History of Oneida County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 146

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 146

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"James Francis emigrated from South Woles; settled in South Trenton about 1806; bought a small farm nhout one-half mile north- east of the present village, on which be built a log house. Edward Hughes, born in Denbighshire, North Wales, enme to America about the year 1802; three months on passage; landed in Baltimore ; lived in Philadelphia about three years; moved thence to Whitestown, nud lived one year ; thence to South Trenton, where he bought of Holland Land Company fifty neres, at $8 per acre; this Innd was situated nhout one-fourth of a mile south of the present village.

" Mra. Loyd, daughter of Hughes, is still living, aged nhout eighty. She relates with great interest her early experience in this new country. She says, ' We all went to Trenton behind a yoke of oxen. When my father bought the farm there was not sufficient cleared groond on which to erect a log house ; hut the neighbors turned out, and in twenty-four hours they had the trees down and the house up.' She says there wna no stere, no mill, no physician nearer than Trenton village. 'We usu- ally traded in Utica, going three or four times a year, at which times we Inid in a stock of ne essaries. During the winter season our ronds were so bad that we were completely hemmed in. Our mails were de- livered very irregularly by the postmno, who came through from Utica on horseback. Each farmer usually kept one or two horses, with which to go to cherch, to mill, etc., but heavy work was done with oxen. I have frequently seen my father draw in bay on n sled, and with two yoke of oxen, and linve seen hny drawn in on tree-tops. We were frequently annoyed with soldiers, who were morching to the northern frontier; especially so with those who were said to be regulars, from camp at Greenbush. They usually camped for the night on the banks of the Nine-Mile Creek, hut annoyed the settlers greatly by insulting the ladies, shooting doga, stealing chickens, etc. My father had a peculiar faculty of gaining their good-will by allowing them to sleep in his barn, and extending other little civilities. Ha therefore did not suffer quite as much as some of his neighbors.'

"In regard to Indions, I learn that there were none settled in this section nt this date. Large companies, however, of the Oneida tribe frequently eocamped on the banks of Nine-Mile Creek, on my grand- father's land, where they would remnin for several wecks, industriously engaged in making baskets, brooms, and fancy articles. Finally, when they had succeeded in making sale of their goods, they would expend

# Sec previous statement.

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HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

a large amount of their earnings for whisky, with which they would get drunk, and finally break up camp in a general row and fight, often inflicting fearful wounds upon ench other with their knives, clubs, etc. My uncle (Orrin Curry) says that in the year 1830 Colonel Daniel Schermerborn erected a hotel, soon after which he received a commis- sion as postmaster, and he (O. C.) had the honor of being his first deputy. Previous to this date we were obliged to go to Trenton for mail.

" The first merchant of South Trenton was my father, Warren D. Rowley, a native of Litebfield Co., Conn. He erected a building and engaged in the mercantile business in the year 1833. About the year 1800 a log house was erected on the hill on Cheney Garrett's land, in which place religious services were held on the Sabbath, and during the week it was used as a school-house. The pelpit was usually sup- plied by missionaries, although at times they had resident ministers. During the times of great religious excitement, for want of more room than the house afforded, meetings were held in Cheney Garrett's log barn. Several of the older surviving inhabitants allude with great interest to the time when they sat on the bay-mow or the 'big beam' and listened to the service. In due course of time a frame house was substituted for the log one, and still later the capacity of this was greatly increased. After the onion church was built, the old school meeting-house was devoted exclusively to school purposes, and still stands.# Jones, in his ' Annals of Oncida County,' refers to the ex- cellent district school at South Trenton, and says that it was frequently termed ' the model school.' I think there is little doubt that it was the best district school in the country. I could give the names of many men and women, now holding prominent positions in our institutions of learning, who received their education, and others who have tanght, at this school. Prof. James S. Gardner, of Whitestown Seminary, left an unfinished term here about twenty-five years since, to accept the position which he still holds. Miss White, the present preceptress at Whitestown Seminary, also tanght here twenty years ago.

"In this connection I feel that a few words should be said for my father, for although all the inhabitants were interested to a great de- gree in school matters, still I think that to him, more than to any other one, were they indebted for the high standard to which this as a district school attained; and I know that hundreds of teachers, par- ents, and children will bear me witness to this fact. With an excel- lent education, a long experience in teaching, and now with a young family growing up, be readily realized the necessity of bringing this home-school to such a degree of perfection as to obviate the necessity of parents scuding their sons and daughters from home to be educated. With this idea in view, he devoted his best energies to the work.

" Thoroughly competent teachers were always employed io each department. An excellent library of several hundred volumes was provided; all the modern appliances requisite for teaching were at the disposal of teachers ; seldom less than one hundred pupils were in attendance. At this time District No. 4 covered an area of about six square miles, and was three miles from north to south. A few years after the death of my father (which occurred in the year 1854) the district was dividel, and to-day there are two schools where before there was but one."

The following is a copy of the narrative of Judge Van der Kemp, as it appears in letters written by him to Colonel Mappa, in 1792; descriptive of his journey on horseback from Kingston to Albany, thence up the Mohawk Valley to Fort Stanwix, and by canal and bateau through Oneida Lake to Lake Ontario. The first of these letters was re- ferred to by De Witt Clinton, who wrote as follows to Judge Van der Kemp: " Your letter to Colonel Mappa, on the canal, written in 1792, is really a curiosity. It gives you the original invention of the Erie route, and I shall lay it, by as a subject of momentous reference on some future occasion." The following are the judge's letters :

" KINGSTON, 15th July, 1792. " MY DEAR SIR,-Yon desire, then, with such ardor, to be informed of my opinion in regard to the settlements on the northwestern part

of our State, that I will not delay one moment longer to gratify you with all the information I possess on this momentous subject. although I deem it superficial. I shall join to it a concise diory of my exenr- sion to that district. In this I have consulted your wishes with those of other friends here and on the other side of the Atlantic. Could I now adorn this journal with the embellishment of our new adopted language, and make it as interesting as ' Moore's Travels,' my labors should be well rewarded ; but trusting on your indulgence, and know- ing that even a faint glimmering is desirable when we are surrounded with darkness, I waive to make any further apology.

"The period, perhaps, in which yon may judge that you shall pro- mote the interests of your family, by transplanting it from your de- lightful residence on the Second River to the western wilderness, is not far distant. Perhaps the vivid sense of duty, and the prospect of future advantages, may spur you to follow the footsteps of a friend, who, tossed by various carez, disgusted with the bestle of public life, and longing to enjoy retirement, and secering to his children a per- manent, tranquil abode, searched for an asylum in that part of our State to which he should have been lured by the delightful scenery of that country,-by its fertility and the exuberant treasures of its lakes and rivers, conld he have induced two or three congenial families to share in this enterprise. Every interesting point which I cominuni- cated to you two years past, when I made a trip to the western branch of the Delaware, shall now appear to you in a new light, and my fancifel description, as thou wast pleased to caricature it, naked truth ; while it shall contribute, in its turn, to place beyond doubt the continually increasing grandeur and incalculable power at which this State, within a few years, must arrive with gigantic strides, if wisdom directs the steps uf its children, and convince you that its western and northwestern parts are to be regarded as the mainsprings of its ope- lence and grandenr.

" Do not expect, my dear sir, that I can spreadl glowing colors on the secnery, although I was often fascinated by it. Do not look for a picturesque description ; do not search for artful exertions to cover the nakedness of the land. No, this country does not want such auxiliaries. A simple diary, a dry account of the soil and trees, nn incorrect list of the finned tribe in the western waters, viz., the few we could catch, comprehends the extent to which I can engage my- self. I wish to convince you ; I spurn to take you by surprise. Did I even write in behalf of the public, then yet I should only exert my- self to express that with energy which I so lively felt, and my uncouth language would be persuading ; would extort the wish from an Eu- ropenn hosom, Ah, could I secure a residence in that happy country ! Would cumpel the opulent miser to collect his musty dollars and ex- change these for some thousand acres of that wild land. Yes, my dear sir, I am convinced that half a dozen Dutch families, with a dozen substantial, industrious farmers, and expert fishing men, seconded by one hundred Yankees, might render in a few years this country the envied spot to the oldest and best cultivated parts of the thirteen States.

" The increasing prosperity of our State strikes the eye of short- sighted indolence. The foreigner admires our affluence, and our neighbor, the frugal, industrious Pennsylvanian, should ardently wish that he could transplant the advantages of New York State to his own soil. Now, he often reluctantly leaves it, and becomes here indebted for a great part to Nature which he owed before to his pru- dent State administration.

"I acknowledge, my dear sir, that our State constitution is upon the whole well organized, and the eagle-eyed friend of liberty dis- covers only here and there a flaw, which might be altered-might be amended-bet which, nevertheless, cannot obstruct, cannot disem- bogue our prosperity through another channel.

" Pennsylvania's industry, Pennsylvania's progress in agrienltere, in arts and sciences, Pennsylvania's encouragements to enltivate their wild lands, have roused the New Yorkers from their profound sleep, and, perhaps, were a sper to our publie councils to press their steps. Already a beginning is made of opening roads to the West; the streams are covered with bridges, and rewards are offered to enconr- age agricultore aud elevate the natural productions of the soil to the highest possible perfection. The bee-bive of New England is opened, and although flowery fields may allure many drones in the beginning, who even are beneficial in many respects, myriads of that enlightened, active race shall ere long be amalgam with the old settlers. It may retard nwhile the forming of our national character ; it must enhance it in other respecta. It shall blend the virtues, soften the barsh and

# A fine two- story frame school-house was built in 1877. The upper room is used as a public hall.

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HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

too much protuberant features of the one and the other, and bring for- ward, under God's blessing, a virtunus, independent, lofty nation.

" Unincombered with debts, what is more, a creditor of the United States, that of New York ean advance to its industrious citizens thou- sands of peunds, and acquit itself actually of this parental charge in a generons manner. It possessce, nevertheless, an immense surplus to bestow on its daily expenditures, in the digging of ennals, clearing the creeks, and erecting sluices, without burthening its inhabitants with taxes, trifling ones exceptol, for the benefit of the individual conn- tics.

"Oar commerce is increasing daily ; our merchantmen cross every sca; our flag is treated with respect in the Indies, while those of the Pacific Ocean have become acquainted with its thirteen stripes ; so that you may assert with full truth what Caesar did of Pompey's ar- mies, and the navy by which his succors were cut off, that no wind can blow or it favors some of our vessels. The balance of trade inclines more and more; the exchange shall ere long be generally in our advantage; the credit of our paper muney, which in 1788 could not be exchanged for cash under 7 per cent., is restored and placed on a par with hard dollars ere long, if prudence continues to direct the helm ; if the nation becomes not too soon intoxicated by its pros- perity ; if certain advantages are not sacrificed to visionary possi- hilities, we shall be the envy of the world,-nt least come in for a fall share with the British and the Dutch. The mannfactures are eo- couraged more and more, and increase in number and perfection, and must do so, at least for home consumption. The only thing yet wanting is a more copioas population than that which is already an object of surprise, while ia this peculiar branch of a nation's wealth the wise politieiaa will not grasp at a shadow to lose a reality in pos- session.

"You know me too well to suppose that I should uaderrate the value of manufactures. No, sir! I am too deeply penetrated of the immense prize which this boon is worth as soon it is obtainable; bot I do not luok out for that period as long as we possess thousands of millions of aeres good for tillage, as long es our population is not pro- portioned to this immense territory, as long as the wages are high, as long as every indastriuns man can become the lord of the soil, can become independent, as long the foreign market ena afford to send us supplies, even in our own vessels, at a lower rate, and of a superior quality, than that we can maoufacturc.

" It is quite another thing. my dear sir, that the wealthy patriot generously devotes a small share of his patrimony to their encourage- ment and improvement, so that in time of need we may supply our wants, even if all the ports of the world were shut before us, and an- other thing to risk imprudently his all to prese a chimerical theory. It is quite another thing to use and encourage these means to support the widow, the orphan, the indigent in the neighborhood and suburbs of the large cities, than to lure the rugged child of the field to the loom, to the forge and glass-house, and persuade the robust youth that be is oo moore free behind his plow or barrow, or when he shoul- ders his axe for the woods, than under the eye and control of the tax- masters of the voluntary work-house. Agriculture is, nader God's blessing, our tutelar genina ; and as long as she goes hand in hand with commerce, as long as both are encouraged and flourish and prosper, as long as the gifts of a bountiful God are showered upon us with sach a rich profesion, I candot-no, let me say more truly, I do not-envy that other nations share in Ilis blessings which are not yet adapted to vur present situation. As soon as our treaty of commerce with Great Britain shall be concluded, then the bond of union between the brethren shall be consolidated, and the prayers and praises of both countries sball ascend to heaven. The western forte so long with- held shall then he surrendered, and the commerce of our State re- ceive nourishment from hitherto forbidden springs. The State of New York, indeed, though not niming at dominion over the sister States, possesses so many high prerogatives that she may claim to be at par with the proudcet, and if she does nut imperiously pretend to her precedence, would humble herself too low could sbe stoop to carry the train of her fair sister. Our situation nlone, if the products of the country were less valaable, would seeare to this State an eminent share in our national comorerce. With the Atlantic Ocean to the south, the Lakes Champlain, St. George, Ontario, Erie, with the river St. Lawrence, to the nuith, with Canada in oor rear, New England and the Jerseys to cover our sides, the State seems rather to have been fashioned nocording to the modern system of arrondissement than well by nature; and yet the conqueror's sword did not give us one

inch. It is our paternal inheritance. The produce of a part of the Jerseys, of a vast part of New Hampshire, Connecticut, the back parts of Massachusetts, with the State of Vermont, de find car em- porium of New York the most desirable, advantageous market.

"Our ialand navigation, superior to that of many, cqual already to the best watered States in the Union, contribates greatly to the in- crease of our commerce. The North, or the beautiful Hudson River, which the British, daring our last unnatural war, considered as the line of health, in proportion that they approached to or retreated fromn its borders, navigable to large vessels to IIndson, 120 miles above New York, with sloops from eighty ton and more to Albany, I65 and many miles more high with bateaux and small rafts. This mojestie river receives, besides numerous rivulets, more or less navigable, nhave Albany, ut the Cohoes,-a cascade of sixty-seven fect,-the Mohawk River, meandering through fertile fields from where he originates, to the north of Fort Stanwix. It was here that in former days, before our late happy Revolution, the Mohawk Indians resided, from whom it matnated his name.

" Although the Mohawk becomes navigable for bateaux at ao great distance from the Cohoes, all merchandise, nevertheless, is thas far carried by wagons from Albany to Schenectadi, from whence these are conveyed io bateaux abont 100 miles, including one mile portage at the Little Falls, via Fort Stanwix. Here is a carrying-place of half a mile to the Wood Creek, which empties its waters, after it is joined by the Fish Creek, in the Oncida Lake,-as handsome, as rich in fish, as any lake in the western world. Above Fort Brewerton its waters disembogoe through the Onondaga and Oswego Rivers in Lake Ontario, paying all their homage through the St. Lawrence to the Atlantic Ocean.

"Oar government, I am informed, has passed a law to clear the navigation from the Mohawk to the Hudson. If this is not cor- rect, then .it is a prognostication what it shall, what it ought to de at a fotare time. So much is certain that it is resolved to open the carrying-place between the Hudson and Wood Creek, and to clear the latter from many obstructions. Several thousand £ have already been consecrated by the Legislature to this salotary un- dertaking, while subscriptions for the deficit have been opened in Albany and New York with such a success that they were filled in a few days.

" Sec here, then, my dear sir, au ensy communication by water- carriage opened between the most distant parts of this extensive commonwealth ; sec the markets of New York, Albany, and Schenec- tadi glatted with the produce of the West, and the comforts of the South distribated with a liberal baad among the agricultures of this new country. The fur trade begins already to revive, shall ere long recover her former vigor, when the Western forts are surrendered ; and if remains, shared, as it naturally must, by the Northwestern Company, this seeming loss shall be fully compensated from other branches, grafted in the wants and interests of the Canadians. But this not all, sir. It is rather the brenkiog out of the sunshine thro' a morning fog in a charming summer day. Fort Stanwix must be- come a staple place of the commodities of the West, stored there from the fertile lands bordering the lakes and rivers, and Old Fort Schuyler nearly the central part of intercourse between the North and West, transformed in an opulent mercantile city, where future Lorenzos will foster and protect arts and sciences, where the toma- hawk and sealping-knife shall be replaced by the chisel and pencil of the artist, and the wigwam by marble palaces. Do not think that I dream, sir ! Fulto si pero, quando si vuole.

"Our canals at the Falls, at Fort Stanwix, open an early commu- nication between the Lakes Ontario and Odeida, which is possible, and can thus be executed, and a large part of the work is peracted. Go un, then, and dig canals through the western district, and be not afraid ' that a single hair shall be burt on the head of its inhabitants by the waves of Lake Erie.' Dare only to undertake the enterprise, and I warraut the saccess ; or do you deem it a more arduous under- taking as the canal of Languedoc ?- and this was performed. Do not answer, I beg you, this was the work of the Grand Monarque. Have you forgotten the river, the Yssel, the fossa Drusiana ? This was the work of a Roman general nad hie army ; and are we not, do we not pretend, at least, to be, the most enlightened nation on the globe ? Should, then, a republican government, rich in men and in wealth, shrink to sccomplish what Louis XIV. executed ? You were more sanguine when you did lead your patriotic citizens against the Prussian myrmidons at the Niewiersluys, and you are too candid not

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HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

to acknowledge now that your hope of success was irretrievably past. Give me the disposal of fifty New York purses ; give me only the eredit of that city, and I shall do what others promised in florid speeches; or, art thou apprehensive that the spell of your enchantment shall be broken, give me the republicen wand of Caius Popilius, and I will go to the water-nymph Erie, and trace a benutiful curve, thro' which her ladyship shall be compelled to pay a part of her tribute to the ocean through the Genesee country, engaging her n courteous attendance from lakes and ereeks to wait on her grace during this extorted ex- cursion, and leaving her the consulation of the Doge of Genoa at the French Court, 'to admire no object bat herself' during her course through our country to the Hadson River.

"Our agriculture is considerably improved, although much is yet wanted before it can be compared with what is performed in Europe. Nine-tenths of our farmers possess often double and treble the land than which they can or pretend to caltivate. It is n too generally prevalent systemi to be rather contented with the crop which the field spontaneously yields, than to nim nt a richer harvest obtainable by a more industrious tillage.

" The example of the Pennsylvanians, the thousands of New Eng- land men who, flocking annually in this State, ameliornte our bus- bandry, improve our stock, and transform cor woodlands into productive fields, the creation-and if noything does, it deserves this name-the crention of an agricultural society at New York, a similar associatiun nt Albany, the offered premiums to the largest produce of maple-sugar,-that blessing of heaven to the back countries, little in- ferior to the sugar of the West Indies,-the encouraging nets of our Legislature in opening new roads, and other beneficial plans, yet in embryo,-all this united hnd altered our agriculture.

" How could it be any other way, my dear sir ? There the richness of the soil pays tenfold our industry ; there the climate is temperate, mild nearly as that in the Netherlands. The population is generally in our States, principally in New England,-in this State, peculiarly in its western parts, baffling all imagination. A marriage without issue is n rare phenomenon ; from five to nine is no nousunl number of children,-often a dozen or more.

" The fertility of our soil, principally in the western district, where one acre often pruduces as much as three in any other part of the State; our inland navigation ; abundance of fish, of fuel; cur well- regulated State government, maictaioing every one by his religious as well ns civil rights ; admitting oe privileged church, nor loading an unbelieving herd with tapes for its support, have yearly whole shonls of New England men or Europeans to settle in this State or Pennsyl- vania. Here the crops but seldom fail ; the long winters, so fatal in the Southern States, nre here seldom injurious, as the snow remains till the earth begins to be adorned again with a fresh tapestry. Wheat, eorn, oats, barley, rye, potatoes, with every kind of garden vegetables and garden fruits, the watermelon, the cantaloupe, the grape not ex- eluded, arrive in the western and often in the northern parts of this State to perfection.

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History of Oneida County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 146

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