USA > New York > Onondaga County > Past and present of Syracuse and Onondaga County, New York : from prehistoric times to the beginning of 1908 > Part 49
USA > New York > Onondaga County > Syracuse > Past and present of Syracuse and Onondaga County, New York : from prehistoric times to the beginning of 1908 > Part 49
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In speaking of the frequent rattlesnakes Clark said : "It was no nucom- mon occurrence for these poisonous animals to insinuate themselves into the houses of the early settlers, and coil themselves snugly in the corners of the fireplaces, and beneath the beds, for the purpose of gathering warmth." Yet no one seems to have suffered.
General Danforth died in September, 1818. aged seventy-three, and his wife January 6, 1837, aged ninety. In a note on his death the Onondaga Register said he had often been known, in early days, to divide his last loaf with a neighbor. These lines were added of one
"Whose heart was generous, warm and kind; Whose lib'ral hand oft clothed and fed The naked, hungry, halt and blind, Or saints or savages might find And share with Danforth half his bread.
He's gone, and we no more behold
That bounteous hand stretched forth to give.
That hand is stiff -- that heart is cold;
So died our patriot sires of old, Such is the fate of all who live."
He has had many eulogies, and Henry C. Van Schaak, said: "He aided more than any one other man in laying the foundation and preparing the way for our present prosperity."
The early Masonie lodge has been noticed. It is also said that a chapter of Royal Arch Masons was founded in 1807, by Dr. Gordon Needham. then master of the lodge. Mr. John T. Roberts does not mention this in his very interesting history of this early lodge. The first site he said was "exactly midway between the Adams and the Tyler hotels." He adds: "During the years of the lodge's occupancy of Masonie hall, the annual dinner on the festival of St. John was held in quite regular alternation at Tyler's and Adams's, and the procession back and forth in full regalia was one of the Valley's great events of the year."
In his "Evolution of Onondaga," Mr. Roberts imagines a gathering of pioneers at Mrs. Danforth's, ten years after her coming. "Comfort Tyler
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stands foremost among them, a handsome young fellow, well educated, " ete. "Young Thaddr -. M. Wood is here also, paying attention to Maj. Danforth's daughter Patty. He was the first lawyer in the county, a man of strong expression and strong aversion." "George Hall. his partner in business,
is more affable in manner, not so rich in land but more easy as to
credit. Gideon Seeley, George Olinsted, George Kibbe, Reuben Patterson, John Adams, the tavern keeper, William Needham, and "Gordon Needham, just from college with the first medical diploma shown in the county." Others follow who were of early note.
"Cornelius Longstreet is introduced all round as a new eomer. That highly dressed young man with fine manners is just from Albany. . Ilis name is Jasper Hopper. Another young man of fine address is introduced as Joshua Forman, recently arrived on a tour of inspection. . That lit- tle man with very bright eyes and rapid speech is James Geddes, already noted as an engineer. You would hardly recognize him in his dress-up suit, having seen him so often at his work. . . . A fine looking military man drives up with his horse, 'Pomp,' and salutes the major. It is General John Ellis from Onondaga Hill, and he brings with him his young friend Oliver Strong, the schoolmaster. . That little Dutchman, a good talker and laugher, is Nicholas Mickel, from Elbridge, who is looking for a different loca- tion. . . . There was that brightest of all the young pioneers, Moses De Witt, high born and splendidly educated, a gentleman every ineh," and a host more undescribed.
In 1894 an old inhabitant gave some account of slaves in Onondaga. "There were lots of them. There was old Thad Wood, the lawyer; he had a slave maid in his family. 'Squire Sabine had a man slave. Lots of the old settlers had them. They used them well, too, and sent them to school. Why, there was old 'Squire Sabine's slave, he used to carry a watch and dress like a lord. Judge Forman had a slave, and when she went away he made pro- vision for her support. Then his son wanted to go, too, and he left the old negress 50 acres of land during her life."
Lewis H. Redfield came to Onondaga Valley in 1814. issuing the Onondaga Register September 17, removing it to Syracuse in 1829. He said the hollow "was a good place for conducting a polite newspaper." the people being of high eulture. Willis Gaylord Clark worked for him, and Thurlow Weed for a little time. Ile would not employ Horace Greeley, thinking him lazy. At the valley he replaced the wooden Ramage press with the first iron press used here. He also introduced the composition roller in place of the inking balls. For a time he was post master at the valley. His daughter, Mrs. Margaret Tredwell Smith, gave, in 1894, this account of La Fayette's visit to the valley :
"The magnates of the county were present-a very remarkable company gathered-old pioneers, Revolutionary soldiers and of the war of 1812, 'walk- ing in picturesque twos and threes.' in procession, under the bowery shade of evergreen arches erected in his honor, over the broad main street of the Hol- low. A multitude greeted him at Syraeuse, where a dinner was given in his
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honor, at the hotel on the site of the present Empire house. The Hollow had its special tradition of the occasion-as the procession nassed along the street, it was arrested and stopped when it came in front of Mr. Redfield's house, and Mrs. Redfield presented a bouquet of flowers, which the General gracefully accepted."
Thurlow Weed came to Onondaga from Cortland, and he helped his father ent cord wood at Salt Point in 1809. In 1810 he worked on Joshua Forman's farm, and afterward at Mickles' furnace, where he tempered sand for casting eannon balls. He was living near there when he caught his salmon in the ereek. He sold it to Judge Forman for a silver dollar, the first he ever had. His father Joel Weed, lived at the head of the einder road and worked in the furnace. He was in the habit of going to Mr. Redfield's office where Thurlow afterward worked for a time. In 1811 the latter entered the office of the Lynx, where he learned his trade, afterward becoming one of the most in- fluential journalists of the state, "the power behind the throne."
In speaking of Mickles' furnace, Richard R. Slocum said: "The furnace fires were not allowed to die down for six months or more, but were banked with religious serapulousness every Saturday night. The following inser- tion is found in the Onondaga Register, published 1817, by Lewis H. Redfield :
"TO SABBATH BREAKERS.
The subscriber respectfully informs the above mentioned class of people that they will confer a favor on him by omitting to visit his works on that day.
Onondaga Furnace."
N. MICKLES.
Onondaga Hill was no longer the county seat in 1836, but some of the buildings had not been removed, and there were fine residences there. It had an Episcopal and a Presbyterian church, four stores, two taverns, and from forty to fifty dwellings. It is now a very quiet place.
Onondaga Hollow (now Onondaga Valley) had then a Presbyterian and a Methodist church, as it has still. There was the academy, a store, three tav- erns, a grist and saw mill, and about sixty dwellings. In 1886 it had the academy and churches, two hotels, two grist mills, a eider mill, blacksmith shop, fruit drying establishment, wagon shop, and shoe shop.
South Onondaga is about ten miles south of Syracuse. In 1836 Oliver Jones kept the hotel; A. H. Bradley and Elijah Lawrence were merchants ; Elijah Welch was the miller, and Orlando Fuller the maker of cloth; Sto- phen Betts the tanner : Amasa Chapman made bricks; Allen Rice and Stephen Field were blacksmiths: Himas Wood, tailor; Samuel Kingsley, physician ; Olmsted Quick. shoemaker; Amasa Chapman, Jr., mason; Ira Rue, wagon shop; L. Hodgkins and Volney King, cabinet makers; Abner Chapman, justice and school teacher; Alanson West, constable; E. L. North, M. E. preacher.
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There were thirty-five dwellings and a Presbyterian church. Fifty years later (1886) the place had a Methodist church, two general stores, hotel, two grist mills, wagon shop, two blacksmiths, three carpenters, four masons, two physicians.
Navarino, fourteen miles from Syracuse, had this record in 1836: Free- man North, hotel; Andrew Cummings, merchant ; Morris Wells, tailor; Jehiel Hall & Son, foundry; Clark Bentley, shoemaker; William Weed, gunsmith ; George Andrews, blacksmith; George Enney, harness shop; Bradley Curtis, broom factory ; A. B. Edmonds, physician. In 1886 the place had a Methodist church, two general stores. two carpenters, a blacksmith shop, millinery store, dressmaker, two paint shops, shoe shop, broom factory, wagon shop, saw and cider mill, apiary, and a physician.
Onondaga Castle was the name of a post office just short of the Indian reservation line, now supplied by rural delivery. Twenty years ago over four hundred Indians and about seventy whites received their mail there. There is a hotel and blacksmith shop there, and at one time a flourishing store. Quite a street of houses runs along the north line of the reservation.
East Onondaga in 1886 contained two stores, hotel. wagon shop, and blacksmith shop. There are two hotels, and the place is almost a part of Syracuse. 1
In 1886 Danforth was an incorporated village, a suburb of Syracuse, and then had twelve hundred inhabitants.
Brighton was then South Syracuse post office, and was described as "a hamlet two miles south of Syracuse, containing a hotel, store, and about halt a dozen buildings." Of course these two places do not now belong to Onon- daga, and it cannot be long before more of its territory will be added to the city. so rapid is its growth to the southward.
CHAPTER XLVII.
TOWN OF OTISCO.
Otiseo has an Indian name, apparently referring to waters dried up or gone away. It was formed March 21, 1806, from parts of Pompey, Marcellus and Tully, and is a picturesque town, full of lofty hills and lovely valleys. Bear mountain, west of Cardiff, has its name from that animal, once frequent there. The town eoutains twenty-three military lots, and the part taken from Marcellus was once called the I of that town, as it was a pro- jection lying south of the original Onondaga reservation. Oliver Tuttle. with his son Daniel, in 1798 settled on Lot 97. near the head of Otisco lake. They came from Cineinnatus, and on the south there was then no house nearer
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PAST AND PRESENT OF ONONDAGA COUNTY
than Homer. The father was taken sick, and they returned to Cincinnatus, remaining there four years. When they came back they found several families. Oliver Tuttle built the first frame house in 1804.
Clark calls Chauncey Rust the first settler, as he brought his family there from La Fayette in April, 1801. That year and the next many came, mostly from New England. Among these were the Merriman, Cowles, Gaylord, French, Parsons, Thayer, Clark, Nichols and Judd families, etc. Lucy Cowles taught the first school in a log house in 1804. The first grist mill was built by Charles Merriman in 1806, and Daniel Bennett was the first merchant, two stores usually sufficing for the whole town, there being no large villages. The first postmaster was Dr. Luther French, at Otisco Center in 1814. A few years since the town had four post offices, Otiseo Center, Amber, Zealand and Otiseo Valley.
Jesse Swan settled near Otiseo village in 1809, opening a store and tavern, about a mile south of the center. Dr. Jonathan S. Judd began practice in Otisco in 1806. There were once a woolen and three saw mills on the small stream east of the center, and a large business was done there in making fanning mills. In 1855 Otisco held second place in the county in the yield of maple sugar and apples, and third in spring wheat, being strietly an agricul- tural town. It raises men. and many born here have been elergymen. physi- cians, authors and scientists. It did its part in the war for the Union, and in that of 1812.
Wyllis Gaylord, an early writer of note, came to this town in 1803, when but nine years old. He was ingenious in mechanism, as well as able in writ- ing. Willis and Lewis Gaylord Clark were born in Otiseo in 1810. They had wonderful memories and fine literary tastes, and were famous men in their day. Dr. W. W. Munson and S. N. Cowles are well known among botanists.
The first religious meeting was at Chauncey Rust's house in 1801, and these were steadily maintained. Rev. Thomas Robbins wrote, August 11, 1802: "Rode to the ell of this town, and preached. The first sermon ever preached in the place. There is now a flourishing settlement, where the first family went in April of last year." May 9, 1803, the "Washington Religious Society of Otisco" was organized as a Congregational church. The first building was on the Bardwell farm, a little north of Otiseo Center. A large church was built in 1816 in the center of the village. In 1805 Rev. George Colton became the first minister, succeeded in 1807 by Rev. William J. Wil- cox, who remained till March 15, 1821. The present church was built in 1892.
St. Patrick's church was built in 1870 at Otisco Center, under Rev. F. T. Purcell of Skaneateles. December 25, 1886, it was burned, and rebuilt in
. 1889.
About 1864 the Reformed Methodist society was organized, and now has a church a mile south of Otiseo Center. The Amber Religious society was formed August 18, 1824, and a union church was built, but was used only by the Methodists. It overlooked the lake, and in 1866 the hill was lowered and
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PAST AND PRESENT OF ONONDAGA COUNTY.
the church rebuilt. The Maple Grove Methodist Episcopal church was in- corporated February 27, 1850, when a church was ereeted. This was rebuilt in 1876.
The shores of Otisco lake have become a popular resort for cottagers and campers, the fishing being good and scenery fine.
Alphous Boutelle came to Otiseo Valley at an early day, followed by Alvah Munson. Levi Riee and Oren T. Frisbie. Near Amber were Ladowick Hotch- kiss, Squire Willard and Seneca C. Hemenway. At Amber was Killian Van Rensselaer, an ardent Free Mason. Alanson Adams was a merchant there for fifty years.
Daniel and Ichabod Ross lived near Otiseo Center. They "were brothers, and it is a curious fact that they lived in separate houses on their undivided farm, that no difference ever arose between them. If one started to plow a field the other kept out."
One old story was "of an Indian family, said to have lived somewhere in the vieinity of the foot of Otiseo lake, the paternal of which and all of his children were thiekly covered with a coating of hair, like that of a bear. The family was supposed to be possessed of an evil spirit and was shunned by all other Indians. This tradition still has firm believers among the Onon- daga Indians, who once had a trail to the lake, whither they went to hunt and fish."
The editor has not heard this story among them, though it resembles some bear stories. They did go there to fish, as late as sixty years ago.
In 1863 a dam was built across the foot of the lake, and it became a feeder for the canal. This resulted in the overflow of some wooded lands, and heavy drafts on the water in the summer, but the area of the lake was much increased. A small steamboat now plies on its waters.
Nearly sixty years ago it was said of Otiseo that "Not a pauper or lawyer is there in town, nor a man unable or unwilling to pay his school bills. Gos- pel and schools are well supported, hard times are unknown. It is said a hundred dollars could not be lent in this town. None are very rich, and none are very poor." In that early time the writer has seen a child come into a store in Otisco Center with an egg to buy a sheet of paper. as a matter of course, and it seemed the eustom.
The birth of the Clark brothers has been placed in 1808 and 1811. but was in 1810 according to the best authorities. In his account of Onondaga Academy, written in 1897. Mr. Richard R. Slocum vouches for the following story, not before published :
"Their father. Capt. Eliakim Clark. a soldier of the Revolution, was a very pious Presbyterian of the Connecticut stripe, and the boys were required to attend church every Sabbath, and all the services of the day. One Sabbath morning they all prepared for church and left the house together for a walk. The boys went to the horse barn, saying to the father, 'We will soon overtake you.' The father traveled on for a while, but no boys were in sight, and he concluded to return for them. As he approached the barn he heard their
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PAST AND PRESENT OF ONONDAGA COUNTY
voices inside, and looking through a knot hole found they hade mnade a small box and, as they appeared to be very much interested in their work, he con- cluded to await development. He soon solved the problem. They had killed a rat and were preparing for a funeral.
"The rat was placed in the box, and one of the boys remarked to the other, 'You be the minister and I will be the mourner.' Upon this agree- ment one mounted the half-bushel measure and said, 'Let us sing the hymn 'Broad is the road that leads to death, and thousands walk together there.' After singing the following text was selected for the occasion : 'A rat is born of a rat, his days are few and full of trouble.' After a solumn warning to all rats to forsake their wicked ways, the services were concluded by singing that good old Methodist hymn, 'Farewell, vain world, I'm going home.' give this little episode to show the makeup of the boys. It is needless to say the father and the boys were a little late that morning attending church ser- viee."
Both were favorites in the literary world, and on the early death of Willis a letter came to his brother from Washington Irving, who said. "Ile has left behind him writings which will make us love his memory and lament his loss."
In 1836 Otiseo Center had a post office, Presbyterian church, two stores. a tavern, tannery and fifteen dwellings. Ashbel Searle and Horatio Smith were physicians there. Fifty years later it had two stores, two churches. a physician, and the dwellings had nearly doubled.
Amber had a post office in 1836, a church, two stores, a tannery, tavern, Samuel Stearns' woolen factory, and ten or twelve dwellings. Franklin Bangs was the physician. In 1886 it had a church, tavern. two stores, black- smith shop, harness shop. wagon shop and steam sawmill. There were then but fifteen dwellings.
The date of the organization of the first religions society by Rev. Hugh Wallace has been assigned to 1803. 1804, and 1808 in different histories. The last is clearly erroneous, and the first most probable. Clark places it in 1804. One writer gives Michael Johnston the credit of opening the first store in 1808. The first white child born in the town was Timothy Rust, March 22, 1802. The first death was just after the settlement, Nathaniel Dada, Jr., being killed by the fall of a tree, July 19, 1801.
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PAST AND PRESENT OF ONONDAGA COUNTY
CHAPTER XLVIII.
TOWN OF POMPEY.
Pompey had its name from the great Roman general, but is not as great as it was, retaining but sixty-four of its one hundred military lots, thirty-six of these now being in Otisco and La Fayette. In 1794 the civil town of Pompey included Pompey. Fabius. Tully. Preble and Scott, with parts of Spat- ford, Otisco, La Fayette, Onondaga, Truxton and Cuyler. The topographical features have been described. Carpenter's pond is the only natural body of water, and Pratt's Falls, one hundred and thirty-seven feet high. are well worth seeing. The botanist Pursh has left an account of his visit in 1807. He wondered where the falls could be in the level fields around, "but when I came to the mill I was very agreeably surprised, by seeing the water fall down a precipice nearly perpendiculare to the depth of above 300 feet in a deep gloomy hollow all at onee; I was anxious of getting down to the bottom. which I with some difficulty dit, and indeed a more romantiek scene I never be- held." He more than doubled the height.
From Pompey Hill one can look into seven counties, and sufferers from hay fever find relief there. The town was the early home of the Onondagas. and their remains are abundant, as they lived here over a century.
Pompey has sent out many notable men and women, not exactly be- cause it is a good place to go from. but from native ability, high culture, and early training. It is said a Dutch blacksmith in Lysander got tired of hearing these emigrants tell of the superiority of Pompey work. At last he broke forth: "It's all Pompey! Pompey! I believe you folks dat come from Pompey, you tinks you go to Pompey ven you die!" They would certainly go up higher. When a Pompey man wanted Luther Marsh reap- pointed high sheriff. De Witt Clinton replied: "Squire Birdseye. I wish you to understand that the good people on Pompey Hill cannot have ALL the of- fices in the state of New York." So it has been said: "For years this vil- lage was a power in the politics of the county and the state."
The first settlement in the present town was by Ebenezer Butler in 1788-9. He bought Lot 65 in 1791, built a log house and brought his family there. It is said he gave a soldier "a horse, saddle and bridle" for this lot. His father. Ebenezer Butler, came at that time. and died in 1829. Both served in the Revolution. The son bought Lot 64, building the first frame house near there in 1797. On that spot he kept tavern for some years, be- ginning in 1792. and removed to Manlius in 1802. and thence to Ohio, where he died in 1829. He was chosen supervisor in 1796. His brother Jesse came the same year with Jacob Hoar. Sally. daughter of Jacob Hoar was the first white child born in the town, and Orange, son of Jesse Butler, the first male child. Sweet makes Amy Wilcox the first in 1791, but this was in the present town of La Fayette. The Olcotts, Holbrooks, Hibbards, Hinsdales,
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PAST AND PRESENT OF ONONDAGA COUNTY
Allens, Burrs, Messingers, Westerns and Cooks closely followed, so that there were several neighborhood settlements formed 1793-94. Flour and other things at first were brought from Whitestown, and stump mortars were used for pounding corn.
Some early enactments were like those of other towns. In 1795 it was voted that "hogs be free commoners," and that "five dollars be paid for the scalp of any full grown wolf." The first lawyer was Samuel M. Hopkins, who soon went away. Daniel Wood was a lawyer at Pompey Hill in 1800, and Victory Birdseye in 1807, Daniel Gott coming afterward. Dr. Walter Colton was the first to permanently practice medicine in the village. Dr. Samuel Beach was a physician in 1798, and Dr. Josiah Colton settled two miles east of Pompey Hill in 1801. Clark says the first school teacher was Mr. J. Gould, but Luey Jerome taught in Fabius before her marriage to James Geddes in 1799, and some have thought she did in Pompey. Clark is probably right.
Onondaga's Centennial said : "The first building erected for school purposes was a frame structure built in 1796 (1798) in the forks of the road on the village green; in its rear was the first primitive graveyard. The school house was afterwards moved farther north, and school was continued in it until the ereetion of the academy building."
Clark adds that "The first person who taught any thing beyond the rudiments of an English education, was Mr. James Robinson, who taught the classics and higher English, at the Hill, in 1805, 1806, 1807." This prepared the way for the Pompey academy. some action on which was taken in 1800. In a petition to the Regents of the University eighteen trustees were named for the proposed Franklin Academy. The Board of Supervisors approved of this in October, 1800, and the Regents next year granted the charter, condi- tional on the erection of a suitable building. A contraet was made July 20. 1807, but work seems to have commenced in 1803. and the building was finish- ed in 1810. A full charter was obtained March 11, 1811, and Henry Sey- mour became first president. The building was of wood. two stories high. and forty by fifty feet in extent. A new building was finished and opened in 1835. Many notable people were taught there.
The valley near Onativia was known as Sherman Hollow, from James Sherman, who eame there in 1793. Solomon Owen eame the same year, and they built saw and grist mills between 1795 and 1795. Reuben Bryan, Amasa Wright, Samuel Hyatt. James Pierce and Amaziah Branch came there in 1794. The latter was the first teacher there and at La Fayette village. In the north part of Sherman Hollow John Houghtaling, Comfort Rounds and Wil- liam Haskins were living in 1792.
Samuel Sherwood seems the first settler near Delphi, locating on Lot 84 in 1795. In 1800 Rufus Sheldon settled one and a half miles northwest of the village, and in 1798-99 Elijah Hill settled three miles north. Ensign Hill, James MeClure, Samuel Draper, Benjamin Coats, Elihu Barber and others followed. The place had been called Pompey Four Corners, but when a name was to be chosen for a post office, the Pompey Re-union says some one "de-
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