Our county and its people; a descriptive work on Oneida county, New York;, Part 8

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 8

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Among the noted Indian speakers and who signed the treaty, were

' Turner's Phelps & Gorham Purchase.

OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

Skenandoah, who lived to be one hundred and ten years old ; Peter Otsequet, who was sent to France by La Fayette and there educated, and to whom a patent of one thousand acres was granted in Westmore- land; Paulus, an Oneida chief (after whom Paulus Pond, in edge of Lewis county was named), and many others who had been conspicuous in the Revolution and became the leading men of our then young State. They were surrounded by the camp fires of the numerous representa- tives of the Six Nations numbering thousands, who had been attracted to the spot, some from interest, some from curiosity ; but by far the larger proportion of them had been attracted from their scattered wil- derness homes by the hopes and promises of presents, feast, and carousals. Indian traders and speculators from all their localities, with their showy goods and trinkets and plenty of "fire water," were upon the ground with their goods for sale to the Indians when they received the money for their lands. Some of the " Lessees " had preceded the governor and were in the crowd secretly endeavoring to thwart the objects of the council. Governor Clinton ordered in writing John Livingston, the ring leader of the " Lessees," to leave in three hours, and to retire forty miles from the fort. After this Governor Clinton organized a court of inquest and took affidavits of all that had taken place on the part of the "Lessees." Finding that the Senecas were holding back from the coun - cil and that many of the head men of the Cayugas and Onondagas were absent, and that a counter gathering was being held at Geneva by those in the interests of the " Lessees," where liquor was dealt out freely, and where the Indians were told if they went to Fort Stanwix, Governor Clinton would either cheat them out of their lands or fall upon them with an armed force, Governor Clinton sent thither messengers who undeceived most of the Indians after they had recovered from their beastly state of intoxication. It was the 8th of September before the different nations were so far represented as to warrant the council to proceed to business. On the 12th the treaty with the Onondagas was completed and the deed of cession of most of the lands executed. The consideration was one thousand French crowns in money, in hand, and two hundred pounds in clothing, and an annuity of five hundred dollars forever. The presents were given and friendly speeches made. [This treaty was ratified June 16, 1790, at Fort Stanwix, on which occasion

1788-TOWN OF WHITESTOWN-GREAT INDIAN TREATY.

the State bestowed five hundred dollars as a gratuity.] Negotiations with the Oneidas followed, September, 1788, which concerned the lands within what is now Oneida county, and continued for days, accompa- nied by speeches pro and con, propositions made and rejected, until at last a deed of cession was agreed upon and executed by the chiefs, a number of women signing the deed. The substance of that deed and the consideration are given in the chapter relative to land patents. The deed bears date September 22, 1788. The council had continued for twenty-five days. This treaty is known as the " Oneida Reservation."

The father of the author of the "Annals of Oneida County " came to Oneida county in January, 1787, and he said that then there were three log houses at " Old Fort Schuyler " (Utica), seven at Whitesboro, three at Oriskany, four at Fort Stanwix, and three at Westmoreland, most of them mere shanties or huts. It has been heretofore stated that the Ranney family came to Fort Stanwix in 1785-6. Willett Ranney, senior, located in a log house northwest of the present Rome court house, on or near the site of the late residence of Gordon N. Bissell, on Stanwix street. Twenty eight years ago the author of this history received a letter from a great granddaughter of Mr. Ranney (she then residing at Theresa, Jefferson county). She narrates what she heard from her grandmother (a daughter of Willett Ranney, senior). She thus wrote :

I have often heard my grandmother, Mrs. Samuel Jarvis, daughter of Willett Ran- ney, senior, tell of her early life at Fort Stanwix. She was a little girl when her father moved there, probably eleven or twelve; she was born in Middletown, Conn. April 2, 1773. I have often heard her tell of assisting her mother baking bread at the time of the treaty with the Indians, at Fort Stanwix, in September, 1788; the bread was baked at her brother's, Seth Ranney's house, where many barrels of flour were stored to be baked into bread for the nse of those expected to attend the treaty. The oven was on the outside of the house; it was a large one and kept running night and day in baking bread some days before the treaty. There was also stored in the barn near by a quantity of liquor, and as it was feared the Indians might get it and thereby become furious and massacre the people, Willett Ranney, senior, with a few others went to the barn and poured the liquor on the ground.

That treaty and its results were among the most important events in the history of Oneida county. Following, as it did, so soon after the dividing of the State into counties, and the said division of the counties into towns, and the organization of " Whitestown," its tendency was to give a great impetus to immigration and to make Oneida county what it has become.

OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

Thus in brief has faded away the power of that once famous Indian confederacy. They were a wonderful people ; banded together by prin- ciple of unity not unlike that which holds together this union of States, they loved liberty, were proud spirited and haughty, and scorned sub- mission to foreign control. They had the ability to cope in council with the most skillful diplomats, and the eloquence of their addresses chal- lenged comparison with many who boasted of their civilization They were indeed a powerful and a gifted people. It was at this treaty of 1788, that Governor Clinton in his speech to the Indians, said that after the treaty was over, all would " indulge in innocent mirth and pleasure." After all had feasted and the payments and presents were made, Gov ernor Clinton proposed that a foot race take place among the Six Nations, each nation to select its swiftest runner, and the race was made over what is now Dominick street, and extended from Mohawk River to Wood Creek. The governor placed a bag of gold of two hundred and fifty dollars on the top of a flag staff at the river, that to be the starting point, and the footmen to run to Wood Creek, turn a stake, and the one who reached the flag staff on the return to have the gold. Each nation re-

tired to select its runners, except the Oneidas. That home tribe, according to Indian etiquette (Fort Stanwix being within its territory). awaited for the selections to be first made by the visiting tribes that were from abroad. The other tribes soon returned with five stalwart, athletic young men, tall in stature and symmetrical in form. The Oneidas then retired to make their selection. Powlis, the war chief, had been in his day one of the fleetest runners in the confederacy, and he had a num . ber of stalwart sons, grand representatives of his lofty stature and agile movements. Outsiders supposed that one of these would be chosen to represent the Oneidas. But the tribe passed by these and others of the like, and with great unanimity selected a slender boy of fifteen years-a mere stripling-the youngest son of lowlis-his parents' darling, with his mother's form and wiry make up. The selection of one so young and slim to run a long race with formidable competitors, and taken, too, from a tribe that could boast of its powerful braves, greatly surprised all, and provoked a quiet laugh among the Indians of the other tribes. But this laugh was quickly suppressed, as it might be construed discourteous to their brothers, the Oneidas. The boy was called by the whites

1788-TOWN OF WHITESTOWN-GREAT INDIAN TREATY.

" Little Paul," was the pet of the tribe, and his being the pet was sup- posed by the other tribes to account for the selection. Not so with the Oneidas. They had better reasons than favoritism, for they knew the staying qualities and fleet movements of the lad. Preparations were promptly and fully made for the race. The course was on what is now Dominick street, smooth and gently rising from east to west. The road was staked in quarters, and a horseman accompanied the runners to see that all was fair play. The course was straight, and there was no con- tention for the inside track. The runners stood side by side, in the order of the location of their tribes. the Mohawks first. The head of " Little Paul" scarcely reached the shoulders of the majestic Mohawk, and he presented a striking contrast with the other contestants in the field. Each bore on his head a badge of distinction. Little Paul wore a feather, a single white plume, stuck in his straight shining locks, which were as glossy and as black as the wing of a raven All being ready, they start at the tap of a drum, and on they rush. They wore mocca - sins, but otherwise were stripped nearly to the skin. Every eye is fixed on the competitors, as they and the horsemen push madly forward for the farthest stake at Wood Creek. Not a word escapes from the inter- ested spectators, nor do the runners make a sound, save that made by their moccasined feet and panting breath. The Mohawk leads and the

Oneida boy brings up the rear. Evidently the latter is taking it easy,

holding his best efforts in reserve He passes over the ground as lightly and as lithely as a fox, and quite swiftly too, yet he is considerably be - hind all the rest, but the others are running at the top of their speed. The boy is so far behind that it looks as if he would be distanced, and those of the other tribes find it hard work to repress their mirth. But the Oneidas maintain their gravity and apparently stolid indifference. They know he will show his best on the home stretch. The runners are gradually approaching the farther goal, and Little Paul draws gently on his reserve force and thereby lessens the distance between him and the forward competitors. The horseman has kept his steed on a keen gallop all the way, to keep abreast of the runners. The Mo- hawk is ahead, the others at his heels, and the Oneida a little behind. As the stake at Wood Creek is reached the racers turn it almost in a body, and now begins the fierce struggle on the home run. Little Paul

OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

again draws on his reserve force and gains on the Mohawk, who leads all the rest, and before the first quarter stake is reached Little Paul passes all but the Mohawk. The latter strains every nerve ; perspiration stands out in beads on his swarthy frame, while his veins look like whip cords. The little Oneida "lets out another link," and soon is abreast of the Mohawk and the two run side by side. The latter feels the lad close at his heels, and hears the cheers of the spectators at the other end of the course. He must have felt that their sympathies are with the youngster. Not a word is uttered by either of the racers as, for a little distance, they run side by side. The Mohawk struggles bravely, as for life, but in vain. Little Paul has too much endurance and nimbleness of foot for his tall competitor, and before the halfway stake is reached the Oneida shoots ahead, and all of his competitors are behind. Then it was that he gave a whoop of triumph as shrill as that of a panther, which resounded through the forest, was heard by the large concourse who witnessed the struggle, and was echoed back with a will. With his five competiters the race was over, but the boy had just begun to bound and fly. The arrow parting from its bow was scarce swifter than his flight, as he now seemed determined to distance the swiftest of the racers, and to show what he could do. He flies as on the wings of the wind, and the spectators partake of his ambition and enthusiasm. When he is within twenty rods of the home goal they went forward to meet the victor, and with the wildest cheers and excitement take him in their arms and bear him aloft in triumph to the home stake. The com- peting tribes were as enthusiastic as the rest, and none bestowed higher praise or received Little Paul with greater admiration than the van- quished. Governor Clinton presented the prize and congratulated the victor and his tribe in a complimentary speech. The Oneida chief died about 1818, and his remains were carried from the " meadows" near Taberg to Oneida Castle on the shoulders of members of his tribe, some 200 following in the proceession. Col. T. G. Halley, then of New Lon- don, relates to the writer seeing that funeral procession. He well knew the sons of old Powlis, and remembers their return from Wisconsin some thirty or more years ago on a visit and to ascertain if they or their rtribe did not yet own lands in this vicinity. But their rights had all been extinguished. " Powlis Pond," in the edge of Lewis county, was named

1788-TOWN OF WHITESTOWN -- GREAT INDIAN TREATY.

after that chief, as that was one of his favorite resorts. Little Paul suc- ceeded to his father's title. About 1830 the family removed to Green Bay in Wisconsin.

Here may be a proper place to again briefly refer to the Iroquois Con- federacy and to the nations which composed it and which exercised such a powerful influence in New York for two hundred years or more. The ori- gin and date of the formation of that confederacy are involved in obscurity. It is supposed to have been formed between the years 1400 and 1500, and was composed of five and from 1712 and onward of six nations. It is unquestioned that when the confederacy was at the height of its power, its members were able to cope in battle, in diplomacy, in council, and in oratory, with the best and most skilled of the civilized nations. But " fire water," the advancement of civilization, and entanglements with European powers eventually disrupted the confederacy and proved the ruin of that people. The Sullivan expedition of 1779 broke the back- bone of the confederacy and completed its disruption and overthrow. The Mohawks, under the influence of the Johnson family, took sides with the British in the American Revolution, with hardly an exception, and as a result all fled to Canada at the termination of the war. The Oneidas and Tuscaroras sympathized with the Americans ; the remain- ing nations sided with the English. England made a treaty of peace with her colonies, acknowledging their independence, but making no provision or stipulation for her Indian allies. Those of the latter who had fought against the colonies were in effect a conquered people and had no claim upon the new republic. The latter had a legal right to confiscate and appropriate the Indian lands without compensation ; but that has never been the American policy. Not conceding an absolute ownership of the lands to the Indians, yet a right of occupancy by them has been recognized, and as politic to acquire such lands by purchase or treaty. Upon that theory have the State and National governments acted. After the first cession of lands by the Indians, and especially after the treaty of 1788, the Six Nations were quite disposed to sell their lands to the white men. They clearly saw that their own power and influence were gone and that they were at the mercy of the white race. The latter have pushed their way across a continent, and the red men have disappeared like frost beneath the summer sun. In New 10

OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

York, where the Six Nations were once supreme, their power and influ- ence have withered away, and a few scattered reservations are all that now remain of their landed possessions, and those at the sufferance of the white people.

The valley of the Mohawk, Wyoming and Cherry Valley, made red with the blood of our patriotic ancestors, can never be forgotten nor obliterated from American history; yet, the remembrance of what the Iroquois Confederacy once was can never fade away, nor the intel- lectual greatness of its chiefs, warriors and statesmen be forgotten so long as so many of the lakes, streams, and places are stamped with their names upon the pages of history.

Y'e say that all have passed away, The noble race and brave ; That their light canoes have vanished From off the crested wave ; That mid the forests where they roamed There rings no hunter's shout, But their name is on your waters Ye may not wash it out.

Ye say their conclike cabins That clustered o'er the vale, Have disappeared, like withered leaves Before the autumn gale ! But their memory liveth on your hills, Their baptism on your shore, Your ever-living waters speak Their dialect of yore.

1789 TO 1792.

CHAPTER IX.

1789 TO 1792.

The fact that the Indian title to lands in Central and Western New York was adjusted ; that the counties of the State were subdivided into towns ; that the "Holland Land Company " and Phelps and Gorham had purchased millions of acres of land in the western part of the State and settlers were going thither, all tended to induce emigration into New York. The further facts (which have already been briefly alluded to) that " Whitestown" was organized as a town, and that George Washington, Gov. George Clinton, Col. Marinus Willett, Baron Steuben, William Floyd, Judge John Lansing and other prominent personages owned lands in Oneida county ; while Cosby Manor, Oriskany, Fonda, Steuben, and other patents and tracts were thrown upon the market and most of the patentees or owners were pushing sales and making extra efforts to attract settlers, all had much to do in the permanent settlement of what is now Oneida county in the years of which we are writing. Under the general election law of February, 1787, general elections were ordered to be held in the State on the last Tuesday in April in each year, and the polls at an election might be kept open not exceed- ing five days. By an act of April 17, 1822, the time for holding gen- eral elections was changed to the first Monday in November in each year, and to be held for three successive days, including the first day. By an act passed April 5, 1842, the time of holding general elections was changed to the Tuesday succeeding the first Monday in each year, and to be held for one day only. By the act of March 7, 1788, divid- ing the State into counties and subdividing the counties into towns, town meetings were ordered to be held on the first Tuesday in April in each year. Before any town meeting or general election was held in the town of Whitestown, as organized under the act of March 7, 1788, Ontario county was taken from Montgomery county by an act passed January 27. 1789.

OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

That same year (1789) there came to Fort Stanwix from Wethers- field, Conn., Ebenezer Wright, senior, with a wife and six children ; he was then forty-seven years old and had been a lieutenant in the Conti- nental army. He was father of Benjamin Wright, who afterward be- came the noted engineer and surveyor. About the same time, but later, came Thomas, the brother of Ebenezer Wright, senior, with a wife and ten children. These two brothers married sisters ; Thomas was fifty-one years old. The two brothers lived near Fort Stanwix until 1790, when they " leased " land in Wright Settlement and located there. Both of their names appear in the United States census of 1790. In the year 1789 the following persons located in the places as mentioned below: At Old Fort Schuyler, William Alverson (father- in-law of Theodore S. Faxton), Peter Smith, father of Gerrit Smith ; in the town of Paris there located in 1789, Captain Rice, Benjamin Barnes and son, and John Humaston, Stephen Barrett, Aaron, Adam and Abel Simons (three brothers) ;1 in Westmoreland, Joseph Black- mer, senior, and Benjamin Blackmer, John and Nathan Townsend. The latter was owner of one of the slaves in town as shown in the United States census of 1790. That year or the next there located in Westmoreland John Vaughn and Josiah Stillman. All of the foregoing had served in the Continental army. In 1789 there located in Bridge- water Ephraim and Nathan Waldo ; they came the fore part of March in that year. At the time of their coming snow was a foot and a half deep, which increased to four feet, and the cow, two yokes of oxen, and a horse they had with them had to be supported entirely upon browse.2 Asa Beckwith and his four sons, Asa, Reuben, Walcott, and Lemuel, pushed their way in 1789 up the Mohawk beyond Fort Stanwix, and located near North Western. They were the first settlers in that region. The same year Henry Wager, then twenty five years old, who had been married five years, located near Westernville, upon a farm on which now resides his two granddaughters. Mr. Wager came from Columbia county ; he was a prominent citizen of the town and for twenty-four consecutive years from 1800 was its supervisor. He was father of

' Jones's Annals.

2 Jones's Annals.

1789 TO 1792.

David Wager, a prominent lawyer and state senator at Utica, grand- father of Gen. H. Wager Halleck and Bishop Whipple.

It is not easy to give the names of all the settlers in Oneida county prior to 1790. The United States census of that year, elsewhere pub- lished, is supposed to show all who were in the county, or rather in the town of Whitestown, on the first Monday of August, 1790, the time the census was taken. Jones's Annals of Oneida County state that Ezra Parker, Ephraim and Nathan Waldo located in Bridgewater in 1789; and that John and Sylvester Butler and Asa Shepard settled at or near Sauquoit in that year ; and that in March and April, 1789, the families of Benjamin Barnes, junior, John Humaston, and Aaron, Adam, and Abel Simmons located the same year on Paris Hill. None of those names appears in that census. It is an historical fact that Ephraim Webster, Asa Danforth, junior, and Comfort Tyler were all located in what is now Onondaga county (then Whitestown) as early as 1786, yet none of those names appears in that census.

The first town meeting in Whitestown was held Tuesday, April 7, 1789, at the barn of Hugh White at Whitesboro. The following town officers were elected :

Supervisor, Jedediah Sanger ; town elerk, Elijah Blodgett: assessors, Amos Wet- more, James Bronson Ephraim Blackmer; collector, Oliver Collins; poormasters, Hugh White and Moses Foote ; commissioners of highways, George Doolittle, Jede- diah Sanger, Ephraim Blackmer; constables, Jedediah Phelps, Joseph Sowle, Solo- mon Butler, Amos Kellogg, Nehemiah Jones, and Alexander Parkman; overseers of roads, Gilbert Willett, Amos lves, Ebenezer Butler, jumor, Alexander Parkman, Joseph Jennings; fenee viewers, Lemnel Leavenworth, Rice Hawley, Lemuel Cook, Seth Ranney, Barnabas Pond; pound keepers, Ebenezer Butler, junior, and Daniel C. White.

The first general election in Whitestown was held, commencing at Cayuga Ferry the last Tuesday of April. 1789, thence adjourned to Man- lius, thence to Fort Stanwix, and closed at Whitesboro. The town meeting for the town in 1790 was held at the barn of Captain Needham Maynard, on the Middle Settlement road. Before all of the electors had voted, all not having arrived, the polls were opened and those who had come voted, and the polls were then closed and the votes counted and officers declared elected. Later comers objected to this and in- sisted upon voting and having the polls opened. A vote was taken, the

OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

first election declared void, and then the meeting adjourned to the next day and a new election was held. The two town clerks signed the cer- tificate of the election of the second day. The same officers in the main were elected on the second day, except Jedediah Sanger was elected supervisor, in place of William Colbraith ; Ashbel Beach, town clerk in place of Elijah Blodgett. Prior to 1810 town officers were elected by viva voce vote. By an act passed March 29, 1809, it was provided that " all town officers after March 1, 1810, shall be chosen by ballot." Au- gustus Porter (who became county judge of Niagara county), on his way to that section in May, 1789, has left on record the following :

I assisted in navigating one of the two boats, called bateaux, each navigated by four men. Leaving Schenectady we proceeded up the Mohawk to Fort Stanwix. In passing Little Falls of the Mohawk, the boats and their contents were transported around on wagons. At Fort Stanwix, we carried over a portage of about one mile to the waters of Wood Creek. The creek affords but little water from the portage to its juncture with the Canada Creek, seven miles west of Fort Stanwix. At the portage [near the United States Arsenal], there was a dam near Wood Creek for a saw mill, which created a considerable pond. This pond, when filled, could be rap- idly discharged and on the flood thus suddenly made, boats pressed down the stream which empties into Oneida Lake, and through that lake and its outlet. From the time we left Fort Stanwix, until we arrived at Geneva, we found no white person, except at the juncture of Wood and Canada Creeks, where a man lived by the name of Armstrong.

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Our county and its people; a descriptive work on Oneida county, New York;, Part 8

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