History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler counties, New York, Part 150

Author: Peirce, H. B. (Henry B.) cn; Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Ensign
Number of Pages: 1112

USA > New York > Chemung County > History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler counties, New York > Part 150
USA > New York > Schuyler County > History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler counties, New York > Part 150
USA > New York > Tioga County > History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler counties, New York > Part 150
USA > New York > Tompkins County > History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler counties, New York > Part 150

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Mr. Elmore has always been a strong advocate of the cause of temperance, and in 1878 was elected excise com-

( PHOTOS BY J. E. HALE )

Halina, Elmoro Daniel, Elmor

LITH BY L H. EVERTS, PHILADA.

RESIDENCE OF D ELMORE, TRUMANSBURG, ULYSSES , NEW YORK.

551

AND SCHUYLER COUNTIES, NEW YORK.

missioner by a large majority. He reared ten children (five now deceased) to an adult age.

One son entered the war of the Rebellion as a drummer- boy, at Pea Ridge, March 6, 1862. He won the respect of his eomrades by throwing off his drum, taking his gun, and running three miles to join his company in skirmish line. He was wounded at Chickamauga, Sept. 19, 1863 ; was eonfined in Libby prison, and paroled Oet. 28, 1863; was exchanged and joined the same regiment (36th Illinois) in Tennessee, April 28, 1864. He was promoted to 2d ser- geant, and was killed in battle at Franklin, Tenn., Nov. 30, 1864. Two sons are in British Columbia, engaged in the fur trade. Three daughters are married. Mr. Ehmore's has been a busy and interesting life, and, to quote his own words, he now lives with a " cheerful hope, awaiting the call of the Master to come up higher."

HENRY RUDY.

John Rudy, the father of the subject of this sketeh, was born in Bucks Co., Pa., Feb. 2, 1774, and settled on a farm of fifty aeres, near what is now Trumansburg, in 1800, where he lived until his death, which occurred Jan. 14, 1833. Luey, his wife, was born in the town of Ulysses, Tompkins Co., N. Y., April 27, 1784, and died March 9, 1843.

Henry Rudy, the eldest son, was born on his father's farm, Jan. 31, 1803. He attended a country school during winters, and assisted his father on the farm in summer. On Dee. 27, 1824, he married Miss Ellen Owen. She was the daughter of Nathaniel Owen and Mahitabel Tucker, his wife, and was born near Meeklenburg, Schuyler Co., April 4, 1805. Her father was a native of Orange Co., N. Y., and her mother of Long Island, N. Y.

After his marriage Mr. Rudy went to housekeeping in a log house having only one room, the floor of which was fastened down with wooden pins. He first worked his father's farm on shares, but at the end of three years he purchased a farm joining that of his father. By hard toil and perseverance he has transformed it from a rough clearing to what it now is, with its fine improvements. He exer- eised close economy, and has been eminently successful iu providing himself and family with a pleasant home. While devoting little time to polities, he never failed after reaching his majority to vote with the Whigs, until at the formation of the Republican party he gave that organization his hearty support. He has lived fifty-one years on the farm, and Dee. 26, 1874, celebrated his golden wedding, and on that occasion he and his worthy wife were recipients of many valuable gifts.

He has been a member of the Baptist Church at Tru-

mansburg some forty years, and has often held the position of trustee.

Mr. Rudy had two brothers (one now living) and six sisters, two of whom are deceased. His family consisted of nine children. Five sons and three daughters are now living.

S. M. PADDOCK.

About the year 1680, three brothers of the name of Pad- dock eame from South Wales, and settled in Massachusetts, from one of whom the subject of this notice is deseended. His grandfather was born near Boston, Mass., and served in the Revolutionary war under General Arnold. He was present at the capture of Burgoyne, and at the siege of Yorktown and surrender of Cornwallis. His paternal grandmother was born at Lexington, Mass. ; her father and two of her uneles were in the battle of Lexington, and she herself was near enough to hear the guns ou that memorable day.

Ephraim Paddock, the father of our subjeet, was a lineal descendant of Governor Bradford, of Massachusetts, and was born near Boston ; he came to Tompkins County in 1810, and removed to the town of Enfield in 1816. He married a Miss Manderville, who was born at Cornwall, Orange Co., N. Y., in a house built before the French and Indian war, and in which three generations of her family were born. Her father and four of her uncles were soldiers in the Revolution, one of whom, Stephen Clark, died as a prisoner of war to the British in 1777.

S. M. Paddock was born in Enfield, Tompkins Co., N. Y., August 1, 1820. He was the fourth child in a family of five children,-three sons and two daughters,-who all at- tained to manhood and womanhood. He was brought up on a farm ; for a period of fourteen years he was engaged in the buying of cattle, sheep, ete., after which he resumed farming, purchasing the Pine Ridge farm, in 1864. That farm has been his home, and agricultural pursuits have en- gaged his efforts, ever sinee. Ile married Mary Ann Potts, daughter of James and Margaret Potts. IFer father emi- grated from Ireland with his father and mother and a family of nine children, and in 1803 purchased a farm of six hun- dred and forty acres in the town of Hector, which was henee- forth the permanent home of the family. Her mother eame from Preston Pans, in Scotland, with her parents (Alex- ander and Ann Bower), who emigrated in 1804, and settled in Ulysses, Tompkins Co., N. Y. They were identified with the early history of the county. James Potts and Margaret Bower were married in Ulysses, in 1819, but made their permanent home in Hector. Mrs. S. M. Pad- dock (Mary A. Potts) was born in Heetor, Aug. 1, 1821, and resided with her parents in that place until her mar- riage.

SCHUYLER COUNTY.

CHAPTER LXXV.

EARLY SETTLEMENT AND ORGANIZATION OF SCHUYLER COUNTY.

First Settlements-Organization of Towns-First County Officials- The First County Court-The First Circuit Court-First Surro- gate's Court-First Grand Jury-Number of Indictments-First Board of Supervisors.

THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS.

LESS than one brief century ago, but a faint wave of civilization had broken upon the primeval forest embraced within the present territorial limits of Schuyler County. Only was heard the fierce howl of the wolf and the savage sa-sa-quan of the Indian warrior. The cireling smoke arose from many an Indian wigwam ; the hunter bounded through the forest after the deer and moose ; beavers, otters, and martens were in abundance; the salmon smoked at every camp-fire; the waters of the blue Seneca were parted by the birchen eanoe, and the dripping oar of the Indian glis- tened in the sunlight. Here was the red man in all his glory. This was a portion of the Indian Eden, and as far as his unsophisticated vision extended, destined to remain.

The causes which led to the invasion of General Sulli- van, and an account of that memorable campaign, as con- neeted with this county, will be found in the general history (Chapter III.).

Sufficient to say that the penalty inflicted upon the Cayugas and Senecas by Sullivan was severe, but served well the purpose for which it was intended. It ended the border wars, and the Indians never again attempted a re- occupation of the country. They returned only as erratic bands to attend treaties.

The smoke from the burning villages that marked Sulli- van's course of devastation and ruin had searcely cleared away ere the white settler might have been seen thread- ing his way into the wilderness, anxious to rear his home in the fertile land of the Senecas.

The first settlements within the limits of the present town of Catharine were made in and around the villages of Cath- arine and Odessa. To John Mitchell is ascribed the honor of being the pioneer in this town, in 1799. He was soon followed by Josiah Hinman, from Connecticut, who located on lot 17 in the same year. David Beardsley and Isaac Lyon were also pioneers.

The pioneer of the town of Cayuta was Captain Gabriel Ogden, who located near the present site of Cayuta village in 1798, on the premises now owned by Chas. R. Swartwood. Rev. Daniel Jaynes also settled in 1798.

The first settlements in the town of Dix were made on the present site of the village of Watkins, and along Cath- arine's Creek. Among the pioneers were John Diven and

William Baskin, who located, in 1797 or '98, on the county- line road. The latter settled on the premises known as the Alex. Ross place, and the latter on lands still in the posses- sion of the Diven family.

The name of the first white settler in Heetor is unknown. It is stated that in the year 1790 a man came into the town with his wife and child, and built a log hut near the present village of Burdett. He, however, remained but a short time. The first permanent white settler within the bounds of this town was William Wickham, from Orange County, who settled in 1790. John Livingston was also a pioneer.

The first settlement in the town of Montour was effected within the present corporate limits of the village of Havana, in 1788, by Silas Woleott and a Mr. Wilson. One George Mills had previously passed through the town, but not located until 1790.

The pioneers in Orange were Germans, who located while the town was known as Wayne. These were Henry Switzer and his sons, Henry, Jr., John, William, Jacob, and Peter, and his sons-in-law, Abram Basonnbarack, Samuel S. Komp, and Franeis Yager. This colony of pioneers came from Huntingdon Co., N. J., in 1802, and settled in the locality known as Switzer's Hill.

Among the first settlers in Reading was John Dow, who located in 1798. Two years afterwards, 1800, David Culver settled in the locality known as "Culver's Settlement." Other pioneers were William Roberts, Valentine Hitchcock, John French, and Samuel Gustin.

The first settlement in Tyrone was made in 1798 by Joshua and Elisha Wixon, who located on the flat near the inlet of Lake Lomoka. They, however, remained but a short time in consequence of their title being defective. The permanent settlers located in 1800. These were Ger- sham, Justus, and Thadeus Bennett, brothers, and Abram and Justus, Jr., sons of Justus, who settled between the two lakes, on the site of the village of Weston. They were the first to make any improvements and cultivate farms. (For detailed history of early settlements, see town histories.)

CIVIL ORGANIZATION.

The territory composing the present county of Schuyler has been included in various county organizations, though the county itself is of recent date. Several attempts at a separate organization were made from the year 1830 before it was finally accomplished in 1854. Notwithstanding the late growth of the county, its constituent towns have been civilly and judieially organized from the earliest periods of the civil history of Western New York. Ontario, the first county erected in the Indian Territory west of the line of property organized in 1789, included a part. Tioga, the next born, in 1791, took all but Orange and Tyrone into

552

EAGLE'S NEST FALLS HAVANA GLEN

BRIDAL VEIL HAVANA GLEN

CAVERN CASCADE WATKINS GLEN

RAINBOW FALLS WATKIN'S GLEN

ARTIST DREAM WATKINS GLEN

SENECA LAKE

VIEW OF SENECA LAKE SCHUYLER COUNTY SCENERY.

A J. RICKER DEL

553

TIOGA, CHEMUNG, TOMPKINS, AND SCHUYLER COUNTIES, NEW YORK.

its princely boundaries .* Onondaga, formed of the " Mili- tary Traet" in 1794, took grand old Hector, still unshorn of its generous proportions. Steuben, in 1796, took in three towns. Cayuga, Seneca, and Tompkins, in succes- sion, reckoned Heetor as their portion, and Chemung for eighteen years was bounded north by blue Seneca. Ontario County was originally erected to include all of the State west of the pre-emption line, the old pre-emption, so called, then running along the present eastern line of Tyrone. The new line, run by Morris in 1798 or later, runs along the eastern border of Orange. In the act of 1791, erect- ing the county of Tioga, the gore west of Seneca Lake was transferred to Ontario County. On April 10, 1792, the town of Peru was organized, and included all of the territory between the Owaseo and Seneca Lakes comprising Hector. On March 5, 1794, the town of Ovid was formed. March 17, 1796, the town of Frederickstown was erceted as a town of Steuben County, embracing the present towns of Orange, Tyrone, and Reading, in Schuyler; Starkey and Barrington, in Yates; Wayne and Bradford, in Steuben. At this time the territory of Schuyler was included in the towns of Frederickstown, Steuben County, Ovid, Onon- daga County, containing Heetor, Newtown, Tioga County, containing Dix, Montour, and part of Catharine as far east as the present west line of Cayuta extended, Chemung con- taining the gore between this line and Cayuta Creek, and Owego all cast of the ereek.

March 15, 1798, Newtown was divided on the line of Veteran and Catlin, and the north part called Catharine. In 1799 Onondaga County was divided, the west part being erected into a new county called Cayuga. March 30, 1802, the military township No. 21 was crected into a new town and called Hector, the name given the township by the Land Commissioner. March 29, 1804, Seneca County was formed from that part of Cayuga County lying west of Cayuga Lake. Feb. 17, 1806, Frederickstown was divided, and the portion east of the pre-emption line, and north of an extension of the military, creeted into a town called Reading, which then included Starkey, Yates Co. Feb. 28, 1806, Owego was divided, and and the west part, in- cluding Catharine, ealled Spencer. On April 16, 1808, the name of Frederickstown was changed to Wayne, and then the territory of Schuyler was embraced in the towns of Reading and Wayne, of Steuben County ; Catharine, Spen- cer, and Chemung, in Tioga County ; and Hector, in Seneca County. On Feb. 22, 1811, Cayuta was taken from the north part of Spencer, and ineluded exactly the old town of Newfield, and extended west from the present Newfield to the line of Catharine at Cayuta Creek. Feb. 12, 1813, the town of Jersey was erected out of the south portion of Wayne, and ineluded the present towns of Orange and Bradford. April 17, 1817, Tompkins County was formed from the south part of Cayuga and Sencea Counties. Danby, Caroline, and Newfield, formerly Cayuta, were added from Tioga, March 22, 1822, and Hector and that part of Cath- arine east of Cayuta were in Tompkins County. March 29, 1822, Erin was formed from the north part of Chemung, and included Cayuta. April 16, 1822, Tyrone was organ-

ized from Wayne. March, 1823, Catharine was divided, and Catlin was erected from its western portion, including Dix and the present town of Catlin. March 20, 1824, a new town of Cayuta was taken from Spencer, and embraced those portions of Van Etten and Cayuta cast of Cayuta Creek, except the north part of the latter, which was taken from Newfield. At the same time Starkey was formed from the north part of Reading. April 17, 1835, Dix was organized from the north part of Catlin. Feb. 20, 1836, Jersey was divided into two towns, losing its own identity in that of Orange and Bradford. Feb. 29, 1836, Chemung County was erected, taking into its jurisdiction all that part o Schuyler lying south of the lake, which had been in Tioga County since 1794.

The proposition in 1854 to form a new county out of portions of Chemung, Tompkins, and Steuben, met with much disfavor from the counties interested, and remon- stranees went up to the Legislature protesting against the dismemberment of their territory from every one of the three counties. Particularly excited was Chemung, whose territory was chiefly to suffer, and the opposition from that county was fierce and persistent. A counter-move was made in Steuben for the division of that county, and the formation of a new one called Canisteo, and the Steuben Courier gave a seathing criticism of the Schuyler bill. Nothwithstanding the opposition of every member of the Assembly from the counties interested, all amendments were voted down in that body and the bill passed as origin- ally drawn, excepting, perhaps, the name, which was originally proposed to be called Webster; others wanted it called Montour, but all were finally dropped for Schuyler. The bill passed the Assembly by a vote of 84 to 8, and the Senate by 22 to 4. The act was passed April 17, 1854, and defined the boundaries of the new county as follows :

" All that part of the town of Bradford, in the county of Steuben, lying east of the section line, and being the west line of lots Nos. 31, 35, 40, 1, 2, 3, and 4," to be annexed to and form a part of Orange. " All that part of the town of Wayne, in the county of Steuben, lying east of the see- tion line, and being the east line of a tier of lots No. 1 respectively, and running across the town of Wayne," was attached to Tyrone. " All those parts of the towns of Erin and Catharine, in the county of Chemung, embracing the following territory : beginning in the centre of Cayuta Creek, in the southeast line of lot No. 29; thenec along the south line of said lot 29 to the southeast corner thereof; thenee along the northwest line of lots 29, 30, and 31, to the southeast corner of lot No. 1; thence west along the south line of lots 1, 2, and 3 to the southwest corner of said lot 3; thenee north along the west line of lot 3 to the seetion line ; thenee west along the section line to the town of Veteran ; thienee north along the town line of Veteran, and the west line of lots Nos. 80, 86, 87, and SS in Catha- rine to the seetion line ; thence east along the north line of lots Nos. 88, 1, 50, and 51 to the town line of Newfield ; thenee south along the town line between Newfield and Catharine to the town line of Cayuta," was made a part of Cayuta; all those parts of the counties of Steuben, Che- mung, and Tompkins which, after the aet took effect, were embraced within the towns of Orange, Tyrone, Reading,

# See Chapter VIII.

554

HISTORY OF TIOGA, CHEMUNG, TOMPKINS,

Catharine, Dix, Cayuta, and Hector, were (for all purposes except the election of members of the Legislature and justices of the Suprcine Court, and for the holding and jurisdiction of Supreme and Circuit Courts, and Courts of Oyer and Terminer, until the State census of 1855, and after that for all purposes whatever), organized as a separate and distinct county of the State of New York, to be known and distinguished by the name of Schuyler ; the inhabitants and freeholders of the same to be possessed of the same rights, privileges, and powers as the freeholders and inhabi- tants of any other county had by law.

Until after the next State census the electors of the new county were to vote for members of the Legislature and justices of the Supreme Court as electors of the respective counties to which they had theretofore belonged, the same as if the act had not passed ; but for all other purposes they were to vote as electors of the new county, which was made a part of the 27th Congressional district. Such records in the counties from which Schuyler was formed as pertained to or concerned the new county were to be transcribed, and John Crawford, of Dix, Thomas Shannon, of Orange, and Daniel Tuttle, of Reading, were appointed transcribing com- missioners, with power to buy books and stationery. The copied and transcribed records, properly certified, werc de- clared to have the force and effect of the original records as evidence. The county officers were to be elected at the next general election after the act became a law, and to hold their terms, as then reckoned, from the first day of January following. The rights of parties litigant were saved in the several courts of the respective counties from which the new county was taken. The county courts and general sessions of the peace, and also the circuit courts and of oyer and termi- ner and general jail delivery, were directed to be held at the court-house to be thereafter erected in the county in pur- suance of the act, and until then the said courts, if any, were to be held at such place in the county as the Board of Supervisors thereof, or a majority of them, should appoint in writing under their hands, which appointment was to be entered on the minutes of the board at least thirty days before the holding of the court, the appointment to be pub- lished in all the newspapers printed in the county. The prisoners of the county were to be confined in the Chemung County jail until the jail of the new county was erected and completed. The United States deposit funds loaned on Schuyler County lands were ordered transferred to new loan commissioners, to be appointed for the county. The names of locating commissioners and building commission- ers are named in the succeeding chapter. For all judicial purposes, so far as related to surrogates' courts, county courts, and courts of general sessions of the peace, and the jurisdiction and duties of county judge and surrogate, jus- tices of the sessions, county clerks, sheriffs, and coroners, and the service and enforcement of judicial process, the act was not to take effect until Jan. 1, 1855; but for all other purposes, except the electoral provision, it was to take effect on its passage.

The opposition to the new county did not cease with the passage of the bill, and embarrassments and difficulties hedged the way of the infant as it struggled upward from its swathings to the diminutive drapings of childhood. In

Steuben the clerk was advised to refuse admission to his office for transcribing the records. The unconstitutionality of the organic act was freely discussed and loudly asserted on the score of an insufficiency of population to give the new county an assemblyman under the apportionment. The representation of the population was claimed to be false, and in a suit for a violation of the excise law in Tyrone, brought before the county court of Steuben County, Judge Larrowe decided the act to be unconstitutional. This was appealed to the Supreme Court, and the question argued at Rochester before Justices Johnson, Strong, and Welles, in September, 1854, who reversed Judge Larrowe's decision on the ground that no matter how false the evi- dence was before the Legislature, in regard to the popula- tion of the territory, if the Legislature believed the testi- mony was true, then they had an undoubted right to create a new county out of that territory, and a county it must be held until the act was repealed. The same question of constitutionality was raised incidentally before Judge Gray, at Elmira, and he decided adversely to the act. In the case of the People vs. Rumsey, the question came before the Court of Appeals, where it was argued by Nicholas Hill, of the firm of Hill, Cagger & Porter, the court affirm- ing the constitutionality of the organic act, which closed the contest for a legal existence.

A somewhat humorous picture was drawn by Judge Rood of the reception of the county by the Court of Appeals in one of his many arguments before legislative committees on the county-seat question, which, as will be seen in the suc- ceeding chapter, was a much more bitterly-contested fight than even the existence of the county. He was replying to some of the positions of the parties in the Havana interest, and described the county of Schuyler as a " bastard bant- ling," illegitimate, begot in iniquity, and born in shame. It had a bad name-a very bad name, but still it lived, and had begun to clamor for its rights. It came to the Court of Appeals, and the grave and reverend justices peered at it askance over their gold-rimmed spectacles, and said, " What is that ?" "Schuyler County," pipes the youngling, in a thin soprano. "Schuyler County! There is no Schuyler County ; show us a map of the State of New York, and we will show you there is no Schuyler County." "But," persists the bantling, " there is a Schuyler County, and I am it. The territory is down by the head of Seneca Lake. I have paid taxes levied on my lands for the State. I have drawn school-money from the school-fund and distributed it to my towns. I have clected one of the members of the Assem- bly, and am a constituency of the State. I have elected a Senator and a Congressman. What are you going to do with me?" "Let's strangle the brat," suggests one of the judges. " No, that won't do; the brat has told the truth. She has interwoven herself into our body politic so deeply and so intricately, it won't do to strangle her." And so they counseled and cogitated, and eyed the persistent entity peering at them behind the bar, undashed and impudent. At last a bright thought suggested itself to one member of the court, and he said, "No, we can't strangle it, but we can adopt it." And the knot was cut, and Schuyler County was declared legitimate without law or gospel.

Judge Robinson, a member of the court at the time, was

555

AND SCHUYLER COUNTIES, NEW YORK.

sitting in the committee-room during the judge's argument, but was unknown to Judge Rood, and when he finished the picture Judge Robinson caught the delineator by the hand, and said, " You could not have told a more truthful story of the reception of that county question if you had been one of the judges on the bench. It was just about the way we felt over the thing, and the very point taken into account in the decision was the accrued rights and franchises."

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler counties, New York, Part 150

Author: Peirce, H. B. (Henry B.) cn; Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Ensign Number of Pages: 1112

Author: Peirce, H. B. (Henry B.) cn; Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Ensign
Number of Pages: 1112