Sesqui-Centennnial History of Friendship,NY

The history of Friendship is the history of the life of most small towns of America and the people who made our country what it is today. The pioneers of Friendship came mostly from the New England States. Leaving home and friends they never expected to see again and knowing not what dangers they might meet on the way, they sought homes in the unknown wilderness. For weeks they cut roads for their oxen, horses and wagons through unmarked forests to the location they sought in western New York State.

They cut trees to build houses and sold wood ash and timber to buy the few things they could not make for themselves. They joined with their neighbors to build schools and churches and form a government to make laws for their own protection. As the years went by they sent forth their sons and daughters to colleges and universities and positions in other parts of the country.

Their sons fought and died in all the wars in which our country has been engaged. Our cemeteries on Memorial Day flutter with flags honoring those who died in the defense of their country. Many lie in foreign graves or in the ocean's depth. They gave their lives as their fore-fathers did -- for an ideal, for the freedom of their country.

This, then is the history of our town -- a small place, unknown to many but held in the hearts of those who know and love it -- as very special.

Readers of the history of New York are somewhat astonished that western New York was settled as much as one hundred and fifty years after the eastern parts of the state. At the time of the Revolutionary War very little was known of the western half due to the fact that it was the home of the Seneca Indians, members of the Iroquois Confederacy. The Senecas were known as the "Keepers of the Western Door" and most settlers were kept out until the treaty of the "Big Tree" at Geneseo in 1797. By this treaty the Indians lost most of the land west of the Genesee River except some acres reserved to them. One of these was the land including the Oil Springs at Cuba Lake which is still held by the Seneca Nation.

The rich river flats of the Genesee were open to settlers at last but due to the danger of "swamp fever" or malaria many came to the less desirable hill country which was heavily timbered with giant white pines. Some of these pines were 150 years old and the roots were almost impossible to remove by any means. It was many years before much cultivation could be done. By 1810 most of the land in this section had been taken up. Most of the land in Friendship was purchased from the Holland Land Company, a group of Dutch merchants who had bought great tracts of land.

One of the most important real estate dealers of the time was Samuel King, commonly called "Colonel". Through the efforts of King the population was doubled in a short time. He made an arrangement with the Holland Company for a large tract of land to be reserved for him. It is not known whether he actually bought the land or merely acted as an agent in selling it. It is believed that he was an agent since all the deeds were signed by the Holland Land Company and the settlers paid the Company for the deeds even though they had secured the land from King.

This created much anger although King seems to have sold the land at a lower price than it could have been purchased directly from the Company -- two dollars an acre with seventy-five cents down and the rest on installment.

The first settlement at the present location of the Village of Friendship was called "Fighting Corners". The people in the hills and the people in the valley were constantly at odds on various subjects and frequently resorted to personal combat.

Since the name "Fighting Corners" failed to attract inhabitants, a pioneer named Davis, father-in-law of Timothy Hyde, who came here from Vermont in 1804 and settled one mile from Belvidere suggested that the name Friendship be given to the Village in hopes it would bring peace to the settlement. It was adopted and Friendship was created on March 24, 1815. Friendship, at this time, included all the territory of the town and the present towns of Cuba, Wirt, Clarksville, Bolivar and Genesee.

The formation of the new town under the name of Friendship was accomplished at a meeting on April 7th of 1815. Ebenezer Steenrod was chosen moderator and Samuel Derby, clerk. Town officers were elected: John Higgins, Supervisor; Tocut Gold, Town Clerk; Samuel Derby, Sylvanus Merriman and William Hungerford, Assessors; Ira Hickox, Constable and Collector; Timothy Hyde, Constable; George Higgins and Benjamin Crabtree, Overseers of Poor; Bethuel Clark, Elisha Strong and Ebenezer Steenrod, Commissioners of Highways; Samuel Derby, Sylvanus Merriman and William Hungerford, Commissioners of Common Schools; Bethuel Clark, Othello Church, Zebulon Gates, Mark Hickox and John Utter, Path Masters and Damage prisers. It was at this meeting that hogs were voted to be "Public Commaners", subject to the restrictions of a proper yoke.

The old town records occasionally furnished amusing proceedings. A measure adopted in 11822 is worthy of reproduction. "Voted that every man that has any Canada thistles on his farm shall cut them by the first of June and keep them cut so they shan't blow or forfeit to the town five dollars".

Cuba was set off from Friendship in 1822; Bolivar in 1825 and a portion of Wirt in 1838. The other towns mentioned as comprising the original Town of Friendship were the results of later subdivisions. The mother town from which Friendship was descended was Leister, formed and named March 30, 1802, one of the original civil subdivisions of Genesee County. The name was changed to Leicester in honor of Leicester Phelps of the Phelps and Gorham proprietary. Angelica was formed from Leicester, February 25, 1805 and Caneadea was set off from Angelica on March 11, 1808.

In 1804 the following advertisement ranin the Niagara Mohawk Spectator -- "Genesee Fever sweeps western New York as the Holland Company offers acres at $1.50 to $2.00 an acre with no down payment and ten years credit. Settlers many of them from New England's rocky hills are streaming into western New York region. Axes are ringing. The woods are full of new settlers, trees are literally falling, all about. Advertising in the east is bringing in thousands of new settlers. Twenty thousand people may live in western New York in twenty years".

An old document describes Friendship in the early days in the following terms: "Reduced to its present area Friendship contains 22,760 acres of land. Its location in the county is central, and in quality of sol, natural resources and general productiveness, it ranks among the best in the county's divisions. Indeed, nature dealt favorably with the locality. In Friendship we have the best drained and watered town of the region while very little of its land is not available for successful cultivation. The principle watercourse is Van Campen's Creek, which crosses the town from southwest to northeast and its main tributaries -- the North and South Branch and Moss Creek, each discharges into the greater stream near Friendship Village. The headwaters of White Creek are in the northwest part of the town. The land surface is generally, rolling and hilly, but nowhere mountainous or difficult of ascent. From north and south boundaries of the town it is a gradual descent toward the central valley through which flows Van Campen Creek. The soil is a good quality and especially adapted for growing hay and pasture grasses and yet produces abundantly in general crops.

Although there is not complete agreement, the pioneer father of Friendship is generally considered to be Samuel Wardell or, as he was commonly known, "Squire Wardell". He was born in Connecticut and moved to Canisteo where he established a home in the late eighteenth century. He came to Friendship early in the nineteenth century and settled in the west end of the present village. He and his wife, whose maiden name was Wheeler, are buried in Nile Cemetery. One of his daughters, Abi, married Jonathan Phinney, an ancestor of Jessie Phinney Hyde. Vanessa, another daughter, married an ancestor of the late DeForest Vorhees of Nile.

Although they might not have lived in Friendship for any length of time, the first property owners in the Town of Friendship, Range 1, Town 3 of the Holland Land Co. are the following: 1806-7 William Burnet, James Green, Seth Marvin, William Higgins, Levi Couch, Ransom Higgins, John Higgins, Simeon Gates, Seth White and James Haskins. William Higgins is an ancestor of both Lorenzo Utter and Mrs. Guy Wellman. Mr. Utter is also descended from Josiah Utter who is listed as coming to Friendship in 1809, and Chester Scott who came in 1814. Ambrose Willard (1812) was an ancestor of the late Fred Utter and built the house which is the residence of Mr. & Mrs. Leslie Swarthout (1965).

Several ancestors of Samuel Cotton came to Friendship early in this period. Some of the other pioneers coming before 1825 include Richard Friar, John Harrison, Simeon and Zebulon Gates, Peter Friar, Henry Utter, Aaron Atell, John Utter, Elisha Strong, Lemuel Haskins, Daniel Crabtree, William Niver, Rufus Scott.

It has been very difficult to discover the dates for the older houses in Friendship. Few residents know when the houses in which they live were built. The Colwell House (Davis Funeral Home in 1965) is a fine example of Colonial architecture and was built before the Civil War as was the Hatch House across the street, which was once the Colwell Store. The houses on East Main including the Hurley House which was the scene of an anti-Mason fight and was once an inn; the former Hosley House, (owned in 1965 by Mr. & Mrs. Bernard Mazza) and the home of Mrs. Clark are all old.

The home of Mrs. Guy Wellman with its attractive mansard roof is a fine example of early architecture.

One of the most unusual houses is the Octagon House on Elm Street. This type of house was popular about 1848. It was built from lumber sawed in a mill on West Water Street. The house was owned by Dr. Hyde. The rooms are large and every other one is a triangle. Mrs. James McCarthy lived there as a child.

(See story: "Friendship's Octagon House")

One of the best preserved old farm houses is on the former Cotton Farm, (1965 owner-Mrs. Albert Lunn).

This house was the second on the farm but it dates around 1815. The Babcock House also on the Cuba Road, (occupied in 1965 by Dr. & Mrs. Kolish) is a find Colonial type house and is said to have been a station on the Underground Railroad. It dates in the early 1800's

An old house, the Niver House, is on the farm owned (1965) by Mr. & Mrs. Canning on the Maple Grove Road. The home of Mr. & Mrs. Swarthout (1965) on the Belvidere Road was built about 1834 from lumber cut on the farm, and has been in the same family for over a hundred years. The home of Mrs. Charles Foster (1965) on East Hill dates before 1850 and was formerly the Pearse Farm. The home of Mina Guilford on the White Creek Road was built by her great-grandfather, Daniel Miner, from pine cut on the farm in 1838. Many of the houses at Nile are very old as it was settled very early. The Whitford House is one.

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