USA > New York > Madison County > Our county and its people : a descriptive and biographical record of Madison County, New York > Part 8
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That part of Cazenovia lying within the Gore, with the other towns in that tract, and the town of Nelson, constituted a purchase made by the celebrated Holland Land Company in Madison and Chenango coun - ties. This company, which had no legal corporate existence, was what would be called a "syndicate" in these later days, and was made up of a number of wealthy citizens of Amsterdam, Holland, who associated together for the purpose of dealing in American lands. Theophilus Cazenove was the first agent in this country of the company, and con- tinued in that position until 1799, when he was succeeded by Paul Busti. The famous Holland Purchase in the western part of the State consti- tuted a part of the investment of this company. In the records of Caz- enovia village is preserved a valuable letter writter by Maj. Samuel S. Forman, under date of Syracuse, November 20, 1851, and addressed to the trustees of Cazenovia village in acknowledgment of the naming of a village street after him. The letter has been several times published, but no work upon this town would be complete without it. Mr. For- man wrote as follows:
"In the winter of 1792-3, I became acquainted in Philadelphia with Theophilus Cazenove, Esq., and John Lincklaen, Esq., both from Am- sterdam, in Holland. Mr. Lincklaen, and Mr. Boon, of Rotterdam, in Holland (in connection with the great Holland Company), were anxious to embark in wild lands. They set out on a tour for that purpose and came up to old Fort Schuyler (now Utica), there they separated. Mr. Boon went northerly to view the lands twelve miles from Utica, and afterwards purchased 60,000 acres, and laid out a village, calling it Oldenbarnveldt, in honor to a great Dutch character of that name-now the village is called Trenton. Mr. Boon returned home and the late venerable and venerated Col. Mappa succeeded him in the agency. Mr.
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Lincklaen took a westerly direction from Utica and viewed the 'Road Township'' (now Cazenovia), and Township No. 1, now called Nelson, likewise the gore, now called De Ruyter, Lincklaen, Pitcher and Brakel, containing altogether 120,000 acres. Mr. Lincklaen informed me that he had hired two hardy men to accompany him to explore his purchase and that they were eleven days in the wilderness; himself, then young and slender, enjoying excellent health and activity, and fond of being out planning improvements.
" Messrs. Cazenove and Lincklaen observed to me 'as you have lately returned from a long tour to the southward, how would you like a northern one ? ' and made me proposals which I accepted. At this time I had just returned from nearly a two years' tour to the Natchez, ac- companying a connection with a large family who had a contract with the Spanish Government, when Spain held that country. I met Mr. Lincklaen by appointment in New York in April, 1793. He requested me to purchase a large assortment of merchandise and every article that I thought would facilitate the settlers in a new country. The object was for the encouragement of settlers, and not for the profit of the store. We proceeded on to Utica. Here was the starting place. Fifteen hired men with a few days' provisions in their knapsacks and axes on their shoulders, a pair of oxen to a cart loaded with pro- visions for men and beast, implements of husbandry, &c., &c., was sent on the Genesee road as far as Canasaraga. Mr. Lincklaen and myself on horseback in a few days accompanied the train. At Chit- tenango we left the Genesee road, turned south up the creek about one mile, following an Indian path zig zag up a heavy hill, the axe men widening the way so as to let the cart go on. By the time we arrived to the summit of the hill night overtook us. Now prepar- ation was made for the night; the oxen made fast and the horses also, a large fire was made. The next thing to be done was to take out our jackknives and the cook to exhibit his bread and raw pork. Each one catered for himself. Some eat the pork raw; some sharpened a long stick and put the pork upon it and roasted it in the fire. Next for sleeping; the trunk of a large tree was our headboard, our feet near the fire, and the ground our bed. We all arose early. After partaking our bread and pork, business commenced again with open- ing the cartway. The teamster said another yoke of oxen was neces-
1 So named because the proceeds arising from the sale of lands therein were to be applied to the construction of roads.
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sary, so Mr. Lincklaen dispatched him back to Whitestown to buy them. Mr. Lincklaen then proposed for him and me to proceed on with one horse to the lake, as the teamster had my horse, we would 'ride and tie' and keep the Indian path, and leave the hands, supposing that by night they would come to us. On our arrival at the outlet at the south end of the lake, we discovered a small bark cabin and some signs of men. The horse ' Captain ' was turned loose on the little prairie, the saddle and portmanteau, &c., laid in the hut. We strolled about, viewed the grounds, Mr. Lincklaen highly gratified to find it better for building than he expected. When night drew nigh we made for the bark cabin; presently three men came in, total strangers. After the usual salutations they had recourse to their wallet and displayed their bread and raw pork; they, perceiving we could not follow suit, very kindly tendered to us their hospitality, which we very cordially ac- cepted. We explained to them who we were and our situation and gave each other our respective names. They proved to be our near neigh- bors, living from three to five miles off, which in those days was con- sidered near by. Their names was Joseph Atwell, Charles Roe and Bartholomew, all from Pompey Hollow. No tidings from our people; sleeping hour has arrived, preparations for sleeping. The three strangers a foot on a fishing excursion. Mr. Lincklaen and myself had one saddle and portmanteau for our pillows, with 'Lion ' near by, ' Cap- tain ' on the prairie. Before we awoke our fishermen took French leave of us. About 8 o'clock A. M., yet no tidings. Mr. Lincklaen con- cluded that it would be prudent for him to make back tracks to know the cause of the delay of the foresters, and leave ' Captain ' and faithful 'Lion' with me. Now I am entirely alone in the wilderness in the northwest parts of Herkimer county, N. Y. About 10 A. M. I thought it would be prudent for me to follow Mr. Lincklaen. I took the bridle, caught the 'Captain ' and leading him to the hut, put saddle and the heavy portmanteau with $500 in silver on the horse. The money had depreciated, so that it could not here buy me a piece of bread. I com menced my retrograde movement, 'Lion ' preceding me. I walked and led the horse; presently I beheld two men approaching me. On advancing to me they gave their names, Jedediah Jackson and Joseph Yaw, two commissioners appointed by a company in Vermont to go and ' spy out ' the land in township No. 1. They said they had met Mr. Lincklaen and that he referred them to me for further directions to the town now called Nelson. I had the pleasure about 2 P. M. to meet a
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man with a budget of eatables and drinkables which Mr. Lincklaen had sent me from our magazine cart. Our 'Lion's' olfactory nerves were so keen that he had to be held back by the collar till his turn came. The cause of this great delay was the breaking of the axletree of the cart near where we left it.
"When all the men and cart arrived at the spot which Mr. Lincklaen had selected for the present location, being a little west of a small ravine, and nearly opposite where Ledyard Lincklaen, Esq., now resides, at the south end of the lake,1 the first business was to build a large log house, containing one room for a store, one for Mr. Lincklaen and one for a kitchen, and also another large one for a farm house. These men located in the beautiful white oak grove between the ravine and the outlet of the lake. A large warehouse in front of the store, and a few rods off was also determined on and subsequently built. These preparations for building were begun about the 8th day of May, 1793. .
. Mr. Lincklaen expected that the Road Township . would have been surveyed and laid out in farm lots before he came on to open the sales. He dispatched James Green (the Major) with a pocket compass to direct him through the wilderness some forty miles to Oxford for Mr. Lock, the surveyor, to come immediately and lay out this township, Mr. Lincklaen having advertised that the first ten families who moved on should have one hundred acres of land for one dollar per acre. This generous proposal brought on very unexpectedly that number of families from adjacent towns between Utica and Caz- enovia .? Some fine young people, it was said, abbreviated their court- ship to take advantage of these proposals. The workmen had not com- pleted their log house when the families, or some of them, came on, and found no place to shelter them; but the workmen had the gallantry to give up the large tent for their accommodation and increased their exertions to shelter themselves in their own building. When Mr. Lock came on to survey the land the woods were alive with settlers to pick their lots. Some were so fortunate as to secure berths in the surveyor's service, and deposited their money in the office till called for to apply on their purchases. As soon as the number of lots could be ascertained they would hasten to the office to have it entered.3 The competition
1The residence of the late L. Walters Ledyard, " The Oaks," on the south shore of the lake, is very near the first log cabin site built by these pioneers in 1793.
2 Among those were Archibald Bates, Isaac Nichols, Benjamin Pierson, Noah Taylor, William Gillett and Anson Dean.
3 Of the settlers on this purchase Major Forman elsewhere says: "I believe that there was
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became so great that the sales were suspended for a time for fear of making mistakes.
"The price of the land opened at one and a half dollars per acre, except as to the ten families above mentioned.
"The terms of payment were ten dollars cash down, balance in ten years with annual interest, and conditioned for certain improvements. Two miles were reserved off the north end of Road Township, and laid out in ten acre lots for the benefit of the villagers. . I believe . the village plat was not laid out until the next summer, 1794.1
"It was first intended to lay out the village on the west bank of the lake; but the north line of the company went only to the north line of P. G. Childs, Esq.
"Judge Wright of Fort Stanwix (now Rome) began to lay out the vil- lage, but was called home before completion. After him the late Cal- vin Guiteau, Esq., completed it. The village was named in honor of Theophilus Cazenove, Esq., the Holland Land Company's agent resid- ing in Philadelphia. The location of the village must be regarded as a fortunate one, being almost surrounded by water, viz. : the lake on the west and on the south by the outlet of the lake, which, uniting in the mill pond with Chittenango Creek, flows easterly and then northerly, furnish- ing a never-failing head of water, with a gentle fall of 700 feet within about eight miles, including, however, in the descent, a beautiful cas- cade of 140 feet, forming fine sites for hydraulic purposes, the whole distance having solid beds of stone and gravel and capable of propelling machinery at every few rods, which it seems your enterprising citizens have already, to a considerable extent, improved for years past, and new erections are of late being made, and all the distance made of easy access by a plank [now macadamized] road through the valley, which was formerly considered wholly waste land. The prospect is now that you will become a large manufacturing city and will vie with Lowell. Of all the little group of sixteen or seventeen who encamped in the woods on Chittenango Hill about the 6th or 7th of May, 1793, I don't know that another lives. Probably not, Colonel Lincklaen and myself being perhaps nearly the youngest. Among these were James
but one person who took up a lot of land during the first four years, while I continued in office who could not write his name."
1 The village of Cazenovia lies only partly in the tract originally purchased by Mr. Linck-, laen, the center of the present Seminary street being the north line of that purchase. Afterwards, when it became desirable to use land to the north of this line for the village plat, some 10,000 acres of the New Petersburgh tract was purchased.
JOHN LINCKLAEN.
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Smith, Michael Day, John Wilson, James Green, David Fay, Stephen F. Blackstone, Philemon Tuttle, David Freeborn, Gideon Freeborn and Asa C. Towns."
If the predictions of municipal greatness made in this letter nearly fifty years ago have not been fulfilled, the beautiful village beside the storied lake has gained in picturesque attractiveness under wise and generous treatment by her citizens, and in social conditions found in few small communities.
The need of mills was felt from the beginning of settlement and in 1794 Mr. Lincklaen built both a saw and grist mill, the first ones in the town. The grist mill stood on Chittenango Creek about a quarter of a mile above its junction with the outlet of the lake. It was subse- quently sold by the company to Dr. Jonas Fay and was soon afterwards burned, with a distillery. Later mills were built on the site of the Chaphe mills.
After Mr. Lincklaen's death, which took place February 9, 1822, his adopted son, Jonathan Denise Ledyard, succeeded as agent for the Holland Company, and in 1822 purchased the unsold lands belonging to the company.
John Lincklaen, who was so prominently connected with the settle- ment of Cazenovia, was a man of strong character and high principles, with abilities far above the ordinary. Jan von Lincklaen, his Dutch name, was born in Amsterdam, Holland, December 24, 1768, and passed his boyhood principally in Switzerland, where he received his education. From the age of fourteen he spent several years in the Dutch navy, attaining the rank of lieutenant. In 1792 he emigrated to America, having obtained employment with the Holland Land Com- pany through the influence of Pieter Stadnitzki, who had some unde- fined interest therein. He surveyed some of the lands of the company and in the following year, 1793, was made the agent. He conceived the plan of laying out a town and naming it in honor of the first agent, which plan he carried out. He was a man of broad, practical ideas and at once entered upon the work of improving the town, laying out roads, building bridges and mills and warehouses, and encouraging settle- ment in every way possible. He acquired an interest in the western lands of the company, and as a foreign organization could not then give valid title to lands in this country, the celebrated tract known as the Morris Reserve, containing more than 3,000,000 acres, was deeded to individuals who were in this case Herman Ley Roy, John Lincklaen,
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and Gerrit Boon. The site of Mr. Lincklaen's dwelling on the bank of Cazenovia Lake is well known. It was a picturesque spot and its selec- tion evinced the good taste of its owner. The house he erected there was burned in 1806, when he chose another site at the foot of the lake, where he erected a substantial brick house still standing. He had dur- ing his life in this country, many distinguished friends and acquaint- ances. He was intimately associated with Peter Smith and his eminent son Gerrit, and was greatly respected by both. About 1814 Mr. Linck- laen became deeply influenced by religion, leaning for a time towards Unitarianism on account of some of his most intimate friends being members of that denomination. He soon, however, adopted the Trini- tarian belief which he held until his death. In the building of the "old church on the green " he was prominent and generous and filled his later years with good works. He married in 1797 the eldest sister of J. D. Ledyard, who succeeded him as agent of the Land Company. Mr. Lincklaen died of paralysis February 9, 1822, at the comparatively early age of fifty-four years.
Samuel S. Forman went to Cazenovia with Mr. Lincklaen, as he has written, and as a merchant with the Holland Company, in partnership for a time, and later alone, continued several years. He was a native of Middletown Point, N J., where he was born July 21, 1765, and was a son of Samuel and Helena (Denise) Forman. After the close of the Revolutionary war he worked as clerk in a store for his uncle, Lieut. - Colonel Forman, and brother-in-law, Major Burrows. A little later he engaged with his brother-in-law, Major Ledyard, and Col. Benjamin Walker, who were in the wholesale hardware and commission business in New York city. He was afterward in mercantile business on his own account at Middletown Point, and in 1789 joined the expedition to Natchez, as he has stated. He organized a militia company at Caze- novia and was appointed major of the regiment to which it was attached. In 1808 he married Sarah McCarthy, of Salina. His only son died in infancy, and his only daughter became the wife of Dr. Abraham Van Gaasbeck, of Syracuse. Major Forman removed into Onondaga county and died August 18, 1862. His elder brother, Jonathan Forman, was also an early resident of Cazenovia and took up lands in what became the town of Nelson, but never settled on them. He was a lieutenant- colonel in the Revolutionary army and a brigadier-general in the State militia. He settled later in life at Pompey Hollow, where he died in 1809. His wife was Mary Ledyard, and he was grandfather of Gov.
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Horatio Seymour, and a relative of Joshua Forman, founder of Syra- cuse.
Archibald Bates was one of the pioneers who accompanied Mr. Linck- laen into the town. He settled on a farm about two miles east of Cazenovia village and died there. Day Fay also was one of the com- pany who followed Mr. Lincklaen to the town and settled near Mr. Bates. He died October 29, 1826. Asa Fay was a brother of Day Fay and settled in the same locality, where he died July 8, 1861.
William Miles settled in the south part of the town. Other settlers of 1793 were Noah Taylor, whose wife was the first white woman set- tler, Ira Peck, Nathan Webb, Shubael Brooks, Samuel Tyler, a man named Augur, and Isaac Nichols; the latter, as well as Mr. Taylor, were in company with Mr. Lincklaen in his migration, and settled on the east shore of the lake. His daughter, born October 8, 1793, was the first white child born in the town.
In 1794 Lewis Stanley settled in the town, coming in from Connect- icut with his father's family and settling near the village. He died in 1857, aged seventy-six years. David Smith settled in that year; he was a native of Massachusetts and removed when seventeen years old with his parents to Clinton. He located about a mile south of New Woodstock on the farm owned in recent years by Luther Hunt. He soon sold fifty of his 150 acres to Edward Curtis, who became a settler a little later. In 1817 or 1818 Mr. Smith built the hotel in New Wood- stock, and occupied it until 1831, when he was succeeded by his son Erastus and his brother-in-law, Asa Merrill; two years later two brothers of Erastus Smith, Jonathan and Jerman, took the house. David Smith died July 7, 1844. Jonathan Smith, a brother of David, settled in the town a year or two later, taking up 150 acres in the west part of the village of New Woodstock, which included all of that part of the village site lying south of the Hamilton and Skaneateles Turn- pike. He there built a house which was used as the first tavern in the village and was kept by him many years. He left no children.
William Sims, Isaac Morse and Chandler Webber were other early settlers in this locality. The latter died in June, 1837. Isaac Morse died September 24, 1858, at the age of eighty-six years. Abraham Til- lotson, from Hebron, Conn., settled in 1795 two miles south of Caze- novia village on the farm subsequently occupied by Gardner Perkins. Within a year he removed to Pompey East Hollow, about two miles west of the village, where he carried on farming and brick making
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about twenty years, a part of the time in company with his son Eph- raim. He had five children, most of whom settled in the town, but all are dead. Ephraim had several children, four of whom settled in the town.
Walter Childs, from Woodstock, Conn., was a settler in 1796, taking up 100 acres on the west side of Cazenovia Lake, on the turnpike to Manlius and four miles west of the village; he died there in 1857 at the age of eighty-one years. His son, Willard T., died in infancy, and another son, Aldis, is a resident of Syracuse. The other four children settled in Cazenovia.
Jacob Ten Eyck was born in Albany and removed to Cazenovia in 1797, where he was employed as clerk in the store of Samuel S. Forman. After six or seven years of this service he opened a store on his own account, which he conducted until about 1830; at the same time he had extensive business interests in Chautauqua county. When he retired from mercantile trade he succeeded Perry G. Childs as president of the Madison County Bank and occupied the position until the expiration of the charter of the institution. When Mr. Ten Eyck settled in Cazeno- via he was about twelve years old. He married a daughter of Joseph Burr, an early resident of Cazenovia. Both he and his wife died in 1853 in Savannah, within three days of each other, of yellow fever.
Jeduthan Perkins became a settler prior to 1800 in what became known as the Perkins district, south of Cazenovia village, where he reared a prominent and influential family. Francis Norton came from Con- necticut in 1800, and in about 1811 removed to the south part of Nelson, where he died in 1858. James Covell settled about 1800 in the extreme northern part of the town, but removed about 1830 to Chautauqua coun - ty, where he died. Hendrick De Clercq was a native of Holland, and em- igrated and settled in Cazenovia in 1800. His wife was Mary Ledyard, who came from Connecticut on horseback in 1798. Levi Burgess was another settler in 1800, and died here in 1862 at the age of ninety-one years.
Joseph Holmes, born in Munson, Mass , removed from Chesterfield, N. H., in 1801, and settled in the vicinity of New Woodstock where he died in 1859 at the age of eighty years. Caleb Van Riper settled in the same year at the head of the lake, where he had a tannery in early years, which long since disappeared with the saw mill at that point. He died in 1845 at the age of eighty one years.
The year 1802 saw the advent of a number of pioneers, among whom
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SETTLEMENT OF TOWNS
were Edward Parker and Phineas Southwell, who came originally from Massachusetts, but removed to Cazenovia from Boonville, N. Y., and settled at the head of the lake. Parker died in 1840. The Southwell farm was the site of an Indian clearing of fifteen acres, on which have been found numerous relics.
Robert Fisher and Isaac Warren settled in the town about 1803, at New Woodstock. Warren subsequently removed to and died in De Ruyter. John Savage settled at New Woodstock a little later, taking up land which included the site of the Baptist meeting house. He was a carpenter and died in 1851, aged eighty-eight years.
Samuel Thomas came from Litchfield, Conn., in 1804 and settled in Cazenovia village, where he was engaged in harness making until his death in 1861. His eldest son, Samuel, who was in company with him from about 1832, succeeded him and continued the business, with the exception of about four years, till his death in 1870, when is son took it and still continues. This is one of the oldest business industries in the county that has remained in one family.
Deacon Isaiah Dean came from Galway, Saratoga county, in 1804 and took up a farm on the west line of the town, where William Hunt resided in recent years. He died there in 1873. William Moore, born in Connecticut, was a settler in 1805, locating about three miles south of Cazenovia village, on the farm subsequently owned by his brother- in-law, Daniel Damon, who came from Western, Mass., a few years earlier. Moore afterward moved to Smithfield and thence in 1814 to Nelson, where he died in 1853. Daniel Damon married Kezia Litch- field of Cazenovia and died in 1832.
Christopher Webb, from Canterbury, Conn., settled in 1806 on lot 29; he died in 1837.
Ebenezer Knowlton of Dartmouth, N. H., took his wife and one child to Cazenovia in 1806, setling on the site of the village, where he carried on chair making and the manufacture of linseed oil. His oil mill was established in 1815 and was the first one in this section of the country. Later and to about 1848 it was operated by his eldest son, Edmond. The chair business was started at a very early day by Nehemiah White, and was discontinued with the oil mill.
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