Chenango County NY

Village of Sherburne New York

Sherburne is a pleasant little village with broad and handsomely shaded streets, and in some measure supplied with good substantial flag walks. It is situated a little south of the center of the town, east of Chenango River, on the line of the Utica, Chenango & Susquehanna Valley railroad. It is distant about 10 1/2 miles from Norwich and five from Earlville. It contains six churches, (Congregational, Baptist, M. E., Universalist, Catholic and Episcopal) a Union Free School, with academic department, one newspaper office, (The Sherburne News) a National bank, a cotton factory, sash and blind factory, a carriage factory, … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Judge Joel Thompson

Judge Joel Thompson settled at Sherburne Four Corners, where Edmund Purdy now lives, and resided there till he was well advanced in years. Jonah Poyer settled at a very early day, when there were only two or three log houses in Sherburne, on the forks of the river, up which he came from Oxford. After a few years he removed to the town of North Norwich.

Oneida and Cayuga join the Iroquois Confederacy

“The Oneida and Cayuga,” says Gallatin, “are said to have been compelled to join [the confederacy.] Those two tribes were the younger and the three others the older members.” Zinzendorf, speaking of the Iroquois, says “the Oneidas and Cayuga are their children.”–Indian tribes of North America. “By the early French writers, the Mohawks and Oneidas were styled the lower or inferior Iroquois; while the Onondagas, Cayuga and Seneca, were denominated the upper or superior Iroquois, because they were located near the sources of the St. Lawrence. The Mohawks, who are commonly supposed to be the first nation in the confederacy … Read more

Juliana Todd Jacobs of New Berlin NY

JACOBS, Juliana Todd7, (Chauncey6, Jonah5, Stephen4, Samuel3, Samuel2, Christopher1) born April 12, 1818, died Oct. 27, 1880, married Nov. 15, 1837, Charles E. Jacobs, who died April 20, 1871. He was a wagon maker. She lived in New Berlin, N. Y., until the death of her husband, and later with her son Hobart, until her death in New York City. Children: I. George Albert, b. April 13, 1839, d. Sept. 13, 1863, of disease contracted while in the Union Army. II. Mary Frances, b. Feb. 13, 1842, d. Oct. 13, 1843. III. Helen Lucy, b. Aug. 4, 1844, d. June … Read more

Biography of Hezekiah Stowel

Hezekiah Stowel, to whom reference has been made, was a Vermont sufferer, and came in from Guilford in that State in 1786, and settled at Bettsburgh, on 220 acres on lot 63, on the east side of the river, and was the pioneer settler on the site of that village. He subsequently removed to the west side of the river, where he is buried, probably at the time he made the exchange with Elnathan Bush. He lived and died in the locality. It is not known that he lived on the place exchanged with Bush in Bainbridge. His children were:–Asa, … Read more

Merchants of Afton New York

The first merchants in Afton were probably Sayres Burgess and Isaac Miner, who did business during the war of 1812 and a few years afterwards in a frame building which stood on the site of the store now occupied by Harris Briggs. Burgess lived and died in the town. His death occurred January 7, 1832, aged 35. Miner, in company with David Cooper built on Kelsey Creek, about 1809, the first saw-mill in the town. There has been a mill there ever since. The old mud-sills are still in use. The mill is about one-fourth mile above the village and … Read more

Merchants of Surburne New York

The first merchant in the town was James Elmore. His store stood opposite the cemetery about a mile and a half north of the central part of the village, where J. R. Dennison now lives. He also kept the first inn, built the first frame house, and was the first postmaster, receiving the latter appointment from Postmaster-General Joseph Habersham in January 1801. He died April 19, 1836. Zaccheus W. Elmore was probably the first merchant in the village. His store stood just south of the Medbury House. He traded till within some ten years of his death, Aug. 10, 1865, … Read more

Biography of Henry Pearsall

Henry Pearsall came from Long Island about 1787 and settled in the north-east part of Afton, one-half mile west of what was known as the Middle Bridge, which went off in a freshet a number of years ago and was not rebuilt. Having built a small house in the woods, he brought in his family, consisting of his wife, Anna Simmons, and one or two children. The house thus erected answered the double purpose of a dwelling and shop, for he followed his trade till his death. About 1809 he removed to the north line of the town of Bainbridge, … Read more

Settlers of the Town of Afton New York

The first settlement in Afton was made in July, 1786, by Elnathan Bush, who came in from Sheffield, Mass., with his family, then consisting of his wife and four children. They came as far as Cooperstown on horseback, and thence by canoe down the Susquehanna, leaving Cooperstown May 2, 1786. He settled on the west side of the river, opposite the forty acre island, known as Stowel’s Island, about two miles below Afton. This island and another near it, one of which contains ten and the other forty acres, had been cleared and cultivated by the Indians, and derive their … Read more

Postmasters of Sherburne New York

The first postmaster was James Elmore, who was appointed in January, 1801, and who was succeeded as early as 1805 by Sylvester Scoville, who was succeeded in 1829 or ’30 by Harry N. Fargo, who held the office till his death April 28, 1836, when Alexander Holmes received the appointment, and was succeeded in 1841 by William C. White, in 1845 by Edmund Shaw, in 1849 by Elisha J. Pratt, who held the office only a few months in that year, and was succeeded in May, 1849, by Elijah S. Lyman, who held the office till 1853, when Edmund Shaw … Read more

Hazel Orilla Todd Amsden of New Berlin NY

AMSDEN, Hazel Orilla Todd9, (John B.8, Hiram7, Isaac6, Samuel5, Samuel4, Samuel3, Samuel2, Christopher1) born Sept. 16, 1890, at Lyons Falls, N. Y., married at Oneonta, N. Y., Nov. 22, 1911, J. B. Amsden. In 1920 they lived in New Berlin, N. Y., where he owns and operates a farm. Children: I. John T., b. Sept. 8, 1914. II. Dorothy J., b. May 23, 1917.

Biography of Oliver Easton

Oliver Easton came in from Wilmington, Vt., in 1809, and settled on Long Hill, where Matthew Long, from Vermont, with a large family of grown-up children, was the first settler at an early day. Easton settled on the farm now occupied by his grandson, Henry Devillo Easton, about three miles north-west of-Afton. He leased 60 acres of gospel lands, which he occupied till his death December 11, 1839, aged 74. Delight, his wife, died January 5, 1860, aged 86. He carried on farming and lumbering, mostly the latter. His children were eleven in number: Chauncey, who married Lucinda, daughter of … Read more

Taounyawatha – Deity of the Forest

This was a part of the broad domain of the Iroquois Confederacy,   which extended, in general terms, from the Hudson to the Genesee, and from the north to the south boundary of this State. This confederacy was composed of the following nations, located in the following order from east to west, the Mohawk, (Ganeagaonos,) Its origin is buried in the obscurity of vague tradition and was unknown to civilized nations in 1750. on the river which bears their name, the Oneida, (Onayotekaonos) Onondaga, (Onundagaonos) Cayugas, (Gwengwehonos) and Seneca, (Nundawaonos) mostly adjacent to the lakes which bear their names. The traditions … Read more

History of the Churches at Sherburne New York

The Duanesburgh colonists who settled this town arrived on the afternoon of Saturday, in March, 1793, and the second Sabbath following their arrival they met and inaugurated religious services which have been continued to the present time. July 6, 1794, Nathaniel and Bethiah Gray, Elijah and Sarah Gray, Abraham and Betsey Raymond, Timothy and Ruth Hatch, Elisha and Patience Gray, Josiah Lathrop, Eleazer Lathrop, Mabel, wife of Newcomb Raymond, Ruth, wife of Joel Hatch, Melissa, wife of James Raymond, and Ezra Lathrop and Mariam, his wife, were formed into a church by Rev. Mr. Campbell, a missionary, and denominated the … Read more

Downfall of the Iroquois Confederacy

“The Pawnees, following the buffalo in his migrations, and having always plenty of animal food to subsist upon, are a much better fed and a larger race than those who find a precarious subsistence in the forest chase, while the woodland tribes, who, though not so plump in form, are of a more wiry and, perhaps, muscular make, have again a decided advantage in figure and gait over the fishing and trapping tribes of the North-west that pass most of their time in canoes. This difference in character and physical appearance between the different Indian [tribes], or rather between those … Read more

Chauncey Todd of Otsego County NY

Chauncey Todd6, (Jonah5, Stephen4, Samuel3, Samuel2, Christopher1) born March 24, 1784, in Cheshire, Conn., died July 26, 1855, in New Berlin, N. Y., married Sept. 13, 1812, Susan Hotchkiss, of Bethany, Conn., who was born July 18, 1792, died April 20, 1854. There must have been some Horace Greeley in those days telling young men to “Go West”, for he set forth for the unbroken wilderness of Central New York in 1805. He returned later to Connecticut to look for some young woman also anxious to “Go West”, and found her in the person of Susan Hotchkiss to whom he … Read more

Iroquois Towns

The Indian towns were generally but an irregular and confused aggregation of Indian houses, clustered together with little regard to order, and covering from one to ten acres. They were often fortified, and a situation favorable to defense was always chosen–the bank of a lake, the crown of a difficult hill, or a high point of land in the fork of confluent rivers. These defenses were not often constructed with any mathematical regularity, but made to conform to the nature of the ground. Frequently a precipice or river sufficed for a partial defense–and the line or embankment occurred only on … Read more