Town of Hopewell and the Pioneer Cemetery Continuation

PAMELIA BISHOP GATES

The subject of this memoir, was born July 23, 1798, in Cazenovia, Madison County, New York. She was
the daughter of Isaac and Mary B. Cook. Her mother died when she was but sixteen years old, leaving her
the rich legacy of these dying words: "Honesty is the best policy, and truth will bear its own weight." After
her mother's death she resided at times in different.places with her older sisters. For two years she kept
house for her brother Isaac, at Scipio, New York. October 22, 1829, she was married to Joseph B. Gates,
of Hopewell, Ontario County, New York, where the remainder of her years were spent in the active work
of farm life. Soon after her marriage she became awakened on the subject of religion, and was converted
at a revival meeting held in the Presbyterian church, Hopewell, conducted by Rev. Mr. Clary and Rev. Mr. Carpenter. She joined the Presbyterian church, where she remained a member till about the year 1846,
when she withdrew from that church and joined the Wesleyan Methodist, finding this society more in
accord with her views.

She ever manifested a deep interest in the early anti-slavery discussions, and was one of the few who remembered "those in bonds as bound with them."

On the subject of temperance she was not less zealous, being ever bold in her denunciation of the
drunkard-maker, and at the same time manifesting much sympathy for the unfortunate inebriate.

Having lived to see her children grown to manhood and womanhood, and having seen the curse of slavery removed from our fair land, she, on the 5th of September, 1869, after a brief illness, closed her earthly
career in the hope of immortality through Christ her Saviour.

The chief subject of this sketch, was horn in Hopewell, Ontario County, New York, April 28. 1802. At the
present writing he is in his seventy-fifth year, and resides on the farm where he was born, and where he
has always resided, three and one-half miles east of Canandaigua, on the old turnpike road. His father,
Daniel Gates. was one of the first settlers in Ontario County, having emigrated hither from Rutland County.
Vermont, in the year 1789. Soon after his settlement in Gorham (now Hopewell) his wife died, leaving
him a family of nine children. About the year 1794 he married Milcah Brown, widow of Joseph Brown of Vermont. As the result of his second marriage, there were five children born to them--Esther, Cyrus,
Moses S., Joseph B., and Fordys.

All of this second family settled in the neighborhood of their birthplace, Joseph B. succeeding to the old homestead. On the 22d of October, 1829, Joseph B. was married to Pamelia B. Cook. He led a quiet, industrious farmer life through all the subsequent years of activity. Careful and prudent in all his business concerns, he gathered about his home the comforts and privileges well earned by toil, and gave his five
children the benefits of a good academical education. He has ever borne both a character and reputation
of unquestionable integrity. Preferring to suffer wrong rather than to do wrong, he never had a contested
lawsuit, either as plaintiff or defendant. Being one of the most highly respected citizens of ontario County,
he has been many times urged to allow his name to be used in reference to places of public trust; but he studiously declined such proffered honors, and hence never was a candidate for any official position, and
never held any office above school trustee. Always leading an exemplary, moral life, he for many years
was a regular atten4ant and supporter of the Presbyterian church in to which his wife was joined. In
September, 1869, after forty years of contented mariage, his companion in life was separated from him
by death. His five children are all living to respect and honor him in his advanced years.

SMITH. From Conover “History of Ont. Co."
Enos & Phoebe Smith, Orange Co., N.Y.
Nathaniel Smith. " " came to Ont. Co. in 1820.
His wife was Mary T. Yeckley B -1796-D-l868.

Their son was Virgil Smith, who M - Fanny Mitchell, B- in N.J. 1844.
Their children were Mary and Dales Frankish.

YECKLEY : Mary T. Yeckley, 1st wife of Nathaniel Smith, and dau. of Deacon John Yeckley and his wife Esther. See Gem. Lot 65.

MITCHELL : John Mitchell, home in N.J.
Henry C. Mitchei1 came to Ont. Co. in 1864.
His daughter was Fanny Mitchell who M-Virgil Smith.
Another dau. I believe was Josephine Mitchell, who M- Winfield Cone.
See Cone Gem. Lot 6A.

Mead : Thaddeus Mead. B-l770.
William Mead. B-Oct.15, 1795. Came to Ont. Co.1821. D-1858.
James Mead. B-Apr. 30, 1836. His Children were :
(1)William M. Mead.
(2)Lucy I. Mead.
(3)Jenriie L. Mead.
(4)Mabel S. Mead. See See John Mead of Gem. Lot 75.

WITTER : From Conover "Hist. of Ont. Co."
Isaac Witter B- 1757 in Conn. His son was Lewis P. Witter. His son was A.S.Witter.

Isaac Witter came to Ont. Co., and bought a farm in Gorharn, just back
of the Joseph Birdseye farm, close to the Hopewell line. His son,
Lewis B. B-1803 for his 2nd wife M- Hannah Birdseye, dau, of Ezekiel
Birdseye and half sistsr to Joseph Birdseye. Lewis's father A.S.
Witter was a physician. See Cem. Lot 12 & Cem. Lot 15.

THATCHER : Israel Thatcher of Mass. came to Hopewell in 1808. 5 sons & 5 dau.
Alonzo, a son was B- Hopewell 1840. He M- Hannah E. Purdy,B-1822
Children : Lester and Annie J. who M- Asa F. Miles. the son of Amasa, who was the son of Thomas Miles of Mass. arid came to Hopwell 1802.

Joseph Thatcher, B-Conway, Mass. in 1793. came to Ont. Co. at the age
of 16. He M-Anna LeFevre. He was in the War of 1812.
See Cern. Lot 16.

Ketcham. (I do not find the connection with the Ketcham family on Cem. Lot 68, but believe there must have been relationship. The following James Ketchams lived on the Gould Birdseye Rd. not far from the Hopwell line.)

James Ketcham. B-Schuyler Co. in 1837. He was the son of Benjamin Ketcham who was the son of Joseph Ketcham of Orange Co. Joseph Ketcham was in the War of 1812. His son Benjamin bought their farm in Gorham township. He died in 1862 and his son James continued to live on this farm. James married Marie Smith and had 12 children. Qne son Jarnes contirnued a1so on this farm. He had two children, Irwin S. Ketcham, born 1867 and Elnora Ketcham, born 1871. Irwin had a son C1aude Ketcham.

PARKER. E.W. Parker (Doc) B-1838 ~n Stueben Co. He was a son of Samuel who was a1so a son of Samue1 Parker of Luzerne, Pa. Samuel Parker, Jr. was born 1797 in Luzerne, and became a Methodist minister. In 1840 he bought a farm in Hopewell, where Bert Moore now lives, and where he died in 1878. His son. E.W. or Doc Parker married in 1865 Kate E. Lewis, dau. of Nathaniel Lewis. See Cem. Lot 40. They continued to live on this turnpike farm where their two children were born, Annie born 1873 and Charles in 1883. One of the Cem. maps was drawn by Charles Parker and a very good one. Family all gone now, Doc Parker loved to sing and with Anna Couch as soprano and Carrie Couch Smith alto, with Carrie Smith at the organ, they made a team singing in the Methodist church at Aloquin. Then the church was always called Emory Chapel. When Doc Parker was too old to farm any longer he sold his farm to Bert Moore and build for himself and wife the new house on the east corner of the Cem. Rd.and the turnpike.

LEWIS. Nathaniel Lewis, born Conn. Died 1857.
Nathaniel B. Lewis Died 1867.
Kate E. Lewis. M- Doc Parker.
See Cem. Lot 40.

McCLURE: Darwin McClure, born Nov. 9,1842, in Onondaga Co. His father was Hiram, son of James, James was a native of Vermont and of Scotch-Irish descent. Darwin married in 1864 Georgetta Miles. See Miles Records. They had one dau. Georgetta or Etta, As children we used to play together. Darwin McClure came to Hopewell in 1864. His farm of 110 acres was on the Smith Rd. on the site of the old Indian village of Onnaghee.

Groat A. DeGraff, farmer in Gorham. He came to Ontario Co. about 1870. Of Dutch descent. Son was Frank A. DeGraff, born in Gorham township Aug. 4, 1864. On Oct. 14, 1891 he married Minerva H. Parsons of Canandaigua. They had one child Harriet A. born Oct, l5,1896.She married and now lives in California. Frank DeGraff had a bookstore for yrs. in Canandaigua.

Johnson Cammett, a native of Vermont and an early settler in Ont. Co. about 1800. In 1820 he bought a farm of 156 acres on the turnpike, just east of Aloquin. There he died at the age of 70. His son Samuel born about 1826 and died Sept. 6,1906 age 77. He married July 2, 1867 Frances Barhite sister of Judge John A. Barhite of Rochester. Their children were (l)Watson. (2)Edward. (3) Frank (4) Nellie. Edward born Oct.25,1872 continued to carry on the farm.

The family are of F'rench Huguenot stock. Three brothers, on account of persecutions, left France and sought refuge in England. Later these three came to America. Two Settled in Sussex Co., N.J. and the one ir N.Y. State along the Hudson, Benjamine Depew, b. 1756 in NewJersey, married Ocee Depue, a descendant of Peter Stuyvesant. Their son Moses Depue, 1795-1831, marr!ed Polly Crawford, 1786-1879 Moses and Polly had 15 children. Hiram Depue was their seventh child. See the Depue Cem. Records. These three brothers who came to America from France fought in the French and Indian War. One was also in the Revolution.

The 1st School House(of logs) for this section of Hopewell, was on the corner of the Ennerdale road and the Turhpike. Also at this point there was a tavern and a blacksmith shop.

The Indian name for the Fall Brook was "Otochtschiaco". From the Journal of Bishop Cannaehoff, 1750.

From Turner's History of Ontario County: 1790, Daniel Warren mentioned as a resident.(Uncle or possibly grand-father of Warren Cone.)

l796/7, the name Ingles mentioned.(George Brundage, Sr. 1st wife was Ruth Ingles.'His 2nd wife was Mercy Warren,' the widow of Ozias Cone.)

1808, First Presbyterian Church of Hopewell (Easton) organized. The 1st services, however, had been held in l803. John Russell and William Bodman presided; Trustees were John Hart, Samuel Reed, Mason Hatfield, William Wyckoff, Elijah Murray, John McPherson.

In July 1790 Daniel Warren mentioned as a settler. In 1810 he moved to Sheldon, Wyoming Co. Pomeroy Warren moved to Attica, N.Y.

Daniel Gate, Sr. and Daniel Gates, Jr. Purchased land in Easton(Hopewell) paying ls-6d per acre.

Daniel Gates,Sr. daughters became the wives of Asahel Buchard of Lima, Asa Benton, Shubel Clark, and James Wyckoff. The wife of Daniel Gates,Jr. and the wife of Major Miller, and the wife of Capt. Follett were sisters. Daniel Gates of Palmyra was a son of Daniel Gates,Jr.

Mrs. Miller, Mrs. Follett, and Mrs. Daniel Gates,Jr. were daughters of George Babcock.

Rhuben Hart, Esq. was Surrogate of Ont. Co. at Canandaigua in 1809. David C. Hart was in Civil War but does not give Regiment.

Joel S. Hart , Erastus Larnard, William Canfield were elected Commissioners of Highways in Hopewell.

William E. Hart, Oct. 1861 in all engagements with his Regiment. Was wounded and discharged in 1865.

The pioneer Joseph Birdseye and his brother James were sons of Capt. Joseph Birdseye, of Stratford, Conn, born 1740, and died 1814. He, with four brothers, were all soldiers in the Revolution.

I don't any of know these stoics
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Both historians of Ontario County set the early settlers arid their descendants apart from all others in the state, claiming them to be unusually well educated and progressive. As we well know those who came to Canandaigua were many lawyersbankers, and business-men of the professional type. Both Conover and Milliken makes this distinction over and over in tneir histories of the people of Ontario co. And we also know that in the following years Ontario Co., produced many state representatives. Arch Merrill writes, "The men and women of Central Western New York State played no small part in the national drama. Most of them were daring individuals unafraid of innovation.By 1830 the time of the pioneer who cleared the forests and lived in the log cabin was over, but the men and women of this upstate land never ceased to pioneer."

William H. Shelton, in the April 1920 Century Magazine, writes, "When Ontario County was in the zenith of its power and importance, there was no Chicago, no San Francisco, and New York City was but a tiny settlement. The production of lawyers, as a commodity, never founded a city. Our town produced its Judges, its Cabinet officers, its Congressmen when other towns were producing factories.

In fullness of time our great men died and the trim. little law offices were used to house the garden tools and the lawn mower, or were torn down altogether. Our town, of which we had been so proud, never went backward, but today rather it rests on its laurels and is distinguished by its descendants of its old families, till now like an old man in silk stockings, and ruffled shirt, leaning on his gold headed cane, sits thinking of the past. He is entirely respectable, an aristocrat to his finger tips, but has failed to make a growing city."

Milliken claims, that the original Canandaigua of the Senecas was the then large village of Onnaghee, located on what I knew to be the Darwin McClure farm (I believe a Gates was an earlier owner) on the Smith Road. As early as 1726 a missionary reported the Seneca Indian on this spot.

The first town meeting in "Canandarquaw" was held the first Tuesday in April, 1791. Daniel Gates was appointed one of the Overseers of Highway.

The turnpike across Hopewell was the favorite route over which droves of cattle, sheep hogs were driven enroute to markets in New York and Boston. The many inns, which had sprung up since 1800, made welcome resting places for the drover, and there was rich forage all along the way for his stock. Albany was the nearest market for the settlers wheat.

While Hopewell has been the the theater of no spectacular progress, or remarkable advance in any one direction, it has held its own, paid its honest debts, contributed its full share toward the public burdens imposed by town, county and state. Its citizens have been ready in peace and in war to upho1d the honor of their country and its flag.

Its early people now sleep beneath the sod of its rural cemetery and the story of their day exists only in the meagre sketch of some local writer. But they once lived in our midst and strove to improve and benefit this community. They laid the foundation upon which now we may build.

The Six-Nations of the Iroquois, that is the Mohawks, the Oneidas, the 0nondagas, Cayugas, the Senecas and the Tuscaroias, were so powerful that their influence was known and feared among all the Indian tribes of the eastern half of America. Not even the valor the French or of the Dutch, and in the south, the Spaniards could make any progress against them. Of these six nstions the Senecas were the largest in number and the most powerful, and it was the Senecas that occupied what later became Ontario County.

It was only when the pioneer soldiers from New England and from Pennsylvania marched against them-- into the very heart of' the Senecas, did this powerful Savage Nation give way. At the same time, these soldier-settlers opened the way for New England thrift and New England culture, for the courage and resourcefulness or the sturdy men and women from Pennsylvania and Maryland. And where ever these qualities from the vantage ground of Ontario County, the mother of counties, diffused the tongue of itspolitical principles, and its religious faith, this comprised what came to be called "The Canandaigua Rule." (Expressed thus by Mr. Milliken.)

So, from these few paragraphs gleaned from the books of our historians we may know something of the strength and valor of these fathers and mothers who braved the hardships incident to opening up a new country; who dreamed and builded and worked and planned for their children and for us their children's children. Their toil reduced the forests and swamps to fruitful fields; their entries of land are the heritage of those who receive them in trust, and pledge themselves to their proper development.

The foundation has been ably laid by these pioneers, and to those who come after them falls the building of a fit superstructure. And may we, their descendants, image forth in our-lives, the integrity, the courage., the industry which we find in them.

I find but very little mention, or none at all, made by the historians of Hopewell of the old Presbyterian church, the first to serve all the lower part of the township together with the northern part of Gorham township. Services were held close to the year 1800 and their church building erected soon after, on the present site of "The P1oneer Burying Ground of Hopewell." For 30 years there was a large membership and its activities made up an important part of their lives.The church building itself was large and imposing for that day.

Hopewell Pioneer Cemetery Cont...

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