USA > New York > Oneida County > Our county and its people; a descriptive work on Oneida county, New York; > Part 39
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While these and other improvements were in progress at the several hamlets of the town, settlers came rapidly into the outlying districts, the forests fell, lands were cultivated, and attractive homes were founded throughout the town.
The State of Connecticut continued to send her hardy Yankees into Augusta, and it is said that in 1847 of forty-eight families living on the road running north and south through its center, eighteen were from Litchfield county in that State, while many others were from other counties in the same State. Josiah Cook, from Otis, Conn., settled in town in 1799, with his family of thirteen children, twelve of whom with their families located in this town. It was from this family that " Cook's Corners," now Knoxboro, was named.
Abner Ranney, from Blandford, a Connecticut town adjoining Otis, settled in this town early, and lived to be 101 years and five months old ; he was father of twelve children. Elisha Shepard, another early settler, was from Blandford, as were the Knox family, with the exception of J. J. Knox. John J. Knox came to Augusta in 1811 ; he was born in 1791, and died in 1876. John Jay Knox, one of his sons, was born in 1828, and died February 9, 1891. He was prominent in public affairs ; from 1866 to 1873, he was in charge of the mint and coinage correspond- ence of the Treasury Department ; was deputy comptroller of the cur- rency five years, and comptroller five years. He was honored with the degree of LL. D. by Hamiton College. Knoxboro received its name from the father of John Jay, who established a store there in 1811, which was carried on by members of the family many years. He also established a brewery about 1820, to "keep folks from drinking"; it was
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sold to New York men and is not now in operation. John J. Knox had two other sons, all prominent men ; but of the three most widely known were Revs. W. E. Knox and Charles E. Knox. The former was pastor for several years of the Presbyterian church at Watertown, N. Y., then at Rome from 1848 to 1869, and at Venice from the latter year to his death in September, 1883. He was a strong man in the ministry and everywhere he was placed. Rev. Charles E. Knox was also an able divine. J. C. Knox and others established the " New York Lock Com- pany" in 1861 and manufactured locks several years. James C. Knox was the first postmaster after the office was established in about 1850; the name was officially changed in 1863. The present postmaster is Fred Onyan.
Charles Putnam, from Stonington, Conn., settled very early in Oneida county, first for two years at Clinton, whence he removed to a 400- acre farm situated a mile and a half northwest of Oriskany Falls. There he built the first barn in the town. He was a veteran of the Revolution and father of Frederick Putnam, who settled in the town the next year after his father came. Sidney Putnam, son of Frederick, died in 1883, leaving a very large estate.
An early physician in this town, and probably the first, was Dr. Johnson, who settled at the Center in 1797, and died in 1806 or 1807. Dr. Nathaniel Rose began practice here in 1803 and lived on the place where he died in 1839. Eli Botsford became a student with him in 1819, practiced for a time with his preceptor, and in 1827 began prac- tice at Knoxboro ; in 1845 he removed to the Center. Dr. Hooker and Dr. Richards were early physicians at the Center, and Dr. Edmund Allen settled there in 1820. Preceding Dr. Botsford at Knoxboro were Drs. Usher and Hastings, and Dr. Seabury M. Higgins settled there in 1846. Dr. John S. Livermore began practice at Oriskany Falls in 1822; Dr. Bishop in 1827; Dr. A. W. Marsh in 1828-9; Dr. D. C. Worden in 1833, and Dr. Edward Trask in 1835. Later physicians at the Falls were Drs. T. H. Cox, and Dr. W. E. Babcock. Dr. Charles Munger has been in practice at Knoxboro more than twenty-five years.
Early in the year 1797 two brothers, Joab and John Farman, sons of John and Rebecca (Chamberlain) Farman, came from Bath, N. H., to Paris, Oneida county, N. Y. Joab purchased lands in that town, which
Henry Harman
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he sold in 1800 and 1804. In 1804 he moved to Ellisburg, Jefferson county, N. Y., where he died October 11, 1864, in his ninety-eighth year. His first wife, Rebecca (Powers) Farman, died in Paris, July 6, 1806; and he married in the same place, August 27, 1807, Abigail Whitney. Of his thirteen children, five were born in Paris, viz. : Wealthy, October 28, 1797 ; Belara, September 20, 1799; Martha, De- cember 17, 1801 ; Erastus Ingerson, April 14, 1805, and Joab, jr., July 3, 1806. John purchased 235 acres of land on the Oneida Reservation, in the north part of the town of Augusta ; his deed was dated Decem- ber 17, 1797 ; and the land was situated a little east of the farm owned and occupied, for many years, by the late Walter Powers. John died in Oppenheim, N. Y., February 1812, while on his way to his home from Albany, where he had been to market his wheat. Another brother, Moody Farman, then a young unmarried man, came with John to Augusta. After his marriage he lived till 1820 at Vernon Center, and then moved to Jamesville, Onondaga county, N. Y. He was a mill- wright, and died from the result of a fall, while building a flouring mill, in the then village of Rochester, N. Y., September 27, 1825 Roswell, Samuel and Simpson Farman, who were also brothers of Joab and John, came to Oneida county with them, or soon afterwards ; Roswell resided in Vernon until 1806, when he removed to New Haven, Oswego county, (then Mexico, Oneida county), when he died October 17, 1839, in his seventy-fifth year. Samuel and Simpson resided some years in West- moreland, and then moved to Jefferson county. Samuel died in Ellis- burg in that county, December 20, 1849; and Simpson in Wisconsin in 1863, in his eighty eighth year. John Farman, father of Roswell and John Farman, was born September 1I, 1739, in Maryland ; he was a descendant in the fourth generation of Robert Foreman (as the name was originally written), a planter, who settled near Annapolis, Md., in 1674. John was a volunteer in the old French war, and served in the British army from 1756 to 1763. He came by the way of the Hudson, the Mohawk, Oneida Lake and Oswego River to Oswego ; he was occu - pied on this route and at Oswego for three years, the greater part of the time at the latter place. In 1760 he descended the St. Lawrence in the general movement upon Montreal, and in 1763 went through the forests to Newbury, Vt. (then New Hampshire). He there married Rebecca
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Chamberlain and settled in Bath, New Hampshire. He served in the Revolutionary war, had a family of nine sons and one daughter, all of whom, except one, lived to have families, mostly large ones. It is probable that his accounts of Central New York led his sons, soon after his death, to leave their homes among the mountains of Northern New Eugland, for the more genial climate and fertile soil of Central New York.
Some of the early residents of the town attained distinction in public affairs ; among them David Ambler, who was a member of assembly when presidential electors were chosen by that body, and was one of that body to elect James Monroe to the presidency. John J. Knox was elector when William Henry Harrison was chosen to the presi- dency. Of other early residents Winthrop H. Chandler, Riley Shep- ard, and David Murray were member of assembly, and many other families of the town will be found noticed in Parts II and III of this volume.
Outside of Oriskany Falls this town is essentially an agricultural dis- trict, and the farmers past and present have advanced in their vocation with the improvements in facilities and the broader knowledge of methods introduced in later years. Following the crops of various grains and vegetables that were principally grown in early years, large areas were given up to the cultivation of hops. This crop has been a successful one, as far as relates to quantity and quality, but the town has often suffered in common with others from the fluctuation in prices. In comparatively recent years much attention has been devoted to dairying, with good results; cheese has been manufactured to a con- siderable extent and there are now two factories in the town. Among the leading farmers of the present may be mentioned the following :
D. Fairchild, John Hewitt, George Byrnes, W. W. Collins, H. J. Durkee, Charles Green, Arthur Allen, Warren G. Strong, A. W. Strong, Eugene Snow, E. C. Eaton, W. G. Spaulding, R. O. Vaughn, William Hinman, A. C. Brewer, E. J. Bartholo- mew, J. E. Morrow, Henry Farnham, A. I. Stone, J. J. Beach, Putnam estate, John C. Cross, A. A. Miller, Jay Hatheway, W. W. Hatheway, E. B. Miner, William Maxon, P. Chesebro, James Van Swall, A. Morehouse.
The first white child born in Augusta was Peter Smith Gunn, a son of the first settler. The first marriage was that of Daniel Hart and Catherine Putnam, the ceremony being performed by Colonel Cassety,
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as justice. The first death of an adult was that of Eleazer Putnam, who died April 15, 1795, at the age of thirty-one years.
In the cemetery near Knoxboro is the grave of Dr. Augustus Bur- goyne, who first came to this country at the time of the war of the Revolution, as general surgeon in the British army under command of his uncle, Gen. Sir John Burgoyne. After the surrender of the latter, October 17, 1777, at Saratoga, Dr. Burgoyne and other prisoners were sent into Vermont to be safely kept, and at one time he was confined in the old Bennington meeting house. While in Vermont he became acquainted with Anna Rice, whom he afterwards married. He settled in Thetford, Vt., where he practiced medicine many years. In his old age he went to live with his married daughter, Tabitha Burgoyne, wife of Zenas Bird, who lived in Augusta. There he died and was buried. The inscription on his tombstone reads as follows :
Sacred to the memory of Dr. Augustus Burgoyne. Born in England 1737, and died in Augusta February 8, 1824, aged 87 years.
Oh soft remembrance drops a pious tear,
And holy friendship stands a mourner here.
The present oldest resident of the town is Elliot Hurd, who resides at Augusta Center at the age of ninety eight years. The town has been the native place of several excellent attorneys, some of the latter ones being noticed in Part II. In 1847 a historical address was deliv- ered by the Rev. Orlo Bartholomew, from which many facts are herein drawn, in which he gave the following as lawyers native in the town up to that time: Henry Moss, George Fowler, S. L. Rose, James O. Toole, Austin Kendall, Henry L. Brown, Du Portal Davis, and James C. Steb- bins.
Besides the churches already noticed several others have been organ- ized and are now in prosperous existence. The Baptist church at the Center was organized August 22, 1829, with thirty-three members. The church edifice was completed before the organization and dedicated two days previous. The society closed its existence many years ago.
On the 3 Ist of January, 1833, the Congregational society at Oriskany Falls was organized, and the stone edifice was partly finished, so that services were held in the basement, in the following year ; the building was not finished until 1845. For several years prior to 1894, the
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church was practically closed, but the pulpit is now occupied by a non- resident pastor.
A Methodist class was in existence many years before the organiza- tion of a society, which was effected in 1867. The village was made a station in 1858, with Rev. A. L. York, pastor. In 1867 the Women's Aid Society purchased the lot and fitted up a building there as a chapel. The present church building was erected in 1870-71.
The date of organization of the Church of the Good Shepherd, at Oriskany Falls, is not obtainable but was prior to 1871, at which date Rev. Russell Todd was pastor. The frame church was erected in that year. It is now in a fairly prosperous condition.
St. Joseph's Catholic church, Oriskany Falls, began holding meetings in Owen's Hall in 1867, and in 1872 began the erection of the present church, which was finished in the next year. The first pastor was Rev. Peter O'Reilly, of Clinton.
A Union church, composed of Presbyterians and Methodists was organized in 1849, and a building was erected from the materials of the old church on East Hill. This was closed as a church in 1871. The present Methodist church at Knoxboro was erected in 1872 at a cost of nearly $10,000. The Presbyterians of Knoxboro built their separate edifice in the same year, which cost with all appurtenances about $10,- 000. The society is an offshoot from the one at the Center.
The village of Oriskany Falls is one of the most thriving and at- tractive of the smaller villages of the county. In recent years many industries have been established within its limits which enterprising men have made prosperous. The railroad built by the Utica, Clinton and Binghamton Company, which was organized in August, 1862, and opened to Oriskany Falls in 1868, and through to its terminus in 1871, placed the village in rapid and easy connection with the large markets and gave it a marked impulse. The first grist and saw mills which have been described were succeeded in later years by the present mill, which was erected by David Currie. Passing through various hands it finally came into possession of Hatheway & Reynolds, the present proprietors. It contains all modern requisites for flouring purposes. What has been known as the " Farmers' Mill " was built in 1861-2 by Martin Miller, and is now owned by E. S. Hamblin. It has been re- fitted for the roller process.
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THE TOWN OF AUGUSTA.
Aaron Burley's early tannery, which was converted into a distillery, has been mentioned. It was again transformed into a woolen mill by E. & W. D. Hicks in 1864. In 1889 it was purchased by Langley & Davis. It was burned in December, 1894.
A foundry and machine shop was built by Ballard & Briggs in 1853, to which was added a furnace. They carried on the business many years. In the spring of 1895, the Oriskany Falls Knitting Com- pany was organized for the manufacture of sweaters and underwear, and took the old foundry and shop plant for their business.
In 1865 the firm of Owen & Brainard built and established a woolen factory, where they manufactured cassimeres until 1875, when E. B. Woolworth took the plant and began the manufacture of woolen yarns. The business in 1889 passed to Langly & Davis and the factory was burned. H. H. Langley then erected a new factory which is now in successful operation.
The inception of the Oriskany Falls brewery is credited to a Mr. Hines, who built on the site of the former distillery of Elisha Fowler. After passing through other hands it, about eleven years ago, came into possession of H. Morgan & Co. (James A. Douglass) and the es- tablishment now has a capacity of about seventy-five barrels a day. Mr. Douglass is now sole proprietor.
One of the largest and most prosperous industries of the village is the Scotch cap factory of Hatheway & Reynolds. The first two man . ufactories of these goods in America were established in Utica, and the third was the one at the Falls, which was started in 1881. About 150 hands are employed in the business.
Another industry in the same line is the Scotch cap factory of James Cunningham & Son, which was founded by the senior of the firm, who learned the business in his native Scotland. He located in Utica in 1880 and removed to Oriskany Falls in the next year, where he started the factory of Hatheway & Reynolds. In April, 1890, he engaged in the manufacture with his son, and they now employ about fifty hands.
In 1869 Fred G. Willard established a job printing-office in this vil- lage and three years later began the publication of a small paper called the Monthly Advertiser. It was soon enlarged and the name changed
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
to the Weekly News. Later another enlargement was made and the name changed to the Oriskany Falls News. On the Ist of March, 1888, the establishment was purchased by W. S. Phillips, the present proprietor. He has improved and enlarged the paper, which finds a large constituency.
Oriskany Falls Engine Company No. 1, with its attendant hose com- pany, has protected the village from fires, as far as possible, for more than twenty years. The hand engine was purchased in 1871, and the company was organized immediately afterwards. D. E. McElhinney is chief.
Oriskany Falls village was incorporated March 20, 1888. J. C. Cross was the first president, and H. A. Langley is the present incumbent of the office. C. B. Keith is president of the school board.
Following is a list of the supervisors of Augusta from the date of its organization to the present time, with the dates of their election :
Colonel Thomas Cassety, 1798; Abiel Linsley, 1799-1800; Sheldon Parmalee, 1802-7; Samuel Chandler, 1808-17; John J. Knox, 1818; Samuel Chandler, 1819-21 ; John J. Knox, 1822-23; Winthrop H. Chandler, 1824-26; Nathan Kimball, 1827-28; W. H. Chandler, 1829; Nathan Kimball, 1830-31; William Smith, 1832-34; W. H. Chandler, 1835-36; Aaron Burley, 1837-38; Benjamin Allen, 1839; John Currie, 1840; Elisha Fowler, 1841-42; John A. Scott, 1842-43; Alonzo Metcalf, 1845; Benja- min Allen, 1846; David Murray, 1847; Solomon M. Wells, 1848; George W. Couch, 1849; John A. Scott, 1850; Warren H. Griswold, 1851; George W. Couch, 1852; Al- mon W. Reynolds, 1853; Isaac C. Miller, 1854; James Allen, 1855; Elisha Fowler, 1856; James C. Knox, 1857; Dan P. Buckingham, 1858-59; James C. Knox, 1860; Willard G. Cummings, 1861: David W. Miner, 1862-64; W. S. Adams, 1865; Phil- ander Powers, 1866-67; John McMillan, 1868; Philander Powers, 1869; Milo C. Barker, 1870; Warren G. Strong, 1871-72; Milo C. Barker, 1873; James A. Douglass, 1874-75; Arthur P. Bartholomew, 1876-77; F. Leroy Hatheway, 1878-80; Warren G. Strong, 1881; Judge D. Dodge, 1882; Joseph Beach, 1883; William Hinman, 1884- 85; Myrtlan F. Smith, 1886-89; James A. Douglass, 1890-94.
By the year 1835 the population of the town had reached 3,347 ; but before the next census in 1840, the number was reduced to 2,175, largely by the setting off of a portion of the town to Stockbridge, Madi- son county, in 1836. Since that time it has hardly kept its original number of inhabitants, like many other localities that are without very large commercial centers. In 1845 the population was 2, 117 ; in 1850, 2,271 ; in 1855, 2,383-the largest number after it was reduced in area in 1836. In 1860 it was 2,213; in 1870, 2,067; in 1875, 2,233; in 1880, 2,171 ; in 1890, 1,984 and in 1892, 1,983.
J. A. DOUGLASS.
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THE TOWN OF AVA.
The principal officers of the town for 1895 are the following :
Supervisor, James A. Douglass; town clerk, Charles F. French; justices, E. S. Hamblin, E. Bartholomew, Frank French, Jay Fairchilds; assessors, Lewis Porte. Fred Wasmuth, Isaac Richmond ; highway commissioner, John Van Evra; collector. Arthur Barton; overseer of poor, William Beck.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE TOWN OF AVA.
This town lies in the central part of the northern tier of the county, and is one of the minor towns as well as next to the last one in date of organization. It was set off from Boonville by an act of the Legislature May 12, 1846, and embraces a little more than 22,000 acres. A large part of the territory of the town was included in the Machin and the Adgate patents, as shown on the map in Chapter X, with a smaller part in the Scriba patent, and small grants to others. The surface of the town is high and rolling, and the soil productive and composed of gravelly loam. The western boundary is Fish Creek, and through the town flow the headwaters of the Mohawk, with several small brooks. Tributaries of Black River find their source in the town, and in early years especially, when the volume of all small streams was much larger than now, good water power was found in many parts of the town, upon which was built the numerous early saw mills.
The territory of Ava was settled early, considering its situation, the pioneer, Ebenezer Harger, having located there in 1797 or 1798, re- moving from Whitestown where he had been about a year. His settle- ment was made about a mile east of the site of Ava Corners. He was soon followed into the town by Zephaniah and Abner Wood, and prob- ably in 1800, they welcomed as neighbors Philo Harger, Benjamin Jones, Lemuel Wood, and Justus Beardsley. Salmon Bates became a settler in or before 1800, and opened his house as a tavern, the first in the town. In the following year Benjamin Jones built the first saw mill, at which time there were said to be only nine residents.
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
Eli Mitchell located in Western in 1803, where their daughter Jerusha was born the next year. About 1807 they removed to Ava and settled on the farm afterwards occupied by their son, Eli T. Mitchell, in the southeast part. Rickerson Kenyon was another early settler in that neighborhood, south of the Mitchell place, and Joseph Hunt settled near the site of the Corners. About 1800 Daniel Buck settled in the northeast part of the town, on the farm occupied in recent years by his son, Jonathan Buck. The latter was born on that farm in December, 1804, and passed his life there. About a mile northeast of the Buck farm Isaac Knight settled just before the beginning of the century ; he was from Rhode Island. This farm was occupied in recent years by Fenner Rockwood. Remember Kent built a saw mill northwest of this on Moose Creek, which was operated many years. As early as 1801 Philo Harger and Benjamin Jones built one of the first saw mills in the town on the east branch of the Mohawk. The first white child born in the town was Chauncey Harger, born in March, 1801.
The pioneers of Ava lived in an isolated situation, distant from the main thoroughfares of travel, and passed through many hardships that were escaped by those of other localities ; but they persevered, cleared their farms, learned lessons of self-reliance, and reared their descendants in such a manner that they became good citizens. Children received such education as was possible under the circumstances ; those in the eastern part of the town were compelled for a number of years to go to Boonville, while others went to the log school houses that gradually came into existence. Religious services were held in the dwellings of the settlers for many years before a regular church organization was effected. Many of the pioneers belonged to the Society of Friends, and they built an early church, which was the only one in the town for years.
The act organizing the town directed the first town meeting to be held " on the 4th Tuesday in May, 1846, at ten o'clock in the forenoon, at the house of Joshua Coleman, in said town." At that meeting the following officers were chosen, the list comprising a number of the prominent settlers who located in the town prior to 1850 :
Supervisor, Henry Capron; town clerk, Horace Hoyt; justices of the peace, Sam- uel Jones, Truman Harger, John Cronk, Jeremiah Rowley; collector, Ezekiel R.
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Preston; assessors, Jonathan Buck, David Rankins, Ephraim S. Adams; superin- tendent of schools, Horace A. Buck; commissioners of highways, Nathan Shippy, Artemus Young, Daniel Edgerton; overseers of the poor, Samuel Hunt, Hiram Cronk; constables, Nathan R. Tiffany, Noah Nelson, John S. Bush, Archibald Mc- Donald; sealer of weights and measures, Horace Hoyt.
The early road that was cut through from Fort Stanwix to the French settlement on Black River passed through this town, and in the central part a settlement gathered at what became and now is Ava Cor- ners. There a post-office was established early, through the effort, as it is said, of a man named Bancroft, who secured a title formed by re- versing his own name to Croft Ban. It is not wonderful that such a name did not endure, and later gave place to Ava (the name of the capital of the Burmese empire, Asia), and upon the organization of the town in 1846, it very appropriately took the same name. Ava Corners is a small village where has been carried on one or two stores, a hotel, and various shops. It is connected by stage with Rome. The first hotel was built by a Mr. Kingsbury, on the site of the later hotel; the second one was partly built in the summer of 1850, but it passed to Morse & Shaver, who finished it and kept it a number of years. A store is kept by F. E. Castle, who has been in trade several years, suc- ceeding W. S. Bushnell. Pohl & Smith have carried on a store about four years, prior to which A. Hurlbut, now a merchant of Boonville, was with Mr. Pohl. G. D. & V. F. Pohl established here a foundry and machine shop where they have manufactured largely curd mills, agita- tors, steam and gasoline engines, and other articles. The foundry part of their works burned in April, 1896. H. G. Wickman has a wagon shop in the place.
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