It's hard to imagine, but summer vacation is almost over; there are only 19 more days of freedom for local youngsters. The time has just flown! So what did you do during summer vacation?
For members of the Liberty 4-H Club of Sodus, there was a new community service project: cleaning up the abandoned cemetery at the intersection of Maple Avenue and Lake Road.
A small group of volunteers began the project as the weather improved in late May. But no one knew much about the last resting place of this historic site on the former Sodus Fruit Farm. Thanks to Sodus Historian Richard Ransley, who shared a Hoffman Paper on the subject written by Byron Robert White of Sodus several years ago.
"The Elijah Brown family settled on the lakeshore property in 1798. In 1804, they decided they could fare better elsewhere; they moved to Oak Orchard in Orleans County (west of Rochester) and helped to start a settlement there," White wrote.
William Swales was born September 26, 1776 in York, England. He married Sarah Harper while still in England and first came to America in 1809. In 1810, he bought and settled on land in Geneva, which is now a part of the Cornell Experimental Station. Mr. Swales crossed the ocean eleven times in sailing vessels.
In 1832, William Swales purchased a tract of land in Sodus consisting of 863 acres of land for the sum of $5,500. He left his daughter and son-in-law, Sarah and William Dearlove, in charge of the farm in Geneva.
The land was bounded on the east by a line northward from Bushnell's burying ground (located at the northern end of Pulver Road), on the north by Lake Ontario, on the west by what is now Dufloo Road, and on the south by the Pultneyville-Sodus Point Road. A few years later, William Swale purchased property at Maxwell, which was a settlement a few miles west of Sodus Point; and also at Prattsburg in Steuben County. In later years, Mr. Swale owned a total of one thousand acres of land.
William Swale's main occupation was breeding stock, having brought his own thoroughbred cattle, sheep and horses brought from England and planted Hawthorne hedge bushes and different types of grain seeds. As far as it is known Mr. Swales was the first person to introduce Hawthorne to this area. These hedges were not trimmed and they grew nearly as high as the telephone wires and even though the hedges have been pulled out, there is evidence of Hawthorne in the surrounding area; the seeds having been scattered by nature.
Almost one-third of the approximate 864 acres was woods. Except for a few peach trees and a couple of apple orchards two thirds of the farm was devoted to grazing and the raising of crops.
William Swales did not believe in slavery. Even though he brought his own slaves from England and employed them on his farm, he never considered or treated them as such. The slaves lived in their own settlement on the Creek Road south of Maxwell. During the latter part of the 19th century, some of the slaves even occupied one of the cobblestone houses near the manor house and were servants for the Swales family. The Newport family of Sodus Point are direct descendants of the slaves.
William Swales also built another cobblestone house on the south side of the road east of the creek. This house was known as the Miller's house ¹ because the operator of the grist mill lived there. William Swales built his own tannery, blacksmith shop, and grist mill at Maxwell. Because of the presence of the swift-flowing creek, he built a dam, race and hydraulic works in connection with the grist mill.
Since Mr. Swales did not believe in slavery, he aided in the Underground Railroad movement. Several of the eleven cobblestone houses, which Mr. Swales built, have secret passageways where the slaves were hidden. On the farm property at the lakeshore there is a high hill which is called 'Nigger Hill.' It is believed that boats from Canada landed behind this hit, picked up slaves and transported them to Canada. On this hill, there is also a place called 'Gibson Woods,' which was a hiding place for escaped slaves.
On one of his voyages to England, Mr. Swales brought back to America Doctor Lawson, who was supposed to be the first doctor in this area. Dr. Lawson established his first practice at Sodus Point. He spent his last days at the William Swales home and upon his death, he was buried in the Swales' family cemetery.
On January 13, 1855, William Swales made his will. He willed a cobblestone house and about two hundred acres of land to each of his five children. To his eldest son William Jr., he bequeathed the cobblestone houses and land on the Pultneyville-Sodus Point Road. To his son and wife, John and Minerva Swales, William bequeathed the cobblestone house and land on Dufloo Road. To his son, daughter-in-law, and grandson (George, Harriet and William Horsely Swales, respectively). William Swales willed the cobblestone houses and land that is now the Sodus Fruit Farm ... they did not live in the manor house, because the widow still occupied it. Instead they lived in a cobblestone tenant house on the farm.
William Swales designated in his will that his wife was to be paid the same of $300 annually by their son, George during the remainder of her life. To his daughter and son-in-law. Sarah and William Dearlove, William Swales bequeathed the parcel of land near Prattsburg. To his daughter and son-in-law Elizabeth and John Preston, he bequeathed the property at Maxwell (he had given this to them as a wedding present). This house was owned by Mr. and Mrs. Preston Arms Gaylord, Jr. - Mr. Gaylord being the great, great, great grandson of William Swales.
On January 28, 1855, William Swales passed on and was buried in the Swales family cemetery. It was his wish that the cemetery be maintained and preserved by all future owners of the farm. The epitaph on his gravestone is unique. It says, "This I got by my hand, to lie here it is my favor."
Richard Palmer email 05/11/2020.
¹ Swales-Fletcher House, known as the "Millers" House, between Halcus Road and Salmon Creek Road (current 7552 Buck Lane?), south of the Preston-Gayloard House. "...fallen into ruin and only the walls remain." Cobblestone Masonry", Schmidt, 1966 pages 189-190; Cobblestone Architecture", 1944, Carl Schmidt page Page 37.