y o m i n q by Harry S. Douglass - Old Fulton History

Page 70
CURRIERS THROUGH THE YEARS (cont.)
April 1954
erected the present home,having taken over the homestead. This farm
owned by the Bucks 132 years, is believed to be the only property in
the area cleared and owned by the same family continuously. Martin
F. was collector for the town.
The former Henry Nichols farm, just west of Curriers, but still
in possession of the family, was settled by Squire Samuel Clark,born
in Andover, Vt.,who came on foot to Java in 1831. He was Justice of
the Peace nearly twenty years, Town Clerk,1835-36,and Supervisor for
eleven terms, 181^5-9, 1850-3, 1855. In September 1861, at the first
war meeting held in the schoolhouse, Mr. Clark presented each of the
five volunteers with $10.00. He was married three times, his first
two wives having died young, and became the father of Hon. Arthur
Clark, born at Curriers, who represented Wyoming' County in the
Assembly, 1876-77. Arthur Clark moved West, dying at Ogden, Iowa,in
1905.
Soldier of the Revolution
In the Curriers cemetery lies Enoch Jenkins, Soldier of the
Revolution, who died Jan. 5» l8ij.6, in his 83rd year, a veteran of
seven years in the conflict. He lived west of Curriers and apparently
came there from Orange Co.,Vt. Born in Maiden, Mass.,in 1762,
he served as a private in the 8th Regiment, Mass. Line, and it is
said that when Lafayette reviewed the army he complimented Mr. Jenkins
upon his soldierly bearing.
East of Curriers at "Hicks Corners" a pioneer settler was Damon
Bryant who came in 1825. The family lived at Thelford, Orange Co.,
N. Y.,migrated in 1813 to Livingston Co. then to Allegany Co. and to
Java. He was elected one of the commissioners of highways in 1826
and 1827, a most respected pioneer. Of his eleven children, one,
Carson Bryant,continued to live on the old homestead until his death
in 1880. Carson was twice married, the father of ten children, six
of whom died In early childhood. On Sept. 15> 1850, deep tragedy
befell the Bryant family and stunned the whole neighborhood for days.
His first wife, Rebecca Ingals, in a state of insanity, murdered her
two youngest daughters and then took her own life early that
Sunday afternoon.The family had noted her disturbed mental condition
and that she seemed to be concerned for the future welfare of her
children. Hence,she was not left alone for very long. She had told
her husband that great trials lay ahead of him. On this morning she
had urged her husband to shave and dress, apparently awaiting a
chance to get the razor. When Mr.Bryant went to a let near the house
to attend some cattle, she sent her three elder daughters on an
errand, took the razor and the two youngest, three and six years,
to a nearby field and did the deed. Her husband soon discovered the
bodies. The funeral, held in an orchard at Curriers, was attended
by over 1000 people,so newspapers reported,and the victims were laid
side by side in the cemetery there.
Major Moses Smith and his wife, Sarah Shepard, pioneers of
Arcade, who came from Vermont in 1811, were the parents of children
who were influential in the Curriers area. Major Moses settled on
the Cattaraugus Road, built the first sawmill in the section at a
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