USA > New York > Oneida County > History of Oneida County, New York, 1667-1878 > Part 99
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371
HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
Edward Simmons, 1793; Calvin Hurd, about 1794; John Simons and Jonathan Brainard, 1794; Daniel W. Lamb, John and Daniel Ashby, about 1795; Rufus Barnes, father of the distinguished divine, Rev. Albert Barnes, 1795; Israel Denio, father of the late Judge Denio and of Israel and C. D. Denio, of Rome, about 1797 ; Cornelius Van Wormer, Zaeeheus Abel, Abiather Seekill, Peter Lamp- man, "Pigeon" Palmer, Luke Usher, and Benjamin Taylor, about 1800.
Of the above-mentioned persons, Jesse Childs, who came probably in the winter of 1792-93, lived at the fort a short time, and then removed to a farm north of Ridge Mills, and east of the Mohawk, in the Selden neighborhood. About the same time the families of Solomon, John, and David Williams, from Connecticut, and Daniel Ashby, Deaeon Lamb, and William Brewster arrived from Groton, Mass., and settled north of the " Ridge."
David I. Andrus lived at the Wright Settlement previous to 1800, his lease in 1790 for 138 aeres of land east of the Mohawk, near the Ridge, being from George Clinton. He carried on a distillery at the Ridge late in the last een- tury, and about 1804 removed to Jefferson County, where he became prominent as a contractor and builder.
David, John, and Solomon Williams, mentioned above, were brothers, and located on land on the Mohawk, a short distance above Ridge Mills. David Williams served at one time in the garrison at Fort Stanwix, and the aequaint- anee he at that time formed with the region around the fort undoubtedly led him to remove there, and induce his brothers to come also. The youngest son of David Wil- liams was Jesse Williams, so well known through this region as the inventor of the famous cheese-factory system, and the pioneer in that business. Solomon Williams, who lived to be over ninety-eight years of age, was the great- grandfather of B. W. Williams, the present postmaster of Rome.
West of David Williams' farm was that of Roswell Fel- lows, who settled early in 1790. Mr. Fellows was a very large man, weighing over five hundred pounds, and at his funeral, in 1813, it required the united services of eight strong men to bear his coffined remains to the grave, and the outer door and posts of his dwelling had to be removed in order to get his body out of the house. After his set- tlement Mr. Fellows sold half of the 200 aeres he had located to Nathaniel Traey, who settled about 1800.
Nathan Peggs settled in the same neighborhood about 1800. He was from Vermont, and kept a tavern on his place. This tavern was continued for many years. Mr. Peggs was sueeceded as " mine host" by Timothy W. Wood, and he by Josiah Talmadge. It was the place, on the 4th of July, for " general training" headquarters, and the seene of various other sports, such as the citizens of the town in those days knew how to enjoy.
Next north of Roswell Fellows lived his son, Cyrus Fel- lows, father-in-law of B. W. Williams, Esq., of Rome, and north of him lived Gates Peek, who settled in 1803, and served as a soldier during the war of 1812.
Hope Smith settled in the same locality about 1813. He was a native of Rhode Island, and a veteran of the Revolution.
Joseph Otis, mentioned in the foregoing list, came from Fort Aun, Washington Co., N. Y., in March, 1793, and settled in that part of Rome (then Steuben, IIerkimer County) known as the "Selden Neighborhood." With him eame Lot and Simeon Fuller, who settled in what is now Steuben. The then owners of Fonda's Patent were at that time surveying it into lots, placing them in market, and offering extra induecments to settlers with limited means. Mr. Otis was among those who responded, and came on almost entirely without means, a young man, with his second wife, a lady but nineteen years of age, and a year- old daughter by his first wife. About two years before a road had been surveyed, worked, and traveled from the Ridge, via what is now " Penny Street," northerly towards the covered bridge, ending near the present residenec of Amos M. Potter. In July of the same year (1793) a road was surveyed by Moses Wright, intended as a contin- uation of the above highway, to the present covered bridge over the Mohawk, running around the hill and nearer to the river than it does at present. A mill, owned by Roswell Fellows at that time, stood on the opposite side of the river at the bridge, and is now better known as " Bar- nard's Mills." Asa Knapp's house then stood on the site of the later residence of Roswell Edgerton, since known as the Philander and Philemon Selden place. The road as then laid was changed to its present location within a few years. At the time Mr. Otis settled, Willett Ranney was living upon the place in after-years occupied by Henry F. Ely. Mr. Otis moved his family into the house with Mr. Ranney, and lived there until he could erect a suitable log house for himself. In addition to his farm labors Mr. Otis assisted the late Judge Benjamin Wright in the survey of thousands of aeres of land, and in establishing the lines of the eoun- ties of Oneida, Oswego, Jefferson, and Lewis. His oldest daughter, Abigail, was married very early in the history of the settlement, to Latimer Bailey, who, about 1814, worked in the fulling-mill or factory at the Ridge, then operated by Samuel Wardwell.
Bill Smith lived on the road to Floyd as early as 1800, and later, on the farm now owned by Peter Williams. About 1810 he kept store in a small frame building which stood on Dominiek Street, in Rome, as will be mentioned elsewhere.
Rufus Barnes, mentioned in the foregoing list, eame to Rome as early as July, 1795, and possibly some months earlier. He had learned the trade of boot and shoe making, and acquired a knowledge of the eurrying and tanning pro- eess. In January, 1796, he purchased an interest in a lease from Henry Wilson, ou " Penny Street," and built a log house. In 1797 he was married. About 1800 or 1801 he built a shoe-shop and a taunery on his place. The red frame house, still standing, was built in 1801. Mr. Barnes' son, Albert, afterward eminent in the ministry, and for many years pastor of one of the leading churches in Philadelphia, Pa., was born in the old log house, Dee. 1, 1798.
Near the Barnes place lived Israel Denio, the " country blacksmith," who located probably carly in 1795. His father-in-law, John Robbins, settled as early as 1791, and came from Bennington, Vt. His removal to this
372
HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
locality was very probably the cause which indueed Mr. Denio to settle here. The latter at first located in what is now the town of Floyd, near the Rome town line, and about 1797 removed to the Wright Settlement, where he built a blacksmith-shop; about 1812 he ehanged his loca- tion to " Penny Street," and about 1815 removed to what is now known as the " Crosby Corner," where he built another shop and carried on his business for many years. His son, Hon. Hiram Denio, was born in May, 1799. He was five months younger than Rev. Albert Barnes, and the two were schoolmates together in their boyhood, and fast friends through life. Mr. Denio began the study of law at Rome, in the office of Jay Hatheway, afterwards read with Wheeler Barnes, and was admitted to practice. He became in time one of the most eminent jurists in the Union .*
Dr. Elijah Clarke settled as early as 1794, and lived north of William West, in the Wright Settlement ncigh- borhood. In 1811 he was the praeticing physician for all that section of country. He left Rome at an early day. In the same neighborhood, and on what is known as "Can- terbury Hill," were living in 1811, Joshua Kirkland, who settled in 1811; John Butts, settled about 1803; Colonel D. W. Knight, about 1790; Zaccheus Abel, Samuel Wil- liams, Asa Colburn (whose parents eame with him) ; Gideon Butts, settled about 1802; Daniel Kirkland, son of Joshua Kirkland, about 1807; Grant Wheat, about 1802; Abiather Seekill, early in present century ; Daniel Butts, Samuel and Asa Smith; Hazel Lathrop, settled about 1807, was cap- tain of a company of militia in 1812, and went to Sacket's Harbor during the war. These people were nearly all from Canterbury, Conn., and from that place " Canterbury Hill" took its name. Gideon Butts and family were the first settlers on the " hill," and Grant Wheat eame next. The latter walked through from Connectieut to Rome in 1801, carrying his gun and a pack weighing 50 pounds. Hc re- turned to Connecticut in the fall of the same year, and came back in 1802 to make a permanent settlement. He also went to Sacket's Harbor in 1812. John Butts came with him from Conneetieut, or very shortly after, as he settled about the same time.
The first highway laid out in the town of Rome was on the 29th of March, 1791, being the one which now runs north and south through the Wright Settlement. It was only 160 rods in length originally, beginning near the late residence of A. Vredenburgh and running northerly past Captain Wright's.
RIDGE MILLS.
On the 15th of June, 1790, John Lansing, Jr., of Al- bany, leased to Elisha Walsworth, " for the term of three lives and not less than 31 years," the southern part of lot 59, in Fonda's Patent, containing 159 acres of land, and including the present site of Ridge Mills and the settlement surrounding, and about 100 acres to the north, now a part of the Deacon D. M. Crowell farm. The eastern boundary of the lot was east of the Mohawk River, and nearly par- allel with it. By the terms of the lease Mr. Walsworth and his assigns were to pay on the first day of each Febru-
ary, in Albany, during said term, 23 bushels and 3 pecks of "good merchantable winter wheat; also all taxes and assessments on the premises, and at the end of the term to surrender up the premises with all buildings and fences erected thereon." The lease also required that Mr. Wals- worth should plant, within ten years from its datc, an apple- tree for each two aeres of land in the lot, the trees to be in rows at right angles to each other, and not less than 30 feet apart each way, and new ones were to be set out in case any died. It was also provided that 30 acres should be set apart as "woodland," from which the timber was not to be cut exeept for fencing and building on the premises, and fuel for a dwelling-house thercon.
Mr. Walsworth sub-leased his 159 acres in smaller par- cels, and the place gave promise at one time of becoming the most important village of the town. Among the lessees of lots were Samuel Dill, in 1799, and Reuben Arnold, Moses, Ebenezer, and John Wright, Daniel Hawes, and others, previous to 1810. A blacksmith-shop stood west of the highway before this latter year.
Either shortly previous to or soon after 1800 a dam was built across the river at the Ridge, and a small grist-mill erected on or near the site of the present stone structure, built in 1860, by Adams & Frazee for a grist-mill, and now used as the machine-room of the Rome City Water-Works. A short distance down-stream was a saw-mill, and still far- ther down, at a later day, a earding-machine, a fulling-mill, and a woolen- or satinet-factory. As far as ean now be as- certained it is possible that the dam and grist- and saw-mills were erected by Moses and John Wright.
About 1812, Colonel Samuel Wardwell, father of the late Hon. Daniel Wardwell, of Rome, purchased all the . rights and titles of the various persons in these outstanding leases, and on the 3d of July of that year John Lansing, Jr., released the reserved rents, and conveyed the 159 acres by warranty deed to Colonel Wardwell. The latter about the same time purchased 126 acres in the Oriskany Patent, making 285 acres in one body. He had, as early as 1798, purehased a traet of 4000 acres in what is now the town of Ellisburg, Jefferson County, including the site of the village of Mannsville. He was a merchant of Bristol, Rhode Island, and was also extensively engaged in the foreign export trade. He came to Rome to reside about 1812, and lived for two years at the Ridge, on the west side of the highway. His dwelling occupied the site of the building now occupied by the superintendent of the Water- Works.
Colonel Wardwell demolished the old grist-mill at the Ridge, and in its place crected a new one, which was burned about 1858. He sold to David Driggs on the 15th of Oc- tober, 1815, and in a deed for a part of the property it is provided that Mr. Driggs is to " finish the dye-house, and erect a fulling-mill on the premises at his own expense, and to put the same in complete operation ;" therefore it seems that the idea of ereeting these buildings was original with the colonel, although he never carried it into effect.
The property sold by Colonel Wardwell to Mr. Driggs was a lot of forty aeres, including all of the present Ridge Settlement, all the mills, machinery, and buildings on the river, and some five aeres on the east side of the
# See obituary notice following the history of Utica.
373
HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
stream, which Colonel W. had purchased from other parties. The price paid by Mr. Driggs for these forty acres, with the improvements thereon, was $13,000, or $9700 more than Colonel Wardwell had paid for the entire tract of 159 acres. Mr. Driggs' brother, John Driggs, became the owner of the forty acres about 1816, and a " lively business" was carried on at the Ridge for years by him and his successors.
Colonel Wardwell sold by contraet, about 1813-14, all of his purchase at the Ridge except the above forty acres, including about 225 acres, to John West,* the priee paid being some $6000. The terins were originally that it should be paid in eash, but as Albany was then the nearest market for grain, and it was almost impossible to realize any money upon his farm products, it was afterwards agreed that he should pay for it in grain at a certain price per bushel. During the war of 1812-15, then raging, the price of grain rose to a high figure, and it found so ready sale that the contract was probably changed back to a cash basis. At the close of the war prices fell, and a few years later-1823-Mr. West had several thousand bushels on hand, which he had failed to dispose of. At that date there were three distilleries in Rome south of the poor- house, and Mr. West sold to them his accumulation of grain, receiving for corn two shillings and ninepence per bushel, and for rye three shillings and sixpence, and all the teams which could be secured were " pressed into service" to haul the grain to the distilleries.
Colonel Samuel Wardwell had been an officer in the Ameriean army during the Revolution. In 1815 he moved from Rome baek to Bristol, R. I., and died at that place. He was the father of fourteen children, of whom the late Hon. Daniel Wardwell was the ninth.
Hon. Daniel Wardwell, who became so prominently con- neeted with the history of this region, and lived to such a good old age, came with his father to Rome in 1812, when twenty-one years of age. He had graduated the previous year at Brown University, Rhode Island. Soon after com- ing here he began the study of law in the office of Joshua Hatheway,-then the postmaster at Rome,-and was a fellow-student with Samuel Beardsley. Mr. Beardsley was appointed quartermaster-general in the army, and was sent by Governor Tompkins to Sacket's Harbor. He was pre- viously adjutant of the 157th Regiment, known as the ".Rome Regiment," commanded by Colonel Westcott.
In 1813, Daniel Wardwell entered the law-office of Gold & Sill, at Whitesboro', and in 1814-15 was at Adams and Ellisburg, Jefferson County, looking after his father's large landed estate. He was admitted to practice in the Jefferson County Court of Common Pleas in July, 1814, and in January, 1815, to practice as an attorney before the Supreme Court of the State, at Albany. He became a resident of the village of Rome in 1816, and in 1817 re- moved to Jefferson County, where he resided till 1821. In January, 1821, he was admitted at Albany to the Supreme Court bench as counselor-at-law of that court, and in August of the same year as counselor in the United States
District Court for the Northern District of New York. He opened an office in Utica in that year, and remained there one year. In 1822 he removed to Mannsville, Jeffer- son County, and became a permanent resident of that vil- lage. In 1824 he was appointed one of the judges of the Jefferson County Common Pleas Court. In March, 1827, he was admitted at Albany to practice in the Court of Chaneery. He was elected to the Assembly from Jefferson County in 1825, re-elected in 1826, and again in 1827. In 1828 he was defeated for State Senator by Hon. William H. Maynard, of Utiea. In 1830 he was elected on the Democratic ticket to Congress, and twice returned,-1832 and 1834. In 1837 he was elected again to the Assembly from Jefferson County. In 1839 he removed to Pulaski, Oswego County, where he resided about ten years and re- turned to Mannsville. In 1860 he located at Rome, where he continued to reside until his death, early in 1878, at the age of eighty-seven.
Ridge Mills Post-Office was established in 1867, and Harvey E. Wileox appointed postmaster on the 15th of July of that year. He has continued in office to the pres- ent time. His deputy is A. Farr, who has charge of the office, and carries on merchandising in the building owned by Mr. Wilcox.
There are also at Ridge Mills, besides the post-office and store, the Rome City Water-Works, a hotel, a blacksmith- shop, a small number of dwellings, and near by a large cheese-factory. The place is so named from its position on a long ridge of land overlooking the valley of the Mohawk and the inore level country surrounding. The location is one of great beauty, and before the days of canals and rail- ways the settlement at " the Ridge" bade fair to become a flourishing village, and a large business was done by its early manufacturers and merchants.
STANWIX POST-OFFICE
is a small settlement on the Erie Canal, east of Rome, which has sprung into existence since the completion of the canal. Its post-offiee is the only one in the territory included in the city and county which commemorates by name the fortification that once stood upon the site of the now flour- ishing eity, and the events which transpired in its vicinity, as well as the name of the honored chieftain who built it. .
GREEN'S CORNERS
is a station on the New York Central and Hudson River Railway, west of Rome Post-Office.
Among the prominent settlers of Rome who came in the early part of the present century were the Talcotts .;- The family is traced back in English history to 1558.
The first of the name who emigrated from Essex County to America was John Talcott, who came with his family in the ship " Lion," with many others, composing the Rev. Mr. Ilooker's company, in 1632.
The company first settled at New Town, now Cambridge, near Boston, but becoming dissatisfied with their location they obtained leave from the General Court to remove to the valley of the Connecticut River. John Talcott and about
# Grandfather of one of Rome's most prominent physicians of to- day, M. C. West, M.D.
+ Prepared from minutes furnished by Jonathan Talcott.
37.4
HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
one hundred others left New Town in June, 1636, and under the leadership of Rev. Mr. Hooker proceeded through the wilderness to the present site of the city of Hartford, Conn., where they began a settlement. Mr. Talcott's dwelling stood on the ground where the North Church (late Rev. Dr. Bushnell's) now stands. He became a prominent man in the new settlement, and was a member of the General Court when the question of declaring war against the Pequod Indians was under discussion, and was one of a special committee appointed to take the subject under advisement. The result of the deliberations was a declaration of war, and the destruction of this troublesome tribe. He was one of the chief magistrates of the colony at the time of his death, which occurred in his mansion, at the head of Main Street, March, 1660.
Jonathan Taleott, the grandfather of Mr. Jonathan Talcott, now of Rome, was born in Glastonbury, Conn., and emigrated to Rome, N. Y., in 1802, traveling all the way on foot. He selected and purchased for a homestead the land now constituting the farm of Mr. Jonathan Tal- cott, three miles southwest of Rome. It was then a wil- derness. In the spring of 1803, after working for some two months elearing land and erecting a log house, he re- turned to Connecticut for his family, which he brought back by land, making the journey by means of one large vehicle, constructed of two pair of cart-wheels, connected by a strong frame, in which the household goods were hauled by three stout pairs of oxen, and a two-horse covered wagon, in which came the family and some of the lighter and more valuable goods. The drivers of the ox-teams were a Mr. Josiah Keeney, one of his neighbors, and a son of Mr. Talcott, the father of the present owner of the home- stead.
The emigrants arrived in due season and in good health, and set about the work necessary in a new country, clearing land, and sowing and planting grain and vegetables. The first breakfast was prepared and eaten in the open air, in the old wagon trail leading west from Fort Stanwix; and the labor of unloading and setting up the household furni- ture kept every one busy for the first day.
Gradually, year by year, the forest disappeared, the land was subdued, and soon bountiful harvests of wheat, corn, oats, and vegetables repaid the labor of the pioneer. After a few years, in 1818, Mr. Talcott became possessed of suffi- cient means to enable him to build a new frame dwelling, which was looked upon as an important epoch in the history of the family. The primitive log house passed away, and the landseape teeming with its wealth of grain and fruit was in striking contrast with the wilderness which greeted them on their first arrival.
Siah Talcott, the father of the present Jonathan Talcott, . followed the business of teaming through the whole course of his life, beginning about 1810, and driving one of the heavy five-horse teams then used for the transportation of produce and merchandise. He was known far and near as a capital teamster, and did an extensive business for many years. During the war of 1812-15 he was in the govern- ment service, hauling supplies for the army on the frontier. He died at Rome, Dec. 16, 1822.
Jonathan Talcott, the present owner of the farm, was
born in the original log building in 1814, and remembers well its appearance.
The elder Jonathan Talcott resided in the new frame dwelling until his death, which took place on the 28th of July, 1847, in the ninety-fourth year of his age. In 1859 the present fine brick dwelling was erected on the site of the frame dwelling, which was removed. The present owner of the farm has expeuded a large sum in money and labor upon new and improved buildings, tile drainage, etc. He believes he was the first in this section to lay down drain- tile, which has done and is doing much to improve the farms of the Mohawk Valley.
The farmn is now in a splendid state of cultivation, and great attention is being given to the raising of improved stock, including the celebrated short-horn eattle, the Suffolk and Berkshire breeds of swine, and a breed of sheep pro- dueed by a cross between the merino and various long- wooled breeds. The proprietor is also giving considerable time and attention to the breeding of a superior grade of farm and stock horses.
The family of Jonathan Talcott consists of two sons and five daughters. The oldest son, Selden Haines, graduated at the Rome Academy, and entered Hamilton College in 1864, but left to serve out a term of enlistment in the army, after which he returned, and graduated with honor in 1869. He studied medieine with Dr. Munger, of Water- ville, and subsequently graduated at the New York Home- opathic College ; practieed with Dr. Munger two or three ycars, and in 1875 was appointed chief of staff of Ward's Island Homoeopathic Hospital. At the present time he is superintendent of the New York State Homoeopathic In- sane Asylum, at Middletown, Orange County.
Mancel Talcott, a brother of Siah Taleott, who also came to Rome iu 1803, followed the business of teaming until the canal was opened, in 1825, when he engaged in boating, and continued until 1833, when he removed to Illinois. He died while on a visit to his son at Hannibal, Mo., in 1857. Edward Benton Talcott, son of Muncel, went to Illinois in 1835, where he became distinguished as an engineer of public works. He is at present residing in the city of Chicago.
VILLAGE OF ROME.
In the year 1789, when Ebenezer Wright came to Rome, there were standing in the vicinity of Fort Stanwix the following dwellings, viz .: "Two log houses on the road to Newville, ncar what is known as the Mccutcheon place, in one of which Colonel William Colbraith (afterwards first sheriff of Oneida County) then resided ; a log house near the site of the United States Arsenal, in which Jedediah Phelps then lived ; a log house near the late residenee of Numa Leonard (now owned by Charles E. Saulpaugh), and another one near the present residence of H. K. White." There was also a frame house-and the only one-near the site of G. N. Bissell's present residence, and another log house near the present site of St. Peter's Catholic Church, into which three families of new-comers removed a week after Mr. Wright's arrival. In the houses near the fort were then living the Ranney family, Bill Smith, and a Dutchman named Dumont. A man named Armstrong lived at the junction of Wood and Canada Creeks, and these
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