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Origin
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| "The History of Cattaraugus County, NY",1879. |
CLARKSVILLE (1835): Took its name from the Honorable Staley Nichols Clarke, an agent for the Holland Land Company. Located in the southern part of the town is the hamlet of Obi, no idea as to its origin.
This town was originally a part of Cuba separating on May 11, 1835. It was named after S. N. Clark, one of the agents of the Holland Land Company. The first settler of the township was Horatio G. Slayton who came March, 1822 to Dodge's Creek, south of the village. He came through Cuba, following the bed of the creek where he could, cutting a road when necessary to get his team to pass through. His son, Joseph P. Slayton was the first child born in the township on May 23, 1822.
At the time that Mr. Slayton located in the town, and for several years after, there were no settlers between this place and Portville on the south and Cuba on the north. A Mr. King, known locally as "Colonel King", was here very early; he "articled" several lots of the Holland Land Company for 25 cents per acre and sold them for $1.50 per acre. Mr. Slayton bought from Colonel King at $1.50 per acre. John Murray settled at what is now Clarksville village in 1824. James McDougal and Jabez Lurvey located a little east of the center in 1827.
Other settlers came in soon and quite a large settlement was made at once near the center of the town. Among the early settlers were the Congdon family, buying directly from the Land Company at 25 cents per acre.
The first schoolhouse in the town was built in 1833, about six rods from the corners, in the village of Clarksville. The first school was taught by Miss Maria McDougal, in 1827, in a small frame building where Kinney's Hotel stood. The first frame building in the town was built by Jabez Lurvey. The first tavern was built by Captain Daniel Carpenter. The first blacksmith shop erected in the town for doing custom work was built by L. F. Dunn, on the main road to Cuba.
The pioneer store in the town was built by George Hartson, who came from Hornellsville. The 1st carpenter in the town was Isaac Ashley who was 98 years old in 1879. The first resident physician, James McDougal, located on lot 20 about half a mile east of the village of Clarksville.
In 1828 Joseph Palmer erected a saw-mill. Mr. Galloway built a saw-mill on lot 33. Dusenbury & Congdon also built a saw-mill farther up the stream which burned in 1864. The first weaver was Mrs. Nichols, who did that work in 1830. The pioneer wedding was that of Van Rensslaer Delivan and Harriet Palmer in 1827. The first death that occurred in the town was that of Warren Knowles. The post office was established in 1836 with Clark Saunders as postmaster.
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Maps
The map below is from the 2004 edition roadmaps published by the Allegany County Department of Public Works.
Click here to view larger map.
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Additional Information
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