WELLSVILLE — The Nathaniel Dike Museum hosted members of the Nathaniel Dike family during a special visit on Sunday.

Rebecca Abbey, the 10th generation relative of Dike, brought her daughters and grandchildren to the museum to learn about their family history. Sara and Allison and grandsons Gavin, Stephen and Wyatt made the morning ride from their homes in Rochester, at the north end of the Genesee River, to visit the museum.

Abbey explained that her grandson, Gavin, a ninth-grade student, was researching his family history for a German class, which he is taking.

“I just wanted them to know about their family’s history,” Abby said.

Gavin Abbey holds items housed in the Nathaniel Dike Museum, made by his 12th great-grandfather, Nathaniel Dike.

They spent about 90 minutes at the museum, which has some artifacts wrought by Dike, who settled in the Elm Valley area in 1791 with his family. They were the first permanent white settlers in the area. At that time, Allegany County was the wilderness and designated as “Indian territory” — it was land where the Seneca Nation had lived. Settlers were prohibited from crossing a line of demarcation that  stretched from Lake Ontario southward into Pennsylvania, crossing the western boundary of the town of Andover.

Dike, a Connecticut Yankee, was part of the Lexington Alarm and served as a private in the militia. After the Revolutionary War, he moved his family west into Pennsylvania and then followed Purdy Creek through Canisteo and into what would become Allegany County.

Abbey and her family enjoyed browsing through the museum and discovering the family tree and newspaper articles about the family in the Dike family file, part of the museum’s archives.

Abbey contacted the museum nearly two months ago to arrange for the Sunday afternoon visit. The museum is open on Wednesdays between 1 and 4 p.m. from May through the end of October; however, arrangements can be made to tour the museum at other times. Call (585) 610-5343 or the numbers listed on the Wellsville NY Nathaniel Dike Museum Facebook page.

Before leaving the museum to head to Arcade, Abbey and family were directed to Nathaniel Dike’s grave marker in Elm Valley to pay their respects. The gravesite was marked by the Daughters of the American Revolution in the early 1900s and re-marked a few years ago when a roadside historical marker was erected on Route 19 near the site.

It points the way to Dike’s resting place — a short walk uphill to the cemetery site.