USA > New York > Madison County > History of Madison County, state of New York > Part 46
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Probably not a town in the county presents a smaller per centage of pauperism on the poor records, than this, or a less per centage on the criminal records. True independ- ence and thrift characterizes the homes of this agricultural town.
During the last thirty years, here as in some other towns, population has fallen off. This is owing chiefly to its being an inland town. Many men of ambition and public spirit have been attracted from their homes to engage their tal- ents and skill in business marts on the great thoroughfares. To the want of facilities for transporting the products of the soil and manufactures, may be attributed the great hin- derance to enterprise heretofore, and not to any degeneracy
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in the soil, want of natural manufacturing facilities, or of energy in the inhabitants.
JOHN W. BULKLEY was one of the early distinguished men of Madison County. His native place was Colchester, Conn. He came into this country about 1797, as a Survey- or, and in that capacity was an expert. He was emphatic- ally a practical man, and sought to correct many errors that had found place in the mind of the plodding settler. He desired the elevation of the people and labored for the edu- cation of the masses.
He was a man who immediately gave confidence in his abilities, and soon after his settlement here he was made Justice of the Peace. In 1801, he was one of the members of the Convention for revising the Constitution of this State, being, with Stephen Hoxie, delegate from Chenango County. In 1808, John W. Bulkley was elected Member of * Assembly from Madison County, and was returned to that office by his constituents, four consecutive terms. In Leg- islature his influence was remarkable .. It was stated by Judge Knowles, of Chittenango, that there was a time when it was impossible to get a bill through legislature if Squire Bulkley opposed it.
John W. Bulkley was fond of agricultural pursuits. On his farm (known as the " Frank Farm" from being in the care of Jerry Frank, a colored man he brought with him from the south,) he tested many an agricultural theory. Here he originated the famous "Strawberry apple." From a tree he grew from the seed on his Earlville farm, and trans- planted to this, he produced, by grafting, the above named apple. It was called the " Bulkley apple," and then the "Chenango Strawberry."
When Mr. Bulkley closed his last term in the Legislature, he carried a bundle of scions from this tree, to Albany, and distributed them among his numerous friends. These be- ing carried home and used by the members from nearly
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every county, the Strawberry apple became prevalent and popular, simultaneously, in all sections of New York State.
John W. Bulkley was a man of scholarly attainments. He possessed a fine address, and his manner commanded attention and respect. He was personally attractive ; every movement evinced a sound physical and a marked mental organization.
CHURCHES.
The Baptist Church of Lebanon was formed June 26, 1816, at a council convened at the barn of Z. Benedict, there being then no other building of sufficient capacity to hold so large a meeting. The society formed then con- sisted of twenty-seven members. Elder Thomas Jeril was ordained on that day, and became their first pastor. About 1819, the house of worship was built about a mile north of the Center.
The Congregational Church of Lebanon. The society was formed in 1802, by Rev. Ezra Woodworth. The first Deacons were Abram Webster and John C. Wagoner. The meeting house was built at the Center in 1802, and was re- moved to the village in 1839.
There is a Universalist Church, also built at an early day, which stands near the Center. Meetings are occasionally held there.
K2
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CHAPTER XII.
MADISON.
Boundaries .- Notices of Topography .- Evidences of Indian Oc- cupation .- Sir William Pultney's Purchase .- Agents .- Sale of Lands to Companies and Settlers .- Names of Pioneers and their Places of Location .- Incidents of Primitive Jour- neying and of Pioneer Life .- First Improvements .- First Taverns, Mills, &c .- " Indian Opening."-First " 4th of July " Celebration .- Cherry Valley Turnpike .- Madison Village .- Bouckville .- Solsville .- Chenango Canal .- Noted Events of Early Days .- Prominent Men .- Churches.
The town of Madison lies on the east border of the County, south of the center. It is bounded north by Stockbridge and Augusta, east by Sangerfield and Brook- field, south by Hamilton, and west by Eaton. Its princi- pal stream is the Oriskany Creek, the source of one of its branches, and one of those of the Chenango, being in this town. Madison Brook Reservoir, one of the feeders of the Chenango Canal, is situated near the south part of the town ; it covers an area of 235 acres, is 45 feet deep, and has a feeder two miles long. The Chenango Canal passes through the town northwest of the center, bearing in a northeasterly and southwesterly direction. Nearly the entire length of the summit level of this Canal is in the town of Madison. The Utica, Clinton & Binghamton Railroad, crosses the same section of the town, and is all the way contiguous to the Canal. The soil of the town is a gravelly loam in the valleys, and clayey loam upon the hills ;
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the deepest and most extensive deposits of gravel-drift in the county, are found in the eastern part of this town, being near Madison village, one hundred feet deep. The general surface of the township is diversified between undulating valley and rolling upland. Marl deposits are found in some places. Says Guerdon Evans : (Trans. Ag. Soc., p. 762.)
"The small pond (Little Lake,) in Madison, has filled up with marl deposits on one side as much as twenty rods within fifty years ; and the beach on the side where the filling up has taken place is composed entirely of white marl and shells ; so it is said by the inhabitants who have resided here for more than fifty years. The reason why the accumulation has occurred, appears to be that the pond is sheltered on all sides by a gravel bank about 80 feet high, so that as the shells rise to the surface they are always floated to the side of the outlet, instead of being driven to all sides, as is often the case where the surface is exposed to winds from various directions. At the rate that this pond has filled up for the last fifty years, it will, in the course of two hundred years be quite obliterated, provided the same cause continues to operate."
From the prominent hights of the Stockbridge and Eaton range of hills, overlooking the point where the Oriskany and Chenango valleys diverge, where the little lakes abound, whose outlets are only kept from taking one course by the almost imperceptible rise of the summit level, is a most beautiful view of the lengthened basin, formed by the oppositely extending valleys. From the Eaton hights, particularly, the undulating country bordering the Oriskany is revealed in its most perfect contour ; it appears to the observer to be a broad valley, lying visible to the eye far toward the Mohawk, with the range of hills on either side sloping towards each other ; but as we follow the course of the Oriskany, what had seemed a valley is but a lengthy undulating plateau, rising and extending back southward from the course of the creek, forming a goodly portion of the fair territory of the town.
The ancient race of the Oneida Nation, held all this territory in the ages past ; the lofty hights of their famous "Council Ground" held a commanding view of the pros-
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pect of valley and hillside, and woodland broken here and there by sheeny lakes. Centuries ago, many a path down the Stockbridge hillsides came winding around and among those nestling lakes, where the red men fished in summer for ages. An ancient map shows a path following the Oriskany a distance, then diverging in the direction of Fort Herkimer, (east of Utica,) which was traversed oc- casionally in the early part of the eighteenth century by adventurous white men, and which had been for many years a frequented path of the "Six Nations." Near Madi- son Lake lay an opening in the heavy forest, where, years before white men saw it, luxurious Indian corn throve in the full sunshine, cultivated by the dusky Oneidas ; here the native women gathered it, in the contiguous waters the men fished, the half nude children meanwhile rolling upon the beach or playing under the shade of the luxurious oaks. But in time, having yielded their right to this territory, the Indian saw this with other cherished localities pass into other hands; the handsome location, the charming scenery, attracted the pioneers, and naturally enough the " Indian Opening," as it was called, became the first location for a concentrated settlement.
Madison was originally No. 3, of the "Chenango Twenty Townships," and was also included in the town of Paris, until March 5th, 1795, when Hamilton was organized ; thereafter for twelve years it was embraced in the town of Hamilton. February 6th, 1809, Madison was formed from Hamilton ; it was named in honor of President Madison. It embraced an area of 22,500 acres. The first town officers elected, were :- Erastus Cleaveland, Supervisor ; Jonathan Pratt, Israel Rice, Ephraim Blodgett, Assessors ; Silas Patrick, Constable and Collector ; Joseph Curtis, Pound Keeper. At this first meeting it was voted that the next town meeting be holden in the Center Meeting House. It was accordingly held there in 1808, and the following town officers were chosen for that year :- Erastus Cleave-
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land, Supervisor ; Jonathan Pratt, Seth Blair, John White, Assessors ; Isaac Thompson, Seth Snow, Amos Burton, Commissioners of Highways; Russel Barker, Esq., and John T. Burton, Overseers of the Poor ; Daniel Barber, Con- stable and Collector. It was voted at this meeting that widows be exempt from highway taxes.
When Gov. George Clinton, in 1788, made the memorable purchase of the Chenango-Twenty-Towns, land speculators immediately turned their attention to this region. English noblemen as well as Dutch Patroons were making extensive purchases in different parts of the State. "Sir William Pultney,* of the County of Middlesex, in the United King- dom of Great Britain and Ireland, Baronet," as the old deeds particularize, became one of the princely land holders of this country about the year 1792, and purchased at least three of the Chenango Townships, of which Madi- son was one. Robert Troup, his agent and attorney in this country, who took up his residence in the western part of the State, opened the lands of Township No. 3, to settlers under the immediate direction of his agent, Benjamin Walker, who acted in this capacity till his death, about 1815. Upon the death of Sir William Pultney in 1806, his vast estates here passed into the hands of "Sir James Pultney, of Middlesex County, Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and Henrietta Laura, Countess of Bath, the wife of Sir James Pultney." Subsequently, and before the Madison lands were all sold, they fell to other heirs, named in transfers as Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, David Cathcart, (commonly called Lord Alloway,) Masterton Ure and Char- lotte Johnstone .ยก On the decease ot Benjamin Walker, Rob-
* A noted English Whig. He purchased a million and a quarter of acres of Robert Morris, in the western part of this State. It comprised nearly all of Steuben, Yates and Ontario Counties, the east range of townships in Allegany, and the principal part of Livingston, Monroe and Wayne Counties.
+ The western estates of Sir William Pultney passed through the Duke of Cumberland and Sir John Louther Johnstone, to William, Earl of Craven, who with other citizens of Great Britain were owners of that portion lying in Living- ston County, not sold as late as 1862.
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ert Troup, having never been in Madison, sent on hand bills appointing a public meeting to be held at the hotel of Sam- uel Goodwin, Esq., in Madison village. At this meeting he stated to the holders and purchasers of the lands, the fact of the liability, of its being sold by the heirs of Sir William Pultney, who were in debt to the merchants and mechanics of the city of London to the amount of two million dollars. At this time the most of the settlers still held their farms only by contract from Benjamin Walker. Robert Troup now offered to take up these old contracts and give them new ones in his own name, acknowledging all that had been paid and endorsed on the old contracts, and would, to the best of his ability, adapt future payments to the circumstances of each. The measures carried out by Troup were conspicuously honorable in comparison with the unjust course pursued in many sections of the State by dishonest agents and land speculators, who, taking advan- tage of insecure titles or the necessities of the settlers, compelled them to pay twice for the farms they had re- deemed from the wilderness, and the people of Madison ap- preciated the scrupulous fairness and kindness of their landlord, who often threw off interest, sometimes accepted half a payment, and in numberless ways evinced a desire to give the people a fair start. He visited Madison yearly, and the general prosperity steadily increased.
As early as 1791, prospecting companies came into this town. Thomas Dick, James White and Thomas McMullen, (or Millen, as it is now written,) from Massachusetts, came in that year to "look land." They first reached Paris, and made their way from there to Township No. 3, by marked trees. On arriving they found the continuous forest pre- vented a view of the country ; so each selected a tree on East Hill and ascended it, from which elevated position they were enabled to get a tolerably extensive view of the town, then covered with a luxurious growth of fine timber. These men (afterwards settlers of the town,) returned east
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with a good report, which induced others to come out the ensuing year.
In 1792, Solomon Perkins, from Kennebec, Maine, di- rected his course to the western lands. When he reached the Stockbridge settlement of Indians, he desired them to show him land where grain would grow, informing them that he had come from a cold country and wished to find land where he could raise wheat and corn. They described to him the Madison lands, then for sale, and one of the In- dians, Capt. Pye, offered to be his guide. He led the way by a path through the woods, some fourteen miles, to the head, or south side of Madison Lake. Mr. Perkins was pleased with the land and its location, and took up five or six hundred acres. He built a small house, and returned to Maine for his family. Early the next year, with his wife and four children, Mr. Perkins came and took up his abode in the home he had thus provided. More than three months of solitary forest life passed away, without their once look- ing upon the face of a white neighbor, when they were gladdened by the intelligence (through a native,) that a white family had settled in their vicinity. Mrs. Perkins de- termined to visit them immediately. She set out, and after following a winding path through the dense woods, marked by blazed trees, for a distance of more than two miles, she reached the family of Jesse Maynard, who had taken up a farm on Lot No. 45, about one mile south of Madison vil- lage. The two women, though strangers, were happy to meet, as may be supposed ; and this first visit made in town, after the fashion of New England matrons, by the only white women within its boundaries, was recorded in the hearts of each as one of the pleasantest of their lives.
The town was divided into quarters, and large tracts were sold off at once to companies or individuals, as the case might be.
In 1793, many came to locate. Among these were Wil-
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liam and David Blair, who located in the northeast corner of the southwest quarter. Also, at this period a company was formed in Rhode Island, who sent on their agents, chief of whom was Capt. Gilbert Tompkins, to make the purchase. They selected the southwest quarter, which contained twenty-five lots, and made the purchase of Ben- jamin Walker. Two of these lots having been sold to the Blairs, the deed, which is recorded in the Chenango County Clerk's Office, bearing date March 27, 1797, describes only twenty-three lots. As a compensation for the two lots, the same quantity of land was set off to them in the southeast quarter, being duly purchased by the company. It is said that the members of this company drew lots for their shares. This was thereafter denominated the "Rhode Island Quarter." Eight families of this company, from Little Compton, R. I., consisting of about forty per- sons, came on the following year to occupy their lands. The names of some of these were : Gideon and Benjamin Sim- mons, Samuel Brownell, Samuel Coe, George and Charles Peckham, Zarah Simmons, and perhaps his son George. Benjamin Simmons located on Lot No. 75 ; Brownell where Sidney Putnam now resides ; Zarah Simmons on Lot No. 22, where Sandford Gardiner now lives, and George Sim- mons where Dea. Whitcomb lived for many years. Samuel Coe settled near the Center, the Peckhams southwest of the Center.
Capt. Gilbert Tompkins, from Westport, R. I., at the time of his coming in 1792, took up Lot 84, which was situated on the east side of the reservoir. There he cleared off several acres and put up a log house, with the design of moving his family the next season, but after returning to Rhode Island, inducements of a pecuniary nature kept him for fifteen years longer in the coast trade business. Never- theless, during those years his influence was exerted in helping others to settle here by advancing means, and in assisting in making the purchase of homes. Capt. Tomp-
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kins finally moved his family to Madison in 1808, and be- came established on the lot he first took up. He had a family of ten children ; one son, Rev. Wm. B. Tompkins, became a Congregational minister ; another, Dea. Phillip Tompkins, remains on the old homestead. Capt. Gilbert Tompkins died at the age of 82.
A number of farms had been taken in the northeast quarter as early as 1793. In 1794, Samuel Clemmons, from Massachusetts, purchased largely of this quarter. He settled here, built a house and kept entertainment, especially for those , who came to "look land." Like many another landholder in those times, he was a shrewd man in deal and traffic. It was remarked (perhaps enviously) that those who came to purchase land were treated by him to the best entertain- ment the country afforded, at little or no charge, having the sale of his own land in view.
Mr. Thomas Millen, (before mentioned,) from Pelham, Mass., who with his family settled in 1795, on one of the center lots of the town, was also a large purchaser in the northeast quarter. Mr. Millen was one of the earliest sing- ing school teachers of the town. He possessed a superb voice, and had a large, handsome form. It is said that all of his family were of large size and of great physical strength.
Henry Bond and Elijah Blodgett took the northwest quarter, purchasing of Benjamin Walker. Many of those to whom the firm of Bond & Blodgett sold lands were from Stratford, Conn. This firm remained in town but a few years, and some of the settlers, among them William and James McClenathan, were compelled to pay for their farms a second time to the agent. Blodgett is said to have been the first surveyor in town ; early surveys, however, were made by Gen. Salter, by White, and by Broadhead, those of the last named being the standard surveys here, as well as in other parts of the county.
Gen. Erastus Cleaveland, in company with a friend, reached
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Whitestown early in the summer of 1792 ; from that point they directed their course by marked trees to Madison. When within a mile of the Center, they found a cabin oc- cupied by a family, of whom they asked refreshments and per- mission to remain over night ; when the people told them they had themselves arrived only the day before, and were obliged to go back to Paris immediately, fifteen miles, for provisions. The latter, therefore, directed the travelers on to the Center, informing them they would find a family there who had been in a week. They arrived there-at Jesse Maynard's-in time for supper, remained over night, and next day returned to Whitestown by way of Augusta. The impression Mr. Cleaveland received on this visit in- duced him to return to Madison in the spring of 1793.
Although but twenty-three years of age, his active brain planned the course which should bring prosperity to him- self and to the inhabitants round about. He purchased a farm on the Oriskany Creek, about one mile below Solsville, where his first work was to erect a small log house. Being a carpenter, he built a saw mill on the creek with but little assistance from others, which was running in the summer of 1794. During the winter following he was married. A romantic incident is related pertaining to this eventful era of his life :- At the time of his first coming to Madison in 1792, he went from here to Whitestown, where he spent the summer, employed at the carpenter and joiner trade, and in the fall returned to his home in Norwich, Conn. As he drew near his native place, he stopped in the adjoin- ing town to remain for the night, where, with a young man he had formerly known, he attended a singing school. In the gay spirits of youth it was agreed between them that Cleaveland should select the best looking girl he should see there and offer his company home. On arriving at the school, his rather critical eye ranged keenly over the company of fair young ladies till it rested upon a dark eyed brunette, a lady of very superior manner and attractive
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appearance. On an introduction, their acquaintance rapidly progressed, and according to pre-arrangement Cleaveland accompanied her home. From this beginning of an acquaintance with Miss Rebecca Berry, a mutual affection ripened which resulted in their marriage, as before stated. Mrs. Cleaveland was a woman every way worthy of highest praise, and her husband with pride awarded to her the merit of assisting, in a great degree, toward their subse- quent prosperity. The uncouth surroundings of his forest home, the meagre comforts, the absence of refinements, in which he would have gladly placed his wife, weighed upon his spirits, which the brave-hearted woman, by her admir- able tact, dispelled by one significant act. He was one evening wakling along with bowed head, wearied with labor, and wearing a despondent air, when he was suddenly aroused from his sombre revery by the presence of the bright face of his wife. She laid her hand upon his arm and said "Look up, Erastus, look up! never look down again !" The cheerful, resolute voice and face had the desired effect. Henceforth, with firm courage and faith in himself and in the counsels of his companion, he went earnestly into the battle of life and his onward course was one of prosperity.
During the summer of 1795, Mr. Cleaveland built the first grist mill in Madison, so widely and so long known as " Cleaveland's Mill," which stood on the site now occupied by Wheeler & Tyler's Mill, east of Solsville on the Orisk- any Creek. While building this mill he kept his saw mill running, and from the tall hemlocks which grew around his home, manufactured lumber which sold readily to the set- tlers for five dollars per thousand, from which income his workmen were paid, as work on the new mill progressed ; and at its completion, with a lucrative business awaiting him, he was fairly entered upon the direct road to wealth, which he won in a few years .*
Gideon Simmons one of the pioneers of the Rhode
* See sketch of Erastus Cleaveland under the head of Prominent Men.
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Island Company, located in the southwest quarter. He had a family of seven children and lived a long life in Madison, dying at the ripe age of 96.
Benjamin Simmons had his farm a mile or more south of the Center, where his son Benjamin now resides. In jour- neying to this section he came by way of Paris Hill, where he left his family, consisting of a wife and four children, with a friend living there, till he could go to Madison and put up a bark covered cabin that would shelter them through his summer's work, intending in the fall to build more comfortably. During the stay of his family at his friend's, one of his children sickened and died. The next two days after this sad event he spent in journeying to Madison, with an ox team and cart, over the miserable route through the woods, and though only fifteen miles, it was a journey of sore weariness, sadness and discourage- ment. The first season of his residence here he obtained his grain at Paris, and the time occupied in getting a grist ground and home to his family was three days, employed in this wise :- First, he went on foot to Paris and bought his grain, then to his friend's for a horse to take it to mill, and from there home, so much occupying two days ; the third was spent in returning the horse and getting back home. By perseverance, the next year found him in better circumstances, and in a few years he became a pros- perous farmer and an influential citizen.
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