USA > New York > Madison County > History of Madison County, state of New York > Part 28
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If tradition informs us correctly, organized companies of white soldiery, have, in their marches, sometimes chosen the highland paths in this town, in preference to the marshy route of Sullivan. As long ago as 1696, when Count De Frontenac made the attempt to subjugate the Iroquois, from Onondaga he sent forward Mons. De Vaudreuil with six or seven hundred French and Indians on foot to the Oneida vil- lage to destroy it. Mons. Vaudreuil made a swift march of the "fourteen good leagues" which lay between the Onondaga
a half pint of grain in 1845; this product was multiplied to 96 bushels in 1848. The barley of this region now known as the "Hess barley," weighs about 50 lbs. to the bushel ; quantity per acre from 35 to 40 bushels; greatest or premium crops, 54, 56, 66 and 67 bushels per acre. It is the two-rowed variety. It is estimated that ten thousand bushels of this variety were produced in 1851 .- From Trans. N. Y. S. Ag. Soc. 1851, page 716.
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and Oneida Castles, notwithstanding their route was “in the woods with continual mountains, and a multitude of rivers and large streams to be crossed." We infer that the route of " continual mountains " was made through Fenner, Smithfield and Stockbridge, a road traversed by soldiery three-quarters of a century later, traces of which, (so runs the tradition,) in places here and there from Stock- bridge. to Fenner, were not entirely obliterated at the clos- ing of the last century.
Passing out from the shadows over the history of those far distant days, we gladly enter upon an era where we can arrange our data, and make our statements with some de- gree of certainty.
From a part of the New Petersburgh tract, and also the Mile Strip, the town of Fenner was formed. The former was leased of the Indians in 1794 and purchased in 1797 ; the latter (Mile Strip,) was granted by the Oneidas, from their reservation, to the State, and was called the " Cowas- selon tract ;" it contained twenty-five lots in two tiers, and lay between the Cowasselon and Chittenango Creeks. It was purchased of the State in 1797 by Dr. Enoch Leonard, and from the fact of its being a mile across it, was named Mile Strip, this title having passed into all legal documents pertaining thereto. Previous to these purchases, and in the year 1793, it is said the first settlement of this town was made in the western part of the town, in the vicinity and west of the Fenner meeting house. As many of the first settlers were transient inhabitants, soon gathering up their effects to pass on to regions nearer the great West, so their names are, in most instances, lost, and among those names may have been that of the first settler.
It was not until Peter Smith had acquired possession of the New Petersburgh tract that permanent settlement be- gun, the acquisition of a title to their homes being an object of paramount importance to the pioneer. Among the ear- liest settlers were Alpheus Twist and James Munger, from
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Connecticut, who located about a mile south of the center, Jonathan Munger and Mr. Page in the north part, Elisha Freeman, Ithuriel Flower, Amos Webster and Amanda Munger in the south part. Phineas and Abel Town, John Needham, Thomas Cushing and J. D. Turner were also early settlers. Arnold Ballou came from Rhode Island about 1800. Joel Downer came in 1801 from Vermont. He located in school district No. 9. Silas Ballou (cousin to Arnold Ballou,) came from Providence, Rhode Island, about 1803 or '4, and located in the eastern part of Fenner. David Fay came from Brimfield, Mass., the winter of 1805 and located on lot No. 16, a farm which had been previously occupied, and a small clearing made by a Mr. Rhodes. Thomas Wilson took up and cleared a large farm. A Mr. Foster took up the farm south of Mr. Wilson's. He never enjoyed the benefits of the toil expended upon his farm, as he lost his life at an early day by the falling of a tree. Samuel and Zat Payne took up farms north of the Cazeno- via and Oneida turnpike, in that part of the town bordering on Smithfield.
A company of Scotch families from Scotland took up farms near the east Fenner line, between the turnpike and the Peterboro and Perryville road. Among these may be named Robert Stewart, James Cameron, Daniel Douglass, John Robinson and James Cole.
During the incoming of emigration, Fenner received a generous share of population, equal to the adjoining towns. The salubrity of the air, its comparative freedom from the noxious miasmas of swamps, the adaptability of the soil to the culture of the more profitable cereals, were inducements which overcame other obstacles. The population increased more rapidly than some sections possessing better natural resources.
Benjamin Woodworth, John Miles, Daniel Torrey, Jared Merrills, Joseph Maynard, David Foskett, Hiram Roberts, James Walker, Dan Mckay, David Cook, Truman Bee-
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man, Lot Pickens, Solomon Field, Hezekiah Hyatt, Daniel R. Baxter, Seth Smith, 2d, Oliver Brownson, Seba Ensign, Linus Ensign and Jonathan Bump, were early settlers ; there should be added, also, the names of Barber, Cushing, Dana, Dickinson, Davis, Eddy, Faulkner, Gordon, Hess, Hill, Howard, Jacob Hungerford, Johnson, Jones, Keeler, Loundsbury, Laird, Stafford, Sayles, Stoddard and Wilbur.
Samuel Nichols located on Mile Strip in 1802. He was from Cazenovia, where he settled, with a family, in 1793. He was originally from Albany County. The Nichols fam- ily purchased a mile of land on the Mile Strip road, which the father and sons cleared up into farms. But few of this large family remain in town, those who survive being scat- tered over the States of the Union. Drake Selleck was an early settler. Russel Ransom came, in 1811, from Scoharie County, and located near Perryville, purchasing a large farm. Dr. Daniel Pratt, came from Massachusetts and settled near Perryville, in 1814; Lyman Blakeslee came about the same time, from Paris, Oneida County, and also located near Perryville, on the border of Sullivan. In a short time, four brothers and one sister of Mr. Blakeslee located in Fenner, near Perryville.
In the west part of the town, near Chittenango Falls, two Merriam brothers took up large farms. Thomas Clay took up Lot No. 8, now the farm of Calvin Mead. He had the road laid out from the Falls over the hill, past his farm. At the Falls, Mr. Asaph Hummiston, who came from Litch- field, Conn., in the year 1818, took up 100 acres of Lot No. 7, and 100 acres of an adjoining lot in Cazenovia. His land embraced the site of the Falls village. Joseph Twogood took up and cleared a large farm on Mile Strip, bordering on the east of the Chittenango. He laid out the old Falls road, which runs parallel with the creek on the east side.
Peter Robbins, Ned Fosdick and a Mr. Perkins were early settlers in the west part of the town. John Chase took up and cleared a portion of the farm belonging to Atkinson's Mill, which lay in this town.
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Among the first experiences of the pioneer is the novelty of the situation-the dense wilderness, the route of marked trees, the log domicil, the odd manners and peculiarities of the Indians, the strange and sometimes fearful sounds of the brute dwellers of the woods. Travelers and settlers, when out at night in the wide stretches of forest, carried their burning pine knot to keep wild animals at a respectful distance. We are told, however, that Zat Payne, having forgotten his burning brand while on his way from his home to Silas Ballou's, one night, was attacked by, and had a fearful struggle with a bear, but managed to escape with his garments nearly all torn off. The hunters gathered in force next day, and scoured the forest till Bruin was found and killed. Deer so abounded that venison was a common article of consumption ; small herds of these graceful, wild creatures came to the "deer lick," on Mr. Ballou's farm, when, after having satisfied their thirst for the min- eral or " brackish" water, they would gallop off to some wheat field, scale the brush fence with perfect ease, and revel in luxury till discovered by the owner. The deer were considered troublesome neighbors, as no fence of that day restrained them, and herds of from seven to twelve made destructive work in the wheat fields.
The Indians, in their journeys through Fenner, some- times stopped among the settlers for a day or more. At a time when a company of them were emigrating to Green Bay, they stopped here to rest and wash up their clothing, although but a short day's journey on their way. They had gathered their household effects into budgets, baked up their corn and bean bread, had killed and cooked their hens to take along, but brought their cocks alive to kill when needed ; and driving their cows along, also, they were equipped for the long journey, with all their possessions. During their stay here, they engaged in pastimes highly amusing to themselves. Cock fighting, in which the feath- ered combatants were armed with steel spurs, and fought W
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fiercely, created real enthusiasm. The evenings were passed in gay sports. In one species of amusement, particularly, the hours passed right merrily :- The tawney company is ranged in a circle, squatted upon the ground, around the bright fire; an Indian passes a pipe, from which each one draws as large a whiff of smoke as his or her mouth will hold, which is retained with closed lips. A sharp look out is kept by the leader of the game, as the judgment falls on the first one who laughs. Presently the smoke is seen to puff from the lips of a luckless fellow, who cannot control his mirth, and instantly, upon the signal, all are free to join in the uproarious glee, and in the bastinadoing which the poor victim must get, unless he can escape .* Other games, of a kindred character are indulged in till a late hour, when they dispose themselves upon the grouud about the fire, in blankets, to sleep, leaving one or two to guard the cows, and otherwise act the part of sentinels.
For a season, between the first settlement and the erec- tion of the first grist mill, there was often great privation on account of the scarcity of the material for bread. Meal and flour were obtained by the long journey to the New Hartford mill, but so tedious were these journeys, over the bad roads, and the resources of the pioneer were so limited, that the supply fell short of the demand many times, and various means to meet the necessity were resorted to.
The intercourse with their Indian neighbors was of a most friendly nature, and from them they borrowed many customs in their days of need. That most savory dish, called " succotash," was an institution borrowed from our swarthy friends, though improved upon by the culinary pro- cesses of civilization, and the pioneers of this section did not disdain to partake of a species of bread manufactured after the Indian fashion. The large Tuscarora bean was
* This game was, no doubt, but an exercise to discipline the young Indian in the control of facial expression, and that wonderful power of concealing or subduing emotion, for which the race is noted.
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boiled tender and stirred into Indian meal cakes, and thus baked, making a loaf which is said to have been very good. The Indian custom of pounding corn was adopted by every- body ; and a sort of hominy was produced by shaving corn off from the ear, which was very palatable when boiled ten- der.
The grist mill built by Dr. Reuben Long, at Peterboro, and Powell's grist mill in Fenner, were the first mills in this region, and were both built previous to 1805.
The first saw mill was built by William and Arnold Ballou.
So soon as the farms had been sufficiently cleared for pasturage, flocks of sheep were brought in, upon which the people made great dependence for their winter clothing. The hand cards, spinning wheel and loom were busy in the manufacture of warm winter garments. In time, a decided improvement over the hand card came in the carding ma- chine. It is true some conservative ladies of that day de- clared that " the machines so chopped up the wool that the yarn was not near as good as that spun from hand-made rolls," yet the hand cards were quickly superseded by card- ing machines, as they have, with the spinning wheel and loom, in turn, been superseded by the woolen factory. The first carding machine in Fenner was owned by Ebenezer Wales, and was the only one in that section for many years.
The first store was kept by Martin Gillett, and was located a little west of Fenner Corners. The first tavern was kept by David Cook, (afterwards Judge,) about one-fourth mile north of the Corners. Upon the main thoroughfares sev- eral taverns were afterwards built. The tide of travel made 'each one a scene of activity, and became a place where many congregated for amusement, and to learn the news of the outside world from the constantly arriving travelers. The practice of liquor drinking was too common to draw down upon the head of the liquor seller any legal judg-
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ment or punishment therefor. Consequently, as a matter of etiquette, every man should treat his friend ; and yet among this people there were few habitual drunkards.
The changes made in the traveling world, by canals and railroads, has closed the ever open doors of these numerous hotels ; a neatly fenced dooryard. is before the hopsitable bar room, while the interior arrangements and appoint- ments are now those of a well-regulated country farm house.
The " Barrett House," so long an institution of Fenner Corners, was built about 1825, by a Mr. Roberts, and was sold by him to Mr. Anthony Barrett, who added to it.
The first postmaster was Ebenezer Dunton, the office be- ing at Fenner Corners. It is said that the contents of the mail bag were duly deposited in a sap bucket and regularly overhauled on the inquiry of each patron, "is there any- thing for me ?" The postoffice at Fenner Corners is the only permanent one of the town, that at Perryville being sometimes in the town of Sullivan.
The first birth in town was a child of Alpheus Twist ; the first death the wife of Alpheus Twist.
A large proportion of the pioneers were Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island people. They brought with them the staid habits, staunch integrity and religious prin- ciples of New England. They planted the customs of their ancestors in the soil of their adoption. Common schools and churches sprung up in their midst as a necessary part of their social, intellectual and moral life. The absence of school houses did not debar them from the benefit of schools. Any building, provided it shielded the pupils from the inclemency of the weather, served the purpose till more comfortable log school houses could be erected. Such was the spirit in school district No. 9, where the first school was held in an old potash, fitted up for the occasion.
A description of one of the primitive school houses will give an idea of how our fathers persevered in the pursuit of
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. knowledge under difficulties. Among the interior arrange- ments of the log structure, was a huge fireplace, which stood at the west end, capable of holding a half cord of wood at once ; surrounding three sides of the room were the writing desks, adjusted to the rough wall, in front of which stood the uncouth slab seats, rough from the mill, with long legs and no backs to support the weary spines of the pupils. It is true, they might lean against the writing desk, at times, which was a relief ; they might, in case their feet could with difficulty touch the floor, cross them and in- dulge in letting them swing ; perhaps their teacher would allow them to turn their faces toward the wall and lean upon the desk ; in any case, change was a rest. Robust, muscu- lar boys, restless in their confinement, surreptitiously tried their jack-knives, first upon the splinters of the slab seats, and after these were all smoothed off, used them in various artistic accomplishments-in engraving figures, or their names on the slabs; and finally these operations were transferred to the writing desk, which became a mass of hieroglyphics,-horses, cattle and birds, and houses with windows and doors, and chimneys too, out of which great volumes of smoke were pouring, (this last done in ink,) and other such wonderful characters as none but the designers could decipher.
Then there were the low seats down before the fire on which the little children sat, and which, when the great fire was raging hot, were so intolerably uncomfortable that a change of seats with the big scholars, who sat back in the frosty corners of the room, was frequently necessary. In this particular school house the large beam across the cen- ter, some eight feet from the floor, made a gymnasium for the large boys during the noon recess. A great variety of wonderful exercises and surprising feats were daily per- formed here.
Amidst all the difficulties, the enjoyments were the greater, and the pupils loved the old school house, and their
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well-worn old-fashioned books. Dilworth's spelling book could be repeated from beginning to end by some of the scholars, and the clear heads of the lads fully comprehended the whole of Daboll's arithmetic, and were longing for more complicated problems to solve in the mathematical world as well as the great problems of the life before them. The Columbian Orator, so often read and re-read, only in- itiated them into the mysteries of a power they endeavored to require in their declamations, and aspired some day to possess.
And so from this school developed three physicians, one lawyer, one minister, a score of good business men, and numerous teachers. These physicians were Welcome Pray, Federal C. Gibbs and Andrew S. Douglass ; the law- yer, Lewis Pray ; the minister, Wm. B. Downer. Hon. Robert Stewart, president of the National Bank at Chitte -. nango, and his brother, Daniel Stewart, president of the Na- tional Bank at Morrisville, were, when lads, pupils in this school. Joel G. Downer, for many years merchant and magistrate at Bridgeport, and late of California, was the first native of this district who engaged in teaching.
The first church of this town, a Baptist, was organized August 23, 1801, with six members. Nathan Baker was the first preacher and Truman Beeman the next. Meet- ings were generally held in the school house at the Corners ; sometimes in the one north of there. The meeting house at the Corners was built by this society. In the cemetery belonging to this church repose the remains of very many of the pioneers of this section ; it is a lovely spot, with its primroses, cedars, pines and hemlocks growing here and there among the old time tombstones, while a solitary ma- jestic poplar stands near the entrance, a relic of the earlier generations over whose silent remains it seems to stand sentinel.
That part of Smithfield, now Fenner, had the honor of holding the first town meeting for Smithfield ; it was held
,
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at the school house, near David Cook's, near where the Fen- ner meeting house now stands.
There was strong sectional feeling and a spirit of rivalry between the inhabitants of the eastern and western parts of Smithfield. Two tickets were nominated ; the candidate of the east enders for supervisorship, was Peter Smith, that of the western men for the same office, was David Cook. The meeting was appointed April 7, 1807. During the few days previous had occurred the "great April snow storm " so well remembered by the oldest inhabitants-a storm the like of which had never been known before. It ceased storming on Saturday, when the snow lay full four feet deep, and traveling was impossible. The western portion of the town feared an adjournment of the meeting to Peterboro, where Mr. Smith's influence would secure his election. Should this storm prevent the attendance of voters from the eastern part, David Cook would be elected Stimulated by a desire to secure their ticket, the voters of East Smithfield, many of them living six and eight miles from the place of meeting, turned out almost to a man the next day, and by hard labor and perseverance made the roads passable, and manned such a force as secured the election of their own candidate-Peter Smith being duly elected Supervisor and Daniel Petrie, Town Clerk. After this a compromise seems to have been made to hold town meetings alternately at Fenner Corners and Peterboro. The town officers seem also to have been pretty fairly divided between the two sec- tions. Town officers were not then, as now, elected by bal- lot ; the custom of voting was viva voce.
Among the regulations adopted at this meeting were the following : "Voted that lawful fences shall be four and a half feet high." "That no cattle, horses, hogs or sheep, shall run at large during the winter months within half a mile of any store, tavern or mill. That if any cattle be so found the owner or owners shall pay damages with pound fees of impounders." Also "that any person belonging to
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this town, killing a wolf within this county, shall be entitled to a bounty of ten dollars from this town."
In June of this year, Peter Smith was appointed first Judge of the County Court, and David Cook, of this town, the unsuccessful candidate for Supervisor, was, with Smalley, Green and Payne, appointed Associate Judges. There was life in the political men of the 3d Allotment, and the next year Asa Dana, of that portion of Smithfield, was elected Supervisor at the meeting held in the school house in Pe- terboro, March 1, 1808. At this meeting it was voted that " sheep be free commoners," also that " the log house on E. Munger's farm be occupied as a work house for the poor and indolent." Arnold Ballou and Asa Dana were part of the delegates from Smithfield appointed to meet with others on July the 13th, 1810, for the purpose of centering the county, or in other words, for selecting a more central point for the County Seat, the Court House then being in Caze- novia. These two men, with Nehemiah Huntington, were pledged to the policy of "not locating the County Seat at present."
Not unworthy was the desire on the part of Smithfield to secure the County Seat in Peterboro, and this policy of de- laying the decision of location may have reference of the hopes of eventually locating it there. In 1810, Asa Dana was again elected Supervisor, and John Dorrance, Clerk. In 1811, the town meeting was held at the school house near the Fenner meeting house, in which the officers of the town of Smithfield were many of them, men of the 3d Allot- ment, citizens of the future town of Fenner. Thus it will be seen that, though the citizens of the eastern and western parts of Smithfield did sometimes exhibit a spirit of rivalry, yet on the whole a good degree of cordiality existed, and the competition developed a wholesome strength. The pro- ject of dividing the town was long talked of by a few, and in 1814 a petition to that effect was rejected by the towns. However, it still continued a subject of agitation, and al-
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though at a town meeting in 1823, the vote against it was carried by a small majority, yet in consideration of the fast increasing population of this large territory, an act was passed in Legislature, April 22, 1823, organizing the town of Fenner. It was composed of the two western tiers of lots in the 2nd Allotment of New Petersburgh, the whole of the 3d Allotment, excepting three lots in Cazenovia, and a few lots from the 4th Allotment which border on the Chitte- nango; this stream being made the western boundary of the town in connection with that part of Mile Strip which lies at the north.
The incident connected with the naming of the town may be correctly related as follows: Col. Arnold Ballou, a wealthy and prominent citizen of Fenner, was a devoted admirer of Gov. Fenner, of Rhode Island. He proposed to the people of the new town the name of Fenner and promised the gift of a set of town books for the name. Subsequently some ill-disposed person created the rumor that Mr. Ballou had taken this method to perpetuate the name of his son, whom he had likewise named Fenner, in honor of his esteemed friend. This evil reflection on the honesty of Mr. Ballou's intention so incensed him that he withdrew his proposition, and the town lost her books. Nevertheless the name was adopted in honor of Governor Fenner of Rhode Island. The first town meeting, was held May 6th, 1823. First Supervisor, Daniel M. Gillett, Town Clerk, Sardis Dana. At this meeting the town voted $ 175 for the poor.
Second town meeting March 2, 1824, Czar Dykeman was elected Supervisor, and Wm. Doolittle, Town Clerk. In this and in town meetings held thereafter, Fenner looked well to her public schools and town poor, voting a goodly sum for their maintenance. In one instance we find it recorded : "Voted $1,00 pr. week to Job Perry, a county pauper, instead of the usual amount of provisions." It will be remembered that with wheat 50 cents per bushel, corn
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