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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47
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Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 with funding from Brigham Young University
http://www.archive.org/details/historyofcayugac00cayu
HISTORY
OF
CAYUGA COUNTY
NEW YORK
C=18h
HISTORY
OF
CAYUGA COUNTY NEW YORK
COMPILED FROM PAPERS IN THE ARCHIVES OF THE CAYUGA COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY, WITH SPECIAL CHAPTERS BY LOCAL AUTHORS FROM 1775 TO 1908
AUBURN, N. Y. 1908
1
MONOTYPED PRINTED AND BOUND BY THE JOHN P. SMITH PRINTING COMPANY ROCHESTER, N. Y.
PREFACE
The History of Cayuga County is as interesting as that of any other county in the state. It is rich and teeming with events of Indian days and the pioneer period, the records of which should be read with the keenest interest by all who are to-day enjoying the fruits of the sacrifices and achievements of the early settlers. In this volume an effort has been made to give an accurate account of the important events and incidents of the early years, and to perpetuate in print the legacies of lips now silent, in well authenticated traditions and stories of local interest. For the records of the past much valuable information has been gleaned from the papers of careful writers, in the archives of the Cayuga County Historical Society, and this has been fortified and supplemented by the assistance of able contemporary writers. We gratefully acknowledge the valuable aid of many lovers of historical literature; particularly are we indebted to Prof. Willis J. Beecher, D. D., for his admirable history of the Auburn Theological Seminary ; to Lavern A. Pierce, Esq., for his exhaustive history of the bench and bar of the county ; to Dr. B. I. C. Buckland for the chapter on the medical profession, and to Dr. William S. Cheeseman, editor of the same; also to Hon. B. B. Snow, for his valuable suggestions and painstaking revision of the history of Auburn; to Mr. Charles F. Rattigan, who edited the press chapter; to Gen. John S. Clark for valuable advice, and to the various pastors, for information relating to the history of their several churches. The publishers have given their personal attention to the supervision of the work, yet with a consciousness that the greatest vigilance cannot wholly exclude errors, this volume is respectfully submitted to the public.
THE PUBLISHERS.
THE LIBRARY BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY PROVO, UTAH
CONTENTS
xiii
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I.
THE HISTORY OF AUBURN.
The Primeval Wilderness and Its Inhabitants-The Incoming of White Men-Bounty Lands and Military Townships-The Six Town Lots on Which Auburn Stands-John I .. Hardenbergh-Hardenbergh's Corners- The Old Genesee Road
CHAPTER II.
The Early Settlers on the Site of the City-Fort Hill -The Genesee Road-The First Religious Society- The First County Seat-The New County Seat at Auburn
I9
CHAPTER III.
The First Newspaper in Auburn-Street Improve- ments-Notable Early Settlers-The Auburn Academy- Auburn in the War of 1812-Incorporation of the Vil- age-The Auburn of 1815-Building of Auburn Prison -Military Companies.
19
CHAPTER IV.
The Cayuga County Agricultural Society-Develop- ment of Manufacturing Industries-Visit of Lafayette -- Auburn Medical School-The Erie Canal and Its Effect upon the Village-The Auburn and Syracuse Railroad Company-The Panic of 1837
CHAPTER V.
Early Inns of Auburn, by B. B. Snow
CHAPTER VI.
Village Growth and Improvements-The Silk Industry in Cayuga County-Rise of the Woolen Industry-Early Newspapers-The Patriot War-Auburn Prison Troubles -Auburn Incorporated as a City
29
4C
57
I
xiv
CONTENTS
CHAPTER VII. Auburn and the Civil War. 65
CHAPTER VIII.
Establishment of Free Schools-Fort Hill Cemetery --- Improvements on the Outlet-Auburn Gas Light Company -D. M. Osborne & Company-The Financial Reaction of 1873-Establishment of the Letter Carrier System in Auburn-Notable Modern Events Connected with the City.
82
CHAPTER IX.
The Modern Auburn. IO2
CHAPTER X.
The Press, Edited by Charles F Rattigan-Auburn Manufactories-Banks and Bankers-The Gas Light Company-Wheeler Rifles IO7
CHAPTER XI.
The Schools of Auburn-History of the Auburn Acad- emy, by B. B. Snow I44
CHAPTER XII.
The Auburn Theological Seminary, by Professor Willis J. Beecher, D. D .- Protestant Churches of Auburn, by Sylvester J. Matthews, "The Antiquarian"-Catholic Churches
I74
CHAPTER XIII.
History of Cayuga County-Sullivan's Raid-Indian Reservations
CHAPTER XIV. 239
Early Settlers in the County-Military Tract-Land Grants
246
CONTENTS
CHAPTER XV. Formation of the County-Its Soil, Minerals and Products-The Salt Industry-Erection of Towns 2 59
CHAPTER XVI.
Formation of Towns 263
CHAPTER XVII.
Early Modes of Travel and Transportation-Roads, Stages and the Grand Canal-Dawn of the Railroad Era 266
CHAPTER XVIII.
Education in Cayuga County 287
CHAPTER XIX.
History of the Medical Profession of Cayuga County . .
291
CHAPTER XX.
The Bench and Bar of Cayuga County 308
CHAPTER XXI.
Towns of the County :
Aurelius.
398
Brutus
405
Cato
413
Conquest 414
Genoa.
416
Ledyard
419
Montezuma.
422
Mentz
423
Moravia.
427
Niles
430
Ira ..
431
Scipio.
432
Fleming.
433
xvi
CONTENTS
Sempronius.
433
Locke.
434
Owasco
435
Sennett
436
Springport
437
Sterling .
440
Summer Hill.
442
Throop
443
Venice
444
Victory
445
Biographical.
446
HISTORY OF CAYUGA COUNTY, NEW YORK
THE CITY OF AUBURN EDITED BY BENJAMIN B. SNOW
CHAPTER I.
The Primeval Wilderness and Its Inhabitants-The Incoming of White Men -- Bounty Land and Military Townships-The Six Town Lots-John L. Hardenbergh -Hardenbergh's Corners -- The Old Genesee Road.
When the War of the Revolution began, the site of the City of Auburn was covered by a dense, luxuriant forest. Where the white man now pursues his varied vocations in the busy hive of a city, the red man then hunted game in the primeval wilderness. This spot was a part of the land of the Cayugas. Their wigwams dotted the wooded slopes and their papooses played amid the trees where now the children of the white man throng to school. The smoke of their campfires has faded into the upper blue now dark- ened by the belching chimneys of busy factories.
From the view-point of the historian, this transformation was almost incredibly swift, for although a century and a quarter has elapsed since the Cayugan was monarch of this region, the years that witnessed his decline and fall were few. In 1775 the tribe dwelt peacefully upon one of the richest and fairest domains of
1
2
HISTORY OF CAYUGA COUNTY
the earth; in 1779 Sullivan's raid shattered them as a nation, and before the year 1800 they had vanished completely from their western Eden. The war which they did nothing to provoke, the causes of which they probably never understood, wrought their ruin.
Soon after the close of the War of the Revolution the whites began to encroach upon the lake region and the remnant of the Cayugas retreated before the wave of civilization. The year 1789 found them a broken tribe, bereft of much of their ancient pride, and they were selling their old hunting grounds and moving toward the setting sun.
In that year also, the first general subdivision of the western part of the State of New York into townships was made by Simeon DeWitt, the surveyor general. According to that survey, the principal part of what is now Cayuga County was embraced in the town of Batavia. The town of Aurelius was erected therefrom January 27, 1789, and comprised all that part of Cayuga County lying north of a line running from east to west and passing through the southern part of the village of Union Springs. The eastern part of the town of Aurelius was destined to become the site of the City of Auburn.
The town of Aurelius was one of the so-called "Military Town- ships" of which a full account is given in another chapter, along with full data relating to the Military Tract and the land bounties awarded to patriot soldiers of the Revolution.
Care should be taken to discriminate between the "Towns" which were civil divisions and the "Military Townships" which were laid out for convenience in distributing the bounties to soldiers -for instance the township of Aurelius was ten miles square and included the present towns of Fleming, Owasco, Auburn, Sennett, Throop and that part of Aurelius lying east of the Cayuga Reserva- tion. The town of Aurelius, a civil division set off from Batavia
3
CITY OF AUBURN
(which seems to have included a large part of the western part of the State), included all of the present Cayuga County lying north of the present towns of Scipio and Niles.
The soldiers who composed Sullivan's army in his raid upon the Cayugas and Senecas to chastise them for their attacks upon the homes of Americans and for their aid to the British, brought back East the most glowing accounts of the beauty and fertility of the country about the seven lakes. The spies sent into Canaan to spy out the land brought back no fairer reports, and, as this intelligence began to spread, intending settlers commenced to turn their eyes toward the lake region. But speculators who held large numbers of soldiers' claims managed to induce the State authorities to delay a final settlement until the more favored districts could be purchased from the Indians. This right was acquired in 1789 and the surveyor-general proceeded with his survey, and was instructed to locate the bounty lands in the Indian territories.
When the Cayugas sold their lands to the State, they reserved a strip of land some three miles wide on the east shore of Cayuga Lake, extending from Montezuma to near the village of Auburn. This was known as the "East Cayuga Reservation." It is probable that the Cayugas were herded upon this reservation until they sold it to the State and were given lands farther west, near the end of the eighteenth century.
Cayuga County was, at that time, covered by a heavy forest which could with difficulty be penetrated except by the Indian trails. In 1791, these trails were widened by a party of wood- choppers sent out for that purpose, and immediately settlers began to come in.
But the records which constitute the first chapter in the history proper of Auburn relate to the six town lots upon which the city stands. These lots were designated by the surveyor-general upon his map of the original township of Aurelius by the numbers
4
HISTORY OF CAYUGA COUNTY
thirty-seven, thirty-eight, forty-six, forty-seven, fifty-six and fifty-seven. They present the appearance of three tiers of two each, the first two comprising the northern, the second two the middle and the last two the southern tier. They were awarded to veterans of the Revolutionary Army, but none of the soldiers ever occupied them. They fell into the hands of speculators and through them passed into the possession of actual settlers.
Lot number thirty-seven, upon which stands the northwest portion of Auburn, was granted to George Weaver, a private of the First New York, July 8, 1790, who sold it to Michael Overacker. After passing through the hands of Major Albert Paulding, or Pawling, the title to the lot was made out to Robert Dill, of New- burgh, Orange County, on December 12, 1791, and a patent was issued to him by the State. Private Weaver seems to have had no scruple about issuing deeds of the same lot to different persons, with the result that the several purchasers became involved in litigation to establish their respective claims.
Lot number thirty-eight, which constitutes the northeast corner of Auburn, was awarded to Alexander Mills, a private in the First New York regiment, but as he had previously disposed of his claim to his allotment to Major William J. Vredenburgh, it was drawn by that officer. Gerrit H. VanWagoner bought the lot from Major Vrendenburgh, February 27, 1789, and received the State patent for six hundred acres. He sold the southern half of the farm to Major Noah Olmsted, Jr., for one hundred and twenty pounds sterling, December 1, 1794. After selling his claim to Major Vredenburgh, Alexander Mills deeded the lot to Joseph Prescott, of New York, for the sum of fifty pounds, who sold it to John Richardson in 1795 for four hundred and twenty pounds sterling. So a dispute arose over the possession in which the primary right was, of course, recognized.
Lot number forty-six includes the western portion of Auburn in which pre-historic Fort Hill is located. This lot was awarded to
5
CITY OF AUBURN
Alexander McCoy, also a private in the First New York regiment. He was alloted only five hundred of the six hundred acres, and had no claim to the one hundred acres in the southeast corner of the lot. It was reserved in the original survey and was known as the "State's One Hundred Acres." Like his fellow-soldiers he deemed himself entitled to all he could raise on the property and sold it twice ; first to David Howell of Newburgh, in 1789, and second, to John Brown, for the small sum of eleven pounds sterling. This matter also came up before the commission established to settle disputed land titles, and David Howell's claim was sustained. Robert Dill purchased the five hundred acres from the heirs of Howell for the sum of twelve hundred dollars The title to the remaining one hundred acres of this lot was acquired by General Philip Van Cortlandt, a lawyer of New York, and was by him transferred to William Bostwick of Milford, Connecticut, September 19, 1799, for the sum of seven hundred and fifty dollars.
Lot number forty-seven was drawn by Captain John Doughty. It comprises the eastern part of the city. Captain Doughty was the only one of the original owners who personally received the patent for his award. He sold it to Martin and Josiah Ogden Hoffman, of New York, for one hundred and fifty pounds sterling. On February 16, 1792, the lot was transferred to Captain John L. Hardenbergh, of Ulster County, for the sum of one hundred and eighty pounds.
Lot number fifty-six, upon which stands the southwestern part of the City of Auburn, was granted to Nicholas Avery, a private in the Second New York regiment, who sold it to Edward Cumpston for twenty pounds sterling. On September 23, 1790, the patent of the lot was issued to Jeremiah Van Rensselaer, with whom Abraham TenEyck was interested. Stephen N. Baynard next owned the lot, and in 1792 sold three hundred and fifty acres of it to Bethel H. Steel.
Lot number fifty-seven was awarded to Colonel Peter Gansevoort who retained it until January 9, 1805, when he sold it to Samuel Swift for four thousand dollars.
6
HISTORY OF CAYUGA COUNTY
Captain John L. Hardenbergh who secured possession of lot num- ber forty-seven in 1792 was the founder of Auburn. He was not one of those who came into the wilderness and settled upon the most accessible or most inviting spot, but actually disposed of his ward in the towns of Fabius and Cicero to obtain the swampy ground and heavily wooded tract where he located. Not only had he served in Sullivan's army, but he had been a deputy under the Surveyor- General when the original townships of the Onondaga Military tract were surveyed and mapped, and when he drew the land allotted to him as a veteran, he had a distinct preference as to where he would locate. The wild valley of the Owasco attracted him, although it did not invite immediate occupation, but the full, quick current of the river advertised its power in many little cascades and falls, declaring what it could do for those who would put it in harness. The facilities which it afforded for manufacturing were plain to the eyes of Captain Hardenbergh and he decided to build upon its bank.
Captain John L. Hardenbergh is described as being "a tall, swarthy man of vigorous habits and iron frame," so that he was an ideal pioneer. He was of Holland descent and was noted for his services in the War of the Revolution. The descendants of the original Hardenbergh family still live in Ulster County, where the old Hardenbergh mansion, a stone structure, is still standing.
The only road penetrating Cayuga County in that day was the old Indian trail, which had been widened by a party of wood- choppers and emigrants under the leadership of General Wadsworth. That road ran from Whitestown to Canandaigua and entering the town of Aurelius from the northeast, crossed the site of Auburn very nearly upon the line of North street and West Genesee street. It then continued deviously on to Cayuga Lake. For years it was known as the old Genesee road and along its sides dwelt all the early settlers of Aurelius.
General John S. Clark claims that the old Genesee trail did not pass through the site of Auburn, but passing by the foot of Lake
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CITY OF AUBURN
Skaneateles, passed also by the foot of Lake Owasco and continued on to the foot of Cayuga Lake. In this contention he is sustained by the journals of the officers of Sullivan's army. DeWitt did not mark the trail on his map.
By that road came Captain Hardenbergh, bringing with him only his daughter and two negro slaves, Harry and Kate Freeman. He spent several days exploring the valley before he decided upon a site for his cabin, but at length, chose a dry spot near the road and situated just behind where the City Hall now stands. There his primitive house was built by a man named Gilbert Goodrich, while the Captain occupied himself in cutting down the forest trees to make a clearing. The cabin was a small but strong structure of logs, made secure against the attacks of wild beasts and provided with an old-fashioned Dutch back against which the fire was built to heat the house and cook the meals. There was no chimney and the smoke found its way out through a "smoke-hole" in the roof. Pots and kettles were suspended over the fire by a wooden crane. It is recorded that Captain Hardenbergh was a hospitable man and that every newcomer and even the Indians always found a welcome in his unpretentious abode. And that cabin became the center of the labors of another Hercules, as the vigorous Captain began the task of felling the monarchs of the forest, harnessing the strength of the stream and transforming the swampy waste into productive land.
The Indians were the only occupants of the site of Auburn when Captain Hardenbergh settled there in 1793. The Cayuga village of Wasco stood upon the ground now occupied by the State Prison. Wasco signified "Crossing Place" and the ancient Genesee trail intersected the river a little west of where North street now crosses it. The trails of the Indians ran to the lake along both sides of the stream. The old Indian crossing consisted of large stepping stones which were at one time bridged by means of bark. The crossing gave a name to the locality and was known among the Onondagas as Osco, and to the Oneidas as Owasco. So, Owasco Lake was
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HISTORY OF CAYUGA COUNTY
"The Lake Near the Crossing Place." Among the Indians the Outlet was known as Deagogaya, or the place where men were killed. This was, possibly, a reference to some tragic event con- nected with Fort Hill.
The dwellings of the village of Wasco were constructed of poles and bark, which was the Indian style of architecture, if that name may be applied to their rude and fragile edifices. The fire was built on the ground in the center, the smoke escaping through an opening at the ridge. The tribe, or what was left of it, was friendly to the whites, and the Indians subsisted by fishing and hunting. An extensive cranberry marsh which lay close to the village on the north, was, at that time, and for years afterwards a favorite resort for game. Also the Outlet abounded with fish.
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