History of Oneida County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 155

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 155

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

made for the shore and blew up their vessels. We proceeded to Ticonderoga about June 1."

In the year 1780 he served nine months, in the Second Regiment of infantry of the State of Connecticut, under Bezaleel Beebe, lieutenant-colonel commandant.

In November, 1781, he served on board of the brig " Lady Green," mounting 14 guns, commanded by Captain Joseph Smith. In Cumberland Bay, on the south side of Cuba, after a short engagement, in which he was wounded, he was taken prisoner by the " Childress," a sloop of war, commanded by Captain Chamberlin, and carried to Jamaica and put in prison. In August, 1782, he made his escane and went to London in a merchant-ship, where he was impressed into service upon the hulk " Nightingale," and then taken to the "Scipio," a 64-gun ship, bound for the East Indies on a three-years trip, under Captain Mann. He escaped from this vessel, went to Portsmouth, and was there when pcace was restored. He returned home Oct. 13, 1783, the day before he was twenty years old.

This is but a brief portion of his experience in the Rev- olution. His extreme youth prevented him from holding offices.

After the war he followed the sea, making East II addam, Conn., his land home till 1795, and during this time owned and commanded several merchantmen, which plied between our ports and the West Indies.

He married Elizabeth Webb, daughter of William Webb, at Saybrook, Conn., on the 8th day of March, 1791. She was a lady of good family, and a faultless wife and mother. She died at Holland Patent, Jan. 21, 1851.

In 1795, possessed of large means, he came with his family to Oveida County. There accompanied him Beza- leel Fisk, Isaac Hubbard, and Hezekiah Hurlburt. These four men bought equal shares of the tract of land known as the Holland Patent, so called because the original patent was granted to Lord Holland. Here Mr. De Angelis un- derwent all the hardships and privations of a frontier life. He came, however, to make a home, and he spread out his capital in saw-mills, grist-mills, blacksmith-shops, etc. From the necessity of the case he became the village esquire. This was in the old days, when these officers were chosen from " the good and lawful men of the best reputation in. the county." He was not a politician, nor an office-secker, yet we find him frequently figuring in the county and State conventions of his time. The old court records show that for a long time he was a member of the Court of General Sessions of this county, and frequently presided over its deliberations.

Mr. De Angelis was the father of eleven children, five of whom are still living. William Webb De Angelis, a son, now occupies the old family homestead at Holland Patent.

It is worthy of remark that the name Pascal has been preserved in the family for four generations.

Mr. De Angelis was six feet in height, straight as an ar- row, had black eyes, a prominent nose, a high forehead, an elegant figure, and commanding presence. He was a faith- ful, devout Christian, and a member of St. Paul's Church at Holland Patent at the time of his death, which occurred Sept. 8, 1839.

570

HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

EPHRAIM WILLARD

was born in Weathersfield, Coun., Oct. 6, 1772, the second child of Simon and Sarah Willard. The children were as follows, in the order of their birth : Sarah, Ephraim, Simon, Eunice, Mary, Elias, Elias (2d), Rossiter, George, and Betsey; all deccased except Betsey.

Ephraim Willard married Lucy Griswold in May, 1797, and in February of the saine year moved from Weathers- field and settled in Trenton, taking up one hundred acres of unimproved land, and living near the spot now occupied by the homestead. They had children as follows :

Lucy FAT in Oct. 23, 1798; wife of Horace Wood- bridge, fardier in Trenton ; died Feb. 11, 1876. Three children living and three deceased.

John, born June 27, 1800; died Dec. 8, 1800.

John G., born Feb. 25, 1802; died Feb. 4, 1859. Settled in Ohio and died there, leaving four children.

Mabel B .¡ born April 16, 1804, died April 2, 1844.

Daniel S., born Nov. 13, 1806; died June 2, 1868. Four children are living in Mankato, Minn.

Harriet, Born Jan. 21, 1809, died Nov. 3, 1828.

Salome, Born Aug. 4, 1811; married Allen Seymour, March 2, 1831 ; died in July, 1872. Four children.

Mary R., born July 27, 1813; owning and occupying the homestead-farm.

Mr. Willard died April 8, 1813. Mrs. Willard carried on the farm after his death, and outlived all but three of her children. She died June 30, 1865. She was the daughter of Ozias and Anna Stanley, of Weathersfield, Conn., and was born April 17, 1777. There were fifteen children in the family, viz. : Anner, Mary, Lucy, John, Justus, Samuel, Lydia, Ozias, Thomas, Lucy, John, Sarah, James, Mabel, and Nancy. All deceased, but their de- scendants are scattered over many States of the Union.

Mrs. Willard was a member of the Presbyterian Church of Holland Patent. In an obituary notice, published in the Utica Herald, the following is said of her :

"During a residence of more than two-thirds of a century in her adopted home, her own generation testify that she was a faithful fol- lower of Jesas; the second generation blessed her as she spoke of par- doning mercy and redeeming love; and the third, in the day of tribu- Iation, received consolation from her, who had ever found her Saviour a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. Without fear or regret she passed dowo into the valley of the shadow of death."

F. A. WILBUR.

Samuel Wilbur, with his wife Anna, daughter of Thomas Bradford, came from Doncaster, in the south part of the county of York, England ; settled in Boston in 1634. In 1637, he, with seventeen others, was banished from that colony for nonconformity to the creeds and ritual of the Church of England. They left Boston, and with Williamn Coddington for a leader, purchased the island of Acquiduic of the Indian sachems Canoniens and Miantinomi. They called their new home Rhode Island, in memory of the Isle of Rhodes, to which it is said it bears a striking resemblance. In 1638 we find them a body politic, with William Cod- dington for governor, and Samuel Wilbur as assistant. Aaron Wilbur, a descendant of Samuel Wilbur, was born in Rhode Island, July 22, 1753. He married Elizabeth Manchester, a resident of the island, in the year 1773.

He was an officer in the Revolutionary war. Soon after his marriage he emigrated to Trenton, Oneida Co., and purchased a farm of Colonel Mappa, then known as Olden- barnavelt. They had seven children, four sons and three daughters. Barnabas Wilbur, his second son, married Nancy Ford. They had four sons. His second son, Francis A. Wilbur, married Harriet C. Sperry, and now inherits the same homestead that his grandparents did in 1773. They have two sons.

CHAPTER XLII.

VERNON.

THE town of Vernon occupies a position southwest of the centre of the county, and has an area of 23,710 acres. It was formed from portions of Westmoreland and Augusta, Feb. 17, 1802. A part of Stockbridge, Madison Co., was taken off in 1836. The greater part of the town is in the Oneida Reservation. A portion in the southwest corner is included in the Stockbridge tract. The various patents in town are Van Eps', Wemple's, Sargent's, Bleecker's, and Baschard's. The Oneida Reservation was purchased of the Indians in 1795, and sold at auction in 1797. Oneida Creck forms most of the western boundary of the town, being also the county line, and Skanandoa and other smaller streams are also within its limits. The following geological description of this town is from the pen of Henry A. Wil- liams, of Vernon village, and was inserted in Judge Jones' " Annals" :

"The geology of the town is exceedingly simple. Commencing on the Verona line, upon the road leading from Verona village to Ver- noo village, and from thence southwesterly on the former turopike leading to l'eterboro', we pass over in succession the Clinton, Niagara, Onondaga salt, water-line, and Onondaga limestone groups. In many places the rocks are seen in place by the roadside. Diverging a short distance on either hand from said roads suffices to bring into view the five groups in the order named.

" The Clinton Group enters the town on the northeast. In area it is weilge-shaped, its base of about three miles lying upon the east line of the town. The mass as exposed is about four feet thick.

" The Niagara Group is next in order. It enters the town on the east, and follows nearly the line of the turnpike, being seen at the east on the south side, and at the west on both sides. The first point exposed is in a field near Calvary Wetmore's; it is next found in the bed of the Seannodoa at Stone's factory, from which it may be traced in the bed of the stream as far down as the turnpike bridge. At J. L. Williams' grist-mill it is again found forming cliffs, more or less precipitous, for two hundred rods, on both sides the creek. It is also seen on the farm of C. McIntosh, formiog the bed of Mud Creek for a short distance. The upper layers are thick beds of impore lime- stone; the lower (two-thirds of the whole), crumbling shales. The rocks, where exposed, are from twenty to thirty feet thick, and highly concretioanry throughont,-conerctions from haif an inch to three feet in diameter.

" The Onondaga Salt Group is more largely developed, it being thicker and more extensive in arca than all the others. Its northern boundary is but a short distance south of the turnpike, rising imme- diately above the blue limestone of the Niagara Group. It may be scen on all the roads leading south from the turnpike, on the slope above C. Wetmore's, above Stone's factory, at the house of Eliakim Root, on the farm of Adnn Clark, also of Clark McIntosh, and finally at the Indian saw-mill. These localities are all within a few rods of the torapike. Its southorn bounds are not as easily traced ; but on the southeast it nearly or quite approaches the Augusta line, and as we

571

HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

descend into the valley of the Seanandoa it may be seen forming the bed of the creek, baek of L. T. Marehall's, and may be traced west- erly to the hills between Scanandon and Oneida Creeks, then turning northerly it appears largely on Sargeant's hill, on the hill back of Mr. Jacobs', aud both sides of the hill nt the Pixley school-house. The lowest division of the group, consisting of red and green shales, is well developed. No fossils have been observed in this group in the town.

" The Water-Lime Group is of very limited extent. The hill back of Mr. Jacobs' is in part composed of it. It is seen ahovo Mr. Iluett's, and also near Mr. Flint's. It is possible it exists in the southeast part of the town.

" The Onondaga Limestone Group is more limited in extent than the last, covering but an area of a few acres, capping the hill back of Mr. Flint's, and appearing on the road from Mr. Flint's to Orris Freeman's. These rocks are the highest in the town, geographically as well as geologically. The fossils pecoliar to the group are found bere. In the above survey of the regular rock formations, the nomen - elature adopted in the natural history of the State has been followed. It only remains to notice the drift.

" The Hudson River Group, which lies a few miles north, and the Clinton Group, lying upon the northern boundary of the town, seem to have been largely broken up, and their materials constitute an abundant portion of the pebbles found in the fields. On that singu- lar isolated hill, observed to the right of the road leading from Vernon Centro to Augusta, were found many stones of the former group. The rocks of the Clinton Group are mostly of a yellowish color, owing to the decomposition of the sulphuret of iron. Tho banks of Blue abound in fragments of the Niagara limestone. The great mass of drift seems to be derived from these three formations, beds of sand, gravel, pebbles, elay ; sometimes arranged in singular order, one above the other, and again mixed in all conceivable pro- portions. Sometimes elay predominates, and perhaps on the farm adjoining, sand ; then, a little farther on, both mixed in such a way as to constitute a soil most desirable for tillage. This town furnishes conclusive evidence of great northerly currents sweeping over it for long periods of time. In the north part of town stiff clays pre- dominate, but nevertheless, when well drained and plowed they pro- doce heavy erops of grase, corn, onts, and barley. In the south, on the flunks of the hills, the soil is better ndapted to wheat. The reader ie referred to the natural history of the State for an analysis of the soil composing the different groups.

" The general direction of the streams is northerly, until they pass the centre of the town, when those in the easterly seetion turn north- easterly, and reach the Atlantic by the way of the Mohawk and Hod- son ; while those in the westerly part take a north westerly course and reneb the same ocean by the way of the Oneida and Ontario Lakes, and the river St. Lawrence. Vernon village is more than 200 feet higher than the Eric Canal on the long level opposite."

INDIANS.

When the county was first settled an Indian orchard containing some hundreds of large and apparently aged apple-trees was found in this town. These trees were proba- bly planted by the Tuscaroras, before their removal to Niagara. The first cider-mill in town was erected at this place upon its settlement.

An extensive Indian burial-ground, covering from 75 to 100 acres, has been discovered in the northern part of the town of Stockbridge, Madison Co., near the line of Vernon. It is immediately south of a tract of land granted by the Indians to William Page, and afterwards confirmed by the Legislature. It lies in the woods, and it is stated that when Mr. Page first came there were as many as 400 aeres covered with the graves, but most of the land is now under cultivation, and the traces have been obliterated. The old Indians living there when the locality was first settled knew nothing of the origin of this burial-ground. In the graves which have been opened have been found glass beads,

etc., which would cause the inference that it cannot be very aneient.

Rev. Eleazer Williams, the subject of the article published years ago in Putnam's Magazine entitled " Have We a Bourbon Among Us?" was long an Episcopal missionary among the Indians, and preached to them in this town. He went to St. Regis with them, and died while there. After the old Indian Episcopal Church which stood back of Turkey Street was moved to Vernon village, and con- verted into a Unitarian Church, one of the religious Indians was back here on a visit from Green Bay. He heard the old church-bell and recognized the sound, but on learning that the church was then Unitarian, said, " No like 'em ; no hell now!" To the savage mind it appeared necessary to have a place of torture.

The Indians always inherited from their mothers, because, as they said, " everybody know mudder ; no always tell who fadder !"

Mr. Williams was very prominent among the Indians, and was mueh beloved by them. His parentage was un- certain, and it was said that he was left when a child among the Indians in Massachusetts. Rev. John Sargent, proprietor of Sargent's Patent, in this town, was also an early missionary among the Indians. Two schools are at present maintained by the State for the benefit of the rem- nant of the Oneidus,-one in Madison County and the other in this town.

THE FIRST TOWN-MEETING

in Vernon was held at the house of David Tuttle, on the first Tuesday in April, 1802. Samuel Wetmore, Esq., was elected Supervisor, and Joshua Patton Town Clerk. Owing to the loss or destruction of the early records of the town, it is impossible to give a complete list of its first officers. Esquire Wetmore held the office of Supervisor for nine years, and was succeeded in 1811 by Josiah Patton, Esq., who remained in office until 1819, when John P. Sherwood, Esq., was elected. In 1830, James Kellogg was elected Mr. Sherwood's successor, and remained in office one year. Ashael Gridley, who was chosen Town Clerk in 1813, was the father of Hon. Philo Gridley, afterwards one of the judges of the Supreme Court of New York. He built the first grist mill in town, on the Scanandoa Creek, a short distance west of Vernon Centre. Abram Van Eps built the second soon after, at Vernon village.

The Supervisors of the town since 1831 have been the following persons, viz. : 1831-33, Nichols Dyer ; 1834, James Kellogg; 1835-36, Josialı Whipple Jenkins; 1837, John P. Sherwood; 1838, David Pierson ; 1839-40, John P. Sherwood; 1841, Levi T. Marshall ; 1842, Austin B. Webber; 1843, Salmon Case; Mr. Case resigned, and at a special town-mecting Charles Kilbourn was elected to fill vacancy ; 1844, Erastus W. Clark; 1845, Salmon Case ; 1846, Fitch Howes; 1847-48, David Pierson ; 1849-50, Hiram D. Tuttle; 1851, Josiah Case; 1852-54, Orson Carpenter ; 1855, Eusebius W. Dodge; 1856-57, Orson Carpenter ; 1858-59, Sidney A. Bunee; 1860-63, Henry Wilson ; 1864, Sidney A. Bunce; 1865-66, Henry Wilson ; 1867-68, Thomas Butterfield; 1869-70, Edward W. Wil- liams; 1871-72, William Marson ; 1873-75, James Mark-

572

HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

ham ; 1876, Orson Carpenter ; 1877, A. De V. Townsley ; 1878, A. Pierson Case. The remaining officers for 1878 are : Town Clerk, J. Sherman Carpenter ; Justices of the Peace, Daniel C. Burke, J. B. Loomis, F. B. Norton, M. L. Carr, Gilbert N. Lawrence ; Assessors, Christopher C. Dorne, William B. Smith ; Commissioner of Highways, Morris J. Dodge; Overseers of the Poor, Gottfried Pfister, Ellis Melvin ; Collector, D. H. Currie; Constables, William Church, G. Wallace Grower, William Tipple, Henry Wet- more ; Inspectors of Election, District No. 1, William J. Percival, Willis E. Walter, Samuel Dunham ; Distriet No. 2, Fletcher A. Gary, Porter Markham, William L. Martin; District No. 3, Myron C. Treadway, D. Ward Clark, Charles Mullin ; Town Auditors, Elliott J. Norton, Niles Campbell, Charles P. Scoville; Game Constable, Francis M. Carpen- ter ; Excise Commissioner, Charles Mullin.

FIRST SETTLERS.

The first white person to locate within the limits of this town was Josiah Bushnell, who settled on the northwest corner lot of Bleecker's (south) Patent .* This lot contained forty acres, and was sold to defray the expense of surveying the patent, long before the balance of the tract was disposed of. Mr. Bushnell emigrated as early as 1793 or 1794 from Tyringham, Berkshire Co., Mass. His children were one son and three daughters. His youngest daughter, Ficha, six or eight years of age, died very suddenly in 1795, before any other whites had located in the town. Her remains were taken to Westmoreland and interred in a burying- ground on the farm of Judge Dean.

About the same time the Oneida Reservation was sold at auction (August, 1797) a company of wealthy farmers in Connecticut purchased the eastern part of Baschard's Patent and portions of Van Eps' and Sargent's Patents, and also sold to actual settlers. The " Oneida woods" be- came the goal of the emigrant, and by the year 1800 but very few lots in the tracts mentioned were without their occupants. Massachusetts and New Hampshire sent out numbers of their sons to swell the settlement, which grew and prospered.

The first settlers on Baschard's Patent were the follow- ing persons, viz. : Rev. Publius Bogue, Deacons Hill and Bronson, Samuel Wetmore, David Bronson, Levi Bronson, Seth Holmes, Anson Stone, Asahel Gridley, Heman Smith, Eliphaz Bissell, Adonijah Foot, Stephen Goodwin, Seth Hills, Eli Frisbie, James De Votie, John De Votie, Samuel Austin, Ezra Stanard, Matthew Griswold, Joseph Frisbie, David Alvord, Levi Thrall, Asahel Wilcox, Russell Church, Abijah P. Bronson, Thomas Spencer, Stephen Carter, Ben- jamin Carter, Levi Marshall, Seth Marshall, Harvey Mar- shall, David Tuttle, a Mr. Bush, a Mr. McEwen, Huet Hills, Asahel Wilcoxson, Elijah Webber. These were nearly all from the towns of Winchester and Torrington, Litchfield Co., Conn. The company laid out a town plat in a parallelogram of six acres, which is now known as Vernon Centre. Around the green the lots contained one acre each, and a number of the settlers located upon them.

All Protestant religious denominations were granted the right to erect houses of worship around this green.

Upon Sargent's Patent the first settlers were Rev. John Sargent, the patentee, Mr. Codner, Mr. Marvin, Zenas McEwen, and Ezra MeEwen. On the Oneida Reservation the first settlers were Gideon Skinner, Ariel Lawrence, Samuel Shed, Thomas Gratton, William De Land, Mr. Spalding, Mr. Grant, Mr. Kellogg, Nathan Carter, Thomas Tryon, David Moore, Josiah Simons, Joseph Doane, Ezra May, William Mahan, Stephen Page, Ebenezer Ingraham, Sylvester Crocker, Chester May, Jonathan Graves, Augus- tus Soper, Philo Soper, Ashbel Norton, Charles Dix, Rufus Vaughan, William Wright, Samuel Cody, Mr. Kelsey, Mr. Raymond, Mr. Alling, Mr. Haseltine, Mr. Carpenter, Jacob Hungerford, Joseph Bailey, Jedediah Darling. These lo- cated in the eastern part of town.

Those west and south west were James Griffith, Ebenezer Webster, Elisha Webster, Eli Webster, Russel Webster, Allen Webster, Mr. Freeman, Captain William Grant, Dr. Samuel Frisbie, Joseph Stone, Eliphalet Hotchkiss, Joshua Warren, Calvin Youngs, Simon Willard, Andrew Langdon, Edward Webber.

In the north part of town were Amos Brookway, Mr. Cole, Mnses Upham, Aaron Davis, Jonathan Blount, Thaddeus Brookins, Joseph Day, Robert Frink, Stephen Campbell, Jonathan Ney, Calvin Huntington, Luther Huntington (twin brothers of striking resemblance), and a Mr. Cook.

The early settlers on Van Eps' Patent were Abraham Van Eps, the patentee, Richard Hubbell, Gershom Hub- bell, Benjamin Hubbell, Gad Warner, Benjamin Pierson, David Pierson, Josiah Patten, William Root, and Elihu Root. Richard and Gershom Hubbell were twin brothers, and, like the Huntingtons, resembled each other very closely ; the former (Richard) was the first settler on Van Eps' Patent, locating about 1794-95, on the ridge in the north part of what is now Vernon village. Gershom Hubbell resided at the village before 1798.

The first marriage in the town was that of Aaron Davis and Amy Bushnell, daughter of Josiah Bushnell, the first settler ; this was previous to 1798. The first white child born in town was Edward Marshall, son of Levi Marshall, whose birth occurred April 19, 1799. It is supposed that a daughter of Gershom Hubbell was born about two weeks afterwards.

Abraham Van Eps, who was the proprietor of a patent in this town, was born in 1763, at Schenectady, where his father was engaged in the fur-trade. After the close of the Revolution the latter took a large amount of property to the Canadian shore of Lake Ontario, where he was plun- dered of the whole by a party of refugees and Indians. He never returned and his fate was veiled in mystery. His property was found to be entirely lost, and Abraham was left to seek his own fortune. In the spring of 1784 he made a trip, with a small stock of fur-trader's goods, to Niagara, passing through Oneida County before Judges Dean or White had arrived. He returned in the fall, and in passing down the old military road through what is now Whitesboro' village, found the trunks and limbs of trees in his path, Judge White and his sons having begun their

# So designated in contradistinction from Bleecker's (north) Patent in the town of Westmoreland.

RESIDENCE OF DANIEL G. DORRANCE, ONEIDA CASTLE, NEW YORK

LITH, BY L. H. EVERTS & CO. PHILA, PA.

RESIDENCE OF SILAS B. CROCKER , VERNON , NEW YORK.

UTH BY L.H EVERTS &CO PHILA.

RESIDENCE OF DANIEL G. DORRANCE, ONEIDA CASTLE, NEW YORK.

LITH, BY L. H. EVERTS & CO. PHILA, PA

RESIDENCE OF SILAS B. CROCKER , VERNON, NEW YORK.

LITH BY L.H EVERTS &CO PHILA

300

MR. SILAS B. CROCKER.

MRS. SILAS B. CROCKER.

SILAS B. CROCKER.

Silas B. Crocker was born in Winchester, Litchfield County, Connecticut, September 18, 1797. He was the only son of William and Deborah Crocker, who had a family of four children. They were farmers, and gave their son as good an education as the common schools of that day afforded.

In 1824 he was married to Miss Mary Breen, of his native town. In the year 1825 he came to Oneida County, and for several years leased a farm. Deciding to settle permanently, he purchased a farm in the town of Vernon, and for many years was extensively engaged in agricultural operations.

He made a specialty of sheep-growing, and was known as a prominent breeder of merinos.

In 1844 his wife died, and in 1845 he was again married to Miss Marcia Blake, of his native town, where she was born February 13, 1812. Her father, the Hon. Jonathan Blake, was prominently identificd with Litchfield County. He held many important positions; was a member of the General Assembly, serving on important committees, Her mother, whose maiden name was Sabra Bronson, was a sister of Silas Bronson, the founder of the noted Water- bury Library, and a prominent New York merchant. ,The Hon. Alvin Bronson, of Oswego, was her cousin.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Oneida County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 155

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