American Union Lodge No. 1 - Onondaga and Oswego Masonic ...

A History of Livingston County, New York
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In 1790 Dr. Timothy Hosmer and Major Isaiah Thompson, of Farmington, Connecticut, visited the Genesee country and purchased
the township on behalf of five Connecticut men, of whom they were two. "The price paid," says Colonel Hosmer, "was eighteen
pence, New England currency, per acre, then a high rate in consequence of the open flats. Of the five grantees only Major
Thompson and Dr. Hosmer became residents here. The latter had been surgeon of the Sixth Connecticut regiment and served
through the war of the Revolution. His diploma of membership in the Society of the Cincinnati, signed by Washington as its
President, and General Knox as Secretary, is an eloquent attestation of his long term of service.* Partly from love of adventure,
partly to escape professional practice requiring constant toil, he emigrated from his pleasant New England home to this realm of
unbounded forest. He passed the summer of 1790 in exploring the country, returned home in the fall, and in the following year,
accompanied by his sons Frederick and Algernon Sydney, began the work of settlement by erecting a log dwelling near the present
residence of his nephew, James Hosmer. In 1792 his family joined him, and being the only physician within call of the detached
settlements, he relieved the sick, prompted by a spirit of benevolence rather than professional gain. His good humor and
encouraging words cheered the desponding settlers wrestling with disease and the fearful privations of the wilderness. The red man
appreciated his skill and named him At-ta-gus, or "healer of diseases."
* "His dress-sword, a sharp blade, enclosed in a silver-mounted
black leathern sheath, is now in possession of a grandson, at
Meadville, Pa. On Dr. Hosmer devolved the duty of laying finger on
Andre's pulse after the execution of that noted British spy, and
reporting him dead to the officers of the Court martial."
"When Ontario county was organized Dr. Hosmer became one of its
judges and succeeded Oliver Phelps as First Judge. The latter office
he held until sixty years of age, the constitutional limitation. He
possessed a fine literary taste, and his well-selected library of medical
and miscellaneous works was an anomaly in the backwoods. His
correspondence reveals varied reading and mental culture. He had
acquired high, professional reputation in the army, and at one time
was transferred from the Connecticut line to the staff of the
Commander-in-chief.
"He was a gentleman of the old school, scrupulously clean and neat in
his attire, with a portly frame and erect military carriage. His hair was
ribbon-tied, and carefully powdered by his black body-servant 'Boston.'
His breeches of soft and nicely dressed deerskin, were fastened at the
knees by silver buckles. He was courtly in his manners to all, but
especially marked for chivalric courtesy to women. When passing a
lady acquaintance in the street, he would bow with uncovered head
though rain were falling, and the poorest, the most unfortunate of the
sex ever found in him a ready champion and defender. He died in
November, 1816, aged 70 years." He sleeps in the Avon village
cemetery, where a plain and substantial headstone marks the spot.
He was the father of five sons, including Sylvester.
The Bench and Bar of New York, page 175.
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Timothy Hosmer, one of the earliest settlers of Ontario county, a man
of liberal education, a physician by profession, and a true gentleman
of the old school.
At the commencement of the revolutionary war, he entered the Continental army as surgeon of a Connecticut regiment, in which
capacity he served during the war, with the exception of two years, during which time he served as surgeon on the staff of
Washington. He was present at the battles of Monmouth, White Plains, Brandywine, Princeton and Trenton.
At the execution of Andre he was one of the attending surgeons, and no event which he witnessed during the progress of the whole
war made so deep and lasting an impression on his mind as did the death of that elegant and accomplished soldier. In after years,
while relating the circumstances of this execution, he was "often beguiled of his tears."
In October, 1798, he was appointed by Governor George Clinton, first judge of Ontario county. Oliver Phelps, with whom he came to
western New York, had previously been appointed to that office, but such was the condition of the county that no courts were held or
organized by Judge Phelps, and his many important business relations compelled him to resign, and Dr. Hosmer was appointed in.
his place. Mr. Phelps was a native of Windsor, Connecticut, and with Nathaniel Gorham was one of the earliest landholders in the
then far off Genesee country. He was active, high-minded, enterprising and intelligent. When he first visited western New York, that
now highly cultivated and splendid section of the State was an unbroken wilderness, save the few settlements or openings made by
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