USA > New York > Madison County > History of Madison County, state of New York > Part 15
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BROOKFIELD.
where the main street crosses the turnpike, north of Leon- ardsville. He built at an early day the fine old dwelling- house which stands here, and which has recently been thoroughly repaired and made over by his son, Nelson Hoxie,* who owns this farm. Another son, John, lives near by on the Plainfield side of the river.
Stephen Hoxie was one of the prominent men of his time and locality ; first in reducing the wilderness and pro- moting agricultural advancement, and first in the councils of the new country. He was a man of superior qualities, morally, intellectually and physically. In religious belief he was strictly orthodox, and held to the creed of the Quakers, or Friends. His life was an example of strict integrity and broad philanthrophy-always living what he professed. Politically, he had the confidence of all parties ; he was the first Supervisor of the town, and held that office for many years ; he was appointed a Justice of the Peace when that office was filled by appointment, and continued to hold it by election till nearly the close of his life ; he was elected to the State Legislature from the County of Chenango for two terms-the years 1803 and 1804. He died in the year 1839, aged 101 years and 4 months.
JUDGE JOSEPH CLARK, son of Capt. Samuel Clark, located in Clarkville about 1810, and has since resided there, very nearly on the same location, one door east of the postoffice. He was the first Postmaster of this village and continued in that position twenty years. He was also Town Clerk twenty years; Supervisor, fifteen years; Justice of the Peace over twenty years. He served in the Militia in the war of 1812, being a considerable time on duty at Sackett's Harbor ; was commissioned Ensign, and passed from this position through the successive offices to Colonel of the reg- iment, before the war closed. He was elected Judge of the Court of Common Pleas and served for a term of ten years. In 1824, he was elected to the Assembly, again in 1828,
# Now (1872,) deceased.
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and the third time in 1835. In 1839, he was elected to the State Senate for a term of four years. · In all positions his in- tegrity was conspicuous, while his sound sense, discretion, and abilities fully sustained the confidence the people reposed in him .*
LEONARDSVILLE.
Before the close of the last century, Joseph Crumb and Stephen Clark built a grist mill on the Unadilla, about. half way between Leonardsville and the Forks. On raising this dam, it was found that the water flowed back upon the mill at the Forks, damaging its operations ; this necessitated a removal. It was next located on the present mill site in Leonardsville, and became the nucleus of the village.
Reuben Leonard, a man of wealth and enterprise, came on here and started a store, the first one of the place, in 1801. It was located on land now enclosed within John Babcock's door-yard. The first postoffice of the town was kept here, and was named from Mr. Leonard ; hence the name of Leonardsville. The Leonard store in later years was moved across the street on the southeast corner of the cross roads, and was occupied in its several divisions as a dwelling, grocery, shops, &c. Early in 1849, the building was pretty thoroughly repaired and refitted, and is now the store of Nathan V. Brand. A profitable trade has always been carried on here. Mr. Leonard did business on an ex- tensive plan. He built, and for several years run, a large potashery, to which was attached a pearling oven, where the first pearl-ash of the country was made ; he also built a tannery and distillery which were in operation many years.
There were also other enterprises at an early day. Ethan Burdick had a potash works, and Harry Hinckley built a tannery ; the latter was taken down in 1869.
The first church organization of the town was effected here in 1797. In a few years after, the society built their house of worship on the site of the present one. There
*Recently deceased.
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was a tavern, built by Leonard, which passed through va- rious hands,-occupied in turn by Dennison Brown, Isaac Brown, Alvin Clark, Isaac Miner and several others. It was repaired about 1868, and was afterwards burned ; the site is not now (1870) occupied. Not many years after the Leonard store was built, Ethan Burdick erected another, . which was sold to Charles Munson & Brother, then to Dennis Hardin, afterwards to N. Brand & Co., and by the latter to the "Leonardsville Manufacturing Company." Daniel Hardin then bought it, and for a number of years did a good business, selling everything usually found in a country store. He rented it some six or eight years to Charles R. Maxon, the latter occupying it till about 1868, when it was burned. "The old store on the corner," as this was familiarly called, was a way-mark for many years ; from time to time it was repaired and added to, changed and modernized, so that at the time of its burning it had assumed the character and proportions of a block, in which was a dry goods store, a bank, a Good Templar's Hall, a shoe store, a tailor's shop, &c. The ground it occupied was purchased by Dennis Hardin and filled up for a door-yard. No one who now sees this inclosure in summer, gay with flowers, would imagine that on the same spot, for long, long years, men bought and sold, and sat out the long winter evenings, planning in concert and dreaming of the future. With the " old store" many of those old neighboring deni- zens have passed away, their places being filled with strangers. On the corner above, a clothing store was built about 1853 or '54, by James H. Brand and Edwin Clark ; it passed into the hands of F. P. King, and in 1862, shared the fate of many other business institutions in Leonards- ville ; it was destroyed by fire. On the next corner Samuel Collins built a store ; he sold to Wm. H. Brown; Mr. Brown to A. M. Griffin ; the latter to H. W. North ; and it is now (1870) occupied by Irving A. Crandall.
Leonardsville was early distinguished for its manufactures ;
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they steadily increased in prosperity, giving life, growth and progress to the village. Previous to 1830, Samuel Brand set up a manufactory for scythes and hoes ; the business was prosperous and he increased it from time to time. Later, it was operated under the name of Brand & Son. All departments of business here prospered in their day ; but the time came when potasheries run down, for the want of the raw material to supply them ; and when hemlock bark became scarce, tanneries also found less to do ; and so one ceased operations and then another ; but in their stead grew up other enterprises. About 1843 or '44, the scythe and hoe factory became the property of N. Brand & Co., who added to the establishment the manufacture of forks. In 1852, it became the property of the combined firm, under the name of the "Leonardsville Manufacturing Company." All the mills upon the stream in this village, viz :- the grist mill, saw mill, fork shop, horse rake factory, wagon shop, furnace and machine shop, belonged to this firm. A great amount of business was transacted, many workmen being employed ; the wares and products of the company found market far and near, and Leonardsville was justly proud of her reputation as a manufacturing village. In 1857, the company dissolved, sold out to differ- ent persons, and each place of business was again operated separately, or in its own interests alone. During the ownership of the company, however, the grist mill, saw mill and fork factory, were burned ; but they were speedily rebuilt. .These manufactories, except the fork factory, have continued in operation to the present time.
Leonardsville Bank, an Associated Company, was incor- porated Feb. 27, 1856, with a capital of $100,000. First Directors, Ezra K. Hoxie, Luke Hoxie, Dennis Hardin, Washington S. Green, Vinson R. Howard, John Rogers, Nathan Brainard, Christopher Langworthy, Wait Clark, Nathan T. Brown, Samuel L. Brown, Noyes Stillman. First officers, President, N. T. Brown ; vice-President, Luke Hoxie ; Cashier, Dennis Hardin ; Jno. O. Wheeler
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Teller and Book-keeper. This was changed to the First National Bank of Leonardsville, and was subsequently merged in the Ilion National Bank, and a private bank established in its place under the old name of Leonardsville Bank, with Dennis H ardin, President, John O. Wheeler, Cashier.
CLARKVILLE,
Or Brookfield, P. O., was originally called "Bailey's Cor- ners," after Dr. Bailey, one of the earliest resident phy- sicians. During the infancy of this village, its growth was materially forwarded by the building of a foundry hy Joseph Clark. He also built a carding and clothier works. Jonathan Babcock built a tannery some fifty years ago, which did a heavy business for many years.
Ethan Babcock kept the first tavern, which was built by Reuben Leonard. It was situated on the present location of the Clarkville Hotel, now kept by Henry Keith. Mr. Leonard also built the first store, which is now standing, and is owned by Joseph Elliot. It is conspicuous on the west side of Main street, nearly opposite the residence of Joseph Clark, and bears the name of " S. Collins," one of its long-ago storekeepers. Mr. Leonard erected these buildings about 1810 or '12.
About 1830, Clarkville was one of the liveliest political centers of the country, several exciting issues then pending ; -- " Anti-Masonry vs. Masonry," the " Chenango Canal," and " Sunday Mails," then prominent matters, in turn agi- tating the country. This village had its prominent men, who were men of influence in county and state; so it shared in these agitations, and acted no unimportant part in effecting final decisions.
Something of a contest ensued on the changing of the name of the place from "Bailey's Corners " to " Clarkville ;" but the high esteem in which Judge Clark was held pre- vailed, and in his honor the place was named and incorpo- rated April 5th, 1834. In 1840, Clarkville had 450 inhab- M
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itants, eighty dwelling-houses, one church, two taverns, five stores, one iron foundry, one fulling mill, two tan- neries, three carriage-shops and two cabinet shops. A manufactory for making hoes, horse rakes and other farming utensils, was one of the large business enterprises of later years. Since 1850, it failed ; the premises were sold to Samuel Gordon, who converted them into a grist mill and tannery ; and within a few years he has built a cheese factory contiguous. An extensive and prosperous business is the result.
Brookfield Academy was first built by subscription as a free school house. In April, 1847, it was incorporated by Legislature, with the above name. First trustees : Wait Clark, Pres., Dr. Bailey, Benjamin Gorton, Ethan Stillman, William Greene, 2d, Hosea B. Clark, &c. With a few ex- ceptions the board remains the same. First Principal, Ludowick York, A. M. ; Assistant, Philander Wood. Rev. R. T. Taylor, now proprietor of the Pittsburg (Pa.) Female College, and Professor of Languages, was principal of this academy during the years 1850 and '5 1.
NORTH BROOKFIELD .- In the north part of the town, west of the center, on a tributary to the Chenango river, lies this village. For many years it was but a hamlet, hav- ing a store, a blacksmith shop, and a tavern, the latter for many years kept by Mr. Alby, a colored man. He and his excellent wife, Jenny Alby, are well remembered, and were respected people.
This is a great hop-growing locality, and wealth gained by engaging in the culture of this product is evident on every hand. Among the prominent families are the Terrys, Morgans, Livermores, Faulkners, Fitchs, Gortons and others, many of whom, if not all, were of the old and early settled families in this part of the town. Within the last quarter century, the village has mostly grown up, and of late its growth and progress has been decidedly marked. No village in the county has a greater reputation for wagon
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BROOKFIELD.
manufactures. In every village, and on farms all over Madison County, and in Oneida, Otsego and Chenango counties, are seen the North Brookfield wagons and car- riages, which have given the names of Gorton & Fitch a wide reputation. The King & Cheesebro firm adds to the manufactures of the place. North Brookfield has also other enterprizes, viz., a furnace, grist mill, saw mill, cheese fac- tory, a hotel, two stores, a Baptist church, and has a pop- ulation of about 300 inhabitants.
SOUTH BROOKFIELD, or "Babcocks Mills," as sometimes called, is situated in the south part of the town on Beaver Creek. The Mills-a grist mill and saw mill-were built up by the Babcocks in the early settlement of the country. They were influential and respected people, and many of their descendants live in South Brookfield yet. Besides the grist mill and saw mill, the village has a horse-rake factory, a cheese box factory, a cabinet shop, and other mechanics' shops ; it has also a neat Methodist Church, a store and post office. A Good Templar's Lodge was organized here in the year 1870, which is a flourishing institution. Madison County Lodge held its session with South Brookfield Lodge in May, 1872.
The First Seventh Day Baptist Church of Brookfield, located at Leonardsville, was organized October 3, 1797. The house of worship was built in 1802. The first pastor was Rev. Henry Clark, who served twenty-four years. In 1823, two churches were set off from this, viz : The 2d Seventh Day Baptist Church of Brookfield, located two miles north of Clarkville, which eventually became known as the " Clarkville S. D. Baptist Church," and the 3d Seventh Day Baptist Church, located one mile north of Babcocks Mills.
The Baptist Church at Clarkville was formed July 7, 1798. Elder Simeon Brown was first pastor. The first meeting house was built at Five Corners. The society subsequent- ly removed to Clarkville, and with the 2d Seventh Day
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Baptist Church, built a meeting house at that village. After this removal the first pastor of the Baptist Church was Elder Holland Turner, and the first pastor of the S. D. Baptist Church was Rev. Elias Bailey.
The Methodist Church of Clarkville was organized about 1800, the class being formed by Rev. Henry Giles. The first pastor was Rev. Barzilla Willey. The first meeting house was built about 1820, and was located on lot 43, 18th Township. The society removed to Clarkville, and at a late date built a house of worship there.
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CAZENOVIA.
CHAPTER IV.
CAZENOVIA.
Formation of the town .- Boundaries .- Geographical features .-
Treaties of 1788 .- The Road Township purchased of the Indians .- Indian occupation of this land .- The Holland Company .- John Lincklaen's Explorations .- Discovery of Lake Owahgena .- The Holland Purchase .- The Pioneer's Journey .- Names of Pioneers .- Rapid settlement .- Division of Road Township into four towns .- Laying out and naming of the village of Cazenovia .- Adventures with bears .- Early set- tlers .- First Town officers .- Division of the town in 1798 .- Cazenovia village in 1803 .- Incorporation of Cazenovia vil- lage .- Enterprise and progress .- Manufactures and Business firms .- C. N. Y. C. Seminary .- Biographical Sketches and Notices of Prominent Men .- New Woodstock .- Churches .- Newspapers.
Cazenovia was formed from Paris and Whitestown, Herkimer County, March 5th, 1795. DeRuyter was taken off in 1798, Sullivan in 1803, Smithfield and Nelson in 1807, and a part of Fenner in 1823. It is the center town on the western border of the county, and is bounded on the north by Sullivan, east by Fenner and Nelson, south by DeRuyter, and west by Onondaga County. The surface of this town is a rolling upland, broken by the deep valleys of the Chittenango and Limestone Creeks. The summits of the hills are 200 to 500 feet above the valleys. Cazenovia Lake (called Owahgena, meaning “the lake where the yellow fish swim," or "yellow perch lake,") a beautiful sheet of water about four miles long, lies in the
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northern part. Its shores slope gently back from the water's edge, where handsome farms, unrivalled for richness by any in the county, are now spread out to view.
The lake lies at a great elevation above tide water, and Chittenango Creek which bears away its waters, is a feeder of the Erie Canal. This stream has in its course a fall of several hundred feet, affording a great number of mill sites.
At Chittenango Fall, about three miles from Cazenovia village, the water plunges in a beautiful cascade, perpen- dicularly, over a ledge of limestone rock, 136 feet in hight. There is no scenery in this part of the State more charming than along the course of this creek from the village to the Falls. The road is excellently graded and macadamized, and winds with the stream between the mountainous hights, which, a part of the dis- tance, rise on either side, while the river flows swiftly down the descent, rushing over rocks, eddying around huge boulders, which everywhere lie in the stream-seeming to be detached fragments from distant mountains, sent hither by some powerful effort of nature, and hurled with terrible impetus into the waters. It is a singularly romantic, wild and awe inspiring spot, at the foot of the fall, as one stands in the deep shadows of overhanging rocks, perpendicular hills and thick forest, the gloom increased by rising spray, the changing and uncertain lights and shades glancing on the falling, foaming torrent, the rush, the roar, the boiling, trembling basin, the quivering earth with its apparently unstable footing .*
The DeRuyter and Oneida Plank Road, which was built in 1848, in passing this route, found its most difficult ob- stacles in the gorge near the falls, where an elevation of 800 feet was overcome by a gradual ascent, which in no place exceeds six feet in one hundred. The old road re-
*The writer visited this spot at the close of a cloudy October day; hence these impressions.
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quired an aggregate ascent of 1,600 feet. The plank road rendered available a water-power hitherto useless; its en- tire fall is 750 feet. From Cazenovia to Chittenango this road has been recently macadamized.
Limestone Creek flows across the south part of the town. On this stream, near the southwest border of the town, are two beautiful cascades, called Delphi Falls, one of which is ninety feet in hight, the other between sixty and seventy. Hydraulic and common limestone are quarried near Chit- tenango Falls, in the northern and central parts ; the soil is a gravelly loam. In the southern part of the town a clayey loam soil prevails, underlaid with hard pan.
As we turn our attention to the history of this region, we are enabled to go beyond the day when it was called Caze- novia, into the ancient time when it was a part of the broad territory of Whitestown. The far-reaching trails of the Iroquois had pointed the way of emigration into northern Madison County. A sort of semi-civilization was accom- plished through the intercourse of the Indians and whites, in their days of war and of peace, as far back as the six- teenth century, so that the savage had learned many of the useful arts, with, probably, some additional viciousness ; and the Englishman and Frenchman, more often the latter, had mingled his blood with the race of the red man; for the white man desired this beautiful country, and rather than not dwell in it, he willingly took up his abode with the ab- original possessors. When peace succeeded the troublous times of the Revolution, the controllers of the public welfare, knowing well the value of these lands, and knowing, also, that the time had come when peacable arrangements could be made with the Indians, effected amicable treaties with them, by which large tracts were obtained for settlement. In 1788, treaties were made, through which the "Military Tract " of Onondaga, the Chenango " Twenty Towns," and the " Gore," lying between them, were obtained. The Military Tract was appropriated to " Soldiers' Rights ;" and while the Twenty Towns were sold to different purchasers,
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the Gore, or its proceeds, were to be appropriated to the laying out of new roads. Therefore it was named " Road Township." It was a tract about thirty-five miles long, from north to south, four and a half miles wide at the northern extremity, and about four miles at the southern containing about 100,000 acres of land. The project of opening the great Genesee, as well as a road from the salt springs in Onondaga County, which should traverse Road Township to Chenango, in the Twenty Towns, was in con- templation, but nothing was done until after the sale of this tract to the Holland Land Company.
Previous to the treaties of 1788, this town was in the domain of the Oneidas, and was considered as their reserve hunting ground ; and the lake, so well stored with fish, was their especial property. Though their village lay at the northward (at Canaseraga), yet they kept a well-defined path to and up the Chittenango Creek to the lake, where they built their temporary cabins, reduced the timber, con- structed apparatus for fishing, and otherwise betook them- selves to the pursuits of their race. At the head of the lake they evidently, at some time, established themselves with some degree of permanency, and cultivated small fields of corn. There some of their number have been buried. In 1861, when the citizens of this School District (No. 5) were sinking a hole to set their liberty pole, near the school house, a large skeleton of an Indian was found buried in a sitting posture, with hatchets, pipes, beads and other arti- cles which the Indian was supposed to need on his journey to the Spirit land. The circumstance of the remains of a breast-work-like fortification, which could be seen for many years after the settlement by white people, just east of this school house, and the frequent bringing to light as the soil was cultivated, of various implements of domestic use, such as heavy stone mallets or pestles, worn smooth by friction, -apparently of the kind used in pounding corn,-of stone hatchets, (sometimes broken,) of rather ingenious make,
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and other peculiarly-formed implements-the use of which is unknown at the present day-curious beads, &c.,* all would indicate something like a permanent residence, where their Indian arts flourished for a season, where they found abundant sport as well as sustenance in fishing, and also in hunting,-for bears and deer were plenty, and otter and beaver were not scarce,-and where their little fields of corn grew thriftily. They were undoubtedly one of the families of the great Confederacy, established here for a season ; not at all isolated, as evidences of about equal an- tiquity of the proximity of neighbors are found on what was called the "Fort Lot," two miles to the westward, near Oran, Onondaga County. This family may have been driven from here at last by some invading foe,f or perhaps they abandoned their fortifications (which the Indians inva- riably erected around their villages,) for some more congenial spot.
The antiquities of Fort Lot are graphically described in a letter written in 1845, by J. H. V. Clark of Manlius, N. Y., to Mr. Schoolcraft, and published in " Schoolcraft's Notes on the Iroquois," from which the following extract is made :
"A locality in the town of Cazenovia, Madison Co., N. Y., near the County line, and on Lot 33, township of Pompey, Onon- daga Co., is called the "Indian Fort." * * * It is about * four miles southeasterly from Manlius village, situated on a slight
* Found upon the farms of W. B. Downer and G. R. Southwell, who have pre- served many of these curiosities for the benefit of the antiquarian.
This supposition is strengthened by the following: In September, 1861, a sunken canoe or "dug out," filled with stones, was discovered in the lake by a party of three gentlemen fishing. They succeeded in getting the canoe to the surface and towing it ashore. Its antique appearance excited much interest among the Cazenovians, and thereupon was kindled a flame of enthusiasm for the departed nobility of the race once the unquestioned lords of Lake Owahgena, who had sunk their canoes that the invading foe might not possess them. It was decided to re- turn the relic to its bed of aquatic weeds, where it had evidently long rested, with ceremonials befitting the occasion. Accordingly, on the 12th day of the succeed- ing October, all Cazenovia gathered at the Lake to witness the unique proceedings, in which thirty-one persons from among the most prominent citizens, dressed in aboriginal costume, took part. For a description of the ceremonies the reader is referred to the Cazenovia Republican, October 16th, 1861, and also to a photo- graphic picture of the scene, preserved among a choice collection of pictures at the office of J. D. Ledyard, Cazenovia.
·
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eminence, which is nearly surrounded by a deep ravine, the banks of which are quite steep and somewhat rocky. The ravine is in shape like an ox bow, made by two streams which pass nearly around it and unite. Across this bow at the opening was an earthen wall running southeast and northwest, and when first noticed by the early settlers was four or five feet high, straight, with something of a ditch in front, from two to three feet deep. Within this inclosure may be about ten or twelve acres of land. A part of this land when first occupied in these latter times was called 'the Prairie,' and is noted now among the old men as the place where the first battalion training was held in the County of Onondaga. But that portion near the wall and in front of it, has recently, say five years ago (1840), been cleared of a heavy growth of black oak timber. Many of the trees were large, and were probably 150 or 200 years old. Some were standing in the ditch and others on the top of the embankment. There is a con- siderable burying place within the enclosure. The plow has al- ready done much toward leveling the wall and ditch, still they can easily be traced the whole extent. A few more plowings and harrowings and no vestige of them will remain."
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