History of Oneida County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 143

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

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In 1823 he emigrated to America, having accepted a call to the Welsh Congregational Church of Utica, N. Y. Here he labored with great acceptance nine and a half years.

Afterwards he spent several years among the English. For the first few months he supplied the pulpit of the Second Presbyterian Church, on Bleecker Street. Thence he re- moved to West Winfield, Herkimer Co., and became pastor of the Congregational Church of that village. Here they made many warm friends, and the time of their stay was ever a bright spot in their memory. A beautiful memorial win- dow in their church, crected since his death, testifies to the continued love of the people for him. An English version of his catechism was used in their school, also in Western- ville, where he afterwards settled, as pastor of the Presby- terian Church. The young people were never forgotten by him, and he always regarded the Sabbath-school as the true nursery of the church.

While living in Westernville his house was destroyed by fire, during a winter night. His family barely escaped with their lives; all else was lost. Always a student, he grieved chiefly for the burning of his valuable library and writings, a loss which he could never fully replace ; but he was not one to sit down in despondency ; he knew that God ruled and he could trust in his providence.

Soon after this he came again to labor among the Welsh, and settled in Steuben, in 1838, as pastor of two country churches, Capel-Ucha and Penymynydd. The first is near his home; the other four miles off, on the top of the hills or mountain, as the name is when translated. For over thirty years he faithfully served these churches, preaching three times every Sabbath, and holding weekly at least three other meetings.

January, 1840, he issued the first number of the " Cen- hadwr," a monthly religious magazine, which he continued to edit and publish till his death. It was printed the first two years at 58 Genesee Street, Utica, by the late R. W. Roberts, and very pleasant was the relation thus formed between Dr. Everett and Mr. Roberts, but the labor of pub- lishing it at such a distance from home, eighteen miles or more, was very great. The road was rough and hilly, and he was obliged to go, often on horseback, several times a month.

His eldest sons, John and Robert, had lately graduated at Oneida Institute, where they had learned the printer's trade in the office of the " Friend of Man." Dr. Everett, there- fore, hired a room for them in Remsen village, where the "Cenhadwr" was published for two or three years. Then it was taken to the family residence; a wing was added for an office, and here his children printed the magazine for over thirty years. His sons and daughters learned to set type, that they might aid their father in the great work to which he now devoted his life. The "Cenhadwr" was never a local paper ; it has a wide circulation through the States and Territories, the Canadas, and Wales, reaching even sometimes to Australia and India. Dr. Everett was an earnest reformer ; always in advance of his age, he led in every good cause. He was one of the earliest of the Welsh clergy to see that in total abstinence alone was there safety, and in this cause he struggled sometimes almost alone. He was also among the first to enter the ranks against slavery, and he threw his whole life-long influence on the side of freedom.

In 1846, Dr. Everett, associated with two others, com-

REV. ROB! EVERETT. D. D.

: INJOS BY WILLIAMS UFICA

MRS.ROB! EVERETT.

CAPEL UCHA.

CAPEL PENYMYNYDD.

RESIDENCE OF THE LATE REV. R. EVERETT, D. D. STEUBEN, ONEIDA C.º N.Y

LITH. BY LIN EVERTS, PHILADELPHIA

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HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

piled a hymn-book, which is still used in some of the Welsh churches. He had years before compiled a smaller one, which was published in Utica, and was used until this took its place. He published three editions. He also pre- pared a Welsh reader for Sabbath-schools, which is exten- sively used. He was an easy, pure writer, in both Welsh and English, and by his publications and writings he did, perhaps, as much as any one man to cultivate a love for Welsh literature, and to establish and retain a knowledge of the language in its purity. He died Feb. 25, 1875, after an illness of two weeks, with his faculties strong and clear to the last.

In the Utica Daily Herald of March 2, 1875, we find this tribute to his memory :

"As a clergyman, the denomination to which he belonged has, by common consent, given him the first place in its councils; his advice has always heen respectfully heard, and generally followed. This has been very marked among his ministerial brethren ; men almost as old as himself have looked up to him as a father, aod their regard for him has heen largely veneration for one who seemed to breathe a purer spiritual atmosphere than is given to other men. He seemed to fill his place naturally, and as a matter of course, without effort and without strife. He was not eloquent, but. rather diffident in the pul- pit; though the inspiration of his theme, with which he was always in sympathy, made him a pleasing speaker, and sometimes kindled an enthusiasm more impressive than the most eloquent oratory. His judgment was keen and his convictions strong; but in presenting the most abstruse subject he was so largely sympathetic that he was always very near to those he addressed.

" It was as a literary man that he has been most useful to his people at large, and it would be difficult to overestimate his services to humanity in this field. . . In 1861 Hamilton College conferred the title of D.D. upon Mr. Everett, aod never was the honor more worthily bestowed."

Mrs. Elizabeth Everett was born May 8, 1797. She was the sister of Henry Roberts, Utica, father of the well- known firm Henry Roberts' Sons, Columbia Street. She filled well her station in life. Wise in counsel, true, faith- ful, and judicious in her relation to her family, the church, and the neighborhood, never countenaucing gossip, but exercising a thoughtful care for all, she was always a steady, cheerful support to ber husband. After his death she continued the publication of the " Cenhadwr" till the close of 1876, when it passed into the hands of her son, Lewis Everett, the present editor and publisher.

Living so entirely for others, Mrs. Everett was never idle, and she always retained a remarkable youthfulness of body and mind. Latterly she met with many serious acci- dents, but her quiet endurance and Christian submission enabled her to recover with surprising rapidity. A little more than a year before her death she was thrown from the sleigh and her thigh broken in two places; she re- covered to walk without assistance or apparent lameness. She was able, also, during the next summer, to attend church frequently, and, in the fall and winter, nearly every Sabbath. She loved prayer, and God blessed her in all her ways. Her last illness was pneumonia, the same as that of which her husband died, but not so severe. She kept her bed only one day, and died March 12, 1878.

Dr. and Mrs. Everett sought to give their eleven chil- dren a good education rather than wealth, and they were permitted to see them all numbered among Christ's fol- lowers.

Elizabeth, their eldest, was educated in Clinton, Oneida Co., at the school of Rev. H. H. Kellog, where she re- mained as teacher. When the school passed into the hands of the Free-Will Baptists she still retained her posi- tion, and was for some time lady principal till her marriage with Rev. J. J. Butler, D.D. She was an earnest Chris- tian, very successful in her work, and dearly beloved by her pupils. When the school was removed to Whitesboro' Dr. Butler was chosen professor of its theological depart- ment. At the close of ten years they removed with this department to New Hampton, N. H., thence to Lewiston, Me., and finally to Hillsdale, Mich., where Dr. Butler oc- cupies the leading chair in a like department of Hillsdale College. Their only son is also Professor of Latin in that college.

Mrs. Butler was ever a conscientious Christian worker and reformer, and her influence will long be felt, especially by those of the Free-Will Baptists' clergy who studied with her husband. She had also marked talent as a writer, and her contributions were well received, but her dearest interests centered in her family. Her health gradually failed after removing to Michigan, and she died April 11, 1877.

Dr. Everett's daughter Cynthia taught among the freed- men in Norfolk, Va., and in Charleston, S. C. She was ardent in her love for this work, and especially strove to elevate them spiritually. Her sympathies were enlisted by the sad condition of the inmates of Charleston jail, among whom were many boys confined for vagrancy ; she and another lady teacher, therefore, opened a school where every other Sabbath she went alone to teach them. Afterwards, at her solicitation, the Governor of South Carolina made them a grant of books, and in other ways bettered their condition. Miss Everett was naturally timid, but in labor- ing for Jesus she forgot herself. She found work on every hand ; the people were literally starving for instruction. Her zeal led her to overtax her strength. She returned to her father's house, but never regained her health. Very patiently she endured a long illness till, Sept. 19, 1876, she, too, went " to join the heavenly host."

Two sons, Henry and Robert, have also passed from earth. They both entered the theological department of Whites- town Seminary, but ill health prevented them from com- pleting the course. Henry died at the age of nineteen, March 6, 1854. Robert was licensed to preach, and did so occasionally, and lectured on temperance and anti-slavery, as his health permitted. He was for a time in the daguer- rian business in Utica, where he had a large circle of friends. He died Nov. 10, 1856.

RICHARD R. ROBERTS

was born in the town of Steuben, Oneida Co., Jan. 2, 1821, being the son of Richard R. and Jane Roberts, both of whom were natives of Wales, where his father emigrated from, and settled in the town of Steuben in 1818. His parents died and are buried in that town, -- his mother in the month of February, 1842, and his father May 31, 1857, at the advanced age of eighty years. He passed his early life at his father's home, and when he became of age bought a farm, but afterwards he became a tanner, which business he followed for twenty years ; and, haviog amassed

534

HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

a comfortable competency, he now lives a retired life. He was married April 8, 1856, to Mary A., daughter of Owen and Jane Lewis, of Remsen. She is a native of Wales. Their children all died in infancy. He is a member of the Republican party ; and though a member of no particular church, has given liberally of his means for the support of religion. His wife is an active member of the Baptist Church.

RICHARD P. ROBERTS

was born in the town of Steuben, Aug. 9, 1837, being the only child of Robert R. Roberts, who emigrated with his father, Richard R., from Wales to that town, at the age of ten, that being in the year 1818. His father died May 9, 1872, and his mother Jan. 4, 1874. He was married April 28, 1863, to Ann, daughter of Roland and Ann Anthony, who were among the first settlers of Trenton, where their daughter was born, March 13, 1841. The family consists of three children, all being born in the town of Steuben,-Catharine J., Feb. 1, 1864; Lizzie Ann, May 6, 1866; and Robert Wallace, Feb. 6, 1869. He is an active member of the Republican party.

JOHN C. OWENS.

This gentleman's father, Owen Owens, came from Wales to this country in 1800, and landed at the city of Phila- delphia, where he remained till he was twenty-four years of age, when he came to the town of Steuben and bought a farm of one hundred and nine acres. He ended his days in that town, leaving two sons to inherit his property,- John C. and Charles. The former was born in Steuben, Feb. 20, 1829, and passed his early life on his father's farm, receiving only a common-school education. The two brothers have always conducted their business together, and are among the most successful farmers of their town, and have increased the farm left them by their father, acre by acre, until they now own one of the largest farms in the county, containing about a thousand acres. They also own and carry on a large and extensive cheese-factory. John C. was married Jan. 28, 1869, to C. Elizabeth, daughter of Wilbur and Charlotte Shaw, of Trenton. They have no children. Politically he belongs to the Republican party, has held the office of justice of the peace for four years, and is the present supervisor of the town, now serving his second term.

SARAH PORTER.

CHAPTER XLI.

TRENTON.

THE town of Trenton lies in the central eastern portion of the county, and is bounded north by Remsen, east by Herkimer County and Deerfield, south by Marcy, and west by Floyd and Steuben. The western portion includes a large share of the Holland Patent, and the eastern the greater part of Servis' Patent. The town comprises an area of 27,292 acres, and the valuation of all property was placed in 1869 at $2,415,351.

The boundary between this town and Herkimer County is formed by the West Canada Creek, in which stream are the far-famed and beautiful " Trenton Falls," a description of which will be found in another place. Among the other streams which water the town are Cincinnatus Creek, also having a number of fine falls and cascades; Nine-Mile Creek, and the tributaries of each. The surface is generally quite hilly and broken, though in places high and rolling table-lands are found. The various streams have cut deep gorges, and the scenery along most of them is grand and picturesque. Nine-Mile Creek has the broadest valley, and flows through probably the lowest land in the town.

535

HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

The Utica and Black River Railway enters the town at Stittville, in the south west corner, and after passing through the villages of Stittville, Holland Patent, and Trenton, and the station at Prospect, leaves the town on the northwest, passing into Steuben. The village of Prospect is located on West Canada Creek, nearly two miles northeast of the station of the same name. South Trenton is located in the southeast part of town, on Nine-Mile Creek.

The town of Trenton* was organized in 1797, and the first town-meeting was held at the house of Thomas Hicks, in the village of Olden Barneveld, on the 4th day of April in that year. The following were the officers chosen, viz. :

Supervisor, Adam G. Mappa; Town Clerk, John P. Lit- tle; Assessors, Thomas Hicks, Cheney Garrett, David Wil- liams; Commissioners of Highways, Peter Schuyler, David Stafford, William Miller ; Overseers of the Poor, Gerrit Becker, Peter Garrett; Collector, Daniel Bell; Commis- sioners of Schools, Peter Schuyler, John Hicks, David Williams ; Constables, Daniel Bell, Jacob P. Nash, Solomon Gillett; Fence-Viewers, Gerrit Boon, William Johnson, Solomon Gillett ; Poundmasters, Jacob T. Smits, James Holibert; Overseers of Highways, on road to Fort Schuyler, Francis Adrian Van der Kemp; on road to Steuben, Joseph Brownell; on road to Canada Creek, David Corp; on road to Fort Stanwix, Abner Matthews; on road to White's Town, Jonathan Graves.

The Supervisors of this town, from 1798 to 1876 inclu- sive, have been as follows, viz. :

1798-1800, John Storrs; 1801, Peter Schuyler; 1802- 10, John Storrs ; 1811, Rowland Briggs; 1812-29, Wil- liam Rollo; 1830-32, Ithia Thompson ; 1833-39, John Storrs ; 1840, Isaac Currey; 1841, Israel F. Morgan ; 1842-45, Henry Rhodes ; 1846, Luther Guiteau, Jr. ; 1847, Henry Miller ; 1848-49, Aaron White; 1850-51, John N. Billings; 1852, John Candee; 1853, Reuben W. Fox ; 1854, Elam Perkios; 1855-58, Orville Combs ; 1859-64, Delos A. Crane; 1865-70, Henry Broadwell ; 1871-73, Delos A. Crane; 1874-76, J. Robert Moore. The officers for 1877 were :

Supervisor, Jacob J. Davis; Town Clerk, Albert S. Skiff; Justices of the Peace, Thomas Thomas, Frank Donglas ; Commissioner of Highways, Alexander Pirnie ; Overseers of the Poor, Daniel French, Herbert A. Pride; Assessors, Henry Rhodes, William L. Fowler, Jesse A. Hughes ; Collector, Hugh X. Jones ; Town Auditors, Wil- liam W. Wheeler, J. E. Chassel, Sylvester B. Atwood ; Constables, Norman Wheeler, Dean W. Rockwell, Adam G. Griffiths, Edwin Jones ; Game Constable, Thomas Maurice; Inspectors of Election, District No. 1, H. L. Garrett, P. M. Whittaker, Frank Conway ; District No. 2, S. E. Barton, Charles A. Brown, J. J. Loragan ; District No. 3, Daniel French, E. G. Griffiths, H. S. Carpenter ; District No. 4, John T. Jones, George H. Worden, M. G. Slocum ; Excise Commissioner, Robert Billsborrow.

EARLY SETTLEMENTS.

July 4, 1876, at the village of Trenton, a centennial address upon the early history of the town was delivered

by John F. Seymour, Esq., of Utica. As he took great pains in preparing the sketch, and has so much of import- ance incorporated in it, we take the liberty of presenting it entire, as follows :

" The association of my parents with the Mappas, the Vander- kemps, the Billings', the Douglases, the Guiteaus, Shermans, and others, early settlers at Trenton, together with my own acquaintance with so many of your citizens, made doubly attractive your invita- tion to unite with you in the observance of this centennial.

"The suggestion of the President of the United States that on this day reference be made to the carly history of cach locality is in ac- cordance with the thoughts of every one, and in no place do such thenghts come more spontaneously than in this town, noted for the culture and refinement of its settlera.

" To appreciate the difficulties and daogers encountered hy the first settlers, it must be remembered that in their day not only was this country covered with a dense forest, but also that it was peopled by the most warlike of the Indian tribes. Bryant, in his history of the United States, says that in 1645, when a general peace was concluded with the hostile tribes, although sixteen hundred of the savages had been killed, there was not a single Dutch settlement, except that at Rensselaerwyck and the military post on South River, that had net been attacked and generally destroyed ; and that, besides a few traders, there were left upon Manhattan Island scarcely a hundred people, and throughout the whole province not more than three hundred men capa- ble of bearing arms could have been mustered.

"In 1663 all that part of the State west of Schenectady was called Terra Incognita ; and although nominally governed by the Dutch, was really under the dominion and terror of the Indian.

" In 1755, almost a century later, an official map had printed in large capitals over this part of the country the word Iroquois, the name of the six nations of Indians.

"In 1758 a fort named Schuyler, after Peter Schuyler, was built where Utica new stands, to protect a fording-place of the Mohawk River, not far from where the bridge at the foot of Genesee Street is now located; and according to an article on Utica in the Edinburgh En- cyclopedia, written by the late James Watson Williams, this fort was the 'scene of several skirmishes between the Indians and the whitee ; the flats of the Mehawk and the country adjoining being the posses- sion of the Mohawk tribe, who were acknowledged by the other tribes of the Maquas or Iroquois to be the true old heada of the Confederacy. Thistribe having remained faithful to the British throughout the Rev- olution, finally forsook their town at Fort Hunter, and removed to the province of Upper Canada, ie 1780, under the auspices of Sir John Johnson.'

" Until 1784, according to the interesting Annals of Oneida County, hy Pomroy Jones, there was no white mao's dwelling-house between Fort Stanwix and Fort Schuyler, and in that year Hugh White came from Middletown, ConD., and built the first house erected at Whites- bero', and on his way up the Mohawk River he found some unoccu- pied farms, and, not far east of the site of Utica, the blackened remains of burned dwelling-houses and barns told the story of the savage work of the Indians and Tories during the Revolution. It must be remembered that the war of the Revolution, the deadly hos- tility between the Patriots and Tories, and the raids of Indians put a stop to the improvements of the Dutch in the valley of the Me- hawk, so that west of Schenectady, with the exception of a few places, it was almost ao uobroken wilderness.

" Even the western boundaries of this State were undefined, and Massachusetts claimed land at the west end of our State, and the claim was finally settled by allowing her land, but only as so much land within the boundaries, and under the jurisdiction of the State of New York. " Within the lifetime of men now living there was no Oneida County, no Trenton, and no roade in all this part of the country, except the pathways of the Indians through the silent forest.

" In 1792, Judge Vander Kemp states that in his journey on horse- back he found two hundred Oneida Indians at Whitestown, and on his arrival at Oneida Lake found Chief-Justice Lansing, of the Su- preme Court, and the Attorney-General of the State camping out on their way to court.

"The best illustrations of the dependence of our early settlers upon the good-will of the Indiana, not only for comfort in life, but also for

* Formerly a part of the town of Schuyler, Herkimer Co.

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HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

life itself, are to be found in two lectures delivered by William Tracy in 1838, in which he narrates two incidents, from one of which it appears that as late as between 1785 and 1790 Hugh White did not dare to deny to a dreaded Indian chief a request to take his little grandohild out of its mother's arms to his wigwam, four miles distant, to keep over night, as a proof that White trusted him.

" The other narrative is still more extraordinary, showing that as late as 1788 eighteen chiefs, of the Oneida tribe of Indians, met in solemn council, and coolly delibereted whether or no they should put to death Amos Dean, a missionary of much uote, an adopted son of the wife of their head chief, as an atonement for the murder of one of their tribe, of which murder it was not pretended Mr. Dean had any knowledge whatever, but only that he was of such distinction that he would make a good sacrifice.

" And this same council condemned him to death without deigning to ask leave of the white men of the State of New York, or of the United States, or of any of their officers, and actually proceeded to his house in a body in the dead of the night, and met him and argued with him the propriety of their course, and, without a suspicion that they were amenable to the lawe of this State, were proceeding to ex- ecute their sentence of death, and would have done it if the wives of three of the chiefs of the council had not suddenly appeared aud saved his life in a manner which equaled, if it did not surpass, the bravery of Pocahontas.

"In 1786 there were ouly two dwelling-houses near Fort Schuyler, now Utica, and three in Deerfield.

"Trenton, therefore, was not far behind when her first settler arrived in 1793. Gerrit Boon, of Holland, merking forest-trees for the line of a future road, as he came over from Fort Schuyler, pitching his tent here in this sheltered valley where two creeks come together, he determined that this should be the seet of a future village, and be called you Olden Barneveld, not only as significant of the love of re- ligious liberty, which sought a place of refuge from the tyranny and bigotry of the old world, but also as a monument to the memory of John of the Olden Barneveld, a noble family of Gerland, of whom Motley speaks as the foremost statesman of the Netherlands, 'who had the hardihood, although a determined Protestant himself, to claim for the Roman Catholics the right to exercise their religion in the Free States ou equal terms with those of the Reformed faith.'

" A lineal descendant of this patriot and martyr now resides at Utica, -Mrs. James Madison Weed, the adopted daughter of the late Rudolph Snyder, aod an esteemed friend of your deceased Sophie Mappa.

" The name of Olden Barneveld comes back to me as I recollect its inscription on the letters which my youthful hande so often carried to the mysterious post-office. It has been suggested that if the name had been shortened to Barneveld it might yet have been retained by a people too young and too much in a hurry to think or say Olden.

" It is to be regretted that the historic designations of Fort Schuyler and Fort Stanwix and Berneveld should have been changed for those of Utica, Rome, and Trenton, which only dim history. It is lameut- able that Indian and descriptive names of localities and streams have been thrown aside and misplaced Letin aud Greek names substituted in their stead.

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History of Oneida County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 143

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