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 96
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In 1869 a small but well-appointed church edifice was erected in the northwest part of the town, the pulpit of which has since been regularly supplied. The pastors of the circuit since its separate organization have been Charles Wiedrich, three years ; Snell, one year ; H. L. Bowen, one year; Peter Daley, one year ; T. Prindle, one year ; M. F. Cutler (the present pastor), two years. There are now about fifty-six members of the Methodist Protestant church in this circuit within the town of Boylston.
The following are the present officials resident in that town : Stewards, Geo. W. Rudd, Nelson L. Williams, Cal- vin Williams, Leonard R. Huffstater ; Trustees, N. L. Wil- liams, John A. Oderkirk, Hiram D. Rudd, Tunis Gordon, Christopher J. Huffstater.
The Boylston and Orwell circuit of the same denomina- tion has three classes in town, and two in Orwell. Those in Boylston hold their meetings respectively at the Van Auken school-house, the "hemlock school-house," and at Smart's Mills. They have no church edifice. The present pastor of the circuit is the Rev. Mr. Gaskell, who resides at Smart's Mills, but we have not been able to obtain any further data regarding it.
Supervisors of Boylston, with years of service .- John Wart, 1828-29; Joseph Shoecraft, 1830-35 ; Henry Sny- der, 1836-37; Joseph Shoecraft, 1838; John Wart, 1839-40; Jacob V. Gordon, 1841-43; Joseph Shoecraft, 1844; Jacob V. Gordon, 1845 ; Daniel Shoecraft, 1846- 48; James Lowry, 1849-50; Azariah Wart, 1851-52; Abraham Snyder, 1853-54; Azariah Wart, 1855-56; Joseph L. Bortles, 1857-58; Henry J. Snyder, 1859-60; James Lowry, 1861 ; Henry J. Snyder, 1862 ; Christopher J. Huffstater, 1863-64; Joseph S. Bortles, 1865-66 ; Henry Lester, 1867-70; David Hamer, 1871-72; Henry Lester, 1873 ; John Oderkirk, 1874-75 ; George W. Rudd, 1876-77.
Town Clerks of Boylston, with years of service .- Jos. Shoecraft, 1828-29; John Etheridge, 1830 ; Reuben Sny- der, 1831; John Wart, 1832; Moses Snyder, 1833; Miller R. Larmouth, 1834; Henry Snyder, 1835; James Wart, 1836; Miller R. Larmouth, 1837; James Wart, 1838; Joseph Shoecraft, 1839-40; Daniel Williams, 1841-42; Jacob Coppernoll, 1843-45; Lyman Moore, 1846-47 ; Thurston Baxter, 1848; Turner Lillie, 1849; J. V. Gordon, 1850; Lyman Moore, 1852; Joseph L.
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IHISTORY OF OSWEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.
Bortles, 1853-54; J. V. Gordon, 1855-56; Abraham Snyder, 1857-58; Lewis D. Cummings, 1859-60; Reu- ben Pruyn, 1861-62; Francis Shoccraft, 1863; Luther J. Baxter, 1864; Reuben Pruyn, 1865; Lyman J. Baker, 1866-67; Ira Cummings, 1868-70 ; Lewis D. Cummings, 1871; Ira Cummings, 1872; William A. Snyder, 1873- 74; Adam Coppernoll, 1875-76; Lyman J. Baker, 1877.
The present officers of Boylston are as follows : Super- visor, Geo. W. Rudd; Town Clerk, Lyman J. Baker ; Justices of the Peace, Aaron Fuller, Potter Soule, Orrin Stowell, John Phelps; Assessors, Wm. H. Presley, Nor- man Wart, David Brown; Commissioners of Highways, Ellery Crandall, Sylvester Hathaway, Elijah Rowe; Col- lector, Vincent Delong; Town Anditors, Abram Snyder, J. L. Bortles, and William Keeney ; Inspectors of Elec- tion, Frank W. Snyder, Barnum Ostrum, Jacob Oderkirk ; Constables, Joseph Crandall, Wm. Cummings, Charles Ful- ler, Barnum Ostrum, Wm. Flanders; Game Constable, C. W. Smart; Commissioners of Excise, Solomon Finster, Ira Van Auken, Alfred Schermerhorn; Overseer of the Poor, Roswell Rudd.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.
WILLIAM WART
was born in Boylston, September 4, 1819, at which time Boylston was a part of Orwell township. His parents removed from Otsego county, New York, and settled in the northwest corner of what is now the township of Boylston. They were among the first settlers of the township. Mr. Wart was the eldest son of eight children, and lived with his father up to nineteen years of age. In 1847 he pur- chased eighty-six acres of land where his present home is. He was married July 4, 1847, to Margaret Dingman, daughter of John Dingman, a resident of Boylston. They moved into their home March 23, 1848. One son and one daughter were born to them,-Wm. Franklin and Emma- gene. The son married Hattie Worlie, of Otsego county, and the birth of a daughter gave a great-grandchild in the house,-four generations under one roof.
Mr. Wart has added to his lands until he is the owner of two hundred and fifty-four acres in the home-farm, and seventy-four in the east part of Boylston. His home is finely situated on an eminence commanding an extensive view of the surrounding country and of Lake Ontario. Mr. Wart has always taken pride in raising and keeping good stock. Two span of horses, one owned by himself and one by his son, and sired by a stallion (Little Mack) owned by him, are among the finest in the country.
Mr. Wart has always been a Democrat, voting for Martin Van Buren in 1840, and has not missed voting at any presidential election since. Though not a member of any religious denomination, he has always responded with his share of means to their support.
Affectionate and kind in his family, a genial companion, no one would be more missed from his neighborhood than would William Wart.
MILITARY RECORD OF BOYLSTON.
Robert Bush. Enlisted in the 184th Inf., Sopt., 1864; disch. in sum- mer of 1865.
Otis J. Her. Enlisted in the 35th Inf., Jan. 1, 1861 ; ro-enlisted in Ist Vet. Cav., Aug. 16, 1863; promoted to corporal; discharged in summer of 1865.
Smith T. Calkins. Enlisted in the 110th Art., Aug. 16, 1862; dis- charged in the summer of 1865.
Jacob llaford. Enlisted in the 186th Inf., Aug. 24, 1864 ; discharged in summer of 1865.
John Cusler. Enlisted in the 10th Art., Aug. 16, 1862; discharged in 1865.
Henry Hor. Enlisted in the 35th Inf., Jan. 1, 1861 ; re-enlisted Feb. 21, 1864; discharged in 1865.
John A. Wait. Enlisted in the 24th Inf., Nov. 17, 1861.
Turner Little. Enlisted in the 94th Inf., Nov. 19, 1861 ; discharged in 1864.
James McDaniels. Enlisted in the 110th Inf., Aug. 25, 1862; re- signed October, 1863.
Peter Cogan. Enlisted in the 16th Art., Jan. 15, 1864; discharged in the summer of 1865.
Thomas Allen. Enlisted in the 157th Inf., Aug. 17, 1862 ; discharged in the summer of 1865.
George Smith. Enl'd in the 147th Inf., Sept. 23, 1862; dis. during the summer of 1865.
Wm. Barzy. Enlisted in the 147th Int., Sept. 23, 1862; dis. in the fall of 1865.
Alphens Bridgway. Enl'd in 147th Inf., Sept. 23, '62; die. Aug., '64. Edward W. Cook. Enlisted in the 75th Inf., Oet. 8, 1861; re- enlisted Jan. 7, 1864 ; dis. in the summer of 1865.
J. W. Snyder. Enlisted in the 184th Inf., Sept. 16, 1864; dis. in the summer of 1865.
Chas. De Long. Enlisted in the 184th Inf., Sept. 16, 1864; dis. in summer of 1865.
Wm. MeDougall. Enlisted in the 184th Inf., Sept. 16, 1864; dis. in the summer of 1865.
Abraham Schemerhorn. Enlisted in the 110th Inf., Aug. 25, 1862; dis. in the summer of 1865.
David Brown. Enlisted in the 110th Inf., Aug. 25, 1862; dis. in the summer of 1865.
George E. Porter. Enlisted in the 184th Inf., Sept. 16, 1864; dis- charged in the summer of 1865.
De Witt Comstock. Enlisteil in the 184th Inf., Sept. 16, 1864; dis- charged in 1865.
Vincent De Long. Enlisted in the 24th Iof., Aug. 17, 1861 ; wounded at Antietam ; discharged Nov., 1862.
Lewis Cummins. Enlisted in the 147th Inf., Sept. 23, 1862; dis- charged Aug., 1863.
Calvin Williams. Enlisted in the 110th Iuf., Aug. 25, 1862; dis- charged Nov., 1863.
Charles Warlott. Enlisted in the 110th Inf., Aug. 25, 1862; dis- charged Sept., 1863.
Lyman J. Baker. Enlisted in the 75th Inf., Oct. 8, 1861 ; re-enlisted Jan. 1, 1864; discharged io summer of 1865.
D. A. Snyder. Enlisted in the 110th Inf., Ang. 25, 1862; discharged in the summer of 1865.
Wm. A. Soyder. Enlisted in the 184th Inf., Sept. 16, 1864; dis- charged in 1865.
James Bridgway. Eulisted in the 184th Inf., Sept. 16, 1864; dis- charged in the summer of 1865.
Luther Baxter. Enlisted in the 184th Inf., Sept. 16, 1864; dis- charged in summer of 1865.
Theodore Woodruff. Enlisted in 193d Inf., March 16, 1865; dis- charged in summer of 1865.
David McDougall. Enlisted in the 110th Inf., Aug. 25, 1862; diech. in summer of 1865.
Stephen Baker. Enlisted in the 111th Pa. Regt., Sept. 29, 1861 ; lost his right arm in battle near Atlanta, Ga .; ree. in spring of 1863. David Hamer. Enlisted in the 24th Inf., May 24, 1861 ; prom. to orderly ; disch. in fall of 1863.
Jacob O. Bartlett. Enlisted in the 10th Art., Sept. 1, 1862; disch. in summer of 1863.
374
HISTORY OF OSWEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.
William Avery. Enlisted in the 10th Art., Sept. 10, 1862; disch. in summer of 1865.
Jesse Tanner. Enlisted in the 184th Int., Sept. 16, 1864; disch. in summer of 1865.
Zaphett Cobhy. Enlisted in the 20th Cav.
Amarah Cobby. Enlisted in the 147th Inf., Sept. 23, 1862.
James Hunt. Enlisted in the 184th Inf., Sept. 16, 1862; disch. in summer of 1865.
Elijah Van Anhim. Enlisted in the 147th Inf., Sept. 23, 1862 ; disch. in 1865.
Ira Van Anhim. Enlisted in the 184th Inf., Sept. 16, 1864; disch. in summer of 1865.
Jerome B. Ostrum. Enlisted in the 147th Inf., Aug. 20, 1862; disch. in June, 1865.
Jas. More. Enlisted in the 24th Cav., Jnn. 4, 1864; prom. to corp. ; disch. in the summer of 1865.
De Witt C. More. Enlisted in 40th Inf., Aug. 25, 1862.
Lewis Foster. Enl'd in 184th Inf., Sept. 16, 1862; disch. in summer of 1865.
Byron More. Enl'd in the 110th Inf., Aug. 25, 1862; disch. in sum- mer of 1865.
Wm. H. Bramer. Enl'd in the 61st Inf., Oct. 1, 1861 ; re-enl'd Dec. 6, 1863; diseh. in summer of 1865.
Gen. W. Rogers. Enl'd in the 2d Cav., Sept. 7, 1864; diseh. in sum- mer of 1865.
Geo. Edgett. Enl'd in the 110th Inf., Aug. 25, 1862; dis. Feb., 1864. Jerome Eldridge. Enlisted in the 10th Art., Dee. 24, 1863; killed near Petersburg, July 13, 1864.
George Sliter. Enlisted in the 110th Regt., Aug. 18, 1862; died at Baton Rouge, La., Sept. 23, 1863, of sickness acquired in the service.
Peter Dougall. Enlisted in the 110th Regt., Aug. 18, 1862; died at Baton Rouge, La., April 20, 1863.
John Tanner. Enlisted in the 147th Regt., Aug. 23, 1862; died while a prisoner at Andersonville, Feb. 18, 1865.
David Chase. Enlisted in the 193d Regt., March 31, 1865; died April 12, 1865, of sickness acquired in the service.
Joseph More. Enlisted in the 24th Cav. 2, Jan., 1864; killed in battle at Cold Harbor, March, 1864.
Henry J. Snyder. Enlisted in the 110th Regt., Aug. 18, 1862; died at Baton Rouge, La., Oet. 30, 1864, of sickness acquired in service. Edwin Cummins. Enlisted in the 110th Regt., Aug. 18, 1862 ; died at Baton Rouge, La., of sickness acquired in the service.
Stephen Remington. Enlisted in the 110th Regt., Aug. 18, 1862 ; died at Baton Rouge, La., Oct. 16, 1864.
Mathew Asher. Enlisted in the 34th Regt., April 1, 1861 ; killed at Petersburg, June 17, 1864.
Osher Wilcox. Enlisted in the 94th Regt., Aug. 25, 1861; died Aug. 22, 1862.
Washington Greenwood. Enlisted in the 34th Regt., March, 1862 -; dicd at Aquia Creek, Jan. 21, 1863, of siekness acquired in the serviee.
Richard Barker. Enlisted in the 110th Regt., Aug. 8, 1862; died at Washington, Jan. 8, 1864.
Samuel H. Brown. Enlisted in the 61st Regt., Oct. 15, 1861 ; killed at Antietam, Sept. 17, 1862.
SANDY CREEK.
IN the month of April, 1803, two men, with their fam- ilies and household goods loaded upon ox-sleds, were to be seen making their painful way along the scarcely-opened State road through Redfield and Boylston. Arriving at a point which, as near as he could judge, was about opposite the locality he sought, one of them, William Skinner, plunged into the pathless forest and made his way with infinite difficulty to the bank of Sandy creek, at the upper end of the present village of Lacona. The other, Stephen Lindsay, went through Ellisburgh, where there were already a few settlements, but finally located on the flat in the extreme northwest corner of the present town of Sandy Creek, about half a mile from the great pond which occu- pies the western part of that town.
Sandy Creek was then a part of the town of Mexico, in the county of Oneida. It was also a part of the survey- township of " Rhadamant" (or No. 10), in the Boylston tract, and was the property of the heirs of William Con- stable, among whom H. B. Pierrepont was the principal.
Mr. Skinner was a man of considerable property for those times, and had taken up four hundred acres of land on the fertile shores of Sandy creek. One of his house- hold was an adopted son, Levi Skinner, then five years old, but who has now reached the good old age of seventy-nine, and is unquestionably the earliest surviving resident of Sandy Creck, though for a long time he has lived just over the line, in Ellisburg. He is still active about his busi- ness ; his memory goes back readily to the time of his first
arrival in the former town, and in a long interview he gave us many interesting facts regarding that period.
Two young men, named Moreton and Butler, who, if married, were not accompanied by their families, came with William Skinner, and lived with him all summer, though engaged in clearing land for themselves which they had taken up. Skinner had hired men engaged in the same occupation for him. He was a free liver, and they all seem to have had a pretty jolly time through the pioncer sun- mer. The creek was alive with speckled trout, and game, of course, was plenty all around. As the stream was hardly deep enough for bathing purposes, the men built a dam across it, between where the villages of Lacona and Sandy Creek now stand, so as to have a pond to swim in. Mr. Skinner bought Moreton out in the fall, and the latter and Butler both returned to Augusta, Oneida county, whence all the earliest settlers came.
Meanwhile, Mr. Lindsay's daughter Eunice, a girl of twelve or thirteen years, had sickened and died during that first summer, being the first death in the present town of Sandy Creek.
In the spring of 1804 Joseph Hurd and Elias Howe came from Augusta, and settled on Sandy creek below Skinner. Hurd bought out Butler's claim. A Mr. Noyes and a Mr. Robinson also located themselves in the vicinity that year, and a Mr. Knickerbocker settled about that time some three miles northeast of Lacona. That summer Skinner and Hurd built the first saw-mill in the present
3
HIGH SCHOOL, SANDY CREEK, OSWEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.
375
HISTORY OF OSWEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.
town of Sandy Creek. It was then Williamstown, that town having been set off from Mexico on the 24th of March, 1804, with boundaries which included the whole northeastern part of what is now Oswego County, excepting the town of Redfield.
Immigration continued even in midwinter, for in Febru- ary, 1805, Laura Hurd came to town,-being the first white child born within its limits. She is still living, being a resident of Peoria, Illinois. The 7th of the next May the second child, Polly, daughter of Elias Howe, was born. She, too, still survives, being now the venerable widow of Pardon Earl, Esq., and a resident of Mannsville, Jefferson county.
That spring George Harding located in the same neigh- borhood. With him came his daughter Pamelia, a girl of fourteen, now Mrs. Pamelia Robbins, over whose head eighty-seven winters have passed since she became a resi- dent close by the spot where she now lives. She, too, is remarkably clear in memory, and corroborates Mr. Skinner's statements. When she came the elder Mr. Skinner, who was a somewhat unstable person, had bought some land in Ellisburg, and was moving back and forth between the two places. His adopted son says he moved seven or eight times in the course of two years. Finally, however, in 1807 or 1808, he sold his Sandy Creek farm to Peter Whiteside, and took up his permanent residence in Ellis- burg.
There was now quite a little settlement on the creek, and clearing went on rapidly. John Meacham, Simon Meacham, and Ephraim Brewster settled in the south part of the town, close to the present Richland line, making the first opening in the forests of that locality. James Hinman came to the Sandy Creek neighborhood in 1805 or 1806, and in the latter year built the first grist-mill in town.
In the spring of 1806 Pamelia Robbins and Betsey Hurd learned that Mrs. Knickerbocker was lying sick with con- sumption alone in the woods three miles distant. Pamelia was fifteen, and Betsey about the same age. Anxious to afford help and sympathy to the suffering woman, the two brave girls went on foot to her bedside through the dark forest, in which the wild beasts still roamed in numbers. She felt cheered by their visit, and most grateful for it, but consumption had laid its deadly hand upon her, and in June she slept the sleep of death. A minister was sent for from a long distance, probably from Redfield, and a sermon was preached over her, being the first ever delivered in town, unless one was preached at the burial of Eunice Lindsay.
Mrs. Robbins remembers the noticeable circumstance that in June of each of three successive years there was a death in the locality, and no others occurred within her knowl- edge. That of Mrs. Knickerbocker was in 1806, that of Mrs. Elias Howe in 1807, and that of a Mr. Brown in 1808. On each of these occasions a funeral sermon was preached, and these were all the sermons heard in town during that time. After that Elder Osgood, a Baptist, Elder Bishop, a Methodist, and other itinerant preachers, visited the locality at long intervals.
The first marriage in the present town took place in the Meacham neighborhood in 1806, between Henry Patterson
and Lucy Meacham. In that year, also, Mr. Simon Meacham opened the first tavern in town, and kept a few goods, which constituted the first similitude of a store.
The first school was taught by Mrs. Robbins' sister, Mamrie Harding, in the winter of 1806 and 1807. There was no school-house, and she taught in a room of her father's house. The next fall (that of 1807) a log school- house was built at Lacona, and Mrs. Robbins mentions that she, and her children, and her grandchildren, have all attended at a house on the same site.
Simon Hadley and Clark Wilder, both young, unmarried men, came in 1806, and opened clearings on the creek road west of the village; and doubtless there were many others in various parts of the town, whose names have been washed away by the tides of time. Jabez Baldwin settled three miles west of the village in 1809. John Pierce and Daniel Ackerman came to the same locality about the same tinic. Amasa Carpenter, who came about the same period, was one of the early schoolmasters. His brother Asa, who came a little later, located two or three miles southeast of the village. He has been for nearly half a century the clerk of the Congregational church at Sandy Creek, and still takes an active interest in its welfare.
P. T. Titus came in 1810, by way of Orwell, and settled about three miles southeast of the village. He helped build the " Ridge road," and soon after located upon it, where his daughter, Mrs. Jotham Newton, now resides. Clearings were now being made on every side. Among others who came before the war of 1812 were John Darling, Mr. Broadway, John Snyder, Samuel Goodrich, Amos Jackson, and John and Abel Bentley.
In 1812, Samuel Hadley settled in the locality still oc- cupied by his descendants, northwest of the village, where it was then an unbroken wilderness. With him came his son, Jesse F. Hadley, then ten years old, now seventy-five, who gives a good description of that part of the town at that time. There was a road down the creek from the vil- lage, and another near the Ellisburg line, but in what is now Sandy Creek. Between those two roads was nothing but woods. On the northern road there was quite a number of settlers,-Pickett, Winters, Harris, Sheeley, Harmon Ehle, John Spalsbury, Peter Combs, and finally Stephen Lindsay,-nearly to the pond. A little log school-house stood near John Spalsbury's. James Himman was then keeping a tavern, part log and part frame, at the creek settlement, and there were already two or three frame houses in the vicinity,-landmarks of advancing civilization.
When the war of 1812 broke out, the people of Sandy Creek, being on the immediate frontier, were kept in a continual tremor. From the lake-shore they could see the enemy's vessels sweeping over the adjoining waters, now driving the American craft into their harbors, now in turn pursued by Chauncey's increased fleet. Mrs. Robbins re- counts the exciting scene which occurred one summer Sab- bath, when the people had gathered at Mr. Hinman's to hear the gospel preached by some wayfaring minister. Suddenly a messenger came galloping up, crying out, " The British have landed !" and designating the point assailed. Immediately all was confusion, men hurrying away to get their arms, children erying, and women shuddering with
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HISTORY OF OSWEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.
terror at the thought of the Indians, whose presence was always taken for granted when British troops appeared at that time.
Again and again the militia was called ont to repel an attack on Sackett's Harbor. There was probably not a man in the town of sufficient age who did not perform consid- erable military service during the two years and a half that the war lasted. Smith Dunlap was captain of the militia company from that section, Nicholas Gurley was lieutenant, Samnel Dunlap ensign, and Renben Hadley orderly ser- geant.
Late in April, 1814, Colonel Mitchell, with a small body of regular infantry, came marching along the old Salt road on their way to defend Oswego from a threatened attack. A few days later came the news that the defense had been unsuccessful and Oswego had been captured. For a while rumors flew thick and fast. On the 29th of May the dwellers in the western part of the town saw the curious spectacle of a body of Oneida Indians, in their war-paint and feathers, and accompanied by a few soldiers, marching along the shore of Little Sandy pond, while those who looked ont npon the lake descried nearly twenty large and heavy-laden boats, carrying the American flag and impelled northward by hundreds of stalwart oarsmen. It was Wool- sey's flotilla, bearing cannon and stores for Commodore Channcey's new ship, "Superior," as related in the general history.
The next morning messengers came hurrying throngh the country, informing every one that Woolsey had run up Big Sandy creek, in Ellisburg, that the British were about to follow, and urging all to come to the rescue. The militia were speedily mnstered and hastened to the scene of the expected conflict, but ere any of them arrived the thunder of cannon startled the whole town from the shore of the lake to the slopes of the Boylston hills, and in the northern part the rattle of small arms could be distinctly heard. The militia, on their arrival, found that every man of the assail- ing force had been killed or captured. There was no fighting to be done, but some of the Sandy Creek men took part in the celebrated feat of carrying to Sackett's Harbor on their shoulders the great cable of the "Superior," . weighing nearly five tons. When that vessel had been equipped and sent to sea the British commander was willing to take a retired position, and the Americans along the lake felt less anxiety about a hostile incursion.
After the war immigration set in with redoubled force. Reuben, Rufns, Nathan, and Daniel Salisbury all came within a short time. In fact, the immigrants were so nu- merons as to prevent naming any but those connected with some marked profession or business.
Dr. James A. Thompson located at the little settlement on the creek in 1815, being the first physician who became a permanent practitioner in town, though there had been a Dr. Porter there for a short time. Dr. Thompson practiced till his death, forty-four years later. Yet this long profes- sional career was certainly not the result of an easy life. The labors of a country physician in those early days were arduous almost beyond the conception of their successors. Dr. Thompson's rides, says his son, often extended over twenty miles. They were not buggy rides either, but were
invariably performed on horseback, over roads which lan- gnage could but poorly portray. Sometimes, after making one of these long circuits, on coming along the shore of the great pond to the mouth of Sandy creek, after dark, he would find it at the top of its banks. Taking off his clothes and holding them aloft with one hand while clinging to the horse's tail with the other, he would make the passage of the torrent ; then dress, remount and ride home, fortunate if he had a few dry threads upon him on his arrival. Be- fore leaving this point it may be proper to notice that Dr. A. G. Thompson, the son of the gentleman just mentioned, has also practiced in Sandy Creek and vicinity forty-three years ; so that there has been no time since the close of the war of 1812 when one of that family has not been min- istering to the needs of the people of that locality.
Another doctor of long practice was John G. Ayer, who came in 1822, and remained the greater part of the time (though absent several years) till his death a few years ago.
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