USA > New York > Tioga County > Historical gazetter of Tioga County, New York, 1785-1888. Pt. 1 > Part 3
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1. Brown Samuel,
44. Brown Samuel, Jr.,
41. Brown Stephen,
IS. Brown William,
48. Chapman John,
46. Coleman Dudley,
27. Cone Ashbel,
58. Cook Ebenezer,
26. Cook Philip,
Io. Crocker Ezekiel,
47. Curtis Elnathan,
37. Curtis Isaac,
14. Dwight Henry Williams,
39. Eagleston Azariah,
49. Edwards Jonathan,
43. Ingersol Jonathan,
30. Jenks Isaac,
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TIOGA COUNTY.
20. Larnard Simon,
12. Lusk Elizabeth,
31. Mason Ebenezer,
21. Pierson Nathan,
60. Morell John,
23. Pixley David,
42. Nash Stephen,
38. Newhall Allen,
59. Rockwell Abner,
33. Parks Warham,
50. Parsons Elihu,
51. Parsons Eliphalet,
3. Stoddard Orringh,
19. Strong Ashbel,
40. Thompson Thaddeus,
29. Walker Caleb,
28. Walker William,.
34. Williams Ebenezer,
55. Woodbridge Jonathan.
The Owego township was surveyed in two parts, the East Half-Township, and the West Half-Township. which last accor- ding to an agreement made, was deeded by Samuel Brown, of Stockbridge, 17 Dec., 1787, to James McMaster, of Mohawk. The deed, for 11,520 acres, was witnessed] by, Walter Sabin, and proved by his testimony in Tioga county, 3 July, 1792, and recorded. Since this deed was given the West Half-Township has been properly known as "McMasters Half-Township ;" but through ignorance his name has also been quite commonly applied to the "East Half-Township of the Boston Purchase."
James McMaster, of Mohawk District. Montgomery county, N. Y., by a deed of 4 Feb., 1788, conveyed to Amos Draper, of Choco- nut, lots 16 and 19 of 100 acres each, and lots 30, 32, 52 and 56, of 143 acres each, of his Half-Township, and describes them as sur- veyed by Walter Sabin.
The East Hall-Township was divided into sixty lots, and was partitioned among the proprietors by deed, with map, 12 May, 1790, at the same time as the Grand Division.
Six hundred lots were then laid out, in thirty courses of twenty lots each, for a great division, or, as it has always since been called, " The Grand Division of the Boston Purchase." These lots, and the sixty in the East Half-Township, were distributed among the proprietors, by a deed, accompanied by a map, dated 12 May, 1790. The list of proprietors who signed this deed of partition differs very much from the list who shared in the first two. townships, from two causes: first,"some of the associates had sold their rights in the undivided lands ; and secondly, a considerable:
56. Sergeant Erastus,
11. Seymour Ira,
24. Parsons Jacob, . 57. Partridge Oliver, Jr.,
22. Patterson Amos,
13. Pepoon Silas,
15. Pierson Benjamin,
16. Pierson Jeremiah H.,
17. Pierson Joseph,
32. Pierson Josiah G.,
4. Raymond Joseph,
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TIOGA COUNTY.
number had authorized Samuel Brown to act for them in draw- ing the lots, which he did, and afterward conveyed their share by deed. As a result of these causes, only thirty-seven names are in this deed ; and of this number, at least twelve are not named in the former list. So that seventy-two names appear as pro- prietors, in the two lists. The parties to this deed were as fol- lows:
I. Samuel Brown, Esq., Stockbridge, Mass.
2. Charles Stone, yeoman,
3. Asa Bement, Jr., blacksmith.
4. Josiah Ball, cordwainer,
5. Elkanah Bishop, husbandman,
6. Timothy Jearoms [Jerome], carpenter, 66
7. Moses Ashley, Esq.,
8. Henry Williams Dwight, Esq.,
9. David Pixley, gentleman, 66
IO. Anna Bingham, widow, 66
II. Isaac Curtis, miller,
12. Timothy Edwards, Esq., 66
13. Theodore Sedgwick, Esq.,
14. Elisha Blin, inn keeper, Great Barrington, Mass. Richmond, Mass.
15. Ezekiel Crocker, gentleman,
16. Benjamin Pierson, gentleman, 17. Nathan Pierson, gentleman,
18. Josiah G. Pierson, gentleman,
19. Ebenezer Williams, gentleman,
20. William Bartlett, blacksmith, -
21. Nathaniel Bishop, Esq.,
22. Joseph Pierson, joiner, -
23. Ashbel Strong, Esq ..
New York City. Pittsfield, Mass.
24. Francis Plumer, gentleman,
25. Israel Williams, gentleman,
26. William Billings, Esq.,
27. Ashbel Cone, blacksmith, West Stockbridge, Mass.
28. William Walker, Esq., Lenox, Mass.
29. Caleb Walker, gentleman,
30. Azariah Egleston, gentleman,
31. Theodore Thompson, physician,
32. Job Northrop, yeoman,
33. Levi Tumbling,* yeoman, Lee, Mass.
66
:
!
Hatfield, Mass. Conway, Mass.
* In other records "Thomling " and " Tomling."
.
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TIOGA COUNTY.
34. Samuel Arnold, yeoman, Canaan, N. Y. 35. Ebenezer Mason, gentleman, Spencer, Mass. New Haven, Conn.
36. Allen Newhall, gentleman,
37. Jonathan Edwards, clerk,
Of the six hundred lots in the Grand Division, one hundred and fifteen are in Newark Valley; sixty-eight in Berkshire; ninety- three in Richford; two in the southeast corner of Dryden, Tompkins county ; eighteen in Cortland county ; and the remain- der in Broome county.
North of the Grand Division the proprietors surveyed a tier of seventy lots, known as the " long lots," the title to which was never confirmed by the state, and the proprietors lost the land, although the state acknowledged their right by giving to the soldiers an equivalent for the deficiency, in the military tract ; and the Surveyor General, in his published map, calls it "North Tier Boston Ten-Townships." The first eight of these "long lots" are in Dryden, and the other sixty-two are in Cortland county.
There was but one royal grant of lands to individuals direct (other than the Massachusetts charter) in the territory of the county, and that was for a tract of 29,812 acres, lying in the pres- ent southerly half of the town of Owego and a portion of Nichols. This tract was patented to Daniel, William, and Rebecca Coxe, and John Tabor Kemp and Grace (Coxe), his wife, January 15, 1775, and has since been known as Coxe's Manor, or Patent. It was a portion of 100,000 acres patented to them in consideration of the surrender of their rights in a "province called Carolana, consisting of a territory on the coast of Georgia and the Carolinas, together with the islands of Veanis and Bahama, and all other islands off that coast, between the 31st and 36th degrees of north latitude, as granted by Charles I., October 30, 1629, to Sir Robert Heath, and from him devised to the present grantees through their father." To these grantors 47,000 acres were granted in Oneida and 23,000 acres elsewhere (in Otsego or Delaware counties). The petition for this grant was filed October 31, 1774, and described the tract as being in the county of Tryon, and as " beginning at a place called Owegg, on the Susquehanna river, and runs along the northern boundary of Pennsylvania." On January 4, 1775, a return of survey was made for the parties named in the patent, which described the tract as beginning " opposite the mouth of Owegy creek."
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TIOGA COUNTY.
The portion of the present town of Owego south of the Sus- quehanna, and the town of Nichols, was called the township of Hambden. The lands in the township, aside from Coxe's Manor, were sold as follows : to Robert Morris, several tracts in Owego ; Alexander Macomb, 6,930 acres in Owego and Vestal, February 15, 1785, vol. xliii., p. 123, Land Papers, New York; Nicholas Fish, 7,040 acres in Owego, and 6,400 acres in township seven of the tract purchased of the Oncidas and Tuscaroras, in Owego and Nichols, vol. xliii, pp. 84 and 85, Land Papers: William Butler, return of survey for 3,000 acres in Nichols, adjoining Coxe's Patent on the west, January 12, 1775, vol. xxxv., p. 14; John Reid, similar return for 3,000 acres adjoining Butler on the west, January 12, 1775, vol. xxxv., p. 15; Richard Robert Crowe, similar return January 20, 1775, for 2,000 lying between Reid's tract and the Susquehanna, which bounds it on the west, vol. xxxV., p. 23, Land Papers.
On the Ioth of November, 1784, Rebecca, John D., and Tench Coxe filed a caveat in the land-office protesting against the grant- ing by the state of any certificates of location, warrents of sur- vey, or letters patent for lands. west of the Delaware river, bounded south by Pennsylvania, until the claim of said protest- ors, or their assigns, to a tract of 29,812 acres of land, on the east bank of the Susquehanna, was lawfully and fully recognized. The claims of the Coxe heirs were confirmed subsequently, and the tract, as surveyed in 1806-7, was found to contain 30,900 acres.
Gospel and literature tracts were also set off in Owego town- ship, comprising about three square miles, adjoining Coxe's Manor on the north. Colonel Nichols subsequently acquired a large tract of land in the towns of Owego and Nichols.
In 1788, on March 22, the legislature erected a new town* in Montgomery county, the boundary line beginning at the inter- section of the pre-emption line of Massachusetts with the Penn- sylvania State line, and running due north from the point of intersection along the pre-emption line to the distance of two miles north of Tioga river ; thence in a direct line at right angles to the pre-emption line east to the Owego river (West Owego), to intersect said river at a distance of four miles on a straight line from the confluence thereof with the Susquehanna; then down the Owego and Susquehanna to the Pennsylvania line; and
* Chemung.
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TIOGA COUNTY.
thence along said line to the place of beginning. This tract, which covers the present town of Barton and the greater por- tion of Tioga, in Tioga county, and the towns of Southport, Elmira, Ashland, Baldwin, and Chemung, and a portion of Big Flats, Horseheads, Erin and Van Etten, in Chemung county, had been settled by a number of persons, who could not agree upon a proper division of their locations, and the act creating the town appointed John Cantine, James Clinton, and John Hathorn com- missioners to inquire into and settle the disputes which had ariseri among the settlers concerning their possessions, and to assign and allot lands to the claimants who were actually settled on the lands, or who had made improvements, intending to settle. The allotments were to be not less than 100, nor more than 1, 000 acres each, and also provided that the lands were to be settled within three months after the state acquired the Indian title. The lands were bought at one shilling and sixpence per acre. These commissioners proceeded under their authority to suryey and plot the town, and February 28, 1789, the legislature confirmed their report, and authorized the commissioner of the land-office to patent the lands to the parties named on the map submitted by the commissioners of the town, and extended the time of set. tlement to one year after the state had acquired the Indian title. Certificates of location were issued by the commissioners, which were assignable, and thus parties acquired large tracts, which were patented to them under one patent.
On August 4, 1791, John W. Watkins, a lawyer in New York city, and Royal W. Flint, and certain associates, applied to the Commissioners of the Land-Office for the ungranted lands lying east of the Massachusetts pre-emption, west of the Owego creek, south of the Military Tract, and north of the town of Chemung. as then laid out,-estimated to contain 363,000 acres,-for which they agreed to pay the price of three shillings and fourpence per acre. (Vol. xi., Land Papers, p. 141.) The proposition was accepted, and the tract surveyed, and a return made April 7, 1794, and a patent issued June 25, 1794, to John W. Watkins. who subsequently conveyed to his associates, as their interests indicated. The lands were described in the patent as follows :
" Beginning at the northwest corner of the township of Che- mung, as originally surveyed and laid out, on the east bounds of the lands ceded by this State to the Commonwealth of Massa- chusetts, and running along the line run for the north bounds of said township of Chemung south 87º 40' east, 2,857 chains to
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TIOGA COUNTY.
Owego creek, being the west bounds of a tract of 230,400 acres, also ceded by this State to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; thence up along same bounds northerly to the township of Dryden, being one of the townships of the tract set apart for the troops of this state lately serving in the army of the United States; thence along the south bounds of the townships of Dryden, Ulysses, and Hector, and the same continued west 2,785 chains to the line run for the east bounds of the said first above- mentioned ceded lands, which line is commonly called the pre- emption line; then along the same a true south course 1,220 chains to place of beginning."
This tract includes the present towns of Spencer and Candor.
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*CHAPTER III. ·
FIRST SETTLEMENT-CHARACTER OF THE SETTLERS-GROWTH OF POPULA- TION-ORGANIZATION -- ORIGINAL BOUNDARIES-CURTAILMENT OF TERRI- TORY-PRESENT BOUNDARIES-TOPOGRAPHY-GEOLOGY-STREAMS-SOIL -AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS-AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES.
N the previous chapter we have stated the manner in which the original titles to the land within the present limits of the county were obtained. Upon the " Boston Purchase," where the village of Owego now is,'the first white settlement was made ; but as this fact is set forth in detail in connection with our history of that town, it is not necessary to repeat the story here.
Several causes operated to bring settlers to the County of Tioga from several localities. The army of Gen. James Sullivan, which passed through the valley in the summer of 1779, was composed of officers and soldiers from New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachu- setts and New York. The officers of the expedition were astonished at the advance the Iroquois had made in agriculture. A letter of Gen. James Clinton states that the corn was "the finest he had ever seen." Another officer states that there were ears of corn that measured twenty-two inches in length. The broad valleys of the Susquehanna, Chenango and Chemung, with their rich fields of corn, and orchards of apple trees, must have presented to the soldiers an inviting and attractive appearance,
*In this chapter, and in some others, we quote extensively from the writings of Hon. William F. Warner, of Waverly. We hereby acknowledge our obligation to him for all.
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TIOGA COUNTY.
as contrasted with the sandy soil of New Jersey, and the rocks and harder soil of Connecticut and Massachusetts. Upon re- turning to their homes at the close of the war, in 1783, these soldiers carried their reports of the territory they had traversed to friends and neighbors in their several states. We have seen that Massachusetts claimed the territory which forms the County of Tioga, and, as early as 1787, made a grant which, not being disputed as was the case with grants of the territory of Wyom- ing, many settlers in the Wyoming valley abandoned their possessions, and came to this county to find new homes ; and Tioga thus gained some of her very best citizens among the early settlers from that locality. These coming mainly from Massa- chusetts and Connecticut, brought with them the general characteristics of the people of those states. Among them were men and women of culture and refinement, who exerted a power- ful influence in restraining others who might have been inclined to acts of lawlessness. In general, this body of pioneers was composed of entire families ; and the good order maintained was greatly owing to the presence of the noble wives, mothers and sisters of the pioneers, and who, while sharing in the hardships and privations incident to a pioneer life, presented examples of piety, virtue and true womanly heroism. Scantily furnished with domestic utensils and implements of husbandry, a spirit of liberality and mutual assistance was fostered. Many had for years suffered the fatigues and hardships of service in the army, and came empty handed, but with stout hearts, to carve for themselves a home in the new settlement. The exigencies of a pioneer life are always severe, but frugal means lead to frugal habits; common necessities unite a community in a common brotherhood. Doubtless there were many incidents in the lives of these early settlers of generosity and bravery, but where all were brave and generous so little notice was taken of such deeds that no record of them was thought to be necessary, nor is there record of a single act of violence.
The record of these settlements, their growth and progress, is given in the histories of the several towns, further on in this work; the growth of the county as a whole may be seen by the following, showing the population for several periods since 1800. viz : 1800, 6,862 ; ISI0, 7,899; 1820, 14,716; 1825, 19,951: 1830, 27,690 ; 1835, 33,999 ; IS40, 20,527 ; 1845, 22,456; 1850, 24, SSO: 1855, 26,962: 1860, 28,748 ; 1865, 30,572; 1870, 33,178; 1875, 32,915 ; 1880, 32,673.
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TIOGA COUNTY.
The county was legally organized under its present name" by an act of the legislature passed February 16, 1791. It was carved out of territory previously embraced within the limits of Mont- gomery county, which had been called before and during the revolutionary war, down to the year 1784, Tryon county, in honor of one of the late colonial governors, who, unfortunately, proved himself throughout the national struggle an uncompromising enemy to the American cause. By reason of this his name had become so unpalatable to the people of the state that it was no longer applied to the county ; and by legislative enactment in that year (1784) the name of Montgomery was substituted, in honor of the Irish soldier, General Montgomery, who fell during his gallent attack on Quebec at an early period of the war.
At the date of its organization, Tioga county embraced not only its present limits, but also the counties of Chemung, Broome and Chenango. Its boundaries were Otsego county on the east ; the Military Tract and Herkimer county on the north ; Ontario on the west-out of which Steuben was erected in 1796; and the Pennsylvania line on the south. Its towns, commencing at its westerly limit, were Newtown, Chemung, Owego, none of whose territory was then where it now is, but all of it lay west of the Owego creek, and then embraced what are now Tioga, Candor, Spencer, Barton and Nichols, in Tioga county, and Caroline, Danby and Newfield, in Tompkins county; next easterly to Owego creek was Union, which included within its limits what are now Owego, Newark, Berkshire and Richford, in Tioga county, Union, Vestal, Lisle, etc., in Broome county, and the westerly portion of what is now Chenango county ; next easterly was Chenango; and next easterly and northerly was Jericho, which covered territory then lying in the easterly part of what is now Chenango county. Thus it is seen that the six old towns, Newtown, Chemung, Owego, Union, Chenango and Jericho, then covered territory which the fifty-two towns of Chemung, Tioga, Broome and Chenango counties, and three towns, Caroline,
"The name of the county is derived from that of the river that once flowed through its western portion, now the county of Chemung. Morgan, is his "League of the Iroquois," gives the derivation and signification of the word as follows: "The various tribes of the Confederacy had a different pronunciation for the word. In the Oneida dialect it was l'e-ah-o-ge; in the Mohawk, Te-yo-ge-ga; in the Cayuga, Da-a-o-ga; and in the Seneca, Da-ya-o-geh; but all meant 'at the forks.' In the text of the work quoted it is written Ta-ya-o-ga. On Guy Johnson's map of 1771 it is written Ti-a-o-ga. The eloquent Red Jacket pronounced it Tah-hiho-gah, discarding the suffix .Point,' which has been Aniversally added when applied to the locality known now as Athens, Pa. He said the Indian word carried the full meaning,-'the point of land at the confluence of the two streams,' or 'the meeting of the waters.'"
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TIOGA COUNTY.
Danby and Newfield, in Tompkins county now cover, fifty-five in all.
The first loss sustained by Tioga in the organization of other counties was in 1798, when the northeasterly corner of her ancient domain, and a strip from the westerly part of Herkimer. were taken to make up the then county of Chenango, which, in its turn was found large enough, in 1806, to admit of the erection of Madison county out of its northern half. Next in the order of time, 1806, was the organization of Broome county, taken from Tioga, and named in honor of the then Lieutenant Governor. it embraced, originally, the old towns of Chenango, etc., and territory forming Owego, Newark, Berkshire and Richford. The next change was in 1822, when the territory now included within the towns of Owego, Newark, Berkshire and Richford was taken from Broome and re-annexed to Tioga, and the towns of Caroline, Danby and Newfield were taken from Tioga and added to Tompkins. By the same legislature Tioga county was divided into two jury districts, Owego and Elmira becoming half-shire towns. This latter act proved to be but a preliminary step to the subsequent establishment of Chemung county, result- ing, in 1836, in a complete severance of the connection and mutuality of interests.
This leaves the county of which we write as it is to-day, with an area of about 542 square miles, bounded north by Tompkins and Cortland counties, east by Broome county, south by the Pennsylvania line, and west by Chemung county. It is divided into nine towns, as follows: Barton, Berkshire, Candor, Newark Valley, Nichols, Owego, Richford, Spencer and Tioga.
The surface of the country is broken by the prolongation o: the Alleghany mountains, which enter in a series of ridges northerly through the territory, and attain a nearly uniform elevation of 1,200 to 1,400 feet above tide. These ridges are severed diagonally by the valley of the Susquehanna, and a !! separated by numerous lateral valleys, which extend in a north and south direction, and give a great variety of feature to the surface. The width of these valleys varies from a few rods to a mile, and sometimes more. They are frequently defined by steep acclivities, which rise from 250 to 400 feet, the summits of which are broad and rolling, and afford excellent land for dairy purposes.
The rocks of the county belong to the Chemung and Catskal groups. All the rocks cropping out on the surface north of the Susquehanna, and those underlying the south of it, may be
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TIOGA COUNTY.
classed with the Chemung group, and those crossing the hills south of the river with the Catskill group. There are no impor- tant minerals; a deep drift consisting of sand, gravel and clay lies in the valleys and covers the adjoining hills. This deposit near East Waverly is eighty feet deep, and a wide belt of it seems to extend north in an almost unbroken line from that place to Cayuga lake.
The principal streams are Susquehanna river and Owego, Catatonk, Cayuta, Pipe, Wapasening and Apalachin creeks, with their branches. These streams have generally rapid currents, and furnish valuable water-power. Their valleys, in their upper courses, are generally narrow, but expand as they approach the Susquehanna into broad and beautiful level in- tervals.
The soil in the valleys is a deep, rich, gravelly loam, with an occasional intermixture of clay and sand. The land in the Sus- quehanna valley is especially noted for its fertility. The uplands are gravelly and sandy, and produce an abundance of grass, which renders the land valuable for grazing and dairy purposes. Since the removal of the most valuable timber, the inhabitants are mainly occupied in agricultural pursuits. The dairies of the county are becoming noted for their excellence in the principal markets, and are rapidly increasing in their productiveness. The county's agricultural resources may be estimated from the fol- lowing figures, taken from the census report of 1880 :
The county then had 3,401 farms, representing 243, 175 acres of improved land, and were valued at $10,949,806.00. Upon these farms were raised 8,397 bushels of barley; 129, 131 bushels of buckwheat ; 313,087 bushels of Indian corn ; 652,918 bushels of oats; 9,236 bushels of rye; $3,367 bushels of wheat ; 436,317 bushels of potatoes; 2,200 pounds of hops, and orchard products to the value of $25,342.00. Its live stock enumerated 7,482 horses ; 77 mules; 534 working oxen; 17,794 milch cows, and 11,620 other cattle; 21,914 sheep and S,253 swine. From this stock was produced 89,780 pounds of wool; 310, 133 gallons of milk ; 2,150,S85 pounds of butter, and 24,712 pounds of cheese.
The Tioga County Agricultural Society was organized in IS19. The only account of it extant is in the American Journal, a Newspaper published at Ithaca by Ebnezer Mack, and now known as the Ithaca Journal. That paper gives an account of a meeting of the society at the house of Andrew Purdy, in Spencer,
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TIOGA COUNTY.
on Wednesday, November 10, IS19, together with the by-laws, which were signed by Thomas Maxwell, secretary.
On March 28, 1837, the society was reincorporated by act of the legislature. James Pumpelly, Anson Camp, Ezra Canfield. Francis Armstrong, Stephen Strong, Henry McCormick, Ira Clizbe, John Coryell, Erastus Goodrich, Asa Wolverton, Ira Woodford, Russell Gridley, Henry Miller, George Fisher. Stephen Wells, Jr., Ezekiel Rich, David Williams, Horatio Col- lins, Joseph T. Waldo, Abram Hotchkiss, Otis Lincoln, Nicholas Schoonover, Samuel Mills, Isaac Shepard and William Platt. "and such persons as might thereafter be associated with them." were made a body corporate by the name of the Tioga County Agricultural Society. The act was to continue in force twenty years, and the society was empowered to hold and convey real estate not exceeding in value $5,000.00. Thomas Farrington was chosen president of the society. The first fair was held in Octo- ber, 1841, on land owned by James Pumpelly, at the northwest corner of Main and McMaster streets, in Owego. Annual fairs were held for six successive years. The last one, in 1846, was a failure, owing to some dissatisfaction because one exhibitor who owned some very fine horses had received all the best premiums.
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