USA > New York > Onondaga County > Spafford > Spafford, Onondaga County, New York, Vol. I > Part 3
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the only door of admittance being on the east side, near the northeast corner of the house. Arriving at the place he set fire to the straw, whereupon the man with the bells and horses drove at a furious rate, yelling "Fire," which brought the man to the door in his night dress, where he was met by Captain Roundy, who took him gently in his arms and turned him over to the officer.
" At an early date Captain Roundy built a sawmill, on the upper falls of the stream near the Bucktail road, with a flume running over the precipice, and subsequently built a carding mill a little higher up stream. About this time a supposed distant relative of his came to town and claimed to have knowledge of carding, fulling and making cloth. He put him in charge of the mill. After he had been in possession for a time, Captain Roundy thought it time to go over and investigate, and count up the profits of his venture. To his mute astonishment he found the building entirely empty and his carding machinery carried away. This he subsequently found hid under a straw stack near the Village of Cardiff.
" At one time a log house stood on the village green, now existing at the Corners, between the two churches. A woman living in this house, after a time, was discovered to have won the affections and regard of a neighboring woman's husband, with whom she agreed to elope. On the night fixed for this episode to take place, there was a gath- ering of men on horseback in a distant part of the town, and after the elopers had gotten a mile or so on their journey, they were overtaken by this cavalcade and escorted to Borodino. After a short stop they were persuaded to return ; the man after making over his property to his wife, was permitted to go away with his new found charmer undisturbed.
" At an early date a dilapidated old house stood a short distance east of the Corners. It was rumored that an undesirable family had hired it, was going to move into town and likely to become a town charge. The people called upon the owner and tried to dissuade him from letting the property to these people; but he persisted, and was more or less abusive, much to the annoyance of his neighbors. One fine morning, just before the new settlers were to arrive, people were surprised to find this house razed to
URIAH ROUNDY, ESQ.
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the ground. The owner was furious and charged one of his neighbors with perpetrating the mischief, went to Captain Roundy, who was then Justice of the Peace, and swore out a warrant for the man. At that time the party to a criminal or civil proceeding could not be sworn on the trial in his own behalf, and the defendant was often at the mercy of unscrupulous witnesses. At the time of the trial every one turned out and very much regretted the turn of affairs, which seemed to be against the defendant. The complainant produced a witness who swore that he was passing along the road in the night, saw the defendant tearing down the house, and he tried to get away from him, but he knew him and was certain of his identity. The defendant was so unfortunate as not to be able to prove even an alibi. When the case was rested, much to the sur- prise of every one present, Captain Roundy discharged the defendant, claiming that there was no cause of action against him. Of course it was a high handed proceeding, but every one submitted because it was Captain Roundy's decision, and they all believed that he must have some inter light not discernible to the rest of them. Sometime after- wards one of his daughters said to him: 'Father, how could you make such a decision, when you knew that wit- ness swore point blank to the guilt of the defendant, and there were no mitigating circumstances?' 'Well,' he said, ' If you will never say anything about it, I will tell you. I knew that witness lied, for Colonel Hutchens and myself pulled down that building.'"
URIAH ROUNDY, ESQ.
Uriah Roundy, one of the sons of Capt. Asahel and Hannah (Weston) Roundy, was born in the town of Spaf- ford, July 24, 1819. Like his father before him he was prominent in his native town, and was frequently called upon to perform matters of public trust and confidence. Among the public offices held by him were: Supervisor of the Town of Spafford, three terms, Justice of the Sessions of the County of Onondaga two terms, Excise Commissioner one term, (from which he resigned), and Loan Commis- sioner of the County of Onondaga two years. He was also Justice of the Peace in Spafford between twenty-five and thirty years, and Postmaster at Spafford Corners for many
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years; he was an incumbent of both of the latter offices at the time of his decease which occurred May 29th, 1902. For many years prior to his decease nearly all the Wills, Mortgages, Deeds and other legal documents executed in his portion of the town were drawn by him, and he was frequently called upon to perform other duties of an attorney at law. He married Mary Ann Tinkham and by her had two sons, Adelbert and Jay C. Roundy, the former only surviving him.
PULLMAN FAMILY.
Captain Asahel Roundy, during his active career, was the owner of considerable real estate in this town, and at one time owned nearly all of Lot 32, Sempronius. This he conveyed in parcels to different settlers, who moved on the lands, cleared away the forests, built houses and reared families there. Among these early settlers, to whom he conveyed land on this lot, was Psalter Pullman. He cleared away the timber and settled on the farm afterwards known as the Rathbone Barber, Jr., farm, and now (1900) owned by the estate of Edwin S. Van Benschoten, deceased. On this farm most, if not all, of Mr. Pullman's children were born. Among them was Lewis Pullman, the father of George M. Pullman, the late multi-millionaire and sleeping and palace car magnate, of Pullman, Illinois, whose decease is a matter of recent occurrence. Psalter Pullman moved to the western part of this State about 1829. There are very few now living who have any remembrance of him or of any of his family, except his son, John Pullman, who married Mabel Pettis, sister of Ebenezer Haven's wife. He con- tinued to reside here for about twenty years after the departure of his father.
John Pullman at one time resided on the Skaneateles and Homer road, about one mile south of Spafford Corners, and kept a house of entertainment there called "The Nimble Sixpence." The house and barn were close to the road on either side, and passers by at night were much annoyed by John's cattle, who were wont to sleep in the highway for want of a better barnyard. "The Nimble Sixpence," according to the memory of "Old Inhabitants," had only one room in it, and that was occupied by Mr. Pullman's numerous family as a bed room, living room, dining room,,
COLONEL PHINEAS HUTCHENS
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pantry, etc., besides being used as a bar-room and lounging place for guests, after Mr. Pullman set himself up in busi- ness as a tavern keeper. It is probable that Mr. Pullman's patrons were mostly confined to neighbors' boys, who thought it great sport to give landlord Pullman an occasional house warming. Mr. Pullman was an honest, upright and well meaning man, but possessed of certain vagaries and crank notions, which leads those who knew him to believe that George M. Pullman, the great Palace Car magnate, absorbed all the brains and nervous energy of the entire Pullman family.
After the removal of the major part of the Pullman family to the western part of the State, as above stated, an occasional correspondence was kept up between John Pull- man, who was left behind, and other members of the family. One day John Jullman came to the village Postmistress with an unsealed letter in his hand, and with unfeigned pride, asked her to examine it, saying: "Don't you think that pretty good writin' for a man like me?" She took the letter in her hand, examined it, and found among other things that Mr. Pullman had made an indiscriminate use of capital letters, without any reference to any known rules on the subject, sometimes even placing them in the middle of a word. She turned to Mr. Pullman and said: "Mr. Pullman, your writing is very good indeed, but why don't you put your capital letters at the beginning of words and sentences, as other people do?" "Well," says he, " I think that makes my writin' look a leetle better to scatter them more evenly through the letter, than to bunch them up as some people do."
COLONEL PHINEAS HUTCHENS.
Colonel Phineas Hutchens was born in Herkimer County, New York, in 1785, and came to this town and settled on Lot 22, Tully, in 1811. He remained on the farm where he first settled, until his decease in 1870. He was a man of great physical strength, strong personality, a natural leader of men, a prominent member of the Baptist Church, and led a blameless life. His personal influence was always wielded for the good of the community in which he resided, yet, having a strong sense of humor in his make up, he fully enjoyed all the sports and military functions
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which were popular in those times and engaged the atten- tion of the people. In those matters, and in the conduct of the public affairs of the town, he was always a cordial and able assistant of his life long friend, Captain Asahel Roundy. Prior to 1830, when a portion of the township of Marcellus was added, all public business of the town centered about Spafford "Corners," where these two men resided, and their influence was most potent.
Both were strong men, yet their influence and control over their fellows was much strengthened by their sympa- thetic and fun loving natures.
ROSWELL HUTCHENS.
Mr. Hutchens had a son, Roswell Hutchens, who in- herited his humor, purity and fun, but not his commanding physical strength and personality. "Roz," as he was familiarly called, died January 16, 1854, at the age of thirty- three years, unmarried, yet where is there a man or woman, who was a boy or girl residing within a radius of ten miles of Spafford " Corners," in his time ,who does not cherish a pleasant recollection of him and his fun loving disposition. His sleigh or wagon was never so small or overloaded as to prevent him giving a boy or girl a lift on the way to and from school, and generally his sleigh or wagon had as many boys and girls upon it as could safely hang on. In the Fall of the year " Roz " ran the Hutchens' Cider Mill, which at noon hour of school days was a favorite resort for boys to congregate, eat dinner and drink cider. No boy was ever refused a drink of cider and as much of the beverage as he could carry away in his dinner pail. Like his father before him he was a lover of fine horses and was seldom without a pair of his own, yet like most admirers of horsekind he was a successful and inveterate horse trader :- in fact he would trade anything he owned if he got his price. His desire for traffic frequently led him from home, and it was not unusual for these absences to be extended for weeks at a time; then followed the tri- umphal home coming, when all the people left their work and gathered along the highway to witness the entertain- ment which "Roz " was sure to have in store for them. On one of these occasions, it will be remembered, that the procession consisted of two or more spans of horses attached
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to an ordinary farm wagon, bearing a hay-rack filled with all kinds of household goods and farming implements. Following this came a yoke of oxen, a dairy of cows, and a drove of sheep. The entire outfit comprised everything necessary to stock and run a farm except a wife, and no doubt there was some disappointment in not finding among his belongings this essntial commodity.
At another time he brought home a camel-back pacer mare, as ugly looking a nag as man ever derw a line over, but as speedy as she was ugly, and that was saying a good deal. For a month or more after that every farmer boy, who thought he had a horse particularly fast, had a chance to test his claim on the road. It is not probable that " Roz's " sisters or girl friends were ever seen going to church or a quilting bee behind this animal, yet all were willing before a month went by to concede the right of way to him and his pacer mare. "Roz " was a great favorite with old and young, and on festive occasions among his acquaintance, was not only present but generally the center of interest, where innocent fun held sway. No one pre- sumed to make him the subject of a practical joke but once, and that nearly broke his heart.
" Roz " brought home a raw-boned animal, called a Pie- balled horse, of very light color and in bad condition; this was put to pasture in a back lot, to recuperate and gain flesh, as a basis for a future trade. With his long ears and measly condition he looked more like a mule than a horse, so much so, that a wag thinking to define his identification in the animal kingdom more perfectly, trimmed his tail down to a "nubbin " at the end, and cut his mane down to a row of short bristles along the top of his neck; then, still more to improve the identification, he put a few stripes around his body with a brush and a pot of black paint; the animal, thus disfigured, was then turned loose to meet the doting gaze of his master. When "Roz' discovered this transformed quadruped he was furious, and for the first time in his life was unable to see the funny side of a joke. The wag soon discovered this unusual element in "Roz " nature, and wisely kept his identification so securely that " Roz " died without knowledge of the creator of this, his first and only specimen of the Zebra kind.
Among the efforts made to discover the person who per-
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petrated this practical joke, was one made by "Ranse " Coon, the village harness-maker. At "Roz " solicitation he got a small boy, who was supposed to know something of the matter, into his shop and inquired of him who dis- figured " Roz " horse. The boy being reluctant to answer, Coon pressed the question, by saying he might as well tell then as at any time, for if he did not answer he would be brought in Court and made to swear. The boy replied that his mother told him "never to swear." Coon, perceiving the boy did not understand the nature of an oath, pressed his question still more. Finally the boy, in despair, exclaimed, " Well, if I have got to swear, I say B- G- I don't know anything about it." This settled the examina- tion, and " Roz," being told the result, was so well pleased that he gave up farther investigation.
On the face of the tombstone placed at the grave of Roswell Hutchens, in Spafford Cemetery, is firmly set a small daguerrotype of himself, in a plug hat; this, when last seen by the writer, after a lapse of nearly fifty years since it was first put there, was as perfect as when first taken.
AMOS MINER.
Amos Miner was born in Norfolk, Litchfield County, Conn., November 10th, 1776. He came to Marcellus, (now Skaneateles), about the year 1800, and settled on a cross- road leading east from the lake road, and about two miles south of the village of Skaneateles. Here he built himself a shop and commenced the manufacture of his famous accelerating wheel-heads, to be attached to spinning wheels then in use by farmers' wives for making woolen yarn. In the Fall of the year 1805 he sold his possessions in Skan- eateles and located on Lot 68, Marcellus, (now Spafford), but soon after established himself in Factory Gulf, where, as a member of the firm of Miner, Deming and Sessions, he built a factory for the manufacture of his celebrated accel- erating wheel-heads and other wooden articles. Among the articles invented and manufactured by him about this time were Miner's Patent Pail, Miner's Half Bushel Measure, Miner's Wooden Bowls, Miner's Grooved Window Sash, and Miner's Wooden Pumps. He also manufactured many other articles from wood, then in common use.
THOMAS MAXSON FOSTER
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After a few years Miner sold his interest in the busi- ness at Factory Gulf, and located himself at the head of another Gulf on Lot 76, Marcellus, leading into Otisco Lake, where he built another factory, and a grist mill, commonly called " The Pudding Mill," from the fact that Miner here ground large quantities of Indian meal, com- monly used by the early settlers as an article of food, under the name of pudding and milk. Miner's superior inventive genius was more often brought into requisition in the manufacture of tools and machines used in the process of manufacture of his inventions, than in the conception and completion of the finished product itself.
The genius of Miner was particularly illustrated by the manner in which he accumulated and applied the power to run his machinery at the mill, situate at the head of the Pudding Mill Gulf. The mill was so located on the edge of a precipitous rock, that the water coming to his mill passed over a series of three overshot wheels, one above another, giving him the accumulated power of three wheels instead of one.
Miner, like most men of his class, was a better inventor than financier, so when his invention was completed and on the road to success, he generally tired of it, sold out, and others were premitted to reap the fruits of his genius instead of himself. The Pudding Mill venture was no exception to the rule, so another was soon in possession of the mill, and miner was engaged in starting another factory or mill at Mottville, on the outlet of Skaneateles Lake. From there he soon moved further down stream, to a place midway between Elbridge and Jordan, and was finally lost sight of in the Far Distant West. When he left the State it is said he carried with him the sum of $10,000, the accumulation of a lifetime, while others accumulated great wealth, as a product of his brain power and inventive genius.
BARN MOVING.
In the early fifties Asahel Madison Roundy was a mer- chant at Spafford " Corners,' and owned and occupied the Joseph R. Berry store (now occupied by John Van Ben- schoten), and Thomas Maxson Foster was and had been for many years his clerk. This store was a favorite place
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for men and boys to gather evenings, tell stories and dis- cuss matters of general interest. Before Mr. Roundy's death, which occurred in 1857, an incident occurred which Mr. Foster, familiarly called " Mac," related to the writer, and we here transcribe in his own language:
" A short time before Asahel M. Roundy died he pur- chased a part of the Samuel French farm, west of the road and just south of the " Corners." Being dissatisfied with the location of the barn on the premises, he undertook to move it nearer the road and the house on the place. He made a bee and invited his nieghbors to assist in the moving, which was in the old way, with rollers under each corner of the building, revolved by hand spikes inserted in holes made for the purpose. After two half days' effort the building still stood within a rod of the place where it was at the beginning, and Ase came in to the store where I was at work, discouraged, and said to me: 'I don't believe I can ever get that barn moved in the world.' I replied : ' If you will leave that job to me I will get it moved, and won't go near it either, but if you do you must not inter- fere.' 'Well,' says he, 'you go ahead, and I will stand aside and you can do as you please.'
" Roundy, at that time, was a prominent member of the Baptist Church and a pronounced advocate of temperance. After the matter was turned over to me I waited until one evening, when a number of men had gathered in the store to tell stories and discuss the news of the day, and I said to them quietly, that on such a day I intended to move 'Ase's' barn, and I wanted them to turn out and help me and invite their friends. That there would be plenty of lemonade for all, and I would see there was plenty of stick in it to suit their taste; and if they came I would see they had a good time.
" When the day arrived the clans began to gather; there was not only enough to move the building, but a goodly number to spare. There was Silas Randall and two or three of his boys, Avery Burdick, Russel Rounds, Jencks Harrington, Uriah Morris, and many others whose names I cannot recall; most of whom have long since gone to their final reward. They were honest and faithful men, good and generous neighbors, and every one of them fond of good cheer and of the sports of that age.
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" As I began to mix my first pail of lemonade, Silas Ran- dall sang out: " Well, boys, if we are going to move that building let us be about it," and all hands following his lead and moved off for the barn. By the time the last man had moved out of the store I had my lemons, sugar and water in the pail, and I went down cellar and drew a generous measure of alcohol, and added that to the other ingredients in the pail; I then started for the barn. When I got there I saw that Silas Randall was in charge and every man in his place, so I carefully put my lemonade where all could see it and returned to the store. On my return I took down another large milk pail and commenced my second decoction of lemons, sugar, water and alcohol. As I pursued my work I looked out of the store window and saw that the barn was not only moving, but seemed to be walking to its place of destination. When I had prepared my second pail of lemonade I again started for the moving. On the way I met M -- M-, who accosted me, saying: "Mac! there seems to be plenty of help without me, so I guess I will go home and hoe my potatoes. I did not get any of the other lemonade, and if you are willing, I would like a bit of this.' I put down the pail, and he took the tin dipper and took up a generous draught of the beverage. As he put it to his lips, I said: ' M-, be careful, there is a stick in that and I don't know the size of it.' He either did not hear the remark, or did not heed the caution, and quaffed off the contents of the dipper without a halt, and started for home. M-M- and his wife were at that time well known church members and professed strict teetotalers, hence my caution; which I would not have deemed necessary for others. When I arrived at the building it was nearly in place, so I put down the pail, stood around and looked on. Before the building, with his back to the front, stood the tall form of Silas Randall, with his bare brawny arms gesticulating like a bandmaster. 'Here, take hold of this plank, Avery, and put it down here. Take hold of that handspike, Nathan. Russel Rounds, come round here and help William,' sang out his clear voice, and then: 'All together. He! Hoe! Hee! He! Hoe! Hee and the building moved like a creature of life. It did not take long to put the barn in place, and then came the jacking up of the building and the leveling of the sills. There was no
.
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use for me, so I started back for the store. As I walked along I looked down the road and saw Mrs. M-, with her sunbonnet in her hand, coming towards me as fast as she could walk. When she overtook me she said: 'Mac, what has M- been doing up here to-day?' I said: 'Nothing; there was sufficient without him, so he went home. Why?' She replied: 'I never saw him act so before. He came home, took his hoe and went into the patato patch, and there he stood leaning on it. The moment he tried to do any- thing, he pitched forward and could hardly keep his feet; I did not know what was the matter.' I said: 'He is not to blame, if any one is it is me; but no one is to blame. I told him there was a stick in the lemonade, but I guess he did not understand it. You go home, put him to bed, and he will sleep it off by morning. Don't say anything to any- one about it. He is all right.' She turned around and went home. As M- lived afterwards to a good old age I guess the lemonade did him no harm.
" After the moving was completed the young folks gath- ered on the village green and played ball, and the old folks looked on and applauded the winners. At tea time all went home, feeling that they had a good time. No one seemed to be worse for having drank of the lemonade with a stick in it."
DANIEL WALLACE, JR.
This brief sketch of first settlers would be incomplete without some reference to the large, influential and respect- able Wallace family, who were inhabitants of the northern portion of the town. Daniel Wallace, Sr., the head of the family, came from Pittstown, Rensselaer County, New York, and settled on Lot 88. Marcellus, about 1808. He had a large family, some of whom were born before coming here and some afterwards. They were all persons of marked character, but possibly none of his sons were better known than his son Daniel Wallace, Jr., who at one time was one of the largest real estate holders in town. "Uncle Daniel," as the latter was familiarly called, died at a great age and was buried in Borodino Cemetery. He always claimed his family was of Scotch origin, but the old stock spelled the name Wallis in a very un-Scottish way. Uncle Daniel took great interest in town affairs, and his
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