USA > New York > Oneida County > Steuben > A narrative history of Remsen, New York, including parts of the adjoining townships of Steuben and Trenton, 1789-1898 > Part 19
USA > New York > Oneida County > Remsen > A narrative history of Remsen, New York, including parts of the adjoining townships of Steuben and Trenton, 1789-1898 > Part 19
USA > New York > Oneida County > Trenton > A narrative history of Remsen, New York, including parts of the adjoining townships of Steuben and Trenton, 1789-1898 > Part 19
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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
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In the second formation of the "Continental Line," David Starr was Captain of the Fourth Regiment, which consisted of the enlisted men of the Sixth Reg- iment of the previous formation; and in December, 1782, the regiment consolidated for the third forma- tion, from January to June, 1783. He served as Cap- tain from January 1, 1781 to January 1, 1783.
Captain Starr was a member of the "Order of the Cincinnati," of Connecticut. About 1790, he left Middletown with his family and emigrated to Steu- ben, and concerning him the following is from Jones' "Annals of Oneida County:"-
"Starr's Hill, the most elevated point of the Steu- ben range, is the highest land in Oneida county. The view is very beautiful and extensive, taking in part of Oneida Lake, and portions of seven counties are distinctly seen. It received its name from Captain David Starr, one of the earliest settlers in the town, who chose for his home, this elevated ground. Cap- tain Starr held a commission in the Continental army and served seven years. He had but a durable lease of his farm, and was not as successful with his farm as with his sword. After the death of Baron Steuben, his executor, Colonel Walker, pressed the Captain for the rent, and a suit was instituted for its collec- tion, when the Captain became so irritated to think that one of his old companions in arms should dis- tress him for that which he had not the means of paying, that he gave the Colonel a verbal challenge to meet him at the grave of the Baron, with sword and pistol, and there settle the matter. The suit, however, proceeded no further, and the Captain had more lenity shown him."
About 1809, Captain Starr gave up his farm, re- moved to Lee Center, N. Y., and died August 11, 1813, while on a visit at Adams, Jefferson county, and was buried there. He had twelve children, all
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born in Middletown, Conn., of whom Patty, born De- cember 8, 1759, died January 6, 1782.
Ruth, born June 13, 1761, married, June 14, 1784, John, son of John and Sarah (Fairchild) Cromell. After her husband's death she removed to New York state, but died at the home of a daughter in Canada.
Thomas, born October 2, 1763, removed from Connecticut to Steuben, probably with his father's family, and remained here three or four years, then went to Rome, and thence to Lee Center, in 1808, where he bought a farm. He died September 16, 1834.
Samuel Moore, born November 1, 1765, joined the Continental army when very young, and served to the end of the war. From 1819 until his death he drew a pension of ninety-six dollars a year. It is : probable that he came from Connecticut to Steuben with his father, and then returned, perhaps on a visit, for on the records of the Episcopal church of Mid- dletown there is "the baptism, Feb. 7, 1796, of Frances, daughter of Samuel M. Starr, of Steuben." About 1822 he left New York state and settled at Hampden, Geauga county, Ohio. He died June 21, 1844.
Sarah, born December 21, 1767, died January 17, 1804, and was buried on Starr's Hill. She married, January 25, 1789, Captain Joseph, son of John and Frances (Saltus) Ingham, who was born on the Island of Bermuda September 19, 1764. He was a sea cap- tain, but left the sea and about 1794 settled in Steu- ben. He was well known and highly respected here in his day. He died January 19, 1853.
Elizabeth, born November 17, 1769, died April 20, 1815. Diana, born November 15, 1771.
Mary, born January 24, 1774, died September 22, 1842, at Lee, N. Y. She married, August 18, 1794,
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Samuel Marsh, who was born November 6, 1767, a farmer in Steuben. He died August 5, 1810.
David, born October 8, 1775, was reared in Steuben with few early advantages, for he could not read or write until taught by his wife after their marriage. On reaching the age of twenty-one, he started from home with his axe on his shoulder to make his own way in the world; camped in the forest, now in the town of Champion, Jefferson county, and commenced a clearing. After building a log cabin and spending two years in hard labor on his land, he returned to Steuben for a wife, whom he took to his humble home, and where, with patient, persevering industry, united with tact, shrewdness and enterprise, he built up an extensive business and accumulated a large property, owning and managing a farm, grist-mill, village store and distillery. He built a fine house complete in it- self and its surroundings, quite in contrast with his humble beginning. Later in life he gave up business, and removed to Adams, N. Y., where he died Novem- ber 24, 1841, and was buried at Champion. He mar- ried, first, December 20, 1800, Maria Jane, daughter of John and Susan (Jones) Hotchkiss, at New Haven, Conn. He married, second, April 26, 1835, Hannah, daughter of Joseph P. Ward, of Watertown, N. Y.
Thankful, born December 17, 1769, died about 1814. She married at Steuben, at the age of sixteen, George, son of Ichabod and Ruth (Hotchkiss) Page, who was born in New Haven, Conn. They lived at Smyrna, Chenango county, N. Y. After her death he married again, and died at Earlville, N. Y.
NOADIAH HUBBARD, son of Noadiah and Phoebe (Fairchild) Hubbard, was born in Middletown, Conn., October 11, 1765. In his youth he had a predilec-
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tion for the sea, but, after making several voyages to the West Indies, yielded to the solicitations of his mother, whose first husband and oldest son were lost at sea, and abandoned that life. In 1791 he came to New York, settling at Whitesboro, where he fired the first brick and burned the first lime ever made or used there. At that time there was but one framed house in Utica, owned and occupied by John Post, an early merchant. In 1792 he came to Steuben, settling not far from the place selected for a residence by Baron Steuben, at Sixty Acres. In the winter of 1794 he returned to his native place, where on January 30 he married Eunice Ward, whom he immediately after brought to his forest home. Previous to this, in 1793, he had been offered by the Western Inland Naviga- tion Company the contract for the construction of the canal-locks at Little Falls, which he had accepted. He went to Middletown, Conn., hired the requisite number of men, procured oxen and whatever else was necessary for the work, returned to Little Falls, and finished the work during that year, being the first to break ground for the first canal in the State of New York, if not in the United States. He received one dollar a day for his services, and thirteen dollars a month each for his men, which included their board, he hiring them at nine dollars.
In 1797 Mr. Hubbard left Steuben for what is now Champion, Jefferson county, on a tour of exploration with Lemuel Storrs who owned extensive tracts in the north. They traveled on foot over the so-called French Road to the High Falls on Black river, and eventually reached their destination. Mr. Hubbard remained there until fall, when he returned to Steu- ben for the winter. On June 1 following he again started for Champion, with fifteen head of cattle,
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accompanied by his neighbors Salmon Ward and David Starr, Jr., and thus became the first white settler in what is now Jefferson county. On this trip he remained until October, when he again returned to his family in Steuben. Early in the spring of 1799 he was joined by other neighbors who had determined to migrate with him to the new settlement in the north, among whom were Samuel Starr, Jotham Mitchell, Jr., Salmon Ward, Bela Hubbard and David Miller, all of whom were young men, and moved his family to Champion that fall. He erected the first church building within the confines of the present County of Jefferson out of his own funds, expecting to sell enough pews to reimburse him for the outlay, though in this he met with disappointment; and he also built several school-houses. When eighty-four years of age, he constructed eleven miles of plank road-from Great Bend to Copenhagen-all of which showed his indomitable energy and perseverance.
He was an officer in the war of 1812, was appointed Judge in 1813, and was many times elected super- visor, when, to meet with the board entailed much hardship, as he was obliged to travel long distances -first to Herkimer, when he represented Steuben, before the organization of Oneida county, and then from Champion to Rome before the organization of Jefferson county, in 1810; and subsequently to the seat of the new county. His private business was extensive and varied, in addition to the public duties he had to perform. His son, Hiram, born in Steuben October 30, 1794, was one of three sons whom the parents took to the new home in November, 1799, traveling much of the way through the wilderness on horseback. He became prominent in Jefferson county.
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JOHN PLATT was born at Huntington, L. I., January 2, 1735, and came to Steuben from Freder- icksburg, Duchess county, in 1792. His first wife was Mary Blyndenburgh, who died prior to his coming here. Their children were William; Elizabeth; Rich- ard; Mary; Samuel, born May 3, 1766; Phoebe; Abi- gail; Obadiah; John Jr .; and Experience, born Febru- ary 22, 1777. May 4, 1779, he married Phoebe Hoyt Husted, of Duchess county, who was born May 25, 1753, widow of Samuel Husted, a revolutionary sol- dier who died a prisoner in New York city December 15, 1777. Mr. Platt died at Alder Creek, July 30, 1810, in his seventy-sixth year.
William Platt came on with the family, in 1792. He married Mary, daughter of Matthew and Mary Hoyt, born April 30, 1769. In 1796 he removed to Remsen, where he bought the farm now owned by John Hum- phreys. It was all woodland then, except a clearing of about ten acres upon the flat. On this place there was a log house, where one Peter Becker conducted an inn. On July 18, 1798, Mr. Platt bought of Gerrit Boon, Herman Le Roy and William Bayard, who represented the Holland Land Company, Lot 42 of Service's Patent, which included the water-privilege at Remsen village, paying therefor $507,85, "current money of the State of New York." A few years later he built the framed house on the Humphreys place, which he conducted as a public house for many years, and improved the saw-mill that had been erected below the falls, and also built a grist-mill. He was wounded in the revolution, and drew a pension, hav- ing served as corporal in Captain Delevan's Company, Colonel Malcom's Regiment. Some years prior to his death he and his brother, John Platt, Jr., became involved in litigation, and the farm and mill property
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passed into the hands of Lyman & Brown, lawyers, of Utica, and the late Robert M. Jones received his title deeds to both these properties from the above firm about 1835. When at a very advanced age, Mr. Platt removed to Western, where he died April 8, 1847, his wife having died there January 15, 1837. They were both buried in Prospect cemetery.
Obadiah Platt settled in Steuben township, a mile and a half west of Steuben Corners, in 1792. He was a farmer and removed to Illinois about 1837. Richard Platt was also a farmer in Steuben.
John Platt, Jr., born at Fredericksburgh, Duch- ess county, April 3, 1774, was eighteen years of age when he came with the family to Steuben. In 1796 he made the journey to New Canaan, Conn., where he married Phoebe, daughter of Matthew and Mary Hoyt, who was born there February 27, 1777. He remained there about three years, then returned to Steuben, bringing his wife and household goods up the North river by boat to Albany, thence by ox- team and wagon. Their children were Sally, born at New Canaan, September 16, 1797, died at Alder Creek June 29, 1809; William L., born in Steuben October 25, 1802, died at Alder Creek, January 27, 1864; Louisa, born in Steuben December 13, 1803, died September 1, 1892, unmarried; Mary B., born in Trenton township March 11, 1804, died at Alder Creek in 1847; Abigail, born at Remsen September 4, 1805, died at Alder Creek in 1840; Anna, born at Alder Creek June 24, 1807, died at Hamilton, N. Y., May 27, 1871; Matthew H., born at Alder Creek April 22, 1809, died at Prospect May 11, 1888; Es- ther, born at Remsen November 3, 1811, married John F. Sawyer, and died at Hamilton, N. Y., aged upwards of eighty-five years; Sally B., born at Rem-
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sen May 18, 1812, died at Remsen May 8, 1813; Chauncey, born at Remsen August 16, 1816, died at Alder Creek July 25, 1869; Eliphalet, born in Trenton township February 12, 1817, died at Utica, Septem- ber 1848. Mr. Platt died at Alder Creek July 25, 1869, aged ninety-five years.
LEMUEL HOUGH was born in Southwick, Mass., October 12, 1777, though one account says that he was born in Meriden, Conn. He was a member of the household of Baron Steuben, came to the town- ship with the Baron, and was with him when he died. Some years after, or in 1803, he removed to Remsen village, where, in company with his brother-in-law, Broughton White, he established an ashery for the manufacture of potash. On May 16, 1802, he married Huldah Johnson, born January 2, 1784. They had six children, three of whom, Eveline, Lemuel and Susan J., died in infancy. Eliza, born July 25, 1804, died at Turin, N. Y., July 22, 1882; Alfred N., born September 10, 1807, died at Canastota, N. Y., Sep- tember 5, 1875; Homer J., born May 12, 1810, died at Turin, N. Y. Mr. Hough was owner of extensive real estate near Alder Creek, N. Y., where he was prominent in business, and while a resident of Remsen he represented his district in the state legislature, in 1832. For twelve years he was a justice of the peace in Remsen and Boon- ville townships, and during the last twenty-five years of his life lived at Alder Creek, where he died January 22, 1866. Mrs. Hough died June 20, 1848.
Alfred N. Hough at an early age bought from his father a large tract of land in or near Forestport, and bravely attacked the rough soil which in due time returned him an abundant livelihood. On Septem- ber 3, 1829, he married Ann M. Way, of New Haven,
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Conn., by whom he had three children-a son and two daughters. The son, Henry, died in early man- hood. Of the daughters, Helen married William Hulbert, and died at Canastota, N. Y., November 20, 1869; and Caroline married Eugene Stebbins, of Syracuse, N. Y. Alfred N. was engaged in lumber- ing at Forestport for many years, where he served as justice of the peace. In 1868 he removed with his family to Canastota, N. Y., where he embarked in the coal and lumber business, and where he died September 5, 1875.
Homer Johnson Hough, born May 12, 1810, married Elianor R. Green, who died March 5, 1861. He married second, Hannah A. Jones, who survived him. Mr. Hough was a practical business man, and engaged in commercial pursuits and lumbering many years. In 1874 he removed to Turin, N. Y., where he died January 27, 1877. His children were Chloe, who June 9, 1857, married James Cruikshank, a well known educator, for several years superintendent of educa- tion for the City of Brooklyn, N. Y. They have two sons, Barton and George Hough Cruikshank. Alfred Barton, son of Homer J. Hough, graduated at Ho- bart College, Geneva, N. Y., in 1861, joined the en- gineer corps of the 50th N. Y. Volunteers as a pri- vate, and served during the civil war as sergeant, first lieutenant and captain. He studied law, and practiced in New York city and in Colorado. He died March 22, 1893.
NATHANIEL B. JOHNSON, born in 1751, was among the early settlers in Steuben. He died August 8, 1801. His widow, Jerusha, died November 27, 1829. Their children were Samuel, born May 18, 1781; Huldah (Mrs. Lemuel Hough), born June 2,
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1783; Susan (Mrs. Broughton White), born December 10, 1786; Sylvester, born June 25, 1788; Selden, born June 9, 1791; Hosley, born May 20, 1795; and Henry, born August 11, 1799. Sylvester and Selden removed to Remsen village, where they became active and prominent men of affairs.
JOHN INGHAM was a wealthy ship owner and ship builder of the Island of Bermuda, and is said to have owned three hundred slaves before the emanci- pation in the British West Indies. He married Frances Saltus, and they had three sons and two daughters. Joseph was the eldest son, born September 19, 1764, and the progenitor of the family in America. Sam- uel S. succeeded to the family estate, and remained in Bermuda. Benjamin left the paternal home early and was never again heard of. Joseph left Bermuda when quite young, shipping as a cabin boy and never went back there, though he used to relate that at the time of the embargo, during the American revolution, his ship lay off so near the old home, that with his glass he could distinguish members of the family as they went in and out of the house. Of the daughters we have no record.
"Captain Joe," as he was called, after the close of the war left the sea and settled at Middletown, Conn., where he married Sarah, daughter of Capt. David Starr. There were born to them at Middletown, Frances S., and Joseph Jr., the latter February 21, 1792. In 1794 Captain Ingham removed with his family to Steuben and bought a farm near where Baron Steuben was afterward buried. Two chil- dren were born to them here, John and Samuel S., the latter in 1800. Mrs. Ingham died January 17, 1804, and was buried on Starr's Hill.
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Captain Joe was not bred to farming, and money being very scarce in the new country he left his little family and again went to sea, along about the time of Fulton's first steamboat expedition up the Hudson, and before his return from this voyage the mother of the family had died. Several years afterward he married Dolly Miller, who was always known in the family as "Grandma Dolly." The Captain died January 19, 1853, and was buried at Western, N. Y. The widow survived him some years.
About 1810 Joseph Ingham, Jr., married Sarah Bill, who was born at Lebanon, Conn., the youngest of a large family, and a sister of Dr. Earl Bill, the first phy- sician in the township of Steuben. Their children were Sarah D., Cyrus B. and Charles E. About 1816 this family removed from New York city to Sandusky, Ohio, then a newly settled country, and there Mrs. Ingham died, October 11, 1817. Frances S. Ingham married Platt Horman and had three children, Samuel, Charles and Sarah. Samuel married, raised a family, and died in Canada. Charles married and had one child, Lillian, of Iowa City, Iowa. Sarah married Anson Gardner, of Theresa, N. Y. Frances (Ingham) Horman lived to be over ninety years of age, and died at Theresa.
John Ingham, son of Captain Joseph, was born in 1792 and died in 1878. He enlisted in the war of 1812, and served at Sacket Harbor until the war closed. When sixty-five years of age the government granted him a pension. His wife was Harriet Tulley, and children were born of the union as follows: Joseph, born May 2, 1824, removed to the west in 1844; Mary, born Feb- ruary 18, 1826, married Loren Kimble, had five chil- dren, and they removed to the west about 1853, where Mrs. Kimble died shortly after; Sarah, born January 18, 1829, married William Atkinson, and five children were
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born to them; Elizabeth, born January 11, 1830, mar- ried Westel Willoughby Greene, and their children are Lillis E., born July 21, 1853, married George Sayles, of Potsdam, N. Y .; Ella Ruth, born January 1, 1855, mar- ried Francis P. French, of New York city; John Frank, born September 23, 1857, married Fanny Wakefield, of Watertown, N. Y .; and William Camp, born De- cember 3, 1859, married Mabel Greene, of Water- town, N. Y.
Frances, daughter of Harriet (Tulley) Ingham, born December 14, 1831, never married, and died in Illinois; Adelaide, born December 17, 1833, lived at Watervliet, N. Y., a member of the Shaker Community; John, Jr., born May 14, 1836, died at Sugar Grove, Ill .; and Sam- uel, born October 11, 1838, married Carrie Worts.
Samuel, the youngest son of Captain Joseph, was born in Steuben in 1800, married and removed to Sugar Grove, Ill., and became prominent in that part of the state.
JONATHAN ARNOLD STEUBEN, of Guilford, Conn., enlisted for three years in Captain Hall's com- pany, April 21, 1777, and was promoted to sergeant July 10, 1780. As shown by the pay-roll, he was in service from January 1 to December 31, 1781. We af- terward find him a sergeant in the companies of Cap- tains Joseph Waller, John St. John, Taylor, and J. Wells; and enrolled as a pensioner of the State of Connecticut, under the act of 1818, while a resident of New York state.
After Gen. Benedict Arnold had treacherously desert- ed his post at West Point, Baron Steuben never failed to manifest his indignation and abhorrence of his name. While inspecting a regiment of light-horse, the name of , Arnold, owned by one of the men, struck his ear. The
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soldier was ordered to the front, a fine looking fellow, his horse and equipments in excellent order. "Change your name, brother soldier," said the Baron, "you are too respectable to bear the name of a traitor."
"What name shall I take, General?"
"Take any other name, mine is at your service." Most cheerfully was the offer accepted, and his name was entered on the roll as "Steuben."
The Baron met this young man after the war, and gave him one hundred acres of land located in the town- ship of Steuben, and upon which he settled and with his family lived many years. The farm was on the Fuller road, where afterward lived Robert Jones (Rhydlos). He had two sons, Benjamin Walker, and William Au- gustus North Steuben. The latter, who was at one time superintendent of the county poor house, was a practical man and a worker. The following incident is told of him: One day late in fall, he dor.ned his work- clothes and went into the cellar of the poor house to cut up and pack some pork that had been recently killed. While thus engaged, one of that nomadic type of human- ity known in our day as "tramp," looked in at the open cellar-way, and seeing Mr. Steuben thus at work and believing him to be an inmate of the institution he walked in. He confided to the superintendent that, as winter was approaching, he would like to find a good home until spring, and made inquiries as to the advan- tages offered along those lines by the poor house. The answers he received were not the most assuring, as the following extract from the conversation will show:
"Do they make you work here?"
"You see what I'm doing. I work every day except Sunday, from sunrise to sunset, and often longer."
"How do they feed you?"
"None too vrell."
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"But say, now, that looks like pretty fine pork you're packing; you can't make any complaint about that."
"Oh, no, not if we get it; but this goes down the superintendent's old neck."
"He gets the best of everything, I suppose?"
"Well, he gets as good as there is; and the inmates take what is given them."
"Is that so? Well, I'll move on."
SIMEON FULLER, or Captain, as he was famil- iarly called, was born in Bolton, Conn., in 1761, and was a son of Lot Fuller who was a direct descendant of either Samuel or Edward Fuller, brothers, who came over in the Mayflower. Captain Fuller en- listed in the revolutionary army at the age of sixteen, served three years, and was discharged in the City of New Yori: after the war closed. His regiment marched into the city with Washington after the British left. He was paid off in continental money, and on his way home he shot a Dutchman's dog, and it cost him all of his three years wages to settle the matter.
He was with Washington's army when it wintered at Morris Plains, N. J., where they suffered as much as did the army at Valley Forge. All his clothing for the winter consisted of pantaloons and vest-no shirt, no coat. His footwear was rags tied around his feet. They were on half rations a good part of the time. Nothing but Washington's presence and influence kept the army together under such priva- tions and suffering. He often spoke of Washington as the finest looking man in the army, and said he would mount his horse with the most ease and grace of any man he ever saw.
Not many years after the war, he removed with his father into Sundersfield, Mass., where he married
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his first wife, Mary Cook, in 1785, and by whom he had one child, Mary. His wife died in 1788. For his second wife, he married the widow of Artemas Holton-whose maiden name was Wealthy Wood- ward-in 1790. Some time after his last marriage, he removed with his brother, Lot Fuller, into Wash- ington county, N. Y., and purchased a farm, but had to leave as he bought of the wrong patentee. He then came into Steuben, and took some land on Baron Steuben's tract, and moved on his family the follow- ing year, 1792. He built a log house, made a roof of bark, had a blanket for a door; chopped a big stump off level on top for a table, laid down a punchion floor big enough to put a bed on, and commenced keeping house.
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