USA > New York > Oneida County > Rome > Our city and its people : a descriptive work on the city of Rome, New York > Part 3
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Elmer Hill was named from Hezekiah Elmer, who came from Ver-
GORDON N. BISSELL.
25
THE RIDGE AND OTHER LOCALITIES.
mont about 1792, with five sons and two daughters, and settled there. At about the same time Col. A. Wheelock also settled there and opened the first tavern north of Fort Stanwix on the Hill. Not far from 1797 Dr. Zenas Hutchinson, from Connecticut, settled at the Hill on a seventy acre farm. He was a good physician and had a large practice for forty years; he died in 1853. Dr. Enoch Alden came to Rome about 1798 and had his office where the store of A. M. Jackson & Co. is situated ; later he removed to Elmer Hill.
In the year 1817 Dr. H. H. Pope left his paternal home in Vermont when sixteen years old and started westward on foot, to seek his for- tune. He had an uncle at Elmer Hill, Dr. Henry Smith, and thither the young man went; he read medicine with his uncle for a time. While Elmer Hill thus had several early physicians, Romie itself had only two prior to 1800-Dr. Mathew Brown, jr., and Dr. Allen. Dr. Arba Blair was probably the next physician as he was a student in 1803.
About the year 1796 a number of families came into this region from the town of Stamford, Vt. Among them was Silas Matteson and family, who located on what became the county poor farm ; he was father of the late Simon Matteson, and grandfather of O. B. Matteson. Esquire Smith settled where George Hamill lived in recent years, coming liere from the same locality.
In the Greenway and Hatch's Corners districts in the southwestern part of the town, early settlers were Richard Brown, who purchased a farm'in 1800, moved upon it in 1801, and in 1816 deeded it to his son, . Chauncey Brown; J. B. Green, Jonathan Williams, and Daniel W .. Hazard. On the road from Verona Mills to Rome were Daniel Will- iams, Amos Scofil, John C. Brewster, Lyman Thayer, and others, all of whom have left descendants to perpetuate their names and works. On the old road from Oneida Castle to Rome, early settlers were Richard Brown, jr., Joseph King, Eleazer Dunham; the farm of the latter sub- 4
26
OUR CITY AND ITS PEOPLE.
sequently passed to Mathew Brown and later to Capt. Daniel Greene, father of Isaac G. Greene; still later to others. Joseph King's farm was sold to Joshua Greene, half brother of Capt. Daniel Greene ; later it was purchased by Hoxie Hazard, father of Daniel W. Hazard. Ephraim Covel was another early settler in that region and carried on a small tanning business on his farm, which he sold to Isaac G. Greene.
27
THE VILLAGE IN EARLY YEARS.
CHAPTER IV.
THE VILLAGE IN EARLY YEARS.
In tracing the history of the early settlements on the site of Rome village we may properly begin with the year 1789, when Ebenezer Wright came here and found the following dwellings standing :
Two log houses on the road to Newville, near what is known as the Mccutcheon place, in one of which Col. William Colbraith (afterwards first sheriff of Oneida county) then resided ; a log house near the site of the United States Arsenal, in which Jedediah Phelps then lived ; a log house near the late residence of Numa Leonard (now owned by Charles E. Saulpaugh), and another one near the present residence of . H. K. White. There was also a frame house-and the only one-near the site of G. N. Bissell's present residence, and. another log house near the present site of St. Peter's Catholic church, into which three families of newcomers removed a week after Mr. Wrighit's arrival. . In the house near the fort were then living the Ranney family, Bill Smith, and a- Dutchman named Dumont. A man named Armstrong lived at the junction of Wood and Canada Creeks.
A description of what has always been called the Expense Lot which embraces a part of the site of Rome, is essential at this point.
On the 4th of June, 1785, a survey of the Oriskany Patent into allotments began, as described in the history of land titles in the other volume of this work. Previous to surveying the allotments a certain parcel was surveyed off to be sold at auction to pay the expense of the survey. This lot has ever since been known as the "Expense Lot." As originally set off it contained 697 acres; its boundaries are about as follows, viz .:
28
OUR CITY AND ITS PEOPLE.
Commencing on the south side of the Mohawk, and not far from Mr. Parry's brickyard; thence running southwesterly towards the Poor House, about 240 rods; then northwesterly about a mile, towards Canal Village; then northeast about 150 rods, towards St. Joseph's church, passing south of that building, and crossing the track of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad at Henry street, and up that street to near the track of the Rome, Watertown and Ogdensburg Railroad, where Expense street extended would cross it; thence north up that street to a point about half way between Court and Embargo streets; thence easterly, crossing the blocks diagonally, and passing near the house of Mr. Charles Keith, on the corner of Court and Washington streets, and so on diagonally across West Park to James street; and thence nearly down Park alley, and crossing the Black River Canal near the bathing house of H. W. Barnes, and so on to the Mohawk; then following that stream down to the starting point.
On the 12th of November, 1785, the agents who surveyed the "Expense Lot" and divided the patent into allotments, published a notice that on the 9th of January, 1786, they would meet at Butlers- burg, at the inn of Myndert W. Quackenbush, " for the purpose of at- tending to the balloting for, and drawing by lot," the several parcels surveyed. At that meeting there were present the commissioners, the agents, Judge Visscher, and Jelles Fonda. None of the owners of the patent appeared, and the drawings took place then and there. The James De Lancey one- fifth was set off to the State, one of the parcels thus disposed of being a tract of 960 acres in the northwest corner of the patent, including among other lands the Rome cemetery, and most of the farm formerly owned by Asa C. Huntington, and later by Dr. H. H. Pope; also another parcel (460 acres) east of Factory Village. No others in this immediate vicinity were set off to the State. The portion of the city east of Washington street and next north of the " Expense Lot " was set off to William Livingston and Alida Hoffman, and contained 460 acres, including the old burying-ground, the blocks where stand the Presbyterian church, the court house, St. Peter's church, the East Park, and on across the river so as to take in Factory Village. The portion west of Washington street and north and west of the "Expense Lot," including . West Rome, was set off to those
29
THE VILLAGE IN EARLY YEARS.
claiming under George Clarke; the portion of the " Rome Swamp," south of the "Expense Lot," and between that line and the County House, was set off to those claiming under Thomas Wenham.
March 17, 1786, the " Expense Lot" was put up at auction, and bid off by Dominick Lynch, then a merchant of New York city, for £2,250. This was his first purchase in this vicinity, and thie germ of the Lynch estate in Rome. .
From the price paid for the " Expense Lot " it seems that Mr. Lynchi considered it valuable, although the southern portion of it was so swampy as to be entirely ineligible for building lots. In fact it is not known whether he ever entertained an idea of converting that part of it into building lots. In July, 1786, he purchased of William Living- ston and Alida Hoffman the 460 acres set off to them, thus arranging his property here in better shape, and in 1787 he purchased of the "Commissioners of Forfeitures" the 460 acres east of Factory Village, which had been set off to the State. Before 1800 he purchased other contiguous parcels, thus, becoming the owner of about 2,000 acres, nearly or quite in a compact body.
It has been mentioned that when Ebenezer Wright came to Rome, in 1789, there was but one frame house on the site of what is now the city. In 1793 John Barnard kept a tavern on or near the site of the old Baptist church. In the spring of the same year there came to the place a young unmarried man, who became the first merchant in Rome, and a prominent man among the settlers. This was George Huntington, the father of Edward Huntington, esq., now of Rome. He brought a stock of merchandise with him, and set up business in the same house kept by Barnard as a tavern. The next year, 1794, he built a dwelling on the site of the residence in later years of Dr. Cobb.
In 1795 a grist mill was erected on Wood Creek, not far from the site of the United States Arsenal. This mill was an important institu-
30
OUR CITY AND ITS PEOPLE.
tion for that day, and the next day a boat load of corn to be ground into meal came from Ontario county, via Seneca River, Oneida River, Oneida Lake, and Wood Creek, and when the meal was ready the bateau returned with its load by the same route. . This was at that time the nearest mill of the kind to the inhabitants of Ontario county.
It is not positively known at what time Dominick Lynch laid out the plat of this village, but it was as early as 1796. 'He gave it the name of Lynchville. The blocks in the village were 600 by 400 feet, with eighteen lots in each block. The numbering of lots began on the south side of Dominick street, at what is now the Black River Canal, and in- cluded from one upwards the space between that point and Wood Creek on the west, where they crossed to the opposite side of the ·street and numbered back (Fort Stanwix block being No. 12), then crossed over Liberty street and numbered back again to Wood Creek, and so back and forth. On the first map of the place the only streets shown were Dominick and James About the year 1800 another map was made, showing Dominick, Washington, James, Liberty, Mad- ison, Court, Embargo, Jay, Thomas, and Bloomfield streets. None of these, except the first four, were opened to any extent until 1850.
It is stated that prior to 1800 'a number of the then leading citi- zens of the place were together, and the subject of a name for the embryo village was broached. George Huntington, who had become. at the time an extensive lot owner in the vicinity, spoke of the many classical names given to places in the State, but remarked that none had been named after the " Eternal City," and he therefore suggested , Rome, which was adopted, partly from the suggestion and partly from the fact that the town (formed in 1796) bore the same name. Of the streets of Rome, Dominick was named for Mr. Lynch, the original pro- prietor ; James was named after his son; and Washington took its name from the great chieftain then living, whose deeds were fresh in the minds of the people.
31
THE VILLAGE IN EARLY YEARS.
Mr. Lynch adopted the plan of giving durable and perpetual leases of his lots, rather than absolute titles, and for many years the system was a source of trouble to the citizens. An, annual rent was reserved, payable in money or grain, and in case of non- payment the property 'was to revert to the owner.
The first conveyances (durable leases) given by Mr. Lynch were in 1796; on the 30th of July of that year twenty eight lots were leased to the following persons, viz., Matthew Brown, jr., Michael McGrath, Sheldon Logan (what is now the Empire block), Joshua Hathaway (Elm Row), and John Barnard, the latter leasing twenty-two lots on Dominick street. Three years later, in 1779, the site of Merrill's block and other premises were leased to George Huntington per- petually, at an annual rent of twelve bushels of wheat, payable May I of each year. It is possible there were also other leases in Lynch- ville where the rent was to be paid in grain.
In the southern, or swampy portion of Mr. Lynch's purchase, he . laid out sixty lots of four and one- half acres each, which became known as "Peppercorn lots." Parties leasing lots in Lynchville usually had one of these lots thrown in as a "bonus." They were at that time considered as of little or no value, and the rent reserved on. each one was a pepper-corn, payable on the first day of May in each year, if lawfully demanded, for the term of the next ten thousand years, and after twenty cents annually for each lot !
John Barnard, already mentioned, was one of the most enterprising of Rome's early citizens, and a favorite with Mr. Lynch. He built many of the first edifices, and entered into the work of founding and building up a city with a zeal deserving of better results. He finally became involved to such an extent that he was forced to make an as- signment, and accordingly, in 1799, he conveyed seventy-two acres of " Pepper-corn lots" to one Caleb Putnam, a tanner. This tract in- cluded the land on which now stand the Armstrong and Beecham
32
OUR CITY AND ITS PEOPLE.
blocks, south of the Erie Canal and west of James street, and south from that, taking in the Railroad Hotel and depot buildings. Mr. Put- nam's house stood near the canal of the Western Inland Lock Naviga-, tion Company, a short distance east of James street. His tannery was in the rear, and nearest the canal. The barn occupied a portion of the space, and the balance of the triangle formed by James street, the railroad, and the canal was occupied by vats and a bark mill, and cov- . ered with tan bark. This tannery was the first one put in operation in this part of the country, and did quite an extensive business. In 1819, while Mr. Putnam was inspecting some timber in the woods, he fell upon a log, and a projecting knot penetrated his abdomen, inflicting wounds from the effects of which he died. He was buried by the Masonic fraternity. After his death the tannery was carried on for. a time by Horace N. Carr, but finally went to decay.
In all the carly leases from Mr. Lynch the land they cover is de- scribed as being in "Lynchville," town of Rome, and county. of Herkimer, the lots being numbered on a map made by William Wes-
, ton. In the subsequent conveyances, for a number of years, they are described in the same way, the name of Rome not being used except in speaking of the town. William Weston was the same in- dividual who constructed the canal of the Western Inland Lock Navi- gation Company, and was an English engineer of considerable repute. He made the map of Lynchville for its proprietor, and subsequently returned to England, from whence he had been called to construct the above-mentioned canal.
This canal, which was two miles in length, was opened for use in 1797, and extended from the Mohawk, near Mccutcheon Place,' to Wood Creek, at the United States Arsenal, having a capacity for Dur- ham boats of forty tons burden. Bateaux drawing two feet of water, and carrying from three to fifteen tons, could pass, although with considerable difficulty, in dry seasons. It was estimated that in. 1812
CALVERT COMSTOCK.
-
33
THE VILLAGE IN EARLY YEARS.
the number of boats passing through this canal was 300, with 1, 500 tons of merchandise. Gen. Philip Schuyler was president and a direc- tor of the company, and Dominick Lynch and Col. Marinus Willett were also directors. Peter Colt, who lived at the time near Mc- Cutcheon Place, superintended the construction of the work; he was "continuous superintendent, and George Huntington collector, from 1797 until the completion of this section of the Erie Canal in 1820.
Of Fort Stanwix in September, 1791, Elkanah Watson wrote as fol- lows :
The situation of Fort Stanwix appears destined to become a great city; it lies in an open plain, healthy and exactly at the point where the eastern and western wa- ters unite. There is a large clearing about the old fort with two or three scattering houses. No progress has, however, been made since I attended the treaty here in 1788, although the plan of the city is now contemplated.
In September, 1799, President Dwight, of Yale College, visited Rome and in his " Book of Travels," thus describes what he saw here :
The village of Rome is a very unpromising copy of the great exemplar from which it has derived its name. The land on which it is built is poor, and surrounded by alders or half starved trees. The houses are about twenty in number, and decent in their appearance; the whole aspect is uninviting. . The proprietor of the ground, a gentleman of New York, believing, as proprietors usually do, that his lands will soon be very valuable, has taken effectial care to prevent them becoming so by dis- tributing them into small house-lots, demanding excessive rents, and adopting other unwise measures. The canal, through which, when the outlets are open, runs a sprightly streain, adds not a little cheerfulness to the village. Nor is this the only benefit derived from it by the inhabitants. The base of their settlement is coni- posed almost wholly of small round stones. The canal being dug to a depthi con- siderably lower than their cellars, heretofore wet and troublesome, has effectually drained them. The water also, in the upper part of the wells, which was of a bad quality, has by the same means been drawn off; and the remainder, flowing from a , deeper source, has become materially sweeter and better. We examined the locks of the canal, and were not a little surprised to see the bricks composing the locks already beginning to moulder away, although the work had been finished little more than two years. I have seen no good bricks in this region. In fire-places they soon burn out; wherever they are exposed to the weather they speedily dissolve,
5
34
OUR CITY AND ITS PEOPLE.
The bricks mentioned by President Dwight were very large, but they did not answer the purpose and were soon afterwards replaced by stone. When the Rome Court House was erected in 1806 these bricks were used in its construction. When this building was burned in 1844, many of them were again used in the walls of a dwelling on the corner of George and Court streets.
In the year 1804 Mr. Lynch built a dam across the Mohawk some distance above the dam of the Inland Canal and from it he conducted a large raceway, extending across the land within the bend of the river, so that the water taken out at the dam ran through the race to the stream at the other side of the bow, where the old red mill was built in. that year. This was below Factory Village. About 1810 Mr. Lynch built a woolen factory on the site afterwards occupied by the soap fac- tory of Brodock & Co. This was burned about 1817. Other improve- ments made by Mr. Lynch were the building of a cotton factory farther' down on his raceway prior to 1820, which was burned in 1849; a saw mill built on the same ground in 1863 and a wrench factory in 1865, both of which were also burned.
ROME 1810
COURT
S!
. : S!
.
ST
72 M
72= 2
■ 67元
76
75 14 73
-
.
5
LIBERTY
ST
-
78
79 86
65
₹ 62
64
STONE ALLEY
26
24 23 22 21 20
19 18
17
73 12 11 10 9
-
6
Bio Ai
DOMINICK
ST
62
5% 5049
48 47 46 45
1+4 143 42 41
40 39 38
37 36
35 34 33
32 31
30
29
28 27
₩ 56
57
Co's CANAL
8 55
INLAND NAVIGATION
JAMES
8
3
₪ 59
8 5&
5
MOHAWK
1 53
WASHINGTON
1 67
2 66
K 63
73
.2 67
430333
.
.
3
: 35
TOWN MEETING PROCEEDINGS.
CHAPTER V.
TOWN MEETING PROCEEDINGS.
2027416
The territory of the town of Rome (now the city) was originally a part of the great town of Whitestown, from which the town of Steuben was created April 10, 1792, including what is now Rome. The first town meeting for Steuben was held at the house of Seth Ranney " near Ft. Stanwix " on the first Tuesday in April, 1793, and Roswell Fellows was chosen supervisor, and Jedediah Phelps town clerk. From Steu- ben the town of Rome was erected March 4, 1796. The first town meeting was held at the dwelling house of Ebenezer Claflin on the first Tuesday in April, 1796. There the following officers were elected : Supervisor, George Huntington ; town clerk, Ebenezer Wright, jr .; as- sessors, Chester Gould, Gershom Waldo, and Daniel W. Knight ; over- seers of the poor, Thomas Wright and William Walsworth; commis- sioners of highways, William Smith, Elijah Walls, and Caleb Reynolds; constables, Samuel Reynolds and David Waldo; fence viewers, Mat- thew Brown, Asa Tyler and John Williams ; pound masters, Nathan Thompson and Matthew Brown ; school commissioners, Chester Gould, Sheldon Logan and. Abijah Putnam. When the town of Rome was - formed its territory constituted a part of Herkimer county, and con-
tinued thus until March 15, 1798, when Oneida county was erected. The population of the town when it was formed must have been less than 1,000, for the census of 1800 gives it as only 1,400. At that time most of the inmediate region was a wilderness through which roamed panthers, bears, wolves, wildcats and other beasts of prey. Settlements were few and far between.
At the first town meeting it was voted " that Daniel Haws build a.
36
OUR CITY AND ITS PEOPLE.
good pound for the town of Rome near the dwelling of Benjamin Gil- bert." It was also voted, "that hogs be free commoners, if they have good and sufficient yokes on;" it was also voted "that every man take care of his own rams."
Following is a concise account of the principal proceedings of the town meetings down to the organization of Rome village :
1797 .- The town meeting was held at the house of Benjamin Gilbert. The same overseers of the poor were re-elected. E. Wright, jr., Ches- ter Gould and John White, assessors; Calvin Gould, David I. Andrus, and Timothy Wood, commissioners of highways; S. Reynolds, Simeon Rood, and Bill Smith, constables. There were elected this year four- teen pathmasters.
1798 .- Town meeting was held at the house of David I. Andrus. The same overseers of the poor re-elected and the same constables, with Stephen Benedict as third constable; Gershom Waldo, D. I. An- drus and Thomas Wright, jr., assessors ; Jeremiah Steves, Isaac Lathrop and E. Wright, jr., commissioners of highways; Joshua Hathaway, E. Wright and Roswell Fellows, school commissioners. It was voted " that fence viewers should have six cents a day for their services ;" and " that horses be free commoners, stallions excepted ; if any stallion be found on the common one year old or upwards, the owner to pay five pounds to the use of the poor." "It was also voted "that hogs to be free commoners with yokes six inches long above the neck, three inches wide each side and three below, that the yokes be put on by the first of May and taken off by the first of November ; that rams be confined from September I to November 1."
1799 .- Town meeting held at the same place as last year; E. Wright, jr., Moses Wright and Peter Colt, assessors. The same over- seers of the poor were elected as in the three preceding years, and the 1 same constables as the last year; Elisha Walworth, Cyrus Fellows and Michael Frost, commissioners of highways. This year the road districts were formed and numbered and a pathmaster elected for each.
37
TOWN MEETING PROCEEDINGS.
1800 .- Town meeting was held at the school house. . Henry Hunt- ington, Moses Wright, and E. Wright, jr., assessors; the same consta- bles as the preceding year, and the same overseers of the poor as in the four preceding years ; Gershom Hinckley, Silas Perkins, and Elisha Walsworth, commissioners of highways; Thomas Moore, Henry Hunt- ington, school commissioners ; Matthew Brown, D. A. Andrus, pound- masters. No school commissioners were elected again until 1814.
1801 .- Having given the chief officers elected in each year for the first year of Rome's existence as a town, they will be omitted hereafter, except as given in later lists. In this year it was voted " that no cattle. be allowed to run at large between December 1 and March 20 within half a mile of each mill or tavern in town ;" two shillings fine per head imposed on the owner for violation of this by-law. An extra town meeting was held at the school house November 30 of this year and it was there voted " that ten dollars be raised and paid to any person who shall kill any panther, wolf, or wild cat in town." It was also voted "that a bounty of one cent be paid for each chipping or red squirrel, two cents for each gray and black squirrel killed before the first of April."
1802 .- Town meeting held at the school house .. It was voted " that a bounty be paid of one cent for each blackbird and blue jay and six cents for each crow killed in Rome for the ensuing year." Voted, " that one hundred dollars be raised for support of the poor the ensuing year." Voted, "that no cattle or hogs be allowed to run at large within half a mile of any mill or tavern from December I to March 20." Voted, " that no jack shall be allowed to run at large at any time," un- der penalty of five pounds to be paid by the owner for the use of the poor.
1803 .- Town meeting held at the school house. It was voted that fence viewers' fee be three shillings per day ; "that there shall be three pounds in town, one near the dwelling house of David I. Andrus, one near the jail, and one near the house of Matthew Brown, and said pounds shall be *
38
OUR CITY AND ITS PEOPLE.
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