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PIONEER TIMES 
 
 Onondaga Country 
 
 CAEROLL E. SMITH, LL.D. 
 
 COMPILED BY AND DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY 
 OF HIS FATHER HY 
 
 Chaeles Carroll Smith 
 
 ILLUSTRATED WITH RARE AND ORIGINAL PRINTS 
 OF HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND SCENES 
 
 SYRACUSE, N. Y. 
 
 C. W. BARDEEX, PUBLISHER 
 
 1904 
 
e)(oSc 
 
 LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
 
 Two Copies Received 
 
 MAY 13 1904 
 
 Cooyrleht Entry 
 
 i^Ci^ / 3 - / «i c ^ 
 
 CLASS a XXo. No. 
 COPY B 
 
 (.'orvKioiiT, 1904, BY Harriet E. Sjiith 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 It is a well-known fact that the authentic 
 chronicles of the history of the Onondaga coun- 
 try, as they have existed in permanent form, 
 have been deficient in a marked degree. 
 " Clark's Onondaga ", published a half-century 
 and more ago, always has been the authority 
 on Onondaga's early affairs. Of that esteemed 
 writer's work there can be no criticism. It 
 forms a solid and substantial basis for facts 
 which, but for it, would have been lost to pos- 
 terity. 
 
 With the death of the late Carroll E. Smith 
 there came to this community a loss greater than 
 €an be known at a date so near to the demise of 
 that esteemed man. As years roll by, the real- 
 ization of this fact will become the more keen. 
 OarroU E. Smith, LL.D., was unquestionably 
 the historian of Syracuse and the Onondaga 
 country, and his acknowledged reputation as a 
 writer of facts made his death the more regret- 
 table to the public, for his busy, useful life had 
 not spared to him the time necessary to place 
 before the people in enduring, readily accessible 
 form that accurate knowledge he alone possessed 
 
 (5) ■ . 
 
6 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 of the city and county with whose growth he 
 was so closely and familiarly identified. 
 
 Fortunately many of Carroll E. Smith's notes 
 and manuscripts are available. They remain a 
 valuable legacy to the people, and, to make 
 tangible that heritage, this volume is issued. 
 It is entitled " Pioneer Times in the Onondaga 
 Country ' ' and is a verbatim publication of the 
 papers he prepared. It will be found most in- 
 teresting reading and its worth as a concise nar- 
 ration of important events and incidents of our 
 early history and later growth will be widely 
 recognized. With Carroll E. Smith's "■ Pioneer 
 Times in the Onondaga Country " permanently 
 placed before the public eye, there will be pre- 
 served for all time information essential to the 
 educational enlightenment of every intelligent 
 person, not alone in the city of Syracuse and 
 Onondaga county, but to a considerable extent 
 elsewhere ; for the earliest history of the original 
 country of Onondaga is closely allied to that of 
 this nation. 
 
 It is a pleasure (as it is a duty to the public) 
 to place this valuable work of Carroll E. Smith 
 in such form that it may do for others that 
 which that good man ever strove to accomplish 
 — make people better and wiser. We know he 
 succeeded admirably in this purpose while living 
 and among us. There could be no more fitting 
 
INTRODUCTION 7 
 
 monument to his memory than this, a part of 
 his well- filled mission on earth; and as such it 
 is dedicated with the full measure of belief that 
 it will receive the recognition it merits and fill 
 the niche in the chronicles of Onondaga which, 
 without it, would remain a void in the history of 
 this favored and famous section of the country. 
 These chapters on pioneer times in the Onon- 
 daga country were originally published in the 
 Syracuse Sunday Herald in the year 1899 in a 
 series of twenty-five papers. The work of their 
 preparation, though a matter of laborious re- 
 search, was to Mr. Smith a recreation and a 
 pleasure, for in the later years of his life the 
 trend of his mind and the resourcefulness of 
 his pen were largely in the direction of affairs 
 of local history and his inherent insistence upon 
 accuracy made these articles the more valuable 
 and worthy of preservation. Through their 
 appearance in the Syracuse Herald these papers 
 were assured a wide and intelligent reading at 
 the time of their publication, Mr. Smith's 
 connection with the Herald was a happy one in 
 two respects: The newspaper profited largely 
 through his ability and the scope of his attain- 
 ments, and to the editor and historian there 
 was given a vehicle for the conveyance of his 
 knowledge unequalled in this part of the State 
 of New York. 
 
8 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 The jDurpose of the Pioneer Papers was best 
 summed up in the words of Carroll E. Smith 
 when he wrote: 
 
 " This series of Pioneer Papers, originally in- 
 tended to consist of half a dozen numbers, has 
 extended to twenty-five; and although the sub- 
 jects of interest embraced in the pioneer period 
 are far from exhausted, it is believed by the 
 writer that the principal topics have been 
 touched upon, and largely the interest in the 
 subject expended. The purpose was to make 
 a record of events, incidents, and characters of 
 the pioneer settlements in the Onondaga country, 
 and to bring together for preservation historical 
 accounts which if not now preserved would very 
 soon be lost to historic research. * * * 
 
 " The preparation of these papers has been a 
 work of pleasure. The endeavor was to gather 
 and preserve matters of importance in local his- 
 tory, now accessible but soon to be beyond 
 reach. Although the papers are only a plain 
 record of fact and incident, yet they have served 
 to bring many people into closer touch with the 
 subject and to arouse an interest in its broad 
 field of inquiry. It has been a gratifying sur- 
 prise to discover how well some of the pioneers 
 were personally known to living persons, and 
 also that early affairs are so near to us. * * * 
 Few localities on this continent present as re- 
 
INTRODUCTION 9 
 
 sourceful a historical field, including the aborigi- 
 nal legends and traditions for 300 years, and the 
 religious and colonization propagandism of 150 
 years, followed by the New England settlements 
 in the past century. ' ' 
 
 Mr. Smith, in preparing the Pioneer Papers, 
 made due acknowledgment to Mr. M. W. Han- 
 chett, who survives him, for his collaboiation in 
 the work by the drafting from memory (a rare 
 and exact gift as it exists in Mr. Hauchett) of 
 many of the illustrations accompanying the text 
 of this volume. Fortunate the warm friendship 
 and kindred taste for matters historical wiiich 
 drew these two together, for Mr. Smith's \vork 
 is enhanced in its greatest value through the 
 presentation to the miird's eye by Mr. Han- 
 chett's art of long ago scenes in a manner that 
 makes them almost as real as of to-day. Some 
 of these illustrations are mainly valuable be- 
 cause they identify historical objects in the only 
 way possible at this time. They are the product 
 of an exact memory rather than of the trained 
 hand of an artist. Without them these objects 
 would be obliterated; would remain not even an 
 obscure remembrance to the great body of the 
 readers of these chapters. Far better are they 
 than the fanciful creations of pencil or brush. 
 They round out the descriptions of the historian 
 into realistic views. As such they are given 
 
10 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 and as such, there can be no doubt, they will 
 receive merited appreciation. 
 
 These prefatory lines cannot be more fittingly 
 closed than by quoting from the address of the 
 Hon. Charles E, Fitch, delivered at a memorial 
 meeting of the Onondaga Historical Association, 
 held on the evening of December 4, 1903, in 
 which that able orator and brother Regent of 
 the late Carroll E. Smith paid tribute to his de- 
 parted friend in the following words: 
 
 " I know of no life so intimately associated 
 with the life of Syracuse and Onondaga county 
 — their genesis, their growth, their social ameni- 
 ties, their political conflicts, their memories and 
 their achievements, as that of Carroll Earll Smith. 
 As the span of his life lengthened into its three 
 score and ten, and as, in the review, he saw the 
 forests bow to the fertile acres and village ex- 
 pand into the city, he might well exclaim, ' a 
 great part of which I saw and all of which I 
 was.' '^ * * 
 
 " Toward the last also it was this association 
 that had the full benefit of his prolonged and 
 circumstantial study of local history, of his en- 
 thusiasm which never waned, for collecting the 
 relics and fixing the landmarks of the past. 
 Here too he developed his own faculty of speech. 
 When he died on the 2 1st of August, 1903, he 
 was the dean of Syracuse journahsm, the oracla 
 
INTRODUCTION 11 
 
 of the past, and as said at the beginning, and as 
 many others have said, more completely indenti- 
 fied with the life of the city and county than 
 any other man who has here resided. Let us 
 preserve his memory as he preserved that of 
 others. Let us continue the work that he began. ' ' 
 
 To sum up: " Pioneer Times in the Onondaga 
 Country " links past with present in a manner 
 so understandingly presented as to form practi- 
 cally a text-book of all matter of essential im- 
 jDortance to this historical locality. 
 
 Charles Carroll Smith. 
 
 Syracuse, N. Y, January, 190-I-. 
 
RUIXS OF THE OLD ARSENAL 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 FIRST PAPER 
 
 A Contrast of Civilizations — Early Onondaga 
 County — The First White Settlement — Typical 
 Pioneers — Fascination of Pioneer Life — Perils 
 of the Pioneers — Woman's Work in Early 
 Times — Great Men of that Era. 
 
 SECOND PAPER 
 
 The Church and Its Influence — Teachers, Law- 
 yers and Physicians — Business and Amusements 
 — Some Early Scenes— The First Settlement — 
 Asa Danforth, the Typical Pioneer — Relics of 
 First Settlers. 
 
 THIRD PAPER 
 
 Settlement of the Onondaga Country — Great 
 and Quick Changes — Literature and Science — 
 Popular Education — The Pioneer's Dwelling- 
 Evolution of the Parlor — The Early Ivlihtia— 
 Pastimes on the Court House Green. 
 
 FOURTH PAPER 
 
 The Five Nations in Onondaga — The Hiaw^atha 
 Legend — Characteristics of the Onondagas — 
 Coming of the Onondagas — ^The Onondaga Vil- 
 lages — Religious Colonies — Onondaga Chieftains. 
 
 (13) 
 
14: PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 FIFTH PAPER 
 
 The Valley the Scene of Early Transitions — 
 Ephraim Webster, the Pioneer — Early Onondaga 
 Valley Farms — The Iroquois League — Unrecord- 
 ed Civilizations — Prominent Personalities. 
 
 SIXTH PAPER 
 
 Pompey Hill a Favored Section — A Frontier 
 Station — Pompey 's Origin and Growth — A Revo- 
 lutionary Hero — What Antiquities Evidence — 
 Prehistoric Communities. 
 
 SEVENTH PAPER 
 
 Old Time Dwellings — The Early Groundwork 
 — The First Tavern in the County — Great Mer- 
 chants — Steuben and the First Born — First Salt 
 Manufacture. 
 
 EIGHTH PAPER 
 
 Labors of French Jesuits — Protestant Missions 
 — Prominent Missionaries — Early Settlers Built 
 Churches and Schools — Original Churches in the 
 County. 
 
 NINTH PAPER 
 
 How the Educational Interests of the New 
 Communities were Promoted — The First Acade- 
 my — Onondaga Valley Academy — Syracuse 
 Academy — Other Academies. 
 
 TENTH PAPER 
 
 Oneida Lake's Important Connection with the 
 
CONTENTS 15 
 
 First Settlement of the Onondaga Country — 
 Frenchman's Island — Castorland — Fort Brewer- 
 ton. 
 
 ELEVENTH PAPER 
 
 Jesuit Relations say little of the Salt Springs 
 at Onondaga — The Salt Springs and Eeservation 
 — The Jesuit Wells — Evidences that the Onon- 
 daga Valley was at one time an Inland Sea. 
 
 TWELFTH PAPER 
 
 The Salt Point Blockhouse — Ancient Fortifica- 
 tion Near Green Point — Ancient Works Near 
 Delphi in Pompey — Prehistoric Evidences — 
 Other Early Defences — Antecedent to Syracuse 
 — Johnson's Fort in the Valley — Earliest Onon- 
 daga Villages — The Largest Indian Village. 
 
 THIRTEENTH PAPER 
 
 First Newspaper in the County — Origin of 
 Town Names — Indian Friendliness — Feud of 
 Onondagas and Cayugas — A Child's Death in 
 the New Country — A Famous Family — A Rail- 
 road Village — A Village of Early Times — First 
 Circulating Library — Some Corrections. 
 
 FOURTEENTH PAPER 
 
 Onondaga County Diminished to its Present 
 Area — Treaties with the Indians — Origin of the 
 Onondagas — The Military Tract — The Onondaga 
 Reservation. 
 
16 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 FIFTEENTH PAPER 
 
 Women of the Pioneer Times — County Build- 
 ings — Early Steamboats — Primitive Street 
 Names — An Inhospitable Region — Before the 
 Horses — Homespun Clothing. 
 
 SIXTEENTH PAPER 
 
 Origin of Syracuse — The Early Indian Village 
 —The Future City's Site Indicated— The Wal- 
 ton Tract — Beginning of the Place — Other Early 
 Settlers — The Old Red Mill — Industrial Interests 
 — Purpose of the Promoters — Frequent Changes 
 in Names — Changes in Ownership — The Oldest 
 Structure — Cheney's Recollections — " The Cor- 
 ners " — A Fair Start Gained. 
 
 SEVENTEENTH PAPER 
 
 Joshua Forman Moves to Syracuse — Salt, 
 Canal and Syracuse — Forman's Confidence — 
 Forman' s Career — Value of a Plum Tree — How 
 Syracuse was Named — Map of Syracuse in 1820 
 — Clinton Square — First Syracuse School House 
 — Moseley's Map of Syracuse — First Village 
 Officers— Clinton Square, North Side, 1820 to 
 1826. 
 
 EIGHTEENTH PAPER 
 
 The City's Slow Growth Under Temporary 
 Names — The Founder's Work — The Old Yellow 
 Block — Phinney's Museum — The Old Eagle 
 Tavern — The Early Residence Quarter — North 
 
CONTENTS ! 7 
 
 Side of Genesee Street — First Methodist Church 
 — The Northeast Quarter. 
 
 NINETEENTH PAPER 
 
 Opeoiog of the Canal — Syracuse from 1820 to 
 1830 — The Kaynor (Now Jerry Rescue) Block — 
 The Wieting Block Corner — Early Fire Depart- 
 ment. 
 
 TWENTIETH PAPER 
 
 Nucleus of the Present City — The Raynor 
 Residence Block — Home of Forman, the Foun- 
 der—The Kirk Tavern, 1824— The Globe Hotel 
 and the Malcom Block. 
 
 TWENTY-FIRST PAPER 
 
 The Original Syracuse House — Great Men of 
 the Time Entertained There — Structures on the 
 South Side of Clinton Square, 1824 to 1834 — The 
 First of the Canal Bridges. 
 
 TWENTY-SECOND PAPER 
 
 Salina and Salt Point — Unpropitious Begin- 
 nings — Competition of Salina and Syracuse — 
 Opening of Trade Relations — The Cholera Seas- 
 ons — Early Incidents — The Village of Salina — 
 Geddes as Town and Village. 
 
 TWENTY-THIRD PAPER 
 
 Early and Variable Territorial Conditions — 
 The Old Mill Pond— The Yellow Brook— The 
 Northside Brook — Canal Basins — Harbor Brook 
 — A Wise Foresight and Provision. 
 
18 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONPAGA 
 
 TWENTY-FOURTH PAPER 
 
 Sociability in the Olden Times — Balls, Parties 
 and Other Functions of the Period — Early 
 Teachers of Deportment. 
 
 TWENTY-FIFTH PAPER 
 
 The Courts and the Bar of Onondaga County 
 — Early Courts and Judges — A Brilliant Galaxy 
 — First and Second Court House and Jail — Syra- 
 cuse Made the County Seat — The County Clerk's 
 Office — The Onondaga County Bar — The Early 
 Onondaga Bar — Eemarks in Conclusion, 
 
 i 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Carroll E. Smith Frontispiece 
 
 Ruins of the Old Arsenal 12 
 
 ' ' Westward Ho ! " 23 
 
 Woman's Work in the Good Old Days 33 
 
 Presbyterian Church at Onondaga Valley 40 
 
 Presbyterian Church at the Vallej', Viewed from the Side . . . .43 
 
 Col Comfort Tyler <. 47 
 
 Patty Danforth Wood 49 
 
 Home of Comfort Tyler 53 
 
 Home of Ephraim Webster 57 
 
 Gen. Asa Danforth's House 61 
 
 Os sa-hin-ta (Captain Frost) 65 
 
 So-wah-no-noh (Captain Sam George) 69 
 
 Ta-to-tah, Boy King of the Six Nations 74 
 
 Onondaga Council House 84 
 
 Old Tavern at Onondaga Valley 98 
 
 Presbyterian Church at Onondaga Hill 115 
 
 Old Pompey Academy 124 
 
 Pompey Academy of to-day 128 
 
 Onondaga Valley Academy 131 
 
 The Academy at Sj'racuse 134 
 
 Royal Blockhouse, Oneida Lake 138 
 
 Old Fort Brewerton and Its Surroundings 151 
 
 Blockhouse at Salina, 1792 166 
 
 Old Fort Near Liverpool 168 
 
 Ancient Works Near Delphi 170 
 
 Centennial Medal Onondaga Historical Association 176 
 
 Joshua V. H Clark 180 
 
 Manlius Village and Its Broad Main Street 183 
 
 Original Military Tract 196 
 
 Onondaga Indian Reserv^ation 200 
 
 Onondaga County Poor House 206 
 
 (19) 
 
20 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 The Old Red Mill and Its Surroundings 216 
 
 The Old Red Mill 220 
 
 Syracuse at the Time It Became a City 222 
 
 The Miller's House 225 
 
 Moseley's Map of Syracuse 283 
 
 First Sciiool-house in Syracuse 236 
 
 North Side of Clinton Square, 1820 to 1826 240 
 
 The Old Yellow Block 248 
 
 The Original First M. E Chur h 254 
 
 The Raynor Block (now Jerry Rescue Block) 266 
 
 Wieting Block Corner, 1826-27 269 
 
 The Raynor Residence Block 275 
 
 Residence of Joshua Forman 281 
 
 The Kirk Tavern 285 
 
 The Syracuse House 288 
 
 South Side of Clinton Square, 1824 to 1834 294 
 
 Original Stone Bridge Over the Erie Canal '. 299 
 
 Syracuse in the Wooden Canal Bridge Time 301 
 
 The Village of Salina in 1840 309 
 
 The Mill Pond and Yellow Brook 321 
 
 The North Side Brook 326 
 
 Judge Earll's Office at Onondaga Hill 341 
 
 Court House and Jail at Syracuse, 1830 to 1856 344 
 
 An Earlier Likeness of Carroll E. Smith 356 
 
 Hopper's Glen 384 
 
F='IR©T F'AF=»ER 
 
 " Westward Ho ! " 
 
 Over the great western staircase leading to 
 the House of Eepresentatives at Washington, 
 is the famous painting, Lentze's '• Westward 
 Ho!" Its name indicates its object. It is in 
 part a portrayal of savage conditions, when the 
 aborigines occupied this continent; then the 
 white pioneers appeared upon the scene, and 
 from the settlements on the sea coast their cara- 
 vans moved towards the setting sun in quest 
 of new and fertile lands on which to found their 
 homes and build their prosperity. The opening 
 up to civilization of the continent is the climax. 
 Their are many accessories to these scenes, but 
 the old Connecticut schooner, the long canvas- 
 covered wagon conveying family and belongings, 
 the stove, cooking utensils and household furni- 
 ture, with the family cow and dog, and often a 
 couple of pigs, vividly recalls the daily spectacle 
 seen here sixty years ago, in slow motion into 
 the West, whence the tide of emigration thus 
 laboriously made its way. Like caravans earl- 
 ier came hither and stopped. Then over the 
 great Cayuga bridge their successors kept up the 
 
 (21) 
 
22 
 
 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 procesaioD, first into the Genesee country, then to 
 Ohio and into other inviting fields. Similar cara- 
 vans have crossed the great deserts, with trade 
 and commerce as their object, but these Amer- 
 ican emigrants, with a larger intelligence and a 
 higher purpose than the orientals, went to found 
 new communities and to build upon substantial 
 foundations future states of the American 
 Union. Before the days of the canal and rail- 
 
 w— 
 
 -y. 
 
 i^&!^m. 
 
 ^C" 
 
 -AgJiM^i^Bt" ' iflkk^''.j^^9^^^^^^^^^^^^B 
 
 
 
 
 '• WESTWARD, HO! " 
 
 road, the white caparisoued land-schooneis made 
 an almost continuous pageantry across this state 
 into the West. It was a marvelous pilgrimage, 
 and the results were prodigious in the national 
 history and achievement. Pioneer life in one of 
 its most spectacular foims was illustrated by 
 these migratory expeditions of the earlier settlers. 
 
CIVILIZATIONS CONTRASTED 23 
 
 A Contrast of Civilizations 
 
 John Bach McMaster, in his history of the 
 IDeople of the United States, devotes the opening- 
 chapters to the condition of the inhabitants of 
 the tlien settled portions of the country, and his 
 graphic descriptions aptly apply to the pioneers 
 in this region of country. Beginning with the 
 America of Washington and Adams, through 
 the years, to that in which we live, there is so 
 marked a difference in dress, occupation, amuse- 
 ments and the professional canons as to denote 
 practically distinct civilizations. The changes 
 in manners and morals, the growth of the 
 humane spirit which aljolished punishment for 
 death, reformed the discipline of prisons and 
 jails, destroyed slavery and lessened the miseries 
 of dumb brutes, are the blazed trees mark- 
 ing the wonderful progress of this people. 
 There also has been achieved a long series of 
 mechanical inventions and discoveries which is 
 the admiration of the world and the just pride 
 and boast of this people. A prosperity unparal- 
 leled in the annals of human affairs has sprung 
 up in a single century, and from poverty and 
 weakness this nation has grown to be the richest 
 in the world; agriculture and manufactures 
 flourishing together, free education and a free 
 press disseminating knowledge, arts and sciences 
 advancing, ingenuity exhibiting more wonders 
 
24 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 than any of the alchemists ever dreamed of, and 
 at the close of the century, such a manifestation 
 of armed power on the seas and the land as to 
 place the United States first among the powers 
 of the earth. 
 
 This generalization of a people's advancement 
 in a single century was in like manner displayed 
 wherever the American pioneer pushed his way 
 a hundred years ago, located his home and en- 
 tered upon the career of progress and achieve- 
 ments which has built up communities and 
 made them the equals in all respects of the 
 oldest, best ordered and most advanced any- 
 where existing in the world. This progress has 
 been made in conditions of peace and industry, 
 by a combination of social and political elements 
 which happily have promoted the greatest good 
 of all the people. There was midway of the 
 century settled definitely and forever the ques- 
 tion whether this is a nation and a land of free 
 men. Notwithstanding the costs and losses of 
 the severest civil war in all history, the Amer- 
 ican people have made a moral and social ad- 
 vancement such as the world never before has 
 seen. Were we to be carried back one hundred 
 years, this country, as it then existed, would be 
 utterly new to us. There was less than a third 
 of the present national area, only thirteen states, 
 where now are forty -five, and where now are 
 
LOCATING HOMES 25 
 
 vast stretches of wheat fields, corn fields and 
 orchards, there were dense forests inhabited by 
 savage men and savage beasts, no great cities, 
 none of the inventions which abridge distance 
 and annihilate time, scarcely any labor-saving 
 machinery, and none of the advantages which 
 later came with the introduction of steam and 
 electricity. The inhabitants of the original 
 states were hemmed in on the east by the ocean 
 and on the west by an insidious savage foe and 
 the wilderness. Three and a quarter millions 
 of people constituted the population, which now 
 has grown to seventy millions. Everything in 
 business and social life was on a level with the 
 inchoate and incomplete general situation. 
 
 In that time this Onondaga country marked a 
 part of the frontier line. • It had been the most 
 attractive part of New France, and now it was 
 to be opened to civilization. It was to this beau- 
 tiful region, then in a state of nature, that there 
 came^families from the earlier settled places on 
 the sea-coast to locate their homes. Pioneer 
 life was as thorough in all its aspects here, one 
 hundred years ago, as it ever has been in any 
 locality on this continent. It speedily adapted 
 itself to the favoring conditions which attended 
 the more advanced settlements, and what strictly 
 may be denominated pioneer life continued here 
 for not to exceed a third of a century. The 
 
26 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 growths that have been accomphshed in coun- 
 tries of the old world in a thousand years, were 
 practically surmounted here in a single gener- 
 ation of men. The forests were conquered, the 
 soil brought under cultivation, homes and busi- 
 ness places constru.'ted, and the busy activities 
 of enlightened communities were speedily in 
 operation. 
 
 With the making of settlements there came 
 the minister of the Gospel, the teacher of youth, 
 the physician, artisan, mechanic, farmer and 
 business man. Whoever to-day goes out into 
 the valleys and onto the hillsides of Onondaga 
 county will find all of the evidences of progress, 
 enlightenment and prosperity that are encoun- 
 tered in any of the favored spots of the older 
 civilization. 
 
 Early Onondaa^a County 
 
 Dr. Horatio Gates Spafford, in his valuable 
 publication, " The Gazeteer of the State of 
 New York," published in 1824, speaks of Onon- 
 daga county forty years after its organization 
 as follows: " There is probably no part of the 
 United States whose indigenal history is of such 
 importance as that of Onondaga. Strange as 
 it may seem the early history of that region, 
 which of all others is the most interesting in 
 tracing the progress of improvements and the 
 progressive history of the land of America, will 
 
EARLY HISTORIANS 2< 
 
 only attract the attention it so imperiously 
 demands, in the remote period of future ages. 
 Time, which is so rapidly effacing all the records 
 of memory, increases their interest in perpetual 
 progression. In anticipation of these facts it 
 were nmch to be wished that in the present age 
 some person would collect all that yet remains 
 of the history of Onondaga.*' And again Spaf- 
 ford refers to the people of Onondaga as 
 " soberly industrious " and as " manufacturing 
 most of their common clothing in the house- 
 hold way," 
 
 This was written seventy-five years ago. 
 Twenty-five years after Spafford recorded his 
 impressions of early history, Joshua V. H. Clark 
 became the pioneer of local history. His " On- 
 ondaga ■' was the first and the pattern of such 
 history. He did a great work in preserving 
 early historical data, traditions and legends. 
 While Clark details the essential features of the 
 early attempts to conquer and occupy this region, 
 and narrates the successive stages of subsequent 
 white settlements, yet his portraiture of pioneer 
 life, such as now would be most interesting to 
 us, is scant ; and we could wish that with his 
 facilities, far better half a century ago than at 
 any subsequent time, he had given us pictures 
 of that hfe and the material out of which we 
 might perpetuate the beauties and benefits as 
 
28 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 well as the hardships, privations and sacrifices. 
 It was in that era that the substantial founda- 
 tion of the greatness and power of this people 
 was laid. 
 
 The First White Settlement 
 
 It was in 1786 that Ephraim Webster estab- 
 lished his trading post at the mouth of Onondaga 
 creek. He had one companion at the outset, 
 Benjamin Neukirk, whose death took place in 
 the early months of the settlement. Webster 
 made his way among the Indians and established 
 profitable trading relations with them. He 
 dealt fairly with them and was trusted by them. 
 
 Two years later, in May, 1788, Webster in- 
 duced General Asa Danforth, his son, Asa, jr., 
 and Comfort Tyler to come from communities 
 in the Mohawk Valley, to which they, like him- 
 self, had migrated from New England, to the 
 site of Onondaga Valley, and the landing of this 
 little party at the site of that village was the 
 beginning of the first pioneer settlement in the 
 Onondaga country. These adventurers made 
 their way by the Mohawk river and the streams 
 leading into Oneida lake, on to Onondaga lake, 
 and thence by batteaux up the Onondaga creek 
 to an inviting location in the valley. They 
 were energetic and enterprising men, and the 
 settlement they began, and others springing up 
 about it, constituted the county of Onondaga, 
 
^TYPICAL PIONEERS 29 
 
 which, six years after their coming hither, was 
 organized by state legislation. These three men 
 were genuine pioneers. They were intelligent, 
 well versed in business, and had the enterprise 
 to establish industries, to locate mills and shops, 
 to clear away the forests and to inaugurate a 
 system of highways. They were the builders of 
 the new civilization here. 
 
 Typical Pioneers 
 
 General Danforth, who had been a soldier in 
 the War of the Revolution, was a natural leader 
 of men, and he played a large part in the organ- 
 izing of the communities which constituted the 
 new county. He made relations with the Indi- 
 ans, which preserved their friendship and facili- 
 tated the growth and prosperity of the new set- 
 tlements. His brother and son were useful 
 auxiliaries. With him came a younger man. 
 Comfort Tyler, who was the most brilliant and 
 brainy man of his time in that locality. Tyler 
 promoted needed improvements and his en- 
 gineering ability first opened up the highways 
 which sinco have been the avenues over which 
 millions of people have travelled. We have 
 Tyler's portrait, and his descendants and those 
 of the younger Danforth have had a large part 
 in our local history. While we know of these 
 men's lives and services, we have no adequate 
 account of their personalities or of the ways 
 
30 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 and means by which they promoted the consid- 
 erable enterprises they were engaged in. We do 
 know that their example and precept turned 
 the Onondaga valley into a most charming 
 region, that they utilized the natural resources 
 of the locality to the furtherance of the welfare 
 of organized society, and that they began the 
 conversion of the brine underlying Onondaga 
 lake into the salt that was the foundation of the 
 growth and prosperity of this favored county. 
 
 There were other marked characters of that 
 time. There is in my possession a remarkable 
 document, to wit, the petition to the Legislature 
 of the State of New" York, dated January 1st, 
 1794, just before the county's formation, which 
 contains the signatures of forty of the leading 
 men in Onondaga county at that time, w^ho, 
 joining with equal numbers from the territory 
 constituting Cayuga and Herkimer counties, 
 inaugurated the movement which resulted in 
 the state building the great bridge over Cayuga 
 lake, by which tens of thousands of the people 
 of the East made their way into Western New 
 York and still further on into the Ohio country, 
 and laid the foundation for new states. The 
 roll of these signatures is that of Onondaga's 
 pioneers — the men to whom we owe the basis 
 and the impulse to the magnificent civilization 
 now manifest all about us. Were we to call 
 
ATTRACTIONS OF PIONEER LIFE 31 
 
 that roll we would hear the names most famihar 
 in the accounts of the first years of this county, 
 and of many whose descendants are still promi- 
 nent in public affairs. 
 
 Fiiscinatioii of Pioneer Life 
 
 Pioneer life, wherever encountered, carries 
 attractive phases. It has fascination. It is 
 nearest to nature's domain. It has freedom 
 and latitude, as well as restriction. No story 
 is more interesting than that telling the romance 
 of the pioneers. The first purpose was to choose 
 eligible locations, then a clearing sufficient for 
 the humble cabin was made, and gradually it 
 was enlarged for more extended operations in 
 agriculture and stock raising. The cabin gave 
 place to the more pretentious dwelling, out- 
 buildings were constructed, and finally, a neigh- 
 borhood was created, out of which in time grew 
 a community. 
 
 We can imagine, but cannot fully appreciate, 
 the home of the Danforths, at first lonely 
 enough, but at last, with one woman in it, and 
 she at times for many days alone and unpro- 
 tected excepting by God above when the men 
 were called away. At no time neighbors or 
 companions ; in sickness no physician ; in trouble, 
 no comforter; nowhere the school teacher and 
 the minister of the Gospel. Then began the real 
 life of the orgaijized community. It was crude 
 
32 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 and rough, with hardships and privation, but the 
 home had been made, and in and about it soon 
 were gathered the elements which brought civil- 
 ization, comfort and comparative ease. 
 
 Perils of the Pioneers 
 
 There is a narrative of Webster's peril from 
 Indians, who at one time doubted his fidelity. 
 The tomahawk and knife were raised above 
 his bound body for the death blow, when, im- 
 ploring a last drink of water, it was given him, 
 and when he smilingly drank to the health of 
 his persecutors they relented and bade him live 
 on. When Danforth interposed to stop traders 
 from supplying Indians with firewater, by 
 which their passions were aroused and dreadful 
 crimes committed, the enraged Indians threat- 
 ened his home and family with destruction. 
 A friendly chief's intervention saved them. 
 
 The story told of the coming into Onondaga 
 Valley through unbroken forests and its dangers 
 of the child Patty, daughter of General Dan- 
 forth, the first white child in this region, and 
 afterwards the wife of Thaddeus M. Wood, is a 
 graphic chapter of pioneer experience. The 
 narrative of this young woman's courage and 
 steadfastness when threatened by the Indians 
 showed the spirit of the pioneer and illustrated 
 the qualities of the woman of the period. 
 
 The reader of the recorded history of the 
 
woman's good work 
 
 33 
 
 first century of this county will not fail to ob- 
 serve the scant notice of the part the pioneer 
 woman had in it, and when are considered her 
 relations to affairs, her duties and responsibil- 
 ities in the making of home and society, and 
 in forming conditions that in so short a period 
 developed an advanced civilization, there is 
 wonder why this neglect or oversight occurred. 
 It is for us in this later time to recognize the 
 large part woman had in this remarkable period 
 and to award to the sex the just praise and com- 
 mendation we would gladly render individuals." 
 
 
 Woman's work in good old times is one of the 
 most pleasing reminiscent pictures. It shows 
 
34: PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 grandmother at the spinning wheel and the 
 young^matron at the distaff. These wheels are 
 now curiosities and prized relics. About them 
 cluster fine stories of the olden times. The 
 tales are of days when the pioneers wore home- 
 spun garments, the best and warmest and most 
 comfortable, even if not the handsomest and 
 most shapely. The picture is one that lingers 
 pleasantly in the minds of old men of this day. It 
 is a central feature of the domestic life a hun- 
 dred years ago. Sometimes it is repeated on the 
 stage, but never with the flavor that the original 
 excited' and which is indelibly affixed to it. 
 
 At the Onondaga County Agricultural So- 
 ciety's fair a few years ago a distinguished son 
 of Onondaga was called upon for an address and 
 he readily found an acceptable topic: in the 
 domestic exhibit he had come across the old 
 spinning wheel of his own mother. This was 
 his text, over which he waxed eloquent in recol- 
 lection of his boyhood days as he vividly de- 
 picted to his interested hearers the material, the 
 texture and the make of his first boy's suit, 
 which was the product of the old wheel. He 
 never had donned a suit that so stimulated his 
 pride'as did those home-spun garments. About 
 the old spinning wheel cluster fond memories 
 which not only hve on the painted canvas, but 
 are bright and lasting in men's minds. 
 
LESSONS OF THE EARLY LIFE 35 
 
 Great Men of that Era 
 
 There were great lawyers, great physicians, 
 great merchants and tradesmen, mechanics and 
 builders and farmers in those famous old times. 
 At least the measure of the men of prominence 
 and activity was very large in the eyes of those 
 who were on-lookers of the operations of the 
 times. Surely there were as great and memor- 
 able things done then as at any time since. And 
 those whose memories extend back into the 
 later verge of that epoch will not controvert the 
 opinion that the good old times were the best 
 times. We who are privileged to see and enjoy 
 the wonders of steam and electricity in myriad 
 forms of usefulness, and are able to look back 
 at the era of the stage-coach and the canal- 
 packet, comparing the two, will find recompense 
 in the auld-lang-syne that cannot be equalled by 
 the speed and facility of this rapid epoch. 
 There were as much comfort, pleasure and en- 
 joyment of life in the homes of the scattered 
 settlements in the pioneer days as now are 
 found in modern conditions and improvements. 
 From recent generations, from whose lips the 
 glad story has been heard, we learned to value 
 the lessons of the pioneer life, and to credit them 
 with much of the greatness that since has be- 
 come historic with this people. 
 
©EC5CDNIZ) F^AF'EF^ 
 
 Early Religious Work 
 
 There were familiar characters of the pioneer 
 time who were leaders in the affairs of every- 
 day life and whose methods and practices long 
 since disappeared before modern innovations. 
 The preacher had a distinct individuality .which 
 constituted him a very pope in his parish. He 
 was inclined to be arbitrary, often bigoted, and 
 his three and a half hours' Sunday services, 
 with the seventeenthly application of ^ his ser- 
 mons, were a positive infliction. Soon after the 
 county's organization, religious societies were 
 formed in the several settlements, but the first 
 house of pubhc worship erected in the county 
 was the Church of the Eastern Society of Mar- 
 cellus in 1803, and it was for a time [the only 
 meeting house between New Hartford' and the 
 Pacific ocean. The Rev. Dan Bradley was the 
 pastor. Dr. Caleb Alexander followed him, and 
 later removed to Onondaga Valley, where he 
 entered into the organization of the Onondaga 
 HoUow Rehgious society in 1S09, and in 1813 
 was instrumental in organizing the Onondaga 
 Academy, which was very successful under his 
 
 (36) 
 
EARLY RELIGIOUS WORK 37 
 
 principalship. There was a loug line of minis- 
 ters of the gospel who exercised a powerful in- 
 fluence in molding the early communities. The 
 meeting-house of that time was anything but a 
 cheerful place. Usually it was cold and dreary, 
 stoves not having yet been introduced, nor even 
 the little comfort from the foot-stove, which 
 later became common. 
 
 The Cliurcli and its Influence 
 
 ' Instrumental music was tabooed, and it was 
 years before the organ was allowed place in the 
 sanctuary; other instruments for accompani- 
 ment were still later in recognition. Neverthe- 
 less, a large part of the most wholesome influ- 
 ence came from the church. It was the center 
 of the social life of the new region. Church 
 membership was largely of the gentler sex, and 
 their devotion and steadfastness were the church's 
 mainstay. It is noted that Mrs. Asa Danforth 
 was for more than twelve years the only com- 
 municant of the church at Onondaga Valley, 
 and then she was joined by Mrs. General Lewis 
 and others. The Rev. Samuel Kirtland, sent 
 out by the Boston society for the propagation of 
 the gospel among the Indians, was the first cler- 
 gyman, Episcopalian, to preach in Onondaga 
 county. 
 
 The social influence from the church often 
 was somber; nevertheless it was the sheet anchor 
 
38 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 of the small communities in their struggle for 
 settJed conditions. Church sociables were un- 
 known ; but from the prayer meeting acquain- 
 tance and friendship extended, and these gave 
 form to the society that grew up about the 
 church as its natural center. The donation 
 party, the sewing circle, the quiltings and paring 
 bees were developments which grew into broader 
 relations. The religious influence upon the first 
 settlers, puritanical as it was, was powerful for 
 the elevation of the communities. The natural 
 tendencies of the pioneers were rough and un- 
 couth, but this element gave character and 
 purpose to the people. The Sabbath day was 
 kept holy, secular employments were not coun- 
 tenanced, recreations were forbidden, it was 
 strictly Sunday, and the New England people, 
 who formed the greater part of the communi- 
 ties, adhered to the "keeping of Saturday ev-e- 
 ning " as a part of the sacred day. 
 
 Gradually the church organizations extended 
 and the membership increased. Societies were 
 organized in all the new settlements. A re- 
 markable church architecture was introduced 
 and churches on the same general plan were 
 builded in a number of places. The old church 
 at the Valley (1810) is a sample of these edifices, 
 which were constructed from practically the 
 same plan by a Mr. Twogood. The old First 
 
PRACTITIONERS OF OLD 39 
 
 Presbyterian church in Syracuse (1825) was on 
 this plan, and its counterpart, still standing, is 
 the church at Howlett Hill, claimed to be the 
 oldest church edifice standing in the county. 
 The churches at Loomis Hill, at Onondaga Hill 
 and Valley, at Otisco Center, at Orville, James- 
 ville, Fayetteville, in old Salina, and some other 
 places in this and Madison counties, are on the 
 general plan of these edifices, which were im- 
 posing structures for the time in which they 
 were built. These buildings were erected prior 
 to 1825. 
 
 Teachers, Lawyers and Physicians 
 
 The school teacher was little less austere and 
 exacting than the preacher. Nevertheless both 
 these public servants were held in respect akin 
 to veneration. The doctor in his practice was 
 little like the physician of to-day. He rode his 
 regular rounds on horseback and with saddle- 
 bags, and was indeed a picturesque character. 
 There are few more interesting relics of the 
 period than the doctor's saddlebags. The law- 
 yer contented himself with a limited practice 
 and small fees, his field being the justice and 
 county courts in the main, and there being a 
 habit of adjustment of difficulties and disputes 
 which in later times is intolerable to the profes- 
 sion, whose fees grew with enlarged practice. 
 
 The early ministers of the gospel were not 
 
PRES15YTERIAK CHURCH AT ONONDAGA VALLEY 
 
AMUSEMENTS AND BUSINESS 41 
 
 only teachers of religion, but practical men of 
 affairs, and were serviceable to the settlers in 
 business, as well as spiritual affairs. The doc- 
 tor was an equally well-equipped man, inas- 
 much as lie often was called upon to advise in 
 business transactions, the drawing of wills, etc. 
 The teachers of the young were themselves as a 
 rule young men with aptitude for the work of 
 instruction, and they speedily grew into other 
 pursuits in which their abilities could find more 
 play. The lawyers in their special field found 
 then as now free scope for their ability and skill, 
 and they monopolized most of the public po- 
 sitions. 
 
 The newspaper man was little in evidence, 
 but he was a man of note and influence. His 
 adjutant was the postman, who on horseback 
 traversed the highways and delivered the freshly- 
 printed sheets directly to the homes of patrons 
 — there being limited mail facilities. 
 
 Business and Amusements 
 
 The general store was an institution of great 
 value, the progenitor of the department store of 
 the present. It was a necessity of the time, 
 making a common trading center for the sparse 
 and scattered population. Men like Azariah 
 Smith of Manlius and John Meeker of TuUy, 
 great business men of their time, were the 
 storekeepers in many communities. 
 
42 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 Th9 amusements were mainly in travelling 
 shows, of which old Sickel's shows were the 
 most noted. These were enlarged Punch and 
 Judy exhibits, and nothing of modern times in 
 the show line is more attractive and popular 
 than they were. 
 
 Travelling shows had their scope in those 
 times. Not a village in the county but had its 
 "hall", usually the dancing room of the tav- 
 ern, which quickly was metamorphosed into a 
 theater. Recollections of old people still living 
 are redolent of the drama of the early period. 
 In Syracuse the memory of Phinney's museum, 
 located at the Clinton street canal bridge, and 
 John Dean's theater, located where the Larned 
 block stands (in which the afterwards famous 
 Julia Dean played page parts) are recalled with 
 pleasure. 
 
 These entertainments later were supple- 
 mented with regular lecture courses, in which 
 Henry Giles, Beecher, Whipple, Gough and 
 other eloquent platform speakers held the atten- 
 tion of the public in a period before the popu- 
 larity of the daily newspaper, and were loeans 
 of much general instruction. The popular 
 amusements were concerts of the Hutchinson 
 family order and the ballads of the Englishman, 
 Henry Russell, which had a run before classical 
 music claimed the boards. 
 
PRESliVTKRIAN rHrK('lI AT THE VALLEY, VIEWED FROM THE SIDE 
 
44 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 The newspapers were small weeklies with 
 long extracts from London, New York and 
 Washington publications duly received by the 
 slow mails, and the editorial column was a long 
 treatise on some public question, with no local 
 news, which had not yet come into fashion. 
 Instead of the numerous paragraphs of news 
 and comment, the editor confined himself to a 
 single essay notable for its length and heaviness. 
 
 The crowning institution of the period in pop- 
 ularity was the general training — usually a three 
 days' term once a year. The broad fields of 
 Onondaga Valley were its scenes, and there 
 gathered for drill and inspection the several com- 
 mands, regiments and battalions, in which all 
 the eligible males in the county were enrolled. 
 Generals and Colonels, Majors and Captains 
 were numerous, and those old-time dignitaries 
 have transmitted the glory of their military 
 careers to succeeding generations. Sports and 
 games, hard cider and ginger-bread, and crowds 
 of the population gathered to witness " Hayfoot 
 Strawfoot" maneuvers, constitute memories that 
 pleasantly linger with those who in their youth 
 experienced these scenes. The military spirit of 
 the pioneer days, inherited from the war of the 
 revolution, had been perpetuated and in the suc- 
 ceeding wars from it were developed qualities 
 that brought honor and glory upon the republic. 
 
ROUGH AND STURDY ELEMENTS 45 
 
 Some Early Scenes 
 
 There were also rough elements. Salt Point 
 was the center of their operations. Its shoulder- 
 hitters fought every day in the year, on election 
 days in particular, and without regard to Sun- 
 day. Dean Richmond began his great career 
 with the fighting salt boilers, and was graduated 
 to the head of the New York Central and the 
 New York Democracy. " Charlie " Woodruff, 
 Tobias Buckley and a score of other athletes 
 were leading spirits of Salt Point's invincible 
 phalanx. They were ever ready to fight, and 
 many were the bloody battles of the Salt Point- 
 ers and Syracuse boys. The border line at Divis- 
 ion street was often fought over, and among my 
 earliest recollections are a pitched battle on elec- 
 tion day at the old Court House, with knock- 
 downs and drag-outs, and a street fight in Gene- 
 see street from Saliua street to the Granger 
 block, in which building timbers were barricades 
 and paving-stones the missiles. Only when 
 cityhood was voted fifty-one years ago did this 
 warfare cease. 
 
 Many of us recall the sturdy presence of 
 Cheney Amidon, a well-preserved old man from 
 the pioneer times, who had the notion that no 
 man need ever die. and that he would live on 
 forever. But one day he was overtaken and 
 summoned to join his fathers. Then more re- 
 
46 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 cently old "Bill" Forman, a member of a 
 family distinguished in the early annals of the 
 county, moved among us until quite recently, 
 and was an encyclopedia of the pioneer times, 
 to which he claimed near relationship. These 
 were examples of the old-time citizens, and in 
 every spot throughout Onondaga county there 
 are held in recollection men of this stamp. 
 They have rapidly disappeared from the scenes 
 of life, and there exist to-day very few links 
 that even at second hand connect the closing- 
 years of the last century with these closing 
 years of the Nineteenth century. 
 
 The First Settlement 
 
 The exact spot of the landing of Webster, 
 the Danforths and Tyler, at Onondaga Valley, 
 on May 22d, 1788, is pointed out on the creek's 
 bank in the rear of Dr. J. P. Tolman's premises, 
 half a mile south of the village. It was well 
 chosen. Opposite on the creek's west bank ran 
 the mihtary road, and to the northwest were the 
 sites of the academy and church. The creek 
 makes a fine sweep at that point and the lay of 
 the land is excellent. General Danforth had a 
 habitation there, parts of which were used in 
 later years in building a barn on the premises. 
 Webster at a subsequent time had a residence 
 on his farm on the west side of the valley, 
 under the hills, not far from Dorwin springs,. 
 
TYLER AND DANFORTH 
 
 47 
 
 which is still standing. Comfort Tyler's home 
 
 was a l|^-story 
 
 house, just north of 
 
 the hotel at the east. 
 
 side corners, and, 
 
 somewhat changed, 
 
 is there yet. It was 
 
 at Asa Danforth's 
 
 dwelling that the 
 
 first town meeting 
 
 on the organization 
 
 of the county was 
 
 held, and Ephraim J 
 
 Webster was the 
 
 first supervisor. 
 
 The characteris- 
 tics of Asa Dan- 
 forth are described 
 by Clark, in his his- 
 tory: " Single- 
 handed and alone he encountered the hardships, 
 privations, and discouragements of a frontier set- 
 tler. He prepared the way for those less bold and 
 venturous than himself, and as the lonely wood- 
 men, one by one, wended their way into this 
 land of promise and prospective plenty, this 
 fatherly man kindly took them by the hand, 
 welcomed them on, and pointed out to them the 
 most favorable places for habitation. Danforth 
 
 
 COL. COMFORT TYLER 
 
 (One of Onondaga's first white settlers. 
 
 Lieutenant in Burr's Expedition.) 
 
48 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 was a striking example of pure and disinterested 
 benevolence. No man who passed his hospita- 
 ble threshold, but was received with kindness 
 and affection, and none retired from it but with 
 feelings of regret. During a long and gloomy 
 period his house was the seat of hospitality, the 
 resting place of the traveller, the home of the 
 stranger, and the abode of charity. The boun- 
 ties of his cabin were freely dispensed to all who 
 entered; and although thousands shared the 
 blessings of his board, it was always without 
 money and without price." He was known 
 personally to every individual on the Military 
 tract, and his counsel and advice were sought 
 and received with deference and respect; his 
 capacity and enterprise fitted him for almost all 
 stations and duties; he was identified with all 
 prominent interests, and he greatly promoted 
 the welfare of his fellow men, and advanced the 
 prosperity of the new county. He enjoyed the 
 confidence and esteem of his fellow men, and 
 was called to fill the most important offices and 
 trusts in the gift of his fellow citizens. He 
 was prominent in the local judiciary; he was a 
 senator in the legislature; he was superintend- 
 ent of the Salt springs; he had been a soldier in 
 the Kevolution and became active in the state 
 militia, and held the post of major general, 
 when it was one of distinction and recognized 
 
INTERESTING EELICS 
 
 49 
 
 worth. Thirty years Danforth figured in the 
 affairs of the new county, and was a leading- 
 man in all important enterprises of the time. 
 He was the Father of Onondaga county, and a 
 representative and typical pioneer. 
 
 * Relics of First Settlers 
 
 Eepeated efforts have been made to discover 
 portraits of the first white settlers— the Danf orths, 
 Tyler, Webster, or members of their families. 
 Likenesses of Com- 
 fort Tyler and Patty 
 Danforth, the latter 
 the first white woman 
 in the Onondaga 
 country, are preserved 
 and copies of them 
 are reproduced with 
 this article. A silhou- 
 ette of Asa Danforth 
 is said to be in posses- 
 sion of his family de- 
 scendants somewhere 
 in the west, but it 
 has not been found, ^^^ 
 
 PATTY DANFORTH WOOD 
 No likenesses of (First white woman in the Onondaga 
 T7I 1 • -vxT 1 J- Country.— From painting In 
 
 Ephrami Webster or Historical Association.) 
 
 Asa Danforth, senior, are known to exist, and 
 probably none were taken. Portraits of James 
 Geddes, Joshua Forman, " Thad " M. Wood, 
 
50 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 Jasper Hopper, Jonas C. Baldwin, Azariah 
 Smith, Nicholas P, Randall, Daniel Kellogg, 
 Daniel Mosely, and Robert Earll are among 
 those of pioneers known to be preserved. 
 There is in existence a fine likeness in oil of 
 Father Daniel Waldo, a soldier of the revolu- 
 tion, and chaplain of congress, who died in Syra- 
 cuse at the age of 102 years. He was one of 
 the patriots confined in the British prison house 
 in old New York. He preached a sermon in 
 Plymouth church when 101 years old. 
 
-THIRCD F=»AF=EF=J 
 
 SettleniPiit of the Onondaga Country 
 
 The settlement of the Onondaga country, tak- 
 ing place half a dozen years after the close of 
 the revolutionary war, was then effected by the 
 tide of emigration from the New England states 
 into the West. This region was the first invit- 
 ing, fertile field that presented itself beyond the 
 confines of the earlier Dutch settlement in the 
 Mohawk valley, and the first inhabited spots in 
 Onondaga were those of which emigrants from 
 Connecticut and Massachusetts took possession. 
 Such was the quality of the emigration for full 
 fifty years, after which the greater body of the 
 new comers were from Europe. 
 
 The earlier villages and towns were strongly 
 permeated with New England characteristics; 
 and in turn, when the children of the first set- 
 tlers began to look around for homes for them- 
 selves, they in large numbers went out into the 
 inviting and vaunted localities in the newly- 
 forming states of the West. Communities of 
 Onondaga people or their children are met with 
 in all the western states. Like the communities 
 from which they sprung here in Central New 
 
 (51) 
 
52 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 York, there are no better in morals, progress 
 and thrift, anywhere in the world. 
 
 Great and Quick Changes 
 
 After the close of the revolutionary war great 
 changes occurred throughout Central and West- 
 ern New York. No part of the new union so 
 felt the war's consequences or better appreciated 
 and sustained the American characteristics than 
 the new communities in these regions. Based 
 in the fundamental law of the state's constitu- 
 tion, the principles of civil government and ra- 
 tional liberty were securely entrenched in the 
 people's institutions. The successful plan of 
 government thus inaugurated becaine an effi- 
 cient means of the state's growth and prosperity, 
 based in self-knowledge, individual reliance, and 
 dignity of character. The successive increase 
 of population and wealth in the state is without 
 parallel in history. The new settlers, mostly 
 from the eastern states, were principally agricul- 
 turists, with a sufficient admixture of mer- 
 chants, mechanics, traders, and professional 
 men. They brought with them excellent mor- 
 als, religious fervency love of home and patri- 
 otic impulses. They also had enterprise, inge- 
 nuity in the arts, and high social instincts. In 
 the distinctive preservation of national charac- 
 teristics was the strongest impulse to the growth 
 and prosperity of the new country. 
 
HOME OF COMFORT TYLER, on the East Road, Onondaga Valley 
 
54 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 The historian in the first decade of this cen- 
 tury notes the growth of the drinking habit, 
 the increased love of the people for amusements, 
 the theater in the cities, stage lepresentation in 
 colleges, academies, schools and churches, the 
 ethusiastic observance of Independence day, the 
 growing popularity of holidays, the inclination 
 of the young for dancing, which was a favorite 
 amusement of the New England people, the 
 popularity of horse racing, and the favor shown 
 the public lottery, then legalized and a source of 
 revenue to the state. 
 
 Process of Evolution 
 
 The evolution of the new country is well 
 worthy of study. The first dwellings and farm 
 buildings were crude and rough and devoid of 
 the conveniences which came later with im- 
 proved conditions. But after the founding of 
 the home were the opening of highways, the 
 bridging of streams and the cutting of roads 
 through forests and swamps. The architecture 
 at first was of a compound charactei'; the earlier 
 dwelhngs uniting the New England lightness 
 and neatness with the Dutch durability and 
 heaviness, making the house enduring, commodi- 
 ous and sufficiently pretentious. Agriculture 
 improved with the extension of clearings and 
 the bringing of larger areas of soil under culti- 
 vation. The soil was fertile and easily culti- 
 
PROCESS OF EVOLUTION 55 
 
 vated; the returns were prolific, and witli en- 
 larged and improved farming operations came 
 the advance of domestic economy. The house- 
 hold manufactures were depended upon for the 
 clothing of the families, and with experience 
 was an increase in fabrics, and their variety and 
 quality. Some imported goods were used, but 
 the American products won their way to favor 
 as their styles and fashions grew better. Early 
 much class feeling was engendered by the differ- 
 ing dress of the people, and a strong prejudice 
 was shown by the masses, who by force of nec- 
 essity wore the home-made cloth and garments, 
 against the few who by their wealth indulged in 
 finer fabrics and wore gala-day attire habitually. 
 In those times the dancing hall Avas the place 
 where the class feeling was most sharply dem- 
 onstrated; and on these occasions it was not 
 unusual for the parties to divide into social 
 coteries, on the line of dress — the aristocrats 
 against the plebiats. It was a severe social 
 warfare, developing acerbity of feeling and in- 
 tense animosities. But gradually this condition 
 disappeared, and finally no longer had expression. 
 
 Literature and Science 
 
 Greater variety in the language of the people 
 existed then than now. While English was 
 commonly spoken and written, there were Ger- 
 man, French, Swiss and other nationalities rep- 
 
56 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 resented in the new settlements and the various 
 languages used. Idomatic distinction and inflec- 
 tions were numerous; and it is not remarkable 
 that the English gained from other languages, 
 and that from the diversity of speech, in the 
 later correction of error and the exercises of 
 study and taste, the language of the people be- 
 came more graceful and fresher. 
 
 Literature and science kept pace with the 
 growth of po^Dulation. The system of educa- 
 tion, defective in its earlier stages, made splendid 
 progress and now is unsurpassed. While the 
 common school system is devoted to the acqui- 
 sition of knowledge subservient to the prime 
 purpose of life, the higher education, of scien- 
 tific and literary quahty, flavors the intellectual 
 status of the people. In the arts the advance 
 has been prodigious; original genius is recog- 
 nized and favored; mechanical skill has the 
 widest field; and a single century, under the 
 most highly favored conditions, has wrought 
 changes and gained progress never anywhere 
 else in the world's history realized. The foun- 
 dation was well and substantially laid, and the 
 superstructure has been thoroughly and wisely 
 builded. 
 
 Popular Education 
 
 The educational facilities of early Onondaga 
 took form distinctively, not only in the common 
 
4 
 
 IHij! 
 
 1 
 
 WSSI^m 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 ' "^PI^^H 
 
 
 ^V "^^m 
 
 
 g;™---^.^™ 
 
 ^^^K. ^-^ 
 
 
 ^^H 
 
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^B ? 
 
 ^^^ 
 
 fli 
 
 1 
 
 
 ■■n 
 
 ■ 
 
 nmmn 
 
 ■ 
 
 HOME OF EPHRAIM WEBSTER, on farm given him by the state, Onondaga Valley 
 
58 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 schools, but in the academies and semiDaries. 
 The church spire and the school-house were 
 simultaneous creations, and the advanced schools 
 at Onondaga, Pompey, Manlius, Elbridge, Skane- 
 ateles and Syracuse, opened facilities for instruc- 
 tion that were not exceeded in those days. The 
 history of these institutions is intimately con- 
 nected with the active and useful public careers 
 of many men whose influence and works have 
 been felt in the affairs of states and the nation. 
 The Pioneer's Dwelling; 
 The evolution of the pioneer's house, already 
 referred to, is an inviting subject. Several in- 
 stances of the complete dwellings of the early 
 settlers in the Onondaga valley are given in illus- 
 trations accompanying this article. They show 
 to what the earlier domicile grew in a very few 
 years. Comfortable dwellings, with commodi- 
 ous apartments, but no modern improvements, 
 were these first homes of the pioneers. Provis- 
 ion was made for the absolute necessities of the 
 family; living and sleeping rooms, frequently 
 identical, and the kitchen, were provided. There 
 were no stoves or furnaces, only fireplaces, 
 broad and capacious, with the iron crane on 
 which hung the kettles, and the fire was builded 
 of great logs. Then came the big oven, usually 
 adjacent to the fireplace, and so commodious 
 that cord-wood heated it and the baking for the 
 family was done at one time for the week. 
 
HOUSEHOLD IMPROVEMENTS 69 
 
 When the first cook-stove — a crude affair 
 compared with the range of to-day — was intro- 
 duced, it speedily produced a revolution in house- 
 hold economics. Then came the box-stove, for 
 heating living-rooms ; it was sometimes of cast 
 iron and otherwise of sheet-iron, burning large 
 sticks of wood. Then the open Frankhn, and 
 later the superfine parlor stove and hot air and 
 steam-heater, utihzing coal as fuel. 
 
 There was in the hundred years a like evolution 
 in house hghting; tallow dips, molded candles, 
 whale-oil lamps, kerosene and burning fluid, 
 illuminating gas and now electricity. The boy 
 who dipped the candles a generation ago will 
 never forget the experince, and when he com- 
 pares the rude process with the lighting facili- 
 ties of to-day the contrast will excite his wonder. 
 Friction matches, devloped from the rude sul- 
 phur matches of sixty years ago, are equally a 
 marvel. The more important of the electrical 
 appliances and machines are only about fifteen 
 years old. 
 
 Evolution of the Parlor 
 
 When the parlor and the spare-room were 
 added to the old-time dwelling the march of 
 civilization was realized and the modern meta- 
 morphosis was accomplished. The parlor was 
 the acme of the achievements of the women 
 folks. What is a parlor ? may be asked. " Orig- 
 
60 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 inally the room set apart from the great hall for 
 private conference and conversation;" at pres- 
 ent, '*■ in Great Britain, the common sitting room 
 or keeping room of a family, as distinguished 
 from a drawing room intended for the reception 
 of guests; " in the United States, " a room in a 
 private house set apart for the conversational 
 entertainment of guests." In connection v\rith 
 the last definition may be quoted the view^ of an 
 American philosopher: " The house stands for 
 comfort and for conversation, and parlors w^ere 
 misnamed if not peopled with ideas." The 
 meaning is that the word parlor, being derived 
 from a French word signifying to speak, hence 
 parlors are misnamed if not peopled with ideas. 
 The suggestion makes you laugh if you are a 
 philosopher and summon up pictures of parlors. 
 "Peopled with ideas," indeed. Anything but 
 that. Bric-a-brac, tidies, tatting, needlework, 
 drawn -work, ornamental work, thingamies and 
 thingumbods, in greater variety than could be 
 conceived by any man, and all that will ever 
 be recorded in the book of the vanities and in- 
 anities of womankind. A better name for par- 
 lors would be museums. Instead of " Walk 
 into my parlor," why not say " Step into my 
 museum," Were half the money spent upon 
 the parlor to be put into the kitchen outfit how 
 great would be the comfort and convenience of 
 
GKN. ASA DANFORTIIS HOUSE, rebuilt and used as a barn: original 
 
 LANUINK PLACE. OnONDAOA N'aLLEY 
 
62 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 that indispensable adjunct of th^ well-ordered 
 household. The parlor and the spare-room grew 
 up with the ability to provide these affairs in a 
 style adequate to the fashion of the time — at 
 first moderate and finally overdone to the point 
 of uselessness. 
 
 The old-time kitchen was the housewife's 
 sanctum. It was most likely the family dining- 
 room and the resort of the family and " the 
 help." It was before the parlor or the spare 
 room, and as necessary as the sleeping room, 
 which may have been the loft. Indeed, the first 
 place provided under the roof of the pioneer's 
 house was the kitchen. Comparing the old- 
 time with the modern affair, utility is in the 
 first and a picture in the other. What a deal of 
 work was done in the old-fashioned kitchen of, 
 say, 1800. How much better is the fashionably 
 appointed kitchen of 1900, in sense and utility ? 
 
 The Early Militia 
 
 There were in the mihtia organizations about 
 1S0(>, nearly all the leading men of the country. 
 Gen. John Ellis was an imposing character, very 
 tall and stalwart, a stately figure, with a fine head 
 and presence. His portrait in regimentals shows 
 him to have been a striking figure, and that of 
 his wife a fitting companion to him. Gen. 
 Thaddeus M. Wood also was an inspiring char- 
 acter. Active in military and public affairs, he 
 
SPORTS ON THE GREEN 63 
 
 was still more so in the legal controversies of 
 this time. Quick at repartee, severe in sarcasm 
 and withering in denunciation, he was a much 
 feared man. Gen. James E. Lawrence, a gener- 
 ation younger, was in the same class, and no 
 mounted officer of the early militia was more 
 admired. Col. Daniel T. Jones, Col. Jonas C. 
 Baldwin, Col. John H. Johnson and others were 
 likewise heroes of the general training. 
 
 Pastimes on the Court House Green 
 
 On the court house green at Onondaga Hill, 
 the county seat, were frequent displays of pio- 
 neer recreations. It was the scene of manly 
 sports, particularly of old-fashioned baseball and 
 quoits. There also were wrestling matches, and 
 leaders of the bar, Daniel Kellogg, Asher Tyler, 
 Daniel Gott, B. Davis Noxon, William Sabine, 
 Daniel Moseley, George Hall, Medad Curtis and 
 other-competitors attested their physical qualities 
 in this arena. At intermissions of the courts 
 the legal luminaries let their light shine forth on 
 the field of physical competition. 
 
 The country doctor was a great man in his 
 field of activity. Mounted on horseback, with 
 saddlebags, he made his ride and dispensed pills 
 and portions to the people, and was purveyor of 
 current news and useful knowledge as well as 
 remedies for the ills that man is heir to. Drs. 
 Wilham and Gordon Needham of Onondaga 
 
64 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 Valley, Doctor Bissell of Marcellus, Dr. N. R. 
 Tefft of Onondaga Hill come down in local his- 
 tory as typical physicians of the early time. Dr. 
 Jonathan Kneeland, as a successor, stands as 
 the type known to us of the present as the phy- 
 sician of blessed memory in pioneer days. 
 
F=-OUR"rH F=»AF=EF^ 
 
 The Five Nations in Onondaga 
 
 The earliest recorded history of Indians in the 
 central part of what is now the state of New 
 York relates to the Indian population in 1535 — 
 the country about 
 Salt Lake (Onon- 
 daga), the old Gen- 
 etaha, which was 
 a favorable loca- 
 tion and the seat 
 of a considerable 
 community. A 
 century later the 
 Five Nations occu- 
 pied most of Can- 
 ada, present New 
 York from Lake 
 Erie to Ontario, 
 the St. Lawrence 
 and Lake Cham- 
 plain and the Hud- 
 son to the High- 
 lands. They were 
 numerous and warlike. Onondaga was the prin- 
 
 (65) 
 
 OS-SA-HIN-TA (CAPTAIN FROST) 
 (Head Chief of the Onondagas, 1830-1845) 
 
Q6 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 cipal center, and here before the arrival of the 
 Europeans they had fortifications of strength 
 and importance. These were in double rowg of 
 palisades, surrounded by walls and earthworks. 
 The Iroquois early learned the value of united 
 strength, and in the early accounts they are 
 called "the Romans of the Western World. '^ 
 At Onondaga was their grand council, or Long 
 House, by which the confederacy was called. 
 
 The Iroquois confederacy was formed in 164^0, 
 and was entered into for defense against the in- 
 cursions of other Indians, and it resulted in a 
 contest for the control of the continent and ex- 
 tensive successes by the Five Nations. The chief 
 Hiawatha organized the confederacy on a scheme 
 nearer the federated system than any other in 
 North America. Each nation maintained a 
 separate government, but the grand council set- 
 tled the confederacy's affairs, both in peace and 
 war. This powerful combination waged war 
 for domination East, West, South, and it was 
 not till 1838 that it was ended by the sale of the 
 last tract of Indian lands to the state. Frag- 
 ments of the once powerful Iroquois now only 
 exist. 
 
 Tlie Hiawatha Leis^eiul 
 
 The beautiful legend of Hiawatha's transla- 
 tion, after the formation of the Iroquois con- 
 federacy, was communicated to Clark, the his- 
 
THE HIAWATHA LEGEND 67 
 
 torian, by Onondaga chieftains Frost and La- 
 Fort, in 1845, and by him pubhshed in his his- 
 tory of Onondaga; subsequently it was pre- 
 sented in Schoolcraft's " Notes on the Iroquois, " 
 without credit to Clark, who later asserted and 
 proved his right to the history. Hiawatha was 
 the god presiding over fisheries and streams, 
 who was sent to earth to aid the Indians, and 
 taking location upon Cross lake, he pursued his 
 mission, until the Five Nations being threatened 
 by powerful enemies, were by him banded into 
 the federation which made the Nations strong 
 and invincible; the mission of Hiawatha being 
 completed, after the tragic death of his beloved 
 daughter, he was carried back to heaven in his 
 white canoe. The scene of the translation is 
 located on the highlands, on the easterly shore 
 of Onondaga lake, near Liverpool. The plan of 
 Hiawatha has commanded the admiration of in- 
 vestigators of schemes of human government 
 and is pronounced wonderful in its scope and 
 effects. The speech of Hiawatha, as rendered 
 by Clark, is a masterpiece of oratory and com- 
 manding power. Another version is, that Hia- 
 watha, the wise man, was a Mohawk, who by 
 his ability and tact was called to the head of the 
 Five Nations, and that after he had served them 
 by forming the confederacy, being a very old 
 man, he returned to his tribe, and that he died 
 
68 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 and was buried at the Mohawk village, in a spot 
 on the Mohawk river, near the present city 
 of Schenectady. The spot is pointed out to 
 vistiors. 
 
 The early Christian colonists, mainly religious 
 propagandists, instead of furthering the Indi- 
 an's welfare, cultivated divisions, encouraged 
 strife and war, kept alive the savage spirit, and 
 by these means hoped themselves to profit. The 
 Indians welcomed the whites as gods, and 
 learned to despise them. The rivalries of the 
 British and French for the control of the new 
 country kept up tumultuous wars for a century, 
 and it was not till the close of the revolutionary 
 war, and the cementing of the union of states, 
 that peaceful relations were established. The 
 Five Nations sympathized and co-operated with 
 the British during the revolution, but soon came 
 to respect and to live on good terms with the 
 Americans. In the prior Indian wars were the 
 origin of the antiquities that filled the Onondaga 
 country, and that have given rise to much con- 
 jecture and speculation. 
 
 Characteristics of the Onoiidagas 
 
 The Onondagas were, of the Nations, most 
 inclined to agriculture and the pursuits of peace, 
 although they numbered the bravest of the Iro- 
 quois warriors. They supphed products of the 
 
INDIAN CHARACTERISTICS 
 
 69 
 
 soil to others in exchange for prizes of the chase. 
 They prospered and grew rich, and thus were 
 excited the envy of 
 other tribes and the 
 cupidity of the 
 whites. The trader 
 and pioneer, Eph- 
 raim Webster, who 
 came among the 
 Onondagas in 1786 
 and was adopted 
 into the nation, and 
 Uved with the On- 
 ondagas and Onei- 
 das for a quarter of 
 a century, declared 
 in 1812 that " the 
 Indians have no al- 
 tercations, and that so-wa-no-noh (captain sam 
 
 in ten years i have (pirst war chief of the Onoudagas, ISSO, and 
 
 not heard an angry principal civii chief, isea.) 
 
 expression nor seen any degree of passion. 
 They treated their women with respect, even 
 tenderness. They used no ardent spirits. They 
 settled differences amicably, raised wheat and 
 corn in considerable quantities, and also apples." 
 Up to this day apple trees set out by the In- 
 dians are found along the banks of Onondaga 
 creek. 
 
70 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 The prehistoric settlement of the Onondaga 
 country left insufficient traces of a definite 
 record of the people, their habits, customs and 
 conditions. They were kin to the Mound-build- 
 ers of the west. Their successors were the abo- 
 rigines, whose earlier identification also is in- 
 complete and unsatisfactory. The early Ouon- 
 dagas made a history in large part unintelligible, 
 but as retained, mostly in legend and tradition, 
 by its exaggeration challenges our credulity. 
 The tales of great wars and mighty achieve- 
 ments, of races of stone men and giants, and other 
 monstrosities, and of wonderful beings whose 
 attributes reached into supernatural realms, and 
 stretched imagination to its farthest, constitute 
 a poetic and visionary record which must be 
 accepted only with very large allowance. 
 
 These Onondaga Indians were a migratory 
 people, living in villages, and subsisting upon 
 fishing and hunting and some cultivation of the 
 soil. The villages were occupied until the sup- 
 plies of food and fuel at hand were exhausted, 
 and then were deserted for more favorable loca- 
 tions. These people were intelhgent and shrewd, 
 masters of speech and persuasion, and they 
 held a strong control of the confederated nations 
 of which they were a part. They were wailike, 
 and by their bravery and prowess made them- 
 selves heard and respected in peace and in war. 
 
THE ONONDAGAS' ARRIVAL 71 
 
 Coming of the Onondagas 
 
 They came to the Onondaga country about 
 350 years ago, from the northeast, and their 
 successive villages, their burial places and other 
 vestiges are variously located in these central 
 regions, whose fertile lands, prolific fishing and 
 hunting grounds were attractive and resourceful. 
 
 They have been at or near the Onondaga res- 
 ervation for about a century and a half. They 
 conquered their way on coming hither and they 
 held their own remarkably in the long series of 
 conflicts they were engaged in. The French 
 sought alliance with them, from 1650 to 1750, 
 during which period the French Jesuits brought 
 to bear upon the Onondagas every resource of 
 their religion and every power of persuasion to 
 enhst their friende.hip and allegiance. The Brit- 
 ish became rivals and antagonists of the French 
 and finally supplanted them. 
 
 In the war of the Revolution the Onondagas 
 were allies of the British; but at the close of 
 hostilities they became reconciled to the Ameri- 
 cans and good relations have since continued. 
 By treaties entered into about 110 years ago 
 the Indian lands began to pass into the hands of 
 the whites, and by purchases and treaties since 
 the Indians have finally become confined to 
 their reservations. It was with the Onondagas 
 that the first white settlers here came to trade 
 
72 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 and barter, and upon this business the first 
 settlements were founded. But broader rela- 
 tions opened up to the whites, the settlements 
 became permanent and the whites prospered. 
 
 The Onondaga country, as it was widely 
 known, was at the beginning of this century 
 opened up to New England immigration, and 
 was rapidly populated by a superior class of 
 people. Then the New England tide surged 
 over and beyond this region and made its way 
 across the great Cayuga lake bridge into the 
 Genesee country beyond, and later on into the 
 far West, there laying the foundations for the 
 great state of Ohio and its sister states between 
 the Ohio and Mississippi rivers and the Great 
 Lakes. 
 
 The Onondaga Tillages 
 
 The Iroquois, breaking from their servitude 
 to the Algonquins or Adirondacks, migrated from 
 beyond the St. Lawrence to the southwest, 
 coming through Lake Ontario, up the Oswego 
 river to what is now Three Rivers, and there 
 dividing into five nations, a part going east and 
 a part west, the central nation, the Onondagas, 
 proceeding beyond Oneida lake to a village site 
 near where Fenner, Madison county, now stands 
 (1620), then to near the site of the present vil- 
 lage of Jamesville (1680) and then (1720) to 
 what is now known as Onondaga Castle, near 
 
INDIAN VILLAGES 73 
 
 which they had at different times three villages. 
 These ' ' Sons of the Hills ' ' or • ' Men of the 
 Mountains " had the care of the sacred fires of 
 the Iroquois, and at the Long House in their vil- 
 lage were held the grand councils on all matters 
 of peace, war and general concerns. They were 
 a sacred nation, the head chief of the Iroquois 
 was from their number, and their chiefs w^ere 
 potential in the affairs of the nations. 
 
 The Onondagas learned the art of agriculture 
 in a rude way from their predecessors, the AUe- 
 ghans, and among the products of the soil was 
 tobacco, wild plants of which are still met with 
 in the Valley. During the conflicts of the French 
 and English for j^ossession of this region battles 
 were fought in the Onondagas' country, many 
 lives lost, villages burned, crops destroyed, and 
 at times the sacred fires extinguished. The 
 New England emigration, late in the eighteenth 
 century, overran this country, and gradually the 
 Indians were crowded into their reservation and 
 the whites came into possession. 
 Relia^ious Colonies 
 
 The Jesuit priests, in the interest of French 
 conquest and religion, operated in the Onondaga 
 country for a hundred years before the settled 
 conditions began. The religious stations were 
 at the Indian villages, the religious teachers 
 were received with favor and well treated, and 
 
74 
 
 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 much progress was made, only to be lost again. 
 Two hundred and fifty years ago the mission 
 bell rang out from the station on Onondaga 
 lake, and afterwards was heard on the hills and 
 in the valleys, but priests and missions were 
 driven out in the strifes that later sprung up., 
 Onondaga Cliiet'tsihis 
 An illustration accompanying this paper is of 
 Tah-to-tah. the boy-king of the Six Nations, at 
 the age of 7 years in 18H2, 
 when Clark, the historian, 
 procured. his daguerreotype 
 and presented it to the 
 newly - formed Onondaga 
 Historical association. He 
 was the reputed grandson 
 of the pioneer Ephraim 
 Webster, a son of a daugh- 
 ter of the famous Os-sa- 
 hinta, and became king 
 through the female line, 
 which supplies all the prin- 
 cipal chiefs of the Indians. 
 He was an intelligent lad, 
 with pleasant countenance, 
 and muscular frame, eagle- 
 „ ^ „ ,eyed and quick. He was 
 
 (Boy Iviiig or Hereditary Head -^ ^ 
 
 Chief of Six Nations, Grand- a Pagan and took part iu 
 
 son of Kphraim Webster, , , . j? x i 
 
 taken 1850.) tlic ccremomes of the 
 
INDIAN CHIEFTAINS 75 
 
 Pagan party. He was Tlarry Webster, who 
 identified the place of his birth on the Webster 
 farm southeast of the Valley. 
 
 There was a distinguished line of Six Nations 
 and Onondaga chiefs. The Onondagas furnished 
 the line of Six Nation head-chiefs. Some of 
 them left a deep impress upon the affairs of 
 their time. Os-sa-hin-ta, Captain Frost, was a 
 great warrior and noted as a runner. He is 
 remembered by some of the older people in the 
 Valley. He is described as of noble character, 
 fervid eloquence and unimpeachable integrity. 
 No Indian in his time was as well versed as he 
 in the genius and policy of the ancient govern- 
 ment and the conducting of grand councils and 
 in the practice and celebration of Indian rites. 
 He died at Onondaga in 1846, aged 86 years. 
 The picture herewith presented is copied from 
 Thayer's oil portrait, painted a short time before 
 the old chief's death and now in possession of 
 the Historical association. 
 
 De-hat-ka-tons, Abram LaFort, was Captain 
 Frost's successor as head chief of the Ononda- 
 gas. He was a son of LaFort the Brave, who 
 led the Onondagas in the war of 1813, on the 
 side of the United States, and was killed at the 
 battle of Chippewa. This LaFort in his youth 
 was a Christian convert; he was educated by 
 Eleazer Williams, the French missionary, who 
 
76 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 was the reputed Dauphin of France, and by 
 other teachers, and for three years was a student 
 at the Geneva (Episcopal) academy. He after- 
 ward was a teacher of Indian youth at Onon- 
 daga, a regular attendant at the Episcopal 
 church at Onondaga Hill, and was married to an 
 Indian woman in that chuich. In after years 
 he relapsed into paganism, and became the head 
 of the Pagan party at Onondaga. He died in 
 1848 at the age of 54 years. Great expectations 
 were entertained of the value of LaFort's ser- 
 vices in reforming the Onondagas, which in the 
 end were disappointed. He was the last of the 
 long line of distinguished head chiefs. His son, 
 Daniel LaFort, succeeded to the chiefship, and 
 was well liked by the whites. His death oc- 
 curred recently at the Onondaga reservation. 
 
 Oun-di-a-ga, a wise civil chief of the Onon- 
 dagas, was famed in the closing years of the 
 last and early years of this century. He died 
 in 1839 at the supposed age of 100 years. He 
 was always opposed to the Yankees, as he sneer- 
 ingly called all whites, and at the battle of Her- 
 kimer and the hostilities thereabout he was in 
 the armed forces against this country. He also 
 had a part in the Cherry Valley massacre. He 
 later was engaged in the campaign in Ohio, and 
 when tho English were there defeated he surren- 
 dered and was afterwards friendly to the Ameri- 
 
OTHER NOTED CHIEFS 77 
 
 cans. But to the last he was hostile to the 
 yielding of Indian territory to the whites. He 
 it was who in 1815 answered negotiations for 
 concessions by inviting a white man to sit on a 
 log with him, and as the talk progressed he 
 gradually crowded the white to the end of the 
 log. When asked what he meant, he answered : 
 ^' There, you whites, if allowed to sit down with 
 us on a little piece of ground, on our borders, keep 
 crowding, crowding till the Indian's land is very 
 small; and finally we shall be driven out, until 
 we are landless and helpless, as you have been 
 crowded from this log; we shall too soon be at 
 your mercy, as you were just now at mine; go 
 tell your people that Oun-di-a-ga never will con- 
 sent to parting with a foot of Indian lands. " In 
 his old age this sturdy Indian was the mail car- 
 rier between Oswego and Onondaga, and three 
 times a week conveyed the mails, making the 
 trip of forty miles, within ten hours, on foot. 
 He was a commanding personality, and in his 
 old age was looked upon by his people as a sage 
 and oracle. He never made common with the 
 whites, but was always honest and straightfor- 
 ward. 
 
 Other noted chiefs of the Onondagas have 
 been friends of the pioneer settlers and promo- 
 ters of the growth of white communities. 
 " Handsome Lake " was a great prophet, a 
 
78 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 Seneca, who lived with the Onondagas for a 
 time; he was a noted character, a seer and 
 teacher, who deh'vered a religion to the Indians; 
 " Captain George,'' who fought at Chippewa 
 with the Americans, was one of the worthies of 
 the Onondagas, who is well remembered; he 
 was true to his people and a friend to the whites. 
 There are Christian and Pagan parties in the 
 Onondaga nation, and they have the benefit of 
 churches and schools and state aid. Their reser- 
 vation is composed of fertile lands, tiraberlands 
 and stone quarries, which have excited the cupid- 
 ity of the whites surrounding them. The 
 friendship of the Indians at an early date pro- 
 moted the pioneer settlements, and the Indian 
 history for a century and a half is closely con- 
 nected with that of the pioneers in the Onon- 
 daga country. 
 
F"iF--rH f=af=e:f? 
 Scene of Early Traiisitions 
 
 At Onondaga Valley may be seen the localities 
 which earliest were associated with the transi- 
 tions from aboriginal conditions to those of the 
 permanent communities of whites, which sprung 
 up in the last decade of the eighteenth century. 
 Ephraim Webster was the first pioneer, although 
 while he was making his mark at Onondaga, 
 there were probably other white traders in this 
 region, none of whom, however, made any per- 
 manent settlement or impressed themselves upon 
 the new civihzation. Webster, while still at the 
 trading post at the mouth of Onondaga creek, 
 was in close touch with the Indians. He was 
 adopted into the Onondaga nation, and for some 
 years lived with it. He was very servicable to 
 the state as intermediary and interpreter, and 
 for his services received the state grant of a mile- 
 square of land, which he located on the west 
 side of Onondaga valley. It was a fine tract of 
 640 acres of the best land, well timbered and 
 watered. The state's patent to Webster is dated 
 April 12th, 17!)0, two years after the Danforths 
 and himself landed at the Valley. Webster's 
 
 (79) 
 
80 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 mile-square, Danforth's 250 acres, and Tyler's 
 250 acres, embraced all of what is known as 
 Onondaga Valley. Webster lived on what later 
 was the Bostwick farm, near Dorwin's spring, 
 and there his Indian family was reared. His 
 son, Harry Webster, who was head chief of the 
 Onondagas, visiting fifty years ago at R. R. 
 Slocum's father's house, the Caleb Alexander 
 place, told Mr. Slocum that he was born on the 
 hill to the west. ' ' Up on that hill by the spring, 
 me born, ' ' said Webster ; ' ' when little boy slid 
 down hill on bark; then my father lived there." 
 
 Ephraini Webster, the Pioneer 
 
 The accounts of Webster are much confused, 
 both by his own statements and those made by 
 others. Dr. W. M. Beauchamp, who has inves- 
 tigated carefully, says that Webster's own ac- 
 count makes his birth as early as 1754, as he had 
 reached twenty-one years during the Revolution, 
 but it seems more probable that he was born in 
 1756 or '57. He came into the Mohawk valley 
 with Peter Yain, a Mohawk Indian, at the close 
 of the Revolutionary war. He figured first as 
 a trader on Onondaga lake in 1781:, and Benja- 
 min Newkirk followed him in 1786, but soon 
 died. Webster was the first supervisor of the 
 town of Onondaga in 1798, and held the office 
 for one year. The ging-seng trade with the Five 
 Nations was old when Webster engaged in it. 
 
WEBSTER'S EXPERIENCES 81 
 
 The Dutch and French carried on a large trade 
 in it fifty years before his time. The Onondagas 
 dig and sell it up to this day, Ging-seng is sent 
 to China in large quantities, and by the Chinese 
 is supposed to possess great medicinal virtues, but 
 in this country is not especially valued. 
 
 Stories related as experiences of Webster are 
 not confirmed by Dr. Beauchamp's enquiries. 
 Those related by Clark in his history, of the 
 peril under the tomahawk, when by the clever 
 devise of drinking his persecutor's health, he 
 turned their deadly purpose into friendship, and 
 that of the young Cayuga Indian, who after a 
 year's probation returned to meet certain death, 
 are not credited. Webster doubtless told of 
 them as of others, and they were credited to 
 him. Murders among the Indians were usually 
 atoned by presents, as would have been the 
 result in the young Cayuga's case. 
 
 Webster married his white wife, Hannah 
 Danks, in 1796, and their two sons lived at the 
 Valley many years, Alonzo and Lucius H. Alonzo 
 is said to have been much like old Ephraim, in 
 his quiet common -sense ways and good habits. 
 Ephraim was candid, straightforward, and ener- 
 getic. Interesting relics of the family were 
 burnt in the house where Lucius lived on the 
 west side of the Valley. There are many de- 
 scendants of Ephraim Webster in the southern 
 
 f 
 
82 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 part of Onondaga and in Cortland county. He 
 was related to those great New Englanders, 
 Daniel and Noah Webster. He died at Tona- 
 wanda in 1826, and was buried there. William 
 Kirkpatrick some years ago identified Webster's 
 grave. It is probable the town of Onondaga 
 will at some time remove the remains to an 
 honored place in that town, out of respect to the 
 first white pioneer in the Onondaga country. 
 
 Within nine years after Webster received title 
 to his mile-square, he had sold every acre of it, 
 and realized a large sum of money. One tract 
 he sold to Joseph Forman, father of Joshua 
 Forman, which included the Valley academy and 
 church sites. 
 
 Webster had a curious history in relation to 
 his place of residence at the Valley. In the period 
 of ten years, while living in the same house, 
 he was a resident of three different counties, 
 and of foui- towns. In 1788, he was in Mont- 
 gomery county; in 1791, in Herkimer county, 
 and in 1791:, in Onondaga county. In 1788, he 
 was in Whitestown; afterwards in the town of 
 Mexico ; then in Marcellus, and finally in Onon- 
 daga. Few men have lived in so many counties 
 and towns and not changed their domicile. 
 
 Early Onondaga Valley Farms 
 
 On the East road at the Valley, the first farm 
 of 250 acres, farm lot 120, lying just south of 
 
EARLY FARMS AT THE VALLEY 83 
 
 the old Seneca turnpike, and including the Arse- 
 nal site, was patented to Comfort Tyler April 9, 
 1796. Tyler built a dwelling at the corner, 
 which was burned and a brick house now occu- 
 pies its site. 
 
 'Next to the Tyler farm was the 250 acres, Lot 
 138, patented to Asa Dauforth April 9th, 1796. 
 Next south was the 250 acres, Lot 147, patented 
 to Sier Curtis at the same date. South of that 
 was Lot 161, patented to Reuben Patterson on 
 the same ^date. Beyond this farm is the Onon- 
 daga Indian reservation. These farms extended 
 from the east hill down to Onondaga creek. 
 They have all been subdivided and are now in 
 many owners. 
 
 Lot 106 was patented to Daniel Earll and 107 
 to Dr. Allen Beach. These tracts, with Dan- 
 forth's mile-square, constituted the original 
 Onondaga Hollow. These broad acres have been 
 many times divided and subdivided. They now 
 are in small but productive garden truck farms. 
 Morris Webster, a grandson of Epliraim resid- 
 ing in South Salina street, well remembered his 
 grandfather, and told that when he was about 5 
 years old, he saw many Indians come to the old 
 homestead and indulge in cider, which at that 
 time'was the heaviest beverage the Onondagas 
 allowed themselves. Webster's widow married 
 SamuePWyman, a man of wealth and promi- 
 
Si 
 
 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 nence. Until within eight or ten years many 
 persons at the Valley had personal recollection of 
 the original Webster. The decendants are 
 numerous. 
 
 Iroquois League 
 
 Doctor Beauchamp, by his investigation, fixes 
 the time of the Iroquois confederation, organ- 
 ized by Hiawatha, at a Httle before 1600. It is 
 
 ^"^"S^^ """^^'^^^•^-'^^^^^^ 
 
 
 vKisSv- 
 
 ^■^Z~tt££J:. 
 
 ONOXDAGA COUNCIL HOUSE (LONG HOUSK) ON RESERVATION 
 
 verified that in Kilo the Iroquois were still weak. 
 The Clark legend of Hiawatha's formation of 
 the league and of the death of his daughter and 
 his translation in the white canoe, he treats as 
 
 A 
 
THE IKOQUOIS LEAGUE 85 
 
 fancifiii, although there is no doubt of Clark's 
 having received it from the Indian chiefs Frost 
 and LaFort. It bears a confusion of the divine 
 and human. 
 
 Hiawatha was an Onondaga, but became a 
 Mohawk chief. According to Albert Cusick his 
 name signified, " He who has lost his mind, but 
 knows where to find it." Cross Lake was his 
 home when in the Onondaga country. The 
 " white canoe " was probably of birch bark, as 
 the Onondagas made their canoes of red elm. 
 The bird which destroyed Hiawatha's daughter, 
 according to the legend, was the Hah-kooks, or 
 white winter gull, and not the white heron, 
 which is rare here. 
 
 The departure of Hiawatha resembles the re- 
 turn to heaven of the good deity in Canassatego's 
 story, but was probably derived, Beauchamp 
 thinks, from Christ's ascension. 
 
 The proper pronunciation is Hi-a-wat-ha, as 
 rendered by Jaris Pierce. 
 
 In the story of Hiawatha, says Beauchamp, 
 the serpents probably represent rifts, passed by 
 canal cuts, and the opening of Onondaga lake 
 the ditch dug at the outlet. 
 
 The Onondagas and other inland nations used 
 no salt until long after white men came hither. 
 Unrecorded Civilizations 
 
 On the occasion of the Pompey reunion thS' 
 Hon. Luther K. Marsh, one of the most eloquent, 
 
86 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 of the old town's sons, told of the mists of an- 
 tiquity resting there. " There have heen en- 
 acted upon the site of the present town, at some 
 remote peiiod, " he said, " events which no pen 
 has recorded and no tradition preserved. Gener- 
 ations and races have preceded the present on 
 this chosen part and disappeared. Whence they 
 came, whither they went, is not yet ascertained ; 
 mystery enclouds their origin, their life and 
 their departure; conjecture starts her various 
 theories, but authentic history is silent. The 
 evidences of a former population, now extinct, 
 are thick around us. A second growth of trees, 
 of such age and magnitude as to take rank 
 with the original forest, astonished those who 
 thought they had come to a place entii'ely new. 
 If when we were boys and girls a museum had 
 been established here to hold the relics discov- 
 ered in our soil, this would have been a famous 
 resort for the curious and scientific. Here would 
 have remained your stone tablet of Anno Domino 
 1550, now reposing in the institute at Albany, 
 whose hieroglyphics so many Oharapollions have 
 endeavored to decipher. Here would have been 
 collected not only the rude arrow-heads and 
 granite tomahawks of the savage, but the proofs 
 of a former and unknown civilization — the 
 blacksmith's forge, iron implements of hus- 
 bandry, fragments of earthenware, and church 
 
PERSONS OF PROMINENCE 87 
 
 bells, and numerous coins and medals, whose 
 devices and inscriptions age has obliterated. 
 Long before the ancestors of the present resi- 
 dents clambered here — long before the time when 
 a bounty of five dollars was offered for a wolf's- 
 scalp— there was embedded in the soil, since up- 
 turned by the coulter, not only the utensils of 
 peace, but the weapons of civilized warfare, 
 guns and cannon, and cannon ball, indicating 
 the advance in the arts both of living and kill- 
 ing. It was of this profusion of relics of an- 
 tiquity, no doubt, that, after modern chisels 
 had done their artistic work, the soil of our own 
 town was chosen for the clandestine deposit of 
 the Gypsum Giant — not indigenous, but im- 
 ported—the only humbug, as, with due modesty, 
 w^e claim, Pompey ever turned out." 
 
 Prominent Personalities 
 
 Partly from personal recollection, but much 
 more from impressions second hand, I have men- 
 tally protrayed prominent men who figured in 
 the pioneer times. There was gruff old General 
 Danforth, who by his dignity and straightfor- 
 wardness, commanded the respect of his fellow 
 men and secured the friendship of the aborigines. 
 He was the leader in the iirst enterprises that 
 contributed greatly to the organization of society 
 and the growth of communities here. His in- 
 fluence extended into the country roundabout, 
 
88 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 and was powerful in building the mills which 
 provided sustenance for the people. He found 
 the old mortar hollowed out of a tree, in which 
 grain was pounded into flour by a wooden pestle, 
 and he substituted the grist-mill for it. There 
 stood till within recent memory the big wheel, 
 overturned beside the old raceway of his grist 
 and saw mill on the Onondaga creek just south- 
 ward of the South avenue bridge over the creek. 
 The bark of trees and saplings constituted the 
 first habitations and he built the saw mills which 
 made possible comfortable frame dwellings. It 
 was he who brought the first saw and the first 
 mill stone through the forests from the settle- 
 ments in the Mohawk valley. It was he, in co- 
 operation with Comfort Tyler and young Dan- 
 forth, who boiled salt from the brine found in 
 the salt licks on the marshes of Onondaga lake. 
 His brilliant young associate, Comfort Tyler, 
 felled the first trees, opened up the highways 
 connecting the new settlement with the older 
 ones, and devised the scheme of state roads that 
 should constitute connections with the older 
 civilization in the East. It was he who in the 
 legislature of 1798-9 pushed through the splen- 
 did project of the great Cayuga lake bridge, 
 which supplied the sole feasible avenue for 
 travel and transportation out of the East into 
 the far West. 
 
STATE AID TO THE SALT INDUSTRY 89 
 
 A little later Joshua Forman and James Ged- 
 des were pioneers in the magnificent Erie canal 
 project, and in legislative action and engineering 
 determination contributed essentially to the suc- 
 cess of the enterprise. 
 
 It fell to Dr. William Kirkpatrick and his as- 
 sociates to secure state aid to the salt industry, 
 whose revenues in return contributed $3,500,- 
 000 to the building of the great canal, and whose 
 success was vastly promotive of the commercial 
 supremacy of New York city and aided beyond 
 all estimate in building up all this region and 
 the entire line of canal counties. The repre- 
 sentative men of that time here were foremost 
 in all public enterprises and to them is due very 
 much the impulse to the growth and prosperity 
 of the Empire State. 
 
©IXTH f=»af=e:f=? 
 Ponipey Hill «i Favored Section 
 
 The pioneer settlers as a rule, in pushing their 
 way into a new country, located upon the high- 
 est ground, and made their homes there, because 
 these were the healthiest and most eligible spots, 
 while the valleys were wet and malarious. An 
 exception was Onondaga Valley, which was a 
 beautiful locality and near the Indian villages, 
 where trading was advantageously carried on. 
 The Pompey hills were early occupied, and 
 being one of the original townships of the Mili- 
 tary Tract, it was the home of some of the revo- 
 utionary soldiers who liad bounty lands there. 
 The first settler, Ebenezer Butler, after whom 
 the place was first called, came hither four years 
 after the Onondaga Valley settlement. New- 
 England people filled the community. A church 
 was formed in the year of Onondaga county's 
 organization. Out of the early families were 
 distinguished persons — Horatio Seymour, Charles 
 Mason, Mrs. Lippincott, (Grace Greenwood), 
 Erastus D. Palmer, the sculptor. Attorney Gen- 
 eral George H. Williams, General H. W. Slo- 
 cum, the Sedgwicks, the Gotts, the Wheatons, 
 Birdeyes, Hiscocks and others. 
 
 (90) 
 
SEYMOUR ON POMPEY 91 
 
 A Frontier Station 
 
 Governor Seymour, Id his address at the Pom- 
 pey reunion in 1871, drew a beautiful picture of 
 " this spot as one of the frontier stations of civ- 
 ihzation. The first settlers, shunning the deeper 
 and darker valleys, where luxuriant but exces- 
 sive vegetation was fraught with disease and 
 death, placed their homes upon the hilltops, 
 where most readily they got air and light and 
 outlook over the land covered as by a great 
 ocean with green and Avaving foliage." The 
 Governor spoke of looking of!" upon " the lower 
 lands, where the city of Syracuse now stands 
 with its 50,000 population, then a pestilential 
 place, an unsightly swamp, in whose miasmatic 
 air many si.-kened and died." The toil and en- 
 ergy of the people who settled Pompey were 
 given to felling trees in the winter months, the 
 burning of the trunks and stumps in spring, the 
 cultivation of crops in the summer, and the 
 slender harvests in the fall, all painfully labori- 
 ous and unremunerative. Simple food and 
 scanty clothing were the rewards, and for these 
 blessings the pioneers thanked God and were 
 happy. 
 
 Mr. Seymour dwelt upon social phases of the 
 town's history. There had been marked changes 
 in half a century. " At the outset society was 
 crude, but it was free and void of shams and 
 
92 Pioneer times in onondaga 
 
 hyprocricy. The people had a kind of teaching 
 which was in some ways better than that gained 
 by modern improvements in books and sciiools. 
 At an early day, in poor communities, only 
 those who were able to put up comfortable 
 houses could entertain travellers. Hence, fifty 
 years ago, inn-keepers were among the leading 
 men. The village bar-room was not only made 
 attractive by its ample space, and made cheerful 
 by its great fires of logs and sticks, but it was 
 also the common resort of men of all classes. 
 The lawyer, the doctor, the clergyman, and men 
 of business and labor met to talk over the affairs 
 of town, state and nation." Mutual interests 
 and wide acquaintance with all topics were thus 
 promoted. There was a better knowledge of 
 human nature then than now. The village bar- 
 room had its evils and temptations; but with 
 these done away with, its cheerful rooms and 
 bright fires restored, and above all, its kindly 
 and free intercourse among all classes renewed, 
 there would be better morals and order through- 
 out our social system, and we should have 
 wiser and better men at the bar, in the pulpit, 
 and in the halls of state and national legislation. 
 There was a bright glimpse of the relaxations 
 in the habits of the early time in the following 
 remarks of Mr. Seymour: " The amusements 
 of these old days were more robust than at this 
 
THE OLD TAVERN AT ONONDAGA VALLEY 
 
94 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 time. Physical strength and activity were ad- 
 mired. Each town had ambitions of having the 
 swiftest runner and the most skilful wrestlt^r. 
 The battle with the forest could only be fought 
 and won by hands hardened to toil and endur- 
 ance. These were the qualities most admired, 
 for they were the most needed. Our deacons 
 would not now think of calling out the country 
 to aid in lifting up the frames of their churches 
 by a promise that some adventurous man would 
 stand upon his head on the highest ball on the 
 steeple's top, and twine his feet in the tines of 
 the lightning rod. Yet the church which stands 
 in its fair proportions on this village green was 
 helped up by some such inducements. Pm sure 
 the deacons now would not try to stimulate the 
 sale of pews by putting a pail of punch on the 
 pulpit stairs to warm up the spirits of the church 
 members; yet I know that was the case when 
 the pews were sold in the church near by. 
 Nevertheless I think that it is true that in all 
 social intercourse, in public morality, in official 
 virtue, democracy was practiced better then than 
 now\" This is, indeed, a glimpse of the meth- 
 ods of the pioneers that will interest and amuse 
 those of this generation, 
 
 Poiiipcy's Origin and Orowih 
 
 Pompey originally was Township No. lo of 
 the Military Tract. It consisted of 100 lots. 
 
POMPEY SETTLERS 95 
 
 which by the setting off of territory to other 
 towns were reduced to 68 lots. Before erection 
 as a town it was a part of the town of Mexico, 
 Herkimer county. It was settled principally 
 from Mew England and ol)tained great celebrity 
 in its earlier years. John Wilcox was the first 
 white settler; he came with an Indian from 
 Oneida, and located about tw^o miles north of 
 present Lafayette village. Here was one of the 
 most famous Indian apple orchards. It is related 
 in Clark's that in each of the trees of this old 
 orchard there was a singular collection of sticks 
 or brush; and it was explained that after the 
 Van Schaick expedition this locality was deserted 
 by the Indians, the place was overrun by bears, 
 which climbing the trees and eating the apples 
 from the limbs, drew under them the twigs, which 
 formed a seat for them and these seats were the 
 bunches of twigs about the size of a half- bushel 
 measure. The Indians burned the Wilcox har- 
 vests in retaliation for the digging into Indian 
 graves to get the brass kettles and other relics. 
 The digging was stopped under this admonition, 
 and the burning of the crops also ceased. 
 
 The first settler in the present towm of Poni- 
 pey was Ebenezer Butler, sr., who had served 
 under Washington in the Revolution; he came 
 with his son, El)enezer, jr., who also was a 
 revolutionary soldier, and was one of the "■ prison- 
 
96 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 ship ' ' prisoners of the British in New York 
 harbor, and locating on the site of Pompey Hill, 
 built several dwellings on the best situations, 
 and was for a lifetime active in local affairs. 
 The place was called after him Butler's Hill, 
 until 1811 it was renamed by Surveyor Moses 
 DeWitt, Pompey Hill. The senior Butler in 
 June, 1794, led the organization of the first 
 Presbyterian society of Pompey, which is 
 claimed to be the first religious organization in 
 Onondaga county, which then embraced all the 
 Military Tract. He also was a member of the 
 First Congregational church, organized in 1800. 
 The first settlers were nearly all from New Eng- 
 land and they brought with them the ideas and 
 aspirations of the colonies. They passed through 
 all the hardships and privations incident to pio- 
 neer life. 
 
 The region was heavily timbered and clear- 
 ings were difficult. At first all domestic supplies 
 were brought on men's backs from Whitestown. 
 
 Then the stump mill was put in operation, 
 and soon the corn and wheat raised by the set- 
 tlers were ground into flour. 
 
 Moses Dewitt, the surveyor, was the first 
 Supervisor. 
 
 At the first town meeting it was voted that 
 "hogs be free commoners," and a $5 a head 
 bounty on wolves was levied. 
 
A FAMOUS CHARACTER 97 
 
 Ebenezer Butler, the father of the town, was 
 Supervisor for several years. 
 
 After the Presbyterian society came the Bap- 
 tist, the Congregational, and Methodist socie- 
 ties; the Roman Catholics came in 1823 and 
 have grown rapidly. Physicians, teachers and 
 lawyers followed in quick order and did much 
 to build the town. 
 
 Pompey led in educational enterprises. The 
 early teachers were from New England and were 
 embued with the spirit of that region. The 
 Pompey academy, established in 1811, gave the 
 town a fine literary reputation. 
 
 The industrial interests were rapidly devel- 
 oped. Grist and saw mills were erected on the 
 favorable sites before 1800, and the fine w^ater 
 powers were utilized in various ways. 
 
 A Revolutionary Hero 
 
 Conrad Bush, one of the first German settlers 
 in Onondaga county, located on his military lot. 
 No. 37, in 1800. He was a famous character, 
 having served in Colonel Lamb's artillery regi- 
 ment and engaged in the battles of Long Island, 
 Trenton and Princeton and was at the capture 
 of Cornwallis at Yorktown. General Lafay- 
 ette on his visit here in 1826 recognized Bush, 
 and he also was a favorite with Timothy Picker- 
 ing, who was Washington's war secretary. 
 
98 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 What Antiquities Evidence 
 
 The antiquities of old Pompey are the most 
 extensive and interesting in Onondaga county, 
 not excepting those of the prolific region round 
 about Oneida lake. They show the presence of 
 the aboriginal people, whose only records are in 
 the relics and remains that are unearthed by the 
 present settlers, and which, without tongues, 
 yet speak an eloquent language. The evidences 
 in Pompey, as well as in Manlius, Dewitt and 
 Camillus, show the period of the Jesuit occupa- 
 tion and that of the traders in the sixteenth and 
 seventeenth centuries. Forts, mounds, utensils, 
 burying grounds and other vestiges indicate the 
 occupation of civilized races in a former age. 
 Civilization is recorded by the relics of metallic 
 arms, instruments and utensils of the soldier, 
 artisan, mechanic and farmer; and before that 
 was an era when the arts of agriculture and war 
 were carried on with impliments of wood, stone, 
 clay and shells. 
 
 Pompey' Hill was for years one of the most 
 prominent places in Onondaga county. It was 
 noted for the wealth and refinement of its peo- 
 ple, and the educational facilities it enjoyed. It 
 was a center of statesmanship, law and litera- 
 ture. Pompey is a widely recognized mother of 
 public men who have left their impress upon the 
 affairs of the state and nation. 
 
EARLY HISTORY DUPLICATED 99 
 
 In the early days wild animals abounded in 
 the dense forests with which the hill was covered. 
 Bears, foxes, wolves, panthers and other ani- 
 mals were ' plentiful. At last they were killed 
 off or driven away. Descendants of the pio- 
 neers, to this day, repeat thrilling stories of en- 
 counters with wild beasts that have been handed 
 down from generation to generation. 
 
 The early history of old Pompey is duplicated 
 in Pompey Center, Pompey Hollow, Delphi, and 
 Oran, as well as in many other places in the new 
 country. Pioneer times were about the same in 
 all the communities. This region in particular 
 was heavily timbered and the conquering of new 
 homes and the introduction of civilized living 
 were no easy enterprises. But the hardy pio- 
 neers overcame all obstacles; settlements were 
 speedily founded, and beautiful communities 
 sprang into existance. There were hardships 
 and privations in the early years, but the labors 
 of the sturdy settlers were persistent aud hopeful 
 and at last were crowned with success. The people 
 prospered and their etforts were remunerated. 
 Notable was the growth of schools, and note- 
 worthy were the records of men and women sent 
 out from them, who became promiueot in the 
 world of science, art, literature and public 
 affairs. Pompey has been the birthplace of as 
 remarkable a galaxy of public men as any other 
 spot in the land 
 
 LofC. 
 
100 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 Prehistoric Coiinnuiiities 
 
 Back of the generations of which we have 
 knowledge there are unmistakable indications 
 of earlier settlements and civilization; in all 
 the region there are relics of a preceding race of 
 civilized people, which have been unearthed to 
 the aroused interest and curiosity of the genera- 
 tions of present civilized people. Eemains of 
 early forts and fortifications still are preserved. 
 Indian traditions tell that the region has been 
 desperately fought over, and it is a singular fact 
 that the Onondagas of these times seldom visit 
 the locality. They look upon it as " a field of 
 blood," and legend refreshes the old-time mem- 
 ories. 
 
 The general description of pioneer times in 
 the old town of Pompey applies to Fabius, Lafay- 
 ette and Tully, which were in whole or in part 
 erected from old Pompey. 
 
SEVENTH F=Af=ER 
 
 01(1 Time Dwellings 
 
 On the hillside oveilooking the beautiful On- 
 ondaga Valley there still stands an old log-house. 
 A third of a century ago many like it were scat- 
 tered through the Onondaga country, nearly all 
 of which have given place to the march of im- 
 provement. This particular log-house is of 
 hewed logs and two stories, a somewhat more 
 pretentious structure than most of its time and 
 kind. Indeed, it represents the aristocratic side 
 of pioneer life. It was a rare dwelhng in its 
 day, and many and fine were the scenes that 
 were enacted under its hospitable roof. Hewed 
 logs were luxuries in the early time ; they cost 
 labor and money. The usual dwelling was of 
 rough logs, and of one story, while this had two. 
 It was cheaper and easier to build two rooms 
 side by side, or with a passageway between 
 them than to build one over the other. The 
 stockade log-houses were 2-storied, with port- 
 holes in the second story. In the 2 -storied 
 house, at the hour of retiring, the guest bade 
 the host good-night, took his tallow dip and 
 climbed the ladder iuto the sleeping floor. 
 
 (101) 
 
102 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 These houses dated at the close of the last cen- 
 tury. The turn-pike was the popular highway 
 at the time these dwellings were in vogue, and 
 it was on the certainty that the pike was to run 
 that way that the better class of log-houses 
 were located. These log-houses succeeded the 
 bark huts, and were ever so much more com- 
 fortable. A well-built log-house is a perma- 
 nency. It is not subject to decay, and the few 
 that remain in the earlier settled places are still 
 dry and comfortable. What a contrast between 
 the old log-house on the pike and the modern 
 residence on the asphalt and near the trolley 
 line. It notes the changed civihzation, and yet 
 the intelligence and wisdom may not be as far 
 apart as the modern improvements indicate. 
 Looking out from the old log-house on the Onon- 
 daga hill and getting a glimpse of the great 
 community huddled in the lower end of Onon- 
 daga Valley, best tells the changes in a hundred 
 years. 
 
 The Early Groundwork 
 
 Old Onondaga, says the Eev. Avery R. Pal- 
 mer in his centennial discourse, was, when the 
 treaty of peace with Great Britain was signed 
 September 3d, 17S3, " an unfenced desolation of 
 Indians and swamps, forests and mountains." 
 After Webster, the pioneer, came the Danforths 
 and Tyler, permanent settler. " Danforth was 
 
EARLY GROUNDWORK 103 
 
 a man of remarkable character, indomitable in 
 energy and determination, with strong anticipa- 
 tion of the needs of a new country. He erected, 
 m 1792, on Butternut creek, a little north of 
 Jamesville, the first saw mill in the county, 
 bringing the mill saw on his back from Fort 
 Schuyler. The next year he built the first grist 
 mill in the county, the nails, gearing, belting, 
 etc., being brought on Indians' backs from Al- 
 bany. Citizens volunteered from long distances 
 around, and hands were hired from as far as 
 Herkimer to help in the building of the dams 
 and mills — the workmen living in bark huts, 
 and on raising day sixty -four men were present. 
 The second grist and saw mill in the county was 
 built by Danforth on Onondaga creek (near the 
 present South avenue bridge in Syracuse), in 1793, 
 In the fall of 1793 a 19-year-old boy named 
 Hall carried on his back a bushel of corn to 
 Danforth 's mill, fifteen miles distant, and had 
 it ground into corn meal, which he carried back 
 home in the same way he brought it, and the 
 family relished that feast of genuine corn meal 
 so well that the thinly-settled neighborhood 
 imitated the enterprising boy's exploit frequently 
 till a mill was erected near by. 
 
 The First raverii iii the County 
 
 Benjamin Morehouse, in 1790, kept the first 
 tavern in Onondaga county. It was located 
 
lOtt PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 three miles west of Manlius and enjoyed much 
 fame. The landlord supplied his table with 
 wheat flour brought on men's backs from Her- 
 kimer. 
 
 The Supply of Food 
 
 Provisions for the young communities also 
 were brought from Whitestown and from Tioga, 
 Pa. There were strong ties between the settlers 
 here and those in the northern central Pennsyl- 
 vania regions. The early trade in salt was 
 mostly with other interior settlements, where 
 the article was scarce. In 1792 and '93 the set- 
 tlers here suffered severely for want of provis- 
 ions, and on several occasions boats were sent 
 across Onondaga lake from Salt Point to Oswego 
 and thence to Kingston, to procure needed sup- 
 piles of food. Captain Canute of a trading boat 
 between Albany and Salt Point brought grocer- 
 ies and provisions for the Onondaga settlers, 
 and received his pay in captured animals and 
 their skins. He is said often to have taken back 
 to Albany young bears, wolves, coons, foxes, 
 fawns, etc., which were very plentiful in the 
 new country. Deer were numerous, and be- 
 came so domesticated that they herded with the 
 cattle and often were found with them in the 
 cow yards. Captain Canute had a standing offer 
 for young bears, which were furnished him, for 
 sale at Albany. 
 
EARLY BUSINESS ENTERPRISE 105 
 
 Great Merclmiits 
 
 There was in early years of the country the 
 general store, which had in country districts 
 about the same relation that the department 
 store of this time has to cities. The general 
 store was situated at cross roads in settled locali- 
 ties, and in it was carried on all branches of 
 trade. John Meeker was the great store-keeper 
 of 1800. He had a number of general stores 
 located in eligible communities, and he was a 
 great and successful merchant of his time. Mr, 
 Meeker discovered the ability and worth of Aza- 
 riah Smith of Manlius, whom he made his 
 partner and introduced to business. Mr. Smith 
 was one of the marked men of his time. He 
 was not only a great merchant, but generally 
 a man of affairs, who was universally trusted 
 with large responsibilities and was relied upon for 
 the discharge of trusts. No considerable enter- 
 prise of his time but had his aid and encourage- 
 ment. His sons followed in his footsteps, and 
 are distinguished in business and the sciences. 
 
 Others who were prominent in large degree as 
 
 merchants were Jonas C. Baldwin and Otis Bige- 
 
 low of Ly Sander, and Eeuben and Simeon West 
 
 in Onondaga, and Thomas McCarthy of Salina. 
 
 Steuben and the First Born 
 
 The first birth in a new settlement is quite an 
 event. At the public house of John Schaeffer, 
 
106 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 in Maalius, in 1792, Baron Steuben and party, 
 who had been to lay out a block-house at Sahna, 
 were guests for a night. There was a child born 
 in the house that night. In the morning the 
 Baron roundly swore at the landlord for allow- 
 ing people to come and go during the nighttime, 
 to the sore disturbance of guests. When the 
 midwife brought in the new-born babe and ex- 
 hibited the little fellow to the Baron, he not only 
 humbly apologized for his wrathy outbreak, but 
 bestowed his own name and the gift of a deed 
 for 250 acres of good farm lands upon the cause 
 of his discomfort. 
 
 First Salt Muimfacture 
 
 Danforth and Tyler inaugurated the salt man- 
 ufacture at Salt Point in 1789. They utilized a 
 salt lick in the rear of the old pump-house at 
 Salina. Danforth carried on his head a 5-quart 
 kettle, from the Valley, and Tyler carried other 
 tools. They put up crotched sticks as a support 
 to the pole from which the kettle was suspended, 
 and in twelve hours they boiled thirteen bushels 
 of salt, which was taken to the Valley for do- 
 mestic use, and a part of the product was sent 
 to Quebec. The settlers for several years made 
 the salt for their own use in this manner. The 
 fame of the salt manufacture drew people from 
 many places in the East and the community 
 rapidly grew. From the suspension of kettles 
 
FIRST SALT MANUFACTURE lOT 
 
 from poles, was the setting of kettles on piles of 
 stones, then the erection of roofs to the rude 
 works, then the setting of a cauldron kettle in 
 an arch, and finally the construction of fine 
 salt boiling blocks of from 20 to 104 kettles, 
 which was pretty near the perfection of the 
 method of the manufacture. Tall chimneys and 
 the use of coal for fuel (after the soft wood sup- 
 plies within easy reach were exhausted), were 
 the amplification of the early process of fine salt 
 making. The first genuine salt works was set 
 up by Isaac Van Vleck in 1793 (whose grandson, 
 James Van Vleck, is now living), and the first 
 salt made in a permanent building was by Elisha 
 Alvord, father of Thomas G. Alvord, in 1793. 
 The enterprise was extended to Geddes by James 
 Geddes in 1795, to Liverpool by John Danforth 
 in the next year, and the first wells were opened 
 in Syracuse in 1830. The introduction and 
 adaptation of mechanical processes from the dip- 
 ping of the brine by pails up to the pumping by 
 water and steam power, were advances made in 
 a series of years. The Onondaga Salt springs 
 reservation, a tract of 15,000 acres, surrounding 
 Onondaga lake, was established in 1797, and set 
 apart for the location of salt works. The territory 
 was reduced to 550 acres by sales about 1820, then 
 increased by purchases, and finally has mostly 
 fallen into the ownership of land speculators. 
 
108 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 Where the Brine is Found 
 
 The brine of the Onondaga Salt springs is lo- 
 cated in the basin ot* the Onondaga creek, and 
 the salt wells are sunk in the drift deposits un- 
 derlying the valley, the stronger where the old 
 valley is the deepest. At the head of the valley, 
 under the foothills, rock salt deposits have been 
 discovered and utilized by the Solv^ay Process 
 company. The Onondaga salt manufacture has 
 fallen into decadence in the last quarter of a cen- 
 tury, and now is in close compass. Competition 
 of the salines in Western New York and Michi- 
 gan, where advantages in strength of brine, in 
 cheaper fuel and lower transportation rates exist, 
 has narrov/ed the market for Onondaga salt 
 to the Atlantic coast, where it comes into com- 
 petition with foreign salt. Various experiments 
 have been made in improved, cheaper methods 
 of manufacture, but they have not saved local 
 business. The Solvay works continue to use 
 large quantities of salt water from the Tully 
 wells in their products. The boiling or fine 
 works on the Onondaga reservation are nearly 
 extinct, but the solar or coarse works are still 
 maintained in part. Syracuse and the adjacent 
 communities have had their boom from the salt 
 manufacture, and the impulse thus received is 
 kept up on other lines of manufacture and 
 business. 
 
DISCOVERY OF SALT SPRINGS 109 
 
 Did the Indians Make Salt I 
 
 It is claimed in the books that as early as lT7o 
 the Indians made some salt and that the Onon- 
 dagas traded it with other tribes. But Doctor 
 Beauchamp says that the Indians made no t^alt 
 until after the white man began the manufac- 
 ture. The first white man's record of the exis- 
 tance of salt at Onondaga lake was by Father 
 LeJMoyne in 1653, 2-tT years ago. He came with 
 a party of Huron and Onondaga chiefs as an 
 envoy, to ratify a treaty of peace between the 
 two nations, in which the French in Canada 
 were concerned. His discovery and the declar- 
 ation of it greatly surprised the Dutch at New 
 Amsterdam, who pronounced it " a Jesuit lie." 
 Father Lallamout wrote of "salt fountains" at 
 Onondaga, and other Jesuit fathers a little later 
 gave minute descriptions of the salt springs. 
 The Onondaga valley was explored by these 
 visitors and excellent descriptions are recorded 
 of it from their pens. 
 
 The first manufacture of salt in any consider- 
 able quantity was by Nathaniel Loomis, a resi- 
 dent at Bridgewater, who in the fall of 1798 
 came from Oneida lake and river to Salt Point, 
 and during the winter boiled some 500 or 600 
 bushels of salt, which he sold for a dollar a 
 bushel. Moses DeWitt and William Van Vleck 
 entered into the first partnership for the making 
 
110 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 of salt in 1793, and with four potash kettles 
 manufactured all the salt the settlers needed and 
 some for sale elsewhere. The salt blocks were 
 first built of logs, like the dwelhngs, and in 
 1798 the first large company for the salt manu- 
 facture on a large scale was formed, and thence 
 on the business prospered. The salt duties paid 
 the state contributed upwards of three and a 
 half million dollars towards the construction of 
 the Erie canal. 
 
EICSHTH F=AF=EF? 
 
 Labors of the French Jesuits 
 
 Antecedent to the pioneer times in the Onon- 
 daga country were the vigorous enterprises of 
 the French Eoman Cathohcs to convert the 
 Iroquois and by this means attach them and 
 their country to the kingdom of France. All 
 this region was called New France, and expe- 
 dition after expedition under Jesuit priests was 
 sent on this mission of proselyting to Christian- 
 ity and enlarging the French dominion. The 
 labors of the French Jesuits are described in the 
 Relations, which in detail tell of the marvelous 
 work done in the Onondaga country: by Father 
 LeMoyne's Journal, detailing his visit here in 
 1653, and by the Relations from 1655 continued 
 in various chapters to 1709. The English en- 
 tered into competition with the French for the 
 favor of the Onondagas, whose territory w^as 
 the central part of the Iroquois possessions, 
 which was coveted by these two European pow- 
 ers. The English supplanted the French, who 
 never seemed to gain the Indians' full confidence, 
 and in the war of the revoluton were with Great 
 Britain against the Americans, but after the 
 
 (111) 
 
112 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 close of the war were reconciled to the Ameri- 
 cans and became their alhes and fast friends. 
 
 Protestant Missions 
 
 The Protestant missionary efforts dated from 
 the efficient endeavors of the Eev. John Eliot, 
 for the conversion of the ISiew England tribes 
 early in the seventeenth century, and his transla- 
 tion of the Bible, Catechism and Psalms of David 
 into the Indian tongue. His Bible, thus trans- 
 lated, was the first publication of the Scriptures 
 on the American continent. About 1700 syste- 
 matic efforts began for the christianizing of the 
 Six Nations. With the Bible went the building 
 of a fort and a chapel. Queen Anne undertook 
 the winning of the aborigines, and her appro- 
 priations for chapels for each of the nations 
 were accompanied by elaborate communion ser- 
 vices of silver, which were suitably inscribed. 
 The Queen Anne chapel at Onondaga was never 
 built, and the Queen Anne communion service 
 for the Onondagas got as far as Albany, where 
 it has remained. Sir William Johnson was later 
 an efficient promoter of the missions. He visited 
 the Onondagas on several occasions, and has left 
 good accounts of the conditions as he found them. 
 Interesting but not very profitable missionary 
 enterprises continued during the rest of the sev- 
 enteenth century, and the more candid of the 
 accounts frankly state that few Indians were 
 
PROMINENT MISSIONARIES 113 
 
 converted and that the aborigines preferred to 
 adhere to the rehgion of their fathers. In 1750 
 the Moravian Brothers undertook a mission at 
 Onondaga, bat the enterprise lasted only about 
 three years. This was the fate of succeeding 
 missions. 
 
 Prominent Missionaries 
 
 The Rev. Samuel Kirkland came from Massa- 
 chusetts to the Oneidas in 1766 and continued a 
 brave work till the war of the Revolution broke 
 out. After the war he came into the field again, 
 and continued his systematic and useful work 
 among th(? Oneidas and Onondagas and was 
 helpful to the government in arranging peaceable 
 relations with the Six Nations, keeping up his 
 good work till his death in 1S08. He was the 
 first Protestant preacher in the Onondaga 
 country. 
 
 The Rev. Eleazur Wilhams, who figured later 
 as the reputed French Dauphin, took up the work 
 among the Indians and as an Episcopal mission- 
 ary did a good deal for them. He labored assid- 
 uously among the Onondagas. Solomon Davis 
 was also a serviceable missionary up to the time 
 of LaFort. The churches now existing on the 
 Onondaga reservation, which have had the spec- 
 ial attention of the Episcopalians and Methodists, 
 were outgrowths of these early mission labors. 
 
114 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 Early Settlers Built Churches and Schools 
 
 The settlers of the hills and valleys of the 
 Onondaga country who came hither on the coun- 
 ty's organization in 1791, brought with them 
 their New England traits, and at once declared 
 the need of churches and schools in the new 
 country. They had no sooner constructed habi- 
 tations in which to live, than they turned their 
 attention to the building of meeting houses and 
 school-houses. They transplanted the institutions 
 of their early homes into their new homes. Re- 
 ligion and education went hand in hand with the 
 pioneers, and the good order, prosperity and suc- 
 cess of the new settlements were due to these 
 institutions which marked the character of the 
 people. 
 
 First Churclies in the County 
 
 There were church societies organized in On- 
 ondaga and Pompey in the year the county was 
 formed, 1791; the churches erected were the 
 Presbyterian at Onondaga Hill, and the Congre- 
 gational, later Presbyterian, at Pompey Hill 
 (then Butler's Hill), in 1818. The Pompey Hill 
 church, is to-day as it was when constructed, ex- 
 cepting that the old-style high pews have been 
 replaced with modern pews. The Onondaga 
 Hill church has been considerably repaired. A 
 picture of this church edifice is given herewith. 
 They are both of the same general style and 
 
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH AT ONONDAGA HILL 
 
116 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 build. This was a peculiarity of the first 
 churches erected in Onondaga county and other 
 parts of Central New York. They all are after 
 the same pattern, in form of main structure, 
 in columns at the front, in style of steeple, 
 in the windows, and other particulars. The 
 old Presbyterian church at Whitestown, Oneida 
 county, was on the identical plan of the 
 churches at Onondaga Hill and Valley and 
 Loomis Hill, at Pompey, at Otisco, at Orville, 
 at Fayettville, at Manlius, and in Salina and 
 Syracuse. They were plain but well appearing 
 and comfortable, reasonably inexpensive, and 
 conspicuous objects in the landscape. The build- 
 ers were in most instances the same, and prob- 
 ably the plans for one served very nearly for all 
 the others. 
 
 An old Massachusetts church, whose 250th 
 anniversary was recently celebrated, is on the 
 same general plan, and looks just like these On- 
 ondaga church edifices. 
 
 In Onondaga, at the Hill, the Onondaga Re- 
 ligious society, later the First Presbyterian so- 
 ciety, was formed at the log tavern of Daniel 
 Earll, about 1802, The Rev. Dirck Lansing was 
 pastor in 1806-9. The edifice was erected in 
 1818, and still stands. The Onondaga Hollow 
 Religious society (Presbyterian) was formed in 
 1809, when the Rev. Dirck Lansing became its 
 
OTHER CHURCH SOCIETIES 117 
 
 pastor. The church edifice ^vas built in Is 10, 
 and has been in use ever since. A distinguished 
 line of preachers have occupied its pulpit, among 
 them the Eev. Caleb Alexander, the founder of 
 the academy, and a man great, both as preacher 
 and teacher, 
 
 St. John's Episcopal church was organized at 
 the Hill in 1803, by the Eev. Davenport, the 
 pioneer Episcopal minister in this region. It was 
 here that the Indian chief LaFort was married 
 in 1828. It was the first Episcopal parish in the 
 county, and in 1816, it was succeeded by Zion's 
 church, its bell was brought to Syracuse, and its 
 organ taken to Jordan. Father Geer was long 
 its rector and divided his pastorate between this 
 church and the Onondagas at the reservation. 
 The Baptist church at Howlett Hill was formed 
 in 1804. 
 
 The first religious society at Pompey. origin- 
 ally the Congregational, was organized by the 
 Rev. A. R. Robinson of Norfolk, Conn., with 
 twenty-seven communicants, in 1794, and since 
 1810 has been Presbyterian, with a growth to 
 upwards of 300 members. The early meetings 
 were held in the school-house and then the acad- 
 emy, until in 1818 the church was erected, and 
 has remained as at first, excepting the moderniz- 
 ing of the pews. The list of pastors contains 
 distinguished names, whose bearers later went 
 
118 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 into broader fields. The pulpit has been occupied 
 since 1798. The same year at Scipio, then a 
 town of the Onondaga country, the Presbyteri- 
 ans organized a society, and the next year the 
 Baptists did the same. In Pompey only the 
 Presbyterian, Disciples and Eoman Catholic 
 churches now are maintained. 
 
 In Marcellus the Eastern society was organ- 
 ized in 1801, and its church was erected in 1803, 
 and still stands. It is gazetted as being " the 
 only meeting house at the time it was built be- 
 tween New Hartford and the Pacific ocean." 
 St, John's Episcopal society was formed in 1824, 
 and its church was built in 1832; Universahsts 
 and Methodists followed. 
 
 In Skaneateles there was a Congregational so- 
 ciety formed in 1801, and its church built in 
 1807; St. John's Episcopal church, 1816; and 
 Baptist and Methodist later. 
 
 Fabius had a Baptist society in 1805 and its 
 church was built in 1806. 
 
 Tully had a Presbyterian society in 1804; Bap- 
 tists and Methodists came later. 
 
 Otisco had a Congregational society in 1804, 
 with a church in 1807, and a new church in 
 1816; the Methodists came next. 
 
 Spafford had a Methodist society in 1800, and 
 Baptist in 1816. 
 
 At Camillus the Baptists organized in J 816, 
 
MOKE CHURCHES IN THE TOWNS 119 
 
 and the same year built a church; Presbyterians 
 and Methodists in 1830. 
 
 In Lysander the First Presbyterian church of 
 Baldwins ville was organized in 1813, and Grace 
 Episcopal church in 1838. 
 
 At Cicero Corners a meeting house was built 
 of logs for the Presbyterian society in 1819, 
 succeeded by a frame structure in 1830, which 
 still stands; Baptist church in 1832, and Meth- 
 odists later. 
 
 Clay early had a Dutch Reformed church ; in 
 1838 the Baptists built a church; Methodists 
 followed. 
 
 In original Manlius, the Presbyterians had a 
 society at Bloomingdale, near James ville, in 1795, 
 and the Episcopalians a society in 1797, which 
 was attended by residents of Manlius and Pom- 
 pey, with a stated rector in 1804, and church 
 erected in 1813. A Union Congregational church 
 was at Morehouse Flats in 1805. 
 
 At Jamesville in Dewitt a Congregational 
 church was erected in 1829, Methodist in 1831. 
 
 At Orville a Presbyterian church was built in 
 1819. 
 
 In Camillus, the First Congregational society 
 was organized October 30th, 1800; church built 
 in 1823-4; in 1829 was changed to the Congre- 
 gational society of Elbridge. 
 
 In Van Buren, at Canton, Baptist society 
 
120 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 formed in 1830, and church built in '33. At 
 Baldwinsville, Baptist society existed from 1818, 
 reorganized in IS-tO. Presbyterians, Christians, 
 Congregationahsis, Methodists and Roman Cath- 
 oUcs followed. 
 
 In Salina, the First Methodist society of Liver- 
 pool was formed in 1820, and church built in 
 1826. Presbyterians organized in 1827 ; churches 
 built in 1811 and '63, Episcopal society formed 
 in 1840, and church built in 1811; St. Paul's 
 German Lutheran society took its property. 
 Roman Catholics built a church in 1890. 
 
 The Presbyterian society at Salina, first known 
 as the " United Church of Onondaga Hollow 
 and Salina," was organized March 20th, 1800, 
 by the Presbytery of Geneva and the Rev. Dirck 
 Lansing, with a membership of nine. In Jan- 
 uary, 1822, the church was dedicated. The First 
 Baptist society w^as formed in 1819, and its 
 church in West Genesee street erected in 1821 
 and enlarged in 1839, The First Presbyterian 
 church was organized December, 1821, with the 
 Rev. Dr. J. W. Adams as its pastor till his death 
 in 1852, and its original church, at the corner of 
 South Salina and Fayette streets, was built in 
 1826, The St. John's Roman Catholic church of 
 Salina, the first Roman Catholic church in Onon- 
 daga county, was organized in 1829 by Thomas 
 McCarthy and James Lynch, and the St. Mary's 
 
HISTORY OF CITY CHURCHES 121 
 
 German Romau Catholic church was organized 
 in lS-l-l-'-15. The Eev. Father Haes was the 
 pastor of St. Mary's at Syracuse for many years. 
 St. Paul's Episcopal church, on the site of the 
 Granger block, was built in 1827, the year after 
 the society was organized. The Park Presby- 
 terian church was built in 1848, the year after 
 the society was formed. New churches have 
 taken the place of the original First Presbyter- 
 ian, the Park Presbyterian and St. PauPs 
 churches. The Church of the Messiah, the First 
 Unitarian Congregational society, was organized 
 September 3d, 1838, and for many years was un- 
 der the pastorate of the Rev. Samuel J. May ; the 
 first chapel was in East Genesee street, and the 
 first church at the corner of Lock and Burnet 
 streets, and finally the present church in James 
 street. St. Mary's Roman Catholic society bought 
 from St. Paul's Episcopal society in 18-t3 the old 
 church on the Granger block triangle, and later 
 was succeeded by the present structure at the 
 corner of Jefferson and Montgomery streets. 
 The First Methodist Episcopal society was organ- 
 ized in 1836, and occupied a church on the site of 
 the state salt office in North Salina street, and 
 later built the present church at. the corner of 
 East Onondaga and South State streets, which is 
 about to give place to a new structure. The 
 Reformed church society built its church in 
 
122 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 James street in 1848. St. James Episcopal 
 society built its first church in 1848. This is the 
 record up to the organization of the city of Syra- 
 cuse, since which time many new religious socie- 
 ties have been created and churches built, until 
 the number now is 120, including missions. 
 
 The above statement is not intended as a com- 
 plete church record for the county of Onondaga; 
 only as a brief chronicle of the earlier churches. 
 It will be noticed that most of the earher religious 
 societies were Presbyterian or Congregational, 
 some of the latter becoming Presbyterian. This 
 was the result of the jN'ew England settlement 
 of this county, the pioneers bringing with them 
 their form of religious worship, as they did also 
 their educational system. Many of these earlier 
 churches united the Christians of all denomina- 
 tions in the communities, and such organiza- 
 tions continued till the population became suffi- 
 ciently numerous to maintain churches of varied 
 names and forms. The record shows how speed- 
 ily and thoroughly organized Christian societies 
 were created, and church edifices erected. 
 
NINTH F=AF=EF=^ 
 
 Promotion of Educational Interests 
 
 The inherent love of civil and religious liberty 
 ^was the prompting of the pioneers in the Onon- 
 daga country in whatever they did in the forma- 
 tive stage of conditions in the early settlements 
 here. They were God-fearing, patriotic, order- 
 loving, and ambitious for prosperity and suc- 
 cess. They established their homes, cleared the 
 land, reared their dwellings and laid the founda- 
 tions of schools and churches. Upon this basis 
 arose the communities which in one hundred 
 years made this region equal in all respects, save 
 antiquities and ruins, with the oldest and most 
 favored parts of the civilized world. This is an 
 educational paper, and will show by what means 
 the educational interests of the new communities 
 were cared for and promoted. 
 
 The First Academy 
 
 The Pompey academy had its origin in a 
 movement of leading citizens of Onondaga 
 ■county in 1800, who joined in a petition to the 
 Eegents of the University of the State for its 
 incorporation. Tliere was no academy in the 
 county, and the granting of the provisional char- 
 
 (123) 
 
OLD POMPEY ACADEMY, ERECTED IN 1810. (First Academy in Onondaga Countt)- 
 
POMPEY ACADEMY 125 
 
 ter was accompanied by a resolution declaring 
 an uncertainty as to Pompey being a proper loca- 
 tion for such an institution, and expressing doubt 
 of the expediency of there being more than one 
 academy in the county; and the Board of Super- 
 visors of the county was asked to advise as to 
 whether any objection existed to the proposed 
 institution. The Supervisors voted approval, 
 but the Eegents were tardy in their action. But 
 on a second application in 1802, the Eegents 
 Yoted a provisional charter. The necessary 
 subscriptions for the academy had been raised, 
 and the erection of the building was begun in 
 1803 and completed iu 1810, with an endowment 
 of 11,450 from the unexpended fund. There 
 were in the original board of trustees twenty- 
 six of the most prominent citizens of Pompey, 
 Onondaga and Camillus. Henry Seymour, Vic- 
 tor Birdseye, Daniel Wood, Luther Marsh, Dirck 
 C. Lansing, James Geddes and Jasper Hopper 
 were prime movei's in the enterprise. Eev. 
 Joshua Leonard was the first principal and under 
 him began a phenomenal career of one of the 
 most famous academies in the state. The list 
 cf subsequent instructors is a long and honor- 
 able one, and the graduates include very many 
 prominent men in the affairs of the state and 
 nation. In 1831 the old building was vacated, 
 and a new academy and preceptor's house were 
 
126 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 built at a cost of about 1:1-, 500. The later struc- 
 ture was typical of the best school buildings of 
 the time; it was a large wooden building, painted 
 yellow, nearly square, being SOx-tO feet on the 
 ground, two stories, with a hall running through 
 the middle of the first floor, study rooms, 15x10 
 feet, on each side of the hall; a long room, 
 15x40 feet, at the rear, in which the common 
 school of the village was held for many years, 
 and on the opposite side was a similar long room 
 in which the academy was conducted. Later 
 both long rooms were used for the academy. A 
 picture of these familiar school quarters is plain 
 in the minds of many surviving pupils of the 
 beloved old school, from whose portals have 
 emerged into the activities of the world many 
 students who have made their enduring impress 
 upon those activities. The second story of the 
 edifice was occupied by the chapel, forty feet 
 square. "' The stage " was at the front, oppo- 
 site the stairway, and from this platform were 
 made the first appearances of those whose elo- 
 quence filled executive, legislative and legal halls, 
 and illumined the pulpit and bench in after 
 years. An interor view of this famous old hall 
 is preserv^ed and has an enduring interest for 
 those who once were familiar with its scenes and 
 personalities. The academy was for some years, 
 used on Sundays for religious meetings. 
 
INTERESTING RECORDS 127 
 
 » 
 
 There were in Central New York at the time 
 the Pompey school came into existence acade- 
 mies at Canandaigua, Cayuga and Lowville, and 
 none further West. 
 
 There recently were presented to the Onondaga 
 Historical association by Henry H. Baker, secre- 
 tary of Pompey academy, now a union free school, 
 the following oi'iginal papers, for preservation: 
 
 The certificate of incorporation by the Kegents 
 of the University, executed by Daniel D. Tomp- 
 kins, Governor and Chancellor of the University, 
 dated March 19th, 1811. 
 
 Letters patent issued by Governor Daniel D. 
 Tompkins, conveying to the trustees of the 
 Pompey academy, lot 15, township of Camillus, 
 638 aicres, as an endowment for the support of 
 the academy, dated May 11th, 1813. About $4,- 
 000 were realized from these lands, which are 
 located on the Seneca river about two miles be- 
 low Baldwinsville. Victory Birdseye procured 
 the legislation for this state grant. 
 
 Accompanying this article are pictures of the 
 old and the present Pompey academy. The site 
 is one of the most commanding in all the Onon- 
 daga country, overlooking more of the landscape 
 than any other place in the central part of this 
 state. A detailed history of the institution ap- 
 pears in the " Keunion of Pompey," pubhshed 
 by W. W. Van Brocklyn in 1875. 
 
POMPEY ACADEMV. ERECTED IN 1834, AS IT NOW IS 
 
ONONDAGA VALLEY ACADEMY 129 
 
 Onondaga Valley Academy 
 
 The Onondaga academy had its inception in a 
 meeting held at the Valley on August 15th, 
 1812. The promoters were prominent citizens 
 of the town of Onondaga, some of whom had 
 been active in the Pompey academy. The more 
 active men were Joshua and Joseph Form an, 
 Dirck C. Lansing, Thaddeus M. Wood, Jasper 
 Hopper, Cornelius Longstreet, John Adams, 
 Nicholas Mickles, William H. Sabine, Joseph 
 Swan, Judson Webb and George Hall. The 
 Regents issued its charter April 10th, 1813, The 
 Rev. Caleb Alexander was made president and 
 was its first principal. Mr. Alexander was a 
 great educator and a learned divine. He organ 
 ized Fairfield academy and was tendered the 
 presidency of Hamilton college on its organiza- 
 tion. He and Doctor Lansing designed founding 
 a theological seminary at the Valley, but the 
 project took on and maintained the character of 
 an academy. 
 
 The state school system was inaugurated in 
 1795, and in that year a log school-house was 
 built in Onondaga Hollow, and the first teacher 
 was Dr. Gordan Needham. For twelve years 
 this school-house was the place of religious, 
 social and public meetings. In the structure 
 was the forerunner of the Onondaga academy, 
 an institution that has greatly promoted educa- 
 
130 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 tion in a broad field. The state in 1812 put its 
 public school system on a definite footing, and 
 that year saw the beginning of the academy 
 scheme. The academy was located in the rear 
 of the Presbyterian church, the site of which was 
 given by the givers of the church site, Joshua 
 Forman and William H. Sabine. The acad- 
 emy building was at once erected, the structure 
 being of stone, 74x31: feet, three stories and a 
 basement. It was not completed till the spring 
 of 1815, and not occupied till the next season. 
 The cost was $6,250. In the basement were a 
 dining hall, kitchen, pantry, cellar and labora- 
 tory. In the second (ground) floor, were the 
 chapel, two large rooms for the school and two 
 bedrooms. The third and fourth floors contained 
 each nine rooms for the students. In 1815 a 
 department for girls was added and occupied the 
 Joshua Forman residence. This building was 
 sold in 1850, and in 1853 an addition was made 
 to the academy building at a cost of 15,550, and 
 in 1890 still further additions were made. 
 
 Twenty-four principals have conducted the 
 academy, and in this list are the names of Dr. 
 Caleb Alexander, the Rev. Edward Fairchild, 
 Samuel S. Stebbins and Ely Burchard (these two 
 were before the principals of the Pompey acad- 
 emy), William P. Goodelle, 0. W. Sturdevant, 
 Samuel B. Woolworth and David H. Cook. The 
 
ONONDAGA VALLEY ACADEMY, Erected in 1815, Remodeled in 1853 and 1890. 
 
132 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 students and graduates, numbering many hun- 
 dreds, have gone out into the world well prepared 
 to meet its responsibilities and many of them 
 have made names of note. 
 
 Another old log school-house in the town of 
 Onondaga was located near the Court House site 
 at Onondaga Hill, and its first teacher was Oliver 
 E. Strong, in 1803. 
 
 Eichard R. Slocum has written a history of 
 the Onondaga academy, which contains very full 
 information. The institution is now the ' ' Onon- 
 daga Academy and Union Free school, District 
 No. 1, town of Onondaga." 
 
 With the beginning of the new century there 
 will commence a series of school and academy 
 centennials in the county of Onondaga. 
 
 Syracuse Academy 
 
 The Syracuse academy was chartered by the 
 Regents in 1835. The enterprise was promoted 
 by Aaron Burt, Harvey Baldwin and Oliver 
 Teall, who were large real estate holders in the 
 eastern part of what is now the city of Syracuse 
 and then was the village of Lodi. The site is 
 that now occupied l)y the Onondaga County Or- 
 phan asylum. It is an eminence overlooking 
 the city of Syracuse, and the academy was a 
 handsome school building for its time. The 
 record of the academy's history for five years 
 after its incorporation is not at hand ; but they 
 
THE ACADEMY AT SYRACUSE 133 
 
 were not years of marked prosperity. It was 
 not till ISiO, when Prof. Oren Eoot, later the 
 widely known professor of mathematics in Ham- 
 ilton college, became its principal, that it took 
 high rank among institutions of its kind. Mr. 
 Eoot was not only a distinguished mathemati- 
 cian, but a great naturalist and investigator. 
 He led his pupils in the pleasantest and most 
 profitable ways. He continued for at least four 
 years at the head of the academy, and was as- 
 sisted by Oliver T, Burt as classical teacher, 
 Joseph A. Allen as teacher of English branches, 
 and Miss Mary Kidder and Lucy T. Burt as 
 teachers in the female department. Other fa- 
 miliar names of teachers are those of Mr. Kel- 
 logg, H. A. Williams, Miss Elizabeth C. Adams, 
 Miss Charlotte G. Buttrick and Charles E. 
 Adams, Joseph A. Allen and A. G. Salisbury 
 were its principals after Mr. Eoot went to Ham- 
 ilton college. The trustees were Harvey Bald- 
 win, Aaron Burt, John W. Adams, Oliver Teall, 
 Thomas Eose, S. W. Cadwell and M. Williams. 
 The years of best success were from 1840 to 
 1845 ; and the next year the property passed into 
 the hands of the Onondaga County Orphan 
 asylum. 
 
 Andrew D. White, in reminiscenses of early 
 Syracuse, says of public buildings in 1840, that 
 the old Syracuse academy was the most impos- 
 
13t 
 
 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 ing of all, on the knoll east of the village. 
 " This institution," he says, " called into its ser- 
 vice men of real value, both as scholars and 
 
 THE ACADEMY AT SYRACUSE 
 
 teachers." OrenEoot and Joseph A. Allen, Mr. 
 White says, " were exceedingly successful in 
 their work ; Mr. Root was an ardent devotee of 
 the natural sciences, and infused into his stu- 
 dents something of his own spirit; Mr. Allen 
 was the best teacher of English branches that 
 I ever knew — without wearying them, he allured 
 his pupils on so that study was a pleasure rather 
 than a burden." Mr. White calls'up the names 
 
OTHER NOTED ACADEMIES 135 
 
 of a score of students in the old academy who 
 have risen to high places in the world. 
 
 Other Academies 
 
 Other academic institutions in the county of 
 Onondaga have noteworthy histories; among 
 them the Manlius academy, incorporated in 
 1835; Monroe Collegiate institute at Elbridge, 
 founded in 1835, and incorporated in 1839, under 
 the inspiration of Nathan Munro; the Jordan 
 academy, which in 1875 passed into the graded 
 school system ; the Skaneateles academy, which 
 did not reach incorporation; the Baldwinsville 
 Free academy, organized in 1861:; the St. John's 
 School for Boys at Manlius (Episcopal) founded 
 in 1869 by Bishop Huntington, and the Syracuse 
 High School, organized in 1855, which are edu- 
 cational institutions that have accomplished 
 incalculable good for many persons in many 
 communities, and have left an indelible impress 
 upon the professional and business pursuits of 
 the times. 
 
 In the pioneer times every new settlement had 
 its school- house, almost always in the first in- 
 stance of logs, which in time gave place to the 
 regulation school building, and further on, in 
 these later days, there are in city, town and vil- 
 lage no more commodious, suitable and creditable 
 buildings than the modern school-houses. The 
 history of the former public schools of Syracuse 
 
136 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 and of the schools under the present system has 
 been well written up by an old teacher, Edward 
 Smith, and some account of the schools in the 
 county at large is given in the county and town 
 histories ; but with the incoming of a new cen- 
 tury there should be prepared and published a 
 reasonably full historical account of the educa- 
 tional institutions of Onondaga county as a cen- 
 tral school history and educational review. 
 
Oneida Lake's Importance 
 
 Oneida lake has an especial interest in con- 
 nection with the first settlement of the Onon- 
 daga country, from the circumstance that it was 
 the thoroughfare of the early emigration and 
 the route of the early military expeditions into 
 this region. For many years all the provisions 
 for the colonies were transported up the Mohawk 
 river, through Oneida lake, thence by the river 
 to Onondaga lake and to the Onondaga villages. 
 This was the water route till the building of the 
 Erie canal. The Inland Navagation company 
 utilized it, and among the strongly urged routes 
 for water connection between the Hudson river 
 and the great lakes was this one, and singularly, 
 one hundred years later, the surveyors for the 
 general government, in running lines for the 
 proposed ship canal, indicate it as the most feas- 
 ible of all propositions. 
 
 General Danforth and his companions, Colonel 
 Tyler and Danforth, jr., made their way to the 
 first settlement at Onondaga Valley in 1788, by 
 way of Oneida lake and river, and through 
 
 (137) 
 
138 
 
 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 Onondaga lake. The Oneida river on all the 
 earlier maps is called the Onondaga river. 
 
 This region always has been noted for its ex- 
 cellent fishing. It is told b}^ Le Moyne that on 
 
 his first visit in 1654 
 there was a famous In- 
 dian fi s h i n g village 
 where the lake empties 
 into the river. The 
 ashes of many sites of 
 Indian villages are 
 found at various points 
 at the foot of the lake, 
 and along the river 
 banks at the lake's out- 
 let, presumably sites of 
 fishing villages, and no 
 spot in the country has 
 been more prolific of 
 Indian relics than this 
 locality. Some of the 
 finest collections of these relics have been here 
 made. 
 
 The settlement of Brewerton was effected in 
 1790. Interesting family history was made 
 there, but few events of general interest are 
 recorded. The town of Cicero was erected in 
 1807. Before that its territory was in Lysander. 
 The river at Brewerton was ferried till 1824, 
 
 ROYAL BLOCKHOUSE AT EAST 
 END OE' ONEIDA LAKE 
 
THE FIRST "new WOMAN" 139 
 
 when a bridge was constructed and a new one 
 built in 184:7. The Salt road from Salina to 
 Brewerton was opened in 1812, and upon this 
 was constructed the first plank road in the 
 United States, in 1840. Its route was outhned 
 by military and settlers many years before. The 
 opening of the Erie canal and later of the 
 Oswego canal had much to do with the pros- 
 perity of the people of the town of Cicero 
 and all the Oneida lake region. The Oneida 
 lake canal greatly promoted local business, 
 by affording a ready outlet for the lumber, 
 wood, iron and glass products of that locality. 
 The Oneida lake region for many years supplied 
 the salt industry on the Onondaga reservation 
 with its soft wood fuel, which preceded the use 
 of coal. 
 
 When Cicero was, in its early days, called 
 Cody's Corners, Mrs. Isaac Cody was know as 
 the first "new woman" in Onondaga county. 
 She was a business woman, a store-keeper and 
 a reformer. Another celebrated woman from 
 this town was Mrs. Matilda Joslyn Gage, the 
 daughter of Dr. Hiram Joslyn, who married 
 the daughter of Sir George Leslie, a Scotch 
 .gentleman. Mrs. Gage became a leader of the 
 •anti-slavery and woman suffrage movements. 
 Mrs. Doctor Joslyn possessed the first piano in 
 the county. 
 
140 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 The great Cicero swamp was a drawback to 
 this part of the county, but under act of the 
 Legislature it was drained and much of its bad 
 lands reclaimed. 
 
 In Oneida lake are located two considerable 
 islands, Frenchman's and Dunham's, which 
 have quite an interesting history. The former 
 is a beautiful island, a.nd is more or less a popu- 
 lar resort. 
 
 Frenchman's Island 
 
 Clark, in his history, tells the story of French- 
 man's island in an attractive manner. He re- 
 lates that about 1800 the island became the abode 
 of a French gentleman, named Devitzy, and his 
 wife, a noble-born woman, who, having eloped 
 and married, made their escape to this country. 
 Seeking seclusion, they followed the travelled 
 route into this region, and reaching this island 
 resolved to make it their home. A log-house 
 was built, and the couple lived there, the ac- 
 count runs, in peace and contentment for seven 
 years. Their cabin was graced with books and 
 musical instruments, and a beautiful garden was 
 cultivated by the man of the house. Three 
 children were born to these refugees during 
 their residence on the island. The irate father 
 at last became reconciled to his daughter, who, 
 with her husband, was welcomed back to the 
 ancestral estates in France. The cabin and some 
 
ONEIDA LAKE ISLANDS 141 
 
 of the trees planted by the FreDchman were to 
 be seen as late as 1850, 
 
 Dunham's Island, a near neighbor to French- 
 man's Island, took its name from Capt, Valen- 
 tine Dunham, a native of Hamilton, Madison 
 county, who located upon it and tried to improve 
 it, but it lacked the size and beauty and fertility 
 of the other island, and he soon gave up his en- 
 terprise and removed to South Bay, where he 
 carried on business for many years. 
 
 Indian tradition has it that when Hiawatha 
 passed through Oneida lake, on his way to the 
 Onondagas, after committing the Five Nations 
 to his scheme of federation, as he paddled his 
 magic canoe past the two islands, he said: " So- 
 a-ka, see how the waters divide at these islands 
 and then come together again." 
 
 Elkanah Watson in i791 traversed the Oneida 
 lake region, prospecting for a canal route. Con- 
 nection of the Hudson river by the Mohawk, 
 Oneida lake and river, and Lake Ontario was the 
 first favored route. 
 
 Interesting accounts of Oneida lake, its islands 
 and settlements were written by Vandercamp 
 in 1791 and by Rochefoncault in 1795, 
 
 Major William W. Teall put forth the great- 
 est efforts to utilize the natural advantages of 
 these islands, but the attempt was not remuner- 
 ative. Others have endeavored to make them 
 
142 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 popular resorts, building hotels, running steam- 
 boats and improving the islands, without marked 
 success. But the islands are not surpassed in 
 natural beauty by any spot in the central coun- 
 ties. 
 
 Colonel Van Schaick's important expedition in 
 revenge for Indian atrocities, which had for its 
 object the destruction of the villages of the Onon- 
 dagas, encamped on Frenchman's island in 1779. 
 Proceeding to Brewerton the force marched 
 thence directly across the country to Green 
 Point, and thence to and up Onondaga creek; 
 the Indians taking alarm and fleeing, and Van 
 Schaick's men fighting a little battle with the 
 Indians near the site of the present city water 
 reservoir, in which one American was killed, and 
 twelve Indians killed and thirty-four taken pris- 
 oners. The Indians fled to the forests ; and after 
 burning the villages, the invaders retired the 
 way they came. The troops were American, 
 who were sent to punish the Indian allies of the 
 British. The Onondagas, under Oundiago, took 
 revenge by an expedition against Cobbleskill, a 
 German settlement in the Mohawk valley, killing 
 the troops there and burning the place. 
 Castorlaiul 
 
 About the time Onondaga was organized and 
 when it embraced the whole of the Military Tract, 
 there was a novel colonization enterprise entered 
 
STORY OF CASTORLAND 143 
 
 upon, which enhsted some co-operation of origi- 
 nal settlers here. It was the scheme known as 
 " La Compagnie de New York, " more frequently 
 mentioned as " Chassanis of Paris, the origina- 
 tor, and sometimes as the " Castorland Com- 
 pany," from the name the promoters gave to 
 their tract of land. This purchase, made in 
 Paris in 1792. was supposed to embrace 630,000 
 acres of land lying east and north of the Black 
 river in the present counties of Lewis and Jeffer- 
 son. When surveyed it was found to include 
 only about one-third that amount of land. 
 
 Frankhn B. Hough, the historian of Northern 
 New York, has told the story of Castorland. It 
 is very romantic, filled with adventure, and 
 contains glimpses of pioneer life in this region 
 of country, which illustrate the labors, hard- 
 ships, privations and disappointments that came 
 to the early settlers. Strong men were engaged 
 in the Castorland enterprise, and they put forth 
 herculean efforts to exploit their great scheme, 
 which in brief was to attract a large emigration 
 to Northern New York, to provide at a low cost 
 farms and homes for colonists, and to found two 
 large cities to be located in the tract, and to pro- 
 vide all the inducements necessary for a new 
 state. The cities marked out on paper were 
 called Basle and Castorland, and they were to 
 be the centers for innumerable farms lying all 
 
144 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 around them, each 100 acres in extent. The 
 Macomb and Scriba patents were the nucleus of 
 the enterprise. The settlers were to be drawn 
 from France and England, w^ho were to seek 
 their fortunes in the new world. Agents were 
 sent to Europe to promote this enterprise, but 
 it had no great success. Some bright men were 
 enlisted in it, among them Pierre Pharoux, an 
 architect and scientist, and Simon Desjardins, 
 formerly a chamberlain under Louis XVI, who 
 were appointed commissioners, and Mark J. 
 Brunei, afterwards celebrated as a great inven- 
 tor and engineer, and who was the builder of 
 the Thames tunnel. These three men made a 
 notable trip into the lands of the new enter- 
 prise, and Brunei's journal is very interesting 
 from its account of the pioneer settlements in 
 the Mohawk valley and the inroads being made 
 by pioneers in the Oneida and Onondaga country. 
 These settlements in 1791-3 faded out before 
 the travellers reached old Salt Point. 
 
 Into the Promised Land 
 
 There was a thorough organization back of 
 the Castorland project, and with bright prospects 
 of success, the advance party went into the 
 promised land in the autumn of 1793. The trip 
 was through the Mohawk river and the Oneida 
 lake, and down to Oswego, and thence on Lake 
 Ontario, to the mouth of the Black river and 
 
A DISAPPOINTING ENTERPRISE 145 
 
 into the wilderness. After this prehminary 
 journey the access was made from Fort Schuyler 
 (Utica) to Barou Steuben's place in Northern 
 Oneida county, which was the frontier of civili- 
 zation, and thence into the wonderful Castor- 
 land. Operations continued for a year or so, 
 with all sorts of adventure and romance, and 
 then there was a review of forces on June 15, 
 1794, and only twenty-two colonists appearing, 
 though for a year longer the colonies were main- 
 tained, the enterprise gradually faded into fail- 
 ure and disappointment. Incidentally in the 
 journal of this project, by Brunei, a very lively 
 narrative, which accidentally was discovered 
 thirty years ago, there is mention of the settle- 
 ment of Major Mappa at Trenton Falls, and of 
 Boon, Cazenove, Lincklaen, DeEosset, Vander- 
 kempt, Peter Smith and other land operators, 
 and of the Frenchman's settlement on the island 
 in Oneida lake. 
 
 The narrative of the settler of Frenchman's 
 island differs considerably from that in Clark's 
 history. The Frenchman's name is given as M. 
 Desvatins, " who, like another Kobinson Crusoe, 
 had two years before come to settle on a lone 
 island in the middle of the lake, with his wife 
 and children and his little library." He had 
 been advised, after a series of unprofitable ad- 
 ventures in the new country, by Chevelier de 
 
14:6 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 Geyan, to repair to this island in the lake, which 
 was beautifulh' located but uninhabited, and 
 there to form an establishment by himself. He 
 took this advice, came to the island, formed a 
 clearing with his own hands, built him a hut, 
 and located. He had lost all his belongings ex- 
 cepting his library, to which he clung. He and 
 his wife spent the first winter with the Indians, 
 and the second year the settler built a log-house 
 and cleared about six acres, which promised 
 him support. Then the state, without consult- 
 ing the squatter, sold the island, and Desvatins 
 was summarily dispossessed. After being driven 
 from the island, Desvatins accepted an offer of 
 a lot by Mr, Scriba in New Rotterdam (Constan- 
 tia), and there was met by the Castorland party, 
 above described, who gave this account of him 
 and his fortune. " It seems that seven years 
 before Desvatins, who had married against 
 family wishes, came from France to this coun- 
 try, with $40,000 in money, which he gradually 
 wasted in buying farms at extravagant prices, 
 thus losing part of his fortune, and then going 
 into trade with some sharpers, who ran away 
 with his money — thus bringing him to poverty. 
 He went to the Oneida lake island in 1791, selling 
 his superfluous furniture, excepting his library, 
 and making a recluse home for himself and 
 family, till driven out from it in 1793. The 
 
NEW ENGLANDERS SUCCEED 147 
 
 refugees were found at New Kotterdam, where 
 the unfortunate man was late in the autumn 
 endeavoring to construct a hut for the winter's 
 occupancy; and the records say, Desvatins, his 
 wife and children were in splendid health and 
 " as jovial as cupids." They promised to seek 
 Castorland in the spring, but no further record 
 is found of them. 
 
 New England Settlers Thrive 
 
 While the Castorland colony, east of Black 
 river, was a dismal failure, says Doctor Hough, 
 it " was not from any inherent difficulties in the 
 enterprise, because, at about the same time, 
 settlers from New England began to pour into 
 the Black river valley, and only just over the 
 river the smoke from their clearings arose here 
 and there all along the valley. The log cabins 
 arose like magic all along the trails that pre- 
 sently became well-travelled roads, and mills, 
 churches and school-houses came into being 
 wherever they were needed. Most of these lands 
 are now owned by descendants of those pioneers 
 from New England, and scarcely one made a fail- 
 ure, while the French colony passed away like a. 
 morning fog. ' ' The contemplated city of Basle, 
 on the lake shore at the mouth of Black river, is 
 still farming land just above the village of Dexter, 
 Jefferson county, and the city of Castorland is 
 now the hamlet of Beaver Falls, Lewis county. 
 
148 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 Dr. Hough describes pioneer times as the 
 period when settlers from New England began 
 to spread over the new country, and the light 
 of civilization, here and there, began slowly to 
 dispel the barbarism that from time immemorial 
 had covered the land. 
 
 " In the first struggle for subsistence, remote 
 from supplies of most urgent need, without 
 markets for the sale of the scanty surplus pro- 
 ducts of their industry, their families exposed 
 to the malarious emanations of swamps, and 
 their flocks to the depredations of wild beasts, 
 the pioneer of those first days of settlement 
 needed strong faith in a better future, and all 
 the energy which this faith imparts, to support 
 the ordeal of the beginning, and carry him 
 successfully through the hardships of the first 
 years of frontier life. 
 
 " In the absence of other means of travel, 
 the navigable waters of the lakes and streams 
 were the first highways, and along these the 
 pioneers built their rude log cabins and cleared 
 their first land. These thoroughfares had been 
 used by the native races and by traders for a 
 long period, before the first thought of perma- 
 nent settlement was entertained, and there can 
 be little doubt that the country which these wat- 
 ers drain would have lain a wilderness much 
 longer had not the goodness of the soil and its 
 
AN INTERESTING RELIC 149 
 
 fitness for cultivation been noticed by the pro- 
 vincial and continental soldiers v^ho had occa- 
 sion to traverse these regions in military expedi- 
 tions, several years before the obstacles had been 
 removed and the opportunities for enterprise were 
 presented. ' ' The government titles to the lands 
 on the Mihtary Tract facilitated the settlement 
 of the Onondaga country, which filled up faster 
 than most regions in the interior of this state. 
 
 Fort Brewerton 
 
 This old fortification is accounted the most 
 interesting historic rehc in Central New York. 
 It is located on the easterly side of Oneida river, 
 where mat stream emerges from Oneida lake, 
 just across the river from the village of Brewer- 
 ton. It was erected by the British in 1758, as a 
 defense, at the foot of Oneida lake, against the 
 invasion of the Mohawk valley by the French, 
 and the Royal blockhouse erected at the head of 
 the lake was an additional protection of the 
 waterway from Lake Ontario to the Mohawk 
 region. The fort was named after Captain 
 Brewerton, who was a British officer who held 
 commands at various places on the frontier. It 
 was garrisoned at times, and at others was a 
 station for troops in transit. 
 
 The old fort was rebuilt in the war of the Eev- 
 olution, and was garrisoned. In 1795 the block- 
 house near the fort on the river's bank was con- 
 
150 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 structed, and the fort was the refuge of the peo- 
 ple of the vicinity on alarms of attack or inva- 
 sion. 
 
 The French commander, Champlain, and his 
 forces w^ere at Brewerton in October, 1B15, on 
 the way to fight the Indians at Onondaga, and 
 being defeated, retreated that way a few days 
 later. The Jesuit priest, Le Moyne, was there 
 in 1654, and left a record of his visit and of the 
 superior fishing there. Chaumonot and Dab- 
 Ion, the priests, were there on their way to 
 Genentoa the next year. La Salle, the great 
 Spanish discoverer, visited there in 1773; and 
 also the Indians at Onondaga, being attracted by 
 the reports of silver deposits (salt) on the shores 
 of Genentoa lake; Carangula in 1684, on a war 
 expedition to Canada; Romer and others in 1700, 
 to select the site for a fort; Sir William Johns- 
 ton was frequently there; Kirtland, the mission- 
 ary, was there in 1786; St. Leger, with 2,000 
 British troops, on the way to the siege of Fort 
 Stanwix, was there in 1777; Brandt, with his 
 Indians followed St. Leger closely; in 1759, 
 Prideaux, with 2,000 men, was at Brewerton 
 on his way to destroy French power in Canada. 
 Fort Brewerton never was besieged, nor was any 
 battle ever fought there. Nevertheless it was 
 an important outpost, and deemed a valuable 
 defense in the line of fortifications extending 
 
ORIGINAL FORT BREWERTON 
 
 151 
 
 from Oswego iato the Mohawk valley. Old set- 
 tlers relate that when the old fort was disman- 
 tled at the close of the Revolution, the cannon 
 
 OLD FORT BREWERTON AND ITS SURROUNDINGS 
 
 were withdrawn away into the swamp to the 
 south and there buried ; but diligent search has 
 failed to discover the buried ordnance. 
 
 Original Outlines Preserved 
 
 The original fort was in the form of an S-sided 
 star, and there were high earthw^orks, a well in 
 the middle, and a passageway to the river. The 
 fort, an octagon, was 350 feet in diameter, with 
 a wall of earth five feet high above the interior 
 area of w^orks, a ditch ten feet deep outside of 
 this, and another embankment still outside; 
 within the interior embankment were palisades 
 twenty feet high, pierced with rifle holes and 
 
152 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 embrasures. On the river side, outside the fort, 
 were other pahsades. The fortification stood 
 on an eminence and was of a character to com- 
 mand the passage of the river. Until about 
 1850 the old fort was in excellent preservation; 
 then it was plowed over, but since has been 
 carefully preserved in its original outlines. The 
 blockhouse long ago disappeared, and nothing 
 remains of the sentry's mole excepting the rock 
 foundation. In a sandhill, near by, many hu- 
 man remains have been unearthed. 
 
 Baldwin's island, in the river, directly above 
 Brewerton village, has possessed a great interest 
 from the large number of relics found there. 
 
 In this respect the shores of the river for sev- 
 eral miles from the lake have been wonderfully 
 productive of Indian curiosities. Eecently this 
 island has been graded and improved, and re- 
 christened Iroquois island. 
 
 In 1790 the Bingham and Stevens families 
 kept hotels at Brewerton. 
 
ELEVENTH F=AF=EF=^ 
 
 The Jesuits and the Salt Springs 
 
 The Jesuit Eelations contain little respecting 
 the salt spi'ings at Onondaga. No mention of 
 the springs is made in the Relations of 1645-6. 
 The springs first discovered by the Jesuit visitors 
 were south of Onondaga lake and the marsh 
 east and south of it, and none are spoken of as 
 being near the mission house located at Genen- 
 toa or Green Point. According to Doctor Beau- 
 champ the Onondagas and others used no salt 
 until long after these discoveries, and some of 
 the French missionaries discouraged its use. 
 
 The first reference to these springs in the Re- 
 lations was by Father Le Moyne, who wrote 
 August 16th, 1654: " We arrived at the entrance 
 to a small lake (Genentoa, or Onondaga) in a 
 great basin, half-dried; we tasted the water of 
 a spring which they (the Indians) dared not 
 drink, saying that there was a demon within 
 which renders it fetid ; having tasted it I found 
 that it was a fountain of salt water; and, in 
 fact, we made salt from it as natural as that 
 from the sea, of which we carried a sample to 
 Quebec." 
 
 (153) 
 
154 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 Father Dablon wrote November 11th, 1655: 
 " The fountain of which one makes very good 
 salt intersects a beautiful prairie," (between 
 Salina and Green Point), " surrounded by a 
 wood of high forests trees. At SO to 100 paces 
 from this salt spring is seen another fresh water, 
 and these two oj)posites take birth from the 
 bosom of the same hill." (This, Beauchamp 
 declares, was at Salina, not at Genentoa, or 
 Green Point, and the prairie was the marsh.) 
 
 Father Le Jeune wrote in 1657: " We found 
 on the south side of the lake several springs or 
 fountains of salt water, although this lake is 
 very far from the sea, as. well as at Lorraine, 
 where similar ones are found ; but I do not think 
 salt could be made there as easily as we shall be 
 able to make it here, because we find salt ready- 
 made upon the ground about these springs, and 
 making the water boil it is easily converted 
 into salt." The salt springs at what later was 
 Salina were the only ones then known. 
 
 " The second is that in springtime there 
 gather around these salines so great a quantity 
 of pigeons that they sometimes take as many as 
 TOO in a morning." 
 
 Of rattlesnakes, in 1667, it is written: " I 
 know not if these snakes are attracted by the 
 salt, but I know well that the place where we 
 have set up our dwelling, surrounded by beauti- 
 
SALT SPRINGS RESERVATION 155 
 
 ful springs of fresh water, is not infested by 
 them, although it is on the shores of the small 
 lake." 
 
 The Salt Springs and Reservation 
 
 Sir William Johnson, in ITol, obtained title 
 to 13,000 acres of land about Onondaga lake (by 
 deed from the Onondagas, for one mile in width 
 adjoining and including the entire lake), with 
 political purposes, for the colony of New York, 
 and not for the salt. The council would not 
 reimburse him for the outlay, but confirmed 
 his title. He disposed of this land by will. 
 Johnson and his family adhered to the British 
 cause, and their landed property was confiscated. 
 The land later came into the Salt Springs reser- 
 vation. 
 
 The state of New York derived its title to the 
 Salt reservation from the Indians by the treaty 
 of Fort Schuyler in 1788 (the Johnson title hav- 
 ing been canceled by confiscation), by which all 
 the Indian lands, except " certain tracts re- 
 served," were ceded, including the salt springs, 
 the lake and country adjacent. Out of this 
 transaction came the annuities to the Indians 
 which the state continues to pay. By this treaty 
 the whites were assured of their right to occupy 
 the lands and to produce salt. The state took 
 the salt interest in hand, and in 1791-2-3, laws 
 
156 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 of regulation were passed, and subsequent legis- 
 lation, which, with the public demand and the 
 energy of the manufacturers, brought the salt 
 business into sixty years of prosperity. 
 
 Sir William Johnson's purpose in acquiring 
 the salt springs and vicinity was to check the 
 French plan of establishing a military post at 
 Onondaga lake, which would secure to them a 
 foothold in the very heart of the Six Nations 
 and augment their influence with the Indians. 
 Johnson was able and wily, and calling a council 
 of the Indians at Onondaga, he impressed upon 
 them the importance of keeping out of the 
 clutches of the French and convincing them, 
 they deeded to him for £350 the lake and adja- 
 cent lands. This strategic move disheartened 
 the French, who gave up their plan of acquir- 
 ing this central point of control. 
 
 The Onondaga salines were known to exist 
 before the war of the Revolution, and though 
 no specific explorations were made to reveal 
 their extent or value, many covetous eyes were 
 directed towards them as furnishing profitable 
 enterprise for business and wealth. At the 
 close of the war emigration poured into the 
 Onondaga country, which rapidly was settled by 
 a superior class of people, and from that time 
 onward Onondaga has kept its place thus gained 
 in population, enterprise and wealth. 
 
STATE ASSUMES SUPERVISION 157 
 
 Salt Springs Data 
 
 The salt manufacture was under some restric- 
 tion from the treaty of 1788; and by an addi- 
 tional treaty in 1795 these comphcations were 
 removed, the state became absolute owner of a 
 district about ten miles square, which was organ- 
 ized into the Onondaga Salt Springs reservation. 
 The state assumed supervision of the salt manu- 
 facture in 1797, and Judge Stephens was the 
 first superintendent. Dr. William Kirkpatrick 
 succeeded him, and greatly promoted the inter- 
 est. A tract of about twenty miles square of 
 land was set apart, from which timber and fuel 
 might be obtained and on which structures for 
 the manufacture of salt might be erected. Un- 
 der the law the use and distribution of brine 
 were regulated. A tax of i cents a bushel was 
 imposed upon all the salt made. At first the 
 manufacturers dug wells and pumped salt 
 water; but the state soon found the necessity of 
 taking possession of the wells and pumps and 
 of distributing the brine. The right to brine 
 was enjoyed first by the property earliest in- 
 vested in the manufacture and then by works in 
 the order of their erection. 
 
 Dr. Mullaney says of the Jesuit Father Le 
 Moyne, the Catholic missionary at Onondaga, that 
 " he was the first to make known the useful- 
 ness of the salt springs to the Indian and the 
 
158 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 white man, and with the usual success of first 
 disco v^erers. His statement was called ' a Jesuit 
 lie,' and was laughed at by the Dutch of New 
 Amsterdam, but curious to relate, the chronicler 
 spelled the word ' lye,' an unconscious vindica- 
 tion of the Jesuit's truthfulness. The industry 
 was as nothing then ; it was merely a curiosity. 
 Traders carried salt to Albany and Quebec, only 
 to exhibit it in exchanging their furs. The salt 
 blocks, the ruins of which now surround us, 
 were then a few small household kettles; yet 
 this was the beginning of an industry which 
 afterwards grew into vast proportions." 
 
 The Jesuit Wells 
 
 Missionaries of the Society of Jesus first vis- 
 ited the Onondaga region, coming from Quebec, 
 in 1654. The first year's Relations give the de- 
 tailed account of the journey through the beau- 
 tiful Thousand Islands of the St. Lawrence 
 river, across Lake Ontario, up the Oswego river 
 to Onondaga (Genentoa) lake, and the visit to 
 the Onondaga villages. Subsequent accounts 
 tell of the French settlement formed about what 
 is known as the '' Jesuit Wells," on the easterly 
 shore of Onondaga lake, a little south of the 
 village of Liverpool. The place pointed out is 
 within a stone's throw of the traditional scene 
 of Hiawatha's giving the form of federation to 
 the Five Nations, and of his translation in his 
 
MISSION AT GENENTOA 159 
 
 white canoe. " The site was a dehghtful one, 
 easy of access from all directions," says the 
 historian. It was the first French colony in the 
 present United States, and was known as St. 
 Mary's of Genentoa, from the Indian name of 
 the lake. A fort, a chapel (the first Catholic 
 erected in the state of New York), and a village 
 were hailt. The place was garrisoned and a 
 French officer named Depuys was in command. 
 The missionaries were Father Claude Dablon, 
 Joseph Chaumonot and Rene Mesnard. The 
 first Sabbath bell rang out from the cupola of 
 the mission chapel at St. Mary's. This bell is 
 said now to be at Quebec, and parts of the altar 
 furniture to be iu Paris and other parts in Phila- 
 delphia. The history of the mission is very 
 interesting. The Rev. Dr. John F. Mullaney of 
 St. John's church, Syracuse, has been deeply 
 interested in the restoration of the scene of this 
 mission and in the purpose of making it a cen- 
 ter of interest to the Catholics of this region of 
 country. He has pubhshed an account of the 
 pioneer Catholic church in the state of New 
 York, St. John the Baptist of former Salina. 
 The mission at Genentoa was relinquished in 
 1658, on account of troubles with the ludians, 
 and the colonists fled back to Canada. 
 
 Arrival at Genentoa 
 
 Father LeJeune's account of the arrival at 
 
160 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 Genentoa is graphic. He recounts the joyful 
 ending of the journey thither, and the demon- 
 stration made. Five pieces of cannon were 
 disembarked, and their thunder, aided by the 
 firing of arquebuses, rolled majestically over the 
 waters of the little lake, being the first volleys 
 from artillery ever heard in the valleys and over 
 the hills of the Onondaga country. A great 
 multitude of " the ancients '' were gathered 
 and the reverberations of the cannonading much 
 surprised them. The Indians' reception was 
 cordial, and the French greatly interested those 
 simple people with their religious exercises. 
 The formal ceremonies that followed were pro- 
 longed and impressive. The presents given to 
 the Indians were fine and many. The work of 
 proselyting the Indians was taken up actively. 
 The mission at Genentoa was built as rapidly as 
 possible. The Indians were friendly and all 
 went well for a time. Mosquitoes were the 
 most savage enemies encountered. But later 
 the enterprise failed to prosper. Instigated by 
 the jealous Mohawks and Oneidas, the Ononda-' 
 gas became hostile, and the mission was aban- 
 doned. It existed from November 5th, 1655, to 
 March 20th, 1658. The story of the great feast 
 to which the treacherous and malevolent Indians 
 were invited, during which the French colonists 
 made ready and took their departure, is roman- 
 
THE JESUIT WELLS 161 
 
 tic. The hopes of the French were seriously 
 bhghted by this result. 
 
 The Jesuit Wells 
 
 At the site of St. Mary's at Genentoa were 
 the two famous springs known as the Jesuit 
 wells. They were reputed to be marvelous; 
 being only a few feet apart, and yet one flowing 
 sweet water and the other salt water.. Doctor 
 Beauchamp holds that these springs both were 
 fresh, and that the wonderful companion fresh 
 and salt water springs were located at the pres- 
 ent site of Salina. 
 
 The Jesuit wells some years ago were con- 
 veyed to the ownership and care of the Onon- 
 daga Historical association ; but recently a land 
 owner in the locality fenced in the ground, 
 filled up the springs, destroyed the beautiful ra- 
 vines in which these wells were located and 
 made it a potato field. 
 
 The next mission, that of St. John the Bap- 
 tist, was established among the hills of Onon- 
 daga in 1j666, but it did not attain the impor- 
 tance of that of St. Mary's at Genentoa. It is 
 stated that the missionaries and settlers were 
 masacred in 161)9. Jesuit missionaries contin- 
 ued, however, to dwell among the Onondagas 
 till about 1710. They compiled a dictionary 
 and grammar of the Onondaga language, with 
 spelling books and religious translations, and 
 
162 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 recorded many interesting notes of their resi- 
 dence here. As early as 1615 Champlain, the 
 French explorer, visited Onondaga lake, and a 
 French expedition under Frontenac invaded the 
 Onondaga country in 1695, 
 
 Bayard Taylor, the great traveller and author, 
 visited the site of Genentoa in 1865, and Daniel 
 Willard Fiske, his companion, says: " Looking 
 at the spot with an eye thoroughly accustomed 
 to the study of landscapes, Mr. Taylor confessed 
 that in its summer aspect, with the placid lake 
 and the thriving city framed by the green-clad 
 hills of Onondaga, it afforded a scene of strik- 
 ing beauty. He expressed his surprise that 
 Syracuse, happily blessed with a historical local- 
 ity of so much interest, has not as yet marked 
 it monumentally." There has been an effort, 
 ineffectual it is true, to erect a memorial over 
 the Jesuit wells. 
 
 The Jesuit Eelations, which contain the annual 
 reports sent home by the Jesuit Superior in 
 North America, to the general of the order in 
 Europe, are the sources of the earliest history of 
 the northern United States. The first foot- 
 prints of the white race in the vast watershed 
 of the Great Lakes were those of the faithful, 
 patient and zealous missionaries of the Society 
 of Ignatius Loyola. The importance of the Re- 
 lations in historical aspects cannot be overrated. 
 
FACTS ABOUT ONONDAGA LAKE 163 
 
 The Canadian government was the first to pub- 
 lish them, and the state of New York has issued 
 a translation. The most complete edition has 
 been put forth recently at Cleveland, 0. But 
 for the Relations the history of Onondaga would 
 be almost a blank down to the middle of the 
 eighteenth century. 
 
 Onondaga Lake 
 
 There is a tradition that Onondaga lake was 
 formerly sixty to eighty feet higher than in re- 
 cent times; had this been true, the lake would 
 have been boundless, and its waters a part of 
 those of Lake Ontario. There are physical evi- 
 dences that the Onondaga valley was at one 
 time an inland sea, and probably a salt sea. 
 
 Onondaga lake is not the deep body of water 
 it is reputed to be. In fact, it is quite uniform 
 in its deep places. George Geddes ascertained 
 its greatest depth to be about sixty- five feet. It 
 is, however, subject to high winds, and it has> 
 been the scene of a series of fatal casualties. 
 
-r\A/El_F='-rH F^AF'EF^ 
 
 The Salt Point Blockhouse 
 
 This paper is devoted to the prehistoric and 
 aboriginal defensive works in the Onondaga 
 country, of which abundant evidences existed 
 half a century ago, and many of which are still 
 recognizable. They extended over a period of 
 hundreds of years; indeed, much of these primi- 
 tive works were built by an unknown people in 
 a remote time, certainly anterior to the coming 
 hither of the Iroquois about •100 years ago. 
 
 In the year the county of Onondaga was 
 erected, 1794, there was a great scare among the 
 inhabitants because of reported expeditions of 
 hostile Indians into this region of the new coun- 
 try. There was war in the Ohio region and a 
 belligerent spirit was manifested by the Indians 
 in western and northern New York, incited by 
 British troops on the frontier. Some of the 
 Onondagas had joined the belligerent forces in 
 the West. Such was the apprehended danger 
 that many of the settlers baried their valuables 
 and some of them made ready to fly from the 
 region. There was a conference held at More- 
 house's tavern in eastern Onondaga to make 
 
 (164) 
 
BUILDING OF A BLOCKHOUSE 165 
 
 provision for the public safety, and a representa- 
 tive was dispatched to Albany to lay the situa- 
 tion before the Governor. The Governor depu- 
 tized Gen. William North, Gen. Stephen Van 
 Rensselaer and Adj. Gen. David Van Home to 
 meet Baron Steuben at his home in Oneida 
 county and all together proceed to Onondaga, 
 and under their authority as commissioners to 
 erect such fortifications as they might consider 
 necessary for the defense of the northern and 
 western frontiers of the state and act as was 
 deemed expedient. The commissioners came 
 to Morehouse's, where a review of the military 
 of the county took place, and then they went 
 to Salt Point to examine the locality recom- 
 mended for the proposed defensive works — a 
 blockhouse — into which the inhabitants could 
 retire and make resistance to an attacking force 
 should it come. The commission found the peo- 
 ple in great excitement, and such was the popu- 
 lar fear that the inhabitants, about thirty fami- 
 lies, had taken refuge in the near-by woods, 
 Thompson's sugar bush, where they were con- 
 cealed for three days and nights, A committee 
 of public safety was appointed, consisting of 
 Moses DeWitt, Isaac Van Vleck, Thomas Orman,, 
 Simon Pharis and John Danforth and Asa Dan- 
 forth and Moses DeWitt were appointed to 
 superintend the building of the blockhouse, 
 
106 
 
 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 which the commission ordered. Baron Steuben 
 located the structure, whose site was duly staked 
 out, and the house was constructed by Cornelius 
 Higgins. The accompanying illustration is 
 from a picture belonging to the Onondaga His- 
 torical association. 
 
 BLOCKHOUSE. 1792, AT SALINA 
 
 The blockhouse was demohshed in 1816, but 
 its site is pointed out on the bluff to the right 
 on the northerly side of the Oswego canal 
 bridge, nearly in front of the state's pumphouse. 
 It was made of oak timbers, hewed square, and 
 was surrounded with 20-foot cedar palisades. 
 The structure was 20 feet high, and was pierced 
 with portholes. A volunteer company from 
 
SPIES PUBLICLY WHIPPED 167 
 
 Onondaga Hill, called " The Grenadiers," occu- 
 pied it, and a 6-pounder cannon, with arms and 
 ammunition, was supplied from the state com- 
 missary. The blockhouse was occupied by 
 troops into 1795, the necessity for its use passing 
 away, and for some time it was used as a state 
 storehouse for salt. 
 
 At this time, although peace had been de- 
 clared between Great Britain and the United 
 States, a British garrison was maintained at 
 Oswego, and American boats conveying supplies 
 had been plundered on the Oswego river. There 
 was understood to be a purpose to fall ujDon and 
 destroy the Onondaga settlements. Spies being 
 set to notify the British at Oswego of approach- 
 ing boats, so that they might be stopped and tolls 
 collected, the people at Salina captured two of 
 them and pubhcly whipped them. Hence the 
 retaliation against the Onondaga settlements. 
 Ancient Fortification Near Green Point 
 
 The easterly shores of Onondaga lake between 
 the sites of the villages of Salina and Liverpool, 
 are very interesting in their ancient remains, 
 whose existence w^as known to the early settlers, 
 but whose origin and history are not now at all 
 understood. The mission house and church and 
 fortification at the Jesuit wells are the best 
 known in that vicinity ; but the old fortification, 
 on the lake shore, near that site, which was 
 
168 
 
 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 clearly distinguishable about a hundred years 
 ago, was not identified, beyond its lines and 
 proportions, and the inference that it was of 
 French construction and occupancy. This fort 
 
 
 THE OLD FORT NEAR LIVERPOOL 
 AAA A— Parapets. B B— Gateways. C— Spring and Well. 
 
 . . — Palisades 
 
 was probably the one built by Frontenac at the 
 time of his invasion, in August, 1696. 
 
 Judge James Geddes wrote that, in 1797, 
 when the Surveyor- General laid out the salt 
 lands, he acted as deputy surveyor, and in trav- 
 ersing the shores of the lake from Brown's 
 pumphouse to Liverpool he found traces of an 
 old stockade, of which he made a survey and 
 
OLD TIME DEFENSES 169 
 
 map. It was near a fine spring of water and 
 in a pleasant locality on a commanding situation. 
 Its angles were true, and evidently it was made 
 by skilled engineers. Mr. Geddes filed his map 
 in the Surveyor-General's office at Albany. (A 
 copy of the draft appears herewith.) An old 
 deserted hotise stood on the site until recent 
 years. All traces of the earthwork disappeared 
 at least seventy-five years ago, but the locality 
 has been prolific of relics, brass kettles, gunbar- 
 rels, musket balls, hatchets, etc. Burnt earth 
 and calcined stones, where fires had been made, 
 were plentifully found at this place. 
 
 Aiicieut Works Near Delphi in Poiiipey 
 
 Herewith is an illustration of ancient earth- 
 works near Delphi in the town of Pompey, 
 which fifty years ago were in good preservation. 
 No. 1 represents the ruins of an old fort on 
 lot 100, Pompey, eight acres inclosed, and ad- 
 joining an extensive burying-ground. It was 
 on elevated grouud, on either side of which 
 was a deep ravine made by running water, con- 
 stituting the elevation into a triangle. Clark 
 relates that there w^ere appearances as though of 
 recent occupation. Wherever a picket had stood 
 there was a slight depression in the earth. 
 What evidently had been a blacksmith's forge 
 and a granery were plainly discernable. Three 
 gateways were recognizable, A mound or has- 
 
170 
 
 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 tion was at the front. A ditch and pickets 
 marked the enclosure. The trees within were 
 fruit and ornamental, whose growth was less 
 than that of the trees outside the original forest. 
 Other remains of a similar nature were dis- 
 covered at several points within a radius of two 
 or three miles about Delphi. 
 
 vv 
 
 BURviNC CROunio. ^ Craves. 
 
 A>X'IENT WORKS ixEAR DELPHI 
 
 The picture No. 2 represents one of these. 
 Evidences that the land had been cleared for 
 quite a space existed. Corn hills were distinctly 
 traced. Many fruit trees were found. These 
 antedated the present growths, which are be- 
 lieved to be 250 years old. 
 
 Across in Madison county are many like relics 
 
EARLIER EVIDENCES 171 
 
 of forts and settlements. " So common," says 
 Clark, " are works of this description in this 
 neighborhood, and so extensive are the burial 
 places of the dead, that the most undoubted 
 -evidences exist that a numerous population must 
 have at some early period inhabited this part of 
 the country." 
 
 Prehistoric Evidences 
 
 The first men who came into the Onondaga 
 country were not permanent settlers; they came 
 here to hunt and fish. Some of them came out 
 of the West, from the borders of the great lakes, 
 as the striped slate, the bird and bear amulets 
 indicate. They had few villages and these were 
 transient. The prehistoric comers are known 
 from the relics they left behind them, which 
 differ from those of the aborigines. The arche- 
 ologists recognize the several races of inhabitants 
 here by the remains of their occupation, and 
 they prove that some were out of the territory 
 on either side of Lake Michigan, and others 
 from the north river, beyond Lake Ontario and 
 St. Lawrence river. 
 
 Southeast of Onondaga lake was the home of 
 the Onondagas, and their various locations are 
 readily traced. The northern part of the pres- 
 ent Onondaga county is filled with relics which 
 indicate prehistoric occupation. The Iroquois 
 coming is fixed at from 300 to 400 years ago. 
 
172 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 What people were before here, to leave the ex- 
 tensive remains that show their occupancy, but 
 without any traces of whither they came, how 
 long they stayed, or who or what they were, is 
 not recorded or otherwise known. This line of 
 inquiry gets no solution. 
 
 There are scant evidences of early people in 
 the towns of Camillus, Fabius, Skaneateles, 
 Spafford, Otisco, and Tully. Manlius and Mar- 
 cellus reveal relics, but no villages. The terri- 
 tory watered by the Seneca and Oneida rivers 
 and Oneida and Onondaga lakes is filled with 
 interesting remains of the Indian occupation. 
 Extensive collections have been made of the 
 relics of the prehistoric and aboriginal times, 
 none better in all the countr3^ Cabinets through- 
 out the continent are enriched by these curiosi- 
 ties, and those left within this county are com- 
 paratively small and inconsequential, with few 
 exceptions. The remains of Indian fishing vil- 
 lages and of Indian fish- weirs in lakes and rivers 
 are interesting. 
 
 Other Early Defenses 
 
 The stockade on lot No. 6 Van Buren, was ex- 
 tensive, 150 by 500 feet, and very like the recent 
 forts in the town of Onondaga. Another fort 
 existed on lot No. 16. Burial places have alsO' 
 been identified in Baldwinsville. 
 
PREHISTORIC REMAINS 173 
 
 In Elbridge there was an Onondaga village 
 near Cross lake and a number of camps and 
 hamlets along the lake shores. South of El- 
 bridge was a group of prehistoric remains, earth- 
 works, lodge fires, fragments of pottery, etc. 
 Earthworks were formerly traceable on lots Nos. 
 70 and 81 in this town. It is a hundred years 
 since these were plainly identified. 
 
 On the west shore of Onondaga lake, from 
 Nine Mile creek to the outlet, there were ham- 
 lets and camps, all earlier than the Iroquois 
 occupation. In recent years this was a favorite 
 collection ground. In the woods at Long Branch 
 was an Indian mound, and another in the near 
 vicinity. When these were opened, skeletons, 
 arrows, belts and pipes were found. One mound 
 was oblong; the other circular. The earth to 
 build them was brought from the adjacent 
 higher land. 
 
 ADtecedent to Syracuse 
 
 Kaneenda, a village of the Onondagas, often 
 referred to in the Relations, was near the mouth 
 of Onondaga creek, old channel, and was occu- 
 pied in both early and recent times. The germ 
 of Syracuse was located along the creek just 
 above the site of this village, soon after Web- 
 ster's locating his trading post at the creek's 
 mouth. 
 
 The eastern shore of Onondaga lake near the 
 
174 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 vicinity of Kaneenda, was rich in relics, where 
 there were frequent camps and hamlets, mostly 
 quite ancient. 
 
 The unearthing of twenty skeletons from a 
 gravel bed in what is now East Syracuse, was 
 told in the newspapers of 1878. The finding of 
 skeletons, some of them very large, occurred in 
 the excavation for the Erie canal locks just west 
 of Syracuse, within old Geddes, and Cheney 
 tells of digging up skeletons near where the pio- 
 neer Neukirk was buried in the sand close by 
 where Geddes street runs north, north of West 
 Genesee street. 
 
 Johnson's Fort in the Valley 
 
 On Webster's mile-square, in 1756, Sir William 
 Johnson built a stockade, remains of which 
 were left when the valley was settled, in 1788. 
 The graded way of field stone from the terrace 
 still exists and is called the Military road. 
 Traces of the fireplaces in the blockhouse and 
 of the blacksmith's shop are well remembered 
 by living persons. Two Onondaga villages, 
 further up the valley, were burned by Van 
 Schaick's expedition in 1779. Prehistoric ham- 
 lets are noted in various adjacent localities. 
 Some interesting relics have been dug up, and 
 among them valuable historic medals. 
 
 A stockade on lot 3, LaFayette, was burned 
 by Frontenac's expedition in 1696, and most of 
 
INDIAN VILLAGES 175 
 
 the relics found there are modern, A burial 
 place and several natural mounds are near it. 
 On lot 13 was an Indian village, described by 
 Bertram in 1713. It was agricultural, and its 
 orchard supplied the early settlers. 
 
 Earliest Onondaga Villages 
 
 Pompey contained the earliest Indian villages, 
 and their number varies, according to several 
 authorities, from fifteen to eighty. The earliest 
 site of the Onondagas is next to lot 41 on the 
 county line, and is known as the Atwill fort. 
 It was occupied about 1600. Its evidences were 
 very interesting, and its rehcs of bone fishhooks 
 and pottery bearing human faces and forms are 
 quite rare. It was a long stockado on a ridge 
 between two ravines. Half a dozen other stock- 
 ades in old Pompey and the towns carved out 
 of it are described by Clark and Beauchamp, 
 and their construction and the relics found in 
 and about them constitute an absorbing chapter 
 in the archeology of the region. Much of the 
 characteristics of the early Indians in the Onon- 
 daga country is derived from these evidences. 
 The Largest Indian Tillage 
 
 Indian Hill, on lot 9, Pompey, about two 
 miles south of Manlius village, is the most in- 
 teresting of all. The outline of this town was 
 elliptical, about 1,650 by 450 feet, and it was a 
 broad table-land between two streams. Beau- 
 
176 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 champ saya: " Everywhere there are traces of 
 the French missions of the seventeenth century, 
 and a vast amount of metaUic works has been 
 carried away as well as trinkets of all kinds. 
 This was the largest town the Onondagas ever 
 occupied, for they were then in the height of 
 their power. The burial ground lay on the north, 
 and along the sides of the ravine. Part of a 
 large bowlder, used in sharpening tools, has 
 been removed, but there are six hollows in the 
 remaining portion, which is about seven feet 
 long." Not less than twelve other burial places 
 are described by Clark and Beauchamp, in the 
 same vicinity, each having considerable interest. 
 
 CENTENNIAL MEDAL ISSUED UY ONONDAGA HISTORICAL 
 ASSOCIATION IN 1894 
 
 All these things, and much more of the early 
 accessible history, go to make up the conditions 
 which existed here in the Onondaga country 
 
A SOLID FOUNDATION 177 
 
 when in the last quarter of the eighteenth 
 century the New England emigrants came into 
 the Onondaga valley and upon the heights of 
 Pompey and Otisco and thence onward steadily 
 flowed into this beautiful, fertile and attractive 
 region, and laid the foundation of the large and 
 prosperous communities now here, a little more 
 than a single century later. 
 
THIF^TEENTH F='AF=ER 
 
 Like New Eiiglaiid Villages 
 
 The early villages in Onondaga county were 
 laid out on the plan of the New England villages 
 which were established in colonial times, with a 
 broad, well-shaded avenue running throughout 
 the length, along which business places and resi- 
 dences were located in surroundings of shade 
 and beauty. Elbridge and Fabius are types of 
 this style of the early villages, which have not 
 outgrown the original plan. Cities and towns 
 in Massachusetts and Connecticut have these 
 special features. The same plan was adopted in 
 old Manlius, Onondaga Hill, Onondaga Valley, 
 Skaneateles, Otisco, Marcellus, Camillus, Tully, 
 etc. These distinctive phases are still retained in 
 those places. Together with the old churches 
 and other old structures, the broad main street 
 gives these places a delightful air of breadth and 
 freedom that cramped and confined places do 
 not have. Early Salina and Syracuse had the 
 same characteristics. One of the most public - 
 spirited of early Syracusans, Gen. Elias W. 
 Leavenworth, with old-fashioned Connecticut 
 predilections, strove for broad avenues, and 
 
 (178) 
 
THE FIRST NEWSPAPER 179 
 
 would have had nothing less than 80-foot streets. 
 and the principal highways 100 to 120 feet wide. 
 Salina street and Genesee street were started on 
 this liberal order. It is really a refreshing view 
 in old-time villages to look into and through 
 principal avenues not less than 100 feet in width, 
 with green grass plots and shade trees lining 
 these admirable highways. City streets of four 
 rods width look narrow and mean in comparison. 
 
 The First Newspaper in the County 
 
 The earliest newspaper published within the 
 limits of Onondaga county was the Derne Ga- 
 zette, published in the present village of Manlius 
 by Abraham Romeyn in 1806. It was contin- 
 ued about a year. Its name was derived from a 
 proposition to change the name of the village 
 from Manlius to Derne, which did not succeed. 
 Partisan politics ran high in those times, and it 
 is related that the Derne Gazette might have had 
 a much longer tenure of life had not its editor 
 closed the columns of his paper to political discus- 
 sion. He was a Federalist, and would allow no 
 other doctrine to be preached in his little sheet. 
 He was persecuted by a number of libel suits, on 
 account of his strictures upon political opponents 
 to whom he denied a hearing. Other papers, 
 more liberal, sprang up and his went out. Suc- 
 cessive papers, eight in number, followed up to 
 1831. Thurlow Weed edited and published the 
 
JOSHUA V. H. CLARK 
 
 Born in Cazenovia, N. Y., February 6th, 1803; died in Manlius, N. Y., June 18th, 1869. 
 
 Published his History of Onondaga County in 1849. 
 
NAMING OF TOWNS 181 
 
 Manlius Times for three years, beginning in 1821. 
 Inquiry was recently made in Manlius as to Mr. 
 Weed's location. After some difficulty it was 
 ascertained that his printing office and residence 
 were the little 1 -story building located on the 
 corner of Pleasant and Franklin streets, nearly 
 opposite the former residence of Clark, the his- 
 torian. It is standing in a dilapidated condi- 
 tion, with no traces of its pristine importance. 
 
 Origin of Town Names 
 
 While most of the towns in Onondaga county 
 are named from classical persons or places, there 
 are some that got their names from prominent 
 Americans. Clay was called from Henry Clay, 
 the great Kentuckiau; DeWitt, from Moses 
 DeWitt, an early settler, cousin of Gov. DeWitt 
 Clinton and of Simeon DeWitt, the Surveyor- 
 General of the state, who had the Military Tract 
 surveyed and who is responsible for the classical 
 nomenclature; Geddes, from James Geddes, 
 who introduced the salt manufacture in that 
 locality, and who, together with Joshua Forman, 
 were the Erie canal pioneers; Lafayette, from 
 the distinguished Frenchman who espoused the 
 cause of the infant American colonies; Onon- 
 daga, from the aborigines, who were at the set- 
 tlement located within the town's limits ; Salina, 
 from the salt springs or salines first discovered 
 
182 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 in that locality, giving the place its early name 
 of Salt Point ; Skaueateles, from an Indian word, 
 signifying " beautiful lake; " Spafford, from 
 Horatio Gates Spafford, the author of the first 
 Gazetteer of the state; Van Buren, from Presi- 
 dent Martin Van Buren, the statesman, who 
 spent much of his vacation in Onondaga, both 
 before and after he was chief magistrate of the 
 United States. 
 
 The names of Camillus, Cicero, Fabius, Ly- 
 sander, Manlius, Marcellus, Pompey, and TuUy 
 were unmistakably of classical derivation, Syra- 
 cuse was, after it had borne several unsatisfac- 
 tory names, called from the ancient Syracuse, 
 on suggestion of John Wilkinson, w^ho discovered 
 a resemblance in the locations and surroundings 
 of the places. 
 
 Indian Friendliness 
 
 During the pioneer settlements, when the best 
 efforts were made to preserve friendly relations 
 with the Indians, the latter reciprocated in kind. 
 Few instances are recorded in which Indian 
 aggressions were made upon the whites, who 
 were few in numbers and subject to the supe- 
 rior physical power of the aborigines. A pecul- 
 iar characteristic of the Onondagas is related of 
 that period. Whenever the Indians went on a 
 drunken frolic they appointed one of their num- 
 ber to w hom they delivered their deadly weap- 
 
MANLIUS VILLAGE AND ITS BROAU MAIN STREET 
 (Reproduced from an Old Print) 
 
184 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 ons and especially charged him to keep sober 
 and retain the arms. They chose a confidential 
 person, who would be true to his trust. The 
 Indians going on a spree well knew that it 
 meant excess and oblivious drunkenness, in 
 which they might inflict injury upon their com- 
 panions or any whites who came in their way. 
 The Indians were more thoughtful in this re- 
 spect than the pale faces. 
 
 Feud of Oiiondagas and Cayugas 
 
 In 1795, the year after the county was organ- 
 ized, a serious feud broke out between clans of 
 Onondagas and Cayugas. It raged with great 
 fierceness for some time and whenever the hos- 
 tile parties met, there was sure to be violence 
 and oftentimes murder. The vendetta was 
 brought to an end in a bloody and deadly strife 
 in which the handsomest of the Onondaga 
 braves was the victim. "Handsome Harry," 
 as he was known, was followed by a party of 
 Cayugas from Tonawanda, and was overtaken 
 by his pursuers at the sand bank, located near 
 the western bounds of old Syracuse, and later 
 owned by Henry Youngs, a place well-known 
 in early times, but which has been obliterated 
 by the march of improvements. " Handsome 
 Harry " saw the fatuity of attempting to es- 
 cape, and so, kneeling and baring his bosom, he 
 received the fatal arrow of his slayer in his 
 
A child's death 185 
 
 breast. He was buried on the spot where he 
 fell, and his sisters, very handsome squaws, 
 daily visited and wailed over his grave. This 
 event put an end to the feud ; afterwards peace 
 reigned between the Onondagas and Cayugas. 
 
 A Child's Death in the New Country 
 
 The grim messenger of death spares not the 
 pioneer settlement. " Let us attend a first 
 funeral," writes the Rev. Mr. Palmer, in his 
 account of pioneer events in southern Onon- 
 daga. " A girl of five years has died. The 
 intelligence rapidly spreads for miles around 
 among the scattered settlers, and the character- 
 istic kindness found in such settlements is at 
 once apparent. The day and hour of sepulture 
 are fixed, a grave is opened, a large chest fur- 
 nishes materials for the rude coffin; all things 
 are ready, the hour has arrived, and the scene is 
 hushed in stillness. The father never has pro- 
 fessed to have a Lord or Saviour; the mother 
 was a believer in the old home down East. A 
 painful silence ensues, which at last is broken 
 by the mother's agonized wail. ' Will not some 
 one pray ? I cannot have little Mary buried 
 so! ' Another pause; and then the sobbing 
 mother kneels by the little coffin and pours out 
 her heart's anguish before her God and Saviour, 
 and seeks not only balm for her wounded spirit, 
 but that God in mighty power would come to 
 
186 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 bestow a spirit of prayer and peace and right- 
 eousness in the whole settlement. The call was 
 answered. ' ' 
 
 A FiUTious Family 
 
 The DeWitt family figured extensively in the 
 new Onondaga country. Its principal local rep- 
 resentative was Moses DeWitt, the surveyor, 
 who had brothers and other relatives in the 
 settlements. He was a cousin of Gov. DeWitt 
 Clinton, and a nephew of Gen. James Clinton, 
 under whom he ran the New York and Pennsyl- 
 vania boundary line w^hen a mere youth. He 
 was a nephew of Gen. Simeon DeWitt, the 
 Surveyor-General of the state, and he, together 
 with Abraham Hardenburg, under the Surveyor- 
 General, surveyed the Military Tract. He it was 
 who gave the towns the grandly classical names 
 which they bear to this day. He also was Sur- 
 rogate and County Judge, and held other civil 
 positions. He was, as also was Asa Danforth, a 
 major in command of a militia battalion. He 
 resided in old Pompey, now Lafayette, and had 
 landed property in the town of DeWitt, which 
 town was named after him. Major DeWitt died 
 at the early age of 28 years, and was buried 
 near Jamesville. A visit recently to his burial 
 place shows it to be neglected, the stone mark- 
 ing the grave being overturned and broken in 
 
GRAVES OF THE DEWITTS 187 
 
 two. The De Witts were of a distinguished 
 Holland family. 
 
 The stone in the little family burying ground 
 bears this inscription: " Here lie the remains of 
 Moses DeWitt, Major of Militia, and Judge of 
 the County Courts, one of the first, most active 
 and useful settlers in the county. He was born 
 on the 15th day of October, 1766, and died on 
 the 15th day of August, 1794, aged 28 years." 
 The same stone bears inscriptions of Egbert 
 DeWitt and of Jacob R. DeWitt. 
 
 A Baih'oad Village 
 
 East Syracuse, the most considerable railroad 
 village in Central jNew York, was incorporated 
 November 12th, 1881. It drew its population 
 mainly from the old Fifth ward in Syracuse. 
 Nine years before the Central bought lands 
 there for the establishing of freight yards, 
 engine houses, etc. Then began the growth of 
 a flourishing community. From four dwellings 
 there sprang up a community of 2,500 people. 
 Considerable business enterprises have located 
 there and in the vicinity. 
 
 A Tillage of Early Times 
 
 Fayettville, in the first years of its settlement, 
 was widely known to the travelling public as 
 " the village of four taverns and no meeting 
 house. ' ' It since has bravely recovered. 
 
188 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 First Circulating Library 
 
 The circulating library at Eagle Village was 
 the earliest in the Onondaga country. It con- 
 tained several hundred well-selected volumes 
 and was the means of affording much entertain- 
 ment and of spreading much good information 
 in the surrounding communities. 
 
 Some Corrections 
 
 Doctor Beauchamp corrects Clark's measure- 
 ments of the old forts near Delphi in the town 
 of Pompey, reproduced in part 12 of these pa- 
 pers. He says : " In figure 1 the stockade is too 
 large and disproportionately wide. It was about 
 four acres, and its date 1620. Figure 2 also is 
 too large and wide. It was about four and a 
 half acres, and was occupied about 1600. The 
 Sheldon fort was a stockade, about four acres in 
 extent, and occupied about 1630." One of 
 these years antedates the Pilgrims at Plymouth 
 and another is simultaneous with their landing. 
 " Indian fort," Beauchamp says, " was on lot 
 23, Pompey. The cannon balls found there are 
 probably of recent date. Grooved boulders, like 
 the big one there, are found in many places. ' ' 
 
 Doctor Beauchamp says that Clark correctly 
 quotes that " the only meeting house between 
 New Hartford and the Pacific ocean was the 
 
 I 
 
CORRECTIONS 189 
 
 -one built in 1803 in Marcellus (the church of the 
 Eastern society) ; ' ' but he adds : " A church was 
 built in East Bloomfield in 1801, which is said to 
 have been the first in western New York." 
 
 The fragments of a bell with the tongue at- 
 tached, found at Indian Hill, were of the old 
 mission bell at Onondaga (Genentoa) lake. 
 
F='CZ>UF=J"rEEN-rH F=AF=ER 
 The County's Area Diminished 
 
 Onondaga county, formed from Herkimer 
 (originally Tryon) county, March 5th, 1794, in 
 eluded the original Military Tract, set apart for 
 bounties to soldiers of the Eevolutionary war, 
 was diminished to its present area of 812 square 
 miles by the taking off of Cayuga county, 
 March 8th, 1799; Cortland, April 8th, 1808; a 
 part of Oswego, March 1st, 1816, and parts of 
 Seneca, March 29th, 1804, and Tompkins, April 
 17th, 1817, from Cayuga. All west of the origi- 
 nal county of Albany was Tryon, which became 
 Herkimer, and then was sub-divided into the 
 present civil divisions. At the close of the Eev- 
 olution there were fourteen counties in the state 
 of New York; now there are sixty-one. The 
 Mohawk valley counties were mostly settled by 
 Holland Dutch, and when Onondaga was opened 
 up the settlers were mostly all from New Eng- 
 land. The institutions, customs and habits of 
 the New England colonists were brought hither 
 by the early settlers. 
 
 Treaties between the state of New York and 
 the chiefs of the Onondaga nation of the Iro- 
 quois were executed: 
 
 (190) 
 
TREATIES WITH THE INDIANS 191 
 
 First, at Fort S(;huyler (Utica) by Sir George 
 Clinton and associate commissioners on the part 
 of the state and chiefs of the Onondagas, Sep- 
 tember 12th, 1788, when the Indians ceded for- 
 ever to the state all their lands, save the Onon- 
 daga reservation and the right to fish and hunt 
 on said lands ; and the land for one mile about 
 the salt lake (Onondaga), and the lake itself, to 
 be held for the common benefit of both Indians 
 and whites for salt-making purposes. In pay- 
 ment for which the Indians were to receive 
 1,000 French crowns and £'2(H) worth of clothing, 
 together with an annuity of $500 in silver, the 
 state agreeing to protect the Indians in their 
 rights on the reservation. 
 
 Second, at Onondaga, March 11th, 1793, be- 
 tween John Cantine and Simeon DeWitt on the 
 part of the state, and the Onondaga chiefs, 
 ceding parts of the Onondaga reservation em- 
 braced in the salt lands; consideration a pay- 
 ment of 1^210 and further annuity of $110. The 
 right to lay roads through the reservation was 
 granted. 
 
 Third, at Cayuga Ferry, July 28th, 1795, by 
 Philip Schuyler and assistants, for the state, 
 with the Onondaga chiefs, increasing the an- 
 nuity to the Onondagas to 8800, the Indians re- 
 nouncing their right to the Onondaga lake and 
 the mile of territory around it, and to half 
 
192 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 a mile along the Onondaga creek, for the added 
 annuity of $700 and 100 bushels of salt, — mak- 
 ing the total annuity in money, clothing and 
 salt, $2,430. 
 
 Fourth, at Albany, February 11th, 1822, the 
 Onondagas selling to the state 800 acres of land 
 from the south end of the reservation for $1,700. 
 
 In 1883-4 negotiations were entered into for 
 the dissolution of the tribal relations of the On- 
 ondaga nation and the division of Indian lands 
 in severalty by E. B. Judson, J. F. Seymour 
 and C. N. Sims, commissioners for the state, and 
 the Onondaga chiefs, but after treaty provisions 
 had been prepared, the Onondaga nation rejected 
 them. 
 
 The enumeration of Indians on the Onondaga 
 reservation shows these totals : 1855, 349; 1865, 
 360; 1875, 401; 1892, 509. There are Ononda- 
 gas on other reservations, bringing their num- 
 bers up to between 700 and 800 ; and instead of 
 thus decreasing, the census shows that they are 
 slowly increasing in numbers. 
 
 Origin of tlie Ouoiidagas 
 
 David Cusick's history of the Six Nations 
 relates the tradition of the origin of the Iro- 
 quois in "the holder of the heavens" taking 
 them out of a hill near Oswego Falls, and lead- 
 ing them down the Mohawk and Hudson rivers 
 to the sea, where they became scattered; but 
 
INDIAN TRADITIONS 193 
 
 their great leader brought six families back to 
 the junction of the Hudson and Mohawk, whence 
 they proceeded westerly under his guidance, and 
 were located as Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, 
 Cayugas and Seuecas, the sixth family being 
 taken to the Mississippi river, and being divided 
 by the breaking of the grape-vine bridge upon 
 which they attempted to cross over, those left 
 on this side travelled eastward and became the 
 Tuscaroras, who, joining the nations, made the 
 number full. 
 
 Cusick relates the mythological accounts of 
 the invasions of the Indian country by the Fly- 
 ing Heads, which- ravaged the habitations, the 
 Lake Serpent, which did great destruction, and 
 the Stone Giants, which waged cruel, unrelent- 
 ing war, and the Giant Mosquito, which, after 
 doing great mischief, was killed at what is now 
 Centerville, and from its blood sprung all the 
 brood of minor mosquitoes. These and other 
 stories embody the exaggerated traditions of the 
 Onondagas. When the Cardiff Giant was un- 
 earthed the Onondagas came in numbers and 
 greeted the stone man as one of the enemies who 
 centuries ago invaded and played havoc with 
 the Indian country. 
 
 The more probable origin of the Onondagas 
 is that the Iroquois were four or five hundred 
 years ago in Canada, and that from the Niagara 
 
194 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 river they migrated both east and west. This 
 migration left the Onondagas in the Jefferson 
 county region. About 1600 they came down 
 into this region, where prehistoric people lived 
 before their coming, and they located first on the 
 site of Fenner, Madison county; then they 
 moved to the Indian Hill site in Pompey, where 
 was their largest village; thence to the vicinity 
 of where Jamesville now stands (Greenhalge 
 describes their village in 1677); then, about 1700, 
 to near Onondaga Hollow, w^here they are de- 
 scribed by Bertram, and where Sir William John- 
 son built them a fort in 1756. The Van Schaick 
 expedition in 1779 destroyed their villages. 
 They then located in their present reservation, 
 where they since have enjoyed a rather quiet 
 existence for about 120 years. They are inoffen- 
 sive and scarcely self-supporting, and are living 
 out the probationary period of the remnants of 
 the ' ' noble red men ' ' in the Onondaga country. 
 The Onondagas, the Men of the Mountains, 
 claimed at one time to have 4,000 warriors. It 
 is known that the braves numbered about 1,000, 
 when the French and English wars w^ere being 
 fought in their territory. There was a great 
 decadence for many years after the whites came 
 to rule the country, but in recent years there is 
 a manifest improvement, and in numbers, intel- 
 ligence and morality there is very decided gain. 
 
BOUNTY LANDS 195 
 
 The Military Tract 
 
 Under the treaty of 1788 the Onondagas ceded 
 to the state of New York all their lands-except- 
 ing the Onondaga reservation and fishing and 
 hunting rights; and the lands thus acquired and 
 another tract lying west were under act of Con- 
 gress, September 16th, 1776, and other legisla- 
 tion, set apart as bounty lands to soldiers of the 
 Eevolutionary war, and became known as the 
 Military Tract. It included all the territory 
 within the original county of Onondaga, and 
 now constituting the counties of Onondaga, 
 Cayuga, Cortland and Seneca and parts of the 
 counties of Oswego, Tompkins and Wayne, 
 
 The Military Tract was laid out by Surveyor- 
 General Simeon DeWitt into twenty-five town- 
 ships, each intended to contain as nearly as pos- 
 sible 60,000 acres of land, and each township^ 
 being divided into 100 lots. Three more like 
 townships were added to the tract, making 
 twenty-eight in all. Following is a complete 
 list of them : 
 
 No. Township Present Towns County 
 
 1 Lysander .... Ly sander Onondaga 
 
 South part of Granby Oswego 
 
 2 Hannibal . . . .Hannibal, west part of city of Oswe- 
 
 go and north part of Granby Oswego 
 
 3 Cato Victory and Ira, and north parts of 
 
 Conquest and Cato Cayuga 
 
 4 Brutus Brutus and JVIentz, and parts of Con- 
 
 quest, Cato, Montezuma, Throop 
 
 and Sennet Cayuga 
 
ORIGINAL MILITARY TRACT-ONONDAGA COUNTY AS FIRST ESTABLISHED 
 
MILITARY TRACT TOWNSHIPS 197 
 
 5 Camillus . . . . . Van Buren, Elbvitlge and part of 
 
 Camillus Onondaga 
 
 6 Cicero Clay and Cicero Onondaga 
 
 7 Manlius DeWitt, Manlius and part of Salina. .Onondaga 
 
 8 Aurelius ....Auburn city, Fleming, Owasco, 
 
 Throop, Sennet, part of Aure- 
 lius, one lot in Montezuma Cayuga 
 
 9 Marcellus . . .Skaneateles and Marcellus, parts of 
 
 Spaflford and Otisco Onondaga 
 
 10 Pompey Pompey, most of Lafayette, three 
 
 lots in Otisco Onondaga 
 
 11 Romulus . . . .Romulus, west part of Fayette and 
 
 Varick, four lots in Seneca Falls. .Seneca 
 
 13 Scipio Scipio and Venice, south part of 
 
 Ledyard, five lots in Niles and 
 northwest corner of Moravia Cayuga 
 
 13 Sempronius. .Moravia, Sempronius, most of Niles. .Cayuga 
 
 Part of Spafford .... Onondaga 
 
 14 Tully Tully, south part of Spafford and 
 
 Otisco Onondaga 
 
 Scott, Preble Cortland 
 
 15 Fabius Fabius Onondaga 
 
 North part of Truxton and Cuyler. . .Cortland 
 
 16 Ovid Ovid, Lodi, Covert Seneca 
 
 17 Milton Genoa Cayuga 
 
 Lansing Tompkins 
 
 18 Locke Groton Tompkins 
 
 Locke, Summer Hill Cayuga 
 
 19 Homer Homer, most of Cortland ville Cortland 
 
 20 Solon Solon, Taylor, part of Truxton, 
 
 Cuyler Cortland 
 
 21 Hector Hector Schuyler 
 
 22 Ulysses Ulysses, Enfield, Ithaca Tompkins 
 
 23 Dryden Nearly all Dryden Tompkins 
 
 24 Virgil Virgil, most of Harford and Lapeer, 
 
 two and one-quarter lots of Cort- 
 landville, one lot Freetown Cortland, 
 
198 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 25 Cinciunatus. .Clncinnatus, Freetown, most of Mar- 
 
 athon Cortland 
 
 26 Junius Junius, Tyre, Waterloo, north part 
 
 of Seneca Falls Seneca 
 
 27 Galen Galen, Savannah Wayne 
 
 28 Sterling Sterling Cayuga ' 
 
 East part Wolcott, Butler Wayne 
 
 The " State's hundred " of the MiUtary Tract 
 was the reservation from some of the lots of 100 
 acres by arrangement with the Ohio soldiers, 
 who had received that quantity of land in Ohio. 
 The " Survey 50 acres " was set apart to pay 
 the expenses of the surveys. Six lots in each 
 township were devoted to gospel and school pur- 
 poses. Many of the soldiers settled upon the 
 bounty lands allotted to them ; others sold their 
 lands without ever occupying them. Some 
 frauds were attempted, and it was many years 
 before settled conditions obtained. 
 
 The Onondaga Reservation 
 
 Under the several treaties the Reservation of 
 the Onondaga nation was reduced from its origi- 
 nal extent, embracing the whole town of La- 
 fayette, Camillus, Geddes and the city of Syra- 
 cuse, to the reserved lands in the town of La- 
 fayette, adjoining the town of Onondaga on the 
 south. The state Red Book makes the extent 
 of the reservation to be 7,300 acres, while the 
 survey of Colonel Carrington makes it 6,100 
 acres. Of the lands upwards of 5,000 acres are 
 
RESERVED FOR INDIANS 199 
 
 most excellent, either in timber or for farming. 
 The rest is hilly and stony and includes valuable 
 quarries of limestone. Springs of good water 
 are abundant. The better lands are fertile and 
 raise fine crops. While ancient customs and 
 pagan rites are continued, there has nevertheless 
 been considerable improvement in the conditions 
 of the people in recent years. Christianity is 
 gradually gaining ground. The state school is 
 prosperous and better attended than formerly, 
 and the missions are more thrifty and influential. 
 About half the land of the reservation is under 
 cultivation. An agricultural society is repre- 
 sentative of the progress in farming, gardening, 
 horticulture and stock raising. An Indian band 
 shows the musical taste of the people, and a 
 temperance association evidences the steady hab- 
 its of many of the nation. The Onondagas 
 were well represented in the war of 1812 and 
 in the Civil war and acquitted themselves credit- 
 ably. The government is in fifteen chiefs, who 
 follow in the line of female royal descent, and 
 their administration conforms to the ancient, 
 unwritten laws of the nation. The pagan ele- 
 ment is in the majority. 
 
 The reservation at the last enumeration con- 
 tained about 75 frame houses, many of them 
 modern and comfortable, 26 frame barns, 26 
 horse teams, 11 single horses and 7 yoke of 
 
ONONDAGA RESERVATIOJ 
 
 18 90. 
 ONONDAGA COUNTY. NEW, YORK. 
 
 \UPost OpFicf 
 
 
 5mBooiEDE'ui«i 
 
 Locdtpd and plotted by 
 •^ AREA,, 6100 Acres Henr^B Carnngton U.5A. 
 
 Pbp.l890 494 All;lncl,ans '^pec'a) Ag'ent IP'-CensttS. 
 
STATUS OF THE ONONDAGAS 201 
 
 oxen. Their industries and business were rep- 
 resented by five grocery stores, a blacksmith 
 shop, two carpenters, two shoemakers, etc. 
 Two ministers Kve among them. The churches 
 need to be helped, and the school is under 
 state supervision. Both are in improved condi- 
 tion. In some of the dwellings are modern im- 
 provements, and pianos, house organs and other 
 musical instruments are to be seen. Some of 
 the Indian women develop rather remarkable 
 business ability. The quarries and much of the 
 tilled land are rented. 
 
F-IF-TEENXH F=AF=EFR 
 
 Women of Pioneer Times 
 
 The women of pioneer times have had scant 
 recognition in the histories of those times. They 
 had Httle or no part in the clearing of the land, 
 the felling of the forests, the culture of the 
 soil at least not so large a part as to be made a 
 matter of record. But they did have import- 
 ant relations to the home and the family, to 
 education and religion; and their part was of as 
 much consequence, and their lot as difficult and 
 as hard as that of the men. In the iso- 
 lated settlement in the embryo community, 
 woman's presence was the civilizing and elevat- 
 ing and ennobling influence, the motive to or- 
 ganized society and to all progress. Without 
 her pioneer life would have been unendurable, 
 and its scheme barren. 
 
 There are some glimpses of the home life of 
 the colonists in the "Life of Josiah Quincy, " 
 and sidelights are scattered in the pages of 
 Bancroft, Hildreth, and Parkman, and in Green's 
 " History of the People of the United States " 
 record is made of the habits and customs of the 
 better society of the Revolutionary period; but 
 
 (202) 
 
woman's good work 203 
 
 the family life of the pioDeer in the new regions 
 of country is seldom touched upon. In the 
 Onondaga country, when the clearings were made, 
 the homes built, the church and school estab- 
 lished, women had a foremost work to her credit. 
 The prosperity and success of the early settle- 
 ments were due to her co operation and labors, 
 her economy and prudence, her enterprise and 
 progress, her morality and circumspection. The 
 home was constituted and kept together by 
 woman; the children were taught in the home 
 school; the church was established and promoted 
 by women. Their privations and hardships 
 were like those of their husbands, brothers and 
 sons, whose toils, and troubles were greatly 
 lessened by their presence and aid. Their lives 
 expanded and blossomed out as thrift and pros- 
 perity and comforts came to the family. The 
 better, brighter side of pioneer life was in their 
 keeping. 
 
 In the past there were charming narratives of 
 mother's ways and doings in the early time 
 household; and, later, the excellent though 
 primitive ways of grandmother were traditions 
 of the family, and prized memories. There was 
 little of parlor in those days; the library was 
 scant; but the kitchen and diniug-room, usually 
 one, were fully developed ; and, with the resour- 
 ces and utensils of the period, the family table 
 
204: PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 was maintained royally, and healthful and happy 
 conditions were preserved. The isolated habita- 
 tion, perhaps miles distant from any neighbor's, 
 was the castle of the pioneer. It sometimes 
 was beset with danger; and this when the wife 
 and mother was the sole adult occupant and 
 defender. The woman's part on the frontier 
 was not easy, nor was it always secure; but it 
 was as important as that of the man, and in the 
 settlement, growth and prosperity of the new 
 country had equal responsibility with his part ; 
 and too much honor and respect cannot be paid 
 the women of the pioneer time. 
 
 County Buildings 
 
 The first courts in Onondaga county were held 
 at Onondaga in 1794. The county offices were 
 divided between the Hill and the Valley. The 
 lock of the first clerk's office at the Valley 
 hangs up in the present clerk's office, and locally 
 it has always had much interest. It is a relic 
 of the past like the key to the French bastile. 
 The first court house was at the Hill, and near 
 it was the county iail. Later the County Clerk's 
 office was added to the group. These buildings 
 occupied the triangle formed by the two north 
 roads out of the village. It now is owned by 
 several adjoining property owners, is a vacant 
 field, and is cultivated. No vestage of its former 
 importance attaches to the plot. 
 
COUNTY clerk's OFFICE 205 
 
 In 1829, after a severe contention, the county 
 seat was removed to Syracuse, under an act of 
 the Legislature, and by vote of the Board of 
 Supervisors a court house and jail were built 
 midway between the village of Salina and Syra- 
 cuse, on the corner of Salina and Ash streets, 
 which were burned in 1856, and the next year 
 the present court house was built in Clinton 
 square. It was at the time a commodious and 
 suitable structure, built of Onondaga limestone, 
 but it has survived its day, and the construction 
 of a successor that will better serve its purposes 
 is being agitated. The County Clerk's office, 
 at the Valley till 1813, was succeeded by a small 
 office at the Hill, which was occupied till 1829, 
 when the office was removed to Syracuse, being 
 lodged in a small building at the corner of North 
 Sahna and Church streets till 1853, when a more 
 commodious structure was built, and this was 
 used till 1880, when the present building was 
 provided at the corner of Willow and Clinton 
 streets. 
 
 The County jail was merged in the Peniten- 
 tiary in 1850, and the County penitentiary, 
 begun in that year, was subsequently enlarged 
 at various times from 1859 to 1879. The institu- 
 tion was under a board of inspectors, and a 
 superintendent. In 1898 the Penitentiary site 
 was sold and a new penitentiary ordered, which 
 
ONONDAGA COUNTY POOR HOUSE 
 
COUNTY POOR HOUSE 207 
 
 is to be located near Jamesville in the town of 
 DeWitt. 
 
 The County Poor house was the result of an 
 agitation for that institution begun in 1825, and 
 the site was located in the town of Onondaga 
 in 1827. The building then erected continued 
 in use till 1800, when the insane asylum was 
 added, an addition and water supply were con- 
 structed in 1866 and there was further extension 
 in 1867 and 1872, with other improvements in 
 1879. Discontinuance of insane care, on its being 
 assumed by the state, has provided the room for 
 later demands. A county farm is connected 
 with the poor buildings. 
 
 Early Steamboats 
 
 On Skaneateles lake were made the pioneer 
 attempts to introduce steam navigation on the 
 waters of the county. The Independence, in 
 1831, was not a success, nor was the Highland 
 Chief a little later. The Skaneateles (1818), 
 Homer (1849), Ben. H. Porter (1866) and the 
 Glen Haven each has served a career of use- 
 fulness. 
 
 The first steamboat ever used upon the Erie 
 canal was built in 1823 by William Avery at 
 Buelville in the town of Pompey. 
 
 The steam commerce of the canals has steadily 
 increased and now is a considerable item in the 
 daily business of Syracuse with places along the 
 
208 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 canals in the vicinity. The steamboat interests 
 were, until recently, small on the lakes and 
 rivers of the county. Pleasure craft are now 
 numerous. 
 
 Primitive Street Names 
 
 In the pioneer times, when Syracuse was a 
 part of the town of Maulius and had no distinct- 
 ive name and no inhabitants, and the whole 
 territory was the haunt of wild beasts, a 
 gloomy impenetrable swamp occupied the site 
 of the present prosperous city and it was the 
 home of bears, wolves, wildcats, deer and rat- 
 tlesnakes. The western portion of ihe valley 
 about Syracuse was timbered with hemlock, 
 birch, and soft maple ; the eastern portion with 
 cedar and pine. From the frequency of wild 
 animals the early-travelled routes were called 
 bear and wolf paths, and when the settlements 
 began, the first opened streets were Wolf and 
 Bear, etc. Some very romantic stories are told 
 of adventures with wild animals. In the early 
 thirties a fine specimen of bear was captured in 
 what is now South Salina street, near where 
 Star park is located, and the late Charles Leon- 
 ard told of a fine deer running down Genesee 
 street, and, being affrighted, jumped through a 
 store window where the Larned block stands 
 and landed in a group of men sitting there, of 
 which Mr. Leonard was one. 
 
A WILD COUNTRY 209 
 
 Deer were plentiful in all parts of the county. 
 Levi Clark of Elbridge told that prior to 1 800 
 he often saw deer by the hundreds within sight 
 of his house near the present Half- Way, and 
 that he shot scores of bears and wolves in that 
 vicinity. 
 
 Early settlers at Pompey told of the many 
 bears and wolves they encounte^-ed in the neigh- 
 borhood of their primitive dwellings. 
 
 In the early trails from Brewerton to the 
 Onondaga villages, by way of the lake shore, 
 wild animals were met in droves and poisonous 
 snakes were only avoided with great care. It 
 was anything but a pleasant country to travel 
 through in those times. Game and fish were 
 superabundant. 
 
 An Inhospitable Region 
 
 The country round about Onondaga lake was 
 accounted most unhealthy, and from its early 
 settlement till well into this century it was the 
 region most avoided by the settlers. The at- 
 traction of the salt business brought people to 
 it, and led to the taking of measures to neutral- 
 ize the unwholesome influences. The lowering 
 of Onondaga lake and the draining of the Seneca 
 river marshes, under plans prosecuted by For- 
 man and Geddes, were the correction of these 
 evils and led to the establishing of more health- 
 ful conditions. The filling of the old mill-pond 
 
210 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 in Syracuse and the straightening and opening 
 of Onondaga creek were very helpful measures, 
 and these and other sanitary steps have made 
 Syracuse a healthy place. » 
 
 In the early years of this century the opening 
 of hot weather brought fevers into Salina and 
 Syracuse, which multiplied so rapidly that often- 
 times there were scarcely a sufficient number of 
 well persons to take care of the sick, and it 
 seemed that man and beast alike were attacked 
 by the same malarial causes. Many of the early 
 settlers died during the sickly seasons, and cat- 
 tle and horses were alike victims of the deadly 
 scourge. There were but thirty persons in Salt 
 Point, all told, in 1793, the year before Onon- 
 daga county was organized, and all were sick at 
 the same time, excepting an Irishman, Patrick 
 Riley, who carried on Van Vleck's salt works, 
 drawing the wood for the fires at night, boiling 
 salt all day and half the night, and every alternate 
 night watching with the sick, and keeping this 
 up for two months. Doctor Holland of James- 
 ville, who was probably the first physician in 
 the county, came over to Salt Point every day to 
 visit the sick and give them attendance. Four 
 years later, in 1T97, Doctor Burnet took up his 
 residence in Salina, and is recorded as the first 
 resident physician. It is related that the Indi- 
 ans were attentive and kind to the pale faces in 
 
EARLY INCONVENIENCIES 211 
 
 their sickness, and they furnished the settlers 
 with venison and fish until they were able to 
 provide for themselves. 
 
 Before the Horses 
 
 There was a period in the pioneer time when 
 horses and wagons were unknown in the Onon- 
 daga country. Up to about 1800 there were no 
 horse wagons anywhere in this region. Much 
 of the transportation of articles of food was 
 done on men's backs, and Indians were much 
 employed as carriers, making trips from as far 
 as Albany to supply the settlers with flour and 
 meal and other necessaries. Ox teams were 
 used for transportation in the winter season. 
 Materials for the construction of saw and grist 
 mills were thus provided, and also much of the 
 supplies for other building purposes. Wagons 
 were rare until about 1820. 
 
 Home-Spun Clothing- 
 
 The main reliance for clothing was in the 
 spinning wheel and domestic loom. This was 
 a matter of necessity in the earlier years. At 
 the close of the war of the Revolution there was 
 a general movement throughout the country in 
 opposition to imported fabrics, and a popular 
 demand for reliance upon home products for all 
 material used in clothing. The patriotic people 
 in the large cities led off in this demand for the 
 promotion of American interests in production 
 
212 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 and in trade. It was a rage in New York, Bos- 
 ton and Philadelphia, which rapidly spread 
 throughout 'the interior. The fever raged fierce- 
 ly in the Onondaga country, where were settled 
 many families of revolutionary soldiers. The 
 fabrics thus insisted upon were at first rough and 
 uncouth in large degree, but soon the products 
 of the home manufactories were brought to a 
 fair degree of perfection, and the home-made 
 garments were quite passable. The mark of 
 disloyalty was the wearing of imported goods. 
 Few people disregarded the popular mandate, 
 and those who did were branded as Tories. 
 
©IXTEENTH F=AF=EF=? 
 
 The Origin of tlie City 
 
 The origin of Syracuse was in the trading 
 post estabhshed in 1786 by Ephraim Webster 
 near the mouth of Onondaga creek, which then 
 was at the high grounds just below the present 
 High school site, probably near the state pump- 
 house. He kept a small stock of goods for ex- 
 change for furs with the Indians. In 1788, 
 Webster joined Asa Danforth in the settlement 
 at Onondaga Valley, keeping up his Indian 
 trade, but taking up his home with the Onon- 
 dagas. He later put the trading post in the 
 charge of Benjamin Neukirk, who died at the 
 place in 1793, his being the first death of a white 
 person in the Onondaga country. 
 
 The Early Indian Tillage 
 
 A considerable Indian village sprung up on 
 Onondaga creek above the trading post, the cab- 
 ins ranging along the west bank for a mile or 
 more. An extensive Indian burial place was 
 located on the creek's west bank. In construct- 
 ing the canal many human skeletons were un- 
 earthed, and to the present time occasional skele- 
 tons are found. Brass kettles, tomahawks and 
 
 (213) 
 
214 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 domestic utensils are frequently brought to light 
 in these burial places. The growth of trees 
 standing in these spots indicates that some of 
 the burials took place at least 200 years ago. 
 Leaden bullets are among the articles recovered, 
 and these and other relics connect the burials 
 with the time of the French colonies established 
 in 1656. 
 
 The Future City's Site Indicated 
 
 The site of Syracuse was indicated in 1804, 
 when under an act of the Legislature the sale of 
 250 acres of land on the Onondaga salt springs 
 reservation was made, for the providing of 
 money for the laying out of a public road from 
 Manlius to Onondaga, through the reservation. 
 James Geddes made the survey and ran the lines 
 in an irregular way for the purpose of including 
 as much dry land as was possible, to avoid the 
 swamp that stretched over nearly all the terri- 
 tory of the future city. It was not feasible to 
 locate the tract all upon upland. Surveyor- 
 General Simeon DeWitt supervised the survey 
 and sale. It was Mr. Geddes's experience in 
 this transaction which led him to engage in the 
 later surveys of the Erie canal, which indicated 
 the route adopted by the state in carrying out 
 that enterprise. A question being raised as to 
 the water power included in the advertised tract, 
 DeWitt and Geddes took measurements, which 
 
Walton's purchase 215 
 
 showed that it was a more extensive power than 
 had been supposed to exist at this point. 
 
 The Walton Tract 
 
 The sale was made in June, ISO-t, and the 
 purchaser was Abraham Walton of Albany, 
 who bid off the 250 acres for $6,550, about 
 $26.20 an acre. The plot was thenceforth 
 known as the Walton Tract, which embraced 
 what now is the business center of the city of 
 Syracuse. It was an irregular tract of land, 
 extending from a line a little west and parallel 
 to the Onondaga creek, (the northwest corner 
 being in the Allen Monroe place in West Genesee 
 street), running thence southerly to near the line 
 of Jefferson street, thence easterly across the 
 old mill pond to Salina street, thence southerly 
 through the middle of Salina street to Adams 
 street, thence east to midway of Grape and 
 Orange streets, thence irregularly to Irving 
 street, thence northerly to near Genesee street, 
 to Lock street, through that street to James 
 street, and at the corner of Lock, thence west- 
 erly to the place of beginning. It was nearly 
 all forest land at that time; the Seneca turn- 
 pike, Salina street, Onondaga street, and the 
 Erie canal being the thoroughfares later laid 
 out. The turnpike was the first and the other 
 streets were at the time' merely paths through 
 the woods and swamp. The names of streets 
 
N 
 
 W- 
 
 ol_d Red 
 Fi_ouR Mii_L 
 
 WOODE'M 
 
 Bridoe 
 
 V\/, Genesee St 
 
 Parsons 
 
 Tannery ^^^^ Canal 
 Aqueduct 
 
 u 
 y 
 
 h 
 0) 
 
 u 
 
 a 
 < 
 
 J 
 J 
 
 I 
 
 MAP SHOWING THE OLD RED MILL AND SURROUNDINGS 
 
FIRST DAYS OF SYRACUSE 217 
 
 were after a primitive order, Genesee and Salina 
 streets being nearly the only ones that still retain 
 the original designations. The turnpike through 
 what is now Syracuse was a corduroy road, 100 
 feet wide. 
 
 The Beginuing of the Place 
 
 Besides the stipulation that the money derived 
 from the land sale should be applied to the lay- 
 ing out of a road, it was also provided that the 
 purchaser should within a specified time erect, 
 or cause to be erected, a suitable building for a 
 tavern or house of entertainment for the accom- 
 modation of travellers. The tavern site was 
 sold to Henry Bogardus for 1300 ; a half -acre of 
 land located where the Mansion house stood, 
 and where the Empire house now stands. In 
 1806 Bogardus erected a 2-story building, 35 by 
 45 feet, which was called the South Salina hotel, 
 the embryo village having been informally named 
 South Salina. A small frame dwelling was 
 erected the same year by a Mr. Merrill on the 
 lot opposite, east of the hotel, in Cooper (later 
 North Salina) street, (where Peter Waggoner's 
 stood later, and the Third National bank now is 
 located); but there was so much sickness in the 
 locality that the next season he pulled it down 
 and carried the material to another location. 
 There were, however, several log cabins in the 
 near vicinity of the Bogardus hotel. Prior to 
 
218 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 1800, Clark Dames the families of Hopkins (1797) 
 and Butler (1799) as residents there. They were 
 settled around a spring of fresh water near the 
 site, west, of the present Oswego canal bridge 
 in Salina street. 
 
 Other Early Settlers 
 
 In a small log house built by Calvin Jackson 
 on the turnpike, near where the Jervis House 
 now stands, in 1800, his son, Albion Jackson, 
 was born on December 28th of that year — the 
 first white child born within the limits of the 
 later village of Syracuse. In the ensuing five 
 years there were straggling settlers; Amos 
 Stanton, whose son was Rufus Stanton, and the 
 latter' s daughter, Mrs, Charles Keene, located 
 near the Oswego canal bridge, and father and 
 son were hotel-keepers and farmers, and Rufus 
 Stanton raised a crop of rye on the site of the 
 old Syracuse house (now the location of the 
 Onondaga County Savings bank) in 1816. Other 
 early settlers were William Lee and Aaron Cole, 
 who opened a blacksmith shop in 1805; Mr. 
 Blake, who made a clearing and began farming 
 midway between the two Salinas ; Doctor Swan, 
 who put up a small frame house in 1807, and 
 Jonathan Fay, who settled near the old Court 
 house in 1808. 
 
 The Old Red Mill 
 
 The old red mill was built for Mr. Walton by 
 
EARLY INDUSTRIES 219 
 
 James Sayles in 1805. This was the utihzing of 
 the water power sold with the Walton Tract ; 
 the first dam was built on the Seneca turnpike 
 where it crossed the creek, the road at the time 
 passing over it. This dam was swept away by 
 a freshet within a year, and another was built a 
 little way up the stream, where Water street 
 crosses it, which stood till, in 1819, it was re- 
 moved for the lowering of the mill pond, which 
 extended up the creek to near Onondaga street, 
 for the abatement of the agues and fevers which 
 it was beheved to promote. The old red mill, 
 which stood wholly in what is now Genesee 
 street (the only correct picture of which is given 
 in the accompanying illustration), was in use 
 till the removal of the mill pond in 1819, when 
 the mill and the old wooden bridge over the 
 creek at Genesee street were demolished; the 
 mill giving way to the widening of the street, 
 and a new stone bridge being constructed over 
 the creek. An early miller was Henry Young, 
 and the last miller was Thomas Bennett. 
 
 Industrial Interests 
 
 Adjacent to the red mill were several indus- 
 trial concerns which had iinportant relations 
 to the early settlement. Mr. Walton, the year 
 after building the grist mill, constructed on the 
 same side of the creek, but on the southerly 
 side of Genesee street, a saw mill, and later for 
 
THE OLD RED MILL 
 
LOCATION OF THE PLACE 221 
 
 many years it was operated by Frederick Hor- 
 ner, (the last survivor of that time), v^ho re- 
 cently died at an advanced age. Rufus Parsons 
 built a linseed oil factory, v^hich later was 
 converted into an ax factory and was operated 
 by Henry Olds. Veneer mills also were run 
 there. A tannery, built and operated by Rufus 
 Parsons, was in the same locality. Captain 
 Parsons lived across the way in Mechanic street. 
 (The accompanying sketch shows the relative 
 locations of these early industries here in the 
 opening years of the century.) 
 
 The Purpose of the Promoters 
 
 The purpose of Mr. Walton to establish a vil- 
 lage, on a large real estate speculation, and to 
 make the red mill the nucleus and center of it, 
 was pushed with some success ; but these things 
 seldom take the direction the promoters under- 
 take to give them, and the business center of 
 the village, and later of the city, located itself 
 elsewhere under the superior influence of the 
 canal and the railroad. But in the early days of 
 the village the old mill and its surroundings had 
 great attractions. The mill itself, with its big 
 wheel, generous hoppers of grain and whirling 
 mill stones, was the favorite resort of the school 
 boys; the flume, where the boys disported them- 
 selves on the floating logs, was also attractive; 
 
HOW THE CITY WAS NAMED 223 
 
 and the immersion place of the Baptists in the 
 creek, then free from sewerage, where minister 
 and converts walked down the inclined path- 
 way to the water, in the narrow space between 
 the bridge and the mill, while the congregation 
 stood upon the bridge or the opposite bank, 
 watching the proceedings, was a point of much 
 interest in the community on Sunday afternoons. 
 
 Frequent Changes in Names 
 
 Early Syracuse had a varied nomenclature. 
 First it was known as Webster's camp or Webs- 
 ter's Landing; Bogardus Corners, from 1796 to 
 1809; Milan, in 1809; South Salina till 1812; 
 Cossit's Corners, 1814 to 1817; Corinth till 
 1824; named Syracuse in 1824 by John Wilkin- 
 son, who fancied he traced similarities in the new 
 place with the ancient Syracuse in the island of 
 Sicily ; incorporated as the village of Syracuse, 
 in the town of Salina, April 13th, 1825; and 
 made a city December 14:th, 1847. When chris- 
 tened Corinth, a new survey of the Walton 
 tract being made, and a formal laying out of 
 the village taking place, there being an inability 
 to secure a postoffice under the name, it was 
 relinquished and the name Syracuse was taken. 
 Corinth occupied a limited territory; its extent 
 being from the old red mill to the Grand canal, 
 embracing Genesee street. Church and Salina 
 streets on the north side, with Water and Salina 
 
224 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 streets, and Clinton street to Fayette street, as 
 far east as Warren street on the south side. 
 
 This was the original Syracuse, which name 
 was taken at the village's incorporation in 1825, 
 and in this period of a quarter of a century, 
 covering the pioneer time, the village bounds in- 
 cluded a limited settled territory. Jt was a 
 small clearing, surrounded by a pine grove inter- 
 spersed with oak undergrowth. A horse past- 
 ure of twenty acres was on the site of the later 
 Syracuse house, and the bars of this pasture 
 opened on what then was the Salina road. Be- 
 sides the Bogardus hotel there were but two 
 frame dwellings in the settlement. The major 
 part of the population from 1815 to 1820, were 
 laborers on the canal, who lived in log cabins 
 and slab huts. ' 
 
 Changes in Ownership 
 
 The Walton Tract, after some unimportant 
 changes, came into possession of Forman, Wil- 
 son & Company in ISl-t, at a cost of about 
 $9,000; then, in 1818, into the hands of Daniel 
 Kellogg and William H. Sabine, who in 1823 sold 
 it to Henry Eckf ord of New York ; and then, in 
 May, 1824:, the Syracuse company, consisting of 
 William James, Isaiah and John Townsend and 
 James McBride of Albany purchased it for 
 130,000. Moses D. Burnet and Gideon Hawley 
 took its management under a trust deed, and 
 
THE MILLER'S HOUSE 
 
 225 
 
 began extensive sales of village lots. Joshua 
 Forman, Owen Forman, Moses D. Burnet, John 
 Wilkinson, and James G. Tracy were succes- 
 sively agents for these lands. 
 
 The Oldest Structure 
 The miller's house, a small 1 -story frame 
 structure, was built by Mr. Walton for the man 
 in charge of his mill, in 1806. The building 
 
 TlIK MILLER'S HOUSE, 1806 
 
 was put together with wooden pegs, not a metal 
 nail being used in its construction. It is now 
 the oldest building in Syracuse. Some years ago 
 a second story, mansard roof, was added, but 
 the first story was not changed. The house 
 stands on the second lot east of Wallace street, 
 in West Genesee street. An illustration is here- 
 with given of " The Miller's House." 
 Cheney's Recollections 
 Timothy C. Cheney, in his recollections of 
 early Syracuse, describes the old red mill; men- 
 
226 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 tions the grist and saw mills, the oil mill and 
 tannery near it; states that pine lumber sold 
 at the mill for $4 a thousand and hemlock for 
 $11.50; and mentions that the village green was 
 located on the point where Grenesee and Church 
 streets came together, where later the Baptist 
 church and still later the Universalist church 
 were built. 
 
 "The Corners*' 
 
 The place was then known as " the Corners," 
 and Mr. Cheney relates that one morning, in 
 crossing " the green," the thought came across 
 his mind that he might live to see the time when 
 " the Corners " would become a large and flour- 
 ishing place, and that when that time came it 
 would be pleasant to look back and be able to 
 tell how many houses there were then. A year 
 before Syracuse village was incorporated he 
 counted the houses, all being within view from 
 " the green," and there were twenty-three, 
 with six or seven in course of construction. 
 Mr, Cheney recollects his feelings as he contem- 
 plated the old red mill, always a favorite place 
 of resort ; his sensation of awe and wonder as 
 he watched the great wooden waterwheel turn 
 and turn, with uniform motion, as if striving 
 to get rid of the heavy weight of water falling 
 upon its time-worn frame from the moss-covered 
 flume; curiously watching the tin boxes of the 
 
Cheney's recollections 227 
 
 elevator as they wound rapidly upward, bearing 
 their burdens of grain or flour; listening to the 
 ceaseless bur-r-r of the millstones and the clatter 
 of the hopper as it supplied the greedy mill; 
 the great bolter doing its part ; the wooden spout 
 from which issued the great dusty stream of 
 brand or shorts ; the huge box into which was 
 emptied the farmers' bags of grain to be weighed 
 and then let down into the big bin below, whence 
 it was later turned into the great mill. His de- 
 scription of the abandoned mill and his visits to 
 its deserted walls, which seemed haunted with 
 scenes of the past, and of the old wooden bridge 
 across the creek, from which was witnessed the 
 ceremony of baptism, is an old man's impressive 
 story of bright days of his youth. 
 
 A Fair Start Gained 
 
 Migration to the new village was slow. The 
 promise of the salt manufacture was its incen- 
 tive; but it was not till the opening of the Erie 
 canal, the construction of which began in 1817 
 and was completed in 1825, that the new Syra- 
 cuse began to grow and prosper. Better sani- 
 tary conditions were introduced, the commercial 
 importance of the place increased, and Syracuse 
 got recognition and a fair start in its career of 
 prosperity. 
 
Forman Moves to Syracuse 
 
 The Walton Tract, which passed into the own- 
 ership of Daniel Kellogg and William H. Sabine 
 in 1818, was placed in charge of Joshua Forman, 
 as their agent, and in the spring of 1819 he 
 moved from Onondaga Valley and located in 
 what was to become Syracuse, with which place 
 his name was to be identified as its founder and 
 promoter, Mr. Forman lived at the Valley from 
 1800, when he began the practice of law with his 
 brother-in-law, William H. Sabine, and thence- 
 forward was one of the most public-spirited citi- 
 zens. He was the moving spirit in establishing 
 the academy, church, hotel, mill and several 
 stores at the Valley. He was in 1807 elected 
 to the State Legislature on the " Canal ticket," 
 and it was his resolution that the Legislature 
 adopted which provided for the survey to be 
 made of " the most eligible and direct route for 
 a canal to open communication between the tide- 
 waters of the Hudson and Lake Erie. ' ' He had 
 thoroughly studied the canal systems of the 
 world, and prepared an estimate of the work of 
 building the Grand canal (as the Erie originally 
 
 (228) 
 
forman's good judgment 229 
 
 was called) and labored unceasingly to gain con- 
 verts to the scheme. He was ridiculed as a 
 " visionary projector," and in response declared 
 that he expected to see the enterprise under- 
 taken and completed if he lived to the ordinary 
 age of men. This he did and his name went 
 into history as a foremost promoter of one of 
 the grandest improvements of the age. 
 Salt, Canal and Syracuse 
 The construction of the canal began in 1817, 
 and in that year the active work was in progress 
 in Syracuse and vicinity. Mr. Forman had at- 
 tempted to secure the canal's route for the bene- 
 fit of the Valley, but this was found not to be 
 expedient, and so he came to the canal at its 
 nearest point of contact with the promising salt 
 manufacture, and to these two interests, the 
 salt springs and the canal, Syracuse owed its 
 settlement, growth, and commercial importance. 
 Mr. Forman had the prescience to foresee that 
 a considerable city would be located at this 
 point. He did a large service in securing legis- 
 lation, under which Onondaga lake was lowered 
 about two feet, and the canals extended into the 
 salt manufacturing district. 
 
 Formau's Confidence 
 
 In 1820 William M. Stone, a New York jour- 
 nalist, visited the place with Mr. Forman, on a 
 canal investigating tour. He wrote an account 
 
230 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 of his visit, in which he said that he stayed 
 over night in a miserable hotel which was 
 thronged with salt-boilers, a group of about as 
 rough-looking specimens of humanity as he ever 
 had seen. " It was in October, and a flurry of 
 snow during the night rendered the morning 
 aspect of the country more dreary than the eve- 
 ning before. The few houses standing upon 
 low, marshy ground and surrounded by trees 
 and entangled thickets, presented a very unin- 
 viting scene." 
 
 " Mr. Forman," said Mr. Stone, " do you call 
 this a village ? It would make an owl weep to 
 fly over it." 
 
 "Never mind," said Mr. Forman in reply, 
 *' you will live to see it a city yet." Both gen- 
 tlemen lived to see Mr. Forman 's confidence 
 fully realized. 
 
 Form ail's Career 
 
 Judge Forman, the pioneer and founder, was 
 a native of Pleasant Valley, Dutchess county, 
 N. Y. ; he was a graduate of Union college, and 
 became a successful lawyer and a man of affairs; 
 he was a Member of Assembly, and first Judge 
 of the Court of Common Pleas of Onondaga 
 county. He was author of the safety fund act 
 which relieved the state of New York of finan- 
 cial difficulties in 1 826. Owing to failing health, 
 he removed to North Carolina in 1827, and en- 
 
CHOICE OF A NAME 231 
 
 gaged in real estate speculation. In 1831 he was 
 the recipient of a silver-plate testimonial from 
 prominent citizens of Syracuse. He was here 
 again on a visit in 1846, and was given a compli- 
 mentary banquet, at which he was toasted as 
 *'■ the founder of Syracuse." He died at his 
 North Carolina home in 181:9. 
 
 Talue of a Plum Tree 
 
 The Walton Tract was resurveyed in the spring 
 of 1819; the former survey for Mr. Walton be- 
 ing discarded because of incorrectness. But for 
 a certain wild plum tree mentioned in Geddes's 
 survey, Clark says it is doubtful whether the 
 original lines could have been identified. The 
 village was laid out into lots and the adjacent 
 lands were plotted into farm lots of five or ten 
 acres. 
 
 How Syracuse was Named 
 
 It was Mr. Forman's suggestion that the place 
 be named Corinth. But as there already was a 
 Corinth postoffice, it was necessary to find an- 
 other name, and for several years the designation 
 was Cossit's Corners. This was while Sterling 
 Cossit kept the tavern. When the village incor- 
 poration was first agitated in 1820 it received the 
 name of Syracuse. The suggestion of the name 
 was by John Wilkinson, who fancied a strong 
 similarity in the surroundings of this place with 
 the ancient Syracuse. 
 
232 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 Gen. W. H. Moseley, in " The Syracusan " of 
 October, 1850, tells how the name was con- 
 ferred. The subject was taken up after an eve- 
 ning religious meeting at the house of Judge 
 Forman, when it was resolved to drop Corinth 
 and give the place a permanent and enduring 
 name. At an adjourned meeting held at Cossit's 
 tavern, the names proposed were Algiers, Bar- 
 bara, Wales, etc., when at last sober considera- 
 tion came back to Syracuse, which was finally 
 agreed upon. Thirteen persons were present, 
 namely Joshua Forman, Daniel Case, Eufus 
 Stanton, Henry Young, Sterling Cossit, John 
 Wilkinson, Eufus Parsons, John B. Creed, Fred- 
 erick Rhyne, Peter Wales, Robert Hamilton, 
 0. C. Congdon and William H. Moseley. The 
 postoffice was named Syracuse, and John Wil- 
 kinson was the first postmaster. The story is 
 that Mr. Wilkinson brought the first mail for 
 the new office from Onondaga Hill in his hat. 
 
 Map of Syracuse in 1820 
 
 A map of the Syracuse of January 1st, 1820, 
 is reproduced herewith from the original pub- 
 lication in Moseley 's " Syracusan," and except- 
 ing as to relative positions and distances it is 
 well verified. Onondaga creek should be shown 
 on the left, crossing Genesee street, at the red 
 mill ; Church street, running from about N to 
 (letters on the map); K, the site of the old 
 
THE MOSELEY MAP 
 
 233 
 
 school-house, being midway of the street's length. 
 Peter Wales's house (I) and Eufus Stanton's 
 house (H) were on opposite sides of Salina 
 street, and later the Oswego canal cut be- 
 
 A. Tavern, where Em- 
 pire house now stands. 
 
 B. Old red mill, 1805- 
 1849. 
 
 C. Moseley's store. 
 
 D. Daniel Case's dwell- 
 ing. 
 
 E. Joshua F r m a n ' s 
 dwelling. 
 
 F. Cap't Parson's dwell- 
 ing. 
 
 G. Old saw mill. 
 H. R u f u s Stanton's 
 
 dwelling. 
 
 I. Peter Wales's dwell- 
 ing. 
 
 J. F. Rhyne's Eagle 
 hotel. 
 
 K. Old school house. 
 
 L. Bars to horse pas- 
 ture on Syracuse House 
 site. 
 
 M. Erie canal. 
 
 N. Onondaga road, Salina street. 
 
 O. Genesee street. 
 
 MAP OF SYRACUSE, MOSELEY'S, 
 JANUARY 1ST, 1820 
 
 P. 
 
 Water street. 
 Onondaga creek. 
 
 tween them. The Bogardus tavern (A) be- 
 came the rear annex of the Mansion house 
 when that hotel was rebuilt in 1823, and came 
 under the management of 0. H. Williston, who 
 kept it till 1831. Subsequently it made way for 
 
234: PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 the Voorhees house, which later became the 
 Empire house. 
 
 The Moseley map is valuable and interesting 
 as showing what original Syracuse was. The 
 extent of the occupied territory is outlined and 
 the locations of the two taverns and the red 
 mill, the saw mill and the school-house, which 
 were designed to be the village's business center, 
 and of the one store and five dwelling houses, 
 are shown. The Erie canal was that year opened 
 and divided the hamlet, with but one store and 
 two dwellings on the south side. When the 
 village of Syracuse was incorporated, five years 
 after the map was made, there were about 250 
 inhabitants in the place, and thenceforward the 
 village had a rapid growth. 
 
 Clinton Square 
 
 There is no reference to Clinton Square, which 
 evidently was formed a little later. It was con- 
 stituted by the running through the place of the 
 Erie canal, with Genesee street crossing it diago- 
 nally. Water street on the south side and Dock 
 street, later Foot street, and finally James street, 
 coming in at the Mansion house from the east, 
 thus giving the bounds to the square. The 
 name was suggested by Judge Forman and 
 readily accepted. The canal during its con- 
 struction was commonly called Clinton's ditch. 
 
FIRST SCHOOL-HOUSE IN SYRACUSE 235 
 
 First Syracuse School-House 
 
 Among the first enterprises of Joshua For- 
 man, the founder, was the establishment of a 
 school-house. The first school-house was located 
 in the intended center of the new village, on an 
 eligible site, a slight elevation or knoll, midway 
 between the first tavern and the first mill, on the 
 northerly side of Church street, at what since has 
 been the corner of Church and Frankhn streets, 
 the latter a mere lane leading to the salt field be- 
 yond it. The first church, the First Baptist, was 
 located in Genesee street, nearly opposite the 
 school-house. The modest little building was the 
 scene of much of Syracuse's early history. Not 
 only was it the place of the first school, but within 
 its walls were organized the first village govern- 
 ment, the first churches (the First Baptist, Epis- 
 copalian, Presbyterian and Methodist) and there 
 were held the town meetings, etc. Its seating 
 capacity was about sixty persons. 
 
 The exact date of the building of the school - 
 house is not recorded; but it is well attested that 
 it was in 1819 or 1820. Judge Forman was the 
 mover in the enterprise, but the architect and 
 builder are not known. The cost of the struc- 
 ture may have been 1350. It was a square build- 
 ing, about 22 feet on each side, with 10 -foot 
 posts, and an inverted hopper-shaped roof, slant- 
 ing four ways. The foundation was simple, and 
 
THE FIRST SCHOOL-HOUSE IN SYRACUSE 
 
THE SCHOOL-HOUSE INTERIOR 237 
 
 was buttressed by an embankment of tanbark, 
 after the style of the time. It was clapboarded 
 and shingled, but without cornices or eves or 
 adornment. It never was painted. On the 
 south front. Church street, was the one door, 
 midway between two windows, the glazing of 
 which was of common glass, 7 by 9 panes. The 
 door was paneled, and had a heavy latch, with 
 an iron-bow handle. A large stone was the plat- 
 form to the entrance. The single rooom had 
 two windows on each side. . The teacher's desk 
 was midway of the northerly side, and from its 
 slightly elevated position he commanded the 
 pupils, who occupied the two rows of desks and 
 seats ranged around three sides of the room. 
 The school furniture was cheap and plain; slant- 
 ing desks and long benches of the cheapest con- 
 struction, the largest children having the side 
 walls to rest their backs against, and the younger 
 ones having back rests against the fronts of the 
 outside desks. The heating was by a large cast- 
 iron box stove, fed with cord-wood, and the 
 chimney was directly over the stove in the roof's 
 peak. Of teachers in the old school Hiram A. 
 Deming was probably the first. He was as early 
 as 1821, and was succeeded by William K. Blair, 
 Mr. Bement, Miss Thompson and others. But 
 one is known to survive— Or villa Parker, wife 
 of Nelson Gilbert, who was the son of Elder 
 
238 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 Nelson J. Gilbert, the first pastor of the First- 
 Baptist church. 
 
 First Village Officers 
 
 ' ' The first meeting for the election of officers 
 of the village of Syracuse," says the record, 
 " was held in the old school-house in said vil- 
 lage, May 3d, 1825, at which Joshua Forman, 
 Amos P. Granger, Moses D. Burnet, Heman 
 Walbridge and John Rogers were elected trus- 
 tees. Joshua Forman was chosen first president 
 of the village." John Wilkinson was chosen clerk, 
 John Durnford treasurer, James Webb, Alfred 
 Northam, Thomas Spencer assessors, Henry 
 Young poundmaster, Henry W. Durnford, Jesse 
 D. Rose constables, Henry Young, John Garrison 
 overseers of highways. Daniel Gilbert was Justice 
 of the Peace presiding. Most of these names 
 became prominent in the subsequent history of 
 the village and city. 
 
 The old school-house gave place to public school 
 No. 4:, in 1842, and here was organized the high 
 school, with the Rev. Robert R. Raymond as its 
 principal in 1855. " The brick school -house in 
 Church street (old No. 1) I was familiar with," 
 wrote Joseph A. Allen, one of the old-time 
 teachers, to his friend, M. W. Hanchett, in 1896. 
 " The high school was organized there, with Rev. 
 Mr. Raymond as principal, and 1 often visited 
 him there. In 1843, when teaching the Syra- 
 
THE OLD BUSINESS CENTER 239 
 
 cuse academy, I was invited to attend a teach- 
 ers' convention held in this building, and bring 
 some of my pupils to sing. I took Andrew D. 
 White, Ware Clary, Charles Wellington and 
 others. They sang several pieces. White and 
 Clary sang a duet, ' Two Orphans of Switzer- 
 land. ' What fun it would be to hear them now. ' ^ 
 
 Clinton Square, North Side, 1820 to 1826 
 
 The appearance of the north side of Clinton 
 Square, the business center of Syracuse from 
 1820 to 1826, is preserved in the accompanying 
 illustration by M, W. Hanchett, and also the 
 record of the persons who were in business in 
 that period when the locality was nearly all 
 there was of the general business part of the 
 village. The occupants of the entire village 
 block at that time are indicated. 
 
 The Marvin block, built by Asa Marvin, wa& 
 the most pretentious brick structure in Onon- 
 daga county. The Syracuse company owned the 
 eastern end, and Mr. Marvin the remainder. All 
 other structures on the block were wooden. The 
 old buildings at the corner of Genesee and Clin- 
 ton streets were removed for the building of the 
 Court House in 1856. The others were displaced 
 about the same time for the building of the Em- 
 pire block by John H. Tomlinson and associates. 
 
 The Mansion house was the enlarged Bogardus 
 or Cossit tavern. It was practically rebuilt when 
 
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THE MANSION HOUSE 241 
 
 O. H. Williston became its proprietor in 1823, 
 being made a 3-story building by the addition of 
 a hall for public occasions, which occupied the 
 upper floor and was used for theaters, concerts 
 and balls. It was fitted up with plank benches 
 for theaters and concerts and these were removed 
 for dancing parties. Later, from 1831, Robert 
 J. Brockway, Philo N. Rust and others kept the 
 house, till in 1843 it passed into the hands of 
 James L. Voorhees and associates, wiio rebuilt 
 it of brick and named it the Voorhees house, 
 which w^as under the management of Harry Al- 
 len, Barney Becker, Walter Herrick, Philo N. 
 Rust, Barcut Filkins, Lucius W. Wright and 
 Sprague & Gage, when Horace K. AVhite pur- 
 chased the property and converted it into the 
 Empire house. The oldest tavern site in Syra- 
 cuse has been in many hands and in several 
 forms. It is a central point in our local history, 
 and has been the scene of many public occur- 
 rences which have contributed to the historical 
 annals of this city. 
 
 From the earliest days of the old Mansion 
 house it was a favorite gathering place for politi- 
 cians and other public men. Political conven- 
 tions were held in its hall, and the house was 
 the headquarters of public men, and in the time 
 of three days elections the Syracuse polls were 
 held m its public room. The Salt Pointers made 
 
242 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 it a lively place on those occasions. On the first 
 floor, the office was located in the corner, then 
 two windows indicated the sitting room, and 
 the two others lighted the dining room. The 
 broad piazzas commanded an outlook over most 
 of the little town. The Mansion house corner 
 was the place of arrival and departure of the 
 stage coaches in the days before the caual pack- 
 ets and railroad trains. It was a busy place at 
 least twice a day, when passengers and mails 
 came and went, and the people there gathered 
 heard all the news of the day. The stage coaches 
 came in with a rush and a whew, and indeed it 
 was an event for the quiet little place. 
 
 The Original Canal Bridge 
 
 The original stone bridge over the Erie canal 
 at Salina street, full in view from the Mansion 
 house, was an architectural success. It was a 
 single arch, with imposing parapets at either 
 side. This bridge was built of Ooondaga stone 
 and cement and served to introduce that cement 
 for building purposes. When by the widening 
 of the canal the old bridge was removed for a 
 longer one, it was found that the structure had 
 been built on honor. It was a job to take it 
 down, and giant powder was the agency by 
 which the work of demolition was accomplished. 
 
Eic3HTE:E:r\i-rH f='af=er 
 Slow Growth Under Temporary Names 
 
 The growth of Syracuse under several tem- 
 porary names, from 1805 till 1820, was slow. 
 Moseley's map shows, in the latter year, two 
 public taverns, grist and sawmills, a school- 
 house, a store, a tannery and six dwelhngs. On 
 its incorporation, five years later, as the village 
 of Syracuse, the effects of promotion and settle- 
 ment were considerably in evidence. The area 
 of the village had somewhat extended, and to 
 the original Genesee and Onondaga roads, Church 
 and Water, Franklin and Mill, Clinton, Fayette, 
 Warren, Dock (later Foot or James) streets were 
 added and Salina and Genest-e streets extended. 
 Salina, north of the canal, was originally Cooper 
 street, from the manufacture of salt barrels, the 
 principal industry in it, and the Onondaga road 
 south of the canal. Dock street w^as so called 
 from the canal dock, in which boats were built 
 and repaired, where The Durston now stands. 
 The Founder's Work 
 
 Joshua Forman, who appeared as the agent for 
 Kellogg & Sabine, the purchasers of the Walton 
 Tract, was a partner in the business of selling; 
 
 (5^43) 
 
244 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 village lots and promoting enterprises that would 
 advance the new village, and he was the person 
 w^ho more than all others influenced the growth 
 and prosperity of the place. He laid out and 
 extended streets, built dv^ellings and stores, 
 procured state aid for the salt manufacture, and 
 for lowering the waters of the lake and creek, 
 induced people to come here, and inaugurated 
 schemes for the health and advancement of the 
 village. He believed in the future of Syracuse, 
 and that the canal and salt would make it a 
 large and prosperous city. No proposition that 
 promised good to the place was without his co- 
 operation and aid. He was broad-minded and 
 sagacious ; and the same mind that foresaw the 
 importance and value of the Erie canal and had 
 the. force to inaugurate the survey that demon- 
 strated its feasibility, recognized the possil)ilities 
 and the probable future of Syracuse. Nothing 
 w^as done that did not have Forman's sanction, 
 and in church and school, in parks and high- 
 ways, in dwellings and business places, his ex- 
 cellent judgment was exercised to secure results 
 that endure till this time. 
 
 In the seven or eight years that Forman gave 
 his best efforts to Syracuse, his management 
 was active and energetic; the village grew 
 rapidly; new business places and dwellings were 
 built, and the fame of the new canal village, 
 
EARLY RESIDENCE DISTRICT 245 
 
 enhanced by the increase of the salt manufac- 
 ture, attested the prosperity gained and destined 
 to be continued in the future city of the plains. 
 The purpose of creating the business and resi- 
 dence center in the vicinity of the old school- 
 house, midway of the area of the original tav- 
 ern and red mill, was not relinquished, but even 
 at the village incorporation the tendency to cross 
 the Erie canal and extend to the south and east 
 was manifested. In that early time the resi- 
 dence district w^as in West Genesee street, Church 
 street, Franklin street and Mill (later Mechanic) 
 street. But West Water street soon caught up, 
 and from Clinton to Franklin street became the 
 residence places of the well-to-do and prominent 
 citizens. Into Chnton and South Salina, Warren 
 and East Genesee streets the population ex- 
 tended, and business and homes went there also. 
 It was not, however, till the railroad was located 
 through Washington street that the plan for 
 making the old school-house the center of the 
 place was broken. In locating the railroad the 
 decision in favor of Washington street nearly 
 caused a rebelhon by the business interests, 
 which held that it should be in Water street, as 
 Washington was by them considered too far 
 to one side. A meeting of citizens expressed 
 indignation at the action of the commissioners, 
 John Wilkinson and Vivus W. Smith. 
 
246 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 This article will continue descriptions of promi- 
 nent features of the original business and resi- 
 dence parts of the early village. 
 
 The Old Yellow Block 
 
 One of the early business blocks was the old 
 Yellow block, located on the site of the present 
 Clinton block, at the north of Clinton street 
 bridge, and facing Clinton and Genesee streets. 
 An excellent picture of the building and of its 
 next neighbor west, the old Eagle tavern, is 
 herewith given, from the recollection of M. W. 
 Hanchett. It was a 3-story brick building, 
 erected in 1824 by Daniel Elliott, father of 
 Charles L. Elliott, the artist, then a resident of 
 Auburn, and the mason was Samuel Booth. 
 
 Both these enterprising men had much to do 
 with building up Syracuse. The block was a 
 very plain structure, which was painted a dull 
 yellow. 
 
 The early occupants were Daniel Dana, gen- 
 eral store, opened in 1825, and later D. & M. 
 Dana, dealers in farm products, dry goods, etc. 
 Grain was taken in on the canal tow-path and 
 transferred to canal boats for the eastern mark- 
 ets. Deacon Dana built a white brick dwelling, 
 still standing, on the opposite side of Genesee 
 street. 
 
 The corner store, Genesee and Clinton streets, 
 had several occupants, including H. W. Starin, 
 
A FAMOUS MUSEUM 247 
 
 Mathew L. Davis and L. 0. Phinney. Mr. Starin 
 was the model family store-keeper of his time. 
 There was a succession of tenants on the Gene- 
 see street side. 
 
 Phiimey's Museum 
 
 Lucas 0. Phinney was for years a grocer in 
 the Yellow block. He also was the proprietor 
 of the museum, which was the leading place of 
 public entertainment in the village. After the 
 fire of 18 34-, the first large conflagration in the 
 village, which destroyed the original wooden 
 structures on both sides of the Erie canal, from 
 Salina to Warren street, Phinney bought Tiers's 
 museum, which had quarters in the upper stories 
 of the brick building on the site of the old 
 Onondaga County Savings bank, and located it 
 in the second and third stories of the Yellow 
 block, and the museum and ' ' phantasmagora ' ' 
 annex filled the Genesee street side of the build- 
 ing. The rooms were quite handsomely fitted 
 up, and, for some years, under the management 
 of William Humes, an experienced showman, 
 the museum was well patronized. 
 
 This place of amusement was so prominent a 
 feature of early Syracuse as to merit a brief 
 description. It was the new development of 
 means of popular entertainment, following after 
 the travelling shows, of which Sickles's shows 
 were the more famous. The entrance to the 
 
phinney's curiosities 249 
 
 museum was, as shown in the picture, next to 
 Phinney's store, up one flight, on the Chnton 
 street side. On entering the first thing seen was 
 a pipe-organ, run by crank power, about four 
 feet square, set against the wall, and next to it 
 stood a row of eight diminutive wax figures, in 
 front of which was a row of tuned bells, which 
 in unison with the organ were struck by ham- 
 mers in the hands of the figures. This not 
 altogether harmonious music invariably opened 
 the performance. In high glass cases stationed 
 around the sides of the large room were full- 
 sized wax figures, representing Daniel Lambert, 
 the biggest man that ever lived; the Sleeping- 
 Beauty, Captain Lafitte, the pirate, Queen Eliza- 
 beth, Mary Queen of Scots, General Marion, 
 Lafayette, Washington and his generals, etc. 
 Then a glass case of live snakes; another of 
 stuffed snakes and small animals; an electric 
 machine, whose shock was the diversion of the 
 Onondaga Indians who frequented the place; a 
 lot of old w^orld curiosities, and many other at- 
 tractions. The " phantasmagora " was in an- 
 other room, which also was a theater, concert 
 and lecture hall. The descriptions w^ere given 
 by Manager Humes, who was a glib talker with 
 a vivid imagination. The " phantasmagora " 
 was a large magic lantern, with illuminated fig- 
 ures and views. This part of the show ended 
 
250 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 up with a realistic thunder and hghtniug storm, 
 with sheet-iron thunder, " phantasm agora " 
 hghtning and a box of beans rainfall. The 
 apartments were lighted with tallow dips. 
 
 The Yellow block later was J. Monroe Tay- 
 lor's saleratus factory, which passed into Elisha 
 Ford's management. The block was burned 
 August i23d, 1859, when the Clinton block was 
 erected and for many years has been occupied by 
 the Salt company's offices. 
 
 The Old Eagle Tavern 
 
 Next west of the Yellow block was the Eagle 
 tavern, kept by Frederick Rhyne, which was 
 built soon after the Bogardus tavern. It was 
 commodious and hospitable, a farmers' home of 
 the time, bearing the familiar sign over the sta- 
 ble entrance, " Drovers' Home," and it did a 
 successful business. This tavern, improved, 
 later was kept by William A. Robinson, and 
 was burned in 1842. Mr. Robinson then built 
 the Onondaga house, which was the pioneer 
 temperance hotel. 
 
 The Early Residence Quarter 
 
 The residence district of the village was for 
 ten years in narrow limits. It grew up and was 
 intermixed with the business center. 
 
 In Genesee street, west of the Eagle tavern, 
 were dwellings built by Joshua Forman, which 
 were occupied by Henry Newton, the village 
 
EARLY RESIDENCES 251 
 
 auctioneer, Deacon Pliny Dickinson, the Eev. 
 John W. Adams (still standing), Josiah Wright 
 and Dr. George Hooker, the last at the corner 
 of Genesee and Franklin streets, built by Henry 
 Clifford, in 1827. The Hooker and the Malcolm 
 houses, corner of Salina and Washington streets, 
 were the handsomest dwellings in the village. 
 
 Henry Gifford lived in the second house in 
 Franklin street till he built the family residence 
 at the corner of Genesee and West streets. At 
 the north side of Franklin street bridge a small 
 tavern was kept by William Hicks. Several 
 small structures were located along the canal. 
 John Dunn's blacksmith shop was in Mill street, 
 and the residences of Rufus Parsons and the 
 Foster family were also in that street. 
 
 In Genesee street, at the corner of Franklin, 
 lived Adonijah Root, and on the west. Dr. J. 
 W. Hanchett, E. B. Wicks, David Stafford and 
 A. L. Fellows. Frederick Horner, the miller, 
 lived at the corner of Genesee and Mill streets. 
 Mr. Horner long ran the old saw-mill. He 
 prided himself on having seen and talked with 
 President George Washington, who visited and 
 inspected a new grain elevator in a mill in New 
 Jersey. 
 
 West of the Onondaga creek, into which 
 locality the early settlements extended, was a 
 .small, yellow house, on the Allen Munroe place. 
 
252 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 where Sterling Cossit lived after keeping the 
 Bogardus hotel. John Wall occupied a dwell- 
 ing, afterwards the home of George F. Com- 
 stock, which was displaced for his more preten- 
 tions residence. 
 
 Henrj^ Young, the miller, built the house on 
 the southeasterly corner of Genesee and West 
 streets. His brother Andrew lived next door, 
 in West street. Christopher Hyde, Mrs.. Marble 
 and Mr. Patterson lived in the same street. 
 
 The Joseph Savage residence was built ia 
 1823, and Calvin Mitchell, a railroad contractor, 
 lived there. 
 
 These were all the residents west of the creek 
 in 1823-5. 
 
 North Side of Genesee Street 
 
 Excepting the First Baptist church, at the 
 corner of Genesee and Franklin street, (later the 
 National theater, which was succeeded by the 
 Universalist church), that side of the street from 
 Clinton to the junction with Church street, was 
 filled with a good class of residences. The 
 Woodward brothers built a frame building, 
 which was used as a hotel, opposite the Yellow 
 block. It was burned about 1830. Daniel 
 Dana's residence stood next, then Joel Cody's 
 residence, with a famous flower garden; then 
 Matthew L. Davis's residence in a fine locust 
 grove; then the Slocum residence, where Mrs- 
 
A FASHIONABLE STREET 253 
 
 Russell Sage spent her youth. It later was 
 occupied by P. S. Stoddard, the bookseller. 
 
 In the point where Church street runs into 
 Genesee was a small yellow dwelling, which 
 long was the home of Deacon A. L. Fellows. 
 
 Church street became a fashionable residence 
 street. The handsome brick residences of B. 
 Davis Noxon, Grove Lawrence and Amos P. 
 Granger gave high character to it. Other resi- 
 dents were the Rev. Mr. Barlow of old St. 
 Paul's, Alexander McKinstry, Barnet Filkins, 
 Elijah Bicknell, the builder of the First Baptist 
 church, and a Mr. Cook. Doctor Mayo's school, 
 a celebrated boys' institution, was located in this 
 street. Royal Stewart, Mr. Denslow and Mr. 
 Rainsford lived back of the old Marvin block. 
 
 Franklin and Mill streets were also desirable 
 residence streets, and in Genesee street and its 
 immediate vicinty were most of the good resi- 
 dences in the first ten years of the village. 
 First Methodist Church 
 
 The First Methodist Episcopal church society 
 was organized in the old school-house in Church 
 street in 1821 or 1822, but did not have its own 
 place of worship till 1825, when there was built 
 for it a 1-story frame building, about 25 by -10 
 feet, on the west side of North Sahna street, on 
 the site of the present state's salt office. The 
 little building (of which M. W. Hanchett fur- 
 
THE ORIGINAL FIRST M. E. CHURCH IX NORTH SALINA STREET, 1825 
 
FIRST METHODIST CHURCH 255 
 
 nishes the accompanying sketch) stood on a 
 slight knoll on the side of the little creek that 
 ran from the weigh-lock, standing where The 
 Durston is now located, into Onondaga creek 
 and near the High school site. The pulpit was 
 at the west end, an aisle of which ran through 
 the middle, on one side of which sat the men and 
 on the other side the women. ' ' Father ' ' Pease 
 and Charles T. Hicks were the active men in this 
 society, as they were among the promoters of the 
 brick church of this denomination built in 1836 at 
 the iutersection of Montgomery and Onondaga 
 streets. The first church was occupied for about 
 twelve years, during which the society grew in 
 numbers and influence. The location of the little 
 church is indicated on the village map of 1834. 
 This religious society was one of the five organ- 
 ized in the first little school-house. 
 
 The >ortheast Quarter 
 
 This part of Syracuse, including all the region 
 north of the Erie canal east of the Oswego canal, 
 was dense forest for several years after the vil- 
 lage organization. The Syracuse company in 
 1827 began to extend the village area in that 
 direction. Dock or Foot street, which was near- 
 ly impassable because of ravines and gullies, 
 was improved, and new streets in its vicinity 
 were opened, among them McBride and Town- 
 send and Foot, renamed James, these names be- 
 
256 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 ing those of members of the company, and Bur- 
 nett and Hawley, which were named after 
 agents of the company 
 
 Major Moses D. Burnet buih a white frame 
 dwelhng on top of the gravel knoll in James 
 street, which later was lowered to the level of 
 the street, and when Major Burnet built his 
 brick residence, now the Century club's quar- 
 ters, Capt. Robert Townsend and afterwards 
 Rodman Reed occupied it. The house is still 
 standing. The first lot sold in the present James 
 street was by Major Burnet to E. W. Leaven- 
 worth, in 1830, and upon it General Leaven- 
 worth built his fine residence. 
 
 The next ten years greatly developed all that 
 section, which became one of the most beauti- 
 ful parts of Syracuse. Prospect hill was cut 
 down about forty feet and the earth used in fill- 
 ing up the old mill pond in 1849, and was de- 
 signed as the site for the state capitol, which 
 w^as lost to Syracuse by the narrow margin of 
 three votes in the Legislature. 
 
 The beautiful grove to the south of James 
 street, which contained the territory of Wayne, 
 Green and other streets, was later laid out in 
 building lots, and soon the expansion was over 
 James street hill and into the east. Meanwhile 
 the territory to the northward, connecting that 
 part of Syracuse with original Salina, was rapid- 
 
ENERGETIC DEVELOPMENT 257 
 
 ly populated and built over. In the thirties, 
 and even later, dense Avoods covered all that 
 locality. 
 
 General Leavenworth wrote that in 1827 there 
 were no open highways east of the Oswego 
 canal or of Salina street north of the Erie canal 
 bridge. It was all woodland, with barely now 
 and then a foothpath through it, so that solitary 
 pedestrians could make their way across town. 
 
 Henry Blake's tavern, corner of Salina and 
 Division streets, was long the only building be- 
 tween the village of Salina and Syracuse. His 
 place was known as the Center house, and some- 
 times was called Halfway. 
 
 Directly after the incorporation of the village 
 of Syracuse, the village trustees exhibited great 
 energy in the development of the place. Early 
 in the first year, Salina, Warren, Clinton, Water 
 Washington, Fayette and Church streets were 
 formally named. The Seneca turnpike through 
 the village was named Genesee street. Apple 
 street was changed to West street. Canal 
 (afterwards Pearl) street. Willow street and 
 Lock street from Foot to Willow street also were 
 opened. Clinton street was ordered opened from 
 Water to Fayette street; that part of this street 
 from Genesee street north continued an alley till 
 the Court house was located on its present site. 
 Much was done in clearing up and repairing the 
 
258 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 streets, many of which were corduroy roads 
 through the swamps. 
 
 "■ Kobbers' Row " was ordered worked four 
 rods in width ; it was even then a busy trade 
 center. The north side of the street was built 
 up with small residences from Salina to Warren 
 street. Gilbert Fitch, Thomas Spencer, S. W. 
 Cadwell and Paschal Thurber were the residents. 
 On the Salina street side of the block lived Dr. 
 D. S. Colvin and James Sackett ; Gen. Thaddeus 
 M. Wood and his son-in-law, Charles A. Baker, 
 had law offices at the corner of James and Salina 
 streets in 182T, and John F. Wyman's printing 
 office was above the law offices. 
 
 The Orig-iiial Firemen 
 
 An early act of the first board of trustees was 
 to order a hand fire engine and in the fall of 
 1825 the engine was received, a fire company of 
 thirty-five members was organized with Thomas 
 B. Heermans as its captain, and temporarily the 
 apparatus was stored in a little building adjacent 
 to the burial ground in Franklin street. A suit- 
 able house was then erected in Clinton square, at 
 the north side of Clinton street canal bridge. 
 (See its site in the picture of old Yellow block). 
 This was the origin of the Syracuse Fire depart- 
 ment, in whose volunteer force the most active 
 and prominent citizens were enlisted. A little 
 later a second fire engine house, the duplicate of 
 
EARLY FIRE PROTECTION 259 
 
 the first, was built on the south side of the CUn- 
 ton street bridge, an engine procured, and com- 
 pany organized. These two fire companies, oc- 
 cupying houses separated only by the width of 
 the canal, served in generous rivalry in the early 
 years of the village. 
 
IMINETEENTH F=AF=ER 
 
 Opening of the Canal 
 
 The strongest of the impulses to early Syra- 
 cuse was the opening of the Grand (Erie) canal, 
 middle section, on April 21st, 1820. The ground 
 was broken for the canal at Eome on July 4th, 
 1817, and the work was prosecuted at the same 
 time eastward and westward of that place. The 
 middle section was first available. A trial of the 
 canal system, whose success was doubted by 
 many, took place on the trip of the canal boat 
 " Montezuma," which Judge Forman had con- 
 structed from a model devised by Comfort Tyler. 
 It was built at Montezuma, the western point 
 on the middle section, and then made the trial 
 trip through Syracuse to Utica, the eastern ter- 
 minus of the section. Crowds of people were 
 gathered all along the canal to see the new won- 
 der. The trip of the new boat gratified the 
 friends of the canal enterprise and as greatly 
 disappointed its opponents. The boat floated 
 successfully, made as good time as was expected, 
 and it practically sealed the success of the great 
 artificial waterway. 
 
 (260) 
 
BOOMED BY THE CANAL 261 
 
 The fate of the canal village of Syracuse was 
 determined by the success of the canal itself. 
 All doubt of its future was removed, and the 
 village began to enjoy the boom which gave it 
 prosperity and thrift; men of enterprise came 
 thither, capitalists invested their money in its 
 business; the settlement grew rapidly, and at 
 the date of the village's incorporation, the pre- 
 diction five years before, by Forman, that it 
 would be a large city, began to be realized. The 
 growing salt industry served also to attract at- 
 tention to the place and to make sure its future. 
 Canal Completion Celebrated 
 
 On July 4th, 18-20, the completion of the 
 middle division of the canal, 100 miles in length, 
 was elaborately celebrated at Syracuse. Gover- 
 nor Clinton, the promoter of the canal project, 
 was present, and friends of the enterprise from 
 all parts of the state gave their presence to the 
 glad observance. 
 
 The old Mansion house (Cossit's tavern) was 
 headquarters, and there was the scene of the re- 
 ception to the Governor and other distinguished 
 guests. Thaddeus M. Wood presided at the ex- 
 ercises held in the pine grove in the rear of the 
 location of the present Townsend block; the 
 Declaration of Independence was read by Nicho- 
 las P. Kandall ; the oration was by Samuel Miles 
 Hopkins. The procession formed at Cossit's 
 
262 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 tavern and marched to the grove. A dinner 
 followed at the tavern. It was the first observ- 
 ance of the Fourth in Syracuse, and one of the 
 most enthusiastic and jubilant. Three events 
 were celebrated — Independence day, the formal 
 completion of the central division of the Erie 
 canal, and the assurance of the future of Syra- 
 cuse. All the surrounding country and promi- 
 nent men from all parts of the state had part in 
 the day's glad proceedings. On the completion 
 of the Erie canal, November 4th, 18'25, Judge For- 
 man. President of the village, delivered the ora- 
 tion in the pine grove at the Townsend block site, 
 Governor Clinton and other distinguished men 
 being present in the large popular assemblage. 
 
 Syracuse from 1820 to 1830 
 
 From this time onward Syracuse grew and 
 thrived. Its extension beyond the original 
 bounds indicated by the projectors was decided 
 and rapid. To the east and the south from the 
 proposed center business and population tended. 
 The Syracuse house, built by Buell & Safford, in 
 1820, was an indication of the tendency. Op- 
 posite, west, were one store, Moseley's, and two 
 dweUings, Forman's and Case's. The clearing 
 extended, on the south side of the canal, from 
 Water street south to Fayette street and east to 
 Warren street. The north and south road (Salina 
 street) and the Seneca turnpike (Genesee street) 
 
A PERIOD OF RAPID GROWTH 263 
 
 were rude highways cut away for a few feet at 
 the sides to enable vehicles to pass. On the 
 north side of the canal the settled part was 
 from the canal north to Church street and east 
 to Warren street. The dry ground of the vil- 
 lage outside these limits was covered with pine 
 and oak trees, and the lowlands were swamps of 
 cedar and other low growths. Besides the two 
 taverns there were only two frame structures in 
 the place ; the rest were log houses and slab cab- 
 ins scattered about on the dry spots. It was not 
 till 1823 that Syracuse had a newspaper; John 
 Durnford in April of that year issuing the first 
 number of the Onondaga Gazette, which con- 
 tained one commercial advertisement, that of 
 Kasson & Heermans, hardware dealers. In 
 1827 the only roads opened in the eastern part 
 of the village were the Seneca turnpike, the 
 Jamesville road and a short piece of Beech street 
 from the turnpike to the canal. A road from 
 the turnpike in what was Lodi, along the present 
 Eenwick avenue, to Onondaga Valley, was in 
 use before South Salina street was opened. Yel- 
 low brook, quite a stream, running from the 
 tamarack swamp in a zigzag course through the 
 southerly part of the present city, was a feature 
 of the early times. Its waters have been turned 
 into the Jefferson and Harrison street sewers. 
 The Syracuse company's lands east of Sahna 
 
264 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 street and south of Fayette street, in 1824, were 
 wild, and in that year Jacob Hausenfrat built 
 a house and barn where Salina street corners 
 with Jefferson, and cleared the land and culti- 
 vated it as a farm. Salina street was construct- 
 ed across a succession of hillocks, which later 
 were graded to a smooth roadway. A bridge 
 spanned Yellow brook about at Jefferson street. 
 Onondaga street w^as through a swamp. After 
 the Syracuse house was built in 1820-2, and 
 rebuilt in 1827, the Exchange hotel was built on 
 the site of the Western Union offices and be- 
 tween the two hostelries a row of wooden stores 
 and offices filled in the space. On the Genesee 
 street side were Col. Elijah Phillips's stage office, 
 Harvey Baldwin's law office, A. Abbott's drug 
 store, John Wilkinson, postoffice, Joel Owen's 
 bowling alley, Jabez Hawley's cabinet shop, 
 Peter McDougal's shoe store and Joseph I. Brad- 
 ley's blacksmith shop. In the east wing of the 
 Syracuse house was the Onondaga County bank, 
 the first bank in Syracuse, of which Moses S. 
 Marsh was president and W. K. Lathrop cashier. 
 Capt. Samuel Larned bought the corner lots, 
 where were erected successively the Alhambra, 
 Tremont and Sherman houses, and last, the 
 Larned block. Between 1824 and 1830 the ad- 
 joining blocks were filled up w^ith modest busi- 
 ness places and dwellings. 
 
THE RAYNOR BLOCK 265 
 
 The old Raynor block, containing two stores, 
 at the west of the Clinton street canal bridge, 
 also is a landmark. 
 
 This block has been remodeled, the east front 
 being rebuilt with pilasters, and the roof carried 
 up a story and squared. The platform on the 
 easterly side was added some years ago, and 
 this and the apartment to which it is the en- 
 trance, then the police office, was the scene of 
 the rescue of the fugitive slave, Jerry, from the 
 custody of United States marshals on the night 
 of October 1st, 1851. It has since been known 
 as the Jerry Rescue block, and is one of the most 
 interesting historic localities in Syracuse. 
 
 An excellent picture of this block, as it was 
 originally, is herewith presented. It was built 
 in 1828 by Henry and Willet Raynor, who occu- 
 pied the corner as a general store for some years. 
 The Raynors removed from Onondaga Valley, 
 where they had carried on an extensive business. 
 They were of the earliest local grain dealers. As 
 originally built, and before the enlargement of 
 the canal, there was in this block a covered arch- 
 way on the canal side, for the admission of farm- 
 ers' wagons with grain and the building was 
 about a rod deeper than at present. In the sec- 
 ond floor was the law office of Richard Wool- 
 worth, who was long a leading attorney and for 
 twenty years County Judge. The upper floors 
 
THE RAYNOR BLOCK, NOW THE JERRY RESCUE BLOCK, 1823 
 (Sketched by M. W. Hauchett, 1899) 
 
BUSINESS PLACES AND BUILDINGS 267 
 
 were grain lofts, from which shipments were 
 made to canal boats. 
 
 The second of these stores was that of B. & 
 J. Wright, dealers in hides and oils. Further 
 west were two wooden stores, one occupied by 
 Elihu Walter, painter; then a lumber yard; 
 west of this was the original iron foundry of 
 Wilham H. Alexander, later removed to the 
 corner of West Water street and the Onondaga 
 creek, which became the now well-known "Alex- 
 ander Iron works." 
 
 Across Franklin street were Calvin Riley's soap 
 and candle factory, D. Morey's brewery, and 
 beyond was a distillery, which was early des- 
 troyed by fire. Next west was the " flume " of 
 Onondaga creek, which was the public bathing 
 place, and w^as much frequented by youthful 
 swimmers and was provided with a " spring- 
 board," which added much to its attraction. 
 
 On the south side of Water street, opposite 
 the distillery, on the site of the Alexander Iron 
 works, were cattle yards and sheds, and* next 
 east was the old village burying ground. Be- 
 tween Franklin and Clinton streets in Water 
 street were business places and dwellings, which 
 will later be described. 
 
 On the west side of the creek, ou the margin 
 of the canal, was the old stone grist mill, which 
 was owned by the Syracuse company and oper- 
 
268 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 ated by Major M. D. Burnet. It was a substan- 
 tial structure, built of Onondaga stone and run 
 by waste water from the canal. The Amos mill 
 is on that mill's site, and the Greenway brewery 
 is on the site of the old distillery. John W. 
 Barker for many years operated the old stone 
 mill. 
 
 The Wieting Block Corner 
 
 The origiual structures which occupied tlie 
 Wieting block site are protrayed in the accom- 
 panying illustration. Before this building was 
 constructed, the business place on the second lot 
 from the corner was occupied by WiUiam Mal- 
 colm as a hardware store, and the third by W. 
 H. Moseley, grocer, the " green store," the first 
 store between Onondaga Valley and the village 
 of Salina. These were put up in 1819-20. The 
 grocery was later kept by John Leslie, father of 
 David, John, Koss and Thomas Leslie, who also 
 were grocers. The hardware store on the cor- 
 ner was successively kept by Kasson & Heer- 
 mans, Elam Lynds & Son, Townsend & Jack- 
 son, and Horace and Charles A. Wheaton. Archie 
 Kasson bought the corner in 1824 and erected 
 the first brick block, shown in the illustration. 
 It was a three- story brick, about 70 feet in Salina 
 and 25 feet in Water street, and was occupied 
 throughout for hardware business, with a tin- 
 shop in the upper story. John D. Lawson was 
 
WIKTING BLOCK CORNER, 1826-7 
 (From !i sketch by M. W. Hanchett, 1899) 
 
270 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 for many years the boss tinman. The pile of 
 grindstones, kegs of nails, potash kettle and plow 
 on the sidewalk will be recalled by those who 
 knew this corner in its pristine business glory. 
 The building was sold to the Lynds and then to 
 the Wheatons. Later, and occupying the site 
 of adjoining stores in Water street, was erected 
 the Wheaton block, a fine building for stores 
 and offices. In its upper story was a large hall, 
 whose wide galleries supported by heavy columns 
 running from the floor to the ceiling were not- 
 able features. The entrance to this hall was by 
 wide stairways in the southeastern corner of the 
 building. 
 
 On the Salina street side, southward, was an 
 alley leading to the rear of the stores in Water 
 street; next to it was James Pease, shoemaker 
 (who lived in Washington street, next to the 
 location of McCarthy's wholesale stores), and 
 the stairway leading to the upper story; then 
 Theodore Ashley's furniture establishment (on 
 the site of the present Everson block); the Na- 
 tional hotel, a small public house, which gave 
 way to the present structures, and the residence 
 of William Malcolm, now the Malcolm block. 
 
 When, in 1852, Dr. John M. Wieting bought 
 the Wheaton block, he also acquired the alley 
 in Salina street, and the Pease lot, then oocu- 
 pied by the bank of E. B. Wicks & Company,. 
 
FIRST FIRE DEPARTMENT 27 1 
 
 and the lots in Water street to the Townsend 
 block, and these constituted the premises on 
 which the Wieting block was erected, contain- 
 ing the original Wieting hall. Three times it 
 has been burned, and twice separate opera 
 houses have been erected — the present one on 
 enlarged premises. 
 
 On the northwest corner of this block, 100, 
 Gen. Jonas Mann lived in a substantial frame 
 house, fronting on Clinton street. 
 
 Early Fire Department 
 
 In the foreground of the view of the Eaynor 
 block, to the east of Clinton street bridge, is the 
 second fire engine house in the village, which 
 was a counterpart of the house of No. 1, which 
 stood on the north side of the canal, directly 
 opposite this house. 
 
 One of the first provisions of the village au- 
 thorities was to provide fire protection. The 
 organization of No. 1 company, commanded by 
 Thomas B. Heermans, was the next year fol- 
 lowed by that of another company, No. 2, and 
 the list of the members of these organizations 
 reads like a roll of the first citizens. A hook 
 and ladder company was next formed. A third, 
 fourth and fifth engine were later added, and 
 the volunteer companies numbered eight, to- 
 gether with hook and ladder, bucket and the 
 Citizens' fire protection companies, ranking fore- 
 
272 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 most among like departments in the cities, un- 
 til the paid department and steam fire engines 
 were introduced in 1877. A long line of distin- 
 guished chiefs served the community, the com- 
 pany organizations were strong and effective, 
 and Syracuse always has had a most capable 
 service in protection from fire. 
 
XWEIMXIETH F=»AF=EF=^ 
 
 Nucleus of the Present City 
 
 Pioneer Syracuse continued from the first set- 
 tlement in 1805 to the incorporation of the vil- 
 lage in 1825, and onward into the early 30 's, in 
 which period the nucleus of the present city was 
 clearly formed. Growth was slow for twenty 
 years, during which the place was a mere ham- 
 let ; then it was accelerated considerably for ten 
 years or more, and it was rapid thence onward. 
 It was not till 1830 that the expansion from the 
 originally planned center took place, and then 
 the business and residence sections extended 
 into the east and south of the originally occu- 
 pied territory. 
 
 The illustrations accompanying this paper 
 show the development on the south side of the 
 Erie canal in West Water street, between Clin- 
 ton and Franklin streets. The home of Joshua 
 Form an, the founder, is now for the first time 
 presented in pictorial illustration, and it fittingly 
 accompanies the sketch of the original buildings 
 on . the site of the Wieting block, presented in 
 the preceding paper in this series. 
 
 (273) 
 
274 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 The Raynor Residence Block 
 
 The Raynor block in West Water street, near 
 Franklin street, built in 1831 by Henry Raynor, 
 was the most conspicuous residence block in 
 Syracuse at that time. It was a well construct- 
 ed, fine appearing brick structure, containing 
 four dwellings, of two stories, attic and base- 
 ment, with stone facings, dormer windows, high 
 front stoops, ornamental doorways, and through- 
 out modeled on city style. The locality became 
 the best residence quarter in the village. In 
 each of the dwellings was a basement, in which 
 the dining-room was at the front and the kitchen 
 at the rear; double parlors and bedroom in the 
 second floor, and chambers in the third floor, 
 with a capacious attic. There were wide in- 
 closed piazzas on the rear from each story the 
 entire length of the block. On the high stoops 
 were iron railing protections. The doors carried 
 the old style big brass knockers. One of the 
 most prominent women residents of Syracuse at 
 that time contributes an account of this resi- 
 dence block to this paper, as follows: 
 
 ' ' The block contained four residences— the first 
 one occupied by Henry Raynor and family, the 
 second by Schuyler Strong and family and then 
 by Doctor Davis and family ; the third by Wil- 
 liam Jackson and family; the fourth by D. D. 
 Hillis and family. The dwellings were charm- 
 
THE RAYNOR RESIDENCE BLOCK, WEST WATER STREET, 183S 
 (Sketched by M. W. H:nichett, 1899) 
 
270 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 ingly plaoDed, with cheerful hving rooms and 
 domestic apartments. The street in front was 
 lined with beautiful shade trees, while in the 
 rear of the parlors and upper chambers were 
 very broad piazzas, screened with blinds during 
 the heat of summer, and admitting glorious 
 sunshine during the colder months. These piaz- 
 zas were large enough to be utihzed for festive 
 occasions, as, notably, was the one leading from 
 the parlor of the Henry Eaynor home upon the 
 evening of the marriage of his sister, Miss Julia 
 Raynor, to Alfred H. Hovey, when it was en- 
 closed with evergreens and flowers, while Am- 
 brose, the one colored caterer of the village, with 
 his assistants, there served wines and lemonade 
 during the early evening, the ' wedding feast ' 
 being enjoyed later in the large room above; and 
 the piazza of the second house was similarly 
 utilized upon the occasion of the marriage of 
 Doctor and Mrs. Davis's only daughter, Louise, 
 to Dr. James C. Stuart, who is affectionately 
 remembered for his gentle ministrations in the 
 sick room, and for his artistic musical talent by 
 surviving residents of the Raynor block living 
 in the now city of Syracuse. 
 
 "Each home in the Raynor block was not only 
 the center of family happiness, but also of true 
 hospitality in every sense of the word, dispensed 
 with sincerity and courtesy. Each family, 
 
THE KAYNOR RESIDENCE BLOCK 277 
 
 during the winter, gave a ' high tea,' which, 
 translated, means, oysters — soup, raw, stewed, 
 fried, pickled ; oyster patties, turkey boiled with 
 oyster sauce and stuffed with oysters, roast tur- 
 key, chicken pie, a la mode beef, all manner of 
 dainty biscuit and buns, with cranberry sauce 
 and jellies; Marlborough, mince and squash pie, 
 Old Hyson tea and coffee, with thick cream; 
 while later in the evening good, rich vanilla and 
 lemoQ ice-cream. Washington, pound and sponge 
 cake, with peaches and strawberries, preserved 
 (not canned), were served. 
 
 Old Time Feasts 
 
 "Friends from other parts of the village were 
 bidden to these feasts, among whom were : Mr. 
 and Mrs. B. Davis Noxon, Mr. and Mrs. Vivus 
 W. Smith, Gen. Amos P. and Mrs. Granger, Mr. 
 and Mrs. E. F. Wallace, Mr. and Mrs. Willett 
 Raynor, Mr. and Mrs. Peter Outwater, Mr. and 
 Mrs. Ehhu L. Phihips, Mr. and Mrs. Ehas W. 
 Leavenworth (who hved in the white cottage in 
 Water street a few doors above the Raynor 
 block). Miss Theodora Morey (who later became 
 the second wife of Vivus W. Smith, and is sur- 
 vived by her daughter. Miss Florence A. Smith), 
 Miss Cornelia Noxon, who married George F. 
 Comstock, Mr. and Mrs. B. Frank Colvin, and 
 Dr. and Mrs. D. S. Colvin. On one of these 
 occasions the Colvin brothers became quite 
 
278 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 warm, through a pohtical discussion, whereat 
 Mrs. Amos P. Granger, in her characteristic 
 way, called upon a young lady ' to play a lively 
 jig, and see if those Colvins would cool! ' The 
 Colvins, at once entering into the spirit of the 
 music, danced a spirited ' pas deux, ' greatly to 
 the amusement of the guests. 
 
 "In course of time the Raynor block changed 
 tenants, D. D. Hilhs, and William Jackson and 
 family going to their new homes in Fayette 
 park, while Dr. John W, Hanchett (father of 
 Mrs. Henry Raynor) and family then occupied 
 the fourth house in the block, and M. W. Han- 
 chett and his bride, nee Miss Martha Hunting- 
 ton of Owego, commenced their housekeeping 
 in the third house. Dr. John W. Hanchett was 
 a prominent and skilful physician, and num- 
 bered among his patients members of the lead- 
 ing families of Syracuse, but seeing in one of his 
 old ledgers, shown me by a relative, ' For one 
 month's attendance upon Mrs. , seven dol- 
 lars,' proves that fortunes were not made by 
 the profession in those days. 
 
 Music's Real III 
 
 "After the removal of Dr. Davis and family to 
 the Syracuse house and the death of Doctor 
 Hanchett, their former homes in the Raynor 
 block were occupied by John 0. Hanchett and 
 family, and by George Saul and family, and it 
 
THE HOME OF MUSIC 279 
 
 might be said that the Raynor block then be- 
 came music's realm, with the unique talent 
 possessed by Mrs. Saul (who was the beautiful 
 and accomplished daughter of Doctor Hoffen- 
 dahl, at that period the leading homeopathic 
 physician of Boston), and whose piano instru- 
 mentation and technique were most brilliant and 
 touching, while Mrs. M. Waldo Hanchett won 
 laurels through her sympathetic mezzo-soprano 
 voice. M. Waldo Hanchett dehghted all with 
 his varied talent, for he was an amateur of wide 
 scope, performing equally well upon any instru- 
 ment from an organ to an accordian, and John 
 C. Hanchett (eldest son of Dr. John W. Han- 
 chett and brother of Mrs. Henry Raynor), ren- 
 dered on his flute most charming melodies; 
 while often at Mr. and Mrs. Henry Raynor's home 
 there were musical evenings, where the above 
 mentioned artists discoursed enchanting num- 
 bers, aided by Miss Amelia Wallace (who mar- 
 ried Jacob S. Smith) and her sister, Miss Char- 
 lotte Wallace, who both rendered duets and 
 solos with artistic taste and rare melody. 
 
 " Mrs. William Jackson, Miss Mary Jackson, M. 
 W. Hanchett, Miss Juhet Raynor Hovey (daugh- 
 ter of A. H. Hovey), Mrs. Edward S. Jenney, 
 Charles F. Saul and sister Emma (children of 
 Mr. and Mrs. George Saul), Dr. Juliet E. Han- 
 chett, Messrs. James and Charles Hanchett 
 
28(1 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 (children of John C. Hanchett), Miss Josephine 
 G. E ay nor, Mrs. George R. Granger, Mrs. Charles 
 J. Coleman and Mrs. Arthur Gilman (children 
 of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Raynor), are the only 
 living representatives of the famous old Raynor 
 block, which has been demolished, and in its 
 place stands W, S. Peck & Company's whole- 
 sale establishment. ' ' 
 
 On the west of the Raynor block were three 
 tenements of wood, two and a half stories high, 
 with high steps, which were built before 1830. 
 Nathaniel P. Stanton, jr., the teacher, occupied 
 the corner residence. These gave place to the 
 Mertens clothing establishment. 
 
 Next east of the Raynor block was the 2 story 
 brick residence, built in 1827 by John Wall, 
 and first occupied by him, and then by Christo- 
 pher C. Bradley, which was the second brick 
 dwelling erected in Syracuse. (The John Rogers 
 brick dwelling in East Genesee street, which gave 
 place to the extension of the Bastable block 
 when it was rebuilt after the destruction by fire, 
 was the first brick residence in the village.) 
 
 Next east was the old stone house, the oldest 
 stone house in the place, which was built and 
 occupied about 1824: by Judge James Webb, and 
 since has been for years occupied as a recruiting 
 station. Next east was the 2-story and wing 
 dwelling of George Mead, built in 1827, and re- 
 
■o-TREET. 
 
 RESIDENCE OP JOSHUA FORMAN, 1820 TO 1826 
 (Sketched by M. W. Hanchett. 1899) 
 
282 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 moved for the building of the Grouse stores. 
 Then came, on the last lot of the block, the 
 residence of Joshua Forman, which the Judge 
 and his family occupied duriug their residence 
 here, till removal to North Carolina in 1826. It 
 had a peculiar part in the development of the 
 village. An excellent illustration of the Forman 
 place is herewith presented, with its surround- 
 ings. It was built in 1819, and originally stood 
 in what is now Clinton street, facing Water 
 street and the canal, with some fifty acres of 
 land in the rear of it and extending back to the 
 old creek south and over to Salina street on the 
 east. When the village authorities ordered Clin- 
 ton street opened so as to cross the west end of 
 Clinton square and the canal, it necessitated the 
 removal of this house, and it was taken one lot 
 to the westward, which located it on the corner 
 of Water and Clinton streets. The house was 
 finally placed in what originally was Clinton 
 street, and Clinton street proper was opened 
 from Water street southward. But the dwell- 
 ing was placed on the west side of the lot and 
 Judge Forman's law and business office was 
 built on the corner. It was not till 1849, how- 
 ever, that Clinton street was continued beyond 
 Fayette street on a straight line to Onondaga 
 street, because of the diversion caused by the 
 old mill pond, which at and south of Jefferson 
 
HOME OF FORMAN, THE FOUNDER 283 
 
 street submerged Clinton street and gave it a 
 bend to the eastward. In the illustration will 
 be seen the w^ell situated between the office and 
 the house, which was the source of water supply 
 for all the neighborhood. The dwelling was a 
 large structure, all under one roof. It stood on 
 the line of the street. A pretty garden was at 
 the rear. After Judge Forman's departure his 
 son-in-law, Elias W. Leavenworth, occupied 
 this house, and later Vivus W. Smith hved there, 
 1830-32. The corner building was occupied by 
 Mrs. Ellis as a confectionery store in 1836, and 
 later it was known as " The Climax." These 
 premises became the site of the Crouse grocery 
 stores. 
 
 In Clinton street, next south of Forman's 
 office, was the brick dwelling of Dr. Mather Wil- 
 liams, another son-in-law of Judge Forman, 
 This gave place to the Crouse stores. Adjoin- 
 ing Doctor Williams in Clinton street was a 
 block of two large brick dwellings. The north 
 one was at one time occupied as Miss Allen's 
 ischool for young ladies, and the south dwelling 
 was at one time occupied by Josiah Wright. 
 Next south of this was a lot used for lumber, 
 and in the rear of this, fronting Washington 
 street, was a 2-story frame dwelling occupied by 
 Daniel Elliott, father of Charles L. Elliott and 
 Mrs. Thomas B. Fitch. 
 
284 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 The Kirk Tavern, 1824 
 
 John Wilkinson, the first Postmaster of Syra- 
 cuse, was closely associated with Joshua Forman 
 in the foundation of the village. He came here 
 from Onondaga Hill in 1819, with Forman, to 
 resurvey the Walton tract, and aided in laying 
 out the blocks and lots of the place. After com- 
 pleting his law studies in Forman's office, Wilk- 
 inson located at what is now the Globe hotel cor- 
 ner, built him a law office on that corner, a 
 small 1-story structure, and located his residence, 
 a li story dwelling, among the trees further 
 back in the lot. This was in 1827. 
 
 Three other frame dwellings occupied the 
 Salina street front of this block. Next to Wilk- 
 inson's was Thomas B. Heermann's house; then 
 the residence of Alanson Edwards, afterwards 
 County Clerk, these two standing well back from 
 the street ; then the dwelhng lining up to the side- 
 walk, built by Franklin Manning, and later oc- 
 cupied by Vivus W. Smith. 
 
 At the corner of Salina and Fayette streets 
 was William B. Kirk's tavern, a typical old-time 
 public house, which was built in 1824 by John 
 Garrison, who bought a wagon of Mi. Kirk, 
 then a wagon-maker at Cardiff. He died in 
 1826, and Kirk purchased the tavern, allowing 
 the price of the wagon to apply thereon. It was 
 this circumstance that brought Kirk to Syra- 
 
THE KIRK TAVERN 
 
 285 
 
 €use, and his enterprise in this tavern prospered 
 and the money he made was invested in real 
 estate and Central railroad stocks and he be- 
 came one of the wealthy men of the place. 
 But for the wagon deal he M^ould probably have 
 remained a country w^agon-maker. 
 
 The accompanying illustration shows the Kirk 
 tavern as it continued under several proprietors 
 after Mr. Kirk retired, until 1859 he erected a 
 
 THE KIRK TAVERN 
 (Sketched by U. W. Hanchett, 1899) 
 
 4-story brick block on the site of the old tavern, 
 and this gave place to the fine building erected 
 by William B. Kirk, jr. 
 
 On the opposite corner of Salina and Fayette 
 streets, about the same time was erected a simi- 
 lar tavern, by Clark Hebard, which later was 
 kept by Thomas J. Keeler. These two taverns 
 were the favorites with the farmers commg to 
 town from the region round-about. They were 
 
286 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 comfortable structures, affording good accom- 
 ■ modations, and their stables were large and con- 
 venient. The Pike block took the place of the 
 old Keeler tavern. 
 
 The first section of the Globe hotel was built 
 in 1846 on the Wilkinson lot, and the other parts, 
 not at first intended for hotel use, were later 
 constructed and the upper floors converted to 
 hotel purposes, while stores occupied the ground 
 floor. John Wilkinson was the first owner. 
 The same year the Malcolm block opposite north 
 of the Globe was built, and the Malcolm hall 
 had a place in its upper floors. The original 
 Larned block, and several stores in South Salina 
 street were erected by the Syracuse company, 
 at about the same time, and these were great 
 improvements for the Syracuse of the period 
 just preceding the blooming out of the village^ 
 into cityhood. 
 
TWENXY-F-IFRS-r F=AF=EF? 
 
 The Original Syracuse House 
 
 The original Syracuse house, erected on the 
 southeast corner of South Sahna and East Gene- 
 see streets in 1820-22, by Luther Buell and Shu- 
 bel Safford, 50 feet square and two stories (Mr. 
 Safford being killed by a fall from the building 
 while the structure was in progress), was rebuilt 
 by the Syracuse company in 1827, four stories 
 in height, with wings of three stories on the east 
 and south, and in part was standing w^hen in 
 1897 the site was built over for the Onondaga 
 County Savings bank. The hotel was the most 
 extensive brick structure in the village for many 
 years. 
 
 A good view of the hotel after it was rebuilt 
 is given in the accompanying illustration, the 
 first that conveys an accurate idea of the his- 
 toric old building. Originally the office, bar- 
 room and dining-room were on the first floor, 
 the office in the corner and the dining-room in 
 the wing next along the Salina street front. 
 The office was large, and in its middle was a 
 famous old-style box wood stove, which burnt 
 four foot logs. Around this splendid fire gath- 
 
 (287) 
 
THE SYRACUSE HOUSE, REBUILT IX 1827 
 
GREAT MEN ENTERTAINED 289 
 
 ered many congenial spirits, prominent among 
 whom are recalled Philo N. Rust, the prince of 
 landlords, whose fame extended throughout the 
 country; Dr. David S, Colviu, Jasper Colvin, 
 Andrew N. Van Patten, Joel Cody, Maj. M. D. 
 Burnet, Capt. Samuel Earned, Col. John H. 
 Johnson, James Manning, Philo D. Mickles, 
 Lewis H. Eedfield, Maj. William A. Cook, Sam- 
 uel C. Brewster, Joseph Slocum, James E. 
 Lawrence, Amos P. Granger, Timothy C. Che- 
 ney, Lucius A. Cheney, David D. Hillis, Gen. 
 Oren Hutchinson, Oliver R. Strong, Harvey 
 Baldwin, Gen. Van Cortlandt, Dr. Rial Wright, 
 Doctor Healey, Julius Wood, and many others 
 who formed an interesting galaxy of kindred 
 souls who discussed the affairs of state and na- 
 tion and settled to their own satisfaction the 
 course of events and the destiny of men. 
 
 This hostelry entertained the great men of 
 the time. Presidents John Quincy Adams, Mar- 
 tin Van Buren, and Millard Fillmore were guests 
 there. Webster, Clay, Marcy, Seward, Seymour, 
 Douglass, Cass, Scoft, Crittenden, Greeley and 
 many other distinguished Americans, besides 
 Charles Dickens and other noted foreigners, 
 innumerable art, literary and dramatic person- 
 ages have been sheltered, by its hospitable roof. 
 Speeches were made from its balconies by Fill- 
 more, Webster, Cass, Stephen A. Douglass, Wil- 
 
290 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 liam A. Graham, John J. Crittenden, Cassius M. 
 Clay, and many other pohtical characters. Jen- 
 ny Lind, Patti, Parepa, Brignoli, Henry Eussell, 
 the Hutchinsons, and other great singers ; Henry 
 AVard Beecher, John B. Gough, Garrison and 
 Philhps and other eminent platform speakers 
 were among its temporary inmates. One suite 
 of rooms on its second floor in the east wing was 
 the distinguished guests' chamber, and in later 
 years Thomas T. Davis, Lewis H. Redfield and 
 William Kirkpatrick at various times occupied 
 it. Doctor Irving and Doctor Foran, highly in- 
 teresting characters, were of the old Syracuse 
 house coterie. 
 
 The landlords of this famous hostelry were 
 George Rust, Philo N. Rust, Gillett & Knicker- 
 bocker, Daniel Comstock, H. T. Gibson, W. D. 
 Stewart and 0. E. Allen. The house always 
 maintained a high reputation and was as widely 
 known as Syracuse itself. 
 
 Actiye Scenes 
 
 On the opening of the railroads east and west 
 the Syracuse house was again improved; its din- 
 ing-room was transferred to the second floor of 
 the extensive addition on the south, and an en- 
 trance made direct from the railroad station. 
 Then the first floor was converted into business 
 places, and at various times, on the Salina street 
 side. Garret & Middleton, dry goods; J. C. & M. 
 
A FAMOUS DINING HALL 291 
 
 W. Hanchett, druggists- Hamilton & Thatcher, 
 Stoddard & Babcock and the Wynkoops, book- 
 sellers; W. L. Palmer, news room; the Burnet 
 bank and the railroad ticket office, occupied the 
 stores. The Exchange hotel, next to the railroad 
 station, was also given over to stores and otifices. 
 The Wells, Fargo & Company's express and the 
 WesternXnion telegraph offices were there. The 
 basements were occupied by restaurants, and 
 passengers from the cars to the hotels, in pass- 
 ing, were importuned to take their meals in these 
 places. Hand bells were rung on the sidewalks 
 to attract patrons, and one of the inducements 
 now recalled was : "Step in here for a square 
 meal; three kinds of pie— apple pie, mince pie, 
 and cheese. ' ' 
 
 The old dining-room on the first floor was a 
 fine apartment, whose ceilings and side walls 
 were tastefully ornamented in continuous war 
 scenes, which were pleasing and attractive. The 
 ball-room in the upper story, which was reached 
 by winding stairs from the ground floor, was a 
 lofty hall, about 50 by -tO feet, with ante-rooms. 
 It was the scene of many pubHc dinners, which 
 were frequeut in those times, and of the Inde- 
 pendence day, military and other balls, the place 
 of resort for Syracuse's 400 of the early time, 
 and sometimes lectures and other entertain- 
 ments were given in it. Besides the platform 
 
292 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 on the lower floor there were piazzas all around 
 the north and west sides of the house. In its 
 day it was a most comfortable hostelry and of 
 great repute. 
 
 At public dinners a peculiar custom was ob- 
 served. On the giving of a toast a signal would 
 be made from the balcony and the 6-pounder 
 cannon in Clinton square would greet the senti- 
 ment with a salute. Fourth of July and Presi- 
 dential inauguration balls were held in the Syra- 
 cuse house, and the attendance on these occa- 
 sions included the elite of the ambitious young 
 town. 
 
 In the cupola of the hotel was a bell of goodly 
 size, which was always rung, in the early days, 
 at the regular hours of meals, and was also used, 
 together with the depot and the one or two 
 church bells, in alarms of fires. 
 
 The lines of passenger stages — B. W. Sher- 
 wood & Company's, Butterfield's and others — 
 in their course through Genesee turnpike and 
 over the stone bridge, made their regular stops, 
 with great flourish, at the north door of the old 
 hotel. 
 
 Description of the stores and their occupants 
 ■on the Genesee street side of the old Syracuse 
 house was given in a preceding paper. The 
 notes in this series of papers of the early center 
 of business in the young village are presented, 
 
ORIGINAL BUSINESS HOUSES 293 
 
 as in the main additions to the before recorded 
 history of Syracuse as a village, in what may 
 properly be called its pioneer time. 
 
 Accompanying this paper is an illustration of 
 the appearance of the south side of Clinton 
 square at the time the village of Syracuse was 
 organized, 1824 to 1834. It is a companion pic- 
 ture to that presenting the original structures on 
 the north side of Clinton square, accompanying 
 the seventeenth paper of this series. This is 
 the first view of the south side ever published, 
 and its accuracy is fully established. Peculiar 
 interest attaches to these two views, inasmuch 
 as they portray the early development and first 
 decided progress of " the village of the plains," 
 as it was called in those days. 
 Structures on the South Side of Clinton Square, 
 1824 to 1834 
 
 The site of the AVietiug block, already de- 
 scribed in detail, with the original structures 
 leading up to the present business block and 
 opera house, extended in Water street from the 
 corner of Salina street to the E. T. Tefft store, 
 and in Salina street, including the former alley 
 and the Pease shoe store. The corner hard- 
 ware store was of brick ; all the others of wood.. 
 The structures were painted in various colors. 
 The names on the signs were all most familiar:: 
 Kasson & Heermans and William Malcolm, hard- 
 
o «3 
 
PROMINENT MERCHANTS 295 
 
 ware dealers ; John Leslie, a well-known grocer ; 
 Charles Leonard, harness-maker, and later salt 
 manufacturer; Agnew & ^yood, tailors; Dr. 
 Jonathan Day, physician and druggist, and Hi- 
 ram Judson, jeweler; these were the original 
 business men in stores on the Wieting block site. 
 
 Next to Tefft's dry goods store on the west 
 was a small structure, the law office of John G. 
 Forbes, with whom Harvey Sheldon studied and 
 afterwards was partner; then the business office 
 of the Syracuse Company, M. D. Burnet, agent, 
 who was succeeded by John W, Barker, and Ly- 
 man W. Conkey, agent, for the Syracuse Com- 
 pany's grist mill; then Samuel Gardner, jeweler 
 and watchmaker, who invented the electric gas 
 lighter, extensively used in the principal cities ; 
 and the Clinton street corner store and dwelling, 
 occupied by Charles Rust, dealer in prison-made 
 furniture. E. T. Tefft, Hiram Judson and 
 Charles Rust had their family residences over 
 their stores. Elijah F. Wallace and John Durn- 
 ford kept schools in these buildings. Entrance 
 to the upper stories was from the alley in the 
 rear. 
 
 The men engaged in business pursuits in this 
 row of buildings, in the early times, all become 
 prominent citizens of Syracuse. Major Burnet, 
 as agent for the Syracuse Company, was an ac- 
 tive promoter of the village development. He 
 
296 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 gained prominence and wealth ; had been Sher- 
 iff of Orange county before he came hither; 
 held local offices, and was elected Mayor in 1851, 
 but declined to enter upon the office. Major 
 Burnet at an early date occupied a small frame 
 dwelling in James street, from which he re- 
 moved to a larger frame house, built by Joshua 
 Forman on the north side of West Genesee 
 street, facing West street. This dwelling, with 
 its wide verandas and finely arranged gardens, 
 was one of the most attractive places in the vil- 
 lage. After the Major's removal to his spacious 
 high dwelling in James street the place became 
 the property and home of Judge George F. Com- 
 stock. Burnet park, the gift to Syracuse of his 
 son, John B,, in his name, is a memorial to this 
 widely respected pioneer citizen. John G. Forbes 
 was an afctorney-at-law in the village of Salina, 
 and came to Syracuse, where he was for years 
 prominent in his profession and in public affairs. 
 He was a leader of the Whig party, a Member 
 of Assembly and Bank Commissioner. John 
 W. Barker was long a leader in local affairs, 
 and one of the most active agents and promoters 
 of the salt manufacture. E. T. Tefft here began 
 his long and successful career as a merchant. 
 He removed to New York and was for years at 
 the head of the dry goods firm of E. T. Tefft & 
 Company, and Tefft, Griswold & Weller. Dr. 
 
THE FIRST CANAL BRIDGE 297 
 
 John M. Wieting was a science student and 
 public lecturer of national reputation, Horace 
 Wheaton was Eepresentative in Congress and 
 Mayor of Syracuse. Charles A. Wheaton was 
 a reformer and anti-slavery agitator. 
 
 In front of Major Burnet's office was a mag- 
 nificent old hickory tree, which remained till a 
 late day. It was celebrated in poetry by Samuel 
 Copp, who was uncle of the well-known Samuel 
 C. Brewster, and was noted for his poetic effu- 
 sions in his business advertising. The tree often 
 was referred to by the newspapers of the time. 
 
 In Salina street, next south of the corner, was 
 James Pease's shoe shop. In Clinton street 
 south of Rust's furniture store were two 2-story 
 white frame dwellings, occupied by Gen. Jonas 
 Mann and Ezra Foster. The rest of that side of 
 the block was vacant. 
 
 Granite hall, built and conducted by C. Tyler 
 Longstreet, was the most pretentious structure 
 in this row of business buildings until the Wiet- 
 ing block and Townsend block were erected. 
 Here Mr. Longstreet laid the foundation of his 
 extensive wholesale clothing business, which he 
 later continued in New York city. He was the 
 pioneer in the wholesale clothing manufacture. 
 The First of the Canal Bridges 
 
 The original stone single arch bridge over the 
 Erie canal at Salina street was the first of the 
 
298 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 canal bridges at this place, and for some time 
 the only one across the canal here. It was con- 
 structed in 1818, and the material was the El- 
 bridge sandstone, the Onondaga limestone not 
 yet being deemed suitable for such purpose. It 
 was in this construction, as also of the canal 
 locks, that the Onondaga hydraulic lime came 
 into use and speedily was largely employed in 
 under-water stone work. In the building of the 
 canal it was at this stone bridge that there was 
 failure of the canal bottom to retain water; 
 after some time the bottom was made water 
 tight, and then a similar experience was had at 
 the Raynor (now Jerry Eescue) block, which also 
 was overcome. The dimensions of the original 
 canal were: Width at surface, 40 feet; at bot- 
 tom, 28 feet; depth, 4 feet; locks, 90 feet long 
 and 12 feet wide. The first canal boats were 61 
 feet long and 7^ feet wide, with cabins 14 feet 
 high. They were drawn by single horses, and 
 their draft was 14 inches. 
 
 The Original Stone Bridge 
 
 The original bridge allowed for the passage of 
 two boats; but soon the size of the boats in- 
 creased, and they were unable to pass the first 
 bridges. As a consequence larger bridges were 
 constructed in place of the early ones. When 
 the Salina street stone bridge was removed, so 
 firm was its masonry that blasting powder had 
 
ORIGINAL STONE BRIDGE OVER THE ERIE CANAL AT SALINA STREET, 1818 
 (Prom a sketch by M. W. Hauchett, 1899) 
 
300 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 to be used to demolish it. It was replaced by a 
 wooden structure, whose timbers were sheathed. 
 This bridge was too low for the increased height 
 of the boats, and at one time it was raised tv/o 
 feet by placing timbers under its ends. A sec- 
 ond wooden bridge was constructed in 1847. 
 The first iron bridge was built in 1858 at a cost 
 of $3,628. After the city fire apparatus went 
 through this bridge, in 1869, iron needlebeams 
 were substituted in place of the wooden beams 
 of the structure. 
 
 The swing bridge at Sahna street was con- 
 structed by Howard Soule in 1875, at a cost of 
 $15,190.15. The present hoist bridge was built 
 by the Groton Bridge company in 1898 at a cost 
 of $36,000. Thus six bridges have been built 
 and served their usefulness over the Erie canal 
 at Salina street in the eighty years the canal 
 has been operated. 
 
 The original single stone arch was the hand- 
 somest bridge of the series. It was narrow and 
 short compared with the present structure, but 
 it was in excellent proportions and appearance. 
 Oil lamps were on the four corners, which under 
 the regulation of the village trustees were lighted 
 on dark nights. 
 
 On all public occasions, when the village 6- 
 pound cannon was brought into use, the gun 
 was fired in Clinton square in front of the Man- 
 
302 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 sion house, the muzzle being pointed into the 
 arch of the bridge, and the reverberation was an 
 effective prolongation of the report. On the 
 early packets the favorite place of passengers 
 was the upper deck, and the cry on approaching 
 bridges, "low bridge," the signal for ducking 
 heads, was familiar to all canal travellers. 
 
TWEN-rV-SEOONO F=AF=EF=J 
 
 Salina and Salt Point 
 
 Pioneer times were essentially the same in 
 Salina and the other villages and hamlets which 
 later were consohdated into the city of Syracuse. 
 Salina was older than the other settlements on 
 the Salt Springs reservation, having been settled 
 in 1789, by several families attracted thither by 
 the fame of the salt discovery. Directly after 
 the Danforths and Tyler located at Onondaga 
 Valley in 1788, John Danforth led a small colony 
 to Salt Point, and there and at Liverpool these 
 pioneers entered upon salt making. Col. Jere- 
 miah Gould and family and his three sons, Isaac 
 Van Vleck, Thomas Orman, Simon Phares and 
 famihes joined the colony, and thenceforward 
 the new arrivals increased season after season. 
 Although the locality was known to be unhealthy 
 from the malarial influences which early sur- 
 rounded it, there continued steady emigration 
 from the East of persons in quest of fortune 
 through the salt interest. In 1793, the year 
 before Onondaga county was organized, there 
 were thirty families in the community and with 
 few exceptions they sufPered from malarial 
 
 (303) 
 
304 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 fever. In that time some of the salt- makers 
 made the Onondaga villages their homes for rea- 
 sons of health and comfort. The little commu- 
 nity was composed of energetic, sturdy people, 
 mostly from New England, and many of these 
 men made their mark indelibly on the growth of 
 the new country. 
 
 Unpropitious Beginniugs 
 
 The earliest and most promising salt-manufac- 
 ture was at Salt Point. All around the east and 
 south sides of Onondaga lake and in the lower val- 
 ley of Onondaga creek was a marsh and swamp 
 condition, against which the settlers made their 
 fight. It was an unpromising locality, in re- 
 spect to health and comfort, where Salina, Ged- 
 des and Syracuse were founded, and it was a 
 fervent imagination that foresaw any great fu- 
 ture for these places. But salt furnished the 
 basis on which the canal and then the railroad 
 erected a substantial superstructure. There 
 were spots holding out encouragement and the 
 founders and promoters selected these for their 
 first ventures and about them were made the im- 
 provements which lowered the marshy streams, 
 filled the low, swampy places, laid substantial 
 highways and gradually converted the whole 
 territory into a state of health and salubrity. 
 Cabins and huts were the first places of habita- 
 tion ; then frame and mud structures, such as 
 
salina's rivalry 305 
 
 first sheltered the pioneers at Salina, and the 
 frame and brick buildings followed, and later on 
 the magnificent edifices of many stories and the 
 palatial residences were erected and became orna- 
 ments of the place, which so recently was a bar- 
 ren waste and swampy jungle. The pioneers 
 in the first quarter of a century made these re- 
 sults possible. The character and traits of these 
 energetic, hopeful people are reflected in their 
 beginning of the work of building the city which 
 now occupies this beautiful valley and their wise 
 and systematic operations in clearing the forest, 
 in renovating the low places, and in turning into 
 spots of beauty the forbidding places of little 
 more than a century ago. 
 
 Competition of Salina and Syracuse 
 
 The early advantage was with old-time Salina. 
 She had salt, location and popularity in her fa- 
 vor. On the canal impulse Syracuse sprung up 
 and the railroad sent the latter village ahead. 
 The Erie canal was extended to Salina and to 
 the Seneca river, to make connection with the 
 salt works and with places on the earlier water 
 route north and west, but Syracuse was more 
 thoroughly the canal village. It was the enter- 
 prise of Forman, the founder of Syracuse, that 
 extended canal facilities to Salina and moved 
 successfully in the state's lowering the water of 
 the lake and the removal of the most serious 
 
306 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 causes of malarial troubles. Salina had the ad- 
 vantage of eligible residence sites on the high 
 grounds, but this did not avail against the supe- 
 rior facilities of Syracuse for reaching the out- 
 side world. The rivalry of the villages contin- 
 ued till in the '40s, when common interests 
 brought them together in a city organization. 
 
 Opening of Trade Relations 
 
 Supplying the new country with provisions 
 was a difficult matter. Exchanges for salt were 
 made with distant points, at Tioga, Whitestown, 
 Kingston and Albany. " Captain Canute " es- 
 tablished a trading boat running between Albany 
 and Salt Point, by way of Onondaga lake, Oneida 
 river and lake. Wood creek and the Mohawk 
 river. The captain not only carried salt in ex- 
 change, but he carried furs and young bears, 
 wolves, raccoons, foxes, fawns, etc., which had 
 ready sale at Albany. Deer were plentiful and 
 so regardless of human beings that they freely 
 came to the habitation and herded with the cows 
 in the barnyards. Young bears and other ani- 
 mals were furnished to the traders by the Indi- 
 ans for small prices. Wild animals were so 
 common in the vicinity of the settlements that 
 they were troublesome. Original names of streets 
 at Salina were taken from the animals common 
 there, as Bear and Wolf paths, which later be- 
 came streets of those names. 
 
PLAGUE VISITATIONS 307 
 
 The Cholera Seasons 
 
 The mortality rate from malarial diseases was 
 very large in the early years of the settlements, 
 and in the cholera seasons of 1832 and '34 there 
 was a very large Dumber of deaths. These visi- 
 tations were trying to the young communities. 
 At Syracuse the loss of prominent men was most 
 marked. Dr. Jonathan Day, Dr. William Kirk- 
 patrick and the Rev. N. J. Gilbert succumbed to 
 the disease at about the same time. They were 
 among the most prominent citizens. The record 
 is not complete, but the deaths from cholera in 
 Salina and Syracuse numbered about 250. All 
 burials of cholera patients were at night. Sex- 
 ton Gould of the Presbyterian church dug the 
 graves, and ' ' Veto ' ' Clark, overseer of the poor,. 
 always was the mourner following the solitary 
 hearse. Clark was a character of the early 
 village. His full name was John H. Clark. He 
 was a small person, but full of energy and true 
 as a dial. He got his nick-name " Veto " from 
 his devotion to President Andrew Jackson, whose 
 veto messages he carried in his pocket, and from 
 which he always was ready with quotations in a 
 political argument. Clark was a true man, faith- 
 ful to every duty, and his attention to cholera 
 patients when everybody else ran away from 
 them, was truly heroic. Clark was a printer 
 and active in the early newspaper publications. 
 
308 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 Abraham Van Vleck was the first white male 
 child born in the county of Onondaga — at Salina 
 in 1792. The family of an Indian who at the 
 time of Abraham's birth was drowned at Os- 
 wego Falls, gave him the name of Ne-un-hoo-tah, 
 which meant sorrow for one departed, and pre- 
 sented him with a mile-square of land at the 
 outlet of Onondaga lake. The title was not 
 recognized by the state. All the Van Vleck 
 family were decorated with Indian names. 
 
 The first physician was Doctor Holbrook of 
 Jamesville, who came to Salina every day dur- 
 ing the ague and fever season to attend the sick. 
 Doctor Burnet became the resident physician in 
 1797. 
 
 In 1794 the blockhouse at Salina was erected 
 in anticipation of trouble with the Indians. It 
 was located by Baron Steuben and associate 
 commissioners, and already has been described 
 in these papers. At several times the settlers 
 were alarmed by threats of attacks by Indians 
 and the British. There was trouble with the 
 British troops at Oswego, who held up trading 
 boats from Salt Point, and some reprisals were 
 taken by the Salt Pointers, but no serious results 
 occurred. 
 
 The Tillage of Salina 
 
 The state took charge of the salt springs in 
 1797, when, under state survey, the village of 
 
VIEW OF THE VILLAGE OF SALINA, I84U 
 (Reproduced from the Historical Collection, published in 18-11) 
 
310 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 Salina was formally laid out, and in 1809 the 
 town of Salina was organized. The territory of 
 the town had been in the original townships of 
 Manlius and Marcellus, and by various changes 
 later the present town was formed. 
 
 At the laying out of the village of Salina the 
 village lots were marketed, and many families 
 then purchasing are still represented by their 
 owners and occupants. William Stevens, first 
 Salt Superintendent, Elisha and Diocletian Al- 
 vord, Fisher Curtis, Ashbel Kellogg, Samuel R. 
 Mathews, Davenport Morey, Thomas McCarthy, 
 William Gilchrist, Thomas Wheeler, David W. 
 Hollister, Ichabod Brackett, Samuel P. Smith, 
 David Brace, William D. Stewart, Dean Rich- 
 mond, Burr Burton and Russell Buckley were 
 among the more active of the early Salt Point- 
 ers. Captain Stewart, Richmond and Buckley 
 carried the first boatload of salt by canal to 
 Utica. 
 
 Salina was incorporated as a village in 1824, 
 one year before Syracuse. In 1847 it became a 
 part of the city of Syracuse, and the First ward 
 of the young city, with a separate postoffice and 
 other concessions. There had been a severe 
 rivalry between the two villages from the day 
 Joshua Forman became a promoter of Syracuse 
 in 1819. This rivalry, often heated and intense 
 and sometimes violent in its demonstration, con- 
 
SALINA ORGANIZED 311 
 
 tinued up to nearly the time of the consoUdation 
 of the villages. Early occurrences incident to 
 this rivalry were very warlike in their character ; 
 the fights between bodies of men from each vil- 
 lage were fierce and bloody; at elections and 
 other times the order of " knock down and 
 drag out " was practiced. Sometimes promi- 
 nent men were involved, and active leaders were 
 of the Dean Richmond, Charles Woodruff and 
 Tobias Buckley class, men who were forces in 
 business and political affairs. The writer has 
 seen 300 to 500 men engaged in an election or 
 street fight between these elements, in which 
 stones and clubs were the missiles and barri- 
 cades of timber were erected across the streets. 
 Contests were waged on the line of Division 
 street, the division between the villages, at elec- 
 tions held at the old Court house and at the 
 Mansion house, and on one occasion a very fierce 
 battle was fought in East Genesee street where 
 now stand the Granger and Bastable blocks. 
 The Salt Pointers had forced their way to that 
 point, and there the Syracusans made a stand 
 behind the timbers the Granger block was being 
 built of, and repelled their assailants with show- 
 ers of cobblestones torn up from the street pave- 
 ment. Another occasion of a desperate fight 
 between these elements was at the time of the 
 Coffee house riot on' January 1st, 1844, the Salt 
 
312 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 Pointers being the aggressors, and one of their 
 number, named Blake, being shot by Sigel, the 
 keeper of the house. A pubhc meeting was held 
 in denunciation of these proceedings and the 
 public sentiment aroused did much to repress 
 the hostilities. 
 
 Center of Salt Business 
 
 In 1826 the Sahna canal extension was begun, 
 and two years later the Oswego canal was in 
 operation. Salina was always the most active 
 center of the salt business and furnished a large 
 amount of business to the canals. Westward 
 shipment of salt was on favorable terms, as the 
 boats returning to the West were mostly light. 
 Henry Seymour, father of Horatio Seymour, was 
 early engaged in milling at Salina, and Horatio 
 and John F. Seymour, later. Thomas G. Al- 
 vord, Ehzur Clark and William Clark, Ezra M. 
 Knapp, Jonathan R. Beach, Richard Sanger, 
 Alonzo Crippen, Coddington B. Wilhams, Ira H. 
 WiUiams, Noah Wood, Hunter Crane, James 
 Lynch, Thomas McCarthy, Stanton P. Babcock, 
 were early engaged in business pursuits. The 
 center of business was in Exchange street. 
 
 The old Alvord building, at the corner of 
 Salina and Exchange streets, is the oldest brick 
 building within the limits of the city of Syra- 
 cuse. It was erected by the brothers Alvord in 
 1808. 
 
FACTS ABOUT GEDDES 313 
 
 The church and school history of the village 
 shows the enlightened and progressive qualities 
 of the inhabitants. Old Salina contained social 
 elements of the highest order, v^hich have been 
 perpetuated in the later generations. 
 
 Geddes as Town and Village 
 
 The village and town of Geddes derived their 
 name from James Geddes, the pioneer of the 
 salt industr}^ there, and one of the most vigor- 
 ous promoters of the Erie canal project. He 
 came from Carlisle, Pa., in 1793. He at once 
 began salt-making, which the Indians resented 
 on the ground that they had taken the white 
 men into partnership, and the whites having 
 monopolized the salt on one side of the lake 
 should leave the other side to them. The matter 
 was at last fixed up by the making of suitable 
 presents to the Indians by Mr. Geddes, and the 
 installing of him as a member of the Onondaga 
 nation. Ephriam Webster successfully negoti- 
 ated this settlement. After a couple of years 
 Mr. Geddes retired to his farm at Fairmount and 
 was succeeded in the salt manufacture by Free- 
 man Hughes, from Westfleld, Mass. 
 
 Geddes was located on high ground and always 
 has been more healthy than other early settled 
 localities. The first tavern in 1803, the first 
 school-house in 1804, were followed by churches 
 and other improvements. 
 
314 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 The town of Geddes was organized in 1848 
 from all that part of Salina lying on the west 
 side of Onondaga lake. In 1886 nearly the 
 whole of the village of Geddes was annexed to 
 the city of Syracuse. This village antedated 
 Syracuse and was nearly as old as Salina. When 
 settled it had but one connection with the outside 
 world, and that by way of a road to Onondaga 
 Valley. The first public improvement by the 
 new settlers was the building of a road from 
 Geddes to Salina. The village map, made in 
 1807 by Mr. Geddes for Dr. William Kirkpatrick, 
 superintendent of the Salt Springs, shows twenty 
 lots on the turnpike, now Genesee street. A 
 characteristic of the streets of the village, which 
 in 1822 were resurveyed by John Randall, jr., 
 is that they are 100 feet wide. The opening of 
 the Erie canal gave this place quite an impulse, 
 and from being merely a salt village, it broad- 
 ened out into general business and manufactur- 
 ing interests. Many active and prominent men 
 were identified with its growth and prosperity. 
 The Solvay Process works, the state fair grounds 
 and buildings, the Onondaga pottery, the Lake- 
 side stock farms of Smiths & Powell, many man- 
 ufacturing and industrial establishments mark 
 the recent career of the West End. The growth 
 of its churches and schools, as well as its popula- 
 tion, has been very marked. 
 
LEADING MEN OF LODI 315 
 
 The hamlet known as Lodi, lying east of the 
 Walton tract and including the highlands of the 
 eastern part of the present city of Syracuse, 
 was promoted by Capt. Oliver Teall, who located 
 there in 1819, was active in building the Erie 
 canal and who was the first superintendent of 
 the long level. He had extensive mills at Beach 
 street, operated by the waste water of the long 
 level, and he organized the original water system 
 for Syracuse. He associated himself with Aaron 
 Burt and Harvey Baldwin, and the three were 
 promoters of the village of Lodi. They built 
 the Syracuse academy and superintended it dur- 
 ing its existence. The first highway opened in 
 the village was Beach street, which in 1820 was 
 extended from the turnpike to the canal to bring 
 TealFs mills into relations with the adjacent 
 community. The Teall residence near the canal 
 at Beach street is still a pretentious dwell- 
 ing. The Syracuse Water works had their orig- 
 inal supply from springs in the hills east of the 
 village in 1842. The Water works company was 
 incorporated in 1849, with Oliver Teall as presi- 
 dent, in which relation be continued till his 
 death in 1857. 
 
 Aaron Burt was prominent in the early affairs 
 of Syracuse, a typical pioneer, a leading citizen, 
 active in pubhc works and useful throughout a 
 long and honorable career. Harvey Baldwin 
 
316 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 occupied similar relations. As first Mayor of 
 Syracuse he holds a leading place in the city's 
 history. He was an accomplished gentleman, 
 with broad views, and he had a large part in the 
 affairs of his time. 
 
 Other strong men in early Lodi were Thomas 
 Eose, the Ostroms, Kufus Stanton and Deacon 
 Larabee. 
 
 The village of Lodi was annexed to the vil- 
 lage of Syracuse in 1834. At the sale of state 
 lands in 1822 a considerable tract lying near For- 
 man park was sold for |6 an acre. Other lands 
 lying between the turnpike and the canal at the 
 foot of Lodi hill sold for 110.50 an acre, the pur- 
 chaser agreeing to clear the swamp lands at 
 once. The high land at the southeast later be- 
 came most valuable residence property, and 
 prominent in this beautiful quarter are the uni- 
 versity buildings, the Yates castle and many 
 private dwellings. 
 
-rNA/ENXV-T-HIRD F=AF=EF? 
 
 Yariable Territorial Couditious 
 
 Not many of the oldest surviving residents of 
 the city of Syracuse recall the contour of terri- 
 tory and the variable conditions that existed here 
 in the pioneer times; the isolated areas of hard, 
 solid land; the extent of creek, lowland and 
 swamp, and the natural difficulties which im- 
 peded the progress of settlement. Large areas 
 of marsh lay at the north of the villages of 
 Salina and Syracuse, over which the high waters 
 of spring and fall flowed; the Onondaga creek 
 was often flooded and overrun its banks ; in what 
 is now James street were gulhes and ravines, in 
 which floods prevailed at times; in East Genesee 
 and West Onondaga streets were cedar swamps 
 and morasses, under water much of the year; 
 where Fayette and Forman parks now are were 
 almost impassable bogs and swales, traversed 
 only on corduroy roadways ; in Onondaga street 
 vehicles sank over wheels in the highway, and 
 to the south and east of the settled districts were 
 long stretches of water, mud and sw^ale. Out 
 of these conditions a large, fine city has been 
 created, elevations have been reduced, depres- 
 
 (317) 
 
318 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 sions filled, smooth, easy and well-paved streets 
 have been constructed, grand business blocks 
 and splendid residences erected. In less than 
 seventy-five years these great results have been 
 achieved through the activity, enterprise and 
 perseverance of the settlers. 
 
 The main business street, Salina street, like 
 others, was a series of undulations, which under 
 a system of scientific engineering have been 
 leveled and smoothed ; there and elsewhere gul- 
 lies and ravines have been filled and obliterated; 
 the creeks and brooks have been turned into the 
 great sewers, and freshets and floods made im- 
 possible; and a city of regularity, uniformity 
 and beauty has been created out of unpromis- 
 ing conditions. 
 
 Plan of the City 
 
 The city's plan was shaped by the original 
 state roads and turnpikes, which centered and 
 diverged at the original business centers. The 
 radiating streets, although bewildering to stran- 
 gers, afford easy and ready access to the com- 
 mon center from the outskirts. The early in- 
 habitants brought with them the New England 
 love for shade and ornamental trees ; hence the 
 fine elms and maples which adorn the streets of 
 this beautiful city and make it most attractive. 
 It is noted also that the residence premises are 
 liberal in extent and that spacious dooryards,. 
 
MAKING OF THE CITY 319 
 
 handsome lawns and neat garden plots are the 
 rule rather than the exception. In most other 
 cities the dwellings abut upon the sidewalks, 
 quite different from the arrangement of resi- 
 dence districts in Syracuse. 
 
 The extent of water courses and of the low 
 lands and swamps of original Syracuse is shown 
 on the early maps. Herewith are reproduced 
 sketches of the old Mill pond the Yellow brook 
 and the North side brook, which w^ere much in 
 evidence in the pioneer times of this place, but 
 which entirely disappeared from view under the 
 progress of village and city improvements. Few 
 of the present inhabitants know that any such 
 things ever existed here, and it is only when 
 some relic of the old water courses which bisect- 
 ed the original village and were grave obstacles 
 to progress and improvement, and the sources of 
 malarial disease to a frightful extent, is brought 
 to light by preparations for extended building 
 that the knowledge of those things of the past 
 is revived. 
 
 The Old Mill Pond 
 The mill pond which was formed in 1805-7 
 for the old red mill by the building of a dam 
 first at Genesee and then at Water street, over- 
 flowed 100 or more acres of land lying along the 
 creek between Genesee and Onondaga streets, 
 and from the bluff just east of West street to 
 
320 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 Clinton street. A point of high land extended 
 into the pond from the west side, and when this 
 was cut down and the surplus earth used in 
 filling up the pond, the state armory was built 
 upon the site. A new channel was cut on the 
 west side, connecting the creek across w4iat had 
 been an elbow in its course. The pond was 
 deemed the main cause of malarial sickness in 
 early Syracuse, and it was declared a nuisance 
 by the state, the abatement of which was or- 
 dered by the removal of the dam and the filling 
 up of the pond. The earth used in filling the 
 disused channel was mainly obtained from the 
 cutting down of Prospect Hill, which was done 
 to fit that hill for the state capitol, then intended 
 to be removed to Syracuse. The Armory and 
 Armory park, were located and the lots situated 
 about the park were sold to repay the expense of 
 filling the pond. In the village's earlier years 
 the mill pond was much used for boating, and 
 a large number of rowboats and skiffs were 
 upon its waters. It also was a favorite fishing 
 ground, the stone bars on the southerly side be- 
 ing good bass grounds, and on the site of the 
 Neal & Hyde store was a fine mullet and sucker 
 fishing place. Clinton street at Jefferson street 
 was wholly under water, and not until the pond 
 was filled was this street run direct from Fayette 
 to Onondaga street. At the precise place where 
 
THE MILL POND AND THE YELLOW BROOK 
 
 (Adapted from the Syracuse Company's map of 1819) 
 
322 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 Jefferson crosses Clinton street, Charles Nolton, 
 a lad of 17, was drowned by being thrown over 
 a horse's head into the pond, and his cousin, 
 Gaylord Starin, aged 19, was drowned in the 
 near vicinity, while skating, in 1841. Near 
 where the Delaware & Lackawanna railroad sta- 
 tion stands, Oliver L. Hanchett, son of Dr. J. 
 W. Hanchett and brother of M. W. Hanchett, 
 was drowned while skating in 1828. Sylvanus, 
 son of the late Henry Gifford, was drowned near 
 the same place while skating in 1842. These 
 several places have been for many years solid 
 ground. The filling of the mill pond was ac- 
 complished in 1847-8. The cost was $9,000, 
 and the thirty lots about the park were sold for 
 upwards of 115,000. That improvement, to- 
 gether with that effected by the Onondaga creek 
 commission later, greatly promoted the pubhc 
 health. 
 
 The Yellow Brook 
 
 The Yellow brook originated in the Tamarack 
 swamp east of the railroad tunnel in East Wash- 
 ignton street, running westward in Water street 
 to Lemon street, thence south and southwest, 
 crossing Genesee street near Almond street, 
 thence southwest across the swamp lands in 
 the southerly part of the city, turning west- 
 erly and into Warren street near the site of 
 the Farmer block, thence into Jefferson and 
 
AN IMPORTANT STREAM 323 
 
 into the old mill pond of Onondaga creek. 
 It flowed through a ravine varying from 
 five to fifteen feet in depth. It got its name 
 from the color which the clay soil through which 
 it flowed gave it. This creek was a considera- 
 ble stream from its mouth to beyond the present 
 Warren street, sufficiently wide and deep for 
 small boats, which the boys of the time navi- 
 gated in it. At Sahna street there was a bridge 
 over the brook and here it was that the incoming 
 stages from the west were espied on their way 
 into the village to the stopping places at the- 
 taverns. When the Farmer block, Deys' build- 
 ing, and Sager's block in Clinton street were 
 built the digging for the foundations revealed 
 relics of the old Yellow brook. 
 
 The waters of Yellow brook were conveyed 
 in part into the railroad sewer in East Washing- 
 ton street, but in times of heavy rains this dis- 
 charge was insufficient. Eventually the waters, 
 of the brook were directed into Fayette, Harri- 
 son and Jefferson street sewers. Since about 
 184:0 no surface traces of Yellow brook have 
 been in sight. 
 
 Besides the Onondaga creek the Yellow brook 
 was the most considerable stream within the 
 present hmits of Syracuse. It followed a course 
 midway of the low and swampy lands in the 
 easterly and southerly parts of the old village,, 
 
324 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 and the disposition of its waters was at one time 
 a serious question for decision. Who, now look- 
 ing over the fine section of the city built over 
 the territory through which this stream coursed, 
 would conceive that any such waterway ever 
 ran in that locality. 
 
 The North Side Brook 
 
 There was on the north side of the Erie canal 
 a brook similar to but not as large as Yellow 
 brook. It had its rise also in Tamarack swamp, 
 and coursing down what now is Canal street, it 
 made its way to the Onondaga creek, emptying 
 into the creek, with the waters of the flume 
 from the old mill pond, just below the High 
 school site. This brook also was fed by the riv- 
 ulets, which in the rainy season ran down from 
 James street hill before that locality was sew- 
 ered. When the canal weigh-lock was con- 
 structed this brook was utilized to carry away 
 the waste water. This made a considerable 
 brook, which ran underground at the sites of 
 the old County Clerk's office and the state Salt 
 office in Sahna street. Back of Church street, 
 in the rear of the salt yard, was a considerable 
 pond, which for years was a swimming place for 
 boys. The stream later was confined within 
 stone walls. The culvert of discharge from the 
 weighlock was uncovered in recent work of en- 
 largement of the canals, at the intersection of 
 
BASINS OF THE CANALS 325 
 
 the Erie and Oswego canals. From the weigh- 
 lock to the Onondaga creek no surface evidence 
 of the existence of this brook has been seen in 
 the last forty years. 
 
 Canal Basins 
 When the Erie canal was constructed what 
 was called the Salina basin was built on the 
 north side of the canal at the point of junction 
 with the Sahna extension (afterwards the Os- 
 wego canal). It occupied the space where now 
 stands Andrews Brothers' store, the Durston and 
 the intermediate waterway to the Erie canal. 
 This later was the Durston dry dock, but occu- 
 pying less space. It originally was the tying-up 
 place for boats engaged in the salt trade. 
 
 Opposite, south, was what was called the 
 South basin, which extended from the canal 100 
 feet wide to the north hne of Washington street. 
 It was surrounded with cedar bushes. On the 
 easterly side was Parley Howlett's packing 
 house, where now is the Windsor house. In 
 1845 the basin was declared a nuisance and its 
 aboUtion decreed. The site was bought for a 
 public market, which was erected, becoming 
 Market hall, on the location of which the City 
 hall now stands. 
 
 There was a side canal in the old Fifth ward 
 in the '40s, running from the Erie canal through 
 the solar salt works to Gifford street. It was 
 
■t./_f<cr7 « " ^^ .v\ \ 
 
 <^ 
 
 
 Trry-'- 
 
 nm 
 
 ^AY£ c^ TTS <t Jr. Ui 
 
 S| — 
 
 THE NORTH SIDE BROOK, "AA " 
 (Now the weigh-lock waste conduit. Reproduced from the Village map of 1834) 
 
A HISTORICAL BROOK 327 
 
 designed to facilitate the shipment of salt from 
 those yards, but never was of much service. 
 The demand of the lands for private residences 
 led to the filling up of this ditch. 
 
 Side-cut canals were constructed for the salt 
 works at Salina, soon after the Erie canal was 
 built. They have been in use for many years. 
 Harbor Brook 
 Harbor brook is a natural stream taking its 
 rise in the vicinity of Split Rock, running 
 through the valley towards the city past Burnet 
 park, and winding to the northwest, empties 
 into Onondaga lake. It has been a very pretty 
 stream, formerly famous for its fine trout, but 
 latterly has been contaminated by the sewage of 
 the locality. The mouth of this brook has a 
 place in the history of the county, as being the 
 place where Sir John Johnson's party of Indians 
 and Tories, on an incursion into the Mohawk 
 valley, in 1779, took refuge in the bushes and 
 brakes and escaped their pursuers. The retreat 
 is deUneated in an old painting in possession of 
 the Onondaga Historical association. Doctor 
 Beauchamp thinks this narrative, as related by 
 Clark, is confused with an affair, duly authenti- 
 cated, which occurred on Chittenango creek. 
 
 There are in the town of Sahna a Mud creek 
 and Bear Trap creek, near the northerly borders 
 of the city limits, which are good-sized streams 
 
328 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 runniag through the low marsh-lands of that 
 locality. They empty into the lake, and never 
 have had any relation to the adjacent city, but 
 they figured mildly in connection with the early 
 military operations in that vicinity. 
 
 A Wise Foresight and Provision 
 
 Clark's history, in the chapter on early Syra- 
 cuse, states that " during the building of the 
 Erie canal, from 1817 to 1820, the sickness was 
 terrible. No estimate can be made of the fatali- 
 ties of disease in that time. To the far-seeing 
 mind of Judge Forman something was to be 
 done to improve the health of the place, or his 
 plans would fail; accordingly, during the winter 
 of 1821-22, he procured the passage of a law, in 
 connection with one authorizing the lowering of 
 Onondaga lake, by which the commissioners of 
 the Land office were to draw a map of the 
 swamp and marsh about Syracuse and Salina. 
 This map was to designate the route of several 
 ditches or drains through the swamp and marsh- 
 lands, with an accompanying estimate of the 
 sum necessary to be raised to effect such object. 
 The judges of the County court were authorized 
 to appoint three discreet freeholders of the 
 county, who should assess the amount of money 
 necessary to be raised on the owners of the lands 
 contiguous to the drains, in proportion as they 
 were supposed to be benefited. In case of non- 
 
forman's wise action 329 
 
 payment, provision was made for the sale and 
 subsequent redemption of lands. Citizens were 
 allowed to build their own ditches, or the com- 
 missioners were empowered to build them and 
 collect the expense. It was an arbitrary law; 
 but it seemed to be the only plan under which 
 the improvement could be effected. In the sum- 
 mer of 1822 the lands were drained, and at once 
 the public health began to improve, disease and 
 sickness diminished, confidence was restored in 
 the future and the past was quickly forgotten. 
 The prosperity of Syracuse was placed on an 
 assured foundation." Clark in vivid words pic- 
 tures the changes of a quarter of a century, 
 and notes that " the time had been so short that 
 it is difficult to reahze that so great a change has 
 been wrought. "***'' in less than a generation 
 of men a city has sprung up from a loathsome 
 swamp, where, least of all, the traveller would 
 dream of such an event." Clark's prediction, 
 unfortunately not realized, was that ' ' in less 
 than another quarter of a century the capitol of 
 the Empire state would be located in the Central 
 City." 
 
-r\A/ENT"V-F=-C3UFR-rH F=AF=EF=R 
 
 Sociability in the Olden Times 
 
 Pioneer society and sociability were distin- 
 guishing traits of the time ; the people were few 
 and scattered, but the homes were generous, 
 acquaintance was general; everybody dehghted 
 to make everybody else comfortable and happy ; 
 the latchstring was out at every door, and the 
 welcome within was most cordial. Read the 
 accounts of the first Danforth household at the 
 Hollow, and there you will see that all comers 
 were greeted and entertained without money 
 and without price. Rest, lodgings and meals 
 were free to the stranger. So it was all the way 
 round ; at the Hill, at Pompey, at Salina and at 
 Syracuse. There were no more delightful social 
 relations and more whole-hearted hospitality 
 than in the pioneer settlements in the Onondaga 
 country. 
 
 In early Salina, around Washington park and 
 the vicinity ; in early Syracuse, first in the cen- 
 ter round about the old red mill, the early 
 churches, and the school-house, in Church street, 
 in Genesee and Franklin streets and a little later 
 in Clinton, Water and Salina streets, there were 
 
 (330) 
 
HOME LIFE AND SOCIETY 331 
 
 princely men and noble women who made it the 
 delight of their lives to extend social courtesies 
 to friends and neighbors, and by mutual socia- 
 bility get all the pleasure and satisfaction possi- 
 ble out of life in its relations to others. 
 
 The home hfe was a distinguishing character- 
 istic of the pioneer time. It developed domestic 
 and social traits of fine effect and charming real- 
 izations. It was a natural condition and produc- 
 tive of the highest social enjoyment. By the 
 lack of this trait in later times and the existence 
 of artificial conditions, a most wholesome influ- 
 ence is lost from modern social existence. With 
 all the progress of the nineteenth century there 
 still are respects, in the home circle, in which 
 the preceding generations had advantages. The 
 old-time home hfe is something to be respected 
 and honored. 
 
 Social Centers 
 
 There came into the social lives of the inhabi- 
 tants here, after the village incorporations, some- 
 thing more of system or organization, and the 
 httle communities that grew up in old Water 
 street, in Salina street, in Foot street and about 
 Fayette park became more distinctively social 
 centers, and society functions and the rule of 
 fashion were intensified. There was as early as 
 1830 a recognized coterie of fashion in the vil- 
 lages, but it was not of arrogant aristocracy. 
 
332 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 There were old families and high-toned families^ 
 but there were no unduly rich ones, whose claim 
 to precedence was in money only. 
 
 The old Mansion house, with its added third 
 story, had its dancing hall at the top, and many 
 events of sociability were held there. The Syra- 
 cuse house, when rebuilt, had its saloon in the 
 upper floor, and there were held for years most 
 of the swell functions of the palmy days of vil- 
 lage life. There were held the famous series of 
 inauguration balls, which celebrated the intro- 
 duction of Jackson (1829-33), Van Buren (1837) 
 and Harrison (1841) into office. There also 
 were held many of the early military balls, 
 which were great affairs in their time. At 
 those balls the new brides and the rosebuds 
 were introduced to Syracuse society, and many 
 are the pleasant recollections of the new couples 
 who were given the place of honor in the grand 
 promenades. The handsome young brides and 
 their bridal dresses and finery were for many a 
 long year the subject of elaborate description in 
 female coteries. A goodly record of these has 
 gone into Mrs. Hatch's historical portiere, and 
 many of the prominent men and most respected 
 women of this time will find their antecedents 
 in that record. 
 
 Christmas festivities. New Year balls, and the 
 military balls on Washington's birthday were 
 
NOTABLE FUNCTIONS 333 
 
 grand occasions, which called out the people of 
 society and fashion. The grand parties at pri- 
 vate residences, often taking the form of mas- 
 querades, are fondly cherished memories of the 
 days of auld lang syne, in the recollections of 
 the oldest inhabitants. It seems that no such 
 scenes of gaity and pleasure have been the lot 
 of more recent generations. 
 
 Early Time Balls 
 
 The chronicles at command contain references 
 to the following balls of note in the neighbor- 
 hood of the present Syracuse: 
 
 " National jubilee— Fiftieth anniversary of 
 American Independence, at Onondaga Hollow, 
 June 19th, 1826, at C. Tyler's assembly rooms." 
 Thaddeus M. Wood, K. Wool worth 0. I. West, 
 A. B. Potter, M. Olmsted and J. Andrews, man- 
 agers. 
 
 " New Year's ball at the house of Kneeland 
 Sweet, in Pompey, January 2d, 1821, to partici- 
 pate in the pleasures of a social ball." " Come 
 and trip it as you go. On the light, fantastic 
 toe. ' ' Freeman Richardson, Elihu Clement, Ab- 
 ner Stevens, managers. 
 
 " MiUtary ball at Manlius, January 8th, 1832. 
 Colonel Hicks Worden, Col. R. T. Reed, Captains 
 N. H. Kinne, Emerson Kinne, J. C. Kinne, Henry 
 Shattuck, B. C. Beard, Maj. W. A. Cook and 
 
334 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 other officers of the One Hundred and Seventy- 
 sixth regiment, managers, all of Manlius. 
 
 Early Balls in Syracuse 
 
 " Military ball, at the saloon of the Syracuse 
 house, January 9th, 1821." Its list of managers 
 included Maj. Gen. Thaddeus M. Wood, Brig. 
 Gen. Orin Hutchinson, Col. Martin Woodruff, 
 Col. Grove Lawrence, Col. Daniel Earll, Col. 
 Johnson Hall, Col. D. B. Bickford, Lieut. Col. E. 
 D. Hopping, Maj. W. A. Cook, Captains Silas 
 Ames, W. D. Stewart, Seth Hutchinson, J. M. 
 Ellis, E. W. Leavenworth, Ezra Town and J. 
 Day. Accounts of the time show that this was 
 in fact a grand ball. 
 
 " Mechanics' Cotillion party, at D. Comstock's 
 assembly room, February 12th, 1830." " United 
 we stand, divided we fall ' ' was the motto on 
 the cards of the invitation. James Webb, Par- 
 ley Bassett, Calvin Riley, John Rogers, A. S. 
 Tilden, Thomas J. Field, Joseph Edwards, Jabez. 
 Hawley, Waterman Chapman and Abram Har- 
 ris were the managers. The affair was the indi- 
 cation of social schism in the young community. 
 
 " Washington's Birthday Ball, in Saloon of 
 Syracuse house, February 21, 1831:." This was 
 one of the most brilliant balls in the early 
 years of the village. Maj. Gen. Oren Hutchin- 
 son, Brig. Gen. Grove Lawrence, Brig. Gen. J. 
 Richmond, Brig. Gen. D. Hugunin, Col. Thad- 
 
MORE LEADING EVENTS 335 
 
 deus M. Wood, Col. Martin Woodruff, Lieut. 
 Col. E. D. Hopping, Col. D. T. Jones, Majs. Henry 
 Davis, jr., William A. Cook, C. C. Richardson 
 and M. Williams and Capt. Joseph Ehodes were 
 managers. This was a distinguished military 
 array. Hopping became a Brigadier-General in 
 the army in Mexico and died in the service; 
 Woodruff' entered heart and soul into the libera- 
 tion of Canada in the patriot war of 1837, was 
 captured at the battle of the Windmill, opposite 
 Ogdensburg, and was executed by his captors. 
 Others attained distinction in civil life. 
 
 " Independence Ball, at Bennet's saloon, 
 Frankhn building, Syracuse, July 4, 1836." 
 H. Baldwin, A. Burt, E. L. PhiUips, H. Eaynor, 
 R. A. Yoe, W. Jackson, Dean Richmond, Amos 
 P. Granger, E. B. Wicks, H. Davis, jr., J. I. 
 Bradley, W. W. Teall, T. G. Alvord were the 
 general committee; W. W. Teall, W. Tousley 
 and others, acting committee. 
 
 " Military Ball at Bennet's rooms, February 
 22, 1836." Major- General Hutchinson and staff, 
 managers. 
 
 ' ' W^ashington Ball at Syracuse house saloon, 
 February 22, 1810. B. Davis Noxon, D. S. Col- 
 vin, Aaron Burt, L. H. Redfield, D. D. Hillis, 
 Hamilton White, Joseph Savage, Daniel Pratt, 
 Alfred H. Hovey, Peter Cutwater, jr., H. Shel- 
 don, J. B. Burnet, G. W. Noxon, A. T. Butler, 
 
336 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 Jasper Smith, D. P. Phelps, G. J. Gardner, 
 Thomas Earll, George Ray nor, Charles Earll, W. 
 W. Teah, J. W. Barker, L. W. Marsh and Joel 
 Cody were managers. 
 
 " Washington Artillery, first annual ball at 
 Malcolm hall, January 14th, 1850." Majors 
 Baldwin and Leavenworth, the city aldermen, 
 Capt. J. Springer and Serg't Jacob Amos were 
 of the managers. 
 
 " Syracuse Cadets, first annual ball. Library 
 hall, Februry 22d, 1844." Lieut. W. B. Olmsted 
 and other ofiicers managers. Officers of Fifty- 
 first regiment honorary managers. 
 
 " Syracuse Citizens' Corps, first annual ball 
 at Library hall; December 31st, 1843. Second 
 ball, same place, 1844. Third ball at Empire 
 house, January 15th, 1846." Thence after for a 
 series of years the S. C. C. regularly held its an-^ 
 nual balls, which always were popular and suc- 
 cessful. 
 
 " Syracuse Light Dragoons, first annual ball, 
 at Myers' hall, December 13th, 1855." Capt. 
 A. H. Hovey, Lieuts. H. D. Hatch, and J. S. 
 Graham, Serg'ts E. T. Wright and H. M. Barker, 
 Silas Titus, L. Brigham, 0. W. Titus, I. H. Bron- 
 ner, J. B. Pierce, managers. Maj, Gen. W. C. 
 Brown and staff honorary managers, including 
 Maj. R. M. Richardson, J. M. Taylor and R. H. 
 
A POLITICAL BALL 337 
 
 Nolton, Capts. F. P. Minier, E. L. Walrath and 
 J. Dean Hawley." 
 
 Regimental balls were given by the officers 
 and privates of the Fifty-first regiment. National 
 Guard, in a succession of years. An invitation 
 to the ball of February 22d, 1860, contains the 
 names of Maj. Gen. Henry A. Barnum and staff, 
 with Cols. J. D. Hawley, J. C. Bennett and J. 
 M. Strong as honorary managers. 
 
 A poHtical ball was that of " The Silver 
 Grays," held at the Salina house, January 8th, 
 18i9, when the managers were as follows : James 
 Lynch, Richard Sanger, Benjamin F. Green, 
 Dennis McCarthy, Miles W. Bennett, William 
 Dallman, Patrick D. Lynch, WiUiam A. Porter, 
 Alonzo Crippen, Ira H. Wilhams, Fred Morele, 
 Charles B. Scott, Charles L. Annas, Elizur Clark, 
 C. B. Williams, Latham Y. Avery, Noah Wood, 
 John Barron, Silas Titus, S. R. Mathews, 0. W. 
 Childs, Edwin Hills, N. M. Childs, Harvey Hath- 
 away, John McCarthy, Thomas G. Alvord. Rich- 
 ard Sanger was room manager, with Cornelius 
 L. Alvord, Henry Dallman, Chauncey B. Clark, 
 Charles Wheeler, Charles H. Gage, Orville H. 
 Childs, Michael E. Lynch, William Benham, and 
 Philander Giles, assistants. The ball was a 
 great success. 
 
 Firemen's balls, leap year and fancy dress 
 balls, since IS-tO, are numerous, and the full 
 
338 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 record would present a very interesting history 
 of the social events of a general public charac- 
 ter. The " Cobleighs " and the series of great 
 charity balls would add much to the chronicles 
 of the social side of Syracuse as village and city. 
 
 Teachers of Deportment 
 
 In 1835 Harvey Bennett, teacher of dancing 
 and deportment, gave lessons at his academy in 
 Perkin's hall, (in the old Syracuse hotel, on the 
 site of the present First Presbyterian church). 
 He taught quadrilles, mascalonze, mazourkas, 
 waltzes, Spanish dances, contra dances, ukrane, 
 Tyrolese dances, tredrilles and Swedish figures. 
 
 In 1852 W. B. Smith had his dancing acad- 
 emy in Filkin's hall, east end of Franklin build- 
 ing, and later in Library hall. His list was all 
 the dances, waltzes and gallopadings. The 
 teacher, heavy and stout, was a very hght- 
 footed person. 
 
 In the '50s and '60s Cobleigh was the popular 
 dancing teacher in Syracuse. The " Cobleighs' 
 and^'his dancing school form pleasant recollec- 
 tions with very many people in and about Syra- 
 cuse. 
 
-r\A/ENTV-F'IF='TH F='AF»ER 
 
 Onoudaga Courts and Bar 
 
 The courts and the bar of Onondaga county 
 form an interesting study. While this county 
 was still a part of Herkimer county, the courts 
 were held at the church in the village of Herki- 
 mer, and after the county's organization, in 1794,. 
 civil and criminal prisoners were confined in the 
 Herkimer county jail. There were no lawyers 
 in the new county constituting the Mihtary Tract 
 at its organization, and no court house or other 
 county buildings. The first court held in Onon- 
 daga county had its session in Gen. Asa Dan- 
 forth's corn-house at Onondaga Hollow, on the 
 first Monday in May, 1794, and the first court of 
 Oyer and Terminer was held at Danforth's house' 
 July 21st of the same year. One indictment, 
 was found, for assault and battery with intent 
 to rob, and conviction followed. Later courts 
 alternated between the Hollow and Scipio until 
 ISOo, when the court house of Onondaga Hill 
 was so far completed as to allow courts being 
 held there. With the new century lawyers 
 came into the county, and the bar of Onondaga 
 began to assume the prominence and strength 
 
 (339) 
 
340 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 which were recognized attributes of it in after 
 years. 
 
 The Early Courts and Judges 
 
 The Court house and jail at the Hill were com- 
 pleted in 1807, and courts were held there till 
 1830, when the county buildings were located at 
 Syracuse. The County Clerk's office was first 
 kept at the Hollow, in private residences or busi- 
 ness places, until 1813, when a clerk's office was 
 erected at the Hill, and in 1830 was located at 
 Syracuse. Egbert Benson held the first court of 
 Oyer and Terminer. He was a resident of Ja- 
 maica, L. 1., and a very prominent man. Be- 
 sides being a Judge of the Supreme court he was 
 Attorney-General of the state, Member of the 
 Legislature, of Congress and of the Continental 
 Congress, and of the Council of Safety, a Judge 
 of the United States Circuit court and Deputy in 
 the conventions which resulted in New York ac- 
 cepting the Federal constitution. Other Judges 
 who served in the early Onondaga courts were 
 James Kent and John Lansing, who were later 
 Chancellors of the state Court of Chancery, 
 The First Court House and Jail 
 
 In 1801, when measures were adopted for the 
 building of a Court house for Onondaga county, 
 a lively competition took place between the Hill 
 and the Hollow, with the result that the Hill won 
 the prize. The Court house then erected was 
 
JUDGE EARLL'S OFFICE AT ONONDAGA HILL 
 
342 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 located on the plot of ground to the northward 
 of what was known as the ' ' upper tavern, ' ' then 
 in a dense forest, and was a substantial frame 
 building, 50 feet square and two stories high, 
 with a square roof sloping to the four sides. 
 The jail was under the same roof. The court 
 room was on the second floor as were apart- 
 ments for the jailer's family. The cells of the 
 jail on the first floor were of oak plank, filled 
 with wrought-iron spikes. The cost of the build- 
 ing was about $10,000. The commissioners in 
 whose charge was placed the construction of the 
 building were Elisha Lewis, Medad Curtis and 
 Thaddeus Wood. It was not until 1810 that the 
 structure was completed. James Beebe, a Rev- 
 olutionary soldier, was the first jailer, and was 
 succeeded by Mason Butts. After its disuse it 
 speedily fell into decay. In 1813 the County 
 Clerk's office was established on a site adjacent 
 to the Court house at the Hill. It was a 1 -story 
 structure, 18 by 25 feet. This served its purpose 
 until the county buildings were removed to Syra- 
 cuse in 1829. 
 
 The small structures which were occupied as 
 law offices by B. Davis Noxon and James R. 
 Lawrence still stand near the site of the old 
 Court house at Onondaga Hill. 
 
 Syracuse Made the County Seat 
 
 The definite location of the county buildings 
 
COUNTY BUILDINGS LOCATED 343 
 
 at Syracuse was effected after a very spirited 
 contest, in which the people of the whole county 
 took a part. The decision was reached by legis- 
 lative action brought about by a large number 
 of petitions from all parts of the county in favor 
 of the removal. This was promoted by the ac- 
 tivity of the Syracuse company. On March 
 19th, 1827, it was decided by state legislation 
 that the county buildings should be removed to 
 a new site, to be determined by the Board of 
 Supervisors. At once the competition between 
 Salina and Syracuse took an active shape. Both 
 localities offered building sites and other induce- 
 ments. The Syracuse company's offer was the 
 entire block, excepting the corner then occupied 
 by the First Presbyterian church, which now in- 
 cludes the Government building, the University 
 building and the White Memorial building. 
 There also was offered an adjacent site for the 
 County jail, and Gen. Amos P. Granger offered to 
 build a fireproof Clerk's office building and to 
 contribute $1,000 to the cost of the new Court 
 house. Salina's offers were generous, but more 
 modest, and they resulted in a proposition to lo- 
 cate the Court house and jail midway between 
 the two villages, and this project prevailed in 
 the Board of Supervisors by a majority of one. 
 The Court house was erected in 1829-30, at a 
 cost of $27,000. It was of brick, 64 feet square 
 
COURT HOUSE AND JAIL 345 
 
 and two stories high. The lower floor was 
 divided equally by halls running from north to 
 south and east to west, with a room in each of 
 the four corners, which were occupied by pub- 
 lic offices. In the second story were the court 
 room and small ante-rooms. It was quite an 
 imposing building, prominently located at a bend 
 in North Salina street and was in good view all 
 the length of Salina street as far as Onondaga 
 street. The jail, standing near, of stone, was 
 fifty feet square and two stories high. The 
 jailer's family occupied the south half and strong 
 stone cells the north half of the first floor. In 
 the second story were apartments for debtors, 
 witnesses, etc. Judge Nehemiah H. Earll held 
 the first court in this building, in May, 1830. 
 Opposite the Court house on the corner of Salina 
 and Ash streets was the fine residence of James 
 R. Lawrence, and on the opposite side of Salina 
 street was the Center house, long a hotel of some 
 importance. 
 
 Agitatiou for a New Court House 
 
 Inconvenient as was the location of the Court 
 house is was put up with until 1845, when an 
 agitation for a new location was begun and con- 
 tinued for ten years, during which time many 
 suggestions were made and considered. In 1855 
 the Board of Supervisors, for economic reasons, 
 voted down the special committee's report favor- 
 
346 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 ing a plan for a new location and new building. 
 On February 5th, 1856, the old Court house 
 building was destroyed by an incendiary fire, 
 which promoted the project of a new location 
 and made necessary a new structure. 
 
 Locating the Present Court House 
 
 After much negotiating, the old site was ex- 
 changed for a new one on the corner of West 
 Genesee and Clinton streets, and the present 
 Court house, at the time considered a very fine 
 building, constructed of Onondaga limestone and 
 well arranged for the accommodation of courts, 
 was built at a cost of 138,000. It has been oc- 
 cupied ever since 1857, and with many changes 
 since made it has answered its purposes; but 
 now it is the demand of the courts, the bar and 
 the people that a larger building, with suitable 
 accommodations, shall supersede it. Adjoining 
 the Court house is a building for the Court of 
 Appeals Library, Judges' Chambers and some 
 pubhc offices. 
 
 The County Clerk's Office 
 
 On the location of the county buildings at 
 Syracuse a small structure for the County Clerk's 
 office was erected at the corner of North Salina 
 and Willow streets. This was supplanted by a 
 larger building, for the Clerk's office. Surrogate's 
 office and Board of Supervisors, in 1853, which 
 was occupied till 1880, when the present County 
 
FAMOUS TRIALS 347 
 
 'Clerk's buildiDg at the corner of North CHnton 
 and Willow streets, was erected, and ever since 
 has been occupied. The Board of Supervisors 
 hall, the Surrogate's and other pubhc offices are 
 in this building. 
 
 The Onondaga County Bar 
 
 The list of the members of the bar of Onon- 
 daga county contains many eminent names. 
 During the past seventy- five years no bar of an 
 interior county has surpassed, and few have 
 equaled, that of this county. The old court 
 houses at the Hill and in Syracuse witnessed 
 many remarkable trials, and the ability, learning 
 and research of the attorneys were in many in- 
 stances of the highest order. 
 
 In the old Court house in Syracuse occurred 
 the trial and conviction of the colored man. 
 Freeman, the wife murderer, and in the jail yard 
 his execution followed, the first in the county, 
 in 1841. There also occurred the famous trial 
 of Alfred Fyler, for wife murder, in 1855, his 
 conviction and sentence to be executed; but 
 after a year in the state lunatic asylum, he 
 walked out of the Court house a free man, 
 through a legal technicality. 
 
 In the later Court house there also was an im- 
 portant series of civil and criminal trials, and 
 among the latter were : That of Frahch for the 
 murder of Shafer, his conviction and execution 
 
348 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 in the Penitentiary yard ; that of Casey, for the 
 murder of Johnson at Collamer, wliich resulted 
 in his conviction and sentence to hang, which 
 was interfered with by a commutation by Gov- 
 ernor Hoffman to hfe imprisonment, and a par- 
 don after nineteen years' service in state prison; 
 that of Lindsay, for the murder of Colvin, near 
 Baldwinsville, for which he was convicted and 
 executed in the Penitentiary yard; and that of 
 Greenfield, for wife murder at Orwell, Oswego 
 county, for which, after several trials, he w^as 
 convicted and executed in the Penitentiary cor- 
 ridor. Since then there has been no capital con- 
 viction or expiation in Onondaga county. 
 
 In the newer Court house, in the past forty 
 years, many trials of great public interest have 
 occurred, the recitation of which would cover 
 the local judicial history for that eventful period. 
 
 The Early Onondaga Bar 
 
 Sixty-five years ago the Onondaga Bar em- 
 braced the following named attorneys and coun- 
 selors: John Wilkinson, Harvey Baldwin, John 
 G. Forbes, E. W. Leavenworth, B. Davis Noxon, 
 Peter Outwater, jr., Henry Davis, jr., Schuyler 
 Strong, Richard vYoolworth, and Charles A. 
 Baker of Syracuse; Thaddeus M. Wood, Daniel 
 Moseley, Jonas Earll, Samuel Forman and Wil- 
 liam H. Sabine of Onondaga ; Victory Birdseye, 
 Daniel Gott and Daniel Wood of Pompey;, 
 
A DISTINGUISHED ARRAY 319 
 
 David D. Hillis, Grove Lawrence and James R. 
 Lawrence of Camillus; Samuel H. Hammond 
 and Isaac T. Minard of Baldwinsville ; Nicholas 
 P. Randall, Samuel L. Edwards, John Fleming, 
 Leroy Morgan and Henry C. Van Schaack of 
 Manlius; Sanford C. Parker and George C. Stans- 
 bury of Marcellus ; Freeborn G. Jewett, Augus- 
 tus Kellogg, Daniel Kellogg and Lewis H. San- 
 ford of Skaneateles ; Thomas G. Alvord, Jerome 
 J. Briggs, Enos D. Hopping and A. C. Griswold 
 of Salina; Reuben Farnum of Elbridge, Hicks 
 Worden of Fayetteville, Elijah W. Curtis of 
 Geddes and William Porter of Jordan. 
 
 A Brilliant Galaxy 
 
 This was, indeed, a distinguished array of 
 legal and forensic ability ; followed by the larger 
 and even stronger bar in the 40's and 50's, which 
 included many survivors of the above list, with 
 the addition of these and others: Charles B. 
 Sedgwick, Daniel Pratt, David J. Mitchell, 
 George F. Comstock, Charles Andrews, Thomas 
 T. Davis, George N. Kennedy, Henry J. Sedg- 
 wick, James Noxon, Harvey Sheldon, John Ru- 
 ger, Wilham J. Hough, James W. Nye, L. Har- 
 ris Hiscock, Frank Hiscock, Wilham J. Wallace, 
 Joseph T. Sabine, Henry S. Fuller, N. F. Graves, 
 Daniel F. Gott, Hamilton Burdick, James S. 
 Leach, C. M. Brosuau, Richard Rayner, Daniel 
 P. Wood, R. H. Gardner, Israel S. Spencer, 
 
350 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 Henry Reigel, Z. L. Beebe. Since 1860 the- 
 Onondaga bar has occupied an exceptional prom- 
 inence; but the memories of the preceding half- 
 century are still fresh in story and tradition. 
 There were giants in the days when Thaddeus 
 M, Wood, Medad Curtis, Joshua Forman, George 
 Hall, Moses DeWitt and Jasper Hopper were the 
 bright particular stars of the legal fraternity; 
 so again when the learned Comstock, the well- 
 equipped Forbes, Randall, Pratt, Birdseye and 
 Gott were leading lights of the profession; the 
 brilliant Hillis and the witty Nye ran their me- 
 teoric courses ; the versatile and profound Sedg- 
 wick, the resourceful Ruger, and the resplen- 
 dent Mitchell held bench, bar and juries spell- 
 bound with their eloquence. The long line of 
 jurists which has adorned the bench of the state 
 has added glory to the legal equipment and fame 
 of the sons of Onondaga. The legislative bodies 
 at Albany and Washington have benefited from 
 the ability and learning of the Onondaga bar, 
 whose members have done most valued service 
 in those relations for the state and nation. And 
 the record of the recent past, since the judiciary 
 reorganization effected in 1870, has been not less 
 luminous and creditable. 
 
 Remarks in Conclusion 
 
 This series of Pioneer Papers, originally in- 
 tended to consist of half a dozen numbers, has. 
 
PURPOSE OF THESE PAPERS 351 
 
 extended to twenty-five ; and although the sub- 
 jects of interest embraced in the pioneer period are 
 far from exhausted, it is beheved by the writer 
 that the principal topics have been touched up- 
 on, and largely the interest in the subject ex- 
 pended. The purpose was to make a record of 
 events, incidents and characters of the pioneer 
 settlements in the Onondaga country, and to 
 bring together for preservation historical ac- 
 counts which if not now preserved would very 
 soon be lost to historic research. Some papers 
 on specific subjects may later be pubhshed. 
 
 The preparation of these papers has been a 
 work of pleasure. The endeavor was to gather 
 and preserve matters of importance in local his- 
 tory, now accessible but soon to be beyond reach. 
 Although the papers are only a plain record of 
 fact and incident, yet they have served to bring 
 many people into closer touch with the subject 
 and to arouse an interest in its broad field of 
 inquiry. It has been a gratifying surprise to 
 discover how well some of the pioneers were per- 
 sonally known to living persons, and also that 
 early affairs are so near to us. In this beautiful 
 valley of the Onondaga, with ail its evidences of 
 progress, it is scarcely reahzed that 115 years 
 cover the first white settlements, and yet here 
 we enjoy the civilization of a thousand years. 
 Few localities on this continent present as re- 
 
352 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 sourcefal a historical field, including the aborigi- 
 nal legends and traditions for 300 years, and the 
 religious and colonization propagandism of 150 
 years, followed by the New England settlements 
 in the past century. Half a century ago a good 
 history of this region was written; it is now 
 time that this history was revised and brought 
 down to the present time. 
 
 In the course of the publication of these pa- 
 pers some errors have occurred. An object of 
 the publications was to call out the detection of 
 inaccuracies that had been committed and to 
 correct as far as possible existing errors as to 
 occurrences of interest. 
 
 William Kirkpatrick calls attention to the 
 origin of the names of certain streets in old 
 Salina. He corrects the impression of Clark and 
 other writers, that Bear and Wolf streets w^ere 
 named after Bear and Wolf paths given because 
 of the frequency of those wild animals in these 
 localities. He states that Bear, Wolf and Turtle 
 streets were so called after the names of tribes 
 of the Onondaga nation. 
 
 George K. Collins states that the Syracuse High 
 school was organized 1854:, under the first prin- 
 cipal, Charles O. Eoundy, who for twenty-one 
 years was at the head of that institution. 
 
 John M. Strong states that his father, Oliver 
 E. Strong, was the first president of the Onon- 
 
THE HIGH SCHOOL 353 
 
 daga County bank, at Syracuse, the first bank 
 in the county, in 1830, and so continued till his 
 resignation in 1842. Moses S. Marsh was the 
 first cashier. 
 
 A High school department was organized in 
 old No. 5, Prescott school, in J 851, with Charles 
 0. Roundy in charge, and he continued its prin- 
 cipal for twenty -one years. In 1855 it was re- 
 moved to old No. 4, in Church street; then to 
 the Pike block, corner of Salina and Fayette 
 streets ; then to the Greeley block, corner of War- 
 ren and Fayette streets, and then took up its 
 permanent quarters in the High school building, 
 built in 1869, in West Genesee street. The High 
 school was a gradual innovation. 
 
 There was much opposition to the introduc- 
 tion into the common school system of any fea- 
 tures of the higher education; then there was 
 antagonism to the proposed large expenditure 
 for the higher department; and the enterprise 
 had to live down these elements of anti-progress, 
 but finally it triumphed. 
 
 The Syracuse High school has been a success 
 from the beginning. It long has held a high 
 rank among the secondary schools in the state. 
 The principals since Mr. Roundy have been : W. 
 A. Brownell, Samuel Thurber, George A. Bacon 
 and William K. Wickes. 
 
 The history of the public schools of Syracuse 
 
354 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 has been written by Edward Smith, who has 
 been a teacher in these schools since the school 
 system of Syracuse was organized under the act 
 of the legislature April 12th, 1848. One other 
 of the original teachers survives, W. W, New- 
 man, now of South Onondaga. 
 
 In the preparation of this series of Pioneer 
 Papers, valuable assistance has been rendered by 
 Dr. William M. Beauchamp, M. W. Hanchett 
 and George J. Gardner, the best authorities on 
 early local history; Mrs. W. H. H. Smith, who 
 has at command a mass of valuable material; 
 Clark's History of Onondaga, and the Memorial 
 History of Syracuse and the Centennial His- 
 tory of Onondaga county. The Syracuse Her- 
 ald company has greatly promoted the work. 
 In illustrations and new material much has been 
 added to the stock of original local historical in- 
 formation. Many applications are received for 
 the publication of the papers in permanent form. 
 
THE -rilVIE© AND THE MAN 
 A Chapter by the Hon. Charles E. Fitch 
 
 Very appropriately, the address delivered at a 
 memorial meeting of the Onondaga Historical 
 association on the evening of December 4, 1903^ 
 by the Hon. Charles E. Fitch, in tribute to the 
 late Carroll E. Smith, who at the time of his. 
 death was president of that organization, is ap- 
 pended as an added chapter to " Pioneer Times 
 in the Onondaga Country." This is true in a 
 twofold sense. Not alone does Mr. Fitch pay 
 merited eulogy to the memory of Mr. Smith, but 
 in so doing cites interesting history which, it will 
 be observed, enhances the value of what has ap- 
 peared upon the pages of this volume proper. 
 The'speaker is splendidly qualified for the earnest 
 and eloquent effort and his contribution to this 
 work cannot fail to receive due appreciation from 
 those who read these chapters. Mr. Fitch said : 
 
 " I know of no life so intimately associated 
 with the life of Syracuse and Onondaga county 
 — their genesis, their growth, their social ameni- 
 ties, their political conflicts, their memories and 
 their achievements — as that of Carroll Earll 
 Smith. As the span of his hfe lengthened into 
 
 (355) 
 
CARROLL E. SMITH 
 
 (From a photograph taken at the time he was most 
 active as the editor of the Syracuse Journal) 
 
RETROSPECTIVE 357 
 
 its three score years and ten, and as, in the re- 
 view, he saw the forests how to the fertile acres 
 and the village expand into the city, he might well 
 exclaim, ' a great part of which I was and all of 
 which I saw.' 
 
 " Syracuse was his by birth, on Christmas day 
 now seventy-one years ago. The hamlet which, 
 in the vision of Joshua Forman, was to be a 
 metropolis, had already become a busy, bustling 
 town, by which the salt springs, the original 
 source of its prosperity, bubbled, and through 
 which the inland water course cut its way from 
 the Erie to the Atlantic. Hanover square was 
 the center of business activities and from it radi- 
 ated the principal residential streets— Genesee 
 and Salina and Water— while, on either side, 
 were Church and Fayette, and James stragghng 
 toward the outlying fields. Fayette Park was 
 not projected. Farms lined the Cinder road to 
 Onondaga Valley, where were the homes of 
 some of the most prominent men in the county. 
 His boyhood was passed here, during the period 
 that the village was developing into the munici- 
 pality, a period which now thrills responsive to 
 the tender recollections of those who, with fal- 
 tering steps and dimming eyes, have been per- 
 mitted to cross the threshold of the twentieth 
 century. Is it simply the glamour of age, the 
 fond backward look, the far perspective, that 
 
358 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 beautifies the vanished time and, in the mellow 
 haze, invests it with such subtle charm, or did it 
 really hold something better and truer and 
 sweeter than that of the cosmopolitan spirit 
 which informs and the complex civilization, 
 with all the momentous, and even terrible, soci- 
 ological and economic entangleinents with which 
 it has to deal, that signalize this wonder-work- 
 ing epoch ? I cannot answer. The spell pos- 
 sesses me, and I yield to the delusion, if delusion 
 it be; and I know that he, of whom I am to 
 speak, confessed to the allurement and always 
 referred to it endearingly. Of that time, he was 
 the clearest observer and most industrious chron- 
 icler. He clung to it as the ivy to the oak ; he 
 vaunted it as ardently as the lark sings to the 
 sunlight. What was the life of that time ? If 
 it was narrower in its scope than that of the 
 present, its ties were closer and its sympathies 
 more acute. If it was less luxurious, it was 
 also less fretful, and its ministrations were more 
 unselfish, although this is the day of plenteous 
 beneficences and magnificent charities. The 
 members of the community knew each other 
 and neighbor greeted neighbor. Entertaining, 
 although less an art, was not less a service, and, 
 if not ornate and lavish, was kindly and of good 
 cheer. It was the day when thrift waited upon 
 honest toil, if not that of colossal fortunes, too 
 
BUILDERS OF SYRACUSE 359 
 
 often the outcome of speculation and fraud and 
 intrigue. It was the day of the pioneers and 
 founders, of the makers of homes, of a demo- 
 cratic aristocracy, not without its refinements 
 and courtesies and chivalries, that needed no 
 patent of nobihty, nor stamp of wealth, as the 
 certificate of its quality. 
 
 " The pioneers of Onondaga, the builders of 
 Syracuse, were mainly of New England origin, 
 a portion of the mighty Puritan forces which, 
 with the close of the Revolutionary war, began 
 the march from Plymouth rock to Puget sound, 
 dropping from their ranks, at various stations, 
 recruits for the American civilization that the 
 coming years were to witness, with all of Puri- 
 tan pluck and virtue in forming, and much of 
 Puritan austerity and intolerance eliminated 
 from it, as, like another Antaeus, it was refresh- 
 ed and purified as it touched the newer soil. It 
 left contingents in New York, at Utica and 
 Whitestown and Manlius and Onondaga and 
 Syracuse and Canandaigua and Rochester and 
 Batavia, as it swept beyond the Alleganies, over 
 the Western Reserve and the territory which the 
 ordinance of 1787 had dedicated to freedom, and 
 onward, still onward, to the Pacific slope, carry- 
 ing with it the axe and the plane, the plow and 
 the scythe, the spelling book and the Bible. The 
 vanguard of settlers in Onondaga, who followed 
 
360 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 the pathway blazed aloug the hills east and 
 south of Syracuse, and crowned the summits 
 with their roof trees or sought shelter in the in- 
 tervening valleys, were almost exclusively from 
 Massachusetts and Connecticut. Some of them 
 were of liberal culture, with diplomas from Har- 
 vard or Yale, and nearly all were graduates of 
 the common school therein established. Their 
 names are hallowed in our early annals. When 
 Syracuse emerged from the morass that the hills 
 encircled, and it was seen that her position, her 
 resources and the lines of travel and traffic, which 
 the enterprise of her citizens had secured, were 
 to make her the principal place of a wide region 
 tributary to her, the Puritan type still prevailed. 
 When Carroll Smith was a boy, these were some 
 of the men who were here plying their industries 
 and fashioning the town. How virile and vig- 
 orous they appear, how familiar their forms as 
 we recall them. John W. Adams, loved and 
 reverenced, was preaching at the First Presby- 
 terian church; Robert R. Raymond, gifted and 
 graceful, at the First Baptist ; Samuel J. May, 
 fervent in all good causes, whose name is still a 
 benediction upon this community, at the Unita- 
 rian, and the saintly Henry Gregory and Wil- 
 liam Bliss Ashley were ministering at Episcopal 
 altars. B. Davis Noxon, caustic, yet winning, 
 in speech, and searching in the examination of 
 
MEMORIES OF THE PAST 361 
 
 witnesses, was the acknowledged head of the 
 bar. James R. and Grove Lawrence had come 
 from Camilhis, the one a gladiator in the legal 
 arena, the other patient and faithful in the con- 
 duct of cases, each a judge of the county. Dan- 
 iel Pratt and George F. Comstock were in the 
 first flush of their judicial renown. David D. 
 Hillis was brilliant in his pleas before juries, 
 and Charles B. Sedgwick and Thomas T. Davis, 
 both subsequently to represent this district in 
 congress, were gaining laurels for the polish and 
 eloquence of their address. Elias W. Leaven- 
 worth was still in active practice as a lawyer, 
 but was rapidly becoming foremost among his 
 fellows for the zeal with which he urged and the 
 care he bestowed upon all concerns that contrib- 
 uted to the advancement of the place or assured 
 its weal. Opposite the modest home of Harvey 
 Baldwin upon the southern slope of Academy 
 hill was the statelier mansion of Aaron Burt, 
 both their names intimately identified with in- 
 creasing interests professional and material. 
 Mather Williams, Hiram Hoyt, M. M. White and 
 Lyman Clary were the leading physicians. Oren 
 Root, afterward of Hamilton college, Joseph A. 
 Allen, Samuel S. Stebbins, James W. Hoyt, Wil- 
 liam Paret, now the Protestant Episcopal bishop 
 of Maryland, and Albert G. Salisbury were the 
 principal teachers. Horace and Hamilton White 
 
362 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 were laying the foundations of their princely es- 
 tates. Moses D. Burnet, as the agent of the 
 Syracuse company, was inviting and obtaining 
 settlement by the liberal terms and advantage- 
 ous sites he offered; and among those engaged 
 in various vocations were Stephen Smith, James 
 G. Tracy, Edward B. Wicks, Thomas B. Fitch, 
 Ammi T. Butler, William Jackson, Lewis H, 
 Eedfield, Peter Out water, William Malcolm, 
 Henry W. Durnford, Christopher C. Bradley, 
 Harmon W. Van Buren, W. W. Willard, J. Dean 
 Hawley, still surviving, Prentice S. Stoddard, 
 Cornelius T. Longstreet, Major Dana, Amos 
 Westcott, Dennis McCarthy, Allen Munroe, Peter 
 Burns, Dudley P. Phelps, and the Wynkoop 
 brothers. John Wilkinson, a pioneer, while the 
 nineteenth century was in its teens, the first 
 postmaster and the projector of the Utica and 
 Syracuse railway, alert, aggressive, enlightened, 
 was a power in civic affairs. xA.mos P. Granger, 
 blunt and outspoken, but, with single-hearted 
 devotion to honesty in local administration and 
 soon to become a doughty champion of freedom 
 at the national capital, was a conspicious figure. 
 Oliver Teall was draining the water sheds to feed 
 his conduits, the while he was inculcating fru- 
 gality and temperance. Daniel P. Wood and 
 Thomas G. Alvord were at the beginning of their 
 long and serviceable public careers, and Charles 
 
OF WORTHY STOCK 363 
 
 Andrews was a young lawyer, poring ov^er his 
 initial briefs — he who was to be thrice mayor, 
 and who, after the most extended service known 
 to the court of last resort in the state, ever broad- 
 ening in learning and keeping his ermine un- 
 spotted, as the shadows of his life are lengthen- 
 ing toward the westerning sun, we are permitted 
 to salute as our first citizen, none more honored 
 throughout the commonwealth. 
 
 " It was among these men and men like these 
 that Carroll Smith came to man's estate. It 
 was his to catch their inspiration, lo emulate 
 their worth. And he was of their stock. In 
 the late twenties and the early thirties, five 
 brothers, the sons of Silas Smith and Eunice 
 Bagg, his wife, migrated 'from the Berkshire to 
 the Onondaga hills. They were of stout Puritan 
 descent, and their grandfather, a soldier of the 
 revolution, is buried in Marcellus. The eldest 
 brother, Vivus W., led the way, in 1824, and, in 
 1826 bought a newspaper at Onondaga Hill, 
 which was then the mart of the county, thriv- 
 ing and ambitious. There was the Court house, 
 yet echoing to the voices of Thomas Addis 
 Emmet, Aaron Burr and other giants of the bar. 
 There were churches and stores and offices^ and 
 in the streets was heard the resonant horn of 
 the stage coach, as in brave array it drove from 
 Albany to Buffalo. There is now but the pathos 
 
364 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 of silence over forsaken homesteads and bygone 
 aims — apathy and rust — always, however, with 
 the thought that the electric current may come 
 with a kiss more thrilling than that of the fairy 
 youth, in the poetic legend, to waken them into 
 the new life, which shall be better even than the 
 old, when suburban cottages shall survey the fair 
 landscape about them and the lofty blocks, the 
 mansions of affluence, the temples of education, 
 and the spires of the city below them. It was 
 at Onondaga hill that Vivus W. Smith wooed 
 and won Caroline, the daughter of Jonas Earll 
 jr., marrying her February 16, 1831. The Earlls 
 also were a family exceedingly prominent in the 
 early days of good blood and resolute wills. 
 Jonas Earll sr., who came to Onondaga county 
 in 1801, was among the original residents of the 
 Hill, in a house which is still standing. He was 
 a presidential elector in 1804, and died in 1847, 
 at the age of ninety-two. He had three sons — 
 Solomon, Jonas jr., and Daniel S. Jonas jr., 
 Carroll's grandfather, who was born in Gran- 
 ville, Washington county, in 1785, studied law 
 with Forman and Sabine, at the Valley, was 
 admitted to the bar in 1813, and had a distin- 
 guished political career. He was successively 
 sheriff, assemblyman, senator, congressman and 
 canal commissioner. He died in Syracuse in 
 1846, and is buried at the Hill. And so, a lead- 
 
NEWSPAPER HISTORY 3(55 
 
 ing part in Onondaga county annals, belongs to 
 Carroll by heredity, on both sides. 
 
 " In 1829, when the Court house was removed 
 from the Hih to the site midway between Sahna 
 and Syracuse, the active citizens of the Hill came 
 with it. Among them was Vivus W. Smith 
 who brought with him his printing press to the 
 new and aspiring village, forming a partnership 
 with John F. Wyman in the pubhcation of the 
 Onondaga Standard. In 1836, in conjunction 
 with his brother, Silas F., he founded the West- 
 ern State Journal and, in 1846, the same firm 
 started the Syracuse Daily Journal, which is still 
 in existence, the oldest daily here. His first wife 
 died in 1835 and, later, he married Theodora 
 Morey, also of Onondaga hill, whose gracious 
 presence and gentle mien many of us remember 
 vividly. Here he lived and labored many years, 
 stalwart in form, weighty and positive in speech, 
 yet benign in demeanor, developing his farm on 
 West Onondaga street into city lots, receiving 
 many public preferments, but chiefly known by 
 the power of his pen. As an editor, he was both 
 respected and feared. He was clear and forcible 
 in the enunciation of his ideas, logical and ex- 
 haustive in argument, the exponent of the Whig 
 party in this section of the state, the confidant 
 ■ of Thurlow Weed, the friend, the adviser, the 
 passionate admirer of Wilham H. Seward. He 
 
366 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 died at his home in Syracuse, February 7, 1881^ 
 at the age of seventy-seven. 
 
 " Carroll Smith was educated mainly in the 
 schools of Syracuse, which, whether common or 
 select, I am sometimes fain to think were better 
 than are the schools of to-day. If they had nar- 
 rower courses and less of what is called enrich- 
 ment, they had more of earnest, honest study 
 and the discipline that comes from study. If 
 they were deficient in their classical departments, 
 and they certainly compared unfavorably with 
 the New England preparatory schools in this 
 regard, they were excellent in mathematics and 
 the English branches, and they had teachers who 
 were skilled in and dedicated to their profession 
 — born teachers, as the phrase is, of the stamp 
 of Arnold of Rugby and Mark Hopkins, who 
 got the best out of their pupils that there was 
 in them. Carroll got something from the old 
 Academy, where that eminent scholar, Oren 
 Root, presided, and Miss Buttrick, afterward the 
 wife of the Hon. William A. Sackett, made all 
 the boys love her, and something, if I mistake 
 not, from Samuel S. Stebbins, a graduate uf 
 Yale college, of long pedagogical experience, 
 urbane of manner and suggestive in instruction, 
 whose school was in a house at the corner of 
 Washington and Clinton streets, but more from 
 the select school in the basement of the old Park. 
 
A MODEL TEACHER 367 
 
 Presbyterian church, of which in 1848 and 1849 
 James W. Hoyt, of Union college, was the prin- 
 cipal. I have spoken publicly of this school more 
 than once and I cannot pass it lightly by in this 
 connection, partly because it was a select school, 
 with but twenty pupils, nearly all sons of the 
 men I have mentioned, and my memories of 
 them are tender as being of those I was inti- 
 mately associated with, but more because of the 
 gratitude I still entertain for the master and to 
 whom no tribute can be too hearty. He was not 
 a great scholar, but he was, what is better, a 
 good man. His moral fiber was of the finest 
 texture and the purest quahty. He was among 
 the manhest of men. And what he was him- 
 self, he tried to make the boys committed to his 
 care. They were put wholly upon their honor 
 in their relations with him — no spying, no tale- 
 bearing, no ungenerous rivalries. They reported 
 their own delinquencies. That was the law that 
 was to guide them, that the standard to which 
 their training was conformed. His stay in Syra- 
 cuse was all too brief, and he soon went else- 
 where to mold other minds, but he left his im- 
 press, distinct as the seal in the yielding-wax. 
 I can recall hardly one of the boys who has not 
 exemphfied in his daily walk the precepts of the 
 master, who has not cherished his honor as the 
 apple of his eye. Nearly all have lived worthily 
 
368 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 and well, and some have written their names 
 large in letters, the professions and statesman- 
 ship. Carroll was among the brightest of the 
 little band. He was a fair scholar in the routine 
 of the text-books, but he excelled in English 
 composition, as became his inclination and the 
 leading of the master, for in that branch we 
 were constantly drilled. In the very atmosphere 
 of the school, there was the animus to write. 
 Carroll was robust physically, free of limb and 
 quick in movement, but he was not a (;aptain 
 of the playground. He did not spend much 
 time there. The hours that others gave to rec- 
 reation were passed by him in the printing office 
 and the click of the types was music to his ears. 
 He finished his studies at the Institute in Flori- 
 da, Orange county, established by the father of 
 Governor Seward and bearing his name, from 
 which he graduated at the age of nineteen. I 
 think he always regretted that he did not take a 
 college course, but the invitation of the press 
 was to him more persuasive than that of the 
 curriculum of the higher education, and so he 
 became a journalist. In his day, the great ma- 
 jority of those who engaged in journalism drifted 
 into it, having failed, perhaps, in other pursuits, 
 but he was born to it. He was of a race of 
 newspaper men. Not alone his father, but all 
 of his uncles on that side, save one, were of the 
 
EARLY NEWSPAPER EXPERIENCE 369 
 
 guild. The youngest, now well stricken in years, 
 is still the editor and proprietor of a California 
 paper of high repute. 
 
 " Carroll tried his 'prentice hand as a reporter 
 on the Journal. He was associate editor of the 
 Chronicle, when Robert E. Eaymond, who had 
 left the pulpit to become its head, gave to it an 
 exalted moral tone and rare literary grace, and 
 its local page was enterprising and sparkling. 
 Our friend did his full share in maintaining its 
 place as, upon the whole, the most readable and 
 entertaining paper in the city, although it was 
 in sharp competition with the Journal, still con- 
 trolled by the forceful pen of his father, the 
 Star, with Washington Van Zandt, for a time 
 its editor, who, if his character had been com- 
 mensurate with his ability, would have con- 
 strained the esteem of the community, and 
 Francis A, Marsh as reporter, and the Standard, 
 just assuming the proportions of a daily, with 
 Patrick H. Agan, well-informed and able, as its 
 editor, and Moses Summers, with tireless feet, 
 scurrying the streets for the news. From the 
 Chronicle, Carroll went, for a year or more, to 
 the Eochester Democrat, and then returned to 
 the Journal, as city editor, really the first city 
 editor, which was tantamount to the entire re- 
 portorial staff, as which he did most competent 
 work, notably his account of the notorious Fyler 
 
370 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 murder. In 1860, he became editor-in-chief of 
 the Journal, with a proprietary interest, and so 
 remained for thirty-eight years. It was in this 
 capacity that he did his hfe-work and made a 
 state, and even a national, reputation as a jour- 
 nalist. Not only was his the editorial utter- 
 ance, but his also the conduct of the paper in 
 all its departments. 
 
 " Journalistic conditions forty years ago, were 
 very different from what they are to-day. I 
 trust I shall not be charged with a dogged con- 
 servatism, if I emphasize a few of these differ- 
 ences without, I hope, indicating my preference 
 for the old simply because it is the old, or decry- 
 ing the new solely because it is the new. Jour- 
 nalism has made tremendous advances in preci- 
 sion, in enterprise, in amplitude of know^ledge, 
 in the exploits of specialists, but not in charac- 
 ter, nor as an educating force. Of course, there 
 can be no comparison between the mechanical 
 appliances of the different times — between the 
 ponderous Hoe press, a miracle of genius as it 
 once seemed and the meager service of the tele- 
 graph and the web-perfecting, the Mergenthaler 
 and the world-encircling ministry of the wires. 
 Sometimes, I think that journalism is too enter- 
 prising to-day, as it rakes the isles of the sea and 
 far Cathay for incidents of scandal and ruth- 
 lessly invades the sanctities of the home to feed 
 
COMPARATIVE EDITORIAL WORK 371 
 
 the salacious gossip of the moment. There is 
 too much news and much of it news unfit to 
 print. The average editorial is as well written, 
 as of yore, perhaps better, for the plain has been 
 lifted to the peaks, and good writers are numer- 
 ous, where they were once scarce, but the uni- 
 form excellence diminishes individual signifi- 
 cance. The editorial has become less telling, as 
 it has become more common, despite the vulgar 
 device, too frequently resorted to, of soliciting 
 attention to it by setting it in display type and 
 lining it through two or three columns, like a 
 peddler hawking his wares. Various causes 
 have rendered the editorial less persuasive than 
 it formerly was^a more general intelligence re- 
 fusing to be led, more independence of personal 
 thought and, at the same time, paradoxical as it 
 may seem, the control of political parties and 
 evolution of policies, at the behest of party lead- 
 ers, making the advice of the press superfluous; 
 and there are the dictation of the counting-room, 
 and the suspicions, too often well-founded, that 
 the editorial page is the appendage of a trust or 
 the vehicle of the demagogue. G-reat editorial 
 personalities have also practically disappeared. 
 I know of but two or three remaining of the 
 long line in which, in this state alone, were 
 Cheatham and Cobbett, Leggett and Bryant, 
 Bennett and Greeley, Weed and Croswell, and 
 
372 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 Webb, Raymond and Curtis. I am not com- 
 plaining, I am but stating the truth that the im- 
 personal ' we, ' once a fiction, is now a fact. The 
 matter is minus the man. 
 
 " Carroll Smith has been called an ' old time 
 editor.' If that means that he was of the class 
 that spoke with authority, and was the man be- 
 hind the word, as well as the word itself, this is 
 so. He understood the needs and the environ- 
 ment of a provincial newspaper, and he har- 
 monized with them. He made a good paper — 
 clean, wholesome, instructive. He stood for the 
 weal and the progress of the community; he 
 stimulated all worthy effort and he advanced 
 all good causes. His personality dominated his 
 columns and he commanded attention whenever 
 and upon whatever subject he wrote. But he 
 was first, last and all time, a political editor and 
 as such was nearly, if he was not quite, a great 
 editor. He wielded as much power as any edi- 
 tor in the state, outside of the metropolis and 
 the capital. His English was sinewy, nervous 
 and condensed. He was a student of American 
 history and versed in American politics. He 
 was loyal to his political party, but he did not 
 hesitate to put his finger on its mistakes and 
 weaknesses when occasion demanded. His opin- 
 ions were pronounced, and he never evaded nor 
 equivocated. He was staunch in his friendships 
 
CONSPICUOUS SERVICE 373 
 
 and made no concealment of his enmities. His 
 acquaintance was large and he had the confi- 
 dence of leading men, state and national, of the 
 political faith to which he adhered. He came 
 upon the stage of action at the commencement 
 of an era big with the fate of the nation, when 
 slavery and freedom clinched in a death strug- 
 gle, and the paramount issue was as to whether 
 the union should survive or perish. His career 
 was coincident with the birth, the growth and 
 the rule of the Republican party. His first 
 national vote was for the first national candidate 
 of that party, and his last was for its last suc- 
 cessful nominee. In support of that party, he 
 never quavered nor faltered, and at various times, 
 he rendered it conspicuous service. Two cases, 
 I especially recall. In 1872, nearly every local 
 Republican pohtician of note was opposed to the 
 re-election of the Republican President — the 
 men who were holding office, the men who 
 wanted it, the men who manipulated caucuses, 
 ran conventions and directed affairs throughout 
 this section. Almost alone and single-handed he 
 fought for the succession, not because he did not 
 admit that the President had committed errors 
 in administration and had submitted to guidance 
 not free from reproach, but because he thought 
 that, upon the whole, the republic would be 
 safer under General Grant than under his oppon- 
 
374 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 ent. It was better not to change either the prin- 
 ciples or the poHcies of tlie government. The 
 struggle was a memorable one, and Carroll E. 
 Smith's personal triumph was as memorable, 
 won as it was against heavy odds and numerous 
 desertions from the flag that he upheld. Quite 
 as notable was the issue of the contest, in which 
 he was engaged, eight years later, against the 
 third nomination of the chieftain, to whom he 
 was personally attached and whose military 
 genius displayed in the salvation of the country 
 he gratefully acknowledged, but whose further 
 civic ascendancy he could not favor as against 
 the unwritten law of the land, unwritten, but 
 sacred, through nearly a century of its history. 
 I might cite other instances of his unswerving 
 fealty to the political creed he professed, but 
 these must suffice. Equally unswerving was 
 his loyalty to the men whose political fortunes 
 were in his keeping. The list is a long one of 
 those who were thus indebted to him. 
 
 " Intrepid as a protagonist for men and meas- 
 ures in whose behalf he enlisted, he was singu- 
 larly formidable as an antagonist. He made no 
 doubtful deliverances. It has been said, even 
 over his newly-made grave, that he was too 
 severe and even pitiless in his assaults, that he 
 was as keen and relentless as he was capable and 
 helpful. This is true ; let us grant it. His pen 
 
NOTABLE CHARACTERISTICS 375 
 
 was sharply pointed. He had the gift, some- 
 times a fatal one, of crisp and acrid attack and 
 retort. He could smite with a paragraph and 
 sting with an epithet ; and I say this unreserved- 
 ly, who more than once felt the hurt, in the con- 
 tentions that almost inevitably arise between 
 newspapers of the same vicinage and particu- 
 larly between those therein of like political 
 stripe, but in the calm review I am satisfied that 
 the blows were not meant in malice, and they 
 were forgotten in the warm friendship, the re- 
 newal of the boyish intimacy that ensued, when 
 I made my home in another city. His was the 
 gift, and he could not help utihzing it; audit 
 must be conceded that satire and sarcasm may 
 be quite as effective agencies in promoting a 
 desired or desirable end, as solid argument and 
 lengthy appeal. As a maker of short sentences 
 he was unsurpassed, and we would not forget 
 their pith and verve, even if we have lingering 
 memories of the severity of their thrust; and 
 I believe that he believed they were justified by 
 the exigencies that prompted them. They are 
 concluded now ; the resentments are hushed and 
 the wounds are healed, but the dexterity of the 
 stroke, the flash of the blade, are not forgotten. 
 Let them not be forgotten. To sum up: Carroll 
 E. Smith was the editor of Syracuse — longest 
 in the harness, of widest acquaintance and. 
 
376 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 therefore, of widest informatioD, the most forci- 
 ble ill style, the most imperative in tone, mak- 
 ing up in common sense what he lacked in schol- 
 arship, the most commanding in position, a sa- 
 gacious counsellor of his political party, drafting 
 its platforms and representing it in local, state 
 and national conventions, pungent as well as 
 weighty of diction, sending into our homes a 
 paper fit for any household and furthering uni- 
 formly the best interests of the community in 
 which he so long abided. 
 
 " But he was something besides an editor. 
 He was a public servant, acting as such for the 
 city, the county, the state and the nation, an 
 unusual combination of four-fold public employ- 
 ment. His honors came to him both as the rec- 
 ognition of personal merit and the due reward 
 of party service, some by the suffrages of the 
 people, and others by appointment; but in each 
 he was useful and unsullied. He was city clerk, 
 when he had barely attained his majority and 
 county clerk while still in his young manhood. 
 In middle age, he was elected and re-elected to 
 the assembly, in which body he was highly es- 
 teemed, although not frequently participating in 
 debate. In his second term he was chairman of 
 the committee on education, a responsible as- 
 signment, to which he brought intelligent com- 
 prehension of the common school system and 
 
AS A REGENT 377 
 
 for which he was enabled to procure valuable 
 legislation. He was postmaster under President 
 Harrison. In 1888, by joint ballot of the senate 
 and assembly, he was chosen a Regent of the 
 University, as successor to General Leaven- 
 worth, and it was in the circle of its nineteen 
 elective members that I was brought into close 
 official relations with him. I am inclined to 
 think that the work of this body is not suffi- 
 ciently understood nor appreciated by the people 
 of New York. The life tenure and the appella- 
 tion are repugnant to many, as smacking of 
 royal prerogative in the democratic state; the 
 labors of the board are not noisy; most of its 
 members have passed the meridian of life, which 
 induces the assumption that they have survived 
 their usefulness, and its praises are not often 
 sounded in the press. Really, they are exceed- 
 ingly well-informed, have the wisdom of experi- 
 ence, are alert and even combative in their super- 
 vision of higher, and in part of secondary edu- 
 cation, of professional, scientific and technical 
 schools, of the state library and museum and of 
 cognate educational agencies. Their jurisdiction 
 was largely extended during the period that Car- 
 roll E. Smith was a member. To this office he 
 gave much of his time and attention, was at all 
 meetings, when his health permitted, and his 
 ripe counsel was freely invoked and deferred to 
 
378 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 in the deliberations. He was for the most of the 
 time upon the museum committee and latterly 
 upon that of colleges. In his intercourse with 
 his colleagues he was unobtrusive, yet dignified, 
 and no recent death among them has elicited 
 more profound expressions of regret and the 
 sense of loss than his. In token of his services 
 to higher education, and not without regard to 
 his aid in its own up-building, Syracuse Univers- 
 ity, in 1894:, conferred upon him the degree of 
 Doctor of Laws, a title that he worthily wore and 
 by which he was generally addressed at the last. 
 " Toward the last, afflictions visited and ad- 
 versities beset him. The death of a dearly be- 
 loved daughter grieved him exquisitely. Busi- 
 ness embarrassments, against which he had 
 vainly struggled, culminated in disaster. The 
 monument, which his industry had reared, and 
 which stood so fair and sightly before us, tot- 
 tered and crumbled and fell. He lost the Jour- 
 nal. Could there be a calamity more sore ? It 
 seemed as if his heart-strings should have 
 snapped; but how bravely he bore his losses and 
 crosses those who were privileged to be near 
 him know full well. Instead of embittering, 
 they sweetened him. They subdued his asperi- 
 ties, quickened his sympathies and broadened 
 his manhood. He was superior to his reverses ; 
 his spirit lightened the gloom. In a new jour- 
 
THE MAN AS HE WAS 379 
 
 nalistic connection he formed his pen received 
 fresh impulse and betrayed an ampler knowl- 
 edge and a more generous culture than it had 
 before been credited with, and treated subjects 
 it had not before essayed. It went beyond the 
 domain of politics and traversed fields of art 
 and letters and philosophy and philanthropy, 
 somewhat foreign to it before. In reminiscent 
 mood, it was delightful. And as was the writer, 
 so was the man, easily approached, genial in 
 manner, free from vanity, cathohc in his offices 
 to those who sohcited them, proffering them 
 even when unsolicited, and especially suggestive 
 and stimulating to the younger members of the 
 profession. Jn conversation, he was charming. 
 He cheerfully and readily drew upon the large 
 fund of information he had acquired. There 
 were stories of the time in which he had lived, 
 anecdotes of men he had met, comments on cur- 
 rent events, literary and historical allusions, 
 shrewd analyses of character, humorous conceits 
 and gleams of wit,^ and all with even tempered 
 voice and propriety of phrase. I was fortunate 
 in hearing much of his discourse in later years, 
 — and he was at his best in these years; and I 
 bear willing testimony to the enjoyment and 
 edification I derived from it. Not infrequently, 
 it reminded me of the ' Noctes Ambrosianse ' of 
 ^ Christopher North.' I am sure that, in this 
 
380 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 preseQce, I will not be charged with exaggerat- 
 ing its charm. Conversation, which Dr. John- 
 son declared was the highest of arts, seems in 
 danger of becoming a lost art, but it was not a 
 lost art with Carroll Smith. He was adept in it. 
 " Toward the last also it was this association 
 that had the full benefit of his prolonged and 
 circumstantial study of local history, of his en- 
 thusiasm, which never waned, for collecting the 
 relics and fixing the land-marks of the past. 
 Forty years ago, he was made a director of the 
 Onondaga historical society; he gave to it then 
 efficient effort; he lamented its decline and the 
 sleep that seemed the sleep of death; he was 
 deeply interested in its revival; he helped to 
 breathe it again into being and rejoiced in its 
 increasing strength. Naturally and properly he 
 came to the presidency ; and what an energetic, 
 capable and painstaking president he was — how 
 considerate, how attentive, how inspiring. He 
 was gracious and tactful in the chair, happy in 
 his introduction of speakers, happier still, per- 
 haps, in his reference to the occasions for speech 
 and in interpreting the meaning of various com- 
 memorative exercises, Here too he developed 
 his own faculty of speech — a fact that I have 
 not seen stated in any of the many appreciative 
 tributes to him. To think on his feet was a 
 talent that came to him late. In his younger 
 
AS A SPEAKER 381 
 
 manhood, he did not manifest it. I doubt that 
 he knew he possessed it. Editors are few who 
 have it. They think only with their pens. The 
 habit of putting everything upon paper deprives 
 them of the facihty to marshal words before an 
 audience. Raymond and Curtis, Grady and 
 Watterson, McKelway and Charles Emory Smith 
 are exceptions to the rule and not the rule itself; 
 but I submit that when our friend found out 
 that he could speak he did speak with force, 
 felicity and fluency. But more than these here. 
 He vitahzed this society. If a tablet was to be 
 placed, a pilgrimage to be made to some historic 
 spot, a treasure to be discovered, data to be de- 
 termined, investigations to be pursued, he was, 
 in most instances, the one to propose and perfect 
 them. When he died on the 21st of August, 
 1903, he was the dean of Syracuse journalism, 
 the oracle of the past, and, as I said, at the be- 
 ginning, and as many others have said, more 
 completely identified with the life of the city 
 and county than any other man who has here 
 resided. Let us preserve his memory as he pre- 
 served that of others. Let us continue the work 
 that he began. 
 
 " As I have written these lines, there has 
 hung above my desk a likeness of our departed 
 friend and mentor, the work of a local artist, 
 who has done many things well, but nothing 
 better than this. It is a vivid portraiture, strik- 
 
382 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 ing in its lineaments, natural in its expression,, 
 and with eyes that have searched me through 
 and through and have, v^ith every glance, ap- 
 pealed to me to restrain eulogy of him, the 
 rather that I might include in the review some- 
 thing of the events he witnessed and of the 
 lives of those with whom his life was associated 
 and, more than all, to emphasize the significance 
 of the work in which you with him, have been 
 engaged. I have heeded the appeal, possibly in 
 a larger measure than I should, and, perhaps, to 
 your disappointment ; and so have strung bits of 
 local history upon his life as a thread. I believe 
 that he would have wished it so and that his 
 last injunction to you would be to preserve your 
 local associations. That is the object of your 
 foundation. We are but the creatures of an 
 hour, are as moths to the candle's flame, insects 
 that breathe but to expire. When I think of the 
 durability, whatever may be the mutations, of 
 matter, in comparison with the brief span of 
 mortal existence, I have no quarrel with the 
 stern dogma which sees in men but worms of 
 the dust. I once walked miles upon miles 
 through the passages of the catacombs of Paris, 
 where in orderly rows are laid the bones of mil- 
 lions who, like us, lived and labored, had pas- 
 sions, ambitions, victories. They are in oblivion 
 now. All unknown, there is not one who can 
 be labelled. What fashion of immortality is this ? 
 
CONCLUSION 383 
 
 We die, and the gap we make is hardly seen, 
 much less felt, so quickly is it closed. How- 
 soon even does time gnaw at the letters on 
 our tombstone. Sometimes, men seem to me 
 but simulacra, walking images, thrust hither 
 and thither by some fierce Frankenstein, as 
 children pull the strings of jointed toys, so soon 
 is this nervous being changed into the marble 
 repose of death. Is this a grim and fatalistic 
 view Ascend, then, into the higher atmosphere 
 of contemplation, and note the mortification of 
 intelligence. How short will be the catalogue 
 of those who have enduring recognition, al- 
 though none may gainsay the tremendous pro- 
 pulsions of the race. Where are the speeches 
 that have been made, the songs that have been 
 sung, the books that have been written ? There 
 are echoless voids, and they are to ' dumb for- 
 getfulness a prey,' and, unmindful of, though 
 he may be inspired by, them, the mighty pro- 
 cessions sweep onward to decay, 
 
 And the individual witliers, and the world is more and more. 
 
 Let us, therefore, in very self-defense, preserve 
 ourselves, so long and so well as we may. For 
 this, let us summon all our faculties and employ 
 all our energies. Let no records be effaced, no 
 memories escape us, no labyrinths elude us. 
 Let this society, and societies like it, be main- 
 tained in their integrity. This is what he would 
 say who, being gone, yet admonishes us.'' 
 
HOPPER'S GLEN 
 
I N D 
 
 Abbott's drug store 
 
 Adams, Charles E. 
 
 Adams, Miss Elizabeth C. 
 
 Adams, Rev. F. W. • 120, 133, 
 
 Agnew & Wood 
 
 Alexander, Rev. Caleb . . UT, 
 
 Alexander, Iron Works . 
 
 Alexander, William H. . 
 
 Allen's (Miss) school for young ladies 
 
 Allen, Joseph A. 
 
 Alhambra house 
 
 Alvord building, oldest brick structure 
 
 Alvord, Diocletian and Elisha 
 
 Alvord, Cornelius L. . . • 
 
 Alvord, Elisha, first maker of salt in a per 
 
 manent building 
 Alvord, Thomas G. . 107, 312, 337, 
 
 Amidon, Cheney 
 
 Amos mill 268, 
 
 Amusements, travelling shows in early days 
 
 Andrews Brothers' store . 
 
 Andrews, Charles . 
 
 Andrews, J. . • • 
 
 Annas, Charles L. . 
 
 Armory and Armory park 
 
 (385) 
 
 261 
 133 
 
 133 
 251 
 295 
 130 
 267 
 267 
 283 
 133 
 264 
 312 
 310 
 337 
 
 107 
 349 
 
 45 
 336 
 
 42 
 325 
 349 
 333 
 337 
 320 
 
386 
 
 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 Ashley, Theodore, furniture store 
 
 
 270 
 
 Atwell fort 
 
 
 175 
 
 Avery, Latham Y 
 
 
 337 
 
 Babcock, Stanton P. . . . 
 
 
 312 
 
 Bacon, George A 
 
 
 354r 
 
 Baker, Charles A. . . . 
 
 258, 
 
 349 
 
 Baker, Henry H 
 
 
 127 
 
 Baldwin, Harvey . . 132, 264, 
 
 315, 
 
 349- 
 
 Baldwin, Jonas C 
 
 63, 
 
 105 
 
 Baldwinsville Free academy . 
 
 
 135 
 
 Baldwin's Island .... 
 
 
 15^ 
 
 Bar of Onondaga county 
 
 347-51 
 
 Barlow, Rev 
 
 
 25a 
 
 Barker, John W 
 
 
 216 
 
 Barnum, Maj. General Henry A. . 
 
 
 337 
 
 Barron, John 
 
 
 33T 
 
 Basle 
 
 
 143 
 
 Bastable block . . . 
 
 
 280- 
 
 Beach, Dr. Allen .... 
 
 
 83- 
 
 Beach, Jonathan R. 
 
 
 312 
 
 Beard, B. 
 
 
 333. 
 
 Bear Trap creek .... 
 
 
 327 
 
 Beauchamp, William M. 
 
 
 354 
 
 Beaver Falls 
 
 
 147 
 
 Becker, Barney .... 
 
 
 241 
 
 Beebe, James, first jailer at county jail 
 
 
 342 
 
 Beebe, Z. L 
 
 
 350 
 
 Benham, William .... 
 
 
 337 
 
 Bennett, Harvey, deportment teacher 
 
 
 338. 
 
INDEX 
 
 387 
 
 Bennett, J. C 387 
 
 Bennett, Miles W 337 
 
 Bennett, Thomas 219 
 
 Benson, Egbert, held first oyer and terminer 340 
 
 Bertram ....... 
 
 175 
 
 Bigelow, Otis, prominent early merchant 105 
 
 Bicknell, Elijah .... 
 
 253 
 
 Bingham family ..... 
 
 152 
 
 Birdseye, Victory . . . 90, 125, 
 
 349, 350 
 
 Bissell, Dr 
 
 64 
 
 Blair, WiUiam K 
 
 237 
 
 Blake's tavern .... 
 
 257 
 
 Blake, shot by Sigel in coffee house riot 
 
 312 
 
 Block-house, Oneida lake 
 
 138, 149 
 
 Bogardus, Henry .... 
 
 217 
 
 Bogardus Corners .... 
 
 223 
 
 Bogardus hotel .... 
 
 224 
 
 Brace, David 
 
 310 
 
 Brackett, Ichabod .... 
 
 310 
 
 Bradley's blacksmith shop 
 
 264 
 
 Bradley, Christopher C. . 
 
 280 
 
 Brandt, at Brewerton 
 
 151 
 
 Brewerton, Captain, a British officer 
 
 149 
 
 Brewerton, Fort .... 
 
 149-52 
 
 Brewerton, settlement 
 
 138 
 
 Brewster, Samuel C. . . . 
 
 :i97 
 
 Briggs, Jerome J. . 
 
 349 
 
 Brine, where found 
 
 108 
 
 Brockway, Robert J. . . . 
 
 241 
 
388 
 
 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 Brosnan, CM, 
 
 Brownell, W. A. . 
 
 Brunei, Mark J. 
 
 Buckley, Eussell 
 
 Buckley, Tobias 
 
 Burchard, Ely . 
 
 Burdick, Hamilton . 
 
 Burnet, John B. 
 
 Burnet, Moses D., residence 
 
 Buiiiet park 
 
 Burt, Aaron 
 
 Burt, Lucy T. . 
 
 Burt, Oliver T. 
 
 Burton, Burr . 
 
 Bush, Mason, jailer at county jail 
 
 Bush, Conrad, Eevolutionary hero 
 
 Butler, Ebenezer, jr. 
 
 Butler, Ebenezer, first settler at 
 
 Hill 
 
 Butler's Hill .... 
 Buttrick, Miss Charlotte CI. 
 
 349 
 
 354 
 
 144-5 
 
 310 
 
 45 
 
 130 
 
 349 
 
 296 
 
 256 
 
 296, 327 
 
 132, 315 
 
 133 
 
 133 
 
 310 
 
 342 
 
 97 
 
 95 
 
 Pompey 
 
 . 90, 95 
 
 96 
 
 133 
 
 Cadwell, S. W 133, 258 
 
 Canal, completion of celebrated, 261-2; open- 
 ing of middle section, 260 ; canal basins, 
 325; side cuts, 325-7; bridges, original 
 stone, wooden, and other structures, 
 297-300 ; extended to Sahna and Seneca 
 river ...... 
 
 Canandaigua academy .... 
 
 305 
 127 
 
INDEX 389 
 
 Cantine, John . . • • • 191 
 
 " Captain Canute," ran a trading boat . 306 
 " Captain George," Indian chief . . 78 
 
 Cardiff Giant 193 
 
 Case, Daniel 232 
 
 Castorland, colonization enterprise . . 142-7 
 Castorland company . . . ■ 143 
 Carangula (Garungula) at Brewerton . 150 
 
 Cayuga academy 127 
 
 Cayuga ferry . . . • • • 191 
 Cayugas, feud with the Onondagas . 184 
 
 Cay uga lake bridge, movement inaugurated 30 
 Centennial History of Onondaga county . 354 
 
 Center house 257, 345 
 
 Century club 256 
 
 Cham plain, French commander, at Brewer- 
 ton, 150; visited Onondaga lake . 162 
 Chaumonot, Joseph, 159; at Brewerton 150 
 " Chassanis of Paris," .... 143 
 
 . 225-7 
 76 
 
 337 
 
 307 
 68 
 
 120 
 114-122 
 
 121 
 
 Cheney's Recollections 
 Cherry Valley massacre . 
 Childs, O. W., N. M., 0. H. . 
 Cholera visitations and victims 
 Christian colonists and the Indians 
 Christian society at Baldwinsville 
 Churches in the towns and city 
 Church of the Messiah, Syracuse 
 Church street, a fashionable residential dis- 
 trict 253 
 
390 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 138 
 140 
 
 188 
 
 325 
 
 23 
 
 Cicero, town erected 
 
 Cicero swamp 
 
 Circulating library, first in the county- 
 City hall 
 
 Civilizations contrasted . 
 
 Clark, Chauncey, Ehzur .... 337 
 
 Clark's History of Onondaga 27, 354 
 
 Clark, John N., noted in the cholera seasons 305 
 
 Clark, Levi 209 
 
 Clark, Joshua V. H., pioneer local histo- 
 rian 27, 180 
 
 Clark. Elizur, William . . 312 
 
 Clement, Elihu 333 
 
 Chnton, Gen. James .... 186 
 Clinton square, 234; north side, 1820 to 1826, 
 
 239-42; south side, 1824 to 1834, . 293-97 
 
 '' Climax, The" 283 
 
 Cobbleskill, expedition against by the On- 
 
 ondagas ...... 142 
 
 " Cobleighs, " memorable social events . 338 
 
 Coffee house riots 311 
 
 Cody's Corners . . . . ' . 139 
 
 Cody, Mrs. Isaac, first " new woman " in 
 
 Onondaga county . . . . 139 
 
 Cody, Joel 252 
 
 Cole, Aaron 218 
 
 Coleman, Mrs. Charles J. . . . 280 
 
 Colvin, Dr. D. S 258 
 
 CoUins, George K 353 
 
INDEX 
 
 391 
 
 Comstock, George F. . . 252, 296, 349-50 
 
 Congdon, 0. C 232 
 
 Congregationalists at Baldwinsville, 120; at 
 
 Elbridge, 119; at Jamesville, 119; at 
 
 Otisco, 118; at Pompey, 114-17; at 
 
 Skaneateles 
 
 Conkey, Lyman W. 
 
 Oonstantia 
 
 Cook, David H., 130; Major W. A 
 
 Copp, Samuel . 
 
 Cossit's Corners 
 
 Cossit, Sterling 
 
 Corinth 
 
 ^' Corners, The " 
 
 Corrections 
 
 118 
 
 295 
 146 
 333 
 
 297 
 223 
 231 
 223 
 226 
 188-9 
 
 County buildings, first located at Onondaga, 
 
 204-7 ; site removed to Syracuse . 343 
 
 County seat, Syracuse made the . . 342-3 
 
 County Clerk's office . . 840, 342, 346-7 
 
 Courts and bar, (see 25th paper), 339 ; first 
 
 court in the county, 339; first oyer and 
 
 terminer ...... 339 
 
 Court of Appeals Library . . . 346 
 Court house, first in the county, 340-2 ; agi- 
 tation for a new one . . . 345-6 
 Court house green, pastimes on . . 63 
 Crane, Hunter . . 312 
 
 Creed, John B 232 
 
 Crippen, Alonzo . . . . 312, 337 
 
392 
 
 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 85, 
 
 172 
 
 
 283 
 
 ; Medad, 
 
 
 
 83 
 
 
 85 
 
 Cross lake .... 
 
 Grouse stores . . - . 
 
 Curtis, Elijah W., 349; Fisher, 310 
 
 63, 342, 350; Sier . 
 Cusick, Albert 
 
 Dablon, Father Claude, 159; at Brewerton 150 
 Dallman, Henry, WiUiam . . . 337 
 
 Dana, Daniel 252 
 
 Danforth, Gen. Asa, one of the first set- 
 tlers .... 28, 46, 61, 165 
 Danforth, Asa, jr., one of the first settlers 28, 29 
 Danforth, Mrs. Asa, first church communi- 
 cant at Onondaga Valley . . 37 
 Danforth, John .... 107, 165 
 Danforth, Patty, the first white woman in 
 
 the Onondaga country . . 32, 49, 62 
 Danks, Hanna, wife of Ephraim Webster 81 
 Davenport, Eev., first Episcopal minister 117 
 
 295, 307 
 
 274 
 
 349 
 
 252 
 
 113 
 
 349 
 
 76 
 
 42 
 
 145-6 
 
 75 
 
 169-70 
 
 Day, Dr. Jonathan . 
 
 Davis, Doctor .... 
 
 Davis, Henry, jr. . 
 
 Davis, Matthew L. . 
 
 Davis, Solomon, early missionary 
 
 Davis, Thomas T. . 
 
 Dauphin of France 
 
 Dean's theater 
 
 De Geyan,Chevelier 
 
 De-hat-ka-tons, Indian chief . 
 
 Delphi, ancient fortifications . 
 
INDEX 
 
 393 
 
 Demiog, Hiram A. .... 237 
 
 Derne Gazette, first newspaper in the county 179 
 Desjardins, Simon . . . . . I'ii 
 Desvatkins, Brunei's narrative so calls set- 
 tler of Frenchman's Island . . l-io 
 Devitsky, lived on Frenchman's Island . 140 
 DeWitt, name of a famous family . 186-7 
 
 DeWitt, Egbert, Jacob R. . . . 187 
 DeWitt, Moses, 109-10, 165, 350; named 
 Pompey Hill, 96 ; one of the first salt 
 manufacturers .... 109-10 
 
 DeWitt, Simeon 
 Dexter, village of . 
 Deys' building 
 Dickinson, Deacon Pliny 
 Doctors, large field of activity 
 Drowning accidents 
 Dunham, Captain Valentine, settled on Dun- 
 ham's Island ..... 141 
 Dunham's Island .... 140, 141 
 Durston dry dock . . 325 
 
 Dwellings, houses of the pioneers . 58 
 
 Eagle tavern .... 
 Eagle village .... 
 Earll, Daniel .... 
 Earll, Jonas .... 
 Earll, Judge Nehemiah H., held first court 
 
 in the original court house at Syracuse 345 
 Early residence quarter 250-53 
 
 191 
 147 
 323 
 251 
 63 
 
 250 
 
 188 
 
 83, 116 
 
 349 
 
394 
 
 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 mission 
 
 East Bloomfield 
 
 Eastern Society, organized at Marcellus 
 
 East Syracuse 
 
 Educational interests, promotion of 
 
 Edwards, Alanson, 284; Samuel L 
 
 Eliot, Eev. John, early Protestant 
 
 ary . 
 Elliott, Daniel, Charles 
 Ellis, General John 
 Empire house 
 Everson block 
 Exchange hotel 
 Executions in Onondaga county 
 
 Fairchild, Rev. Edward . 
 
 Farmer block . 
 
 Farnam, Reuben 
 
 Fay Jonathan . 
 
 Fayetteville, 187; churches 
 
 Fayette park . 
 
 Fellows, Deacon A. L. . 
 
 Fifty-first regiment 
 
 Filkins, Barcut, 241; Barnet 
 
 Firemen, original 
 
 First Baptist church, Syracuse 
 
 First Methodist church, Syracuse 
 
 First white male child 
 
 First white settlement 
 
 Fiske, Daniel Willard, visit to Genentoa 
 
 Fitch, Hon. Charles E., . 
 
 56, 
 
 258- 
 
 189 
 118 
 
 187 
 123 
 349 
 
 112 
 
 283 
 62 
 234 
 270 
 264 
 348 
 
 130 
 
 323 
 
 349 
 
 218 
 
 116 
 
 317 
 
 251-3 
 
 336-7 
 
 253 
 
 9. 271-2 
 
 253 
 
 253-4-5 
 
 308 
 
 28, 46 
 
 162 
 
 10, 355 
 
INDEX 395 
 
 Titch, Mrs. Thomas B., 2S3; Gilbert . 258 
 Five Nations, earliest recorded history . 65-6-8 
 Fleming, John ..... 349 
 
 Flume of Onondaga creek . . . 267 
 Food, supplied to the young communities 104 
 
 Forbes, John G 295, 349-50 
 
 Form an, " Bill," 46; Joseph . . 82 
 
 Forman, Joshua, 49; moved to Syracuse, 
 
 228, 230, 281-2, 328-9 . . 350 
 
 Forman park . . . . 317 
 
 Forman, Samuel ..... 349 
 
 Fort Brewertou 151-2 
 
 Fort Ezra 297 
 
 Fort Schuyler 145 
 
 French Jesuits, efforts to convert the Iro- 
 
 quis ....... 111-12 
 
 Frenchman's island . . . 140, 145 
 Frontenac . . . ■ ' • - 168 
 Frost, Captain, Indian chief . . 75 
 
 Fuller, Henry S 349 
 
 Gage, Charles H., 337; Mrs. Matilda Joslyn 139 
 Gardner, George J., 354; R. H. . . 350 
 Gardner, Samuel . . . 295 
 
 Geddes, James, pioneer in Erie canal project, 
 89; in the salt industry, 313; 49, 107, 
 
 125, 168-9 
 
 Geddes, town and village . . . 313-14 
 
 General store 105 
 
 Genentaha (not Genetaha) lake . . 65 
 
39G 
 
 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 Genentoa lake .... 
 
 . 158-62 
 
 General training .... 
 
 
 44 
 
 Genesee street, north side of . 
 
 
 252 
 
 Gifford, Henry .... 
 
 
 251 
 
 Gifford, Sylvanus, drowned, while skating 
 
 322 
 
 Gilbert, Eev. Nelson J. . 
 
 238, 
 
 307 
 
 Gilchrist, William .... 
 
 
 310 
 
 Giles, Philander . . . 
 
 
 337 
 
 Gilman, Mrs. Arthur 
 
 
 280 
 
 Ging-seng, dug and sold by the Ononda 
 
 gas 
 
 81 
 
 Globe hotel . . . 
 
 
 286 
 
 Goodelle, William P. 
 
 
 230 
 
 Gott, Daniel .... (13, 90, 
 
 349, 
 
 350 
 
 Gould, Col. Jeremiah 
 
 
 303 
 
 Grand canal, opening of 
 
 
 260 
 
 Granger, Amos P. . . . • . 
 
 253, 
 
 343 
 
 Granger, Mrs. George R. 
 
 
 280 
 
 Granite hall 
 
 
 297 
 
 Graves, N. F. . 
 
 
 349 
 
 Greeley block 
 
 
 353 
 
 Green, Benjamin F. . . . 
 
 
 337 
 
 Green Point 
 
 
 142 
 
 Green Point, ancient fortification . 
 
 . 16 
 
 7-68 
 
 Greenway brewery .... 
 
 
 268 
 
 " Grenadiers " 
 
 
 167 
 
 Grist-mill 
 
 
 267 
 
 Griswold, A. C 
 
 
 349 
 
 Haes, Rev. Father .... 
 
 
 121 
 
 Halfway 
 
 
 257 
 
INDEX 
 
 397 
 
 63, 
 
 Dr. John W. 251, 
 354; Charles, Dr. 
 
 Hah kooks, bird which destroyed Hiawatha's 
 
 daugliter ...... 
 
 Hall, George . 
 Hamilton, Eobert . 
 Hammond, Samuel H. 
 Hanchett, John C, 251; 
 
 278; M. W., 9, 278 
 
 Juliet 
 
 Hanchett, Oliver L., drowned while skating 
 
 ' ' Handsome Harry, ' ' tragic death of 
 
 " Handsome Lake," Indian chief . 
 
 Harbor brook ..... 
 
 Hardenburg, Abraham . 
 
 Hatch, Mrs. historical portiere 
 
 Hathaway, Harvey . 
 
 Hausenfrat, Jacob . 
 
 Hawley's cabinet shop 
 
 Hawley, J. Dean 
 
 Hebard, Clark 
 
 Heermans, Thomas B., organized the fire 
 
 department . . . . 258, 
 Hiawatha, legend . . . . 66, 67 
 Hicks, Charles T., 255; Wilham . 
 Higgins, Cornelius, constructed block-house 
 
 at Salina ...... 
 
 Hillis, D. D 274, 
 
 Hills, Edwin 
 
 Hiscock, Frank, L. Harris 
 
 Holbrook, Dr., first physician in the county 
 
 85 
 350 
 232 
 349 
 
 279 
 322 
 184 
 77 
 327 
 186 
 332 
 337 
 264 
 264 
 337 
 285 
 
 284 
 , 85 
 251 
 
 166 
 349 
 337 
 349 
 
 308 
 
398 
 
 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 Hollister, David W. 
 Homespun clothing . 
 Hooker, Dr. George 
 Hopkins, Samuel Miles 
 Hopper, Jasper 
 Hopping, Enos D. . 
 Horner, Frederick . 
 Hough, Franklin B. 
 Hough, AVilliam J. 
 
 31() 
 
 211 
 
 251 
 
 261 
 
 125, 350 
 
 335, 34^ 
 
 221 
 
 his story of Castorland 143 
 
 349 
 
 Hovey, Alfred H., 276; Miss Juliet Eaynor 279 
 Howlett's (Parley) packing house . . 325 
 Hugunin, Brig. Gen. D. ... 334 
 Huntington, Bishop, 135; Miss Martha . 278 
 Hutchinson, Brig. Gen, Oren . . 334 
 Hyde, Christopher 25^ 
 
 Immigration, New Englanders came early 72 
 
 Inauguration balls ..... 332 
 
 Independence ball, Syracuse, in 1836 . 335 
 
 Indian Hill, largest Indian village . . 175-6^ 
 
 Inland Navigation company . . . 137 
 
 Introduction 5-11 
 
 Iroquois confederacy, Q6 ; league . . 84 
 
 Jackson, Albion, Calvin, 218; Mrs. William, 
 
 279; Wilham, 274 
 
 Jenney, Mrs. Edward S. 
 Jerry Rescue .... 
 Jesuit missions 
 Jesuit priests, early operations 
 
 279 
 
 265^ 
 
 159-63 
 
 7a 
 
INDEX 
 
 399 
 
 Jesuits and the Salt springs . . . 153 
 Jesuit wells ...... 158-63 
 
 Jewett, Freeborn G 349 
 
 Johnson, Col. John H 63 
 
 Johnson's fort at the Valley . . . 174 
 Johnson, Sir William, at Brewerton 151 ; 
 
 mission work among the Onondagas 112 
 
 Jones, Daniel T 63, 335 
 
 Jordan academy . . . . 135 
 
 Joslyn, Dr. Hiram ..... 139 
 Judges Chambers ..... 346 
 Judson, E.B., 192; Dr. Hiram . . 295 
 
 Kaneenda, an Onondaga village . . 173-4 
 Kasson & Heermans .... 368 
 Keeler's tavern ..... 285-6 
 Keene, Mrs. Charles .... 218 
 Kellogg, Ashbel, 310: Augustus, 349; Dan- 
 iel, 63, 349; Mr 133 
 
 Kent, Judge James, served early in Onon- 
 daga courts ..... 340 
 Kennedy, George N. . . , . . 349 
 
 Kidder, Miss Mary 133 
 
 Kinne, Captain N. H., Emerson, J. C. . 333 
 
 Kirk block 285 
 
 Kirk tavern 284-5 
 
 Kirkpatrick, Dr. William, Erie canal pro- 
 moter .... 89, 157, 307 
 Kirkpatrick, William .... 352 
 Kirkland (not Kirtland), at Brewerton 150 
 
400 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 Kirkland, Rev. Samuel, first Protestant 
 
 clergyman in the Onondaga county 37, 113 
 Kitchen of the old times ... 62 
 
 Knapp, Ezra M 312 
 
 Kneeland, Dr. Jonathan ... 64 
 
 " La Compagnie de New York " , . 143 
 Lafayette, stockade burned by Frontenac's 
 
 expedition ..... 174 
 La Fort, Abram, Daniel, Indian chiefs . 75, 76 
 Lakeside stock farms . . . . 314 
 Lansing, Rev. Dirck 116, 120, 125; Judge 
 
 John, served early in Onondaga courts 340 
 
 Larned block 264, 286 
 
 Larned, Captain Samuel . . . 264 
 
 Larrabee, Deacon 316 
 
 La Salle, at Brewerton . . . . 150 
 
 Lathrop, W. K. 264 
 
 Lawrence, Gen. James R. 63, 342, 345; 
 
 Grove ..... 253, 349 
 Lawson, John D, . • . . . . 269 
 
 Leach, James S 349 
 
 Leavenworth, General, E. W., 178, 256, 349 
 
 Lee, William 218 
 
 Le Juene, Father . . . . . 159 
 Le Moyne, Father, salt and Indians, 109, 
 
 150 157-8 
 
 Leonard, Charles, 208, 295; Rev. Joshua 125 
 Leslie, David, John, Ross, Thomas . 268 
 
 Leslie, Sir George .... 139 
 
INDEX 401 
 
 Lewis, Elisha, commissioner to construct 
 
 first court tiouse . . . . 342 
 Lewis, Mrs. General, early church communi- 
 cant at the Valley . . . . 37 
 Linseed oil factory . . . . 221 
 Lippincott, Mrs. (Grace Greenwood) . 90 
 Liverpool, Episcopalians, First Methodist 
 
 society 120 
 
 Lodi, organization and leading men . 315 
 Longstreet, C. Tyler .... 297 
 Loomis, Nathaniel, first maker of salt in 
 
 large quantities . . . . 109 
 Loomis Hill, churches . . . . 116 
 
 Louis XVI 144 
 
 Low vi lie academy . . . . . 127 
 Lynch, James, 120, 312,337; M. E., Pat- 
 rick D 337 
 
 Lynds (Elam) & Sons . . . . 268 
 
 Macomb patent . . . . . 144 
 
 Malcolm, William . . . . 270 
 
 Malcolm block, 270, 286; hardware store 268 
 
 Manlius academy ..... 135 
 
 Manlius churches . . . . . 116 
 
 Manlius Times, newspaper . . . 181 
 
 Mann, Gen. Jonas . . . . . 271 
 
 Manning, Franklin .... 284 
 
 Mansion house .... 241-2, 332 
 
 Mappa, Major, settlement at Trenton Falls 145 
 
 Market hali 325 
 
402 
 
 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 Marsh, Luther E., talk on Pompey, 85-6 ; 125 
 
 Marsh, Moses S 264, 35a 
 
 Marvin block 253 
 
 Mathews, S. R 310, 337 
 
 Mason, Charles ..... 90 
 
 May, Rev. Samuel J 121 
 
 Mayo's school ..... 253 
 
 McCarthy, Dennis, John, 337; Thomas 10 \ 
 
 120 310-12 
 
 McDougal's shoe store .... 264 
 
 McKinstry, Alexander .... 253 
 
 McMaster, John Bach .... 23 
 
 Mead, George ..... 280 
 
 Mechanics' Cotilhon party, 1830 . . 334 
 " Men of the Mountains " . . • 194 
 Mesnard, Rene . . . . . 159 
 
 Methodists, at Baldwinsville, 120; at Camil- 
 lus, Cicero Corners, Otisco, Spafiford, 
 Skaneateles, Tully . . . . 118 
 
 Milan . . . . ... . 223 
 
 Militia, leading men interested . . 62 
 
 Military balls 332-4-5 
 
 Military road 174 
 
 Military tract . . . .48, 142, 195-8 
 Miller's house, the oldest structure . 225 
 
 Mill pond 319-20 
 
 Minard, Isaac T 349 
 
 Minier, Captain F. B 337 
 
 Mitchell, Calvin, 252 ; David J. . . 349-50 
 
INDEX 403 
 
 Monroe Collegiate Institute . . . 135 
 
 " Montezuma," the first canal boat . 260 
 
 •Moravian Brothers, mission at Onondaga 113 
 Morehouse, Benjamin, first tavern-keeper 
 
 103 1(35 
 
 Morehouse Flats, Union Congregational 
 
 church ...... 119 
 
 Morele, Fred 337 
 
 Morey, Davenport, 310; Theodore . 277 
 
 Moray's brewery ..... 267 
 
 Morgan, LeRoy 349 
 
 Moseley, Daniel, 63, 348-9; his map of Syra- 
 cuse, 233; the " green store" . 268 
 Mud Creek . ' . . . . . 327 
 Mullaney, Dr. John F. . . . 157, 159 
 Munroe, Allen, 215, 251; Nathan . . 135 
 
 National hotel 270 
 
 National jubilee ball in 1826 . . . 333 
 
 Neal & Hyde 320 
 
 Needham, Dr. William, 63; Dr. Gordon, 63, 129 
 
 Ne-un-hoo-tah 308 
 
 Neukirk, Benjamin . . 28, 80, 174, 213 
 
 New France ...... 25 
 
 Newman, W. W 354 
 
 New Rotterdam ..... 146 
 
 Newspapers, first in the county . 44, 179 
 
 Newton, Henry . . . . . 250 
 New Year's ball at the house of Kneeland 
 
 Sweet in 1821 333 
 
404 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 Nolton, Charles, drowned in old mill pond 322 
 North, Gen. Wilh'am . . . . 165 
 Northeast quarter . . . . . 'i25 
 North Side brook .... 819, 324-26 
 Noxon, B. Davis, 63, 253, 342; James . 349 
 Nye, James W 349-50 
 
 Olds, Henry 221 
 
 Olmsted, M 333 
 
 One Hundred and Seventy-sixth regiment 334 
 Oneida lake, its importance . . . 137 
 
 Oneida lake canal 139 
 
 Oneida river . . . . . 138 
 
 Onondaga Council house ... 84 
 
 Onondaga county, area diminished . 190 
 
 Onondaga county bank . . . 264, 353 
 Onondaga County Orphan Asylum . 133 
 
 Onondaga County savings bank . . 218 
 Onondaga county, settlement of . . 51 
 
 Onondaga Creek commission . . 322 
 
 Onondaga Gazette . . . . . 263 
 Onondaga Indian Reservation . 198-201 
 
 Onondaga Indians, origin . . . 192-94 
 Onondaga lake, early camps, 173;' traditions 163 
 
 Onondaga pottery 314 
 
 Onondaga Valley academy . . . 82-3 
 Onondaga Valley, early farms, "129; scene 
 
 of early transitions . . . . 79 
 
 Onondaga Valley tavern . . . . 93 
 
 Onondaga village . . . . 73, 175 
 
INDEX 
 
 405 
 
 Onondagas, characteristics, 68-9, 70; chief- 
 tains, 74, 78; coming of ... 71 
 Orman, Thomas ..... 303 
 
 Os-sa-hin-ta (Captain Frost), Onondaga 
 
 chieftain ...... 65 
 
 Oun-di-a-ga, an Indian chief . . 76, 142 
 
 Oat water, Peter, jr. . . . 349 
 
 Owen's bowhng alley .... 264 
 
 Palmer, Rev. Avery R., discourse on Old 
 
 Onondaga, 102-3; Erastus D. . . 90 
 
 Park Presbyterian church, Syracuse . 121 
 Parker, Orville, 237; Rufus, 221; Sanford C. 349 
 Parlor, importance to early homes . 59 
 
 Patterson, Reuben ..... 83 
 
 Pease, Father, 255; James . . . 270 
 
 Perkins' Hall 338 
 
 Phares, Simon 303 
 
 Pharis, Simeon 165 
 
 Pharoux, Pierre . . . . 144 
 
 Phillips' stage office .... 264 
 
 Phinney's museum . . . -42, 247-50 
 Piano, first in the county . . . 139 
 Pierce, Jaris . . . . . . 85 
 
 Pike block 286, 353. 
 
 Pioneers, perils of 32 
 
 " Pioneer Papers, " scope of . . . . 351-2 
 
 Plan of the city 318 
 
 Plank road, first in the United States . 139 
 Political ball 337 
 
40() 
 
 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 Pompey, origin and growth, 94-6 ; what 
 
 antiquities evidence, 98; reunion, 1871, 91-2 
 Pompey academy, established, 97 ; first 
 structure, 123, 128; second and present 
 building, 126; endowment lands con- 
 veyed by the state . . . . 127 
 
 Pompey Hill, a favored section with early 
 
 settlers . . . . . . 90 
 
 Porter, William, 349; William A, . 337 
 
 Postoffice, Syracuse .... 264 
 
 Potter, A. B 333 
 
 Pratt, Daniel 349-50 
 
 Prehistoric communities . . . 100 
 
 Prehistoric evidences .... 171-72 
 Presbyterians, at Onondaga Hill, 41-3, 114; 
 
 at Onondaga Valley .... 41-3 
 Prideaux, at Brewerton . . . . 150 
 Prominent persons . . . . . 87, 88 
 
 Prospect Hill 256, 320 
 
 Protestant missions, labors among the Indi- 
 ans . . . . . • . 11^ 
 Public health, precautions in early times 328-9 
 Public safety, committee of appointed . 165 
 Public schools, history of . . . 354 
 
 Queen Anne, a promoter of mission work 112 
 
 Eandall, John, jr., 314; Nicholas P. 261, 349-50 
 Kaymond, Rev. Robert R. . . . 238 
 Ra}/ner, Richard ..... 349 
 Raynor, Henry, 274; Josephine, 280; Juha, 276 
 
INDEX 
 
 407 
 
 Ray nor ('' Jeny Rescue ") block . . 265-6 
 Raynor residence block, its occupants and 
 
 conspicuous place in society 
 Red mill ...... 
 
 Reed, Col. R. T., 333; Rodman 
 Reformed church, Syracuse 
 Regimental balls .... 
 
 Reigel, Henry . . . . - . 
 
 Relations, Jesuit . . . . 
 
 Rehgion, early work in the new country 
 
 Rhodes, Captain Joseph . 
 
 Rhyne, Frederick .... 
 
 Richardson, Freeman 
 
 Richmond, Brig. Gen. J., 334; Dean, 45 
 
 Riley's soap and candle factory 
 
 " Robbers' Row," .... 
 
 Robinson, Rev. A. R., 117; William A. 
 Rochefoncault .... 
 
 Rogers, John 
 
 Roman Catholics at Baldwinsville, 120; at 
 
 Salina ..... 
 Romer, at Brewerton 
 Romeyn, Abraham, pubhshed first newspa 
 
 per in the county 
 Root, Adonijah, 251; Prof. Oren . 
 
 274-80 
 
 218-19 
 256 
 
 121-22 
 337 
 350 
 
 153-63 
 36-7, 73 
 335 
 232 
 333 
 310 
 267 
 257 
 250 
 141 
 280 
 
 Rose, Thomas . 
 Roundy, Charles 0. 
 Ruger, 350; John 
 Rust, Charles 
 
 120 
 150 
 
 179 
 133 
 133, 316 
 353 
 349 
 295 
 
408 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 Sabine, William H., 63, 349; Joseph T. 349 
 
 Sackett, James 258 
 
 Safford, Shubel, 287 
 
 Sage, Mrs. Russell 253 
 
 Sager block 323 
 
 St. James Episcopal society, Syracuse . 122 
 St. John's school for boys . . . 135 
 St. John the Baptist mission . . 161 
 
 St, Leger at Brewerton .... 151 
 
 St. Mary's German Roman Catholic Church, 
 
 Salina ...... 121 
 
 St. Mary's of Genentoa mission . . 159-61 
 St. Mary's Roman Catholic church, Syracuse 121 
 St. Paul's Episcopal church, Syracuse . 121 
 St. Paul's German Lutheran society, Salina 120 
 Salina, organization of town and village, 
 310-12 ; early settlers and salt manufac- 
 turers, 303; rivalry with Syracuse 305-10 
 
 Salisbury, A. G 133 
 
 Salt, lake, 65; springs, discovery of, 109; 
 what the Jesuit Relations say, 153-5; 
 Johnson's title, 155-6; the state's title, 
 155; early manufacture, 106-10; under 
 state supervision, 157, 308 ; original res- 
 ervation territory, 107 ; Salina the cen- 
 ter of the salt business . . . 312 
 Salt Point, 'rough elements, 45; scene of 
 
 earliest salt manufacture . . 304-5 
 
 Salt Point block-house .... 164-7 
 
INDEX 
 
 409 
 
 Salt road opened 139 
 
 Sanford, Lewis H 349 
 
 Sanger, Eichard ..... 337 
 Saul, Charles F., Emma, George . . 279 
 Savage, Joseph, 252; Eichard . . 312 
 
 Sedgwicks, 90; Charles B., 349-50; Henry J. 349 
 
 Seneca turnpike 257 
 
 Seymour, Governor, address at Pompey re- 
 union, 1871, 91-2; Henry, 125, 312; 
 Horatio, 90, 312; John F. . 192, 312 
 Schools, built by early settlers, 114; first 
 
 school-house in Syracuse . . . 235-38 
 
 Scott, Charles B 337 
 
 Scriba patent ...... 144 
 
 Shattuck, Henry 333 
 
 Sheldon, Harvey, .... 295, 349 
 
 Sherman house 
 
 Sickel's shows. 
 
 Sickness, sufferings of early settlers 
 
 " Silver Grays" ball 
 
 Sims, C. N. . 
 
 Six Nations 
 
 Skaneateles academy. 
 
 Slocum, Gen. H. W., 90 
 
 residence . 
 Smith, Azariah, prominent early merchant, 
 41, 105; Edward, 136, 354; Florence 
 A., 277; Jacob S., 279; Samuel P., 
 310; Mrs. W. H. H., 354; Vivus W., 
 245, 277, 283 
 
 74-5. 
 
 Eichard E., 132; 
 
 264 
 42 
 210 
 337 
 192 
 112 
 135 
 
 252 
 
410 
 
 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 Smith, Carroll E., see introduction and chap- 
 ter by Charles E. Fitch . . 355-383 
 
 Smith's dancing academy . . . 338 
 
 Smiths & Powell 314 
 
 Society and social functions (see 24th pa- 
 per) 330-338 
 
 Solvay Process works . . . . 314 
 
 South Bay 141 
 
 Soule, Howard 300 
 
 South Salina 223 
 
 So-wa-no-noh (Captain Sam George) . 69 
 Spafford, Dr. Horatio Gates, reference to 
 
 Onondaga county . . . . 26 
 
 Spencer, I. S., 350; Thomas . . . 258 
 
 Spies publicly whipped . . . . 167 
 
 Split Rock 327 
 
 Sprague & Gage . . . . 241 
 
 Springer, Captain J. . . . . 336 
 
 Stafford, David 251 
 
 Stansbury, George C 34i) 
 
 Stanton, Rufus, 218, 316; Nathaniel P. jr. 280 
 
 Starin, Gaylord, drowned while skating 322 
 
 State capitol 320 
 
 " State's Hundred" .... 198 
 
 Steamboats ...... 207 
 
 Stebbins, Samuel S. .... 130 
 
 Stephens (Stevens), Judge . . . 157 
 Stevens, Abner, 333; William, first Salt 
 
 superintendent . . . . 310 
 
INDEX 
 
 411 
 
 Stewart, Royal, 253; William D. . 
 
 310 
 
 Steuben, Baron . . . 106, 
 
 145, 165-6 
 
 Stockade at Van Buren. . 
 
 172 
 
 Stoddard, P. S. . ' . 
 
 253 
 
 Stone, William M. '. . . 
 
 229 
 
 Street names, origin of . 
 
 353 
 
 Strong, John M., 337, 303; Oliver R 
 
 , 132, 
 
 353; Schuyler .... 
 
 274, 349 
 
 Stuart, Dr. James C. . . . 
 
 276 
 
 Sturdevant, 0. W 
 
 130 
 
 Supervisors, board of . . . 
 
 347 
 
 Surrogate's office .... 
 
 346 
 
 ^' Survey 50 acres " 
 
 198 
 
 Sweet, Kneeland .... 
 
 333 
 
 Syracuse, how named, 223-4, 231-2 
 
 ; first 
 
 village officers, 238; from village 
 
 to city 
 
 262 . 
 
 273 
 
 " Syracusan, The " 
 
 232 
 
 Syracuse academy .... 
 
 . 132-4 
 
 Syracuse Cadets ball, 1844 
 
 336 
 
 Syracuse Citizens Corps balls 
 
 336 
 
 Syracuse Company .... 
 
 295 
 
 Syracuse High school 
 
 135, 353 
 
 Syracuse house, 262 ; a celebrated hostelry 
 
 287-93; 332 
 
 Syracuse Light Dragoons ball . . 336 
 
 Ta-to-tah, the Onondaga boy king 
 Taylor, Bayard, visit to Genentoa 
 
 74 
 162 
 
412 
 
 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 Teall, Captain Oliver, 132, 315; Major Wil- 
 liam W. . 
 
 Tefft, E. T., 293: Dr. N. E. 
 
 Tefft, Griswold & Weller 
 
 Territorial conditions 
 
 Third National bank 
 
 Thomas, Orman 
 
 Thompson's sugar bush . 
 
 Thurber, Pascal, 258; Samuel 
 
 Titus, Silas 
 
 Tolman, Dr. J. P. 
 
 Tompkins, Governor 
 
 Town names, origin of . 
 
 Townsend block 
 
 Townisend, Captain Robert 
 
 Townsend & Jackson 
 
 Treaties between the state and the Onon 
 dagas 
 
 Tremont house 
 
 Trenton Falls . 
 
 Trials, famous ones 
 
 Tryon county . 
 
 Twogood, built early churches 
 
 Tyler, Asher . 
 
 Tyler's assembly rooms . 
 
 Tyler, Comfort, one of the first settlers, 28, 
 
 29, 46, 52 ... . 106, 303 
 
 United Church of Onondaga Hollow and 
 
 Sahna 120 
 
 141 
 
 64 
 296 
 317 
 217 
 165 
 165 
 354 
 337 
 
 46 
 127 
 181 
 271 
 256 
 268 
 
 190-92 
 
 264 
 
 145 
 
 347-8 
 
 190 
 
 38 
 
 63 
 
 333 
 
INDEX 
 
 413 
 
 Universalist society, Marcellus 
 University buildings 
 ' ' Upper tavern " . 
 
 118 
 316 
 342 
 
 127 
 141 
 165 
 165 
 349- 
 
 142 
 174 
 
 Van Brocklyu, W. W. . 
 
 Vandercamp .... 
 
 Van Home, Adj. Gen. David 
 
 Van Eensselaer, Gen. Stephen 
 
 Van Schaack, Henry C. . 
 
 Van Schaick, encamped on Frenchman's Is 
 
 land ..... 
 Van Schaick's expedition 
 Van Vleck, first white male child in the 
 
 county . . . • • ■ ^'^■^ 
 Van Vleck, Isaac, 165, 303; Wilham, pio 
 
 neer salt manufacturer 
 ''Veto "Clark 
 Villages, how laid out 
 Voorhees, James L. 
 Voorhees house 
 
 Waggoner, Peter 
 
 Waldo, Father Daniel 
 
 Wales, Peter .... 
 
 Wall, John .... 
 
 Wallace, Amelia, Charlotte, 279; Elijah F., 
 
 295 ; Wilham J. 
 Walrath, Captain E. L. . 
 Walter, Ehhu .... 
 Walton, Abraham . 
 
 109-10 
 30T 
 178 
 241 
 234 
 
 217 
 
 50 
 232 
 
 252, 280 
 
 349 
 337 
 
 267 
 215 
 
414 PIONEER TIMES IN ONONDAGA 
 
 Walton tract 215, 224-5 
 
 Washington balls .... 334-5-6 
 Washington park . . . . . 330 
 
 Watson,* Elkanah 141 
 
 Webb, Judge James . . . . 280 
 Webster, Alonzo, 81; Daniel, 82; Harry, 
 
 75, 80; Lucius H., 81; Morris, 83; Noah 82 
 Webster, Ephraim. established trading post, 
 
 first white settlement, 28, 56, 79, 80, 
 
 81; his grave identified, 82 ; . . 213 
 Webster's Camp . . . . ♦ . 223 
 Webster's Landing .... 223 
 
 Weed,Thurlow IT9 
 
 West, Reuben, Simeon, prominent early 
 
 merchants, 105; 0. I. . . . 333 
 
 " Westwrd Ho! " 21-2 
 
 Wbeaton, 90; Charles, Horace . 268, 297 
 Wheeler, Charles, 337; Thomas . . 310 
 White, Andrew D., 333-4; Hamilton, 335; 
 
 Horace K. ..... 241 
 
 White Canoe 85 
 
 White Memorial building . . 343 
 
 Wickes, William K 354 
 
 Wicks, E. B.. 251, E. B. & Co., . . 270 
 
 Wieting, Dr. John M 270 
 
 Wieting block corner, 268-71; Wieting 
 
 hall . 271 
 
 Wilcox, John, first white settler in Pompey 95 
 Wilkinson, 'John .... 223, 349 
 
INDEX 
 
 415 
 
 Williams, Rev. Eleazur, missionary among 
 the Onondagas, 75, 118; George H., 90; 
 C. B., IraH., 312, 337; H. A., 133; M., 
 133; Dr. Mather .... 283 
 
 Wiliiston, O. H 233 
 
 Windsor house ..... 325 
 
 Women of the pioneer times . . 33, 202—1 
 Wood, Daniel, 125, 349; Daniel P., 350; 
 
 Noah, 312, 337 
 
 Wood, Patty Danforth, her coming to the 
 Valley ; married to Thaddeus M. Wood 
 
 32, 49 62 
 
 Wood, Thaddeus M. 62, 258, 333, 342, 349-50 
 Woodruff, " Charlie," 45; Col. Martin . 335 
 
 Wool worth, Richard 
 
 , 265 
 
 , 333, 
 
 349 
 
 ; Samuel 
 
 
 B. 
 
 
 
 
 130 
 
 Worden, Hicks 
 
 
 
 333, 
 
 349 
 
 Wright, B. & J., 26' 
 
 '; Josiah, 
 
 251, 
 
 283; Lu- 
 
 
 cius W., 241; Dr. Rial . 
 
 
 
 289 
 
 Wyman's printing o 
 
 ffice 
 
 
 
 258 
 
 Wyman, Samuel 
 
 
 
 
 83 
 
 Yain, Peter, a trade 
 
 r 
 
 
 
 
 80 
 
 Yates castle 
 
 
 
 
 
 316 
 
 Yellow block . 
 
 
 
 
 
 246 
 
 Yellow brook . 
 
 
 
 
 . 319, 3 
 
 21-3 
 
 Yoe, R. A. 
 
 
 
 
 
 335 
 
 Young, Henry 
 
 
 
 
 
 219 
 
 Youngs, Henry 
 
 
 
 
 
 184 
 
 Zion's church, Onon 
 
 daga 
 
 Hill 
 
 
 
 117 
 
MAY 13^1904 
 
 LRBJe'?8 
 

 
 
 
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