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Cayuga County: North Aurelius Shorter House Cato Hickock Home

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III. Sites and Stories: Cayuga County--North 231 Cayuga County: North Aurelius Shorter House Cato Hickock Home, Meridian Ingham House, Meridian Conquest Jarrod House Mentz Duvall House and Tenant House, Port Byron Port Byron Hotel Sennett Sennett Federated Church and Parsonage Sterling Kirk House, Sterling Center Sterling Center Churches Weedsport Bell House Sites Relating to the Underground Railroad, Abolitionism, African American Life Sponsored by Auburn Historic Resources Review Board Cayuga County Historian’s Office Funded by Preserve New York (Preservation League of NYS and NYS Council on the Arts) Coordinated by Historical New York Research Associates 2004-05 232 III. Sites and Stories: Cayuga County--North Charles and Sally Shorter House Cayuga Village Significance: Home of African American community leaders, manumitted from slavery Shorter House Looking NE, May 2005 Description: The Shorter House, in the small village of Cayuga in the town of Aurelius in Cayuga County, New York, stands in a hollow along what is known as the Great Genesee Road. Located on the eastern side of this small, lakeside village, it is a rare surviving example of a “shanty”, built by freed African- Americans. The mere fact of its survival lends great importance to its place in the history of the settlement of freed African Americans in Cayuga County in the first half of the 19th century. It is from Charles Shorter’s (Sr.) written will (Cayuga County Records Retention, Box 27 and Book D, p. 36 of Wills) that we are able to trace the origins of the inconspicuous shanty still standing at 255 Genesee Street in Cayuga Village. This lot of 1.80 acres was included in his will with detailed instructions concerning the construction of a house on its site. The first part of the will states: “To my beloved wife Sally Shorter, (I give) lots 93 and 94 in the village.” This would be the lot just west of the present shanty and the marital home of Charles and Sally Shorter. (see map 1859, lot marked “Mrs. Shorter”). In 1882, this property was sold to Horace Wiley by their grandson Charles Shorter. (Reservation Deed Book Q, p. 393.) In the second part of the will, he declares, “ I give to my only child, Charles Shorter, Jr., the use of lots 95 and 96 in the village of Cayuga together with a house to be built thereon measuring 18 feet by 14 feet, being built by myself or my executors for son Charles’ use during his natural life…If the house is unbuilt at my decease, executor is to build said house within six months of my decease at a cost not to exceed $1200.00. In no case may my executor furnish him with the money.” Despite what illness or fear of mortality may have caused Charles to write his will in 1837 at about age 67, he did live on an additional 13 years and it may be surmised that in this time span, father Charles would have indeed had the time to build this house for his son. It is not known what year the shanty on lot 95 was built, but it can be estimated between 1837 (date of will) and 1859 (when an additional house belonging to Sally Shorter appears on the lot in the 1859 map of Cayuga County) and was lived in by Charles Shorter, Jr. and possibly his mother. The house as it stands today is sided with brown-shingles. It is not known which of the sections is the oldest. It may be that the west wing, approximately 18 feet wide by 14 feet deep (the same measurements Sites Relating to the Underground Railroad, Abolitionism, African American Life Sponsored by Auburn Historic Resources Review Board Cayuga County Historian’s Office Funded by Preserve New York (Preservation League of NYS and NYS Council on the Arts) Coordinated by Historical New York Research Associates 2004-05 III. Sites and Stories: Cayuga County--North 233 suggested in Charles Shorter, Sr.’s will for the house to be built for his son) is the house built for Charles Shorter, Jr.. It may also be that the west wing was originally built by Charles and Sally Shorter on the lot just west of the current lot and moved to its current location after Sally Shorter’s death. A difference is the slope of the back and front roofline suggests some modifications of this wing. A small addition extended the original structure in back (north) by 6 feet. The two-story section was most likely built in situ. Its relatively steep gable suggests a post-Civil War construction date. It may have been built in two sections. In which case, the original measurements were 18 feet by 14 feet, again the same measurements requested by Charles, Sr., in his will. A basement extends under the two-story section. Foundation stones and sills in the two-story section were made of re-used materials and were generally of poor quality. The stones used for the foundation were of wildly differing sizes and composition and put together loosely with a thin mortar. The sills were of mismatched sizes and in some cases made of previously used beams showing evidence of primitive hand-hewn treatment and with notches and grooves from a previous use. A few were merely thin tree trunks with bark still clinging to them. Significance: Charles Shorter, owner and possible builder of this shanty, first appears in the census records of Cayuga village in 1820. This entry records a man over 45, a boy under 14 and a woman over 45. From the 1850 census of Cayuga, we know that Charles was born in Maryland and was married to Sally, a freed African American born in the West Indies. Charles Shorter wrote a will in 1837 and in it he mentions that he has only one child, a son named Charles, Jr. While no entry exists for this family in 1830, Charles, Sr., his wife and son appear again in 1840 in Cayuga Village. Interestingly, another Charles Shorter with a young family, all African Americans, is found in 1840, living in Seneca Falls, just over the Cayuga Bridge in Seneca County. What relationship he might have to the Cayuga Shorter family is not known. Charles Shorter bought four lots of land in the village of Cayuga, namely, lots 93, 94, 95 & 96 between 1820 and 1827. His first purchase, that of lot 96, was purchased from Judge Thomas Mumford in 1820. (Reservation Deed Book F, p. 329) Thomas Mumford was a lawyer from Aurora and came into Cayuga Village in 17951. Mumford, and other prominent lawyers such as Judge Elijah Miller, father-in-law of William Henry Seward and Judge Joseph Annin, had all settled in Cayuga Village due to the new (1799) county seat being situated in Cayuga Village. This honor was short-lived as the county seat was switched to Aurora in 1804 and then finally to Auburn in 1809. In 1820, Cayuga Village was adjusting to its fate as a former county seat but making news as the village that gave birth to one of the longest bridges in the western world. This wooden bridge was known as the Cayuga Bridge and linked Cayuga County with the new county of Seneca across the north end of Cayuga Lake. This bridge was also important as being a part of the great Genesee or Seneca Turnpike that carried thousands of people from the northeastern states of the nation into the great western frontier. It was here in this small but strategically located village that Charles and Sally Shorter came to live and raise their family. Charles Shorter and his wife, Sally did not themselves leave any written record as to their parentage, state of origin or even status as a free or enslaved African Americans before their arrival in Cayuga. In the Florence P. McIntosh book History of Cayuga Village, the author claims that Charles Shorter married Sally, a former West Indian slave, in New York City and that they both then moved to Cayuga to set up housekeeping. According to this source, Sally Shorter was sent to New York by her mistress and was then freed upon arrival. Federal and State Census entries from 1850 to 1870 consistently list Sally’s birthplace as the West Indies. Charles Shorter listed his birthplace as Maryland in the 1850 census. An African American born in 1770 in Maryland was highly likely to have been born in slavery. His birth year, and that of Sally’s, can be calculated to have been about 1770, both claiming to be 80 years old in 1850. In later 1 HISTORY OF CAYUGA VILLAGE May 1927 By: Florence Pharis McINTOSH Copyright 1927. pp. 23-24 Sites Relating to the Underground Railroad, Abolitionism, African American Life Sponsored by Auburn Historic Resources Review Board Cayuga County Historian’s Office Funded by Preserve New York (Preservation League of NYS and NYS Council on the Arts) Coordinated by Historical New York Research Associates 2004-05 234 III. Sites and Stories: Cayuga County--North censuses, Sally’s birth year appears to be closer to 1780-1785. Charles Shorter wrote a will in 1837 and died on May 5, 1851 in Cayuga Village. His wife Sally and only child Charles, Jr. continued to live in the village, with Sally dying in January 1874.2 Evidently Sally Shorter was a well beloved person in the village of Cayuga. She merited a separate write-up in McIntosh’s History of Cayuga Village, a portion of which is quoted here: They (Charles and Sally) had one son, Charles, who took care of his mother after his father died.
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