USA > New York > Tioga County > Historical gazetter of Tioga County, New York, 1785-1888. Pt. 1 > Part 31
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TOWN OF NICHOLS.
house, which he built for the convenience of his business, werc removed, leaving an unbroken line of residences on that street, and a continuous line of view up the street. The D. L. & W. railroad, which was built in 1882, passed through the village between the street and the river, destroying the succession of fine orchards which formed the background of the village in that direction. In their place we have the railroad depot with its usual adjuncts. Mr. John Fenderson has built a steam-mill near the depot, and a creamery has also been established by a Mr. Baker, from New York city. Immense quantities of lumber, bark, and pressed hay, and other produce, are constantly shipped to New York, and the business done here is probably greater than at any other station between Binghamton and Elmira. But with all its benefits it has not been altogether advantageous. It has cut up some of our farms very much to their injury, and its frequent crossings of the highway has nearly spoiled the fine drive up and down the river.
HOOPER'S VALLEY .- In 1828, Thomas Pearsall, with two brothers, Gilbert and Nathaniel Pearsall, came to Nichols from Chenango county, and purchased landed estate along the river, a mile and a half below the village. He built mills on the river, opened a store and invested largely in the lumber trade, and at the same time became instrumental in getting up the Nichols and Smithboro Bridge Company. These various enterprises in- volved the employment of a great many hands, and brought to- gether a great many persons. mechanics and laboring men, and a little village soon sprang up along the street facing the river- the handsome house of Mr. Pearsall standing at the lower ex- tremity. This village, which was supposed to be the beginning of a much larger one, which might in time rival its neighbor at the corner, received the name of Hooper's. Valley, in honor of the original patentec. But Mr. Pearsall failed in business; the store was closed and the mill changed hands. Many persons who had purchased village lots gave them up and went elsewhere, and the growth of the village ceased. Gilbert Pearsall, however, retained possession of the real estate, and the village, in the midst of a rich farming country, maintained its existence. The mills were purchased by Mr. Higley who, in their place, estab- lished a fulling-mill and carding machine. These were a few years after destroyed by fire. The almost total cessation of the domestic manufacture of woolens in the town, rendered fulling- mills no longer profitable or even necessary. Mr. Dunham's had
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some time before ceased work, and Mr. Higley's were never re- built. In 1854, a postoffice was established at Hooper's Valley for the benefit of the lower part of the town, which has, from that circumstance, come to be known by the name of the village, in the neighboring towns. In 1875, Mr. L. Burr Pearsall, a son ot Gilbert Pearsall, built the steam saw and planing-mill now in operation there. He also built, some years before, a handsome dwelling house at the upper end of the village. Hooper's Val- ley is now a busy little village, with a public school and several shops and some pretty houses, although it does not promise ever to become much larger than at present. Mr. Thomas Pearsall was .the principal agent in the formation of the Nichols and Smithboro Bridge Company, which built the first bridge over the Susquehanna, in 1831. It was destroyed by a freshet the ensuing winter. It was rebuilt, to be again swept away in 1837. It was again rebuilt, but remained standing only until 1865, when the excessive floods of that year again swept it away a third time. Being of the utmost importance to the town and village of Nichols, especially after the building of the Erie railway, it was immediately rebuilt. It was, however, doomed to final de- struction by the waters. In 18So, the northern half of it was carried away. The building of the D. L. & W. railroad the next spring, on the Nichols side of the river, made the bridge to Smithboro no longer a necessity, and it was not again rebuilt. As the mails, however, still continued to be brought on the Eric road, a rope ferry was established near the place where the bridge had stood.
Mr. Nenemiah Platt died in 1850. He had been a politician of some note, and was at one time a member of the State Senate from the sixth senatorial district. He had a large family, to whom he left a considerable estate. His eldest son is a citizen of Nich- ols, occupying the house of his grandfather. His own house is occupied by his son-in-law, Dr. G. P. Cady.
Dr. Barstow died in 1865 at the age of eighty years. He was well known in both state and county political circles, and his career at home is identified with the history of the village, and for a considerable period with that of the town. In all things done for its improvement he had an interest and took a pride in its development. During his fifty years' residence here he had scen many and great changes, and many of them he had helped to bring about. But he outlived most of his contemporaries, and was wont to complain somewhat sadly of the loneliness of his old
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age. He had the misfortune to outlive both his sons. His eldest, Samuel Barstow, was educated as a lawyer, and going west set- tled in the city of Detroit, Mich. Here he acquired considerable eminence as a lawyer, and was for some years a man of influence in that city, but died in 1854. He left a son who outlived his grandfather, but died unmarried at the age of twenty-six years. The second son, John C. Barstow, who was at one time the vil- lage postmaster, died unmarried at his father's house in 1862. His life was saddened by these domestic losses, and also by the war of the rebellion which swept away many young relatives in whom, in the absence of sons of his own, he took a pride. The Coryell and Barstow families that from their numbers and long residence in the town exercised, at one time, a controlling influ- ence in its affairs, have now nearly disappeared. The few that remain of the first seem destined to become fewer, while of the second but two of the name now survive in the town where there were once large families. The same, however, may be said of other large families in the town. Dr. Barstow did not leave a large property. His house was left as a life possession to his second daughter, who still occupies it with a tenant.
The town of Nichols has sent fifteen members to the assemby, seven of her citizens having filled that position. Besides those already mentioned, Ezra Canfield was elected in 1837. Wright Dunham in 1829 and '39, John Coryell in 1838. Five of her citi- zens have filled the office of sheriff, three of them by the popular vote. She has also sent two members to the state senate, one to congress, and one of her citizens was twice elected treasurer of the state, and four have occupied a place on the bench of judges. The town was well represented in the late war, a large number of young men having enlisted, many of whom were among the " unreturning brave." Two died at Andersonville. Two of its citizens held slaves: Judge Coryell, one man, and Major Platt, a man and his wife and daughter. The men left their masters as soon as the law made them free. The females remained, and the old woman was cared for by the Platt family as long as she lived.
Although the absence of manufactures at the village has pre- vented it from growing rapidly, it has constantly increased in extent, in population, material wealth and in beauty of appearance. It has changed from a hamlet, to a beautiful and well-kept village. Its streets are well laid out, clean and shaded through- out with fine trees. Old and unsightly buildings have been removed and in their places we have neat and handsome dwell-
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ings with pleasant yards and gardens. No disaster either of nature or fortune has ever checked its progress. Its citizens have been singularly fortunate with regard to fires. No dwelling has ever been burned within the limits of the village. With the exception of the late Mr. Kirby's store, which was burned in :$$2, three or four shops are all that have been destroyed by fire. One of these, however, involved the loss of the records as we have stated. The business of the town continued to increase, and our citizens even looked forward to a time when the railroad might bring manufactures to them that would change our village to a flourishing town. The disastrous failure of a private bank in a neighboring town, in which most of the business men were interested. has, however, brought a cloud over its horizon, and interposed what we can only hope will be a temporary check to its prosperity. The population of the village at present is about 400. The want of accuracy in dates in the foregoing sketch is owing partly to the destruction of the town records as mentioned, and partly to the passing away of the entire generation of those whose recollections might have assisted those of the writer.
MANUFACTURES.
L. Burr Pearsall's Circular Saw, Planing and Shingle-Mill was built by Gilbert Pearsall in 1876. It is situated just off the River road at Hoopers Valley, is run by steam power and has a capacity of 10,000 feet in ten hours. It has also a feed run; em- ploys seven men, and is under the supervision of the proprietor who is also largely engaged in farming.
Dunham's Grist-Alill on Wappasening creek was built by Henry, Wright and Ebenezer Dunham, brothers, about 1822-23. It is run by water power, with two runs of stones, doing mostly cus- tom work. It has facilities for manufacturing flour. It is now owned and run by Caleb Wright.
Hunt's Saw and Grist- Mills on road 37; were built by Adonijah Hunt in 1884. The first mills on this site were built by his father, Jonathan Hunt, Jr., and were carried away by high water in IS83. The circular saw-mill has a capacity of 5,000 feet in ten hours. The custom mill has three runs of stones, and facilities for grinding buckwheat.
"The Nicttols Steam Flour, Saw and Planing-Mills were built by John Fenderson in 1885. They are located near the D. L. & W. R. R. depot, off River street and adjacent to the railroad tracks. 21*
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The flour mill has two runs of stones and roller capacity for fifty barrels a day, a specialty is made of buckwheat grinding in its season. The circular saw and planing-mill has a capacity of 10,000 feet per day.
The Nichols Creamery was established in the spring of 1887, and was first in operation on May 5th, of that year. It was built and is conducted by W. and R. B. Baker, and has a capacity for 20,000 lbs. of milk per day. It is situated near the river and convenient to the D. L. & W. R. R. depot. It has an engine of ten horse- power, a Danish-Weston seperator and all the modern equipments.
CHURCHES.
The few clergymen that found their way into the country at an early day were Methodist ministers from the Baltimore confer- ence. They were always made welcome and the houses of the people thrown open to them to preach in. But their visits were few and far between, and the inhabitants of the country com- monly devoted their Sundays to visiting, which, as they had little leisure during the week and nothing else to do on Sunday, was not perhaps, surprising. Books were scarce in most families, newspapers in many, probably nearly unknown. In 1817 one of the Methodist conferences extended its boundaries so as to take in a part of the State of New York, and the entire town of Tioga was included in a circuit. #A church was organized in the lower part of the town, south of the river with five members. They had no pastor over them in the modern sense of the term, but two minis- ters " rode the circuit," preaching two successive Sundays alter- nately in the same place. The Rev. John Griffing was one of the first preachers. They preached in school houses, private houses, or barns, or in the open air ; whenever they could bring the peo- ple together to hear them. The first church in the town was the old Asbury Methodist church. It was built in 1822, on land given by Judge Coryell on the lower border of his estate ; a plot of ground above the church being set off and reserved by him as a burial ground for himself and family.
The ground below was given by Mr. Palmer for a common burial ground. This church was filled for many years every Sun- day with a good congregation, but it gradually diminished with
*It is maintained and on good authority, that a Methodist class was formed several years prior to this date by Benjamin Loun-berry, Sr., Thomas White and Adonijah Westcott, all young men, and that their first meetings were held in a school-house which stood on the north side of the River road just below the Riverside Cemetery.
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the disappearance of some of the old families, till it became a question as to whether the services there should not be discon- tinued. It has, however, increased again, and there is now a con- gregation, and a Sunday-school is kept up a part of the year. In 1824 the Rev. Horace Agard was sent on to the circuit. He was a preacher of some talent, and was much liked by the people. Hle finally purchased a few acres of land and built a modest cot- tage just below what is now Hooper's Valley, and located his family there permanently. His health failed and he was obliged to abandon active work some years before his death, which occurred in 1850. As a citizen of our town he was much respected. After his death his widow and family went to the State of Iowa. Nichols was made a station with a resident minister in 1835.
The first church in the village of Nichols, now known as the Methodist church, was built in 1829. The ground which it occu- pies, which seemed to afford a more eligible site for the purpose than any other in the village, was secured to the town by the liberality of Major Platt. It had been in possession of Squire Joseph Webster, of Windham, Pa., by whom it was conveyed to the town in accordance with an arrangement made by Major Platt with him and Mr. Sylvenus Dunham. This latter gentleman had made a contract with Major Platt for the purchase of a piece of ground on which to build a house. Major Platt made a deed of this land to Mr. Dunham, in consideration of which Mr. Dunham conveyed to Squire Webster a piece of land which he owned in Windham, near or adjacent to that gentleman's farm, who in his turn, deeded the lot in Nichols to the trustees of the church. Whether this arrangement was made before the death of Major Platt, or by some provision of his will, cannot now be told ; prob ably, however, it was by the latter, as Major Platt died in 1824, and the final deed was not signed until just before the death of Squire Webster, in 1831. The church was built by contributions from the inhabitants of the town generally, who gave on the ex- press condition that the church should be free for all denomi- nations of Christians to preach in. It was built by contract, by Mr. Hezekiah Dunham, of Windham, Pa., for two thousand dol- lars, excepting the foundation, which was a separate affair, and built by the men of the town coming together, bringing stone and employing the proper mechanics and rendering general help. In this way a foundation was laid as strong as brick and mortar could make it. A box was enclosed in the corner stone contain- ing a list of the trustees of the church, of the town officers for
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the year, the names of the governor and lieut-governor of the state, and the president and vice- president of the nation, and per- haps some other documents. There were also copies of the cur_ rent numbers of the county papers, whatever they may have been. The names of the trustees were Emanuel Coryell, Nehemiah Platt, Gamaliel H. Barstow, Ezra Canfield, John Cassel, Peter Joslin, Jonathan Hunt, Edwin Ripley, Wright Dunham, John Petts, Sylvester Knapp, Cyrus Field, Daniel Ferguson, Justus Brown and James Thurston. These men, who represented nearly every part of the town, have all passed away. "One of them, Sylvester Knapp, was from Smithboro, from which we infer that Smithboro helped to build the church.
On this foundation Mr. Dunham erected a superstructure which has now stood fifty-eight years without showing any sign of weakness or decay. Lumber was then plenty and cheap, and the frame was constructed of large and solid pine timbers of great strength, the beams of the front of the tower extending from the foundation up. It was built after the fashion of the times, with a high pulpit at the end of the auditorium towards the entrance, and galleries that would seat nearly as many persons as the floor below. It was dedicated the next winter, although there was no means of warming it then, nor for some time after. The dedicatory sermon was preached by the Rev. Mr. Platt, pastor of the Presbyterian church at Athens, Pa. The Methodists presently removed their preaching place from the old school- house to the church, which they have continued to occupy from that time, preaching for many years but once a day, and that in the afternoon, while any others desiring to use it, had the morn- ing hours. The house being free was used not only by all de- nominations of Christians, orthodox and others, but for almost every other purpose for which a public building was necessary, exhibitions, concerts, public meetings of all kinds, including political. A Mormon even, on one occasion, found his way into the pulpit. As a consequence the church was ill kept, ill cared for, and often neglected. There were, from time to time, some alterations made in the interior to render it more comfortable for ministers and people, and in 1858 it was put in very good repair with some farther alterations, and the trustees grew rather more careful about allowing such indiscriminate use of it as had been the custom. In 1871 the interior was entirely remodeled in ac- cordance with the modern style of church building. The gal- leries were removed. the seats reversed, stained glass windows
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put in, and twenty feet added in the rear to make room for a pipe organ, in front of which a simple desk supplied the place of a pulpit. The bell was purchased in 1867. during the pastorate of the Rev. Asa Brooks. At this time also, the time of preaching was changed from afternoon to morning.
During the pastorate of the Rev. George Comfort, in 1873, the church was regularly incorporated as the First Methodist church of Nichols, although it is still a free church, open to any who may wish to preach there at any hour not already occupied. The Presbyterians we shall have occasion immediately to speak of. Other denominations have, at different times, made some attempts to establish themselves here, but without success.
In 1843, died Miss. Sidney Coryell, an umarried daughter of Judge Coryell, who, with a sister, also unmarried, and her mother had been inhabitants of our village since 1835. This lady left no will, but requested before her death that a portion, at least, of her property should be given to the Methodist church at Nich- ols, of which she was a member. Her friends consenting, her wish was carried out by her sister, the next summer, by the pur- chase of the Methodist parsonage lot of Mr. Nehemiah Platt, for the sum of nine hundred dollars. There was then but one house standing on it, which was occupied as a parsonage until IS71, when the present parsonage was built. Two or three years later the lot was divided and the town half sold to Mr. Babcock.
The Presbyterians had no church in Nichols until after the erection of the church building in 1829. A church was then organized with thirteen members. Their first pastor was the Rev. Mr. Ripley. an old gentleman with no family, who found a home with some one of his members. He remained but one year, and was succeeded by the Rev. Ira Smith, who, with a large family, served the church two years on the very moderate salary of two hundred dollars, with the addition, probably, of the rent of a house. After his departure the church was for many years without a regular pastor. The pulpit was occasionally filled by ministers from the neighboring towns, and for a few years sub- sequent to 1844, for the period is not precisely remembered, the Rev. John Gibbs, a retired minister, who came into the town as a resident, officiated as pastor. In 1859, the Rev. Henry Carpen- ter was hired and remained two years, and was succeeded by the Rev. George M. Life. This gentleman was a native of Virginia. but being loyal to the Union, he left the state on the breaking out of the war, and came to the residence of his brother, who
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was also a clergyman, in Muncey, Pa. Hearing, while at this place, of their want of a pastor at the church at Nichols, he came here and was hired by the trustees of the church, and remained here eight years. He had no great talents as a preacher, but made himself very acceptable as a pastor and as a financier in church matters. It was during his pastorate that the Presbyte- rian church edifice was built. It was done, too, just after the close of the war, when the hard times rendered the accomplish- ment of such an enterprise almost hopeless. It was built and finished, however, and dedicated in the fall of 1867. He-married a lady of some wealth, in Muncey, and just after the completion of the church, built himself a very handsome private residence, which, at his departure from the town, in 1870, was purchased by the church for a parsonage. Since that time the pulpit has been occupied by a succession of preachers. Mr. Life may be said to have built up the church by giving it a " local habitation" and standing in the town, which it had not had before. The River Valley Methodist church was built in 1873, on ground given by Jonathan Hunt, during the pastorate of the Rev. Mr. Comfort, a few miles up the river.
The first graves in Nichols were made on a knoll on the river not far from the house of the late Henry Coryell. These graves have long since disappeared. Major Platt had a private cemetery on his farm up the river, where for many years those of the Platt family who deceased were buried. Caleb Wright also buried his dead on his own farm. The first village cemetery, or " burying- ground" as it was called, was the gift of Mr. Wright to the town. It was a piece of ground comprising less than an acre, at the upper end of his farm. It was a few years ago enlarged by the purchase of a small piece of ground from Daily Dunham. The private cemetery of the Dunham family, which was laid out some time afterward, joins it on the upper end. This ground served as a place of interment for our village for many years, and it is still sometimes used. The Riverside Cemetery associa- · tion was regularly incorporated, June 1, 1861, by the inhabitants of the upper part of the town. The cemetery consists of one acre lying on that part of the public road that runs along the river bank, about three or four miles above the village. The Nichols cemetery. lying rather more than a mile below the village was established by an association incorporated February. IO, 1876. These cemeteries are well laid and well kept and supply a want that had long been felt in the town.
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TOWN OF OWEGO.
0 WEGO .* the shire town of Tioga county, is situated in the southeast corner of the same, and is bounded north by New- ark Valley, east and south by the county line, and west by Nichols, Tioga, and a small part of Candor. At the time the county was organized, February 16, 1791, the territory comprised in the present town of Owego was a part of the town of Union, which then included within its limits the present towns of Berk- shire, Newark Valley, Owego, and Richford, in Tioga county, and also territory in the present counties of Broome and Che- nango. The original town of Owego at that time lay west-of the Owego creek, and included the present towns of Candor, Nichols, Tioga, and Spencer, and all of Barton except that portion lying west of Cayuta creek, together with the towns of Caroline, Dan- by, and Newfield, (then called Cayuta), in Tompkins county.
On the 14th of March, 1800, the present town of Owego was organized from Union and named Tioga, and when Broome county was organized on March 22, 1806, the town became a part of her territory. The disadvantages of having a town of Owego on the west side of the Owego creek, and a village of Owego in the town of Tioga on the east side of the creek were such that in the revision of the statutes, in IS13, the names of the towns of Owego and Tioga were exchanged, the one for the other, as they now exist.
The town of Owego again became a part of Tioga county, March 22, 1822, when all the territory that had been taken with Broome county in 1806, was restored to Tioga.
Old Indian Boundary Lines. -- An undeniably correct account of the early land grants and of the first occupation of the territory included within the limits of the present town of Owego, together with the acquisition of the tract of eighteen square miles of land by James McMaster, now known as the McMaster Half Township, on which Owego stands, has been already given in this work. The abandonment of the hunting grounds on the Susquehanna river and the gradual occupancy of the land by white settlers from the Eastern States followed.
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