USA > New York > Seneca County > Romulus > Centennial celebration of the official organization of the town of Romulus, Seneca county, New York > Part 5
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Information at hand as to early schools and teachers is meagre and unsatisfactory. In the early history of the town and prior to 1800, very few school houses had been erected in the territory which now has twenty school houses-and private and select schools were frequently kept at the house of the teacher or of one of the patrons of the school.
A History of Seneca county, published by Everts, Ensign and Everts, Philadelphia, Pa., 1876, is authority for the statement, that there was on the tenth day of June, 1799, a school house standing, one mile northeast of Lancaster, probably in the Sut- ton neighborhood. In the same year, 1799, there was a school house standing, east of Mahlon Bainbridge's near the residence of Dr. N. W. Folwell. Other school houses erected at an early date, were a log school building at Romulus Village in 1806; and one on Lot seventy-eight near John Marsh's. In 1810 there was a school house near Henry Miller's, North East of Hayt's Corners one at Beachtown, settlement near Dey's Landing; and one at McDuffeetown. Others of early date, were the school houses in the McLaferty District, near the center of the present town of Romulus; also one at Lancaster; one near Anthony Dey's Tannery; and one a half mile east of Judge Benj. Lemmon's; with one near John
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Gambee's Mill Pond, one and a half miles South East of Bearytown; and one near Clarktown.
Spafford's Gazetteer, mentions ten school hottses in Romulus in 1812. In February, 1820, John D. Coe, Anthony Dey, and John Fleming, commissioners, filed with the Town Clerk, descrip- tions of seventeen school districts, and there were parts of several other joint school districts, the school houses of which were located in other towns. A part of Romulus was annexed to the Ovid Union School District in 1874, and there are now twenty school houses in the towns of Romulus and Varick.
Prior to the year 1800, a select school was kept in the weaving shop of Haynes Bartlett, taught by John Bainbridge. Early schools were also taught at James McKnight's and John Sayre's residences. Dr. Ethan Watson and his wife, who settled at Apple- town in 1807, both taught school soon after their settlement. There were doubtless other early schools and school houses at which teachers were employed, of which 110 reliable information can now be secured. Early teachers, other than those already named, were Robert Selfredge, Ebenezer Brewster, Elijah Miller, Sylvester Tillotson, Ira Parker, Clinton Shattuck and R. Webster. Later on, Wareham Barnes, Levi Hart, Samuel Jones, John A. Christopher, Joseph Burroughs, Aaron P. Roberts. Norman Eddy, Jonathan Ogden, Lewis Woodruff, Jacob P. Chamberlain, Aaron B. Bartlett and William Mann were well known teachers, and forty to sixty years ago, members of the Baldridge and Fleming families, James Facer, Leander Covert, John B. Robinson, Palmer McDuffee, William Bainbridge, Augustus C. Miller, Amos P. Mil- ler, John R. Stone, Wm. H. Sutton, Henry C. Lisk, Darwin C. Smalley, Dr. Richard Dey, Loring G. King, Ralph P. Roberts and John Monroe, were engaged in teaching, some of whom are still living. At an early date, female teachers were but little employed, except to teach summer terms of schools. Among those who taught may be mentioned, Mrs. Ethan Watson, Miss Czarina Young, Mary Sutton, Hannah Pratt, Catharine Folwell, Emeline Betts, Clarissa A. Gambee, Catharine Gambee, Mary J. McKnight, and Mary J. Barnes.
In passing, a tribute must also be bestowed, upon a faithful and
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thoroughly competent teacher, in the person of the late Willian Ross, who died April 6, 1893, in Fayette, aged ninety years, who had devoted about sixty-five years of his life to teaching, chiefly in the public schools of this county, including a number of terms in Romulus, a record which can probably not be excelled in any other part of the State.
Many of our public men, have in youth and early manhood taught in public schools, as an assistance in obtaining a profes- sional and business education, a few of whom may be mentioned.
Elijah Miller, (son of Captain Josiah Miller, a patriot officer of the revolutionary war), was born at Bedford, Westchester county, N. Y., April 11, 1772. In the spring of 1796, lie came to the town of Romulus and located upon Military Lot number nine- ty-one, (near Hayt's Corners). While residing there, lie engaged in teaching school for a time and began reading law under Daniel Shepard of Aurora, on the opposite shore of Cayuga Lake. In March, 1799, he was commissioned a Justice of the Peace for the Town of Romulus, then in Cayuga county. In January 1800, having been admitted to the Bar, he married and located on the East side of Cayuga Lake, at Cayuga Village, then one of the county seats of Cayuga County, where he engaged in the practice of his profession, removing to Auburn in 1808. In 1813 he was appointed Clerk of Cayuga County, for a term of two years, and in 1817, received the appointment of County Judge of that County, which position he held for six years. In 1823, William H. Sew- ard, (afterwards Governor and United States Senator) then just commencing his legal career, united with Judge Miller in a law partnership, and a year later married his daughter. This law firm at once took a leading position and was employed in many of the most important cases tried in Central New York. Judge Miller died at Auburn in November, 1851, in the eightieth year of his age. Captain Josialı Miller, father of Judge Elijah Miller, removed early in this century, with his family, to the Lot located by his son in the town of Romulus, where he died in 1817, aged 68 years. One of his sons, Ezra Miller, served as a magistrate of Romulus for many years.
Jacob P. Chamberlain, born in Worcester County, Massachu-
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setts, August Ist, 1802, became an early resident of this town, and engaged for a time in teaching in our public schools. He was elected the first Town Clerk of Varick, upon the organization of that town in 1830, and was re-elected in the two succeeding years. He also served as School Inspector of that town. He afterwards removed to Seneca Falls, and engaged in farming, milling and manufacturing business. He was elected to serve this County in the State Legislature for the year 1859, and was chosen to the thirty-seventh Congress of the United States 1861-63, for the 26th District. He died at Seneca Falls, Oct. 5, 1878. Frank Chamberlain, a son of Hon. Jacob P., born in Romulus, Dec. 4, 1826, and now residing at Albany, N. Y., was in 1860 elected Grand Commander of the State Commandery of Knights Templar of the Masonic order, and was appointed April 27, 1865, by the Governor with the consent of the Senate, Commissary General of this State. Eugene T. Chamberlain, of Albany, son of General Frank, now holds the office of Commissioner of Navigation in the Treasury Department at Washington, D. C.
Mention may be made also in this connection, of Norman Eddy, a native of Cayuga County, N. Y., who taught for a time in the public schools of Romulus and Varick, about 65 years ago, and who afterwards graduated as a physician, practised medicine for a time, then read law, was admitted to the Bar, and became eminent as a lawyer. Removing to Indiana, he was elected to the State Senate, then to the 33d Congress of the United States, and in later years, Secretary of State of that State, which position he held at the time of his death, January 28, 1872.
It is not my purpose to comment at length upon the primitive log school houses, with their slab seats without backs, nor to speak of teachers of the olden time, when the system of "boarding around" of teachers prevailed and every patron was expected to contribute a supply of wood proportional to the number of scholars sent. (See Appendix D.)
The records of one of the old school districts, recently ex- amined, shows that at the annual school meetings seventy years ago, the inhabitants were accustomed at each meeting, to adopt
1
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a resolution, exempting poor persons having children to send to school, from the payment of a rate bill for teachers wages, and the same commendable spirit was doubtless very generally shown throughout the town.
While much has been accomplished in the improvement and elevation of public schools, we should not forget the day of small things, nor fail to do justice to the time, when the three Rs (Read- ing, 'Riting and 'Rithmetic) were the leading branches of study, in our schools. Many of our best business men, enjoyed no other opportunities of education than those which these early schools provided. The old-time text books used in this locality, were Webster's and Cobb's Spelling books; tlie Old and New English Readers, the American Preceptor and Hale's History of the United States, used as a reading book; Emerson's, Ostrander's or Daboll's Arithmetics, while writing was taught by the teacher, in copy books made of foolscap paper. The use of Murray's or Kirkham's Grammars, and Morse's, Goodrich's and Olney's Geographies, were higher accessories of a school course, not always 'reached by the pupils in our schools. Scholars when old enough to work, seldom had time to attend school in summer, leaving only a few months of winter schooling, which the older boys were not always privileged to enjoy. It is a matter of deep regret, that residents in the several school districts, have allowed district libraries to fall behind, and a revival of interest, is now in progress, in reference to the same.
There is no large village in our territory, the town being a distinctively agricultural town, and no Institution for academic education exists therein. Many sons and daughters of Romulus, have, however, received a liberal education at the Ovid Academy, now a High School, with which a portion of this town has official relations.
One of the most pleasing features of our centennial obser- vance this day, is the large representation of scholars from the public schools, forming a leading part in the procession. The occasion and the exercises of the day, may, and doubtless will, be long remembered by them.
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It is a pleasure to allude here to the organization of one of the earliest public library societies in this county, as the records of the county clerk show, to wit :
"At a meeting held on the 12th instant, March, 1805, at the house of Asa Smith, innkeeper in Romulus, for the purpose of forming themselves into a corporation for establishing a public library, proceeded to order, when Mahlon Bainbridge was chosen chairman. By ballot then proceeded to elect five trustees to gov- ern library, when the following persons were elected, viz : An- drew Dunnett, Charles Gordon, Asa Smith, Mahlon Bainbridge, and Samuel Howe.
Resolved, further, that the name or title of this corporation shall be known as Seneca Library Number One. It was further unanimously agreed and voted, that the same library be kept in the village of Lancaster, in the town of Romulus."
The martial spirit of the revolutionary sires who settled in our midst and their descendants, was kept alive through local militia organizations, (the 102d and 128th militia regiments,) and the town of Romulus was largely represented in the military ranks in the war of 1812. Col. Daniel Sayre, Col. Samuel McMath, Col. Samuel Blain and Col. Matthew D. Coe in earlier years, with Col. and Gen. Thomas J. Folwell and Col. and Gen. Augustus Decatur Ayres, in later years, commanded the militia of this and other towns. Company and regimental "trainings" of the militia were annually held, at McKnight's, Asa Smith's, David Depue's, Romulus village, Lerch's, Lemmon's or Bearytown, with oc- casionally a "general training" which were events anxiously looked forward to. At the present time, there are no military or- ganizations in town, although strongly represented in the ranks of the army, in the late civil war, 1861-65.
The records of the town show activity in the early years of its existence, in the laying out of public roads. Already in June 1795, a public road four rods wide, was laid out from the north bounds of Ovid, from Lancaster, along and near the Seneca lake shore to the Seneca outlet and to the east bounds of Ontario county. The description of this road as recorded, makes reference to an old
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road previously laid out by the Highway commissioners of the town of Peru, from James McKnight's north to the Ontario county line. The town of Peru was formed April 10, 1792, from the town of Whitestown, which latter town, at that time, covered all of Central New York, from its East line near Utica, extending westward to Seneca lake. It is to be regretted, that the records of the town of Peru, can not upon diligent inquiry be found, the town having been abolished, when Onondaga county was erected in March, 1794.
Other public roads early laid out were from Appletown to David Depue's, also from Lancaster to Boardmansburg, and a road from David Depew's to the Hood Settlement on Lot Number 48, at Fayette line. The road on the South line of the Cayuga Reser- vation, was laid out in the year 1805. The well known highway called the "Reservation road," the West line of the Cayuga Indian Reservation, leading across Varick to Seneca Falls, was recorded Dec. 17, 1806, and was surveyed by Jeptha Wade.
The Legislature of 1793, chapter 37, appointed John L. Har- denbergh, Moses DeWitt and John Patterson, commissioners for laying out certain public roads in the Military tract, one of which was to commence on the West side of Cayuga Lake, opposite a point mentioned (between Lots Numbers 56 and 67, Scipio), nearly three miles South of Aurora, and to run by as direct a route as the nature of the ground will admit of, to Seneca Lake, at or near the division line between Romulus and Ovid, (at Lan- caster). The Legislature made a small appropriation to pay the expense of making such public road, but whether it was ever laid out, cannot be ascertained, and certainly no such road was ever maintained, as a State road.
In the laying out of town roads, and the surveying and divis- ion of farms, there was much occasion to employ the service of a competent surveyor, as is usually the case in a newly settled country. Among thie well known early surveyors of Romulus, may be mentioned, Benjamin Dey, William Seely, Jeptha Wade, David Harris, John D. Coe, and Orange Wilkinson, and in later years, Gen. A. D. Ayres,
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Already before the commencement of the present century, in 1798, Captain Abel Frisbie, established regular communication with Aurora, and the east side of Cayuga Lake, for transporting by row boat or other primitive craft, passengers and mails, which ferry was continued for some time by others, from points called Hayes' Harbor and Smith's or Sinclair's landings. Levanna, and for a time Aurora, were county seats of Onondaga or Cayuga County, and residents of Romulus were sometimes called upon to visit these localities, upon public business.
Later on, in 1828, a ferry for passengers, teams, and freight was established for a time, between Levanna and Clarktown on the west shore.
The steamer Enterprise began to make trips upon Cayuga Lake from Ithaca to Bridgeport, at the foot of the lake, as early as 1820, but seldom landed on the west side of the lake, in this town.
A ferry was chartered to run from Lancaster across Seneca Lake to Dresden, in 1825. The steamer Seneca Chief, Capt. E. Miner, began its regular trips upon Seneca Lake, July 4, 1828, landing at Lancaster, and later on at Dey's Landing also. Steamers upon both the lakes, carried passengers, freights and mails.
Landings or warehouses established on Seneca Lake, were those at Lancaster, Freleighs, (Plymouth), Cooley's, (now C. C. Pontius') and Dey's Landing, and a Landing known as Glen Gowan, was established on the farm of Andrew S. Long, about ten years ago.
Upon Cayuga Lake, landings or warehouses, were at differ- ent times established, one in the South East Corner of town, known as Porter's Landing, also at Whitney's, later Jacacks' Landing, one at Andrew Smith's, later Sinclair's, and those at East Varick and Clarktown.
At the warehouses mentioned, grain was purchased in large quantities, loaded upon boats and shipped to Eastern cities, after the opening of the State Canals
The Ithaca and Geneva Turnpike company was incorporated in 1810, and there was a mail service, commencing about that time, by stage from Geneva to Judge Sayre's, and Lancaster or
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Ovid, and thence southward. The existence of this Turnpike Company was brief, and before the full completion of the Turn- pike, its charter was repealed by the Legislature in 1823.
After the abolition of the post office at Lancaster and the re- moval of Romulus post office to the village of the same name, a daily inland mail service by stage, was established from Geneva to Ithaca, passing through Romulus Village, which route was abolished upon the opening of the Geneva, Ithaca and Sayre rail- road, in the fall of 1873.
With the opening of public roads and lines of travel, taverns or public inns to accommodate travel by land, were established in abundance.
Among the early hostelries of Romulus, may be mentioned those of James McKnight, Jolın Sayre and David Depue, at each of which, town meetings were held, and those of Asa Smith, at Ap- pletown, Capt. Abel Frisbie, at Cayuga lake opposite Aurora, Samuel Smith at Lancaster, H. M. Schooley at Hayts Corners, and George Alexander at Romulus Village. Other well known hotels were those of Samuel McMath, . Haynes Bartlett, David Brooks, and Stephen Reeder, along Seneca Lake, and in the north half or Varick part of the town, those of Benjamin Lemmon, and John Y. Manning, of Hezekiah Knowles, (Dey's Landing), John Boice, Skillman Doughty, and David Edwards, at and near Roni- ulus Village, Joseph Haynes, and Geo. Crobaugh, at Bearytown, Samuel Lerch, on Military Lot, Number 54, of James Reifsnider, at Clarktown, and Thomas Caton, the last named known as the "Log Tavern" on Military Lot Number 47.
It was not until Sept. 1873, that the first railway across the town, the line of the Geneva, Ithaca and Sayre railroad, was opened to the public, and a branch railroad from Hayt's Corners to Willard, was opened in May, 1883. A new through line of the Lehigh Valley Railway Co. from Buffalo to New York City, was opened across the town in September 1892, and all of the above named railroads, are now operated by said last named company.
Telegraph lines were also opened and operated in connection
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with all of said lines of railroad, and express offices were established at the several railway stations.
It has already been shown that the people of Romulus were jealously watchful of questions affecting taxation.
The Board of Supervisors of Onondaga county, in 1795 already, of which board, Benajal Boardman was then a member, recommended and adopted a new system of taxation for the towns of said county, as follows :
"Whereas, the Supervisors of Onondaga County, have found many in- conveniences by the various modes taken in the different towns in assessing the ratable property in the county, have thought it a duty to recommend to the assessors of each respective town, next to be chosen, in said towns, a mode of taking the valuation of property which appears to us the most eli- gible in our local situation, desiring this to be publicly read at the next annual town meeting, which uniform mode will render the next Board of Supervisors, our successors in office, more capable of doing justice, in levy- ing taxes in our infant State, viz : Estimate as follows :
Improved lands of a medium quality, 20 shillings per acre.
Working oxen of a medium quality, 16 pounds per yoke.
Cows of a medium quality, 5 pounds per piece.
Young cattle of three years old and under, 20 shillings per year.
Horses of a medium quality, 10 pound per piece.
Colts, three years old and under, 40 shillings per year.
Hogs that will weigh roo weight. 20 shillings per piece.
Negro men, 50 pounds per head.
Negro wenches, 30 pounds per head.
Grist mills, 50 pounds per piece.
Saw mills, 30 pounds per piece.
And those articles of an inferior or superior quality, m proportion, and other ratable property in like proportion.
The board further recommends to the consideration of the different towns, the following mode in taking the assessment, viz : That each person holding ratable property shall give in to the aesessor a list of his or her ratable property or estate, in writing, agreeable to the request of the assessor, which will be an a voucher for the assessor, and prevent any asper- sions of injustice of being taxed unequally, by those having that part of duty to do, in society.
The board also recommends to assessors, that they completely make out their list of assessment by the first of May as the law directs, so that the Supervisors may be enabled to proceed on their business at their first meeting and save the county costs."
Reference to the assessment and taxation of slaves, recalls the fact, that Win. Seely of the town of Romulus on Nov. 17, 1794, manumitted a slave of the nameof Charles Patterson. The General act of the Legislature abolishing Negro Slavery in this State, passed in 1817, took effect July 4, 1827.
As late as May 1811, a public notice was filed with the Town
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Clerk, by Peter Huff, of the birth of two negro slaves belonging to him.
It is interesting to trace the history of the early villages of the Town, some of which are now extinct.
"Time rolls his ceaseless course. The race of yore Who danced our infancy upon their knee,
And told our marvelling boyhood legends store
Of their strange ventures happ'd on land and sea, How are they blotted from the things that be !"
Reference has been already made to the village of Lancaster, (at or near which the earliest settlements in town were made) af- terwards for a time called Baileytown, then Ovid Landing, and now Willard. Records in the County Clerk's Office, refer to a plot and map of Lancaster, divided into lots, already in 1798, by George and Samuel Bailey.
As early as January 1, 1804, Lancaster Post Office was estab- lished, with Charles Gordon as Postmaster.
In 1804-5, Lancaster was an unsuccessful applicant for the lo cation of the County buildings, and was then the most promising village of the County. It is known that the first stores and some of the first places of business in the town of Romulus, were opened at Lancaster, several years prior to any established at Romulu village or at Hayts Corners. Spafford's Gazetteer of New York, published in 1813, describes Lancaster as having about twenty houses, while Ovid, is described as a village in anticipation. For a time, a ferry was in operation from Lancaster to Dresden, on tlie west side of the lake.
The Post Office at Lancaster was abolished in November 1814, and the village fell into decline
With the opening, in 1869, of Willard State Hospital for the Insane, at the locality formerly known as Lancaster, the village at that point, (now known as Willard), revived, and a Post Office of that name, was established there, March 29, 1871, with George Swarthout, a descendant of one of the carliest settlers, as Post- master.
The Administration Building and a considerable part of the
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other buildings, lands and property of the State Hospital are sitt- ated at Willard, in the town of Romulus, and a brief reference should be made to this worthy charity, the largest institution for the care of the insane, in this State, and one of the largest in the United States. It has ample capacity for the treatment of 2, 100 patients, although the average number of patients under treatment during the past year reached 2, 1440. The management of this model institution, is in charge of an efficient Board of Trustees, Hon. Sterling G. Hadley, President, with a Medical Superintend ent, Dr. T. H Kellogg, and a corps of assistants and officers. .
Another village, the oldest one known in the history of the town, the Indian village of Kendaia, (called also Appletown) of which mention has been made, ceased to have an existence, since its destruction by General Sullivan's army. Elkanalı Watson a native of Plymouth, Mass., of whom mention has been made as a visitor in Sept. 1791, was the owner of lands at Appletown, ex- tending to Seneca Lake, and in the latter years of the last century, a village was plotted and located upon the shore of Seneca Lake, one-half mile west of Appletown, and named Plymouth. Upon the map of this village, 155 village lots were delineated, with streets running East from the lake, crossed by others running North and South, to which names were given on the map. Of the village of Plymouth, too, not a vestige remains.
The Indian village of Swal-ya-wa-nah, on Cayuga Lake, nearly opposite Aurora, was totally destroyed by Col. Henry Dearborn's detachment from General Sullivan's army, as already mentioned.
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