USA > New York > Madison County > History of Madison County, state of New York > Part 51
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ERIEVILLE.
This place was named from Eri Richardson, f one of its long ago store-keepers. From the first this has been a place of considerable trade. The first store was kept by Tucker- man. Smith Dunham was the second merchant here. The first considerable enterprise was started by Alpheus Morse and Nathaniel Hodskin. They built a furnace and potash manufactory, and kept store. After a time, John Elmer, of
* The author believes this to be the same long ago called the "Hitchcock Snow," of which the "wife poisoner" took advantage, supposing the storm would prevent investigation of the murder. A terrible storm prevailed at Madison Centre, where he committed the deed.
+ See appendix, note p.
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DeRuyter, succeeded them in the manufactory of potash, who continued the old works. The furnace was in existence but a short time.
Among the merchants of the past were those above named, also John Elmer, and George Parmalee. The lat- ter had a very good business for some years. Amasa Jack- son built and traded on the southeast corner. He was a substantial and successful merchant. Norton & Anderson were of the later merchants who traded on the northeast corner and had a large business. Maynard & Co. are the present firm in the same place. Mr. Burgess has also been a substantial merchant in this place. Within a few years and since the railroad has been opened through here, trade has increased.
The first hotel (the upper,) was built by Eri Richardson. About 1830 it belonged to Thomas Medbury, who built it anew. Afterwards it went again into the hands of the Richardsons and for many years was well-known as Rich- ardson's tavern. It is now kept by H. Griffin.
The lower hotel, the "Eldorado House," was built and kept by George Saulsbury. He sold to Andrew Hull, who kept here for a few years. It has passed through several hands and is now owned by Stephen Reed:
Erieville has a good steam saw-mill which was built by Palmer Freeborn ; it is doing a large business. One of the best cheese-factories in the town is located here, owned and ยท operated by Peter Duffy.
There are three churches in the village,-Baptist, Meth- odist and Universalist.
Nelson Flats is a post village in the northern part of the town. The Cherry Valley Turnpike passes through this place, and in its early days it was distinguished for its good hotels. Several merchants have pursued their calling in this place. There are two churches here. This section is dis- tinguished for its noble farms, good and substantial farm buildings, and fine family mansions of the old style.
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In the northeast part of the town are a large number of Welsh who have a church of their own.
Among the prominent and useful men of the early days, none were more active than Asahel Jackson and Jedediah Jackson. David Wellington stood high in the confidence of his towns people, who placed responsible trusts in his care. He was the first Justice of the Peace, and held this position for many years. Judge Lyon was prominent and influential from the first. The Knox's have held positions of influence from the beginning of their settlement here to the present time. In the south part of the town the Richardsons and Nortons, wielded considerable influence. Most of those mentioned have zealously cultivated and developed the agricultural resources of the town. To the number thus animated with a desire to promote the well being of society and the interests of their town, may be added the names of the Cases, Cards, Burtons, Wevers and Smiths.
We are wanting the necessary information to give more fully sketches of individuals who have thus largely interested themselves in the public welfare. We would, however, before dissmissing the subject, add to the above list the name of Dr. Heffron, the pioneer physician. In his pro- fession he was widely known and was remarkably success- ful. His success in the great epidemic of 1813, established him here permanently in the confidence of the people. He spent many years of a long life in this town, and on his death was greatly regretted. Dr. L. P. Greenwood of Erie- ville, long known as a man eminent in his profession, was once a student with Dr. Heffron.
We add the subjoined sketch of another of Nelson's prominent citizens.
ALFRED MEDBURY.
"Died, in Erieville, on the 9th day of August, Alfred Medbury, Esq., aged 66 years.
The subject of this notice was born in New Berlin, N. Y., in the year 1806. He moved into Madison Co., in the year 1818.
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In the year 1835 he was elected Justice of the Peace in the town of Nelson, which office he held uninterruptedly, with the exception of a single year, until his death. He held the office of Associate Justice two terms, and was one of the present incumbents. In the year 1844 he was elected to the Assembly. During the Rebellion he served the term in the capacity of War Committeeman.
Personally he was a man of social nature, and remarkably unassuming. He adhered with firmness to his own opinions when established, and regarded the opinions of others with respect and courtesy. During the thirty-seven years he held the office of Justice of the Peace, his associations with, and business transactions for the people, were of such a character as to win for himself the highest respect and confidence. In all his judicial decisions it was the right that controlled him, rather than party or favoritism, and however dissatisfied any might be with the result of cases left for his adjudication, none ever ventured the assertion that he acted otherwise than conscien- tiously, leaving the results to care for themselves In his legal transactions of all kinds, settlement of estates, transfer of real estate, writing of wills, agreements and the multitudinous docu- ments of like character which he was called upon to prepare, it was his personal peculiarity, to make such explanations as would prevent one person, by any trickery or legal quibble, from obtaining advantage of another, without his knowledge. His apparent carelessness, and what some have called blundering style, has many times cleared away the mist, and exposed a legal trap set for the unsuspecting and ignorant. The value of such a public servant can hardly be estimated, and his loss will be felt not only by his family and friends, but by the entire community."
CHURCHES.
The Baptist Church of Erieville, was organized in 1810, at the house of Nicholas Brown. Meetings were held dur- ing the first summer in the school house near Wellington's Tavern. The meeting house was built in 1821, at a cost of $2,000, an expensive house for that period. It is a fine building, representing old style architecture.
The Universalist Church of Erieville, was built in 1842, Benjamin Wadsworth, Geo. D. Richardson, Reuel Richard- son, George Wells and Nathaniel Davis, building committee and proprietors. The society organized, consisted of about sixty members. The first minister was Rev. Charles Shipman.
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The Methodist Episcopal Church of Erieville. The first class of this society, was formed by Rev. Benjamin Pad- dock, about 1830, in a school house, nearly two miles west of Erieville. Meetings were held by this society in school houses and dwellings several years. When the school house was built on Main street, meetings were held regularly there. About 1850, the society was reorganized, when the meeting house was built. Moses L. Kern was pastor in charge at that time. John Crawford was the first settled pastor. This society belongs to the Nelson Flats' charge.
There have been several different societies in town, which have now no existence. Among them may be named the old Presbyterian Church, which built the meeting house now belonging to the Welsh.
The old Baptist Church of Nelson also built a meeting house, which is located in the east part of the town, south of the turnpike. It is now used for meeting, of various denominations.
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CHAPTER XIV.
SULLIVAN.
Boundaries .- Geography .- Ancient Home of the Oneidas .--- Home assigned the Tuscaroras .- The Great Trail .- Traversing Armies-Vrooman's Adventure and Its Disastrous Results- The Nine Pioneer Families of Sullivan .- Destruction of Their Homes .- Relics of the Vrooman Expedition .- Lewis Dennie .- First Road Through .- State Road and Seneca Turnpike .- Various Land Tracts .- Early Settlers .- Sketches of Pioneer Experience .- Discovery of Gypsum Beds .- Can- aseraga Village .- Its Progress .- Chittenango and Its Early Enterprises .- Discovery of Water Lime .- Building up of Manufactures .- Polytechny .- First Fourth of July Celebra- tion in Chittenango .- Prominent Men .- Early Railroad Pro- jects. - Chittenango Springs. - Bridgeport. - Incidents. - Northern Sullivan .- Biographical Sketches of Hon. John B. Yates and Others .- Churches.
Sullivan was formed from Cazenovia, February 22, 1803. In 1809, Lenox was formed from Sullivan. The town was named after General John Sullivan, who made this section famous by his march into the Iroquois country. It is the northwest town of the county, and is bounded north by the Oneida Lake, east by Lenox, south by Fenner, Cazenovia and Onondaga County, and west by Onondaga County.
The surface of this town is level over something more than its northern half; to the southward, hills rise success- ively, till they merge into the hights of Fenner, where the out look reveals all the great plain of woodland, broken with but few clearings, with the lake beyond. Directing the
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vision to various points, the villages, the farms, the streams, the roads-in fact all the external features of the broad town are spread out to view. The soil of the level por- tions is strangely analogous to the prairie soil of the west. Even the climate of northern Sullivan, as well as the form- ation and general aspect of its surface, seems as unlike southern Madison County, as if hundreds instead of a score or two of miles lay between. Probably no town in the county has received, geographically, such decided changes as this. Could the departed shades of the ancient Oneida chiefs revisit their native homes, they would scarce- ly believe that here were their old time fisheries, their well stocked hunting grounds, their well trodden trails. The arts of the white man have changed everything. Two streams with their tributaries, traverse the town, and their courses were guides to the hunter and pioneer ; in and through these were found the elements of change. The Chittenango, or "Chittening" as it used to be called-the name given one of these streams by the Indians, signifying, " waters divide and run north,"-holds good its ancient course, save here and there, where some enterprising firm or individual has straightened its tortuous way. It is a powerful stream, rushing musically down over and among its rocks, entering the town at Lot No. 20. O. R .* Not idle or listless, the Chittenango applies itself vigorously to the use of numerous mills and mechanical works, until, far along the level country, it becomes less impetuous, and leisurely winds to the westward, gathering volume from numerous tributaries, after which it becomes still more placid, and passing on, marks the western border line of this part of the county. Dense pine forests overshadowed it, and decayed trunks of fallen trees, only, bridged its waters in the early days. Now the broad sunlight gleams upon its rippling surface ; green fields stretch away from its mar- gin ; numerous bridges span it here and there. The Erie
* Oneida Reservation.
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Canal in its acqueduct bed, rests above and across it at one point ; the Central railroad trestle bridge spans it at anoth- er, the heavy trains crossing, scarcely agitating the calm its waters have there found.
The Canaseraga, receiving the tributaries of numerous springs upon the northern slope of the watershed in Fen- ner, holds its early pathway over the falls at Perryville, as it did eighty years ago, but has changed from the then very good sized torrent, to a thin stream, during the summers of the last quarter century. Moving across the Canaseraga flats, it enters the "Great Swamp," and sluggishly courses its way onward. In the midst of the swamp, on Lot 123, it is joined by the united streams of the Canastota and Cowassalon, (called " Canastota," after the junction,) which adds volume and dignity to the black, sluggish, westward flowing Canaseraga, trailing through rank shrubbery, decaying forests, and among the morasses of the almost impenetrable swamp. From the peculiar shape and form, as taken together, of all these tributaries to the main stream, and then the graceful curving of the latter on to its mouth to complete the figure, the Indians gave it the appro- priate name of "Canaseraga," signifying " Big Elkhorn," which the whole closely resembles. Until about forty years ago the Canaseraga kept a westward course till it reached the Chittenango, where the two united formed a stately river, to be poured into Oneida Lake.
The " Great Marsh" south of Oneida Lake, four or five miles wide, extended the whole breadth of Sullivan, and mostly of Lenox. The Canaseraga wasted its waters over thousands of acres of this swamp; and over the " Vlaie," or " Fly" as it is called; at certain seasons of the year the water stood four feet deep .* This Fly was the Canaseraga Lake of the old maps. Although this great morass lay higher than Oneida Lake, the intervening
* Mr. Austin P. Briggs, of Bridgeport, states that when a boy, 45 years ago, he found fine skating upon the Fly, the water being four feet deep under the ice.
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ridge of about a mile in width prevented drainage, and many thousand acres were rendered worthless. There were those, however, who invested money in this unre- claimed land, and in the course of years a plan for their recovery was developed.
Col. Zebulon Douglass, with others, took the work in hand, and by appropriations from the State, an artificial channel for the Canaseraga was cut through to Oneida Lake. The declivity from the point where the Canaseraga was tapped, (Lot 118,) is sixteen feet to the mile, to Lakeport, where a handsome stream pours into the lake. The old channel of the Canaseraga wound its course around on the northern parts of Lots 18, 19 and 21, and southerly on Lots 22 and 114 (O. R). It was hoped that the new and deep channel would prove quite effectual in draining the marsh ; and although the most sanguine expectations were not realized, yet a large amount of land has been reclaimed by the means, and the swamp exhibits a widely different appearance to that presented to the pioneers. The natural meadows or Vly,* comprising some 3000 acres in the midst of this swamp, became more dry, and although too wet for tillage, yet by annual cutting of the wild grass upon por- tions of it, the husbandman found that cultivated grasses took lodgement in the rich soil. Not a tree or stump de- faces the monotonous level of this broad expanse ; its tall, rank weeds and coarse grasses, wave like a sea in the wind, from out of which is heard the myriad voices of a world of insect life ; nothing, it seems to the writer, can exceed the loneliness of this region, should one be compelled to con- template it long alone. The "Cazenovia and Oneida Lake Stone Road," crosses the Vly, and the time will doubtless soon arrive, when the domicil of the husbandman will cheer the desolate plain.
When the project of building a road across the Vly, was
* "Vly," or "Fly" is the Dutch construction of the word, "Valley." [See Valentine's History of New York, p. 72.]
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broached, many inhabitants opposed it, because the town's taxes would necessarly be increased. There was a mer- chant at Bridgeport, who was the leader and speaker against " the impracticable scheme," as he called it, "in which the appropriation would be thrown away,-sunk literally, in the worthless marsh." He denounced the project and its leaders on all possible occasions, and frequently declared in public that he "did not want to live longer than the time that should see the first wagon cross the Vly." Prominent men in Chittenango and vicinity-Robert Riddle, John I. Wal- rath, Edward Sims, David Riddle, Jarius French, Thomas French and others,-took hold of the work. In winter, when the Fly was passable, they explored it, and selected their route, and the following summer a party consisting of these men and their wives crossed it in a procession of wagons! It is not necessary to describe the many mis- haps which the party encountered-the upsetting of vehi- cles, the sloughs they were obliged to bridge, the careful picking of the way, while the ladies walked or rode as the necessities of the case here and there demanded ; suffice it to say that jests and jollity seasoned the adven- ture through all its perils, and that they crossed the Fly, with horses and wagons all safe, reached the Lake Road, and in due time arrived in Bridgeport, where, after a sump- tuous hotel dinner, the embassy called on the said merchant and advised him to prepare the ceremonials for his own funeral, as the time he had so often named as the desirable one at which to close his earthly existence, had arrived ! This joke upon the merchant was fully appreciated by the people. The adventure had much to do in gaining the appropriation asked of the town, which was two thousand five hundred dollars, to be paid in installments of five hun- dred dollars yearly. To this was added private subscrip- tions, amounting to three thousand dollars more. So the road was laid through, which gave access to the reclaimed land of the swamp. In 1848, it was improved by planking,
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having become a part of the DeRuyter, Cazenovia and Oneida Lake Plank Road. Subsequently it was superse- ded by the present macadamized road.
There can be little doubt but that the Fly was once the bed of a lake, as the soil to the depth of several feet is muck, underlaid with marl, and abounding in shells in per- fect form. Vertical stumps three feet below the surface, and smaller ones near the surface, indicate that two forests have existed there in the ages past, as since the earliest inhabitants no timber has been there, and the same verdure abounds now as then. The reclaimed lands of the Great Swamp, are fast being converted into productive farms, while steady encroachments are being made upon the wide waste, opening more and more of it to the sun-light ; yet there is still a large tract lying useless. Prof. Guerdon Evans, State Surveyor in 1853, stated the amount of swamp lands in Sullivan and Lenox, to be more than fifteen thous- and acres.
Farther into the remote centuries of the past than pen has traced, all this region was the home of the Iroquois ; but we have record that an English traveler, Wentworth Greenhalgh, penetrated this country in 1677, when the Oneidas were a nation perhaps not two hundred years old, and Oneida Lake was called "Teshiroque," and this land was known only as so many leagues of travel between the Oneida and Onondaga Indian Villages. The century fol- lowing, government agents came occasionally from New York and Albany to look after Indian interests, contract for peltry and brighten the chain of friendship, and who, in their journeys traversed the Great Trail through Sullivan and sped in light Indian canoes over Lake Oneida. From the date of Greenhalgh's travels, however, through the next half century, frequent emissaries of the French government, the Jesuits, and sometimes the Jesuit fathers themselves, made the denizens of Sullivan's forests, streams, plains, morasses and the lake, familiar with their presence.
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During the disturbances between the French and English nations, wherein the Iroquois was the bone of contention, these tribes, exasperated by constant irritation, occasionally seized upon white agents and Indian spies and hurried them over the familiar trail from one village to the other, to be disposed of as their great Sachems in council should decree. On the occasion of their grand yearly conventions at the central Council Fire, Onondaga, the trail through Sullivan bore its share of travel, and Lake Oneida was alive with fleets bearing to that convention or council the dusky mass of delegates from the Oneidas, Mohawks, and the several remnants of eastern tribes who adhered to the skirts of the Confederacy.
The claims of the 200 refugee Tuscarora nation of South Carolina, were canvassed by the Oneida Chiefs during a wayside halt for rest on the spot where the unpretentious village of Canaseraga now is. These Chiefs, when before the august body of Sachems in solemn Congress at Onon- daga, laid before it the case of those weak and impoverished brethren, with characteristic chivalry and magnanimity, extending with one hand brotherly welcome, and with the other pointing to their own fair domain said, "our door is open, let them enter; our fires burn brightly amid the Oneida hills (Stockbridge); there they may warm and rest themselves ; nay more-our lands on the Canaseraga are smooth and fair ; there they may build their own fire, raise their own corn; our streams are full of fish, our woods with bear and deer; we say to them abide with us-be our younger brothers ;" to which the body of Sachems assented, repeating with one voice "be our younger brothers!" And so it transpired that in the year 1712, the Tuscarorans were formally adopted into the Confederacy. A part of them took up their abode at the home assigned them by the Oneidas on the Canaseraga Flats,* where they built their stockaded village, which in the time of Sir William John-
# Many of them, however, located at Stockbridge.
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son, between 1750 and '70, was a village of no little impor- tance, where Sir William often stopped on his way to the annual Indian Congress, and where once, in the year 1769, he found the Indians greatly afflicted at the death of a remark- able Chief of the Onondagas ; of this occurrence he says :- " I was obliged to perform all the ceremonies on that oc- casion."
Because of the peaceful nature of the Oneidas and Tus- caroras, we have not the horrible and bloody record to pro- duce for Madison County that marks the history of some other sections and localities where the aborigines had their home ; yet, as will be seen, our northern border, like cen- tral Oneida, had its sanguinary scenes, though chiefly from causes not local, from the date of the earliest records to the close of the revolution.
This town being contiguous to Oneida lake and bear- ing through its soil the Chittenango and Canaseraga-the former stream navigable six miles by batteaux, and both, a century ago, navigable some distance farther by the Indian canoe and light craft of the white man-has furnished more historical incidents connected with the revolutionary strug- gle than any other portion of the county. During all the wars with the Indians of New York and the war of the rev- olution, numerous fleets in movements of aggression or re- treat, moved over Oneida Lake; and all along the Great Trail the solitudes of northern Madison County have often resounded to the tread of disciplined white soldiery in battle array. The years 1779 and 1780, were memorable ones in the history of Central New York, and upon the soil of Sul- livan was traced some of the records of those eventful years. It was the period when our country was bleeding and groan- ing under the repeated outrages and barbarities of the British and Indians, such as the massacres of Wyoming and Cherry Valley, when Gen. Sullivan was ordered into the country of the Six Nations to carry out the plan of retaliation which it had become necessary to adopt, in order to weaken the strength
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and spirit of the savage enemy. Gen. James Clinton com- manded the eastern division of this expedition, and while he prepared to descend the Susquehanna and join Gen. Sulli- van in the Seneca country by the southern route, he de- tailed Col. Van Shaick, assisted by Col. Willett and Major Cochran for the one against Onondaga. On the 19th of April, 1779, Col. Van Shaick left Fort Stanwix (Rome,) with about 550 effective men ; they moved from Fort Stan- wix to the Onondaga village in the short space of three days notwithstanding the bad, rainy weather, and encountering the swollen streams and morasses south of Oneida Lake. Col. Van Shaick was successful ; the Indians fled on his approach and their wigwam hamlets upon Onondaga Creek were speedily devastated. This part of the work of retalia- tion accomplished, he returned to Fort Stanwix without the loss of a single man. This expedition passed through the village of the Oneidas at Oneida Castle, and the village of Canaseraga. The Indians at these points, though as a rule friendly to the Americans, were yet at times wavering dur- ing the successes of the allied enemy. Col. Van Schaick's bold and energetic movements reassured them and gave them confidence in our armies ; and both tribes -the Onei- das and Tuscaroras *- immediately sent deputations to Fort Stanwix to renew their promises of faithfulness and to brighten the chain of friendship. On the 20th of Septem- ber of the same year, Gen. Sullivan, while laying waste the Seneca country, dispatched Col. Gansevoort with one hundred men to Fort Stanwix ; they were chosen men, and were to proceed to the lower Mohawk Castle by the shortest route, destroy it, and capture if possible all the Indians there. The last clause of the order of Gen. Sullivan read thus :- "As your route will be through the Oneida country, you are to take particular care that your men do not offer the inhabitants the least insult ; and if by accident any
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