USA > New York > Otsego County > History of Otsego County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 79
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At the time of the surrender of General Burgoyne to General Gates, at Saratoga, in 1777, all the camp furni- ture, together with the immense quantities of military stores of the British, fell into the hands of the victorious Ameri- cans. After the elose of the war many of these articles were sold, and Jolin Tunnieliff, Jr., purchased a large cop- per camp-kettle, which is now in the possession of Mr. Ho- ratio Tunnicliff, who owns and occupies the estate of his grandfather near Little Lakes ....
As previously intimated, William Tunnicliff became the first permanent resident of this place in 1791, and erected a dwelling on the site now.occupied by the residence of Mr. John Dana. Many of his descendants are now residents of this village. He also built a public house on the hill, where now stands the residenee of Mr. Vedder Cole; and it was kept by Israel Rawson. Cyrus Robinson kept the first store, which stood near the ereek, and James S. Palmer taught the first school at Richfield Springs. The first school-house in the town of Richfield was made of logs, and stood near the present residence of Mr. William Hopkinson.
In the orchard of Mr. Hopkinson is an ancient apple- tree, that is called " The Indian Tree." It was known to the earliest settlers previous to the Revolution. Is either a spontaneous growth, or was set there by the Indians more than a century ago. It has never failed to bear fruit annually, which is said to keep sound and good for one year and more. A few rods to the north of this tree in the adjoining field is an oblong mound, supposed to be the grave of some celebrated Indian chief, as the Oncidus were wont to visit it annually and eneamp around it, threatening vengeance on any one that should dare to molest its hidden treasure, and it remains undisturbed to this day.
The great Indian trail from the Mohawk valley to the Canadarago led close by this mound and apple-tree. About the time that William Tunnieliff settled at Richfield Springs Obadiah Beardsley emigrated from Rensselaer county, and located first on the western shore of the lake near Herki- mer ereek, thenee to the western part of the town of Richfield, about one mile northwest from Monticello.
Mr. Beardsley was the first magistrate in this town. He was the father of the late Samuel Beardsley, a distinguished lawyer of Utiea, and also of Hon. Levi Beardsley, of New York, author of " Beardsley's Reminiscenees."
Their sister, the widow of the late Judge Hyde, is at present the only survivor of her father's family, and now resides with her son-in-law, Hon. A. R. Elwood, of Rich- field Springs.
Obadiah Beardsley died in 1841, and was buried at Richfield Springs. Four young and vigorous maples, planted by his own hands, now shade his grave in the village cemetery. The first village settlement in the town of Richfield was made at Brighton, about the commence- ment of the present century. In the year 180S, the Great Western turnpike was extended westward from Cherry Valley to Brighton ; and between this place and Albany, a distance of sixty-eight miles, there were in 1810 seventy- two publie-houses, or inns, and these were nightly filled by emigrants on their way west, and also by the farmers of this regiou, as Albany was the chief market for their wheat and other farin produce.| Brighton was at one time a flourishing village, with four stores, one groeery, and two public-houses. The first post-office in town was establishe.l at this place in 1817, Jonathan Morgan postmaster. It remained at Brighton sixteen years, when it was removed to Monticello, or Richfield, where it still remains. Jons- than Morgan emigrated from Colchester. Connecticut. in 1816. He was a soldier of the Revolution. He received the appointment of justice of the peace in 1818, and hell the office ten years. He had three sons and three daugh- ters. His son, Nelson Morgan, was elected justice of the peace in 1846, and still holds the office. When the turn- pike was being opened through the forest, where the villase of Richfield Springs now stands, a man by the name of House was killed by the caving of the bank directly ut ?. .. site the residence of Mr. F. Bronner, on Main street. The site of the village at this time was covered by a dense
" This is the first record of the name of this township that { havo been able to tind. The origin of the name is uuknown to the writer.
1
+ It will be remembered that this was previous to the construction of the Erie canal, when this turnpike was the great line of emigri- lion west from the New England States.
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HISTORY OF OTSEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.
growth of gigantie pines and hemlocks. "So thickly set were the trees," says an old settler, "that it was almost impossible to pass between them in some places."
Prominent pioneers near the lake were the Derthicks, consisting of the father, Jolin Derthick, and mother, five sons and three daughters, who emigrated from the town of Colchester, Connecticut, in the spring of 1793, arriving in Richfield in June. The entire household goods of the family were transported in an ox-cart, drawn by a pair of oxen and a single horse. The party arrived in the after- noon, and eneamped on a slight eminence, the site of the house now owned and occupied by John Derthick, Jr., a grandson. On the following morning it was determined to begin a clearing on this spot, and to creet a log house, which was accordingly done, and the family moved in on the fourth day from the time of arrival. This house was occupied until 1808, when the present frame house was built, and the family resided in it until 1811, when the father died, and family dispersed, leaving John Derthick, afterwards known to many of our first inhabitants as Colonel Derthick, who resided on the farm until the spring of 1860, when he died at the age of seventy-six, leaving one son and two daughters. The farm is still in possession of the family. An ineident, showing the great depreciation in value of the Federal paper money of the Revolution, some three or four thousand dollars of which was- brought from Connecticut by the family, is, that seven hundred dollars of it was given for a pair of common flat or smoothing irons.
Conrad House, with his family, resided during the Rev- olution about one and a half miles east of the springs, on the " great western trail" from Albany. This trail did not pass over the ground uow oceupied by Richfield Springs, but kept straight through from the two little lakes to a plaee afterwards known as Federal Corners, near the Can- adarago, thenee deflecting from the southern trail across the lowlands at the head of the lake to Fish ereck, which it crossed, leaving the present site of the village on the north. Mr. House's eabin* stood at the junction of this trail with the turnpike afterwards built. During the Rev- olution, when the hostile bands of Indians were seouting the country south of the Mohawk, a party visited the cabin of House, who with his wife escaped to the woods, leaving in the hands of the savages a daughter of thirteen, who was earried off, and nothing was heard of her for several years, when she made her appearance, having eseaped from the Indians, bringing with her a daughter, the fruit of a dis- tasteful marriage with the Indian who had captured her. She had named the child Mary " Manton." Mary had inherited the more prominent features of the Indian, straight black hair, black eyes, and high check-bones. She was well known to the first settlers, and continued to make this section her home till 1812, when she disappeared. In the summer of 1795, Freedom Chamberlin and wife, two sons ail one daughter, removed from the town of Colchester, Connecticut, to Richfield, and for a time lived in a log house, which stood near the Lake House, but a short distance south of the house of John Derthick. This log house and its little surrounding conveniences was originally
built and occupied for a time by a Frenchman who had taken an Indian wife, and was one of several of his country- men who had adopted the same course. They were sup- posed to have passed from the Canadas through the great intervening forests, and settled on the banks of the Can- adarago, as a spot most suited to their desires. abounding with all the most valuable fur-bearing animals, which included the otter, the beaver, the stone-marten, and others previously mentioned. It was a spot but little frequented at the time by the whites, and for the hardy forester only three days' journey to the city of Albany by the great Indian trail, where was found a good market for their peltries, and where could be obtained every article necessary to a life in the wilderness. Mr. Cooper, in his " Pioneers," ntentions this settlement as a number of Frenchmen, who had married Indian women, and occupied a section of territory a little to the west of the Otsego lake. They had disappeared, however, a short time before the arrival of the permanent settlers mentioned. Mr. Chamberlin and his family continued to reside in this log house till the frame house now owned by the family of Hon. Alfred Chaniberlin. a grandson (lately deceased), was erceted, when the family took possession, and the cabin of the Frenchman was allowed to go to deeay. Among the numbers who came to this country from the valley of the Connectieut was an Indian, far past the meridian of life, named or was called Captain John, and his son known as Sam Brushell, but whose real name was " The Panther," lured to this then far-off region by rumors of a beautiful country of lakes, hills, and numerous streams teeming with fish and game of all descriptions. Their wigwam was located on the Tunni- eliff lands, near the head of the lake known as "Old Fields," and now owned by Harvey Layton.
Indian John was an " old scalper" and friend of the British during the Revolution. His time during his residence here was almost incessantly occupied in huuting and fishing, and the sharp click of his rifle could be heard almost daily, echoing through the mountain forests in this immediate vicinity.
His wigwam was well stored with a great variety of furs. and the game on which he principally subsisted. He was finally drowned in the Canadarago, by the upsetting of his bark canoe, near the island. His body was recovered. how- ever, and buried in the little hill nearly in front of the Lake House, but afterwards removed by students of Dr. J. L. Palmer ; which fact becoming suspected by the Indians liv- ing in Oneida, a large delegation made their appearance at the lake, and after a solemu smoke, prepared to open the grave of Captain John. At this moment Mr. Freedom Chamberlin appeared on the ground and forbade any in- terference with the grave, as it was located on his land. He well knew that had the Indians become certain that the body had been removed, their threats towards Dr. Palmer would certainly have been carried out. It was much won- dered at, at the time, that the Indians were indueel to re- spect the authority of Mr. Chamberlin, and leave the ground undisturbed.
Captain John was an old man when he died, and always deported himself in a quiet and orderly manner for ore whose carly years had been associated with the most fiendish
* This log enbin stood near the present residence of Martin Goes.
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HISTORY OF OTSEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.
acts of savage barbarity. Immediately after his death, his son, " The Panther," returned to the valley of the Connecti- cut, where he remained but a few years, when he returned to the grave of his father, and built a wigwam on the Cham- berlin farm, in the thicket of hemlocks and tall pines no- tieed as we pass from the springs to the Lake House, on the east side, and near the road where it first enters the wood. He made frequent visits to the Connecticut, and on one of his returns brought with him a small fish, dried and entire, which he exhibited to his friends, holding it ou the palin of his hand, and repeating, with an expression of good humor upon his countenance, the familiar homily " as flat as a flounder." The fish was a flounder, a salt-water fish, never seen in this section, and he took this way to illustrate the comparison " as flat as a flounder," and at the same time to allude to his original home near the sea.
The spot where the Panther's* cabin stood is still pointed ont, and is now in the same condition in which he left it. A large stone used by him as a sort of anvil, on which he beat out the black-ash splints used in making baskets and orna- ments, still stands where he placed it. The Panther was a trusty Indian, and his neighbors did not hesitate to let their children accompany him to his cabin, where they would be treated to a dish of capital chowder, and safely returned to their homes, the happy possessors of nice bows and arrows.
He took the liberty to cut any timber he wanted, no mat- ter where it stood, or whose land it was on, regarding it as his right, as a native of the forest, to appropriate its products to his own use. He had an idea that his property, no mat- .ter where he left it, was safe from intruders, and it is eer- tain no one ever meddled the second time with his personal effects, if he found it out. At one time he followed a party of two, who had taken his eanoe to the island, and imme- diately proceeded to manifest his indignation by beating then unmercifully with the paddle, and left them on the island to get off the best way they could. . On another oe- casiou Mr. Oleott Chamberlin, son of Freedom Chamberlin, took the Indian's boat to fish by torch-light. The torch is placed in the bow of the boat and elevated four or five feet above the water, and sustained by an iron jack or light-iron, which is filled with pieces of piteh-pine, and the fisherman stands near and facing the light, which is so strong as to reveal the smallest objeets in the water at the bottom to the depth of four or five feet. Mr. Chamberlin had arranged his tackle and was sailing quietly along a short distance frour land, when he was ordered by a gruff voice from the bank of the lake, " Come, shore my boat," a command not immediately heeded by the fisherman. A moment after, the pine sticks were scattered in a blazing shower about his head by a bullet from the rifle of the Indian, the report of which echoed far away over the waters of the lake. This argument was sufficient. Mr. Chamberlin immediately re- turned to the shore with the Indian's boat.
The Panther went on one of his accustomed visits to the Connectient about the year 1846, since which time nothing is known of him. He was no doubt a Mohegan, one of the family of Uncas, and in proof of this he showed the figure of the turtle tattooed upon his breast. It is well
known that this region witnessed its share of the fierce en- counters between the early settlers and hostile bands of sav- ages at the time of the Revolution, as it was in direct line from the Mohawk to the Upper Susquehanna.
One of these border fights was located by the earliest set- tlers on the northeast shore of Lake Canadarago. It was related that a small party of whites were journeying up the east side of the lake, and on nearing the " Indian burying- ground,"t near the Lake House, suddenly became aware that a party of hostile Indians occupied the landing at that place. The whites had succeeded in reaching the little brook which enters the lake at the landing, when they were fired upon from the opposite bank on the north. They imu- mediately sought cover behind the little tongue of highland that borders the ereck on the south, and the day was spent in exchanging occasional shots with the savages across the bed of the stream. At nightfall the firing ceased, and the whites were only aware of the retreat of the Indians when their camp-fire was discovered directly across the lake. The Indians had traveled around the head of the lake, and had incautiously built a camp-fire, so that it was immediately discovered. At an early hour the whites hurried down the lake, on the back track to the usual crossing-place on the Oaks creek, near where the road now crosses it, and con- cealed themselves in the bushes bordering the stream, rightly conjeeturiug that the Indians would pass down the west side of the lake, eross the ereek, and attempt to surprise them in the rear. They had waited but a short time in their ambush when the Indians made their appearance on the opposite side of the stream, and attempted to eross, but were inet by a volley which killed two outright and wounded several others, when the Indians fled, carrying their wounded with them. The whites secured their guns and other arms, and buried the bodies of the two savages by caving a por- tion of the steep bank of the creek upon them, when they proceeded on their journey to Fort Plain, on the Mohawk river.
An account of this fight was related by Thomas Van Horn, # one of the party. He was known as " Long Tom Van Horn," who held a captain's commission during the Revolution, and participated in the battle of Oriskany. Im- mediately after the close of the war he settled near the headwaters of the Otsquago ereek, in the town of Stark. Herkimer Co., now Van Horuville. In 1813 he removed to a farin on the hill, about one mile east of Canadarago lake, the farm recently owned by Mr. Philip Van Horn, where he died March 1, 1844, aged ninety-eight years.
Portions of the ridges and banks near the lake bear un- mistakable evidence of their oceupaney by the Indians to the present day. When the road leading from the springs and intersecting the old road, just below the Lake House. was built, the skeletons of two Indians were found while grading for the bridge near the Lake House. The bolics were inclosed in hemlock-bark, and with them were found two iron tomahawks; and when the path or gravel-walk
. The Panther had an Indian wife and daughter.
The elevated ridge or field nearly opposite the Lake House w.1. filled with Indian graves at the time of the earliest settlement of this region, and had doubtless been their burying-place for centuries. Many of the graves were marked by stones until recently.
# Grandfather of Philip Van Horn, of this village.
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HISTORY OF OTSEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.
bading from the Lake House to the shore of the lake was graded an entire skeleton was found, with a great variety of Indian beads and other ornaments. In a cultivated field near the head of the lake there was recently found a large quantity of flint arrow-heads-about one-fourth bushel-in a perfect state, concealed just below the surface of the ground. Also a stone pestle, once used by the Indians, to pulverize their corn. These are now in the possession of Mr. J. F. Getman, of this village.
On what is known as " Oak Ridge," on the west shore of the lake, one-half wile from the head, are several places where innumerable pieces of flint scales are scattered around, and flint arrow-heads entire, and others in process of form- ing, but broken by an unlucky blow of the manufacturer, are often picked up by the careful observer. And consid- erable quantities of mussel-shells, far above high-water mark, seem to indicate the location of a wigwam and the probable use for food of these shell-fish, with which the lake abounds.
The high ground on the east side of Oaks creek, near the bridge that now crosses it, was once an Indian " bury- ing-ground." When the road at this point was graded, abont 1810, a number of Indian skeletons were unearthed, and over their faces flat stones were found, pierced with holes corresponding with the position of the eyes ; and over these holes was placed a transpareut substance resembling mica, through which the dead were supposed to see their way through the mythical hunting-grounds of the spirit world.
The first wedding in this town-that of Ebenezer Russell and Miss More, in 1795-is thus described by the late Levi Beardsley in his " Reminiscences": "The marriage was at my father's in the log house. I do not remember how the parties were dressed, but no doubt in their best geur. Judge Cooper, of Cooperstown (father of the cele- brated novelist, J. Fenimore Cooper), was sent for, being the nearest magistrate, and came eighteen miles, principally through the woods, to perform the ceremony.
" The neighbors were invited. The old pine table was in the middle of the room, on which I recollect was placed a large wooden bowl filled with fried cakes (nut cakes or doughnuts, as the country people call them). There might have been something else to constitute the marriage feast, but I do not recollect anything except a black junk-bottle filled with rum, some maple sugar, and water. The judge was in his long riding-boots, covered with mud up to his knees. ITis horse was fed, that he might be off when the ceremony was over. The parties presented themselves, and were soon made man and wife, as his ' honor' officially announced. ITe then gave the bride a good hearty kiss, or rather smack, remarking that he always claimed that as his fee; took a drink of rum, drank health, prosperity, and long life to those married. ate a cake or two, declined stay- ing even for supper, said he must be on his way home, and should go to the foot of the lake that night, refused any . other fee for his services, mounted his horse, and was off; and thus was the first marriage celebrated. The few other guests who were in attendance remained and partook of as good a meal as the house could afford."
The first death was that of Mrs. Russell mentioned above.
MONTICELLO.
The little village of Monticello is located three miles west of Richfield Springs, on the old Skaneateles turnpike. It contains a population of 140. The business is represented by three stores, one hotel, three wagon-shops, two black- smith-shops, and one cheese-factory. The surface of this portion of the township is broken or hilly; the land is fertile,.and particularly adapted to grazing. Cheese is the great staple. During the past year (1877) 146,746 pounds were sold from the factory owned by Hiram C. Brockway. Large quantities of hops are also raised.
Among the most prominent of the early settlers were Darius Carey, Willard Eddy, Obadiah Beardsley, John Woodbury, Seth Allen, Joseph Allen, Elijah Martin, Samuel Colwell, Amasa Firman, and Abner Ames.
Jolin Woodbury lived to an advanced age, occupying until his death the farm upou which he first settled, now owned by his son, Daniel H. Woodbury.
In 1787, Seth Allen, Joseph Allen, and Elijah Martin took up a large tract of land in the vicinity of the Heyder creek, a part of which now comprises the farms of Willis Perkins and Lydia Allen. Elijah Martin felled the first tree ever eut on this tract of land. West of the land, in this vicinity, was then owned by the Banyers, of Albany, and could be purchased at the government price of $1.25 per acre. One of the descendants of Elijah Martin, Mrs. Collins Loomis, is still living in this village. Joseph Allen has numerous descendants, some occupying the old farm at the present time. Willard Eddy lived to be ninety-six years of age. Mrs. Elizabeth Beardsley, a daughter of Mr. Eddy, is still living, and is in her eighty-fifth year. Samuel Colwell settled upon the farm now owned by his son, James Colwell, in 1792, where he continued to reside until his death, which occurred twenty years since. Amasa Fimuan, Abner Ames, and Elisha Andrus have sons still living in town, all of whom have passed the allotted age of threescore and ten years.
A town library was established at an carly period; the exact date I am unable to learn. But Levi Beardsley, iu his " Reminiscenees of Otsego," speaks of its existence long before 1810. This library now contains about 900 vohunes. There is also a circulating library containing 150 volumes.
The Otsego Herald was the first paper taken in town, and was the only paper for many years that the inhabitants had an opportunity of reading.
The first store was opened by Whitman Raudall, and stood near the old cemetery in the western part of the village. A few rods east of this old store a house is still standing which was formerly owned by Jedediah P. Sill, and used by him for a gun-shop. A button-factory was also in this settlement.
The first school-house was built in 1803. It was located where the hotel now stands. At present there are one public and two private schools. Jacob Brewster kept the first hotel (or tavern), in 1799. Mrs. Ezra Carey is one of his descendants. The second hotel was built by Benjamin Rathbun, in 1816. A. A. Jacobson is the present pro- prietor. The first physician was Dr. Howes, who located here in 1814. In 1816, Dr. Horace Manley, who is still living at Richfield Springs, became associated with him in
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HISTORY OF OTSEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.
the practice of medicine. Dr. Horace Snyder is the present physician.
In 1815 there was quite a cluster of houses, and the people desired not only a habitation, but a name for this little hamlet. A meeting was called, a ballot-box used, and one was to deposit a nanie to suit his fancy ; and the first name drawn was to be the name of the village. Joseph Beardsley, a son of Obadiah Beardsley, threw in the name " Monticello." As this was the first drawn, it became the name. Mr. Beardsley being a stanch Democrat of the Jeffersonian order may account for his selection.
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