USA > New York > Madison County > Our county and its people : a descriptive and biographical record of Madison County, New York > Part 11
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In 1813 it was voted in town meeting that "any man having Canada thistles growing on his land shall mow them down twice in the sum- mer, once in June and once in August," under penalty of $5, on prose- cution of the same, and the pathmasters were placed in charge of Eph- raim Goodell to see "they performed their duty in regard to Canada thistles." Numerous resolutions appear in the town proceedings at this period regarding the then proposed half-shiring the county, against which policy this town was bitterly opposed, as indeed were most of the others. In 1814, for example, it was voted that " we are decidedly opposed to half-shiring the small county of Madison, in any place what- soever, and we still believe the site ought in justice to be removed from Cazenovia to a just and equitable center, and likewise decidedly opposed to have any part set off from the small county of Madison for the pur- pose of erecting a new county or enlarging any other." All of which
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indicates that the settlers in this town had their troubles many years ago, in common with humanity at large.
Thus we have seen that at the date of the county organization the town of Eaton was far advanced in its settlement with a class of inhab- itants above the ordinary and numbering among them several who, with their immediate descendants, became conspicuous in various direc- tions throughout the county. Schools were in successful operation, one church was in existence, roads were opened but were still almost impassable at certain seasons, and a small start had been made towards the founding of the numerous industries that in later years gave the town considerable importance. The town was still without a post- office, without a lawyer, but these blessings were soon to be realized.
Turning now to the adjoining town of Lebanon, we find that it was set off from Hamilton February 5, 1807, and received its name in ac- cordance with the suggestion made in the State Legislature by Gen. Erastus Cleveland, of Madison, who championed the bill dividing the original town of Hamilton into four towns, as it was then composed of four townships, the fifth forming the town of Lebanon. It is centrally situated on the south border of the county and bounded on the north by Eaton, on the east by Hamilton, on the south by Chenango county, and on the west by Georgetown. It contains a little more than 26,000 acres, its area remaining as at first fixed. Its surface is hilly and com- prises the highlands between the valleys of the Chenango and the Ot- selic. The Chenango valley extends into the eastern part, expanding into a mile in width, giving a considerable tract of fertile and beauti- fully situated land, which is bordered by steep hillsides. Numerous small streams flow through parts of the town and are tributary to the Chenango. The Hamilton group of rocks underlies most of the town, with the higher groups appearing in the western part; the latter has been quarried in a limited way for cellar walls. The soil on the hills is gravelly loam, underlaid with hardpan, and in the valleys is rich alluvium. Lebanon is almost exclusively an agricultural region, man- ufacturing and trade interests never having been important. In past years hop growing has been followed with profit, but not to a great ex- tent, while dairying has for many years been the principal industry. The New York, Ontario and Western Railroad crosses the town in a southwesterly direction, with a station at Lebanon, and connects at Earlville with the Chenango Valley branch of the West Shore road, and at Smith's Valley with the Utica, Clinton and Binghamton which extends a short distance into the town in the northeast part.
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Lebanon was one of the six towns patented to Col. William S. Smith in 1794, who soon afterward transferred the greater part of it to Sir William Pultney, reserving a large tract bordering on the Chenango River. This condition resulted in there being two separate agencies that were active in promoting settlements. In 1791, the year in which Mr. Smith's purchase was made but previous to its consummation, he commissioned his friend, Joshua Smith, born in Franklin, Conn., to select lands for him in the Twenty Townships. Joshua Smith visited this region in that year, making the journey on horseback, built a log house for future use a short distance south of the hamlet of Smith's Valley, and returned east to report to his superior. Mr. Smith subse- quently returned to Lebanon, married and reared a family, and re- moved later to Monroe county.
Col. William S. Smith was graduated at Princeton College in 1774 and served as aid to Baron Steuben, receiving a colonel's commission for meritorious conduct. His wife was Abigail Adams, daughter of the second president of the United States. He was minister to Eng- land during Mr. Adams's administration. At the time of the Burr con- spiracy his acts excited suspicion, which prompted him to place his landed estate in this vicinity in the hands of his brother, Justus. His suspected connection with Burr's operations brought no results and Colonel Smith returned to Smith's Valley to live. He was elected to Congress from the Seventeenth District in 1813 and was re elected in 1815. He had three children-Baron Steuben, John Adams, and Car- oline; of these John. Adams studied law in the office of Judge Hubbard in Hamilton. It is said that nine brothers and sisters of the Smith family have resided at different periods in Smith's Valley. After Jus- tus B. Smith had begun his service in the sale of the lands here, his brothers, James and John, and five sisters joined him in the settlement. Colonel Smith died at Smith's Valley in 1816, and Justus B. died in the same year; he was a bachelor and lived on the east side of the river three-fourths of a mile below Smith's Valley station.
The earliest settlement in the town, however, was made by Jonathan Bates, who came from Vermont in the fall of 1792, with Enoch Stowell, from New Hampshire, and John and James Salisbury, whose settle- ment in Eaton was noticed a few pages back. Bates and Stowell lo- cated on the north line of Lebanon on lot 7, Bates where Joshua Cram- phin lived in recent years, now occupied by William Stringer, and Stowell where his son Horace now resides. During that fall they 7
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cleared twenty acres of land, living meanwhile in a bark shanty. They passed the winter in Bainbridge with Vermont friends and in the spring Bates returned with his family and lived on the farm he first located until his death, in April, 1827. He was buried near the line between Lebanon and Eaton. His son Henry succeeded to the homestead and died there in 1831. David, an elder son, was a cooper and lived many years in the town. Enoch Stowell returned a little later and married a sister of Benjamin Church; Mr. Church soon followed Stowell into the settlement and located a little below him; he died in June, 1859.
Settlement in Lebanon was rapid and 1794 saw the incoming of a number of pioneers; among them were David Hartshorn, Samuel and David Felt, brothers, and probably others. Samuel Felt settled on the west side of the Chenango in the vicinity of Earlville, and died in July, . 1803; David died in August, 1810, both in middle life. Samuel had sons, Jehiel, Samuel, Elam, John, Jabin, Sylvester and David, most or all of whom lived for a time in this vicinity. David Felt also had a large family.
David Hartshorn had previously prospected here and when he came to settle in 1794 brought his family of wife and one child, John; they located a little south of Wheeler's Mills, on the west bank of the Che- nango a little above Smith's Valley. He kept a tavern several of the early years. John Hartshorn, the eldest son, was the first postmaster at Smith's Valley, appointed about 1817; he removed to Syracuse in 1820, and there passed the remainder of his long life. Jacob Harts- horn and Joseph Phelps, the latter a brother-in-law of David Harts- horn, settled a little later in the north part of the town.
These pioneers suffered many privations and hardships during their first season, particularly in the winter months. To get grain ground they had to make the journey to Whitestown, the path defined only by marked trees and often almost impassable. Under these circumstances boiled wheat and hulled corn were much used on the table. Samuel Felt, with much labor, made a large mortar from a section of an elm log, in which he and his neighbors pounded their grain.
In 1797 Lent Bradley settled on lot 4, on the north line of the town, where John Bennett lived in recent years, now occupied by Edward Purcel, and died there. Solomon Jones was a settler also as early as 1797. John W. Bulkley located as early as 1798; also David Shapley just north of the present stone school house, and Dunham Shapley southeast of that school house. Arunah Moseley settled west of the
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reservoir about the same year. The Shapleys and Moseley were Shak- ers, from the Community in New Lebanon, Columbia county, and left it clandestinely with three women members whom they subsequently married. David Shapley settled about a mile below the location of Jonathan Bates, before noticed, where his son Lewis lived and now his grandson, Spencer Shapley. Dunham Shapley settled about a mile southeast of his brother's place. Moseley settled on the east side of the Campbell settlement where Palmer Kenyon resided a few years, now owned by the heirs of the late John Faucett. These three pioneers died each upon his homestead farm.
The Campbell Settlement took its name from nine families of that name who settled in that locality, all of whom came from Sterling, Conn. The names of the heads of the families were Daniel, Allen, James, Steward, Isaac, Archibald and John, many, if not all, sons of widow Patience Campbell, and John and Charles, sons of widow Nancy Campbell. Their settlement was made in the north part of the town. The two widowed mothers, who were then old women, came in with their sons, and Nancy Campbell taught the first school in her dwelling in 1801. The Campbell Settlement covered an area of several hundred acres, which was divided into the farms of these pioneers. With the exception of Steward and John (sons of Patience), and Isaac who went west, and Daniel, all these pioneers died on the farms on which they first settled. Daniel died where his grandson, Stephen B. Campbell, now lives. Morris N. Campbell, the oldest living descendant of these Campbells, descended from Patience, now resides on the farm pur- chased by his father in 1820, three miles northeast of Lebanon village.
The year 1798 (possibly 1797) saw the arrival in the town of two men who were to give the settlers their first mills. These were Daniel and Elisha Wheeler, brothers, who removed from Chatham, Columbia county, and located about three miles east of Lebanon village; they were practical millwrights and Elisha built a saw mill on the west side of the Chenango at Smith's Valley in 1798, and Daniel a grist mill soon afterward on the opposite side of the river about a mile above Smith's Valley. This was burned about 1804, a loss that was a calamity to the people, who had already been about five years without means of grind- ing grain. On the day following the fire the near-by inhabitants gath- ered at the site of the mill and before night arrangements were com- pleted for its rebuilding, which was soon accomplished. The grist mill stood on the site of the Armstrong mill; the latter was occupied as a
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carriage shop after the construction of the canal feeder, which substan- tially destroyed the water power; and later became a storehouse, and was burned. The saw mill owned in recent years by Mr. Simmons, was built on the site of the old mill, now operated by Horace Close.
Dane Ballard settled in 1800, coming from Pelham, Mass., locating just north of the Rhode Island quarter, where John B. Coe resided in recent years. - In 1803 he removed to Lebanon settling on the site of the village. The village site is on lots 57 and 58, the north and south street being the dividing line. Mr. Ballard built the first saw mill there in 1804 on the site of the mill now owned by L. Ballard; this mill is idle for lack of water.
In the same year (1800) Silas Seymour, born in Hartford, Conn., in 1777, settled in Lebanon, taking up sixty acres of land on lot 24; by subsequent purchases he acquired over 200 acres, most of which ulti- mately passed to his son, Alfred, long and still a respected citizen of the town. Silas Seymour died on his homestead in 1845.
Elihu Bosworth was a settler as early as 1800 in the northwest part, where Le Roy Thayer now lives, where he resided until near the time of his death in 1854; he was from Guilford, Conn. Jabin Armstrong was a newcomer of about that year, married a niece of David Harts- horn and settled just below what was then known as Hartshorn's Cor- ners, and began wagon making. Thomas Buell settled in 1800 or a little earlier, on a large tract in the southeast part of the town and by the year 1815 was with one exception (Justus B. Smith) the largest land owner; he died in 1820. Deacon Abraham Webster, a brother of the famous lexicographer, settled in town as early as 1802 in about the center of the northwest quarter, near the residence of Reuben H. Geer. Malatiah and Benjamin Hatch also were pioneers at about the begin- ning of the century.
Rev. Matthias Cazier, of French descent, and a soldier in the Revo- lutionary army for three years, was the first settled pastor in Castleton,- Vt., in 1790. In 1800 he took his family to Salem, Conn., and in com- pany with a friend explored central New York. In the same year he purchased 800 acres in Lebanon. In 1802 he removed his family to Hamilton and in 1804 to his new home in this town; he built his house on lot 22 in the northwest part of the town, where Otis Dunham now resides, and there died in 1837.
Daniel Clark was a settler of 1803 in the southeast part, where he died in 1853. Orsamus Gilbert and Francis Whitmore were pioneers of
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1805, the former from Becket, Mass .; he came in with a three horse team and settled on the site of Lebanon village. There he built a dwelling which was subsequently occupied by his son-in-law, William Tompkins, and remained standing until it was the oldest house in town. He was a practical cloth dresser and established a carding machine: He died in 1843. Francis Whitmore was originally from Connecticut, but removed to Lebanon from Wilbraham, Mass., settling about five miles north of Earlville; he died in the town in 1841.
Ephraim Gray settled in Lebanon in 1807, on eighty-six acres of land a half mile east of Lebanon village, where his son, Cooley C. Gray, afterwards lived; he was from New Lebanon, Columbia county, and died in 1851. Benjamin Hewes came in about the same time and set- tled on lot 59 in the west part of the town where Clinton Stowell lives. Other early settlers were Thomas Hueston, Daniel Stowell, Deacon Asa Tenney, Capt. Roderick Moore, Philip Kibbie, Capt. Truman and Jabez Billings, John Sheldon, Giles Collins and Richard Taylor. Of these, Hueston came in with the Campbells, married a daughter of Archibald Campbell, and settled near them, afterwards removing to lot 57. Daniel Stowell was a brother of Enoch, the pioneer, and settled in the east part on a farm now owned by John Harmon. Deacon Tenney settled also in that vicinity, but soon removed. Captain Moore settled on lot 24 and afterwards removed to lot 41 in the west part where John Fisk now resides. Philip Kibbie kept the first tavern in the town on the river road between Earlville and Smith's Valley. The Collins, Billings and Sheldon families located on and near what has been known as Collins Hill.
The first store in this town was kept by Joshua Smith at Smith's Valley. Jonathan Thayer settled on the site of Lebanon village, man- ufactured potash there at an early day, established a hat making busi- ness and opened a store, the first in the place, in a building erected by him.
John Niles was a pioneer in the town of Madison, but removed early into Lebanon, whither came also his father, mother, brothers and sis- ters, the family becoming one of the most numerous in the town. He took up a tract in the western part of the town containing 3,000 acres, for which he paid $3 an acre. The family located there and the locality became known as Niles Settlement. His sons were Nathan, John, Samuel, Ephraim and Calvin, who all became prosperous farmers.
Thomas Buell settled early on a large farm in the southeast quarter
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and located his large family near by; the homestead was afterwards in possession of his son Chauncey, and his grandson, Philander C. San- ford Head came from Rhode Island with his father, Joseph Head, and settled in Madison in early life and was a school teacher in that town, Lebanon and others while a young man. He owned a farm of 300 acres about a mile south of Lebanon village, now owned by J. A. Head, and was influential in advancing the cause of education.
Daniel Clark came from Colchester, Conn., in 1803 and settled on a large farm in the southeast quarter about two miles from Earlville, where he cleared and tilled a large and fruitful farm. Curtis Hoppin was a prominent early settler, active in the establishment of the Con- gregational church and father of F. B. and B. E. Hoppin.
The foregoing brief records of the pioneers of Lebanon include men- tion of most of the settlers previous to, and a few later than, the form- ation of the county. It is a noticeable fact that in this town, more of the names of pioneer families are still retained in the community than in most localities; a spirit of loyalty to the old homes has been kept alive and still exists.
The first town meeting in Lebanon was held in the red school house, but the exact date is lost. The following officers were elected: John W. Bulkley, supervisor; Silas Seymour, clerk; Giles Collins, Josiah Lasel and Jacob Kennedy, assessors; Malatiah Hatch and Roderick Moore, overseers of the poor; Jacob Kennedy, Daniel Clark and Rod- erick Moore, commissioners of highways; David Hartshorn and Joseph Hitchcock, constables; Joseph Hitchcock, collector; George Morey, Walter Baker, Clark "Willcocks," Stephen James, Orsamus Gilbert; Samuel Lewis, Abraham Webster, Jacob Hartshorn, Justus B. Smith, Ezra Gates, John W. Bulkley, Elisha Wheeler, Darius Sperry, Sheldon Smith, Gardner Salsbury, Moses Pomeroy, William Taggart, James Dorrance, Roderick Moore, Archibald Campbell, David B. Hitchcock, Aaron Davies, Giles Collins, and William Sloan, overseers of highways and fenceviewers; Charles S. Campbell, poundkeeper. This list adds somewhat to the number of settlers who were in the town at its erection in 1807.
A special town meeting was held at the school house November 23, 1807 (doubtless soon after the first one), at which it was voted that " we agree to be centered," and "that the center be as near the center of the town as the ground will admit." The committee appointed to select this center were John W. Bulkley, Constant Merrick, Jacob Ken-
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nedy, Moses Wylie and Roderick Moore. The selection was made and the action of the committee ratified at another meeting held December 7, at which Constant Merrick, John Niles, Malatiah Hatch, William Austin and Moses Wylie were appointed a committee to "draw up subscriptions " for the purpose of building a town house 40 by 50 feet in size, two stories high. For some now unknown reason this town house was not built, and the public meetings were held mostly in the same school house until 1820, after which until 1834 they were held in the Baptist meeting house.
In the meeting of 1809 a vote was passed that dogs should " be taxed 50 cts. per head; " but this burden proved too heavy and it was rescinded in the following year. During the agitation of the matter of locating the county seat, and of dividing the county, this town took steps to make its voice heard in the councils. A meeting was held in 1810 upon the subject of "continuing the county," and delegates were appointed to meet those of other towns; these were John W. Bulkley, Dr. John Clarke and Malatiah Hatch.
Silas Seymour was the first poundkeeper in the town and was reg- ularly elected for several years. The first legislation relative to sup- porting the poor as found in the records was in 1816, when it was voted that $50 he raised for that purpose. In 1817 it was $100; in 1819 the amount had increased to $400, but at a later special town meeting this amount was reduced by one-half, and Amos Crocker, Samuel Sherrill, Daniel Clark, John Paddleford and Ephraim Gray were appointed a committee " to devise and digest a more economical way of supporting the poor of the town and make report thereof to the next town meet- ing." The record shows no report from this committee.
Among other public proceedings was the imposition of a fine of twenty shillings in March 1808, on persons permitting Canada thistles to grow on their farms. On March 5, 1811, a bounty of $13 was voted for wolves killed; these animals were very troublesome for a number of years.
On the 1st of October, 1802, Rev. Ezra Woodworth, then pastor of the Congregational church in Hamilton, visited Lebanon in answer to a request, and on the following day the persons whose names are here given met and adopted a profession of faith and were constituted a Congregational church: Abraham Webster, Lent Bradley, John C. Wagoner, Elihu Bosworth, Isaac Campbell, Dolly Webster, Rachel Galloway, Caty Bosworth, Joanna Wagoner, Elizabeth Campbell, Sarah
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Wagoner, Sophia Webster, Eunice Webster, Eunice Huston and Solo- mon Jones. The church records prior to 1817 are very meagre, and as far as indicated there was no settled pastor until 1825, when Rev. Pres. ton Cummings was called; he was dismissed in February, 1827. In September, 1831, the society requested the Chenango Presbytery to ordain for them Rev. S. Scott, but it is not recorded how long he remained. Other early pastors were a Mr. Willis, Revs. Ezekiel Chap- man, Nathaniel Latham, P. Field, Samuel Manning, who were probably supplies previous to 1831; Jeremiah Pomeroy, William B. Tompkins, G. W. Finney, Revs. Redfield and Copeland, Wyn Root, G. M. Smith, T. A. Wadsworth, C. Barstow, W. W. Warner, Abisha Scofield, Ovid Miner and J. D. Woodruff. A meeting house was built in 1825 a mile north of the Center, which was later removed to the village where it was ready for occupancy in 1839. Since that date the edifice has been vastly improved, the gallery taken out and otherwise modernized. The society is now prospering under the ministry of Rev. Hugh Ivey.
Justus B. Smith has already been mentioned as the first merchant on the site of Lebanon village. His goods were kept in the lower part of his house on the farm owned in recent years by Whipple Clark. Mr. Smith was succeeded in that locality by James Dorrance; but the first regular and permanent mercantile business was established by Jonathan Thayer, jr., whose father was a pioneer of 1800, on lot 61 about two miles west of the village site and where the son began trading about 1808; he soon afterward moved to the village site, which was beginning to show signs of becoming a business center. The first physician there was Joseph Stowell, who had taught school in Stowell, Mass., whence he removed to Lebanon about 1800 and settled near Earlville, where he practiced until his death about 1832. Constant Merrick, the pioneer of 1802 or 1803, was a physician and settled on Billings Hill, southeast of the village, whither he removed about 1806, and there practiced until his death in 1828. Dr. John Clarke came from Windham, Conn., where he practiced some years, but discontinued long before his death ; he died about 1840 at the age of ninety-five years. Among other early physicians was Dr. Erastus B. Burroughs, who settled in the village in 1827 and who gathered about him a number of students whom he loca- ted at different points, with whom he hoped to be frequently called in consultation. Albert G. Purdy was one of these, who located in Eaton, afterwards removed to Oneida; he served two terms in the Assembly. Another was Milton Burnett, a native of Georgetown, who located in
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Morrisville, practiced many years and eventually removed to Oneida; he was elected sheriff while a resident of Morrisville. Others of these students were Frederick Bradley and Ralph Shepard, both born in Georgetown, James Stewart and others. Dr. Burroughs's health failed and he died in 1843.
Dr. Lyman O. Norton, from Hamilton, settled in the village in 1843, practiced about ten years and removed to Illinois. John and Cyrus Baker, brothers and homœopathists, practiced there from about 1848 to 1853, and removed to the western part of the State. Dr. Frank D. Beebe practiced there from 1855 to 1862 and removed to Hamilton; he was succeeded by Dr. Elam Root, James Mott Throop and others.
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