OAKFIELD - The primitive history of Oakfield, its town officials, its early improvements and societies, must necessarily be incorporated with Elba, because it was a portion of that town during its settlement, and until the growth of the original Elba had called for a division of its territory, and Apr. 11, 1842, this town was set off from the western part.  The name "Oakfield" was given it from the large surface of oak timber and oak openings covering the territory.

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town is in range 2 of towns, which ranges are numbered from the east Transit line, and in township No. 13, numbering from the Pennsylvania line.  It is one of the northern tier and lies west of the center of county.  Its surface is quite level, gently undulating, and sloping to the north and west.  The soil is a deep sandy loam, with a clay subsoil, and very fertile.
     The town is well watered by the Oak Orchard Creek, which flows westerly through the northern part, and by one of its tributaries that flows northerly into it, affording ample power for mills and manufacturing; and pure water is easily obtainable from its many springs and living wells.  The Tonawanda Swamp extends across the northern portion, along Oak Orchard Creek, and this is heavily timbered.  It is said that the best and richest land of the town will be found here when it is brought into cultivation.
     The western part of the town contains one of the finest plaster beds in the State, extending from the west border of the town east two miles and is half a mile in width.  Salt springs, from which much salt was manufactured at an early day, are found near the center of the town.  Oakfield is bounded on the north by Barre, Orleans County, west by Alabama, south by Batavia, and east by Elba.  A great portion of its area was embraced in the Tonawanda Reservation, as described in the history of the Holland Purchase title, in preceding pages, the title of which was not obtained from the Indians till 1829.  It contains 15,379 acres, being six miles north and south, and four east and west.
     In this town are Indian mounds and earthworks that have gone into history as the most remarkable and best preserved of any in the State.  The best preserved, according to Harper's Magazine, is about half a mile west of Caryville, and is known as the "Old Fort," consisting of a ditch and breastworks, including about 10 acres of land.  The ditch is now about six feet in depth, calculating from the top of the embankments, and contains every evidence of artificial grading and engineering skill.  In a part of the works, under cultivation, are traced ancient lodges and a supply of broken pottery.  The west side of the fort is formed by a ravine, through which flows "Dry Creek."  Trees, apparently 300 years old, have grown upon the works, and on the west side are passages with sides built up of stone.  A mile to the northeast is "bone fort," which, when the first settlers came, was yet perfect in detail, but scattered fragments of bones only mark the spot now.  Rev. Samuel Kirkland in 1788 visited the spot, and says the Senecas called these forts Te-gat-ai-ncaaghgue, or "double-fortified town " - a town with a fort at each end.  The several gateway openings, the way dug to the water near the center, the great age of the works as shown by the forest, and other marked evidences lead to the conclusion that this was the citadel of the ancient Senecas, and was proof against invading tribes.  These works are upon what is known as the Armstrong farm, and after a few generations will be preserved only in the written history of the white man.  An examina-

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tion of the fort in 1846 verified Rev. Mr. Kirkland's report of 1788, of a "double-fortified town," or a town with a fort at each end.  This was at that time on the farm owned by John Smith.  There was also one on the farm of Moses True, about one mile northeast from the above fort.

     Early Settlers.  The settlement of the town was begun in 1801, when Aaron White and Erastus Wolcott came in.  Mr. White, while serving as a captain in the War of 1812, was killed at the battle of Black Rock.  Gideon Dunham also came in 1801, settled in the oak openings, and gave the name of Dunham's Grove.  His son, Col. Shubael Dunham, deceased, has left for record the fact that the road along the Tonawanda Creek, from Batavia to Bush's, thence north to the openings, was cut through in 1801-02.  Erastus Wolcott, Peter Rice, and Christopher Kenyon also came that year, and Peter Lewis, from Vermont, came the next year and settled near Mr. Dunham.  Daniel Ayer and Job Babcock settled in 1802, and in 1803 we find the following persons in the town:  Rufus Hastings, Roraback Robinson, Benjamin Chase, Solomon Baker, Samuel Jerome, Sr., and Samuel Jerome, Jr.
The following are reported as having settled in 1806: Micajah Green, Caleb Blodgett, Jr., George Hoge, Eldridge Buntley, George and John Harper, Nicholas Bently, James Crossett, David Woodworth, David Clark, William Parrish, Ezra Thomas, and Caleb Blodgett, Sr.

     ELIJAH BLODGETT, originally from Veront, came in 1807 from Ontario County, and settled at what is now Mechanicsville.  He died in 1839, aged 89 years.  William McCrillus came to 1810, and George W., John and Jeremiah H. Gardner in 1811.  George Driggs was one of the first who settled on the north line of the Reservation, in 1811, and he cut the Lewiston road from Alabama to Walsworth's tavern.  Russell Nobles, John Orr, Mr. Terrill, Othniel Brown, Laurens, Armstrong, Harvey Hubbell, and others, of New England, were early settlers.  Aaron Brown also an early settler who served in the War of 1812, came to Oakfield in 1815, from Chili, and was the first to locate in the north part of the town, on road 4, where his son George now lives.  Another settler of that year, and one who was also in the War of 1812, was John Underhill.  His son Alfred came with him, and is now living on the old place.  Isaac Stringham settled at an early day on the Shultz farm, on road 6.  Reuben Norton came from Pennsylvania to Elba, thence to Oakfield, and settled on a farm where Arthur J., a grandson, now lives.  David C. Reed came in 1825 and located lots 52 and 53, on road 10, called Temple Hill road, which is owned by Seymour Reed.
     The first birth in the town was Calvin Nobles, in 1806, a son of Russell Nobles, who will be remembered by the older residents as the early "fiddler" of the Purchase, and to whose left-handed bowing and scraping many of the pioneers bowed and scraped in the mazes of the dance as he visited from cabin to cabin.  He had no competitor.  He and his

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old violin mark the advent of music upon the Holland Purchase.  In those times, in sleigh or ox-sled rides, at recreations that followed log-house raising, logging bees, road cuttings, at Christmas and New Year's frolics, Noble and his fiddle formed an accustomed and necessary part.  Gideon Dunhap opened the first tavern, and Mr. Davis soon followed in the same business.  Oliver Wolcott was also an early tavern-keeper.  Christopher Kenyon erected the first mills, in 1811, and Othniel Brown commenced wool-carding and cloth dressing in 1829.  The latter erected a good woolen factory in 1835, which was an important factor of the town for many years.  A great portion of the town being included in the Reservation, and the thriving village of Batavia being only a few miles distant, with Elba as the center of the town proper, the opening of a store in this part of the town was not considered practicable; but in 1829, after the sale of the Reservation lands, its settlement followed so rapidly that within a few years this part of the town was fully developed.  In 1833 Col. Alfred Cary started the first store at Caryville, now Oakfield postoffice, and for years was successful in business, giving the name to the village, and occupying a prominent position in the county.
     The town clerk's office was destroyed by fire June 15, 1866, which swept away the books, records, and papers belonging to the town from its organization to that time; but we here give the first officers was elected:  Moses True, supervisor; George Burden, town clerk; William Wolcott, John C. Gardner, John G. Satterlee, assessors; John G. Satterlee, justice; John G. Gardner, Perez Howland, and George E. Martin, commissioners of highways.
     The justices for the town from 1842 to the present time have been as follows:

     John G. Satterlee, Otis L. Freeman, Henry Howard, Benjamin F. Hawes, John C. Gardner, George E. Martin, Henry Field, Samuel Haxton, John Willard, Perez Howland, Eden McIntyre, Parley V. Ingalsbe, Norman Drake, B. F. Hawes, B. J. Chapman, Charles H. Chamberlain, Philip Capel, Benjamin Carr, Seward A. Ingalsbe, Richard Stevens, William H. Griffin, Everett A. Nash, Richard Stevens, J. J. Stedman, William H. Griffin (1886), Darius Manchester (1887), B. F. Hawes (1888), Irving J. Stedman (1889).

     The supervisors have served as follows:
     Moses True, four years; William Wolcott, seven years; John G. Gardner, two years; Clitus Wolcott, three years; William C. McCrillus, two years; Addison Armstrong, two years; William Wolcott, one year; Parley V. Ingalsbe, three years; Homer D. Waldo, two years; Charles H. Chamberlain, two years; Asa A. Woodruff, three years; William Wolcott, two years; Darius King, two years; Norman Drake, two years; Julius Reed, one year; J. J. Stedman, one year; A. B. Rathbone, two years; C. H. Chamberlain, since 1866.

     The following have served as town clerks:
     George Burden, James Gibson, George March, Elbridge A. Jaquith, Lorenzo H. Olcott, Solomon H. Parmalee, Samuel March, Charles H. Chamberlain, Asa a. Woodruff, Richard Stevens, John D. Stedman, Engene I. Chamberlain, Francis A. Griffin, Wilber H. Martin, E. T. Chamberlain, Charles H. Griffin, Fred W. Isaac.

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     The following statistics were used, as correct, in establishing a new town clerk's office after the fire in 1866:

     The town officers for 1889 were Charles Chamberlain, supervisor; Charles H. Griffin, town clerk; B. F. Hawes, D. Manchester and B. Sparr, justices.

     CARY (Oakfield p. o.) was settled as soon as the territory could be served from the Reservation, and at once became the center of the town.  It was named in honor of Col. Alfred Cary, who was an early and enterprising business man.  It lies south of the center of the town, six miles northwest of Batavia village, on the Lewiston road, and is a thriving place.  The West Shore Railroad has a station here, and as a market for grain and produce Oakfield is noted as one of the best on the line of the road.  The village contains 700 inhabitants, who have the best of religious and educational advantages, and the places of business keep pace with the rapid development of the rich territory around.  There are four churches (Methodist Episcopal, Presbyterian, German, and Episcopal), the Oakfield Seminary, a postoffice, a bank, three dry goods stores, two hardware stores, one foundry, one evaporator and cider-mill, three hotels, one grist mill, two drug stores, two harness shops, a tailor shop, one furniture store, two barber shops, a grocery store, one jewelry store, a boot and shoe store, three meat markets, one wagon shop, one manufactory of plows and agricultural implements, one lumber yard, one stave and coopering factory, one bank, three firms buying grain, and about 200 dwellings.  The name Caryville was changed to Plain Brook in 1837, and soon after called by its present name.  The village was incorporated in 1858, under the laws of the State, and August 7th of that year the following were declared the officers of the village by an election at the Olcott House; Andrew Thompson, Virgil C. Calkins, Asa A. Woodruff, Abner C. Dodge, and Seres P. Champlin, trustees; Rice Baldwin, Samuel Fellows, and Horace R. Holt, assessors; Solomon H. Parmalee, clerk; Cyrus Pond, treasurer; Thomas Brown, collector; Dewitt C. Colony, poundmaster; Samuel March, A. A. Woodruff and S. P. Champlin, inspectors of election.  to Oakfield belongs the honor of electing the first Prohibition village president in Western New York, William W. Stevens being elected to that office in March, 1890.  The other officers for this year are H. C. Martin, treasurer; James L. Plate, collector; and A. T. Heckroth, A. A. Grinnell, and C. L. Calkins, trustees; A. E. Howland, chief engineer fire department.

     EAST OAKFIELD

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     St. Michael's Episcopal Church

      The Oakfield Presbyterian Church

     The Oakfield Methodist Episcopal Church

     The German Methodist Episcopal Church

     Cary Collegiate Seminary

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     Newspapers -

     The Oakfield cornet band was organized in 1888.  It is composed of 15 members, under the leadership of Frank Giese.

     Oakfield Lodge, No. 155, E. O. M. A.,

     Industries -

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     NATHAN AVERY,

     BELA ARMSTRONG -

     PAUL ANTHONY, of Pamelia, Jefferson County, died at the age of 80 years.  He had seven children, viz: Paul, Isaac, Darius, Matthew, Mark, Isaiah and Charles.  Darius born at Pamelia, first moved to the town of Shirley, Erie County, thence he removed to Darien, where he now resides, aged 98 years, and draws a pension because of the lost of a son killed in

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the late war.  Rachel, daughter of Joshua and Mary Winner, was his wife, and their children are Joshua, John, Paul, Julius, Collins, Edmond, Charles, Thomas, Margaret, Laura, Martha, Henry and Mary and Joseph (twins).  Henry Anthony, born in Jefferson County, married, in 1864, Eliza, daughter of Burton and Polly (Dodge) Bentley, of Grove, Allegany County.  He was a soldier in Co. H, 8th N. Y. H. A., participated in the battle of Cold Harbor, and was a prisoner at Andersonville, Florence, and Libby prisons.  He was honorably discharged from the service.  In 1878 he came with his family to Oakfield to reside.  He has four children, viz.: Charles, Burton D., Alice, and Arthur.  They reside on road 1.  Edward, who also served in Co. H, 8th N. Y. H. A., with his brothers Thomas and Henry, was killed during the war.  Paul Anthony married for his first wife Sophia Burdick, and had four children, Alice, Sophia, Albert (deceased), and Charles.  His second wife was Emily Child, of Pembroke.  They now reside in Oakfield.  His son Charles married Victoria, daughter of William and Elmira (Hotchkiss) Duers, of Alabama.  They have one son, Glen D.  He resides on road 14, and is a farmer and a school teacher.

     AARON ARNOLD

     JOHN ALLEN

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     CHAUNCEY BROOKS

     SAMUEL BLISS

     JOSEPH BROMSTED

     ANDREW BALFOUR

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     HENRY J. BARTEL'S father, John Bartels, was a farmer in the town of Metzendorf, Hanover, Germany, and married Dora M. Beherins, by whom he had nine children.  Henry, born Sept. 23, 1818, married Theresa, daughter of Clement and Margaretha (Venneberg) Ulthoff, of Retchwischdorf, Germany, and they came to Oakfield in 1853.  Their children were Alfred H., W. Theodore (deceased), Eliza M., Bertha C., July J., and Alvina.  Julia married Henry Dash, of Elba.  Henry Bartels served in the 4th Inf. Regt. of Hanover, at Luneburg, in 1843, and was discharged in 1846.  His home is now on the road 7, Oakfield, where he has lived 25 years.

     JAMES R. BICKLE

     ISAAC BRULETT

     EDWARD BRITTON

     CHRISTOPHER BABSEN

     The CHAMBERLIN FAMILY have occupied a conspicuous place in the early history of Western New York.  Amos Chamberlain, with a family of six sons and two daughters, came from Vermont to Byron in 1813, where

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he died about 1830.  His wife was Phebe Alger.  His son Amos came to Oakfield in 1836, where he died in 1865, at the age of 66.  His wife was Phebe Shedd, and their children were Charles D., Young, Helen, and Charles H.  Charles H. married, first, Mary A. Bates, and second Abbie Jane Shedd.  He was for many years engaged in the dry goods business in Oakfield village, and subsequently built a fine block of brick buildings.

     BENJAMIN DODGE

     HENRY DOERWIG,

     GIDEON DUNHAM,

     WILLIAM DRAKE,

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     HENRY FISHELL

     DANIEL HOSSELKUS

     NATHANIEL FULLER

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     CHRISTOPHER FISHER

     HERMAN, son of JOHN GURSSLIN, a denizen of Lockport, came to the United States from Germany in 1855.  His wife was Elizabeth Woulthman, of Germany, and their children were Henry, Rickey, Mary, Herman, Carrie, Rose, Matilda, Minnie, and Ella.  Henry was seven years old when he came with his father from Bremen to Lockport.  He came to Oakfield in 1882.  He married Mary, daughter of Seth and Adaline (Luther) Ransom, of Shelby, N. Y., and their children were Albert (deceased), Nettie E., and Reuben W.  Mr. Gursslin has recently removed to Alabama, in this county.

     HENRY GRIFFIN

     JOSIAH GRIFFIN

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     THOMAS GIBSON

     ALBERT A. GRINNELL, born in Shelby, N. Y., in June, 1865, came to Oakfield in September, 188, and became a dealer in produce.  In September, 1889, he began business for Ferrin Brothers.  He also deals in carriage, carts, etc.

     WATSON J. GARDNER

     DANIEL HAWES

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     SYLVENUS HALSEY,

     JAMES HALE, an Englishman by birth, came to the United States in 1851, and located in Oakfield, where he still resides.  He married Grace, daughter of Thomas Sanders, of Oakfield.  Their children were Susan, Thomas, William, Jay Hugh, and Mary.  he served in Co. H, N. Y. H. A. during the late war, and draws a pension on account of wounds received in the service.  He now lives on a farm on road 2.  His father, James Hale, Sr., was a native of Devonshire, Eng., and followed his son to Oakfield in 1872, where he died June 1, 1880, aged 67 yers.  His wife was Mary A. Ching, of Devonshire, Eng.  Their children were John, William, Robert, Thomas, Enoch, George, Susan, and James.

     HENRY HECKROTH

     GEORGE HILL

     WILLIAM HUTTON

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     WILLIAM ISAAC

     EBENEZER INGALSBE

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     STEPHEN MARTIN

     WILLIAM McCRILLUS

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     Among the patriotic soldiers who served under Gen. Washington during the Revolutionary war, and who was a participant in the battle of Ticonderoga, was BENJAMIN COWLES, of Sheffield, Mass.  In 1796 he came to Lima, N. Y., where he died in 1828, aged 84 years.  His wife was Hannah Bardman, of Massachusetts, and their children were James, Pliny, William, Sylvester, Annie, Cynthia, Pina, and Polly.  James, born in Sheffield, Mass., came with his father in 1796 to Lima, from whence, in 1830, he removed to Oakfield, where he died in 1859, aged 73 years.  He was colonel in the State militia, and participated in the War of 1812.  His first wife was Temperance Brockway, of Lima, by whom he had two children, Emily and Osmer K.  His second wife was Elsie, daughter of Ichabod and Mercy (Tripp) Dickinson, and his children by her were Norman B., Harriet L., James A., Temperance E., Mary A., and E. Payson.  Harriet L., born in Lima, and at present a resident of Rochester, married William C. Wilford, son of John C. and Eunice (McCrillus) Wilford, of Elba.  Their children are John C., A. Maud, M. Louise, Cola and Sarah E.

     ABRAM McINTYRE

     ELI MOORE

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children are Mabel J., Charles H., and Sarah H.  He is a resident of Oakfield, and a dealer in general produce.  His wife died in 1888.

     WILLIAM MALTBY, a citizen of Ontario County, moved to Elba in 1815,

     SIDNEY A. McCULLOCK

     RUSSEL NOBLES

     WHITMAN NASH

     SMITH PUGSLEY

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     THOMAS POWELL

     JONATHAN PHILIPS

     ARNOLD PLATE

     DANIEL RATHBONE

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     ARTHUR B. RATHBONE

     ANTON THIE

     JEREMIAH J. SMITH

     RICHARD STEVENS

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     RICHARD STEVENS

     MARTIN SPARLING

     MARTIN SMITH

     WILLIAM SMITH

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     BENJAMIN WILLIAMS

     F. E. WRIGHT

     JOHN WATTS

     SYLVESTER WILLIS

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