TOWN OF BOSTON.
The town of Boston was formed from Eden on the 5th of April, 1817, and includes
all of township 8, range 7, of the Holland Company’s survey, except the western tier of lots. It is nearly six
miles square, contains 22,730 acres, and lies in the center of the south part of the county, being bounded on the
north by Hamburg and East Hamburg, on the east by Colden, on the south by Concord and North Collins, and on the
west by Eden. The surface is hilly, and is broken by the valley of the north branch of Eighteen-mile Creek, which
flows northwesterly through the center of the town. There are no railroads, the nearest railway station being Colden,
a half mile east of the eastern boundary. Agriculture has always been the chief industry. The soil is very fertile
The first town meeting was held in the spring of 1818, when the following officers were elected:
Samuel Abbott, supervisor; Sylvester Clark, town clerk; Daniel Swain and Benjamin Kester, poormasters; Truman Cary,
Luther Hibbard and John C. Twining, assessors; Asa Cary, Benjamin Kester and Matthew Middleditch, commissioners
of highways; Lemuel Parmely, constable and collector; Lyman Drake, Charles Johnson and John C. Twining, commissioners
of common schools; Joseph Mayo and William Pierce, constables; John Britton, Truman Cary, Sylvester Clark, Lyman
Drake, Augustus Hilliker, Aaron Knapp, Isaac Mills, Nicholas D. Rector, Luther Soule, John C. Twining, Silas Whiting
and Aipheus Williams, overseers of highways; Charles Johnson, poundmaster.
n 1818 there were 153 taxable inhabitants in the town, and the following Quakers were taxed $4 each in lieu of
military duty: Aaron Hampton, John and Stephen Kester, David Laing, Matthew Middleditch, James Miller, William
Pound and Thomas Twining, jr.
The following is a list of the supervisors of Boston and their years of service:
Samuel Abbott, 1818; John C. Twining, 1819—22; Truman Cary, 1823; John C. Twining, 1824—25; Truman Cary, 1826;
Epaphras Steele, 1827—33; John C. Twining, 1834; Thomas Twining, 1835—37; Ezra Chaffee, 1838; Epaphras Steele,
1839—41; Ezra Chaffee, 1842; John Brooks, 1843; Orrm Lockwood, 1844; Epaphras Steele, 1845; Orrin Lockwood, 1846—47;
Allen Griffith, 1848; Orrin Lockwood, 1849; Perez Cobb, 1850—51; Orrin Lockwood. 1852; Enos Blanchard, 1853; John
Churchill, 1854; Palmer Skinner, 1855; Martin Keller, 1856—59; George Brindley, 1860—63; D. A. Cary, 1864—66; Enos
Blanchard, 1867; Truman S. Cary, 1868—69; Dexter E. Folsom, 1870; Enos Blanchard, 1871; James H. Fuller, 1872;
Alonzo Lockwood, 1873; Ambrose Woodward, 1874—76; John Anthony, 1877—78; Martin Keller, 1879-81; Charles Baker,
1882—83; Martin Keller, 1884—87; George H. Blanchard, 1888—90; Edward F. Keller, 1891; Frederick Lehning, 1892—94;
George H. Blanchard, 1895—97.
In the fall of 1803 Charles and Oliver Johnson, brothers, purchased a tract of land, upon which Charles settled
with his family in the spring of 1804. This land was selected near the site of Boston Center and was afterward
occupied by John Anthony. On a thirty-acre tract near there were then the ruins of an old fort. Oliver Johnson,
Samuel Beebe and Samuel Eaton also located in the neighborhood in 1804. In 1805 Deacon Richard Cary, a Revolutionary
soldier, came in with his wife and eight children; he was father of Calvin, Richard and Luther Cary and grandfather
of Van Rensselaer R. Cary. Jonathan Bump, Calvin Doolittle, Job Palmer, Maj. Benjamin Whaley and Joseph Yaw were
settlers of 1806; Serrill Alger, William Cook and Ethan Howard located in town in 1807; and Asa Carey, a brother
of Richard, came in 1808. Joseph Yaw erected the first grist mill in Boston, and in the same year Joel Beebe, a
little son of Samuel, was accidentally killed by a falling log; this is thought to have been the first white death
in the town. Dorastus and Edward Hatch, Benjamin Kester and Lemuel Parmely were settlers of 1811. Among other early
citizens were Elihu Johnson, son of Charles; Hiram Yaw, for twenty years a justice of the peace; Truman Cary, father
of D. A. and Truman S. Cary; and Jeremiah and John Kester, both long-time justices of the peace; the latter was
father of Stephen Kester, also a magistrate.
Other prominent early settlers were John C. Twining, the Torrey family, Edward
Churchill, John Anthony, Diebold J. Heinrich, Erastus and Col. Uriah Torrey, and Taicott Patchin; among the later
corners were George Brindley, Jesse and Orrin Lockwood, Martin Keller, Charles Baker, Jacob Bastian, Hiram A. Curran,
William Curran, Dr. Lewis L. Davis, Elisha A. Griffith, Allen Griffith, Seymour J, Lockwood, Peter Murray, Aaron
W. Skinner, Joseph Chapin, Frederick S. Jones, Perez Cobb, W. H. Lawrence, Walter B. Smith, William Olin, Frederick
Siehl, Theodore Potter, Henry Smith, Joel Irish, Amos Rockwood, Comfort Knapp, Hiram Horton, James Rathbun, Joshua
Agard, Oliver Dutton and Rufus Ingalls.
One of the most celebrated tragedies that was ever enacted in Erie county occurred near North Boston on December
15, 1824, when Nelson, Isaac and Israel Thayer, jr., brothers, murdered John Love, an unmarried Scotchman, at the
house of Israel Thayer, near which they buried his body in a shallow grave. The three Thayers were convicted and
executed on Niagara Square, Buffalo, on June 7, 1825, in the presence of an immense crowd of people. This case
is too well known in history to require further notice here.
Patchin (locally known as Boston Center) is a postal hamlet near the center of the town and near the site of the
first settlements. About 1820 Talcott Patchin established a tannery there which he carried on for several years.
T.his was followed by another, which in 1857 passed to Michael Stephan, who was succeeded in 1874 by his sons,
Anthony C., George L., Jacob P. and Michael S. The first hotel was erected by Frederick Jones. A post-office was
established in 1850 with George Brindley as postmaster; Van Rensselaer R. Cary afterward held the office for fourteen
years, and later Michael Flickenger was appointed. Within recent years William Curran established a small boot
and shoe factory. Besides a store or two there is a saw mill owned by the Haab estate, the barrel factory of John
Gasper, and the tannery above mentioned. About 1811 a Baptist church was organized and a small meetting house erected
near the present edifice, which was built by the Universalists.
Boston, or Boston Corners, was originally known as Torrey’s Corners, from the Torrey family; in 1820 the post-office,
named Boston, was established with Erastus Torrey as postmaster. It became the chief business center of the town.
Demas Jenks started a distillery about 1818. In 1861- Anthony Weber established a hardware store; later merchants
are Peter Murray, Canfield & Snyder, B. Canfield & Co., E. E. Blakeley and J. Besanson. S. N. Blakeley
opened a harness shop several years ago. On October 29, 1893, a disastrous fire destroyed twelve buildings, including
two hotels and the store of Peter Murray. The place now contains four churches, two general stores, a saw mill
and barrel factory owned by Anthony Gasper, a tin and light hardware manufactory owned by Anthony Weber, and a
few shops, etc. A Baptist church was organized April 4, 1812, with eleven members, and May 9, 1818, took the name
of the “Baptist Church of Boston.” An edifice was erected in 1834. The German Evangelical church was formed with
twenty members in 1834, and for many years Rev. Jacob Bastian was its pastor. The Methodist Episcopal church was
organized in 1840 and erected an edifice, which gave place to a new structure in 1852. The Evangelical Lutheran
St. Matthias church was organized April 14, 1854, with ten members, and erected a building on East Hill in 1861;
a parsonage and parochial school was built in 1875. St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic church was organized and
erected a brick edifice in 1869; later a parochial school was added. Most of the communicants of this church are
North Boston is a small hamlet in the northern part of the town, and for many years was a favorite meeting place
for political conventions. It has had a saw mill since about 1816, the present one being owned by Stephen Kester.
About 1848 Martin Keller opened a general store and hotel, which he kept many years. The only other industry, besides
a store or two and a few shops, is the cheese factory of Willis Jefferson. A Friends meeting house was erected
here at a very early date. Rev. John Spencer organized a Presbyterian church which built an edifice in 1837; the
building was finally sold to St. Paul’s German United Evangelical church, which was incorporated in 1857.