History of Oneida County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 3

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 3

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The UPPER HELDERBERG series extend as far west as Ontario County, but are very thin. The whole thickness of the Helderberg formation is 400 feet in Eastern New York. This formation passes through Paris, Marshall, Augusta, and Vernon.

ORISKANY SANDSTONE .- This is the upper formation of the Silurian age, and its strata constitute the passage-beds between the Silurian and Devonian systems. It extends from Central New York, in the neighborhood of Oriskany, in Oneida County, southwestward along the Appalachians, and spreads over a large area in the Mississippi Valley, where it is partly limestone. It thins out towards the Hud- son River. It was formerly classed as the lowest of the Devonian system, but is now referred to the Upper Silurian on account of the relation of its fossils. " In New York it consists either of pure siliceous sands, or of argillaceous sands. In the former case it is usually yellowish or bluish, and sometimes crumbles into sand suitable for making glass. The argillaceous sandstone is of a dark-brown or reddish color, and was once evidently a sandy or pebbly mud. In some places it contains nodules of hornstone."} This for- mation is supposed to have been deposited in an open bay of the sea, after the uplifting of the Green Mountain region, and when the highlands of Northern New Jersey constituted an island or reef.

During this formation sea-weeds were not uncommon, but there have been found no traces of terrestrial animals. The waters abounded with mollusks of various species. The total number of the different species of fossils in the Silu- rian formation, described np to 1872, is 10,074, of which Trilobites form 1579 varietics.

DEVONIAN AGE .- This system was so named by Mur- chison and Sedgwick, from Devonshire, England, where it occurs, and abounds in organic remains.

In America this formation includes the Corniferous, Ham- ilton, Chemung, and Catskill periods.

# The red and green shales which extend through the south part of the county beloog partly to this formation and partly to the Onon- daga salt group.

It is finoly developed in this town along the Seonondoa Creek.

Į Dana.

HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

The Corniferous includes the Canda Galli, Schoharie, and Corniferous epochs. The Hamilton includes the Mar- eellus, Hamilton, and Genesee shales. The Chemung in- eludes the Portage and Chemung groups; and the Catskill forms only a single system of rocks,-the red sandstone.

The first two divisions of the Corniferous period of the Devonian outerop only in the eastern half of the State. The Sehoharie grit may possibly reach Oneida County. Both divisions thicken towards the Hudson River. The upper divisions, the Onondaga and Corniferous limestones, may possibly be found in Oneida, as they certainly exist farther west .* The thickness of these latter formations is about 20 feet for the Onondaga, and 50 feet for the Cor- niferous. The latter is of a dark grayish color, and occasion- ally black. " The limestone of this period in some places abounds in mineral oil. At Terre Haute, Ind., a well 1500 feet deep, into Corniferous limestone, yields two barrels of oil a day, and a second, 1775 feet deep, twenty-five barrels."t

This formation abounds in fossil plants and animals. " The remains of Vertebrates, under the form of fishes, appear first, in America, according to present knowledge, in the rocks of the Corniferous period."t

The Corniferous is so named from the Latin words cornu (horn) and fero (I bear), alluding to the seams of horn- stone (flint-like quartz) with which it abounds. It is full of fossil corals, and here, also, the Conifers and Ferns, an- ticipating the Carboniferous age, began to appear. Among its various forms of animal life were several varieties of Se- lachians, or the Shark tribe. Their remains have been found in Ontario County, N. Y. During the Corniferous period the continent, from Eastern New York westward, was covered with an immense shallow coral-bearing sea. This formation outcrops near Waterville.

Above the Corniferous period comes in the HAMILTON, which includes the epochs of the Marcellus, Hamilton, and Genesee shales. "The Marcellus shale is, for the most part, a soft, argillaceous rock ; the lower part is black, with carbonaceous matter, and contains traces of coal or bitumen, so as sometimes to afford flame in the fire. The Hamilton beds, so named from the town of Hamilton, in Madison County, consist of shales and flags, with some thin line- stone-beds. The excellent flagging-stone in common use in New York and some adjoining States, often called North River flags, comes from a thin layer in the Hamilton. The Genesee shale is a blackish, bituminous shaly rock, overly- ing the Hamilton."t

The Marcellus shale is about 50 feet in thickness, the Hamilton 1000 to 1200 feet, and the Genesee about 150 feet in Central New York. The last two formations are finely exposed along the banks of the Seneca and Cayuga Lakes.

The Hamilton flagging-stone is the best in the country, and is remarkable for the abundance of its ripple-marks and wave-lines, which may be noticed everywhere in the side- walks of Utica. The Black shales are impregnated with oil to the extent of fifteen to twenty per cent. It is ob- tained from the rock by distillation of its carbonaceous substances. It often gives out gas from the borings in the

oil regions. It also contains great quantities of Pyrites, and abounds in sulphur springs. The shales contain abun- dant fossils of plants, but very few animal remains. The Hamilton beds contain many animal fossils.

Overlying the Hamilton group is the CHEMUNG PERIOD, which includes the Portage and Chemung EPOCHS. The Portage group consists of shales and laminated sandstones. This formation has a thickness of 1000 feet on the Genesee River, and 1400 feet near Lake Erie. It is developed in the neighborhood of Cayuga Lake, but does not appear in the eastern part of the State. The Chemung group covers a large area of the southern portion of the State, and has a thickness of 1500 feet south of Cayuga Lake. It is made up of sandstone and coarse shales in various alternations.

The Chemung period and the Catskill, which overlies it, are not developed in Oneida County. These close the De- vonian Age. The CARBONIFEROUS formation, overlying the last mentioned, is not found, except in its lower por- tions (the sub-carboniferous), in the State of New York.

Oneida County affords a fine field for the study of the pri- mary and primordial rocks, and the various formations up to the close of the Upper Silurian. The region covered by it abounds in drift,-boulders, gravel, sand, clay, marls, ete. ; and it has all the features of a semi-mountain region,-lofty hills, wide and narrow valleys, deep ravines and gorges, thundering waterfalls, swift-flowing streams, and its charac- teristie vegetation. It also has its broad table-lands, its extensive alluvial bottoms, its beautiful lakes, its charming vales, and level plains.

One of the finest collections of minerals and fossil re- mains in the country is that of Mr. M. Moore, proprietor of the hotel at Trenton Falls. The Trilobite specimens in his cabinet are among the most beautiful and perfect to be found in any country in the world. They vary in size from nine inches to a half-inch in length, and form a most interesting study.

CHAPTER II.

PRE-HISTORIC RACES.

THERE is no tangible evidence in the form of mounds, earthworks, bone-pits, etc., within the present limits of Oneida County, going to show the occupation of this region by the pre-historie people who once undoubtedly spread over a large portion of the present United States territory, and the centre of whose civilization, according to the evidence, was in the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys. But, according to the best authorities,t the evidence is abundant in nearly all the counties lying north, south, and west of Oneida that the race spread over a large portion of Western New York, though some authorities refer the ancient works to a period not anterior to the Iroquois occupation.

Mr. Squier, in his valuable and interesting work, de- scribes ancient remains in St. Lawrence, Jefferson, Oswego, Onondaga, Madison, Otsego, Chenango, Cayuga, Chemung,

# Outcrop in Sangersfield.

+ Dana.

# Antiquities of the State of New York, by E. G. Squier ; Ameri- can Antiquities, by A. W. Bradford; Ancient America, by John D. Baldwin.

HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

Ontario, Monroe, Livingston, Genesee, Orleans, Erie, Chau- tauqua, and Montgomery Counties, but makes no mention of any found in Oneida. The works examined by Mr. Squier consisted of palisaded inclosures, mounds, earth- works, bone-heaps, etc. The largest is described as being located in the town of Pompey, Onondaga Co., and is esti- mated to cover 500 acres. It is supposed to have marked the site of a fortified town. Altogether about 260 of these works were visited in the counties named by Mr. Squier. The works generally in the State of New York are far less extensive than those found in the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys, and the presumption naturally follows that if they belonged to the ancient race they were upon the borders of its civilization, which here failed to reach that prominence which characterized its existence in the Western States.

Theories withont number have been advanced as to the origin and duration of these ancient people. By some they are supposed to have been from Asia, and progenitors uf the red race found occupying the continent at the period of European discovery in the sixteenth century, who are sup- posed to have degenerated from the civilization of their an- cestors. Other writers contend that the semi-civilized races of Central America and Mexico, found occupying those countries by the Spaniards in the early part of the six- teenth century, were descendants of the " Mound-Builders."

The ancient people of Central America and Mexico were known by various names : Colhuas, Toltecs, Nahuas, Aztecs, ete. These people had an old tradition that their ances- tors came from a country far to the northeast, called by them Ilue-Huc, Tlupalun, which was believed by the eminent French scholar, Brasseur de Bourbourg, to have been the valley of the Mississippi and its branches, or, in other words, the country of the " Mound-Builders."

This tradition related that after many years' occupation they were driven out at the end of a protracted struggle and sought a new home in the regions of Central America, -many of them coming in ships. The terrible race who finally forced them from their country was called the Chichimies. The period of this exodus is supposed to have been at least 1000 years previous to the Christian era, and some writers place it as far back as 2500 years.

It has been ingrained into the descendants of Europeans in America that the first, or primitive, human beings ap- peared on the Eastern Continent, and many ingenious theo- ries have been constructed to prove the position. The Copper races of America have been compared, times with- out number, with the people of Eastern Asia, with the gypsies of Egypt, with the supposed ten lost Jewish tribes, and many others. Their language has undergone the same critical examination and comparison, and there have been very few. writers until recently who have ques- tioned the theory. But recent investigations in geology and palæontology have shaken the confidence heretofore reposed in the stereotyped traditions of the past, and men are beginning to be convinced that neither the Sequoias of California, the tulip-tree of Indiana, the sugar-maple of the North, nor the palmetto of the South have emigrated from the slopes of Lebanon or the valley of the Euphrates. Neither has the bison of the prairies, the wild turkey of the central forests, or the rattlesnake of the rocks come from some far-

off land. And MAN, the crowning glory of animal life, is just as likely to have appeared on the American as the Asiatie continent, or rather he may have sprung into exist- ence simultaneously in various places thousands of miles asunder. Why not?

Geologically, the American is probably the older of the continents, and it is demonstrable that before even the lowest of the land animals appeared the sea was teeming with myriad life, that extended to every part of the globe. The rocks bear unmistakable evidence of this fact ; and the time is not far distant when the belief will be common that every form of life-vegetable and animal-has gradually appeared whenever and wherever the surroundings were fitted for its existence.

From the best evidence which can be obtained there is every indication that the American continent has produced its own Fauna and Flora, and consequently the belief is gaining ground every day that the first human race of the continent was really both aboriginal and indigenous.

The Indians knew very little of the ancient remains : and, although they were familiar with them, they could never give any satisfactory idea of their origin. The famous Mohawk chieftain, Thay-en-dan-e-gea (Joseph Brant), being interrogated, stated that " a tradition pre- vailed among the different nations of Indians throughout the whole extensive range of country, which had been handed down time immemorial, that in an age long gone by there came white men from a foreign country, and by consent of the Indians established trading-houses and set- tlements where these tumuli are found. A friendly inter- course was continued for several years; many of the white men brought their wives, and had children born to them ; and additions to their numbers were made yearly from their own country. These circumstances at length gave rise to jealousies among the Indians, and fears began to be entertained in regard to the increasing numbers, wealth, and ulterior views of the new-comers, apprehending that, becoming strong, they might one day seize upon the country as their own.

" A secret council, composed of the chiefs from all the dif- ferent nations from the St. Lawrence to the Mississippi, was therefore convoked ; the result of which, after long deliberation, was a resolution that on a certain night designated for that purpose all their white neighbors- men, women, and children-should be exterminated. The most profound secrecy was essential to the execution of such a purpose; and such was the fidelity with which the fatal determination was kept, that the conspiracy was suc- cessful, and the device carried completely into effect. Not a soul was left to tell the tale."*

CHAPTER III. INDIAN OCCUPATION.

THE first well-authenticated visits of Europeans made to the territory now comprising the flourishing and popu- lous State of New York were those of Sir Samuel Cham-

> This tradition possibly refers to a settlement made by the French at Pompey, Onondaga County, N. Y., in 1666.

HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

plain and Sir Henry Hudson, in the year 1609; the former, via the St. Lawrence aud Sorel Rivers and Lake Chau- plain, in July, and the latter on the Hudson River, as high up as Albany, in September following.

At that date the region of country extending through the centre of the State, from the Hudson River on the east to Lake Erie on the west, was occupied by the most famous and powerful Indian confederacy of which history makes mention,-the celebrated Iroquoise* of the French, and Five (subsequently Six) Nations of the English ; but by themselves called the Ho-de'-no-sau-nce, or, literally, the " People of the Long House." These tribes or nations were ranged in the following order, commencing on the Hudson River and reading towards the west : Mohawks, Oncidus, Onondagas, Cuyugas, Senecas. The Tuscaroras, said to be a kindred tribe, upon their expulsion from North Carolina about 1712, applied for and were granted admission into the Confederacy, but not upon equal terms with the original members. They were assigned territory to the south of and adjoining that of the Oneidas and Onondagas, lying mostly within the present county of Chenango. The actual population of this confederation has never been positively known. La Hontan, a French writer of some celebrity, but of much uncertainty in his statements, esti- mated it at 70,000. An estimate made by Colonel Coursey at Albany, in 1677, placed it at 15,000. Bancroft estimated it, including the Tuscaroras, at 17,000. Sir William John- son, about 1763, computed their number at 10,000.

A tradition among the Senecas, as related by Morgan in his work entitled " League of the Ho-de'no-sau-nec-" states that at the period of their greatest prosperity the Senecas took a census of their people by placing a kernel of corn for every Seneca in a corn-basket, supposed to hold about ten or twelve quarts, which, if filled,-a matter about which nothing is said,-would give, according to an estimate made, 17,760 grains; but the story is told in such an uncertain way that it amounts to very little.

Morgan considers that the Confederacy was at the zenith of its power about 1650, and estimates the population at that period at 25,000, divided among the different nation- alities as follows: Senecus, 10,000 ; Cuyugas, 3000; Quondagas, 4000; Oneidus, 3000; Mohawks, 5000. At the date last mentioned their empire, if the term is ad- missible, extended nominally from the month of the St. Lawrence to the Mississippi River, and from Hudson's Bay to the valley of the Tennessee; though the country they really occupied was confined to something less than the area of the present State of New York.

About the year 1700 their conquests had extended over the Abenakis nations of New England, the Algonquins proper, the Adirondacks, the Montagnais, the Hurons, the Tobacco nation, and the Neutral nation of British America. They had conquered the Lenni Lenape, or Delawares, the Andustes, the Eries, and other nations of Pennsylvania and New York, and had carried their arms and the terror of their name over all the nations living in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois. In the latter State, towards the

close of the seventeenth century, they had nearly extermi- nated the once powerful nation known as the Illini, or Illinois. The conquered nations paid an annual tribute to their masters, who, holding, as it were, the keys of all the great natural thoroughfares, sat like the eagle in his eyrie, and kept them all in subjection. From 1609 to the close of the French war of 1754-60, with few exceptions, they were the most inveterate and troublesome enemies with whom the French had to deal, and often carried destruction and carnage to the very walls of Montreal and Quebee. Through the influence of the French Jesuits, considerable numbers of them were from time to time persuaded to leave their kindred and settle around missions in Canada, or on its immediate borders, upon territory then occupied by the French. The most considerable of these colonies was the one founded by the Abbe Picquet in 1749 at Oswegatchie, or Swe-ga-chie, now Ogdensburg. About the year 1759 this colony consisted of some 3000 souls, mostly drawn from the Onondagas and Mohawks. It was broken up in 1760 on the approach of Amherst's army to Montreal, and its people scattered in various directions.

During the war of the Revolution, the Six Nations, with the exception of the Oncidas and Tuscuroras, and one village of the Mohawks, threw their fortunes into the scale with the English, and their war-parties were a con- tinual terror to the border settlements from Lake Cham- plain to the Delaware. Under the celebrated Mohawk chief, Thay-en-dan-e-gea, better known by his English name, Joseph Brant, their warriors took part in nearly every skirmish and battle fought within the limits of New York, Pennsylvania, and Canada, and their name is legion.

The military expeditions directed against them by the American Congress, under Colonels Willett and Van Schaick, and Generals Sullivan and Clinton, nearly put an end to their Confederacy and their power; and the rapid influx of immigration following the close of the war speedily com- pelled the hostiles to give up nearly all their lands, and reduced the friendly tribes to the condition of a few isolated and circumscribed communities.

The bulk of the Mohawk nation removed to Canada at the beginning of the war, settling at first in the neighbor- hood of the Bay of Quiute, from whence they subsequently mostly removed to the Valley of Grand River, near Lake Erie.

The Oncidas, notwithstanding their friendship for the Americans, fared little better than the rest of their brethren of the Six Nations. Their lands were eventually purchased by the State at various times, until little remained of the once extensive territory occupied by themu. A portion of the nation migrated to Canada, and settled on the river Thames. Another body removed to the neighborhood of Green Bay, Wis., and a remnant still remains near their ancient council-house, or castle, in Oneida County.

The history of the Onondagas is similar, though in some respects they have been the most fortunate nation of the league. A large share of their lands were sold to the State, and many of them removed to Canada ; some took refuge with the Senecas, and a considerable body still reside on their original lands in the towns of Onondaga and La Fayette, in Onondaga County.

# Now generally written Iroquois. The origin of the word is in- volved in much obscurity, and its real meaning not certainly known.

IIISTORY OF . ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

The Cuyugas, perhaps, fared the worst of all, for as early as the year 1800 they had entirely abandoned their lands and removed, some to Green Bay, Wis., and some to Sun- dusky, Ohio, from whence they subsequently were removed to a reservation west of the Mississippi. A small portion settled among the Senecus.

The Tuscaroras removed from the Oneida territory, originally granted them in 1712, and settled about the Niagara River about 1780-85:

The Senecas, long the most formidable nation of the Confederacy, have had a similar experience. The greed of the white man-the . Christian-has gradually eneroached upon their once extensive domain, until they are at present confined to three small reservations situated in the counties of Genesee, Chautauqua, and Cattaraugus.

The number of Indians residing within the State by the census of 1875 amounted to 5117, of whom 64 were Oncidas, living mostly on their reservation in the town of Vernon, only four being off from it. They are generally engaged in cultivating the soil in the summer season ; in the winter they visit various parts of the country, selling the bead-work and other products of their household man- ufactures.

THE IROQUOIS CONFEDERACY.

As this most important of all the North American nations and confederations of the people living in the Hunter State was centrally located in the territory com- prising the present county of Oneida and its immediate vicinity, and as the earliest known history of the region begins with the first knowledge obtained by the French missionaries among them, a brief outline of their origin, laws, customs, and confederation is deemed of sufficient importance to be inserted in this connection. Their history has been compiled, more or less completely, by various writers, among the best of whom are Morgan, Parkman, and Colden. The very thorough work, entitled " League of the Ho-de'-no-sau-nee," by Lewis H. Morgan, and pub- lished in 1851, is probably the most comprehensive and valuable, as it was compiled under peculiarly favorable circumstances. It does not, however, enter specially into the military history of the Confederacy, confining itself rather to a most elaborate and particular description of their laws, customs, mode of living, religion, etc. Colonel Win. L. Stone's "Life of Joseph Brant," published in 1838, is devoted almost exclusively to the military history of the Six Nations during the wars from 1754 to 1815, and is a most valuable work, containing probably more in- formation connected with this branch of their history thau any other work ever issued from the press .*

The origin of this peculiar people is involved somewhat in obscurity, like everything else depending upon Indian tra- dition. According to Morgan, their tradition tells us that previous to their occupation of the State of New York they resided along the northern shore of the St. Lawrence River, in the vicinity of Montreal, where they were under

the rule of the Adirondacks, a branch of the great Algon- quin family, then holding possession of the whole region lying north of that stream. At that time the Iroquois formed but one nation, and were few in number. From their masters they learned the arts of war and husbandry, and in the course of time increased to such numbers as led them to think they might become independent. They finally made the attempt to establish themselves as an inde- pendent nation, but were overpowered by the Adirondacks, and obliged to flee from the country to escape extermination.

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History of Oneida County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 3

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