USA > New York > Tompkins County > Dryden > The centennial history of the town of Dryden. 1797-1897 > Part 18
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The nearest postoffice was Milton (Lansing) and Mrs. McKee at one time went on horseback through the woods to Ludlowville, being guided by the marked trees, and paid out her last fifty cents in money to get a letter from her parents in Ireland.
The Mckees were, however, thrifty and prosperous people and soon gained a foothold in their new home. Robert, in addition to farming, carried on a distillery and was at the same time a leading member of the Presbyterian church at Dryden village. By his first wife there were three children, viz : James R., Mrs. Leonard Hile and Mrs. Jane West. By his second wife there were twelve children, two boys and ten girls. Mrs. Mary McKee, who was the second wife of Robert, was a sister of Thomas Lormor, Sr., the old gentleman who was the
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HISTORY OF DRYDEN.
ancestor of the greater part of the Lormor family in Dryden and died here about twenty-five years ago. In the earlier times Mrs. McKee spun and wove the clothing for the family, but in later years when her girls were grown up she bought calico for their dresses. At one time she went to Quigg's store, in Ithaca, and, after purchasing several dress patterns, the young clerk who was waiting upon her, desiring to be sociable, remarked that she must have quite a family of girls to re- quire so much dress goods. "Yes," said she, "I have at home ten girls of my own and each of them has two brothers and a half." The clerk, who prided himself on his figures, computed in his head that it would make her the mother of thirty-five children, which, he said, was impossible, and offered to bet her a new dress that she was overstating it ; but she insisted that her statement was true and accepting the wa- ger agreed to leave it to the proprietor, who knew the facts and de- cided that she was entitled to the dress from the clerk. The two brothers were her own two sons, Robert and Thomas, and the half brother was James R., the son by the first wife. The ten daughters included Charlotte (Sickmon), the youngest and only one now living ; Catharine (Out), the mother of Mrs. Geo. H. Hart, of Dryden village ; Ellen, the wife of John Morgan; Sally, the first wife of Peter Mineah, and Mary, the wife of Thomas Mineah.
Robert McKee died in 1845 at the age of 77 years, while his wife survived until 1873, when she died at the age of 90. James McKee also left a large family of children, of whom one was John, the father of Samuel, William, and others, and another was Mrs. Alvin, the moth- er of the late James H. Cole.
MINEAH, JOHN, the ancestor of the family in Dryden having that name, not often met with elsewhere, came very early in the century from New Jersey with the McElhenys, the two families having been already connected by marriage. He located in the section of the town- ship north and east from Freeville, where numbers of his descendants still reside. Of his daughters, Mary Ann was the first wife of Abel White, and Betsey married Charles Niver, who lived near Peruville. Of his sons, William was the father of George, John, James, and others ; James was the father of John H., Nicholas, George, and oth- ers ; Thomas was the father of Robert, while John, Jr., was the father of Edwin D., of Eagle Grove, Iowa. Two daughters of John, Jr., Al- bina and Anna, were formerly school teachers in different districts of the township and are now proprietors of a ladies' select school in Chi- cago. The daughters also included Mrs. Luther Griswold, of Dry- den, and Mrs. D. C. Avery, of Baltimore, Md.
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THE NORTH-EAST SECTION.
SEAGER or SAGER, ( spelled both ways.) This family consisted of a number of brothers and a sister who came from Orange county to Dryden early in the century. Jacob came first in 1808, John in the fall of 1809, Philip, who was born in 1799, and his sister Katie, a little later. Jacob and Katie afterwards moved to Bath, Steuben county. but John first settled on Lot 39 near where Elliott Fortner now resides, afterwards removed to Lot 40, where he lived until his death at the age of 94. He came in a covered emigrant wagon by way of Owego, and from there up the Turnpike to Ithaca and then to Lot 39 in Dryden, where he and his family arrived in January, 1810. It was very cold and the snow was deep. They were obliged to live for three days in the wagon until they built a log house, which for a long time had nei- ther door, window nor fireplace. They used a blanket for a door, and built the fire on the ground. There they lived in this way all win- ter with five small children, viz: Abram, Henry, Betsey, Joanna and John. That winter John, Sr., cut and prepared for burning eight acres of heavy timber, in place of which he planted corn the next summer. Three children were born to them in Dryden, viz : Robert, Samuel and Katie Ann. John Seager and his children altogether cut and cleared about one hundred fifty acres of land in Dryden.
John and Abigail, his wife, were exemplary citizens, loved and re- spected by all who knew them. Robert, one of the younger children, who lived and died upon the old homestead, was throughout his long and useful life one of the first to find out and relieve distress, and his works for good in and out of the M. E. church, of which he was an active member, will long be remembered.
Philip came to the town of Dryden in early manhoood, first stopping with people who lived on Lot No. 20 and in 1827 he married Anna, daughter of Capt. John Gardner, a wagon master of the Continental army, who assisted Washington in crossing the Delaware. Gardner came from New Jersey, locating on the farm still owned by his son, Robert B. Gardner. In the year 1830, Philip Seager purchased the farm on Fall Creek now owned by his son George. There was on it, even at that time, a small frame house, which is still standing in a fair state of preservation as a relic of the old dwelling, but the log barn, which was also there when Philip Seager purchased the farm, disappeared a few years ago.
After many years of toil and privations, such as were known only to the early settlers, and after accumulating a comfortable fortune, Mr. Seager passed away at the advanced age of 85 years. In his declining years he enjoyed relating how he and his good wife managed to get
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HISTORY OF DRYDEN.
along, raising a large family and many times not having fifty cents ahead. He drew all of his grain in these early days to Cayuga Lake with an ox team, himself going barefoot. His wife spun and dyed wool for the clothing of the family in winter and flax for summer nse. Philip Seager was a man of excellent judgment, determined stability and good common sense.
SCHOFIELD, JOSEPH, already referred to in the beginning of this chap- ter, came from Stamford, Conn., and settled on Lot No. 20 in the year 1802, being the earliest pioneer in that part of the township. Anani- as, the oldest son, accompanied him, as well as David, who was then an infant, and afterward the father of our Henry Schofield. Solo- man, a son of the pioneer Joseph, was a clergyman and wrote a book describing the scenes and incidents of the pioneer journey of his par- ents to Dryden. Theodosia (Bacon), a daughter of Joseph, was the mother of Mrs. Harriet Carpenter, now an old lady of Dryden village, who is therefore a grand-daughter of pioneer Joseph.
SHERWOOD, ANDREW, a soldier of the Revolution, accompanied by his son Thomas, came from Poughkeepsie, of this state, in 1802, and locat- ed on Lot No. 9. He died at the age of ninety-nine years. Thomas, the son, took part in the War of 1812, was a miller by trade and a worthy citizen. His eleven children, all of whom are now deceased, are the ancestors of many present residents of Dryden.
SUTFIN, the pioneer of the Sutfin family in Dryden, who is supposed to be the Derick Sutfin who is recorded as a justice of the peace of the town in 1803 and a town clerk and one of the charter members of the Presbyterian church society in Dryden village in 1808, came from New Jersey in 1801 and settled on Fall Creek on what is now the Duryea farm. In 1803 tradition says that he built a frame barn, one of the first, if not the first, in the township, and to do the raising of the frame he was required to call upon his neighbors from three towns, the inhabitants were then so few and far between.
CHAPTER XLI.
FURTHER HISTORY OF THE SOUTH-EAST SECTION.
This corner of the township includes Dryden Lake, of which a view has already been given at page 3 of this volume. It is located in a good farming locality near the summit which divides the streams which flow southerly into the Susquehanna from those which flow northerly into the St. Lawrence system of watercourses.
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James Lacy, the youngest one of the five brothers who came to Dry- den from New Jersey in 1801, was the first to settle near its shores, and he soon built a dam at the outlet, thereby enlarging its natural capacity and furnishing power for a saw-mill which he soon construct- ed for the purpose of manufacturing lumber from the abundance of pine which was there found. At one time five saw-mills were operat- ed upon the outlet flowing from the Lake before Dryden village was reached and at least one saw-mill existed at the head of the Lake upon its inlet.
Some species of fish were found naturally existing in the waters of the Lake when first discovered, but others, including pickerel and perch, were afterward introduced and have multiplied, furnishing ex- cellent fishing for an inland town, which is appreciated by the inhabi- tants for many miles around. A number of flat-bottom boats are kept and rented by the proprietors of the Lake for fishing purposes and are in great demand annually from the fifteenth of May, when the fishing season begins. For some years past the saw-mill at the outlet has been allowed to run down for the want of raw material and the only use made of the Lake except for fishing and pleasure parties has been the ice harvesting industry, which has developed within a few years into an extensive business in its season. A large storage ice-house has been erected on the bank near the railroad by the Philadelphia Milk Supply Company, and at the proper season large quantities of ice are harvested and stored or shipped at this point, which combines the advantages of a high altitude, pure lake water, principally derived from springs in the neighborhood, and convenient transportation.
In this connection we are obliged to chronicle an event which hap- pened in this locality December 18, 1887, the murder of Paul Layton. He was a farmer who had formerly lived on Long Island, near New York, and had lived in Dryden quite a number of years, owning and occupying a large farm to the northeast of the Lake. Of a somewhat miserly disposition, employing only cheap help with whom he lived, and having no family of his own, Mr. Layton had acquired consider- able property and was frequently known to carry a good deal of mon- cy about his person. At the time of his death in the winter time he had no one living with him and he was chiefly employed in caring for his stock, which required his attention about the barn, situated in a secluded location some little distance from the highway. Here, on the morning of December 18, 1887, he was found with his skull broken, evidently from the effect of blows upon the head, but with no evidence as to who had committed the crime. His pocketbook, in which he
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carried his money, was gone and it was concluded that money was the incentive which influenced the villain to commit the deed, but al- though great efforts were made to investigate the matter, no satisfac- tory proof as to who committed the act was ever obtained, and it seems likely ever to remain an unsolved mystery.
Of the pioneer families of this section we can only mention :
BAILEY, JESSE, who, with his son Morris, bought thirty acres of land on Lot 56, upon which they were living as early as 1804, being a part of the farm now owned and occupied by Cyrus Tyler. Morris Bailey is named among the original members of the Baptist church of Etna in 1804 and he was the father of the Bailey brothers for so long a time residents of Dryden village but only two of whom, Wm. and Amasa, now survive.
CARPENTER, ABNER, whose deed of about three hundred acres of land on Lot No. 70, near the head of Dryden Lake, bears date March 17, 1804, was among the very earliest settlers in that part of the town, where some of his descendants still reside. There seems to have been a controversy between him and Jacob Hiles at the foot of the Lake as to some rights connected therewith and among his papers we find the bond of Jacob Hiles, executed December 3, 1814, according to which they agree to submit to John Ellis, Jesse Stout and Joseph Hart all of the matters in controversy.
Of the children of Abner Carpenter, Laura married Wm. Tillotson ; John moved to Cortland ; Harry moved to Illinois ; Barney remained in Dryden, where he died in 1892; Daniel moved to Groton; Polly married Henry Saltsman and went West, and Candace married Jarvis. Sweetland.
DEUEL, REUBEN, was a Quaker and an early settler on Lot No. 76, in what is now known as the Dusenberry neighborhood. He was a shoe- maker and came to Dryden from Orange county, N. Y., about 1806. We have already referred to him as one of the traveling shoemakers who in those days went about from house to house among the farm- ers making up their home-made leather into boots and shoes.
He was the ancestor of the Deuel families of Dryden and Caroline, which have intermarried with many other families, and T. S. Deuel, of Dryden village, is his grandson. His children included Morgan, Ly- man and David Deuel, and Mrs. Thos. Freeman, of Etna.
HEMMINGWAY, DEACON SAMUEL, about the year 1810, bought and cleared up the farm now owned by Cyrus Knapp on Lot 65. He has already been mentioned in connection with Etna as one of the found- ers of the Baptist church there in 1804.
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THE SOUTH-EAST SECTION.
HOLLISTER, KINNER, a few years later, about 1813 or 1814, settled on Lot No. 85, clearing up the farm now in possession of his grandson, .Frank Hollister.
HILES, JACOB, with his sons John and George, came from New Jer- sey early in the century, purchasing the Lake mill property of James -Lacy before 1814. John succeeded to this property, upon which he resided for many years and finally died, leaving a large family and considerable property. The widow of Jacob became the second wife of Judge Ellis. George Hiles married Percy West and was the father of Harrison and John W.
POWERS, ELIJAH, settled on Lot 86, where Chauncey L. Scott lived years ago. He was there as early as 1807 and in 1808 he built a saw- mill called the Bottom Mill, which passed into the possession of the Van Pelts many years later. This was the first saw-mill built on Up- per Six Mile Creek and antedated others at Slaterville.
RUMMER, GABRIEL, came to Dryden and located in this section in the year of the total eclipse (1806) and left children which included Anne (Stevens), Levi, Polly (Purvis), Eli, Lydia (Ballard), and Phœbe F. (Joyner). Peter Rummer, who owned the farm now known as the Rummer farm in Dryden village, and his son Cyrus were of another family.
SIMONS, BENJAMIN, was born January 29, 1766, and came to Dryden from Orange county, settling upon South Hill in 1808 with five chil- dren and his wife, Isabelle McWilliams, who was a native of Scotland.
Of the children, John and James went later to Allegany county ; Andrew to Pennsylvania ; Jane married the Rev. Reuben Hurd, an early minister of the Presbyterian church in Dryden village, and they afterwards moved west; Sarah married Edwin Cole. Benjamin, Jr., the old gentleman who recently died here, had remained in Orange county until after his marriage, and Adam was born after his parents came to Dryden, the former being the father of our Andrew Simons and his sisters and the latter of Nancy, Luther, Henry and William. Benjamin, Sr., was a devoted pioneer in the Presbyterian church of Dryden and went on foot to Orange county about 1820 to secure aid for the completion of its building.
SMITH, WM. R., came to Caroline in 1816 and cut a road from Nor- wood's Corner to the Pumpelly lot, No. 100. He cleared sixty-five acres, upon which he built a log house in 1820. His father had served in the War of 1812 from Massachusetts, and he was the oldest of a family of seven children, all of whom came to this section of country. He had married in 1818 Polly Vickery, and to them were born thir-
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HISTORY OF DRYDEN.
teen children, which include Cynthia O'Cain, who lives in Iowa; Bet- sey Amy and Hannah Eastman, who have died; Mary Ann Schutt ; Adelia Whitman ; Clara Quick ; Sarah Hulslander; Frances Oak ; and Ellen Cinderella. Two boys, William R. Smith, Jr., who recently died, and Gilbert, who is living, have children who reside upon and near the old homestead in the extreme south-east corner of the town- ship. The old gentleman died September 30, 1881, 83 years of age.
CHAPTER XLII.
THE DRYDEN AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.
This institution, of which the whole town of Dryden is justly proud, was organized in the month of July, 1856, under the Act of 1855 for the formation of Agricultural Societies. The project was first agitated by H. D. Rumsey in his publication called "Rumsey's Companion," being the first newspaper published in the town, the first number of which was issued in the spring of that year. The society's first ex- hibition was held on the small grounds which the society leased of Col. Lewis Barton, opposite to the present permanent location, and the principal attractions were all shown under a large tent procured from Ithaca, for the use of which a rental of seventy dollars was paid. The date was October 8 and 9, 1856, the total receipts being $525.63, $140 of which was borrowed money and should be deducted to ascer- tain the actual proceeds of the first fair, and the expenditures were $475.33, as shown by the report of the treasurer. It was considered a great success at the start, although, as seen from the foregoing figures, the first exhibition did not pay expenses and the receipts were not one tenth part of the receipts of the last exhibition of the society. The temporary grounds contained about four acres, not one-fifth of the present grounds, which are found none too large to accommodate the recent fairs.
The first officers of the society were Elias W. Cady, president ; Jere- my Snyder, vice-president ; Otis E. Wood, secretary, and David P. Goodhne, treasurer. The directors were Charles Givens, Luther Gris- wold, Zina B. Sperry, Freeman Stebbins, Caleb Bartholomew and James H. George. Encouraged by the success of their first exhibi- tion, which then seemed great, the citizens of the town united their ef- forts to make the society permanent. At the first annual meeting, held at Blodgett's hotel in January, 1857, Smith Robertson was elect- ed president and John Mineah, vice-president, the other officers being
MY
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الكريم
DRYDEN FAIR, MAIN BUILDING.
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HISTORY OF DRYDEN.
substantially re-elected. It was by this board of officers, under the intelligent and wise guidance of their leader, that the foundations of the future success of the society were laid. Permanent grounds and buildings were decided to be essential and in order to secure them a considerable amount of money was required. In order that the own- ership of the property might rest with the people of the whole town, scrip was issued in shares of ten dollars each and taken by leading citizens in all parts of the township, so that the title and interest in the success of the enterprise might be distributed as widely as possi- ble. This scrip, which is carefully worded to favor the society as to the terms of payment, and is still held by the people of the town, who have never received any payment of principal and but a very few years, interest on these contributions to the capital stock of the socie- ty, reads as follows :
" DRYDEN, N. Y., October 15, 1857.
"The Dryden Agricultural Society, in consideration of a loan, agrees to pay to , or bearer, Ten Dollars, payable as soon as the funds of the society will admit, with interest annually from date. For which payments the property of the society is here- by pledged to the holder. ,
" ALVIRAS SNYDER, Secretary."
; "S. ROBERTSON, President."
Of this scrip 223 shares were taken, furnishing, with $781 which was borrowed on a note of John Southworth, about three thousand dollars, with which the permanent grounds were to be provided. The original purchase of eight acres was made of John Southworth at $125 per acre, and the main Fair house, a duodecagon in form, was built by Daniel Bartholomew as contractor, upon a plan somewhat orig- inal, at a cost of about one thousand dollars. This building is a mod- el in its way, for the purpose for which it was designed, having been fmitated by numerous agricultural societies in the West, and no one ever claims to have seen a building so completely adapted to the requirements of a country fair. A track was then constructed under . the supervision of Amos Lewis, as large as the grounds would admit, one hundred and twelve rods in length, surrounding in its circuit all of the principal buildings. The construction of the tight board fence and other smaller buildings exhausted the funds and with these ac- commodations the succeeding exhibitions of the society continued to be annually held. In the last year of the war (1864) the receipts of one day of the exhibition were given for the benefit of the Ladies'
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DRYDEN AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.
Sanitary and Christian Commission under the local management of Mrs. A. McDougall, and about fifteen hundred dollars was thus real- ized in aid of the comfort and care of the disabled soldiers at the seat of war. Upon this date Hon. Daniel S. Dickinson, of Binghamton, then a man of national celebrity, addressed the multitude in a manner which is still rememberd by many who listened to him upon that oc- casion. Since then Governor David B. Hill, Hon. Frank Hiscock and Hon. Warner Miller have delivered addresses at these annual exhi- bitions, which have been uniformly well attended. The finances of the society have not always been successfully managed, and in two or three instances unfavorable weather has materially diminished the re- ceipts. At one time a law-suit, brought against the society for dam- ages growing out of a collision on the track, threatened serious trouble and imposed considerable unusual expenses from which the society suffered some embarrassment, but as a general rule the weather has been favorable and the results very creditable to the managers.
About eighteen years ago the grounds were enlarged by renting for a term of years of the Southworth estate about ten acres in the rear, up- on which a half-mile track was extended wholly north of the main build- ing, which adds much to the safety and convenience of the ground; and, within the past year, an additional purchase of three acres, was made widening the grounds in front. During the past ten years under the energetic and able assistance given to the management of the affairs of the society by its efficient secretary, J. B. Wilson, as well as others, the exhibitions have become exceedingly successful and popular, and many improvements have been inaugurated and new features added by means of increased receipts and state aid, which has been received for two years past, without increasing the small indebtedness which has usually existed. Within the last few years a large grand stand, capable of seating one thousand people, has been constructed facing the track, and very commodious sheds and covered pens have been constructed, for the accommodation of horses and stock. The front fence of a fair ground inclosure is usually a weather beaten, rick- ety affair, covered with rough boards, liberally plastered over with unsightly advertisements in a helter-skelter fashion, making it any- thing but attractive in appearance. As an example of what our of- ficers have originated and done for the society within a recent date, the old fence in front was torn down and a new one built of the best ma- terial, finished in panels of planed pine boards painted white, which were sold as space for advertising purposes, in which the purchasers were required to have painted attractive and tasty advertisements,
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some of which are really artistic in their novelty and design; and in this way the present fence more than paid for itself and has become a source of revenue instead of expense to the society. This feature, due to the practical enterprise and forethought of our Dryden officers, has since been followed in other places.
All the buildings inside of the grounds have recently been painted white, and, with the tents scattered about, give one the impression of a white city when entering the grounds. A marked improvement has also been made in the management of the exhibitions, effectually excluding from the grounds all gambling devices and the sale of in- toxicating beverages, as well as preserving good order in spite of the large attendance. It may be safely said that the affairs of the so- ciety were never in as prosperous condition as they are now, the present management, with good reason, predicts that, with as good a fair as it had last season, exceeding in its receipts all pre- vious exhibitions, it will be able to turn over to its successors the society entirely out of debt, with all of the present substantial im- provements fully paid for. At some periods of its history the horse- racing element has seemed to predominate and to run the society into unnecessary expenditures ; but within the past few years this feature of the exhibitions has been made to subserve rather than dominate the management of its affairs, and increasing prosperity and popular- ity of the Dryden Fair has been the result. Still, due regard has been had to the claims of the horsemen, and upwards of a thousand dollars has been expended upon the construction and improvement of the present track, which has a record of 2:201, is ditched and fenced throughout, and is so well constructed and graded as to be adapted to all kinds of weather.
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