USA > New York > Cortland County > Pioneer history; or, Cortland County and the border wars of New York, from the earliest period to the present time > Part 15
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
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
230
SETTLEMENT AND ORGANIZATION.
the wolves also annoyed her, and she wondered how her husband could sleep so composedly in such a dismal place. The next morning they resumed their journey, and before noon came to the Otselic river, and were cheered with the sight of a house on the opposite side of the stream. This proved to be the residence of Wm. Tuthill, who kindly assisted them in crossing the river, and hospitably entertained them till the next day. This was at a farm subsequently owned by Ebenezer Critten- den. From this place they traveled west, till they came to the intersection. of the Salt road, when turning south along the latter path at a distance of four miles, they found the new home of his parents and family. His goods were subsequently brought in canoes from Ox- ford, down the Chenango river to the Forks, and then up this branch, then generally called the Onondaga, to their new location.
John Hunt purchased one hundred acres out of the south-west corner of lot No. 72, and moved his family there, being on the east side of the river, upon which land a large portion of Marathon village is located. Here his second son, Samuel M. Hunt, was born, October 30th, 1798, being the first child born in this town. When a young man, he chose the profession of medicine, and pursued that study with Dr. P. B. Brooks, now of Bing- hamton. He has practised medicine for thirty years, principally in Broome county ; but for three years past, he has been located in Marathon village, on the same premises formerly the residence of his parents. As early as the beginning of the present century, John Hunt was appointed by the Governor and Council a justice of the peace ; which office he held by successive
231
SETTLEMENT AND ORGANIZATION.
appointments to the period of his death, which occurred August 8, 1815, at the age of fifty years. His widow is still living, in the eighty-fifth year of her age. Their eldest daughter married Mr. Charles Richardson, of Freetown, and is now residing in the village of Mara- thon. Two other daughters are yet living. Four oth- ers of their children lived to be married and settled in this section of country, but are now deceased. Abram Brink with his family moved into the present bounds of this village in the spring of 1800, and located a few rods south of Mr. Hunt's, on the north part of lot No. 82, then State land. He came from the present town of Union, below Binghamton, on the Susquehanna river, bringing his family and furniture in a canoe. He was a son of Captain William Brink, a patriot of the Revo- lution, who had suffered much by the depredations of tories in the war at Wyoming, and subsequently lost a great amount of property by the great ice-flood in that valley. Abram Brink was a robust and industrious cit_ izen, and a valuable pioneer in clearing up the rugged wilderness, and preparing it for the residence of poster- ity. He kept the first tavern ever licensed in this town, from the commencement of the present century up to the time of his decease in 1824. Intoxicating liquors, as a beverage, were at that time considered as neces- sary as food in a tavern for the refreshment of guests. And although their deleterious effects were visible, not only in occasional carousals, but in the physical, moral and mental prostration of all who indulged in the pota- tion, yet the traffic was for a long period sustained by public sentiment and by the laws of the State. Mr. Brink was succeeded in the tavern by his only surviv-
232
SETTLEMENT AND ORGANIZATION.
ing son, Chester, for a few years, when, influenced by a strong aversion to dealing in intoxicating liquors, he relinquished the business and employed himself in culti- vating and improving the same farm, and some other adjoining lands, which he had acquired by purchase. A few years previous to the arrival of Mr. Brink here, a family by the name of Alford had settled about three- fourths of a mile south, on the State's lot, and some years after sold out to Daniel Huntly, a son of Deacon William Huntly, who resided for several years on the next farm south, now owned by Patrick Mallory, jr. A man by the name of Lee also lived a few years on the premises of Mr. Alford, having married his daughter. At the close of the last century, a traveler from the north, in passing down this valley, after leaving the ford-way at Chaplin's, would find the following residents on the east side of the river :- First, the family of Mr. Hunt ; 2d, Mr. Brink ; 3d, Mr. Alford and Mr. Lee ; next Dr. Hunt ; and lastly, Mr. Cole, in this county. South and near the county line on the east side of the river, was the residence of Gen. Samuel Coe, and directly opposite, on the west bank, was the house of Jonathan Cowdrey.
Soon after this period John S. Squires located on a farm south of Mr. Alford, but shortly after purchased a farm in the present town of Lapeer, and removed his family there into the forest at quite a distance from neighbors ; it being the same farm where his son, Dan C. Squires, now resides. About the year 1800, Ebene- zer Carley moved into this town from Unadilla, and located on the west side of the river where his son Alan- son now resides. He was commissioned Captain of
233
SETTLEMENT AND ORGANIZATION.
Militia company No. 1, organized in this section of the country. He had a large family of children. Ezekiel C. became a Captain of the militia, and also held the office of justice of the peace. Of this large family none are now living except two brothers, Alanson and Orin. Alanson Carley, Esq., has held the office of justice of the peace of this town for several years, has been a member of the Legislature, and has served as sheriff of this county for three years. Orin Carley is now resid- ing in Broome county. It would be a difficult task, at this remote period, to ascertain the precise date of the arrival of each family of the first settlers here, as far back as the close of the last century, or the regular order as to the priority of time, in every case, when they entered this valley. In February of the year 1805, Patrick Mallory, (who some years after became a Cap- tain of militia) a brother of Esq. Hunt's wife, arrived here with his wife and one child, and settled on a farm one mile north of Marathon village, now the residence of G. Pennoyer. He resided a few weeks with his sis- ter's family, while erecting a log house for the recep- tion of his own. This was early in the spring, when each family was actively employed in manufacturing ma- ple sugar. To secure a supply of such an important arti- cle for domestic use, it became necessary for him to tap his trees prior to finishing his house. The farm was situated mostly on the west side of the river, and his maple trees were on the flat, directly across the stream. Being busily engaged one day, assisted by his wife, in gathering and boiling sap, they were detained till ap- proaching darkness reminded them that it was time to start for home. They then entered their canoe, and had
11*
234
SETTLEMENT AND ORGANIZATION.
just reached the eastern shore and found the narrow path that led down the stream to Mr. Hunt's, when, to their surprise and consternation, their ears were saluted with the most clamorous, violent and discordant sounds,
directly across the river, they had ever heard.
The
woods were apparently full of monsters in pursuit of them, as their intended victims, and engaged in fiendish strife respecting the several shares of the spoils. How to escape from these monstrous cannibals was the sub- ject of anxious thought and hasty deliberation. Mrs. Mallory advised a rapid retreat; but her husband, being a very stout man, and wishing to retain his reputation for bravery, had a great aversion to "an attack in the rear." He therefore firmly grasped his axe, which he carried in his hand as an instrument of defence, and cautiously followed his wife, who alter- nately ran forward a few rods with speed, and then fell back again, urging him to make a more rapid progress. Notwithstanding the Captain's resolute intention, it is probable that the march was not very slow ; and they soon reached the house of their friends without suf- fering an attack, and gave the alarm of the approach- ing enemy. But they were soon relieved of their fears, though somewhat mortified to learn that these savage monsters were nothing more than a class of nocturnal birds called owls, incapable of injuring either man or beast.
235
SETTLEMENT AND ORGANIZATION.
In 1820 the population of Marathon was
807
1825
873
1830
66
895
1835
66
986
1840
66
1,063
1845
66
1,080
1850
66
1,149
1855
66
66
1,341
Thus it will be seen from the above table of census reports, that the town of Marathon has been steadily increasing in population, unlike the fluctuating or peri- odical changes referred to in some other towns of this county. The soil is generally productive, and when considered in connection with other facilities, natural and internal, we do not wonder at its progress.
We cheerfully give place to the following exceed- ingly interesting letter from Hon. Thurlow Weed. Mr. Weed resided in the western part of Cincinnatus-now Marathon :
" ALBANY, May 16th, 1858.
" H. C. GOODWIN, Esq .:
" MY DEAR SIR,-Your letter of 30th of April has re- mained quite too long unanswered, partly on account of severe illness in my family, but mainly because your kind and not unusual request embarasses me. Several applications similar in character, from book-makers, I have simply declined, because, first, there is nothing in my life entitled to historic attention ; and second, if any of its events were worthy such attention, it is neither proper or becoming in me to furnish the materi- als. So strong are my convictions of propriety in this
236
SETTLEMENT AND ORGANIZATION.
regard, that many years ago, after declining to furnish information relating to myself, asked for by the late Jabez D. Hammond, I declined also to read in manu script what he had prepared. The consequence of that refusal is, that I go down to posterity-if Hammond's Political History outlives the present generation-as a ' drummer in the war of 1812.' Now I am entitled to no such distinction ; for I never learned and never could learn a note or stave of music. I remember to have gone, when a boy, once or twice to an evening singing-school, but after unavailing attempts at qua- vers and semi-quavers, the teacher snatched the gamut from my hand and turned me out of the class. I will, however, in this instance, depart so far from my usual practice as will allow me to furnish you the dates you desire-though in doing so, I feel as I suppose one should feel in robbing a henroost. I will now give you some 'reminiscences' connected with my early residence in Cortland county.
"In the winter of 1808, my father,-an honest, hard- working man,-whose industry, subject to the various draw-backs of sickness and ill-luck, which the poor only can understand, enabled him to furnish but a scanty support for his family, in the hope of ' bettering his condi- tion,' removed to Cincinnatus, in Cortland county, where Nathan Weed, his youngest brother, resided. We were settled in a log house, upon a small clearing, about a mile from the Onondaga river-or for the purpose of fixing our locality-I had better say about that distance from 'Brink's tavern.' Cincinnatus then, whatever may be it present condition, was in its almost wilderness state. I have not been there in half a century, and am told that
237
SETTLEMENT AND ORGANIZATION.
there are no forests, or land-marks, or monuments, by which I could recall or identify the localities of which my mind retains familiar and distinct impressions. Inhab- itants were then 'few and far between.' Our nearest neighbor was Mr. Gridley, a farmer, rather 'well-to-do in the world,' who would work hard through 'planting,' or 'hoeing,' or 'harvesting,' and then seek indemnity in a week or ten days' 'spree' on new, raw whiskey. The most fore-handed family in the neighborhood was that of Captain Carley, (one member of which, Alanson, then a boy of my own age, was, some years since, a respected member of the Legislature,) among whose luxuries, as I remember, was a young apple orchard, and the only ' bearing' orchard within a circuit of several miles.
"My first employment was in attendance upon an ashery. The process of extracting lye from ashes, and of boiling the lye into black salts, was common-place enough ; but when the melting down into potash came, all was bustle and excitement. This labor was succeeded, when the spring had advanced far enough, by the duties of the 'sap-bush.' This is a season to which the farmers' sons and daughters look forward with agreeable anticipations. In that employment, toil is more than literally sweetened. The occupation and its associations are healthful and beneficial. When your troughs are dug out (of bass-wood, for there were no buckets in those days) your trees tapped, your sap gathered, your wood cut, and your fires fed,-there is leisure either for reading or 'sparking.' And what youthful denizens of the sap-bush will ever forget, while ' sugaring-off,' their share in the transparent and de- licious streaks of candy congealed and cooled in snow !
238
SETTLEMENT AND ORGANIZATION.
"Many a farmer's son has found his best opportuni- ties for mental improvement in his intervals of leisure while 'tending sap-bush.' Such, at any rate, was my own experience. At night you had only to feed the kettles and keep up your fires-the sap having been gathered and the wood cut ' before dark.' During the day we would also lay in a good stock of 'fat pine, by the light of which, blazing brightly in front of the sugar-house, in the posture the serpent was condemned to assume as a penalty for tempting our great first grandmother, I have passed many and many a delight- ful night in reading. I remember in this way to have read a history of the French Revolution, and to have obtained from it a better and more enduring knowledge of its events and horrors, and of the actors in that great national tragedy, than I have received from all subse- quent readings. I remember also how happy I was in being able to borrow the book of a Mr. Keyes, after a two mile tramp through the snow, shoeless, my feet swaddled in remnants of a rag-carpet.
"Though but a boy, I was large, healthy, strong, not lazy, and therefore ambitious 'to keep up my row' in planting, hilling, and hoeing potatoes and corn. The principal employment of the farmers of Cincinnatus, fifty years ago, was in clearing their land. Cattle, dur- ing the winter, for the want of 'fodder,' were turned out to 'browse' in the 'slashings.' As the work of clear- ing the land was too heavy for men single-handed, chop- ping and logging 'bees' were modes resorted to for aggregating labor. These seasons of hard work were rendered exciting and festive by the indispensable gal- lon bottle of whiskey. There were 'bees' also for log
239
SETTLEMENT AND ORGANIZATION.
house raisings. After the loggings, and as the spring opened, came the burning of the log and brush-heaps, and the gathering of the ashes.
" But little wheat was grown there then, and that little was harvested with the sickle, the ground being too rough and stumpy for cradling.
"Our first acquisition in the way of 'live stock' was a rooster and four hens ; and I remember with what a gush of gladness I was awakened at break of day the next morning by the loud, defiant voice of Chanticleer ; and when, several days afterwards, I found a real hen's nest in a brush-heap, with eggs in it, I cackled almost as boisterously as the feathered mother whom I had sur- prised in the feat of parturition.
"The settlers employed in clearing and 'bettering' their land, raised just enough to live on 'from hand to mouth.' Their principal, and indeed only reliance for the purchase of necessaries from 'the store,' was upon their 'black salts.' For these the merchants always paid 'the highest price in cash or goods.'
"I remember the stir which a 'new store,' established in Lisle, (some seven or eight miles down the river,) by the Rathbones from Oxford, created in our neighbor- hood. It was 'all the talk' for several weeks, and until a party of house-wives, by clubbing with their products, fitted out an expedition. Vehicles and horses were scarce, but it was finally arranged ; A, furnishing a wagon, B, a horse, C, a mare, and D, a boy to drive. Six matrons, with a commodity of black salts, tow cloth, flax, and maple sugar, went their way rejoicing, and returned triumphantly at sun-set with fragrant Bohea for themselves, plug tobacco for their husbands, flashy
240
SETTLEMENT AND ORGANIZATION.
calico for the children, gay ribbons for the girls, jack- knives for the boys, crockery for the cupboard, and snuff for 'Grannie.' This expedition was a theme for much gossip. The wonders of the 'new store' were de- scribed to staring eyes and open mouths. The merchant and his clerk were criticised in their deportment, man- ners, and dress. The former wore shiny boots with tassels,-the latter, a ruffle shirt,-and both smelt of pomatum ! I do not believe that the word 'dandy' had then been invented, or it would have certainly come in play on that occasion. Thirty years afterwards I laughed over all this with my old friend, Gen. Ransom Rathbun, the veritable proprietor of that 'new store.'
"The grinding for our neighborhood was done at ' Hunt's mill,' which on one occasion was disabled by some defect in the flume or dam, and then we were compelled to go with our grists either to Homer or to ' Chenango Forks.'
" I recollect, on more than one occasion, to have seen boys riding with a bushel of corn, (bare-back, with a tow halter,) to the distillery, and returning with the gallon bottle of whiskey, balanced by a stone in the other end of the bag.
" In the autumn following our removal to Cincinnatus, I had 'worked out' and earned leather (sole and upper) enough for a pair of shoes, which were to be made by a son of Crispin, (deacon Badger, if I remember rightly,) who lived on the river a mile and a half away. The Deacon, I doubt not, has gone to his rest, and I forgive him the fibs he told, and the dozen journeys I made barefooted over the frozen and 'hubby' road in Decem- ber before the shoes were done.
241
SETTLEMENT AND ORGANIZATION.
"I attended one regimental review, or 'general train- ing,' as it was called. It was an eminently primitive one. Among the officers were two chapeaux, to which Capt. Carley, one of the two, added a sword and sash ; four feathers standing erect upon felt hats ; fifteen or twenty muskets ; half-a-dozen rifles ; two hoarse drums, and as many 'spirit-stirring fifes.' Of rank and file there were about two hundred and fifty. In the way of re- freshments there was gingerbread, blackberry pies, and whiskey. But there were neither ' sweat-leather,' 'little jokers,' or other institutions of that character, upon the ground. Having, before leaving Catskill, seen with my own eyes a live Governor (Morgan Lewis) review a whole brigade, I regarded that training as a decided failure.
"There were no events at all startling, during my residence at Cincinnatus ;- no murders, no suicides, no drownings, no robberies, no elopements, no 'babes lost in the woods,' occurred to astonish the natives. A recruiting sergeant came along (it was in embargo times), and three or four idle fellows (Herrings and Wilders by name, I think,) "listed' and marched off.
"There were neither churches nor 'stated preaching' in town. A Methodist minister came occasionally and held meetings in private houses, or at the school-house. In the winter there was a school on the river ; and the master, who 'boarded round,' must have 'had a good time of it' on Johnny-cake for breakfast, lean salt pork for dinner, and samp and milk for supper.
"There were but few amusements in those days, and but little of leisure or disposition to indulge in them. Those that I remember as most pleasant and exciting,
242
SETTLEMENT AND ORGANIZATION.
were 'huskings' and 'coon-hunts.' There was fun, too, in smoking 'woodchucks' out of their holes.
"During my residence there, Mr. Wattles moved into the neighborhood. He came, I think, from what was then called 'The Triangle,' somewhere in Chenango co., and was a sub Land-agent. They were, for that region, rather 'stylish' people, and became obnoxious to a good deal of remark. One thing that excited especial indig- nation was, that persons going to the house were asked to clean their shoes at the door, a scraper having been placed there for that purpose. A maiden lady (Miss Theodosia Wattles) rendered herself especially ob- - noxious to the spinster neighbors, by 'dressing up' week-day afternoons. They all agreed in saying she was a 'proud, stuck-up thing.' In those days, 'go-to- meeting clothes' were reserved for Sundays.
"'Leeks' were the bane of my life, in Cincinnatus. They tainted everything, but especially the milk and butter. Such was my aversion to 'leeky milk,' that to this day I cannot endure mille in any form.
" In the fall and winter, corn-shelling furnished even- ing occupation. The ears were shelled either with a cob, or the handle of a frying-pan. There have been improvements, since, in that as in other departments of agriculture !
" Such are, in a crude form, some of my recollections of life in Cincinnatus, half a century ago. That town, then very large, has since been sub-divided into three or four towns. Upon the farm of my old friends, the Carleys, the large and flourishing village of Marathon has grown up. And then, too, a substantial bridge has taken the place of the 'dug out' in which we used to
.
243
SETTLEMENT AND ORGANIZATION.
cross the river. Of the sprinkling of inhabitants who had then just commenced subduing the forests, and in- sinuating scanty deposits of seed between the stumps and roots, but few, of course, survive. The settlers were industrious, honest, law-abiding, and, with few exceptions, temperate citizens. The friendly neighbor- hood relations, so necessary in a new country, existed there. All tried not only to take care of themselves, but to help their neighbors. Farming implements and household articles were pretty much enjoyed in common. Everybody 'lent' what they possessed, and 'borrowed' whatever they wanted.
" You must judge whether these hastily written recol- lections of Cincinnatus would at all interest the few old inhabitants remaining there ; and having so judged, you are at liberty to put them into your book, or into the fire.
" Very truly yours, " THURLOW WEED."
WILLET .- The town of Willet was organized from the south-east quarter of Cincinnatus, April 21, 1818. The general surface of the town is broken and hilly, yet by no means mountainous. The soil is generally better adapted to grazing than the culture of grain. Its agri- culture, however, is respectable. The town is watered by the Otselic, or main branch of the Tioughnioga river. It was named in honor of Col. Marinus Willett, who ac- quired an honorable fame while second in command at Fort Stanwix, in 1777, and who made a most gallant sally upon the forces of Sir John Johnson, capturing their stores, baggage, and ammunition. He drew lot
244
SETTLEMENT AND ORGANIZATION.
No. 88 of the old allotments of the town of Cincinnatus. It was located in the south-east quarter of the township, and when the original tract was carved into four towns, the hero was honored by the conferring of his name upon that portion which contained the land granted him as a partial reward for his valuable and heroic services. We cannot but respect those stern actors, who, in the early settlement of Willet, evinced a determination, worthy of being recorded in the enduring annals of our country. They warred not for fame and glory, but for the improvement of the moral and social condition of those around them. They struck their cabins in the unbroken forest, and endured privation and toil, with the hope of securing for themselves and families a home upon which they might erect their little citadels, dedi- cated to happiness and social enjoyment. They did not expect the huge "hemlock to snap off like icicles," or the ancient hills to become at once pleasure-gardens or fruitful fields. They did not anticipate that ease and affluence were to be achieved without effort, toil, and privation. No ! no ! they were men of an entirely dif- ferent character ; and when they determined upon a plan, or resolved to perform a duty, their wills became fixed facts.
Ebenezer Crittenden settled in Willet in 1797. He had married at Binghamton, and in order to get to Willet, himself, wife and one child shipped on board his little craft, and by the help of the paddle and setting- pole, at length arrived at his intended home, without shelter-the trees and elements excepted. Then with his axe he cut some crotches, and with some poles formed his tent, covering it with bed-clothes. This was
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.