USA > New York > Oswego County > History of Oswego County, New York, with illustrations and Biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 101
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Supervisor, Elijah Mann, Jr .; Town Clerk, John Schenck ; Assessors, John I. Walradt, Alfred Clark, and Stephen McCabe ; Collector, Samuel Fairbanks; Overseers of the Poor, Seth Camp and John Miller; Commissioners of Highways, Cyril Wilson, Daniel Cody, and John Miller ; Constables, Samuel Fairbanks and Samuel Colby.
There were nine road districts in the new town, which had been laid off when it was a part of Hannibal. . These were recognized as road districts of Granby, and the follow- ing path-masters were appointed : In district No. 1, Cor- nelius Miller ; No. 2, John Schenck ; No. 3, Stephen Mc- Cabe; No. 4, Western Allen ; No. 5, William .Dewey ; No. 6, Amos Green ; No. 7, William Fairbanks ; No. 8, Rufus Spencer ; No. 9, Samuel Whitman. It was also resolved that the path-masters should be fence-viewers and pound- masters in their respective towns.
At the same meeting Elijah Mann, Seth Camp, and Cy- ril Wilson were chosen commissioners of common schools, while no less than six inspectors of common schools were appointed, viz .: Benjamin Robinson, John Miller, Abraham Shepard, William Wilson, Gamaliel Fairbanks, and Peter Schenck. A petition was also directed to be sent to the council of appointment at Albany asking for the appoint- ment of Elijah Mann, Jr., and Seth Camp as jnstices of the peace for the new town.
It will doubtless seem a little curions to those who have long honored their town under the name of Granby to learn that at the very first town-meeting a resolution was adopted directing that a petition be sent to the legislature asking that the name be changed to De Witt. This was doubtless out of compliment to Simeon De Witt, who had been for over thirty years surveyor-general of the State of New York. For some reason the legislature declined to comply with this request, and fertile Granby has long since gained a reputation which would make its citizens very un- willing to relinquish that time-honored name.
VIEW OF RESIDENCE, LOCKING S. W
MRS.J. H. WHITCOMB.
HI
-
BIRDS EYE VIEW OF THE FARM AND RESIDENCE OF
CHEESE FACTORY.
J. H.WHITCOMB.
ER H.WHITCOMB, ESQ .. GRANBY,OSWEGO COUNTY, N. Y.
393
HISTORY OF OSWEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.
The "rules and regulations" previously in foree in the town of Hannibal were re-adopted at this meeting. Among them was a resolution that hogs should not be suffered to run at large; that double the sum appropriated by the State should be raised by the town for school purposes; that lawful fences should be five feet high, and that for at least two feet from the ground the rails should not be more than six inches apart. Another resolution read as follows : " Resolved, That the former bounty of ten dollars be given to each inhabitant of this town who shall kill a wolf in the said town. Also three dollars for each bear." The bears couldn't catch sheep and were dangerous only to hogs. Of these they occasionally killed one for food, but did not de- stroy them wantonly, as the wolves slew the sheep.
Two of the assessors failed to act, and it seems to have been ascertained that there were too many inspectors of schools. So, at a special town-meeting at the house of John I. Walradt, held on the 18th of June following, the people elected John I. Walradt and William Wilson as assessors, and Benjamin Robinson, Abraham Shepard, and John Miller as inspectors of schools. At the same time it was voted to raise two hundred dollars for the repair of roads and bridges.
In this year (1818) Seth Williams made his home at the place which was for a long time called " Williams' Cor- ners," after him,-a name that has hardly yet been displaced by the newer one of " Granby Centre." His son, Amasa Williams, then a boy, now a resident of Oswego Falls, de- clares it to have been a terrific country around there for big trees, snow, bears, and wolves. A man named Fenton had located there and cleared an acre or two of land, but had moved away two or three years before. Aside from that, Seth Williams was the first settler there. A mile or two north lived Rufus Spencer, and about a mile south was a settler named Crofoot. Eastward, there was no one be- tween Mr. Williams' house and the immediate vicinity of the river, while on the west the forest stretched in un- broken density far within the limits of Hannibal.
The old settlers generally agree in representing the snows of those days to have been something wonderful. Mr. Amasa Williams says his father, during the first years of his residence at the Corners, used to take enough grain to mill in Hannibal to last the family till spring, and then come back and " den up" for the winter. He deelares that during the first two winters they saw only one person not belonging to the family. That was a man who came through on snow-shoes, and was welcomed as if he had been a visitant from a better world; or, as Mr. W. himself says, " we were tickled to death to see him." Yet a stranger was such an unwonted phenomenon that the children were somewhat shy of him. Two or three of them ensconced themselves under their mother's loom, and thenee looked out with alternate joy and fear at the strange apparition.
About 1817 or 1818, Benajah Bowen bought out Mr. Hutchins and settled in the locality, which has since then been generally called Bowen's Corners. Around this locality and that of West Granby there was beginning to be con- siderable settlement, while on the Hannibal road, running through Williams' Corners and Dexterville and still farther north, there was almost none. Benjamin Pierce (father of
Isaac Pierce) settled about half a mile south of Williams' Corners in 1820, on the place previously occupied by Cyril Wilson. The next year Calvin and Isaac French located in the same neighborhood. The former has ever since re- sided on the farm which he then took up. He, too, men- tions the heavy timber and the snows as the reason for the slow settlement. When he came there was no one between Williams' and Hannibal except a man named Smith, who had lately located himself at the point now called Dexter- ville.
About 1819 or 1820, Seth Camp built a saw-mill and a small grist-mill with one run of stone at what is now West Granby, this being the first grist-mill in town. Three or four years later Mr. Fairbanks opened a store there, also the first in Granby. Shortly after, he erected a distillery at the same point, and this, too, was the first institution of its kind in town. " Camp's Mills" then bade fair to be- come a flourishing country village. A tavern was soon under way, of which Simon Ockabock was oue of the first landlords. Among other early settlers there were Martin Kelsey, George Ockabock, Alexander Sprague, John Bul- len, and William Draper.
About 1828, Jacob Bakeman, a thrifty mulatto, and a son of the Henry Bakeman who had settled near the falls at the beginning of the century, went out and bought Seth Camp's mills, which he owned and managed for many years. A colored man who owned mills was thought to be something of a phenomenon, and attracted considerable at- tention. There were no others of his raee in the vicinity, but as he was a prominent property-owner outsiders insisted on calling the place " Niggerville." It was so called for many years, and even to this day the more high-toned ap- pellation of " West Granby" finds hard work to maintain itself in current use.
Mr. Rodman Dexter settled at the point now called Dex- terville in 1829. Even then, as we learn from his daughter, Mrs. Clark, it was almost all woods in that part of the town ; only once in a while there was a little clearing, with a log house in it. A man named Welsh lived at Dexterville ; and there was one other clearing, which Mr. Dexter bought. No one lived west of that point, in Granby, and the first settlement eastward was in the vicinity of Williams' Cor- ners. In all the section of the town northward there were only a few scattering clearings.
Meanwhile, however (between 1825 and 1828), the Oswego canal had been constructed on the east side of the river, business became brisk, and long-neglected Granby began to increase rapidly in population. People found out that when once the great trees had been cleared away, and the occasional marshes had been drained, a fertile soil and easily-tilled surface rewarded the enterprise of the farmer, and from a wilderness the whole town was rapidly transformed into a smiling agricultural region.
Efforts were also made to utilize the water-power of the Oswego. A saw-mill was built at " Horse-shoe dam," about a mile above the mouth of Ox creek. It was run for many years by Messrs. Geer & Paine, but was finally abandoned. In 1826, Nehemiah B. Northrop had built a grist-mill at the falls, the first along that side of the river between Three Rivers point and Oswego. At a still earlier period
26
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HISTORY OF OSWEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.
(about 1820) he had built a nail-factory in the same local- ity, but this was converted into a saw-mill shortly after the building of the canal.
Great changes took place all through the town between 1830 and 1840, principally in the development of the farm- ing interest. Oswego Falls had not yet begun to put on the appearance of a village.
There was only a small cluster of houses at Bowen's Corners, and another at Williams' Corners, which then began to be called Granby Centre. But decidely the liveliest place in town was the locality with the unsavory name, which we need not repeat, using rather the modern designa- tion of West Granby. About 1835 there were at that point a grist-mill, a saw-mill, a distillery, a store, two tav- erns, and no less than four blacksmith-shops, besides fifteen or twenty dwellings. A large amount of travel passed through from Lysander, Ira, and other southern towns to Oswego and Fulton ; so that both blacksmiths and tavern- keepers had plenty of business.
But with the great financial crisis of 1837 business was sharply checked, and when it revived travel had been diverted to other routes, and the glory of West Granby became a thing of the past. John Bullen, John Draper, and others kept the store. Alfred Higgins at one time owned both mills, a tavern, and a store. Andrew Decker, still a resident there, kept tavern in what was faectiously designated as the " Astor House" about 1840. Business was then rapidly dying out ; as if West Granby was bound to be first in everything, the first church building in town was erected there in 1842. It was built by the Episco- palians, who had established the parish of St. Luke's sev- eral years previously.
With the building of the Syracuse and Oswego railroad, in 1848, running as it did for twelve miles through the town, the facilities of communication with numerous mar- kets were greatly increased. Streets and blocks were laid out at Oswego Falls, and the village of that name began to take form and shape. A plank-road was built from that point to Hannibalville, which has been one of the most successful in the country, being only abandoned about two years since, although almost all other roads of the kind were given up ten or fifteen years ago. Another was built at the same period from the falls southwest through Bowen's Corners, and thenee into Hannibal. This was abandoned many years since. Plank-roading has evidently had its day.
Since 1850, Granby has shown a moderate, steady growth, the pursuits of her people being still principally agricultural. The forbidding forests, which so late as fifty years ago covered more than three-fourths of the town, have given place to one of the finest farming tracts in the State. The traveler who in midsummer drives over its gently-rolling surface, sees broad fields, covered with ample crops, of all kinds of grain spread out in every direction around him, while bright green groves occasionally relieve the eye, and handsome white houses, with substantial farm- buildings, adorn the sides of the roads,-an almost infal- lible proof of the goodness of the soil.
And not in peaceful pursuits alone have the sons of Granby played well their parts. The long list of her sol- diers, subjoined to this sketch, accompanied by that of the
host of battles in which they took part, shows that when their country called none were more prompt to respond or more ready to meet the foe.
VILLAGE OF OSWEGO FALLS.
As has been stated, this place did not begin to assume the likeness of a village until after the building of the rail- road, in 1848. An aet had been passed providing for its incorporation in 1847, but so few were the inhabitants that no steps were taken to carry it into effect until 1854. In the autumn of that year a petition was presented to the county court, and on the 12th of October an order was made by Hon. Ransom H. Tyler, county judge, direeting the holding of an election by the electors of the proposed village, to determine whether it should be incorporated or not. The election was held on the 19th of November fol- lowing. Only one hundred and ten votes were cast, of which fifty-eight were in favor of the incorporation, and fifty-two against it.
By the original act five trustees were to be chosen by the people, and these were to elect the village president out of their own number. The following were the first officers of the village, chosen in the fall of 1853, and re-elected the succeeding spring : President, Peter Schenck ; Trustees, Peter Schenck, James Parker, William Andrews, John V. Smith, and - Holden ; Treasurer, Orrin R. Jaycox ; Collector, Stephen Roberts.
The growth of the village has been principally at two points, opposite the two bridges which lead to Fulton. In these localities, besides a few elsewhere, a population of over a thousand have made their homes, and the building of new houses, especially in the upper part of the village, is continually going forward. The principal manufacturing establishments are as follows :
In the northwest part of the village there is a large tan- nery, established about twenty-eight years ago, by George Salmon. It is now owned by Barnett & Humberger, of Syracuse. It is run by steam, employs ten hands, and is capable of turning ont three hundred and fifty hides per week. A short distance above the lower bridge is the paper-mill of William Waugh & Bro., which has been in operation seven years. It makes all kinds of brown and tissue-papers, and runs night and day ; turning out on an average two tons per day, and employing twelve hands, besides teamsters and other outsiders. The building is owned by William Sehenek, and for three years previous to the establishment of the paper-mill it was occupied by his sons as a chain-factory ; it having originally been erected for that use. Near by is a large saw-mill, also belonging to Mr. Schenck.
Just above the upper bridge are two extensive factories, both owned by the Oswego Falls manufacturing company. Each is of brick, four stories high, with a basement. The westernmost factory was built about 1862; the other, sev- eral years later. The latter is and has been employed in the manufacture of prunella, alpaca, and other worsted goods ; the former has hitherto been a woolen-factory, but is now being refitted with new machinery, and is henceforth to be devoted, like the other, to the making of worsted goods. In the rear of the western building are fifteen
MRS. F. M.RICE.
F. M. RICE.
SPIDELLO.No.843, VOL.14. MAG.No. 843, VOL. 14.
TULIP, No. 12, VOL.4. BELLE, No.3144, VOL.14. MAY. No. 4780, VOL.14, SPIDELLO I? RESIDENCE OF FELIX M. RICE, TOWN OF GRANBY, OSWEGO Co., N. Y.
HOMESTEAD OF THE LATE SETH PAINE.
MRS. SETH PAINE.
SETH PAINE,
RESIDENCE OF OLIVER PAINE, SOUTH GRANBY, OSWEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.
395
HISTORY OF OSWEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.
brick "weaving-sheds," in which the looms are situated. Of these, about five hundred are now kept running, with a strong probability of an increase to a thousand in the course of a year or two. Besides the buildings before mentioned, a large four-story brick building has lately been erected near the river-bank, which is also to be devoted to the same business. An extensive machine-shop is likewise connected with the factory.
Besides the above, there are in the village one hotel, four stores, two school-houses, and several shops, restaurants, etc. The Oswego Falls agricultural society has its grounds, and holds its annual meetings, in the western part of the village, on the shore of Lake Neatawanta. A full account of this in- stitution has been given in the general history of the county, but when it was written none of the compilers of the work had actually seen one of the fairs of that society. The writer of this sketch, having witnessed that of 1877, is prepared to indorse the general opinion that the Oswego Falls agricultural society is one of the most successful insti- tutions of its kind in the State.
The following is a list of the presidents of Oswego Falls since its incorporation : Peter Schenck, 1853-54; John V. Smith, 1855; Peter Schenck, 1856, '57, '58, '59; John V. Smith, 1860; Peter Schenck, 1861-62 ; J. G. Willard, 1863; Peter Schenck, 1864-65; Philander H. Wandell, 1866. A new charter was then granted, by which the village presidents were elceted dircetly by the people. The subsequent presidents have been as follows : Dorastus Kel- logg, 1867 ; C. K. Howe, 1868; Ransom G. Alger, 1869; John Wall, 1870; C. P. Dutcher, 1871; F. W. Baker, 1872; James Parker, Jr., 1873 ; Edgar M. Baker, 1874; Abram G. Hugunin, 1875 ; Edgar M. Baker, 1876-77.
The following are the present officers of the village: President, Edgar M. Baker ; Trustees, Timothy Sullivan, F. M. Baker, Almon Wilcox, John McCarthy, William Gillard; Assessor, W. F. Stephens; Treasurer, F. M. Baker; Collector and Clerk, Daniel Sullivan.
Of the hamlets situated in various parts of the town, Granby Centre (formerly Williams' Corners), two miles west of Oswego Falls, is now the most considerable. It con- tains a church, a groecry, a post-office, a sash-making shop, a cheese-factory, a wagon-shop, and between twenty and thirty quite fine houses, handsomely shaded with trees. The cheese-factory belongs to a stock company, and turns out about eight cheeses per day. Two steam-mills were in operation here about a quarter of a century ago, but both have long since been abandoned.
Dexterville, two miles farther west, has a grocery, a post- office, and about a dozen houses. A steam saw-mill was built here in 1851 by Rodman Dexter. It burned down in 1857, but was rebuilt by Erastus Dexter. It was torn down in 1873.
West Granby contains a neat church, a blacksmith-shop, and about a dozen houses.
Bowen's Corners has a very handsome, commodious, and substantial brick school-house, a cheese-factory, a grocery, and twelve or fifteen houses. This factory also belongs to a stock company, and makes from ten up to twenty-five cheeses per day.
South Granby is a station on the Syracuse and Oswego
railroad, four miles up the river from Oswego Falls, which, though surrounded by a fertile and wealthy agricultural county, has as yet made no progress toward city grandenr.
THE EPISCOPAL CHURCHI.
The parish of St. Luke was organized as early as 1838. Rev. G. B. Engle had charge of this parish, in connection with one at Fulton and one at Baldwinsville, in 1838-40. In 1841 he had charge of this and the Baldwinsville par- ish. In that year, or the one following, the church edifice of St. Luke's parish was erected at West Granby. After that the parish, in connection with that at Fulton, was under the pastoral charge of Rev. A. C. Treadway, Rev. O. P. Holcomb, Rev. Geo. S. Porter, Rev. T. N. Bishop, and Rev. L. D. Ferguson. The latter gentleman's ministry closed in 1861, and shortly after the church building was sold to the Methodists, and the communicants became per- manently connected with the Fulton parish.
THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
This was organized about thirty years ago, but owing to the loss of the records the exact date cannot be fixed. There was a class at Granby Centre, and another at West Granby, which met in school-houses. They were some- times connected in circuits with other classes outside of the town. About 1852 a small church building was erected at Granby Centre, and abont twelve years ago, as before stated, the Episcopal house of worship at Granby Centre was pur- chased. Some of the later ministers who have officiated have been the Rev. Messrs. Gurrington, Clark, Turney, Allen, and Grant. The circuit is now organized with classes at West Granby, Granby Centre, and at Minetto, in the town of Oswego. The following are the present officers : Pas- tor, Rev. C. H. Harris; Stewards, Elisha Hyde, Isaac Pierce, and Benjamin Wells.
The Reformed Methodists have also had a class for many years, which met at the school-house at Bowen's Corners, but its numbers are now greatly reduced, and only occa- sional services are held.
Supervisors .- Elijah Mann, Jr., 1818-19; Seth Camp, 1820 ; Elijah Mann, Jr., 1821; Seth Camp, 1822-23; Ambrose B. Kellogg, 1824-31; John Sammons, 1832; Edmund Bramhall, 1833-35; Jolin Phillips, 1836; Ed- mund Bramhall, 1837; Amory Howe, 1838-39 ; George Kellogg, 1840; Alanson Dodge, 1841-42; William Schenck, 1843; Almarin Fuller, 1844; W. B. Gaylord, 1845-46 ; Alanson Dodge, 1847; William Schenck, 1848; Alanson Dodge, 1849 ; Jas. D. Lasher, 1850-51 ; Alanson Dodge, 1852; James D. Lasher, 1853; Willard Osgood, 1854-58; J. G. Willard, 1859-62; James Parker, 1863; J. D. Lasher, 1864; Charles Howe, 1865; J. G. Willard, 1866; B. Frank Wells, 1867-68; Isaac W. Marsh, 1869- 72; I. F. Pierce, 1873; J. C. Wells, 1874-75; Ezra S. Hogeland, 1876; T. R. Wright, 1877.
Town Clerks .- John Schenck, 1818; Nehemiah B. Northrop, 1819; Benjamin Robinson, 1820-21 ; Artemas Curtis, 1822; Benj. Robinson, 1823-24; Artemas Curtis, 1825-28; Benj. Robinson, 1829-30; Loren Golding, 1831 ; John Phillips, 1832-35 ; Elijah Phillips, 1836-38; Alviney Wright, 1839-41; Peter Schenck, 1842-49 ;
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HISTORY OF OSWEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.
Willard Osgood, 1850; J. G. Willard, 1851; James Par- ker, 1852; J. G. Willard, 1853-54 ; Darius R. Bellows, 1855; Harvey Smith, 1856; J. G. Willard, 1857-58; Charles T. Wood, 1859-60 ; Elvin A. Hempstead, 1861- 62; Peter Schenck, 1863; Benj. R. IIowe, 1864; Peter Schenck, 1865; Amory L. Howe, 1866; B. R. Howe, 1867-72; C. A. Northrop, 1873-74; B. R. Howe, 1875; F. M. Baker, 1876-77.
PRESENT TOWN OFFICERS.
Supervisor, T. R. Wright; Justices of the Peace, Mel- vin F. Stephens, J. J. Fort, Washington Lampman, and Hiram Ballard; Town Clerk, F. M. Baker; Assessors, Nathaniel Stewart, H. M. Fuller, and William D. Edgarton ; Overseer of the Poor, William H. Tompkins ; Commissioner of Highways, M. A. Kelsey ; Collector, James Gilhooley ; Constables, Eugene Van Buren, John E. Parker, Michael Ward, Major F. Phelps, and John E. Kinney; Game Con- stable, Major F. Phelps; Commissioners of Excise, John Cornell, William Kilfoyle, Samuel D. Andrews; Town Auditors, Daniel H. Gilbert, Jackson Reynolds, and Isaac W. Marsh.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
JOHN C. WELLS.
The origin of the " De Welles" family of Lincolnshire, barons by summons to parliament, was in the Vaux, or de Vallibus family of France, one of the most illustrious fami- lies known to history. The derivation is traced back over a thousand years to the year 794, from which period they held the highest rank personally, and by royal intermar- riages. It was founded in England, at the Conquest, by Harold de Vaux, and his three sons, Barons Hubert, Ranulph, and Robert, who were all surnamed de Vallibus. The descent is through the younger son Robert, whose grandson William had four sons, one of whom was William de Welles, of Lincolnshire, 1194, who became the founder of that long line of noblemen of Lincolnshire whose his- tory is given in full by Dugdale, in his standard work on the baronage of England.
As early as 1638, three brothers, George, Richard, and William, emigrated, and were among the first settlers of Lynn, Massachusetts. From this family the subject of this sketch traces his descent, through ex-Governor Thomas Welles, of Connecticut.
John C. Wells was born in the town of Trenton, Oneida county, New York, January 9, 1821, and was the son of Elisha G. Wells, a native of Connecticut, who settled in Oneida county when John C., eldest son, was only ten years of age. There were six children in the family, whom the father, being a teacher himself, gave as great opportu- nity for an education as his limited means would permit.
One son, Lucius, graduated at Union college and Cam- bridge law school ; Franklin graduated at the Albany Normal school; John C. in his earlier life was a teacher, farming during the summer and teaching winters. He re- mained at Trenton until twenty-four years of age, and removed to Granby township, Oswego County, and settled
on lot 65, buying one hundred and twenty-five acres, clear- ing and making tillable a large part of it.
He married Miss Lucretia Augusta Meigs, daughter of Edward Meigs, of Delaware county, New York, and a de- scendant of Vincent Meigs, who came from Devonshire, England, 1638, and settled at Guilford, Connecticut.
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