Gannagaro was a very large village of about 150 houses; and had a population of 2,000 or 3,000, as each long house was the home of from two to six families. It was situated on a large hill, called Boughton Hill , which rises immediately south of the little station at Victor on the Auburn branch of the New York Central Railroad.
About one mile and a quarter westerly, on an eminence, called by the early settlers "Fort Hill," was a fortified enclosure, which could be used as a place of protection for women and children in case of an attack on Gannagaro.
Gannagaro was called St. James' by the Jesuits; and it was Ga-o-sa-eh-ga-aah in the Seneca tongue. The Rev. James Pierron came here in 1672, as the first resident missionary.
Gannougarae, or Gandougarae, was about four miles southward of Gannagaro, on the banks of a stream called Mud Creek, in the northeast part of the present town of East Bloomfield. It was called St. Michael's by the Jesuits, and was composed almost entirely of Huron, Neuter, and Onnontioga captives. A large number of these Hurons were Christians; and it was here that Father Fremin established his residence in the fall of 1669. A chapel was soon built, and Father Fremin said his first mass here November 3, 1669.
- I need to get a copy of Father McNamara's history of the Diocese of Rochester, plus some Gates history books (I have a couple, bu they are packed away somewhere!)
Pax et bonum
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