New York
|
RESOURCES | Steuben
County New York |
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Bradford.
Bradford township was formed April 20, 1836, taken from Jersey, (now Orange.) It is situated on the eastern line of Steuben county, and is bounded
on the north by Wayne township, east by Schuyler county, south by the township of Campbell, and west by Urbana and Bath. It is quite an uneven
and hilly township, yet quite productive.
The early settlers came in under the patronage of General Charles Williamson, and located on the outlet of Mud Lake. Frederick Bartles and John Harvey, by the assistance of General Williamson erected a flouring and saw mill on the outlet, in the year 1795. They had been located there two years previous. In the year 1798 he rafted 100,000 feet of lumber from his place to a southern market. In the year 1800 he filed in the county clerk's office at Bath the following :
"Steuben County:—This fourth day of April, one thousand, eight hundred, started from the mills of Frederic Bartles, on the outlet of Mud Lake, two arks of the following dimensions : One built by Col. Charles Williamson, of Bath, seventy-two feet long and fifteen feet wide, the other built by Nathan Harvey, seventy-one feet long and fifteen feet wide, were conducted down the Conhocton, (after coming through Mud creek without accident,) to Painted Post, for Baltimore. Those arks are the first, built in this county, except one built on the Conhocton, at White's saw-mill, five miles below Bath, by a Mr. Patterson, Sweeney and others from Pennsylvania, seventy feet long and sixteen feet wide, which was finished and started about the 20th of March, the same year.
This minute is entered to show at a future day, the first commencement of embarkation in this (as is hoped), useful invention.
By HENRY A. TOWNSHEND, Clerk of Steuben County."
Among the early settlers of Bradford, the names are recalled of Henry Switzer, Samuel S. Camp, Abram Rosenberg, Thomas Rowles, Michael Scott, Daniel Bartholomew, Capt. John N. Hight, Henry Axtelle, John Schriner, Ezekiel Sacket, Asa Tolbert, George Snell, John Zimmerman, Stephen Edwards, Elias Thomas, Peter Low, David Dennis, James D. Morris, James Longwell, Phillip Morse, John Phelps, Daniel Taylor, Joshua King, Moses Ellas, Jesse Munson, James Woolverton.
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The first election was held at the house of John Zimmerman, on the 4th Tuesday in May, 1836. The officers elected were: S. Snell, supervisor;
Charles McFane, town clerk; Thomas Rowles, collector; James Woolverton, James Bradley, justices of the peace.
—Baptist church established in 1824.
—The first inn-keeper was John N. Hight.
—South Bradford church, organized July 29th, 1848.
—The first lawyer in the town was Herman Train, Esq.
—In 1827, wheat sold in Bradford, at 50 cents per bushel.
—Methodist Episcopal church in Bradford village, April 26, 1876.
—Bradford is a village in the township and contains about 250 inhabitants.
—The first merchant in Bradford, was Frederic Bartles. He died in the year 1819.
—Henry Axtell, a revolutionary soldier and early settler, located in Bradford, in 1815.
—First Methodist Episcopal church of South Bradford, was erected, February 23, 1847.
—Capt. John Phelps, a revolutionary soldier, and early settler of Bradford, died in the year 1856.
—Henry Switzer was the first, mail carrier. It was carried by him, or under his direction for nearly twenty-five years.
—Jersey Lodge, No. 668, F. & A. M., organized June 12, 1868. John A. Stewart, W. M.; Cyrus M. Merriman, S. W.; Jacob Zimmerman, J. W.
—Order Eastern Star, (Harmony Chapter,) No. 24, organized June 7,1871. John A. Stewart, W. P.; Nancy T. Goble, W. M.; C. E. Zimmerman, A. M.
—The first school house in Bradford was a log one. In the year 1814. "The Little Academy," erected under the supervision of Jesse Munson and Hiram Merriman, in the year 1852. Among the teachers, Rev. Wm. B. Atwell, D. M. Merriman officiated.
—St. Andrews' church, Bradford, organized June 8, 1851. The officers were : Wardens, Joseph W. Lord, Edgar Munson; Vestrymen, Jesse Munson,
Sr., Hosea Longwell, Jonathan Wood, John H. Read, Ezekiel Bordseye, Henry H. Foote, Rufus Munson, Andrew T. Wood.
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