History of Oneida County, New York, 1667-1878, Part 134

Author:
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Fariss
Number of Pages: 932

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"The first settler at Paris Hill was Captain Royee; soon after him eame Benjamin Barnes and son, Stephen Barrett, Abel Simmons, Sr., John and Sylvester Butler, and others who settled near. None of these, however, settled at the present village, but in the vieinity. Traditiou says that one of the earliest settlers, if not the earliest, at Paris Ilill proper was Colonel Tuttle, who was quite a land-owner on the east side of what is now 'the Green.' Indeed, he gave the east half of the Green for a publie park, other parties giving the west half for the same purpose. Colonel Tuttle built the first framed house, which I reeolleet as standing in rear and attached to the house now owned by D. C. Addington. It was two low stories in height, and was painted yellow. The present front part of that house was built afterward, and for several years was oeeupied by Jesse Thompson (father of the late Jesse E. Thompson, of Utiea) as a tavern.

"Tradition further says that in Colonel Tuttle's day a large pine- tree was standing in the upper part of the park, or green. The colonel caught and tamed a young bear, which he used to pet very much. When winter eamne on the bear disappeared, and the colonel felt the loss deeply,-was inelined to think some one had shot or stolen it,- but on a sunny day in March the bear was discovered coming out of a hole in that pine-tree, and he returned to his master, who was greatly rejoiced thereat ; he had been hibernating.

" The first church, erected in 1791, was a plain, barn-like looking structure, innoeent of paint, and in fact never was finished off inside. After its erection settlers began to come in rapidly, and Colonel Tuttle persuaded the people to sell the building to him, and to build larger, both of which they did. He then removed the first building to the rear of his house, and converted it into a barn. The new ehureh was located near the eentre of the green, nearest the west side, and was reasonably eapaeious. It had a high steeple and a bell, and the inside was arranged with square pews, with doors, like so many sheep-pens, a portion of the congregation sitting with their baeks to the minister. It had a very high pulpit, nearly on a level with the galleries, and had a large sounding-board, as it was ealled, suspended over the head of the minister. The pulpit, when I first saw it, was oeeupied by the Rev. Eliphalet Steele, who was its only pastor up to his death, in 1816. The tall spire was taken down in that or the following year, and mate- rially shortened. The old edifice stood till 1832, when it was taken down, and the materials used in building a new one, located on the spot where the present Presbyterian Church stands. That church was subsequently burned, through earelessness, and the present one ereeted.

" The Episcopal Church was ereeted in 1797. That, too, was a very plain structure, and unpainted. In 1818 it was removed to the west of the ehureh lot, and the present structure was ereeted. Val. Pieree was the builder, assisted by his brother ; also by Roderiek White and others. Russell Brooks, Eli Gilbert, and the Saxton boys did the plas- tering. The old structure, after its removal, was fitted up and occupied (with some additions) by Rev. William R. Weeks as a residence and school building. Afterwards Chester Cook bought it and oeeupied a

# Utiea was settled in 1788 .- HISTORIAN.

MRS.GEO. W. CHAPMAN.

PHOTOS BY L. B WILLIAMS, UTICA N.Y.

GEO. W. CHAPMAN

RESIDENCE OF GEORGE W. CHAPMAN , PARIS , ONEIDA Co., N. Y.

LITH.BY L. H EVERTS & CO, PHILA PA

UTH.BY L.H.EVERTS & CO.PHILA.PA.

RESIDENCE OF WM. RICHARDS, PARIS, ONEIDA CO., N.Y.

WILLIAM RICHARDS.

William Richards was born in Oneida County in 1798, his father having removed into this (then) wilderness from Connecticut in 1764. About 1768 he settled on a farm, where he remained until his death, which occurred October 8, 1835. William was born in the town of Paris, of which he was one of the earliest inhabitants, and assisted in its organization. At the time of his birth the country was almost an unbroken forest; but he has lived to see it superseded by fruitful fields, which abound on every hand with evidences of cultivation and plenty ; the forest has given place to the farm, the log cabin to the smiling and artistic villa; the rude shop of the pioneer artisan to the substantial and capacious establishments of numerous thrifty manufacturers. With this marvelous development, reach- ing through more than three-fourths of a century, William Richards has been intimately identified, and may be said to have been a part of it in its various stages. Like most of the pioneers among whom his early life was spent, he struggled with the hardships and privations incident to the settlement of a new country, and like most who, through persevering toil and unfaltering energy, have enjoyed the satisfaction of seeing the wilderness blossom around them, and of reaping at last the substantial fruits of their labors.

Mr. Richards has achieved success and secured a comfort- able competence for himself and his family. Through all this he has maintained a character for unsullied integrity

in his intercourse with his fellow-men. He enjoys the highest confidence of his neighbors, and for many years, by the suffrages of his townsmen, has been called to fill offices of responsibility and trust. He has ever labored to promote the highest temporal and moral welfare of his neighborhood and the section of country in which he lives.

Himself a model farmer, he has sought, by example and precept, to induce thrift, good taste, and the highest success in that honorable and important department of human labor. A reformer both by instinct and practice, he has ever been a friend of the drunkard, a hater of intemperance, of oppression, and of political corruption, and has longed to see his country free from those two gigantic evils-intem- perance and slavery.

Mr. Richards is a strict observer of the Sabbath, and a constant and regular attendant upon Christian worship; a liberal supporter of the institutions of the Gospel, and a lover of the great benevolent operations of the American church. He has attested his liberality towards the latter by bequeathing a handsome sum to their support.

Mr. Richards has been twice married. His first wife was Martha, daughter of Jacob and Betsey Knight. This union was blessed with one daughter, who is now residing in Waterloo, Black Hawk County, Iowa. Mrs. Richards died December 15, 1860.

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HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

part as a dwelling and the rest as a saddle- and harness-shop. It sub- sequently took fire and was burned.

" The Methodist Church stood on the road going towards Clinton, cast of tho present burial-ground. It had a good congregation when I first knew it; had its regular services by a circuit-preacher, and had a number of zealous members. The society afterwards became extinct, and the church was taken down about 1850.

" I have stated that Paris was originally included in the town of Whitestown, then a part of Ilerkimer County. In 1792 the town of Paris was organizod as a separate town, and included not only Kirk- land and Marshall, but also the present towns of Sangerfield, Brook- field, Hamilton, Cazenovia, and Sherburne. These tive latter towns wero taken off in 1795, and Kirkland, including Marshall, in 1827, leaving the town of Paris with nearly its present boundaries, the only change being the addition of a narrow strip from Kirkland, in 1839, to accommodate a few individuals.

" Paris Hill, as we have scen, was the third or fourth settlement in order of time in the original town of Whitestown, and being the far- thest south was generally known as the 'South Settlement.' When the present village began to manifest itself it was known as 'Shax's Borough,' but after the new town had been organized, and named Paris, it gradually assumed its present name of Paris IIill.

"When I first saw the place, nearly sixty-two years ago, and for a few years after, it was a more important point than at present, and a place of much more business. It had three churches, two taverns (as they were then called), two stores, two blacksmith-shops, two saddle- and harness-shops, several carpenters' and shoemakers' shops, one wagon shop, one spinning-wheel maker's shop, two tailors' shops, two asheries or potash establishments, and two cooper-shops for the making of barrels, to bo used for pork, cider, potash, and for whisky, the latter being manufactured on the premises now occupied by J. Van Valkenburg. The whisky was mainly sold to the farmers in the vicinity, at from twenty-five to thirty cents per gallon. No doubt there were other manufacturers' shops not recollected, but Chester Cook's silver-plating shop must not be overlooked. A turnpike, run- ning through the village for some years, connected the place, and all south and southwest of it, as far as Oxford, with Utica, by means of intersecting the Seneca Turnpike at New Hartford. A toll-gate stood a little north of the Episcopal Church. The turnpike, not proving a profitable investment, soon shared a fate similar to that of the plank- road, which succeeded it at a more modern date, and was abandoned, to the stock holders' loss.

" A grist-mill was standing when I first knew the place, on the east side of tho road, opposite a portion of the present Episcopal cemetery. It was originally intended to be operated by horse-power, the horses to travel on the inner circumference of a large wheel, nearly or quite thirty fect in diameter. This wheel revolved with an axle, or shaft, which furnished the motive-power to the machinery. The builder of this novel grist-mill was a Mr. Simister. The working of it proved too destructive to horseflesh to be profitable, and it was therefore abandoned. Subsequently an attempt was made to utilize the building by putting in a steam apparatus, but as the construction of stationary stemu-engines was then but little understood, that plan was also abandoned, and the building was demolished about 1820.

" At the lower end of tho green, within the line of the road leading to Bridgewater, was a public well, furnishing at all seasons a good supply of pure water to all who chose to use it. About the year 1840 the bottom seemed to drop out, and it contained no water after- wards. Probably the water had found a fissure in the limestone rock in which the well was dug, and eseaped in that way. It then became useful as a sink-hole or drain to carry off in a wet time all the surplus water from the lower part of the green. Finally, it became clogged and useless for that purpose, and was closed up.

"Sixty years ago tho green was very convenient as a parade- ground, two, and sometimes three, military companies mustering on it for parade and inspection at the same time,-usually the first Monday in Juno, tho 4th of July, and the first Monday in September. The two or three companies strove to out-do each other in the precision and skill of their evolutions. In some cases a battalion consisting of six or seven companies assembled there. In one instance, at least, tho whole regiment mot there in September for ' general training,' as it was called. Samuel Comstock, afterwards General Comstock, of Clinton, was then adjutant, and his ordors in giving commands were heard very distinctly at a distanco of two miles ! Such occasions were these,-so soou after the war of 1812-15,-occasions of much interest, and called

out crowds of people. This gave peddlers of gingerbread, crackers, maple-sugar, cookies, small-beer, and cider a good opportunity to ply their vocations, and the old church on the green gave a very acceptable shade to them and to their customers if the day were sunny ; and also to the old Revolutionary soldiers, who would there asseruble to together to recount to each other, and to a cirele of inter- ested listeners, their several perilous adventures and hair-breadth escapes in the times that ' tried men's souls.'

" Among the prominent individuals residing in the village at that time may be mentioned General Henry MeNiel, ex-judge and the member of Assembly ; Elnathan Judd, M.D., the leading physician of the place; Theophilus Steele, Esq., the town clerk; Samuel Il. Addington, merchant and justice of the peace; and Martin Ilawley, landlord and land-owner. Esquire Addington's store was then the building on the west side of the green, with a brick front, now con- verted into a blacksmith-shop. It was previously occupied as a store by Stanton & Ilawley. The house north of it, on the corner, was owned by Major Hawley, and was used as a hotel or tavern. A curbed well was directly in front of it, in what is now used as a trav- eled roadway.

" Other prominent citizens living in the vicinity of the village, but not in it, were Captain John Wieks, John Strong, Ephraim Walker, Timothy Hopkins, Deaeon Bailey, Adam and Abel Simmons, Captain Ebenezer and Esquire Charles Smith, Esquire Uri Doolittle, David Stiles, Fobes IIcad, Jonathan Head, Abiel Saxton, Luther Richards, and several others.

" The succeeding merchants at Paris Hill were Haywood & Blair, Steele & Wieks, Tompkins & Doolittle, Mott & Reynolds, Andrew Mills, and Jesse E. Thompson.

"General MeNiel was postmaster from time immemorial, but always had the business done by a deputy,-usually a merchant or innkeeper. He was removed about 1830, under Jackson's administra- tion, and Germond Mott was appointed in his place. In the carlier days the people were content with one mail per week, and that was carried by the 'post-rider' on horseback, he delivering the Utica newspapers to subscribers on his route at their doors, carrying them in his ' saddle-bags,' and the letter-mail in his pockets. Letter post- age was not prepaid, and the rates were graduated according to the distance,-for instance, to Utien, 6 cents; to Albany, 12} cents; to New York, 182 cents; and to Philadelphia, Boston, or Detroit, 25 cents. There was but little money in those days, most of the ordi- nary business being done by barter or exchange; and often when a poor man had a letter in the post-office, coming from a distance, he had to wait some days or borrow the 25 cents to get it out. This method of carrying the mail continued till about 1820, when the post- rider changed his conveyance to a one-horse wagon, thus securing higher pay, and occasionally a passenger. Soon after a mail-stage was started, with one pair of borses, making two trips each way per week ; afterwards three, and finally daily trips each way, with four horses.

" The habits, usages, and implements of the early days were quite primitive. Such things as mowing-machines, reapers, horse-rakes, threshing-machines, cultivators, plows with iron mold-boards, bob- sleighs, sewing-machines, knitting-machines, washing-machines, or clothes-wringers were entirely unknown, and even unheard of. Pitchforks, seythes, and axes were made by the blacksmiths. We had in those days no railroads, no canals, no telegraphs, no telephones, no photographs. Cook-stoves and carpets were not dreamed of; buggies and cutters were unknown ; families rode in lumber-wagons and sleighis, or sleds. If these were painted, even, the owners were considered as being stuck-up and proud. Much of the riding was on horseback. Frequently, if a young man arranged to take his lady- love out riding, ho would come on horseback. She would spread a blanket on the horse behind his saddle, seat herself on that, put her arm caressingly around his waist,-for support,-and enjoy the ride satisfactorily. As all the grain was threshed by hand, and all the fuel eut with the axe in winter for the year, farmers and their sons found sufficient employment in the winter season, so that when even- ing eamo they were too much fatigued to desire to spend it loafing or lounging, either at the post-office, store, or tavern. The women, in addition to keeping the house in order and doing the necessary

* The post-office here is the oldest in town, and is called Paris. The present postmaster is Wm. HI. Ferris. The office was the first one established in this section of the county.

502

HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

cooking and washing, spent much of the summer in spinning wool, and the winter in spinning flax and tow. All the clothing of the family was made in the family.

"None of the churches had stoves until about 1820, He who could not keep warm without a fire in church was considered as being deficient in holy zeal. The women, if delicate, were allowed to have a small tin foot-stove at their feet, with a dish of coals and hot embers in it, while the men sat muffled up, aud shivered. I have often known the clergyman to preach, in the winter, with warm woolen mittens on. In the old church that stood on the green, it was always customary for the congregation to stand during the prayers, and to sit during the singing; and in warm weather it was quite the custom of several to sleep during the sermon. The old church was used for a variety of purposes other than religious : all the town- meetings were held in it till the town was divided, in 1827; political meetings were hell in it; also caucuses of the different political parties, common-school exhibitions, amateur theatrical performances, miscellaneous lectures, and many other things, too numerous to par- ticularize. But the old church was long since demolished, and not a stone is left to mark its former site. The old settlers who built it, and who for many years occupied its square, uncomfortable pews, in summer's heat and in winter's cold, with becoming devotion, have all passed away. Even the very doctrines which for many years were thundered forth from its high pulpit, earnestly and no doubt sincerely promulgated by its occupant., Dr. Weeks and others, and as sincerely accepted and believed in by the most of their hearers,-even many of these doctrines have also passed away and are forgotten. A new generation bas arisen. Its members are the present actors in life. New ideas have been acquired, and newer, and we hope better, senti- ments are adopted. Ant still the eud is not yet. Change, change, is the order of the world ! But if we can perceive that a majority of these changes are for the better, that they indicate progress and im- provement, then, indeed, may we feel coutent."

Captain Royee moved upon Paris Hill about the 1st of March, 1789, and Benjamin Barnes, Sr., Benjamin Barnes, Jr., and John Humaston settled in the neighborhood on the 20th of the same month. Hon. Henry McNiel settled on the farm now partly owned by J. V. H. Scovill, his house having been located on the east side of the road, opposite Mr. Scovill's present residenec. He was several times in the Legislature from this county, first in 1798, and was one of the largest land-holders in this vicinity. He came to the town in the capacity of a school-teacher, and taught very early at Paris Hill. He was a man much respected by those who knew him.

The village now has a store, a post-office, a hotel, and two churches, with a few mechanic shops. It is located on the top of the hill from which it takes its name, in the north- western portion of the town.

Of the early settlers here it is said that Aaron Simmons brought daisy-seed and sowed it, in order to have plenty of fodder. He and his brothers, Adams and Abel, were from the State of Rhode Island. Mr. Simmons supposed there would be a scarcity of fodder here, and that as it was neces- sary to raise daisies for that purpose on his native sand- plains, it must be so wherever he went. It is also said he brought burdock-seed and sowed it around his log house, in order to make it look like home. The Simmons farms were west of the village, and that of Captain Royce half a mile north. The Barnes' did not remain long in the locality.

Luther Richards, father of William Richards (now living in town), came to Paris about 1791-92, and settled near the present residenee of J. V. H. Scovill. There were then no roads, and the only paths were lines of blazed trees through the woods, which guided the children to and from school. William Richards was born almost within sight of

where he now lives, and is past cighty years of age, being probably the oldest resident in the neighborhood.

Darius Scovill and his sons, Isaac, Scabury, and Edward, located in this town in 1804, coming from Watertown, Litchfield Co., Conn. The deed of the old place was from the executors of General George Washington's estate. Isaac Seovill was the father of J. V. H. Scovill, now re- siding at Paris Hill.

Fobes and Jonathan Head, brothers, the latter at the time fourteen years of age, came to Oneida County about 1789, and the former settled in what is now Marshall. He was a carpenter by trade, and to him his brother was ap- prenticed. When Jonathan Head married he settled in what is now Paris, on the farm at present owned by his son, Lysander Head. Another son, Harvey Head, is the present supervisor of the town, and has been prominent in its political history. An older brother of Fobes and Jonathan Head, named Joseph, was one of the colony which settled the town of Madison, in Madison County. This colony was from Rhode Island, from which State the Heads emigrated. The territory settled by the colony was for fifty years or more held by the families of the original settlers, but has sinee largely changed hands.

Between 1835 and 1840 members of some of the most respectable families of this town were, in an evil hour, led astray, and engaged in shop-lifting and circulating counter- feit money ; several were apprehended, tried, and convicted and sent to the penitentiary. Members of the same families are now among the most respected citizens of the town, and it has always been a matter of great regret that the temptation to do wrong should have been strong enough to influence any within the confines of this so generally moral town. Since then its reputation has been good.

John Chapman, of Rhode Island, removed from that State to Vermont and remained one year, and about 1803 settled in Bridgewater, Oneida Co., N. Y. About 1809 he came to this town, and located on the farm now owned by Wake- man Rider. His son, Willard Chapman, is still a resident of Paris, and is seventy-seven years of age. John Chap- man's brother, Charles, lived in this town some time, and subsequently removed to Tioga County, where he died. HIe was a soldier of 1812. Nathaniel Chapman, the father of these men, settled in Paris five or six years after his sons eame, and died in the town. Willard Chapman was probably born in Vermont during the residence of his father in that State.

Among the early settlers of this town was the Gray family. They were originally from the north of Ireland, the first who emigrated to America having been Samuel Gray, who was born in 1715, and came to this country in 1736. He settled in Worcester, Mass., where he married Mary Wiley, who was also born in the north of Ireland, about 1718, and came to America in the same ship that brought Mr. Gray. The latter died in Worcester, about the year 1800. Religiously he was a Protestant, and by trade a weaver. He left seven children, among whom was Moses Gray, grandfather of the present Moses M. Gray, of Sauquoit. He married, about 1769, Sally Fuller, lived in Templeton, Mass., and afterwards removed to Grafton, Windham Co., Vt., where his wife died in 1793.

503

HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

Shortly after this event Mr. Gray, accompanied by his son Moses, removed to the State of New York and settled in the Sauquoit Valley, making the long journey on horse- back. Mr. Gray built a log house on the east side of the Sauquoit, a little south of where the Methodist Church now stands. In 1797 he married Anna Buckingham, by whom he had four children. By his first wife he had ten chil- dren. Moses Gray died May 8, 1805, from injuries re- ceived .while felling a tree. His wife died in 1842.

Moses Gray, the eighth child of the preceding, was born in Templeton, Mass., Feb. 26, 1785. Ile learned the tan- ner's trade, and carried on the business until 1823, when he removed from Paris Furnace (now Clayville) to Sau- quoit, where he resided until his death, in 1845. His wife was Roxanna Howard, a native of Long Meadow, Conn., where she was born in 1789, and who died June 15, 1869. They had eight children born to them, viz. : Asa, Roxanna, Elsada, Almira, Moses Miller, Hiram, George, and Joseph Howard Gray.

Of these, Asa, the oldest, is the world-renowned botanist, who was educated for a physician, but having a greater love for natural science than for the practice of medicine, he abandoned the latter and applied himself to the study of botany. In 1834 he was elected professor of natural his- tory in Harvard University, which position he still nomi- nally retains, though he retired from active college duties in 1874. Dr. Gray married Jane . Lathrop Loring, of Boston, Mass., in 1848. His present residence is at the Botanic Garden of Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.

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History of Oneida County, New York, 1667-1878, Part 134

Author: Publication date: 1878 Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Fariss Number of Pages: 932

Author:
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Fariss
Number of Pages: 932