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IV
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
Pleas
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
ise 3 1833 01178 5141
PIENA check map in back - pocket of book after each
SiLox
JOHN ELLIS, "KING OF DRYDEN. "
Copied from an oil portrait painted in Albany in the year 1831 or 1832. while he was a representative of Tompkins eounty in the State Legislature, the original oil painting still being in the possession of his descendants.
THE
CENTENNIAL HISTORY C
OF THE
TOWN OF DRYDEN. The fact
1797 -- 1897.
COMPILED AND EDITED BY
GEO. E. GOODRICH,
WITH THE AID OF THE CENTENNIAL, EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE AND MANY OTHERS.
J. GILES FORD, PRINTER : THE DRYDEN HERALD STEAM PRINTING HOUSE. DRYDEN, NEW YORK. 1898.
iv
PREFACE.
which appear have been provided upon the request of the Committee by the persons represented, or their friends, and the portrait of no liv- ing resident of the township will be here found. Little attention has been given in this work to the present, while the great effort has been to resurrect and preserve the past, representing so far as possible old land-marks and dwelling upon old habits and conditions as they for- merly existed. The table of contents and list of illustrations immedi- ately following will serve the purpose of a more complete index which it had been intended to supply at the end of the volume. Such a one had been partly prepared, but when the types were all up it was dis- covered that we had already occupied more than the space provided, and this feature was therefore reluctantly given up.
While it would be inadvisable here to attempt to mention all who have lent a helping hand to the preparation of this work, the writer wishes to acknowledge his special obligations to Chas. F. Mulks, of Ithaca, a descendant of the Ellis family, of Dryden, for his exhaustive and painstaking researches, of which this book has the benefit, and without which it would suffer, especially in the matter of statistics and genealogy, as well as in general accuracy. We are also under great obligations to Ex-Governor William Marvin, of Skaneateles, formerly a Dryden boy, now ninety years of age, who, with his own trembling hand, has, by letters and manuscripts, answered many inquiries and supplied much information not otherwise obtainable.
To the members of the Committee, one and all, whose names are given upon the reverse of the title page, the public will be indebted for whatever shall be found worthy to be preserved in the future from this first attempt to accurately record and perpetuate at length the annals of the town of Dryden. G. E. G.
ERRATA .- Page 91, for "Chapter XXIV," read "XXV." Page 115, line 8, after "and," read "pay of." Page 122, for "Israel Hoy," read "Hoyt." Pages 221. 223, for "Aaron Albright," in headline, read "Andrew." Page 254, after "Assumes the god," near the bottom of the page, read "Affects to nod."
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER.
PAGE.
Prehistoric Conditions,
1
1
Indian Occupation,
2
4
The Approach of Civilization,
3
6
The First Settlement, -
4
10
The First Resident Freeholder, -
5
13
Other Settlements of 1798 aud 1799, -
6
17
Settlements from 1800 to 1803 Inclusive, -
7
20
The Political Organization of the Town,
8
23
Events from 1803 to 1812, -
9
28
The War of 1812,
10
30
Events from 1812 to 1822, -
11
33
Review of the Pioneer Period,
12
35
The Period of Development-Transportation,
13
40
Immigration and Emigration, -
14
43
Occupation of the Inhabitants,
15
45
Review of the Development Period,
16
47
The Civil War Period,
17
50
The War of the Rebellion,
18
52
Personal Record of Dryden Soldiers,
19
55
Internal Improvements,
20
68
The Period of Maturity, -
21
70
Dryden Village in the Pioneer Period,
22
73
Pioneer Families of Dryden Village,
23
78
Dryden Village in the Development Period, -
24
89
Dryden Village in the War Period,
25
94
Dryden Village in the Maturity Period,
26
98
Anecdotes of Dryden Village,
27
105
Schools, Churches and Cemeteries of Dryden Village, The Southworth Library, -
29
113
Willow Glen,
30
116
West Dryden,
31
121
Varna and Fall Creek, -
32
131
Etna,
33
137
Isaiah Giles and Gilesville,
34
144
McLean and Malloryville, -
35
149
Freeville,
36
152
The Octagonal School-House,
37
159
Further History of the South-west Section, -
-
38
162
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
28
107
-
-
-
vi
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER.
PAGE.
Further History of the North-west Section,
39
167
Further History of the North-east Section,
40
175
Further History of the South-east Section,
41
180
The Dryden Agricultural Society,
42
184
The Ellis Family in Dryden,
43
191
The Snyder Family in Dryden,
44
194
The McGraw Family in Dryden, -
45
199
The Benjamin Wood Family in Dryden,
46
202
John Southworth, -
47
208
Milo Goodrich,
48
212
Jeremiah Wilbur Dwight, -
49
215
John C. Lacy, -
50
218
Andrew Albright, -
51
220
Other Dryden Men of Note,
52
2:24
The Dryden Centennial Celebration,
53
244
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE. -
PAGE.
Township Map,
Pocket inside front cover
John Ellis, "King of Dry- den," - Frontispiece
Main Building, Dryden Fair, 185 Scene at Dryden Fair, - 189
Major Peleg Ellis, 192
Dryden Center House, 41
John McGraw, - 200
The Old Brick Store, 91
John Southworth,
209
Dryden Woolen Mill, 95
Milo Goodrich, (facing) - 212
Park and M. E. Church, - 100
Jeremiah Wilbur Dwight,
(facing) - 215
John C. Lacy, (facing) - 218
Andrew Albright, (facing) 220
Smith Robertson, - 225
William Marvin, - 227
Richard Marvin, - 229
Thomas J. McElheny, 230
Orrin S. Wood, - 232
Map of Varna, -
130
Otis E. Wood, 234
John Miller, - - 236
Main Street, Varna, - -
134
Samuel D. Halliday, 238
Map of Etna, 136
Etna, West Side, 139 -
John D. Benton, - 240
Dr. Francis J. Cheney, - 242
Samuel Mallory,
- 150
Freeville Grist-Mill, 152
Inside the Log-Cabin, - 251
Shaver's Hotel, - 153
Freeville Junction, 155
Map of Freeville, (facing) - 156
The Octagonal School-House, 160 Church at Snyder Hill, - 167
Ellis Hollow Church, - 168
Dryden Lake, 3
The New Log-Cabin, 12
Map of Dryden Village, (fac- ing) - 104
The Presbyterian Church, 109
Jennie McGraw-Fiske, 113
The Southworth Library, 115
West Dryden M. E. Church, - 123 Mrs. Alletta George, 127
Varna, from R. R. Station, 132
George B. Davis, - 239
Etna, East Side, - 143
Warren W. Tyler, 243
Joseph E. Eggleston, 261
"Everything Goes, " - - 263
The George Junior Republic, 157
-
-
-
Main Street, Dryden, -
104
THE
CENTENNIAL HISTORY
OF THE
TOWN OF DRYDEN.
CHAPTER I.
PREHISTORIC CONDITIONS.
The complete history of every atom of matter extends back to its creation ; so the early history of the territory now known as the town of Dryden, is coeval with the formation of the present surface of the earth itself. While the scope of our work will be mainly confined to the century period immediately following the first settlement of the township by its present race of inhabitants, a brief reference to its earlier conditions will here be permitted, bringing it down to the time when our History properly begins.
Our knowledge of the earth's early history must be principally de- rived from the science of geology, which teaches that this portion of the state of New York was once the bottom of an ancient ocean, of which the sea shells and fossil fishes, found in the stratified layers of our native rocks, and the extensive beds of salt which are now known to underlie the surface of certain sections, if not all of our county, seem to afford abundant proof. Scientific scholars tell us that the northern part of our state first emerged from this prehistoric sea, which, gradually receding toward the south, left bare the native strati- fied rock formation of our locality in what the geologists term the Chemung period of the Devonian age. They teach us that subse- quently powerful forces, by means perhaps of icebergs and glacial ac- tion, brought here and scattered about boulders and gravel beds from
1
2
HISTORY OF DRYDEN.
older and more northern geological formations, at the same time plow- ing up and pulverizing into soil the native strata, and scooping out our valleys, in some places so deep as to form the beds of the numer- ous lakes which are a marked physical feature of Western New York. These lakes and valleys, with their intermediate ridges of hills and uplands, usually extend in a general north and south direction, the hills of our township varying from 1500 to 1800 feet above the present sea level, while the beds of some of the neighboring lakes, Seneca for example, lie below the surface of the ocean itself. Just how these re- sults were brought about must still be a matter for scientific study, but certain it is that this process of creation or development, whatever it may have been, resulted in leaving a rolling surface and a deep and fertile soil covering the beautiful hills and dales of our county of Tompkins.
When first discovered by civilized man our town was a dense forest, mostly of hemlock and hard wood timber, liberally sprinkled with large trees of white pine, which in some places grew to be so thrifty and thick as to monopolize the soil and overshadow and crowd out the inferior growth. How many generations of these undisturbed forest trees grew and decayed before being seen by the first settler, must be a matter of pure speculation ; how this primeval forest appeared to the hardy pioneers who cleared it from the sites of our present homes, must be to us a subject for interesting reflections.
The physical features of the country which have suffered the least change in their appearance during the century period of our history, are the larger streams, which "while man may come and man may go" still " flow on forever" from their fountains to the sea. When first discovered, Virgil, Fall and Cascadilla creeks, although unconscious of their present names, with more obstructed channels but with larger volumes of water, drained the same valleys through which they still flow. They were then in their wild, untrained and unbroken state, un- saddled by bridges and unbridled by mill dams, but they took the same general courses which they now pursue, and were the first land- marks in the boundless forest. The hills, too, although hidden from view by the foliage of the unbroken shade, must have presented the same general form as now. Our Dryden lake, since enlarged by arti- ficial means, still had an existence as a small body of water, when na- ture turned it over for the use of man. For unknown ages its tiny waves broke on the lonely shore, or, in more placid mood, its calm sur- face, all unseen, reflected the shadows of the virgin forest of pine with which it was completely surrounded.
---
DRYDEN LAKE.
Photo by Silcox.
4
HISTORY OF DRYDEN.
CHAPTER II.
INDIAN OCCUPATION.
Although there is no record that the town of Dryden was ever the site of any permanent Indian settlement, there is abundant evidence that the Indians occupied it as a hunting ground. The little flint ar- rowheads which are still found, especially along the banks of the streams and upon the shores of the Lake, are unmistakable proof of the presence of the Indians, and the chips of flint, the waste product of the rude manufacture of these arrowheads, and other implements of stone found frequently about the shores of the Lake, indicate that at some time they had there at least a temporary encampment. The nearest Indian villages of which we have any authentic account were the habitations of the Cayugas, near the present site of the city of Ithaca, and extending on both sides of Cayuga Lake to its outlet. Central New York, when first known to civilization, was the home of the "Iroquois, " a term applied first to five and afterwards to six con- federated Indian tribes, which included the Cayugas, and is said to have constituted the most powerful force of Indians on the American Continent. We may perhaps claim some significance in the fact that the territory which now constitutes the central and western part of the Empire State was once the home and hunting ground of the victorious Iroquois, the conquerers of all the neighboring tribes. It was said that such experiences had the New England tribes of Indians suffered from the Mohawks-the eastern branch of the Iroquois-that the very mention of the name of "a Mohawk" caused them to flee with terror. The Iroquois had recently conquered the Adirondacks on the north and the Eries and Hurons on the west, and after becom- ing known to white men, in one of their southern excursions, they res- cued from their enemies the whole tribe of Tuscaroras of North Caro- lina, whom they brought home with them and adopted as the sixth branch of their nation.
The conditions and habits of these aborigines form an interesting study to those who have investigated the subject. The first white men to go among them, except occasional fur traders, were the mis- sionaries of the French Jesuits, who for a century prior to the Eng- lish occupation of their territory, had lived and labored among them in the vain effort to effect their conversion to their form of Christianity. These, like other American Indians, from the first seemed to take much more naturally to the vices than to the virtues of their white brothers
5
INDIAN OCCUPATION.
and the sacrifices of those zealous men, who left their pleasant homes in France to live and work among the Indians of North America for their education and development in the Christian faith, were worthy of better success than resulted. But the reports which these French Catholic priests sent back to their native country of their experiences among them are now found carefully preserved in French monasteries, and constitute one of the most interesting and trustworthy sources of our knowledge of the actual condition in which the Indians were then found. The "relations" (as they are called) of one Father Carheil, who spent over twenty years of his life among the Cayugas, and who in the year 1672 describes Lake Tiohero (now Cayuga) and the beanti- ful country surrounding it, with its abundance of fish and game, have thus recently been resurrected and translated into English, throwing much light upon this subject so interesting to the antiquarian.
In the French and Indian wars, which preceded the Revolution, the Iroquois, in spite of the French priests, took sides with the Eng- lish, and rendered efficient assistance in the conquest of Canada from the French. When the War of the Revolution followed between the English colonies and their mother country, the Iroquois at first de- cided to remain nentral, but the most of them were afterwards per- suaded to join their old allies, the English. This exposed the out- posts of the colonies to a merciless enemy in the rear, and the fright- ful massacres of Cherry Valley and Wyoming were among the results. Fortunate it was for the early settlers of our locality that these bloody times passed before they ventured into the Western Wilderness.
To avenge these outrages and to punish the hostile Indians and drive them from the neighborhood of the advance settlements, an in- vasion of the Iroquois country was executed in the year 1779, known as " Sullivan's campaign, " which, after a battle with the combined forces of Indians and Tories near Newtown (now Elmira), resulted in their complete defeat, followed by the subsequent overrunning of the Indian country and the destruction of their villages, including those along Cayuga and Seneca lakes. This campaign, forming a part of the Revolutionary war, planned by Washington and executed by Gen- erals Sullivan and Clinton with a force of about five thousand men, detachments of which marched within a few miles of the town of Dry- den, and perhaps within its borders, resulted in the complete humili- ation of the fierce Iroquois, and opened the way for the subsequent purchase and settlement of this section of Western New York, over which up to that time they had held absolute sway. With the excep- tion of the Oneidas, who had remained friendly to the colonies, and
6
HISTORY OF DRYDEN.
a part of the Onondagas, whose descendants still remain on their res- ervation near Syracuse, the Iroquois were driven from this part of the state never to return in large numbers. Some took refuge in Canada and along the Niagara frontier, others, including a number from the Cayuga and Seneca tribes, were colonized in the extreme western part of this state, while most of the Cayugas were induced to make their homes in the Indian Territory, where their descendants now re- side in considerable numbers. Thus it happened that the early pio- neers of our town escaped all annoyance from hostile Indians, who had been effectually driven out of the country before any settlement was attempted.
Those readers who desire to follow more minutely the details of "Sullivan's Campaign " will find the journals of the officers of that expedition, with full explanatory notes and maps, given in a large vol- ume recently published by the State, a copy of which can be found in the Dryden village school library.
CHAPTER III.
THE APPROACH OF CIVILIZATION.
The War of the Revolution was practically ended in 1781, two years after Sullivan's Campaign was carried out against the Indians of West- ern New York. Within the next ten years the remnants of the Iro- quois confederacy ceded their lands, by various treaties, to the State. Conditions favorable to the settlement of this locality were thus rapid- ly developed. Other sections of the country, both north and south of us, more readily reached by means of navigable lakes and rivers, were already occupied by the pioneer settlers, while the ridge separating the head waters of the St. Lawrence from those of the Susquehanna, of which our town forms a part, was still uninhabited. In February, 1789, the N. Y. State Legislature passed a law for surveying and set- ting apart for the use of its soldiers of the Revolution who then sur- vived, a large section of land between Seneca and Oneida lakes after- wards known as the " Military Tract," comprising nearly two million acres, and including the town of Dryden, which was designated in the survey as Township No. 23. This tract was surveyed in the years 1789 and 1790, and divided into twenty-six townships, to which two more were afterwards added, making twenty-eight in all, each being about ten miles square and containing one hundred lots of about one mile square each. Dryden is one of the few to retain nearly its original di-
7
THE APPROACH OF CIVILIZATION.
mensions. The little notch which formerly existed in the southeast corner of the town before the seven lots were set off to Caroline, was caused by the overlapping of the territory known as the Massachusetts Ten Townships upon the Military Tract, the West Owego Creek, which rises in Dryden near the southwest corner, being the west boundary of the former. The lots of Dryden were surveyed in the year 1790, by John Konkle, of Schoharie. In the southeast corner of each lot was set apart one hundred acres, known and frequently referred to in old descriptions, which are brought down into deeds of even this date, as the "State's Hundred Acres," which the owner had the option of exchanging for an equal number of acres of the U. S. lands in Ohio ; and out of each lot was reserved a piece of fifty acres, known as the "Survey Fifty Acres," which was retained by the surveyor for his ser- vices, unless redeemed by the owner at eight dollars. So poor were the early inhabitants in those days, and so scarce was money, that many of them were unable to raise the eight dollars necessary to save the Survey Fifty Acres of their lots even on these terms.
Out of each township one lot was reserved for gospel and school purposes and another for promoting literature, the gospel and school lot in Dryden being No. 29 and the literature lot No. 63. The other lots were drawn by ballot in the year 1791 by the New York soldiers of the Revolution, each private and non-commissioned officer being en- titled to draw one lot. A copy of the "Balloting Book " containing the names of the soldiers of the Revolution by whom the lots of the town of Dryden were originally drawn, can now be found in the Tomp- kins county clerk's office. This method of distribution of the land of the township by ballot, accounts for the fact that the early settlers of the town did not come in large colonies from any particular part of the older settlements, but came singly or in small groups from locali- ties widely separated.
Prior to this time all of the western part of the state was embraced in the old county of Montgomery, but in the year 1791 Herkimer and Tioga counties, the latter including Dryden, were set off from Mont- gomery and in 1794 Onondaga county, then made to include all of the Military Tract, was formed and set off from Tioga and Herkimer. Thus our Township No. 23 was, from 1791 to 1794, a part of Tioga county, becoming in 1794 a part of Onondaga county, and so remained until it was appropriated to form a part of the new county of Cayuga in 1799, and was afterwards set off to form a part of the present coun- ty of Tompkins upon its organization in the year 1817.
It is thus seen how it happens that all of the records of land titles
8
HISTORY OF DRYDEN.
of the town of Dryden, prior to 1817 and subsequent to 1799, are found in the clerk's office of the county of Cayuga, the records of our own county commencing with its formation in the year 1817. Township No. 23, while in Montgomery county, was included in the political sub- division of Whitestown ; upon its incorporation into Tioga connty in 1791 it became a part of the old town of Owego; but when it was absorbed by Onondaga county it was at first included, in its po- litical existence, with the present townships of Enfield and Itha- ca in the original town of Ulysses, the organization of which dates back to the formation of Onondaga county in 1794. On Feb. 22, 1803, Township No. 23 was set off by itself, having been previously named Dryden by the commissioners of the land office, in honor of John Dryden, the English poet. The townships of Ithaca and Enfield remained a part of Ulysses, in their political organization, until four years later.
But few of the soldiers of the Revolution came and settled upon the lots which fell to them. The old veterans of those days, like some of later times, cared more for their present comfort than for an oppor- tunity of finding new homes in the wilderness of the Military Tract. Nor can the old Revolutionary soldiers, after having passed through the hardships involved in the seven years' war with England, be blamed for shrinking from the privation and suffering incident to pio- neer life in a new country. Many of them disposed of their titles for a mere trifle. For instance it is said that the original owner of the lot of 640 acres upon which the Dryden Center House now stands, sold it for a coat, hat, one drink of rum, and one dollar in money, and that the soldier who drew Lot No. 9 sold it for one "great coat." "Land sharks" existed even in those days and many of the soldiers' claims to the territory of Dryden were bought up for a trifling consideration by speculators in the East, who held them for advanced prices, at which they were sold to those who became actual settlers.
So great a length of time elapsed between the drawing of the lots and the actual occupation of them, and so many loose and fraudu- lent transfers were made of them in the meantime, that the uncertain- ty of titles resulting was one of the troubles which vexed and disap- pointed the early settlers, much more than we of the present day can realize. Some, however, of the original owners retained their lots and occupied the lands which the government had given them as a bounty for their services. As an example, Elias Larabee, who drew Lot No. 49, including the southeast quarter of Dryden village, came and lived for a long time upon his lot, and one of his descendants, Daniel Law-
9
THE APPROACH OF CIVILIZATION.
son, a pensioner of the War of the Rebellion, still owns and occupies a small part of it.
The town having been surveyed in 1790 and the lots being drawn in 1791, the next question was how were these possessions in the wilder- ness of the Military Tract to be reached. The first settlers had al- ready arrived at Owego and Elmira by way of the Susquehanna and Chemung rivers, while others had come to Syracuse and Auburn by way of the Mohawk and Seneca rivers and the lakes, and settlements had been commenced in and about Ithaca and Lansing, on the banks of Cayuga Lake, by parties who had taken these routes, but there was no direct practicable way to reach from the east the elevated water- shed lying between the two, until a road was cut through the woods from Oxford on the Chenango River to Ithaca at the head of Cayuga Lake, which was done in the years 1793, 1794 and 1795, by Joseph Chaplin under a contract from the State. Mr. Chaplin was the first settler in the town of Virgil and we quote from Bouton's History of that town, pages 9 and 10, concerning him and his work as fol- lows :
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