Pomroy Jones' History of the Town of Sangerfield (1851)
The following is a chapter from Annals and Recollections of Oneida County, as published by Pomroy Jones in 1851. The research and writing of this particular chapter, however, has been credited to Amos. O. Osborn, a Waterville historian, lawyer and Renaissance man, whose own history of the Town appears elsewhere in these pages.
This town was originally known as Township No. Twenty, of the twenty townships laid out upon the west side of the Unadilla River. Under a law of the Legislature passed February, 1789, it was surveyed in the summer of that year. After the survey, and previous to its settlement, it was simply known to the land speculators of the day as Township No. 20, of the "twenty towns." At the time of the survey it was included in Whitestown, Montgomery County. In 1790 and 1791 it was purchased of the State upon speculation, chiefly by Michael Myers, Jedediah Sanger, and John J. Morgan, and a
considerable portion of it was subsequently leased in perpetuity, and much of it remains on lease up to the present time.
The following is a copy of the record in the case of Messrs. Myers, Sanger, and Morgan, upon their application for the purchase of Townships Nos. 18 and 20, and part of No. 19, now in the office of the Commissioners of the Land Office in Albany, under the law of March 22, 1791, for the sale of public land. (Doc. Hist. of N.Y. Vol III, p 1072).
"The application of Michael Myers, Jedediah Sanger, and John J. Morgan, for the purchase of Townships No. 18 and 20, and the parts unsold by the Surveyor General of Township No. 19, being three of the Twenty Townships surveyed by the Surveyor General pursuant to an act passed the 25th day of February, 1789. The two first Townships, to wit, Nos. 18 and 20, at the rate of three shillings and three pence per acre, and the parts of No. 19 unsold, as above mentioned, at the rate of three shillings and one penny per acre, one-sixth part thereof to be paid on the 1st day of October next, and the residue in two equal payments, the one-half on the 1st of April, 1792, and the remaining half on the 1st of January, 1793, being read and duly considered.
(Accepted.)
"Acres-67,130 = £10,908 15 shillings."
Upon the formation of Herkimer County, February 16, 1791, this township was included in that county, and in this year the first step was taken towards its settlement. In the fall of this year, Zerah Phelps, then a resident of the "Green Woods," Massachusetts, and who had previously purchased lot No. 42 in this town, sent his hired man to build a house, which was constructed of logs, and stood about twenty rods south-easterly from the present residence of Jesse O. Mills, and about one mile in the same direction from the "Centre". The house was erected near a primitive elm, which is yet standing, and this was the first tenement erected for a settler in the town of Sangerfield.
About the first of March, 1792, Minierva Hale and wife, and Nathan Gurney and wife and infant, moved into the town from New Hartford, where they had previously resided one or two years. The first day of their journey they reached the house of Simon Hubbard, who lived on the place now occupied by his son Marinus Hubbard, in the town of Marshall, where they remained over night. Their conveyances were ox teams and sleds. On the next morning, the snow being very deep, they made short yokes for their
oxen, and using their bed cords for traces, they drove them tandem, and thus plowed their way to their new farms. The distance from Mr. Hubbard's was but about four miles, but such was the almost impassable state of their route (for road they had none), over hills and logs, across and through creeks, swamps, and thickets, overlaid with at least four feet of snow, that is was quite night before they reached its termination. Mr. Hale had purchased land adjoining the lot of Mr. Phelps, and Mr. Gurney had purchased lot No. 40, now in the village of Waterville, and a part of which is at present owned by Aaron Stafford, Esq., whose father, Ichabod Stafford, noticed as among the earliest settlers of Augusta, purchased of Gurney. They both, however, proceeded to the house of Mr. Phelps, who had moved into it only two or three days previously, and here they remained
until they built houses for themselves. The three men, their wives, and Gurney's child, all occupied the same room, and for the best of reasons, it was the only one in the house, or in the town.
In the month of April, when the heavy body of snow on the ground began to melt, their proximity to the creek became a source of considerable annoyance. After a very warm day and night, for the season, upon awaking in the morning they found a portion of the creek had formed a current directly through the house. A sort of cellar had been dug, large enough for present purposes, under the floor in the centre of the room, of which the water had taken possession, and the pork barrel was merrily waltzing in the eddy. The women remained in bed while the men waded out and cut large logs, on which to make a fire. During the remainder of the day, and until the water subsided, the women performed all their house work while upon their beds. Mr. Gurney immediately went to work upon his land, and was the first settler in Waterville. He built his house on the corner where Erastus Wilbur now resides. In the month of April following, Benjamin
White moved in, and settled upon lots Nos. 39 and 40, the farm most of which was owned and lately occupied by Amos Osborn, deceased. During the same year, Phineas Owen and the father of Nathan Gurney settled on lot No. 40. In April and May of this year, Sylvanus Dyer, Asahel Bellows, Nathaniel Ford, Henry Knowlton, Jonathan Stratton, and a Mr. Clark, settled in the town. These were all the families in the town in 1792. Nathaniel Ford assisted in surveying this township in 1789, and moved on to the lot selected at that time. Of the actual settlers, he was the first man that came into the town. He is yet living upon his original farm.
A very heavy frost early in the fall of 1792, which entirely destroyed the corn crop, put an end to emigration until 1794. Even those already in the town made up their minds to remove, if the ensuing season should prove as unfavorable and disastrous. In the month of May in this year, a serious accident happened to Mr. Clark, who had taken up the lot lately owned by Oliver Robbins, deceased. It was a misfortune incident to the settlement of a new country, where a heavy forest has to be made to give way to agriculture. He had his leg badly broken and crushed by a falling tree; this happened on Saturday afternoon. He was immediately taken to the house of Mr. Hale, which had but just been erected, and made as comfortable, for the time being, as circumstances would permit. As a surgeon was necessary, Mr. Hale started in quest of one, and rode the only horse in town, and that had but recently arrived on Mr. Clark's farm. He started by the light of a torch, which he carried, and his only guide as to the proper course, was the moss on the north sides of the trees. Early in the morning he arrived at Whitestown, but finding no physician there who dare perform amputation, he proceeded to old Fort Schuyler, where he found Dr. Guiteau, who returned with him. This is supposed to have been Dr. Francis Guiteau, brother of the late Dr. Luther Guiteau, Senior, of Trenton. After examination, he did not wish to operate without the counsel and assistance of an older practitioner. Dr. Petrie, of Herkimer, was therefore sent for, and upon his arrival, on Tuesday, the two, with the assistance of Dr. Elmer, of Paris, amputated the limb.
In the month of July in this year, Mrs. Zerah Phelps became the mother of a daughter, which was the first child born in the town. What formed a somewhat peculiar coincidence was, that Mr. Phelps, being so fond of border life, afterwards left this place, and was one of the pioneers of the town of Batavia, Genesee County; another daughter, born there, was the first child born in that town. If Mrs. Phelps had happened to have lived under a like dispensation with the spouse of the Patriarch Abraham, perhaps we
might yet hear that she was the mother of the first born of Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota. Mr. Phelps was also a member of the first grand jury ever impanelled west of Genesee river.
In the month of April, 1792, the town of Paris was organized, and township No. 20 was included within its boundaries.
The year 1792 did not pass without its false alarms from the Indians. They were frequently seen, and sometimes in considerable numbers, while on their hunting and fishing expeditions from Oneida to the Unadilla. They had a well trodden trail called the Oneida Path, which entered the town about two and a half miles east of its north-west corner, and left it but a few rods west of its south-east corner. Mr. Phelps built his first house but a few rods from this path. Col. Willett, when the conveyance was made to Mr. Ford, remarked that he would give a warranty against every thing but Indians; those the purchaser must take care of himself. As yet, however, they had given the settlers no cause for fear, still prudence dictated them to carefully cultivate their friendship.
One afternoon in the early part of October, all the men in town, eight in number, were collected together, constructing a bridge over the Oriskany Creek, near where Bacon and Goodwin's woolen factory now stands. While thus engaged, they heard the hum of many voices, and a scout who was dispatched, soon reported that about 150 Indians, of all sizes, were passing on their path to the Unadilla, about 200 rods from where the men were. Mr. Hale, knowing that if nothing worse happened, his wife would be sadly frightened, started for his home, but did not arrive as soon as the Indians. Mrs. Phelps, who had just finished baking when she saw the Indians, left all but her infant, and ran to Mr. Hale's, and on her arrival, Mrs. Hale, who was equally frightened, proposed to run to the men. Mrs. Phelps, however, objected to this, on account of her being burthened with her infant, and at that moment they saw through the window a single Indian approaching the house. Mrs. Hale concluded that the two could conquer him, and if not, they would meet the worst as they best could. The Indian, who from his appearance she supposed to be the son of a chief, addressed her in the Indian dialect, which of course was not understood. Mrs. Hale, in haste to see the end of the matter, pale and frightened as she was, assumed an air of unconcern, and said, "If you want any thing, use plain language, and say what it is; if I have it you shall have it." He immediately responded, "Bread," and was almost as soon supplied with all she had. The Indian took out of his belt of wampum a silver brooch, of the value perhaps of a shilling, and offered to pay for the bread, but this was refused, and he was told it was given him. He left with a smile upon his face, and was soon with his comrades, who were in full possession of Mrs. Phelps' house, and a shout of laughter, which made many broad acres of the forest ring, announced his arrival. Mrs. Hale said she presumed the merriment was caused by his description to the Indians of the ridiculous figure she made when, pale and trembling with fear, she assumed so bold an air while addressing him. Mrs. Phelps, to her astonishment, upon returning to her house, found her own bread untouched, and every thing precisely as she left it, as if no one had been there.
On the 20th of January, 1793, Seneca Hale, son of Mr. and Mrs. Minierva Hale, was born, being the first male born in town.
On the 9th of February of this year, and about three weeks less than a year from the first settlement by Zerah Phelps, Col. David Norton and family moved into the town. From a diary, yet in the possession of the family, of his journey from Arlington, Bennington County, Vermont, to view the western country, the author was permitted to make the following extracts:-
"May 28th, 1792.-Set out from Arlington to view the western country.
"June 1st. - Rode to Whitestown, thirteen miles from German Flats, to James Ferguson's, from thence to Col. Sanger's, four miles, from thence to Samuel Ferguson's, two miles. Whitestown is mostly level, the soil rich, but poorly watered. The timber is maple, beech, elm, bass, hemlock, and butternut.
"Monday, June 4th. - Went to Clinton, and thence through the Indian lands, the soil of which is excellent, the ground being covered with nettles, and other herbage, four miles; from thence to the twentieth township, which is thirteen miles from Col. Sanger's, by way of Clinton, and lodged at Stratton's.
"Thursday, June 7th. - A rainy day, viewed in other parts of the town. Land rich, hilly, and well watered. Lodged at Dyer's.
"Friday, June 8th. - Went to view lots No. 41, 38, and 27. Level, timber mostly maple, with some bass, elm, beech, butternut, cherry, and two cedar swamps, with pine and hemlock; a branch of the Arisca (Oriskany) running through 38, and a small pond on 27. Lodged at Stratton's.
"Saturday, June 9th. - Returned to Col. Sanger's by Col. Tuttle's (Paris Hill), and bought of Col. Sanger lots Nos. 38 and 27, and tarried at Samuel Ferguson's."
The diary from which the foregoing is copied, although much discolored and worn, is very neatly written, as were all the writings of David Norton. For the first ten years of his residence, he was emphatically the first man in town. He was the first Justice of the Peace, the first Supervisor, the first Postmaster after the post office was removed to the Centre. In all the early enterprises of the town, religious, civil, political, and social, Col. Norton's name is almost uniformly foremost. All the first writings, deeds, contracts, school bills, and papers of the various kinds connected with the formation of all sorts of associations, are by his hand. The correspondence between the Baptist Society and other denominations, was usually done by him. He was very methodical and particular in his business transactions, and was strictly honest in his dealings, and through life a
devoted Christian.
The first marriage in town was that of Sylvanus Dyer and Hannah Norton, the Colonel's eldest daughter. They were married October 30, 1793, and Esquire Tuttle officiated in the ceremony. The bride (now Mrs. Dyer) is yet living in the town of Marshall, and says "it was the first knot of the kind the Esquire ever tied." Every person in town was invited to the wedding, and Mrs. Dyer believes there was not one who failed to be present.
The season of 1793 was an extremely favorable, as the preceding one had been unfavorable. Corn, and all other kinds of grain and vegetation, matured and ripened in the greatest perfection. This caused a brighter era to dawn upon the town, and emigrants by scores greeted the eyes of the pioneers. In the spring and summer of 1794, about forty families moved into the town. Among these were Daniel Brown, Saul Smith, Thomas King, Daniel King, Solomon Williams, Samuel Williams, Justus Hale, Ebenezer Hale, and Benjamin Dewey. Ebenezer Hale was the father of late John W. Hale, of Clinton, who represented the county in the Assembly of 1836, and of Mrs. George Bristol, of the same place. Of these, only two are now living, Solomon and Samuel Williams, who yet reside on the farms they originally purchased and cleared. Mr. Dewey settled on a lot purchased of Col. Sanger. It is said he was the creditor of a person, for whom, by an arrangement, the Colonel was to pay the debt in land. The Colonel
accompanied Mr Dewey, to point out to him his land, and took him first to No. 44, then a very repulsive, gloomy lot, but now quite productive. After viewing it to his satisfaction, Dewey felt indignant, and considered it an insult that the Colonel should seek to pay an honest debt with such a tangled, solitary waste, and turning to the Colonel, he impatiently
exclaimed, "Well, Colonel, if you have got any more land just show it, for I'll not take this bear's hole, any way."
Mr. Zerah Phelps built the first framed house in town, and Ebenezer Hale the second. At this time no bricks were to be had for ovens, and as it is a proverb that the first settlers of a country hold all their goods and chattels in common, Mrs. Minierva Hale's bake-kettle was in great demand, and as it was the only one in the settlement, it was for most of the time in requisition, with hardly time to cool. Mrs. Ebenezer Hale, now residing in Clinton, says that she baked in it the flour and meal of forty-two bushels of grain, and mostly by the fire of burning log-heaps in the clearings near the house. This, by two bushels, beats Mrs. Samuel Royce, one of the first settlers in Camden. The first summer she lived in that town, she baked eight barrels of flour in her bake-kettle. In the fall, Mr. Hale procured brick, and constructed an oven, when his wife in turn dispensed its benefits to the neighborhood.
The first store in the town was this year opened, by Messrs. Justus and Ebenezer Hale, in their dwelling house, where they also kept accommodations, for the benefit of wayfarers. This summer, Polly Dyer taught a school in Col. Norton's house, which was the first kept in town. In this summer occurred the first death, which was that of Sibyl Knowlton, daughter of Henry Knowlton. Her mother also died about a month afterwards. They were buried near the residence of Nathaniel Ford, where their remains,
in company with some others, await the last summons.
By an act of the Legislature, passed March 5, 1795, the township was erected into a town, by the name of Sangerfield, and was so named in honor of Col. Jedediah Sanger, of New Hartford. In consideration of its being thus named, Col. Sanger agreed to present a cask of rum at the first town meeting, and fifty acres of land to the church of any religious denomination which should build the first house for public worship.
Many of the first settlers had selected New Lisbon as the name for their new town, and their disappointment and chagrin were manifested by giving that name to the Congregational Society, which was formed soon afterwards, and thus they made the society with the rejected name the recipient of Col. Sanger's bounty. It does not appear that the Colonel was at all chargeable with the "unfair means" which were attributed by those displeased with the name, to those two had been instrumental in procuring it. His promise was honorably fulfilled, by furnishing a cask of choice rum for the first town meeting, and by conveying twenty-five acres of land to the Congregational Society, and twenty five acres to the Baptists, the former being the first religious society, and the latter erecting the first church edifice. The two twenty-five acre lots were parts of lot No. 45.
By the act organizing the town, it was provided that the first town meeting should be held at the house of Zerah Phelps. This house was on the farm now owned by Warren Kellogg, eighty rods east of his present dwelling. Agreeably to the law, the electors of the town met, on the 7th day of April, 1795, at the house of Mr. Phelps, when, as the record informs us, "After the meeting was opened they voted to adjourn to the barn," so that in fact this first town meeting was held in Mr. Phelps' barn. At this meeting, Daniel Brown and Levi Carpenter, Esq., officiated as clerks pro tem. David Norton was elected Supervisor, and Thomas Brown, Esq., Town Clerk.
Soon after the town was organized, and probably in 1796, a post office was established at Waterville, and Amos Muzzy appointed Postmaster. He was succeeded by Col. John Williams. In 1808, the office was removed to the Centre, and Col. Norton appointed the successor of Col. Williams. Col. Norton held this office until the time of his death. He died universally lamented, in 1829. After Col. Norton's death, his son-in-law, Daniel North, succeeded him as Postmaster, which office he has held, through all the different administrations, mem. con., until the present time.
In 1796, the number of taxable inhabitants in what is now Sangerfield, was eighty-five. Total amount of real and personal property assessed $4,475, and the tax upon it, including collector's fees ($5.35), was $198 56. Benjamin White was the highest on the list, his tax being $5,04.
In the Month of September, 1795, Dr. Stephen Preston became a resident of this town. He was the first regular physician within its limits, and for more than thirty years enjoyed an extensive practice in his profession. He used to say that when he first came into this section, the enquiry was, "Where can I obtain a doctor?" but after a few years it was, "What doctor shall I employ?" The doctor was somewhat eccentric, but notwithstanding, a man of sterling good sense and judgment. He held the office of Justice of the Peace for many years.
On the 24th of March, 1797, the town of Bridgewater was erected from the east part of this town, the boundary between them being the third quarter line of the township.
By an act passed March 15,1798, the County of Chenango was formed from the Counties of Herkimer and Tioga, and the town of Sangerfield was included in the new county.
On the 4th of April, 1804, an act was passed taking the town of Sangerfield from Chenango County, and annexing it Oneida County; and here the fact is accounted for, that in the census returns of 1800, Sangerfield is not found among the towns of Oneida County.
Religious Societies
On the 5th day of January of this year, the first step was taken to procure the services of a clergyman, by circulating a subscription paper to pay for preaching. On the 14th of the same month, a meeting was held to appoint a committee to carry into effect the wishes of the settlers. David Norton was chairman, and Nathan Gurney clerk. The members of the committee were Nathaniel Ford, Ebenezer Tenney, and Justus Hale. The last vote passed was as follows:--"Voted that the above committeemen shall hire a minister four Sundays on probation." This was the first organized effort to secure preaching, and was the germ of the First Congregational Society.
Between January, 1795, and March, 1797, religious services were usually held on Sunday, and occasional preaching by the Rev. Mr. Steele, Rev. Aaron Bogue, Rev. Mr. Minor, Rev. Mr. Mozier, and the Rev. Mr. Crane.
The regular stated meetings were held as follows: - two successive Lord's-days at Col. Norton's at the Centre, and alternately one quarter of the time at the house of Giles Mix, at the east end of the settlement; and the remaining quarter at the house of Ebenezer Tenny, at the west part of the town. Col. Norton read sermons one half the time, Col. Dyer one quarter, and Ebenezer Tenny one quarter.
The First Congregational Society was probably formed the latter part of 1795, or the fore part of 1796; the precise time can not now be ascertained. There is a subscription paper yet in being, dated September 8, 1796, made payable to the "Trustees of the Society of Lisbon, in Sangerfield." The style of the same society, or corporation, has been variously written, as the "Trustees of Lisbon Society,""Trustees of Lisbon
Congregational Society," and "The First Congregational Church of Sangerfield."
The church was formally organized as an independent body on the 15th day of March, 1797. It than consisted of eighteen members, eleven males and seven females. None of its original members now survive, and but very few of the congregation. Nathaniel Ford, who has been mentioned as chairman of the original executive committee, is still living. He is a member of the church now, but was not originally.
The first settled pastor over this church was the Rev. James Thompson,
who was settled in 1800.
The following list comprises the several pastors, with the year they severally commenced and ended their services: --
Rev. James Thompson, from 1800--1806
" Samuel Rich, " 1806--1816
" Evans Beardsley, " 1816--1823
" John D. Pierce, " 1825--1830
" H. J. Lombard, " 1831--1832
" F. H. Ayers, " 1834--1835
" John B. Fish, " 1838--1844
" E. S. Barrows, " 1836--1837
" Mr. Beecher, " 1837--1838
" Mr. Butts; and Rev. Mr. Wilkins, who preaches at the present time.
In 1804 this society erected their house for public worship, on the village green at the Centre. This green is eighteen rods wide and forty long, and was conveyed to the Society for that purpose, the 17th day of October, 1796, by David Norton, Ebenezer Hale, Justus Hale, and Oliver Norton.
In 1823, about one half the church and congregation seceded, and formed the First Presbyterian Church and society. In 1824 they removed their church edifice to a lot a short distance northerly on the road to Waterville. In 1846 it was taken down, and the present building erected.
The Baptist Church in Waterville was organized in the year 1798. Previously to the 14th of April in this year, the few Baptists in town had met and worshipped with the Congregationalists, but "feeling themselves excluded from the privilege of social worship in that church," they agreed, "by the advice of Eld. Peter P. Roots, to meet at the house of brother White Osborn, on that day, and consult as to what measures were best under the circumstances." Accordingly, on the 14th of April, eight persons met at Mr. Osborn's which was on Stanton Parks' farm (where Sherman Bartholomew now resides), and formed themselves into a society for worship, which they kept up, although perhaps not regularly, until the 19th of December following, when they met at Benjamin White's, in Waterville, and were received into the fellowship of the neighboring associate churches. The first clergyman who preached to them was Eld. Peter P. Roots. The first regular settled minister was Eld. Joel Butler, who commenced his labors early in 1799. In the year 1800, they erected their first house of public worship, on the "green", as the entire triangular plat was called now in the centre of the village of Waterville. This plat has been gratuitously granted them by Benjamin White for that and other church purposes. this church edifice was taken down in 1833, and the present brick church erected on its site the same year. The "green" is now all enclosed and built over, and is held by leases in perpetuity from the church, at a small annual ground rent.
Elder Butler preached about five years, and after the expiration of his term of labor, there was occasional preaching by different clergymen. Eld. Joy Handy preached a short time early in 1806. Eld. Hezekiah Eastman preached occasionally for short periods, as the society desired. >From 1807 to 1814 it can hardly be said that the church had any existence. There was but occasional preaching, and no regular organized system for its support. There are no church records of this period, and the blank can only be filled up with the recollections of those who witnessed its decay and torpor. In June, 1814, the Rev. John Upfold assumed the charge of the church, and by his zeal and energy, restored it to unusual vigor. The following are the names of its pastors from the period to the present:--
Rev. John Upfold, from 1814--1817
" Joel Clark, " 1817--1823
" Daniel Putnam, " 1824--1832
" Chancellor Hartshorn, " 1833--1837
" Warham Walker, " 1838--1841
" David Wright, " 1841--1843
" John N. Murdock, " 1843--1846
" George W. Davis, " 1846--1847
" Mr. Pierce, " 1847--1848
" L. W. Hayhurst, " 1849.
By the published minutes of the Oneida Baptist Association, to which this church belongs, it appears that in September, in the years 1847 and 1848, they had no settled minister, and that there were 107 members belonging to the church. This is a smaller number than they had formerly reported, which the author finds to be the case with most of the churches of the different denominations in the county. Perhaps this may be mostly
accounted for in the number of new churches formed.
On the 19th of May, 1823, the First Presbyterian Church in Waterville was organized, by twenty persons, who presented letters of dismission from the Congregational Church in Sangerfield. The Rev. Evans Beardsley became the first stated supply of this church, which office he held until April 27, 1824. In the latter year, Rev. Daniel C. Hopkins was installed pastor, and dismissed in 1828. Rev. John R. Adams, was the stated minister, during the following year. At the close of his term of service, Rev. E.S. Barrows, was invited to become the minister, and remained in this capacity until February, 1833. The next pastor of the church was the Rev. Aaron Garrison, who was installed in 1833, and dismissed February, 1836. Rev. Salmon Strong, was then obtained for several months, as stated supply, and October 5th, 1836, Rev. Joseph Myers, was installed pastor, and remained in the office until June, 1839. Rev. John Frost was next obtained as minister
of the church. In March, 1843, he was removed from the field of his labors by death. Rev. Samuel W. Whelpley, was installed pastor in May following, and dismissed in June, 1843. Rev. E. S. Barrows was again obtained as a stated supply, and closed his labors in April, 1845. In May of the later year, Rev. A. D. Gridley was invited to become the minister of this people, and February 22, 1847, he was installed pastor." The above is extracted from the "Manual," recently published by this church. Rev. A. D. Gridley
still continues their pastor.
In the summer of 1823, they erected their house for public worship upon the "green," purchased and prepared for that purpose, at the west end of the village. In 1844, this building was sold to the Methodists, and a new one erected opposite the Bank, in the central part of the village. The old building is still standing; but from the inability of the Methodists to retain it, it has fallen into the hands of a private individual. The ceremony of laying the corner-stone of this edifice took place in June, 1824, and a variety of mementos of the time, such as newspapers, American coin, etc., and a bottle of whiskey, were very securely placed within the head-stone of the corner.
In August, 1840, the Episcopal Church, at Waterville was organized, and Rev. Fortune C. Brown was the first rector, and continued as such during five years, until the fall of 1845. In the year 1842, this society organized as "the Wardens and Vestrymen of Grace Church, Waterville," and erected their present church edifice. The Rev. David M. Fackler took the place of Mr. Brown, and remained until the spring following. The Rev. Wm. A. Matson was minister, from the summer of 1846, to June, 1848, and the
Rev. J. H. Benedict, from September, 1848, to the present time.
In 1843, the "Congar Settlement" society, of the Methodist Episcopal Church was organized. They purchased the old Presbyterian church edifice, in Waterville, but which was sold in the winter of 1848-9.
In the month of April, 1847, the Second Methodist Episcopal Church was organized. This society has a very neat house for worship in the south part of town at "Congar Settlement," or "Congar Town," these names being promiscuously applied to the same location.
In June, 1814, Joseph Tenny, commenced the publication of a weekly newspaper, in this town, entitled the "Christians' Weekly Monitor and Sabbath Morning Repast." In 1816, it merged in the "Civil and Religious Intelligencer," or rather the two papers were printed on the same sheet. The Intelligencer continued to be published until 1833, when Mr. Tenny, the publisher removed from the town.
A weekly newspaper, entitled the "Oneida Standard," was published in Waterville, in 1833 and 1834. It was established as a political paper, advocating the interests of the democratic party, and at first was conducted with ability, but falling into other hands, it was removed to Utica, and was soon afterwards discontinued.
Location, Geology, Face of the Country, Soil, Etc.
The town of Sangerfield is situated in the southern part of the county, eighty-eight miles westerly from Albany, on the Cherry Valley Turnpike, and seventeen south-west from Utica. Its latitude is north 43 deg. 54 min., its elevation above tide water about 1375 feet, and 800 above Utica and the long level on the Erie Canal. It contains about 18,900 acres. Its shape is nearly that of a parallelogram. Although many of the lots are of irregular shape, they were intended, as required by law, to contain 250 acres each.
The east and west lines of the town run due north and south, the south line due east and west, and the north line south 87 deg. east. Its greatest length from north to south is six miles and 120 rods, and its breadth from east to west, four miles and 216 rods.
The north-west part of the town rests upon "carniferous lime stone," a part of which is exposed, and quarried in the creek, below the woolen factory, in Waterville. The remaining and hilly portion of the town rests immediately upon the "Marcellus shales," except the summits of the highest hills in the south and south-west parts, which are capped by the lower shales of the "Hamilton group."
The main easterly branch of the Oriskany creek, and a branch of the Chenango river, rise in the northerly part of the town, and for about two miles before the former takes its northerly and the latter its southerly course, they are nearly parallel to each other, and run to the west. The north and central portions of the town lying upon and between these streams are comparatively level, and the land very excellent for cultivation.
The northern extremity of the "great swamp" is on lot 27, about three-fourths of a mile west from Waterville, and from thence its course is south-westerly, leaving the town near the west "quarter line." Its average width is about one and a half miles, and the length of the part lying in this town is about four miles. In its natural state this swamp abounded in the finest timber for building and fencing purposes, it being very thickly
and heavily covered with white pine and cedar. Its most valuable timber, however, has already disappeared before the axes of the settlers, it having furnished lumber for most of the buildings, and rails for the fences, for many miles around. A small portion of this swamp has been cleared and drained, and promises to be good meadow land; but most of it will probably remain a waste for many years yet to come. If the early settlers of the
county had exercised prudence with regard to the lots fitted by nature to be preserved for their timber, if they had oftener heeded the appeal of the song "Woodman spare that tree," we should not have witnessed a scarcity of the article, ere a half century had hardly elapsed from the time the "pale face" commenced his depredations upon its vast and heavily timbered forests.
All the east part of the town and that part which lies south-east of the Chenango creek which drains the swamp, rises into hills ranging from two to three hundred feet in height. In the southern hills, spring numerous tributaries of the Chenango, which, running northerly and westerly, and falling over the rocks of shale, form a number of picturesque
waterfalls, in two of which the water descends about seventy feet.
One of these tributaries heads in "Bailey's Pond," a natural sheet of water, lying about 200 feet higher than the swamp, and covering about ten acres. It is said to have been sounded with 120 feet of line without finding bottom.
A tributary of the west branch of the Oriskany creek, also takes its rise in this town, in a swamp, on lot No. 13, and leaves the town about a mile south of its north-west corner. The hills which enclose the valleys of this creek on the west, and those bounding the lower part of the great swamp, form one continuous chain on the west line of the town, from the Cherry Valley turnpike to the line of Brookfield.
The soil of the valleys is rich and productive, and the hills are excellent for pasturage. The staple productions of the town are corn, grain, hops, wool and cattle. The town contains five houses for public worship, for the different denominations, heretofore mentioned, and fifteen school districts and school houses. By the census of 1845, the town contained 2272 inhabitants.
The village of Waterville stands chiefly upon lots Nos. 39 and 40 in this town, but a small part of the village is however in the town of Marshall. It is situated upon the east branch of the Oriskany creek, at its junction with a small tributary which rises among the hills in the east and south-east part of the town of Marshall. At, and below this junction
the east branch falls very rapidly until it unites with the west branch and Deansville. The power thus furnished is the only durable water power in the town. This circumstance, very early in the settlement of the country, caused a collection or "huddle" of buildings, known as "Sangerfield Huddle," and which by a steady and healthy growth has become the third place in importance in the county. In 1793, the former Colonel, but then
Judge Sanger, built the first saw mill at this place. In the year 1794, Benjamin White erected one on the site of the present woolen factory. In the year 1796, Mr. White erected a grist mill near the site of the one now owned by Goodwin and Church. Within a few years afterwards Justus Tower, Esq., who settled in the place in 1799, built the grist mill which stands a few rods below.
In 1799, Sylvanus Dyer, removed from the Centre, which up to that time had been the village of the town, and built the house now owned by Mrs. William Page, at the west end of the village, in which he opened both a store and a tavern. This was the first stock of goods offered for sale in the village. In 1801, Brown and Hewett, who had previously kept a store on the road to Oriskany Falls, and on the hill where Nicholas Edwards now
resides, erected for a store the building now owned by Fitch Hewett. The next store was soon after opened by Robert Benedict, Esq., in the building erected by him, and which is now the rear wing of the Waterville House, owned by A. D. and G. B. Cleveland. Esquire Bendict is said to have been very much of the gentleman, both in his manners and style of living. He was the brother-in-law of Doctor Nott, now President of Union College, and soon after he commenced trade, the Doctor, then a young Clergyman, made him a visit. Although Esq. B. was the son of a clergyman and brought up in the faith of "the most straitest sect" yet neither he nor his household possessed a copy of the holy scriptures. Fearing the reproof he would receive from the Doctor if his destitution should be discovered, when the family were summoned to worship, he borrowed a Bible of Col. Sylvanus Dyer, his next neighbor, and placed it upon the table in the parlor, so as to
appear as his own. In the morning after the family had assembled for prayer, the Doctor took the sacred volume and very reverently opening it, and turning over its leaves to select a chapter suitable to the occasion, saw the name of Sylvanus Dyer written on a blank leaf, but which he passed without seeming to notice, and proceeded with his devotions. In the course of the day the Esquire returned the borrowed volume, and thinking he would not again be caught in the awkward dilemma, proceeded to the store and purchased a copy, and in the selection he strove for as near a resemblance to the one he borrowed as possible, and placed it in the same position in which the Doctor had left the other in the morning. When the family were all again present for evening prayers the Doctor took the new Bible and leisurely opened it to read as before. Probably the newness of the book caused a little suspicion in his mind, for after a close search on the
blank leaves, he quietly and quizzingly remarked, "Brother Benedict, I don't see Sylvanus Dyer's name here." No description is necessary of the confusion of the brother-in-law in his unpleasant predicament.
In April, 1804, an extraordinary freshet deluged the valley of the Oriskany. It swept every dam at this place, and caused a great destruction of property, and two estimable citizens, Justus Tower, Esq., and John Williams, jun., lost their lives by the flood. Justus Tower, Esq., was a man of great enterprise and had recently been re-elected supervisor of the town. Soon after the freshet, the village was visited with a severe epidemic which carried off a number of citizens, among whom was Ichabod Stafford, Esq., who has been previously mentioned.
In the year 1808, the Sangerfield Post Office which had been previously located in this village, was removed to the Centre. In this year or the year preceding, the village, which from its first settlement had no other local name than the Huddle, received the name of Waterville. In the fall of the year, on a certain evening, Doctor Sherman Bartholomew, Josiah Bacon, Reuben Bacon, Isaac Terry, and John Williams, Esquires, were together in the tavern kept either by Eli Hotchkiss, or Pardon Keyes, now the dwelling house of Doctor E. A. Munger, and among other topics, the name of the village became a subject of conversation, and it was unanimously agreed that the village deserved a more dignified name and that it should have one. After the suggestion of a variety of names, Doctor Bartholomew proposed that of Waterville, to which they all assented, and by that name it has since been recognized. It was not however generally known by that cognomen out of the village, until the Waterville Post Office was
established in 1823. The name Waterville was selected, because not only agreeable, but a very appropriate one. The writer would not, like a certain lady author, intimate, that Whiskeyville would have been more appropriate, believing that pure water is more congenial to the tastes of a majority of its citizens than whiskey.
In the year 1806, the village had thirty-two dwelling houses and stores, and 300 inhabitants. It has now a bank with a capital of $100,000, five large dry good stores, an extensive drug store, a large grocery and provision store, a large tannery connected with the boot and shoe-making, for foreign markets, an extensive copper, sheet iron, and tin manufactory, and organ manufactory, which employs many hands, a large woolen factory, two grist and flouring mills, a distillery for the making of pure alcohol, three furnaces, two machine shops, two taverns, and three houses for public worship.
There is now constructed a plank road from this place through Clinton to Utica, and another to Utica, via Paris Hill, as also the Earlville and Waterville plank road, on the east side of the swamp. It has a select school for young ladies, and an excellent district school. The village contained on the 1st of January, 1848, 1014 inhabitants, nearly one half the whole number in the town.
The "Centre" is a small village situated on the Cherry Valley turnpike, one and a quarter miles south from Waterville. The village contains one large store, two taverns, the Sangerfield post office, and the Congregational church. It contains thirty-five dwelling houses, and about 250 inhabitants.
The name of Benjamin White has frequently occurred in the foregoing notice of Sangerfield. He was one of the fathers of the town, having settled as early within two weeks as any one in the town of village of Waterville. He was the liberal donor to the Baptist society, of the ground on which stands their church, and the triangular block of buildings in the centre of the village. He built the second saw mill, and the first grist
mill in the town. In 1805, his fellow townsmen elected him supervisor. A few years afterwards, he emigrated to the town of Stafford, Genesee County, where his end was most melancholy and tragic. He had two sons, the eldest of whom resided with his father, with the larger portion of his moderate property, in expectancy. The younger son resided in Ohio. It seems there was some dissatisfaction in his mind, because he had received so small a share of his father's estate. Some few years after the father had removed to Stafford, he came from Ohio to see him, and while there, mentioned to some one, that he intended his father should give him more of his property before he returned.
After his arrival, he went to the woods, where his father was manufacturing maple sugar. The elder brother was plowing so near, that he could distinctly see his father and brother, but not near enough to hear any of their conversation. After a short stay at the sugar works, they started together for the house.
Their conversation is but a subject for conjecture. The elder brother observed, that when they started, his father walked as if excited. When they arrived at the house, as the father stepped up to the door to open it, the son took him by the shoulder, turned him round, and with a pistol shot him dead. For the commission of this patricide, the son was apprehended, tried, convicted, and executed.
The following is a list of the several Supervisors of the town of Sangerfield, and the number of years each has served:--
David Norton .............6 years, from 1795 to 1800
Amos Muzzy...............1 year, 1801
Oliver Norton..............1 year, 1802
Justus Tower............... 1 year, 1803 and 4.
Benjamin White...........1 year, 1805
Oliver C. Seabury........6 years, 1806 to 9, 11 and 13.
John Williams..............1 year, 1810
Josiah Bacon................9 years, 1812-14 to 20 and 28.
Reuben Bacon.............4 years, 1821-22-23 and 32.
Samuel M. Mott...........7 years, 1824-31.
John Mott.....................3 years, 1833,42, and 43.
Erastus Jeffers..............2 years, 1834 and 36.
Levi D. Carpenter.........1 year, 1835
Horace Bigelow...........4 years, 1837,38,39, and 40.
Julius Tower.................1 year, 1841.
Otis Webster.................1 year, 1844
Amos O. Osborn...........2 years, 1845 and 46.
De Witt C. Tower.........2 years, 1847 and 48.
John W. Stafford...........1 year, 1849.
The following obituary of the late Daniel Eells, Senior, belonged more appropriately to New Hartford, but as his death did not occur until after the history of that town had been printed, it is given here. It seems, too, that he first settled in that part of Sangerfield which was formed into Bridgewater in 1797, and it therefore, is not entirely out of place
here. It is taken from the Utica Daily Gazette, of July 21, 1851:--
"Another old resident has fallen. Deceased - in New Hartford, Daniel Eells, Senior. Born in Middletown, Conn., November, 1757. Died July 17th, 1851. Aged 93 years 9 months. A young man when the Revolutionary War commenced, he joined the army at Boston under Colonel Talcott. With others he labored all night in building the slight embankment the defence of which has since rendered Bunker Hill so memorable. In the morning his company was ordered into the country on a scouting expedition, and was thus absent from the battle. Soon afterwards, on the ocean, he was captured by a
English privateer and taken into Bermuda, where he was kept prisoner a long time. He was in the battle on Long Island and with Washington when he evacuated New York. After returning to Boston with the army, he remained in New England during the war. But owing to some informality in the evidence, Government did not see fit to grant him pension. In January, 1796, he removed with his family to Bridgewater in this county, where he remained one year, and from thence to New Hartford, (then known as
Whitestown), where he has since resided. Almost a centenarian, he lived to see the wilderness bud and blossom as the rose. One of the few left who endured the hardships of that period, he lived to see his descendants enjoy the blessings he helped to obtain. And it is remarkable fact that during a space of 93 years, he resided under the same roof with a sister deceased last December, at the advanced age of 96 year. He did not make a
profession of religion until late in life, yet was always a constant attendant at the House of God, until the infirmities of age prevented. Though shut out from the sympathies of the world of late years, by age and imbecility, he endeared himself to his friends and relations by his kindness and amiability of heart and life. Reverence to his memory and
peace to his ashes."
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