History of Oneida County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 134

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 134

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St. John's Episcopal Church, Clayville .- Through the efforts of Frederick Hollister, of early manufacturing fame in this village, the services of Rev. William Baker were secured, and he preached here in the spring of 1847. The present fine brick church was built in 1848-49, at a cost of $17,000 to $20,000. The first meeting of the society was held April 25, 1847, in the old school house. Mr. Baker, at that time rector of St. Paul's Church, at Paris Hill, preached here one Sunday in each month. Rev. William H. Paddock, principal of a family school at New Hartford, aided in forming the society here, and meetings were held every other Sunday. The corner-stone of the church was laid June 21, 1848, by Bishop De Lancey, and the society was incorporated July 9, 1849, with 21 members. John Wicks and Ezra Brown were the first church-wardens, and the vestrymen were James H. Jen- nings, R. Wells Dickenson, Riley W. Miller, Sterling A. Millard, Aaron B. Bligh, Frederick Hollister, George Lord, Parmenas Mott. The site for the church was deeded by the " Empire Mills Company," and the building was consecrated by Bishop De Lancey, December 23, 1849. Rev. P. A. Proal, D.D., of Trinity Church, Utica, was the first rector of St. John's. The present rector is Rev. J. B. Wicks, of Paris Hill, and the communicants number about 25.

The Methodist Episcopal Church at Clayville was organ- ized some time during the Rebellion, about 1863-64. Its pulpit is at present supplied by Rev. E. J. Clemens.

St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Clayville .- The first Catholic clergyman who visited this place was Rev. Pat- rick Carraher, of St. Patrick's Church, West Utica, sobre thirty years ago or more. He celebrated mass in the school- house. The church was organized by Rev. Father Cough- lin, of Clinton, who was succeeded by Rev. Father O'Reilly, now of Clinton, under whose supervision the present frame church was built about 1864, and dedicated in 1865. In 1868 (previous to which time Father O'Reilly had at- tended at this place, Waterville, West Winfield, Herkimer Co., etc.) another clergyman was appointed at Waterville, -Rev. Philip Smith, who had charge also at Clayville. The present pastor, Rev. E. F. O'Connor, was appointed in 1874, and holds services also at West Winfield, where a church was dedicated September 30, 1877. St. Patrick's parish includes about 140 families, or some 700 individ- uals. Two Sunday-schools are sustained : one at Clayville, with an attendance of about 75, superintended by Michael

Dempsey, and another in the school-house at Chadwick's Mills, in the town of New Hartford. The society has a fine cemetery on the road north of Clayville, near the one belonging to the village.

PARIS HILL.

The following sketch was prepared by Hon. Lorenzo Rouse, once a prominent citizen of this town, and now of Clinton, in the town of Kirkland. It has been handed us by J. V. H. Scovill, of Paris Hill :

"My knowledge of the carly history of Paris is, of course, some- what limited as to personal observation, my first acquaintance with it having commenced in the spring of 1816, that is, twenty-seven years after the first settlement was made, which was at Paris Ilill and vicinity. This first settlement made in the towo was in 1789. It was then in the town of Whitestowo, and was the third settlement made in that town, if not in the county, Whitestown having been first settled in 1784, Clinton in 1787, and Paris Hill in 1789. (Utica, how- erer, had three log huts in 1787, so that Paris Hill must have been the fourth settlement in the county.#)

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

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

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

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

# Utica was settled in 1788 .- HISTORIAN.

GEO. W CHAPMAN

MRS.GEO. W. CHAPMAN.

PHOTOS BY LB WILLIAMS, UTICA N Y.

LITH BY L H EVERTS & CO, PHILA, PA

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

UTH . BY L M.EVERTS &CO. PHILA, PA.

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

WILLIAM RICHARDS.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sharedby si

Min Richards

HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

501

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

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

" I have stated that Paris was originally included in the town of Whitestown, then a part of Herkimer County. In 1792 the town of Paris was organized as a separate towo, and included nat only Kirk- land and Marshall, but also the present towns of Sungerfield, Brook- field, Hamilton, Cazenovia, and Sherburne. These five latter towns were tuken off in 1795, and Kirkland, including Marshall, in 1827, leaving the town of Paris with nearly its present boundaries, the only change being the addition of a narrow strip from Kirkland, in 1839, to accommodate a few individuals.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

502

HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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History of Oneida County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 134

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