History of Oneida County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 120

Author: Durant, Samuel W
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Fariss
Number of Pages: 920

USA > New York > Oneida County > History of Oneida County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 120

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Stephen Moulton, Jr., lived to the age of ninety-one years, and died Feb. 1, 1851 .. He was a member of the celebrated band of musicians of the Revolutionary army, under Timothy Olmstead. He was very active until his last days, and always walked to Rome when wishing to visit that place, notably on the occasions of executing his pension papers, March and September 4. He was never sick until the final attack which carried him away.

William Allen, who is mentioned as one of the early set- tlery, died Aug. 4, 1843, aged seventy-three years, and his wife, Dorcas, answered to the summons of the death angel Feb. 11, 1855, having reached the age of nearly eighty- three. Ezra Wilcox died April 4, 1823, aged seventy, and his wife, July 27, 1830, aged seventy-two. These persons, with several of their children, are buried in the small cem- ctery east of Floyd Corners.

One of the early settlers of this town was Samuel Dyer, who after a number of years' residence sold his farm, and removed to what is now the town of Marcy. Mr. Dyer was a man much respected for his sterling good sense and pleasing manners, yet in one thing he was laeking. To his ear the strains of delicious music, which might be brought forth by skillful fingers from the keys of the piano or the strings of the harp, were as naught. By his own statement, there was as much melody in the sound of " half a dozen men whetting their scythes in his meadow before breakfast" as in the rich notes of a grand piano.

Captain Nathan Townsend settled in the southeast part of town, in 1801, on a farm situated in Sumner's Patent, which had been purchased by Governor George Clinton.

A man named Turner Ellis had previously occupied this farm as a " squatter." Thomas Bacon and Samuel Cut- mings were carly settlers upon Floyd Hill, the locality going for some time by the name of " Bacon's Hill," after the family which located upon it.

Samuel Denison located in the town of Floyd in the year 1800, and among those who came at nearly the same time were James Chase, Latham Denison, and others. Mr. Chase died not many years afterwards, Latham Denison about 1844-45, and Samuel Denison in 1849.

The first death in the town was that of a Mr. Foster, who died of disease, and the second that of Nathan Thomp- son, who was killed by a falling tree. In the latter part of the summer of 1796 several persons died of dysentery ; among them were the wife of Colonel Stephen Moulton, and three children of his son James, all within the same week.

Asa Clark, from the State of Massachusetts, settled in Floyd Hill about 1805. During the war of 1812 he served as a teamster in the American army. He and his wife both lived to the age of eighty-seven years. His son, A. S. Clark, now resides a short distance south of Floyd Cor- ners, and is postmaster at that place.

David Nutt came to this town from Massachusetts or Connecticut some years previous to 1800, and settled on the farm now owned by George Clark. His father, Robert Nutt, was a Revolutionary soldier, and located about the same time. Both died in the town. David Nutt's son, Austin A. Nutt, is living southwest of Floyd Corners, and was born in this town in 1800. He has vivid recollections of this region when its appearance was little changed from that of an unpeopled wilderness.

Benjamin H. Gardner, from Rhode Island, moved to this town about 1804, with his father, Amos Gardner, and settled on the place now occupied by the widow of the former. This estimable lady has reached the age of eighty- eight years, yet her memory is still bright, and her facul- ties are remarkably preserved. Her husband served in the war of 1812; his father, Amos Gardner, returned to Rhode Island, and died there.

Mrs. Gardner's father, Eli Kent, came to the county when the daughter was but five years old, or in 1795, when the small cluster of buildings which stood on the site of Utica were known as " Old Fort Schuyler." He settled in the edge of Rome, and lies buried near his old farm. He volunteered and served for some time during the war of 1812.

In this same neighborhood, but in the town of Floyd, there settled three families named Kilborn, that of Israel Denio, and others. At that period the surrounding forests were filled with many varieties of wild game, and the larger animals, as wolves, wild-cats, bears, deer, panthers, etc., were by no means searce. The pig-pen and sheep- fold of the settler must be made strong and secure, in order that the intnates thereof might be safe from prowlers. Occasionally the use of a fire-brand was necessary to drive away some midnight robber, who scrambled away through the forest with a disappointed grunt, or disappeared in the trec-tops with a blood-curdling scream. The life of the pioneer was one of almost constant adventure, and the tales that are preserved in nearly every locality of the grandsires

l'hoto, by Williams.

HON. INGHAM TOWNSEND.

Hon. Ingham Townsend was born March 6, 1799, io IIancock, Berkshire Co., Mass., the eighth child of Nathan and Dorcas Townsend. Their first child died in infancy. Those who reached adult age in the order of their birth were Gardner, William, Hannah, Halsey, Palmer, Rhoda, Ingham, Betsey, and Nathaniel, all deccased except Palmer and Ing- ham. In 1801 the family moved from Massachusetts, and settled in the town of Floyd, on the place now owned and occupied by a grandchild, Mrs. Sarah A. Laird. A small clearing had been made and a log house crected by a Mr. Ellis, of whom it was purchased, together with two hundred and six acres of land, mostly woods. A few years afterwards a tract of four hundred and fifteen acres was purchased of George Clinton, the first Governor of New York.

Nathan Townsend lived to the extreme age of nearly ninety years. He died March 30, 1854. He served one term in the Assembly, was a Unitarian in his religious belief, and was one of the most successful farmers in the town of Floyd.

Ingham Townsend lived at home until he was twenty- three years of age, receiving, after his majority, from his father one hundred dollars per year for his services. He received his education at the district school of his neighbor- hood, and at the Lowville Academy. Nathan Townsend gave to each of his sons land to the value of one thousand dollars, and to each of his daughters five hundred dollars in money. To his sons Ingham, Palmer, and Nathaniel he gave one hundred and sixty-five acres of the four hundred and fifteen acre tract, and by purchase from his brothers of their interest, Ingham became the sole owner. Upon this farm he built subsequently one of the finest residences in Oneida County, where he still resides.

He married, February 7, 1826, Caroline H. Fox, daughter of Ansel and Lydia Fox. Her father was a native of Connecticut, an early settler in the town of Trenton, and a prominent man in his day. Mrs. Townsend was born

June 2, 1807. She finished her education with John Sherman, at Trenton Falls.

Mr. and Mrs. Townsend have had no children of their own. They have adopted and brought up three. The first was Frances C. Fox, daughter of Reuben and Frances Fox, and a niece of Mrs. Townsend. She was born April 1, 1841. Married, October 26, 1864, to Wm. Anderson. They live at the homestead. They have two children,- George Townsend, born April 15, 1866, and Caroline Frances, born December 16, 1869. The second was a child left in a basket, by whom was never known. The little waif found a father and mother indeed in Mr. and Mrs. Townsend. They named him Ingham Fox Townsend. A card left in the basket gave the date of his birth, viz., November 18, 1846. He married Agnes Moulton, daugh- ter of William F. and Elizabeth Moulton, of Floyd. He is now a farmer in Lenox, Madison Co., N. Y. They have no children. The third child was Anna Hazen, adopted when two years of age; born May 1, 1852 ; living at home.

Mr. Townsend has been an extensive and successful operator in real estate and in cattle. Accumulated a hand- some property, which was subsequently greatly reduced by undersigning. He built the fine stone residence in which he lives in 1837, as said before one of the best in the county. He voted twice for Andrew Jackson ; was a strong anti-slavery man, and has been identified with the Repub- lican party since its organization. Served a term in the Assembly in 1857 ; was on committee of agriculture.

For thirty-nine years has been a member of the Presby- terian Church of Holland Patent,-an active and promi- nent man in it. His wife has also been a member for forty years.

Mr. Townsend has been a liberal contributor to all benevo- lent enterprises, colleges, churches, etc. He took an active interest in military matters of the State, and was a colonel of one of the State militia regimeuts.

451

HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

and granddamies of the present inhabitants would fill a volume.

John Robbins, from Bennington, Vt., and grandfather of Alfred Robbins, now a resident of this town, removed to Oneida County in 1790, and at first settled on the farm in Rome, afterwards owned by Peter Colt, near what is now known as Newville. The miasma and fever and ague of that locality caused him to remove into what is now Floyd, near the Rome town-line, where he settled on the farm now owned by his grandson, Alfred Robbins. The father of the latter was Henry Robbins. A daughter of John Robbins married Willett Ranney, Jr., of Rome.

" Israel Denio, Sr., father of the Inte Judge Denio and of Israel Denio, of Rome, had a number of years before married, in Beaning- ton, Esther, another daughter of John Robbins. Ephraim Robbins (father of Olive Robbins, of Liberty Street, Romc), and a brother of Esther and Betsey Robbins, above named, married a daughter of Bill Smith, the latter hoving twenty-five years before married a sister of Willett Ranney, Jr."#

John and Henry Robbins both died in the town of Floyd.

Israel Denio, a son of Aaron Denio (a stancli veteran of the Revolution), was born in Deerfield, Mass., in 1763. His father for years kept a tavern in Greenfield, in the north part of Massachusetts, near the Vermont State line (previous to the Revolution). Israel Denio was a blacksmith by trade, and married Esther, a daughter of John Robbins (as before mentioned), in 1791. Early in 1795 he came to Oneida County, and settled in what is now Floyd, about a mile south of the present residence of Alfred Robbins. There his daughter, now the widow of Joseph Kirkland and a resident of Rome, was born in 1796. Mr. Denio removed to Wright Settlement (town of Rome) about 1797, put up a shop, and worked for many years at his trade. He afterward-about 1815- removed to " Crosby Corner," built a house and shop, and continued his work. In 1837 he moved upon the place where Mrs. W. B. Smith now resides, and lived there with his son Israel until his death, which occurred in 1846, when he had reached the age of eighty-three years. Previous to removiog to this county he had lived a few years at Bennington, Vt., and came west because his father-in-law, Mr. Robbins, had removed here. His son, Hiram Denio, born in May, 1799, became prominent as Judge Denio, of Rome, and died in 1871.+

Another of the early settlers of Floyd was Paul Perry, one of whose sons married Eunice, a daughter of John Robbins. The stone placed at the head of Paul Perry's grave was the first one set up in the cemetery at " Wright Settlement."

Richard M. Williams, the present postmaster at Camro- den, who was eighty-nine years old on the 15th of July, 1878, came to this county from Wales in 1832, and lived two years in Steuben, removing to Floyd in 1834. In the former year there were but few Welsh families living in the town. Mr. Williams has been quite a noted bard among his people, and has preserved many of his efforts in the poetical line.

Ebenezer Hemenway, now of the town of Floyd, was born in the town of New Hartford in 1797. His father, Nathan Hemenway, who had belonged to the Massachu- setts militia during the Revolution, came from that State to New Hartford in the neighborhood of 1790, and settled west of the village, at the " Middle Settlement." His daughter, Aurelia Hemenway, now resides at the village of New Hartford.

THE EARLY SCHOOLS

of Floyd were not numerous. One was taught quite early in the Nutt neighborhood, in a log building. About 1816- 17, some years after it was started, a man named Simmons was the teacher.

For the children in the western part of town the first and nearest school was kept in the Kent neighborhood, in the town of Rome, in the winter of 1795-96. A small log school-house was used, and the teacher was " Rune" Kilborn, one of the early settlers of Floyd. Probably a few other schools were taught at an early day, but as the southern and western portions were first settled, while the remainder was long afterwards a wilderness, the facilities for requiring an education afforded the children of the pioneer families were quite limited. The schools of this town at present are in excellent condition.

THE FIRST CHEESE-FACTORY

in Floyd was built and conducted, in 1862, by T. D. Rob- erts, who owns one of the three now in operation. The other two are the property of Griffith Thomas aud Mr. Crill. Each does a fair amount of business, although not as heavy as those which are nearer to a railway station. Since dairying was established, the class of stock owned by the farmners has greatly improved.

The first mill erected in this town was on the Nine-Mile Creek, at a place known as the " Punch Bowl." The first tavern was kept at Floyd Corners by Captain Benjamin Pike, who was succeeded by Moses Coffeen.

RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES.

Rev. John Taylor, a missionary sent out by the Hamp- shire County, Massachusetts, Missionary Society in 1802, made a tour from Albany to the Black River country. His journal has been preserved in the Documentary History of New York, and from it we make the following extract, which concerns the town of Floyd :

" August 2 .- Started for Floyd; rode 1I miles to a Captain Rice's. Preached in the evening. I know not what remarks to make upon the inhabitants of this town ; a half a dozen excepted, they seem to be the fag-end of man in disorder aod confusion of all kinds. The Baptists havo some regularity, but the Metbodists are producing the scenes which are transpiring in Keotneky. Women here, Methodists, pray io their families instead of ye meo, and with such strength of lungs as to be distinctly benrd by their neighbors. I had almost as many nations, scets, and religions present to hear me proach as Peter had oo the day of Pentecost. In this town there is an excellent ebar- acter,-Esq. Dier; he tells me that Clinton has given commissions to five men for justices in this place, one of whom is a renegade Irish- man, without character and without prayer, and another has no Biblo in his house. Io fact, this is a most miserable place as to inhabitants. The land is good, too good for such iohabitants."

# Article in Rome Sentinel, by D. E. Woger, Esq. t See history of Utica.

452

HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

A UNION CHURCH

was built in an early day at the corners, and has been oecu- pied by different denominations. At present (1878) the Methodists occupy the church alone, and are the only ones who have held meetings in it for several years, except oeea- sional services by the Free Methodists or Episcopalians. The Methodist society is in charge of Rev. W. Williams, who preaches also at Stittville and on Floyd Elill.

A BAPTIST SOCIETY

was organized on the hill in 1807, and flourished for many years. Among its pastors were Elders Simeon Jacobs (its founder), R. Z. Williams, Isaiah Matteson, V. D. Waters, Josiah Hatt, Thomas Applegate, and others.

TIIE METHODIST EPISCOPAL SOCIETY,

at Camroden, was organized about 1840-42, and the build- ing first used as a house of worship was the one now occu- pied as the post-office and residence of R. M. Williams. The present frame church was built about 1866, and is a neat and commodious edifiee.

WELSHI CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, CAMRODEN.

This society was originally Presbyterian, and was or- ganized about 1834. The old church stood north of the present one, on the opposite side of the road. The present frame church was built in 1854. The membership in April, 1878, was about 45, and the pastor Rev. J. R. Griffiths, who has had charge for eleven years. A Sabbath-school is sustained, with Owen Owens as Superintendent.

FLOYD CORNERS

is a small village in the southern central part of town, eon- taining two stores, a cooper-shop, a wagon-shop, a black- smith-shop, a hotel, a school-house, a union church, and a post-office. The first postmaster here was probably Captain Benjamin Pike, and another early one was Linus L. Moul- ton. The present incumbent is A. S. Clark.

CAMRODEN POST-OFFICE.

This village is located northeast from Floyd Corners, and contains two churches, a school house, a post-office, and a blacksmith-shop. The post-office was established in 1872 or 1873, and is on the mail-route from Stittville to Camro- den via Floyd Corners. Richard M. Williams is the pres- ent postmaster, and has held the position since the office was established. The origin of the name Camroden is Welsh, and was probably derived from some Welsh hill, "cwm" in Welsh meaning " a hill." The place is located on Floyd Hill.

We are indebted for information furnished in this town, to A. S. Clark, A. A. Nutt, Mrs. Benjamin H. Gardner, Mrs. Alfred Robbins, T. D. Roberts, R. M. Williams, and others.

CHAPTER XXXI. FORESTPORT.

THIS is the youngest in the sisterhood of towns which form the county of Oneida, and occupies its northeast eor-

ner. It was formed from the north part of the town of Remsen, Nov. 24, 1869, and includes all that portion on the north side of Black River. This town reaches into the great wilderness which stretches over northern New York, and until very recently was covered with a dense growth of the varieties of timber common to that region,-pine, hem- loek, spruce, ete. Except in a strip through the central part of the town, where hops are raised to advantage, the principal industry of the inhabitants is the manufacture of lumber. It is watered by Black River and its tributaries, all of which are filled with brook-trout and other fine speci- mens of the finny tribe, and the disciples of Isaak Walton may here find abundant sport. In the north part of the town are several very fine lakes, among which may be men- tioned White, Long, and Otter Lakes, and Deer and Round Ponds. Long Lake is the most considerable in area. Quite a settlement has sprung up in their vicinity, and parties on their way over this route to the " North Woods" find ample accommodations at the hotel owned by Philip Studer.

Game was formerly very abundant, and a few stray deer and other animals are still occasionally killed. The soil is in most places sandy. Black River, at Forestport village, is a rapid stream, rushing over rough masses of gneiss which here outerop, forming several small islands. In ad- dition to the natural obstruetions, artificial dams have been constructed, which make the picture still more attractive. Here, too, is the strong, high dam built by the State to furnish water to the feeder of the Black River Canal, which extends hence to Boonville. Big and Little Wood- hull Creeks, Pine Creek, and others flow through the town, all discharging their waters into Black River.

Among the principal saw-mill owners and lumber dealers are Denton & Waterbury, Joseph Ano, Henry Nichols, Gideon Killmer, Weed Brothers, Martin Smith, and others. Circular saws are exclusively used. Some of these are at White Lake, which is in the fine hop region opened by the elearing away of the forest. There have been no permanent settlements made until recent years, the first being at

FORESTPORT VILLAGE

and vicinity. This village was at first called " Punkey- ville," from the prevalence of those annoying insects vul- garly known as " Punkies," and several other euphonious titles fell to its lot. It was at one time known as Williams- ville, but the name was changed finally to Forestport.

The first settler in this neighborhood was a man named Smith, who erected a saw-mill on the west side of the river. Truman Yale, who was the first to establish himself in business, built and operated a chair-factory about 1838-40. The first house erected on the east side of the river is yet standing, and was ereeted by Alfred Hough. The next one was built by a man named McNeil; these were both frame buildings, as was also Yale's, which was a combina- tion of dwelling and shop.

Anson Hayden opened the first hotel in the village about 1851. It is not now used for a publie-house. Before that time whisky had been sold here, it being one of the arti- eles in the catalogue of a lumberman's necessaries in those days. The building now standing and known as the

FOREST-PORT STEAM MILL, DENTON & WATERBURY, PROPS.

LITH. BY L M EVERTS. PHILA PA.

GENI JONATHAN A HILL

453

HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

" Forest Hotel" is a fine structure, and was erccted by M. M. Mabach. It is the only one in the place.

A store was opened at an early date on the west side of the river, in what is now Boonville, by Loren Miller, and was the first one in the neighborhood. The first one on the east side was established by Enos S. Howard, when the canal feeder was being constructed.

George Hovey settled in Forestport in 1847, though he had visited the locality years before. Edwin Benedict, now a resident of the village, is the son of Daniel Benedict, who settled about four miles from Forestport, in the town of Boonville, about 1805. He came from Saratoga Co., N. Y., with his father, John Benedict.

Schools were taught in this vicinity previous to the year 1840, and among the early teachers was Miss Mary Bene- dict, sister of Edwin Benedict, above mentioned. The early schools here were taught in a frame building, which is now used as a dwelling. A large, two-story, frame school-house has been erected in the village, and the school, at present under the management of Stephen Manchester, as principal, has two departments, and an attendance of more than one hundred scholars.

The post-office was originally established at Woodhull, and called Woodhull post-office. It was at that place but a short time before being removed to this village, when its name was changed to Forestport, and Alfred Hough, Esq., appointed postmaster. The town is named after the office, the name having been suggested by Robert Crandall. The present postmaster is Alonzo Denton.

The village contained in April, 1878, six stores of va- rious descriptions, three wagon- and blacksmith-shops com- bined, one independent blacksmith-shop, one harness-shop, three shoe-shops, a grist-mill, built by Philip McGuire (the old one built by Hough & Hurlburt not being at present in existence), two steam saw-mills (of which only one is now running), employing eight or ten men, a jeweler's es- tablishment, two churches (Methodist Episcopal and Epis- copal, both having small membership, the latter in charge of Rev. Mr. Quennell, who also preaches at Boonville, and the former of Rev. J. G. Brooks; the Presbyterians also hold meetings in "Temperance Hall," in connection with a society at Alder Creek ), a society of Good Templars, with a membership of 160, organized in 1877, and a popu- lation of several hundred.

WOODHULL AND MEEKERSVILLE

are suburbs of Forestport village, situated a short distance up Black River. The former was originally called Port Woodhull, and took its name from Woodhull Creek. It contains a store and a large tannery, owned by Proctor & Hill. Meekersville consists of a small cluster of dwellings, and contains no places of business. The town of Forest- port lies partly in the Remsenburgh Patent and partly in the large grant known as the " Woodhull Tract."

THE FIRST TOWN-MEETING

in Forestport was held March 1, 1870, at which time the following officers were elected, namely : Supervisor, Harry Weed ; Town Clerk, Charles E. Barber; Justices of the Peace, Daniel Nugent, Judson W. Rockwell; Assessors,

Stephen Millard, Thomas Ryan ; Commissioners of High- ways, Christopher Herrig, John Bellinger ; Collector, Thomas J. Alliger ; Poormasters, Philip Studer, John Lindsey ; Constables, James H. Jackson, Henry Herrig, Asaph Learned, Wm. Elthorp, George Thurston ; Inspectors of Election, Giles C. Hovey, Edward Coughlin, Cephas Weeks ; Sealer of Weights and Measures, James Mckenzie.

Harry Weed held the office of Supervisor until 1875, and Timothy Coughlin has held it from 1876 till the present. The balance of the officers for 1878 are: Town Clerk, N. G. Waterbury ; Justices of the Peace, Theodore H. Weed, Martin Smith; Commissioner of Highways, Edmund A. Klock ; Assessor, C. F. Weeks; Collector, Charles Getman ; Overseers of the Poor, Peter Myers, Conrad Ringwold ; Town Auditors, Philip Studer, F. A. Weed, J. A. Hill; Constables, Lawrence Vaughn, Charles Getman, Arthur Bellinger, Jacob Isley, James Donovan ; Game Constable, James Kilkenny ; Inspectors of Election, District No. 1, Francis Raymond, Charles Stannard, P. G. Kilmer ; District No. 2, Daniel Nugent, Levi Cropsy, August Beil; Sealer of Weights and Measures, Solomon Nestle ; Excise Commissioner, James Donovan.

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History of Oneida County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 120

Author: Durant, Samuel W Publication date: 1878 Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Fariss Number of Pages: 920

Author: Durant, Samuel W
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Fariss
Number of Pages: 920