Our county and its people; a descriptive work on Oneida county, New York;, Part 13

Author: Wager, Daniel Elbridge, 1823-1896
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: [Boston] : The Boston history co.
Number of Pages: 1612

USA > New York > Oneida County > Our county and its people; a descriptive work on Oneida county, New York; > Part 13

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COLONIAL LAND PATENTS.

clothing and provisions as the Oneidas might elect. The State was also to grant to John Francis Perache a tract of land at the Line of Property, two miles square, in satisfaction of what the Oneidas had agreed to give Perache for an injury done him by one of their nation; and further, the State was to grant to John T. Kirkland, and also to G. W. Kirkland, other lands as a compensation for other lands which the Oneidas had in- tended for those persons ; also to grant to Peter Penet certain lands for services rendered by him to the Oneidas, the tract to be ten miles square. (A tract ten miles square, called "Penet Square," was set off in Jefferson county for this purpose.)

This treaty was written on parchment two feet square, with thirty- five seals of the parties, and appended to it is a string of wampum made of blue and white beads strung upon deer skin cords. This belt is about two inches wide and nearly two feet long. The document was placed in the office of the secretary of state for preservation. The above reservation included what is known as the Wood Creek Reservation. April 26, 1832 a law was passed authorizing a sale of the latter reservation. The Oneidas became divided among themselves on religious matters, one party taking the name or the "christian party," and another the "pagan party." In 1805 a partition of the lands was made, by which the pagan party took those east of Oneida Creek. In February, 1809, the pagan party sold their lands to the State, which extended from Oneida Lake to Mud Creek, which empties into Oneida Creek south of Oneida Castle; a few reservations were made. This tract has passed into history as the " first pagan purchase." In 1807 the christian party deeded a part of their tract to the State, and in 1809 the " Fish Creek Reservation " was sold to the State, comprising about 7, 500 acres, ex- cepting a few reservations. From time to time the Oneidas sold to the State and to individuals all of their lands, including their right to the Stockbridge and the Brotherton tracts. A patent was issued to Perache in 1789, in pursuance of the treaty of 1788. The lands are in West- moreland north of Spencer settlement.

Wemple Patents .- By an act of the Legislature passed May 5, 1786, a Patent of 640 acres was granted to Abraham Wemple, to be located next to James Dean's Patent and next to the Line of Property. The patent was issued February 5. 1789. April 1, 1796, an act was passed

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reciting that Abraham Wemple had aided the Oneidas while refugees at Schenectady, during the late war ; that a patent of one mile square be issued to Abraham Wemple, out of the lands purchased in 1795 of the Oneidas. That patent was issued in March, 1798, and the lands are situated in the town of Vernon, near the village.

Van Epps Patent .- The same act of 1796 which granted the patent to Wemple, ordered one to be issued to Abraham Van Epps, of two miles square, and it was so issued and included Vernon village. The act recites that Van Epps had aided the Oneidas and made advances to them. The father of Van Epps was a fur trader. After the Revo- lutionary war he again embarked in the business, but was plundered in Canada and his death remained a mystery. Young Van Epps took up the business in 1784 and came from Schenectady up the valley. In 1785 he located at Oriskany and there began trading with the large body of Oneida Indians then located there. About 1787 he settled in what is now Westmoreland. After he received his patent he moved upon it ; he died in 1844 at the age of eighty-one years. He had a store in Westmoreland and was the first merchant in Vernon.

Baschard's Location .- In the town of Vernon, to the southeast of Vernon village and extending to and including Vernon Center, is a tract of 4,91 I acres, granted to T. L. Whitbeck and others (see Oneida county deed of books, No. 6), called Baschard's Location. Its history is as follows: On June 27, 1786, a patent for 4,883 acres was granted by the State to " Bass Chard," Samuel Hatch and others of the Isle La Mott, in Lake Champlain. In the difficulties between New York and Vermont, that island was ceded to the latter State, and the New York Legislature, by act passed April 11, 1796, authorized a patent to the above patentees, or their assigns, for any unappropriated lands in New York, in lieu of the said island The parties located their lands in Vernon, as above stated, and hence the name of the " Location." About 1797 a company of wealthy farmers from Connecticut bought a part of this patent, a part of the Van Epps Patent, and a part of the Sergeant Patent, laid out a town plat six miles square and sold to actual settlers.

Bleecker Patents .- By a treaty made with the Oneidas the State agreed to grant a patent of lands to John I. Bleecker, for lands which

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COLONIAL LAND PATENTS.

the Oneidas had agreed to give him, and on February 25, 1789, a patent called " Bleecker's South Patent," was issued ; it lies in the town of Vernon, next south of Dean's Patent. By the same act another patent a mile square was ordered to be issued to Bleecker for further compensation for his faithful services ; this patent is called " Bleecker's North Patent," and is located in Westmoreland next to the Line of Property, and next northerly of Dean's Patent.

Otsequette Patent .- An act was passed March 18, 1791, directing a patent of 1,000 acres to be issued to Peter Otsequette, of the Wolf tribe of the Oneidas, for Otsequette's use for life and the issue of his body. That tract is in Westmoreland, next to Dean's Patent and Bleecker's North Patent. Otsequette was a noted personage, was one of the chiefs who signed the treaty at Fort Stanwix in September, 1788, was highly educated and when a youth was taken to France by La Fay- ette and placed in the French schools where he remained seven years. He could speak French with great fluency and recite with thrilling effect from the tragedies of Racine and Corneille. And yet he possessed Indian tastes and instincts and would drink whisky from a keg and whoop like the lowest savage In February, 1820, an act was passed reciting the death of Peter Otsequette (who died in 1792), and that Anthony was his only surviving child and entitled to one-half of the benefits of said patent, and that George and Henry Hill, infant children of a deceased daughter, are entitled to the other half; and Anthony, desirous of surrendering his half to the State upon being paid $300 and $42 annuity, it was enacted that those sums be paid and a release taken ; in March, 1821, the share of the Hill children was disposed of in the same way.

Lawrence, or Smith Patent .-- On December 23, 1793. a patent was issued for 1,896 acres to Melancthon Smith. The parcel is in Rome and includes Green's Corners, or Greenway, as now called. The con- tract was made in 1791 for three shillings and seven pence per acre. It was divided into lots by C. C. Broadhead, surveyor. Mr. Smith was a prominent man in his day, was largely interested in lands, was a mem- ber of assembly for New York and member of the Provincial Congress. Before 1800 he sold the land to Jonathan Lawrence, a merchant of New York, and hence it is sometimes called the Smith Patent and sometimes

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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

the Lawrence Tract. Mr. Lawrence usually leased the land for lives. Mr. Lawrence died intestate before 1816 and in that year his heirs par- titioned the property among themselves.

Mckesson Patent .-- In Westmoreland and including Lowell, a patent of 4,080 acres was granted to John Mckesson, of New York ; it was contracted to him for three shillings, six pence per acre. A patent was issued to him May 20, 1795. He died September 18, 1798, intestate, leaving no children and his real estate descended to his brothers and sisters, five in number. In 1801 the patent was partitioned among them ; it was called the " two- mile tract," and was supposed to contain .2,000 acres.

Adgate's Patent .- In 1761 Matthew Adgate, of Columbia county, purchased of the State by contract, a parcel of land in the north part of this county, estimated to be 45,000 acres, for two shillings six pence per acre. It is known as Adgate's Western Tract, and lies next to Ma- comb's Purchase. A patent was issued January 30. 1798. Another tract called Adgate's Eastern Tract, of 40.000 acres, was owned by Adgate, lying partly in Oneida county and partly in Herkimer county. In 1794 Benjamin Wright surveyed the western tract into lots west of Black River. Mr. Adgate was member of the convention that formed the first United States Constitution, and member of assembly.

CHAPTER XI.

PHYSICAL FEATURES OF ONEIDA COUNTY.

The oldest land on this continent was a V-shaped ridge which appeared above the vast waters then covering all of North America. This ridge stretched from a point north of Lake Ontario, northeast to Labrador, and northwest to the Atlantic Ocean, and belongs to what is known in geology as the Azoic Age, or the Archaic Rock. It was upheaved at a time previous to the existence of life on the earth and is now found overlaid in places by a series of layers of sedimentary rocks in which are found fossil remains of the lowest forms of animal life.

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PHYSICAL FEATURES OF THE COUNTY.

This series of sedimentary rocks, up to a certain point, constitute what is known in geology as the Silurian Age, and in it is embraced the terri- tory beginning at the north shore of Lake Ontario and extending to a point in the southern part of Oneida county where the series closes with what is known as the Oriskany Sandstone. The Silurian rocks were formed mainly by the decomposition and gradual disintegration of the older rock mentioned, and the washing down of the material thus produced into the sea. In the course of the passing ages sufficient of this material was thus deposited and slowly hardened into stone, to form the lowest and oldest layer of the series, which was succeeded by another, and so on to the uppermost. A later upheavel tilted these vast layers of rock and lifted their northern edges above the waters, giving the layers a dip towards the south, at the same time driving the waters southward and forming a new shore. In other words, these tilted rock layers lie upon each other like the shingles on a roof. As these layers of sedimentary rock came into being and their edges appeared above the waters to the northward, the shore of the great ocean moved southward, each succeeding layer forming a step in the progression, until the first appearance of the Niagara limestone is reached at Oneida Lake. About this time a great upheaval occurred to the eastward and southward, in the region of what is now Maryland and West Virginia, which cut off from the main body of water several great inland seas, one of which covered the territory which now constitutes that part of this State lying south of a line drawn from Oneida Lake to Niagara Falls. The waters of this sea. thus cut off from the main ocean and having no larger rivers flowing in to increase their volume, slowly evaporated under the heat of the sun, depositing the minerals which they contained, and thus forming, with the clay and impure limestones of the muddy bottom, the rocks of the Salina Period. It is believed by good authorities that after the close of the Salina Period the rocks of that series probably remained for a long time at the surface of Central and Southern New York. During this time the older granitic rocks toward the north were being disintegrated and ground up; and when the great convulsion occurred which ushered in the Devonian Age (next above the Silurian), this sandy material was washed down into the bot- tom of the new-formed sea, and re-hardened into the layer now known

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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

as the Oriskany Sandstone. When the Devonian sea became calm, the layers of the Onondaga Limestone were deposited at its bottom by the carbonic acid gas of the heavy atmosphere uniting with the lime held in solution by the water. This sea finally became shallower and was subsequently filled up by the Hamilton shales.

In the territory now embraced in Oneida county there is an outcrop of nearly every formation from the lower (the Archaan) to the Carbon- iferous (see diagram). Thus, beginning with the primary rocks of the Adirondack region, there occur as we go south, the great lime stone sys- tem known as the Trenton formations, containing wonderful fossil re- mains; then the Utica Slate; the Lorraine Shales, or Hudson River Group ; the Oneida Conglomerate ; the Medina Sandstone ; the Clinton Group ; the Niagara Shale and Limestone ; the Onondaga Salt Group ; the Helderberg Limestone ; the Oriskany Sandstone; and the Hamil- ton and Chemung shales and sandstones. Of these several formations, the Trenton Limestone, the Utica Slate, the Oneida Conglomerate, the Clinton Group, and the Oriskany Sandstone received their names from their remarkable development in Oneida county.

It is probable that the Adirondacks were uplifted before the formation of the sedimentary rocks began, and that they are part of the earliest uplift on the globe. The outcropping formations of the State of New York represent the Archæan, the Silurian, the Devonian and partly the Carboniferous Ages (see diagram). In the Archaan no animal life is known to have existed, and there is no positive evidence that vegeta- tion had yet appeared on the earth. In the Silurian the Invertebrates appeared, and plants of the Algæ; in the Devonian, various fishes are represented and some new forms of vegetation ; in the Carboniferous, amphibious animals made their appearance, and other plant life, among which were those that contributed largely to the formation of the coal beds. The thickness of the sedimentary rocks in this State, above the Archæan, is about 13,000 feet, and it rapidly and greatly increases as we proceed southward.

The celebrated Potsdam sandstone lies directly upon the primary forma- tion and contains a few forms of animal life ; as we come upward these in- crease both in species and in individuals, until the Trenton Group is reached, which is largely composed of animal remains, particularly in its

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upper strata. The picturesque gorge of West Canada Creek at Trenton falls is cut for three miles through the Trenton limestone to a depth of from 60 to 100 feet, offering to the naturalist a most prolific source of rare and beautiful specimens of extinct life. Black River, in the northeastern part of the county, runs very nearly on the line dividing the primitive from the secondary formation ; on the east is the granite rock and on the west the Trenton limestones. The outcrop of the Tren- ton rocks covers an area in Oneida county of 100 or 150 square miles. Extensive quarries have been and are worked. The thickness of the Trenton' limestone in Oneida county is about 300 feet, while in the Appalachian Mountains it reaches 2,000 feet. In geology the Trenton Period includes the Black River and Trenton Limestones, the Utica Shales and Slates, and the Hudson River and Cincinnati groups of Limestones and Shales. The Utica Shale overlies the Trenton and Black River formations and extends in a narrow band along the Mohawk valley, reaching a thickness of 15 to 35 feet at Glens Falls, 250 feet in Montgomery county, and about 300 feet in Oneida county. It out- crops in Boonville, Steuben, Western, Floyd, Trenton, Rome, Marcy, and Deerfield. It has no value for building purposes.

Succeeding this is the Hudson River group, known as the Hudson River, Pulaski, and the Lorraine Shales, which is similar in character to the Utica shale and like that abounds in fossils. It is found in the towns of Boonville, Ava, Western, Lee, Annsville, Whitestown, and Utica, and extends down the Mohawk valley on its southern side to the Hudson.

This closes the Lower Silurian Age, and is succeeded by the Upper Silurian, as shown in the diagram, which includes the Niagara, Salina, Lower Helderberg, and the Oriskany formations The Niagara group includes the Medina, the Clinton, and Niagara subdivisions, while the Medina includes the Oneida Conglomerate and the Medina Sandstone. The Oneida Conglomerate is a pebbly sandstone or grit and extends through the towns of Florence, Camden, Annsville and in a narrow strip into Herkimer county, where it disappears. Its thickness is from 20 to 120 feet. In Ulster county it reaches 500 feet in thickness and the celebrated Esopus millstones are manufactured from it. The upper formation of the Medina epoch is the well known valuable Medina sand- 17

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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

stone, which from a great thickness in the western part of the State, gradually becomes thinner to the eastward and disappears in the central parts of Oneida county. It is found in Camden, Vienna and Rome.

Above the Medina stone appears the Clinton Sandstone, which ex- tends from Schoharie county westward through Herkimer and Oneida counties and on westward across this State through Canada and Michi- gan. In Oneida county it has a width of six to ten miles, and Oneida Lake lies wholly within the formation; its thickness in this county is from 100 to 200 feet, and it has been quarried to some extent for build- ing purposes for which it is superior. Iron ore is found in this forma tion.

Overlapping the Clinton is the Niagara formation, which extends from Herkimer county through Oneida in a narrow belt, outcropping in the towns of Paris, Kirkland, and Vernon. While very thin in this region, it increases in thickness to the westward, being about 88 feet at Niagara Falls. The Niagara rock abounds in fossils.

Next above the Niagara is the Salina Period, or Onondaga Salt Group, which affords the brine of the salt supply. From a thickness of 700 to 1,000 feet in Onondaga county, the rock grows thinner to the eastward, and is only a few feet thick at the Hudson The formation is almost destitute of fossils. The Lower Helderberg, which is next above, ex- tends across this State. It is known also as the Waterline Group, be- ing a bluish, impure limestone of thin layers. It abounds in fossils. The Upper Helderberg extends as far west as Ontario county, but is very thin, although it reaches a thickness of 400 feet in eastern New York. In Oneida county it passes through the towns of Paris, Marshall, Augusta and Vernon.

The uppermost rock of the Silurian Age is the Oriskany Sandstone, which extends from Central New York, in the Oriskany neighborhood, southwestward along the Appalachians and spreads out in the Missis- sippi valley; it thins out towards the Hudson River. Dana says that " in New York it consists either of pure siliceous sands, or of argillaceous sands. In the former case it is usually yellowish or bluish, and some- times crumbles into sand suitable for making glass. The argillaceous sandstone is of a dark brown or reddish color, and was evidently a sandy or pebbly mud." During the formation of this rock sea weeds were not

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PHYSICAL FEATURES OF THE COUNTY.

uncommon and traces of terrestrial animals have been found. The number of fossils discovered in the Silurian reaches far into the thou- sands, among which are many varieties of the Trilobites.

The Devonian Age, or Age of Fishes. is next above the Silurian, as shown in the diagram, and includes the Corniferous, the Hamiltonian, the Chemung, and the Catskill Periods in the order named. The first two divisions of the Corniferous Period thicken towards the Hudson River and one of them, the Schoharie Grit, may possibly reach Oneida county. The upper divisions, the Onondaga and the Corniferous Lime- stones exist in this county, the first outcropping in Sangerfield, and the last named near Waterville. The Corniferous abounds in fossil plants and animals, and the remains of vertebrates, in the form of fishes, appear first in America in these rocks.

Above the Corniferous Period comes the Hamilton, which includes the Marcellus, Hamilton, and Genesee Shales. The Marcellus is a soft argillaceous rock ; the Hamilton (so named from the town of Hamilton, Madison county) consists of shales and flags, with some thin limestone, and is extensively used in Utica and many other places for walks and other purposes. The Genesee shale is a blackish, bituminous shaly rock overlying the Hamilton.

Next above comes the Chemung Period, which includes the Portage and the Chemung groups. The former consists of shales and laminated sandstones and does not appear in the eastern part of the State. The Chemung covers a large part of southern New York, but neither that nor the Catskill is developed in Oneida county.

. The Carboniferous Age, next above the Devonian, and its several for- mations, are not found in this State, except in the lower portions (the sub carboniferous), and therefore need not be further described in these pages

The topography of Oneida county presents a variety and beauty of landscape that has attracted the attention not only of the early ambi- tious agriculturist in quest of a favorable location to establish his home, but also of the artist and the poet seeking subjects for the canvas and the song. The fame of the valley of the Mohawk has traveled far and the swelling hills that border it possess equal natural beauty of another order. From northwestwardly to southeastwardly extends the broad

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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

valley of the beautiful river, the lowest pass through the Appalachian mountain system, and one of the most fertile sections of this State. Northward and southward from the valley rises a broken and hilly re- gion, in the southern part lying in ridges extending north and south and divided by streams and ravines ; northward of the valley the sur- face rises abruptly to a height of Soo to 1,200 feet and spreads out in a nearly level plateau, except as broken by the ravines of streams. The height of this part of the county culminates in "Penn Mount," in the town of Steuben, which rises 1,727 feet above the sea, the height of the Mohawk above tidewater at Albany being 427 feet. The highest point south of the Mohawk is locally known as " Tassell Hill," from a Dutch - man named Van Tassel who lived near it; it is near the joining four corners of the towns of Marshall, Sangerfield, Bridgewater, and Paris, and is approximately 1,800 feet above the Mohawk at Rome. The northeastern part of the county extends into the borders of the great northern wilderness. Oneida county is well drained, the Mohawk ris- ing upon the north border of the county, flows southerly to Rome and thence southeast to the eastern bounds of the county. Its principal tributaries from the north are Nine Mile Creek and Lansing Kill, and from the south, Sauquoit and Oriskany Creeks. East Canada Creek. forms a part of the east boundary of the county and Black River flows across the northeast corner. The western and southwestern parts are drained by Wood Creek (flowing west into Oneida Lake), Fish Creek, Mad River, and Little River. Included in the towns of Vienna and Verona is a part of Oneida Lake, probably about 57,000 acres. In the northeastern part are several small lakes and ponds which are further described in the town histories.

The soil of the northeastern part of the county is derived from the disintegration of the primitive rocks before described and is light and sandy. In the central part it is a sandy and gravelly loam and alluvium of great fertility. The highlands south of the Mohawk have a soil com- posed of clay and sandy and gravelly loam, well adapted to pasturage. Minerals of value are confined to the lenticular clay iron ore of the Clin- ton Group, bog iron ore in the swamps near Oneida Lake and possibly magnetic ore in the northeastern part. Waterlime and gypsum have been quarried to a limited extent, and marl and peat have been found

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DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTY.

in some places. Nearly all of the territory of the county was formerly covered with a heavy forest of valuable timber which was of consider- able value to the pioneers.

CHAPTER XII.

DESCRIPTION OF COUNTY.

By an act passed April 10, 1792, the town of Whitestown, then in Herkimer county, was divided and the towns of Westmoreland, Steuben, Paris, Mexico, Peru. and Whitestown formed therefrom. These towns embraced substantially the following territory : The town of Westmore- and, in the main its present boundaries, and in addition the town of Verona and part of Vernon.

Steuben, its present boundaries and the towns of Ava, Boonville, part of Annsville, Lee, Western, Floyd, and Rome in Oneida county, and a large part of the territory in what is now Jefferson and Lewis counties.

Paris, the present territory of the town, and Bridgewater, Kirkland, Marshall, and Sangerfield in Oneida county, and portions of the terri- tory in what are now Chenango and Madison counties.

Mexico was an immense town and has been justly styled " the mother of towns." It included as thus constituted the present counties of On- ondaga and Cortland, all of Oswego lying west of the east bounds of the Military Tract and a line drawn from the mouth of the Caneseraga Creek through Oneida Lake to Ontario, which line would strike a point near the northwest corner of Williamstown in Oswego county. Febru- ary 26, 1796, the town of Mexico was reformed and the second Mexico included all of what is now Oswego county east of Oswego River and north of Oneida River and Lake and including the towns of Camden, Florence and Vienna and part of Annsville in Oneida county, and most of the towns in Jefferson and Lewis counties lying west of Black River.

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Our county and its people; a descriptive work on Oneida county, New York;, Part 13

Author: Wager, Daniel Elbridge, 1823-1896 Publication date: 1896 Publisher: [Boston] : The Boston history co. Number of Pages: 1612

Author: Wager, Daniel Elbridge, 1823-1896
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: [Boston] : The Boston history co.
Number of Pages: 1612