USA > New York > Onondaga County > Onondaga, or, Reminiscences of earlier and later times, being a series of historical sketches relative to Onondaga, with notes on the several towns in the county, and Oswego, Vol. II > Part 20
USA > New York > Oswego County > Onondaga, or, Reminiscences of earlier and later times, being a series of historical sketches relative to Onondaga, with notes on the several towns in the county, and Oswego, Vol. II > Part 20
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32
There is another cave, about two miles west of Jamesville, on the farm of the late Mr. Brown, which is several hundred feet deep, and which has never been thoroughly explored. The opening from the top is through a fissure about three feet broad by eight feet long. After descending some twenty feet there is an extensive opening to the great valley below. It is supposed this cave extends all along the great ledge of lime- stone rock, from the western part of De Witt, nearly to James- ville. The ledge is usually about two hundred feet high. The
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cave itself is a great singularity if not curiosity, and its ex- ploration might lead to interesting discoveries. There is a tra- dition that at the time Col. Van Schaick invaded the Onon- daga country, in 1779, the native women took refuge in this cave till the former had retired and left their nation free from danger.
When the first settlements were made at Onondaga, this cave and the vicinity became an early object of attraction. It was reported and generally believed that a silver mine existed in the neighborhood, which belief was based upon the follow- ing facts : At the time this cave was first made known to the settlers, tools which had been used for mining purposes were found at its mouth, and also a bar of solid silver, two inches square and eighteen inches long, having a point of steel. It is also reported that a kettle of money was found about twenty rods from the cave, which was supposed to have been coined there. While workmen were engaged in excavating a trench near the house of Dr. Baldwin, for the purpose of conducting water, they were saluted by a stranger passing along the road, who told them that not many feet from the spot where they were then at work, lay the skeleton of a man, and remarked that whoever owned that land should never part with it, for it contained treasures they knew not of. In the progress of their work, they discovered the remains of the man, but the treasure has never been found. For several years the neigh- borhood was explored by money-seekers, with torch-lights by night, but nothing of consequence beyond what has been men- tioned, has come to light.
GREEN POND .- About one mile and a half west from the village of Jamesville, in this town, is perhaps one of the most singularly located bodies of water in Western New-York. It is situated, as it were, in a vast natural well or cavern. The banks are composed of different strata of limestone; the southern and western portions, are nearly perpendicular, and in many places, project over the ground below. The northern portion is not as steep, but it is too much so to be easily ac- cessible. These banks are over one hundred feet high, from
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the surface of the water, and are richly decked on all sides with evergreen shrubs ; the forms of which are beautifully re- flected, from the soft, green, mirror-like surface of the waters which they surround. The shape of this lake is circular, and about sixty rods in diameter. It has no outlet, but upon the eastern side, is a low marshy ground, through which the water might flow, but does not. From the brink of the lake, the shore in many places is perpendicular, apparently shelving be- neath, and every where extremely abrupt, except on the east. The interior of this vast basin is lined with a greenish white marl ; and trees which have fallen into it, are whitened there- by. In several places near the centre, a lead has been low- ered, by one hundred yards of line, without reaching bottom, and within fifty feet of the shore, the water is over a nundred feet deep. The water towards the bottom, is highly charged with sulphureted hydrogen, and is usually at an even temper- ature, of about forty-eight degrees Fahrenheit. Although the water at the surface has no very disagreeable taste, yet, when drawn from any considerable depth, it is scarcely endurable. With this singular locality is connected an Indian tradition, which gave rise to its aboriginal name, which is still preserved among the Onondagas. The Indian path, leading from Onei- da to Onondaga, passed in former times along the bank of this pond. Here an Indian woman lost her child in a mar- vellous manner, and in order to have it restored to her again, made application to the " Prophet," for advice. He told her the wicked spirit had taken her child from her, but if she would obey his injunctions, the Great Spirit would take charge of her child, and it would be safe, although it could not be re- stored.
In the autumn of every year, the woman and her husband, and after them their children, were required to cast a quanti- ty of tobacco into the pond, as an oblation for the spirit's guar- dian care. This office was religiously performed, and was continued till after the first settlement of the white people at Onondaga ; since which it has been discontinued. The name
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given, on account of this circumstance, was KAI-YAH-KOOH, signifying, satisfied with tobacco.
MESSINA SPRINGS .- These springs, three in number, and twenty feet apart, are situated about three and a half miles east of Syracuse. The name was given spontaneously by the inhabitants, in the vicinity, in 1835, on account of its conti- guity to Syracuse, carrying out the coincidence of locality, of the places bearing the same name in Sicily. They are loca- ted on the farm of Dr. David Merrill. It is believed they are inexhaustible, and the waters, so far as observation has been extended, are unchanging. They emerge from a limestone rock, on the surface of which, are found specimens of calca- reous substances. The temperature is uniformly fifty degrees Fahrenheit. The water is strongly impregnated with sul- phurous particles, yet not very highly charged with gas. Ex- posure to the atmosphere for a short time, gives it a milky ap- pearance, no doubt in consequence of the decomposition of the sulphureted hydrogen, and the subsidence of some of the less soluble salts. The whitish crust, usually found near springs of this class, is observable here, and the tufa so abundantly met with, undoubtedly owes its formation to waters similarly constituted. The waters from these springs are used with beneficial results, in many cases of discase, especially in those of the skin. The springs were discovered by Mr. Lewis Sweet- ing, some fifty years since ; are easily accessible from all parts of the country. There is a convenient house near, which was erected 1833, where are cold and warm baths, and other ad- vantages for health. Invalids are furnished with comfortable board and lodging, and medical advice, by Dr. Merrill.
The first religious society organized in this town, or the township of Manlius, was under the following style and title : "First Presbyterian or Church of Bloomingvale," (one mile south of Jamesville) "under the care of the General As- sembly of American Presbyterian Divines, composed of pro- fessors of the Christian religion of the townships of Manlius and Pompey, organized at the house of Daniel Keeler, 29th December, 1795. Daniel Keeler, Comfort Tyler, Jeremiah
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Gould, William Hasken, Captain Joseph Smith and John Young, Trustees thereof, &c., Jeremiah Jackson, presiding." The next was the " Union Congregational Society," at More- house's Flats. It was organized and incorporated under that style and title, in September, 1805. The society erected their church edifice in 1806, and finished it in 1809. The following ministers have officiated there either statedly or oc- casionally : Rev. Messrs. Atwater, Davenport, Phelps, John- son, Chadwick, Harrison, Marsh, Cutler and Leavenworth. The society were very much embarrassed by the building of their edifice, and finally suffered it to be sold under a decree of the Chancellor, for considerable less than enough to satisfy the demand against it, and it is now fast going to decay. It is at present used as a barn.
The house of worship at Orville, was erected in 1819, by " The Orville Presbyterian Society," (Congregational.)
Post Office established at Orville, 1814. Name of the vil- lage then changed from Youngsville to Orville; and when the town of De Witt was erected, the name of the post office was changed to De Witt. Zebulon Ostrom, the first Supervisor ; William Eager, Town Clerk ; William Eager, David G. Wil- kins, Adam Harrowen, Justices of the Peace. Esquire Eager was the first lawyer who located in this town, then Manlius, and Dr. Holbrook the first physician.
According to the last census, we have the following statis- tics :-
Number of inhabitants, 2,876; number subject to military duty, 267 ; number of voters, 645 ; number of aliens, 98 ; num- ber of paupers, 27 ; children attending common schools, 705; acres of improved land, 13,076 ; grist mills, 3; saw mills, 2; fulling mills, 1; carding machines, 3; tanneries, 1; Church- es-Episcopal, 1; Presbyterian, 1; Congregational, 2; Me- thodist, 3; Dutch Reformed, 1; common schools, 15; tav- erns, 6 ; stores, 3; groceries, 6; farmers, 282; merchants, 6; manufacturers, 3; mechanics, 110; clergymen, 6; physi- cians, 7; lawyers, 2.
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POMPEY .- This was one of the original towns, formed at the first organization of the county, in 1794, and number ten of the Military Townships. At that period it comprised the townships of Pompey, Fabius and Tully, with that part of the Onondaga Reservation, lying south of the Great Genesee Road, and east of Onondaga Creek. The boundaries and area of this town, have been materially diminished since the period of its first organization ; so that at the present time, it contains but sixty-eight lots of the one hundred, as laid out in the original township. This township obtained great ce- lebrity abroad, at a very early period, and was principally set- tled by people from New-England, many of whom took up their residence here, while the township was a part of the town of Mexico, Herkimer County. Mr. John Wilcox was the first white settler on the Township, who came out in the spring of 1789, with an Indian chief from Oneida, for the purpose of exploring the country. He made selection of the lot on which he settled, known as the Haskins farm, two miles north of La Fayette village. Here was an extensive Indian orchard, and with a view to its improvement, Abel Ol- cutt came out the same spring, and made arrangements for pruning it. He spent his nights at the Onondaga Castle, three miles distant, there being no white people nearer than Danforth's or Morehouse's. He lodged in the cabin of Ca- whicdota. In the prosecution of his labors in pruning, he was surprised that in the center of each and every tree was a collection of small brush, about the size of a bushel basket. Wondering at the singularity of such a circumstance, he in- quired of his Indian friend and host the cause, who explained after the following manner : He said, that after the war of the Revolution, the Indian settlement at that place was aban- doned, in consequence of the destruction of the corn fields, and a part of the great orchard, by Col. Van Schaick, in 1779 ; that the Onondagas had become completely discouraged, in consequence of the severe losses they had sustained during the war ; consequently the Indians, since the war, had not oc- cupied or cultivated any of their lands in that quarter, and
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the brush he had found collected in the apple-trees, was the work of bears, who ascended the trees in autumn, gathering in the slender branches loaded with apples, with their paws, leisurely devouring the fruit, at the same time depositing the branches under them, between the larger diverging limbs, for a more comfortable seat. Sometime after Mr. Wilcox had settled in his new place of abode, his harvests had been abun- dant, and his stacks of hay and wheat numerous; (for as yet, he had no barns,) every thing seemed to prosper in his hands, but lo, in a single night his cherished hopes were blasted, for some ruthless hand had lighted the torch, and applied it with complete fatality to the gathered treasures of the year. He awoke in the morning only to behold the desolation, and the smoking ruins of his labors, his sustenance and wealth. The Indians were suspected as guilty of the outrage, and com- plaint was at once made to the principal chief at Onondaga, who upon investigation, remarked to Mr. Wilcox with the most perfect non chalance, without palliation or denial, " You dig up no more dead Indian, no more will your stacks be burned." The admonition was sufficient, for although it had been a common practice to rob Indian graves, for the brass kettles and trinkets buried with the bodies; it was from this time discontinued, and the harvests of the farmers were henceforth unmolested.
The first settlers in the present town of Pompey, were Eb- enezer Butler, from Harrington, Connecticut, who located on lot number sixty-five, in 1792. His brother, Jesse Butler, and Jacob Hoar, came on in the spring of the same year. Sally Hoar was the first white child born in this town, and Orange, son of Jesse Butler, the first male child. Ebenezer Butler died in 1829 ; he has descendants still living in Ohio. Directly after these first, came James Olcott, Truc Worthy and Selah Cook, Noadiah and Epiphas Olcott, the Holbrooks, Jeromes, Hibbards, Hinsdales, Messingers, Westerns, Allens, Burrs and others, so that neighborhoods began to be formed in many places, as early as 1793 and 1794. The first settlers obtained flour from Whitestown, many of whom went there on
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horseback to mill, and some on foot. True Worthy Cook took a bushel of wheat on his back, to Herkimer, and brought back the flour, and Jacob Hoar brought his seed potatoes, half a bushel, on his back from Whitestown to Pompey Hill. The corn made use of in families, was pounded in stump mortars, and one good stump mill answered for a whole neighborhood. Marketing and trade was mostly done at Whitestown, old Fort Schuyler and Herkimer, and the transportation was mostly done by ox teams, in the winter season. The first town meet- ing for Pompey, was held at the house of Ebenezer Butler, April 1st, 1794, Moses De Witt was chosen Supervisor, and Hezekiah Olcott, Town Clerk ; Allen Beach, Wm. Haskins, George Catlin and Ebenezer Butler, Jr., Assessors; Thomas Olcott, Jeremiah Gould and John Lamb, Commissioners of Highways. A special town meeting was held, 20th Septem- ber, 1794, at the house of Ebenezer Butler, at which Wm. Haskins was chosen Supervisor, in place of Moses De Witt, deceased. The second annual town meeting was held at Ebe- nezer Butler's tavern, 7th of April, 1795. The first resolu- tion passed by this meeting is in the following words, "Voted that the mode of choosing Supervisor and Clerk be, to speak and mark against his name, and the remainder by nomination." Ebenezer Butler was chosen Supervisor, and Hezekiah Olcott, Town Clerk. At this meeting it was voted that "hogs be free commoners," and "that a bounty of five dollars be paid for the scalp of any full grown wolf." At the third annual town meeting held at Butler's, 1796, Ebenezer Butler was chosen Supervisor, and Hezekiah Olcott, Town Clerk. For several years, town meetings were held at Manoah Pratt's, and John Lamb was chosen Supervisor. Afterwards, town meetings were again held on the Hill, until lately, they have been held at Pompey Center.
The first religious society organized in the town of Pom- pey, and in the county of Onondaga, when it comprised the whole Military Tract, was under the title of the "First Pres- byterian society of the town of Pompey," 16th June, 1794. Ebenezer Butler, Jr., and Allen Beach, presided at the meet-
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ing, which was held at Mr. Butler's tavern. Moses De Witt, Ozias Burr and Ebenezer Butler, were chosen Trustees. The same year, 29th December, 1794, the first Presbyterian soci- ety was formed at Scipio, Silas Holbrook, Zeeb Taylor, John Richardson, Daniel Mark, Benjamin Tracy and Abram French Trustees. Next year, September 22d, 1795, the Baptist Church in Scipio, was formed, David Irish, Thomas Lapum, Asa Har- ris, Jeremiah Bishop, Jr., Alexander Weeks and Timothy How, Trustees. Others were organized in different parts of the county soon after. The first house of worship in town, was built at " Butler's (Pompey) Hill," of logs, about the year 1798. The Rev. Mr. Robins, a missionary from Connecticut, first preached at Pompey IIill, 1793, and assisted to organize the Church, 1794. Rev. Hugh Wallace was the first settled preacher-a Congregationalist. Mr. Wallace organized " The First Religious Congregational Society," of the town of Pom- pey, 8th April, 1800. Ebenezer Butler, Jr., Manoalı Pratt, John Jerome, Timothy Cossit, Daniel Dunham, and John Ked- der, Trustees. They used to meet in barns, houses, and at school houses. A Union Congregational Society, was formed near Capt. Moltrops, Pompey, May 18th, 1809. Trustees- Manoah Pratt, True W. Cook, Joseph Wadsworth, Josiah Holbrook, Benjamin Davis and William Dean. Rev. Joseph Gilbert, Rev. Hugh Wallace and Rev. Mr. Rawson, preached in this town during the years from 1793 to 1808. After- wards, the Rev. Joshua Leonard, who had charge of the Acad- emy, and Rev. Mr. Chadwick and Rev. Mr. Barrows. In 1817, the present house of worship was erected, on Pompey Hill, and consecrated first Sunday in January, 1818. Soon after, a Baptist house of worship was put up, and a Metho- dist, and more recently, a society of Campbellites have been organized. "The First Methodist Episcopal Society in the town of Pompey," organized 1810. Rev. James Kelsey pre- sided, Aaron Chapin acted as Clerk. Reuben Clark, Thom- as Grimes, Enoch Wilcox, Joel Canfield, Chester Truesdale and William O'Farrell, Trustees. Methodist Episcopal Church, Pompey, organized at the house of Phineas Barns, James
TOWNS .- POMPEY. . 245
Scoville, Phineas Barns, Shubal Safford, Simeon Sutherland and Luther Buel, Trustees. Zion Methodist society organized at Delphi, January 22d, 1822, and Central Congregational society, Green's Corners, 5th Feb., 1822-Eli IIubbard, Gil- bert Jackson, Roswell Sutton, Daniel Candee, Jr., and Seth White, Trustees. A Protestant Episcopal Church was organ- ized in 1823. The Rev. Mr. Rolf, a Roman Catholic minis- ter, officiated in this town in 1836, and James O'Donnel, an Augustinian afterwards. Mr. David Dodge and family, are the principal, if not the only persons of this denomination in town. He has a private chapel in his house, in which the dai- ly worship of his household is conducted, and mass and other offices of devotion are performed on the first Tuesday of every month, by a Roman Catholic priest.
The first lawyer who settled in this town was Samuel Miles Hopkins, who made but a short stay, and boarded at the house of Oliver Sweet. IIe afterwards moved to Geneseo and be- came quite a distinguished man. Daniel Wood, Esq., next settled as a lawyer on Pompey Hill, about the year 1800. Victory Birdseye, Esq., settled as a lawyer in 1807. Daniel Gott, Esq., afterwards.
Dr. Samuel Beach, first physician in town, 1798. Dr. Jo- siah Colton settled two miles east of Pompey Hill, 1801. Dr. Deodatus Clark practiced medicine a short time in this town. He died not long since, at Oswego, aged ninety years. Dr. Tibballs came in soon after and settled on the Hill, and passed all the prime of his life there. The first school teacher was Mr. J. Gould. The first person who taught any thing beyond the rudiments of an English education, was Mr. James Robin- son, who taught the classics and higher English, at the Hill, in 1805, 1806, 1807. Schools in this town have taken an elevated stand, owing mainly to the importance attached to instruction, by the New England settlers, who, at an early day, procured the erection and endowment of an excellent Academy at Pompey Hill, 1811. In 1813, the commission- ers of the Land Office were directed by the Legislature to grant letters patent to the Trustees of Pompey Academy, and
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their successors in office, the fee simple of lot number fifteen, in the township of Camillus, Onondaga County, with the privi- lege to sell and invest the proceeds in landed security, and appropriate the interest, arising from such investment, to the support and maintenance of instruction in said Academy, from which a fund of about four thousand dollars was created, which with the annual appropriations from the Regents of the Uni- versity, enables the Trustees of this institution to afford am- ple means of instruction, to all who may desire it, at a rea- sonable rate. This Academy has had the happy effect of dis- seminating intellectual improvement, much more generally in its vieinity, than it possibly could have been without the aid of this, or a similar institution. The first mills ereeted in this town were at Pratt's Falls, by Messrs. Pratt and Smith; a grist mill in 1798, and a saw mill a year or two earlier.
On the west branch of the Limestone Creek, near the mills of the Messrs. Pratt, about two and a half miles north-east of Pompey Hill, is a remarkable waterfall, of about one hun- dred and sixty feet, which at high water, presents a very grand and imposing appearance. This fall is almost perpendicular, yet enough broken to add beauty to its general character. The chasm below the fall is narrow, deep, abrupt, and the sides mueh worn. The roek is brown shale. Several years ago a young woman in search of raspberries, then abundant on the brink of the precipice, near where the water takes its final leap, fell off a distance of about sixty feet, before encounter- ing any objeet to obstruct her fall. At this distance, she struck upon a projecting rock, and rolled in every variety of attitude, over one hundred feet further ; the whole distance from the place from which she fell, to the place at which she finally landed, and from which she was taken up, was ascer- tained by actual measure, to be over one hundred and seventy feet. She was taken up senseless, but after awhile was re- stored to consciousness ; and although severely bruised, no bones were broken, and she finally recovered. Another young woman, of rather romantie turn of mind, descended a perpen- dicular part of the precipice of some twenty-five feet, and
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when discovered by her companions, who formed a large plea- sure party, she was very composedly walking on a narrow shelf, but a few inches broad, with a yawning abyss, of over one hundred fect below, and a projecting cliff twenty feet above her. After considerable exertion, by means of a rope, she was recovered in safety, much to the joy of her companions, although for herself she manifested no surprise or regret.
Henry Seymour, Esq., built a wind mill on Pompey Hill in 1810; it proved a failure, and another was erected soon after, which did business several years. It was built mainly for his own convenience in the preparation of grain for distilling. Daniel Wood, Esq., was the first Post Master at Pompey Hill, 1811; previously the place went by the name of Butler's Hill.
There are several stone quarries in this town, used for build- ing purposes, mostly dark shale, which are not considered of the most durable or desirable kind. Among these are found petrifactions of oyster, clam and scollup shells, and specimens of trilobite, and other extinct species of crustacea, found in the earliest fossiliferous strata.
There is one Revolutionary soldier, Mr. Conrad Bush, who resides on the lot for which he served, number thirty-seven. He came upon his lot in 1800, and had to cject settlers, who had already appropriated it to themselves. He still holds the same six hundred and forty acres entire, and although ninety- four years old, (1848) his mind is clear, and his natural force unabated. He and Thomas Dixon, of La Fayette, and Levi Bishop, of Manlius, and Jeptha Lee, of Ithaca, are supposed to be the last and only survivors of Colonel Lamb's regiment of artillery, formed for the defense of the New-York frontier, in 1781. Mr. Bush was at the battle of Long Island, with a company of Pennsylvania militia. He was also at the battles of Trenton and Princeton, and the taking of Cornwallis ; the stirring scenes of which he delights to relate, entering into all the minutiæe with the fervor and zeal of youth. He states, that at the time his regiment was discharged, so much and often had they been disappointed by the promises of Congress,
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that when their certificates were made out, for their individ- ual shares of land, a large majority had no confidence in the allotment of these bounties, and many cried out, who will give a pint of rum for mine ? Who will give a blanket for mine ? A great many sold their shares for the merest trifle. But, says he, with unmingled satisfaction, "I held on to mine, and I am well off." Mr. Bush is a German by birth, and was well known to General La Fayette, who recognized him on his visit to this country in 1825. He held a sort of impromtu secre- tary-ship to Timothy Pickering, in cases of emergency. This gentleman always sought opportunities to acknowledge his re- gard for him.
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