USA > New York > Tioga County > Owego > Early Owego, N.Y.; some account of the early settlement of the village in Tioga County, N.Y., called Ah-wa-ga by the Indians, which name was corrupted by gradual evolution into Owago, Owego, Owegy and finally Owego > Part 16
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41
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evening of July 6, 1852, at which many of the prominent citizens and their wives, were present, on which occasion a silver pitcher was pre- sented to him. Mr. Truman was pres- ident of the old bank of Owego and of its successor, the First national bank of Owego from 1856 until his death.
While his brothers went into mer- cantile life in Owego, Charles E. Tru- mna remained on the farm all his life. He served twenty-eight years as a jus- tice of the peace and was also for many years and until his death post- master at Flemingville.
Before coming to Owego Orin Tru- man taught school. From May, 1880, until his death he was cashier of the First national bank.
.George Truman after the dissolu- tion of the Arm of L. Truman & Brothers continued the mercantile business in company with his son-in- law, A. Chase Thompson, until January 1873, when he retired from the dry goods trade. He succeeded his brother, Lyman . P. Truman, as presi- dent of the First national bank in 1881 and held the position until his death. He was a trustee of the state hospital at Binghamton from June, 1880, to March, 1892.
LYMAN TRUMAN.
Lyman Truman was 21 years of age when his father, Shem Truman, set- tled at Park settlement. He married Lucy Barlow, of Candor, in 1809. He was a farmer all his life. He saw some military service, as did. also nearly all the able-bodied men of his day, having been commissioned first lieutenant in the Sixteenth New York
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regiment of artillery. He died. Nov. 2, 1822
The following were the children of Lyman and Lucy (Barlow) Truman:
1. . John L. Truman.
2. Levi B. Truman, born 11: Sept., 1809, in Candor, N. Y. Married Louisa Lawrence 23 Oct., 1834. He died 21 May, 1879, and she 20 Oct., 1881.
3. James Truman.
4. Stephen S. Truman, born . 28 April, 1816, in Candor. Married Cor- delia Belknap 2 Nov., 1843. He died 25 April, 1895, at Auburn, Cal., and she 29 June, 1902, at Salt Lake City, Utah.
5. Sybil Truinan, born 23 Nov., 1812. in Candor, N. Y., Married Wil- liam P. Stone 5 Nov .; 1836. He died Jume 28, 1890, at Owego, and she . 4 Ang., 1900 ..
6. Eliza Truman, born 30 . April, . 1818. Married Frank R. Weed, . of Flemingville, 15 Aug., 1844. She died 6 Sept., 1864. He married second Lucy. Truman, daughter of Levi B. Truman, 6 June, 1867. He died 1 April, 1882: 7. Benjamin L. Truman, born 23 June, 1822, in Candor. Married Maria Dean 15 Nov., 1852. She died 30 May, 1882. He married second Susan So- phronin Long 28 Feb., 1884. He is the only survivor of the family and is still living at Owego.
Stephen : S. Truman, William . P. Stone, and Benjamin L. Truman were all Owego merchants. Stephen S. Truman left his father's farm in 1837, the year following the setting off of Chemung county from Tioga, and worked in the Tioga county clerk's ,office copying the records of lands lying in Chemung county for use in that county, in company with Wm. P. Stone, Dr. John Frank, and others. He was afterward a clerk in Henry Camp's store, and later in Gen. John Laning's store? In 1840 he went into partnership with his uncle, Asa H. - Truman and Asa's son, Edward D.
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Truman, in the mercantile business. Particulars of this partnership have already been given in these articles. In February, 1855, he retired from . the firm and opened a dry goods and grocery store in T. P. Patch's block, which stood on the west side of Lake street on the ground now occupied by the L. N. Chamberlain block.
William P. Stone was born at Still- water, Saratoga county, N. Y., June 26, 1810. In 1817 his father, Luther Stone, came to Tioga county with his wife and seven children and lived in a log house on Colonel David Fleming's farm at Flemingville. m 1823 they settled on a farm at Park settlement. In 1830 he left the farm to travel about the country selling clocks, which were manufactured at a factory which stood on the east bank of the Owego creek, about two miles north of this village. In 1834 he began a general mercantile business in Owego with Sheldon Osborne in a wooden store which stood east of the bridge in Front street on the ground where Truman & Jones's produce store now stands. They were unsuccessful in the business. In 1837, after having fin- ished his work for about a year copy- ing the records of . Chemung county lands in the Tioga county clerk's office, he entered his uncle, Asa H. Truman's, store as a clerk. In 1839 he went into the general mercantile business in company with Lucius Truman. The firm of Truman & Stone occupied a store which stood on the south side of Front street on the ground where Frank M. Baker & Son's hardware store now stands. Their store was known as. "The Em- pire Store.". Charles L. Truman was
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afterward received into the partner- ship. Later Mr. Stone purchased his partner's interest in the business which he transferred to his nephew, Ezra S. Buckbee. The firm of Stone & Co. was subsequently composed of Messrs. Stone, Buckbee, Stephen S: Truman, and Benjamin L. Truman . and occupied the block of two stores opposite Ahwaga hall, then known as the Empire block. When the block was burned .in March, 1860, the firm occupied the store now occupied by Buckbee, Peterson, Wood & Co. The Trumans had withdrawn from the firm Feb. 1, 1860, and Stone & Buck- bee continued in business until 1874 when Mr. Stone sold his interest in the store and retired from active business
Upon their withdrawal from the firm of Stone '& Co., S. S. and B. L. Truman formed a new partnership and began the mercantile business in the store now occupied by Henry C. Ripley a's a shoe store. In 1868 B. L. Truman retired from the firm and S. S. Truman and his son, John B. Tru- man, continued in the business three years. In 1876. S. S. Truman removed to Nevada and thence in 1880 .to Auburn, Cal., where he died April 25, 1895.
Benjamin L. Truman in March, 1855, formed a partnership in the dry goods business with Gurdon G. Man- ning, who had been a clerk in Stone & Co.'s store, and C. E. Schoonmaker, who had been a clerk in E. D. & S. S. Truman's store, and E. D. Truman under the firm name of E. D. Truman & Co. Three years later this partner- ship was dissolved. From 1878 to
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1900 he conducted a grocery business in Front street.
DR. GODFREY WALDO.
One of the early physicians at Owe- go was Dr. Godfrey Waldo, who came here from Plymouth, N. H., in the summer of 1810, and who lived here 29 years. He was a descendant of Cornelius Waldo, who came from the Netherlands to America in 1634 and settled at Chelmsford, Mass. His father was Daniel Waldo, who was born in 1737 and died in 1792, and who was a man of no. particular account, an itinerant, living in various places. :
Dr. Godfrey Waldo was born June 10, 1773; at Pomfret, Conn. He married Elizabeth Carpenter Jan. 3; 1805. She was born May 6, 1783, at Portsmouth, N. H. They removed to Owego five years after their marriage. "They lived in the little red house which stood at the northeast corner of Front and Church streets .. The house was oc- cupied several years, afterward by Luther Johnson, an eccentric negro barber and fiddler, as a barber shop.
Dr. Waldo did-hot practise medicine much, but was engaged in other busi- ness the nature of which is not known now. He was unsuccessful and was advertised as an insolvent debtor in October, 1811, and again in March, 1826. In 1839 he removed to Birming- ham, Mich., where one of his sons, Charles C. Waldo, had settled. Thence he removed in 1845 to. Pontiac, Mich., where he died Sept. 16, 1848. Mrs. Waldo was. 93 years of age at the time of her death at Holly, Mich., March 18, 1877. Dr. and Mrs. Waldo were the parents of thirteen children, the only survivors of whom at the time of
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her death was a son, C. C. Waldo, and a daughter living in Nebraska.
JOHN CARMICHAEL.
One of the first men to engage in the jewelry business in Owego was John Carmichael, who was of Scotch descent, and was born Aug. 12, 1795, at Johnstown, N. Y. He began an ap- prenticeship at the trade of a watch- maker at Albany when he was sixteen years of age. He came to Owego in October, 1819 and opened a jewelry store and repair shop in one of the wooden stores in Caldwell row in Front street. In 1835 he built a store on the ground where the Tioga na- tional bank now stands, where he con- ducted a successful jewelry business until his store was burned in the Sep- temiber, 1849, fire. As he was in poor health at this time he did not resume business.
Mr. Carmichael was lame many years previous to his death and was compelled to walk with a crutch. He was the first collector of taxes of Owego from the time of its incorpora- tion as a village in 1827 until 1834, in- clusive. He was also for several years a village assessor, and was treasurer of Tioga county in 1837.
Mr. Carmichael's first wife was Maria . Mack, daughter of judge Stephen Mack, whom he married Dec. .25, 1824. She died Sept. 22, 1829. He married second' Harriet Ely, daughter of Dr. Elisha Ely, June 10, 1835. She was born Sept. 11, 1794, at Saybrook, Conn., and died Sept. 1, 1881, at Owego. Mr. Carmichael died April 24, 1878, at Owego.
The children of John and Maria J. (Mack) Carmichael were as follows:
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1. Charles Stephen" Carmichael. born 22 Jan., 1826, at Owego, Married Margaret Camp, daughter of Adolphus (Camp, 23 Sept., 1863. He died 12 June, 1893, at Owego, and she 15 Nov., 1907, at Binghamton.
2. Horace. Mack Carmichach, born 8.Feb., 1829, at Owego .. Died 24 Sept .. 1866. He was immarried.
Both Charles and Horace Car- michael learned the watchmaker's trade in their father's shop and after the fire of 1849 continued the business in a wooden store which their father built on the west side of Lake street. the fourth store, north of Front street. They sold the business in the fall of 1852. to Horatio N. Greene. In Nov., 1854, Mr. Greene sold the business to the Carmichael brothers and removed to Mansfield, Ohio. C. S. &H.M. Car. michael continued the business sev. eral years .. In April, 1864, C. S. Car. michael purchased a spoke, sash, and blind manufactory in Adaline street, which he conducted six years. In 1876 he built on the site of his jewelry store the three-story brick block now occupied by A. W. Buzey and Cunco & Bonugli.
JOHN RIPLEY.
John Ripley was born March 17, 1792, at Coventry, Tolland , county, Conn. He was, probably, the descend- ant of William Ripley, who came to Hingham, Mass., in 1683- from England with his wife, two sons. and two daughters. Many of the descendants of William Ripley settled in Tolland county.
After coming to Owego John Ripley was a clerk in Charles Pumpelly's store. From 1823 to 1832 he was under-sheriff of Tioga county and lived in the old court house, which
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stood at the southeast corner of Main and Park streets. He was the first oc- cupant of the building. The second story of this building was the court room, in which gospel services were held on Sunday and performances sometimes given in the evening of other days in the week, when court was not in session. "On the lower floor was the jail, the jailor's living rooms, the sheriff's office,and two jury rooms. Mr. Ripley's son and one of his daughters were born in this build- ing.
Mr. Ripley was a man of great force of character, determined, and one who carried out any undertaking fearlessly and regardless of any consequences to himself. It is related that at one time while deputy sheriff he pursued a criminal into Canada in the winter and without going through the formal- ity of obtaining extradition papers, seized the fellow by main force, loaded him into his cutter, and drove back into this state and eventually lodged his prisoner in Owego jail.
Mr. Ripley held the offices of con- stable, town collector, and 'assessor. He was elected a justice of the peace in 1853 and held the office by re- election until his death, with the ex- ception of one year (1858.)
After leaving the court house he lived in a small red house owned by Charles Pumpelly, which stood on the south side of Main street close to the sidewalk at the northeast corner of the lot on which Charles P. Storrs's residence stands, near the foot of Spencer avenue. There he lived at the time of his death, Jan. 2, 1860.
Mr. Ripley married Diana Westfall, of Warren Pa., Feb. 4, 1817. She,was
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born in Orange county, N. Y., May 23, 1796, and died at Owego Dec. 29, 1868.
The children of John and Diana . (Westfall) Ripley were as follows:
1. Eliza Smith Ripley, born 24 April, 1818, at Owego. Married Eben- ezer Woodbridge, of Candor, 20 Sept., 1840. He died in 1896 at Lee Centre, Ill. Mrs. Woodbridge is still living at Dixon, Ill.
: 2. Sarah Pierce Ripley, born 11 Sept., 1820, at Owego. Died 15 June, 1894, at Owego. .
3. Charles Pomeroy Ripley, born 28 Dec., 1823, at Owego. Married Sarah Merrick . in Kentucky in 1849. He died 31. Dec., 1863, at Sterling; Ill., and she 27 Nov., 1907.
4. Frances Clarissa Ripley, born 23 Aug., 1827, at Owego. Married Ezra 'S. Buckbee 16 Oct., 1849, at Owego. He died 10 Aug., 1883. Mrs. Buckbee is still living in Owego.
EZRA S. SWEET.
Ezra Smith Sweet, for many years a prominent member of the bar of Tioga county, came to Owego in 1825. lle was a grandson of Silas Sweet, who was born in 1745 and who lived at New Bedford, Mass., where he worked as a blacksmith, forging an- chors for whaling and other vessels, from 1770 to 1800, when he removed to Bradford, Vt., where he purchased a farm and where he lived the rest of his life. He was a soldier in Captain Thomas Sawyer's company of Ver -- mont militia, raised for the defence of the northern frontier of the United States. He entered the service June 20, 1779, and was discharged Aug. 20, 1779. He died at Bradford, Vt., Nov. 25, 1822.
Silas Sweet had four children, one of whom, Paul Sweet, was the father of Ezra S. Sweet. Paul Sweet was born at New Bedford April 1, 1775.
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He was a merchant and held the office of justice of the peace. His first wife was Rebecca Chadwick, whom he mar- ried Sept. 11, 1794, and his second wife was Sarah Ford. Paul and Re- becca (Chadwick) Sweet were the pa- rents of seven children, of whom Ezra S. Sweet was the oldest.
Ezra S. Sweet was born, June 3, 1796, at New Bedford. His parents re- moved, to Bradford, Vt., where his father died April 27, 1815, when Ezra S. Sweet was nearly 19 years old. Ezra S. Sweet was a school teacher a few years. In 1819 he married Janet McLaren Clow, daughter of Peter Clow, at Schagticoke, N. Y., and soon afterward removed to Salem, N. Y., where he studied law.
In December, 1825, after his admis- sion to the bar, he came to Owego. He began law practice here in part- nership with William Platt. In 1832, his business connection with . Mr. Platt having been dissolved,he formed a law partnership with Col. Nathaniel W. Davis, which existed about nine years. He. afterward practised law alone until his eldest son, Charles H. Sweet, was admitted to the bar in July, 1850. The partnership of the father and son continued until the breaking out of the civil war, when Chas. H. Sweet enlisted in the federal service. Ezra S. Sweet continued the practice of law until his death, Oct. 16, 1869.
Mr. Sweet was a leading member of the old Whig party and was active in political affairs. He was the first clerk of the board of village trustees from its organization in 1827 until 1832. He was district attorney of Tioga county from July, 1838, to June, 1841, and from 1847 to 1851. He was
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a member of assembly in 1849. He was later nominated to congress by the Whigs and defeated. He was twice nominated for county judge and in each instance defeated, first by the Whigs, in 1851, and second. by the Democrats in 1863. He held the office of justice of the peace' several years.
Esquire Sweet (as he was generally known)' was noted among the lawyers for many years as the best after-din- ner speaker and £ stump orator in Owego. For :a long. and sus- tained effort he was not re- markable, but for a short speech, pithy, eloquent sententious, and some- times sarcastic, such as he was' often called upon to make at a public recep- · tion, a political gathering, or a ban- quet, his sparkling wit and bril- liant phrases charmed his hearers. William F. Warner, who knew him well as a fellow member of the bar, mentions him in his centennial his- tory, as follows:
"He possessed many fine qualities as a jury lawyer. . He was brilliant, witty, sarcastic, and full of anecdote. Jurymen were not apt to dose, nor even become inattentive, while Ezra Sweet claimed attention. Like judge Strong, he had as a lawyer more suc- cess with a jury than at the bar. As a political speaker he was very popular for many years."
The children of Ezra S. and Janet (Clow) Sweet were as follows:
1. Maria Sweet, born Nov., 1820. Died Aug., 1821.
2. Maria Louise Sweet, born 5 March, 1822, at Salem, N. Y. Married Ben. Johnson 31 Oct., 1843. He died 19 Aug., 1863, at Vicksburg, Miss. She married second . Gen. Henry Martyn Whittelsey 12 July, 1866. He died 8 Aug., 1873, at Washington and she also at Washington 14 April, 1878.
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3. Charles Henry Sweet, born 10 Feb., 1826, in Saratoga county, N. Y.
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He married first Rosalia Laura
Barnes. daughter of . Charles . R. Barnes, of Owego. She died 9 May, 1857, at Owego. He married second Francelia E. Hubbard, daughter of Henry XX. Hubbard, of Owego, . 29 Sept., 1859. She is now living at Al- bany. He died 29 Feb., 1892, at Owego.
4. Harriet Elizabeth Sweet, born 12 Jan., 1829, at Owego. Married Ed- ward Hamilton Truex 9. Nov., 1853, at Owego. She died in New York city 17 Nov., 1893.
. 5. Paul Sweet, born 1 May, 1831, at Owego. He was a civil engineer. He died in Texas 17 May, 1881.
6. Mary Delphine Sweet, born .30 Jan., 1841, at Owego. Married Linus Edwin Post, of Owego, 8 Feb., 1871.
Ben. Johnson was a son of Haynes Johnson and was born at Enfield, New Hampshire, March 25, 1809, and was. reared from the age of nine years in the family of his uncle, also named Ben Johnson, a prominent lawyer ; at Ithaca, N. Y. He was graduated from Union college in 1830. He studied law with his uncle at Ithaca and after his admission to the bar lived at Vicksburg, Miss., where he practised law twenty years. In 1820 he sold his residence and slaves, retired from practice; and travelled in Europe in 1850, coming later to Owego. During the civil war in 1862 he was employed by the United States government in aid of the revenue. department on the Mississippi river, and was a short · time before his death appointed post- master at Vicksburg by president Lin- coln. He died at Vicksburg Aug. 19, 1863.
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Gen. Henry M. Whittlesey was born Aug. 12, 1821. He was a son of Rev. Samuel Whittelsey, of New Preston,
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Conn., who in 1817 took charge of the deaf and dumb asylum at. Hartford, Conn. Later he and his wife con- ducted large seminaries át Utica and Canandaigua, N. Y. Gen: Whittelsy was educated at Yale college and was admitted to the bar in 1845. He re- moved to Detroit, Mich.,in 1854. He en. tered the volunteer military service of the United States as a captain in the civil war and røse to be chief quarter: · master of the army of Georgia with the rank of colonel in August. 1865. He was chief quartermaster of the de. partment of Mississippi in September, 1866, and was mustered out with the. rank of brigadier general by brevet . July 17, 1869. . He was appointed. comptroller of the city of Washington in 1870. He died at St. Elizabeth hos: pital, near Washington, April 14, 1878.
Charles H. Sweet was admitted to the bar of Tioga county Feb. 10, 1850. He practised law in company with his father until the breaking out of the civil war when he enlisted and was quartermaster's clerk under Capt. Ransom of the regular army. After his discharge from the army he con- ducted the business of a planing mill in Owego a few years, going later to Elmira where he was in the service of the Erie railway company in the com- pany's offices for more than seventeen years.
. Edward H. Truex was a son of David Campbell Truex, of Albany, and a great grandson of Isaac Jacob Trucx, a Huguenot, who was born at Druex; France, and who came to . America with his parents in the ship "Anna" in 1623. He came to Owego in 1851 and opened a drug store in the store at the west end of the Ahwaga house
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block. He sold the business in Octo- ber, 1854, to Thomas C. Platt and re- moved to New York, where he for many years conducted a wholesale drug business and where he died.
NATHANIEL AND CALEB H. SACKETT.
Two of the early settlers at Owego and who afterward removed to the town of Candor were Nathaniel and Caleb H. Sackett, twin brothers, who came here from Westchester county, N. Y., in 1793.
They were descendants of Simon Sackett, who sailed in the ship, "Lyon" Dec. 1, 1630, from Bristol, England, and settled at Boston, Mass. The descendants of Simion Sackett in consecutive order were. Simon Sackett, Jr., Capt. Joseph Sackett, Rev. Richard Sackett, Nathaniel Sackett, and Col. Richard Sackett.
Col. Richard Sackett, who was the father of Nathaniel and Caleb H. Sackett, lived in the town of Bedford, Westchester County, N. Y., and after- ward in New York city. He was a com- missioned officer in the war of the revolution, serving almost contin- uously from the beginning to the end of the seven years struggle for inde- pendence. In May, 1776, he was com- missioned first lieutenant of grena- diers in the Second Midland regiment, and two years later was promoted to captain. He was captured by the British in a road which is now within the limits of New York city and in- prisoned several months. Immediately after the disbandment of the conti- mental army he was commissioned lieutenant-colonel commandant of the Westchester county regiment of mili-
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tia and served until 1792, when he re- moved to New York city and resigned his commission. The next year he purchased a tract of land at: Owego and settled his son, Nathaniel Sackett, on it.
Col. Richard Sackett was taken ill and died in 1799, while on a visit to his real estate here and his body was buried in the old burying ground at the southeast corner of Main and Court streets: .
. There were two Richard Sacketts who purchased land in Tioga county. The second Richard Sackett was born in Westchester county June 7, 1754, He was a son of Joseph Sackett and grandson of Roy. Richard - Sackett, who was the grandfather of Col. Rich- ard Sackett. The second Richard Sackett was a man of wealth, who re- moved . in the summer of 1793 from the town of Bedford to the western part of the town of Nichols, where he had purchased of Robert: Lettis Hooper, the original patentee,a square mile of land for £808. Some account of this Richard Sackett may be found in Gay's "Gazetteer of Tioga County," published in 1888, on page 274. He died in 1827.
Col. Richard Sackett married Rachel Holmes. Their children were as fol- lows:
1: Nathaniel Sackett, born. 9 April, 1770. Married Sarah Warren 24 Jan., 1796. He died 7 Nov., 1817, at Cata- tonk, N. Y.
2. Col. Caleb H. Sackett, born 9 April, 1770. Married Jane McMaster, daughter of James McMaster, the first settler here and the original owner by purchase from the Indians of all the land on which the village of Owego is situated.
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3. Betsy Sackett. Married William Holmes.
4. Polly Sackett.
Richard Sackett left a will in which he bequeathed to his wife, in trust, one-third of his estate and to his two sons the other two-thirds. At her death her third was to become the property of the two sons. Small amounts were left in trust to the two daughters.
In August, 1798, Nathaniel Sackett purchased of James McMaster, Jr., lot No. 21 on the east bank of the Owego creek in the north western part ofthe town of Owego, near the Newark Valley town line, containing 100 acres, together with the village lot on what is now the southwest corner of Main . and Church streets, extending one-half the distance south to Front street and one-half the distance west to Lake . street. The south half of this lot was owned by Luke Bates, who had a tav- ern on the Front street end, which Bates sold in 1803 to Chas. Pumpelly and George Stevens.
In 1799 Nathaniel Sackett pur- chased of James McMaster 100 acres of land for $2,450 in the western part of this village, bounded south by the Susquehanna river and west by the Owego creek. The north line of this land was at a point a short distance south of where the Erie railroad now crosses the creek and extended east- erly and diagonally across Main street to a point about one-half way between Park and Academy streets on the Sus- quehanna river. This was known on the original town map as Lot No. 1. The eastern portion of this property was afterward laid out into village lots. As early as September, 1804,
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that portion of it which is now bound- ed south by the Susquehanna river, west by William street, north by Main street, and east by Academy street was laid out into village lots, with the exception of a strip on the Main street end on which Col. David Pixley after- ward lived.
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