USA > New York > Madison County > History of Madison County, state of New York > Part 33
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61
414
MADISON COUNTY.
The trail which the Indians kept well worn, came from Oneida Creek and passed down the Chenango branch through the west part of Hamilton. Two miles below Ham- ilton village was a frequent camping ground.
One winter, about 1810, a company of about seventy en- camped here and built their wigwams; lived for some months, and made their baskets ; roamed about the forest and among the settlers ; hunted a little and exhibited their wild customs considerably, all winter. However, they ap- peared to be rather peaceably disposed, and the white in- habitants on the west side of the creek became quite accus- tomed to their wild whoops and savage habits.
The tragedy in which Mary Antone acted a horrible part, occurred here a few years later. The party to which she and the Antone family belonged, had encamped upon land now known as the farm of J. D. Smith, Esq., and erected seven large wigwams. It was in autumn, and they were intending to spend the winter here. The young squaw toward whom Mary felt such a vindictive hatred, was fine looking, but was spoken of by some of the Indians, as "no good." She had been maneuvering to captivate the atten- tion of Mary's Indian, a young Stockbridge, to whom, it is said, Mary had been some time married, according to the Indian form. The girl was making a basket for Mrs. Han- nah Waters, of Hamilton village, and was in the act of putting in the handle, when Mary came upon her suddenly, and struck her with an Indian knife. Not satisfied with one blow, she repeated it, until she had inflicted seven wounds in her right side, which produced her death. Mary made some little effort to conceal herself in the woods, but was found, with very little difficulty, behind a log, curled up like a wild animal. She, however, immediately resumed her proud bearing, for she possessed a good form and rather handsome features. She then appeared twenty years of age, or thereabouts. She manifested a remarkable indiffer- ence as to her fate, and when told that she would be hung
415
HAMILTON.
for the murder, she replied that she did not care, and signi- fied that had the girl lived, she would at some future time have taken her life. She added : "She got away my In- dian, and deserved to die."
Mary was put in irons and held in confinement for a few days at Mr. Howard's tavern in Hamilton. Howard kept the house which is now kept by Mr. Ingalls. In this house the jury of inquest held their consultation .*
Of the jurors who were impanneled on the inquest, both ante and post mortem, the following are a part of the names : -Gen. Nathaniel King, Daniel Smith, Elisha Payne, Azel Tinney, Jabin Armstrong and Samuel Payne. Of these men, only Jabin Armstrong is now living.
There was great excitement attending the trial, which Abram Antone contended was no business of the white man's. He believed that the laws of New York had no ju- risdiction over the Indians. The Oneida Chief was con- sulted, who gave her up to be tried by our courts. This proceeding Antone treated with contempt, declaring the chief's authority to be no greater than his own in such a case. Indeed, it is said by some that by right Antone was an Oneida Chief. The head Chief of that nation was con- sidered an enemy to Antone.
During her stay at Hamilton, many persons visited her, to whom at first she was quite communicative, although she could speak English but brokenly. Her father brooded about the premises with a sullen cloud upon his brow, till he ob- tained an interview with Mary. After this she answered no more questions of the bystanders. She was removed from here to the jail at Whitestown, and after her trial was hung at Peterboro. Throughout the whole proceeding, in her trial and at her execution, even in her latest moments, she appeared extremely cool and indifferent.
John Jacobs, an Indian, the principal witness against her, and who was most active in her arrest, became ever
* William White, of Hamilton, Deputy Sheriff, captured Mary Antone.
416
MADISON COUNTY.
after the object of her father's hatred, whose murder by Antone, a few years later, and the subsequent events con- nected with Antone's life, created an excitement which can never be forgotten so long as the generation of that day exists .*
Fourth Township was not, however, regarded as the rightful home of the Indian. The Clinton Treaty of 1788, had invested the State of New York with its ownership, and its doors were thrown open to the white settler.
In the winter of 1792, John Wells and Abner Nash, from Paris, Oneida County, N. Y., formerly from Amherst, Massachusetts, came on snow shoes and selected a location in the southern part of the town, on the east branch of the Chenango River, a short distance east from where the vil- lage of Earlville now stands, and returned to Paris. In the spring of the same year John Wells and his wife, Abner Nash, Patrick Shields and John Muir, the two latter from Scotland, left Paris with their goods and chattels, all of which were drawn on an ox sled, and, guided by marked trees, penetrated the wilderness. Mrs. Wells was pro- vided with a horse on which she carried her infant son William, about one year of age. Their route was on the west side of the cedar swamp, between Waterville and Hamilton. Coming to the east branch of the Chenango which was swollen by recent rains, a new difficulty present- ed itself. Nothing daunted, Mrs. Wells urged her noble horse into the stream, and he swam over with Mrs. Wells clinging to the saddle and her child in her arms. Their goods were ferried over in an old canoe, the oxen swimming the river and drawing the empty sled. Soon after, they reached their new homes in safety.
During the summer of the same year, Mrs. Wells, learn- ing that there was a white woman about twelve or fourteen miles distant, in the town of Norwich, went on horseback, following marked trees, and made her a visit, there being no other white woman within that distance.
* See Appendix.
417
HAMILTON.
Those four pioneer settlers took up a body of land on both sides of the Chenango River and then divided it. Ho- ratio Sholes now lives where they settled. The first and only animals driven into town and owned by these pioneers, consisted of one yoke of oxen, two cows and two hogs. Mrs. Wells brought a small dog in her saddle bag, which was nearly drowned, being wholly submerged in crossing the Chenango.
John Wells commenced keeping a public house imme- diately after his arrival, for numerous emigrants and those "looking land" were finding their way to the "Twenty Townships."
Patrick Shields was a native of Scotland, who came over with the British in the Revolutionary war. He was wound- ed in the battle of Bunker Hill, taken prisoner, and re- mained here afterward.
The first living white child of the town was Harry, son of John Wells; the second was Horace, son of Abner Nash. On the premises of the first settler the first store of the town was kept by a Mr. Church. The first grist mill of the town known to the remembrance of the earliest living in- habitants, was conducted by Reuben Slater, Poolville.
In the year 1793, Squire Reuben Ransom took up the farm which has been known for years as the " Adon Smith farm."
In 1794, Samuel Payne and his wife became the pioneers of Hamilton village. They settled on the land now occu- pied by Madison University.
In 1795, Elisha Payne, Theophilus, Benjamin and Wil- liam Pierce, Jonathan Olmstead, Daniel and Nathan Fos- ter, all from Lebanon, Connecticut, with their families, joined Mr. Payne in the charming location he had selected. Samuel Stower, from the same place, came in 1797. The same year Dr. Thomas Greenly, the pioneer physician, came in from Connecticut. Samuel Stower took up eighty acres, having purchased it of the first proprietors, and lo-
A2
418
MADISON COUNTY
cated his residence east of where the Seminary buildings on Broad street now are. Dr. Greenly located on the same street where is now the residence of Mr. Mott. Ben- jamin Pierce, Esq., built the house now owned and occu- pied by Professor Beebe. In this hospitable house the lawyers, justices and judges of the early day, used to stop, when here at County courts, sharing Mr. Pierce's generous board during each term.
Deacon Jonathan Olmstead, located about a mile south of the village, a little below University Hill, where he built the farm house still standing.
Before 1800, John Pomeroy, Herman Jordan, Timothy Rogers, Abijah Sprague, Otis Howe, Stephen Brainard, Edward Bonney, Ichabod Wheeler, Mr. Orton and Dr. Josiah Rogers, had settled in various localities in the town. Many of these settlers were men of property, whose means enabled them to invest considerably in lands, and to make substantial improvements.
Upon the Chenango, in this genial soil, sprang into life the germ of the village of Hamilton, which, for years, in honor of the pioneers, bore the name of Payne's Settle- ment.
Such men as constituted this settlement, men of means, of culture and of public spirit, were needed to en- gage in the momentous questions involved in the formation of government for the swiftly populating new country. Most heartily did they engage their talents, and from the earliest date they have been prominent in the public histo- ry of our county.
The first record we have of this section being represented in the courts of our government bears the date of 1794. This county then lay in the boundaries of Herkimer, and this town in the town of Paris. The Court was a term of the Herkimer Common Pleas and General Sessions, held at the Meeting House in New Hartford, town of Whitestown, on the third Tuesday in January, 1794. Henry Staring,
1
419
HAMILTON.
Judge ; Jedediah Sanger and Amos Wetmore, Justices ; William Colbraith, Sheriff ; Jonas Platt, Clerk. Among the list of Grand Jurors present, we find the name of Duty Lapham, one of Madison County's pioneer settlers, whose name is honorably and well known from an early period by the inhabitants of Hamilton.
An anecdote of this first Court is thus related by Wm. Tracy, Esq., in his lectures before the Young Men's Asso- ciation of Utica, N. Y. :
" A gentleman who attended the Court as spectator, in- forms me that the day was one of those cold January days frequent in our climate, and that in the afternoon, and when it was near night, in order to comfort themselves in their by no means very well appointed court room, and to keep the blood at a temperature at which it would continue to circulate, some of the gentlemen of the bar had induced the Sheriff to pro- cure from a neighboring inn a jug of spirits. 'This, it must be remembered, was before the invention of temperance societies. Upon the jug's appearing in Court. it was passed around the bar table, and each of the learned counselors in his turn up- raised the elegant vessel, and descanted into his mouth, by the simplest process imaginable, so much as he deemed a sufficient dose of the delicious fluid. While the operation was going on, the dignitaries of the bench, who were no doubt suffering quite as much with the cold as their brethren at the bar, had a little consultation, when the first Judge announced to the audience that the Court saw no reason why they should hold open Court any longer, and freeze to death, and desired the crier forthwith to adjourn the Court. Before, however, this functionary could commence with a single ' Hear ye,' Col. Colbraith jumped up, catching, as he rose, the jug from the lawyer who was compli- menting its contents, and holding it up toward the bench, hasti- ly ejaculated : 'Oh ! no, no, no, Judge-don't adjourn yet ; take a little gin, Judge ; that will keep you warm ; 'taint time to ad- journ yet ;' and suiting the action to the word, he hande ! his honor the jug. It appeared there was force in the Sheriff's ad- vice, for the order to adjourn was revoked, and business went on."
From this date, all Courts of this County were held at Whitestown till 1798, when, by an act passed the 15th day of March of that year, Herkimer County was divided, and Chenango County was formed from this and Tioga County. It fell to the lot of Hamilton and her sister towns, to be in-
:
420
MADISON COUNTY.
cluded in the County with the pleasant sounding Indian name, Chenango, and for eight years lay within its domain.
After the formation of Chenango, courts were formed within its boundaries, and the first Court of Common Pleas was held in Hamilton, in the log school house near the house of Elisha Payne, in June, 1798 ; Isaac Foote, of the 8th Township, (now Smyrna,) presiding as first Judge ; Joab Enos and Joshua Leland, Judges ; Oliver Norton and Elisha Payne, assistant Justices ; Uri Tracy, Sheriff; Sid- ney Breese, Clerk; John L. Mersereau, Surrogate. The courts were held alternately at Hamilton and Oxford until 1806.
Judge Foote, who held this office for ten years, was the first member of the Legislature appointed to represent the interests of the people of this region when it was included in the County of Herkimer.
The first jail limits were established by Court of Com- mon Pleas, at Sherburne Four Corners, in July, 1799, but the jail at Whitestown served for this county until 1808, and for Madison County until 1812.
After the formation of Madison County, in 1806, the Courts were held alternately at the school house near Da- vid Barnard's, in Sullivan, (now Lenox,) and at the school house in Hamilton village. The first officers were, Peter Smith, first Judge; Edward Green, Sylvanus Smalley, Elisha Payne and David Cook, Associate Judges ; Asa B. Sizer, County Clerk ; Jeremiah Whipple, Sheriff; Thomas H. Hubbard, Surrogate.
It will here be seen that the town of Hamilton early acted a most important part in establishing Courts of justice for the protection of the rights and interests of the people. However, owing to the peaceful nature of the inhabitants, there appears to be no great amount of business previous to I 800, while at the Circuit Court of this District, held July 10, 1798, in the town of Oxford, Judge Platt presiding, there was no business transacted at this or the second term, for want of litigants.
42I
HAMILTON.
Since Hamilton embraced (until 1807,) the towns of Leb- anon, Eaton and Madison, many of those who gathered up their effects, and took up their westward journey to become settlers of Hamilton, Chenango County, and who located within this then well known town, became in reality the pioneer settlers of Eaton, Lebanon and Madison. However, town lines did not separate those who were joined by a common interest, and the roads through the wilderness, which were only designated by marked trees, in the begin- ning, and which were now assuming some faint appearances of a highway, were as often traversed in their visits to each other as in the olden days when all dwelt in one town.
The privations and want suffered in so many new settle- ments, were never so severely experienced in this hamlet. The nearest grist mill was at Brookfield, but owing to the roughness of the country between, no roads having been opened in that direction, this mill did not supply them. From the first, the route to New Hartford had been kept open, and was quite passable for that day, and from the grist mill at that place the settlers of Hamilton received their supplies of meal and flour, or got their grists of corn and rye, ground. However, the wooden mortar and pestle were quite frequently resorted to in pounding corn for fam- ily use. The building of the first grist mill was a new era in the prosperity of this section, and the man who built it be- came thereby a benefactor to his race and a blessing to com- munity. The first grist mill of this vicinity was built by Daniel Wheeler, about the year 1797, on the site of the present Armstrong mill, in the town of Lebanon, adjacent to the town of Hamilton. We mention it in this connec- tion because of its proximity to, and close alliance with the progress of this town, and was, moreover, for several years the only mill upon which a large section of the country de- pended.
A few years later, this mill, then owned by Daniel and Elisha Wheeler, was burned. A new stone had just been
422
MADISON COUNTY.
brought from Albany, and repairs to some extent had been made on the mill, with the object in view of starting it anew with two run of stone. The fire caught in the night from a kettle of coals kept in the mill for warmth ; stoves having never been introduced into the country at that day. The mill was nearly in ruins ere any one was aroused f on their slumbers. The loss, being a severe one to the community, created considerable excitement, and before mid-day a large crowd had gathered from many miles around. Some came with their sleighs loaded with provisions and grain, which they tendered freely to the use of the troubled miller, who they well knew had suffered heavily in the loss of his stores of grain. A decision was made upon the ground, by the leading men, that the mill must be immediately rebuilt, and before night the plan was arranged, and next day the work commenced. In a short time Wheeler's Mill was perform- ing its usual routine of labor.
Although log houses were the fashion, with their big stick chimneys, through whose broad opening the children could count hosts of stars at night, yet the saw mill of Ichabod Wheeler in Hamilton village, was bringing about a revolution in style, and as early as 1806, frame additions had been joined to many of these log buildings. These became the parlors of our grandmothers, and were ceiled with broad pine boards, specimens of which cannot be found at this day, only in the relics of some of these ancient houses. Many of the floors of these primitive tene- ments were made of split basswood logs, hewn so smooth and joined so nicely that not a splinter could be found, and which these ladies vied with each other in keeping of a chalky whiteness. The most aristocratic parlors were perfect- ly innocent of carpets or mahogany upholstery ; but was familiar with water, soap, sand and rushes-with splint bottomed chairs and tall posted, canopied bedsteads ; while the hum of the spinning wheel, the clang of the loom, the trumpet notes of the dinner warning conch shell, the cheery
423
HAMILTON.
voices of large families, made music throughout the dwelling. These ladies were healthy, superior women, and in the language of one of them, Mrs. Lapham, who still survives,* hale and really fine looking, though at the advanced age of ninety-two, they "took solid comfort."
We suspect that the wisdom of the pioneer women of Hamilton, became a quiet but powerful influence in the fur- therance of progress and prosperity in this flourishing town. From the knowledge we have of them, they may be counted among those noble women of whom Solomon says : "She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness," and " She openeth her mouth with wisdom, and in her tongue is the law of kindness.
From an anecdote related of one of the pioneer women, which occurred at an early day, we cannot for a mo- ment doubt the power, however unobtrusive it may have been, ot such women in shaping the destinies of the rising generation, as well as greatly influencing that of their hus- bands.
In that day, the luxuries of the family board among the wealthiest, were few, in comparison to the present, and it was no uncommon thing if the housewife's larder became nearly empty.
* The above statement was made August 1868. Mrs. Lapham has since died. From the Dispatch is the following obituary :- Mrs Amanda Lapham died at the residence of her son-in-law, Mr. L Joslyn, in Eaton, April 22, 1869, at the advanced age of 92 Mrs Lapham was one of the first settlers of the town of Lebanon, her husband, Daniel Wheeler, being one of the most enterprising of the pioneers, and by whose untimely death in 1806, the wife lost a truly kind companion, and community a worthy citizen. Widowed and the mother of five young children, yet like the true women, as all our pioneer mothers were, she courageously bore her trials and managed her affairs with enterprising assiduity. Mrs. Wheeler was one of the seven who composed the First Baptist Church of Hamilton when it was first organized, and when Elder Olmstead was pastor, and from that day to the close of her long, eventful life, she was an earnest, consistent Christian. In later life she became the wife of Dea. Lapham, who was long and honorably known to the people of Hamilton and vicinity. Mrs Lapham was the mother of the wife of Rev Jonath n Wade, missionary to Birmah. Remarkable vigor, symmetry, and activity of body, as well as strength and clearness of mind, characterized Mrs. Laphim in her old age, and which did not fail her until her last illness, which was not of long duration.
424
MADISON COUNTY.
An occasion of this nature had happened in the house- hold of one of the first families of Hamilton. While at breakfast, Mrs. - had said to her husband : " My dear, I have nothing in the house to cook for dinner. We have no meat, no potatoes, no flour, no butter-indeed, there is nothing !" The lady's good humored husband made no re- mark, appearing to think nothing of the matter, concluded his breakfast by despatching the remaining viands upon the breakfast table, rose and went about his business, whistling, utterly forgetting that he needed another meal of victuals. Not so with Mrs. - , who began to devise some plan, not so much to produce the noonday meal, which she knew her husband was able to supply, as to cure him of his habit of
carelessness. She accordingly made a closer inspection throughout the house to procure something to cook, which resulted in her obtaining about half a teacup of Indian meal, which she brushed from the meal chest. This she boiled with water, which, when done, made a pudding about the size of a teacup. She then spread the dinner table with order, which was her usual habit, placed her pudding upon a plate, covered it with a bowl, and sat it in the center. Her better half arrived at noon, and both sat down to the meal. Glancing across the table, he remarked, "Well, my dear, where are the victuals ?" " Here," she replied, archly, as she uncovered the pudding. Further comment was needless. He now remembered, probably for the first time, the state- ment she had made in the morning. Good naturedly, and inwardly pleased by his wife's wit, he dispatched himself forthwith for the substantials, from which in a short time his lady prepared a comfortable dinner. Mrs. - never afterwards had occasion to bring her ingenuity to a similar test. This same gentleman was repeatedly chosen to posi- tions of honor, and was eminently popular and beloved by all. In our opinion, it is a foregone conclusion, that the tact and wisdom of such wives as this, go far toward the making of such noble men.
425
HAMILTON.
Many enterprising farmers joined the settlement begun by Messrs. Wells, Nash, Shields and Muir on the rich lands about the valley of the Chenango, eastern branch, and soon had productive farms under cultivation. Among them were Abijah Snow, Elijah, Zenas and Thomas Nash, Lucius Crane, James Williams and others. Ebenezer Colson came to this section as late as 1815, and spent the rest of his life here. Justus Shattuck came about 1814, and settled near- ly half way between Earlville and Poolville, and set up the clothier trade, which business he continued for many years.
A settlement was commenced in 1796, in the east part of the town, called "Colchester," now East Hamilton. The inhabitants, being chiefly emigrants from Colchester, Ct., gave it the name of their native town. The Ackleys, Cal- vin, Rodney and Eli, three brothers, were conspicuous among the pioneers of Colchester. Some of their children are in possession of the excellent farms these men took up.
Silas Clark, Stephen Brainard, Elisha Brainard, William Shephardson, Reuben Foote, Rufus Clark, Dr. Noah B. Foot were well known citizens of this section in the early days. Ezekiel Lord settled with William Lord about two miles south of East Hamilton. Dea. Stevens settled near Hamilton Center. David Dunbar and Calvin Hubbard be- came citizens of Hubbardsville.
EAST HAMILTON, or "Colchester Settlement," was a place of some note in the days when turnpike traveling was popular. The Utica and Oxford Turnpike was crossed by the Skaneateles Turnpike in this village. The hotel of Silas Clark was then known far and wide, for Mr. Clark was a popular landlord. He was in this hotel at an early day, and continued until business pretty much ceased on those roads.
At present, East Hamilton has about thirty dwelling houses, one store, one tavern, a neat Methodist Church, a post office and a few mechanics' shops.
HUBBARDSVILLE, contiguous to East Hamilton. became,
426
MADISON COUNTY.
at quite an early day, a pleasant country settlement, with a tavern, store, grist mill, tannery, and a few mechanics' shops. Mr. Eleazer Hunt, whose name occurs as the pioneer miller of Georgetown, built the grist mill at Hubbardsville. It has been, all its years, a most needed and useful institution, and the name of Hunt's mill justly had a wide reputation. Sher- ebiah Hunt, Eleazer's son, succeeded to the property, and a great many years perpetuated the name. It is now owned by P. T. Brownell. The old tannery was converted into a distillery, which, finally, under the pressure of temperance efforts, closed.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.