Read Ebook: A Sketch of the History of Oneonta by Campbell Dudley M

Font size: 10 px 15 px 20 px 25 px 30 px 35 px

Background color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Text color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Apply/Save settings

Ebook has 217 lines and 17503 words, and 5 pages

In 1691, the governor and council of the province of New York sent an address to the king of England, from which the following extract is made:

"Albany lies upon the same river, etc. Its commerce extends itself as far as the lakes of Canada and the Sinnekes Country in which is the Susquehannah River."

It appears that the ownership of the Susquehanna was the subject of no little dispute among the tribes composing the Six Nations. The Onondagas claimed the country.

"At fifty miles from Albany the Land Carriage from the Mohawk's river to a lake from whence the Northern Branch of Susquehanna takes its rise, does not exceed fourteen miles. Goods may be carried from this lake in Battoes or flatt bottomed Vessels through Pennsylvania to Maryland and Virginia, the current of the river running everywhere easy without any cataract in all that large space."

The last quotation is from the report of the Surveyor General to the Lieutenant Governor in 1637.

The foregoing extracts appear to contain about all the information which the authorities at the provincial capital could glean of the Indians concerning the Susquehanna country, as it was called.

The few scattered natives who remained here after the establishment of peace, were, in 1795, removed to the reservation at Oneida, and became a part of the Indian tribes already settled there.

About this time a good deal of interest was being taken in the education of Indian youth. For the furtherance of this design, the Rev. Eleazur Wheelock established a school at New Lebanon, Conn., for the education of young whites and young Indians. This school afterwards ripened into Dartmouth college, and was removed to Hanover, New Hampshire. From this new-fledged seminary, the Rev. Mr. Kirkland was sent among the Oneidas, and his labors in that quarter eventually resulted in the founding of Hamilton college, at Clinton. From a similar school established at Stockbridge, Mass., and which appears to have been favored by the influence and good will of the celebrated Jonathan Edwards, Mr. Hawley was sent to Oquaga on the Susquehanna.

Oquaga was the Indian settlement near the site of the present village of Windsor in Broome county. Mr. Hawley's journey was from Albany up the Mohawk, across the mountains to Schoharie, thence along the valley to Schenevus creek and westward. As his letter, in the form of a journal, contains the earliest account that is known of the presence of white people within the present territorial limits of Oneonta, I hope the quotations I make from it may prove of some interest. The letter is dated July 31st, 1794. The first entry is as follows:

JULY 31st, 1794.

"It is forty years this date since I was ordained a missionary to the Indians, in the old South Meeting House, when the Rev. Dr. Sewall preached on the occasion and the Rev. Mr. Prince gave the charge. The Rev. Mr. Foxcroft and Dr. Chauncey of Cambridge, assisted upon the occasion, and Mr. Appleton. I entered upon this arduous business at Stockbridge, under the patronage of the Rev. Mr. Edwards. Was instructor of a few families of Iroquois, who came down from their country for the sake of christian knowledge and the schooling of their children. These families consisted of Mohawks, Oneidas and Tuscaroras. I was their school-master and preached to them on the Lord's day. Mr. Edwards visited my school, catechised my scholars, and frequently delivered a discourse to the children."

This quotation may serve to show what kind of man this early missionary was, and the deep interest then felt in the education and civilization of the aborigines. The formality with which the clerical harness was put on in the historic Old South Church, is strikingly in contrast with the way the missionary to the Indians is equipped now-a-days.

In the following quotations the dates are of the year 1753. May 22d of that year, a party consisting of Mr. Hawley, Mr. Woodbridge, a Mr. Ashley and Mrs. Ashley, set out from Stockbridge for Oquaga.

May 30th, 1753, a little more than a week after leaving Stockbridge, the party had its first view of the Susquehanna at Colliers. As the journal gives some description of our valley as it was then--one hundred and thirty years ago--I quote freely:

"Our way was generally obstructed by fallen trees, old logs, miry places, pointed rocks and entangled roots, which were not to be avoided. We were alternately on the ridge of a lofty mountain and in the depths of a valley. At best, our path was obscure and we needed guides to go before us. Night approaches, we halt and a fire is kindled; the kettles are filled and we refresh ourselves; and we adore Divine Providence, returning thanks for the salvations of the day and committing ourselves to God for the night, whose presence is equally in the recesses of the solitary wilderness and in the social walks of the populous city. With the starry heavens above me, and having the earth for my bed, I roll myself in a blanket, and without a dream to disturb my repose, pass the night in quiet, and never awake till the eye-lids of morning are opened, and the penetrating rays of the sun look through the surrounding foliage.

The next extract is from the journal of May 30th, 1753:

"We were impatient to see the famous Susquehanna, and as soon as we came, Mr. Woodbridge and I walked down to its banks. Disappointed at the smallness of its stream, he exclaimed, 'Is this the Susquehanna?'

"When we returned our young Indians, who had halted, came in, looking as terrible and ugly as they could, having bedaubed their faces with vermilion, lampblack, white-lead, etc. A young Indian always carries with him his looking-glass and paint; and does not consider himself as dressed until he has adjusted his countenance by their assistance.

"Mr. Woodbridge and Mrs. Ashley, our interpreter, could not travel any further by land. We therefore concluded to get a canoe and convey them by water. From this place to Onohoghwage is three days' journey; and how bad the traveling is we cannot tell.

"May 31st, We met with difficulty about getting a canoe, and sent an Indian into the woods to get ready a bark, but he made small progress.

"In the afternoon came from Otsego lake, which is the source of this stream, George Windecker and another, in a small batteau, with goods and rum, going down to Onohoghwage upon a trading voyage. We agreed with them to carry the interpreter and Mr. Woodbridge in their batteau; and bought a wooden canoe to carry our flour and baggage.

"We soon saw the ill effects of Windecker's rum. The Indians began to drink and some of our party were the worse for it. We perceived what was coming.

"June 1st, 1753, is with me a memorable day, and for forty years and more has not passed unnoticed. We got off as silently as we could with ourselves and effects. Some went by water and others by land, with the horses. I was with the land party. The Indians, half intoxicated, were outrageous, and pursued both the party by water, in which was Mr. Woodbridge, and the party by land. One came so near us as with his club to strike at us, and he hit one of our horses. We hastened. Neither party met till we arrived at Wauteghe at which had been an Indian village, where were a few fruit trees and considerable cleared land, but no inhabitants. Here, being unmolested and secure, we all refreshed ourselves. But Pallas was the worse for his rum; was so refractory that Mr. Ashley's hired man, who had been in the canoe with him, was afraid. I reproved him; got into the canoe to keep him in order; was young and inexperienced; knew not much of Indians, nor much of mankind; whereby I endangered my life."

In 1763, Rev. Mr. Wheelock made application to Gen. Amherst for a land grant in the following words: "That a tract of land, about fifteen or twenty miles square, or so much as shall be sufficient for four townships, on the west side of Susquehanna river, or in some other place more convenient, in the heart of the Indian country, be granted in favor of this school. The said townships be peopled with a chosen number of inhabitants of known honesty, integrity, and such as love and will be kind to, and honest in their dealings with Indians.

"That a thousand acres of, and within said grant be given to this school; part of it to be a college for the education of missionaries, interpreters, school-masters, etc.; and part of it a school to teach reading, writing, etc. And that there be manufactures for the instruction of both males and females, in whatever shall be useful and necessary in life, and proper tutors, masters and mistresses be provided for the same."

During the war for independence, the Susquehanna valley below Schenevus creek was the lurking place of Indians and Tories, who, from this secluded territory, made many and frequent inroads upon the settlements on the Schoharie and Charlotte. Owing to the remoteness of this section and the weak condition of the frontiersmen, the trail of the retreating savages was seldom followed to any considerable distance and consequently but little knowledge concerning the valley was derived by the settlers at the former points until the restoration of peace.

In 1770, an extensive tract of land was granted to Sir William Johnson and others, a large part of which lies within the limits of the town of Oneonta. This tract lies on both sides of the Susquehanna river, both above and below the Otego creek. It is supposed the first settlement within the town was made upon this patent. It contained 26,000 acres.

Some years before the commencement of hostilities, Henry Schramling, a hardy pioneer from the older settlement at German Flats, on the Mohawk, came into the valley and made a settlement at a point near the Otego creek bridge, but by reason of the troubled condition of the country after 1775, Mr. Schramling moved back to the Mohawk for greater security. After the war he with his brothers, George and David, returned to the Susquehanna. It is believed upon good authority that he was the first white settler in the town of Oneonta. After the departure of the Schramling family, many years elapsed before any pioneers were found venturesome enough to settle in this portion of the valley.

Abram Houghtailing, Elias Brewer and Peter Swartz became settlers here in 1786. Houghtailing and Brewer came from Washington county, and Swartz from Schoharie. About the same date, James Youngs settled near the mouth of the Charlotte and Baltus Kimball settled north of the village on the farm now owned by Jacob Morell.

About the year 1790, Thomas Morenus settled on the south side of the river. He was a German from Schoharie. About the same time Frederick Brown came from Fulton, N.Y., and settled on the farm formerly owned and occupied by Eliakim R. Ford. At this time Brown's house was the only one standing within the limits of the present village corporation. About the year 1795, one Aaron Brink built a large log house by the mill pond, or rather between the railroad crossing on Main street and the mill pond. Brink's house was the first hotel kept in the village of Oneonta, and perhaps the first that was kept in town. Between Brown's house and Brink's tavern there was only a common wood-road, with a dense forest on either side.

About the same time John Vanderwerker built the first grist-mill. This mill stood some distance east of the grist-mill now standing in the lower part of the village.

In 1791, Asel Marvin came from Vermont and first settled at Oneonta Plains. Shortly afterwards he removed on a large tract of wild land, about two miles from the village, upon the Oneonta Creek. He was a well-known builder and lumberman. For twenty-two consecutive years he rafted lumber to Baltimore. He built the first school house on the Oneonta Creek road, and when the first church edifice was built in town, he was one of the trustees of the church society. When Mr. Marvin moved into the valley of the Oneonta Creek, the country across the hill from Oneonta to Laurens, was almost an unbroken wilderness.

Some years later than the last named date, Peter Dinninny opened the first store kept in Oneonta. The store then stood where the opera block now stands. The first school-house was built soon after 1790, and stood on the rise of ground near the house of Horace Sessions, on the south side of the river.

Previous to 1816, when the Presbyterian church was built, church services were generally held in Frederick Brown's barn. The first clergyman who regularly preached here was the Rev. Alfred Conkey, who was settled at Milford. Mr. Conkey is yet remembered by some of the older citizens as a very earnest and zealous man, besides being a person of liberal culture.

The first white child born in this town, or the first known to have been born in town, was Abram Houghtaling. He was born in 1786.

John and Nicholas Beams were early settlers to the east of the village. Elisha Shepherd came from New England at an early day and settled at Oneonta Plains. His sons, in after years, became actively engaged in different branches of industry, and the Plains at one time bid fair to become the most prominent village in town. It contained a hotel, a store, two churches and a distillery.

Andrew Parish was also one of the pioneers of Oneonta. He was born in Massachusetts in 1786, and moved from Springfield here in 1808. He settled on the south side of the river on the John Fritts farm, and afterwards on the hill near the "Round Top." From the latter place he moved to the farm now owned by his son Stephen, on the south side of the river. Mr. Parish reared a large family of children, all of whom became successful farmers, and men of business. Andrew Parish was a justice of the town for twenty years in succession. He was also a commissioner of schools under the old system. In 1809 he put up a brick kiln on the Elisha Shepherd farm at the Oneonta Plains, from which came the first bricks that were used in town.

Dr. Joseph Lindsay was the first physician who settled in Oneonta. He came from Pelham, in the old county of Hampshire, Mass., in the year 1807. Having received a liberal education in the advanced schools of his native state and at Williams College, in after years he became a teacher to many of the younger people of the country who were ambitious of extending their studies beyond the rudimentary branches taught at that time in the schools of the neighborhood.

In 1815, Frederick Bornt moved on the farm now owned and occupied by his son, on the Oneonta Creek. He had been a soldier in the war of 1812 and had served at the battle of Plattsburg. He came from Rensselaer county, N.Y.

Before the date last named, Jacob Van Woert, a Dutchman, and father of the late Peter and John Van Woert, came from Albany and settled on the farm lately owned by his son Peter, near the mouth of the Otego Creek. Asa Emmons about the same time settled on the south side of the river, near the Charlotte. He came from Vermont, and settled where Deacon Slade now lives. Jacob Wolf, the father of Conradt Wolf, had also settled in the southern part of the town at about the close of the Revolutionary war. Mr. Wolf had been taken as an Indian captive to Canada, where he had been detained for several years. His home, when captured, was in the valley of the Mohawk. While extinguishing a fire which had caught in a tall hemlock, by night, he was surprised by a company of Indians, by whom he was easily overpowered. He at length escaped from his captors, and making his way southward, after a long and perilous journey, he met with friends on the Tioga river. He rejoined his wife on the Mohawk, and afterwards removed to the Susquehanna, on the farm now owned by George Swart, southwest of the village.

Elihu Gifford, with four sons, came from Albany county in 1803, and first settled at West Oneonta, on the farm now owned by Joseph Taber. In 1806, Mr. Gifford moved to the farm now owned by Henry Gifford on Oneonta Creek. About the same time Josiah Peet and Ephraim Farrington moved into the same neighborhood. Later, Col. Wm. Richardson settled further up the creek and built a saw-mill and a grist-mill. "Richardson's Mills" became a well-known place in a few years, and a thriving hamlet soon began to form around them. Col. Richardson was an enterprising man of business and took a prominent part in the affairs of the town. He served in the war of 1812-15.

When Elihu Gifford moved to the Oneonta Creek there were only four "clearings" in that valley. A Mr. Armitage had made some inroads upon the wilderness, on what is now known as the Losee farm; Asel Marvin had made a clearing on the James Sheldon farm, and there were others on Mrs. Richardson's farm, and where Peter Yager lives. The settlers along the Oneonta Creek, after Mr. Marvin, moved in slowly.

About 1804, David Yager came from Greenbush, N.Y., and purchased the farm now known as the Peter Yager farm. Solomon Yager, the father of David, came afterwards, purchasing his son's farm.

James McDonald settled at the lower end of the village at an early date. Mr. McDonald was of Scotch descent, and an active business man. The lower part of the village was largely built through his enterprise and at one time bid fair to become the business centre of the village. He built a mill and hotel, and also became an extensive landholder. James McDonald kept the first post-office established within the limits of the town.

The first settlers were mostly German Palatinates from Schoharie and the Mohawk. The German was the language of common conversation, and so continued until Dr. Lindsay and Asa Emmons came into the settlement. At this time the Emmons and Lindsay families were the only ones that made the English their exclusive language.

These German settlers were a patient and persevering people, and betook themselves to the task of felling the forest and rearing homes for themselves and their posterity, with a noble and praiseworthy resolution. Beneath the sturdy strokes of the axe, the wilderness slowly but gradually disappeared around their rude homes, and in the place of the gloomy forest, fields of waving grain appeared on every side to cheer and encourage the industrious woodsman. The forests abounded in the most ravenous animals, such as bears, panthers and wolves, while along the river and creek bottoms the ground was at places almost literally covered with poisonous reptiles. The climate was severe, and the country remote from the frontier, yet notwithstanding the obstacles and discouragements that beset them, these were not sufficient to cause the settlers to relax their efforts to rear comfortable homes for their descendants.

The following story I have taken from Priest's Collection, for the reason that the scene of the exploit is said to have been near our town boundaries:

"Ben Wheaton was one of the first settlers on the waters of the Susquehanna, immediately after the war, a rough, uncultivated and primitive man. As many others of the same stamp and character, he subsisted chiefly by hunting, cultivating the land but sparingly, and in this way raised a numerous family amid the woods, in a half starved condition, and comparative nakedness. But as the Susquehanna country rapidly increased in population, the hunting grounds of Wheaton were encroached upon; so that a chance with his smooth-bore, among the deer and bears was greatly lessened. On this account Wheaton removed from the Susquehanna country, in Otsego county, to the more unsettled wilds of the Delaware, near a place yet known by the appellation of Wait's Settlement, where game was more plenty. The distance from where he made his home in the woods, through to the Susquehanna, was about fifteen miles, and was one continued wilderness at that time. Through these woods this almost aboriginal hunter was often compelled to pass to the Susquehanna, for various necessaries, and among the rest no small quantity of whiskey, as he was of very intemperate habits. On one of these visits, in the midst of summer, with his smooth-bore always on his shoulder, knife, hatchet, &c., in their proper place, he had nearly penetrated the distance, when he became weary, and having come to the summit of a ridge which overlooks the vale of the Susquehanna, he selected a convenient place in the shade, as it was hot, for the rays of the sun from the west poured his sultry influence through all the forest, where he lay down to rest a while among the leaves, after having taken a drink from his pint bottle of green glass, and a mouthful of cold Johnney cake from his pocket.

"In this situation he was soothed to drowsiness by the hum of insects, and the monotony of passing winds among the foliage around him, when he soon unwarily fell asleep with his gun folded in his arms. But after a while he awoke from his sleep, and for a moment or two still lay in the same position, as it happened, without stirring, when he found that something had taken place while he had slept, which had situated him somewhat differently from the manner in which he first went to sleep. On reflecting a moment, he found he was entirely covered over, head and ears, with leaves and light stuff, occasioned, as he now suspected, either by the sudden blowing of the wind, or by some wild animal. On which account he became a little disturbed in his mind, as he well knew the manners of the panther at that season of the year, when it hunts to supports its young, and will often cover its prey with leaves and bring its whelps to the banquet. He therefore continued to lie perfectly still, as when he first awoke; he thought he heard the step of some kind of heavy animal near him; and he knew that if it were a panther, the distance between himself and death could not be far, if he should attempt to rise up. Accordingly, as he suspected, after having lain a full minute, he now distinctly heard the retiring tread of the stealthy panther, of which he had no doubt, from his knowledge of the creature's ways. It had taken but a few steps however, when it again stopped a longer time; still Wheaton continued his silent position, knowing his safety depended much on this. Soon the tread was again heard, farther and farther off, till it entirely died away in the distance--but he still lay motionless a few minutes longer, when he ventured gently and cautiously to raise his head and cast an eye in the direction the creature, whatever it was, had gone, but could see nothing. He now rose up with a spring, for his blood had been running from his heart to his extremities, and back again, with uncommon velocity; all the while his ears had listened to the steps of the animal on the leaves and brush. He now saw plainly the marks of design among the leaves, and that he had been covered over, and that the paws of some creature had done it.

"And as he suspected the panther was the animal, he knew it would soon return to kill him, on which account he made haste to deceive it, and to put himself in a situation to give it a taste of the contents of old smooth-bore. He now seized upon some pieces of old wood which lay all about, and placed as much as was equal to his own bulk, exactly where he had slept, and covered it over with leaves in the same manner the panther had done, and then sprang to a tree near by, into which he ascended, from whence he had a view a good distance about him, and especially in the direction the creature had gone. Here in the crotch of the tree he stood, with his gun resting across a limb, in the direction of the place where he had been left by the panther, looking sharply as far among the woods as possible, in the direction he expected the creature's return. But he had remained in this condition but a short time, and had barely thrust the ram-rod down the barrel of his piece, to be sure the charge was in her, and to examine her priming, and to shut down the pan slowly, so that it should not snap, and thus make a noise, when his keen Indian eye, for such he had, caught a glimpse of a monstrous panther, leading warily two panther kittens toward her intended supper.

"Now matters were hastening to a climax rapidly, when Wheaton or the panther must finish their hunting on the mountains of the Susquehanna, for if old smooth-bore should flash in the pan, or miss her aim, the die would be cast, as a second load would be impossible ere her claws would have sundered his heart strings in the tree where he was, or if he should but partially wound her the same must have been his fate. During these thoughts the panther had hid her young under some brush, and had come within some thirty feet of the spot where she supposed her victim was still sleeping; and seeing all as she left it, she dropped down to a crouching position, precisely as a cat, when about to spring on its prey. Now was seen the soul of the panther in its perfection, merging from the recesses of nature where hidden by the creator, along the whole nervous system, but resting chiefly in the brain, whence it glared, in bright horror, from the burning eyes, curled in the strong and vibrating tail, pushed out the sharp, white and elliptical fangs from the broad and powerful paws, ready for rending, glittered on the points of its uncovered teeth, and smoked in rapid tissues of steam from its red and open jaws, while every hair of its long dun back stood erect in savage joy, denoting that the fatal and decisive moment of its leap had come.

Share on: WhatsApp @Hash Facebook Tweet