Our County and It's People

Chapter 12

Description of the County

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By an act passed April 10, 1792, the town of Whitestown, then in Herkimer county, was divided and the towns of Westmoreland, Steuben, Paris, Mexico, Peru and Whitestown formed there from. These towns embraced substantially the following territory: The town of Westmoreland, and in the main its present boundaries, and in addition the towns of Verona and part of Vernon.

Steuben, its present boundaries and the towns of Ava, Boonville, part of Annsville, Lee, Western, Floyd, and Rome in Oneida county, and a large part of the territory in what is now Jefferson and Lewis counties.

Paris, the present territory of the town, and Bridgewater, Kirkland, Marshall, and Sangerfield in Oneida county, and portions of the territory in what are now Chenango and Madison counties.

Mexico was an immense town and has been justly styled "the mother of towns". It included as thus constituted the present counties of Onondaga and Cortland, all of Oswego lying west of the east bounds of the Military Tract and a line drawn from the mouth of the Canasaraga Creek through Oneida Lake to Ontario, which line would strike a point near the northwest corner of Williamstown in Oswego county. February 26, 1796, the town of Mexico was reformed and the second Mexico included all of what is now Oswego county east of Oswego River and north of Oneida River and Lake and including the towns of Camden, Florence and Vienna and part of Annsville in Oneida county, and most of the town of Jefferson and Lewis counties lying west of Black River.

Peru embraced all of Whitestown, in Herkimer county, lying west of the town of

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Mexico, as first formed, bounded westerly by Ontario county and northerly by Lake Ontario. It was that territory lying west of the present counties of Onondaga and Cortland. The western bounds of the townships of Homer, Tully, Marcellus, Camillus, Lysander and Hannibal in said Military Tract, being the eastern bounds of the town of Peru, and the westerly bounds of the town of Mexico, as first organized. All of the remainder of the town of Whitestown was constituted a town by itself and names Whitestown; which remainder included the present towns of Whitestown, New Hartford, Augusta, and part of Vernon and the city of Utica.

In 1792 the first bridge over the Mohawk in Oneida county was erected on the line of Second Street (Utica). It was swept off in a few months and in 1794 a new one at the foot of Genesee street was constructed.

Judge Vanderkemp was a pioneer settler in and became a prominent citizen of the town of Trenton. In 1792 he journeyed from Kingston up the Hudson to Albany and thence up the Hudson to Albany and thence up the Mohawk to Old Fort Schuyler, thence to Fort Stanwix, crossed over Wood Creek and down that steam to Oneida Lake and so on to Oswego. He writes as follows:

Although the Mohawk becomes navigable for bateaux at no great distance from Cohoes, all merchandise nevertheless is thus far carried by wagons from Albany to Schenectady (16 miles) whence these are conveyed in bateaux for about 100 miles, including one mile portage at Little Falls, via Fort Stanwix. Here is a carrying place of one mile to Wood Creek, which empties its waters, after it is joined by Canada and Fish Creeks, in Oneida Lake; as handsome, as rich in fish, as any lake in the western world. Our government has passed a law to clear the navigation from the Mohawk to the Hudson. S o much is certain that it is resolved to open the carrying place between the Hudson and Wood Creek, and to clear the latter from any obstructions. Fort Stanwix must become a staple place of the commodities of the west stored there from the fertile lands bordering the lakes and rivers and Old Fort Schuyler, nearly the central part of intercourse between the north and west, transformed in an opulent mercantile city, where future Lorenzos will foster and protect arts and sciences; where the tomahawk and scalping knife shall be replaced by the chisel and the pencil of the artist, and the wigwam by marble palaces. Our canals open an early communication between the lakes Ontario and Oneida, which is possible, and can thus be executed. Go on, then, and dig canals through the western district and be not afraid that a single hair shall be hurt on the head of its inhabitants by the waves of Lake Erie. Dare only to undertake the enterprise, and I warrant the success….

I rode to Schenectady from Albany, and passed a few hours with the Rev. Romeyn, one of the most learned and eminent divines of the Reformed Church in this State. He assured me

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that fifteen hundred families passed by his house during the winter of 1791 to various parts of the western lands; while I was informed by another credible witness that during the winter of 1790, within 40 miles of the river point, where the rivers of Onondaga, Seneca, and Oswego are joined (Three River Point west of Oneida Lake) two hundred and forty yokes of oxen had been counted…. Now I was in Herkimer, passed slowly through the German Flats. Col. Starring was the man with whom I intended to dine, if it was obtainable; although is honor was at the time Judge of the Common Pleas, thus high in civil and military authority, yet he kept a public house. The Col. was gone to meeting; his barn was the place of worship. I went thither; the assembled congregation was very numerous; our Lord's Supper was celebrated with decency, and as it appeared to me, by many with fervent devotion. Four children were baptized by Rev. Mr. Rosenkrantz. After service, the congregation flocked to the Col.'s house and used sparingly some refreshments. The weighty principle with many was, that now (inasmuch as George Clinton was elected Gov.) the court house should be fixed at Herkimer. Near Old Fort Schuyler I crossed the Mohawk, and took my tea at John Post's; reached Whitesborough about evening, and stopped at the house of Judge White, the father of this flourishing settlement. Gov. Clinton had favored me with a letter of introduction to Jonas Platt, then county clerk. I met on the road to Whitesborough a group of Oneida Indians, some of them on horseback, others walking and jumping; the one with a bottle, another with a jug or small keg of rum; for the most part, merrily jolly; some deeply soaked by the beverage, distilled from the cane. Their numbers increased as I approached near Whitesborough. There I saw about 200 of every age and of both sexes, around their fires near the road, eating, drinking, smoking, singing, laughing, all of them in perfect harmony. The occasion of this unusual concourse was, they came to receive the corn from the State, which had been stipulated in one of the articles of the late treaty; they soon changed this corn (a large part of it) for money, and that for silk handkerchiefs, linen & c. Judge White was commissioned to distribute the corn. He is a man between 50 and 60, middle stature, corpulent and of a comely appearance. The roads are daily improving, as evidenced from the fact that while I was here, Mr. and Mrs. Livingston came to visit their son in law, Jonas Platt, from Pokeepsie, in their own carriage in 4 days. There is scarce an acre of land for sale in Whitesborough. Mr. Elizur Moseley (the first physician, the first merchant, the first postmaster of the place and the second sheriff of Oneida county) paid $150 for 3 acres, for a building spot. About two miles from Whitesborough I crossed Oriskany creek, where many Oneida Indians resided in former days. I had advanced but a few steps when my attention was fixed on a number of skulls, placed in a row on a log near the road. I was informed by workmen that this place was the fatal spot on which the murderous encounter happened between Gen. Herkimer and his sturdy associates and the Indians and the English. Where the brave and gallant soldier did fall, I was shown a tree, on which was closely carved something resembling a man's head, intended to represent this intrepid warrior. About noon on Monday, I arrived at Fort Stanwix. Baron De Zeng was employed in laying out a kitchen garden. He gave me a cordial reception, and introduced me to Col. Colbraith (then sheriff of Herkimer county), a revolutionary soldier. We partook of some refreshments; my horse was turned out on luxuriant pasture grounds. Baron De Zeng is a German nobleman,

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descended from a noble family in Saxony and arrived in America during the revolutionary war. He married a respectable lady in New York and intends to begin a settlement in this vicinity.

The soil here is not much different from Whitesborough. By digging 10 and 12 feet, often deeper, leaves are found perfectly preserved, and branches of trees, large pieces of timber, are discovered. I saw several examples of all these when a well was dug for Col. Colbraith.¹ While at Fort Stanwix a large bateau of furs came from the west; two yokes of oxen drew the furs over the portage. This was the second cargo within a week. From these examples, it may be conjectured what riches the waters of Oneida lake may carry on to Fort Stanwix, if obstruction should be removed. Salmon river and Fish creek, are in the spring full of salmon; an Oneida Indian with his spear took 45 salmon in one hour, another 65 in one night, and another 80. The eel of Oneida lake is equal to the best in Holland market; in the waters hereabouts, are also pike, pickerel, catfish, lobster, turtle, swordfish, whitefish, etc. Scarce a day passes, in which not two, sometimes three, bateaux arrived whose destination was towards the Genesee lands. We met daily with groups of 5 or 6 on horseback in search for land, with intention, if succeeding, to move on with their families the next winter, or following spring; while every day someone wanted to buy of us land, of which we did not won a single inch. During the time I tarried here, a large bateau with furs, arrived from the west; two yokes of oxen drew it over the portage; this was the second cargo within one week. We arrived at Fort Bull, three miles distant - or rather where that fort once stood. There came up a great rain storm, with thunder and lightning; we proceeded rapidly, and discovered after a few minutes a light in a small cottage. It was that of Widow Armstrong on the corner of Wood and Canada creeks, 7 miles from Fort Stanwix - the part of land where Roosevelt Purchase (Scriba's Patent) begins. As we are now engaged in drying our clothes by a good fire and Mrs. Armstrong is preparing our supper and couches, I must allow you a little rest before I offer you my rough sketch of the skirts of that noble tract, once the heritage of the Oneidas. On Sunday we bid adieu to the good widow Armstrong, who left nothing undone which was in her power to render her homely cottage comfortable to us. About 3 miles from her house we proceeded to a places called "Oak Orchard" (close by lots 11 and 12 Wood Creek Reservation, south side of Wood Creek in the town of Verona). Ere long we arrived at a singular neck of land, about a mile in length, and so small that by standing, we discovered the water at the opposite side. This was a tedious circumnavigation indeed. We might have passed it in a few seconds if a passage had been cut through. Not far from this spot we discovered a clearing, extended towards the Fish creek, on the north, known by the name of Captain Phillips and "Dean's Improvements". (This was at the southwest corner of lot 112, Scriba's Patent, on the north side of Wood Creek in the town of Vienna, and about a mile or so before Wood and Fish creeks unite; it is were James Dean and Jedediah Phelps settled in 1784, as before

1. These evidences are confirmatory of the theory, that from Oneida Lake to Little Falls was once one large continuous body of water, and that the gap at Little Falls is the outlet to this lake, where the water broke away in early ages.

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narrated.) We left our canoes to look at the land; it was low and flat near the borders of the creek, and had the appearance of being annually overflowed; Wood Creek increased in width, and had the appearance of a handsome river. We were surprised to see a little after sunset, nine fires in a semi-circular form on the lake. The fires were made by Indians spearing eels. They are usually 2 or 3 in a canoe. A catfish was brought in by a fisherman that weighed 10 pounds; we afterwards obtained one of 24 pounds; some have been taken of 40 and 45 pounds; but those of the largest size are brought from Lake Ontario… At the end of Oneida lake we met Judge John Lansing of the Supreme Court, and Morgan Lewis, Atty. Gen. of the State, who went to attend the circuit court in Ontario county. We returned to Wood Creek where we met Abraham Lansing and Jelles Fonda. It was 2 P.M. before we arrived at Widow Armstrong's cottage. In an instant the kettle was hung on the fire to boil our fresh salmon. We made ourselves an ample compensation for the frugal repast at breakfast. Amos Fuller who resides now (with his family) at the Widow's until he should be successful as he said in purchasing a farm in this neighborhood; he informed us that me from Mass. had been looking over the land and were willing to give 1,000 pounds for a township of land and to have 35 families settled upon it in 2 years. Fuller tackled his horse to our canoe and dragged it to Fort Bull.

The widow Armstrong mentioned herein was the second wife and the widow of Archibald Armstrong, heretofore spoken of. Between 1789 and 1792 this Archibald Armstrong died and was buried on the east side of the highway which leads to New London from the junction of Wood and Canada Creeks. She returned down the valley and in 1805 Nicholas Armstrong, son of Archibald, became one of the early pioneers of Annsville and settled on the "Indian meadows" in that town; he and Dan Taft and Adam P. Campbell were the first settlers of Annsville.

On July 10, 1793, the first newspaper west of Albany was established at New Hartford, and called the Whitestown Gazette. Its proprietors were Jedediah Sanger, Samuel Wells, and Elijah Risley. Its printer was Richard Vanderberg. After a while it was discontinued, but was re-established in May, 1796, Samuel Wells, proprietor, and William McLean printer. In the same year of 1793 the erection of the first church in Oneida county was begun in New Hartford; it was the meeting house where the first court of record was held in the county. In January, 1794, the Western Centinel was established at Whitesboro by Oliver P. Eaton, who was fitted out by Mr. Swords, of New York city, for that purpose.

In 1793 John W. Bloomfield, who was then twenty nine years old and had been married four years, came on horseback from Burlington, N.J. to visit this part of

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the State. He became a large landholder in this county, was the first supervisor of Camden (1799), after whose wife Ann, the town of Annsville was named. He died in 1848 at the age of eighty four, and in that year was written out by B.J. Beach the following reminiscences of his trip, taken from his lips; Mr. Beach was his grand nephew:

In the spring of the year 1793 I came to New York State for the first time. Mr. McIllvane, of Burlington, N.J., had purchased 1,600 acres of land in the present town of Lee from Joseph Bloomfield, then governor of New Jersey, whose title was derived from Thomas Machin, the original patentee, and the conditions of the patent were, that a certain number of settlers should be established upon the land within a limited time. I set out on horseback in the early part of April, 1793, went up on the west side of the Hudson river, thence to Esopus and Albany, and to Schenectady. Of this place the Dutch had at that time full possession, and I believe there was not a single English inhabitant. I went up the Mohawk on the south side; the flats were under full cultivation, and not divided by fences; the road was open and ran directly through the fields of grain and grass. I crossed the Mohawk at Little Falls, and continued on to Fort Schuyler which was a few rods lower down the river than the site of the present (1848) R.R. depot; about where the depot now stands, was the only house, with one exception, within the present limits of the present city of Utica. There was already a large clearing of 200 acres, but I was unable to get food either for myself or my horse, and was obliged to continue on without stopping to Whitesboro. This was the principal settlement - the headquarters of civilization in what is now the county of Oneida. Here was the office of the county clerk of Herkimer county, kept by Mr., afterwards Judge, Jonas Platt; here was the most western post office in the State.¹ The tract known as Scriba's Patent, had been contracted to the Messrs. Roosevelt at 7 cents an acre, and George Scriba, a merchant of New York city, in company with 4 or 5 others, were assignees of the contract. At Whitestown, I agreed with Mr. Young, who resided there, and a son in law of Judge White, and the founder of Youngstown, Ohio, and who was a surveyor, to go with me to point out the boundaries of the lands, and was to look after and assist me in the exploration. We came together at Fort Stanwix, where there was a tavern kept by John Barnard, a little northeast of the present Rome court house - a tenant of Dominick Lynch. The carrying business, between the Mohawk River and Wood Creek, was brisk, and the tavern was crowded constantly with boatmen and emigrants. In this house, occupying a part of the bar room and of the bar with his goods, was George Huntington, then a young unmarried man, who that spring opened the first store in the tract since known as the "6,000 acre tract", lying between the McIllvane land and Fish creek reservation. That reservation was ½ mile wide on each side of the stream, from Oneida Lake, to, or near to, its source. Finding the land very good, a company was formed to purchase of Mr. Scriba 4,000 acres, and to extend

1. This would indicate that there was a post office at Whitesboro as early as 1793.

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it to 6,000 acres, if we thought proper. The price was 12 shillings an acre, and Daniel C. White and myself received a joint deed. After further exploring, we concluded to extend the purchase to 6,000 acres; the additional 2,000 was however divided between Young, White and myself. After this I went down Wood creek in one of the small boats, used in conveying goods. In the same boat was a Frenchman who a year ago, had made his escape from France, carrying a nun, whom he had stolen from a covenant in that country. He had married her, and for the purpose of security had taken up his residence upon an island of about 30 acres in Oneida Lake, about 3 miles from shore; now called Frenchman's Island. It is opposite the village of Rotterdam, now Constantia. He built a log hut upon it, and mainly supported his wife and himself by fishing. This man remained on the island until 1796, when the troubles with France, having subsided, he returned to that country. He loaded his boat with wife and clothes, and went up Wood Creek and down the Mohawk and the Hudson, all the way in his boat, and in New York city, Mr. Scriba aided him with a considerable settlement. We went to Oswego, which the British yet held. Having reached the village of Hudson on July 4, 1793, here I was tiered and took a boat, shipped myself and horse to New York, and reached Burlington July 10, after an absence of nearly three months.

Work was begun on the Herkimer jail, and in January, 1793, a law was passed authorizing the supervisors to raise 1,000 pounds to defray the expenses already incurred in the erection of those buildings. By the same act the county courts were authorized to alternate "between the court house in Herkimer, and such place in the town of Whitestown, as said courts should order to be entered in the minutes". In pursuance of the above act the January term of 1794 of the Common Please was held at an unfinished meeting house in the village of New Hartford, Judge Starring presiding. This was the first court of record held in what is now Oneida county. It was at that term of court which the story is told of Sheriff Colbraith, a jolly Irishman. After that term, Herkimer courts alternated between Herkimer and the log school house near Hugh White's, which stood on or near the site of the present town hall.

On March 5, 1794, Onondaga county was taken from Herkimer. March 5, 1795, the town of Cazenovia was formed from parts of Paris. March 4, 1796, the town of Steuben was divided and the towns of Floyd and Rome erected from its territory. March 10, 1797, the then town of Steuben was divided into three towns of Steuben, Western and Leyden. March 24, 1797, Trenton was taken from the town of Schuyler, and by an act passed on the same day, Sangerfield was divided and Bridgewater formed from its territory.

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