History of Cayuga County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 77

Author: Storke, Elliot G., 1811-1879. cn
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason
Number of Pages: 762

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 77

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Whether the church was destitute of a pastor from the time Elder Comstock's connection with them was dissolved to 1826, does not appear, but

[Photo by Ernsberger & Ray.]

MRS. MARY FRYE.

MOSES MCKINSTER FRYE,

MOSES MCKINSTER FRYE, son of Jesse and Betsey [Noyes] Frye, was born in Bath, Grafton County, N. H., September 26th, 1804. His father was born in Concord, N. H., and his mother, in the town of Bow, Merrimac County, N. H.

Jesse Frye was a cloth dresser by trade and was engaged in that business about twelve years in Bath, where he located in 1796. In 1808 he formed a copartnership with two others, John Haddock and - Chapman, and the firm did a large and Incrative business in the last named place in general mer- chandising and buying and selling horses and cattle. They were also very largely engaged in the manufacture and sale of lumber. But misfortune overtook them and the accumulated profits of some three years were swept away. Mr. Frye was thus constrained to try his fortunes in what was then consid- ered the far west, and in 1811 he removed to Buffalo, N. Y., where he remained about a year, but did not engage in bus- iness there. From Buffalo, in 1812, he went to the town of Willink, Niagara County, now Concord, Erie County, where he resided, engaged in farming, until his death, which oc- curred March 27th, 1849.

In New Hampshire and the towns in which he spent the latter years of his life Mr. Frye was universally respected and honored for his uprightness of character and sterling worth as a man and citizen. He was called upon to fill various pub- lic positions of trust and responsibility during his life, and performed the duties thus devolved upon him with that integ- rity which characterized his entire career.

There were born to Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Frye seven children, six of whom reached maturity. Eunice died in infancy ; Enoch Noyes was born March 30th. 1800: James Sanders was born June 10th, 1802, and died July 12th, 1875. Moses McKinster is the subject of this sketch: Betsey was born December 6th, 1806, and died - -: Sarah was born January 6th, 1809, and died July 18th, 1878; Jesse was born Jannary 14th, 1818.

Moses M., who was only eight years old when his parents settled in the town of Willink, enjoyed but few advantages for acquiring an education. He attended school but a short time after arriving at the age of ten years, as his services were needed and employed thus early in life to assist in clear- ing off the heavy forest, which covered the land that had been selected for their future home, and in bringing the farm under cultivation. On arriving at maturity he took the sole charge of the farm and managed it till 1844, about which time

he purchased his present farm and residence in the town of Owasco, upon which he settled in the winter of 1845, His original purchase was 147} acres. He has since added 65 acres.

Inured in early life to the necessity of economy Mr. Frye, by judicious management combined with excellent business abilities, has acquired a competency which places him beyond the apprehension of want. He owns one of the finest and most valuable farms in the town of Owaxco.

Mr. Frye's political affiliations were with the Whigs until the formation of the Republican party, since which time he has been an earnest supporter of the principles of the latter and always zealous in his efforts to promote its interests. He has been assessor and highway commissioner of his town, though he was never an aspirant for public honors and trusts.

Mr. Frye's life admirably illustrates the benefits arising from intelligent industry, frugality and strict integrity, and both suggests and is an earnest of the possibilities within the reach of one governed by such impulses. His career is wor- thy of emulation by the young men of to-day. He fought life's battles with a willing, courageous heart and resolute purpose and now enjoys the fruits of his labors.

December 31st. 1829, Mr. Frye was united in marriage with Mary, daughter of David and Eva [Strail] Beverly, natives of the town of Florida, Montgomery County. Her parents were farmers and moved to the town of Collins, Erie County, N. Y., in 1818. Her father died in 1834, and her mother about 1854. They had five children, viz .: John, Thomas, David, Margaret and Mary, the latter of whom was born January 7th, 1805. John and Mary are the only members of this family now living.

Mr. Frye's efforts in life have been ably seconded by those of his estimable wife, a fact to which he refers with pride and satisfaction. Mrs. Frye is a kind and loving companion and devoted mother. In religion their faith is grounded in the creed of the Universalists.

Mr. and Mrs. Frye have been blessed with six children, three sons and three daughters, viz .: Antoinette, born May 19th, 1835: Luciaette, born October 15th, 1837: Moses M., now a practicing physician in Auburn, N. Y., born February 21st, 1841 : David B., who, when last heard from, was mate of a vessel bound for China, born February 23d, 1843; Jesse, now residing in California, born July 8th, 1845 : and Mary L., born January 10th, 1851.

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OWASCO VILLAGE-CHURCHES.

the first record of any other engagement is un- der date of January 21st, 1826, when an effort was made to raise funds to secure the services of Calvin Bateman for the winter.

In 1827 a request was made to the association to look into their affairs; and December 6th, 1828, by the advice of the committee appointed for this purpose, they were constituted a branch church of the church in Marcellus, with which, in that month, they united in a call to Elder Jesse B. Worden, one of their members, to preach to them once in two months, for one year.

February 9th, 1829, a meeting was held for the purpose of taking steps to build a meeting-house, which was erected that year at a cost of $1,350.

Brother Thomas Bodley supplied the pulpit in 1830, and continued till November of that year, at which time Elder C. P. Wyckoff's name ap- pears for the first time as moderator of the meet- ing. At that meeting it was decided to ask the advice of the brethren in Marcellus relative to employing Elder Wyckoff, and the formation of this as a separate church. In accordance with this advice a council was convened at their place of worship, August 17th, 1831, and the Owasco Baptist Church was fellowshipped as a distinct church, with sixty-eight members, eighteen males and fifty females. Elder Blair preached the ser- mon, Elder Worden gave the hand of fellowship, and Elder Jeffries gave the charge to the church. In the fall of the same year, the church joined the association. Elder Wyckoff seems to have served the church till 1838, when, owing to fail- ing health, his labors closed, and S. M. Plumb was employed for six months, commencing June 8th, 1838.

In May, 1841, Philip Lyon was employed and a council called to ordain him the following June. Elder Lyon served the church three years, and upon his removal Elder Wyckoff resumed the pastoral charge and continued to preach to them till November, 1844, " at which time," says Elder Wyckoff, "matters appeared so gloomy the church resolved to disband and unite with other church- es. Some of the members yielded with great reluctance to this and continued to meet on Lord's days until January, 1845, when, upon con- sultation, it was resolved to rescind our vote of abandonment, and in the fear of God, resume our travel as a church. Thirty-four members, at dif- ferent times, gave in their names. From Janu- 66-2

ary, 1845, the church enjoyed the labors of Elder Wyckoff solely, except at intervals, when the Lord sent among us occasional preachers, un- til April, 1848, when Elder Eddy Mason and wife united by letter, with the double view of ob- taining a home and to do the little body good as the Lord should enable. Since the union of brother Mason with the church, the labor of preaching has been divided between him and Elder Wyckoff, as circumstances and duty seemed to dictate. Neither of the Elders have been in- vested with the pastorate, which was resigned by Elder Wyckoff in 1841, and as there was no tiara pending, nor rich benefice in question, there has been no unhallowed strife for prceminence."

In 1850, a revival was experienced, which re- sulted in the addition of twenty-five to their num- ber. Elder Wyckoff soon after closed his labors with the church and removed to Weedsport. He was succeeded, after a short interval, by Elder E. Dean, as a supply, and Elders Atwater, Ben- nett, Maynard, Reynolds, Dimond, Warren and A. J. Lyon, the latter of whom is the present pastor. The present number of members is sixty-nine.

MANUFACTURES. - Messrs. G. & W. Bench, proprietors of the wagon shop and saw and cider- mill at the upper (State) dam on the Owasco Out- let, commenced business in 1874, in which year they bought the site they occupy of D. M. Os- borne, of Auburn, and erected their buildings, the old wheelbarrow factory which formerly occu- pied the site, and was latterly used as a saw and cider-mill, having been destroyed by fire in the fall of 1873. They have an invested capital of about $18,000, give employment to six persons, and make about 1,200 barrels of cider per an- num. Their works are operated by water drawn from the State dam, which has a fall of twelve feet.

The wool picker connected with the Auburn Woolen Co.'s Mills is located in close proximity to these works. It gives employment to one man, and draws water from the same dam.

A little north of Owasco village is a grist and saw-mill and a tile yard. The former are owned by Hamilton Perkins, and were built by him in 1852, on the site of those burned the same year, and bought by him in November, 1850, of the heirs of Ezra Cuykendall ; the latter is owned by Day W. Shaver, who bought the property of Ham-

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TOWN OF LEDYARD.

ilton Perkins in the spring of 1875, and employs two persons.

Owasco was the home of the late Enos T. Throop, who spent the latter years of his life in his beautiful retreat on Willow Brook at the foot of the Owasco, and busied himself in agricultu- ral and horticultural pursuits and in entertaining with his accustomed hospitality the numerous friends, who delighted to honor him for his per- sonal worth and past public services.

CHAPTER XLV.

TOWN OF LEDYARD.

L EDYARD was formed from Scipio Jan- uary 30th, 1823, and derives its name from Gen. Benjamin Ledyard, an early settler in the town, and agent and clerk for the apportionment of lands in the Military Tract. It lies upon the east shore of Cayuga Lake, which forms its western boundary, south of the center of the County. Its length from north to south is ten miles, and its mean width, about five miles. It is bounded on the north by Springport, from which it is separated about five-sixths of the dis- tance by Great Gully Brook, on the cast by Scipio and Venice, and on the south by Genoa.

The surface is beautifully diversified, its land- scapes, however, presenting less of the grand and sublime in nature than of its quiet beauty. It inclines towards the lake, from which it slopes upward, generally by gentle, but occasionally by steep gradations, until it attains an elevation a little east of the east border of 500 to 600 feet above its level. It is difficult to conceive of more charming prospects than are disclosed by the suc- cessive approaches to this summit ridge. The streams are small and rapid, the principal ones be- ing Great Gully, on the north border, and Paines Creek in the south, flowing through a deep, nar- row ravine worn in the shale rock.

It has a limestone soil of excellent quality. Limestone exists in boulders upon, and in a fine layer near the surface, but is nowhere quarried in the town. Clay predominates along the lake, extending back from it about a hundred rods, and over-lying a slate ledge, which terminates with

more or less abruptness upon the shore. At the railroad cutting a little south of Levanna, is a bold slate bluff, about fifty feet at its highest eleva- tion above the lake. In the interior the soil is an exceedingly fertile sandy loam, with considerable alluvion along the streams.

The Cayuga Lake Shore R. R. extends through the west border in close proximity to the lake.

The population of this town in 1875 was 2,253 ; of whom 1,857 were native, 396 foreign, 2,165 white, and 88 colored. Its area was 20,889 acres; of which 18,342 were improved, 2,544 woodland, and only 3 otherwise unimproved.

Much interest naturally centers in this town from the fact that within its borders the first settlements in the County were made. The events immediately preceding and in some meas- ure preparing the way for the settlement of this country are matters of historical record, but their intimate connection with the subject in hand seems to warrant a brief review of them.

Until 1789, this broad domain which now gives so many evidences of a highly cultured and re- fined civilization was the favorite hunting and fishing ground of the Cayugas, who were a nation proverbially noted for their fondness for and pro- ficiency in the chase and aquatic sports ; for al- though, according to common usage, they, as con- quered allies of the British forces during the Revolution, had forfeited their territorial rights, they still pressed claims which both the State and Federal government generously recognized and respected by subsequent treaties. By a treaty held at Fort Stanwix (Rome,) October 22d, 1784, the Iroquois ceded to the Federal Government a large portion of the land in Western New York ; and by a treaty concluded February 23d, 1789 at Isaac Denniston's tavern, Albany, which was known in Colonial days as the King's Arms, and stood on the north-west corner of Green and Norton streets, the Cayugas ceded to the State of New York all their lands, except 100 square miles, lying on both sides of Cayuga Lake, and extending from Aurora to Montezuma. They also reserved the right to hunt and fish in any part of the ceded territory. They also secured special grants to three persons, two white men and one Indian, one of 15,680 acres to Peter Ryck- man, an Albany Dutchman, who had won their affection, and for whom they expressed their re- gard in the following quaint and simple language:

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EARLY SETTLEMENTS.

" We have felt concerned about the dish to be given him. We had long ago agreed that he should have a dish in our country, as we all ex- pect to put our spoons in it when we're hungry. We wish this dish should be placed for our con- venience on the east side of the Outlet of Canan- daigua (Seneca) Lake, from thence he can cast his eyes down to Skayes (Waterloo, ) the extreme of the lands reserved to us. We have not given the dimensions of that dish. We thought we would leave that to you-you can extend your arms far. It was always our wish that his dish should be large."

They ask a reservation of 320 acres to a white man, who married the daughter of Thaneowas and one of a mile square, to Fish Carner.

For the territory thus ceded the State paid $500 in silver, and agreed to pay the first of the following June, at Fort Stanwix, $1,625, and an- nually thereafter forever, at the same place, $500. This treaty was signed on the part of the State by George Clinton, the Governor, and his asso- ciate commissioners ; and on the part of the Cayugas, by Kanistagia, (Steel Trap,) their chief, who signed for himself and sixteen others, for four of whom he acted as deputy, and by ten oth- ers, who appear by their own signatures or mark.

The Cayugas evinced their strong attachment for their lands upon the east shore of Cayuga Lake, by excluding, on the farther cession of their reservation in 1794, a tract two miles square, ly- ing upon the lake a little south of Union Springs, and another tract, a mile square, lying three or four miles north-east of that village. They did not finally relinquish their claims to these lands until 1799, when they sold to the State the last vestige of their once vast possessions, and turned regretfully away from the homes so sacred and dear to them.

September 16th, 1776, Congress passed an act to provide bounty lands for the soldiers of the Continental army during the war of the Revolution, stipulating that each non-commis- sioned officer and private should receive 100 acres, and each commissioned officer a propor- tionately increased quantity, corresponding with the grade of his rank. March 20th, 1781, the State Legislature made provision for the enlist- ment of two regiments, and offered as an induce- . ment to promote enlistments bounties of land. July 25th, 1782, certain lands were set apart for the payment of these bounties. March 27th, 1783, after the close of the war, the State Legis-

lature made provision for the redemption of these promises, and enacted that each non-commis- sioned officer and private, whose residence was in the State at the time of his enlistment, should receive 500 acres of land in addition to the 100 acres offered by the general government, and each commissioned officer a proportionately in- creased quantity, corresponding with the grade of his rank, that which had been promised being designated as bounty, and that which had not, as gratuity, lands. The original acts granting these lands were subsequently modified and amended from time to time. February 28th, 1789, the Commissioners of the Land Office were author- ized to direct the Surveyor-General to lay out as many townships, of 60,000 acres each, as was necessary to satisfy the claims arising under these acts ; and April 22d, 1789, the Surveyor- General, Simeon DeWitt, was directed to lay out by actual survey, twenty-five townships.

" The surveys," says the gentlemanly and scholarly Mr. Bogart, of Aurora, in a paper pre- pared for the Cayuga County Historical Society, in June, 1878, " were a labor of science in the forest country. I judge that we see the exact lines of the work in the course of the fences which mark the farms visible to us on the western shore of the lake. It had its dangers. The Indians were believed to be plotting against the corps of sur- veyors who were by these levels and chains sub- jugating the wild woods to the white man, and the professional men wrote to Geo. Clinton, the Governor, in an interesting letter of the date of September 3d, 1789, that they thought of ulti- mate retreat to the one beautiful island which fronts the village of Union Springs. It would have been a stirring chapter in history to have seen what manner of fortress for defense the men of the compass would have created there to make stand until the soldier governor, who was at home in affairs of war, should come to their res- cue. But the destiny of the Indian was to re- cede, not to advance, and the lots were duly chained, meted and bounded."

The survey was completed, and July 3d, 1790, was presented to the Commissioners of the Land Office, consisting of the Governor, Geo. Clinton ; the Lieutenant-Governor, Pierre VanCortlandt ; the Speaker of the Assembly, Gulian Verplanck; the Secretary of State, Lewis Allaire Scott ; the Attorney-General, Aaron Burr ; the Treas- urer, Gerardus Bancker ; and the Auditor, Peter T. Curtenius, who numbered and named the lots and townships. The names of the townships were made to perpetuate the names of Rome's

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TOWN OF LEDYARD.

military heroes, that of Scipio being assigned to No. 12, which originally embraced the town of Ledyard.

It is fair to presume that those who had been favored during the war with a view of the beau- tiful lake country, as were the soldiers who ac- companied Sullivan's expedition to the country of the Senecas and Cayugas in the summer of 1779, bridged with prophetic vision the interval which must elapse ere the return of peace should enable them to make this fair land their future home, which many of them did, and that the favorable reports given of it to their associates in arms and their neighbors at home, gave direction to the minds of many who subsequently took up their abode in this wilderness ; certain it is that the extinguishment of the Indian title and the subsequent completion of the survey of the Mili- tary Tract, was the signal for a vast hegira from the New England States, New Jersey, Pennsyl- vania and the eastern counties of this State to this section of country.

These were the remote agencies which led to the settlement in this locality, but the more im- mediate one is found in the efforts of the Little Lessee Company, which was organized in 1788, and obtained a perpetual lease from the Indians of all their lands lying between Cayuga and Owasco Lakes, for which they were to pay an- nually a "measure" of dollars. That or the fol- lowing year they surveyed the tract,* and raised a little corn and potatoes, which they buried in holes on the site of Aurora, near the late Eleazer Burnham's summer-house, covering them with leaves to conceal them from the Indians. This lease was set aside by the State govern- ment.

Early in the spring of 1789, f Captain Roswell Franklin, Elisha Durkee, Ebenezer White and Deacon Joseph Atwell, with their families, came from Wysox, Penn. They began their laborious journey in the month of March, in sleighs. They

*A written statement left by Eleazer Burnham says the tract was surveyed into 250 acre lots in 1788 ; while a like statement made by Augustus M. Durkee, under date of August 15th, 1845, address- ed to Mr. Burnham, and dictated by his mother, the wife of Elisha Durkee, one of the first settlers, states that it was surveyed into 160 acre lots, in the fall of 1789, by Captain Roswell Franklin, Elisha Durkee, Edward Paine and others, members of that company. Both these writings are in the possession of Mr. W. H. Bogart, of Aurora, to whom we are indebted for valuable documents used in the preparation of this work.

7 The writing of Mr. Durkee's previously referred to ascribes this

had hills and even mountains to climb and cross, rendered dangerous and almost impassable by precipices, ice, rocks and trees. Some parts of the way they had to wade through torrents of water, holding fast to the sleighs to prevent being swept down the stream. They struggled on their journey in water and out of water, some- times swamped in mud, at other times tugging through snow. In one instance they traversed a mountain between Wysox and Newtown, (El- mira,) where no team had ever been before, and had to cut their way through the forest by the most unsparing labor, and with the most un- flinching resolution.

They reached Newtown after many laborious days of travel. Thence their route lay to the head of Seneca Lake, where they camped sev- eral days on account of the prevalence of north- west winds. There they found a boat abandoned by Sullivan's army ten years previously, which they repaired, and as soon as the weather was favorable, having recruited a little from the ex- cessive fatigues and privations they had under- gone, they proceeded down the lake, leaving one man to drive the team and a few domestic ani- mals by land from Tioga Point through Ithaca to Aurora. They floated down the blue waters of the Seneca with light and buoyant hearts, and high hopes of a speedy termination of their voy- age. But their difficulties were not yet at an end. They found the rapids in the river at Sen- eca Falls very troublesome, and were in great danger of unshipping all their cargo. It became necessary to lighten the boat, and a portion of the cargo was removed to the shore. None but those necessary to manage the boat ventured a passage of the rapids in it. The remainder proceeded on foot, and by the time they reached the foot of the rapids the boat had been passed safely down and unloaded. The men in charge of the boat returned with it for the remainder of the load, which included nearly all their clothes, beds and

event to the year 1790. A memorial window in the Presbyterian Church at Aurora bears this inscription :

" 1789. " Roswell Franklin. " First Settler in this Village.

"Chosen Elder in this Church 1810."

The Roswell Franklin here referred to, it is proper to state, was a son of' Captain Roswell Franklin, the original settler, and came in with his father, who, from his tragic end and brief residence here, is seldom referred to in any connection. We cite the inscription as tending to establish the date.

RESIDENCE OF AUG. HOWLAND. 7

IN OF LEDYARD, CAYUGA Co. N.Y.

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EARLY SETTLEMENTS.

provisions. They were obliged to wade a part of the time in the cold water and draw the boat against a heavy and powerful current. When they reached the head of the falls night came on and they did not dare to make the descent in the dark.

This unexpected detention occasioned great alarm among the women and children at the foot of the rapids. Having seen the dangers of the falls they were tortured with the fear that the boat with its precious cargo had been dashed among the rocks and that all was lost. Among the women were some who had been married but a few days to some of the men who had ascended the rapids. They wandered up and down the stream with painful anxiety until the falling snow compelled them to huddle together over a spark of fire which remained. There they wept and wrung their hands with anguish till morning, when, to the great joy of all, the boat returned safe and took the little weary company on board. They met with no further impediments until they reached Cayuga Lake, which they found full of ice, through which they had to cut a passage for their boat. The six miles made in this laborious man- ner occupied several days. One morning they awoke and found to their joy that the ice had all disappeared. Having now a clear sea the voyage was soon ended. They landed on the site of Aurora, at the creek near Richard Morgan's house, and there made a permanent settlement .*

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History of Cayuga County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 77

Author: Storke, Elliot G., 1811-1879. cn Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason Number of Pages: 762

Author: Storke, Elliot G., 1811-1879. cn
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason
Number of Pages: 762