hawk one Sunday while the services were in progress. His father heard the shot, as he sat in his church pew, and when he returned home he told the boy to pack his clothes and leave home.

Young Asbbel obeyed the order and soon obtained work in a grocery store but studied law at night by candlelight. When he was eighteen he entered the law office of Albert Burk at Lodi. By alternately teaching school and studying, he succeeded in being admitted to the bar in 1836.

He opened an office in the ''Old Brick Office" that stood near the present location of the Gowanda Co-operative Saving and Loan Association. He married in 1838 and was admitted to the Court of Common Pleas of Cattaraugus County in 1843. Although his death occurred in 18 51, at the age of only 37, he left his wife and two children an estate of $10,000 in cash and a fine, well furnished home. Thus success was by no means an impossibility in those prewar days.

It was also a decade of enlarged industrial and mercantile activity. The Hon. William Henry Stuart and his brother came to Lodi in 1840 and established a woolen factory, which

was without a dam when the flood of 1841 did considerable damage at Hidi, although the business was quickly resumed.

The community was by no means without its cultural interests. The Lodi School for Young Ladies was organized under the supervision of Mrs. M. H. Cowles and A. M. Fisk. The tuition was $3 per quarter and the curriculum included chemistry, astronomy, geology, Latin, French and ''Mathematical Sciences''. There was an extra charge for music, drawing or French.

On the other hand, the wolves were still at large. A report of the board of supervisors (?f Cattaraugus County contained among other items in 1844 a total of wolf bounties amounting to $85.00.

The Presbyterian Church burned in 1842 and was rebuilt in 1843. The two school districts were consolidated and it was agreed to build a large scl1ool. This was erected in 1844 on the site of the present Gowanda High School.

Solomon Dunham's Hotel was destroyed by fire in 1845 and was not rebuilt. K. Webster established a tannery that year at the corner of Jamestown and Hill Streets.

Page Thirty-six

The outstanding civic event of the period was the changing of the name of the village and the original incorporation of the village. The name Lodi had brought constant confusion because of the other town of Lodi in Seneca County, although the name of the post office had been changed to Persia.

Considerable thought was given by many of tl1e leading citizens to tl1e choice of a suitable name. Judge Chester Howe and the Hon. J. H. Plumb jointly suggested the use of an appropriate Indian name. The matter was referred to Rev. Asher Wright, the Presbyterian missionary on the Cattaraugus Reservation.

It was his suggestion that they use the name

Gowanda. He told them that the Indians at an early date had called the valley 'Juc-Gowanda'' to denote ''a beautiful valley between the hills.'' The ''juc'' part of the word he felt could be dropped. The change and incorporation was officially voted at an election held on August 1, 1848. The name of the post office was changed from Persia to Gowanda on October 25th. The incorporated village then covered 7 46 acres with a population of 844 and 167 families.

At the Gowanda Corporation Election of that year, the following trustees were chosen: Seth Field, James Locke, Daniel C. Amsden, Harlow Crandall and Francis Peacock.

Page Thirty-seven

Surmounting Disasters

THE life of a community, like the life of an individual, is almost sure to have at least one period when ''it never rains, but it pours". Such a period certainly came to the newly named village of Gowanda in the 1850-1860 decade - a time when the villagers, with great fortitude and perseverance, rebuilt their buildings and their fortunes from the twin disasters of a devastating fire and an irrepressible flood.

Even the coming of the first railroad - an event that was looked forward to with much eagerness throughout the Cattaraugus Valley -brought a celebration that ended in an unforeseen local tragedy. The railroad from Hornellsville to Dunkirk was completed in

April 1851, and the completion of the line was celebrated by a grand excursion on May ' 15th.

Among those present for the event were · President Millard Fillmore and his cabinet which included Daniel Webster, who was then Secretary of State. The governor of New York State, Washington Hunt, was also on the train with many other notables.

When the train reached Dayton, there was -a large crowd on hand that had gathered from the surrounding villages and countryside to give the train a great reception. But tl1e gun they had brought to the station to fire the salute for some reason exploded prematurely