USA > New York > Cayuga County > History of Cayuga County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 51
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In March, 1858, he purchased Lake View farm, consisting of over one hundred acres, on lot No. 3.
December, 1854, Mr. Upcraft was joined in marriage to Elizabeth Read. Their union was of short duration. Mrs. Upcraft died in June of the following year. He was again married in Octo- ber, 1856, to Annie E. Briggs, daughter of Jere- miah and Mary Briggs. Mrs. Upcraft was born in Glens Falls, N. Y,, in 1832.
On another page of this work we show a view of Mr. Upcraft's buildings.
RALPH HEWETT.
RALPH HEWETT, a native of Northumberland county, England, was born October 16th, 1800,
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HOME IN 1860.
ORIGINAL HOMESTEAD JOSS.
RESIDENCE OF JACOB VANPETTEN, STERLING, CAYUGA Co. N.Y. BUILT 1877
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and came to Cayuga County in 1823. He set- tled on lot No. 8 in the town of Sterling. Mr. Hewett was married four times, as follows :- His first wife was Mary Scott, who died in 1834 ; the second was Rebecca McCoy, who died in 1844; the third, Jane McCoy, who died in 1846; his present wife, Lydia Redfield, was born in Connecticut, in 1800. Mr. Hewett is a highly respected citizen of this town, and is passing the evening of his days with his son, Walter S. Hewett, Esq.
THOMAS ANDREWS.
THOMAS ANDREWS, father of John and Jo- seph Andrews, of this town, was born in Ireland, in 1786, and died in 1862. He emigrated to this country and settled on lot No. 13, in Sterling, in 1806. His wife, Jane, was born in Ireland, in 1801. They were married in 1818. They were the parents of four children, three of whom are living. Mrs. Andrews is still living with her son John.
WILLIAM COOPER.
WILLIAM COOPER was born in Ireland in 1777. He came to this country in 1804. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, and was in the battle of Oswego. He died in 1843. He married Sa- rah Craig, who was born in Washington county in 1783, and died in 1871. They were the pa- rents of seven children.
CORNELIUS ACKERSON.
CORNELIUS ACKERSON was born in Rockland Co., N. Y., in 1756. He was a soldier of the Revolutionary war, in which he served seven years, three months and eight days, with the rank of Lieutenant. He was on two occasions taken prisoner by the English. At the close of the war, for his valuable services, the government granted him five hundred acres of land situated in the present town of Sterling, on which he moved with his family in 1815., After an event- ful life he died in 1845. Many of his descend- ants are residents of this town.
JOHN SCOTT.
JOHN SCOTT, father of Mr. Henry Scott, of this town, was born in Northumberland county, England, in 1775. He was by trade a carpenter and joiner. He came to America in 1811; set- tled in Sterling, Cayuga County, in 1814; and
died in 1860. The day after the battle of Os- wego, which occurred in 1815, Mr. Scott visited the battle field and assisted in the burial of the dead. His second wife was Hannah Spottswood, who was born in Northumberland county in 1768, and came with her husband to this County, where she died in 1853. By this marriage there were three children. His first wife, by whom he had four children, died in England.
Mr. Scott has three children living, Jas. Scott, of Grand Rapids, Michigan ; Dr. R. B. Scott, of Oswego, N. Y .; and Henry Scott, of this town.
CHAPTER XXXII.
TOWN OF VICTORY.
V ICTORY lies upon the west border, in the north part of the County, and is bounded on the north by Sterling, on the east by Ira, on the south by Conquest, and on the west by Wayne Co. It is the north-west quarter of the old military town of Cato, from which it was formed March 16th, 1821. Its name, like that of Conquest, which town was organized at the same time, originates from the victory achieved by those who favored a division of the town of Cato over those who opposed it.
The surface is gently undulating, the highest points being scarcely fifty feet above the general level. It is watered by the head-waters of Red and Little Sodus Creeks, the former of which lies in the west part, while the latter flows north through the town a little east of the center. They furnish but a very limited water power. There is a swamp in the south-west part which covers several hundred acres. There is less waste land in this town and Ira, the two north- ern, than in Cato and Conquest, the two southern towns of the old township of Cato; there is also less good land. The soil is a sandy and gravelly loam, mostly the latter.
The underlying rocks are the red shale and blue limestone of the Niagara group, which, al- though covered deep with drift, are seen in sev- eral parts of the town. Quarries have been opened in the limestone, and considerable im- provement is shown in the quality and thickness of the calcareous portion of the rock as compared with the mass further south. This rock is of
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great importance to all this section of country, as it furnishes not only building stone, but also lime suitable for all the purposes to which that article is usually applied, except where a very white lime is required. The quarry of Mr. Doud, about two miles north of Victory, where four or five feet are taken out for lime, which has a little dark-blue shale between the layers, is of great interest, as affording more fossils, such as Becostated orthis, a columnaria also, and an avic- ula, as well as a slender encrinite not yet specific- ally named .*
The Southern Central R. R. crosses the north- east corner of the town, but has no station within its limits.
The population of the town in 1,875 was 1,944 ; of whom 1,853 were native ; 91, foreign ; 1,943, white ; and I, colored.
The town covers an area of 21,234 acres ; of which 16,085 are improved ; 4,641, woodlands ; and 508, otherwise unimproved.
Settlement was commenced in 1800, on lot 65, in the south part, by John McNeal, from Mont- gomery county, and John Martin, from Ireland ; the former of whom located about a mile south of Victory, on the farm now owned by Edward Merritt, where he died the same year, his death being the first in the town. None of his descend- ants are living in the town. Martin located on the farm now owned by Smith Wood, on a tract of fifty acres, twenty-five acres of which was given him to induce settlement, the remaining twenty- five having been given him by his wife's father. His daughter Jane, (afterwards Mrs. Samuel Wood and mother of Smith Wood,) who was born in 1804, was the first child born in the town. She died on the farm about eight years since. Her husband died in Ira, in the fall of 1877. Samuel Martin, brother of John, also from Ireland, located a few years afterwards in the north part of the town, where he died some fifteen years ago.
Elisha Granger settled with his family in 1802, in the south-east corner, on lot 67. His son Gideon is now living at Westbury, and John, another son, in Michigan.
A Mr. Scouten, a soldier of the Revolution, took up as a soldier's claim lot 14, on which he settled prior to 1806 ; but he remained only four or five years.
Patrick Murphy, from Ireland, settled in Feb- ruary, 1806, on lot 54, where Samuel Murphy, his grandson, now lives. Two other grand- children, Patrick and Jane, are living in Butler, Wayne county ; and a third, Sarah, (now Mrs. Wm. Root,) in Cato.
Matthias Vanderhuyden, from Troy, Rensse- laer county, settled in 1810, on lot 67, where his daughter Louisa (now Mrs. Elihu Knapp,) lives, and where he died in April, 1876, aged ninety- five years. Wm. Hager, Vanderhuyden's step- son, and Pamelia, his daughter, afterwards Mrs. Peter Cooper, came in with him. The former is living, at the age of eighty-two, on the farm he took up in 1823, about two miles south-east of Victory. Pamclia died in the town in 1841. Asahel Carter from Vermont, also came in 1810, and settled on lot 66, on the farm now owned by Hamilton Emerick. He took up twenty-five acres. In 1817 he moved to the farm now owned by John Wood, on the south line of the town, where he died some twenty years ago. His daughter, Polly, (the widow of Henry Wood,) is now living with her son John. Lucretia, (now Mrs. Worden Eastwood,) another daughter of Carter's, is living in Conquest. His other chil- dren, John and three or four daughters, are liv- ing in the west. Abram Scott, from Vermont, came in with his family, (consisting of his wife Hannah, and two sons, Charles Y. and Abram,) in the spring of 1810, and took up fifty acres, in the south-west corner of lot 54, where Philo Camp now lives, about a mile south-east of Victory. His son Abram is now living, aged eighty-four, with his son, Geo. C. Scott.
John and Daniel Rumsey and William and Daniel Griswold, from Herkimer county, settled on lot 25, a little south-east of Westbury, in 1811. All are dead. Benjamin, son of Daniel Rumsey, is living with Stephen Holt, about a mile west of Victory. The rest of the family moved west.
Jacob W. and Martin DeForest, from Wash- ington county, settled on lot 43, in the east part, in 1812. Conrad Phrozine, from Newburgh, set- tled the same year on lot 4, at North Victory, on the creek at Stumm's mills, on the site of which he built the first grist-mill in the town. About 1820, John Hooker put up a still, saw-mill and grist-mill, about a mile south-east of Victory, on the farm now owned by John Hapman, which,
* Natural History of New York, Geology, 3d Dist., by Lardner Vanuxem.
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VICTORY VILLAGE.
with the exception of the grist-mill, are believed to have been the first of their kind in the town. Further settlements were made this year (1812,) by Ephraim Smith, from Saratoga county ; Silas Kellogg, from Brutus ; Ebenezer Bird, from On- ondaga county ; and Chauncey and Simon Lathrop, from Sennett. Smith settled on the farm now owned by Philo Camp. His son Ephraim is living in Victory. Two daughters, viz : Mary Ann and Charlotte, are living, the former (now Mrs. John Cooper) in Conquest, and the latter (now Mrs. Luman Derby) in the vil- lage of Cato. Kellogg settled on lot 39, in the west part of the town, and removed at an early day to Ira, where he died, and where his son now lives. Ebenezer Bird settled on lot 27, about a mile north of Victory, where he died. His son, Daniel, owns a part of the farm on which he set- tled. The Lathrops settled at Victory, and opened a store there. A man named Needham settled at an early day about a mile east of Vic- tory, on the farm now owned by James P. Root. He died here, and his sons sold out and moved off.
The present town officers are the following : Supervisor-Edward Allanson.
Town Clerk-Irving H. Knapp.
Fustices of the Peace-William R. Fleming, Russel Dutcher, Charles Dedrick, Joseph Raynor.
Assessors-Edwin Bacon, D. S. Woodford, Andrew Bennett.
Overseers of Poor-Samuel Murphy, Daniel Pinkney.
Inspectors of Election-Robert Cox, Corydon Doud, William T. Benedict.
Collector-A. B. Sabins.
Constables-A. B. Sabins, George Bamford, George Corkner, James Beesmer, Walter Follett.
VICTORY VILLAGE.
Victory is situated a little south of the center of the town, and is distant six miles north-west of Cato on the Southern Central R. R., with which it is connected by daily stage. It contains three churches, (M. E., Baptist and Presbyterian,) a district school, five stores, two blacksmith shops, (Wm. Taylor and - Smith, proprietors,) a har- ness shop, kept by Wm. R. Fleming, a shoe shop, kept by A. B. Wetherby, a hotel, kept by
Hulbert Daratt, and has a population of about 150.
The first settlement in the village is believed to have been made about 1806, by James Greg- ory, who settled where his daughter Sally, (now Mrs. Philander Cutten) lives, and opened soon after the first tavern, which was built of logs, and stood near the site of Abijah Hager's store. A man by the name of Moffitt was one of the first settlers at the village, but in what year we are unable to determine. He sold out about 1809 and removed to Throop, where he died. Manasseh French came in from Scipio, but in what year is uncertain. Abram Scott, who came into town with his father in the spring of 1810, says French was keeping a store here at that time, which was doubtless the first one in the town. French also kept an ashery at the village, which stood near where David Wood- ford's house stands. The store stood opposite to it. French remained till about 1815.
MERCHANTS .- The first merchant at Victory was Manasseh French, as early as 1810. He opened a store opposite where David Woodford's house stands, and kept it till about 1815. In 1812 a second store was opened by Chauncey and Simon Lathrop, brothers, who came in from Sennett. They separated after a few years and kept stores on opposite sides of the streets. Chauncey failed after five or six years and re- moved from the town. Simon also failed about 1838. He moved west, where he died at an ad- vanced age.
A small drug store was opened here about 1830, by James Gager, who failed after a year or two and returned his goods to his creditors. He is now living in Iowa.
In 1832, William Hager and John T. Knapp opened a store, which they kept in company some eighteen years. At the expiration of that time Knapp sold his interest to his partner, who conducted the business alone till about 1868, when his son, Abijah B. Hager, was admitted to partnership, with a half interest. Two or three years later Mr. Hager, who was becoming too infirm for active business, sold his remaining half interest to his son, who still carries on the busi- ness.
Several merchants kept stores for short pe- riods, but failed. Among them were Mr. Mc- Cabe, Southwick, Walter Thayer, who was in
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partnership with Simon Lathrop a short time before the latter's failure, and Fred. Thompson.
In 1875, a disastrous fire occurred in the vil- lage and destroyed the four stores, the only ones then in it. They were kept by Abijah B. Ha- ger, Harvey Harris & Ellis W. Hager, David Woodford, and Fred. Thompson.
The present merchants, in addition to H. B. Hager, are Harris & Knapp, (Harvey S. Harris and Irving H. Knapp,) who commenced business in December, 1875, both having previously re- sided in the town ; J. D. Woodford, who bought out his father, D. S. Woodford, in the spring of 1877 ; J. W. Chamberlain & Co., (Celia L. Cham- berlain,) the former of whom came in from Wayne county, where he lived a number of years, and commenced business May 7th, 1878 ; and William A. Hager, a native of Victory, who com- menced business September 15th, 1876.
POSTMASTERS .- The present postmaster is Addison B. Wetherby, who has held the office since 1860, having received the appointment un- der the administration of President Lincoln. He was preceded by Walter H. Sayre, who held the office about eight years. Mr. Wetherby was born in this town, his father having moved in from Sennett in 1819. In 1854,he commenced the boot and shoe business, in which he is still engaged, the post-office being kept in his shoe shop.
PHYSICIANS .- The first physician in this lo- cality was a Dr. Squires, who was settled at Meridian, in Cato. Lucius Hooker was the first resident physician, and the first one in the town. Dr. Waite was another early physician. The present physician is Charles A. Fisher, who was born in this locality and has practiced here about six years.
THE M. E. CHURCH OF VICTORY was organized in 1813, by Rev. Zenas Jones, the first pastor. Prominent among the first members were Joseph Rumsey, Daniel Griswold, James McCready, Platt Wilson, William Hamilton, John Hamilton and William Thompson. We have been unable to learn the names of the pastors of this church previous to 1844, with the exception of the first. In 1844 and '45, Revs. J. Hall and A. Robbins were the pastors of this Society ; from 1845 to 46, Revs. B. Phillips, and B. Nichols ; to 1847, B. Nichols ; to 1852 and '53, Cyrus Phillips ; to 1854, P. W. Barber ; to 1855, Allen Castle and D. B. Smith ; to 1858, J. Smedley ; to 1859, M.
Thrasher ; to 1860, O. C. Lathrop ; to 1861 and '62, R. L. Fraser ; to 1864 and '66, S. O. Barnes; to 1867, David Stone ; to 1868, R. D. Phillips ; to 1871, J. De Larme ; to 1873, Henry Meeker ; to 1875, Orin Switzer. The present pastor, Rev. Nelson Sutton, came in the fall of 1876.
Their meetings were held in the school-house till about 1820, when the first church edifice was erected. It stood about a mile west of the vil- lage. Their present house of worship, which is located in the village, was built about 1850.
The Society numbers eighty-five members. The attendance at Sabbath school is about fifty.
THE BAPTIST CHURCH AT VICTORY was organ- ized with fifteen members June 3d, 1818,as the Sec- ond Baptist Church in Cato, to which town Vic- tory then belonged, and was admitted to the Cayuga Baptist Association in September of that year. The first pastor was Rev. Roswell Os- burn, who was ordained subsequent to the organ- ization, and continued his labors till 1825. The second pastor was Rev. John M. Bartlett, who entered upon the duties of his office in 1828. During the second year of his pastorate, the church enjoyed their first revival, as the fruits of . which twenty-one were added to their number. This was followed in 1831 by another, as the re- sult of which sixty-two were added to their num- ber by baptism. The prosperity thus happily in- augurated was speedily checked by trials, from which they never entirely recovered, and which are thus referred to in their letters to the Asso- ciation of 1834-5 :
"For about three years past our progress has seemed retarded. Campbellism, that fell de- stroyer of heavenly bliss below, together with all its paralyzing effects and concomitant evils, has hung like a dark and lowering cloud about us. The love of many has waxed cold and the way of truth is evil spoken of, while the church has stood like a lamb shorn of its fleece, shivering in the northern blast." "We have been under the painful necessity of excluding some, who, to us, appear to follow the commandments, of men, yet we know that our Heavenly Father is too wise to be mistaken, and too good to be unkind, there- fore we submit and kiss his chastening rod and say ' Thy will be done.' "
The third pastor was Rev. John H. Dudley, who was ordained by a council convened for that purpose. June 20th, 1834. In this year, the church, which had joined the Onondaga Associa- tion in 1825, again became a member of the
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Cayuga Association. Mr. Dudley closed his labors with this church in 1836, and was suc- ceeded by Rev. David McFarland, who was call- ed to the pastorate in February, 1837, and was ordained on the 15th of June following. In their letter to the Association for this year occurs the following :
"Although we are not blessed, like most of our sister churches, with an abundance of this world's goods, yet, through the blessing of God and our own exertions, we have been enabled to sustain the administration of the word and ordinances, which have received the approbation of Heaven's High King. We now find that our place of wor- ship is too strait for us, and have felt called on to make an extra effort to rent a room in the Acade- my building which is now being completed. Ours is a missionary field, and we doubtless have claims equal with many of our sister Churches, who receive aid from the Convention. But we feel no disposition to draw from, if we cannot largely aid in replenishing, an almost exhausted treasury."
The first and second years of Elder Mc Far- land's ministry were greatly blessed.
" The Church seemed to emerge from its polar winter into the genial clime of Christian activity and union, and as the fruits of the two revivals en- joyed, 58 were added to their numbers. * * The Church thus aroused, became warmly engaged in the great moral enterprises of the day ; the temperance reformation, the Bible cause and other kindred causes being warmly supported by their influence and contributions."
Elder Mc Farland closed his labors with this Church in February, 1840, and was succeeded by Rev. Allen R. Beach, who remained about one year, and was succeeded by Rev. J. S. Evering- ham, who continued about a year, and was suc- ceeded by J. C. Moore, a licentiate, who remained about two years. Under the labors of these pas- tors, two seasons of revivals were enjoyed, which resulted in the addition of about twenty-five to their number. Their next pastor was Rev. A. Haskell, who began his ministrations September 22d, 1846, and closed them May 7th, 1848. In 1845 they begun the erection of a house of worship which was finished June 24th, 1846. The so- ciety being small they were obliged to incur a debt, which somewhat crippled their action, but which was fully cancelled in 1850. Their house underwent somewhat extensive repairs about three years ago.
The next pastor was Rev. E. Marshall, who begun his pastoral labors in 1849 and closed them
in the fall of 1850. Since then the following pastors have officiated, viz : Revs. Trow, David Mc Farland, John Everingham, the two latter during a second term, Lee, Thos. Siegford and Collins, the latter of whom resides at Red Creek, and was obliged to close his labors with the Church on account of failing health, the present year. Previous to the erection of their house of worship the meetings of the Church were held in school-houses, and for several years in the house now occupied by Alonzo Woodford. The Church is at present without a pastor, meetings, or a Sabbath school. It is in a somewhat feeble con- dition, having only about twenty-five members.
During its existence the church has called six brethren to ordination, viz : Roswell Osburn, John M. Bartlett, John M. Dudley, David Mc- Farland, - Lee, and Thomas Siegford.
THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF VICTORY was organized as the Second Presbyterian Church of the town of Cato, at the house of Thomas Cole- man, November 30th, 1820, by Revs. Eastman and Dunning. Darius Chittenden and Annis, his wife, Thomas Coleman, Hannah, wife of Henry Quilhart, and the wives of Peter Van Pelt and Chistopher Ostrander, were among the first members.
Their first pastor was Rev. Mr. Powell, who commenced his labors in 1827, and was succeed- ed in 1830 by Rev. Wm. Williams, who remain- ed two years. The next pastor was Rev. Daniel Washburn, in 1835. The fourth was Rev. Daniel Waldo, during whose pastorate from 1841-'3, the first and present house of worship was erected. Rev. Lemuel Dada was the next pastor, in 1845. He was succeeded in 1847 by Rev. Ebenezer Everett ; by Rev. Edward Hall, in the winter of 1851-'2 ; by Rev. Levi Griswold, who assumed their pastoral care May Ist, 1852 ; and by Rev. Beufort Ladd, who commenced his labors in the fall of 1859 and continued them several years. At the close of his labors he settled in the vil- lage, where he died in March, 1877. Thomas Watson, who resided in Cato, and belonged to the Reformed church, next supplied the pulpit for three years. Rev. Ephraim Kellogg, who lived at Red Creek, became their pastor in 1871, but remained only one year. The next pastor was Rev. Ezra D. Shaw, who was installed in February, 1873, and remained two years, when he removed to Moravia, where he died in 1877.
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He was the last pastor the church had, the pul- pit having since been supplied by students from Auburn Theological Seminary. The church has about thirty members; with an attendance at Sabbath school of about forty.
WESTBURY.
Westbury is an attractive little village, evincing a fair degree of business enterprise, and is pic- turesquely situated on Red Creek, on the west line of the town, lying partly in Victory and part- ly in Wayne county. It is three miles north- west of Victory, from whence it receives a daily mail by stage. It contains two churches (M. E. and Christian,) a district school, one store, one hotel, of which Aaron Kirk has been proprietor about five years, a tannery, grist-mill, two black- smith shops, of which Daniel Shaver and James Ferguson are the proprietors, a carriage shop, of which James Shaver is proprietor, and a cooper shop, of which Samuel Lefavor, who is also post- master, is proprietor. It has a population of about 200.
The first settlers at Westbury were William and Jacob Burghduff, brothers, about 1806. The former died there in his ninety-seventh year, some three years since. A family by the name of Hyde, from Scipio, settled there about 1808. Joseph and Daniel Rumsey and William and Daniel Griswold, from Herkimer county, settled a little south-east of Westbury, in 1811.
MERCHANTS .- The present merchants in West- bury are A. P. Crowell and W. D. Campbell, who commenced business in 1867, under the firm name of Crowell & Campbell.
MANUFACTURERS .- The manufacturing estab- lishments in Westbury consist of a tannery and grist-mill. The tannery was started in Novem- ber, 1877, by Nichols and Hines, (H. E. Nich- ols and S. S. Hines, the former of whom died July 2d, 1878.) The building was erected the previous summer. Its dimensions are 80 by 46 feet, with an engine room 26 by 30 feet added. Its capacity is 6,000 sides per annum. It gives employment to four men. The motive power is fur- nished by a thirty-five horse-power engine. The grist-mill came into the possession of H. E. Nichols, (now deceased,) about eleven years ago. It contains two run of stones. The motive power is furnished by the engine in the tannery, with which it is connected by means of a shaft.
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