USA > New York > Oneida County > Our county and its people; a descriptive work on Oneida county, New York; > Part 9
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That was the Archibald Armstrong heretofore spoken of.
Jared Broughton settled in the Genesee country in 1790. He and his wife and two children and a younger brother. started in a sleigh from Stockbridge, Mass, in February of that year, and went via Sche- nectady and Old Fort Schuyler. From his published reminiscences, the following extract is made :
At Utica there was a small frame store of old John Post [ west side of Genesee street near Whitesboro street], an Indian trader, and a large log house kept as a tavern. There were one or two families, the Blackmers, at Westmoreland. Two or three families between Utica and Westmoreland; Esquire Blackmer's was the last house until we arrived at Oneida Castle. It was but a wood road. At Oneida Cas- tle there was a Dutchman who had hired an Indian house to accommodate travelers. We arrived there about midnight, and found no lodgings except on the floor, all the beds being occupied by emigrating families. The road was very bad; we got our sleigh stuck, which hindered us a day. No settlement between Oneida Castle and Onondaga Hollow. At the latter place Comfort Tyler, Ephraim Webster, and his squaw wife, and Colonel Danforth resided. The latter kept a tavern.
79
1789 TO 1792.
Early in the spring of 1790, Nathaniel Sanborn, with his wife and two young children, went from one of the New England States to the Genesee country, via Old Fort Schuyler. From the published remin- iscences of hers the following extract is made :
The last house where we slept was at Old Fort Schuyler, until we reached the end of our journey in the Genesee country. There was then at Old Fort Schuyler one log house It was crowded with boatmen from Niagara; we spread our bed upon the floor for myself, husband and children, and the wearied boatmen begged the privilege of laying their heads upon its borders. After that, we camped wherever night overtook us.
Another early settler in the Genesee country, in 1791, in the pub- lished reminiscences of his journey via Old Fort Schuyler, and overland through Westmoreland, has left the following record :
On the 15th of February, 1791, I left Albany on my route to the Genesee country, via the valley of the Mohawk. The Genesee country was then so remote and so very little known, I could not prevail upon the owner of the sled I had hired to go further than Whitestown. The road as far as Whitestown had been made passable for wagons; but from that to the Genesee country, it was little better than an Indian path, just sufficiently opened to allow a sled to pass, and the most impassable streams bridged. At Whitestown I was obliged to change my sled; the Albany driver would proceed no further ; he found that for the next one hundred and fifty miles we were delayed not only to take provisions for ourselves and our horses, but also blankets as a substitute for beds. After leaving Whitestown we found only a few straggling huts scattered along the path at the distance from ten to twenty miles, and they affording nothing but the convenience of fire and a kind of shelter from the snow. On the evening of the third day's journey from Whitestown, we were agreeably surprised to find ourselves on the east side of Seneca Lake, which we found perfectly open and free from ice as in June.
At the session of Congress held in the winter of 1789-90, Congress passed a law authorizing the first census of the United States to be taken. The act was passed March 1, 1790, and directed an enumera- tion of the inhabitants to be taken in the summer of 1790 of the several States in the Union. That census showed the population of Ontario county (formed in 1789) to be 960 persons, including all of the sur- veyors and attendants, and all then within that county. The popula- tion of Montgomery county as then constituted was 28,848, as shown by that census The population of all of the territory between the fording place on the Mohawk River at Old Fort Schuyler and Ontario county was one thousand eight hundred and ninety-one. That census further showed the population of the State to be 324, 127, an increase of
80
OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
over 85,000 since 1786, and such increase was mainly in the northern and western parts of the State.
The settlers along the valley of the Mohawk were largely of German descent, intermixed with immigrants from the New England States, and especially since the Revolution, had people from New England settled in that valley ; but more particularly had they peopled the central and western part of the State, so that the inhabitants of those parts of the State were almost wholly of the Yankee element when this census was taken, and rapidly increasing thereafter.
A copy of this census, which included the town of Whitestown as then constituted, has been obtained from the department at Washington and appears in this chapter. It shows the names of heads of families in the town, with the number of free white males of sixteen years old and upwards in each family, including heads of families, and the num- ber of free white males under that age in each family ; the number of free white females in each family under sixteen, and the number of slaves The list as procured from the department was not arranged in alphabetical order, but it has since been so arranged and also classified according to the towns in the county as they now exist, as near as can be at this late date.
Jacob Morris was the enumerator. Some of the given names could not be deciphered. It must be borne in mind that when this census was taken the town of Whitestown included all of the State between the Genesee bridge at Utica and Ontario county.
Number of free white males of 16 and upwards. 689
Number of free white males under 16 443
Number of free white females 749
Number of slaves 3
Number not included in above
1,891
The respective owners of each of the three slaves in Whitestown were Nathaniel Townsend, of Westmoreland, and Zenas Gibbs and Charles Putnam, residences unknown. Those marked residence un- known probably resided in what is now Onondaga county. Following are the lists :
SI
1789 TO 1792.
NAMES OF MALE HEADS OF FAMILIES-CENSUS OF 1800.
Bridgewater.
Farewell, Joseph.
Deerfield.
Damewood (Damoth), Richard, Fanning, William, Shearman, James.
Kirkland.
Bullen, David,
Bullen, John,
Blodgett, Rufus,
Blodgett, Elijah,
Blodgett, Ludim,
Blanchard, Andrew,
Butler, Ebenezer,
Butler, Ebenezer, jr.,
Butler, Salmon,
Bristol, Eli,
Bristol, Joel,
Carpenter, William,
Cassady (Cassety), Thomas,
Curtis, Jesse,
Catlin, Jessie,
Jennings, Joseph,
Jewett, Samuel,
Kellogg, Jesse,
Kellogg, Jalob,
Kellogg, Frederick W.,
Kellogg, Freeman,
Kellogg, Aaron,
Kellogg, Solomon,
Kellogg, Stephen,
Miller, Amoch,
Olmstead, Ashbel,
Gridley, Abraham,
Olmstead, Gamaliel,
Gridley, Jobe,
Hubbard, Thomas,
Hovey, Solomon, Kirkland, Samuel,
Kellogg, Amos, Marsh, John,
Marsh, Samuel, Marsh, Asa, Marsh, Theodore, 11
Marsh, Stephen,
Munroe, Theodore,
Markham, Stephen,
Merrell, Caleb B.,
Pond, Barnabas,
Stebbens, Judah,
Stebbens, Judah, jr.,
Tuttle, Timothy,
Willard, Lewis,
Willard, Rufus.
New Hartford.
Blair, Joel,
Bushnell, Stephen,
Blodgett, Solomon,
Beach, Ashbel,
Cook, Trueworthy,
Collins, Oliver,
Gaylord, Jotham,
Gurney, Bezelial,
Hale, Memon,
Haminway, Isaac,
Higby, Joseph,
Ives, Amos,
Cook, William,
Eastman, Peter,
Ellenwood, Hannaniah,
Foot, Moses,
Foot, Luther,
Foot, Ira,
Foot, Bronson,
Ferguson, Samuel,
Ferguson, Samuel, jr.,
Fancher, Thomas,
Risley, Allen, Risley, Elijah,
Savage, Guideon (Gideon),
Staples, George,
Sanger, Jedediah,
Seward, Nathan,
Wells, Samuel,
Williams, Thomas,
Williams, Ezekiel.
82
OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
Paris.
Coolage, Charles,
Barnes, Benjamin,
Barrett, Stephen,
Potter, Stephen,
Barrett, Isaac,
Davis, Elijah,
Fowler, Reuben,
Griffin, Kirkland,
Saule, Joseph,
Hopkins, Elias,
Smith, Peter,
Kellogg, Phineas,
Lummas (Loomis), Ladoc,
Plum, Joseph,
Porter, Raphel,
Rice, Hezekiah,
Rice, William.
Rome.
Armstrong, Archibald,
Andrus, David,
Colbreath, William,
Demont, Joseph,
French, Jasper,
Fellows, Roswell (Rozel),
Gilbert, Nathaniel,
Knight, Daniel W.,
Phelps, Jedediah,
Perkins, Silas,
Robbins, Ephraim,
Ranney, -eth (Seth),
Ranny, -illett (Willett),
Ranny, James,
Smith, Bill,
Wright, -er (Ebenezer),
Wright, -as (Thomas).
Steuben.
Sizer, Samuel.
Utica.
Alberson, (Alverson) Urialı,
Bellinger, John,
Brown, Daniel,
Christman, Jacob, Clark, Aaron,
Harris, Joseph, Morey, Solomon,
Westmoreland.
Blackmer, Ephraim,
Blackmer, Joseph,
Blackmer, Joseph, jr ..
Brigham, Stephen,
Brigham, Lyman,
Blair, John, Collins, Samuel,
Cone, Walter,
Chittington, Gerard, (Chittenden, Jared)
Dean, James,
Dean, Jonathan,
Dean, William,
Gleason, Solomon.
Gleason, Joseph,
Griffin, Natheeneil,
Jones, Nehemiahı,
Jones, Joseph,
Laird, Samuel,
Laird, John,
Lummas (Loomis) Nathan,
Lummas, (Loomis) Isaac, Parkman, Alexander.
Phelps, Silas, Phelps, Jacob,
Western.
Beckwith, Asa.
Beckwith, Reuben,
Wager, Henry.
Vernon. Brownson, Solomon.
Morey, Sylvanus, Nutting, Simeon,
Post, John,
Parser, Jason,
Rust, Samuel,
Sailes, Darius,
Smith, Nathan,
Smith, James,
Wells, Arnold.
83
1789 TO 1792.
Phelps, Joseph, Rogers, Simeon, Smith, Amos, Smith, Elijah, Stillman, Samuel, Stillman, John, Townsend, Nathaniel. Townsend, John.
Whitestown.
Badcock, (Babcock) David,
Barnard, Moses,
Barnard, Samuel,
Beardsley, John,
Blodgett, Joseph,
Ballard, Luke,
Blount, Samvel,
Barnes, Asa,
Barker, Simeon,
Brown, Levy,
Badcock, (Babcock) Jonathan,
Briggs, William,
Bronson, Asiel,
Clary, William,
Cone, Osias,
Cutter, Joseph,
Cook, Samuel,
Cook, Selah,
Cook, Samuel,
Cleveland, Gardner,
Cergil, James,
Collister, James,
Coughlin, John,
Coughlin, John, jr.,
White, Ansel,
White, Joseph,
White, Philo, Wilson, John, Winch, Samuel.
Litchfield, Herkimer Co.
Angier, John,
Norwich, Herkimer Co.
Fowell, (Farwell, Dr.,) Isaac,
Persons whose Precise Localities are Unknown. Arnold, Hopkins
Allen, Gideon, Allen, John, Allen, Jeremiah, Ames, Robert, Austin, Nathaniel,
Allen, Thomas,
Arnold, David,
Ailworth, Philip,
Allen, Isaac,
Atwater, Asaph,
Brannan, Seabury,
Brainard, Jeptha,
Belnap, John,
Doolittle, George,
Ensign, Samuel,
Ferguson, James,
Goodrich, Rosel, (Roswell),
Holt, Justice, (Isaac),
Kane, Elisha, Leavenworth, Lemuel, Maynard, Needham,
Pool, Simeon,
Root, Joseph, sr.,
Steel, Seth,
Seymour, Uriah,
Towny, John,
Whitmore, (Wetmore), Amos,
Whitmore, (Wetmore), Parsons, Wilcox, Ozias,
White, Hugh, White, Hugh, jr.,
White, Daniel C.,
Crandle, John,
Case, Benjamin, Dunn, Joseph,
Drury, Josiah,
Davis, Joshua,
Dewey, Elias,
Eno, John, Fortune, Enoch, Fisk, Abraham, Graves, Nathaniel, Groves, -tine (Valentine)
Graves, Jacob, Gibbs, Zenas, Guile, Elijah,
84
OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
Gridley, -eadorus,
Rush, Elijah,
Gillett, Timothy, Hall, Barnabas,
Stanley, John, Smith, John,
Humphrey, Noah,
Steel, James, Shaw, Samuel,
Hall, Jonathan.
Hale, Thomas,
Sails, George,
Hayden, Jonathan,
Sails, Jeremiah,
Huggins, William,
Scott, Ezekiel,
Higgins, Edward,
Sheldon, Stephen,
Hulvert, Joshua,
Smith, James,
Hubbard, Baxter,
Sanford, Jonah,
Hawkins, Widow,
Smith, James,
Hawkins, David,
Smith, Benjamin,
Harrison, Elisha,
Smith, David,
Howard, Stephen,
Smith, Ebenezer,
Hawley, Rice,
Satchell, William,
Hammond, Benjamin,
Shifferd, Samuel,
House & Pearce, (?)
Smith, Theodoric,
Ingram, Joseph,
Shurman, -Imer,
Johnstone, -- sa,
Shurman, -dediah,
Keltz, Philip,
Tillotson, John,
Kelsey, Nathan,
Thompson, Zebulon,
King, -us,
Tryon, Thomas,
Meyer, -
Tyler, Ashbel,
Merriman, Christopher,
Tuller, James,
Mills, Kanah,
Thompson, James,
McIntire, James,
Tuttle, Samuel,
Morse, Joshua,
Weston, Jonathan,
Nurse, Jonathan,
Willy, Bezihal,
Noyes, Amos,
Wood, Joseph,
Newell, Elisha,
Wright, -omon, (Solomon),
Peters, Benjamin,
Webster, Daniel,
Paine, Joshua,
Webster, David,
Putnam, Charles,
Whipple, Israel,
Parks, Robert,
Whipple, Calvin,
Parmalee, Amos,
Wood, Thomas,
Perry, George H.,
Wilson, John, jr.,
Potter, Sheldon,
Wilcox, David,
Pryor, Azariah,
Root, Simeon,
Wright, Gabriel, Wright, Samuel.
The next year after the foregoing census was made, and in less than two years after Ontario county was taken from Montgomery county, the Yankee element in the latter county demanded another division, while the German population opposed it, but the Legislature, in Feb- ruary, 1791, formed four new counties, taking Herkimer from Mont-
85
1789 TO 1792.
gomery county and naming it in honor of Gen. Nicholas Herkimer, who fourteen years before received his fatal wound in the bloody battle of Oriskany. Herkimer county as thus formed included not only its present territory, but extended westerly to Ontario county and north- erly to Canada. It was provided by the act that the Courts of Common Pleas and General Sessions of that county " should be held in the church in the town of Herkimer." That church stood diagonally across the street from the present court house in Herkimer village. The site selected for a court house in the county was the present one, and work was soon commenced on the building. At that early time county and many other local officers were appointed by a council composed of one senator from each senatorial district and called a Council of Appoint- ment, which had its headquarters in Albany. The first appointees of officers for Herkimer county who then resided in what became Oneida county, were as follows: Jedediah Sanger, New Hartford, and Hugh White and Amos Wetmore, of Whitesboro, side judges ; Jonas Platt, of the latter place, county clerk, and William Colbraith, who then re- sided on the road from Fort Stanwix to what is now the village of Stanwix, in Rome, was made sheriff.
Mr. Sanger moved into New Hartford in 1788 and became a promi- nent man, as elsewhere appears in this volume; the same may be said of Hugh White. Amos Wetmore settled in Whitesboro in 1786 and was a leading citizen there. Jonas Platt, a young lawyer of twenty-one years, settled in Whitesboro in 1790, was seven years clerk of Herkimer county, and clerk of Oneida county from 1798 to 1802 ; was elected to Congress in 1798. State senator in 1809, and in 1814 was appointed one of the judges of the old Supreme Court, which office he held until 1821. William Colbraith was a jolly Irishman, had been in the war of the Revolution and was captain of a company in Sullivan's army in the expedition against the Senecas in 1779; before 1790 he had settled in Rome on the road before mentioned.
In 1793 a law was passed authorizing the courts in Herkimer county to alternate "between the court house in the town of Herkimer, and such place in the town of Whitestown as said courts should order." Accordingly the January term of the Herkimer court of 1794 was held in an " unfinished meeting house," in what is now New Hartford.
86
OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
That was the first court of record held in what is now Oneida county. It was on that occasion, when the court was about to adjourn by reason of the intense cold and absence of fire in the unfinished meeting house, that Sheriff Colbraith cried out, " Don't adjourn, jedge; take some gin from this jug [which was passed up to the bench] and it will keep you warm !" The court did not adjourn.
From and after that date and until Oneida county was formed the courts of Herkimer county alternated between Herkimer village and " the school house near Hugh White's in Whitestown." That school house stood on or near the site of the present town hall in the village of Whitesboro. When Oneida county was formed William Colbraith was appointed sheriff and held the office until December of that year. History and tradition are silent as to his life and career after that date.
In April, 1792, the town of Whitestown was divided, and the towns of Mexico, Paris, Peru, and Steuben created from it. In 1794 Onon- daga county was taken from Herkimer. In 1795 Sangerfield was taken from Paris. On March 4, 1796, Rome and Floyd were taken from Steuben, making the present year (1896) Rome's centennial year. In 1797 Steuben was again divided and the towns of Steuben, Leyden, and Western formed from it. In March of the same year the town of Trenton was formed from the town of Schuyler, and on the same day Bridgewater was set off from Sangerfield.
In less than four years after Onondaga county was taken from Her- kimer, the Yankee element of the latter county again sought a division. Although the county seat was in the village of Herkimer, the enter- prising and uneasy citizens had pushed their abodes into the wilderness and settled in what are now Oswego, Jefferson, and Lewis counties, and were demanding a new county for their convenience and to meet the existing exigencies. Elkanah Watson made the following entry in his journal in 1788, while on a visit to Fort Stanwix :
Settlers are continually pouring in from the Connecticut hive, which throws off its annual swarms of intelligent, industrious and enterprising emigrants, the best qualified to overcome and civilize the wilderness. They already estimate 300 brother Yankees on the muster list, and in a few years hence they will undoubtedly be able to raise a formidable barrier to oppose the incursion of the savages, in case of another war.
This entry was made just ten years before Oneida county was formed.
87
1789 TO 1792.
When the Legislature convened in January, 1791, Gov. George Clinton called the attention of that body in a speech1 to the great in- crease, and to recommend a new apportionment of the representatives in the Legislature and a new division of senatorial districts Scattered settlements had been made westerly as far west as Oneida Lake and into the Genesee country, and northerly up the Hudson toward Lake Champlain The governor took occasion in that speech to state the above facts, and to state that the country bordering on those regions had been explored by an enterprising people, and at that early day in the history of the State to suggest that facilities ought to be afforded for cleaning out the obstructions in the Mohawk River, and of cutting a canal across the portage at Fort Stanwix between the Mohawk and Wood Creek; and also of opening the communication between the upper Hudson and Lake Champlain. The action of the Legislature on this branch of the speech will appear in the chapter on canals.
The great influx of population into what was in 1790 the western part of Montgomery, and largely composed of New England people, added to the large increase in the State as shown by the census of 1790, excited a great desire on the part of the Yankee element for a division of Montgomery county and the formation of one or more additional counties out of it. The county seat was at Johnstown, and it was a great inconvenience for those then residing in what are now Oneida, Onondaga, Oswego, Jefferson and Lewis counties, and even Herkimer county, to go so far to attend jury and other duties which called them to the shire town. Strenuous efforts were made in 1790 to procure a division of Montgomery ; but there was much opposition to it, mainly from the German element The petition in opposition to the measure bears date December 29, 1790, and contained 400 names, most of them descendants of the old Palatinates,2 but push and enterprise prevailed and on the 16th of February, 1791, an act was passed for the formation of Herkimer, Otsego, and Tioga counties from the then county of Montgomery. The county of Herkimer in the main included then its
1 Prior to 1823 the governor addressed the Legislatures by speeches on all matters now con- municated by messages. The Constitution of 1821 provided that the governor should communicate by message. Gov. Joseph C. Yates, the first governor elected after the adoption of that Consti- tution, was the first governor to send in a message.
2 See Judge Hardin's History of Herkimer County.
88
OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
present bounds and also Hamilton county, and in addition the territory west to Ontario county and north to the north bounds of the State. No United States consus was taken of Herkimer county while it retained its then boundaries. The act of 1791 forming Herkimer county pro- vided that the Courts of Common Pleas and of General Sessions of that county " should be held at the church in the town of Herkimer "-the present site of the Dutch Reformed church in the village of Herkimer. The judges and justices of those courts and the supervisors of the several towns of the county of Herkimer were authorized " to select a site for the court house and jail." The site thus selected is the present one in the village of Herkimer ; the jail was placed underneath the court house. Whitestown while a part of Herkimer county was never its county seat, although county courts were held occasionally in Whites- town while it was a part of Herkimer county. Hendrick Starring, of the town of Schuyler, was the first county judge ; he was a farmer of strong sense, quite a character in the country, was a survivor of the battle of Oriskany and had suffered in the Revolution. Jonas Pratt, a young lawyer in Oneida county, and who settled at Whitesboro in 1790, was appointed county clerk; William Colbraith, whose location was near Fort Stanwix, was sheriff. Hugh White, of Whitesboro, was one of the side judges.1 Work on the court house at Ilerkimer was soon commenced and the court house and jail were in due time completed.
In connection with this brief sketch of the organization of the county and the appointment of its officers, it may be of interest to call the at- tention of the curious to the act of February 22, 1788, passed at the same session of the Legislature which divided the State into counties and subdivided into towns, provided that " no person, little or great, shall sit upon the bench with the justices in the sessions, upon pain of fine and imprisonment, and said justices are hereby charged that they do not suffer any person to sit with them on the bench in their session, contrary to the intent of this act." Under the English law certain of the nobility were allowed to sit upon and occupy the bench of judges during the session of the court, even though such of the nobility were on trial (for a minor offense), and this law was to prevent any such in-
1 Local officers were then appointed by the "Council of Appointment," composed of a senator from each senatorial district.
89
1789 TO 1792.
terference with justice; it shows how jealous the people of the colonies were of kingly rule, and of everything that tended to encroach upon their rights or liberties.
In this connection, although anticipating events and publishing them out of chronological order, it may be well to note the construction of the Great Genesee Road from Utica through to the Genesee country. As early as 1790 William and James Wadsworth located on lands in what is now Livingston county, at Geneseo. They cut a wood road, along the route above mentioned, the " great Indian trail," but as trav- elers remarked, it was not much better than an Indian path. March 22, 1794, an act was passed appointing Israel Chapin, Michael Myer, and Otliniel Taylor. commissioners, to lay out and improve a road, to begin at old Fort Schuyler and to thence run in a line as nearly straight as the situation of the country would admit to Cayuga Ferry, or to the outlet of Cayuga Lake ; thence to the settlement at Avon in the Gen- esee country. The road to be laid out six rods wide, but not necessary to open and improve the road to over four rods in width ; the sum of £600 appropriated for opening and improving said road, and the further sum of £1,500 was appropriated, as should not be otherwise appropriated at the end of the session, for making and improving the remainder of said road. The road was laid out, but not much of anything else was done, for travelers as late as in June, 1797, still represent the road as little better than an Indian trail. On the Ist of April, 1796, a law was passed appropriating £500 in amending the "Great Genesee Road " where it ran through the Oneida Reservation ; and the further sum of £500 to amend said road through the Onondaga and Cayuga Reser- vations. On the 28th of March, 1797, a law was passed for the open- ing and improving roads direct through the western, northern and and southern parts of the State, authorizing the raising by three suc- cessive lotteries of $45,000, of which $13,900 was to be used for the opening and improving said Genesee road from Old Fort Schuyler to Ge- neva. Work commenced in earnest on this highway, so that on Sep- tember 30, 1797, a stage started from Old Fort Schuyler and arrived at Geneva in the afternoon of the third day. This road was simply of earth, and low swampy places were crossed on logs, called "causeways." But emigration westward was pushing on rapidly, and the settlers were clamoring for a better road.
12
90
OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
John Maude who passed through Utica in 1800, on a visit to Niagara Falls, has left the following record of Old Fort Schuyler :
Utica, ninety-six miles from Albany, Schwartz Hotel, excellent house, and miser- ably kept, built by Boon & Lincklaen, agents for Holland Land Company | New England house on Whitesboro street]. Utiea is in the present town of. Whitestown and contains about sixty houses. No genteel family except Colonel Walker, who resides a short distance east of the village. The Great Genesee Road turns off at this place. An act has lately passed making it a turnpike road to Genesee and Can- andaigua, a distance of one hundred miles. The expense is estimated at $1,000 per mile. The inhabitants of Utica subscribed to finish the first mile; they formed 20 shares of $50 each, which shares they afterwards sold to Col. Walker and Mr. Post for 44 cents on the dollar, who have finished the hrst mile; the river here is narrow and shallow; no fish; 7 boats at the wharf; heard a bull frog; groves of sugar maple, a tree very common here.
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