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History of Bathfor the First Fifty YearsFollowing is an excerpt from the reminiscences of William Howell which he presented the evening of June 6, 1893, at the Casino in Bath.
Messrs. Phelps and Gorham sold a large part of their purchase to Robert Morris, the financier of the Revolution, by whom it was conveyed to Sir William Pulteney, and others, of England. The Phelps and Gorham purchase extended about forty-five miles from east to west, and eighty four from north to south, and contained about 2,200,000 acres. In the year 1790, the New York Legislature formed a county, named Ontario, from all that part of the State lying west of a meridian line drawn from the 82d milestone on the Pennsylvania line to Lake Ontario. The whole of this territory was then called the "Genesee Country" which name, in the Indian language, signified a pleasant valley. The purchase made by Sir William Pulteney, and the commencement of operations under the direction of his agent, Captain Charles Williamson, were the beginning of wonderful changes in the Genesee country. Williamson made his first journey to the southern part of the territory in the summer and fall of 1792. He came through the forest from Northumberland; thence thirty-eight miles to Trout Run; then crossing the Laurel Ridge mountains to what is called the Block House; then passing onto points where are now located the villages of Blossburg, Canoe Camp, Tioga, Lawrenceville and Painted Post, and thence eighteen miles towards the headwaters of the Conhocton, where he selected the site for his city in the forest, and here, named in honor of his patron's only daughter, he planted the town of Bath, in the center of a wilderness of 900,000 acres. It may be of interest to the antiquarian to note here that Henrietta Laura Pulteney was created Baroness Bath, County of Somerset, July 26, 1792, and Countess of Bath, October 26, 1803. She married Sir James Murray, who assumed the name of Pulteney, and she died without issue, August 14, 1808, when her titles became extinct. Captain Williamson's plan for his new settlement was comprehensive and far-reaching. He well knew the advantages of concentration, and believed that if he at once laid the foundations of a town and could bring a small number of operators to the ground, he would so have something visible to attract a larger emigration. The advantages of concentration were shown by some of the French settlements in Canada, on the St. Lawrence, where farms were laid out with narrow river fronts, and the houses built within a short distance of each other. Captain Williamson in his letters, urges the advantages to be secured, in the settlement of all new countries, by having the farms so located that the dwellings would not be far separated; but in many instances this method was not followed, or was found impracticable under the existing conditions, so that in numerous cases settlers would commence their clearings and erect their log houses miles away from their nearest neighbors. The first necessity of the infant metropolis was a saw-mill; and we are told that one was finished early in the season of 1793, and before winter a grist-mill and another sawmill, nearer the town, were nearly ready for use. Several other settlements were begun this year, the principal of which were Sodus, Honeoye Lake, Canaseraga and Pleasant Valley, and roads were opened in many directions. Historical Address of Ansel J.
McCall, June 6, 1893,
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