USA > New York > Madison County > History of Madison County, state of New York > Part 47
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George and Charles Peckham, young men who came late the same year, (1794,) took up land southwest of the Cen- ter. They chopped and cleared a few acres during the winter months, and in the spring returned to Rhode Island. It is stated that on the day of their departure, the 8th of May, 1795, the leaves on the trees in Madison were out in full size. The next year they came back, and after a time their aged father, George Peckham joined them. Both of these brothers married and reared families here.
Stephen F. Blackstone was one of the pioneers of Caze-
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novia, being one of the company with Mr. Lincklaen. He was afterwards induced to settle in Madison, where he at- tained a position of influence. He, as well as many others, was subjected to the privations incident to pioneer life. He built his own log house, and it is said that in the pro- cess of its construction, he was necessitated to travel six miles, to James McClenathan's, to borrow an augur to bor the holes for his wooden hinges, before he could hang a door.
Joseph Head came from Rhode Island in 1796, and took up land about half a mile southwest of the Center. He was a Quaker, and a worthy citizen. He, also, had a large family. One of his sons, Pardon Head, represented this district in the Assembly in 1832. Nicanor Brown, from Massachusetts, came, probably, as early as 1794, and took up land in the north part of the town, but afterwards went to the southeast quarter. A daughter of his, Sally Brown, was the first white child born in town. James Collister came in 1793.
Seth Snow was one of the first settlers of the northeast quarter. The first apple tree set out in the town, Seth Snow brought on his back from the Indian orchard in Stockbridge ; the same tree was standing in 1869, on Squire Samuel White's place. Mr. Snow also built the first brick house in town, on the turnpike two miles east of the village. Rev. Simeon Snow was a brother of Seth Snow, and was one of the first ministers in town.
Abiel Hatch came in 1795, and settled one mile south- east of the village.
Samuel Rowe came from Farmington, Conn., about 1794, and settled on Lot 13, where Dea. Matthew R. Burnham, now resides.
Elijah Thompson came from Charlestown, Mass., in March, 1795. He moved to Madison on a sled drawn with oxen, bringing his wife and six children. He bought of William Blair in the southwest quarter. To procure the necessary
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supply of groceries and store goods, Mr. Thompson manufac- tured potash and transported it to market. He was a Revolutionary soldier, in the Artillery service during six years of that eventful period. At the first Fourth of July celebration in Madison village in 1808, he was selected to take charge of the artillery firing.
There were three of the Maynard brothers :- Jesse, the pioneer of 1792, who resided in town but a few years ; Amos, a young man, who afterwards married and settled near the Center, on the same lot with Jesse ; and Moses, who came some years later with his family, and finally set- tled near Bouckville. Amos Maynard was the first Military Captain in town, served through the war of 1812, and rose to the rank of Colonel. He is remembered as an officer of splendid military bearing and presence. We remark here that the sword carried by Capt. Maynard during the war, became, and is still, the property of Mr. Orrin Chase, of Eaton, who was a Captain of Milita. Moses Maynard, distinguished himself in various official capacities, and was one of the chief projectors of the Chenango Canal.
Eliphalet House, with his son Eliphalet, jr., came from East Windsor, Conn., to Eaton in 1795. The sickness then prevailing in Eaton, caused them to change their loca- tion to the " Indian Opening."
Gideon Lowell came from Maine to Madison, perhaps as early as 1796. Israel Rice came from Worcester, Mass., in 1795, and bought in the east part of the town, where now his son, Francis Rice, resides,-Lot No. 32. James and Alexander White came also in 1795, and bought land joining Rice on the southwest. John White, a brother of James and Alexander, came from near Northampton, Mass., in 1796, and purchased a 100 acre lot of Samuel Clemmons, for $400, now owned by his son Alexander White. Samuel White took a piece of land on the hill, on Lot 31. He and his wife lived to be upwards of ninety years of age, and . died within a few weeks of each other. The three brothers,
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John, Samuel and Thomas White, moved their families from Massachusetts together, in the winter of 1797, using sleds and a team of fourteen oxen. On account of a thaw, after setting out, they found bare ground some of the way, and on reaching the Hudson river at Albany, found the water so much raised that they were forced to get boards and bridge some twelve feet from the shore to the ice on either side of the river, before crossing. The poor sleigh- ing and bare ground much of the way for upwards of twenty miles westward from Albany, so wore upon the wooden shoes of their sleds that they were compelled to stop, un- load their goods, and put on new ones. The timber used for sled shoes was from the hardest that the forest pro- duced, such as oak, hickory and iron-wood. In spite of these and other delays, they arrived in Madison the last of February.
Calvin Whitcomb was an early settler. He kept tavern a few years south or southwest of the Center. Russel Barker, who had a large family, settled in the southeast quarter, at what date we have not been able to ascertain. Warham Williams, from Brantford, Conn., came at the same time with Russell Barker. Paul Hazzard came early, and took up land where his two sons, Oliver and Russel, now reside,-Lot 55. Mr. Hazzard was a near relative of Commodore Oliver Hazzard Perry, of Lake Erie notoriety in the war of 1812. Nathaniel Johnson, from Worcester, Mass., came in 1796. Abizar and David Richmond, broth- ers, came to Madison in 1795. They were originally from Massachusetts, but had lived in Fairfield, Herkimer Co., a few years before coming here. Abizar bought in the southeast quarter, where his son Merrick Richmond now lives. David purchased in the southwest quarter, where he lived till his death, which occurred December 23, 1864. He attained the great age of 90 years. The Richmonds were fine men and good citizens.
David Peebles, another worthy citizen, came from Pel-
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ham, Mass., to the northeast quarter, quite early. Sylves- ter Woodman, from Rhode Island, came early to the south- west quarter, and took up the farm where his grandson. George B. Woodman, now lives-Lot 77 or 78. William Sandford came in 1797, also to the southwest quarter. Benjamin Chapman settled in the southeast quarter ; he was a respected citizen.
Many of the settlers of the northwest quarter were from Stratford, Conn. The road which was early laid out through their settlement, was called Stratford St., in memory of their native town, by which name the street is known to this day.
Solomon Root, from the eastern part of this State, settled in the northwest quarter in 1806. He was one of Madi- son's most influential citizens ; alike respected as a business man, a promoter of good morals, a friend of law and order, of justice and religion ; he was a christian in the true sense. It may be mentioned here, that the Rev. T. Pearn, so long known as one of the pioneer Methodist preachers of Ore- gon, was a son-in-law of Mr. Root. Mr. Root's death took place in Madison, Jan. 5, 1859, at the age of 86 years.
Justus Root, a brother of Solomon, arrived in town some later than his brother, and settled in the same vicinity, near the town line west of Bouckville. His death occured at the original homestead, now owned by his son-in-law, Mr. F. Tooke, about 1867.
John Root, a younger brother of the two preceding, came into town with or soon after Justus, married here, and was settled near his brothers for a few years ; then removed to the Genesee country, but returned in a short time to Madison. At a late date he was still living in the State of Michigan, in the home he had hewn from the wilderness, since the frosts of age came upon his temples. Each of these brothers had a large family, yet we learn of but one in town now (1870,) bearing the name. Thus (as did their fathers before them,) have many of the descendants of the
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Madison pioneers yielded the parental hearthstone, the old time "vine and fig-tree," to the tread of the stranger, and gone forth into the world to become in their turn, founders of homes and fortunes of their own, great or small ; the sites of the dwellings in which they were born-the fruit trees, shrubbery and flowers surrounding-the broad fields of the farm and the remnant of old woods beyond, all developed by the toil of their fathers and mothers, little by little, from the primeval forest, into homes that gave them sustenance and protection through the intervening years, from the cra- dle to adult age-know them no more. It may be that these brief, fragmentary annals only will preserve their fam- ily names to the future, among the honored who were first to plant civilization amid the former wilds of this now fair territory, teeming with progress.
George and Robert McCune came at quite an early date, and bought where Sandford Peckham now lives, a half mile west of Solsville. Stephen Woodhull, from Stratford, also came in early and settled a half mile west of Madison vil- lage, where his son, Aaron Woodhull, now resides-Lot No. 37. William and James McClenathan were among the earlier settlers here. They selected their farms on the hill in the northwest quarter, which is to this day called " Mc- Clenathan Hill." The opinion was prevalent here, as in other localities at an early day, that hill land was the most valuable as well as the most healthy, and it is true that there was much weak, cold soil here, as elsewhere in the lowlands.
Samuel Collister and Seth Blair arrived in March, 1798. Mr. Blair was from Worcester County, Mass. He pur- chased in the southeast quarter, where his son Seth, now (1869,) resides, a half mile south of the Center, on Lot No. 66. Soon after his arrival he built a frame house, which still stands, and is a part of the present dwelling. Seth Blair, sen., was a Revolutionary soldier, having en- tered the service at the age of sixteen. He was a worthy
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respected citizen, and died in 1852, in the ninety-second year of his age. He was the last but one of the Revolu- tionary veterans of the town of Madison.
Judson W. Lewis, from Stratford, Connecticut, came in 1797, and purchased Lot No. 19, where Leroy Curtis now resides. Mr. Lewis' six sons and two daughters came into town at or near the same time. Their names were :- Silas, Whiting, Charles, William, Isaac, Conway, Betsey and Catharine. Charles, however, did not arrive till 1799, when he purchased a mile and a half north of Solsville. All of these eight childen had families in town, and several of the members still reside here.
Nehemiah Thompson, also from Stratford, arrived in 1797, and bought Lot 17, (on Stratford Street,) where Ran- som Curtis now lives. Robert Curtis, from Stratford, bought part of his land of Nehemiah Thompson. Peter Tyler came also in or about the year 1797, and purchased where Hon. J. W. Lippett now resides, also on Lot 17. Jo- seph Curtis, from Stratford, arrived in 1798, and took up a farm on the north line of the town on Lot No. 4, where George Lewis now lives. Daniel Warren, from Royalston, Worcester County, Mass., came soon after 1798, and pur- chased a part, or all of Lot No. 4. He soon removed to Au- gusta. Samuel and Timothy Curtis, also from Stratford, located on Stratford street, we believe, about the last named date.
Joseph Manchester, from Tiverton, R. I., came to Madi- son in 1798,* and bought land in the southwest quarter,- Lots 96 and 97. He lived to his eighty-second year. Af- ter his decease, his son Gideon, occupied the place for many years. At this date (1869), the property is owned by his grandson, William T. Manchester, of Hamilton.
The first year and more of Joseph Manchester's resi- dence here, he was obliged to carry his grain to mill at New Hartford on his back. On one occasion he took a
* Think it must be earlier.
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bushel to mill in this manner, and while on his toilsome way home bearing his grist through the gloomy forest, a heavy thunder shower arose, making the approaching dark- ness of night grow blacker, so that it became impossible to proceed, and although not more than a mile from home he was compelled to remain in the woods till morning. On arriving at home, he found that during his absence a fero- cious bear had visited his premises, and in spite of the ef- forts of his hired man, who, with a hoe as his only weapon, had endeavored to drive away the intruder. The beast had taken his only one hog from the pen and bore it away.
Job Manchester settled early in the southwest quarter, on Lot 57. He was one of the company from Rhode Is- land. He spent the remainder of his years on this farm, when it passed to his son William, who also spent a useful life on the same location, and was succeeded by his son, L. B. Manchester. Ichabod Manchester located in town some two or three years after Joseph. He lived to be nearly eighty years of age. Thomas Dick, one of the three who came to "look land" in 1791, arrived in town with his family, to settle, in 1797. He purchased Lot 55, one mile east of the Center, where the Hazzards now reside. He was from Pelham, Massachusetts.
Gilbert Stebbins, from Wilbraham, Mass., came in 1799, and located in the southeast quarter. He was a most worthy and influential citizen. His brother Harvey came about three years later and took up land where his son, De Lonna Stebbins now lives, Lot No. 92.
Reuben Brigham came into Madison, March 4, 1799, and purchased the farm took up by Abner Bellows, situated half a mile south of the Augusta line, on the road running due north from Solsville to Augusta Center., He was born in Sudbury, Middlesex Co., Mass., September 23, 1769, attended the common school of his native place in his youth, and was then sent to and in due time graduated at
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the oldest college in the United States-Harvard Univer- sity, at Cambridge, Mass. From a diary kept by him, now three-fourths of a century old, and so dim with age that it is in good part illegible, we learn that in 1794 he taught school at Newton, Mass. In 1796 he came west, as we learn from the same record, and taught school at Saratoga Springs. He subsequently came to Madison at the period above named, and settled permanently upon the Bellows' farm. Here there was but a small clearing when he came in possession, but within it was a log house and barn, and a young orchard planted. Many of the apple trees of this orchard are still standing and in bearing condition.
The following quaint certificate is found among the ancient looking papers left by Mr. Brigham :-
" Sudbury, Jan'y 8th, 1793.
Thefe certify that the subfcriber suppofes the Bearer, Reuben Brigham, is a perfon of good moral character and thus far qualified to teach a School.
by Jacob Biglow, Minifter of Sudbury."
Mr. Brigham remained upon his farm during his life time and was ordinarily successful as a farmer ; but like others, he had to encounter many hardships and endure serious privations during the first few years. In illustration, we mention a fact :- When he came here to settle he had a wife and one or more children, and brought with him a sin- gle ewe sheep, all he could obtain, with which he expected to start a flock at once ; but as it proved, the impossibility of mating postponed this some years. Meanwhile, home manufacture of cloth was the only resource for family cloth- ing, and the one fleece yearly went but a little way in Mr. Brigham's growing family. At last something had to be done to increase the bulk of raw material, and it was done in this way :- A yoke of oxen and one cow had been pur- chased ; in the spring these animals were carded every day and the gathered hair was carefully saved each time till all the old coating was accumulated ; this was cleansed, incorporated with the one fleece of wool by hand-carding,
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spun into yarn on the family spinning-wheel, and woven into cloth in Mrs. Brigham's old time hand loom. Thus was the the "web" lengthened out and the number of yards materially increased ; and we are assured that it made excellent " filling," and that the cloth was equal in quality to "all wool," with the single exception that it was rather rough. Necessity was the mother of invention.
Mr. Brigham, though college educated and intelligent, was eccentric, and from first to last quite unorthodox. He was no office-seeker, and was never an office-holder, except in his own town. He was at intervals invited to address the people, in his own vicinity, publicly, and was always entertaining and instructive ; occasionally he volunteered to do so, and made his appointments by posted notices writ- ten in his own hand. The following is a sample, copied verbatim from one which called together a large meeting forty years ago :-
" NOTICE is hereby given that the plough- jogger will deliver a political Oration, or Address, on Sat- urday the 22nd inst., at Madison village, beginning at early candle-light ; calculated to refine the minds and enlighten the understandings of a divided, misguided, and tumultuous populace .- Sept. 17th, 1832."
No signature was affixed and none was needed; the " plough-jogger " was well known ; the people came.
Mr. Brigham and his wife Betsey (the latter a native of Guilford, Conn., born in 1764,) with several of their child- ren have been dead many years. All rest in the family burial ground, in a beautiful grove selected by Mr. Brigham for that purpose, on the homestead farm. The farm passed to the youngest daughter, Mrs. Aaron Richards, who sur- vives. It is now (1872,) in possession of her son, Daniel Richards. This home has thus remained and still contin- ues in the family of its founder.
Jonas Banton, also from Wilbraham, came in 1801. Ban- ton was a man of great physical strength and activity. On one occasion he engaged to chop an acre of land for
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Brownell Simmons and fit it for logging, for the sum of six dollars ; he performed the work in six days ; but when on the last tree, after it had fallen, he accidentally struck the ax into his foot, and was obliged to lay by for three months. The first piece of land he purchased, after spending seven years of hard labor in improving it, he failed in making a certain payment upon, when due, and lost the whole. Strong and hopeful, he did not yield to this serious dis- couragement, but immediately purchased again, and was thenceforth successful. He became a prosperous farmer, through steady, never-failing courage and perseverance, and was ever worthy of and enjoyed the respect of his fellow- townsmen ; and now, (1869,) at or near the age of ninety, can look back with a memory but little impaired, and with conscientious satisfaction, upon the events of his earlier life, when he was a sort of leader or foreman among his fellows, at raisings, loggings and similar gatherings. He remembers with affection the ready assistance of his wife (many years since deceased,) in his pioneer labors, who was ever to him a true help-meet, companion and promoter of his prosperity. An incident illustrative of what those pio- neer women could do, is related :- Mr. Banton was once burning a large coal-pit ; it caught fire in the night, and soon got under such headway that he could not control it The ground was covered with snow twenty inches deep, but undaunted, Mrs. Banton went through it a mile on foot to obtain help for her husband to arrest the fire. In that day, when women were ashamed of timidity, even alone, in the night, and in the depths of the forest, this bravely-met emergency, in a mid-winter night of darkness, storm and gloom, was counted a courageous act.
Agur Gilbert, from Stratford, Conn., arrived in town in 1799, and bought at Solsville, where his son, Dea. John Gilbert, lived till the death of the latter in 1870. One of the six children of Mr. Gilbert, Agur Gilbert, jr., was a Justice of the Peace at Solsville many years ; he was also,
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for two terms, we believe, one of the Justices of Sessions of Madison County. We note further of this son, that though self-taught, he acquired much ; he became a man of marked ability, and was from the first a popular magistrate. It is not too much to say that in his removal to Wisconsin in 1867, the town and county of Madison lost one of its soundest and worthiest public men. Agur Gilbert, sen., died at his homestead in Solsville about 1840, aged over
seventy years. Dea. John Gilbert, who, as we have just noted, deceased in 1870, succeeded his father upon the farm, and was scarcely ever known to leave his home over night. He was too small a child, when his parents made the jour- ney from Conn., in 1799, to remember anything of the cir- cumstance ; and it is said, with the exception of one trip to Utica, (22 miles,) when he was a young man, he was never twenty miles from home, never rode in a stage coach, and never saw a train of railroad cars.
Dea. Prince Spooner came early to the northwest quar- ter, and took up a farm on Lot No. 2, where his youngest son, Benjamin Spooner, now lives. John Niles settled on Lot 43, near Bouckville, about 1794 or '95. He was fol- lowed by his father's family, consisting of father, brothers and sisters-in all fourteen persons. He sold in 1808, to J. D. Cooledge, and removed to Lebanon.
James D. Cooledge was from Stow, Middlesex Co., Mass. He came to Madison in 1806. He had good business tal- ents, and his own way of exercising them. It is said that he came into town as a flax-dresser, making very little show, but at the same time keeping a sharp look out for a good farm and chance to buy. When he made the pur- chase of Niles and paid $200 down to secure the bargain, the latter did not suppose the purchaser would be able to meet subsequent payments, and did not, therefore, consider the farm really sold. One of his neighbors, Solomon Root, who had observed the quiet business abilities of Cooledge, meeting Mr. Niles one day, sententiously remarked to him,
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"Mr. Niles, your farm is sold !" Contrary to Mr. Niles' ex- pectations, Mr. Cooledge proved to be successful, and took possession of the farm next spring. The farm he thus bought is now one of the best in the town of Madison ; it once took the County Agricultural Society's premium of a silver cup. It is now owned by Charles Z. Brockett. On this farm grew the first crop of hops raised in Madison County. James and William, sons of James D. Cooledge, reside in Bouckville at the present date. James was born in Boxboro, Mass., and is now (July, 1870,) aged 84 years ; William was born in Stow, in December, 1802, and is there- fore now 68 years of age ; Sylvanus, another son, also re- sided near Bouckville till some thirty years since. Henry Cooledge, now a resident of Madison village, is another son of J. D. Cooledge.
Dr. Samuel McClure came to Bouckville in 1805, and opened a tavern. The Cherry Valley Turnpike was then being built, and this point offered an advantageous location for such an enterprise.
In the spring of 1804, Eli Bancroft and Abner Burnham, from Hartford, Conn., came to " look land." They stopped in Madison, and Jeremiah Mack, who owned a piece of land on "Water St.," asked them to see it before going further. They were pleased with its location, and immediately pur- chased. With their families they arrived in October, hav- ing been four weeks on the road. They found a double log tenement, none too large or commodious, but the two fami- lies, Bancroft and Burnham, consisting of fourteen persons, were soon domiciled in one part, the other being occupied by Mack, which they found to be rather snug quarters for the winter. This house stood near where Albion Burn- ham, a grandson of Abner Burnham, now lives, on Lot No. 13.
Mr. Burnham kept the land that he and Bancroft at first jointly occupied, which is still owned by his : ons, Matthew R. and Elizur Burnham. Abner Burnham lived to the age of 80 years, a respected citizen.
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David Mason, from Springfield, Mass., came into town in 1808, and bought what has since been known as the " Old Clemmons Place," nearly a mile east of the village. He had a family of several children. One son, Elihu, became a minister of the Presbyterian order ; another, Hezekiah, (a graduate of either Yale or Harvard,) entered the legal profession. David Mason died at the residence of his son David, in the adjoining town of Augusta, in 1822, at the advanced age of 83 years.
Roderick Spencer, from Hartford, Conn., came in the winter of 1806, and located on Water street, purchasing near Abner Burnham.
Abijah Parker settled in town very early, locating three- fourths of a mile northeast of Bouckville, on Lot 23, now known as the "Babcock Place." Zadok, son of Abijah, was one of the first physicians in Madison.
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