A condensed history of Cooperstown, with a biographical sketch of J. F. Cooper

Preface

. It is with diffidence that this volume is now offered to the public. And yet, the encouragement given to the author by competent advisers, and the earnest de sire he has cherished to execute his task faithfully and with impartiality, inspire in him the hope of a charitable judgment from its readers whenever they may dis cover apparent or real errors. The former edition ofthe Chronicles of Cooperstown, although not containing the name of the author, is well known to have been written by J. Fenimore Cooper. Items of local interest which he omitted are now in serted in notes, and lest these should too much encum ber his work, a chain of incidents beginning at a point prior to his record, and subsequently parallel with it, is given in connection with the history as brought down from 1838 to the present.

In doing this a care ful examination of consecutive and cotemporaneous files of village newspapers, published weekly from 1795 to 1862, has been made. At the same time, several citizens of vivid memory who have lived in Coopers- VI

PREFACE.

. town over fifty years, have been consulted, and also some standard works and state documents. Previous to its publication the manuscript of this book was submitted to several gentlemen whose scho larship aud acquaintance with the village enabled them to act as proper critics. Their suggestions and approval have been obtained. Indeed very much is due to them for original matter, and, while we mention Mr. G. Pomeroy Keese as our principal assistant, the many others to whom we are indebted are thankfully remembered. The biographical sketch of Cooper is intended to be only a sketch— a few hastily arranged outlines of a portrait which it is hoped, at no distant day, some com petent hand will perfect and bring to the view of the admirers of our eminent American novelist. He is not here commended because he was a writer of fiction, but rather for not descending to the grade of such demoralizing phantoms as are too often chased by novel readers, and for the purity of sentiment which many of his works contain.

These, probably, differ materially from the books which Goldsmith had in mind when he said to his brother — " Above all things, let him never touch a romance or novel ; these paint beauty in colors more charming than nature, and de scribe happiness that man never tastes. How delusive, how destructive are those pictures of consummate bliss ! They teach the youthful mind to sigh after beauty and happiness which never existed ; to despise the little good which fortune has mixed in our cup by

PREFACE.

. VII expecting more than she ever gave. Teach then, my dear sir, your son thrift and economy." Bryant's discourse on the Life, Genius, and Writ ings of Cooper, is copied from Precaution, by per mission of W. A. Townsend & Co., editors of the recent elegant edition of Cooper's novels, illustrated by Darley. Any errors that our readers may discover, if they will be so kind as to make them known to the under signed, will be noted for correction in a future edition. S. T. LIVERMORE. Coopeestown, June, 1862. CHRONICLES OF COOPERSTOWN. INTRODUCTION, It is always desirable to possess authentic annals. The peculiar nature of American history, which com mences in an enlightened age, renders that which is so desirable, in our case, practicable, and, with a view that posterity may know the leading facts connected with the origin and settlement of the village of Cooperstown, and that even the present generation may be set right in some important particulars, con cerning which erroneous notions now prevail, as well as possess a convenient book of reference, the following little work has been written.

This book has been compiled with care, by consftlting authentic public records, private documents, more es pecially those in possession of the Cooper family, and living witnesses, whose memories and representations might be confided in. It is hoped no error has been admitted into its pages, and it is believed no essential mistake can be pointed out. Where the compilers have not found good reasons to credit their evidence, they have proceeded with caution, and made their statements with due reserve. A work of this character can not have a very exten sive interest, but it is thought it will have some with a county in which its subject composes the seat of justice; and by those whose fathers were active in converting the wilderness around about us, into its present picture of comfort and civilization, no records of this nature can be regarded with indifference.

The love of particular places, such as the spots in which we were born, or have passed our lives, con tributes to sustain all the affections, and to render us better citizens and better men. This love is strength ened and increased by familiarity with events, and as time throws its interest around the past, reverence and recolleotions add their influence to that of the natural ties. With a view to aid these sentiments, also, have our little labors been conducted. If those who come after the compilers of the Chronicles of Cooperstown, should do as much in their generation, they who in habit the place a century hence, will, beyond question, be ready to acknowledge that in one essential duty they were not forgotten by their predecessors. In the early annals of this place there was a disposition, as in all new countries, to exaggerate its growth, and various printed notices exist, by which its origin is stated to be several years too recent.

These errors as well as several connected with deaths, &c, that exist even in the church registers, and other official docu ments, have been carefully corrected in this book. In this respect, it is thought no more authentic accounts of the several subjects can be found.

Chapter I

The site of the present village of Cooperstown, is said to have been a favorite place of resort with the adjacent savage tribes, from a remote period. The tra dition which has handed down this circumstance, is rendered probable by the known abundance of the fish and game in its vicinity. The word otsego, * is thought to be a compound which conveys the idea of a spot at which meetings of the Indians were held. There is a small rock near the outlet of the Lake, called the Otsego rock, at which precise point the savages, according to an early tradition of the country, were accustomed to rendezvous. In confirmation of these traditions, arrow heads, stone h<at?hets, and other memorials of Indian usages, were found in great abundance by the first settlers, in the vicinity of the village. It is probable that the place was more or less fre quented by Indian traders, for a century previously to the commencement of the regular settlement of the township ; but the earliest authentic account that ex ists of any attempt, by any civilized man, to establish himself at this point, refers to a much more recent period.

On the 22d day of April, 1761, letters patent were granted to John Christopher Hartwick f and others, for a considerable tract of land in this vicinity ; and Mr. Hartwick, being under the impression that his grants extended to the shore of the lake, caused a * In tho first number of the Otsego Herald, published in 1795, is an article evidently prepared with care, stating that Otsego was originally the name of the lake from which the town and county were named, and that the term among the aborigines signified not only a place of rendezvous but of friendly greeting. With them sago wsas the well known salutation, and literally meant, as pel, i. e. perhaps, still alive, or yet well. t He committed suicide with a razor, June, 1800. clearing to be commenced not far from its outlet. Be coming satisfied that he had passed the boundaries of his estate, this gentleman soon relinquished his posses sion, and altogether abandoned the spot.

This abortive attempt at settlement, took place about ten years before the commencement of the American war. It appears by documents in possession of the Cooper family, that Col. George Croghan, who was connected with the Indian department under the crown, obtained a conveyance from the Indians of 100,000 acres of land, lying north and adjaeent to the before mentioned grant to Mr. Hartwick, and on the west side of the Susque hannah river, and of the Otsego lake, as early as the year 1768. On the 13th of December of the same year, Col. Croghan gave a mortgage under the Indian deed, to William Franklin, Esq., governor of the colony of New Jersey, to 860*6 the payment of £3000 ; which money, as appears by the same documents, was obtained by Governor Franklin of certain persons in New Jer sey, in the behalf of Col. Croghan, with a view to enable the latter to procure the regular title to the same lands, from the crown.

This object was not effected until the 30th of November, 1769, when letters patent were issued by the colonial government, granting the same tract to George Croghan and ninety-nine other persons ; there existing an order to prevent grants of more than a thousand acres at a time to single indviduals. On the 2d day of December, 1769, the ninety-nine other persons named as grantees in the patent, conveyed in three separate instruments their rights to George Croghan, in fee .simple. These three conveyances, with the patent, still exist among the Cooper papers, and are unquestionably the first legal instruments con veying real estate in the township of Otsego. On the 10th day of March, 1770, George Croghan gave a mortgage on that portion of the Otsego patent, as the aforesaid grant was then called, which has since been called Cooper's patent, for the further security of the payment of the said sum of £3000 ; both of which mortgages, with the accompanying bond, "were regularly assigned to the persons already mentioned, as security for their advances.

On the 23d day of March, 1778, judgment was obtained .igainst George Croghan, in the supreme court of the colony of New York, upon the aforesaid bond. All the securities above mentioned, became vested in William Cooper and Andrew Craig of the city of Burlington, in the state of New Jersey, by various deeds of assignment, now in possession of the descend ants of the former, as early as May, 1785. Mr. Cooper first visited lake Otsego in the autumn of 1785. He was accompanied by a party of survey ors, his object being to ascertain the precise boundaries of the land covered by his mortgage and judgment. This party arrived by the way of Cherry Valley and Middlefield, and first obtained a view of the lake from that mountain which has since been called the Vision, in consequence of the beauty of the view it then afforded.

Judge Cooper has been often heard to say, that on that occasion, he was compelled to climb a sapling, in order to obtain this view, and while in the tree, he saw a deer descend to the lake and drink of its waters, near the Otsego rock. In January, 1786, Mr. Cooper took possession of the property that has since been known as Cooper's patent, under a deed given by the sheriff of Montgomery county. It ought to be mentioned, that in 1784, Washington, then on a journey of observation, with a view to explore the facilities for an inland communication by water, visited the foot of lake Otsego. We give the letter in which he speaks of this journey, entire, in the hope that the opinions of this great man m<ay draw public attention more closely to the subject of improving our natural advantages. Princeton, October 12, 1783.

My Dear Chevalier* — I have not had the honor of a letter from you since the 4th of March last ; but I will ascribe my disappointment to any cause sooner than to a decay of your friendship. Having the appearances, and indeed the enjoyment of peace, without the final declaration of it, I, who am only waiting for the ceremonials, or till the British forces shall have taken their leave of New York, am held in an awkward and disagreeable situation, being anxiously desirous to quit the walks of public life, and under my own vine and my own fig-tree, to seek those enjoyments, and that relaxation, which a mind that has been constantly upon the stretch for more than eight years, stands so much in want of. I have fixed this epoch to the arrival of the defini tive treaty, or to the evacuation of my country, by our newly-acquired friends ; in the meanwhile, at the request of congress, I spend my time with them at this place, where they came in consequence of the riots at Philadelphia, of which, doubtless, you have been in formed, for it is not a very recent transaction.

They have lately determined to fix the permanent residence of congress, near the falls of Delaware ; but where they will hold their sessions, till they can be properly established at that place, is yet undecided. I have lately made a tour through the lakes George and Champlain as far as Crown point — then returning to Schenectady, I proceeded up the Mohawk river to Fort Schuyler (formerly Fort Stanwix), crossed over Wood creek, which empties into the Oneida lake, and affords the water communication with lake Ontario; I then traversed the country to the head of the east ern branch of the Susquehannah, and viewed the lake Otsego, and the portage between that lake and the Mohawk river at Canajoharie. * The Marquis de Chastellux. Prompted by these actual observations, I could not help taking a more contemplative and extensive view of the vast inland navigation of these United States, from maps, and the information of others, and could not but be struck with the immense diffusion and im portance of it, and with the goodness of that Provi dence which has dealt her favors to us with so profuse a hand.

Would to God we may have wisdom enough to make a good use of them. I shall not rest contested till I have explored the western part of this country, and traversed those lines (or a great part of them), which have given bounds to a new empire ; but when it may, if it ever should happen, I dare not say, as my first attention must be given to the deranged situation of my private concerns, which are not a little injured by almost nine years' absence, and total disre gard of them. With every wish for your health and happiness, and with the most sincere and affectionate regard, I am, my dear Chevalier, your most obedient servant, George Washington.* It should also be stated, that the present site of Cooperstown is connected with an event of some inte rest that occurred during the war of the revolution.

An expedition having been commanded to proceed under the orders of Major General Sullivan, against the Indians who then dwelt in the vicinity of the Sen eca lake, a brigade employed in the duty, under Brig adier General James Clinton (the father of the celebrated De Witt Clinton), marched from Albany for that purpose. After ascending the Mohawk as far as Fort Plain, this brigade cut a road through the forest to the head of lake Otsego, whither it transported its * At this date, 1862, it is a matter of considerable interest to the citizens of Cooperstown, that they may converse with one of their oldest residents, Mrs. John M. Bowers, who, when a little girl, frolicked with the Father of his Country, and fresiuently sat upon his knee. Her memory is still clear, and her conversational faculties extraordinary. boats.

Traces of this road exist, and it is still known by the name of the Continental road. Embarking at the head of the lake, the troops descended to the out let, where they encamped on the site of the present village. General Clinton's quarters are said to have been in a small building of hewn logs, which then stood in what are now the grounds of the Hall, and which it is thought was erected by Col. Croghan, as a place in which he might hold his negotiations with the fiidians, as well as for the commencement of a settlement. This building, which was about fifteen feet square and intended for a sort of block-house, was undoubt edly the first ever erected on this spot. It was subse quently used by some of the first settlers as a residence, and by Judge Cooper as a smoke house, and it was standing in 1797, if not a year later.

It was then taken down and removed by Henry Pace Eaton, to his residence on the road to Pier's, where it was set up again as an out-house. There were found the graves of two white men in the same grounds, which were believed to contain the bodies of deserters, who were shot during the time the troojjs were here encamped. These graves are supposed to be the first of any civilized man in the township of Otsego. All traces of them have now disappeared. As soon as encamped, the troops of Gen. Clinton commenced the construction of a dam at the outlet, and when the water had risen to a sufficient height in the lake, the obstruction was removed, the current clearing the bed of the river of flood-wood. After a short delay, for this purpose, the troops embarked and descended as far as the junction with the Tioga, where they were met by another brigade, commanded by General Sullivan in person.* On this occasion, the * In the Gazetteer 0/ Aeas York, it is said : " The Indians upon the banks, witnessing the extraordinary rise of the river at midsummer, without any apparent cause, were struck with superstitious dread, and in the very outset were disheartened at the apparent interposition of the Great Spirit in favor of their foes."

Susquehannah, below the dam, was said to be so much reduced that a man could jump across it. Traces of the dam are still to be seen, and for many years they were very obvious.* At a later day, in digging the cellar of the house first occupied by Judge Cooper, a large iron swivel was discovered, which was said to have been buried by the troops, who found it useless for their service. This swivel was the only piece of artillery used for the purposes of salutes and merry-makings in the vicinity of Cooperstown, for ten or twelve years after the settlement of the place. It is well and affectionately remembered by the name of the Cricket, and was bursted lately in the same good cause of rejoicing on the 4th of July. At the time of its final disaster (for it had met with many vicissitudes by field and flood, having actually once been thrown into the lake), it is said there was no very perceptible difference in size, between its touch-hole and its muzzle.

In addition to the foregoing statement, we are en abled to make the following brief history of the title * The last of tbe logs of that dam were removed on the 26th of October 1825, while the entire state of New York was more jubilant, perhaps, than ever before or since, and cannon, placed a few miles apart, from Buffalo to Albany, and thence to Sandy Hook, were proclaiming that Gov. Clinton had entered the first canal boat at Buffalo, and was on his way to New York. The ceremonies of removing the relics ofthe military dam (built by the father of Gov. Clinton), were too amusing for description at this day. They were the commencement of the Susn.uehanna canal, then contemplated. A large number of villagers and townsmen were assembled- Boat horns (sometimes called canal horns), six feet long, or thereabouts, typical of the long ditch were then common.

One was had on this occasion, and consti tuted the martial music ofthe multitude, who were mustered somewhat after the order of a brigade. One company, consisting of axes forty men with wheel barrows and shovels, known as sappers, miners and excavators, commanded by Capt. William Wilson (now living), marched with their comrades boldly to the scene of action. Lawrence McNamee, president of the day, personating Gov. Clinton, threw the first shovelful of dirt. A piece of this dam is said to be preserved in a museum in New York city. After the removal, the procession were marched into the village, and were there addressed by Samuel Starkweather, Ksq., during all of which proceedings a nine pounder upon the top of Mount Vision, at regular intervals, told the hills and valleys around that Cooperstown was rejoicing. 'The following interesting and authentic incidents of Clinton's encampment, are from the History ofthe Border Wars, by Simms : On arriving at the foot of the lake, the troops landed and remained several weeks until it was sufficiently raised by a dam, constructed at the outlet to float the boats.

When a sufficient head of water was thus obtained, the boats having been properly arranged along the outlet and filled with troops, stores to this tract of land, believing it may have interest with those who hold real estate within its limits. In this account, we include some matter foreign to the direct title, as explanatory of the whole. On the 30th November, 1769, letters patent were issued, granting one hundred thousand acres of land to George Croghan and ninety-nine other persons, as has been already stated. December 2d, 17C9, the ninety-nine other patentees conveyed, in three separate instruments, to George Croghan in fee. On the 10th March, 1770, George Croghan mort gaged 40,000 acres of the above grant to William Franklin, as further security for the money borrowed to pay the fees, or the debt due the persons who were called the Burlington company.

This mortgage in cluded the present site of the village. On the 12th March, 1770, George Croghan mort gaged 20,000 acres, being half of the above mentioned and cannon, the dam was torn away, and the numerous fleet of small fry (208 boats) floated off in fine style. It is said that preparatory to opening the outlet of the lake, a dam, made by the sagacious beavers on one of the larger inlets, which flooded considerable ground, was partially destroyed to obtain the water. But the night following the dam was repaired by the industrious animals. A more effectual destruction followed, and a guard of men was stationed all night to prevent its being rebuilt by its lawful owners. While the army were quartered at the outlet of Otsego lake, two men were tried for desertion and sentenced to be shot. The younger of the two, whose name was Snyder, was pardoned by Gen. Clinton.

The other man was a for eigner, who bad previously deserted from the British, and having now deserted from the American flag, and persuaded Snyder to desert. Clinton said of him, " He is good for neither king nor country, let him be shot." The order was executed on the west side of the outlet, not far from the lake. Not a house bad then been erected where Cooperstown now stands. Among the men who aided in our glorious struggle for independence, was a regiment of blacks, who generally proved to be good faithful soldiers. That they might readily be distinguished they wore wool hats with the brim and lower half of the crown colored black, the remainder being left drab or the native color. While waiting for Otsego lake to rise, the troops were drilled every day. As Col. Rigne was thus engaged with his own and parts of several other regi ments, among whom were one or two companies of black soldiers, one of tho latter men, from inattention, failed to execute a command in proper time. '■ Halloo !" said the colonel, " You black son of a , wid a wite face ' Why you no mind your beezneas?"

This hasty exclamation in broken English so pleased the troops, that a general burst of laughter followed. Seeing the men mirthful at his expense, he good humoredly gave the command to order arms '■ Now, ' said he, "laugh your pelly full, all!1' and joining in it himself, hill and dale sent back their boisterous merriment. 40,000 acres, to Thomas "Wharton, to secure another debt of £2,000. On the 26th October, 1770, John Morton obtained a judgment of a large amount against George Croghan. On the 22d March, 1773, judgment was obtained against George Croghan, for the debt due on his bond to William Franklin. On the — April, 1775, George Croghan, William Franklin, Thomas Wharton and John Morton entered into an agreement, in writing, that the 40,000 acres of land should be sold under the two judgments, and that the proceeds of the sale should go, firstly, to pay the judgment held by William Franklin • secondly, to pay the held by Thomas Wharton ; and, thirdly, to pay the judgment held by John Morton ; or as much of each, according to the priority of the debts and se curities, as there should be assets.

This agreement was never complied with, in consequence of the war of the revolution. On the 20th December, 1775, William FrankLin and his wife assigned the mortgage of George Croghan, on the 40,000 acres, and all the securities connected with it, to five of the original lenders of the money, for their several shares of the debt, the remaining three accept ing* lands elsewhere for their claims ; the amount of the shares of these five assignees being £1,500, New Jersey currency, with interest from the date of the bond. On the 3d April, 1780, George Croghan conveyed in fee, 25,477 acres of the above mentioned 40,000, including the site of Cooperstown, to Joseph Wharton, subject to the two mortgages, for the consideration of £9,553, Pennsylvania currency; Mr. Wharton being induced to accept this land for a debt of that great amount, in consequence of Mr. Croghan's being unable to pay him in any other manner.

On the 26th June, 1780, George Croghan conveyed, in fee, the remainder of the same tract, to Joseph Wharton, for the consideration of £100, this being all the land in the Otsego patent that he had not conveyed in fee, previously to granting the two mortgages, and of course all that was subject to them. By several deeds poll, made between the years 1776 and 1785, all the rights of the original lenders of the aforesaid sum, with the interest on it from 1768, in the several bonds, in thejudgment of 1773, and in the oldest mortgage, were vested in William Cooper and Andrew Craig of Burlington, New Jersey. On the 14th January, 1786, all the lands of George Croghan that were subject to the judgment of 1773, and which lay in the Otsego patent, being in amount, as near as might be, 29,350 acres, were conveyed by Samuel Clyde, sheriff of Montgomery, to William Cooper and Andrew Craig, as judgment purchasers, under the judgment aforesaid, for the sum of £2,700, leaving a balance of £1,139. 8s. unpaid, and which has never been satisfied since.

On* the 8th December, 1786, Joseph Wharton, for the consideration of $2,000, conveyed in fee, all his right to the land in question, to William Cooper and Andrew Craig, then in actual possession of the same as judgment purchasers and mortgagees. On the 12th November, 1787, Augustine Prevost and Susannah Prevost, for the consideration of $1,250, released their right to the equity of the redemption of the mortgage on the whole 40,000 acres, to William Cooper and Andrew Craig; the said Susannah Pre vost being the natural daughter and devisee of George Croghan. On the 16th January, 1788, William Cooper paid for quit rents on the said land, the further sum of £631.3s. On the 26th October, 1799, William Cooper paid $7.35 for commutation of quit rents, on the villao-e plot, containing then 112 acres of land.

The pateut of 1769, signed Clarke; the deeds from the ninety-nine other patentees to George Croghan; the bond of Croghan to Franklin; that of Franklin to the Burlington company; the mortgage of Croghan to Franklin, with the assignment by latter to the unpaid members of the company; all the mesne conveyances ofthe same to William Cooper and Andrew Craig; the deeds of Croghan to Joseph Wharton, and the deed of Wharton to William Cooper and Andrew Craig; the release of Augustine and Susannah Prevost, and the certificates of payments of quit rents, together with several conveyances from Andrew Craig to William Cooper, exist still, among the papers of the Cooper family. The deed of the sheriff of Montgomery county to William Cooper and Andrew Craig has been lost; supposed never to have been returned from the county clerk's office; but it is recorded at Johnstown, and an exemplified copy exists among the other papers.

There exists, among the same papers, a copy of a bill in chancery, of the date of 1786, at the complaint of William Cooper and Andrew Craig, setting forth that the parties to the agreement of 1775, refused to relea,se to them according to the understood terms of that agreement, and that the said agreement was with held from them to their injury, and praying relief in the premises. It is supposed that this suit was arranged by compromise, as the original agreement is now among the same papers. A copy of the assignment of the mortgage on the entire tract, under the Indian grant, also, is to be found among the same papers. As it msiy be a matter of curious history hereafter, we subjoin an account of what the 29,350 acres actually cost the proprietor under whom the country was settled. Amount of judgment, Jan. 14, 1786, £3,839.08 Quit rents, Jan. 16,1788, 631.03 Consideration money paid Joseph Wharton,... 800.00 do. do.