USA > New York > Oneida County > Annals and recollections of Oneida County > Part 31
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and a bottle of whiskey, were very securely placed within the head-stone of the corner.
In August, 1840, the Episcopal Church, at Waterville. was organized, and Rev. Fortune C. Brown was the first rector, and and continued as such during five years, until the fall of 1845. In the year 1842, this society organized ar "the Wardens and Vestrymen of Grace Church, Waterville," and erected their present church edifice. The Rev. David M. Fackler took the place of Mr. Brown, and remained until the spring following. Tho Rev. Wm. A. Matson was minis- ter, from the summer of 1846, to June, 1848, and the Rov J H Benedict, from September, 1848, to the present time
In 1843, the " Congar Settlement" society, of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church was organized. They purchased the old Presbyterian church edifice, in Waterville, but which was sold in the winter of 1848-9.
In the month of April, 1847, the Second Methodist Epis- copal Church was organized. This society has a very neat house for worship in the south part of the town at "Congar Settlement," or "Congar Town," these names being promis- cuously applied to the same location.
In June, 1814, Joseph Tenny, commenced the publication of a weekly newspaper, in this town, entitled the " Chris- tians' Weekly Monitor and Sabbath Morning Repast." In 1816, it was merged in the " Civil and Religious Intelligen- cer" or rather the two papers were printed on the same sheet The Intelligencer continued to be published until 1833. when Mr Tenny, the publisher removed from the town.
A weekly newspaper, entitled the " Oneida Standard," was published in Waterville, in 1833 and 1834. It was estab-
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lished as a political paper, advocating the interests of the democratie party, and at first was conducted with ability, but falling into other hands, it was removed to Utica, and was soon afterwards discontinued.
LOCATION, GEOLOGY, FACE OF THE COUNTRY, SOIL, ETC.
The town of Sangerfield is situated in the southern part of the county, eighty-eight miles westerly from Albany, on the Cherry Valley Turnpike, and seventeen south-west from Utica. Its latitude is north 43 deg. 54 min., its elevation above tide water about 1375 feet, and 800 above Utica and the long level on the Erie Canal. It contains about 18,900 acres. Its shape is nearly that of a parallelogram. Although many of the lots are of irregular shape, they were intended, as required by law, to contain 250 acres each.
The east and west lines of the town run due north and south, the south line due cast and west, and the north line south 87 deg. east. Its greatest length from north to south is six miles and 120 rods, and its breadth from east to west, Your miles and 216 rods.
The north-west part of the town rests upon "carniferous Lime stone," a part of which is exposed, and quarried in the creek, below the woolen factory, in Waterville. The remain- ing and hilly portion of the town rests immediately upon the " Marcellus shales," except the summits of the highest hills in the south and south-west parts, which are capped by the lower shales of the "Hamilton group."
The main easterly branch of the Oriskany creek, and a branch of the Chenango river, rise in the northerly part of the town, and for about two miles before the former takes ita wortherly and the latter its southerly course, they are nearly
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parallel to each other, and run to the west. The north and central portions of the town lying upon and between these streams are comparatively level, and the land very excellent for cultivation.
The northern extremity of the "great swamp" is on lot 27, about three-fourths of a mile west from Waterville, and from thence its course is south-westerly, leaving the town near the west "quarter line." Its average width is about one and a half miles, and the length of the part lying in this town is about four miles. In its natural state this swamp abounded in the finest timber for building and fencing purposes, it being very thickly and heavily covered with white pine and cedar. Its most valuable timber, however. has already disappeared before the axes of the settlers, it having furnished lumber for most of the buildings, and rails for the fences, for many miles around. A small portion of this swamp has been cleared and drained, and promises to be good meadow land; but most of it will probably remain a waste for many years yet to come. If the carly settlers of the county had exercised prudence with regard to the lots fitted by nature to be preserved for their timber, if they had oftener heeded the appeal of the song " Woodman spare that tree," we should not have witnessed a scarcity of the article. ere a half century had hardly elapsed from the time the "pale face" commenced his depredations upon its vast and heavily timbered forests.
All the cast part of the town and that part which lies south-east of the Chenango creek which drains the swamp. rises into hills ranging from two to three hundred feet in height. In the southern hills, spring numerous tributaries of the Chenango, which, running northerly and westerly, and fall- ing over the rocks of shale, form a number of picturesque water- falls, in two of which the water descends about seventy feet.
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One of these tributaries heads in " Bailey's Pond,". a nat- ural sheet of water, lying about 200 feet higher than the swamp, and covering about ten acres. It is said to have been sounded with 120 feet of line without finding bottom.
A tributary of the west branch of the Oriskany creek, also takes its rise in this town, in a swamp, on lot No. 13, and leaves the town about a mile south of its north-west corner. The hills which enclose the valleys of this creek on the west, and those bounding the lower part of the great swamp, form one continuous chain on the west line of the town, from the Cherry Valley turnpike to the line of Brookfield.
The soil of the valleys is rich and productive, and the hills are excellent for pasturage. The staple productions of the town are corn, grain, hops, wool and cattle. The town con- tains five houses for public worship, for the different denon- inations, heretofore mentioned, and fifteen school districts and school houses. By the census of 1845, the town contained 2272 inhabitants.
The village of Waterville stands chiefly upon lots Nos. 39 and 40 in this town, but a small part of the village is how- ever in the town of Marshall. It is situated upon the east branch of the Oriskany creek, at its junction with a small tributary which rises among the hills in the east and south- east part of the town of Marshall. At, and below this june- tion, the east branch falls very rapidly until it unites with the west branch at Deansville. The power thus furnished is the only durable water power in the town. This circumstance. very early in the settlement of the country, caused a collec- tion or "huddle" of buildings, known as "Sangerfield Hud- dle," and which by a steady and healthy growth has become the third place in importance in the county. In 1793, the former Colonel, but then Judge Sanger, built the first saw mill at this place. In the year 1794, Benjamin White
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ANNALS OF ONEIDA COUNTY.
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erectod ono on the site of the present woolen factory. In the year 1796, Mr. White erected a grist mill near the site of the one now owned by Goodwin and Church. Within a few years afterwards Justus Tower, Esq., who settled in the place in 1799, built the grist mill which stands a few rods below.
In 1799, Sylvanus Dyer, removed from the Centre, which up to that time had been the village of the town, and built the house now owned by Mrs. William Page, at the west end of the village, in which he opened both a store and a tavern. This was the first stock of goods offered for sale in the vil- lage. In 1801, Brown and Hewett, who had previously kept a store on the road to Oriskany Falls, and on the hill where Nicholas Edwards now resides, erceted for a store the building now owned by Fitch Hewett. The next store was soon after opened by Robert Benedict, Esq., in the building erected by him, and which is now the rear wing of the Waterville House, owned by A. D. and G. B. Cleveland. Esquire Benedict is said to have been very much of the gen- tleman, both in his manners and style of living. He was the brother-in-law of Doctor Nott, now President of Union College, and soon after he commenced trade, the Doctor, then a young Clergyman, made him a visit. Although Esq. B was the son of a clergyman and brought up in the faith of "the most straitest sect" yet neither he nor his household possessed a copy of the holy scriptures. Fearing the reproof he would receive from the Doctor if his destitution should be discovered, when the family were summoned to worship, he borrowed a Bible of Col. Sylvanus Dyer, his next neighbor, and placed it upon the table in the parlor, so as to appear as his own. In the morning after the family had assembled for prayer, the Doctor took the sacred volume and very rev- erently opening it, and turning over its leaves to select a
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chapter suitable to the occasion, saw the name of Sylvanus Dyer written on a blank leaf, but which he passed without seeming to notice, and procceded with his devotions. In the course of the day the Esquire returned the borrowed volume, and thinking he would not again be caught in the awkward dilemma, proceeded to the store and purchased a copy, and in the selection he strove for as near a resemblance to the one he borrowed as possible, and placed it in the same position in which the Doctor had left the other in the morning. When the family were all again present for evening prayers the Doctor took the new Bible and leisurely opened it to read as before. Probably the newness of the book caused a little suspicion in his mind, for after a close search on the blank leaves, he quietly and quizzingly remarked, "Brother Benedict, I don't see Sylvanus Dyer's name here." No de- seription is necessary of the confusion of the brother-in-law in his unpleasant predicament.
In April, 1804, an extraordinary freshet deluged the val- ley of the Oriskany. It swept every dam at this place, and caused a great destruction of property, and two estimable citizens, Justus Tower, Esq., and John Williams, jun., lost their lives by the flood. Justus Tower, Esq., was a man of great enterprise and had recently been re-elected supervisor of the town. Soon after the freshet, the village was visited with a severe epidemic which carried off a number of citizens, among whom was Ichabod Stafford, Esq., who has been pre- viously mentioned.
In the year 1808, the Sangerfield Post Office which had been previously located in this village, was removed to the Centre. In this year or the year preceding, the village, which from its first settlement had no other local name than the Huddle, received the name of Waterville. In the fall of the year, on a certain evening, Doctor Sherman Bartholomew,
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Josiah Bacon, Reuben Bacon, Isaac Terry, and John Wil- liams, Esquires, were together in the tavern kept either by Eli Hotchkiss, or Pardon Keyes, now the dwelling house of Doctor E. A. Munger, and among other topics, the name of the village became a subject of conversation, and it was unan- imously agreed that the village deserved a more dignified name, and that it should have one. After the suggestion of a variety of names, Doctor Bartholomew proposed that of Waterville, to which they all assented, and by that name it has since been recognized. It was not however generally known by that cognomen out of the village, until the Water- ville Post Office was established in 1823. The name Water- ville was selected, because not only agrecable, but a very ap -. propriate one. The writer would not, like a certain lady au- thor, intimate, that Whiskeyville would have been more ap- propriate, believing that pure water is more congenial to the tastes of a majority of its citizens than whiskey.
In the year 1806, the village had thirty-two dwelling houses and stores, and 300 inhabitants. It has now a bank with a capital of $100 000, five large dry good stores, an ex- tensive drug store, a large grocery and provision store, a large tannery connected with the boot and shoe-making, for foreign markets, an extensive copper, sheet iron, and tin manufactory, an organ manufactory, which employs many hands, a large woolen factory, two grist and flouring mills. a distillery for the making of pure alcohol, three furnaces. two machine shops, two taverns, and three houses for public worship.
There is now constructed a plank road from this place through Clinton to Utica, and another to Utica, via Paris Hill, as also the Earlville and Waterville plank road, on the east side of the swamp. It has a select school for young la- dies, and an excellent district school. The village contained
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on the 1st of January, 1848, 1014 inhabitants, nearly one half the whole number in the town.
The "Centre" is a small village situated on the Cherry Valley turnpike, one and a quarter miles south from Water- ville. The village contains one large store, two taverns, the Sangerfield post office, and the Congregational church. It contains thirty-five dwelling houses, and about 250 inhabitants.
The name of Benjamin White has frequently occurred in the foregoing notice of Sangerfield. He was one of the fathers of the town, having settled as early within two weeks as any one in the town, or village of Waterville. He was the liberal donor to the Baptist society, of the ground on which stands their church, and the triangular block of buildings in the centre of the village. He built the second saw mill, and the first grist mill in the town. In 1805, his fellow townsmen elected him supervisor. A few years afterwards, he emi- grated to the town of Stafford, Genesee County, where his end was most melancholy and tragical. He had two sons, the eldest of whom resided with his father, with the larger portion of his moderate property, in expectancy. The youn- ger son resided in Ohio. It seems there was some dissatis- faction in his mind, because he had received so small a share of his father's estate. Some few years after the father had removed to Stafford, he came from Ohio to see him, and while there, mentioned to some one, that he intended his father should give him more of his property before he returned.
After his arrival, he went to the woods, where his father was manufacturing maple sugar. The elder brother was plowing so near, that he could distinctly see his father and brother, but not near enough to hear any of their conversa- tion. After a short stay at the sugar works, they started together for the house.
Their conversation is but a subject for conjecture. The
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elder brother observed, that when they started, his father walked as if excited. When they arrived at the house, as the father stepped up to the door to open it, the son took him by the shoulder, turned him round, and with a pistol shot him dead. For the commission of this parricide, the son was apprehended, tried, convicted, and executed.
The following is a list of the several Supervisors of the town of Sangerfield, and the number of years each has served :-
David Norton
6 years, from 1795 to 1800.
Amos Muzzy -
1 1801.
Oliver Norton
1 1802.
Justus Tower
1 1803 and 4.
Benjamin White -
1 1805.
Oliver C. Seabury
6 1806 to 9, 11 and 13.
John Williams
1
1810.
Josiah Bacon -
9 1812-14 to 20 and 28.
- Samnel M. Mott
7 1821-5-6-7-9-30 & 31.
John Mott -
3 1833-42 and 43.
Erastus Jeffers
,٠
1834 and 26.
Levi D. Carpenter
1
1835.
Horace Bigelow
4 = 1837-38-39 and 40.
Julius Tower
1
1811.
Otis Webster - 1
1814.
Amos O. Osborn - C1
"' 1815 and 46.
De Witt C. Tower -
2
29 1847 and 48.
John W. Stafford -
1
1849.
The following obituary of the late Daniel Eells, Senior, belonged more appropriately to New Hartford, but as his death did not occur until after the history of that town had been printed, it is given here. It seems, too, that he first settled in that part of Sangerfield which was formed into
1821-22-23 and 32.
Reuben Bacon
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Bridgewater in 1797, and it, therefore, is not entirely out of place here. It is taken from the Utica Daily Gazette, of July 21, 1851 :-
" Another old resident has fallen. Deceased-in New Hartford, Daniel Eells, Senior. Born in Middletown, Conn., November, 1757. Died July 17th, 1851. Aged 93 years 9 months. A young man when the Revolutionary War commeneed, he joined the army at Boston under Colonel Taleott. With others he labored all night in building the slight embankment the defence of which has sinee ren- dered Bunker Hill so memorable. In the morning his company was ordered into the country on a scouting expedition, and was thus absent from the battle. Soon afterwards, on the ocean, he was cap- tured by an English privateer and taken into Bermuda, where he was kept prisoner a long time. IIe was in the battle on Long Island and with Washington when he evacuated New York. After return- ing to Boston with the army, he remained in New England during the war. But owing to some informality in the evidence Govern- ment did not see fit to grant him a pension. In January, 1796, he removed with his family to Bridgewater in this county, where he remained one year, and from thenee to New Hartford (then known as Whitestown), where he has since resided. Almost a centenarian, he lived to see the wilderness bud and blossom as the rose. One of the few left who endured the hardships of that period, he lived to see his descendants enjoy the blessings he helped to obtain. And it is a remarkable fact that during a space of 93 years, he resided under the same roof with a sister deccased last December, at the advanced age of 96 years. He did not make a profession of religion until late in life, yet was always a constant attendant at the House of God, until the infirmities of age prevented. Though shut out from the sympathies of the world of late years, by age and imbecility, he endeared himself to his friends and relations by his kindness and amiability of heart and life. Reverence to his memory and peace to his ashes."
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CHAPTER XXI.
STEUBEN.
By an act of the Legislature, passed April 10th, 1792. this town was created. The amount of territory included within its bounds would be considered rather formidable at the present day. Steuben was all that part of Whitestown, beginning at the mouth of the Nine Mile Creek, running thence north-easterly to the north-east corner of Holland Patent ; thence northerly along the east bounds of Steuben's Patent to the north-east corner thereof; thence due north to the north bounds of the State ; and also from the place of beginning due west to the line of Oneida Reservation ; thence north-west along said line to Fish Creek; thence due north to the north bounds of the State. First town meeting at the house of Seth Ranney, near Fort Stanwix.
The town meeting was held on the first Tuesday of April, 1793, Roswell Fellows was chosen supervisor, and Jedediah Phelps town clerk.
This shows that Fort Stanwix, at that time, was the cen- tral point of the town of Steuben, and that, the inhabitants in the vicinity of the fort, came in at least for a goodly pro- portion of the " spoils." for Messrs. Fellows and Phelps were both residents of that locality. Mr. Fellows held the office of supervisor for three years, when, in March, 1796, the towns of Rome and Floyd were taken from Steuben. The act also provided, that the next town meeting for Steu-
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ben should be held at the house of Joshua Wells. The meeting was held, and Samuel Sizer was chosen supervisor. Mr. Sizer held the office for six years.
In 1797, the town of Steuben was again divided, and the towns of Western and Leyden taken from it. This, it is believed, left this town with its present bounds and ter- ritory. The law making this division of the town provided that the next town meeting should be held at the late residence of Baron Steuben, deceased. At the expiration of the six years of Mr. S. Sizer's services as supervisor. Thomas H. Hamilton was elected to that office, who held it for twenty-five successive years. He also, for a number of years, held the office of judge of the county. He is now living at an advanced age in the town of Verona. Russel Fuller, who is yet a resident of the town, has held the office for eight years.
This town lies in an elevated position, and its soil is better adapted to grazing than grain. It raises very little corn or wheat, although within the last few years a fair piece of spring wheat is occasionally seen. Butter is the leading article for market. The majority of the population is Welsh, who are not famed for the manufacture of cheese, but in butter they acknowledge no superiors. If their soil is less luxuriant, probably no section of the county can be found where the farmers are more prosperous or accumulate pro- perty faster than here.
This town adjoins Floyd on the south. The line being nearly on the top of what is known as Floyd hill, a high ridge of land running east and west. Passing down a long and gradual descent into the central part of Steuben, there is a valley lying parallel with the hill. In this valley, Big Brook runs westerly and north-westerly, and empties into the Mohawk in Western, and Steuben Creek flows from the
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ANNALS OF ONEIDA COUNTY.
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valley castwardly and south-castwardly, and unites with Cin cinnatus Creek, at Trenton village. From this valley rises to the north the high land, known as Steuben hill. It rises much higher, and overlooks Floyd hill, and its ascent ia much more abrupt. At a number of places, Hamilton Col- lege and other buildings in the neighborhood, are to be dis- tinctly scen with the naked eye. Starr's hill the most elevated point in this ridge, is the highest land in the county. Its altitude is so great, that Indian corn entirely fails to mature on it.
The visitor is at once impressed with the vastness of the landscape. No land within many miles is as high as where ho stands. Westerly and north-westerly the view is almost unbounded. A large section of the Oncida Lake ia to be seen, and a person well acquainted in Central New York, in viewing the location of different highlands, soon becomes sat- isfied that portions of seven different counties are distinctly seen. This section of Steuben hill received its name from Captain David Starr, one of the earliest settlers in the town who chose for his home this elevated ground. Capt. Starr held his commission in the continental army, and served seven years. He had but a durable lease of his farm, and was not as successful in farming as with his sword. After the death of the Baron Steuben, his executor Col. Walker, pressed the Captain for rent, and a suit was instituted for its collection, when the Captain became so irritated, to think that one of his old companions in arms should distress hire 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 farther, and the Captain had further lenity shown him. In quite a number of instances and in different places, the people in the vicinity have chosen
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this elevated locality as a place of sepulture for their friends.
In general the surface of this town may be termed stony Bowlders of every size and shape, some of which are of im- mense proportions, thickly dot the fields. By the patient persevering industry of its inhabitants, Welsh and Yankec, these unsightly deformities are being fast removed and laid into the most substantial and enduring fences. To the un- practised, the task of removing some that are thus used, would seem Herculean. Where the rock is entirely too large to be removed with an ordinary force of men and teams, a fire in built as compactly across it as possible, and none but the most stubborn can withstand the process for but a short time. when the huge block from circumference to centre cracks to pieces, and like the fragments of a divided nation, the resis- tance of its several parts can be readily overcome, and the mighty mass that had unitedly withstood every effort, is scattered, never again to be united and cemented.
Samuel Sizer was the first person who settled within the present limits of Steuben. It is, from the best evidence ob- tainable, believed he removed to the town in 1789, and came to superintend the Baron Steuben's farming operations, al- though he had previously been a ship carpenter.
Captain Simeon Fuller oame and took up a lot on Steu- ben's Patent, in the spring of 1792, and the next spring he removed his family into the place. He was born October 17th, 1762, and is still living on the farm on which he first settled, with his son Major Russel Fuller. The author called upon the old gentleman the last of August, 1843. He was found in the field hale and hearty, reaping and binding wheat, lacking then but a few days of being 86 years of age He served in the army of the Revolution, for which he re- ceives a pension. By industry and economy, he has acquired
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