Helm to visit some friends living in Canandaigua and Geneva.

This was in the winter of 1814.

I went first to Geneva; from there to Canandaigua.

Between the two villages I met a company of United States' troops, returning from Buffalo, where they had been to repel an invasion of the British.
The two villages above named, were small but very pretty, having been laid out with taste and great care.

Some wealthy and enterprising gentlemen had come from the East into this great Western country, who were making every improvement in their power.