Personalities

Town of Canandaigua Personalities

• George Hickox was one of the Town's first European settler farmers in 1793. A believer in rotation farming he was one of the prominent and leading agriculturists of the county.
• John B. Cooley - the only son of John Cooley who died at forty-eight years old, farmed his father's sixty-five acre farm from the time he was twelve years old. He raised sheep, swine, cows, and cash cropped wheat to support his two wives and twelve children. He is credited with the help of other farmers for forming the Ontario Agricultural Society.
• General Israel Chapin was the first Town Supervisor serving from 1791-1795. He was also the First Assembly Representative for Ontario County in 1792.
• James D. Fish was the elected the First Town Clerk at the second (yearly) town meeting in April 1792.
• Reverend John Smith was a member of the Dighton, MA group that purchased Range 3, Township #9 (Phelps and Gorham Purchase) which constitutes the south half of the Town of Canandaigua. He is believed to have preached the first sermon in Canandaigua in 1791. He played a significant role in the establishment of Canandaigua Academy and, with Oliver Phelps, created the "Academy Tract" in support of the Academy.
• Zadok Hunn, one of the earliest pioneers who came to Canandaigua in 1795, was a Congregational minister who founded nine Congregational Churches in and about the county.
• Ira Cribb, father of Fred Cribb (Supreme Court Justice of Onario County) and grandfather of Joe Cribb (Surrogate Court Justice of Ontario County), served as Town Highway Superintendent, Town Supervisor, and NYS Supervisor of Highways, and, due to his development of oil and stone (macadamized) road treatment, became known as the "Father of Modern Highways".
• Sybley Ebeneezer Nott, veteran of the Civil War, member of Charles Lilly G.A.R. (Cheshire), school teacher, Cheshire Postmaster, and Canandaigua Justice of the Peace.
• Isaac Parrish, son of Jasper Parrish (Indian Interpreter for Col. Timothy Pickering), and pilot of the first Steamboat to ply Canandaigua Lake, the Lady of the Lake. He built the cobblestone home on West Lake Road, now a B&B, and thought to be a stop on the Underground Railroad in later years.
• Caleb Gage brought in the first mower, from Buffalo, in 1844.
• The first McCormick reaper was brought in by David and Frank Bates between 1825 and 1844, which they used on other area farmers lands.