PART I

Genesee Country North

ROCHESTER

Much of western New York is considered Genesee country. For the scope of this book, I narrowed it down a bit to the areas closer to the Genesee River. Geologically, Genesee country was created by the last ice age. Like giant hands, the glacial sheets sculpted the land as they advanced and receded, creating the Genesee Valley. Through it runs the mighty Genesee River, flowing north from its headwaters in what is now Pennsylvania. It's one of the few rivers in the world that flow north; also on this shortlist is the Nile.

The story of Genesee country is steeped in a rich and somewhat bloody history. The Seneca Indians called it the "good" or "pleasant valley." The first white men came to the area back in the mid-1600s when the French first set foot ashore in what is now called Irondequoit, a Mohawk Indian term meaning "where land and waters meet." Because of its location and rich resources, this area was fought over by the Native Americans, French, English and Americans — wars for greed, conquest, territory and independence.

The really big settlement period began in the 1790s, when the westward expansion was initiated to inhabit the Genesee region of New York State. Called "Genesee Fever" (not to be confused with the "fevers" that many sickened and died from in the area because of mosquito-spread illness), this migration rush came from New England. They were pioneers hungry for virgin land. This was the frontier back then, waiting to be tamed, settled, the land cleared and crops planted, not to mention the vast resources of timber to be logged. These were hearty men and women who, despite hardships, weather, wild animals, disease and Native Americans who were not always happy to see them, managed to hew a place in this wilderness for themselves and their families.

The central area for this book is Rochester, New York. First called Rochesterville, it was formed in 1816 and grew to eventually swallow up a number of nearby settlements and several ports including Kings Landing, Carthage and Tryon City. As it grew, it dropped the "ville," and Rochester became a growing metropolitan area.

As with any book on ghosts, I would be remiss not to mention Rochester, New York, as the nexus of the spiritualist movement. The three Fox sisters who lived in Hydesville, a small town east of Rochester, claimed to have communicated with the ghost of a dead peddler through a code using knocks. They claimed he had been murdered and buried in the basement of their home years prior to their family buying the house. Their father dug up the portion of the basement where his daughters said the peddler had been buried. He did unearth an old peddler's case and some human bones. News of the sister's ability to communicate with the deceased spread quickly. In the early 1800s, the Fox sisters became celebrated mediums in Rochester and throughout both the United States and Europe. They would conduct public séances, at which they would contact the spirits. This was the beginning of the spiritualist movement. By 1885, there were many charlatans doing spirit medium scams with a corresponding increase in investigations of fraud. Even the Fox sisters were under suspicion of being fakes. This caused the public's interest in mediums to wane. There was a dedicated following, though, and that continues even today. As a religion, the spiritualist church is still active.

Some followers of the Fox sisters' spiritualist movement went on to settle in Lily Dale, New York, south of Buffalo. To this day Lily Dale is a community of spiritualists and holds many seminars and meetings dealing with spiritualism and related topics.

The Fox home is located in Hydesville, New York, and only the foundation is left, which is being preserved. You may visit the site and see the foundation. There is a glass-enclosed pavilion around it so visitors can look in. Their home in Rochester did not fare so well; it was torn down to make room for an expressway ramp. Let nothing stand in the way of progress.

Genesee country was once known as the "Burned-Over District." This meaning did not reflect fires that burned down buildings but rather the fires in people's souls. The religious fervor was extensive — some might even go so far as to call some of them cults. They began and swept through the region in the 1800s. This included the start of "religious" groups such as the Latter-Day Saints movement, Millerites, Oneida Society, spiritualists, Shakers, Mormons, Free Methodists and others.

Not only does Genesee country have an interesting history, it also has a large population of ghosts and, of course, ghost stories.

"Indian" Allan and the Flour City

When the first settlers came to the area, it was very swampy and a source of mosquitoes. The little winged bloodsuckers spread "swamp fevers" such as malaria. These fevers would sicken and kill many of the new settlers in the area. Kings Landing on the Genesee River was abandoned when most of the residents died of the "fever." Eventually, the swamps were drained or filled in, and the mosquitoes were brought under control, as well as the threat of the fever.

One of the early pioneers in the area when it was still wilderness was Ebenezer "Indian" Allan, a colorful rogue if ever there was. Tales of his wild behavior include adultery, polygamy, swindling and murder. He was a friend and blood brother of the Iroquois Indians, and having taken an Indian woman as his first companion/wife, Ebenezer became known as "Indian" Allan.

Originally a Tory (British) sympathizer in the Revolutionary War, he joined Butler's Rangers (also British), who raided white settlements from the Susquehanna to the Genesee Valley. Allan gained a reputation as a savage fighter, viciously killing men, women and children indiscriminately on the raids. Allan fought with the British until he realized that the British would not win.

A pragmatic man, he decided to switch sides. Allan stole a sacred wampum belt and gave it to the American Indian commissioner. The belt enabled the commissioner safe passage to forge a peace treaty with the Iroquois and the new American government. Allan's motive was to spare his Indian brothers more bloodshed.

The British sent a group of soldiers and Indians to hunt him down for the theft of the wampum. Allan was captured and brought to Fort Niagara, near Lewiston, New York. A fire mysteriously started in the stockade in which he was locked, and Ebenezer took the distraction to make his escape.

Allan made his way to the Philadelphia peace council that was being held to propose an armistice with the Indian nations. Allan knew that it would mean a bloody war if an agreement was not reached. While he was in Philadelphia, a mob of furious Fort Wilkes-Barre settlers remembered "Indian" Allan from the brutal raids on their homes by Butlers Rangers. Wasting no time, they grabbed some rope and chased him with the intent to stretch his neck. Ebenezer, being rather fond of the current length of his neck, made a narrow escape and returned to his home, Allan's Hill, now called Mount Morris, in New York. Shortly after his return, the British recaptured him and held him in Montreal, Quebec, until 1784. After his release, he came back to his home in Genesee country.

Among his other escapades included the time a newly married couple was looking to settle in the Allan's Hill area. They came to his cabin, and Allan welcomed them. It seems that Ebenezer found the young wife, Christine, quite attractive. He told the couple of a wondrous gorge, known today as the Genesee Gorge, with a beautiful waterfall. Allan invited the husband to go and see the river and falls with him.

The two men set off in the morning, and by late afternoon, Allan returned carrying the husband, who was very wet and grievously injured. With a sad look on his face, Allan told Christine that her husband had been looking at the splendor of the river when the most horrible thing happened: the edge gave way. Her husband fell in and was almost lost in the swirling waters of the river. Most accounts suggest that Ebenezer actually hit the poor gentleman over the head and pushed him in, but Allan recounted the mishap somewhat differently. The tale told was how he, without thought to his own well-being, jumped in and pulled her husband to safety. He comforted the wife and assured her that they could stay there until he recovered. The husband died several days later. Ebenezer continued to comfort the new widow and extended his home to her until arrangements to go back east could be made.

Christine had little choice but to accept Allan's kind offer and stayed a year with him and his Indian wife, Sally. Apparently, Ebenezer had a liking for having more than one woman living with him, for besides his Indian wife he also married several white women, Mille McGregor and Lucy Chapman. One can only imagine that the lonely and rugged pioneer life seemed to make such communal living arrangements easier to accept.

Allan was contracted to build the first gristmill where Rochester is now located. Indeed, it was his mill that Colonel Nathaniel Rochester saw when he traveled to the area in 1811. It convinced the colonel of the feasibility of using the river and falls for industry and influenced him to establish Rochesterville on that site.

Allan eventually sold his land holdings here and moved to upper Canada, where he went bankrupt. Ebenezer "Indian" Allan died in 1816; the original millstones from his gristmill are today part of the second-floor wall of the former county courthouse on West Main Street, where visitors can see and even touch the stones that ground the first grain in Rochester.

After the Revolutionary War, Virginian Colonel Nathaniel Rochester purchased one hundred acres of land (1803) on the Genesee River; eight years later, he established the small settlement of Rochesterville. He knew that it had promise as a prime location because of the three great pillars of real estate — location, location and location. Well, in this case, it was the three waterfalls on the river offering great potential for industry using water power. Power was an important natural commodity for a new community in the wilderness.

In 1817, Colonel Rochester served on a committee to petition the state to build the Erie Canal on the proposed northern route that went through Rochesterville. Because Rochesterville had the river and its falls to support industry, it was a good bet. In 1823, the Erie Canal came through, ensuring prosperity and growth for the settlement. Thus, Rochesterville became Rochester. By 1828, Rochester had ten flour mills, eight hotels and nine sawmills and was home port for 160 canalboats.

Nathaniel Rochester became the first county clerk and later the first New York State assemblyman from the area. As the man who literally founded Rochester, he also helped establish many local churches, banks and academic institutions — important to the success of the area well into the future.

Originally called the Flour City because of the water-powered flour mills, the area started to export flour from local mills in 1815 and continued until the Great Plains became the major wheat growing area of our nation. Rochester became the Flower City in the twentieth century because of its beautiful parks and plant nurseries.

The Lost City of Tryon

The Lost City of Tryon. Sounds like a movie title. In it, an old adventurer like Errol Flynn swings his machete at the thick green leaves. The heavy leaves fall away to reveal the legendary lost city of Tryon!

The real city of Tryon was never lost, nor was it ever really a city. It was one man's gamble that was lost: John Tryon purchased the land around what was then called Indian Landing, now Ellison Park, in Monroe County, New York, in 1797. At the time he started, Tryon City was an oasis of civilization in the wilderness, but progress can change everything.

It is appropriate that I start with a historic marker that relates some of the area's history:

The most important place in the early history of the Genesee Country, all of whose trails led to Irondequoit Bay. A gateway of the Iroquois Confederacy. Here were scenes of adventure and romance for more than 300 years, involving Indian wars, the struggle for empire between the French and English and the Revolutionary and pioneer period. Religion, commerce and war made this territory a famous battleground, bringing here many noted traders, priests and soldiers.

From the Marquis de Denonville marching through the area in 1687 in a war to wipe out the Seneca Indians over the fur trade routes to the settlers coming in the 1800s, the ground of western New York is steeped in blood, ambition and history. Such famous units as Rogers' Rangers tread the same paths that are today used by hikers, joggers and others.

In 1721, the British sent Captain Peter Schuyler and nine others, who were Dutch, to spy on the French in this area. They came here under the auspices of setting up a trading post at Indian Landing. Unlike today, the creek at that time was both wider and deeper; Indian Landing was the spot at which thirty-ton cargo schooners could dock. It got its name because it was a convenient place to trade with the local Indians. They built a log structure that became known as Fort Schuyler near what is today the Frisbee Golf Course. Captain Schuyler and the others abandoned the fort after only a year.

It was a new nation and a new era of big ideas — and a vast wilderness in which to build them. In 1797, a man named John Tryon purchased the two hundred acres around Indian Landing on Irondequoit Creek. It was an important place not only because it was a port but also because the creek's water power could be harnessed for industry.

In Tryon's time, goods and people came either overland by poor roads or trails, or by boat. A port could get regular and relatively fast deliveries of goods and also ship out what the area produced in all but the worst weather and winter ice over. Tryon's dream was to build a town on Indian Landing and call it Tryon City.

Soon, Tryon City had a dry goods store, a blacksmith's shop, a shoe factory, a distillery, a tavern, a tannery, an ashery (which processed hardwood ashes into potash and pearlash, both important forms of alkali, which was needed for the manufacturing of textiles, glass, tanned leather, gunpowder, paper, soap and other goods), a large gristmill, a shipyard, a school, five-story warehouses and a cemetery. In those early days, Tryon City was the only settlement between Oswego and Lewiston that was near Lake Ontario.

John Tryon died in 1808, and that was a serious blow to the growth of Tryon City. It had never attracted as large a number of residents as Tryon had hoped, and with the building of the Erie Canal that bypassed Tryon for Rochesterville, much of the trade began to fall off. By 1823, Rochesterville was drawing more and more business and became the city of Rochester, and Tryon City was abandoned to the weeds.

Eventually, the land on which Tryon City had been built was swallowed up by the growing city of Rochester and became what is now Ellison Park. All that is left of the settlement are a couple of markers, several of the original homes built by the settlers and an old log cabin replica trading post where Fort Schuyler once stood.

While our memory of Indian Landing and Tryon City is almost gone (it is all but a few lines in the history books), it seems that some of the original residents are more determined not to be forgotten.

By day, it is a lovely area: a lazy creek winding through parkland. By night, a stranger feeling is prevalent. The ghosts of the area — Native Americans, pioneers and military — all died trying to tame and keep the area. I will tell you of two specters I met there one evening.

My friend Shelly, a very gifted psychic, enjoys ghost hunting. I was curious to see what she would pick up in the park. I had been there several times before with another ghost hunting group, and there seemed to be lots of activity.

We parked, and before we got out of the car Shelly was aware of a ghost nearby. He walked up to her dressed in a blue military uniform with an insignia. While I could not see him, the hair on my arms was standing on end. She said that he was looking at us, wondering about our strange conveyance.

Shelly said that he seemed a little confused and agitated as he told us that our lives were in mortal danger as the Indians are waiting to ambush anyone who went down the path.

He began to tell her what had happened to his patrol. He was leading a patrol to the nearby hill so they could watch the area. As they quietly walked the trail, the Indians attacked from the heavy undergrowth. He winced in pain as an arrow tore into his shoulder, and he slowly fell forward, watching in horror as many of his men also fell. After the first flight of arrows, the warriors attacked hand-to-hand with tomahawks and war clubs. The brave patrol fought just as savagely against its attackers, who had the advantage in numbers. They killed several warriors, wounding others, as they fell one by one to the last man.

When the short but bloody ambush was over, the warriors checked the soldiers to make sure that they were all dead. They quickly dispatched any survivors with a crushing blow from a war club. The sergeant, weak from his wound, closed his eyes and feigned death, silently praying that they would miss him. As the Indians left, he staggered up and headed back to report.

The sergeant thought that his feint had worked and didn't realize the Indians had not been fooled; his lifeless body lay with his men on that path so many years ago. His last thoughts were that he must get back to report what happened and give warning. He also wanted to be sure that his men's bodies were recovered and given a proper burial.

Now he wanders the path, telling anyone who will listen to go back, that hostile Indians are nearby waiting to ambush anyone on the trail. As for his being a bit confused, well, getting hit with a war club might confuse the best of us.

I stood there listening to Shelly talk with the ghost when I felt a sensation like a soft hand touching my hair.