A narrative history of Remsen, New York, including parts of the adjoining townships of Steuben and Trenton, 1789-1898

Front matter

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THE

Has been printed exclusively for private distribution, in an edition of two hundred and fifty copies, of which this is No.

Preface

Perhaps it is superfluous to suggest to the reader who is familiar with Remsen, that the material from which these pages have been prepared was gathered from vastly wide and scattered sources — gleaned here and there, bit by bit, through years of patient effort; for in no one collection was there assembled anything like sufficient data from which a history of this region could be compiled with any degree of completeness. And it is with this fact in mind, that I wish hereby to acknowledge my indebtedness to the following works for valuable information:

"The Documentary History of New York;" "Spafford's Gazetteer of New York," (Editions of 1813 and 1824); "Gordon's Gazetteer of New York;" Hotchkin's "History of Western New York;" Turner's "Pioneer History of the Holland Purchase;" Barber and Howe's "Historical Collections of New York;" Jones' "Annals of Oneida County;" Durant's "History of Oneida County;" "Our County and its People," by Daniel Wager; Benton's "History of Herkimer County;" Hough's "Histories of Lewis and Jefferson Counties;" "History of the Calvinistic Methodists of Utica and Vicinity," by T. Solomon Griffiths; "A History of Wales," by 0. Morion Morgan; "History of the Welsh in America," by Rev. R. D. Thomas; McMaster's "History of the People of the United States;" Snowden's "History of the State of Washington;" "The Journal of John Lincklaen," agent of the Holland Land Company, and the "Autobiography of Francis Adrian Van der Kemp," the last two edited by Mrs. Helen Lincklaen Fairchild, of Cazenovia, N. Y.; "Y Cenhadwr Americanaidd" (American Messenger), a Welsh magazine published in Remsen for more than forty years; the State Geologist's Reports; files of the Utica, Rome and Boonville newspapers; and the state, county and

town records. . , , . j . iv/r

For much valuable assistance I am mdebted to Mrs. Eveline (Allen) Rockwood, of Union City, Pa., long a resident of Remsen, and who from the time she was fifteen years of age taught school here and m surrounding districts for several years, thus having a most favorable opportunity for knowing intimately the people who resided here at that time. From various remmiscences written me after she had attained the age of eighty years and upwards, I have been able to give in these pages many names and historical facts that otherwise could not have been obtained; and thus on y for her superior intellect, retentive memory, and kindly interest in aiding the work, it would have fallen far short of what it is.

I am also similarly under obligations to Mrs. Alsamena Owens, whose life of over ninety years has been spent here; and to Broughton W. Green, of Harmony, N. Y an early school-teacher in Remsen and Steuben; to Charles R. Green, of Lyndon, Kas. ; to Simeon R Fuller, of Holland Patent; to my grandfather, Robert M. Jones, who came here a boy, in 1801, and for fifty years was actively engaged in business, and whose entire residence here covered a period of more than seventy years; to William L. Piatt, of Sherburne, N. Y.; to Cornelius R. Jones, of Syracuse, N. Y.; to Mrs. Esther (Burchard) Buell, of Hamilton, N. Y.; to Mrs. Esther (Piatt) Sawyer, of Hamilton, N. Y.; to G. W. Wheldon o Pueblo, Colo. ; to Mrs. Ann Farley, of Prospect, N. Y^, to Edwin Thomas, of Remsen; to Mrs. Jane (Evans) Roberts, of

HISTORY OF REMSEN vil

Bay City, Mich.; to F. W. Patterson, of Waterville, N. Y.; and especially to my mother, whose vivid recollections of people and events in this locality extended over a period of more than three quarters of a century.

M. F. R.

Syracuse, N. Y.,

INTRODUCTORY

The gathering of the historical facts and reminiscences presented in this volume was actuated at first by no motive other than the gratification of curiosity as to the march of early events in the place of my birth and home of my ancestors; but gradually more and more interest was inspired by my work, until diligent research and extended inquiry accumulated a mass of material that attained to unexpected proportions. It was then that I determined to embody in comprehensive form for permanent preservation much that I had gathered of Remsen's history, from the time its forests were first disturbed by the pioneer's axe, down to the close of the centennial year of its organization.*

As to the scope of the proposed undertaking regarding the territory to be considered, there was forced upon me the fact that the principal settlement of my home township, the incorporated village of Remsen, extends into Trenton township; and that citizens of parts of both the townships of Trenton and Steuben always have been closely identified with those of Remsen in social, religious, and business associations. So it seemed imperative that the contiguous districts should be included in the scope of the narrative.

The task of compiling was not entered upon, however,

*The year 1898. The task of compilation, and nearly all of the research work, was done at odd hours during years of busy pursuits. In the spring of 1897, when the first chapters were nearly ready for the press, a change of business which necessitated my removal to a distant city stopped all progress; and for fourteen years my notes and manuscript never saw the light. This will explain the omission — with the exception of a few family sketches and biographies handed in later — of all records of a date subsequent to 1898.

X HISTORY OF REMSEN

without misgivings that the historic material to be found in a section entirely destitute of colonial and revolutionary incidents might prove rather uninteresting, and while it cannot be pretended that the vein has been found richer than it promised, it is, nevertheless, hoped that something of interest to the people of this locality has been preserved from the oblivion into which the annals and traditions of the early settlement were fast receding.

I have been unable to enrich my collection by much documentary matter — letters, diaries, or memoranda. I found that little of the early history had ever been recorded. It rested largely in the memory of the pioneers, who have long since gone from the scenes of their hardships and trials — those plain, hardy and freehearted men who first broke into the original wilderness of these townships, and with their own hands began to make them what they now are. Much that would now be valuable and entertaining perished with them.

The history of this region cannot be looked upon as a record of events that may be considered great. The chopping of forests, the building of cabins, the founding of settlements, and the gradual subjugation of a most stubborn wilderness are the only matter that can engage the attention of the chronicler. Therefore the events herein recounted are neither tragic nor widely important; the troubles rehearsed are far from overwhelming; the mysteries are not entirely mysterious; the disasters not always disastrous. No battles have ever been fought within these boundaries. "Pen-ymynydd" and ''Boncen Fawr," within the memoiy of man have never spouted fire nor been shaken by an earthquake. No carved stones nor rusty weapons have ever been found on the "plains of Cobin" or in the valley of the Cincinnati, to indicate that either Remsen,

HISTORY OF REMSEN xi

or Steuben, or Trenton in past ages was aught more than an abiding place of wild beasts, or perhaps at rare intervals the hunting-ground of barbarians.

Originally, it was designed to include the family histories of the pioneers and early settlers; but, unfortunately, satisfactory data concerning many of these families could not be obtained, despite most strenuous efforts in that direction. The obvious lack of sentiment, or even ordinary interest manifested by so many regarding the records and traditions of their ancestors, are among the difficulties attending an endeavor of this nature. Apropos of this view of the subject, a recent writer has truthfully said that, "To know nothing of our ancestry or whence we came, to have no reverence for the precious memories of the past, is to ignore the elements and influences that have made us what we are: and who so dead to sympathy and affection, to kindred and country, that would not preserve the record of his ancestors, the place of his birth, the home of his childhood and the sacred spot where repose the loved and lost ones of each."

Concerning many of the early settlers I have been unable to obtain any data whatever, and of others nothing more than the family name, or perhaps an imperfect record of their ancestry or posterity. However, such of these facts as could be gathered are presented, trivial as they may seem and unsatisfying as they are, with the hope that the future student of family history may derive help from the record, and perhaps be enabled to supply deficiencies to his own satisfaction, if not to the interest and enlightenment of others.

A large proportion of these early settlers were Welsh, as is shown in the following pages. Now in all the realm of genealogical research there will be found scarcely anything more perplexing and discouraging than an xii HISTORY OF REMSEN

attempt to follow the lines of a Welsh family. There seems to have been a lack of variety in names to bestow on the children of Wales, which has resulted in an interminable array of identical names, making the task of locating and identifying branches of families and compiling their records, a most intricate and well-nigh hopeless undertaking. Furthermore, the custom of giving to children the Christian name of the father for their surname, has more or less prevailed with them for centuries; and this practice it is found was not always followed uniformly regarding the children of the same family, for some were given, or would assume, the father's Christian name for their surname, while brothers and sisters would retain the father's surname for their own. Thus, in the chapter on "Family History and Biography," it is shown that among the early Welsh settlers was one John Parry; and a son of his, who settled here a year or two prior to the father, was called William P. Jones — presumably, William Parry Jones — taking "Jones" from his father's first name, John. Another son of Mr. Parry was called Ellis John-Parry, and a son of the latter was known as William Ellis.

In Wales and in localities in this country where there are many Welsh people in one community, the multiplicity of identical names often necessitates an added name, or distinctive appellation. Sometimes this may be the name of the parish in Wales in which they live or whence they came; or the name of a village, or settlement, or farm; or the name of the vocation or trade they follow, or their fathers had followed before them; the color of the house in which they live, or the material of which the house is built. Sometimes it has occurred that an episode in the life of a man has furnished him with an added name, which was lasting and borne by his children. In many cases these added names are

HISTORY OF REMSEN xiii

used to the exclusion of the proper name, until the family is better known by the former than by the latter. Still, the appellation, however unpoetic or commonplace, in no sense implies disesteem.

The language of Wales in print, with its many consonants and double consonants, has drawn from the wag many a quip; but some one has said that "Welsh, like Wagner music, is better than it looks." So it may be added for the benefit of those who are unfamiliar with the language, that the Welsh appellations it has been found necessary to use herein to distinguish families and individuals, are really "better than they look."

The civil lists and other matters of public record have been omitted, as they are already embodied in the several published histories of Oneida county, and therefore easily accessible to the inquirer; the space these subjects would have occupied being devoted to material not so fully given in those works — facts pertaining to the people, whence they came, where they located, their customs, achievements and everyday life.

Contents

INTRODUCTORY

EXPLAINING ARRANGEMENT

Scope of the Work ix

Original Design xi

Difficulties of Welsh Nomenclature xii

Chapter I A General Description

First Settlers I

State Legislation 2

Remsen Organized.. 2

Primitive Conditions 2

Early Roads 3

Topography 6

Geology and Soil 8

CHAPTER n

SETTLEMENT AND GROWTH

Samuel Sizer 10

Arrival of Baron Steuben ii

Early Land Purchases 12

Locations of Settlers 13

First Welsh Emigrants 14

Descriptive View of Village 30

Village Charter Obtained 35

Division of the Township 37 xvi HISTORY OF REMSEN

Chapter VI Inns And Taverns

Numerous and Frequent 82

The First Opened 82

Early Heavy Travel 83

Type of Early Landlord 84

CHAPTER Vn

INDUSTRIES

Every Household a Workshop 90

Hand-spinning and Weaving 90

Alanufacture of Potash 91

Lime Kilns 93

First Grist-mills and Saw-mills 94

Distilleries 98

Tanneries loi

CHAPTER VHI

RELIGION AND CHURCH SOCIETIES

Early Missionaries 109

Taylor's Journal no

First Church Society Organized no

First Welsh Society Formed 119

Temperance Cause 158

Burial Grounds 161

CHAPTER IX

SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS

First School in Remsen Township 165

Remsen Academy 169

Early School Teachers 171 iviii HISTORY OF REMSEN

CHAFrER X

INCIDENTS AND REMINISCENCES

Indians 175

Reminiscences of Steuben Township 181

Professional Men 187

The Singing Master 205

The Militia 209

Cold Summer 211

Murders and Ghosts 214

Currency Scarcity 216

Mine Prospectors 218

Early Sports 220

The Gunpowder Plot 222

Fires and Firemen 223

Casualties 224

Revolutionary Pensioners 226

CHAPTER XI

FAMILY HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY

Pioneers and Others 232

Chapter I A General Description

The first settler in Remsen township was Barnabas Mitchell, who came from Meriden, Conn., in 1792, and began a clearing on the farm which subsequently for many years was in the possession of his son, and is now known as the "Milo Mitchell place." He was soon followed by others, and within two years Nathaniel Rockwood, John Bonner, Perez Farr, Bettis Le Clerc, Jonah Dayton, John Kent and Shubael Cross had joined the settlement, nearly all of whom were from New England. In September, 1795, five families from Wales also located in the vicinity, being the first of their nationality to stake their future prosperity in these townships against what the forest wilderness might have in store for them and theirs. From this on the settlement was gradually increased by other arrivals, until by the fall of 1801 the population numbered about sixty families, or nearly three hundred souls.

Thus two distinct strains made up our pioneer element, each of which was tinged with its own peculiarities of thought, temperament, and methods of religious observance. In common, however, they brought to the hard task of wresting from the primeval wilderness a home for themselves and loved ones many inherent qualities of heart and mind — courage, self-reliance, steadfastness of purpose, frugality, industry — which their descendants may well contemplate with pride and affectionate admiration.

The latter part of the eighteenth century and the

2 HISTORY OF RKMSEN

early part of the nineteenth, comprised largely what appropriately may be termed the "Formative Period" regarding legislation for the extension and adjustment of civil divisions in the newly occupied portions of our state; for during those years the wise men at Albany, endowed with liberal discretion and urged by the vast landed interests of the day, were busy cutting the broad domain of our commonwealth into squares, strips and gores, to form new counties and townships, and in urging the construction of highways to further the expansion of settlements.

By an act of the legislature passed March 15, 1798, forming the new County of Oneida from the County of Herkimer, it was also enacted that, "All of the town of Norway lying in the said new County of Oneida, shall be erected and organized into a new town, to be called Remsen." So we find that, unlike most other townships, Remsen was organized by the legislature without petition, action, or movement on the part of its inhabitants to advance such organization. This was only six years after Barnabas Mitchell had pitched his tent here in the wilderness; and the new township did not have enough male inhabitants of legal age entitled to citizenship to fill all its offices — had nominations been made for all the customary town officers from supervisor to fence viewer and hog-reeve — so to the astute politician and crafty office-seeker, this anomalous situation gave no opportunity to extend the glad hand and to pat familiarly on the back any voters except those only who were candidates for office.

Now unless we recall vividly to mind what the conditions of our country at large were at this period, even though but little over a century has since passed into history, we can but faintly conceive the conditions of pioneer life here. The entire population of the country then was less than that now included in the City of New York and its environs. The western part of our state was still spoken of as the "far west," while Cleveland was on the remote frontier, and Detroit only a military post in the wilderness. There was not then, in fact, anywhere on the globe, a public conveyance of any kind, except stages, that carried goods or passengers from one point to another at regular intervals according to an advertised schedule. If one had occasion to go from one country to another by sea, he went down to the nearest port, as did Jonah, when he went to Joppa and waited there until "He found a ship going to Tarshish, when he paid his fare and went down into it." If one did not fird a ship going to the particular city he desired to visit, he took passage in one going to some neighboring port or country, and thence made his way as best he could to his destination.

So little had been done to diversify the occupations of mankind that a great majority of our people were forced to gain a livelihood by tilling the soil. In the older communities, of course, such artisans as the blacksmith, the wheelwright, the carpenter, the tailor and the shoemaker, the butcher and the baker were found in every village; but in the newer, most of these, together with the doctor — who was also the dentist — and the preacher, had to travel from place to place in the exercise of their vocations. The farmer's market was very limited, and the cost of transporting what he had to sell was great. Roads everywhere were bad, for as little was known about road making then as about many other arts. Indeed the demands for new roads were so great that neither the counties nor the states could provide money for building them, and keeping them in repair, by any system of taxation that the people could endure. Accordingly public money began to be used to open new roads in the more sparsely settled regions, while those in the older were turned over to corporations who improved them and collected toll from those who used them. And the rate of toll charged everywhere was excessive. In New England a road wagon drawn by four horses was charged twelve and one-half cents for each two miles. In New Jersey one cent per mile for every horse was demanded. In Pennsylvania and Maryland the rate depended on the width of tires, and the number of horses, and varied from two cents to sixpence per horse for every two miles. In Virginia the rate was twenty-five cents for twelve miles.

Necessarily the cost of transportation was everywhere well nigh prohibitive, the average the country through being ten dollars per ton per hundred miles. To send a barrel of flour from Buffalo to Montreal cost one dollar and fifty cents. To move a bushel of salt three hundred miles cost two dollars and a half, and five dollars to send a hundred weight of sugar the same distance. All articles that could not stand this rate were shut out of market; and among these were grain and flour, which could not bear transportation more than one hundred and fifty miles, unless they could be sent along some all-water route.

Again, in the first decade of the nineteenth century farmers tilled their land with implements that were little better than those used by the Greeks and Romans, or even by the Egyptians, Assyrians and Chaldeans in far earlier times. The wooden plow, perhaps rudely improved by an iron share, was everywhere used. Wheat, oats and rye were harvested with a sickle, and threshed with flails, or tramped out by horses or cattle. Not one of the many labor-saving machines with which farmers are now so familiar had then been invented or thought of.

HISTORY OF REMSEN S

Labor was cheap, and those who worked for wages were forced to compete with laborers whose condition was little better than that of slaves; for many people in foreign countries sold their services for a term of years to ship captains to obtain passage to this country. This was true, not only of men, but the services of their wives and children on arrival here were sold at auction to such as would buy, the highest bidder being he who would pay the captain the sum he demanded — usually a little more than one hundred dollars — in return for the labor of the poor immigrant for the shortest term. This term was commonly from three to eight years for a man or woman, and somewhat longer for a child. At the auctions where these people were thus sold into bondage, wives were separated from husbands and children from their parents, as ruthlessly as colored slaves were separated in the south. During the term agreed upon the "redemptioner," as he was called, was to be fed and clothed, but was to receive no other compensation until his term of service was ended, when he was to have a suit of new clothes, a grubbing hoe, a weeding hoe, and an axe, to help him to begin life on his own account. The condition of those who were forced to compete with labor of this kind was miserable enough. Farm laborers were fed and lodged by their employers, and paid but little more in cash than would serve to clothe them. Hod carriers, mortar mixers, diggers and choppers labored from sunrise to sunset. Wages in New York and Albany were forty cents per day. In Baltimore, men thought themselves fortunate to get employment at eighteen pence a day, and throughout Maryland wages averaged about six dollars a month. The average wage rate, the country over, was not above sixty-five dollars a year, including food and lodging.

Such were the general conditions confronting the Remsen pioneers. And now in a brief glance at the diversities Nature afforded them in their new home, we hope we shall not unduly impose on the reader's patience if we rehearse some trite facts concerning the topography of the state at large. As is well known, the principal part of New York is included in the Appalachian system; the mountains appearing to be only partially interrupted by the valleys of the rivers, or depressed by the basins of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, and by the long narrow valley which contains Hudson river and Lake Champlain. The valleys of Lake Ontario and the Hudson are connected by that of the Mohawk river and Oneida Lake, and together separate the mountain system into three great divisions. The first and largest of these lies in the space south of the Mohawk river and Ontario valley, between Hudson river and Lake Erie; the second is north of the Mohawk, bptwppn T.akp Champlain and thp past.prn end of Lake Ontario; and the third comprises a part of the range east of the Hudson.

These divisions are sub-divided by many chains and ranges. The second division is traversed in a northeast direction by six principal ridges, and some subordinate ones, which collectively have been called the Sacandaga mountains, and have a length northeast and southwest of one hundred and forty miles, with an extreme breadth of about one hundred and twenty-five miles. However, these dimensions vary greatly, as at the north line of the state the breadth is not twenty miles, while at latitude 40° 30' it exceeds one hundred. The chains are not continuous, but are made up of detached links, in parallel lines and varying elevation, with summits of diversified forms; while scattered over the gi'eat area are many hills not reducible to any range — solitary, or in detached groups — some vieing in elevation with the determinate ridges, others simply low masses of rocks in various forms.

In two of these subordinate ridges we have an especial interest. The first of these, called the Highlands of Black river, reaches from the source of Black creek, a tributary of West Canada creek, west and northwest about sixty miles, and thus includes the region of Remsen and vicinity. Starr's Hill, about four miles west of Remsen village, represents its greatest altitude, about eighteen hundred feet, and the whole area varies in elevation from that down to about twelve hundred feet, having frequtnt rolling surfaces several miles in width. West Canada creek descends its southern slope, while Mohawk river. Fish creek, Salmon river, and Sandy and Deer creeks rise in it.

The second subordinate ridge is known as Hassencleaver mountain, and extends from Herkimer county for about twenty miles into Oneida county, occupying the space between the Highlands and Mohawk river. It is about nine miles broad at its base, having an altitude varying from eight hundred to twelve hundred feet. This is the blue ridge marking the southern horizon, so pleasingly conspicuous from many parts of these townships. Locally it is called the Big Hill, and to the drivers of early stage coaches, and the carriers of merchandise from the Mohawk to the north country, before the construction of the plank road, the "Big Hill" was all that its name implies. Many interesting accounts of the difficulties attending its ascent in these times are handed down. Moreover, this elevation in reality was the great obstacle to the flow in this direction of the stream of immigration, which, when it had filled the valleys, like water ready to burst its barriers, followed the lines of least resistance.

It is also an interesting fact that the fifth range in the mountain belt of the great wilderness of northern New York is the Adirondack chain proper, for this name was originally given to it by Professor Emmons, while making his geological survey of this region; but which now by common consent is applied to the whole mountain region of the northern wilderness. Hence on the later maps, these townships are designated as occupying a position on the "foot-hills," or "spurs," of the Adirondacks.

From Black river valley to the valley of Oriskany creek, geologists inform us, there are outcrops of nearly every formation. Here, and south of Remsen, is found the great limestone system known as the Trenton Formation, with its wonderful fossil remains, which receives its name from its fine development in this locality. This bed, upon which the southern part of the township of Remsen and the greater portion of Trenton township rests, is excellent for building purposes, and when burned makes a prime cement.

In the northern section, primitive rock boulders abound, a species of granite. Everywhere indications of diluvial action are prominent, in the accumulations of gravel, sand, pebbles and boulders scattered over the surface. It is said that the parent bed of some of the latter can not be nearer than the extreme north of the continent. Iron ore has been found in the northeast section of Remsen township, as originally formed; and traces of "Fool's Gold" in the vicinity of Black river has at intervals inspired in some the delusive hope that a vein of the more precious metal might be found.

The soil in general differs but little from that of other high sections of the county, and the land is better adapted for gi'azing than for agriculture, though it is productive in coarse grains. The principal productions prior to 1812 were barley, peas, beans, oats, hay, flax and potatoes ; and the first settlers found the soil so rich that they had little need for fertilizers. This was especially true of the flat or bottom lands. William Piatt, who owned the John Humphreys' farm, south of the village, for years after settlement hauled stable refuse to the creek and dumped it into the stream. Throughout this section, two crops of potatoes were sometimes raised in a season. Those of the second crop were said to be as large as those of the first, though they were thought to be less dry and of inferior flavor.

Originally the townships were heavily timbered with maple, beech, birch, elm, ash, spruce and hemlock.

Chapter II Settlement And Growth

We have named a few of the pioneer settlers of Remsen township, the earliest of whom located here in 1792; but in the more extended area considered in these pages, covering portions of the adjoining townships, the first to brave the dangers and hardships of the entire region as a dweller within its lonely precincts was Samuel Sizer, a ship carpenter from New York city, who came here in 1789. However, he came under far different conditions from those surrounding any other settler, for he was the hired agent or superintendent of the landed proprietor, Baron Steuben; and consequently enjoyed advantages unknown to the ordinary pioneer in the unbroken and scarcely explored wilderness of these rugged hill-townships. Under the patronage of the generous Baron, he was enabled to make extended preparations beforehand in the way of procuring live-stock, implements and stores, and also had several laborers to aid him in the pioneer work. He made a clearing and lived for some years in Steuben, on the farm later owned by Josiah Owen.