History of Oneida County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 166

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 166

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HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

Utica was formed from a portion of Whitestown, and April 12, 1827, the last division of the old town was made, and New Hartford was added to the list. The present arca of Whitestown is about thirty square miles. Its northeastern boundary is the Mohawk River, back from which extends a broad, level intervale, from which the surface rises to the height of a hundred feet or more, and stretches away in a rolling upland. The waters of Oriskany and Sauquoit Creeks find entrance to the Mohawk through this town, the former in the northeast and the latter in the southeast corner. Beside these, there are numerous smaller streams. Oriskany Creck was named by the Seneca Indians "Ole- hisk'-a," or stream of nettles. Some other features of the town, including New Hartford, received the name "Che- ga-quat-ka" from the same nation, signifying kidneys. Oriskany and Sauquoit Creeks furnish abundant power, which has been extensively utilized for manufacturing pur- poses. The Erie Canal, completed to Whitesboro' in 1819, follows the valley of the river side by side with the four- track railway of the New York Central Company.

Two miles above the village of Oriskany, on the north side of the road leading to Rome, is the spot where, on the 6th day of August, 1777, the Tryon County militia, under command of General Nicholas Herkimer, on their way to relieve the garrison at Fort Stanwix, were ambushed by the British and Indians, under Colonels Johnson and But- ler and the noted chief Brant, and a severe battle fought, which resulted in the militia remaining masters of the field, although the losses were nearly equal on each side. The gallant Herkimer received a mortal wound, and many of his officers were slain .* The ground was in every way favorable for a successful ambuscade, and had not the men of Tryon County been possessed of great courage and phys- ical prowess the story would have been differently told. The ravine in which the painted warriors concealed them- selves is not yet shorn of its wildness, and the locality of the tree near which General Herkimer stood when he re- ceived his wound is yet shown to the visitor, marked at present by a flag-staff.

From the journal of the Committee of Safety of this State in the Revolution is found, under date of Feb. 7, 1777, the statement that a committee was appointed to devise ways and means for manufacturing salt within the State, and they furnished a sample of salt,

"made of the water of certain springs at Oriskie (Oriskany), about teo miles to the eastward of Fort Schuyler (Stanwix), and reported that, from information, it appears to the committee that nine gallons of water will make two quarts of salt.

" Resolved, That said committee devise ways and means to make further experiments in order to ascertain the quality of said water at Oriskic; and if they are of the opinion that salt can be manufactured to advantage, that they proceed, without delny, to procure materials and employ proper persoos to carry on the same."

It is probable that nothing further was ever done towards manufacturing salt in that locality, and the location of the " certain springs at Oriskie" is unknown to even the oldest dweller in the village.

EARLY SETTLEMENTS.

As early as 1756, during the French and Indian war, the colonial soldiers of the British army who passed through this region noticed the beauty and fertility of the country, and, returning, told wonderful stories regarding it, which were generally verified by Indian missionaries.

The attention of the New Englanders was turned to sub- jects nearer their homes during the earlier days of the Revolution, and it was not until the year 1777 that they again visited this portion of New York. During that year General Larned's Massachusetts troops were with the army which marched under Arnold to the relief of Fort Stanwix, and Sullivan's men, in his famous campaign against the Indians, in 1778-79, were largely from New England. Recollecting the beauties and various advantages of the Mohawk Valley, or the region around its head-waters, many removed from their former homes and located in the newly-opened territory. The first permanent settle- ment in the county, and in the State west of the German settlements on the Mohawk, was made within the limits of the present town of Whitestown. The narrative of the settlement of Hugh White, the first permanent settler in what is now Oneida County, is so well given in Judge Jones's "Annals of Oneida County" that we reproduce it here : +

" Hugh White removed from Middletown, Connecticut, in May, 1784, and arrived in what is now Whitestown on the 5th of June. He came by water to Albany, erossed by land to Schenectady, where he purchased u bateau, in which he made passage up the Mohawk River to the mouth of the Saoquoit Creek. His four sons, a daughter, and daughter-in-law accompanied bim. When he left Middletown be scot one of his sons with two yokes of oxen by land to Albany, who arrived there about the same time as did his father. As the family procce led up the Mobawk in the boat their teams kept even pace by land, and when they arrived at Shoemaker's, a few miles below Utiea, on the south side of the river, they found many of the farms in that vicinity unoccupied, and the charred remains of dwell- ing-houses and outbuildings told a fearfol tale of the ravages com- mitted by the Tories and savages. Judge White, looking to the means for the future subsistence of his hooschold, stopped at this place, tilled one of the vacated fields, and planted it with corn. At the preper season the father and sons returned from their new home at the mouth of the Sauquoit and boed this field of corn, and in the fall they were repaid for their labor with a bountiful crop. It was harvested and brought up in their boat.

"Judge White was born Feb. 15, 1733, making him filty-one years of age at the time of his removal. It was not, therefore, the ardor and restlessness of youth that induced him to migrate, but that spirit of enterprise and perseverance which looked forward to the future prosperity of himself and family. The precise time at which he arrived at the place where the field of corn was planted cannot now be ascertained, but it was just before 'pinkster' ( Whitsunday), a movable feast which comes six weeks after 'paas,' or 'poss,'-i.e., Easter-day,-which would bring bis arrival there at about the 20th of May.

"Immediately after the Revolution Judge White became one of the purchasers of Sadaqueda Patent, jointly with Zephaniah Platt, the father of the late Judgo Jonas Platt, Ezra L'Hommedicu, and Melanetbon Smith. By an arrangement between the proprietors it was agreed that they should mect on the land in the summer of 1784, and make a survey and partition. Upon the arrival of Judge White at the mouth of the Sauquoit, a bark shanty was erected for n tem- porary residence. During the summer the patent was surveyed into four sections, and the particular seetion of coch owner was decided by lot. The section drawn by Judge White being all intervale, bo

# For u more complete account of this engagement, see General History.

See also Tracy's lectores, from which Jones' account is mostly taken.

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HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

purchased of Smith the lot drawn by him in its rear, which extended to the south line of the patent upon the hill. By this last purchase the judge became the owner in all of about fifteen hundred neres, comprehending all the land on both sides of Sauquoit Creek, from the corner formed by the road to the Oneida factories, and the Utica Road where Lewis Berry resided for many years in Whitesboro', and extending hack on the hills more than a mile from the village.

" After the judge had obtained this division and purchase, he at once proceeded to locate a site for a dwelling. The place selected was upon the bank which forms the castern termination of the village green* io Whitesboro', and about six rods southerly from the Utica road. The house erected was peculiar. Hc dug into the bank so that the lower story was underground, and then the upper was . huilt in true primitive log house style. The ridge-pole for the sup- port of the roof was upheld by forked trees, eut and set in the ground, aud the roof was composed of sinhs, split for that purpose from logs. This was the first house erected on the Indian and military road he- tween Old Fort Schuyler (Utica) and Fort Stanwix."

The judge cleared about four acres of land, rolling the logs off the above-mentioned bank, instead of burning them, as is the custom with persons of greater experience in clear- ing new land. The lot was the same on which the old court-house (now the Whitestown town hall) and other buildings stand, and extended back from the Utica road towards the site of the canal. In January, 1785, Mr. White returned to Connecticut and brought baek his wife and the remainder of his family.

"Several of his relatives, with others from Middletown and its vicinity, quickly followed; and the new settlement, under the name of ' Whitestown,' soon became widely known as the place in which the emigration from New England centered. The hardships and perils encountered by these early settlers can scarcely be conceived of by those who now visit that thickly-settled region. The whole country was in the wildness of natare. The nearest millt was at Palatine,- forty miles distant. Tho hostility of the Indian tribes had hitherto rendered the settlement of that region impossible, and at the elose of the war the whole central and western portions of the State were with- out civilized inhabitants. It was therefore necessary that the pioneer of the new settlement should conciliate the favor of the Indians. In his intercourse with them he was frank and decided. On one oeea- sion an Indian chief t demanded of Mr. White, as a test of his pro- fessed confidence, that he would permit him to take to his wigwam a little granddaughter then playing about the house. The chief prom- ised to keep the child safely, and to bring her home again the next day. The child was intrusted to him ; but it was not until the ap- proaeh of night, when fears of treachery had almost overcome her inother, that she was returned, finely arrayed in Indian dress, with many ornaments. This incident is said to have contributed much towards establishing a lasting friendship between the new settlers and the neighboring Indians."¿

Many anecdotes are related of Judge White, which are always interesting. The following from "Traey's Lec- tures" is worth reproduction :

# Present park, 1878.

t A wheeled vehicle could not be drawo along the narrow trail which led to Palatine, aod very often the settlers carried bags of grain on their baeks to that pluce or the German Flats to be ground and returned with their grists in the same manner.

# The chief mentioned was named Ilan Yerry, commonly called " Colonel," perhaps because he had held a commission of that grade from the king. At the time of his visit to Mr. White he was areom- panied by his wife and a mulatto woman named Lane, who acted as interpreter. The child afterwards married Nathaniel Eels, of Whites- boro', and finally removed to Missouri. Sce Jones' Annals, and the Lectures of William Traey.

¿ White Genealogy. This incident is also mentioned in Traey's Lectures, and the Historical Collections of New York, and is a faithful example of the judge's sagacity and estimate of character.

" An Oneida, of rather athletic form, was one day present at his house with several of his companions, and at length, for amuse- ment, commenced wrestling. After a number of trials had been made, in which the chief came off conqueror, he came forward and challenged the settler to a clinch with him. This was done in a man- ner and with a degree of braggadocio that convinced the judge that if he refused the encounter it would subject him to the constant in- convenience of being browbeaten by the Indian, and cost him the trouble of being believed a coward. In early manhood he had been a wrestler, but he had heeome quite corpulent, and for years unused to any athletic feats. IIe felt conscious, however, of great personal strength, and he concluded that even should he be thrown. yet, as a choice of evils, the being thrown would be a lesser one than the ac- quiring of a character of cowardice by declining. Ile therefore ac- cepted the challenge, and took hold with the Indian, and by a fortu- nate trip succeeded almost instantly in throwing him. As he saw him falling, in order to prevent the necessity of ever making another trial of his powers. he contrived to fall with all his weight-he then constituting an avoirdupois of some 250 pounds-upon the Indian. The weight for an instant drove all breath from the poor fellow's body ; and it was some moments before he could get up. At length he slowly arose, and shrugged his shoulders, with an emphatic ' Ugh ! You good fellow, too much !' I need not add that he was never after- wards challenged to wrestle with an Indian." .

So popular did the judge become with the Indians that in the course of a few months after his settlement they offered to make him a member of their tribe. The offer was finally accepted, and shortly after the ceremony of adop- tion was duly performed,-Seanandoa, Colonel Han Yerry, Good Peter, and others being present,-and Judge White became practically an Oneidla. Probably the only benefits he ever derived from this relationship were the friendship of the Indians and his " share of the salmon caught at the first fishing of each season at Te-ge-so-ken (Fish Creek )."Il He and several of his sons-including Philo, the fisherman of the family-having been notified, attended at the " fish- ing" at the forks of Wood Creek the spring after his adop- tion, witnessed the catching of the first salmon of the season, and after receiving a proportionate share for each member of his household, returned home.

Philo White, the judge's youngest son, was an adept with the rifle and fishing-rod, and being but sixteen years of age at the time of his father's settlement in Whitestown, the many opportunities for exercising his skill with these implements were zealously improved by him, and many fine strings of trout and saddles of venison were laid by him upon the family table. Pigeons being extremely plenty in the spring of 1785, many were taken and the breasts salted down. A barrel or two of this meat was preserved, and answered as quite a substitute for other meats, although perhaps not quite 'as palatable. It was necessary to rely upon the game found in the forests to a great extent, owing to the fact that the incursions of the Indians and Tories upon the settlements during the Revolution had greatly de- creased the amount of stock in the valley of the Mohawk, and what was left was of too much value as a nucleus from which to restock the country to kill for food. As the num- ber of settlers increased, and greater areas were devoted to agriculture, the wants gradually lessened, until in a few years excellent grains, vegetables, ete., were grown, and samples of wheat, corn, oats, cte., were sent by Judge White to his friends in New England, as an inducement for them to emigrate. Many left their homes and came to Whites-

|| Jones' Annals.

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HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

towu on this account, and in a few years a flourishing vil- lage had sprung up at Whitesboro', where so short a time before had stood in all its beauty the "forest primeval."

Many of the settlers, instead of taking their grain to Palatine or German Flats to be ground, resorted to the " samp mortar," an article much used by the Indians. It was fashioned by taking a section of a white-ash log, some three feet in length and fifteen or eighteen inches in diam- eter, and hollowing it out by the use of fire, placing coals on the upper end and keeping them alive with a hand- bellows. The quantity of coals was decreased as the cavity deepened, so that a perfect taper was acquired. It was con- tended by the Indians that meal manufactured in such mortars tasted richer and better when cooked than if ground in a mill .*

The first mill in Oneida County was built in 1788,t on the Sauquoit Creek, upon the Whitesboro' and Utica road. It was erected by Judge White, Amos Wetmore, and John Beardsley, and long retained the name of " Wetmore's Mill." Some trouble afterwards ensued over water-privi- leges, but it was finally settled by the Court of Errors, in 1805.

Judge White lived to see the territory originally in- cluded in Whitestown containing a population of over 300,000. He died April 17, 1812, aged seventy-ninc years. He acquired his title of judge from the fact that on the organization of Herkimer County he was appointed to that office, and afterwards held the same office in Oneida County. He was twice married, and was the father of ten children, all by his first wife. Numerous members of the family, and of other families intermarrying, became highly distinguished in both local and national circles. Of the judge's children, his oldest son, Colonel Daniel Clark White, who accompanied his father to Whitestown, was the father of the first white female child born in Oneida County, viz., Esther White, whose birth occurred March 15, 1785.t She became the wife of Hon. Henry R. Storrs, a graduate of Yale College, and afterwards an eminent lawyer, first judge of Oneida County, and twice a member of Congress (1817 to 1821, and 1823 to 1831).

Hugh White, Jr., third son of the judge, served three years in the Revolutionary army, and was for a short time on board of a privateer. He also accompanied his father to Whitestown, and afterwards removed to Shrewsbury, N. J., where he died.

The fifth son, Philo White, was at one time engaged in merchandising at Whitestown and at Tioga Point.

Of Judge White's daughters, Aurelia was married in 1788 to Parsons Wetmore, one of the carly settlers of the town, and afterwards removed with him to Warren Co., Pa., and later to Steubenville, O., finally locating at Rochester, N. Y. Some of their children became noted.

The youngest daughter of the judge, Mary S. White, was married in 1792 to John Young, a surveyor, who be- came the founder of Youngstown, O., and afterwards re- located in Whitestown, where he died. Their eldest son,

Johu J. Young, received an academic education at the then " Whitestown Academy," and in 1812 was appointed a midshipman in the United States navy. He attained a highly reputable standing as an officer and naval tactician, and about 1825 was assigned to the post of executive officer of the United States twenty-gun ship-of-war " Hornet." During a cruise of his vessel in the West Indies he lost both his legs in a sea-fight with a piratical armed ship. He was landed at Havana and brought home to his family, while his vessel proceeded on her cruise. She was never after- wards heard of, and probably foundered in mid ocean, the only vestiges ever found of her being two or three tarpau- lins with " Hornet" marked on them, which were picked up while floating on the sea. Commodore Young, although sadly mutilated, was assigned to shore duty as superintendent of public works, disbursing and recruiting officer, etc. He died Nov. 4, 1875, in the eighty-second year of his age, after a life of public usefulness.

Among other residents of this town who were appointed midshipmen during the war of 1812-15 were Samuel Brecse, William Inman, Antle Lansing, and Edward and Benjamin Carpenter. These naval officers were undoubt- edly selected from this far inland town through the efforts of Hon. Thomas R. Gold, member of Congress for several years from Whitestown.

Hon. Fortune Clark White, son of Col. D. C. White, was boro at Whitestown July 10, 1787. He made the law his profession, and for five years was first judge of the Oneida County Court. He was brigadier-general of New York State militia, and was twice in the Legislature. In 1826 the honorary degree of Master of Arts was conferred upon him by Hamilton College. He died in 1866 at Whitestown.

Canvas White, son of Hugh White, Jr., served one cam- paign on the frontier during the war of 1812 as lieutenant in a volunteer corps, and was at the sortie of Fort Erie. He was one of the earliest and ablest engineers on the Erie Canal, and was afterwards engaged on the Union, Lehigh, and Delaware and Raritan Canals He died in St. Augus- tine, Florida.

Hon. Hugh White, brother of the above, became promi- nent in public affairs, and served three terms in Congress, from 1845 to 1851.

Hon. Philo White, LL.D., son of Philo White and grandson of the judge, is now a resident of Whiteshoro', where he was born June 23, 1799.

" After acquiring an academical education at the seminary in Whitesboro', Mr. White spent three or four years as learner and con- tributor in the Columbian Gazette newspaper office, in Utica. In 1820 he migrated to North Carolina, and became the editor and pro- prictor of The Western Coralinian, which he continued to conduct until 1830, when he was appointed United States Navy Agent for the Pacific station. Returning home in 1834, ho established the North Carolina Standard, at Raleigh, was elected State printer, and the Standard became the State paper. From 1837 to 1844 he was pay- master and purser in the United States Navy, and was attached to squadrons in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, and on the home and Golf stations.

" Mr. White removed to Wisconsin at an early period of its terri- torial existeoce, and ultimately fixed bis residence at Racine. He was the editor of several newspapers at different periods. In 1847 ho was chosen a member of the Council of the Territorial Legislature, and subsequcotly was elected to the Senate of the State Legislature.

# Jones' Annals of Oneida County.

+ A saw-mill was built the same year.

į Subsequent to the Revolution. John Roof had three daughters born at Fort Stanwix previous to 1778. Sec Ilistory of Rome.

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HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

Here he took a prominent part in promoting various measures of publie utility. As chairman of the Committee on Education and School Lands, he shared largely in devising and framing the present system of public instruction in that State. At a later period he was active in the foundiog of Racine College, under the anspices of the Protestant Episcopal Church of that diocese, and was one of its trus- tees. Io 1856 the College conferred upon Mr. White the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. Chosen as one of the Presidential electors of Wisconsin, he was selected as president of the Electoral College of that State in December, 1852. He was also brigadier-general of the State militia.

" In 1849, Mr. White was appointed United States Consul to the Hanseatic Republie at Hamburg, and resided there for one or two years. In July, 1853, he was appointed Charge d'affaires to the Republic of Ecuador, S. A., and in 1854 was raised to the grade of Minister Resident in that country. He continued in the discharge of the functions of the Intter office until September, 1858."#

Among the early settlers of Whitestown the name of Jonas Platt occurs in a prominent position, and a brief sketch of him will not be out of place. It is principally taken from " Jones' Annals of Oneida County" :

Mr. Platt located at Whitesboro' previous to 1791, and on the organization of Herkimer County, February 17 of that year, he was appointed its clerk, and held the office until the formation of Oneida County, of which he was also appointed clerk. In 1809 he was elected by the Fed- eralists to the State Senate, from the old western district, which had previously been strongly Republican. January 5, 1810, he was nominated as the Federal candidate for Governor, but was beaten by Daniel D. Tompkins. In the winter of 1814, Mr. Platt was appointed judge of the Supreme Court of New York, in place of Smith Thompson, who had been raised to the office of Chief-Justice upon the elevation of Judge Kent to the chancellorship. Mr. Platt was regarded as the most active and influential member of his party in the Senate during the exciting sessions of 1810, 1811, 1812, and 1813.

Upon the adoption of the coostitution of 1821, Judge Platt, with his colleagues, Judges Spencer, Van Ness, and Woodworth, was " constitutionalized out of office," but upon the reorganization of the Supreme Court all but Mr. Van Ness were renominated by Governor Yates; their political tendencies, however, proved a bar in the eyes of the Senate, and they were rejected. Judge Platt returned to the bar " with all the ardor and industry of youth," owing to the lamentable state of his pecuniary affairs, and by patient exertion 'retrieved his lost fortune. He was a member and an elder in the Presbyterian Church at Whites- boro'. He finally removed to Plattsburg, where he died.

General George Doolittle was also one of the pioneers of Whitestown. He had served in the Continental army during the Revolution, with the rank of orderly-sergeant. Being a shoemaker by trade, he carried his " kit" of tools during his entire service, and whenever not upon the march or on duty was " ready to unpack his tools and mend his compatriots' boots and shoes." On his removal to Whites- town, in 1786, he engaged in the tanning, currying, and shoemaking business. He was the first brigadier-general of militia commissioned in Oncida County. The general was a native of Middletown, Conn. He was supervisor of the

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History of Oneida County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 166

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