Dayton Settlers in 1819

The Pioneer Settlements were made in the northern and eastern parts of Dayton. A list of the land owned in 1819 contains the following names:

Property Owners and Lot Numbers
Name	Lot #	Name	Lot #
Abraham Hale	2	Timothy M. Shaw	31
Peter Allen	23	James H. Shaw	31
Ralph Johnson	30	Hiram Howard	31
William Blasdell	30	Heman Merrill	31
Anson C. Merrill	30	Jebediah Lee	32
Lyman Wood	37	Luther Hubbard	53
Nathaniel Blasdell	37	Jeremiah Pratt	53
Frederick A. Redfield	37	Azariah Darbee	54
Chauncy Hammond	39	Chester Darbee	54
Belah H. Redfield	39	Caleb Webb	55
Samuel Hammond	39	Joshua Webb	56
Samuel K. Strickland	40	Leman H. Pitcher	58
Stephen Parsall	40	James P. Pitcher	58
John Parsall	40	Arza Corbett	59
George Babcock	40	A. Starkweather	59
Thomas Newcomb	46	Ephraim Smith	60
Sylvanus Finch	47	Ephaphras Smith	60
Ezra T. Winship	47	Eldad Corlit	61
Chester McDaniels	47	Moses Morgan	62
Ebenezer Roberts	48	William Reed	63
Aaron Nash	48	Silas Nash	64
Nathan Bumpus	52	Simeon Bunce	64
Lyman Bumpus	52	Don S. Downer	64
Simeon Dryer	53

Some of these resided on their lands at this time, and nearly all became actual settlers in the course of ten years. A few of the first only can be noticed in detail. In the fall of 1810, Simeon Bunce and his brother-in-law, Silas Nash, left Otsego County to find a home in the western part of the state. They had heard of Chautauqua County, and determined to locate there; and when they took up their lands on lot 64, they believed them to be in the county.

Each articled 100 acres, at eighteen shillings per acre, and at once made substantial improvements. Nash building a log house the same year, the first in the town of Dayton, which his family occupied. In this humble pioneer home occurred the first birth in the town, in June 1811, a son, who was named Aras.

Here, also, the following year, in the month of February, came the angel of death to claim his first sacrifice, Dewitt, another son of Silas Nash; and Thus the house of rejoicing became a house of mourning.

Silas Nash put up the first saw mill in town, in 1817, and continued for many years a leader among the early settlers, holding many positions of honor and trust in Dayton. His descendants also became active, energetic citizens, some of them attaining prominent places in the affairs of the county.

Simeon Bunce was a native of Connecticut, having been born at Hartford in 1788. To this State he returned in 1813, and brought on his father's family to the home he had made, on lot 64, in Dayton. He had three children one of whom survives, a son who occupies the old homestead, and here Bunce lived until his death, in 1875.

Timothy M. Shaw came from Herkimer County in 1814, and located a piece of land on lot 31. To this place he brought his family, consisting of wife and one child, the following year. He was accompanied by Heman and Anson C. Merrill, from Onondaga County. The former settled on the same lot as Shaw, and Anson C. on lot 30. Both occupied these same places until their death, leaving many descendants in the county. Shaw died in 1872.