TimeLine: Pre-Historic to Settlers

.
~ ROCHESTER'S HISTORY ~
AN ILLUSTRATED TIMELINE

EARLY HISTORY: 10,000 YEARS AGO - 1787

10,000 YEARS AGO

1300

1600

1700

10,000 Years Ago

Climate starts to warm, plants and animals start to reappear.

8000 -500 BCE

Earliest people in region are the Archaic Algonkins. They came in small wandering groups, hunting and fishing. Evidence of these people is scattered across the area, with two sites located on Irondequoit Bay, and the River Campus of the University of Rochester. After several thousand years they developed a rather advanced culture in the villages they built.
Eskimos also wandered in this area. At some unknown period they were hunting and fishing in the hills to the south, where they left characteristic knives of rubbed slate.
There is evidence of a community at the northern end of Maplewood Park near a flint deposit.
Early settlers at Kings Landing said that they had found remains of a pallisaded village.
Signs of Indian campsites were located at the Charlotte Lighthouse, and several other locations along the lake and river.
Rattlesnakes and Malaria were the most likely impediment to permanent settlement of the area.

1300

Indians from the Ohio River valley migrate to the area.
Seneca Indians inhabit the region. They were most powerful and warlike tribe of the Iroquois Nation. They lived between the Genesee River and Seneca Lake.
Many area towns were originally Indian villages, and several geographic features also have Indian names.

Allen's Creek

GI-NI-SA-GA or 'in the valley'

Avon

DYU-DO-O-SOT or 'flowing spring'

Batavia

Had many Indian names.

DE-O-ON-GO-WA or 'great hearing place' (Beauchamp)

GA-NE-UN-DAH-SA-IS-KA or 'mosquito' .

JO-A-I-KA or 'raccoon' (Kirkland)

Brockport

GWEH-TA-A-NE-TE-CAR-NUN-DO-TEH was 'red village (Morgan)

Caledonia

DE-O-NE-GA-NO (Morgan)DYU-NE-GA-NOOH (Doty) both mean 'cold water' in reference to a spring that still flows there.

GA-NE-O-DE-YA (Doty) was the name of the spring itself.

Canadice

Skaneatice meaning 'long lake'

Canandaigua

GA-NUN-DA-GWA is 'chosen village'

Chili

Imported from Peru, it means 'land of snow'

Conesus

CO-NE-SUS (derived from GA-NYUH-SAS) or 'sheep berries'Sullivan uses several different names in his journals including: Adjuste, Adyutro, Agusta, and Adjuton. Whatever the spelling, the word referred to means 'spear' in Onondaga.

Conesus Lake

O-HE-GECH-RAGE was the name used in Moravian journals

Dansville

GA-NUS-GA-GO or 'among the milkweeds'

Genesee or Geneseo

'good valley' or 'pleasant banks'. Early settlers spelled it with many variations.

CON-NECT-XIO (from Pouchot's map)

Genesee River

Casconchiagon was the name used by Charlevoix

Hanford Landing

WAH-GAH-AH-YEA or 'old fort', referred to earth works at the landing.

Hemlock Lake

NO-EHN-TA or 'hemlock' was the name used in Moravian journals.

O-NEH-DA or 'hemlock' was the Seneca Indian name

Honeoye

HO-NE-O-YE means 'finger lying' in Seneca.SKO-SA-IS-TO refers to Honeoye Falls and translates as 'falls rebounding from an obstruction'

Irondequoit

O-NYUH-DA-ON-DA-GWAT is a Mohawk term meaning 'a bay' or 'lake turning aside'

Lake Ontario

Kanyatario means 'pleasant lake'Skanadario means 'very pretty one'

Lima

GA-NU-NA-TA or 'meadow land'KE-IN-HE was the name used by Wentworth Greenhalgh in 1677The present name is Peruvian, derived from Rimac. The 'r' was replaced by an 'l' by the Spanish.

Rochester

GA-SKO-SA-GA is Seneca for 'at the falls'

Scottsville

O-AT-KA is 'an opening'

Originally the Upper Falls was the name given to the rapids that were located between the Court St. Dam and the Erie Canal Aqueduct. Today this sudden 14 foot drop is no longer present, having been cleared away for the construction of the Aqueduct. Approximately 1/2 mile downstream is the High Falls. In the early days of the community this falls had several names. 'The Falls' is the original name given by the settlers, but Middle Falls and Main Falls were also used. The drop in pioneer days was recorded as 96 to 99 feet, but clearing of debris and excavations during the construction of the various mill raceways have resulted in an elevation today of 80 feet. This falls was made nationally famous by the fatal leap of Sam Patch in 1829.

A mile and a quarter downstream from the upper falls is the Middle Falls. It has a drop of 25 feet. In the early days it was considered part of the Lower Falls, and called the Upper Step, or just the Lower Falls.

Traveling downstream another one third mile is the last of the Genesee River's Falls the Lower Falls. This 85 foot drop was called the Lower Step or Lower Falls. Located above a narrow 200 foot gorge it is an impressive sight. There have been several bridges at this location.

Water was by far the easiest way to travel. Indians coming north from the Mississippi and Susquehanna Rivers they would travel down the Genesee to the rapids at Red Creek in Genesee Valley Park. (These rapids disappeared when the Court St. Dam was built to raise the water level for the Barge Canal.) To avoid the rapids and the three falls of the Genesee they would portage along the route of Highland Avenue to Indian Landing on Irondequoit Creek, and from here they could go out through Irondequoit Bay to Lake Ontario. This was a very important trade route for the Indians.
The Seneca Indian trails were eventually built into today's main roads:

The trail from the west became Brooks Ave.
From the south, we now have Scottsville Rd.
The northern approach to the city has become Plymouth Ave. and Genesee St.

1610

Algonquin Indians tell Champlain of a great lake in the west, he sends Etienne Brule to explore the area.

1612

First mention of area is Champlain's map, made from Brule's information, showing the Great Lakes, Genesee River and Irondequoit Bay.

1629

King Charles I of England grants all land between the 34th and 45th parallel, from coast to coast, to the Massachusetts Bay Co.
French explorer Etienne Brule was the first white man at the mouth of the Genesee River during his journeys of discovery on the Great Lakes. While it is known that he traveled widely through the area, most of what he did is unknown.

1633

Brule takes on the Indian way of life. He is living with the the Hurons, when for some unknown reason, he is killed by them and eaten.

1635

Jesuit Missionaries with Champlain and Cartier write of area.

1664

King Charles II of England gives his brother, the Duke of York, the same land grant that his father had given the Massachusetts Bay Co. thirty five years earlier.

1669

French explorer Robert de la Salle sails up Irondequoit Bay to Ellison Park looking for Indian guides to show him the water route inland. They are hospitable, but refuse to show him the way. He travels about 35 miles due south to the Bristol Hills, then returns.

1679

First building for Christian worship in Rochester area, at site of Mercy High School

1683

The colony of New York is formally broken into twelve political units called counties, by the first colonial assembly. The exact boundaries of the colony are not exactly known and the boundaries of the counties are even less defined.

1687

French and Indian War. In a campaign from July 10 - July 23, 1687, 1600 French, 400 colonials, and 983 Indian allies land at Irondequoit Bay. Built a fort on the East shore lead by New France Governor Marquis de Denonville. They destroy villages and crops on their way to a victorious battle at the huge Indian settlement Gannagaro (near Victor). The results were a strengthened opposition to the French by the Seneca Indians along with stronger ties to the English.
Indians have two main trail systems in the county, the east-west trails connects several indian villages and is called the Path of Peace. The north-south trail leads to the lake and the French, and is called the Warpath.

1688

Iroquois Indians sail from Irondequoit Bay to plunder Montreal in return for Denonville's attack.

1716

Fort de Sables built by the French at Sea Breeze on Irondequoit Bay. French attacks on the Seneca do not destroy them, but binds them closer to the English. Fort de Sables eventually becomes trading post.

1721

English build Fort Schuyler as a trading post to observe French action in the area. Located at Indian Landing the fort was abandoned after a year. This was the first English settlement in western New York.

1741

King George II buys land surrounding Irondequoit Bay for 100 pounds from three Seneca sachems.

1751

Francois Pioquet canoes up stream and discovers all three falls. He compares the beauty of the upper falls to Niagara. He reports that the five indians with him kill 42 rattlesnakes without being bitten.

1752

Nathaniel Rochester is born February 21

1758

Mary Jemison captured

1759

English General John Prideaux, on his way to capture Fort Niagara during the French and Indian War, camps at Braddock Bay, he names it Prideaux Bay.

1761

'Views of Upper and Lower Genesee Falls' is published in London.

1770

John Mastick travels through out the wilderness offering his services as an attorney.

1772

The western portion of Albany County become Charlotte County and Tryon County.

1779

Gen. Sullivan's campaign of scorched earth rids area of Indians.
Gen. Sullivan's troops were from the 'poor dirt' eastern colonies. They were awed by the fertile land and crops they are destroying. They saw many orchards, each with over 1500 apple or peach trees. Huge quantities of beans, cucumbers, watermelon, pumpkins, onions, squash, turnips, cabbages, carrots and parsnips were under cultivation. One officer wrote that "the land exceeds any I have seen before. Some corn stalks measured eighteen feet, and a cob one foot and a half long." The General estimated that at least 160,000 bushels of corn were destroyed, along "with a vast quantity of vegetables of every kind."
Lt. Boyd & Sgt. Parker are captured during this campaign, and brutally tortured to death. (Leicester Torture Tree)

.