USA > New York > Broome County > Gazetteer and business directory of Broome and Tioga Counties, N. Y. for 1872-3 > Part 13
USA > New York > Tioga County > Gazetteer and business directory of Broome and Tioga Counties, N. Y. for 1872-3 > Part 13
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* Prof. House was born in Vermont, in 1815. He moved to Susquehanna Co., Penn., from there to New York, and to Binghamton, in 1853. He erected a fine residence about one mile south of the city. It stands upon a hill 530 feet above the Susquehanna.
+ The Port Dickinson hotel was burned March 23, 1872, and the grist and paper mills formerly at this place, March 29, 1872. Joseph Carman, who built these mills and owned them about ten years, moved to the site of Port Dickinson when nine years old. He worked for Abram Bevier until he was 21 years old, when he purchased the farm he now owns. He was for some time a merchant at this place; had contracts for work on the Erie R. R. amounting to $2,000,000; and has dealt largely in lumber and stock.
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visitors to this region came with hostile intent. They were soldiers belonging to a detachment of the American army un- der the command of General James Clinton, on their way to join another large division of that army, destined against the Indians of this State, under the command of General John Sul- livan. They encamped one or two nights upon the site of Binghamton city, where were several Indian wigwams, but no Indians to be seen. Corn, which was growing upon the island, was destroyed. It is quite probable that these troops destroyed an Indian village opposite the site of Port Dickinson, as ves- tiges of a recent village at that place were visible to the first white settlers.
Eight years later, in 1787, Capt. Joseph Leonard, who is believed to have been the first white man to make a permanent settlement in the town, came, with a young wife and two little children, and located on the Chenango, in the vicinity of Port Dickinson. His wife and children were put into a canoe with the goods they brought, and rowed by a hired man ; while he came up by land with two horses, keeping the shore and regu- lating his progress by that of his family. Leonard was origin- ally from Plymouth, Mass., but immediately from Wyoming, Penn., where he owned a farm and lived several years. He was there under arms at the time of the great massacre, thongh not in the field of action. At the time of the great ice freshet in the Susquehanna, his dwelling, with many others, was carried away by it. This calamity, together with the disputes which existed relative to land titles, induced him to leave and seek more peaceable and secure possessions. He received in- formation from Amos Draper, an Indian trader in this locality, which led him to select this as his home. Two or three weeks subsequent to his arrival came Col. Wm. Rose and his brother, Solomon, the latter of whom settled in Lisle. Col. Rose located a little higher up the river than Capt. Leonard. " It was," says Wilkinson, in the Annals of Binghamton, "but a short time after the arrival of the latter, that he, with Amos Draper, invited the Indians of the neighborhood to meet in council, and leased of them, for the term of ninety-nine years, one mile square ; for which they were to give a barrel of corn per year. This lease, however, was invalidated by an act of the Legislature having been previously passed, and without the knowledge of these men, 'that no lands should be leased or purchased of the Indians by private individuals.' But before it was known [by them] that such a law existed, Col. Rose and his brother purchased Mr. Draper's interest in the lease. It embraced where the three had located." Col. Rose and his brother came from Connecticut on foot to Wattle's Ferry,
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where they procured a canoe and brought with them stores to this place. Parties of Indians on the shore, sitting by their fires, engaged in their festivities, or skirting the mountains in pursuit of deer, were often seen by them, but never offered to molest them. They designed pushing on to the country bordering on the Conhocton and settling there; but learning at Union, from a Mr. Gallop, a temporary settler at that place, that the country they were seeking was in dispute, that they could obtain no satisfactory title to their land and that they would be obliged to fight for their crops, they turned back to the mouth of the Chenango, whose broad stream and pleasant banks impressed them favorably as they passed down, and sought the home before indicated: Soon after, during the same year, came Joshua and Wm. Whitney and Henry Green, from Hillsdale, Columbia county, and settled on the west side of the Chenango, about two miles above its junction with the Susquehanna, on what was afterwards called Whitney's Flats. In this town and in the vicinity of Port Dickinson, it is probable, was held the first council between the commissioners representing the proprietors of the Boston Ten-Townships and
the Indians. * Among the settlers who came the same year, 1787, were - Lyon, who lived, previous to Leonard's advent into the town, in a temporary log house, near the site of Col. Page's ashery; and,who afterwards kept for several years the ferry across the Chenango; Jesse Thayer, who settled where Christopher Eldredge afterwards lived; Peter and Thomas Ingersoll, who settled where James Hawley afterwards lived ; Samuel Harding who settled on the Bevier place, on the east side of the Chenango; Capt. John Sawtell, who settled opposite the Poor House; Butler, who settled on the river bank, a little below Captain Leonard, and Solomon Moore, who settled on the site of the city of Bingham- ton. The next year about twenty families augmented the little settlement in this region and received from those who preceded them, in accordance with the urgency of their needs, the gen- erous hospitality for which the early settlers distinguished themselves-a hospitality which meant, says Wilkinson, the im- partial division among the needy settlers of such stores as the more prosperous had been able to accumulate, and which sorely taxed them at times to relieve the wants of new comers until they could create resources of their own. But this hospitality proved equal to the severest trial. The first roads were con- structed by following the Indian paths when practicable and cutting away on either side the fallen logs, underbrush and sap.
* See page 73.
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lings until a a sufficient clearing was made to admit the passage of wagons. A circuit was made to avoid large trees when such interposed. Roads of this description were, in a few years, built on both sides of the Chenango, generally where they now run, and on the north side of the Susquehanna, both above and below the settlements on it. A sleigh road was opened to Una- dilla in 1788. The early settlers had little occasion, however, to leave home, except to take their grain to mill, which was done by means of canoes on the river. The nearest mill was at "Shepherd's Mill," three miles north of Tioga Point, (now Athens, Penn.,) a distance of forty miles. The journey occu- pied a week, and sometimes a fortnight. "A considerable por- tion of their corn, however, was pounded, and thus converted into samp, by the simple machinery of a stump hollowed out for a mortar, and a pestle suspended by a sweep." The Indians raised corn and potatoes, and from them the seed was procured ; but the other seed and the flour, what little was had, was brought from the Hudson, or up the Susquehanna in canoes from Wyoming. In 1790 their condition as regards milling facilities was ameliorated by the erection of a grist mill on Fitch's Creek, in the town of Kirkwood. John Miller, - Moore and - Luce moved with their families, from New Jersey to Wyoming, but owing to the unsettled condition of things in that country they remaind there but a short time and came to this town the first or second season of its settlement and located on the east side of the Chenango. Mr. Miller, it appears, was the first magistrate, he having acted in that capacity in New Jer- sey. He also first conducted religious exercises, before any regular minister visited the new settlement. He was a Presbyterian, and reported to be an eminently pious man. Meetings were held uniformly at the house of Samuel Harding, and he and his daughters walked a distance of four miles to attend them. Rev. Mr. Howe, a Baptist minister, who came in the summer of 1790, officiated in his ministerial capacity and succeeded in forming a church, consisting of ten or twelve persons, which was the first Christian society in this region, but which, after the removal of Mr. Howe, dwindled and became extinct about 1800. A considerable accession was made in the summer of 1789, by persons who settled in the valleys of the Chenango and Susquehanna. Among these was Daniel Hudson, who settled between Capt. Leonards' and Col. Rose's. The house erected on the site of Binghamton, by Solomon Moore, to whom allusion has before been made, was soon abandoned by him after he learned that he could not purchase the land, and in consequence soon dilapidated and disappeared. Thomas Chambers erected and lived in a log house on the site of the city. Other settle-
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ments were made here and a post office established June 23, 1798, with Joshua Whitney as post master. Up to the begin- ning of the present century, however, little disposition to occupy the site of the city was manifested, the attention of early settlers being diverted to Chenango village, a prosperous settle- ment at that time on the west side of the Chenango, about one mile above Binghamton, and just above the point of Mount Prospect which projects toward and near the river, which boasted of a hotel, a newspaper office, (the Constellation, pub- lished by Daniel Cruger, to which allusion is made in the his- tory of the press,) a store, a distillery and a doctor's office. In 1800, Joshna Whitney became the agent of Mr. Bingham for the disposal of the latter's lands in this vicinity, and as the whole of the site of the village just alluded to was not embraced in Mr. Bingham's patent, and it had neither the advantage of as eligible a location, nor possessed a sufficiently extensive area for the growth of a village such as might be built up at the junc- tion of the two rivers, Mr. Whitney conceived the idea of divert- ing attention to the latter place and removing the village there. As a means to this end he took advantage of reports which were circulated to the effect that Lucas Elmendorf of Kingston, Ulster Co., was about to build a bridge across the Chenango on the line of the great western highway which passed through the site of Binghamton, and represented that it must determine the prosperity of settlers in its locality and cause a correspond- ing decline in the growth of the upper village. He accord- ingly, in company with several others, who came by appoint- ment, commenced a clearing on both sides of the river at the point, where he represented the bridge was to be located. The ground was surveyed and laid out into streets and lots in vil- lage form, the same year. The lots contained three-fourths of an acre and were sold generally for twenty dollars each ; the corner lots were held at a higher price. To render the success of his plan more certain, Gen. Whitney purchased a number of buildings in the old village and moved them down to the new one. By this means the nucleus of a village was formed and its prosperity assured. New accessions were rapidly made for a few years and the village soon began to assume size and importance, but the bridge was not built until 1808. It was built by Marshal Lewis and Luther Thurstin, at an expense of $6,000, and was due to the enterprise, perseverance and pecuniary resources of Lucas Elmendorf .* It contributed
* The bridge was rebuilt in 1825, by Col. H. Lewis, as master builder, un- der the direction of Joshua Whitney, at a cost of over $3,000. On each side of the river, at the ends of this bridge, stood a fine elm tree, and the two were long known as the "twin elms." That on the west side is still
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largely to the growth of the village by removing the barrier to highway travel, presented by the Chenango, which had to be crossed at this point. From that time to the present the growth of Binghamton has been gradual but constant. It has suffered neither serious reverse, nor an abnormal inflation. The only important exception, perhaps, to the last part of the pre- vious assertion was manifested by the temporary instability oc- casioned by the completion or location of the Erie R. R. through the village. That fluctuating tendency, however, gradually subsided into a steady and healthy growth. The ad- vantages which the location of the city presents, if judiciously and liberally seconded or made available by its capitalists, by fostering existing manufacturing enterprises and encouraging new ones, must eventually make Binghamton an important com- mercial and manufacturing center .*
We purpose now to give a brief history of such of the churches of the town as have given us the necessary informa- tion. The first church organized in the town was, as before stated, done through the exertions of Elder Howe, in 1790, or soon thereafter. The Dutch Reformed Church, the second one established, was organized in 1798, by Rev. Mr. Manly, a minis- ter of that persuasion. Meetings were held by the latter society in the chamber of a dwelling house, located about a mile above the village, on the east bank of the Chenango, which was fitted with conveniences for that purpose. Mr. Manly preached al- ternately at this place and Union, but remained here only a few years. After an interval, during which the society had no min- ister, the services of Rev. Mr. Palmer were secured, and under his pastoral labors the church was revived and its number aug- mented. This society, differing so little in the substance of its belief from the faith of the Presbyterians was merged into the latter society, which organized after the establishment of the village.
Christ Church, (Episcopal) located at Binghamton, was or- ganized Sept. 19, 1810, by Rev. Daniel Nash, under the title of St. Ann's Church. It was dissolved, and reorganized six years later, by Hon. Tracy Robinson. The first edifice was conse- crated Nov. 20, 1818, by Bishop Hobart, and named Christ
standing. The one on the east side fell into the river through the con- tinual wearing away of the bank during a period of fifty years.
* To those who desire a more minute portraiture of the early history of Binghamton, and in fact of the country within a circuit of thirty to fifty miles from it, we would commend them to the Annals of Binghamton, a work from which we have made liberal extracts, and in which the early settlements are detailed with greater particularity than is consistent with the scope of this work.
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Church. In 1822 this building was sold to the Methodists and removed to Henry street, and a new one was erected in that year. In 1854 the present stone edifice was commenced and was opened for worship March 4, 1855. Its cost, including fur- niture, was about $35,000. It will seat 700 persons. The present value of church property is $75,000. The first pastor was Rev. James Keeler; the present one is Rev. Wm. A. Hitch- cock. The present number of communicants is 350.
The First Presbyterian Church of Binghamton was organized with twenty members, Nov. 20, 1817, by Revs. Ebenezer Kings- bury and Joseph Wood. The first pastor was Rev. Benjamin A. Niles; at present it is without a pastor. The first house of worship was erected in 1819, and the present one, which occu- pies its site, was completed April 26, 1863, at a cost of $56,000. It is built of brick, and will seat 1200 persons. There are 637 members. The church property is valued at $75,000 .*
The First Baptist Church of Binghamton was organized with five members, in 1831, by Rev. M. Frederick, its first pastor.t Their first house of worship was erected in 1831-2; and the present one, which will seat 1400 persons, in 1871-2, at a cost of $75,000. There are 708 members, who are ministered to by Rev. Lyman Wright. The church property is valued at $110,000.
St. Patrick's Church (Roman Catholic) was organized with five members, in 1835, by Rev. Mr. Wainwright. The first house of worship was erected in 1837; and the present one, which is located on LeRoy street, in the city of Binghamton, and will seat 2,000 persons, in 1867, at a cost of $120,000. There are 3,000 members, who enjoy the ministration of Rev. James F. Hourigan, their first and present pastor. The church property is valued at $200,000.1
The Congregational Church was organized Sept. 26, 1836, with nineteen members, by Rev. John Starkweather, its first pastor. The first house of worship was erected in 1837 and dedicated Dec. 22d of that year ; the present one, which is located on the
* The Presbyterian Church of Castle Creek, and the Congregational Church of Binghamton were formed from this. The former, consisting of 23 members, was organized in 1833; the latter, in 1836.
+ Rev. Dr. Paddock, of Binghamton, in his History of Binghamton, says this church was organized in May, 1829, with sixteen members-five males and eleven females-and that Elder Michael Frederick was called to preside over the church in 1830. The data from which our statement is compiled was furnished by the present pastor.
# The Convent of St. Joseph, under the care of the Sisters of St. Joseph, has 35 boarders and 400 day scholars.
The St. James School for boys, numbers 125. D. J. Donaldson is the principal.
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corner of Main and Front streets, in the city of Binghamton, and will seat 800 persons, in 1869, at a cost of $50,000. Rev. Edward Taylor, D. D., is the present pastor. The number of members is 310. The value of church property is $75,000.
The A. M. E. Zion Church was organized with thirty-six members, in 1836, by Rev. Henry Johnson, its first pastor. Its house of worship, which is located on Whitney street, in the city of Binghamton, was erected in 1840, at a cost of $500. It will seat 125 persons. The present pastor is Rev. Stephen S. Wales; the number of members is 56. The church property is valued at $3,000.
The A. M. E. Church (Bethel) was organized with sixty-five members, in 1838, by Rev. Chas. Spicer, its first pastor. The first church edifice was erected in 1838; the present one, which is located on Susquehanna street, in the city of Binghamton, and will seat 250 persons, in 1842, at a cost of $850. The society numbers forty-five. Rev. John Frizbee is the pastor. The value of Church property is $1,500.
The M. E. Church, of Hawleyton, was organized with eleven members in 1856, by Rev .. - Blaxey. Their church edifice was erected in 1857. It will seat 250 persons; and cost $2,000. The church property is valued at $3,200. It has fifty-two members. Rev. C. V. Arnold is the pastor.
The First Free Methodist Church of Binghamton was organized with ten members, by Rev. B. T. Roberts, in 1862. Rev. D. M. Sinclair was the first pastor; Rev. C. H. Southworth is the present one. Their edifice was erected by the "Protestant Methodists" in or about 1841, and was sold by them, about 1851, to the " Court St. M. E. Society," by whom it was again sold, in March, 1867, to its present occupants, for $3,600. It will seat from five to six hundred. It is located on the corner of Court and Carroll streets. There are sixty members in full connection, and eight probationers. The Church property is valued at $12,500.
The M. E. Church of Binghamton was organized by the con- solidation of the Henry and Court street M. E. Churches* in 1865, by Rev. D. W. Bristol, D.D., its first pastor. It then had
* The "Henry Street M. E. Church " was organized by Rev. Ebenezer Doolittle, in 1817, from which time the place was more or less regularly visited by circuit preachers. In 1822 the society provided itself with a house in which to hold meetings by purchasing the one discarded by the Episcopalians, as stated in the history of that Church. The "Court Street M. E. Church " was organized in 1851, under the legal title of The Second Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Binghamton, and was an offshoot from the "Henry Street Church." The means by which this society acquired its house of worship are stated in the history of the First Free Methodist Church of Binghamton.
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399 members in full connection, and 30 probationers ; it now has 615 members and 58 probationers. Rev. L. C. Floyd is the pastor. The church edifice was commenced in 1866 and com- pleted in 1868, at a cost of $65,000. It is located on the corner of Court and Cedar streets, and will seat 800 persons. The Church property is valued at $70,000. The edifice is known as the Centenary M. E. Church.
The North Presbyterian Church of Binghamton was organized with fifty members, April 17, 1870, by Rev. C. Pierpont Coit, its first and present pastor. The church edifice, which will seat 350 persons, was erected in the fall and winter of 1869-70, at a cost of $9,000. It is located on the.corner of Chenango and Munsell streets. The society numbers 145 members. The Church property is valued at $12,000.
CHENANGO* was erected Feb. 16, 1791. It was one of the original towns. Windsor was taken off March 27, 1807; Conklin, March 29, 1824; and Binghamton and Fenton, Dec. 3, 1855. A part of Union was annexed Feb. 26, 1808, and a part of Maine, Nov. 27, 1856. It lies west of the center of the County, its eastern boundary being formed by the Chenango River. Its surface consists of the river intervale, and several ridges which rise to an altitude of from 300 to 600 feet and are separated by the narrow valleys of the streams running parallel with them, north and south, through the town. The principal streams are Castlet and Kattelt creeks, which are tributary to Chenango River, and Gilbert Creek, which empties its waters into Kattel Creek. On the north hills the soil consists of a gravelly loam mixed with disintegrated slate and underlaid by hard pan, but further south it becomes a deeper and richer gravelly loam. It is productive, but moist, and for this reason is devoted principally to grazing. Stock raising and dairying form the chief agricultural pursuits. The town covers an area of 21,154 acres, of which, in 1865, according to the census of that year, 14,262 were improved.
In 1870 the population of the town was 1,680. During the year ending Sept. 30, 1871, there were fourteen school districts, and the same number of teachers employed. The number of
*"Upon the map of 1771 this is given Ol-si-nin-goo. Upon DeWitt's map of about the year 1791, it is written Che-nen-go. In Mr. Morgan's work it is given O-che-nang."-The Saint Nicholas for February and March, 1854, p. 412.
+ Named from the location of an Indian Castle near its mouth.
¿ Named from a family of early settlers.
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children of school age was 761; the number attending school, 679; the average attendance, 281; the amount expended for school purposes, $7,403; and the value of school houses and sites, $8,815.
The Syracuse & Binghamton R. R. enters the town in the north-east corner and follows the course of the Chenango River until it reaches near the center of the east border, when it di- verges and crosses the point forincd by the bend in the river and leaves the town on the south border, a little east of the mouth of Kattel creek. The Utica & Chenango Valley R. R. just enters the town in the north-east corner. Both these roads are leased and operated by the D. L. & W. R. R. Co.
CASTLE CREEK, (p. v.) located near the north line, on the creek whose name it bears, contains two churches, (Baptist and M. E.) two stores, one hotel, a steam saw mill, two blacksmith shops, a wagon shop, cooper shop and 180 inhabitants.
KATTELVILLE (p. o.) is in the east part, on Kattel creek, near the S. & B. R. R.
GLEN CASTLE (p. o.) is located about two miles above the mouth of Castle creek.
WEST CHENANGO (p. o.) is in the western part.
CHENANGO BRIDGE (p. o.) is located on the S. & B. R. R. at the point where it crosses the Chenango River.
CHENANGO FORKS (p. v.) is partially in this town .* That part in this town contains one church, (M. E.) two stores, one hotel, a cabinet shop, shoe shop and blacksmith shop.
NIMMONSBURGt is a hamlet in the south part, lying in the valley of the Chenango, three and a-half miles north of Bing- hamton.
The first settler was Thomas Gallop, who, as previously. stated,į located at Chenango Forks, in 1787. He is believed to have remained there but a short time. Among the other early settlers were Col. Wm. Rose and John Nimmons, who located in the south part. Col. Rose settled on the farm now owned and occupied by Wm. R. Nimmons. Jedediah Seward, Wm. Hall, John Jewell, Stephen and Henry Palmer, Josiah Whitney, Jared Page, Nathaniel Bishop, James Temple and Foster Lilly were early settlers. Settlements appear to have been made rap- idly and to have assumed some importance, for in 1788, a saw mill, which was owned by Henry French, was built at Glen
* For further mention of this village see town of Barker, p. 80.
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