History of Oneida County, New York, 1667-1878, Part 166

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

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"Judge White was born Feb. 15, 1733, making him fifty-one years of age at the time of bis removal. It was not, therefore, the ardor and restlessness of youth that induced him to emigrate, but that spirit of enterprise and perseverance which looked forward to the future prosperity of himself and family. The precise time at which he arrived at the place where the field of corn was planted cannot now be ascertained, but it was just before 'pinkster' ( Whitsun lay), a movable feast which comes six weeks after 'paas,' or ' poss,'-i.c., Easter-day,-which would bring his arrival there at about the 201h of May.

" Imme liately after the Revolution Judges White became one of the purchasers of Sadaqueda Palent, jointly with Zephaniah Platt, the father of the late Judge Jonas Platt, Ezra L'Hommedieu, and Melanethon Smith. By an arrangement between the proprietors it was agreed that they should meet on the land in the summer of 1781, and make a survey and partition. Upon the arrival of Judge White at the mouth of the Sanquoit, a bark shanty was erceted for n tem- porary residence. During the summer the patent was surveyed into four sections, and the particular section of cach owner was decided by lot. The section drawn by Judge White being all intervale, he

See also Tracy's lectures, from which Jones' account is mostly taken.

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IIISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

purchased of Smith the lot drawn by him in its rear, which extended to the south line of the patent upon the hill. By this last purchase the judge became the owner in all of about fifteen hundred aeres, comprehending all the land on both sides of Sauquoit Creek, from the corner formed by the road to the Oneida factories, and the Utica Road where Lewis Berry resided for many years in Whitesboro', and extending back on the hills more than a mile from the village.

" After the judge had obtained this division and purchase, he at once proeceded to locate a site for a dwelling. The place selected was upon the bank which forms the eastern termination of the village green in Whitesboro', and about six rods southerly from the Utiea road. The house ereeted was peculiar. He dug into the bank so that the lower story was underground, and then the upper was built in true primitive log house style. The ridge-pole for the sup- port of the roof was upheld by forked trees, cut and set in the ground, and the roof was composed of slabs, split for that purpose from logs. This was the first house erected on the Indian and military road be- tween Old Fort Schuyler (Utiea) and Fort Stanwix."

The judge cleared about four acres of land, rolling the logs off the above-mentioned bank, instead of burning them, as is the custom with persons of greater experience in clear- ing new land. The lot was the same on which the old court-house (now the Whitestown town hall) and other buildings stand, and extended back from the Utica road towards the site of the eanal. In January, 1785, Mr. White returned to Connecticut and brought back his wife and the remainder of his family.

"Several of his relatives, with others from Middletown and its vieinity, quickly followed ; and the new settlement, under the name of ' Whitestown,' soon became widely known as the place in which the emigration from New England eentered. The hardships and perils encountered by these carly settlers can scarcely be eonccived of by those who now visit that thickly-settled region. The whole country was in the wildness of nature. The nearest millf was at Palatine,- forty miles distant. The hostility of the Indian tribes had hitherto rendered the settlement of that region impossible, and at the close of the war the whole central and western portions of the State were with- out eivilized inhabitants. It was therefore necessary that the pioneer of the new settlement should conciliate the favor of the Indians. In his intereourse with them he was frank and decided. On one occa- sion an Indian ehieft demanded of Mr. White, as a test of his pro- fessed confidenee, that he would permit him to take to his wigwam a little granddaughter then playing about the house. The chief prom- ised to keep the child safely, and to bring her home again the next day. The child was intrusted to him ; but it was not until the ap- proach of night, when fears of treachery had almost overeome her mother, that she was returned, finely arrayed in Indian dress, with many ornaments. This incident is said to have contributed much towards establishing a lasting friendship between the new settlers and the neighboring Indians,"?

Many anecdotes are related of Judge White, which are always interesting. The following from "Tracy's Lec- tures" is worth reproduction :

# Present park, 1878.

A wheeled vehicle could not be drawn along the uarrow trail which led to Palatine, and very often the settlers carried bags of grain on their baeks to that place or the German Flats to be ground and returned with their grists in the same manner.

¿ The chief mentioned was named Ilan Yerry, commonly called " Colonel," perhaps bceause he had held a commission of that grade from the king. At the time of his visit to Mr. White he was accom- panied by his wife and a mulatto woman named Lane, who acted as interpreter. The child afterwards married Nathaniel Eels, of Whites- boro', and finally removed to Missouri. See Jones' Annals, and the Leetures of William Traey.

¿ White Genealogy. This ineident is also mentioned in Tracy's Lectures, and the Ifistorieal Collections of New York, and is a faithful example of the judge's sagacity and est mate of character.

" An Oneida, of rather athlctie form, was one day present at his house with several of his companions, and at length, for amuse- ment, commenced wrestling. After a number of trials had been made, in which the chief eame off conqueror, he came forward and challenged the settler to a clinch with him. This was done in a man- ner and with a degree of braggadocio that convinced the judge that if he refused the encounter it would subject him to the constant in- convenience of being browbeaten by the Indian, and cost him the trouble of being believed a coward. In carly manhood he had been a wrestler, but he had beeome quite corpulent, and for years unused to any athletic feats. Ife felt conseious, however, of great personal strength, and he eoneluded that even shouldl he be thrown. yet, as a choice of evils, the being thrown would be a lesser one than the ae- quiring of a character of eowardiee by declining. Ife therefore ae- eepted the challenge, and took hold with the Indian, and by a fortu- nate trip succeeded almost instantly in throwing him. As he saw him falling, in order to prevent the necessity of ever making another trial of his powers. he contrived to fall with all his weight-he then constituting an avoirdupois of some 250 pounds-upon the Indian. The weight for an instant drove all breath from the poor fellow's body ; and it was some moments before he could get up. At length he slowly arose, and shrugged his shoulders, with an emphatie ' Ugh ! You good fellow, too much !' I need not add that he was never after- wards challenged to wrest'e with an Indian."

So popular did the judge become with the Indians that in the course of a few months after his settlement they offered to make him a member of their tribe. The offer was finally accepted, and shortly after the ceremony of adop- tion was duly performed,-Scanandoa, Colonel Han Yerry, Good Peter, and others being present,-and Judge White became practically an Oneida. Probably the only benefits he ever derived from this relationship were the friendship of the Indians and his " share of the salmon eaught at the first fishing of each season at Te-ge-so-ken (Fish Creek )." !! He and several of his sons-including Philo, the fisherman of the family-having been notified, attended at the " fish- ing" at the forks of Wood Creek the spring after his adop- tion, witnessed the catching of the first salmon of the season, and after receiving a proportionate share for each member of his household, returned home.

Philo White, the judge's youngest son, was an adept with the rifle and fishing-rod, and being but sixteen years of age at the time of his father's settlement in Whitestown, the many opportunities for exercising his skill with these implements were zealously improved by him, and many fine strings of trout and saddles of venison were laid by him upon the family table. Pigeons being extremely plenty in the spring of 1785, many were taken and the breasts salted down. A barrel or two of this meat was preserved, and answered as quite a substitute for other meats, although perhaps not quite as palatable. It was necessary to rely upon the game found in the forests to a great extent, owing to the fact that the incursions of the Indians and Tories upon the settlements during the Revolution had greatly de- creased the amount of stock in the valley of the Mohawk, and what was left was of too much value as a nucleus from which to restock the country to kill for food. As the num- ber of settlers increased, and greater areas were devoted to agriculture, the wants gradually lessened, until in a few years excellent grains, vegetables, etc., were grown, and samples of wheat, corn, oats, etc., were sent by Judge White to his friends in New England, as an inducement for them to emigrate. Many left their homes and came to Whites-

Jones' Anna's.

613

IIISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

town on this account, and in a few years a flourishing vil- lage had sprung up at Whitesboro', where so short a time before had stood in all its beauty the "forest primeval."

Many of the settlers, instead of taking their grain to Palatine or German Flats to be ground, resorted to the " samp mortar," an article much used by the Indians. It was fashioned by taking a section of a white-ash log, some three feet in length and fifteen or eighteen inches in diam- cter, and hollowing it out by the use of fire, placing coals on the upper end and keeping them alive with a hand- bellows. The quantity of coals was decreased as the cavity deepened, so that a perfect taper was acquired. It was con- tended by the Indians that meal manufactured in such mortars tasted richer and better when cooked than if ground in a mill .*

The first mill in Oneida County was built in 1788,f on the Sauquoit Creek, upon the Whitesboro' and Utica road. It was erected by Judge White, Amos Wetmore, and John Beardsley, and long retained the name of " Wetmore's Mill." Some trouble afterwards ensued over water-privi- leges, but it was finally settled by the Court of Errors, in 1805.

Judge White lived to see the territory originally in- cluded in Whitestown containing a population of over 300,000. He died April 17, 1812, aged seventy-nine years. He acquired his title of judge from the fact that on the organization of Herkimer County he was appointed to that office, and afterwards held the same office in Oneida County. He was twice married, and was the father of ten children, all by his first wife. Numerous members of the family, and of other families intermarrying, became highly distinguished in both local and national circles. Of the judge's children, his oldest son, Colonel Daniel Clark White, who accompanied his father to Whitestown, was the father of the first white female child born in Oneida County, viz., Esther White, whose birth occurred March 15, 1785.] She became the wife of Hon. Henry R. Storrs, a graduate of Yale College, and afterwards an eminent lawyer, first judge of Oneida County, and twice a member of Congress (1817 to 1821, and 1823 to 1831).

Hugh White, Jr., third son of the judge, served three years in the Revolutionary army, and was for a short time on board of a privateer. He also accompanied his father to. Whitestown, and afterwards removed to Shrewsbury, N. J., where he died.

The fifth son, Philo White, was at one time engaged in merchandising at Whitestown and at Tioga Point.

Of Judge White's daughters, Aurelia was married in 1788 to Parsons Wetmore, one of the early settlers of the town, and afterwards removed with him to Warren Co., Pa., and later to Steubenville, O., finally locating at Rochester, N. Y. Some of their children became noted.

The youngest daughter of the judge, Mary S. White, was married in 1792 to John Young, a surveyor, who be- came the founder of Youngstown, O., and afterwards re- located in Whitestown, where he died. Their eldest son,

John J. Young, received an academie education at the then " Whitestown Academy," and in 1812 was appointed a midshipman in the United States navy. He attained a highly reputable standing as an officer and naval tactician, and about 1825 was assigned to the post of executive officer of the United States twenty-gun ship-of-war " Hornet." During a cruise of his vessel in the West Indies he lost both his legs in a sea-fight with a piratical armed ship. He was landed at Havana and brought home to his family, while his vessel proceeded on her cruise. She was never after- wards heard of, and probably foundered in mid ocean, the only vestiges ever found of her being two or three tarpan- lins with " Hornet" marked ou them, which were picked up while floating on the sea. Commodore Young, although sadly mutilated, was assigned to shore duty as superintendent of public works, disbursing and recruiting officer, etc. He died Nov. 4, 1875, in the eighty-second year of his age, after a life of public usefulness.

Among other residents of this town who were appointed midshipmen during the war of 1812-15 were Samuel Breese, William Inman, Antle Lansing, and Edward and Benjamin Carpenter. These naval officers were undoubt- edly selected from this far inland town through the efforts of Hon. Thomas R. Gold, member of Congress for several years from Whitestown.

Hon. Fortune Clark White, son of Col. D. C. White, was born at Whitestown July 10, 1787. He made the law his profession, and for five years was first judge of the Oneida County Court. He was brigadier-general of New York State militia, and was twice in the Legislature. In 1826 the honorary degree of Master of Arts was conferred upon him by Hamilton College. He died in 1866 at Whitestown.

Canvas White, son of Hugh White, Jr., served one cam- paign on the frontier during the war of 1812 as lieutenant in a volunteer eorps, and was at the sortie of Fort Erie. He was one of the earliest and ablest engineers on the Erie Canal, and was afterwards engaged on the Union, Lehigh, and Delaware and Raritan Canals He died in St. Augus- tine, Florida.

Hon. Hugh White, brother of the above, became promi- nent in public affairs, and served three terms in Congress, from 1845 to 1851.

Ilon. Philo White, LL.D., son of Philo White and grandson of the judge, is now a resident of Whitesboro', where he was born June 23, 1799.

" After acquiring an academical education at the seminary in Whitesboro', Mr. White spent three or four years as learner and con- tributor in the Columbian Gazette newspaper office, in Utica. In 1820 he migrated to North Carolina, and became the editor and pro- prietor of The Western Carolinian, which he continued to conduct until 1830, when he was appointed United States Navy Agent for the Pacific station. Returning home in 1834, he established the North Carolina Standard, at Raleigh, was elected State printer, and the Standard became the State paper. From 1837 to 1844 he was pay- master and purser in the United States Navy, and was attached to squadrons in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, and on the home and Gulf stations,

" Mr. White removed to Wisconsin at an early period of its terri- torial existence, and ultimately fixed his residence at Racine. He was the editor of several newspapers at different periods. In 1847 he was chosen a member of the Council of the Territorial Legislature, and subsequently was elected to the Senate of the State Legislature.

# Jones' Annals of Oncida County.

+ A saw-mill was built the same year.

# Subsequent to the Revolution, John Roof had three daughters born at Fort Stauwix previous to 1778. See History of Rome.

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HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

Here he took a prominent part in promoting various measures of publie utility. As chairman of the Committee on Education and School Lands, he shared largely in devising and framing the present system of public instruction in that State. At a later period he was active in the founding of Racine College, under the auspices of the Protestant Episcopal Church of that diocese, and was one of its trus- tees. In 1856 the College conferred upon Mr. White the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. Chosen as one of the Presidential eleetors of Wisconsin, he was selected as president of the Electoral College of that State in December, 1852. He was also brigadier-general of the State militia.

" In 1849, Mr. White was appointed United States Consul to the Hanseatic Republic at Hamburg, and resided there for one or two years. In July, 1853, he was appointed Charge d'affaires to the Republic of Ecuador, S. A., and in 1854 was raised to the grade of Minister Resident in that country. He continued in the discharge of the functions of the latter office until September, 1858."#

Among the early settlers of Whitestown the name of Jonas Platt occurs in a prominent position, and a brief sketch of him will not be out of place. It is principally taken from "Jones' Annals of Oneida County":

Mr. Platt located at Whitesboro' previous to 1791, and on the organization of Herkimer County, February 17 of that year, he was appointed its clerk, and held the office until the formation of Oneida County, of which he was also appointed elerk. In 1809 he was elected by the Fed- eralists to the State Senate, from the old western district, which had previously been strongly Republican. January 5, 1810, he was nominated as the Federal candidate for Governor, but was beaten by Daniel D. Tompkins. In the winter of 1814, Mr. Platt was appointed judge of the Supreme Court of New York, in place of Smith Thompson, who had been raised to the office of Chief-Justice upon the elevation of Judge Kent to the chancellorship. Mr. Platt was regarded as the most active and influential member of his party in the Senate during the exciting sessions of 1810, 1811, 1812, and 1813.

Upon the adoption of the constitution of 1821, Judge Platt, with his colleagues, Judges Spencer, Van Ness, and Woodworth, was " constitutionalized out of office," but upon the reorganization of the Supreme Court all but Mr. Van Ness were renominated by Governor Yates; their political tendencies, however, proved a bar in the eyes of the Senate, and they were rejected. Judge Platt returned to the bar " with all the ardor and industry of youth," owing to the lamentable state of his pecuniary affairs, and by patient exertion retrieved his lost fortune. He was a member and an elder in the Presbyterian Church at Whites- boro'. He finally removed to Plattsburg, where he died.

General George Doolittle was also one of the pioneers of Whitestown. He had served in the Continental army during the Revolution, with the rank of orderly-sergeant. Being a shoemaker by trade, he carried his " kit" of tools during his entire service, and whenever not upon the march or on duty was "ready to unpack his tools and mend his compatriots' boots and shoes." On his removal to Whites- town, in 1786, he engaged in the tanning, currying, and shoemaking business. He was the first brigadier-general of militia commissioned in Oneida County. The general was a native of Middletown, Conn. He was supervisor of the

town of Whitestown for more than twenty years, and also held a seat in the Legislature of the State. He died Feb. 21, 1805, aged sixty-five years.

Another prominent citizen of the town, and one of its early settlers, was Hon. Thomas R. Gold. He was a law- yer of eminence, and for many years stood at the head of his profession in Central New York. He represented this distriet in Congress in 1810, '11, '12, '13, '16, and '17, and it was said of him that " he was the last to retire and the first up in the morning." From 1796 to 1800 he was in the State Senate, and in the latter year was chosen as member of the Council of Appointment. At the erection of the Presbyterian Church at Whitesboro', in 1803, it became necessary to level the ground around it, and Mr. Gold drove the oxen attached to the plow, while Judge Platt and several others, all unused to the work, handled the spade and shovel.

The first birth in Whitestown has already been men- tioned. The first death was that of Mrs. Blacksly, aunt to Judge White, with whom she resided. The exact date of her death cannot now be ascertained, but it was a very few years after the settlement of the judge.

A military spirit was manifested early by the citizens of the town, and within a few years from the arrival of Judge White it was deemed expedient to raise a company of militia. Governor George Clinton was applied to for com- missions for the necessary officers, and he informed them that if a company of thirty men was enrolled the commissions should be forthcoming. The names were soon procured, and the names of the prospective officers were forwarded by the advice of Colonel Staring, who commanded the regiment to which the company was attached. William Colbrath, a previous resident of Herkimer, was appointed captain. " Judge White was anxious that his son Hugh should re- eeive the ensign's commission, but Colonel Staring, whe was well acquainted with the sons, said, ' No, no, Hugh is not de poy ; Daniel is de poy !' and Daniel received the commission."f The latter lived to receive, also, a colonel's commission, and commanded a regiment of militia, which met for " general training" at Whitesboro'.

CIVIL ORGANIZATION AND ELECTIONS.

As stated, the town of Whitestown was formed March 7, 1788. " The poll of the first general election for the town was opened at Cayuga, then adjourned to the present village of Salina to receive the votes of some settlers who resided there, thenee to Rome, and closed finally at Whites- town. One of the inspectors of this election was the late Erastus Clark, then a resident of Clinton."}

The records of the town previous to 1862 were entirely destroyed by fire on the morning of Tuesday, Dee. 17, 1861 ; henee it is impossible to give many items of interest. For a record of the earliest town-meetings we turn to Judge Jones' " Annals of Oneida County," and find that the

"first town-meeting held in the district (town) of Whitestown was convened at the house of Captain Daniel C. White, in said distriet, on Tuesday, the 7th day of April, 1789, 'agreeable to warning,' and 'it being more convenient,' the meeting adjourned to the barn of Hugh

# White Genealogy ; also Livingston's Portraits and Memoirs of Eminent Americans, vol. iv.

+ Joncs' Annals.

# Traey's Lectures.

MRS. NANCY R.WHITE.

Philo White,

HON. PHILO WHITE, LL.D.

Philo White, son of the late Philo White, Sr., and grand- son of Judge Hugh White, the founder of Whitestown, was born in Whitestown, N. Y., June 23, 1796. After receiving an academical education, he became a printer in the office of the Columbian Gazette, at Utica, and finally a journalist, making his first venture as editor and publisher in Manlius, Onondaga County, whence he subsequently removed to Salis- bury, N. C., where he became editor and proprietor of the Western Carolinian, which he published successfully for a period of ten years. Meantime he had married, and reared a small family.

In 1830 he received the appointment of navy agent, etc., for the United States naval station in the Pacific ocean. While in this position he discharged the arduous duties which had previously been divided between two government officers of like grade. At the expiration of four years' services, he returned to North Carolina, and founded the North Carolina Standard, at Raleigh, which he remained connected with till 1887, when he was appointed paymaster and purser in the United States navy, and spent some years in cruising in different ships of war on the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, and in the Gulf of Mexico.

After this Mr. White removed to Wisconsin, and ultimately fixed his residence at Racine, in that State. He was the editor of several newspapers at different periods. In 1847 he was chosen a member of the Council of the Territorial Legislature, and was subsequently elected to the Senate of the State. As chairman of the committee on education and school lands, be shared largely in devising the present system of public instruction of that State.

In 1849 he was appointed hy the President and Senate United States Consul-General for the Free Hanseatic Cities of Hamburg,-Luheck and Altona,-and discharged the diplomatic duties of that important trust during the troublous, belligerent crisis of the first Schleswick-Holstein war. In

1851 he was commissioned a brigadier-general of Wisconsin militia. In 1852 he was Presidential elector, and was chosen President of the Electoral College of Wisconsin. In 1853 he was commissioned Charge de Affaires of the United States at Quito; in 1855 was promoted to the grade of United States Minister Resident for the Republic of Ecuador, and continued to reside with his family at Quito, in discharge of the duties of his office, for a period of five years. During his absence upon this mission, in 1856, the Episcopal College at Racine, Wisconsin, which he had aided in founding, conferred upon him the honorary degree of LL.D. In 1859 Mr. White returned to Whitestown, his native place, where he has since resided, and where his wife, Mrs. White, departed this life in 1877.

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History of Oneida County, New York, 1667-1878, Part 166

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

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