USA > New York > Onondaga County > Pompey > Re-union of the sons and daughters of the old town of Pompey > Part 11
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My father had several brothers who were of the first set- tlers in Pompey. He had a sister who married Capt. Pun- dason Avery. The descendants of the Barnes clan are very numerous, and may be found in almost any part of the Union ! They were well represented in the late rebellion.
I am a native of this county ; was born August 24, 1812, in what was then Cicero, but now Clay.
Pompey has very many attractions, and I feel a deep in- terest in the forthcoming re-union of its former residents.
David Porter, a native of Pompey Hill, a son of the late Dea. Porter, and a neighbor of mine, has been courteous enough to invite me to a seat in his carriage, to attend this anxiously looked for gathering. I accept of his kind invi- tation. We anticipate a glorious time, one that will pass down to posterity through the annals of history.
I have already extended this letter beyond its proper lim- its, still, I will venture a quotation from a native of Pompey. " Pompey has produced more men of talent, than any other town in the county." Yours,
ORRIS BARNES.
SYRACUSE, June 27, 1871. Hon. Daniel Wood :-
DEAR SIR :- Previous engagements prevents my joining
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you in the praise-worthy effort in gathering together all of the surviving former residents of the old town of Pompey, with a view to a re-union.
I do not rank as a pioneer, yet my parents came from Massachusetts to Pompey, west Hill, in 1799, where I, then an infant, resided for more than a quarter of a century, thus being quite familiar with the early settlement of said town.
Respectfully,
CHARLES A. BAKER.
PALMYRA, June 13, 1871. Dr. R. F. Stevens, Syracuse, N. Y .-
DEAR SIR :- I am in the receipt of an invitation to attend a re-union of the former residents of the old town of Pom- pey. As this is my native town, and some years of early life having been spent at the old Academy, I am persuaded that the occasion will be one not only of general interest, but to myself especially agreeable. At my age, (73,) I can hardly expect to see many faces of the friends and associates of my early life. But the home of your childhood, the rest- ing place of your honored dead, and the sweet memories of days gone by, will sanctity and hallow the " old Hill," and revive the associations of the half century gone.
Unless prevented by sickness, it will please me to attend and join in the pastimes of the occasion.
Very Respectfully, HIRAM K. JEROME.
NEW YORK CITY, June 28, 1871. Dr. R. F. Stevens, Secretary, f.c.
MY DEAR SIR :- Your favor of the 20th inst., inviting me to the re-union of the residents of Pompey on the 29th inst., was duly received. I have delayed answering it, till this, the last possible moment, in the hope that by some good turn of fortune's wheel, I might respond in person, rather than by letter. That, however proves impossible, owing to engagements made some weeks before notice of the time
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selected reached me. Iam, therefore, reluctantly compelled to deny myself the pleasure of joining in this re-union, and of meeting the many friends who will be present.
My annual returns to the home of my childhood have kept me familiar with the scenes of my earliest days; and it would delight me to be once more " at home," and to point out to those who, as to these annual pilgrimages, have been less favored than myself, some of the beauties of the old place. In a life not free from wandering, it has been my privilege to see large portions of my native land, and some- thing of many lands abroad. It seems to me moreover, to be one of the peculiarities of my own mind to remember and recall, with something more than ordinary facility and distinctness, the scenes which have been laid before my eyes. But in all the countries I have been permitted to visit, I can recall few scenes more beautiful than those which at this season of the year are presented from the Old Hill. The lakes, which are set like mirrors in the landscape ; the dis- tant hills, almost swelling into mountains, the mighty sweep of vision to the east and north; the long valleys to the south-west and south-east, the rich fields nearer by, and al- most at your feet, and showing, like the divisions on a chess board, farms and forests, dwellings and orchards, waving corn and ripening meadows, yellow stubble and green pas- tures, flocks and herds, and running brooks; all these make up a picture which is ever before my mind, and which seems to me fairer than almost any other scene ever presented to my eyes. In what stream in all the old town have I not bathed or fished? Upon which of its waters have I not skated ? Down what hill have I not coasted over the deep snows, only to drag the heavy sled again and again up the steep ascent, with panting lungs and arid muscles ? From what tree, or bush, or sward, in forest, orchard and field, have I not gathered nuts and fruits and berries ? In how many meadows did I not make spoil of the honey of the wild bee ? Through how many fields and woods did I not use to wander, hunting, or at least trying to persuade my-
.
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self I was hunting ? In how many of the old School houses have I not been present at some thronged " spelling school," to choose or be chosen, on one side or the other, and to con- tend for my standing, or yield at length, and among the last, to inevitable defeat, with an interest as keen, and a regret as bitter as have come in after years in the contests that may have scemed, (but were they really ?) far more important ? Up what precipice was it not my delight to climb ? And if my poor name is not otherwise worthy of remembrance, is it not, with so many, many others, handed down to lasting immortality, in the carvings on the trees at Pratt's and Conkling's Falls? What place in all the broad landscape is not associated in my mind with some delightful recollec- tion of itself, and of persons present or absent, living or departed ? And, turning to the highest point of the old Hill, where the grave-stones point aloft, how many memories throng upon us, as we cross the enclosure, and seek the graves where rest the loved and honored of other days : parents, brothers, sisters, kinsfolk, playmates, friends, how many have there taken up their final earthly abode ? How long will it be before the old Hill can be forgotten for their sakes, were every other tie that calls me thither, sundered forever ?
It would ill become me now to attempt any statement of facts, whether of history or tradition, such as others who will be present will delight you with. But surely, there is some- thing in soil and climate and country, which stamps itself on the character and shines out in all future life. Else why is such a delegation gathered to the homes of their childhood ?
The steep hills, the dark forests, the deep snows, the fierce winds, the long, cold winters, the late coming springs ; all these were struggled against and overcome. But, with these, were the charms of spring, with wild flowers blossom- ing on the edges of the snow-drifts; the summers in their beauty, the glories of sunset ; and autumns rich with fruits, and bright with forest splendors. All these have left their stamp upon the lives of too many children of the old birth-
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place, for us to doubt that such a commencement is often- times the best preparations for the duties of life, in whatever occupation or station. They who come up to this re-union, from the hall of the Senate, or the Chair of the Executive, or the head of the army, or the bureau of the Cabinet, or the counting houses of merchants, or the direction of great railways, all will testify that the forces which have enabled them to surmount obstacles and conquer difficulties in their future life, if not derived from, were at least largely strength- ened and developed by the life they led in childhood and youth amid the snows and storms of the old IIill.
The powers which have governed mighty States, or led great armies victors through long campaigns, and over wide realms, or held Senate's attentive listeners, or left their stamp on the history of the world in the treaty that settles National disputes, not by war with its bloodshed and devastation and misery, but by weighing grievances, claims and complaints in the just and equal balance of peaceful arbitration, or which have built and operated vast railroads, or sent forth great lines of steam ships over distant seas, the names of which were scarcely known to us in our school days. These powers were trained and developed in the common schools or the Academy, and by the libraries of the old town. What honor is not due to those who in the earliest years, in the midst of difficulties, privations and dangers, seeking new habitations, and laying the foundations of new institutions, gathered libraries and built schools and academies such as these, and left behind them influences so potent and benefi- cial, to rule in affairs of State, to lead in war, and to become as oil on troubled waters, soothing and assuaging the hates and quarrels of great nations, and turning the spear and sword into pruning hook and plow-share. How many through all this broad land, have been refreshed and invig- orated by the writings of one who went from the old Hill. But how few, besides those who were born or bred there, know that the graces which are properly represented in the name
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they know her by, were born and trained and cultured in a simple farm house in our native town.
May these influences, so powerful and beneficent during the lives of those who may be present on this occasion, con- tinue to bear now, increased and widened sway through all the coming generations. And may it long be the delight of those whose early years shall be spent amid the old seenes, to remember with pleasure the homes of their childhood, and with affection and gratitude the memories of those who, in hardship and privation, founded the Schools and Churches wherein they shall be trained and fitted for usefulness and power throughout the world.
Desiring to be remembered with affection to those who may come up to this feast, and not seeking to conceal my sense of their superior good fortune, and my sharp regret that I am not able to share personally in all their pleasures, I am,
Most respectfully and truly Your friend,
LUCIEN BIRDSEYE.
:
POMPEY ACADEMY.
The history of the Academy in Pompey is very largely the history of the town. It is a history of labors and strug- gles and gifts and self denials and delays ; but not of de- feats or disappointments.
The first settlers of the town were almost wholly from Connecticut. Although, in entering the wilderness, they left schools and churches behind them, they were fully sen- sible of the advantages of churches and schools, and spared no efforts to secure the same to themselves and to their children.
In 1784, Washington, then scarcely rested from the fatigues of the Revolutionary War, had made his well- known journey up the valley of the Hudson, and as far as Crown Point, and up the Mohawk and by the Portage at Wood Creek to the Oneida Lake, that he might see for him- self what means there were for communication by water between the new States just established on the sea-board, and the waters of the great lakes and the, St. Lawrence.
What he saw then, as well as in his explorations, previous and subsequent, in Western Virginia and Pennsylvania, led him to the efforts, which lasted through his life, for opening communication from the seaboard to the western Rivers and Lakes. This journey, and the attention with which all his movements were followed, turned public observation more fully to the future advantages of settlements of the west, and tended in a few years greatly to promote emigration to the western wilderness.
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By the Act of July 25, 1782, (1 Greenleaf's Laws of N. Y. 55,) the State of New York had set apart and assigned lands for the purpose of making grants to the officers and soldiers of the State, who had served in the then present war with Great Britain. By the Act of Feb'y 28, 1789, (2 Greenleaf, 281,) after a recital that the title thereto of the Indians had been extinguished, the Surveyor General had been directed to lay out the military county lands into townships, each to contain sixty thousand acres of land, and to be laid out as nearly in squares as local circumstan- ces would permit, and to be divided into one hundred lots, as nearly square as might be ; each lot to contain six hun- dred acres, as nearly as might be.
This act contains minute directions for making surveys and maps of the land, and for " balloting" for the lots; so that the soldiers, their heirs or assigns, should receive the lands they were entitled to ; six lots in each town being as- signed " for promoting the gospel and a public school or schools, and one for promoting literature in the State, as the Legislature might direct."
During 1789-90, Simeon De Witt, then Surveyor General, surveyed the military county lands ; laying them out into townships and lots, and displaying his classical tastes and learning by the names which he gave the townships; as Pompey, Manlius, Cicero, Fabius, Romulous, Cato, &c.
The county of Onondaga was erected from the county of Herkimer, by the Act of March 5, 1794. (3 Greenleaf, 110.) Pompey and other towns were created by this Act. The new county comprised the military county lands. It em- braced all that part of the State, contained in the present counties of Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca and Cortland, to- gether with portions of Oswego, Wayne, Tompkins and Schuyler.
The first settlement within the bounds of Pompey, was made in April, 1792, by Ebenezer Butler, Jr., (afterwards commonly known as Judge Butler,) a native of Harwinton,
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Litchfield Co., Conn .* He had in 1791 purchased military lot No. 65, in the township, t and in that year visited it; but his family were not removed thither till 1792. In 1793, his brother Jesset and others, with their families, came to the town.
The movement for founding an Academy seems to have commenced very shortly thereafter. As early as January, 1800, a petition of the inhabitants of the town and vicinity, to the Regents of the University for the incorporation of an Academy at Pompey, was prepared, signed and forwarded to Albany.§
It was presented to the Regents at a meeting held on the 17th March, 1800, and was referred to a committee of ex- amination. At a meeting of the Regents, held March 31, 1800, the report of that committee was considered. There seems to have been at that time no other Academy in the county. The Regents adopted a preamble and resolutions, by which, (after reciting that it was uncertain whether Pom- pey was the most proper place for an Academy in the county of Onondaga, and that there was reason to doubt the expe- dieney of having more than one Academy in one county,) it was resolved that the secretary should transmit a copy of said petition and of that resolution to the supervisors of On- ondaga county, and request that they would at their next session inform the Regents whether in their opinion there were any, and what, objections to granting the prayer of said petition. (See Appendix No. 2.)
* Judge Butler died in Ohio, Sept., 1829, aged 96 years.
¡ Lot 65 is that part of the town on which the Academy, Churches, burial ground, &e., .&c., are situated.
¿ Jesse died at Fabius, N, Y., November 30th, 1856, aged 93 years 1 mo.
¿ This Petition, like many other documents hereinafter referred to, throws much light on the history of the town. The first settlement had been made less than eight years before ; and here is a paper setting forth the advantages and necessity of a School of high character, it is signed by twenty-five different persons ; all apparently heads of families, every one subscribing money, the lowest $25 : the highest $125 ; the total amounting to $1,195. So much of useful information as to the names of the first settlers, their efforts, labors and sacrifices, and so much of family history, worthy of honest pride, may be gathered from these papers, that it has been deemed proper to print them at length, in the Appendix to this sketch. The petition here mentioned is No. 1 in such Appendix.
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The supervisors of the county met at Pompey Hill in Oc- tober, 1800. Their action was favorable to the views of the petitioners. (See Apendix No. 3.) The same having been certified to the Regents, the original petition and the pro- ceedings of the supervisors were, on the 16th Feb'y, 1801, referred to a committee. (See Appendix No. 2.)
No further action being had by the Regents, the good people of Pompey seem to have become impatient; and in the winter of 1802, they prepared another petition, which was signed by sixty persons, and presented to the Regents March 15, 1802. (See Appendix No. 4.) On the receipt of it, and on the same day, the Regents resolved to approve of the application of sundry inhabitants of the county of On- ondaga, for the incorporation of an Academy at Pompey, in said county, and that they would incorporate the same upon satisfactory evidence being given, within a reasonable time, of a compliance with the resolution passed by the Regents March 23, 1801.
This latter resolution, (after reciting that Academies were intended to teach branches of literature superior to those taught in common schools, and requiring to that end a more extensive provision for the support of well qualified instruc- tors,) declared that in future no Academy ought to be in- corporated, unless it be made to appear to the Board by sat- isfactory evidence that a proper building for the purpose had been erected, finished and paid for, and that funds had been obtained and well secured, producing an annual in- come of at least $100 ; and further, that there be a condition in the charter of incorporation, that the principal or estate pro- ducing such income should never be diminished or appro- priated; and that such income should be appropriated only to the maintainance, or the salaries of the professors or tu- tors of the Academy.
The resolutions of March 15, 1802, and March 23d, 1801, were communicated to the petitioners, by certified copies thereof, which are still among the files of the Academy.
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The erection of the first building for the Academy, must have been commenced in or about 1803. Mr. Samuel Ba- ker states that when he first saw the building, in August, 1806, as his father Nathaniel Baker was moving into the vil- lage, the building was erected and covered, but was not com- pleted or ready for occupation. William Lathrop was the builder.
On the 20th July, 1807, Wm. Lathrop and George W. Wood entered into an agreement, (see Appendix No. 5,) with Manoah Pratt, Henry Seymour and Samuel S. Bald- win, who were " a committee to build the Academy in Pom- pey," to do certain specified carpenter's work in completing the building designed for the Academy, for the sum of $200 ; the same to be paid by assignment of subscriptions which should be good aud collectable." Mr. Wood soon after retired from the job. Mr. Lathrop proceeded with it for some time, but on the 2d March, 1810, he relinquished the unfinished part of the job, and agreed to accept $140, in full of what had then been done. In July, 1810, a new subscrip- tion was raised, and in the same paper the same committee entered into an agreement to procure the Academy to be completed for the sum of $450. (See Appendix No. 6.)
It is easily to be gathered that, up to this time, the project tor the establishment of the Academy had met many diffi- culties and much opposition ; among the files of the Re- gents is an affidavit of Walter Colton, sworn to March 2d. 1802, and delivered to the Board at their meeting of March 15, 1802, when the second petition for the Academy was presented and conditionally granted. (See Appendix No. 7.)
In this affidavit, Mr. Colton, who had signed the first pe- tition for the Academy, subscribing $100, but who had in the meantime removed to Onondaga Hill, charged fraud, it would seem, in the getting up of the first petition, in Jan- uary, 1800.
Opposition however, proved ineffectual. The great dif- ficulty was the raising of money to build and complete, and
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then to endow, the Academy. When we consider the con- dition of the country, emerging, as it then was, from the utter bankruptcy of the Revolutionary War, with its conti- nental currency ; and especially of this part of the country, without money, or roads, or canals, or markets, or any means of improvement or communication, we shall see how great was the undertaking to found and rear such an insti- tution. The original subscription of January, 1800, proved wholly insufficient. A new one was raised in 1807, to pay Lathrop and Wood for finishing the then half built house. That also failed. No doubt it was true, as Mr. Colton had stated in his affidavit, that some had died, and others were insolvent and unable to pay what they had subscribed. But the public spirit of the town was sufficient to overcome all these obstacles. In 1810, the new subscription above men- tioned was effected, which amounted to $2,345. (See Ap- pendix No. 8.) It was sufficient to finish the building that had so long remained incomplete, and to furnish an endow- ment with such an annual income as should meet the cou- ditions on which alone the Regents could grant the charter.
It is no doubt to the great and generous endeavor then made that the tradition of the town refers, which tells of the efforts for the raising of money, when subscriptions were doubled, and the increased value of farms and property, if such a school were established, was made the ground of ap- peal to the timid, the doubting and the frugal.
At length, in the Autumn of 1810, the building for the Academy was completed and paid for; and there remained $1,450, to serve as an endowment for the yielding of the net annual revenue of $100, required to warrant the granting of a charter.
In February, 1811, the final steps for the incorporation of the school were taken. A petition, (in the peculiar and well known hand writing of the late Mr. V. Birdseye,) was drawn and generally signed; and after being verified by the late Henry Seymour, (whose influence and labors for the school
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everywhere appear,) was forwarded to the Regents, in March, 1811. (See Apendix No. 9.)
On the 11th March, 1811, by vote ef the Regents, the Academy was incorporated, by the name of " The Trustees of Pompey Academy, " Daniel D. Tompkins, then Governor of the State, was Chancellor of the Regents, and Francis Bloodgood was Secretary. The charter is signed by them, and sealed with the seal of the Regents, and bears date March 19th, 1811. It recites that a proper building for the Academy has been erected, finished and paid for, and that funds have been obtained and well secured, producing a net annual income of $100, and provides that the principal or estate producing such income shall never be diminished, and that the income shall be appropriated only to the maintain- ance or salaries of the professors or tutors of the Academy.
The persons named in the charter as the first Trustees were Henry Seymour, Senior Trustee ; Samuel S. Baldwin, Manoah Pratt, Daniel Wood, Ithamar Coe, Asa Wells, Hezekiah Clark, John Jerome, Silas Park, Jacobus DePuy, Daniel Allen, Chauncey Jerome, Daniel Tibbals, Joshua Johnson, Derrick C. Lansing, Benjamin Sanford, Charles C. Mosely, William J. Wilcox, Jonathan Stanley, Jr., Levi Parsons, William Cook, Victory Birdseye, Jasper Hopper and James Geddes.
At a meeting of the Trustees, held April 4, 1811, Henry Seymour was elected President, Victory Birdseye, Secreta- ry, and Daniel Wood, Treasurer. On the 20th May, 1811, Henry Seymour, Daniel Tibbals and Victory Birdseye were elected a prudential committee. On the 3d of November. 1812, the following officers were chosen : Asa Wells, presi- dent; V. Birdseye, secretary; D. Wood, treasurer ; Asa Wells, S. S. Baldwin and D. Wood, prudential committee. Rev. Joshua Leonard was hired as a teacher, at a salary of $500 per annum. On 6th October, 1813, the following of- ficers were chosen : Rev. J. Leonard, president; V. Birds- eye, Secretary ; HI. Seymour, treasurer; D. Wood, C. Je- rome and D. Tibbals, prudential committee.
OLD POMPEY ACADEMY.
INTERIOR VIEW OF THE "OLD ACADEMY,"
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By this time, the organization of the Academy had been substantially perfected, and its appropriate work had been begun. Thenceforth, the principal labor of carrying on the institution, devolved either on the treasurer, who had charge of the funds, or the preceptor who taught in the school-room. Henry Seymour, remained treasurer from Oct. 6, 1813, till January 10, 1821. On the 24th March, 1819. he had been appointed one of the Canal Commissioners of the State. and his labors in superintending the construction of the Erie Ca- nal, then well advanced towards completion, no doubt pre- vented his continuing to serve longer as treasurer. It was, however. several years later, when he removed to Utica, and he continued to be a trustee till Oet. 30, 1833, when his resignation as trustee was accepted, and Mr. Samuel Baker was chosen trustee in his place. On Mr. Seymour's resig- nation as treasurer, in 1821, Luther Marsh was chosen in his stead ; remaining treasurer till May 15, 1827, when Mr. V. Birdseye was elected to the office, which he held till his death, Sept. 16, 1853. Levi Wells was then elected to the office, and held it till his death, March 31, 1872, when Dr. O. G. Dibble was chosen to succeed him.
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