USA > New York > Oneida County > Annals and recollections of Oneida County > Part 7
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domicil of the new settler. His nearest neighbors were some two miles distant in the town of Lee. Wolves, panthers, bears, and foxes were much too plenty for the safety of flocks, herds, and the tenants of the farm yard, and not unfrequently were the settlers obliged to resort to strong pens, and watch-fires for their protection. Many and amusing were their encounters with these free den- izens of the forest. As in all new settlements, their cattle had in summer to graze in the wide forest for subsis- tence ; therefore, "bringing the cows" became household words with all the juveniles (gray-haired now) of those days. On one occasion it was near night before Mr. Brewster started for these useful animals, and ascertaining their direc- tion by the tinkling of the bell suspended from the neck of the " old cow," he at once dashed into the forest. He found them a full mile from his house, and sunset warning him that darkness would soon be upon him, he therefore started the cows rapidly for home. The road was circuitous to avoid a zniry swamp. The more rapid striking of the bell notified the family that the cows were found, and in full motion for home, as well as of the progress made. When about two- thirds of the distance was accomplished, the wild, unearthly scream of a panther on the track in the rear, gave notice to all concerned of the extreme danger of the father. These sercams were continued at short intervals, and distinctly showed that the panther was fast gaining upon the bell. Soon the cattle reached home, and were let into the little clearing, when such a shrill and prolonged scream rang out from the darkness, apparently but a few rods from the honse, as if once heard will ever be remembered. As soon as the cattle were yarded, a fire was kindled in the enclosure, which, with the aid of horns, tin pans, and brass kettles, successfully frightened away the unwelcome visitor ; not,
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however, until it had given a full and fair specimen of the hideousness of its notes, and its capabilities in prolonging them. On the following morning, the bark of a recently fallen beech tree showed the capacity of the animal to harm a subject more congenial to its appetite.
In the autumn of the second season of Brewster's residence in town, the bears committed great depredations in his corn field. A neighbor, who had recently moved to within about one mile of him, was the owner of a large black sow. In her perambulations, this animal had also learned the where- abouts of the corn field, and seemed to vie with Bruin in her sad havoc of the crop. The apology for a fence, was what was known in those days as a " tree fence," which was not a very good barrier against the grunting quadruped. She had often been forcibly ejected, but as often made a forcible re-entrance. One evening, and about dark, Mr. Brewster heard the work of destruction again going on in the corn field, some thirty rods from the house; and from the carliness of the hour he concluded it was the tame and not the wild trespasser. He therefore directed his son, of about twelve years of age, to go and again dispossess the animal. The little fellow demurred, saying that it was of no use. A reiteration of the order, however, caused him to start, not however in the best possible humor with things in general, or the black sow in particular. By the time he had arrived at the point of the animal's depredations, he had laid in, as instruments of expulsion, a number of good-sized stones. The beast was so busily engaged as not to discover the boy until he was close upon it, and had saluted it with a full volley of stones. At first the animal stood on the de- fensive, but another volley caused it to seek safety in flight. Satisfied with the case with which he had expelled the sow, he returned to the house, reflecting upon her expertness
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in climbing the brush and logs of the fence. He told his father it was of "no further use to try to keep out the sow, as she could climb as well as a cat, for she went over the fence where it was fifteen feet high." This aroused the sus- picions of the father, and he enquired how the beast behaved when he commenced stoning it. The boy replied that " she raised herself upon her hind feet as if to make fight, when he sent a good big stone that hit her in the side of the head, which caused her to run and climb the fence " as described. By this time the father was satisfied with the nature of the beast the boy had driven from the field. He said nothing, however, for fear of alarming the family. The next morn- ing, on repairing to the scene of operations, he discovered, by the size and shape of the tracks, that instead of a sow, his boy had been dealing with a huge bear. The next day two guns were set in the field, and some time in the night fol- lowing, the report of the guns announced that something had crossed the cord. The following morning a bear was found dead but a few rods from the scene of operations. It was of the largest size, weighing about four hundred pounds.
As late as the year 1827 or 1828, the bears again made their appearance in this town, and did great damage to the corn crop.
On the 16th of Angust, 1816, a man by the name of William Lord, a neighbor to Mr. Brewster, went to Taberg after some necessaries for his family, and some rum, with which to do his harvesting. The distance was about two miles, and there was no road through the forest on any por- tion of his route. He had to cross Fish Creek where the Coalhill Bridge is now located. He reached Taberg, trans- acted his business, and just at night started for home, but was observed to be partially intoxicated when he left. The banks of Fish Creek, above the crossing place, are pre-
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cipitous and rocky. Darkness, and the fumes of the liquor. caused him to lose his way. Instead of reaching the creek at the crossing place, he struck it about forty rods too high. and walked off the bank where it was about forty feet high. and fell upon the rocks, and thence into the stream. In his fall he caught hold of some bushes, but their roots were too frail to sustain his weight, and he floated down the creek a few rods to still water. When found, two days afterwards. the bushes were in his right hand, and the handle of the jug in his left. His neck was broken. The place where he went off the bank was on the west side of the creck, and opposite the centre of the island above the Coalhill Bridge. The still water where the body was found has ever since re- ceived the appellation of the " Rum Hole."
Like all new settlements, the advantages of education were very limited, and schools were like "angels' visits, few and far between." The history of one day will well portray the troubles of " going to school" in a new settlement.
Two little sons of one of the carly settlers were attending the summer term of their district school in 1816. The eldest was nine, the youngest six years of age. Rain or sunshine. cold or hot, they had to walk three miles in the morning to reach the school house, and the same distance at night. Two little girls, of about the same ages, resided on their road, one mile nearer the school. The eldest girl was a slender, deli- cate thing, while her younger sister was stout and robust. The same disparity existed between the boys, but in the reverse: the eldest being a strong, athletic little fellow. and withal possessed of an indomitable will, that enabled him to do anything which could be done by an urchin of that age. Of these four, the youngest girl was the only one that possessed a pair of shoes, the others having to make their long daily walk with bare feet; and even the small girl was
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not fortunate enough to possess those comfortable accom- paniments of shoes,-a pair of stockings.
Those of us old enough will remember the 6th day of June, 1816. It had been preceded by cold frosty nights. and on that day it snowed in every part of the county, and in some parts it fell several inches in depth. Cold as was the morning, these four children were punctually at school. The school house-none too comforable for pleasant weather -had become so cold by two o'clock in the afternoon, that the pupils were dismissed, with directions to go to the near- est house on their way home. There was a house on the road of the four we have introduced to our readers, about one-fourth of a mile from the school house. To this house, by moving in double quick time, they managed to get; but to their utter dismay, they found the door fastened, and its inmates from home. Here was a dilemma. To retrograde was useless, for the home of the girls, one and three-fourth miles distant, was as near as any inhabited dwelling. Snow was falling, and it was already two inches deep. Our eldest boy's strength of nerve was now put to the test. Nothing daunted, however, he well laid his plans, and at once pro- ceeded to put them in execution. He had that morning- rather clandestinely, it is true-appropriated his father's roundabout, quite too capacious for him, yet possessing two very important advantages : it shielded him from the cold, and its extensive pockets, one on each side, served as a de- posit for all the et ceteras of the school boy, viz .:- a ball, fish-hook and line, top, knife, sling, and whistle, toys as necessary to the man in miniature as others to those of larger growth. Little could he have imagined to how much more important uses these huge pockets would be put during the day. He directed the two girls to walk on as fast and as far as they could without freezing, then to sit down and both
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rub the eldest girl's feet with their hands until he came up. He then took his brother upon his back, with a foot in cach pocket, and his arms about his neck, and followed on. When he came up with the girls, he put down his brother, and told him and the smaller girl to procced as before, and he took the larger girl upon his back, with her feet in those now useful pockets, and so on by successive stages until they had arrived within forty rods of the girls' home. Their father, who was chopping in the vicinity of the road, heard the cries of the girls, and came to their aid. Our hero then had the eldest girl upon his back, and, without speaking, the father caught the youngest two, one under each arm, and ran for the house. Our hero said he thought he never saw a man run as fast before, for ere he had gone one half the distance to the house, the father returned, and lifting the elder girl from his back, took her under one arm and our hero under the other, and soon had them deposited before a good rousing fire. The mother of the girls, previous to the arrival of our hero, had learned from them the whole history of the trans- action. On his arrival she at once, in the fullness of her gratitude, loaded him with her caresses. This wounded his pride, although perhaps a very little of that article would have been excusable, for, as he supposed, he had saved his fellow-sufferers from perishing. She also, by her misjudged kindness, had him sit near to the glowing fire. The pain in his feet soon became almost insupportable, a sickening sen- sation came over him, his vision became obscured, he grasped at the chair, but did not succeed, his physical powers, which had been so over-tasked, gave way, and he fell. The intense agony of the moment was soon lost in a state of unconscious- ness. For hours the poor sufferer lay insensible. The first thing he noticed on the return of reason, was the kind- hearted woman bending over him, and his father applying
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some restorative to his feet. It was after dark. His father had started with his team in season to have saved all the suffering, had the school continued to the usual hour of dis- mission. He was wrapped well in warm clothing, put on a. sled, and taken home the same evening. His feet were so lacerated by the stones and sticks in his path, while devoid of feeling, that a number of days elapsed before he eould even walk about the house.
Another of the early settlers was Squire Fairservice. He settled on the flats, a little above Jervis' mill, and was a moted fisherman. While splitting wood one day, his little child eame out of the house, unobserved by him, and walked directly under his axe, and the deseending blow eleft its scull, and killed it instantly. After the salmon had been shut out of the creek, Fairservice emigrated to Wisconsin, where he died.
Adam P. Campbell and Nicholas Armstrong settled on the meadow in 1805 or 1806. Dan Taft, and a man by the name of Jones, settled near where Vincent Taft now keeps a publie house. Dan Taft for a number of years kept a noted tavern on the same premises. The author remembers of staying at it one night in June, 1814, and that a fine salmon graced the supper table, which had been caught the same day near by. About the same time a man by the name of Wade settled at the Forks.
The persons named are believed to be the earliest inhabit- ants of the town. Some have emigrated, and others have "rested from their labors," and repose in the several eeme- teries in the town. But two of them are known to be living, John W. Bloomfield, Esq., who now resides in Rome,* and Adam P. Campbell who yet resides near the scenes of his early toil
* Deceased since this account was written.
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Flint arrow-heads and hatchets, with other rude articles of ancient date, are found in this town. A few years since, a heavy freshet washed away the alluvial banks at the Fork» to a considerable extent. On its subsiding, there were found, some three feet below the surface, the remains of large earthen vessels, from two to three feet in diameter ; also several other articles, evidently made for culinary purposes. Hearths and fire-places were also exhumed by the same freshet. Conjecture said that these remains were the work of a race anterior to the Indian : who. or when, must ever remain a blank upon the pages of the history of the country. That the luscious salmon has here been cooked for long centuries, can not be doubted; but the civilized pale faces, by the con- struction of the Oswego Canal, have probably for ever shut these migratory fish from the Oneida Lake and its tributa- ries. In this instance, civilization has worked a vast injury to the lovers of good living in Annsville.
Benjamin Hyde was the first Supervisor upon the organ- ization of the town.
RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES.
The Baptist Church in Annsville was organized February 17, 1831, with twenty members. Samuel Bloss was its first pastor. In the September following, it joined the Oneida Baptist Association, and reported thirty-six members to that body. For the next ten years its increase was gradual and constant. In 1841, William A. Bronson was its pastor, and it reported 106 members. For the next three years there was a slight deercase of numbers. In 1845 it sent no dele- gates to the Association, and in 1846 the minutes of that body show that the church was dissolved. but there are no
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reasons given for its dissolution. It was, however, soon after brought into visibility ; for in 1848 it had the Rev. P. P. Brown for pastor, and fifty-six members; Mr. Brown preached to them two years. In September, 1850, the Rev. Samuel R. Shotwell was its pastor, and it had so increased, that it reported seventy-three members to the Association. A few years after its organization, the church and society erected a small house for public worship, a little south of Taberg Village, and on the hill, the south bank of Fish Creek.
The Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in 1838, with nine members. The next year they erected a small house for worship, centrally located in the village. This body now contains forty-two members.
There is a Presbyterian Church and Society in this town. They have a respectable house for public worship, in the northerly part of Taberg. An effort was made to procure the statistics of this body by a friend residing in the place. He reported that its records were lost, and that, on enquiry, nothing satisfactory had been gleaned.
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CHAPTER IV.
AUGUSTA.
THIS is the south-westernmost town in Oneida County. It lies in an elevated position, and from its bounds waters flow to the ocean through the Hudson and St. Lawrence; and if there are no waters which flow from this town to the ocean through the Susquehannah, it is but a short distance from the southern line of the town to waters which enter the vecan through that channel.
This town lies principally upon two high hills, or ridges. running nearly north and south upon each side of the Sken" andoa Creek. On the side hills, and in some places reaching almost to their summits, are inexhaustible beds of limestone. This has been extensively quarried for fences and building purposes. In some quarries the seams are very regular, and no better stone for masonry can be found. From the abundance of lime in the soil. winter wheat is cultivated more generally than in any other town in the county. Although the town lies principally upon two ridges. yet its south-east corner extends into the valley of the Oriskany, and the village of Oriskany Falls is in this section. In general, the soil is excellent, and there is less of swamp in the town than in almost any other section of equal size in the county. Besides a small proportion of hemlock, and a very small quantity of cedar, within a short distance north of Angusta Centre. the forests of this town were composed of those kinds of hard timber common in the county, and de noting good land for grain
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In 1794, Peter Smith, father of Gerrit Smith, leased of the Oncida Indians about 60,000 acres, which, in honor of his name, was called New Petersburgh. Gerrit Smith asserts that this lease was for 999 years; some of the old- est inhabitants, however, are of the opinion that it was for but twenty-one years, as they received their leases for that period. The pagan party of the Oncidas was opposed to the leasing to Mr. Smith, and at one time they proceeded so far as to drive the surveyor off from the tract. The south- cast corner of New Petersburgh was the south-east corner of Augusta, and it extended quite across this town and the County of Madison. There was a tract of 1,000 acres, which was situated cast of Stockbridge, and west of the "Four Miles Square," as it was called, and lying within Smith's 60,000 acres: this was granted to John Gregg, Sen., John Gregg, Jr., and James Alexander, and was called the "School Lot," the rent of which was appropriated to the education of Indian children. Zaccheus Barber, Charles Francis, and Samuel Farrington, reside upon this lot. Riley Shepard resides upon the north-west corner lot of the "Four Miles Square" above mentioned. Mr. Smith divided his tract into four allotments, the first of which was entirely within the town of Augusta. Previous to 1797, most of the lands of this tract in Augusta were leased for twenty-one years. In 1795 and 1797, acts were passed by the Legislature, providing that all who had obtained leases of Smith could have patents from the State upon paying the State $3,53 per acre, and that Smith should be allowed to retain six lots in this town, as part or entire pay for his lease from the Indians. The lands thus patented were mortgaged to the State, to secure the purchase money ; and it is believed that one-fourth of the original purchase money is yet unpaid. P. Smith was born in 1768, of Dutch parentage. In 1795. the
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Oneidas sold to the State a large tract, known in those days as the "Oneida Reservation." This purchase included the north part of Augusta, and large portions of the towns of Vernon and Verona. It was soon surveyed, and was sold at Auction in August, 1797. The Indians retained within this reservation a traet a mile square, which was eventually conveyed to the Northern Missionary Society, and for which the Society was to maintain a missionary and teacher among the Indians. This tract was located in the following man- ner :- A stake was stuck by the side of the spring, about sixty rods south-west of the present residence of John Curry. which was made the centre of the tract, and from this point the mile square was surveyed. The Rev. Samuel Kirkland. who came to Oneida in 1766 as a missionary, enjoyed a part of the avails of this lot after it was conveyed ; and in 1809. after the death of Mr. Kirkland, the Society employed a Mr. Jenkins as a missionary among the Indians. His services were acceptable to but a very small number of the Indians, and he became discouraged, and left. The Indians have since sought further compensation for the land they had conveyed to the Society ; but its acting members declared that they had been ready to fulfil upon their part, and as the land had been disposed of by the Society in good faith, they saw no violation of Christian principles in their course. The author knows nothing of the merits of this controversy, but is entirely satisfied that if all the dealings of those professedly Christians had been conducted upon "Christian principles," the efforts of the missionaries of the cross would have been attended with much happier results among these benighted children of the forest. Two hundred and forty acres of this tract were patented to Israel Chappin, being the lots upon which Lemuel Smith and Mr. Murray settled, and the re- mainder was patented directly to the Society.
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FIRST SETTLEMENT OF THE TOWN, AND FIRST SETTLERS.
A man named Gunn built the first habitation for white persons in Augusta, in 1793, which stood not far from where Peter Stebbins now resides. Benjamin Warren built the second, upon the precise location upon which his house now stands. David Morton built upon the place upon which the Rev. Sheldon Smith now resides ; and John Alden com- menced a clearing in the same year upon the south lot upon the north and south road which passes through the centre of the town.
Upon the 17th of August, in this year, Ichabod Stafford, Joseph and Abraham Forbes, and their families, took up their residences upon the east hill in this town. Mr. Stafford "took up" the lot upon which Truman Cole resides, and the Forbes took up the lots adjoining and south of Stafford. Some of these slept, upon their cart the first night they resided in Augusta. In 1794, Isaac and Benjamin Allen settled upon the farm upon which Isaac Allen resides; and Amos Parker, who had occupied a farm upon the Brotherton Tract for two years, removed to the place where he died. He was a brave soldier for his country, and lived and died an eminently active and devoted Christian. Upon one oc- casion, while serving in the army of the Revolution, he saved the life of La Fayette by disobeying orders. La Fayette ordered an intrenchment, which was protected by palisades and abattis, to be carried by storm .* For this purpose, he selected a forlorn hope of twenty-five men, armed with
* The author presumes that this was one of the redoubts stormed at the siege of Yorktown. La Fayette commanded the Americans, who stormed one, while, to excite emulation, a division of French troops stormed the other.
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muskets, and also with axes, for the purpose of removing the abattis and palisades. Mr. Parker was one of this party. and marched by the side of La Fayette. They cleared the- way to the palisales, and Parker struck one of the pickets with his axe, intending to sever it at a blow, but his instru- ment was too dull to produce that effect, even by a second blow. Putting his hand to the top of the post, by the help of his brawny arm it was so loosened that, by a well-directed effort, it was drawn from its position, and then another and another shared the same fate in quick succession. Upon the removal of the third. La Fayette exclaimed, "That will do. my boy," and passed through the breach, followed by Parker. to the works thrown up by the enemy. Within were the enemy, opposing their entrance, while friends were pressing in their rear. Death to his beloved General now seemed inevitable. Their orders were not to fire, under pain of death. until the word was given ; yet Parker. prefer- ring the chance of losing his life by the sentence of a court martial, to secing his commanding officer sacrificed, drew up his trusty musket. and fired. This made an opening, through which he rushed, followed by La Fayette, into the intrench- ment, and with the butt end of his musket he soon made at lodgment for himself and comrades. and the fortress was taken. After the transaction, he was arraigned before a court martial, and tried for disobedience of orders ; but it was so evident that his disobedience had been the means of saving the life of La Fayette, and crowning the expedition with success, that he was acquitted. In 1824, when La Fayette. the "Nation's Guest," was at Utica, the old soldier called at his room, and although some were disposed to de- prive him of admission, he persisted, and obtained an en- trance. He offered his hand, and gave his name, but his old commander. not recognizing him, requested him to relate
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