USA > New York > Oneida County > Annals and recollections of Oneida County > Part 57
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tress. In 1787, when Gen. Sullivan administered that thorough chastisement to the Indians, New England fur- nished at least a full moiety of his army. At the close of the war, the beauties of the valleys of the head waters of the Mohawk were remembered. Hugh White removed from Middletown, Connecticut, in May, 1784, and arrived in what is now Whitestown on the 5th of June. He came by water to Albany, crossed by land to Schenectady, where he purchased a batteau, in which he made passage up the Mohawk River, to the mouth of the Sauquoit Creek. His four sons, a daughter and daughter-in-law accompanied him. When he left Middletown he sent one of his sons with two yokes of oxen by land to Albany, who arrived there about the same time as did his father. As the family proceeded up the Mohawk in the boat, their teams kept even pace by land, and when they arrived at Shoemaker's. a few miles below Utica, on the south side of the river, they found many of the farms in that vicinity unoccupied, and the charred remains of dwelling houses and out-buildings told a fearful tale of the ravages committed by the tories and savages. Judge White. looking to the means for the future subsistence of his house- hold, stopped at this place, tilled one of the vacated fields and planted it with corn. At the proper season. the father and sons returned from their new home at the mouth of the Sauquoit, and hoed this field of corn, and in the fall they were repaid for their labor with a bountiful crop. It was harves- ted and brought up in their boat.
Judge White was born February 15th, 1733, making him fifty-one years of age at the time of his removal. It was not, therefore, the ardor and restlessness of youth which induced him to emigrate, but that spirit of enterprise and perseverance which looked forward to the future prosperity of himself and family. The precise time at which he arrived at the place
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where the field of corn was planted, can not now be ascer- tained, but it was just before "pinkster " (Whitsunday), a moveable feast which comes six weeks after " paas " or "poss,"7 i. e. Easter-day, which would bring his arrival there at about the 20th of May. "Paas " and "pinkster " are days noted in the annals of the Dutch, and were observed with many pe- culiar customs and ceremonies.
Judge White had five sons, Daniel C., Joseph, Hugh, An- sel. and Philo. Ansel is yet living on Long Island. He resided a great number of years upon the farm, yet occupied by his sons, about half a mile from Whitesboro Village, upon the road to Middle Settlement. Philo, the youngest, died April 12, 1849, aged eighty-two years. He was about six- teen years of age at the time of his cmigration to Whitesbo- ro, and up to the time of his death resided upon his farmn. still farther upon the road to Middle Settlement than that of Insel.
The Judge had also three daughters, Rachel, Aurelia and Polly.
Immediately after the Revolution, Judge White became one of the purchasers of Sadaqueda Patent, jointly with Zephaniah Platt, the father of the late Judge Jonas Platt. Ezra L'Hommedieu, and Melancthon Smith. By an ar- rangement between the proprietors, it was agreed that they should meet on the land in the summer of 1784. and make a survey and partition. Upon the arrival of Judge White, at the mouth of the Sauquoit, a bark shanty was erect- ed for a temporary residence. During the summer the pat- ent was surveyed into four sections, and the particular see- tion of cach owner was decided by lot. The section drew by .Judge White being all intervale, he purchased of Smith the lot drawn by him in its rear, which extended to the south line of the patent upon the hill. By this last purchase the Judge
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became the owner in all, of about fifteen hundred acres, com- prehending all the land on both sides of Sauquoit Creek, from the corner formed by the road to the Oneida Factories, . and the Utica road to the corner where the late Lewis Berry for many years resided in Whitesboro, and extending back on the hills more than a mile from the village.
After the Judge had obtained this division and purchase, he at once proceeded to locate a site for a dwelling. The place selected was upon the bank, which forms the eastern termination of the village green in Whitesboro, and about six rods southerly from the Utica road. The house erected was peculiar. He dug into the bank so that the lower story was under ground, and then the upper was built in true prim- itive log house style. The ridge pole for the support of the roof was upheld by forked trees, cut and set in the ground, and the roof was composed of slabs, split for that purpose from logs. This was the first house erected on the Indian and military road between old Fort Schuyler (Utica) to Fort Stanwix. The Judge and his family resided in their new domicil until a better one was erected, cutting and clear- ing away the forest, and making preparations for the ensu- ing season. About four acres were cleared, it being the lot on which the court house and jail, the dwellings of Jesse Ives, Alvan Bradley and the antiquated gambrel roofed house soon after erected by the Judge as his family mansion, now stand; and extending back towards the canal. The manner in which this field was cleared showed that they were no very great adepts in clearing new land, for they drew all the logs and rolled them off the afore-mentioned bank, not making even one of those massive log heaps, to be burned, which ex- perience teaches is the true way to rapidly fit a piece of heavily timbered forest for agricultural purposes. In Janu- ary succeeding, he returned to Connecticut and brought on
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his wife with the remainder of his family. " After a lapse of more than sixty years our people can hardly appreciate the trials, perplexities and privations to which the pioneers of Oneida County were subjected. The inventions of the last half century, the locomotive and steam boat. have ren- dered emigration into the uninhabited wilderness, a matter comparatively of little hardship, and we now bid farewell to the friend bound with his family to the distant fields of the far west, and expecting to erect his cabin scores of miles be- yond the smoke of any neighbors' cottage, and perhaps thou- sands of miles from the home of his childhood, very much as we exchange salutation with our neighbor who is leaving his home on a visit for a week."
The carly settlement of the " Whitestown country " as a large section of central New York was then termed in New England, was attended with hardships, trials and perplexi- ties, of which it is difficult for us now to form an adequate idea. For the first two years of Judge White's residence at Whitesboro, the nearest mill was situated at Palatine, a dis- tince of about forty miles. This distance, it must be borre in mind, or at least a considerable portion of it, was ther traversed only by an Indian path, perfectly impassable by any wheeled carriage, and barely permitting a horse to thread hia way through it. And the carly settlers of the county used iten to speak of carrying bags of grain upon their backs to Palatine and the German Flats, to be ground, and then re- turning with the flour in the same manner. In 1788, the inill situated on the Sauquoit, upon the road from Whites- boro to Utica was erected. It was built by Judge White, the late Amos Wetmore and John Beardsley, and for many yoars was known as Wetmore's mill. This was the first mill which graced the immense water power of Oneida County
For the following history of this mill, the author is indebted
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to a case reported in Caine's Cases in Error (vol. 2, p. 87), an abstract of the facts stated in which is here given. These facts appear at this time as very singular, and show a curious state of things, but they are given as found, without farther " note or comment."
The case shows that on the 13th of May, 1788, Hugh White, sen., and Amos Wetmore agreed to build a grist-mill on Wetmore's land, near the line between their farms, on the Sauquoit, of which White and Wetmore were to own each one-fourth, and John Beardsley, mill-wright and builder, to own one-half. They had verbally agreed in 1787 to build the mill. The mill was erected in 1788. In the latter year they also erected a saw-mill near by, and each owned one-third. The water was taken from the Sauquoit to the mills, on Wet- inore's land by a canal. In 1791, Beardsley sold his shares in the mills to Wetmore, for $ 690, and soon after White sold Wetmore his shares for 8 187, the mills being greatly out of repair-but the latter received no deed from White, and nothing was said upon either sale respecting the water. Wetmore soon fully repaired the mills, and put a pair of stones into the grist-mill, and a year or two afterwards the mills were burned down. Wetmore immediately rebuilt them and enjoyed them peaceably 'till 1797, when Hugh White, sen., threatened to cut down the dam and deprive Wetmore of the use of the water, unless he (Wetmore), would become a Presbyterian, and join the congregation un- der the charge of the Rev. Bethuel Dodd, and would also build a dam and turn one half of the water of the creek over a meadow contiguous to the Sauquoit, and adjoining to the dam erected for the use of the mills,' which meadow Hugh White, sen., had conveyed to his son Hugh White, jun., in 1794. In September and October, 1797, the dam was out through three times, permitting the water to escape. 80
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anxious had been H. White, sen., in 1788, to have the grist and saw-mills erected, that he offered Wetmore and Beardsley the water forever and a 'barrel of pork,' if they alone would build the mills and not trouble him with them. After being in law several years, the Court of Errors decided in 1805. that Wetmore was entitled to use the waters of the creek for the mills, although they were not particularly specified in the sale by White or Beardsley to him."
Previously to the crection of this mill, the carly settlers in very many instances had to resort to the samp mortar, the pattern of which they borrowed from the aborigines, to re- duec their corn to a proper consistency for the making of hominy. It may be well to describe the manufacture of this mortar. A white ash log about three feet in length and some fifteen inches in diameter was selected, and to render the ar- ticle more ornamental, one was selected, if possible, containing a circular bulge for the top of the mortar. To hollow it out with a proper taper required some little ingenuity and pa- tience, but every obstacle could be casily surmounted by Yan- kee perseverance. Coals of fire were placed on the upper end and with the aid of a hand bellows, of which there was at least one in every neighborhood, the coals were kept alive and burning. Water was applied if necessary to prevent inequal- ities or burning too far on one side. As the cavity increased in depth, the quantity of coals was decreased, so that a perfect taper from top to bottom was acquired. Many and many a good meal of hominy were made from corn pulverized in such mortars by the first settlers of Oneida. The little remnant of the Oncida aborigines left, near the western line of the county, yet continue the use of such mortars, believing that meal manufactured in them makes a richer and better " hom- iny," than if ground in a mill.
As low down the Mohawk as Palatine, the agriculture of
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the Dutch had in a great measure been suspended by the fre- quent incursions of the hostile Indians, and the more savage tories, and for several years the whole produce of the country was barely sufficient to meet the demand created by the emi- gration which immediately followed Judge White. The want of animal food was severely felt by the settlers. The war had exhausted nearly all the stock of cattle and sheep on the Mohawk, and the few that remained were preserved with great care for restocking the country, being too valuable to be killed for present use. During the summer of 1784, the stock of meats brought with them, furnished them with abundance. and in the succeeding winter the demand had been supplied by the game taken in the forest. Philo, the youngest son of Judge White, was particularly useful in the taking of game. To use his own expression, "he was the hunter and fisherman for the whole family." He was sixteen years of age when he arrived, a time of life when the gun and fishing rod are peculiarly attractive, and many were the strings of speckled trout he brought to the family, and his prowess as a hunter was frequently rewarded with saddles of venison taken upon his father's domain, and as he told the author many a good fat buck had he shot upon the farm up- on which he afterwards lived. In the spring of 1785, the pigeons were so plenty in the woods, and they were so easily taken as to suggest the idea of preserving a stock of summer provisions from them. With this view they took great num- bers, and separating the breasts from the remainder of the bodies, salted down one or two barrels of this singular species of salt meat. This answered as an apology for something better ; and those who ate it, declared that although not as palatable as some delicacies which might be named, it tasted nearly as well as the salt with which it was preserved, besides conveying the idea of " actual meat vietuals " to boot. This
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is but one small specimen of the thousand inconveniences which the early settlers had to encounter. But they were met and endured with a good nature, and a disposition to make the best of them, which divested them of half their force and weight. As the settlement of the country pro- gressed, these deprivations gradually disappeared, while the recollection of them, for many a year, furnished amusement ; and the themes for many a pleasant social meeting to those who had endured them.
The settlement of Whitestown soon began to progress rap- idly. As a means for inducing his acquaintances in New England to emigrate, Judge White used to send to then. when opportunities offered, the largest and handsomest stalks of wheat, corn, oats, etc., also samples of his best potatoes and onions, as evidence of the productiveness of the soil. These so far excelled any thing they had been accustomed to see, that very soon many came to see the country, and in gen- cral were so well pleased that they located in the vicinity. In a few years, Whitesboro had become a flourishing village. Among the pioneers of Whitestown, the names of Amos Wet- more, Jonas Platt, George Doolittle, Thomas R. Gold, Ren- ben Wilcox, Arthur Breese, Enoch Story, Elisur Mosely, Ca- leb Douglas, William G. Tracy, and Gerrit G. Lansing are conspicuous.
The author has not been able to ascertain the precise years in which these several persons removed to the town. Amos Wetmore came in 1785; Thomas R. Gold in 1792; and Ozias Wilcox came the same season, but later than Mr. Gold. The author has been unable to obtain materials for as com- plete biographies of these individuals as he desired.
Jonas Platt .- Herkimer County was organized by an act passed February 17, 1791, and Mr. Platt, " who had then
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lately established himself at Whitesboro, at that time in the bosom of the wild uncultivated western forests," was appoint- ed elerk of the new county, which office he held until the formation of Oneida County, when he was appointed clerk of the latter. In 1809, Mr. Platt was elected by the federal- ists to the State Senate, from the old western district, which previously had been strongly republican. On the 5th of Jan- uary, 1810, he was nominated as the federal candidate for governor. The particular reasons for this nomination are thus given by Judge Hammond. (Political History N. Y., vol. 1, p. 279.) "He was a pioneer in the country west of Albany, for although Whitesboro, his place of residence, is now quite in the interior, and rather easterly of the centre of population, in 1790, or about that time, when Gen. Platt es- tablished himself there, it was a frontier settlement. He had. therefore, grown up and grown great with the great west. Probably the hope of obtaining a strong vote in the old wes- tern district, which until the last election has been consider- ed the strong-hold of republicanism, was one reason for the selection ef a candidate residing in that district, and the unexpected success of Mr. Platt, in his election as senator. was proof of his personal popularity and indicated him as the most suitable candidate residing in that quarter for the office of governor."" D. D. Tompkins was, however, elected by a large majority.
In the winter of 1814, Mr. Platt was appointed to the of- fice of judge of the Supreme Court of this State, in place of Smith Thompson, raised to the office of chief justice upon the elevation of Judge Kent, to the chancellorship. His terin in the Senate had but just expired.
The following portrait of Judge Platt at about this period is drawn by Judge Hammond. (Vol. 1, p. 347.) " Mr. Platt, who, at this time, may be regarded as the most influen-
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tial man in the federal party, was a lawyer, who had been in extensive practice, and though his talents were not brilliant, they were of a character highly respectable ; his morals were perfectly pure ; though he possessed a deep intense tone of feeling and a high sense of personal honor, he had acquired, apparently, an entire control over his passions ; his quiet and calm deportment indicated a contemplative and considerate mind not liable to be hurried into the adoption of ill-adjusted plans, or to determinations which might lead to actions in- discreet or ill-advised. His address was unobtrusive, modest and conciliatory. He had a high regard to courtesy and pro- pricty, as well in respect to political conduct as in the private and social concerns of life."
While in the Senate, during the stormy sessions of 1810, '11,'12 and '13, he was the most active and influential member of his party in that body.
Judge Platt retained his seat upon the bench until, with his colleagues, Judges Spencer, Van Ness and Woodworth, he was "constitutionalized out of office " by the constitution of 1821. Upon the re-organization of the Supreme Court, Messrs. Spencer, Platt and Woodworth were nominated as Judges by Gov. Yates, but the Senate, for the reasons that Messrs. Spencer and Platt had opposed some of the more lib- eral features of the new Constitution, and were therefore ob- noxious to the republican party then strongly in the ascen- dant; and that there was a strong desire (or overruling poli- cy) that new men should be placed in most of the more prominent positions, rejected them, and John Savage and Jacob Sutherland were appointed in their place.
Upon resuming his position in private life, Judge Platt found his pecuniary affairs involved in ruin, as a result of his devotion to his duties upon the bench. In this he was not alone, for several of the early judges of our Supreme Court
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became redneed to penury, were compelled by their necessi- ties to resign their offices, and died almost or quite in want. because of the inadequacy of their salaries.
Judge Platt returned to the bar with all the ardor and in- dustry of youth, as far as possible to secure a future compe- tency, and soon found a full flow of business. Although in his younger years, he had in his native composition a large amount of fire, he had now by the force of discipline become one of the most cool, as well as powerful and successful advo- cates. The confidence of juries in his candor often enabled him to bear away the palm from able yet more ardent com- petitors. After a few years he removed to Plattsburgh. where he died. In the meridian of life, Judge Platt pro- fessed the religion of Jesus. He was a member and after- wards an elder in the Presbyterian church in Whitesboro.
Judge Platt had in his employ, for a long time, a col- ored man, named Dempsy Slater, who resided in Deerfield. During the time that the Rev. Mr. Carnahan preached in Whitesboro, Slater sickened and died. and the judge accom- panied Mr. Carnahan to the funeral. Scarcely a word passed between them until they had proceeded about one half the listanee, when Judge Platt, with great solemnity, remarked. " I had now rather be Dempsy Slater than Alexander, Julius Cæsar, or the greatest man who ever lived. He has been in my service several years, and never intentionally wronged me out of a cent. He was an honest man, and a devout Chris- tian, and I doubt not his happy spirit is now in Heaven. The life of sueli a man does more to convince me of the truth of the Christian religion than all the books I ever read."
Gen. George Doolittle was an orderly sergeant in the con- tinental army of the revolutionary war. A shoemaker by trade, he carried his " kit " of tools through the whole of tha t
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contest. Whenever not upon a march or on duty, he was ever ready to unpack his tools and mend his compatriots boots and shoes. In this way he earned money, which was carefully saved. With such habits he could scarcely fail of being successful in after life. He removed to Whitestown at an early period, and with his little capital thus obtained, sat up the tanning, currying and shoe making business. He was the first brigadier-general of militia. commissioned in the county. He was the first general ever seen by the author, and with the uniform of his grade. a coat trimmed with yel- low buff, and under clothes of the same, General Washington could not have shown to a better advantage in the eyes of the boy of eight years. The general was a highly respectable and estimable citizen.
The following obituary notice of Gen. Doolittle, published in the Utica Christian Repository, for March, 1825, contains many facts relating to his history :
"DIED .- At Whitesboro, on the 21st of February, 1825, General GEORGE DOOLITTLE, aged 65 years. General Doolittle was among the first settlers in this now rich and populous country. He emigra- ted from Middletown, Conn , the place of his nativity, thirty-nine years ago. He has through life sustained a fair moral character. lle was distinguished as a man of profound judgment, of great inde- pendence of mind and unbending integrity. He spent almost six years of his life in the service of his country, during the struggle which gave birth to our independence. He has been elected a mem- ber of the Legislature of this State, and has held the office of super- visor in this town for more than twenty years. As a husband and father he was respected and beloved. He has left a beloved wife. ten children, and twenty-eight grand-children, and a numerous cir- cle of relations and friends to lament his sudden departure. He united with the church in this place about twelve years since. He was soon after elected by a unanimous vote of the church to the of- fice of ruling elder, and as such has been a valuable counsellor. and a great blessing to the church.
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" On Sabbath evening he attended a conference meeting, returned home with his wife and family in perfect health, manifested much interest in the revival which exists among us at this time, and ex- pressed his hope that it would extend. Before retiring he called his family together, and prayed with unusual fervor with them. He retired to rest as well as usual ; at one o'clock he was seized with an apoplectie fit ; he spoke a few words, but soon became insensible, and on the succeeding evening expired."
Dr. Elizur Mosely was for so many years post-master at Whitesboro, that when he left the office he was the oldest post-master in the United States. He was appointed sheriff of Oneida County, January 1, 1799, and held the office until November 5, 1800. In 1798, he was an assistant justice of the county court.
Thomas R. Gold was an eminent lawyer, and as an advo- cate. for many years, stood at the head of his profession in the county, and indeed central New York. He represented this district in Congress in 1810, '11, '12 and '13, and such were his habits of industry there, that it was said of him. that he was the last to retire and the first up in the morning of any member of that body. He was elected to the State Senate in 1796, and held the office four years, and in 1800 he was chosen a member of the council of appointment. His opportunities, as an early settler, with his untiring assidnity. enabled him to accumulate a handsome fortune. He was liberal and public spirited. After the erection of the first Presbyterian meeting house in 1803, it became necessary to level the ground around it. On this occasion, Mr. Gold drove the oxen attached to the plow, while Judge Platt and several others, unused to the employment, used the spade and shovel. During Mr. Carnahan's pastorate over the united societies of " Whitestown and Old Fort Schuyler," he preached
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