■_ HUIli BWHWIB»— ■BMl WUIiwHfl BHnMH rfilfa ■hihiii «|}5 I mm mm IBillll fflSMtmiiJi mmmMmMi V' *V A? 4 o '^CV *° % A* <• '•••* aO* \ V O > ^^SPE % ' \0 v '* ^ ... % ** *o »* v % '.* . o /t\ ^SS^ili 0' •- ***** ^ 4 O V^v*° v^' A^^. «V * 0> »i*fi*:- ^ *•» J. /, THE PIONEERS OF UNADILLA AND REMINISCENCES. THE SURVIVING AUTHOR HAS PRE- SENTED SIX HUNDRED COPIES OF THESE MEMORIALS TO THE VESTRY OF ST. MATTHEW'S CHURCH IN UNA- DILLA, N. Y., WITH A VIEW TO THEIR SALE. THE SUM THUS SECURED IS TO BE HELD IN RESERVE AS A FUND, THE INCOME FROM WHICH SHALL FINALLY BE EXPENDED, WHEN NEEDED, IN THE CARE OF THE BUR- IAL GROUNDS ADJOINING THAT CHURCH IN WHICH, WITH A FEW EXCEPTIONS, THESE " PIONEERS OF UNADILLA," LIE BURIED THE PIONEERS OF UNADILLA VILLAGE 1 £84-- 1 8 4 ( O FRANCIS WHITING HALSEY, AUTHOR OF "THE OLD NEW YORK FRONTIER." REMINISCENCES Of Village Life and of Panama and California from i84o to 1850 BY GAIUS LEONARD HALSEY, M. D. A PHY/ICIAN IN UNADILLA FOR FIFTY YEARS. ILLUSTRATIONS AND A MAP SOLD BY T&E VESTRY OF ST. MATTHEWS CHURCH, XHSTA-DILLA., N. Y, 1002 650 Copies Only Printed and the Type Distributed. >;. p. VtoJU *V :.¥r#5S of (Secrgc & ftailt The ttttaritTJa Times. TO JULIET CARRINGTON HALSEY THESE MEMORIALS OF MY NATIVE VILLAGE AND EARLY HOME. PAGE CONTENTS. THE PIONEERS OF TJNADILIA VILLAGE. I. BEFORE THE VILLAGE WAS FOUNDED. 1616-1784. The Early Explorers— Settlers Before the Rev- olution — Sidney and the Ouleout — Wattles's Ferry— Other Susquehanna Villages— The Catskill Turnpike — Village Founders— "My Native Land" — The Isolation of Unadilla, II. THE VILLAGE SITE AND THOSE WHO CHOSE IT. 1784-1800. The Coming of Daniel Bissell, Guido L. Bissell, Solomon Martin, Gurdon Huntington, Aaron Axtell and Others — Sites they Set- tled On, - - - - 12 III. TWO FRONTIER MERCHANTS. 1800. Curtis Noble and Isaac Hayes — The opening of the Turnpike — Arks on the Susquehanna —Col. George H. Noble and Judge Charles C. Noble-H. H. Howard and Dr. Willis Ed- son, - - - - - 28 CONTENTS. IV. EARLY TOWN MEETINGS, ROADS AND HOUSES. 1787-1810. PAGE Many towns made from the original Unadilla — "The County of Unadilla "—Curiosities from town records — Roads before 1800 — Houses standing in 1808— Dr. Dwight's visit in 1804— Road Districts in 1800, - - 42 LATER MEN OF MARK. 1804-1815. Stephen Benton and his store— Major C. D. Fellows, Judge Sherman Page and Dr. Ad- anijah, Daniel, Gilbert and Gardner Cone— Capt. Frederick A. Bolles, Salmon G. Cone, David Finch, William J. Thompson, Niel Robertson, Col. Thomas Heath, A. P. Gray, M. B. Jarvis, Josiah Thatcher, John Eells, and Lyman Sperry, - 60 VI. A GRIST AND SAWMILL CENTRE. 1790-1812. The builders of the mills— Origin of the Bin- nekill— Creeks that fed it— Sampson Crook- er's purchase— Joel Bragg— The burning of the mills— Gen. Edward S. Bragg, - 74 CONTENTS. VII. CHURCHES, BRIDGES AND A SCHOOL. 1809-1824. PAGE Early missionaries— Father Nash and St. Matthew's— Rev. Norman H. Adams— Pio- neers buried in the churchyard— The Pres- byterian, Baptist and Methodist churches- Freedom Lodge— Capt. Edward Howell— A schoolhouse in 1821— The two bridges built, 82 VIII. PIONEERS IN TRIBUTARY NEIGHBORHOODS. 1784-1823. Crookerville settled— Unadilla Centre and Rogers Hollow— Families along the old But- ternuts road— Sand Hill and Hampshire Hollow— Sidney Centre and the old Paper Mill region—'* Spencer Street "—Samuel Rog- ers, Martin B. Luther, Col. David Hough and Perry P. Rogers, - - 94 IX. MAIN AND MLLL STREET MEN. 1815-1840. Two business centres — Ros well Wright's store and Stephen Benton's— Arnold B. Wat- son—The Unadilla Bank— The old Academy —Clark I. Hayes— Col. A. D. Williams and Erastus Kingsley— Dr. John Colwell, Henry Ogden, L. B. Woodruff, Henry S. Woodruff and Seleck H. Fancher, - - 111 CONTENTS. X. TWO MEN OF NOTE. 1828-1835. PAGE Frederick A. Sands* and his father, Judge Obadiah Sands— Frank B. Arnold— Col. Samuel North and Thomas G. North, - 124 XI. HOUSES STANDING SEVENTY-THREE YEARS AGO. 1828. Col. North's description of the village at the time of his arrival— Men who were living here, their families and their occupations, 133 XII. THE UNADILLA HUNTING CLUB AND THE JUBILEE OF INDEPENDENCE. 1820-1826. A famous haunt of deer — Men who came to hunt them— Dinners at Hunter's Hall- Poachers and Pomp's Eddy— A great Fourth at Kortright— Political feeling disclosed in an oration — Survivors of the Border Wars — Joseph Brant, - 146 * The date of Mr. Sands's birth is incorrectly given on page 126. It should be Feb. 19, 1813— not 1812. CONTENTS. XIII. VILLAGE LIFE SEVENTY YEARS AGO. 1830-1833. PAGE Charming light on business and social life- Post Office contests and "up-street and down-street "—A celebration of the Fourth —Frederick T. Hayes— "The footsteps of byegone generations," - - 159 REMINISCENCES. PREFACE, - - - - 177 I. KORTRIGHT AND UNADILLA. 1819-1840. Birthplace and family history— Dr. Gaius Hal- sey of Kortright— The Catskill Turnpike— The first stove— To Delhi for general train- ing— Erastus Root and the Rev. William McAulev— Reading medicine— To Scranton or Unadilla ?— Arrival at Kingsley's Hotel, 179 II. UNADILLA SIXTY YEARS AGO. 1840. Houses then standing— Commodore Woolsey —The Norman H. Adams house— The lower hotel— Martin Brook road, - - 193 CONTENTS. III. OLD INHABITANTS AND EARLY PRACTICE. 1840-1847. PAGE Others who survived with the author from 1840— "Capt. Horn"— Practical Jokes at Williams's Store— The Carmichaels— A Year's Business— Harry Wolcott— A dead man brought to life— Frolics with a three-year- old colt— Removal to Connecticut, - 206 IV. PANAMA AND CALIFORNIA. 1849. Sailing away from New York— In the Chagres River— First view of the Pacific— A long stay in Panama— Admiral Porter and C. P. Huntington— The voyage up the Pacific Coast— Arrival in the Golden Gate, - 222 V. SAN FRANCISCO AND SACRAMENTO. 1849. A city of cloth tents— Gambling and curi- osities in prices— A perilous trip to Sacra- mento—Two board shanties make a town —Sutter's Fort — Samuel Brannon— Chances in real estate, ... 245 xii CONTENTS. VI. IN THE GOLD DIGGINGS. 1849. PAGE Mining on the American River— A hole that lasted a season— Taking turns as cook- Profitable practice of medicine— Other min- ing parties— Two cities grow up in a night, 256 VII. THE RETURN TRIP TO PANAMA. 1849. The finding of a lost bag of gold— Desperately ill— Abandoned by natives on the Isthmus- Saved by Capt. "Dick" Norton, - 270 VIII. JAMAICA AND THE RETURN TO UNADILLA. 1849-1850. Health restored in the Atlantic— A look around Kingston— Settle in Unadilla again— Ori- gin of the word Unadilla— Men in the Civil War— Charles C. Siver— Service in the War as surgeon after Antietam, - 276 IX. MY CALIFORNIA DIARY. February 12, 1849— November 11, 1849. A record made in pencil and still legible— In- teresting notes of the experience— Last ill- ness and death, - - - 289 INDEX, _ - - - 307 ILLUSTRATIONS Frontispiece The Susquehanna at Unadilla Village, FACING PAGE Map of the Original Village Lots in the Wallace Patent, - - - 12 The Benton and Fellows Store, - - 60 St. Matthew's Church, - - 86 First Consecrated in 1814, enlarged in 1845 and again in 1852. The Second Bridge on the Site of Wattles's Ferry, 92 Built in 181 z, taken down in 1893. Portrait of Joseph Brant, - - - - 156 Born about 1742, died in \&ox- Portrait of Dr. Gaius L. Halsey, - - 17S Born in 18 19, died in 1891. The Dr. Gurdon Huntington House, the oldest in the village, - 198 The Original Unadilla, the "place of Meet- ing," 2S0 THE PIONEERS OF UNADILLA VILLAGE. I784--I840. BEFORE THE VILLAGE WAS FOUNDED. 1616-1784. White men appear to have been in the upper Susquehanna valley in 1616, or about one hundred and sixty years before the Revolution. They came as explorers and then as fur traders. After them in the next century came missionaries to the Indians. Finally in 1769 arrived surveyors, own- ers of land patents and actual settlers. When the first Indian raids were made upon the valley in 1777 during the Revolution, thriving farm com- munities, composed mainly of Scotch-Irish, with a few Dutch and Palatine Germans, had been estab- lished at points from Otsego Lake down to the mouth of the Unadilla River. One of these existed at the mouth of the Ouleout Creek and was called Albout ; another was in the old paper mill region ; another across the Susque- hanna in what is now Sidney village and still an- other along the lower waters of the Unadilla River. The three settlements at the confluence of the Susquehanna and Unadilla rivers were some- times known collectively as Unadilla, although the 3 THE PIONEERS OF UNADILLA. one on the site of Sidney was often designated sep- arately as the Johnston settlement before the war and as Susquehanna Flats afterwards. While it is not unlikely that some of the Unadilla village lands had been occupied in that period, actual proof of this is wanting. When the war closed, and settlers began to re- turn to the valley, seven years had passed since those early pioneers were driven out. The country was again a wilderness in some respects more for- bidding than when the settlers first entered it. Only the blackened logs of burned houses remained on many farms. Lands that had produced wheat and corn through several seasons in happier times were now overgrown with weeds, brush and briars. No part of New York state, not even the Mo- hawk valley, had been more constantly the scene of depredations ; none had been so often used as a route of travel for small armies of Indians and Tories on the one hand and of American patriot soldiers on the other ; none had now become a land of such utter desolation.* When the Revolution closed the earliest settlers * Of events in this valley before and during the Revolution, the author has written in detail in the volume entitled "The Old New York Frontier: Its Wars with Indians and Tories, its Missionary Schools, Pioneers and Land Titles, 1616-1800," published in the spring of 1901 by Charles Scnb- ner's Sons. Many authorities for the information contained in the present volume will be found in the Bibliography appended to "The Old New York Frontier." Others are indicated here in the text. It is proper to explain that the contents of this volume originally formed a part of the manuscript of "The Old New York Frontier." In seeking a publisher for that work, with a view to its general sale through the book SIDNEY AND THE OULEOIT. to return came in 1784 and many were families whom the war had driven out. Others were men who had entered the valley as soldiers, or who had heard of its rich lands through others who were soldiers. Many went to the old paper mill region. Among these were the Johnstons who had former- ly lived in Sidney, and, after spending a year on Unadilla lands, returned to Sidney again. The McMasters and William Hanna also settled in the paper mill region. Others went to the valley of the Unadilla River and still others to the Ouleout. All these men took up lands that had been occu- pied before the Revolution. Of those pioneers we have, in several cases, full and authentic records. One who settled on the Ouleout was Sluman Wattles, who came from Leb- anon, Connecticut, in 1784? and took up lands be- low Franklin village where he was to remain a potent factor in the life of all that region for the re- mainder of his life. Another was Timothy Beach who settled at the mouth of the Ouleout. An- other, in the same region, was James Hughston and still another Nathaniel Wattles, who opened a hotel near the Sidney side of the present upper vil- lage bridge. Before a bridge was built Mr. Wattles main- tained a ferry at that point to which his name was given. Wattles's Feny for many } r ears was the trade, the author decided to reserve these village chapters for publication in their present form, their interest being local rather than general. 5 THE PIONEERS OF INADILLA. point of destination for scores of pioneers who each season crossed the wilderness from the Hud- son to the Susquehanna and here entered boats in which they and their household possessions were transported to points further south and west. Another pioneer, and the ancestor of a large fam- ily that still survives in the Ouleout country, was Isaac Hodges who arrived in 1789 from Florida, Montgomery county, where he must have known the Johnstons and others who came to this valley from that place. The family had been settled in Florida for some years, Abraham Hodges before the war being one of the well known citizens of that part of the Mohawk valley. Isaac Hodges's son Hezekiah in 1790 settled on the farm where William T. Hodges spent his life. It is recorded of Hezekiah that he planted the first apple orchard known in that neighborhood. It became the par- ent orchard of many others. These men had all been a few years in the coun- try before others came to plant the settlement that grew into Unadilla village. Some of the founders of the village arrived from the same towns in Con- necticut whence had come the men of the Ouleout. Here in the stream called Martin Brook they found a water power which would drive a saw mill, then a pressing need of the country, and which soon af- terwards drove also a grist mill. Here one of them opened a hotel, another a store, and a third be- came a physician — facts which laid the foundations 6 THE CATSkILL TURNPIKE. of a small community in which ere long were to be centered many vital interests of a large frontier territory. Finally in 1800 an old primitive road, running from Catskill to Wattles's Ferry, was improved into a turnpike. It became the model road in all this part of the state, and was destined to remain for more than a quarter of a century the main highway of trade, travel and settlement. Contem- porary with the opening of this road, was the com- ing of Curtis Noble and Isaac Hayes, two young merchants, whose enterprise and success gave the final weight of influence to causes already oper- ating for the founding on this soil of the village which, for half a century, was to control a larger sum of interests than any other within a radius of perhaps twenty miles. Indeed the origin and early growth of nearly all the upper Susquehanna villages came from similar causes. Usually a store and a saw and grist mill determined the site. Mills were established near the mouths of streams tributary to the main waterway. Hotels and stores naturally followed. Centers were thus established, around which other enterprises and homes soon were gathered. With Cooperstown, Oneonta, Otego, Unadilla, Sidney and Bainbridge the genesis is practically the same. As time went on, other circumstances, added to what lumbering and agriculture had done, led to newer progress, such as the Catskill turnpike that 7 THE PIONEERS OF UNADILLA. aided Unadilla, the Esopus one that helped Bain- bridge, the Charlotte one that made for the welfare of Oneonta, or those later circumstances, which, before the era of railroads set in, made Oneonta and Bainbridge centers of the stage business for the whole valley. All these villages, save Coopers- town and Bainbridge, were founded on lands in the Wallace patent. The sketches which follow relate to one alone of these villages ; but Unadilla might serve as a type of them all. It is a village with whose annals the circumstances of birth and an eighteen years' resi- dence on its soil have helped to make the author familiar. Many of its leading citizens of a past generation he knew in boyhood. Its highways, hills and streams remain the most familiar and among the fairest he has ever known. The lives of the men who founded and built up this village may be assumed to possess interest to those who were born in that village, or who have made it their home. No wise man can be indiffer- ent to the founders of any place bearing such rela- tions to himself, any more than he can be indiffer- ent to the founders of his native land in a larger sense. In a very forceful way such men have helped to make him what he is, and what he must forever remain. They are 11 dead but scept'red sovrans Who still rule our spirits from their urns." Out of the very soil on which one is reared ap- 8 VILLAGE FOUNDERS. pear to spring forces fixing deep marks on one's nature. One is not alone a native of his birthplace, but in some considerable degree a product. No fact is more familiar in biographies, whether of great or small lives, and for example in the life of Dickens. The fondness of Dickens for ships and salt water was life long because Dickens, like his own Copperfield, had been "born within sound of the sea and its eternal nevermore." This influence springs not from climate alto- gether ; nor from soil or landscape. More than to any of these influences perhaps it is due to inhabi- tants, older and wiser than he, by whom his ten- dencies were directed, if not actually shaped. Such as these are the unacknowledged teachers of us all. As of the founders of states and of cities, so of those who found villages and small settlements: they definitely give to communities their character. They still exert their sway long after they have ceased to speak and toil. The primary interest in these sketches now is, and must continue to be, local. And yet, in a sense, those quiet annals have wider value. Small as this village has remained, the charm of its site and the beauty of its streets have impressed all visitors. The place, moreover, stands otherwise apart, and stands with some eminence, as an ex- ample of a New York village at its best. For three quarters of a century, Unadilla re- mained thoroughly isolated from the great world 9 THE PIONEERS OF IAADILLA. beyond its borders. Until the nineteenth century- had two-thirds passed away, it had neither rail- road, nor canal, nor any near communication with one. At Catskill, or at points in the Mohawk valley, for a long series of years, its people could first reach a larger world, and then the undertak- ing involved a journey on wheels, in some cases of ninety miles, through a rough country. Even in Civil War times, a day's journey by stage was still necessary in order to reach a railway and learn the war news ; while the war had some years passed away, when a railway first came to its own doors. How that event gradually changed this com- munity those know best who have known the vil- lage both before and since the invasion. Before it occurred, growth and character proceeded almost wholly from local forces, which were mainly strong and otherwise beneficent. Whatever was good and productive, proceeded out of the place itself— out of the virtues that lay in its own people, who were very largely of New England stock. Here in many families dwelt a quality in refine- ment, the things which, in these matters, mean cul- ture — fineness of feeling, elevation of sentiment, a sense of the obligations which worldly independ- ence confers and a good breeding — which isolation could not deny to the place, and which isolation probably did much to bestow upon it. Boys who knew that culture and were blessed by its influence, boys who are now men and have 10 ISOLATION OF UNADILLA. travelled far, may well reflect, as more than one of them has done, that in vain have they sought to find that culture developed in finer or sweeter state elsewhere. To New England the obligation for that is un- questionably large; but this cannot explain all things. When we say that in this inland New York village thrived for almost four score years a bit of New England transplanted in the west, we must add to the statement that it thrived in an isolation so complete that, what was best in New England culture, here came to florescence in full degree. It is a common enough experience to find men and women showing a partial fondness for their early homes. Out of this isolation of Unadilla has sprung, I think, a very partial fondness for the place among those who knew it in the early forties, fifties and sixties. What Webster, on a famous oc- casion said of Dartmouth college, they might say of this village: it is a small place, but there are those who love it. The men who led in this work of village founda- tion are little known to the present generation. Many of them lie buried in St. Matthew's church- yard, and headstones mark their graves, familiar places to all who frequent that enclosure. But few are the visitors who know anything of the story of those strong and valiant souls. 11 II. THE VILLAGE SITE AND THOSE WHO CHOSE IT. 1784--1800. The site of Unadilla village comprises nine lots of the Wallace or, as it would be better to call it, the Banyar Patent, since its real owner was neither Alexander nor Hugh Wallace, but Goulds- borough Banyar. They are lots 92 to 100, inclus- ive. Each runs in a northeasterly direction on lines generally parallel. The lots are of somewhat varying widths with lengths of perhaps ten times the widths. Besides Mr. Banyar the non-resident early owners from whom the settlers obtained their titles included eminent citizens of Albany County — John Livingston, the Lansings and the Van Vechtens — who seem to have acquired their holdings from Mr. Banyar. At first leases on the redemption plan were given. Several pioneers had long been here before they acquired actual titles, although others purchased soon after coming ; but it was not until 1811 that the last village lot passed from an alien owner to an actual settler. The records of those early transactions are not complete. Searches made for the author leave sev- 12 UNAMLLA A *-&* «^Wfci-~ AARON AXTELL. eral gaps to be filled. It was not a universal cus- tom in those times to record deeds. A buyer often accepted the old deeds from the man from whom he purchased. Even in cases where deeds were eventually recorded several years might have elapsed after the purchase. In the period from 1772 until 1791, during which Unadilla was part of Tryon, or Montgomery County, no records exist of any sales by Mr. Banyar or of any sales to or by the Livingstons, Lansings or Van Vechtens, searches for the same having been made for the author in vain at Fonda. In Cooperstown the author has fared better. Here titles to almost any lot can be traced back to the formation of the county in 1791. From these records alone has it been possible to prepare the appended account of first sales to settlers.* First to purchase outright, so far as the records show, was Aaron Axtell, the pioneer blacksmith of the village, who was here before 1794. In August 1795, he secured a part of lot 93 for £110. He made the purchase from Mr. Banyar. Lot 93 lies in the western end of the village. Mr. Axtell's house stood on the site of the future Owens or Sal- mon G. Cone residence just beyond the railroad crossing, which some twenty odd years ago was burned. In 1810, Uriah Hanford had become the owner of this lot. * The information on which this is based was supplied in i8q2 by Mr. Lee B. Cruttenden, County Clerk of Otsego, who took much trouble in making the investigations that were necessary. 13 THE PIONEERS OF UNADILLA. Mr. Axtell was of Welsh origin, and another of the name who came to Unadilla was Moses Axtell. Moses Axtell had lived in Boston before the Revo- lution, where he was one of the famous party who disguised themselves as Indians and threw the tea into Boston harbor,— the act by which, in the trouble with the Mother Country, the gauntlet was definitely thrown down by the Colonists. Moses Axtell afterwards fought in the battle of Lexington and at Bunker Hill. Next as a purchaser came Solomon Martin, who in June 1796 secured lot 96, embracing perhaps 150 acres. He paid for it the sum of £141 5s. The sale was made by the Van Vechtens. Like all these lots it ran back to the hills for a distance of about a mile from the river bank. The third purchase was made by Daniel Bissell. In August 1796 he obtained from Mr. Banyar lots 99 and 100, comprising nearly 400 acres, for which he paid £345. These lots extended from the extreme eastern end of the village down to about where St. Matthew's church stands. Mr. Bissell sold a part of lot 100 in 1801, to his kinsman Guido L. Bissell for $250. Another part of the same lot he sold to Solomon Martin in the follow- ing year for $450. Gurdon Huntington was the next purchaser. He did not acquire title, however, until 1800, which was about ten j r ears after he came into the coun- try. He then purchased from John Livingston a 14 STEPHEN BENTON. part of lot 98 for $352. Probably Dr. Huntington had already erected on this lot, the yellow house that still stands in the rear of the building long used as the post office. He seems to have built the house while occupying the land under a lease with the privilege of purchase. Aaron Axtell in 1803 purchased a further part of lot 93 from William Fitch and Sarah, his wife. He paid $1400 for it, which would indicate that im- provements had been made by the former owner. Mr. Fitch had a house in the village before 1803. As Mr. Axtell bought his first part of lot 93 from Mr. Banyar, Mr. Fitch's part had, of course, orig- inally been purchased from the same owner. Stephen Benton, in 1804, became the owner of lot 95. He purchased it for $1095 from Peter Betts who then lived in Bainbridge and whose wife was Eliza Fitch, a sister of Amasa Fitch, an early settler on village land. Peter Betts owned other lands in the Wallace patent below the village. He, with William Fitch and Jonathan Fitch, had se- cured titles to land within the village limits some- what earlier than the settlers already named ; but the Cooperstown records give no clue to the date of their purchases which indicates that he made the purchase before 1791. There were Fitches in Lebanon, Connecticut, and these men perhaps came into the country with the Wattles families in or soon after 1784, which would make them the first settlers who took up village lands. 15 THE PIONEERS OE INADILLA. Jonathan Fitch in 1805 sold to Jacob Hayes the land he lived on in lot 94. For a part of that lot Mr. Hayes paid $800. Here again improvements obviously were included in the purchase price. Mr. Fitch is known to have had a house in the village at that time. Next among the purchasers came Solomon Mar- tin a second time. He bought lot 97 from Mr. Banyar in 1807, paying £153 14s. On this lot stood General Martin's house and store. He at this time was the largest land owner in the village. After his death in 1816, the estate was said to be "land poor." The records now proceed to the purchase made by Daniel and Gilbert Cone, in 1811. This was lot 92 which lay beyond the Axtell purchase. The Cones bought of the Lansings and paid $563.39 for the tract. Three years later they sold one acre of it to Niel Robertson for $400, which must have included improvements. From Mr. Banyar in 1813 the Cones bought another lot for $501.25. This was lot 108, but it was outside village limits. Daniel Bissell who in some respects is the most interesting of these pioneers was a native of Leb- anon where he was born in 1748. He married in that place Sarah Wattles and was approaching forty years of age when, about 1792, and perhaps earlier, he came to Wattles's Ferry. In Lebanon he had already become a man of varied and useful activities. He possessed a considerable tract of 16 DANIEL BISSELL. land there and papers now owned by Harriet Bis- sell Sumner show that he had had many transac- tions with Sluman Wattles. A paper characteris- tic of the period, containing an "account of Benja- min Bissell's estate that Daniel Bissell took", names pistols valued at £2, a greatcoat valued at 12s., leather breeches at 5s. and one gun at £1, 12s., 6d. Another paper signed " Jonathan Trum- bull, Captain-General", who was the original "Brother Jonathan", his home being in Lebanon, is dated in 1773 and excuses Daniel Bissell from military service owing to " a lameness of the arm caused by fracture and a pain in the chest caused by a sprain." Still another paper dated in March 1792 gives a list of articles delivered to Daniel Bissell from the estate of Mr. Fitch. It includes one large kettle, valued at 8s., one meal chest at 3 l-2s., one small feather bed at 30s., one pair of saddle bags at 6s., one small bedstead 10s., and one copy of Gibbs's "Architecture", 24s. Some of these articles no doubt found their way to the new settlement. Mr. Bissell had a family of nine children, three or four of whom had reached their twentieth year. He brought with him the large sum of $7,000 in specie, which completely filled a good sized basket. One of the recorded facts in Mr. Bissell's life is that he kept the first hotel. A license issued to him, though not the earliest in the town by five or more years, still exists with the seal attached. It 2 17 THE PIONEERS OF UNADILLA. is signed by Solomon Martin, in whose hand the whole paper is written, and by Peter Schremling and Gurdon Huntington. By virtue of law these gentlemen, Commissioners of Excise for the town of Unadilla, say they "do hereby permit Daniel Bissell to retail strong and spirituous liquors ac- cording as it is in said law made and provided, from the date hereof until the first Tuesday in May next after this date." The license is dated Septem- ber 9, 1799. Mr. Bissell's relations with other settlers are shown in several letters. One from Noble and Hayes, of which he was the bearer, dated in 1806, is addressed to Bogardus and DuBois of Catskill, and informed them that the Unadilla merchants sent by Mr. Bissell three barrels of wheat, with other articles which were to be sold "if you can and credit us the avails." Another from Dr. Huntington was addressed to Packard and Conant of Albany. Dr. Huntington sent by Mr. Bissell a few rags and said " I expect you will give four dol- lars for rags, or more, and if they do not come to the amount of the paper [ the rags were to be ex- changed for writing paper ] I will be I suppose in Albany in about two weeks and will settle for the same." The date of this is November 1808, when Dr. Huntington was a Member of the Assembly. About the same time came a relative of Daniel Bissell, though not a near one, Guido L. Bissell, Mrs. Sumner's ancestor. He was born in 1769 18 GlIDO L. BISSELL. and was the father of that other Daniel Bissell whom many men and women can still remember. He was also the father of Hannah Bissell who be- came the wife of John Veley. In 1796, as Mr. Bis- sell's account book records, "John Barsley began to work for me", and in the following spring "Sevenworth began to work for me." In this an- cient volume, another entry under date of Franklin, March 23rd, 1798, is this: "I promise to Guido Bissell 15 shillings on demand, being for value re- ceived, John Pooler", and still another, "Mr. Guido Bissell and I have settled and find a balance of 2 pounds due said Bissell on account, James Hughston." Mr. Bissell for sometime was engaged in trade. His book has many entries of sales of "jane", velvet, cloth, etc., as well as charges for work done by himself and men whom he employed. He did some of the work in building Wright's store in 1815, and when St. Matthew's church was built made note of "work on the church five days by Mr. Beadle." A numerous and influential family in Connecticut had been the Bissells. John Bissell, a pioneer of Windsor, and believed to be the ancestor of them all, was the first white man who ventured across the Connecticut River from Windsor, where he built a house and began the East Windsor settle- ment. For forty -four years his descendants, Aaron Bissell and Aaron Bissell, Jr., filled the office of town clerk. In Windsor in the last century was a 19 THE PIONEERS OF UNADILLA. Daniel Bissell and a Daniel Bissell, Jr. The latter performed secret service for Washington, that won for him a badge of merit. Members of this family have been prominent in various walks of life. One of them was a Protestant Episcopal bishop. Solomon Martin came to Unadilla some years before 1790. In 1792 he already had a store here. He was a native of Woodbury, Connecticut, one of the oldest towns in that state outside the Connec- ticut River valley, and was a son of another Solo- mon Martin, descended from one of the first set- tlers. The family was English and one of them, Captain John Martin, went around the world with Drake. They were entitled to bear arms and had for their motto "Sure and Steadfast." Solomon was born June 15, 1762. His name is given by Cothran among natives of Woodbury who served in the Revolution, although he was only a boy of thirteen when the war began. His title of general —a militia title, I believe— belongs to a late period in his life. In 1792 he was a captain and in 1806 a colonel. He served in the war of 1812. His store in Unadilla was the first set up. Its site was on Main just west of Martin Brook Street. Here also he lived, the house and store having been built together. At a late date he appears to have been in partnership with Gurdon Huntington. Many years afterwards there stood near the pres- ent White store block a building called the Dr. Huntington store. It was afterwards moved to the 20 SOLOMON MARTIN. site of the present L. L. Woodruff residence and then conveyed to the street that fronts on the river where it still stands adjoining the churchyard grounds. Solomon Martin had a distillery as early as 1803, when Guido L. Bissell charged him "to work at trough at stillhouse 18 shillings," "to work in the still house 6 shillings", and again "to work on the still." Solomon Martin and Sluman Wattles had close business relations. Mr. Wattles sold him boards "delivered to your store" in 1792, and in the same year charged George Johnson 3 pounds, 17 shillings for "goods taken at Captain Martin's store." In 1794 he charged Martin 6 shillings as "fees for li- cense", and the same year Roger Wattles with "an order on Solomon Martin for three quarts of rum for 7 shillings." When Martin was in the Legisla- ture in 1806, Sluman Wattles sold him a yoke of oxen " which he agrees to allow me as much for as he can sell them to the McAlpins for and answer the same to Lansing at Albany towards the Mill place which I bought of him ( Lansing ) between now and the last of August next." Martin appears to have made his journey to the State Capital in a convey- ance drawn by these oxen. Solomon Martin's wife was Susan Scott of Cats- kill, whom he married in 1796. In 1816 he died, and Mrs. Martin with her four sons and her un- married sister continued to occupy the home in Unadilla for many years. He was elected Super- 21 THE PIONEERS OF INADILLA. visor in 1798, 1799, 1800, 1801 and 1802. He was Sheriff of Otsego County from 1802 to 1806, and was twice a Member of Assembly. His busi- ness relations were large. Among plaintiffs in suits before Sluman Wattles in and about the year 1794, Martin often appears, some twenty suits and confessions of judgment in his behalf being en- tered. During his term as Sheriff, Martin became associ- ated with a murder case in a way that gave his name considerable notoriety. Stephen Arnold of Burlington had so severely whipped a girl six years old that she died of her injuries. Arnold was tried, convicted and sentenced to be hanged. On the day appointed for the execution, thousands of people assembled to witness it in an open field on the banks of the river in Cooperstown. An address was made by a clergyman, the prisoner spoke afew words, Sheriff Martin adjusted the rope, and then, while the assemblage was breathlessly waiting for the final scene, Martin produced a letter from Gov- ernor Lewis granting a respite. It appeared that this letter had reached Martin early in the morn- ing and it was now past noon. His excuse for his conduct was that he and a few others whom he had consulted thought it would be improper to make the letter public except on the scaffold. Solomon Martin's permanent memorial in this village is the stream that bears his name. It was formerly divided into two streams running through 22 MARTIN BROOK. village lands, and then coming together, thus form- ing an island. When the owners of land on and near this island desired to erect buildings thej thought it proper that the brook should be con- fined to one channel, and accordingly attempted so to make it. More than half a century has passed since that step was taken, but the stream in high water time is still true to its old time habit : the brook pushes out to the westward and asserts dominion over its old time territory. All the efforts of two genera- tions to prevent this again and again have failed. Across this stream on Main street originally stood a wooden bridge. At the sides horses could be driven down for water. A stone arched bridge erected a great many years ago, admirably took the place of this primitive structure and so remained until 1893, a striking monument of the care with which it was built. Solomon Martin for many years had a sawmill on this brook. It stood a short distance above the tannery site and here for many years the road came to an end. The building of this sawmill goes back of the year 1796. Solomon Martin, his store and his sawmill were long since gone. They are all forgotten to this generation. A dark stone slab marks his burial place in St. Matthew's churchyard. Meanwhile the unruly brook remains forever to strengthen recollections of his name. Further up this stream other sawmills were af- 23 THE PIONEERS OF UNADiLLA. terwards built. What was the dwelling house ad- joining these mills still does duty there as a home on a different site, and here in their old age long lived Lewis, or "Luke", and Edward Carmichael. Beyond that site Martin Brook now possesses a newer and more lasting memorial of individual en- terprise. Athwart the stream have been erected imposing dams of stone serving reservoirs and standing as firm and permanent as the hills that form their abutments. Solomon Martin had been nearly forty years in his grave when was born the citizen of Unadilla who in that secluded ravine was to erect these enduring and beneficent structures,— Samuel S. North. Gurdon Huntington, whose home for many years was in the historic building that still stands at the corner of Main and Martin Brook Streets, came to Unadilla before 1794, and here he lived until 1830. He was a native of Franklin, Connecticut, which lies within a few hours' walk of Lebanon, Daniel Bissell's home. His father was Deacon Barnabus Huntington, and he belonged to the sixth genera- tion in descent from Simon Huntington, a noted early emigrant from England who sailed for the new world in 1633 with his wife and children, and on the voyage over died and was buried at sea. From his surviving sons a very distinguished family of descendants were to be raised up in many parts of this country— Samuel who was governor of Con- necticut and a signer of the Declaration of Inde- 24 GURDON HUNTINGTON. pendence, Samuel who was governor of Ohio, Daniel the artist, and Collis P., the railroad mag- nate, whose home in early life was in the Susque- hanna Valley at Oneonta. Gurdon Huntington was born on July 3rd, 1768. He was educated by his father's pastor, the Rev. Dr. Nott. One of his schoolmates was that Eli- phalet Nott who rose to much eminence as presi- dent of Union College. The boy read medicine in Connecticut and then came to Unadilla. In 1798 he married Esther, the only daughter of Benjamin Martin of Woodbury, Connecticut. Benjamin Mar- tin was Solomon Martin's eldest brother. Dr. Huntington " became a successful and de- servedly popular physician" in Unadilla. His practice is known to have extended to places dis- tant forty or fifty miles from home, and one may well believe the statement that "a more welcome visitor never entered those scattered homes." In this laborious field he made journeys by day and night and often wended "his solitary way along al- most untrodden paths", forded unbridged streams and yet was a "cheerful and happy man", as well as a "skillful and prosperous physician." He is said to have accumulated in his time "a handsome property." He was a man of genial manners and * by nature companionable. Dr. Huntington was elected supervisor of Una- dilla in 1803 and again in 1809 and 1811. For seven years he was town clerk. He served four 25 THE PIONEERS OF UNADILLA. terms in the Legislature— in 1805, 1806, 1807 and 1808. In 1813 he removed to Cairo, Greene County, where he died in 1847 at the age of seventy-nine. In this early pioneer history, other names besides these are found— Adam Rifenbark, Seth Abel, Capt. Uriah Hanford, Jacob Boult, Abel Case and Jonas Sliter. Each was here before the eighteenth cen- tury closed. Capt. Hanford came before 1796 and was a freeholder in 1809. He died here more than thirty years afterwards. He was the father of Theodore Hanford. Jonas Sliter dates as far back as 1795 and probably several years further. He seems to have belonged to the family which settled in the old paper mill region before the Revolu- tion. Perhaps he came back as soon as the war closed. Seth Abel was living in the town before 1798 and long served as tax collector and pathmas- ter. Abel Case was probably here before the cen- tury closed. In 1809 he was a freeholder and in 1810 a commissioner of highways. He owned land that joined Solomon Martin's and was one of the first vestrymen of St. Matthew's Church. Guido L. Bissell worked on his wagon house and roofed over his barn in 1806. Jacob Boult was living in the village in 1800 "near the bridge" and was still a resident in 1837. Giles Sisson was living on the river road above the village before 1808. Still an- other name is William Wheeler, to whom in 1797 Guido L. Bissell sold "15 lights of sash for 7 and 26 OTHER FIRST SETTLERS. 6 pence", "290 feet of timber for 10 shillings and 1300 shingles for 1 pound." The life story of these pioneers is really a his- tory of this settlement in its formative period. Their activities widely differed, and so did their im- portance. But all were among the first pioneers and they all had a share in laying the foundations. 27 III. TWO FRONTIER MERCHANTS. 1800. While Solomon Martin, Gurdon Huntington and Guido L. Bissell had sold goods in Unadilla be- fore the century closed, the first merchants, in any large and permanent sense, were Curtis Noble and Isaac Hayes. Among settlers who came after the century had just ended, special distinction belongs to both men. They were contemporary in their coming with the building of the turnpike, and both were young, Mr. Noble being twenty-five and Mr. Hayes twenty-four. Here they remained in part- nership until Mr. Noble died more than a genera- tion afterwards. Their varied activities extended far along the valley and to the north and south of it. They were typical frontier merchants, a class of whom New York State in those times had many examples— men of youthful energ} r , largeness of aims, honorable purposes, capacfty for toil and fine mercantile instincts. Curtis Noble was descended from Thomas Noble, an Englishman who reached Boston as early as 1653. Descendants of Thomas Noble make up a genealogical record filling a book of more than 600 28 CURTIS NOBLE. pages. He settled in Westfield, Massachusetts, and there died in 1704. His eldest son, John, was the first white man who settled in New Milford, Connecticut, and there in 1750 was born John's son Elnathan, and in 1754 his son Jesse. Elnathan Noble in 1794 bought for $750 a farm of 100 acres in Otsego County on the Butternut Creek in what is now New Lisbon. When he moved to the farm in April of that year, there was a log house on it ten feet by twelve, with an elm bark roof and a chimney of sticks and clay. In a cart covered with tow cloth and drawn by two yoke of oxen he arrived early in May with Johanna Bostwick, his wife, and their one daughter and four sons, finding the land heavily timbered, the settlers few, and these chiefly Dutch or German. Here Elnathan Noble lived until his death in 1824, his funeral being conducted by the Rev. Dan- iel Nash, known better as " Father" Nash, with whom he had long co-operated in support of the Episcopal faith. Jesse had followed him to New Lisbon, and Jesse's son Thomas found in Unadilla a wife in Eliza Ann Beach, daughter of Abijah H. Beach, by whom he had eight sons, Whitney B., George N., Edward B., Thomas H., Carrington T., John Henry and Clark. Jesse's daughter Hetty be- came the wife of the Rev. Russell Wheeler, the first rector of St. Matthew's church in Unadilla. Elnathan Noble's eldest son Curtis did not go to New Lisbon with his father. He had already en- 29 THE PIONEERS OF UNADILLA. tered upon a mercantile life at New Milford in the store of Elijah Boardman, where also had been em- ployed his future partner, Isaac Hayes, and there Curtis Noble remained until 1800 when he and Mr. Hayes formed their partnership and set out for Unadilla. In that year Mr. Noble married Mr. Hayes's sister, Anna, who survived him until 1865 when she died at eighty-four. Mr. Hayes was born in 1776. His father was Thomas Hayes of Ilminster, Somersetshire, Eng- land. Mr. Hayes in 1798 was sent by Mr. Board- man to the Western Reserve of Connecticut, now a part of Ohio, under contract to clear up a tract of land, sow grain and otherwise prepare the way for settlers. These lands were in the present town- ship of Medina. Early in 1800 Mr. Hayes had returned to New Milford and entered into his agreement with Curtis Noble to conduct a business "as merchants or shopkeepers in the State of New York at such place as may by them be thought most proper under the name and firm of Noble and Hayes for a term of time not less than ten years." They contributed each at the beginning one thousand dollars. Mr. Hayes was soon afterwards to increase his amount, while Mr. Noble had the privilege of doing so. Each was to "devote his whole time and attention to the business, use and benefit of the said com- pany."* * The original articles of agreement are still in the possession of descend- ants of Mr. Hayes. 30 ISAAC HAYES. Instead of ten years this partnership continued for nearly forty r . Formal settlement was finally made in 1841 with George H. Noble and Charles C. Noble as executors of their father's estate. These Unadilla pioneers came by way of Catskill, the turnpike being then in process of construction. On reaching the river they stopped at the Wattles's Ferry hotel and soon concluded that the lands across the stream offered the most promising site they had seen for their enterprise. Here was the terminus of the turnpike over which their goods could be brought from Catskill and from here down the Susquehanna could be sent in boats the produce of the county which they expected to ac- quire in exchange for goods. Their first stock of goods arrived on a Saturdaj-, when they were living in the house afterwards called the Priest house, a close copy of the Gurdon Huntington house. It occupied the site of the present Horace Eells residence. In one of the rooms of this dwelling the goods were opened and on the following Monday Mr. Hayes on horseback made a tour of the Ouleout country and the upper Susquehanna, announcing to all the inhabitants that a new store had been opened. Solomon Mar- tin, who had a rival store, predicted disaster for the new firm. But Mr. Hayes's tour brought a crowd of customers at once and a large trade was soon secured. In the following year the firm was able to send a 31 THE PIONEERS OF UlSiADILLA. large quantity of local produce to Catskill and Bal- timore. Pearl and pot ashes, pork, bacon, wheat, cattle, dried apples and eventually whiskey became staple articles of export. An old account book records that in 1808 Mr. Noble, on one occasion, sold 30 barrels of pot ashes "for cash in York", and in 1809, " 588 pounds of rags." Shipments to Catskill were made by well known residents of the town— John Pooler, John Carley, Aaron Axtell, James Hughston and others. The business eventu- ally grew to large proportions. Wheat, rye and corn were grown in vast quantities and everyone was overburdened with the stock on hand. In a single week the firm was known to ship to Catskill 3,000 bushels of wheat, which meant 90 sleigh- loads. These circumstances forced the firm into distilling rye and corn into whiskey, and for this purpose the stone building, afterwards used as a tannery was erected. Between Unadilla and Baltimore regular ark loads of produce made journeys down the river. As described to the author by the late Clark I. Hayes, these arks were from 20 to 30 feet long and from 15 to 20 feet wide, the depth being from 3 to 4 feet. Boats similar to them were in general use on inland waters at that period. On the Mohawk the favorite boat was called the Schenectady boat, which was "abroad and shallow scow some 50 feet in length steered by a sweep oar of 40 feet and pushed upstream by man power." On these boats 32 UNADILLA A RIVER PORT. when the river was high 10 tons of freight could be carried. The ark proper was the invention of a Pennsyl- vania farmer named Kryder living on the Juniata. In 1792, when flour and lumber were dear, he first resorted to this kind of boat in order to reach Bal- timore, and thus realized an excellent profit. The ark afterwards came into very general use all along the upper as well as the lower Susquehanna. In favorable water 80 miles a day could be tra- versed. Mr. Kryder's first ark carried 300 barrels of flour. Later ones were large enough to bear the weight of 500 barrels. It was by means of these boats that the vast grain product of Central and Western New York was for many years transported to southern markets. The arks of Noble and Hayes were loaded at a cut in the river bank that may still be seen oppo- site their old store. Having been hauled near the bank, planks were thrown out to the arks from the shore. In seasons when the water was at its most favorable stage,— which was usually falling high water that enabled a boat to be kept in the centre of the stream,— loading was done at other points in order to start several arks at one time. All the products of the country went down the river in these arks— at least all for which a market existed at the end of the journey. They were loaded suf- ficiently well to draw from 20 to 24 inches of water. From three to five of them were usually 3 33 THE PIONEERS OF UNADILLA. coupled together in line and placed in charge of an experienced pilot who understood the course and currents of the stream. Men with long oars steered them at each end of the line under directions from the pilot. Lumber intended for Baltimore went in rafts which were put together at places along the river where some quiet eddy could be found near a saw- mill. One of the best spots of this kind near Una- dilla was the eddy below the Condensery which formerly covered a large territory that has since been filled in by the action of the water, leaving scarcely a trace of the water area that formerly ex- isted. After making their sales in Baltimore, Mr. Hayes or Mr. Noble went on to New York to pur- chase goods, shipping them by way of the turn- pike. Refuse grain from the Noble and Hayes distillery was fed to cattle and hogs. It was a common thing to slaughter from 200 to 300 hogs in the fall, and to feed half that number of cattle through the winter. In the time of Jefferson's Embargo the firm met with heavy losses. Mr. Hayes used to tell how a supply of crockery that had cost $1200 just before the Embargo was raised was afterwards worth only $112. When the Embargo was imposed however, it not only affected the stock of merchants favorably but the farmer's produce unfavorably. Grist mills had been busy with heavy crops all through the autumn 34 MR. HAYES'S HOUSE. of 1807 in anticipation of high prices, due to the foreign demand; but when the ports were closed, the demand ceased and farmers often found them- selves in possession of a staple article for which they could not get the cost of the labor put into it —the sowing, reaping and grinding. The loss in New England to each family because of this meas- ure was reckoned in 1808 to be about $100. Thousands of men were ruined by it, and notices of sheriff's sales covered tavern doors and guide posts at forked roads. Men in those days could be sent to jail for debt and thus in New York City during a period of less than a year 1300 persons were imprisoned. That city has been described as looking "like a town ravished by pestilence." Streets were deserted and grass grew on the wharves. Isaac Hayes in 1804 built the house in which his son so long lived— the house still occupied by de- scendants of his. It was for many years regarded as the finest residence on the road between Catskill and Ithaca. This may readily be believed, for in 1804 the common dwelling house was a log hut, while the three "yellow houses", then standing in the village, one of which the Huntington house still survives, were fine modern residences.* Mr. Hayes's house for that time was indeed a palatial country mansion. A remarkable feature of it was • The third of these houses occupied the site of the Owens, or Salmon G. Cone residence, destroyed by fire some twenty years ago. 35 THE PIONEERS OF UNADILLA. the height of the rooms, as may still be seen ; they are as high as rooms in many dwellings of our day. Remarkable also was the design of the house— the elevation, the mantels, above all the circular stair- way. In the existence here of that edifice in those early days lay a sign of the culture which someone has said "corrects the theory of success." On the island opposite this house formerly ex- isted a race-course. It does not appear to have been in use long, however, — perhaps not for more than two seasons. A temporary foot bridge was erected across the stream, made of planks resting upon benches having legs long enough to keep the planks above water. This bridge was wide enough for two persons to pass. After the races were over it was removed. Horses and carriages reached the island by the ford way. Mr. Hayes's activities in this community, apart from his mercantile business, were wide and varied. He was postmaster for many years, supervisor in 1805, and for seven other years, and was elected to the Legislature in 1811 and in five other years. He had an important share in founding St. Mat- thew's Church. He had come from the home of Congregationalism and did not embrace the Epis- copal faith until some years after he came to Una- dilla, when he joined with others in promoting the services held by "Father" Nash. He was a vestry- man, warden and treasurer of the Church for many years and was senior warden at the time of his 36 THE HAYES FAMILY. death, which occurred in 1857 at the age of eighty years and ten months. Isaac Hayes's wife was Sarah, daughter of Ben- jamin S. Mygatt, of New Milford. To the same family belonged the late Henry R. Mygatt of Ox- ford and his sister, Mrs. Frederick A. Sands, of Unadilla. The two families of Noble and Hayes, as already shown, were related by marriage, Mrs. Noble being Mr. Hayes's sister. No family ac- counts were kept at the store ; each took what it needed. Eventually the two family homes con- tained twenty children. One of these children sur- vived elsewhere until 1892 ; when he died in Ben- nington, Vermont, at the age of eighty-three,— Joel M. Hayes. Thomas Hayes of Ilminster had seven children besides Isaac. They were Abraham, Polly, Jacob, Hannah, Daniel C. and Thomas. Abraham's daughter Anna married Dr. David Walker, who succeeded Dr. Huntington as the occupant of the "yellow house", and whose brother Francis built the house across the street that was long the home of the late Henrj- S. Woodruff. Dr. Walker lived in Unadilla as late as 1835, and finally died in the West. A daughter of Jacob Hayes, Julia Ann, became the wife of Col. A. D. Williams, for many years a mer- chant in Unadilla, of whom more will be said here- after. Isaac Hayes's daughter Sarah Ann, who was born in 1815, became the wife of the Rev. Louis 37 THE PIONEERS OF UNADILLA. LeGrand Noble, a cousin of Curtis Noble, whose eareer as a clergyman began in the historic St. Peter's Church in Albany and included successive charges in North Carolina, Catskill, Chicago, Glens Falls and Hudson City, New Jersey. He be- came in 1872 professor of English literature in St. Stephen's college at Annandale. He was a friend of Thomas Cole, the artist, became one of his ex- ecutors, edited his papers, and wrote his life. Like Mr. Hayes, Curtis Noble was active in many affairs apart from his own business. He was sup- ervisor in 1825 and 1829 and held the office of town clerk for a longer period than any other citi- zen of the village has ever done— from 1805 to 1824. A story that has survived to this day is that he once brought down with his gun from the top of a pine tree a Susquehanna shad. This was strictly true. He had shot a hawk and with the hawk fell a shad which the hawk had taken from the river. Curtis Noble's eldest son was Col. George H. Noble, whose wife was Sherman Page's daughter, Elizabeth Butler. He was a man of extensive knowledge and deeply impressed those who knew him. For some time he was engaged in business in the brick store at Main and Depot Streets. The stone part of the Arnold residence was built by him. Colonel Noble at one time edited a paper called the Unadilla News. In 1840, Edward H. Graves had started a paper called the Susquehanna 38 MRS. CHARLES C. NOBLE. News, which Col. Noble purchased of him in the fol- lowing year and changed the name. After a brief career it was followed by the Weekly Courier, of which Edson S. Jennings was editor.* Colonel Noble died in 1847 at the age of forty-two. Curtis Noble's second son was Charles Curtis, a graduate of Union College who became a lawyer at Owego, but after his father's death returned to Unadilla. He was County Judge in 1843, and a Member of Assembly in 1849. He died in 1851 at the age of forty-five, while on a visit to Owego, where he hoped a change of air might improve his health. By way of Deposit, the body was brought back to Unadilla by rail and from Bainbridge a funeral train of thirty carriages conveyed it to Una- dilla. His stone law office, near the house where his widow long afterwards lived, stands as a fa- miliar relic of his career. His widow survived until July 13, 1890. She was a large-minded, gifted woman. Few like her have dwelt so long in this valley. She was born in Owego in October 1808 and was married in 1834, becom- ing the mother of six children, three of whom grew to maturity and one to the age of fifteen. All these * A third paper called the Unadilla Herald was started a few years later with William H. Hawley as editor. It lived about a year. Nearly ten years afterwards, or in 1855, the Unadilla Times made its appearance with a Scotchman from Schoharie for its editor. He was succeeded by E. S. Watson, and Mr. Watson, in 1857, D X George B. Fellows, who made a longer stay, conductine the paper until the close of the Civil War, when followed in their turn George E. Beadle, Gilbert A. Dodge, A. J. Barlow, William H. Parsons, E. S. Little, Robert F. Sullivan, Benjamin P, Ripley and George D, Raitt. THE PIONEERS OF UNADILLA. children soon passed away in the steps of their father. With the finest resignation, Mrs. Noble bore these recurring afflictions which left her for more than a quarter of a century a solitary figure in the home where her young life had been spent. One who knew her long, when writing of her early life, described her as "the centre of a large social circle and the brightest intellectual force within it." It was, indeed, women like her who could make one realize what Steele meant when he said of Lady Elizabeth Hastings that "to love her was a liberal education." Curtis Noble's daughter Harriet Amelia, the widow of Henry H. Howard, was long the sole survivor of Mr. Noble's family in the village. Mr. Howard was a citizen of the village for nearly sixty-five years : he came in 1827 and died in 1890. He was a native of Madison County, his father being Samuel Howard a native of Bridgewater, Massachusetts. He married Harriet Noble in 1837, their only surviving child being Dr. Frederick S. Howard of New York. Men and women can now recall the Fourth of July celebrations of their childhood to which Mr. Howard usually contri- buted the balloons made by him on his own prem- ises. He was a man of bright and original mind, capable of varied and forceful wit, and had consid- erable knowledge of human nature. Curtis Noble had a brother named Elnathan who went from New Lisbon to Michigan in 1S33, 40 DR. WILLIS EDSON. where he gave to a town in Livingston County, the name of Unadilla,* and a sister named Sally who in 1808 was married to Dr. Willis Edson. Dr. Edson was a native of Pittsfield, Massachusetts. He read medicine with the famous Dr. White of Cherry Valley and in 1815 came to Unadilla, where he died in 1823 at the age of forty, leaving a son Willis who was long in business here. A daughter of Dr. Edson was the wife of Col. Robert Hughston who led a regiment to the front in the Civil War. Col. Hughston was descended from the Ouleout pioneer and spent many years on the farm where a bridge crosses that stream to the lands that were taken up after the Revolution by Timothy Beach. Dr. Edson's son Darwin was the father of William D. Edson, the author's friend and schoolmate, who practiced law' in Unadilla for some years and afterwards joined other men from the village in finding a new home in the "zenith city of the unsalted seas." In that distant town Mr. Edson is now City Judge. * Another town named after Unadilla lies in Otoe County, Nebraska. It was laid out by men who formerly lived in the older town, the first house being erected there in 1872. 41 IV. EARLY TOWN MEETINGS, ROADS AND HOUSES. 1787-1810. Otsego County was formerly part of Montgom- ery. Montgomery had before been called Try on County after the Colonial Governor, William Try on. Governor Try on became a Tory during the Revolution and hence the change in name. At the close of the war Montgomery embraced lands enough to have formed a small state— the lands that now comprise the counties of Montgomery, Otsego, Herkimer, Fulton, Hamilton, St. Law- rence, Lewis, Oswego, Jefferson and parts of Dela- ware, Oneida and Schoharie. Otsego was formed from Montgomery in 1791, but the need for a division of the large territory comprising Montgomery had been felt soon after it was set off from Albany County in 1772 under the name of Tryon. The Legislative Council in 1775 set apart a certain tract called the Old Eng- land district, in which were included settlements on the Unadilla River and Butternut Creek : under this name the tract was known during the Revolu- tion. After the war, it was reorganized under the 42 TOWNS MADE FROM UNADILLA. same name with new officers and so continued un- til Otsego was set off in 1791 and then the name disappeared. Otsego first comprised only two towns— the towns called Otsego and Cherry Valley, but in 1792 the town of Otsego was divided and the name Unadilla was given to its southern half. In that town of Unadilla were then embraced lands that have since been made to constitute seven Otsego County towns, and which by the census of 1890 had a population of 20,024, divided as fol- lows: Butternuts, 2,723 ; Morris, 1,920; Milford, 2,051; Laurens, 1,659; Oneonta, 8,018; Otego, 1,840; Unadilla, 2,723; Oneonta Village,* being not only the largest community in Otsego County, but the largest between Albany and Binghamton. When Oneonta was first taken off from Unadilla, it was named Otego from the creek that still flows across its territory— the Wauteghe Creek of earlier times. The division of the Unadilla territory began in 1796 when Butternuts ( with lands afterwards taken from Butternuts and called Morris ), Oneon- ta, (including lands that afterwards were taken from Oneonta to make Laurens ), and Milford were erected as separate towns. The present Otego lands remained a part of Unadilla until 1822. This division found its justification in the growth of * Originally called Milfordville and changed to Oneonta in I830. Early land papers spell the word Onahrichton, Richard Smith wrote it Onoyar- enton, 43 THE PIONEERS OF UNADILLA. population which had been surprisingly large be- fore the 18th centnry closed. As early as 1794, Otsego County was able to cast 1,487 votes for Member of Congress, which would mean a popula- tion of probably more than 10,000. The town of Otsego alone in 1795 had 2,160 male inhabitants above the age of sixteen. Six years later the entire county contained 21,343 souls. Spafford in 1813, which was before Otego was taken off, credited the town of Unadilla with a population of 1,426, and the taxable property was valued at $141,896. Unadilla had five distilleries and fourteen school- houses. The land was "held in fee." A study of the records of this town of Unadilla, as contained in a large pigskin-bound volume, now in the office of the Town Clerk, sheds interesting light on many aspects of frontier life. It contains the record of the town meeting held in 1796, which met in the house of Daniel Bissell, on the site of the present residence of Samuel D. Bacon, which for so many }'ears was the home of Dr. Evander Odell. This meeting was presided over by Nathaniel Wat- tles of Wattles's Ferry. David Baits was elected supervisor and Gurdon Huntington town clerk. It was voted that the next town meeting should also be held in Daniel Bissell's house, but later meetings held their sessions "in the schoolhouse near Daniel Bissell's." In 1798 the house of Solomon Martin was used ; in several other years the schoolhouse. Suggestions were often made that meetings be 44 TOWN LAWS. held outside the village, because of the long dis- tances which many persons had traveled for the earlier meetings. In 1817, and some other years, voters assembled at the house of Capt. Elisha S. Saunders, several miles up the river. Motions were afterwards made that meetings take place on the Unadilla river, in the paper mill country, and in Unadilla Centre, but these were lost. At the meeting in 1797 it was voted that "the town will beat the expense of sending after Esquire Scramling, or some other magistrate, to qualify the town officers", and in 1797 that "the town will allow the Town Clerk five dollars for his ser- vices for the last year." The same sum was voted in 1803 to Solomon Martin and David Baits for "services done heretofore as supervisors of this town." Lawful fences were declared to be those "four feet nine inches high", with the "poles or rails not more than six inches asunder." Earmarks were registered as follows: Abner Griffith, "slots in the right ear"; Daniel Bissell, "a square crop on ear, with a half penny on the under side of the left ear"; John Sisson, "a hole through the right ear and a half penny the underside of the left"; William Fitch, " a halfpenny under side each ear." It was voted that hogs " with yokes eight inches long above the neck and four inches below be al- lowed to run as free commoners", and that "the town will give for each wolf killed within the limits thereof forty shillings." Wolves seem to have been 45 THE PIONEERS OF UNADILLA. plentiful until a rather late period. Dr. Odell in 1872 said men were then living who could remem- ber the site of the railroad station in the village as "a tangled thicket from which the cry of the pan- ther and howl of the wolf were frequently heard." In 1796 the number of persons assessed in Una- dilla was ninety-nine ; the total real and personal property was set down at £2,275, and the tax at £52. A year later the persons assessed numbered 106; the property was $12,045 in value and the taxes were $370. In 1808 a memorandum de- clared the number of "Quakers returned in this town, 1, viz: Stephen Wilber, tax $4." Signs of the discontent, due to an inconveniently large town, which eventually led to taking off Huntsville (Otego) from Unadilla were seen very early. One was the holding of the town meeting at the house of Captain Saunders ; another was a proposal in 1817 to divide Unadilla by adding to Chenango County "all that part lying in Upton's Patent", which was the valley of the Unadilla River, and coming east to the "west end of the vil- lage of Unadilla." This proposal emanated from "the western portion of the town." But the town meeting of 1817 resolved to "use all due diligence to prevent such division." Nine-tenths of the peo- ple were declared to be opposed to it, its strongest advocates lying outside the town, and their motives being "to divide and distract the citizens of our territory." 46 •THE COUNTY OF UNADILLA." Some twenty -five years after Otsego County was formed a project was started for setting off a new county comprising parts of Otsego, Chenango and Delaware, and to be called the County of Unadilla, with the village of Unadilla as the county seat. In 1818, the sum of $250 was voted to defray the ex- penses of a committee while attending the Legisla- ture "for the purpose of obtaining a new county." Other papers on this subject may be found in the State archives down to a period so late as 1856. In 1802 it was resolved that the town should have two pounds. One was to stand "not to ex- ceed half a mile from Hubbell's Mills, so-called, and the other within half a mile of Yates's Ferry, so- called." The two were to be built of "logs rolled up in form or manner of a house." William Potter was Poor Master in 1793, and in October he charged the town with " a winding sheet for F twelve shillings", and "for F 's attendance and doctrine £3, 12s. 3d." In March 1794, he received as license money $10 each from Isaac Gates, Na- than Hill and Barrett Overheyser, and in 1795 the same from nine other persons. First among enterprises having in view the gen- eral good came roads which at the start were mere clearings through the forests. Above all things the scattered settlements in the upper valley needed communication with each other. The road by which they reached the outer world ran from Wat- tles's Ferry to Catskill,— a road much older in its 47 THE PIONEERS OF UNADILLA. first state than the turnpike and one which the turnpike finally supplanted. The original road had been opened about fifteen years before the turnpike was established. A wheeled vehicle as early as 1787 is known to have made a journey over its entire length. By the summer of 178& this first road was in passable condition. The State now took its im- provement in charge. G. Gelston made a survey of it in August 1790, and during the next year Slu- man Wattles did some work on it, his cousin, Na- thaniel, having a contract with the State for the work. In 1792, Solomon Martin drove a yoke of oxen over it to Catskill and back, taking fifteen days, which meant an average of six miles a day. The road was only twenty-five feet wide. In the same year a regular weekly mail route was estab- lished over it from the Hudson to the Susquehanna. A State road that dates from 1790, led from Unadilla by the Susquehanna and Charlotte to Schoharie Flats. In that year Sluman Wattles re- ported to State officials that it was worth £12 per mile "to clear out and make this road." It be- came an important highway to the settlers. To about the same period belongs the building of Main Street in Unadilla village, which was ex- tended westward to the Unadilla River. The sur- vey was made by Nathaniel Lock of Westchester County. The original map made by him may still be seen in Albany. In December 1791, a certificate, 48 MAIN STREET OPENED. signed by Solomon Martin, David Baits, Israel Smith, Elijah Heyden, Nathaniel Lock and other "inhabitants of the Ouleout and Unadilla", de- clared that this road had been completed agreeable to Lock's map by Benjamin Hovey* and John Massereau. The signers added that "said road had been amended so that loaded ox teams or carts can pass and repass the whole distance with ease." Originally the road in Unadilla village ran closer to the river. It was several times altered and once at the instance of Solomon Martin, to whom credit is given for the obtuse angle formed near the Post Office. Solomon Martin and others certified in 1791 that they had completed a road from the Unadilla to the Chenango River. A road also had been opened down the Susquehanna, where were many settlements, and at Windsor in 1791 one had been started across the hills to Cookoze ( Deposit ) on the Delaware "to serve", says Lincklaen, "to transport commodities to the Philadelphia mar- ket." By 1794, a road ran all the way over to Carr's Creek from the Ouleout, beginning at a point near the stone house on the W. J. Hughston farm. It had been begun somewhat earlier. In that year a bridge was constructed across Carr's Creek, Sluman Wattles charging 8 shillings for one day's work on it. For the records of later road building we must 'General Benjamin Hovey who settled in Oxford in 1790 and named the place after his native town in Massachusetts. * 49 THE PIONEERS OF UNADILLA. turn to the town archives instead of the State. In 1796, there was made "a return of a highway, laid out through the town of Unadilla, beginning at Abner Griffith's on the river and running north to the Sand Hill Creek where the patent line crosses ; then crossing the creek ; thence northerly through lot number 119 until it runs twenty-five rods on the lot of Elisha Lathrop", from whence it proceeded to the north line of the town. These records show how early the Sand Hill and Hamp- shire Hollow parts of the town were settled. The northern central parts of the town were at first approached from the Unadilla River and the Butternut Creek. Earliest among records concern- ing a road running directly north from the village is "a return for an alteration of a road beginning near Captain Solomon Martin's on the line be- tween him and Daniel Bissell and running on said line northerly as far as the land will permit." This return is dated May 10th, 1796 ; but there is noth- ing to show am^thing further in connection with such a road. The present Martin Brook road through to the north part of the town from Mar- tin's saw mill, was not opened until nearly fifty years after the date of this paper. In June 1796, commissioners, on the application of twelve freeholders, laid out a road "beginning near Aaron Axtell's house at a stake, thence run- ning a northwesterly course to a pine tree marked H; then to a pine tree marked with a blaze; 50 ROAD DISTRICTS IN ISOO. thence to a walnut staddle, also marked with a blaze; then running nearly the same course to a pine tree marked with an X ; thence running until it intersects the old road six rods north of the five- mile tree." To this project, which points to what was afterwards the old Kilkenny road, there was opposition and it was referred to a jury of twelve men, who reported that it was "not consistent; neither do we think it necessary and therefore we do protest against said road." Built, however, this road was in early times, though it had some years to wait. Mention of it first occurs in the list of road districts for 1810. Earliest of all roads actually opened from the vil- lage leading over the hills to the north, seems to have been the one running from near the store of Noble and Hayes, of which mention occurs in the road list for 1809, but a return for the survey of it had been made in 1808. The town in 1800 had al- ready been divided into road districts of which there were fifteen. The\- show with much force the extent to which the Unadilla township lands had been opened up at that early day. They are as follows : "First district, beginneth at the town line at Stephen Harrington's and runneth to the Unadilla River road. Second, beginneth at the Butternut Creek and runneth on the said Unadilla road to the Eel Ware Bridge. 51 THE PIONEERS OF UNADILLA. "Third, beginneth at the Eel Ware Bridge and runneth on the said road to a pine tree marked No. 4 at the foot of the hill. "Fourth, beginneth at the pine tree at the foot of the hill marked No. 4 ; from thence to the State road and from the ferry to the line of Banyar Pat- ent. " Fifth, beginneth at Banyar Patent line and run- ning to the two-mile tree on the State road, and from Colonel Baits's. "Sixth, beginneth at the two-mile tree and from thence to the Grog Shop Creek to include the bridge.* "Seventh, beginning at the east end of the village, thence to the foot of still water. " Eighth, beginning at the foot of still water and up the cross new road as far as Laban Crandall's house; from thence to the eight-mile tree. "Ninth, beginning at the eight-mile tree; from thence to the Otsdawa bridge. "Tenth, beginning at the Susquehanna River road up the Sand Hill Creek road to the north line of the town. "Eleventh, beginning at Merriman's sawmill; from thence to the northwest line of the town. "Twelfth, beginning at Laban Crandall's house; * As to the identity of this bacchanalian stream, it may be said that Solo- mon Martin and Dr. Huntington before 1800 had had licenses to sell liquor near Martin Brook, while Daniel Bissell's hotel, the first in Unadilla, stood close to the creek that crosses Main Street near S. D. Bacon's home. It seems probable that the latter stream is the one referred to. 52 OPENING THE CATSKILL TURNPIKE. thence through the north line of the town on the Sisson road. " Thirteenth, beginning at the river road ; thence up Wheaton Creek to Joseph Peam's house. "Fourteenth, beginning at the Wheaton road; from thence to the Sand Hill Creek road. "Fifteenth, begins at the west branch of the Otsdawa Creek; thence to the town of Otego [now Oneonta] at or near Thurston Brown's." Such were the roads that established communica- tion among the settlers — primitive highways the most of them, and greatly inferior to the turnpike that came in in 1800 as the model road for all this territory and which remained for many years the chief highway to many parts of central and south- ern New York. One of the earliest highways in the State west of the Hudson and south of the Mo- hawk was this one from Wattles's Ferry to Cats- kill, and it stands as a historic landmark of that great turnpike era which began with the new cen- tury. The turnpike grew out of stern necessity. So great had been the demand for roads pouring in upon State authorities from all neighborhoods, that it was impossible to meet them. The State in consequence gave to private corporations per- mission to open and improve roads and impose tolls as their recompense. Among the men who took stock in the Catskill Turnpike were Stephen Benton, Solomon Martin and Sluman Wattles, the 53 THE PIONEERS OF INADILLA. price of shares being twenty dollars and the amount of stock twelve thousand dollars. Caleb Benton, who lived in Catskill and was a brother of Stephen, at one time was president of the company. Two stages were kept regularly on the road, the fare being five cents per mile, making the cost of the trip from Unadilla to Catskill about the same as the fare by rail from Unadilla to New York now, while the time consumed was three days. Dr. Dwight came over the road in 1804 and tells how he saw "a few lonely plantations recently be- gun", and how he "occasionally passed a cottage and heard the distant sounds of an axe and of a human voice", while all else "was grandeur, gloom and solitude." He describes Franklin as "for some miles a thinly built village, composed of neat, tidy houses", in which everything "indicated prosperity." Further down the Ouleout the country "bore a forbidding aspect, the houses be- ing thinly scattered and many of them denoted great poverty." At Wattles's Ferry he was unable to find a boat. Even a dinner was denied him. A bridge had been begun but he had to cross " a deep and rapid ford." Further down the river William Hanna supplied him with a dinner. It was the opening of this turnpike* which, as I have said, determined that a village should grow up at its western terminus. * Of this famous highway the author has written in greater detail in "The Old New York Frontier." 54 HOUSES STANDING IN 1808. Here was a stopping place, the end of the land journey, a place for stores and hotels, the point where pioneers might enter boats and thus be con- veyed to destinations south and west. The number of houses standing in the village in 1808 could not have been more than fifteen or sev- enteen. At the extreme eastern end near the bridge lived a man named Morgan. His house was a rude affair dug into the bank. To the west of Morgan came one of the yellow houses, then occupied by Guido L. Bissell, who seems to have built it. Next was the home of Curtis Noble whose family comprised at this date his wife and his two sons George and Charles, then five and two years old respectively, and an infant daughter. Beyond stood the Isaac Hayes residence, built four years before, and already famous as the most attractive dwelling between Catskill and Ithaca. Beyond this lived Captain Amos Bostwick, whose wife was Sally Hayes, an aunt of Isaac Hayes. Captain Bostwick had served in the Revo- lution in the same regiment with Elijah Boardman of New Milford. His wife died in 1825 at the age of seventy-seven, and he in 1829 at the age of eighty-six. Clark I. Hayes could just remember him as "an old, infirm man, sitting by his open fire on the hearth, cane in hand, poking the ashes." Several rods to the west were the home and shoe shop of Fowler P. Bryan, the father of Alexander 55 THE PIONEERS OF INADILLA. Bryan, standing near where the Frank Bacon house is. To reach the next dwelling, involved a walk to the home of Gurdon Huntington on the corner of Martin Brook Street. This house was built by Guido L. Bissell and Jerome Bates and has long been the oldest house in the village. Except for the rear part, put on afterwards, it has scarcely been altered since its original erection. The flight of time long since raised it to the eminence of a cen- tenarian. Besides Dr. Huntington, those who have owned and occupied it include Dr. David Walker, Dr. G. L. Halsey and Albert T. Amsden, while at one time it was owned by Col. A. D. Wil- liams. The last occupant who owned it was Peter Hodges, who, on the death of his wife in 1889, sold it to Dr. Halsey, who thus became its owner a second time. The design of the house is Flemish. Houses like it may be seen to this day in the older parts of Bruges and Ostend. Readers will perhaps pardon the personal pride which prompts the state- ment that beneath that roof, on an October da.y, some time "befo de war, " was born the writer of this chronicle. Beyond the Huntington house came the store and house of Solomon Martin on the land now occupied by the residence of Marvin P. Sweet. This structure remained standing for more than twenty years when it was torn clown to make way 56 HOUSES STANDING IN I80S. for the present house, which was built by the Rev. Norman H. Adams. The land thence westward was vacant as far down as the site of the present residence of Milo B. Gregory, on which had been erected a few years before the home of Stephen Benton. No other house existed until one reached the site of the E. C. Belknap home, where a house is said to have existed at that time, but its occupant's name remains unknown to me. Beyond this all was vacant until the yellow house of Aaron Axtell, the pioneer backsmith, was reached. On the southern side of the street were fewer houses than on the northern — in all not more than six. First at the eastern end came the Abijah H. Beach home, where Oliver Buckley lived in later years. It had been erected as early as 1805. Mr. Beach was a native of New Milford, and thus had for neighbors across the way three other New Milford families,— Hayes, Noble and Bostwick. Next to the west was the Daniel Bissell house, where Mr. Bissell at first had erected a log dwell- ing. He put up a frame house in 1794, which re- mained until 1817 when Joel Bragg built on this site his first hotel. To the west came the home of John Bissell on the site of the Dr. Gregory house. John Bissell owned the neighboring fertile island, a gift from his father. 57 THE PIONEERS OF UNADILLA. His house was torn down when Joel Bragg erected the brick dwelling. Further on stood the Sampson Crooker residence on the L. B. Woodruff site, a portion of which still remains at the rear of the later building. Next came the hotel which Dr. Cone built on the site of the present Unadilla House at the corner of Clifton Street. Beyond stood Jacob Hayes's house, just below the site of the Presbyterian Church. From this point there was no house until the Sliter place was reached beyond the present barns of James White. Such was the village of Unadilla, twenty-five years after Sluman Wattles and Timothy Beach made their settlements on the banks of the Ouleout. Seven years later the number of houses was thirty, in which fact we see the influence of the turnpike in building up the settlement. Dr. D wight in his notes of the visit made in 1804, gives as follows his impressions of the place and its surroundings : "That township in which we now were is named Unadilla and lies in the county of Otsego. It is composed of rocks, hills and valleys, with a hand- some collection of intervales along the Susque- hanna. On a remarkably rugged eminence, im- mediately northwest of the river, we saw the first oaks and chestnuts after leaving the neighborhood of Catskill. The intervening forests were beech, maple, and so forth. 58 DR. DWIGHT'S VISIT IN 1804. "The houses were scattered along the road which runs parallel with the river. The settlement is new and appears like most others of a similar date. Rafts, containing each from twenty to twenty-five thousand feet of boards, are from this township floated down the Susquehanna to Balti- more. Unadilla [the township] contained in 1800 823 inhabitants. " 59 V. LATER MEN OF MARK. 1804-1815. Important additions to the population soon fol- lowed the coming of Curtis Noble and Isaac Hayes. They included men who for a long period were to remain foremost citizens. One was Stephen Ben- ton, who came from Sheffield, Massachusetts, and from Peter Betts of Bainbridge in 1804 purchased his farm of 115 acres. Guido L. Bissell in July 1805 charged Mr. Benton with "three day's work at harvest 18 shillings ", "to making drag 10 shill- ings", and "to putting up partition 6 shillings." Two years later Mr. Bissell charged against him "to making of bedstead 17 shillings", and "to making table 6 shillings." In 1810, when work was going forward on St. Matthew's Church, Mr. Bissell charged for "5^ davs work on Church, £2, 6s." Mr. Benton opened a store on the northwest cor- ner of Main and Clifton Streets. Across the street may still be seen the building in which on the form- er site he and his son Albert long did business : it has the date 1816 still upon the pediment. From Sheffield Mr. Benton in 1816 secured as clerk a 60 o H x/i m o p O H ft W pq w H H MAJOR CHRISTOPHER D. FELLOWS. young man then fourteen years old named Christo- pher D. Fellows. Mr. Fellows came to Unadilla over the Catskill turnpike, and in 1823 became a partner in the store with Albert Benton. He thus was launched upon a business career that was to last nearly eighty years, his span of life extending to his ninety-third year. Major Fellows's share in building up the village was large. He became an active and intelligent force in nearly all that advanced its interests. A feature of the Benton and Fellows business was a distillery. Like Noble and Hayes this firm suffered from a surplus of grain. There was no other way by which the stock could be disposed of. A merit of this whiskey, however, was its purity. Much of the product was consumed by men engaged in lum- bering. So great was the demand for it, that a hogshead was sometimes sold at retail in one day. Large quantities in casks were shipped down the river every year. The Benton distillery stood in the rear of the present residence of Milo B. Gregory. This house dates from 1823, and was erected by Major Fel- lows and Albert Benton after an earlier house, built by Stephen Benton, had been destroyed by fire. Stephen Benton died in April 1840 at the age of sixty-six. The wife of Major Fellows was his daughter. Major Fellows was elected to the As- sembly in 1845 when John A. Dix and Daniel S. Dickinson were chosen United States Senators. In 61 THE PIONEERS OF UNADILLA. 1894, almost fifty years after that event, Major Fellows went to Albany and was invited to sit in the speaker's chair.* Contemporary with the coming of Stephen Ben- ton was the coming of Sherman Page, a native of Cheshire, Connecticut, where he was born in 1779. His father was Jared Page, who settled in what is now the town of Greene, Chenango County, at a place still known as Page Brook, on a stream that flows into the Chenango River a few miles above Port Crane. About 1799 Sherman Page went over into the adjoining town of Coventry and there taught the first school in the place. He read law about this time and went to Unadilla to open an office, being the first man in the village to practice that profession regularly. He was here as early as 1805 and in 1807 was elected a path master. With his father he had come into the country by way of Wattles's Ferry of which he must have retained the vivid recollect- ions of youth. Into most enterprises, Mr. Page's energies appear to have entered, whether these were social, religious or commercial. He was sup- ervisor in 1826 and in three other years, a member of Assembly in 1827, and a member of Congress * The family to which Major Fellows belonged had interesting connection with the Revolution, A great uncle of his, John Fellows, served in the French and Indian war, was a member of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress in 1775, and when news of the battle of Lexington reached his home in Sheffield commanded a regiment which departed the next morning for the scene of conflict. In 1773 he was one of the Berkshire committee appointed to take into consideration the grievances of America against 62 JUDGE SHERMAN PAGE. from 1833 to 1837. He was also county judge. He built and long occupied the house where now lives Mr. George W. Hardy, but later on his home was in the stone house across the street. His wife was a niece of Sampson Crooker, and he had five children,— Robert who was a lawyer in Flint, Michigan, Vincent who also went West and long afterwards died in Unadilla, Elizabeth who became the wife of George H. Noble, and long survived as the widow of her second husband, Arthur Yates of Waverley, Mary who was the first wife of William H. Emory, and Maria, the first wife of Frederick A. Sands. Judge Page died in September, 1853. Mr. Emory was a native of Maryland and was born in 1811. He came to Unadilla about sixty 3 T ears ago and was all his life engaged in the dry goods trade, at one time in the building that now adjoins White's store on the west, but which then stood on the lot opposite J. Fred. Sands's resi- dence, later at the corner of Main and Clifton Streets, in the brick building that was destroyed in the fire of 1878, and still later in the old brick store uptown. He was an active member of the Metho- dist Church and his home was the westerly one of the two stone houses, its builder having been Fred- erick A. Sands. England. The report they drew up declared that Americans were "en- titled to all the privileges and liberties of native-born British subjects, in- cluding the undisturbed enjoyment of their lives, liberty and properly." This interesting declaration is more than two years older than the one drawn up at the Mecklenburgh, North Carolina, which ia turn is older than the immortal one drawn up by Thomas Jefferson in 1776. 63 THE PIONEERS OF UNADILLA. As early as 1805 had come the first of four brothers who were to leave a distinct mark on the growth of the village,— Dr. Adanijah Cone. His first home was the original hotel that stood at Main and Clifton Streets which he built, and of which for several years he was the proprietor. He then built the rear portion of the house that was afterwards the home of his son, Lewis G. Cone, and in which now lives his grandson, Frederick L. Cone. In 1808, his two brothers, Daniel and Gilbert, followed him, and in 1815, the fourth brother, Gardner. Daniel and Gilbert first lived in an old house on the south side of the road about one hundred rods from the present James White house. The White house was built by them in 1815. These brothers Cone came from Hebron, Connecticut. Their varied interests comprised farm lands, a fulling mill, a store, a hotel and the practice of medicine. Daniel and Gilbert Cone in 1808 bought 300 acres of land from Mr. Sliter and in 1811 Lot 92 of the Wallace Patent from the Lansings of Albany. They did a large business in fulling and dressing cloth, people coming from far and near with the cloth they had woven at home. Theodore Hanford and Erastus Kingsley at one time were employed by them. Gardner Cone settled on the farm after- wards the home of Salmon G. Cone, who was his nephew. Gardner Cone's wife was Sarah Robert- son, a sister of Niel Robertson. Daniel married 64 THE CONE BROTHERS. Margaret Hull, a sister of Airs. Calvin Gates, and for second wife married Hannah Taylor, a sister of Lydia Taylor, the wife of Dr. Cone. Lydia Taylor had a niece also named Lydia Taylor who became the wife of Erastus Kingsley. Hannah Taylor Cone, after her husband's death, removed to Con- necticut, where on January 8, 1894, she died at the age of ninety-four. Dr. Cone died in 1862 at the age of eighty-four. His widow when she died was past ninety. Their son Lewis G. Cone was for a great number of years one of the best known citizens of the village. With his brother-in-law Frederick A. Bolles, he was long engaged in business. Captain Bolles came to the village in 1838 and remained here un- til his death in June, 1891. He arrived from Oxford, to which place he had gone from his native town of Vernon, Oneida County. He purchased the hotel at Main and Bridge Streets and con- ducted it for several years when he sold the property to Colonel Thomas Heath. He married Julia A. Cone in 1839, and afterwards went into the hard- ware trade with Lewis G. Cone. For almost forty years the two were partners. On the death of Mr. Cone in 1878, the partnership was continued with Mr. Cone's only son, Frederick L. Cone. Captain Bolles in 1S45 was captain of a com- pany which went out from this village during the anti-rent difficulties in Delaware County. It was a company of light infantry from the 151st Regi- 5 65 THE PIONEERS OF UNADILLA. ment, described by Jay Gould as " composed mostly of young men who with a little drilling made excellent soldiers". Colonel Samuel North, who afterwards came to Unadilla where the re- mainder of his life was spent, commanded the regi- ment. His orders were to hold it "in readiness to answer any call that may be made for additional force should it be deemed necessary". At the funeral of the murdered Deputy Sheriff Steele in Delhi on August 10, the Rev. Norman H. Adams from Unadilla assisted in the services. Captain Bolles was supervisor of Unadilla in 1851 and in 1861 was a member of Assembly. His first wife died in 1868, and in 1871 he married Mrs. W. S. Bryant of Guilford. Following Captain Bolles came his brother, Frank G. Bolles, who spent the remainder of his life almost entirely in this village. He was long associated with his brother and Lewis G. Cone in the hardware business, at one time as employe, at another as partner. He was prominently identi- fied with Free Masonry in this part of the State, and was Postmaster under President Cleveland, and saw service in the Civil War. He was all his life one of the most agreeable personalities in the village, his gift of humor being marked and its manifestations incessant. He knew everybody and everybody knew him. His death did more than any other event in a long period of years to 66 SALMON G. CONE. eclipse the gaiety of life in public places. Fare- you-well, friend of us all. Of those four brothers Cone, Dr. Cone's grand- son, Frederick L. Cone, now alone in the male line survives on village soil to preserve the family name. To this family belonged the late Salmon G. Cone, but neither of the four brothers was his an- cestor. They were his uncles. His father was Zachariah Cone, who remained in Connecticut where Salmon G. was born and grew up. Salmon taught school in Connecticut, afterwards in Sag Harbor on Long Island and in Kentucky. He came to Unadilla in 1843, and thenceforth until his death few men in this part of the upper Sus- quehanna valley were better known. He had often been elected supervisor and alwa3 r s by an unusu- ally large majority. The energies of his nature were mainly directed to private enterprises extend- ing much beyond the limits of the village. One who knew him well for the most of his life thus wrote of him after his death : " He was a bold and outspoken advocate of any cause which he espoused. While this some- times made his conduct seem rash and injudicious, no one who knew him could fail to have respect for his character, which seemed to be above the use of means to which men ordinarily resort. He could do nothing by indirection. His antagonisms were open as the day, and he was the most firm and steadfast of friends. Mr. Cone's early training, 67 THE PIONEERS OF INADILLA. habits and proverbial industry and thouglitfulness would have made him successful anywhere. He saw all his projects thrive. From small invest- ments he watched his fortune grow to imposing proportions and he was proud in the contempla- tion that it was all the work of his hands. He lived a great, generous, liberal, manly life and he was in accord with whatever was brave and manly in the community, as he understood it." Mr. Cone died in April, 1890, in his seventy- eighth year. He lies buried on the outer edge of that elevated plain where a new cemetery has been opened, overlooking the peaceful village from the Sidney shore of the Susquehanna. In those first years of the century came other settlers of note —William Wilmot in 1800, Niel Robertson and John Eells in 1811, and David Finch in 1814. William Wilmot was the first cabi- net maker. A memorandum made by Guido L. Bissell in April, 1800, reads, " Wilmot and Hayes began to board with me", and another " Hayes left of the 12th of December." Mr. Wilmot was born in Danbury, Connecticut, in 1780, and died in 1849. Near the home of the late A. P. Gray still stands the building where he did business. The house in which his son Daniel W. Wilmot long lived was built by him. Mr. Wilmot married Rachel Wattles, a relative of Nathaniel Wattles. She died in 1812, and he then married her sister Octavia, who was the mother of Daniel. Mr. Wilmot's 68 WILMOT. HEATH AND SPERRY. third wife was Nancy Cleveland. Later he mar- ried Ann Smith. He and they all lie buried in the village churchyard. His business was continued until quite recent times by his son, with whom was associated Colonel Thomas Heath. Colonel Heath from 1844 until 1858 kept the hotel at Main and Bridge Streets and at one time was Sheriff of the county. He was afterwards proprietor of the Oquaga House in Deposit which got its name from the ancient and historic Susque- hanna town, Oghwaga. From the doorway of this hotel many persons, born in Unadilla, first saw a railway train. After the opening of the Al- bany and Susquehanna Railroad, Colonel Heath returned to Unadilla. Here he died in 1889. He was born in Walton in 1812 and was the father of George W. Heath. Niel Robertson came from the same place as the Cones,— Hebron. He bought from them his Una- dilla land in 1814 and thereon built the house which still stands under the hill at the extreme lower end of the village. Elsewhere he survived to a very old age. His wife died from a lightning stroke. When Mr. Robertson came to Unadilla he brought a child five years old who was afterwards married to the Rev. Lyman Sperry. Another daughter became the wife of A. P. Gray. Mr. Sperry, who was the father of Watson R. Sperry, for many years managing editor of The New York Evening Post, and who afterwards 69 THE PIONEERS OF INADILLA. went to Persia as the United States Minister under President Harrison, was born in Alford, Massa- chusetts, in 1808, and was a son of Nathan Sperry, whose family had settled originally in Hartford, Connecticut. He became a minister of the Metho- dist Episcopal church and at one time was Presid- ing Elder of the Otsego district. Mr. Sperry died in 1892. I recall him best in his old age, when the stoop of senility was upon him, and the kindly, almost eager, interest he always took in anything I chose to say to him. I cannot forget those con- versations, each summer for man}' years in vaca- tion time, on sidewalks and in dooryards, with this beautiful old man. Mr. Gray was a native of Durham, Greene Coun- ty. He was born in 1811 and came to Unadilla in -1832. He was an old friend of the Rev. Norman H. Adams who had lived at the neighboring town of Oak Hill. Mr. Gray engaged in harness making in Mechanic's Hall, and later in carriage trimming. After marriage he lived in the house that Sampson Crooker owned on the L. B. Woodruff site. Late in life he was employed in a responsible place by the Albany and Susquehanna Railroad Company. In the rear of his house on land of his, once existed a brickyard where were made the bricks used in constructing the store destroyed in the fire of 1878. Mr. Gra}' died in November, 1886. John Eells came from Walton. He followed marked trees to find the way. He was a shoemaker 70 GRAY, EELLS AND FINCH. and tanner, and near the residence of the late John VanCott opened the first tannery in the village. For a time he lived in the Priest house. The rear portion of Elizabeth Clark's home was built by him as a shoe shop on lower Main Street. He died in 1870 at the age of eighty-four. His son Horace Eells survived in Unadilla until about three years ago. For a long period he continued the business of tanning and was actively identified with the Presbyterian church. David Finch was a son of Daniel Finch, an Eng- lishman who settled in Litchfield, Connecticut, before the Revolution. David Finch was one of four children. He married Ruth Mallery of Corn- wall, Connecticut, whose father, like his own, had come from England to America before the war. After his marriage David Finch lived for some 3'ears in Oxford, Connecticut, where he engaged in manufacturing woolen cloth and where four chil- dren were born. His business declined after the War of 1812, and in 1814 he set out for Unadilla where he engaged in building. His first home in the village was in the western end beyond the Wilmot house. He afterwards bought a farm in Sidney, opposite the old fulling mill, but some years afterward returned to the vil- lage and lived in the Masonic Hall, while it occu- pied the old Brick Store lot. In 1820 he acquired the house afterwards removed to its present site by Horace Eells. It was then an unfinished build- 71 THE PIONEERS OF UNADILLA. ing which had been begun by Thomas Noble. Mr. Finch, assisted by William J. Thompson, com- pleted it and made it his home. His first considerable work as a builder was the Roswell Wright house, afterwards the residence of Senator David P. Loomis, which was erected in 1823 or 1824. The panel lumber used for it cost only five dollars per thousand. Mr. Finch built the Edson house below the Presbyterian church about the same time, and in company with Lord and Bottom did work on St. Matthew's church. Of him William J. Thompson learned his trade. Mr. Finch was born in 1782 and died in 1841, His son, William T. Finch, who died a few years ago in Chicago was long a citizen of Unadilla. A daughter was the wife of Rufus G. Mead. Mr. Thompson was born in Saratoga in 1805 and came with his father to Otego in 1808, and to Unadilla as an apprentice to Mr. Finch in 1824. He and Mr. Finch were afterwards partners and together reared many structures still standing in Unadilla village, as well as in other places, includ- ing Meredith Square and Coventr}'. Mr. Thomp- son was a member of St. Matthew's Church for sixty years or more. He died in Savannah, Geor- gia, in Januar\% 1895, and his body was brought to the old churchyard for burial. In the Masonic Hall, while an apprentice, Mr. Thompson found his first Unadilla home, scarcely dreaming that he would live to move the edifice to its present place 72 WILLIAM J. THOMPSON. as his own residence for nearly fifty years — the house now the summer home of his son-in-law Lester T. Hubbell. A friend of Curtis Noble and Isaac Hayes who soon followed them to Unadilla, was Melancthon B. Jarvis who was born in Norwalk, Connecticut, in June, 1775, where he had known Josiah Thatcher. He settled on the Timothy Beach farm near the mouth of the Ouleout, but later moved to the village and occupied part of the house |Sheldon Griswold long lived in. He died in 1856. Captain Josiah Thatcher about the same time settled on a neighboring farm, part of which has since been known as the Sternberg place. He had served in the Revolution three years. In the house which still stands on the place he lived until he died in 1856 at the age of eighty-six. His wife was Anna Reed, and his children were Polly, George, Esther, Harriet, Nanc}^, Amelia and Frances. His ancestor was an Englishman from Kent, who on arrival in America was shipwrecked off Cape Cod, where a lighthouse was afterwards set up and named after him. 73 VI. A GRIST AND SAWMILL CENTRE. 1790--1812. Until the new century had well started on its course, the only business in the country yielding much cash was lumbering, which involved journeys down the Susquehanna and Delaware rivers to Harrisburgh, Baltimore and Philadelphia. So ex- tensive became this industry that others were neg- lected and prophets of evil predicted the ruin of the country. Every settlement in the valley had many sawmills, not only on the river but along tribu- tary streams. Spaftbrd in 1813 reported that Unadilla alone had sixteen, five of which were ac- companied by grist mills. Among the mills which exerted influence in fixing the sites of villages considerable eminence belongs to those situated in Unadilla village near the mouth of the Binnekill. Originally they were known as the Bissell mills. This site was chosen in order to make use of the waters of Martin Brook and other streams which there found a way into the Susquehanna. Martin Brook at that time was a much larger stream than now. Indeed, 74 MARTIN BROOK. on village land, it consisted, as already stated, of two streams which formed an island, a branch starting some distance below the old Peter Weid- raan place, proceeding westward and southward until it crossed Main Street near a willow tree at the old Post Office corner, and thence went across the Woodruff lands to join the main channel in the churchyard. Besides the waters of this brook, there flowed through the village two smaller creeks then having a larger volume than now, one near the residence of Samuel D. Bacon, the other crossing Alain Street several rods further east. Be- fore the timber was cut these three streams com- bined to pour into the river a large volume of water. The first mill on the site of the present mills was the sawmill built by Daniel Bissell some years before 1800 and supplied by the waters of these three creeks. At the point near where the combined streams emerged into the river, the banks on both the island and the mainland shore were high, thus affording a natural site for a dam. Daniel Bissell probably erected his sawmill here as early as 1790. We, therefore, have in this mill the pioneer industry for Unadilla village, the first distinct industry in which men engaged aside from farming. As early as 1803, additional water had been se- cured from the river through a small raceway dug 03^ John Bissell and a man named Mason. The volume of water was further increased b} r a dam 75 THE PIONEERS OF UNAD1LLA. thrown across the river at the head of this race- way. The lumber industry having expanded, other mills had been erected further up Martin Brook, thus interfering with the supply of water, and making it necessary to obtain a new source from the river. The original raceway, still called the Binnekill, was a much smaller affair than the pres- ent one. By using a pole one could leap across it. It is not unlikely that some water always flowed through from the river, except when the water might be very low. It became an easy matter to enlarge the volume by deepening the bed. Evi- dence exists above the present river dam on the is- land side that an earlier dam had been built there mnning diagonally up the stream, instead of straight across as now. M. W. Duley, who owned the property for many years and often made re- pairs to the present dam, held to the opinion that the original dam was a primitive affair constructed of brush and stone like an eel rack dam. There still exists in Mrs. Sumner's hands a certi- fied copy of the contract for the sale of this prop- erty to Sampson Crooker in 1803, as made by the owners, Daniel Bissell and John Bissell. It pro- vided that Mr. Crooker should have " the privilege of opening the artificial raceway called the Bine- kill wider if necessary to supply the mill with water and throwing out the dirt on the bank of said Binekill, together with all the privileges and appurtenances unto the said land, sawmill and 76 SAMPSON CROOKER AND THE BINNEKILL. Binekill* belonging, and also the dam on the river." With the mill, the raceway and the dam Mr. Crooker acquired a considerable tract of land, in lots 98 and 99 of the Wallace patent, on which were houses inhabited by Brewster Piatt and Elijah Ferry. The contract further specified that Mr. Crooker should have "the privilege of digging a ditch through on the line between said Livingston's land and said Bissell's land from the mill to the river, on condition that Livingston stop the water where it now runs into the river." For this property Mr. Crooker was to pay eleven hundred dollars. He was described as "of Canton, Greene County." Mr. Crooker probably erected the grist mill soon after 1804. It was standing in 1808 and he owned the property until finally sold to Joel Bragg. Mr. Crooker's home stood on the site of the L. B. W T oodruff house in a lot which then embraced also the St. Matthew's Church ground and the ceme- tery. His brothers George and Jacob soon fol- lowed him to Unadilla from Cairo.f *This word is of German origin. Binnen, meaning inner, has often been combined with gewasser, zee and other aqueous terms, as in the case of the Ulster County Binnewater and Great Binnewater Binekill, or more proper- ly Biunekill, means therefore an inner creek. The word could hardly have come fiom Connecticut. Perhaps it is ante-Revolutionary and was be- stowed by some of the German settlers in the valley, who on Brant's arrival fled to German Flatts and /Esopus. Daniel Bissell, however, who had in- terests at German Flatts. may have found the term applied to such a stream at that place and then adopted it himself, f During the War of 1812, while going down the river with a raft of lum- ber with a man named Cooper, a Mason from Bainbridge, then called Jeri- cho, George Crooker and Mr. Cooper were captured by the British and taken before Admiral Sir George Cockburn. Cooper ventured to give 77 THE PIONEERS OF UNADILLA. From Sampson Crooker these mills passed to Joel Bragg, whose life was one of the most stirring and impressive to be found in these annals. Mr. Bragg was a native of Vermont. With his father early in the century he went to Chenango County. The father seems to have been a " Vermont suffer- er", one of those who were deprived of their Ver- mont lands b\ r the settlement of the disputes growing out of the New Hampshire Grants, and had received land in Chenango County as compen- sation for his losses. About the year 1812, Joel Bragg came to Unadilla and purchased land that had been a part of the original Daniel Bissell purchase. He built a new hotel on the site of Mr. Bissell's hotel, and when this was burned he re- built it. George W. Reynolds of Franklin, a few years ago, recalled how in 1828 he had stopped at this hotel with his father, finding it "full of brawny men whose business seemed to be hauling logs to the sawmill and boards to the Delaware at Wal- ton for rafting to Trenton and Philadelphia mar- kets." After Mr. Bragg bought the grist and sawmill property from Mr. Crooker, he met with a second misfortune. The mills were burned. It is related Oockburn the Masonic sign, hoping to secure release. Both men were dis- charged and returned home, attributing their good fortune to Mr. Cooper 's membership in the Masonic Order, In the following year Cockburn re- turned to England. Napoleon had just been overthrown at Waterloo and to Cockburn was assigned the duty of conveying the fallen Emperor into exile at St, Helena. He remained in St. Helena in charge of Napoleon as Governor of the island until the following summer. It seems proper to re- mark that Mr. Crooker's friend in Jericho might have gor«e to St. Helena with his Masonic sign and helped Napoleon out of his difficulties. 78 JOEL BRAGG AND HIS MILLS. that, on the morning after the fire, Mr. Bragg was seen coming down the street smoking a pipe and with an axe over his shoulder. Asked where he was going, his reply was, that he was starting for the woods to cut timber for a new mill. This illus- trates the indomitable pluck of Joel Bragg. He not only erected a new sawmill but the stone building used for the gristmill was his work. Later on Mr. Bragg built the present brick house belonging to the Dr. Gregory estate, making the bricks himself, in the lot between the schoolhouse grounds and the railroad station. This was not long after 1837. Students at the old Academy can recall the ditches that formerly existed in that ground, where clay had been taken out to make bricks. The land being marshy there, these ditches were commonly full of water and became populous with frogs. I well remember going there with other boys to catch these frogs with spears, roast- ing their legs at the fire we built nearby. Mr. Bragg died in 1870 at the age of eighty-five years and ten months. A son of his who was reared in this village rose to honors elsewhere — Edward S. Bragg. He was born in Unadilla in 1827, was educated at Hobart College and read law in the office of Judge Noble. Admitted to the bar in 1848, he soon removed to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, where he had held several offices before 1860, and in that year became a delegate to the Charleston Convention which nominated Stephen 79 THE PIONEERS OF UNADILLA. A„ Douglass. He became a captain in the army in 1861 and rose to the rank of Brigadier-General, with which he was mustered out in October, 1865, having served in nearly all the campaign of the Army of the Potomac. He was a delegate to the Democratic conventions which nominated Seymour, Greeley and Cleveland. The first nomination of Cleveland was seconded b}' him in a speech which became celebrated all over the country for its al- lusion to Tammany Hall's opposition to Cleveland, General Bragg sa\ang Cleveland was admired "for the enemies he had made." General Bragg has been repeatedly elected to Congress where he was always a conspicuous figure on the Democratic side. He was seriously mentioned as a candidate for President on the Sound Money Democratic ticket, to run during the first Bryan campaign. These village mills have had many names con- temporary with their owners. Besides the Bissells and Mr. Bragg, the owners have included N. F. Brant, Albert T. Hodges, M. W. Duley and H. Y. Canfield,the present owner. Historic amongindus- tries in this village the\r stand. Elsewhere in the town, few, if any, pioneer mills still remain, and fewer still have any work to perform. Even here the familiar hum of wheel and buzz of saw, which aforetime were often the onty sounds that the vil- lage heard in still summer afternoons, and which formerly were often heard through the night time also, now seldom startle even the most listening 80 GEN. EDWARD S. BRAGG. ear. What piles of logs have I not seen gathered about that site in boyhood times; what sleigh- loads have I not seen pass through village streets, now and then to climb upon their tops for a ride to the mill site to watch their unloading! Grass is now growing close to the highway where logs once were piled to the utmost limit, and seldom does any sound emerge from either mill roof or shed. 81 VII. CHURCHES, BRIDGES AND A SCHOOL. 1809-1824. The earliest religious services held in Unadilla village appear to have been conducted tn' "Father" Nash. He came to Otsego Count}' as a mission- ary near the end of the eighteenth century and labored in many parts of the county with great zeal and fruitful results for the remainder of his life. His wife often went with him to distant places on horseback, she leading in the singing while he conducted the services. Of many Episco- pal Churches in the county, he, in a spiritual sense, was the founder. "Father" Nash had held services many times in Unadilla before St. Matthew's Church was founded, the meetings being held in private houses and even in barns. To his influence was largely due the denominational character of that Church, es- tablished as it was in a community composed so largely of men who had come from the home of Congregationalism. It was due to his influence upon them, combined with the fact that several of these men had already acquired some acquaintance 82 ST. MATTHEW'S CHURCH. with the Episcopal faith, that the Church took on the Episcopal character. These men were Curtis Noble, Isaac Hayes, Josiah Thatcher, Abijah H. Beach, Solomon Martin, Dr. Cone and Sherman Page. They had all come from some of the few Connecticut towns in which Episcopalianism had been able at last to secure a foothold. To its forms and faith they were not wholly strangers. Among the first Episcopal clergymen who preached in Connecticut was a member of the family to which Mr. Beach belonged, the Rev. John Beach, who changed to that faith from Congregationalism in 1732, and became an active man in the formation of Episcopal Churches in sev- eral Litchfield towns. In 1740, he rendered such services to Woodbury, the ancestral home of Solo- mon Martin, where in 1783 was held a meeting which has historic fame as the first step taken in this country to secure Episcopal authority, Samuel Seabury being selected as bishop. In 1736, the Rev. Jonathan Arnold, another Episcopal clergyman, held services at New Mil- ford, the home of Mr. Noble and Mr. Hayes, "where the use of the Lord's prayer, the creed and the ten commandments, or the reading of the scrip- tures in divine service was never before known", while at New Milford in 1764 a church was or- ganized. At Hebron, the home of the Cones, was formed in 1734 the sixth Episcopal Church ever known in the state of Connecticut; while at 83 THE PIONEERS OE IX4DILLA. Cheshire, the home of Sherman Page, a Church edi- fice had first been erected in 1760. The Nobles of New Milford were among the most active support- ers of the Episcopal Church in that place. Mr. Haves when he came to I nadilla, although his sympathies as an Englishman's son, were perhaps in that direction, was not a professing Episcopal- ian, In New Milford dwelt friends of Episcopal- ianism named Thatcher. Partridge Thatcher, who went there originally from Lebanon, was the architect of the New Milford church. To the same family belonged Josiah Thatcher who came from Xorwalk, where also Episcopal beginnings had been made. When finally it was decided to form a Church in Unadilla, the chief inspiring cause was a desire to elevate the moral tone of thecommunit}' : a frontier settlement seldom maintains a high standard of social life. The motive, therefore, was not so much to found a Church of any one denomination, as to found a Church of some kind. The denominational character of the society was finally determined by a vote. Sherman Page presided at the meeting and the vote was equally divided between Episco- palians and Presbyterians. Mr. Page was there- fore called upon to give a casting vote, and thus turned the scale in favor of an Episcopal Church. This meeting was held in 1809. For the first permanent rector, the wardens and vestrymen sent to Connecticut and secured 84 REV. NORMAN H. ADAMS. the Rev. Russell Wheeler who came in the sprir.. 1814-, remaining until August 1819. Josiah That- cher made a special journey to Connecticut to arrange for his coming. Mr. Wheeler was a grad- uate of Williams College and had studied divinity under Bishop Hobart. Before coming to Unadilla he had been rector of a Church in Watertown, Con- necticut, ten miles from New Milford. After leav- ing Unadilla, he was rector of the Church in Morris. For him was built the house that formerly stood where now stands the Sperry residence, and in which afterwards lived Albert Benton and Brad- ford Kingsle\\ For one year following Mr. Wheeler, the B James Keeler was rector, and then came the B Marcus A. Perry who remained five years, his home being in the Howard house. Next came the rector who of all men that ever ministered over this Church perhaps made the deepest personal imp! sion and exerted the widest influence on thecommu- nity, the Rev. Norman H. Adams. He was rector of St. Matthew's from 1825 until 1853, the year of his death. In the year of his coming. Colonel George H. Noble addressed to his cousin, Susan E. Hayes, who was then in New York, a letter in which he said : 44 We are now preparing for Christmas, on which occasion we calculate to have Mr. Adams preach for us. He commences an engagement to preach for us for half the time for six months. He has 85 THE PIONEERS OF UNADILLA. preached here two Sundays and was very much liked by all who heard him. He writes elegantly and is quite an orator; so I think we shall not have so many dull, go-to-meetingless Sundays this winter as we had anticipated. " The grave of Mr. Adams with the striking monu- ment that indicates its site is a familiar spot in the churchyard. Mr. Adams came from Greene County and was an old friend of Arnold B. Watson, who came to Unadilla from the same neighborhood. Ground for a Church edifice and burial purposes was purchased in January 1810. A headstone in the churcl^ard still marks that date as the year of the first interment. A contract was let in the same year to Sampson Crooker for the construction of a building thirty feet by fifty, but for want of means the frame stood as a skeleton for two years after- ward, when the structure was at last finished. Trinity Church of New York city supplied the par- ish with the money needed for this purpose— fourteen hundred dollars. The means by which that opu- lent corporation was induced to make the contri- bution forms an interesting story. It has come down from Judge Page, through the recollections of Lester Hubbell.* The vestry of St. Matthew's had decided to ask Trinity for help and Judge Page was sent to New York to make the application. He found on arri- val that Trinity had so many applications of the * Printed in the Unadilla Times in August 1900. 86 H W H H < H C/2 M J • H (N S io fcj GO 02 r-i .5 w I* ■°s C 3* o 5X1 P Sh _ "3 H «s CO Q C < -rt fa £p o o O) o g& O J OLD TRINITY HELPS ST. MATTHEW'S. kind that its policy bad been to decline all, but the Judge, by means of the City Directory, ascertained the personal addresses of all members of the vestry and proceeded to call upon them. On meeting with a refusal from the first one he told him how much he regretted to return home without securing a single vole, and asked as a favor that he might have this man's vote. The vestryman at last con- sented, but assured the Judge he could not possibly secure the gift. The Judge then called upon the other vestrymen and employed the same methods as with the first. Bach was to give him one vote in order to save his pride on returning home. When the vestry of Trinity ea me together, the re- quest from St. Matthew's was duly read by the clerk, put to a vote, and, to the surprise of every one present except the Judge, was passed unani- mously. The Judge is said to have kept his counte- nance in a state of rigid repose, when he rose to his feet and thanked the vestry for their generosity. Bishop Ilobart consecrated the Church in 1814 and in 1817 a bell that had been cast in London was set up. In 1 84.~> the church at a cost of fifteen hundred dollars was enlarged and entirely re- modeled by William J. Thompson. This was during the administration of Mr. Adams: it was newly consecrated by Bishop DeLancey. About seven years afterwards another enlargement of the nave was made by Mr. Thompson and Lewis Carmichael, during the rectorship of the Rev. 87 THE PIONEERS OF UNADILLA. Samuel H. Norton. About the time when Trinity Church gave the fourteen hundred dollars, Goulds- borough Banyar gave the Church 116 acres of land two miles below the village, — a property which was retained until some years after the Civil War, when it was sold and the present rectory in part built from the proceeds. The first grave opened within the burial ground was that of Edward Howell, a sea captain, who, early in the century, had abandoned his roving life and settled on the Nathaniel Wattles place intend- ing there to spend the remainder of his days. When the purchase of this land was under consid- eration, Mr. Howell was asked for a subscription. He declined on the ground that he had just sold his farm with the intention of going with his family to Bath, Steuben County. A few days af- terwards, Captain Howell was taken ill and died. Thus his grave was the first ever opened in those grounds. As may still be seen, the stone that marks Captain Howell's grave was "inscribed by his children." The family removed to Bath where one of his sons became a judge and member of Congress. In this churchyard are buried many of the first Unaditla pioneers, as well as men who followed them in the first half of the nineteenth century, among the number Solomon Martin, Guido L. Bis- sell, Josiah Thatcher, James Hughston, Tsaac Hayes, Curtis Noble, Stephen Benton, Sherman SS CAPT. EDWARD HOWELL. Page, William Wilmot, Adanijah, Daniel, Gilbert and Gardner Cone, Abijah II. Beach, David Fineh, Niel Robertson, Fowler P. Bryan, Joel Bragg, Col. A. D. Williams, Henry Ogden, Dr. John Colwell, Erastus Kingsley, Arnold B. Watson, Col. Samuel North, Frederick A. Sands, Rev. Xorman H.Adams, L. Bennett Woodruff, Henry S. Woodruff, and Dr. Gaius L. Halsey. An earlier burial plaee than this stood just east of Lester Hubbell's summer home. There was buried Daniel Bissell. Mr. Thompson remembered the head stone that marked his grave. What dis- position was made of these graves when thegrounds were abandoned as a burial place, the author has been unable to ascertain. Contemporary with the founding of St. Mat- thew's Church was the founding of Freedom Lodge. Its charter dates from the same year— 1809. De Witt Clinton was then Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of the State. At the organization of the lodge, Stephen Benton was made master, Abijah H. Beach senior warden, and Sherman Page, junior warden. For some years meetings were held in the house of Stephen Benton. During that period, the lodge records were lost in a fire which destroyed Mr. Benton's house. In the time of the anti-Ma- sonic movement, growing out of the Morgan trag- edy, the lodge was practically closed. But in 1854, it was reorganized, with A. B. Watson as Master, 89 THE PIONEERS OE INADILLA. and R. G. Mead and A. D. Williams as wardens. To a much later date belongs the Chapter. After St. Matthew's, the next oldest village Church is the Presbyterian, the influence of which has been an important factor in spiritual and so- cial life. Two Presbyterian missionaries had been here before 1800, and possibly as early as the coming of "Father" Nash. Perhaps it was due to them that so much early Calvinistic strength had been shown in Cooperstown and Sidney. But Elihu Spencer and Gideon Hawley had been more than forty years in advance of them, those men coming as missionaries to the Indians. It is, therefore, true that the earliest religious teachings in the vallej^ came from men of the Presbyterian faith, although on village soil the pioneer,— in so far as depth of impression was concerned, and possibly as a matter of date also— was "Father" Nash, an Episcopalian. The Presbyterian Church in Unadilla was organ- ized in 1823. Its first members were Uiiah Han- ford, Rhoda Hanford, Jesse R. Hovey, Mary Hovey, Holley Seeley, Garrett Monfort, Sarah Monfort, John Eells, Sophia Bottom, Daniel Castle, and Philo L. Phelps. For several years services were held in the school-house and in private dwellings. The building of a Church edifice was delayed until 1844, the year in which at Sand Hill the Baptist church was erected. Since the building of the Episcopal church thirty 90 OTHER VILLAGE CHURCHES. years had now gone by, in which fact we see the historic importance in early village annals of St. Matthew's. At Unadilla Centre, as early as 1830, a Methodist Church had been set up, but it was not until a quarter of a century afterward that a Methodist Church building was erected in Unadilla by a society destined to exert marked influence, and to-day existing in a fine state of vigor and use- fulness. The Baptist Church dates from 1S47. Judge Page gave the land on which the building stands, valued by him at two hundred dollars. Frederick A. Sands, William J. Hughston and Simeon Bid- well were among the other contributors. Many gifts were in small sums. Scores of persons gave twenty-five and fifty cents. Anything was accept- able. On the original subscription book may still be read items like these : " $3 in boots and shoes " ; "$10, one-half in cash, half in hats"; "$5 in boots and shoes " ; " $3 in a United States map " ; "2 dozen papers of tobacco"; and twenty-five cents in the form of " one bottle of Cholera Mor- bus Specific." Spafford records that in 1S24, Unadilla pos- sessed "a handsome toll bridge across the Susque- hanna, 250 feet long, with three arches well covered and painted, as ornamental to the village as it is useful." This bridge had been erected in 1817, the builder being Luther Cowles and one of the workmen Guido L. Bissell. It supplanted an older 91 THE PIONEERS OF UNADILLA. and inferior structure which had been partly com- pleted as early as 1804, and which stood a few feet further up the stream where remains of one of the piers were still visible a few years ago in clear water. The piers of the new bridge were origi- nally formed of plank boxes filled with stone. These proved inadequate in times of high water and projecting piers of stronger masonry were erected in their place. The bridge continued in use until 1893, when the present structure of iron was erected. It was owned by a compan\ T which had the privilege of raising money by issuing bank notes. The building of another bridge on a new site at Unadilla was probably influenced somewhat by the enterprise which was building up a settlement at Crookerville. It was also inspired by the grow- ing interests of the lower business centre of the village. On June 29, 1822, in the presence of Dan- iel Cone, Stephen Benton gave the Commissioners of Highways a quitclaim deed to a strip of land running "from the turnpike near Foster's Tavern* on the west side of Sherman Page's line south." This land was granted for a public highway and was to revert back to Stephen Benton or his heirs "in one year after the bridge which is contem- plated to be built across the river shall become impassable for teams and loads, unless a new *This was the tavern which Dr. Cone had erected on the present site of the Unadilla House. 92 o w H CO W H H o §« P 125 o u W CO THE TWO BRIDGES. bridge shall be built, and that in good repair for passing with loads and teams." On the same day a similar deed to land one rod wide adjoining Mr. Benton's was given to Sherman Page in Daniel Cone's presence for similar uses and on the same conditions. Benjamin Saunders, W. D. Spencer and Eber Ferris, Commissioners of Highways, laid out this road "agreeable to the request of Gilbert Cone, Albert Benton and John Bissell, trustees for building the free bridge." This bridge remained free for ten years and then became a toll-bridge. The road was not opened earlier than 1823. A new iron bridge was erected on this site in the summer of 1894. In 1821, a handsome two-story building was erected as a school-house, including a classical school of about thirty scholars and a common district school. The land for a site had been granted by Robert Harper of Windsor in July, 1820, the consideration being "one dollar and other divers good causes and considerations him thereunto moving." This edifice, on the site of the present home of R. K. Teller, continued in use as a school for about sixty-five years, when it was sold for a hundred dollars, moved to a street across the railroad track and converted into a dwelling. 93 VIII. PIONEERS IN TRIBUTARY NEIGHBORHOODS. 1784-1823. The rapidity with which the lands in this valley were taken up, once they had been made accessible, is most striking. Not only was the site of the village put under cultivation before the century closed, but many tracts elsewhere, on the hills to the north and south and along the two rivers, Susquehanna and Unadilla. Of those pioneers this volume should contain some record. They became familiar figures in village streets. Here they found a market for their produce; here man}' of them attended Church; here was the bank; here lived their family physicians and their lawyers; here was the post office, and here were the dr}- goods and grocery stores. Some of these localities have since built up villages of their own, such as Sidney Centre ( or May wood ) and Wells Bridge ; but for three-quarters of a century Unadilla was the cen- tral village with which all their interests were closely identified. Across the river from the village in the Crooker- ville neighborhood, a settlement had been started 94 CROOKERVILLE. by Stephen Wood before the eighteenth century closed, and here was a sawmill. Mr. Wood's wife was a sister of William Gordon who afterwards came to live on the Nathaniel Wattles place. Mr. Gordon was the father of Samuel Gordon of Delhi who was stationed at Unadilla during the Civil War as Provost Marshall. The sawmill in Crook- erville had been built some years before 1800, when Guido L. Bissell charged Mr. Gordon "to two days on the mill, six shillings", "to repairing the saw- mill, 14 shillings", and in 1801, "to work on saw- mill, 6 shillings", and "to work on sawmill and gate 6 shillings." Soon afterwards a grist mill was erected. It was owned by a man named Bennett who sold it to Mr. Crook er, after whom the place got its name. Mr. Crooker gave a new start to the settlement by erecting a woolen mill in which yarn was spun, cloth woven and carpets made. For some of these carpets he found a market in New York. He erected seven houses around the mills, one for him- self, the others for his employes. He died in 1842, and his son Edmund continued the business, with Elisha Thompson, a brother of William J. Thomp- son, but in 1844, the property passed into the hands of Major Fellows who, in 1845, converted the woolen mill into a grist mill. Early among those who reached the hills north of the village were Peter Rogers, Abel DeForest and a man named Morefield. In 1799, Mr. Rogers's 95 THE PIONEERS OF INADILLA. dwelling was described as an "old house." indi- cating that it had been built before the Revolution. Town records show that Mr. DeForest was living there as early as 1797. Other men who came to this region were Elijah Place and Rufus Fisk, as early as 1799, and James Maxwell, John Butler and Lysander Curtis, who arrived later. Abel DeForest was a member of Assembly in 1810, 1813 and 1814. The DeForest name has been well preserved in numerous descendants. According to the census of 1890, there were fifty- eight persons of the name living in the town. Wil- liam DeForest for more than thirty years was a groceryman in the village. Over his counter, in ex- change for peanuts and oranges, were to pass the most of the pennies that came into the author's hands when a boy. Lysander Curtis outlived all his contempo- raries. When he died in December, 1890, his age was ninety-eight years, nine months and twenty days. For nearly sixty years he had lived on the same farm. He was born in Columbia County in 1792 and came to this valley with his father when twelve years old. He served in the War of 1812, and in 1833 settled on 300 acres of unimproved land at the upper end of Rogers Hollow. Out of this land he made a valuable farm, which at the time of his death was still in his possession. Mr. Curtis had voted at every election save one since he became of age. 96 ROGERS HOLLOW AND UNADILLA CENTRE. Noah Gregory, whose son settled in that part of the town called Unadilla Centre, was a native of Norwalk, Connecticut, where he was born in 1796. He lived in Gilbertsville, and after him was named Gregor}^ Hill. His son, Ebenezer Gregory, in 1823 married James Maxwell's daughter and moved to a farm where he built the stone house that still stands in Unadilla Centre. He reared four sons and four daughters who have contributed for more than one generation familiar figures to the social and business life of the village. One of his sons was Jared C. Gregor}' who died in Madison, Wisconsin, in 1891. He lived in Una- dilla for many years, reading law with Judge Noble, and practising it here until 1858 when he removed to Wisconsin, having been two years be- fore the Democratic candidate for Congress. In Wisconsin he had success as a lawyer, became a Regent of the Universit}' of the State and post- master of Madison under President Cleveland. His wife was Charlotte Camp, a sister of Mrs. Charles C. Noble. She is still living in Madison. The author had the pleasure of meeting her there in the summer of 1900, while securing material for "The Old New York Frontier" in the Library of the State Historical Society. He spent two hours in her home, and they passed as might one. Another son was Dr. Nelson B. Gregory, who in the last 3'ears of his life was a conspicuous figure in the village. In his j^outh he had learned dent- 7 97 THE PIONEERS OF UNADILLA. istry and went to France where he became a pio- neer American dentist. He had among his patients men of whom the world everywhere has heard, including Thiers. He returned to Unadilla about twenty years ago and devoted himself to farming and stock raising on the fertile island farm formed by the Susquehanna and the Binnekill. He died in 1895. In 1804, Abel Holmes came from Conneticut to Morris, bringing with him a son Amos, then one year and a half old. In 1809 Mr. Holmes went to Unadilla Centre, built a log house and cleared up a farm, with his nearest neighbor living one mile away. He lived to be eighty-four }'ears old, and his son Amos died at* ninety-five. Amos learned to ride a bicycle when he was ninety-three. The last years of Amos's life were spent in the village and he distinctly remembered the place as he had seen it in boyhood. By 1820 many families were living along the old Butternut road, running north from the Noble and Ha\ r es store. Beginning at the north line of the town and coming south, the first farm was occu- pied by Richard Musson, who had settled there in 1804. Then came in the order named, Daniel Adcock, Jehiel Clark, Captain A. Bushnell, a family on the Peter Coon farm, Simeon Church, L. Farns- worth and James Maxwell. This brings us to Unadilla Centre where Mr. Maxwell kept a hotel. South from this point the settlers were Mr. Lamb, 98 THE SAND HILL NEIGHBORHOOD. Mr. Carr, William Derrick, a colored man who had formerly been a slave owned by General Jacob Morris, another Mr. Carr, Jarvis Smith, John Haynes, who was a blacksmith, Joseph Smith, Mr. Allen, and finally Mr. Hemenway. This brought the traveler to the hill overlooking the village, at the base of which \a.y a group of buildings belong- ing to merchants, stock dealers, and farmers, gathered about the store and distillery of Noble and Hayes. * In the Sand Hill and Hampshire Hollow regions, the town road records show that lands had been taken up before the eighteenth century closed. Among the early names are Daniel Buckley, John Sisson, Samuel Merriman, Elisha Lathrop, Thomas Wilbur, and John Cranston, all of whom had ar- rived as early as 1796 when Abner Griffith and Samuel Betts were living on the river road south of those settlements. John Sisson came as early as 1790, living first on the river road and then re- moving to the neighborhood afterwards called Sisson Hill. Other early names are Eber Ferris, John Palmer, Aaron Sisson, Lee Palmer, Hezekiah and William Carr, Edward Smith, Harvey Potter, Bethel Lesure, Samuel Patterson, and Captain Seth Rowley. Captain Rowley had taken part in the siege of Fort Schu;»der in 1777, that historic event which, combined with the battle at Oriskany, precipitated * Robert Scott Mussonia the Unadilla Times in November, 1892, 99 [LofC. THE PIONEERS OF LNADILLA. the Border Wars of the American Revolution. Captain Rowley spent three weeks at Fort Schuy- ler. He died at the age of ninety-one. On the river road near the mouth of Sand Hill Creek set- tled Captain Elisha Saunders, who was a physician as well as a soldier. He was killed at the battle of Queenstown in the War of 1812, and left two sons, one of whom became a physician in Otego, while the other, B. G. W. Saunders, lived for mam r years in Unadilla. Benjamin Wheaton had settled in the eastern part of the town before 1796. He survived in that neighborhood as the traditional hero of many hunting tales, some of which are worthy of Baron Munchausen. One of them relates to a panther. Mr. Wheaton, after a long tramp through the woods, on sitting down to rest, fell asleep. When he awoke, he found himself covered with leaves and concluded that a panther had thus bestowed upon him the attentions received from other crea- tures by the celebrated Babes in the Woods. He believed however that the panther's attentions had been prompted by self interest, in that she ex- pected to return with her young and make a meal of him. Accordingly, he climbed a tree and when the big cat came back with her kittens, the mighty hunter slew all three. The condition of Hampshire Hollow, which was settled by seven families from New Hampshire, has been described by Sylvester Smith as it existed in 100 SIDNEY CENTRE. the early part of the century. * The heads of fami- lies and the number of their children were these: Parker Fletcher,, seven children; Whiting Bacon, (the father of Samuel D. Bacon of Unadilla), eleven; Peter Davis, six; Walter Winans, four; Gaius Spaulding, four ; Ephraim Smith, ten ; Abra- ham Post, ten ; John Cranston, ten ; Samuel Lamb, four; Levi Lathrop, twelve; Asa Lesure, eight; Ephraim Robbins, six; Theophilus Merriman, seven; William Chapin, seven; John Lesure, eight (Mr. Lesure was living in 1891 at the age of eighty- nine) ; Thomas J. Davis, three, and B. M. Gold- smith, three. Nearly all of these families in Mr. Smith's boyhood were still living in log houses. With the building of the road from the Ouleout over to Carr's Creek, in 1794, an important begin- ning was made in opening up the Sidney Centre neighborhood— a road little used now-a-days be- cause of the heavy grade, but it seems to have been the original means of approach to Sidney Centre. Settlers came in slowly. The first to ar- rive came before the road was open. Jacob Bid- well settled there in 1793 and found two or three families had preceded him, but they did not remain long. Mr. Bidwell built a house on the farm owned in recent years by Harper W. Dewey. His brother taught the first school on Carr's Creek and in 1798, at this wilderness home, was born a son * Letter to the Unadilla Times in June, 1891. 101 THE PIONEERS OF INADILLA. who spent his old age in Unadilla village— Simeon Bidwell. At Smith Settlement homes were planted about the same time, the pioneer having been Samuel Smith. On theNiles farm the first settler was John Wellman who sold the place to Joseph Niles in 1810. Mr. Niles came from Connecticut. He was drafted for the War of 1812 and for twenty-five dollars hired a man to go in his place. This man went to Sackett's Harbor under General Erastus Root of Delhi. Air. Niles's son Samuel lived on this farm all his life, I think. In 1816, David Baker, the father of Horace and William Baker, came to this neighborhood. Another early settler was Jonathan Burdick. His father had settled in Kortright in 1810. Jona- than came to Carr's Creek in 1836. Except for the Smith settlement, the country was still in large part a wilderness. Assisted by his wife Mr. Bur- dick rolled up a log house. His father had been present as one of the guard at the time Major An- dre' was taken from the old Dutch Church at Tap- pan to his place of execution, for complicity in the treason of Benedict Arnold. The father was also present at the surrender of Cornwallis. Another pioneer in the Sidney Centre neighborhood was Windsor Merithew. He came in 1835. The first school-house in this region was built in 1825 and was constructed of logs. In the paper mill district some of the first settle- 102 THE PAPER MILL REGION. ments in the town were made. Here stood the original village of Unadilla, a village of scattered farms, planted in 1772 and burned by the Ameri- can soldiers under Colonel William Butler in 1778, when it had become a settlement of Indians, Brit- ish Tories and runaway negroes who had driven out the original Scotch-Irish pioneers. To these lands came some of the first settlers who returned to the valley after the war, which was about 1784. On the paper mill site, saw and grist mills had been built within a few years and around them was gathered a thriving settlement. The mills were owned by Abimileck Arnold. A carding mill and cloth dressing factory were also estab- lished here. Mr. Arnold arrived soon after the war closed and seems to have been here before the con- flict began. On the farm just below the paper mill site, where the Johnstons spent their first season, was made one of the settlements that belong to a time pre- vious to the war. Here now William Hanna, a Scotchman from Cherry Valley, made his home and here he long lived and kept a hotel. Mr. Haiina was possibly a relative of the Rev. William Hanna, who twenty years before had been pastor of the first Presbyterian Church established in Albany and had corresponded with Sir William Johnson, from which we may, perhaps, infer that the younger William Hanna had come into the valley before the war. The younger Hanna had served 103 THE PIONEERS OF UNADILLA. in the Revolution in the Third Regiment of Trjon County Militia. Witter and Hugh Johnston were in the same regiment. In this regiment David McMaster was a captain. Two Ouleout names that appear on the muster roll are Abraham Fuller who built the mill there probably before the war, and Abraham Hodges, while among other names are Daniel and David Ogden of Otego, and Henry Scramling and John VanDewerker of Oneonta. Jonathan Carley the pioneer of the family that still survives on the Ou- leout, had served in the Revolution and came into the country in 1796 from Duchess County. A sister of the Johnstons was the wife of Stephen Stoyles who settled on the farm where recently lived Norman D. Foster and whose daughter was married to Obel Nye. Mr. Stoyles had served in the Revolution and came into the valley in 1788. Descendants of Mr. Nye lived on this farm until it passed to Mr. Foster. Here for many years cider was made and to this mill and the rival manufac- tory at the Ryder farm on the Ouleout many boys from the village years ago were accustomed in the autumn to make their pilgrimages. With delight the author recalls that among these boys he was often one. Captain David McMaster came with the Johns- tons. He lived across the way from the Ephraim Smith house. C. Frasier settled on the A. N. Bene- dict farm and David Bigelow on the Evans place, 104 COL. DAVID HOUGH. not far from the site of the old Indian Monument, all trace of which I believe has now disappeared. As early as 1796 Moses Hovey had settled in this neighborhood— I believe on the Sylvester Arms place. To the Luther farm early came back one of the Sliters of the Revolution and then Phineas Ben- nett who was here at the beginning of the century, or before. Elisha Luther, a Revolutionary pen- sioner, came from Clarendon, Vermont, in 1825, and bought the farm from a family named Sher- wood. Mr. Sherwood's daughter was the wife of Moses Foster whose coming was contemporary with Mr. Luther's. Mr. Foster left behind num- erous descendants. Other daughters of Mr. Sherwood by another wife were those who became the three wives of Colonel David Hough, owner of the farm on which stands a brick house. One of these daughters when married to Colonel Hough was already the widow of a man named Lord. Another was the widow of Dr. Slade, the father of Chauncey Slade, a citizen of the village for many years. Colonel Hough bought his farm from a family named Hurd who were relatives of the Jewell family of Guil- ford. On this farm bricks were made and many thousands of them were used for chimneys in Una- dilla village. Alvin Woodworth lived in this neigh- borhood early in the century and his son Alvin Clarke Woodworth, who died in 1818, was the 105 THE PIONEERS OE UNADILLA. first person buried in the cemetery near the home of Norman D. Foster. Here Chaunce}' Slade lies buried. With Elisha Luther came his son, Martin B. Lu- ther, whose death in the summer of 1890 removed a citizen of much personal worth and superior in- tellectual endowments. He had been supervisor in 1841 and 1842 and was a justice of the peace for several terms. He was an authority on titles in the Wallace and Upton patents and was a surveyor of long experience. He was prominent in Ma- sonry. He joined to wide reading a clear and large understanding. Mr. Rogers * did not exaggerate in describing him as " a man of great capacity, much modesty, an honored citizen, a good farmer, and a gentleman of unquestioned honor." On the Unadilla river a large family of the name of Spencer settled,— so large indeed that a part of that neighborhood was known as ' ' Spencer Street. ' ' The father was Jonathan Spencer and one of the sons was Orange Spencer. These men appear to ha\'e first settled here before the Revolution. Fol- lowing them were .several families to whom they were related by marriage, sisters of Jonathan be- ing the wives of Jeremiah Birch, Jonathan Stark and Jeremiah Thornton. Mr. Birch was the grandfather of Albert G. * Perry P. Rogers, from whom much information regarding this neigb- fcoihood was obtained by the author many years ago. 106 •♦SPENCER STREET." Birch. * Jeremiah Birch came soon after the Spen- cers and was from the same locality in Montgom- ery County. He as well as the Spencers had served in the Revolution in the Third Regiment of Tryon County Militia and probably was at Oriskany. Mr. Stark made his home on the Horace Phelps place and died about sixty-five years ago. Another relative of Jonathan Spencer was Jalleal Billings, who was a son of one of his sisters. He settled near the bridge that now crosses to Shaver's Cor- ners. Mr. Billings's mother had for her second husband Enos Yale, who settled in that valley several years before the eighteenth century closed. Mr. Yale was prominent in town affairs. To this same valley, near the mouth of the river, some time afterwards came another family named Spencer. Their ancestor, Amos Spencer, originally was from Connecticut and had served in the Revo- lution. He had settled in the town of Maryland, Otsego Co. On the Unadilla river settled two of his family, Simeon and Porter, who afterwards came to the village, leaving descendants, some of whom are still living there. Samuel Rogers, the ancestor of P. P. Rogers, came to Unadilla before 1795. Four children and his wife came with him. They settled first on the Gates place above the Salmon G. Cone farm; but * Mr. Birch died at his home north of the village in January. 1892. He was a stone mason and for several years was employed on the old Croton Aqueduct in New York city and on the Chenango Canal. He was one of the last survivors in this valley of those who had followed the river in the old rafting days. 107 THE PIONEERS OE UNADILLA. went afterwards to the Unadilla river. Mr. Rogers was a native of North Bolton, Connecticut, where he was born in 1764, and his wife a native of the neighboring town of East Windsor. He died in 1829. Mr. Rogers was one of those shoemakers who have been remarkable for other things than their trade. He worked at that trade for the most of his life, but had great love of books and was possessed of much knowledge in several directions. Like Sluman Wattles, he was a typical pioneer of the best class, a man who could do mam- things and do them well. He was a practical surveyor and knew enough medicine to have practised it. He had learned some law, and after he was fifty- five years old acquired a good reading knowledge of the Latin language. Judge McMaster, who knew him well, said: "There was no man in this society in his time of so much intellectual culture as Mr. Rogers except the minister, and not always excepting him. " Mr. Rogers's son Jabez was long a resident of the village, as was his grandson, Perry P. Rogers, whose later life was spent in Binghamton where he died in 1894-, to the regret of every person who had known him. He had a most intimate knowledge of the early settlers of this part of the valley. He was born oh the Unadilla river, but in boyhood went to Steuben Count}^ and thence to Buffalo, where he was admitted to the bar. He came to this village in 1857 and practised law here until 108 PERRY P. ROGERS. 1871, when he went to Binghamton and there spent the remainder of his days. He lies buried in St. Matthew's churchyard. My school mate, his son Joseph, grew up in this village, and in the churchyard sleeps. At the mouth of the Unadilla river grist and saw mills were owned at the beginning of the century, if not earlier, by a man named Nickerson. Sixty or more years ago they had passed into the hands of Harry Hoffman. The farm where Delos Curtis lives was occupied by John Abbey, the Bryan farm by Silas Scott. Seth Scott is an early name con- nected with the Thomas Monroe farm, and another name connected with it is Phineas Reed, who built the stone house in 1832. On a portion of this farm lived Major David Francis, who came into the country as early as 1790. His house stood near the creek that crosses the highway where the road turns off to East Guilford. Older residents well re- membered many amusing stories of this man. Seth Scott and his brother Silas had arrived as early as 1796. Seth's wife was Amy Birch, an aunt of Albert G. Birch. Silas Scott, William D. Mudge, father of the late William L. Mudge of Bingham- ton, and Jesse Skinner all lived in this neighbor- hood and married sisters named Lee, daughters of Philemon Lee. Of this family of Scott was "Granther" Scott, who kept the first toll bridge at Wattles's Ferry. Henry Dayton, who surveyed many of the first town roads, lived where Julius 109 THE PIONEERS OF UNADILLA. Utter more recently lived. Jerome Bates was an^ other early resident on the Unadilla river. He was a carpenter and with the builder Bottom erected the house on the Bund}- farm. Here also settled Zachariah C. Curtis who died in 1891 in his ninety- second year. His parents were from Stratford, Connecticut, and had settled in Madison County. About 1800, he was born. Mr. Curtis settled on the Unadilla river in 1823, where he was a pioneer in the cultivation of hops. For many years his yard was the only one in the southern part of the county. Mr. Curtis was the father of J. Delos Curtis. 110 IX. MAIN AND MILL STREET MEN. 1815--1840. Early in the eighteenth century the village had become divided in its business interests, two trade centers having been created. Sharp rivalry had well begun before the new century was ten years old. As time went on, this rivalry deepened and spread until it permeated the entire community. Indeed, for three generations it formed a pivot around which many interests revolved. At the beginning of the settlement, the indica- tions were that the center would be in the neigh- borhood of what is now Main and Martin Brook Streets, where the first goods were sold. The de- sire to be as near as possible to the terminus of the Catskill Turnpike, and directly accessible to the river from their store, led Noble aud Haj'es to begin their enterprise at the extreme eastern end of the village. But the interests which centered at that distant point were afterwards shifted to Main and Mill Street, largely because new enterprises had grown up there. Here was found a site more nearly central; here were the thriving mills of Joel Bragg; 111 THE PIONEERS OF UNADILLA. here Roswell Wright in 1815 built his store; nearby was Bragg's Hotel; here was St. Matthew's Church ; and here was established the post office. Meanwhile, had occurred the opening of the store of Stephen Benton at Main and Clifton Streets, and the building of the hotel by Dr. Cone diagonally across the way. Here therefore was now another center. Thus had been cast the die from which so much of the subsequent history of the village was to take its rise — two rival centers of trade. Colo- nel North has shown with fullness, in a paper re- printed in a later chapter, what had been the growth of the two ends by 1828. Each in some respects had advantages. If the eastern, or upper, end had a young ladies' private school, the western end had two physicians as against the other's one. Up-town had the only church building and the grist and saw mill ; but down-town had the full- ing mill and the tannery. Each had a hotel. Wagons were made down-town and clocks and watches were there repaired, but hats were made up-town and so were coats and trousers. In one respect the honors were notably easy. Each had its own distillery ; but this fact may have increased rather than allayed the disputatious tendencies. The opening of the two stores of Stephen Benton and Roswell Wright was almost simultaneous. Mr. AVright at the beginning did business alone, but soon had as partner Moses G. Benjamin. Mr. Wright had come from Wethersfield, Connecticut, 112 ARNOLD B. WATSON. where he was born in 1785, and had previously vStarted in business in Catskill. After remaining his partner in Unadilla for several years, Mr. Benja- min went to Bainbridge. Their store stood on the southeast corner of Main and Mill streets, and among those who helped to build it was Guido L. Bissell. Standing in the centre of the village, it supplanted for its immediate area the store for- merly conducted by Solomon Martin and Gurdon Huntington, General Martin having died in 1816 and Dr. Huntington having gone to Cairo in 1813. It continued for a long period of years to be the up-to wn centre of village business life. Mr. Wright was postmaster for a number of years and he had in his employ, or as partners, at one time and another, young men who were to become notable factors in the future of the village. More than one was to remain a resident for sixt}^ years. Arnold B. Watson, one of the number, was a native of Albany County, and came to the village in 1821 to take charge of a classical school in the upper story of the building that long stood on the site of R. K. Teller's residence. He was then twenty-three years old. Two and a half years later he entered Roswell Wright's store and in a short time was a partner, the firm becoming Wright and Watson. Later it was Wright, Wat- son and Company, Abiel D. Williams having joined the firm. Mr. Wright died in 1832 and Mr. Watson went '• 113 THE PIONEERS OF INADILLA. into business on his own account in the brick store which had been erected across the street in 1832, on the site of the Masonic Hall. The Masonic Hall was then ten years old. It had been built by Lord and Bottom and was now removed eastward to the site of the present beautiful residence after- wards built by Mr. Watson. Here Mr. Watson continued to do business for many years, and here he established the Unadilla Bank, which for more than twenty years was perhaps the most widely known bank, in this part of the valle}^. Clark I. Hayes became his partner, and b\ r this firm the ex- tensive operations of Noble and Hayes were revived and long continued. Mr. Watson's activities outside his firm extended in many directions. He became active in the or- ganization and building of the Albany and Sus- quehanna railroad and his name was one of those proposed for president. Of St. Matthew's Church he was senior warden and treasurer for thirty years. To him more than to any other one person was the village indebted for the old Academy. He not only had the largest amount of stock but in every possible way promoted its welfare after- wards, his interest never ceasing until his death. Mr. Watson had twenty-two shares of the Acad- emy stock; A. D. Williams had sixteen; L. B. Woodruff, twelve ; Erastus Kingsley, thirteen ; Mrs. Charles C.Noble, eight; C. I. Hayes, eight; the estate of Isaac Hayes, twelve ; Mrs. Isaac Hayes, 114 THE UNADILLA ACADEMY. seven; Joel Bragg, five; and W. J. Thompson, two. An effort was made to secure for the Academy the land known as the Harper lot, which faced Main Street opposite the present Sands and Arnold residences. Subscriptions were solicited, but dis- putes arose, ending in the purchase of the present site from Joel Bragg, land which was then an orchard. The absence of down-town names from the list of stockholders would indicate that down-town men had been disappointed in the selection of the site, the stock being entirely taken by men living up- town. The building was erected by Mr. Thomp- son in 1851. It continued in use until 1894, when the present fine structure of brick was erected and the old building sold and taken down, the Academy site and its endowment fund being united with the new school. Mr. Watson, in 1832, built for his residence the brick structure which now forms part of Bishop's Hotel. Erastus Kingsley afterwards acquired this property and enlarged it for hotel purposes. Later on Mr. Watson erected the residence which still stands east of the brick store. Mr. Thompson built it for him. This involved the second removal of the Masonic Hall, which was taken to its present site where with its enlargements it stands as the summer home of Lester T. Hubbell. Mr. Thomp- son found a model for Mr. Watson's new house near Utica, or at least some suggestions for it ; but 115 THE PIONEERS OF UNADILLA. otherwise he was the architect as well as the builder of that noble village residence. Mr. Watson's first wife was Susan Emily, daugh- ter of Isaac Hayes. Their children were Henry M., now of Buffalo; Julia N., who died in her youth; Sarah A., who was married to the Rev. E. Folsom Baker; Susan H., the wife of Frederick T. Sherman of Brooklyn, and William H. of Buffalo. In 1865 Mr. Watson married Isaac Hayes's daughter Au- gusta, who survived him until December 20th, 1891, when at the age of seventy-three she died in the house her father had built in 1804. In this house she had been born. In St. Matthew's Church she was baptised; she remained all her life a member of it and in its churchyard she lies buried. Mrs. Watson's brother, Clark I. Hayes, at the age of seventy, followed her to this last resting place a little more than a year afterwards. Mr. Hayes during his business career was universally popular throughout a large territory. Mr. Rogers, whose acquaintance with him was intimate, has described him as "a gentleman by instinct, cour- teous, pleasant, affable." Amid many changes of fortune he maintained through life a placid,, hospitable and manly relation towards societj^and those who compose it. Born as he had been to rural affluence and reared in refined surroundings, he personally seemed never altered by trials which might have been sufficient to break the spirit of men trained in sterner schools. Under his influence, 116 CLARK I. HAYES. probably more than that of any other man in the community, was due the elevation of the standard of farm stock in this part of the valley. Like his sister Mr. Hayes was born in the house in which he died. Her home for some years was elsewhere, but Mr. Hayes spent all his days in this dwelling, which was part of his inheritance. Few lives have embraced so long a period of village history as these two. When this brother and sister first saw the light scarcely more than twenty houses were standing; the turnpike was still the main highway from the Hudson to this part of the state ; lumbering was the chief industry and pro- duce arks were making voyages down the Susque- hanna. These lives were interesting in many other ways, ways more personal, for all who knew and understood this man of staid courtesy and sweet spirit, this woman of bright and gentle life, whose careers closed in the very place where they began. Another year brought to this churchyard an- other child of Isaac Hayes, his son Frederick T., of whose boyhood more than one pleasing glimpse is given in Henry Noble's diary, of which extracts will be printed in a later chapter. Frederick Hayes spent his business life in a New York bank of which he was an officer, but he often came back to Una- dilla, pleased once more to walk among the scenes of his youth. In Erastus Kingsley was seen perhaps the most popular landlord which this valley ever knew. He 117 IKE PIONEERS OF UNADILLA. was a native of Franklin where he was born in 1800, his father being Bradford Kingsley. On com- ing to Unadilla, he was employed by Daniel and Gilbert Cone. For a short time he kept the hotel at Main and Bridge Streets. A sister of his was the first wife of Marvin C. Allen and the mother of Chester K. Allen. Mr. Allen for some time lived in the Bradford Kingsley house and later on bought a house then standing on the corner of Main and Wal- nut Streets, where he died. For his second wife he married Caroline Gregor}'. Mr. Kingsley died in 1865. His hotel at Main and Depot Streets was the headquarters in stage-coaching times and in the rear of it travelling circuses usually fixed their tents. Around this village corner gather many other memories. After Mr. Watson perhaps comes Col- onel Williams, at least in point of duration of as- sociations. He was a native of Westford, Otsego County and a son of Israel Williams. He be- gan life in Unadilla as a clerk in Wright's store and afterwards was a partner. In 1827 he removed to Honesdale, Pennsylvania, where with his wife's brother, Thomas Hayes, he was engaged in trade for ten years. He then returned to Unadilla and resumed business on the old site, Mr. Wright hav- ing died. Mr. Wright's house became Colonel Williams's home. He was elected supervisor in 1855 and died in 1871 at the age of sixty-nine. Long after his death his son Thomas and his daughter Elizabeth remained familiar and pathetic 118 DR. JOHN COLWELL. figures amid the scenes of their father's life, which had been active and honorable in youth and prime but which closed in misfortune. Thomas Williams died in Cooperstown in 1890, and was buried in the churchyard here at his father's side. Contemporary with these names is the name of John Colwell. Dr. Colwell was a bachelor, and a bachelor he died. He was born in Richfield in 1794. An authentic story of his youth relates to his dis- like of school. Found missing one day, he was long searched for in vain until at last discovered by his mother half way down a well. Being urged to emerge from his cool retreat, he refused to do so unless assured that he would be neither punished nor made to go to school. Dr. Colwell read medi- cine in Cherry Valley with the elder Dr. White and settled in Unadilla as early as 1820. Here he re- mained until his death, widely known and always beloved. His office still stands on Mill Street just below the blacksmith shop. He boarded for many years at Kingsley's hotel and previously had lived at Bragg's hotel. Mr. Kingsley was tolerant of Dr. Colwell's ec- centricities in money matters. The doctor never kept any book accounts, seldom made collections and infrequent^ made payments. Mr. Kingsley in consequence acquired a habit of collecting some of the doctor's bills himself, and thus took care of his own claims; it might now be money that he col- lected, or it might be a " side of beef." This simple 119 THE PIONEERS OF INADILLA. method of paying two debts by one transaction seemed to accord admirably with the doctor's liking for simple methods in finance. He was su- pervisor in 1845 and 1846 and died in 1868 at the home of Dr. Joseph Sweet. He was laid away in St. Matthew's churchyard. Dr. Colwell was an old schoolmate of Levi Beardsley, the author of the "Reminiscences." Contemporary with him in Unadilla was Henry Ogden, whom Beardsley describes as "a fine, tal- ented fellow, but amazingly fond of hunting and fishing and a most keen sportsman." Mr. Ogden was from Catskill. He had four sons and two daughters, the eldest son being a graduate of West Point, who died a brevet-major in the regular arm}-, receiving his rank for meritorious conduct. He served in the Black Hawk war of 1832 and in the Florida wars of 1837-38 and 1840-42. He died at Fort Reilly, Kansas, in 1845, and lies buried in the churchyard here with his father and mother. Henry Ogden's two other sons removed to California. Mr. Ogden was a lawyer and his office building still exists as part of the home of William H. Sewell on Watson Street. His house oc- cupied the site of the church rectory and was built as early as 1815. It now occupies a new site on Martin Brook Street. Another name permanently connected with this village corner is that of Levi Bennett Woodruff. Mr. Woodruff was a native of Hartford County, 120 THE WOODRUFF BROTHERS. Connecticut, whence he went with his father, Joel Woodruff, to Meredith, in Delaware County, when ten years old. In coming to TJnadilla he was the forerunner among four brothers, one of whom, Lloyd L. Woodruff, is still living here. Joel Wood- ruff spent his last years in the old house on the turnpike just above the Foster Thompson farm, an ancient dwelling with an old sweep well and once owned by Ira Spaulding. A portion of this struc- ture had formerly been used as a schoolhouse on another site. L. B. Woodruff came to TJnadilla in 1829 in com- pany with Edwin J. Smith, who also was from Meredith. The two engaged in blacksmithing near the present stone shop and for many years con- ducted a prosperous business. Blacksmithing had previously been carried on in the same place by Turner McCall and Charles Wood. Mr. Woodruff in 1835 or 1836 built the stone shop still standing and later on the spacious dwelling on the Main Street corner. Retiring from the shop, he engaged in trade in a store near his house, and during the railroad building years conducted a large business. He died in 1879. Mr. Woodruff was followed in 1835 by his brother, Henrj- S. Woodruff, who survived him several years. He also was a blacksmith, but he abandoned that calling from ill health and for a long term of years was proprietor of the stage line from TJnadilla over the old Turnpike to Delhi, 121 THE PIONEERS OF UNADILLA. by way of Meredith Square. He had exceptional eminence for familiarity with that road. He was born upon it in the town of Meredith and had trav- elled over its western end more times than any one else living in his day. When he died the buildings on his premises were found stored full of many cu- rious relics of the stage business, from the smaller hardware of sleighs and harnesses, to worn-out whips and ancient buffalo robes, from two-horse vehicles to an old-time covered sleigh that marked in signal manner the passing away of an inter- esting era. The year 1841 brought to the village the third of these brothers, Lloyd L. Woodruff, who en- gaged in trade as a merchant tailor and then as a general dry goods merchant, builder, &c, with his brother-in-law, Milo B. Gregory, in the up-town brick store. John Woodruff, the fourth brother, spent some j^ears as a clerk in the old brick store when a young man, but finally removed to Delhi where he became an eminent citizen and merchant. More than sixty years ago, when the Masonic Hall stood on its original site, one of its occupants was Seleck H. Fancher, whose sudden death from heart failure in March, 1891, startled the com- munity. He was found in his garden about eight o'clock in the morning with life extinct. He was a native of Connecticut and died at eighty-two years of age. Until the hour of his death, his life had been an active one. Several generations of boys 122 SELECK H. FANCHER. and girls will long preserve the memory of this open-minded man, this kind-hearted friend of theirs. He was a shoemaker and like Samuel Rogers was wise in many things besides his craft. A building that will long be associated with his activities is the octagon house built by him and which was his home for more than twenty j^ears. Mr. Fancher was himself as many-sided as the house he dwelt in. His mind had as man}*- windows open to the sun. 123 X. TWO MEN OF NOTE. 1828--1835. At the junction of Main and Mill Streets two other men, destined to notable distinction in village annals, began their careers. Each had been born in another place, each came to Unadilla as a young man, each spent here the most of his remaining da} r s, and here finally each was to pass away and be buried in the old churchyard, the one fifty-one years afterwards, the other sixty-six — Frederick A. Sands and Samuel North. Mr. Sands, as early as 1835, was a clerk in the Wright store. He had come to the village from Franklin and was a son of Judge Obadiah Sands, a native of Sands Point on Long Island, descended from Captain James Sands*, an Englishman, who came to this country about 1642, landing at Plymouth. Capt. Sands had been born at Read- ing, England in 1622. Benjamin Sands of Sands Point married Mary Jackson, and Obadiah Sands, the father of Fred- * The name in England was originally written Sandys and is supposed to have been derived from a place in the Isle of Wight called Sande, Leaving Plymouth, Capt. Sands lived for a time in Taunton and then joined sixteen other persons in purchasing land on Block Island, where he 124 JUDGE OBADIAH SANDS. erick A. Sands, was their son. Leaving Sands Point in May 1795, when in his twenty-first year, Obadiah, fifteen days later arrived at Cookoze,now Deposit, then a large centre of the lumber industry. He had with him as cook a colored boy who was a slave. Mr. Sands engaged actively in lumbering and dealt in real estate, following these pursuits at Cookoze until 1802, when he settled in Delhi, remaining there three years. He then removed to a place in Sidney, about three miles below Franklin village on the turnpike, and in the same year was married to Elizabeth Teed of Somers in West- chester County. In 1811 he removed to Jericho*, afterwards Bainbridge Village, where he engaged largely in the purchase and sale of real estate. Mr. Sands afterwards purchased a tract of land in Franklin, one mile east of the village, and in 1818 went there to live. On this farm Abel Buell of Lebanon, Connecticut, had settled in 1790, or earlier, and thus was near his old Connecticut neighbor, Sluman Wattles. Franklin thenceforth until 1840 continued to be Judge Sands's home. For a short time afterwards he lived in Meredith and in 1845 went to Oxford where he died in 1858. He was buried on the farm in Franklin, but his re- lived until he died. During King Philips's War he built a stone house of which use was made as a defense against the Indians. Ihe place was twice plundered by the enemy. Three of his sons removed to the north shore of Long Island, purchasing a tract of land at the place now called Sands Point. • The name Jericho came from the Vermont town of that name twelve miles east of Burlington and was bestowed upon the place by Vermont settlers. 125 THE PIONEERS OF UNADILLA. mains were afterwards brought to Unadilla and now rest in the churchyard. He had six sons and three daughters. All but three of them survived him. The survivors were Dr. William G. Sands of Oxford, Jerome B., of Bainbridge, Marcellus, Dr. A. Jackson, who lived many years in Unadilla, Fred- erick A., and Elizabeth E., who became the wife of Joshua C. Sanders and is still living in New York. Frederick A. Sands was born in Bainbridge February 19th, 1812. Following his employment as a clerk in the Wright store, Mr. Sands engaged in business first with Christopher D. Fellows, under the name of Fellows and Sands, and next with Mr. Watson as Watson and Sands. He then removed to Oxford where he was acth-e in busi- ness with his brother-in-law, James W. Clark, along with whom and an old personal friend, Henry L. Miller, and others, he became interested in the First National Bank of that place, an institution that has had a prominent and successful career. Mr. Miller and he were lifelong friends. They were buried at the same hour and on the same daj r in 1886. On the death of his father in 1868, Mr. Sands, who was executor and trustee of the estate, aban- doned his mercantile pursuits and devoted him- self to the affairs of the estate, which was a large one for that period. In his management of this property the necessity never arose for a law- suit. He possessed what Matthew Arnold called 126 FREDERICK A. SANDS. 14 sweet reasonableness." When he died, it was said of him that "few men have done so much busi- ness with so little litigation." He was familiar with real estate titles in the neighborhood where he lived, and his papers have been described as "models of neatness and brevity and alwa3'S as correct as care and labor could make them. " With this scrupulous exactness went also a fine integrity. In politics Mr. Sands was a democrat, though he had small liking for the profession of politics. Offi- cial place he never sought. Mere office could scarce- ly have added anything to the esteem in which for two generations he here was held. Mr. Sands's first wife was Maria, daughter of Sherman Page. Two years after the marriage she died. In January 1841 he married Clarissa A., sister of the late Henry R. Mygatt of Oxford, who survived him only a few months. Mr. Sands had dwelt in both of the stone houses in the centre of the village, having built the western one and en- larged the other, which was his home for more than fort}- years. Between these ancient dwellings his son, J. Kred. Sands, in later 3^ears erected a beauti- ful modern home, and far to the rear of them, on an elevated plateau where agricultural fairs were annually held long ago, opened up streets and erected a number of houses. The story of this Main and Mill Street centre, of the Academy and the old brick store, connects itself closely with the life of another citizen of the 127 THE PIONEERS OF UNADILLA. village who was Mr. Sands's son-in-law. In the Academy building Frank B. Arnold's life in the village had its beginning. In the brick store he had his office and there he died. He lived in Una- dilla more than twenty years, and first came to take charge of the Academy. Dr. Odell and Mr. Thompson were the trustees who engaged him. He was from Gilbertsville, where he had just been graduated from the school, and now wished to teach in order to help himself through Hamilton College. Under Mr. Arnold the Academy became very prosperous, and never was teacher more popular with students. A memorial of his career may be seen in the trees that still stand near the side-walk in those school grounds. They were planted by the hands of Mr. Arnold and his pupils. Having read law and been admitted to practice, Mr. Arnold soon removed to Nebraska, but he came back in a few years and thenceforth always lived in the village. Although a Republican, he was several times elected supervisor in this Demo- cratic town by majorities as large as were ever given to any candidate. In 1885 and 1886 he was elected to the Assembly and in 1887-1888 served in the Senate. He became the Republican candidate for Congress in 1S90, but was defeated by a small majorhry. His health was seriously undermined at this time, and on December 11th he died in his of- fice at Alain and Depot Streets. Mr. Arnold made a distinct mark in the Legis- 128 FRANK B. ARNOLD. lature and became known throughout the State. He had many attractive personal qualities, with tastes quite apart from those which the law and politics fostered. He had read extensively in gen- eral literature and had collected many books. His law library was the one which formerly belonged to Daniel S. Dickinson. Mr. Arnold was born in Ireland and came to this country when a child. His father settled in East Hartford, Connecticut, where some years later the boy was seen by Major C. P. Root of Butternuts, and under his influence made his home in Butternuts. On this corner in Roswell Wright's store the business life of Samuel North in Unadilla was be- gun. His age was fourteen when he arrived in May, 1828, remaining in the store until he was twenty-one. The history of his family goes back to pioneer days in the valley of the Delaware. The Norths are of Long Island origin and of English ancestr}^. At Newtown the line comes down from Thomas to Benjamin and then to Robert, who in 1784, with twenty other persons, mostly from Long Island, set out for what is now the village of Walton by crossing the wilderness from Kingston to the Delaware. With Robert North came his wife and an infant son named Benjamin who was the father of Colonel North. Mrs. North for the last portion of this journey rode on horseback with her infant in her arms and with a bed and pieces of furniture fastened on the horse behind her. 9 129 THE PIONEERS OF UNADILLA. The owner of the Walton patent was William Walton, a man of much note and affluence in New York at that time. He had offered to give a tract of land in his patent to the first male child born there on condition that the child should bear his name. The first child thus born was a son of Rob- ert North. Mrs. North had wished to call him Samuel, and, in spite of the offer, the name Samuel was adopted. This boy went to Albany as a clerk in the Assembly, and afterwards became a lawyer, but died in early life. Long after this event Sam- uel's brother Benjamin became the father of a son, in whom was revived the name of Samuel. This was Colonel North, who for many years was prob- ably the most distinguished citizen of the village. After leaving Unadilla when he became of age, Colonel North pursued his mercantile calling for a time in New York. Returning to Walton he be- came colonel of a regiment of Hamden and Wal- ton militia which was called out during the Anti- rent difficulties. He once more settled in Unadilla and in 1849 was elected County Clerk. In 1853 he was made principal clerk in the appointment division of the General Post Office Department in Washington, and soon afterwards was made spec- ial agent of the department for a portion of New York and New England. He was a delegate to the Charleston convention of 1860 and voted for Ste- phen A. Douglass. By this act he incurred the displeasure of President Buchanan and lost his 130 COL. SAMUEL NORTH. position. Returning to Unadilla he engaged in the hardware business. While acting as one of the fif- teen special agents of the Post Office Department he had been rated as No. 1 as to the value of his *In 1863, Governor Seymour appointed Colonel Noith to rep- resent the State in Washington in matters affecting soldiers who were sick and wounded in hospitals. While holding this place in 1864, during an exciting Presidential campaign, he was ac- cused of defrauding soldiers of their votes. At the trial he was completely vindicated. Horace Greeley in the Tribune de- clared that this was " positive and unconditional." On his re- turn home, a reception and dinner were given to him by citi- zens of the village and in Albany similar honors were bestowed upon him by Judge Amasa J. Parker. His name was promi- nently mentioned by Democratic leaders as the candidate for Governor at the next election and he was much urged to accept it, but he positively declined to do so, and when offered the Comptrollership declined that also. Colonel North was long in association with the leaders of the Democratic party in this state, being at one time Chairman of the Executive Committee. He came into close relations with Erastus Coining, Dean Richmond, Horatio Seymour, Sanford E. Church, Allen C. Beach, and John T. Hoffman. The party leaders often visited Unadilla to consult him, and on one memor- able occasion Governor Seymour delivered a speech here which attracted several thousand people. His last official place was that of Canal Appraiser to which Governor Hoffman appointed him in 1870. He became president of the Board. For nearly twenty years Colonel North was Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Unadilla Academy and secured for it the endowment fund of $10,000. He built a reservoir on Kilkenny Hill and laid pipe down Clifton to Main Street where he set three hydrants giving fire protection to property within reach. The extensive system of village water works now existing was afterwards planned and built by his son Samuel S. North. For several years he was a director of the Albany and Susque- hanna Railroad and through his efforts the bill making a State appropriation which finally secured the road was signed by Governor Seymour. Under his influence a law was passed by 131 THE PIONEERS OF UNADILLA. Colonel North's wife was Eliza Gray of Durham f Greene County, whom he married in 1835. She died in 1891 and he followed her in 1894 in the 81st year of his age. Their son Thomas Gray North, was born in Walton, August 15, 1840, and for years filled a large place in the business life of Una- dilla. He was the head and manager of the bank- ing house then known as Thomas G. North & Co. which, for more than thirty years, has been among the prominent and successful banks in this part of the State. Since his death the house has been continued as North & Co., Samuel S. North, Colonel North's only surviving child being the head. Thomas G. North's untimely death in 1885 cast a shadow over the village such as few events have done. He was educated at Geneva and began busi- ness with Charles C. Siver in 1865, first as hard- ware merchant and then as banker. Mr. Siver's poor health ending finally in his lamented death broke up the partnership and Mr. North continued the business with his father until he died. which nearly all the stone sidewalks in the village were laid by residents who secured credit for the same on their highway taxes. Personally Colonel North was a man of marked distinc- tion, with appearance and address such as would have gained attention in any society. 132 XI. HOUSES STANDING SEVENTY- THREE YEARS AGO. 1828. Colonel North, near the close of his life, pub- lished an interesting and valuable description of the village at the time of his first arrival in 1828.* By his kind permission, secured at the time of its appearance, the greater part of this paper is given here. The description begins at the eastern end of the village and first embraces the north side of Main Street through to the western end as follows: "The first dwelling was a one story house in which lived an aged couple, Jesse Noble and his wife. "Next was the residence of David Finch and family consisting of himself and wife, four sons and four daughters. "At this point was a diverging road, then as now, leading over the hills to the town of Butter- nuts. On the west side of this road, a few rods from Main Street, stood the distillery of Noble and Hayes, one of the seeming necessary adjuncts of the then new country, to work up the surplus grain * Printed in the Unadilla Times in May, i8gi. 133 THE PIONEERS OF UNADILLA. of those days, for which there was no market ex- cept in a liquid form. "Next was what was known as the tenant house of Noble & Hayes, in which lived Amos Priest and his wife on the site of which now stands the resi- dence of Horace B. Eells, being the same house with additions and improvements in which David Finch lived, but was moved to where it now stands, because of railroad encroachments. "Next was the store and storage buildings of Noble & Hayes, one of the earliest mercantile firms established in this section. The store, since abandoned for such use, has been altered into a dwelling, and is now occupied by George Wolcott and family. "Next was the residence of Curtis Noble and family, consisting of himself, wife, four sons and four daughters. "Next was the residence of Isaac Hayes and family, consisting of himself, wife, four daughters, two sons and a niece. It is now the home of Clark I. Hayes and family. " Next was the residence of Captain Amos Bost- wick, a Revolutionary soldier, and family, consist- ing of himself, wife and one daughter. It is now known as the tenant house attached to the farm of Clark I. Hayes. "Next passing an intervening space of several rods of open field, came what was designated as the "yellow store" built by Henry A. Beach, 134 HOUSES STANDING IN 1828. but never successfully utilized for business pur- poses. It became a sort of " catch all" for mi- gratory tenants. It occupied the lot on which now stands the residence of LeGrand Stone. "Next was an open field to where Hiram Bene- dict and family resided in a small house, detached from which was a shop in which he carried on the tailoring business. The house at a later day was improved and modernized by Jared C. Gregory, and is now the residence of Mrs. Wm. McLaury and daughter. "Next was the house now the residence of Mrs. Henry H. Howard, then occupied by Arnold B. Watson and family. "Next was the residence of Daniel Castle and family, consisting of himself, wife, two sons and a daughter. It is the same house modernized and improved, now the property and residence of Mrs. Hurlburt. "Next was an intervening cultivated field, upon the west side of which was an unoccupied house, formerly the residence of Jacob Hayes and family. It was at a later day removed, and the lot with some addition to it was afterward built upon by Hon. Charles C. Noble. The place has lately been purchased by James Collins, who with his family now occupies it. "Next was an open field a distance of thirty rods down to where H. C. Gregory and his family now reside in the house built by Mr. A. B. Watson. 135 THE PIONEERS OE UN4DILL4. Within the grounds of the same as now inclosed, stood near the east line, the dwelling of Mason DeForest, and near thereto a shop in which he worked at shoe making. Both the house and shop were demolished when Mr. Watson built his house. "Next was the Masonic Hall standing about two rods east of the brick store since built, in which lived Henry A. Beach and his family. Masons at that time being in a languishing condition, the lodge room was soon used for a young lady's school, kept by a Miss Seymour from Connecticut. The Hall was afterward purchased 03- William J. Thompson, moved to Watson Street, and by him converted into a dwelling which is now his resi- dence. "Next passing an intervening space of several rods down to where White's Hall now stands, there was an unoccupied building known as the Dr. Huntington store, which was afterwards moved off, and is now the residence of Nicholas Price on Watson Street. "Next was the yellow house yet standing, then the residence of Dr. David W T alker, his wife, and one child, a son. "Next after an interval of several rods was the house occupied by the family of General Solomon Martin, deceased, consisting of his widow, her maiden sister, Mary Scott, and four sons, Edward, William, Benjamin and Robert. It is the place whereon now stands the residence of Marvin 136 HOUSES STANDING IN 1828. Sweet, which was built by, and for many years was the residence of the Rev. Norman H. Adams. "Next was an open space of about forty rods down to what is now known as the Elder Sperry place, where was a house occupied by Albert Ben- ton and family, on the site of which now stands the Sperry mansion. "Next were the store and storage buildings of Benton and Fellows, back of which was their dis- tillery and tenant house. It is worthy to be re- marked that, notwithstanding the cheapness and abundance of whiskey in those spiritual times- two shillings per gallon at retail— there was more drinking and fewer drunkards than there are now. Delirium tremens was not a resultant effect of over indulgence, nor was such a thing known in Una- dilla, until after the local distilleries had ceased to make pure extract of rye and corn and the mer- chants introduced as a substitute therefor that vile decoction of the Devil's invention, New England rum. "Next was the residence of Stephen Benton, where now Major C. D. Fellows, one of the old and honored survivors of the long ago now eighty- nine years of age, resides, and rejoices in the pos- session of pleasant home surroundings and the comforting consciousness of an upright life, having been always a Democrat without variableness or shadow of turning. 4 ' Next passing along an intervening distance of 137 THE PIONEERS OF LNADILLA. some forty rods there was a house in which David Scott and family resided. "Next was a building adjoining the west line of the house, lot and premises of Samuel North, in which Deacon John Eells carried on the business of shoe making. "Next was the wagon shop and manufactory, of Horace and Sheldon Griswold, since made into a dwelling and now the residence and property of Mrs. Isaac Crandall. "Next was the cabinet shop of Wm. Wilmot still standing, but changed to a tenant house. "Next was the residence of Wm. Wilmot and family consisting of himself, wife, three daughters and one son. The residence is now occupied by the survivors of the family, one daughter and the widow of Daniel. "Next was the residence of Deacon John Eells and family, which he abandoned a little later to occupy the brick house he had built and in which his son-in-law E. C. Belknap and family now live. "Next was an old house occupied by Luke Wash- burn, jr., which served the double purpose of a residence and a shop in which he manufactured chairs. It is the locality on which now stands the residence of Mrs. Henry Briggs. "Next on the west part of Mrs. Briggs's lot was a one story building occupied by a man named Hovey, a repairer of watches and clocks, 138 HOUSES STANDING IN 1828. who did business under the then attractive sign of an immense outhanging wooden watch. "Next was the Capt. Uriah Hanford place with a frontage of some forty rods on which standing well back from the road was a red house in which Major Fellows commenced housekeeping. "Next was a diverging road from Main Street, leading from Kilkenny and Rogers Hollow, facing which on the corner west stood a small building in which Niel Robertson carried on the business of saddle and harness making. "Next was the residence of Dr. Nijah Cone and family consisting of himself, wife, son and daugh- ter. The place is now owned and occupied by the widow of his son Lewis G. and his grandson Fred- erick L. "Next was the residence of Daniel and Gilbert Cone, now owned and occupied by James White and family. "Next and last on the north side of the street about forty rods further west was a tenant house of D. & G. Cone, since demolished, in which lived a man named John Hough and his family." Colonel North next describes the south side of Main Street, returning first to the eastern end as before, and then proceeding west as follows : "First came the residence of Judge Abij ah H. Beach and family, consisting of himself, wife, two daughters and one son, and is now the residence of the widow of Oliver Buckley. 139 THE PIONEERS OF UNADILLA. "Next where Miss Jeyes and her brother now reside, was the home of Guido L. Bissell, his wife, two daughters and two sons. The house was built by the accumulated earnings of the two daughters, Betsy and Hannah. "Next was the residence of Capt. Daniel Hayes, his wife and four sons. Within the same inclosure was a shop in which Capt. Hayes worked at the business of making hats. "Next at a distance of several rods further down was the hotel kept hy Joel Bragg, in which he with his wife and their children, four sons and two daughters resided. It was lately the residence of Dr. Evander Odell and family and is now owned by F. 0. Adams. "Next passing along a few rods below stood the shop in which Daniel Castle and Benjamin H. Ayers dealt in furs and manufactured hats. The building since altered into a dwelling, is now owned by Ly- man H. DeForest. "Next was the residence of "Uncle John Bissell" (he was everbody's uncle). "Uncle John," who was a widower, lived here with his son Benjamin and family. The old house was at a later day torn down to make place for the brick mansion now the residence of Dr. Gregory, which was built by Joel Bragg, who at that time owned the farm prop- erty therewith connected. "Next was the residence built for himself by Ros- 140 HOUSES STANDING IN 1828. well Wright, now owned and occupied by Ex- Senator D. P. Loomis and his family. "Next standing on the corner of the road lead- ing to the grist and saw mills of Joel Bragg, was the store of Roswell Wright, occupied by the firm of Wright, Watson & Co., composed of Roswell Wright, Arnold B. Watson and Abiel D. Williams. It is the same building, modernized and now owned by Albert Mallery in which the grocery business is carried on by Heimer & Mallery. " Next, turning down the mill road, there stood, some ten rods from the corner, on the west side of the road, a wood framed blacksmith shop, oc- cupied successively by Turner McCall and Charles Wood. Later this building was abandoned and the more commodious stone building as now used was erected by Levi B. Woodruff in which he con- tinued the business. "Next standing near the present residence of- Hiel Crandall was a house in which lived a very re- spectable colored family of the name of Howell of which the husband and father, Peter, was a trusty man and a recognized favorite. "Next on the opposite side of the road midway between the brook and the sawmill, lived Richard Ferguson, the sawyer, and his wife, in a small, one story plank house long ago demolished. "Next the grist and saw mills stood together at the end of the road which was a Cul de sac ending thereat. 141 THE PIONEERS OF INADILLA. "Next on the corner of Main and Mill Streets op- posite Wright's store, there stood an old house in which lived the family of a man by the name of Robinson who attended to grinding the grain of customers and taking judicious tolls at the grist- mill. "Next was the law office of Henry Ogden, Esq,, occupying the site on which afterwards was built by Rufus Mead the store now standing vacant. The office was moved down near the mills and al- tered into a dwelling. "Next was the residence of Henry Ogden and family, consisting of himself, his mother, his wife, four sons and two daughters, occupying the site of the present Episcopal rectory. "Next was St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, oc- cupying the site on which it now stands, then and for several years afterward, the only church edifice in town. " From the church to the old district school house there were no buildings. "From the school house to the present residence of H. E. Bailey was an open field known as the "Harper lot," on which were no buildings. It was a place of resort for pitching quoits, ball playing, militarv- parades, shows and circus performances. "The residence of Mr. Bailey, referred to in the preceding paragraphs, was built by the Hon. Sher- man Page, and at the time we write of, was the residence of his family, consisting of himself and 142 HOUSES STANDING IN I82S. wife, two sons, three daughters and a niece. Mr. Page was a representative man and a notable figure in public affairs of that time. On the east of the house, close to the street, stood his law office, long since moved off and appropriated to other uses. "Next was the well-kept hotel of James Williams which since its modernization and extensive alter- ation and improvement, now bears the name of the Tingley House. In the now open space, corner of Main and Bridge Streets, stood the hotel barn, in front of which was a commodious open shed for the use of travellers and local patrons of the hotel. On the road leading to the bridge, then as now, spanning the Susquehanna river, a distance of about seventy rods, there were no buildings of any kind. "From the corner of Main and Bridge Streets down to the Edson place, the present residence of W. E. Rifenbark, a distance of over fifty rods, there were no buildings. On the west side of the house, next to the west line of the premises, was the office of Dr. Edson but that has disappeared. "Next was the house that is now the home of William Ingraham and family then occupied by John Bottom and family who afterward moved to Boston and were there known b\' the name of Bottome. ". Next was a small house on the site of the house now belonging to the Rev. Mr. Hayes in which 143 THE PIONEERS OF UNADILLA. lived Melancthon B. Jarvis and his family of which the late Mrs. A. S. Ames was one of the daughters. "Next was the tanning and currying shop of Johnson Wright which, with his house nearby, since demolished or removed, were on the lot and premises on which stands the fine residence of the family of the late John VanCott. 4 'Next was the residence of Deacon Holley Seeley and family and a little further on was his black- smith shop in which he wrought skillfully and in- dustriously at his trade of shoeing horses and fashioning implements of farming for his custo- mers. The family long ago moved away and the house was transported to a location on Martin Brook Street. The old shop fell into disuse and went to decay. "Next was an open space of some forty rods down to the residence of Niel Robertson and family where John Armstrong now lives with his family. " Next was the office of Dr. Nijah Cone near the present gateway entrance to the barnyard of James White. "Next was the cloth dressing and finishing shop of D. and G. Cone who carried on work in that line largely. "Next were the barns of Messrs. Cone who, among their other industries, were quite extensive farmers. "Next and last was a red house in which Elias Mead, his wife and three sons lived. Mr. Mead 144 HOUSES STANDING IN 1828. worked at chair making and house painting. The premises are now owned by Dr. Johnson and his family. "A little further down near Bartholomew's shin- gle mill was the fulling mill of Messrs. Cone." 10 145 XII. THE UNADILLA HUNTING CLUB AND THE JUBILEE OF INDEPENDENCE. 1820--1826. When the century had passed through its first quarter, Unadilla had become a thriving frontier settlement. Affording as it did a terminus for two great highways, the one to Catskill, the other to Ithaca, and with a navigable river giving an out- let to Southern markets for lumber and farm pro- ducts, notable prosperity had been secured. As we have seen, two new bridges had been built across the river, a fine schoolhouse erected, and church societies established. There were thriving stores and hotels, woolen industries, blacksmith, cabinet and wagon shops, a hat factory, lawyers and physicians. In the township the cloth pro- duced in the year 1824 comprised 19,206 j'ards. There were four grist mills, three fulling mills, six carding machines, and one ashery.* On farm lands the number of sheep was 5,044; of cattle, 2,324, and of horses 439. • Earlier in the century the production of pot and pearl ashes had been a large industry. One acre of timber land would produce about two tons of potash. 146 THE MAIN STREET TREES. The population of the village was somewhat less than 300 : in 1827 it was 282, and in that year it was incorporated. It so remained for thirty years when after an interval of more than thirt}', it was incorporated again. Under that early incorpora- tion one-third of the highway tax was applied to the construction of side walks. At the same time, efforts were made in other directions for improve- ments. In the spring of 1828 the large trees that now adorn Main Street, were set out — "by the united work of willing hands, gratuitously ren- dered", said Col. North. The population of the township in 1824 was 2,194, of whom 506 men were farmers and 110 mechanics, in the latter class being embraced the carpenters, masons, blacksmiths, mill operators, etc., the proportion to farmers indicating very promising activity outside mere soil cultivation. Thirteen men were classed as traders, or store- keepers. Six were foreigners, b} r which term seems to have been meant persons not of an English speaking race. Nineteen were free blacks, men who a short time before had doubtless been slaves. Throughout the county the population had grown surprisingly everywhere. By 1820 Otsego counted up 44,800 souls, or nearly as large a population as it has ever had since. On the side of social life for a period ten years later, the next chapter will give interesting glimpses from Henry Noble's journal. The village 147 THE PIONEERS OF UNADILLA. had already become a well known centre for deer hunting. Indeed, its fame in that respect had ex- tended far beyond its borders. Nowhere in the upper valley were deer to be had so plentifully as among these hills. Men came from distant places in the autumn, having formed what they called the Unadilla Hunting Club, of which a charming account has been left us by Levi Beardsley.* Among its members were Sherman Page, Henry Ogden and Dr. Colwell, with professional and other friends of theirs from Oxford, Utica and else- where, among them General Rathbone, Colonel Clapp, Judge Monell, Judge Morris, and John C. Clark. Sherman Page was the Grand Sachem of the club. The meetings extended over four daj^s. After lasting for five years a Legislative enactment in- terfered with them. At each meeting a dinner was given by Judge Page, at which were consumed one or two saddles of venison, Susquehanna pike — then plentiful in the river, and in the capture of which Henry Ogden was an expert, — wine and brandy. The general meeting place was the village inn, on the site of the present Unadilla House, which adjoined Judge Page's home and was called Hunters' Hall. The game mostly sought was deer. From early Indian times this region had been cel- * Mr. Beardsley's home was in Cherry Valley He served several terms as Member of Assembly and State Senator, and at one time presided over the Senate He published his book in 1852, and the charm of its style, no less than its contents, is delightful. 148 JUDGE PAGE'S REMINISCENCES OF HINTING. ebrated as a favorite haunt of these fleet-footed and mild-eyed creatures. In a letter written some years after the meetings ceased, Judge Page said : " We killed twenty-seven deer one week. Among them were twelve large bucks. That week we ran fifty-two well trained hounds. We had thirty-two men who put out the dogs, some in pairs, others singly, and about thirty bloods; some men were on horseback and others on foot ; some watching the points of hills, others at the fords of the river, and always one or more at the Indian Monument. * "Imagine yourself on the high bank at Pomp's Eddy,f the sun just resting over Burnt Hill, Round Top at the south, Poplar Hill at the north [the points of the compass are here obviously reversed] the famous eel weir above and the cave bank below you. A hound breaks forth on Poplar Hill; an- other and still another on Burnt Hill and Round Top. By this time twenty are in hearing. You know not when the dog may come. You hear a * This interesting prehistoric relic stood close to the river road leading to Sidney on the north side of the Susquehanna. The land was I believe part of the so-called " Church farm " that gift of Gouldsborough Banyar to St, Matthew's already referred to. I well remember the pile of stones, but all trace of them has, I think, disappeared. The late William Frey of Sidney told me that when he was a boy living on the Hough farm an Indian one day arrived at the monument and added some stones to the pile— a pile of common field stones this " monument " was, but it might more properly be called a cairn. Asked why he did this, the Indian answered that if the act were not regularly done by one of his tribe, the Great Spirit would ren- der the tribe extinct. Cairns like this were common among the Iroquois and are believed to have been closely associated with their firm faith in a future life. t No longer an eddy, the lailroad embankment having cut it off from the main channel of the river, and thus obliterated it. It was named from a negro called Pompey who formerly had lived there. 149 THE PIONEERS OF UNADILLA. rifle at the cave bank and now another at the eel weir, and perhaps at the haystack and Ouleout. Crack, crack, crack, and still the music of the dogs grows louder and more shrill as they approach. All is expectation and excitement. You are flurried. "At this moment a large buck with antlers erect is seen on the opposite side, making his way directly to you. Pop goes a smooth-bore, and Spickerman, * the poacher, has killed him. Your agitation and excitement cease, for you are angry and wish John Carley was there to lick the rascal. You despair of killing anything,but are not discouraged for another deer will soon be along, and as for Carley he will certainly flog the poacher when he meets him. "The dogs are still in full cry in every direction and your morning's sport has just commenced. Keep your place for another deer will be here; and so it turns out. You have killed him and Carley has found and licked Spickerman, and got away his buck, but has finally restored it at your request after the flogging. " Mr. Beard sley wrote of those times thirty years afterwards : "I have seen nineteen fat bucks and does lying side by side in the ballroom of our hotel at Una- dilla. Even in my sleep and often within the last twelve months I have dreamed of those Unadilla hunts, and the well known cries of the hounds that * This name was well known in Sidney as late as thirty years ajo. 150 MR. BEARDSLEY'S REMINISCENCES. used to traverse those romantic hills. That music has in fact ceased ; the deer are all gone ; the hunts- men have laid by their rifles, and civilization and agricultural improvements have spread over those rugged hills as well as those delightful valleys." On July 4, 1826, the Jubilee of Independence was celebrated with enthusiasm along the valley and on the Turnpike. Toast lists that still survive show with what keen interest the political topics of that time were discussed. The strife of parties and the flow of patriotic speech were as intense in that period as in an}' that since has passed, save perhaps during the Civil War. It was an impor- tant era of expansion and development, in which our new civilization was broadening out into the democratic spirit that has since pervaded it, sup- planting the aristocratic tendencies of public life in earlier times. The presidents who had been in of- fice were Washington, John Adams, Jefferson, Madison and Monroe. In the year of the Jubilee, John Quincy Adams was President. Four j^ears later was to begin the long supremacy of Andrew Jackson, with all that this implied in making the general government what Lincoln afterwards de- clared that it should still be,— a "government of the people, by the people, for the people." In those Jubilee orations were contained valu- able suggestions of the political temper and stress out of which the Jacksonian spirit was to rise into control of the National Administration. Along 151 THE PIONEERS OF UNADILLA. this valley, and in the towns on the Catskill Turn- pike with which Unadilla had the most intimate relations, — more intimate than with settlements on the Susquehanna— these political sentiments were everywhere strong. Among the celebrations was one at Kortright Centre, now a mere handful of scattered farm- houses, but then a thriving village where had gath- ered for the celebration practically all the popula- tion within a radius of perhaps twenty miles. The Turnpike was then in its most flourishing state, with hotels so frequent as often to stand within sight of each other. Along this highway dwelt a homogeneous, though long drawn out, community, ninety miles in length, with its pulse beating as from thethrobbings of one heart, its main interests practically identical from Catskill to Unadilla. The oration spoken at Kortright in that Jubilee cele- bration discloses the prevailing public sentiment of the time. * Of Washington the speaker said : "Endowed by nature with a frame of the great- est strength, which had not been enervated by parental indulgence or a puny education, with a strength and depth of mind to which to find a parallel we may search the records of the world in vain, he seemed from infancy destined to command. *The orator was the father of the late Dr. Gaius L. Halsey of Unadilla — Dr. Gaius Halsey who then practiced medicine in Kortright. These extracts are taken from the oration as printed in the Delaware Gazette of Delhi on July 12th, 1826. In the same paper was printed the news of the death of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams which had occurred sim- ultaneously on the very day when this Jubilee was celebrated. 152 CELEBRATION OF THE JUBSLEE. The inflexibility of his virtues astonished his ene- mies; his coolness and self-possession in the hour of danger pointed to him as the master spirit of the Revolution, peculiarly fitted ' to ride the whirl- wind and direct the storm.' His valor had been tested in the French war, and long will the banks of the Monongahela bear witness to his youthful prudence and courage in saving the remnant of Braddock's defeated army. "On accepting the chief command, his modesty and diffidence betrayed the greatness of his soul. After showing his countrymen the way to conquest and victory he concluded the American war with honor to himself and his compatriots in arms. He resigned his commission into the hands which gave it and retired to his farm to enjoy the sweets of domestic life, and this, too, at a time when an ex- asperated and injured people were ready to confer upon him absolute power. But, preferring the happiness of his country and the approving smiles of his own countrymen to the glittering diadem, he once more endeared himself to the land of his nativity, gaining the paternal appellation of the Father of his County. 11 When it became necessar\- to secure the Federal compact b\^ adopting a proper constitution, fitted to the growing wants of the young and rising re- public, he presided in that august assembly that framed it. He was the first to administer the gov- ernment under its regulations, and for eight suc- 153 THE PIONEERS OF UMADILLA. cessive years, beset with perils and dangers, guided by wisdom, he steered the bark of state into the port of safety. "For all these services and self-denials, what did he ask as a recompense ? The crown had been re- fused when within his grasp. Did he lay his hands upon the national treasury ? No ; he refused pay for the seven years he had spent in arduous service. Did he ask for peculiar privileges for himself and his family ? No ; none of these. He retired sub- limely to the shades of Mount Vernon, there to enjoy the happiness rural life affords, content with the honor of having assisted his countrymen to achieve their independence and establish their lib- erty upon a permanent basis. History furnishes no parallel to this. Compared with Washington, Alexander becomes a selfish destroyer of the human race, Caesar the ambitious votary of power, and Bonaparte the disappointed candidate for universal empire." To the Border Wars of the Revolution, which were still fresh in the memory of many of his auditors, the speaker referred as follows : "The sufferings of many peaceful inhabitants were little inferior to those of actual combatants. Their fields were laid waste and devastated ; their homes burned over their heads; their sons mur- dered upon the paternal hearth; their wives and daughters outraged b}?- a licentious soldiery, and to cap the climax of British butchery, the merciless 154 SURVIVORS OF THE BORDER WARS. savages were let loose on our defenseless frontier settlements and a bounty was given for American scalps. How often were the scattered inhabitants led captive into the howling wilderness ; how often was the murderous tomahawk plunged into the defenseless bosom; how often was the smiling babe torn from its mother's arms and its brains beat out against the wall ! "Alas! the records of those days furnish too many incidents of tragic scenes. How could that nation, which we have been told was the bulwark for that religion taught by the Prince of Peace, authorize such barbarity ? How could that nation, which still wishes to lord itself over our minds and style itself the pattern of refinement, assist in those acts so revolting to human feelings? But such was the fact. If any in this assembly have a doubt of the truth of this assertion, I appeal for confirmation to those whitehaired patriots before me whose eyes I see moisten at the recollection of the tragic scenes. Certainly the curse of an of- fended God must fall upon that people so lost to the feelings of honor and humanity." Of England's direct complicity in the barbari- ties committed during the Border Wars there no longer exists any doubt. Joseph Brant, during his visit to London, in 1775-6, entered into an under- standing with Lord George Germaine, the member of Lord North's cabinet, who had direct charge of the conduct of the war in America, while the cor- 155 THE PIONEERS OF UWDILH. respondence between at least one other member of the Cabinet and the commander of the English army in this country settles beyond all question the complicity of the home government in the employ- ment of Indians during the war. A large mass of testimony also exists .to show that the Indians were not only urged to take part in the war, but were promised immediate pecuniary rewards, were lavishly supplied with presents, and were assured that, however the war might termi- nate, their material condition should be made as good as before. It was not the Indians who were responsible for the most barbarous scenes on the frontier, but the English themselves— Tories who had gone to Canada and come back, of whom the master fiend was Walter N. Butler and a leader scarcely less culpable, his father, John Butler. Brant himself declared, on more than one occasion, and notably at Cherry Valley, that the Tories were "more savage than the savages themselves." How high ran party spirit in 1826 further pas- sages from this oration by nry grandfather will show: "There is one reflection painful to the feelings of every well-wisher of our land. It cannot be de- nied that party spirit has had a baneful influence upon national character. Long must the moralist deplore its effects on the manners and morals of the present age. Why has the hated demon been per- mitted to stalk through our land uncontrolled, em- 156 From " The Old New York Frontier." Courtesy of Charles Scribner's Sons. JOSEPH BRANT— THAYENDANEGEA, Born in 1742, Died in 1807. Prom the Original Painted from Life in London in 1776. PARTY SPIRIT IN 1826. bittering the cup of domestic happiness and poisoning the social intercourse of friends and neighbors? But thanks to the wisdom and en- lightened policy of our late president, James Mon- roe, the administration was shown to be the rep- resentative of a nation and not the instrument of party feeling, and under him we have enjoyed a political calm that is both salutary and refreshing." President Adams, having recommended what is known as the Panama Mission, the speaker re- marked that for this he "had been denounced by the aristocratic slave-holders of the South and a few renegades from the cause of freedom and hu- manity in the North", and then added the follow- ing words on slavery and disunion, subjects which even then had become portentous to men's minds: "These men style themselves patriots and repub- licans. Yet we have been told by the mouth of this faction ( I mean the beardless man of Ro- anoke )* that our Constitution is a falsehood ; that it carries a lie upon the face of it in asserting that men are born free and equal. Our legislative halls have been polluted by hints at the dissolution of the Union. May that tongue cleave to the roof of the mouth that dares to utter such a treacherous sentence, and may that arm be paralyzed that shall be raised to cany the unrighteous threat into execution." In concluding, a few words were addressed by * The celebrated and picturesque John Randolph, 157 THE PIONEERS OF INADILLA. the speaker "to the surviving patriots of the Revo- lution who this day honor us with their presence": "Ye war-worn remnant of that patriotic band who were the stay and defense of your country in the hour of danger, what cause have we not to venerate those silver locks, bleached in the service of your country, those war-worn features the con- sequence of many a painful campaign, and those scars received in defense of American liberty? They are the emblems of merit and the true badges of honor, serving as marks of distinctionby which we are enabled to point you out from among your less fortunate citizens. They are far more honorable than those toys of knighthood so eagerly sought after by the s\ r cophants of monarchical power. "Long will your country respect that valor which shielded her liberty from the attacks of an infuriated foe. May your country still reward you for those services performed a half century ago. Although the liberal intentions of our chief magis- trate have been frustrated toward you for the present by the illiberality of a faction, yet I trust that the da} r is not far distant when you will ac- knowledge that republics are not always ungrate- ful. May the evening of your da3 r s be as happy and serene as its meridian was glorious and hon- orable. Although time has greatly thinned your ranks and each succeeding year makes your num- ber less, your fame will be as durable as the ever- lasting hills of your own dear country." 158 XIII. VILLAGE LIFE SEVENTY YEARS AGO. 1830-1833. A newspaper as already shown, was first es- tablished here about sixty years ago.* For a period earlier than that, no better light could be shed on social and business life than is found in an old journal kept by Henry C. Noble from Novem- ber 1830 to January 1833, now in the possession of Mr. Noble's nephew, Dr. Frederick S. Howard of New York. When he began this journal, Henry Noble was twenty-one years old, serving as a clerk in the store of his father and Isaac Hayes. In company with Frederick T. Hayes, his cousin, he afterwards began business for himself in the old Noble and Hayes store, but died of fever in May 1833. That he was a young man of much promise this journal alone would show. Any one may see that who reads the subjoined passages. While writing the journal its pages seem to have been accessible to his companions including his brother George H., * William Darby, who came from Liberty, Sullivan Co., in about the year l8 2 2 ; had endeavored to estabhsh a paper m Unadilla with an officemth building where Dr. Huntington had had his store; but it lived only a short time - 159 THE PIONEERS OF UNADILLA. and Rufus G. Mead, who occasionally made en- tries some of which were prompted by refreshing boyishness. Here and there were signs of good literary ability, especially on the part of his brother. The following items are taken from the last six months of 1830 : "Dec. 5. Page and Benton party mustered all hands today and sent them all over town to get signers to have Isaac Hayes (the now postmaster) put out of office and C. D. Fellows appointed in his stead. Do not fear for the result of their labors much; think they mean to effect more at town meeting than at Washington. "Dec. 8. Employed considerable part of the day in arranging post office concerns. We have a stage from Catskill every night and one from Ithaca every morning; one from .Albany and one from Cooperstown weekly. The post office spirit is abroad. Everything that has a sound echoes post office. "Dec. 20. Cotillion part}' at night; had Arnold extra music; a very pleasant time. Eat a bowl of oysters and come home. " Dec. 23. Alarmed about two o'clock this morn- ing by the cry of fire. As Fred sallied out the first thing to attract our attention was a bright blaze flashing at intervals towards the heavens. We hasten to the scene of conflagration which was Mr. J. Bragg's sawmill and his stone gristmill. Not anything could be done to save them as they 160 TKE BURNING OP BRAGG'S MILLS. were so far gone before discovered. All the village folks assembled to see the destruction that was going on. Much sympathy was shown as Mr. Bragg is one of the most unfortunate men that ever lived in the tide of time. About four years ago his house was burned. I do not think $8,000 would make good his loss that he has suffered for four years past. " Came home from the fire ; went to bed ; got up at daylight and in the course of the day all of us fixed for the wedding. Christmas eve and Mary Hayes is to be married to Nathaniel Piersol, in the church before such an audience as alwa\ r s attend on Christmas eve. Miss E. B. Page, H. A. Noble and A. Edson were bridesmaids, and Hen, Fred and George groomsmen. All of us started from Isaac Haj'es's house to the church. We soon found ourselves before the altar and the hoty man. The ceremony soon performed and all took a seat in the right hand corner of St. Matthew's exposed to the wonderment of a thousand eyes. Came home and had a merry time. " Dec. 27. It is supposed Mr. Bragg's mills were set on fire — by whom none knows. "Dec. 28. Mr. Bragg is getting out timber to repair his sawmill immediately. They have got a subscription to help him ; which has been signed very liberally." During the first six months of 1831, the record embraces parties, a music school, a stirring town » 161 THE PIONEERS OF INADILLA. meeting, the finding of a boy lost in the woods and the raising of Joel Bragg' s new sawmill : "Jan. 3, 1831. Much is said about clearing the dams out of the Susquehanna. They are to have a great meeting down the river. "Jan. 15. All went to cotillion party in the evening; last one we are to have; eight or ten couples from Franklin, some from Huntsville and Bainbridge ; had a very fine company of ladies, say twenty-five, and about thirty gentlemen; had Pjto to play, a blind boy and Arnold ; danced until about two o'clock. "Jan. 28. All went down to Williams's to music school, the last they have; had some very fine music and all the young folks from the village there ; girls and boys and some old women ; went from there to Dr. Walker's and spent the rest of the evening very pleasantly; got home at twelve. "Feb. 1. Benton's store down town, folks sa} r , is the centre of business. Let them think, for after a close examination we find we have as many me- chanics at the upper side of the schoolhouse as below and more merchants, more law\ r ers, doctors, etc., and much more taxable property, and take a great many more newspapers by one-third. "Feb. 4. We did but little business in the store except we sold a bill of drygoods to T. Allen to amount of $230. "Feb. 19. Bragg raised his sawmill this after- noon. 162 * r lips. The voyage was a ver} r pleasant and uneventful one. We stopped at Kingston on the Island of Ja- 276 AMONG DANGEROUS CHARACTERS. niaica for one day. I went on shore and while sit- ting in a hotel a native seeing me very shabbily dressed — and by the way my clothing aboard the vessel coming down the Pacific was never found ; I suppose I must have thrown it overboard after taking out my gold dust * and placed it where the sailor found it, other passengers had contribu- ting to cover my nakedness — approached and asked me if I did not wish to buy some clothing. That being my object in going ashore I replied in the af- firmative. He offered to take me to a shop and without thinking I started, not even saying a word to Norton who was sitting near b} r . The man led me into several streets and finally through a narrow al- ley into another street where the shop was situated. When he entered that alley the thought struck me, suddenly, that he had evil intentions. Owing to the fact that Kingston was renowned for the disorders committed by its villainous population, f I felt that I was in a dangerous predicament. But it would not do to show fear. My only resort was to put on a bold, unconcerned appearance, keep- ing my eyes open. The alley being narrow I drop- * One of the bags in which he brought home his gold is still preserved at his home in Unadilla. From some of the gold he had two finger rings made. Both are now in Unadilla and one of them since 1850 has been worn by his wife. t Great discontent had long prevailed there and the place was still in a disturbed condition. The liberated slaves be- tween 1833 and 1841, then in a state bordering on revolt, had caused the suspension of cultivation on no fewer than 653 su- gar plantations, besides 456 others where coffee was grown. 277 DR. GAIUS L. HALSEY'S REMINISCENCES. ped behind him and kept behind the rest of the way. I selected my suit and fortunately had loose change enough to pay the bill, but no other money in sight. I think this delayed him in his plan. Soon after we started back he asked me if I was intending to remain ashore that night. I promptly answered that I expected to do so. He then said he would be around at bed time and see that I had a good room. He urged me not to go to bed until he came, which I promised, but before dark I went aboard the vessel, believing I had escaped harm once more. We reached New York on Christmas morning. It was the coldest day I ever experienced. I have no recollection of the temperature of the thermome- ter, but having come direct from the torrid climate into the frigid the contrast was fearful. I stopped at the United States Hotel, still standing in Fulton Street. Here came my first experience in sleeping in a feather bed since leaving home in February pre- vious. Sleep I could not, but rolled from one side to the other in misery— such is the power of habit —and finally got out on the floor with a single The owners of these plantations had abandoned them. A more or less unsettled condition continued to prevail until 1865, when the natives rose in rebellion and shocking atrocities oc- curred. The famous Governor Eyre finally suppressed the up- rising, but through measures so vigorous and severe that he was recalled to England. Jamacia is almost entirely peopled by blacks. They comprise about 87 per cent of the whole. 278 "AS ONE FROM THE DEAD." covering and there slept like a log the balance of the night. Reaching my home in Connecticut the next day, I was received as one from the dead. Friends had had no word from me since my first arrival at Panama. From California not one letter had yet reached them. Thus ends a brief recital of my adventurous gold seeking trip to California. Here I must refer again to the great obligations I shall ever rest un- der to my old friend Capt. Norton. May his days be as long and happy as, were it in my power, I would make them, with the full consciousness that when he goes to his last home, the verdict will be : There was a faithful friend and an honest man. The world in more ways than I have personally known, has been the better for his having been an actor in life's great drama. God bless him. Physically a wreck and in no condition for busi- ness, I made a visit soon after my return to this beautiful village for recuperation and pleasure among old friends. Meeting with a most cordial greeting and many requests to again become a resident, and having nothing in Connecticut to hold me — I had sold my property there before go- ing to California — ; moreover, as is universally the case with those who have spent the whole or a part of life in Unadilla* I still held a high appre- * " One of the meanings assigned to Unadilla by local tradi- tion is " Pleasant Valley." It has also been said to stand for 279 DR. GAIUS L. HALSEY'S REMINISCENCES. ciation of it and so was pleased again to become a resident, being in this appreciation no exception to the familiar rule. some kind of a river. The meaning given by Morgan, our best authority, is " Place of Meeting ", which refers to the junction of the two streams. The word has been spelled in many ways. As in the Fort Stanwix deed we find Tianaderha, so Gideon Hawley in 1753 wrote Teyonadelhough. Richard Smith cites the form Tunaderrah. Other forms are Cheonadilha and Deunadilla, while Unendilla and Unideally are common. Joseph Brant in a letter to Persefer Carr wrote Tunadilla. " All these forms resulted from the white man's efforts to put into writing the word as he heard it pronounced by various In- dian tribes. The form Unadilla comes nearest to the Oneida dialect, which has the charm of greater softness than the oth- ers. Stone is at a loss to understand why the pioneers were not content to accept as final the spelling adopted by an edu- cated Indian like Brant. The present spelling was adopted however when the town was formed. In the Poor Master's book of 1793 the word is written as we write it now. " How long the name had been in use before Hawley used it, is of course, matter of conjecture, but it was the name of a place before it ever was applied to a stream. In 1683 the In- dians called the river ' The Kill which falls into the Susque- hanna.' The stream had obviously at that time received no name. Originally the name was applied not only as now to the Unadilla side of the two rivers, but to lands across them in- cluded in the towns of Sidney and Bainbridge. It was a term for all the territory adjacent to the confluence and now inter- sected by the boundaries of three counties. "The Unadilla river and part of the present town of Una- dilla with perhaps all of it, were Oneida territory. Further east were Mohawk lands The Oneidas are know to have sold lands as far east as Herkimer and Delhi. Evidence, however, which Morgan regards as safe, begins the line of division at a point five miles east of Utica and extends it directly south to Pennsylvania making Unadilla border lands between the two nations. Lands in several parts of Otsego country were sold by the Mohawks but none lay as far west as Unadilla." — From "The Old New York Frontier"; pages 26 and 27. 280 p a < T. W c H - VALUES IN UNADILLA REAL ESTATE. Before returning to Connecticut I bought the old Martin Brook corner property* of Col. A. D. Williams. This was in the spring of 1850. The property then embraced what is now the Joyce furniture store and White store lots. As an evi- dence of the growth of the village and the advance in the value of real estate, let me say I paid Col. Williams $800 for the propert} r , built the office, the same year, and the barn the next. The railroad project was started a few years later and real estate began to boom. I sold the White store lot for $600 and the balance for $3500. The furniture store lot was afterwards sold off and last summer { 1889 ) I re-purchased the balance for more than three times what I had paid Col. Williams for the whole original tract. It is now the most eligible site for a business block, and will undoubtedly be so occupied in the future. When I had again become a resident in 1850, I had and have always since had no disposition to change until the final change — the common lot of all, which I am ready to accept at any time. During the war of the rebellion and just after the battle of Antietamf I was impelled by sympathy * He also formed a partnership with Dr. Joseph Sweet and made arrangements to erect for use as their office the building that for about twenty-five years was occupied as the post office. Postmasters who served out full terms in this building are : Mr. Packard, Henry VanDusen, Frank G. Bolles, Alanson H. Meeker and Milo B. Gregory. fThe battle of Antietam was fought on September 16 and 17th, 1862, bv the Union army under McClellan and the 281 DR. GAIUS L. HALSEY'S REMINISCENCES. for the poor sufferers from that terrible fight to go down to Washington in company with Dr. Joshua J. Sweet and tender my services, gratis. Judge Turner, of Cooperstown, was then acting as Assistant Secretary of war. He procured an order and forwarded us to Frederick, Maryland, for duty in the barracks hospital at that place. I spent two weeks in charge of a ward where were twenty or more poor fellows suffering every imaginable form of wounds. I saw in that time all the horrors of war that I cared to see. * Confederates under Lee. More than 100,000 men were engaged. As a result of the battle Lee withdrew from Mary- land soil to Virginia and Lincoln, in accordance with his promise in the event of such a result, five days later issued the proclamation abolishing slavery A short distance from the scene of the battle lies the city of Frederick, to which many of McClellan's 9,416 wounded men were conveyed. * In many of the battles of the war Unadilla had represen- tatives — notably in those fought in the eastern part of the field of conflict. Records already printed show that about 200 men enlisted in Unadilla. Below are some of the battles in which they fought with the names of many of the men : At South Mountain, Sept. 1862: Henry B. Crooker, William J. Place, William T. Smyth, Marshall A. Grannis and Laurence A. Bartholomew. At Antietam, Sept. 1862: Charles York, William J. Place, Laurence A. Bartholomew, Henry B. Crooker, Marshall A. Grannis, William T. Smyth, Alonzo Olds, Milo Olds and George Hawks. At Fredericksburg, Dec. 1862: Henry B Crooker, George B. Jordan, William T. Smyth, Marshall A. Grannis, Milo Olds, Alonzo Olds, Morris Shaw, Laurence A. Bartholomew, Lewis S. Nichols, Charles York, and William J. Place. At Petersburgh, May 1864: William J. Place, Henry B. 282 INADILLA MEN IN THE CIVIL WAR. [ Dr. Halsey was asked to write a chapter giving his experience in the hospitals at Frederick. He could not. be induced to do so. The entire war topic was repugnant to him. "I always feel," he said in 1890, "like using an oath whenever the subject is brought up." He never could believe that real necessity for the war was compatible with public intelligence. He felt fortified in this view by Crooker, Alonzo Olds, James T. Wilkins, M. R. Vandervoort, George H. Johnson, Wesley A. Vandervoort, James Webb, and Leonard L. Butler ( killed ). In Burnside's Expedition, Jan. 1862: Marshall A. Grannis and George B. Jordan. At Chancellorsville, May 1863: Frederick Albright, Alonzo Olds, Milo Olds, Alvin Clyde, ( he met his death there ) John M. Smythe ( also killed there ) Morris Shaw, William H. Crane, Charles York, and Laurence A. Bartholomew. At Spottsylvania, May 1864: Richard Slade, Edmund Nichols, Alonzo Olds, Morris Shaw, David Nichols, Charles York and Laurence A Bartholomew. In the Seven Days Fight, July 1862: James Richardson and Thomas T. Webb. At Malvern Hill, July 1862: Edward Carmichael who was made prisoner and spent four weeks in Belle Isle Prison. At Yorktown, May 1862: Robert S. Balestier and Thomas T. Webb In the Wilderness, May 1864: Morris Shaw, Alonzo Olds, Erastus S. Hawks, Alfred C. Bartholomew, (killed) Bradford J. D. Fox (killed) Charles York and Laurence A Bartholomew. At Winchester, Sept 1864: Alonzo Olds, Peter Rogers, Philip M. Spencer, Charles York and Laurence A. Bartholo- mew. At Lee's Surrender, April, 1865; were present Morris Shaw, George H. Johnson, Alonzo Olds and Marshall A. Grannis. Besides these battles the town was represented at Cold Har- 283 OR. GAIUS L. HALSEY'S REMINISCENCES. the success with which he had seen slavery peace- fully abolished elsewhere in the world. England had abolished it in her own colonies long before our Civil War and without loss of blood. In Russia millions of slaves were freed without war and the same result had been achieved without domestic conflict in Brazil. One of these countries was ruled by an autocrat and two of the three comprise in part scarcely more than semi-civilized people and bor by George H. Johnson; at Bermuda Hundred by George H. Johnson, Marshall A. Grannis, and William J. Place; at Rappahannock Station by Charles York and Laurence A. Bar- tholomew; at Cedar Creek by George R. Wheeler; at Drury's Bluff by Hen-y B.Crooker and Marshall A. Grannis; at Honey Hill and Bull's Neck by Peter Weidman and Jacob F. Weid- man. At Salisbury Prison the town was represented by M. R. Van- dervoort and W. A. Vandervoort, and by James Webb who died there, and at Libby Prison by James Richardson. Henry J. Halstead was a Sargeant under Generals Stone, Banks, Burnside and Butler. George L. Fiske was an orderly to General Warren. At Fair Oaks George S. Joyce was pro- moted to be an orderly and at Gettysburgh he became a first Lieutenant. Frank G. Bolles served in the war as a Second Lieutenant. Another soldier from Unadilla was Charles C. Siver after whom the Grand Army Post was named. Mr. Siver became a prominent business man in UnadiUa as the partner of Thomas G. North. He died all too soon. His father was David Siver who long survived him, dying in May, 1890, after having lived here since i860. He was held in much esteem. He had come from Montgomery County and settled in Sidney about 1845, where at one time he was a merchant and at another a farmer. Other sons besides Charles came with him to Unadilla and their industry contributed notably to the welfare of the village. 284 EMANCIPATION WITHOUT CIVIL WAR. yet they effected great economic revolutions by means entirely peaceful. Nor could he forget that slavery in the northern States had been abolished without war. He knew that this was not due to higher moral sense on the part of the northern people, but to causes purely economic. Slavery in the North did not pay and hence it was abolished. He believed this would ul- timately have been the result in the South, a view which the tremendous changes wrought in agricul- tural labor by machinery since the war has steadily tended to confirm in many thoughtful minds. When the war afterwards became a war to save the Union, and the Emancipation Proclamation had eliminated slavery from the issue, he knew how entirety the situation and the motives for the war had changed ; but never to his last day did he fail to regard the war, in its immediate origin, as a public iniquity in which extremists at the North and South alike had dyed their hands in innocent blood. He knew that secession sentiments were not exclusively the property of South Carolina and Mississippi and that Abolitionists at the North, who have since been held in great honor and almost made national heroes, openly advocated it, long before the Southern leaders fled to it as a desperate resort.*] * In politics he was a Democrat. Before the war he was su- pervisor of the town and was a delegate afterwards to a State Convention at Rochester which nominated a governor and 285 DR. GAIIS L. HALSEY'S REMINISCENCES. In 1865 I became interested with a partner in the first drug store * opened in the village, which finally came into my hands alone and made neces- sary my withdrawing from the active practice of my profession. Failing health at last compelled me to dispose of the drug store in the spring of 1888. Thus briefly have I reviewed nry personal history in the past half century. Notwithstanding its length it has occupied much more time than I ex- pected when starting it. Yet, had I included all points of anj r special interest as they passed my mind's eye in panoramic order, perhaps I could have occupied a far larger space. The urgent wish of my children was the first inducement. The pleasure derived from thus reviewing my life in leis- ure moments has been the fullest compensation. If other officers. He was in sympathy with the public measures of Samuel J. Tilden and had some correspondence with him. With Salmon G. Cone and Martin B. Luther he afterwards supported in this region the Labor and Greenback parties and in 1883 was the candidate of those organizations for Comptroller on the State ticket. * This store had been started a few years earlier by Charles N. Hughston. Before that the nearest approach to a drug store in the village probably existed in the building which was so long occupied by the Post Office. At that time it was Dr. Hal- sey's office. On one side of the room was shelving filled with a supply of necessary drugs, and with a counter and drawers. The partnership of 1865 was with Chauncey Slade and con- tinued until January, 1871. Mr. Slade during this period had been postmaster. He now removed to Adams, Jefferson County, but his health failed rapidly and he died in Binghamton in 1872. 286 A LOOK INTO THE FUTURE. readers have been in any like proportion gratified, this truly has been an additional as well as unex- pected pleasure. I cannot refrain from attempting as a final ad- dendum a look into the probable and possible de- velopments of the next fifty years. While I am neither a prophet nor a son of a prophet, yet in view of what the past fifty years have brought out in utilizing and subjecting the primary ele- ments to the practical benefit of mankind, I have no hesitation in placing myself on record as antici- pating as great or greater achievements in the same direction. Who would have called a man sane fifty years ago that should have sincerely said we would ever talk with another living thousands of miles away ? or that one's voice could be stirred up and again given to another's auditory sense years after ? In view of this and other equally incredible de- velopments, how long before the air will be as safely navigable as the earth or water ? It is but a question of time when principles of economy will secure us against extravagant waste of fuel. The earth is fast being gridironed with railroads driven by the consumption of coal, but only a small per cent of the heat evolved is utilized. The other ninety per cent or so is complete waste. Geology says coal will eventually be exhausted and wood is already practically destroyed as fuel. The child is now living who will see heating, 287 DR. GAIUS L. HALSEY'S REMINISCENCES. lighting, washing, cooking, etc., done at central points, and supplies distributed wherever needed. He will also see the fact recognized and generally adopted that Omniscience in creating and develop- ing our wonderful Universe had some loftier, more ennobling object in view than to allow the few to enslave the masses simply for power and gain. God speed the time when the old saying of Robert Burns, "man's inhumanity to man makes count- less thousands mourn" will cease to be true. 288 IX. MY CALIFORNIA DIARY. Feb. 12, 1849--Nov. 11, 1849. [ This diary was brought to light not long after the foregoing Reminiscences had appeared in "The Unadilla Times." Dr. Halsey was urged to include it in the proposed pamphlet, but made no definite reply to the suggestion. It obviously did not occur to him that it would be interesting to others than himself— not even to members of his own family. I do not remember having ever seen it before, or been informed by him of its existence. Written as it was amid the scenes described, the propriety of including it here seems clear. Although he used a pencil, and more than fifty years have passed, the words are still as distinct and legible as when he set them down.] Feb. 12, '49; left Plainville; stormy; staid at New Haven till 16th one o'clock p. m. ; arrived in New York 7 p. m. Left New York Friday 23, at 9 o'clock and 20 minutes ; all sea sick before night. Saturday 24th, table vacant pretty much. Good appetites are few. Wind commenced to blow up from the north- east Saturday night and continued with rain till » 289 DR. GAIUS L. HALSEY'S REMINISCENCES. Sunday 25th at 2 o'clock p. m., when it changed into the south-east and continued a perfect gale Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday till 9 a. m., when it went into the north-east, or rather when we struck the trade winds blowing from the north-east. We are now, Thursday p. m. 1st March tripping it towards Chagres at the rate of 10 knots an hour. Friday 2nd. A beautiful day and going at a nice rate ; warm and balmy. Saturday 3d. A beautiful da}'; we this day crossed the tropic and every man has his coat off; sun comes down hot. Tuesday 4th. Made land this morning 6 o'clock, the Caicas Islands on our right and Turks Island on our left; a beautiful day, thermometer at 10 o'clock stood at summer heat; shirt sleeves and summer vests are out in profusion ; had divine ser- vice on board to-day by a lay, brother ( Mr. Ap- pleton ) of New York, an aged man who with two sons and two nephews are going to California after fortunes. Had occasion to prescribe for two cases to-day on board. Monday 5th. Another fine day; we made the passage to-day between the Islands of Hayti and Cuba; we were not near enough to either to see how they looked except that there was very high land on both. The inauguration of President Taylor was observed by cracking a few bottles of 290 THE TRIP DOWN TO CHAGRES. champagne furnished ns by the generosity of the house of Livingston and Wells of New York. It is getting very hot for us northerners. Wednesday 7th. Another fine day and fine run. We shall make Chagres Friday if everything con- tinues favorable. Thursday 8th. Another fine day and we have made a fine run. Nothing of consequence has oc- curred to-day except an eclipse of the moon this evening. To-morrow we expect to see Chagres, be- ing at 4 o'clock to-day but 130 miles off. Friday 9th. Made Porto Bello this morning and from there to Chagres is thirty miles ; the scenery was magnificent. Arrived off Chagres about noon where we anchored and lay till Saturday noon; had fine sport fishing. Saturday 10th. Towed into harbor this morn- ing by the "Orus." Left Chagres 2 p. m. in the "Orus" which took us 15 miles up the river and then we took canoes. The scenery up the river is be> ond northern conception in point of beauty. The land must be capable of producing unlimitedly. Sunday 11th. Arrived at Gorgona and pitched our tent. The river is literally crammed with nice fish, but cannot be caught with a hook ; am not so favorably impressed with the natives here as at Chagres; they are fast learning dishonesty from the Americans. They all smoke, women and all ; I observed one woman smoking with the lit end in her mouth. 291 DR. GAIUS L. HALSEY'S REMINISCENCES. Monday 12th. Nothing of note to mention ex- cept that we drew our seine and caught a few noble fish ; but there are too many snags to fish safely. Gambling is carried on here by some Americans and several fools have lost all their money and re- turned home. Very hot, thermometer ranging about 100. Tuesday 13th. Five of our company went on to-day with the most of our baggage and the rest of us go when we get ready. Freight is from 6 to 10 dollars per 100 lbs. as you make your bargain. Saturday 17th. Left Gorgona for Panama. Walked to the half way house and put up,— the distance called from 12 to 15 miles. Sunday 18th. Started about 4 o'clock and reached Panama about 12 ; fell in on the way with a company who had a dog, and about two miles from the city it was taken rabid, but the owner would not consent to have it shot till it had treed us all. The city is a very ancient looking place, the buildings being constructed of stone, the old Spanish style with tiled roofs and surrounded by a wall of great strength, but time is crumbling it in many places. The inhabitants are a mixture of blacks, Indians and Spaniards— an ignorant inof- fensive people, all Catholics ; the cathedral was a splendid building in its day. All people smoke. May 17th. Left Panama in a bunjo for the Panama steamer lying in the bay and with no lit- tle satisfaction— such in fact as no one but who 292 ALMOST ON THE BREAKERS. has been imprisoned nine weeks in the same place can appreciate. We raised anchor about 12 p. m. and started for Francisco. Friday 18th. We are on our way, all a jolly looking set of fellows. The news received from California and our being set free from a tedious im- prisonment have put a happy look upon all. Saw a whale spouting this morning before getting out of the bay and also sharks. Monday 21st. Nothing of note since last date. Pierce was taken sick to-day. Tuesday 22d. P. is quite sick to-day, but hope he will not be long. We are getting along fine. We were followed to-day by a school of black fish and they attracted great notice jumping out of the water. They followed us several miles. Wednesday 23d. P. is about the same. I fear he will be hard sick. Thursday 24th. Nothing of note. We are on our way finely, having so far beautiful weather. P. is no better ; a hard place to be sick in ; no at- tention being paid to either sick or well. Friday 25th. Many a sick person would give a fortune to be insured as delightful weather for a sea voyage. P. is about the same, his fever not quite as high as it has been. Saturday 26th. We last night came very near being lost in the breakers. Our "look out" fell asleep and the first we knew we were aroused by the noise of the breakers, they being not more than 293 DR. GAIIS L. HALSEY'S REMINISCENCES. one and a half miles off and we going 9 or 10 knots. The captain says there is a serious mis- take in the survey of the coast along here as laid down on the chart, for at noon yesterday on tak- ing his observation and looking at his chart, it made us to be 25 miles farther from land than we were which, with the heedless "look out" came very near being our death. We spoke a little schooner this morning bound for California in dis- tress. She was 64- days out from Panama and had lost four men from thirst and 4 others with their small boat who went ashore for water and did not return—for what reason they know not and they already had the scurvy aboard. We supplied them with water and getting three hearty cheers for it we parted. Poor fellows, I fear they will never reach their destination. A fellow of the name of McGruder, who came with us from New York on the "Abrasia" went aboard of her as mate and was one of the four who went ashore and did not return. Sunday 27th. We are passing the mouth of the Gulf of California to-day and there is a great change in the weather. P. is improving slowly. Monday 28th. We this morning about 5 o'clock made Cape St. Lucas and of course got the first sight of California, showing a range of very high mountains. I began to feel as if I was going to California sure. May my Julia feel as well and happy to-day as I do. God protect her while I am 294 RUNNING A NATIONAL BOUNDARY. absent. P. is doing well. A good man}' of the passengers have their overcoats on — a very unusual sight for the past four months. Tuesday 29th. Nothing of note has occurred to-day. We saw a sail, but so far off as not to dis- tinguish. More overcoats are in good demand. The weather is very cool. P. is about well. We had a very fine view of a whale to-day, being quite near and showing 30 or 40 feet of his length. He threw the water fine. Wednesday 30th. This is the day fixed upon for the United States and Mexican governments to meet at San Diego to commence running the boun- dary line. We have the United States Commis- sioner (Col. Weller*) and suite aboard; we shall not reach San Diego before day after to-morrow ( Friday ) which of course breaks the treaty, the consequences of which we shall see. We have had strong head winds all the way from Panama and for the last 24- hours almost a gale because of which we have not made very fast time. We had another fine view of a whale to-day, being in the midst of -John B. Weller was a member of Congress from Ohio from 1839 to 1845; became Lieutenant Colonel of an Ohio regiment in the Mexican war and succeeded to its command on the death of its Colonel at Monterey. When Dr. Halsey met him he had been recently appointed commissioner to Mexico under the treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo. He afterwards became a citizen of California and in 1851 was elected United States Senator. Subsequently he was elected Governor of California and in i860 was appointed United States Minister to Mexico. He died in New Orleans in 1875. 295 DR. GAIIS L. HALSEY'S REMINISCENCES. a school of them spouting in every direction and our course right along side one, within I should think 50 feet of the vessel. It was a grand sight when he came to the surface throwing the cloud of spray and showing 40 or 50 feet of his length. Thursday 31st. We are plodding along and shall probably reach San Diego to-morrow. Saw plenty of whale to-day. Had the laugh on 4 or 5 of the passengers who were in the habit of hook- ing from the galley. The cook baked a pie con- taining tartar emetic. They stole it and of course had occasion to cast up their accounts. Friday, June 1st. We made San Diego to-day before it was noon and landed Colonel Weller and party, during which stay one of our crew ran away. We left about 2 p. m. again and hope to reach Francisco Sunday night. Saturday 2nd. We found this morning that we were short of coal, but after looking about discov- ered several tons which we knew nothing of— a cul- pable neglect of the chief engineer, I should think. With prudence and using spars and other loose stuff about the vessel we hope to reach Francisco. We have had strong head winds to-day and made Point Conception about 2 o'clock, where it always blows a gale, but we weathered it. The coast about the Point presents a beautiful prospect of table land and high mountains in the rear. There is but little vegetation — no trees except occasion- 296 FROM SAN FRANCISCO TO SACRAMENTO. ally a cluster with patches of grass. The plains are covered with herds of wild cattle. Sunday 3d. We have had to give up our berths to make fuel for the engine. With the aid of them we hope to reach Francisco by 2 o'clock to-night. We have seen any quantity of whale to-day. Monday 4th. We arrived at Francisco about 6 this morning after burning every thing loose about the vessel. The bay is a splendid one and the en- trance puts me in mind of New York. The tide was going out and there was a terrible commotion of the water. The town is a small place yet but alive with persons. We are not discouraged about "the diggings ' ' from what we hear. This is the wind- iest place I ever saw — worse than Unadilla Centre. We pitched our tents and remained here until Saturday 9th, when we left for the diggings in- tending to remain at Sacramento City a few days. We left Francisco about 5 o'clock and sailed up the bay about 30 miles and cast anchor for the night. For what reason I know not, but on endeavoring to raise the anchor on Sunday 10th morning, we could not do it and were obliged to cut the chain and go on. Monday 11th. We had a dead calm to-day and only made five miles. Tuesday 12th. We passed a very uncomfortable night last night. It rained all night and we all were wet through and, to add to our discomfort, the calm has continued all day and our provisions are 297 DR. GAIUS L. HALSEY'S REMINISCENCES. getting low. "I'm going to Sacramento with my banjo on my knee." I can realize that song now. Wednesday 13th. The calm still continues and we have been trying to warp up, but haven't made but a mile or two. I know not what we shall do, for starvation is staring us in the face. Hurrah ! our agent went ashore this morning and walked to a small ranch and bought a small piece, 2 or 3 pounds; gave two dollars for it which will pre- vent our starving a day or two longer. What makes our situation more horrible are the clouds of mosquitoes. I never saw mosquitoes before so large and you cannot get away from them ; every man's face and hands look like puff balls. Thursday 14th. The wind has served us very well to-day — at least until about three p. m., when we came into a bend in the river, when it was ahead and we had to warp again. But just before we had got through the bend the wiud caught us and away we went down stream, losing all we had gained and brought up at a tree on the opposite side of the river where we tied up for the night and I went ashore with my blankets and slept under a splendid oak tree — the first good night's rest I have had on the trip. Friday 15th. By warping this morning a short distance we succeeded in getting the wind in our favor and we finally have reached our destination, Sacramento City, composed of two framed build- ings and some 200 cloth ones and tents. The news 298 ON TO THE GOLD DIGGINGS. we get here is as good as I looked for, but all of our baggage is a dead weight pretty much, as it will cost us more to get it to the mines ( 50 dollars a hundred ) than it is worth and they ask 4 dollars a barrel per month for storing. We shall sell what we can and leave the rest. Tuesday 19th. Five of us started to-day for the Middle Fork of the American river the balance re- maining at Sacramento City. We travelled four miles and camped for the night under a splendid oak tree and we were well serenaded by a pack of prairie wolves. Wednesday 20th. We have had a day's walk in a broiling sun through an oak opening as level as a floor and have travelled 20 miles where there is no water. We met a man who showed us a lump of gold weighing 49 ounces, taken out a few days since. We have 25 miles to make to- morrow to reach Sutter's Mill, and I dread it for my feet are both blistered. Thursday 21st. We have only made 15 miles to- day over a hilly road and have had fine sport shoot- ing game along the road. The country is full of wild animals, particularly wolves. We saw four this morning within 40 rods of each other. I sup- pose they were after a deer which was near them. Friday 22d. We reached Sutter's Mill ( Coloma) about one o'clock to-day and found it like the other towns, a lively place of cloth houses and the hot- test place I ever saw. I think the thermometer 299 DR. GAIUS L. HALSEY'S REMINISCENCES. stands to-day 130° in the shade. I thought Pana- ma was hot but this is ahead of it. We were dis- turbed last night between 11 and 12 by a person we took to be an Indian and we thought best to keep watch the balance of the night, each one to take his turn for an hour, but we had no further trouble. Saturday 23d. We have been out to try our washer to-day and have washed out about 8 doll- ars—very good for raw hands, I think. Monday 25th. We have been out to-day again and had better luck, having got 34 pwts. and 3 grains. Thursday 26th. Started for the Middle Fork and arrived on Thursday 28th; nothing occurring on the road worthy of note. One of our company went out with his pan and was gone about three hours and brought back 9 pwts. 11 grains of gold. I thought I had seen a wild, desolate region before, but it was a mistake. Here we are hemmed in by tower- ing mountains, the thermometer from 100° up- wards and snow in sight. Friday 29th. We have been at work to-day, at least three of us, and have done very well ; made 7 ounces, 8 pwts. and 18 grains. There is gold enough here but it requires very hard labor to get it. Saturday 30th. We have done well indeed to- 300 HOMEWARD BOUND. day, having dug, three of us, 11 ozs. 16 pwts. and 18 grains. October 26th. We left the mines about the 1st of October and I made my way down to San Francisco where it was my intention of wintering, but there are more of my profession than patients and I shall make my way home as fast as possible. Thursday 1st November. We left San Francisco to-day at 1 o'clock p. m. and made the port of Monterey the following day about 1 p. m. from which port we sailed about 4 p.m. and have had a rain storm since and it still ( Saturday 3rd ) con- tinues to rain. Sunday 4th. The rain ceased about 10 last evening when it cleared away and the wind changed into the north-west. We spread our sails and we are now speeding away by the united aid of wind and steam, but with nothing to relieve the aggra- vating ennui of a sea voyage except the western coast of California and Mexico which being a dreary, barren waste, gives but little relief. How- ever, the cheering thought that I am on my way and with good fortune shall soon find dear friends and more than these my own Julia, makes my heart leap for jo}'. God speed the vessel. Monday 5th. We made the port of San Diego last evening where we had to take in a new supply of coal which detained us till this evening. Our next port is Mazatlan. 301 DR. GAIUS L. HALSEY'S REMINISCENCES. Tuesday 6th. Nothing of note except fine weather and we are getting into a warmer climate. Wednesday 7th. I have had to witness a scene to-day which I hope never to be obliged to see again —a burial at sea. The earthly remains of an only son, the pride of doting parents in New York, were committed to the mighty deep— a horrible sight to me. God grant that I may be allowed to get back to mother earth when I die, let that be where it will, among friends or foe ; I care but little ; but give me a tenement in the bosom of earth. Saturday 13th. We made the port of Mazatlan* about 10 a. m. where passengers were to be allowed to go ashore and some had left in the small boats when a British naval officer came aboard and brought the news of the cholera being ashore and of course we were not permitted to leave. Sunday 11th. We made the port of San Bias about 10 a. m. but did not remain long. [Here the diary abruptly ends. Three day's later the ship must have reached Acapulco, on leaving which point Dr. Halsey became dangerously ill of fever and for nine daj r s was unconscious, as de- scribed by him in a previous chapter. During the remainder of the voyage home he was never able * Mazatlan lies at the entrance to the Gulf of California and had a population in 1891 of 12,700. Many of the houses are built in the old Castilian style. Mazatlan has lost something of its importance in late years since the Pacific railroads were built. Important silver mines exist near the place. In 1873 they were valued at #2,000,000. 302 A LAST SCENE. to complete these notes of his trip. When again he took up the unfinished task, more than forty years had passed over his head and when he finally com- pleted it he had reached almost the end of his al- lotted days.] EDITORIAL NOTE— ILLNESS AND DEATH. After the attack of Chagres fever Dr. Halsey continued through life a man in robust health. The only subsequent illness he ever had was the last. He wrote as follows in a letter of January, 1886: "Three years more bring me to seventy years of age. I have good reason for feeling that I may not reach that period, and as time develops the truth of my views I can dispose of my affairs to better advantage than executors could. T am perfectly aware that my right kidney is affected with dis- ease. I have been conscious of it for two years and have kept it measurably in abeyance, but it is gradually making progress. I have lost flesh within that time in very marked degree. I weigh less than 180, whereas I have been up to 212. "I tell you this, not to alarm you, as it is only to be looked for as a final result some time in the future, though serious enough to warn me to put my house in order. I can keep the disease under control for some time probably, and as long as I can do so, prefer to remain in business. I have no fears of death or the future. With my children all fitted for life and well situated, my life work is fin- 303 DR. GAIIS L. HALSEY'S REMINISCENCES. ished and I am ready to yield to the universal de- mand of nature. I feel that I have lived not wholly in vain ; that the world in some small degree may have been benefited. Although conscious that I have not filled the full measure of what might have been, want of training and guidance after I was left an orphan, is in a measure to be charged with the shortcomings. I am thus frank with my boys." After the last chapter of his Reminiscences had appeared in "The Unadilla Times " his health failed alarmingly. He wrote on Jan. 17, 1891 : "I have lost ground in a quite marked way during the last week including the sense of feeling in my right foot. A little exertion exhausts me. To the Post Office and back is about all I can do. 1 feel that my worldly career is nearly ended, though I hope to see the Spring." Three days later he wrote in what is probably his last letter : *' If I lose ground as fast as I have lost it in the past two weeks, my stay here is short. I have my own affairs arranged in as good shape as possible, [he had made his will between the writing of these letters and had writ- ten out his wishes in regard to the funeral ] and am ready to submit to the inevitable at any time." A few days before the end came, he was heard to say: "I am content enough, and yet I could have wished to visit Fred "—a reference to his son Fred- erick A. Halsey, detained at his home in Sher- brooke, Canada, by illness in his own family. His esteemed friend of many years, Dr. Paris Garner 304 "IT SINKS AND I AM READY TO DEPART." Clark, was now in constant attendance, visiting him each day and several times was called in the late hours of the night. During the last week he lost ground with unexpected rapidity, but on Sun- day, February 15th, was able to sit up and dictate some final instructions as to his Reminiscences. The end came on Tuesday the 17th. After a night of peaceful sleep, in the early forenoon of a beauti- ful winter's day, the sky blue and cloudless, the earth white with snow, he passed away as if in a sleep. Among his final words were these : "I am going, going ; but we have had a happy life. God bless you all." The approach of dissolution, which he had noted with professional discernment from week to week and day to day was thus accepted in the spirit in which he had performed the duties of life — without fear and with a manly heart. That serene ending has often reminded me, as in- deed his whole life reminds me, seen now from afar, of some lines by Walter Savage Land or to whom, in temperament and character, he had one or two points of close resemblance : " I strove with none, for none was worth my strife : Nature I loved, and, next to Nature, Art; I warmed both hands before the fire of life; It sinks, and I am readv to depart." The burial services were held at the family resi- dence on the afternoon of Thursday, February 19th, when the Rev. Dr. R. N. Parke read the 20 305 DR. GAIUS L. HALSEY'S REMINISCENCES. twelfth chapter of Ecclesiastes and prayers for the family and others present. Judge Gaius L. Halsey of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., a nephew and namesake of whom he was very fond, delivered an address. The day was cold, clear and still, sun and snow filling the world with light. Because of ice on the side- walks, the procession passed up the centre of the street — a line that reached from the doorway of his home to the old churchyard path. When the mound had been raised up, evergreen boughs were made to cover it. On the following morning the ground was wrapped in a light covering of newly fallen snow from which rose up the large mound, the evergreens concealed beneath the mantle of white. "Let me not mourn for my father; let me do worthily of him; let me walk as blamelessly through this shadow world." 306 INDEX INDEX. Abbey, John, 109 Abel, Seth, 26 Academy, the, 79, 114, Col. North and, 131 Acapulco, city of, 270 Adams, F. O., 140 Adams, Rev. Norman H., 57, and the Anti Rent War, 66, •70; comes to Unadilla,85-86; his grave, 89 137; his mar- riage, 164, 167; his new home, 168, 171; a donation for, 173, 196; popularity of, 207 Adcock, Dariel, 98. Albany and Susquehanna Rail- road, the, 131 Albout, settlement of, 3 Albright, Frederick, 283 Allen, , 99 Allen, Chester K , 1 18 Allen, Ethan, 204 Allen, Marvin C, 1 18 Allen, T , 162 Ameri an River, Middle Fork of, 254-256; mining on, 257 Ames, Mrs. A S., 144 Amsden, Albert T„ 56 Andre, John, 102 Anti- Kent War, the, 65 Antietam, battle of, 281 Arms, Sylvester, 105 Arnold, Abimeleck, 103 Arnold, Benedict, 102 Arnold, Frank B., 128-129 Arnold, Stephen, 22 Atkins, Eldridge, 24.3 Axtell, Aaron, pioneer black- smith, 13; his lands, 15, 32 5° Axtell, Moses, 14 Ayres, Benjamin H., his busi ness, 140; his home, 195, 20 1 ; his family, 202, 208 Bacon, Frank, 56, 194 «*_ Bacon, ^amuel D., his home, 44; creek near his home, 52,75; his father, 101, 206. Bacon, Whiting, 101 Bainbridge. town of, 7, 8, 125 Bailey, Captain, 239, 240 Bailey, Horace E„ 142, 201. Baits, Col. David, supervisor, 44, 45, 49, 52 Baker, Rev. E Folsom, 116 Baker, David, 102 Baker, Horace, 102 Baker, William, 102 Balestier, Robert S., 283 Banyar, Gouldsborough, his patent, 12, 14, 16; gift of farm by to St, Matthew's Church, 88, 149 Baptist Church, the, 91 Bartholomew, George W., 243 Bartholomew, Laurence A., 282, 283, 284 Bartholomew, Alfred C, 283 Barlow, A. J., 39 Bates, Jerome, 56, no Baxter Saw Mill, the, 212 Beach, Henry A., 134 309 INDEX. Beach, Abijah H., 29; his home. 57; his family, 83, 89, 139. 190, 202 Beach, Timothy, the Ouleout settler, 5, 58, 73, 191 Beadle, George E , 39 Beardsley, Levi, his " Remi- • riiscences" 120, 148, 150 Belknap, E. C, his home, 57, 138, 198, 206 Benedict, A. N,, 104 Benedict, Hiel E., 195 Benedict, Hiram, 135 Benjamin, Moses G., 1 12 Bennett, Phineas, 105 Benton, Albert, his store, 60; his home, 61, 85, 93, 137 Benton, Caleb, 54 Benton, Stephen, his purchase of land, 15; and the Cats- kill Turnpike, 53, 60; his grave, 88; a Mason, 89; gives land for a street, 92; his store, 112; his distillery, 137, 160, 162 Benton, Thomas H., 239 Benton & Fellows, 137, 197, 198 Betts, Eliza, 169 Betts, Peter, 15, 60 Betts, Samuel, 99 Bidwell, Jacob, 101 Bidwell, Simeon, 91, 102; his home, 195 Bigelow, David, 104 Billings, Jalleal, 107 Binnekill, the, mills on, 74; origin of 76-77 Birch, Albert G., 107, 109, 250 Birch, Edmund, B., 250 Birch, Jeremiah, 106 Birch, Lyman, 250 Bishop's Hotel, 115 Bissell, Benjamin, 140 Bissell, Betsey, 140 Bissell, family of 19 Bissell, Daniel, his purchase of land, 14; sketch of 16- 18; his hotel, 17; town meetings in house of, 44, 57; his sawmill, 75; sale of his mill, 76, 80; his grave, 89 Bissell, Guido L., his purchase of land, 14; his activities, 18, 21; his home, 55, 60, 68, 140; his grave, 88; builds a bridge, 91, 95, 113 Bissell, Hannah, 19, 140 Bissell, John, his island farm, 57» 75> 7 6 » 93; nis home, 140 Blakely, 181 Boardman, Elijah, 30, 55 Bolles, Capt. Frederick A., 65, 66, 206 Bolles, Frank G., 66, 281, 284 Border Wars, the 3, 4, 100; survivors of, 154, 155 Bostwick, Capt. Amos, 55, 134 Bottom, John, 143 Bottom, Sophia, 90 Boult, Jacob, 26 Bragg, Gen. E S., 79 Bragg, Joel, his mills, 77-80, in, 207; his grave, 89; his orchard, 115; burning of his mills, 160, 161, 162; his hotel, 57, 140, 165, 191, 202; his death, 174, 201 Brant, Joseph, 155 Brant, N. F., 80 Brant, R. M., 196 Brannon, Samuel, 252 310 INDEX. Bristol and California Co., the tlements on, 101-102, 212 243 Browne, Thurston, 53 Briggs, Mrs. H^nry, 138 Bryan, Alexander, 55 Bryan, Fowler P., 55, 89 Bryant, Mrs W. S, 66 Buckley, Daniel, 99 Buckley, Oliver B., 57, 139, 202 Burdick, Jonathan, 102 Buchanan, James, 130 Buell, Abel, 125 Bushnell, Capt A , 98 Butler, Capt Frank, 215 Butler, John, the Tory, 156 Butler, John, 96, 215 Butler, Leonard L., 283 Butler, Walter N., 156 Butler, Col. William, 103 Bundy, 214 Caicos Islands, 290 California, gold fever in, 222; Dr Halsey's experiences in, 256-266 Camp, Charlotte, 97 Canfield, H. Y. 80 "Captain Horn", 204, 207 Cape St. Lucas, 294 Carpenter, Chester W., 206 Carley, John, 32, 150 Carley, Jonathan, 104 Carmichael, Edward, 24, 210, 283 Carmichael, Lewis, or Luke, 24, 87, 210 Carmichael, William, 210 Carr, 99 Carr, Ilezekiah, 99 Carr, William, 99 Carr's Creek, road to, 49; set- Carr, John, 212 Case, Abel, 26 Castle, Daniel, 98; his home J 35> x 95; his sho P> HO Catskill, 10, 31, 35,47, 48, 146, 152, 183 Catskill Turnpike, the, 7; its construction, 31, ill; stage line on, 121, 146, 160; Fourth of July on, 151-152; early days on, 181, 182 , Catskill and Erie Railroad, the, 164, 168 Chagres, 227, 274, 290 Chapin, William, 101 Cherry Valley, village of, 43, 156 Church, Richard Billings, 181 Church, Simeon, 98 Church, Col. Timothy, 181 Clark, Jehiel, 98 Clark, Dr. Paris Garner, 304 Clapp, Col., 148 Clark, Elizabeth, 71 Clark, James W., 126 Clark, John C, 148 Cleveland, Grover, 80 Cleveland, Nancy, 69 Clyde, Alvin, 283 Cockburn, Sir George, 77 Cole, Thomas, 38 Collins, James. 135 Coloma, town of, 251, 266 Colwell, Dr. John, his grave, 89; sketch of, 119; member of the Unadilla Hunting Club, 148, 168; goes to New York, 172, 173, 191; anecdote of, 208; frolics with, 217-218 Compounce Pond in Con- 311 INDEX necticut, 223 Cone, Dr. Adanijah, his hotel, 58, 112; his coming to Unadilla, 64, 65, 83; his grave. 89; his home, 139; his office, 144, 191, 199, 215 Cone, Col. Daniel, his pur- chase of land, 16, 64; his grave, 89, 93, 118; his home, 139, 198; his shop, 144 Cone, Frederick L., his home, 64, 139; his business, 65, 67, 199 Cone, Gardner, 64, 89 Cone, Gilbert, his purchase of land, 16, 64; his grave, 89, 93,118; his home, 139, 199; his shop, 144 Cone, Julia A., 65 Cone, Lewis G., his home, 64; his business, 65 66 Cone, Salmon G., his resi- dence, 13, 35, 64; sketch of, 67-68; his farm, 107, 286 Condensery, the, 34 Cooper, Fenimore, 193 Cooperstown, village of, 7, 8 Coon, Peter, 98 Cowles, Luthc, 91 Crandall, Hiel, 141 Crandall, 203 Crandall, Mrs. Isaac, 138 Crandall, Laban, 52 Crane, William H., 283 Crane, O. F. W., 198 Cranston, John, 99, 101 Crooker, 95 Crooker, Edmund, 95 Crooker, George, 77 Crooker, Henry B., 282, 283, 284 Crooker, Mrs. IT. B., 213 ; Crooker, Jacob, 77 Crooker, Sampson, his home, 58, 63; his mills, 76-78; builds St. Matthew's Church, 86, 201 Crookerville, settlement of, 92, 94-95, 2I 3 Cruces, 274, 275 Cuba, island of, 290 Curtis, Jeremiah C , no Curtis, J. Delos, 109, 1 10 Curtis, Lysander, 96 Darby, William, 159 " Daisy ", a dog,2i9 Davis, Thomas J., 101 Davis, Peter, 101 Dayton, Henry, 109 De Forest, Abel, 95, 96 DeFotest, Lyman tL, 140, 202 DeForest, AJason, 136 DeLai cey, Bishop, 87 Derrick, William. 99 Dewey, Harper W., 101 Dickens, Charles, 9 Dickinson, Daniel S., 129 Dodge, A. L., 243 Dodge, G. A., 37 "Dr. Bean Pole'', 215 Douglas, Stephen A., 80, 130 Dresser, A. H., 224 Dresser, George W., 243 Duley, M. W., 76, 80 Dwight, Timothy, 54, 58 Edson and Hanford, 198 Edson, Miss A., 161 Edson, Dr. Willis, sketch of, 41; bis office, 143; his home, 200; anecdote of, 218 Edson, Darwin, 41 312 NDEX. Edson, William D., 41 Eells, Horace, his home, 31, 134, 193. *94 Eells, John, 68; sketch of, 70, 71, 90; his home, 138, 198; runs lor supervisor, 163, 171 Eells Tannery, the, 203 Eldridge, Silva, 170 Embargo, the, 34 Emory, William H., 63 Eyre, Governor of Jamaica, 278 Fairfield Medical College, the, 189 Fancher, Seleck H., 122, 193, 216 Farnsworth, L , 98 Ferguson, Richard, 141 Fellows & Sands, 126 Fellows, Major Christopher D., his coming to Unadilla, 61-62; his mills, 95, 126; his store, 137, 139; his home, 198, 206 Fellows, George B., 39 Fellows, John, 62 Fellows, Mead & Finch, 198 Ferris, Eber, 93, 99 Ferry, Elijah, 77 Finch, David, his arrival in Unadilla, 68; sketch of, 71- 72; his grave, 89; his home, 133, 198 Finch, William T., 72, 193, 206 Fisk, Rufus, 96 Fisk, George L., 584 Fitch, Amasa, 15 Fitch, Dr., of Franklin, 189 Fitch, Jonathan, 15; his home, 16 Fitch, William, 15, 45 Fletcher, Parker, 101 Fort Schuyler, 99 Foster's Tavern, 92 Foster, Moses, 105 Foster, Norman D., 104, 106 Fox, Bradford, J. D.. 283 Francis, Major David, 109 Franklin, village of, 54, 125, 189 Frasier, C, 104 Frederick, i\Jd., 282 Freedom Lodge, 89 Fremont, Gen John C, 237 Fremont, Mrs John C, 239 Fuller, Abraham, 104 Gates, Mrs. Calvin, 65 Gates, Isaac, 47 Germaine, Lord George, 155 Gibbs. Dr. E. T.. 189 Gordon, Samuel, 95, 164 Gordon, William, 95 Gorgona, 227, 228, 291 Golden Gate, the, 242 Goldsmith, B. M., 101 Goodrich, Jared, 243 Gould, Jay, 66 Graves, Edward H., 38 Graves, Thomas H., 195 Green, "Bill", 217 Grannis, Marshall, A., 282, 283, 284. Gray, A. P., 68, 70; his home, 198, 200 Gray, Mrs. A. P., 206 Gray, Eliza, 131 Greeley, Horace, 131 Gregory, Caroline, 118 Gregory, Mrs. Curtis, 206 Gregory, Ebenezer, 97 Gregory, H. C, 135 Gregory Hill, 97 21 313 NDEX. Gregory, Jared C, 97, 135 Gregory, Milo B., 57, 61, 122, 197, 281 Gregory, Dr. Nelson B., his home, 57, 79, 140, 201; sketch of, 97 Gregory, Noah, 97 Griffith, Abner, 45, 50, 99 Griswold & Cone, 200 Griswold, Horace, 138, 163, 197 Griswold, Sheldon, his home, 73, 200; his shop, 138, 198 " Grog Shop Creek ", 52 Gulf of California, the, 294 Gwin, William W , 239 H/Vdley, Pkof. James, 190 HaUey, Frederick A., 304 Halsey, Dr. Gaius, of Kort- right, an oration by, 152- 158; his life in Kortright, 181, 183, 184, 186, 152 Halsey, Dr. Gaius L.. of Una- dilla. 56; his grave, 89, 152; his Reminiscences, 177-178; life in Kortright, 179- 189; coming to Unadilla, 191; early life in Unadilla, 193- 221 ; in Panama and Cali- fornia, 222-275; n ' s return to Unadilla, 279-281; Cali- fornia diarv, 288; last ill- ness and death, 302-306 Halsey, Judge Gaius L, of Wilkes-Barre, 305 Halsey, Juliet Carrington, dedication to V; her mar- riage, 220; letters to from the gold diggings, 257, 260 277. 2 94, 3 01 Halsey, Lavantia, 220 Halstead, Henry I., 284 Hampshire Hollow, settle- ment of, 50, 99 IOO Hanford, David, 206 Hanford, John, 203 Hanford, Louisa, 206 Hanford, Khoda, 90 Hanford, Theodore, 26, 64 Hanford,Capt.Uriah, his lands, 13, 26, 90; his home, 139 Hanna, William, 5, 54, 103 Hardy, George W., 63 Harper, Robert, 93 Harrington, Stephen, «;i Hartwick Seminarv, 185 Hawks, George, 282 Hawks, Erastus S., 283 Hawley, Rev. Gideon, 90 Hawley, W. II., 39 Hayes, Rev. , 143,200 Hayes, Augusta, 116 Hayes, Clark I., quoted, 32, 55, 114; sketch of, 116-117; his home, 134, 206 Hayes, Capt Daniel, 140, 202 Hayes, Frederick T., his life in New York, 117; a friend of Henry C. Noble, 159, 160, 161, 166; notes by, 173; his death, 174 Hayes, Isaac, 7; comes to Unadilla, 28, 60; his home, 3°. 55> *34; sketch of, 35- 36, 73. 83,84; his grave, 88, 114, 116; his business, 159, 160, 161, 194, 207 Hayes, Mrs. Isaac, 114 Hayes, Mary, 161 Haves, Jacob, 16, 37, 58, 135 Hayes, Joel M., 37 Hayes, Susan E., 85, 116 Hayes, Thomas, 37, 118 314 NDEX Haynes, John, 99 Hayti, Island of, 290 Heath, George W., 69 Heath, Col. Thomas, 65, 69 Hayden, Elijah, 49 Hemenway, , 99 Hill, Nathaniel, 47 Hine, Dr. Francis W., of Franklin, 189, 199 Hobart, Bishop, 85, 87 Hodges, A'naham, 6, 104 Hodges, Albert T., 80 Hodges, Hezekiah, 6 Hodges, Isaac, 6 Hodges, Peter, 56 Hodges, William T., 6 Hoffman, Harry, 109 Hoffman, John T., 131 Holmes, Abel, 98 Holmes, Amos 98 Hooker. Gen. Joseph, 239 Hough, Col David, 105, 163 Hough, John, 139 Hovey, Benjamin, 49 Hovey, Jesse K., 90 Hovey, Mary, 90 Hovey, Muses, 105 Howard, Dr. Frederick S., 40, 159 Howard, Henry H., 40; his home, 195, 206 Howard, Mrs. Henry H., 135 Howard, Samuel, 40 Howell, Capt. Edward, 88 Howell, Peter, 141 Hubbel I, Lester T., his home, 73,86,89, 115 Huboell's Mills, 47 Hughston, Charles N., 286 Hughs on, James, 5, 32, 88 Hughst >n, Col. Robert S., 41 Hughston, Mrs. Robert S, 206 Hughston, William J., 49, 91 Hull, Margaret, 65 Hunter's Hall. 148 Huntington, Collis P, 25; goes to California, 235, 250 Huntington, Dr. Gurdon, his purchase of land, 14, 18; his store, 20, 136, 159; sketch of, 24-26; town clerk, 44; his home, 15, 24, 3«. 35» 37 5 6 » "3 194,199, 281 Hurlburt, Mrs , , 135 "Indian Monument, the", 105, 149 Ingraham, William, 143 Jamaica, island of, 276-278 Jarvi«, Melancthon B , 73,144 Jennings, Edson S., 39 Jennings, Mrs. Edson S., 206 Jeyes, Miss, 140 Johnson, Dr , , 145 Johrson, George H., 283, 284 Johnson, Sir William, 103 Johnston Settlement, the, 4, 5 Johnston, family of, 6, 103 Johnston, Hugh, 104 Johnston, William, 233 Johnston, Rev. William, 233 Johnston, Witter, 104 Jordan, George B., 282, 283 Joyce, George S., 284 June, Titus, and Angevine, 209 Keats, John, 229 Keeler, Rev. Jimes, 85 Kilkenny, road to, 51, 131,139 Kingsley, Bradford, 85, 118, 197 Kingsley, Erastus, 64; his wife, 65; his grave, 89, 1 14; 315 INDEX sketch of, 117-118; anec- dote of, 119; his hotel,H5, 190, 196, 209, 210 Kirby, Reuben, 21 1 Kirby, Theodora. 211 Kingston, island of Jamaica, 276-278 Kortright Centre, village of, 152, 180-189, 263 Kortright, Laurence, 180 Lamb, , 98 Lamb, Gurdon, 196 Lamb, Lewis, 196 Lamb, Samuel, 101 Lane, Smith, 198 Lansing, family of, 12, 13, 16 Larraway, J. I., 206 Lathrop, Elisha, 50, 99 Lathrop, Levi, 101 Laurens, town of, 43 Lebanon, Conn., Unadilla pioneers from, 5, 15, 16, 17, 24, 125 Lee, Philemon, 109 Lesure, Asa, 101 Lesure, Bethel, 99 Lesure, John, 101 Little, E. S., 39 Livingston, John, 12, 13, 14 Lock, Nathaniel, 48 Loomh, David P., 72, 141, 201 Lord & Bottom, 114 Luther, Elisha, 105 Luther, Martin B , 106, 286 McAuley, Robert F., 185 McAuley, Rev. William, 184- 185 McCall, Turner, 121, 141 McLaurey, Mrs William, 135 McMaster, Capt. David, 104 Mallery, Albert, 141, 201 Mann, Dr. , 200 Marble, Edward, 197 Martin Brook, 6, 20, 74; high water in, 23; road along, 50; and the Binnekill, 76, 203 Martin, Benjamin, 136 Martin, Edward, 136 Martin, Robert H., 136, 166 Martin, Solomon, his lands, 14, 16, 18; arrives in Una- dilla, 20-23; hi s store, 22; as sheriff, 22, 31; town meetings in his house, 44, 48; helps build a road, 49, 5°> 53; his home, 56, 8^; his grave, 88. 113, 136 Martin, Mrs Solomon, 21 Martin, William, 136 Mason, Judge, , 215 Masonic Hall, the, 72, 114, 115,122, 136,195 Massereau, John, 49 Maxwell, James, 96, 98 Mazatlan, 301, 302 Mead, Elias, 144 Mead, Rufus G , 90, 142, 160, 168; anecdote of, 208; in California, 250 Mechanics' Hall, the, 70, 91, 196 Meeker, Alanson H , 281 Merriam, Samuel, 99 Merriam's Sawmill, 52 Merithew, Windsor, 102 Merriman, Theophilus, 101 Methodist Church, the, 91 Miller, Henry L., 126 Mohawk and Hudson Rail- road, 166 Monell, Judge, , 148 Monfort, Garrett, 90 316 NDEX. Monfort, Sarab, 90 Monroe, Thomas, 109 Monterey, 301 Morgan, , 55 Morris, Gen. Jacob, 99 Morris, Judge, , 148 Morse, Bennett W., 211 Mudge, William L., 109 Mulford, Mary A., 220 Musson, Richard, 98 Musson Robert S., 99 Mygatt, Clarissa A , 127 Mygatt, Henry R., 37, 127 Napoleon Bonaparte, 78 Nash, Rev. Daniel, 29, 36, 82, 90 New England, influence of on Unadilla, 10-11 Nichols, Tyrus, 193 Nichols, Lewis S , 282 Nichols, David, 283 Nichols, Edmund, 283 Niles, Joseph, 101 Niles, Samuel, 102, 202 Noble & Emory, 196 Noble & Hayes, 18; their arks, 33-34; their store, 51, 98, 90, in; their distillery, 133, 134, 159, 193, 194 Noble & Howard, 194 Noble, Anna, 30 Noble, Carrington T., 29 Noble, Judge Charles C , 31 ; sketch of, 39, 55, 79, 97, 135; his death, 194; his of- fice, 195 Noble, Mrs. Charles C, tri- bute to, 39, 97, 114; her early home, 166, 206 Noble, Clark, 29 Noble, Cui tis, comes to Uua- dilla, 28; in New Milford, 30; his business, 30-35, 38; his home, 55, 60, 73, 83; his grave, 88, 134, 163 Noble, Edward B , 29 Noble, Elnathan, 29 Noble, Col. George H., 31 ; sketch of, 38, 55, 63; let- ter from, 85, 159, 161 ; com- ments on cholera, 172; his death, 173; his home, 197, 198 Noble, Mrs. George H., 206 Noble, George N., 29 Noble, Miss H. A., 161 Noble, Henry C, 1 17, 147; his diary, 159-174; his death, 173 Noble, Jesse, 133 Noble, John, 29 Noble, John Henry, 29 Noble, Louis LeGrand, 37 Noble, Thomas, 28 Noble, Thomas H., 27 Noble, Whitney P., 27 North & Co., 132 North, Benjamin, 129, 130 North, Robert, 129, 130 North, Samuel, 130 North, Col. Samuel, in the Anti Rent War, 66; grave of 89, 112, 124; sketch of, 129-132; County Clerk, 1 30; Canal Appraiser, 131 ; his account of the village, 133- 145; quoted, 147; goes to New York, 171, 172 North, Samuel S , 24, 132 North, Thomas, 129 North, Thomas G., 129, 131, 284 North, Thomas G., & Co , 132 317 INDEX. Norton, Capt Andrew J., 243, 264, 268, 272, 273; saves Dr Halsey, 274-275, 279 Norton, Rev S. H., 88 Nye, Obel, 104 Odell, Dr. Evander, his home, 44. 140, 146; trustee of the academy, 128; sketch of, 220 Ogden, David, 104 Ogden, Daniel, 104 Ogden, Major, E. A , 166, 171 Ogden, Henry A., his grave, 89; his office, 120; his home, 142, 148; his death, 173 Oghwaga, the Indian village, 69, 178 Old England District, the, 42 " Old New York Frontier, the," 4, 54, 178, 180; extract from 279-280 Olds, Alonzo, 282, 283 Olds, Milo, 282, 283 Onderdonck, Bishop, ,171, 172 Oneonta, town of, 7, 8, 43, 104, 163 Oriskany, battle of, 99 Osborn, John, 203, 204 Otego, town of, 7, 43, 104 . Otsego, county of, 46; forma- tion of, 42, 43; growth of population in, 44, 47, 82, 104, 147 Otsego Lake, early settlement at, 3 Ouleout, the early settlements on, 3, 5, 49, 54, 104, 150, 270, 271 Overheyser, Barrett, 47 Owens, Evan?, 199 Oxford, town of, 49 Packard, Mr. , 281 Page, Miss E B., 161 Page, Jared, 62 Page, Maria, 127 Page, Robert, 63 Page, Sherman, 38; comes to Unadilla, 62, 83, and St. Matthew's church, 84, 86; grave of, 88, 89.92,93,127; his home, 142; and the Hunting Club, 148- 149, 160, 197; his marriage, 240 Page, Vincent, 63; in Califor- nia, 250 Palmer, John, 99 Palmer, Lee, 99 Panama, Dr. Halsey's account 0^227,228-236; his return to, 270-273, 290 Panama Railroad Co., 224 Paper Mill region, the, 3, 1 02- 106 Parke, Rev. Dr. R. N., 305 Parker, Julge, A. J., 131 Parsons, William H., 39 Patterson, Samuel, 99 Peam, Joseph, 53 Perry, Rev. Marcus A., 85 Phelps Horace G., 107 Phelps, Philo L.. 90 Pierce, Isaac, 243, 293, 294 Piersol, Nathaniel, 161 Place, "Elder", 197 Place, Elijah, 96 Place, William J., 282, 284 PlainviUe, Conn., 221, 243, 2 Piatt, Brewster, 77 Pompey, a negro, 149 Pomp's Eddy, 149 318 NDEX. Poplar Hill, 102, 149 Porter, Admiral D D., 239 Porto Bello, 291 Pooler, John, 19, 32 Pooler, S., 163 Post, Abraham, 101 Postmasters of Unadilla, Isaac Hayes, 36, 160; Roswell Wright, 113; Chauncey Slade, 286; Mr Packard, 281 ; Henry VanDusen,28i; Frank G. Holies, 281; A.H. Meeker, 281 Potter, Harvey, 99 Potter, William, 47 Presbyterian Church, the, 58, 90 Price, Nicholas, 136 Priest, Amos, 134, 194 Priest, Mrs Araus, 194 Prindle, Judge, 218 Prindle, Zachariah, 217 Queenstown, battle of, 100 Raitt, George D , printer of this volume, iv; 39 Rathbone, Gen , , 148 Reed, Phineas, 109 Reynolds, George W., 78 Richardson, James, 283, 284 Rider, Gardner, 21 1 Rifenbark, Adam, 26 Rifenbaik, W. E , 143 Ripley, Benjamin P., 39 Robbins, Ephraim, 101 Robertson, Neil, his purchase of land. 16. 64; his home, 69, 144, 200; his grave, 89; his sh- p, 139 Robertson, Samuel, 206 Rogers Hollow, 96, 139, 203 Robinson, , 142 Rogers, Jabez, 108 Rogers, Joseph. 109 Rogers, Perry P, 166, 108, 1 16 Rogers, Peter, 95, 283 Rogers, Samuel, 107-108 Root, Major C. P., 129 Root, Gen. Erastus, 102, 186 Round Top, 149 Rowley, Capt Seth, 99-100 St Matthew's Church, men buried in churchyard of. 11, 19, 72, 77; organization of, 82-89, 112, 114, J 1 6, 120, 142, 149, 161, 201, 207 Sacramento, city of, 246, 250, 251-253, 255, 266; many physicians in, 267, 297, 298 Sacramento River, 247-250 San Diego, 242, 296 Sand Hill, 90, 99 Sand Hill Creek, 50, 52, 53 Sands, Dr. Andrew J., 126 Sands, Benjimin, 124 Sands, Elizabeth E., 126 Sands, Frederick A., 37, 63; his grave, 89 91; sketch of, 124-127; his home, 197 Sands, J. Fred., 63 127 Sands, Jerome B., 126 Sands, .viarcellus, 126 Sands, Judge Obadiah, 124 Sands' Point, 124 Sands, Dr. William G., 126 Sanders, Joshua C, 126 San Francisco Bay, 242 San Francisco, city of, 244- 246; sudden growth of, 267, 297 Saunders, Benjamin. 93 Saunders, B. G. W., 100 Saunders, Capt Elisha S., 45, 319 INDEX 46, 100 Scott, " Granther ", 109 Scott, David, 138 Scott, Mary, 136 Scott, Seth, 109 Scott, Silas, 109 Scott, W H., 171 Scramling, Henry, 45, 104 Seeley, Holley, 90, 144 Sewell, William H., 120 Seymour, Miss , 126 Seymour, Horatio, 1 31 Shavers' Corners, settlement at, 107 Shaw, iVJ orris, 282 Sherman, Frederick T., 116 Sherwood, , 105 Sidney Centre, settlement at, 94, 101 Sidney, village of, first settled, 3.4 Sinclair, John, 258 Sisson, Aaron, 99 Sisson, Giles, 26 Sisson, John, 45, 99 Siver, David, 284 Siver, Charles C, 284 Skinner, Jesse, 109 Slade, Chauncey, 105, 286 Slade, Dr. , 105 Slade, Michael, 283 Slavin, Mrs , 193 Sliter, Jonas, 26 Smith, Chailes, 250 Smith, Edward, 99 Smith, Edwin J., 121, 200 Smith, Ephraim, ioi, 104 Smith, Israel, 49 Smith, Jarvis, 99 Smith, J seph, 99 Smith, Samuel, 101 Smith Settlement, the, 102 Smith, Sylvester, 100 Smyth, William T., 282 Southington, Conn., 221 Spaulding, Gaius, 101 Spanish Bar, in California, 266 Spaulding, Ira, 121 Spencer, Amos, 107 Spencer, J -nathan, 106 Spencer, Orange, 106 Spencer, Philip M , 283 Spencer, P rter, 107 Spencer, Simeon, 107 " Spencer Street ", 106 Spencer, W D., 93 Sperry, Rev. Lyman, 69-70, 137. 197 Sperry, Watson R., 69 Spickerman, family of, 150 Stark, Jonathan, 106 Stone, LeGrand, 135 Stoyles, Stephen, 104 . Steele, , deputy sheriff, 66 Sternberg farm, the, 73 Sullivan, R. F. f 39 Sumner, Mrs. Harriet Bis- sell, 17, 18, 76 Sutter, Capt. John A., 251, 255 Sutter's Koit, 251 Sutter's Mill, 256, 266, 299 Sweet, CI ester, 212 Sweet, Dr. Joseph, 120, 197, 196,281 Sweet, Dr. Joshua J., 282 Sweet, Marvin P.. 56, 136, 197 Taylor Hannah, 65 Taylor, Lydia, 65 Teller, R. K., 93 113, 218, 201 Thatcher, George, 73 Thatcher, Capt. J-siah, sketch of, 73, 83,84, 85; grave of, 88, 164 320 NDEX Thompson, Elisha, 95 Thompson, Foster, 1 21 Thompson, William J., 72; enlarges St. Matthew's church, 87, 95; as a builder, 115, 128; his home, 136; his marriage, 169, 196, 197 Thornton, Jeremiah, 106 Tingley House, the, 143 Trinity Church, New York, 86 Trumbull, Jonathan, 17 Tulare Swamp, in California, 248 Turk's Island, 290 Unadilla Bank, the, 114 Unadilla, original settlement 3, 43, 103, 280; early town records of, 44-53; as a county seat, 47; upper bridge at, 91; lower bridge at, 92; school at, 93; Ho- ratio Seymours visit to, 131 ; water works of, 131, growth of, 146-147; Hunting Club of, 148; " up-street and down-street ", 163; Fourth ot July at, 164; described in 1840, 193-203; men from in California, 250; men from in Civil War, 282-284; origin of the name, 279-280 Unadilla House, the, 58, 92, 148, 200 Unadilla Centre, 45; Metho dist church, at, 91, 97, 98, 297 Unadilla, county of, 47 Unadilla Hunting Quo, meet- ings of, 148 Unadilla, Neb., 41 Unadilla River, settlement at mouth of, 3, 42 "Unadilla Times, the", edi- tors of, 38, 39, 159; R- S. Musson's article in, 99; Syl- vester Smith's article in,ioi ; Col. North's account of vil- lage in, 133-145; Dr. Hal- sey's reminiscences in, 177— 288 " Unadilla Weekly Courier ",39 United States Hotel in New York, 278 Upton Patent, the, 46 Utter, Julius, 1 10 Van Cott, John, 71, 144, 200 Van Dusen, Henrv, 281 Vandervooit, M. R., 283, 284 Vandervoort, Wesley, 283. 284 Veley, Miss Elizabeth, 202,206 Veley, John, 19 VanDewerker, John, 104 VanVecbten, family of, 12, 13, 14 Walton, William, 130 Walker, Dr. David, 37, 56, 136, 162, 163; his store,i67 Wallace Patent, the, 8; owner of, 12; lots in, 1 2-1 6, 17 Warrener, Wheeler, 197, 203 Washburn. Jr., Luke, 138 Washington, George, 153 Watson & Hayes, 196 Watson & Noble, 196 Watson, Arnold B., 86, 89; sketch of, 113-U4, 115,126; his home, 135, 195, 140; his new home, 170, 203, 207, 208 Watson, Mrs. Arnold B., 206 Watson, E. S., 39 321 INDEX Watson, Henry M., 116 Watson, Julia N., 116 Watson, Sarah A., 116 Watson, Susan H , 116 Watson, William H., 116 Wattles's Ferry, pioneers at, 5, 7, 16, 21; turnpike from, 47, 53> 54» 62; toll bridge at, 109 Wattles, Nathaniel, 5,44, 68, 88 Wattles, Kachel, 68 Wattle>, Sluman, 5; business relations with Solomon Mar- tin, 21-22; builds a road, 48, 49; and the Catskill Turnpike, 53, 58, 108, 125 Wauteghe Creek, the, 43 Webb, James, 283, 284 Webb, Thomas T., 283 Webster, Daniel, 1 1 Wiedman, Jacob F , 284 Weidman, Peter, 75, 284 Weller, John B., 239, 295, 296 Wellman, John, 102 Wells Bridge, 94 Wheaton, Benjamin, 100 Wheeler, Rev. Russell, 29, 85 Wheeler, Eugene R., 284 Wheeler, George R., 284 Wheeler, William, 26 White's Store and Hall. 20, 63, 136, 281 White, James, 58, 64, 139, 144, 199 White, Dr. Joseph, of Cherry Valley, 41, 119, 181 Wilkins, James T, 283 Williams, Col. A. D., 37, 56; his grave, 89, 90, 113, 114; sketch of, 118; his store, 141; made a Colonel, 166, 199; his home, 201; opens a road, 203; his store, 208, 281 Williams, Elizabeth, 118 Williams, Israel, 118 Williams, James, 143 Williams, Thomas, 118 Wilbur, Thomas, 99 Wilmot, Daniel W., 68, 138 Wilmot, Emeline, 206 Wilmot, William, 68, 89, 138 Winans, Walter, 101 Winston, Wellington, 243 Wolcott, George, 134 Wolcott, Harry, 211 Wolcott, Nathaniel, 211 Wood, Charles, 121, 141 Wood, Stephen. 95 Woodruff, He_nry S., 89, 121, 201 Woodruff, Joel, 121 Woodruff, John, 122 Woodruff, L. Bennett, 58, 77; his grave, 89, 114; sketch of, 120, 141; his marriage, 170, 200; his home, 201; anecdote of, 208 Woodruff, Lloyd L., 121, 122, 201 Woodworth, Alvin, 105 Woolsey, Commodore M. T, 164, 195 Wright, Henry, 250; in Cali- fornia, 271-272 Wright, Johnson, 144, 200 Wright, Roswell, his store, 19, 72,112,113,118, 126, 129, 141,272 Wright, Watson & Co., 141 322 INDEX. Yale, Enos, 107 Yates's Ferrv, 47 Yates, Arthur, 63 York, Charles, 282, 283, 284 MM 323 [PUBLISHED IN APRIL I9OI. NOW IN ITS THIRD EDITION.] The Old New York Frontier, YTJ WARS WITH INDIANS AND TORIES. ITS MISSIONARY SCHOOLS. PIONEERS AND LAND TITLES, 1614-I800. By FRANCIS WHITING HALSEY. This volume, by the author of "The Pioneers of Unadilla Village," deals with that territory which for more than a hundred years was the frontier be- tween the white men and the Indians in New York State. The record has never before been printed in a book in its entirety from the first settlement. Even the Revolutionary part, embracing the Bor- der Wars, has not been dealt with in any regularly published history since Stone, Simms, Jay Gould and Campbell wrote their now very scarce volumes fifty and sixty years ago. Meanwhile, a large mass of new material has come to light in State publications, local histories and collections of manuscripts that seem not to have been accessible to any earlier writers. They shed floods of new light on an important subject and comprise about 160 large folio volumes. The author began his researches eleven years ago and completed "The Old New York Frontier" in the summer of 1900 after a personal examination of the Joseph Brant manuscripts in Wisconsin. The Border Wars were integral parts of British campaigns in America. They bore the same, if a less important, relation to the struggle for control of the Hudson Valley that Burgoyne's campaign and Arnold's treason bore. What made them more barbarous, was the unarmed and defenseless state of the settlements attacked. Before the Tory and Indian invasions came to an end, more than 12,000 farms on this frontier had ceased to be cultivated, some hundreds of women had become widows and thousands of children orphans. The volume relates almost wholly to the head- waters of the Susquehanna from Otsego Lake to Old Oghwaga ( Windsor ) and to the valley of the upper Mohawk — a region to which Fenimore Cooper has given enduring interest as containing the home of himself and his father and the scenes of some of his most famous works of fiction. CONTENTS. [divided into 43 chapters.] INTRODUCTION: Why This History? PART I. PART 1 3 Chapters.) Indians and Far Traders (In 3 Chapters.) ( In 5 Chapters.) Land Titles and Pioneers. 1679-1774. PART II. PART IV. (In 7 Chapters.) (In 5 Chapters) Missionaries and the French The Border Wars Begun. War 1650-1774 1776-1777. PART V. (In 5 Chapters.) Overthrow of the Frontier. 1 777-1778. PART VI. (In 4 Chapters.) The Sullivan Expedition. 1779. PART VII. (In 5 Chapters ) Last Years of the War. 1780-1783. PART VIII. (In 8 Chapters.) The Restoration of the Frontier 1782-T800. FOURTEEN FULL PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS Portrait of Joseph Brant Council Rock, Otsego Lake Portrait of Col. Marinus Willett Portrait of Sir Wm. Johnson Fort Oswego Portraits of Four Eminent New York Indians Monument at Oriskany Portrait of Fenimore Cooper Monument at Cherry Valley The Susquehanna at Unadilla Village Portrait of Gen. James Clinton An Iroquois Fort in Central New York Otsego Hall, Cooperstown Confluence of the Susquehan- na and Unadilla Rivers TWO MAPS. The Frontier of New York in the Revolution. Early Land Patents on the Frontier, with dates and owners' names. Charles Scribner's Sons, - Publishers 153-157 Fifth Avenue, New York. 8vo, $2.50 NET. HK197-78 ^ A 1 *<► V ^' < >. MAY ft 98 BBKftEEPER PRESERVATION TECHNOLOGIES. LP. 1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive Cranberry Township, PA 16066 <4s •*& ' .^ 0' < ^«V «> illi liBlHiliKlll] tllKlI Hffifii m gmran m tlugftllfaf t#v huh fflmm Wm lllililll ■■■■■