USA > New York > Onondaga County > Marcellus > The centennial history of the town of Marcellus : delivered in the Presbyterian Church of Marcellus, Onondaga County, N.Y., July 4, 1876 > Part 1
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9
Gc 974.702 M32p 1753352
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02209 5969
.
THE
CENTENNIAL
HISTORY,
-
OF THE
Town of
Marcellus,
12:2%.
DELIVERED IN THE
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH,
OF
Marcellus, Onondaga County, N. Y.
JULY 4th 1876.
BY
ISRAEL PARSONS, M. D.
1
MARCELLUS. 1878.
1753352
If these few pages should help to awake pleasant and tender memories in the minds of the old residents of Marcellus, scattered here and there throughout our land, and thus beguile and cheer some quiet minutes, it will have accomplished its mission, and to these dear friends it is affectionately dedicated.
-
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/centennialhistor00pars_0
1
I rejoice with you my fellow citizens, that we have been per- quitted to see this glorious day: this Centennial Anniversary day of our nations birth: a self-governing nation one hundred years old.
One hundred years ago to-day, although the boom of the can- non sounded from Maine to Louisiana, declaring freedom from the thraldom of the Mother Country; yet this town of Marcellus was too far in the wilderness to vibrate those sounds. Indeed she needed no one to proclaim freedom to her, for she was never m bondage.
July 4th. 1176, these then forest crowned bills, raised their tops towards the heavens with even more sublimity than they do to-day. Here nature presented all her simplicity and grandeur, without being improved or deteriorated by the hand of man. On that morning the music of the birds far surpassed in richness and power, that which the feathered songsters are giving us to-day; for their choir was legion, and the harmony of their music was unbroken by the discordant sounds of man. The wild beasts roam- ed unmolested through the valleys, and over the hills. The same enchanting sound of the rippling waters of this beautiful creek, which we now hear by night and by day, was to be heard then.
But what great changes have been effected in the face of na- ture within this town, during the last one hundred years.
2
You have asked me to come before you to-day, and relate step by step, these changes as they have occurred.
The first eighteen years of this century which expires to-day, our town presented, as it had for ages, one unbroken wilderness.
Here were no Indian fields where the savages had once cul tivated even their simple crops of Corn and Beans, There were no traces of Indian settlements; no evidences that the land had ever been under cultivation, or even pressed by the foot of man. except by the natives in their favorite persuit of game. The On- ondaga Valley was the home of the Indian, and these were his hunting and fishing grounds,
After the lapse of these first eighteen years, in 1104 we find, that civilization has already entered in the form of a surveying company, and marked these forests by straight lines into square miles.
Soon after this, a great highway was opened through this town from Utica to Canandaigua; constructed by the state and named the Genesee road. It's course was due East and West.
There was no hill so lofty or so steep, that was not surmounts ed by it; and the forest trees were cut down the width of four rods, to give it passage. This highway is our present East and West road, through this village.
Then began to pour in the tide of emigration from the East and largely from the New-England states. , Usually men came in the Summer and Fall on foot, or horseback, prospecting in search of homes; but Winter was the time for the removal of their fam- ilies and goods The snows of Winter were distributed evenly over the ground, and laid permanently; not disturbed as now, by the winds. being thoroughly protected by the dense forests, This of course gave months of sleighing, and ample time for the journey to be made.
This was fortunate for emigration at that carly period; for the highway was so much obstructed by roots and stumps, as to
-------
3
render traveling, at other seasons of the year, extremely difficult in conveyances on wheels.
And it is a fact worthy of notice, that although four thousand years ago, Pharaoh sent up "wagons" to remove Jacob and his family into Egypt, yet at this period of the Eighteenth Century of the Christian Era, this vehicle was not in existence in New-Eng- land. All wheelcd vehicles had only two wheels, and they were either the chaise or the cart."
For a long succession of years, there was to be seen on the Genesee road in the winter season, an alnost unbroken procession of loads of goods and people: drawn either by oxen or horses, ac- companied by herds of Cows, to settle this great wilderness.
In 1802, the Seneca Turnpike was laid out through this place. It was speedily worked and fitted for traveling purposes. This extended from Utica to Canandaigua, and was a continua- tion of the Mohawk Turnpike; thus affording a regular turnpike communication from Albany to Canandaigua.
Emigration at this time, had become great to the Western part of this state, and to the Western Reserve in Ohio.
That portion of the Western part of the state, called the Gen- esee country, wa; settled previously to this; and there being no roads through this state at that early period, the emigration to it was by water; up the Mohawk, through Oneida lake and river, up the Seneca river and lake.
That route proving slow and tedious, was soon abandoned after the completion of the Turnpike, and then the travel East and West passed wholly through this village.
The charter for the Turnpike granted the company the priv- ilege of making use of the Cenesee road, so far as they might find it convenient. The commissioners when on their way West, look- ing for the best place for the road; on reaching Onondaga Valley, (then called Onondaga Hollow,) to avoid these prodigious hills West of them. concluded to vary their course to the North and West, and take a survey of that portion of the country lying
.
4
through Camillus and Elbridge.
It was at this time a gloomy section: having no highway through it, and sparsely settled on account of the land being cov- ered largely with Pine forests, which in those days was considered evidence of sterility. The commissioners on arriving at Camillus, hungry and weary after their difficult journey, were not regarded by the inhabitants with any special interest; having ordered a din ner which proved not to be very attractive, partook of it with a poor relish.
But on their return from the West, they made their course through this village; and what was their surprise on arriving here, to find that the inhabitants had turned out en-masse to receive and welcome them.
The very best accommodations that the village could afford were furnished them; and instead of paying for a poor dinner, a sumptuous repast was provided for them "without money and without price."
This dinner settled the route for the Seneca Turnpike, and that through this village.
Thus .Marcellus bought that great blessing, the Seneca Turn- pike, for a "mess of pottage." A blessing at that time invaluable, as it procured for itself all the through travel East and West for the coming twenty years; while Camillus for its stupidity, remain- ed only partially settled the same length of time. Many of us in this assembly know the grade of the country through Camillus and Elbridge is far preferable for road purposes.
But another instance in which a good dinner purchased the commissioners, I am sorry to say, proved disastrous to the town of Marcellns.
There was a Col. -, living on the site now known as the Kortwright place, three miles East of this village. This is said to be nearest the clouds of any point on the Turnpike, and yet, fifteen rods North in a line of the former Genesee road there is a depression of sixty or seventy feet. The Turnpike was being laid
5
ont where it should have been, on the depression, when the Col. made his appearance with a gracious salutation, expressed his strong desire for the road to run nearer his residence, and, with a ' choice dinner, won the hearts of the Commissioners, so that they changed the direction of the road at the base of the West side of the hill, to a southing of several rods, in order to pass over the sharpest and highest point of ground on the whole road; thus the United States mail, for half a century, had to be raised and low- ered in the air sixty or seventy feet, every time it passed over this road: and hundreds of thousands of horses have strained, and tugged, and pulled, to draw loads over that severe elevation; and all for a good dinner eaten by three men, seventy-four years ago.
Benjamin Franklin would have said "that was paying too dear for the whistle."
Since first writing the above, I have been informed by Milo Hickok, a reliable citizen of over three score years and ten, that he had always heard it said, in addition to the good dinner, a barrel of whiskey and "thirty day's works" were also given. This barrel of whiskey was probably consumed by the men in their arduous labors of road making over that mountain top.
About the year 1800, merchandise was transported in large covered wagons, called Pennsylvania wagons, drawn by four horses.
The public houses on the road were very frequent; often no more than from one to four miles apart, and at night were so' much crowded with travelers, that floors, as well as beds, were occupied.
A public stage commenced running through this place, from Albany to Canandaigua, on the Genesee road; at first it run through and returned once a week: then twice a week; then three times; and, finally every day, not excepting Sundays. It is to be borne in mind that these stages at that time, ran directly West from this village. to Auburn, leaving Skaneateles village to the South two miles; so when the Turnpike was completed, and separated
i
1
from the Genesee road to a Southerly course, just West of this village, and made its way directly to Skaneateles, the stages were of course drawn off with it. This proved so great a disappointment to the inhabitants residing on the Genesee road, between this place and Auburn, that Col. Bigelow Lawrence, with other prom- inent meu, instituted a suit against the proprietors of the stages, for damages, for, removing the United-States Mail from its accus- tomed route; but I believe they failed in obtaining a judgment against them.
The town of Marcellus is one of the original townships of the the Military tract. The Military tract consists of lands, which ยท were assigned by the State of New York, to the Revolutionary soldiers of the New York line, as premiums, or bounty lands.
A lot of one mile square, was given to each soldier: except a certain portion reserved to defray the expenses of surveying, and other contingencies. The names assigned to the townships, were selected by the Surveyor-Ceneral Dewitt, and officers of the government, before any settlements were made. This accounts for the singularity of the names, which were taken principally from distinguished men of ancient Greece and Rome.
Some of them were distinguished as poets, some as oratori, some as philosophers, some as statesmen, and some as military commanders; three or four were taken from prominent literary men of England: as Dryden, Milton and Locke. The town of Mar- cellus derived its name from Marcellus, a noted Roman.
The townships of the Military tracts, were equal to ten miles square: and were divided by survey into one hundred lots one mile square. Lot one hundred of the original town of Marcellus, lies in the town of Otisco, South-East of the Presbyterian church.
The original township was irregular in its form. A portion of it extended along the South line of Onondaga, called the Mar- cellus L, until it met a corresponding portion of the town of Pont- pey called Pompey L. This Pompey L now constitutes a part of
7
La Fayette; and Marcellus L, a part of Otisco
Subsequently the township of Skaneateles was set off by itself; and at the same time the Southern part of Marcellus was given to Spafford; so that the present town of Marcellus contains not quite one third of its original territory.
At an early day the two townships of Marcellus and Camillus were united on account of the small number of inhabitants in each. The first town meeting was held in Camillus, at the house of Esq. Carpenter, about one mile East of the present village of Elbridge.
The men of Marcellus, feeling it to be a hardship to go to Camillus to attend town meetings; and knowing that they num- bered more voters than did Camillus, rallied and voted that the next town meeting should be held at Marcellus. Accordingly the first town meeting in Marcellus assembled in the spring of 1797, at the house of Dea. Samuel Rice, - Inn keeper.
This was a log house, and occupied the ground just in rear of what will be well remembered, as the Judge Humphrey Green House, but now the residence of Justus North.
When this town was a wilderness, the uplands were covered with hard timber of large size, with very little undergrowth, and presented quite an inviting appearance. The leeks, nettles and wild grapes afforded good pasturage for the cattle; but not so with this valley. Here were dense growths of Hemlock connect- ed with thick underbrush, presenting formidable obstacles to clearing the land, and reducing it to a state of cultivation.
As an illustration of this unpromising appearance, I will mention an incident.
Before there were any inhabitants in the town, the owner of the lot No. 24, a soldier, came to look at his possession, which he had not yet seen, and study its advantages. This lot of 640 acres, (containing now the South part of this village, ) had for its North- ern boundary the middle of the turnpike, and extended South as far as the Bishop farm; while its Western limit was half a mile West of the center of the village, and its Eastern limit the same
8
distance to the East of it. In his wanderings he happened to ap- proach it from the West, and obtained his first view of the spot when he reached the top of the hill, afterwards called "Methodist hill," now used as the Roman Catholic Cemetery. The wildness and darkness of the scenery, from the immense growth of Hem- locks, with their entanglements of undergrowth of various de- scriptions, the wild Grape Vines constituting the greatest bar_ riers, so surprised the man, that he did not attempt to penetrate the thicket, but, discouraged, retired from his "claim" in disgust, and sold it for a "mere song" to the first buyer.
There has also been a story handed down through the years, of a child, that, wandering from the Tyler-Hollow settlement, was lost beyond the possibility of being found, in these dense woods; and a long time afterwards; a wild man, who occasionally appeared, and was seen at different times by Rev. Levi Parsons, Mrs. Burrage Rice and others, was conjectured to be that lost boy.
The wide difference of appearance between the hills and the valley, induced the first settlers to locate on the hills. Consequent- ly the East and West hills were occupied one year before the village contained an inhabitant: and in the following year, those who located in the valley were considered unwise in their select- ion. But they clearly fore-saw that the land when once brought under cultivation, would equal that of the hills; and that the valley so abundantly supplied with water, would eventually be the center of business.
The first permanent settlement made in this portion of our town was in 1994, by William Cobb Esq., Joab Lawrence, Rufus Lawrence and probably Levi Lawrence, who located upon the East hill; about the same time Cyrus Holcomb settled on the West hill.
The same year two families by the name of Bowen, and one by the name of Cody located at Clintonville; not far from the center of the town.
9
About the same time Samuel Tyler Esq. stationed himself in what is now called Tyler Hollow. Also settlements were made by a Mr. Conklin and one or two others, in the southern part of the town; and by several families of the name of Edwards near Skan- cateles Lake.
A number of families by the name of Earlwaters and Bur- roughs, made their residence on the State Road, now in the town of Skaneateles.
The first settlement made in this village was by the Hon. Dan Bradley and Dea. Samuel Rice, in the Fall of 1795. Although, on their arrival, they found a family by the name of Curtis, living in a hnt on the site of my present residence, they had been there but a year or more as squatters, and soon removed farther West.
In the following Winter they were joined by Dr. Elnathan Beach. We thus perceive that settlements were made in different parts of Marcellus, and in localities quite remote from each other, about the same time in 1794 and 1995.
Settlements being once made, prepared the way for accessions; and accordingly we find that the population increased rapidly from year to year, by the constantly incoming tide of emigration from the East.
Among the carly settlers on the West hill were Nathan Kel- sey and Thomas Miller, and subsequently Col. Bigelow Lawrence and several of his sons ;- Bigelow Jr., Calvin and Jepthah. Major Martin Consett located in the village in 1998.
Samuel Wheadon made the first settlement on South hill as early as 1800, on a part of the farm now owned and occupied by Jason Merrill. Subsequently Dea. Josiah Frost, Philo Godard, Nathan Healy and Enoch Cowles made their homes in the same locality.
The north-west part of the town, and parts adjoining in the present town of Skaneateles, were settled by Henry S. Platt, Simon Pells and Solomen S. Steele, and a little later came several familiesof the Shepards, Thomas North. Son. (grandfather to the
10
present Justus North,) with a number of his sons, and a family by the name of Dodge.
Soon after the first settlers on the East hill, there came Peter Lawrence Esq. Caleb Todd, Nathaniel Hillyer and Richard May; still later Capt. Martin Godard, Terrency Edson, Reuben Dor- chester and William F. Bangs; the latter company purchased farms that had been occupied previously.
James C. Millen and his sons were the first to inhabit the North-East section of the town. Hle and four of his tive sons died in a few years by Typhus Fever. Next in order were Seth Dun- bar and Robert Mccullough.
The settlement at the Falls, or, what was then called Union Village, was commenced in the Fall of 1806, and the paper mill, denominated the Herring mill, since laid waste by fire, was erected in 1807. Very soon after, a saw mill and flouring mill were built.
The first settlement made in the South-West part of the town, on the Turnpike, was by Parley E. Howe and Samuel Hayes. Mr. Hayes removed to the West at an early period, and Dr. Elisha Chapman came in 1806 and occupied the farm he left, the one now owned by Mr. Thornton. Dr. Chapman was the Father of Lincoln and the late Simeon B. Chapman. William and Job Tyler were likewise early settlers.
The settlement South, in the Henry Armstrong district was . commenced by Capt. Russell Taylor, Mr. Whitney and Mr. Ben- nett.
The region of Thorn Hill was settled in 1799. David Earl, - Eleazer Burns, Nathan Turner and John Wiltsie arrived there on the first of March in that year. They removed in company from Washington Co. in sleighs. Their families and immediately nec- cessary articles of furniture, were drawn by several horse teams, and their other goods by a number of yokes of oxen. David Earl bought and cleared his farm; lived and died upon it. His son Win. Earl succeeded him, living there-on, and dying at an advane- ed age; and was in his turn auerceded by his son, Shepard Earl -
.
11
the present occupant. A rare instance in this town of perpetuity of title, and absolute residence, in the conveyance of a farm to the third generation.
It is quite surprising to observe in regard to the early inhab- itants of this town, that not merely have their possessions passed into the hands of others, but even their names have become al- most extinct among us.
Of the first settlers of this village, the names of Rice and Cossit are no more, and but one of the Bradley name remains with us, - Isaac Bradley.
Capt. Martin Godard came to Marcellus with a family of nine sons, and now not a Godard is to be found among us.
Of .more than a thousand acres on our East and West hills that belonged to Col. Bigelow Lawrence, not an acre is now held in the name of Lawrence, and only five acres owned by one of his descendants. Four of his sons lived on the East hill, on farms of over two hundred acres each; while he and his other sons resid- . ed on the West hill, on farms measured by the hundreds of acres.
Although besides this family, there were other large families of Lawrences, yet there are left but two families here who hold the name: Gad Lawrence of this village, and Mrs. Julia Lawrence on East hill. 1
As the name of Lawrence has been so prominent in our town in character, position and numbers at an early day, it is but due to the memory of those who performed so much service, that we should dwell a moment upon the only relic of that enterprising race, left to us in the person of Julia Lawrence.
Julia Lawrence was born in Norfolk, Conn. April 2nd., 1780. Her father, Ariel Lawrence, came to Paris, near Utica, in Jan. 1797 and the following January removed to Onondaga, on what has since been called the Wid. Leonard stand. When coming to Onondaga, they brought fire in a foot stove the last four miles, with which to build their first fire in their new log house home. Their house was considered the nicest log house in the country,
12
because the logs were hewed, and the windows so arranged that they could be raised.
Julia Lawrence was married to her cousin Jepthah, son of Bigelow Lawrence, April 1st , 1809; her husband died Feb. 1st. 1872, terminating a married life of sixty three years. How few such instances!
The Rev. Levi Parsons performed the marriage ceremony and in the subsequent Fall, he was himself married; lived with his wife within a fraction of fifty years; survived his wife six years and has been dead nearly twelve years, and yet there is with us to- day Julia Lawrence, the then youthful bride of nineteen, who has survived all these events. And not merely survived, but retaining wonderfully her mental and physical health, "her eyes not yet dim, nor her natural force abated."
The first frame house in this village was erected by Dr. El- nathan Beach in 1796, on nearly the same place where now stands the dwelling of Mrs. Curtis Moses. The second was built by Judge Bradley, and still remains in tolerably good order, and is now owned by Geo. Hunt. This has long been known as the Wid. Sophia Ball house, and is now the oldest dwelling in the place. The third house was the old Tavern, that occupied the place where the Roman Catholic Church now stands; and was last own- cd and occupied by that denomination for church purposes. It was erected by Dea. Samuel Rice, and for a long time kept by him for a tavern.
.
The old Presbyterian Meeting-House was built in 1803. In the Fall of 1806 there were nine dwelling houses in this village.
The first death that occured in this place, was that of a travel- er whose name was Jones, a young man twenty one years old, from Saratoga Co. He died of what was called Putrid Sore Throat, in May or June 1797 at the house of Dea. Rice, Inn- Keeper. He was buried in the place then first selected as a burial. place, where now stands the house of Isaac Bradley. This ground was used for several years until about twenty persons were buried
13
1
. there. But the soil being found unsuitable for the purpose, it was relinquished about the year 1804, and the present burying ground chosen for the home of the dead. The bodies buried in the former place were principally removed to the new ground. Except these, the first body interred therein was that of Mrs. Eunice Bradley, the first wife of Hon. Dan. Bradley.
The original inhabitants of Marcellus were mostly men pos- sessed of a comfortable amount of property. Many were able to pay the cash for their farms, and had besides a surplus for other purposes. Many others bought on half credit. This made a very healthy financial farming community.
In the original town not more than two, and perhaps not more than one of the soldiers located on the lot for which he served. Consequently, excepting these, all the first inhabitants purchased their farms. They came mostly from the New-England states, as the Lawrence's and Cobb's from Vermont; Maj. May and Parley E. Howe from Rhode Island; a portion from Conn. particularly those who made up the village, and a few from Mass.
The first inhabitants of any community give character to that community. This has its influence in framing the character of. future generations. The founders of this town were people of in- - dustry. strict economy and sober habits.
They were generally firm supporters of order. They gave en couragement to religions institutions. Public worship on the Sab- bath was established immediately on their arrival, and has been maintained ever since. At first reading meetings were held, and they had preaching ouly occasionally. For several years they united with the inhabitants of Skaneateles in supporting preach- ing services. Most of the professors of religion were Congrega- tional or Presbyterian; hence the church was of that order and the mode of worship in conformity to it. And although among them, there were a few members of other denominations. there were no separate congregations, but all worshipped together for a period of twenty years. It is worthy of notice that as early as in
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.