USA > New York > Onondaga County > Past and present of Syracuse and Onondaga County, New York : from prehistoric times to the beginning of 1908 > Part 53
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 53
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Spafford made a good record in the war of 1812, and in that for the Union, developing a class of hardy men. Captain Asahel Roundy was noted in this way. physically and mentally. IIe eame on horseback from Vermont in 1807, and many stories are told of him. A man who had settled at Spafford Landing broke his leg. Most people are breathless who elimb the hill without a burden. Captain Roundy took the man on his back, and carried him up the steep aseent more than a mile away. lIe was indeed a Green Mountain boy. - Ile took a hand at law occasionally, both in pleading and executing it, varied by deciding as a judge. One noted decision of his was against all evidence, but he knew the real culprit, who was himself. Right in deciding he may have been right in aeting.
Daniel Burroughs, the first merchant in Borodino, sold goods in a log house, and was succeeded by Horace and Stephen Child. Among later mer- chants were William W. Legg, Thomas Anderson and Zachariah Berry. The first tavern there was built by Isaae Ryder, and the second by Lewis Davis. The first physician was Dr. J. Whiting. At one time the village had three stores, three taverns and three blacksmith shops. Also two churches. Strange as it may seem the town has no record of early distilleries, but there was one convenient across the lake, and reached by the "Jug Handle Path" from Apple tree point.
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A Freewill Baptist church was organized in 1816, and a plain church was built a little east of Spafford Corners. About 1835 most of the members be- came Mormons and went west. Their chapel was moved to the corners and became a dwelling. About 1836 another Baptist society was formed there, building a church in 1839. The society became extinct, and the chapel became a store in 1867. The present Methodist church there was built as a Union church in 1840, by Methodists, Universalists, and the remaining Freewill Baptists. A Methodist society was formed in 1809 at Borodino, where the first church stood on the site of the town hall. A Methodist society was also organized at Cold Brook before 1817, where a church was built in 1852. Another Methodist ehnrch is east of Spafford creek.
The shores of Skaneateles lake have proved ideal for summer cottages. and with these the old names of localities have often changed. Five Mile point was often ealled Factory point, from Miner's Wheelhead factory there. It is now Edgewater. Pork point, not far from Borodino Landing, retains its name. Some say that a cargo of pork was shipwrecked there, others that the first barrel of pork in Spafford was there unloaded. Hardscrabble presents fine sites for three eoftages, as yet unoccupied. Ten Mile point is attractive for large pienies. Hall's Landing is pleasant and picturesque. Then comes a long succession of cottages. Staghorn is one of the best-known points on the lake, and then eomes Spafford Landing, onee Randall's point, with boarding houses and cottages, and easy of access from many places, with good fishing nearby, picturesque views on every hand.
Among the local stories is that of Abel Amadown, who one day took a drop too much and went down literally. A man tried to raise him and failed. Then he asked his name and had the reply, "Amadown." As this came every time he got angry and said: "Are you down? Of course you are, and if you won't get up, stay down." He got up with help. The name is now Amidon.
Elias Davis. a Revolutionary sollier, settled in Skaneateles in 1803, and eame thence in a boat in 1806. He died in Spafford in 1851, aged eighty-eight. He killed a great hear one winter, between the corners and the lake, one of the last in the town.
Captain Roundy has been mentioned as sometimes taking a hand in legal matters. Hon. Daniel Gott, a once noted lawyer, said he was one of the strongest advocates before a jury of any man he knew. The picturesque Bnektail road perpetuates his political faith, and there are good stories of how he managed things. He was captain of a militia company in 1812, which was called to Sackett's Harbor. ITis descendants may have inherited literary tastes from their mother, the school teacher.
Daniel Wallace, son of the pioneer of 1807, gave all his sons names of noted inen, beginning with Napoleon Bonaparte and ending with Santa Anna. The latter was the first Spafford volunteer April 28, 1861. The name of Boro- dino may have come from these historie tastes, for Daniel lived and died there, owning over four hundred aeres there at one time.
Daniel Burroughs, before mentioned, once swam from Maudana to Pork point on a wager, a distance of three miles. Others have occasionally erossed
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the lake in this way, but at narrower parts. In early days deer often did this. Before the lake was raised it was sometimes possible to ride around it on horseback, on the beach. as was done by one early resident.
In early times, too, there was a fancy for giving names at the raising of any conspicuous building. In this way, a store built by Joseph R. Berry, in 1831, was called the "Proud Farmer's Ruin." He was expected to spend money for costly things, not within the reach of poorer neighbors.
The first child born in the town was Alvah Palmer, and the first mar- riage was that of Elisha Freeman and Phoebe Smith. The first death was that of Benjamin Chatlee, in August, 1801.
In 1836 Borodino had a church, two taverns, two stores, and about twenty dwellings. In 1886 it had a church. two general stores, two blacksmith shops, two shoe shops, hardware store, wagon shop, harness shop, spring bed fac- tory, meat market and hotel.
At the same time Spafford (originally Spafford Corners) had three general stores, hotel, wagon shop, two blacksmith shops, a shoe shop and church. One can rest there "far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife," and look on forest, lake and hill.
Tully limestone has been quarried in the town to some extent, and on the higher hills there have been opened quarries of paving stone, but the cost of transportation was too high for profitable work.
CHAPTER LII.
TOWN OF TULLY.
Marcus Tullius Cicero had double honor in the military tract, Tully being one of the original towns, suffering greatly from the spoilers' hands, so that it retains but twenty-six of the one hundred original lots. It became a civil town April 4, 1803, and Phineas Howell was elected first supervisor, and Amos Skeel town clerk, May 1. In March, 1806, ten lots were taken off, and fifty lots April 8, 1808. In April, 1811, fourteen more were set off, leaving little more than a fourth of the original area. Several lakes are included in this, often mentioned by early travelers, and not without Indian legends.
Clark makes David Owen the first settler, locating on the site of Tully village in 1795. F. H. Chase's list of Revolutionary soldiers, places Michael Christian on Lot 18 in 1792, and this seems probable, as he had drawn his lot before that time. From him, and not from the worthy people there, the valley had the name of Christian Hollow. Owen was followed at once by James Cravatte, Timothy Walker, William Trowbridge and Phineas Hender- son. Christian had promised the latter one hundred acres of his claim if he would build a house and clear land. He came by way of the Tioughnioga river, walking thence with his wife and little daughter, early in 1796. He
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built a house, and in this Peter Henderson was born March 14, 1797, the first white child born in the town. The next year Mr. Henderson brought the first colony of becs known in the town, from New Jersey, though wild bees may have been near at hand.
Timothy Walker, in Tully village, built the first frame house in town, in 1797. Moses Nash, the first merchant, built the second. Eli Farr settled on the Tully flats in 1801, dying there in 1808. The oldest burial place is known by his name, but a son of Mr. Mattoson was the first to die, and was buried on Farr's land. Farr left ten children, and his widow had three more by her second husband. Before 1810 there came Jacob Johnson. Job L. Lewis, Nicholas Lewis, John Meeker, Milo Trowbridge, Amos Skeele and Peter Van Camp, mostly prominent men.
At Tully village Moses Nash opened the first store in 1803, succeeded by John Meeker in 1805. The latter had stores in many places. Nicholas Lewis opened a tavern in 1802, and was followed by Jacob Johnson in 1807. Miss Ruth Thorpe opened a school in Timothy Walker's barn in 1801, south of the present village, and in 1804 a log schoolhouse was erected in the village, each the first in its way in the town. A frame schoolhouse succeeded the one of logs in 1809, and when this was burned there came the "old red school-house." A better building followed in 1846-48.
The opening of the Hamilton and Skaneateles turnpike in 1806 stimulated business. Tully village grew. and Vesper and Tully Center had their begin- nings. In 1810 Peter Van Camp built the first grist and sawmills in town. at Tully Center on Onondaga creek, a great blessing to those who had to traverse horrible roads in going long distances to mill. The writer passed through Tully flats April 22, 1831, when but a year old, and remembers noth- ing of it, but his father made this record: "Got to Tully to sleep about 9. We were 3 hours going the last 3 1-2 miles. Roads bad." Of course they were. in the days of mud and corduroy.
Nicholas Howell was the first postmaster in 1815. Mail eame to Pompey HIill or Preble before that time. Timothy Walker built a grist mill at Tully village in 1818, on a stream tributary to one of the lakes. In 1874 it became a steam mill. There were three grist mills, five sawmills and two fulling mills in town in 1824, and one amusing comment of that year is that one going "from Tully to Hamilton, a distance of forty miles, could count twenty-six taverns, all doing a brisk business." The Tully and Syracuse Turnpike Com- pany boomed the town for awhile. It was incorporated in 1827, and rechar- tered in 1831. The Chenango and Salina Turnpike Company had been chartered in 1807, and the Onondaga and Cortland Company in 1824, but really good roads had not yet eome.
William Clark was the first postmaster in Vesper in 1827, and it was once a thriving place, with a store, tavern, etc., containing four grist mills, two carding machines, and a woolen mill in 1845. Its Vesper star has set, and little business remains.
A post office was established at Tully Valley, near the La Fayette line, in 1836, but that hamlet is now inactive. Its first postmaster was George Salis-
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bury. The opening of the Syracuse & Binghampton railroad in 1854 was dis- astrous to the smaller places, but Tully village became a shipping point, and has now many summer residents, mostly from Syracuse. It is an important place for dairy products. It was incorporated in 1875, and John Outt was chosen first president January 26. 1876. William L. Earle has been its most stirring business man. A good deal of manufacturing is done here, and there are good hotels and boarding houses. The Tully Times was started December 29, 1881, by Raymond Wright. as an advertising sheet. It became a weekly paper, and then passed into the hands of Richard R. Davis, who made it a successful journal. Water works and electric lights came in 1896.
There are Indian stories connected with the Fully lakes, classed as Big or Tully. Green, Crooked, Jerry's and Mirror lakes, but the following may be taken with some grains of allowance, about "Big Lake, which was called by the Indians 'Sacred Waters' and held in great veneration by them. Tradi- tion says that the Indians would never allow a fish to be taken from its crystal depths. nor a canoe to float upon its glassy surface, yet they considered an accidental drowning therein to be an especial desire of the Great Spirit." W. W. Newman tells nearly the same story of a prehistoric lake at South Onon- daga.
Occasional camping parties led to the formation of the Tully Lake Park Association, incorporated May 7, 1888, M. J. French, of Syracuse, president. A tract of sixty-four aeres was purchased, and a park was laid ont. The first cottage was built in 1889, and over fifty later. Assembly Park was opened on the east shore in 1892. and annual sessions are held there of an edu- cational nature.
The Solvay Process Company, in boring deep wells in 1888, struck a bed of rock salt in the Tully valley, about fifty feet thick. Then six hundred aeres of land were purchased and many wells were sunk, the depth varying from twelve hundred to fifteen hundred feet. By flooding these wells a saturated solution of salt is obtained. and conveyed in a twelve inch main to Solvay, eighteen miles away. A pipe line company was formed to do this in 1889. The land is now used for supplying all kinds of produce to that village.
The First Baptist church of Tully was formed at Uriel Smith's. February 28. 1816. and a church was built in Tully Center, and dedicated February 11, 1825. In 1848 some members withdrew to form a society in Vesper, on which the church was removed to Tully village and rebuilt. The first pastor was Rev. Squire Abbott, in 1818. The society at Vesper was organized in December. 1848. and a church was dedicated January 18, 1849.
In 1820 the Methodists held meetings in Vesper, and their church was in- corporated July 7, 1840. erecting a chapel the same year. Near Tully village a society was organized in 1828. under Rev. Mr. Sayers. Ile was followed by Rev. Mr. Puffer, known as "old chapter and verse," from his frequent quotations. The present society was formed from this in 1832. and built its first church in 1834, rebuilt in 1862, again in 1877, and again in 1894.
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May 9, 1840, the Disciples of Christ formed a society at Hamilton A. Chase's house, a mile east of Tully village. Their church was built in the village in 1845. Rev. J. M. Bartlett being the first pastor.
Roman Catholic services had been occasionally held for nearly a score of years, when St. Leo's church was organized by Rev. Daniel Doody, July, 1891. The church was dedicated in Tully village, July 25, 1893. The Tully Union School was founded in 1893. Adelbert Butler, president, and placed under the Regents of the University in 1894.
While there were scalp bounties, bears, wolves and wild cats found a refuge here for many years. Early modes of conveyance were rude. Drays were made of crotches of trees with boards pinned across, on which ten bushels of wheat or corn were considered a large load. These went to tuill twenty or thirty miles away, and were drawn by oxen. Mills nearer home were a boon indeed.
,Some of the lakes are connected by winding streams through swampy lands. and it was usual to make one of the lakes in Preble the head of eanoe navigation in colonial days. The lakes abound in fish, and their shores are rich in rare bog plants. The soil is generally good and well tilled.
A Young People's Christian Association was organized here in 1877, and the same year Morning Star Lodge of Good Templars was instituted. There are several well kept cemeteries, with graves of early date.
Clark said : "The Rev. Mr. Riddle, a Presbyterian missionary from New England, was the first elergyman who officiated in this town. . . Ile organized a Presbyterian society in 1804. It was organized anew under the Rev. Mr. Parsons. This society was kept up till about 1830. when it was discontinued, so that there is no society of that denomination in town." The first marriage was that of Timothy Walker and Esther Trowbridge.
Clark also mentions, about three miles west of Tully village. "an alnost perpendicular fall, of about ninety feet, with only one break, which in high water presents a very beautiful and picturesque appearance." The town gives its name to the Tully limestone, in which so many beautiful waterfalls oceur. They may be found in every ravine.
In 1836 Tully village had two churches, two taverns, three general stores and thirty dwellings. In 1886 there were three churches, four physicians. two sawmills. two hardware stores, two general stores, two groceries, two drug stores, newspaper, coal yard, hotel, billiard room, eabinet shop, wagon and blacksmith shops, meat market, cheese factory, milliners, etc.
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CHAPTER LIIL.
TOWN OF VAN BUREN.
Van Buren was set off from Camillus March 26, 1829. Two years before Clay had been called after the great Whig statesman; the Democrats now got even by calling this new town after Martin Van Buren, then governor of New York. It includes thirty-six of the original military lots, but as some bordered Seneva river they were irregular in size. Most of the rectangu- lar lots averaged about six hundred and twenty acres, but of the river Lots No. 9 contained about six hundred and sixty-three acres, and No. 17 about seven hundred and six; No. 43 had about five hundred and thirty-four, and No. 7 less than five hundred aeres, that being the amount to which each sol- dier was entitled. In such cases the "'State's hundred" was affeeted. Lot 15 was given to Pompey Academy by the state in 1813, but that school found 'little timber left on it. But one soldier. James Cunningham, ever lived on the lot he drew in this town. From 1791 to 1800 Van Buren lots sold at from sixty to eighty eents per acre. In 1795 John MeHarrie agreed to give seventy-five cents an acre for land now occupied by the south part of Bald- winsville.
The Seneca river was a highway, and squatters here and there ocenpied its banks for a time, who have left no record beyond the burnt earth which marks their homes. In some cases trappers did the same in more secluded situations. One such was found on the site of Warner in 1791. John Dunn came in 1791. on Lot 12, staying for several years. When his wife died he went away, having no land title. The first permanent settler was John Wilson. an Irishman, who settled on Lot 38 in 1792, leaving several children at his death. John MeHarrie was the first permanent settler in the north part of the town, on Lot 7, now mostly in Baldwinsville. The falls in the river there were ealled MeHarrie's Rifts from him, and old maps show Macksville on tlie southern bank. He came probably in 1792, possibly later. and died there November 26, 1807. aged fifty-five years. His grave, with others. he- eame the nueleus of Riverside Cemetery.
David Allen settled on the same lot in 1793, and his eabin was probably in the western part of the present cemetery. He may have died or removed before 1807. David Haynes came in 1795. Ile settled on Lot 12, and got a deed of one hundred and fifty acres of this in 1793. After his arrival he mar- ried Martha Wilson, and their daughter, born in 1799, was the first white child born in the town. They have still descendants there. Ebenezer Spen- eer, John Wigent. William Lakin, John Tappen and Samuel Marvin came soon after, and all but the first of these have resident descendants. The Taber family. 1800, was prominent in early days.
Phineas Barns, Jr., commenced the settlement of lonia in 1803. and his frame house of 1908 seems the first in the town. Not far off Amos and Ezra Warner settled in 1803. Eben Hart came the same year, and was buried at
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Sorrel Hill in 1842. Moses Rogers settled on Lot 19 in 1804. and Jonathan Molby bought part of Lot 12 in 1804. The same year Joel Foster bought part of Lot 25. Ebenezer Wells came about 1806, on Lot 7, and left a family of note. The same may be said of Reuben Smith.
Seth Warner. with Henry, settled in 1807 just west of the village of War- ner. The Parishes were in the southeast part of the town, Stephen Crego on Lot 23, and the Lindsays on Lot 29. All these were prominent families. Clark mentions Benjamin Bolton and Gilbert Totten as early residents at Jack's Rifts.
MeHarrie found occupation in taking boats up through the rifts. For some years a rude road terminated at this ford. at the east end of the present cemetery. About 1806 the State road was laid out, crossing the river as now. In 1807 Dr. Baldwin built a toll bridge which had a long existence. This and the canal, mills, etc .. drew settlers there. In the war of 1812 this became an important thoroughfare, and many of the settlers took part in the struggle. Stephen and Gabriel Tappen were officers, and others were prom- inent.
Before the erection of Van Buren, Linus Squire, within its limits, was supervisor of Camillus in 1818. and town clerk for several years. In the new town Gabriel Tappen was the first supervisor, and Abel Lyon first town clerk.
The old State road was to be laid out "From the court house in Onon- daga to Ox creek near where it empties into the Oswego river. and from thence to the village of Oswego." The road is not remarkably straight. and tradition has it that the surveyors went from cabin to cabin, so as to be sure of good meals. Another state road was ordered laid out in 1811, "from the bridge over Sodus Bay, on the most direct and eligible route, to the new bridge over the Seneca River, at Adams's Ferry. and from thenee, on the most direct and eligible route. to the house of Gideon Brockway in the town and county of Onondaga." The road was surveyed in 1813, running eastward toward Warner. It erossed Seneca river at Snow's bridge, which was on Lot- 9, and appears on old maps. It was a convenient place for a bridge, but was abandoned about ten years after the opening of the canal. Landings. on the river were frequent for shipping wood to Salina, and early roads led to these which were abandoned later. On the river bank, a little west of Dead creek, was a blacksmith shop where one road ended.
Ionia was once called Barns's Corners. and a tavern was kept there by Charles H. Toll, who was also justice of the peace there in 1814, as well as merchant. When Ionia became a post office in 1816 he was first postmaster. Dr. Jonathan S. Buell was there in 1315, the first physician in the town, and Theodore Popell came in 1818 as the first lawyer. The canal changed all this. The first schoolhouse in the town was built there, about 1813, and some years before John Tappen donated the first burial ground. a little west of the corners. The first teacher in the town is said to have been Augustus Robin- son, and the first library, the Alexandrian, was founded in Ionia in April. 1816.
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The first sawmill in town was built at Sand Springs, commonly called Bangall, in 1815. The stream flowing through the picturesque Whiskey Hol- low afforded a good water power for successive mills, and a hamlet grew up there.
At the southeast corner of Lot 22 was the hamlet of Van Buren Corners, where Charles Turner was the first postmaster in 1829, but there was no mer- cantile business. Saw mills were built in many places, and the first grist mill was near Bangall in 1817. The first on the south side at Baldwinsville, was on the Mercer and Clark site in 1827. Many mannfactories have been located there, of varied kinds.
Memphis was originally called Canton, and was once a flourishing place, succeeding to the business of Ionia soon after the opening of the canal. The first postmaster was Charles II. Toll in 1828. For a long time it was an important center for the grain and lumber business. Warner was less im- portant for a time, but has developed much in later years, partly through the establishment of cement works, which have had variable fortunes. The first postmaster there was John Skinner in 1837.
The village charter of 1848 included the south side or Macksville as part of Baldwinsville, of which it has long been the first ward. Some things re- lating to this appear under Lysander, especially the churches and schools. A fine school, however, was founded some time after 1830, known as Smith's Academy, and having a prosperous existence for twenty-five years. The mercantile business had an early hold there, and it is now a favorite residence part of the village, with two churches and a fine school building. The water works are just south of the village, apparently in an ancient river bed. . The well kept cemeteries are on that side also, and on that side will be the route of the barge canal, the dam and loeks costing five hundred thousand dollars.
The town rejoices in many local names, as Satan's Kingdom (the first word now dropped), Dead Creek once Camp Creek, Bangall, Beatall, Shacks- burg, Whiskey Hollow, Pleasant Valley, Pine ITill, Sorrel Hill, etc .. and there are many pleasant drives, making it an attractive region to visitors.
The churches at Baldwinsville have been mentioned. The second Baptist church of Camillus was formed near Warner in 1815, and a schoolhouse was used. With the growth of Memphis services were held there, the first one in the schoolhouse, February 25, 1826, and a society was organized March 30, 1830. Services were held alternately at these two places till a church was built in the winter of 1833-34. Presbyterians have been associated with societies in other towns. The Christian connection effected an organization in 1818. January 26, 1829, the "Congregation of People called Christians" elected trustees in the Ionia schoolhouse, and incorporation took place April 3. The first church edifice in the town was then built a little south of Ionia. It was afterward abandoned, and another was built at Memphis in 1868.
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