USA > New York > Madison County > History of Madison County, state of New York > Part 30
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Methodist Episcopal Church of Perryville. The first Meth- odist Class was formed about 1818, first Class Leader, Charles Blakeslee. First Methodist Sabbath School was formed in 1819, which has continued up to the present time. The meeting house was built in 1839.
The Methodist Episcopal Church of Chittenango Falls, was organized June 4, 1844. The first pastor was Rev. J. Wat- son. The house of worship was built in 1844.
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CHAPTER VIII.
GEORGETOWN.
Boundaries .- Geography .- Township No. 6 .- First Settler .-- Sketch of the Homes of other Pioneers .- Louis Anathe Mul- ler .- Muller Hill, and its Village and Enterprises .- Strange Oblivion over the Family of Muller .- History of the Estate to the Present Time .- Georgetown Village and its Enterprises. -First Town Officers .- Prominent Men .- Early Church in the North Part of the Town .- Biographical Sketch of Dr. Whitmore .- Churches.
Georgetown was formed from DeRuyter, April 7, 1815. It is one of the southern towns of the County and is bounded north by Nelson, east by Lebanon, south by Chenango County and west by DeRuyter.
Thomas Ludlow, jr., of New York City, received the patent for the Sixth Township in the " Clinton Purchase," on the 2d day of March, 1793. This patent, according to the statement of the Surveyor-General, contained 24,384 acres of land.
Previous to 1791, this township formed a part of the old and indefinitely bounded town of Whitestown, Montgomery County, but in this year, Herkimer was formed from Mont- gomery County, and in 1792, Whitestown was divided and the town of Paris was erected, which embraced a large por- tion of Madison County, including all those of the " Che- nango Twenty Towns" which lay in its territory. There- fore at the time of Mr. Ludlow's purchase, Georgetown lay within the boundary of Paris, Herkimer County. Subse-
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quently, in the formation of new towns, it became success- ively a part of Cazenovia and DeRuyter, and only received its name of Georgetown in 1815.
Mr. Ludlow caused this town to be again surveyed in 1802, and its first settlement was made in 1803, by Mr. Ezra Sexton, from Litchfield, Connecticut.
Georgetown was at this period one unbroken forest, the hights of her hills crowned with large, straight hemlocks, sombre looking as they reared their dark forms above the spreading beech, her valleys and plateaus presenting a fine sweep of noble sugar maples, while her swamps were gloomy with their magnificent pines, whose stately forms towered far upward-ancient monarchs of the forest, reigning with undisputed sway over the mass of tangled, struggling foliage beneath them.
The Otselic, with its branches, cours ed through the town from north to south, and formed a stream of much greater power than it now presents. The pretty Indian name, " Otselic," signifies "Plum Creek." When this town was first settled, wild plums of every variety abounded. There were many species of thorn plums of different colors, sweet and sour, and larger than can now be found. All were very good as fruit food ; they were used for sauce, made into pies, and preserved by drying for winter use.
The eastern branch of the Otselic, which was in the early days the largest, had its source in Hatch's Lake ; but when that lake was converted into a feeder for the Chenango Canal in 1836, the supply was cut off, and this branch now only drains the swamp land of Lots No. 10, 11 and 12. The second branch has its rise in springs in the southern border of Nelson, south of Erieville ; and the third, which unites with the main stream at the village, rises in the northwest corner of the town and is fed by numerous rivu- lets from the lofty hillsides. A fourth stream rises among the " Muller lands" and joins the main Otselic, south of the village. The borders of these branches were extremely
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marshy and abounded in a heavy growth of lowland shrubs. Contiguous to these marshes, and extending back towards the hills, were many handsome plateaus quite free from dampness, being healthy locations, where the earliest set- tlers planted their homes. Back of these plateaus were the two lines of ridges which traverse this town from north to south, and which are from five to six hundred feet above the valley.
Two roads, were laid out at an early day, which connected the projected settlements of Georgetown with settlements in adjoining towns. One of them commenced at the cor- ner of Lot 58, about a mile and a half above Georgetown village, and passing east connected with the Lebanon settlement, and is the present road passing through that district. Here, on Lot 58, near the bright, murmuring waters of the Otselic, Mr. Sexton cut the first tree, and commenced, on the 4th day of July, 1803, the first dwelling in the town of Georgetown. This most beautiful location is now the home of J. B. Wagoner and was for many years the homestead of his father, John B. Wagoner, Esq., now of Morrisville. Mr. Sexton was soon established with his family in the new domicil. The wide, wide wilderness was all around them, though the Lebanon settlers were not so very far off. Farther east, upon the new road leading to Lebanon, Mr. Sexton the next year cleared ten acres, which was the first lot cleared of the primeval forest in town. This was across the road from the present home of Horace Hawks, Esq.
The other road, opened about the same time, passed in a northerly and southerly. course through.the town, and most of the way parallel with the Otselic. This road connected with the settlements of Nelson, commencing at a point on the then well traveled route from Eaton to Erieville, near the well-known tavern of Eldad Richardson on Eagle Hill, and became the present road passing through the Wells' district in Nelson, entering Georgetown near the north-east
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corner of Lot No. 9, passing over Lots 22 and 34, where there is now no road nor has been for many a year, and entering the present stage route between Eaton and Georgetown on the west side of Lot 35, near the dwelling house upon this lot. From thence the road passed south, and is the present Otselic valley road. Upon these routes the first settlers built their dwellings. The year 1804, brought the pioneers John C. Payne, Bethel Hurd, Josiah Bishop and Eleazer Hunt. John C. Payne took up Lot 115, and located his residence where Mr. Loren Brown resides. He became the first inn-keeper of the town. The same year Apollos Drake and Olmstead Brown came in and bought of Mr. Payne ; Drake fifty acres on one side of his Lot, and Brown the same on the other. Mr. Drake however did not settle till the next year. Bethel Hurd located on Lot No. 69, near where the cheese factory of Mr. Benjamin Fletcher is at present (1871,) situated. The first religious services held in town were at his house, and were conducted by Mr. Ezra Sexton. The first store in town was kept by a Mr. Truesdale in Bethel Hurd's house. Benjamin, Daniel, Ezra, David and Stephen, sons of Bethel Hurd, were for years settled on farms adjoining each other on this street. David, Benjamin and Stephen, resided on their farms till within a few years .* Elijah and Detus Olmstead were the sons of Elder Olmstead, of Schodack, Rensselaer County, and were of the race of the Olmsteads of Hamilton. They did not long reside here; sickness and death in their families caused them to remove. Josiah Purdy bought out Elijah Olmstead, his location being where Wm. F. Drake now resides. Mr. Purdy was a blacksmith by trade. He was a man of good judgment and was frequently con- sulted in law matters ; also, issues were often joined before him as umpire or arbitrator. He cleared up this farm,
Died, in Georgetown, June 8th, 1866, Dea. Benjamin Hurd, aged 79 years ; also, died in Warsaw, Sept. 15th, 1867, Dea. Stephen Hurd, formerly of Madison County, aged 72 years.
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reared a family here, and both himself and wife lived to spend many years in the enjoyment of the fruits of their labor. They both died upon this homestead. Eleazer Hunt was from Stafford, Tolland Co., Conn. He located at the village, and was by trade both a carpenter and cabinet maker. In 1805, Apollos Drake, Calvin Cross, Joseph P. Harrison, Matthew Hollenbeck, Berry Carter, Mitchell Atwood and William Payne came and settled. Drake was from Westford, Otsego Co. He moved early in the spring and settled immediately into house keeping in the log house he had built the year previous, when he took up his farm. On the spot where he built his primitive dwelling stands the house of his son, Theron O. Drake, the home- stead having never passed from the family. In this pres- ent dwelling the pioneer and his wife both died; the wife Aurilla in 1832, and the aged settler in 1838. Mr. Drake was a prominent man in the new country, being often chosen to office in town. When Georgetown was a part of DeRuyter, he was Constable and Collector, a position of much importance at that day in the undivided territory. Theron O. Drake, the son who succeeded to the homestead, also succeeded to places of trust in town matters. Wm. F. Drake and T. Allen Drake, sons of the latter, are residents of the same part of the town.
Calvin Cross came at an early day and settled on the road leading west from the village. He was originally from Bennington, Vt., but came here from Hamilton. Mr. Cross was an expert hunter-was known as such in Hamilton when that town was a wilderness. While a resident there, he caught a wolf in a trap he had set in the woods. He followed the tracks of the animal, which had dragged off his trap, and on coming up with it, and finding it to be a veritable wolf, whipped and beat the brute until it gave up, when he secured it by placing the trap upon its nose, and in this condition led it into the streets of Payne's Set- tlement, (Hamilton,) to the wonder and astonishment of the
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denizens of the embryo village. Mr. Cross* and his brother killed the last bear known in Georgetown. They had tracked the beast to his hiding place in the woods, south- west of the village, where they found him under the roots of an upturned tree, and had quite an adventure in killing him.
Joseph P. Harrison settled on Lot No. 57. He had three sons, Daniel, Bradford and Luther, who, as they came to manhood, located around him. Daniel resides on the home- stead, and is now the only son of Joseph Harrison remain- ing in town.
Berry Carter settled in the south part of the town, but did not remain long a resident. He is, at a later date, re- corded as living in Eaton. Wheeler Dryer, the oldest man now living in town, also located in the south part.
Matthew Hollenbeck, from Litchfield, Conn., located on the road leading to Lebanon, east of Mr. Sexton. His original log house stood a few rods from the residence of Mr. Horace Hawks. Near the identical spot is a barn be- longing to Mr. Hawks, which was built by Matthew Hollen- beck.
Mitchell Atwood located on Lot No. 46, and here built the second saw mill in town in 1806. This mill received the two most easterly branches of the Otselic. At that day
* " CROSS .- In the town of Eaton, February 23d, 1868, Mr. Calvin Cross, aged 87 years.
" The deceased was born at Bennington, Vt., from which he emigrated when but fourteen years old, to what is now Hamilton village. At the time of his ar- rival, there was only one house where the large village of Hamilton is now located. He remained there a few years, and then removed to Georgetown, where he has remained until within a few months previous to his death. He was one of the first settlers of the county, and often has the writer heard him tell of the wild and stir- ring scenes in which he was a prominent actor-his enlistment in the army in the war of 1812-march to Sackett's Harbor-its attempted capture by the British- bear and deer hunts in the extensive forests in and about Georgetown, and other in- cidents of his early life. He helped build the Baptist Church in Georgetown, and was a member of that Society thirty-six years. Father Cross was characterized for untiring industry and energy, for which his robust constitution eminently fitted him. His friendly and social qualities made him a favorite among a numerous class of ac- quaintances, whose love and esteem he retained through life, and who will sadly miss the cheerful, intelligent, kind old friend and devoted father in Israel."
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a fine water power was produced by those streams, and for nearly half a century this mill did most worthy service, working up nearly all the great forest around it, little by little, shaping the great unwieldly logs into material which at this day adorns the beautiful valley of the Otselic with attractive, pleasant-looking farm houses. The old saw mill, however, has done its work, and to-day, nothing but the ruins of its foundation mark the spot. Its aged owner still lives upon the same spot where he first located, and in the house of his own building, where in his declining years he is not compelled, like many, to witness alien hands tilling the soil, and utterly changing the aspect of the home where he has spent the most of his long life, but is passing away his existence in the family of his son-in-law, Mr. Sanford, who resides with him.
Wm. Payne's family were from Connecticut, and were connected with the Paynes who were the pioneers of Ham- ilton. Wm. Payne took up Lots 34 and 35, and built his first log house very near where stands the barn of the hand- somely improved farm of Lot 35. In 1805, the eldest child of Wm. Payne, Weston Payne, was born, which was the first birth in town.
In consequence of the isolated situation of many of the pioneers, great inconveniences were often felt, and some- times positive suffering. Mrs. Payne has often narrated in- stances of the privations experienced by them during those first years, and which increased the homesickness she was suffering, which is often part of the troubles of pioneer life. As a consequence of this, Mr. and Mrs. Payne decided to visit their native home, which they accomplished, traveling the whole distance to Connecticut and back on horseback, carrying their child with them.
Bears, wolves and deer were common then, and the swamp usually know as " Fletcher's Swamp," which was very much larger then than now, abounded in savage beasts. Mr. Payne once related a circumstance of three Indians who
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came to his house from their hunting encampment near the swamp. One of them was badly injured in an encounter with a bear in the swamp. His head was terribly torn and mangled. Mr. Payne attended to his wounds, and he re- mained a few days, when, somewhat recovered, he again went forth to rejoin his comrades in the hunt.
The first saw mill was built by Eleazer Hunt and Joab Bishop in 1805, which stood in the village near where they built the grist mill in 1806. Previous to the building of the latter, the inhabitants were compelled to get their milling done at Leland's in Eaton, making the journey by marked trees. When this mill was built there were not inhabitants enough in town to raise the frame, and men were called from Hamilton, Log City and Lebanon to help. It was at this gathering that the village of Georgetown received its former, and not yet obsolete, name. One of the men from Eaton remarked that the village of his town boasted of three log houses, and they had therefore named the place "Log City." At this, Apollos Drake broke out with the sudden exclamation, "we have three slab covered houses ; this must be called " Slab City !"-and so it was called, first for a joke; but the name has clung to the village for nearly seventy years. This name, however, is of late years grad- ually falling into disuse, since "Georgetown" is better known abroad.
Messrs. Hunt & Bishop built their grist mill on the west side of the Otselic, and the present one was built entirely new on the same side, a little below, (2 rods,) by Mr. Nathan Smith. The saw mill was on the east side of the creek. The original mechanic employed to erect the grist mill was Mr. Dyer Lamb, whose death occurred recently at the resi- dence of his son, Wilson Lamb, in New Woodstock. The original mill stones are still in use ; these were made from a rock found on Lot No. 113 of this town. Their continu- ance in service two-thirds of a century is good evidence that they have been and still are efficient. These mills are now owned by Messrs. Brown & Torpy.
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The first tavern in town was kept, as has been stated, by John C. Payne. It was located on the site of the present hotel. After Payne, John Holmes kept here, then David Parker, and after him Alexander McElwain. Part of this old hotel has been moved and reorganized, and is now (1871,) the dwelling house of Dr. White, on West street.
Ezra Sexton opened the first burial ground in town on his own land, on the death of a young child of his. This was the first death in town. His wife next died and was buried beside her child. This burial ground is near the residence of Horace Hawks, Esq., and the S. & C. railroad passes close by. It is a hallowed spot, sacred, especially, to the memory of many of the pioneers whose remains repose here. The first death in the village was a child of Mr. Par- malee, the miller of Hunt & Bishop's mill. This was the first burial in the village cemetery.
Between 1806 and 1810, many settlers came into town and located in different parts. Benjamin Bonney, David Parker, Philetus Stewart, Dea. Hanford Nichols, John Pritchard, Doctor Smith, Elijah and Alfred Brown, James McElwain, Levi Shephard, William Rhoades, Daniel Alvord, Capt. Samuel White and Elijah Jackson were the more prominent of these.
Dea. Pitts Lawrence and his wife, (formerly Widow Dixon,) who died recently in Cazenovia, aged ninety-four years, and also Elijah and David Williams settled in the south part of the town.
Benjamin Bonney located on the Lebanon road, Lot No. 60. He was from Connecticut and a relative of the Bon- neys of Eaton and Hamilton. He cleared up his farm and enjoyed the fruits of his labor many years. He died in Georgetown in January, 1868, at the ripe age of eighty-six.
David Parker came from Massachusetts about 1808. A Mr. West came with him. The two took up a lot and di- vided it. It was located on the Lebanon road. This lot is now owned by Robert Utter.
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Philetus Stewart also located on the Lebanon road, on Lot No. 72, where he converted his portion of the wilder- ness into a fine farm. Dea. Hanford Nichols settled on the same road in the east part of the town, and there was no handsomer farm around than he made of his. Peter Nich- ols, brother of the latter, afterwards came, and settled on the farm adjoining Mr. Atwood, on the south. His three daughters, Maria, Caroline and Betsey, married the three Harrisons, Daniel, Bradford and Luther.
John Pritchard came from near Waterbury, Conn., and settled in the Atwood neighborhood, near the creek. He afterwards bought east of there, near Dea. Nichols, where he lived many years, and several of his family of children re- main in town.
Doctor Smith (so named for being the seventh son,) located on Lot No. 59.
Elijah and Alfred Brown settled south of Georgetown village on farms now owned by their sons ; James McElwain came before 1807, and purchased part of Lot No. 126; William Rhoades settled on Lot No. 25, where Rice Wood has lived many years ; Levi Shephard located in the same neighborhood ; Daniel Alvord, also, settled in the north- west part of the town. Capt. Samuel White settled on Lot No. 27. Edward Holmes located also in this neighborhood. His son, John Holmes, was one of the early settlers of Georgetown village. The road early opened from the vil- lage to Sheds Corners passed the locations of Rhoades, Alvord, Shephard and White.
Elijah Jackson settled on Lot No. 9, in the north part of the town, which is now owned by Jerome Childs. Mem- bers of his family reside in town. Amasa Jackson, for years a merchant in this and the adjoining town of Nelson, and recently removed to Pennsylvania, is one of his sons.
John Jackson, brother of Elijah, later took up a farm on Lot No. 22, and set out an orchard on the road which then crossed the lot. When the road was changed, which made
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this an inland location, he abandoned the spot for one more advantageous. Some of the trees of that old orchard are still standing and bear fruit. Subsequently this farm was owned by Orrin Chase. On the removal of the latter it passed to the Fletchers, when it was converted into a pas- ture farm. All dwellings and barns ever erected upon it have passed away. One passing by its location, on the Georgetown and Erieville road, would scarcely believe that four dwellings, in which the joys and sorrows of families have alternated, have stood in different places upon this farm. A bare trace of the last one occupied remains-a sunken spot of earth, a few foundation stones around it, a cluster of neglected shrubbery planted long ago by fair hands ! The S. & C. railroad, following the course of the creek through this farm, sweeps away a venerable door yard for years trodden by numerous little feet, and brushes the very site of the obliterated threshold! It is thus that progress wipes out the traces of our predecessors and anni- hilates the old landmarks.
Ebenezer Hall came about 1812, and took up the farm on Lot No. 23, now owned by C. Wagoner, known for many years as the Fletcher farm-last owned in that family, we believe, by Isaac Fletcher.
Jesse Jerrold came in 1816, and located on Lot No. 35.
John Gibson, from Cornwall, Conn., took up a farm on Lot 48, and opened a new road to gain access to his wilder- ness home. A Mr. Allen settled on the lot adjoining him, which is now known as the Lewis Wickwire farm. The Gibson farm is now owned by Frank Wickwire.
Zadoc Hawks came in 1816, from Hawley, Franklin Co., Mass. He located on lot No. 58. Some of his sons settled about him in subsequent years. Two of these sons, only, reside in town-Horace and Israel-the former being on the homestead farm.
Nathan Benedict arrived about 1812, and settled on Lo No. 21. About 1823, the county perfected the p mi ive
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road laid out in this section, as it was considered to be a more direct route from Slab City to Erieville, thence north to Cazenovia, than had heretofore been made. This road passed over the " Benedict Hill," at the foot of which Mr. B. had built his house. Upon the side hill he planted a noble orchard, which for many years yielded as fine fruit as the town produced. Travelers found this orchard to be a famous stopping place. The same ancient looking dwell- ing first built, still stands, and is occupied by his son, N. B. Benedict, who succeeded to the homestead. The old orchard is decaying, and the road which in the days of yore was so carefully kept at the county's expense, has of late years become sadly neglected, and the march of improve- ment has opened a more feasible route around the west side of the hill.
Louis Anathe Muller, the distinguished French refugee, purchased in the year 1808, of Daniel Ludlow, one of the Ludlow heirs, fifteen lots, each lot containing by estimate 174 acres, 2 roods and 35 perches, the whole amounting to about twenty-seven hundred acres of land, located in different parts of Georgetown, the most of it lying west of the Otselic.
After this purchase, between the years 1808 and 1810, Mr. Muller engaged in making exchanges of some of the disconnected portions of his land, for lots adjoining the main body of his estate, which was situated upon the elevated ridge through the western part of the town. He retained the land lying along the two streams, which rise in the westerly and north-westerly parts of the town and empty into the Otselic, one at Georgetown village and the other about two miles south. Those streams were at that day of no inconsiderable size, and as they rushed down the precipitous hills of this then wild region, they presented several fine mill privileges.
Muller saw the advantages these streams afforded, and having no knowledge of the value of land only as it was well crossed by streams of good water power, determined
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to draw his estate about them, and make them subservient to his interests. The isolated situation seemed suited to his wishes, and he forthwith devoted himself to the build- ing up of his own village in the wilderness. The wealth he brought into this town, it is said, amounted to $ 150,000. He made his residence at Hamilton village during the progress of the work, which occupied two or three years. He brought with him a full retinue of his own countrymen, and employed 150 men in his work, many of whom came with him, while many of the inhabitants of Georgetown assisted him in his enterprise. He paid his workmen in gold and silver.
Near the center of his estate, about three miles west of " Slab City," as Georgetown was then called, three hundred acres of land were handsomely cleared, where he erected a spacious fortress-like dwelling, 70 feet by 30, constructed with massive sills.
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