Our county and its people; a descriptive work on Oneida county, New York;, Part 55

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 55

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During the summer of 1804 they built a log meeting-house on the site of the present stone church. It was rather late in the fall of that year before it was com- pleted ; perhaps as late as the 1st of November before it was opened. As it was also intended for a school-house as well as for spiritual instructions, the school was com- menced about the 1st of December, and continued until Christmas night, when, by accident, the house was consumed by fire, with all its contents. Nothing daunted, the inhabitants went to work in the summer of 1805 and erected a frame building on the same location, which was soon finished ready for use. It was used until it was removed to give place to the present splendid stone church.

In the mean time there was quite a settlement in the city of Utica. They also had formed a church, which was first under the charge of Rev. Daniel Morris, assisted by Revs. Evan Davis, John Roberts, etc. During the summer of 1806, Rev. Howell R. Powell visited the Welsh churches at Utica and Steuben, and advised them of the advantage of forming an association, or cymanfa; which was done, and their first meeting was held at Utica in September, 1806, and at Steuben the following week. The ministers who took part at the first were Daniel Morris, Evan Davis, and John G. Roberts, of Steuben, assisted by an English divine, whose name is forgotten. Thus commenced the annual conferences of Steuben and Utica, which have been kept up with so much zeal to the present day. The following year Rev. Howell R. Powell was present, and took conspicuous part in the conference and preaching etc., and continued to attend every year with the greatest punctuality for twenty-five years. The first Welsh Batpist church was organized in Steuben in the year 1806, on the arrival of Rev. Richard Jones from Philadelphia, who had the pastoral charge of the said church for many years. Although the first church was organized as above, one Morgan Williams had been in the habit of preaching occa- sionally to a limited numberin different localities, but there was no constant preaching until the year above mentioned. They soon went to work to build a house of wor- ship on the site of their present house.

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About the year 1800 the family of Thomas Thomas, another Welsh . man, settled in this town. He had been a sailor and was a victim of the British press gangs. He afterwards lost his right leg in an engage- ment with a French ship; this occurred in 1796, and he was taken to Halifax, thence to Greenwich Hospilal, and finally married and returned to America. He died at the age of eighty-seven years, and was the last survivor of the Welsh pioneers of this town. His sons, William H., Charles M., Didymus and John T., became prominent citizens of Remsen. Daniel Thomas, brother of Thomas Thomas, beeame a set- tler in the town about 1806. He was a stone cutter and his son T. D. Thomas was a well known farmer in the town. Joel, Chester and Sal- mon Porter, brothers, settled in the town about 1808. A daughter of Joel became the wife of Daniel Barnes, before mentioned. Chester Por- ter was a shoemaker, and many years served as justice of the peace. The family of John Roberts came from Wales about 1800, and William Francis about 1818. William Lewis, long a prominent citizen of Steu- ben, was born in Utica in 1813, and was a son of William, a native of Wales, who immigrated in 1800. The son came into Steuben prior to 1820, the year in which his father died in New Orleans. Mr. Lewis held the office of supervisor thirteen terms, and in the fall of 1860 was elected to the Assembly. Timothy Griffith was an early settler, and his son, John R., was born in town in September, 1817. Both father and son became examples of the excellent citizenship of the town.

On a monument in the cemetery at the stone church is this inscrip- tion :

Rev. Robert Everett, D. D., was born January 2, 1791, at Cronant, Flintshire, North Wales. A minister of the gospel for sixty years, and editor of the Cenhadwr for thirty-five years. Died February 25, 1875.

Dr. Everett lived near Remsen village, but in this town. He had acquired considerable literary reputation before coming to this region, and came to America in 1823, as pastor of the Welsh Congregational church in Utica, where he remained nine years. After terms of preach- ing in other places he settled in Steuben in 1838, as pastor of two churches, one near where he lived and one four miles away. In Janu- ary, 1840, he issued the first number of the Cenhadwr, a religious monthly, which he continued to edit till his death. It was printed at

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THE TOWN OF STEUBEN.

first in Utica, later in Remsen and finally at his residence. Several books were published by him, and his entire life was given up to good works. His wife was Elizabeth Roberts, sister of Henry Roberts, of Utica, father of the firm of Henry Roberts's Sons.

Richard R. Roberts, sr., came to Steuben in 1818. He and his wife were natives of Wales. He died in 1842. His son of the same name was a well known citizen of the town. Owen Owens, another Welsh citizen, settled in town in 1824. His sons, John C. and Charles, were among the leading farmers of the town, owning at one time about 1,000 acres, and carrying on a cheese factory.

Religious and educational institutions were founded early in this town, as would be expected from the well known character of the pioneers. A school was taught before 1800 in the Starr's Hill neighborhood, by Dr. Earl Bill, who lived afterwards in Remsen village ; he taught only one winter. About 1807 a young man named Smith taught in the same neighborhood. Moses Adams taught a school near the site of Steuben Corners prior to 1800, and Aaron Adams was a teacher after he reached a proper age. The town was early divided into districts and the early log school houses were gradually displaced by better frame structures. There were thirteen districts in the town in 1860 and the number remains the same, with a school house in each. The whole number of children attending school in 1894 was 184.

In Mr. Griffiths's account mention has been made of the early Welsh meetings. The Welsh Baptist church was organized in 1800 and was in charge at the first of Rev. Morgan Williams and is the society which has charge of the lot containing the grave of Baron Steuben, before mentioned.

The Welsh Congregational church, called Pen y mynidd, is an off- shoot from an old Union church of early days. About 1816 two Bap- tist societies built churches in the town, which they subsequently agreed to convert.one into a Union church and the other into an academy. The latter stood a mile east of Steuben Corners and did not continue long.

The old Union church was occupied for a time by Methodists also, but in 1855 the church was built by them at Steuben Corners and the society has since kept up its existence. Besides these three churches

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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

there are four other Welsh congregations in different parts of the town.

There has been very little village life in this town. Steuben Corners is a hamlet southwest of the center, where a post-office was established about 1825 with Aaron Adams postmaster. Previous to this time mail was received from the office at Remsen. A small mercantile business has always been carried on here, with the usual complement of shops. A store is now conducted by Otis Ferguson, and a saw mill operated by William Weaver.

There are two other post-offices in the town, East Steuben in the extreme eastern part, and Steuben valley.

The supervisors of the town of Steuben, from 1794 to 1878 have been the following persons, viz. :

1794-95, Roswell Fellows; 1796, William Olney; 1797, Samuel Sizer; 1798, Noa- diah Hubbard; 1799-1803, Samuel Sizer; 1804, Samuel Potter; 1805, Samuel Sizer; 1806-12, Thomas H. Hamilton; 1813, Jabez Burchard; 1814-30, Thomas H. Hamil- ton ; 1831-32, Russell Fuller; 1833, Henry Slocum; 1834-35, Russell Fuller; 1836, Henry Slocum; 1837-38, Alfred Gillett; 1839, Russell Fuller; 1840, William N. Steuben; 1841, Russell Fuller; 1842, llenry H. Hamilton; 1843, Lester B. Miller; 1844-47, Russell Fuller; 1848-51, William Lewis; 1852-53, Saul U. Miller; 1854, William Lewis; 1855, Joseph I. Francis; 1856, William Lewis; 1857, Alfred H. Gil- lett; 1858, Lewis Everett; 1859, Saul U. Miller; 1860-61, David H. Williams; 1862, Thomas H. Jones; 1863-66, William Lewis; 1867-68, Lewis Everett; 1869-70, Morris W. Morris; 1871-73, William Lewis; 1874-75, Lewis J. Lewis; 1876, Leon- ard E. Adsit; 1877-78, John E. Owen.

After the foregoing list was prepared and before it was completed to date, the town records were burned.

CHAPTER XLVI.

THE TOWN OF TRENTON.

This town had an existence of one year before Oneida county was formed. Trenton was erected from the town of Schuyler, then in Herki- mer county, on the 24th of March, 1797. Its 27,292 acres embrace almost the whole of the Servis patent and a large tract of the Holland patent in the western part ; both of these patents are described in Chap-

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THE TOWN OF TRENTON.

ter X, and the accompanying map shows their boundaries in relation to this town. Trenton lies on the eastern side of Oneida county about in the center from north to south. West Canada Creek forms a part of its eastern boundary, as it does also the boundary of the county at that point. Cincinnati Creek flows through the northern part and Nine Mile Creek through the southern part. The surface of the town is hilly and broken, rising in places from 400 to 600 feet, and the streams have many cascades and falls, chief of which is the celebrated Trenton Falls on the West Canada Creek. The soil is a sandy and clayey loam ad- mirably adapted to grazing.

The Trenton Falls have acquired more than a local reputation and the grand and picturesque scenery in that vicinity is not excelled in Central New York. The upper fall is called Prospect Fall, where the water has a descent of twenty-four feet. A short distance farther down the stream it becomes very narrow and the tumultuous waters plunge through the gorge in wild confusion. Into this gorge there is no place of easy descent until the Summit House is reached, from which point the boiling rapids continue until the so-called Cascade of the Alhambra is reached, a waterfall of matchless beauty. Below this the waters spread out in foamy level, only to enter another gorge farther down in which is the Mill Dam Fall of fourteen feet. Below this the scenery of the battlemented rocks and crags, along the feet of which plunges the imprisoned stream, is magnificent. The High Fall comes next and is not only beautiful in itself, but is surrounded with scenery of the most picturesque loveliness and grandeur. Farther down is the beautiful Sherman Fall, and below that is the Village Fall, after leaving which the waters flow onward in placid peace. The total descent of the five separate falls is about 200 feet, within a distance of half a mile. Tren- ton Falls is a popular resort and was first prominently brought into notice by John Sherman, who conducted the first hotel for visitors, erected in 1822, as noticed further on.

The first town meeting in Trenton was held in the village of Olden Barneveld, as Trenton was first named, on the 4th of April, 1797, at the house of Thomas Hicks, and the following officers were chosen :

Supervisor, Adam G. Mappa; town clerk, John P. Little; assessors, Thomas Hicks, Cheney Garrett, David Williams; commissioners of highways, Peter Schuyler, David

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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

Stafford, William Miller; overseers of the poor Gerrit Becker, Peter Garrett; col- lector, Daniel Bell; commissioners of schools, Peter Schuyler, John Hicks, David Williams; constable, Daniel Bell, Jacob P. Nash, Solomon Gillett; fence-viewers, Gerrit Boon, William Johnson, Solomon Gillett; poundmasters, Jacob T. Smits, James Holibert ; overseers of highways, on road to Fort Schuyler, Francis Adrian Van der Kemp; on road to Steuben, Joseph Brownell; on road to Canada Creek, David Corp; on road to Fort Stanwix, Abner Matthews; on road to White's Town, Jonathan Graves.

The first settlement made in this town was by Gerrit Boon, who canie from Holland, and has already been mentioned in a previous chapter as the pioneer to make improvements in the town of Boonville. Mr. Boon came into Trenton in 1793 from Old Fort Schuyler, marking trees along his route, and halted on the site of the villlage of Trenton. Here he foresaw the building up of a thrifty settlement and he gave it the name of Olden Barneveld. Mr. Boon came as one of the several agents of the great Holland Land Company, which owned vast tracts of land in this State. After faithfully serving his employers in this country a few years he returned to his native country and died there. He was a man of ability and integrity. He built a frame house on the village site, which was subsequently removed across the road, was enlarged and still stands. John C. Owens occupies it. A stone dwelling was built on the Boon place and the property is now owned in the Wicks family. Mr. Boon also attempted to build a dam and a stone grist mill on the Cincinnati Creek, the ruins of which are still visible; he did not suc- ceed in making his dam permanent, and abandoned it for another site farther up the stream. Mr. Boon was not practical, apparently, in some directions and certainly was not conversant with many features of the new world. It is said that when he first saw maple sap flow and sugar made from it, he was enthusiastic and resolved to go into the business and follow it the year round.

Col. Adam G. Mappa and his family followed Boon from Holland and Mr. Mappa succeeded the latter as agent of the land company. Within a year or two Francis Adrian Vanderkemp and his family, also from Holland, came here to reside. Mappa and Vanderkemp became close friends here, as they had been in Holland. Vanderkemp was im- prisoned in Holland for taking part in the revolution of 1786, but was ransomed, and on his arrival in this country settled first at Esopus and afterwards on an island in Oneida Lake. His son, John J. Vander-

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THE TOWN OF TRENTON.

kemp, was the first clerk in the land company's office here under Colonel Mappa, and later became the company's chief agent with headquarters in Philadelphia.

Dr. Luther Guiteau, whose name has been frequently mentioned in earlier chapters of this volume, was born in Lanesboro, Mass., and settled in Trenton in 1802, where he practiced his profession until his death in 1850. He was succeeded in his practice by his son of the same name. Their old office is still standing in the village.

It was in 1802 that Rev. John Taylor visited this part of the coun- try and wrote a report of his journey. Under date of August 3 he states that " at Trenton, six miles east of Floyd, he put up with Rev. Mr. Fish, from New Jersey, who was employed part of the time by the people of the town, and rode as a missionary the remainder." The next day Mr. Taylor wrote : "Trenton, 17 miles north of Utica. In this place there is no church formed. A majority of the people are Presbyterians ; the remainder are Baptists and persons of no religion, and a few Methodists." He then adds: "I visited a school of 50 chil- dren, who have a good instructor." In this early school house the people met for religious worship ; the Rev. Mr. Fish mentioned was probably the first preacher in the town and the first pastor of the church organized at Holland Patent in 1797, as noticed further on.

About 1803 Rev. John Sherman became pastor of the Unitarian church at Trenton, organized in 1803. In 1812 Mr. Sherman founded an academy in the village, which he successfully conducted a number of years and educated a large number of scholars. He was a finely edu- cated man, an eloquent preacher and a writer of ability. He was en- raptured over the falls and their surroundings, and believed from the first that the locality would eventually become a popular resort. He therefore purchased of the Holland Land Company in 1822, sixty acres of land including the first fall (which took his name), and built on the site of the later hotel a small structure which he called Rural Resort. This house was at first only opened for day visitors and guests, but in 1824 Philip Hone and family, and Dominick Lynch (the pioneer of Rome) and his family came from New York and insisted on remaining over night. During the visit Mr. Hone asked the preacher why he did not build a larger house and make it known to the public. The answer

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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

was another question whether Mr. Hone ever knew a minister who had any money. The result was a tender of a loan to Mr. Sherman by Mr. Hone of $5,000, which was accepted and the Trenton Falls House was erected. Rev. Isaac B. Pierce succeded Mr. Sherman as pastor of the Unitarian church and acceptably served the congregation for twenty- five years.

From a Centennial address delivered in Trenton July 4, 1876, we quote the following paragraphs of important early history of this town :

You have living in your neighborhood a man who was born before any white man ventured to think of settling here,-Vincent Tuttle, of Holland Patent. He was born in 1790, and now, eighty-six years old, with a firm step and sound memory, he is here to celebrate with you this centennial Fourth of July. He came here in March, 1804. He tells me that at that time the clearing was only as far as the place where the Prospect Railroad Depot now stands; that all north of that. including the ground where Prospect Village now is, was covered by a dense forest; that he helped cut the road towards Prospect, in front of Mr. Wm. Perkins' land, in 180%; that the village of Prospect was laid out by Colonel Mappa in 1811, and by him named Prospect; and that when he came here Colonel Adam G. Mappa resided where we are now assembled, but in the frame house built by Gerrit Boon; that in 1809, the Holland Land Company built, at a cost of $13,000 this stone mansion, which has witnessed many assemblages of distinguished people; that in 1804 the stone grist- mill on the flat was in good order, but the dam had been carried away by a flood. This mill was built by Boon, at the expense of the Holland Company, to save the settlers the time and labor and difficulty of walking to Whitesboro' to get flour. The location of this dam and mill proving unfortunate, the Holland Land Company abandoned it, and built a new grist-mill on the Cincinnati Creek, a few rods below the location of Parker's present foundry, at the foot of the first fall below the bridge. This company also built a saw mill on the site of the present saw-mill. These mills the Holland Land Company sold to Peter Schuyler, who owned and ran them sev- eral years, and then sold out to James Parker, an important and early settler, who occupied and ran the mills many years, day and night, doing a large business, cus- tomers coming from Steuben, Remsen, and Boonville to have their grist ground. The farmers then raised their own wheat and had it for sale. But until a grist-mill was built here they could obtain no flour without walking from here to Whitesboro. The road was impassable in any other way. There was no flour then to be purchased at stores. The whole community was intensely excited about the grist-mill. They could not run the risk of the old location; that must be abandoned, and a reliable mill built at once. This was done, and thereby a great trade was brought to Tren- ton. Tailors and boot and shoe makers had no shops, but went from house to house mending and and making up for the year. The women of the county carded by hand the fleeces of wool clipped by the farmers. They spun and made yarn, and then by hand-looms, such as is worked to day by Mrs. Perkins, at Prospect, they wove their own dresses, which lasted for years, and were handed down from the mother to the youngest child; and the farmer sowed flax, and when it was broken

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and made ready for the spinning-wheels, the women took it and made all their linen for household uses.

You can readily imagine, therefore, what a blessing to the women was a carding and fulling-mill; and so there was rejoicing in this land when, in 1806, a man by the name of Ensign put up a carding and fulling mill on the Cincinnati Creek, just above the foundry. The falls on the creek opposite the Prospect Depot are sometimes called Ensign Falls,-after the builder of this carding and fulling mill. He sold out to Timothy Powers, who built new and larger works, and did a great deal of busi- ness for several years. His carding-mill stood where the present foundry is located. The first male child born in the town was a son of James Parker, already mentioned; he was named Adam, after Colonel Adam Mappa, although many supposed he was called Adam because he was the first man.

George Parker, another son of James Parker, was the father of Messrs. Parker who now own the foundry. He was a very ingenious mechanic. He learned his trade with Shubael Storrs, a watch-maker in Utica, and then returning to Trenton, built a foundry on the Cincinnati Creek, just above the present foundry. This was subsequently turned into a grist-mill, which was a short lived affair, and the build- ing now remains unoccupied.

Mr. Tuttle informs me that in the fallof 1804 Captam John Billings and Mr. James Douglas, of Westfield, Massachusetts, came to Trenton. They were merchants, and by marriage related to one another, and to Dr. Guiteau. They were both Demo- crats, and could live in harmony, and they entered into a partnership which lasted several years. Mr. Billings was appointed postmaster in 1805, and held his position about fifty years, and accounted for every cent of the receipts of his office. He was born in 1781, and died in 1863.

The grandfather of Mr. James Douglas was a native of Scotland. He became a planter on the island of Jamaica. He had two children, a son and a daughter. His son, Thomas James Douglas, at the age of eighteen, and in the year of 1758, came to America, with two servants, landing at Providence, Rhode Island. He engaged in the Revolutionary struggle with Great Britain, holding the commission of major in the army. He corresponded with General Washington, and also with other offi- cers, and this correspondence is still extant. His son, James Douglas, was born at Westfield, Mass., in 1778, and, as I have already mentioned, came here in the fall of 1804, with Captain Billings. They were strongly urged to stop at Utica, but the hill- sides about Utica were very wet, while the lowlands were subject to the overflowings of the Mohawk River, and they decided to come here. Mr. Douglas died in 1851, leaving a widow and sons and daughters, who survive him.

Captain Billings held a commission in the war of 1812, and went with his company to Sacket's Harbor. For thirty years Mr. Douglas and Captain Billings were asso- ciated in business, and when they dissolved partnership the new firm was Douglas & Son. About 1810 there were five stores at Trenton, which were carried on by the following persons : Mappa & Remsen, Chapman & Cooper, Billings & Douglas, Brooks & Mason, and Mr. Griswold.

At that time there was no village of Prospect. There was Remsen, but no store there; Holland Patent, but no store there; Russia, but no store there; and thus the trade of that part of Herkimer county, and all this part of Oneida county, was tribu- tary to your village, and some of your trade came over from Martinsburg.

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()UR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

Mr. Tuttle states that Colonel Thomas Hicks built the house in which Dr. Guiteau now resides. Colone1 Hicks was an influential and active citizen, and an earnest Federalist.

The house in which Judge Vanderkemp resided Mr. Tuttle thinks was built by him. This is quite likely, but the original poor, thin, cold building cannot now be recognized in the pretty and comfortable cottage occupied by Mr. Silsbee.

From 1816 to 1871 Mr. Tuttle owned 164 acres of land, which included all of Tren- ton Falls on the west side of Canada Creek up to Fanning's (now Perkins') south line, except the first, or Sherman's Fall. He gave for it, in 1816, from $20 to $25 per acre, and sold it, in 1871, to Mr. Moore, for $100 per acre; but Mr. Moore occupied the land twenty years before he purchased it. Mr. Tuttle states that prior to 1832 those who wished to see the Falls used to stop at the Backis Hotel, -now Mr. Skinner's house, -in your village, and then go to the ravine by a path across the fields and through some gates.

About the year 1822, Joseph Bonaparte, who then lived in New Jersey, gave some money to Mr. Backus to blast out some of the rock in the ravine, so as to make a safe walk up to the first fall. Bonaparte was delighted with the beauty of the falls, and predicted that they would be of great note; and to-day Mr. Moore's register will show the names of visitors from all parts of the world. Among the first settlers, Judge John Storrs held the office of supervisor eleven years, Peter Schuyler ten years, and William Rollo eighteen years. When we look back upon the early settlers, we wish we had the time to give the name and history of every one; but they number be- tween two hundred and three hundred as early as 1804.

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Our county and its people; a descriptive work on Oneida county, New York;, Part 55

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