USA > New York > Madison County > Our county and its people : a descriptive and biographical record of Madison County, New York > Part 7
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Reuben Ransom became a settler in 1793, and died April 12, 1818.
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
One of the most prominent of the pioneer families of this town was that of Samuel Payne and his descendants. He was a native of Leb- anon, Conn., born in 1760, and descended from Elisha who, with his brother, landed at Plymouth in 1621. It was probably in 1794 that Samuel Payne, with his father Abram, settled on lot 19, his farm includ- ing the site of the University. His home was half a mile south of the village and there he resided until his death, August 19, 1843, aged eighty-three years. He married Betsey Stower, daughter of a Con- necticut physician, and a woman of superior education and refinement. She died in Hamilton January 1, 1859; they had no children. Samuel Payne was a man of exceptional mental endowments and of the highest character. He was the founder of the First Baptist Church of Hamil- ton, as noticed further on. He represented Chenango county in the Assembly in 1806; was a presidential elector in 1832, and received the appointment of judge of the Court of Common Pleas. He was a man of broad benevolence and before his death willed his farm to the Bap- tist Educational Society as a site for their seminary which developed into the present University. The father, Abram Payne, did not take up lands, but resided with his sons until his death in 1801.
Elisha Payne, brother of Samuel, settled in this town in the next year, 1795, and purchased lot No. 2, which included the site of more than half of the village of Hamilton, which was in early years called Payne Settlement, the name being changed by Mr. Payne himself. When he arrived at his new home he built a log cabin on the site of the later Smith block, which he occupied a short time. Settlers were coming in rapidly and needed public accommodations and Mr. Payne soon erected a commodious frame house in which he kept tavern until another building was erected for the purpose in 1812. Mr. Payne fore- saw the importance of the place and was earnest in his efforts for the founding of a prosperous village. To a number of mechanics and oth- ers whose presence promised to aid in the advancement of the village he gave lands outright and helped them in building their dwellings. He gave the land for the park which adds so much to the beauty of the place; also land for burial purposes where the "old burying ground " was established. He invested largely in the Cherry Valley Turnpike, which passed through this town, aided in founding the academy and was one of the committee selected to choose a site for the Baptist Sem- inary, which he brought to Hamilton. He was one of the first judges of the Court of Common Pleas in Madison county and held the office
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SETTLEMENT OF TOWNS.
about nine years, and occupied other positions of honor. He died February 4, 1843. His son, Charles Clark Payne, was the only one of his children to remain in Hamilton. It was at Elisha Payne's house that the first town meeting for Hamilton was held on the first Tuesday in April, 1795.
Theophilus and Benjamin Pierce were brothers and natives of Corn- wall, Conn. They moved from Canaan, Columbia county, in 1794, to this town and purchased of Dominick Lynch lots 19 and 20, the two most westerly lots in the second tier of the 4th township. The farm of Theophilus passed to his son, Dea. Alvah Pierce. The consideration in this purchase was "£500 current money of the State of New York." In the year named they built a log house and in the winter of 1795 brought in their families, accompanied by Jonathan Olmstead, Daniel Smith, Joseph Foster, James Cady, and Elisha Payne, all of whom were from the same locality and all married excepting Cady. Stopping for a time in the house of Samuel Payne, they all went to work and in a short time had log cabins of their own. Theophilus Pierce had five . children, three of whom-William, Lucinda and Alanson-were brought to the town by the parents, and two-Sally and Alvah-were born in Hamilton. William married a sister of James Cady and settled on a part of his father's farm, and died there May 31, 1836. Lucinda mar- ried Nehemiah Pierce, who came from Cornwall about 1805 and they settled about three miles southeast of Hamilton village. Alanson set- tled and died in Westmoreland. Sally married Harvey Miles, of Lebanon, who died there in 1840, without children. Alvah married Caroline Whitmore, of Lebanon, and he went there to reside, but was three years in Fabius in milling business, and also was engaged in mer- cantile business in Hamilton from 1839 to 1844, in company with Arte- mas Osgood and William Cobb. He was also vice president of the Hamilton Bank from its organization until the death of the president, Adon Smith, when he was chosen to that position.
Benjamin Pierce, brother of Theophilus and before mentioned, married Anna, sister of Jonathan Olmstead, the pioneer, and had eight children, four of whom were born in Hamilton. Benjamin died on the farm where he settled June 7, 1817. He held the office of justice of the peace several years and was much respected. His son Samuel settled in Hamilton village and at one period kept the Park House. Jonathan O., son of Benjamin, married a daughter of Dea. Samuel Osgood, of Eaton, and settled on the home farm, removing subsequently to the village, where he died in 1848.
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
William Pierce, son of Theophilus, and Josiah and Medad Rogers, built, about 1810, the first grist and saw mills in Hamilton village and owned the property many years.
Jonathan Olmstead settled on a farm adjoining Samuel Payne's where he resided many years and finally removed to the village and died there. His second wife was the widow of Dr. Bartholomew, of Waterville, and his third wife was her sister and the widow of Dr. Hull, of Eaton. Jonathan Olmstead's sister married Daniel Smith, who settled a short distance below Mr. Olmstead and resided there until his death, June 3, 1826.
Joseph Foster came from Wethersfield, Conn., and settled about a mile east of Hamilton, on the farm occupied in recent years by J. Spencer Foster, his grandson. He died there October 17, 1810, at the age of seventy-five years. His son, Nathan, came into the town in 1794 and settled on a farm adjoining his father's on the west, but subse- quently removed to Ohio and sold the farm to his brother Joseph.
William Pierce, a brother of Theophilus and Benjamin, came in a little later than his brothers and settled east of Hamilton village, where ' Charles Underhill recently lived. He died on that place.
David Dunbar was a native of Charlton, Mass., where he was born in 1774, and settled in Hamilton in 1795. He made the journey on foot and on his way stopped at Albany and made a bargain with Dominick Lynch under which Dunbar was to re-survey the town of Hamilton into lots of 250 acres; he did the work in the eastern part of the town. He settled first on lot 36 and subsequently on lot 28, at Hubbardsville, where he built a grist mill and saw mill, and the little settlement at that point became known as Dunbar's Mills, until the settlement of Calvin Hubbard, when the place took his name. Mr. Dunbar operated the mills until about 1850 and was also an extensive farmer. The mill property and farm passed to his son, James H., and the father retired to a small place in Hubbardsville and died in November, 1856.
The first settlement was made on the site of Earlville as early as 1795 by Col. Bigelow Waters and Charles Otis. The former located in the southern part of the town and the latter on the village site. Mr. Otis's house was on the site of the present Sawdy House, where Brown's Ho- tel stood that was burned in the great fire.
The vicinity of East Hamilton was known in early years as "Colches- ter," from the fact that many of the pioneers were from Colchester, Mass. Settlement began there as early as 1796 by Reuben Foote. Ezra
*
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SETTLEMENT OF TOWNS.
Fuller, George Bigsby, James Williams and Samuel Stower settled in the town in 1797 or before, and William Hatch, Calvin Ackley, and the Nash family as early as 1799. Stephen and Daniel Brainard were also pioneers. Calvin Ackley had a numerous family, and his brothers, Eli and Rodney, were among the early settlers. James Williams settled at Poolville, where he died in 1840. Samuel Stower was from Connecti- cut and located on eighty acres on Broad street a little below the park in Hamilton village, where he died in 1820. William Hatch settled in what became the southern part of Hamilton village on the farm recently owned by Alvah Hopkins, and there kept a tavern; in later years he kept a tavern in Cazenovia and died there. Elijah, Zenas and Thomas Nash were from Plainfield, Otsego county, and settled near Poolville in the south part of the town and left many descendants in the town.
The two Brainards, before mentioned, were cousins and came in with Calvin Ackley, Ezra Fuller and George Bigsby, and built, on the Stephen Brainard farm, where William O. Clark now resides, a log cabin which they occupied until each had one finished for himself. Brainard was the only one who was married and in the following winter brought in his wife on an ox sled.
Ebenezer Colson was an early settler near the site of Poolville, and came in soon after the beginning of the century, locating on the farm subsequently owned by Porter Swift and now by R. Hunt, where he died in 1856. Roswell, Lucas and another Craine, three brothers, set- tled in that vicinity, and William Lord located about 1810 a mile east of the village site.
Dan Throop was an early settler, a native of Lebanon, Conn. An- drew Beach, came from Canaan, Columbia county, soon after 1800; he was a young unmarried man and settled on a farm that was occupied in Jater years by F. H. Ingalls and still owned by him. In 1806 he built a tannery which was operated many years.
These were the sturdy pioneers who, with their immediate descend- ants, subdued the wilderness in this town, founded their homes and gradually surrounded themselves with the comforts of civilization. Doubtless there were others who shared prominently in the work of early times, the records of whose careers are given, in many instances, in Part II. of this work. In the town records, now unfortunately destroyed, appeared the names of many settlers, most of whom held local office of some kind, which have been compiled and are here inserted for their value for reference and as an addition to those preceding :
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
1796 .- Samuel Felt, Asahel Fitch, Noah Tyler, Samuel Brigham, John Stanclift, Richard Williams, Thomas Hart, Lucius Scott, Elihu Cross, Elijah Thompson, Samuel Curtis, Jonathan Brigham, John Mc- Cartney, William Brown.
1797 .- Daniel Hubbard, Amos Muzzey, James White, Ephraim Clough, George Brown, Simeon Stewart, Zopher Moore, Roswell Tyler, Sylvanus Palmelee, Darren Hall, Isaac Douglass, Hezekiah Andrus, John B. Berry, Elijah Bond, Samuel Lillie, Daniel Smith, Lyman Cook, Rawson Hammond, Jason Fargo, Israel Inman, Amos Graves.
1798 .- Jonathan Stephens, Jonathan Pratt, Oliver Gillet, Daniel Russell, John Marble, jr., Abijah Markham, jr., John Pattison, Samuel Watson, Enoch Hitchcock, Freeman Williams, John Brown, Seth Johnson, Josiah Rice, Samuel Woods, Augustus Corey, John T. Burton, Prince Spooner, Uriah Cross, Benjamin I. Haight, Borden Willcox, John St. Clair, Samuel Brownell, John W. Bulkley, Isaac Skinner, Warren Hull, John White.
1799 .- John Gray, Joseph Manchester, Nehemiah Thompson, Thomas Woodward, Zephaniah White, Ebenezer Ransom, Cyrus Finney, Robert Avery, Archibald Salsberry, William Ward, Elijah Brainard, Jeremiah Weeden, Job Manchester, Sprague Perkins, Daniel Holbrook, James Jones, William Henry, Rufus Shepherd, Joseph French, Constant Avery, John Benedict, Joseph Head, Thomas Dibble, Abraham Hem- inway, Abizar Richmond, John " Keneda."
1800 .- Ebenezer Rawson, Rufus Eldred, Josiah Hubbard, Stephen Woodhull, Elisha Pratt, Cyrus Howard, Nathaniel Rider, Benjamin Wentworth, Asa Finney, Eli Hull, Robert Avery, Levi Bonney, John Sanford, Charles Smith, William Sanford, Freeman Billings, Samuel Ackley, William P. Cleveland, Stuart Campbell, Russell Barker, Au- gustus I. Corey, Reuben Brigham, Apollos Drake, Thomas Buel, Noadiah Hastings, Edward Hull, Windsor Coman, Joseph Waters, Job Peckham, Abijah Harrington, Joseph B. Peck, David Williams, Samuel Roe, Joseph Fairbanks, " Jeirah" Finney, Judah Stowel, Aaron Wil- cox, Chauncey Isham, Daniel Hatch, Samuel Watson.
1801 .- Joseph Adams, James Hitchcock, Abijah Parker, Josiah Brown, Asa Pease, jr., Dunham Shapley, Joseph Usher, Josiah Jewet, Thomas Galloway, Eleazar Snow, Gardner Wyman, Ezra Chase, Mica- jah Chase, Jacob Thompson, Enos Gifford, John Douglass, Israel Church, Ebenezer Hill, Elisha Fuller, Rawson Hermon, Joel Gray, Levi Morton, William Henderson, Joseph Bennet, Jehiel Felt, Jehiel
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SETTLEMENT OF TOWNS.
Wattles, Allen Campbell, Martin Roberts, Daniel Allen, Ziba Coman, William Randal, John Packhard, John Blanchard, jr., David Sexton, Bethiel Willoughby, Thomas West, jr., Thomas Anderson, John Cham- bers, Richard Butler, Sylvester Fuller, Moses Maynard.
1802 .- Obed Edson, Dan Ladd, Dan Ballard, George Peckham, Isaac Chauncey, Amos Burton, Timothy Rogers, Josiah Brown, Abraham Webster, Philan Wilcox, Israel Rice, John Burton, Robinson Shepherd, Joseph Crandal, John Fairlee, Jeremiah Babcock, Theo. Hardin, Elijah Utter, Thomas Morris, Josiah Wilcox, Samuel White, Daniel Nichols, Charles Peckham, Asahel Sexton, Green Bixby, Jonas Wood, Eleazar Isbell, William Hopkins, Alford Cornell, Martin Roberts, David Stall, John Waggoner, Luther Herrick, Samuel Coman, Leonard Pemberton, Samuel Coe, Silas Walker, Joseph Putney, Abijah Morgan, George Bixby, Jeremiah Mack, Thomas Anderson, Jonathan Dunham, Philip Mathewson, Jonathan Crouch, Loring Pierce.
1803 .- Ithamer Smith, Lucas Peet, Joseph Partridge, Thomas Mor- ton, Silas Soddy (Sawdey), Gailed Stephens, Micazor Claus (or Cloyes), Philip Woodman, William Raxford, jr., Levi Bonney, 1st, Samuel Perry, Job Peckham, William Hustins, William Torrey, Angel Mathew- son, Patriot Pebbles, Samuel Howard, John Staples, Joseph Curtis, George McKeene, Thomas Leach, Ichabod Wheeler, Levi Bonney, 2d, Elisha Herrick, Jonathan Stephens, John Webster, Richard Homes, John De Groat, Samuel Brigham, John Graham, Aruna Moseley, Walter Parmore, Dane Ballard, Alford Cornwell.1
The first town meeting for Hamilton was held at the house of Elisha Payne on the first Tuesday in April, 1795, when the following officers were chosen: Joshua Leland, supervisor; Elijah Blodgett, clerk; Sam- uel Clemons, Samuel Berry, Simeon Gillett, jr., Luther Waterman and Elisha Payne, assessors; James Collister, David Hartshorn, John Bar- ber and Elijah Hayden, constables and collectors; Joshua Smith and William McCrellis, poormasters; Josiah Brown, Samuel Payne and Ephraim Blodgett, commissioners of highways; Stephen F. Blackstone, William McClanathan, John H. Morris, Isaac Amedown, Samuel Brownell, Augustus W. Bingham, Bigelow Waters, Abner Nash, Na- thaniel Collins and Theophilus Pierce, pathmasters; Nicanor Brown, Samuel Sincler (St. Clair), Benjamin Pierce and David Felt, fence- viewers; Henry W. Bond, poundkeeper.
1 In the spelling of these names the records have been followed, though it is in many instan- ces probably erroneous.
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
The first school commissioners were elected in 1796, as follows: Samuel Payne, Elijah Blodgett and Luther Waterman. Under the act of the Legislature establishing the common school system, passed in 1812, the following persons were chosen commissioners: John Kennedy, Daniel A. Brainard and Reuben Ransom; at the same time Roswell Craine, Abraham Payne, Erastus Daniels and Nathaniel Stacy were chosen inspectors of common schools.
The following election return of 1799 is of interest as showing ap- proximately the voting population of the town at that time:
For Moses Kent for Senator, 295
" Joseph White, 291
" Nathaniel King, 10
" Peter B. Garnsey, "
" Joshua Leland, 66 9
1
Nathaniel King for Assemblyman, 302
" Peter B. Garnsey, 257
" Joshua Leland, 32
Jonathan Forman, 8
" James Clover, 66
4
Moses Kent, 8
Joseph White, 8
Among the pioneers of Hamilton were many Baptists and religious services in that faith were held regularly after June, 1796. On No- vember 16 of that year the First Baptist Church of Hamilton was or- ganized with seven members, among whom was Samuel Payne, who was conspicuous in the work. For a few years after its organization the church was ministered to by Elders Root, Butler, Salmon, Morton, and others, who resided in the vicinity or were frequently present as missionaries. The meetings in early years were held in school houses or dwellings, some of them in the towns of Lebanon, Madison and Sherburne, which were then in Hamilton. The first church building was erected in 1801, which was also the first one in the town; it stood in the center of the village at the north end of the park, and cost be- tween $3,000 and $4,000. It was burned on the morning of December 31, 1808, and was immediately succeeded by another, which was dedi- cated November 12, 1809; this building stood near the site of the Eagle Hotel and was occupied until the present one was erected in 1843. In
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SETTLEMENT OF TOWNS.
1816 twenty-four members of this society left it to form a church in Eaton.1 R. C. Savage is the present pastor.
Two church societies were organized at Earlville in the year 1802. These were the first Baptist Church in Sherburne (which places it, of course, in Chenango county), and the Methodist Episcopal Church of Earlville. The first named society was formed June 24 with fifteen members, at the house of John Benton. Previous to the organization meetings had been held at the houses of John Muir, H. Finn, Jonathan Pettit, and in the school house near Sherburne. The first house of worship was erected on the hill east of Earlville in 1818; the second one, in Earlville, in 1835. The Methodists formed as a class at the house of Joseph Crandall, a little north from Earlville on the road to Poolville. There were only seven or eight members, and Rev. Charles Giles was the first pastor. The organization of the church society took place at the house of Elam Felt January 9, 1815, when the trustees elected were Elam Felt, Noah Hall and Asa Felt. Efforts were at once begun to raise money with which to build a meeting house, and in 1816 the first Methodist house of worship in the town of Hamilton was erected in Earlville, at a cost of about $1,100. This building, small and poorly furnished as it was, was occupied until 1838, when a new one was erected; this was extensively repaired and improved in 1871, when about $5,000 was expended upon it. In its early history Earl- ville was included in the Hamilton Circuit. In 1835 the Oneida Con- ference made it a station, with Rev. Barlow W. Gorham, in charge. No other Methodist church was organized in Hamilton until after the formation of Madison county.
What was at first known as the Second Congregational Society of Hamilton was incorporated September 24, 1798, on which occasion " the inhabitants of that part of the town of Hamilton known and distinguished by the appellation of Colchester Society," met and elected Jonathan Stephens, Richard Butler, Lucius Scott, Reuben Foot, Isaac Skinner and Jared T. Hooker, trustees. A meeting house was built at Hamilton Center in the year 1800 for the First Congregational
1 The Second Baptist Church in Hamilton was organized in 1819 by a number of members from the First Church, and in the same year joined the Madison Association, reporting forty members. The society was reorganized by a council April 15, 1817. Up to the year 1834 the meetings were held mostly in school houses, under pastoral labor of Robert Powell, Elders Caleb Read, Simon Minor, and Rev. J. H. Walden. In 1835 a church was built a mile southeast of Pool- ville. From that time to about 1841 the church was without a regular minister, but Rev, S. P. Way was called and served four years. Since that time there have been numerous changes in the ministry.
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
Church of Hamilton, as the organization became known, in which the congregation worshiped many years. This church long ago ceased to exist, and the meeting house was removed to Poolville in 1842, where it was used a number of years for town purposes and was finally trans- formed into two dwellings. The other churches of this town were or- ganized after the formation of the county and are, therefore, left for a later chapter.
Mercantile operations to supply the little community with household necessities began early in Hamilton. Charles Clark and Joseph Col- well, who came in about 1802 and boarded for a time with Elisha Payne, whose settlement has been described, each opened a store. Mr. Clark's stood on the lot next south of the Adon Smith residence, and Colwell's on the corner of what are now Broad and Lebanon streets. After about 1805 Clark was associated with James Dorrance for a time and later, until 1816, Charles T. Deering traded in that store.
Thomas Greenly located in Hamilton in 1796 as the first physician and in the following January brought in his wife and child. Peter B. Havens was the next physician in the village and practiced until about 1860. Nathaniel King, a prominent citizen, was the first lawyer in Hamilton, settling in 1797; he held many public offices. Thomas Hill Hubbard, another prominent lawyer and citizen, settled at the village in 1804-5. By the year 1806 the little settlement that was to develop into Hamilton village, had become quite active as a business center. The Park Hotel, erected soon after 1800 by Artemas Howard, was be- coming a well-known public house, with a long and popular career be- fore it; the few stores were attracting customers from a wide extent of territory ; lawyers and doctors were there; preparations were in progress for the early erection of mills, and the number of comfortable homes was rapidly increasing.
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SETTLEMENT OF TOWNS.
CHAPTER VI.
TOWN FORMATION AND SETTLEMENT CONTINUED.
Of the two other towns organized previous to the formation of the county, the first settlement of which has not yet been described, Caz- enovia is the more important. The other one is De Ruyter, and both were first settled in the same year. The town of Cazenovia originally included territory nearly as great in area as the present Madison county. It was erected from Whitestown and Paris on March 5, 1795, two years after the first setttlers located within its limits, and then included the territory of the present towns of De Ruyter, Georgetown, German, Lincklaen, Otselic, Pitcher, Sullivan, Lenox and Smithfield, the latter including parts of the towns of Fenner, Stockbridge and Nelson. The southern and larger part of the town was originally the north part of the Gore, described in an earlier chapter, which extended along the west side of the Twenty Townships; hence the town has a length from north to south of about fourteen miles, while its width is only five and a third miles at its widest point.
Cazenovia is centrally situated on the west border of the county and is bounded on the north by Sullivan, on the east by Fenner and Nelson, on the south by De Ruyter, and on the west by Onondaga county. The surface of the town is varied and picturesque, consisting of a rolling upland, broken by the deep and rugged valleys of Chittenango and Limestone Creeks. The former enters this town near the center of the east border, flows in a westerly direction to the central part, where it turns with a wide sweep to the northward, in the latter part of the course forming the eastern boundary of the town for a considerable dis- tance and receiving the waters of Cazenovia Lake. At Chittenango Falls in the north part of the town the waters of this creek have a descent of 136 feet and through its course have a fall of several hundred feet, furnishing large and valuable water power at many points. The creek is a feeder for the Erie Canal, to which purpose it was devoted in 1840. Cazenovia Lake is one of the many minor beautiful inland
. 5
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
bodies of water in the State. It is situated in the north part of the town. It is four and a half miles long and from half a mile to a mile in width and is 900 feet above tide water. Its waters are exceptionally pure and the surrounding scenery in a high degree attractive.
The town is mainly underlaid with the rocks of the Hamilton group, but the Ithaca group comes to the surface in the southeast part and the Onondaga limestone in the northeast part. The limestone is exten- sively quarried in the vicinity of Chittenango Falls and makes a good quality of lime. In the northern and central parts the soil is gravelly loam, while in the southern part a clayey loam prevails, underlaid with hardpan.
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