The History of Cayuga County 1789-1879 page 348
GEOLOGICAL FORMATION/ TOWN OF AURELIUS

relinquished their claims to this reservation, with the exception of two plots in Springport, one of two miles square, upon the lake, a little south of Union Springs, and the other of one mile square, three or four miles north-east of that village. The first settler was Col. John Harris, who came in from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in 1789, and settled three-fourths of a mile south of Cayuga, on the farm now owned by Cyrus H. Davis, then called, and now known by the oldest residents of the town, as the Indian orchard, some of the trees of which are still standing there. Harris kept there the first ferry across Cayuga Lake, in conjunction with James Bennett, who settled at the same time upon the opposite side of the lake. He was an Indian interpreter and acted as such at the time of the treaty at Cayuga, in 1794, at which time he moved to the site of the village, where he kept a tavern on the site of the Titus House. Harris contracted the first marriage in 1789, with Mary, daughter of John Richardson, who came in the same year as Harris, and settled on the site of the village, where Edwin H. Whitney, Esq., now lives. He removed after several years to Wabash, Indiana. A son of Harris, Jno. Harris, Jr., who was born in 1790, was the first child born in the town. Harris opened the first store in 1789, and the first inn in 1790.

The early settlers in this locality generally came by water route, making a long and tedious journey. Those who came on foot or with teams found, for much of the way, no roads better than Indian trails or paths designated by means of blazed trees.

About 1795, Hon. Joseph Annin, one of the proprietors of Cayuga village, and the first Sheriff of Cayuga County, settled where the widow of David Kyle now lives. He removed to Milton (now Genoa,) and subsequently to Onondaga Hollow, where he died in 1815. His remains were brought to Cayuga for interment. While residing at Genoa he represented the western district in the State Senate in 1803, '4, '5 and 6.

Hugh Buckley settled about 1796, at the head of the old bridge, where he kept the gate, a tavern, and the first jail in Cayuga County. The latter was a log structure, and was built against the bank of the lake, the top being on a level with the embankment. The prisoners were let down through a trap door in the top. Its use as a jail was authorized March 25th, 1800. The following year (1797,) Buckley added to his already numerous vocations, that of teaching, he being the first school teacher in the town. He subsequently kept a tavern where Mrs. Gilliland now lives, and died of the epidemic in 1813. His family are all dead.

Dr. Jonathan Whitney, who was born September 14th, 1768, came in from Stockbridge, Mass., in 1798, and settled at Cayuga, on the lake road, where Mrs. Charles Lalliette now lives. He removed to Big Tree, (now Geneseo,) in 1802, and the same year to Batavia, where he remained about a year, and returned to Cayuga. In 1805, he removed to Pompey Hill, but returned to Cayuga at the expiration of a year, and continued the practice of medicine till his death July 26th, 1851. He is recollected by the early settlers as a great satirist, and the author of many mirth-provoking caricatures. In August, 1800, he married Dolly Smith, a daughter of Captain Hezekiah Smith, an old sea captain, who settled in 1798, two miles east of Cayuga, where William Tavner now lives, and where he died in 1814. Dr. Whitney's wife died December 26th, 1846. They had nine children, seven of whom are living. Edwin H., who was born October 7th, 1806, is living at Cayuga, where he holds the office of Justice of the Peace, an office he has filled over forty years. He was Supervisor several years, Postmaster twelve years, and Canal Collector at Montezuma in 1852 and '53.

Joseph Davis came in from Washington County in 1799, and settled two and one-half miles north-west of Aurelius, where Ira Olmstead now lives. He died in the town in 1804. His daughter, Elizabeth, is the only survivor of a large family. She is the widow of Samuel Taylor, who came from Saratoga County in 1809, and settled in Auburn, and in 1854 removed to Throop, where he died in 1863. She is eighty-six years of age, and is living at Aurelius with her son Halsey W. Taylor, who was born in Auburn in 1813. A man named Chandler settled in 1799, about a mile south of Fosterville, where Luther Van Giesen now lives. He afterwards married one of Wm. Guy's daughters, and removed to Nunda, Livingston County, about 1827.

In this year, (1799,) the County was erected and the Court of Common Pleas was held at Cayuga. In 1804 the court was removed to Aurora,

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