USA > New York > Tioga County > Our county and its people : a memorial history of Tioga County, New York > Part 46
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POPULATION .- From the federal and state census reports are taken the following statistics relative to the number of inhabitants in the town in the years mentioned : 1825, 951 ; 1830, 1,284 ; 1835, 1,641 ; 1840, 1,986 ; 1845, 1,924; 1850, 1,905; 1855, 1,871; 1860, 1,932 ; 1865, 1,778; 1870, 1,663; 1875, 1,683 ; 1880, 1,709; 1885, no count ; 1890, 1,701 ; 1892, 1,635.
From this record it will be seen that the greatest number of in- habitants was attained in 1840, when all the several interests of the town were, probably at their best. Since that time there has been a gradual, though not rapid, decrease in population, and at this time the number is about 350 less than in 1840, due chiefly to the same causes that have worked a similar decrease in a majority of the interior towns of the state, and not to the fact there has been a lack of enterprise on the part of the people of Nichols. Indeed, no such indictment could stand, for this little and compar- atively isolated town has ever been noted for thrift and progress- sion from the time when Judge Coryell came and made a residence here. But it was not the judge alone who made this a prosperons town during the early years of the century, but his example was followed by almost every one of the prominent settlers as they came.
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TOWN OF NICHOLS.
In many respects Nichols in one of the most independent divis- ions of the county, and, taken altogether, its history forms one of the brightest pages in the annals of Tioga. First, it is the only town lying wholly on the south side of the Susquehanna, and that stream in a measure has had the effect to teach the people here the advantages of independence and self reliance, and the fact appears that this spirit has worked greatly to the benefit of the inhabitants, who at an early day made all their institutions per- manent and substantial. Again, from the time of pioneership Nichols has been known as one of the best agricultural towns of the whole region, and it was the desirable quality of the soil that attracted many of the early settlers ; and as one family came and found success in answer to patient endeavor, the coming of friends was induced, and before many years had passed the hill and back lands were taken and cleared, and fine farms appeared where but a little time before was a dense forest growth. To the aboriginal occupants the Maughantowano flats were known to produce abundantly under their primitive attempts at farming, and under the intelligent efforts of the white-faced pioneer that special region became known as one of the most fertile in the northern part of the state. About the central part of the town the high lands and the river are separated by only a narrow strip of land, but further east, in the vicinity of Canfield's corners, or Lounsberry, the lands are fertile and highly productive. The same is also true of the Hooper's valley region although here no special attempt at settle- ment and improvement was made previous to the time when the Pearsalls came and by building mills and operating extensively in lumbering developed the land for farms and built up a settle- ment which has endured and been progressive to the present day. (From 1830 to 1850 there were nineteen saw mills on Wappasening creek in Nichols and the adjoining towns of Pennsylvania.)
Thomas, Gilbert, and Nathaniel Pearsall were the real factors in developing the Hooper's Valley region, and were said to have made a beginning there as early as 1828, although soon after that time they were in the vicinity of Apalachin lumbering, milling, and otherwise developing the resources of the county. They came from Chenango county in 1828. Both Gilbert and Nathaniel died at
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Hooper's Valley, and Thomas at Owego. Thomas was perhaps the strongest business man of the brothers. He built the mills here. He was also prominent in connection with other enterprises, notably building the bridge across the river to connect Smithboro and the valley. Later he went south, but returned to Owego, where he died in 1881. After reverses had overtaken the Pearsall enterprises at the valley the hamlet they built suffered a serious loss in population and interests. However, the mills were bought by Mr. Higley and made into a carding and fulling mill, but were soon burned. In 1875, L. Burr Pearsall, son of Gilbert Pearsall, built a steam saw and planing mill at the valley hamlet.
The Smithiboro and Nichols Bridge company was incorporated April 18, 1829, and Isaac Boardman, Nehemiah Platt, and Jolin Coryell were appointed a committee to supervise the construction of the bridge. The first was built in 1831, but within a year was swept away by the swollen river. A second bridge met a like fate, in 1837, and the third in 1865. A ferry has since been maintained across the river to afford communication between Hooper's Valley and Smithboro. Hooper's Valley was made a postoffice in 1854. Gilbert Pearsall was the first postmaster, and served in that capac- ity until 1861.
Among the other early settlers in this part of the town were Ira J. Parks, who came here with the Pearsalls, and also a branch of the Coryell family.
Osborn is the name of a postoffice and station on the line of the D., L. & W. railroad, about seven miles west of Nichols village. The settlement is a recent creation and not far advanced in the history of the town. A store is kept here by Charles L. Van- Gorder.
The Asbury Methodist Episcopal church is one of the historic institutions of the town, and was organized in 1817 with Elijah and Phebe Shoemaker and Daniel and Maria Shoemaker as con- stituent members. The first pastor was Rev. John Griffing. The church edifice was built in 1822. The members now number about 25. The pastor is Rev. H. L. Ellsworth, of the Nichols village church.
Canfield's Corners was a hamlet in the east part of the town, in
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the locality where Ezra Canfield was an early settler, the cross- roads settlement being named for him ; and when a postoffice was established for the accommodation of the inhabitants of that part of the town Mr. Canfield was the first postmaster. However, ex- cept among the older residents who are little inclined to change from the order of things half a century ago, this locality is known as Lounsberry, a post station on the line of the D., L. & W. railroad. The locality, is rich in agricultural resources, is peopled with some of the most thrifty farmers of the town, but the commercial importance of the settlement is a small factor in local history. The store is now kept by Mr. Wheeler. R. B. Baker has a creamery. Previous to the construction of the railroad the inhabitants were without means of communication with the county seat other than teams. But at that time their trade was largely done at Tioga Centre at Col. Ransom's store. A ferry has been maintained across the river here for many years, as will be seen by reference to the history of Tioga, in another chapter. Here, too, is the River Valley M. E. church, the near-by district school, but little else except such buildings as are found around a station in a purely farming region.
The River Valley Methodist Episcopal church at Lounsberry is one of the oldest organizations of its kind south of the river, and in its history dates back to the year 1815 when a class was formed in that part of the town and meetings were held at the house of Joseph Utter and also in the schoolhouse. The present edifice was built in 1873 on land given to the society by Jonathan Hunt. The church has about 60 members, and is under charge of Rev. H. L. Ellsworth, pastor of the Nichols M. E. church.
East Nichols is a post hamlet in the extreme southeast corner of the town, in an agricultural district, the inhabitants of which required for their convenience a postoffice and local mail distri- bution.
NICHOLS VILLAGE .- This pretty little hamlet of about 550 inhab- itants is located half way between the east and west lines of the town and on the Susquehanna river at the mouth of Wapasell- ing creek. Here are all the requisites of an incorporated village, both in point of business and population, but that character has
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not been assumed although the people have been discussing the sub- ject several years.
Caleb Wright was the pioneer settler on the village site, he hav- ing come in 1793, as near as can be determined, and taking up lands at the mouth of the creek, extending up and down the river half a mile in either direction. Pioneer Wright built a saw mill at the mouth of the creek, and when James Howell came to the settlement, a few years later, he (Howell) built another, half a mile up the river. Others were soon built in other localities, as lum- bering interests demanded, and in the early years of the century the "Corners," as the settlement was first known, was a place of importance, and if personal recollections be reliable even at that early day this was also an important lumbering point on the river, and in the general prosperity. of the period Wapasening creek and the mills built along its banks, reaching over into Pennsylva- nia, contributed in a good measure.
Robert Williams, who was the son-in-law of Cabel Wright, be- came possessed of a part of the Wright tract, and he, in fact, laid the foundation for the settlement by cutting his land into acre lots and selling to new arrivals for a modest consideration. Dr. Barstow bought a corner lot and opened a stock of goods in 1812, doing a general trading business in connection with his medical practice. Simmons Clapp took another lot, but his particular occupation in the settlement is not now recalled. Proprietor Wil- lims also lived on the tract and was quite active in his endeavors to dispose of his lots. However, when Dr. Barstow became satis- fied that the Corners was a place destined to future prosperity, he built another store and occupied his first for living purposes, as in the meantime he had married with Judge Coryell's daughter. George Kirby came in 1814 and set up a shoeshop, but within a very few years had a tannery in operation and was an important factor in village history. Others soon followed and as early as 1820 it is said that Rushville had nearly two hundred inhabitants, and threatened rivalry with the county seat itself. The surround- ing country was fast being settled and the settlement was a busy place. Drs. John Petts and John Everitt came and were practis- ing medicine, while in the meantime Captain Peter Joslin, Isaac
TOWN OF NICHOLS. 485
Raymond, James Thurston, Joshua Brown and still others had es- tablished homes in the village and were in some active way iden- tified with its early history and growth. In 1820 Major Platt came from his farm to live in the village. He built and kept a hotel until his death, in 1825, but the business and building have survived for very many years.
When the little settlement at the Corners had become a place of some note, the inhabitants determined to find a name more suit- able and appropriate, hence, Dr. Barstow suggested the name "Rushville ;" which was at once adopted ; and the statement is of record that about 1812 or '13 a postoffice of that name was estab- lished here. This, however, is doubtful. The name Rushville was given by the worthy doctor in compliment of Dr. Rush, a Philadelphia physician of note, for whom Dr. Barstow had high
admiration. When Nichols was set off from Tioga, in 1824, it soon became necessary to establish the institutions of the new creation on a lasting basis, hence the name of the principal village was made to conform to that of the town. Both were called Nichols, and in recognition of the compliment Colonel Nichols generously gave $200, to be invested for the permanent good of the town and village. The fund was subsequently expended in the erection of a meeting house for religious worship.
A postoffice by the name of Nichols was established January 24, 1827, from which time the postmasters, in succession, have been as follows : Charles R. Barstow, appointed January 24, 1827; George Wilson, May 18, 1830; Daniel Ferguson, July 15, 1830 ; Sidney Dunham, May 21, 1834; Charles R. Barstow, May 26, 1841 ; John C. Barstow, January 22, 1844 ; Sidney Dunham, March 13, 1846 ; Cranston V. S. Bliven, May 19, 1847; John C. Barstow, June 22, 1849; Gamaliel Barstow, October 7, 1850; Timothy P. Alden, June 18, 1853 ; Miles D. Forman, August 13, 1857 ; James Tutton, June 28, 1861; Herman T. Joslin, August 22, 1863 ; Peter H. Joslyn, November 17, 1865; Timothy P. Alden, September 25, 1866; Coe Coleman, March 18, 1867 ; Henry Cady, March 22, 1870; Emmet Coleman, December 2, 1885; George M. Cady May 2, 1889; Isaac D. Fox, July 1, 1893.
While it is possible that life and business were better and more
-
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
interesting in this village during the days of its early history than within the last quarter of a century, it is doubtful if the diversity of interests at that time were as great or as useful as those of the more recent period. True, Nichols is to-day practically without a manufacturing industry of importance, and this is the only ele- ment wanting to establish permanent prosperity in the village. The other essentials, health, cleanliness, good order prevail, and a well-to-do and generally public spirited people reside there. As a shipping point for agricultural and farm products Nichols ranks among the best points on the line of the D., L. & W. railroad, and the amount of business of this kind done here each fall is sur- prising to any person not acquainted with the resources of the town.
For many years Nichols has been a well-ordered and pleasant village as a place of residence or one in which a family of children may be reared free from the misleading pleasures and temptations frequently encountered in more populous municipalities. A good school has been maintained here for many years, and in 1873 a union free district superseded the old system and an academic department added to the educational facilities of the institution. The first board of education comprised Dr. G. P. Cady, John For- man, C. Bliven, G. M. Cady, Selim Kirby, and H. W. Dunham. The present board, under whose management the academy is as prosperous as at any time in its history, comprises Sidney H. Lat- han, president ; William H. Clark, clerk, and A. B. Kirby, B. M. Waterman, S. R. Bixby, and Elmer Everitt.
In 1838, the Platt hotel on the corner was built, and about that time the village was at its height as a business centre. The first merchant was Dr. Barstow, who lived where is now Cady's brick building, and his house was further east. Emanuel Coryell, Jr., . was his partner in 1841. Nehemiah Platt and George Wilson were also early merchants, the former beginning as early as 1825. Dr. Barstow also had a grist mill, a distillery, and a "potash." Coryell & Martin was another old firm. George Coryell and Selim Kirby were the tanners, but neither was in the village proper. Among other and perhaps later business men were O. A. Barstow, P. H. Joslin, John L. Howell, Eben Dunham, Harris Bros., C. Bliven,
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Edward Joslin. About the period of the war business was carried on mainly by Peter H. Joslin, McLean & Howell, (succeeded by Howell & Morey), Barstow & Kirby, Miles Forman, Hiram Sherry, G. M. & G. P. Cady, O. J. Plum, the undertaker, while about that time Dr. John Everitt was an active medical practitioner in town. In the spring of 1865 Howell & Morey's store was broken open by burglars and about $800 of the firm's, and $400 of Mr. Howell's money was taken.
If it were possible to here recall the names of all the merchants and other business men who have in the past made Nichols village a seat of operations, the narrative might be both instructive and interesting. However, such a list is deemed unnecessary to this work, and this branch of our chapter may be concluded with the names of the present business interests of the village, viz : F. B. Baker, steam grist mill ; F. H. Ross, general store ; Joslin & Leasure, dry goods ; S. A. Olmsted, grocery and feed store ; C. Bliven, general store, coal and produce ; W. A. Osborn, grocery and notions ; J. R. Edsall, hardware ; Thomas Dean, dry goods and groceries ; Cady & Farnham, druggists ; P. White & Son, cloth- ing and groceries ; S. H. Latham, drugs ; H. A. & H. C. Latham, boots and shoes ; Harris, De Groat & Co., produce dealers ; G. H. Horton, agricultural implements ; C. H. Rogers, meat market ; Emerson Taylor, bakery ; L. B. Ross, undertaker ; Mrs. Almira Joslin, Mrs. Johnson and Mrs. Vernie Long, milliners ; M. Everitt, variety store ; D. J. Smead, harness maker ; Lewis Brainerd, ' wagon maker ; C. F. Bowen, commercial hotel ; Wm. Yeardsley, American hotel.
Westbrook lodge, No. 333, F. & A. M., was chartered June 27, 1854, with officers as follows: Abraham Westbrook, W. M .; Daniel T. McDowell, S. W .; Oliver A. Barstow, J. W .; Edward Platt, treasurer ; James Tutton, sec'y ; Aug. L. Smith, S. D .; Samuel Clapp, J. D .; Peter H. Joslin, tiler.
The charter members of the lodge included many of the leading men of the region at the time, and were, with those mentioned, Gardner Knapp, Lewis W. Lockwood, Ozias Higley, Dr. Sylves- ter Knapp, Joshua Spaulding, Wm. Segison, Nathan Mitchell, Wm. O. Robinson, Ira B. Guernsey, Walter C. Randall, Mark Drake,
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
Dudley M. Bailey, Ransford B. Bailey, Philetus Lowrey, Ephraim F. Dunham, Wm. Wheelhouse, Miles Forham, 2d., Wm. S. Bravo, Sylvester Knapp, Jr., Wm. B. Stevens and Ebenezer Dunham.
The Methodist Episcopal church of Nichols village was the out- growth of one of the primitive institutions of the hamlet which was organized at a meeting held at the house of Peter H. Joslin, February 14, 1824, and was then known as "The Free Meeting House Society of the Town of Nichols." The meeting house was begun in 1829 and completed in 1830. The society continued in existence until about 1865 or '66, and then dissolved on account of internal trouble. The old building was substantially wrecked and former pew-owners lost their claims. The structure then passed into the M. E. society's control. The Methodist class was formed in 1829 and has ever since been in existence, the Free Meeting, house being used for services until it became absolutely the prop- erty of the society. It was rebuilt by elder Brooks, and was formally dedicated in 1872 .. The present members number about 175, with about 200 names on the Sunday school roll. The pastor is Rev. Herbert L. Ellsworth.
The First Presbyterian church of Nichols was organized in 1859, with thirteen constituent members, under the pastoral care of Rev. Geo. M. Life. However, Presbyterian services were held in the village long before the formal church organization was effected, and meetings were assembled in the free edifice built by popular subscription and the gift of Col. Nichols. The early ministers of this society were Revs. Ripley, Ira Smith, John Gibbs and Henry Carpenter, all previous to pastor Life. The new church building was begun in 1865, and was finished and dedicated in the fall of 1867. This church has 65 members, with about 100 names on the Sunday school roll, and is under the present. pastorate of Rev. William Jones Gregory.
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TOWN OF BERKSHIRE.
CHAPTER XXVII.
THE TOWN OF BERKSHIRE.
T HE proprietors of the historic Boston ten townships were very expeditious in surveying, mapping, and making disposition of their vast tract of land in New York state, and were perhaps the more active in their work by reason of the unfortunate delay in negotiating a treaty with the Indians occasioned by the inter- ference of James McMaster and Amos Draper. This alone cost them a full half township of the most desirable portion of the purchase, and a repetition of the former experience might be equal- ly expensive. The deeds of partition among the proprietors were executed in 1789, and in that and the next year the tract was ex- plored by surveyors, speculators and prospective settlers, who sought to become acquainted with the character of the lands. These parties represented to their friends in the east the desirable qualities of the region, and a favorable impression was at once circulated all through old Berkshire county, Mass., and the re- sult was that settlers from that reigon almost wholly peopled this special part of the purchase previous to the year 1800.
As is well known in Tioga and Broome county history, Samuel Brown and fifty-nine associates became proprietors of the Boston purchase, and nearly all these associates were residents of Berk- shire county, Mass. In the settlement of that part of the pur- chase which is now called Berkshire the worthy pioneers must have seen something to remind them of the mother county and its surroundings. This is true in a measure, for there is a re- semblance to the old Berkshire hills in the land elevations found in this town, although unlike the mother region, our hills are neither rugged nor in any place untillable.
In one of the surveying and exploring parties which came to this region soon after the purchase was made was Elisha Wilson, a native of course of old Berkshire, who was so favorably impress-
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ed with the new country that at once upon his return home, in the year 1790, he made a purchase of a good farm tract, and when he came to live in the town he built a log house on his land. Mr. Wilson purchased from proprietor Elisha Blin. He made his first visit to the region in 1790, and being well suited with the situation of lot 184, bought it. Nor did pioneer Wilson fail to report to his friends the desirable qualities of the country in general in Tioga county, and the result was that February 23, 1791, he, in com- pany with Daniel Ball, who was the son of one of the proprietors, and Isaac and Abraham Brown, who were nephews of Samuel Brown, the head of the proprietory, and also Daniel Ball, John Carpenter, and two others named Dean and Norton, left Stock- bridge, Mass., to make new homes on the western frontier. Their goods were packed on two sleds and their teams were yokes of oxen. The route of travel was from their home to the Hudson at Coxsackie; thence across the Catskills and through Harpersfield and Franklin to the Susquehanna at the mouth of the Ouleout. They then followed the Indian trail to Oquaga, where a quantity of their stores was left, then crossed the river and journeyed over the highlands direct to the Chenango, at a ferrying place about a mile above Binghamton, near which was a little settlement. Here the party was detained several days, as winter was just turning into spring and the ice was breaking up. After the river became clear the goods were load- ed in boats, the cattle made to swim the stream and were put in charge of Elisha Wilson. In this way the pioneers proceeded down the Susquehanna to Choconut, where Dean and Norton parted company with the others and made a settlement.
At Owego the company rested a few days and then began the task of cutting a road up the valley of Owego creek and its east- ern branch to a point about three miles above the present village of Newark Valley. The work was in good time completed and on the first day of April, 1791, a camp was made on the homestead site of John Harmon and Rev. Mr. Fivaz of later years. After two or three days, Abraham and Isaac Brown, John Carpenter, and Mr. Ball went back to Oquaga for the goods left there, leav- ing Mr. Wilson alone in camp with no companion except his dog.
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TOWN OF BERKSHIRE.".
However, when the others had returned, eleven days later, Mr. Wilson had succeeded in making 150 pounds of maple sugar.
The spring opened early and our pioneers at once began to pre- pare the ground for wheat and other crops. Mr. Wilson did not sow wheat but planted corn and vegetables. The Brown broth- ers made a clearing for wheat and had an abundant crop.
Thus was established what has ever been known in local annals as "Brown's Settlement," the pioneers of which were Isaac and Abraham Brown, Daniel Ball, and Elisha Wilson, although within the next few years other settlers to the number of at least a score had come and made homes in the vicinity ; and it is of them that we must write in the next few pages of this chapter. At the time the party of four pioneers came and made the first settlement neither town nor county lines were known ; it was Brown's settle- ment in the Boston purchase, and that alone. However, at that time and for many years afterward the region was a settlement rather than a town, and when town lines were established they so separated the pioneers that in the proper division of our subject into town histories we are compelled to mention persons and families in the towns in which they were living after the division was made.
Isaac Brown was the acknowledged head of the pioneer party and also of the settlement. He was born at Stockbridge, Mass., October 25, 1776, and died in the new settlement April 10, 1797, his being the first death. His wife was Clarissa, the daughter of Josiah Ball. They had two children, the first of whom died when young. The other was Isaac Brown, Jr., a well known man in the town in late years.
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