Chautauqua County, New York - Chapter 13, 1921 (part 1 of 2)

About the first event that occurred of importance in this closing period was the completion of the Buffalo & Jamestown, now the Buffalo & Southwestern railroad to the city of Jamestown, in the fall of 1875. This road was finished from Buffalo to Gowanda as early as 1874. It has proved of great value not only io the city of Jamestown, but also to the eastern towns of the county. Ellington, Cherry Creek and Villenova were entirely without railroad facilities until it was constructed. The town of Ellicott was bonded in the sum of $200,000 to aid in its building. A litigation grew out of it, resulting in a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States holding that the bonds were invalid ; they were never paid. The town of Cherry Creek had also bonded itself in a large sum to aid the road. A similar litigation arose respecting the validity of the Cherry Creek bonds, resulting in a settlement by which they were paid in part by that town. In 1876 the Prendergast Block in the village of Jamestown was erected.

We must regret to have to record a phenomenal number of crimes and tragedies. During the first forty years of settlement, but few desperate crimes were perpetrated. But one felonious homicide was committed during that forty years, and that was the crime of Damon in killing his wife. During the succeeding thirty-three years ending with 1875, but five or six criminal homicides were committed. In marked contrast with these two periods were the later years. During a period that would naturally be supposed to be the most law abiding and humane, there were as many as seventeen felonious homicides and murders perpetrated in the county. The commission of so man}' serious offences is not to be attributed to an unusual state of depravity, but to fortuitous circumstances and to the existence of railroads, large towns, and the less quiet life of the people. Crime came as an incident of these changed conditions.

On January 20, 1877, Clarence S. Hale, as the result of an altercation, killed Gerard B. Hamilton with a moulder's ladle in Clark's foundry in Jamestown. Hale was tried at the following September court, held by Charles Daniels, justice of the Supreme Court, and acquitted. E. R. Bootey, district attorney, assisted by H. C. Kingsbury appeared for the people ; Orsell Cook and Lorenzo Morris defended.

road Company made a reduction of ten per cent, in the wages of its employees. A strike followed by the Brotherhood of Engineers. The sympathy of the public in favor of the employees was general. Strikes soon followed on many other railroads. At one time, six thousand miles of railroad were tied up.

In July the strike assumed such formidable proportions in Buffalo that the militia were called out. The Seward Guards of Westfield, or Third Separate Company, under Capt. J. H. Towle, were summoned to Buffalo. They left for that city on the Lake Shore road on Tuesday, July 27, 1877, upon a wildcat passenger train, consisting of a mail and baggage car and two coaches carrying forty passengers, and the Third Seward Guards. On arriving at the railroad bridge over Buffalo creek, the train was stopped by the strikers. The engine and mail car were detached by the mob and allowed to proceed, and the other cars were run on to a "Y." The strikers then began to stone the car, and tried to board it. The Seward Guards responded with a volley of musketry which had ugly effect, but were compelled to leave the car in possession of the rioters. Three or more of the rioters were wounded, some fatally.

April 16, 1878, the first subordinate Grange in the world was organized at Fredonia. A. S. Moss, H. Stiles, .W. H. Stevens, U. E. Dodge, L. McKinstry, A. P. Pond, D. Fairbanks, W. McKinstry, William Risley, M. S. Woodford were present at its first meeting. U. E. Dodge was its first master.

A boat race had long been advertised to take place on Chautauqua Lake on October 16, 1879, between Edward Hanlan, of Toronto, and Charles E. Courtney, the two most famous oarsmen on the continent. On the day appointed, people from all parts of the country appeared at Mayville, where the race was to take place. Besides the representatives of leading newspapers, there came a swarm of pickpockets and riffraff from abroad, and with them wheels of fortune, sweat boards, roulette tables, old army games, and every swindle and thimble-rigging device by which innocent humanity could be fleeced. Trains and boats continued to arrive until over fifteen thousand people had come. And yet it all resulted in a fiasco. Courtney claimed that his two boats had been cut in two without his knowledge, and that he was unable to row the race. The water of the lake was unruffled. Hanlan appeared at the appointed time and rowed the race alone. He made the five miles in thirty-three minutes fifty-six and one quarter seconds, and received the $6,000 stake money.

James Crosby, aged thirty-two, in 1879 was residing upon a farm in Ellington, situated upon a high hill three miles west of Conewango station and one and a half miles from Ellington village. On the afternoon of July 23 of that year he went to the village, and returned home about ten o'clock in the evening. He alleged that on his return he heard a whistle from a clump of trees near his dwelling house, but thought that it was Wheeler, his brother-in-law, who lived across the road; that he continued on his way and entered his house, where he was attacked by some on: with whom he had a life struggle. That he clung to his assailant, who rushed out of the house, but was shot with a pistol and struck upon the head and left stunned upon the ground. Wheeler was aroused and a physician summoned. His wife Emily was found strangled to death in bed, with the marks of the hand that did it on her neck. Her little boy aged seven years was found asleep in his trundle bed near his dead mother. Strenuous efforts were made to find the perpetrator with no trace. At last suspicion was awakened that Crosby had killed his wife, and then inflicted wounds upon himself. He was arrested and tried at the January court in 1880. Abner Hazeltine, the district attorney, assisted by E. R. Bootey and A. C. Wade, conducted the prosecution. Walter L. Sessions, John Baker and E. L. Bailey appeared for the defense. The jury after being out five hours found a verdict of not guilty.

February 15, 1880, Charles L. Stratton, a native of Mississippi and a resident of Poland, in an altercation with Elmer Frank, near Kennedy, killed Frank by stabbing him to the heart. Stratton was tried for the crime. Abner Hazeltine, the district attorney, appeared for the people. C. D. Murray defended Stratton, who was found guilty of murder in the second degree and sentenced to imprisonment for life. It is a singular fact that the father of Frank had some years before been murdered and that the wife of Stratton, who was present at the killing of Frank, was the sister of Mrs. Emily Crosby, alleged to have been murdered by her husband a few months before as above related.

In 1880 the grounds of the Cassadaga Lake Free Association at Lily Dale, then recently purchased, were dedicated. Its history is given on other pages of this work.

In 1880 many fine structures were erected in Jamestown, among them the Sherman House, at a cost of $125,000; the Jamestown Cotton mills and the Gokey block ; over $325,000 were expended during the year in buildings in Jamestown.

February 19, 1880, Dunkirk was incorporated, the first city in the county. John Beggs was then president of the village, and held his office until March of that year, when Horatio G. Brooks was elected its first mayor.

In 1882 the New York, Chicago & St. Louis, and the Western New York & Pennsylvania railroads were built through Dunkirk, and the station erected near Central avenue on the south side of the city.

The first use of natural gas for illuminating purposes in the United States was made in Chautauqua county. From the shales of the Portage group of rocks along the beds of several streams, and at various places in Lake Erie, carburetted hydrogen issued in great quantities. This gas burned with a white flame tinged with yellow above, and blue where it escaped from the burner. In 1821 it was introduced into a few of the public places in Fredonia, among them the hotel which it finely illuminated, when LaFayette visited the place in 1825. The gas was obtained from a spring on the north bank of the Canadaway, at the bridge crossing that stream on Main street. The light house erected at Barcelona about 1828 was lighted by this gas brought from a gas spring in its vicinity, mentioned in an early survey. After the light house was discontinued, Westfield was supplied from the same spring. In 1848 the Fredonia Gas Light Company was organized. In 1858 Preston Barmore sunk a well and procured a much greater supply. Alvah Colburn afterwards sunk another well. The gas from this and the Barmore well proved sufficient, and for many years lighted the village. At length manufactured gas was used for illuminating purposes, first in Jamestown in 1861, and in Dunkirk in November, 1867. In February, 1885, the electric light system was put in operation in the city of Jamestown, and was for the first time used in the county. In September of the same year natural gas from the wells in Pennsylvania was first employed to light the city of Jamestown. September 27th. 1888. electric lights were first used in the city of Dunkirk.

In the afternoon of August 25th, 1885. ex- Governor Fenton died suddenly while sitting in the directors' room of the First National Bank of Jamestown, attending to his business duties. Business was suspended, Jamestown draped in mourning, and his funeral universally attended by the citizens. Besides the Fenton Guards who acted as a guard of honor, the members of the Grand Army post, the public officials of Jamestown, many citizens from abroad were present, among them Hon. Galusha A. Grow, of Pennsylvania, a most intimate friend of Governor Fenton, also David B. Hill, then governor of the State of New Yoik and his staff. Mr. Fenton was buried in Lake View Cemetery, Jamestown. At the time of his decease he was little over sixty-six year.= of age. He is mentioned at greater length in the chapter on Political History.

In January, 1886, the Swedish Orphanage was dedicated. January 29th, John A. Hall died in Jamestown. He was editor of the "Jamestown Journal." That paper was not only the leading but, next to the "Fredonia Censor," the oldest in the county. It was established in 1826 by Adolphus Fletcher. During the more than three quarters of a century which has elapsed since then, it has been the greater part of the time the most influential newspaper in the county. It has been edited by some of the most accomplished political" newspaper writers in Western New York. Its editors have been Adolphus Fletcher, Abner Hazeltine, J. Warren Fletcher ; Frank W. Palmer, who afterwards held high official and editorial positions during President Harrison's term, among them national public printer; C. D. Sackett ; Coleman E. Bishop, a well-known and trenchant political writer ; Davis H. Wait, afterward governor of Colorado ; and John A. Hall, who bought the paper in 1876. Mr. Hall built new buildings, improved the paper, enlarged its business, and absorbed other competing papers. Mr. Hall ably edited the paper until his death. He was succeeded by his son, Frederick P. Hall. After the death of John A. Hall, the Journal Printing Company was formed, and the "Jamestown Journal" is now the largest newspaper establishment in the county.

March 31, 1886, Jamestown was incorporated the second city of the county, and Oscar F. Price elected its first mayor. On May 22 the Jamestown Bar Association was organized. In October the Jamestown Business College, the first and only institution of the kind in the county was organized by E. J. Coburn. H. E. V. Porter, later its principal, took charge of the practical department, and Miss K. A. Lambert was engaged for the theory department. Shorthand was taught under the direction of Charles M. Brown.

August 31, 1886, a slight shock of an earthquake was felt throughout the county, causing doors to slam, chandeliers to vibrate, billiard balls to move on the table, and in one or more instances the bells in the steeples to slightly ring.

Eighteen hundred and ninety-one was the first year in which electricity was used as a motive power in Chautauqua county. June 19, 1884, the road of the Jamestown Street Railway Company was so far completed that the first car, a horse-car, was run from the Sherman House to the boat landing. August 25 of the year before, the company had been organized with John T. Wilson (who had been active in its organization, and afterwards effective in promoting it) as president, and C. R. Lockwood secretary and attorney. New articles of incorporation were filed October 13, 1S83. The motive power having been changed to electricity, the first electric car run in the county passed over its road on Third street. Through the energy of Almet N. Broadhead, who for many years was president, has its success as an electric road been due.

Long before horse-cars were in operation in Jamestown they had been in use between Fredonia and Dunkirk. As early as September, 1866, the Dunkirk & Fredonia railroad had been organized, and horse-cars run over its line a distance of about three miles. Thomas L. Higgins, of Fredonia, was its first president. During a period of nearly eighteen years before street cars were introduced into Jamestown, they had been extensively in use for passenger travel between Dunkirk and Fredonia. In 187S Milton M. Fenner obtained a controlling interest in the road and became president. In 1880 he took the position of secretary, treasurer and manager. It afterward acquired an electric light and power plant, a steam heating plant, and the Fredonia Natural Gas Light Company. In 1891 electricity was substituted as a motive power; the first electric cars were run over it October 29, not four months after electric cars were first used in Jamestown.

December 1st of this year the Prendergast Free Library building was completed, and the first purchase of books placed on its shelves. This association was incorporated by a special act of the Legislature passed January 29, 1880.

Besides the many homicides committed in the county during the last period of its history, there also occurred an unusual number of painful casualties. On September 15th, 1886, an excursion train from Erie to Niagara Falls, over the Nickel Plate railroad collided with a way freight in the deep cut north of the trestle that spanned the creek at the village of Silv:-r

Creek, the baggage cars of the passenger train telescoping with the smoking car. Fourteen people were killed or died from injuries. William H. Harrison, in charge of the excursion train, and Louis Brewer, in charge of its locomotive, were tried for manslaughter at the court held at Mayville the succeeding May. L. F. Stearns, the district attorney, represented the people, and Jerome B. Fisher the prisoner. The defendants were acquitted. August 19, 1887, a burglar while engaged in entering the house of A. R. Catlin, in James town, was shot and instantly killed.

In November, 1887, the first Political Equality Club was formed, at Mrs. Daniel Griswold's, in Jamestown. Mrs. D. H. Grandin was elected president, Mrs. N. R. Thompson secretary, and Mrs. C. W. Scofield treasurer. The first county convention of Political Equality ever held in New York State convened at the Opera House in Jamestown, October 31, 1888. Mrs. Martha T. Henderson was chosen its first president; Mrs. Kate S. Thompson and Mrs. Annie C. Shaw secretaries ; and Mrs. Lois M. Lott treasurer.

In Jamestown, on July 4, 1888, LeRoy Bogardus was murdered in broad daylight, in an alley on the Brooklyn side of the Chadakoin, and but a few steps from Main street and Brooklyn Square, while the streets and square were filled with more than the usual number of people. His head was crushed by the blows of some hard instrument. Bogardus had represented that he was in possession of a large sum of money. During the greater part of the day he was in company with George W. Foster, who was seen to have in his pocket a car coupling pin. Foster was also seen escaping from the alley soon after the murder was committed. He was indicted and tried before Judge Loren Lewis, at Mayville. Lester F. Stearns, district attorney, and Arthur C. Wade, appeared for the people, Vernon E. Peckham and E. L. Bootey for the prisoner. The jury after being out twenty-seven hours announced a verdict of guilty of murder in the second degree. The prisoner was sentenced to imprisonment for life. Judge Lewis when sentencing him, said he owed his life to the ability of the attorneys who defended him.

In 1888 the Chautauqua Lake railroad was completed along the Eastern shore of Chautauqua Lake from Jamestown to Mayville. It is 21.17 miles in length, and cost $1,080,000 In 1890 the Gratiot of Dunkirk, afterwards one of the leading hotels of the county, was completed.

Now business throughout the county and country was dull. The value of farming products had for many years been falling, and farming had ceased to be as profitable as u once had been. As one of the results, there were many abandoned farms that had before produced good incomes. In Charlotte alone there were fifteen deserted farms, each of which had once kept from eight to twenty-five dairy cows, and that town suffered no more in this respect than other towns in the county. In March, 1890, at Fredonia, Kosolina Boscellere killed his father-in-law Salvator Latona. Both were Italians. Boscellere was discharged on the grounds that the killing was in self-defence. In August, 1892, Patrick Dowd, a post office robber, resident of Dunkirk, in a fit of jealousy and anger over some woman whom he had been dining, shot and instantly killed George Haas, of Jamestown, at the Hotel Sherwin, in Fluvanna, and immediately afterwards shot four bullets into his own body, dying instantly.

August 19, 1892, at midnight, the Fenton Guards were ordered to Buffalo on account of the strike by the switchmen of the Erie, Lehigh Valley & Buffalo Creek railroads. A long blast from the whistles of the Broadhead & Fenton Metallic Works, was the signal for their assembling. Two hours later they were on the march for the Erie depot, with Capt. Fred W. Hyde, Lieut. Daniel H. Post and Frank A. Johnson in command. At 5:40 a. m. they arrived at Buffalo. Over eighty men finally reported there for duty. The strike having come to an end without violence, the guards returned to Jamestown after an absence of twelve days.

October 12, 1892, the Fenton Metallic works burned. August 2, Allen's Opera House in Jamestown was destroyed by fire. December 15, 1893, a frightful railroad disaster occurred on the W. N. Y. & P. R. R. at Herrick's creek, two miles east of Dunkirk. The rain and melting snow had raised the water in the creek so that it undermined the base of the railroad track over it, and the supporting bank on the Dunkirk side of the creek, so that when the westbound Mayville accommodation reached the bridge, it gave way. The baggage car, smoker and day coach were precipitated into a gorge twenty-five feet below. Five persons were killed and six more or less injured. Of the killed, four were residents of Chautauqua county - Jesse Hodge, the conductor, of Brocton ; Oscar Porter and his mother, Mrs. J. N. Porter, both of Brocton ; and George Wyman. of Fredonia.

Early on October 15, 1893, the propeller "Dean Richmond," Capt. G. W. Stoddard, of Toledo, foundered off Van Buren in a terrific gale on Lake Erie. No one of those on board survived to tell the story of the catastrophe. No assistance could be given. The next morning the beach between Van Buren and Dunkirk was strewn with the wreck and cargo of flour. The dead bodies were found as far down as Silver Creek, and were taken to the morgue at Dunkirk. Eighteen lives were lost. Where the boat is supposed to have been wrecked was a dangerous reef. At this bit of Chautauqua coast as many tales of disaster can be told as on any like strip of dangerous coast along the ocean shore. There it was that the "Passaic" met her fate two years before. There the "Golden Fleece" was firmly bedded in the rocks, and there the passenger steamer "Oswego" went fast, and the lives of those who attempted to go ashore were lost.

The year 1893 is memorable in Chautauqua county history for the financial distress of all classes of people. During this year, besides banks and bankers, occurred many other failures in the county among business men. Seven per cent, of those doing business became insolvent.

A special meeting of the board of supervisors was held on the 6th of June of this year at Mayville, for the purpose of considering the question of an increase in the appropriation for the enlargement of the county clerk's office. A motion was there made to appropriate $2,000 in addition to the $3,000 that had before been appropriated. But upon the suggestion that the city of Jamestown would make propositions for erecting county buildings providing the county seat was changed to that city, another motion was made to defer expending the $3,000 already appropriated, and that a special meeting of the board be called for August 8, 1893, to vote upon the question of the county seat. Attempts to change the county seat, and projects to divide the county, commenced with its organization, and were continued at intervals to the time of this special meeting. As this was the last effort of the kind, it will be proper here to give an account of the various attempts that have before been made.

The act of the Legislature organizing the county in 1808, provided for the appointment of three commissioners to locate the sites of its county buildings. The people of Canadaway (now Fredonia) cleared a half-acre of land at the east end of the common, on the west side of the creek, intending it as the site of the county buildings. To their great disgust the commissioners when on their way to locate the county seat did not even stop to look at the place, but passed on and established the county seat in the woods where now is Mayville, and erected there "a large hemlock post" to mark the spot. To this act of the commissioners there came a protest, which was renewed from time to time with more or less emphasis.

The first meeting of the board of supervisors was held at John Scott's log tavern in Mayville in 181 1. The board consisted of two members : William Prendergast, of Chautauqua ; and Philo Orton, of Pomfret. The first business after the organization of the board, and the election of certain officers, was to raise money to build a court house and jail. Supervisor Orton, representing his Pomfret constituents, who were not favorable to raising money to erect public buildings on a rival site, remembering also the brusque treatment of the commissioners when they went to locate the county seat at Mayville, voted "no." Repeated efforts on the part of Supervisor Prendergast failed to secure a majority in favor of this essential measure. Finally, when Mr. Orton moved to raise money for expenditures that had been made for the benefit of the town of Pomfret, Mr. Prendergast refused to concur. The wheels of the infant government nowceased to revolve, and everything came to a dead standstill. After deliberating on the serious aspect that affairs were taking, the board unanimously came to an agreement to raise money for the court house and jail, and also to pay the town taxes, and the clouds that had for a time darkened the prospects of our rising young county drifted away.

In 1812 three new towns - Ellicott, Hanover and Gerry - were erected out of the town of Pomfret, through the influence of Zattu Cushing and other citizens of Canadaway, it was said, in order to secure sufficient strength in the board of supervisors to remove the county seat to that place.

Efforts were made as early as 1831 to accomplish a division of the county. In 1843 a more serious attempt was begun by citizens living in the north-eastern towns of Chautauqua, joined with citizens of Erie and Cattaraugus, to form a new county to be called Schuyler. Delegate conventions were held in each of the counties, and the legislature appealed to. Oliver Lee, then a very influential citizen of Western New York, the "Buffalo Courier," and Democrats in Buffalo, favored it with a view it is said of forming the Democratic county. A county convention was held in opposition, and the scheme terminated without success.

In 1844, so strong was the agitation for a division, that January 25 of that year a mass meeting was held in opposition, with Judge J. M. Edson, of Sinclairville, president, and many vice-presidents. A memorial to the Legislature was drafted and a vigilance committee appointed to thwart it in every town. The project again failed. In 1846 the attempt was renewed; February 11, a meeting was held to remonstrate against all projects for a dismemberment of the county; Gen. Leverett Barker, Fredonia, chairman. Nearly all the towns of the county were represented. This movement to effect a division terminated like the others, without success.

In 1S52 the New York & Erie railroad was completed, the Lake Shore was in process of construction, and the Atlantic & Great Western in contemplation. The consummation of these enterprises would secure railroad communication with all the principal parts of the county excepting Mayville. The difficulty of access to the county seat soon led to many schemes for a division. One project was to erect a new county from Chautauqua, Cattaragus and Erie, with the county seat at Forestville ; another, a Ridge division, provided for a county seat at Westfield ; while a fourth plan was proposed to divide the county by assembly districts as they then existed, with county seats at Mayville and Sinclairville. A meeting was held at Westfield with Judge Thomas B. Campbell as chairman, in opposition to al! divisions.

In the fall of 1852, dissatisfaction with the location of the county buildings took expression in the board of supervisors. A resolution to remove them to Delanti in the town of Stockton was lost for the want of a two-thirds vote, required by law. A final and strong effort was made the succeeding year to divide the county. A bill passed to its third reading in the legislature of 1853, to organize the towns of Brandt, Collins, and Evans of Erie county ; the towns of Dayton, Leon, Perrysburgh and Persia of Cattaraugus county, and the towns of Arkwright, Charlotte, Cherry Creek, Hanover, Pomfret, Sheridan, and Villenova of Chautauqua county, into a new county to be called Marshall. During the winter, Ebenezer A. Lester, Augustus F. Allen and John M. Edson and other leading citizens went to Albany with a largely signed remonstrance in opposition to the bill, which was lost on its third reading by a large majority. This was the last serious effort made to divide the county. The building of the Cross Cut railroad twelve years later gave better facilities for reaching Mayville, which have been still further improved. At the special meeting of the board of supervisors on August 8th, 1893, a petition was presented asking the removal of the county buildings to Jamestown, to be located within onehalf a mile from the intersection of Main and Third streets. A petition was also presented asking the removal of the county buildings to Dunkirk, to be located on Central avenue, on a plot of five acres of land on the west side of that street, opposite the dwelling built by James Gerrans, then owned by Andrew Dotterweich. A proposition was also submitted for new county buildings in Mayville, including the offer of from two to five acres near the lake. The board finally passed a resolution to remove the county seat from Mayville to Jamestown, and that the question of such a removal be submitted to the electors of the county at the next ensuing general election. The vote upon the subject of changing the site of the county buildings to Jamestown was lost at the election by a majority of 425 against it, 6,645 votes having been cast in favor, and 7,070 in opposition.

A committee appointed by the board of supervisors in the fall of 1S83 to examine the accounts of Orren Sperry, county treasurer, found that he had received in 1883, the sum of $159,191.33, and had expended the sum of $154,821.86, leaving in his hands $4,370.07. Nothing appeared in this report to indicate but what his accounts were correct and in a normal state. But early in 1884 rumors were in circulation that he had lost in the oil country by speculations, and had drawn out and loaned to others large sums of money belonging t» the county, and in May of that year the community were startled to learn that Sperrv had fled to parts unknown. Nothing so serious affecting its finances had ever before happened to the county. It was ultimately found that Sperry was a defaulter in the sum of $89.506.47, ' of which $26,093.85 were trust funds and $63,412.62 were cash arising from taxes. No sensation lasted so long, or so universally disturbed the equanimity of the people of this county. In the counsels and conventions of the Republican party, of which Sperry was a member, his malfeasance was a disturbing element for many years. After his departure a special meeting of the board of supervisors was called, and at an adjourned special meeting a committee was appointed, who investigated the books and accounts. Charges were then made and proceedings were instituted against him for his malversations in office, resulting in his removal by Governor

Cleveland. A reward of $2,000 was offered foi the arrest and conviction of Sperry. Hon. Porter Sheldon and Charles D. Murray were employed as counsel for the county. At a meeting of the board of supervisors in the fall of 1884, measures were taken for a settlement or prosecution of suits against the bondsmen of Sperry, and other parties indebted to the county growing out of his defalcation. Six indictments were found against him at the September court of 1884, but the authorities were unable to find him, and he went without arrest. At a special meeting of the board of supervisors in May, 1885, a settlement was effected and the large claims of the county against the bondsmen of Sperry were compromised by accepting the sum of $35,000, and discharging the bondsmen from further liabilities. After leaving the United States, Sperry made his appearance in Mexico. Measures were taken to arrest him, but he found it out and disappeared from that country. He was next heard of in Canada, from where he opened correspondence with some of his friends at home, and some of them visited him there. While he was in Canada, an action was com menced by W. L. Sessions and C. D. Murray by the direction of the board of supervisors against Wilson, an oil broker of Oil City, to recover the amount of a certificate of deposit of $6,000, which had been assigned to him by Sperry. The certificate was payable to Sperry as treasurer of Chautauqua county. This it was claimed was notice to Wilson that Sperry was using public funds. The attorneys of Sperry recommended the dismissal of the indictment against him, that he might feel safe to return to Chautauqua county and give his testimony as a witness in the action. The board of supervisors, with a few dissenting voices, endorsed the recommendation, but when the matter came before Justice Green, of the Supreme Court, he declined to dismiss the indictment, stating that in his judgment such a course would be opposed to good public morals. As there was a question as to the responsibility of Wilson, the action was settled by the payment of $3,000 by Wilson's wife.

June 1st, 1893, Orren Sperry, nine years a fugitive from justice, suddenly appeared in Chautauqua county, and voluntarily surrendered himself. At the May court in 1894, Sperry having pleaded guilty to the indictment against him, was sentenced by Judge Lambert to two years' imprisonment at Auburn. When he delivered himself up to the authorities, he was an old man about sixty-eight years of age, and his case now became again a matter of discussion throughout the county, and a feeling of pity took the place of censure among many of the people. A petition was circulated and was very numerously signed, for his pardon. This greatly influenced Governor Flower, who pardoned him in June, 1894. Many believed Sperry had not been sufficiently punished, that his crime had been too lightly regarded. The "Jamestown Journal" pronounced his pardon to be a travesty upon justice. The pardon was also severely condemned by the "Fredonia Censor," and the "Buffalo Express."

In December, 1894, a terrible tragedy occurred. Myron Sherman was a well-known farmer and resident of Busti. He was a son of Daniel Sherman, former sheriff, and a brother of Daniel Sherman, a prominent lawyer and citizen, then serving the last month of his term as its surrogate. On Friday, December 7, Myron Sherman, with Mrs. Myron Sherman and their little grandson, while driving across the railroad track between Ashville and Lakewood, were struck by the fast mail train, and all were fatally injured. The grandchild was killed instantly ; he was buried the next Monday. Mr. Sherman died the following Wednesday ; Mrs. Sherman died the Friday after. Their burial was appointed for Saturday afternoon. December 15. The unusual circumstances of their death attracted hundreds of people to their funerals.

Winslow Sherman, a farmer residing in Busti, a few miles from his kinsman, Myron Sherman, his wife, Mrs. Winslow Sherman, his daughter, Mrs. Clinton Davis, and his son, Byron Sherman, were at their dwelling' house in the forenoon of the day of the funeral. Winslow and Byron left the house about two o'clock in the afternoon to attend the funeral. About two hours later Byron returned. On his way he stopped at his neighbor's for his nephew, a boy of thirteen, the son of Mrs. Davis, who rode home with him. On their arrival at Winslow Sherman's dwelling house, while Byron was putting up the horse the boy went to the house, and there beheld a fearful and ghastly sight; upon the kitchen floor, amidst pools of blood, he saw the dead body of his mother. On the bloodsoaked carpet of the sitting room his grandmother lay dead. It was found that both victims were killed with an ax or some instrument with a sharp edge. Mrs. Davis had many cuts upon her face, but a blow upon the back of her head evidently caused her death. A heavy blow upon the forehead caused the death of Mrs. Sherman. There were many cuts, however, upon her face. Every room in the house seemed to have been ransacked. The bureau drawers were pulled out and their contents scattered upon the floor. There was two hundred fifty dollars in money hidden in a bureau drawer on the second floor, but it was not discovered by the robber. Footprints freshly made were found indicating that the murderer had entered the house through the woodshed, and departed the same way, no other clue or trace of the murderer was there found. Between daylight and dark of Sunday, the day following, three thousand people visited the little brown house where the two gray-haired women lay dead. Although this murder was committed in the daytime, in a dwelling house in plain view of other inhabited houses, but a few miles from Jamestown, with a police force and public authorities very accessible, the perpetrator was not found and the Sherman murder remains a mystery to this day.

In 1895 Lakeside Assembly was established on the west shore of Findley's Lake, the second in size of the many beautiful sheets of water scattered over the county. The Assembly was founded by the Rev. C. G. Langdon, of the United Brethren church. A plot of ground was secured of Mr. J. A. Hill on the west side of the lake, and Mr. Langdon with his own hands began to cut the underbrush and clear away the logs from the first acre used. He in connection with Dr. F. E. Lilly, who lived upon the Lake, laid out the plot into lots, and procured a large tent for the meetings, the first of which was held in 1895. During that season several small buildings were erected, and about forty lots were sold. The society was incorporated, and meetings held during several succeeding years with much success. The moneys received were appropriated for the improvement of the grounds. The Lakeside Assembly is modeled after the Chautauqua Institution, and has been conducted with success and with benefit to those who have enjoyed its privileges. Dr. F. E. Lilly was its first president; after his removal to California he was succeeded by Ebenezer Skellie ; upon his decease, J. A. Hill was chosen.

Chautauqua county in 1896 was remarkable for its mild and pleasant weather, and great fruitfulness. Scarcely a frost occurred after the first day of April. By the first of June, field strawberries were in the market, roses in full bloom, the grass in the meadows thick and tall, the corn rank and vigorous. The summer was as beautiful as the spring. Thunderstorms prevailed, purifying the air, and causing a dense growth of vegetation. August was a de- lightful month, the woods, pastures and meadows were as green as in June, but of a deeper shade. Autumn fulfilled the promise of spring and summer. Never was there such a crop of apples. The orchards were so loaded with fruit that the limbs often broke and many apples were spoiled. Notwithstanding the apples were unusually large and perfect, they brought little or nothing in the market. Seventy-five cents a barrel was the average price for the best apples, the seller to furnish the barrels. Cider mills were overstocked while running at full blast. There was an unusual production of grapes. By reason of the over production the crop was unprofitable to the producer. In 1897, during eight days in July, the thermometer early in the day rose above ninety degrees and there remained until late in the afternoon. Many times it reached one hundred degrees. Seldom in the experience of a lifetime was the weather so continuously hot. The people were forced to cease business on account of the heat of the day.

The year 1897 seems to have been a year of tragedies. A foul murder was committed in Sinclairville at an early hour of the morning of May 26. Axel Lawson, of Swedish birth, resided with Grant Edson, a farmer who lived on the Ellington road about two and one-hall miles east of Sinclairville. For some time he had bought farmers' produce around Sinclairville, marketing it at Jamestown. On May 25 he made his usual trip to Jamestown, sold his produce, and about ten o'clock in the evening set out from Jamestown to return. This was the last seen of him by his friends alive. About five o'clock in the morning of the 26th, Edson discovered Lawson's horse coming toward his barn without a driver. Examining the wagon, he found blood splashes on the dashboard and crossbar. Fearing some accident, Edson started in search of Lawson. At a secluded spot just beyond the outskirts of the village of Sinclairville, but within its corporate limits, where the road that leads around the north side of Cobb Hill, curves along the margin of a little ravine, and is there partly hidden by the foliage of scattered bushes and trees, he found the dead body of Lawson. Coroner Blood, District Attorney Green and Sheriff Gelm were notified and quickly came. Royal E. Sheldon, president of the village, called the trustees together and a reward was offered for the arrest and conviction of the murderer. For many days the search was continued from where the body was found, south across the meadowland to the road lead- ing over Cobb Hill. One footprint remained there in the dust as if the person who had made it was about to cross the road, but as this track neither continued across or up or down, it is believed that the person who made it, at this point stepped into some carriage awaiting him. Many citizens of the village living along the highway west of this place, about two o'clock in the morning heard a buggy come down Cobb Hill at a headlong speed, pass through the village, and with much noise cross the bridge on Railroad avenue and the railroad track at the station, and go on with undiminished speed along the road toward Cassadaga creek. Two parties saw the buggy with two occupants from their bedroom windows as it rapidly passed by. Notwithstanding the search was long continued, but like the Sherman murder of a few years before, the crime remained a deep mystery.

Another tragic event occurred on Saturday, November 27 of this year, at Jamestown. Between three and four o'clock in the morning, fire was discovered in the Atlantic block annex at the corner of First street and Mechanics' alley. The fire department responded promptly and the flames were soon extinguished, but no~ until three persons sleeping in the building were smothered with smoke or burned to death in the flames.

In the afternoon of November 30th, a homicide occurred in a dingy saloon on North Portage street, in Westfield, as the result of a quarrel between Judson E. Root, the proprietor, and William Drake, who was under the influence of liquor. After some rough scuffling between the parties, Drake sat down in a chair. Root then went out of the room, returned with a gun and shot Drake as he sat in his chair, killing him instantly.

Nearly one-half a million of dollars was appropriated by Congress for the improvement of Dunkirk Harbor through the influence of Hon. Warren B. Hooker, of Fredonia, Member of Congress, from the Chautauqua and Cattaraugus congressional district, and chairman of the Committee on Rivers and Harbors.

In the spring an important improvement was also commenced in the eastern part of the county by which it was expected that twentyfive thousands of acres of practically worthless land in the Conewango Swamp would be drained and made valuable by cutting a wide and deep ditch from the Kent road in the town of Cherry Creek, a distance of thirteen miles, to Waterloo, in the town of Poland.

and first occupied in 1897. On June 27th of that year the short railroad connecting the Dunkirk, Allegheny Valley & Pittsburgh railroad, near Falconer, with the Chautauqua Lake railroad, near Fluvanna, having been completed, the cars were first regularly run upon it.

The grape crop of the county was this year unusually large and valuable ; 4,388 carloads of grapes, over 12,600,000 baskets, were shipped by the Grape Union in the space of six weeks. A very large quantity was shipped outside of the Union. Over one thousand carloads were shipped in the town of Portland alone.

Over thirty years had now passed in peaceful pursuits since any citizen had been called upon to take up arms in the cause of his country. Chautauqua county had been represented in nearly every, if not all the wars, in which the country had been engaged. In the early years of its history there were several of the soldiers of the old French and Indian wars living in the county, among them Samuel Shattuck, of Portland. His history has a special interest to us. He was not only a soldier of that old war, but a very romantic and exciting portion of his service rendered in it was actually performed in Chautauqua county, about fifty years before it was settled by white men. At one time during this old war he was one of Putnam's celebrated rangers, and served in the vicinity of Lake George, afterwards in the War of the Revolution and fought at Bunker Hill, Bennington and Yorktown, and other battles. His service in both wars amounted to twelve years. He came to Portland, Chautauqua county, in November, 1823, to live, and died in that town September 1, 1827, and was buried in Evergreen Cemetery.

John Owens, of Carroll, grandfather of Governor R. E. Fenton, was a remarkable pioneer of the county. He was with the English under Wolfe at the capture of Quebec, and with Ethan Allen in the Revolution at the capture of Ticonderoga. He died at Carroll, February 6th, 1843, at the remarkable age of 107 years, probably the oldest citizen that has ever lived in the county, older than Mrs. Deborah Dot)-, who died at Frewsburg, March 5th, 1902, at the advanced age of 106 years. Stephen Marther was a soldier of the old French War and had a very remarkable career.

The experience of the Frank family, of the town of Busti, in the French and Indian Wars, is worth relating. Eva Frank, the wife of John Frank, Sr., of another Frank family, when she (Eva) was a small child, her sister Mary, who became the wife of Myers..

the father of John Myers who was an early settler of Carroll, their mother, her little brother, Lawrence Frank, a maiden sister, and John Frank, Sr., of the other Frank family, were all captured in the Mohawk Valley by the Indians and taken to a place near Montreal and kept there among them three years before they were ransomed. Mary was detained four years, as she had the smallpox when her sister was exchanged. The mother had to carry the son, who was but eighteen months old, on the march to Montreal, and keep up with the party in order to keep him from being tomahawked. The maiden sister on her return from captivity had forgotten her mother tongue, and was taken from the Indians against her will, having been kept apart from her relatives, and had forgotten them. All of these Franks became early settlers of the town of Busti. John Frank was again taken prisoner during the War of the Revolution. He escaped from his captors ac Oneida Lake the first night after his capture, through the aid of friendly Oneida Indians, and safely reached his house at German Flats. Joseph Frank, of Busti, son of Lawrence abovementioned, was with the Chautauqua regiment in the battle of Buffalo and was shot, killed and scalped by the Indians.

Orsamus Holmes was one of the earliest and most prominent settlers of the town of Sheridan. His father had been an officer in the old French War. He was himself a soldier under Ethan Allen, in the War of the Revolution. He was with Montgomery in the expedition against Quebec. He was afterwards captured by the British and taken to Canada and placed on board of a prison ship, but he and three others escaped in the night time, crossed the St. Lawrence, wandered seventeen days in the wilderness, suffering great hardships, and was finally captured with his companions by the Indians, taken back to Montreal and confined in prison. After a month's confinement he and two others overpowered the guard and escaped. They scaled the city wall, crossed the St. Lawrence, plunged into the forest, pursued by the Indians, and after encountering great dangers, at the end of fourteen days they reached the frontier settlements of Vermont.

Samuel Sinclear, the founder of Sinclairville, and many years the supervisor of the old town of Gerry, enlisted in his Uncle Joseph Cilley's regiment (the First New Hampshire, Stark's regiment) when he was but fifteen years of age, and served three years. He was at Valley Forge, in the battles of Saratoga and Monmouth, and in Sullivan's expedition against the Indians. His father, Richard Sinclear, was a soldier of the French War, and a major of the Revolution. His three brothers, one an officer, also served in the Revolution. Mr. Sinclear had distinguished relatives, among them Gen Benjamin F. Butler, whose mother was his cousin. He was uncle to Lieut. -Gov. John G. Sinclear, of New Hampshire.

Arthur Bell was one of the earliest settlers at Westfield. He was the second supervisor of the town of Chautauqua. He served with the Niagara board of supervisors at Buffalo in 1808. He served in the American army of the Revolution three years. Elijah Risley, Sr., one of the leading citizens and founders of Fredonia, was a soldier of the Revolution.

Col. Nathaniel Fenton was the first supervisor of Poland, and afterward represented the county in the Assembly. Before he was eighteen years of age he was a brave and trusty colonial scout in the War of the Revolution. James Dunn, the pioneer settler of Portland, was also a soldier in the same war. Robert Seaver, a founder of the settlement at Charlotte Center, and all his brothers were Revolutionary soldiers.

Col. Nathaniel Bird, one of the most benevolent of the early citizens of the county, was also one of the most enterprising. He was the first to run mail stages over the route between Buffalo and Erie. In 1826 he ran the first daily stages and post coaches over this line. He enlisted in the army of the Revolution at the age of sixteen, and was honorably discharged at the close of the war, and came home ragged and barefoot.

Henry Elliott, of Chautauqua, was a soldier of the Revolution. He was badly wounded in the campaign of Burgoyne, afterward served as coxswain on the ship "Putnam," which in its cruise off the coast of England captured nine prizes. William Martin, of the same town, was in the battle of Bunker Hill; and under Arnold and Montgomery in the expedition against Quebec, where he was wounded by a cannon ball. In 1780 he was captured by the Indians in a skirmish at Little Falls, and taken to Quebec. After several months' detention he made his escape.

The foregoing are some of the names of the soldiers who once resided in Chautauqua county. More than one hundred and fifty have at some time had their homes here. Many of the earliest pioneers were Revolutionary soldiers. It is interesting to know that so many of the continental soldiers at some time resided in Chautauqua county. There is scarcely a

The Jamestown Chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution, was organized in October, 1900, its first regent, Miss Stella Florine Broadhead. Among its members was formerly Mrs. Maria Cheney Hall, daughter of Ebenezer Cheney, a Revolutionary soldier. He enlisted in the American army at the age of seventeen, and served in the Revolutionary War as a private. Mrs. Hall died January 17th, 1903, at the age of 97 years. Interesting meetings to promote the objects of the society are often held. The graves of six Revolutionary soldiers buried in Lake View cemetery and two in the Ashville cemetery are annually decorated by the chapter.

A chapter of Sons of the Revolution, having similar purposes with those of the Daughters of the American Revolution has been organized at Jamestown. Lewis Hall was its first regent ; Daniel H. Post, its secretary and treasurer. Mr. Hall, its regent, was much devoted to its objects until his decease. He was succeeded by Rev. Albert L. Smalley.

Nearly the whole of the population of Chautauqua county able to bear arms was called to the front during the War of 1812. The county was represented in the war with Mexico, and even in the struggle of Texas for Independence. It furnished several thousand gallant soldiers and many distinguished officers in the Civil War, and had paid out in that contest for bounties and war purposes $1,078,144 and now was to do its share in the war with Spain.

Eighteen hundred and ninety-eight was a year of brilliant events in the history of the country. That year covers the whole period of the Spanish War. The revolt of the Cubans from Spanish rule in February, 1895, had early excited the sympathies of the people of the United States, but not until the vigorous policy promised by General Weiler took the form of

*John M. Edson, when a young man, had the honor of_ sitting at the table with Lafayette when he was entertained at Fredonia on his journey through the county in 1825. Mr. Edson says that with others, his stepfather, Major Samuel Sinclear, and thirty other Revolutionary soldiers, sat at the same table, twelve of whom were from Yorktown. Mr. Edson described Lafayette to be a man less than six feet high, somewhat corpulent. He wore a wig of dark hair, was of a dark complexion and had full cheeks. He talked English well, and freely upon the subject of the war, with the sold ers, in which they together had participated. He was affable and courteous to all. Mr. Edson said that in the confusion made by the crowd of people assembled that day, a woman was thrown from a wagon and injured. Lafayette made many inquiries respecting the accident and expressed great concern for the injured woman.

fire, slaughter and starvation to non-combatants, did the United States make emphatic pro test. The story of Chautauqua county's part in it is told elsewhere in this work.

Of the other important events that occurred in the county in 1898 may be mentioned the completion of the new Erie depot at Jamestown, on the site of the old one.

The American Library Association met at Celoron in July, 1898, over four hundred professional librarians present. The annual meeting of the Photographers' Association of America was also held at the same place this year In June of this year, Fredonia was quarantined against the smallpox. There were no deaths, and the cases were of a mild type. Five thousand seven hundred twenty-eight cars of grapes were this year shipped from the grape district between Angola and Erie. The value of the crop was estimated at $1,170,000.

In the afternoon of March 25th, Oscar E. Rice killed his wife in the town of Westheld. They had separated, and she at the time was serving as a nurse for Mrs. Hattie Dascomb. He killed her with a jackknife, in the presence of Mrs. Dascomb, who was at the time sick in bed. He then tried to kill himself, but was arrested before he accomplished it. He was tried in Mayville at a court held by Justice Childs. District Attorney Eleazer Green, assisted by H. C. Kingsbury, prosecuted in behalf of the people. A. B. Ottaway and S. W. Mason defended. The defense was insanity. A verdict of murder in the first degree was found by the jury. The finding of the jury was affirmed on appeal, and the prisoner was electrocuted - the first criminal from Chautauqua county that suffered electrocution.

At the October county court, Joseph Patti, an Italian laborer, was tried before Judge Jerome B. Fisher for the killing of Grisaulti. a companion laborer. They were members of a gang of men working on the railroad track in the town of Ripley in June of the same year. An altercation resulted in the stabbing of Grisaulti by Patti, who died a few days after. District Attorney Eleazer Green conducted the trial for the people ; Patti was defended by Thomas Larkin and Archibald D. Falconer The prisoner was convicted of murder in the second degree, and was sentenced to imprisonment for life.

The year 1899 opened with a winter colder than had been known in Chautauqua county for twenty-five years. On the night of February 10th the thermometer fell to ten degrees and more below zero, with a high and cutting wind that forced the cold into the best con- structed dwellings. For nearly a week the weather continued bitter cold ; a portion of each day for three days it fell to more than twenty degrees below zero. At some places in the county it was reported as falling below thirty degrees.

In July of 1899 a party of English from Jamestown were camped at Driftwood on the east shore of Chautauqua Lake. On the 5th of that month, Squire Tankard, an Englishman, a weaver by occupation, about noon suddenly appeared in the camp, and without warning shot and instantly killed Mrs. Beaumont, his wife's sister, and then shot and severely injured Mr. William Beaumont, her husband, in the arm. He then turned the pistol upon himself, inflicting a serious but not fatal wound, and ran for the lake, and waded into its shallow waters. He then returned to the shore and attempted to escape across the county, but was next day captured in a barn near the village of Gerry. The defendant was indicted and tried in November, 1899, before Justice Frank C. Laughlin. District Attorney E. Green appeared for the people ; A. C. and R. F. Pickard appeared for the defendant. The defence offered was insanity, and some evidence was given to sustain it. The prisoner was ably defended ; the jury, however, rendered a verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree. The attorneys for Tankard afterward petitioned to Governor Roosevelt to appoint a commission of physicians to examine the defendant as to his insanity, resulting in a stay of punishment.

On Sunday, August 20th, a street fight occurred in Jamestown in which a number were engaged, and Axel Johnson was killed by some one whose identity could not be ascertained.

A family feud of long standing came to an end September 23, in the town of Arkwright. The quarrel arose about a land controversy between Lavern and Cassius Wilson ; a lawsuit resulted in favor of Cassius. Lavern in the afternoon of that day left Fredonia for the farm of Cassius, where he found him at work in his corn field with his hired man. Lavern leaped over the fence and ran toward his brother, threatening to kill him. Cassius, who was a much weaker man physically, drew a revolver from his pocket and shot his enraged brother, killing him instantly. Cassius was arrested, but soon discharged, as the circumstances showed that the killing was done in self-defence.

eight o'clock in the evening. Some young men heard the continuous screams of a woman proceeding from a retired spot upon which a street crossed the Chadakoin. They ran to her rescue. The screams continued until they reached the bridge, when they called out to her and she feebly answered. They found her still alive, but unable to speak. Before a physician could be called she died. Her face and throat had been cut. The ground about showed the evidence of the terrible struggle that had occurred before the helpless girl gave up her life. Hei name was Emily Adolphson, a young Swede girl. Frank Wennerholm, who had been a suitor of Emily Adolphson and resided in Jamestown, was suspected. The handle of a razor was found near the body, which was proved to have been his. The authorities found him in bed; the clothing he wore was wet and muddy, and in places stained with blood. There were other circumstances to show his guilt. A post mortem examination disclosed the fact that the murdered girl would have been a mother in a few months, which was a strong circumstance throwing light upon the motive for the crime. Wennerholm was tried in June, 1900, at Mayville, Justice White presiding. A. C. Pickard and Frank Wheeler appeared for the defendant ; E. Green, district attorney, for the people. After a short absence the jury returned into court with a verdict of guilty. Wennerholm's attorneys carried the case to the Court of Appeals. The verdict of the jury was, however, sustained, and Wennerholm was electrocuted.

This year Willard McKinstry, of Fredonia died. He was the oldest and one of the best known editors in the State. In 1842 he became the editor of the "Fredonia Censor," which he. published for over fifty-seven years. Upon his retirement he was succeeded by his son, Louis McKinstry. For years "The Censor" was the leading Whig and afterwards a Republican newspaper. It was the most influential and substantial newspaper in Northern Chautauqua, and is now the oldest in the county, having been established in 1821 by H. C. Frisbee. This year Albert Hilton also died. For more than twenty years he was the well known and popular editor of the "Fredonia Advertiser and Union," the leading Democratic newspaper of the county.

July 10th, 1900, the first term of a Federal Court ever held in Chautauqua county was held in Jamestown, by Hon. John R. Hazel. F. E. Shaw, of Charlotte, was appointed foreman of the grand jury. At this term, Max La

The most disastrous fire that Fredonia had ever before experienced occurred on Main and Center streets, January 25th, 1900. It was discovered about 1 :20 o'clock a. m. Twelve buildings were burned, including the Pan-American Hotel, Miner's Bank, and the Dunkirk & Fredonia Street Railway power house. Miss Alice Huntington, and Warren Leopold Bretzckgi, a Swiss house painter, lost their lives. Fourteen horses were burned in their stables. The loss of property was estimated at $200,000. In March the Taber felt factory, one of the largest manufacturing establishments in the village, was burned.

A far more terrible fire than all occurred on the morning of December 14, of the same yeai, when the Fredonia Normal School buildings were burned. The fire broke out shortly before six o'clock in the morning, in the basement, in the room occupied by the janitor. The cause of it is not known. No fuel was used in the building, it being heated by steam supplied by the street railway company. Five minutes after the fire was discovered, the alarm wa^ sounded, but in that short time the office, reception room and front way were a mass of flames. The elevator shaft and the two spiral staircases afforded a powerful draft, sucking the roaring flames upward to the third story, where were the rooms of the lady students. Miss Julia D. Sherman, one of the two teachers living in the building, by her presence of mind, enabled all the young ladies in the south wing of the building to escape but one, Miss Cora Storms, who perished probably in her room. The young ladies in the north wing ran to the fire escape in that part of the building, but the netted screen of the window was fastened so tightly that they were unable to remove it. Some then went into adjoining rooms and stepped out at the window and made their perilous way along the ice covered window ledge to the fire escape. The weather was intensely cold, and they suffered greatly in the dangerous exploit. Five young ladies were less fortunate ; their charred remains were found the Sunday following, close together, near the base of the fire escape, indicating that they were unable to tear away the screen at the window, and overcome by the heat and smoke, they had perished together. Miss Maude Fizzell, one of those who had crawled out of the window and walked along the ledge of the Mansard roof and was safe, exclaimed that she must go back to the room and get her diamond ring. She turned back and was seen no more. The janitor, Mr. Morris, although he could have saved his life, perished in a fruitless effort to stay the fire. Miss McLaury, the other teacher living in the building, was overcome by the heat, but was aided to escape by 1 Miss Sherman. The lives of nineteen persons f in the building were saved. The following is a list of those who perished in the fire : Phineas J. Morris, of Fredonia, the janitor; Ruth Thomas, of Pike, New York; Cora Storm, of Eden Center, New York ; Inez Jones, of Busti, New York ; May Williams, Cannonsville. New York ; Bessie Hathaway, Lake Coma, Pennsylvania ; Maude Fizzell, Bradford, Pennsylvania ; seven in all. They were all interred in one grave. The loss of the buildings and other property by the fire was over $200,000.

The burned Normal School building was the successor of the Fredonia Academy. A new Normal School building more extensive and costly was now built upon the site of the burned building, and was formally dedicated in the presence of a great number of people, June 29, 1903.

Nineteen hundred and two closes the history of the first century of our county. That year no serious crime was committed or tragedy occurred. Its events were generally of an agreeable character, calculated to bring up and strongly impress a pleasing recollection of the past history of the county. The Historical Society, which was organized in 1883, with Prof. Samuel G. Love as president and Dr. W. W. Henderson secretary, several years before, had resolved to celebrate in 1902 the settlement of the county. In due time the board of supervisors and the Hon. S. Frederick Nixon, its chairman, gave their influence and took practical measures to further the movement. Patriotic citizens contributed liberally to aid it, and when the time arrived the citizens ot Westfield and in all parts of the county actively and enthusiastically by their efforts completed the success of the celebration, which occurred June 24-25, 1902.

An interesting event occurred but a few days before, which will aid in preserving in the future an agreeable remembrance of the celebration. This was the opening of the extension of the Jamestown, Chautauqua & Lake Erie railroad, which occurred on Saturday, June 21st, 1902. This little piece of road lie-; wholly within Chautauqua county, and extends through its most picturesque scenery. Descending at the rate of one hundred feet to the mile, it passes through deep cuts, over high but substantial trestle works, winding among the hills and along dark chasms and wild seen- ery, until the blue waters of Lake Erie appear in view, terminating in Westfield, close by the precipitous bank of Chautauqua creek. On the second day of the Centennial, a long train passed over this road, loaded with passengers from Jamestown, Falconer and Southern Chautauqua county, to participate in the ceremonies of the day.

The people of the county during the year 1902 seemed to be filled with a desire to express their pleasant remembrance of former days. Reunions were held in several towns, where old acquaintances after years of separation gathered from all parts, often from other States. The most notable of these town picnics was held at Parkhurst's Grove, in Stockton, on the 26th of August. E. L. McCullough presided. S. Fred Nixon was the principal speaker. Five thousand people were in attendance. The year before, the fourth annual town picnic had been held in the same grove, when three thousand people were present. Many articles of interest, relics of early days in Chautauqua county, were displayed in a large tent. Successful town picnics of a like character were held in Cherry Creek and Villenova during the year 1902.

The affection of a Chautauquan for his county seemed everywhere this year kindled anew. The Chautauqua Society of New York City was formed and held its first annual reunion and dinner at the Hoffman House in that city, the guests, nearly one hundred in number. Washington Windsor was president, and Justice John Woodward toastmaster.

Principal among the citizens who have taken part in these commemorative gatherings and have in recent years rendered valuable service to the people of the county in preserving its history, the stories and faces of its old pioneers, is Charles J. Shults. In 1900 he edited and published a fine collection of illustrated historical matter relating to the town of Cherry Creek. Afterwards he edited and published a like valuable collection relating to the town of Dayton, in Cattaraugus county. As that town adjoins Chautauqua, his publication is of much interest to our county.

Mr. Shults was born in Ellicottville, Cattaragus county, February 23, 1868. He was educated in the Union schools of that place. He learned the printer's trade of Robert H. Shankiand, one of the best known editors of Western New York. He also pursued the study of law and medicine. He published various newspapers in Cattaraugus and Chautauqua counties, among them the "Cherry Creek News," and has been for many years

In the year 1902 the weather was so unfavorable that the attendance at the Chautauqua Assembly was not so great as the year before. Nineteen hundred and one was the Pan-American year. Fifty thousand people then visited Chautauqua, from every State and Territory in the Union, including Hawaii, and also from Canada, New Zealand, India, China, Peru, Germany, England, Cuba, Congo, South Africa, Sweden, Mexico, Argentine Republic and Brazil. In 1902, although the total attendance was less, the duration of those in attendance was longer than ever before. The final exercises of the Chautauqua Assembly for that year and the last in the closing year in the first century of the settlement of the county were held August 28th, in the Hall of Philosophy.

The Hall of Philosophy was regarded as a classic spot in the grove. So many notable men had so often discoursed upon learned and interesting subjects beneath the roof of this old Parthenon, that it had become very dear to Old Chautauquans. This was the last exerciseheld within its colonades, for now it was to be torn down and replaced with an edifice of stone.

On the opposite shore of the lake at Point Chautauqua, later in the season another structure was destroyed, this time by fire - the Grand Hotel, a noble edifice which then occupied the most sightly place on the lake. It was 300 feet long by 165 feet wide, the main structure five stories high and the wings four stories. It was built in 1877-78 by the Baptist Association, which had control of the point at the time. They had hopes of making it a great resort equal to the Chautauqua Assembly across the lake.

Chautauqua county had at the close of 1902 reached a degree of prosperity that its citizens of early years had never anticipated. The county had all the attractions of soil and scenery, market facilities, early educational and social opportunities, possessed by the most favorable of rural communities. To these were added in the last quarter of a century the wellknown important advantages, which had caused it to lead all other counties of the Empire State not having large cities within its borders - the growth of the grape industry, which established its material prosperity ; and the rise of the Chautauqua Assembly, which in a still greater degree promoted its material advancement. The beauty of the lake and its many attractions would have been sufficient to draw many to its shores. It was, however, the annual meetings of the Assembly that attracted the great mass of people to visit it, and that gave it its worldwide fame. During its twentynine seasons of meetings it had been visited by Presidents, the Governor-General of Canada, Statesmen, Governors and Generals, its audiences had been addressed by some of the most eminent men of the land, and of the day, audiences that were immense, that Joseph Jefferson said were so large as to appall him. Besides those who actually attended Chautauqua, more than ten thousand Chautauqua Home Reading Circles were formed and nearly a million people availed themselves of their benefits. To nearly every country in the world has the Chautauqua idea been carried. People everywhere have been made familiar with the name of our lake. It has been adopted not only as the name for other assemblies, offsprings of our own, but as the name for other descriptions of places besides.

We cannot better conclude the annals of the first century of our county than with some account of the general racial character of its inhabitants and of their distribution through the county. The first colonists have a strong influence in fixing the characteristics of their descendants for generations. The leading pioneer himself leaves a deep impression upon his community. His ideas and methods are generally long followed. James and John Mc- Mahan furnish instances of this kind. It was through their influence that the first settlers emigrated from Pennsylvania and established themselves around Westfield. These early settlers came from Northumberland and the counties along the Susquehanna river, near the center and in the eastern part of Pennsylvania : some were of German, but they were generally descendants from the Protestant-Irish families that had emigrated from County Down, Ireland. The McMahans were of Irish parentage. These Pennsylvanians were an industrious, reliable and religious people, and their characteristics are still to be seen in many of their descendants, not only in Westfield, but in other of the earliest settled parts of the county. The first who came were emigrants from the eastern part of Pennsylvania, among them David Eason, Low Minegar and Thomas McClintock. These were the earliest settlers at Fredonia. The same is true of Captain James Dun, who first settled at Portland.

In the south part of the county, John Frew and Thomas Russell, in Carroll, and Robert Russell, of Kiantone, all came from Pennsylvania, and all of Irish parentage from the County Down.

The earliest settlements in the south part of the county were made at Kennedy, in the town of Poland, and at Worksburg (now Falconer) in the town of Ellicott, by Pennsylvanians. Dr. Thomas R. Kennedy, although he never became a resident of the county, may be said to have been the founder of Kennedyville. Edwin Work was the founder of Worksburg. A friendship and certain business relation-hip existed between these men. They both came from Meadville. Work was born in Franklin, Pennsylvania. He studied law and was admitted to the bar and subsequently was the prosecuting attorney there. He married Mrs. Jane Cameron, the widow of Joseph Cameron. He was a man of enterprise and ability and integrity. He caused mills to be built at Worksburg, and roads and bridges to be constructed three years before any settlement was made at Jamestown. When almost the only travel was made by Indian trails, keelboats and canoes on Chautauqua Lake and the larger streams in the southeastern part of the county, he constructed keelboats at his mill for the transportation of salt from Mayville to Pittsburgh and for other purposes. Work ran lumber from his mills to New Orleans, as he had done before from the Kennedy mills. He shipped cotton when he arrived at Natchez, and sold his boats at New Orleans for lumber for more than their cost. He may be said to be the pioneer of the southern part of the county, as McMahan had been of the northern towns. Worksburg was for several years the most important settlement in the southern part of the county, as the Cross Roads had been in its northern part. The first settlers of Poland and Ellicott, through the influence of Kennedy and Work, like those of the Cross Roads, came from Pennsylvania ; not from the Susquehanna region in the east pari of the State, but from Meadville and vicinity, in Western Pennsylvania. Among these pioneers were Wilson, Culbertson, George W. Fenton, the father of Governor Fenton, Ross, and other well-known pioneers. Man}' of the settlers from Western Pennsylvania or their immediate ancestors originally had their homes in Northumberland and other counties on the Susquehanna, and most often had a Protestant- Irish parentage.

But it was only for a few of the first years that settlement was chiefly from Pennsylvania. The migrations of men have been generally from the East towards the West, with a strong tendency to follow lines of latitude, and this law was substantially observed in the subsequent settlement of our county. For nearly fifty years after the first beginning of settle- merit, immigrants came here almost entirely from the middle and eastern counties of New York and from the New England States. The pioneers of the middle and a portion of the eastern counties of New York, in accordance with the law of migration, had come from the county immediately to the eastward. So it is that the settlers of Chautauqua county for a period of fifty of its earliest years were mainly of New England extraction. Of our own earliest pioneers many also were from the British Isles - Irishmen, Scotchmen and Englishmen. Alexander Cochran, a Protestant or Scotch-Irishman from the North of Ireland, was the first settler of Ripley ; Alexander Findley, an Irishman, from Pennsylvania, was the first settler of Mina.

When the frontier period had come to a close by the organization of Chautauqua as a separate county in the year 181 1, the places that have now proved to be the most important points in the county had all been selected and settled, including Westfield, Fredonia and Jamestown. The population, influence and wealth of these three towns indicate the fore sight and good judgment of their founders - Col. James McMahan, Judge Zattu Cushing and Judge James Prendergast.

Judge James Prendergast, Colonel James McMahan and Judge Zattu Cushing, three leading pioneers of these different and distinct parts of the county, besides having broader and more comprehensive views as to the direction in which the development of the county would tend, were possessed of more means than most of the early settlers, and could therefore proceed with more deliberation and care in choosing the spot at which to stake their fortunes. Colonel McMahan was a surveyor, quite familiar with the western wilderness. He had traversed the county from its southern limits to Lake Erie as early as 1795 with a view to location, and finally chose the beautiful farming land adjacent to Westfield as presenting the most favorable prospect. Judge Cushing also passed through the county in 1798 or 1799 on his way to Presque Isle to superintend the building of the ship "Good Intent," and again on his return east. He selected his home on the Canadaway, in the fine lands around Fredonia, as offering the greatest promise to one who would choose a home on the frontier. He was no doubt influenced in his choice by similar considerations to those that governed Colonel McMahan. Judge Prendergast, who as early as 1794 or 1795 traveled extensively in the Southwest, having visited the Spanish country of Northern Louisiana, and in 1805 journeyed through Pennsylvania to Tennessee with a view to settlement in that State, had at last explored the region around Chautauqua Lake and along the Conewango, saw in the magnificent forests of Southern Chautauqua a source of wealth. He saw also a prospect of its immediate realization in the Allegheny and its tributaries, which offered the facilities for the transportation of the lumber manufactured at their sources to the great market which he perceived was destined to grow up in the valley of the Mississippi.

As lumbering and clearing the land was the chief vocation, lakes and water courses, large and small, were the principal circumstances determining what points were longest to continue business centers. Not until fifty years after the first settlement of the county did railroads come to revolutionize transportation and travel, changing business centers. The Holland Land Company deemed Mayvilie, at the head of Chautauqua Lake and at the head of the navigation of river courses to the Mississippi Valley and also at the termination of the Short Portage to Lake Erie, to be the place of importance in the county, as it did the harbor at Barcelona at the opposite termination of the portage, and the small harbor at Cattaraugus creek. These three places were regarded as the principal points of consequence. So much so that they were the only places in the county that the company saw fit to survey into village lots. Silver Creek was undoubtedly selected for its harbor and water power. For the latter reason Forestville, Worksburg, Kennedy and Frewsburg, were chosen for settlement, as was Sinclairville by its pioneer, Samuel Sinclear. He thought also that its proximity to what he believed would some time be an important highway extending eastward and westward between the county seats of the southern tier of counties of the State to be intersected at or near Sinclairville by another important highway extending between Buffalo and Pittsburgh, would make it a place of some note. For similar reasons the crossing at the Portage road had much influence in establishing the location of the first settlement of the county at Westfield.

The county organized and settlement made at all of its principal points, emigration was continued from Eastern New York and the New England States with great vigor. It continued almost exclusively from that portion of the country for quite forty years and until the county had gained three-fifths of its present population. At the end of that time it was inhabited by people almost entirely of New England and English extraction. During that period the immigrants came in independently of each other, and in single families. Sometimes it would hanpen that the inhabitants of a neighborhood came from a single locality in the East.

Several small colonies of English early settled in the county. The literature and the language, the laws and the traditions of England, are so like those of America, that the few distinctive characteristics of these superior people disappear more quickly than those of any other country. A large portion of the settlers of the northeast part of the town of Mina and the northwest part of the town of Sherman were Englishmen, many of them from County Kent. They began to settle in the county about the year 1823. Among those English pioneers were James Ottaway, the ancestor of A. B. Ottaway, one of the ablest and best known lawyers in the county ; William Relf, Edward Chambers, Edward Barden, Thomas Coveney, William Mayborn, Benjamin Boorman, John Thorp and Richard Bass.

In Charlotte there were many English families. The street leading from Sinclairville to Cherry Creek was first settled by families principally from the South of England. Samuel Hurley was the pioneer, he came as early as 1817. Abraham Reynolds next came in 1819, direct from London ; twice he walked from Charlotte to New York. Robert LeGreys came in 1819; John Thorn in 1834; and in 1836 John Reed from Devonshire ; Richard Brock, Thomas D. Spiking and Thomas Thompson came later. The street leading north from the Center to Arkwright was also largely settled by Englishmen wholly from Yorkshire, in the North of England, among them Thomas Pearson, ancestor of Arthur C. Wade, the wellknown lawyer of Jamestown. William Wright and Thomas Dickinson came together in a ship from Hull, and settled on this street ; William Hilton in 1830 ; his son John, who has been a director on the Erie railway. The descendants of these Englishmen and many others who came later, constitute a large and substantial portion of the population of the town. Englishmen early settled in other parts of the county.

About twenty years after the selection of Jamestown for settlement by James Prendergast, there came from the Midland counties of England the Wilson and Bootey families and settled at Jamestown, on the southeast side of the Chadakoin, and cleared the land on what is now known as English Hill, within the bounds of the city of Jamestown. John T. Wilson, of the Wilson family, long one of the most enterprising and respected citizens of Jamestown, and the late Edward R. Bootey, of the Bootey family, one of the most able and esteemed lawyers of Chautauqua county, were both born in Jamestown. Later on and prior to 1840, there came from England, William and Charles Mace, John Spring, John Armitage and others. In 1843 William Broadhead. who has contributed more to the prosperity and advancement of Jamestown than anyone now living, came direct from Yorkshire in England ; he was followed the next year by his father and Thomas Sunderland, who selected Busti for their homes ; and soon after, the Northrups, Lords and Jabez Whitley, who also settled in Busti. Further additions of Englishmen were made in the fifties and sixties. These were mostly from Lancashire and they largely settled in Sugar Grove and Youngsville, Pennsylvania. Soon after the Civil War, the manufacturing industries of Jamestown called Englishmen from the manufacturing districts of England. Early in the seventies many more Englishmen came to take a principal part in establishing the great textile industries of that city. Among them were the families of Joseph Turner, Edward Appleyard, Joseph Appleyard, Edward Pickles, Edward Cawley, Samuel Briggs, William Briggs, David Hilton, Joseph Rushworth, T. H. Smith, Joseph Metcalf, R. E. Toothill and the Sedgwick brothers.

A few Frenchmen early came to Chautauqua county. Quite a number of French families settled in the northern part of the town of Charlotte, and a few in other parts of the county, but at no time have the French exceeded one hundred in number. Of those who settled in Charlotte, John Cardot came in 1828 or 1829. In 1833 Mr. Tackley, Peter Belandret, Mr. Landers, Joseph Gillett and families, Lewis and John Simmons and afterwards John and August Boquin and Nestor Lamblin and families came. They were all substantial and reliable citizens.

Irishmen were among the earliest pioneers. At first they came independent of each other and were scattered among the different settlements of the county. About the year 1S36 they came in large numbers and more in a body, to work upon the New York & Erie railroad, then in process of construction. About fourteen miles of the road was built by them from Dun - kirk into the town of Arkwright. when the work was suspended and this portion of the road abandoned. Theirs was the first work performed in building a railroad in Chautauqua county. The result of their labor is still to be seen in the old and partly obliterated "cuts and fills" and stone culverts that were constructed along the line of this piece of abandoned road. Many of these Irishmen afterward became citizens of Villenova, Arkwright and Charlotte.

By the census of 1845, the population of the county was 46,548, nearly all of American birth, and almost entirely of British descent, much the greater number having been born in New York or in the New England States. Perhaps 2,500 of the inhabitants of the county were of foreign birth, and of these almost all were from the British Isles. There were a few Germans and Frenchmen, and scarcely one from any other country of Europe. Never have the people of the county been so purely of British extraction since then. In 1845 i* was seldom that a person could be found who had come from Continental Europe, or could speak any other than the English language. When it happened it was regarded as a notable circumstance.

Soon after the year 1845, there began to sec in from European countries to the county a great tide of immigration which has continued without interruption until the present time. The first to come were Hollanders. They came to the town of Clymer. About the year 1844 was the beginning of their settlement in that town, and now a large percentage of its population are of Holland stock. These citizens retain in a marked degree the characteristics, manners and customs of the parent country. The impress of original nationality is likely to remain longer with their descendants than with the descendants of any other people in the county.

No people have occasion to take more pride in their ancestry than those who can trace their lineage directly or indirectly back to Holland. New York is the only State in the Union that was principally settled by the people of that country. There is much of the State that has pleasing remembrances of this interesting country. In New York City, along the Hudson, at Albany, and in the Mohawk Valley, live the descendants of this people. Holland sympathized with America in her struggle for Independence. Soon after the Revolution, when it was known as the Republic Batavia, eleven staid merchants of the city of Amsterdam had such faith in our republican form of government which at that time was regarded by most of the civilized world as but a visionary experiment, as to invest a large sum of money in the wild lands of the western part of this State. They constituted what is known as the Holland Land Company. Thereafter for many years the interests of this company were most intimately blended with the history of our county. Theophilus Cazenove, Paul Busti, and John J. Vanderkemp, natives or citizens of Holland were the earliest agents for the disposition of its lands.

With the building of the Erie railroad, beginning about 1849, began a still greater irruption of foreigners into the county. Dunkirk was the objective point. The Irish were the first on the ground, but were closely followed by the Germans. The immigrants from both of these countries were mostly poor. The greater part became permanent residents. Excepting the English, no foreigners have become so quickly and thoroughly Americanized as the Irish and Germans. They readily adopt American customs, quickly comprehend the free principles of government and learn to conservatively apply them.

After the Irish and Germans came the Swedes. Jamestown was then the objective point. Three young women from Sweden came to Jamestown in 1849. One became the wife of Frank Peterson, one Mrs. Otto Peterson, and the third went farther to the west. These were the first Swedes to settle in the county, the forerunners of the thousands that came afterwards. It is said that Samuel Johnson and Andrew Peterson and some others came the same year. The first child of Swedish parents born in the county was a daughter of Andrew Peterson ; it died in infancy. Theodore, son of Samuel Johnson, born December 29, 185 1, was the first male child born of Swedish parentage in the county. Since 1849 tne immigration from Sweden to this county has been very great. Jamestown is the principal place of Swedish settlement, as Dunkirk in the north part of the county is now the principal home of the Irish, the Germans and the Poles, and Fredonia, Westfield and Silver Creek of the Italians. More than one-third of the population of Jamestown are Swedes or of Swedish parentage. A large percentage of the inhabitants of the southern towns of Ellicott, Carroll, Kiantone, Busti, Ellery, Chautauqua, Harmony and Ellington, and of the town of Pomfret are natives of Sweden.

The people of this nationality at length became so numerous that in 1874 a Swedish newspaper, the "Folkets Rost" (People's Voice), was established in Jamestown by Olof A. Olson and others. It has been published in the Swedish language under different names until the present time. The Swedes have established many religious organizations, and have built many churches. The first was the Swedish M. E. church; it was organized in 1852, and a church built. They have established libraries and many societies for educational improvement and for charitable purposes. The Gustavus Adolphus Orphanage, or home for orphan children, was organized and incorporated in 1884. The Home owns 87 acres of land in East Jamestown, and a brick four-story building, which with outbuildings is worth $40,000. August J. Lindblad, who has been a director and its secretary for many years, has been one of the most zealous and faithful workers for the Home. By the census of 1855 therewere 453 persons born in Sweden ; in 1900 the natives of Sweden in the county had increased in number to 7,151.

By the census of 1855, there were but five Danes in the county. The first to arrive in. Chautauqua county was M. P. Jacobson, of Jamestown, in 1854; he came from Bornholm, an island of the Baltic ; he was a carriagemaker and blacksmith by trade. He was followed by L. H. Tideman, a carriage and sign painter, and later by A. C. Holmes. John and Nicholas Romer were prominent among the early Danes. They came in the early sixties to Jamestown and entered into the employ of Charles Jeffords in the manufacture of axes. Nicholas was foreman of the factory. They afterwards established an extensive model ax factory in Dunkirk. C. C. Beck came to Jamestown in 1864 and established the first ice industry of that city. He also engaged in the building of steam and other boats on Chautauqua Lake. For several years nearly all the boats upon the lake were built by him.

The Danes of Jamestown with but few exceptions came from the island of Bornholm, in the Baltic. But few Danes outside of Jamestown reside in Chautauqua county. They have organized various social and religious societies, and are intelligent, industrious and law-abiding citizens. According to the census of 1900, 316 residents of the county are natives of Denmark.

In 1855 there were no Norwegians in the county ; by the census of 1900 there were only twenty. John A. Hale, of Jamestown, is said to have been the first who came from that country. Oscar O. Olson was born in Storhammer, Norway, in 1849, came to the United States in 1872, and is prominent among them.

The Swedes, the Danes and the Norwegians, constituting the Scandanavian branch of the Teutonic races, are so nearly related to the Anglo-Saxons that it makes it easy for them

Next after the Swedes came the Polanders. They settled in Dunkirk. The first to come were Abrose Johnson, Anthony Pogorzelski, Joseph Fleming, and John Winkler and their families. In 1855 there were 21 Polanders in Chautauqua county. Later they began to come in greater numbers ; and in 1875 there were eighty-five Polish families in Dunkirk, and that year St. Hyacinth's Roman Catholic Church was erected at a cost of $10,000. The Poles principally reside in Dunkirk and the country roundabout. They are educating their children and making rapid progress. They are among the best farmers in the county ; through their energy and industry they are securing good homes. In 1900 there were 1,027 natives of Poland residing in Chautauqua county, and many more descendants.