HISTORY of REMSEN

A NARRATIVE HISTORY of REMSEN NEW YORK Including parts of adjoining townships of STEUBEN and TRENTON 'By MILLARD F. ROBERTS ''Which we have heard and known, and such as our fathers have told us; that we should not hide them from the generations to come." -Psal.ms PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR 1914 Copyright 1914 By MILLARD F. ROBERTS Printed by Lyman Bros. Inc., Syracuse, N. Y. For the author TO THE MEMORY OF THE PIONEERS AND EARLY SETTLERS OF REMSEN AND VICINITY 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 ~ike 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 acknowl edge my indebtedness to the following works for valu able information: "The Documentary History of New York;" "Spaf ford'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 ''His tory 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 Com pany, and the "Autobiography of Francis Adrian Van der Kemp," the last two edited by Mrs. Helen Linck- Vl HISTORY OF REMSEN laen Fairchild, of Cazenovia; N. Y.; "Y Cenhadwr Americanaidd" (American Messenger), a Welsh maga zine 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. For much valuable assistance I am indebted 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 in surround ing districts for several years, thus having a most favor able opportunity for Im owing intimately the people who resided here at that time. From various reminis cences written me after she had attained the age of eighty years and upwa!ds, I have been able to give in these pages many names and historical facts that oth erwise could not have been obtained; and thus, only 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. Alsa mena 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 activeiy engaged in business, and whose entire residence here covered a period of more than seventy years; to William L. Platt, of Sherburne, N. Y.; to Cornelius R. Jones, of Syracuse, N. Y.; to Mrs. Esther (Burchard) Buell, of Hamilton, N. Y.; to Mrs. Esther (Platt) Saw yer, of Hamilton, N. Y.; to G. W. Wheldon, of Pueblo, Colo.; to Mrs. Ann Farley, of Prospect, N. Y.; to Edwin Thomas, of Remsen; to Mrs. Jane (Evans) Roberts, of .. HISTORY OF REMSEN Vll Bay City, Mich.; to F. W. Patterson, of Waterville, N. Y.; and especially to my mother, whose vivid recol lections 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., January 25, 1914. INTRODUCTORY The gathering of the historical facts and reminis cences 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 im perative that the contiguous districts should be in cluded 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 omis sion-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 REl\.fSEN without misgivings that the · historic material to be found in a section entirely destitute of colonial and revolutionary incidents might prove rather uninterest ing, 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 pio neers, who have long since gone from the scenes of their hardships and trials-those plain, hardy and free hearted 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-Qf cabins, the founding of settlements, and the gradual subjugation of a most stubborn wilderness are the only matters that can en gage the attention o~ the chronicler. Therefore the events herein recounted are neither tragic nor widely important; the troubles rehearsed are far from over whelming; the mysteries are not entirely mysterious; the disasters not always disastrous. No battles have ever been fought within these boundaries. "Pen-y mynydd" and "Boncen Fawr," within the memory 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 Co bin" or in the valley of the Cincinnati, to indicate that either Remsen, HISTORY OF REMSEN Xl or Steuben, or Trenton in past ages was aught more than an abiding place of wild beasts, or perhaps at rare in- tervals the hunting-ground of barbarians. Originally, it was designed to include the family his tories of the pioneers and early settlers; but, unfor tunately, satisfactory data concerning many of these families could not be obtained, despite most strenuous efforts in that direction. The obvious lack of senti ment, 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 na.me, or perhaps an im perfect 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 histQry may derive help from the record, and perhaps be en abled to supply deficiencies to his own satisfaction, if not to the interest and enlightenment of others.

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