USA > New York > Onondaga County > Spafford > Spafford, Onondaga County, New York > Part 2
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A statement of the services performed by the soldiers who drew lots in the town of Spafford is worthy of mention, but space precludes any recital other than the following, in reference to the recipients of bounty lands in this town :
NAMES OF SOLDIERS DRAWING BOUNTY LANDS IN SPAFFORD.
TOWNSHIP OF TULLY.
Lot 1 Pr. Joseph Sevey, 2nd Co. 1st Regt. Inft. Col. Goose Van Schaick 600 acres.
Lot 2 Pr. Joseph Ball, 2nd Regt. Inft., Col. Philip Van Cortland 500 acres. Lot 11 Fifer John Cheery, 2nd Regt. Inft., Col.
Philip Van Cortland 600 acres.
Lot 12 Sergt. Benjamin Lawrence, 2nd Regt.
600 acres Inft., Col. Philip Van Cortland
Lot 12 Gospel and Schools. 600 acres.
Lot 21 Surgeon Caleb Sweet, 1st Regt. Inft., 500 acres. Col. Goose Van Schaick
Lot 22 Pr. Richard Whalling, 1st Regt. Inft., Col. Goose Van Schaick 600 acres. Lot 23 Matross George Allen, 1st Regt. Art.,
Col. John Lamb 600 acres.
Lot 24 Capt. Abraham Livingston, 1st Regt. 600 acres. Inft., Col. James Livingston
Lot 31 Gospel and Schools 600 acres.
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ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION
Lot 32 Pr. John Pierson, ...... Regt. Inf., Gen. Moses Hazen's Congress Own 500 acres. Lot 33 Capt. John C. Ten Broeck, 1st Regt. Inft., Col. Goose Van Schaick 600 acres.
Lot 34 Pr. Shorter Smith, 2nd Regt. Inft., Col. Peter Van Cortland 600 acres.
Lot 41 Pr. John Frederick, 1st Regt. Inf., Col. Goose Van Schaick 600 acres. Lot 42 Sergt. Elias Wilcox, 1st Regt. Art., Col. John Lamb 500 acres.
Lot 42 Corp. Joseph Smith, 2nd Regt. Inft., Col. 500 acres. Philip Van Cortland
Lot 44 Pr. Nathaniel Brock, Regt. Inft., Col.
James Livingston 500 acres.
TOWNSHIP OF SEMPRONIUS.
Lot 10 Major Nicholas Fish, 2nd Regt. Inft., Col. Philip Van Cortland 600 acres.
Lot 11 Pr. Aaron DeWitt, 1st Regt. Inft., Col. Goose Van Schaick 450 acres.
Lot 12 Pr. Daniel Ogden, 1st Regt. Inft., Col. 600 acres. Goose Van Schaick
Lot 13 Corp. Solomon Barnes, 1st Regt. Agt., Col. John Lamb 600 acres.
Lot 14 Pr. John Tucker, 4th Regt. Inft., Col.
Fred Weissenfels 500 acres.
Lot 21 Pr. John Wyatt, 1st Regt. Inft., Col.
Goose Van Schaick
600 acres.
Lot 23 Pr. Samuel Wheeler, 2nd Regt. Inft., Col.
Philip Van Cortland 600 acres.
Lot 23 Corp. Cornelius Ammerman, 2nd Regt. Inft., Col. Philip Van Cortland. 500 acres.
TOWNSHIP OF MARCELLUS.
Lot 68 Surgeon Ebenezer Haveland, 2nd Regt. Inft., Col. Philip Van Cortland. 500 acres.
Lot 69 Sergt. Daniel Ludlam, 2nd Regt. Inft., Col. Philip Van Cortland 500 acres.
Lot 70 Sergt. and Matross Elijah Pierce, 1st 600 acres. Regt. Art., Col. John Lamb
Lot 71 Pr. Burdice Campbell, 1st Regt. Inft., Col. Goose Van Schaick 500 acres.
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SPAFFORD, ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK
Lot 74 Gunner Frederick Dayton, 1st Regt. Agt., Col. John Lamb 600 acres. Lot 75 Fifer John Factor, 2nd Regt. Inf., Col. Philip Van Cortland. 600 acres.
Lot 76 Second Lieutenant Thomas Ostrander,
3rd Regt. Inft., Col. Peter Gansevoort .... 500 acres. Lot 77 Fifer Henry Winford, 1st Regt. Inf., Col. Goose Van Schaick 500 acres.
Lot 88 Pr. Philip Fields, 2nd Regt. Inft., Col. Philip Van Cortland 500 acres.
Lot 89 Pr. Frederick Wybert, 1st Regt. Inft., Col. Goose Van Schaick 500 acres. Lot 90 Sergt. Philip Steves, 2nd Regt. Inft., Col. Philip Van Cortland 600 acres.
Lot 91 Capt. Peter L. Vosburgh, ... Regt. Inft.,
Col. James Livingston 600 acres. Lot 96 Fifer Henry Davis, 1st Regt. Art., Col. John Lamb 600 acres.
FIRST SETTLERS.
Under the law granting bounty land to soldiers a settle- ment had to be made on the land within a limited period subsequent to the date of the patent. As a majority of the claims had been assigned by the soldiers to speculators residing along the Hudson River, who had no intention of making a settlement themselves, when the patents were issued the lands were offered for sale in large quantities and sold to purchasers at prices much below their true value. The consequence was that many persons residing east of the Hudson River in Washington, Saratoga, Van Rensselaer, Columbia and Westchester Counties, came to this town for settlement within a few years after the date of the Patents in July, 1790. The first settlers, however, were not confined to the river counties in this State, many coming direct from Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachu- setts, New Hampshire and Vermont; they were all, how- ever, with very few exceptions, of New England origin.
GILBERT PALMER AND HIS SON JOHN.
The first settler within the present limits of this town
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ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION
was Gilbert Palmer, who came from Amawalk, Westchester County, New York. Mr. Joshua V. H. Clark, in his excel- lent history of the County of Onondaga, says he came in the Fall of 1794 and settled on Lot 76, Marcellus. He also says he served for this lot in the War of the Revolution, but as to this we know Mr. Clark is incorrect, as his deed, which is dated September 21, 1792, is from Lieutenant Thomas Ostrander, the soldier who drew this lot for serv- ices which he performed in the New York Line, during that war. Mr. Palmer did not purchase the State's Hun- dred Acres on that lot, as it was excepted from the deed. It is presumed from the fact that Mr. Palmer is not joined by a wife, in any of his seven or eight conveyances made from his original purchase, that he was a widower during his residence in this town.
Mr. Clark relates the following pathetic incident in re- ference to Mr. Palmer and his son John:
" In the Fall of the year 1794, soon after his arrival, Mr. Palmer and his son, a youth of some sixteen years of age, went into the woods chopping for the purpose of making a clearing. Some time in the afternoon they felled a tree, and as it struck the ground it bounded, swung around and caught the young man under it. The father at once mounted the log, cut it off, rolled it over and liber- ated the son. Upon examination one of his lower limbs was found to be badly crushed and mangled. He there- upon carried the youth to his log hut close at hand, and with all possible diligence made haste to his nearest neigh- bors, some three or four miles distant, desiring them to go and minister to his son's necessities, while he should go to Whitestown for Dr. White. The neighbors sallied forth with such comfortable things as they thought might be acceptable in such a case; but amidst the confusion, the dense forest and the darkness of the night which had just set in, they missed the way; and after wandering about for a long time gave over pursuit and returned home, leav- ing the poor sufferer alone to his fate. Early the next morning all hands again rallied, and in due time found the young man suffering the most extreme anguish from his mangled limb, and greatly benumbed with cold. They built a fire, made him comfortable with such palliatives
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SPAFFORD, ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK
as could be procured in the wilderness, and waited in patience for the return of the parent.
" In the meantime he had proceeded rapidly on his journey on foot and found Dr. White at Clinton, N. Y. Here he engaged an Oneida Indian to pilot them through the woods, by a nearer route than to follow the windings of the old road. Dr. White and Mr. Palmer were at sundry times fearful the Indian would lose the way, but upon every expression of doubt on their part the Indian would exclaim 'Me know,' and told them he would bring them out at a certain log, which lay across the Outlet at the foot of Otisco Lake. The Indian took the lead and within forty-eight hours after the accident had happened the Indian brought them exactly to the log, exclaiming tri- umphantly, 'Me know.' Here Mr. Palmer arrived upon familiar ground, and at once proceeded to the cabin where he had left his son, whom they found greatly prostrated, and writhing under the most intense suffering. No time was lost. The case was thought desperate, the limb was amputated at once half way from the knee to the thigh."
The youth recovered and lived many years afterwards. He became a tailor, and Hon Sidney Smith said, "I re- member him very well, going about his duties with his wooden leg." In a deed dated August 21, 1797, given by Gilbert Palmer to John Palmer, the latter is described by the grantor as, "My son," and the latter is described as then a resident of Westchester County, indicating that after his terrible accident with the falling tree, related by Clark, he must have returned to his old home in Amawalk, to grow up, recover his strength, and possibly learn the trade of a tailor, afterwards pursued by him while a resident of this town.
Gilbert Palmer's last sale of land on Lot 76 was January 9, 1815, and the last sale of land on the same lot by John Palmer was September 28, 1814. About the latter date the two Palmers moved into the village of Borodino, where the son carried on a tailor shop. In the year 1819 father and son moved to Hannibal, Oswego County, New York, where the former is supposed to have died. In John Palmer's last deed dated July 2, 1819, he is joined by his wife Rachel, whom he probably married after 1814.
Mr. Gilbert Palmer has always been credited with being
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ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION
a soldier of the American Revolution, and probably was such, as a Gilbert Palmer served for a short tour of duty in a Militia organization both in this State and in the State of Connecticut, the latter being the home of a prolific and influential branch of the Palmer family.
NAMES OF OTHER FIRST SETTLERS.
The next settler in town was undoubtedly Samuel Conk- lin, who came in 1796 and purchased a farm of one hundred nine acres of Gilbert Palmer, situate in the north west corner of Lot 76, Marcellus. Mr. Conklin is credited with having erected the first frame dwelling house in town, which was built in 1807, near the north west corner of Lot 76, Marcellus.
Mr. Conklin was followed, a few months afterwards, by Henry Winford (or Wentworth), the only soldier who settled on a lot in this town for which he served; he came in the Spring of 1797, and settled on lot 77, Marcellus. We have no knowledge of him after May, 1809, the date of his last deed, which was to John Campbell, who was probably then a resident on said lot 77, Marcellus.
James Kirkum, from Fredericksburg, Dutchess County, New York, settled on lot 77, Marcellus, in the Fall of 1797 or Spring of 1798, but of him we know nothing more after September 8, 1801, at which time he sold out to Justus Blakely, then an owner of land and probably a resident on said lot since June 11, 1799. These are all of whom we have any knowledge who became settlers in town before 1800.
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It is very difficult to tell just when the different persons classed as first settlers took up their abode here, by reason of the prevalent custom among them of going into occupa- tion of the land under a contract, and a deed following later, with a date several years posterior to the time of their reputed claim of settlement. Nevertheless the dates given in the following statement are believed to be reason- ably accurate and trustworthy, notwithstanding some of the dates may differ from those that have been published on the subject.
According to recorded deeds the northern end of the town led in the matter of settlement, both before and after
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SPAFFORD, ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK
the year 1800. Principally from the same source of in- formation it appears Elias Harmon and Zadock Randall settled on lot 77 or 76, Marcellus, Medad Harvey, William Collins and Gershom Hall on lot 75, Marcellus, and Eben- ezer Taylor and Nicholas Otis on lot 90, Marcellus, in the year 1801; John C. Hillebert on lot 89, Marcellus, Jesse Peck on lot 90, Marcellus, David Smith on lot 77, Marcellus, Valentine and James Rathbone, Jeremiah Van Benschoten and Jason Gleason on lot 74, Marcellus, and Benjamin Chaffee on lot 69, Marcellus, in the year 1802; Edward Bur- gess and Lemuel Smith on lot 77, Marcellus, and Warren and John Kneeland on lot 74, Marcellus, in the year 1803. All these, with perhaps the addition of Daniel Tinkham on lot 89, Marcellus, who is reputed to have settled there in 1802, although his deed is dated in 1804, were made before any one had broken silence in the Tully end of the town, unless it be with the single exception made in favor of Jonathan Berry, who is claimed to have settled on lot 12, Sempronius, in the year 1803. Although Mr. Berry's first residence was just over the southern line of Marcellus, in the Tully end of the town, yet all his business and social relations were with the people residing in the vicinity of Borodino.
In the year 1804, Nathan Howard, from Stephentown, N. Y., settled on Lot 74, Marcellus, Samuel Tyler, Asa Chap- man, Alvah Smith and Joseph Enos on Lot 69, Marcellus, Avery and Asa Mason and Nathan Parce on Lot 68, Mar- cellus, Benjamin Sweet from Brutus, N. Y., on Lot 76, Marcellus, and Jabish and Luther Hall and Samuel Maclure on Lot 75, Marcellus.
In the year 1805 Isaac Hall made his first appearance at Spafford Corners, and settled on the States 'Hundred Acres on Lot 21, Tully; he probably should be called the first settler in the southern or Tully end of the town. Mr. Berry, as suggested above, should be classed with the Northern or Marcellus settlers, with whom he soon after and in 1810, became in fact as well as by association a part. During this same year James Cravath also settled on Lot 21, Tully, (near where Joseph Cole resides in 1900), and the name of Amos Miner, the well known inventor and wheelwright, who settled on Lot 68, Marcellus, was added to the northern settlers in town.
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ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION
The year 1806 witnessed the following additions to the list of settlers, distributed as below: John Hunt and James Fitzgerald, Lot 70, Marcellus, Levi Appleby Lot 89, Mar- cellus, Gideon Colton from Whitestown, N. Y., Lot 10, Sempronius, Job Smith from Greenfield, N. Y., Lot 74, Marcellus, Peter Knapp, from Brutus, N. Y. on Lot 42, Tully, John Babcock, the first Supervisor of the town, on Lot 21, Tully, and Dr. Archibald Farr on Lot 11, Tully. (Tradition says Dr. Farr came in 1803, see subsequent statement of him.)
From this time forward settlers came in quick succes- sion, and distributed themselves over the town in both its northern and southern extremities; among whom were the following: Asahel Roundy, Samuel Seeley, Charles Whaley, Joshua B. Bearse, Warren Baldwin, Alexander M. Beebe, Joseph Humphrey, Cyrel Johnson, James Cornell, James Hiscock, Oliver Hyde, Ebenezer Lewis, Benjamin Eggle- stone, Joseph Baldwin, Benjamin Stanton, Joseph Bulfinch, Moses and Joseph Prindle, Psalter Pullman, James Wood- worth, Elias Davis, Joseph and Job L. Lewis, Silas Cox, Aaron Bearse, Daniel and Edward Baxter, Messer Barker, Daniel Scranton, Asa Ferry, Thomas Whiting, James Wightman, Pardon Cornell, James McCausey, John Gould, Benjamin Homer, James Avery, Jonathan Ripley, Elisha Sabin, John Rainey, Shadrack, Daniel and Uriah Roundy, Joel Palmer, Amos Palmer, John and Elihu Babcock, Bena- jah Cleveland, Horace Pease, Ruluf Barber, Rathbone Barber, Rathbone Barber, Jr., Thompson Burdick, David Carver, James Williamson, William Bacon, Amos Bacon, Isaac Town, Luke Miner, William O'Farrell, William D. Cornell, Robert K. Kidney, Alpheus Winchester, Eleazer Hillebert, William Strong, Samuel H. Yates, Loami W. Johnson, Timothy Mills, Silas and Stephen Randall, Robert Almey, Alexander Streeter, Truman Hinman, Jesse Manley, Dr. Benjamin Trumbull, Stephen Crane, William Dedrick, Amasa Kneeland, Dr. Jeremiah B. Whiting, Col. Phineas and John Hutchens, Edwin S. Edwards, Augustin Mckay, Calvin Patterson, Daniel Wallace, Sr. and Jr., Samuel Holmes, Peter Churchell, Abiathar Melvin, Amos Fisher, Christopher Green, Osmer Orton, John and Samuel Gale, Timothy Owen, Dr. John Collins and many others, which,
CAPTAIN ASAHEL ROUNDY
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SPAFFORD, ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK
for greater particularity, the reader is referred to the second part of this work.
These men, as has been said before, were nearly all of New England origin, mostly from Rhode Island, Connecti- cut, Massachusetts, and Vermont, although a large pro- portion of them came to this town from the counties in this State east of the Hudson River, where they had made a temporary sojourn prior to coming here. Perhaps the County of Washington, north of Albany, contributed in numbers as generously as any to these early settlers. They were an energetic, God fearing, well informed and indus- trious people; among whom were many remarkable men, who have left an indelible impression upon the character of the people of this town; and some of their descendants have gone forth and made an honorable record for them- selves in the several communities in which they have resided. Of some of these we have given a more or less extended account in the second part of this work, and will not repeat here. We deeply regret, however, our inability to do justice to all owing to want of further information on the subject. Social life among the early settlers in this town was much the same as in all other communities settled by New England people, much that was good in it and very little that was evil; and yet there was a humorous side to it as well as a serious one. We trust the following anecdotes will not detract from the general high social character of these settlers, nor be unacceptable to the reader.
CAPTAIN ASAHEL ROUNDY.
Captain Asahel Roundy, whose family genealogy appears in the second part of this work, came to Spafford on horse- back from Rockingham, Vt., in 1807. His father, Uriah Roundy, died in 1813 at the latter place, and soon after his mother and brothers and sisters followed him from the old home in Vermont and took up residences about him in this town, from whence in after years they were scattered to different parts of the Great West. Mr. Roundy obtained his rank of Captain from the State of New York, he having commanded a Company from this town in the 96th Militia from this State in the War of 1812; that regiment having done a short tour of duty in the Fall of 1814 in the vicinity
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ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION
of Sackett's Harbor, New York. In this service Phineas Hutchens was his Lieutenant. At the time of receiving orders for this service Captain Roundy was at Onondaga Hill, attending a meeting of the Board of Supervisors of Onondaga County, of which he was a member, and at once communicated the order to his subordinate, Lieutenant Hutchens, who warned out the Company, came on to Onon- daga Valley, and was there joined by Captain Roundy. The Company was absent from home under his command for about a month and was then discharged at Smith's Mills, New York, November 22nd, 1814. Captain Roundy in- herited his military instincts from a patriotic ancestry ; his father, his grandfather, and three of his uncles did military service in the American Revolution.
The general character of the early settlers of this town is well illustrated by the following anecdotes told of Captain Roundy, in a recent publication from which we copy :
" During the early history of the County of Onondaga a large share of the litigation was in Justice Courts in the different towns, and not in the higher Courts at the County seat, as at the present day. On such occasions the best talent in the county was employed, and every one suspended work to be present at the law suit. At such times Captain Roundy was frequeently called upon to try one side or the other of these cases, and Hon. Daniel Gott, who in olden times was considered one of the strongest trial lawyers in the county, paid Captain Roundy the compliment of being one of the strongest advocates before a jury of any man he ever met. There were several remarkable men among the early pioneers of this town, but it is no disparagement of any of them to say that he was the most remarkable of them all. He was six feet tall, well proportioned, a perfect athlete, and an adept in all the sports participated in by the men of those times. His education was acquired only in the common school, but he had a remarkably retentive memory, and his mind was well stored with valuable infor- mation including much poetry and song, all of which he was able to command and use to advantage, both in public speech and in private conversation. He was a man physically and mentally well equipped.
" The first settler at what is now known as Randall's Point or Spafford Landing, on Skaneateles Lake, came to
25
SPAFFORD, ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YOR!'
Spafford early, while the country was then a wilderness, and undertook to build a log house at that place. In doing so he broke his leg, by a log rolling upon him. Captain Roundy, finding him in this condition, and no help being at hand, took him upon his back and bore him through the woods up an almost vertical pathway for a mile and a half to his house, where he was cared for until his recovery.
" Captain Roundy at an early date purchased lands in the eastern part of the town, and laid out and built the road known as the Bucktail. Any one who has ever passed over this road will be likely to remember that its ruggedness is equal to its picturesqueness, which is saying a good deal. In early times this road has been and is now a subject of jest. At that time the two principal political parties in this State were known as Bucktails and Clintonians. Of the former he was at that time a prominent member, so much so that the people dubbed the road the "Bucktail," in recognition of that fact, and it has borne the name until the present time.
" At an early time one or two burials had been made in what is known as the Spafford Cemetery, east of the Cor- ners, which was then open pasture land. One day a funeral party came there with a corpse for burial, and the man who owned the land refused to let the interment take place, whereupon as usual in such cases, an appeal was made to Captain Roundy, who went to the owner and bought and paid for the original land, (one acre) which forms a part of this Cemetery, and the title to the same rests in his name, or that of his descendants to this day.
" Before 1831 it was common to imprison people for debt. On one occasion a man living on the main road in the southern part of the town was in debt. He was abusive and resisted arrest. For a long time he kept himself con- cealed and locked indoors. He kept out of the way of the officers, as they were not permitted to break down doors to make such arrests. The officer went to Captain Roundy, and he undertook to assist him in making service. It was Winter time. He got a two horse rig, put on all the bells he could find, and in the middle of the night drove down to within half a mile of the man's house, got out, and taking two bundles of straw under his arm, walked down to the north end of the house, which had no windows in it,
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ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION
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
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