USA > New York > Onondaga County > Pompey > Re-union of the sons and daughters of the old town of Pompey > Part 25
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HIINSDELL FAMILY.
In writing a history of the first settlers of Pompey, the writer has to bear in mind; first, that but little space can be allowed for each family; and secondly, that he must not paint the bravery, honor and virtue of " a long line of noble ancestors," but confine his history to those only who actually settled in Pompey.
Among the above named was David Hinsdell, who was born at Salisbury, Conn., June 30th, 1854; but soon after his birth, his parents were compelled by the hostility of the Indians, to move to Lenox, Berkshire County, Mass., where they had formerly lived. Here David Hinsdell grew to manhood, was married to Farozina Remus, and in due time became the father of five children, removing in 1787 to Gal- way, Saratoga County, N. Y.
At this place five more children were born ; when he came to the conclusion that in order to support his growing fami- ly, he must remove to some more fertile locality, and Pom- pey seemed to him the modern Canaan for which he longed. The purchase of one-fourth of lot 6 was made 1794, and preparations made to move and occupy it the next season ; but his house taking fire in the night, the family escaped with but little save what clothing they chanced to have on. thus rendering their migration impossible for a time. How- ever, in September, 1795, he sent Moses, his oldest son, then eighteen years of age, to Pompey to build a house and make such preparations as would enable the family to follow the coming winter : once arrived upon the scene of his future labors, the youthful Moses found that he had no
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resources to draw upon, but his brawn and muscle; there- fore, he drew upon them, and his draft was honored, for he first cut, logged, and burnt over two acres, which he sowed to wheat ; then from the logs he had sawed for the purpose, he built a log house, covering it with bark and having it completed ready for the occupancy of the family who came in February, 1796. Here David Hinsdell had two more children born, and from a school roll now in possession of the family, it appears that in the winter of 1799 and 1800, six of his children attended a school taught by Levi Jerome.
David Hinsdell died in 1822, and his wife some years later, the homestead passing into the possession of Chauncy Hinsdell, who lived on it until his death, which occured a few years since, and his children still own it. All the sons except Chauncy and Moses,sought homes in other localities; Moses buying fifteen acres on lot 17, in 1801, of Mr. Sweet, giving therefor his note, as he had nothing else to give-adding however, in the course of time, five hundred acres to the first purchase. In order to follow out in detail my sketch of Moses Hinsdell, I must go back to 1798, when being twenty years of age,he bargained with his father for his time, cutting off therefor, a certain piece of timber, which being duly finished, he stepped out into the world to make his own furtune, being possessed of good vigorous constitution, the clothes he had on, two pairs of shoes and his good axe. In 1800 he joined hands and fortunes with Rachael Hibbard, marrying her in November of that year; her worldly possessions being one cow, eight sheep, and I think a little crockery ; she also was possessed of good common sense, a kind loving heart full of noble impulses and good will to all, and a self sacri- ficing disposition, which stood the test of more than forty years of married life; helping over the rough places, cheering the despondent, restraining the wayward and vola- tile, developing into a pure Christian mode of life which enabled her to say " thy will be done," when she was called to her reward in 1841. There were born unto this couple
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ten children -- six sons and four daughters, viz: Eli B. Hins- dell, who died at Salina, in 1856. Harriet Hinsdell, (Mrs. David Barber,) now living in Syracuse. Polly Hinsdell, (Mrs. John S. Wells,) who died in 1863. Eliza Hinsdell, (Mrs. L. B. Pitcher,) living in the town of Salina. Samuel Hinsdell, living at Fairmount, N. Y.
David H. Hinsdell living at Manlius, N. Y., Stephen IIinsdell living at Syracuse. Myraette Hinsdell, (Mrs. D. Fairbank,) living at Kalamazoo, Mich. Perry H. Hinsdell living in the town of Salina, and Moses B. Hinsdell who died in Lyons, Mich. In 1843, he was again married to Mrs. Phebe Underwood, who is still living at Forrestville, N. Y., but in 1857 he died in Pompey, at the age of seventy- eight years. I have remarked that Moses Hinsdell started out in life at twenty years ; and he so started determined to succeed, if truth, integrity and industry could succeed-as he knew they must. Following firmly in the path he marked out, he soon was a man of influence among his fellows, and during his long life, no man could accuse him of extortion. fraud or untruth. In his later years, he often remarked with pride, that no note he ever gave came to maturity un- paid, exceptin one instance, when an $100 note given on demand to the holder's order, came back to him after "many days," having passed current from one man to another in the usual first of April payments, until over twenty endorse- ments graced its back, having passed through over a score of hands, and paid over $2,000 of indebtedness. A very posi- tire man, and one accustomed to think and act quickly, he was often wrong, and clung to that wrong with a tenacity worthy of a better cause; but no man was more willing to accept the truth than he, when it was shown to him. He was generous to a fault in a cause he deemed worthy, but no man, or set of men, ever caused him to swerve from a posi- tion his judgment told him was well taken. He was just the kind of a man to settle in a new country, and help to develop it, and there are too few of them in this present day. He never mixed much in politics, always refused of-
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fice, and really accomplished what he said ought to be every man's mission, viz : "to make the world some better for having lived in it."
DAVID HIBBARD.
The reader will recognize the above as a Pompey nanie. The subject of this sketch was a revolutionary soldier, like many other pioneer residents of Pompey. He settled in Pompey on lot No. 6, in 1794. In addition to agricultural pursuits, he was a carpenter and joiner. During his early residence in Pompey, his son John was killed by the falling of a tree. This left him four sons and five daughters. The names of the four remaining sons were Samuel, Robert, Ja- cob and Isaac V. V. Hibbard, the latter of whom was a mem- ber of the N. Y. Assembly in 1853. Samuel M. Hibbard, a son of Isaac V. V., now occupies the old homestead of his grandfather, David. Samuel Hibbard, son of David, has two sons resident in Pompey ; one bears the name of his grandfather, David Hibbard; the name of the other is Charles Hibbard.
HEZEKIAH HOPKINS.
Col. Hezekiah Hopkins was born in Harwinton, Litch- field Co., Conn., and moved thence with his family in 1800 to Clinton, Oneida Co., N. Y. Here he remained about two years, and then came to Pompey Hill. He was married to Eunice Hubbell, by whom he had nine children ; five of them were sons and four daughters-Sheldon, Milton, Harry, Hezekiah, Jr., Richard, Fanny, Laura, Dothy and Charlotte, the latter being born about a year after their arrival in Pom- pey. Col. Hopkins kept the hotel on the site now (1874,) occupied by Peter Oley, some twenty-four years, very much to the satisfaction of the public, keeping a very temperate. quiet and orderly place. He sold to his son Harry and purchased a small farm near the village, where he and his wife lived with his son Hezekiah until their death, being at the time of their decease about seventy-eight years of
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age. Soon after purchasing the hotel, Harry built an addi- tion and continued to keep the hotel about three years, when he leased it to Capt. Pitt Dyer, for a term of years.
He was Deputy Sheriff under Doctor Granger, and a very faithful and efficient officer. He also held the office of Com- missioner of Highways. In 1837 he sold his real estate in Pompey,and moved to Cleveland, Ohio, leaving his oldest son Jerome and daughter Caroline behind, both being employed in Manlius village, Jerome as a clerk in the store of Azariah Smith, and Caroline as a teacher. His wife, (Theodocia Je- rome,) died of consumption, in Cleveland, in 1839. In 1841 he married Mrs. Theodocia Hamilton, near Medina, Ohio, where he lived on a farm with her for thirty years, when she died. And now being eighty-one years old and in failing health, he came to live with his son Jerome, in Cleveland, where he continued till his death in 1872. He was present at the Re-Union, June 29th, 1871. Mrs. Beardslee, of Syra- cuse, is now the only surviving member of the old Col. Hop- kins' family. Harry Hopkins' surviving children are Je- rome, George and Sophia, all living in and near Cleveland, Olio.
ENSIGN HILL.
Colonel Ensign Hill, who was one of the pioneer settlers of the east part of Pompey, near Delphi, was born in Wash- ington, Berkshire County, Mass., May 28th, 1772; his wife Polly H. Kellogg, was born in Dalton, Berkshire County, Mass., February 29th, 1776; they were married September 29th, 1801, and moved to Pompey in the fall of that year. Mr. Hill had been to Pompey the year before, had purchased fifty acres of land and cleared enough to put up a pioneer house, near where the watering trough now is, about one hundred rods south of Delphi village. All he had when coming to Pompey, was a horse, saddle and bridle, which he sold to Judge Platt near Utica ; the avails were paid towards his land; although possessed of the usual amount of energy and pluck characteristic of carly settlers, the toil
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and hardships ineident to pioneer life caused him occasion- ally to feel despondent. When one day indulging in a mel- aneholy mood, a stranger rode up to where he was clearing the forest and entering into conversation, finally offered him fifty dollars for his bargain in the purchase of his land ; he thought if the stranger could see fifty dollars in it, he could find it, and so he still toiled on, never more indulging the wish to return permanently to the home of his childhood. He added largely to his first purchase, and became one of the leading farmers in his neighborhood ; and although his pursuit was the tilling of the soil, he always manifested a lively interest in public affairs. Descended from revolu- tionary ancestors, he early formed an attachment to the military service, and became colonel of a regiment of mili- tia. He was a New England Democrat, and an ardent ad- mirer of Andrew Jackson. He was an earnest supporter of the administration of Madison, during the war of 1812. He lived to see Pompey, the home of his adoption, a popu- lous and thriving town; his first wife died December 20th, 1818, after which he married a widow lady, Mrs. Humphreyville. Mr. Hill died December 4th, 1832, hav- ing lived to see his favorite general and statesman ele- vated to the Presidency of the United States a second time. All his children were born in Pompey. Ensign W., the eldest, was born June 20th, 1802, was a farmer and mer- chant, an excellent penman and book-keeper; he resided in Pompey the whole of his life, which terminated September 7th, 1870. Three children, Orange, Lydia S. and Charlotte, died in childhood.
A second son, Orange, was born February 21st, 1806, and now lives in Delphi, and is a farmer.
Charles R. K. Hill was born January 3d, 1810, and now lives on the old homestead in the elegant mansion erected by his father ; he is now an acting Justice of the Peace in Pompey, elected as a democrat, although his party is in a large minority in the town.
William Hull Hill was born July 4th, 1812, and was
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named in honor of Hull's victory over the English. He re- tains the patriotism of his childhood, born as he was upon the nation's birthday; he it is of whom Luther R. Marsh said, upon the occasion of the Re-union of Pompey's chil- dren, June 29th, 1871 : " that he came from New York with one Hull Hill, who had since acted as though he owned the whole Hill.
Mary Ann Hill was married to Dr. Rocius Morse, and lived in Elmira; died January 6th, 1870.
James L. Hill was the only child by his second wife ; he married an only daughter of Hamilton Allen, of Pompey Valley, and now resides near Syracuse.
JOSIAH HOLBROOK.
Josiah Holbrook was one of the early settlers of Pompey. He was born in the year 1757, in Adams, Mass., and married Rachel Wright. They resided in Adams, where some of their children were born, till 1792, when they commenced their journey to Pompey. Mr. Holbrook had purchased of a soldier a wood-land farm in Pompey, which he had never seen. Equipped as pioneer settlers usually were, with all their household goods loaded upon a cart drawn by a yoke of oxen and a single horse for a leader, in 1792 they came to Springfield, Otsego Co., N. Y. Here they tarried with his sister till the spring of 1793, when in March they finished their pilgrimage to their future home located on Lot No. 53, the farm recently owned by Mr. Hubbard, east of Pompey Center. The family at that time consisted of Josiah Hol- brook, his wife, father and mother and six children- Abigal, Silas W., Patty, Frestus, Rachel and Electa. Af- ter they came to Pompey four more children were born unto them, who, in the order of their ages, were Adol- phus, Josiah G., Amanda and Samuel. Adolphus was born in 1793, and is said to be the third white child born in Pompey. Few were then the conveniences of life, and many hardships were encountered. There were no roads or
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bridges ; by marked trees they came ; they pounded their corn in a mortar or went to Whitestown, near Utica, to mill.
It is true that Surveyors, the pioneers of civilization, had come before them and marked the trees, but before the gol- den harvests could be reaped, the majestic forests must yield to days of constant toil. How many of our generation are fitted for the obstacles which they manfully met, and heroic- ally overcome ? About this time, over in Pompey Hollow came Ozias Burr, Samuel Draper and Mr. Lamb. David Green, too, came the same year and settled on what has since been called "Green's Corners." Soon after came Ba- rak Holbrook and Luke Holbrook, who married Wm. Du- guid's sisters. William Duguid, another of Pompey's pio- neers, who is the ancestor of the Duguid family.
Notwithstanding the limited resources at command, Mr. Holbrook, in common with his town's people, early became interested in public improvements. He was one of the first subscribers to the Pompey Academy fund. As we look over the individual history of Pompey's pioneers, and note the personal sacrifices they made from their small and toil- some gains to the establishment of schools and churches and the interests of society, and make comparison with the present public spirit manifested, we may well pause and ask ourselves whether this is an age of progress in Pompey or of retrogression. Mr. Holbrook was a Christian, and attended the Presbyterian church.
Only two of his children are living. Festus, at the age of eighty-six years, resides in Michigan, having raised a large family who are all dead. Josiah G. resides south of Cold Water, Michigan, and has a large family. These two sons left Pompey and went west in the spring of 1815. All of his children were married while living in Pompey. He died in November, 1831, at the age of seventy-five years, and he and his wife, his father, mother, two sons and three daugh- ters, all lie beneath the green sod of the old hill town which they assisted to make rich with golden harvests.
Silas W. Holbrook, the eldest son of the pioneer Josiah,
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married Thankful Skinner, whose father was also a Pom- pey pioneer, having settled on Lot No. 22, near Oran, in 1794. Their children were Silas L. Holbrook, Levi S. Hol- brook, Aurelia Holbrook, Chapin M. Holbrook and Josiah E. Holbrook. Of these Silas L. married Nancy Hubbard, by whom he had three children, Henry L., B. Franklin and Dwight. They all live in Pompey.
Levi S. Holbrook married Fidelia Woodward, September 1, 1831; they have no children. He now resides in Syra- cuse, having left Pompey a few years ago. He has been honored by his fellow citizens with various public trusts. From 1853 to 1858 inclusive, he represented Pompey in the Board of Supervisors, and the latter year was a member of the State Legislature. From 1862 to 1869 he was a revenue officer of the general government.
Aurelia Holbrook married Samuel E. Tarbell, and they reside in Wisconsin.
Chapin M. Holbrook married Malinda Safford, and they and their only child live in Pompey.
Josiah E. Holbrook married Alcemena Smith, daughter of John Smith, a Pompey pioneer, and they reside in De- Witt, N. Y. They have no children.
Daniel W. Holbrook, another grandchild of the old pio- neer, married Martha Porter, of Pompey, and moved to Michigan, where he died. His wife now resides in Syracuse, and her son, Levi, with her. Their only remaining son, Daniel, is a resident of California.
Adolphus Holbrook was twice married, and Josiah G. Holbrook, of Jamesville, N. Y., was one of his children by his first wife. By his second wife he had two children, Maria and Henry H., the son only being now living, making his home in Jamesville, N. Y. His widow lives in Pompey with Lucien Northrup, who was the husband of Maria, who died several years ago. Thus have we traced an imperfect record of another Pompey family, and the reason why we have not made mention of them all, is because our informa- tion is not sufficient to make any further record authentic.
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JONAS HINMAN.
Jonas and Esther Hinman settled in Pompey in the year 1796 or 1797; he was one of the earliest pioneers of the wilderness of Onondaga County.
It is not necessary in this sketch, to give in detail, nor delineate particularly the hardships and sufferings of those times of which the surviving children and grand-children of those strong souls are conversant; therefore, I pass to the time when Mr. and Mrs. Hinman were two of nine persons who organized the first Baptist Church of Pompey, which, at a later period, moved to Manlius village.
Mr. Hinman's family consisted of twelve children, and while the youngest child was an infant, by trusting too im- plicitly in human nature, he lost his property, since known as the Hubbard farm. He transplanted the apple orchard, still standing-nearly three-fourths of a century ago, when his oldest children were so small that- with difficulty they carried water in little bottles to water and keep alive the trees. At the time he met with his reverse fortune, he was past his prime in life, and broken in health; still, with his hopeful temperament and natural energy, he divided his family, and boldly entered on his second pilgrimage as pio- neer in the wilds of Lysander.
When he had there completed his log-cabin, he removed his wife and the younger children to the new home, to share the privations attending a new settlement, with this dif- ference between the first and the last-in the last instance he had eight children to suffer with him, instead of two.
Mr. Hinman was generous to a fault, and his benevolence, supported by a deep-seated sense of christian piety and honor, and a full trust in Providence, and his natural firm- ness, all working together on his active nervous brain, set the ball in motion which should abolish imprisonment for debt. He looked upon that law as oppressive, unjust and wicked. He was bondsman for the poor, unfortunate men, till at last he released a villain. St. John, who was not a
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poor man, but secreted his property, and absconded; con- sequently Mr. Hinman was obliged to sell his farm to pay the bond, and beggared his family, for which they suffered, as only natural pride and a preponderance of inherited sen- sitiveness can be made to feel, where poverty was looked upon as low and degrading by those who were more fortu- nate in possessing material wealth.
I will say to the mothers of the present young generation of Pompey's children-instruct your children that ig- norance is far more degrading in every position or depart- ment in life to which they may be called, than honest pov- erty.
Nearly twenty years later Mr. and Mrs. Hinman returned to Pompey to die among their brethren; their married life was sixty-two years, and in death they were not long separated. Mrs. Hinman died aged seventy-eight ; Mr. Hin- man survived his wife but one year, aged eighty-six; they were buried in the cemetery at Manlius village.
The names of Mr. Hinman's children, and where located, are as follows: Mary W. Symonds, Watertown, N. Y .; Electa Drake, Yonkers, N. Y .; Sarah Clapp, dead ; Hervey, dead ; Betsey, dead; Hiram, dead; Horace, Lapeer City, Mich .; Lydia M. Wisner, Mahattan, Kansas ; Charlotte N. Clement, Pompey, N. Y .; Heman, St. Catharines, Canada West; Samuel Hayden, unknown ; Emily H. Robinson, New York City.
DANIEL KNAPP.
The subject of this notice was Daniel Knapp, who emi- grated from Orange County, N. Y., to Pompey, Onondaga County, N. Y., about the year 1800 ; he located on a farm one mile north from Pompey Academy ; his wife's maiden name was Christianna Phelps, with whom he settled on the above mentioned farm in 1803; they lived together on that farm till 1823, enduring the hardships and engaged in the active labor of pioneer life. During this period, six sons were born unto them. He died August 6th, 1823, and was
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the first one buried in the Pompey Hill Cemetery as it is now located. His wife assumed the responsibility of set- tling the estate and managing the farm, exhibiting great energy and tact in her arduous duties ; she paid off the heirs as they became of age, which left her full control of the whole farm, which she managed for over forty years; at the age of eighty-three years, having become incapacitated to continue the management of her farm, she went to reside with her son, Harry Knapp, who still continues to reside in Pompey, where she died January 1st, 1869, at the advanced age of eighty-seven years, leaving her children to inherit a second time the same estate upon which she and her hus- band had settled sixty-six years before. The value of her estate at the time of her death, was about eight thousand dollars. Such in brief is the history of one of the early set- tlers of Pompey and his faithful wife, furnished by one of their children. It is refreshing in these days of indolence and ease to notice the energy and pluck of such pioneer set- tlers as these, and it is eminently proper to resene their memory from forgetfulness and present them as examples to the rising generation.
REV. JOSHUA LEONARD.
COMPILED BY LUTHER R. MARSH.
Rev. Josma Leonard was a conspicuous feature in the early history of this town ; he came of English stock; through the unvaluable records published by the New England His- torie- Genealogical Society of Boston, we are enabled to trace his ancestry. Rev. Peres Fobes, L. L. D., pastor of the Congregational Church in Raynham, Mass., furnished, some seventy years ago, an account of the Leonard family, which is believed to be the first family genealogy of any considera- ble extent printed in New England ; and, in 1851, William R. Deane, a member of the Society, brought the memoir down two generations later. From these records, it appears that the progenitor of Rev. Joshua Leonard was James Leonard. who, with his brother Henry, son of Thomas
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Leonard, came from Pontypool, in the maritime English County of Monmouthshire, bordering on South Wales; a region rich with collieries and blazing with furnaces, pene- trated by the fertile vales of the Usk and the Wye-the scene of important historical events ; where Owen Glen- dower was defeated, and where, long after, Cromwell tri- umphed. The brothers, James and Henry Leonard, came to Taunton, Mass., in 1652, and James established there the first iron-works in the United States, and died, 1691, aged seventy-three years. The manufacture of iron seems to have been an inheritance of the Leonards-not only before they came, but afterwards ; both in New Jersey, where Henry settled and established that business-followed there by successive generations-and in Massachusetts, where, at Lynn, Braintree, Rowley village, and Taunton, and at a later date at Canton, they set up their mills: so that it came to be said that, "where you can find Iron Works, there you will find a Leonard."
" They were probably interested in most, if not all of the iron works established in this country within the first cen- tury after its settlement, and it is a remarkable fact," says Mr. Deane, in 1851, " that the iron manufacture has con- tinued successively, and generally very successfully, in the hands of the Leonards or their descendants, down to the present day. Their old forge, though it has been many times remodelled, has been in constant use for nearly two hundred years, and is now in the full tide of successful ope- ration."
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