USA > New York > Delaware County > Delaware County, New York, history of the century, 1797-1897, centennial celebration, June 9 and 10, 1897 > Part 3
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Steele's Br > k, Delhi
Near Margaretville
Neur Dugraven.
-15
EARLY SETTLEMENTS.
was the founder of Harpersfield, and his son, also named JJohn, was the noted Colonel Harper who was so conspicuous in the border wars of the revolution.
In 1767 the Harpers obtained from the Colonial goverment permission to obtain from the Indians a traet of land containing 100,000 acres not before purchased, situated near the head-waters of the Delaware river. After this transaction was complete the Harpers received from the goverment a deed of the land in 1769. Two years after this, in 1771, Colonel Harper established his family upon this tract and proceeded to divide it into suitable farms for settlement. A considerable number of families from Cherry Valley and old friends from New England soon after joined them, and the place took on an appearance of prosperity. The first settlers however were subject to some severe trials from the want of food for themselves and their cattle. Their nearest neighbors were thirty miles off at Schoharie, and for grist mills they were com- pelled to go down the Schoharie creek to the Mohawk. In 1775, however, Colonel Harper erected a grist mill for the convenience of his neighbors. The whole traet was heavily timbered, mostly with maple and beech, and the making of maple sugar was one of the chief early industries. The lands covered by hardwood are always more easily cleared than those covered by pine or other evergreens. The rich and varied farms of Harpersfield came rapidly into condi- tions of fertility and were soon able to support a widespread and prosperous population.
But before the settlement could attain this condition of pros- perity, it was compelled to go through a period of trial during the Revolutionary war, which left its impress for a long time upon its inhabitants and its growth and progress. It was in the sunner of 1777 that the approach of Brant and Butler with a band of Indians and tories made the Harpersfield settlers realize the danger of their position. Some fled to Schoharie and some went back to New England. So that from that time to the close of the war Harpers- tield was almost deserted. Occasionally some of the fugitives cume
46
HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
back from Schoharie to look after their possessions. Thus in the spring of 1780 Captain Alexander Harper and a number of others went to Harpersfield at the usual sugar making season. Brant and his party of Indians surprised and captured them. Some were killed and sealped, while Harper and several others were carried by a long and tedious march to the British fort at Niagara. There they remained as prisoners in circumstances of fearful misery until the close of the war. Others were taken as prisoners to Quebec where they were kept until under the treaty of peace they were set at liberty.
After the establishment of peace most of the families returned to their homes, which however had been in many cases desolated by the Indians and tories. Other settlers rapidly joined these pioneers, attracted by the sturdy character of the founders, and by the liberal terms on which they could secure farms on which they might settle. From that time down to the present Harpersfield has continued to be one of the most thriving and prosperous of the towns in the county.
The period following the war was everywhere active in emigra- tion. The soldiers who had spent many years in fighting for their country had lost that attachment to their homes which made abandonment difficult. They had learned of hundreds of places where they could find farms to be taken up and homes to be established. Many of the officers of the army received in lieu of pay which was due to them grants of land from which they expected to realize abundant profits. They did not foresee the times when the fertile Genessee country, and the rich valleys of Ohio would be speedily in demand. But they eagerly accepted the proffered lands still unoccupied in the eastern portions of New York. Poor old General Steuben who had performed such noble service for his American friends, was rewarded with a township named after him in the rough regions of Oneida county. Baron DeKalb was in like manner rewarded with an equally fertile (!) tract of land in St. Lawrence county.
47
EARLY SETTLEMENTS.
Much of the land in Delaware county had been granted in various tracts before the breaking ont of the war. The year 1770 seems to have been amazingly prolitie in Delaware county patents. In the note* appended will be found the patents granted in Dela- ware county by the English Colonial government. Subsequent to the formation of the State government many fraets were purchased from the State, by land speculators who generally sold but some- times rented to settlers the farms which they undertook to clear and cultivate. The largest of these tracts was in the western angle of the State, and occupying a region owned by the State of Massachu- setts. The two states settled the question of jurisdiction by an agreement that the price of the lands when sold should go to Mas- sachusetts, but that the whole tract should belong politically to the State of New York. The land was in 1791 sold by the State of Massachusetts to Phelps and Gorham: but on account of their fail- ure to fulfill the contract. it was resold subsequently to them together with a number of other purchases. Almost all the contents of the counties of the State west of Cayuga lake were included in this territory. Another large traet is usually called the Macomb
* List of patents granted by the English Colonial Government, in Delaware county. Hongles further. p. 18 :
Babington's Patent, 1770, 2,000 aeres, Charles Babington.
Bedlington Patent, 1770, 27,000 acres, John Leake and others.
Clarke's Patent, 1770, 2,000 acres, James Clarke.
DeBernier's Patent. 1770, 2,000 acres, John De Bernier.
Franklin Township, 1770, 30,000 acres, Thomas Wharton and others. Goldsborough Patent. 1770, 6,000 acres, Edward Tudor and others.
Hardenbergh Patent. 1708, -- , Johannes Hardenbergh and others. Harper's Patent, 1769, 22,000 acres, John Harper, Jr.
Kortright Patent, 1770, 22,000 acres, Lawrence Kortright.
Leako's Patent. 1770, 5,000 acres, Robert Leake. Forfeited by attainder. MeKer's Patent, 1770, 10,000 acres. Alexander Mckee and others.
MoKoe's Patent, 1770. 18,000 acres, additional, Alexander Mcker and others. Prevost Patent, 1770, -, James Provost.
Strasburgh Township, 1770, 37,000 acres, John Butler and others, For- feited by attainder.
Walton's Patent, 1770, 20,000 acres, William Walton and others.
Whiteboro Township, 35,000 aeres, Henry White and others. Forfeited by attainder.
48
HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
purchase, situated in Franklin, St. Lawrence, Jefferson, Lewis, Os- wego and Herkimer counties. The lands included in these later purchases were usually sold in fee simple to the settlers: while much of that in Delaware county, such as the Hardenbergh patent. the Kortright patent, the Livingston patent, the Verplanck tract, etc., were granted on lease.
The settlements formed in the various towns will be detailed in the town histories given below. The pioneers were of varied na- tionality, and in this respect were a fair sample of the mixed population throughout the State. From Kingston came the Dutch and Palatine Germans and a few of the Walloons, who settled in Middletown along the East branch of the Delaware. The same classes of emigrants had settled the Schoharie valley and thus formed a continuous belt of low Dutch pioneers from Albany up the Mohawk river, thence up the Schoharie creek to its head waters and then down the East branch of the Delaware, meeting the little body of Dutch pioneers who had broken through the mountain barriers from Kingston. It is needless to say that these emigrants were industrious, intelligent, and conservative. Like their European an- cestry they sought as places of settlement low-lying lands, border- ing the picturesque streams which abounded in the new continent. There were no considerable number of these Holland emigrants who came into Delaware county. The lands were opened up to settle- ment too late to take advantage of the Holland period of New York histor .. This period ended in 1664 when the Dutch possessions in Amorim were by treaty transferred to England. After that time few emigrants came from Holland to New York, and the only Dutch pioneers into Delaware county came from the older settlements of the same nationality in other parts of the colony.
The great mass of the early settlers in Delaware county wore from New England. They had already learned that the bleak hills where they had at first made their homes were by no means the fertile and productive regions they had anticipated. From the earliest times there was a continuous stream of emigration from the
49
EARLY SETTLEMENTS.
colonies and states of New England, first into castern New York, then into western New York, and still later into Ohio, Indiana, Ilinois and farther west. There was a time, just subsequent to the Revolutionary war, when many of these restless and adventurous New Englanders sought homes near the head waters of the Susque- hanna and the Delaware rivers. The immense town of Franklin which at its organization contained thirty thousand acres of land was largely settled by New Englanders. Sluman Wattles the first settler came thither from Connectient in 1785 accompanied by his brothers and sisters, and followed by numerous friends who rapidly built up a thriving and intelligent community. The town of Wal- ton was a part of Franklin until 1797, and it too was largely settled by families of New England origin. Dr. Platt Townsend came hither from Dutchess county and brought with him a number of friends from Long Island who like himself had first migrated from Connecticut. This auspicious beginning led many other Now Eng- land families who were seeking new homes to come into the valleys of the Delaware and the Susquehanna.
Another notable company of colonists came in 1789 consisting of twenty heads of families and two single men from Fairfield county. Connectient. They were exploring the wilderness in search of a suitable place in which to settle. They came from Catskill and after a long journey reached the head waters of the West branch of the Delaware. Here they found a friend in an old settler named Imman, who aided them to find lands on which they could settle. Part of them located in the present town of Roxbury, which then was the town of Stamford; the others found homes in what still bears the name of Stamford in Rose's brook. This has continued to be a most thrifty and prosperous settlement,* and to this day bears the marks of the pioneers who founded it.
* The names of this company are given in Gould's History of Delaware County as follows: Josiah Patchin, Captain Abraham Gould, Colonel John Hubble, Aaron Rollins, Isaac Hubble, Taleott Gould. Isaac Gould, George Squires, Walter and Seth Lyon, John Polly, Stephen Adams, Peter and Eln Jennings. Joseph Hill, and one by the name of Gibson. The two unmarried men were David Gould and David Squires. Sor p. 197.
50
HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
The Scotch immigration into Delaware county was principally of a later date. A few came to the region about the time of the Revolution. John More was a Scotchman who came into the coun- try and founded Moresville in 1786. Kortright, so named from Lawrence Kortright who purchased a patent of twenty-two thou- sand acres from Colonel Harper, was settled principally by immi- grants from the north of Ireland and from Scotland. The patent was purchased in 1770 and the settlement began from that date. But the great mass of the settlers came in during the first twenty years of the present century.
Andes received a large contingent of Scotch immigrants. These were not however the first settlers, who were of Dutch ancestry and came from the Hudson river counties. But a large number of Scotch families came in at various times and settled the Cabin Hill region and some of the valleys towards Bovina. It was this same movement which led many of the same nationality to invade the rough regions of Bovina. They had been preceded in this move- ment by Elisha B. Maynard a New Englander, who was the first settler, in 1792. But the hardy Scotch crowded into the lands on the head-waters of the Little Delaware. and made the little town; when it was organized in 1820, almost their own. The town of Delhi in like manner contains many families who by ancestry are Scotch. This is especially true of the mountainous region rising from the Little Delaware on the south-west. The section is still called the Scotch mountains from the fact that the greater part of it was settled by Scotch families. It will be observed that in all these settlements of the Scotch, they have chosen the hills and uplands in preference to the fertile valleys. This was partly owing to the fact that they came into the county at a later date when the richer lands along the rivers had been already taken up. But besides this, and besides their general poverty which led them to select cheap lands, we must attribute their choice of hilly lands to their predilictions founded upon the dear mountains from which they came, and for which they retained such fond memories.
51
EARLY SETTLEMENTS.
It may be said m conclusion that wherever they settled the Scotch proved most thrifty and successful farmers. They were without exception intelligent and religious; and lost no time in providing for themselves and their children churches and school- houses, such as they had been accustomed to in their old home. As a consequence no parts of the county are more prosperous and progressive than those that have been settled by the Scotch and which are still occupied by their frugal and industrious descend- ants.
IV. Pioneer Experiences.
W HATEVER the nationality of the pioneers, the experiences through |which they were required to pass in clearing and reducing farms to cultivation were essentially the same. The Dutch- men who came into Middletown through the Shandaken mountains, the Yankees who came to Roxbury or Harpersfield or Franklin, the Scotchmen who penetrated to the hill country of Andes or Delhi or Bovina, all had to go through the same trials and suffer the same inconveniences. It may be of interest at this point to follow a pioneer into the forests of Delaware county and watch him while he clears a place for himself in the wilderness.
Take as an illustration a family which had come from Scotland, consisting of a father and mother with two little boys. They came first to the house of Scotch friends in Andes; and after prospecting around took on lease a farm in the adjoining town of Bovina, which had just then been organized as a separate town. This farm is en- tirely covered with forest of maple, beech, birch, bass-wood, etc. The father, after selecting the place, leaves his family for a little with his friends and himself goes thither to cut down a few acres of the forest, and to put up log buildings for the protection of his family. When these were ready, we may imagine the little caravan on its way to the new home in the wilderness. A yoke of oxen drags a rude lumber wagon, on which are mounted the mother and the two little boys. The father drives them and carries on his shoulder an axe which he has already learned to handle, A few pieces of primitive furniture are also carried on the wagon, together with the pots and kettles and dishes which are needful in the kitchen. A dog of the Scotch collie breed circles in excited joy
52
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A Primitive Home.
1111
711
P11
St. Peter s Church, (P. E ) Hobart, built in 1801.
55
PIONEER EXPERIENCES.
around the party, startling squirrels and birds, and putting to flight the wolves, the foxes and the bears which creep curiously out to see the passing cavalcade. A friend who is going to help to install the family in its new home, is driving behind them a milk-cow and her calf, a half dozen sheep and a sow with a half grown litter of pigs, The good collie in the midst of all his miscellaneous duties considers himself specially charged with the driving of this diversi- tied herd.
Everything goes well. At every farm house they pass they receive a kindly word of welcome and offers of any help they might need. Their journey is not long; and before night they have arrived at their new home. A wood fire is started in the chimney; a hearty meal is cooked from the supplies they had brought with them. The oxen and the cow, the sheep and the pigs are all suitably housed and fed. The season was the early autumn and the first night was exquisitely beautiful. The same stars which they knew in Scotland, and the same full moon, the harvest moon, looked down upon them with friendly eyes. They soon put the furniture in order, and having committed themselves to the care of him who equally is their God in the wilds of America and in their dear native land, they were soon asleep.
Every moment that was not needed for the care of his family and his cattle is employed by the father in chopping down the trees around his buildings. Little by little the clearing became larger and the prospects gradually brighten. The American axe. which he soon learned to wield with force and precision, is the most effective tool which has ever been devised. With it the intermin- able forests of the continent have been levelled and turned into fruitful fields. A few years later when the two boys had grown so as to handle the axe, the three wonhl together attack a tree; the father cutting alone on one side, and the two boys putting in alternate strokes on the other side. The tree cutting usually con- tinued during the entire winter and thus by spring-time a consider- able addition is made to the clearing.
56
HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
The task of the pioneer however is not only to cut down the trees. Each tree after it had been felled, was cut into logs of about fourteen feet; the branches were trimmed off and piled into brush- heaps. Then when the summer sun had dried the branches, and the more pressing spring's work was passed, advantage was taken of a windy day when there was a strong breeze away from the build- ings. The brush heaps were all kindled, being watched lest fire should do some damage, and in order that the heaps should be com- pletely burned. After this preliminary work was done, then came the great work of "logging." This was sometimes done by the pioneer and his boys. But it was a very heavy task, and if a large elearing was to be made the usual custom was to hold a "logging. bee." A few of the neighbors, who sometimes had similar favors to ask, were invited to help on this supreme occasion. Perhaps two additional yoke of oxen were brought, and each man carried his axe on his shoulder. They came after breakfast, and went away after a five o'clock supper. A dinner was served at twelve o'clock and for an hour men and oxen were alike refreshed by rest. It is fair to say that on these occasions the farmer was expected to provide some kind of drink. It was either rum which came from New England or the West Indies; or it was the whisky which already began to be distilled in all these country towns. The men did not drink to excess, and nobody was much the worse for what they considered their suitable indulgence on these occasions.
The work they had to do consisted in dragging the logs to- gether and making them into heaps for burning. A yoke of oxen was assigned to each gang, which consisted of two or three men besides the driver. Each log was drawn by the oxen to its heap and rolled by the men with hand-spikes to its place. Fragments of the unburned branches were piled in along with logs, and thus log- heaps were made throughout the clearing. As the whole space had already been burned over when the brush-heaps were fired, the task which the loggers now had was by no means a clean one or an easy one. Their faces and their clothes were soon begrimed with the.
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PIONEER EXPERIENCES.
coal from the logs and the branches. But this did not interfere with the good humor of the company or with activity and the willingness with which they worked.
After the logging, on some dry, breezy day the farmer sets fire to these log-heaps, and watching and tending them carefully sees them all burned up. Then among the stumps on the soil. well fertilized by the ashes left by the burned log-heaps, he sows his erop of rye, or oats, or buckwheat. And notwithstanding the rough and unplowed surface these first crops were sure to be rich and abundant. Along with the first crop of grain rye or oats but not of buckwheat-the farmer also sows a erop of mixed timothy and red clover. The grain comes to maturity during the first summer, but the grass making a start during this summer under the friendly shade of the grain, comes to a head and furnishes a erop of hay for the second summer. Potatoes are planted also in the new soil and yield a good crop. Some minor crops, such as turnips, cabbages, and onions are also raised even from the very first. On the farms along the rivers and in protected places Indian corn is also planted. although not in' general until the second vear.
The stumps and roots of the hardwood timber very soon begin to decay, and in a few years can be torn up and burned. Thus land which at first was covered with forest, in the course of five or six years became cultivatable tields, yielding abundant crops of grain and hay and vegetables. Where the forests were of pine, as was the case in many places, the stumps were much longer in decaying. Indeed you may still see fields filled with pine stumps which must have been out fifty years ago. A stump-machine is generally necessary to eradicate the pine stumps, and then a fire soon reduces them to practicable ashes.
The tools and implements in the case of a primitive farm such as we have been describing were neither many nor elaborate. The axe was the most useful and important, hammer and out nails, the saw and the crowbar. Then there were the yoke. the ox-chain, the shed
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
to be drawn by oxen, the harrow used on new land even before the plough, the hoe and the shovel. About the barn and stable were the flail. the fanning mill, the half-bushel grain measure, birch- broom, ete. In the house the cooking of food and the necessary warmth were furnished by the open fire-place. The wood was cut usually in the winter time and was thoroughly seasoned before it was used on the fire. In the winter when the weather was cold there was built an immense fre consisting of a back-log, a fore- stick, and the necessary top-dressing. When such a fire got under way it was a sight to behold. It must be remembered that at this early day friction-matches* were unknown; and at night before going to bed it was always the custom to cover up a bed of coals with ashes, so that the fire might be kept alive till morning. If by any accident the fire became extinguished. the common resource was to send to a neighbor's for a shovelful of live coals.
There is nothing in which greater progress has been made during the century than in the matter of artificial light. At the time of the settlement of our Scotch Pioneer-say 1820-almost the only kind of artificial light in use by such a family was the candle. It was made from the tallow of the beef or sheep; preferably from the former, because it was harder and stronger. A row of wicks was hung on a stick, and the whole dipped at once into a pot of melted tallow and taken out again. The stick with its row of dipped wieks was then hung in a cool place until the layer of tallow became hard. In the mean time a second and then a third, etc., of the rows of wicks were dipped and hung up for cooling. The process was continued until the candles became as large as was desired. An improved method of making tallow-candles was to have a row of five or six tin candle moulds soldered together parallel. Wicks were inserted in each and drawn tightly through the centre of the mouldl. Then the melted tallow was poured into the moulds around the wicks, and the row kept in a cool place until
* It was about 1834 that frietion-matches came into use. In remote locali- ties they were introduced later. The price was about 2 6 for a box of fifty.
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PIONEER EXPERIENCES.
the candles had become hard. After this they were drawn out of the moulds and were ready for use. Artificial light was not so much used in those early days as now. Lamps for whale off were some- times employed when a better light was necessary. But it was not till the discovery of kerosene oil in 1858, in Pennsylvania, that the great improvement in the character of light for country houses began. Since that time almost every house has its kerosene lamps. which furnish a light nearly equal to the gas-light of cities.
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V. Revolutionary; Troubles.
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D ELAWARE county was involved in the trials of the Revolution only as a frontier community. In the meagre settlements at Harpersfield, Middletown and Sidney there were differences of opinion which gradually grew into bitter controversies. Even in the perilous times which resulted from the invasions of the Indians there were tories who were ready to lead them against their patriot neighbors, and help them to raid their homes and carry off their slender possessions.
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