XII. THE HOME IN THE WILDERNESS.

Early in 1785 farewells were spoken to friends in Schenectady, and shouldering his rifle, Jones went away into the forest, closely followed by his trusty horse bearing his wife and all their possessions. The course was westward over the great trail leading from Albany through the Iroquois towns to Lake Erie. It was the intention of Horatio to locate near the boundary of Seneca territory on the route between the western towns and settlements of the whites, where he could secure traffic between the Indians and the whites. The easternmost town of the Senecas on the great trail had been located at Kanadesaga, a mile and a half west of Seneca Lake, and Old Smoke, the so-called King of the Senecas, had lived there prior to the destruction of the place by Gen. Sullivan in 1779. After Sullivan's invasion Old Smoke, or at any rate some Seneca families, appear to have lived at the end of the lake; the site of the former stronghold was called the Old Castle, while the name Kanadesaga was applied to all the section between the Old Castle and the lake, though there seems to have been no town or settlement of any consequence at the lake when Jones was seeking a home there in 1785. The western town of the Cayugas on the great trail was at Skoi-yase, four miles east of Seneca Lake, and a few houses stood there when Jones reached the place early in the spring of 1785.

The young couple decided to settle there and Horatio built a bark house similar to those used by the Indians. It was located on the south side of the Seneca River near the spot now occupied by the lock at the falls. In this humble habitation they set up housekeeping and began trade with the Indians. At that date no other white man had established a home in the territory now comprising Seneca County, and the late captive interpreter thus became the pioneer settler of a section that soon proved the doorway through which civilization made its advance into the ancient domain of his recent savage masters. There was a shorter trail between Cayuga Lake and the West that struck the Seneca River above Skoi-yase, and as many of the Indians

took that route our young trader lost chances to barter; accordingly he soon moved to the end of Seneca Lake and built a second habitation on the east side of the outlet on the high ground near the present road. Jones soon discovered that he had not been wise in this location as many Indians turned south on the trail along the western side of Seneca Lake. How long he remained at the outlet is not known, but probably till early spring of the following year, when he went farther west and settled near the intersection of the east and south trails; thus becoming the first white settler upon the present site of Geneva.

De Bartycn and Poudry, two French traders, were located at the Old Castle and at Cashong, a small Seneca village south of Horatio's new home; and the latter determined to open barter at the camps of the native hunters. Accordingly he made long excursions into the Seneca country, leaving his young wife in their bark house with no neighbors other than parties of Indians who occasionally camped in the vicinity. The native friends who came from time to time to visit Horatio and his wife met with a warm welcome. The generous bounty bestowed upon all was appreciated by some who often laid the fruits of the chase at the cabin door; thus their larder was seldom free from evidences of the good will of Indian friends. In this humble home, with none other than the women of the forest to attend her, Sarah's first child was born, December 18, 1786. He was named William, in honor of his parental grandfather, and Whitmoyer, after his mother's family. He is said to have been the first child of white parentage born on the great trail west of Utica. Horatio remembered to have seen the wreck of an old batteau in the outlet near his former home and he secured enough of the pitch pine boards to make a rude cradle wherein the children of the Indians loved to rock the little stranger as they crooned their lullabys and peered wonderingly at the dimpled pale-face.*

*William Whitmoyer Jones, the first born of Horatio, preserved with religious care this cradle which, at the time it was made, was considered a great improvement upon the bark or hollow log cradle of that day. For many years it was in the possession of John H. Jones of Leicester. Its present owner is not known to the editor of this volume.

Sitting in the firelight of their humble home one chill evening Horatio and his wife were startled by a loud knock at the door. The natives exercised no such formality upon entering a dwelling and the sound suggested to the young pioneers the presence of some person from civilization. "Come in," Jones called out instinctively, certain that some young person stood without. The rude door at once swung open, admitting a man bearing upon his shoulders a pack of furs. Pausing a moment to give a keen glance at the occupants of the room, whose faces were lighted by the flames in the fireplace, the stranger coolly unslung his pack and addressing Jones in a pleasant voice, the accent revealing a German origin, briefly explained that he had become lost in the wilderness and seeing a light and a house had hastened to it in hopes of obtaining food and shelter. Jones gave the new-comer hearty welcome and Sarah set before him a venison steak, smoking from the embers, with corn bread and coffee. The guest was about Horatio's age. His face was smooth and there was an expression in the clear eyes and firmly-set mouth, indicating shrewdness and strength of character, that caught the fancy of the young host. In the conversation that followed the stranger said his name was John Jacob Astor;* he resided in New York, was engaged in the fur trade and had come to the Indian country alone and on foot to establish a trade with the Indians. Mr. Astor was equally impressed with the manly appearance and intelligence of his host, soon learned the history of the young

* Mr. Harris's authority for this account of Astor's visit to Jones is not known to the present editor. Most likely it is a tradition of the Jones family, and the probabilities favor its truth. John Jacob Astor came to America in 1783, and in a few years his fur trade had so developed that he was on the highway to wealth. From 1785 or thereabouts for several years he was often on the Niagara, at the fort, negotiating with traders and Indians throughout the region, and directing his own agents. In a biographical sketch of him his greatgrandson, William Waldorf Astor, has written: "Upon reaching New York he at once busied himself in the fur trade, to whose vast developments his thoughtful attention had been directed by a fellow countryman and wherein immense profits were being realized. He entered upon this occupation with unremitting vigor and in a dozen years had diverted some of the most profitable markets from his competitors and was at the head of a business branching to Albany, Buffalo, Plattsburg and Detroit. . . During the first years of his life in America, the development of the commercial establishment Mr. Astor was building up called for his frequent presence among the Indian tribes with which the fur

couple and shrewdly concluded that their knowledge of the Genesee country and acquaintance with the natives would prove a great advantage in matters of trade. Jones then had quite a quantity of furs. Astor looked over the stock, gave the young trader several valuable suggestions and bought the lot; an agreement followed that thereafter Jones should collect for Astor alone and deliver his stock at the Astor warehouse in New York. Jones purchased for Astor for many years.

The following season Joseph Smith, the former Seneca captive whom Horatio met at Little Beard's Town, and who had been a friend to Sarah during her captivity, came to Seneca Lake and built a log house near that of Jones. For awhile he assisted Horatio, but finally began trade upon his own account; Mrs. Jones and Mrs. Smith were often alone together for days, while their husbands were far away in the wilderness.

XIII. THE BUFFALO CREEK COUNCIL OF JULY, 1788.

We will now review events that soon made the place that Jones had selected for a residence the most noted spot in Western New York. When the Commissioners of New York State and the representatives of the Six Nations met at Fort Stanwix, September 10, 1784, the latter agreed not

trade was carried on. He was obliged to be his own agent at the frontier trading stations, making agreements for the delivery of large quantities of furs; and as his dealings multiplied, it was no less necessary to regulate the affairs of his agencies. In later life he often spoke with enthusiasm of the incidents and adventures of this period of his career. It is easy to place before one's imagination the grandeur of the scenes he then beheld in their primeval beauty. Through the forests of Lower Canada, of New York and Michigan, he walked, guided by coureurs de bois, sometimes the first European explorer of their reHe traversed the Great Lakes with a band of Ontario voyageurs, and shot the Sault Ste. Marie in a birch canoe with a couple of Indians. He visited encampments on the St. Lawrence and at Saginaw Bay, and beheld along the Mohawk Valley the last Iroquois wigwams-those final vestiges of the intrepid Six Nations. Wherever he went he dealt with the chiefs, bargaining with them in a spirit of fairness and humanity, and forbidding his agents ever to sell liquor to the savages. These journeys were continued through the summers of several years and extended from the Hudson to the copper rocks of Lake Superior." (Pall Mall Magazine, June, 1899.)

cesses.

to sell their lands in New York without the consent of the State. In 1785 Massachusetts, by virtue of the grant of 1620, set up a claim to the Iroquois territory in New York; but at a convention of delegates from the two states, held at Hartford in December, 1786, Massachusetts relinquished all claims of sovereignty and jurisprudence within the borders of New York upon condition that the latter state should concede to her the right of preemption, or sole privilege of purchasing from the native owners all lands in the State west of a due north and south line drawn from the 82d milestone on the Pennsylvania line to Lake Ontario. The new boundary between the white and the red men was to supersede the line of property and be known as "The Preemptive line." As the purchase of Iroquois lands by individuals was illegal and the fever of land speculation possessed many people, two companies, known as the New York Genesee Land Company and the Niagara Genesee Land Company, were organized in 1787 for the purpose of leasing of the Six Nations for a period of ninety-nine years all their country west of the old line of property. In November, 1787, the New York company called a council of the Six Nations at Kanadesaga and the Indians assembled on the lake shore. near Jones' house.

In their pursuit of traffic in the depths of the wilderness Jones and Smith had little knowledge of the acts of legislatures or of the motives underlying the schemes of men eager to obtain a first title to Iroquois territory, hence when the Hon. John Livingston, one of the most prominent men of the day, offered to engage the two traders as interpreters, they deemed themselves fortunate. For their services at this treaty each received liberal compensation and Jones a gratuity of half a share of stock in the lessee company.*

January 8, 1788, a lease was obtained of the Oneidas for their lands. Thereafter the companies were termed lessees. These companies included some of the most prominent men of New York and among the British at Niagara. In Feb

* In that month, November, a daughter was born to Joseph Smith and wife whom they named Mary. She married Justice Dutton, who died in Moscow in 1815. Her daughter married Dr. D. P. Bissell of Utica.-G. H. H.