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HISTORY

Town of Spafford

Onondaga Historical Association

Spafford Onondaga County, New York

BY

Captain George Knapp Collins

1902

PUBLISHED BY

Onondaga Historical Association

DBHLER PRESS 1917

This work is dedicated in fiilial respect to the memory of Dr. John Collins, the father of the Author, who practiced his profession among the people whose names are recorded in this record, for nearly twenty-five years, and whose living descendants still hold his memory in grateful recollection, after a lapse of forty-nine years since he ceased his labors and went to rest among those who were his companions and patrons in life.

\

CAPTAIN GEORGE K. COLLINS

INTRODUCTION

The town of SpafFord, one of the most picturesque in the County of Onondaga, is about ten miles in length from north to south, and about four miles in width from east to west. Its surface consists of high ridge land bounded on the west by Skaneateles Lake, and on the east by Otisco Lake and Valley, descending abruptly on either side to these lakes and valley, and gradually declining northerly from the summit at Ripley Hill, situate near the southern boundary of the town between this and the town of Scott, Cortland County.

Ripley Hill is 1,122 feet above Skaneateles Lake, and 1,982 feet above tide water; and from it can be seen in fair weather, not only lands in the towns of Skaneateles and Marcellus, which bound the town on the north, but the sur- rounding country for twenty to thirty miles distant.

Cold Brook, which flows to the south through a beautiful valley bearing its name, and the Inlet to Otisco Lake, are the principal streams; but beyond the fact of their per- ennial character, and that they mark the course of two deep and beautiful valleys, they are not worthy of mention.

The soil is a sandy gravelly loam, and in early times was covered by a dense growth of maple, beech and linden trees on the uplands, interspersed with hickory, chestnut, pine and hemlock trees in the deep valleys, and especially along the eastern border of Skaneateles Lake.

Spafford boasts of no valuable mineral products within its borders, yet there is a weak spring of salt water, and indications of the presence of natural gas along the western shore of Otisco Lake. A spring of sulphur water exists near Borodino on the eastern shore of Skaneateles Lake, and an outcropping of the Hamilton group of limestone appears at different places in the southern portion of the town. None of these natural products, however, have been developed or turned into practical use.

4 ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

No earthworks or other marked indications of aboriginal occupation of the lands in this town have been discovered, yet tradition says that at one time there v/as an Indian Encampment or settlement near Borodino, and different Indian implements found in that vicinity, and burnt and blackened soil discovered near that village indicates Indian occupation at some remote period at that place. The dis- tance between the two lakes is not very great, and an early Indian trail from lake to lake ran through this locality, rendering more than probable the truth of this tradition, and that in aboriginal times these early peoples not only had knowledge of these two beautiful lakes, but made abun- dant use of the excellent fish with which they were so bountifully supplied.

Town and County Organizations

The first white settler within the present limits of the town of Spafford was Gilbert Palmer, who has been credited with taking up his abode in the southwest part of lot 76, Marcelliis, in the Spring: of 1794, but in the absence of this statement made by Clark, in his history of the County of Onondag-a published in 1849, which we assume was based upon substantial grounds, we would put his occupation at least one year earlier, as his deed from Thomas Ostrander, the original soldier who drew this lot for services performed by hini in the Revolution, is dated September 21st, 1792. To our mind it is more than probable that his occupation was earlier than the date given by Clark.

With the settlement of Gilbert Palmer begins the true history of this town, yet we trust that a brief statement of the early transactions affecting the town and county organization will be interesting.

The first division of the Province of New York into dependencies or shires was by a law passed by the " Chief Commander, Council and Representatives" November 1, 1683, ratified by the " Board of Trade," October 17, 1684, by which the present State of New York was divided into twelve Counties : New York, Westchester, Ulster, Albany, Dutchess, Orange, Richmond, Kings, Queens, Suffolk, Dukes and Cornwall. The boundaries of the County of Albany are described as follows : " The County of Albany to con- teyne the town of Albany, the Manor of Renslaerwyck, Schonechteda, and all the villages, neighborhoods and Christian Plantacons on the east side of Hudson's River from Roeloffe Jansens Creek; and on the west side from Sawyers Creek to the utmost end of Sarraghtoga."

Owing to a change made in the government of the Prov- ince of New York following the usurpation of Jacob Leister as Colonial Governor, commonly called the Revolution of 1690, a law was passed by the "Governor, Council and

6 ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

Assembly," October 1, 1691, in effect re-enacting the former law of 1683, and at least so far as the County of Albany was concerned the boundaries of that shire remained the same. The boundaries of that county were not very definite in either act, but subsequent statutes treated them as covering a much larger area than a casual perusal of the wording of these enactments would seem to warrant.

By an act passed March 12, 1772, by the " Governor, Council and General Assembly " the County of Albany was divided into three ocunties: Albany, Tryon and Charlotte. The County of Tryon in substance is described as including within its bounds all that part of the Province of New York lying west of a line drawn north and south just west of the Schoharie Patent.

Bj^ a separate act passed March 24, 1772, at the same session by the " Colonial Governor, Council and General Assembly " the county of Tryon was divided into five towns or districts : Mohawk, Stone Arabia, Canajoxharie, German Flatts and Kingsland. The latter was bounded in substance as follows : On the north by the Mohawk River — on the east by a north and south line dravinn through Little Falls, — and on the south and west by the south and west colony lines.

By an act of the Colonial Legislature passed March 8, 1773, the names of three of the towns or districts named in the act of March 24, 1772, were changed as follows: Stone Arabia district was changed to Palatine district; German Flatts district was changed to Kingsland; and Kingsland was changed to German Flatts district ; the latter only affecting the territory included within the present boundaries of the County of Onondaga. These are all the enactments under the Colonial period making division of the Province of New York affecting lands in the present County of Onondaga.

The first Constitution of the State of New York, adopted at Kingston, N. Y., April 20, 1777, during the progress of the War of the American Revolution, recognized the exist- ing counties of the State as follows: New York, Albany, Dutchess, Westchester, Ulster, Suffolk, Queens , Orange, Kings, Richmond, Tryon, Charlotte, Cumberland and Glou- cester, fourteen in all ; the two latter are now a part of the present State of Vermont.

SPAFFORD, ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK 7

By an act of the New York Legislature passed April 2, 1784, the name of the County of Tryon, a name that had become odious by acts of the Tory Colonial Governor of that name, was changed to Montgomery; and by a sub- sequent act passed March 7, 1788, the boundaries of that county were described as follows: "And the County of Montgomery to contain all that part of the State bounded easterly by the Counties of Ulster, Albany, Washington (formerly Charlotte) and Clinton — southerly by the State of Pennsylvaina — and westerly and northerly by the west and north bounds of the State."

By an act of the same date the State was re-divided into towns, and the town of Whitestown created, which con- tained within its limits the whole of the Military Tract and certain lands east thereof extending below Utica, and was named in honor of Judge White, the first white settler in the present village bearing his name, four miles west of the City of Utica.

On February 16, 1791, an act was passed dividing the County of Montgomery into four counties: Tioga, Otsego, Montgomery and Herkimer; the western part of the State having been previously taken from Montgomery and created into a separate county called Ontario. The County of Herkimer in this division was briefly described as follows : On the east by the Counties of Clinton, Washington and Saratoga — on the south by Montgomery and Tioga — on the west by Ontario — and on the north by the north bounds of the State.

The next year, April 10, 1792, Whitestown was divided and a new town created called Mexico, which included within its limits all of the Military Tract lying east of the west bounds of the townships of Homer, Tully, Marcellus, Camillus and Hannibal.

On the 5th day of March, 1794, an act of the Legislature was passed creating the County of Onondaga from the County of Herkimer. It was made co-extensive with the Military Tract, and was divided into eleven civil towns: Homer, Pompey, Manlius, Lysander, Marcellus, Ulysses, Milton, Scipio, Aurelius, Ovid and Romulus. The town of Pompey was described as follows: "All that part of said County comprehending the townships of Pompey, Tully and Fabius, together with that part of the lands called the

B ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

Onondaga Reservation bounded northerly by the road called the Genesee Road, and westerly by the Onondaga Creek " ; and the town of Marcellus was described as : "All that part of said county comprehending the townships of Camillus and Marcellus, together with all the residue of the Onon- daga Reservation, and the residue of the several lands lying south west of the said Salt Lake."

From time to time thereafter, by several acts of the Legislature, the County of Onondaga as then created was subdivided, and other counties taken therefrom until it was finally cut down to its present limits, but without change of the county organization so far as its present territory is concerned.

On the 7th day of April, 1801, the County of Onondaga, as then diminished in size, was re-divided into eight civil towns: Solon, Homer, Fabius, Onondaga, Pompey, Manlius, Lysander, Camillus and Marcellus. The town of Fabius contained within its limits the townships of Fabius and Tully, and all that part of the township of Semphronius lying east of Skaneateles Lake; and the town of Marcellus was reduced in size to the limits of the township of that name.

On the 4th day of April, 1803, the civil toA\Ti of Fabius, and all that part of the township of Tully within the County of Onondaga, and all that part of Semphronius east of Skaneateles Lake, was created a civil town called Tully.

By an act of the Legislature passed April 8, 1811, a new town was created as follows : " That from and after the first Tuesday in April next all that part of the town of Tully lying west of a line beginning at the north west comer of Lot No. 25, and running south to the south line of said town, be and hereby is erected into a separate town by the name of Spafford." The name of this town was given in honor of Hon. Horatio Gates Spafford, the author of the first Gazetteer of the State of New York. At this point it seems proper to state that Mr. Spafford, in return for the compliment paid him, donated to the town its first blank book for the preservation of its records, and also a fair sized library for the use of its inhabitants; the record book is still preserved in the custody of the Town Clerk, but the library has long since been scattered and lost.

SPAFFORD, ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK q

The town of Otisco was created prior to the town of Spafford and in part was taken from Tully.

Since 1811 several changes have been made in the northern boundary of the town of Spafford, by adding to and taking from the town territory originally from the township of Marcellus. These changes occurred from 1830 to 1842 inclusive, and during that period the people of this and the adjoining towTis of Marcellus and Skaneateles, were greatly exercised and excited over the territorial question.

In the year 1830 the town of Skaneateles was formed from the western part of the town of Marcellus, and in the same act, "All that part of the town of Marcellus lying south and east of a line beginning on the north line of Lot No. 71 at the north west corner of the town of Otisco and running down the center of the Outlet of Otisco Lake to the north line of Lot No. 62 ; thence west on the north line of Lots Nos. 61, 62 and 60; thence in a straight line west across Lot No. 59 to the center of Skaneateles Lake ; thence southerly along the center of said lake to the south line of Marcellus, shall be annexed to and form a part of the town of Spafford."

This act engendered much bitter feeling among certain influential citizens residing within the limits of that part of the town of Marcellus, thus summarily set off to the to\\Ti of Spafford; and the various town meetings there- after were flooded with resolutions to be offered for pas- sage in the different sessions of the Legislature; and the latter body was importuned and petitioned from time to time by the discontents to be restored to the town of Mar- cellus or set off to the town of Skaneateles.

The town books show a continuous and apparently acrimonious strife which resulted in the passage of the act of March 18th, 1840, setting off to the towns of Mar- cellus and Skaneateles all that part of the town of Spafford lying north of the south Hnes of Lots Nos. 69, 70 and 71, Marcellus.

This act, if anj^thing, created more dissatisfaction than the prior one; so on March 30th, 1842, the Legislature passed an act compromising the matter by which Lots 70, 71, 68 and 69, Marcellus, were re-annexed to the town of Spafford. This seemed to give full satisfaction, and the

10 ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

bounds of the tovm. have remained the same ever since, and from that time forward there has been no change in town or county organization affecting the town of Spafford.

It will be noticed that the act of 1830, above referred to, fixes the western boundary of that portion of the town taken from Marcellus as the center of Skaneateles Lake, a fact which would have been the case by law in the absence of anything said on the subject; but the reader's attention is also called to the notable exception to this rule of law and custom make by the Revised Statutes of the State of New York as to the other portion of the town.

By these statutes the western boundary of this portion of the County of Onondaga, and by operation of the law the western boundary of the Tully end of the town of Spafford, is along the westerly shore of Skaneateles Lake. The Revised Statutes on this subject reads as follows: " from a point in the south bounds of the township of Marcellus southward along the westerly shore of Skanea- teles Lake until it strikes the west boundary of the county of Cortland, and thence northerly and easterly along the latter county lines, &c." These are facts not only of in- terest to the general reader, but of great importance as affecting jurisdiction in civil and criminal proceedings.

MILITARY TRACT.

During the period of the American Revolution the mili- tary forces of the Colony of New York were divided into four classes: The Militia, Minute Men, The Levies, and The Line.

The Militia, included all able bodied men residing within the Colony who were between the ages of sixteen and sixty, not specifically exempt by law.

Minute Men, were taken from the Militia by allotment or volunteering, and were specially drilled, equipped and kept in readiness for any emergency. This organization, formed under a resolution of the Provincial Congress of this Colony August 22, 1775, was discontinued about a year afterwards by a like resolution adopted June 5, 1776.

The Levies, were drafts from the Militia, called into service on special occasions, and could be required to per-

SPAFFORD, ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK H

form duty during the entire period of their enlistment outside the Colony.

The Line, consisted of four regiments of Infantry, to which were sometimes attached a company of cavalry, a regiment of Artillery, and a corps of Sappers and Miners. These were turned over to the General Government as a part of the Continental Establishment, and were subject to the orders of General George Washington.

Every member of these several forces was by law re- quired to keep himself fully armed and equipped, and as the people of this Colony had always been surrounded by wild beasts, and the still more treacherous and sometimes hostile bands of American Indians, most of the men com- posing these forces were accustomed to handling fire arms and were expert marksmen in the use of the same. What was most needed to fit these men for efl^icient soldiers was military training and such discipline as would render them obedient to orders of their superior officers; this took much time and instruction to accomplish.

The Line was organized by enlistment from the Militia in 1775 and turned over to the Continental Establishment, and as the term of service of these men was at first so short, sometimes for only a few months and never to exceed a year, the efficiency of this branch of service was poor in comparison with the trained soldiers employed in the British Army, against whom they were to contend.

The superiority of their marksmanship was not always an offset for the superior discipline of the enemy. This early became apparent, and on September 30th, 1776, a letter was received by the Provincial Congress of this Colony from John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress, enclosing resolutions of that body. In that letter he says : " You will perceive by the enclosed resolutions, that Congress has come to the determination to augment our Army and to engage troops to serve during the con- tinuance of the war. The many ill consequences arising from a short and limited enlistment of troops are too obvious to be mentioned. In general, give me leave to observe, that to make men acquainted with the duties of a soldier requires time, and to bring them under proper subordination and discipline not only requires time, but has always been a work of much difficulty."

12

ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

"As the troops now in service belong to the several States they will be considered as a part of their quota in the American Army, You will please take such steps as you judge necessary to ascertain what number of troops, as well as what officers, will engage to serve during the

The following are a part of the resolutions referred to.

VIZ

" Congress, Sept. 16, 1776," Resolved, That eighty eight battalions be enlisted as soon as possible to serve during the present war, and that each state furnish their respec- tive quotas in the following proportions, viz. :

Nevv^ Hampshire Massachusetts Baj^ Rhode Island Connecticut New York New Jersey Pennsylvania Delaware MarjT^land Virginia North Carolina South Carolina Georgia

3 Battalions 15 Battalions

2 Battalions

8 Battalions

4 Battalions 4 Battalions

12 Battalions

1 Battalion

8 Battalions 15 Battalions

9 Battalions 6 Battalions 1 Battalion

" That twenty dollars be given as a bounty to each-non- commissioned officer and private soldier who shall enlist to serve during the present war, unless sooner discharged by Congress.

" That Congress make provision for granting lands in the following proportions, to the officers and soldiers who shall engage in the service and continue therein to the close of the war, or until discharged by Congress, and representatives of such officers and soldiers as shall be slain by the enemy. Such lands to be provided by the United States, and whatever expense shall be necessary to provide such lands, the said expense shall be paid and borne by the States in the same proportion as other expenses of the war, viz :

To a Colonel 500 acres.

To a Lieut. Colonel 450 acres.

To a Major 400 acres.

SPAFFORD, ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK 13

To a Captain 300 acres.

To a Lieutenant 200 acres.

To an Ensign 150 acres.

To each Non Commissioned

Officer and Soldier 100 acres." By a subsequent act of Congress passed August 12th, 1780, there was given " To a Major General 1100 acres, and to a Brig. General 850 Acres."

In pursuance of this generous offer of the General Gov- ernment many officers and men then in the Line from this Colony re-enlisted, and some of those entering this service afterwards enlisted for the war; so when peace was de- clared there were many who had been members of the Continental Army for periods ranging from four to seven years. The First and Second Infantry, under Colonels Goose Van Schaick and Philip Van Cortland, Col. John Lamb's Artillery regiment and the Corps of Sappers and Miners, had a more continuous service than other Con- tinental organizations from this Colony, and eventually had within their ranks a large proportion of these long term service men, and even some of those who had originally entered the service in other Continental organizations. By reason of this fact, and the expressed intention of these organizations to remain on frontier duty for the further period of three years, in pursuance of the resolutions of the Provincial Congress adopted March 20, 1871, the Legislature of the State of New York March 27, 1783, enacted, after reciting the resolutions of the Continental Congress above quoted from, as follows:

" Whereas the Legislature of the State are willing not only to take upon themselves to discharge the said engage- ments of Congress so far as it relates to -the Line of this State, but likewise as a gratuity to the said Line and to evince the just sense this Legislature entertains of the patriotism and virtue of the troops of this State serving in the army of the United States :

" Resolved, Therefore that besides the bounty of land as promised as aforesaid, this legislature will by law pro- vide that Major Generals and Brigadier Generals now serving in the Line of the Army of the United States and being citizens of this State, and officers and non-commis- sioned officers and privates of the two regiments of in-

14 ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

fantry commanded by Colonels Van Schaick and Van Cort- land, such officers of the regiment of Artillery commanded by Colonel Lamb and of the Corps of Sappers and Miners as were when they entered the service inhabitants of this State, such of the non-commissioned officers and privates of said last mentioned corps as are credited to this State as part of the troops thereof, all officers designated by Congress subsequent to the 16th of September, 1776, shall have severally granted to them the following quantities of land, to wit:

To a Major General 5500 acres.

To a Brig. General 4250 acres.

To a Colonel 2500 acres.

To a Lieut. Colonel 2250 acres.

To a Major 2000 acres.

To a Captain and Regimental

Surgeon each 1500 acres.

To every Subaltern and

Surgeon's Mate 1000 acres.

To every Non-Commissioned

Officer and Soldier 500 acres."

Owing to the delay incident to the extinguishment of the Indian title, by Treaty, to the lands desired for distri- bution under this act, and also the time required to survey and plot the same when acquired, the lands eventually under the act of 1783 were not ballotted for and patents issued until July, 1790. In the meantime the soldiers entitled to these bounty lands became disheartened, discouraged, and an easy prey to speculators, who obtained the warrants for most of these claims for a trifle compared with their true value. Only one soldier receiving bounty lands under the act of 1783 settled on the lands patented to him in the town of Spafford, viz: Henry Wentworth (Winford), Lot 77, Marcellus; and he remained only a few years until he had sold his possessions in parcels to actual settlers.

The Military Tract, as first laid out, consisted of twenty five townships of one hundred lots of a mile square each, and its boundaries were the same as that of the County of Onondaga when first organized under the act of 1794. The lines of lots were drawn east and west and north and south and contained within their limits 640 acres of land; 100

SPAFFORD, ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK 15

acres in lieu of that given by the United States, 500 acres by the State of New York, and 40 acres for roads.

If the soldier released his claim against the United States he received a patent for the whole lot, otherwise one hundred acres in the south east corner of the lot was reserved, hence came the name : " State's Hundred." The charge of the Government for surveying a lot was forty eight shillings; if this was not paid by the patentee fifty acres was also reserved, known as " Survey Fifty," this could be taken from either corner of the lot excepting the south east. Two lots in each township were reserved for the propagation of the Gospel, and for Schools, and the amount received from_ the sale of them was devoted to these purposes.

A statement of the services performed by the soldiers who drew lots in the to\\Ti of SpafFord is worthy of mention, but space precludes any recital other than the following, in reference to the recipients of bounty lands in this town :

NAMES OF SOLDIERS DRAWING BOUNTY LANDS IN SPAFFORD.

Township of Tully.

Lot 1 Pr. Joseph Sevey, 2nd Co. 1st Regt. Inft.

Col. Goose Van Schaick 600 acres.

Lot 2 Pr. Joseph Ball, 2nd Regt. Inft., Col.

Philip Van Cortland 500 acres.

Lot 11 Fifer John Cheery, 2nd Regt. Inft., Col.

Philip Van Cortland 600 acres.

Lot 12 Sergt. Benjamin Lawrence, 2nd Regt.

Inft., Col. Philip Van Cortland 600 acres

Lot 12 Gospel and Schools 600 acres.

Lot 21 Surgeon Caleb Sweet, 1st Regt. Inft.,

Col. Goose Van Schaick 500 acres.

Lot 22 Pr. Richard Whalling, 1st Regt. Inft.,

Col. Goose Van Schaick 600 acres.

Lot 23 Matross George Allen, 1st Regt. Art.,

Col. John Lamb 600 acres.

Lot 24 Capt. Abraham Livingston, 1st Regt.

Inft., Col. James Livingston 600 acres.

Lot 31 Gospel and Schools 600 acres.

/

16 ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

Lot 32 Pr. John Pierson, Regt. Inf., Gen.

Moses Hazen's Congress Own 500 acres.

Lot 33 Capt. John C. Ten Broeck, 1st Regt. Inft.,

Col. Goose Van Schaick 600 acres.

Lot 34 Pr. Shorter Smith, 2nd Regt. Inft., Col.

Peter Van Cortland 600 acres.

Lot 41 Pr. John Frederick, 1st Regt. Inf., Col.

Goose Van Schaick 600 acres.

Lot 42 Sergt. Elias Wilcox, 1st Regt. Art., Col.

John Lamb 500 acres.

Lot 42 Corp. Joseph Smith, 2nd Regt. Inft., Col.

Philip Van Cortland 500 acres.

Lot 44 Pr. Nathaniel Brock, Regt. Inft, Col.

James Livingston 500 acres.

Township of Sempronius.

Lot 10 Major Nicholas Fish, 2nd Regt. Inft.,

Col. Philip Van Cortland 600 acres.

Lot 11 Pr. Aaron DeWitt, 1st Regt. Inft., Col.

Goose Van Schaick 450 acres.

Lot 12 Pr. Daniel Ogden, 1st Regt. Inft., Col.

Goose Van Schaick 600 acres.

Lot 13 Corp, Solomon Barnes, 1st Regt. Agt.,

Col. John Lamb 600 acres.

Lot 14 Pr. John Tucker, 4th Regt. Inft., Col.

Fred Weissenfels 500 acres.

Lot 21 Pr. John Wyatt, 1st Regt. Inft., Col.

Goose Van Schaick 600 acres.

Lot 23 Pr. Samuel Wheeler, 2nd Regt. Inft., Col.

Philip Van Cortland 600 acres.

Lot 23 Corp. Cornelius Ammerman, 2nd Regt.

Inft., Col. Philip Van Cortland 500 acres.

Township of Marcellus.

Lot 68 Surgeon Ebenezer Haveland, 2nd Regt.

Inft., Col. Philip Van Cortland 500 acres.

Lot 69 Sergt. Daniel Ludlam, 2nd Regt. Inft.,

Col. Philip Van Cortland _ 500 acres.

Lot 70 Sergt. and Matross Elijah Pierce, 1st

Reft-t. Art., Col. John Lamb 600 acres.

Lot 71 Pr. Burdice Campbell, 1st Regt. Inft,

Col. Goose Van Schaick _ 500 acres.

SPAFFORD, ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK 17

Lot 74 Gunner Frederick Dayton, 1st Regt. Agt.,

Col. John Lamb 600 acres.

Lot 75 Fifer John Factor, 2nd Regt. Inf., Col.

Philip Van Cortland 600 acres.

Lot 76 Second Lieutenant Thomas Ostrander,

3rd Regt. Inft., Col. Peter Gansevoort 500 acres.

Lot 77 Fifer Henry Winford, 1st Regt. Inf., Col.

Goose Van Schaick 500 acres.

Lot 88 Pr. Philip Fields, 2nd Regt. Inft., Col.

Philip Van Cortland 500 acres.

Lot 89 Pr. Frederick Wybert, 1st Regt. Inft.,

Col. Goose Van Schaick 500 acres.

Lot 90 Sergt. Philip Steves, 2nd Regt. Inft., Col.

Philip Van Cortland 600 acres.

Lot 91 Capt. Peter L, Vosburgh, Regt. Inft.,

Col. James Livingston 600 acres.

Lot 96 Fifer Henry Davis, 1st Regt. Art., Col.

John Lamb 600 acres.

FIRST SETTLERS.

Under the law granting bounty land to soldiers a settle- ment had to be made on the land within a limited period subsequent to the date of the patent. As a majority of the claims had been assigned by the soldiers to speculators residing along the Hudson River, who had no intention of making a settlement themselves, when the patents were issued the lands were offered for sale in large quantities and sold to purchasers at prices much below their true value. The consequence was that m^any persons residing east of the Hudson River in Washington, Saratoga, Van Rensselaer, Colum.bia and Westchester Counties, came to this town for settlement within a few years after the date of the Patents in July, 1790. The first settlers, however, were not confined to the river counties in this State, many coming direct from Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachu- setts, New Hampshire and Vermont; they were all, how- ever, with very few exceptions, of New England origin.

GILBERT PALMER AND HIS SON JOHN.

The first settler within the present limits of this town

18 ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

was Gilbert Palmer, who came from Amawalk, Westchester County, New York. Mr. Joshua V. H. Clark, in his excel- lent history of the County of Onondaga, says he came in the Fall of 1794 and settled on Lot 76, Marcellus. He also says he served for this lot in the War of the Revolution, but as to this we know Mr. Clark is incorrect, as his deed, which is dated September 21, 1792, is from Lieutenant Thomas Ostrander, the soldier who drew this lot for serv- ices which he performed in the New York Line, during that war. Mr. Palmer did not purchase the State's Hun- dred Acres on that lot, as it was excepted from the deed. It is presumed from the fact that Mr. Palmer is not joined by a wife, in any of his seven or eight conveyances made from his original purchase, that he was a widower during his residence in this town.

Mr. Clark relates the following pathetic incident in re- ference to Mr. Palmer and his son John :

" In the Fall of the year 1794, soon after his arrival, Mr. Palmer and his son, a youth of some sixteen years of age, went into the woods chopping for the purpose of making a clearing. Some time in the afternoon they felled a tree, and as it struck the ground it bounded, swung around and caught the young man under it. The father at once mounted the log, cut it off, rolled it over and liber- ated the son. Upon examination one of his lower limbs was found to be badly crushed and mangled. He there- upon carried the youth to his log hut close at hand, and with all possible diligence made haste to his nearest neigh- bors, some three or four miles distant, desiring them to go and minister to his son's necessities, while he should go to Whitestown for Dr. White. The neighbors sallied forth with such comfortable things as they thought might be acceptable in such a case ; but amidst the confusion, the dense forest and the darkness of the night which had just set in, they missed the way; and after wandering about for a long time gave over pursuit and returned home, leav- ing the poor sufferer alone to his fate. Early the next morning all hands again rallied, and in due time found the young man suffering the most extreme anguish from his mangled limb, and greatly benumbed with cold. They built a fire, made him comfortable with such palliatives

SPAFFORD, ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK 19

as could be procured in the wilderness, and waited in patience for the return of the parent.

** In the meantime he had proceeded rapidly on his journey on foot and found Dr. White at Clinton, N. Y. Here he engaged an Oneida Indian to pilot them through the woods, by a nearer route than to follow the windings of the old road. Dr. White and Mr. Palmer were at sundry times fearful the Indian would lose the way, but upon every expression of doubt on their part the Indian would exclaim ' Me know,' and told them he would bring them out at a certain log, which lay across the Outlet at the foot of Otisco Lake. The Indian took the lead and within forty-eight hours after the accident had happened the Indian brought them exactly to the log, exclaiming tri- umphantly, 'Me know.' Here Mr. Palmer arrived upon familiar ground, and at once proceeded to the cabin where he had left his son, whom they found greatly prostrated, and writhing under the most intense suffering. No time was lost. The case was thought desperate, the limb was amputated at once half way from the knee to the thigh."

The youth recovered and lived many years afterwards. He became a tailor, and Hon Sidney Smith said, " I re- member him very well, going about his duties with his wooden leg." In a deed dated August 21, 1797, given by Gilbert Palmer to John Palmer, the latter is described by the grantor as, " My son," and the latter is described as then a resident of Westchester County, indicating that after his terrible accident with the falling tree, related by Clark, he must have returned to his old home in Amawalk, to grow up, recover his strength, and possibly learn the trade of a tailor, afterwards pursued by him while a resident of this town,

Gilbei-t Palmer's last sale of land on Lot 76 was January 9, 1815, and the last sale of land on the same lot by John Palmer was September 28, 1814. About the latter date the two Palmers moved into the village of Borodino, where the son carried on a tailor shop. In the year 1819 father and son moved to Hannibal, Oswego County, New York, where the former is supposed to have died. In John Palmer's last deed dated July 2, 1819, he is joined by his wife Rachel, whom he probably married after 1814.

Mr. Gilbert Palmer has always been credited with being

20 ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

a soldier of the American Revolution, and probably was such, as a Gilbert Palmer served for a short tour of duty in a Militia organization both in this State and in the State of Connecticut, the latter being- the home of a prolific and influential branch of the Palmer family.

NAMES OF OTHER FIRST SETTLERS.

The next settler in to^vn was undoubtedly Samuel Conk- lin, who came in 1796 and purchased a farm of one hundred nine acres of Gilbert Palmer, situate in the north west corner of Lot 76, Marcellus. Mr. Conldin is credited with having erected the first frame dwelling house in town, which was built in 1807, near the north west corner of Lot 76, Marcellus.

Mr. Conklin was followed, a few months afterwards, by Henry Winford (or Wentwoii;h), the only soldier who settled on a lot in this town for which he served; he came in the Spring of 1797, and settled on lot 77, Marcellus. We have no knowledge of him after May, 1809, the date of his last deed, which was to John Campbell, who was probably then a resident on said lot 77, Marcellus.

James Kirkum, from Fredericksburg, Dutchess County, New York, settled on lot 77, Marcellus, in the Fall of 1797 or Spring of 1798, but of him we know nothing more after September 8, 1801, at which time he sold out to Justus Blakely, then an owner of land and probably a resident on said lot since June 11, 1799. These are all of whom we have any knowledge who became settlers in to"wn before 1800.

It is very difficult to tell just when the different persons classed as first settlers took up their abode here, by reason of the prevalent custom among them of going into occupa- tion of the land under a contract, and a deed following later, with a date several years posterior to the time of their reputed claim of settlement. Nevertheless the dates given in the following statement are believed to be reason- ably accurate and trustworthy, notwithstanding some of the dates may differ from those that have been published on the subject.

According to recorded deeds the northern end of the town led in the matter of settlement, both before and after

SPAFFORD, ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK 21

the year 1800. Principally from the same source of in- formation it appears Elias Harmon and Zadock Randall settled on lot 77 or 76, Marcellus, Medad Harvey, William Collins and Gershom Hall on lot 75, Marcellus, and Eben- ezer Taylor and Nicholas Otis on lot 90, Marcellus, in the year 1801 ; John C. Hillebert on lot 89, Marcellus, Jesse Peck on lot 90, Marcellus, David Smith on lot 77, Marcellus, Valentine and James Rathbone, Jeremiah Van Benschoten and Jason Gleason on lot 74, Marcellus, and Benjamin Chaffee on lot 69, Marcellus, in the year 1802 ; Edward Bur- gess and Lemuel Smith on lot 77, Marcellus, and Warren and John Kneeland on lot 74, Marcellus, in the year 1803. All these, with perhaps the addition of Daniel Tinkham on lot 89, Marcellus, who is reputed to have settled there in 1802, although his deed is dated in 1804, were made before any one had broken silence in the Tully end of the town, unless it be with the single exception made in favor of Jonathan Berry, who is claimed to have settled on lot 12, Sempronius, in the year 1803. Although Mr. Berry's first residence was just over the southern line of Marcellus, in the Tully end of the town, yet all his business and social relations were with the people residing in the vicinity of Borodino.

In the year 1804, Nathan Howard, from Stephentown, N. Y., settled on Lot 74, Marcellus, Samuel Tyler, Asa Chap- man, Alvah Smith and Joseph Enos on Lot 69, Marcellus, Avery and Asa Mason and Nathan Parce on Lot 68, Mar- cellus, Benjamin Sweet from Brutus, N. Y., on Lot 76, Marcellus, and Jabish and Luther Hall and Samuel Maclure on Lot 75, Marcellus.

In the year 1805 Isaac Hall made his first appearance at Spafford Corners, and settled on the States 'Hundred Acres on Lot 21, Tully; he probably should be called the first settler in the southern or Tully end of the town. Mr. Berry, as suggested above, should be classed with the Northern or Marcellus settlers, with whom he soon after and in 1810, became in fact as well as by association a part. During this same year James Cravath also settled on Lot 21, Tully, (near where Joseph Cole resides in 1900), and the name of Amos Miner, the well known inventor and wheelwright, who settled on Lot 68, Marcellus, was added to the northern settlers in to^vn.

22 ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

The year 1806 witnessed the following additions to the list of settlers, distributed as below : John Hunt and James Fitzgerald, Lot 70, Marcellus, Levi Appleby Lot 89, Mar- cellus, Gideon Colton from Whitestown, N. Y., Lot 10, Sempronius, Job Smith from Greenfield, N. Y., Lot 74, Marcellus, Peter Knapp, from Brutus, N. Y. on Lot 42, Tully, John Babcock, the first Supervisor of the town, on Lot 21, Tully, and Dr. Archibald Farr on Lot 11, Tully. (Tradition says Dr. Farr came in 1803, see subsequent statement of him.)

From this time forward settlers came in quick succes- sion, and distributed themselves over the town in both its northern and southern extremities; among whom were the following: Asahel Roundy, Samuel Seeley, Charles Whaley, Joshua B. Bearse, Warren Baldwin, Alexander M. Beebe, Joseph Humphrey, Cyrel Johnson, James Cornell, James Hiscock, Oliver Hyde, Ebenezer Lewis, Benjamin Eggle- stone, Joseph Baldwin, Benjamin Stanton, Joseph Bulfinch, Moses and Joseph Prindle, Psalter Pullman, James Wood- worth, Elias Davis, Joseph and Job L. Lewis, Silas Cox, Aaron Bearse, Daniel and Edward Baxter, Messer Barker, Daniel Scranton, Asa Ferry, Thomas Whiting, James Wightman, Pardon Cornell, James McCausey, John Gould, Benjamin Homer, James Avery, Jonathan Ripley, Elisha Sabin, John Rainey, Shadrack, Daniel and Uriah Roundy, Joel Palmer, Amos Palmer, John and Elihu Babcock, Bena- jah Cleveland, Horace Pease, Ruluf Barber, Rathbone Barber, Rathbone Barber, Jr., Thompson Burdick, David Carver, James Williamson, William Bacon, Amos Bacon, Isaac Town, Luke Miner, William O'Farrell, William D. Cornell, Robert K. Kidney, Alpheus Winchester, Eleazer Hillebert, William Strong, Samuel H. Yates, Loami W. Johnson, Timothy Mills, Silas and Stephen Randall, Robert Almey, Alexander Streeter, Truman Hinman, Jesse Manley, Dr. Benjamin Trumbull, Stephen Crane, William Dedrick, Amasa Kneeland, Dr. Jeremiah B. Whiting, Col. Phineas and John Hutchens, Edwin S. Edwards, Augustin McKay, Calvin Patterson, Daniel Wallace, Sr. and Jr., Samuel Holmes, Peter Churchell, Abiathar Melvin, Amos Fisher, Christopher Green, Osmer Orton, John and Samuel Gale, Timothy Owen, Dr. John Collins and many others, which,

CAPTAIN ASAHEL ROUNDY

SPAFFORD, ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK 23

for greater particularity, the reader is referred to the second part of this work.

These men, as has been said before, were nearly all of New England origin, mostly from Rhode Island, Connecti- cut, Massachusetts, and Vermont, although a large pro- portion of them came to this town from the counties in this State east of the Hudson River, where they had made a temporary sojourn prior to coming here. Perhaps the County of Washington, north of Albany, contributed in numbers as generously as any to these early settlers. They were an energetic, God fearing, well informed and indus- trious people; among whom were many remarkable men, who have left an indelible impression upon the character of the people of this town; and some of their descendants have gone forth and made an honorable record for them- selves in the several communities in which they have resided. Of some of these we have given a more or less extended account in the second part of this work, and will not repeat here. We deeply regret, however, our inability to do justice to all owing to want of further information on the subject. Social life among the early settlers in this town was much the same as in all other communities settled by New England people, much that was good in it and very little that vv^as evil ; and yet there was a humorous side to it as well as a serious one. We trust the following anecdotes will not detract from the general high social character of these settlers, nor be unacceptable to the reader.

CAPTAIN ASAHEL ROUNDY.

Captain Asahel Roundy, whose family genealogy appears in the second part of this work, came to Spafford on horse- back from Rockingham, Vt., in 1807. His father, Uriah Roundy, died in 1813 at the latter place, and soon after his mother and brothers and sisters followed him from the old home in Vermont and took up residences about him in this town, from whence in after years they were scattered to different parts of the Great West. Mr. Roundy obtained his rank of Captain from the State of New York, he having commanded a Company from this town in the 96th Militia from this State in the War of 1812; that regiment having done a short tour of duty in the Fall of 1814 in the vicinity

24 ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

of Sackett's Harbor, New York. In this service Phineas Hutchens was his Lieutenant. At the time of receiving orders for this service Captain Roundy was at Onondaga Hill, attending- a meeting- of the Board of Supervisors of Onondaga Countj'', of which he was a member, and at once communicated the order to his subordinate, Lieutenant Hutchens, who Avarned out the Company, came on to Onon- daga Valley, and was there joined by Captain Roundy. The Company was absent from home under his command for about a month and was then discharged at Smith's Mills, New York, November 22nd, 1814. Captain Roundy in- herited his military instincts from a patriotic ancestry ; his father, his grandfather, and three of his uncles did military service in the American Revolution.

The general character of the early settlers of this town is well illustrated by the following anecdotes told of Captain Roundy, in a recent publication from which we copy:

" During the early history of the County of Onondaga a large share of the litigation was in Justice Courts in the different towns, and not in the higher Courts at the County seat, as at the present day. On such occasions the best talent in the county was employed, and every one suspended work to be present at the law suit. At such times Captain Roundy was frequeently called upon to try one side or the other of these cases, and Hon. Daniel Gott, who in olden times was considered one of the strongest trial lav/yers in the county, paid Captain Roundy the compliment of being one of the strongest advocates before a jury of any man he ever met. There were several remarkable men among the early pioneers of this town, but it is no disparagement of any of them to say that he was the most remarkable of them all. He was six feet tall, well proportioned, a perfect athlete, and an adept in all the sports participated in by the men of those times. His education was acquired only in the common school, but he had a remarkably retentive memory, and his mind was well stored with valuable infor- mation including much poetry and song, all of which he was able to command and use to advantage, both in public speech and in private conversation. He was a man physically and mentally well equipped.

" The first settler at what is now known as Randall's Point or SpafFord Landing, on Skaneateles Lake, came to

SPAFFORD, ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW Yi).::: 29

Spafford early, while the country was then a wilderness, and undertook to build a log house at that place. In doing so he broke his leg, by a log rolling upon him. Captain Roundy, finding him in this condition, and no help being at hand, took him upon his back and bore him through the woods up an almost vertical pathway for a mile and a half to his house, where he was cared for until his recovery.

" Captain Roundy at an early date purchased lands in the eastern part of the town, and laid out and built the road known as the Bucktail. Any one who has ever passed over this road will be likely to remember that its ruggedness is equal to its picturesqueness, which is saying a good deal. In early times this road has been and is now a subject of jest. At that time the two principal political parties in this State were known as Bucktails and Clintonians. Of the former he was at that time a prominent member, so much so that the people dabbed the road the " Bucktail," in recognition of that fact, and it has borne the name until the present time.

" At an early time one or two burials had been made in what is knov,qi as the Spafford Cemetery, east of the Cor- ners, which was then open pasture land. One day a funeral party came there with a corpse for burial, and the man who owned the land refused to let the interment take place, whereupon as usual in such cases, an appeal was made to Captain Roundy, who went to the owner and bought and paid for the original land, (one acre) which forms a part of this Cemetery, and the title to the same rests in his name, or that of his descendants to this day.

" Before 1831 it was common to imprison people for debt. On one occasion a man living on the main road in the southern part of the town was in debt. He was abusive and resisted arrest. For a long time he kept himself con- cealed and locked indoors. He kept out of the way of the officers, as they were not permitted to break down doors to make such arrests. The officer went to Captain Roundy, and he undertook to assist him in making service. It was Winter tim.e. He got a two horse rig, put on all the bells he could find, and in the middle of the night drove down to within half a mile of the man's house, got out, and taking two bundles of straw under his arm, walked down to the north end of the house, which had no windows in it^

26 ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

the only door of admittance being on the east side, near the northeast comer of the house. Arriving at the place he set fire to the straw, whereupon the man with the bells and horses drove at a furious rate, yelling " Fire," which brought the man to the door in his night dress, where he was met by Captain Roundy, who took him gently in his arms and turned him over to the officer.

" At an early date Captain Roundy built a sawmill, on the upper falls of the stream near the Bucktail road, with a flume running over the precipice, and subsequently built a carding mill a little higher up stream. About this time a supposed distant relative of his came to town and claimed to have knowledge of carding, fulling and making cloth. He put him in charge of the mill. After he had been in possession for a time, Captain Roundy thought it time to go over and investigate, and count up the profits of his venture. To his mute astonishment he found the building entirely empty and his carding machinery carried away. This he subsequently found hid under a straw stack near the Village of Cardiff.

" At one time a log house stood on the village green, now existing at the Corners, between the two churches. A woman living in this house, after a time, was discovered to have won the affections and regard of a neighboring woman's husband, with whom she agreed to elope. On the night fixed for this episode to take place, there was a gath- ering of men on horseback in a distant part of the town, and after the elopers had gotten a mile or so on their journey, they were overtaken by this cavalcade and escorted to Borodino. After a short stop they were persuaded to return ; the man after making over his property to his wife, was permitted to go away with his new found charmer undisturbed.

" At an early date a dilapidated old house stood a short distance east of the Corners, It was rumored that an undesirable family had hired it, was going to move into town and likely to become a town charge. The people called upon the ov.ner and tried to dissuade him from letting the property to these people; but he persisted, and was more or less abusive, much to the annoyance of his neighbors. One fine morning, just before the new settlers were to arrive, people were surprised to find this house razed to

URIAH ROUNDY, ESQ.

SPAFFORD, ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK 27

the ground. The o\^Tier was furious and charged one of his neighbors with perpetrating the mischief, went to Captain Roundy, who was then Justice of the Peace, and swore out a warrant for the man. At that time the party to a criminal or civil proceeding could not be sworn on the trial in his own behalf, and the defendant was often at the mercy of unscrupulous witnesses. At the time of the trial every one turned out and very much regretted the turn of affairs, which seemed to be against the defendant. The complainant produced a witness who swore that he was passing along the road in the night, saw the defendant tearing down the house, and he tried to get away from him, but he knew him and was certain of his identity. The defendant was so unfortunate as not to be able to prove even an alibi. When the case was rested, much to the sur- prise of every one present, Captain Roundy discharged the defendant, claiming that there was no cause of action against him. Of course it was a high handed proceeding, but every one submitted because it was Captain Roundy's decision, and they all believed that he must have some inter light not discernible to the rest of them. Sometime after- wards one of his daughters said to him: 'Father, how could you make such a decision, when you knew that wit- ness swore point blank to the guilt of the defendant, and there were no mitigating circumstances?' ' Well,' he said, ' If you will never say anything about it, I will tell you! I knew that witness lied, for Colonel Hutchens and myself pulled down that building.' "

URIAH ROUNDY, ESQ.

Uriah Roundy, one of the sons of Capt. Asahel and Hannah (Weston) Roundy, was born in the town of Spaf- ford, July 24, 1819. Like his father before him he was prominent in his native town, and was frequently called upon to perform matters of public trust and confidence. Among the public offices held by him were : Supervisor of the Town of Spafford, three terms. Justice of the Sessions of the County of Onondaga two terms. Excise Commissioner one term, (from which he resigned), and Loan Commis- sioner of the County of Onondaga two years. He was also Justice of the Peace in Spafford between twenty-five and thirty years, and Postmaster at Spafford Corners for many

8 ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

years; he was an incumbent of both of the latter offices at the time of his decease which occurred May 29th, 1902. For many years prior to his decease nearly all the Wills, Mortgages, Deeds and other legal documents executed in his portion of the town were drav\Ti by him, and he was frequently called upon to perform other duties of an attorney at lav/. He married Mary Ann Tinkham and by her had two sons, Adelbert and Jay C. Roundy, the former only surviving him.

PULLMAN FAMILY.

Captain Asahel Roundy, during his active career, was the owner of considerable real estate in this town, and at one time ovvmed nearly all of Lot 32, Sempronius. This he conveyed in parcels to different settlers, who moved on the lands, cleared avv'ay the forests, built houses and reared families there. Among these early settlers, to whom he conveyed land on this lot, was Psalter Pullman. He cleared away the timber and settled on the farm afterwards knowTi as the Rathbone Barber, Jr., farm^, and now (1900) owTied by the estate of Edwin S. Van Benschoten, deceased. On this farm most, if not all, of Mr. Pullman's children were born. Among them was Lev/is Pullman, the father of George M. Pullman, the late multi-millionaire and sleeping and palace car magnate, of Pullman, Illinois, whose decease is a matter of recent occurrence. Psalter Pullman moved to the western part of this State about 1829. There are very few now living who have any remembrance of him or of any of his family, except his son, John Pullman, who m.arried Mabel Pettis, sister of Ebenezer Haven's wife. He con- tinued to reside here for about twenty years after the departure of his father.

John Pullman at one time resided on the Skaneateles and Homer road, about one mile south of Spafford Corners, and kept a house of entertainment there called " The Nimble Sixpence." The house and barn were close to the road on either side, and passers by at night were much annoyed by John's cattle, who were wont to sleep in the highway for want of a better barnyard. " The Nimble Sixpence," according to the memory of " Old Inhabitants," had only one room in it, and that was occupied by Mr. Pullman's numerous family as a bed room, living room, dining room..

COLONEL PHINEAS HUTCHENS

SPAFFOED, ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK 29

pantry, etc., besides being used as a bar-room and loung:ing place for guests, after Mr. Pullman set himself up in busi- ness as a tavern keeper. It is probable that Mr. Pullman's patrons were mostly confined to neighbors' boys, who thought it great sport to give landlord Pullman an occasional house warming. Mr. Pullman vv^as an honest, upright and well meaning man, but possessed of certain vagaries and crank notions, which leads those v/ho knew him to believe that George M. Pullman, the great Palace Car magnate, absorbed all the brains and nervous energy of the entire Pullman family.

After the removal of the major part of the Pullman family to the western part of the State, as above stated, an occasional correspondence was kept up between John Pull- man, who was left behind, and other members of the family. One day John Jullman came to the village Postmistress with an unsealed letter in his hand, and with unfeigned pride, asked her to examine it, saying : " Don't you think that pretty good writin' for a man like me?" She took the letter in her hand, examined it, and found among other things that Mr. Pullman had made an indiscriminate use of capital letters, without any reference to any known rules on the subject, sometimes even placing them in the middle of a word. She turned to Mr. Pullman and said : *' Mr. Pullman, your writing is very good indeed, but why don't you put your capital letters at the beginning of words and sentences, as other people do?" " Well," says he, " I think that makes my writin' look a leetle better to scatter them more evenly through the letter, than to bunch them up as some people do."

COLONEL PHINEAS HUTCHENS.

Colonel Phineas Hutchens was born in Herkimer County, New York, in 1785, and came to this town and settled on Lot 22, Tully, in 1811. He remained on the farm where he first settled, until his decease in 1870. He was a man of great physical strength, strong personality, a natural leader of men, a prominent member of the Baptist Church, and led a blameless life. His personal influence was always wielded for the good of the community in which he resided, yet, having a strong sense of humor in his make up, he fully enjoyed all the sports and military functions

30 ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

which were popular in those times and engaged the atten- tion of the people. In those matters, and in the conduct of the public affairs of the town, he was always a cordial and able assistant of his life long friend, Captain Asahel Roundy. Prior to 1830, when a portion of the township of Marcellus was added, all public business of the town centered about Spafford " Corners," where these two men resided, and their influence was most potent.

Both were strong men, yet their influence and control over their fellows was much strengthened by their sympa- thetic and fun loving natures.

ROSWELL HUTCHENS.

Mr. Hutchens had a son, Roswell Hutchens, who in- herited his humor, purity and fun, but not his commanding physical strength and personality. " Roz," as he was familiarly called, died January 16, 1854, at the age of thirty- three years, unmarried, yet where is there a man or woman, who was a boy or girl residing within a radius of ten miles of Spafford " Corners," in his time ,who does not cherish a pleasant recollection of him and his fun loving disposition. His sleigh or wagon was never so small or overloaded as to prevent him giving a boy or girl a lift on the way to and from school, and generally his sleigh or wagon had as many boys and girls upon it as could safely hang on. In the Fall of the year " Roz " ran the Hutchens' Cider Mill, which at noon hour of school days was a favorite resort for boys to congregate, eat dinner and drink cider. No boy was ever refused a drink of cider and as much of the beverage as he could carry away in his dinner pail. Like his father before him he was a lover of fine horses and was seldom without a pair of his own, yet like most admirers of horsekind he was a successful and mveterate horse trader: — in fact he would trade anything he owned if he got his price. His desire for traffic frequently led him from home, and it was not unusual for these absences to be extended for weeks at a time; then followed the tri- umphal home coming, when all the people left their work and gathered along the highway to witness the entertain- ment which " Roz " was sure to have in store for them. On one of these occasions, it will be remembered, that the procession consisted of two or more spans of horses attached

SPAFFORD, ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK 31

to an ordinary farm wagon, bearing a hay-rack filled with all kinds of household goods and farming implements. Following this came a yoke of oxen, a dairy of cows, and a drove of sheep. The entire outfit comprised everything necessary to stock and run a farm except a wife, and no doubt there was some disappointment in not finding among his belongings this essntial commodity.

At another time he brought home a camel-back pacer mare, as ugly looking a nag as man ever derw a line over, but as speedy as she was ugly, and that was saying a good deal. For a month or more after that every farmer boy, who thought he had a horse particularly fast, had a chance to test his claim on the road. It is not probable that " Roz's " sisters or girl friends were ever seen going to church or a quilting bee behind this animal, yet all were willing before a month went by to concede the right of way to him and his pacer mare. " Roz " was a great favorite with old and young, and on festive occasions among his acquaintance, v/as not only present but generally the center of interest, where innocent fun held sway. No one pre- sumed to make him the subject of a practical joke but once, and that nearly- broke his heart.

" Roz " brought home a raw-boned animal, called a Pie- balled horse, of very light color and in bad condition; this was put to pasture in a back lot, to recuperate and gain flesh, as a basis for a future trade. With his long ears and measly condition he looked more like a mule than a horse, so much so, that a wag thinking to define his identification in the animal kingdom more perfectly, trimmed his tail doA^Ti to a " nubbin " at the end, and cut his mane down to a rovt^ of short bristles along the top of his neck; then, still more to improve the identification, he put a few stripes around his body with a brush and a pot of black paint ; the animal, thus disfigured, was then turned loose to meet the doting gaze of his master. When " Roz ' discovered this transformed quadruped he was furious, and for the first time in his life was unable to see the funny side of a joke. The wag soon discovered this unusual element in " Roz " nature, and wisely kept his identification so securely that " Roz " died without knowledge of the creator of this, his first and only specimen of the Zebra kind.

Among the efforts made to discover the person who per-

S2 ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

petrated this practical joke, was one made by " Ranse " Coon, the village harness-maker. At " Roz " solicitation he ffot a small boy, who was supposed to know something of the matter, into his shop and inquired of him who dis- figured " Roz " horse. The boy being reluctant to answer, Coon pressed the question, by saying he might as well tell then as at any time, for if he did not answer he would be brought in Court and made to swear. The boy replied that his m^other told him " never to swear." Coon, perceiving the boy did not understand the nature of an oath, pressed his question still more. Finally the boy, in despair, exclaimed, " Well, if I have got to swear, I say B — G — I don't know anything about it." This settled the examina- tion, and " Roz," being told the result, was so well pleased that he gave up farther investigation.

On the face of the tombstone placed at the grave of Roswell Hutchens, in Spafford Cemetery, is firmly set a small daguerrotype of himself, in a plug hat; this, when last seen by the writer, after a lapse of nearly fifty years since it was first put there, was as perfect as when first taken.

AMOS MINER.

Amos Miner was born in Norfolk, Litchfield County, Conn., November 10th, 1776. He came to Marcellus, (now Skaneateles), about the year 1800, and settled on a cross- road leading east from the lake road, and about two miles south of the village of Skaneateles. Here he built himself a shop and commenced the manufacture of his famous accelerating wheel-heads, to be attached to spinning wheels then in use by farmers' wives for making woolen yarn. In the Fall of the year 1805 he sold his possessions in Skan- eateles and located on Lot 68, Marcellus, (now Spafford), but soon after established himself in Factory Gulf, where, as a member of the firm of Miner, Deming and Sessions, he built a factory for the manufacture of his celebrated accel- erating wheel-heads and other wooden articles. Among the articles invented and manufactured by him about this time were Miner's Patent Pail, Miner's Half Bushel Measure, Miner's Wooden Bowls, Miner's Grooved Window Sash, and Miner's Wooden Pumps. He also manufactured many other articles from wood, then in common use.

THOMAS MAXSON FOSTER

SPAFFORD, ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK 33

After a few years Miner sold his interest in the busi- ness at Factory Gulf, and located himself at the head of another Gulf on Lot 76, Marcellus, leading: into Otisco Lake, where he built another factory, and a grist mill, commonly called " The Pudding Mill," from the fact that Miner here ground large quantities of Indian meal, com- monly used by the esirly settlers as an article of food, under the name of pudding and milk. Miner's superior inventive genius was more often brought into requisition in the manufacture of tools and machines used in the process of manufacture of his inventions, than in the conception and completion of the finished product itself.

The genius of Miner Vv^as particularly illustrated by the manner in which he accumulated and applied the power to run his machinery at the mill, situate at the head of the Pudding Mill Gulf. The mill was so located on the edge of a precipitous rock, that the water coming to his mill passed over a series of three overshot wheels, one above another, giving him the accumulated power of three wheels instead of one.

Miner, like most men of his class, was a better inventor than financier, so when his invention was completed and on the road to success, he generally tired of it, sold out, and others were premitted to reap the fruits of his genius Instead of himself. The Pudding Mill venture was no exception to the rule, so another was soon in possession of the mill, and miner was engaged in starting another factory or mill at Mottville, on the outlet of Skaneateles Lake. From there he soon moved further down stream, to a place midway between Elbridge and Jordan, and was finally lost sight of in the Far Distant West. When he left the State it is said he carried with him the sum of $10,000, the accumulation of a lifetime, while others accumulated great wealth, as a product of his brain power and inventive genius.

BARN MOVING.

In the early fifties Asahel Madison Roundy was a mer- chant at Spafford " Corners,' and owned and occupied the Joseph R. Berry store (now occupied by John Van Ben- schoten), and Thomas Maxson Foster was and had been for many years his clerk. This store was a favorite place

34 ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

for men and boys to gather evenings, tell stories and dis- cuss matters of general interest. Before Mr. Roundy's death, which occurred in 1857, an incident occurred which Mr. Foster, familiarly called " Mac," related to the writer, and we here transcribe in his own language :

" A short time before Asahel M. Roundy died he pur- chased a part of the Samuel French farm, west of the road and just south of the " Corners." Being dissatisfied with the location of the barn on the premises, he undertook to move it nearer the road and the house on the place. He made a bee and invited his nieghbors to assist in the moving, which was in the old waj^ with rollers under each corner of the building, revolved by hand spikes inserted in holes made for the purpose. After two half days' effort the building still stood within a rod of the place where it was at the beginning, and Ase came in to the store where I was at work, discouraged, and said to me : ' I don't believe I can ever get that barn moved in the world.' I replied: ' If you will leave that job to me I will get it moved, and won't go near it either, but if you do you must not inter- fere.' ' Well,' says he, * you go ahead, and I will stand aside and you can do as you please.'

" Roundy, at that time, was a prominent member of the Baptist Church and a pronounced advocate of temperance. After the matter was turned over to me I waited until one evening, when a number of men had gathered in the store to tell stories and discuss the news of the day, and I said to them quietly, that on such a day I intended to move ' Ase's ' barn, and I wanted them to turn out and help me and invite their friends. That there would be plenty of lemonade for all, and I would see there was plenty of stick in it to suit their taste ; and if they came I would see they had a good time.

" When the day arrived the clans began to gather ; there was not only enough to move the building, but a goodly number to spare. There was Silas Randall and two or three of his boys, Avery Burdick, Russel Rounds, Jencks Harrington, Uriah Morris, and many others vrhose names I cannot recall ; most of whom have long since gone to their final reward. They were honest and faithful men, good and generous neighbors, and every one of them fond of good cheer and of the sports of that age.

SPAFFORD, ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK 35

" As I began to mix my first pail of lemonade, Silas Ran- dall sang out : " Well, boys, if we are going to move that building let us be about it," and all hands following his lead and moved off for the barn. By the time the last man had moved out of the store I had my lemons, sugar and water in the pail, and I went down cellar and drew a generous measure of alcohol, and added that to the other ingredients in the pail ; I then started for the barn. When I got there I saw that Silas Randall was in charge and every man in his place, so I carefully put my lemonade where all could see it and returned to the store. On my return I took down another large milk pail and commenced my second decoction of lemons, sugar, water and alcohol. As I pursued my work I looked out of the store window and saw that the barn was not only moving, but seemed to be walking to its place of destination. When I had prepared my second pail of lemonade I again started for the moving. On the way I

met M M- , who accosted me, saying: " Mac! there

seems to be plenty of help without me, so I guess I will go home and hoe my potatoes. I did not get any of the other lemonade, and if you are willing, I would like a bit of this.' I put down the pail, and he took the tin dipper and took up a generous draught of the beverage. As he put it to his

lips, I said : ' M , be careful, there is a stick in that and

I don't know the size of it.' He either did not hear the remark, or did not heed the caution, and quaffed off the contents of the dipper without a halt, and started for home.

M M and his wife were at that time well known

church members and professed strict teetotalers, hence my caution; which I would not have deemed necessary for others. When I arrived at the building it was nearly in place, so I put down the pail, stood around and looked on. Before the building, with his back to the front, stood the tall form of Silas Randall, with his bare brawny arms gesticulating like a bandmaster. ' Here, take hold of this plank, Avery, and put it dow^i here. Take hold of that handspike, Nathan. Russel Rounds, come round here and help William,' sang out his clear voice, and then: 'Ail together. He! Hoe! Hee! He! Hoe! Hee and the building moved like a creature of life. It did not take long to put the barn in place, and then came the jacking up of the building and the leveling of the sills. There was no

30 ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

use for me, so I started back for the store. As I walked

along- 1 looked do\\Ti the road and saw Mrs. M , with her

sunbonnet in her hand, coming towards me as fast as she could walk. When she overtook me she said : ' Mac, what

has M been doing up here to-day?' I said: * Nothing;

there was sufficient without him, so he went home. Why?' She replied : * I never saw him act so before. He came home, took his hoe and went into the patato patch, and there he stood leaning on it. The moment he tried to do any- thing, he pitched forward and could hardly keep his feet; I did not know Y\^hat was the matter.' I said : ' He is not to blame, if any one is it is me ; but no one is to blame. I told him there was a stick in the lemonade, but I guess he did not understand it. You go home, put him to bed, and he will sleep it off by morning. Don't say anything to any- one about it. He is all right.' She turned around and went

home. As M lived afterwards to a good old age I guess

the lemonade did him no haiTti.

" Aftei- the moving was completed the young folks gath- ered on the village green and played ball, and the old folks looked on and applauded the winners. At tea time all went home, feeling that they had a good time. No one seemed to be worse for having drank of the lemonade with a stick in it."

DANIEL WALLACE, JR.

This brief sketch of first settlers would be incomplete without some reference to the large, influential and respect- able Wallace family, who were inhabitants of the northern portion of the town. Daniel Wallace, Sr., the head of the family, came from Pittstown, Rensselaer County, New York, and settled on Lot 88, Marcellus, about 1808. He had a large family, some of whom were born before coming here and some afterwards. They were all persons of marked character, but possibly none of his sons were better known than his son Daniel Wallace, Jr., who at one time was one of the largest real estate holders in town. " Uncle Daniel," as the latter was familiarly called, died at a great age and was buried in Borodino Cemetery. He always claimed his family was of Scotch origin, but the old stock spelled the name Wallis in a very un-Scottish way. Uncle Daniel took great interest in town affairs, and his

SPAFFORD, ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK 37

neighbors early discovered the neecssity of consulting his wishes in such matters. Political questions were of vital importance to him, and all measures submitted to public vote usually received his cordial support or unyielding opposition. He was a lifelong Democrat, and like most members of that party, was generally opposed to new inno- vations, or so called reform movements. He firmly believed in the right of every man to think and act for himself in relation to religious and political questions, and therefore rebelled against all restaints in such matters. When the temperance movement was first advocated it met his deter- mined opposition; and v^^hen local option as to the sale of intoxicating liquors become a question of town politics he was furious, and threw his strength with the License Party. There are some still living v/ho well remember the bitter fight which Uncle Daniel and his followers put up in the Special Election, held April 27, 1847, when the question of License or No License was first determined by vote of the town. The Liquor, or License men, turned out early and strong, and during the fore part of the day it looked as if the question was going their way, and Uncle Daniel was happy, but in the afternoon the other side had their inn- ings, and the question was finally determined in favor of the No License men, by a vote of 181 to 171. This was too much for Uncle Daniel and for years afterwards he did not forget the leaders of the men who were opposed to him in this movement.

Uncle Daniel was a thrifty and prosperous farmer and at one time raised many turkeys for the Syracuse market. In the Fall of the year it was not uncommon, at evening time, to see turkeys roosting on the fences and trees for a quarter of a mile on either side of his house; and at Thanksgiving Syracuse was made happy by the luscious character of his birds, and Uncle Daniel was enriched by Syracuse silver received in return. The frequent reoccur- rence of these annual visits to Syracuse obtained for him the sobriquet of " Turkey Wallace," a name which he bore to the time of his decease.

Uncle Daniel had a large, intelligent and respectable family of children whom, for reasons best known to him- self, he named after distinguished notables and royal per- sonages which attracted his attention, as follows : " Simon

38 ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

Bolivar, Napoleon Bonaparte, Santa Anna, Maria An- toinette, Demetrius Ypsilanti, and Andrew Jackson." Andrew Jackson was a name particularly to his liking, for the first of that name having died young, he named a second after that distinguished character in American history.

SCHOOLS.

Like other communities settled by New England people, the first settlers in town had hardly put their things to rights in their log cabins before they organized schools and churches. The first school teacher at Spafford " Corners " was Hannah Weston, who came from her home in Skan- eateles Village and returned to it vv^eekly. on horseback ; the road through the wilderness between the two places not permitting of any other mode of travel. This school, the beginning of District School No. 2, was taught in a log cabin, standing near the present residence of Nathan Ran- dall, two doors south of Roundy's store in 1900. Miss Weston was born in Fitz William, N. H., September 22, 1786, and came to Skaneateles with her parents before 1800, among the first settlers in that village. It was while teach- ing that school she made the acquaintance of Captain Asahel Roundj% v.ith whom she was afterwards united in marriage, January 19, 1809.

The school thus organized was continued for a short time at the place where it was first instituted, but soon after, as a compromise between the patrons residing on the tv/o main thoroughfares running north and south through this portion of the to^vn, a building specially designed for school purposes was erected on " The Hill," a quarter of a mile or more east of the " Corners," on a cross road leading from one to the other of these two leading highways.

The first two or three generations of village boj^s and girls who attended school on " The Hill,' have many reminis- cences to relate in reference to these times, pleasant and otherwise. We imagine, however, that none of them were ever exactly satisfied with that location for a school house. In the Summer it was dreary, nearly half a mile from any residence, and in Winter it was the bleakest and windiest place on earth. The cold northwest wind, coming over Skaneateles Lake, had a free and unobstructed sweep of twenty miles or more, and struck the school building fair

SPAFFORD, ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK 39

and square in its full strength and vigor. In looking back to those days we only wonder why the building was not blown av/ay. It took many cords of three foot wood to feed that old box stove, in use at that time, to keep the boys and girls in comfort on the back seats and their ink stands from freezing. Every scholar had to carry a dinner pail in those days, the noon hour being too short to permit going to the nearest house for the mid-day meal. In Winter the east and west road between the school house and village was always drifted full, so it was imperative for teams and pedestrians to pass through the open fields, in going from one to the other of these places. Then there were many other objections to this location for a school house that a pupil could allege, besides those already noted, and not least of these was the fact, that it was altogether too near a fine old grove of beech woods, which was just opposite of the school house grounds. Teaching school in those times was very much like driving oxen; it was attended with much talking and a dextrouse use of a beech gad. We doubt if there is any boy living or dead, who attended school on " The Hill," who has not a score of vows registered in High Heavens to " lick " some teacher who taught in that old Tiouse, " as soon as he got big enough to do the job." There was something in the very air of that old school house to make a schoolmaster " whale ' a boy ; and so far as heard from there were no exceptions to the rule in teachers.

About 1824 or 1825 the first school building accidentally (?) burned and the boys and girls were happy. But the time was not then ripe for a change, so a new building was promptly erected on the old site to replace the old one. During the interim school was continued in Webster's barn, then standing a few rods east of the village cemetery. The second building was used for school purposes until about 1860, when a new generation of fathers having come in povfer, a new building was erected just south of the Corners, where school has been taught ever since.

Among the pleasing incidents which occurred at school on the hill was the raising of a flag and pole. At a Summer term the small boys had under discussion the subject of pole and flag, when the school mistress good naturedly observed, that if they would erect the pole she would furnish the flag. This put the youngsters to work, and very soon,

40 ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

with the aid of their friends, the pole was in place, obligat- ing the teacher to perform on her part. In her dilemma she engaged the services of the village wagon maker, who professed knowledge on the subject of flags, to furnish the article required. At the time appointed the flag was pro- duced; it consisted of a strip of white cotton cloth striped with paint in all colors of the rainbow, and on the field, where stars usually are placed, instead appeared this motto : " What man has done, man can do again. No. 2 will try it."

The flag was a grievous failure, for v/hen hoisted to the top of the pole, like any piece of oil cloth, v;hich in fact it was, it would not float in any zephyrs known to Spafford Hills. Yet, the motto was there and made an indelible impression, which we trust will endure as long as a scholar of that old school shall survive to repeat the sentiment.

In April and May, 1813, the original tov*Ti of Spafford was divided into five school districts, very much as now, with the exception of the Spafford Hollow district, which was then included in, and afterwards taken from, the Cold Brook district. The Nunnery district was then designated as No. 1, Spafford Corners as No, 2, East Side Hill as No. 3, Cold Brook as No. 4, and the Noi*th district, sometimes called the Woodworth District, as No. 5.

From time to time subsequent to this first school order, slight changes were made in district lines to accommodate patrons of these schools ; and from time to time, to meet the wants of school children, new districts were created out of old ones, or discontinued, as the exigencies of the times seemed to require. Among the changes made which seem worthy to be noted are the following:

In 1817 School District No. 2 was divided by a line drawn east and west though the center of Lot 31, Tully. and the southern portion created into a new district, known as No. 6. The next year (1818) Ripley Hill was taken from School District No. 4, and, after a separate existence as School District No. 7 for a short time, was finally dissolved in 1821, and its territory added to School District No. 6. In this district school was first taught in a log house which stood west of the highway on Lot 41, Tully, just south ot Prindle's Woods. In 1831 a new frame building was erected east of the same highway and at its junction with

SPAFFORD, ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK 4|

a cross road south of Barker's house, leading to Ripley Hill. In the latter building school was continued until the Spring of 1850, when this district was dissolved and its territory re-annexed to School District No. 2. At this time the school building was sold, moved to Spafford Corners and re-modeled into a dwelling house, lately occu- pied by Alexander Green. This house is now the first house south of Roundy's store, on the west of the highway.

In January, 1824, after a protracted controversy among the patrons of School District No. 3, over the location ol a new school building, that district by order of the School Com.missioners was divided into two districts numbered 3 and 1, but in 1835 the latter was dissolved and its terri- tory re-annexed to School District No. 3.

In 1831, after the annexation of a portion of the town- ship of Marcellus to the original town of Spafford in the prior year, the schools then existing in the new territory were recognized and re-numbered, so as to make their numbers consecutive in order with those then existing in this town. There have been some changes in these school districts since that time, owing principally to changes in town lines by acts of the Legislature of the State of New York, so there are now in the Marcellus end of the town, three full districts instead of seven, as at the beginning of 1831.

In addition to the schools above enumerated there have always been joint districts, supported by this and adjoining to^\^ls, notably the Scott and Ripley Hill District, and the school in Spafford Hollow, supported by the towns of Spafford, Otisco and Tully.

It seems unnecessary to add that these schools have been for years free schools, supported by public tax, are under the general supervision of State authorities, and, like all schools of the State, are justly commended for their excellence and efficiency.

CHURCHES AND LIBRARIES.

One of the oldest churches in the County of Onondaga is that of the Baptist Church at Thorn Hill, which was organ- ized largely through the instrumentality of Elder Elias Hamion, its first pastor, who came to this town and settled on Lot 77 or 76, Marcellus, on or before February 25, 1801.

42 ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

The first records of this church are dated April 19, 1806, but the general belief is that the organization of the church preceded that date. The incorporation of the society under the name of " First Baptist Religious Society of Marcellus," took place May 7, 1815, when the church building was begun, and at which time Alexander Enos, Elijah Cody, John Wiltsey, Medad Harvey, Joshua Chandler and John Hunt, were made trustees. It is probable that the church building was completed in 1816; prior to which time church services were held in school houses and private residences. The names of Nathan Thompson, Amasa Sessions, John Ten Ej'-cke and Charles Nichols were additional names mentioned in said letters of incorporation, which were recorded in Onondaga County Clerk's Office in Miscellaneous Records, Book " D," page 2, etc., April 4, 1816.

The following account of said society is taken, corrected, and adapted from Israel Parsons, M. D.'s, Centennial Address delivered at the Village of Marcellus, New York, July 4, 1876.

" The materials concerning the Baptist Church at Thorn Hill were taken from a manuscript history of that church prepared by Elder Hatch in 1867, during his pastorate of that church. At the date of the first records of the church on April 19, 1806, Elder Elias Harmon was pastor, and the following were among the most active male members; Amasa Sessions, Amasa Kneeland, John Kneeland, Warren Kneeland, Jesse Manley, Chauncey Deming, Nathan Thomp- son, and Joshua Chandler.

The following is a list of the early pastors of this churcn :

Elias Harmon 1805 (or earlier) to Feb., 1816

Salmon Morton Aug., 1816 to Aug., 1818

Jesse B. Worden Nov., 1816 to Mar., 1835

W. Benjamin Capron Mar., 1835 to Mar., 1840

Thomas Brown Apr., 1840 to Feb., 1848

A. R. Palmer Feb., 1848 to Dec, 1849

Sylvester Gardner Spring, 1850 to May, 1851

William Wilkins May, 1851 to Mar. 1852

Jno. Baldwin June, 1853 to Sept., 1854

Alexander Milne Mar., 1855 to Mar., 1857

Hiram Powers _ Mar., 1857 to Mar., 1858

Thomas Bowen Apr., 1858 to June, 1858

the date of his decease.

SPAFFORD, ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK 43

J. N. Seeley _ Dec, 1858 to Nov., 1860

William Roney May, 1861 to May, 1864

E. B. Hatch Apr., 1865

(The latter was pastor when this record was made.)

" From the org-anization of the church to September, 1867, (when the record was made) a period of sixty-two years, there had been united to it by baptism five hundred ana twenty-tvv'O, and by letter three hundred and eight.

Elder Worden's pastorate was the longest, eighteen years, and Elder Hatch says was the period of the Church's greatest prosperity. He preached two thousand sermons, attended two hundred funerals, and solemnized one hundred and twenty marriages. Over four hundred were taken into the church during that time.

Dr. Jonathan Kneeland is quoted as saying : " The Baptist Church at Thorn Hill was built fifty-nine years ago, and previous meetings were held in school houses. Elder Jesse B. Worden preached to the people from the high pulpit of this church, standing on one leg, (not Worden but the pulpit), for about 18 years, when he went to Montrose, Pennsylvania, where he died. He was Captain of Volun- teers in the War of 1812. His church salary was $250.00 per year, one-fifth in cash, and the balance in produce, prin- cipally corn and wheat, the former at three shillings and the latter at six shillings per bushel."

Dr. Kneeland is further quoted as saying : '' Elder Morton will be long remembered for his strong Calvinistic sermons." " Elder Harmon moved to Chautauqua County, N. Y,, and many of his sons became men of mark." Hon. Sidney Smith says " Elder Morton died and was buried at Thorn Hill." He " died January 22, 1822, in his 55th year and the 23rd of his ministry," according to the inscription on his tombstone at Thorn Hill.

A public library was instituted and incorporated at Thorn Hill, February 12th, 1811, at a gathering of twenty or more people at the residence of John Hunt. The name of the society v/as entitled as " The Harmonical Library," and the following were chosen as its first trustees : Elias Harmon, Thomas King, Amasa Sessions, Jeduthan Lamb, Jesse Copp, Lewis Smith and Amasa Kneeland.

The good results flowing from the establishment of this church and library at Thorn Hill at such an early date are

44 ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

noteworthy and can be seen and felt in that rural community even to this day. Dr. Parsons, in speaking of the Thorn Hill community says : " More of her sons and daughters have entered the literary field than is usual in that amount of population. Besides others that I have mentioned as having become statesmen in the Great West, the following have been mem.bers of the New York Legislature one or more times : Daniel Baxter, S. S. Kneeland, Sidney Smith, Charles R. Vary and Lewis Smith (three times) ; the last also once held the office of Sheriff of the County of Onon- daga." It is to be regretted that Dr. Parsons did not mention the names of others who grew up in this Thorn Hill community subject to the influence of this Church and Public Library, and who have gone forth to make an honor- able record for themselves in the learned professions and in the business pursuits of the world. Among others be- sides those already named, who should be mentioned in this connection are the names of William Smith, who became a lawyer, college graduate, and successful business man, but who died early of asiatic cholera; Stephen and Job L. Smith, two college graduates and distinguished physicians; Stella Kneeland, missionary to India ; Amasa Spencer Knee- land, Baptist minister; Hon. A. Judson Kneeland, lawyer; Dr. Jonathan Kneeland, a distinguished physician of Onon-- daga County from whose comments on Thorn Hill people we have already quoted; Horace Kneeland, sculptor; John Sessions, a lawyer of Brooklyn, New York ; Alonzo Sessions, Lieutenant Governor of the State of Michigan, Member of the State Legislature, and also of the State Constitutional Convention of the latter State, and a Bank President and successful business man ; two or more of Elder Harmon's boys whose names are not known, also attained eminence in professional and business life ; and undoubtedly many others whose names are unknown to the writer. It is much to be regi-etted that the moral influence of this church, the incen- tive to study and to higher literarj'- attainments emanating from this public libraiy established at such an early date cannot be better told and described at this writing.

On the 25th day of August, 1829, a religious society was incorporated in the Village of Borodino under the name of the " P'irst Religious Society of the Village of Borodino,* of which Merrit Leonard, John Baxter, Dyer Coe, Charles

SPAFFORD, ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK 41

Vary, Benjamin Trumbull and Ira Coe were the first trustees. George Dickson, Jr., John H. Fargo and Ransom Howard were additional names mentioned in said letters of incorporation. This society, according to statements made by Simon B. Wallace, built a church building in which services were held for a number of years, and owing to want of membership was finally abandoned as a place of worship ; the building has since been occupied and used as a towTi hall and a place for public gatherings in the Village of Borodino.

October 18, 1853, the Methodist people in Borodino and that vicinity who prior to that date had been meeting in the school house and other places met and were duly incor- porated under the name of the " Borodino Methodist Epis- copal Church," with Isaac Harris, William Hayford, Isaac Morrell, Charles Ferry and William Cowan as its first board of trustees. Mr. S. B. Wallace says, this society at the time of its incorporation purchased a church building in the Village of Skaneateles, took it down, and rebuilt it in this village where it stands to-day and is still used as a church building by this society. This society and the M. E. Society at Spafford " Corners " have for many years been presided over by a minister assigned to them by the M. E. Conference of this district as one charge ; the minister residing formerly at Spafford Corners, but latterly in the Village of Borodino. Like most country religious societies neither of these two Methodist societies have the power and influence that they once had.

The members of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Spafford Hollow were incorporated on the 5th day of March, 1834, under the name of " The Spafford Hollow Methodist Episcopal Society," and Wliliam O'Farrell, Esq., David B. Boutell, Elias Jacobs, Jonas Terbush and Isaac Smith were chosen the first Board of Trustees. The same year a church edifice was built on the following described real estate, which was conveyed to said Board of Trustees by Isaac Smith and wife Lucy, on the 9th of January, 1835, as follows: Being part of Lot 23, Tully, and bounded on the east by the highway running northerly and southerly through said lot and Hollow — on the south by a cross road running easterly and westerly across said Hollow, and unit- ing with said first highway — and on the west and north by

46 ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

parallel lines to said two highways so as to contain said church edifice and one-half acre of land. The Spafford Hollow Cemetery is located only a short distance from this church. Among the early active members of this church society were the O'Farrells, Boutells, Jacobs and Smith families, and the family of Benejah Cleveland. Since these families have died out or moved away the active spirit of the church has been much impaired.

About fifty years ago the Methodist Episcopal Society of Cold Brook built a church building, opposite the Cold Brook Cemeterj'-, but no articles of incorporation have ever been filed or recorded in the Clerk's Office of Onondaga County, and no deed of conveyance has ever been recorded granting the church lands to any Board of Trustees, although these lands have been excepted on one or two occasions from deeds granting surrounding lands. Among the active church members of this society in former years were the families of Justus N. Knapp, the Churchills, Tafts, Maxons, and Crosleys. The present state of this society is not known.

A Baptist Church Society at Spafford Corners was incor- porated under the name of " Spafford Baptist Society," March 21st, 1817, in which John Babcock, John Hutchens, Asahel Roundy, Amos Palmer, and John Knapp were named as trustees, but the society never had any church building, or left any records, except these articles of incorporation. What is supposed to be the same society was afterwards re-incorporated on the 7th day of May, 1838, with Phineas Hutchens, Cornelius Williamson and Samuel French as trustees, and Asahel Roundy and John C. Harrington also named in said Articles of Incorporation. This society under its re-incorporation built a church building in the year 1839, which was dedicated January 8, 1840. Among the stated ministers who presided over this church were Elders Benjamin Andrews and Alanson Boughton. After a season of prosperity and usefulness this society went into decline and finally failed for want of membership. The church building was sold in 1860 to Uriah Roundy, Esq., who converted it into a store for the sale of general mer- chandise, and it is now in use for that purpose on the old church site at the " Corners."

This church edifice was, during the early forties, the

SPAFFORD, ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK 4?

scene of a remarkable disputation between the two resident ministers of the Methodist and Baptist denominations, on the subject of baptism by immersion as an essential saving ordinance. People came from far and near to attend these meetings, which continued for several days, and at the end, as usual in such controversial debates, both sides retired feeling that each had won a great victory over the other side. One thing is certain, baptism by immersion may have been efficacious in saving the members of this church from eternal damnation, for all or nearly all have gone to their final reward, yet it did not save the church buildings from subsequent desecration as a place of religious worship. On the 22nd day of August, 1829, a religious society was incorporated at Spafford " Corners " under the name of the " First Presbyterian Society in Spafford," and Erastus Barber, Ellis Taft, and Silas Cox were made trustees. Uriah Roundy, in speaking of this church society, says : " I have no knowledge of this society, and yet I knew all the men named in the Articles of Incorporation. Erastus Barber resided at the head of the Buck Tail road where Sey- mour Norton subsequently resided; he was once a Member of Assembly in the New York Legislature in this State. This society never had any meeting house, and must have * died a borning.' "

MORMON EXODUS.

At an early period in the history of this town there were a number of persons residing here who were known as Free Will Baptist, and were presided over by Elder John Gould, who resided in a log house standing east of the Homer road, on Lot 31, Tully, near the present residence of Mrs. Norton, widow of Erastus Norton. This society was duly incor- porated December 13, 1825, with James Avery, Shadrack Roundy, Thomas Smith, John Lawrence, Rogers Ide and Alexander R. Jackson as its first board of trustees. At the meeting held for the purpose of incorporation, Daniel Owen, a soldier of the Revolution, presided as Chairman, and James Smith acted as Secretary. In the year 1828, this society built a church building on the hill east of Spaf- ford Corners, adjoining district school house No. 2, on premises conveyed to it by Asahel Roundy and Hannah, his wife, February 12, 1828. The Board of Trustees at that

48 ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

time were Roswell Prindle, Shadrack Roundy, James Avery and Zerah Pulsifer. At this time this was the only church building in this portion of the town, the society had a large and respectable membership, and the church gave promise of a long and useful career, but about 1832 or 1833 it was struck bj^ a proselyting wave from the newly discovered Mormon religion, and a large share of its membership, under the lead of its pastor. Elder Gould, were carried from the fold of the church into the embraces of the nev/ faith. Among those who are said to have severed their connection with the church at this time, sold their possessions in town, were rebaptized into the new faith, and who departed from this State with the Mormons' movement, were the follow- ing: Elder John Gould, Zerah Pulsifer, and his brother Daniel Pulsifer, Shadrack Roundy and Uriah Roundy, his brother, Elias Humphrey, Mayhew Hillman, James Oliver, Mr. Ensign, and Mr. Cheeney and their several families; also Mrs. Maxson, Miss Maria Ripley and Miss Maria Brown. Som.e of these people separated themselves from the Mormon movement, on or before the Nauvoo incident, which resulted in the death of Joseph Smith, the Prophet, and settled in the Great West; among whom were Elder Gould, Uriah Roundy and Maria Ripley; but the greater number of them finally settled in Salt Lake City, where their descendants remain to this day. It was not possible for this church to recover from this exodus of membership into a movement like this, so the church went quickly into decline. After the church building had stood open for a long time to the weather and been a place where cattle in the fields had found shelter, it was finally sold in the early forties to Captain Asahel Roundy, who moved it near the Homer road, south of the " Corners," and converted it into the dwelling house lately occupied by Seymour Norton.

When this building was first erected, the frame being a large and heavy one, nearly every person in town turned out and assisted in the " raising." After the plates and rafters were in place, as was common in those times, one of the men assisting climbed up, and standing on the upper plate in his stocking feet, broke a bottle of whiskey upon it, dubbing the building " God's Barn." This at the time raised a great laugh, but many in after years recalled the prophetic character of the incident.

SPAFFORD, ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK 49

Maria Brown, named above among the Mormon prose- lytes, was a daughter of Judge Brown, of Scott, N. Y., and a sister of Porter Brown, a present resident of that place. After leaving Spafford she married Elder Ward, a Mormon leader, and finally settled in Salt Lake City, Utah, where she remained for several years, but ultimately renounced MoiTnonism and returned to the States, where she wrote and published, in 1857, the work entitled " Female Life Among the Mormons."

The following are condensed extracts from that work relating to Spaif ord people, and incidents which occurred in this town. " My early life was passed in that beautiful and picturesque region which borders Skaneateles Lake, in the State of New York. Circumstances over which I had no control determined me to abandon my home and pivately visit relatives of my mother, who were living near Albany. For that purpose I left the house of A J (Alex- ander R. Jackson, a member of the Free Will Baptist Church?) residing in Spafford ,Onondaga County, New York, and took the stage for Utica in the same State. Hold- ing a conversation with a middle age gentleman in the stage, (Elder Ward her future husband), I said: Many people of my acquaintance in Scott and Spafford have embraced Mormonism. There was a family in Cold Brook by the name of Cheeney, suggested the man. " Yes," I answered, " Mr, Cheeney's family were considered very fine people, were members of the Free Will Baptist Church, and the Pulsifers too ; Pulsifer, the " Swamp Angel," (Uriah Roundy says the "Swamp Angel" was a Mr. Ensign instead of Pul- sifer) , and I burst into a laugh. There were two families by the name of Pulsifer, both believers in Mromon. A child died in one of these families, and the Mormons gave out that on a certain night an Angel would come and carry the body to Heaven. The time appointed arrived, the rela- tives of the child were assembled, when a figure in white and with small bells attached to its garments, appeared. A party of unbelievers lying in ambush immediately gave chase. The figure ran for the neighboring swamp, but was pursued, taken and stripped of its angelic robes, and proved to be Pulsifer, the uncle of the deceased child."

" False," said my companion.

" I assure you it was the truth, I continued, and poor

50 ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

old Mr. Humphrey was deceived by them too. The old man was determined to be right if possible. He was first a member of the Free Will Baptist; then he joined the Seventh Day Baptist, left them, and was baptized to the faith and order of Momion; subsequently, he deserted the Mormons and united with the Baptist again, and then finally returned to the Mormons, by whom he was dipped seven times in succession, on account of his apostacy. He re- mained faithful to them after that, but always observed the Seventh Day.

"Were you ever acquainted with Elder Gould?" he inquired.

" I have seen him, he used to preach in Spafford."

" He did and with great acceptability, yet he joined the Mormons.

" And poor Mrs. Maxson was induced to leave her husband and children and go with them ; and Maria Ripley, a young woman, left her aged and infirm parents and went off, too.

" My companion informed me that his name was Ward, and that he was a man of property and a widower with two children, that he was well acqufiinted with many people in Scott, my native place, and had frequently heard the name of my father mentioned as a citizen of exalted reputation."

About the time of the Mormon exodus a Mrs. Gale, the wife of a respected citizen of Spafford, was a subject of " second sight," frequently saw visions, and claimed to hold daily intercourse with the spirits of her departed friends; on one of these occasions she saw and conversed with the departed spirit of a Mrs. Mapes, who exacted a promise on her part to intercede in behalf of her two young lady daugh- ters, whom she exclaimed, were in danger of ruin by the improper influence over them of Elder John Gould, Pastor of the Free Will Baptist Church. This delicate duty Mrs. Gale discharged by entering the church, during divine service, and in the persence of the worshippers denounced the conduct of their pastor in reference to the Mapes girls.

Mrs. Gale, afterwards describing her experience on this occasion, said : " For several days after being charged by the spirit mother with this delicate task, I was greatly oppressed and wished to escape the duty, but when I entered the church door my burden rolled away, and as I opened my mouth, language came freely, and a calmness came over my

SPAPFORD, ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK 51

feeling, such as I had been a stranger to since I first saw and was charged by the spirit of Mrs. Mapes.

Uriah Roundy, Esq., in speaking of Elder John Gould when pastor of this church, said he was once tried by a church tribunal in this old church building, for alleged improper conduct on his part in kissing Mrs. Alexander R. Jackson, one of the parishioners of the church, and humor- ously explains that after a long and protracted trial, he was finally acquitted, because the church tribunal was unable to determine from the evidence whether the alleged kiss was a " carnal or spiritual one."

SHADRACK ROUNDY.

The following abbreviated sketch of Shadrack Roundy, and his two sons Lorenzo and Jared, was taken from a more extended account written by Elizabeth D. Roundy, wife of Jared,

" Shadrack Roundy resided in the town of Spafford, New York, where he heard of the Revelations of God to Joseph Smith, and embraced the Gospel as taught by Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Soon after he moved to Pennsyl- vania, and from thence to Kirtland, Ohio, where he assisted in building a temple to the Most High.

" After receiving blessings and ordinations, he went from there to Caldwell County, Missouri, where he received a Commission as Captain of a Company of fifty. He was afterwards made Captain of Police, and also chosen aide de camp to Lieutenant General Joseph Smith, in the Nauvoo Legion. About this time he became a member of General Smith's life and body guard. After the Nauvoo persecu- tions he was chosen one of the pioneers to search for a new home, and subsequently was appointed Major and Presi- dent of the Second Division of Mormon Colonists that crossed the Plains. Arriving at Salt Lake City he was made Bishop of a Ward, elected a member of the first Legislature, and subsequently of the High Council. He was a man of influence among the people and stood high in the Council of Leaders of Latter Day Saints. He died in Salt Lake Citj^"

LORENZO WESLEY ROUNDY.

" Lorenzo Wesley Roundy, second son of Shadrack, was

52 ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

bom in Spafford, June 18, 1819, and shared all the hardships and vicissitudes of his parents, before arriving at Salt Lake City. At the latter place he was a member of the Nauvoo Legion, and took part in all the Indian Wars of the Mormon Colony. He was made Superintendent of the Co-operative Mercantile Institution at Kanarra, Iron County, Utah, was two or three times elected to the Legislature, was ordained Bishop in 1860, and finally made President of the Southern Colony of Mormons. He was drowned, crossing the Colo- rado River with a party of Mormon emigrants. May 24, 1876."

JARED CURTIS ROUNDY.

" Jared Curtis Roundy, third son of Shadrack, was born in Spafford and moved with his parents to Salt Lake City. Like his brother Lorenzo, he also took part in all the Indian Wars, was at one time Sheriff of Summit County, was ordained Bishop of Wanship, and at one time was Justice of the Peace. He was a man of influence among the Mormons, and was generally respected by every one. He died in Arizona, May 21, 1895."

HON. WASHINGTON ROUNDY.

Hon. Washington Roundy, son of Uriah Roundy, was bom in the town of Spafford, September 26th, 1824, and left that place with his father during the Mormon exodus. After the Nauvoo incident his father separated from the main branch of the Mormon Church, renounced the doctrine of polygamy, and settled with his family at or near Man- teno, Iowa, where his son Washington grew to Manhood and became a man of wealth and prominence. By occupa- tion Washington Roundy became a farmer, and owned and managed a farm of over a thousand acres of land. He was a man of marked character and wielded a strong political influence in his adopted State; among other political offices held by him was Member of the Legislature of the State of Iowa.

SPAFFORD UNION MEETING HOUSE.

On the 14th day of April, 1838, a number of religious people of different denominational beliefs, met at the school house on the hill east of Spafford " Comers," for the pur-

SPAFFORD, ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK 53

pose of organizing a society, preliminary to building a church building at that place. At that meeting a consti- tution was adopted, which will explain the wants of the people and the purposes of the meeting better than any statement we can give on the subject.

" CONSTITUTION OF THE SPAFFORD UNION MEETING HOUSE

Society."

" Whereas, we the subscribers, inhabitants of the town of Spafford, feeling desirous of having some suitable place for public worship, have resolved, at a public meeting held for that purpose on the 14th day of April, A. D., 1838, to form ourselves into a society called the ' Spafford Union Society,' of which society every person subscribing a sum shall be a member thereof, and own rights and privileges therein according to the amount so subscribed by such persons. The object of the society is to build and keep in repair a meeting house. Said meeting house shall be called the " Spafford Union Meeting House " and shall be situated at Spafford Comers, on a site where the blacksmith and wagon shop of G. Lewis now stands. Said shops are to be renoved and the site purchased by said Union Society. Said meeting house shall be finished off in a good work- manlike manner, on a plan to be adopted by a Committee to be appointed by the subscribers for that purpose.

" There shall be Trustees appointed by the subscribers according to law, whose duty it shall be to see that said meeting house is kept in repair, and to transact all business appertaining to said Society. Said Trustees shall_ appor- tion the time of preaching among the several denommations in manner as follows, viz. : ^ , i

" Every Gospel Denomination, a majority of whose male members who meet at Spafford Corners for public worship, and who may join in this Society, shall have the privilege of having stated preaching in said house. All other denom- inations shall be considered as transient preachers. Every Gospel Denomination shall have the privilege of preaching in said house ; but no transient preacher shall interfere with the stated preaching of any denomination, without the consent of such denomination. ivyr^^+;„^

" It is understood that whenever any Quarterly Meetmg Association or funeral is proposed to be held in said house,

54 ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

every denomination whose time the above mentioned meet- ing's shall encroach upon, shall give up that part of the time for use of such meeting. All rights owned by members of this Society shall be transferable. It is hereby understood that no denomination shall occupy more than an equal part of the time, provided the other societies, who are members of this Union, v/ish to occupy an equal part of the time.

" This Constitution shall not be altered or amended with- out the consent of at least three-fourth of the subscribers."

At a meeting held the 30th of April, 1838, for the pur- pose said Society was duly incorporated under the name of the " Spafford Union Society " and Joseph Bulfinch, John R. Lewis, Martin E. Knapp, Samuel Gale, Joseph Cole, Jacob W. Darling and John Collins were chosen its first Board of Trustees. At a subsequent meeting of the Board of Trustees, by ballot it determined that John R. Lewis and Samuel Gale should hold office for one year, Joseph Bulfinch and Jacob W. Darling for two years, and Joseph Cole, Martin E. Knapp and John Collins for three years.

In the book of minutes of this Society, under date of April 30, 1838, when said Society was incorporated, is the following :

'' Now for the purpose of carrying the foregoing plan, (meaning the constitution above quoted) into operation, We, the subscribers do hereby agree and bind ourselves to pay the sum set opposite our respective names, to the Trustees of said Union Society; one-half of the sum sub- scribed to be paid by the first day of January next, and the remainder to be paid one year from the first day of January next.

Spafford, April 30, 1838.

John Collins $ 100.00

Thos. B. Anderson 50.00

Joseph Cole 50.00

Sylvanus N. Grout 50.00

Gershom Lewis 50.00

Joseph Bulfinch 75.00

Alexander Hill 6.00

John R. Lewis 100.00

Easten Cole 100.00

Silas Randall 25.00

Russel M. Burdick 20.00

Levi Hurlbnt $	25.00
Russel Tinkham	10.00
John Baxter	10.00
Titus Haight	5.00
John Grout	50.00
Willard Doty	15.00
Edwin S. Edwards...	10.00
Timothy Owen	5.00
Moses Pressy	5.00
Samuel Gale	20.00
James Mellen	5.00

SPAFFORD, ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK

55

Odin Brown	10.00
Alonzo Sanford	10.00
Levi Applebee _	20.00
Horace Pease _	10.00
Isaac Day	10.00
John Fisher	5.00
John Harrington	5.00
James H. Norton	10.00
Hiram Mason	5.00
Orrin Town	5.00
Jonathan Ripley	5.00
Randall Palmer	2.00
John L. Ripley	5.00
Jonas TerBush	3.00
William Billings	5.00
Stephen Randall	10.00
Edward Scribens	5.00
John Ford	5.00
Lydius D. Whaley	15.00
Oliver S. Smith	1.00
Zebulon Davis	2.00
Nathan Palmer	10.00
Jonathan Johnson	20.00
Hiram W. Hays	15.00
Total

Bezaleel W. Taft

Peres Miner

Nelson Isdell

Martin E. Knapp

Nelson Berry

Whipple C. Har- rington

Erastus Hays

A. M. Roundy

Benjamin Stanton ...

Homan Barber

Emily Barber

Annis Barber

Titus French

Stephen Crane

David T. Lyon

Rufus Breed

Phillip Fisher

Elias Davis

Leonard Melvin

Franklin Smith

Richard Gale

Kortright Knapp ...

Zara Berry

John R. Connine

2.00

5.00

1.50

10.00

18.00

5.00

10.00

3.00

25.00

5.00

2.00

3.00

3.00

15.00

20.00

5.00

15.00

10.00

2.00

2.00

5.00

5.00

10.00

10.00

$1,170.00

In accordance with the suggestion made in the fore- going Constitution, Joseph Bulfinch, John R. Lewis, Mar- tin E. Knapp, Joseph Cole, Jacob W. Darling and John Collins, Trustees of Spafford Union Meeting House, re- ceived a deed from Gersham Lewis and Mehitable, his wife, oi one-quarter of an acre of land, known as the wagon and blacksmith shop of G. Lewis, bounded on the east and south, by the north and south highways, and on the north and west by lands of Joseph Cole. Said deed of conveyance was dated July 7, 1838, consideration $75.00, and acknowledged the same day before Daniel R. Robinson, Commissioner of Deeds, but not recorded. In the years 1838 and 1839 said Board of Trustees erected the present meeting house, on said lot, and had the same ready for occupation in the Spring of 1840.

56 ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

April 30, 1839, Russel M. Burdick and Lewis C. Davis were elected trustees of said Society, in the place of John R. Lewis and Samuel Gale, whose term of office had then expired.

Under the date of April 30, 1840, the following entry, in the handwriting of Dr. John Collins, appears in the book of minutes of said Society:

" At an annual meeting of the members of the Union Meeting House Society, held at the school house in District No. 2, pursuant to a legal notice, and adjourned to the Union Meeting House this 30th day of April, A. D., 1840, Joseph Cole was appointed Chairman and John Collins Secretary of said meeting. Then elected by ballot, Silas Randall and Benjamin Stanton to fill the vacancies of Joseph Bulfinch and Jacob W. Darling. The resignation of Lewis C. Davis was accepted and Solomon S. Rowe was elected to fill the vacancy. Thomas B. Anderson was unanimously elected salesman to sell slips in the Union Meeting House, pro tern. The following is a list of the purchasers, and number and price of slips purchased :

Hiram Hayes No. 1, price $ 32.00

Solomon S. Rowe " 2, " 32.00

Gershom Lewis " 6, " 60.00

Joseph Bulfinch " 32, " 110.00

Easten Cole " 12, " 74.50

Joseph Bulfinich " 16, " 60.00

Moses Pressey " 44, " 31.75

John R. Lewis " 11, " 70.00

John R. Lewis " 8, " 70.00

John R. Lewis " 30, " 95.00

John Collins " 7, " 72.50

John Collins " 33, " 95.00

Russel M. Burdick " 18, " 51.00

Zenos Tinkham " 3, " 50.00

Silas Randall " 22, " 40.00

Erastus Hays " 4 " 50.00

Silas Randall " 20 " 45.00

John Grout " 29, " 95.00

Levi Hurlbut •' 34, " 95.00

Samuel Gale " 17, " 50.00

S. N. Grout " 35, " 90.00

S. N. Grout " 15, " 60.00

SPAFFORD, ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK 57

Edwin S. Edwards " 13, " 70.00

David T. Lyon " 5, " 60.00

Lemuel Bessey " 36, " 90.00

J. Johnson and A. Burdick " 19, " 46.75

H. Anthony and J. H. Norton " 21, " 40.00

Stephen Randall and R. Palmer " 43, " 31.00

Homen Barber ; " 23, " 30.00

A. Hill and Wm. L Skelley " 10, " 70.00

Lewis C. Davis " 37, " 85.00

Aaron Bro\m (half slips) " 39, " 70.00

Jeremith Cotterell (one-half slip) " 38, " 85.00

Hiram Mason (one-third slip) " 41, " 60.00

W. Doty and M. E. Knapp " 14, " 70.00

Henry S. Grinnell (one-third slip) " 28, " 85.00

Stephen Crane (one-third slip) " 28, " 85.00

John R. Lewis " 9, " 70.00

Coomer Anthony (one-half slip) " 38, "

Assignments.

" John R. Lewis to Gersham Lewis, slip No. 9.

John R. Lewis to Anson Churchell, one-half slip No. 12.

Gershom Lewis to Abigail Stringham, slip No. 9.

" Joseph Cole, Chairman. John Collins, Secretary."

From a pencil memoranda made on the margin of the book of minutes of said Union Meeting House Society in the handwriting of John Collins, it appears there were twenty slips in the body of the meeting house and tewnty- four slips under the galleries on the sides of the house, making fortj^-four slips in all.

In the book of minutes of this church society, in addition to the foregoing report, appears from year to year a brief statement of the results of the election of trustees. This brief record continues down to the year 1889, and there- after there is no record whatever.

This church building has now stood for upwards of sixty years, and by reason of its substantial character bids fair to stand for sixty years more. It is now the only church building at the " Corners," or in that portion of the town in use for religious purposes. All denominations which formerly held religious services here have died out except the Methodist, and they are in the last period of dissolu- tion ; and still the people cherish with respect the old church

S8 ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

building-, and protect it from desecration and the insidious attack of the elements. All funeral services are held in this building, and occasionally divine services are .con- ducted here by a minister from the Borodino charge of the M. E. Church at that place. On these occasions the people attend irrespective of denominational belief. The word " Union " appears on the weather vane perched on top of the belfry of the church building, and well typifies the religious character of the people who have always wor- shipped in this old Meeting House.

OTHER CORPORATIONS.

A Society commonly known as the Farmers' Alliance, was organized in the Village of Borodino on the first day of January, 1871, and incorporated under the name of " Spafford Agricultural Society," with Dr. Van Dyke Tripp as President, Edwin A. Clark as Vice President, Simon B. Wallace as Recording Secretary, Aretus M. Legg as Corres- ponding Secretary, Otis Cross as Treasurer, and Jeremiah Olmsted, Orson B. Morton, Francis Ide, Albert E. Fulton, Moses P. Moule, and Samuel H. Stanton as Trustees. The following additional names are also mentioned in said articles of incorporation: Horace Prindle, H. L. Darling, Benjamin Monk, Ansel Grinnell, C. B. Morton, William N. Stone and Moses Crane. Mr. Uriah Roundy says there was some sort of insurance connected with this organization, but beyond this fact, and the general purpose indicated by its name, we have been unable to obtain any further infor- mation of this Society.

" The Skaneateles Lake Park Company" was duly incor- porated December 4, 1888, with a capital stock of $30,000, and time limit of fifty years, to build a hotel building on Skaneateles Lake. In the Articles of Incorporation John E. Waller, John McNamara, Martin Fennell, William F. Gregory and Lewis B. Fitch, were named as first trustees. This corporation purchased " Ten Mile Point,' planted it with shade trees, built a steamboat dock, and put up a dancing pavilion ; but up to the present time have not erected a hotel building. Since this incorporation, the Skaneateles Railroad and Steamboat Company, of which this company is supposed to be an adjunct, has changed hands and is now owned or controlled by William K. Niver of Syracuse, New

SPAFFORD, ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK f 9

York ; the property of this corporation is supposed to have gone into the same control. Whether the hotel building proposed will ever be built or not is an uncertainty, depend- ing largely on the future of Skaneateles Lake as a place of summer resort.

The " Borodino Creamery Company," with a capital of ^3,000.00, was formed and incorporated February 16, 1898, with Orrin I. Hayford, Marcus Patterson, Hiram A. Colton, Francis Ide, Frank Harvey and Edgar L. Bockes, as its first Board of Trustees. This creamery is located at Borodino Village, and is still in active operation and doing a prosperous business.

Since the foregoing was written the capital stock for a new Creamery has been fully subscribed, the building of which is to be erected at Spafford Corners.

MILLS, DISTILLERIES AND FURNACES.

The first necessity of the early settler was a grist mill to grind his wheat and corn, a saw-mill to saw his lumber, and a carding and fulling mill to card his wool and prepare his cloth for domestic use. When he first penetrated the wilderness which enshrrouded these Spafford Hills, the brooks and streams, which to-day seem too insignificant to be of any practical use, were full and powerful and cap- able of turning the machinery necessary for the use of the v/heehvright, the sawyer and the clothier. Nearly as soon as the woodman's axe had made a clearing in the dense forests, then covering the land, and the early settler had erected his rude log cabin for the reception of his family, these useful conservators to his comfort and happiness sprang up along the principal brooks and streams; but as time progressed and the requirements of the people changed, these mills, once so useful, became no longer a necessity and went rapidly into decay. To-day the existence of most of them is unknown to the present occupants of the land.

About the year 1805, Amos Miner built a factory on the west side of the Skaneateles and Homer Road, in what has since been known as " Factory Gulf,' for the manufacture of wheel-heads, used by farmers' wives in spinning woolen yarn. The water for this mill was conducted from a pond, well up stream, in a raceway along the northern bank of the gulf, to an overshot wheel at the factory building,

60 ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

standing just west of the hig-hway. Here Miner, in addi- tion to wheel-heads, made wooden pails, wooden bowls, half bushel and peck measures, and various other wooden articles useful for farmers and their wives. Four or five years after the factory was in successful operation. Miner sold out his interest in the wheelhead business, which was moved else- where, and the factoiy building was ultimately converted into a carding mill and clothing works.

Among the persons who subsequently carried on business here as clothiers were Edmund C. Weston and William Patten, two of the son-in-laws of James Rathbun, who cleared and improved the land v/here the factory stood. There are many persons still living, who in their boyhood days carried wool to this mill to be carded into rolls, for their mothers to spin into woolen yarn; and probably still more who have worn garments made from fulled cloth, pre- pared or manufactured in these works. After a period of usefulness this mill, like all others of its kind, went'into decline, finally suspended operation, and the building years ago was converted into a cider mill.

In this connection it seems proper to observe, that the v/omen folks in olden times spun yarn from the wool shorn from their own sheep, wove it into cloth, and in many instances cut and made it into garments for the use of the major portion of the hosueohld. In these matters they were very proficient and often displayed much delicacy and skill. The bedding in use in those times was a matter which received the especial consideration of the female portion of the household. The linen sheets, woolen blankets and coverlids made by these old dames of a hundred years ago, have challenged the admiration of all women folks that have succeeded them, and will continue to do so for years yet to come. Such rich blues, and such vivid and lasting colors. Probably very few of those who look upon and admire these remaining specimens of feminine art of olden times, have any personal knowledge of the manner of obtaining these beautiful colors, or of the old time dye tub, once so familiar an object, standing in a corner of the living room. In those times a spinning wheel, a reel, a pair of swifts, a loom, and a dye tub were deemed a very necessary part of the outfit of any household; and as the women manufactured cloth and made the garments of the

SPAFFORD, ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK 61

household, Miner's Patent Wheelhead and the carding machine were two very useful inventions in lightening her labors.

In about the year 1814, Oliver Hyde, a soldier of the Revolution, built a sawmill in Factory Gulf, on Lot 69, Marcellus, above Miner's Pond, which supplied water for his wheelhead factory.

When Amos Miner sold out his interests in Factory Gulf, he moved to Lot 76, Marcellus, where he erecter a grist mill at the head of the Gulf, leading from near the center of said lot easterly to Otisco Lake, as has been before fully described in a paragraph relating to Miner under the head of " Early Settlers." This mill has been continued in one form or another until the present day.Near this mill was erected, at a very early date, a sav-mill which was in opera- tion at a comparatively recent date.

About the year 1813, William Marsh erected a carding mill and clothing works, west of the highway and north of the stream at the head of the Pudding Mill Gulf, on Lot 76, Marcellus, near Miner's Grist Mill. Among the names of those who have been interested in this mill and works besides Mr. Marsh, are Eleazer Hillebert, Charles Richards, Jr., Richard S. Eggleston, William D. Potter, Roger Tolls, Jonathan S. Niles, Ichabod Sheldon and Ebenezer Failing. These works went to pieces many years ago and very few persons, if any now living, have any personal knowledge in reference to them.

On the east side of the same highway, and north of the Pudding Mill Gulf, was erected before 1819, by Alexander Webster, a distillery. Dr. Jonathan Kneeland, in speaking of this distillery said, " it did not last very long, as its owner soon boiled himself to death in his own mash tub." The widow, Barbara Webster, conveyed away the lands on which the distillery stood in 1825.

At a very early date the little huddle about Miner's mill gave promise of something more than it is at the present date. Eleazer Hillebert had a blacksmith shop there, David T. Lyon had a shoe shop, and there undoubtedly were other industries at that place. Borodino Village ultimately absorbed all that at one time seemed to give it promise of a better future.

Amasa Kneeland, at a very early date, carried on business

62 ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

as a tanner and currier, on the northwest comer of this same Lot 76, Marcelhis, near the Borodino and Thorn Hill road. David T. Lyon, also, in after years, carried on this same business at Spafford Corners; whether he carried on this business while residing at the Pudding Mill huddle is not known.

Seventy-five or a hundred years ago public sentiment, in reference to the use of intoxicating liquors, was different from what it is at the present, and distilleries were deemed more of a necessity at that time, when the custom was to drink whiskey instead of beer. There were no restrictions in those tim_es on the manufacture of whiskey ; consequently it was very cheap, three cents a glass, and pure, as there was no object in its adulteration; and distilleries for its manufacture were everywhere. Before the year 1819, Jonathan Berry erected a distillery, in what was then known as the Stone Gulf, below the Little Falls, and a short dis- tance east of School House No. 1, in the Nunnery neighbor- hood. This was apparently run by a man named Ephraim Colby. Mr. Berry subsequently conveyed away the lands where the distillery stood to John K. Stone, in the year 1832, and nothing more is known of these works. In one of the deeds of the surrounding lands appears the following reservation, being a description of the distillery lands. " Reserving distillery land as follows : Beginning at the head of Little Falls and running thence westerly along the brink to the south bank of said Gulf to the Narrows — thence across the narrows to the brink of the north bank — thence easterly along said brink of north bank to the round rock — thence to the head of the Falls — and thence to the place of beginning. Also a log house standing on the brink of the Gulf (lately occupied by Ephraim Colby) ; also a road to pass and repass from said distillery in a north- easterly direction without interruption."

April 19, 1806, Dr. Archibald Farr purchased fifty acres of land on Lot 12, Tully, at the foot of the Bucktail Gulf, on the west side of Spafford Hollow, of Judge William Cooper, the father of James Fenimore Cooper, the great American novelist, and author of the Leather Stocking Tales, for the expressed consideration of one hundred silver dollars. At the foot of the lower Falls Dr. Farr, on this purchase, erected the same year a grist mill ; being the first

SPAFFORD, ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK 63

of its kind in the orig-inal town of Spafford. This mill went out of existence soon after its erection, probaby destroyed by a Spring freshet. Uriah Roundy, born in Spafford July 24, 1819, in speaking of this mill says : " The Archibald Farr mill was built and out of existence before I can remember. A man by the name of Earl Barrows built a second mill at the lower end of the Buclctail Gulf about 1848, or 1850. This was a feed mill only, and was destroyed by a Spring freshet."

In a deed dated May 11, 1844, by Mathew Morse (Moss) of Spafford, to Ebenezer Morse of Homer, mention is made of a furnace once existing on the Dr. Farr land, at the foot of the lower Falls, at the mouth of the Bucktail Gulf. Uriah Roundy says this furnace was out of existence before he had any memory on the subject; and no one seems to be able to tell v/ho ran it, if not Dr. Farr, on whose land it was built.

On the top of the upper Falls, in the Bucktail Gulf, Capt. Asahel Roundy built a sawmill about 1840 ; a few feet south of this mill, Dr. Zachariah Derbyshire, at an earlier date erected and carried on a furnace; and a hundred rods or more further up stream, near the upper end of the Bucktail Gulf and road, Capt. Asahel Roundy, before 1828, erected a carding mill and clothing works. The latter is the same mill from which the machinery was stolen and carried away, as related in a prior paragraph of this work, under the title, "Early Settlers." Uriah Roundy, in a letter dated January 9, 1899, in speaking of this carding mill, furnace and saw- mill says : " The carding mill at the top of the Bucktail must have been built about 1820. I helped tear it down and move the building to Spafford Corners before I was married, and that was fifty-six years ago. I remember when it was doing business, I have carried wool and cloth there to be finished. Somewhere between 1828 and 1830 a man by the name of Worthington ran it. " The Furnace above the upper Falls of the Bucktail was built soon after the carding mill ; I have nothing to shov/ when it was built. I think Dr. Derbyshire built it. I remember that John Beeler, a one-legged soldier, had a cannon cast there to celebrate the Fourth of July ; I was probably eight or nine years old at the time. It was loaded on the morning of the Fourth of July, and William Bell, a boy living with

64 ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

Sumner Allen, touched it off; it burst and broke his arm, and killed a cow for James Knapp. This must have been in 1828 or 1830. I have no recollection of having been to the furnace when in operation. About the furnace at the foot of the Bucktail Gulf, I know nothing, except I have been told there was one there. There was a grist mill built there since I can remember ; a man by the name of Barrows built it, but it did not run long ; it was only a feed mill.

" The sawmill at the upper Falls on the Bucktail was built by my father, Asahel Roundy, about 1840. My brother Charles and myself did most of the blasting of rocks, necessary to fix a place for the mill and flume. This was in 1840 just before Charles left home. Father o^vned the land where the sawmill, furnace and carding mill stood, ever since I can remember."

This saw mill, like all the other early mills in town, had an upright saw, standing in a wooden frame, which was raised up or down when sawing a log or board, the power came from an undershot wheel, which in this instance was suspended at the mouth of the flume, several feet down and over the edge of the Falls, which were seventy-five or more feet in height. The process of sawing was not a very rapid one and there was much waste of power; it required a freshet to make the mill an available one. This mill went out of use when the writer was a small boy; he can re- member it when in operation, a man by the name of Darius Plummer acted as sawyer at that time.

In 1810 Josiah Walker built a sawmill in Cold Brook, on the cross road running east from the main road, north of the school house. It was in the mill pond to this mill that Franklin Weston, Orange Norton and Lucius Pease, three small boys aged respectively 14, 13 and 9 years, were drowned June 24th, 1816. Franklin Weston was the youngest brother of Mrs. Asahel Roundy; and after the accident, was brought home to the residence of Mrs. Roundy, on horseback by her husband ; Orange Norton was an older brother of Seymour Norton, who recently died at Spafford Corners at great age ; and Lucius Pease was the oldest son of Horace Pease, one of the early settlers in Cold Brook. This accident at the time caused a profound sensation, which has been more enduring than the mill itself, which

SPAFFORD, ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK 66

would have been long ago forgotten but for this terrible calamity.

The next sawmill erected on the Cold Brook stream was built in 1826 by Peter Picket, about a mile south of Walker's Mill, on a cross road leading east from the main road, just south of the Cold Brook M. E. Church and Cemtery. This mill, very soon after its erection, was transferred to Beza- lel Taft, and ever since has been known as Taft's Mill. The upright saw, formerly in use years ago, has been replaced by a circular one, and the mill is now, or was at a very recent date, in use, whenever it could find anything to do.

Soon after the sale of the Taft mill, as above stated, Peter Picket built another sawmill higher up stream, between the Walker and Taft locations, on a cross road leading east from the school house. This mill was after- wards owned and known as the Orren Cary's Mill; this, like the Walker mill, went out of existence years ago.

About 1830 Dr. David Mellen built a grist mill, a few rods south and down stream from Taft's saw mill; this was burned in 1852 and a feed mill was erected in its place by John P. Taft in 1863. The latter mill is still in opera- tion and owned by the builder.

At an early date David Carver built a saw mill in SpafTord Hollow on lot 34, Tully; this was afterwards operated by Lorenzo Boutell; on the same stream, leading into Otisco Lake, near the northern line of said lot 34, as early as 1822, was a carding mill and clothing works, supposed to have been built by Samuel Draper ; and still further down stream at the first cross roads leading easterly across the Hollow, v/as a saw mill, at one time operated by Frank Smith, son of Ira Smith. These mills and works have long passed out of existence, and even the memory of them is confined to a very few of the older inhabitants of the town. At Brom- ley, in the town of Tully, a little huddle formerly known as Shawville, near the Spafford line, there was a grist mill and saw mill at a very early date; these were in operation in recent years, as well as a sawmill on Lot 13, Tully, in the town of Otisco, just over the SpaflTord line, on a cross road leading easterly from the Bucktail road. Of late years there has been very little use for these mills, once so flour- ishing and so necessary to the early settler.

66 ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

TAVERNS, STORES, SHOPS, POTASHIRES, TANNERIES.

The first merchant at Spafford Corners was Jared Bab- cock, who came first to Scott, Cortland County, N. Y., in 1804, probably from Leyden, Mass., where most of the Babcocks in that place came from, and from there to Spaf- ford, where he opend a general store, in 1809. The building occupied by him is supposed to have been located on a half acre of ground owned by John Babcock, also from Scott, situate on the west side of the Skaneateles and Homer road, between the present blacksmith shop of John Pendergast and the residence lately occupied by Parmenus Norton. Mr. Babcock conducted this store for a short time, sold out to Anthony Mason, and moved to Homer, N. Y.

Mr. Mason conveyed his interest in this store property, December 12, 1822, to Isaac Knapp, who in connection with his brother, James D. Knapp, carried on a general mer- chandise business at the same place until about 1827 or

1828, when they failed and were sold out by Sheriff. The store property was conveyed by that oflficer January 16,

1829, at which time Joseph R. Berry was in occupation as a general merchant at that place. From that time forward Mr. Berry carried on business there, until his new store was in readiness for occupation, which was erected by him on the northeast corner of the cross roads at the "Corners" in 1831. The old building then went into decline and was not occupied for mercantile purposes afterwards. At the raising of the frame of the new store building it was christ- ened, according to the custom of the times, " The Proud Farmers' Ruin." The new building has been occupied sub- sequent to Mr. Joseph R. Berry by the following merchants : Nelson Berry, Zach. Berry, Thomas B. Anderson, Levi Hurl- but, Asahel M. Roundy, James Churchell, T. Maxson Foster, and John G. Van Benschoten, the present occupant.

Lauren Hotchkiss, a brother-in-law of Captam Asahel Roundy, opened a store for the sale of general merchandise on the southwest corner of the same cross roads at the Corners, in 1810. The land on which this store stood was subsequently occupied after 1840 by the Baptist Church; but before it went into occupation of that society, and sub- sequently to Mr. Hotchkiss, these lands were owned by Dr.

SPAFFORD, ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK 67

Ashbel Searl (subsequently of Otisco), Thomas Stevens, John Evans and Nelson Beriy; but whether any of them had a store there is not known.

About 1867, after the Baptist Society became extinct, Uriah Roundy purchased the church site and converted the church building into a store for the sale of general mer- chandise, for which purpose it has been in use ever since. The mrchants who have occupied this reconstructed church building for store purposes since 1867 are: Uriah Roundy, Benjamin McDaniels, George King, Caleb E. King and Andrew Lieber and son, the present occupants.

Early in the forties, Jonathan F. Woodworth opened a store at the " Center," in a building on the west side of the road subsequently occupied by Samuel Purchase as a dwell- ing house. Soon afterwards he erected a new store build- ing on the east side of the road and just south of the hotel at Spafford Corners, where he carried on a general mer- cantile business for many years. Subsequent to Mr. Wood- worth's occupation this latter building was owned and used by Charles B. Lyon as a shoe shop.

According to tradition, Dr. Archibald Farr in 1803 set- tled on the southwest corner of Lot 11, Tully, and the following year Isaac Hall located at Spafford Corners ; and each of these gentlemn threw open their log cabins as public inns for the entertainment of guests. In the absence of direct knowledge on the subject, we infer from circum- stances, that this means no more than being the first settlers in the southern portion of the town, they were obliged to and did open their houses for the entertainment of the numerous prospecting parties, seeking unoccupied lands for purchase and settlement, and for which they very probably received a compensation. Very little is known of these two public houses, but it is probable they ceased to be such as soon as the temporary demand for them passed away. In the case of Dr. Farr we are unable to verify the date of his reputed settlement, as his deed was never recorded, but as to Mr. Hall, v>^e find his deed is dated in 1805; he may, however, have gone into occupation a year earlier under contract.

Mr. Hall's log house stood in the garden connected with the present hotel, just east of the horse bams. Mr. Hall sold out his possessions at the " Corners ' in 1811, and was

68 ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

followed in occupation by John Williamson from Minden, Montgomery County, N. Y., in 1814. The latter gentleman sold to Captain Asahel Roundy in 1821, who erected that year the presnt hotel building, then known as '* Roundy's Tavern." This has been the only public house at the Corners since its erection. Mr. Roundy kept the place until 1843; then sold it to Col. William W. Legg, who has been succeeded by Thomas Babcock, Amon J. Ripley, Dr. G. Eugene Barker, John C. Van Benschoten, Andrew Lieber and Thomas McAuliffe, present occupant.

About 1828, Elias Woodworth opened a house of enter- tainment on the southwest comer of Lot 13, Sempronius, east of the main highway near the Center; this was suc- ceeded by a new tavern, supposed to have been built by Thomas Babcock, just south of Woodworth's, and on Lot 14, Sempronius, known as " The Center House." This house was subsequently owned by Isaiah Buffington, Hop- kins Perkins, Daniel Vail, Jr., Edward M. Allen, Amos Austin, Willis S. Nelson, John C. Tinkham and William Cowan. The building was destroyed by fire in the fifties and has never been replaced.

It would be unprofitable to attempt to recall the names of all who have worked at blacksmithing and wagon making, in the original tov/n of Spaff ord, since its settlement ; suffice it to say, that in olden times there were those who worked at one or both these trades at the Center, the Corners, Cold Brook, East Side Hill, and in Spafford Hollow. Early in the thirties Edward Baxter, Thomas Mitchell and Gershom Lewis opened a wagon and blacksmith shop on the site of the present Union Church at the " Corners " ; their interest in this site was afterwards purchased by the Trustees of that Church, July 7, 1838, and Gersham Lewis immediately thereafter erected a new shop for the prosecution of the same business, just south of the Baptist Church, where the late Alexander Green subsequently resided; here he remained until his decease about 1850. In wagon making Mr. Lewis never had a successor at the " Corners " ; but in repairing of wagons and farm implements and in smithing he had many; among whom are the following : Asa Wellington, Franklin Roundy, Alexander Green, Perry Norton and John Pcnder- gast. At an early date Anson Churchell did a very profit-

SPAFFORD, ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK 69

able business for many years as blacksmith in the northern end of the village ; he died in 1849.

Just south of Mr. Churchell's blacksmith shop Mr. Loami W. Johnson had a cooper shop; he came from Cambridge, in this State, and first settled north of Borodino. From there he came to this village at an early date and carried on a profitable business as cooper until his decease, which occurred in 1861 ; he had no successor in business.

There never was but one resident tailor at the Corners, William Quick, who was born in London, England. He first came to Canada, and from there to this village, where he married a Miss French. He remained here a few years and then moved to Borodino. Before his coming a tailor residing in some other place came to the tavern on stated days, cut the clothes of the people, and they were then made up in the family or by a practiced seamstress who went from houses to house for that purpose. The business of a tailor and seamstress in those days was a respectable and profitable one.

Another lucrative business in olden times was that of currier and tanner and shoemaker. There are those still living who can remember when a shoemaker, carrying his kit of tools with him, v/ent from house to house, shoeing the family from skins taken from the domestic herds, and prepared by a neighboring tanner and currier. Among the itinerant shoemakers who came to the "Corners" was David Havens, father of Clark and Ebenezer Havens. He came from Rhode Island, was a Seventh Day Baptist, and was buried in their cemetery at Scott, New York. Among the early tanners and curriers were Sumner Allen, father of William Bulfinch Allen, now a resident at the Corners, and David T. Lyon ; each carrying on business west of the main road, in the northern part of the village at Spaff ord Corners. Mr. Lyon was also a shoemaker, and with his coming here the itinerant business came to an end; he and his sons Charles B. and Cyrus Lyon were expert craftsmen, and for many years made the foot wear of the southern residents of the town.

Another industry of considerable importance in early times, now in disuse by reason of changed conditions, was that of Potashery. At a very early date a building for the manufacture of potash from wood ashes stood where the

70 ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

present residence of Mrs. Benjamin McDaniels now stands, on the south side of the east and west road, just west of the " Corners." Here " Uncle " Eli Fisher, under the manage- ment of Levi Hurlbut and Asahel M. Roundy, year after year gathered wood ashes from all the neighboring farmers, and in the Fall of the year boiled the lye from them into potash, for the eastern market; and here many a good house- v/ife came with her pot grease to have " Uncle " Eli assist her in making her annual barrel of soft soap for domestic use. Uncle Eli was a familiar character of those early years, and his coming and going, as the years went round, was watched by the villagers with pleasurable satisfaction. His glowing open arch fire always gave out a generous heat and light, and many a man will recall with pleasure the memory of, when a boy, he spent the cold Fall evenings in that light and heat with Uncle Eli, as the latter pursued his evening toil.

Jeremiah Van Rensselae Coon and his father David Coon, at an early date carried on the business of harness making, the former at the Corners, and the latter at the cross roads east of SpafFord Cemetery; David Coon died in 1857, and his son moved away soon afterwards ; they had no successors in business.

The following business references to the Village of Boro- dino are taken in part from Bruce's History of the County of Onondaga. The first merchant there was Daniel G. Burroughs, who kept a store in a log cabin on the site of the present dwelling house and store of Alphonso Deerman, east of the Skaneateles and Homer road, as well as the one leading to Thorn Hill. It is said he was an expert swimmer, and at one time swam from Borodino Landing to Mandana, a distance of thee miles.

Borodino at one time had three stores for the sale of general merchandise, thee taverns, three tailor shops, three blacksmith shops, and other things in proportion ; but, like Spaflord Comers, was materially affected by the building of the Binghamton and Syracuse Railroad, and the conse- quent diversion of travel to that road.

Mr. Burroughs was succeeded in business by Stephen and Hoi'ace Chi Ids, said to have been natives of Connecticut, but before or after coming to Borodino resided in Owasco, N. Y. Other merchants in Borodino were Daniel Baxter, Messer

SPAFFORD, ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK 7I

Barker, Washin^on Wallace, William Legg, David Becker (his son-in-laAv) , Thomas E. Anderson, Charles M. Rich, Churchell & Eddie, Grinnell & Howe, William Quick & Son, Captain Zach Berry, Caleb E. King, and Alphonso Deerman.

The first tavern was built by Ira Rider in 1823, on the present site of the Churchell House ; the second was erected by Col. Lewis C. Davis, where John Uncless now resides; and the third was kept in the house lately occupied by Mark Harvey as a residence, on the northwest corner of the cross road in this village. The two latter taverns were discon- tinued many years ago, and the former is still in use and occupied as a hotel by Mr. Churchell.

The first blacksmith shop was kept by Eleazer Hillebert, on the site where the Legg Block recently stood. Other blacksmiths in the village were William Legg, Mr. Stowell, Isaac Wallace, Orrin F. Eddy, A. Griffin and John Weston.

The first wagon maker was William Legg; who had as workmen John Babcock, Solomon Sprague, Seymour Warner, and Simeon Morchell.

Among the early shoemakers were Milton Streeter, Renona A. Cady, and Harman Cady. Thomas Howard at one time had a tannery here; Daniel Baxter a Potashery; and William Hayford a tinshop and foundry.

In May, 1856, a fire destroyed the tinshop and foundry, a tailor shop, and other things, entailing a loss of about $8,000.00; and on September 12, 1871, the business places of William W. Legg & Son, William Quick, Charles M. Rich, H. Linus Darling, and Charles Benton were burned; destroying nearly the whole business center of the village. The site of the major portion of the burned district was subsequently built upon by Col. William W. Legg, for a business block adapted for the use of stores, shops and offices ; this was also destroyed by fire in 1901, and has not since been restored. Since the destruction of the Legg Block three stores have catered to the wants of the Borodino people, two on the site of the original Burroughs store, and one in the building known as the Town Hall.

In early years the country merchants purchased their goods direct from the wholesale dealer and importer in New York City, and for that purpose made at least one trip annually to that metropolis, and the particularly smart ones made two, one in the Spring and one in the Fall of

72 ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

the year. These sojourns from home generally lasted from two to three weeks at a time. By reason of their much travel and their extensive business experiences, the society of these gentlemen was much sought after in the communi- ties where they resided; and their patrons never wearied of the relation of their travels and their business experi- ences in the great City of New York. Their comments on facts coming within their personal observation seemed to have force and certainty, which comes from special knowl- edge and privileged information, and were received by their auditors accordingly. If they were good fellows, and their business instincts generally led them to be, their stores naturall.y became club-houses, where men and boys con- gregated, not only to look over the latest importations from New York, but to hear the latest news from the outside world. Newspapers were not as common then as now, and consequently the country merchant was a power politically and socially in the community. Men naturally congregate together during the relaxation of business, and in early years, what better place was there for a country man or boy to spend a long winter evening, than around the big- box stove in the rear part of a country store? Here the elders smoked their pipes, told stories, and all listened to the merchant as he related his adventures, and expounded matters political and otherwise to his patrons congregated about him. A popular merchant has always been a great power in the community, and it is a pleasure to note that in this town the store, as a club-house, has always taken precedence in popularity over that of the tavern.

HIGHWAYS.

Joshua V. H. Clark, in his History of Onondaga, in speaking of the original town of Spafford as organized in 1811, says: "The first settler in that part of the town taken from Tully v.'as Jonathan Berry. He first settled a shoi-t distance south of the village of Borodino, in March, 1803. In April, the same year, Archibald Farr located himself on the southwest corner of Lot. 11.

" To facilitate the progress of Mr. Farr's imigration, Berry sent his teams and men to clear out a road, that Farr might proceed to his place of destination. This was the first road attempted to be made within the limits of the

SPAFFORD, ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK 73

town, and is the same that now leads from Spafford Corners to Borodino." The next year " the road was cleared from Farr's, on Lot 11, to the Corners; and the next year, 1805, Elisha Sabins and John Babcock cleared and cut a road from Scott (then known as Babcock's Corners) to Spafford Corners."

The same time they moved their goods on sleds over this newly made road from Scott to their new abode in this town at Spafford Comers. Mr. Goodwin, in his history of Cortland County, say that the next year, 1806, Isaac Hall, who had ecently settled at Spafford Corners, drove a wagon over this road from his home to Babcock's Corners, loadea it with hemlock boards, and then drove it back to his residence in Spafford.

Goodwin, in this same history, says that Peleg Babcock, accompanied by his brother Solomon Babcock, coming from Leyden, Mass., settled on Lot 82, Tully, now Village of Scott, in the year 1799 ; and was soon afterwards follov/ed to that place by John Babcock, Jared Babcock and others. How these latter gentlemen were rlated to Peleg, if at all, is not known. Soon after taking up his residence in Scott, Peleg Babcock puchased Lot 21, Tully, on which Spafford Corners is situate, and immediately afterwards commenced the sale of it in parcels to purchasers. Among his early con- veyances is one to John Babcock, dated October 8, 1806, one to James Cravath, dated September 7, 1805, and another to Elisha Sabin, dated September 8, 1811 ; probably preceded by contract of anterior date. Mr. Babcock never owned the State's Hundred Acres on this lot, which was puchased by Isaac Hall, August 1, 1805; perhaps by contract of an earlier date; it is claimed he was in occupation as early as 1804.

In view of these traditionary statements, it is interesting to note the survey bill of this first highway in town, which has been transcribed in the first book of records ot the town of Spafford, from an earlier record in the town books of Tully. This is the first road record in this book of records :

" Survey of a road, beginning at the north vv^est corner of Lot 12, in Sempronius; and running from thence S. 47° E. 185 chains — thence S. 35° E. 60 chains — thence S. 14° E. 183 chains — thence S. 7° E. 245 chains — thence S. 30 chains — thence S. 7° E. 40 chains — thence S. 15° E. 10

74 ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

chains to the north line of lot No. 82, Tully, Nicholas Howd, Surveyor. ?

Recorded this 3rd day of July, 1804,

Amos Skeel, Clerk.

James Cravath, Solomon Babcock, Commissioners of Highways."

This is a survey of the main highvv^ay, running north and south through the original town of Spafford, (now known as the Skaneateles and Homer road), commencing at Jona- than Berry's house, on the north line of the then town of Spafford, and the south line of Marcellus, and extending to the Village of Scott, in the County of Cortland. That would indicate that, at least, the portion of this highway from Dr. Archibald Farr's location, on the southwest corner of Lot 11, to the Village of Scott, was surveyed before the tradi- tionary opening of the road. The lands purchased by James Cravath of Peleg Babcock, on Lot 21, Tully, were the same now owned and occupied by Joseph Cole in 1900 ; and this survey bill also indicates that he must have occupied his purchase early in 1804 or he must have formerly resided in Scott, before settling in Spafford.

The town books show the record of another survey bill, of a cross road leading from the Skaneateles and Homer road, easterly on Lot 11 to Lot 12, in the direction of Farr's Mill at the foot of the Bucktail; this road ran along the northern line of the Breed Farm of to-day, and was aban- doned years ago and taken up. This bill is also dated in 1804, showing the early date of Dr. Farr's efforts to locate a grist mill, and perhaps a foundry in Spafford Hollow.

Other survey bills of roads are recorded, commencing January 7th, 1807, and rapidly thereafter until the original town was well supplied with these means of intercommuni- cation, before it was organized as a separate corporate body in 1811; in fact in early days there were more roads than there are to-day; many of those first laid out have either been regularly condemned and taken up, or abandoned to the use of the adjacent owners of the land. Among those abandoned or gone into disuse, was one extending along the county line between Onondaga and Cortland, commencing in the Skaneateles and Homer road, and extending easterly to the main road, running northerly and southerly in Cold

SPAFFORD; ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK 7*

Brook; another cross road, extending from the Skaneateles and Homer road to the Cold Brook road, ran along the southern line of the Barker farm of 1900, and was aban- doned years ago, and fenced in by the owners of the land. The cross road along the north line of the Breed farm, above spoken of, was also abandoned over fifty years ago. There are others which have suffered a similar fate, but a recital of them would be wearisome and unprofitable.

There are other roads which have been laid out or re- surveyed, since the organization of the town in 1811, and particularly since the addition of the Marcellus acquisition. The early records of the original town of Marcellus were burned before 1830, so a re-survey of that portion of the town was ordered by vote, early in the thirties. The last survey bill appearing of record in the town books, is one of the road leading from Edwin Morris' house, (1900) on Lot 31, to the head of Skaneateles Lake, by way of Spafford Landing and the cottage of the writer on that beautiful sheet of water.

In this connection it seems appropriate to remark, that the main road running northerly and southerly through this town, from the village of Homer on the south to the village of Skaneateles on the north, is one of the most attractive and picturesque in Central New York, so cele- brated for beautiful drives, and in early times, before the cross-country railroads had diverted the natural course of travel, was much used by travelers, passing from the north- ern to the southern portions of the State. A regular line of stages passed daily both ways over this route, to accom- modate the demands of travel, and taverns at stated places along the road did a prosperous business. In the Fall of the year, large droves of cattle and sheep were frequently seen going along this highway, and the farmers along the route found a ready sale for their surplus fodder to the drovers accompanying these domestic herds, destined for the New York Market. The Stage Driver and Tavern Keeper were important personages in those early times, and held a position in the community entirely different from their successors of the pesent day.

The highway from the village of Homer to Skaneateles, a distance of twenty-five miles, is nearly in a direct course, and so gentle in its rise and descent that a traveller can trot

76 ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

a smart team, attached to a lig-ht conveyance, nearly the whole distance between the two places. Leaving the Village of Homer, the route to Scott, eight miles, is up a wide and fertile valley, and from thence to the county line, two and a half mj'les, is up a gentle ascent along a small water couse. As the traveller approaches the countj'' line, there is sud- denly opened to his view an expanse of fifteen or twenty miles of landscape, covering part of the county of Cayuga, nearly all of the to^vn of Spafford, parts of the towns of Skaneateles and J^^arcellus, and the whole of Skaneateles Lake, with its surrounding hills and wooded points mirrored in its placid waters. The highway at this point, is over a thousand feet above the waters of the Lake, less than a mile away on the left, and thence, in its northerly and parallel course to that body of water, gradually descends to the sur- face level of the Lake at Skaneateles A^'illage, fifteen miles away, the traveller never losing sight of that beautiful sheet of water, from the time it first came in view in the hills of Scott. This old stage route m.ay have lost some of its points of interest, by the removal of the old time stage coaches, and the discontinuance of travel by piva,te equipages, once so frequently seen on this favorite route of travel, yet there is a satisfaction in knov/ing that the graceful Spafford Hills, the fair waters of Skaneateles Lake, and God's pure air and the sunlight of Heaven spread over all, are still there, and cannot be diverted by the commercialism of man.

Another road in town, knov/n as the " Bucktail," leading from Spafford Corners to Otisco Hollow, will always attract the attention of the traveller, by reason of its wild and rugged character; without question it has no counterpart in Central New York, and possibly not in the whole State of New York. It was laid out about 1818 by Captain Asahel Roundy, and surveyed in May, 1819, by Lauren Hotchkiss, Surveyor. The naming of this road was mentioned under the head of First Settlers, in connection with the name of Captain Roundy.

PROFESSIONAL MEN. PHYSICIANS.

The first resident physician, in the southern end of the town of Spafford, was Dr. Archibald Farr, who, according

SPAFFORD, ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK 77

to tradition, settled on the southwest corner of Lot 11, Tully, in the Spring of 1803. Very little is known of him, beyond the fact that he was the first settler in the southern portion of the town, that he opened his log cabin for the entertain- ment of guests, and that he built a grist-mill in 1806, and perhaps a foundry, at the foot of the Buck Tail Gulf, in Spafford Hollow. He must have moved away before 1811, for according to deed records in the County Clerk's Office, the Leggs were in possession, that year, of the land where he is reputed to have resided.

Dr. Farr was followed by Dr. Ashbel Searls, who first settled east of the main road, on Lot 42, Tully, on land purchased of Elijah Knapp. He erected there a log house, but did not remain long before he re-deeded the land to Mr. Knapp, and moved to Spafford Corners, where he pur- chased a house and lot on the southwest corner of the cross roads, of Lauren Hotchkiss. From there he moved to Otisco about 1815, and finally to Onondaga Valley, where he died in 1875 at a great age. He became a member of the Onon- daga County Medical Society in 1816, while a resident of Otisco.

The next physician in the southern part of the town, of whom we have any recrod, was Dr. Zachariah Derbyshire, who resided on the west side of the highway, half way between the residence of Lyman C. Bennett and that of Mrs. Isaac Fisher, on Lot 22, Tully. His first wife, Pruella Derbyshire, died August 12, 1823, and was buried in Spaf- ford Cemetery; he then married Hannah Williamson, daughter of Cornelius Williamson, for a second wife. We have no record of his coming or going, but it is probable his stay in town filled the interregrum, between the going of Dr. Searls as above stated, and the coming of Dr. Collins, who came about 1830. He at one time had a foundry, just above the upper falls in the Buck Tail Gulf.

Dr. John Collins came to Spafford Corners from Brook- field, Madison County, New York, where he was born, about 1830, and remained here in active practice of his profession until his decease, August 15, 1853.

Among the early students who read medicine In his office was Daniel G. Frisbie, who after being admitted to prac- tice, entered into partnership with him. Dr. Frisbie was admitted to the Onondaga County Medical Society in June,

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1845. Dr. Frisbie, while associated in business with Dr. Collins, married Mary Bulfinich, daughter of Joseph Bul- finch, and a short time afterwards went West, where he became a successful practitioner and business man.

A short time before the decease of Dr. Collins he sold his last residence (the late T. Maxson Foster residence) and business interests to a Dr .Davidson, who continued practice here for a few years and then moved away.

Since the departure of Dr. Davidson, the southern portion of the town has been sevred by resident physicians, in the persons of Dr. H. D. Hunt and Dr. G. Eugene Barker. Dr. Hunt was admitted to the Onondaga County Medical Society in June, 1875. He moved to Cortland County.

Dr. Barker, son of William Barker, was born in this town, and after a successful practice in other places finally returned here, where he has had a prosperous career in his chosen profession, for a number of years last past. He is a Homeopath, and was admitted to the Onondaga County Medical Society of that persuasion in 1891, while he was a resident of the village of Tully. He now has a residence and office at Spafford Corners.

In the northern, or Marcellus end of the town, the first resident physician was Jeremiah Bumbus Whiting, who is reputed to have located at or near the present village of Borodino in 1802, and continued practice there until 1819, when he moved to Sempronius, N. Y. He afterwards went to Michigan, where he died. Dr. Jonathan Kneeland, who commenced the study of medicine in his office, said of him ; he was a good classical and medical scholar, well skilled in the use of indigenous remedies, but too much addicted to the use of spirituous liquors to make a successful practitioner in the field of medicine.

Dr. Whiting was succeeded at Borodino by Dr. Benjamin Trumbull, who came in 1816. He was admitted to the Onondaga County Medical Society in 1822, and was Presi- dent of that body in 1832-3. He continued practice in this village until his decease, which occurred May 28, 1835, at the age of 46 years. He was invariably represented by physicians, who knew him, as a gentleman, scholar and a skillful physician. He was a nephew of " Brother Jona- than " Trumbull of Connecticut, the intimate friend and associate of Washington, and one of the most noted War

SPAFFORD, ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK 79

Governors of the Revolution. It is claimed that this village is indebted to him for its name, Borodino, and that during his residence here he did much to foster the churches, public schools, and the Chistian morality of the community. He died of heart disease.

Dr. Jonathan Kneeland, born near Borodino in 1812, early had a predilection for medicine, and when a small boy, entered the office of Dr. Whiting as a student; but this engagement was soon terminated. He then entered a medical school in Ohio, but his entry into the practice of his chosen profession was interrupted by severe illness, which delayed the fruition of his desires until he was over thirty years of age. He first opened an ofRce in Tully, but soon afterwards settled at or near Thorn Hill, where he had a successful career as physician and surgeon, among his old towns people near Borodino, for several years. He then moved to Onondaga Valley, where he remained until his decease. He joined the Onondaga County Medical Society in 1842, and in 1892 was honored by that body by a public banquet, on account of his long and honorable career of fifty years, as member of that society. He was President of that body in 1852.

Dr. Trumbull was succeeded at Borodino by Dr. Isaac Morrell, who continued a successful practice there until 1866, when he moved to Fulton, N. Y. After a short absence he returned to Boodino, but soon after went to Elmira, N. Y., where he died. He was admitted to the Onondaga Medical Society in January, 1841.

Since the departure of Dr. Morrell this end of the town has been served by Dr. Van Dyke Tripp and Dr. William G. Bliss. Dr. Tripp was admitted to the Onondaga County Medical Society in 1869, and represented his town in the Board of Supervisors of the County of Onondaga in 1881-3. He is now deceased. Dr. Bliss was a native of Georgia, in the State of Vermont, and after a successful business career at Borodino for a number of years, moved to Tully, N. Y., where he is now engaged in the pactice of medicine.

Several of Spafford's sons have gone forth from this, their native place, to other localities, and risen to eminence in the profession of medicine, among whom are Jonathan Kneeland (spoken of above), Stephen Smith, who went to Brooklyn, N. Y., and there became a leading physician and

80 ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

surgeon; who was at one time Commissioner of Charities there, was Commissioner of Lunacy in 1882, was selected as a Delegate to the International Sanitary Congress at Paris in 1894, and is especially remembered for his valuable gift of a medical library to the medical department of the Syracuse University.

J. Lewis Smith, who was a graduate of Yale College, became a prominent physician, and medical instructor in the schools of the Citj^ of New York. He is also well known to the profession as a medical writer and the author of several medical works, particularly for a Treatise on the Diseases of Children.

Dr. Edward Cox, son of Silas Cox, studied medicine with Dr. Trumbull at Borodino, and then went to Michigan, where he established a lucrative practice at Battle Creek.

Dr. Polaski Prindle, son of Moses Prindle, born near Spafford Corners, studied with Dr. Morrell at Borodino, and located first at Cashtown, and afterwards in Michigan, where he died.

Dr. James R. Weston, son of Edmund C. Weston, studied medicine with Dr. Collins at Spafford Corners, and finally moved to Montana, where he became a successful physician, a Bank President, a Judge of the Probate Court, and a successful business man.

Dr. S. Elis Crane is a successful physician in Syracuse, N. Y.

Dr. John E. Lyon, son of David Lyon, died soon after coming into a lucrative practice; he was buried at Spafford Cemetery.

LAWYERS.

There has never been a resident practicing lawyer in this town; although there has always been some one skilled in the practice of Justice Courts, and able to serve the people in that tribunal ; amon;r>- these were Captain Asahel Roundy, Jonathan Johnson, James H. Isdell, Uriah Roundy, H. Linus Darling, and Simon B. Wallace. The latter is the only one now living; he resides in the Village of Borodino, and is ready to serve the people when his services are required.

While there are no resident lawyers, there are several persons boni here who have settled in other localities, and risen to eminence in their chosen profession ; among whom

SPAFFORD, ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK 81

are Hon. Martin A. Knapp, Judg-e Elliott Anthony, Captain George K. Collins, Hon. A. Judson Kneeland, late practicing attorney in the Village of Homer, N. Y., William Smith, a graduate of Yale College, an attorney and counselor at law, but who died early in California; Lee Olmsted and Harley J. Crane, each of whom is actively engaged in the practice of law in the City of Syracuse ; Judge Charles Vandenburg, a graduate of Yale College, an attorney at law, and a Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of Minnesota; and Mr, Haraion, son of Elder Harmon, an eminent lawyer, late of Washington, D. C.

MINISTERS.

Among the ministers who have gone from this town and risen to prominence elsewhere, are Amasa Spencer Knee- land, Stella Kneeland, Josiah N. Knapp (died a young man), and David M. D. O'Farrell.

TEACHERS.

The following, born in Spafford, have graced the profession in other communities : Prof. Charles 0. Roundy, first principal of the Syracuse High School, Prof. Silas M. Betts, born in Borodino in 1828, was at one time principal of the High School in Niles, Michigan, for several years principal of grammar schools in the City of Sryacuse, and a teacher in the Normal School in the State of New Jersey ; Prof. Alfred G. Harrington, at one time a successful teacher in the high grade of schools in this State, now retired to his farm in the town of Spalford; Prof. Joseph Addison Prindle, at one time a successful teacher in one of the Normal Schools of this State, now retired and residing in the Village of Skaneateles, N. Y. ; and Prof. James Foster, an old time teacher, moved to South Dakota, but now deceased.

ARTIST AND SCULPTOR.

Sanford Thayer, son of Sanford and Sally (Miner) Thayer, Portrait and Landscape Painter, was born July 19, 1820, and resided in boyhood in Cold Brook.

Of the works of Horace Kneeland as a sculptor, very little is known by the writer.

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SURVEYORS.

This brief sketch of the professional men who were bom or resided in Spafford, would be incomplete without some reference to the old time surveyor, who with compass and chain divided farms, settled disputes, and fixed boundaries between contending factions. One of the most skillful, accurate, and tactful of the old surveyors in this town was Joseph Bulfinch. He was born in Boston, and when a young man, as principal taught school in a young ladies' seminary in the State of Vermont, and at an early date, Avhen the country was new and the land boundaries undefined, settled in this town, just west of Spafford Corners. He v/as a man who took pride in his calling, spared no pains for accuracy, and for that reason his decisions were respected as in the nature of a judicial conclusion. In Summer or Winter he served his patrons as occasion required. He died at the advanced age of 88 years in 1873, and was buried in Spafford Cemetery.

After his decease he was succeeded for a time by his son, Joseph H. Bulfinch; he moved years ago to South Dakota, where he died; and later came Cyrenus Woodworth, whose decease is a matter of recent occurrence.

POSTMASTERS.

It would be unprofitable at this time, to make the neces- sary search to obtain the names of all persons who have held the impotant office of Post Master, at the different postal stations in this town, but the following are given as the major portion of those holding this important office under the General Government, at Spafford Corners. Cap- tain Asahel Roundy was the first to receive this appointment in 1814, and he has been succeeded by the following: Isaac Knapp, Joseph R. Berry, Thomas B. Anderson, Dr. John Collins, William W. Legg, Uriah Roundy, Benjamin Mc- Daniels, and Mr. Lieber, the present incumbent.

SKANEATELES LAKE AND COTTAGES.

Ekaneateles Lake is about seventeen miles long, averaging about one mile in width, and contains an area of not far from seventeen square miles of water, two-thirds of which are within the bounds of the town of Spafford. The water in

SPAFFORD, ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK 83

depth is from twenty-five feet, at the foot and head, to two hundred sixty-five feet throughout the major portion of its course. There are no marshes or swamps along its shores, which are for the most part rocky and precipitous.

The Village of Skaneateles, of two or three thousand inhabitants, comes down to the water's edge at the foot of the lake, and extends for a short distance up the gentle slope of the hills encircling its northern extremity. Passing from the Village of Skaneateles and going southward up the lake five or six miles, the hills on either side come down to the water's edge, in a gentle decline, graced with culti- vated fields, and picturesque farm buildings environed with fruit and other shade trees. At Five Mile Point the lake makes a change in course to a more easterly direction and, passing this Point, there is suddenly presented to the eye of the traveller an extended view of pure limpid water sur- rounded by bold, wild, and rugged highland scenery, such as is seldom seen elsewhere or excelled in beauty and picturesqueness. On the west side of the lake, at the beginning of this highland district, is the hamlet of Man- dana, and, on the east side, the pretty little village of Boro- dino. Proceeding southv.^ard Point after Point successively come into view, extending outward from either shore, with their green verdue and graceful sweeping elm trees mirrored in the placid waters of the lake. The view from eveiy steamer landing is most entrancing, and impresses the mind of the beholder. From Five Mile Point upward the shores of the lake become more and more precipitous, and the sur- rounding lands increase in elevation, until reaching the head of the lake at Glen Haven there is an amphitheater of precipitous hills, rising to a height a twelve or thirteen hundred feet above the surface of the water. The follow- ing is an abbreviated and adapted extract, taken from a recent publication concerning this lake, by the well known artist, John Barrow of Skaneateles, who for half a century has studied and delightfully painted the woods, hills and waters of Skaneateles Lake.

" The water of Skaneateles Lake is of the clearest and purest. I believe it has a color and beauty hot reached by any other lake in our land. All the other lakes of our region have a clear and beautifully tinted water, each a little different from any other. Ours has a delicate emerald

84 ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

tint, less pronounced than that of the great lakes, a tint of its ov.Ti, I think it the fairest of all.

" We know how g-racefully the shores rise from the lake as far as Mandana, and then rise more precipitously, until they pass around the head of the lake in a grand amphi- theater of hills, still partially clothed with forests.

" Trees are standing and increasing around the Village of Skaneateles and its adjacent shores, filling up gaps that once were there. Nature still plants trees along the shore, and already we see a great change in that respect in the last twenty-five or thirty years. In some places the second growth has reached the height of the old trees, and in other places the saplings are covering the ground. There is still a grand wood on the west shore, half way up the lake, that keeps green the memory of the primeval forests.

" The Points that were barren a few years ago, are now owned by men who o■v^^l summer cottages there, and have taken care to add to such trees as have been spared to them. Ten Mile Point has a new and beautiful grove, freshly planted a few years ago, and also a fine old group, marking the end of the Point as it was since the lake was known. Three Mile Point, owned by Mr. Hooker, has since his occupancy become a charming spot. Fall Brook Point has changed some since I knew it, but not to its detriment, with its fine cottage, pleasant lawn of flowers, and summer houses planted there. I notice with satisfaction the same improve- ment at Nine Mile Point, Sycamore Point, Randall's Point and others.

" There is a ravine and brook at every Point, for the brook makes the Point, and some are very interesting and beautiful. The gorge at Appletree Point is one of the finest on the lake. It has a stream of water more copious than the Inlet at the head of the lake. There are two fine falls in its course, one seventy-five or eighty feet in height, the waters falling over a cavern in the slaty rock beneath, from a ledge of Tully limestone above. Another one lower do^vn the gorge, of forty feet in height, is most picturesque in time of freshet. There are other ravines at Ten Mile Point, Hall's Point, Jenny's Point, Collins' Point, Hooker's Point, and Gregory's Point. All these and many other smaller brooks, with their varied rocky architecture and plant life, are of interest to the lover of Nature.

SPAFFORD, ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK 85

" Of the scenery of the lake much can be told. The region in which this beautiful sheet of water lies is very rich in varied landscape; its hills, valleys and woods are very beautiful; and the views from the hills bounding- the lakes are very charming. It would take too long to enum_- erate the different places where good views can be obtained, but some of the best are from the head of the lake. There are some excellent ones from the hills back of Three Mile Point, and from, there dov/n to Mandana. From the hills south of Spafford Corners to the village of Skaneateles are many charming views. Anywhere along the shores of the lake it is very beautiful, but I think the finest views of all are from Captain George K. Collins' cottage on Randall's Point. This cottage commands splendid views up and down the lake, the former being supplemented with the finest view of the valley beyond Glen Haven. On the eastern shore of the lake the summer sunsets can be seen in all their variety and glory.

"There is a view from Ripley Hill, in the town of Spafford, near the head of the lake, that ought to be famous. From there the beholder has spread out before his vision a stretch of county extending from the spurs of the Adirondack Mountains on the east, to the hills of Seneca County on the west, and from the mountains of Pennsylvania on the south, to the waters of Lake Ontario on the north. One may well be impressed with the beauty that is spread before him here of our counter and the setting of our lake We only need great artists a,nd poets to make the people understand and appreciate how generous Nature has been, in giving us this beautiful lake and surrounding hills."

STEAMBOATS.

The first steamboat on Skaneateles Lake was the " High- land Chief," brought here from the Hudson River by Cap- tain William Fowler, its owner. It came by canal, and from thence was trucked to the lake by oxen. It was forty feet in length, a side wheeler, and had a very uncomfort- able habit of careening on slight provocation. According to John Barrow it was introduced here about 1824 ; but we have no record of it on the lake prior to 1831. As a steam- boat it was not a success, and it was eventually remodelled into a sail boat for carrying freight and wood.

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The next boat was built here, was about one hundred feet in length, a side wheeler, and was named " Independence," because launched on Independence Day, July 4, 1831. It was built in part by public subscription, had a cabin partly below decks, and, like its predecessor, was a losing venture. After a brief struggle for business and meeting with indif- ferent success. Captain Wells, its pincipal owner, converted it into a sail boat for carrying v/ood to the village of Skan- eateles. It is said that D. B. Hillis, afterwards District Attorney of the County of Onondaga, and then a student in the law office of F. G. Jewett, delivered the Fourth of July oration at Skaneateles, the day this boat was first put in the water.

These two disastrous failures in the steamboat business seemed to deter any further ventures in that line for many years ; but the opening of the Water Cure Establishment at Glen Haven, at the head of the lake, and a hotel and bowl- ing alley at Fair Haven on the opposite side, each connected by daily stages with the village of Homer, gave fresh encour- agement to men who v/ere anxious to open lake transporta- tion ; so in 1848, about the time of the opening of the Water Cure, the side wheel steamer " Skaneateles " was placed on the lake. This boat was owned or managed by Thomas Hecox, a son of Warren Hecox, one of the promoters of the Water Cure Establishment at Glen Haven.

On July 4, 1848, a rival steamer named " Homer," made its maiden trip up the lake in company with the Skan- eateles, each soliciting and carrying passengers on that occasion. The " Skaneateles " appeared to be a steady and safe boat, but the " Homer " was top heavy and had an uncomfortable way of careening from side to side, alter- nately lifting one after the other of its side paddle wheels out of the water; in windy weather this was particularly noticeable, and people for that reason were afraid to ride on the boat.

Whatever increased trade the Water Cure Establishment may have contributed to lake transportation, it certainly was not sufficient to sustain two boats; so one evening, after returning to Skaneateles from an unsatisfactory voyage to Glen Haven, Captain Hecox, with a full head of steam, ran the Skaneateles on to the western shore of the

SPAFFORD, ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK 87

lake, where he subsequently removed her machinery and boiler, and then converted her hull to other uses.

The Homer was never popular, and after making a valiant fig-ht for three or four years, gave up the struggle and sub- mitted to the inevitable transformation into a sailing craft for hauling wood.

The Ben. H. Porter, built soon after the close of the Civil War, was a propeller modelled after an ocean steamer, and altogether too slow and clumsy to meet the requirements of lake travel. This, after a few years, went the way of the others, and about twenty-five or thirty years ago was supplanted by the small but very serviceable steam propeller " Glen Haven," still in use. The latter boat is now- owned by the Skaneateles Railroad Company, which in 1901 put upon the lake the " City of Syracuse," modelled after its sister boat but much larger in size.

No steamboat has ever paid running expenses here until after the erection of summer cottages on the lake, since which time traffic has steadily increased, so that now, during the summer months, one or both of these boats are con- stantly required to meet the demands of travel.

A number of years ago a small steam yacht was placed on the lake by private parties, and named "Ossahinta," but by reason of commutation tickets and cut rates on rail- roads connecting with the regular boat, this opposition line v/as put out of business ; what the effect of trolley lines of railroad running into Skaneateles may be on lake transpor- tation, is yet to be seen.

Sailing yachts for pleasure have for years been a special feature of the lake, and during recent times numerous steam and gasoline launches have been introduced to its waters.

GLEN HAVEN SANITARIUM.

In the winter of 1847-8, a Water Cure Establishment was opened by Dr. Jackson at Glen Haven, on the west side, near the head of the lake. The first building used was a large white house, with a chimney at each end, built in 1846. by Deacon Hall of Skaneateles. The soft water for the Water Cure was taken in pipes, from a large spring issuing from the steep and almost inaccessible mountain side, in rear and several hundred feet above the house. At

88 ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

the beginning of its career the rules and regulations of the Water Cure were stringent and exacting, and many who were ill, or thought they were, flocked to the new Sanitar- ium. Among other regulations the patients were required to wear skull-caps, kept constantly moist by dipping in water, to partake of a rigid coarse diet, drink copiously of the cool soft water of the establishment, take baths once or twice a day, exercise frequently in the open mountain air, and all women patients were to wear bloomers.

The skull-caps, bloomers, and coarse diet of the old regime eventually passed away, and this old time Water Cure under the liberal management of Dr. Thomas and John Mourin, who have been in charge for the last twenty-five or thirty years, has at last become well known throughout the United States as a popular Sanitarium and Summer Resort, for the latter purpose its reputation has long been established.

The first house was destroyed by fire about 1850, and a new and more commodious building erected in it s place. The new building was soon outgrown, and numerous cot- tages from time to time were added to supplement the main establishment. After the lake became popular, by reason of private parties erecting summer cottages at different places along its shores, a large and commodious hotel build- ing was added to the other structures of the Water Cure property, to meet the demands of summer trade.

No spirituous liquors have ever been sold on the Sani- tarium grounds, a fact which no doubt has contributed to its popularity as a place of resort for women and children. This institution, during its long career, has at times been subject to adversity, and probably justly open to criticism for unsatisfactory management, yet on the whole there is much to be said in its favor. Its future seems established, and its many pleasant surroundings ought to make it bright and prosperous.

COTTAGES.

In the Spring of 1881 the writer erected on Randall's Point, now known as Spafford Landing, the first summer cottage on Skaneateles Lake; this at the time produced a mild sensation among the people residing in the vicinity, and scores of people visited the place to look upon the new

SPAFFORD, ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK 89

innovation. No one before had even suggested Skaneateles Lake as a place for private summer homes, and certainly no one had ever ventured an outlay of money in that direc- tion. The general comment of those Vv^ho visited this un- pretentious first effort, in the direction of a summer cottage, was that it was a foolhardy thing to do, and summer cottages on the lake would never amount to anything. This first building is now in use, as it was designed at the begin- ning, as a dining room and kitchen ; the family of the writer were then sleeping in tents.

The v/riter had one guest that first summer, however, who came, stayed over night, said he never enjoyed himself better in his life, in the morning bought a piece of land on the lake shore, and soon after commenced the erection of a cottage of his own; that was E. M. Ford of Syracuse. That property and cottage is now owned by his daughter, Mrs. Weed, of Brooklyn, N. Y.

Soon after Mr. Ford's purchase, in 1881, he sold a part to Mr. James H. Blair of Syracuse, who erected the third cottage on the lake; this property is now ovmed and occupied by Mr. Cronell, of Skaneateles.

In a year or two after his first venture, the writer supple- mented his belonging on the lake by erecting his main cottage, on the bluff or elevation just north of his first building.

From this time forward, the following cottages were erected in quick succession upon the lake : Mr. Allen built " Rockland " Cottage, on the high rocks just south of Mr. Blair ; a Mr. Ford built on Barber's Point the cottage now owned and much improved by Col. James Manning of Syracuse; Dr. Pease erected the cottage now kno\TO as Jenny's, on Havens' Point, and Mr. Hall and Mr. Bench, both of Skaneateles, built cottages farther down the lake. All that have been now mentioned were in the town of Spafford.

On the opposite side of the lake, in the County of Cayuga, about this time were erected four cottages on Pray's Point (Glen Cove), by three Gregory Brothers of Skaneateles, and by Prof. R. Bruce White (a brother-in-law) of Syracuse. Mr. Carpenter and Mrs. Casper erected two elegant summer and winter homes on Appletree or Sa^\Tnill Point. The last two were soon supplemented by ten or twelve other tasty

90 ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

summer cottages on the gentle declivity of the shore south of Carpenter ; these are known as the New Hope Colony.

From this time forward the popularity of the lake as a summer resort was established, and year after year elegant summer cottages were added, until there are now about a hundred in all, distributed along the shores and points of the highland portion of the lake. Among the most note- worthy of these, in addition to those already mentioned, are the following: Two owned by Mr! Pennock and Mr. Cooper in Pine Grove, one by Mr. E. C. Stearns on Wheat Point, four owned by Mr. Salem Hyde, Mr. Maslin, Mr. James Eager, and Dr. Marlow on the shore between Wheat and Ten Mile Point, three owned by Dr. Wright, Mr. Stone and Mr. Willett on the shore between Ten Mile and Hall's Point, one owned by A. C. Chase on Barber's Point, one owned by Rev. Samuel Calthrop on Stag Horn Point, one owned by Dr. A. C. Mercer on the shore further south. In addition to these there are five or six others belonging to a Homer Colony perched on the high rocks south of Rockland Cottage. All of these are in the town of Spafford.

On the western side of the lake the following have been added to those already mentioned : One by Mr. Allen, near the grounds of the Glen Haven Water Cure, and one by each of the following named persons on the shore and points on the west side of the lake: Mr. Olmstead, Dr. Guilford, Dr. Darby, Mrs. Fields, Mr. Paul, Mrs. Bennett, Mr. Van Esseltyne, Hooker Brothers, Mr. Stevens, Mr. Posthill, Mr. Weeks Mr. Holden, and several others whose names are not known to the writer.

Skaneateles Lake has been recently appropriated as a water supply for the City of Syracuse ; what the effect may be upon this beautiful sheet of water as a place of resort and for summer homes is yet to be determined. The matter of cottage building has been one of great importance to the town of Spafford and has added very much to its material wealth and prosperity. Its revenue from that source has been a constant and increasing one, from the time the first building was erected within its limits, and barring the effect of this appropriation of the lake as a water supply, its future revenue from that source looks better than ever before. The facilities for reaching and enjoying Skaneateles Lake were never in the past what they

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SPAFFORD, ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK 91

are to-day, and certainly, in salubrity and attractiveness, this beautiful sheet of water has no equal in Central New York.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Within the last fifty or sixty years there have been great material changes in the welfare of the world, and especially in the United States. The most noticeable of these have occurred in our great cities and along our routes of com- merce; and yet even an isolated country section, like the town of Spaff ord, has been affected by this current of passing events, which has marked the progress of nations. The discovery and application of steam and electricity as motive pov\^ers, and the invention of the telegraph and telephone, have had the effect, to a greater or less extent, of annihilat- ing time and space; while the invention of a multitude of modern labor saving devices has revolutionized the ordinary methods of man, and the manner of obtaining his daily bread; even his tastes and habits have changed. It would seem as if the country farmer would be the last to be affected by these modern innovations, and yet a careful study of the situation shows, that even he has succumbed to the force of modern ideas. These changes are unregretable, because they are the logical sequence of current events, so it is not our purpose to speak of them farther than to note the fact, without expressions of regret; but of other changes we desire to speak:

MAPLE SUGAR MAKING.

Fifty years ago the ordinary sweet used in a farmer's family, for domestic purposes, was made from the sap of a maple tree, and a farm without a " sugar-bush " was in- complete. Maple groves were preserved and protected, with all the care and attention of an apple or fruit orchard. Early in Spring the sap buckets were taken from their storing place, repaired, hoops tightened, and the buckets carefully washed, soaked and put in readiness to catch the first sap run of the season. The boiling was generally done in long copper pans, set in brick arches covered by rough wooden sheds, to protect them from the inclement weather of Spring. The sugar season, always a short one, some- times required a day and night service of the attendant.

91 ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

Sugar making- \vas alwaj's a happy service for young people, who generally attended the " sugar off," and delighted to make the hot sugar into wax, by dropping it on a panful of clean snow or a cake of ice. In olden times it was not an unusual thing, to behold in an early Spring evening, the fire light from half a dozen sugar bushes from the village of Spafford Corners. The early farmers, in this town, not only made sugar for them.selves, but had a surplus to sell to people in their localities. Muscovado, or a crude sugar made from Southern sugar cane, never was a very desir- able sweet, and the clarified and granulated article is a matter of com.paratively recent origin. The making of maple sugar, in this locality, is grov/ing less and less every year, and Y>ill soon be a lost art; there are even now very few maple groves worth the tapping. A cake of maple sugar v/ill soon be a curiosity, and maple syrup on pan- cakes a luxury that the wealthy only can indulge in.

MAPLE GROVES.

Another noticeable and very regretable matter, which has occurred within the last fifty years, and which naturally affects the physical aspect of this to\Mi, is the destruction of nearly all the fine groves of trees, which once existed in close proximity to the villages and residences of the people. From appearances, the people who have possessed the land had an antipathy against both trees and shrubs, and have wielded the axe with an unsparing hand. With the trees have gone the Spring fiowers and native birds, and all that feasted the eye and stirred the soul of man to higher aims and brighter thoughts. There is some satisfaction, however, in knowing there are some places in town so steep and rugged as to stay the course of the woodm.an's axe, and where there is still a retreat for trees, birds and flowers. There are a few shade trees along the waysides, particularly in the two villages, but even these are a memory of fifty years ago. Very few, if any, fruit trees have been planted in a half century. We are very glad, however, to note that along the lake shore, where the summer residents have a foothold, there is a reaction from this general tendency to destruction and decay; here Nature, aided by sympathetic hands, is fast restoring the land to its primitive charms. We trust that the coming generation will catch some in-

SPAFFORD, ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK QZ

spiratioii from the Lakers, that will result in restoring the lands in this picturesque town