The oldest house in the village of Oakfield, according to current tax records. Photo courtesy of the Genesee County Real Property Tax Department. This residence, located at 12 North Pearl St., was built in 1820. When early settler Daniel Hosselkus moved to Oakfield in 1829, there were only two houses in the village, this one and 5 Main St., built in 1824 and also still standing. Actually, the tax records indicate 52 N Pearl was built in 1828, which would have been three houses in the village at the time. Just to the north of 12 N Pearl St., at the creek were salt springs, Oakfield's earliest industry. Later there was an ashery, where wood was burned to create ashes for fertilizer and lye for soap. Not far behind the house was the mill pond, a large reservoir created to provide water power for the grain and plaster mills of Calvin Nobles. The ashery, pond and mills are no longer there. Early settler Grace Hill lived in this house from 1840 until 1903. When she died, Sarah Hill, her daughter, continued to live here. The Hill family is buried in the Cary Seminary. When I grew up in Oakfield back in the fifties, I never realized the village got its start where N Pearl St. crosses the creek.
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