Holmes Tavern Credited with Earliest Post Office & Other Local Firsts

By Traci Langworthy
Now and Then, Sheridan Historical Society, Sheridan, New York, Spring 2004 Newsletter, p. 7.

Perhaps the most historic of Sheridan’s early taverns was the establishment opened by Massachusetts native Orsamus Holmes as early as 1806. A Revolutionary War veteran who had been taken prisoner twice and imprisoned in Quebec by the British, Holmes might have shared stories with his guests about the harrowing days he spent in the wilderness of Lower Canada in 1778, after making his escape. More than a quarter century later, his new life in the veritable wilderness of early Sheridan placed him at the center of another story – the story of a new community’s founding.

After visiting the area in 1804, Holmes returned to Sheridan in the winter of 1804-1805 with his two sons, Alanson and Origen, and soon purchased several parcels of land on Holland Land Company Lots 43, 44, 53 and 60. His wife, Ruth (Webb), and remaining children followed in June of 1805. Within the first year, the family had to cope with the death of Origen, at age 18, on Jan. 1, 1806. While the cause went undocumented, his passing was the first recorded in the new settlement. Soon after, another historical record confirms the Holmeses had already begun welcoming neighbors and strangers into their frontier home. In June of 1806, the first post office in modern-day Sheridan – and only the second in the county – opened at the Holmes tavern, with Orsamus as the postmaster.

Although it was located about 4 miles to the east, Holmes’ post office took its name from the nearby community of Canadaway, now known as Fredonia. Previous to the establishment of the Pomfret post office in 1809, many of Holmes’ customers probably came from Fredonia and the surrounding frontier, since the only other post office in the county was located in Westfield. In fact, the first mail route into modern-day Chautauqua County was established only a few months before Orsamus’ post office opened. The mail carrier, John Edwards of Ontario County, traveled on foot between modern-day Buffalo and Erie, Pa., once every two weeks.

On the heels of postal delivery, the Holmes tavern also offered area residents another early service. In 1807, men who were eligible to vote cast their ballots for state governor in the first election to be canvassed in present-day Chautauqua County. Polling continued over the course of three days in April, with the first day held in Bemus Point, the second in Westfield and the third day split between Hezekiah Barker’s house in Fredonia and Holmes’ house in Sheridan.

While much has been documented about the tavern, however, at least one mystery remains. Different sources disagree about the location of the building, and no information exists about its fate after Orsamus’ death. Together, various clues place it somewhere near the intersection of New Road on either side of present-day Route 20.

In all, Orsamus and Ruth Holmes were the parents of 11 children, two of whom died at a young age. Their daughter Ruth, married Dr. John Marshall, the first county clerk, and was the only member of the family to remain in Western New York in later years.

John and Ruth Marshall’s son, Orsamus Holmes Marshall, went on to hold several prestigious posts in Buffalo, including the presidencies of the Buffalo Historical Society, Buffalo Female Academy and University of Buffalo, and an appointment as U.S. commissioner by the U.S. Circuit Court for the Northern District of New York. He also was an accomplished historian who wrote about the early exploration of the Great Lakes region.

As noted in the Buffalo Gazette, the Canadaway post office closed in the fall of 1817. In about 1833, Orsamus and Ruth moved to Killbuck, Ohio, where their oldest surviving son, Abner, lived with his family. Orsamus died there only two years later, at age 78. Ruth died less than two months afterward.