History of Cayuga County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 83

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 83

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John Wood, Julia, afterwards wife of ---- Allen, William, Walter and Ira. The Judge died here in 1821, and his children moved west. John G. Allen, one of the victorious Cornell crew, in the contest with the Harvard crew on Owasco Lake, in June, 1878, is a grandson of Belvia's. Judge Sherwood was preceded in his settlement at that place, but a short time however, by a family named White, who located about a half a mile south-east of the Corners, and were the first set- tlers in that locality. White cleared about four acres, which remained surrounded by woods till within two years, and uncultivated from his death, a year or two after, till the spring of 1878, when Giles Slocum, who owned the contiguous lands, which he has been gradually denuding of their timber, having made an opening from the north, subjected it to the plow.

Noble Fuller and one or two brothers came in the spring of 1795 and settled at Gallups Cor- ners, one and one-fourth miles south of Scipio Center. Further settlements were made in 1795 by Joel Coe, Benjamin Fordyce, Robert McCul- lum and Elisha Horton, the latter of whose sisters the former three married. They came from Chester, Morris county, N. J., by the usual water route, and arrived at Aurora the last of October or first of November. From Aurora they came by way of marked trees, the road hav- ing been surveyed, but not opened. Coe settled three-fourths of a mile north of Scipio Center, where Wm. Akin now lives. He took up a whole lot. He removed to Springport about 1820, and died there. Some of his grand- children are living there. Coe's children were Joseph, Nathaniel, Mary, afterwards wife of David Bennett, Rachel, afterwards wife of Benj. Olney, and Huldah, widow of Walter Bennett, of Portage. The latter is the only one living.

Fordyce bought fifty acres of Elder Irish, his farm joining that of Coe's on the south. He immediately made a clearing, and erected a log house a little north of the residence of his son, Nathaniel H. Fordyce, his family remaining in the meantime with that of Noble Fuller. He died there March Ist, 1819. His family, when he came in, consisted of his wife Rebecca, and two children, John and Eunice, afterwards wife of Nathaniel Olney, Jr. Three children were born to them after coming here, viz : Benjamin, Nathaniel H. and Rebecca. Nathaniel H.,

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who is the only one of his children living, was born January 4th, 1799. The next spring after coming in Fordyce sowed upon the site of Na- thaniel's house three pecks of wheat brought in the previous winter by Ebenezer Craw from the Mohawk country, and reaped therefrom nineteen and one-half bushels, which, excepting so much as was ground for family consumption, was garnered in a hollow log, the rotted portions of which had been burned out. The log was inlaid and cover- ed with bark, and raised upon crotched poles. McCullum settled a quarter of a mile north of Fordyce, where Pardon T. Shorkley now lives. He sold out about 1810, and removed with his family to Farmington, Ontario county. His children were Isaiah, Joel, Rebecca, who after- wards married a man named Fowler, Mary, who afterwards married a man named Streeter, and Robert. Horton died of typhus fever about a year after he came in. Two of his children are living in the western part of the State, viz : Isaiah and Phebe, wife of Stephen Robinson.

In the fall of 1796, after harvesting their crops, Fordyce, Coe, Elder Irish and Josiah Buck made up a load of forty bushels of wheat and sent it to mill by Buck, accompanied by a stout hired man in the employ of Coe. The nearest mill was at Whitesboro, and thither the grist was taken in a covered wagon obtained from the Mohawk coun- try the previous winter by Coe, who, having $ 1,800 in pocket and his farm paid for, was then considered very wealthy. The journey occupied four weeks. The wagon served as a place of shel- ter at night for those accompanying it, and they did not sleep in a house during the entire jour- ney, except at Whitesboro, while the wheat was being ground. Occasionally, on coming to a steep ascent, it was necessary to unhitch the ox- en, (of which there were two yokes, one furnished by Fordyce and one by Elder Irish,) take them to the summit of the hill, and draw up the wagon by means of chains attached to the tongue. It was often necessary for the attendants, both of whom were strong, muscular men, to put their shoulders to the wheel when the wagon got into a hollow from which the oxen were unable to withdraw it, and sometimes they were obliged to unload a portion of the grain before further pro- gress could be made. A family named Henry, from the Eastern States, settled a little north of Coe about the same time. None of the family

are living. Henry died there. Eleazer Hill and Alexander Weed, from the New England States, settled soon after in the same locality. The widow of bis son Joshua is living at an advanced age with her son Erastus Hill in Scipio. Wm. Cowen settled in 1797, where his son Wm. R. Cowen now lives. He had five children, four of whom are living, one in Michigan.

William Daniels, from Saratoga county, Geo. Elliott, from Mass., and a man named Haskins, from Washington county, came in 1798. Dan- iel settled in what is now known as Daniels Set- tlement, about two miles north east of Scipio Cen- ter, where he lived to an advanced age. He and his wife spent their declining years with their son Benjamin in Michigan. Daniels taught that year the first school in Scipio, but he taught only one winter. His qualification as a teacher seems not to have been very ample, for it is said he could not solve a problem in the Rule of Three. His brother, Capt. John Daniels, who was one of the most intelligent men in the town, came in from Mass., in 1804, and settled about a mile south- east of him, where his son Hiram now lives, and where he died in 1871, aged 95. Hiram was born on the place in 1811. One other child, Harriet, wife of Hiram Olney, is living in Illinois. Both William and John, the latter of whom was a captain in the war of 1812, were for a great many years deacons in the Baptist Church. Geo. Elliott was a Revolutionary soldier and served seven years. He settled two miles north of Scipio Center, on the lot taken up by Joel Coe, where -- Webster now lives. He afterwards settled on lot 8. He died some thirty years since on the farm subsequently owned by his son Wil- liam, and now owned by Allen Hoxie. His family consisted, when he came in, of his wife Eleanor, and six children, Samuel, John, George, Mary, afterwards wife of William Fish, Prudence, afterwards wife of John Cowan, and William, the latter of whom is the only one living, in Scipio- ville. He was 82 years old April 7th, 1878. He had four children after coming in, viz : Sarah, afterwards wife of Joseph Cox, Jane, Otis and Nelly, afterwards wife of Wm. Bregg. George Elliott, of the firm of Lyon, Elliott & Bloom of Auburn, is a son of William Elliott now living at Scipioville. Haskins was grandfather to Ed- win P. Haskins, now living on the old home- stead.

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TOWN OF SCIPIO.

Several additions were made to the settlements in 1800; among them Micah Hathaway, from Massachusetts, who died June 22d, 1857, aged 89 ; a. German family named Roraback, who set- tled at Scipio Center, and removed at an early day to Crooked Lake ; Richard Hudson, from Columbia county, who died here in 1834, and whose son Richard N, who was born in the town in 1804, is now living there ; and Peter Wyckoff, from New Jersey, who came in with his family, consisting of his wife and five children, Peter, Henry, Jemima, widow of John O'Hara, now liv- ing in Scipio, Nellie, wife of Hiram O'Hara, who is also living in Scipio, and Sarah, and settled on the north line, on the farm adjoining that of Gardner Wyckoff, in Fleming, where he died. Peter, who was then a year old, removed in 1856 or '7 to Fleming, and settled where Hiram Bab- cock now lives. Mary E., the widow of his son Peter C., is living with her son George and daughter Grace, wife of Dr. Frank Hoxie, at Fleming village, on one of the finest farms in the county. Peter, another of her sons, is living in New York city, and is the eldest son of the sixth family who have named the eldest son Peter. Peter and Henry, sons of the elder Wyckoff, who settled in Scipio, married sisters of John and Hiram O'Hara, who in turn married the Wyckoffs' sisters, thus presenting an illustration of a rare occurrence-two brothers and two sisters in one family marrying two brothers and two sisters in another.

Daniel P. Van Liew came in from New Jersey about 1800. Robert Knox, from Ireland, settled in 1802, where his son John Knox now lives. Samuel Green, father of Samuel W. Green, tailor and postmaster at Sherwood, an Orthodox Friend, came in from Pennsylvania in 1804. William Fleming settled here previous to 1807, January 13th of which year he died. His widow after- wards married William R. Bancroft, who settled in 1814, a little east of Scipioville, where he died December 10th, 1857, aged nearly 89. His son, William F. Bancroft, is living at Barbers Cor- ners, which place derives its name from Deacon William Barber, who was an early settler, and died there February 2d, 1844, aged 77. Olive, his wife, died December 7th, '1857, aged nearly 98. Barber came as early as 1796, in which year his name appears among the town officers.

Ezra St. John settled about 1807, on the south

line of the town, on the farm now occupied by Andrew Heffron, where he died July 22d, 1824, aged 77.

John Beardsley, from Connecticut, settled in 1808, near the center of the town, and after three or four years he removed to the east ridge in Venice, where he remained till 1836, when he removed to Auburn and continued to reside there till his death May 11th, 1857. He was Supervisor in Scipio and Justice of the Peace several years. He was County Judge a few years under the First Constitution ; was Member of the Assembly in 1832 and '33 ; and represented the 7th Dis- trict in the State Senate in 1836-'39. In 1840 he became president of the Cayuga County Bank, now the Cayuga National Bank of Auburn ; and in 1843 he became agent of the State prison at Auburn. Four sons and four daughters are liv- ing, viz. : Nelson, president of the Cayuga Na- tional Bank of Auburn ; Roswell, a merchant in North Lansing, Tompkins county, where he has .

held the office of postmaster over fifty years, and who is reputed to have been postmaster longer than any other individual in the United States ; William C., who is living in retirement in Au- burn; Alonzo G., who is treasurer of the Os- wego Starch Company, and D. M. Osborne & Co.'s establishment, a member of the firm of Beardsley, Wheeler & Co., of Auburn, and vice- president of the Cayuga County National Bank ; Caroline E., wife of L. W. Nye, of Auburn ; Alice J., wife of James M. Holden, of New York; Mariette B .. widow of N. B. S. Eldred ; and Au- gusta B., wife of William Newell, of New York.

Joseph Hoxie came from Washington county in 1809, in which year his son Zebulon, who is now living in Scipio, was born there. Another son, Allen, is also living in Scipio. Thomas Hale settled in the town about 1809, and soon af- terwards engaged in mercantile business with Orrin Peck. He died in October, 1852, aged 72. Wm. Wooden came from Putnam county in 1810, and settled one and one-half miles south-west of Scipioville, on 100 acres now owned by Hiram Lyon, where he died in March, 1819. He had eight children, none of whom are living. They were David, Palmer, Henry, William, Philip, Su- san, afterwards wife of Ezra Hawley, and Mary, afterwards wife of Henry Hawley. Two of Da- vid's children are living, viz: William D., at Scipioville, where he and William T. Stow were

VID. Worden

MRS. WM. P. WOODEN,

WILLIAM D. WOODEN.

WILLIAM D. WOODEN was born in the town of Fishkill, Dutchess county, N. Y., March 21st, 1802. His father moved to the town of Scipio, Cayuga County, in May, 1814. He commenced teaching in the common schools, when just past 16 years of age, in the then town of Scipio, which now comprises Scipio, Ledyard, Venice and a part of Springport. He commenced in 1818, continuing nineteen terms-thirteen winters and six summers-all in the pres- ent towns of Scipio and Ledyard, except two terms, one at Lake Ridge, Tompkins county, and the other in his native town. He was engaged a portion of his time in civil en- gineering under the late David Thomas, with Noah Dennis. Farr and N. Benedict, and Alden Allen, as associates. Among his contemporary teachers, who were, perhaps, the most prominent, the following are held in grateful remem- hrance : Eli Stilson, Noah Dennis, Davis Hurd, Benoni Smith, John B. Bowen and Col. John Niblo. The follow- ing esteemed citizens were Mr. Wooden's pupils : Sanford Gifford, Sylvester Weeks, Wm. Howland, Calvin Tracy, Lemuel Allen, Geo. L., L. W. and R. B. Watkins, E. B. King and Morgan Wardwell, wbo are now all residents of the towns of Scipio and Ledyard. Charles P. Wood, late of Auburn, and Austin B. Hale, of Moravia, were also his scholars. He has taken from his earliest years to the pres- ent time a lively interest in the cause of universal educa- tion, and has devoted practically, much of his time and talents to its advancement. Under the first supervision of our common school system, he was elected, and held for a number of years, in the town of Ledyard, the office of In- spector. Mr. Wooden was honorably associated with the venerable Salem Town, in the cause of education, a subject which lay very near the hearts of both. In 1839, under a special act of the Legislature, Mr. Wooden was appoint- ed, with the late Joseph Tallcot, a school visitor for the town of Ledyard. Visitors were appointed in every town in the State, and much good was doubtless accomplished thereby. Their services were without compensation. Mr. Wooden has been through his whole life an earnest friend of freedom and temperance. He is now a member of a lodge of Good Templars in Scipioville, where he resides, and is a constant attendant at its meetings. He has also contributed a large number of original essays, poems etc.,

which he has read with great profit to the lodge. Mr. Wooden commenced farming io 1828, in the town of Led- yard, and in 1857 moved to his present residence in Scipio- ville. This has been his principal business since 1828. He has twice been married, first in 1825, and again in 1857. He had six children by his first wife, one son and five daughters, but none by the last. Death has taken all his children but the two youngest daughters. He has through life heen an ardent admirer and firm supporter of our pecu- liar form of government.

He was elected to the office of County Superintendent of the Poor for eight successive years, from 1833 to 1841. He cast his first vote in 1823. His first vote for President was for Andrew Jackson in 1824. He again voted for Jackson in 1828, and for his reelection in 1832; for Van Buren in 1836, and for his reelection in 1840; for Polk in 1844; for VanBuren in 1848: for John P. Hale in 1852; for J. C. Fremont in 1856; for A. Lincoln in 1860, and for his re- election in 1864; for U. S. Grant in 1868, for his reelec- tion in 1872; and for Green Clay Smith in 1876. Thus it will be seen that he has voted at every presidential election since he became a voter. We do not know of another voter now living in the old town who has voted continu- ously, and without missing a town meeting. Mr. Wooden has never had a lawsuit in his life, but has often acted as a peacemaker between his neighbors. He has never been a member of any religions denomination, but is a firm be- liever in the religion of Christ, in whose salvation he trusts, and looks forward to a blissful immortality beyond the grave. Mr. Wooden has been accustomed to write for the local press for the last fifty years. He has also occasionally corresponded with the New York Evening Post, and other public journals. Mr. Wooden has been a man of remark- able health through life, never having employed a doctor for bimself hut twice, first when 22 years old, and not again till his 73d year. He is now in his 77th year, and aside from the natural infirmities incident to that period of life, is a sound man mentally, morally and physically. Like a shock of corn, fully ripe, he is simply waiting the Divine will to be transferred to the garner above. Having faithfully served his generation, he is now waiting final discharge.

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EARLY SETTLEMENTS.

the first school teachers, and Desire, wife of Frederick A. Snell, of Oskosh, Wis. Philip's children who are living are Silas, at Fairport, Monroe county, Eliza Ann, wife of Isaac Treat, in Throop, Adah, Zillah, wife of Edward Tread- well, in Ann Arbor, Mich., and Susan, also in Ann Arbor. Cordial Jennings, from Middlebury, Vt., settled about 1810, on the long lot, on the lake shore in the south-east corner of the town, where he lived a number of years, when he re- moved to lot 65, in Venice, where he died Feb- ruary 15th, 1855, aged 81. His wife Lucy, died April 26th, 1861, aged 96. His eldest son, Sherburne H., aged about seventy, lives in Mo- ravia. Another son, Chauncey, lives in Orleans county. Two grandsons, William and Crauson, are living in Venice.

Deacon Uriah Benedict, who was born in Nor- walk, Connecticut, September 13th, 1783, re- moved to Scipio in 1811, and followed carpenter- ing eighteen years after coming here. He pur- chased a farm, on which he remained sixty-six years, till his death, April 14th, 1877, aged 93. At his death he was the oldest member of the Presbyterian Church of Scipio, of which he was a member nearly seventy years, and a ruling elder for about sixty years. He had ten children, two of whom died in childhood. The rest, four sons and four daughters, married and raised up children. Two sons are ministers of the Presbyterian faith and two are deacons in the same church. Asahel Fitch, from Saratoga county, settled in 1811, in the east part of the town, where Wm. Munger now lives, and where he died December 13th, 1851, aged 79. He was Side Judge and Member of Assembly in 1824. His children were Alvah Fitch, who was born in Saratoga county in 1797, and is still living in Scipio, Judge - , who . lived and died in Lansing, Tompkins county, Charles T., who died in Scipio, where Hiram Wheat now lives, and Cynthia, afterwards wife of Eli Smith, who also died in Scipio. His wife, Martha, died October 2d, 1843, aged 71.

Elisha Barnes came from Pharsalia, Chenango county, in May, 1812, on foot and alone, at the age of about twenty-two, and commenced work with Joel Coe in a distillery, which stood two miles north of Scipio Center. In 1813, he bought half an acre of land, half a mile west of where be now lives, and commenced distilling for him-

self, continuing the business some twenty years. November 4th, 1823, he married Elizabeth Rob- erts, who died July 5th, 1865, aged 67. He had four children, three of whom are living, George, in Scipio, Franklin, in Venice, and Eliza, wife of Andrew Champman, in Scipio. In 1836, he took up the farm on which he now lives, and on which he has since resided. He was 88 years old August 18th, 1878.

Charles Loring Elliott, an artist of great celeb- rity, was born in 1812, in a plain wooden structure, standing on the east and west road leading to Sherwood, not far from Scipio Center. He re- moved with his parents to Auburn, where his father built and occupied a house now standing on the corner of Williams street and Love Lane, at present and for many years past, owned and occupied by the family of E. E. Marvine. Caleb Manchester married his wife Lydia, of Green- field, Saratoga county, October Ist, 1812, and re- moved with her the following spring to a farm one and one-half miles south-east of Scipioville, where they lived forty-eight years and raised a family of four sons and seven daughters, only two of whom, Elias C., of Battle Creek, Michi- gan, and Rev. Wm. S., survive them. In 1861, they sold their home and lived with their daugh- ter, Eliza P. Battey, near Scipioville, who died in March, 1870. . Caleb died October 5th, 1868 ; and his wife at Battle Creek, Michigan, while visiting with her son, June 9th, 1877, aged 84 years. Henry Marsh was an early settler in the town. His son George S., was born here in 1813.

George Slocum came in from Massachusetts in 1814, and died here August 26th, 1867, aged 69. Several settlers came in about that year, promi- nent among whom was Wm. Alward and his sons Nathaniel, William and Squire, and daugh- ter Betsey, afterwards wife of Justus Allen, who came in from Baskin Ridge, N. J., and settled at Scipioville. William, the elder, froze to death while crossing Cayuga Lake, February 13th, 1816. His age at the time of his death was 52.

Betsey, his wife, died June 27th, 1835, aged 69. Both were natives of Somerset county, N. J. Nathaniel carried on the harness making business till about 1833, and acquired a hand- some property. He was connected with the Presbyterian Church at the Square from 1833 till his death in 1848, having been converted the

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TOWN OF SCIPIO.

former year in Auburn. He was zealous in pro- moting the interests of the church. At his house were held prayer meetings presided over by himself, and ably addressed by his wife, who was an excellent and highly cultured woman. It was his custom to send his large family car- riage through the neighborhood every Sunday to pick up those who desired to attend church, but had no conveyance. Only two of his family are living, William, in Nunda, Livingston county, and D. R., in Auburn. Squire married a daugh- ter of John Boughton, of Ledyard, and settled near the Square in the north-west corner of the town.

Others who came in about this time were Dea- con Samuel Leonard, from Connecticut, who settled and died near Scipioville ; Wm. Graham, a Revolutionary soldier, who settled at Merri- fields Corners, one and one-half miles east of Scipioville, where he died February 2d, 1844, aged 92, and who had two daughters, one of whom died young, and the other, Jane, married Ozam Merrifield, who gave to the Corners, his name ; and Eli Stillson, who settled at Barbers Corners, where he taught the district school in the winters of 1815 and '16. Noah Dennis, a civil engineer, was also an early settler in that locality, and taught the district school there in the winters of 1817 and '18. He died in 1834, in his thirty-eighth year. Anthony Tallman, from Rensselaer Co., was an early settler, but in what year we could not determine. His son Squire P. T. Tallman, was born in Scipio, in 1817, and married Mary, daughter of Thomas Cushman, who was Justice sixteen years Lewis B. Smith came in before 1816, in which year his son. Elijah, who is now living in Scipio, was born here. Mitchel Bald- win and Philip H. Buckhout settled here in 1816. Mr. Baldwin was from New Jersey. He died in Aurelius in 1872. Mr. Buckhout was from Westchester county, and settled in 1817, at Scipioville, where he carried on the wagon-mak- ing business until compelled by old age to dis- continue it. He is living a little east of Scipio- ville, and was 85 years old April 14th, 1878. Two sons are living, Edward, in Ledyard, and Byron B., in East Saginaw, Michigan. His wife, Amanda, daughter of Wm. Allen and Betsey Watkins, the first couple married in Scipio, died October 8th, 1876, aged 75.

Cornelius Weeks came from Dartmouth, Mass-

achusetts, about 1816, and settled first a little west of Poplar Ridge, in Ledyard. A year after- wards he removed to the place now occupied by his grandson, Wm. Penn Sisson, a little west of Barbers Corners. Daniel Sisson, father of Wm. Penn Sisson, married Mr. Weeks' only daughter, Charlotte, and succeeded Mr. Weeks to the farm. Mr. Weeks died January 25th, 1867, aged 89; and Daniel Sisson, June 28th, 1867, aged 65. Calvin King came in from Saratoga county about 1818, and settled at Barbers Corners, on the farm now owned by Abner S. Gifford. He died March 30th, 1851, aged 62. Of his children, William is living in Chicago, Edward B., in Scipio, and Jane, wife of Elisha Marsh, in Beatrice, Neb. Ira Akin came from Johnstown, Fulton county, about 1816, and settled one mile south of Scipio Center, on the farm now owned by Alson Hos- kins, where he resided till the death of his wife, when the family broke up and he went west and died there. His children were Edward, who married a daughter of Nathan Morgan, and re- moved to Janesville, Wisconsin ; Ira, who mar- ried Olive Tone, and settled a little over a mile north of Scipio Center, where he died, leaving two children, Yale, living in New York City, and Whelpley, in Auburn ; John, who removed to Ohio ; and Deacon Isaac, who married Phebe Tompkins, and settled about two miles east of Scipio Center, on the farm now owned by Arte- mas Ward. He afterwards removed to Scipio Center, where he died April 9th, 1877, and his wife, October 22d, 1878. They leave seven chil- dren, viz. : John W., William, Morrell J., all of whom are living in Scipio ; Ann, wife of Horace Allen, in Nevada; Mary Jane, wife of Harden Brayton, in Chicago ; Caroline, wife of Philo Sperry, in Michigan ; and Harriet, wife of Henry Slocum, in Scipio.

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History of Cayuga County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 83

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