History of Oneida County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 99

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 99

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ary, in Albany, during said term, 23 bushels and . 3 pecks of "good merchantable winter wheat; also all taxes and assessments on the premises, and at the end of the term to surrender up the premises with all buildings and fences erceted thereon." The lease also required that Mr. Wals- worth should plant, within ten years from its date, an apple- tree for each two acres of land in the lot, the trees to be in rows at right angles to each other, and not less than 30 feet apart each way, and new ones were to be set out in case any died. It was also provided that 30 aeres should be set apart as " woodland," from which the timber was not to be cut except for fencing and building on the premises, and fuel for a dwelling-house thereon.

Mr. Walsworth sub-leased his 159 acres in smaller par- cels, and the place gave promise at one time of becoming the most important village of the town. Among the lessces of lots were Samuel Dill, in 1799, and Reuben Arnold, Moses, Ebenezer, and John Wright, Daniel Hawes, and. others, previous to 1810. A blacksmith-shop stood west of the highway before this latter year.

Either shortly previous to or soon after 1800 a dam was built across the river at the Ridge, and a small grist-mill erected on or near the site of the present stone structure, built in 1860, by Adams & Frazee for a grist-mill, and now used as the machine-room of the Rome City Water-Works. A short distance down-stream was a saw-mill, and still far- ther down, at a later day, a carding-machine, a fulling-mill, and a woolen- or satinet-factory. As far as can now be as- certained it is possible that the dam and grist- and saw-mills were erected by Moses and John Wright.

About 1812, Colonel Samuel Wardwell, father of the late Hon. Daniel Wardwell, of Rome, purchased all the rights and titles of the various persons in these outstanding leases, and on the 3d of July of that year John Lansing, Jr., released the reserved rents, and conveyed the 159 acres by warranty deed to Colonel Wardwell. The latter about the same time purchased 126 aeres in the Oriskany Patent, making 285 acres in one body. He had, as early as 1798, purchased a traet of 4000 aeres in what is now the town of Ellisburg, Jefferson County, including the site of the village of Mannsville. He was a merchant of Bristol, Rhode Island, and was also extensively engaged in the foreign export trade. He came to Rome to reside about 1812, and lived for two years at the Ridge, on the west side of the highway. His dwelling occupied the site of the building now occupied by the superintendent of the Water- Works.

Colonel Wardwell demolished the old grist-mill at the Ridge, and in its place erected a new one, which was hurned about 1858. He sold to David Driggs on the 15th of Oe- tober, 1815, and in a deed for a part of the property it is provided that Mr. Driggs is to " finish the dye-house, and erect a fulling-mill on the premises at his own expense, and to put the same in complete operation ;" therefore it seems that the idea of ereeting these buildings was original with the colonel, although he never carried it into effect.

The property sold by Colonel Wardwell to Mr. Driggs was a lot of forty aeres, including all of the present Ridge Settlement, all the mills, machinery, and buildings on the river, and some five acres on the east side of the

# See obituary notice following the history of Utica.

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HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

stream, which Colonel W. had purchased from other parties. The price paid by Mr. Driggs for these forty acres, with the improvements thereon, was $13,000, or $9700 more than Colonel Wardwell had paid for the entire tract of 159 acres. Mr. Driggs' brother, John Driggs, became the owner of the forty acres about 1816, and a " lively business" was carried on at the Ridge for years by him and his successors.

Colonel Wardwell sold by contract, about 1813-14, all of his purchase at the Ridge except the above forty aeres, ineluding about 225 aeres, to John West,* the price paid being some $6000. The terms were originally that it should be paid in cash, but as Albany was then the nearest market for grain, and it was almost impossible to realize any money upon his farm produets, it was afterwards agreed that he should pay for it in grain at a certain price per bushel. During the war of 1812-15, then raging, the price of grain rose to a high figure, and it found so ready sale that the contraet was probably changed back to a cash basis. At the close of the war prices fell, and a few years later-1823-Mr. West had several thousand bushels on hand, which he had failed to dispose of. At that date there were three distilleries in Rome south of the poor- house, and Mr. West sold to them his accumulation of grain, receiving for corn two shillings and ninepenee per bushel, and for rye three shillings and sixpence, and all the teams which could be secured were " pressed into service" to haul the grain to the distilleries.

Colonel Samuel Wardwell had been an officer in the American army during the Revolution. In 1815 he moved from Rome back to Bristol, R. I., and died at that place. He was the father of fourteen children, of whom the late Hon. Daniel Wardwell was the ninth.

Hon. Daniel Wardwell, who became so prominently con- nected with the history of this region, and lived to such a good old age, came with his father to Rome in 1812, when twenty-one years of age. He had graduated the previous year at Brown University, Rhode Island. Soon after com- ing here he began the study of law in the office of Joshua Hatheway,-then the postmaster at Rome,-and was a fellow-student with Samuel Beardsley. Mr. Beardsley was appointed quartermaster-general in the army, and was sent by Governor Tompkins to Saeket's Harbor. He was pre- viously adjutant of the 157th Regiment, known as the " Rome Regiment," commanded by Colonel Westcott.

In 1813, Daniel Wardwell entered the law-office of Gold & Sill, at Whitesboro', and in 1814-15 was at Adams and Ellisburg, Jefferson County, looking after his father's large landed cstate. He was admitted to practice in the Jefferson County Court of Common Pleas in July, 1814, and in January, 1815, to practice as an attorney before the Supreme Court of the State, at Albany. He became a resident of the village of Rome in 1816, and in 1817 re- moved to Jefferson County, where be resided till 1821. In January, 1821, he was admitted at Albany to the Supreme Court bench as counselor-at-law of that court, and in August of the same year as counselor in the United States

District Court for the Northern District of New York. He opened an office in Utica in that year, and remained there one year. In 1822 he removed to Mannsville, Jeffer- son County, and became a permanent resident of that vil- lage. In 1824 he was appointed one of the judges of the Jefferson County Common Pleas Court. In March, 1827, he was admitted at. Albany to practice in the Court of Chancery. He was elected to the Assembly from Jefferson County in 1825, re-elected in 1826, and again in 1827. In 1828 he was defeated for State Senator by Hon. William H. Maynard, of Utica. In 1830 he was elected on the Democratie ticket to Congress, and twice returned,-1832 and 1834. In 1837 he was elected again to the Assembly from Jefferson County. In 1839 he removed to Pulaski, Oswego County, where he resided about ten years and re- turned to Mannsville. In 1860 he located at Rome, where he continued to reside until his death, early in 1878, at the age of eighty-seven.

Ridge Mills Post-Office was established in 1867, and Harvey E. Wileox appointed postmaster on the 15th of July of that year. He has continued in office to the pres- ent time. His deputy is A. Farr, who has charge of the office, and carries on merchandising in the building owned by Mr. Wilcox.

There are also at Ridge Mills, besides the post-office and store, the Rome City Water-Works, a hotel, a blacksmith- shop, a small number of dwellings, and near by a large cheese-factory. The place is so named from its position on a long ridge of land overlooking the valley of the Mohawk and the more level country surrounding. The location is one of great beauty, and before the days of canals and rail- ways the settlement at " the Ridge" bade fair to become a flourishing village, and a large business was done by its early manufacturers and merchants.

STANWIX POST-OFFICE

is a small settlement on the Erie Canal, east of Rome, which has sprung into existence since the completion of the canal. Its post-office is the only one in the territory included in the city and county which commemorates by name the fortification that onee stood upon the site of the now flour- ishing city, and the events which transpired in its vicinity, as well as the name of the honored chieftain who built it .-

GREEN'S CORNERS

is a station on the New York Central and Hudson River Railway, west of Rome Post-Office.

Among the prominent settlers of Rome who came in the early part of the present century were the Taleotts.t The family is traced back in English history to 1558.

The first of the name who emigrated from Essex County to America was John Taleott, who came with his family in the ship " Lion," with many others, composing the Rev. Mr. Hooker's company, in 1632.

The company first settled at New Town, now Cambridge, near Boston, but becoming dissatisfied with their location they obtained leave from the General Court to remove to the valley of the Connectient River. John Talcott and about

* Grandfather of one of Rome's most prominent physicians of to- day, M. C. West, M.D.

t Prepared from minutes furnished by Jonathan Talcott.

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HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

one hundred others left New Town in June, 1636, and under the leadership of Rev. Mr. Hooker proceeded through the wilderness to the present site of the city of Hartford, Conn., where they began a settlement. Mr. Talcott's dwelling stood on the ground where the North Church (late Rev. Dr. Bushnell's) now stands. He became a prominent man in the new settlement, and was a member of the General Court when the question of declaring war against the Pequod Indians was under discussion, and was one of a special committee appointed to take the subject under advisement. The result of the deliberations was a declaration of war, and the destruction of this troublesome tribe. He was one of the chief magistrates of the colony at the time of his death, which occurred in his mansion, at the head of Main Street, March, 1660.

Jonathan Talcott, the grandfather of Mr. Jonathan Talcott, now of Rome, was born in Glastonbury, Conn., and emigrated to Rome, N. Y., in 1802, traveling all the way on foot. He selected and purchased for a homestead the land now constituting the farm of Mr. Jonathan Tal- cott, three miles south west of Rome. It was then a wil- derness. In the spring of 1803, after working for some two months clearing land and erecting a log house, he re- turned to Connecticut for his family, which he brought back by land, making the journey by means of one large vehicle, constructed of two pair of cart-wheels, connected by a strong frame, in which the household goods were hauled by three stout pairs of oxen, and a two-horse covered wagon, in which came the family and some of the lighter and more valuable goods. The drivers of the ox-teams were a Mr. Josiah Keeney, one of his neighbors, and a son of Mr. Talcott, the father of the present owner of the home- stead.

The emigrants arrived in due season and in good health, and set about the work necessary in a new country, clearing land, and sowing and planting grain and vegetables. The first breakfast was prepared and eaten in the open air, in the old wagon trail leading west from Fort Stanwix; and the labor of unloading and setting up the household furni- ture kept every one busy for the first day.

Gradually, year by year, the forest disappeared, the land was subdued, and soon bountiful harvests of wheat, corn, oats, and vegetables repaid the labor of the pioneer. After a few years, in 1818, Mr. Talcott became possessed of sufi- cient means to enable him to build a new frame dwelling, which was looked upon as an important epoch in the history of the family. The primitive log house passed away, and the landscape teeming with its wealth of grain and fruit was in striking contrast with the wilderness which greeted them on their first arrival.

Siah Talcott, the father of the present Jonathan Talcott, followed the business of teaming through the whole course of his life, beginning about 1810, and driving one of the heavy five-horse teams then used for the transportation of produce and merchandise. He was known far and near as a capital teamster, and did an extensive business for many ycars. During the war of 1812-15 he was in the govern- ment service, hauling supplies for the army on the frontier. He died at Rome, Dec. 16, 1822.

Jonathan Talcott, the present owner of the farm, was

born in the original log building in 1814, and remembers well its appearance.

The elder Jonathan Talcott resided in the new frame dwelling until his death, which took place on the 28th of July, 1847, in the ninety-fourth year of his age. In 1859 the present fine brick dwelling was erected on the site of the frame dwelling, which was removed. The present owner of the farm has expended a large sum in money and labor upon new and improved buildings, tile drainage, etc. He believes he was the first in this section to lay down drain- tile, which has done and is doing much to improve the farms of the Mohawk Valley.

The farm is now in a splendid state of cultivation, and great attention is being given to the raising of improved stock, including the celebrated short-horn cattle, the Suffolk and Berkshire breeds of swine, and a breed of sheep pro- duced by a cross between the merino and various long- wooled breeds. The proprietor is also giving considerable time and attention to the breeding of a superior grade of farm and stock horses.

The family of Jonathan Talcott consists of two sons and five daughters. The oldest son, Selden Haines, graduated at the Rome Academy, and entered Hamilton College in 1864, but left to serve out a term of enlistment in the army, after which he returned, and graduated with honor in 1869. He studied medicine with Dr. Munger, of Water- ville, and subsequently graduated at the New York Homo- opathic College ; practiced with Dr. Munger two or three years, and in 1875 was appointed chief of staff of Ward's Island Homoeopathic Hospital. At the present time he is superintendent of the New York State Homoeopathic In- sane Asylum, at Middletown, Orange County.

Muncel Talcott, a brother of Siah Talcott, who also came to Rome in 1803, followed the business of teaming until the canal was opened, in 1825, when he engaged in boating, and continued until 1833, when he removed to Illinois. He died while on a visit to his son at Hannibal, Mo., in 1857. Edward Benton Talcott, son of Muncel, went to Illinois in 1835, where he became distinguished as an engineer of public works. He is at present residing in the city of Chicago.

VILLAGE OF ROME.

In the year 1789, when Ebenezer Wright came to Rome, there were standing in the vicinity of Fort Stanwix the following dwellings, viz .: "Two log houses on the road to Newville, near what is known as the Mccutcheon place, in one of which Colonel William Colbraith (afterwards first sheriff of Oneida County) then resided ; a log house near the site of the United States Arsenal, in which Jedediah Phelps then lived; a log house near the late residence of Numa Leonard (now owned by Charles E. Saulpaugh), and another one near the present residence of H. K. White." There was also a frame house-and the only one-near the site of G. N. Bissell's present residence, and another log house near the present site of St. Peter's Catholic Church, into which three families of new-comers removed a week after Mr. Wright's arrival. In the houses near the fort were then living the Ranney family, Bill Smith, and a Dutchman named Dumont. A man named Armstrong lived at the junction of Wood and Canada Crecks, and these

SSE

LITH. BY L H. EVERTS. PHILA.

RESIDENCE OF JONATHAN TALCOTT, ROME, ONEIDA CO, N.Y.

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HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

were the only houses and white persoos in what now con- stitutes the city of Rome.

THE EXPENSE LOT.

On the 4th of June, 1785, a survey of the Oriskany Patent into allotments began, as described in the history of land titles in another part of this volume. Previous to surveying the allotments a certain parcel was surveyed off to be sold at auction to pay the expense of the survey. This lot has ever since been known as the " Expense Lot." As originally set off it contained 697 acres ; its boundaries are about as follows, viz. : " Commencing on the south side of the Mohawk, and not far from Mr. Parry's brickyard ; thence running south westerly towards the Poor-House, about 240 rods ; theo northwesterly about a mile, towards Canal Village; then northeast about 150 rods, towards St. Joseph's Church, passing south of that building, and crossing the track of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad at Henry Street, and up that street to near the track of the Rome, Watertown and Ogdensburg Railroad, where Expense Street extended would cross it ; thence north up that street to a point about half-way between Court and Embargo Streets ; thence easterly, crossing the blocks diagonally, and passing near the house of Mr. Charles Keith, on the corner of Court and Washington Streets, and so on diagonally across West Park to James Street ; and thence nearly down Park Alley, and crossing the Black River Canal near the bathing-house of H. W. Barnes, and so on to the Mohawk; then following that stream down to the starting point."

On the 29th of November, 1785, the agents who sur- veyed the " Expense Lot" and divided the patent into allot- ments, published a notice that on the 9th of January, 1786, they would meet at Butlersburg, at the inn of Myndert W. Quackenbush, " for the purpose of attending to the balloting for, and drawing by lot," the several parcels surveyed. At that meeting there were present the commissioners, the agents, Judge Visscher, and Jelles Fonda. None of the owners of the patent appeared, and the drawings took place tlien and there. The James De Lancey onc-fifth was set off to the State, one of the parcels thus disposed of being a tract of 960 acres in the northwest corner of the patent, including among other lands the Rome cemetery, and most of the farm formerly owned by Asa C. Huntington, and later by Dr. H. H. Pope; also another parcel (460 acres) cast of Factory Village. No others in this immediate vicinity were set off to the State. The portion of the city cast of Washington Street and next north of the " Expense Lot" was set off to William Livingston and Alida Hoff- man, and contained 460 acres, including the old burying- ground, the blocks where stand the Presbyterian Church, the court-house, St. Peter's Church, the East Park, and on across the river so as to take in Factory Village. The por- tion west of Washington Street and north and west of the "Expense Lot," including West Rome, was set off to those claiming under George Clarke; the portion of the " Rome Swamp," sonth of the "Expense Lot," and between that line and the county house, was set off to those claiming under Thomas Wenham.

March 17, 1786, the " Expense Lot" was put up at auc- tion, and bid off by Dominick Lynch, then a merchant of

New York City, for £2250. This was his first purchase in this vicinity, and the germ of the Lynch estate in Rome.

" By reason of the inland water communication this ronte was then the great thoroughfare between the East and West; and as here was the point for the transhipment of freights, the 'carrying-place' was well koown all through the country, and was probably looked to as destined to become a point of still greater importance. In this region leading and prominent men in the country owned lands ; they seemed to consider it an important place. Besides William Liv- ingston, above named, who was Governor of New Jersey, Baron Steuben owned some 16,000 acres in Steuben town- ship ; Colonel Willett a large tract near the same locality ; General Floyd in Western ; Governor Clinton and President (then General) Washington owned large tracts in what are now the towns of Whitestown, Westmoreland, Paris, and New Hartford ; so that it will be seen that some of the great men of the nation were land-holders in this vicinity."

From the price paid for the "Expense Lot" it seems that Mr. Lynch considered it valuable, although the south- ern portion of it was so swampy as to be entirely ineligible for building lots. In fact it is not now known whether he ever entertained an idea of converting that part of it into building lots. In July, 1786, he purchased of Wil- liam Livingston and Alida Hoffman the 460 acres set off to them, thus arranging his property here in better shape, and in 1787 he purchased of the " Commissioners of For- feitures" the 460 acres east of Factory Village, which had been set off to the State. Before 1800 he purchased other contigneus parcels, thus becoming the owner of about 2000 acres, nearly or quite in a compact body.

It has been mentioned that when Ebenezer Wright came to Rome, in 1789, there was but one frame house on the site of what is now the city. In 1793, John Barnard kept a tavern on or near the site of the old Baptist Church .* In the spring of the same year there came to the place a young unmarried man, who became the first merchant in Rome, and a prominent man among the settlers. This was George Huntington, the father of Edward Huntington, Esq., now of Rome. He brought a stock of merchandise with him, and set up business in the same honse kept by Barnard as a tavern. The next year, 1794, he built a dwelling on the site of the residence in later years of Dr. Cobb.

In 1795 a grist-mill was erected on Wood Creek, not far from the site of the United States Arsenal. This mill was an important institution for that day, and the next year a boat-load of corn to be ground into meal came from Ontario County, via Seneca River, Oneida River, Oneida Lake, and Wood Creek, and when the meal was ready the batean re- turned with its load by the same route. This was at that time the nearest mill of the kind to the inhabitants of Ontario County.

It is not positively known at what time Dominick Lynch laid out the plat of his village, but it was as early as 1796. He gave it the name of Lynchville. The blocks in the village were 600 by 400 feet, with 18 lots in each block.

# The building in which this tavern was kept was the first two-story odifice in Rome, and was erceted by Seth Ranney .- Jones' Annals.

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HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

The numbering of the blocks began on the south side of Dominick Street, at what is now the Black River Canal, and included from one upwards the space between that point and Wood Creek on the west, where they crossed to the opposite side of the street and numbered back (Fort Stanwix block being No. 12), then crossed over Liberty Street and numbered back again to Wood Creek, and so back and forth. On the first map of the place the only streets shown were Dominick and James. About the year 1800 another map was made, showing Dominick, Wash- ington, James, Liberty, Madison, Court, Embargo, Jay, Thomas, and Bloomfield Streets. None of these, except the first four, were opened to any extent until 1850.

It is stated by some that the name Rome was suggested for the place by Mr. Lynch, as he was a Roman Catholic ; but the fact that in his plats of the village he named it after himself. Lynchville, would seem to assert differently. At this day it is impossible to ascertain why or at what time the name Rome was adopted, but tradition furnishes the following plausible solution of the problem : It is stated that prior to 1800 a number of the then leading citizens of the place were together, and the subject of a name for the embryo village was broached. George Huntington, who had become at the time an extentive lot-owner in the vicinity, spoke of the many classical names given to places in the State, but remarked that none had been named after the "Eternal City," and he therefore suggested Rome, which was adopted, partly from the suggestion and partly from the fact that the town (formed in 1796) bore the same name.

Of the streets of Rome, Dominick was named for Mr. Lynch, the original proprietor ; James was named after his eldest son ; and Washington took its name from the great chieftain then living, whose deeds were fresh in the minds of the people.

Mr. Lynch adopted the plan of giving durable or per- petual leases of his lots, rather than absolute titles, and for many years the system was a source of trouble to the citizens. An annual rent was reserved, payable in money or grain, and in case of non-payment the property was to revert to the owner.

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History of Oneida County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 99

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