History of Irish Settlement in Genesee Township
GENESEE
ELLISBURG
IRISH SETTLEMENT
Compiled and written by Hilda H. Wollaston
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The History of the Settlements in Genesee Township was
made possible by the kindness, cooperation and the personal recollections of
the past history from Matthew Moran, Mrs. Joseph (Alice) Moran, Mr. And Mrs.
John Hart and Mrs. Nellie T. Carpenter.
History material, pictures, information, etc., contributed by Mrs. Merle Hill, Mrs. Mildred Burd, Mrs. Eva Wood, Mrs. Wayne Allis, Mrs. Halsey Graham, Mrs. William Currier, Mrs. Frank Blow, Mrs. Beatrice Beckhorn, Mrs. Charles Downer, Charles Hart, Mrs. Madeline McCarn and Mrs. Leona Jackson.
PUBLISHED BY THE GENESEE TOWNSHIP BICENTENNIAL COMMITTEE
IRISH SETTLEMENT
Irish
Settlement, or Kinney as it is known today, is located in Genesee Township; it
lies mostly in Genesee Township, but extends into the Township of Oswayo and
into the Town of Willing, State of New York.
It
was once a primeval forest of hemlock, beech, soft and hard maples, birch and
little or no pine. It was so dense that
all views of the surrounding country were completely cut off from view.
The
many animals that roamed the countryside have long since disappeared; namely
the panther, the wolf, the elk and wild pigeons. There were some beavers, bear, deer, and small game. It was these animals the pioneers hunted to
feed their families. Fish were also in
great abundance.
The
first settler in Irish Settlement was Martin Moran who came to the United
States landing in New York on May 1, 1840, from Ireland. The trip took 21 days. He left Ireland, as did so many other
Irishmen because of the potato famine.
When the potato blight struck, starvation and disease killed a million
Irish people in five years. And another
million immigrated, some to England, others to Boston or New York City.
The
potato grew so well in Ireland and had such great food value that the Irish
adopted it as their main food. They
became so economically dependent upon potatoes. Hence, when the crop failed in the 1840’s because of a blight
disease, many migrated to the United States.
Martin
Moran, the first pioneer to land in the Untied States, went to Utica, New York
to work on the Erie Canal. From there
he heard of the railroad being proposed to be built in Wellsville, so he
traveled to this area to work on the New York and Erie Railroad. This company failed to build the road at
that time so Mr. Moran and others were without work. The contractor Mr. Moran was to work with, also an Irishman, made
arrangements for the purchase of some land in Genesee Township, Potter County,
Pennsylvania, where the contractor and others hoped to settle and build homes
for themselves and their families. The
contract, after a short time, gave up the idea of staying, and left the
area. Mr. Moran stayed on to become the
first settler in 1842.
The
location where he chose to build his home was on the McGinness Hollow road (in
the early days it was called “Logic Hollow”) in the area of the Elroy Matteson
residence. In the middle of a cold
snowy winter, Martin Moran got lumber in the dense forest and with the help of
his son Patrick, partially built a home, with the chamber floor laid but no
roof. He moved his family in from
Wellsville to find the floor covered with snow. The family endured many hardships the first few years.
Land in the settlement sold for fifty cents to one dollar per acre, while in Wellsville, New York, land in the early 1800’s sold for two dollars per acre.
In
the period from 1848 to 1850, the Patrick Moran family arrived from
Massachusetts port of entry; also the John Hart family, Patrick and Michael
O’Donnell, and the following other families arrived: McHale, Rooney,
Cunningham, Corcoran, Maginni, Wile, Flynn, Russell, Hughes, Grime, Byrne,
Murphy, Doyle and Dwyer. These pioneers
all immigrated from Ireland, arriving at different points of entry; some from
Canada, a few from New York and others from Boston.
When
a settler came to look for land, he brought his family with him and moved in
with somebody he had heard of; then with some friends, went off seeking a good
location. After a location was found,
all the neighbors joined in erecting a house and barn. They got the logs from their own
woodlots. The houses first erected were
put up in a hurry to get the family settled.
The log house required the pioneer to fell the tree, cut to the needed
length, trim, notch at the ends, and fit the log into place. Wedges of wood were inserted where the logs
did not fit. The cracks were daubed
with a mixture of clay, grass and mud.
The roofs were usually made with poles, which were covered with
clapboards shaped by an axe. The
sidewalls were laid, one log upon another to a height of seven or eight
feet. The roof was fastened by weight
poles and wooden pins. They had no
nails or few nails from distant points.
Sometime in the 1890’s, good frame houses were built, replacing the log
cabins and shanties as some refer to them.
Little was raised on the land
cleared the first year and many who had cattle or horses suffered great losses,
for no hay or grain could be raised on the cleared land until it could be
worked. They chopped down maple and
other hardwood trees for the cattle to browse on, which was a poor substitute
for hay or grain.
The crops that were raised the first
year were needed for their own use. A
few settlers brought oats with them from Canada, and a few brought potato seed
from Ireland. Oxen or horses were used
to work the fields with a crude homemade wooden plow. A cradle scythe was used for cutting oats, wheat and corn. A flail was used to thrash the oats (this
being two sticks fastened together in some manner with a strip of leather). The axe is a symbol of the American pioneer;
next in importance is the rifle. They
also brought with them a few simple tools to build their home such as the maul
or wooden hammer, a frow (an iron rod with a beveled edge thrust through a
wooden handle), and axe used to smooth the flat side of split logs and an awl
for making moccasins. A tin grater was
used in turning corn into meal. The
hominy block, which was a large wooden block with a hole carved out to fit a
wooden pestle was used for preparing the corn for food. The broad axe was also very much in demand.
The
Farmers Almanac was used by the pioneers as an accurate guide for farming. The waning and waxing of the moon indicated
the proper time to sow grain and the planting of vegetables.
A
Typical Day in the Settlement
Many
early settlers had a one-room house, in which the family ate, worked, played
and slept. The large fireplace with its
iron cranes extending out over the logs with hooks of various lengths hanging
from it, held the iron kettles that were used in preparing the meals. Furniture was homemade and quite crude;
stools being three-legged, the baby cradle was built like a box, oblong in
shape with corners squared and rockers on it.
The bed fist made to care for father and mother was four-posted and high
enough to put the trundle beds under which the children slept on during the
day. The deep iron kettles, spiders
(skillets), tea kettle, and griddle were prized possessions.
While the men had the logging,
building, hunting and farming to do, the women were always busy having to cook,
bake, wash and iron the clothes, make the clothes for the entire family, once
made of deer skin and pelts of fur-bearing animals, later from sheep’s wool,
sheared, washed, combed, carded and spun into yarn. Every spring enough soap was made to last a year, candle making,
butter churning, preserving, caring for the children and caring for the
sick. The barn chores were started at 4
A.M., so as to be finished by daybreak.
It was then time for a hearty breakfast, then off t the field until 4
P.M. when the barn chores had to be done again.
Most
of the provisions had to be gotten from Dansville, New York; travel was by
foot, taking several days for the trip, camping out over night. They removed their shoes going down the Ore
Bed road until they reached the Wellsville area to keep their feet dry; then on
to Dansville taking with them buckwheat to be ground into flour, also getting
other supplies and grain. They marked
trees to find their way through the dense forests. When oxen or a horse was acquired, they had lessened the burden
of the long trips for supplies.
The
forest of the pioneer contributed much to the progress of mankind. Men built homes, schools, and churches. They used wood as handles for their tools,
plows, machines and weapons; cross sections cut from logs served as crude
wheels for early carts. Logs fastened
together formed rafts for transportation.
Wood used for fuel for fires provided warmth and a means for baking and
cooking. Later wagons were built,
bridges laid and covered, some plank roads were also laid. Every neighborhood had a sawmill from 1870
to 1890. Grist Mills were being built
nearby. One was as close as Scio, New
York very early.
A
few Ashereis were established and enabled the settler to get “Black Salts”
which demanded cash at the market. This
was in great demand, as it was used to fertilize the land. (Fish scales were
also a fertilizer.) “Black Salts” was
made from ogs taken to the ashery and burned.
The wood ashes were in great demand; they brought read cash, many used
the money to buy food, grain or supplies.
Others were able to pay their taxes with the cash. Some of the settlers worked on road
construction to pay their taxes.
Long
trips to points like Dansville or Jersey Shore were no longer necessary after
1890 when the Wellsville, Coudersport and Pine Creed Railroad was built south
out of Wellsville, New York, in the direction of Coudersport, but only extending
as far as Hickox. Later it merged with
the Buffalo & Susquehanna system.
Shipping was available in and out of Genesee or Wellsville.
The
Olean, Oswayo & Eastern Railroad extended west from a connection with the
W. C. & P. C. Railroad at Genesee to Oswayo in 1894. The Olean, Oswayo & Eastern later was an
important 3rd line railroad called the New York & Pennsylvania
railroad, or “NYP” for short. It was
the last common carrier built in the area and first to be totally
abandoned. It had many financial set
backs with floods, wrecks, washouts and money problems. The “NYP” started at a junction with the
Erie Railroad at Canisteo, New York and traveled south in Pennsylvania into
Potter County along Oswayo Valley and up into Ceres, connection with the Pittsburgh,
Shawmut & Northern Railroad. After
the decline in the lumber business and closing of the big tannery at Oswayo,
revenues dropped and the “NYP” railroad was abandoned in April 1936.
In
1850, a Catholic Church was built through efforts of Bishop O’Connor, Rev.
Smith and Rev. Gallaher. The church was
erected on the left side of the former Burke Hill road traveling east toward
the New York State line. The population
of the Irish Settlement in 1850 was 75 people.
In 1865, there were 275 people.
There was an addition added to the church in 1865 to accommodate the
growing population.
This church is believed to be the first church in Potter County according to historians. In the early history of the Kinney Catholic Church, they had no priest stationed here; a Reverend Father Fenucan then stationed at the Sartwell Catholic Church, came to the settlement on horseback, weather permitting, to hold services. Sometimes the trip to baptize the infants was only every two or three months because of weather conditions and there would be a large number of babies to be baptized. The good priest often was forced to spend a night at the Patrick Hart residence.
In
the Irish Settlement, or “Kinney”, wakes were well attended by young and old
and sometimes lasted several days because they offered people an opportunity to
get out and socialize. These wakes were
the beginning of many courtships that ended in marriage.
The
one room school was built in many areas so as to bring classes to the nearby,
populated area, and to enable children to get to school because of the distance
and weather conditions. Due to severe
winters, school was in session from June to January.
The
school at “Kinney” was at the foot of “Burke Hill” just below the first
Catholic Church on land now farmed by Charles Hart, a grandson of pioneer John
Hart.
The
school on the Dog Town road was well up on the hill, traveling on the road we
know as the route to Ellisburg and was near the O’Donnel homestead; some refer
to it as “Angels Rest”, others “Dog Town School”.
Another
school was located on the Rooney road, and called the “Ludden School”. The children from “Kinney” or “Irish Hill”
school visited back and forth on occasion, walking both directions, with the
“Ludden” school students; this was a big day in their memories.
School
number 3 was down the Eleven Mile road in the vicinity of the pioneer Dennis
McGiness home; students from this school took part in spelling bees and other
activities.
Some
of the teachers in this school district were: Margaret O’Donnell, Loretta
O’Donnell, Andrew Moran, Dora O’Donnell, Mary Hart, Margaret McGiness, Jim
Lach, Katerine Flynn, Catherine Cooney, George Hurd, John C. Sullivan, Cynthia
Stevens, Daniel Carey, Eva Coyle, Della Sullivan, Ann McGiness, Maggie
O’Donnell, Rhea Hart, Rachel Brundage, and Fenolla Wiles.
In
those days, the teacher’s salary was $8.00 a month, later went to $12.00 a
month and room and board in the neighborhood.
Today
the children of Kinney are taken by bus to the elementary school in Genesee and
to the high school at Northern Potter High School located near Ulysses,
Pennsylvania.