USA > New York > Wayne County > Palmyra > A memorial of the celebration at Palmyra, N.Y. of the centennial Fourth of July, 1876, including the oration by Theodore Bacon, and a sketch of the early history of Palmyra, by Rev. Horace Eaton, D.D > Part 3
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Could we return upon that fine spring morning, it would de- light us to witness the play of surprise, the zest and the curiosity, as they appear in the colony just set down in the wilderness. The practical, strong minded men walk forth to observe the strength and depth of the soil and to take in the lay of the land. Their inward thought is 'here is to be our home,-here we are to work out our destiny for time and eternity,-here are to be our graves,-here the inheritance we leave to our children.' Elias Reeves, William Hopkins, Joel Foster and Abraham Fos- ter acted as trustees for the colony. The first purchase of land in East Palmyra was five thousand five hundred acres. The rich inheritance has come down well preserved.
But "the strength of the hills " as well as the strength of the sea mingled in the early society of Palmyra. Cummington is a high, sterile town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts. A Scotchman by the name of McIntyre was the first settler. Wil- liam Cullen Bryant, the first of American poets, has honored this town by the bequest of a public library and by replacing the old house in which he was born by a splendid mansion. This Cummington was one of the head-springs which irrigated the early life of this Palmyra. Lemuel Spear was a soldier of the Revolution and came here in 1790. Abraham, Ebenezer and Dea. Stephen Spear were his sons. Col. John Bradish, the father of Calvin, Charles and Luther the Governor, Doc- tor Gain Robinson, David White, father of Orrin, James and William White, David Warner, the father of Nahum Warner, Noah and William Porter and Noah Turner were all from Cummington. The death of David White was the first in the
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colony. Isaac Kelly, Stephen Phelps, Webb Harwood, Abraham Lapham and Salmon Hathaway were from Adams, Mass., Asa Lilly from Athol, Mass., Enoch Sanders from Warren, Conn., Silas Stoddard from Groton, Conn.
So far as I have been able to gather from faded memories, such are the names, nativity and time of coming of settlers before or about 1800. As a whole they were choice men and women, sifted, flint wheat. If the men front Wyoming led in the discovery, purchase and settlement of this town, the men from Rhode Island were the first to pay for it. If the emigrants from the hills of Hampshire were more ready in pressing edu- cation, the Long Island colony bore the palm in staid adherence to the Bible and the Sabbath and were first in erecting the Sanctuary. To their honor it should be recorded that from their arrival, they have not failed in keeping up the public wor- ship of God every Sabbath.
Severe were the sacrifices of the early settlers,-their labors Herculean, their principles patriotic and pure. They laid deep and broad the foundations upon which their posterity may build high and strong.
Growth, changes, incidents crowd every year since the first white settlement. Beside the above notice of the early emi- grants, it would be interesting to tell of the subsequent in- coming of citizens from different States of the Union,-from Dutchess, Columbia and other counties of our own State,-from England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, and to define what each class has contributed to the common good,-how we are assimi- lating to each others tastes and increasing in harmony and right living. But time and the limits of this sketch permit but a further glance at some of the more striking contrasts between the early past and the present.
If we turn our eyes back eighty-six years, the felling and firing of trees in the new settlement, present a sharp con- trast with the fenced and cultivated fields, the shaven lawns as they now appear. To bring to a single acre has taxed the toil of many a strong arm. The first plough was hewn out of a log. Now we have the polished share. Once the farmer and his boys with the sickle in hand went bending to the standing grain. Now the lord of the manor rides in a triumphal chariot,-
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the harvest bows to him and at his mandate the wheat piles itself for binding. Look at the steam thresher. It will do the work a hundred men used to do with the flail and the fan. Thanks for the change wrought by modern inventions in culti- vating these fields.
Trade suggests similar contrasts. Zebulon Williams was the first merchant and had his store where the depot now stands. Joseph Colt was the second. His store was on the corner of Main and Market Streets where Royce and Brigham now trade. Swift & Sawyer had their store on the site of the Vinegar factory. George Beckwith began business at the mill now owned by M. B. Riggs. These stores paid twenty-five cents a bushel for wheat, six cents a pound for butter,-asked twenty-five cents a pound for nails. The first carrying trade to and from Albany was by boats through intervening rivers and lakes. Then came the heavy wagons. In 1825 the canal began to bear the burdens of trade, in 1851 the railroad. Col. Stoddard, who was in the employ of Joseph Colt in 1804 and after, assured me that it took him sixty days to go by boat to New York with produce and return with goods. The traveler can now go round the world in the same time.
In Mechanism there has been a like advance. Where are the old cards, spindles, distaffs, looms, clock-reels that struck off the knots-all of the days of blessed homespun? Swift built the first carding machine, Edward Durfee the first saw mill, on our little brook, just above the steam mill of James Galloway,-Jonah Howell the first grist mill, where now stands Ezra Chapman's saw mill. Swift took a bushel of his first wheat on his shoulder and carried it all the way to Seneca Falls, had it ground and brought back the flour.
Zechariah Blackman was the first blacksmith and had his shop under the great elm in front of Mrs. George Beckwith's, James Smith was the first hatter, David Jackway succeeded him, Joel Foster the first carpenter, Gilbert Rogers the first tanner. Henry Jessup commenced his extensive leather trade in 1800. F. C. Strong was the first printer. He began to publish the Palmyra Register in 1818. Pomeroy Tucker commenced the Wayne Sentinel in 1824. Pliny Sexton was the first silversmith
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and watchmaker. He left tictics for the tactics of hardware in the firm of Sexton & Butterfield. For thirty years he was associated with Geo. W. Cuyler in the banking business. Now, at the age of eighty, he survives both his former partners.
Education presents contrasts. In the year 1793, the date of the first town meeting and the first church, it was ordered to build two log school houses. The first was on land given by Swift, nearly opposite St. Ann's Church,-the other was the Hopkins school house in East Palmyra. Schools sprung up in other neighborhoods. An Academy was incorporated some- where about 1816. The building was of brick and stood on the site north of the Catholic Church. The present arrange- ment of the Classical Union School was adopted and the building completed in 1848. Daboll, Murray, Webster, the English Reader and the ferule have had a racy history in our town.
We trace the name of the town to the early literature of the place. "No. 12, Second Range" was first called Swifttown, then Tolland. These names not pleasing the citizens, some- where between March and June 1797, a meeting was held to determine the name. Daniel Sawyer, the brother of Mrs. Swift, was then for two reasons in the literary mood. First, he was in love with Miss Dosha Boughton, the first school-mistress ; secondly, he was interested in ancient history. Now as ancient Palmyra had a Zenobia, he doubtless thought that his modern Dosha should have a Palmyra. It is not strange that he should urge the name of the ancient City with felicity and success. " Palmyra " was adopted by acclamation.
In regard to the churches, we can detain you but with a word. Their formation, edifices, growth, pastorates would fill a volume.
The Baptist Church was organized in the house of Lemuel Spear in 1800. Their first edifice was on the site of the school house opposite the dwelling of James Kent, the elder. Rev. William Jones was the first pastor.
The Methodist Church was formed in 1811. Their first house was on the corner of Johnson and Vienna Streets.
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The Episcopal Church was organized in June 1823. Rev. Rufus Murray was the first Rector. The first edifice was con- secrated February Ist, 1829. It was built on the spot where the present Church now stands.
The Roman Catholic Church was organized in 1848. Its present edifice was erected in 1862 by the present pastor Rev. William Casey.
The Presbyterian Church was organized 1793. In regard to the place of its organization, there are conflicting statements ; one, that it was in the house of John Swift,-another, with per- haps more accuracy, in the first school-house in East Palmyra. Their first edifice was built in East Palmyra in 1807. Their first edifice in the village was built in 1811 on the hill in connection with the old cemetery. It is a pleasant fancy that the gathering in of these churches from their dispersions and planting themselves down so near each other, is emblematical of increase of kindly feeling and co-operation.
In connection with the growth of the churches, I cannot forbear to mention one phase of moral progress. Stephen Durfee used to say, "the first curse that entered Palmyra, was whiskey; it used to ruin many of the early settlers and their sons." The early drinking usages were evil and only evil. Everybody drank. The good people treated their minis- ter as others, only with a little finer sugar and a little smoother liquor. Farmers carried whiskey into their fields, mechanics into the shops. Cider flowed like water. Stephen Durfee started the temperance ball in 1811. Rev. Mr. Stockton en- tered the war against rum in 1825. Though there is still a clandestine, back-door traffic and many a victim is bitten by the serpent, yet the glistening decanters have come down from the sideboard and the sparkling cup is banished from the funeral, the wedding, New Year's calls and social entertain- ments.
Joseph Smith, the apostle of the Latter Day Saints, came to Palmyra from Sharon, Vermont, when ten years of age. When fifteen years old he began to see visions. On the night of Sep- tember 21st, 1823, an Angel. (?) ordained him to his great work. September 22nd 1827, the Angel placed in his hands
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the golden plates and the Urim and Thummim by which to translate them. The house where the translation was com- pleted, the old press which struck off the pages are still with us. But if the Mormon Prophet and the Hydesville ghosts did hail from Palmyra, they did not stay here. If we must own the deceivers, the deluded belong elsewhere.
The day we celebrate revives the remembrance of the fact that the nation had its birth and baptism in blood. Search the silent halls of our dead and you will find not a few me- morials of the Revolutionary heroes. Still more numerous are the graves of those who fought in the war of 1812. Of the boys in blue, not less than ninety names are engraved on the two tablets of stone in our public hall and still deeper in all our hearts. They offered themselves a free and living sacrifice for the dear old flag. And while we live we will strew their graves with flowers and with loyal affection pledge ourselves to sustain the liberties they died to save.
In the series of eighty-six years since the first settlement of the town, there has been a succession of valuable men in the legal, medical and clerical professions. On these farms, in these stores, shops, homes, a succession of men and women have con- . contributed to make Palmyra what it is. Yet the name and work of each cannot be eliminated. But unpublished history is not lost. Silent, unseen agencies live in their results. If good be done, what matter if it be now unknown? The secret, unseen rivulet is content to nourish the verdure that conceals it from view. In the light of a clearer day, unwritten history will be published, corrected, stereotyped. Present reputation is ephemeral, character is eternal.
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