Early Settlers of Oswego

The town of Oswego, situated in the northwest corner of the county and lying wholly within the old Military Tract, was erected from Hannibal the 20th of April, r8r8. May 20, 1836, a triangular tract bordering the river at Minetto was annexed from Granby. March 24, 1848, that part of Oswego city lying west of the river was taken from the town, thus leaving the town its present area of 20,536 acres. It is bounded on the east by Oswego city and Scriba, on the south by Granby and Hannibal, on the west by Sterling, Cayuga county and Lake Ontario, and on the north by the lake and Oswego city.The surface is gently rolling and in some places quite broken, the whole having a northerly or northeasterly inclination. Abrupt bluffs border the lake and river and afford considerable picturesque scenery. The soil is a productive gravelly loam under-laid with a red sandstone of the Medina formation, which frequently appears in boulders and water-worm pebbles. The principal streams are Eight-Mile, Nine-Mile, Snake, Rice, and Minetto Creeks, which afford excellent drainage and some valuable mill privileges. At Minetto the river furnishes an immense water-power.The town of Oswego was originally covered with a dense growth of heavy timber, which long furnished employment to numerous saw mills and to scores of lumbermen, for whose product a ready market was found at the mouth of the river. But the primitive forests have long since disappeared, and in their place are seen fertile fields and comfortable homes.Soon after the pioneers threaded the wilderness, roads were cut through the forests to what is now Oswego city, but several years elapsed before passable thoroughfares were surveyed and opened. The first highway in town was the road leading from Oswego up the river through Minetto to Oswego Falls, which was surveyed and opened in 1810 or 1811. The Fifth street road, now a popular thoroughfare, was laid out by William Moore, the first surveyor, in 1813. The early bridges were made of. logs.April 17, 1816, Jacob L. Lazalere, James Geddes, and John McFadden were authorized by the Legislature to lay out a State road four rods wide, “beginning at the ferry on the west side of the river in the village of Oswego, and thence by the most eligible route through the towns of Hannibal, Sterling, and Galen (now Clyde), to the bridge over the Canandaigua outlet at the block—house in the town of Galen.” This was the old Hannibal road. On the same day the Legislature authorized Seth Cushman, of Lysander, and Edmund Hawks and William Moore, of Hannibal, to lay out a road four rods wide from “Snow’s bridge in Syracuse and thence through the towns of Lysander and Hannibal to Oswego.” The Oswego and Sodas Branch Turnpike Company was incorporated March 28, 1817, with a capital stock of $2,500, for the purpose of constructing a road from a point on the Owasco Creek in Mentz through Cato, Sterling, and Hannibal to Oswego. All these thoroughfares passed through the town of Oswego and materially aided its settlement. Over them stage lines were maintained, making them scenes of considerable activity. About 1846—7 plank roads came into existence. In 1850 one was completed from Oswego to Sterling Center, but with the decline of these highways it was abandoned. Other roads were surveyed and opened to accommodate the increasing settlements, and at the present time the town has sixty—four road districts.Excepting in the village of Minetto the inhabitants of the town are principally engaged in agricultural pursuits. In former years large quantities of wheat were raised, but that was long ago superseded by diversified farming. Fruit, comprising many varieties, is profitably grown, as are also the grains, hay, corn, potatoes arid vegetables. Perhaps no town in the county has devoted more systematic efforts toward the development of agriculture than Oswego. March 13, 1869, the Union Village Farmers’ Club was organized, with Thomas G Thompson as president, and in 1870 it was chartered as the Oswego Town Agricultural and Horticultural Society. A fine hail was erected on the farm of Mr. Thompson, at a cost of $2,000, and dedicated June 23, 1870. Exhibitions were held for several years. Brick has been extensively manufactured, there being at one time five or six yards in active operation in different parts of the town.The first town meeting was held at the school house in Oswego village Tuesday, May 5, 1818, and the following officers were chosen:

Eleazer Perry, supervisor; William Dalloway, town clerk; Henry Eagle, Henry Everts, Eleazer Perry, jr. assessors; Matthew McNair, William Fay, jr., Erastus Todd, commissioners of highways; Matthew McNair and Eleazer Perry, Jr., overseers of the poor; Asa Dudley, collector; Asa Dudley and John S. Newton, constables; Alvin Bronson, Samuel B. Beach, John Moore, Jr., commissioners of common schools; Walter Colton, George Fisher, and William Moore, school inspectors; Alvin Bronscn and Samuel B. Beach, commissioners of gospel lots.

The supervisors have been:

The town officers for 1895 were:
Lewis P. Taylor, supervisor: S. E. Metcalf, town clerk; John F. Brown, John Bishop, Milton S. Coe, and Albert A. Sabin, justices of the peace; Robert Lippincott, William Taggert and Lester C. Wright, assessors; Frank Doyle, highway commissioner; William Powell, colleetor; William Leadley. overseer of the poor; T. G. Thompson, J. A. Perkins, and Maxon Lewis, auditors.

The first settler in the town of Oswego was Asa Rice, who came from Connecticut, down the Oswego River, and settled on lot 2 October 6, 1797. For a time he lived in a tent at the mouth of Three-Mile Creek, and when his log shanty was erected he moved into that. This latter habitation stood on the site of Union Village (Fruit Valley) post office and was the first building of any kind in the territory under consideration. Upon its completion Mr. Rice formally christened the place with a bottle of wine, giving it the name, “Union Village,” which it has ever since borne. With him came two or three other families, but all removed before winter set in, leaving Mr. Rice as the first and only permanent settler. His son Arvin, who accompanied the little band of pioneers, was then eleven years of age. In 1809 he settled near Hannibal village Asa died there in 1878. His son Arvin, now a lawyer in Fulton, was born there in 1845. Asa Rice made the first clearing, planted and raised the first crops, and set out the first orchard—all on lot 2. He passed through many hardships and privations, and during the winter after his arrival his infant child actually died of starvation, which was the first death in town. The first birth was that of Thomas Jefferson Rice in 1801. The first marriage occurred in 1800, the contracting parties being Augustus Ford and Miss Rice. Mrs. Rice and her daughter did the weaving for their neighbors. There being no distilleries in the vicinity, Mr. Rice made from honey a fermented drink called “rnetheglin,” which was sweet and pleasant, but somewhat intoxicating. He built the first frame house about 1810 and also the first frame barn in the town. About the same time, with a Mr. Brace, he erected on Rice Creek the first saw mill at Union Village.

Mr. Rice apparently was the only permanent settler of the town until 1800, when Reuben Pixley came in and purchased fifty acres of him, which he sold a few years later to a Mr. Brace. Daniel Burt arrived in 1802 and a Mr. Beckwith in 1804. Eleazer Perry, the first supervisor, came in 1805, while Jacob Thorpe and Jonathan Buell were settlers in 1806, the latter locating on lot 29. Montgomery Perry and Mehetabel Rice were married about 1812. Daniel Robinson came in 1809 and Nathan Drury about 1810. The latter was from Massachusetts and located on lot 30, and in order to raise a crop of corn was obliged to watch his field and drive away the bears. Mr. Robinson had a clay bed on his farm and manufactured bricks. Soon after 1830 he erected on lot 9 the first brick house in the town.

Settlement progressed very slowly until after the war of 1812. The close proximity to the warlike scenes at Oswego had a marked influence not only upon immigrants seeking homes in the then “Far West,” but upon the safety and peace of those who had already settled in the wilderness. Several of the pioneers joined the American forces, while their families guarded the little clearings and met with fortitude the privations of frontier life. A few settlers came in during those years. Among them were David Gray, who migrated from Saratoga county in 1812, located on lot 21, and died June 6, 1813 ; William Moore, the first surveyor, and Paul Whittemore, who also arrived in 1812; Elihu W. Gifford, who came from Washington county in 1812, settled first on lot 92 and later on lot 91, and died there in 1848 ; Nathan Farnham, from Bennington, Vt., who located on lot 2 in 1813 and on lot 3 in 1816; Sylvanus Bishop, who took up his residence on lot 4 in 1813; Chauncey Coats, an athletic man and probably the strongest man in the county, who came from Massachusetts in 1814 and settled on lot 12, living first in a log cabin covered with ash bark; and Daniel Pease, who came from the same State about the same time and located on lot 11, where his sons Alfred and Levi, grandsons of Asa Rice, have since resided. Nathan Farnham was born in Bennington, Vt., December 24, 1792, and died here September 10, 1885. He was a member of Capt. Stephen Brace’s company in the War of 1812, one of the original vestry of Christ’s Church, Oswego, and served as constable, justice of the peace, and sheriff of the county. His brother, Samuel Farnham, preceded him as a settler, and in 1813 built on Rice Creek at Union Village, the first grist mill in the county of Oswego. It was known as the old red mill, was soon sold to Matthew McNair, and was burned in 1869/ Daniel Pease married Miriam, a daughter of Asa Rice, and had four sons and three daughters, of whom Levi, born in 1816, was the oldest. The latter married Mrs. Mary B. Rhoades, a daughter of Sylvanus Bishop. Elihu W. Gifford, from 1813 until his death, conducted the mill erected by Silas Crandall.

After the war ceased settlers came in increasing numbers, and hereafter space permits the mention only of those more prominently identified with the life and growth of the town. In 1816 came Abram M. and Selden P. Clark, from Connecticut, who located on lot 3, which was then worth $10 per acre. John Griffin arrived about the same year and settled on lot 24, where he built the first log house in that vicinity. As early as 1817 the following settlers came in: Cephas Weed and Justin and Jonathan Eastman, on lot 84; Messrs. Godby, Godfrey and Oswell on lot 76; and Rudolph Dutcher, on lot 17. The latter was a millwright and assisted in erecting the first mill in Oswego. In 1818 William J. Forbes located on lot 22. In 1819 Schuyler Worden came from Cayuga county and settled on lot 29, the site of the present village of Minetto. A Mr. Collins purchased lot 31, which was drawn by Joshua Foreman, a Revolutionary soldier. After owning it many years he deeded it to his son, Lee Collins. In 1820 the town contained 992 inhabitants.

Other early settlers, the date of whose coming cannot now be ascertained, were Joseph Rice on lot 36 (“ State’s hundred”); Francis Lent on lot 36; a Mr. Foster on lot 26; David D. Gray on lot 21; Job and Ebenezer Perkins, Anson Taylor, Jason Peck, Samuel Sanders, James Gillis, Heman Rice and a Mr. Chambers on lot 78, where W. H. Johnson afterward became an owner; Erastus Todd on lot 13, now Oswego Center; and Henry Everts, the pioneer of Scriba.

In 1821 Stephen Tilden arrived from Vermont and settled on lot 9. His lands finally passed into possession of B. P. Dutcher and Vincent Sabin and son. In 1822 Nathan Lewis, who was born October 27, 1797, and had moved with his parents to Madison county in 1805, came to this town where he spent the remainder of his life. About the same year James Stevenson purchased 108 acres of lot 17, and a Mr. Brown settled on lot 14. The latter sold his improvements to Jesse Gray in 1826. In 1824 Silas Green, who was born in Coventry, R. I., and had served in the Revolutionary war, located on the northwest corner of lot (38). His farm for about forty-four years was owned by his son Norman and finally passed into possession of Garrett Loomis. In 1825 John Dunsmore came from Massachusetts and purchased 130 acres of lot 24, which was first owned by the Bleekers, land speculators, of London. He came from Otsego, N. Y., with ox-teams; was seven days on the way; and sold one yoke of oxen upon his arrival for $55.

Among others who became settlers prior to 1830 were:
B. P. Bradway, Le Roy Burt, Madison J. Blodgett, C. W. Bronson, George Blossom, Lyman Coats (one of the projectors of the Oswego County Pioneer Association), Warren Coats, Seymour Coe, jr., Daniel R. Green, Alfred H. Greenwood, R. F. Harding (for several years superintendent of the Oswego City almshonse), Nathan Lewis. John Ostrancler, Lewis Stevens, Philo Stone, Willett R. Worden and James Wiltse.

Samuel Furniss purchased a part of lot 26 in 1832 and John Parkinson, from England, settled here in 1833. About 1832 Seymour Coe, Sr., who had come from Massachusetts to Onondaga county and thence in 1818 to Palermo, located on lot 12 and died in 1877, aged nearly ninety years In 1838 Abel Wilder came from Madison county and purchased of Ansel Frost 437 acres on lots 31 and 32. To 100 acres of this his son Eli succeeded. On Eight-Mile Creek on this farm William Lewis, at a very early date, erected a saw mill, which was rebuilt by Eli Wilder in 1838. Abel Wilder died in 1852, aged sixty-seven. Eli, the eldest of three sons and two daughters, was born December 18, 1816. During this decade—1830–40—the following also became settlers:

James W. Brown, Eugene M. Blodgett, T. S. Brigham, Richard Carrier, C-. J. Cornish, John Carpenter, Benjamin P. Dutcher, John S. Furniss, 1-lenry P. Fitch (long a justice of the peace), William Gray, Dr. Ira L. Jones, Capt. James Jenkins (master of a vessel out of Oswego for twenty-three years), C. G. Park, Walter R. Perry, H. M. Potter, John Place, Hamilton L. Stearns and Vincent Sabin.

Among those who came during the years from 1840 to 1850 were
H. A. Cornish, Simeon Lewis, James Martin, Chester M. Randall, Frank Smith and Albert A. Sabin.

In “ Historical Collections of the State of New York,” published in 1846, two years before Oswego was incorporated as a city, appears the following brief description of this town

Oswego was taken from Hannibal in 1818. It has a level surface and a soil of sandy ham. Pop. 4,673. Oswego village, post and half-shire town, port of entry and delivery for Oswego district, is 45 miles W. from Sackett’s Harbor, 60 from Kingston, Upper Canada, 60 from the mouth of Genesee River, 140 from the mouth of Niagara River, 150 from Toronto in a straight line, and 38 from Syracuse on the Erie Canal.

The water power afforded by the canal and river is very extensive, and upon them are many large manufacturing establishments.

In October, 1848, the Oswego and Syracuse Railroad (now the Delaware, Lackawana and Western Railroad), was completed and opened through the town, with a station at Minetto and the terminus at Oswego, and thus afforded a new avenue of transportation and travel. This was followed about twenty-five years later by the Lake Ontario Shore (now the R.W. & 0.) Railroad southwestward from Oswego, to aid in the construction of which the town was bonded for $30,000, of which $3,000 remained unpaid January 1, 1895. J. A. Perkins is railroad commissioner. There are two stations, Wheeler’s and Furniss, in the town of Oswego.

Prominent among other residents of the town may be mentioned the the names of William Adams, Lewis A. Cole, Silas Cushman, James A. Griffin, Stanton S. Gillett, D. D. and E. B. Colby, William Howell, Le Roy Pease, E. C. Pasco, Schuyler L. Parsons, Waterman T. Parsons, Horace W. Todd, N. K. Hammond and others noticed further on and in Parts II and III of this volume.

As instances of longevity it is interesting to add the names of three centenarians whose death occurred in this town, viz., Abram Emelow, died in May, 1877, aged 102 years; Mrs. W. Clark. May 13, 1880, aged 113 years, 9 months and 23 days; and Nathaniel Laird, April 16, 1894, aged about 109.

From the fall of Sumter in 1861 to the end of the Rebellion in 1865, the town of Oswego responded promptly to the calls for troops, sending in all nearly 275 of her citizens. A number fell in battle ; a few died in Southern prisons; some succumbed to wounds and the ravages of disease; and the remainder returned home to receive the welcome and applause of a grateful people. Among those who attained merited promotion were Capt. E. F. Barstow, Lieut. Smith McCoy. Lieut. Charles A. Phillips, Capt. Volney T. Pierce, Capt. James V. Pierce, Col. William C. Raulston (81st Regt., prisoner, killed), Col. John Raulston, Capt. George F. Raulston, Capt. John Stevenson and Sergt. Richard A. Shoemaker.

The first school in town was kept in a log cabin just south of the four corners at Union Village in 1813; the teacher was Susan Newell. The first regular school house was a frame structure, which was erected in 1816 on the site of the present cobblestone school building at Union Village. The town now contains fifteen school districts with a school house in each, schools in which were taught in 1892—3 by seventeen teachers and attended by 563 pupils. The school buildings and sites are valued at $11,200; assessed valuation of the districts, $890,563; money received from the State, $2,093.95 ; raised by local tax, $2,30182. The districts are locally designated as follows; No. 1, California; 2, Fruit Valley; 3, Minetto; 4, Number Nine; 5, Worden; 6, Fair Ground; 7. Stephens; 8, Tallman; 9, Burt; 10, Oswego Center; 11, Thompson; 12, Southwest Oswego; 13, Ball; 14, Hall; 15, Bunker Hill.

Supervisors’ statistics of 1894: Assessed valuation of real estate, $892,882. equalized, $1,098,329; personal property, $25,950; value of railroads, $14.14 miles, $129,054; total valuation of town, $1, 124,279; town tax, $2,539.51; county tax, $6,295.96; total tax levy, $11,180.81 ; dog tax, $84; ratio of tax on $100, $1.22. The town has two election districts, in which 573 votes were cast in November, 1894.

Minetto is a post village on the Oswego River and a station on the D., L. & W. Railroad about four miles above Oswego city. It is pleasantly situated in the midst of picturesque scenery, and has acquired some prominence as a local summer resort. It occupies lot 29 The first tavern was opened in the place as early as 1820 by Mrs. Betsey Pease, and among the early settlers on the site were Messrs. Pease, Forbes, and Everts. About 1832 Samuel Taggart built a grist mill here, which was long since discontinued. Among the old-time merchants were Henry Fitchard and A. Oot. At one time a large saw mill was operated here. It stood on the site of the shade cloth factory and had a capacity of 20,000 feet of lumber every twenty-four hours. The postmaster is John R. Chase, who succeeded Dr. Ira L. Jones in April, 1894. The chief industry of the village now is that of the Minetto Shade Cloth Company, which was started in the fall of 1879 by the present proprietors, A. S. Page, C. B. Benson, and Charles Tremain. From 250 to 350 operatives are employed, and window shades and shade rollers are manufactured. The village contains two hotels and about 300 inhabitants.

Fruit Valley, formerly and still locally known as Union Village, a name given it by Asa Rice, the first settler of the town, is a postal hamlet on lot 2, near the lake shore, and was the scene of many of the first happenings in Oswego, as already narrated. A small tannery was built and operated there by a Mr. Nelson at a very early day, and about 1825 Wiliet R. Willis erected a cloth-dressing establishment on the same lot. The first merchant was a Mrs. Neland, from Massachusetts, and the first tavern was opened in a log house by Lemuel Austin about 1810. He was succeeded by William Lewis, and the latter about 1813 by Jacob Raynor. The first carpenter was Chester Brace, and the first blacksmith was Arthur Brace. The first physician was Dr. Coe, and the first mail carrier was Mills Brace, the post-office at that time and for many years afterward bearing the name of Union Village. B B. Bradway was a long-time merchant and also had a cider mill. The present postmaster is E. Newell, who succeeded Louisa E. Bradway.

South West Oswego is a postal village in the southwestern part of the town. The first house, a log structure, was built there in 1820; the first blacksmith shop was opened by Stephen Cobb about 1833; and the first store was kept by Asa Watson about 1844. The present postmaster is Charles M. Barstow. The place contains two churches, the usual complement of stores and shops, and about 300 inhabitants.

Oswego Center is a postal hamlet situated north of the R., W. & 0. Railroad near the center of the town. It is located on lot 13 and for many years was familiarly, known as Fitch’s Corners. The present merchant and postmaster is Charles A. Fish, who has held the office
several years. A former postmaster and merchant was William C. Marsh. Frank Smith formerly had a tavern there. About half a mile northwest of the place is the cider refinery of James A. Griffin, who started it as a cider mill in 1862.

Burt’s Point, owned by George N. Burt, of Oswego, is an attractive summer resort on the lake shore about three miles west of Oswego city, with which it is connected by an electric street railroad. The hotel there was burned August JO, 1894, and is being rebuilt. The place contains a number of summer cottages.

Churches.— From 1811 to 1813 two sermons were preached at Union Village, one by Rev. Roswell Beckwith, a Baptist and an uncle of Mrs. Jesse Gray, and one by a Methodist itinerant named Gillett. Subsequently classes were formed and occasional services held in convenient places, but during the earlier years the inhabitants worshiped in Oswego village and city and in Fulton

The Methodist Episcopal church of Minetto was organized as the First Society of the M. E. church of the town of Oswego at the Dennis school house on November 15, 1848, with Daniel Scott, Abraham Fort, Mynard Grooesbeck, Le Roy Burt, and Robert Fulford as trustees. Rev. M. H. Gaylord and Samuel L. Lent presided, and among the constituent members were:

Mynard and Phoebe Grooesbeck, George and Betsey Burch, Samuel and Catherine Lent, Perry and Myra Chase, John and Eleanor Myers, Robert and Sarah Fulford, Caroline Armstrong, Miss Everts, Sally Dennis, Caroline Brown, Dibby Rheubottom, and Harry Miller and wife.

Mr. Miller was the first class-leader in this vicinity. In 1849 a church edifice was erected at a cost of $700, and dedicated inthe fall of that year by Rev. Hiram Mattison. In 1892 this building was replaced by the present neat frame structure, which cost about $3,000 and was dedicated early in 1893, being built during the pastorate of Rev. Mr. CulHgan. The society also owns a frame parsonage, which was purchased in the fall of 1894 for $1,500. There are about ninety members under the pastoral charge of Rev. Jesse F. Rathbun. The first superintendent of the Sunday school was Jonathan Buel; the present incumbent is Frank Parkhurst. The entire church property is valued at $8,000.

The Baptist church of South West Oswego was formed in 1839, among the earlier members being C. G. Park, William Curtis, Stephen Cagg, Mrs. C. Dunsmore, Mrs. Newell, and a Mr. Merwin. The first stationed pastor was Rev. Edward Lawton and the early services were held in a wooden building fitted up for the purpose. In 1854 a frame church edifice was built, and two years later the first Sunday school was organized with John B. McLean as superintendent, who was succeeded by John D. Andrews. Among the early pastors were Revs. H. Powers, Isaac Butterfield, Morley, Parkhurst, William C. Corbin, and W. C. Johnson. The present pastor is Rev. A. H. Sutphin. Miss Mattie Pasko is superintendent of the Sunday school, which has about 100 officers and scholars. The society has some eighty-five members and property valued at $4,000.

The First Methodist Episcopal church of South West Oswego was organized from the Oswego Center circuit on December 9, 1872, with the following trustees: Vincent Sabin, James Wiltse, John A. Taylor, E. A. Carnrite, Benjamin P. Dutcher, 0. Barstow, and William E. Stevens. The Oswego Center circuit was set off in 1859 and meetings were held at Oswego Center and Minetto. Among the early ministers in charge were Revs. R. L. Frazier, George Plank, A. Shaw, D. Furgeson, A. J. Cotrell, F. A. O’Farrell, George C. Wood, Charles E. Beebe, W. F. Purrington, and others. A brick church was erected in 1873 under the supervision of P. M Schoonmaker, and cost complete $3,600. It was dedicated February 4, 1874, by Rev. B. F. Barker, P. E. In the latter year a Sunday school was organized with 0. Barstow as superintendent. In 1892 a frame church was built at Oswego Center at a cost of about $2,300, including lot and furnishings, and dedicated in December of that year. The society also owns a frame parsonage. There is also an M. E. church, a frame structure, located at what is known as Town Line. All three are in the Oswego Center charge, under the pastoral care of Rev. George F. Shepherd, and have a combined membership of about 140 and property valued at $10,000.

Services of the Methodist Protestant denomination are held at the Thompson school house, the pastor being Rev. Charles Hessler.