History of Oneida County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 96

Author: Durant, Samuel W
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Fariss
Number of Pages: 920

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HISTORY

OF THE

TOWNS AND VILLAGES OF ONEIDA COUNTY.

BY P. A. DURANT.

ROME.

CHAPTER XXI. CITY OF ROME.

The original Town of Rome-The Village of Rome-Rome City.

THE region around the site of Fort Stanwix abounds in rich and varied historic lore, and at this day much that could have been gathered years ago is forgotten, and the task of compiling a truthful history of the locality is one attended with many disappointments and an immense amount of labor. Through the efforts of various local writers, however, and especially those of D. E. Wager, Esq., of Rome, many chapters have been published in the columns of the local press, which are worthy of preserva- tion, and from these we have culled largely, using also all records which were attainable, and receiving much informa- tion from the descendants of various families which located here at an early day. This chapter will treat more partic- ularly of the local history of the town, village, and city of Rome ; and in the general history of the county, in another part of this volume, will be found accurate accounts of the movements of the various English, French, American, and Indian forces which contested for supremacy where now is a flourishing city, and up and down the beautiful

" Vale where the Mohawk gently glides On its elear winding way to the sea."

On the 10th of April, 1792, the town of Steuben was created from a portion of Whitestown, and included in its limits what is now Rome. The first town-meeting for Steuben was held at the house of Seth Ranncy, " near Fort Stanwix," on the first Tuesday in April, 1793, and Roswell Fellows was chosen supervisor, and Jedediah Phelps town clerk. Mr. Fellows held the office until the

TOWN OF ROME

was formed from a part of Steuben, by an act passed March 4, 1796. The town of Floyd was also formed from Steu- ben at the same time. The first town-meeting in Rome was held at the dwelling-house of Ebenezer Claflin, on the first Tuesday in April, 1796, agreeable to the act by which

the town was created. At this meeting it was " Voted, That Daniel Haws build a good and sufficient pound for the Town of Rome, near the dwelling of Benjamin Gilbert;" also, " Voted, Matthew Brown build a good and sufficient pound for the Town of Rome, near his dwelling-house ;" " Voted, That hogs be a free commoner, if they have good and sufficient yokes on, the year ensuing ;" "Voted, That every man take care of his own Rams."

At an extra town-meeting, held Nov. 30, 1801, it was, " On motion, Voted, That ten dollars be allowed and be paid to any person or persons who shall kill any panther, wolf, or wildcat within the town of Rome (in case the person is not entitled to a bounty from a neighbouring town), as well as for any of those noxtious animals which may be discov- ered within the limits of Rome and pursued into a neigh- boring town and there killed; which circumstance of the killing shall be proven to the satisfaction of one or more Justices of the Peace of this town."

"On motion, Voted, That a bounty of one cent be allowed and paid for each chipping or red squirrel, and two cents for each gray and black squirrel, killed within the town of Rome between this and the first of April next, to be proven before any Justice of the Peace."

At the annual town-meeting for 1802 it was " Voted, that a bounty of one cent be allowed and paid for each blackbird and bluejay, & six cents for each crow, killed in the town of Rome the ensuing year, to be proven before any Justice of the Peace in said town." Also, " Voted, That the sum of fifty dollars be raised in the town of Rome for the encouragement of the destruction of wild, noxious animals, such as wolves, panthers, wildcats, crows, jays, blackbirds, &c." It was voted to raise $100 for the same purpose in 1803. In 1804 no bounty was paid on wolves, but the bounties remained the same for birds and squirrels. Each assessor in the town was this year directed to "procure one pound of nux vomica for the purpose of killing wolves." A lengthy " Rec't for Poisoning Wolves" was inserted in the fore part of the volume of town records, and it would seem that the inhabitants of Rome at that day were greatly

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HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

troubled by these animals. They were extremely method- ical in the manner of ridding the neighborhood of the pests, the " Receipt" mentioned being carefully written ont and plain directions given for the use of the poison, of which nux vomica was the principal ingredient.

The following officers were elected at the first town- meeting (April, 1796), viz. : Supervisor, George Hunting- ton ; Town Clerk, Ebenezer Wright, Jr. ; Assessors, Chester Gould, Gershom Waldo, Daniel W. Knight; Overseers of the Poor, Thomas Wright, William Walsworth ; Commis- sioners of Highways, Bill Smith, Elijah Wells, Caleb Reyn- 'olds; Constables, Samuel Reynolds, David Waldo ; Fence- Viewers, Asa Tyler, Matthew Brown, John Williams; Col- lector, Samuel Reynolds; Poundmasters, Nathan Thomp- son, Matthew Brown; Commissioners of Schools, Chester Gould, Sheldon Logan, Abijah Putnam.

The following is a list of the supervisors of the town from 1797 to 1869, inclusive: 1797, Abijah Putnam ; 1798 to 1801, Thomas Gilbert; 1802, Clark Putnam ; 1803, Henry Huntington; 1804, George Huntington ; 1805, Clark Putnam ; 1806-7, Thomas Gilbert; 1808, Samuel Dill ; 1809, Henry Huntington ; 1810-11, Samuel Dill ; 1812-13, Bill Smith; 1814, George Huntington ; 1815-16, Wheeler Barnes; 1817, George Huntington ; 1818-20, Samuel Beardsley ; 1821-22, Rufus Barnes ; 1823-26, Jay Hatheway ; 1827-28, George Brown; 1829-30, Henry A. Foster; 1831-32, Numa Leonard; 1833-34, Henry A. Foster ; 1835-36, Jesse Armstrong ; 1837-38, Harold H. Pope; 1839-40, James Merrill ; 1841-42, Adam Van Patten; 1843-44, Enoch B. Arm- strong ; 1845-46, Giles Hawley ; 1847, John Niles ; 1848-49, Alfred Ethridge; 1850, Allen Briggs ; 1851, Benjamin N. Huntington; 1852-53, Stephen Van Dresar ; 1854, Bradford C. Dean ; 1855-58, Giles Hawley ; 1859- 60, Alfred Ethridge; 1861-68, Giles Hawley; 1869, Enoch B. Armstrong.

The surface of the town (now city) of Rome is for the most part level, and before it was drained by the con- struction of the Erie Canal and private sewers was marshy in many places, the swamp southward from Fort Stanwix being impassable during nearly the entire year. Unless in a very wet season, it can now be cultivated over its whole area, and many fine gardens are found where originally the life of man or beast was endangered by an attempt to cross. In the northern or eastern portions of the town the surface is higher and gently rolling, with quite abrupt bluffs along the Mohawk and smaller streams.

The various streams which water the territory included in Rome are the Mohawk, which enters from the town of Western on the north, flows south ward to the city proper, and thence eastwardly (forming the boundary between Floyd and the southeast part of Rome) in a winding course between the towns of Marcy and Deerfield on the north, and Whitestown and the city of Utica on the south, into Herkimer County ; Wood Creek, which flows southerly to the city, thence westerly, receiving Canada Crcek at the northeast corner of the town of Verona, forming the bound- ary between Verona and Rome for a number of miles, and on to Oneida Lake; Canada Creek, which flows south ward across the town from Lee, and enters Wood Creek as men-

tioned ; Fish Creek, also coming from the north, and form- ing the boundary for some distance between Rome and Vienna, thence across a corner of Vienna to its junction with Wood Creek near the outlet of the latter into Oneida Lake. There are also numerous smaller streams, tributary to both the Mohawk and Wood Creek.

Rome includes on the west a portion of town number two of Scriba's Patent ; in the northeast a part of Fonda's Patent ; in the southeast a large portion of the Oriskany Patent ; in the southwest a small part of Coxe's Patent, the Smith tract, and a portion of the Perache tract.

The Erie Canal crosses from west to east, following the valleys of Wood Creek and the Mohawk River; and the Black River Canal is constructed from Rome northward along the upper Mohawk. Railway facilities are afforded by the New York Central and Hudson River Railway, which follows the route of the Erie Canal from Rome east- ward, and westward bcars southward into the town of Ve- rona; the Rome, Watertown and Ogdensburg Railway, running northwest from Rome, and entering the town of Annsville at its south line, near Fish Creek ; and the Rome and Clinton Division of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railway, which leads from Rome southwardly to Clinton, connecting at that place with the Utica, Clinton and Binghamton Division of the same road.

EARLY SETTLEMENTS, INCIDENTS, ETC.

On a map of the "Siege of Fort Stanwix," in another part of this volume, will be noticed, west of the fort, the representation of a tree, which was termed the " scalping- tree." This name was probably given from the following circumstance, as related by one of the officers then in the fort : "Three little girls went out to pick berries. While thus engaged, about one hundred rods from the fort, the reports of four guns were heard in quick succession, and a party of soldiers hastening to the spot, met one of the girls returning towards the fort with her basket in her hand, having two balls in her shoulder and the blood streaming down her person. The other two girls were found shot and scalped, one of them dead, and the other died soon after being taken into the fort. The savages who fired the shots fled into the woods and escaped. One of the girls who was killed was a young lady twenty years old, named Caty Steers, and the daughter of a man living at that time in the neigh- borhood of the fort."

J. R. Simms, of Fort Plain, New York, had interviews in 1846-47 with an old Revolutionary pensioner named John Roof, who had held a colonel's commission during that war. His father lived near the site of Fort Stanwix prior to the Revolution, and there he was born, August 28, 1762, being beyond a doubt the first white child born in Oneida County. He was christened on an occasion when Sir William Johnson was at the fort, accompanied by a party of military men from below. General Herkimer, then a captain, was one of the number, and stood as godfather to the boy. It is presumed that the ceremony was per- formed by an Episcopal clergyman.

Colonel Roof mentioned to Mr. Simms the names of several persons who were living at Fort Stanwix in 1777, and said they settled there about 1760. From his pro-

RESIDENCE OF A. ETHRIDGE , ROME, NEW YORK.

LITH BY L. N EVERTS, PHILA, PA

PHOTO. BY NOVEY.

Patrick

RESIDENCE. OF HENRY PATRICK, ROME, ONEIDA CO, N. Y.

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

365

HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

nonciation it was difficult to give the exact orthography, but as near as could be given they were named (beside his father) William Kline, Thomas Mears or Mayers, a Mr. Broothock or Brodock, and a Mr. Steers. They were all located in the same neighborhood, cultivated some land, assisted boatmen over the " carrying-place," traded for furs with the Indians, and lived comfortably. Roof was keep- ing a public-house near the fort at the beginning of the war, and was the only one licensed to do so in the western part of what was then Albany County. He was a captain of militia under General Herkimer at the battle of Oriskany, and had been on terms of friendship with him for years.

Colonel John Roof stated that he was at the Herkimer mansion after the battle of Oriskany, and saw the general's leg amputated, and helped a young man, about his own age, named Nicholas Dygert, to bury it. The stump bled profusely after the operation, and the general grew con- stantly weaker. He spoke to young Roof, saying, "I guess you boys will have to take up that leg and bury it with me, for I am going to follow it."

Colonel Roof further stated that the noted Oneida chief Skanandoa, who acted as colonel among the Indians, sent a young man to notify the Roof family of the approach of the enemy in 1777, when they were yet some miles distant. The settlers at first all took refuge in the fort, but had finally to abandon their possessions; and the Roof family, acting on the advice of Colonel Gansevoort, dropped down the valley to the General Herkimer house, and occupied a part of it until the next season, when they removed to Canajoharie, and occupied a stone house which stood at the foot of " Academy Hill." There Mr. Roof, Sr., resumed his occupation of tavern-keeping, and so prominent a citizen did he become in that locality that for nearly half a century the settlement was known as Rooftown, or Roof's Village.

When Captain Roof became obliged to abandon his pos- sessions at Fort Stanwix, he left them in charge of one Conrad, who was afterwards killed in the fort. The build- ings were finally destroyed, in pursuance of Colonel Ganse- voort's orders, so that the enemy should not make use of them, and the colonel gave him (Roof) a certificate that the property destroyed was worth £800. After the war the family made several unsuccessful attempts to obtain from the government some compensation for their loss. The im- poverished condition of the country at that time rendered it necessary to ignore many just claims, and the Roof family was but one of a large number who suffered in this way.

The following article we find in the columns of the Utica Observer for Aug. 24, 1878. It is presumably from the pen of D. E. Wager, Esq., who has contributed largely to the history of this region :

"INTERESTING REMINISCENCES.

" The First White Children born in Oneida County.

" ROME, August 22, 1878.

" TO THE EDITOR OF THE UTICA OBSERVER :

" There is no desire to open the discussion as to who was the first white child or children born within the present limits of what is now Oneida County, for that question has been pretty effectunlly settled io favor of the John Roof family. It will be remembered that in that discussion the fact was established beyond contradiction that Jobn Roof (originally Johannis Reuff) settled at Fort Stanwix in

1760. That was two years after the fort was built. Here Mr. Reuff resided from that time until driven out, with several other families, by the siege of Fort Stanwix in 1777. The Reuff family then located at Canajoharie. Mr. Philip Roof, no intelligent gentleman of seventy years, a grandson of Johnonis Reuff, and now a resident of New York City, in a recent letter to the writer hereof, furnishes interesting facts concerning the births and names of the first white children in what is now Oneida County. He writes that while on his summer visit to the old home at Canajoharie, he found in possession of a great-grand- daughter of Mr. Reuff an old deed, hearing date May 2, 1778, from George Schimling to said Johannis Reuff, conveying 659 acres of land. This deed covered the old homestead of Colonel John Roof (son of Johannis), and also the same land on which the village of Canajoharie now stands. The date of this deed shows the purchase was made in the spring of the next year, after the destruction of Mr. Reuff's property at Fort Stanwix, and when he and his family were driven away from this fort. Mr. Roof writes that on the back of this deed is a record, in the bandwriting of Johannis Reuff, of the Dames, places, and times of the birth of his children. The writing, by reason of age, has become quite indistinct to the unked eye, but by the nid of a magnifying glass it can be deciphered. It is sup- posed that this record was mads on the back of the deed in conse- queuce of the loss of the family Bibls, which contained the original record at the time the Reuff family were driven from Fort Stan wix. The list, as copied from the back of that deed, reade as follows :

"' Fort Stanwix.

" ' My first son, John Roof, was born 28th of August, 1762.

"' My first daughter, Susannah, was born 9th August, 1766.

"' My second daughter, Barbara, was born 30th October, 1771.

"' My second son, Adam, was born 16th May, 1773.

"' My third daughter, Mary (or Maria), was born 5th April, 1777.

"' Canajoharie.

"' My third son, Daniel, was born 8th March, 1779.

"' My fourth con, Martyn, was born 19th April, 1783.

" ' My fifth son, Andrew, was born 1st of July, 1785.'

"From the foregoing, positive evidence is furnished that five of the Roof family were born at Fort Stanwix during the seventeen years that family were residing here, before the siege of Fort Stanwix ; one of them but a few months before the siege commenced. Mr. Philip Roof, who furoishes the facts, is a grandson of Martyn above onmed.

" The object of this communication (to-day is the 101st anniversary of the rising of the siege of Fort Stanwix) is to put in print, and thus preserve in a better and more reliable form, a record of the names of the first white children born within the present bounds of this county. It is not unlikely that within a few years all original data in proof of such interesting facts will be lost, or be beyond the reach of antiquarian searchers. It may not be amiss to suggest to the Oneida County Historical Society the preservation of this record among its archives. It is proper to mention again in this connec- tion that at the time the Reuff family resided at Fort Stanwix there were four other families residing here, viz., Bartholomew Brodock, William Klein, Thomas Mayers, and - Steers. Unto une or more of those families children were born at Fort Stanwix, before the Revolutionary war. The daughter of Mr. Steers was the one who was shot and scalped while outside of the fort blackberrying a few days before the siegs commenced. Descendants of that Brodock family are yet residents of Rome."

Another Revolutionary pensioner, named Samuel Pettit, of Mayfield, N. Y., with whom Mr. Simms had an inter- view in July, 1847, stated that he was a soldier under Captain Sacket, stationed at Fort Stanwix at the time it was burned (May 13, 1781). The pickets inclosing the fort were not burned, but the fortress was consumed, ex- cept its bomb-proof, which was saved by throwing dirt upon it. Mr. Pettit, with others, was playing ball at a little distance from the fort, when the alarm of fire was given. One of the barracks occupied by Lieutenant Daniel Dennison was on fire, and be (D.) offered any man a guinea who would get his sword, which hung not far

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HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

from a window where the flame was just bursting out. Pettit rescued the endangered blade at the risk of losing his own life, and was considerably scorched in the opera- tion, but received the thanks of the owner and his well- earned guinea. The origin of the fire was by some attributed to incendiarism. Mr. Pettit said, however, that a pit of charcoal had very recently been burned close by the fort, to be used in repairing some of the arms, and thought the fire originated from brands still burning being carried into the armory with the coal, as that was where it was first discovered.

The following return of the forces in Fort Stanwix, be- longing to Colonel Gansevoort's regiment, in April, 1779, is from the original document now in the possession of Ed- ward Huntington, Esq., of Rome: One colonel, Peter Gansevoort; one lieutenant-colonel ;* one major; six cap- tains, Aorson, De Witt, Jansen, Bleeker, Gregg, Tiebout ; one captain-lieutenant; eight lieutenants; nine ensigns ; one adjutant; one paymaster ; one quartermaster ; one sur- geon ; one quartermaster-sergeant; one fife-major ; twenty- two sergeants ; sixteen drummers and fifers. Of the rank and file, 246 were present fit for duty ; 19 were on the sick list and present, and 7 sick and absent ; 98 were "on com- mand ;" 9 on furloughs. Total, 379 rank and file. There were wanting 127 men to complete the rolls. The docu- ment is signed by " Peter Gansevoort, Colonel Third New York Regiment." The Captain Gregg named was the same who figured in the affair with the Indians and the " faith- ful dog," related elsewhere in this work.

The following article, including extracts from the jour- nal of Hon. Elkanah Watson, describing the condition of Rome in 1788 and 1791, is taken from the issue of the Rome Sentinel for Sept. 4, 1877, and will be found very interesting to the citizens of the place to-day. Mr. Watson was born near Plymouth Rock, in Massachusetts, and when fifteen years of age commenced an apprenticeship in the mercantile house of John Brown, of Providence, R. I., the founder of Brown University. He was an active partici- pator in the War of the Revolution, and before its close went abroad and traveled much in Europe. Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, General Washington, Lafayette, and others of the time, were his personal acquaintances and friends. He was abroad when the news of Cornwallis' sur- render reached Europe, and had the good fortune (through letters of Dr. Franklin) to be acquainted with Edmund Burke, Fox, and Sheridan. He was present in the House of Lords when King George III. read his speech acknow !- edging American independence. This was the 5th of De- cember, 1782. He was then not quite twenty-four years old. His death occurred exactly sixty years from that day, when he was nearly eighty-four. After the Revolution Mr. Watson traveled much in this country, and kept a journal of his travels. In 1856 his son, Winslow C. Watson, pub- lished, in book form, memoirs of his father, giving extracts from his journals of travel.

Mr. Watson was at Fort Stanwix in 1788, at the time of the treaty with the Indians, and again, three years later,- in September, 1791. In his first journey here, after men-

tioning Albany and Schenectady, and describing his stay over night at Johnson Hall, in Johnstown, he speaks of having reached a " miserable log tavern," six miles east of old Fort Schuyler (now Utica). After leaving that tavern he describes his journey as follows :

EXTRACT FROM THE JOURNAL :

" September, 1788 .- From Colonel Sterling's I began to traverse the wilderness bordering upon the Indian territory. The road is almost impassable ; I was upwards of three hours in reaching the Mohawk opposite old Fort Schuyler, a distance of only six miles. Here I re- luctantly forded the river, being alone and without a guide, and hoth shores alive with savages. Having fasted 24 hours, in consequence of a severe headache the day previous, I was by this time excessively hungry and fatigued. As there was no tavera, and only a few scat- tering houses, I proceeded to an old German log bonse, on the margin of the river, and interceded for something to eat. At length, after much difficulty, I prevailed on an ill-natured German woman to spare me two ears of greso cora and some salt.

" The road from thence to Whitesboro' continued as bad as possible, ohstructed by broken bridges, logs, and stamps, and my horse, at every step, sinking knee-deep in the mud. I remained one day re- cruiting at Judge White's log house, the founder of the settlement, and slept in his log haro, with horses and other animals.

" Whiteshore' is a promising new settlement, situated on the south side of the Mohawk River, in the heart of a fine tract of land, and is just in its transition from & state of nature into civilization. The settlement commenced only three years since. It is astonishing what efforts are making to subdue the dense and murky forest. Log houses are already scattered in the midst of stumps, half-burot logs, and girdled trees. I observed, however, with pleasure, that their log baros were well filled. A few years ago land might have been bought for a trifle; at present the lots bordering upon the river have ad- vanced to three dollars per acre, and those lying a few miles back, to one dollar per acre.

"Settlers are continually pouring in from the Connecticut hive, which throws off its annual swarms of intelligent, industrious, and enterprising emigrants,-the best qualified of any men in the world to overcome and civilize the wilderness. They already estimate 300 brother Yankees co their muster list, and in a few years hence they will undoubtedly be able to raise a formidable barrier to oppose the incursions of the savages in the event of another war.

" At Oriskany I passed a small tribe of two hundred Indians, the remnant of that once powerful Mohawkt nation, which was the former terror and dread of the New England frontier. On ascending a hill, I approached the place where the intrepid General Herkimer wss drawa into a fatal ambush, and miserably defeated, in 1777.1 Herkimer was a gallant but inexperienced leader, and here perished, with nearly half his army, formed of the patriotic yeomanry of the Mohawk Valley. Just before reaching this sanguinary battle-field, I met two Germans familiar with its incidents. They conducted me over the whole ground, and in corroboration of the fact, of which they assured me, that many of the slain, who were scattered through the woods, were never io- terred, I noticed numerous buman hoses strewo upon the surface of the earth. This movement was intended to succor Fort Stanwix, then besieged by St. Leger.

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History of Oneida County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 96

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