History of Onondaga County, New York, Part 3

Author: Clayton, W.W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 840

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The original acts granting these lands were sub- sequently and from time to time modified and amended, till finally, it was ordered by an act passed February 28, 1789, " That the Commission- ers of the land office shall be, and they are hereby authorized to direct the Surveyor General to lay out as many townships in tracts of land set apart for such purposes as will contain land sufficient to satisfy the claims of all such persons who are or shall be entitled to grants of land by certain con- current resolutions and by the eleventh clause of the act entitled, 'An Act for granting certain lands promised to be given as bounty lands by the laws of the State, and for other purposes therein men- tioned, passed the itth day of May, 1784 ; which townships shall respectively contain 60,000 acres of land, and be laid out as nearly in squares as local circumstances will permit, and be numbered from one progressively to the last inclusive ; and the Commissioners of the Land Office shall likewise designate every township by such name as they shall deem proper.'"

By the same act it was ordered " That the Sur- veyor General, as soon as may be, shall make a map of each of said townships, and each township shall be sub-divided on such map into one hundred lots, as nearly square as may be, each lot to contain 600 acres, or as near that quantity as may be ; and the lots in every township shall be numbered from one to the last, inclusive, in numerical order."

After such map had been made and deposited in the Surveyor General's office, and in the office of the Secretary of State, the Commissioners were or- dered, to " Advertise for six successive weeks in one or more newspapers printed in each of the cities of New York and Albany (whereof the newspaper published by the printer to this State, if any such there be, shall be one.) requiring all persons entitled to giants of bounty or gratuity lands, who had not already exhibited their claims, to exhibit the same to the Commissioners on or before the first day of January, 1791 "

By the same act it was further ordered that " All persons to whom land shall be granted by virtue of

HISTORY OF ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

this act, and who are entitled thereto by any act or resolution of Congress, shall make an assignment of his, or her proportion and claim of bounty or gratuity lands under any act or acts of Congress to the Surveyor General, for the use of the people of this State." This being done by the said parties, it was provided that for lands thus assigned an equal number of acres were to be given by the State, and so far as possible in one tract and under one patent, "Provided the same does not exceed one-quarter of the quantity of a township."

It was also further provided that the lands to be granted by this act be actually settled, for every six hundred acres that may be granted to any per- son or persons within seven years from the first of January next after the date of the patent by which such lands shall be granted ; and on failure of such settlement, the unsettled lands shall revert to the people of this State." The letters patent were ordered "To be in such words and forms as the Commissioners shall direct, and shall contain an ex- ception and reservation to the people of this State of all the gold and silver mines."

By an act passed April 6, 1790, it was ordered " That the quantity of fifty acres, in one of the corners of the respective lots to be laid out in squares of 600 acres, shall be and are hereby subjected to the payment of the sum of forty-eight (48) shillings to the Surveyor-General, as a compensation in full for his services and expenses in marking, numbering and surveying each of the said lots; and in every case where the said sum of forty-eight shillings, or any part thereof, shall remain unpaid for the term of two years next after the issuing of the respective patents, it shall be and is hereby made the duty of the Surveyor-General to sell the same at public vendue ; and the money arising from such sales shall be applied in payment of expenses of such survey." And in case a surplus of money was in the hands of the Surveyor-General, after paying such expenses, it was to be applied to the payment of expenses in laying out and making roads in the said tract.'

By an act of February 28, 1789, six lots in each township were reserved and were to be assigned, " One for promoting the gospel and a public school or schools, one other for promoting literature in this State, and the remaining four lots to satisfy the surplus share of commissioned officers not corres- ponding with the division of 600 acres, and to com- pensate such persons as may by chance draw any lot or lots, the greater part of which may be covered with water."

The act of 1780 provided " That whenever it ap-

peared that persons applying for bounty or gratuity land, and had received from Congress the bounty promised by that body, or in case they failed to re- linquish their claim to such lands, then the Com- missioners were to reserve for the use of the people of the State one hundred acres in each lot to which such person was entitled ; designating par- ticularly in which part of such lot such reserved part was located." This gave rise to the term " State's Hundred," so frequently applied to sections of land in the Military Tract.

The Land Commissioners consisted of " His Ex- cellency, the Governor, or person administering the government of the State for the time being, the Lieutenant Governor, the Speaker of the Assembly, the Secretary of State, the Attorney-General, the Treasurer and Auditor thereof, the presence of three being necessary to form a quorum."

At a meeting of this Commission held at the Secretary's office in the City of New York, on Saturday, the 3d day of July, 1790, there were present, His Excellency,

GEO. CLINTON, Esq., Governor,

LEWIS A. SCOTT, Esq., Secretary,

GERARD BANCKER, Esq., Treasurer, PETER T. CURTENIUS, Esq., Auditor.

" The Secretary laid before the Board maps of the surveys of twenty-five townships made by the Surveyor-General, Simeon DeWitt; on each of which maps the said townships respectively were sub-divided into one hundred lots as nearly square as possible, each lot containing six hundred acres ; whereupon the Board caused the townships and lots therein to be numbered according to the law, and designated them by the names of distinguished men, as follows :

Township, No. I Lysander,

Hannibal,

. Cato,

Brutus,

Camillus,

6 Cicero,

7 Manlius,

Aurelius,

. Marcellus,

IO.

Pompey,

Romulus,

Scipio,

Sempronius,

14.

15.

16.

. Ovid,

17 ..

IS.

Locke,

19.

Homer,

20.

Solon,

Hector,

13.

Tully,

Fabius,

Milton,

HISTORY OF ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

Township No. 22

Ulysses,

23.

Dryden,

2.4 Virgil,

25.

Cincinnatus.

Junius.

The distinction between a town and a township should here be kept in mind. A township on the Military Tract, was a particular parcel of land laid out, containing certain one hundred lots. In our carly organization a town often embraced several townships, as the town of Pompey first included Fabius and Tully and a large part of the Onondaga Reservation. After settlements increased, for the sake of convenience, the same territory has been divided, at different periods, into the towns of l'om- pey, Lafayette, Fabius, Tully, Truxton and Preble, including a part of each of the towns of Otisco, Spafford and Onondaga. The same may be re- marked of other towns and townships on the Mili- tary Tract.

On the ist of January, 1791, the Commissioners proceeded to determine claims and to ballot for each individual's share. Ninety-four persons drew lots in each township. One lot was drawn for the sup- port of literature in the State of New York ; one was assigned near the centre of each township for the support of the gospel and for common schools : the remaining lots went to satisfy the surplus shares of the officers, and to compensate those who by chance might draw lots covered with water.

The equitable adjustment of these land claims was a source of continual embarrassment and per- plexity to the Commissioners and to the real owners.

In August, 1792, the Board of Commissioners, finding it necessary in order to comply with the grants of bounty lands, lately directed by law to be made to the Hospital Department and others, caused township No. 27, and the lots therein re- spectively to be numbered agreeably to law, and the township to be designated by the name of Galen. In January, 1795, there still appeared to be several unsatisfied claims for military bounty lands, and the twenty-seven townships being already disposed of, the Board resolved that the Surveyor-General should lay out another township, No. 28. This was subsequently named Sterling, and satisfied all the remaining claims.

In January, 1794, an act had been passed, on ac- count of the many frauds committed respecting the title to these military lands, and to prevent fraud in the future, requiring all deeds and conveyances made and executed prior to that time to be deposited with the Clerk of the County at Albany, for ex- amination, and all such as were not so deposited,

should be considered fraudulent. The names of claimants were posted up in alphabetical order in the Clerk's offices both at Albany and Herkimer, for the more full inspection of all parties interested. The Courts overflowed with business relating to these contested claims. Scarcely a lot but became more or less a subject of litigation. Soldiers com- ing to take possession of the lots for which they had served, were obliged, at considerable expense, to eject some lawless squatter, or quietly to yield their hard earned titles. At length the inhabi- tants of the Military Tract became so com- pletely wearied with these continued and vexing contentions that, in 1797, the residents of the sev- cral townships heartily and unanimously united in petitioning the Legislature to pass a law authoriz- ing a speedy and equitable mode of settling all dis- putes relative to these titles An act was there- upon passed, appointing Robert Yates, James Kent, and Vincent Mathews, a Board of Commis- sioners with full power to hear, examine, award and determine all disputes respecting the titles to any and all the military bounty lands. The Governor was authorized to fill all vacancies in this Board. From the record of the awards made by the Onon- daga Commissioners, the name of James Kent does not at all appear in their transactions. Most of the awards of 1798 9 are signed by Vincent Mathews and James Emmott, later ones by Vincent Mathews and Robert Yates, and some of those of iSor and 1802, by Messrs. Mathews and Emmott and Sand- ers Livingston. They proceeded to the work, and after a laborious investigation, their exertions final- ly brought these vexed and lingering contentions to a close.

CHAPTER III.

INTERESTING EARLY RECORDS-TOWN MEETINGS- FORMATION OF THE COUNTIES PRIOR TO ONON- DAGA-ORGANIZATION QF ONONDAGA COUNTY.

T HERE are some interesting records of this locality during the period in which it was in- cluded in Montgomery and Herkimer counties, from 1772 to 1794. In tySS the District of Ger- man Flats was divided, and all that part of the State of New York lying west of a line drawn north and south across the State, crossing the Mo- hawk River' at " Old Fort Schuyler" (now Utica) was crected into a town called Whitestown, in honor of Judge White, who had settled at Sadaquate (Whitesboro) in 1784. In 1786, the county of Montgomery contained a population of only fifteen

HISTORY OF ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

thousand and fifty-seven, and the State of New York only two hundred and thirty-eight thousand eight hundred and ninety-six. At this period the town of Whitestown contained less than two hun- dred persons. The same territory now contains several millions. The wonderful transition by which, in three-fourths of a century, this immense forest has been converted into fruitful fields, seems like the illusion of a dream to those who have wit- nessed its progress. We can hardly trust the evi- dence of our senses when we look back and see with what rapidity villages and cities have sprung into existence, and mark the increase of roads and railways over the path of the wandering savage.

The first town meeting for the town of Whites- town convened at the house of Capt. Daniel White, in said town, on Tuesday, the 7th of April, " agree- able to.warning," and adjourned to the barn of Hugh White, Esq., "it being more convenient," at which time and place they proceeded as follows :

" 1 st. Chose Col. Jedediah Sanger, Supervisor. 2d. Chose Elijah Blodget, Town Clerk. 3d. Chose Amos Wetmore, first Assessor. 4th. Chose James Bronson, second Assessor. 5th. Chose Ephraim Blackmore, third Assessor," &c.

The second town meeting was held at the barn of Needham Maynard, in the town of Whitestown, on Tuesday, the 16th of April, 1790. Col. William Colbraith was chosen Supervisor, and Elijah Blodget, Town Clerk. In 1791, Jedediah Sanger was elected Supervisor ; Ashbel Beach, Town Clerk ; Ebenezer Butler, afterwards of Pompey, Collector ; James Wadsworth, of Geneseo, True- worthy Cook, of Pompey, Jeremiah Gould, of Sa- lina, Overseers of Highways. Probably " High- ways" in those days in Central New York were literally " few and far between." It will convey some idea of the widespread character of the munic- ipality then called a " town" to reflect that some of the officers chosen to manage its internal affairs lived near Utica, others in Pompey and Salina, and a third at Geneseo.

In 1789 the county of Montgomery was divided, forming Ontario county west of a north and south line drawn across the State through Seneca Lake two miles east of Geneva. Onondaga county then lay unformed in the western portion of Mont- gomery. Herkimer county was taken from Mont- gomery and organized in 1791. It included all the country west of Montgomery, north of Otsego and Tioga and east of the county of Ontario. The town of Whitestown was divided into three towns. Whites- town extended west from its eastern limits as far as the present west line of Madison county. The town of Mexico included the eastern half of the

Military Tract, and the town of Peru the western. The town of Mexico was bounded east by the east- ern boundary of the Military Tract and a line drawn north from the mouth of the Chittenango Creek across Oneida Lake to Lake Ontario, south by Tioga county, west by the western boundary of the townships of Homer, Tully, Camillus, Lysander and Hannibal, of the said Military Tract, and north by Lake Ontario.

The first town meeting for the town of Mexico was legally appointed to be held at the house of Benjamin Morehouse, (near Jamesville, this county.) The town of Peru was bounded north by Lake On- tario, east by the town of Mexico, south by Tioga county, and west by Ontario county. The first town meeting was directed by law to be held at the house of Seth Phelps, in what is now the town of Scipio, Cayuga county. There are probably no records of these town meetings extant.

The poll for the first general election for Whites- town was opened at Cayuga Ferry, then adjourned to the house of Benjamin Morehouse (near James- ville,) thence to Rome, and finally closed at Whites- boro.

The following extract from Dunlap's Daily Ad- vertiser, dated Philadelphia, 26th of July, 1792, may be interesting as showing what was thought of the prospects of this locality at that period :

"Gentlemen who reside on the Military lands in the county of Herkimer, inform us that that tract of country contains a very great proportion of rich land, well watered and timbered, that there is al- ready a considerable number of settlers there, and that it bids fair to people as rapidly as any part of America. That sixteen bushels of salt are daily manufactured at Major Danforth's works at the Salt Springs, and that Mr. Van Vleck, formerly of Kinderhook, is erecting other works at the same place, for carrying on the like manufactory ; that salt now sells there for five shillings per bushel ; that it weighs about fifty-six pounds per bushel, and is equal in quality to that of Turk's Island. That the salmon fishing in that country must be- come an object of great improvement, as that fine fish (the salmon) abounds in their rivers and lakes in spring and fall. That it is not uncommon for a party to spear twenty or fifty in an evening, from fourteen to thirty pounds each. The lands sell in general at from one shilling to three shillings per acre, but some have sold as high as from eight to twelve shillings per acre."

The genealogy of the different counties up to the formation of Onondaga is as follows :

After the Duke of York had superceded the Dutch Government, in 1683, the Province of New York was divided into twelve counties, viz : Albany, Dutchess, Kings, New York, Orange, Queens, Richmond, Suffolk, Ulster, Westchester, Dukes

HISTORY OF ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

and Cornwall. In 1768, Cumberland was added, and Gloucester in 1770. These two last were after- wards yielded to New Hampshire, and finally be- came a part of Vermont. In 1693. the counties of Dukes and Cornwall were surrendered to Massa- chusetts. In 1772, the county Tryon was formed from Albany, and in 1784 changed to Montgomery. In 178). Ontario county was formed of all that part of Montgomery county west of a line drawn north and south across the State through Seneca Lake two miles cast of Geneva. Herkimer county was taken from Montgomery and organized in 1791. It included all the country west of Montgomery, north of Otsego and Tioga, and east of Ontario county.

In 17944 the COUNTY of ONONDAGA was erected from the western part of Herkimer, and included all the Military Tract, which now embraces all the counties of Cayuga, Seneca, Cortland and Onon- daga, all that part of Tompkins lying north of a line drawn west from the head of Seneca Lake to the southwest corner of Cortland county, and all that part of Oswego county lying west of Oswego river. It was finally reduced to its present terri- torial limits in 1816, by the detachment of Cayuga in 179), Cortland in iSos, and Oswego in 1816. Tompkins was taken from Cayuga and Seneca in 1817, and Wayne from Seneca in 1823.

At the time Onondaga county was originally or- ganized, it was divided into eleven towns, viz : Homer, Pompey, Manlius, Lysander, Marcellus, Ulysses, Milton, Scipio, Ovid, Aurelius and Romu- hus.

CHAPTER IN.

THE IROQUOIS CONFEDERACY-EXTENT AND Pow- FR OF THE FIVE NATIONS-FORMATION Of THEIR CONFEDERACY-PECULIARITIES O1 THEIR FORM OF GOVERNMENT - THE. ONONDAGAS -TILL.IR CENTRAL. POSITION AS KEEPERS OF THE SACRED COUNCH FIRIS -- THEIR CHARACTER, TRADI- TIONS AND CUSTOMS.

A T the time of the earliest European discov- eries in this locality, the territory now em- braced in Onondaga county was the chief seat of the nation of Inchans from whom it derives its name. This powerful nation was the central in the great Iroquois Confederacy, or League of the Five Nations, whose dominion included a vast extent of country, and who held the ascen lancy over nearly all the tribes of North America. At one time their actual domain extended from the Sorrel River,

south by the great lakes, to the Mississippi on the west, thence east to the Santee, and coast-wise back to the Hudson. The territory of the Iroquois possessed more fertile land, combined with a tem- perate and healthy climate, than any other tract of equal extent on the globe. And their power and dominion extended far beyond these geographical boundaries. Although they occupied, as their proper home, what they metaphorically termed the " Long House "-that is, the territory of New York extending from the Hudson to Lake Erie, yet they extended their power and influence far be- yond these limits and hell the tribes both of the East and the West in subjection.

Says Smith, in his History of New York : " When the Dutch began the settlement of this country, all the Indians on Long Island and the northern shore of the Sound, on the banks of the Connecticut, Hudson, Delaware and Susquehanna rivers were in subjection to the Five Nations and acknowledged it by paying them tribute." The French historians of Canada, both ancient and modern, agree that the more northern Indians were driven far back to the west and northwest by the martial prowess of the Confederates, " The Ho-de- no-sau-nee occupied our precise territory, and their council fires burned continually from the Hudson to the Niagara. Our old forests have rung with their war shouts and been enlivened with their festivals of peace In their progressive course they had stretched round half the Republic and rendered their names a terror nearly from ocean to ocean, when the advent of the Saxon race arrested their career, and prepared the way for the final extin- guishment of the fires of the Confederacy.""

The Five Nations have been called by some the " Spartans of the Western Wilderness," by others, the " Romans of the New World ;" their warriors in the prime of the Confederacy, were noted for their valor and their far-extended conquests.

"At one period," says Schoolcraft, " we hear the sound of their war cry along the Straits of St. Marys and at the foot of Lake Superior ; at an- other under the walls of Quebec where they finally defeated the Hurons under the eyes of the French. They put out the fires of the Gabkas and Eries. They eradicated the Susquehannocks. They placed the Lanappes, the Nanticokes and Muncees under the yoke of subjection. They put the Metoacks and Manhattans under tribute. They spread the terror of their name all over New England. They traversed the whole length of the Appalachian Chain, and descended like the enraged

"Letter on the Ir quoi-American Review.

HISTORY OF ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

yagisho and megalonyx on the Cherokees and Catawbas. Smith encountered their warriors in the settlement of Virginia and LaSalle on the dis- covery of the Illinois."*

Such had become the Iroquois-the conquerors and terror of all the surrounding tribes-by the force of their energy and by the principle of con- federation. The French computed the number of their warriors, in 1660, at between two and three thousand, and a later census, taken by an English agent, confirmed the statement. Their geographi- cal position made them the umpires in the contest of the French for dominion in the West. Their political importance was enhanced by their con- quests. "Not only did they claim some supremacy in northern New England, as far as the Kennabeck, and to the south, as far as New Haven, and were acknowledged as absolute lords over the conquered Lanappe ; the peninsula of Upper Canada was their hunting ground by right of war ; they had ex- terminated the Eries and Andasties, both tribes of their own family, one dwelling on the southeastern banks of Lake Erie, the other on the head waters of the Ohio ; they had triumphantly invaded the tribes of the West as far as Illinois ; their warriors had reached the soil of Kentucky and Western Virginia ; and England, to whose alliance they steadily inclined, availed herself of their treaties to encroach on the empire of France in America."f

Precisely at what period the confederacy between the tribes was formed is not known. Schoolcraft thinks it was at a comparatively recent date, prob- ably early in the fifteenth century. Mr. Webster, the Onondaga interpreter, says this great league of confederation was arrived at, about two generations before the whites became traders with the Indians. Mr. Clark has a different opinion. From the per- manency of their institutions, the intricacy of their civil affairs, the stability of their religious beliefs and the uniformity of their pagan ceremonies, differing from other Indians in important particu- lars, he is inclined to the belief that their federa- tive existence must have had a much longer dura- tion. All their traditions agree that the union was effected on the banks of Onondaga Lake where the village of Liverpool is now situated.

It is well known that these tribes attributed the origin of their confederacy, as well as most of their chief national blessings, to the supernatural interposition of Ta-oun-ya-wat-ha. the deity who presided over streams and fisheries. A long time ago this deity came down from his place in the

clouds to teach them how to cultivate the soil and to be united, happy and prosperous. While he was living among them-having thrown aside his divine character and assumed the name of Hi-a-wat-ha, a very wise man-there was an alarm caused by the sudden approach of a ferocious band of warriors from north of the great lakes. Many had been slain and ultimate destruction seemed to be the consequence either of bold resistance or of quiet submission to the enemy. At this trying moment Hi-a-wat-ha was sought for advice, and no states- man of to-day could have given better counsel in as few words. "Become a united people and you will conquer your enemies. Dispatch runners in all di- rections and notify the chiefs of a grand council to be held on the banks of the Oh-nen-ta-ha, (Onon- daga Lake.) I shall sit in council with you." The council fires had been kindled three days, but the venerable Hi-a-wat-ha had not made his appearance. On approaching his cabin he was found in a melan- choly state of mind. The old man told them he had evil forebodings, and that he had concluded not to attend the Great Council. But the chiefs had determined not to deliberate in council without the presence of Hi-a-wat-ha, and he was finally pre- vailed upon to go, accompanied by his darling child, an only daughter, twelve years of age. On the approach of the venerable wise man, a general shout of joy resounded through the assembled host, and every demonstration of respect was paid to his presence.

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History of Onondaga County, New York, Part 3

Author: Clayton, W.W. (W. Woodford) Publication date: 1878 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., D. Mason & Co. Number of Pages: 840

Author: Clayton, W.W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 840