[Source: Gazetteer and Business Directory of Allegany County, N. Y. for 1875. compiled and published by Hamilton Child; Syracuse: 1875, pp 56-60.]
[p. 56] Angelica was formed from Leicester, Livingston Co., Feb. 25, 1805, and was named by Philip Church in honor of his mother, the eldest daughter of Gen. Philip Schuyler. Alfred and Caneadea were taken off March 11, 1808; Allen and Scio, Jan. 31, 1823; a part of Amity, Feb. 22, 1830; and a part to Alfred in 1816. The first town meeting was held at the house of Joseph Taylor the first Tuesday in April, 1805, and the following were named officers and elected:--
The town lies a little north of the center of the county, and contains 22,740 acres. The surface is a hilly upland, broken by the deep ravines of the streams. Genesee River flows across the south-west corner, and its tributary, Angelica Creek, through the center. The soil is a clayey loam upon the uplands, and a gravelly loam in the valleys.
The line of the proposed Rochester, Nunda & Pennsylvania R. R. passes through the central part of town.
The population in 1870 was 1643; of whom 1431 was native, 212, foreign, 1612, white and 31, colored.
Angelica, (p. v.) the county seat, is situated near the center of the town, on Angelica Creek. It was incorporated as a village May 2, 1835. It contains the court house, jail, five churches, the Angelica Academy, one bank (First National Bank of Angelica, organized in November, 1864, with a capital of $100,000,) a newspaper office, (the Angelica Republican established in 1825, and published weekly by P. S. Norris,) three hotels, several stores of various kinds, and various mechanic shops and manufacturing establishments. The population in 1870 was 991.
Blair & Franklin's flouring mill, situated one mile west of Angelica, is four stories high and contains four runs of stones which annually grind 15,000 to 20,000 bushels of wheat, 30,000 to 40,000 bushels of corn, and 20,000 to 25,000 bushels of oats. The machinery is propelled by a water-wheel twenty-four feet in diameter.
The Joncy Paper Mill, situated on Angelica Creek, one mile west of the village, was erected and used a number of years as a paper mill. In 1853 it was converted into a paper mill by Albert Brown, who made the first paper manufactured in Allegany county, and who continued the manufacture till his death in 1873, when he was succeeded by his son Charles Brown. The building is five stories high. Both steam and water are used as motors. Straw and rags are used in the manufacture. Twenty-seven persons are employed, and 300 tons of paper annually made. In connection with the paper mill is a steam saw-mill, where lumber, shingles and lath are made.
The county poor house is located about two miles east of Angelica.
Settlement was commenced in 1801 under the auspices of Judge Philip Church, a grand-son of Gen. Philip Schuyler, who in that year headed an exploring party to the Church Tract, owned jointly by himself and father, John B. Church of New York. Judge Church spent much of his time during the early years of settlement at Angelica in supervising improvements he projected, but he fixed his residence at Belvidere, in the town of Amity, in connection with the early settlements of which town a more extended notice of him is given. Settlements were made in this year (1801) by John Gibson, Abram Post, and possibly by Arad Rice. Gibson moved in from Geneva, having emigrated from Scotland about 1796. He accompanied Mr. Church in his explorations of 1801, and kept the store opened by the latter in 1802. He was the first sheriff in the county. He continued his residence in the vicinity of Angelica to a ripe old age. Abram Post came from New Jersey and settled west of Angelica, where he remained about thirty [p. 58] years. He was at one time overseer of Philip Church's farm. His son Peter was born in 1807, and is still living at Belvidere. Arad Rice was from Vermont. He located on George Simons' farm and remained there till his death in 1848. Evert Van Wickle and John Lewis, both of whom accompanied Mr. Church on his tour of exploration, came to Angelica in 1802. Mr. Van Wickle was surveyor and local agent for Mr. Church, and under his immediate supervision the first substantial improvements were made. The site of Angelica had previously been designated by Mr. Church for the building of a village, and there Van Wickle's operations were directed. the erection of a saw and grist mill, the latter designed for one run of stones, was commenced. The saw mill was completed and got in operation in 1802 and the grist mill in 1803. A road was cut the same year (1802) from the west line of Steuben to Angelica, by Silas Ferry and John Ayers, the latter of whom continued his residence to a late day near the transit bridge. A frame dwelling for Mr. Van Wickle, a small log land office and a few shanties for dwellings were also erected that year. Joseph Taylor opened a tavern in 1802; and Judge Church, a small store, which, as previously stated, was managed by the late John Gibson. These were the first improvements of their kind in the town. Mr. Hedding and a Mr. Chamberlain settled at Angelica in 1803; and in that year a road was opened from Angelica to Belvidere. In 1805 Major Moses Van Campen, who first settled at Almond, removed to Angelica. Henry Mapes and his son Abraham Mapes, (the latter of whom is now living in the town of Belfast,) from Penn Yan, Yates Co., and Alex. Dautremont, from Chenango Co., settled in the town in 1806. At an early day the nearest post office to Angelica was Bath, and about this time, or a little earlier, the citizens clubbed together and contracted with Wm. Barney to make the trip, carrying letters and papers, once a month. A son of Mr. Barney's, who was blind, made the trips till he was killed by a fall from his horse. Hyde de Neuville--an exile during the government of the Empire, and minister to the U.S. upon the restoration of the french monarchy, from 1816 to 1822-- resided at Angelica in 1807-8; and Victor Dupont, also a distinguished French exile, was an early settler at Angelica. John Hooker, from Athens, Vt., and Vial Thomas, from the town of Scituate, R. I., settled in the town in 1809. At this time there were only a few shanties where the village now is. John Common, from Northumberlandshire, England, came in 1818. Edmund Coats, a native of Connecticut, moved in from Brookfield, Madison Co., in 1819. In 1822 he was united in marriage to Miss Catharine Burns, (who removed to this town [p. 59] with her father Christian Burns, from Montgomery Co., in May, 1817, at the age of thirteen years,) and in 1823 he removed to the town of Independence, where his wife has since resided, settling on lot 48. About 1850 he went west, where he now lives. Russell Burlingame settled in the town in 1820. The first birth in town, says French, was that of Catherine S. Mullender. Mrs. Moses V. Chamberlain of Belfast says that her husband, who was born in Angelica March 31, 1804, was the first white male child born in town. French also says that the first marriage was that of Sylvanus Russell and Esther Van Wickle, in 1805; while we are otherwise advised that the marriage of Catharine Mullinder was the first. The first death was that of Ira Stephens, Sep. 20, 1803. The first school was taught in 1804--05 by Widow S. Smith.
The first religious services were conducted by Rev. Robert Hubbard, a Presbyterian, in 1811; and the first Church, now denominated the First Presbyterian Church, of which, as well as the Church at Almond, he was installed pastor Aug. 20, 1812, was organized by Rev. John Niles, then pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Bath, May 6, 1812, with six members, viz. Moses Van Campen and his wife and Mrs. Prudence Johnson, his daughter. Moses Van Campen was chosen ruling elder in the Church the same day. The installation services were held on the veranda of Evert Van Wickle's house, the female part of the congregation being accommodated with seats in the house, and most of the males in the open air in front of it. In 1830 their first house of worship was erected; and in 1856 the present one, which will seat 400 persons, was erected, at a cost of $7,000. The Society, which is without a pastor, numbers 130, and its property is valued at $10,000. Mr. Hubbard's connection with the Church was dissolved Oct. 4, 1826, when he removed to Dansville, where he was instrumental in gathering a Church, though he was never again regularly installed as pastor.
“Mr. Hubbard,” says Hotchkin in his History of Western New York, to which, and to Mr. Smith Davis of Angelica, we are indebted for the foregoing facts relative to this Society, “was a native of Shelburne, [Mass.] He was a graduate of Williams' College of the class of 1803. He was probably about twenty years old when he left the study of the law, and pursued it, as the author believes, about two years. During this period his attention was called to a consideration of the things which concerned the salvation of his soul; his views were radically changed, and he was led to entertain a hope in Christ. The change in Mr. Hubbard was very visible, and through the remainder of his life was very distinctly marked. When he was brought by the teachings of the spirit and personal experience to know the value of an interest in Christ, he ardently desired that his fellow-men might be partakers of the same benefit. The ministry of reconciliation appeared to him a most desirable employment. He relinquished the study of the law, and commenced the study of Theology under the tuition of Dr. Packard, the pastor of the Church of Shelburn. * * * His licensure took place, probably, in 1809-'10. He is known to have been recently licensed, when he came into Western New York in 1810. During the period in which he resided in the county of Allegany, his labors were by no means confined to the congregations from which he received his support, but was extended through all parts of that county, and the western part of the county of Steuben. He was the only minister of the Presbyterian denomination in the region. He was unwearied in his labors, and in attending to his ministerial appointments was utterly regardless of the vicissitudes of the weather. But it was impossible for him to cultivate so extensive a field in any thorough manner; hence he was not distinguished for great success and remarkable results. He formed a number of churches and kept them alive; but it was impossible for him to bestow upon them the amount of labor needed to cause them to flourish. He undertook to cultivate too large a field, and would probably have been [p. 60] more useful, had his field of labor been more circumscribed. Mr. Hubbard was through life distinguished for a devotional spirit. He evidently lived near to God. He was remarkable for his indifference to the things of the world, and for his extensive charity. At any time he was ready to divide the last loaf with any destitute person. He was not, however, always judicious in his charities, but suffered himself to be imposed upon by the worthless and designing. During the last years of his life his health was feeble; consumptive symptoms manifested themselves; but to the extent of this power he continued in the work of the ministry, although he had no particular charge of any congregation.v Death overtook him at Canisteo, where he had gone to perform the work of the ministry, on the 24th day of May, 1840, and in the fifty-seventh year of his age.”
St. Paul's Church, (Protestant Episcopal,) at Angelica, was organized by Rev. Wm. Bostwick, the first pastor, in 1828. the first house of worship was erected in 1834; and in 1848 the present one, which will seat 300 persons, was erected at a cost of $3,500. The present pastor is Rev. John Leech, our informant, and the number of members, sixty-two. The Church property is valued at $5,500.
Created on ... August 18, 2003