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 27
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 27
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).
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
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continued about three years. The village of Jordan contains about 1,700 inhabitants.
Moses Carpenter, James Weisner, Squire Munro, Ezra and John Brackett, and Joseph and Aaron Colman, first settled at Elbridge village, in 1794 and 5. Mr. Munroe kept the first tavern at that place soon after.
The Baptist Society was organized at Elbridge, as the first Baptist Church in Camillus, 30th Dec., 1816, Squire Munro, Nathan Munro & Lemuel Crossman, trustees. Elder Craw, the first minister, first held meetings in a school house. Their house of worship erected 1816. Upon the erection of their house of worship, the conscientious Elder remarked that now they were proud enough to have a church edifice, they were too proud to keep him, and took his leave in an uncere- monious manner. The clergy since, have been in the following order ; Elder Fuller, Elder Everts, Elder Butterfield, Elder Smitzer. The Presbyterian house of worship was erected 1830, the Methodist house the same year, and the Episcopal church was organized 1841. Edifice erected 1846. The first Pres- byterian clergymen were, Rev. Mr. Ingersoll and Mr. Page ; Baptist, Elder Eddy and Elder Davis ; the Episcopal clergy- man, Mr. - Rice. Congregational church organized in
1822, house of worship erected 1822-3. Jacob Campbell. Hiram F. Mather, Levi Clark, Jedediah Richards, trustees. Ministers have been in their order, Rev. Messrs. Jabez Chad- wick, Seth Porter, Timothy Stow, Medad Pomeroy, Sidney T. Mills, Lemuel W. Hamlin, Washington Thatcher, Charles Matoon.
Gideon Wilcoxon first established himself here as a lawyer, in 1813, Hiram F. Mather in 1818, afterwards Mr. Putnam. Dr. John Frisbie was the first physician, in 1797, Dr. Sweet in 1810, and Dr. Chichester after him. Post Office established 1813; Gideon Wilcoxon, P. M. Hiram F. Mather succeeded him, then Hendrick Wood, Mr. Munro, Wood and Munro.
The Munro Academy at Elbridge, was incorporated 1838. Nathan Munro, Esq., gave the building, lot, apparatus, libra- ry, and endowed it with a permanent fund of $20,000. It is
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subject to the visitation of the Regents of the University, and has annually drawn from the Literature Fund, from $150 to $500. Like other institutions of the kind it has had its sea- sons of prosperity and adversity ; at present it is flourishing. The Trustees have been enabled to lay by annually a surplus, which now amounts to a sum sufficient to build a new, large and commodious building, which the trustees contemplate do- ing next season.
There are three saw mills at Elbridge, a large and excellent grist mill, Miner's wooden ware factory, a large woolen factory, carriage factory, cabinet ware shops, an oil mill, &c. &c. El- bridge village contains about 800 inhabitants.
A little west of the village of Elbridge, between the Seneca Turnpike Road and the Skaneateles Creek, on lands of John Munro, is a large deposit of calcareous marl, but slightly mixed with argillaceous particles. This bed is about fifty rods long, from east to west, and about thirty broad ; its depth is unknown. It has, however, been found to extend over twenty feet in depth, and what is something remarkable, there is no other deposit of the kind in the immediate vicinity. At no distant day it will prove a valuable auxiliary to the farmers of this neighborhood, as a manure.
South of this, about a mile above the plaster formations, and below the limestone, is a layer of dark drab or brown sandstone, about twenty inches thick, and is dug out in blocks from one to two feet square, and makes an excellent building material. It is slightly dotted with hydrate of iron, possesses a sharp grit and fucoids sometimes present their appearance on the upper surface, and contortions the result of concretion- ary action, are observable on the lower.
East of Elbridge Village, about two miles, are extensive deposits of calcareous tufa, which extend down the brook and valley to the town of Van Buren. It is used in place of stone for fencing. The swamp south of the road abounds with it. There are numerous plaster beds finely developed, all along the Skaneateles Creek, below Elbridge to Jordan, of excel- lent quality, and they are improved to a great extent. On
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the banks of the creek, for fifty rods back, and half a mile in length, below the village of Elbridge, are numerous hopper- shaped cavities, some of which have been recently increased in size and depth. Some of them are fifteen or twenty feet in diameter, and eight or ten feet deep. Dr. Wheeler, in dig- ging a well not long since, found floating in, with the water, particles or scales of plaster.
All along on the banks of the Seneca River, are found is- sues of weak brine, and in some places are springs of consid- erable volume, but none of sufficient strength to encourage the manufacture of salt, or exploration.
In the limestone ledge, about a mile below the village of Elbridge, on the bank of the creek, is a cave about twenty feet long, by ten broad in the center, oval shaped, and about seven feet high. In former years it was much visited as a cu- riosity. It was a notorious den and hiding place for wild beasts, and was first discovered in 1794, by Robert Fulton and William Stevens, who had quite an adventure with a bear, which they slew.
In this town are numerous evidences of ancient occupancy by the French. On lot eighty-three, are the remains of an Indian village, where have been found hundreds of stone axes, all of similar pattern, about three inches broad by one inch thick. Each implement had a groove around the center, by which the handle was fastened in a peculiar manner, by thongs made of the sinews of deer. Hundreds of flint arrow heads have also been found on this ancient site. A peculiar stone was found at this locality, about two feet square, which was undoubtedly used for sharpening these axes. It was hollowed out towards the center. In this hollow, water was probably placed, and the instruments whetted backwards and forwards till brought to proper shape. The lowest part of the concave surface was about four inches at the center. In the vicinity are appearances of coal pits, charcoal, &c.
On lot eighty-one, north-east part, on the farm now occu- pied by Mr. John Munro, previously the Squire Munro farm, was formerly a fort, situated on the high ground, back of Mr.
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Munro's house. When the first settlers came to this town, 1793, the ditch and embankment were casily traced, amid the heavy timber, which stood promiscuously, not only on the em- bankment, but in the ditch. This fort was square, except on the west side, the line curved a little outward from straight.
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Within the enclosure was about an acre and a quarter of ground. The embankment was about two feet high all around, except a gateway on the west, about twelve feet wide. It was situated on a beautiful eminence, nearly surrounded by a deep ravine on the west, and a deep valley on the remaining sides. The whole area thus surrounded, contains about seventy-five acres of first rate land. The timber was large, consisting mainly of black oak, soft maple and small hemlocks. What is singular, on this and some other localities in this town is, that the ground was literally covered with pitch-pine knots, which lay strewed on the ground in the same order they had fallen, or as my informant, Col. John Stevens, remarked, "regular, like the ribs of a horse." Hundreds of wagon loads of these knots have been gathered and removed, for the purpose of making torches for fishing in the Seneca River. But one pitch-pine tree was known to the early settlers to exist in this town, and that was left standing for several years on account of its singularity.
At Fort Hill, on what is called the Purdy lot, about half a mile north-west from the last named, is another of these an- cient works. This was of much larger dimensions, and con- tained about four and a half acres of ground. There were
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two gateways, one on the east, the other on the west side.
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This is situated on one of the highest elevations in the town. When first discovered, the embankment was nearly three feet high, and on it was an oak tree, more than four feet in diame- ter. On the south side were numerous holes, about two feet, deep and six feet apart, as if an entrenchment or circumvallation had been commenced and not finished. Large quantities of dark brown pottery, have been picked up on this-ground, and thousands of fresh water clam shells, such as are now abund- ant in the Seneca River. Mr. Squire M. Brown gives the following as the substance of a statement made to him several years ago by the late Squire Munro. On this locality was found an oaken box or chest, in a decayed state, which upon ex- amination was found to contain a quantity of silk goods, of vari- ous colors. The folds and colors were easily distinguished. These, after a moment's exposure to the air, crumbled to dust. Several copper coins were also found with the silks, which were deposited in some of the Museums of New-York or Al- bany. These were found about the year 1800.
On lot eighty-four, on the farm now owned by Caleb Brown, Esq., about forty rods south of the road, was a circular fort which covered over three acres of ground. Around this was an embankment, about two feet higher than the interior area of the fort, and outside of the embankment, was a ditch four or five feet deep. There was a wide gateway on the west side, and a smaller one on the north-east, which gave communica-
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tion to a spring a short distance from the fort. In digging
about the western gateway, were found several pieces of tim- ber, having the marks of iron tools upon them. In a well which was some fourteen feet deep, and had probably at some previous time been timbered up, was found a quantity of charred corn, of the variety called Virginia corn. Bushels of fragments of earthen ware have been picked up on this ground, and even to this day, there are multitudes of shells and fragments of shells lying around. This locality, which is at this time (1848) under the plow, can be easily traced by the almost black appearance of the soil. Skeletons and hu- man bones, some of them of extraordinary size, were frequent- ly turned up by the plow in former years. All these locali- ties were convenient to durable springs of excellent running water.
On the site of Mr. Brown's house and garden, including a portion of the highway, was an ancient circular fort, contain- ing little over an acre of ground, within which were evidences of a blacksmith's shop, such as cinders, charcoal, &c. Near all these vestiges of ancient fortification were found many In- dian relics, which have often been related of other localities, and relics of those who had intercourse with them. From what can be gathered from observation and from history, this European occupancy was at, or nearly at the same time with that of the French missionary and trading establishments at
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Onondaga and Pompey, and shows that large numbers of these people must have sojourned in this region, whose minute his- tory is unknown.
At Jack's Rifts, when the whites first settled this town, the Onondagas had a large settlement, with an extensive clearing and a valuable orchard. They had also cleared off what is called the salt fields, in the town of Cato, and had a small settlement therc. The country north of Seneca River and Oneida River was their favorite hunting ground.
Statistics for the town of Elbridge from census of 1845:
Number of inhabitants, 3,829; subject to military duty, 446 ; voters, 830; aliens, 170 ; paupers, 2; children attend- ing Common Schools, 801; acres of improved land, 15,420; grist mills, 3 ; saw mills, 20 ; fulling mills, 1; carding works, 1; woolen factory, 1; iron works, 1; ashery, 1; tannery, 1; Academies, 2; Common Schools, 16; Churches-Baptist, 2; Presbyterian, 1; Episcopalian, 1; Congregational, 1; Meth- odist, 1; stores, 13; taverns, 9; groceries, 4 ; farmers, 648; merchants, 18; manufacturers, 37 ; mechanics, 215; clergy- men, 5; physicians, 9; lawyers, 5.
VAN BUREN .- This town was erected and organized in 1829. It was taken from the north part of the original town- ship of Camillus, and received its name from the Hon. Mar- tin Van Buren, then newly elected Governor of the State of New-York. The first settlements were made in this town, (then Marcellus,) in 1792, to 1794, first by Joseph Wilson, and about the same time by William Lindsay, David Haynes, John McHarrie, Reuben Smith and James Wells. Soon af- ter, at what is called the Warner settlement, Eleazar Dunham and Hcman Warner-and Benjamin Bolton, at Jack's Rifts. Phineas Barnes, Jonathan Skinner, Isaac Earll, William La- kin, Charles H. Tull and others, in different parts of the town, previous to 1810. At this period the country was en- tirely new and presented few attractions for settlement, most people preferring the higher grounds of the townships of Ca- millus and Marcellus, on account of their then more airy and
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healthy situation. In these early times, wolves were numer- ous and troublesome, often doing immense damage to the flocks of sheep. As a precaution against their depredations, the farmers were obliged to erect high enclosures and fold their flocks at night, and even then, they would occasionally leap over and destroy them. Bears were common, and deer very plenty, having been driven from the higher grounds south, by the clearing up of the forests in that quarter.
The first settlement in this town, approaching anything like a village, was at what is now called Ionia. Phineas Bates erected the first frame house, in 1808, and Isaac Earll an- other, soon after, and Charles H. Tull, another. The first Post Office was established in town, in 1816, and called Ionia, which gave name to the village ; Charles H. Tull, Post Mas- ter. He was succeeded by Oliver Nicholls, and Oliver by Job Nicholls. After the completion of the canal, business was attracted to that quarter and the prospects of Ionia were destroyed.
The first lawyer who established himself in this town was Theodore Popell, in 1818. The second was Medad Curtis, in 1829. The first physician who practiced in this town, was Jonathan S. Buel, in 1815, at Ionia. The first at Canton, and second in town, was Wm. Laughlin, 1812. First town meeting for Van Buren, was held at the house of Ebenezer Dunham, 26th of March, 1829, at which, Gabriel Tappan was chosen Supervisor, and Abel Tryon, Town Clerk.
The first religious society, formed in this town, was of the denomination, termed " Christians," inelining to the Baptist mode of worship, at Ionia. Presbyterian and Methodist so- ciety at Warner's settlement, 1830. The Baptist society at Canton, was organized 1832, or 1833. Obadiah E. Morrell, the first minister in the Christian house of worship, and John Guthrie and Benjamin Rider, succeeded him. Elder Rey- nolds, first officiated as pastor in the Baptist society, at Can- ton, and next after him, Elders Brown, Hough and Bates. Canton is a smart little village, situated on the Jordan level of the Erie Canal. It has grown up since the canal was completed,
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and contains about forty houses, and over two hundred inhab- itants. The Post Office is called Canal, and was established in 1828. There are two other Post Offices in town, called Van Buren, and Van Buren Center.
The water power in this town is but slight, except on the Seneca River, the streams being small, and the surface level. Dead Creek is the largest stream, and is very sluggish. On the banks of the streams in this town, is an abundance of marl and calcareous tufa, which presents itself frequently, in large quantities, and thetime will soon come when these marl beds, will be used as a dressing for the sandy soils in the neighborhood, and may be made useful to the southern towns.
The town of Van Buren is rapidly improving. It is gen- erally level, the soil alternating in sandy and clay loam, is very productive. The dwellings are mostly new, and present an air of comfort and taste, not so frequently displayed in the older settled towns. One feature is particularly worthy of notice-the barns are beautiful structures in their kind, very many of which are handsomely clapboarded and orna- mented with a heavy cornice and painted. These evidences of prosperity and thrift, tell well for the industry, perseve- rance and taste of the farming portion of the community.
Statistics of the town of Van Buren, taken from the con- sus of 1845 :-
Number of inhabitants, 3057; subject to military duty, 285; voters, 688; aliens, 35; children attending common schools, 766; grist mills, 2; saw mills, 6; carding machines. 2; iron works, 1; Tanneries, 1; churches-Baptist, 2; Con- gregational, 1; Unitarian, 1; common schools, 16; taverns, 4 ; stores, 3 ; groceries, 5; farmers, 534 ; merchants, 5 ; man- ufacturers, 27; mechanics, 157 ; clergymen, 8 ; physicians, 6 ; lawyers, 4.
FABIUS .- This town was taken from Pompey in 1798 and included two military townships, viz ; Fabius and Tully, and included all the present towns of Fabius, Tully, Truxton and Preble, with parts of Spafford and Otisco, being ten by twenty
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miles in extent. In 1803 Tully was taken from it, and ereet- ed into a town by itself. In 1808, when the county of Cort- land was set off from Onondaga, the town of Truxton was ta- ken from the southern part of Fabius.
The forests of this town were heavy. The timber consist- ed of hemlock, beech, maple, basswood, elm, ash and butternut, with some pine and oak. The settlement of this town com- menced at a somewhat later period, than the towns of Pompey and Manlius. The first settlers erected their log cabins in the dense forests, and the only guides to them were marked trees, or the eurling smoke, as it ascended from their rude chimneys or open roofs. The first marks of civilization had not then been made in this wilderness land. The noxious beasts roam- ed in perfect freedom, and the wild deer bounded at will, un- conscious of danger. The valleys were nature's pasture ground, the domestic herds roamed at will and grew fat on the sponta- neous herbage, liberally provided for them. The tinkling bell, directed the anxious settler to the object of his search, and its familiar sounds were joyfully followed, till the obedient ox, and docile cow, were brought by the sturdy woodman to the door of his humble dwelling. The one a welcome auxiliary to labor, the other an indispensable help to sustenance.
The first settlers in this town, were Mr. Josiah Moore and Timothy Jerome, who settled here in 1794, and were from old Stockbridge, Massachusetts. They erected the first log houses in town, and for the first year, were entirely alone. During the following year, several other families removed from Massachusetts to Fabius, among whom, were Colonel Elijah St. John, now, (1847) upwards of eighty years of age, and the only settler of that period living. The first town meet- ing was held at the house of Joseph Tubbs, April 3d, 1798, at which Timothy Jerome was chosen supervisor, and Josiah Moore town clerk ; Benjamin Brown, Timothy Walker and Elijah St. John, assessors ; Joseph Tubbs, James Cravath and William Blanchard, commissioners of highways ; Ezekiel Dun- ham, constable. These may be considered the primary settlers of the town of Fabius. Second town meeting, was held at
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the same place, 2d April, 1799, Timothy Jerome, chosen su- pervisor, Benjamin Brown, town clerk. Mr. Jerome was the first, and for a long time the only Justice of the Peace in this town, and for the surrounding country. The first frame house was erected by Josiah Moore in 1800. Others were erected soon after, and the inhabitants soon abounded in all the com- forts and conveniences of life. In 1810 the population was almost 1,900. The only means of subsistence, to which these early pioneers were accessible, were provisions brought with them from the east, for the first two years, except deer and some kinds of small game which were found here in abundance. Wild plums and blackberries were plenty, and these, with milk, satisfied the wants, and furnished the luxuries of their boards. The first mills to which they had recourse short of Herkimer, were Danforth's on the Butternut creek.
The first school taught in this town, was by Miss Jerome, wife of the late Judge James Geddes. She had received a competent education before leaving New-England. The school house was built of logs and the only one in town, and for a year or two was the only seat of learning in that portion of country. The first house of worship erected in this town, was the Baptist at Fabius Center, now Franklinville ; society or- ganized, 21st November, 1806, under the title of "the first
Baptist Society of Fabius." Richard Wheat, Simeon Keeny, jr., Samuel Moray, Lewis Howell and Jasper Partridge, trus- tees. The association was afterwards revived, and Elijah St. John, Jonathan Stanley, Aaron Benedict, John Phelps, Ste- phen Tripp, Simeon Keeny, Nathaniel Bacon, Benjamin Lucas, jr., and George Petit, trustees. The first organized society was in 1805, under the title of the First Society of Fabius, -Elijah Miles and David Joy, trustees. In 1836, a newspaper was es- tablished at Fabius, entitled the "AMERICAN PATRIOT," by Joseph Tenny, and continued about three years.
The soil of this town is better adapted to raising coarse grain and grazing, than wheat, although wheat has been raised, enough ordinarily for home consumption. The marketing at the earliest period of settlement for surplus produce, was main-
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ly done at Utica, Whitestown and Herkimer. It was not un- common for a farmer to take a load of produce upon an ox- sled, make his way to one of the above places, dispose of his products, and lay out the avails for necessaries sufficient for the year ; and many a noble matron of that period thought it often enough to visit "the Store" once in a year, to procure the luxuries, and fashions for her daughters. The truth is, necessaries then, were really so ; they kept soul and body unit- ed. And luxuries were only another name for those articles which could not possibly be dispensed with.
The streams in this town are small, most of which are trib- utaries to the Susquehanna, through the Tioughnioga Creek. On these small, but durable streams, numerous saw mills, four grist mills and four tanneries have been erected, but are not of sufficient power for more important machinery. The But- ternut and Limestone Creeks, take rise in this town and afford some water power. The first grist and saw mills erected, in this town, were by Thomas Miles on the Butternut Creek west of Apulia. Franklinville and Apulia, are post villages in this town, and are brisk business places. The first Post Office was at Truxton village, (then in Fabius). Established about 1803 or 1804. At a much later period Post Offices were established at Apulia, and Franklinville. Elijah Miles was the first State Senator from this town. The first Assemblyman, Jonathan Stanley, in 1812. Josiah Tubbs was the first tavern keeper, in 1797, near Tully, at whose house town meetings were first held.
On the west side of the Limestone creek, two miles south of Delphi, is an extensive deposit of calcareous tufa, rising abruptly, some fifty feet from the valley below. Intermingled, are various substances, of vegetable deposit, such as brush- wood, leaves, herbaceous plants, &c. There are kilns at this place, for the extensive manufacture of lime. At one of these, the tufa is moistened and moulded into forms or large tiles, about ten inches square, and four inches thick, and burned similar to bricks. At another, it is burned without this prep- aration. It produces a beautiful, perfect, unadulterated white
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lime, much sought for whitewashing, and for hard-finish walls. There are the three varieties found here, the earthy, the solid or horse-bone commonly so called, and the ferraginous. There are occasional instances, where the tufa assumes a semi-chrys- talline appearance, like alabaster, and might be obtained for or- namental purposes, similar to that beautiful substance.
Schools are numerous and flourishing. The interest felt for the cause of education, is highly creditable, and laudable ef- forts are put forth to sustain and improve it. Connected with the early settlement of this town is a little incident, which, though unimportant, happily illustrates the characteristics of the hardy pioneers of this favored spot. It is a hunt for a lost child. The family had erected their log cabin in 1799. Col. St. John and Judge Miles, had just taken up their abode here. This family had three or four small children, and among them an interesting little girl, perhaps three years old. The children had played about in the bushes near the house, as usual, and when night approached they all came in, except the little girl, who was missing. The mother called, but no voice responded. Darkness came on, and the blackness of night excluded every object from view. It requires no effort to de- scribe the keenness of the suffering and agony which pervaded the bosoms of the bereaved family group. The alarm was speedily given, to the scattering population, for miles around. Each man with a bark torch in hand, repaired to the scene of distress. The woods werc thoroughly scoured by torch-light, but no child could be found. During the night the whole country had been alarmed, and by day-light the next morning a large force was ready upon the ground, to proceed in search. The men were marshaled under the command of officers cho- sen on the spot, and the search was systematically renewed. As the line swept around in a wide circuit, words could be readily passed from one to another, so as to keep up a constant and regular communication throughout the whole extent. About ten o'clock in the forenoon, word passed through the line-" child found." This intelligence produced the most frantic joy, and complete disorder. He that could leap the
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