Landmarks of Oswego County, New York, Part 69

Author: Churchill, John Charles, 1821-1905; Smith, H. P. (Henry Perry), 1839-1925; Child, W. Stanley
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason
Number of Pages: 1410


USA > New York > Oswego County > Landmarks of Oswego County, New York > Part 69


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).


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LANDMARKS OF OSWEGO COUNTY.


$6,000 to remove obstructions from Salmon River and Mad River for the same purpose, and appointed Washington T. Henderson commis- sioner to supervise the work. In 1888 the project of taking water from this stream to supply the city of Syracuse was seriously contemplated, but was finally abandoned.


Almost contemporaneous with the first settlement of this town, which occurred at the mouth of Salmon River in 1801, was the opening of passable roads, but they were not worked to any great extent prior to 1808. The first road was opened to the outlet of Salmon River about that year and most of the highways were surveyed between 1820 and 1825. In 1823 there were sixty-two road districts in the town; the present number is eighty-seven.


August 14, 1847, the Salmon River Plank Road Company was organized with the following directors: Frey Lane, president ; A. Z. McCarty, secretary ; Ira Doane, J. B. Smith, J. A. McChesney, George W. Stillwell, and S. A. Comstock. The road was finished in 1848 and ran from the mouth of the Salmon River through the towns of Richland and Albion to Williamstown, seventeen miles, where it intersected the plank road between Rome and Oswego. In 1850 the Rome and Water- town Railroad, a branch of what is now the R., W. & O. Railroad, was built through Richland Station, and in May, 1851, trains were running to Watertown. As late as 1857 a line of daily stages was operated from Pulaski to Oswego; from Pulaski to Syracuse; and from Rich- land Station to Oswego; the latter route being established in Janu- ary, 1852, by Peck & Crandall. In the fall of 1865 the railroad between Richland Station and Oswego was completed, giving Pulaski a station. In the autumn of 1871 the Syracuse Northern Railroad began opera- tions. At a later date one of the depots at Pulaski was abandoned, the track through the village to Lacona was taken up, and a junction with a single station established, leaving one track to Richland, where it in - tersects the road from Rome. In 1872 the project of constructing a railroad from Boonville to Port Ontario was agitated and a company was organized, but it was abandoned. All of these improvements have had a marked influence upon the development of the town.


The construction of bridges was given early attention. April 6, 1825, the supervisors of Richland and Sandy Creek were empowered to levy


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THE TOWN OF RICHLAND.


a tax of $850, to build a bridge over Salmon River in Pulaski, and over Sandy Creek " where the Salina road crosses it." At Port Ontario a toll bridge was early erected across Salmon River, and April 28, 1869 the town was authorized to purchase it and thereafter to maintain it free of toll. One of the finest bridges in the town is the iron structure over the river in Pulaski, the contract for which was let in May, 1888, under the direction of John M. Williams, commissioner. It is 330 feet long, cost $8,835, and occupies the site of a former bridge.


The first town meeting in Richland was held at the house of Ephraim Brewster, east of Pulaski village, in the spring of 1807, and the follow- ing officers were chosen :


Joseph Hurd, supervisor ; William Hale, town clerk; George Harding, John Meacham, and Joseph Chase, assessors; Isaac Meacham and Gershom Hale, overseers of the poor ; Simon Meacham, Elias Howe, and Jonathan Rhodes, highway commissioners; Elias Howe, collector for townships 6, 10, and 11 (Sandy Creek, Orwell, Boylston, and the north part of Richland) ; Pliny Jones, collector for townships 21 and 22 (Albion and the south part of Richland) ; Elias Howe, Justus St. John, and Pliny Jones, constables ; Asahel Hurd, Joseph Chase, and Gershom Hale, fence-viewers; George Harding, poundmaster ; Nathan W. Noyes, William Robinson, Timothy Balch, Elias Howe, Ger- shom Hale, Ephraim Brewster, Jonathan Rhodes, Timothy Kellogg, and Isaac Lehigh, pathmasters.


The successive supervisors of the town have been as follows :


Joseph Hurd, 1807-8 ; John C. Pride, 1809-16; Simon Meacham, 1817-9; John C. Pride, 1820-1; Simon Meacham, 1822; John C. Pride, 1823 ; Simon Meacham, 1824-5 ; 1 John C. Pride, 1825-6; Thomas C. Baker, 1827; Robert Gillespie, 1828-9; Isaac Stearns, 1830; Robert Gillespie, 1831-3; Isaac Stearns, 1834; L. D. Mansfield, 1835; Isaac Stearns, 1836; Robert Gillespie, 1837-8; M. W. Mathews, 1839-41; Bradley Higgins, 1842-3; Dr. H. F. Noyes, 1844 ; A. Crandall, 1845-6; Casper C. West, 1847 ; E. M. Hill, 1848-51; Dr. H. F. Noyes, 1852; N. W. Wardwell, 1853 ; S. H. Meacham, 1854 ; James A. Clark, 1855-6; John T. McCarty, 1857-8 ; James A. Clark, 1859-60 ; Isaac Fellows, 1861-2; Sewell T. Gates, 1863-5; William H. Gray, 1866; G. T. Peck- ham, 1867-9 ; Dr. James N. Betts, 1870; Henry H. Lyman, 1871-2; William B. Dixon, 1873-8; Robert L. Ingersoll, 1879; Dr. James N. Betts, 1880; Lawson R. Muzzy, 1881-2; Thomas R. Ingersoll, 1883; Richard W. Box, 1884-5; Lawson R. Muzzy, 1886-7; Isaac J. Rich, 1888-91; Richard W. Box, 1892-3; Isaac J. Rich, 1894-5.


The town officers for 1894-95 were as follows :


1 The organization of Sandy Creek in 1825 left Richland without a supervisor or town clerk, as those officers (Simon Meacham and E. C. Hart) both resided within the limits of the new town; therefore, John C. Pride and Milton Harmon were appointed to fill the respective positions, and were duly elected at the town meeting held a few weeks afterward.


1


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LANDMARKS OF OSWEGO COUNTY


Isaac J. Rich, supervisor ; Thomas S. Meacham, town clerk; Isaac J. Rich, Burns E. Parkhurst, Latham D. Potter, James C. Knight, and William E. Nelson, justices of the peace ; Jolin W. Rima, collector ; John Calkins, Edward E. Forman and John Nichol- son, assessors ; William M. Woods, highway commissioner; George W. Pond, overseer of the poor, Wilfred I. Lane, Albert White and Wells De Graw, excise commissioners. Thomas S. Meacham has been town clerk since 1881, succeeding his father, Daniel B., who held the office almost twenty-one years. Five justices of the peace have been elected in Richland annually since 1872; prior to that only four were chosen.


Settlement was commenced in the present town of Richland by Nathan Tuttle and Nathan Wilcox, who came from Canada and located at the mouth of Salmon River in 1801. The same year Benjamin Winch also settled near the outlet, and Albert Bohannan at the mouth of Snake Creek. Mr. Winch soon removed to the site of Pulaski vil- lage, where he opened the first tavern in town about 1806. Being a surveyor he aided in surveying the original Richland, and in various ways was a useful and influential citizen. The first death was that of a child of Nathan Tuttle.


Reliable data of the early settlers in this town are, in many instances, lacking. It is quite probable that many of the pioneers hereafter men- tioned came in 1802 or 1803, but if so it is now impossible to determine the fact. We subjoin first, however, the names of those the exact date of whose settlement has been ascertained.


In 1804 Thomas Jones came from Bridgewater, N. Y., and located on Salmon River near Lake Ontario. He had five sons and three daugh- ters, the sons being Pliny, Israel, Horace, Chauncey and Lyman. They settled at what was long known as "Jones Corners" and opened the roads intersecting there. Pliny Jones kept a public house upward of fifty years, and also built the first frame barn in town, which is now owned by J. S. Farmer. He was the father of Pliny H Jones and of. Mrs. Cornelia Ledyard (who died in 1894), and held one or two local offices. Israel Jones erected the first saw mill in Richland, The first wedding in the town was that of Joseph Spaids and Clara Jones, the grandparents of Dr. F. J. Bradner, of Pulaski. Spaids was obliged to go by boat to Oswego for a magistrate to perform the ceremony.1


1 French's State Gazetteer, a generally reliable work, states that the first marriage in Rich- land was that of Samuel Crippen and Ruth Tuttle (probably a daughter of Nathan Tuttle, one of the first two settlers) in 1804, but an old resident of the town who has given attention to local annals gives the honor to Joseph Spaids and Clara Jones.


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THE TOWN OF RICHLAND.


Benjamin Bull and John B. Ingersoll also became settlers in 1804. The first birth was that of Benjamin Ingersoll August 28, 1804. In the next year Jacob Ellis, a trapper, was the first to locate at Brown's landing, a place on Salmon River that received its name from the pio- neer, Sylvester Brown. Joel Ellis, a brother of Jacob, came to the town soon after. Jouathan Hooker was an early comer to this vicinity and for many years owned the principal part of its shipping. He was long a justice of the peace and a man of influence and ability.


Among other early settlers was William Smith, a farmer and fisher- man, who located on the Ansel Brown farm. While fishing and boat- ing were of paramount importance Capt. John Vorce came into the town. He was a lake captain and settled on the farm now occupied by 'the widow of Edmund Brown, who was born in Richland and died here in March, 1892. Daniel Brown was the first settler on the place now owned by his son-in law's widow, Mrs. Augusta Twitchell ; his wife was a daughter of Benjamin Winch. Thaddeus Harmon was the pio- neer on the land subsequently owned by his son James and later occu- pied by his grandson Calvin. Luman Hough and a Mr. Stowell were also early settlers; the latter was killed while raising a barn, and the former was poormaster for about twenty-five years. John Woods came from the eastern part of the State and built his log cabin on property now owned by Ira and Gilbert Stewart. He died December 2, 1852. His widow is yet living and resides with her son George W., in Oswego. Other pioneers were Isaac Lehigh, who settled where Thomas Bull now lives, and who was drowned in Salmon River; Abram Bates, who located in the Ingersoll neighborhood ; Isaac Fellows and his son of the same name, on the Spring Brook road east of Pulaski; Nathan Stod- dard, Ezra Weed, and Daniel Sykes, north of the village ; and Moses Phillips.


Caleb Halsey, father of Don C., came to Mexico in 1807 and thence to Richland about 1820; he was born in Oneida county and died in 1894; his widow lives in Mexico. Samuel Calkins journeyed from Canada to Whitesboro in a bateau at the beginning of the war of 1812, and came thence to Richland on foot in 1816, settling on the farm now owned by John Price ; he afterward moved to Ohio and died there. With him came his eldest son, Russell, afterwards under-sheriff and sheriff


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LANDMARKS OF OSWEGO COUNTY.


of Oswego county, who located on twenty-five acres owned by John Bentley. He was born in Vermont in 1797, was one of ten children, and became an active Democratic politician. He married Pamelia, daughter of Colonel Rufus Price, had ten children, owned 350 acres of land, and died in 1893 Rufus Price was a colonel in the Revo- lutionary army, an aid on Washington's staff, and a pensioner. He settled in Richland in 1808, on the farm now owned by his descend- ants, and died here. His wife, Ruth Grant, was related to the family of General Grant.


James Brown was born in Rhode Island in 1788, came to Richland in 1809, and died in October, 1859. He served in the war of 1812 and had ten children, of whom five are living. About the same year (1809) William Marsden became a resident of the town. He subsequently removed to Mexico and died there. He had seven sons, of whom George, the oldest, was born in 1802 and died in 1894.


Ephraim Brewster located east of Pulaski village in 1808, but after- ward moved to Jefferson county. In the same neighborhood the Frary family were early settlers. One of them, Harry Frary, was born in Vermont in 1808, and died here March 4, 1885. Henry, Robert and Hugh Gillespie, brothers, located in an early day at what is called Gil- lespie's Mills, on Grindstone Creek, where Henry Gillespie, a son of Henry, sr., still resides, Henry Gillespie, sr., erected a saw and grist mill there and for many years did an extensive milling business. Tim- othy Maltby, Joseph Spaids, Samuel Vorce, Russell Rathbone, and Ralph and Isaac Price were among the first settlers on the road leading to Port Ontario on the south side of Salmon River.


The pioneer on the State road running south from Port Ontario was a Mr. McFarlin, while in the immediate vicinity D. H. Litts became an early resident. At the junction of this thoroughfare with Grind- stone Creek William Fedder was the first settler, and at this point also Benjamin Wright, Mr. Scriba's agent, built one of the first saw mills in town. The first saw mill in the town was built by John Hoar in 1806. Walter Hewitt, Isaac Page, John Abel and Sanford Douglass early located on the town line.


Few localities along the lake shore in Oswego county offered better natural opportunities to smugglers than the mouth of Salmon River.


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THE TOWN OF RICHLAND.


During the pioneer period, and particularly in the war of 1812, the illegal traffic attained extensive proportions. Many persons were en- gaged in the hazardous business, one of the most active being Samuel McNett, an early settler of this town. He repeatedly fell into the hands of the custom house officials, but a plausible story invariably obtained for him his liberty. As the country became more thickly settled, smug- gling decreased and finally ceased altogether. In 1820 the town con - tained 2,728 inhabitants, but it must be remembered that a number lived within the present limits of Albion and Sandy Creek, which then formed parts of Richland.


Among other settlers prior to 1830 were Conrad Ripson at Port Ontario; David Taylor, who, about 1824, located on the farm now owned by his son, and who became well known as a musician in the old militia trainings; Levy Tryon, who settled on the lake shore north of Port Ontario; Alexander Valentine and his son, Noble, who took , up the farm recently owned by Clement Wallace, a settler of 1840; Abner Hubbard, who located on the same road; Stephen Wade, in the east part of the town; a Mr. Stimson, on lands afterwards owned by G. A. Fobes; Stephen Tinker, father of Wilson Tinker; Joseph Carr, Daniel Pratt, Hiel Richards, Ephraim and Justus Fox, Isaiah Holmes, Nelson Dewey, Israel Jones (on land now occupied by the family of his grand- son, Charles E. Jones), Hiram Hubbell (who died in Oswego), Ansel Brown (in 1816), E. M. D. Baldwin, Lucius B. Cole (for some time keeper of the lighthouse at Port Onta- rio), O. J. Douglass, Charles C. Dodge, Stephen H. Fellows, Frey and Gilbert Lane (in 1815), D. McChesney, George F. Mellen, Ira G. Fellows, De Witt C. May, E. D. Mowry, C. B. Pratt, C. R. Maltby, James A. McChesney, Chandler Salisbury, L. S. Weed, L. R. Slater, Abner Vorce, L. M. Tyler, William Tyler, M. L. Trumbull, Isaac Schermerhorn, and others.


The Mathewson family is one of the oldest and most respected in town, and for more than two generations has been prominently identi- fied with the history of Pulaski village. Jeremiah A. Mathewson, sr., settled there in 1806


Samuel Bragdon, father of George, was a Revolutionary soldier. He came to a farm north of Port Ontario and died November 22, 1852. His son's widow resides on the homestead. Charles Gurley, son of Artemas, was born in Connecticut in 1811, and died in Pulaski in May, 1890. Gilbert A Bradner came here in 1817, when seventeen years old, and died in July, 1890. Jonathan A. Burdick was born in Albany county in 1798, came to Richland about 1829, and died in 1865. Philip Minckler, a native of Columbia county, born in 1803, removed 87


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to this county about 1830 and died here in 1885. He had lived in New Haven some twenty years. Sewell T. Gates, one of the war supervisors of the town, was born in Herkimer county in 1815, removed to Rich- land in 1829, settled in Pulaski in 1861, and died there August 21, 1894. Shara Hardy, born in New Hampshire in 1800, lived for a time in Jeffer- son county, and in 1834 located at Port Ontario, where he died April 3, 1888. James A. Clark came to Mexico in 1844, but the same year removed to Pulaski, where he died June 13, 1887. He was born in Unadilla, N. Y., in 1821.


William H. Gray was an early settler of the town, and died here in January, 1889. He was born in Ithaca, N. Y., in 1815. He was a prominent Mason, served as deputy sheriff and supervisor, and for several years was proprietor of the Pulaski Hotel and the Old Salmon River House.


Dewey C. Salisbury, born in Madison county in 1811, came to this 4 town with his father when thirteen years of age, and the next year was apprenticed to Luther Smith to learn the tanner's trade in the latter's tannery on Mill street in Pulaski. In 1836 he leased a tannery in Sandy Creek, but two years later was burned out and returned to Pulaski village. He was prominent in business affairs, and died in March, 1892.


Daniel B. Meacham was born in Vermont in 1812 and removed with his brother Milo to Sandy Creek in 1827. Twenty-two years later he came to Pulaski, where he died in June, 1891. Five families of the name came from Vermont to Sandy Creek at a very early date, and of their number John and Deacon Simon Meacham subsequently became residents of Pulaski. Thomas S., son of Daniel B. Meacham, is a mer- chant here and town clerk of Richland, succeeding his father in that office in 1881. Simon Meacham was prominent in local affairs and served as supervisor and town clerk many years. John Meacham opened the first store in the town in 1810.


John C. Pride was another very prominent citizen as well as an early settler. He came from Otsego county and located on lots 77 and 78, whence he subsequently removed to a farm near Holmesville. He was the second supervisor of the town and held the office in all thirteen years,


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THE TOWN OF RICHLAND.


Capt. Ira Doane was born in Litchfield, Herkimer county, June 10, 1807. His father, John Doane, was a soldier in the Revolutionary army, enlisting immediately after the battle of Bunker Hill and serving until the close of the war, being confined as a prisoner eighteen months in a prison ship in New York harbor. In May, 1821, the family settled in Orwell, whence they subsequently came to Pulaski, where John Doane died January 9, 1831, and his widow in 1845. Their children were Mrs. Olivia Mason, Isaac, Harvey, and Captain Doane. The latter married, in 1830, Audria Vorce, and had seven children, of whom Henry G. en- listed in the 35th N. Y. Vols. and died in Elmira. Mrs. Doane died in 1853, and he married, in 1854, her cousin Julia, daughter of Col. Will- iam Vorce. Captain Doane was a farmer, a carpenter, a merchant in Pulaski, and a lumberman. He was president of the village, collector, jailor, undersheriff, and inspector of customs in New York city, and was a life-long Jacksonian Democrat.


Robert Leroy Ingersoll, son of Ebenezer, was born in New Berlin, N. Y., June 5, 1819, and came to Albion with his father in 1830. Educated in Mexico Academy, he purchased his time (seven months) of his father for $50, and with Elijah Shumway commenced the manufacture of car- riages in Sandy Creek, but five years later removed to Pulaski and en- gaged in the same business, which he conducted until 1872, when he sold out to Ingersoll & Suydam. In 1854 he established the Pulaski Bank, which continued until 1862, when he organized the bank of R. L. Ingersoll & Co. He married Caroline E. Clark and had six chidren.


Col. Henry H. Lyman, now of Oswego, was for several years a hard- ware merchant in Pulaski, where he was educated.


Charles H. Cross, the oldest of fourteen children of Moulton Cross, was born in Hamilton, N. Y., January 1, 1807, and came with his par- ents to Richland in 1814. Moulton Cross early settled on a farm in Albion ; he was a miller, and assisted in the building of several saw mills. Charles H. Cross began business as a surveyor and conveyancer in 1827, and in 1850 was appointed agent of the Pierrepont estate, rep- resenting about 100,000 acres in the counties of Lewis, Jefferson, and Oswego. He was a director and one of the organizers of the Rome, Watertown and Ogdensburg, and Syracuse Northern Railroad Com- panies. He married, in 1842, Melissa, a daughter of Gilbert Lane, and had five children.


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LANDMARKS OF OSWEGO COUNTY.


In the vicinity of Holmesville Salmon Erskine, Avery Griffin, Lewis Conant, and the Perry family were early settlers. Capt. Robert Muzzy, sr., a soldier in the Revolutionary war, located in the town at an early day. His son, Lieutenant Robert Muzzy, jr., served in the war of 1812. Rev. Lawson Muzzy, son of Robert jr., is a superannuated Bap- tist minister and resides in Pulaski at the age of eighty two. His son. Lawson R. Muzzy, is the editor and proprietor of the Pulaski Demo- crat, to the files of which we are indebted for much valuable informa- tion.


The first tavern in town bore the striking appellation of the " Bee- hive," and was located on what is known as the Dewey farm. Another early public house was erected by Pliny Jones one mile south of Pulaski village, as previously noted. Many other pioneers are mentioned a little further on and more fully in Parts II and III of this volume.


The population of Richland increased from 947 in 1810 to 2,728 in 1820. In the latter year its agricultural interests were in a state of steady development. The popu- lation in 1830 was 2,733; 1835, 3,461; 1840, 4,046; 1845, 3,758; 1850, 4,079; 1855, 4,012; 1860, 4,128; 1865, 4,137 : 1870, 3,975; 1875, 4,018; 1880, 3,991 : 1890, 3,771.


Supervisors' statistics for 1894 : Assessed valuation of real estate, $1,261,204 ; equal- ized, $1,468,749 ; personal property. $44,772; railroads, 21.25 miles, $205,500; town tax, $9,015.44; county tax, $8,475.72; total tax levy, $20,648.58; ratio of tax on $100, $1.58: dog tax, $200. In the four election districts into which the town is divided 906 votes were cast in November, 1894.


The town contributed 277 men to the Union army and navy in the War of the Rebellion, several of whom attained commissioned offices, notably James T. Outterson, captain in the 184th Regiment ; Henry H. Lyman, promoted to the rank of colonel in the 147th Regiment ; and A. A. Fellows, captain Co. B, 110th N.Y. Vols.


The earlier settlers of Richland followed the precedent established by many other communities and consigned their dead to a plat set aside for the purpose on the family homestead. As the population increased and interments became more frequent, regular burial grounds were set apart to that use, one of the first, if not the very first, being a part of the beautiful cemetery in Pulaski. This originally consisted of three acres, to which three more were subsequently added, and afterward fifteen acres more were annexed. In February, 1893, the Pulaski Cemetery Association was incorporated with R. W. Box (president),


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THE TOWN OF RICHLAND.


G. W. Douglass (secretary), Thomas S. Meacham (treasurer), H. B. Clark, John Williams, and W. C. Peck as commissioners, who still re- tain their respective positions.


The first school in town was taught by Milly Ellis in the summer of 1808. The first school in Pulaski village was held in a building erected by Jeremiah A. Mathewson for a blacksmith shop, near the south end of the old Palmer or Mathewson's Hotel, the teacher being Rebecca Cross, afterward Mrs James Harmon, who was succeeded by Miss A. Hinman. The next school in the village was kept by Pliny Jones in the log dwelling of Mr. Mathewson. The first school house was built on the premises now owned by William H. Hill, but two months after being completed it was burned. School was then held in a building owned by a Mr. Bush, which stood on the site of the subsequent resi- dence of George W. Wood. Pliny Jones, however, soon opened his house for school purposes. and the next year a school house was erected on the site afterward occupied by Cross's land office. Later it was removed to where the old Baptist church now stands. The next school house was a brick structure built on the site of the Congregational church, and after it was demolished school was held in the church edifice. Select schools have flourished at different periods, notably those of M. W. Southworth "in Masonic Hall," in 1821, and of A. Bond, A. B., in 1848. The town now has twenty two school districts, which bear the following appellations : No. I, Bragdon ; 2, Hinman ; 3, Hicks; 4, Manwaren; 5, Selkirk ; 6, Brown ; 7, Pulaski Village; 8, Farmer ; 9, Chamberlin ; 10, Richland Junction ; II, Champlin; 12, Port Ontario ; 13, Douglass ; 14, Fox; 15, Page ; 16, Woods ; 17, Holmesville ; 18, Mowry; 19, Meacham ; 20, Spring Brook ; 21, Lamb; 22, Lehigh. In 1860 there were twenty-three school districts, in which 1,660 children were taught. In 1893 thirty-one teachers were employed and 720 children attended the several schools; value of school buildings and sites, $22,800 ; assessed valuation of districts, $1,192,555 ; public money received from the State, $3,405,86; raised by local tax, $4,008.29 ; number of trees planted, twenty-four.




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