USA > New York > Cayuga County > History of Cayuga County, New York > Part 21
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Cayuga County formed a part of what was called the "Onondaga Military Tract" embracing the present counties of Cayuga, Seneca, Onondaga, Cortland and parts of Wayne, Steuben and Oswego which was set apart for the payment of land bounties to the soldiers of the Revolution, Congress having enacted on September 16, 1776, a law making provision for granting lands to the officers and soldiers "who shall engage in the Military Service of the United States and
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continue therein until the close of the war, or until discharged by Congress, and to the representatives of such officers and soldiers as shall be slain by the enemy. Such land to be provided by the United States with all the expense necessary to procure such lands viz., to a Colonel , 500 acres; to a Lieutenant-Colonel, 450 acres ; to a Major, 400 acres; to a Captain, 300 acres; to an Ensign, 100 acres; Non-Commissioned Officers and Privates, 100 acres."
By an act of August 12, 1780, Congress made the following provisions for higher officers, namely, to a major-general, 1,100 acres; to a brigadier-general, 850 acres.
The Legislature of this state on March 27, 1783 after referring to the above action of Congress resolved as follows: "And whereas the Legislature of this state are willing to take upon themselves the said engagement of Congress, so far as it relates to the line of this state, but likewise as a gratuity to the said line, and to evince the just sense this Legislature entertains of the patriotism and virtue of the troops of the state, serving in the Army of the United States. Resolved therefore, that besides the bounty of land so provided as aforesaid, the Legislature will by law provide that the Major-Generals and Brigadier-Generals now serving in the line of the Army of the United States and being citizens of this state, and the officers, Non- Commissioned Officers and Privates of the two regiments of infantry commanded by Colonels Van Schaick and Van Cortland such officers of the Regiment of the Artillery commanded by Colonel Lamb, and of the Corps Sappers and Miners as were, when they entered the service, inhabitants of the state; such Non-Commissioned Officers and Privates of the said last mentioned two corps, as are credited to this state as part of the troops thereof : all officers designated by acts of Congress subsequent to the 16th of September, 1776; all officers recommended by Congress as persons whose depreciation of pay ought to be made good by this state, and who may hold com- missions in the line of the army at the close of the war; and the Reverend John Mason and John Gans shall severally have granted
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to them the following quantities of land, to wit : To a Major-Gen- eral, 5,500 acres; to a Brigadier-General, 4,250 acres; to a Colonel, 2,500 . acres; to a Lieutenant-Colonel, 2,250 acres; to a Major 2,000 acres; to a Captain and Surgeon, 1,500 acres; to a Chaplain, 2,000 acres; to every Subaltern and Surgeon's Mate, 1,000 acres ; to every Non-commissioned Officer and Private, 500 acres.
On March 20, 1781, the Legislature of the state of New York authorized the raising of two regiments for the defence of the frontiers, and offered a bounty to the officers and men, equal to five times the grant of the United States.
An act of March 28, 1783, provided that the bounty lands in this state should be laid out in townships six miles square; each township to be divided into one hundred and fifty-six lots of one hundred and fifty acres each. Two of these lots were to be reserved for the use of a school or schools and two for the use of the minister or ministers. Every settler was obliged to improve five acres out of each one hundred awarded to him, within five years after this grant was made if he purchased from the original grantee, but if the grantee reserved his land, he was given ten years in which to make such improvements.
There was great delay in surveying the land and making the awards, and the soldiers clamored loudly for their rights. The law was changed and modified until finally the Legislature empow- ered the commissioners of the Land Office to direct the surveyor- general to lay out as many townships in the Military tract as would be sufficient to satisfy the claims of all who were entitled to grants of land.
The several townships were to be mapped and subdivided into lots of six hundred acres each, numbered from one upward. Fifty acres in one corner of each lot was made subject to a charge of ยท forty-eight shillings to meet the cost of the survey, and if not paid within two years the land was to be sold. Furthermore, six lots were reserved in each township, one for the promotion of the Gospel
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and public schools; one for the promotion of literature and four to equalize fractional differences and to compensate for land covered by water.
One million eight hundred thousand acres were set apart for this purpose on the Indian lands in the western part of the state. The tract was surveyed and mapped as speedily as possible, and on July 3, 1790, twenty-six townships were reported as surveyed, mapped and numbered. The townships were as follows, in the order of their official number:
Lysander, Hannibal, Cato, Brutus, Camillus, Cicero, Manlius, Aurelius, Marcellus, Pompey, Romulus, Scipio, Sempronius, Tully, Fabius, Ovid, Milton, Locke, Homer, Solon, Hector, Ulysses, Dryden, Virgil, Cincinnatus and Junius.
Galen was added in 1792, to meet the demands of grants to hospitals, and Sterling was added in 1795, to satisfy additional claims for bounty lands. This brought the number of Military townships up to twenty-eight.
In February, 1791, the commissioners began to draw lots for the claimants, and the distribution was continued at intervals for a period of two years, and great annoyance arose from conflicting claimants. Some of the soldiers sold their grants as soon as they got them, some even before the drawing; others sold their awards to different purchasers, and the result was a large amount of litiga- tion extending over several years.
In 1794 an act was passed to prevent any more of the frauds by which titles to Military lands had been decided to be illegal. This law required that all. the existing deeds, conveyances and contracts for the Military lands should be deposited with the clerk of the county at Albany. Any not so deposited by a specified date were to be declared fraudulent. Cayuga County as it exists had not then been erected and there was no local registry office for deeds of these lands within its borders.
So general and widespread was the confusion in land titles
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that the courts could not dispose of the accumulated cases, and the Legislature was compelled to appoint a commission to hear and settle all cases of disputed Military land titles. Even then years lapsed before the docket was cleared and those titles finally settled.
The "balloting book" containing the names of the several claimants and the lots drawn by each, also the "book of awards" in which were entered the findings of the commissioners and the dissents therefrom, are filed in the office of the county clerk of this county, and date back to 1798.
Very few of the Revolutionary soldiers, who were entitled to land grants in this county ever settled here, most of them selling the right to their awards. A few, however, became actual settlers.
Among the early emigrants there were evidently some friends and admirers of Aaron Burr, for it is stated upon good authority that when he set out upon his mission to conquer Mexico there were men from Cayuga County among his adherents at Blennerhasset.
SOME EARLY SETTLEMENT ON THE OLD GENESEE ROAD IN AURELIUS,
CAYUGA COUNTY, N. Y., IN 1791 AND '92.
Paper read before the Cayuga County Historical Society by David M. Dunning, Auburn, N. Y., February, 1890.
My attention having been called by our townsman, General John S. Clark, to the existence of an old journal of travels, kept by Doctor Alexander Coventry, one of the original settlers near Geneva, N. Y., which described several trips over the Genesee road in 1791 and '92 from Geneva to Hudson, it occurred to me that such portions of this journal as pertained to the present site of Auburn and some of the earlier settlements in this vicinity might prove of local interest at the present time.
Doctor Coventry was a native of Hamilton, Scotland, studied medicine and graduated, received his diploma as M. D., emigrated to the United States, and settled first in Columbia County near Hudson.
In 1791, himself, and one John Cully made a journey of explora-
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tion on horseback to the Military Tract, via Cherry Valley and Owego.
They left Geneva on their return, July 7, 1791, via the Genesee road opened a year or two previous.
The journal kept of this trip and several subsequent trips is in possession of Dr. Coventry's descendants, now residing at Geneva, N. Y., General Clark having made a copy of the same from which he has kindly permitted me to quote.
On the day referred to, July 7, 1791, the journal first describes the trip from Geneva to Cayuga Lake, and the difficulties of crossing the same in a scow with their horses to Harris's who had already made a settlement on the east side of Cayuga Lake, and kept the ferry at this point; Mr. Harris was the first settler on the Genesee road in the present Cayuga County.
The journal continues the journey eastward as follows: "Met Mr. Ten Brock at Harris's and we set out together, about 11:00 A. M. ; found a large wagon road, which went due east and was good riding for about a mile where the oak grows, which is a clayey soil, beyond that it is linden, maple, beech, etc., a good soil, but deep sod for about three miles or less, when you come to open oak woods, and there is a small hill somewhat stony on your right hand, and here the lime stone lies in clusters in some places; towards the east end of this, you come to the appearance of an Indian clearing, with a bunch of young poplars to your left; a little further on, you come to a house which is about 5 miles from Cayuga ferry, and mostly due east; this house stands on the eastern edge of the oak woods; after a few rods, you cross a small brook, and about two miles further through linden, beech, and maple, you come to the Outlet of Owasco, which is a considerable creek about 3 rods wide. Here cross the Outlet in lot 46, after which the road runs to the north."
The journey is thence described from the Outlet north and east, giving a general description of the soil, timber and lay of the land,
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until their arrival at the settlement of Mr. Buck, near the present village of Elbridge, with whom they remained over night.
Mr. Buck at this point was the first settler on the Genesee road between Onondaga Hollow and Seneca Lake.
Beyond this the journal of this trip contains nothing of local interest, except their meeting of Captain Hardenbergh at his sur- veyor's camp, at Onondaga flats, and his joining them on a visit to the salt works about six and a half miles to the north, which was the present site of Syracuse. On their return from the salt works, they were very kindly entertained by Captain Hardenbergh and his companion Mr. DeWitt.
An important feature of this trip is the establishment of a settle- ment in July 1791, about two miles west of the Owasco Outlet, and a few rods west of a small brook. The location can be no other than the present site of the large brick farm on the north side of Genesee street, near the western city limits, and the date was, at least, one year prior to the settlement of Hardenbergh at the crossing of the Owasco Outlet, which has heretofore been supposed to be the earliest settlement on the present site of Auburn.
It was also the only settlement at that time between Cayuga Lake and Elbridge, a distance of some eighteen miles.
It is to be regretted that Doctor Coventry did not mention the name of this early settler. The large brick house, now standing upon the spot, was built by Zenas Huggins, about the year 1804, and was occupied by him for some thirty years thereafter, being well known as one of the old country taverns on this important thoroughfare. Investigation in reference to this early settlement discloses as follows:
The early town records of Aurelius in describing a road survey in 1795, which was a change in the old Genesee road, show that John Huggins, then lived at this point, and other records in 1795 and 1796, mention John Huggins Senior, John Huggins Junior and Zenas Huggins, as early settlers.
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And examination for titles shows as follows :-
First we have the Book of Awards, which is a record of the Board of Commissioners, appointed by the State to settle all disputes among various claimants to lots in the Military Tract, many of the soldiers having sold their lots over and over again.
This gives lot 55, Aurelius, which covers this spot, to John M. Mason of New York City, on April 4, 1800. Next we have a deed December 3, 1802, from John M. Mason, D.D., of New York City to William Huggins, merchant of Granville, Washington County, N. Y., for one hundred and fifty acres, taken in a square from the north- east corner of this lot, the consideration being $375.00. The title for this one hundred and fifty acres then passes from William Huggins of Granville, Washington County, N. Y., to John Huggins Jr., of Aurelius, N. Y., on March 28, 1803, for the same consideration ; and John Huggins Jr., sells, the same year, from this one hundred and fifty acres the fifty acres on which this early settlement was made, to Zenas Huggins, who occupied it as before stated for some thirty years.
Some years ago, while driving over these premises, which are now a portion of the Dunning farm, with our venerable friend, the late Doctor Richard Steel, I mentioned the fact to him of the early settlement there in 1791, and the record of John Huggins there in 1795, and asked him if he could throw any light on the question as to who was there in 1791.
He replied that it was a somewhat remarkable coincidence, under the circumstances, that he should know anything about it but the Huggins family came from Granville, Washington County, this state, where he, (Doctor Steel) was born in 1796, and had lived until he was thirteen years old, and he had often heard, during his boy- hood, of John Huggins, who was unfortunate in business affairs, and to escape imprisonment for debt, went off into the Genesee country for retirement. Doctor Steel himself came to Auburn in 1817, but said that he had never mentioned this circumstance to
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anyone, although he had known for years the two sons, John Jr. and Zenas, of whom he spoke very highly as prominent men in the early affairs of our country.
Of course, this does not fully establish John Huggins as the 1791 settler, but the probabilities are very strong that he was the man.
On Doctor Coventry's return to Geneva in March, 1792, the por- tion of his journal while passing through Aurelius is missing, but he made the trip east again in April, 1792, and thus describes the journey, after leaving Cayuga Lake, which was on Thursday, April, 26, 1792 :
"Set out about 11:00 A. M. ; found the road pretty wet, but not so bad as I expected. Two new settlements made since last winter. A good deep soil, but clay bottom west of the Outlet, but as soon as you cross that, it is in general a most excellent soil, with a free lively soil at three feet depth, and deep black on top; considerable hemlock wood, and the country more uneven, and some places, pretty stony for this country. Causeways and bridges float off, and a number of trees fallen across the road so as to render it impossible for carriages, without a deal of trouble. Arrived at Buck's about an hour before sunset." From this we find two more settlements added in the spring of '92, on the eighteen-mile stretch between Cayuga Lake and Elbridge probably neither of them, Hardenbergh nor Dr. Coventry, would have mentioned the name.
Another eastward trip was started on Saturday, 7th of July, 1792, which possesses an item of interest for us as it makes the first reference on record to the settlement of Hardenbergh, the journal reading as follows:
"Set out about 10 A. M. for Albany, found the road good for about six miles, then muddy to Cayuga Lake. The boat being on the other side, was obliged to cross the lake in a canoe, with one Parker. It was considerable rough; paid 2 s. ferriage and baiting.
17
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Baited again at Major John Hardenbergh's, when met VanCeldon, and rode to Buck's which reached after sunset."
This reference to Major Hardenbergh, would seem to locate him at his forest home on the Owasco Outlet, as early as July, 1792, which is about one year prior to the time heretofore accepted as the date of his settlement here and as given by so good an authority as Hall's History of Auburn. This date, I understand, has been confirmed by family papers and letters, recently discovered.
General Clark has collected many interesting facts in reference to the arrangements for, and the opening of the Genesee road, in 1789 and 1790, which it seems was commenced by state aid, but very materially assisted by emigrants to the Genesee country in which the Wadsworths, who settled there in those years, rendered valuable assistance. This material would form a valuable historical paper of itself. This road was the first public road opened in New York State west of Utica.
I notice one especially interesting point of local history to us from Judge Porter, who was prominent in the early history of the Genesee country where he had some milling interests near Canan- daigua; Judge Porter made several trips between that point and Albany in those years, and in after years gave an account of the opening of the Genesee road, in which he writes as follows: "In February, 1791, I left again for the West; I made the journey in company with John Fellows, son of General Fellows, and two others, in a two-horse sleigh.
"At that time the only white settlements between Westmore- land and the Seneca Lake, were at Onondaga Hollow, where General Danforth and Comfort Taylor had settled, and at what is now Elbridge, where Mr. Buck had located himself. On this journey we encamped for the night in a fine hemlock grove, on the east side of Owasco Outlet, where Auburn now stands." That was ninety-nine years ago this month. Perhaps this is the anni- versary of the occasion.
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CHAPTER XV.
Formation of County-Its Soil, Minerals and Products-The Salt Industry- Erection of Towns.
Cayuga County was formed from Onondaga March 8, 1799, and then embraced Seneca and Tompkins counties. Geographically, this county lies about equi-distant from Albany on the east, and Buffalo on the west. It is the easternmost of the lake counties, having Skaneateles Lake on its eastern border, Owasco Lake in the interior, and Cayuga Lake upon the west, with Lake Ontario on its northern boundary. The counties of Oswego, Onondaga and Cortland being on the east, Tompkins on the south and Seneca and Wayne on the west. It extends from north to south fifty-five miles, with an average breadth of fourteen miles, and embraces an area of seven hundred and sixty square miles, exclusive of one hundred and sixty square miles of the waters of Lake Ontario, or 486,400 acres.
The drainage of the county is in a general northerly direction. The waters are discharged into Lake Ontario with exception of the streams diverted southward by the table lands in the town of Scipio and the watersheds of part of Sempronius and Summer Hill. The surface of the county generally is either level or rolling and is sus- ceptible of easy cultivation. The only exceptions are the hills that border the valleys of the Salmon creeks in the towns of Venice and Genoa, and those in Niles, Moravia, Locke, Summer Hill and Sempronius.
Cayuga County is noted for its beautiful lakes, of which the most important are Ontario, Cayuga, and Owasco. Cayuga Lake on the southwestern border of the county is forty miles long and in places, exceeds three miles in width. It is three hundred and
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eighty-seven feet above tide water. Owasco Lake is seven hundred and seventy feet above the sea level and has a length of ten and three-fourths miles with an extreme width of one and a fourth miles. It lies entirely within the county. Cross Lake, which is about five miles in length by one in width, is formed by the widening of the Seneca river over a shallow basin. It lies in the northeastern part of the county. Besides these there are Duck Lake, Mud Pond, Otter Lake, Parker Lake and Summer Hill Lake.
The Seneca river is the largest stream in the county, although the Owasco Outlet is the most useful-itself a branch of the Seneca. The Seneca receives the entire drainage of the immense watersheds that feed the Canandaigua, Seneca, Cayuga and Skaneateles lakes. Its volume varies considerably with the seasons. The principal streams in the south part of the county are the Cayuga Inlet and the Big and Little Salmon creeks.
The soil varies greatly in different parts of the county, and is consequently adapted to the successful cultivation of the various products adaptable to the belt of Central New York. The four southeastern towns, Moravia, Locke, Summer Hill and Sempronius, as well as a part of Niles, are better adapted to pasturage and dairy products than to grain, while the towns to the north of and including Owasco, Fleming and Aurelius-excepting the Seneca River basin - are largely composed of drift hills, bearing a deep soil. They were formerly covered with a heavy growth of timber, and they are still undiminished in productiveness after being cultivated for a century. They produce grass and cereals with equal luxuriance, but this is the great grain producing section of the county.
The principal fruit producing localities lie along the borders of the lakes, but fine fruits are grown in nearly every town in the county.
Valuable minerals underlie the soil in some parts of the county. In the town of Brutus, plaster beds have been worked and there is
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no doubt but that the native material is here for a large industry in this product, but it is not carried on. Sennett is rich in lime- stone, and in Auburn the Onondaga limestone has been quarried extensively for public and private uses. Montezuma is underlaid with the rocks of the Onondaga salt group, the red shale of which makes it appearance along the canal to the west of Port Byron. This group contains all the gypsum masses of Western New York and furnishes all the salt water of the salines of the counties of Cayuga and Onondaga. Several brine springs exist in and about the village of Montezuma. The springs were known to the Indians, who showed them to the first white settlers. The brine was origi- nally obtained by digging small holes in the ground a foot or two in depth in the marsh at the foot of the ridge upon which the village of Montezuma is situated. Subsequently, wells were sunk to the depth of forty or fifty feet by the whites, from which brine was obtained in sufficient quantities for the manufacture of salt.
Salt Creek, a branch of the Seneca is so called because salt water was discovered therein in 1807. The brine obtained there was similar in quality to that derived from the wells at Montezuma.
In 1810 a well one hundred feet deep was sunk by the Cayuga Manufacturing Company on the west side of the ridge where Monte- zuma now stands. Near the surface a saline brine was encountered, but the great productive fountain was reached at the depth of one hundred feet.
Another well, sunk on the east side of the ridge pierced the great fountain of brine at a depth of eighty feet. At a depth of one hundred and fifteen feet the brine yielded eighteen ounces of salt to the gallon, in a third well.
In 1823, the salt made at the Montezuma Springs amounted to nearly twenty thousand bushels, of which one thousand were obtained by solar evaporation. That was the highest point reached in the production of salt in Cayuga County. The industry gradually decreased until it became extinct. Several causes are given for the
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failure of the salt industry in this county, the principal of which were the lack of suitable pumps and the fact that rent must be paid to the owners of the ground. At the Onondaga Springs, the ground is furnished free of charge by the State. The Montezuma brine is however, somewhat inferior to the Onondaga. Its saline properties are about seventy per cent of that of the Geddes solution and about sixty-five of the Liverpool product. Also it contains more trouble- some impurities.
In 1840, the Legislature made an appropriation for procuring, if possible, a supply of brine from which salt could be manufactured advantageously. A shaft was sunk to a depth of two hundred feet and opened a vein of brine much stronger than any before found in this county. But nothing came of the project, although it is said the well was carried down to a depth of six hundred and fifty feet.
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