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HISTORY

CHENANGO COUNTY,

CONTAINING THE

DfflSIONS OF THE COUNTY AND SKETCHES OF THE TOMS;

INDIAN TRIBES AND TITLES ;

(§m, Cliiitim'H p'nrrljnat nf tlje Cuitnti) Cninnaljijis,

EARLY INHABITANTS AND SETTLEMENTS; also:

LAND PATENTS; RISE AND PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURE, MANUFAC- TURES AND TRADE; ANNALS OF THE CHENANGO CANAL; CHURCH HISTORY; EMINENT MEN AND STATESMEI^, PROFESSIONS, ETC. ETC.

BY HIRAM C. CLARK.

NORWICH, N. Y.: PUBLISHED BY THOMPSON & PRATT.

1850.

?RIN TED AT THE DEMOCRAT OFFICffi, NORWICH, NE'^yORK.

HISTORY

OF

CHENANGO COUNTY.

INTRODUCTORY.

At various times, and at stated in- 'Jervals, the annais of this county have fceen given to the public by numerous Jiistorians in their accounts of the State ; but, so far as the writer has been able' to inform himself, nothing has appeared 111 print that is not of too general a character for the precise information sought by the particular reader. For instance, book-makers tell us that Nor- •vich is a pleasant, salubrious, and .hriving village, situated upon a plain, near the junction of two streams. That It has so many churches, and school- houses, so much population, so many hotels, so much machinerv, a court- house, and, indeed, they give full par- ticulars of pre:isely what every inhab- itant already knows, but nothmg more. This kind of intelligence is satisTactory as a guide book to a traveler, but of no consequence to a resident.

There are many incidents connected With the early settlement of the county resting in the recollection of aged people. If these are not soon reco^rd- ed they will be lost. Many valuable sources of information arc already cut off by the death of individuals. " It is beliRveu thit but three of the original settlers of this village are yet alive, and these three are far advanced in life.

It rnust be apparent that in writincr a sketch of this nature from personal ob- servation, from details and inciJents collected promiscuously, as opportunity presents, a lucidus ordo (or arrange-

ment) cannot be strictly regarded. It is proposed to introduce so much extrane- ous matter, boih National and State, as will serve to illustrate our county's rise and progress. It will be necessary also to consider Indian affairs with some minuteness. l[ we have time we contemplate giving some Geological information applicable to the county.

THE COUNTY-ITS ORGANIZATION AND CIVIL DIVISIONS. The State of New York, ori^rinally adependeney, wholly subordinate to Great Britain, was erected into a sover- eignty as early as the year 1777. The proposition for the formation of the Col- ony of New York into a sovereign, in- dependent State, bearing its colonial designation, was first submitted to the people residing within its borders, by a convention, or Congress, as it was tben denominated, already called and assembled by authority of the people, as colonists, for the purpose of framing a conditional or provisional governmen't to continue only until the misunder- standings with the mother country (then understood to be temporary) could be compromised by peaceful arrangement, mutually satisfactory to the belligerent parties. But, as time elapsed, the pro- visioual government had the sagacity to discover the prospects of peace ev- ery day diminisncd. Already ihe com- plete atlainment of independence for the thirteen revolted colonies agitated political society in every quarter. Ac-

HISTORY OF

cordingly, on the ihirty-first day of May 1776, some two months before the final action on the declaration of inde- pendence, this convention recommended to the people of this colony, to choose delegates to a convention duly empow- ered to construct a constitution for the Colony, and to make it an independent State, renouncing all allegiance to the King of Great Britain. As soon as the passage of the declaration of independ- ence at Philadelphia was communica- ted to the world, the purposes of ihe Colonists were greatly strengthened. — In place of calling a new Convention, the people gave the Convention recom- mending the call ample powers to act in the premises. In pursuance of the new authority conferred and moreover inspirited by the action of the general Congress, the convention in April 1777, enacted the first Constitution of the State of New York. At this time the State was comprised of but fourteen counties, namely: New York, Albany, Duchess, Westchester, Ulster, Suflblk, Queens, Orange, Kings, Richmond, Tryon, Charlotte, Cumberland, and Gloucester. The two last named coun- ties were at a subsequent period ceded to Vermont. This Constitution of 1777, with occasional emendations, vindicated its wisdom, inasmuch as the people lived and flourished under it for the space of forty years, and that too when the country was in its chrysalis state. Under its benign influence this State attained to an unprecedented degree, prosperity, and even wealth and gran- deur. At this day old men are proud to recount the rise and progress of her agriculture, commerce, and the ad- vancement of the arts and sciences, during this long period of universal prosperity. They are doubly proud to rehearse the labors of her orators, her statesmen and her judges, many of whom have left world wide reputations achieved at thi? auspicious era. But as time advanced the wants of society called into existence the Constitution of 1821, which in its turn gave place to that of 1846. Under these three in-

struments, yielding to each other with occasional amendments of the first two, our State has had a political life of over seventy years — a period coeval with the general government. Our political fathers are now dead, but they have erected a monument to their wis- dom, more durable than brass, to stand in lasting attestation of their sacrifices and their patriotism.

Chenango County derives its name from the river which flows through its territory ; and the river is indebted for its beautiful designation to the Indians who once wandered along its borders, and in whom was vested the original possessory title to the soil in this region. The County was established in 1798, over soil taken from Herkimer, and Tioga counties. Up to lb06 it included also Madison county. The county is rather more than half a century in years. It is thirty-five miles long, and 28 wide. Herkimer and Tioga coun- ties were taken from Montgomery coun- ty in 1791. Montgomery county origi- nally comprised what, during the Rev- olution, was known as Tryon county ; the name was changed from Trj^on to Montgomery in 1784. Chenango coun- ty, therefore, traces back her lineage through Herkimer and Tioga to Mont- gomery, the original Tryon county, so famous in revolutionary hibtory.

The Towns into which Chenango is subdivided are twenty in number, and were erected at various periods.

Bainhridge, the oldest town in the county, was organized from Tioga coun- ty in 1791, under the name of Jericho : name changed to Bainbridge in 1814.

Columbus was taken from the town of Camden in 1805.

Coventry was taken from Greene in 1806.

Guilford was taken from Oxford, un- der the name of Eastern, in 1813. The name of Eastern was changed to Guil- ford in 1817.

German was taken from the town of De Ruyter in 1800.

i: 0 n G E THE THIRD.

CHENANGO COUNTY.

Greene was taken from the towns of Union and Jericho in 1798.

Lincklacn was taken from German in 1823.

McDoiMugh was taken from Preston m 1816.

New Berlin was taken from Norwich in 1807. In 1821 the name was chang- ed to Lancaster ; but changed back to New Berlin in 1822.

Otselic was taken from German in 1817.

Oxford organized as a part of Tioga county in 1793; taken from the towns of Union and Jericho.

Pharsalia, organized under the name of Stonmgton, was taken, from Norwich in 1806 ; the name changed to Phar- salia in 1808.

Pitcher was taken from German and Lincklaen in 1827.

Ply?nonth was taken from Norwich in 1806.

Preston was taken from Norwich in 1806.

Sherburne was organized' in 1801, and comprised the eighth and ninth townships.

Smithviile was taken from Greene in 1808.

Smyrna was taken from Sherburne in 1808 ; organized by the name of Stafford — name changed to Smyrna the same year.

Norwich was organized in 1793, as a part of Tioga county.

North Norw.ich was taken from Nor- wich in 1849.

By referring to the above list it will be seen that Norwich (pronounced Nor- idj, the IV is silent,) once included the towns of New Berlin, McDonough, Preston, Pharsalia, Plymouth, and North Norwich ; making an extent of territory about six times larger than her present limits. The town meetings were appointed for this village, and as the roads at an early period were in such primitive condition as not to admit of the distant citizen's attending these

meetings and returning home the same day ; and, when, moreover, we call to mind that on gala days the town was visited by from one to three hundred Indians ; and, especially too, when we remember that temperance societies are of modern invention ; let not the read- er be surprised if we say to him that fun used at such times to run so high, so fast and furious, as to create serious apprehension among the sober-minded people of this burgh for their personal safety. But notwithstanding these oc- casional excesses, there was among the early settlers of this county, a manly frankness a winning hospitality, per- fectly cordial and sincere whenever ex- tended to a neighbor or stranger. We must ever reverence the homely hon- esty of the pioneers of the county.— We cannot too much admire their un- flinching perseverance while undergo- ing privations, frightful to think of, in successful efforts to subdue a cold and stubborn soil ! a soil which we. their descendants, repose upon in perfect ease. Strangers to every want (except such as ourselves create,) we are ac- commodated Avith roads and canals, schools, churches and markets, where industry realizes her rightful gains. — Theirs was the toil, ours is the reward.

INDIAN HISTORY AND TITLES. Over sixty years have elapsed since the Caucassiau or white race came to

clear up the forests of Chenango.

When they arrived here they foun'd an- other people in possession of the soil, vv-ho held divided empire with the pan- ther, the beur, and the wolf; ail of whom had a very early occupancy ; one long prior to the landing of the pil- grims upon Plymouth Rock. The in- habitants v/ho first peopled this valley, so far as we know, were of the Oneida tribe of savages, interspersed perhaps v/ith a scattered iew of the Tuscarora Indians. There are some traces, how- ever, of a very early class of native in- habitants in this region which may have been dispossessed by the Oneidas, or some other tribe, centuries ago.

HISTORY OF

In the year 1817, Dewitt Clinton ad- dressed to Doct. Samuel L.Mitchell, of New York, a paper upon the antiquities of this tita'.e, iVom Avliich we extract the following, relative to this county :

" In Oxfori there is a fort, on the east side of the Chenango river, in the centre of the present village, whicli is on both sides of the river. There is a piece of land containing between two and three acres, which is about thirty feet higher than the adjoining flat land nround it. This rise of land lies along the river bank about fifty rods, and at the south-westerly end this fort was situated. It contained about three roods of ground, and on the river the line was nearly straight and the bank alnioit perpendicular. The figure was nc-arly like this,

At the places north and south, marked for gates, there were two spaces of Ubou: ten feet each where tho ground has not been broken, which were, un- doubtedly, the entrances or gateways by which the people of the lort went out and in, and particularly for water. The curve, except the gateways, was a ditch regularly dug; and although the ground on which ilie fort is situated, was, at the lirst white settlement, as heavily timbered as any other part of the forest, yet the lines of the work could be distinctly traced among the trees, and the distance from the bottom of the ditch to the top of the embank- ment, generally, about four feet. The antiquity of this fortification is more particularly evident from the following iact : There was one large pine tree, or rather dead trunk, fifty or sixty foet high, which being cut, one hundred and ninety-five concentric circles of

the wood could be easily distinguished and many more could not be counted, as the sap wood of the tree was principally gone. Probably this tree was three or four iiundred years old ; certainly more than two hundred. It might have stood one hundred years after it had completed its growth, and even longer. It is also uncertain how long a time elapsed from the excavation of the ditch to the commencement of the growth of this tree. That it was not there when the earth was thrown up, is certain ; for It stood on the lop of tho bank, and its roots had shaped them- selves to the ditch, rumiing quite under the bottom of it, then rising on the oth- er side near the surface of the earth, and then pursuing a horizontal direc- tion. Probably this work was picketed in, but no remains of any wood-work has been discovered. The situation was very eligible, being healthy, com- manding a beautiful prospect up and doivn the river, and there being no highland within such a distsnce that the garrison could be annoyed. No vestiges of any implements or utensils have been found, except some pieces of coarse pottery resembling stoneware and roughly ornamented. The Indians have a tradition tiiat the family of the Antones, which is supposed to belong to the Tuscarora nation, are tiie seventh generation f.om the inhabitants of this fort : but of iis origin they know noth- ing. There is abo a place at Norwich, in the same county, on a high bank of the river, called the Casile, where the Indians lived at the period of our set- tling the country, and some vestiges of a fortification appear there, but it is, in all probability, of a much more mod- ern date than the one at Oxford.'

In tracing back the history of the Oneida nation of Indians, they will be found to have constituted an important branch of the celebrated Five Nations, originally ; and subsequently of the Six Nations. As early as 1647, the Five Nations, composed of the Mo- hawk, Onondaga, Seneca, Cayuga, and Oneida tribes, are found to be in

CHENANGO COUNTY.

joint alliance with the English Colo- nist:j. Of these clans the Moliawks were first in rank, and the Scnccas first in numbers. By the terms of this al- liance they placed their countries under the protcciion of the Enj^lish nation, surrendering up sovereignty, but re- taining the title in themselves. Hence more ihan a century after the time of this alliance. Governor Tryon writes to the home government that England owned the Colony of New York "by virtue of grants, and the treaties and deeds of cession by the Five and Six Nations."

The Five and Six Nations were al- ways in amity with the English, ex- cepting occasional estrangements, and the English policy was to encourage their rapacious spirit for conquest as all their acquisitions in war came nat- urally into English hands, first by trea- ties, then by purchase, followed by sol- emn deeds of cession, technically word- ed, and about the tenor of which the wild savages cosld ha.ve understood not

As early as sixteen hundred and eighty-seven the Five Nations enjoyed a high war renown, for Governor Don- gan writes to England, that "they are the most warlike people in America, and are a bulwark between us and the French, and all other Indians ; they go as far as the south sea, the north-west passage, and Florida to war. They are so considerable that all the Indians in these parts of America are tributary to them."

About the year 1714 the Oneida In- dians, while on a predatory excursion into the Carolinas formed an alliance with the Tuscaroras, who were natives of the South, and brought them into,or adjoining their country, lying in this State near Lake Oneida. This tribe built one village about six miles from the Oneidas, and another on the Sus- quehannah river. They were taken into the political alliance of the Five Nations, and after this time the confed- erates were styled the Six Nations.—

This County is situated on the route between their two villages; it is not therefore impossible but tljat they were as numerous here &.t an early day as the Oneidas. Perhaps more so.

The Mohawks were proprietors up the Mohawk valley, and their lands, as well as those of the other tribes, seem to have extended north and south, in- definitely. The Oneidas were the next nation west, and held head quarters near Rome, in Oneida county.

In the year 1768 the Six Nations conveyed to the English by a deed of bargain and sale, all of their lands east and south of a line commencing a few leagues Avest of Fort Stanwix, now Rome, and running in a south-west di- rection to the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. This line is east of Owego and was very near this county, if it did not run through it. As this county then had no particular known monuments by which the line past us could be designated, it is just now diffi- cult to say whether all or any portion of it was in the cession. By this cession the English obtained a country stretch- ing over a thousand miles. They paid for this mammoth cession something less than sixty thousand dollars.

While giving the history of the primitive owners of the county, it is proper to show their nutnbcr and con- dition. At a very early day the poor Indian was regarded not in his social relation, but only so far as he was dangerous to the ambition of the white man, who was unceasingly abstracting his country from him for the purposes of private gain. Accordingly the ear- ly Governors of the province of New York sent to England accounts of the war capacity of the various tribes, omit- ting all mention of the women and children and youths, incapable of bear- ing arms. la the year 1677 the Onei- da tribe numbered Iv/o hundred warriors; and in 1786 the Tuscarora tribe were estimated at two hundred and fifty fighting men. The two tribes amount ing to only four hundred and fifty com- batants. In the year 1774, (one year

e

HISTORY OF

before the Revolution,) Gov. Tryon represented that the Six Nations were two thousand strong, and expert in tlie arts of war. In the last mentioned year the Oneida tribe numbered of men women, and children, about fifteen hundred souls. At this time the Sen- eca Indians had one thousand warriors. The Five Nations of Indians ever suffered heavy losses while waging •wars to conlirm the white settlements in this country. One Governor represents that in 16S9 the Five Nations went in- to war with twenty-five hundred and fifty men ; ten years afterwards this body was so wasted by fighting as to number only twelve hundred and thirty men. This fact confirms the high rep- utation of the Five Nations for valor.

The British Governor iu the year 1774 reported that (the noted) "Sir William Johnson, Superintendent of Indian affairs, had under his charge and direction twenty-five thousand four hundred and twenty fighting Indians !" certainly a formidable force when after- wards it was attempted to array it against the colonies in the revolution. As every history of the Revolution contains so much information respecting the conduct of the red men towards tha colonies during the struggle for in- dependence, it cannot be necessary in a sketch of this kind, to consume space by recapitulation.

It is impossible to read of the enor- mous strength of the Indian tribes of North America (when coupled with the assistance of a wilderness inaccessible to white men, and to which the Indians could retreat in case of disaster,) with- out coming to the conclusion that the white people, in adopting the Machia- Telian policy, divide et impera, (divide and govern) adopted the only means by which this country could possibly have been settled. By keeping the Indians eternally at war and scalping each other the white race saved their own scalps, and prevented every chance of their forming alliances against themselves.

When the whites arrived at Norwich between the years 1780 and 1790

the Indians held a fort, called the Cas- tle, which was near the present resi- dence of Homer Johnson, and about one and a half miles below this village on the east bank of the river. Here tliey held Councils, and appointed courts for the trial of delinquents. — Here, too, they received their Chief, and here too they entertained their guests from the neighboring tribes.

In the neighborhood of the Castle, upon the flats and highlands, they con- structed wigwams; they had also cleared off large patches of land for cornfields when the first settlers appeared among them.

ACCOUNT OF THE ONEIDAS.

Assuming that we have already indi- cated with requisite precision the" tribes of natives who inhabited Chenango Coun- ty, prior to the advent of the early pio- neers, and that they were a fractional sec- tion of the six nations, more generally designated the Iroquois Indians, (the term Iroquois being of French extraction) it is proper in this connection to place before the reader some account of these tribes.

And first, of the Oneida Canton of the Iroquois nation ! According to an able and minute narrative given by Mr. Schoolcraft, in his truly valuable " sketch- es of the Iroquois," the Oneida clan were ' originally a separate independent horde, and sprung, as Indian tradition instructs us, from two red men of the Onondaga's who strayed at an early epoch from their tribe into the vicinity of Lake Oneida, in the present County of Oneida. These men, thus isolated from the tribe to which they belonged, laid the foundation for a new tribe, which, in time, was destined to grow into importance and become sub- sequently the allies or friends of what was then known as the four nations, com- prised of the Mohawks, Onondagas, Senecas and Cayugas. That about the year 1539 this new tribe, descended from the Onondaga wanderers, were so nu- merous as to be formally incorporated, as an independent tribe, into the then four nations, themselves constituting the fifth. This tradition concernincr the origin of

CHENANGO COUNTY.

the Oneidas from the Onondagas, is fur- ther confirmed by the circumstance that both languages are of so homogeneous a nature as to possess in many respects, a common identity. Another circumstance would indicate a common origin ! When- ever these tribes were pledged to adverse alliances during the wars which England carried on in this country, they ever ab- stained from hostile demonstrations a- gainst each other. Indeed it was not un- usual, when their chiefs had arrayed them in hostile attitude, by their engage- ment in the wars carried on by Europe- ans, for them at such times to visit each other and to adopt means to bring about a reconciliation to the one cause.

During the revolutionary war the O- neidas, as colonial allies, made an er- rand of peace to the Onondagas, then embarked in the British interest, and employed many expedients to reconcile the hostile tribe to the cause of Indepen- dence. It is proper to remark, that through all the vicisitudes and various fortunes which the colonies underwent during that long and discouraging strug^ gle, the Oneida Tribe adhered, firmly and unflinchingly, to their alliance with us. Other nations joined us but wavered m their support; they continued constant to the end! What might have been the cause of their friendship; whether the kindness of the settlers about them; whether their sympathies were touched at the sight of small bodies of resolute men, bravely resisting the armed pov/er of England; or whatever else may have prevailed to determine their aid to the popular cause, that aid was never for a moment withdrawn !

As a nation, before the degenerating and blighting influencesof civilization had degraded them from their high estate, they were distinguished for bravery and. true Indian magnanimity. These wild men of the woods had hearts, and hearts loo that sympathized with distress! Let us examine for a moment, their conduct towards the Tuscarora tribe ! The Onei- das had made frequent hunting excur- sions into the Colony of North Carolina. They had been the guests of the Tusca- 2

roras in the days of their pride. But when in after years they made a visit to the cantonment of this tribe, they found them diminished in numbers, and a con- quered people. Their best warriors were taken from them. With true native hos- pitality, they invited the remnant of this brave tribe to accompany them to their northern home and partake v>-ith them of the comforts of the Oneida hunting grounds. As guests they came; but the Oneidas gave them possessions, and fi- nally assisted to incorporate them into the Confederacy as an integral part of the Iro- quois, or six nations. After this incorpo- ration we find the sign manual of the Tuscaroras affixed to treaties, and to deeds of cession by the six nations. They were in their new home, treated as a dis- tinct people, retaining, as much as the five tribes, all the characteristics of _ a separate nationality. The Oneidas in- sisted that the Tuscaroras, by their valor in vfar, had demonstrated that them- selves had been a northern tribe original- ly, and that they afterwards fixed their nation in Carolina.

The labors of the Oneidas to sustain the independence of the Colonies, but hastened the time of their own downfall. The achievement of freedom gave a stim- ulus to immigration hither, which, the Indians experienced and ineffectually re- monstrated against. Purchases of Indi- an lands were from time to time made by the State, until at length the Indian hunt- ing grounds came to be most annoyingly circumscribed. This annoyance became insupportable in later years; accordingly in 1820, the tribe purchased of the Mo- nomonees (inhabiting Wisconsin,) a tract of country adjacent to Green Bay, where at this day they have a flourishing settle- ment on Uuck'River. To this locality the majority of the tribe removed, and here they live in a state of semi-civili- zation. "In the year 1844, the western portion of the tribe numbered 722 souls. The former wide domain of these In- dians in this state has dwindled down to a narrow belt of land, held by individual rights, and contains a populntion not ex- ceeding 200 persons.

10

HISTORY OF

These subsist by tillage, and they imi- tate, so far as their indian nature will ad- mit, the manners, dress, and customs of their white brethren. Thus much of the Oneidas!

THE TUSCARORAS.

As this tribe are supposed, upon very good authority, to have once inhabited this county, holding their possessions in joint tenancy with their friends the Onei- das, and as they probably gave name to the rivers and creeks flowing through its territory and indirectly to the county it- self, it is proper to give some account of these savages in conjunction with the Oneida annals.

As has been already stated, this tribe is thought to have originated among the four or five nations. Tiiey are said to have inhabited near the falls of Oswego, in this State, from whence they wandered south Avcst to the Rlississippi Kiver near to its junction with the Oliio, and stroll- ing across the country into the colony of North Carolina, finally fixed their abode in that distant region. Mr. Schoolcraft thinks their's was the first settlement of stability south of the Powhatanic tribe living in Virginia. Like the Iroquois of the North, they affected territory and to obtain it subjected neighboring tribes. It has been surmised they were chiefly instrumental in the overthrow of the first southern settlement founded by the enterprising but unfortunate Sir Walter Raleigh. Aware of their prowess, and encouraged by a uniform series of suc- cessful forays against and conquest over adjoining clans of savages, the Tus- caroras, in conjunction with the Coree Indians, commenced a war against the European Colonists of North Carolina, having for its object their overthrow and final extirpation from the country. The plan of hostilities was so secretly con- cocted, so thoroughly perfected, and in- deed, so little suspected, by the colo- nists, that the first intimation they had of it was on the 22d of September 1711, when the allied Indians broke from their fiistnesscs, and with tomahawk and scalp-

ing knife in hand, poured themselves with irresistible numbers upon the devoted settlers. They made frightful havoc, de- stroying indiscriminately, men, women and children. The white people at length rallied, and, under the guidance of Col. Barnwell, of South Carolina, re- turned the fire brand of war into the In- dian country. Penetrating the indian hiding places, they gave battle and killed thirty Tuscaroras. The Indians rallied anew and continued the war for several years. The combatants in this war were so nearly balanced as to pre- vent victory declaring for either side. At length the aid of the Virginia colo- nists was invoked to put an end to the struggle. To counterbalance this new force, soon to be brought into the field against them, the vigilant Tuscaroras dis- patched runners to the Seneca Indians, then living in this State, for aid. While waiting for the arrival of the Northern Indians, they were compelled, by the ce- lerity of the whiles in pushing hostili- ties afresh and with additional force, to retreat and entrench themselves in a camp on Taw River, which they called fort Naruke, and here they awaited the approach of their enemies. The whites began the siege by making regular ap- proaches to the fort. The besieged had not provided for the requisite supply of water, and Col. Barnwell, aware of this error, so ranged his artillery that it swept the indian water places as well as every point of exit and entrance to the fortifica- tion. By this means the besieged were compelled at disadvantage, to fight a pitched battle in which the whites, assis- ted by cannon, gained a triumphant vic- tory. ' The battle was fought and gained on'the26th day of March, ^1713. In this encounter, eight hundred of the bravest Tuscarora warriors were taken captives and sold into slavery. Their power was now broken and the tribe scattered ; this broken clan came North with the Onei- das the next year, 1714. On their arri- val, they were also befriended by thf' Senecas. According to historians the Tuscaroras of North Carolina in 170S, numbered of fighting men, twelve hun-

0 ^Ui^rlG^

CHENANGO COUNTY.

11

dred. They, by estimation, numbered in this year about six thousand souls. Two-thirds of their braves were lost at the fatal battle of Naruke in 1713.

During the revolutionary war only a portion of this tribe espoused the Coloni- al Cause. After the war the Senecas gave them a ridge of land in Niagara County, in proximity to the falls. In addition to this, they purchased of the Holland Land Company, a tract adja- cent to the gift of the Senecas. In 1813 the British burned their village. Sub- sequently a reservation was provided for them west of the Mississippi, whith- er a portion emigrated but becoming dis- pleased with their new heme, returned to their present habitations. Their hun- tmg grounds are too circumscribed to subsist them, and they, like the Oncidas, have adopted the arts of civilized life. They assimilate to our habits and cus- toms, and work the soil with considera- ble skill as will be seen by the accom- panying statistics of their tribe.

In 1847, according to Mr. Schoolcraft, they numbered 253 persons living in 53 families, of whom 151 were males and 167 were females. In this year they cultivated 2080 acres of land ; raised 4867 bushels of wheat ; 3515 bushels of corn; 4085 bushels of oats; 1166 bush- els of potatoes, besides beans, buck- wheat and turnips. They possessed in this latter year 339 head of neat cattle ; 96 milch cows ; made 7537 pounds of butter ; owned 153 horses; 215 sheep, and 596 hogs.

The writer has lived some years near this tribe and has a personal acquaint- ance with many of its members. He has frequently conversed with James Cusick, a brother of David Cusick, the Indian archeologist. In 1827 David Cu- sick published the traditions of his tribe, professing to go back to an era anterior to the Christian. To gratify the curi- I osity of the reader, we publish an ab- stract of these ; at the same time not pre- tending to pass any opinion upon dates so ancient, and resting only in human memory.

" Anterior to any date, the Eagwehoe-

we, (pronounced Yaguyhohiiy) meaning real people, dwelt north of the lakes, and formed only one nation. After many years, a body of them settled on the Ka- nawag, now the St Lawrence, and after a long time a foreign people came by sea, and settled south of the lake.

Towards 2500 winters before Colum- bus' discovery of America, or 1008 years before our era, total overthrow of the To- wancas, nations of giants came from the north, by the king of the Onguys, (Iro- quois,) Donhtonha, and the hero Yatatan,

Three hundred winters after, or 708 before our era, the northern nations form a confederacy, appoint a king, who goes to visit the great emperor of the Golden city, south of the lakes : but afterwards quarrels arise, and a war of 100 years with this empire of the south, long civil wars in the north, &c. A body of peo- ple escaped in the mountain of Oswego.

1500 years before Columbus, or in the 8 of our era, Tarenyawagon, the first le- gislator, leads his people out of the moun- tains to the river Yenonatateh, (now Mo- hawk,) Vv'here six tribes form an alliance called the Long-house, Agoneaseah — af- terwards reduced to five, the sixth spread- ing west and south. The Kautanoh, since Tuscarora, came from this. Some went as far as the Onauweyoda, now Mississippi.

In 242, Shakanahih, or Stone Giants, a branch of the western tribe, become cannibals, return and desolate the coun- try ; but they are overthrown and driven north, by Tarenyawagon II.

In 492, Atotarho I., king of the Onon- dagas, quells civil wars, begins a dynas- ty ruling over all the Five Nations, till Atotarho IX., who ruled yet in 1142, Events are since referred to their reigns.

Under Atotarho III., a tyrant, Sohnan- rohwah, arises on the Kaunaseh, now Susquehannah river, which makes war on the Sahwanug.

In 602, under Atotarho IV., the To- wancas, now Mississaugers, cede to the Senecas the lands east of the river Ni- agara, who settle on it.

Towards 852, under Atotarho VI., the

12

HISTORY OF

Senecas reach the Oliio river, compel the Otowahs to sue for peace.

Towards 101:2, under Atotarho VIII., w-ar with the Towanoas, and a foreign stranger visits tlio Tuscaroras of Neuse river, who ore divided into three tribes, and at war with tlie Nanticokes and To- talis.

In 1143, under Atotarho IX., first civ- il war between the Erians of Lake Erie, sprung from the Senecas, and the Five Nations." Here end these traditions.

The native occupants of this region had favorite haunts where they construc- ted hamlets and passed short vacations in the hunting season in accordance with their accustomed indolence. The per- manent, fixed place of savage abode is usually, near the dwelling of the chief of the canton. Like mr.n in thecivilized slate, the Indian is fond of society and re- sorts to his village to enjoy social inter- course, take part in the gaiety of metro- politan life as well as to confer with his brethren upon matters aflecting the pub- lic interest.

During the intervals of game taking the Indian is inert and listless, and com- pels the submissive squaw to perform all I the menial duties of the household, and also to attend to the rougher labors of the field. Like the ox, the squaw is the impassive instrument to work out the means of subsistence for her lord, which office she performs, without a murmur of impatience. The life of the Indian hunter, and they are all hunters both by education and by nature, is of a variegated charac- ter, and is generally passed in ex- cessive fatiguing wanderings through pathless forests, abstaining for days to- gether from food and needful rest. Then follows that corresponding re-action, bor- dering upon downright imbecility, which ever happens when the human constitu- tion is overtasked, cither mentally or physically.

The violent exertion the Indian makes when on excursions of duty may be illustrated by the treatment of prison- ers taken and held for a time in captivi- ty. When liberated or restored to friends,

their greatest complaint has ever been the killing marches they underwent in common with their captors. The Indi- an by nature possesses, and by ear- ly culture is taught, a stoicism that makes him disdain to murmur or repine at whatever hardships he is called upon to endure. Noon, night, or midnight, when once he shakes off his lethargy and arouses himself into action, are all seasonable hours to him. At any hour of the twenty four he is equally prepar- ed to march, to hunt, to fight or to re- treat as circumstances seem best to dic- tate.

We have before adverted to the fact that the tribes inhabiting this valley were accustomed to go as far as Florida and the south sea to war. In marching to these far distant countries in pursuit of their enemies they traversed dense forests through roads impassable to Avhite men and followed obscure trails over moun- tains, crossing rivers and threading a labyrinth of morasses in what seems to us an incredible short space of time. — Their journeys from fifteen hundred to two thousand miles were undertaken with all the alacrity of a ramble after pleasure. In view of these labors it is not surprising their indurated bodies should require frequent seasons of rest.

We are uninstructed as to what dis- position they made of their wounded warriors in countries so remote as the Floridas. It requires four hale men to transport every disabled combatant on a march. Again in savage warfare no prisoners are taken as a general thing, al- though frequent instances occur where the life of the captive has been spared him. By men in the savage state, war is construed in its literal sense, thai is, to destroy as many of the enemy as pos- sible, by whatever craft or device. The savage who boasts the greatest number of scalps, snatched from the (oe, ranks, in the esiiination of his Chief, and of the maiden, as the greatest conqueror. To take the enemy unsuspecting and without exposure to the captor is the highest indication of good conduct in war. The Indian code of honor is ex-

CHENANGO COUNTY,

13

actly the reverse of ihat standard which every white rnan is solemnly bound to, observe. What we term magnanimity towards a cun(|uered or unresisting ene- 1 my, is deemed low minded and pusillani- 1 muus in savage life. His system of war- j fare is uniform in another respect ; when [ the warrior falls, by the fate of battle, into hostile hands, he neither asks or expects mercy. He regards his captiv- ity as the forfeit of his existence, and while subjected to tortures that unman the white race, he looks grimly upon his exulting tormentors, defying them to in- flict any cruelly that shall make him Ci^mplam. Indian courage is in manyrc- spects passive and even womanly, and sustains its possessor in circumstances apparently insupportable.

The favorite resort of the natives of this region were the Indian fields, now known as the Randall farm, lying about one mile below the creek Bridge in Norwich, and a short distance South of the confluence of the Canasewacla Creek and the Chenango River. The plain upon which Norwich is situated, was flat, dry and spacious, and inter- spersed with springs of pure water, and hence, this spot was also a very grate- ful retreat to the savage at an early day. In the Indian parlance, Norwich village was then denominated the " Canashe- wacta country." Between the Chenan- go and Tiauadcrha (now Unadilla) rivers a constant communication was kept up and abundance of encampments were pitched upon either stream. The red race cleared off the forests partially up- on the Randall farm, and also cut out clearings bordering the Unadilla River. Oxford was another favorite resting place; there was yet another, some miles south of Oxford. The site of the famous Indian fort in Oxford is now cov- ered by the dwelling house of Ira Wilcox a resident of that village.

There is a tradition concerning a powerful chief who once possessed him- self of the fort in Oxford, and for ma- ny successive. years kept the Oneida In- dians at bay. It seems incredible that an adveuturer should attempt this en-

terprise against so well disciplined an enemy as the Oneidas were at an ear- ly era. Yet it maybe so. The reader shall have the statement as we find it. It is as follows:

••The Oneidas leave us this traditior : that about a century or more since, a gigantic chief occupied It. who destroyed all their hunter* who came into this quarter. They called this Chief Thick Neck. The Oneidas made sev- eral attempts to decoy him IVom his stronghold, but without success. They at lengili managed to go between him and thelbrt, when he ran down the river about six miles and secreted himself in the marsli around the pond called Warn's Pond. Here he was discoverd and kil- led by the Oneidas, who buried hiin and scratch- ed the leaves over his grave that no vestige of him should remain. The remnant of his tribe were adopted by the Oneidas, and an Indian wlio was hung at Morrisville many year since3 named A brain Antone was a descendant from Thick Nkck."

Abrarn Antoine himself deduced his origin fr..m the Tuscaroras. In plough- ing up the lands in the neighborhood of Norwich village flint arrow points have been discovered in considtrabie numbers during these latter years. The points are of triangular shape. They vary in length from two to four inches, and in the widest part, are from half an inch tc two inches, and range in thick- ness from an eighth to three-quarters of an inch. The largest size must have required a long and heavy arrow to pre- serve the equipoise during its flight from the bow, to the object of attack. An immense bow must have been re- quired to drive so heavy an arrow with sufficient momentum to force the blunt point of the flint into the body of the victim. Unless indeed, the Indians of the olden time possessed some art in springing these ponderous bows, they surely must have been furnished with arms far more sinewy and shoulders more brawny than their descendants. The arrow head itself is a curiously wrought piece of workmanship. The flint fsso regularly carved as to show in the more finished specimens, a se- ries of small, regular indentations, pre- senting on the edges a kind of saw or teeth which it would be difficult for the 1 modern artizan to imitate. Hatchets

14

HISTORY OF

carved out of stone, have been discov- ered on the banks of the Unadilla riv- fr buried among arrow points.

It has been surmised by some per- sons that tlie arrows were shaped and tinished by the stone axe. Many con- jecture the natives possessed some se- cret by which they softened the flint while the carving process was going on, «nd again hardened it, (as we harden and sol"ten steel by the agency of heat,) when the operation was performed. Within the past year an alligators tooth, with the enamel much decayed, was ex- humed near the Castle, where it had long beeti buried. From the appear- ance of the workmanship upon the tooth, it seems to have been used as an orna- ment by the Indians. This tooth was doubtless procured in some of their southern incursions.

Very neat the residence of Mr. Abel Chandler in Norwich, there is a large mound having many appearances in common with the mounds found in Illi- nois and Mississippi ; and which are known to have been places of deposite for the dead. This mo'jnd is situated on the alluvial soil of the valley, and is detached from the high grounds near by. If it had a rock basis it would be rational to conclude some stream had caused its disruption from the highland standing in proximity to it. But it is equally steep, or very nearly so, on each side and corresponds in length and breadth with the tumuli on the Missis- sippi, and other western rivers. We know of no Indian burying place in this region nearer than Oxford. Bones have been found when excavating about the fort in that village. But at Nor- wich where the Indians were in great- er numbers, and at an early day, no burial place has been discovered, so far as the writer can ascertain. The Cas- tle had a village around it, as some of the first inhabitants report. Forty or fifty years ago, the outlines of an indi- an huddle or hamlet was plain to be seen.

Mr. Wm. Thomas, who has visit- ed tho west and witnessed the exhu-

ming of bones from the mounds feels confident that this mound has a deposit of bodies. He forms his judgement upon the striking similarity between this and the Mississippi mounds. Mr. Thomas says the bodies west are found buried on a level with the land surrounding the mound, and concludes from this fact that slight covering of earth was first placed over thff dead, and after the spot was pretty much taken up with in- terments the mound was then piled up after the manner of the pyramids of Egypt, or in conformity to our custom of honoring the dead by the erection of monuments. As this mound is about twenty feet above the level of the plain around it, it would probably require about that amount of excavation to reach the bodies, if they are there. — The fact that the mounds in the \vest were first made by hands was first as- certained by the nature of the soil com- posing the mound, it being different from all the land lying about it. This caused excavations to be made. The spot from whence the earth composing the mounds in the west was taken, it seems next to impossible to ascer- tain. Like the stone of which the pyramids are built it must have been transported from a distance.

There is a mound in Illinois called mount Joliet, built in a pyramidal form and of dimensions which discov- ers the great labor required to construct it. Its height is 60 feet or nearly four rods perpendicular, its length S4 rods, its width 14 rods and 196 rods in cir- cumference on the top— but much lar- ger at its base. This is regarded as the most extraordinary mound in this country, as also the 'largest. This mound consist of eighteen million two hundred solid feet of earth. It may not be improper to advert to the proba- ble origin of mounds or tombs by cop- ying the following from the American Antiquities.

"AxciENT Tumuli are considered a kind of antiquities, differing in character from that of the other works ; both on account of what is fre-

CHENANGO COUNTY.

15

quently discoverd in them, and the manner of their construction. They are conical mounds, either of earth or stones,' which were intended for sacred and important purposes. In many parts of the world, similar mounds were used as monuments, sepulchres, altars and temples. The accounts of these works, found in the Scriptures, show, that their origin must be sought for among the antedeluvians.

That they are very ancient.

and were used as

places of sepulture, public resort, and public worship, is proved by all the writers of ancient times, both sacred and profane- Homer, the most ancient Greek poet frequently mentions them, particularly describing the tumulus of Tydeus, and l he spot where it was. In memo- ry of the illustrious dead, a sepulchral mound of earth was raised over their remains ; which, from that time forward, became an altar, where- on to olter sacrifices, and around which to ex- hibit games of athletic exercise. These offer- inss and games were intended to propitiate their names, to honor and perpetuate their memories. Prudentius, a Roman bard, has told us, that there were in ancient Rome, just as many temples of the gods, as there were sep- ulchres of the heroes ; implying that they were the same."

Antiquarians believe this country to have been once peopled by a civilized race originating in Asia. They insist that the antiquities of the country show this. But it is a matter foreign to our subject and we leave it as we find it.

We extract from the "Annals of Binghamton" a brief account of an- tiquities discovered in the town of Greene :

"There were no Indians in this particular section, when first settled by the whites. But

burnt ; suggesting the idea, that the mode of disposing of the dead, when these bones were deposited, was the burning of the dead body.— - No conjecture could be formed as to the number of bodies buried here. They were found lying without order, very much jumbled, and so far decayed as to crumble, or fall apart, when brought to the air and handled. The supposi- tion would not be an unlikely one, that these bones were the remains of bodies which had faU len in battle, and were afterwards hurriedly thrown together and buried. •••••♦ In the mound near Greene, there were found lying, quite in one pile, 200 arrow heads, cut after their usual form, and all either of yellow or black flint. It will be recollected that there are no stones of this kind found in this part of the State of New York. In another part of the mound there were found, lying together, about sixty made after the same form- A sil- ver band or ring was also found, of about two inches in diameter, extremely thin, but wide, with the remains— in appearance— of a reed pipe, lying within it. The supposition is, that I it was some sort of a musical instrument. — I There was also found a number of stone chisels, I of different shapes, evidently fitted to perform ! different species of work. A large piece of I mica also, cut into the form of a heart ; the I border much decayed, and the different laminaa seperated."

j We have recently had a conversation

] with Moses Abram, a nephew (as he

I represents himself,) of Abram Antoine,

and one of the Oneida tribe. He was

asked to interpret the meaning of the

\ term Chenango. He replied it was not

Chenango but Chenengo, and altered by

the whites to Chenango. He said the

1 name was not Oneida but Tuscarora, as

" as the term Canashewacta, pro-

we have to recoid a "^^^J-.y^^^^l-l^.^'j'f, "1°"^^ \ nounced in modem times Canasawacta.

the relic of Indian superstition and industrj .— . ,.

There are now to be seen only some imperfect Moses was asked what part of this

county the Indians most loved to in- habit. He replied, the Canashewacta country and Oxford, He thought they did not like Ot.selic so much, but the

traces of it. It was situated about two miles south of the village, and about ninety rods from the river bank, on what is now the farm of Mr. Lett. The mound, before it was dug down or plouahed over, was about six or seven feet above the surface of the ground, and forty feet |. hunting was good there. He said he in diameter ; bcin<r nearly circular. There was j^ ,^^,^g pj.ggg„j when Antoine killed Ja- also. till within a few years, a large pine stump,, ,^ TKnt Vip npvpr =awhim look in the centre of it, the remains of a large pine- I Cobs. i hat he never .aw him looK tree which was standing when the whites came l| more good natured than Avhen he struck in. It was then; however, a dead tree. When |! hisknifeinto Jacob'sside. But Antoine's it was cut down, there were counted 180 cir-|i pQyj^,gPj^j^j,g 5,^0,., changed, and mads

les or yearly growths. Estimating the age of the mound by the circles of the stump, it roust have been over two hundred years old when this section of the country was settled. An examination of this mound was made in 1^29, bv digginc, and there w^ere found human bones to a great number ; and lower from the surface, therc^wcre found bones that had been evidently

! the Indians standing by, fear an attack [iupon themselves, Moses was asked I how the white people obtained the In- j dian possessions in this county? His |i countenance dropped, his eye almost ■closed for a moment, when he sulkily

16

HISTORY OF

replied, " ugh ! run 'cm ofl"! run 'em ofl'I ! " Moses thinks the first log house upon the Corporation of Norwich, was located nearly in rear of the Court Mouse on the spot where the widow of Peter B. Guernsey now resides. He under- stood the first white men who settled in Norwich, were squatters, and removed when the land was purchased by indi- viduals or companies from the State.

In the town of New Berlin, on the farm of Mr. Scribner, situate opposite or nearly so, to the Indian fields in Ot- sego county, gun barrels have been plowed up as also human skeletons, stone tomakawks and arrow points. It is the opinion of the old settlers, in the vicinity of these fields, they were once the theatre of a severe battle fought be- tween several tribes of savages.

After we had published an account of the Indian Cemeteries found in the County, wc were informed, upon what we deem reliable authority, that many years ago, Caspeii M. Rouse, then the owner of the farm upon which the pres- «;nt grave yard in Norwich village is situated, contemplated the erection of H farm-house on the eastern slope of this yard. The spot had not at that early day been set apart by the settlers for interments. JMr. Rouse designed to build his house with an underground kitchen and cellar, and, lo further his purpose made a farmers bee to remove the earth for the foundation. The dig- gers were proceeding with shovels, plows and scrapes, when they suddenly came in contact with human bones in such great numbers as to deter Mr. Rouse iVom the further execution of his j enterprise, and it was accordingly aban- doned. The bones were discovered in an upright position or nearly so. We are indebted for this piece of informa- tion to General Tiio.mpson Meade, who came to Chenango in 1792 (recently removed to Illinois,) and whose mem- ory at the advanced age of seventy years or over is exceedingly clear.

As was remarked, the mounds of which we speak are of great antiquity ;

and the existence of occasional deposites of dead bodies outside them does not disprove or weaken the circumstances, going to show tbcir having been the bu- rying spots of a people who lived in this County a great many years ago. The interments about Norwich village may have been one or two hundred years ago. Those in the mounds in this county a tliousand years aco. Ma- nj!- of the stone implements of Avar ex- humed from the earth, may have been deposited with bodies that have moul- dered away leaving the ornaments of the dead alone remaining.

When the Chenango Canal was be- ing dug, some laborers found several skeletons about four miles north of Ox- ford village, near what was once known as Gates' Tavern. This information we have from a person who informs us he was present at the exhumation of the remains, by the excavators.

A resident of Oxford informs us, that at Paget's brook soine four miles below O.xford are breast-works which appear to have been Indian fortifications. They are circular and consist of about twen- ty-five separate embankments, running nearly into each other. Over these el- evations of the earth -stand aged trees. The works themselves are not high, va- rying from one to two feet from the level of the ground around them. But the original heighth of Ancient Forts made of earth, after a lapse of many years, cannot be correctly ascertained. The action of the weather, particularly of wet weatiier, is very destructive to them.

In the village of Oxford, in past years, as improvements at vari- ous times advanced in the neighbor- hood of Fort Hill, many Indian relics were found, such as Stone Hatchets — Flint Arrow points — Stone Chisels, Sec. A few years ago, many Indian graves were broken in upon, while laying some pump logs. The bed of the graves were lined with cobble stone resem- bling in many respects the pavement used in City highways. Triere was

MLA^o (^MMMMAJL JOMM ^FJLlLirrJ^'

CHENANGO COUNTY.

17

an upper and under lining of stone. | But the roof or upper ceiling of the vault had fallen upon the lower.

It IS impossible in our day to estimate the number of warriors of the Six Na- itons and their allies, who, long before the arrival of white faces, poured through this valley on their march to the Clierokee, Creek, and Seminole countries to make war. Then again, I our valley must have swarmed with ^ these combatants on their return home ■ from their savage contests. Some of their population no doubt died and were i buried in some convenient spot which j was not the usual place of deposite of the dead.

We will take this opportunity to re- mark, that the exact location of the Cas- tle is on that portion of Mr. Hall's farm boundmg on the east bank of the Che nango river, where are yet standing a few apple trees, planted by the natives and which are about the last trace of the former habitation of the Aborigines in Norwich.

By this time it will be apparent to the reader of these sketches, that Chenan- go County is barren of those thrilling incidents in revolutionary history and border warfare which occurred in ma- ny of the other counties in the State and which are contemplated by the middle aged, the old and young, with absorbing interest. The natives of this region sought other fields for the display of their valor and the shedding of blood. Otsego, Tioga, Herkimer and Oneida Counties, can recount bloody battles lost and won. But the men who took part in those mixt affrays, and were promi- nent actors, once occupied the soil we now cultivate. The march of the ar- my of Gen. Sullivan, against the Indi- ans was near the borders of this Coun- ty, but the troops, did not cross into our territory at any point.

During the latter years of the resi- dence of the Oneidas in this section, a tragical scene was enacted at the Cas- tle below Norwich. A young Oneida ! addressed a very beautiful squaw be- longing to the same tribe, against her

own inclinations, but with the approba- tion of parents ; who, in matrimonial affairs, generally take the welfare and affections of their offspring into their private keeping. The young savage was a man of rank and wealth, and with thpse accomplishments in his fa- vor, succeeded, over a rival possessing the maidens affections, in carrying the young woman to his wigwam. But his felicity was soon interrupted by the elopement of the bride with her more cherished lover. The husband pursued and found the guilty pair in a hut, occu- pying the same apartments. His arri- val, being in the night, was unknown to the fugitives, and while they were bu- ried in profound sleep, he entered, with knife in hand, their lodging room, and first taking the life of the paramour, next inflicted dreadful wounds upon his wife, of which however, she finally re- covered. To try this offence the Indi- ans assembled in solemn council, heard proofs, and, after duly considering the flagrant provocation, acquitted the ac- cused.

Another Indian Court was once con- vened in Norwich, to determine a dis- pute between an Indian and one of the settlers. The offence charged by the aggrieved party, was the despoliation of a rifle, celebrated for its excellent shooting properties, and one that had been known in the hands of its owner to do fatal execution. He complained that this valuable implement had been siezed from him, and wantonly bent along the barrel, by a blow across a log, in such a manner as to render it worth- less. The Indians, who were friends of the injured party, came secretly and laid in wait several days to take ven- geance upon the offender. The Chief receiving intelligence of the affair, summoned the Court, which was held upon this occasion, in solemn form, and after hearing allegations on both sides, adjudged, by the aid of his sense carrier, that the rifle should be restored or replaced by another equally good ; he also exacted the further condition, as preliminary to the adjustment of the

18

HISTORY OF

difference, that the white settlers should henceforth abstain from selling- wnis- key to the Indians; or sell it to them in quantities insufficient to intoxicate.

'i he Oiic'idas experienced from some of the early settlers of the valley offi- ces of charity and kindness, which thev warmly acknowledged. When it was finally determined by the tribe to em- igrate to the west, many of the recipi- ents of these favors canie into the val- ley to exchange courtesies and bid a fi- nal adieu.

There are flying reports, of a battle having been fought at a very early day upon the Indian fields below Norwich. But after much inquiry, we are unable to ascertain any particulars, or lo trace these rumors loan authentic source.-^ It is possible, and indeed probable, thai parties of Indian hunters got into col- lision about infringements of flieir game-laws ; and in ihe affray lives may have been lost upon these fields. Hos- tile encounters and general melees of- ten happen among untutored members of the same tribe, as also between strol- ling parlies belonging to various tribes; and this without open, and declared warfare resulting, or at the lime exist- ing.

To give an illustration, Abram An- toine once on a hunting excursion to the northward of Greene village, pur- sued and wounded a deer. The ani- mal took to Highl, followed close up by thelndian. A settler at length shot down the deer, and was in the act of dressing it when Antoine came up. He claimed the deer, and set about taking posses- sion. The settler defended his' right, and a scuffle ensued. Antoine drew a knife, the white man retreated a few yards and presented the muzzle of his gun full in the Indian's face, threaten- ing to fire if he approached tlie game. The Indian finally yielded ihe prize, and here the dispute ended. The same occurrence among Indians would have terminated differently, as their pride and resentment must have become in- volved.

Affrays of this nature were no doubt frequent, and in lime u ere exaggerated by tradition, into pitched battles impli- eating the various Indian nations.

We now pass from the Indians and their aflairs to the race who succeeded to their homes in this County. To make the trausiiion without unbecoming ab- ruptness, it is proper to devote some space to a brief inquiry concerning the acquisition of title, by governments and individuals, to the possessions of foreign nations. To do this we must incorpo- rate into these pages some of the had- ing features of the laws of nations.

The law of nations is defined to be "a system of rules, founded in natural reason, and established by universal consent among the civilized inhabitants of the world "

The '"present title of individuals to the territory comprising Chenango coun- ty, is derived either mediately or imme- diately from the Slate, and is held and enjoyed by them, subject in a limited degree to govermental authority. The county was OY\g\na\\y purchased by the State of New York 'from the Indians, and resold again to patentees, comprised of coujpanies and individuals, promis- cuously. But independent of treaties and public purchases the State exerci- ses certain jurisdiction over the rights of the Indians, and those of their pos- sessions which they have never aliened in any manner to the government.

States and discoverers resort to nu- merous artifices and expedients, to ac- quire to themselves an,tJ subject to their sway the dominions of foreign, inde- pendent nations. Prominent among these may be enumerated the title ac- quired by conquest, by discovery, by cultivation The right* acquired in this general way is more often confined to the assertion of sovereignty, leaving the private proprietor in the unmolested oc- cupation of his wealth, on condition that he will acknowledge the suprema- cy of his conquerer or discoverer. It must have sounded oddly to the simple savages of this country, when Columbus informed them he had discovered them

CHENANGO COUNTY.

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and their Country! more especially as | this was probably the first suspicion they entertained of having been lost.

Foreign nations, originally set up a claim to America in right of this dis- covery and conquest, as laid down and sanctioned by the laws of nations but proceeded no further to enforce claims, than to cause an acknowledgement by the savages of the legitimacy of ihea right. When in after times it was deemed expedient to become the pri- vate proprietors of Indian lands, the European States accomplished this ob- ject through the agency of treaties ; and deeds of purchase founded upon satis- factory, if not adequate, recompense for the surrender.

The chief treaties and settlements made on this continent were perlected under the auspices of the English Na- tion. By recurring to history, it will be found that Briions, in early times were exceeding fond of disposessing their neighbors of their hard earned estates. Tliat under the lead of William the Norman, they took forcible posession of the British Islands, despoiling the unoffending Saxons. Imitating the an- cient Romans, they not only captured the country, requiring the conquered to pay tribute, but appropriated .all the landed property to their private uses, and not only so, but finally subjected the dispirited people to the most gal- ling servitude. Between the Norman and Roman conquests, there appears to have been this difference ; the Romans not only occupied or laid waste ihe con- quered country, but they often made in discriminate slaughter of unresisting enemies. Many characteristics com- mon to the old Roman system of war- fare is practised at this day among sav- ages.

Following up the usurping disposition of their early captains, the English in modern times poured armies upon ihe effeminate oeople of India, until they have denation ilized that coun'.ry. The cruelties exercised by the keeper of the Black Hole, at Calcutta, was the pre- text; but the process of subjugation be-

gan previous to that barbarous act.— Few native princes within the reach of British armies, are left in undisturbed possession of their thrones.

Those allowed to sway the sceptre almost universally acknowledge fealty to the viciors rule. Whenever and wherever Englishmen emigrate, their 'first ambition seems to be to bring their adopted country under the control of the home government. When the Puritans set out for America, they fled from a grievous oppression, but no sooner had they established themselves, than their earliest thoughts were occupied with schemes to raise up a new empire for their oppressors,

William the Conquerer divid'^d up the Saxon Estates among his military family, after the manner of parcelling out rations in his camp ; he regulated the quantit}"^ of land bestowed, by the ranic the beneficiary had attained in his army. Tne lands thus given out were held as a reward for past and future military services. Hence the origin of the present nobility of England j and hence too, why tillage in that country is more respected than commercial pur- suits.

The United States and State sover- eignties, as successors to the English Government, in this country, claim orig- inal proprietorship lo all the soil lying Within their respective boundaries. — Europeans asserted an original right to this country, as conquerors and discov- erers ; but in addition to these claims they set up others, which may here be enumerated. They insisted upon their right to the Indian Countries, because of greater excellence founded on better civilization, superior agricultural knowl- edge, Christianity, and skill in the art of wa7\ We cannot readily suppose the savages acknowUdged that Chris- tianity and war-skill, entitled foreigners to an absolute ri;^ht to crowd them out of their homes or off from their pater- nal acres. But right or wrong, these doctrines arc now firmly incorporated into the Universal law of nations which

HISTORY OF

governs the conduct of all men in the civilized state.

To test the actual workings of the principles established by this law, let us make the case our own and prac- tically apply its docLrines. Suppose by some mysterious allotment of Provi- dence, it should fall out that a people possessing military skill excelling ours, (happily no such nation exists,) and con- scious of their superiority, this people were to semi captain? and trained bandc; into New York Harbor; that they even succeed in destroying the cily ; and after this build up a monument ; erect a flag staff; hoist from its peak their country's ensign ; and after en- acting these and other symbols of own- ership by discovery and conquest, de- part for their homes? that on their re- turn they were to advertise their ru- ler how splendid a land they had founded, every rood of which was his private property ?

Before enlarging upon the ethics of discovery and conquest, we will refer the reader to a fragment from the wri- tings of Washington Irving, who, while he has made a very amusing caricature, has at the same time given a pun- gent critic upon modern commentators on national law.

RIGHT OF DISCOVERY.

" The first source of right, by which property is acquired in a country, is discovery. For as all mankind have an equal right to any thing which has never before been appropriated, so any nation that discovers an uninhabited coun- try, and takes possession thereof, is considered as enjoying full property, and absolute, unques- tionable empire therein.

" This proposition being admitted, it follows clearly, that the Europeans who first visited America, were the real discoverers of the same; nothirg being necessary to the establishment of this fact, but simbly to prove that it was totally uninhabited by man. This would at first ap- pear to be a point of some dilficulty : for it is well known, that this quarter of the world abounded with certain animals, that walked erect on two feet, had sometliing of the hu- man countenance, uttered ceitain unintelligible sounds, very much like language ; in short, had a marvellous resemblance to human beings.

" But the zealous and enlightened fathers, who accompanied the discoverers, for the pur-

pose of promoting the kingdom of heaven by

establishing fat monasteries and bishoprics on earth, soon cleared up this point, greatly to the satisfaction of his holiness tlie pope, and of all Christian voyagers and discoverers.

" They plainly proved, and as there were no Indian wruers to take the other side, the fact was considered as fully admitted and establish- ed, that the two-legged race of animals bcforo mentioned were mere cannibals, detestable mon- sters, and many of them giants— which last de- scription of vagrants have, since the time of Gog. Magog and Goliath, been considered as outlaws, and have received no quarter in either history, chivalry or song. Indeed, even the phi. losophic Bacon declared the Americans to be people proscribed by the laws of nature, inas- ' much as they had a barbarous custom of sacrifi. cing men, and feeding upon man's flesh.

'• But the benevolent fathers, who had under- taken to turn these unhappy savages into dumb beasts, by dint of argument, advanced still stronger proofs ; for, as certain divines of the sixteenth century, and among the rest Lullus, affirm, the Americans go naked, and have no beards !—•' They have nothing," says Lullus, " of the reasonable animal, except the mask." And even that mask was allowed to avail them but little : for it was soon found that they were of a hideous copper complexion — and being of a copper complexion, it was all the same as if thi'V were negroes- -and negroes are black ; " and black," said the pious fathers, devoutly cross- ing themselves, '' is the color of the devil!" Tlierefore, so far from being able to hold prop- erty, they had no right even to personal free, dom-for liberty is too radiant a deity to inhab- it such gloomy temples. All which circum- stances plainly convinced the righteous follow- ers of Cortes and Pizarro, that these miscre. ants had no title to the soil that they infested — tliat they were a perverse, illiterate, dumb, beardless,, black seed— mere wild beasts of the forest, and like them should either be subdued or exterminated."

Of all modes of logic ever coined to acquire the proprietorship of new coun- tries, the speculations of the Puritans were by far the most novel, quaint and alarming! Before leaving England to embark hither, they proclaimed a solemn manifesto, running in this most extraor- dinary language.

" The lohoh earth ivas the Lord's gar- den, and he has given it to the sons of Adam to be tilled and improved by them.^^

They next resolve themselves to be the sons of Adam. They omitted to say whose sorts the Indians were ! This doc- trine, while confined to paper, did no harm as the savages knew nothing of it. It must have been highly inexpedient, in

CHENANGO COUNTY.

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the then powerful state of the native tribes, to attempt reduction of such a max- im to practice. The savages were luck- ily for them, too numerous to be encoun- tered for the enforcement of the puritan doctrine. If the Indians had insisted they too were the sons of Adam, they certainly would have defended their es- tates in case of any eflbrt at disposses- sion. But the doctrine of sovereignty and jurisdiction, by virtue of discovery and conquest, as it did not molest the savages in the enjoyment of their hunt- ing grounds, and as they were ignorant of it, of course made no heart burnings between them and the Puritans.

We will now pass to the present rela- tions existing between the Indians and our government as interpreted by the United States Supreme Court from time j to time, when vexed questions have been I brought before that distinguished tribu- nal. The Court has fixed the rights of the savages upon common law basis, and has on different occasions interpreted and limited acts of Congress and the laws which State Legislatures have passed over the various tribes.

The early acquiescence of the Eng- lish government, allowing the natives the occupancy of the soil until it was ta- ken from them by purchase or consent, has now become a part of the establish- ed law of the land. The Court decides that the Indian tribes are separate na- tions, retaining the possession of their countries as occupants, subject to the right of the General Government to ex- ercise jurisdiction in certain cases over them. The natives, for their OAvn pro- tection and preservation, are by law in- capacitated from alienating their lands to individuals, without express sanction of the government. They are wards in a State of pupilage, and the government is the guardian of their persons and estates.

It has sometimes occurred that law- yers, when contending before the Su' preme Court for Indian rights, have in sisted that the aborigines are the true and only owners of the soil ; that their title is superior to all claims, becausa

they had the earliest occupancy. To this position the Judges have uniformly replied, that " Courts do not at this late day, listen to any reasoning in favor of the 'abstract rights of the natives to the country founded on prior possession."

It may also be affirmed that whenev- er Indian reservations fail within State boundaries, the local government claims to exercise exclusive authority ; ignoring" every right which the General Govern-* men't may have assumed during the ab- sence, or before the organization of the State jurisdiction. As for example ; when crimes are committed by the sav- ages within the territorial limits of New York, although the offence be punisha- ble by Indian laws, and in cases too where the white people are in no wise compromised ; as when one Indian takes the life of another ! Yet in all of these instances the State assumes to try and punish.

This assumed right to enforce laws against men, who do not in general, un- derstand the English language; and when, if the offender is discharged in our courts, he may nevertheless be again arraigned, and a second time put in jeop- ardy," before the Indian tribunals for the same offence ; is beyond all measure mortifying and corroding to savage pride, it destroys nearly every image, or linger- ing vestige of his nationality. We will illustrate by calling attention to the ar- raig-nment, trial and execution of the memorable Abram Antoine, whom Ave have so often had occasion to refer to in different parts of these sketches. An- toine was recognized by adoption, as a member of the Oneida tribe. He was by nature ferocious, vindictive and rest- less ; but notwithstanding his blood-thirs- ty disposition, he possessed many traits of character indicative of an acute and vigorous mind. He was never known to relent in anger, nor to forgive a foe. The Indians hated him with all the animosity there ever is in fear. They would glad- ly have taken his life to be rid of his dan- gerous temper. About the year 1821, they assisted the -ft-hite people to arrest him for murder, and when once a captive,

HISTORY OF

they rejoiced that a great danger was j! thence due west to the Chenengo river ; put out of their way. IJat, notwithsttuid- 1| thence southerly down the Chenengo ing all these considerations, as llie time j river to where il empties into the Sus- Ibr his trial approaciied — the trial by i quehaunah river, and to the line, com- pale faces of an Indian for an oiieuce'\mon\y calicd ihe line of propcriij estab- against Indians! Savage pride rose su- '! li^hed at a treaty held at Fort Stanwix

perior to personal danger, insomuch that other tribes as well as the Oneidas, felt the disgrace, and remonstrated against the New York Courts assuming jurisdic- tion over Antoine's person. They pro- tested he should be delivered up to be dealt with by his tribe. It harrowed their very souls to think one of their num- ber should be tried and condemned by men who spoke a foreign tongue, and who possessed neither sympathies, feel- ings nor interests in harmony with the prisoner. Such a severe trial of pride was more than the ardent temperaments of the savages could submit to. A res- cue of the accused was threatened ; and prevented only by calling out troops to keep night and day vigils around the jail. \Ve can estimate violent anguish by its outward manifestations. But who can compute the silent mortification, hor- ror and grief, tiie savages endured, when, as silent spectators, they stood in clus- ters under the gallows to see execution done upon the person of the prisoner, by virtue of New York laws ?

GOVERNOR CLINTON'S PURCHASES.

In the year 17S5, the State of New York, by GEorvCE Clinton, the gover- nor, negotiated a treaty Vvrith the Chiefs and Sachems of the Oneida and Tusca- rora Indians. The treaty was consum- mated at Fort Herkimer in the county of Montgomery and within the boundaries of New York. It reads in this wise:

In consideration of eleven thousand and five hundred dollars hi goods and money paid to the Indians ; they convey or cede to the State, the territory included within the subjonied limits. IBoundary: "Beginning at the mouth of the Unadil- la or Tianaderha river, where the same empties into the Susquehanna ; thence up the said Unadilla or' Tianaderha river

ten miles, measured on a straight line ; [ of demarkation was styled the "line of

in the year 1768; thence along the said line to the place of beginning ; so as to comprehend all the lands belonging to the Oneida and Tuscarora nation of In- dians lying south of a line to be run from the Unadilla or Tianaderha river to the Clienengo river ; and north of the divi- sion line between this state and Penn- sylvania."

The commissioners for Indian affairs assisted Gov Clinton in adjusting the terms of the treaty and in defining the territory ceded.

By this convention the State of New York became owner of all that portion of this County lying between the Che- nango, Susquehannah, Tianaderha and Unadilla rivers and bounding north on the fifteenth township of the twenty townships, and known as the south bounds of the town of Norwich. The State also by the terms of this treaty became proprietor of all that portion of the county lying east of the Susque- hannah river, including South Bain- bridge. These lands so purchased by the state, extended far beyond the bound- aries of the county. We shall confine the history to that part of the purchase lyinsf within the county.

We Avill here make a digression to ex- plain what is understood by the expres- sion, "line of property." In the course of these sketches we have had occasion to advert to the treaty made at Fort Stanwix in the year 176S. When first it was alluded to, we were not fully ap- prised what particular point the line made as it passed this county. It will be remembered we have described this treaty, and shown that the Indians ceded to the English government all terri- tory east of a boundary run out from near the last named fortification, in a south- eastcrlv direction to the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. This line

CHENANGO COUNTY.

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property." That is, the line dividing the Indian and English possessions. — This line was in part the tJnadilla river to where it empties itself into ^the Sus- quehannah. From the mouth of the Susquehannah it bore off in an easterly- course to the IMohawk branch of the Dela- ware river.

The difficulty in defining this line earlier arose from the circumstance of the Unadilla river being designated

State lands weie sold so low as three cents an acre ; then retailed to the set- tlei's at great advance over the price paid. Gov. Clinton made an able defence when he declared, it was of vital impor- tance to the prosperity and welfare of the State that its domain should be dis- posed of at reduced prices ; to in- vite hither immigrants and foreign capi- tal. He insisted that not waste lands, but population was the true source of

the old maps, the Ticnaderha\\V^;os])enty, wea.

upon i' Creek. Furthermore the Chenango river 1 1 is not noted down upon the ancient colo- nial map which we examined. We are j unable to inform the reader at what pre- ] : cise date the Unadilla river, above its ! confluence with the Butternut creek, re- j ceived its present cognomen. The river I below this creek retains its original s name. The change was made after ; 1768, and before 1785 ; but it was grad- ;■ ual, as the same stream seems in the lat- i! ter year to be equally recognized by eith- t er name. Originally it was called Tion- [; aderha and subsequently was altered to i; its present orthography ; Tianaderha. — The line of property was the bounda- ry of the back settlements of the Eng- lish in New York, as also of the other colonies bordering on the Atlantic coast. The land obtained by the treaty at Fort Herkimer was soon after disposed of by the State to patentees compos- ed of companies and private purchasers promiscuously. We have a list of the prominent ones which will be published for the inspection of all. It will be un- derstood that the greater part of the ter- ritory bought by these patentees lies be yond the bounds of the County.

Soon after the termination of the revolutionary war, grievous complaints were preferred against Gov. Clinton, be cause of his permitting the public lands to pass into the hands of speculators at nominal prices. The charge, that the Governor retained for himself secret in- terest in the sales, although not proven against him, was believed by the people, and put his great popularity for a time into extreme danger. In some instances

1th and revenue to New

York.

GOV.

CLINTON'S PURCHASE OF THE TWENTY TOWNSHIPS.

About the year 17SS, George Clinton, as Chief Magistrate of the State, effect- ed a second treaty with the Chiefs and Sachems of the Oneida and Tuscarora Indians, as well as other tribes, by which a further cession of all the lands owned by the various nations treating with the governor Avas made to this State, except- ing out by nanrie certain reservations of territory to be retained by the several tribes for their exclusive occupancy. — This treat}' was accomplished at Fort Schuyler near to- Fort Stanwix in this State. The cession made in this year, in- cluded the well known twenty townships, extending so far as from the north line of Sangersfield in Oneida County, and Nel- son in IMadison County, to the Southern limits of the towns of Norwich, Preston, and McDonough in Chenango County. — The eastern boundary of the twenty towns in this county, is chiefily the Una- dilla river. But owing to the sinuosities of the channel, the Surveyor General deemed it most convenient to leave oc- casional gores or strips of land between the townships and the river. The twen- ty towns at one time were supposed by the Surveyor General to abut upon what is now known as the military tract. But by some misapprehension in fixing upon the point of departure, and by reason of a variation of the compass ; in running the north and south line on the west of the Townships ; a gore between the west line of the twenty towns and the militar

£4

HISTORY OF

ry tract was left, which was of unequal width ; as it was some wider opposite the l3th town than it is at the north or first of the 20 towns. It has been repre- sented to us that it was some years be- fore the existence of this gore was known at the State department. It was not as- certained until the monuments defining the cast line of the military tract and the west line of the twenty towns had been triticaly examined.

And here it is not inappropriate to put forth a few remarks about the military tract ; as it may become necesary to re- fer the reader to it Avhile sketching the twenty towns. On the 2Sth day of February ]7S9, the legislature of this Slate convened at Albany, in the pres- ent county of Albany, at its twelfth session, passed a law with this title. "An act to appropriate Hie lands set apart to the use of the troops of the line of this State, lately serving in the army of the United States, and for other purposes therein mentioned." The first act set- ting these particular lands apart for the troops was as early as 1782. But at this time the title of the Onondaga and Cayuga Indians had not been evtinguish- ed. They were, after the passage of the law of 1782, parties to the Fort Schuy- ler treaty of 1788, as well as the Onei- das and Tuscaroras. A survey was or- dered to be made by the Surveyor Gen- eral under the supervision of the com- missioners of the land office. In addi- tion to surveying the military tract into townships and numbering them, the com- missioners of the land ofhce were requi- red by law to Christen every town with some title by which it could be easily distinguished. The commissioners be- ing classical sr.holars and desirous to ac- knowledge their great appreciation of ancient snges, heroes, poets, orators and philosophers; did not deign to travel out of Greece or 1-Jome for more than two or three appellations. Thus adja- cent to Chenango on the west, we find the towns of Pompey, Fabius, Solon, and also Cincinnatus in Cortland' County. — Then a little way off in the soldiers coun- try, we have such towns as Brutus, Junius,

Aurelius, Marcellus, Sempronius, ''Ho- mer, Virgil, Ulysses, Hector, Calo, Ga- len, Scipio, Ovid, and Romulus.

The military tract extended and Avas surveyed out as far as from the west line of Chenango County, to the west side of Seneca lake. It extended as far north as Lake Ontario and Great Sodus Bay ; and as far south as the most south- ern inclination of Seneca Lake. In the language of the law, the eastern bounds of this tract was to be the "Oneida and Tuscarora Countries." Cincinnatus in Cortland is the south-east Cornerof this military reservation.

We have now ascertained in what man- ner that portion of the county known by the style and designation of the twenty townships or Governor's purchase came to be the property of the State. Tavo communications were received by us from the State department relative to the treaty signed at Fort Schuyler; one of the two, omits any mention of the Tuscaroras as a party to this cession. The precise date of the treaty perfected at Fort Herkimer, is June 2Sth 1785. The date of the one arranged at Fort Schuyler, is September 22d, 17SS.

The Twenty Townships, or Gover- nor's purchase are bounded on the north, generally, by the towns of Fenner, Smithfield and Stockbridge in Madison County; on the east bv the town of Bridgewater in Oneida County, and be- low Bridgewater by the Unadilla river, except a few narrow gores intervening; on the south by Oxford, Smithville and Guilford ; on the west by the Cfore sepa- rating the Towns from the military tract before referred to and explained.

Having given the profile of the Twen- ty Towns, and it appearing from this outline that they contain a large portion of the County, most of the north part ; we will now recite or give a synopsis of the act of the legislatiue, passed February 25th, 1789, authorizing the creation or erection of these Townships.

The terms of the act required "the Surveyor General to locate the Twenty Townships within certain specified lim-

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MAP OF CHENANGO COUNTY, embracing the Governor's Purchase or Twenty Townshipp, as exhibited by figures 1 to 20 inclusiveT Doct. C. H. Ecclesion Ensr'r, Oxford.

References.— Township No. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 18, 19, 20, in Madison County. Towns—no. 7 Otselic ; 8, Smyrna ; 9, Sherburne ; 10, North Norwich ; 11, Plymouth ; 12, Pharsalia ; 13, M*^- Donough ; 14, "IPreston ; 15, Norwich ; A, Lincltlaen ; B. Pitcher ; C, German ; D, Smithville ; Ej Oxford ; F, Guilford ; G, Bainbridge ; H, Coventry ; I, Greene.

4

26

HISTORY OF

its, as follows : Upon the eastern side of the lands then recently purchased of the Oncidas at Fort Schuyler ; lying south of the lands reserved by this tribe of Indians ; and being north of the ter- ritory purchased from the same tribe and the Tuscaroras by the treaty executed at Fort Herkimer and already alluded to as being made in June 1785. The Towns were afterwards surveyed out and numbered from one to twenty inclusive. A part of these towns are located in Madison County. The town of Nelson comprises all of the first township ; Ea- ton the second; Madison the third; Hamilton the fourth; Lebanon the fifth ; Georgetown the sixth ; Brookfield the eighteenth and nineteenth. We then come to the twentieth township compri- sing the town of Sangersfield, in Onei- da County.

The remaining eleven townships of the Governor's Purchase, are located in Chenango county, as follows : namely, Otselic comprises the seventh township; Smyrna the eighth; Sherburne the ninth ; North Norwich part of the tenth ; Plymouth comprises the eleventh ; Phar- salia the twelfth ; McDonough the thir- teenth ; Preston a part of the fourteenth ; Norwich parts of the fourteenth and fif- teenth ; New Berlin comprises the six- teenth and parts of the tenth and fif- teenth ; Columbus comprises the seven- teenth. We will enumerate the gore towns, although they lie to the west of the Twenty Towns and are not known on the map or survey of the Twenty townships as appears by the Surveyor General's map and field book on file with the Secretary of State. To name these towns will assist to keep up the connection of the gore with the Twenty towns. The gore as was remarked, is a tract left originally unsurveyed by the surveyor of the Twenty Towns, and by the surveyor of the east line of the mil- itary tract. A portion of the town of Cazenovia ; all the town of DeRuyter, in Madison county ; and the towns of Lincklaen, Pitcher and German in Che- nango County, comprise the entire gore. The South bounds of the Twenty towns

are of course on a line with the south part of the gore, as also the north bounds. The north line of towns num- bers 7, 8, 9, 17, and also Lincklaen in the gore, are the northern limits of Chenango.

It was customary at an early day to designate the various towns by their numbers, instead of the name which the town located upon the township might chance to bear. Thus, a Norwich, or Oxford or Sherburne citizen speaking of Pharsalia, always called it the twelfth. So also McDonough, the thirteenth ; the name itself being rarely or never pro- nounced. Of late years, as the old in- habitants once so familiar with the Township numbers have passed aAvay, this practice so common formerly, has fallen almost wholly into disuse.

Thus much of the location of the re- spective towns ! In the survey there was run out three tier of towns east and west, containing an equal area or num- ber of lots, and the Twenty towns also contain five tier of townships in length, running north and south with a like equal number of lots; it follows then, that fifteen of the towns are of equal size. The remaining five towns are controlled more or less by the Unadilla river, except Sangersfield the twentieth town, and are of unequal proportions.

But to proceed with the explanation or synopsis of the act for the survey of the towns. By giving an abstract of the act, we shall best express the origin of the towns and the objects the State de- signed to accomplish when the survey and sale of this section of the County was undertaken.

The Surveyor General Simeon De- vi^itt, was instructed to cause twenty townships to be laid out and actually surveyed ; each township to be 500 chains square, or so nearly so as circum- stances might admit. Alitor running the lines, the Surveyor General was to cause a monument to be erected at the ends of the outlines, and also at the termination of every fifty chains between the same; provided, local circumstances would ad- mit of the town lines being run straight.

CHENANGO COUNTY.

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i After the outlines were run the Survey- or General was further required to sur- ' vey out a line parallel to any of the straight lines of each township, the whole extent of the same, so as to di- vide each Township into four equal sec- tions, as nearly equal and as nearly square as circumstances would permit. These subordinate lines also to be defined by boundary monuments. After com- pleting this part of the survey, the Sur- veyor General was next to draught an ■ accurate map of the Twenty towns so laid out and on his map was to divide each of the towns into lots containing 250 acres each, or as nearly that num- ber of acres as the broken nature of cer- tain portions of the territory to be meas- ' ured out would permit. The lines defi- ning the limits of the lots were to be drawn through the marks or monuments ordered to be made at intervals of fifty chains, as before stated, and also the marks or monuments made at the termi- nation of every 500 chains ; where the line of the lots might chance to fall on j the outlines of the Townships. The j lines so to be drawn for bounding the lots, were to be made parallel and at right angles to the straight sides of the i Townships.

The lots in each township to be num- bered successively with the numbers from one to one hundred inclusive. A copy of the map and the field book, con- taining a description of the soil, timber, creeks, etc., in the respective towns was ordered to be placed on file in the Sec- retary of States office for public inspec- tion. Another copy of each, contain- '! ing the same description &c., to be kept S for public view in the Surveyor Genfei'- ' al's office. The act further provided ; that on every township surveyed out, one lot was to be marked (on the map) " GospeV ; another lot in the same town to be designated on the map " School." '. These two lots to be located as near to the center of each Township as might be, and to be reserved for religious and educational purposes.

The act required the Surveyor Gen- eral to complete his surveys, after which

it also enjoined upon the Comissioners of the land office, assisted by the advice and skill of the Surveyor General, to select five of the towns out of the Twen- ty townships as reserved or choice lands, which were to be sold only for gold or silver or to redeem a certain stock which the State had issued in the form of bills of credit. The act further devolved up- on the Commissioners- the duty of fix- ing or establishing such price or rates per acre for the respective Twenty towns as should be best calculated to accom- plish a ready sale and at the same time ensure the most revenue to the Treasu- ry department. But they were restric- ed in the exercise of their discretion, to a minimum of three shillings per acre. Below this amount they could not sell, and if no bid amounted to this sum, the sales could not take place. The three shillings were doubtless of the old cur- rency, computed by pounds, shillings and pence. The Commissioners were to advertise the towns for sale in public prints published in the Cities of Alba- ny and New York, by giving the pub- lic notice that up to a day named, which day was not to exceed three Calender months ; bids, or written proposals to purchase, would be received at the State department : at the end of three months from the first publication of the notice no further applications to be entertained. The sales contemplated by this act were very extensive, and being so, it will readily be perceived that three months advisement to the public, was an inex- cusably brief space of time to assemble purchasers. At that day, owing to in- different roads and in many instances the absence of roads, intelligence circu- lated tardily between distant sections of the State and the United States. The City of New York where the sales transpired, as we are informed, was (six- ty years elapsed,) for the want of speedy conveyances, as distant, and even more so, in point of time, from the frontier verge of the State, than Europe now is. The effect then of this short warning to the body of the people was what might have been unmistakably predicted. It fore-

28

HISTORY OF

closed the applications of distant people who desired to purchase for actual set- tlement. In the sequel these towns in many cases fell naturally, easily and un- avoidably into the hands of jobbers and wealthy capitalists who were in atten- dance upon legislative action, and al- ways on the alert for lucrative invest- ments. The best parcels of this portion of the public property, had no sooner fal- len gracefully into the possession of extensive patentees, than they advanced from the three to four shillings paid the State, to twenty shillings per acre on sales to small purchasers.

It is certain, however, that while the patentee realized an advance, over first cost, from fifteen to seventeen shillings the acre, after paying the Surveyor Gen- eral and Commissioners and Secretary of State their emoluments, the purcha- ser enjoj-ed the privilege of selection among the most eligible and most fertile localities lying Avithin a town. This left (undisposed of) refuse acres upon the patentee at first unsaleable. But lime corrected that ; for the unsaleable patch- es at length came to be sold at an ad- vance over the first costs to purchasers of the select lots by reason of their vi- cinity to adjacent settlements.

It must be apparent to all observers, that the accumulation and final attain- ment to the greatest wealth in the State and Nation, which various citizens have amassed at different epochs in the annals of the country ; had its small beginnings in very nearly every instance, in fortu- nate wild land purchases. Such is the origin of the Wadsworth, Astor, Van Rensselaer, Peter Smith and numerous other mammoth fortunes. At or near the fountain of the public domain these miIlio7iaircs early walled in those incipi- ent streams of riches, ever flowing from this source ; and which in after years ex- panded into full seas of solid gold. But the wealth derived from land sales is slow and tedious in returns to the adven- turer for many years ; the outlay to meet taxes oftentimes exceeding the income received from buyers. Mr. Wadsworth himself once felt," with all his estate he

was a poor man. The profits spring from inflamed prices as settlers break up the wilderness and spread the arts and conveniences of life around the great proprietaries. When this is done and it seldom happens until after the lapse of considerable space of time, cer- tain riches are the consequent. When the land sales were advertised the citi- zens of Norwich, or some of them em- ployed Capt. John Harris a seaman, who early came into the country and who was a man of energy and enterprise, to set out for New York and buy up the land contained in the present village plot, al- so up and down the valley. He arrived too soon and felt impatient at doing noth- ing. He engaged to take charge of a vessel bound out on a coastwise voyage and left an agent behind to bid for the farms in case accident should prevent his return before the time the sales trans- pired. Mr. Cutting was present and ofl- ered one penny over the agent, or three shillings and seven pence and took the land. Mr. C. resold to the principals of Capt. Harris for twenty shillings after- wards. So we are advised by the cotem- poraries of the Captain,

Soon after this, Mr. Cutting died, and while on his death-bed, a few minutes before his decease, he conveyed the fif- teenth town to Melancthon Smith and John Stites of Elizabethtown, New Jer- sey, and Smith came on and executed contracts to the pioneers. It is said Mr. Smith did this as an act of kindness to the settlers who must have suffered by the death of Mr. Cutting, except for the conveyance. But the Power farm was bought by him from the State. He had reclaimed it before the State Surveyors laid out the towns. He paid three shil- lings an acre, but adjusted the purchase price by boarding and lodging and act- ing as laundercr to the surveyors as they came through this then wild region.

To come again to the act of survey and Sale of the towns : a book was or- dered to be provided by the Surveyor General to be placed in his office in which was to be recorded the names of applicants for purchases, if in Avriting,

CHENANGO COUNTY.

i9

and at the end of the three months, if there was but one solicitation for the same lot, tract or township, a certificate of purchase was to he made out and de- livered to the bidder as evidence of his eventual right to call for a patent. If on the contrary more than one bid or appli- cation was made for the same lot, tract or toAvnship ; in that event the Surveyor General was empowered to set up the tract so applied for at public sale to be struck down at the highest offer ; provi- ded the bids or any of them were as high as the limitation or minimum price of three shillings. If there happened to be a competition among purchasers and none offered more than the three shillings for the same location ; in that case the Surveyor General was empowered to cast lots to determine which one should prevail in the purchase. By another pro- vision of the law, every buyer was com- pelled to satisf}'-, in addition to the pur- chase price, pTo rata charges to defray or liquidate the demands of the Survey- or General, for time employed and ex- penses incurred in perfecting the survey of the particular town in which the pur- chase happened to be made. The terms of payment on sales by the State were one-fourth of the purchase money down ; the residue or remainder to be paid to the Treasurer or Auditor within the six months ensuing on pain of a for- feiture to the treasury of the land pur- chased ; and also of five pounds addi- tional to the loss of the land and the pur- chase money already paid. When an applicant for the towns prevailed, he re- ceived from the Surveyor General a cer- tificate of purchase, which, when all payments were adjusted, entitled him to a patent under the great seal of the State. The patents were usually filed or recorded in the Secretary of State's office ; although there is no requirement in the act itself enjoining upon the pat- entee this formal ceremony. We are advised by the County Clerk that the ori- ginal patents from the State have been in no instance placed upon the county records.

Satisfaction to the Surveyor General

for his services, was to be made by a ten- der to the officer, on obtaining the certifi- date of survey and purchase, of either gold or silver coin, or a formal transfer to him of the same public securities, to the amount of his claim, as the State was to receive in liquidation for the se- lect five towns before mentioned.

For the fifteen towns remaining, after setting off or apart, the five select towns from the twenty, the Surveyor General was authorized to receive in payment for the State, gold or silver coin ; the se- curity or public stock already described ; and he was also to accept from the pat- entee all public stocks at any time issued by the Treasurer or Auditor of the State, or by the Auditors appointed to liquidate and adjust the accoimts of the troops of this State in the service of the United States.

In every patent granted by the State to the purchaser or purchasers in the twenty towns, there is inserted a reser- vation clause continuing the property in the government to all gold and silver mines, that might chance, in all after time, to be discovered within the twenty districts. This limitation however is confined to gold and silver; allowing the patentee to enjoy every other species of mineral wealth which his purchase might happen to contain. Indeed, in our times, by a general law of the State, this reservation is contained or express- ed in all patents granted, or if it is not, the law itself, ex vi termini, excepts or reserves the right to the people.

In the year 1790 the State was yet suffering in her finances from the ruinous drain made to supply its quota of resour- ces for maintaining the late revolutiona- ry contest. To worry through with em- barrassments the local government was constrained to make loans, issue scrip or stock, or in mercantile phrase, to employ its credit. At that day the public secu- rities were much below their nominal or par value in gold and silver. This cir- cumstance enabled the patentees to con- summate bids for their parts of the fif- teen towns, not reserved, far below the

:}0

HISTORY OF

amount really offered and accepted, and in many, if not most instances, very far helow the three shillings minimum. There cannot be a doubt, but that most of the considerable purchasers exchang- ed coin for securities, then much under their nominal value, and the real value of gold and silver, when the securities were worth all the time as nmch at the land office as the intrinsic price of the precious metals. At this day, land agents in the young States of the west, buv up County and State orders and stocks with w^hich they pay taxes at rates much in- ferior to the tax assessed. In many States these orders and stocks, although ever received in payment of dues to the several States at the nominal amount, are nevertheless generally at an ebb in market. The greatest depression usu- ally occurs after the fall settlements with the collector. Eastern land hold- ers usually remit funds or accept drafts from their western agents for payment of taxes and pay the sum assessed on the land ; while the agent employs his •own funds to buy up public securities at ;a discount, which he passes off to the •collectors at par, and so charges his prin- cipal. There are to this practice, it may be remarked, very numerous exceptions. The tariff of fees charged by the va- rious state officers to purchasers by au- thority of this law of 1789 was in con- formity to the following scale : to the commissioners of the land office, for pat- enting a township, the buyer paid the sum of three pounds : for patenting the half of a township or any number of acres exceeding half, but less than a town ; the sum of two pounds : for eve- ry parcel or tract less than the half of a township ; one pound : if only a single lot of two hundred and fifty acres was bought ; eight shillings was paid the Commissioners. In all of these instan- ces the Secretary of State, who was, ex- officio, private secretary or clerk to the board of Commissioners, and who had to perform a large share of the labor of this body and also superintend the details and minutiae of the sales and transfers ; to this official pcrsonngo was allowed the

same charges as were permitted to the others collectively.

The Commissioners of the land office were composed in 1786 of the Governor of the State — the Lieutenant Gover- nor— the Speaker of the Assembly— the Secretary of State — the Attorney General — the Treasurer and Auditor. Any two of the above if attended by the Governor, constituted a board and could make sales of the lands belonging to the State. In the year 1788, the legislature by act fixed the dimensions of land meas- ure, as follows : An acre must contain 160 square perches or rods ; each perch or rod to be 5 1-2 yards in length ; each yard to be 3 feet ; each foot to be 12 in- ches ; so that when an acre of land was 16 rods in length, it must be 10 rods in breadth.

By another clause in this law of ] 789, the territory sold was to be exempt from all taxes for the space of seven years from the date of the patent. After this period it was to contribute to the support of government, both local and state.

This brings us to the close of the ab- stract of the law, authorizing the survey and sale of the entire northern section of the county, except what is contained in the town of Lincklaen, in the gore. The surveyors first ran out the county into townships ; the next division was made by the quartering lines ; dividing the straight townships into " four equal sections," at present called " quarters,'''' each numbering from one to four. Dif- ferent parts of the same towns are fre- quently called at this day by the last ap- pellation. Norwich has some territory, best known to the citizens by the style of "north," and "south east quarters." The same in Sherburne and other towns. Af- ter the quarters, came the lines 50 chains apart running with the four main points of the compass and bounding the 250 acre lots. To many the foregoing de- tails will, we fear, prove dry and unen- tertaining. But it was the request of the elder residents, that the twenty towns, or so much of them as formed the an- cient landmarks of the county, should be deliberately and succinctly explained.

CHENANGO COUNTY.

31

We have endeavored, but so far in vain, to ascertain the precise time the Surveyor General, Mr. DeWitt, located the towns in this County. We are giv- en to understand by some of the earlier settlers that the surveys were continued for more than one year before their final completion We think they must have been finished in the fall of 17S9, or very early in 1790. Probably in the latter year. The act authorizing them was pass- ed in the winter of 1789 and the Engi- neer Corps no doubt commenced explo- rations some time in the spring ensuing. The most information we have to lay before the public at this particular mo- ment is the certificates of siirrty^ made out to purchasers after sale by the State: the date of the one first delivered is No- vember 2d. 1792. The first patent was granted on the 29th December of the same year ; it Avas made out to Mr. Leonard M. Cutting and called for the fifteenth tOAvn, or parts of Norwich and New Berlin. The second certificate bears date 3d November in the same year and covered a portion of the fourteenth town. The purchase of the west part of the township now Preston was made November 3d. 1792, by Melancthon Smith and Marinus Willett ; no patent can be found at Albany running to these men. The number of acres purchased, were 7049. Mr. Cutting purchased the east part of the same town including Norwich in part and perhaps a part of Preston. Mr. Cutting's purchase was November ninth in the last mentioned year. On the same day Mr. Cutting al- so bought the eleventh town, or Plym- outh. He received a patent for the tvi'o purchases January 1st., and June 2Sth 1793. The seventh town, now Olselic, was bought bv Robert C. Livingston on the 12th' January 1793, and on the 31st of the same month his patent was issued. William S. Smith purchased the eighth town now Smyrna, also the ninth, or Sherburne ; his certificate was made out April 6th 1793; patent issued 16th April, in the next year. The tenth town, now North Norwich, and a part of New Berlin, was taken up by James Tal-

madge and Ezra Thompson, both sup- posed to be residents of Dutchess coun- ty. No date to this patent. Thomas Ludlow and Josiah Shippey, purchased the thirteenth town, now McDonough ; the certificate issued February 6th 1793. No patent found. White Matlach and j Jacob Hallett bought town twelve, or Pharsalia, on the ^ 6th of April 1793. No patent discovered among the archives. The sixteenth town, or part of New Ber- lin and the seventeenth, or Columbus, bought by John Taylor February 2d 1793. Patent issued 14th of the same month 1797.

Out of the County, the remaining nine towns Avere bought up in the same man- ner. Webster, Savage and Williams, took the first town, or Nelson. William S. Smith the second, comprising Eaton, also the third, Madison ; also the fourth, Hamilton ; and also the fifth, Lebanon. Ludlow & Shippey bought number six, or Georgetown. Myers, Sanger & Mor- gan, purchased number twenty, now Sangersfield and part of Bridgewater. They also bought eighteen and nineteen, or Brookfield. The largest private pur- chaser was William S. Smith who bought upon his own account, or in trust for others, no less than six townships.

It now appears who were the first pri- vate owners of the twenty towns. For this the public are indebted, as well as- for other valuable suggestions, concer- ning the twenty towns, to the politeness of the Hon. Samuel S. Randall of Al- bany, upon whose time and patience the writer has made many considerable drafts, every one of which, we are happy to announce, has been promptly and cheerfully honored. Chenango County contains, numerically speaking, twenty towns ; but after this they will not be apt to be mistaken for the far-famed ori- ginal twenty towns comprising the " Governors Purchase." It is true Che- nango once did contain all of the origi- nal towns ; but legislative action has cur- tailed it of its former fair proportions.

The County v»'as once almost as large as the State of Delaware, but is so no lon- ger. So also with Norwich, Once that

32

HISTORY OF

town boasted as within its limits, the sixteenth, thirteenth, tenth, twelfth, elev- enth, I'oiivteenth and fifteenth towns. Now the most distant boundaries of the town are nearly within cannon shot of each other. We will here correct an omission ; we put down the twentieth town as Sangersfield. In 1797 it was divided and part set off to Bridgewater.

According to the act authorizing the establishment of the towns, as we have seen there were gospel and school lots. These were afterwards ruthlessly sold for the benefit of the State. Such plunder on the part of the authorities at Albany, was not for a moment acquiesced in by the intelligent and religious immigrants from New England, who had taken up farms within the towns. They remon- strated with the government, insisting but for Schools and Churches, not a soul had purchased. The law-making-pow- er was pressed too strenuously to resist ; in compliance Avith justice and the de- mands made, in the year 1805, the le- gislature appropriated out of the West- ern Land District for these purposes for- ty lots, of two hundred and fifty acres each or ten thousand acres in gross. These lots were set apart in a body, but where or what was the final disposition made of them, we are not advised. The forty lots corresponded in number and quantity of acres in each, to those set apart originally.

We now take final leave of the twen- ty towns. Dropping below these, we come next to Southern Chenango. For the information which we have relative to this portion of the county we are exclusively indebted to the attention of Mr. E. B.McCall of Oxford, who has sent us a sketch, which we adopt bod- ily, as elucidating the history of this part of the County better than any thing from our pen.

LAND TITLES IN SOUTHERN CHENANGO.

" The description of the boundaries of the original townships, patents and grants of land comprehended within that part of the County of Chenango,

situated south of the south bounds of the "Military tract ;" the south bounds of the Brakle township and the south bounds of the twenty townships called the Governors Purchase may be com- prehended in the following brief synop- sis :

'■'■First, ihe tract of land called " the gore, "is bounded on the north by the south bounds of township fourteen in tha Governors Purchase ; on the south east by the Chenango river and on the west by the Chenango triangle, and ac- cording to public report, was granted originally by the State of New York, to Melancthon Smiihand Marinus Wil- lett and is now known as the Smith & Willett Patent south of Preston. This tract was subdivided by these patent- ees into 69 lots of about 100 acres each. The tract is situated in the north west part of the town of Oxford.

'■^Second, The tract of land called "the township of Fayette," is a part of a tract of land purchased by the State of New York of the Oneida and Tuscaro- ra Indians in the year 1785 (already referred to,) and in the survey of that purchase into townships, soon after the sale by tiie savages, stands as number four and is bounded on the north by the south bounds of the Governor's Pur- chase ; easterly by the Tianaderha or Unadilla river; on the south by the township of Clinton ; on the west by the township of Greene, and on the north west by the Chenango river. This township was originally subdivided into 100 lots of about 640 acres each, as near as circumstances would admit, and pat- ented by the State to various individual purchasers. This township now compri- ses the town of Guilford, the south east- wardly part of Oxford and a small por- tion of the north eastwardly part of Coventry.

" Third, The tract of land called the township of Clinton, which stands on the township division list number two, is bounded on the north by the town- ship of Fayette ; on the east by the line of properly, so called, surveyed, mark- ed and defined bv one Simeon Metcalf,

CHENANGO COUNTY.

33

in the year 1769, by beginning at the junction of the Tianadeiha river with the Susquehanna, and running from thence south, nine degrees we^^t seven- teen and a quarter miles to the Dela ware river.; on the souih by the town- ship of Warren which is number one ; and on the west by the townsliip of Greene. This township was originally subdivided into 100 lots intended to be 640 acres, or a mile square, each. A tract from the north west part of this township containing 16,000 acres was granted to Robert Harper, Esq., by let- ters patent from the State under date January 4th 17S7. By him it was re- divided into loib of from 1,000 to 2.000 acres each and resold to various private purchasers. That part of the town- ship of Clinton known as the Harper patent, constituted the east part of the , town of Coventry. The residue of the i township of Clinton is included in and constitutes the town of Bainbridge and was in part appropriated for the relief of a class of citizens, numbering about I one hundred and forty-eight, hen known i to the world by the style or designation ; *' Vermont Sufferers," by virtue of an act passed May 5th 1786, and an act amendatory of this act passed March 20th 178S:

" Fourth, The tract of land called I the " Township of Greene,'' stands I number three on the list of townships, and is bounded on the east by the town- ! ship of Clinton; on the south by the ; township known as Jay & Rutherfords 1 tract ; and on the west and northwest by the Chenango river, and appears to have been originally subdivided on pa- per in the Secretary's office at Albany if not on the field, into lots of 640 acres each. From the east side of this town- ship, a tract of land embracing 16,138 acres was granted by ihe State of New York to Walter Livingston, Esq. by let- ters patent dated 1783, nnd Mr. Living- ston subdivided into 152 lots of about 106 acres each according to the field bookjj of Rickitson Burlingame, surveyor ofii the tract. A portion of this tract con-jj stitutesthe west part of the town of Cov-|!

entry ; a portion also lies in the town of Oxford, and the residue in Greene.

'■The residue of the township of Greene embracing 15,835 acres, was granted to Maiachi Treat and William W. Morris, uniler letters Patent from the State in the year 1787 or 8 and called by them the "French Tract," and was subsequently by their agent Charles Buloign, with the assistance of Capt. John Harri.s, a surveyor, subdivi- ded into about 150 lots of various sizes exclusive of the '' French village Plot," situated on the east side of the Che- nango river at the village of Greene. From the field books, this last subdivis- ion appears to have been made in the year 1792 and was resurveyed by Will- iam McAlpin Esq. in the vear 1807. This patent lies within the town of Greene.

"Fifth, The tract of country called " the Chenango Triangle," is bounded on the north by the Military tract, the Brakle tract and thirteenth town in tha Governors Purchase; on the east by the Gore ; on the south east by the Che- nango river and on the souih west by the Tioughnioga or Onondaga river; this tract is believed to have been gran- ted by the State of New York to one William Hornby of Great Britain and by him or his employee Justin B. Smith subdivided into four townships, begin- ning with number one on the Tiough- nioga river at the north w^est corner of the tract and continuing with towns num- bers two and three across the north end and finishing with number four extend- ing from a little above the vilage of

■Greene down to the Chenango Forks and up the Tioughnioga river to the South line of township number one. The townships were again subdivided into lots of various sizes according to circumstances. Townships number one and parts of two and four are now in-

I eluded within the county of Broome. A part of numbers two and three con- stitute the town of Smithville. The residue of number three is a part with- in the limits of the town of Oxford and a part in the town of Green©. The re-

34

HISTORY OF

mainderof two and four lying in the I county are located within the limits of the town of Greene. The lands of the triangle have been managed by Mr. Hornby's agents, the principal one re- siding at Canandaigua has grown into a princely fortune by his agencies for foreign landlords.

We have now accounted for the sale of every portion of the county, except- ing the towns of German, Lincklaen and Pitcher, covering that part of the Gore within the county. We cannot particularize the year when this part of Chenango was sold to patentees by the State. It was after the sale of the twenty towns ; probably about 1795. Part of the Gore was originally appro- priated by the State to build roads. The rest was bought by patentees, as ap- pears by Winterbotham's Atlas, pub- lished in 1796. Sackett &: Co. bought part, and also Waikins and Flint.

By reference to the patents and their dates, it appears the Harper patent is the oldest in the county. The south part of the county was settled before the north, by several years.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTY.

Having given a full account of the Governor's Purchase, we next proceed to a general description of the County itself. Before entering upon details, it will not be inappropriate to copy so much of the act of March 15th 1798, as called the county, as it originally stood, into existence. Oneida County was organized from Herkimer by the same act. Tlie " Historical Collections of New York," inform ihe public, that Oneida was organized nine years ear- lier. This is but one of the many er- rors we have already detected in this work, as well as in the Revised Stat- utes, where the two works treat upon the organization of Counties and towns. How dates could have been so misapprehended, we are at a loss to conjecture. We are victim to the erro- neous dates in the statutes in a few in- stances, which mistakes will be correc-

ted, when the proper opportunity offers. Boundaries. — 'Ihe ojiginal bounda- ries of the county, according to the act of 1798. were as follows :

"All that part of the counties of Her- kimer and Tioga, included within the following bounds, to wit, beginning at the southeast corner of Onondaga, thence a direct course to the confluence of the Tioughnioga and Chenango riv- ers, thence up the last mentioned river to the northwest corner of a tract of land granted to John Jay and others, thence along the North bounds thereof, and the same line continued until it meets the west line of Clinton town- ship, thence along the same, south to the most northwesterly corner of the town of Warren, thence easterly on the division line between the said townships of Clinton and Warren, to the line of property, thence northerly along the west bounds of the counties of Dela- ware and Otsego, to the town of Bridge- Avater, in Herkimer County, thence on the southerly and westerly line thereof to the north bounds of the Twenty Towns, so called, thence along the same westerly to the southwest corner of lot No. 50, in the first allotment of a tract of land called New-Petersborough, thence Northerly on the west line of said lot No. 50 and 69, to the south liLe of New-Stockbridge, thence the shortest line to the main branch of the Oneida creek, thence northerly down said creek to the Oneida Lake, thence westerly along the southerly shore of the Oneida lake to the county of Onon- daga, thence southerly along the said county of Onondaga to the place of be- ginning."

The territory included within the above boundaries was declared by the act, to be a separate county, by the name of Chenango.

The present boundaries of the coun- ty as established by law are as follows ; "Beghining at the ooutheast corner of toAvnship number eighteen of the twen- ty townships, and running thence west- erly along the south bounds thereof, to the east bounds of township number

JOHN JAY

Y\TrA- CJlief J-n:-;Uc.

CHENANGO COUNTY.

^i^

nine ; then northerly along the same, to the southeast corner of township num- "ber four ; then along the south bounds of township number four, five, and six, and the same continued to the mililary tract ; then southerly along the east bounds of the military tract, to the southeast corner thereof; then with a i straight line to the confluence of the Tioughnioga and Chenango rivers, and to the east bank of the last mentioned river ; then up said river along the eastern bank thereof, to the northwest ■corner of a tract granted to John Jay and John Rutherford ; then along the north bounds thereof, and the same line continued, until it meets the west line of the township called Clinton, in a map made by the surveyor-genera! of this State ; then southerly along the same to the southwest corner thereof; then east along the south bounds thereof, to the county of Delaware ; then norther- ly along the counties of Delaware and Otsego, to the place of beginning."

Topography.— In the year 1823, or twenty seven years ago, the "Oxford Ga- zette" printed a series of articles, rela- ing to the county. At the time of com- mencing the history we were not aware of the publications in 1823. They did not give much particular information, and did not at all contain any account of the first settlements, nor of the early pi- oneers. For a file of the Gazette con- taining these sketches we are under ob- ligations to the Hon. John Tracy. We extract a very graphic delineation of the county itself in order that the reader may compare the past v/ith the present. The editor of the Gazette discontinued because of the exceeding great difficulty experienced in obtaining the requisite historical matter from the various towns. It is to be regretted the enterprise of the Oxford publisher was not better patron- ized ; since a full history completed at that time would be of great interest now. The writer in an able manner says :

"The principal part of the county lies in the region of what is called the grand

Alleghany ridge of mountains; its sur- face is therefore elevated and hilly; the hills run generally in a northeasterly and southwesterly direction and are sep- erated by vallies of moderate width. — The Susquehannah river runs across the southeast corner of the county, and opens a wide and beautiful valley of in- tervale land of a superior quality, ex- tending from the southeast line of the county, to the mouth of the Una- dilla river, winding a distance of about fourteen miles. The hills on the sides of the river are precipitous and lofty, approaching almost to the charac- ter of mountains ; and formerly were thickly covered with the towering and majesdc white-pine, so justly styled the pride of the Am.erican forest. This val- ley with a slight interruption, contin- ues up the Unadilla river to the north line of the county, presenting a tract of uncommonly fine and fertile land, par- ticularly adapted to the cultivation of grain. It is of various width, expand- ing towards the west as you proceed up the river.

"At the distance of a few miles west of this valley lie the elevated towns of Coventry, Guilford, the eastern section of Greene, Oxford, Norwich, Sherburne, the eastern parts of New Berlin and Columbus. The soil of this range of highlands is loam, intermixed with gravel, stony, and hard to till, but is ex- ceedingly fertile in grain and grass, and richly rewards the ploughman and gra- zier. The forest trees are beach, ma- ple, birch, ash, elm, linden, chesnut, oak, poplar, tulip, hemlock, with less pines than is found on the hills near the river.

"West of this range of hills opens the charming valley of Chenango, form- ed by the river and its numerous branch- es. This river having at its source an east and west branch uniting at Sher- burne, rises in Madison county, near the head waters of the Oriskany and Onei- da Creeks and pursuing a southwesterly direction winds through the whole ex- tent of Madison and Chenango Coun- ties, part of the county of Broome and

36

HISTORY OF

falls into the Susquehannah at Bing- hampton or Chenango Point. This delightful valley for the beauty of its winding stream, its richly fringed mar- gin of highly cultivated fields, its gentle and graceful slopes, its easy and varied acclivity, its picturesque landscapes, mellowed with all the variegated hues of verdure and felicity, is scarcely surpas- sed by any section of the United States. In this far reaching valley are situated the pleasant and flourishing villages of Binghamton in Broome county ; Greene, Oxford, Norwich and Sherburne in Che- nango county ; also Hamilton in Madi- son county.

"Beyond this valley to the westward, commences another and yet higher range of most excellent farming lands. No better grazing lands can be found in any region in the same latitude than are con- tained in the towns of Smithville, Pres- ton, Plymouth, Smyrna, McDonouq-h, and Pharsalia. This is abundantly proved by the numerous heads of fine cattle, and the flocks of sheep that are every year driven from these towns to our different markets. The degrees of comfort, independence and wealth which are hence derived to the farmers of these towns, are facts that speak for them- selves, and are the best evidence of in- dustry and the excellence of the soil. The "forest trees of this range are simi- lar to those east of the valley of the Che- nango, on the Guilford range.

" The towns of Pharsalia, Otselic and German are principally watered by the Otselic river and its numerous branches. This stream runs through the northwest corner of the county and falls into the Tioughnioga river, in the town of Lisle, in Broome county. The lands on the Otselic and its branches, are of a supe- rior quality, better adapted to the culti- vation of grain, than the Preston range. The timber in this locality is the same I; as that already described.

" The Avhole surface of Chenango is i beautified and enriched with innumerable j| springs, brooks and rivulets of the pu- j rest water, affording desirable sites for j mills of almost any power or description ; ||

and the saw-mills have heretofore pro* duced immense quantities of lumber for Baltimore, Philadelphia and other south- ern markets,

" Small lakes or ponds, of transparent, healthy Avater, have been found in al- most every town in the county, but the number is not precisely known. These, together with the different streams, are plentifully stored with fish. In no case have these waters been known to render the climate unhealthy.

" The kinds of grain most extensively- cultivated are wheat, rye, Indian corn, barley, oats and flax. Potatoes and the various garden vegetables and melons, common to the climate, thrive well.

" Of fruits, apples both of the com- mon and superior sorts are, in most sea- sons, abundant. The valley of the Che- nango, particularly in the middle and northern sections, appears extremely fa- vourable to the plum ; and abundance of the most delicious and fine flavoured are produced almost every year. Grapes grow spontaneously in the field, and the finest exotics are cultivated in gardens.

" The principal sources of wealth to the farmers are neat stock, wool and the dairy. A large supply of maple sugar, is manufactured every year; and for a few years past, immense quantities of what are called "Black Salts," produced from the lixivium of ashes, have been made into Pot and Pearl Ash for foreign markets."

The main streams in the county, or abutting upon the borders of the Countv, are the Unadilla, the Tianadcrha below the confluence of Butternut creek, (some- times called the Unadilla,) the Susque- hannah, the Chenango and the Gene- ganslet rivers. The chief creeks are the Otselic, the Canasawacta and the Brakle. The Susquehannah crosses the southeastern corner of the county. The Chenango river, one of the principal branches of the Susquehannah, flows southerly through the centre of the coun- ty. The Unadilla River, also a consid- erable branch of the Susquehanna, forms most of the eastern bounds of the coun- ty. The Geneganslet, Canasawacta and

CHENANGO COUNTY.

37

Otselic streams have rapid currents aflbr- ding abundance of eligible mill sites.

The Geneganslet flows nearly south. The Canasawacta creek, rising in the hills of Pharsalia and fed by streams having their source in Smyrna and Ot- selic, flows abruptly south easterly, until it falls into the Chenango river near the •centre of the county.

The main water courses in the coun- ty and those bounding the county, flow from north east to south west, more par- ticularly so the Chenango river ; this stream striking the county near its north east bounds flows obliquely to the south- west corner of Greene, from whence it bears out beyond the west line of the <:ounty.

These frequent streams are curtained ■With a succession of high hills or banks, winding as the waters wind. The great- est altitude of the hills between rivers is from tvv'o to four hundred feet. Along

» the banks of the main streams the coun- try is flat, sometimes undulating, for a space, when the eminences rise gently, ■occasionally abruptly. The same range of hills, whether rising gently or abrupt- ly, almost always attain a uniform heighth. When they rise abruptly, they €nd in peaks, which appear to be, but in reality are not, alDove the most elevated table lands of the same group.

The uplands of the County, running

i from northeast to southwest are intersec- ted at short intervals by diminutive

I streams of pure, cold water, coursing at

': light angles, or nearly so, with the lar- ger ones. These cut through the high-

j lands narrow gorges Avith steep banks, until they approach the main valleys, when the country flattens out into spa-

; cious plains. The streams are mostly known as the " mountain brook."' The soft water of the brook bursts out from the hill-sides far back from the rivers.

The current leaps impetuously over steep and pebbly, often rocky, beds, un- til checked in its rapid career by the fiat lands below. On the banks of these streamlets stand the hemlock, the pine and the evergreen ; another growth of

beech, maple, elm, sassafras and wild- cherry contrast agreeably with these.

The different growths intertwine bran- ches and so mingle foliage in summer as to exclude from the waters the pene- trating rays of a vertical sun. In these shaded glens is domiciled the spotted trout-, about the only tenant of the soli- tude.

The uplands of the county for the most part are easy of access to the plough-man, the grazier and his herds. The apex of the hills spread out into lev- els extending often as far as the width of the river valleys, 'i'hese passed over, the reverse side of the eminences de- scend much as their opposite arose. There is in reality but one grand ascent of country between rivers and it lies at a point nearly equi-distant between the large streams. Along the slopes of the high grounds, parallel with the riv- ers, flow occasional brooks with high banks much after the manner of the riv- ers. The banks form a series of ridges along the highlands, causing the roads across country to be uneven and heavy to travel. When the traveller overcomes the high range of uplands, he often be- holds (lying east and west at his feet,) I two river valleys. This frequently takes I place on the high grounds separating the ] Chenango and Unadilla rivers. The same occurs at several points between the Chenango valley and the Tioughni- oga or Onondaga river floAving through Cortland county. The hills west of the I Chenango valley are, it may be observed, miuch controlled or modified, and their direction is greatly disturbed by the Can- asawacta and Otselic creeks.

We have not learned where the pre- cise summit level or highest altitude of the group of hills west of the Chenango valley and cast of the Onondaga is to be found. In passing from the County seat to Corilnnd village, after ascending the countiy for some eight miles, the valley of the Onondaga or Tioughnioga opens I up to the view and is obvious to the na- ked eye. We give it as our opinion, al- though we confess to speak without much light upon the subject, that this is the

HISTOKY OF

highest part of Chenango. Standing upon this eminence we look upon the range of hills and valleys stretching to the we*t, and out of the county, until the upper country finally escapes the vis- ion behind the horizon. Turning to the east the eye rests upon the group of up- lands lying beyond the Chenango river.

The soil of the uplands of the coun- ty rests either upon rocky beds or upon a substratum of hard earth impervious to water and the plough, v/henever it chances to show itself above the surface of the earth.

The most natural production of the uplands is grass, which grows spontane- ously. Of late years the land is found to be essentially aided by the applica- tion of plaster paris. The grass of the hills grows less rank and luxuriant than in the valleys, but the hill crop is far ■sweeter, more nutritive and substantial. Vegetation on the hills is delayed in the spring beyond the valleys by the longer tarry the snow makes upon the uplands. But when the sun at length breaks warmly upon the hills, vegetation seems to take as rapid start as in the valley.

When the sun exerts its influence up- on the hills, they speedily throw offtheir winter dress and put on a rich embroid- ery of herbage, and continue to Avear it until late in autumn.

The soil of the valleys is open, po- rous and intermixed with gravel in pla- ces. It has not the substratum or "hard f)an" that prevents the hill lands from eaching. Owing to this cause it does not retain manure so permanently as the highlands, but requires more frequent replenishing. In numerous localities the vernal and autumnal flow of the rivers, fertilizes the otherwise jaded mold of the plains.

The face of the country may be said to bear a miniature resemblance to that ridge of the AUeghanies lying in the State of Virginia. The peaks in that State are certainly more formidable far more abrupt and incomparably more in the distance. So distant indeed are ma- ny of them OS to be faintly seen through

our strongest telescopes. Standing up- on the more elevated parts of the Che- nango hills, at the rising or setting of the sun, when the heavens are clear, the | spectator will look ofl' upon the same wild grouping and grand assemblage of distant uplands ; the same gauze cover- ing of dim haze ; the same magic tinge of sombre blue that forever reposes upon the most elevated mountain tops in Vir- ginia. Preceding the thunder storm, the hills in this county wear all the various hues sometimes observed upon the Cats- kill mountains, when the sky is overcast. Unlike the Catskills, however, clouds do not float around the high peaks of the County without rising over them ; nor does the tempest drive at the base of the hills, while their heads are visited by a serene sky accompanied with brilliant sunshine.

Geographically speaking, the county is situated between 42 degrees, 12 min- utes and 42 degrees and 44 minutes north latitude, and 1 degree 02 minutes and 1 degree 36 minutes east longitude from the city of Washington, and some- thing over one hundred miles from the Capitol of the State.

The Chenango valley is midway the county, about 160 feet below the summit level of the river in Madison county and 546 feet above the canal level in the city of Utica. The county contains, accor- ding to the State Map, 804 square miles and an area of 514,800acres of soil.

Geology. — When the history was un- dertaken we promised some information appertaining to the Geological Structure of the County. Geology like Chemis- try is yet comparatively in its youth. But as it has the solid basis of truth to rest upon, it is destined to spread among men and unfold to a demonstrable cer- tainty, the hidden sources and inmost secrets of the whole habitable world. The great patron of this science, Baron Cuvier, a German, has led us nearly as far below, as Newton did above the sur- face of the earth.

In contemplating the theories and speculations of Cuvier, there is perhaps as much to enlarge the understanding:

CHENANGO COUNTY.

39

and inflame the imagination as in the astronomical pursuits of Newton. The eye, a powerful source of the imagina- tion, is not in Geology as in Astronomy, travelled so far as the " solar walks and milky way ;" but the minds-eye view- ing the arcana of the Planet which we inhabit, is as much surprised and even more confounded by the teachings of ge- ology than with the sublimities of As- tronomy.

Geology is defined in the Encyclope- dia Americana as the doctrine or science of the structure of the earth or terraque- ous globe, and of the substances which compose it ; or the science of the com- pound minerals or aggregate substances which compose the earth, the relations which the several constituent masses bear to each other, their formation, structure, position and direction."

We prefer a more concise definition. We would denominate it a science which teaches the component substances of the terraqueous globe.

In the year 1842 a geological survey of the State was made, and a descrip- tion of this County with others, by Lard- ner Vanuxem, published by order of the Legislature, is now before us. We shall copy into the history so much of the description as may tend to illustrate our subject in this particular. When the Geologist visited Chenango there was no guide to point out the different local- ities and he was forced to examine per- sonally. This rendered his account much more brief than in counties where scientific citizens had made prior explo- rations.

"The lowest rocks of the County are those belonging to the Hamilton group, (named after Hamilton, in Madison co). It contains the Tully limestone, the Gen- esee slate, the Portage, the Ithaca, the Chemung and the Catskill groups. • " The whole of the Hamilton group is confined to the towns of Sherburne Smyrna, and to a strip extending along the Unadilla river through Columbus and New Berlin, below the village of which it passes under the higher rocks. It is well exposed along Handsome brook, to

the north east of Sherburne village, ex- hibiting a mass from sixty to one hun- dred feet thick, chiefly of the dark-col- ored shale of the group, and abounding in its characteristic fossils. The falls in the creek are over the shale, which ex- tends towards the mouth of the creek, and is soon lost under a covering of al- luvion and soil, being the most southern part of the Chenango valley where seen.

" The same mass makes its appear- ance to the east of the village of Smyr- na ; beyond which, at a lower level, are those of the upper rocks of Hamilton Seminary, and of Ladd's quarry on the Canal above Sherburne.

"The ridge from Madison county, com- posed of the Hamilton group, appears to incline rapidly near Sherburne, so as to admit the Sherburne flags to appear at the level which they present, at less than two miles below the village.

"At North New Berlin, the group is exposed in the sides of the creek ; and at the quarry, and mill-dam back of the village, on the road to Chenango valley. The fossils are numerous, and the same in all respects with those in the creek near Sherburne.

"The Tulhj lime stone was seen but in one locality at the northwestern part of Smyrna, on the road to DeRuyter village where the road crosses the west branch of the Chenango.

" Genesee slate. — But little was seen in the county : it does not form the same well defined rock to the east, which it does to the west. It appears along the same road as the Tully limestone, and at North New Berlin,&c.

'■'^ Portage and Ithaca groups. — These groups appear to be the surface rocks of the town of Lincklaen ; of the west parts of Pitcher and German ; of Otselic ; the northern part of Pharsalia ; all those parts of Smyrna, Sherburne and Colum- bus not occupied by the lower rocks ; all but the south west part of Plymouth ; the northern and west portion of North Nor- wich, the group extending on both sides of the Chenango below the village of Ox- ford ; and the east side of the town of New Berlin, with the exception of those

40

HISTORY OF

parts towards the river, where the rocks j of the Hamilton group hold position. j

" N'jmerous quarries are opened in j all the different towns in this group, for building-stones and for flagging. The I better kind of the latter occurs in the | lower part of the group. The first year j of the survey, several points south of Sherburne were examined, among which was Mr. Skinner's quarry, where the flags were large and smooth, but the quantity of shale and slate upon them was considerable. At Church's quarry, about two miles from the village, they were more accessible, but not so good. The opening here is about twenty feet in depth upon a hill-side, rising about forty feet above the valley, and showing dark blue or blackish slaty shale with the sandstone. The same appear in the quarrv at the back of North New Ber- lin village, showing the graphic fucoids of Cavuga lake, Ithica, &c.

" West of North Norwich, in the high- er parts of the group, is the quarry of | Mr. Harris, opened for the Chenango Canal. The Stone is of fair quality for the group, generally. Fossils are some- what numerous, and it is the second best locality of the curtain fucoid.

"At Norwich, the County town, ma- i ny quarries have been opened in the hill i to the west of the village and elsev/here: the stone is inferior in quality to that of the upper group.

** Chemung group. — With the excep- tion of the town of Greene, this group is rather obscure in the County. But lit- tle was positively recognized in the Che- nango valley to the north of that town ; although from its great thickness south and west, it should there appear ; but it is also possible that it terminates short of the north line of the Catskill group, which may extend beyond it as at One- onta, where no part of it was recogniz- ed and where the Catskill group ap- pears to repose immediately upon the Portage and Ithaca groups, or a mass which corresponds with the side-hill quarries at Norwich and Port Crane, and which by the fossil character are refera- We only to those groups.

" The consequence of the Catskill group overlapping the Chemung group- to the northeast of its range in "the dis- , trict, was not sufficiently attended to ; ! but this can be no subject of surprise to I those acquainted with like, or any other ' kind of investigations. After a full di- j gest of the iacts collected has been made, very little observation in the field will remove all difficulties. There were none supposed to exist, until too late in the survey to commence a reexamination.

" The only opening noticed in the hills at Greene, near the village, is Cam- eron's quarry, which was wrought for the Canal. In mineral character the contents of the quarry greatly resemble the group in most of its other localities. There are fossils which show identity. It also contains the large species of en- crinite, so common, and which appears to be confined to this group : it is almost invariably replaced, in great part or wholly, with lamellar carbonate of iron. The upper part of the quarry is compact rock with concretions, and the lower part consists of thin and irregular masses with slaty shale : the floor of the quar- ry showed tentaculites.

" Catskill group. — This group has an extensive range in the county, covering a large area of the high ground between the Unadilla and Chenango, and be- tween the Chenango and Geneganslette rivers, and extending in places to the west of the latter. It aflbrds better building materials than the lower rocks of the southern counties, especially the grindstone variety, which occurs to the Avest of Chenango river. This latter rock is abundant in the towns of Pres- ton, McDonough and Pharsalia. It is easily wrought, is of a good lively color, and is the handsomest building material of the whole southern counties."

The remarks of Mr. Vanuxem upon the structure of the rocks of Chenango are now closed. It may be added that the Portage and Ithaca groups outcrop (or display) themselves prominently on the hill directly west of the county seat. The same groups are supposed to out- crop again on the hill east of the sama

CHENANGO COUNTY

41

place. The Haixiilton. group outcrops prominently on the hill side in Norwich village north, near the brewery, and at this spot some elegant fossils have beeji collected.

In the year 1840 a report upon Eco- 7W)mical Geology^ was submitted to the Crovernor by Ezra S. Carr, Assistant State Geologist.

The assistant says, " the green por- tion of the Montrose sandstone, from its superior hardness, affords a durable ma- terial for construction. Several quarries in this rock are opened along the Che- nango valley, and many between Greene and Oxford. Among the most important, jjiiay be mentioned that of McNeals, four lijiles south of Oxford, on the east side Cif the canal.

From this quarry are obtained large aiJjid beautiful flagging stones, many of which are taken to Binghamton, on the canal, for this purpose.

" The grit of Oxford supplies the sur- rounding country with grindstones and whetstones ; it is also used for mantle pieces, jambs, sinks &c. Although this rock is not arranged in layers, from its softness it is readily cut into any desira- ble form. The principal quarries in this rock are those of Simmons four miles south of Oxford, and Reaches, north of the village.

" Erratic Blocks^ — In the more north'' em parts of the county of Chenango,, masses of granite some of which are of enormous size, are seen. These dimin^ ish in size and number as you go south.

Succeeding Mr. Vanuxem's survey was one by Professor Emmons, made with reference to " Agricultural Geolo- gyy We are not prepared to say wheth- er or not the Professor was the founder of this new applicatioii of the science of rock formations to the art of husbandry. By analizing the constituent chemical properties of the various groups or rocks, described by Mr. Vanuxem the Professr or arrives at the true nature and adapta- tion to tillage of the soil in southern New York. But his theory is modified and limited by many contingencies ; such as place, hcichth, etc. The professor 6

says, " the atmosphere has its climate, and soils have theirs." That is, the temperature of the ground, beneath its surface, in the same locality or place, is found to vary in its mean several de» grees. Again he says, " the climate of the soil has not," according to his obser- vation, been determined for any latitude. Besides heighth and place, water is an- other modifying condition in the tem- perament of the earth. Thus wet lands are said to be cold ; the application of the thermometer beneath the surface proves it.

The agricultural G eologists divided or classified the soils of the State, making six districts or different species of earth each dissimilarly capacitated from the other. This county is included in the fifth or soiithern agricultural district. Of these districts Professor Emmons made a state map, and colored it to mark the divisions. The map places this county in the "eminently grazing" district. The eminently grazing district de- nominated the fifth on the map, includes all that part of the State south of the line of Madison County. It goes as far' west as the Pennsylvania line and east so far as the eastern slope of the Cats-' kill mountains. When the words emi- nently grazing are used, it is not implied' that in dairying, for instance, fewer pounds of butter are made from a cow,' other things equal, out of this district than in it ; but the difference consists in quality not quantity. It is this that makes Chenango butter and cheese al- ways more acceptable in market than that manufactured in the grain growing* or wheat regions.

Agricultural Geology starts with the hypothesis that the rocks lying beneath the earth either control or influence the nature of the soil spread out upon its surface.

" The agricuUjiral capacity of the Hamilton shales (denominated by Mr. Vanuxem the Hamilton group.) These have a capability in production decided- ly of a diflferent kind from those of the lime stone shales in the other sections of the State. This chani^^e i;^ due to the

42

HISTORY OF

constitution of the rocks mainly, al-'

ihougli no doubt heiglith, configuration and slope may modify to a certain ex- lent the productive qualities of the re- gion over which these rocks extend. Agriculturally they closely resemble the Hudson river rocks, and we may perhaps say with truth that this resem- blance is no less than that of their li- thological characters. Both series are remarkably destitute of calcareous mat- ter, and both are distantly associated, if the expression is proper, with lime- stones below. Thus the Utica slate re- sembles the Marcellus slate : both are somewhat calcareous, and both succeed heavy beds of limestone, which con- stitute important landmarks or way boards for tbe determination of series and groups. In the Hudson river shales, a few bands of limestone, highly fos- siliferous, appear towards the end or about the middle of the series. So in the Hamilton shales, impure calcareous bands are met with, though the calca- reous seems to have been derived from the petrifactions which they enclose. This shows that some calcareous matter existed in solution in the waters from which these rocks were separated or de- posited ; indeed che shales sometimes efTervesce feebly. Now the main pe- culiarity Avhich we find in these rocks consists in the ability to produce good pasturage; the soil possesses that light character which fits it for sweet gra- zing. There is always seemingly suf- ficient alumen or clay in these rocks to give the debris, the proper consisten- cy to hold water, and this rarely to ex- cess. There are two other circumstan- ces which contribute to form a grazing country where these rocks predominate, namely, sweet and pure water, and a hilly surface. The Avater under such circumstances drains off rapidly and leaves the soil refreshed : it will not stagnate above or beneath the surface. If the grass herbage is not so luxuriant, it is sweeter and promotes the health of animals which feed upon it.

The atmosphere circulates freely over the hills and through the va]le3's, and

thereby rapidly renews the essential el- ements of life and activity. It is diffi- cult to obtain the data from which the thickness of this rock can be determined. By estimating the fossiliferous and non- ibisiliferous parts by themselves and summing up the result, we obtain from 1000 to 2000 feet thickness."

'•The T'uUy Limestone. — The thick- ness of the Tully limestone is from tweh'o to fifteen feet : hence the mass is too inconsiderable to exert any influ- ence upon the soil."

'■'■The Genesee Slate, is estimated to be at its deepest point from 800 to 400 feet thick." As this rock scarcely shows itself in the county we will not copy into our pages its agricultural cliaracter.

'"■Puriage, Ithaca and Chemung groups.— Agricultural character of the shale?, flags and sandstones of these groups. The purposes of agriculture do not require an identification of those rocks : they belong chemically and min- eralogically to the same class. The structure, tbe tendency to decomposi- tion, and the soil which is formed by disintegration, does not difTer essential- ly in Albany county from that of Alle- ghany and' Cataraugus counties. These rocks have characters peculiar to them- selves and which distinguish them from calcareous limestone formations. The greatest chemical difference is found in the absence of lime, except Avhere it is derived from strata at a distance.- — When the soil is first broken up, some lime may be found ; but cultivation and the exposure to which a cultivated sur- face suffers from percolation (or filter- ing) of water soon removes the calca- reous matter. The soil is then a silico — aluminous one, and may in some pla- ces be a still" hard soil; in others the predominance of sand gives it charac- ter directly opposite." Our limits for- bid giving further detail of the rela- tions which these rocks bear to the ca- pabilities of the soil.

'■'■ Agriadlural, Character of the. Cat- skill grouj). — The soil is colored red, when derived from the Catskili rocks.

CHENANGO COUNTY.

43

The red marls form a soil very well compounded of sand and clay : it de- rives an advantage from its color. Red soils are warmer and earlier, yet they do not bear drought so welt as the brown and yellow loams. The soil of these rocks may be regarded as light, and being deficient in lime and alka- lies, It is not so productive at first, nor so durable, as those of Onondaga and Cayuga counties. The thichness of the Catskill division of rocks is between 1800 and 2000 feet."

We now close this very imperfect sketch of agricultural Geology. The most we expect to do in this abstract branch of our subject is to call the at- tention of farmers to the vital impor- tance of comprehending the geological and chemical properties of their re- spective farms. It is true all north- ern grains can be grown in the county. But some of them must, from physical and insuperable causes, come forth a sickly crop. For instance we have been shown an estmate of wheat grown in. Chenango and Niagara county: while Niagara, the lime rock region, averages 18 bushels to the acre, Che- nango produces but 12. Yet this is a high average for this section of the state, as some of our sister counties adjoing obtain prorniscuouly only from 9 10 11 bushels. By comprehending the capacity of the soil, and every growth is native to some soil, the most profitable tillage will be adopted. The sciences are put in motion to advance agriculture. They are about to realize what Dean Swift said, and said well, over one hundred years ago. That is ''he who should cause two blades of grass to spring upwhere but one grew before, would approve himself the greatest ben- efactor of his race." Chemistry now an- alizes the component parts of soils with as much facility as she detects poi- son in the human stomach. We may hope the time is not far distant when our ac- ademies and public schools will be pre- pared to instruct youth in agricultural chemistry and agricultural geology. In this connection we may once

more propound the much disputed point ; does Chenango County contain m ines of mineral coal ? We are aware that it has been dug for in various parts. In Madison county next north of Che- nango considerable expense has been incurred to make explorations.

It is currently reported, among the citizens of Norwich village and firmly believed that many years ago numer- ous large lumps of pure anthracite coal were dug out of the hills lying along the Goodrich brook about one and a half miles south-east of that village. Wit- nesses say the discovery was made by an ingenious blacksmith who found it in quantities sufficient to supply all the fuel requisite to carry on his business. — To dispense with the article of charcoal w'as an economical consideration with the smith and induced him to preserve the locality and his knowledge of it a profound mystery. He did, it is true, after a time communicate the secret to a man in custody on the jailliberties; and this individual went regularly every Sun- day,(the only day he could leave the limits) and obtained sufficient quantities to sup- ply the discoverers wants through the coming week. The novelty of using this kind of coal for blacksmithing at- tracted the attention of the villagers, whose curiosity was immensely stimula- ted by the very concealment practiced. — The coal diggers were narrowly watch- ed and observed to pass over the river bridge, east of the village, and thence to stroll off in a south-easterly course among the hills. After somewhat over one hours absence, they returned freight- ed with as much of the mineral as their shoulders could support. Others follow- ed their trail but made no revelations. — A t length the prisoner was released from his confinement and removed to unknown parts. The blacksmith died soon after and with him perished all knowledge upon this subject. Since his decease many unavailing efforts have been made to unearth this coal.

We have the foregoing statement from credible men who insist that they were personal observers of all that is

44

HISTORY OF

here asserted, and who are too intelli- gent to be deceived as to the facts.

It is represented also that the first set- tlers discovered coal along the same brook, but they concluded the In- dians had deposited there and took no fur- ther thought upon the subject. When the Geologisis visited Mathewson's Pond in New-Berlin they discovered in the rocks strata of coal about two inches thick and at the time were in doubt if it was not a continuation of the Penn- sylvania strata. Specimens of coal in detached fragments have been collected in many pans of the county. We will defer our private judgement to that of the Geologists who after careful examina- tions now confidpntiy assert that this county is below the dip of the coal mines in Pennsylvania. If their views are reliable and we donot see to the con- trary, it follows that coal fields do not lie in the county. Others are, it must be admitted of quite contrary opinion. — But the belief of those who deny the existence of coal is partially confirm- ed by the failure of ejsplorers to discover •Veins notwithstanding they have so often excavated for ihem.

It will be v/ell to transcribe briefly some of the leading views of Geologists relative to the existence of coal fields north of that part of Pennsylvania di- rectly south of this county.

"The Northern boundary of the coal region appears to be from the head wa- ters of Tonawanda creek in Bradford county, Pennsylvania, across the coun- ties of Potter, McKean, Warren and Ve- nango in the same State, to the Ohio line." Comstock's Geologv.

A report on this region has been made by R. C. Taylor, a practical engineer and geologist, for the Blossbiirg Rail- Road company, in which it is shown that the coal runs out, as the streams decline towards the north. The dip of the coal strata towards the west, is such as to re- quire towards the east an elevation of over five thousand feet, in order to include the coal measures at the State line be- tween New York and Pennsylvania, i^-hereas, the hills there are probably less

than six hundred feet in altitude. This calculation, says Mr. Taylor, is niado for the purpose of showing the futility of the expectation of tracing these coal fields in a northerly direction, beyond the | limits at which they are discoverable. 1

Chenango County is in the third geo- logical district of the State. Mr. T. A, Conrad, State Geologist, reports (see Assembly documents 161,) upon the \ probabilities of coal formations in this ' region, as follows :

" Owing to the great demand for this species of fuel in many sections of the district, repeated local examinations, not guided by science, have been made to ascertain its presence in veins er strata, but without success. The true relations of the rocks here to the carboniferous de- posites of Pennsylvania, have hitherto been greatly misunderstood, and the comparisons with European formations remote from the true analogies."

Mr. Conrad then quotes Dr. Bucland^ an English Geologist, who says : " Be- fore Ave had acquired by experiment some extensive knowledge of the con- tents of each series of formations, which the geologist can readily identify, there was no a priori reason to expect the presence of coal in any one series of stra- ta rather than another. Indiscriminate experiments in search of coal, in strata ; of every formation, were therefore desi- 1 rable and proper in an age when evert the name of Geology Avas unknown ; bul the continuance of such experiments ini districts which are now ascertained to be composed of the non-carboniferous stra- ta of the secondary and tertiary series, can no longer be justified, since the ac- cumulated experience of many years has proved that it is only in the strata of the transition series, which have been designated as the Carboniferous order, that productive coal mines on a large ' scale have ever been discovered." Mr. ] Conrad \ipon the forgoing, remarks "we j may add, that it is equally fruitless to search for such mines in strata below as it is in those above the carboniferous or- der." Mr. Conrad next starts with some bold propositions that cannot, we think,

CHENANGO COUNTY

45

hti unacceptable to the reader. He as- sures us not only are all the coal beds or strata of the Union ol' later geologi- cal date, and higher in the scale of formation, than the rocks of the third district, but one fact illustrative of the manner in which the strata originated, is particularly worthy of notice, because it has important bearings on the question regarding the possibility of discovering coal. From the deposition of the first sedimentary rocks, to that of the newest stratum of the district, all the dry hind, if there was any, seems to have been confined to the few points presented by naked and primary rocks. Admitting that all coal deposites of any extent and vahie were derived from luxuriant vege- tation on land or in fresh water marsh- es, we percieve that the conditions nec- essary for the deposition of extensive coal strata could not have existed in a region where marine formations prevail- ed, to the exclusion even of small Isl- ands, sufficient to nourish a scancy veg- etation. This opinion is confirmed by a comparison of the organic remains contained in strata intimately associated with coal, with those of the upper rock of the third district. The former strata are characterised by fossils of the car- ^/oniferous order, but the latter by those .of Silurian or lower transition rocks.— Such are the results of Palaoontological distinctions, which may be relied on when other evidence of antiquity in rocks may not easily be found.

In the fourth annual report (Assem- bly document 50) made to Governor Seward, by William W. Mather (184f),) to whom was assigned the the first geological district of the state we extract the following, inasmuch as what is applicable to the Catskill moun- tain group or series in Delaware is equally pertinent to this county. Seams and layers, says Mr. Mather of pure an- thracite have been observed in some pla- ces, and fossil plants similar to those of Ishe coal beds of Carbondale have been found, (referring to Delaware, Greene, and other counties) not only in the ^lales associated with the anthracite.

but also abundantly in the grits and sla- ty sandstones of the middle and upper parts of the series. These strata are all, perhaps below the coal bearing rocks of Pennsylvania, and it is not consider- ed probable that coal will be found in useful quantities in tliem ; still some parts of the upper portions' bear so much resemblance to the anthra- cite coal rocks of Pennsylvania, both in mineralogicai character and fossil re- mains, that it is thought possible, that coal beds of -workable thickness may be discovered.

Mr. Comstock in his outlines of ge-* ology remarks that although it is not certain that coal exists at any given place until it is actually found, still there are indications which might perhaps warrant the expense of search, by bo- ring in districts where coal has never been discovered. These indications are various and to point them out requires much experience upon the subject.

Mr. Fare\'^ states that in England the coal districts incline to clay, and are generally of an inferior quality. When laid down to pastures small daisies and insignificant weeds are more disposed to prevail than grass. In these districts, water is generally procured at inconsid- erable depths, and when the faults are numerous, springs are common, and range in a line with the fault. By the expression /(2z^Z? is understood some in- terruption of the coal vein by anothei" rock intervening or running across thd vein and cutting it apart. The face of the country where coal exists is general- ly undulating, the hills being rounded and not mural or precipitous, and the valleys gently sloping and not deep as they are in granite formations. — ' Sometimes, however, coal is found in hills more than a thousand feet above the general level of the country. Near- ly all coal formations are basin-shaped, or in that form which would arise from a deposition of strata in lakes or ponds of various depths.

Searching for Co«/.— According to Mr. Comstock, in most instances, the in- clination or bending of coal strata, is

46

HISTORY OF

such that the veins rise nearly to the suri'ace, and would be vitiible, were they not covered by llie t;uil or gravel. — When this is the case, the removal of the soil by a rivulet or the accidental elide of a side hill will uncover the strata, so tluit their dip and thickness j can be determined. This is considered a very fortunate circumstance because the boring for coal, without some such indications that it exists in greater or less quantities, even in coal districts is a very uncertain means of its discovery. Sometimes borings of great depths have been made in the immediate vicinity of large coal fields, without producing any greater conviction of the existence of the mineral than the surface before indica- ted.

Where a coal stratum comes to the surface, continues Mr. C. it is generally in a decomposed state, and so mixed with the earth as to present no other ap- pearance of coal than a darker color, when compared with the surrounding soil. Hence the real quality of the coal cannot be determined until it is taken from below the inliuence of the Aveath- er, and in general, its quality improves as it sinks deeper into the earth.

The State Geologists pronounce the county barren of minerals and of min- eral wealth. Dr. Lewis C. Beck, on the mineralogical and chemical department of the State survey, and Avhose reports constitute several volumes of the Natu- ral History of New York, notes four min- eral springs lying within the county. One in McDonough, known as Spec's Spa. Another two miles south of Norwich village. A third in Pharsalia, and a fourth in the town of Pitcher. To the above may be added a fifth about two miles from Sherburne village. These springs evolve Sulphuretted Hydrogen. "Their origin is ascribed to the ac- tion of water upon the sulphurets of ftalcium, magnesium &c., Avhich not im- probably exist at great depths. It may also be stated, that the existence of such a compound in the interior of the earth is in entire accordance with the views

entertained by many philosophers, con* corning the cause of volcanic action."

To the foregoing may yet be added a sixth mineral spring, on the Randall farm below Norwich village. The wa- ters of this spring are tinctured strongly with carbureted hydrogen and are sweetish when tasted.

We will pass the mineral springs for the present and recur to them under a future arrangement of the history.

Mr. Conrad discovered 7icw fossils in the county worthy of note in this con* nection.

DESCRIPTION OF NEW FOSSILS. First Group. POSIDONIA.

Fosidonia lirata. — Shell suborbicular, convex depressed ; disk with about 18 concentric angulated carina3, and with concentric stria. Length nearly one inch. Localitfj, near Norwich.

Fterinea conccnlrica. — Shell ovate ob* long, compressed, with numerous pro- found concentric striae ; disk obliquely contracted from beak to base ; posterior end dilated, margin rounded. Length one and a half inches. Locality, near Norwich. It much resembles a Modio la in outline.

Fterinea a'ppressa.-^'&XwW ovate ob long, flattened, disk with distant angular concentric carinas and striated ; umbonial slope very oblique and carinated ; dorsal margin rectilinear, parallel with the ba- sal margin. Length, three inches. Jm' cality, near Norv/ich.

Fterinea pu?ictidata. — Shell profound" ly elongated ; disk with an oblique fur- row from beak to base ; surface covered with minute elevated punctas disposed in form of rays on the anterior side ; um- bonial slope carinated ; dorsal margin re- curved ; posterior extremely truncated ; posterior basal margin straight. Length, two and a half inches. Locality, same as the preceding.

GONIATITES.

Gonialiics puyiccaiKS. — Shell com- pressed, surface covered with minute,

CHENANGO COUNTY.

47

elevated

punclse ; sepia with a single rounded lobe on the disk, angulated at the periphery. Length, one and three- fourth inches. Locality, near Sherburne.

Lakes. — Chenango County abounds in small lakes commonly called ponds. There are from eight to ten existing among the highlands of the county. They are of various dimensions and dif- ferent depths. Smithville, McDonough and New Berlin contain the most* con- siderable ones in the county. They abound with nearly every variety of fish found in the rivers of the county. Some of the fish were a few years ago transfer- red or colonized from the rivers and have propagated their species in their new homes until they are as abundant as the natives.

]\L-. Noah Mathewson, after whom the large pond in New Berlin is named, ma- ny years ago transplanted a pair of pick- erel, male and female, in his pond, but they died soon after leavmg no progeny. About twelve years since Mr. Abel Com- stock, of Norwich, who is an expert an- gler, tried the same experiment, with the same kind of fish, in the same pond and with complete success. At this day Avhen- ever our fishermen capture one of these veterans, they silently thank Mr. Com- stock for his provident foresight in provi- ding the means for their pastime. No pickerel inhabited the McDonough pond until some of the Norwich citizens, Mr. Comstock among the number, planted a colony after the manner described. At this day in both of these ponds this kind of fish are predominant. The water in the ponds is clear, cold and healthful to them. From some unknown cause the pickerel in the McDonough pond recent- ly died out to an alarming extent. But the colony is recovering and has nearly regained its usual health and promises rich sport to future anglers.

The largest pond in the county is the main one in Smithville. The Mathew- son pond is renowned for its fine scenery (as also the one in McDonough), It is situated about six miles from the county seat, is about one mile in length, about three-fourths of the distance across, in

its widest part, and alioiit forty feet in depth. The original outlet was changed by Mr, Mathewson many years ago. He caused on the lower side of the pond a ditch to be cut (through a stone em- bankment) about fifteen feet deep and four feet in width. Through this nar- row sluice way the waters were conduc- ted for the purpose of propelling mills. This artificial outlet lowered the pond about six feet. This pond is resorted to in summer by the citizens of Norwich village and New Berlin as a place of rec- reation. The cooling influence of the waters in the hot season and the Avild character of the scenery along its banks makes it a most attractive point in sum- mer. It is at this spot pic nic parties generally rendezvous in quest of pleas- ure.

Mr. Mathewson has had the good sense to leave standing many evergreen trees that shade its romantic borders. Of the McDonough lake Ave are not yet prepared to speak from personal observa- tion. There are ponds in Guilford. One of them, covering an area of about one himdred acres, is chiefly remarkable for its profundity and for its elevated posi- tion. The lake is in a basin situated in the highest group of hills between the Chenango and Unadilla rivers.

Near to the Mathewson pond is an ebbing and flowing spring worthy of note, Mr. M. now past eighty, informs the writer that he always obtains by ob- serving the motions of this spring, a true indication of the coming weather. Ha says soon before a storm and before rain, however low the rivulets about his farm may be, this spring, situated in a hill, pours out a rapid stream that continues until the storm rages and then recedes to its usual dimensions.

The remark reminded the writer of the movements of an ebbing and flow- ing spring visited by him many years ago in the state of Virginia. That spring issued from a ledge of high rocks on a hill side. The aperture in the rock from whence the water poured, was about five feet, measured horizontally, and three feet high. At an interval of

48

HISTORY OF

about two minutes the moij.'h of the rock ivas filled with an impetuous current so vStrong as to sweep all before it. The rush of water continued about the fourth of a minute. It then ceased instantly and left no trace that any torrent had flowed from the roclc. At the expiration of two minutes the flood re-issued as be^ fore.

CLIMATE OF THE COUNTY.

Chenango is situated about two hun- dred miles north-west from the nearest point of the Atlantic coast. It lies about sixty miles south-east from the southern shore of lake Ontaj'io. Very nearly betAveen the county and the prox- imate point on the sea shore are the Catskill mountains. Ontario is several hundred feet below the Chenango valley, and no remarkable rise of country inter- venes between this section and the lake. Hence the cold air, high Avinds, clouds and storms that occasionally usurp the otherwise temperate atmosphere of this section, are derived chiefly fronj the lake country. The heavy snow clouds visit this region coming mostly from, east- north-east. The north-west winds chill the sky and exhibit phenomena common to the same currents of air in the more immediate neighborhood of the inland, fresh water seas, situated in high lati- tudes. The difference is in degree and duration.

Th« frigid, frosty weather in the coun- ty, sets in usually during November. It is less trying to health and is less disagreeable than the chilly, north-west winds in March and April. In all sec- tions of the State Avhen the snoAvs are melting in spring and Avhile the sun is extracting frost from the earth, the at- mosphere is far more penetrating and formidable to the constitution, than the clear, cold air of autumn or Avinter. The air of spring as it is inhaled into the lungs, searches the system internally and renders very Avarm clothing at this period more indispensable than in mid- winter. In the spring when (he Aveath- er is most trving out of doors, but little

fire is required to form an agreeable cli- nixate Avithin.

The east Avind, a terror to the people inhabiting the sea coast, seldom prevails in the county. In the summer of 1849 it AA^as most prevalent and is thought to

have caused a failure of the fruit cro

of the county in that year. Apples, it is said Avere blasted or paralized on the side exposed to the east. So also Avith fruit generally along the sea shore. Some Aveil matured fruit was secured in the county ; for this there is believed to j have been some local causes, such as a I forest shutting out theAvind, or high hills * lying east of the orchards. The summer season in the County is quite uniform and the heat is seldom oppressive. An exception to this occurs Avhen the preva- lent Avind is from the east. This Avind renders the atmosphere too cool for com- fort, health or A-^egetation. The air of the County, like that of eleA'ated coun- tries everyAvhere, is strong and bracing. It is also free from noxious A'apors and is Avell supplied with Oxygen, Avhich is very favourable to life. As science pro- gresses in its usefulness, the day is nut far distant, Ave may hope, Avhen will be accomplished Avith facility an analysis of the component fluids and gasses floating in our atmosphere at particular seasons Avhen epidemics prevail : that Ave may be apprised of the relative existence of such as confer health and longevity as Avell as those that engender pestilence and abridge human life. In the Sum- mer of 1849 a Chemist in Philadelphia City analized the atmosphere for the | purpose of detecting the secret agencies employed in generating Asiatic Cholera. The air of the County, like sea air, is invigorating, but unlike salt air, is re- markably elastic. Sound lungs are re- quired to resist its action ; but Avith a respiratory organization unimpaired, long life may be expected ; as witness the pioneer population of the County by na» ture robust, industrious, abstemious and observant of the laAvs of health.

Cutting aAvav the forest in central and southern NeAV York exerted some influ' encc upon the climate. The ancient in-

CHENANGO COUNTY.

49

habitants sometimes remark there is now but two seasons here; Summer and Winter! It is obvious the winds are less restrained as the woodlands disappear. — But to what extent this undulating re- gion is affected by such a cause has not yet been definitely determined.

Here the human constitution may be said to be prepared for very cold weather by the middle of November; it remains in a manner insensible to an extremely low^ state of the mercury until in the month of March. This remark has application to that class of the inhabitants accus- tomed to atmospheric influences. The other, and more numerous class, that employ hot air stoves, ever avoiding all contact with the winter weather, are not a criterion upon which to base any judg- ment in this particular. ■ The hardiest plants and those native to the county, if taken from the earth in autumn and transferred to hot houses would wither if removed before summer to their native beds.

The month of March is much dreaded in all of the middle States. Near the lakes, its approach is terrific. In this county it is comparatively mild and free from the continual winds on the lake shore. It brings in cold, penetrating, disagreeable blasts ; but they are tran- sient and speedily pass ofT. Sleet, hail, rains and thick mists involve our atmos- phere more or less during this month and render the roads and the earth disagree- able after some time into April. The most serious objections to this inclement season here are as " dust in the balance" when weighed with the tempestuous and piercing blasts that sweep along the lake countries, leaving malignant fevers in their train.

Autumn along the lakes is milder than in Chenango. Perhaps for this reason ; in summer the sun sheds down very warm, unbroken raj's upon the smooth surface of the waters and tempers them at great depths. When this warming influence is withdrawn the effect is not perceptible upon the water until a con- siderable time after it is felt upon the land. As soon as the earth falls to a

temperature below the Avaters, they re- turn caloric sufficient to preserve an equi- librium in the atmosphere (above and be- low the the surface of the water.)

But this mean temparature is destroy- ed during the winter when bodies of ice form in the lakes. The ice made in winter on the lakes remains for a long time after the earth is thawed out and keeps the atmosphere disagreeably cold, 'i'he ever recurring lake breeze keeps this cold air swiftly circulating along the lake shore until the month of June. The winds on the lakes are usually most vio- lent in spring. Ail of the disagreeable influences of the lake climate are little known in Chenango.

The country east of the Alleghany mountains and west of the Atlantic coast, including this, has an ununiform at- mosphere. Meteorologists, profess to ac- count for the discrepancy between the climate west and east of the Alleghanies.

Along the water courses of the coun- ty in the fall season, heavy fogs arise in the morning but vanish by nine or ten o'clock. They present a curious specta- cle to residents on the highest hills. As they rise from the earth Aey mark the windings of all the rivers through the high hill gorges. The view is at such times one of surpassing splendor. The fogs seldom visit the hills. The atmos- phere of the fogs is heavy and unelastic and oppressive to strangers, but other- wise to residents.

After what has been said, it will read- ily be understood wh)'- the general health of the natives of Chenango sufi^ers severe- ly in the damp climates of the west. The emigrants from this section, (if in health) seldom, we think never, remove to the unbroken, champaigne country of the west and along the lakes without undergoing a new acclimation at the ex- pense of good health. They encounter billions fevers, sometimes earlier, some- times later ! But always sooner or later.

Those who emigrate towards the At- lantic, except consumiptives, and asthmat- ics renew their health bv the change.

50

HISTORY OF

THE COUNTY SEAT.

The civil divisions of the State into Counties, Towns, Cities and Villages were partly completed while New York remained a dependency of Great Britain. The divisions of the State made subse- quent to the revolution, is only the Eng- lish plan carried out in exle7iso. The present system of our local divisions ori- ginated among, or rather was adopted bv the Saxons, so long ago as the year six hundred.

In modern times the Island of Britain is separated into departments, called counties ; the counties are again sub-di- vided into hundreds ; the hundreds are cut up into tithings or towns. The seat of a county is more frequently denomi- nated the shire-town. The term shire is Saxon and signifies a division. In the United States the word shire is seldom used, except in its compounds, as fol- lows : "shire-town," " half-shire," &c. In this State the shire-town is the place where courts are held and where county officers convene to transact public busi- ness. Some counties, like Oneida, have two or three county seats and the towns where courts are held alternately, are mostly known as half-shires.

In the year 178S March 7, a law was enacted to establish new towns in the original county of Montgomery. That county at one time included all of this part of the State as well as much of the eastern section of New York.

The town of Whitestown was organ- ized under this law. Whitestown in- cluded Chenango and many other coun- ties. In 1791 the town was curtailed by the erection of Herkimer, Tioga and Ot sego counties out of the ancient county of Montgomery. These three counties erected during this year comprised what was known many years ago as the "wes- tern district of the State."' A part oi the north boundary of Tioga, (after 17- 91,) was the present north bounds of Pitcher, New Berlin, Pharsalia, Plym- outh and North Norwich. The south line of the towns of Columbus, Sher- burne, Smyrna, Otselic and Lincklaen

Avas the southern limits of the original Herkimer county. When these coun- ties were created the towns of the twenty townships were designated by their num- bers and the names of the towns, as now known, were not mentioned. Whites- town was the half-shire of Herkimer county for several years. Newtown Point otherwise Elmira was the shire-town of Tioga county. It is believed that the records of Chenango, previous to 1798, are at present in IJtica and at Owego the county seat of Tioga.

After the erection of the counties of Otsego, Herkimer and Tioga, the jail at Whitestown was used to confine pris- oners as it had been before 1791.

In the year 1798 Chenango was erec- ted from parts of Tioga and Herkimer counties. The county seat was located at the present village of Hamilton, now in Madison county and also at Oxford village. Each of these towns remained half-shires for some years. Up to 1808, the Whitestown jail at Whitesboro, was the jail of this county.

By the terms of the law of 1798 es- tablishing the county, the court of com- mon pleas and general sessions of the Peace was convened at the school house in the town of Hamilton near the dwel- ling of Mr. Elisha Payne. The second meeting of the court took place at Ox- ford ; and after this the terms were held alternately at each of these places. The court met three times in each year to dispose of the county business. The judges Avere authorized to open the Court upon Tuesday but not to hold beyond Saturday of the same week. They could adjourn at any time before Satur- day.

The legislature left it discretionary with the Supreme Court Judges when they would appoint a circuit for the county. The first circuit was held on the lOth of July 1798. Mr. Justice Kent, afterwards Chancellor, presided. No business was transacted at this sit- ting of the court as will appear from the subjoined copy of the clerks minutes. They are brief and we copy verbatim. They read:

jr.^^MIE§ JSHMir ULoBo

fma^M/

tintered a^ccrding U) die actof Cangress m ihejear 3634: Tt/ James Herrm^ m-tlic dedts -^ce al' ili*^ Ihstrict Coort ol the SouthemJHstdctcifN.lfdtlc-

i

CHENANGO COUNTY.

51

" At a Circuit Court held at the Acad- emy in the town of Oxford in and for the County of Chenango, on the 10th July 179S before the Honorable James Kent Esquire, one of the Justices of the Supreme Court of judicature of the State of New York.

"Present," " Hon, James Kent Esq." " The Court opened by proclamation." " The Court adjourned for one hour." •' The Court met pursuant to adjourn- ment."

" Present," "Hon. James Kent Esq." " The Court adjourned sinedie.^'' The second term of the Supreme Court was held at Hamilton in July of the next year (1799.) We will again copy the minutes as best explanatory of what transpired at the second holding of the same court. After a caption as in the preceding, the clerk minutes the pro- ceedings thus :

"Present." "Hon. Jacob Radcliff Esq." " Court opened by proclamation." "Recess of the court one hour." " The court met." " The Court rose."

A third term of the Court was held in the school-house in Hamilton, on the 30th of June ISOO. Morgan Lewis presided. At this term of theCourt, two jury causes were disposed of. The first cause tried in the Circuit Court in Che- nango was an ej ectment. Arthur Breese and Erastus Clark were the opposing counsel. Both were residents of Utica and died in the prime of life.

Benjamin Walker and Solomon Per- kins were plaintiffs, against Elijah Bond defendant. The earliest attornies that appeared before this court were Thomas P. Gold, Piatt Brush, Joseph Kirkland and Nathan Williams.

John Lansing Jr. was the presiding Judge at the fourth term of the Court held June 29th 1801.

Judge Kent presided at the fifth term of the Circuit Court appointed for this county in the last week of June 1802. Peter B. Garnsey Esq. appeared for the

first time at this term as counsel in an ejectment suit.

The sixth term of the Court was held at Oxford on the 29th of June 1803. Smith Thompson Esq. presided.

The seventh term of the court was appointed to be held at Oxford, May 29th 1804. Ambrose Spencer Esq. presided. Stephen O. Runyan Esq. of Oxford first appeared as counsel at this sitting of the Court.

Daniel D. Thompkins Esq. held the eighth Circuit at Hamilton, early in May 1805.

Brockholst Livingston Esq. held the ninth term of the Court at Hamilton in May 1806.

Daniel D. Thompkins Esq. held the tenth term of tne Court at Oxford, May 1807. At this term the name of Hen- ry Vanderlyn first appears as attorney. The action was for breach of contract.

In 1806 Madison county was set off from Chenango. After this time the Courts were held alternately at North- Norwich and at Oxford. Hill was tried in 1809 at North Norwich, charged with the murder of a child, found guilty and sentenced to be hanged.

The eleventh term was the first Court held at North-Norwich. Judge Joseph C.Yates presided. May 30th 1808. James Birdsall Esq. made his first appearance as counsel, at this court. He was counsel for Peter B. Garnsey, Pl'ff, against SethGarlick.

The twelfth term of the court was held in the same town, (8th June 1809,) at the Meeting House recently demol- ished. Smith Thompson presided. At this term of the Court Messrs. Wm. M. Price and James Clapp appeared as counsel in a suit wherein Stephen O. Runyan prosecuted James Birdsall. Da • vid Butolph Esq., also first appeared as counsel in a cause at this term of the Court.

We have traced the different terms of the Circuit Court held in Chenango from the time of its first session down to 1809.

We now come to speak of the remo- val of the County Seat to Norwich vil-

Si

HISTORY OF

iage and its penuauent establishment there,

FIRST COURT HOUSE.

In the year 1807, March 6th, the leg- islature enacted a law authorizing the Supervisors of the County to select, with- in one mile of the residence of Stephen Steere Esq., in Norwich village, a per- manent site for building a Court House and Jail. The then residence of Mr. Steere was on the corner where the Ea- gle tavern, owned by Gen. Deforest, was burned down in July 1849. For the purpose of defraying the cost of build- ings and the purchase of a location, the legislature empowered the Supervisors to assess and cause to be collected, a tax upon the freeholders of the county, not to exceed in amount the sum of live thou- sand dollars. One half of the five thou- sand dollars to be collected the first year and the remaining twenty five hundred the second year. To carry out the de- tails of these provisions of the law, the Supervisors appointed, by virtue of the authority vested in their board, commis- sioners to perfect contracts with archi- tects and builders. The county was not at any cost for the land upon w'hich the first or old Court House stood. Peter B. Garnsey Esq., tendered to the commis- sioners, as a free gift, about one and a half acres of land which was accepted and which is the same lot upon which the present Court House is erected. The buildini^ itself occupied but a small por- tion of the area of the land bestowed by Mr. Garnsey. Appurtenant to the Court House is the spacious lawn in front, known as the "West Green." The commissioners accepted a bid or applica- tion from Josiah Dickinson and George Saxton conjointly to erect the Court House and prison. Under the labors of the contractors the building Avas brought to completion so as to be in readiness for courts very early in the spring of 1809. The first Court House was a wooden building,' two stories high and substan- tially erected. The edifice was square and well proportioned. The interior of the house was cramped and deficient in

space. The court room was defective in its dimensions as well as in its architec* tural symmetry, 'i he room was inade- quate to the audiences that congregated, when trials of interest took place. At a prmritive day, Courts were as numerous- ly, perhaps more numerously attended, than now.

The legislature afterwards came to the relief of the contractors, who had lost money in their enterprise, iind at the ses- sion of 1809 authorized, in addition to the five thousand dollars already assess- ed upon and collected from the Ireehold- ers of the county, a further lax of fifteen hundred dollars to be collected as the first had been and to be paid, when re- ceived by the treasurer, as an indemnity to the builders, Messrs. Dickinson and Saxton. This made the price of the building amount to sixty five hundred dollars when brought to completion. At or about the same time that Mr. Garn- sey presented the common, known as the west green; Stephen SteereEsq., dona- ted to the public, or rather to the villa- gers, a lot with dimensions to correspond with the gift of Mr. Garnsey. This lot is situated opposite, on the east, to the Court House and is best known