USA > New York > Tompkins County > Dryden > The centennial history of the town of Dryden. 1797-1897 > Part 17
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THE SOUTH-WEST SECTION.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
FURTHER HISTORY OF THE SOUTH-WEST SECTION.
This division includes all of the south-west quarter of the town ex- cept the Varna neighborhood, which has been treated separately, and also includes Lots 94 and 95 which are now a part of Caroline, but for historical purposes are still claimed as a part of Dryden.
The Free Will Baptist church on Snyder Hill, in this section, was organized April 3, 1824, with Elder Edward E. Dodge as pastor, and
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CHURCH AT SNYDER HILL.
Wessels S. Middaugh and Daniel Reeves as deacons. The additional charter members were Salmon Hutchinson, Samuel Snyder, Benjamin Quick, Belden Meade and Chauncey Lee. The church building now in use was erected in 1856, but has lately been repaired and fitted up in modern style. The land upon which the church and school-house now stand was donated by Joseph M. Snyder, son of Jacob Snyder, the first permanent settler upon Snyder Hill.
The following are the names of the pastors of this church : Edward Dodge, Amos Daniels, Stephen Krum, H. H. Strickland, O. C. Hills, J. W. Hills, Oramel Bingham, J. M. Crandall, A. J. Wood, Evans, William Russell, L. D. Howe, S. W. Schoonover, Brown, D. D. Brown,
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HISTORY OF DRYDEN.
Woodruff, Cooley, F. D. Ellsworth, Charles Pease, Estus Van Marter, A. C. Babcock.
For a few years past a postoffice has been maintained at Ellis Hol- low under the name of " Ellis," and in 1896 a new M. E. church was
erected there, of which we are able to give the accompanying view. Until the erection of this building the class connected with it met in the school-house, the pastors being in 1896 Rev. J. E. Showers and since then Rev. Francis H. Dickerson.
Among the early in- habitants of this sec- tion of whom we are not able to give any family history are Is- rael Brown, Obadiah Brown, Zephaniah Brown, John Cornelius, Tobias Cornelius and ELLIS HOLLOW CHURCH. Joseph Middaugh, a reference to Reuben Brown having been made in a preceding chapter. But we shall bring in the history of this section principally under the heads of its pio- neer families, of whom we have records of the following :
BROWN, ZEPHANIAH. (See Chapter VI.)
BULL, AARON, and KRUM, MATTHEW, who were brothers-in-law, Mr. Bull having married Krum's sister, settled on one hundred acres in the southeast corner of Lot No. 95. They came from Marbletown, Ulster county, N. Y., now in Olive, of the same county. Mr. Krum's father, Henry W., was the owner, and the young men came to settle and clear it up in the year 1806, Krum in June and Bull in September. Bull had the south half and lived only a short distance from the south line of the Military Tract, then the south line of Cayuga county. He was a very bright, active, hard working man but of very little educa- tion, and it is said that he could not read or write until his wife taught him. He was originally from Bull's Bridge, on the Housatonic River,
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in Connecticut, and came thence to Ulster county, N. Y., where he married into the Krum family. Mr. Bull lived on the Dryden lot twelve years, when he bought the Cass Tavern, on the Turnpike (now the Henry S. Krum place), where he afterwards lived and died. He- purchased of Nicholas Fish (father of Hamilton Fish) a large part of Lot 85 and adjacent lands in Dryden and engaged in lumbering, own- ing and managing, with his sons, a couple of canal boats. His fam- ily have always held an influential position.
Matthew Krum was of Holland Dutch descent and the ancestor of the most of the Krums of this county. He lived and died on the place now known as the Aaron B. Schutt farm. John Schutt, the father-in-law of Ruloff, also married a sister of Krum.
COBB, LYMAN, the author of Cobb's readers, spelling books, and oth- er school books extensively used in early times in Central and West- ern New York and Pennsylvania, formerly lived in the white house near Snyder's Station, on the E., C. & N. railroad, a little east of Var- na. He had his books published at Ithaca and the covers were made of thin boards covered with blue paper. He was born in Canaan, Connecticut (or, as some say, in Lenox, Massachusetts,) in the year 1800, and in his youth came with his father's family to Berkshire, Tioga county, N. Y., locating about a mile east ofSpeedsville. He afterwards taught school at Slaterville about three years and it was here that he compiled the first edition of his spelling book published by Mack & Andrus about the year 1819. He was afterwards a teach- er in Ithaca. His wife was a daughter of Ephraim Chambers, who at one time resided on the Dan Rice farm in Ellis Hollow, and his sister was Mrs. Thomas Davis, who resided in Dryden from 1840 until her decease in 1860.
GENUNG, BENJAMIN, was a Revolutionary soldier, born May 10, 1758, and enlisted at Hanover, Morris county, N. J., in February, 1776, in Capt. Lyon's company of Col. (afterwards General) McDougall's regi- ment of the New York line for one year. He was in the battle of White Plains and in the retreat from New York after the battle of Long Island. In January of the year 1800 he bought of Rev. Asa Hilyer, of Morris county, N. J., a part of Lot No. 93 of Dryden, and in that spring he came to his new home with a yoke of oxen and wag- on carrying all of his household goods and farming utensils, as well as his family, consisting of his wife and six children. They came by way of the celebrated " Beech Woods" in Pennsylvania to Owego and from there to Dryden, stopping with a man by the name of Iruna Peat on Lot 92 until he could locate his purchase, a part of Lot 93,
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HISTORY OF DRYDEN.
where he settled on the land now owned by one of his grandsons, Ben- jamin Genung, Jr. Two of his sons, Barnabas and Aaron, were in the War of 1812, the latter, born December 25, 1787, being in the company of Major Ellis. His daughter Rachel married Wm. Pew, who came to Ithaca in 1803, and many of their descendants are now living in Ithaca and Dryden. His remaining children were Timothy, Pearon and Philo.
Joseph A. Genung, a son of Aaron, born in Dryden January 17, 1835, is an active member of the Centennial Executive Committee, his. postoffice being Ithaca although residing in the town of Dryden.
In addition to Joseph A. Genung, Aaron had two other sons and three daughters. One son, Luther, married Phoebe Banfield and set- tled and died in the town of Danby, leaving a son, Amasa T., now re- siding in Ithaca. Another son, Jacob, married Angeline Pew and re- sides in the vicinity of Ellis Hollow. One daughter, Mary, married Jesse English and they resided on Snyder Hill. Another daughter, Rebecca, married John English and resided on Snyder Hill. Another daughter, Lockey, married James Hagadorn and they resided at Spen- cer, N. Y.
Joseph A. Genung married in 1859 Mary E. Cornelius and they had three daughters. Of these, Estella E. died in 1878, aged 17 years ; Nellie M., born 1864, graduated at the Ithaca High School, married William Gillmer, a farmer; Mary Josephine, born 1876, prepared at the Ithaca High School, graduated at Cornell University 1897, mar- ried Leon Nelson Nichols, graduated at Cornell University 1892, a librarian.
Dr. Homer Genung, of Freeville, and Dr. Benjamin Genung, of Wy- alusing, Pa., are sons of Benjamin Genung, son of Philo.
Dr. John A. Genung, of Ithaca, is a son of John, son of Philo.
The Genungs were nearly all of them prominent and respected farmers.
HAMMOND, THOMAS and ALICE (STONE). Shortly after the year 1800, presumably in 1803, there removed from Scituate, Providence county, Rhode Island, Thomas Hammond, in time of peace a seaman in the coast towns trade of New Bedford, Providence and New London, and attached to the vessels of war during the Revolution. He was born at or near that locality abont 1730 and married Alice Stone, the daugh- ter of Peter and Patience Stone, of that place. From them are de- scended one wing of the Benjamin Wood family, of Western Dryden, and of the Ezra Cornell family of Ithaca.
Thomas, grown too old to longer go before the mast and endure the
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rigor of the sea, still courted adventure in the haunts of the deer, bear, wolf and Indian, his earlier skirmishes with all of the last named hav- ing found more in him, in accord with his tastes, than even the sea fisheries or the comparative quiet of the war vessel. He therefore re- moved to the far frontier of Chenango Valley, N. Y., about 1803, tak- ing with him his numerous family and several other friends (he being a man of push and leadership), together with all his earthly belong- ings.
This was not only a tedious but perilous journey, as it was per- formed with the proverbial ox team of that day, but on foot for all who could walk. The only entrance to his destination lay via Albany and the Hudson River crossing and the Mohawk and Chenango val- leys to Oxford, N. Y. At this point the state was concentrating some interest by its highway cutting into the more westerly wilds, where the deer, bear, wolf and Indian had to be successfully routed, fur- nishing the excitement craved by Thomas, and an inducement for work to his grown and industrious children, and other kin of the party.
Of this party were his wife, Alice; his daughter, Amy, and her husband, Nathan Wood; his grandson, Benjamin Wood; his grandson-in-law, Orrin Squire ; his son, Daniel Hammond, and his family, all of whom figure conspicuously as pioneers of Western Dry- den, and who were clever artisans in brick making, cooperage and weaver's reed making, all essentials in opening new colonies.
Their first settlement was made at Oxford, next at Sherburne, next at Quaker Basin near DeRuyter; thence they came to Willow Glen a little later than 1815, and finally reached, about 1820, the south-west quarter of great lot No. 32, better known as Supervisor Lemi Grover's corner, and Woodlawn, next east. Here, after having buried the hus- band, Thomas, in Chenango Valley, the wife, Alice, lived and died, and is buried beside her daughter Amy (Wood) in the Captain George Robertson cemetery, a few of six generations following hers still clinging near there to-day.
William Wigton, the old hotel-keeper at Willow Glen, where now stands the Moses Rowland residence, became a conspicuous land own- er in Western Dryden, with headquarters at this Hammond-Grover corner ; and he was succeeded in the ownership of the Willow Glen hotel by Daniel Hammond, and also as landlord thereof.
A little later on Daniel also succeeded Major Wigton as owner cf the Grover southeast corner of Lot 32 and Woodlawn. Upon this corner Daniel Hammond and his sons, assisted by Orrin Squire and Benjamin Wood, opened the first brickyard of Western Dryden ; and
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HISTORY OF DRYDEN.
from the material furnished, the "eight-square " brick school-house was largely built.
From the pioneer Alice, through her son Thomas, is descended the numerous Hammond family of Virgil; and through George and William and his wife, Polly Tanner, come the now well known law firm of Hammond & Hammond, of Seneca Falls, N. Y.
From pioneer Alice, through her daughter Amy and her husband, Nathan, and their son Benjamin Wood, and his wife, Mary Bonesteel, are descended the conspicuous Wood family, of Western Dryden ; and through their daughter Mary Ann, whose husband was Hon. Ezra Cor- nell, of Cornell University fame, comes Ex-Governor Cornell, Chief Financier Frank C. Cornell, and Chief Civil Engineer O. H. Perry Cornell, nine children in all, only five of whom came to mature age and still survive ; and they own the two-hundred-acre farm known as Woodlawn.
HARNED, WILLIAM, and Hanna Crifisteen were married in New Jer- sey in the year 1794, and within a few years removed to Dryden. He built his first log-house on the north bank of Cascadilla Creek, a little east of the present bridge near the residence of Edwin Snyder. He was one of the highway commissioners elected at the first town meet- ing of Dryden held in 1803. Of a family of seven, one daughter, Mary, married Thomas George, Eliza married Dr. Harvey Harris, and Clarissa married Peter I. Rose, an early settler of the town. All are now deceased and S. M. George, of West Dryden, is believed to by the only descendant of Wm. Harned now residing in the town.
HARRIS, DR. HARVEY, an early physician of the town, registered at Ithaca in 1828, first practiced at West Dryden, afterwards at Etna for many years and finally moved to Illinois, where he died after 1860.
MIDDAUGH, JOSEPH, and his son WESSELS S. came to Dryden in 1807, from near the borders of Orange county, N. Y., where it joins the state of New Jersey. They were of Dutch descent and first settled in Dry- den on one hundred acres of land near Ellis Hollow, to which they ad- ded by subsequent purchases and upon which they are both buried. For several years they kept a tavern.
Wessels S. was a supervisor of the town and raised a large family of sons, among whom were Orrin, the father of Fred and William Henry ; Wessels, Jr., who now owns the Judge Ellis homestead at Ellis Hollow ; and Harrison, who married a grand-daughter of both Judge and Major Ellis. One of his daughters married Edward Mulks, who succeeded to the Middaugh homestead and whose daughter, Mrs. C. L. Lull, now owns it.
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PALMERTON, ICHABOD, was the father of Marcus and Sylvanus Palner- ton, and was one of several who followed Peleg Ellis from Royal Grant, in Herkimer county, to Ellis Hollow. He came in 1801, the- year after Ellis arrived. From the same place soon after Asa Hurd came and settled on the present Gray farm, Van Allen on the Dan Rice farm, Joseph Smith on the Willey farm and Nathan Gosper on the E. J. Thomas farm.
ROBERTSON, PHILIP SCHUYLER, was born in Saratoga county, N. Y., May 4, 1774. His name was given him by Gen. Philip Schuyler, of Revolutionary fame, who gave with the name a life lease of fifty acres of land in Saratoga county.
His father, Robert, who was also the father of Capt. George Robert- son, served during the Revolutionary war and died soon after its close, when Philip was but seven years of age. He lived with his uncle, George Mccutcheon, for several years, and then commenced working with his brother, George, at the carpenter and mill-wright trade, mak- ing that his business for several years in Saratoga. In 1798 the two- brothers, Philip and George, each driving a yoke of oxen and accom- panied by two young men, said to have been Jared Benjamin and Walter Yeomans, (but others say one of them was Moses Snyder), started from Schuylerville, Saratoga county, for the West, coming by the way of the Mohawk Valley, Ithaca and Auburn, to the lot (No. 53) where M. J. Robertson now lives, arriving March 12, 1798. Philip. lived with his brother George, until his marriage, July 25, 1802, to El- sie Sweezy from New Jersey. From that source there came seven children, George, Robert P., Mary, Peter, Allen, Anna ( Snyder ) and Oakley, of whom only the last two named survive.
Philip bought of his brother George the east part of the lot and lo- cating upon that part now known as the Weaver farm, then all a per- fect wilderness, he cleared thirty acres. As they had neither hay nor straw for their oxen they fed them upon browse from the trees as they cut them. During the work of clearing, Philip unfortunately had a tree fall upon him, breaking his thigh and crushing his left hand as it rested on his axe helve, besides injuring him internally and making him a cripple for the rest of his life.
That spring he planted among the logs four acres of corn, doing the work on crutches, and in the fall harvesting the crop of two hundred bushels of ears. Cutting and piling the logs that fall, they then sowed the land to wheat. On his way from his farm to the home of his brother George, where he boarded, the first season, he shot and killed seven deer without hunting an hour. He also shot a wildcat and
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HISTORY OF DRYDEN.
coon; the latter, very fat, weighed sixty pounds and supplied grease for a barrel of soap.
For several years he lived upon and improved this place and then sold it to George Mccutcheon and bought a place on the Bridle Road above Etna. Clearing about fifteen acres of this place he sold it and bought a farm above Varna on the same road, building a house and clearing a part of the land. This place he sold and moved to Brutus, Cayuga county, where he remained two years and then returned to Dryden, where he bought a quarter section of Lot No. 3, on the State Road, which was all wild land. He cleared this last place, where he died August 4, 1842, and the farm still remains in the family.
SNYDER, JACOB. In the spring of 1801 a family of emigrants set out from Essex county, N. J., traveling through the "Beech Woods " to Owego and thence to the present town of Ithaca. That family con- sisted of Jacob Snyder, his wife, three sons and one daughter, the youngest child being a year old and the oldest twelve. The father was a skilled workman in three trades, tailoring, carpentering and blacksmithing, as people now living can testify. Upon their arrival the family took up temporary quarters and waited for a time in order tha ttitles to the land might be investigated before purchasing, and thus avoid the spurious titles then so frequently met with. Mr. Sny- der finally bought of James Glenny, of Virgil, (a grantee of a Revolu- tionary soldier, Lieutenant Wm. Glenny, to whom the lot had been awarded,) one hundred acres of land on Lot 82, for the consideration of $330. The deed, executed Sept. 14, 1802, was a relic on exhibition at the Centennial. He later purchased a part of Lot 92, which passed into the possession of his sons Daniel and Peter. Of the original purchase on Lot 82, a part afterwards belonged to his son Joseph M. Snyder and is now occupied by his sons Jacob and Harry. The daughter, Rebecca, who married Aaron, the son of Benjamin Genung, came into possession of the old homestead of the original purchase of 1802, which is now owned and occupied by their son, Joseph A. Ge- nung. Upon this old homested there is still standing the same barn that was built by Jacob Snyder in 1806. He built his permanent dwelling in 1808, a substantial structure of hewn pine logs, which was occupied until 1872 and is still in a condition for use for many more years as a place of storage of farming utensils.
From this early settlement by Jacob Snyder the entire region grew to have the name of Snyder Hill, which it still bears.
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THE NORTH-EAST SECTION.
CHAPTER XL.
FURTHER HISTORY OF THE NORTH-EAST SECTION.
Upon Lot No. 21 of Virgil, John Gee, a Revolutionary soldier who had drawn that lot, came and settled, according to Bouton's History, June 17, 1796, and some of his descendants still reside upon it. His nearest neighbor was four miles off at that time ; but a few years later, probably in 1802, Joseph Schofield and his son Ananias settled on the adjoining Lot 20, of Dryden, and Joseph became one of the town of- ficers when the first town meeting was held in 1803. In this extreme northeast corner of the township several mechanics, including the Ma- son, Hutchings and Bates families, early located ; and on a branch of Beaver Creek, which still flows, but with diminished volume since the country has been cleared up, through the gully at the foot of Gulf Hill on the road to Cortland, and a short distance up-stream from this road, was established in the year 1809, according to Bouton's History, the Hutchings grist-mill, which accommodated the Virgil as well as the Dryden people in that section. This was more than twenty years be- fore any grist-mill existed in Dryden village, but seven years after the White mill had been established at Freeville. It was here, near this pioneer grist-mill, in the town of Dryden, that the Hutchings ap- ple had its origin. Not only was the grist-mill operated by them for a number of years, but a rake factory and other industries flourished, and it is claimed that the first successful power threshing machines were manufactured here. But these mechanics, or that portion of them who did not become farmers, afterwards drifted off to McLean and Malloryville, where the water power was more lasting and abund- ant and it is now a matter of surprise that a small branch of Beaver Creek near its source could ever have been considered capable of fur- nishing the water power necessary to run a grist-mill.
A thrifty and intelligent class of farmers have, however, always flourished in this section of the township, of a few only of whom are we able to give details, as follows :
ALLEN, WYATT, came to Dryden in 1805 from Aurora, Cayuga county, settling on the farm now occupied by John Mullen. In the year 1840 he removed to Dryden village, settling on South street where he died. Among his descendants is George W. Bradley of Dryden. Two of his brothers came later, married into the Foote and Clauson pioneer fam- ilies of Willow Glen and moved with their families to the far West.
CARMER, ISAAC, and brother JACOB, came from near Essex Court
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HISTORY OF DRYDEN.
House, in New Jersey, about the year 1801, and settled on Lot No. 20 on one of the farms since owned by G. M. Lupton, where he died in January, 1853, within a few days of one hundred and two years of age. His children have long since died, but his grandchildren include Chester and Cleveland, children of his son John. The brother Jacob settled on the hill immediately south of Dryden village and his de- scendants are now believed to be non-residents.
GIVENS, SAMUEL, was an early settler in this part of the township, concerning whom we can give but few particulars. His descendants now residing or having died here are numerous, including Amos K., the father of our Darius Givens, of Dryden village; Col. Chas. Giv- ens, an early town officer and the father of Edward and the late Wm. R. and Thomas ; Lettie G., the mother of G. M. and Z. Lupton ; Sar- ah, the wife of Abram Griswold; William, the father of Cortland Giv- ens ; and Jane, the wife of Zebulun Miller.
HILL, JOSEPH, and Sarah Bancroft were married at Flemington, N. J., November 30, 1809, and started for Dryden the same season. Two teams brought their goods. They drove two cows and made butter on the way by putting the milk in churns, the motion of the wagon bringing the butter. Mr. Hill had the choice of a section (six hun- dred and forty acres) of land in Seneca county or one in Dryden. He chose the latter on account of the pine timber. The land lay in Lot. No. 6, upon which was already a small log cabin, but during their first night a heavy wind blew off the roof.
Mrs. Hill had been anxious to leave New Jersey, as it was the cus- tom for farmers to keep slaves, and although her husband was home- sick and wanted to move back she would not consent to go, as she did not like to live where they kept slaves. She wove woolen and linen cloth and in this way helped pay for clearing the land.
Joseph Hill died September 12, 1853, 71 years old. Sarah Bancroft Hill died April 8, 1874, 86 years old.
They had a family of eleven children : Mary, the oldest, married Hiram Graves, settled in Moravia and left a large family. Ambrose married Sarah Hart and finally settled on the old homestead. He left a family of four children. Isaac taught school in Dryden at one time in a school-house at or near the home of Chas. Perrigo. He married and moved to Dundee and again moved to Bay City, Mich., where he left a family of five children. Martha married James Van Etten and settled in Albany, N. Y., where Mr. Van Etten died. She afterward married Mr. Buck, of Chemung, and left three children. Elias B. did not marry and died young. Harris married and lived in Peruville, N.
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THE NORTH-EAST SECTION.
Y., several years and afterward moved to Warren, Pa., where he left three children. Lucinda married S. C. Fulkerson and always lived in the town of Dryden. She left five children. Stacy B. married and moved to Canada. He left three children. Sarah married Ezra Beach, of Peruville. She left one child. Lorena married Edwin J. Hart, of McLean, who died April 16, 1895. In 1870 she married A. H. Vough, of McLean, and they live at present one-half mile west of McLean. Mrs. Vough is the only living child of Joseph and Sarah Hill. Thomas, the youngest son, did not marry.
Edwin Hill, a son of Ambrose, still lives on the original homestead. LUPTON, NATHAN H. W., came to Dryden as a school teacher in 1815 or 1816, from Orange county. He was at one time a hotel keeper and in later years a thrifty and industrious farmer, among whose descend- ants now residing in the township are his sons, G. M. and Z. Lupton, and their children.
MCKEE, JAMES and ROBERT, brothers, from Stewartstown, County Tyrone, Ireland, came to this country soon after the year 1800, James arriving first. Robert came in 1806, being six weeks and three days out of sight of land on the voyage. Coming up the Hudson river as far as Albany he there hired a teamster with a yoke of oxen and a lum- ber wagon to bring them through the forests to Dryden, where James was already located on what is now the Wm. B. Hubbard place, two miles north from Dryden village. Robert bought the adjoining Sick- mon farm and built a log house near the line between the two farms. This habitation consisted of one room with a ground floor and bark roof, greased paper for windows and a blanket for a door, blocks of wood serving as chairs, and a pile of brush for a bed. They had brought with them two large chests well filled with clothing and bed- ding, and some provisions and tools with which to work.
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