons and three daughters to take up land in
South Valley about where the Edwin Salvagin residence is now. A Revolutionary soldier and later a sailor, he appears to have had an early influence here.
The first town meeting in the community was held 20 years later at the home of Richard Carroll, probably one of his sons. At that session a William Carroll was elected to three
offices – collector, constable, and school inspector. He was probably the same William Carroll named above.
Also from Pennsylvania and in the same year came Thomas Quick, Elias VanScoter, and Elijah and Daniel Abbott all of whom located in DeWitts Valley,
later Old Burns. About the same time a Mr. Fry settled in the same locality.
Other early settlers were Nathaniel Summers in the northeast and James Crook west of Canaseraga. A little later came the Sladers, Wilsons and McCurdys,
the latter to the vicinity of Garwoods.
But we must backtrack a bit, to 1806, and the arrival of the Boylans, a family which would make an important contribution to the locality for years to
come. James H. Boylan became the first Town Clerk. For many years Canaseraga was known as Boylan’s Corners. And by mid-century the by now numerous Boylans owned several important
properties in South Valley, in Canaseraga and west of the village.
Samuel Boylan, a native of New Jersey, moved here from Yates County with his son James H., then nine years old, and took up 160 acres in the area where the village now stands. Having cleared six acres they
returned home to bring in the harvest. On their return to Burns that Fall they were obliged to abandon their cart at Dansville, load their goods onto the oxen and follow the Indian
path up through Ossian. They planted grain, built a log house on what is today Mill St. and again returned to Yates County. The next Spring Mr. Boylan was here once more to plant
corn and potatoes and complete the roof on the log house. Once more he returned north and arrived again on the Canaseraga Creek, this time with his wife, five sons and 22 head of
cattle. It was now 1807. Samuel Boylan has been called the pioneer farmer, blacksmith and magistrate.
BOYLAN TOMBSTONE, Canaseraga Cemetery. Samuel Boylan, died Jan. 11, 1852, age 86. Elizabeth, his wife, died Apr. 6, 1852, age 79.
1976 Photo by Gordon E. Willitt
The next wave of settlement came after the township, still part of Ossian, had been transferred from Steuben to Allegany County—in 1808. Henry Leonard,
his wife and five children settled in Burns the next year. He may have been the father of the Joseph Leonard who became the first post carrier through the township, transporting the
mail on foot from Angelica to Dansville.
David Shull must have arrived about this time for he is credited with building the first grist mill in the township in 1810, slightly east of
Canaseraga. That same year Daniel McCurdy bought land near Garwoods.
From Avon in 1816 came Horatio Tilden who acquired 60 acres and built a log cabin on the road that soon bore his name. The same year Alvah Crittenden,
a native of Massachusetts, arrived by way of LeRoy and erected a log house near where Geroge Sommers now lives. William Carter settled in the Slader Creek area in 1817 and Nathaniel
Bennett in the northern portion of the township the same year.
In 1818 William Miller, who had fought in the War of 1812, reached Burns from Avon, taking up land in the southcentral part of the township. Samuel
Whipple came the same year and established himself at Boylan’s Corners, later Canaseraga.
Also settling in Burns at the same time, in 1819, was Stephen Mundy from New Jersey who purchased 500 acres in the Slader Creek area and built a home
about where Alonzo Mastin now lives. Like the Boylan family, Mr. Mundy was to play an important role in village affairs, his family in a later period owning considerable property in
Canaseraga and east of the village, as well as in Slader Creek.
Again we must drop back for a moment, this time to 1817 and the arrival of the numerous Whitney family. It provides as well another occasion for
calling attention to the fact Burns was not yet a separate township. The first Whitneys in this vicinity appear to have been two—and perhaps three—brothers, sons of Ezra Whitney, a
Vermont farmer and builder. They arrived early in 1817, if not the year before, since the record indicated they bough land from Daniel McCurdy at Garwoods in February 1817. A letter
written by one of the sons, probably Esau, and mailed from Ossian in June that year reports to the family in Vermont that frost on the last day of May had damaged the grain and “killed
all the fruit”. The writer also reported that a “freshet” on June 21 had washed out part of the mill dam, perhaps the one believed to have been built four years earlier by Daniel
McCurdy. From this information we gather that the Whitney sons had planted crops in preparation for the arrival of the family that summer.
Leaving Horace behind to settle the family’s affairs, the large party trekked overland from Vermont with three large wagons, three yokes of cattle,
eight horses—most of them ridden by the boys, a herd of cows, a drove of hogs and other animals. They also had a carryall drawn by horses to transport the women. Tradition holds that
the extra milk from the cows was deposited in a churn, the jouncing of the wagon producing butter as the part moved west. When the oldest son joined them later, the family must have
numbered at least a dozen since Ezra Whitney had nine surviving children at the time and Horace had already married in Vermont.
The Vermonters soon gave their name to the valley of the Canaseraga Creek, extending from near what was in recent years the Sam Whitney farm in Ossian
into Garwoods. Down to the early 1850’s Whitney Valley remained the name of the Post Office at Canaseraga while Whitneys Crossing served in the same capacity at Garwoods until the Post Office
there was closed in the 1930’s. By 1869 there were Whitney properties from Poags Hole across the township almost to the Town of Grove line.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
First Row: D. Gregorius, K. Kenyon, R. Kenyon, H. Knights, S. Robinson, F. Kenyon, K. Preston, C. Phillips, W. Ellis, C. Kenyon Sr., P. Baker.
Second Row: K. Flint, S. Kenyon, S. Shay, R. Kenyon, R. Dickenson, T. Chapman, C. Preston, A. Mastin, R. Mullen, D. Mullen, C. Spike, C. Kenyon Jr.
Third Row: L. Shay, R. Burdick, R. Clark, J. Hunt, C. Gregorius, R. Scott, C. Flint, C. Butler.
Fourth Row: R. Levee, C. Spencer, T. Levee.
Members Absent: D. Bacon, B. Baker, J. Barros, L. Barros, R. Bennett, H. Chapman, F. Coombs, R. Dailey, M. Duthoy, R. Duthoy, A. Ellis, R. Goho, D.
Greenslade, G. Hamlin, M. Hoffman, T. Hoffman, J. Hunt, M. Kenyon, R. Levee, V. Levee, G. Luce, R. Mann, N. Monaghan, L. Neetz, T. Sheflin, L. Spencer, C. Swain, M. Wood.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FROM
OSSIAN TO BURNS
While the pioneer families were shaping their farms from the forests, county and township lines were being organized and re-organized in the
Southern Tier. Allegany County was formed on April 7, 1806, the year the Boylans made their first visit here. Two years later on March 11, Ossian-Burns was transferred into the new
count. That same act of the State Legislature designated five townships in Allegany County, all of them larger than they are today with shapes quite unfamiliar to us. The five
Allegany townships as of 1808 were Angelica, Alfred, Caneadea, Nunda, and Ossian.
Then on March 17, 1826 Burns was separated from Ossian with the latter, however, remaining for the next 30 years in Allegany County. Three
weeks after the separation the first town meeting was held to select officials for the new Town of Burns. At the residence of Richard Carroll the following persons were elected:
Philip Rich—Town Supervisor; James H. Boylan—Town Clerk; and Benjamin Jones, John Boylan and William Morely—Assessors. At the same time William Carroll was chosen Collector, and
Joseph Leonard, William Carroll, Samuel Carpenter, Horace Morse and Therm VaScoter became the first constables of the Town. As commissioners of highways the founding fathers elected
Nathaniel Bennett, Elias VanScoter and Silas Rease, while James Carroll and William Shepard were designated as poormasters. To oversee the new schools being created the people elected
Joseph Miller, Johnathan Paley and Royal Whitney as commissioners, while Philip Rich, Horatio Tilden and William Carroll were named inspectors of schools. Philip Rich also became the
first Justice of the Peace.
Many of these names have been mentioned as early pioneer families. We would like to know more about the others as well. In many ways the
most interesting name is that of Philip Rich who was elected to three important positions including Supervisor of the Town. Unfortunately we have not found additional information
about him, except that he was one of the first doctors—if not the first one—in the locality.
Later we discuss the importance of the railroads to our locality. Here it is useful to note that interest in a rail line developed very
early. Large parts of Allegany county are hilly and broken, unsuitable to the development of canals. In the Town of Burns the Canaseraga, Slader, and South Valley Creeks are four to
seven hundred feet below the crests of the hills. The early settlers in the uplands therefore explored the possibility of railroads at an early date. In 1831 each town in the county
sent three representatives to a meeting held at the Court House in Angelica to see what might be done. The delegates from Burns were William Welch, Fr. Hiram Holliday, and James H.
Boylan. Another two decades would come and go before the Eire reached Canaseraga but the concern to provide links with the outside world for freight and passenger traffic was very
much alive well before that fortuitous event.
Meanwhile two coach houses or taverns had been built, one near Canaseraga and another at Old Burns. There may have been others. A store was
opened in 1828 by Issac Towne on the corner of E. Main and N. Church Sts. We must suppose there was a store at Old Burns about the same time, or shortly after.
In 1830 the population in the township had reached 702.
A GLANCE
AT 1845
Forty years after the earliest pioneer cabins appeared in the valleys much had been accomplished. Considerable woodland had been cleared for
farms and wagon roads had been cut through to the various districts. There were communities at Burns Village, Gas Springs, and Canaseraga. The population of the township had reached more than half of the highest total it would ever attain. Family
farms and ancillary services were the mainstay of the economy with large-scale exportation of lumber and logs yet some 15 to 20 years away.
According to the New York State census of 1845, the Town of Burns counted 924 residents that year, evenly divided between males and females.
The great majority had been born in New York state, but 124 had moved here from New England, 78 from other states and 21 from Great Britain. At that time there were 197 eligible voters in the township and 83 men were subject to
military duty. Not counting migration into the area, there had been the year before a net population increase—35 births and nine deaths. The census enumerated 276 children aged 5 to
16 years of whom 227 were enrolled in school at least part of the year.
As of 1845, just over a quarter of the total acreage was regarded as “improved land” for agricultural purposes. Based on figures available
for 1,536 acres under cultivation grain production totaled 23,254 bushels with oats and wheat the
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
leaders by a large margin. Potatoes amounted to 10, 439 bushels that year and peas to 20 percent of that. From a reported 379 milch cows, families
produced 38,600 pounds of butter and 39,656 pounds of cheese. Wool production was also important, the 1845 census counting 6,195 sheep in the township. It appears that oxen
outnumbered horses by about three or four to one, while 499 hogs were reported for the year.
Other data collected in that census provide insights into the economic life of the township four decades after the first land was cleared.
There were six sawmills in 1845, principally if not exclusively on Canaseraga Creek. Five asheries converted small trees and brush into the raw materials for soap and acetate of lime,
and there were two tanneries in operation. The census reported 25 merchants, four manufacturers, and one physician-surgeon as compared with 125 farmers. The total salaries earned by
clergymen amounted to $275 per annum.
Crops Produced in 1845
(on 1,536 acres)
Crops Acreage Production
Barley 76 1,281 ½ bushels
Peas 121 2,166 bushels
Beans 4 88 bushels
Buckwheat 154 3,068 bushels
Turnips 12 88 bushels
Potatoes 99 10,439 bushels
Wheat 665 ½ 6,445 bushels
Corn 101 1,795 bushels
Rye 6 46 bushels
Oats 292 ¾ 12,413 bushels
Flax 5 867 bushels
Yields per acre reflect the quality of the soil and seeds, giving us some notion of the hard work for modes grain. The number of bushels per
acre in round figures works out to : wheat –10; corn—18; buckwheat—20; and oats—42.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A VILLAGE DISAPPEARS
What happened to Burns Village is clear enough. What it looked like when it was the leading community in the Town of Burns is not. An adequate reconstruction of the story of
Old Burns now seems quite impossible, and certainly so within the time that has been available for preparation of this booklet. Yet we are not the first to come up almost empty
handed. In 1904, only half a century after Burns Village slipped into sharp decline, Dr. W.H. Harris reluctantly concluded that the story of this once thriving community had already been largely lost
to the tides of time.
Burns Village was in the east-central portion of the township, at the four corners formed today by the Arkport-Canaseraga Road, Tilden Road and Bull
Road to Morraine. By 1970 what was once Burns Village consisted of seven widely-scattered residences, one of them abandoned, and a no-longer used cemetery.
But let us go back some 140 years and look at bits and pieces. Apart from the names of some of the earliest settlers in the area we know
nothing of the story of Old Burns until 1826. But already it must have been a focal point for the township. For a time known as DeWitt’s Village, it was the site of the first hotel
in the township, built in 1826 by S. DeWitt Brown, unless—as some early reports note—that distinction belongs to Oliver Carpenter who about the same time opened a tavern in a log house
a half mile east of Canaseraga. Unfortunately the evidence on this point is conflicting. A more important clue is that Burns Village for many years had the only public cemetery in the township, located on the east side of Bull Road above the current Harry Durnion home. As
noted elsewhere the first newspaper in the township, “The Harp of Burns”, was
published in the community. This suggests there was a sizable population at the four corners at that time. Moreover, the second known church in township, the Presbyterian Church, was
located at Burns Village.
In 1904 Dr. Harris stated that in the early years Old Burns had a larger commercial activity than Canaseraga, noting as well that the first
polling place for the town of Burns was located there. He also reported that the James K. Brace establishment provided accommodations for the men building the Erie Railroad through
the vicinity in the early 1850’s. It is known that Brace’s building was in the northwest corner of the Tilden-Canaseraga Road intersection. It was a store and apparently a rooming
house as well. According to Dr. Harris, the headquarters of the Erie building contractor was also located in Burns Village.
By about 1853 the community was already in decline because many people apparently moved their businesses down to the rail line in the valley
at the new Burns Station. Nevertheless, an 1856 map shows several establishments at Burns Village, including Brace’s store, a wagon ship, Welch’s store, a blacksmith shop, the tavern and several residences. There must have been omissions on
that map, however, since the 1869 map reproduced here shows at Old Burns, some 15 years further along the downhill slide, a school house, the Presbyterian Church, the Dr. Dimmick home
and 15 other residences or businesses.
We may conclude, it seems, that Burns Village in its heyday had a considerably larger population, and many more shops and services, than the scattered details we have been able to give by
themselves indicate. Dr. Harris was probably correct in concluding that it was not until the 1850’s with the coming of the Erie that Canaseraga eclipsed Burns Village to become the
principal community, a distinction it has held ever since.
FROM BOYLAN’S CORNERS
TO CANASERAGA
After the arrival of the Erie in 1853, there was sustained growth in Canaseraga through the next three decades. This was true as well in the
township upon which the village depended. The railroad had touched off a boom based at first on logging and later on the handling of large amounts of farm produce shipped to other
areas. A sizable passenger traffic also developed, particularly after the arrival of the Shawmut in 1882. In the village the business expansion was particularly rapid in the first
dozen years after the Erie Station opened. Boylan’s Corners had become Canaseraga.
Until the Erie reached this locality the Post Office had been known as Whitney Valley. For whatever reason, this name was not acceptable for
the station built on what became Depot St. Apparently an Erie official, a Mr. Patchin, suggested the name Canaseraga for the new station. It caught on as well for the community and
in 1859, by act of the State Legislature, the present name was officially recognized for the village and the Post Office.
The impact of the railroad can be told in terms of population growth. Between 1845 and 1850 the census count for the Town of Burns remained
almost static—and short of the 950 figure. During the next five years there was an increase of 154 residents, or a 16 percent change. Probably many of these people came to help build
the railroad. Some must have counted themselves transients for there was a slight loss in population between 1855 and 1860. Then for the next five years the population of the
township remained stable. But the most rapid increase the locality would ever experience began immediately after Lee’s surrender to Grant at Appomattox Court House. Between 1865 and
1870 the population of the township expanded by 26 percent. There was another 20 percent jump n the next five years. This brings us to 1875 when the census showed 1,613 residents as
compared to 1,064 ten years earlier. Since farming was also expanding, much of the above increase occurred outside the village, of course. But the commercial sector in Canaseraga
also grew rapidly.
The map showing the village as it looked in 1869 tells this story better than words can. Mercantile growth in those early years was
concentrated along Church St., particularly between Main St. and the tracks. Main St. meanwhile remained largely residential. It would not become the principal commercial axis until
after the Great Fire of 1895.
Initially the growth in Canaseraga was based on wood. Production of lumber and chemical wood expanded rapidly once the means for shipping it
out was available. The most important lumbering operation was James Campbell’s industry on the southwest side of the village. In the 1860’s and 1870’s the area from Church St. to
beyond Depot St., and between the tracks and the creek was largely taken up with mills, log piles and stacks of sawn boards. Double teams of horses were often used to haul in logs
from surrounding areas. The bark from hemlock logs was also commercially important. At Campbell’s yard it was stripped off the trunks and sent to Hornellsville for use by the
tanneries.
In the Spring youngsters frequented the mill area with tin cans and knives, gathering pitch from the pine logs. They boiled the pitch to thicken it and
stirred in butter. Writing about it many years later Mrs. Kinsey Deysher said the outcome was “the best gum every manufactured”.
Processing and shipping of farm produce was also important in the 1870’s and 1880’s. In those years hay, potatoes, butter and cheese were
the principal produce moved out by rail. Cheese factories were scattered throughout the township and much of the output was transferred through the station at Canaseraga. Tons of
baled hay were also handled. A very large hay barn stood south of the tracks near Depot St. Farmers delivered their loads onto the second floor of the building, hauling them up a
steep incline. The hay was offloaded into mows and from there fed through chutes to the groundfloor for baling and loading into boxcars.
The expanding prosperity in the whole locality led to commercial development in Canaseraga. A comparison of maps and gazetteers for the
years 1856 and 1869 gives us some notion of this. No doubt the data they provide are incomplete. Nevertheless they indicate rapid change in Canaseraga. There were some 15 businesses
as of 1856, according to the map. That was three years after the Erie had come through the villge. These businesses consisted of stores, hotels, blacksmith shops, sawmills and the
like. On the other hand , a gazetteer survy for 1869 shows some 30 businesses, or a doubling in a dozen years.
By that year there was, as well, greater variety in the services available. Some of the businesses not in evidence earlier were: a watch maker, a
furniture store, millinery ships and a flour and feed business. We can safely assume that shoe and boot makers, livery stables, harness and wagon makers and the like also set up shop
in the period under discussion.
The losses in the 1870 fire provide another clue to the volume of general merchandising at that time. The fire began late on New Year’s Eve
and destroyed much of the block formed by S. Church and W. Main Streets. Ten grocery, drygoods and drug stores were completely burned or badly damaged, along with the Post Office, a
tenement house, two residences and a barn.
Following the fire, brick buildings were erected as a unit extending from the four corners along the west side of S. Church. This became
known as the Union Block. The second floor of part of these buildings was known as Union Hall and was used for meetings, shows, and dances. Commercial establishments on the opposite
side of Church St. were untouched by the 1870 fire apparently. Together with the new Union Block they kept the Principal commercial axis of the village oriented north-south for the
next quarter of a century.
WEST MAIN CANASERAGA ABOUT 1875. Looking West from the Four Corners showing the original Methodist Church and the old Coach House (now George Bennett
home) beyond it.
There was another fire in 1875. It began in the Atwood Furniture Store and rapidly spread to adjoining buildings behind W. Main St.,
threatening the newly-built Union Block. It is thought the fire started when sparks from a freshly-kinkled wood stove ignited shavings on the floor in the Atwood store. The bucket
brigade managed to control the flames before serious damage was done to the new buldings on S. Church St. While the extent of the losses is not known, apparently five stores or
offices were damaged along with one house under construction. Three years later there was another fire, this time opposite the Union Block and along E. Main Street. Some 10 stores,
shops, homes and barns burned down or were badly damaged.
Social and cultural life developed rapidly in Canaseraga afte rhte Civil War. Newspapers appeared in 1869 and 1873. The first public high
school opened in 1874. Union Hall was used for entertainment, and cultural and social organizations were formed in the prospering village. In the 20 years after 1857 four churches
were built in Canaseraga. Together with the growing commercial activity these new additions to community life show that Canaseraga by about 1875 had become a bustling town
economically and culturally.
UNION BLOCK ABOUT 1875. The view is from near the tracks looking up Church St. showing the new Union Block at the left which was built after the 1870
fire destroyed that area. Windsor Estate, now Hillcrest Manor, is in the center.
CANASERAGA A CENTURY AGO. Looking across the Four Corners up N. Church St. Photo taken about 1875.
EAST MAIN STREET ABOUT 1875. Looking East from the Four Corners. The Big Elm is at the right-center.
CIVIL
WAR VETERANS BURIED
IN THE
TOWN OF BURNS
Old Burns Cemetery William Bennett William Harris
George Reedy
Daniel Blank George Helm Horatio B. Reynard
Palmer W. Avery John Bluestone Alfred Hess Lorenzo D. Robbins
Zenas Bailey Amariah H. Boylan George Holdridge Frank H. Rogers
James C. Cook John Brayman Hiram Holliday Joseph Rolls
Samuel H. Craine George M. Brown Solomon Horton Philip Seager
Stewart Harris Jackson Brown Warren C. Hurlburt James Shattuck
Judson Smith Charles Chappel A.S. Humphrey John Shepard
Horatio Tilden Daniel J. Clark Calvin Jenks Theodore Sleight
Nathaniel Webb Winslow Clark Aaron Karns William Sparks
Nelson Cobin Keating (Brit. Soldier) John Spike
Catholic Cemetery, Morrison G. Copeland John Kemp L.J.
Sutton
Canaseraga David Davidson W.C.
King Abram Terbush
Franklin Deiter Graves Kinne James Thomas
Patrick Cooney George R. Dolloph Richard Lamey Alva Thompson
James Prendergast Ruel J. Edmister Lewis Lowe Clark Thompson
Wm. H. Edmister William Mabie Samuel
Thornton
Canaseraga Cemetery Solomon Farr George Mapes Daniel
Wambold
Norman Fay Chris Mehlenbacher Wilbur H. Wentworth
Amsey W. Aber William L. Flint Azel A. Miller Peter Wicks
Hiram Allen Dr. Lyman Galpin John Morley John Wilmont
John Ames Abel Gates Nichols V. Mundy John Wilmont
Willis Barnum George Gordon John Nichols Issac H.
Witherell
J.K. Barrager Ira Green David O’Dell Seymour Witherell
Eugene Beach Jennison B. Hadley Obed A. Patterson Walter Witherell
John Beecher Charles W. Haight Commodore Perry Darius C. Wolverton
Byron Bennett Charles Hall Stephen Peterson Nathan Wright
George W. Bennett Martin Hamsher Hulcy Phelps William Wright
Henry A. Bennett Wm. D. Harrington Alden E. Pryor Jay Youngs
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
