History of Montgomery and Fulton counties, N.Y. : with illustrations and portraits of old pioneers and prominent residents, Part 55

Author: Beers, F.W., & co., New York, pub
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: New York : F.W. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 664

USA > New York > Fulton County > History of Montgomery and Fulton counties, N.Y. : with illustrations and portraits of old pioneers and prominent residents > Part 55
USA > New York > Montgomery County > History of Montgomery and Fulton counties, N.Y. : with illustrations and portraits of old pioneers and prominent residents > Part 55

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At these points fragments of rock sometimes tumbled into the canal, in the spring, and in its original shallow condition impeded or injured boats ; such accidents are not heard of since the enlargement.

A MEMENTO OF NORTHERN SLAVERY.

Among the early records of Root is the following relic of the latter days of slavery in this State :

" Whereas I, Dericke Yates, widow and administratrix of Robert Yates, deceased, am the owner and possessor of a certain black man named George, aged about thirty-five years ; and whereas the said George was born a slave by the laws of the State, and is desirous of becoming manumit- ted, and obtain his freedom : now, therefore, for and in consideration of the sum of one dollar to me in hand paid, the receipt whereof 1 hereby confess and acknowledge, and in conformity to the act entitled ' An Act relating to slaves and servants,' passed March 31st, 1817, I have manumitted and set free the said George, and freely exonerate him from all chains I have or may have to his services hereafter. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this fifth day of April, in the year of our Lord 1835.

her " DERICKE X YATES. I.S."

" Witness, ISAIAH DEPUY." mark

MITCHELL'S CAVE.

BY J. R. SIMMS.

Horatio Gates Spafford published in his Gazetteer in 1824 a notice of this cave. The entrance to the cavern was in the margin of wood- on Nose Hill, nearly a mile southeast of the Barrows dwelling, then standing under the mountain, and perhaps a mile and a halt from Spraker's Basin ; the entrance to it was gained by an oval or egg-shaped hole in the rocks. Mr. Spafford said it was named after the late Professor Samuel L. Mite la Il, of New York, and the party whose description he copied visited it in July 1821. He says they descended into it by ropes sixteen fect, to an ofn ning eleven feet by thirty, and thirteen feet high ; and then through another passage of about twenty feet to another room, and so on to the tenth apartment, which with lateral rooms made thirteen or fourteen in all ; and that they supposed they had descended soo feet. Distance, as I know from experience, seems long in such a place ; of course they did not go to any such perpendicular depth from the surface.

The late Captain Beach, principal engineer in constructing this division of the Erie Canal, assured me some twenty years ago, that one or more of his assistant engineers were with the first exploring party. 1 have at different times conversed with quite a number of persons who have et- plored this cavern in whole or in part. The most satisfactory des riptun I ever had of it was from Martin Carson, who, with Doctors Reid and Ant:s, and several other persons, visited it in 1837. This account and that of several others were given to the writer in 1853. All visitors agree that the entrance is small and the passage to the first landing, sloping northword, was difficult, and made by the and of a rope or a pole. Some parties have carned a coil of rope in exploring it, but we are not certain that the one named did so ; and although some have complained that their hilite burned dinly in some parts of it, others experienced no difficulty. R .ils. branches of trees, ete, were used by carly visitors to aid in bridging or passing difficult and dangerous parts of the cavern. In the first room many bats were found.

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166

THE HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

Said Carson, the passage leading from the second to the third room was the most difficult and dangerous part of the whole descent, there being between those rooms on the north side of the passage, which led along a shelving rock ever wet and shippery, a deep, narrow and perpen- dicular chasm, which reminded them of the bottomless pit : as stones cast into it sent back their flinty echoes from a depth which they feared to cal- culate. Great care was necessary in passing this dangerous opening. The exploration of this party, said my informant, ended in the thirteenth room ; which was the largest in the cavern, it being a large rotunda with a magnificent dome studded with stalactites, but all of an ashen hue, the characteristic color of all similar formations in this case. l'he rock for- mation is gneiss, and only compact dark lime stone affords pure white alabaster concretions from the percolation of water. Carson and friends heard running water, as have other explorers, but met with no water ex- cept in little pools in cavities, from which they slaked their thirst. He supposed the rotunda about on a level with the bed of the Mohawk, and two or three hundred feet below the earth's surface.

Here is the account of another party, which visited Mitchell's Cave about forty years ago, whose narrative I also obtained in 1853 : The "State scow," with about a dozen hands, had been engaged one forenoon of a warm summer's day in the canal directly below the Nose, wading in the water then four feet deep , while searching for leaks, such as muskrats might make, and for boulders, which sometimes loosened uj . the moun- tain side and found a lodgment in the canal beneath. Such stone often injured and occasionally sunk a loaded boat at the period under conside- ration, calling for damages from the State. The captain proposed, after an unpleasant duty, to give his hands the afternoon, and with them explore the mooted wonder of the mountain ; a proposition readily accepted. The party not long after rallied at the cave's mouth, and, provided with candles and means to light them, descended by the aid of a pole to the first landing, with the exception of Richard Quackinbush, whose aldermanic dimensions prevented his descent. "Come down, Dick!" shouted his comrades. "I'm coming! " responded the hero of Stone Ridge, but it was no go ; and Dick witnessed with sorrow the shadow of his lost brother sailor recede from his view.

After descending with no little hazard and difficulty to the fourth room, which was 18 or 20 feet square, several of their lights were extinguished by the draft, or, as they feared, impurity of the air, and only three of the party, who were provided with a globe lamp-Charles Redgate, James Quant and Noah Fletcher-had the temerity to advance. As they did so, they heard a distant waterfall. Descending for a considerable distance through a narrow passage, said Fletcher, they crawled through a hole about the size of a barrel-head, and emerged on the brink of what, from the light cast upon it by a single lamp, appeared to be a deep and rapid stream, which went thundering far below. At this point, which they sup- posed was the extent to which any visitor could go, they retraced their steps to join their comrades on terra firma, where the Stone Ridge alder- man was anxiously awaiting their arrival. Fletcher did not count the number of rooms they visited, nor did he speak of the rotunda, but sup- posed they had gone down nearly or quite to the bed of the river, a dis- tance of several hundred feet.

It is possible that after severe rains, some rooms in this cavern may be filled with water, which for a time prevents their exploration. several visitors have spoken to us of the large room or rotunda. l'eter I. New- kirk, at the period when it was a fashionable place of resort, in company with Andrew Cromwell. Benjamin Sammons, Daniel Que kinbush, Joseph U. Smith, and others, swelling the number to eleven, explored this cave; six of the number going to the bottom. He saw the names of earher visi- tors, which had been written with their fingers in one of the rooms, on the soft coating upon the wall. He spoke of the fourth room as being large. and having in its ceiling or dome a large rock, which seemed threatening to fall. He remembered counting seven rooms, and in the lower one- several hundred feet down-he saw a pool of water. The party with him carried a coil of rope, to use if needed.

When this cave was arresting publi attention, Dr John Laughs, then of Schoharie county, visited it in the hope of getting some fine formations; but was only rewarded with a few ash-colored stalpetites, a small specimen of which he presented to the writer. His account agreed with that of others, that a part of it was explored with danger on account of deep rhasms, into which if one should fall he would bring up far on his journey toward "Symmes' Hole;" that it contained many apartments of interest to the naturalist, and, like all similar institutions, was only to be explored at the hazard of a sponged coat, with a specimen of the soul thrown in.

Carson, mentioned above, shot a bear in December, 1836, on the Nose. a little south of the Barrows dwelling. Bruin had strayed from the north- ern wilds, and drawn upon his trai an army of merciless toes. He grossed the Mohawk river for safety, but was no better off, for Carson got on his

track and laid him low. This was one of the last bears killed on the south side of the river, though they have been not infrequently killed in Fulton county within a few years.

ENOCH AMBLER, INVENTOR OF THE MOWING MACHINE

Enoch Ambler, formerly a resulent of the town of Root, has in his pt, .. session letters patent granted December 23, 1834, and executed by Andrew Jackson, President of the United States, securing to him the sole right to a machine of his invention for "cutting hay and grain." His discovery embraced nearly all the most important principles embodied in the machines now sold. The driving-wheel, crank-movement and guards pru- tecting the knife were as now produced, but the knife itself was a straight edged blade, instead of the more efficient saw-toothed scythe of the modern. machines. Mr. Ambler unfortunately had less success in introducing has machine than in constructing it, and, himself hardly aware of its immense value, allowed his patent to expire without availing himself of it. The invention was revived, and the great fortune and greater fame which the inventor deserved went to another than Mr. Ambler, who is now an humble resident of Fulton county.

A TOWN INSURANCE COMPANY.

The Farmers' Mutual Insurance Association of the town of Root wa- organized in 1876. Its first officers were : President, William B. Dieven- dorff ; vice president, James P. Van Evera ; secretary, Jacob D). Snow : directors, W. B. Dievendorff, Henry D. Riggs, John L. Lipe, J. P. Van Evera, Isaac Reynolds, J. J. Finkell, Jacob I). Snow, Phinnick Winne and John W. Lasher. Amount of property insured, $410,000, which forms the capital ; the stock of the company is subject to taxation for payment of losses ; the company's address is Rural Grove.

ANTI-HORSE THIEF SOCIETY.

A society by this title was organized at Rural Grove, Aug. 27, 1870, tu protect its members from horse thieves, hy procuring their arrest and punishment. In 1875 the society was extended to the towns of Gien and Charleston. It has a written constitution and by-laws. Its present offi cers are : Jacob M. Stowits, president ; John Gordon, vice president : Daniel Spraker, jr., secretary, and John Bowdish, treasurer. The society has a large membership, and a paid in fund to meet expenses.

CHEESE FACTORIES.

The Root Cheese Factory, at Rural Grove, is carried on by an association organized Dec. 21, 1866, with a capital of $4.500. in $50 shares. The first officers, who have also been re-elected at each succeeding election, were . Tra J. Carr, president : Lewis Bauder, vice president ; and Jacoh D Snow. secretary. The factory is a fine wooden building and has a capacity for manufacturing the milk of eight hundred rowy, which, however, is consuler- ably above its actual average. The total product of cheese has been 1,560,255 pounds, ranking in quality with that made by the best factories in the county. It has always been well managed and prosperous.

The Flat Creek Factory was built in 1865, by John 1 Brown, and was bought in 1867 by a company having a capital of $3. 100, in seventy shires. und governed by nine trustees. Wm. A. Dievendorff is president. l'ho factory is capable of using the milk of seven hundred cows. It is in a flourishing condition, and the stockholder, comprise some of the wealthiest men in the town.

Beside the above the E.Im Dale and Lyker's Corners factories may be mentioned.

PERSONAL SKETCHES.

HON. CHARIES HOBBS, of Rural Grove, has been town clerk of Root two years, supervisor nine years, justice of the peace twelve years, and was a member of the Assembly in 1850 He is now a notary publu. and general « ribe and counselor for the people, being well qualified to art as such by his knowledge of business, and the laws relating to it, as well as by the fidelity with which he diye harges every trust.

Hov. FAFIMAN P. Moreros, of Fiat Creek, is one of the self-made men of the town Though his opportunities for education were limited, his talents and industry were such that he made the most of them. ind was ap printed In the Board of Supervisors the first superintendent of the pulite " hools in the county. He held the first teachers' institute in the State at Palatine Bridge in 1841. He has been justice of the peace twenty-eight years, supervisor four years, and was in the Legislature in 1863 His othe cial life has been mainly devoted to the interests of the common se hools

DANIEL SPRAKER, jr., of Spraker's Basin, unites a ready business cap.mi ty with a literary taste and ability. He has been justice of the peace right years, justice of sessions three years, and clerk of the Board of Supervisor- four years He is the author of many pleasing contributions to the pr. .. signed " Reporter." " Quill-driver," and " Goosequill." He occupies his father's homestead, a commanding stone house beside the canal at Spraket- Basın.

-co Res. and Store OF HON. JOHN BOWPISU, RURAL GROVE, Montgomery Co., N. Y., GO-

House and GROUNDS Of MRS. AARON DUNCKLE, Minden, Montgomery Co. N. Y.

1 CIDER MANUFACTORY OF

Res. of BROWN & BEACH, | BEACH & CORY SUCCESSORS TO JUJÍ NIACH

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES.

16,

HON. JOHN BOWDISH.

BY F. P. MOULTON.

The traits and genius of men may be more correctly determined when estimated by the circumstances under which they commence the world. The subject of this memoir, John Bowdish, without the aid of friends or early educational advantages, entered life's arena a plain country boy, who in manhood became a successful merchant, a careful, intelligent thinker, and an instructive, tasteful writer. His triumphs in life furnish evidence of the self-made man. His parents were Quakers, of English descent, emigrating from Dutchess County, N. Y., at an early period, securing an humble home in Charleston, where he was born February 18th, 1808. As he grew up he toiled in field and forest with hoe and axe, aiding in clearing the wilds for culture. This when education was thought of little impor- tance ; toil the rule, learning the exception. At the age of fifteen, his parents consenting, he left the paternal home for the city of Al- bany, May roth, 1824, with fifty cents avail- able capital, bidding adieu to his friends, to become the artificer of his future. On reach- ing the city, he stopped with a friend of his father, procuring a situation as clerk in a store at a salary of fifty dollars per annum, at the close of his engagement accepting a clerkship in the country. On reaching his majority, he formed a copartnership with Isaac S. Frost, opening a small store June 2nd. 1829, at his present place of business, Rural Grove. Subsequently Job B. Hoag took the place of Mr. Frost, and Charles Hubbs of Mr. Hoag. From 1844 Mr. Bowdish was the sole proprietor until 1870, when his son- in-law, George J. Gove, an estimable and correct business man, was admit- ted a copartner, and still continues as such. The initial store, under the management of Mr. Bowdish, long since became an extensive establish- ment, holding, commendable rank with the hest commercial houses in the country; its success is due to his industry, economy, skill and careful agency.

In 1853 he became interested in banking, and one of the original stock- holders of the Spraker Bank, at Canajoharie ; also, later, of the Mohawk River Bank, at Fonda; he has been a director of both from their origin, and vice-president of the latter from its commencement. In early life he interested himself in public affairs, when his townsmen conferred on him official positions of honor and trust. In 1843, by the voice of the people, he was elected to a seat in the legislature of the State, and by their suf- frage higher honors were bestowed, electing him a member of the State Convention in 1846, to revise the Constitution, where he introduced a proposition for securing a constitutional system of free schools. The question was referred to the Committee on Education, of which he was a member. When under consideration, the Hon. S. S. Randall, in his His- tory of Common Schools, says: "Mr. Bowdish made a powerful and elo- quent appeal to the convention in behalf of free schools, in which he was sustained by Mr. Nichols, of N. Y., and others." The following brief ex- tract from his speech, published in the debates of the convention, furnishes only a faint outline of his remarks. He said: " The welfare of a free gov- ernment depends on the virtue and intelligence of its subjects, the charac- ter and habits of its members; if true we should make no distinction, the hanner of education should be proudly unfurled ' like the wild winds free, allowing all alike to enjoy its advantages. The child of the woodland cottage and princely mansion should, if possible, be educated together, that all may have an equal opportunity of rising to eminence and fame. It is a cardinal principle of republicanism, that there is no roval road to distinction; it is held to be accessible to all. None are born to command or to obey. In the order of nature, God has made no distinction ; he has not provided for the poor a coarser earth, a thinner air or a paler sky. The sun pours down its golden flood of hght as cheerily on the poor man's home as on the rich man's palace. The cottager's children have as keen a sense of luxuriant nature as the pale sons of the wealthy Neither has He stamped the imprint of a baser furth on the poor man's child than that of the rich, by which it may know with a certainty that its lot is to crawl, not « limb. Mind is immortal, it is imperial, it bears no mark ot high or low, of rich or poor; it heeds no bounds of time or place, of rank or circum- stances; it only needs liberty and learning to glide along in its course with the freedom of the rivulet that forms the mighty ocean. If properly culti- Vated, it will march on undisturbed until it reaches the summit ot inteller - tual glory and usefulness." At the close of his remarks a vote was taken adopting the proposition, which was subsequently defeated. awaiting a more patriotic body to perfect the system by han proposed, which m 1851 Was ennted by the Legislature, and is now a law of the State. In every official position on him conferred, Mr. Bowdich has acquitted

HON. JOHN BOWDISH.

himself with credit and honor, caring so well for the interest of the people as to deserve and secure their approval without distinction of party. He was appointed postmaster at Root in 1832, and has held the office till the present; on his petition, in 1872, the name was changed to Rural Grove.

In the pursuits of life he has been ever at. tentive to business; still finding leisure to write much for the press, furnishing evidence ot what may be accomplished by application ot moments alien from business, and assiduous study by the light of the lamp, without the aid of schools. His contributions in prose amd verse have appeared not only in local paper -. but some of the best religious, literary and political journals in the State. He delivered an agricultural poem in 1861, and an address in 1873, before the Agricultural Society at Fonda. On invitation he also wrote and read a historic centennial poem, at a celebration on the 4th of July, 1876, at Canajoharie. In business and social life he is kind and oblig. ing, benvolent and generous, ever sympathiz- ing with the poor and unfortunate, and liberal in the support of religious institutions.

His entire life has been one of proluty and integrity, in all his dealings from its morning to the night-fall of active business, during halt a century along the busy walks of civil commerce. From the cares and pleasures of business, life's ambition and aims are tending to the solitude of nature's retreat; Mr. Bowdish contemplates soon to retire from the toils and cares of trade, when his contemplative mind will be free to enjoy the beauties and lessons of nature, as illustrated in the following extract from one of his poems, entitled " The Empire of God:"

-The busy world when free from toil, the interlude- It offers time to contemplate Infinitude;

As seen in classic nature, wrought in grand profile,

The autograph of God, whose thousand charms beguile.

Amid its pleasing splendor, all may sacred muse,

On Him who perfect pencils nature's gorgeous hues. When Flora's charming beauties spread in grand display, Rhetoric, silent speak in nature's mystic way;

And when o'er man its magic power assumes control, It purifies and elevates th' immortal soul. Thus on the Alps of Alps, in meditative thought.

The mind may trace the mighty arm, whose pow'r hath wrought

The world's grand temple, perfect made of parts allied, In pleasing grandeur-charmingly diversified;

Earth's endless beauties blending, widely scattered round. Where seen, the vast, sublime, reflecting Great Profound;

Who rules the spheres where human foot hath never trod. The world's grand Benefactor, great Creator-God,

Who reigns o'er worlds with sway beyond edict of chance.

Eternal fixed by law of equiponderance.

No pow'r unlike the mighty arm that silent hurled, Could form creation's atoms or produce a world; Whose changeless laws, affixed in grandeur, spread abroad O'er nature's empire, wond'rous work of nature's God. That Mighty Being-self existing-self sustained. The world's Incomprehensible, Great, Unexplained.

* *

The thoughts expressed in the entire poem, furnish evidence of I's author's marked admiration for the works of nature, and insuperable faith in Deity, whose agency is seen delineated in the things of earth, the starry heavens, and mystic science of superhuman rule.

In the home circle. as a husband and a father, Mr. Bowdish is ever kind and affectionate, loving and caring for his family with untiring devotion His estimable wife, daughter of the lite Albert Vanderveer, and his three intelligent daughters, love and respect him for his constant efforts to make them happy, and their lives an Eden of pleasure. Ils home is a delight ful one, surrounded with the beanties of nature and art; while his burst ness plue has been hte-long the attraktive centre of the onl that has assured for him a worldly competence. Still, earthly wealth and worldh honors have faded to obliterate from memory his humilde beginnings and the incidents of log-alan life, where he was taught haunts that formed the basis of his sneress, and which his graphu pen has illustrated hoth m prose and poetry

168

THE HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

SIMEON SNOW, M. D.

BY F. P. MOULTON.

The Hon. Dr. Simeon Snow, of Root, was for many years the principal and most of the time the only physician of the town. He was an east- ern man, having been born in Mansfield. Mass., the 18th day of February, 1803. His parents were of English descent. His father, Simeon Snow, at that time and during the war of 1812 was a merchant in the city of Boston; subse- quently he became a large manufacturer of nails and ironware. After continuing this business for several years, he retired to a farm, and spent the last years of his life in agricultural pursuits in the town of Savoy, Berkshire county, Mass.

The early life of Dr. Snow was like that of all other boys brought up on a farm: working dur- ing the summer all the long, toilsome day, study- ing at night and attending the district school in the winter, he acquired all that these schools could teach him.

He then, after arriving at his majority, attended Ashfield Academy and obtained an academic education, being partienlarly proficient in Latin and obtaining a fine knowledge of chemistry. Turning his attention to the study of medicine, he entered the offices, first of Dr. Stacy, of Savoy, and afterwards of Dr. Brayton, of Adams, graduating at the Williams Medical College of Massachusetts, September 3d, 1828. After receiving his diploma, he began to look for a place to practice his profession. Starting for the State of New York, then well on the way towards the great West, he stopped for a short time during the summer of 1829 at Fonda, in this county, and during the month of September following began the practice of his pro- fession at Yatesville, now Randall, in the town of Root, and moved from this place during the year 1834 to Currytown. In the practice of his profession he became intimate in the family of Jacob Dievendorff of Revolu- tionary memory, a large and wealthy landholder living in Currytown, a few miles south from Yatesville. He married Elizabeth, one of Mr. Dieven- dorff's daughters, and upon her death married Margaret, another daughter, January 27th, 1836, by whom he had eight children, six sons and two daughters. Of the sons two are successful and extensive farmers in this town; three are located in the city of Albany-one a physician and sur- geon in large practice, another a banker, and the third in the lumber busi- ness; and one has died. The eldest daughter married Seth Ramsey, who was a prosperous merchant at Argusville until his death, which occurred December toth, 1872. The younger married Dr. Albert Van Derveer, who, having served as a surgeon during the Rebellion, located in Albany, and now stands at the head of his profession.

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History of Montgomery and Fulton counties, N.Y. : with illustrations and portraits of old pioneers and prominent residents, Part 55

Author: Beers, F.W., & co., New York, pub Publication date: 1878 Publisher: New York : F.W. Beers & co. Number of Pages: 664

Author: Beers, F.W., & co., New York, pub
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: New York : F.W. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 664