History of Oneida County, New York, 1667-1878, Part 144

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

USA > New York > Oneida County > History of Oneida County, New York, 1667-1878 > Part 144

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537

HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

terbaen, should be repeated in the presence of all the citizens of Tren- ton, that they may rightly value the good works of the Baptist Church. You doubtless desire to know the result of this generous compact with the youthful but deistical Vanderkemp, and I can best tell you of that in his own words: "I remained in my study, and continued my in- quiries night and day, taking no more rest than imperiously required, and was within a short time fully convinced of the historical truth of the Christian revelation. . . . But the grand question demanded, ' What is the Christian religion ?' . . . So I read the New Testament -I meau the Evangelists and Aets-again and again, till I was con- vinced that Jesus came into the world to bring life and immortality to light, which was indiscoverable by the light of reason ; that a merci- ful God required from frail creatures sincerity of heart and gennine repentance; that to love Ilim and his neighbor was the summary of the doctrine of Jesus, the true characteristic of a genuine believer ; and that it was the will of our Heavenly Father that all His children should be saved. . . . I explained myself faithfully and with candor to my friend, and deemed it a duty in my situation to make a public profession of my religious principles, and received on it baptism from the worthy Van Heiningen iu November, 1773.' Mr. Vanderkemp was admitted to the ministry and acquired much distinction in the pulpit, but after he took up arms against his government he resigned his pastorate, and seems never to have resumed the ministerial office in the pulpit. In this country he was employed by Governor Clinton in the work of translating the ancient Dutch records of the State, and was also appointed a master in chancery and one of the assistant justices of the County Court, and hence his subsequent title of judge, by which he was generally addressed.

" I take from Judge Vanderkemp's journal the following account of his reception in this country :

" After stating that he received letters from General Lafayette, Jefferson, and other distinguished men to our citizens, and embarking on an American ship arrived at New York May 4, 1788, he adds : ' I delivered my letters of introduction to the French ambassador, the Count Montier,-introduced to him by Colonel A. Hamilton; so I did to General Knox, Governor Clinton, Melanethon Smith, and met with every kind of civility and hospitable receptions. It seemel a strife among many who should do the much. Never I cau repay it; but never, I am confident, it can be obliterated in my breast. No rela- tions, no parents, could do more as Mr. and Mrs. Clinton, -the ven- erable Mrs. Tappen welcomed Mrs. Vanderkemp as a daughter, both ladies, and so Mrs. llamilton conversed with your mother in Dutch. . . . Ilad we possessed, indeed, the first rank and worth then, yet we could not have desired a more cordial, a more distinguished reception than we were honored with day after day by the families of the Clintons, Knox, and others. I send my other letters to Colonel Jeremiah Wads- worth, Governor W. Livingston, Benjamin Franklin, and General Washington, from whom I received ere long a courteous invitation to visit Mount Vernon. Thither I went. I stopped at Elizabeth- town, visited Governor Livingston, with whom I spent a few days in the most agreeable manner. From his seat I pursueil muy jouruey to Philadelphia, where I met tho same hospitable reception by a mercan - tile house from Antwerp, by Benjamin Franklin, and which should make me blush could I pass it by in silence. . . . So I arrived at last at. Mount Vernon, where simplicity and order, unadorned grandeur and dignity, had taken up their abode. That great man approved, as well as Clinton, my plan of an agricultural life, and made me a ten- der of his services.' Yet he also writes that there seemed to him in Washington somewhat of a repelling coldness under a courteous de- meanor. That Washington inspired others with awe was undoubtedly true. Whether it was his nature or the effect of the struggles through which he had passed, or of the great responsibility laid upon him, I do not know; but I was told by Mrs. Arthur Tappan, who was an adoptod daughter of Alexander Hamilton, that she often saw General Washington at Hamilton's house, and recollected on all occasions when General Washington entered the room there was a manifestation of such respect and care of manner towards him on the part of others as made a lasting impression upon her mind. I adopt the suggestion of Rev. Mr. Silsbee, that it was of great importance that the person of the first President of the infant republic should be surroundel with all the dignity of an European king.

"Our Hollanders themselves were not wanting in serious formality, aud it is said that when Baron Stenben ann ouncel a visit at Trenton, they met him as he appeared at the elge of the forest and escorted him in line to the house, where he was received at the front door by

the ladies with all the courtesy and consideration which would have been proffered to him in the Old World; and no spot in the Old World could have shown more refinement or elegance of manner, or more culture, than was to be found at Olden Barneveld at that day. It is from the letters of John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and De Witt Clinton that we receive the strongest impression of the learning and character of Judge Vanderkemp, which attracted towards him the admiration and esteem of those great nien.

" Through the kindness of the Buffalo Ilistorical Society, I am per- mitted to have their original letters, and to present to you copies and extracts from some of theu. First of all John Adams writes :

"' LONDON, Jan. 6, 1788.

"' SIR,-As I had suffered much anxiety on your account during your im- prisonmuent, your letter of the 29th of last month gave me some relief. I re- joleed to find that you was at liberty and out of danger.

"* Inclosed are two letters, which I hope may be of service to yon. Living is now cheaper than it has been in America, and I doubt not you will succeed very well. You will be upon your guard among the Dutch people in New York respecting religious principles nutil you have prudently informed your- self of the state of parties there. If you should not find everything to your wish in New York, I think in Pennsylvan'a you can not fail. But New York is the best place to go to at first.

"' I wish you a pleasant voyage, and am, sir, your most

"' Obedient servant, "- JOHN ADAMS.

""' REV. MR. VANDERKEMP.'

" De Witt Clinton writes to him as follows :

"' ALBANY, 20 April, 1822. "' MY DEAR SIR,- . . . I shall go to the West carly in June to visit the. whole line of the canal, and, if possible, I will make a diverging visit on my return to the most learned man in America. When the opus basilicant is finished I shall consider this State as in a sitnation to be as prosperons as she pleases; but wealth and prosperity, my friend, are too often the parents of folly, and the more opulent the State the greater the temptation to the enter- prises of parties.

"' Mrs. C. joins me in kind regards to you.

". I am yours most truly,

". DR WITT CLINTON.

"'F. A. VANDERKEMP, ESQ.'

" Thomas Jefferson writes :

"' MONTICELLO, Jan. 11, '2.

""DEAR SIR,-Your favor of December 28 is duly received. It gladdens me with the information that you contiune to enjoy health. This is a principal mitigation of the evils of age. I wish that the situation of our friend, Mr. Adams, was equally comfortable; but what I learn of his physical condition is truly deplorable. llis mind, however, continnes strong and fri, his mem- ory sound, his hearing perfeet, and his spirits good ; but both he and myself are at that time of life when there is nothing before us to produce auxiety for its continnance. I am sorry for the occasion of expressing my condolence ou the loss mentioned in your letter. The solitude in which we are left by the death of our friends is one of the great evils of protracted life. When I look back to the days of my youth it is like -looking over a field of battle,-all. all dead ! aud ourselves left alone amidst a new generation whom we know not and who know not ns.

"'I thank you beforehand for the book of your friend, P. Vreede, of which you have been so kind as to bespeak a copy for me. On the subject of my porte-fenille, be assured it contains nothing but copies of my letters; in these I have sometimes indulged myself in reflection on the things which have been passing,-some of them, like that to the Quaker to which your letter refers, may give a moment's amusement to a reader. And from this voluminous mass, when I am dead, a selection may perhaps be made of a few which may have interest enough to hear a single reading. Mine has been too much a life of action to allow my mind to wander from the occurrences pressing on it.

"'Tn. JEFFERSON."

'' MONTICELLO, November 30, '25.

"' DEAR SIR,-Your favor of the 16th is just received, and your silence on the subject of your health makes me hope it is good. A dozen years older than you are, I have no right to expect us good. I have now been confined to the house six months, but latterly get better, insomuch as for a few days part to ride a Little on horseback. . . . Although my eyesight is so good as not to use glasses by day, either for reading or writing, yet constant ocenpation in the concerns of our university permits me to read very little, aud that of commercial science was never a favorite reading with me. The classics are iny first detight, and I unwillingly lay them by for the productions of the day. Our university, now the main business of my life, is going on with all the success I could expect. . . . Hoping you may continue to enjoy good health and a life of satisfaction, as long as you think hfe satisfactory at all, I pray you to be assured of my affectionate good wishes and great esteem and respect.

"'I'n. JEFFERSON.'

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HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

" Again Clinton writes :

"' ALBANY, 8 April, 1823.

"' MY DEAR SIR,-I have sent by mail a collection of Governor Clinton's speeches, printed by a bookseller in New York.

"' Dante I shall endeavor to procure for yon. "Ecce Homo" is a book highly blasphemous. The Trinitarians believe in the divinity of the person as well as of the mission of Christ; the Unitarians only in the divinity of the mission. Both creeds ascribe the utmost purity to Jesns, and consider him with the highest veneration ; but "Ecce Homo" assails his moral character, and treats him as an impostor. This book is not for sale, and I cannot ask the author for a perusal; it would be indirect enconragement. Your letter to Colonel Mappa on the canal, written in 1792, is really a curiosity. It gives you the original invention of the Erie route, and I shall lay it by as a subject of momentous reference on some future occasion. I shall, as I shall soon have leisure, review your philosophical work with pleasure.'

" Mr. Clinton sent Mr. Vanderkemp his likeness, and writes about it as follows :

"" I am glad you are pleased with the operations of the pencil and the graver in the representation yon have of your friend. Whatever their correctness may be, I can assure you that I give you a true delineation of his heart when I say that he will always be happy to hear from yon, and announce to you by words and deeds the sincerity of his friendship and the entirety of his respects. My regards to the family. Yours truly, "'DE WITT CLINTON.

"' DR. VANDERKEMP.'

"Judge Vanlerkemp was very near-sighted; and one winter, having occasion to go to a neighb wing village, he drove his horses some ways, when suddenly coming upon a settlement, he inquired what village that might be, and was informed it was Trenton. Ile re- plied, ' Ah, but that may not be, as I have just left there!' But it was Trenton. Mrs. Ann Jones tells me that when at Esopus he undertook to cut down a trec. Governor Clinton discovered the at- tempt, and slipping on a workman's dress, and taking a scythe in his hand, proceeiled towards the judge as if mowing, and, when near enough, exclaimeil, ' Ah, mine Iferr . Van lerkemp, you ean no more cut down that tree than if you were a woodpecker! The judge de- tectel the Governor's voice and threw down his axe, while the Gov- ernor abandoned his scythe as equally useless.

" When the judge wished to build a barn on his island in Oneida Lake, although surrounded by a dense forest of all kinds of timber, he had the frame hewed on the banks of the Hudson River, and rafted all the way up that and the Mohawk River, and then into Wood Creek to the Oneida Lake, where his chicken-house, as afterwards visited by others, provedl to be a better building than his own dwell- ing. His forgetfulness brought him into much confusion at times, as when in Philadelphia he hired a horse and wagon, taking no note of name, or street, or number, and so on his return went driving through the streets inquiring of the people if they knew whose horse and wagon he was driving. Ile had many theories upon agriculture, but was very much troubled when he discovered that the beans he planted had made a blunder and come up with the beans on top, and must all be turned over to grow right.

" Judge Reeves, of Litchfield, Conn., had the same unaccountable difficulty with his beans, but that did not lessen the respect which all entertained for these learned men.

" The portrait of De Witt Clinton, referred to in his last letter, is now in the possession of your esteemed fellow-citizen, Dr. Guiteau. His father, Dr. Luther Guiteau, was boru at Lanesboro', Mass., in 1778. He moved here in 1802, and practiced his profession until his death, in 1850, and during the forty-eight years of his professional life he was but once aside from it, and that was when, in 1819, he was elected to the State Assembly. Dr. Luther Guiteau, Sr., was succeeded in his profession and practice by his son of the same name, and so from 1802 to this hour there has not been a day in which there was not some one of that family to care for you,-at the joyous. dawn of life, or at its sad close, or during intermediate hours of sickness.

"Mr. Jones, in his Annals, twenty-five years ago, publishes these words of the elder Guitcau : 'Not a little remarkable in the history of his family was their connection with the medical profession. For many generations it is well ascertained that they had in succession furnished one, at least, who did credit to himself and honor to the science of medicine. It is said of the Swiss that their mountains be- come their men, and they become their mountains. With uo less truth it may be said of the Guiteau family, the medical profession becomes it, and it becomes the profession.' The quarter of a century which has elapsed since Mr. Jones made that statement has made no change

in the relation of the family to the medical profession. May the day never come when there shall not be found some one of that name and family engaged in this most humane of all professions! The elder Dr. Guiteau was a firm Democrat, and in a minority in this village of Federalists. Party spirit ran high, and it was determined to dis- pense with Dr. Guiteau's services, and so they hired two physicians, one after the other, whose medieines they hoped would not have a Democratic flavor. But, alas! when sickness came, the people would call in Dr. Guiteau, and so the last of the political doctors quit the place in disgust, declaring that he would not stay here and shake the bush for Dr. Guiteau to catch the bird. After this the doctor was master of the field of medicine, and no Democratic ingredients were found in his practice, although at one political struggle he was charged with having bled to death a Mr. Culver, a patient of his. To this the doctor refused to make any reply until election day, when he produced the dead man in good health, and received from him a sound Democratic vote. Generally the Democrats were the sufferers by the bitterness of party feeling, but on one occasion it served them a good turn. During the war of 1812 a woolen-factory was started here, which made uncommonly good cloth, which, at that time, eom- manded $10 a yard, and the Federalists would not permit any Demo- erat to take any stock. But the war closed, cloth fell to $5 a yard, the factory failed, and the stockholders lost heavily, while the Demo- crats escaped. The old factory building still stands on the south side of the creek, and is used as a cooper- or machine-shop of some sort, driven by the water which flows to it through an arehed stone flume, dug some thirteen feet deep.

" STATE OF RELIGION.

" In 1802, Rev. John Taylor, a native of Westfield, Mass., a gradu- ate of Yale College, visited this part of the country, and made a report of the state of religion, which will be found in the third volume of the ' Documentary Ilistory of New York,' on page 673. August 3, he states that at Trenton, six miles east of Floyd, he put up with Rev. Mr. Fish, from New Jersey, who was then employed part of the time by the people of that town, and the remainder rode as a missionary. Then again he writes, 'Trenton, August 4 .- 17 miles north of Utiea. In this place there is no church formed. A majority of the people are Presbyterians ; the remainder are Baptists and persons of no religion, and a few Methodists.' He adds : ' I visited a school of 50 children, who have a good instructor.'

" After the sehool-house was built, the people met there for public worship. Mr. Jones says that Mr. Fish was the first preacher who visited the town, and that he is named as the first pastor of the church at Holland Patent, which was organized in 1797, and it would seem that the Presbyterian Church must have been organized here about the same time; and yet Mr. Tuttle, of Holland Patent, informs me that the deserted stone Presbyterian Church was not built until 1821, and Jones states that previous to 1822, Rev. Mr. Ilarover preached alternately at Trenton and Holland Patent.

" People from North Gage, South Trenton, aud beyond Trenton, came to attend service in this stone church. Iu IS05 or 1806, Rev. John Sherman, who was a grandson of Roger Sherman, of Connecti- cut, the signer of the Declaration of Independence, which Mr. Silsbee has just read to us, became pastor of the Unitarian Church in this village, over which Mr. Silsbee is now settled, and this is said to be the first Unitarian Church established in this State. Their church was not built until 1814, and soon after this Mr. Sherman resigned and Rev. Isaac B. Pierce, of Rhode Island, succeeded him.

" Mr. Sherman, in 1812, started an academy here, which was suc- cessful, and at which he educated many who regard his memory with great affection and respect. Ile was a fine scholar. He published a work on the philosophy of language, illustrated, mueh in advance of his time, and is said to have been an eloquent preacher.

" From his first coming, in 1805, Mr. Sherman was captivated by the ravine and falls on the Canada Creek, and, impressed with the conviction that the singular beauty and wildness of this combination of falls, forest, and ravine must ultimately make it a place of resort, he purchased of the Holland Land Company, in 1822, 60 acres of land, including the first fall, or Sherman Fall as it is termed, and erected on the site of the present hotel a small building which he called Rural Resort. At first his house was opened and occupied only during the day, but, in 1824, Philip Hone and his family, aud Dominiek Lynch, of New York, with his family, insisted that they should be allowed to remain over night, and Mr. Hone inquired of Mr. Sherman why

539

HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

he did not ercet a building of sufficient sizo and furniture to entertain guests. To this question Mr. Sherman replied by asking him if he ever knew a minister who had any money. Mr. Hone met this diffi- culty by tendering and making a loan of $5000; and thus we havo our favorite Trenton Falls House, where resides our friend, Mr. Moore, with his wife, the daughter of Mr. Sherman, and with a family suffi- ciently numerous always to meet his friends at the gate.

" Rev. Isaac B. Pierce, from Rhode Island, succeeded Mr. Sherman as pastor over the Unitarian Church. He seems to have been much heloved by his people, and Mr. Jones, in his Annals, states that ho preached here twenty-five years, to the entire satisfaction of his people. I cannot imagine a severer test. He had some of that sim- plicity of character and need of help which appeared in our Dutch settlers, and endeared them to their friends. Me kept 13 cats, and had names for them all ; and he elung with most commendable tenacity to knec-breeches and shoe-buckles long after they were out of fashion.

"You have living in your neighborhood a man who was born hefore any white man ventured to think of settling here,-Vincent Tuttle, of Holland Patent. IIe was born in 1790, and now, eighty- six years old, with a firm step and sound memory, he is here to cele- brate with you this centennial Fourth of July. He came here in March, 1804. He tells me that at that time the clearing was only as far as the place where the Prospect Railroad Depot now stands; that all north of that, including the ground where Prospect Village now is, was covered by a dense forest; that he helpel cut the road towards Prospect, in front of Mr. Wm. Perkins' land, in 1807; that the village of Prospect was laid out by Colonel Mappa in ISII, and by him named Pros- pect ; and that when he came here Colonel Adam G. Mappa resided where we are now assembled, but in tho frame house built by Gerrit Boon; that in 1809, the Holland Land Company built, at a cost of $13,000, this stone mansion, which has witnessed many assemblages of distinguished people; that in 1804 the stone grist-mill on the flat was in good order, but the dam had heen carried away by a flood. This will was built by Boon, at the expense of the Holland Company, to save the settlers the time and labor and dithculty of walkiug to Whitesboro' to get flour. The location of this dam and mill proving unfortunate, the Holland Land Company abandoned it, and bnilt a new grist-mill on the Cincinnati Creek, a few rods helow the location of Parker's present foundry, at the foot of the first fall helow the hridge. This company also built a saw-mill on the site of the preseut saw-mill. These mills the Holland Land Company sold to Peter Schuyler, who owned and ran them several years, and then sold out to James Parker, an important and carly settler, who occupied and ran the mills many years, day and night, doing a large business, customers coming from Steuben, Remsen, and Boonville to have their grist ground. The farmers then raised their own wheat and had it for sale. But until a grist-mill was built here they could ohtain no flour without walking from here to Whitesboro', The road was im- passable in any other way. There was no flour theu to be purchased at stores. The whole community was intensely excited about tho grist-mill. They could not run tho risk of the old location ; that must be abandoned, and a reliable mill built at once. This was done, and thereby a great trade was brought to Trenton. Tailors and boot and shoe makers had no shops, but went from house to house mend- ing and making up for the year. The women of the country carded hy hand the fleeces of wool clipped by tho farmers. They spun and made yarn, and then hy hand-looms, such us is worked to-day by Mrs. Perkins, at Prospect, they wove their own dresses, which lasted for years, and were handed down from tho mothor to the youngest child ; and the farmer sowed flax, and when it was broken aud made ready for the spinning-wheels, the wouien took it and made all their linen for household uses.

" You can readily imagino, therefore, what a blessing to the women was a carding- and fulling-mill; and so there was rejoicing in this land when, in 1806, a man by the name of Ensign put up a carding- and fulling-will on the Cincinnati Creek, just above the foundry. The falls on the ereck opposite the Prospeet Depot are sometimes called Ensign Falls,-after the builder of this carding- and fulling- inill. Ile sold out to Timothy Powers, who built new and larger works, and did a great deal of business for several years. Ilis card- ing-mill stood where the present foundry is located. The first male child born in the town was a son of James Parker, already men- tioned ; he was named Adam, after Colonel Adam Mappa, although many supposed he was called Adam because he was the first man.

" George Parker, another son of James Parker, was the father of

Messrs. Parker who now own the foundry. Ile was a very ingenions mechanic. Ho learned his trade with Shubael Storrs, a watch-maker in Utica, and then returning to Trenton, built a foundry on the Cincinnati Creek, just above tho present foundry. This was subse- quently turned into a grist-mill, which was a short-lived affair, and the building now remains unoccupied.

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History of Oneida County, New York, 1667-1878, Part 144

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

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