USA > New York > Chenango County > Oxford > Annals of Oxford, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and early pioneers > Part 9
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of the east side of the river. Then the good natured merchant was unhorsed, with his broadcloth bearing the glistening marks of a tallow dip. Thus passed this me- orable day into history.
T HE MANNER in which the celebration of the suc- cessful laying of the first Atlantic cable was carried out, in the evening of August 6, 1858, was worthy of Ox- ford in her best days. Although but a short time could be given for preparation, residences and stores were bril- liantly illuminated, the old Academy boarding hall with its hundreds of candles in the windows made a sight that is remembered to this day. The Oxford Band from the bal- cony of the Lewis block discoursed excellent music, a six- pounder in front of the Stage House kept up a regular cannonading, and a balloon ascension closed the festivities. The balloon was, no doubt, the handiwork of *"Hank" Knapp, who used to make huge paper balloons of many colors and send them up on all public occasions. The streets were thronged with people, all expressing joy at the wonderful feat in laying a telegraph wire under the Atlan- tic ocean and being able to send messages o'er the sea.
* Henry S. Knapp was one of the twenty or thirty young men who learned telegraphy in Oxford and later filled responsible positions as managers and operators in the west. Mr. Knapp died several years ago.
M ANY STORIES are told of Joseph Walker, odd of speech and emphatic in expression. One will illus- trate : Mr. Walker was ill, his last sickness in fact, and his old friend and neighbor, Cyrus A. Bacon, dropped in to see him. "Good morning, Mr. Walker," he said, "how do you feel today?" "Poorly, poorly, how do you get along, Bacon !" "I don't feel very well myself, Mr. Walker," replied Mr. Bacon. The sick man rolled his eyes and murmured, "Ah, Bacon, THEY WANT US."
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And this our life, exempt from public haunt, Find tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, Sermons in stones, and good in everything. -SHAKESPEARE.
In Rafting Days.
Ira B. McFarland, of whom mention is made elsewhere in the Annals, often related his experience in the vast pineries which, in the early history of the country, filled the valleys of the Chenango and the Susquehanna, and covered the intervening hills and broad tablelands. The forests, as they stood in their primitive glory, contained tall and straight trees, many of them gigantic in size, lifting their regal heads heavenward, and sweeping in one vast wilderness for miles upon every side, constituting a source of untold wealth. Some of the trees would be four and five feet in diameter, and seventy feet to the first limbs. Many of the pines would make four thousand feet of lumber, and the manner in which they were pre- pared for transportation, in the form of lumber, to distant markets is interesting.
A " gang " of men would enter the woods with axes and saws. The choppers going before would select their trees, passing by the ordinary and taking only the noblest speci- mens. The tree fairly down, it was examined, and it required but a trifling imperfection to condemn it, and then it was abandoned and left to decay. The first step in the process of cutting the felled tree into logs was to "butt" it, that is, from four to eight feet of the trunk next the stump would be sawed off and rejected. This
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was done because this portion of the tree was generally " shaky," or filled with seams, which would render it of little value when converted into lumber. This condition of the lower portion of the trunks of pine and hemlock trees is probably caused by the swaying to and fro of the tree, year after year of its life, whenever the winds blow, which bends the solid wood just at this point, and neces- sarily strains the fibres and rends them apart by the powerful action and weight of the great body above.
Sawmills were erected upon a creek or river bank, to which the logs would be drawn during the winter season, and there converted into lumber ready for rafting down the river when the spring freshets came. A raft would generally contain about forty thousand feet of lumber, making it in length not far from one hundred and forty feet, and in width from twelve to sixteen feet, with a solid depth of three feet. Sometimes a cabin would be made of a few of the boards and placed in the center of the raft, which afforded protection for the raftsmen against the cold driving rains and boisterous winds of the early spring season. A straw bunk and one or two kettles were usually all the outfit the cabin contained. Coarse bread, pork and beans, and potatoes were the daily rations. To guide the raft, two oars were provided, one at the forward end, the other at the rear end, and consisted of a large pole thirty or forty feet in length, resting by the center over a head block, with a wooden pin through it, which permitted it to turn in any direction. Upon the end in the water was fastened a long, wide plank, that formed the rudder, which was easily operated by means of the long lever portion extending back of the head block. The oars, with an occasional use of poles, would guide the raft most effectually, and a pilot and one hand was all that was needed to run down as far as Columbia, on the
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Susquehanna. Here over a stretch of forty miles, through swift rapids and among numerous rocks, the aid of five men were required to manage the raft. At Columbia another gang of men took the raft on down to the head of tide water on Chesapeake Bay. Here fifty or more rafts would be put together and run to Baltimore, where the lumber found a ready market.
A MAP OF THE VILLAGE of Oxford, drawn in 1824 by the late Henry R. Mygatt then a boy in his teens, is in possession of Charles W, Brown. The map shows only the now main streets as they then existed, with the buildings located thereon. A wooden river bridge, three times the length of the present iron structure, extend- ed nearly to what is now Canal street, there was no "Navy Island" (now the main business street) nor was the Che- nango canal built. LaFayette Park is on the map as Baldwin's square, and Washington Park as Academy square from the fact that the first academy was located there in 1794; Clinton street was Baltimore street, and State Cayuga street. Cork Island is shown above the bridge. The island was somewhere in the vicinity of the present Basket factory, but time and floods have changed the channels and its location is lost.
O NE GENERAL TRAINING DAY Wayne Berry, a noted character, came to town on horseback and rode up in front of the Stage House when the grith broke and he fell off into the mud, still seated in the saddle. The crowd broke into a laugh, when Wayne, seated in the mud, exclaimed : "Gentleman, it's a d-d good horseman that sticks to his saddle."
OXFORD ACADEMY AND UNION SCHOOL
OXFORD MEMORIAL LIBRARY
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Our land is rough and poor ; we grow but little produce, and so we build schoolhouses and churches and grow men -WEBSTER.
Oxford Academy.
Oxford Academy was planted in the wilderness three years after the town was founded. Its charter, under the legal title of "The Trustees of Oxford Academy," bore date January 12, 1793, but was not granted until Janu- ary 27, 1794, and was one of the first four given in the State west of the Hudson. Among other matters it re- cited the following :
Whereas the subscribers have severally contributed for the purpose of erecting in Academy in the town of Jericho in the county of Tioga, for the instruction of youth in the learned languages and other branches of useful knowledge;
And, whereas, a lot of land has been purchased, and a building erected thereon, in the town aforesaid, out of the moneys contributed as aforesaid, for the use and profit of the said Academy. Now, there- fore, we do respectfully make application to the Regents of the said University, and request that the said Academy be incorporated, and be subject to the visitation of the said Regents; and we do hereby nominate Benjamin Hovey, John Patterson, Uri Tracy, David Bates, Nathaniel Wattles, Witter Johnson, Charles Anderson, Jonathan Fitch, John McWhorter, Sleuman Wattles, Joab Enos, Benjamin Ray, Samuel Coe, Solomon Martin, Avery Powers, James Phelps, Gershom Hyde, and Peter Burgot, to be Trustees for the said Academy ; and we do hereby specify and declare, that the said Trustees shall be called and distinguished by the name of the Trustees of Oxford Academy in the county of Tioga.
For one hundred years it lasted in its own independence, and then was merged into the free school system of the State, and is now designated Oxford Academy and Union School. The academy building, which was removed in
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1895 to give place to the present handsome and commo- dious edifice, was the fifth structure in succession since the charter was granted.
The first building completed and occupied was erected in the autumn of 1792, and was the first framed building raised in town. It was used for a private and classical school for more than eighteen months, and was taught by Uri Tracy, a graduate of Yale, who also was the first principal of the Academy.
The site of the first house was on the northwesterly side of Washington Park, near the residence of the late Dr. George Douglas. It soon proved too limited for the increas- ing needs of the schools, and in December, 1797, was sold with part of the site for eighty pounds. A part of the lot was released to Benj. Hovey in exchange for twenty rods of land in the southerly part of the common, near the present residence of Joseph E. Packard, and the second building was erected and completed on this site in the autumn of 1799.
This second Academy was destroyed by fire and never occupied, and a third building was erected upon the same site in the first year of the past century. This third struc- ture was removed from the lot on the common in 1806 to the southerly side of Merchant's Row, at its intersection with Greene Street, opposite lands now a part of the estate of the late Ward VanDerLyn. Here it continued in use for the school until about the year 1832, when it was sold to the trustees of the Methodist Episcopal church who used it as a place of public worship until the erection of their present church on Fort Hill.
At a meeting of trustees in October, 1794, it was
Voted. That this Board consider themselves indebted to Uri Tracy in the sum of £50 for his services as principal during six months past. Voted. That a petition be presented to the legislature requesting them to grant unto the Academy of Oxford the benefit of the land in
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the county of Tioga set apart for the purpose of promoting literature.
Voted. That Mr. Solomon Martin be requested to procure a seal for this board, to be known as the seal of Oxford Academy; and that the expense of procuring the same be paid by the Treasurer.
Voted. That a committee of three be appointed for the purpose of procuring a teacher.
Benjamin Hovey, Uri Tracy and Solomon Martin were chosen ac- cordingly.
Voted. That a member of this board attend the Regency of the University the ensuing winter relative to the future support of this encorporation, and that Benj. Hovey be requested to attend for that purpose.
Voted. That a committee of three be appointed for the purpose of keeping the academy in repair and to make some alteration in the water now brought to the house for the use of the school.
Voted. That the proprietors of the private library have liberty to erect a book case or other necessary equipments for their accom- modation, free of expense, in this house.
Voted. That if any scholar break glass, or injure this house, he, or his guardian shall repair the same at his own expense.
Voted. That the secretary be directed to transmit a copy of this and the former proceedings of this board to the Treasurer and Teacher of the school within fifteen days from date, and that he charge the expense thereof to this board. (Signed.)
Benjamin Hovey, Uri Tracy, Solomon Wattles, John McWhorter, Witter Johnson, James Phelps, Joab Enos, David Bates, Benj. Ray, Avery Powers, Solomon Martin.
It was in the third Academy, under David Prentice as principal, afterwards professor of the Greek and Latin in Geneva (now Hobart) College, that among other names the roll bears those of Horatio Seymour, sometime Gov- ernor of the State; John W. Allen, who in 1840 was Postmaster General under the first Harrison; Ward Hunt, who afterwards sat upon the bench of the Supreme Court of the nation; Joseph G. Masten, who was a Judge of the Superior Court of Buffalo; Charlemagne Tower, whose name was familiar in the world of business and finance; Ferris Forman, who was afterwards graduated at West Point, and was in the war with Mexico, and reached honorable rank in the army; Henry W. Rogers, a leading lawyer and popular citizen of Buffalo, and prominent in political life; and Henry R. Mygatt, who, during nearly forty years of able and honorable practice
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of the law in Oxford, was the liberal citizen, the steadfast patron and friend of the Academy, adding to her strength and usefulness by his willing service, wise counsel and constant benefactions. Of those who were with them at school, Hon. Frederick Juliand of Greene, Mrs. Elizabeth (Hopkins) Newkirk and Mr. Alanson Hull of this town, were the last survivors. Horatio Seymour as a schoolboy was known as " Pompey " Seymour, a nickname he brought with him from the circumstance of his birth place being in Pompey, Onondaga County. He was tall of his age, figure in just proportion, brilliant black eyes, straight as an arrow, and graceful in every move. In athletic exercises he was ahead of his companions, and in his studies was always perfect. Every Wednesday afternoon was decla- mation, and he was the orator par excellence that others tried to imitate. His favorite piece was the speech of Robert Emmet, in his own defense before the English court that condemned him. He had other declamations, but the students always were delighted when he spoke and acted this piece.
The fourth school building, dedicated January 2, 1832, was erected on the easterly side of Fort Hill, opposite the Baptist church, and was far in advance of any be- fore in its architecture and fitness for school purposes. It was surmounted with a dome to which a new bell was added, which is still in use to summon students to duty. What a long array of students in succession have heeded it calling them to their tasks! How many have heard its glad welcome to entertainment and festival and anni- versary ! How sweetly, may be sadly, its sweet tones have vibrated in the young, brave hearts of some on battle fields, while they thought of the severed ties of dear kin- ship and tender association never perchance to be renewed on this side the veil !
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ORIGINAL CHARTER OF OXFORD ACADEMY -- Signed in 1794 by GEORGE CLINTON, the first Governor of the State of New York
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In this building a separate apartment for girls was first instituted under a preceptress, the gentler sex having until then been wholly under the training of the principal and his male assistants. The school now entered upon a career of great prosperity and wider usefulness, under the mastership of Merritt G. McKoon, and Miss Emily C. Benedict, the first female instructress ever employed for the school. The employment of a female teacher was a subject of grave consideration, for, at a meeting March 12, 1830, it was resolved "That Messrs. VanDerLyn, Tracy, and Clapp be a committee to examine and report on the expediency of establishing a female branch to the Academy." As the committee were all lawyers, their re- port in favor of the employment seemed to put at rest as least every legal objection that could be urged against it.
John Abbott succeeded Mr. McKoon, and in no equal term of life has its patronage been so wide spread as during their principalship, covering a period of over twenty years. It reached quite beyond mere local limits and gathered students not only from other and distant sections of this State, but from those adjoining east, west and south. The catalogue of 1840 had three hundred and ten names, and within fifteen years 3000 different students had been in attendance at the school.
The fifth and last school building erected by the Trus- tees of Oxford Academy, stood upon the site of the present Union Free School. It was longer in service, and more students have gone out from it, than from any that pre- ceded it. Its dedication August 1 and 2, 1854, called together an assemblage of vast proportion, the second of which is in book form and familiar to many. Of the men who shared the labors and duties of that occasion, nearly all have gone beyond the great divide. Joseph G.
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Thorp, the last survivor of the trustees is at rest in the Riverview Cemetery. Of those who took part in the liter- ary exercises, Miss Lucy A. Balcom and Rev. Daniel Wash- burn, each of whom contributed an ode, are with the great majority beyond. Of the local committee which had in hand the general care and direction of the cele- bration none are living.
The writer, who was then in his fifth year, distinctly remembers but one event at the Jubilee. The assembly, seated on rough benches, filled the yard facing the build- ing, and the Oxford Band was present to assist in the musical part of the programme. We were too young to be left at home alone, nor could we be fostered upon the neighbors, for they, too, were at the Jubilee. So, hand in hand with our maternal parent, we joined the jubilant throng. All was well till half of the programme was finished, then came a selection from the Band. It was our first experience with a Band, and we rather liked it until the bass drummer loudly struck his instrument, then the serenity of the occasion was amusingly diverted by the sudden dive we made under the benches. Caraway sprigs and peppermint sticks could not dispell our fears nor prevail upon us to come forth until the selection was finished. Then, with tearful eye, we were taken from the scene to the TIMES office, and left to be called for al the close of the afternoon exercises.
The fourth Academy, which had stood on the east side of Fort Hill, was moved during the summer of 1854, and placed near the river and the new school building, and used as a boarding house for teachers and students. Here Merrit G. McKoon, first principal in the fourth building died very suddenly November 28, 1854, After years service elsewhere he had come back in the full vigor and
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ripe experience of manhood, with high, fond hope of the future, to take again the principalship of the school in the new Academy. His burial from the same building where he had with such zeal and devotion entered upon a new career of useful and honorable service, was well and fitly ordered by the trustees. At his death the roll contained the names of one hundred and ninety-nine stu- dents committed to his care.
Of those who followed Mr. McKoon as principal, the longest term of service, extending beyond ten years, was that of David G. Barber, beloved by all of his students. It was during the early part of this period, that more than sixty, who had been or were then students of Oxford Academy, went forward to the defense of the Republic against armed rebellion. Some of these closed their school books and came not back again. Edward S. Bragg, a stu- dent of 1844, who was breveted a general for meritorious services and afterwards made minister for the United States to Mexico, was early in the list. A beautiful bronze tablet, figured in low relief of the schoolboy and the young soldier, attracts the eye as one enters the Academy hall, and bears the inscription :
CENTENNIAL TABLET
1794-1894
Erected in Commemoration of the Patriotic Action of the Students of Oxford Academy who, in 1861-1865, voluntarily periled their lives in defense of the Union and the Flag. A tribute of Perpetual Remem- brance and undying honor by the Trustees, Teachers, Students and Friends of Oxford Academy in Centennial Celebration assembled, in June 28-29, 1894.
The Centennial of Oxford Academy, June 28 and 29, 1894, brought together men and women from far and near, erstwhile teachers and students, to hear kindly words of welcome, and speak, heart to heart, glad centennial greet-
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ings. It was an event that is faithfully recorded in a book compiled by the late Major O. H. Curtis, which will have added interest and value with the passing years.
Following is the succession of principals: Uri Tracy, 1793, '04; Elisha Mosley, 1795; John Kinney, 1807; Rev, Wm. Hyde, 1808; David Prentice,1 1821; Wm. D. Beattie, 1825; Rev. Edward Andrews, 1826; Wm. D. Beattie, 1828; Merritt G. McKoon, 1832; John Abbott, 1843; Myron M. Goodenough, 1852; Chas. E. Vanderburgh, 1852; Abel Wood, 1853, William Wight, 1854; Merritt G. McKoon, 1854, until his death; Frederick Humphrey, 1854; J. C. VanBenschoten, 1856; H. Barnes, Jr., 1858; David G. Barber, 1859-70; Henry E. Storrs, 1870; Her- bert J. Cook, 1870; Rev. Charles Woodward, 1872; Charles W. Brown, 1872; Warren C. Hubbard, 1872-73; Rev. Frank B. Lewis, 1873; James A. Brown, 1879; Frank D. Budlong, 1883; Frederick L. Gamage, 1885; Herbert P. Gallinger, 1893; William C. Joslin, 1895; R. H. Coe, 1896 ; Robert K. Toaz, 1899; E. M. Sanders, 1906.
Oxford Academy, having rounded out its century of prosperity, gracefully retired as a private academy and became merged in the free school system under the name of Oxford Academy and Union School. The new building, of brick with Oxford blue stone trimmings, was erected at a cost of $20,000. The building was formally opened September 7, 1897, with appropriate ceremonies. Addresses were made by Hon. Charles W. Brown, princi- pal, Reginald H. Coe, and Hon. Charles R. Skinner, Su- perintendent of Public Instruction of the State.
David Prentice, LL. D., though far advanced in years, was in 1855 teaching in Geneva, N. Y. On Christmas day of that year he received the gift of $500 from five of his former Oxford pupils. The donors were ex-Governor Seymour and Judge Hunt of Utica; Judge Martin and Henry W. Rogers, Esq., of Buffalo, and Henry R. Mygatt of Oxford.
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In this grand wheel, the world, we're spokes made all .- BROME .
Hull Family.
The first record of the Hull family is of Benjamin Hull and his wife Amy of Connecticut. He was impressed in the British army during the Revolutionary war, and never heard from His wife died at the age of one hundred years, five months and twenty-five days.
Their son, John Hull, married Martha Pardee. Their children were : Eli, Eliasaph, Elijah, John, Ebenezer and Rosa.
John Hull, son of John and Martha (Pardee) Hull, was born April 21, 1771; died September 4, 1864, in Oxford; married July 2, 1797, Hannah Wood, born May 14, 1778; died January 16, 1845, in Oxford. In 1798, when he was 27 years old, Mr. Hull, accompanied by his wife, left North Haven, Ct., and settled upon the land now known as the William Hogan farm, about two miles south of Oxford village. He found a wilderness never before inhabited, and lived to see the opening and settling of all the vast territory of Central New York, for over sixty-years of a busy life was before him when he came to his new home. He lived to see cultivated farms, thriving villages and teeming cities take the place of the unbroken wilderness he first knew : Children : SALLY, born July 10, 1798; died in Pitcher, N. Y. ; married Levi Post; ELI, born Novem- ber 21, 1799; died in Clinton, N. Y .; RILEY, born Aug-
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ust 11, 1801 ; died in Chautauqua, N. Y .; SAMUEL, born April 12, 1803; died in Stockbridge, N. Y .; CLARK, born December 3, 1804; died in Owego, N. Y .; ZERAH, born January 8, 1807; died October 30, 1841, in Ann Arbor, Mich. ; twice married. Children by first wife : Sabra C., born September 9, 1831, in Otselic ; married October 1847, Dr. Tracy S. Cone; died February 3, 1902, in South Ox- ford; Sarah C., married - Greene of Grand Rapids, Mich. Child by second wife: Zerah. HARRY, born July 6, 1809; died January 30, 1902, in Afton; married (1) Amelia Pendleton ; died March 18, 1864, in Oxford ; married (2) Abbie Cook. Children by first wife: Harriet, married (1) Peter G. Brink ; married (2) P. E. Golden of Varna, Thompkins county, N. Y. ; HENRY P., married (1) Mary C. Roush ; married (2) Dora M. Leslie; resides at Ken- drick, Idaho; SARAH J., died April 18, 1874, aged 25, at Knob Noster, Mo. ; unmarried. HARRIET, twin to Harry ; married - Adams of Owego, N. Y .; JOHN, born Sep- tember 20, 1811; lived and died in Guilford, N. Y .; mar- ried Eliza Bolles. Children : William H. H., residence in New York city ; John died in Norwich, N. Y. ; Mary, mar- ried Eugene Bunnell of New York city. ELIASAPH, born July 21, 1813; died Angust 14, 1872, in Oxford; married June 25, 1848, Ellen Goodrich of Avon, Conn., died De- cember 11, 1906, at Germantown, Pa. Child : Ella M., married Nathan A. Bundy, resides in Philadelphia.
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