TOWN OF ASHFORD

Transcribed October 2000 by Art Burch and Laura Greene
submitted by PHGS member Mike Henderson

FREE-WILL BAPTIST CHURCH.

A young man by the name of Richard M. CORY, who had been preaching in Boston, Erie Co., started south on foot to find someplace to preach the gospel.  After getting within about three miles of what is now Ashford Hollow, he came to forks in the road, and not knowing which way to go, he decided to leave it to the Lord in prayer, and accordingly knelt by the roadside.  Some boys heard him, and ran home and told their father there was a man up the road down on the ground talking to somebody.  The man went out and invited him into his house; and Mr. Augustus VAN SLYKE, for it was he, sent out for the neighbors, and a religious meeting was held.  From this small beginning the First Free-Will Baptist Society of Ashford was organized.  A meeting was called at the house of Henry FRANK, Oct. 27, 1821, signed by Alanson LOVELESS, Thomas JOHNSON, Anderson ROWLAND, Jacob HUFSTATER, and Augustus VAN SLYKE.  An election of trustees was held, and David OYER, Jacob FRANK, and Isaac WOODRUFF were chosen.

Meetings were held in private houses and school-houses until 1852, when a church edifice was erected, 38 by 50 feet, having a steeple, and at a cost of about $1400.  A lot of 50 acres was deeded to the society, by the Holland Land Company, Sept. 1, 1828, as the first society organized in the town.  This lot was exchanged, Feb. 20, 1857, to furnish means to complete the church and parsonage.  The pastors have been the Revs. R. M. GARY, Chester CHAFFEE, Enoch JENKINS, ___ TANNER, ___ WEBB, ___ KELLOGG, A. W. ENSIGN, Joseph PARKYN, W. H. FLYNN, W. J. DURFEE, O. J. MOON, Rufus CORNELL, Alonzo P. COOK, Daniel McCOON, ___ HOWE; ___ HASLAN,  H. CLANCEY, and Geo. DONAKER.

The church has become disorganized, but the property is held by the trustees, and is used by the Church of the United Brethren.

THE CHURCH OF THE UNITED BRETHREN OF ASHFORD HOLLOW
was organized in the fall of 1872, with 23 members, under the charge of the Rev. John SMITH, and E. M. HULL as leader.  They hold their services in the Free-Will Baptist church, and now number 23, under the leadership of Rev. D. J. ANDREWS.
A union Sunday-school is held in the church, and contains about 40 pupils; Jacob MULTER, superintendent.

THE BAPTIST CHURCH
was organized about 1843.  Asa ROWLAND and wife, Anderson ROWLAND and wife, Owen MAYBE and wife, and Elder O. TAYNTOR and wife were the first members.  Rev. Orasmus TAYNTOR was a pastor of the Free-Will Baptist Church in Ashford, but disaffection in regard to church beliefs resulted, and this church was built up.  A church edifice was built in 1851 on lot 62, and dedicated Jan. 6, 1852; and Rev. O. TAYNTOR was the first and only regular pastor for several years.  In February, 1865, the church was destroyed by fire, but for several years previous the society had been on the decline, and is now disbanded or merged in the other denominations at this place.
About 1844 an anti-slavery church was formed in the Weber neighborhood in New Ashford, composed of the families of WEBER, NORTON, GOO, LOWE, and others.  Services were held in the school-house.  That church has become disorganized.

THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF EAST ASHFORD.
As early as 1832 the inhabitants of this neighborhood whose views were in accordance with the Methodist Church, gathered together at the school-house and organized a class.  Ebenezer C. SHERMAN and the Rev. Mr. PROPER were among the first members, and Mr. PROPER was the first preacher.  In 1855 a society was organized with 60 members, under the care of the Rev. C. B. CLARK, who became their first pastor.  A church edifice was erected the next year at a cost of $1000.  The pastors who succeeded Mr. CLARK were Geo. W. TERRY, ___ CURRY, H. BUTLER, Henry LATHAM, S. Y. HAMMOND, J. K. TORREY, Roswell CANFIELD, Charles EDDY, Wm. ROGERS, John REED, L. L. ROGERS, Wm. JENNINGS, L., WEBER, S. W. MERRIVALE, Delbert PARCELL, who is the present pastor.  They number at present 44 members, and have a Sunday-school of 20 pupils, of which H. DAY is superintendent.

In about 1845, owing to difference of opinion on slavery and masonry, a portion of the Methodists disconnected themselves from the Methodist Church of East Ashford, and organized a Wesleyan Methodist Church.  They had no regular preaching, and in 1855 united with the Congregational and Baptist Churches in building an edifice for worship, and union services are held therein.

A BAPTIST CHURCH
was organized June 12, 1833, as a branch of the Springville Baptist Church, with 40 members; the Rev. Mr. LOOMIS conducting the services.  Cyrus BELKNAP and wife, John WILSON and wife, Rufus TYLER and wife; and ___ MOORE were among the first members.  Revs. O. TAYNTOR. and F. LANGMADE have ministered to this church.  These are not numerous, and hold services in union with the Congregational and Wesleyan Methodists.

THE GERMAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF WEST VALLEY.
As early as 1862 a number of Germans met together on the town line, between Ellicottville and Ashford, and organized a class, under the charge of Elder F. HOUCK, of the Erie Circuit.  The first members were John SCHROEDER, Leader; Mr. and Mrs. G. NERDICH, Mrs. J. KOEHLER, Mrs. POLLOW, and John LINK.  Services were usually held in the school-house.  In 1869 the church was organized with 21 members, and in 1870 a church edifice was erected at a cost of about $2000.  The pastors who have labored with this church are the Revs. F. HOUCK, C. F. SCHOEPFLIN, J. SCHAUFF, C. F. SCHOEPFLIN, A. UNHOLE, I. HARR, N. GELSLEIGHTER, C. F. WITT, J. H. DAMM, and J. G. SECHRIST, who is the present pastor.  They number at present 48 members, with a Sunday-school containing 30 pupils, Christian EHMAN acting as superintendent.  The services are conducted in German, and the church is called the Cattaraugus Mission.

THE GERMAN LUTHERAN CHURCH.
This society was organized in 1866, with 30 members, by the Rev. John BERNREUTHER, who was the first pastor.  A church edifice was erected the same season at a cost of $2000.  The pastors that have succeeded the Rev. Mr. BERNREUTHER are E. LEEMHERIS, M. HYER, and G. RADEMACHER, who is at present the pastor.  They number about 70 members.

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF EAST ASHFORD.
In the spring of 1832 a church was organized under the charge of the Rev. Wm. J. WILCOX, with 8 members, in the log school-house, where the red school-house now stands.  Timothy STEVENS and wife, Ira KIDDER and wife, David R. UPSON and wife, Mrs. Mary TABER, and Mrs. Rufus TYLER were the constituent members.  They were under the care of the Presbytery of Buffalo, Sept. 4, 1832, and in the spring of 1833 reported 14 members.  No regular preaching was sustained, and in a few years the society became merged in others.

CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF EAST ASHFORD.
A number of the inhabitants of the place met at the East Ashford school-house, Feb. 10, 1854, for the purpose of organizing a Congregational Church.  The Rev. C. B. LORD was chosen moderator.  After due consideration they resolved to organize, and the constituent members were Tracy ENSWORTH and Harriet ENSWORTH, Elias HOPKINS and Laura HOPKINS, J. S. ALDRICH and Cordelia H. ALDRICH, Sulphina H. REMINGTON, Judson WILTZE, Alonzo HADLEY, Fessenden HADLEY, and Nelson HADLEY.  The Rev. C. B. LORD remained as pastor for about two years, and was succeeded by the Revs. W. W. NORTON, L. F. LAUGMADE, Wm. HENRY, John JOHNSON, ___ PARKER, John A. WELLS, Wm. JENNINGS, and Frederick LONG.  The present number of members is 50.  A union Sunday-school contains 100 members. Harvey WILLIAMS is the superintendent.
The church was built by the Congregational, Baptist, and Wesleyan Methodist Societies, in 1855, at a cost of about $1500.  Repairs have since been put upon it of about the same amount.

THE FIRST FREE-WILL BAPTIST CHURCH OF WEST VALLEY.
This church is an outgrowth of the Free-Will Baptist Church at Ashford Hollow, and was organized Jan. 5, 1873, by Rev. H. H. CLUNEY, who was its first pastor.  The church edifice was erected the year of the organization, at a cost of $2500.  In 1875 they reported 35 members.  They are at present without a pastor.  James WEST is very earnest in the interest of the church.

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH OF EAST ASHFORD
was erected about 1861 on lot 46, near NEFF & GAMP's cheese-factory.  It is under the charge of the Springville Church, and has connected with it about 30 families.

CEMETERIES.
There are four burial-places in the town.  Ashford Cemetery is located in the village of Ashford, and contains the remains of many of the early settlers, Jeremiah BOSS being the first one buried there.
The burial-ground of West Valley is located a little south of the centre of the village, near the school-house.
The burial-place at East Ashford is situated east of the union church, on the hill.  There is also a cemetery near L. WEBER's, in New Ashford.

ASHFORD
is situated in the southwest corner of the town, in the valley of the Connoirtoirauley Creek, and contains a church, hotel, post-office, school-house, three stores, feed-mill, sawmill, cabinet-shop, tin-shop, two wagon-shops, two blacksmith-shops, shoe-shop, harness-shop, and cooper-shop, and one physician.

WEST VALLEY
is situated in the southeast corner of the town, in the valley of the Buttermilk Creek, and contains two churches (Free-Will Baptist and German Methodist), dry-goods store, post-office, school-house, hardware- and tin-shop, clothing-store, feed-store and grocery, three blacksmith-shops, steam saw-mill, and tannery and saw-mill.  This valley is from half to three-quarters of a mile in width, and for great variety of productions is said to excel any locality in the county.
Much attention is given to the cultivation of apples, pears, peaches, and small fruits.  Mr. George N. WEST has an orchard of 900 pear-trees, mostly standard, besides large apple-orchards.  George N. WAIT has about 300 pear-trees.

EAST ASHFORD,
early known as Riceville is situated on Buttermilk Creek about two and a half miles north of West Valley, and contains two churches (Methodist and Union), post-office, store, school house, blacksmith shop, saw-mill.  About a mile from this place.  Eugene WILLIAMS has established a manufactory for ink that is said to be a superior article.
The population of Ashford in 1825 was 275; in 1830, 631; in 1835, 1201. 

AGRICULTURE.
The following are the agricultural statistics for 1835 -- manufacturing establishments, school districts, wages, etc.:

Acres ……………….…..……….. 33,388 Town tax …….…….…….……… $665.04 
Acres improved ………………… 3,555 Grist-mills …………..….……….. 2 
Assessed value of real   Saw-mills ……….……...……….. 8 
estate ……………………………. $41,915 Fulling-mill ………….…………… 1 
Assessed personal …………….. $200 Carding-machine …….………… 1 
Cattle …………………..………… 1279 Ashery ……………..……..……... 1 
Horses …………………………... 222 Tannery ………………..………… 1 
Sheep …………………….……... 1480 Number of school districts …….. 6 
Swine ………………………..…... 1308 Public money expended …..…… $89.00 
Woolens, fulled, yds ……….…... 1693 Teachers’ wages and 
Woolens, unfulled, yds …….….. 2190     Public money …….…………... $119.00 
Cottons, linens, yds ……………. 1792 Number of scholars …..………... 282 
County tax …...………………….. $416.27 
 

The town contains an area of 31,353 acres, of which 22,977 acres are improved.  The soil in the northern part is a gravelly loam; in the southern, on the upland, it is a clayey loam; in the valleys, intermixed with gravel.  Much attention is given to the culture of fruit, especially apples. There were raised 27,877 bushels in 1874.  Of the cereals, oats are by far the most cultivated, and in that respect Ashford is the banner town of the county.  The manufacture of butter and cheese is the principal occupation of the farmers, the latter being made mostly in factories, of which there are ten, as follows:  The BIGELOW Factory, in the east part of the town, on Cattaraugus Creek, using the milk of about 400 cows; Joseph DEMMONS has two, one about two miles from Riceville, or East Ashford, with about 250 cows, the other at East Ashford, having in connection 300 cows; Joseph ULRICH, one at West Valley, with 500 cows, another on the road from Ashford to East Ashford, with about 200 cows; NEFF & GAMP have two, one at Ashford Hollow, having about 300 cows, the other with about 300 cows, and located about a mile and a half from Ashford Hollow, on the road to East Ashford; the.Ashford Central Union, located at “Dutch Settlement," and using the milk of 300 cows; the New Ashford Union, in the northwest part, with 250 cows; and the Franktown, owned by L. R. SMITH, with 175 cows.  The milk of about 3000 cows is used, and about 900,000 pounds of cheese are annually made.

Below are given for comparison the agricultural statistics of the town for 1855 and 1875, taken from the census of those years:
 

1855.

 Meadow, acres ……………………………………………………… 3,876 
 Hay, tons cut ………………………………………………………… 2,824 
 Oats, acres sowed ………………………………………………….. 1,528 
    “      bushels harvested …………………………………………... 30,390 
 Corn, acres planted ………………………………………………… 778 
    “      bushels harvested …………………………………………... 19,199 
 Potatoes, acres planted ……………………………………………. 235 
       “          bushels gathered ………………………………………. 14,679 
 Apples,          “             “ ……………………………………………. 9,358 
 Maple-sugar, pounds manufactured ……………………………… 20,333 
 Honey, pounds collected …………………………………………... 6,563 
 Cows …………………………………………………………………. 1,864 
 Butter, pounds made ……………………………………………….. 113,313 
 Cheese,   “            “ …………………………………………………. 144,876 
 

1875.

 Meadow, acres ……………………………………………………… 6,204 
 Hay, tons cut ………………………………………………………… 7,200 
 Oats, acres sowed ………………………………………………….. 2,071 
    “      bushels harvested …………………………………………... 54,264 
 Corn, acres planted ………………………………………………… 488 
    “      bushels harvested …………………………………………... 16,731 
 Potatoes, acres planted ……………………………………………. 255 
       “          bushels gathered ………………………………………. 25,252 
 Apple-trees ………………………………………………………….. 15,860 
 Apples, bushels gathered …………………………………………. 27,887 
 Maple-sugar, pounds manufactured ……………………………… 22,286 
 Honey, pounds collected …………………………………………... 420 
 Cows …………………………………………………………………. 3,386 
      “     whose milk was sent to factory …………………………… 2,823 
 Butter, pounds made in families ………………………………….. 76,246 
 Cheese,   “            “     “        “ ……………………………………… 104,108 
 Number of sheep shorn ……………………………………………. 632 
 Wool, number of pounds …………………………………………... 2,727 
 Pork, pounds made in families ……………………………………. 113,885 
 

The following statistics of the population of Ashford are taken from the census returns:
1825, 275; 1830, 631; 1835, 1201; 1840, 1469; 1845, 1376;
1850, 1658; 1855, 1913; 1865, 1838; 1875, 1887.
 
 

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

DANIEL MANSFIELD COLE
was born in the town of Dummerston, Windham Co., Vt.  He was the eldest of four children, __ two sons and two daughters.  He being the eldest, and his father a cripple, the cares and duties of mature years and the responsibilities of manhood were thrown upon his shoulders while yet a mere boy.  His opportunities for acquiring an education, owing to the lack of free schools and the limitations of poverty, were very poor indeed.  At the age of twenty-one he was married to Miss Polly BIGELOW, of the town and county aforesaid.  After attaining to his majority he went to Boston, and engaged with his uncle in stevedore business.  After continuing in this business for some time, he engaged with a gentleman by the name of COBB as overseer of a gang of men then engaged in the construction of the locks of the Champlain Canal.  While engaged in this capacity by the accidental and premature discharge of a heavy blast, was thrown across the canal amid timbers, dirt, and stones.  He was picked up for dead; but life was not extinct; and good nursing and: a rugged constitution, together with the lapse of time, restored him to his original strength.  After his return to health, his younger brother having left home, he returned to work his father's farm; but his mother being now dead, and his father again married, Daniel resolved to seek a home in the then wilderness of western New York.  After a long and tiresome journey by stages and the Erie Canal, which was but recently opened, he arrived at the house of Job BIGELOW, in the town of Ashford, Cattaraugus Co., on the 26th of November, 1826.
One incident of note we mention here, as showing the condition of the roads in that early period, and some of the incidents liable to occur while passing over them.  While the wagon containing his family and goods was jolting from root to log, and from log to root, one of the children fell from the load and was plunged head foremost entirely beneath the ooze of one of the intervening sloughs.
On arriving in this county with his wife and five children all the money left him was one lonely fifty-cent piece:  The first thing to be done was to provide a shelter for his family.  In pursuance of this object he left them at Job BIGELOW's and immediately commenced the construction of a log house upon a one-hundred-acre tract of land, -- which is the same he now owns, and which has been his home for fifty-two years.  The house was built of logs, chinked with basswood split out for that purpose, and the crevices calked with moss gathered from logs in the adjoining woods.  This latter work was done by the wife and children.  The floors were made of basswood split in slabs for that purpose, spotted on the underside to lay level on the joists, and then adzed off on top.  This work was speedily accomplished, and the winter of 1826-27 was passed in their own house in the wilderness of Cattaraugus.  It may be a subject of some wonderment to the reader of this biography how he sustained his family without money.  The mystery is easily explained.  Mr. COLE was a good carpenter and joiner, while along the Cattaraugus Creek there lived at this period a number of settlers from the Mohawk, who had settled there during the intervening years since the war of 1812.  These people cleared the bottom lands along that stream, and improved them until at the period of which we write they had abundance of grain, which they were both willing and anxious to exchange for work in erecting buildings, of which they stood in great need.  His knowledge of this branch of industry was the means of providing the necessary support of the family, until his own land could be made to produce to that end.

We now pass over a few years in which nothing particular occurred, beyond the felling of the forests and clearing of land, interspersed with the accidental killing of an only cow and the sickness and death of one of the oxen composing his team, until the time when sickness and death enters the family and removes the wife and mother, who died of typhus fever, on the 22d day of September, 1834.  Left alone with a family of nine children in the then but little better than a wilderness, the thousand-and-one wants of such a family without a mother's hand to guide, together with the wastes and losses which are too apt to be the rule in a family where each and all are acting without a head to direct or a hand to guide, as was the case with this, the father being obliged to be absent from home a large share of the time earning money to support his family, while the farm and its management, to a large extent, was left in the hands of the oldest boy; all these conspired to make life and its surroundings look dark, indeed.  On Dec. 26,1835, he was again married to a sister of his first wife, Miss Nancy BIGELOW; but a brief period elapsed before death again entered the home and removed the wife and mother, who died of consumption on the 23d day of May, 1838.  Again left alone with ten children he struggled against time and tide, with the buffetings of fortune and the chilling touch of an unfriendly world for five years, when he was again married to Miss Polly BEMIS, June 18, 1843.

At the date of this last marriage we find his family somewhat scattered; the four oldest children, all boys, had left home, and in various capacities were working their way through the world, while his financial prospects looked dark, indeed. He had been unable thus far to keep the interest paid on his land indebtedness.  He had been for a long time himself laid up by a blow of a broadaxe; the necessary attendance of a physician upon himself and family during so much sickness, with loss of time and debts contracted for living and funeral expenses, conspired to make him financially worse off than nothing.  But with his third marriage came a few hundred dollars in cash and a hand to guide the household affairs, and a will to surmount all obstacles; debts began to lessen, and with the increased products of the farm, with an occasional job at his trade, the next decade turned the dollar to balance in his favor; since which time he steadily increased in wealth until now, though not rich in the world's estimation, yet he is above want and able to enjoy the comforts, if not the luxuries, of life.

During all his sojourn of fifty-two years, since first settling in this county, he has borne a responsible part in all the affairs of his town, especially in laying out new roads and constructing bridges, until the infirmities of age compelled him to relinquish not only public but private matters, and resign all into hands more able to bear them.  And now eighty-four years old, crippled with rheumatism, and bent with years, he is "only waiting till the shadows are a little longer grown."  His children are all living, except one, who was murdered by the Indians in Minnesota in 1862.  Among his surviving children are found one doctor, one lawyer, one minister, one blacksmith, one sailor, and one carpenter; the others are engaged in agricultural pursuits.

back to page2 ....

From below:

http://www.paintedhills.org/CATTARAUGUS/ashford.html

< rodbigelow@netzero.net > 
BACK TO THE BIGELOW SOCIETY PAGE

BACK TO BIGELOW HOME PAGE