History of Oneida County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 43

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 43

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Upon due examination a division was deemed proper and necessary by the Legislature, and the two counties were erected by an act passed March 28, 1805, with the following boundaries :

" Beginning at the southwest corner of the town of Ellisburgh, on the easterly shore of Lake Ontario, and running along the sontherly line of said town ; thence along the easterly line thereof to the south- west corner of the town of Malta; thence along the southerly line of said town of Malta, and continuing the same course to the corner of townships Nos. 2, 3, 7, and 8; thence north along the east lino of the town of Malta aforesaid to the northeast corner thereof; thence in a direct line to the corners of the towns of Rutland and Champion ; thence along the line between the said town of Champion and the town of ITarrisburgh to Black River; thence in a direct line to the hounds of the county of St. Lawrence, to intersect the same at the corners of townships Nos. 7 and 11 in Great Tract No. 3 of Macomb's purchase; thence along the westerly bounds of the said county of St.

# This was originally an Indian reservation granted to the New England or Brothertown Indians, and included most of the present town of Marshall and a portion of Kirkland. It is written also Brotherton.

t A tract of 500,000 acres, purehased by Geo. Scriba, of New York, in 1790, in Oswego and Oneida Counties.

# A line from Great Sudus Bay to Seneca Lake, between the Pul- teney estate and the Military Tract.

¿ This was a grant of 50,000 acres, in the south parts of Oneida and Herkimer.

|| Changed to Denmark.

" Since changed to Rodman.

## Thomas Jefferson and Morgan Lewis.

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HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

Lawrence to the north bounds of this State; thence westerly and southerly along said bounds, including all the islands in the river St. Lawrence, in Lake Ontario, and in front thercof, and within this State, to the place of beginning, to be called and known by the name of JEFFERSON."

Also,

"Beginning at the southeast corner of the county of Jefferson aforesaid; thence southerly along the westerly line of the town of Turin to the southwest corner thereof; thence north 62 degrees cast, along the southerly line of the tract of land known by the name of Macomh's purchase, to the line of the county of llerkimer; thence north along the said last-mentioned line to the hounds of the county of St. Lawrence; thence along the southwesterly line of said last- mentioned county to the line of the county of Jefferson; and thence along the southerly and easterly bounds thereof to the place of begin- ning, to be called and known by the name of LEWIS."

This act also erected the town of Boonville from the part of the town of Leyden remaining in Oneida County. The first town-meeting was held at the house of Joseph Den- ning. -

By the terms of this act Oneida County was entitled to three, and Jefferson and Lewis each to one, members of the Assembly.

By an act passed March 21, 1806, the town of Mexico was divided, and the town of Fredericksburgh formed from its territory.

By an act of Feb. 20, 1807, the town of Williamstown was divided, and the town of Richland formed, and a part added to the town of Redfield; and by an act passed April 3 of the same year the town of Camden was divided, and the town of Orange formed from its territory ; and by an act passed April 6, 1808, the name of Orange was changed to Bengal. By an act of April 8 of the same year Williams- town was again divided, and the town of Constantia erected.

Under an act of April 3, 1811, the town of Western was divided, and the town of Lee formed from a portion of its territory ; and the first town-meeting was held at the house of Samuel Darling.

By an act of April 5, 1811, the town of Fredericksburgh was divided, and the town of Scriba formed from its terri- tory, and the remainder of Fredericksburgh was made a separate town, and its name changed to Volney. By a law passed in 1816, the name of Bengal was changed to Vienna.

SECOND SUBDIVISION OF THE COUNTY.

By an act passed March 1, 1816, the towns of Constantia, Mexico, New Haven,* Redfield, Richland, Scriba, Volney, Williamstown (Oneida County), and the town of Hannibal (Onondaga County), were formed into a new county, which was named Oswego. This last-mentioned legislation left Oneida with its present boundaries, which include an area of 1215 square miles.t

An act was passed April 7, 1817, dividing Whitestown and erecting the town of Utica; and by an act of April 12, 1823, the town of Annsville was formed from the towns of Lee, Florence, Camden, and Vienna ; and by an act of April 12, 1827, the town of New Hartford was formed from Whitestown. April 13, 1827, Kirkland was formed from Paris. Feb. 21, 1829, Marshall was formed from Kirk-

land. March 30, 1832, Marcy was erected from Deerfield ; and May 12, 1846, Ava was erected from Boonville.

The last township erected was Forestport, from Remsen, Nov. 24, 1869, including all that portion lying north of Black River.

VILLAGES AND CITIES.

The following list shows the names and dates of incor- poration of the various villages and cities of the county :

Utica .- Incorporated as a village April 3, 1798; as a town, from Whitestown, April 7, 1817 ; as a city, Feb. 13, 1832. Whitesboro' .- Incorporated as a village March 26, 1813. Rome .- Incorporated as a village March 26, 1819; as a city, Feb. 23, 1870.

Trenton .- Originally incorporated as the village of " Old- enbarneveld" April 19, 1819; name subsequently changed to Trenton. Its present charter dates from April 30, 1864. Vernon .- Incorporated as a village April 6, 1827. Camden .- Incorporated as a village May 2, 1834.

Oneida Castle .- Incorporated as a village May 26, 1841 ; new charter obtained Dec. 23, 1872.

Clinton .- Incorporated as a village April 12, 1843. Remsen .- Incorporated as a village May 10, 1845. Boonville .- Incorporated as a village 1855. New Hartford .- Incorporated as a village 1870. Waterville .- Incorporated as a village April 20, 1870.

Durhamville was at one period incorporated, but its charter was subsequently given up, and at this present writing (July, 1878) it is not incorporated.

THE COURTS.

The judicial system of the State of New York traces its genealogy back to MAGNA CHARTA. When the mailed barons of England wrested from King John, at Runnymede, A.D. 1215, that notable instrument, they laid the founda- tions of a superstructure which was to arise in proportions grand beyond their utmost anticipations. They wrenched from a despotic sovereign rights which he and his predeces- sors of the Norman line had denied the nobles, who had, at length, in the course of a century and a half from the bat- tle of Hastings, became too intelligent and powerful to be any longer disregarded even by a king. The nobility, in turn, had learned to respect the middle classes, and their rights were partially recognized in the great instrument ; though these concessions were quite likely as much the re- sult of a desire to hold the peasantry to their banners in case of troubles with the monarch as from any inborn hu- manitarianism in the nobles themselves. But these privi- leges, however obtained, and however slight they were, gave the people a taste of liberty, which, once realized and com- prehended, paved the way for their complete enfranchise- ment in the ages to come; and they have never been lost sight of in the multitudinous wars and revolutions of the last six centurics.

They underlaid the great civil struggle in England,- 1644-1660,-which resulted in placing upon the British throne the famous Oliver Cromwell, to whom attached none of those " Rights Divine," which are supposed to be the sa- cred environment of monarchs ; and although the rulers of Britain are not yet taken from the ranks of the people, still

Formed from Mexico, April 2, 1812.

t There was a portion of Stockbridge annexed to Madison County in 1836.

163

HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

the relative positions of classes have approximated gradually to each other, until to-day the Crown of the British Empire possesses but nominal and delegated powers, and the will of the English people is never disregarded.

This principle was at the bottom of the " Puritan" meve- ment in the early years of the seventeenth century. It was the mainspring of the heroic struggle of the Netherlands against Spanish and Catholic oppression, and its embryo seeds were transplanted to America by English " Puritans," and by Lutherans, Calvinists, and republicans from Hol- land and France.

This love of liberty in the human mind stimulated the American people through the long and discouraging war of the Revolution, and enabled them to triumph over the com- bined armies of kings and savages. As the great poet says,-

" For freedom's battle once begun, Bequeathed from bleeding sire to son, Though baffled oft, is ever wen."

It has laid the foundations, broad and deep, of this vast Republic, triumphed over cnemies abroad, cleared away the obstructions of a slave oligarchy, established religious toler- ation, founded the school system, and enacted the wise laws which guarantee equal rights to all.

The charters of liberties granted to the people of New York, in 1683 and 1691,* by the Duke of York, and re- pealed by the Crown in 1607, contained several clauses almost identical with some of the provisions of Magna Charta in point of phraseology, and really so in intent and purpose. For instance, the principle of broadest humanity is thus expressed : " We will not sell, we will not defer or deny to any man, justice or right." The great charter ex- empted from forced sale and distress for debt, or penalty, the tools of a craftsman, the goods of a merchant, the " wainage" (cattle, plow, and wagon) of a " villein ;" and the provision of the colonial charter corresponding to this in its quaint phrascology reads, " Thatt a ffreeman shall not bec amerced for a small fault, butt after the manner of his fault; and for a great fault after the greatnesse thereof, saving to him his ffreehold, and a husbandman, saving to him his wainage, and a merchant, likewise saving to him his merchandise; and none of the said amerciaments shall bee assessed, butt by the oath of twelve honest and lawful men of the vicinage ; provided the faults and misdemeanors bee not in contempt of courts of judicature."t

By Magna Charta the right of dower was fixed as it stands to-day, and the colonial charter has this provision :

"No estate of a ffeme covert shall be sold or conveyed butt by deed acknowledged by her ie some court of record; the woman being secretly examined if she doth itt freely, withont threats or compulsion of her husband."

The homestead rights of a widow were also fully defined. Jury trials and a grand inquest for the presentment of crim- inals were provided for, and the courts instituted had no jurisdiction over the freehold without the owner's consent, except to satisfy debts by execution or otherwise.

The following clauses in the colonial charter are also de- rived directly from its famous predecessor :

"No ffreman shall bee imprisoned or disseized of his ffreeheld or libertyo, or free oustems, or hee outlawed or exiled, or any other wayes destroyed, nor shall hee passed upen, adjudged, er condemned butt by lawfull judgment of his peers, and by the laws of this pro- vince. No man of what condition or estate soever shall bee putt out of his lands or tenements, nor bee taken, por imprisoned, nor disin- herited, nor banished, nor in any wayes destroyed without being brought to answer hy due course of law. All lands in this province shall bee free from all fines and lycences upen alienacions, and from all heriotts, wardships, livereys, primier seizins, year, day, and waste escheats and forfeitures, upon the death of parents or ancestors, natu- rall, casuall, and judiciall, and thatt forever, cases of High Treason only excepted."#

But notwithstanding the distinguished parentage of the judicial system of New York, the English were not the first to introduce courts into the colony. Under the Dutch regime the cities of New Amsterdam and Fort Orange (New York and Albany) had tribunals established, known as " the Mayor and Aldermen's Courts," and the Knicker- bocker Governors were likewise possessed of judicial powers, and held adjudications.

It was stipulated in the articles of capitulation, in 1664, that the public records should be preserved, and the deci- sions of former courts respected, and that inferior civil officers and magistrates should continue to execute their official duties until a new election,-in which the people were to choose their officers,-the new incumbents to swear allegiance to England.

The first court of record of English creation in the colony was one established in 1674, called the " Court of Assizes,"§ which had both law and equity jurisdiction. Town courts and courts of sessions were also held by order of the Governor. The original court of assizes was abolished in 1683. On the 29th of October, 1683, the General As- sembly passed the first act regulating courts of justice, which provided for the following tribunals :

I. A court, composed of three persons, commissioned for that purpose, to be held monthly throughout the year in each town, on the first Wednesday of the month, to hear and determine small causes and cases of debt and trespass to the value of forty shillings and under, without a jury, unless one was specially demanded by either party to the suit, and then to be summoned and to serve at the expense of the party demanding the same. The persons composing the court were called commissioners, and one of them issued the summons to the party defendant, which must be per- sonally served or left at his house four days before the sit- ting of the court.

II. Courts of Sessions, yearly, and in each county, to hear, try, and determine all causes, civil or criminal, brought thercin, with a jury of twelve men of the county wherein the action accrued. The judges of this court were the jus- tices of the peace of the respective counties or any three of them. This court had an officer denominated " the Clark of the sessions, or Clark of the peace," and also " one Marshall or cryer." All processes issued out of the clerk's office and to the sheriff. For Albany County this court was at first to be held on the first Tuesdays in March, June, and September, at the town-hall in the city of Albany.

Revised Laws of New York, 1813. Appendix.

t Bradford's Colonial Laws of New York.

# Smith's History of New York.

¿ Notes to Revised Laws of New York, 1813.

164

HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

III. Annually, in each county, there were two terms to be held of a Court of Oyer and Terminer and General " Gaol" Delivery, with civil and criminal jurisdiction over all matters in controversy where the monetary consideration amounted to five pounds and upwards. This court had power to " try, hear, and determine all matters, causes and cases, capitall, criminall, and civill, and tryalls at common law, in and to which said conrt all and every persons what- soever shall or may, if they sec meet, remove any action or suit, debt or damages laid in such actions or suits being five pounds and upwards, or shall or may, by warrant, writ of error, or certiorari, remove out of any inferior court any judgment, informacion, or indictment there had and depend- ing, and may correct errors in judgment, and reverse the same, if there be just cause for it." The first term of this court held in Albany County commenced on the second Wednesday in May, 1684.

IV. A Court of Chancery, with power to hear and deter- mine all matters of equity, and be esteemed and accounted the Supreme Court of the province. The Assembly provided for the appointment of a chancellor to hold the court, with assistants to be appointed by the Governor and Council; but the latter powers returned the bill with an amendment declaring the Governor and Council to be the Court of Chancery, with power in the Governor to depute a chancellor or assistant, etc.

The right of appeal from any of the courts of Oyer and Terminer, General Jail Delivery, and High Court of Chan- cery to "our Sovereign Lord, the King" was reserved for any of his dutiful subjects the value of whose disputes or matters in question amounted to one hundred pounds or more .*

The acts of the Assembly of 1683, during its various sessions, were never approved by " His Royal Highness, the Duke of York," and the Assembly which convened in 1691 declared all the legislation of the former body null and void .; The Assembly, however, provided for the maintenance of courts in 1691, as a temporary act, extend- ing their lease of power in 1693 and 1695, and in 1696-97 the Crown repealed the charter of 1691. The courts under the charter of 1691 were the justices' courts in the towns, the Sessions of the Peace, and Common Pleas in the coun- ties, and a Supreme Court, the latter composed at first of one chief-justice and four associate justices,t and the city courts of New York and Albany. Appeals would lie to the Supreme Court from any inferior court in cases of error.§

An ordinance of the Governor (Earl Bellamont) and Council in May, 1699, reconstructed the courts, as follows : Justices were given cognizance of causes involving forty shillings, without the intervention of a jury, by taking a freeholder to their assistance to hear and determine the causes. The summons issued to the constable, and was re- turnable at the end of forty-cight hours. A Court of Com- mon Plcas was provided for each county, to begin the next

day after the general sessions ended, which had jurisdiction of all cases at common law of any kind or nature soever. Appeals would lie in all matters of twenty pounds and up- wards, or where the action touched the title to the freehold.

A Supreme Court of judicature was provided for the whole colony, to be held at New York, which had cogai- zance of all pleas, " civil, criminal, and mixed, as fully and amply, to all intents and purposes whatsoever, as the Courts of King's Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer, within his Majesty's Kingdom of England, have or ought to have."

Original jurisdiction was also given this court, in all civil cases of £20 and upwards, or which brought in question the right of freehold ; and all suits in the inferior courts coming within its purvey could be transferred to the Su- preme Court for trial. Process to issue under teste of the chief-justice of the court, and a session of the same to be held at New York twice in each year. One of the justices of the Supreme Court was to go the circuit annually, and, with two or more justices of the respective counties, hold sessions of the said court at Albany and the other counties of the province. The justices of the Supreme Court were to be appointed by the Governor and Council, with power to hold terms of five days in New York and two days only in the other counties. The judges of the several courts were empowered to regulate the pleadings and practice of their courts, and jury trials were preserved. By an ordinance of Governor Cornbury, issued in April, 1704, the terms of this court were increased to four per annum, and from that time till the adoption of the constitution by the people, in 1777, the Supreme Court rested upon and was held by the authority of those ordinances alone.

On the 2d of September, 1701, John Nanfan, the licu- tenant-governor, established by an ordinance a High Court of Chancery, declaring himself ex-oficio chancellor ; but, on June 13, 1702, the Governor, Lord Cornbury, suspended its functions until a fee-bill and rules of practice " could be arranged agreeably to equity and justice," and the chief and second justices of the province were appointed to " consider and report the best method to render the court most useful and least burdensome" to parties litigant. The justices having reported, Lord Cornbury accordingly, on Nov. 7, 1704, revived the court and the causes depending therein, and adopted the fee-bill and rules of practice pre- pared by the judges.

On Nov. 6, 1735, the General Assembly adopted a reso- Intion declaring " that a Court of Chancery in this province in the hands or under the exercise of a Governor without consent of the General Assembly is contrary to law, unwar- rantable, and of dangerous consequence to the liberties and properties of the people."||

Several struggles were made by the Colonial Assembly to destroy this court, but without effect ; and Smith ob- serves, in his " History of New York," " Of all our courts, none has been more obnoxious to the people than this,- the Court of Chancery of the colony." The court remained, however, in the Governor's hand until the Revolution, when the constitution recognized it as a court, and directed a chancellor to be appointed for it.

* Appendix to Revised Laws of New York, 1813.

t Journal of Colonial Assembly.

# From 1701 to 1758 it was composed of a chief-justice and two associates. In 1758 a fourth was added.

¿ Smith's History of Now York.

|| Journal of Assembly, 687.

165

HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

It was reorganized March 16, 1778, and continued by the constitution of 1821, but abolished by that of 1846. In 1848 a code of practice for the courts was adopted, whereby the distinction between legal and equitable reme- dies was abolished, as well as all the old and cumbrous forms of actions and pleadings in cases at common law, and a uniform course of proceedings in all cases established. The code was revised in 1876 and amended in 1877, and took effect Sept. 1 of the latter year.

The charter of 1683 provided for the attestation of wills by two witnesses, and, when so attested, declared them competent to pass the title to land, if filed in the office of the secretary of the colony within forty days after the death of the testator. The charter of 1691 vested the Governor with probate powers, and styled the tribunal the Prerogative Court ; and in 1694 the Assembly provided for the supervising of intestacies, and regulating probates of wills and administration,-the widow, if any, to have the preference; if no widow, then administration to be referred to the public administrator, who was to educate the orphans, if any, in the " Holy Protestant Religion, and see that they were honestly maintained according to the value of their estate," and their estate invested for them, to be received by them on obtaining their majority or marrying. Wills in remote counties were allowed to be proven before courts of Common Pleas, and certified to the secretary's office in New York. Appeals would lie from the courts or justices to the Governor. If the estate did not exceed £50 in value the courts of Common Pleas could grant adminis- tration.

On the 24th of March, 1772, the law of intestacies and probate of wills was extended to Tryon County. The first constitution recognized the Court of Probates, and at the first session of the Legislature, in 1778, the judge of the court was vested with the same powers that the Governor of the colony had as judge of the Prerogative Court. The judge of this court was appointed for the entire State, and granted letters of administration and probates of wills for his entire jurisdiction. Surrogates for the counties were provided for also by the Council of Appointment. February 20, 1787, the appointment of surrogates was given to the Governor, and they were given jurisdiction of probate mat- ters in their respective counties, the Court of Probates of the State possessing appellate powers over them. The old co- lonial law for the supervising of estates was repealed. The office of surrogate was abolished by the constitution of 1846, and a county judge provided, who, besides holding the county court, has also probate jurisdiction. In counties having a population of 40,000 or upwards a surrogate may be elected.

In 1702 a Court of Exchequer was established in the colony, which had cognizance of sundry governmental claims against other parties. In 1786 the Legislature created a court under that title, which was to be held in the city of New York, by one of the justices of the Supreme Court, and had cognizance of all claims arising in favor of the State on fines, forfeitures, issues, amerciaments, and debts. This court was re-established in 1813,* by the revised laws,

but did not survive the constitution that passed away in 1821, on the adoption of the new one.t

The constitution of 1777 recognized the following courts : Admiralty, Chancery, Supreme, Common Pleas, Oyer and Terminer and General Jail Delivery, General Sessions of the Peace, the Court of Probates, City Courts, and Justices of the Peace ; and provided for a Court of Impeachment and Correction of Errors, under regulations to be cstab- lished by the Legislature. This latter court consisted of the President of the Senate for the time being, the senators, chancellor, and the judges of the Supreme Court, or a ma- jority of them.

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History of Oneida County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 43

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