USA > New York > Otsego County > Maryland > A concise history of the town of Maryland from its first settlement. Its geography, productions and striking events; also, the history of the first settlement of the village of Schenevus > Part 1
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GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01177 8427
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A
LL
A CONCISE HISTORY
OF THE
TOWN OF MARYLAND
NEW YORK FROM ITS FIRST SETTLEMENT.
Its Geography, Productions and Striking Events;
ALSO, THE HISTORY OF
The First Settlement of the Village of Schenevus,
ITS ORIGIN, ITS EARLY AND LATER PROGRESS, ITS VILLAGE ORGANIZATION AND DATE OF CHARTER, WITH ITS PRESENT POPULATION, NUMBER OF BUILDINGS, AND ITS BUSINESS DIRECTORY.
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BY A. HOTCHKIN.
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SCHENEVUS : MONITOR BOOK AND NEWSPAPER PRINTING ESTABLISHMENT.
1876.
Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1875, by A. HOTCHKIN, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.
1141241
PREFACE -
So brief a title can only indicate the contents of the work in the gross, or aggregation ; but it may be said it was prepared at the request of many worthy persons, that in as brief and cheap a form as possible (accessible to all) the history of the first settlers in an unbroken wilderness, their toils, privations and hardships, with their names, might be handed down to posterity ; also amusing anecdotes, humor and wit of early times.
With other things, it gives the date and organization of the several churches, and erection of their houses of worship, cost, seating capacity, &c. ; number of school districts, aggregate value of school houses, number of scholars, and average attendance at school; number of square miles within the town boundary ; number of acres of land, assessed value ; names of owners of tracts of land, called patents, &c., &c.
In short, a great amount of valuable and interesting information in small compass. Unlike gazetteers, which are " made to sell," and the contents of which are usually drawn from the imperfect and treacherous memory of the " oldest inhabitant," facts have been gathered from the best and all available sources. Recollections and statements of the " oldest inhabitants " have not only been compared with cach other, but with written mem- oranda, and been digested, criticised and sifted till the facts alone were left.
Family records and papers, title deeds, conveyances, and all available papers bearing on the subject, have been examined. Records in the clerks offices of Wor- cester and Maryland; also, records in the clerks offices in Tryon, Montgomery and Otsego counties have been carefully searched and examined, and some papers re- lating to the old town of Worcester, never in the clerk's office, but found among the papers of the first Super- visor ; the " Annals of Tryon County," by Judge W. W. Campbell, a sufferer in the massacre of Cherry Valley ; and all books, charts and maps bearing on the matter have been examined, and the utmost care and pains taken to make the work correct and reliable. Yet, should any material error be detected, before all landmarks are removed by death, and be pointed out, the discoverer will receive the thanks of
THE AUTHOR.
CONTENTS. -
CHAPTER I.
Erection of the Town of Maryland-Its First Settlers- Where they Located-Where From-Early Remin- iscenes.
CHAPTER II.
Churches and Schools.
CHAPTER III.
First of Roseville, now Chaseville.
CHAPTER IV. Geography of Maryland-Its Productions-Its Pros- perity.
CHAPTER V. Striking Events-Wit and Humor.
CHAPTER VI. Schenevus-Its Origin-Its Settlement-Its Progress, and its Business Directory-Conclusion,
CHAPTER I.
ERECTION OF THE TOWN OF MARYLAND.
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Otsego county was erected from Montgomery Feb- ruary 16th, 1791, and had two towns-Otsego and Cherry Valley. The town of Worcester was formed from Cherry Valley March 3d, 1797, and Westford, Decatur, and Maryland, were taken from Worcester and formed into towns March 25th, 1808.
The close observing reader will notice that while this work purports to be the first settlement of the town of Maryland, and gives the names of first settlers, that those persons actually settled in the town of Cherry Valley, and after a residence in that town, and in the county of Montgomery one year, they became residents of Otsego county, but still were residents of the town of Cherry Valley six years longer. They then, in 1797, became residents of the town of Worcester, and so con- tinned to be eleven years longer.
There were earlier settlers in Cherry Valley, and earlier settlers in that part of the town now called Worcester; but as this work was intended to treat, and that briefly, of Maryland, it was thought it would be better understood by the mass of readers, and to make less confusion if the settlers were placed under the name
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of the town, which was given afterwards to the place where they settled.
As the forest was gradually felled, more settlers came in, the subject of a division of the town, to lessen the traveling distance of many voters, sprang up, was dis- cussed, and in time produced considerable agitation. To halve it, divide east and west, or north and south, did not please all the people as nearly as it did to quarter it ; yet the population was so sparse the latter division seemed objectionable. But time wore along, population increased, and in 1808 the people agreed the town should be divided into four parts. But names for each division now came up, and produced considerable agitation. The Creator, according to the best of His wisdom, saw fit to number the days and months, but the gods who came after him, called heathen, desired names for each, and their followers, agreeing with them, gave each the name of a god. Each division, probably, had no heathen god to name after, yet they might have had idols, pets, or hobbies. At any rate the people were descendants of English ancestors, and it will be seen they gave cach division a name which is to this day familiar to many of their cousins across the water.
It has been reported one white man, a Tory, was in the new town of Maryland at the time of the Revolution- ary War. It may have been so, for Indians were there in 1776 and before, and a white man might have been with them ; but, if such is a fact, the writer would like to find some evidence of it, and more especially if he struck any blows towards a settlement. It is certain white men were there during the war, but they were the
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men who were in pursuit of Tories and Indians, and if any Tory had made a settlement there it would seem pretty certain he would have been found and have been exterminated. The Indian-slayer, Timothy Murphy, and his co-worker, Colonel Harper, scouted some through the (so-called) Worcester towns.
The first settlement of which there is any authentic evidence was in 1790. This year there came in from Columbia county Israel and Eliphas Spencer, brothers ; Phineas Spencer, a cousin, and Elisha Chamberlin, and settled near the center of the now town of Maryland and the Maryland station on the Albany and Susquehanna railroad.
The two latter settled on "State's land," on the hill, about one and one-fourth miles north of east from the Maryland station. Eliphas Spencer built a house about three-fourths of a mile east from the station, at the foot of the hill some ten rods north of the present highway. The site is now marked by some square and smooth-faced rocks that then formed his cellar wall, a little north of the house, called the Jared M. Chamberlin house. Near those rocks there is now standing a Lombardy poplar which was brought as a whip stick from Columbia county and there stuck in the ground.
Israel Spencer settled on the south side of the Schenevus creek, on lands that were long afterwards occupied by his descendants.
Josiah Chase and Joshua Bigelow came in in 1791, and bought a thousand acre lot of land on which they each put up a log house ; the former a little east of the junction of the Elk creek with the Schenevus creek, and
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where now stands the house occupied by J. T. Thomp- son ; and the latter where now is the junction of the Elk creek road with the Schenevus creek road, and on the site of the house now occupied by S. R. Slingerland.
As much of the village of Schenevus is on that lot, it requires something more than a passing notice : Its eastern boundary crossed what is now called Main street of the village, near the foot of the hill, and between the premises of the widow Caroline Cyphers and of that occupied by O. D. Walker, and on the east side of the premises of A. Hotchkin, and extended north and south on the hills or mountains. Its extent west was over a mile, and crossed the road some fourth of a mile west of Elk creek, and near some rocks at the side of the road, and which did somewhat obstruct it before being partially removed. It covers all of what are called the " Flats."
The owners of the tract or lot made a division of it, north and south, and Chase, who took the west half, sold a piece of it, on the north end, to John Tuthill, who came in and made settlement soon after Chase. Another lot, next to Tuthill, he sold to his son-in-law, Daniel Seaver, mentioned hereafter, who came in with him.
Bigelow sold the north part of his half to Asa Hough- ton, a relative of Jotham Houghton, mentioned in another part of this work, who built a house on a spot afterwards called the " Fellows lot," and at the time of writing occupied by Mr. Banner. Asa Houghton married his cousin, a daughter of Jotham Houghton, and by her he had a son to whom he gave the name of his mother's father.
Peter Roman, mentioned hereafter, bought the re-
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mainder of Bigelow's land. Edward Goddard, mentioned hereafter, came in about 1793, and bought part of the Tuthill lot, the " Flats," twenty-five acres of State's land, and he afterwards became owner of the Asa Hough- ton farm. Not far from this time came in Nathaniel Hazen, mentioned in other portions of this work, from New Hampshire, as were Josiah Chase, Bigelow, Daniel Seaver and Edward Goddard.
About 1793 came Jotham Houghton, with his two sons, Jerahamel and Daniel, and settled on the south side of Schenevus creek near where now is Chaseville. Not far from this time came Wilder Rice, Ezekiel Rice, and John Rice, and settled not far from Houghton. Soon came Caleb Boynton and settled higher up the Schenevus creek near what is now the line between Worcester and Maryland, and about the same time Joseph Howe settled on the Elk creek.
About 1794 came John Thompson with his two sons, John and James, and settled near where has been called the " foot of Cromhorn," and near the same time James Morehouse, who, like the Thompsons, was from Colum- bia county, N. Y., and settled at the junction of the " Platt and Schenevus" creeks. At an early day came Jacob Schemmerhorn and settled a little east of the present boundary of Schenevus. After the " Spencer mills," mentioned hereafter, were built, he built a grist mill not far from his residence, on the Schenevus creek, which did some business, but was soon destroyed by fire. A portion of the timber and lumber saved from this fire, was used in building the " frame " house after- wards known as the " Silas Follett house." A Mr. Cole-
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grove, and Silas and Luther Follett, from New Hamp- shire, soon came in; the latter settled within the now limits of Schenevus, and erected a house where now stands the house of R. C. Wilson. About 1794 a Mr. " Sisko " built a log house on the site of the upper or east tavern in Schenevus, of whom this work treats here- after, and kept a tavern.
The first mills were built in 1794, and were called the " Spencer mills." It may be mentioned that about that time Jotham Houghton erected a saw mill near where the road now crosses the Schenevus creek east from now Chaseville,and when nearly finished built a dam across the stream. But it was found that in the filling of the dam and raising of the water it overflowed the " flats," and Mr. Rice, who had a house on the south side of the stream and near the bridge, and owned the "flats," ob- jected to having a dam there, and thereupon Mr. Hough- ton abandoned the project of having a mill in that place, and built his saw mill near where the Spencers built their grist mill, and drew water to turn the wheel from the same pond.
These mills were built near where now is the Maryland station on the Albany and Susquehanna railroad, and where there are now mills.
The grist mill was built by Israel and Eliphas Spencer. A laughable anecdote has been related, showing the temper and and humor of "early times," and has its date at the building of these mills. A " dandefied" personage, for those times, and not overstocked with brains or love of work, was with the company who were at work on the dam. Sitting about, and often in the
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way, he complained of thirst,-wanted water, water, water, until he exhausted the patience of the " boss," Phineas Spencer, who, being a man of muscle and action, seized the fellow by the nape of the neck and plunged him headlong into the pond where the water was ten feet deep, with the sharp expression, " Get some water and be d -- d !"
This grist mill was considered a great thing in those early days, and caused a great amount of talk and re- joicing. The frequent weary .pilgrimage with a little grist to Schoharie, or to Cherry Valley, and the going supperless to bed because disappointed in the early arrival from the mill with a little flour or meal, was at an end. It can hardly be realized now.
It may here be mentioned that Mr. Phineas Spencer was the first carpenter and joiner in town, the first stone mason, chair and cabinet maker, plow maker and coffin maker. Carpenters in those days worked by " scribe rule" instead of " square rule." "Pod augers " were used, no " screw augers " being then made. All fram- ing timbers were hewed-rafters, girts, braces and all. Joists and studs were little used, as no houses were plastered, and posts, sills and beams were so near together the floors could be laid and the houses be "sided" and ceiled on them. Heavy, strong timbers were used. There is now standing a barn, built by Mr. Spencer, that has a white oak sill ten by eighteen inches.
The " bull plows" of those days might be quite a curiosity to those who never saw one. All of wood, except the share, which was of " wrought iron," with
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a steel-pointed front end, or " shear," as it was called. The mould board was split from an oak tree that " woind against the sun." Harrows, or " drags," as they were called, were " three-cornered" and were made from the fork of a " crotched " tree.
As the dead could not then as now ride to the " city of the dead " in " splendid " carriages, and be " buried " with pomp and splendor, the poor went to the grave as " decently " as the rich. Coffins were pine boards, nailed together with " wrought nails," as no " cut nails " were then made, and the black ashes of straw burned in an iron kettle and wet with water were used to color them black. This was put on with a woolen rag, brushes being scarce articles. For many years Mr. Spencer made all the coffins for a large circuit, and would take no pay for them. The dead were buried by their neigh- bors free of charge.
The first tavern was by Josiah Chase, familiarly called " Landlord Chase." It was in a log house about eighty rods north of east from the junction of the Elk creek with the Schenevus creek, and occupied the site where now is the house owned and occupied by J. T. Thomp- son. There is a yarn told of the power of Landlord Chase's lungs, which, although his were considered a little above the average for strength, is a pretty strong point in evidence that in those days when people neces- sarily had to breathe purer air than now in their tight and illy ventilated rooms they can, their lungs were wore sound and strong than now.
Landlord Chase had a little son named Josiah, a mettlesome fellow, who, for sheer fun, mounted a
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spirited but tame colt in a pasture, with neither bridle or halter on him. The colt, seeming to enjoy the sport as well as the boy, commenced a race around the field, with evident signs of darting into the woods. The father, seeing the imminent danger the little. son was in, called out to him, " Stick to him, 'Siah !- Stick to him, 'Siah !- Stick to him, 'Sialı !"-and 'Siah did stick to him, and was safely rescued, and the father's voice was distinctly heard by men in the now town of Worcester, three and a half miles away.
In 1795 several more families came in from Columbia county, and among them were Samuel Hotchkin and Nathaniel Rose, and the latter soon opened a tavern at the now Maryland railroad station, or a few rods north. The house stood on the corner formed by the junction of the " Whitney brook " road with the Schenevus creek road, on the north side of the latter and the west side of the former. We will here anticipate a little : A tavern was opened and kept by Amos Spencer about three miles west of the Maryland, station, and at the place where the late Uriah Spencer was born and died. The sign, at the time of this writing, is still in existence, and bears the date of 1802.
Soon after opening his tavern Mr. Rose bought a farm adjoining his for his brother, Eli, and built a tavern house on it about half a mile from his own house. In 1813 this farm and tavern were sold to Jonathan Milk, and the house was burned down and another one erected on the same site some eight years thereafter. Previous to this, 1817, Simon Shutts had lost a log house and barn by fire, and Allen Ainsworth a blacksmith shop, the latter near the tavern.
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It is claimed the first marriage was that of Amaziah Whitney to Sally Boynton, and the next, Daniel Seaver and a daughter of " Landlord " Chase ; but the earliest record found of a marriage is that of Samuel Hotchkin and Mary (then called Polly) Spencer, in January, 1804. The earliest records of a school taught was by Mary, or, as then called, Polly Spencer, near the now Maryland station, and the second by Luna Chamberlin.
The first birth is claimed to be that of Warren God- dard, and the next that of Hannah Seaver; but, it is claimed, Leafy Seaver was the first birth after the town was set off from Worcester and christened with the name of Maryland, and that she received her appropriate name from the fact of her being born in a leafy forest.
The first death was that of John Rice, who was killed by the falling of a tree near the place where the Schenevus station of the Albany and Susquehanna rail- road now is. He was interred where now is the Sche- nevus cemetery.
Rufus Draper had the first wool carding machine. It was located on the Elk creek not far from where H. M. Hanor's saw mill is now.
- Stephen G. Virgil had the first cloth dressing and fulling mill. It was at the place now called Roseville.
Records make it appear that Edward Goddard was Supervisor of the town of Worcester before the division of the town, and Supervisor of Maryland from its erec- tion in 1808 to 1825, when he declined a re-election, from a desire to visit his friends in New Hampshire. Evidently of the old school of office-holders-old fogy.
It appears John Chase was the first Town Clerk, D.
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Houghton the first Justice, with John Tuthill and A. Colegrove, J. Houghton and Heman Chamberlin the first Commissioners of Highways. The first highway work of the Commissioners was to " lay out a road by Daniel Seaver's south to the Schenevus creek road," now Main street in Schenevus, and intersected the latter near where the road now is that passes Morse & Gleason's tannery. In the corner formed by the junction of these two roads was a log school house, the first in the now School District No 4, and believed to have been built as early as any in the new town.
The next road was in 1810, and was the straightening of the road running by Josiah Chase's and Peter Roman's to a stake standing in front of Nathaniel Hazen's black- smith shop. This is what is now called Main street in Schenevus, and originally run around or south of the hill called " burying ground hill," or south of the now M. E. meeting house in Schenevus. In making it straight was running it north of the present house and over the hill.
Nathaniel, or Doctor Hazen, as he was called, had a house some feet south of the house occupied by the widow Hannah C. Cooley, or the bank of J. T. Thomp- son, and his blacksmith shop stood some feet south of German Wright's house. His cellar was built of tim- ber, and was in the bank, or hill, about where the sash and blind factory now stands. He made " hatchets," a few tools, and some other light articles.
The road from Chaseville east originally run on the low ground near the creek to the Sparrowhawk.
In 1813 the Schenevus creek road, now Main street,
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was again improved-run straight from the south side of the burying ground to the south side of David Benedict's house, now the upper or east tavern. This was the north side of the road ; a blind record, but, of course, would be understood to cover the then road to the stake of 1810, opposite Dr. Hazen's shop, and then pass east- ward the same width.
Not far from this time the road known as the Elk creek road was " laid out," and the road passing Daniel Seaver's was discontinued. The latter was a private road, or a road to accommodate the Seaver family ; and as the Elk creek road touched the Seaver farm, the family could reach it without crossing the land of neigh- bors. The Elk creek road intersected the Schenevus creek road where it now does.
Edward Goddard was the first tanner and currier and the first boot and shoe maker. His tannery was located on the west side of Elk creek, where the bridge crosses the stream north of Schenevus. He some time after- wards built a saw mill near it.
Daniel Seaver was the first cooper and the first stone mason where now is Schenevus, and as early as 1793. His shop was near his house.
Nathaniel Hazen was the first "root doctor," and Enos J. Spencer the first doctor of the alopathie school. The latter was located at or near the now Maryland railroad station. The first post-office was at the latter place, and Enos J. Spencer was the first Postmaster ; Jared M. Chamberlin, the second.
The first church (Baptist) was organized September 22d, 1808, and their house of worship was erected
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in 1816. It stood a few rods west of north from the Maryland railroad station. Rev. N. D. Wright was the first, and for twenty-five years the only " settled " pastor.
A Presbyterian church was organized near the time the Baptist church was, and their house of worship was erected in 1820. It was located about one-fourth of a mile east from the Baptist house. Rev. Mr. Ralph was the first pastor.
The first house struck by lightning was in 1821, and was owned by William Bowdish. The house was con- siderably injured, but no person hurt.
The remains of the first settlers, and many of the earliest, were interred in the " burying ground " near Maryland station. Such were the customs of the early settlers to show respect and veneration for the dead, their remains were borne on a bier to the grave by their neighbors. The remains of the first wife of Samuel Chase, a. " step-daughter " of Phineas Spencer, were, on a sweltering day, borne to the grave by neighbors, a distance of seven miles. One of the bearers, James Wilsey, died in 1872, at the advanced age of ninety- two years.
Among the official papers of Edward Goddard is found a report from the Comptroller of the State, Archibald McIntyre, to Henry Phinney, County Treasurer, of the tax of the town of Worcester for the year 1802. The report bears the date of 1811, and has interest of the portion not paid by resident rateables added, together with costs, and the entire tax, with interest and costs, was $116.38. In 1810 the number of rateables in the town of Maryland was two hundred and thirty-two,
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seventy-three of whom were residents and the balance non-residents. The total tax was $117.48. The grand levy was $97,903, and the average assessed value of the laud was $2.90 per acre. The fee for collection was three per cent. Daniel Houghton was collector.
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CHAPTER II.
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CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS.
The Baptist house of worship, before mentioned, was built for the church by Nathaniel Rose, at a cost of $800, The seating capacity was some four hundred. It had no gallery, was built on the amphitheatre style, the seats rising from the aisle, one above another, to the walls, and the pulpit was at one end, while the door and entrance was at the other.
In 1834 this denomination built a second house at Roseville, since called Chaseville, with a seating capacity of four hundred and fifty. The church and parsonage are valued at $4,050. The membership in 1871 was . eighty-five, and Rev. Hiram H. Fisher was the pastor.
In June, 1871, a Baptist church was organized in Schenevus by Rev. A. Martin, with a membership of twenty-five. The church has seating capacity for three hundred and fifty, and was erected in 1868, at a cost of $4,000.
The Presbyterian house, spoken of before, had a seat- ing capacity of some four hundred, and cost $3,000. It had a gallery and pews.
. An Episcopal Methodist church was organized in 1810, with a membership of thirteen, and John Catlin was the
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