USA > New York > Tompkins County > Landmarks of Tompkins County, New York : including a history of Cornell University > Part 2
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9
CLIMATOLOGY.
Trumansburgh Creek has its extreme sources in both Seneca and Schuyler counties. Its general course is east through Trumansburgh village and then bending to the north it empties into the lake in the county of Seneca.
The face of the country in this county and its slope in all directions towards the lake, with the great number of streams feeding it, produces the rare combination of gorge and waterfall found no where else in this State.
On the southeast Owego Creek forms the border line between the town of Caroline and Tioga county. In Newfield, at the southwest, a valley slopes to the south and Cayuta Creek follows it, reaching the Che- mung River near Waverly, after traversing Van Etten and other por- tions of Chemung and Tioga counties.
Rising in Dryden, the Owasco Inlet flows north through the central valley of Groton, and thence through Locke and Moravia to Owvasco Lake.
In climate Tompkins county partakes of the general characteristics of Central and Western New York, with more favorable temperature and less range than elsewhere in the region named. Goodwin's History of Cortland County states that the mean temperature of Homer is 44 deg., 17 min., while at Ithaca it is 47 deg., 88 min., or 3 degrees and 71 min- utes in favor of Ithaca. The same authority states the annual range of the thermometer at Homer is 104 deg., while that of Ithaca was 91, or 13 deg. in favor of Ithaca. This immediate locality also escapes the excessive snow falls which cover Cortland, Madison, Oneida, Onondaga, Herkimer and Otsego counties. These snow falls in that part of the State lying east of Tompkins county are doubtless owing largely to evaporation from the surface of Lake Ontario, the waters of which are very deep and seldom freeze. The prevailing northwest air currents in winter carry this evaporation over the localities before named, where it is deposited as snow by condensation.
The territory embraced in Tompkins county, excepting in the south- eastern and southwestern sections, is almost wholly free from the dense fogs which, especially in autumn, appear almost daily in the valley of the Susquehanna and its tributaries. The author is unaware that any sat- isfactory solution of the cause of the frequency of fogs on all waters flowing to the south, and their absence, as a rule, on waters flowing to the north, throughout the whole central part of this State, has ever been attempted. A remarkable verification of this difference appears in the 2
10
LANDMARKS OF TOMPKINS COUNTY.
town of Caroline, where a swamp is the source of streams running both north and south. Those ultimately reaching Chesapeake Bay will of- ten be covered with a dense fog, and not a mile distant the stream head- ing for Lake Ontario will at the same hour bask in bright sunshine. For weeks, and often for months, on the land sloping to the north trav- ersed by streams discharging into Lake Ontario, not a vestige of fog is seen, and the author has known a whole year to pass in this locality without a single foggy morning being experienced.
CHAPTER III.
The First White Men in what is now Tompkins County-The Last of the Local In. dians-The March of Civilization-Arrival of the First Permanent Settlers-Trials and Perils of their Journey-The Route Taken-Locality of First Settlement-The Pioneers of Ithaca-Dates of Settlement in the Various Towns.
PROBABLY the first white persons who visited this locality were mis- sionaries, and an account is given of one who passed through here from the Susquehanna River as early as 1657, but whether others came or not is not recorded. Following this single missionary, or others if there were more, the Sullivan expedition and members of his army may prop- erly be said to have been the first white men who set foot on the soil of the present county of Tompkins. There exists no evidence that any of the armyremained, for as a body the troops marched to Catherine Town after the Indian villages were destroyed, and joined the main force, the entire command at once returning on the route through the Che- mung, Susquehanna and Wyoming valleys.
The Indians, retreating before Sullivan's army, did not return from the western part of the State; or, if scattered families came back, it was to find the cabins they formerly occupied burned, their crops destroyed, their fruit trees cut down, and only desolation before them as they wandered from the site of one Indian village to another. Under such circumstances it is not to be wondered at that the spirits of the warriors were measurably broken and the desire to again make this region their home, to again build up their villages and cultivate anew their devas- tated fields, passed away forever. The few Indians who remained here
11
FIRST WHITE SETTLERS.
after that memorable campaign against them, removed to the north- ern part of the State in 1790. 1
From 1779 to 1788 there was no change. The few Indians who es- caped Sullivan's army and remained here, or who returned and brought families, cultivated their clearings in a half-hearted way, supplying their needs by hunting and fishing, for the forests were filled with game and the waters of Cayuga Lake and the streams flowing into it swarm- ing with fish.
The first white persons intending to become permanent settlers were the eleven men who left Kingston, on the Hudson River in April, 1788. With two Delaware Indians as guides, they started out to explore the wilderness west of the Susquehanna River. All knowledge they pos- sessed of the locality towards which they directed their steps was de- rived from Indians who had hunted in the dense forests which covered the entire western part of the State, and those adventurers started up- on a journey supposed to be full of peril and replete with dangers inci- dent to travel in an unknown and unsettled region. Something over a month passed before the party returned to Kingston, having examined only the country embracing Cayuga and Seneca Lakes and a few miles in each direction around these waters. They made no selection of lands and came to no decision to ever return to the localities they had visited. In April, 1789, however, three of those who had traversed the country the previous year determined to return, and they finally sct- tled upon a lot of 400 acres, extending east from Tioga street in the
1 The pages of history tell us of the barbarities practiced by the red men upon the pioneers of New England. It is not, perhaps, strange that a knowledge of those barbarities which have scarcly ceased in the western world at the present day, should have led later generations of white people not only to regard their authors as merci- less savages without one redeeming trait, but also to believe that the bloody deeds of of the red men were committed without any material provocation. A more careful study of the Indian peoples will, however, indicate that such was not the case. While it is undeniable that the march of civilization cannot be stayed, and that the weaker must give place to the stronger in the world's progress, it is also true that the natives of the western world never failed to meet the first white comers to any par- ticular locality with open arms and peace in their hearts. That the contest with all its horrors was inevitable, is undoubted; but in it each side took its share of the re- sponsibility, and the untutored savages, their brains influenced by the rum of the white man, turned upon the latter the very guns for which they were deluded into giving up their birthrights. It was a struggle for supremacy and each side used whatever advantage it possessed to achieve victory, and met its foes according to its nature and circumstances.
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LANDMARKS OF TOMPKINS COUNTY.
present city of Ithaca. Within the valley upon this tract clearings were found from which the hazel and thorn bushes had been removed by the Indians, and which had been cultivated by them. Within these clearings and upon this tract of 400 acres, Jacob Yaple, Isaac Dumond, and Peter Hinepaw settled. By them the clearings were at once put under cultivation ; corn was planted and, leaving a younger brother of one of the party to care for the crops, these adventurous men returned east to fetch their families to the new homes amid the almost unbroken forest, which they reached in September following. They brought with them a few articles of necessary household furniture, some farm- ing utensils, and hogs, sheep, cattle and horses. No better history of these men and their settlement here can be given than is to be found in a lecture delivered by Horace King, one of the most brilliant young men ever resident in Ithaca, on the 5th of April, 1847, reprints of which are now somewhat rare. He said :
The Yaple family was composed of Jacob Yaple, his wife and three children, and John Yaple, a younger brother, aged about twenty years. The Dumond family con- sisted of Isaac Dumond, his wife and three children, and John Dumond and his wife, who had then been lately married. The Hinepaw family was comprised of Peter Hinepaw, his wife and five children, the oldest of whom was about twelve years of age. In all there were twenty individuals.
The length of time occupied in their journey from Kingston hither, in the light of rapid traveling of this day, seems incredible. A month was consumed in reaching the point where the village of Owego is now situated, and from thence to Ithaca nine- teen days. But a reference to the route pursued and to the manner of traveling ex- plains it. From Kingston they crossed to the eastern branch of the Delaware, reaching it at Middletown, the southeastern township of Delaware County; there they constructed canoes, in which they descended the river to a little below the fork ; then they crossed to the Susquehanna, and again making canoes, descended that river to Owego. Between that place and Ithaca there was no road of any description- unless a well-beaten Indian foot-path might be considered one-and therefore they were compelled to clear the way before them in order to journey onward. Having arrived at their place of destination, they immediately proceeded in their prepara- tions for permanently remaining. In a short time three log cabins were erected, and the respective families took possession of their dwellings. The first built, which was occupied by Hinepaw, was situated on the Cascadilla Creek near the mill at the cross- ing of the stream by Linn street; the second occupied by Yaple was on East State street where Jacob M. McCormick's house stands [now-1894-occupied by Miss Belle Cowdry]; and the third occupied by Dumond was near the same spot.
The only settlements within hailing distance were at Owego, where three families had settled the year previous; at Newtown, where two or three families had located; and at a point some four miles north of Cayuga lake, on its outlet, where there were also two or three families.
13
EARLY SETTLERS.
It must not be supposed that the pioneers had no communication with older settle- ments at the east. Acquaintances were moved to engage in the same enterprise of finding homes, and subduing and cultivating the land to fertility. Those imbued with this desire in their search for attractive locations, of course traveled routes leading, as far as possible, where friends might be found, and such were warmly welcomed at all times. They brought information from the east, and on their return carried word back from those who had made homes amid the primeval forest. Encouraged by re- ports received, other familics began preparations for removal to this locality, and thus a current of emigration commenced to flow in this direction, which soon attained large proportions and aided materially in opening up and populating the area cov- ered by the present county of Tompkins.
It was only natural that those who first reached here and made their future homes, should have felt enthusiastic as to the climate, soil and every element necessary to make a settlement desirable; and their re- ports induced a large number of persons from the east, relatives or friends of those who had gone before, as well as others, to move to the head of Cayuga Lake, the present site of Ithaca city, and also to sur- rounding neighborhoods within the present bounds of Tompkins coun- ty. (Further settlements on the site of Ithaca are noted in the history of the village and city in later pages of this work. )
Six years after the first settlement at Ithaca, in the year 1795, Capt. David Rich came from Western Massachusetts and settled in Caroline, and in the same year the widow of Francis Earsley, with ten children, emigrated to the same locality from Roxbury, Essex county, New Jer- sey.
In 1795, Isaac and John Dumond, with Jacob and John Yaple, all of whom lost their title to the lot they originally located upon at Ithaca, through the knavery or carelessness of their agent, who failed to pay taxes at Albany upon their land, removed to Danby and built the first house in that town. Dr. Lewis Beers and Jabez Beers came from Con- necticut in 1807, bringing with them William R. Collins and Joseph Judson, aged respectively sixteen and fifteen years. Collins did not re- main in Danby, but removed to Ithaca and in after years was a man of note in that place.
The first settlement was made in the town of Dryden in 1797 by Amos Sweet, who was followed in the next year by Ezekiel Sandford, David Foot and Ebenezer Chausen.
Enfield was first settled in 1804 by John Giltner (or Geltner) and was advanced in the following year by John White, Peter Banfield and John Applegate.
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LANDMARKS OF TOMPKINS COUNTY.
The first settlement in what is now Groton was made about the year 1796 by Samuel Hogg, at West Groton; Ichabod Brown, John Guthrie and - Perrin, at Groton; and J. Williamns, J. Houghtaling and W. S. Clark near McLean.
The earliest settlement in the town of Lansing was made by Silas and Henry Ludlow, brothers, in the year 1791, and Samuel Baker and Solomon Hyatt began improvements there in the next year.
The settlement of Newfield was begun by James Thomas probably as early as 1800, and within a year or two afterwards two or three others settled there.
The first settlement in what is now the town of Ulysses was made in 1792 by Abner and Philip Tremaine (now " Treman").
The foregoing summary of the first settlements in the several towns of the county may be useful at this point for reference, while the sub- ject is continued in detail in the town histories in later pages of the volume.
CHAPTER IV.
The Work of the Pioneers-What was Accomplished prior to County Organization -Beginning of the New County Government-The Financial Panic of 1837-8-Its Effects in this County-Recuperation-The War Period-Prompt Action in Ithaca -- Filling the Various Quotas of the County.
THE history of Tompkins county during the period between the time of the first settlements and the county organization is quite fully given in the several town histories in later chapters of this work. There will be found treated with especial care the deeds of the early comers in the various localities in laying the foundations of their future homes.
We learn therein that while progress generally during that period was steady, it is, on the other hand, true that the early opening of the more accessible and beautiful "Genesee country," as it was termed, served for a time to check the influx of settlers to this region. The natural course of immigration, morcover, seemed to be up the Mohawk valley and thence directly westward, which fact, combined with the extrava- gant reports of the beauty and richness of the western part of the State, produced a marked effect upon the inflowing tide of pioneers.
15
PROGRESS OF THE PIONEERS.
As an indication of the privations under which our forefathers lived, W. T. Eddy, from whose interesting reminiscences we shall draw, wrote as follows :
There is considerable said in these days about hard times, but let me relate to you, as it was told to me how Mr. Earl, the father of the brothers Isaac and Caleb that lived and were masons in the village quite a number of years. Mr. Earl, the father, then lived up the Inlet nine miles in the town of Newfield. He walked from his home to the residence of Judge Townley, in the town of Lansing, a distance of about eighteen miles, worked for Mr. Townley until he earned a bushel and a half of wheat, took it in a bag on his back, came to the mill on Cascadilla Creek, had it ground, and then carried it home to Newfield.
Mr. Eddy said of the second grist mill that it was owned by Joseph S. Sydney and was located on Fall Creek at Free Hollow near the bridge: it was built in 1794. Mr. Sydney sold out and in 1802, built a grist mill on Cascadilla Creek not far from the depot of the E., C. & N. Railroad ; he died there in 1815.
But the settlers of what is now Tompkins county werc not idle in their new homes. We have already seen that a foothold was gained in vari- ous localities several years before the opening of the present century, and it is certain that all of those who had thus early located here, with the many others who followed them prior to the organization of the county, had made a remarkable change in the territory in question. Roads were opened, one of the first from the eastward, as early as 1791- 92, over which traveled many of the pioneers. Others in 1804-5, 1807, in which year two important highways were opened, and others at a little later time, as hereafter described. Saw mills multiplied on the many streams and the rich pine forests were prostrated and the logs cut into valuable lumber to be sold or used at home in the construction of farm buildings, the cleared ground at the same time becoming susceptible to cultivation. Clearings appeared here and there in yearly increasing numbers, and the original log dwellings were soon superseded by more comfortable frame structures. Grist mills, sufficiently well equipped to do the coarse grinding which satisfied the hardy people, were soon running, and incipient manufactures and mercantile business sprang up.
Two years before the county organization Ithaca had its newspaper in the Seneca Republican, the forefather of the still-existing Journal. And there was legal business (where is there not where two or three human beings are gathered together?) for such attorneys as David Woodcock, Charles Humphrey, and A. D. W. Bruyn were in Ithaca be- fore there was a county of Tompkins. The physical ills of the settlers
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LANDMARKS OF TOMPKINS COUNTY.
were assuaged, let us hope, by Drs. John C. Hoyt, A. J. Miller, Dyer Foote, and Daniel Mead in Ithaca, and two or three others in surround- ing towns, before the county was formed; and church organization had been effected more than a decade earlier. These are all indisputable evidences of progress and thrift. Ithaca was as early as 1810 regarded as one of the most thriving and promising villages in the interior of this State.
The act of Legislature under which Tompkins county was organized was passed April 17, 1817, and constituted the new county from parts of Cayuga and Seneca counties. Its area has been twice changed ; first on March 22, 1822, by the annexation of three towns from Tioga county. On the 4th of June, 1853, by enactment a small strip on the west side of Newfield was annexed to Chemung county. The act, how- ever, was not to become operative until January 1, 1856. Before that time Schuyler was erected and this territory became a part of that county. Again on April 17, 1854, the town of Hector was taken off and annexed to Schuyler county.
The act of incorporation established the county seat at Ithaca, and contained provisions for the erection of court buildings, as described in the chapter on the bar of the county. The first principal officers of the county were as follows: First Judge, Oliver C. Comstock, appointed April 10, 1817. Surrogate, Andrew D. W. Bruyn, appointed March 11, 1817. Clerk, Archer Green, appointed March 11, 1817. Sheriff, Her- mon Camp, appointed April 11, 1817; (he was succeeded by Henry Bloom on the 26th of June, 1817.) District Attorney, David Woodcock, appointed April 15, 1817. (Justices of the Peace are given elsewhere. )
The machinery for the new county government was soon in success- ful operation. The public buildings were erected as provided for in the act of incorporation, and public improvements were actively pros- ecuted until they felt the check of the distressing financial stringency of 1836-7. Previous to that time two or three railroads had been char- tered and one of them opened to traffic in 1834, amid general rejoicing. The Sodus Canal topic was uppermost in the public mind for a num- ber of years during the period under consideration, while at the same time the agricultural element was steadily pressing forward toward the satisfactory condition it finally reached.
Slavery cast its dark shadow over this county until so recent a date, coniparatively speaking, that it almost astonishes the most thoughtful of us when brought to fully realize the facts. The first quarter of the
17
SPECULATION AND PANIC.
present century had almost expired before the last remnant of the na- tion's curse was expelled. The census of 1820 shows that in the terri- tory now contained in Tompkins county, and the town of Hector, then a part of it, slaves were held as follows: Ulysses (then including the present towns of Ithaca and Enfield), two males and one female. . Dan- by, two males and four females. Caroline (see history of that town), eighteen males and fourteen females. Hector, nine males. Dryden, Groton and Lansing, none. In the population of the town of Hector there were thirty free colored persons; in Ulysses, eighteen; Caroline, none; Danby, five.
In the disastrous financial revulsion and panic which swept over the entire country in 1836-7 Ithaca suffered severely, but not more so than most other similar places, and far less than some. During the early part of the first year named, and to some extent in 1835, the specula- tive fever began and soon rose to its highest pitch. Fabulous prices were paid for land and fictitious valuation thus created without any solid foundation. Of course most of this financial expansion was witnessed in and near by the village of Ithaca; but its effects were felt through- out the county. Suburban farms were laid out in village lots, and it has been stated that scarcely an acre of land within two miles of the village was purchasable for tillage. The speculators (and they em- braced almost the entire community) saw visions of numerous banks, railroads branching out in every direction, canals filled with a continuous procession of laden boats, and above all, money without stint. In a number of the Ithaca Journal in July of 1836, is a report that a sale of sundry water power rights at Fall Creek were sold at auction and brought $220,000, and that "a parcel of the De Witt estate which was purchased last December for $4,676, sold at auction on the 6th [of July ] for $52,929. A farm which was purchased last summer for $50 per acre, has recently been sold for $500 per acre, and the purchaser has been offered and declined an advance on his purchase." Usurious rates of interest prevailed everywhere and money was in active demand at ex- orbitant figures. This is explainable by the fact that many persons, influenced by the general speculative fever, were led to borrow funds with which they hoped to not only pay the heavy interest from their profits, but clear a competency besides; thus almost the entire com- munity was drawn into the whirlpool. There could be but one ending to this. It was precipitated by the issue of President Jackson's well- known "specie circular," and the crash was overwhelming to many.
3
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LANDMARKS OF TOMPKINS COUNTY.
Men were brought suddenly to realize that there were some things in the universe (one of which was the solid ground) that could not be pur- chased at depreciated prices with depreciated currency. Banks con- tracted their currency, a general suspension of specie payments fol- lowed, and ruin was prevalent. The succeeding stagnation in Tomp- kins county is evidenced at least to some extent by the fact that while previous to 1837 there was various legislation relative to the incorpo- ration of companies, inauguration of public enterprises, improving the charter of Ithaca village, etc., some of which went into effect almost yearly between that year and 1857 (a period of about twenty years), when legislation of this nature nearly ceased.
Recovery from this memorable panic was slow in this county, and to it may undoubtedly be credited in a large degree the extremely conserv- ative methods of the business men during the next quarter of a cent- ury. But if the growth during that period was slow and business methods werc conservative, that growth was healthy and built upon a solid foundation. The effects of this panic upon Ithaca and its imme- diate vicinity are described more in detail in the history of the village and city in later pages.
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