USA > New York > Herkimer County > History of Herkimer county, New York > Part 39
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The first attempt to settle was made in the year 1786, by a Mr. Whip- ple and Christopher Hawkins, from Rhode Island, who made a small clearing and erected a log shanty about one mile west of the site of Norway village. Before making much headway in their enterprise, they found they had made a mistake in locating their lot, and of course abandoned it. The next year, 1787, as near as can be ascertained, wit- nessed the first permanent settlement.
Jeremiah Potter was born in Cranston, R. I., March 3, 1737. He was the father of a large family of children, among whom were Fisher, Jeremiah, jr., Angel, Lemuel, Philip W., Keziah, Mary and Sarah. Marvelous stories of the cheap and fertile lands of the Royal Grant in "York State" had reached their ears, and they resolved to leave " Lit- tle Rhody " and carve out new homes in the then far off and almost unknown wilderness. Late in the winter or early in the spring of 1787 the three sons first named, and the daughters Mary and Saralı started for " the Grant." The lot they selected was No. 4 of the third allot- ment of the Royal Grant, containing 300 acres, being 300 rods in length east and west, and 160 rods in width. The owner of the property re- sided at Albany, and he gave the Potters a lease for twenty-one years, with the privilege of purchasing at the expiration of that time for twenty
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HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
shillings per acre. The southeast corner of the lot, near where the first clearing was made, is about half a mile directly north from Norway vil- lage. The first year's attempt of the Potter boys in farming was but a partial success ; a very early frost seriously injured their growing crops. Winter set in early in November; snow fell to the depth of nearly four feet and remained until April. To add to their misfortunes, their pota- toes froze during the first cold weather. Having no bread, they were dependent during the early part of winter upon beans and a small amount of pork that they had brought with them. These were con- sumed before spring, and for some time they mostly subsisted upon frozen potatoes, and an occasional rabbit they killed. A cow they brought with them, the first in the town, they wintered in good condi- tion upon browse and the few cornstalks they had raised, and she was, no doubt, found an important addition to their supplies. With their nearest neighbors seven miles away, it is needless to add that their first winter in their wilderness home was long, dreary, and lonesome. About the Ist of April, 1788, their parents and other members of the family arrived. The land was paid for and divided among the family. The three daughters married as follows : Keziah, Clark Smith; Sarah, Rufus Eaton ; and Mary, Dr. Amos Haile, all of the town of Fairfield, and well known as being among the early and most reputable citizens of that town.
Jeremiah Potter died January 27, 1813 ; his wife May 13, 1826. They are both buried in the cemetery at Norway village. All of the sons left the town at an early day, except Philip W., the youngest, who died May 13, 1861, and was the last representative of the Potter family in the town. The Potter family was a fair average of the New England emigrants of that day. If undue prominence has been given this fam- ily it is on account of its members being the first settlers.
Who next settled after the Potters is not positively known; it is quite certain that other families came into their immediate neighbor- hood very soon after their arrival.
Thomas Manly came into this town from Bennington county, Ver- mont, in the spring of 1789; made a small clearing and erected a log cabin about one mile directly south of Norway village. He moved his family, consisting of his wife and son Ira, then but a few weeks old, into
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the town in March, 1790, on an ox sled. Manly was a man of energy, intelligence and integrity, and at once became prominent in town and county, affairs. He died in this town January 21, 1852, aged eighty- eight years and six months.
David Underhill, John and David Corp and N. Fanning, all from Vermont, settled in the town either in 1789 or 1790 ; Underhill near Manly's, the others about a mile and a half easterly from Norway vil- lage. Several families by the name of Brayton, from Rensselaer county, located about the same date two miles southeast of Norway village, but soon removed from town.
The first birth in the town was that of a child of Gideon Brayton ; the first death that of the wife of Elihu Hinman.
John, Andrew and Amos Coe and Captain David Hinman, from Southbury, Conn., settled in Norway previous to 1790. They located a short distance northerly from Norway village. John Coe was a man of decided ability ; a noted law character, and a successful practitioner in justices' courts. Ira Coe, a son of Amos, was a prominent farmer, magistrate and lawyer. In 1840 he was appointed one of the judges of the County Court. He died in this town February 5, 1861.
From 1790 to 1800 Norway was settled rapidly with emigrants from the eastern counties of the State and from New England. The beginning of the century found the town dotted over with clearings and log houses, there being at that date over one hundred and sixty families residing within the present town limits ; more families than at this date, not enu- merating village residents.
Some of the prominent settlers during this period deserve notice : Edward Henderson came from Vermont in 1792 and settled in the south part of the town. His wife, whose maiden name was Mary Mathews, was a woman of remarkable talents and intelligence. Daniel C., a son, was one of the leading citizens in this town. He was a jus- tice for many years, served as supervisor one term, and was elected member of Assembly in 1826. He died in the town in 1860. Hugh, another son, removed to Illinois, but died while on a visit to Norway in 1856.
David Smith, who came from Massachusetts in 1793, James Giles, Stephen Babbitt, Nathaniel Post and William Forsyth were prominent
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HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
early settlers in the southern portion of the town ; James Norton, Jared Dorman, Benjamin Nichols, Sylvanus Ferris and Benjamin Hall were leading citizens in the eastern portion. Ferris was one of the most suc- cessful early settlers. He purchased a farm two miles east of Norway village; paid for it by the ashes saved and sold in clearing it off ; erected good farm buildings ; bought several adjoining farms, and traf- ficked considerably in farm produce. He removed to the town of Rus- sia about 1830 with two of his sons, leaving four married sons on good dairy farms and in good circumstances. In 1835 the western fever in- duced him to visit Illinois, and he was so well pleased with the country that he purchased a section of land for himself and one for each of his six sons in Knox county, and near the present flourishing city of Gales- burg. Soon after he and all his sons but Timothy H. removed there, where he died at a ripe old age.
Moses and Uriah Tompkins came into the town from the vicinity of Albany in 1793; Stephen, another brother, a few years later. Before coming they had purchased a tract of land in the northeast part of the town, without seeing it, of a Methodist minister, who represented that it was timbered with a splendid growth of pine. They found fine tim- ber, but the pines were all hemlocks, and the land poor and frosty. To the credit of that minister it should be said his misrepresentations were not intentional. Pardon Tillinghast, Philip Angell, Samuel Brainard, William Service, John Vandenburgh, Clark Baker, Samuel Rathbun, Sylvanus and Josiah Crosby, John Pullman, Moses Gage, Samuel Western, Timothy Johnson, Christopher Cadman, Joseph Bly, Jacob Bullock and Benjamin Benjamin each deserves notice.
Daniel Hurlbut, an early blacksmith, was a man of considerable prominence. He was appointed one of the county judges in 1817, and held that position three years. His three sons, William H., Seth and Elisha P., were well known and prominent citizens.
Jared Smith moved from Freehold, Greene county, in 1797. He had previously emigrated from Southbury, Conn., which was the native town of a number of early settlers, including the Coe, Hinman, John - son, Curtis, Hine and Munn families. He was a magistrate for some years, and died in the town in 1846. About or soon after 1800 Na- thaniel Salisbury, Ebenezer Hurd, Daniel Carpenter, Jared Thayer,
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Danforth Doty, Caleb Sheldon, Amos and Simeon Ives, Samuel Sher- man and Noble Ross settled in Norway. Two of Carpenter's sons, Samuel and Azel, became large land owners and wealthy. Salisbury and Ross were mechanics and farmers; were men of character and in- fluence, and lived to an advanced age.
Dairying .- The early settlers had their full share of the toils and pri- vations incident to pioneer life, but, hardy and hopeful, they battled courageously and successfully with adverse circumstances. A great majority who remained and patiently followed agricultural pursuits ac- quired competence ; many wealth.
The forests were reduced to ashes; crops and herds of sheep fol- lowed, wool and flax furnished clothing-spinning wheels and looms were found in almost every household. The magnificent maples fur- nished an abundant supply of sugar.
The New England emigrants brought with them the art of cheese- making, and were not slow in finding the soil much better adapted to grazing than grain-growing. Small dairies of from six to ten cows date back to 1806-10. The few small cheese manufactured were con- sumed at home or peddled around among the country merchants. Col- onel Jared Thayer was one of the early dairymen who took a special interest in developing cheese dairying. He located two miles east of Norway village on what has long been known as "Dairy Hill," and kept the first twenty-cow cheese dairy in the county. Norway claims the pioneer dairymen that have since given a world- wide celebrity to Her- kimer county dairy products. In 1820 but few large dairies were estab- lished, but within ten years after dairying became the leading industry.
Sylvanus Ferris, Nathaniel Salisbury, James Norton, Isaac Smith, Danforth Doty, Azel Carpenter, Lewis Barnes and D. C. Henderson were among the early cheese- makers in Norway.
A cheese factory was built at Norway village in 1864, and there are now seven in the town. The village factory makes up the milk from nearly 900 cows, and claims to turn out more cheese than any other fac- tory in the world. With the exception of four or five private dairies, all the cheese is manufactured at factories. Within the past twenty years farm lands have depreciated one-half in value, and the mortgage indebtedness of the town is larger than at any former period.
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HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
Pioneers in Norway Village .- The first settlers where Norway village is now located were Seth Smith, his sons Josiah and Dudley, and his son-in-law Solomon Howe. Seth Smith was born in Northampton, Mass., September 25, 1734; the sons were born in Suffield, Conn., whence the family emigrated to Dorset, Vt., and from there to Norway in 1795 or 1796. Josiah Smith erected a log cabin a few rods north- east of the Baptist Church ; his brother one on the west side of the road a little south of the same church. Their father located his cabin some little distance north, near the present cheese factory, and Solomon Howe nearly opposite "Lieutenant Smith's," as the old gentleman was familiarly known. Nearly east from Josiah and Dudley Smith, a dis- tance of some thirty rods, lived Daniel Tuttle ; about the same distance south a family named King. These were the only known families re- siding on or near the location of the village at the beginning of the present century. The Smiths prospered ; they cleared off the adjacent forests, bought out their neighbors, and were among the first well- to-do settlers of the time; but little thought that their farms were to be parceled out into lots, upon which the pleasant village of Norway is built. By common consent the future town center was fixed at Cook's, a half-mile north, and doubtless would have remained there but for the laying out and opening of the old " State road." The location of this road was sharply contested by the prominent citizens of this and the ad- joining towns ; men were no more devoid of selfishness then than now, and the "best route" of course ran by their doors or through their farms. Josiah Smith, James Norton and Jared Dorman, and perhaps others, assisted not a little by Stephen Ayres, surveyor, living just east of the town line, controlled the location through this town. The road was surveyed in 1806 and opened during the coming two years; the road fixed not only the location of Norway village, but also Salisbury Corners, Cold Brook and Russia.
About 1806 Josiah Smith opened a tavern in the village, and about the same time was appointed postinaster. From ISto to 1816 two stores, the old Union church and several dwelling-houses were built. George Gardinier and Sylvanus Smith, blacksmiths; Benjamin Marvil, carpenter; Henry Wilcox, tailor; Galen Barstow, harness maker ; James Churchill and Dean Gay, coopers ; and George A. Coppernoll,
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TOWN OF NORWAY.
David Humphreville, and Lyman Swan, shoemakers, were some of the mechanics who first located in the village.
During the next ten years a few dwelling-houses were erected. In 1829 the tavern formerly occupied by Levi Brainard was built ; in 1831 the Baptist church, and in 1834 the large building now occupied for a store, dwelling-houses and shops, on the corner of the State road and Main street, and the present hotel on the opposite corner. Several dwellings were built during the same period. Robert H. Crandall built all or most of the buildings last mentioned. Only the M. E. Church and a few dwellings have since been erected. The village at- tained its full growth in 1840. Without water- power or any manfac- turing interests, it will simply remain the town center in the future. It contained in 1892 thirty-three dwelling houses, three churches, two stores, a blacksmith shop and a hotel, and about one hundred inhab- itants.
Schools .- The first school in Norway was taught by Jeanette Hen- derson in 1793, in a log school-house on the Jerseyfield road, a little south of the State road. Miss Henderson was a sister of D. C. Hen- derson, and afterward married John H. Sherwood, and died at an ad- vanced age in Steuben county. Charles Morton, Samuel Brainard, Charles King and John Moon were early teachers of note.
In 1806 Miss Phebe Smith was hired to teach school in the Barnes district for one dollar per week, on condition that she should " board around " and receive any kind of merchantable produce for pay.
Population and Civil History .- The town boundaries have not been changed since 1823, when the town of West Brunswick (since Ohio) was set off.
The number of inhabitants by the census of 1825 was 1, 168, the number of males and females being exactly the same. The succeeding enumerations have been as follow : 1830, 1, 151 ; 1835, 1,131; 1840, 1,046; 1845, 1,079; 1850, 1,052; 1855, 1,059; 1860, 1,105; 1865, 1,080; 1870, 1,117 ; 1875, 1,054; 1880, 1,045 ; 1890, 817.
In no other town in the county has the population remained so uni- form in numbers as in this since 1825 up to 1880. The decrease of the farming and increase of the village population has been about equal for the past fifty years. But few descendants of the early settlers remain in
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the town. A good deal of the enterprise of our forefathers consisted of frequent removals. The familiar names of an early day, Potter, Manly, Tillinghast, Henderson, Ferris, Barnes, Cole, Brainard, Coe, Babbitt, Corp, Benjamin, Dorman, Brunson, Ross, Reynolds, Hemingway, Hor- ton, Sheldon, Forsyth, Cadman, and many others are now unknown in the town.
About 1850 Irish Catholics commenced immigrating into Norway and have continued until about one- fourth of the population is com- posed of that class. Generally they are industrious, economical, possess good judgment, are good citizens, and succeeding as well as could be expected under the present depressed state of farming interests. The great majority of the early settlers were natives of New England ; probably fully one-half were from Rhode Island. Connecticut and Massachusetts furnished about equal numbers, and quite a number came from Vermont. The two Du Bois families were descendants of the French Huguenots, and came from New Jersey to Saratoga county, and from there here. A few settlers were of German origin ; two families, those of John and Robert English, were Protestant Irish.
The first town meeting, as required by the act of organization, was held at the house of William Whipple, supposed to be near or at the village of Newport. Early town meetings were held at Jeremiah Pot- ter's, Arnold Willoughby's and George W. Cook's. In 1806, when the town of " Union," afterwards changed to Russia, was set off, the ensu- ing town meeting for Norway was ordered to be held at the house of Josiah Smith, and from 1807 to 1831, inclusive, with the exception of four years, town meetings were held at the same place. The exceptions were 1808, when they were held at Arnold Willoughby's; 1816 and 1825, at the Union church in Norway village, and 1819, at the old Methodist meeting house, situated a mile and a half east of the village.
We give a complete list of supervisors from the organization of the town :
Benjamin Bowen, 1793; Joshua Remington, 1794, 1795; Benjamin Ilinman, 1796; Thomas Manly, 1797-99, 1803-09, 1835, 1837; Samuel Wright, 1800, 1802; Westel Willoughby, jr., 180t ; Sylvanus Ferris, 1810-12, 1814; Stephen Babbitt, 1813; James Giles, 1815; Roland Sears, 1816; Henry Tillinghast, 1817-22. 1824-26, 1828-31, 1834, 1836; David Clark, 1823, 1827 ; David Humphreville, 1832, 1833, 1849 ; William H. Hurlbut, 1838-40, 1842; Abram L. Hemingway, 1841 ; Nathaniel S. Henderson, 1843,
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TOWN OF NORWAY.
1845, 1846; Henry Tillinghast, jr., 1844, 1863; Lathan Gray, 1847, 1848; David Du Bois, 1850, 1851; Daniel C. Henderson, 1852; Ira Coe, 1853; Hiram T. Horton, 1854, 1856; Morgan Norton, 1855; Abram Hurd, 1857, 1858; Stephen R. Millington, 1859 ; Frederick Smith, 1860; Benjamin Austin, 1861; William Carpenter, 1862; Sylvanus B. Legg, 1864; William La Due, 1865-67 ; Munson Bunnell, 1868-72, 1883-84; Lorenzo D. Gage, 1873 ; Luke T. Du Bois, 1874-82; Charles B. Gray, 1885-87 ; Zenas B. Smith, 1888; William P. Van Vechten, 1889-91 ; Daniel W. Bly, 1892.
Mills, Tanneries and Shops .- The first saw- mill in the town was built in 1793 by Captain David Hinman, about half a mile northwest of Nor- way village on Sulphur Spring Brook. The next was built by W. H. and G. W. Cook about 1795, on Black Creek. They soon sold it to James Jackson & Bro. A saw-mill was standing on the same site in 1878.
The first grist-mill was built by Carpenter Cole in 1793, about two and a half miles northeast from Norway village on the Coe Swamp Brook. 1 judge it was a rude affair, as one of the old settlers face- tiously described it as " the mill that ground a kernel of corn into two pieces, and the meal was prepared for use by sifting it through a lad- der." It was used but a few years.
Green Garner, an enterprising Rhode Island Yankee, came into the town not far from 1796 and bought 200 acres of land southerly from Nor- way village, and the mill sites on the Manly Brook, a mile south of the village. He erected a saw- mill in 1798 and a grist-mill and distillery in 1803. About 1809 he sold his farming lands to Henry Tillinghast and Samuel Carpenter, and his mill property to Adam Coppernoll, and re- moved to Great Bend, Jefferson county. Thomas Manly subsequently purchased the mill property. The mills were in use until 1832 and then abandoned. Isaac Crosby built a grist-mill at Black Creek about 1830. It was afterward bought by Joseph Western. It was not used for mill- ing purposes over twenty years.
Henry Tillinghast first commenced the tanning business in the town soon after he settled here in 1793, and followed it in connection with farming for many years. Asa Lord, an early settler from Connecticut, had a small tannery on Barnes street, where he followed the business of shoemaking in connection with tanning. He removed from town to Madison county in 1810.
Mitchell Hinman had a small tannery in Wolf Hollow, on the road leading to Fairfield, near the south bounds of the town; Isaac Crosby
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HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
one on the farm now owned by Nathaniel Morse, and John and Timo- thy Smith one at Norway village, previous to 1810. About 1818 Levi Brainard built a tannery at Sulphur Spring, where he and others fol- lowed the business for some twenty years. Alfred Burwell built a small tannery at Norway village about 1835 ; subsequently it came into the possession of Amos Tuttle, and afterward of Tuttle & Lamphier. It was a short lived concern. Soon after Peter Crosby made an effort at the tanning business on Barnes street ; it did not amount to much. In 1853 a large tannery was erected at Grayville, by Oliver, Harvey and William Ladue. It is claimed that $150,000 was invested in the enterprise, and seventy-five hands employed. It is now owned by T. E. Proctor, of Boston, but business was discontinued in 1887.
Vale & Eddy built a fulling mill in 1793 on the Hurricane Brook, a short distance above where the State road crosses the stream. How long it has been in operation I have been unable to learn ; probably but a few years. Another fulling-mill was built about 1816, on the Manly Brook, just above the bridge on the Fairfield road, probably by Thomas Manly. It was operated by Brush & Rockwell, and others, and was in use fifteen or twenty years. A fulling and carding-mill was built at Norway village by a Mr. Doty, previous to 1820; it soon passed into the possession of William Hurlbut and Thomas Ives, and a little later Hurlbut bought out Ives, and continued in business until about 1850, when he abandoned the clothing business, and manufac- tured cheese boxes for several years. Arnold Willoughby, previous to 1800, erected a small shop, dammed an insignificant stream that flowed passed his house to secure water power, and commenced the manufac- ture of wheels -- " big wheels " to spin rolls, "little wheels " to spin flax, besides quill wheels and reels. He followed the business until his death, in 1832, when it was continued for a short time by his son, Amos C. Willoughby.
There were in 1892 three saw-mills run by water power. Within the town bounds are the deserted sites of five tanneries, five saw-mills, three grist-mills, three carding-mills and one distillery.
Early Inn-Keepers .- Amos Coe and Thomas Brayton are each said to have been the first inn-keeper in town. Brayton was located on the Jerseyfield road, south of the State road crossing, and his opening
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dates back to 1793 ; Coe's cannot be ascertained, neither is it known how long either continued in business.
Cook's store was a sort of semi tavern ; in fact, if a bar constitutes part of a tavern all the early stores can make a similar claim, as the sale of liquors was an important item in their business.
Josiah Smith opened a tavern at Norway village previous to 1806, and continued in the business until 1831, when he sold his property and removed to Whitesboro, Oneida county.
The opening of the State road created a great demand for taverns ; on the western border of the town Eli and Zephi Brockett kept a tavern soon after the opening of this road ; at a later date and a mile further east Russell Hine embarked in the business. Two miles east of the village, at the intersection of the Jerseyfield and State roads, two tav- erns, but a short distance apart, kept open doors in friendly competi- tion for weary travelers for many years. Among others who erected " sign posts " at this point were Pinney, Dr. Mabee, Stockholm, Shib- nah Nichols, Havens and Benjamin Ilall and Armstead. A mile further east, Dorman first and Colvin after were in the tavern business. None of these early taverns on the State road lacked custom. In 1829 Levi Brainard built a hotel in the village, and for a year two rival houses existed.
In 1834 Frederick Mason built the present hotel at the village. William H. Hurlbut was the first landlord ; he was followed by A. Hurlbut & Hill, J. D. Henderson, Addison Manly and Elias B. Pull- man, who purchased the property about 1844, and ran the hotel in con- nection with his farm some twenty years. Pullman sold the hotel to George W. Hadcock and it has since had half a score of owners and occupants.
Amos Ives and Bailey Legg were former tavern keepers on the road leading from Norway village to Grayville, and Joshua Bennett, William B. Smith, Seymour Bullock and Hiram Gettman, from 1820 to 1840 did something in the tavern business at Black Creek or Westernville.
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