THURSDAY, MAY U, 1885. THE FIRST SETTLERS. The Earliest Residents of the Present Town of Owego between Big Island and the Owego Creek, Ninety-four Years Ago. The old town of Union, in the county of Tioga, as formed by the Legislature, 16 Feb. 1791, extended from the Che- nango River to the West Owego Creek, and from the Pennsylvania line to the South side of the military tract, and, of course, included the whole of the present town of Owego. It was organized 5 April, 1791, by the election of town offi- cers, and three months later, was divided into road districts. Dr. D.W. Patterson* of Newark Yalley, who had occasion in his researches to examine the town re- cords at Union recently,copied and gave to us some portions of them. The first portion of the record is as follows : JuiiT 12,1791. • The division of the Town of Union in- to Road districts by the Commksionsra of Highways, Benjamin Bates path- master for the first Road District, Begin- ning at tha Owego Creek, thence up ths Susquehannah River as far as the head of ths big Island. Names of the People allowed to said Bates for making said Road. No of Days Jaimes McMaster. .12 Phineas Thompson 5 y% Benanuel Dswel.... 2 John Caster.......2 Jehs Barney.... Robert McMaster 8% Amos Draper.....7^ JohnMcQuig...... 5>s John N eland....2)£ Johm Carmon.....2>£ Elias Williams... 4 Timothy Sibley.,.. 2>$ Daniel Foggerson 3 Dan’l Foggerson Jr 2 No of If ays Rubin Harrington 3X Jacob Harrington 8% Jeremiah Harring- tsn..........2 William Bates___6 Amos Meade...... 4>{ James Barns..... %% . Benjs min Selden,. S Thomas Jordan.... 3^ Elisha Bates..... 8.% Stephen Dean..... 8 Benjan Marsh.....2 Stephen Aylsworth 2 Benjamin Bates... ) This division don by the Commissioners of Highways this 12th day of July ,1791. The town of Owego was formed, at the same time, 16 February, 1791, and was wholly west of the Owego creek. The town of Tioga was formed from Union, 14 March, 1800, and included what is now Owego, Newark Yalley, Berkshire, and Richford. Berkshire, was formed from Tioga, 12 February,1808, and Tioga was left of the saine size as the present town of Owego, except a small change oh the eastern border^ which was made a few years later.% Spencer, including Candor, was taken from Owego, 28 February, 1806, leaving to Owego the territory which now in-' eludes Tioga, Nichols, and Barton. The inconvenience of having “Owego Vil- lage” and the post office of that name, within the town of Tioga, led to a change of names by the two towns which was authorized by the Legislature, in 1813, since which Owego Village has been within the the town of Owego. The first volume of town records in Owego,was for thirteen years,the record of the town of Tioga, as may be seen on examination. Perhaps some of the men above named lived on the south side of the river. Before 1791, the town of Chemung was bounded on the East by the Owego Creek. 9 Descendants of some of the first set- tlers in the list above still reside in the town of Owego. James McMaster, of Florida, Mont- gomery Co., was the original owner, by purchase from the Indians, of the land on which Owego is built. He owned eighteen square miles of land, now known as the McMaster Half Township. He was a soldier in Gen. Clinton's army! and passed through Owego with a force of 1,500 men, in 1779, to join Gen. Sul- livan’s force at the mouth of the Che- mung. He came here again, in 1785, with his brother, Kobert McMaster, and three others, but did not settle here un- til 1788. Amos Draper, an Indian agent and trader, came, in 1787, from Kingston, Pa., and was the first white settler. John McQuigg, a Revolutionary sol- dier, came from New Hampshire, in 1788. Emanuel Duel was also a Revolution- ary soldier. He came, in 1790, and set- tled in the north part of the village. Daniel Ferguson, another Revolution- ary soldier, settled at Flemingville. Jacob Harrington was a deer-hunter and resided in the northern part of this village, near the Huntington creek. •THURSDAY, MAY 21,1885. THE FIRST SETTLERS. The Earliest Residents of Berkshire and Newark Valley— McMaster’s Half Township. Last week we gave a list of the first settlers of the town of Owego, between Big Island and the Owego Greek, as taken from the town records of Union, which was at that time in the county of Tioga. The following list of the earliest . settlers of the towns of Newark Valley and Berkshire is taken from the same source. Abraham Brown Fathmaster of 16 District from S. W. cor. of lot 432 to Korth line of Js. McM aster’s half township, 1798. [Town Rec- ords of Union, p. 50,] No of Day* Joseph Gleason,Jr 3 Josiah How......3y% Ephraim Cook____3)4 Jessa Gleason...5 Daniel Gleason... 4 Josiah Seeley...3 Calab Gleason___5y* Aze 1 Hovey.....5 % Asa Leonard.....4)4 Ebenez Cook.....3)4 Josiah Ball.....8)4 Stephen Ball....3 William Ball....3 Daniel Ball.....4)4 Josiah Harris___ 3 Benjamin Oney... 3 Zelotes Oney....8 Abraham Brown.. 4)4 Jeremiah Cammel 3 Consid. Lawrence. 3 No of Day* Abraham Johnsons John Brown...... 5 Levy Bailey ....3 Benja’in Sparrow. 3 David Sherman Farrand .......5)4 Uriah Simons....3 Elijah Wilson...4)4 Peter Wilson....3)4 Thomas Thayer.".. 3 Asa Bement......6)4 Enoch Slosson...6)4 Ezborn Slosson.... 3)4 Solomon Williams 4 Joseph ‘Hufford... 3 John Freeman.... 3)4 Barney Freeman.. 3 Abel Lawrence.... 3)4 Michael Jenks.... 4)4 The bounds of this district include the whole territory between the present North line of Berkshire and the South line of Newark Valley, and the people who were here knew perfectly well that only the West Half Township had Mc- Master's name attached to it. “McMas- ter’s East Half Township” is a misnomer, which has come into use through igno- rance.Ufa (tette THURSDAY, MAY 28,1885. Abstract of School Bill of District No# 2, in Newark Valley, for Tern* Be- ginning; 19 May, 1818, Continued About Sixteen Weeks. Whole Amount of Wages $21.28, or $1.33 per Week. SCHOOL BILL, MAY 19TH, 1818. Days’ Days Board. Pupils. Jacob Remele $ 1.42 7 2 [ Esbon Slosson . 55 57 3 1 Otis Lincoln . 80 84 3 1 John Rewey. \ Oliver Williams... .249 2 61 10* 4 .140 1.47 & 2 Timothy Williams. ,. 68- 71 1 1 Stephen Williams.. i ..209 2.19 8 3 (• 2 Henry Williams... .151 1,58 \7yZ [Ezekiel Rich 2.22 8 3 1 Daniel Churchill... .201 2.11 10* 4 Enoch S. Williams. 155 1.62 6 3 1 Jessa Truesdell .164 1.72 8 3 Mial Dean .169 177 9 3 ! Anson Higbe .. 43 45 3 1 [Total 14 .... 2030 $21.28 96* 33 PROBABLE LIST* OF PUPILS. Jacob Remele. Esbon Slosson. Otis Lincoln— f----Remele. -Rem el e. John Rewey., Oliver Williams.... Timothy Williams. Stephen Williams.. Henry Williams.... Ezekiel Rich........ Daniel Churchill____ Enoch Si Williams... Jesse Truesdell...., Mial Dean.. Anson Higbe...... Who the teacher . Semantha Slosson. : WilFm Slosson Lincoln. 'Eunice Re wey, Elbridge G. Rewey, • * Hannah Rewey, Emily Rewey. > Cynthia M. Williams, * • \ Albert Williams. .. Nancy Williams. (Catharine M Williams, .. < Charles D. Williams, (Horatio S. Williams, f Lucy Maria Williams, * * \ Amanda M. Williams. * ( Mary Ann Rich, <{ Chauncey Leroy .Rich, j (Unknown. —--------—-~t- f Joseph P. Brown, | J Amos P. Brown, • * j Seymour Churchill, 1 ( George 'Churchill. Eliza Ann Williams, Almerin Williams, Juliet Williams. ‘Eunice B. Truesdell, Charles A. Truesdell, (Unknown, f Sarah Dean. ,. 4 Deidamia Dean,. (i LeRoy Dean. .. Lucy Ann Higbe. was cannot be ascertain- s ^ WllUdyn s' ed, but she was either Catherine Draper or Betsy Williams; and the fact that she board- ed with Henry Williams at various times leads to the belief that Betsy Wiliams was the teacher, as Henry was her brother and her parents lived with him.. THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 1885. Early Settlers on the Boston Parchase. Remele. Jacob, son of Jacob Remele and wife, was baptized at Stockbridge, Mass., 6 July, 1785. He was a shoemaker, and settled at Newark Valley, where he bought the old plank house, which Solo- mon Williams built east of the grist mill, and moved it to the east bank of the oreek, on the south side of Silk street, where it was burned, 5 January, 1871. Here he was living, in December, 1820, with his wife, who was between twentv-sis and forty-five years old. They had two sons and two daughters, under ten years of age. Two of their children were in school in District No. 2, in the summer of 1818. It is known that they had a child, born 25 Jan. 1814, and that one of their children was drowned 10 May, 1815, a young girl having tried to cross the creek on a foot bridge made of a single pole, with the child on her back. Several people in Newark Valley remember some of these things, while some are matters of record; but no one has yet been consulted who can remember the Christian name of Mrs. Remele, or that of any of the children. Any facts in the histor y of this house- hold will be thankfully received and put on record. D. Williams Patterson. Newark Valley, N. Y., 15 June, 1885. zmJ ~?3 Ct calj d ~hJfr rjC at"^?T3S/ i a (Jee'c cnr 'fci Ltcf 'y iiitU iu . *THURSDAY, JULY 2, 1885. Early Settlers on the Boston Purchase. Any additional records relating fo persons mentioned under this title which may be sent to D. Williams Patterson, Newark Valley, N. Y., will be thanks fully received and put on record. STANIiEY. Moses Stanley dwelt on Berkshire west hill, near the north part of the town, on a road which has long been closed. The census taken in December, 1820, calls him a joiner, makes him and his wife between twenty- six and forty-five years old, and gives them one son between ten and sixteen years old, and two sons and two daugh- ters less than ten years old. It is known that he was here as early as October, 1807, and that one of his children was born 26 Aug., 1808, and another 29 Oct., 1810. Susanna Stanley, probably his wife, joined the Church at Berkshire, now Newark Valley, 7 Feb., 1813, and was dismissed 22 June, 1823, a few monthp after the Church at Bichford was organ- ized. She had five children baptized: Lucy and Lovina, 17 March, 1813; a daughter, 12 Oct., 1813; Mary, 8 Jan., 1815; and Chauncey, 2 Aug., 1818. THURSDAY, JULY 16, 1885. Early Settlers on the Boston Purchase. [Any additional records relating to persons mentioned under this title which may b© sent to D. Williams Patterson, Newark Valley, N, Y., will be thankfully received And put on record.] HOSFOBD. Joseph Hosford, who was born about 1722, came from Stockbridge, Mass., to Brown’s Settlement, with his sons and died at Newark Valley, 1 May, 1806, aged 81 years. Of his children, only two are sow known; Joseph and Samuel. Joseph Hosford, son of Joseph, was a soldier of the Revolutionary War, and being poor, his friend, gthe Hon. Amos Patterson, of Union, N. YM gave him twenty-two acres of land in the southwest corner of lot 103, on the west side of the East Owego Creek, on which he settled. He brought his family to Newark Valley, in the spring of 1796, and lived for a few weeks in the house with Ezbon Slosson, where the lecture room of the Congregational church now stands; while building his own log house, which stood on the west side of Spring Brook, a few rods southwest of the^turning *shpp, which has been occupied successively by Enoch S. Williams, Jesse Truesdell, Samuel Moses, and, in 1885, by Aaron C. Stevens. This land he sold to Enoch S. Williams, and moved, about 1810, to Hunt’s Hollow, Livingston Co., N. Y., where he died about 1843, of apoplexy. The street, which now lies about twenty rods south of his little farm, was named Hosford street, as a memorial of him. He married at Stockbridge, Mass., 1 August, 1793, with Mary Williams, sometimes called Polly, daughter of Azariah and Beulah (Brown)"®Williams, and grand daughter of Deacon Samuel and Mercy (Patterson) Brown, of Stock- bridge, where she was born about 1772; baptized 1 Aug., 1773; and joined the Church, in 1783. She was dismissed with several others, 5 June, 1803,_to theChurch about to be formed at Tioga, if. Y., [now Newark Valley,] which she joined 20 Nov., 1803, the first Sunday after its organization, and her name is the eighth on the list of members. The record says she was dismissed in 1809, but she remained in town till the middle of February, 1810, then moved to Hunt's Hollow; where she died about 1841. Their children were: L Electa Hosford, bap. at Stockferidge, Mass., 18 Oct., 1795. II. Charles Hosford, bap. at Newark Valley, 14 Feb., 1810. III. Eunice Williams Hosford, bap. At Newark Valley, 14 Feb., 1810; died at Bloomfield, N. Y. IV. Mary Hosford, bap. at Newark’ Valley, 14 Feb., 1810; married with ——-Parker, and settled at Hebron,111. V. Abigail Hosford, bap. at Newark Valley, 14 Feb., 1810. Her husbamdV name is not known. VI. —:----Hosford, died at Newark Valley, 14 May, 1807, an infant. VII. Franklin Hosford, bom, at New- ark Valley, 22 Feb., 1809; bap. there 14 Feb., 1810, and settled at Hunt's Hollow, N. Y., on his father's homestead. Ike teette THURSDAY, JULY 30, 1885. Early Settlers on the Boston Purchase. [Any additional records relating to persons mentioned under this title which may be sent to D. Williams Patterson, Newark Valley, N, Y., will be thankfully received and put on record.] HOSFORD, Samuel Hosford, son of the first Jo- seph, came from Stockbridge, Mass., to Brown's Settlement as early a^ 1810 About 1812 he was living in a log house with Pynchon Dwight,where Lucius W. Spaulding now lives. Later, perhaps about 1825 or 1830, he dwelt on a small farm, then owned by the Rev. Marcus Ford, on lot 179, where Loring Ferguson had formerly lived. _ _____■His family record has not been found, and only four of his children are now re- membered: I. Bhoda Hosford, died at Berkshire, 13 May, 1811, perhaps at the house of Elijah Belcher, in whose family she had lived. II. Sally Hosford, joined the ] Church 30 Sept., 1821, from Chenango Point. \ She lived for many years in the family of Bev. Marcus Ford, and married at his house with Samuel Hill, and was dis- missed from the Church as Sally Hill. They settled at Bichford. III. Irene Hosford joined the Church at Newark Valley, 4 Jan., 1829, and was afterward dismissed as Irene Morenus. Her husband, Joseph Morenus, once selected a place for his home on lot 139, on the west hill in Newark Valley, on | land of Oliver Williams, and obtained permission from Williams to build his j house on it. The place selected was where, in former ages, a large tree had 5 been blown over, and he thought the hole left by its roots would make an ad- mirable cellar without cost of digging, i He went one morning to begin the work and looking about saw a dead hemlock tree about four feet in diameter, which he feared might at some time fall on his cabin, and decided to cut it and so make safety sure. At noon he had the tree flying exactly across his cellar where he I feared it would fall. On consideration he decided that th ^ cost of removing the tree would be more than the value cf the cellar, and concluded to abandon the | enterprise and go home to dinner. I IV. Lucinda Dolly Hosford, joined the Church at Newark Valley, 3 Apr., 1831.THLPSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17,1885. Settlers on the Boston Purchase! [Any additional records relating to persons mentioned under this title which may be sent to D. Williams Patterson, Newark valley, N,, Y., will be thankfully received and put on i record.] I ADDIS. Samuel Addis married with Submit Bartlett, who was born at Guilford, Conn., XO April, 1764, daughter of Abra- ham and Submit Bartlett. They moved from West Stockbridge, Mass., in the spring of 1806, in company with Samuel Johnson, and settled on the south part of lot fifty-eight, in Newark Valley, on the farm previously owned by John Freeman and Jonas Muzzy, and built thereon a small framed house. They dwelt there till the spring of 1810, then went to live in the family of Hart New- ell, whose wife was a younger sister of Mrs. Addis; and moved with them in the spring of 1824 to Sempronius, now Moravia, N.Y., where she died, without children, 19 Sept., 1825,having been en- tirely blind for thirteen years. He went to Canada and died there, but at what time or place is not known. SPARROW. Benjamin Sparrow was born at Mill- ington, in East Haddam, Conn., 9 Nov., 1762; and was baptized there 9 Jan., 1763. He was the eighth ohild of John and Anna Sparrow from Eastham, Mass. He was an inhabitant of Brown’s Settlement early enough to be taxed three days’ work on the highway, in 1798. At that time it wonld seem that he lived north of David Sherman Far- rand’s, and south of John Brown’s, per- haps where the Rev. Jeremiah Osborn dwelt a few years later. In 1804, he was living on lot 52, of MoMaster’s Half Township, on the north-east corner, where George Southwick has since lived; and it was in his log house, at this place that Dr. Tinkham died. It is a matter for regret that so little is known of him and his family or connections. ” ■ 1———• ,v——— THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1,1885. Early Settlers on the Boston Purchase, [Any additional records relating to persons mentioned under this title which may be sent to D. Williams Patterson, Newark Valley, N, Y., will be thankfully received and put on record.] JOHN FREEMAN. John Freeman settled on a long, nar-1 row farm of fifty-five and a half acres,on j the south side of lot 58, in the Grand ! Division. In 1798, which was probably his first year on this place, he was taxed to work three and a half days on the highway. In 1800, he was one of the nine pathmasters in the now town qf Tioga, and on the first of April, 1801, was elected one of the highway commissioners. On the sixteenth^ April, 1801, he and Henry Moore laid the high- way now known as Whig street, in New’ ark.Valley, from Enoch Slosson’s barm (which stood on the present green) to “in-/ tersectthe road leading to Jenks Set] • tlement ” which intersection was at whai^ ! has long been known as Moore’s Corner. | He sold his farm, 5 Dec., 1801, for four , hundred dollars to Jonas Mrszy, and, j probably, soon left the place. His wife \ was not named in the deed, but signed it as Arne Freeman, and it was witnessed by Peter Wilson and John Freeman, Jr., who was, probably, a son of the grantor. The farm has been occupied by Jonas Muzzy, Samuel Addis, Samuel Johnson^ Mrs. Nancy Rich, George E. Rich, and William Floyd Monell. It is the same on which; “a Mr. Fellows” is said to|have lost his life by a falling tree, in 1798, j on the same afternoon that his father left him in possession and started for his home in New England. There are indications that the young man'who was killed, in- stead of being “ a Mr. Fellows,” , was a son of this John Freeman, and that he was killed in 1797, the year before the father came with his family ; and it so, i that year must have been one of peculiar sadness to the settlers; Isaac Brown and John Carpenter having died suddenly in April, and William Solomon ‘Lawrence i and — Freeman having both been j accidentally killed in the summer. John Freeman, pretty surely the same, wasliving in Spencer, nT^L, now Caroline,} Tompkins county, on the north half of lot number 11, in North-west quarter of township number 11, of the “twelve townships” purchased by Watkins and Flint, and mortgaged it 24 April, 1806, to Oliver Huntington,to secure him from any claims of dower which might be j made by Freeman's daughter, Sally Steward, the widow of Henry Steward, upon certain land which Steward had sold to Huntington. Barney Freeman, a son of John Free -, man, lived writh his father or near him, perhaps on the same lot, and was taxed, in 1798, to work three days on the high- way. He was baptized and joined the j “First Church in Tioga,” now Newark l Valley, 20 Nov., 1803,” on the first &un- j day after its organization; he being its tenth member, and the first to join it “on profession of faith ” No record of wife or children has been found. He died in November, 1808, according to the Church record, perhaps at his father's, , in Caroline. He was long remembered as having unusual ability in vocal music and as being “quite a Ringing master.” o.fx/zexU- THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26. 1885. / Early Settlers on the Boston Purchase. 0 [Any additional records relating to persons mentioned under this title which may be sent to JD. Williams Patterson, Newark Valley, N, Y., will be thankfully received and put on recor^.3 LAWBBNOB, t William Solomon Lawrence was an early settler in Newark Valley, on lot, sixty-three, where Hart Newell dwelt till 1824, followed by Lyman Barber, whose house was burned in Nov.,1856, where his daughter, Mrs. William Tracy Loring, now lives. Mr. Lawrence was born [probably in Canaan, Conn. , about 1757, $ljjtest son of Jonas Mid Tryphena (Law* jrence) Lawrence; married 12 Oct. J 1780, yith Esther Button, and ha<3i ,:r eight J children, according to the genealogy of [the family, the time of their arrival in fBrown's Settlement is -not now known, t ' - • i nor the exact date of his death, which took place at Tioga Centre in the latter part of the summer of 1797. He had been to pheshequin, Penn. , to buy some j wheat, and on the way home his horses i were frightened by a dog, became^ un- j manageable, overturned the wagon, and threw him out. His head struck against some drags of wood, which lay by the roadside, breaking his skull, and causing immediate death. I His widow married (2d) 20 Sept.,1801, jwith Abel Stafford, of Owego, and re- moved with him to Canada, where she j drowned herself in a trough of water. Cyrus Lawrence, one of the sons of William Solomon and Esther (Dutton) Lawrence, was born about 1792; a farmer Olive Dewey, who was,probably,born at Stockbridge, Mass., daughter of Abner Dewey. They dwelt first on the farm afterward owned by Jonathan Belcher, and now by Hiram Holden, and in December, 1820, on lot 52 of McMaster’s half township, (where Benjamin Sparrow had formerly lived) but never succeeded in accumulating much property, and left that place, early in 1821, without giving his neighbors a farewell feast, or an opportunity to bid him a formal fare- well, and settled next, near Batavia, N. Y., where he took his own life by hang- ing. His first appearance in a business way was 21 Aug., 1813,when he was em- ployed by his brother-in-law, John Bement, in digging stone for John Bew ey. Later in that year he burned a quantity of coal for Rewey. His wife’s brother, Truman Dewey, furnished her with six dollars and a half, 5 May, 1813, though John Dbment, and five dollars more, 6 July; 1813; and it seems probable that her marriage took place in the spring of 1813. The census, taken in December 1820, shows that | their household contained four sons and I two daughters, all under ten years of age, ^nd the following names have been ob- I tained from various sources. , I. William Lawrence, the eldest. | | II. Amy Lawrence. 1 j III. Erastus Lawrence, j IV. Charles Lawrence. ( V. LaFayette Lawrence. VI. ------ Lawrence, a daughter. name unknown.» ~#Died, June 2d, in Newark Valley, at the residence of Mrs. M. E. Hotchkins, Emily S. Bean, sister of Mrs. 0. L. Bloodgood and Miss Laura Bean, and daughter of the late Frederick and Lucy Bean, of Maine, Broome County, N. Y. The funeral services were held on Fri- day, June 5th. The floral offerings were beautiful, one of the finest designs being a large pillow of stocks and roses with the words ‘‘At Rest,” from friends at Fair Haven. OWEfiO TIMES- THURSDAY, JUNE U, 1885. OWEGO TIMES. THURSDAY, JUNE 11, 1885. Obituary* Mrs. Fannie Worthington, widow of Gad Worthington, and mother of Mrs. W. H. Bristol, of Glen Mary, died at the residence of her son, G. B. Worthington, in Batavia, N. Y., on Tuesday last, aged 92 years. Among the early settlers in Tioga County were Mr. and Mrs. Gad Worthington, who came from Lenox, Mass., to Berkshire, and afterwards moved to Owego, the latter portion of their lives being passed in Batavia. For many years they were identified with the progress and development of the primitive settlement here, aiding energetically in industrial, social and religious affairs. They were two of the three members from whose meetings for read- ing service at their homes originated the con- gregation of the Episcopal Church in this locality. There were much in their natures of the sturdy stability and unwavering steadfast- ness to principle and honor, and of exemplary traits, that have characterized so many of New England birth, and formed the essential ele- ments in the successful and upright lives of the men of the present day. Mrs. Worthington survived her husband some twenty years, and with a remarkably clear mind and few of the infirmities incident to ex- treme old age, and with gentle and untiring ministrations about her, peacefully entered into rest, to awaken to heavenly reward for earthly well doing.Production Note Cornell University Library produced this volume to replace the irreparably deteriorated original. It was scanned using Xerox software and equipment at 600 dots per inch resolution and compressed prior to storage using CCITT Group 4 compression. The digital data were used to create Cornell's replacement volume on paper that meets the ANSI Standard Z39.48-1984. The production of this volume was supported in part by the New York State Program for the Conservation and Preservation of Library Research Materials and the Xerox Corporation. Digital file copyright by Cornell University Library 1993.