USA > New York > Schuyler County > Gazetteer and business directory of Chemung and Schuyler counties, N.Y. for 1868-9 > Part 22
USA > New York > Chemung County > Gazetteer and business directory of Chemung and Schuyler counties, N.Y. for 1868-9 > Part 22
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. The principal pursuit of the people is agriculture. Spring grains are raised to considerable extent, and great attention is paid to stock raising, dairying and wool growing. The climate and soil are better adapted to pasturage than to tillage. Fruit is an impor- tant article of culture, and all kinds adapted to the climate succeed well. There is some manufacturing at Watkins and Havana.
In 1854, Delos De Wolf, of Oswego, Edward Dodd, of Washing- ton, and Vivus W. Smith, of Onondaga, were appointed Commis- sioners to locate the County buildings, and fixed upon Havana as the County seat. The action of the Commissioners was resisted by the Board of Supervisors, and by them the County seat was located at Watkins, at the head of Seneca Lake. A Court House was erected at each village; but the Courts decided in favor of the ac- tion of the Commissioners, and April 13th, 1857, the Legislature passed an act confirming the location of the County seat at Havana. This act was confirmed by the Supreme Court, in April, 1858. In 1867 a law was passed removing the County buildings and Courts of Schuyler County to the village of Watkins. New buildings have been erected on an eligible site, and the County seat is now permanently located at Watkins.
The public works in the County are the Chemung Canal, extend- ing from the head of Seneca Lake south, through the valley of Catharine's Creek, uniting with Chemung River at Elmira; the Elmira, Jefferson and Canandaigua Railroad, extending along the west shore of Seneca Lake, to Watkins; and the Chemung Rail- road, extending south from Watkins, along Catharine's Creek, to Elmira. These roads are now known as the Northern Central Railroad.
There are three weekly newspapers now published in the County. The first paper published was
The Tioga Patriot, started at Havana in June, 1828, by L. B. & S. Butler, and was continued only a short time.
The Harana Obserrer was started in 1830, by F. W. Ritter, and was soon discontinued.
The Havana Republican was started in 1835, by Nelson Col- grove. It was subsequently published by G. Barlow Nye, T. J. Taylor and W. II. Ongly, successively, until 1849, when it was changed to the K
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Life in the Country and Havana Republican. It was discon- tinued in 1850.
The Chemung Democrat was removed from Horseheads to Ha- vana in 1840, and to "Jefferson" (now Watkins,) in 1842. Its name was soon after changed to
The Democratic Citizen, and was issued by J. I. Hendricks, until 1850.
The Independent Freeman was started at Watkins, June 15th, 1850, by W. B. Slawson & Co .; in 1851 it was changed to
The Jefferson Eagle, and was continued a few months.
The Corona Borealis, a literary paper, was published at Jefferson about the same time.
The Watkins Republican was started in June, 1854, by S. M. Taylor. It passed into the hands of J. K. Averill, and subsequently into those of M. Ells.
THE SCHUYLER COUNTY DEMOCRAT was started in 1863, and is now published by Wm. H. Baldwin.
THE WATKINS EXPRESS, now in its fifteenth volume, is published by Levi M. Gano.
THE HAVANA JOURNAL was established by Waldo M. Potter, in September, 1849, and continued by him until the fall of 1851. It was then published by J. Wesley Smith until the spring of 1853, when the establishment was purchased by John B. Look, who conducted it until the spring of 1864. In May of that year, E. A. Hotchkiss purchased a half interest, and under the firm name of Look & Hotchkiss the paper was conducted for about six months. Mr. A. E. Fay then purchased the interest of Mr. Hotch- kiss, and continued as a partner of Mr. Look until the fall of 1865. In September of that year Hon. Charles Cook purchased the estab- lishment, continuing the paper as its editor and proprietor until his death, in October, 1866. The Journal was then published by the heirs of Mr. Cook until February, 1867, at which time it was sold to its present publisher, A. G. Ball. The Journal is now an eight- column paper, and has a large circulation.
The expedition of General Sullivan in 1779, passed through this County after the battle of Newtown, so fatal to the Indians. As the route of the army lay through narrow defiles where heavy artil- ery could not well be transported, this, with wagons and such por- tions of the baggage as were not wanted, was sent back to Tioga Point. Only four brass three-pounders and a small howitzer were retained ; and the whole army, put upon short rations, moved to- wards Catharinestown, (now Havana,) the residence of the cele- brated Catharine Montour. The Indians fled in dismay after the battle of Newtown, though a small force would have been sutli- eient to utterly destroy or drive back the army sent against them, so difficult was the pass through which it was compelled to march.
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General Sullivan relates in his official account, that on his arrival at Catharinestown, an old woman of the Cayuga nation was found in the woods, who informed him that the Indians arrived the next day after the battle, in great confusion, saying that they were con- quered and must flee ; that a great many were killed and vast num- bers wounded. She heard the lamentations of many at the loss of their relatives, and assured General Sullivan that other warriors had met Brant and Butler, and desired them to return and renew the battle. But they could not be induced to risk another engage- ment. General S. had depended upon the Oneidas to act as guides and runners through the Indian country, but being disappointed in this, only four remaining with the expedition, he dispatched one of those from Catharinestown to the Oneida Castle, with an address, calling upon all who were friendly to the Americans to prove the sincerity of their professions by joining his forces immediately .- The messenger, Oneigat, was also instructed to give his nation an account of the battle of Newtown. He did not return and join the expedition until near its close; but on his return, reported that a council was convened and his people were greatly rejoiced at the news which he bore, and that seventy warriors had set out with him to join the army, and thirty more were to follow the next day. On their arrival at the Onondaga village they learned that Sullivan had advanced to Kanadesaga, and wanted no more men, except a few guides ; and after transmitting to him an address, the Oneida warriors turned back. The address was one interceding in behalf of a clan of Cayugas who had claimed to be friendly to the United States. General Schuyler declared, in reply, that the Cay- ugas should be chastised, for their whole course had been marked by duplicity and hostility.
The state of civilization to which the Six Nations had arrived can scarcely be realized by those who are accustomed to look upon all Indians as the same roving savages, living in the rudest of huts, with scarcely enough of the habits of civilized life to separate them from the beasts of the field. They had several towns and many large villages laid out with considerable regularity. Some of their houses were framed, had chimneys, and were painted. Their fields of corn and beans were large, and their orchards of apples, pears and peaches were extensive and flourishing. Sullivan's expedition swept over it as with the besom of destruction. At Catharines- town, all of the houses, thirty in number, were destroyed, and the fields and orchards laid waste. On the 4th of September the army advanced from Catharinestown down the cast shore of the lake, destroyed the small settlement at Peach Orchard, and proceeded down the lake to Kandaia, a village of about twenty houses, which was burned, and one day spent in destroying the fields and orchards in the vicinity. On the 7th, the army crossed the outlet of Seneca
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Lake and advanced upon Kanadesaga, the Seneca capital, contain- ing about sixty houses, with orchards aud gardens rich with the autumnal harvest. It was Sullivan's intention to surround the town and take it by surprise; but Butler was unable to induce the Indians to make a stand, and their capital was abandoned before the army reached it. Ilere, as elsewhere, the work of destruction was complete. From this point a detachment of sixty men was sent back to Tioga with the sick, while the main army advanced to Canandaigua, destroying twenty-three houses; thence they pro- ceeded to HIoneoye, and after destroying the town, established a strong garrison, leaving the heavy stores and one field-piece. The army then advanced towards Genesee, the great capital of the west- ern tribes. Several towns were destroyed on the route. While delaying to bridge a creek, Lieutenant Boyd was sent out with twenty-six men to reconnoitre Little Beardstown. Having accom- plished his object, he was returning to re-join the main army, when he was surrounded by several hundred Indians. He made several efforts to cut his way through their line, but without success. A few only of his party escaped; one besides himself was taken pris- oner, the others were slain. Lieutenant Boyd was tortured in the most shocking manner that savage ingenuity could devise, and was only relieved by death.
The Genesce valley presented the appearance of having been cultivated for a long time, and its beauty and fertility filled the soldiers with astonishment and delight. Beautiful as everything appeared on that autumnal day, it was doomed to a speedy destruc- tion. The whole region was scoured by the troops, and large quan- tities of corn, laid up for winter use, were destroyed by being burned or thrown into the river. Gen. Sullivan said: "The town of Genesee contained one hundred and twenty-eight houses, mostly large and very elegant. It was beautifully situated, almost encir- cled with a clear flat, extending a number of miles, over which ex- tensive fields of corn were waving, together with every kind of vege- table that could be conceived." Stone, in his life of Brant, gives the following description of this beautiful region, and of the desola- tion caused by the army in its march from Newtown:
"But the entire army was immediately engaged in destroying it, and the axe and the torch soon transformed the whole of that beautiful region from the character of a garden to a scene of drear and sickening desolation. Forty Indian towns, the largest contain- ing one hundred and twenty-eight houses, were destroyed. Corn, gathered and ungathered, to the amount of one hundred and sixty thousand bushels, shared the same fate; their fruit trees were cut down, and the Indians were hunted like wild beasts, till neither house nor fruit tree, nor field of eorn nor inhabitant remained in the whole country. The gardens were enriched with great quanti-
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ties of useful vegetables of different kinds. The size of the corn- fields, as well as the high degree of cultivation in which they were kept, excited wonder, and the ears of corn were so remarkably large that many of them measured twenty-two inches in length. So numerous were the fruit trees that in one orchard they cut down fifteen hundred."
In reference to this same thing, at an Indian council held at Phila- delphia in 1792, Cornplanter addressed Washington in the follow- ing language :
"Father, the voice of the Seneca nation speaks to you ; the great counselor, in whose heart the wise men of all the Thirteen Fires have placed their wisdom. It may be very small in your ears, and we therefore entreat you to hearken with attention; for we are about to speak to you of things which to us are very great. When your armny entered the country of the Six Nations we called you the Town Destroyer, and to this day, when that name is heard, our women look behind them and turn pale, and our children cling close to the necks of their mothers. Our counselors and warriors are men and cannot be afraid, but their hearts are grieved with the fears of our women and children, and desire that it may be buried so deep as to be heard no more."
Having completed the objects of the expedition to this point, Gen. Sullivan set out on his return, September loth, and arrived at Tioga Point on the 30th of the same month.
It is in connection with this expedition that we first find the name of the celebrated Seneca orator, Red Jacket, mentioned in history. He was born in 1750, near Canoga, in Seneca County. According to his own account, he was first inspired with a desire to become an orator by listening to the renowned Logan, at an Indian council held in the valley of the Shenandoah. Though many of the cele- brated Indian orators were present, Red Jacket was most charmed by Logan, and resolved to take him for a model. On his return home he devoted himself to study, spending much of his time in the forests alone, and by the roaring waterfalls, that he might train his voice for large assemblies. His mother was accustomed to re- prove him for his absence, and question him as to the cause. Though loth to answer, when hard pressed he would reply that he had been "playing Logan." The falls at Havana was one of the places to which he would resort for practice, thus imitating the great orator of the Greeks, who practiced by the roaring sea. Thus it will be seen that his command of language and his power over the multitude were the result of long and persistent effort.
This County, though small, embraces part of four different tracts. The town of Hector belonged to the Military Traet; the towns of Catharine, Dix and Montour to the Watkins and Flint Tract; Ty- rone and Orange to the Phelps and Gorham Purchase; and Read-
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ing to a tract purchased by James Watson, embracing the land lying between Seneca Lake, the Pre-emption line and Ryckman's Reservation. The price paid for the last named was three shillings am'l seven pence per acre. The boundaries of the Watkins and Flint Tract are described as follows, in the Documentary History of the State :
" Beginning at the north-west corner of the township of Che- wing ; thence running casterly along the northern boundary of the wid township of Chemung, until it strikes Owego River, being the west bounds of the ten townships added to Massachusetts; thence northerly along said bounds to the township of Dryden, being one of the military townships appropriated for the use of the troops of this State; thence westerly along the southern boundary of the townships of Dryden, Ulysses and Hector, to the south-western part of Seneca Lake ; thence west until the line strikes the Pre-emption line; thence southerly along the said Pre-emption line to the place of beginning."
The price was three shillings and four pence per acre, one-sixth part of the purchase money to be paid, with lawful interest, in six months, and the remainder in two equal installments, one in nine months and the other in eighteen months.
The Military Tract, of which Hector formed a part, embraced twenty-six townships, appropriated as bounty to the soldiers of the Revolution, giving cach non-commissioned officer and private five hundred aeres. The land was surveyed into townships, each con- tuining one hundred lots one mile square. Congress also passed a law giving one hundred acres to each soldier, this land lying in Ohio. Arrangements were subsequently made to allow the soldiers to draw the whole six hundred acres in this State, by their giving up their claim to the Ohio lands.
The first settlements were made on Catharine's Creek, near Ha- vann, in 1788, and on the shore of Seneca Lake in 1790, and before the commencement of the present century settlements had been commenced in nearly all the towns now embraced in the County.
Since this County has had a separate organization, little has oc- eurred worthy of special record in a work like this.
At the outbreak of the Rebellion, Schuyler, like the adjoining Counties, responded nobly to the call to arms, and from the farin and the workshop the strong and brave went forth to battle for freedom and Union. The census reports that eight hundred and fifty-four enlisted in this County, one hundred and sixty-four of whom died in the service or from injuries received in the service. Considering the population, this record is one that does credit to the patriotism of the County.
The County is divided into one hundred and thirty school dis- triets, in which are one hundred and fourteen school houses, requir-
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ing one hundred and twenty-three teachers. There are sixteen joint districts, in which the school houses are in adjoining counties .. The whole number of children of school age in the County at the last report was 6,139; the number attending school 4,740, and the average attendance 2,156. The amount expended for schools dur- ing the last year was $28,388.26.
GAZETTEER OF TOWNS.
CATHARINE, named from Catharine Montour, was formed from "Newtown," (now Elmira, Chemung County,) March 15th, 1798. Catlin and Veteran (Chemung County.) were taken off in 1823. A part of Newfield, (Tompkins County,) was annexed June 4th, 1$53, and a part was annexed to Cayuta, April 17th, 1854. Montour was taken off in 1860. It lies in the south-east part of the County, and borders upon Tompkins on the east and Chemung on the south. Its surface is a hilly upland, broken by the deep valleys of the streams. Cayuta Lake lies in the north- east part, and its outlet, Cayuta Creek, flows south into the Susque- hanna. The soil is chiefly a gravelly loam, mixed with clay.
Odessa, (p. v.) in the western part of the town, contains two churches, several mills and about 250 inhabitants.
Catharine, (p. v.) situated in the south-west part of the town, contains two churches and about thirty houses.
Alpine, (p. v.,) on the south-east border, is partly in this town.
The first settlements of this town were made about the com- meneement of the present century, near Odessa and Catharines. The life of the early settlers was similar to that in other parts of the country. Through that energy which characterized the pioneers of the surrounding towns, the forests disappeared, and fertile fields and verdant meadows are now interspersed throughout the town. The productive resources of the town in some respects are without a rival.
On the 22d day of July, 1855, Mr. Foster Ervay became the happy father of four children at one birth, three girls and one boy.
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Their names are Ida A., Irvin A., Ada A. and Joy O. The boy and one girl are still living.
The population of the town in 1865 was 1,622, and its area 19,- 016 acres.
The number of children between the ages of five and twenty-one years is 599; the number attending school during the past year was 494, and the average attendance 327. The amount expended for schools the same year was 82,480.15.
CAYUTA was formed from Spencer, (Tioga County,) March 20th, 1824. Parts of Catharine and Erin (Chemung County, ) were annexed in 1854. The town was transferred from Tioga to Tomp- kins County, March 22d, 1822. It is the south-east corner town of the County. The surface is a hilly upland. Cayuta Creek flows south-east through the town, in a narrow, deep valley, bordered by steep hillsides from 300 to 600 feet high. The soil is a clayey and gravelly loam.
Cayuta, (p. v.) situated on Cayuta Creek, is a small village a lit- tle north of the center of the town.
Alpine, (p. v.) situated on the north line of the town, contains several mills and 25 or 30 houses.
The first settlement was made in the valley of the Cayuta, near West Cayuta, in 1801, by Captain Gabriel Ogden, Rev. David Janes and Joseph Thomas. The first two were from Tioga County, and the last from Athens, Pennsylvania. In 1803, Her- mon White, Benjamin Chambers and Jeremiah Taylor, settled in the same vicinity, and Moses Brown, Langstaff Compton and others in 1801.
The first birth was that of Rosetta, daughter of Jonathan Thomas, in January, 1804; the first marriage was that of Ebenezer Edwards and Sarah Ogden, in 1804; and the first death that of Joseph Thomas, in July, 1802. Robert Lockerby taught the first school, in a house belonging to Elder Janes, in the winter of 1805. Cap- tain Gabriel Ogden kept the first inn, at West Cayuta, in 1805; Jesse White erected the first saw-mill, on the east branch of the Cayuta, in 1816, and John Ennis the first grist-mill, two miles be- low West Cayuta, in 1817. The first religious services were held by Rev. David Janes, (Bap.) at his own house, in 1802.
The population in 1865 was 636, and its area 12,555 acres.
The whole number of children of school age is 198; the number attending school 146, and the average attendance 67. The amount expended for school purposes in 1867 was $713.15.
'DIV, named from Hon. John A. Dix, was formed from Catlin, (Chemung County,) April 17th, 1835. It lies upon the west side of Catharine's Creek, and extends from the head of Seneca Lake to the south bounds of the County. The surface is chiefly a rolling
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and hilly upland, and the summits of the hills are from 400 to 700 feet above the lake. Catharine's Creek, and several smaller streams, drain the town. The soil is chiefly a fine quality of gravelly loam, and very productive.
Watkins, (p. v.) named from Dr. Samuel Watkins, an early set- tler in the village, is situated upon the line of Reading, at the head of Seneca Lake. It was incorporated as "Jefferson," April 11th, 1842, and its name was changed April 8th, 1852. It is a station on the railroad and on the canal. It is the County seat, and con- tains the County buildings, two banks, five churches, four hotels, two founderies, two planing mills, two malt houses, a brewery, several carriage shops and some over 2,000 inhabitants. Several steamboats ply between Watkins and Geneva. Steam tugs and sailing craft also ply its waters in all directions.
Beaver Dams, (p. v.) in the south-west corner of the town, con- tains two churches, several manufactories and about thirty houses.
Townsend, (p. v.) near the west line of the town, contains a church, several mills and about forty houses.
Crawford Settlement (Moreland p. o.) lies near the south line, and contains two churches and about thirty houses.
Freer's Glen is a remarkable ravine near the village of Watkins, that has recently been opened to the public, and is one of the most beautiful of the natural curiosities of the country. Though essen- tially different from Niagara and Mammoth Cave, it is in some respects no less interesting and wonderful. The Glen was first opened to visitors in 1863, by the erection of bridges and stairways, rendering the first section accessible. Since that time improve- ments have been extended by the proprietors until the Glen is now open to visitors for about two miles. The Glen appears to be a elett or seam in Glen Mountain, worn away by the stream which flows through it. The rocks are soft, and the changes that are pro- duced by the annual freshets are such as to render this theory prob- able.
The entrance to the Glen is a vast amphitheater, semi-circular in form and inelosed by high walls of soft slaty rock. The ruins of an old mill, upon the stream that flows through the center of it, adds to the picturesqueness of the scene. A narrow cleft in the perpendicular wall of this amphitheater appears at the further end, upon the north side of which is a staircase, leading to the first of a succession of glens, each characterized by some peculiarity from which it receives its name.
Glen Alpha is first entered on ascending this staircase. From an angle in the rocks a stream of water pours out, and falls in a beautiful cascade to a pool thirty feet below. This is crossed by a bridge, from the middle of which we get a very fine view up the Glen. The high and irregular walls on each side approach each
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other towards the summit, almost forming an arch, through which the stream, broken and scattered by the obstructions in its course, rushes to the cascade below. Crossing the bridge and ascending a flight of steps cut in the rock, and following up the stream, we reach the entrance Gorge, whose rock walls are rendered peculiarly beautiful by the various tints and colors which they exhibit. Here we find the Minnehaha; not the one immortalized by Longfellow, but a diminutive namesake, dashing over the rocks in all directions, and forming one of the most beautiful features of this part of the Glen. The Labyrinth, a wild and romantic section, whose most interesting feature is the Gnome's Grotto, lies beyond. This Grotto is a path leading behind the Cavern Coscade, which rushes over the rocks above into the boiling pool, forty feet below. From this point a stairway, some fifty feet in height, leads up to the Glen Obscura. From the top of the stairs is seen a remarkable figure resembling the head and features of an Indian, and called the Profile Gorge. Passing on from this point we soon arrive at the Glen Mountain House, an unpretending structure, where the traveler may rest and procure refreshments. Leaving the Mountain House, we pass on to Glen Cathedral, which no pen can describe. It is in the form of a vast oblong amphitheater, nearly a quarter of a mile in length. The perpendicular walls on either side rise to a great height, and are draped with rich foliage, pendant vines and mosses of great beauty. The floor is nearly level, and the veins upon the surface of the rock give it the appearance of having been laid in diamond- shaped blocks. For grandeur and sublimity this is unsurpassed by anything in the Glen. A cascade falls over the rocks at the upper end, forming the Orchestra, which continually pours forth a hymn of praise to the great Creator. This cascade pours its waters into the Pool of the Nymphs, a beautiful natural basin of great depth. The water is so clear that the smallest objects are clearly discern- able where the water is ten or fifteen feet deep. Passing a series of miniature rapids, we come to the foot of the Grand Staircase, which leads to the Glen of the Pools. As we ascend this we ob- tain a splendid view of the Cathedral. We seem suspended in mid-air, with the section which we have just passed spread out before us. The stair-case is in two sections, and seventy feet in height. The Glen of the Pools is a succession of subterranean grottoes and deep basins that have been washed out of the rocks by the action of the water for a long series of years. Above this we pass the Triple Cascade and the Rainbow Fall. Passing behind the latter, which is formed by a stream falling from the hill upon the south side of the Glen, we have a beautiful view of the sur- rounding objects through the thin veil of transparent water that intervenes. A rainbow formed in the spray adds greatly to its beauty during certain hours of the day. Passing on and up a
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