"Previous to the advent of the white man this town, and in fact the whole valley of the Canisteo, was the abiding place and favorite hunting and fishing grounds of the American Indians. The region was originally the land of the Senecas, but by sufferance the Delawares were permitted to occupy portions of it. We are told that within the limits of this town was once the Indian village of 'Kanestio,' where also lived a number of deserters from the British army and other renegades from the white settlements. The murder of two Dutch traders by these outlaws brought upon them the vengeance of Sir William Johnson, and the result was the destruction of their settlement."