USA > New York > Tioga County > Owego > Owego. Some account of the early settlement of the village in Tioga County, N.Y., called Ah-wa-ga by the Indians, which name was corrupted by gradual evolution into Owago, Owego, Owegy and finally Owego > Part 20
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40
Bissell Woodford was a member of the board of trustees of the village of Owego in 1848, 1852, and 1857.
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JOHN DODD.
John Dodd was a carriage maker, born July 29, 1782. He lived at New Haven, Connecticut, and removed thence to Goshen, N. Y., in 1810. He came to Owego in 1829 and lived here all the rest of his life. His carriage shop was on the west side of North avenue, and the house in which he lived was further up the same street, opposite Chestnut street. The house still stands there, but it was recon- structed after his death by elevating it and building a basement beneath it.
Mr. Dodd lived an uneventful life here and died Sept. 3, 1854. He mar- ried Susan Potter, who was born March 1, 1785. She survived him twenty years, and died here Dec. 17, 1874. The children of John and Susan ( Potter) Dodd were as follows:
1. Hannah Dodd, born 24 Dec., 1804, at New Haven, Conn. Died S Jan., 1805.
2. Maria Dodd, born 3 Feb., 1806. at New Haven. Died 16 March, 1861, at Owego. Unmarried.
3. John S. Dodd, born 11 Sept., 1808, at New Haven. Married Lucy Hatch in 1831. He died 21 Feb., 1870, at Ithaca, N. Y.
4. Caroline Dodd, born 20 Oct., 1810, at New Haven. Died 30 Aug .. 1884, at Owego. Unmarried.
5. Edward D. Dodd, born 11 Jan., 1813, at Goshen, N. Y. Married Sarah A. Lacey, of Laceyville, Pa., 2 Feb .. 1840. He died 1 Sept., 1894, at El- mira, N. Y., and she 18 Jan .. 1908. also at Elmira.
6. Jane Dodd, born 20 Aug., 1815, at Goshen. Married Otis W. Liver- more, of Owego, 7 Nov., 1853. She died 17 Oct., 1900, in Athens town- ship, Pa., and he 21 March, 1895, at Owego.
7. William Dodd, born 24 Sept, 1818,
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at Goshen. Died 26 July, 1839, at Owego.
S. Thomas A. Dodd, born 2 March, 1822, at Goshen. Married Harriet E. Freeman, of Goshen, 2 Oct., 1851. He died 18 Jan., 1900, at Owego, and she died at Elmira.
9. Louise L. Dodd, born 16 April. 1825, at Goshen. Married Dr. Elias WV. Seymour, of Owego, in Oct., 1850. He died 26 June, 1893, at Owego, and she 26 Feb., 1900.
10. George A. Dodd, born 12 May. 1827, at Goshen. Married Sarah Searles, of Owego, 23 Nov., 1848. He died 14 Jan., 1864, at Owego, and she 23 June, 1908.
Edward D. Dodd was an iron moulder. He removed to Laceyville, Pa., in 1840, and thence to Elmira.
Thomas A. Dodd was from 1849 to 1867 a conductor on the New York & Erie railroad.
Elias W. Seymour was born at Windsor, N. Y., Feb. 7, 1823. His father, judge William Seymour, was a prominent man in Broome county and was a brother of governor Hora- tio Seymour. William Seymour was a lawyer. He was appointed first judge of Broome county in 1833 and was elected to congress in 1834. Elias W. Seymour came to Owego when 18 years of age. He studied medicine in 1866 and began practice in 1870. He died June 26, 1881, at Owego.
ABRAHAM GREEK.
Another of the early residents of North avenue was Abraham Greek. He and captain Sylvenus Fox were "bound boys" and were brought here by Elizur Talcott and his sons from Glastonbury, Conn., in 1803. Both learned and worked at the car- penter's trade. Capt. Fox bought the lot at the southeast corner of Fox street and North avenue and built a
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house thereon, in which he lived the rest of his life. Mr. Greek bought land on the west side of North ave- nue, a little . south of Fox street and built thereon two houses and lived in one of them until he died March 14. 1862.
Mr. Greek's wife, Mrs. Harriet Greek, was an eccentric woman whose vocabulary was more extensive and comprehensive than accurate. She was a combination of Smollett's Tabitha Bramble, Sheridan's Mrs. Malaprop, and Shillaber's Mrs. Part- ington, and her sayings created much amusement for her neighbors. She once described an iron safe as a "bugle proof safe with a revolt in it," and she expressed her opinion pretty emphatically of some of the good people of the village who were outside of her social circle as "put- ting on altogether too much codfish aristocracy." To a neighbor this cheerful old lady once said that she had always had a "resentment" that she would "die in a prance," but her presentiment proved to be unfounded in anything but vague surmise, for instead of lingering in a trance she passed away suddenly on the 23d of December, 1863, at the not very ad- vanced age of 60 years.
ISAAC LILLIE.
Isaac Lillie, a school teacher and civil engineer, came to Owego in 1814. His father, Abraham Lillie, came at an early day from England to Boston. Mass., and engaged in ship building. Isaac Lillie was born at Scotland. Windham county, Conn., Oct. 19, 1788. He lived at one time at Butternuts, Otsego county, N. Y., and later at Montrose, Pa.
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After coming to Owego Mr. Lillie surveyed much of the land in Coxe's patent. He taught school several years in the old school house which stood on the south side of Main street, near where the rectory of St. Paul's church now stands. When the Owego academy was built in 1828, he was asked to take charge of the school as principal, but declined to do so. He was much interested in the cause of temperance and abolition of slavery, and he co-operated in forming the first anti-slavery society in Tioga county in 1839. As a surveyor he was naturally conversant with land values and was elected an assessor of the town of Owego in 1851 and 1854.
Mr. Lillie was twice married. Of his first wife we have no record. His second wife was Rachel Nealy. She was a daughter of John Nealy, who came to Owego in April, 1785, with James and Robert McMaster and William Woods from Florida, N. Y. Her brother, David Nealy, is said to have been the second white child born in Owego. He died March 8, 1871, aged 78 years.
Mr. Lillie lived during the last twenty years of his life in a house which stood on the north side of Front street, east of William street. He purchased the property in April, 1833, from John Mack, of the town of Ulysses, Tompkins county. After his death this property, together with the drug store building at the northeast corner of Front and Lake streets, passed into possession of his daugh- ter, Mrs. Deming. The dwelling house in west Front street was subsequently torn down and in its place she built
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the house now owned and occupied by John Jones.
Mrs. Lillie died at Owego Feb. 2, 1849, aged 54 years. Mr. Lillie died Sept. 23, 1854.
The children of Mr. Lillie and his first wife were Susan Lillie, who mar- ried Mr. Muar and lived at Scottsville, N. Y., and John Hoyt Lillie, who was born 13 April, 1813, at Montrose, Pa., and married Charlotte B. Curtis, of Montrose. She died at Rochester, N. Y., and he 30 March, 1903, at Los- Angeles, Cal.
The children of Isaac and Rachel (Nealy) Lillie were as follows:
1. . Sarah Lulie, born 4 Jan., 1827, at Owego. Died 4 July, 1838.
2. Catherine B. Lillie, born 4 Oct., 1828, at Owego. Married Horace R. Deming 18 Sept., 1858, at Owego. He died 7 April, 1882, at Waterbury, Conn.
3. James Edward Lillie, born 11 Sept., 1833, at Owego. Married Lucy Ketchum, of Corning. He died 27 May, 1901, at Washington, D. C.
James Edward Lillie was a ma- chinist. He lived at Corning, N. Y., and at Susquehanna, Pa., and was later and for many years employed in the government machine shops in the ordnance department at Washington, D. C., in which city he died May 28, 1901.
Catherine B. Lillie married Horace R. Deming, of Owego, and still lives in this village. Mr. Deming was born May 1, 1829, at Bennington, Vt. He came to Owego in 1843 and learned the tinner's trade. He was for many years engaged in the hardware and tin business with various partners, and was afterward in the grocery business with Michael Bergin. Later he con- ducted a wholesale butter and cheese
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business in New Haven, Conn., and still later he engaged in the same business in Newark, N. J. He died April 7, 1882. at Waterbury, Conn .. where he was conducting a wholesale flour, grain, hay, and butter business.
Dr. John Hoyt Lillie had a some- what remarkable career. In May, 1832. he accompanied an uncle on a trip to Illinois, which was then in the 'far west." He volunteered to take the census of Chicago. and did so, the enumeration showing the population to be 1,650 people. Later he returned to Owego, where he remained until 1839.
Mr. Lillie was a man of great in- genuity, and had learned the trade of a watchmaker. In 1839 he built a steamboat. the second one ever con- structed at this village. In the fall of that year he and Gilbert Forsyth, with their families, started down the river in the boat, intending to go to Cincin- nati, Ohio. The boat was wrecked near Wysox. Pa., and the rest of the journey was made overland. In Cin- cinnati Mr. Lillie studied medicine and obtained a physician's license to practise.
In 1841 he settled at Joliet, Ill. He liad become interested in the study of electricity, and he built a circular railroad, twelve feet in diameter, on which a miniature locomotive, de- signed by him, was driven by elec- tricity. In order to obtain money with which to patent his invention, he ex- hibited his model and delivered public lectures. At Peoria he attracted the attention of senator Thomas H. Ben- ton, of Missouri, who gave him letters to Prof. Henry, of the Smithsonian in- stiute, and other prominent men in
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Washington, who assisted him finan- cially.
In 1850 Dr. Lillie obtained his first patent for the first electric motor, but not without some difficulty. An officer in the patent office tried to steal Dr. Lillie's claim to the invention, and he might have succeeded had not Prof. Henry made dire threats of exposure and disgrace.
In order to raise money with which to develop his invention toward the point of commercial value, Dr. Lillie engaged in further lecturing tours, in one of which he met P. T. Barnum, the showman, who paid him $250 for a model of the new motor for exhibition in Barnum's New York museum. This proved unfortunate for the inventor, as the public looked upon the model in the museum more as a freak toy than as the beginning of immeasurable commercial achievements.
Dr. Lillie's circular electric railroad was exhibited by the inventor at his old home in Owego in 1851. His lec- ture was delivered in Patch's hall, which occupied the third story of a brick block on the west side of Lake street, where the Chamberlain block now stands.
On a wooden framework, supported by posts about four feet high and standing on the floor Dr. Lillie had constructed a circular track of two continuous rails in the form of a large hoop, twelve feet diameter over which a miniature four-wheeled truck was run. On this truck was a galvanic battery and a combination of wheels. Electric power was applied by the battery to the wheels causing them to revolve, sending the cars round and round on the circular track.
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In 1850 Dr. Lillie removed to Hor- nellsville, N. Y., where he continued his experiments. In 1860 he travelled through the country exhibiting Miss Dollie Dutton, a dwarf, and in 1863, he travelled giving exhibitions of nitrous oxide, or laughing gas. In 1868 he removed from Rochester to San Fran- cisco, Cal., and thence in 1873 to Santa Rosa. In 1876 he conducted a car of tourists to the centennial ex- position at Philadelphia and in 1878 and again in 1886 he visited Europe. Upon his return in the latter year he became a resident of Los Angeles, where he lived until his death.
When he settled in Los Angeles he possessed only a modest competence. but this he judiciously invested in the business of buying and selling real estate, until at the time of his death he had amassed a fortune of $250,000.
Dr. Lillie's death was the result of an accident. In the night of March 26, 1903, he inadvertently stepped off the back porch of his house and plunged six feet to the flagging. His skull was fractured and he died four days afterward on March 30.
JOSEPH OGDEN.
Joseph Ogden, whose sons, Jehial Walter, and Charles Ogden, were gun- smiths, came to Owego from Orange county, N. Y., about the year 1810. driving the entire distance with a team, and settled on a farm three miles east of this village, known as the John Camp farm. Several years later he removed to Owego and worked as a stone mason and also as a watch repairer.
It may seem a little singular in these days but two trades so entirely
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different-one requiring patience and skill and the other strength and en- durance-should have been learned by the same man. The explanations is simple. There was not sufficient work in small communties in those days to keep a man employed at one trade all the year round, and while mason work was readily obtained in the summer season, masons were idle in winter, so two trades were learned by one man, in order that he could be employed at one while there was no employment to be had at the other.
His eldest son, Jehial Ogden, learned the trade of a gunsmith in Col. Henry McCormick's gun shop. and became foreman of the shop. Walter Ogden was born on the farm Dec. 2, 1819, and was fifteen years of age when he became an apprentice to learn the trade in Col. McCormick's shop. In 1837 Jehial Ogden built a gun shop at the northwest corner of Main and Liberty streets where St .- Paul's Episcopal church now stands, and he and Walter Ogden conducted the business there until April, 1839, when Walter Ogden bought the lot on the west side of North avenue on which the brick store owned by Geo. Snyder and the two stores adjoining it at the north now stand, and built thereon a gun shop. In 1848 Charles Ogden became a partner in the busi- ness. Several years afterward they purchased of Charles Talcott the brick store now occupied by L. T. Stanbrough's plumbing store opposite the Ahwaga house in Front street. where they conducted a gun shop and variety store.
Charles Ogden died Dec. 6, 1868, aged 46 years. Walter Ogden died
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Feb. 23, 1879, aged 59 years. Jehial Ogden died Feb. 21, 1880, aged 6S years.
Joseph Ogden had three daughters. Rebecca Ogden died July 20, 1880. aged 58 years, and unmarried. Sarah Ogden married John Gardiner. Selina Ogden married Ambrose Townsend. Mr. Townsend was a carpenter. He was born Sept. 27, 1810, in the town of Burn. Dutchess county, N. Y., and died in Owego April 17, 1859. His wife died June 21, 1876, aged 62 years. Mr. Townsend built the house on the north side of Main street, the fifth house east of Paige street, which was owned by Thomas A. Dodd after his death and is now owned by Mrs. Mary Chesbro.
Joseph Ogden died Sept. 19, 1855, at Owego, aged 63 years. His wife, Sarah Ogden, died Jan. 10, 1864, aged 75 years.
FRANCIS ARMSTRONG.
Francis Armstrong was born at Florida, Orange county, N. Y., Dec. 4, 1788. In February, 1821, he came to the town of Newark Valley, where he purchased a farm, near the Owego town line and where he followed farm- ing seven years. In 1829 he came to Owego to take the office of deputy sheriff under Col. Henry McCormick. At that time Tioga and Chemung were half-shire counties, and one sheriff was elected for both counties. Mr. Armstrong lived in the old court house at the southeast corner of Main and Court streets, which building was occupied as a sheriff's residence and jail on the first floor, and as a court room on the second floor. Here Mr. Armstrong lived nine years as deputy
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under Col. McCormick and Col. Mc- Cormick's successors in office. In 1830 he was elected a justice of the peace and served eight years. His first wife was Elysian Poppino, who died in Newark Valley, in 1821. His sec- ond wife was her sister, Huldah Pop- pino. They were married Jan. 15, 1823. Mr. Armstrong's children were Rev. Amzi Armstrong, who was pas- tor of the Presbyterian church of Dutch Neck, N. J .; Francis Arm- strong, who was a bookkeeper and who lives in Pittsburg, Pa .; Mrs. Han- nah Inslee and Mrs. Harriet Eaton, who removed to Washington, D. C .: Mrs. Elysian Fassett, who removed to Rockwood, Minn., and Mrs. James H. Board, who removed to Canaseraga, N. Y. Mr. Armstrong died Nov. 26, 1881.
Daniel Armstrong also came to Owego from Orange county, where he was born. In early life he was a school teacher and later a bookkeeper and accountant. He died at Owego Jan. 25, 1886, aged 79 years.
James Conklin and his sons, wagon makers, were early residents here. They came from Orange county, N. Y., in 1820. He died at Owego Jan. 6, 1855, aged 92 years.
One of his sons was Jacob Conklin. whose wagon shop was for several years on the southwest corner of Main and Park streets. In 1837 Francis Armstrong purchased the property. turned the building partly around and converted it into a dwelling house. It was afterward owned and occupied several years by Charles C. Thomas and is now the property of Mrs. C. R. Heaton.
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The wagon shop of another son, James Conklin, Jr., was on the north side of Main street, a little east of North avenue, and it was burned with several other buildings Aug. 5, 1841. He died here Sept. 24, 1865. aged 65 years.
James Conklin lived on the west side of Church street, between Main and Temple streets. This street was for many years a small lane.
Asa Dearborn was a shoemaker. He removed from Candor to Owego in 1826 and worked at his trade here un- til his death. He died May 23, 1873, aged 73 years. His wife, Pluma Dearborn, died Jan. 3, 1873, aged 78 years.
This concludes the sketches of the early residents of Owego and they in- clude those only who came here pre- vious to 1830. Had it been considered expedient to extend them over a later period they would have included Dr. Lucius H. Allen, judge Alanson Mun- ger, Dr. Hiram N. Eastman, Col. Na- thaniel W. Davis, Henry N. Hubbard, Joshua L. Pinney, Franklin Slosson. Timothy P. Patch, James and John W. L'Amoureux, Arba Campbell, Thomas 1. and John R. Chatfield, Dr. John Frank, and many others who came here subsequent to that year.
Some Account of John Gee, Who Fought nearly Seven Years in the Revolutionary War and Came to Owego with Gen. Clinton's Army in 1779 and afterward Fought in the Battle of Newtown, Dying Several Years Later on a Farm in the Town of Barton When Past Ninety-two Years of Age.
Among the papers of Judge Charles P. Avery, now owned by the Wiscon- sin state historical society, is an in- terview with John Gee, a revolution- ary soldier who came to Owego in 1779 with Gen. Clinton's army, and who died many years later in the town of Barton. Mr. Gee's statement as as follows:
JOHN GEE'S STATEMENT. June 8, 1853.
John Gee in his 91st year. Served in revolutionary war. Entered the army at Ft. Montgomery (near An- thony's Nose) the year Burgoyne was taken, then in his 15th year.
I was with Gen'l. Clinton's right wing of the army. I was at Otsego lake when the dam was made. Part of us went by land down the river, and part in bateaux. We laid still awhile at Oquaga, some hours, till the boats came along. From there some of us went across the country, and not around the "bend." Al Oneida Indian was our guide. There were the hills where the corn had grown at Owego, and Oquaga and Choconut.
We made the junction with Sullivan at Tioga Point. Gen'l. Clinton came with the boats. We met Gen'l. Poor at Choconut.
I wasin the battle at Newtown under Gen'l. Clinton, belonged to the right wing, ascended the hill, and drove the enemy from that quarter. The next morning took a vote in the army to go on with half allowance. We de- cided to go on. At Catharine's Town
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Indians had fires there all burning, &c .. destroyed their huts. Squaw Catharine with a young squaw 14 or 15 years old was there.
I lived in Orange county after war.
There was a clearing at Owego, large trees scattered around, but used as corn ground. Some huts, &c., there.
I was at Yorktown at Cornwallis's surrender.
I was born at Peekskill, N. Y., in the year 1763, 13th Jan'y. Saw Wash- ington frequently.
Large trees along the bank at Owe- go. Extensive corn plains at Tioga Point. Oquaga, Owego, and Choconut.
John Gee was a soldier in the Fourth regiment of infantry com- manded by Lieut .- Col. Frederick Weis- senfels in Gen. James Clinton's New York brigade of 1,500 men, which came to Owego August 17, 1779. Join- ing Sullivan's army of 3,500 men the combined forces marched from Tioga Point to Newtown (Elmira), where on Aug. 29 they fought and defeated the British and Indian forces numbering 1,500 men under Butler and Brant.
Mr. Gee was with Clinton's right wing, which ascended the hill upon the right of their centre, dislodging the Indians, who were there contest- ing every inch of ground under Brant' leadership. The severest of the engagement was along these heights, where Brant had taken his position, and here Mr. Gee was in the thickest of the fight. He was after- ward a participant in the engage- ments which ended with the surren- der of Gen. Cornwallis at Yorktown. He served in the army seven years lacking only one month.
In 1795 Mr. Gee drew lot No. 21 in the military tract, just north of Owe- go hill in the town of Harford. Cort-
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land county, and settled thereon. He came there with two other men from Chenango Point (now Binghamton), guided by marked trees. They cut down the trees on a small spot and built a little log house about 12 by 16 feet in size, with only an axe, without a board, a nail, or a pane of glass, and returned whence they came. The next year Mr. Gee removed his fam- ily, consisting of his parents, his wife, and six children, from Wyoming, ar- riving June 17, to live in this small building.
One of his sons, John Gee, Jr., af- terward settled in the town of Rich- ford, where some of his descendants are still living. He later in life re- moved to the town of Barton, where he died. Judge Avery mentions him in his Susquehanna Valley papers (St .- Nicholas, page 381) as "living in a remote part of this town, westerly from Halsey Valley, in the 92d year of his age."
The state military records show that John Gee was at different times a member of Col. Philip Van Cort- landt's Second regiment, of Col. James Holmes's Fourth regiment, of Col. Lewis DuBoys's Fifth regiment, of the Dutchess county militia (regiment of minute men), commanded by Col. Jacobus Swartwout, and of the Fourth Ulster county militia, commanded by Col. Johannes Hardenburgh in 1775- 1782.
The name of Jno. Gee again appears in the list of members of the Second regiment of Dutchess county militia, Col. Abraham Brinkerhoff.
The name of John Gee also appears in the list of persons suspected of be-
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ing tories, and also in the list of those whose estates were confiscated by the government. (See New York in the Revolution Supplement, pages 231 and 255.) There may have been more than one man in the continental army named John Gee.
Some Account of the First Grist Mills Built at Owego by Col. David Pix- ley, Thomas Matson, Jr., and Charles Frederick and Robert Charles Johnson.
It is related in judge Avery's "Sus- quehanna Valley" papers that in April, 1785, James and Robert Mc- Master. John Nealy, and William Woods, with William Taylor, a bound hoy, who were the first of the white men to settle here, came to Owego. They planted ten acres of corn on the Hats, north of where the Erie railroad now runs. After it was harvested in the fall "it was gathered and taken, by boat loads to Tioga Point and se- curely cribbed." As soon as it was thus secured the party set out on their return to their "winter quarters" in the valley of the Mohawk.
To transport this corn down the Susquehanna river dead pine trees were cut on the bank of the Owego creek and felled into the water, where they were bound together with withes. forming a raft.
On this the corn was floated down the river and finally taken to the nearest mill. at Wilkes-Barre, to be ground.
The first grist mill built in this part of the state, according to Wilkinson's "Annals of Binghamton," was built on
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Fitch's creek, four miles above Bing- hamton, in the present town of Kirk- wood. This creek took its name from Jonathan Fitch, an early settler there. who was the first representative of Tioga county in the state legislature, in 1792. He came from Wyoming. Pa., when the troubles which resulted in the massacre commenced, where he had been a merchant and high sheriff of Westmoreland county.
The pioneers at Owego found no mill nearer than Wilkes-Barre, which they reached by canoes, until Fitch's mill was built in 1792. The same year a mill was built at Milltown. In 1793 Col. David Pixley built a mill near this village, the first one erected here.
Among the Avery papers in the Wis- consin state historical society's col- lection is a "statement and narrative" of Laurence Merriam, taken by Guy Hinchman Avery, judge Avery's. brother. Merriam settled three miles above Union. Merriam says, among other things:
"We were very much straightened for food when we first came into the country; have ground corn all night in order to have something for break- fast; used wooden trenchers and wooden forks; had to go in canoes down to Shepard's mill for grist. The first grist mill that was built in the country was built up the Squires creek, four miles above Binghamton. It ran only in high water."
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