USA > New York > Broome County > Gazetteer and business directory of Broome and Tioga Counties, N. Y. for 1872-3 > Part 14
USA > New York > Tioga County > Gazetteer and business directory of Broome and Tioga Counties, N. Y. for 1872-3 > Part 14
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+ Named in honor of Burwell Nimmons, who is 83 years old, and is one of the oldest inhabitants in town.
* See page 80.
101
CHENANGO.
Castle. It was the first erected in the county. The Indians from whom the Boston Company purchased their lands, reserved a tract of one-half mile square, which was situated near the mouth of Castle Creek and was known as the " Castle Farm." " Upon this reserve the Indians of the neighborhood who did not remove to New Stockbridge, or Oneida, resided." Their number " is said to have been about twenty families." They cultivated the farm to some extent, but depended chiefly upon hunting and fishing. Wilkinson in speaking of them says :
" [They] kept up their peculiar mode of dress so long as they remained upon their farm; clothing themselves with their shirt and moccasins, their head bare, except sometimes ornamenting it with feathers, and wear- ing jewels of silver in their nose and ears. Their wigwams were built of logs, locked together at the ends, and sloping up on two sides from the ground to a peak, like the roof of a house.
" Another form of their wigwams was, to erect four stakes, or crotches, two longer and two shorter; upon these to lay two poles, one upon the longer and one upon the shorter crotches. Upon these poles they would lay sticks or smaller poles and then barks, with sufficient ingenuity to exclude the rain and weather. From the lower crotches to the ground they would tie barke, answering to our weather boarding. They would close up the two ends in the same manner. Upon the front side were sus- pended skins of deer sewed together, from the pole upon the high crotches to the ground, and which they could raise or fall at pleasure. Before this their fire was kindled, and the curtain of skins raised by day time, and more or less lowered by night, as the weather might be. In some cases they would have their wigwams lined with deer skins. Seldom any floor but the ground. Their bed consisted of straw, or skins thrown down. When they sat down, it was always upon the ground. In eating they sat generally without any order, as they happened to be, upon the ground, with each his piece in his hand. Their adroitness in spearing fish was ad- mired by the whites, in which they displayed as much markmanship as they do with the bow and arrow. They would throw the spear at the fish which very seldom failed of transfixing its object, though the distance to which it was thrown should be twenty or thirty feet, the fish moving rap- idly at the same time, and the water running swift.
" Their chief was called Squire Antonio. This title was given him by the whites on account of his just decisions, his correct judgement, and his sober habits. He was very much esteemed by the white people, as well as revered and loved by his own. He undoubtedly contributed very ma- terially towards maintaining that peaceful and friendly, or at least order- ly, conduct which the Indians have the good name of having observed to- wards the whites."
But notwithstanding the amicable relations which subsisted between the whites and Indians, and the nominal price at which the latter were induced to sell their vast possessions, there was, in the neighborhood, a person named Patterson, who was suffi- ciently base, either through his own designs, or as the tool of others, to rob them of the small portion reserved for their own nses, by an appeal to the cupidity of the chief's son, Abraban Antonio.
G
102
CHENANGO.
"About 1792 or '3," says Wilkinson, "he went to the Indians at the Castle, and made himself very familiar and sociable with them. He brought with him a silver mounted rifle, which he knew would gain their admiration and excite their cupidity. Abraham Antonio was smitten with a desire for it. He endeavored to purchase it, making such offers as he could afford. But Patterson put him off, telling him he did not wish to sell it ; or setting such a price upon it as he knew was beyond the power of Abraham immediately to command. After he had sufficiently prepared the way for himself, he proposed to the young chief, that if he would engage to give him so many bear skins he would let him have the rifle. This the prince complied with. A note was required on the part of Patterson, with the son and father's name subscribed, that the skins should be delivered against a specified time. Abraham hesitated as to such a course, as he did not understand such a mode of business. He therefore asked his father as to the propriety, who told his son it was a common mode of doing business with the whites. Patterson then profes- sedly wrote a note, specifying the number of skins, and read it off to the father and son accordingly, who both signed their names. But instead of writing a note, he wrote a deed for the Castle farm."
For this act of perfidy, however, Patterson is believed to have forfeited his life and that of his family at the hands of Abra- ham, who either followed him for the purpose to Ohio, whither he moved, or accidentally met him there and summarily re- venged the treachery of which he was made the victim. With the loss of the Castle farm, the Indians appear to have gradu- ally withdrawn from this section, leaving their favorite hunting grounds in undisputed possession of the whites.
Nothing of marked prominence appears in the history of the town until the breaking out of the Rebellion, from which it suffered in common with other sections of the country. It contributed seventy-one soldiers as its share in the establish- ment of the supremacy of the Union.
The First M. E. Society, at Chenango Forks, was organized in 1833. Their house of worship will seat 250 persons. It was erected in 1863, at a cost of $2,500, which is the present value of Church property. There are sixty-eight members. The present pastor is Rev. C. E. Taylor.
The Castle Creek Baptist Church was organized in 1844, in which year its first house of worship was erected. The present one, which will seat 300 persons, was erected in 1870, at a cost of $7,860.75. There are eighty-seven members. Rev. A. P. Merrill is pastor. The Church property is valued at $9,500.
The M. E. Church, at Castle Creek, was organized with thirty members, in 1847, by Rev. T. D. Wire, its first pastor. The first Church edifice was erected in 1840; the present one in 1868. It cost $6,000, and will seat 300 persons. Rev. N. S. De- Witt is the pastor. It has eighty members. The Church pro- perty is valued at $7,500.
103
CHENANGO-COLESVILLE.
The Kattelville M. E. Church was organized with nine mem- bers, by Rev. R. S. Rose, its first pastor, in 1851, in which year was erected the house of worship, at a cost of $1,500. It will seat 225 persons. Rev. C. E. Taylor is the pastor. The num- ber of members is forty-eight. The Church property is valued at $1,600.
The Glen Castle M. E. Church erected its house of worship, which will seat 300 persons, in 1851, at a cost of $1,200. Its 39 members are ministered to by Revs. Philo Wilcox and Robert Thomas. The Church property is valued at $2,000.
COLESVILLE* was formed from Windsor, April 2, 1821.{ It lies upon the north border, east of the center of the County. Its surface is broken by an elevated ridge whose sum- mits rise from 400 to 700 feet above the valley of the Susque- hanna, by which it is cut in two. The Susquehanna and seve- ral small streams tributary to it are the only water-courses. The soil upon the river bottom is a deep, fertile, gravelly loam, while upon the summits of the hills it consists of clay and slate. It is generally much better adapted to pasturage than tillage. The town is traversed by the Albany & Susquehanna and the Delaware & Hudson Canal Co.'s railroads, both of which enter the town on the north line, at Nineveh, and pur- sue a circuitous course, the former in a general south-west di- rection and the latter along the valley of the Susquehanna. It covers an area of 47,2834 acres, of which, in 1865, according to the census of that year, 29,6964, were improved. The popu- lation in 1870 was 3,400. During. the year ending Sept. 30, 1871, it contained thirty school districts and employed twenty- nine teachers. The number of children of school age was 1,218 ; the number attending school, 1,011; the average attendance, 472; the amount expended for school purposes, $6,948; and the value of school houses and sites, $9,090.
HARPERSVILLE (p. v.) is situated north of the center, about one-half mile west of the Susquehanna. It is about one mile
* Named from Nathaniel Cole, one of the first settlers.
+ The first town meeting was held on Coles Hill, at the house of Na- thaniel Cole, in 1822, and the following named officers were elected : "John W. Harper, Supervisor; Daniel Sanford, Town Clerk; Ozias Marsh, Harvey Bishop and Gervase Blakeslee, Assessors; Nathaniel Cole Jr. and Elisha Humastun, Overseers of the Poor; Amos Smith, Alpheus Good- enough and Daniel Sanford, Commissioners of Highways; John Wasson and George Wilcox, Constables; John Wasson, Collector; John W. Har- per, Jeremiah Rogers and Harvey Bishop, Commissioners of Common Schools; Harvey Martin, Garry Ruggles and Joel K. Noble, Inspectors of Common Schools; Geo. Wilcox, Samuel Badger and Samuel Martin, Trustees of Gospel and School Lands; Ira Bunnell, Sealer of Weights and Measures."
104
COLESVILLE.
south-west of the depot on the A. & S. R. R. at Nineveh, and is about one-half mile from the D. & H. Canal Co.'s R. R., in the same direction. It contains three churches, (Baptist, Episco- pal and -,) two dry goods stores, two drug stores, one grocery, one hardware store and tin shop, two cabinet ware rooms, one saw mill, a furnace and machine shop, a shoe shop, a merchant tailor's store, four blacksmith shops, three carriage shops, one harness shop, one hotel and 320 inhabitants.
CENTER VILLAGE (p. v.) is situated on the Susquehanna and the D. & H. Canal Co.'s R. R., a little east of the center of the town. It contains two dry goods stores, two grist mills, one saw mill, one lath mill, one carriage shop, two blacksmith shops, a tannery, a shoe shop, a harness shop, a wool carding machine, a hotel (now closed) and thirty houses.
NINEVEH (p. v.) is situated on the north line, on the Susque- hanna and on the D. & H. Canal Co.'s and A. & S. railroads. It contains two churches, (Presbyterian and -,) two dry goods stores, two carriage shops, three blacksmith shops, one cooper shop, one harness shop, a shoe shop and about 225 in- habitants.
DORAVILLE (p. o.) is located on the Susquehanna and on the D. & H. Canal Co.'s R. R. It contains a jewelry store, a grocery, a blacksmith shop, two cooper shops and about a dozen dwellings.
VALLONIA SPRINGS* (p. o.) is located near the north-east corner of the town and on the line of the contemplated branch of the N. Y. & O. Midland R. R.
NEW OHIO, (p. o.) located in the north-west part, near the tunnelt on the A. & S. R. R., on which road it is a station, contains a telegraph office, two groceries, a blacksmith shop, a few dwelling houses and a church (M. E.)
NORTH COLESVILLE, (p. o.) located in the north-west corner, contains a grocery, a saw mill, a shoe shop and seventeen dwellings.
OUAQUAGA, (p. o.) situated on the Susquehanna, near the center of the south line, contains one church, (M. E.) one store, two blacksmith shops, a carriage shop, two shingle mills,
* The waters of this spring have acquired some fame on account of their medicinal properties and are making this a place of considerable resort. They are impregnated with sulphur, magnesia and iron, and are not only efficacious in cutaneous diseases but are highly prophylactic.
+This tunnel is one-half mile long. The rock through which it is con- structed was at first hard and compact, but exposure to the atmosphere slacked and dissolved it and rendered it necessary to arch it with stone.
105
COLESVILLE.
two planing mills, two lath mills, one saw mill, a grist mill and twenty-three dwellings.
OSBORNE HOLLOW,* (p. o.) located in the west part, on the A. & S. R. R., contains one church, one hotel, three groceries, two blacksmith shops, two wagon shops, one steam saw and feed mill and several dwellings.
WEST COLESVILLE, (p. o.) in the south-west part, contains a church, (Baptist,) a blacksmith shop, a shoe shop and a few dwellings.
COLESVILLE (p. o.) is located a little south of the center. It contains a Free Church.
John Lamphere, from Watertown, Conn., made the first settlement in 1785. He was followed by Lemuel and Nathaniel Badger and Casper Spring in 1786; Nathaniel and Vena Cole, Daniel Picket, J. Merchant, Bateman S. Dickinson, --- Wil- mot, Daniel Crofoot and Titus Humeston in 1795 ; John Rug- gles and Isaac Tyrrell in 1796; and Eli Osborne and Peter Warn in 1800. The birth of Louisa Badger, which occurred May 28, 1788, was the first one in the town; the death of John Lamphere, which occurred the same year, was the first in the town; and the marriage of Benj. Bird and Mrs. John Lamphere, in 1794, was the first marriage. The first inn was kept by Benj. Bird, in 1794; and the first store, by Bateman S. Dickinson, in 1805. Job Bunnel taught the first school.
Religious services were conducted here by Rev. Joseph Badger as early as 1793, though it does not appear that his ministra- tions resulted in the formation of a church until 1799, in which year (April 15th) the St. Luke's Church, (Episcopal) at Har- persville, was organized.} Their house of worship, which will seat from 300 to 400 persons, was erected in 1828, at a cost of $2,193, and was consecrated Sept. 28th of that year, by Rt. Rev. Jno. Henry Hobart, Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the State of New York. The first pastor, or mis- sionary was Rev. Philander Chase ; the present pastor is Rev. E. Dolloway. There are ninety members. The Church prop- erty is valued at $10,000.
*There is believed to be a rich vein of lead ore here, and a mining shaft has been (May, 1872,) sunk to the depth of eighty-three feet, nearly to where it is expected to strike the ore bed. Specimens of ore, containing lead, zinc, copper and silver have been taken out.
+ The meeting at which the organization was effected, was presided over by Rufus Fancher as chairman, and Rev. Philander Chase (afterwards Bishop) as secretary. At this meeting Titus Humeston and Rufus Fan- cher were chosen church wardens; and Isaac M. Ruggles, Josiah Stow, Asa Judd, Abel Doolittle, Samuel Fancher, Daniel Merwin, David Way and Wright Knap, vestrymen.
106
COLESVILLE.
4
The First Baptist Church of Colesville, located at Harpersville, was organized with seven members* in 1811, but their house of worship, which will seat 250 persons, was not erected until 1846. Its cost was $1,600. Elder Levi Holcomb was the first pastor ; Rev. T. D. Hammond is the present one. The church property is valued at $2,500. There are 105 members.
The First Methodist Church, of New Ohio, was organized by " Billy Way," in 1825, with eight members, and the Church edifice, which will seat 250 persons, was erected in 1844, at a cost of $800. The first pastor was Rev. Morgan Ruger; the present one is Rev. Chas. Shepard. There are twenty-five members. The church property is valued at $1,500.
The Presbyterian Church of Nineveh was organized with thirty-five members, by Rev. Mr. Pratt, in 1831. The first Church edifice was erected in 1829 ; and the present one, which will seat 375 persons, and on which, in 1870, $4,000 was expended in enlargement and repairs, twenty years later, at a cost of $2,000. The first pastor was Rev. Willard M. Hoyt ; the present one is Rev. Wm. H. Sawtelle. There are 180 members. The Church property is valued at $8,000.
The Baptist Church, at West Colesville, was organized with seven members, in 1846, and their Church edifice, which will seat 150 persons, was erected the following year, at a cost of $600. The present value of church property is $1,000. The first pastor was Elder A. B. Earle; the present one is Rev. Har- vey Cornell. It has forty-one members.
The Quaquaga M. E. Church was organized with forty-six members, by Dewitt C. Olmstead, in 1867, and their house of worship, which will seat 300 persons, was erected in 1868, at a cost of $3,000, which is the present value of Church property. Rev. Wm. Round was the first pastor; the present one is Rev. Wm. W. Andrews. There are fifty-two members.
The Colesville Free Church, located at Cole's Hill, is composed of twenty members, and is ministered to by Rev. Charles D. Shepard. Their house of worshipt will seat 125 persons. The Church property is valued at $1,000.
*The names of the original members are: Nathaniel J. Gilbert, Stephen and Polly Barker, Silas Moon, Silas Hall, Peter Newton and Lucinda Deuny.
+ The house was built by the Presbyterians who occupied it several years. It was subsequently used by the Baptists for a term of years ; but becoming dilapidated it remained for some time unoccupied. In 1853 it was repaired by the Methodists, who have since occupied it.
· 107
CONKLIN.
CONKLIN* was formed from Chenango, March 29, 1824. A part of Windsor was taken off in 1831, and a part of that town was annexed in 1851. Kirkwood was erected from it Nov. 23, 1859. It is one of the southern tier of towns and lies west of the center of the County. Its eastern boundary is formed by the Susquehanna. The surface is generally hilly. The summits of the hills rise from 400 to 600 feet above the valley. Their declivities terminate abruptly on the river. It is watered by several small streams, tributary to the Susquehanna, the principal of which are Big and Little Snake creeks. The former flows through the town in an easterly direction, a little south of the center, and its valley is narrow and bordered by steep hills; while only a small portion of the latter flows (north) through the south-east corner. The soil upon the sum- mits of the hills is a hard clayey and gravelly loam, largely in- termixed with fragments of slate.
The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western R. R. enters the town in the north-west corner, and following the course of the Susquehanna, leaves it in the south-east corner.
The town is the smallest in the County. It covers an area of 14,858 acres, of which, in 1865, according to the census of that year, 10,022 were improved. Its population in 1870 was 1,440.
During the year ending Sept. 30, 1871, it contained eight school districts and employed eight teachers. The number of children of school age was 571; the number attending school, 448 ; the average attendance, 207; the amount expended for school purposes, $2,534; and the value of school houses and sites, $7,670.
CORBETTSVILLE, (p. v.) located in the south-east part, near the line of the D. L. & W. R. R., and the Susquehanna River, contains two stores, two tanneries,t two saw mills,į two black- smith shops, one wagon shop, about twenty-five dwellings and 150 inhabitants. It is surrounded by hills, nearly all of which are covered with forests.
CONKLIN STATION, (p. v.) (formerly known as Milburn,) lo- cated near the Susquehanna and on the D. L. & W. R. R., con- tains one church, (Presbyterian) a school house, a store, a
* Named from Judge John Conklin, one of the early settlers.
+ The tannery of which Messrs. Farks & Porter are props. and which is located here, is the principal one in the town. It contains sixty-six vats, employs ten persons, consumes one thousand cords of hemlock, and one hundred cords of oak bark, and manufactures from 10,000 to 12,000 sides of " Union Sole Leather " annually.
J. S. Corbett's saw mill, located here, employs from two to six persons and manufactures about 340,000 feet of lumber annually.
108
CONKLIN.
wagon shop, a blacksmith shop, the extensive pyroligneous acid works* of A. S. Saxon, thirty-five dwellings and about 140 inhabitants.
CONKLIN CENTER (p. o.) is located about the center of the east border.
There are several other mechanical and industrial institutions in parts of the town which are removed from the business cen- ters.t
The first settlements were made in 1788, by Jonathan Ben- nett, Ralph Lathropį and Waples Hance,į who located at the mouth of Snake Creek. These were followed at an early day by Garret Snedaker, David Bound,§ Daniel Chapman, Peter
* These are the oldest works of the kind in the U. S. They were first started by Turnbull & Co. of Scotland, about 1851. They give employ- ment to ten persons, and annually consume from 1,500 to 2,000 cords of hard wood in the manufacture of acetate lime, sugar lead, red and iron liquor, wood naphtha, charcoal, charcoal facings, &c.
+ Among these are : Ira Corbett's steam saw mill, which is located near the line of the D. L. & W. R. R., about one-half mile south of Conklin Station, and which employs about six men, contains one circular saw and manufactures from 600,000 to 800,000 feet of lumber annually; the Conklin Grist Mill, (the only one in town) owned by Levi L. Roe, and located about one and one-fourth miles " below" Conklin Station, which contains three runs of stones for grinding flour, feed and meal; John Jageler's saw mill, (known as "old Major Shaw's Mill,") which is located on the Sus- quehanna, about two miles from the north line of the town, and which an- nually saws about 100,000 feet of lumber, principally hemlock and pine; the saw mills of Richard Van Patten and Atwood Vining, both of which are situated on Little Snake Creek, (the latter two and one-half miles from Conklin Station,) and saw about 100,000 feet of lumber per annum, and the latter in addition thereto from 50,000 to 100,000 feet of lath; and Emory Blatchley's grist and saw mill, which is also located on Little Snake Creek and contains two runs of stones.
¿ Wilkinson, in the " Annals of Binghamton," &c., page 134, gives the names of "Ralph Lotrip " and "Waples Hanth; " while French, who also consulted the "Annals of Binghamton," in his Gazetteer of the State of New York, on page 182, spells the names as they are given above.
§ David Bound from New Jersey settled near the mouth of Snake Creek in 1795. About a year later he was joined by his family, who came with a four horse team, and occupied seventeen days in the journey. Before reaching their destination their provisions were exhausted. Mr. Bound learned the fact and went to their relief, carrying the provisions nine miles upon his back. Soon after this, while hunting one day, Mr. Bound discovered that the water in the creek was rising rapidly, in consequence of the melting snow. He hastened home, drove his cattle on a hill and surrounded them with a brush fence to prevent them from straying. When he returned the water was running into his pig pen. He placed a plank in such a position that the pig was able to walk up it and over the top of the pen, when it was also driven up the hill. When he returned to the house the water had entered it and put out the fire. His family had retreated to the chamber, where they had built a fire in a tin pan, and had commenced the removal of their effects. With the assistance of a Mr. Hance, Mr. Bound built a raft and crossing the stream, procured a large canoe, with which he rescued his family whom he took from the chamber window, and escaped to the hill, where he took refuge in the house of a Mr. Corbett, and where he was obliged to remain about a week until the water subsided sufficiently to admit of his return.
109
CONKLIN.
Wentz, Asa Rood, Nathaniel Tagot, Asa Squires, John Bell, Silas Bowker, Joel Lamereaux, Abraham Sneden, David and Joseph Compton, Abraham Miller, Ebenezer Park, Noel Carr, and Thos. Cooper. The latter were followed at a later date by David Bayless, who came from Princeton, N. J., about 1810, and settled near Conklin Station; Edmund Lawrence, who settled on the river road, in the north part of the town, in 1813 ; Felix McBride, who came from Ireland, in 1820, and settled on the river road, about four miles from Binghamton, and who was followed by his son, Michael, four years later. At that time, says Mr. McBride, there was no regular public high- way-only a sled road along the river. He was accustomed to go to mill in the summer with an ox-sled. There were, he says, but three wagons in the town, (which then comprised Kirkwood and a part of Windsor,) most of the carrying busi- ness being done in boats on the river.
The first birth was that of Wm. Wentz, Feb. 18, 1795; the first marriage, that of Noel Carr and Sally Tousler in 1803 ; and the first death that of Silas Bowker. The first school was taught by Geo. Land, in 1801.
The settlers in this vicinity gave early evidence of a deep interest in religious matters. The first religious services were, says French, conducted by Revs. David Dunham and John Leach, Methodist missionaries; but whether the extraordinary zeal displayed by the inhabitants of this locality at an early day was due to their ministrations does not appear, though it is fair to presume they exerted a salutary influence in that direction. The people seem to have been extremely rigorous in the observ- ance of devotional exercises, for in speaking of them, J. B. Wil- kinson, in the "Annals of Binghamton," page 140, says, "it is said that in all the families from the mouth of Snake Creek to Harmony, beyond the Bend, [Great Bend in Penn.,] morning and evening prayers were offered; and not one family in this whole distance in which there was not one or more of the members pious." But what appears more strange is the fact, which we extract from the same work, that "in the course of five and twenty years, instead of nearly all the families being pious, not but two or three were to be found entitled to that sacred epithet." Whether this declension is due to the removal of these early settlers and the influx of an element inimical to their devout practices, or to change in their religious convic- tions, we have been unable to learn; but the author quoted is inclined to " refer it to the general depravity of men." After the death, in 1814, of Rev. Daniel Buck, the resident minister at Great Bend, infidelity, which had previously manifested itself in a subdued form, was, by many, " openly and publicly avowed;
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