January
Seth Pease leaves the Holland Land Office survey team.
Jan 7
U. S. President Millard Fillmore is born in Summerhill.
Aug 2
Alexander Hamilton buys land for a house in northern Manhattan.
October
Batavia's Holland Land Company surveyor Joseph Ellicott completes the two-and-a
half-year survey of their holdings, at a total cost of $70,291.69.
November
Paolo Busti is named General Agent of the Holland Land Company and hires
surveyor Joseph Ellicott as Land Agent.
December
Joseph Ellicott arrives on the site of the future Buffalo to begin operations.
City
John McComb, Jr.'s Church of Our Lady of the Rosary in lower Manhattan is
completed. ** The approximate date Governor's Island is ceded to the
U. S. Government.
State
Charles Williamson is named as a state representative for the third year
in a row. ** James Wadsworth sells Genesee Valley land to the painter
Benjamin West. ** The first printing press in Tioga County. **
Greene County is created from part of Albany County. ** Onondaga
County area's white population is eight people per square mile. **
Eben Eaton begins publishing the short-lived Impartial Observer and
Seneca Museum . ** The cow belonging to the recently widowed Mrs.
William Wickham, wife of the Hector pioneer, is killed by a falling tree.
** Hagerstown, Maryland, businessman Colonel Nathaniel Rochester visits
western New York, along with Colonel W. Fitzhugh and Major Charles Carroll.
Fitzhugh and Carroll purchase land in the Mount Morris area, while Rochester
buys land at Dannsville. ** The state constructs the Mohawk Turnpike,
across the eastern part of the state. ** A bridge is built across
the northern end of Cayuga Lake. ** Eli Lyon builds a flour mill on
Irondequoit Creek for Daniel Penfield. Abram Bronson builds a triphammer
nearby. ** Watertown is founded. ** The Steuben County board
of supervisors does not meet, for this one year only. ** Major Isaac
Smith opens an inn halfway between Caledonia and the Genesee River. **
Naturalist Amos Eaton publishes Art Without Science . He moves
to New York City to study law under state attorney general Josiah O. Hoffman.
** French land agent James Donatien LeRay de Chaumont purchases 220,000
acres of land in northern New York from proprietor Alexander Macomb.
Cayuga County
William Stevens of Massachusetts becomes the first settler in Brutus.
** Samson Lawrence begins a settlement that will become Cato. George
Snyder of Schoharie County and Israel Wolverton from Tompkins County become
the first settlers in the town of Conquest.
January
The Holland Land Company opens for business at Asa Ransom's house in Clarence,
selling land at approximately $2 an acre.
Feb 1
Hudson River School painter Thomas Cole is born in Bolton-le-Moors, England.
March
Settler Abel Howe builds a cabin in Batavia. Joseph Ellicott moves his Holland
Land Company office into Howe's cabin.
Mar 4
Jefferson and Burr are inaugurated. The Cabinet consists of James Madison,
State; Samuel Dexter, Treasury; Henry Dearborn, War; Benjamin Stoddert,
Navy; Gideon Granger, Postmaster General and Levi Lincoln, Attorney General.
Mar 5
The state legislature passes a resolution to revise and amend the 1795 "act
for the encouragement of schools", to permit $50,000 for the further
encouragement of schools over the next five years.
Mar 30
Colonie is re-incorporated.
May 11
Aaron Burr lieutenant William P. Van Ness is proposed for membership in
the republican political club, the Society of St. Tammany.
May 16
Future Secretary of State William Henry Seward is born in Florida, New York.
July
Former Army captain Philip Church begins a survey of New York State's Morris
Reserve (today's Allegany County), takes Moses Van Campen as a guide. Later
in the year he will return to the Genesee Valley and begins surveying the
future Angelica.
August
A republican political coup in the state turns out many Federalist office
holders.
Oct 13
The New York State Constitution Revision Committee meets, elects Aaron Burr
as its president.
Nov 7
Joseph Ellicott gives the settlement of Batavia its name, honoring his employers'
country.
Nov 16
The New York Evening Post is first published, by Alexander Hamilton, with
William Coleman as editor.
City
Christian Brown becomes a bookbinder. ** Edward Livingston is appointed
mayor for each of the next two one-year terms. ** Elizabeth Ann Seton
resides at the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary in lower Manhattan.
State
The western section's first school opens at Ganson's (Le Roy). A log cabin
is built at Buttermilk Falls nearby. ** Samuel Lincoln becomes the
first settler in the future Bergen. ** Former
U. S. Board of War secretary and Board of the Congressional Treasury member
Robert Troup succeeds Charles Williamson, dismissed for extravagance as
Pulteney land agent in western New York. Williamson quits rather than be
demoted from chief agent. ** The English horse Thoroughbred Messenger
spends a year performing stud duty in Goshen. ** A Federal-style
home is built at 562 South Main Street in Geneva. ** Naturalist Charles
Willson Peale organizes the search for a mastodon skeleton on the farm of
John Masten, near Newburgh. Later in the year he begins displaying it in
his Philadelphia museum. ** Dunham's Grove (the future Oakfield) is
founded. ** The state repeals an act that had required the superintendent
of the Onondaga salt works to keep a minimum supply on hand. A one cent
duty is also repealed. ** Amos Sottle returns to the future Chautauqua
County where he had settled in 1797, bringing a Mr. Sidney and a Captain
Rosecrantz with him. ** The state highway commissioners levy a tax
on the town of Bath for road maintenance. ** Moravian missionary John
Heckewelder interviews a Long Island Indian, who passes along a native version
of the 1609 encounter with Henry Hudson.
Batavia
Holland Land Office field agent Joseph Ellicott builds a two-story log
cabin office. He has a dam and a sawmill built on the site - a bend in Tonawanda
Creek. ** Abel Rowe erects a tavern across from the land office.
Steuben County
Overseers of the poor request levies on the towns for relief. Painted Post
is charged the most - $1800. ** The board of supervisors conducts
its first audit. ** The county is placed in the Seventh judicial district.
Jan 15
Lawyer and philanthropist Charles Butler is born in Kinderhook Landing to
Medad and Hannah (Tylee) Butler.
February
De Witt Clinton is elected to the U. S. Senate.
Mar 16
West Point Military Academy is established by Congress.
Mar 30
Genesee County is established and its first elections are held. In later
years the counties of Niagara, Orleans, Monroe, Wyoming, Livingston, Chautauqua,
Cattaragus and Allegany will be created out of the new county. The town
of Batavia is formed.
Jun 1
The first book fair is held, in New York City.
Jul 4
The first class of cadets enters West Point.
Jul 21
James Brisbane becomes Batavia's first postmaster.
State
The town of Southampton is formed out of Northhampton to form the village
of Caledonia. ** The state authorizes the incorporation of the Utica
Aqueduct Company. ** Middletown is founded. ** Captain Philip
Church pioneers Allegany County's Angelica, naming it after his mother.
** Ganson's Tavern is built in Le Roy. ** Lucius Carey sells
the Geneva Gazette and Genesee Advertiser to a company of Canandaigua federalists,
who employ John K. Gould as editor of the new paper. ** Colonel James
McMahan pioneers Westfield, the first settlement in Chautauqua County.
** The state purchases a mile-wide strip of land along the Niagara
River from the Senecas, calling it the Mile Strip. ** Virginia native
Robert Selden Rose moves to central New York State. ** Twice-monthly
postal service out of Canandaigua begins, delivering mail as far away as
Batavia. ** The Catskill Turnpike is completed. ** Future governor
John Young is born in Chelsea, Vermont, to Thomas and Mary Gale Young.
** The approximate year Banjamin Corey begins publishing the Herkimer
Telescope . ** Joseph Ellicott warns Holland Land Company General
Agent Paolo Busti that if the land around New Amsterdam (Buffalo) is not
opened to development quickly, the state will beat them to the punch by
opening the Mile Strip and establishing a town there. He's given permission
to survey the company's land and sell lots. ** Connecticut agent General
Paine opens a wagon road from Buffalo to Chautauqua Creek, to ease travel
to Ohio's Connecticut Reserve lands. ** Amos Eaton passes the New
York Bar exam. He settles in Catskill and goes into business as a lawyer
and land agent. He continues his study of the sciences. ** Avon lawyer
George Hosmer begins practicing, in Canandaigua.
Albany
The Albany Water-works Company is incorporated. ** The first home
of St. Peter's Church is demolished.
Batavia
Holland Land Company field agent Joseph Ellicott replaces his log field
office with a frame structure. He soon finds sales hampered by the inconvenience
of having the county seat at Canandaigua, and by prohibitive taxes. **
The first county courthouse west of the Genesee River is completed, located
in the same one-story building as a tavern.
Steuben County
The county treasurer is required to post its first official bond - $2,000.
** It is decided that the Board of Supervisors will be compensated
for time spent on county work, at $3.00 per day. The total audited for the
year is $89.69. ** The Pulteney land firm donates the land parcels
on Bath's town square where the courthouse and jail are located, to the
county.
May 9
Edwin Scrantom is born to Rochester pioneer Hamlet Scrantom, in Durham,
Connecticut.
Sep 26
The foundation stone for New York City's third (and current) City Hall is
laid.
City
Mayor Edward Livingston pledges his fortune to cover the theft of house
bonds by a subordinate.
State
Scots pioneers build the first schoolhouse west of the Genesee, in the newly-formed
Southampton (later Caledonia). ** John J. Gould begins publishing the
Western Repository and Genesee Advertiser. ** Isaac Tiffnay begins
publishing the Ontario Freeman . ** Three Pennsylvania pioneers
found Fredonia. ** Three Quaker missionaries buy 609 acres of land
that later give birth to Salamanca. ** Triangle Tract land agent Richard
Stoddard persuades some settlers from Killingsworth, Connecticut, to settle
in the Le Roy area, rather than proceeding on to Ohio's Western Reserve.
** Construction begins on the State House in Albany, jointly financed
by the city, the county and the state. ** DeWitt Clinton resigns from
the U. S. Senate, to become Mayor of New York City. He will be reappointed
annually through 1815, except for 1807 and 1810. ** Martin Van Buren
is named to the New York State Bar. ** Elizur Webster settles the
future site of Warsaw. ** Newspaper publisher Isaac Tiffany, founder
of Ontario County's Ontario Freeman , is born in New Hampshire.
** Elihu Phinney, publisher of Cooperstown's Otsego Herald and Western
Advertiser , dies. His sons, E. and H. Phinney take over the business.
** An extra half-story is added to the courthouse in Bath as well
as a steeple, and windows are replaced. Total cost - $215.
Batavia
Adam Hoops and three business partners make the first purchase from the
Holland Land Company. Joseph Ellicott has the log office torn down and moves
business into a frame building on the site. ** Batavia is named county
seat of Genesee County.
Rochesterville
The Hundred-Acre-Tract is bought by Charles Carroll, William Fitzhugh and
Nathaniel Rochester.
Jan 15
James D. Bemis arrives in Canandaigua to open a bookstore.
Feb 25
A Republican congressional caucus nominates Thomas Jefferson and New York
governor George Clinton for president and vice-president.
Mar 23
Alexander Hamilton splits with the New York Evening Post , of which
he is a backer, over politics.
Apr 9
Colonie becomes a village.
Jul 11
Aaron Burr shoots Hamilton in a duel in Weehawken, New Jersey.
Jul 12
Alexander Hamilton dies of his wounds, in New York City.
October
James D. Bemis sells his bookstore to Myron Holley and becomes a joint
proprietor of Canandaigua's Western Repository and Genesee Advertiser
, paying $700. He soon becomes sole proprietor.
Nov 1
Newspaper editor Frederick Follett is born in Gorham.
Nov 20
New York City's historical society (the New-York Historical Society) is
formed.
Dec 5
Jefferson is reelected President. The Vice-President (George Clinton) is
elected separately for the first time.
State
James Kent becomes chief justice. ** Seneca County is formed out of
Onondaga County. The Seneca County Court House at Waterloo is built.
** Adam Hoops chooses the name Olean for his new settlement, corrupting
oleum, the Latin word for oil. ** Philip Church builds a home in Angelica,
which he calls The White House. ** Federalists in New York and New
England propose setting up a northern confederacy. ** John Stevens
crosses the Hudson River from Hoboken, New Jersey, to New York City in a
boat fitted with a steam engine. ** Eleanor Brisbane, sister of Batavia
postmaster James Brisbane, arrives there along with her friend Mary Lucy
Stevens to settle. Mary paints the post office's first sign. She will marry
James Brisbane. ** Lewis Morgan is elected governor. ** Irish
poet Thomas Moore travels to Buffalo, stopping overnight in Batavia. He
will write the poem Lines Written at the Cohos, or Falls of the Mohawk
River , inspired by his trip. ** Twice weekly mail service begins
between Utica and Canandaigua. ** The Reverend David Higgins establishes
the first church at Aurelius. ** William McKinstry opens a distillery
on Penfield's Irondequoit Creek. ** Whitingham, Vermont, farmer John
Young and his family, including four-year-old Brigham and eight siblings,
move to Chenango County. ** Vermonters Josiah Jackman and Gideon and
John Walker arrive in the Canadice Lake area, build farms and return home
for the winter. ** The state legislature declares Mead and Mud Creeks
to be public highways, over the veto of Governor Clinton. ** The town
of Chautauqua is founded. ** Farmer William Markham returns to Rush
and builds the Elm Place mansion. ** The legislature does away with
the freehold suffrage requirement for male voters.
Albany
The Society for the Promotion of Agriculture, Arts and Manufactures expires,
along with it's charter. It's revived and incorporated this same year as
the Society for the Promotion of Useful Arts. ** The city offers the
state a lot on the Public Square and payment of some expenses for a capital
building, in return for sharing its use.
Art
John Vanderlyn's The Death of Jane McCrea .
Vermont
New York Central Railroad tycoon Dean Richmond is born in Barnard (Woodstock)
© 1999 David Minor / Eagles Byte
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