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| Notes for Aretus (Spouse 1) | ||||||||||||
| Aretus moved to the Holley area in 1815. 1825 Captian in an Artillery Company of the 215th Regt 1850 Census - Orleans County, NY Town of Murray PIERCE, ARETUS 51 M VT FARMER 41 MATILDA (STEDMAN) 49 F MASS MARIA 18 F NY JOSEPH A. 14 M NY CORDELIA 6 F NY ----------------------------------------------------------------- 1865 Census - Orleans County, NY Town of Murray PIERCE Aretus 66 M VT Farmer 191-D2 Matilda (Steadman) 64 Wife MA Cordelia 21 Daughter Orleans CHAPMAN Jerusha Pierce 59 Sister VT Widow DALLEW Charles 20 M Germany Laborer --------------------------------------------------------------- from http://www.rootsweb.com/~usnebook/nyorl/ch21/bios.html The Pioneer History of Orleans County, NY, By Arad Thomas Aretas Pierce was born in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, March 27th, 1799. He came with his father's family to settle in Clarendon, where he arrived April 7th, 1815. The family moved into a house built for a school house, until they could build a house for themselves. They built a house and moved into it April 24th, 1815. The first year they lived on provisions they brought in with them. The next year being the cold season, they bought rye at one dollars and twenty-five cents a bushel, and pork at twenty-five dollars a barrel, in Palmyra. The next year they were out of bread stuff before harvest, and ate green what boiled in milk as a substitute, and what is strange none of the family had dyspepsia. He married Matilda Stedman, May 8th, 1823, and has always resided on the lot originally taken by his father. When his father came in it was an unbroken wilderness on the west, from his place to the Oak Orchard Road, eight miles; north to Sandy Creek, four miles; east two miles; south to Farwell's Mills, Eldridge Farwell, a. Dudley, John Cone, Wm. Austin and Mr. West, had settled in Clarendon, and other settlers towards Sandy Creek came in the same year as Mr. Pierce. A few came before them. In the years 1817-18, the inhabitants in this settlement suffered for want of food. Samuel Miller worked for Artemas Daggett, chopping wood for one dollar a day and board himself. All he had to eat, most of the time, was corn meal and water; but he did not complain or tell of it then. Ebenezer Fox settled a mile and a half east of Murray depot, and all they had to eat for a number of weeks was what they could pickup in the woods. The best they could find was the inner bark of the beech tree. Mrs. Fox had a young babe, and her next oldest child was in feeble health, and she had to nurse them both to keep them from starving. Almost all the money the settlers had was obtained by leaching ashes and boiling the lye to black salts, and taking these to Gaines or Clarkson and selling them for about three dollars a hundred pounds. After 1818 the country filled up rapidly with settlers and more produce began to be raised than was wanted for home consumption. The price of what fell to twenty-five cents a bushel, and only thirty-one cents after hauling to Rochester, and so remained until the Erie Canal was opened. Mr. Pierce settled on lands owned by the Pultney Estate, and these did not come into market for sale until 1821, though settlers were allowed to locate themselves with the expectation of buying their land when it came into market. The price of his lot was fixed at eight dollars per acre, but having expended so much in building and clearing, he was compelled to pay the price or suffer loss by abandoning all he had done. The reason given by the company for not bringing their lands into market was, they had "so much business on hand, they could not attend to it," but the settlers thought they were waiting to have the canal located before establishing their price. | ||||||||||||
| Last Modified 15 Jul 2001 | Created 26 Nov 2004 by Michael Rupert |