Tally

Thursday, December 5, 2002 6.30 PM
Adult Dining & Recreation Center-Sherman Street-New Hartford
Next to St. John the Evangelist’s Church
Pot-Luck Supper

Our Christmas meeting will be an evening of sharing a meal and getting to know one another a little better. Bring a main dish or salad, your own place setting, and the Society will supply beverage and dessert. Entertainment and a carol sing led, by Bob and Jeanne Jones, will follow dinner

Why not ask a friend or neighbor to come with you for the supper and fellowship? It is a relaxing time and a good way to introduce new people to the New Hartford Historical Society.

The building described below is probably the oldest existing building in New Hartford. The deed verifies the dwelling in 1790 but hints that it was in existence prior to this date.

The following, by Paul Draheim, is from the Utica Daily Press, Saturday, July 1, 1950.

The picturesque, square Colonial building at 86 Genesee Street in New Hartford, one of the oldest dwellings in the Utica area, was at one time the home of Joseph Kirkland who in 1832 became the first mayor of Utica.

The date of its erection is unknown, but certain is the fact that it outdates several years the dwellings of similar construction located at 72 and 74 Genesee.

Records show it was there, with it large surrounding porch and a cupola towering above a flat roof, in 1792 when the Rev. Daniel Bradley went there to live.

Mr. Bradley was the first pastor of the newly-organized Congregational Church. Two years later he was dismissed from the church and he moved from New Hartford to Marcellus, Onondaga County. Giving up the ministry, Mr. Bradley enjoyed prosperity as a scientific agriculturalist.

The 14-room house subsequently was sold to Joseph Kirkland then living on Oxford Road, known as South Street. A distant relative of Samuel Kirkland who was famous as a missionary to the Oneida Indians, Joseph Kirkland was one of the first lawyers in this section. He was admitted to the bar several years prior to the organization of Oneida County in 1798. Born in Connecticut on January 18, 1770, and a graduate from Yale University, he settled in New Hartford in 1794. He moved to Utica in 1830 and two years later was elected Utica’s first mayor. He also served as mayor in 1834 and 1835.

In 1808, Jacob and Lewis Sherrill came to New Hartford from East Hampton, L.I. and purchased the dwelling at Genesee and Huntington from Kirkland.

The house stayed in the Sherrill family for a number of years, passing to Francis Butler who married Harriet Sherrill. Title to the property later passed to their daughter, Emily, who was married to Rev. Israel N. Terry.

It was during the time the Terrys lived there that the cupola was restored to its original condition. In later years when it was occupied by the Wallace Childs family, the cupola was removed.

Following the Childs the Clarence Proctor family owned the property and about a year ago it was purchased by Dr. and Mrs. A. DeWitt Brown.

A huge elm tree which stood for many years in the rear of the building, was planted by Eli Butler, Jr. who took it as a shoot from a length of elm wood that was used as fuel in one of the many fireplaces.

The tree stood until after the turn of the 20th century, a towering giant to Butler’s prophecy. It was felled during a windstorm and was removed.

As for the fireplaces, all but one have been blocked up. The sole remaining fireplace has been remodeled and during the winter months provides a cozy warmth to the spacious living room

Of the two secret rooms said to be in the building, one of them was found about 30 years ago during the time the Childs family lived there. The discovery was quite by accident, according to Mrs. Wallace Childs who now resides in 17 Talcott Road.

"We were putting in a new furnace in the cellar when suddenly we found a cellar within a cellar." she said. "No one had ever told us about the secret cellar until we found it. No one seemed to know that it was there."

The location of the second secret room, if one exists, has never been established. Mrs. Brown said ,

"We have been hearing stories about this secret space, but so far my husband and I haven’t been able to find it. It must be very small."

The dwelling which contains seven rooms on each of the two floors, although remodeled several times, still bears many of the original features. It is sheltered under old trees that are about 150 years old.

(Editor’s note) Today 86 Genesee Street is home to the St. Elizabeth Medical Group. An extension has been built on it and there is a parking lot in the rear.

The following is taken from a letter written by George W. Lanning to his cousin Myrtie (Mrs. Frank Proctor) in January 1928.

I have an imprint in my brain of the New Hartford Village that I knew so well from my first remembrance of anything back at least to 1855 and up to 1868. 12 years of the age of first impressions that are hardly ever effaced.

In those years it did not change in general appearance very much. Even the first little railroad that coursed its way to Clinton did not change it to speak of. But now it surely must have changed so I would hardly know it . 60 years since I last knew it.

There are many things I could tell you about the Old Town of New Hartford - not just the Village. That was a small part of it- not much more if any than the houses of the cotton mill hands clustered around the Old Stone factory just down from the old grave yard, just beyond old "Skinny" Wilmots orchard that bounded the grave yard on one side. When us youngsters used to swipe his apples, not as we needed them so much as to tease him to get after us, which he invariably did, "Skinny", an old church deacon, tried not to swear. He whined through his nose and spit tobacco juice. I don’t know what he would have done to us, if he had caught any of us, but I can not recollect that he ever did as we were leery of his treatment should he have been able to catch us. We would skip out into the old grave yard and scatter out among the old grave stones. I have wondered if there continues to be anyone there yet. It was 3 or 4 deep of bodies then. I used to watch the grave diggers digging graves. Then throwing out human bones from a foot and a half to 2 feet from the top down. Pieces of old coffins and sometimes it smelled so bad we had to leave. The stench was so great we could smell it strong down the lane to the mill houses of the old stone factory. I could not see at that time when I left how a man, unless he was a skilled laborer, could rise above. Just a scant living class distinction was so strong that it was a crime to be poor. It seemed to me it was bad enough to be unfortunate, to be poor, but cast and class was the impossible barrier to surmount for the unfortunate poor.

The Oxford Road Cemetery was called Old New Hartford Cemetery, Old South Street Cemetery, and old burying ground, and the remains are interred in a vault on the lawn of New Hartford High School.

As we drive by Oxford Road and Daly Place, few realize that several soldiers of the American Revolution are buried there. The first burial took place on September 14, 1795 when Martha Dana was buried. In 1815 Colonel Nathan Seward, a member of the Boston Tea Party, was buried there. Sgt. James Wilson, who was given the colors at Yorktown by Cornwallis rests within sound of Oxford Road School. He died of smallpox, a dread disease of Revolutionary times. Another early military man buried on Oxford Road was General Oliver Collins whose funeral was held in 1826.

On May 4, 1949, it was recorded in a decision by Judge Abram Zoller that the school would be entitled to the old cemetery for school purposes. 227 bodies were exhumed by undertaker Harry Gordon. The bodies were placed in a small vault on the lawn of Oxford Road School. There were 416 stones listed in all. On the stone over Lois Perry who died in 1819 at the age of 56 were these words: My friends, behold! A solemn call! My death occasioned by a fall. My soul has winged its heavenly way and left behind a lump of clay."

There were three stones exactly alike over the graves respectively of Mrs. Betsy Hull, wife of Dr. Amos Hull, who died in 1798, age 21; Mrs. Eunice Hull, wife of Dr. Amos Hull, who died in 1812, age 33; Mrs. Elizabeth Hull, wife of Dr. Amos Hull, who died in 1803.

It seems that Dr. Hull saved the place between wife No. 1 and wife No. 2 for himself but instead placed his third wife there. No trace of Dr. Hull’s grave was found in the cemetery.

The following is from "A Gazetteer of the State of New York", authored by Horatio Gates Spoffard, A.M. and printed in Albany in 1813.

Whitestown, the principal Town, and half shire of the county of Oneida, situated on the Mohawk river, 95 miles N. westerly from Albany, including Utica etc., and has 3 Post-Offices: bounded Northerly by the Mohawk, Easterly by Paris, Westerly by Westmoreland and Rome. The form is very irregular, and the area about equal to 40 square miles. If we trace the progressive population of the Town minutely, we will find much to excite our admiration. In January, 1785, *Mr. Hugh White, from Connecticut, with a young family, became the first settler. At that period little was known of the value and fertility of the western wilds of this state, and industry and enterprise were depressed by individual and national poverty. For the first 5 or 6 years, the increase of population was slow, and of little promise. But at about the expiration of that period, the spirit of emigration appeared in the Eastern States, which has since swelled to a torrent; and thousands and thousands who now enjoy the rich bounties of nature in the western country are indebted to this source for their many blessings. In 1788, the Town of German Flats was divided, and a new town erected, which was named Whitestown, in honor of Mr. White In 1791, Herkimer County was erected from Montgomery, including this part of the country; and several new Towns formed of this by subdivisions. In 1798, the County of Oneida was erected, by a subdivision Herkimer, and Whitestown included within this County. Successive subdivisions have at length restricted the limits of Whitestown to about a medial of 5 miles by 8. It is situated immediately on the great thoroughfare between Albany and the Western Lakes; between Canada and the principle commercial sea-ports of the American States on the Atlantic. In addition to the Mohawk which washes its northern boundary, the Oriskany and Sadahquada creeks run northerly into the Mohawk, affording a great abundance of the best sites for hydraulic works, and extensive and fertile alluvial flats.

This town contains 3 Post-Offices; Utica, incorporated, Whitesborough and New-Hartford, separately described, which see --

Utica, on the site of old Fort Schuyler, contains 300 houses, and a population of 1700 souls. It is the Commercial Capital of the great Western District, and the central point of all the great avenues of communication.

Whitesborough, the next in magnitude, is less commercial, but excels in beauty and elegance. The courts for Oneida County are held alternately here and at Rome. Here are 100 houses, on a street of 1 3/4 miles in length, and about 600 souls.

New Hartford is the finest farming Village, and has its full share of trade, industry and useful arts.

Whitestown includes 7 principal churches; 1 Episcopal, 3 Presbyterian, 2 Baptist, in one of which the service is performed in the Welsh language, and one of Welsh Independents; besides some smaller houses dedicated to the same purpose. There are 3 grammar-schools, one in each Village, and common school-houses and schools in convenient abundance. The manufacturing spirit has taken deep root in this Town. A cotton manufactory, on the Sadahquada, has 512 spindles, (soon to be expanded to 1000) and employs 200 families in picking cotton, etc. and 60 persons in the factory. This establishment belongs to the Oneida manufacturing society; incorporated; who connect also with it a machine shop, trip-hammer and accommodations for bleaching and dying. The New Hartford association has been organized with a capital of #200,000; a third Company, with a capital of #300,000 , has commenced an establishment for a cotton and woolen factory, on the Oriskany, on a very large scale. Connected with it is an association for the propagation of valuable sheep; and a flock of 500 already collected, among which are many merinos, of different grades of blood. Six hundred acres of land, on the banks of the Mohawk, are appropriated to this purpose, and named Mount Merino. A fourth company is also formed, with a capital of #20,000, for weaving, dying, and finishing cloths. The numerous turnpikes, and roads that centre in this Town, with the navigation of the Mohawk, etc. give great facility of communication, and indicate the growing importance of the place. This Town is considerably embellished in appearance, by may elegant seats of men of opulence, and elegant private mansions.

The population of Whitestown, by the Census of 1810 is 4912 and there are 533 senatorial electors. Two miles W. of New-Hartford is a pleasant collection of about 30 houses, called Middle Settlement.

* Since the above was written,, the death of this venerable man has been announced in the papers. The following obituary notice, with accompanying remarks, appeared in the Utica Patriot on that event, and they are so pertinent and of such importance that I insert them here.

"Died at Whitesboro, on the 16th, 1812 HUGH WHITE, Esq,, aged 80 years; and on the 18th inst. his funeral was attended by his numerous descendants and connections, and an unusual concourse of the most aged and respectable inhabitants of this County.

The death of this venerable man excites many interesting reflections. He may justly be considered as the Patriarch who first led the children of New-England into the wilderness; and it may be truly said, that he has lived to see and enjoy the promised land.

In the year 1784 he removed with his family from Middletown, in Connecticut to Sedaghquate, (now Whitesborough Village) which, till then, had been the gloomy abode of wild beasts and savage men.

Judge White was the first who dared to overleap the German settlements on the Mohawk; and to encounter the hardships, privations and dangers of the western wilds.

During the first four years after his establishment at Sedaghquate, the progress of the settlements around him was slow and discouraging. In 1788, the Town of German Flats was divided; and a new Town established, which, in honor of this enterprising man, was named "Whitestown."

Whitestown then contained less than 200 inhabitants; and included all that part of the State of New-York which consists of the Counties of Oneida, Lewis, Jefferson, St. Lawrence, Madison, Chenango, Broome, Tiogo, Cortland, Onandaga, Cayuga, Seneca, Ontario, Steuben, Alleghany, Genesee, Niagara, Cataraugus, and Chatauqua, which Counties, according to the Census of 1810, now contain two hundred and eighty thousand three hundred and nineteen inhabitants.

This astonishing and unparalleled progress of settlements, has not been effected by colonies sent out and supported by the power and wealth of government. The whole has been accomplished by the voluntary efforts of individual enterprise and industry.

This wonderful transition, by which (in the space of 28 years) this immense wilderness has been converted into fruitful fields; seems like the illusions of a dream, even to those who have witnessed its progress.

The native forests have given place to village seminaries of learning, and temples for Christian worship; and the arts and refinements of civilized society have rapidly succeeded the footsteps of the wandering savage.

It is justly due to the deceased to state, that throughout his long journey of life, his character for integrity was not only unquestioned, but proverbial; and so long as history shall retain a memorial of the first settlement of this country, the name of Hugh White will be remember with veneration and respect."

The May 1980 bulletin of the New Hartford Historical Society had the following notice.

We will end our season in June with our FIFTH SHOW AND TELL NIGHT. However, there will be two important changes in this year’s program. First, the date will be June 5, 1980. Please not that his is the FIRST THURSDAY of the month rather than our accustomed second Thursday. The reason for this is that we will meet at 7:30 in the WASHINGTON MILLS RAILROAD STATION, on Kellogg Road. This is our first opportunity to meet in the recently renovated Railroad Station, and we are looking forward to it very much.

NEWS NOTES: Our new bylaws were unanimously adopted by the Board of Trustes at their meeting on April 8, 1980. Ken Kazanjian and his able committee are to be congratulated for a job well done.

Your membership dues are $2.00 a year for Active Member. They go to $3.00 a year on December 1, 1980.

We wish to express our sympathy to the family of Jean Jones. Jean died on November 21st. She and her husband, Hugh R. Jones, joined our society in 1982 and actively supported it. They were life members.

175 years ago, in 1827, the town of New Hartford was set off from Whitestown. We owe a great deal of thanks to Hugh White, Jedediah Sanger and all those pioneers who helped make this town a possibility. Let’s not forget our history!

Thursday, October 3, 2002
COMMUNITY BUILDING - KELLOGG ROAD-WASHINGTON MILLS
7:00 PM

Fellow member Evelyn Edwards will present a program on Benjamin Talbot Babbitt, millionaire soap manufacturer, who was born in Holman City near Clayville, NY. Babbitt, in addition to creating Babo Cleanser, had over 100 inventions to his credit. Evelyn’s programs are always well researched and interesting. Put the date down on your calendar and plan for an enjoyable October evening out.

In this issue of the Tally-Ho we will commemorate the history of New Hartford. The final installment of the Charles McCarthy memoirs of the Yahnundasis will be in the November issue.

The first school in the New Hartford area was located on Seneca Turnpike at the intersection of route 5 and 5A on the road leading to Clinton. The land was donated by Joshua Palmer, who operated Palmer’s Inn that was in the area. The first teacher of record was Samuel Dakin who came from New Hampshire in 1815.

In 1865 a school was located on the village green. The building, an old home, was a plain, wooden two story structure. The children were taught separately; upstairs for the girls and downstairs for the boys. There was one teacher and 40 pupils. In 1869 it was replaced by a new brick building which cost $5,000 and two teachers were employed by the district. This school later became the fire station.

In 1876 there were two private school - School for Young Ladies and Mrs. James’ Boarding School. In 1884 a large home on Pearl Street, where Allport Place cuts through now to Hartford Terrace, owned by the Chase family, was converted to a school. The first pricipal of the Pearl Street School was Miss M.L. White. It had four teachers and 160 scholars.

In 1890, Mr. A.M. Scripture was the principal and a professor at the Pearl street School. He believed New Hartford needed Regents supervision and in 1893 New Hartford became a member of the University of the State of New York.

In 1899 New Hartford High School became the first high school in the county chartered by the State.

In 1901 the Golden house on the Point of Genesee and Paris Road was torn down and replaced by the Point School. This school had single seats for the students for the first time. There were 10 teachers on the faculty and 150 students. This Romanesque style building still stands in the heart of the village on a site the older people of 1901 referred to as the "Golden Place". The plan for the new school contained cathedral glass transom lights and arched openings over the entrance doors. The outside was composed of red brick trimmed with Indiana limestone and a slate roof. The hallways contained porcelain two-jet sanitary drinking fountains and two large wardrobes for coats that led into a well proportioned assembly hall. Every room in the building was equipped with electric lights and bells connected to the principal’s office. The classrooms contained libraries with easy access to bookcases offering books adapted to each grade level. The plan for the new school was overseen by Principal Scripture, and a Clinton architect, Mr. A. L. Eastingwood. It was noted by "school experts of large experience to be the best found in the villages of the Empire State; and excelled by only a very few of the city buildings, which cost much more."

1921 saw an addition built on the west side of the Point School. This had the first school gym in the area.

In 1936 a high school was built on Oxford Road. New Hartford started closing district schools.

In 1952 an addition was built at the high school utilizing the space where the old burying ground had been since 1788. This addition included an elementary school wing along with a gymnasium, bus garage, separate shop and service buildings. There was much dissatisfaction over digging up of the cemetery in the town. The remains from the graves were put in a large grave in the middle of the front lawn of the school. There is a marker erected over this common grave site.

Since then there have been renovations at all the existing schools. One that expanded the kindergarten wing on Oxford School uncovered more bones from the cemetery. These were re-interred in the Green Lawn Cemetery on Seneca Turnpike.

New Hartford is a community that places great value on education. A strong traditional college preparatory program and dedicated faculty are hallmarks of the schools.

This is one of the most important architectural examples in New Hartford, as well as Oneida County. The house is unusual for the wide porch with its sloping hipped roof and slender columns which are not seen elsewhere in this region. The design seems to bear a similarity to architecture based on French colonial traditions of building rather than to New England traditions which are familiar to residents of Central New York.

The house was built around 1830, probably for Walter S. Eames, Jedediah Sanger’s grandson. Tradition has dated this house from the late 18th century, but its design and classical details place it during the period of the Classical Revival. Traditionally, the house has been regarded as a stopping point on the Underground Railroad of the era of slavery.

The interior centers around a main hall and staircase. Handsomely carved mantles and window casings may be seen in each room, and wide plank floors of pine add to the elegance of this fine building.

Morgan Butler, a lifelong resident of New Hartford, built this beautifully preserved example of a Gothic Revival dwelling. A progressive farmer, Butler was an agent for a mowing machine company, and owned the first mowing machine in Oneida county. He frequently demonstrated the device for his neighbors and curious visitors.

Morgan Butler was the third generation of his family to farm land in this area of New Hartford. His grandfather, Eli, had settled here in 1789 with his son, Eli Butler, Jr. and farmed about 300 acres. This house was built around 1850 and remained Morgan Butler’s home until he moved to the center of the village.

The house shows the influence of Andrew Jackson Downing. Here we see a symmetrical facade with a prominent gable and overhanging eaves ornamented with the favorite Gothic Revival motif of carved bargeboard. Lovely bay windows project from the north and south walls of the house and serve to unite the interior of the house with the surrounding grounds.

Samuel Hicks built this large brick house in 1826. He had emigrated from East Hampton, L.I and settled in 1807 in New Hartford at the age of 21. By 1815, Mr. Hicks was the business manager of the New Hartford Manufacturing Society, a producer of cotton cloth. In 1837 he resigned from this company and spent his energies on real estate and business matters. Mr. Hicks’ descendants resided in the house until 1938, and Luther MacFarland, the husband of Hicks’ daughter, served as President of the Village of New Hartford.

The entrance to the house is a notable example of Federal style with a huge limestone arch and keystone over the fan-shaped transom. Small columns may be seen flanking the sidelights on either side of the paneled door. The interior rooms are large with finely designed mantles and window and door casings. Numerous large fireplaces provided heat for the large rooms with their high ceilings.

1788 Jedediah Sanger founded New Hartford, then in the town of Whitestown, Herkimer County.

1790 A grist mill was erected on the Sauquoit Creek by Sanger, located behind the present Baptist Church.

1791 The Presbyterian Church in New Hartford was organized as the First Religious Society in the Town of Whitestown. When the church building was constructed in 1793-96, it was the first church building erected within the present boundaries of Oneida County.

1796 The Whitestown Gazette was published in New Hartford. This was one of the earliest newspapers published west of Albany.

1800 Construction was begun on the Seneca Turnpike and its route went west through New Hartford.

1815-16 New Hartford Cotton Manufacturing Company established a mill on the Sauquoit Creek.

1834-36 The Chenango Canal was built from Utica to Binghamton. Its route through New Hartford was parallel to the present route 12 south arterial where vestiges of the canal may be seen on the grounds of the Yahnundasis Golf Club.

1863-66 Utica, Clinton and Binghamton Horse Railroad was constructed from Utica to New Hartford

1810 The Utica, Chenango and Susquehanna Valley, a division of the D. L. & W. R. R., was complete with a branch through New Hartford.

The first town meeting in New Hartford was held April 24, 1827 and the first town assessment roll was in the same year. The assessment included personal property as well as real property. The total real estate in town that year was $545.000. The tax rate was $2.63. per thousand and total taxes came to $1,677.00. There were 468 taxpayers, three road commissioners and 27 road districts. Each district had one path master who looked after the roads, and each farmer helped repair roads by furnishing a team for a few days to fill in holes or repair washouts.

In the early 1800’s a member of the Presbyterian Church caught an elder of the Church in a saloon and had him thrown out of the Church.

Allport Place was laid out by Principal Scripture and Laurence Wood in 1910. This street received its name from Will Allport who took lumber from the old school on Allport and made it into houses on that street.

1904 - Any person using profane, vulgar, or obscene language in the village of New Hartford, upon conviction, shall be fined not less than $1.00 and not to exceed $10.00 for each offense.

1904 - No person shall keep or assist in keeping a disorderly or gaming house or establishment, bowling alley, billiard table, shuffleboard, faro, or other instrument for gaming, under penalty of not less than $5.00 or more than $25.00 for each offense.

1904 - No person shall keep or assist in keeping a brothel or house of assignation, nor enter in or assist in entertainment of lewd women for purposes of prostitution. Penalty $25.00 for each offense.

1870 - First water supply in village from reservoir on upper Sanger Ave.
1870 - First police in New Hartford Village
1871 - First sewers in Village - before that all out houses.
1874 - First street lights in Village - kerosene
1893 - First sidewalks in Village - flagstone and cinder.
1897 - First gas pumped from Utica
1910 - Genesee in New Hartford paved with brick. Laurence Wood watched them work from the school window.

1827-1818 Eli Savage
1828-1831 Jesse Shepard
1831-1832 Ashbel Mallory
1832-1836 Oliver Prescott, Jr.
1836-1841 Frederick Kellogg
1841-1843 James Brown
1843-1846 Josiah Kellogg
1846-1848 John French
1848-1853 James Rees
1853-1854 Hiram Shays
1854-1856 Gould G. Norton
1856-1859 William Huxford
1859-1862 John B. Winship
1862-1865 George W. Chadwick
1865-1868 James Armstrong
1868-1871 Henry S. Rodgers
1871-1872 Oliver R. Babcock
1872-1873 Jos. P. Richardson
1873-1874 John B. Winship
1874-1875 Oliver R. Babcock
1875-1876 Timothy Blackstone
1876- 1877 Porter S. Huntley
1877-1880 John C. Roby
1880-1882 R.A. Smith
1882-1883 Richard M. Davis
1883-1884 John W. McLean
1884-1885 R.A. Smith
1885-1887 Chas. H. Philo
1887-1888 Johnson Dewhurse
1888-1889 John Porter
1889--1890 Ralph Lee
1890-1891 George Benton
1891-1896 Albert P. Seaton
1896-1899 Ladd J. Lewis
1899-1901 Charles W. Healy
1901-1902 Orville Risley
1902-1908 Charles W. Healy
1908-1909 Charles Whitford
1909-1917 A.P. Seaton
1917-1919 Breeze Stevens
1919-1923 George C. Clark
1923-1925 John A. Ganey
1925-1927 C.R. Hart
1927-Sept. 1 Wm. C. Williams
1928-1939 Dr. E.M. Griffith
1940-1955 Robert J. Thomas
1956-1963 Evan E. Robert
1964-1965 James H. Donovan
1966-1974 Harold E. Entwistle
1975-1981 George F. Zegibe
1982-1983 Gordon Newell
1984-June 1997 John Kazanjian
6/97-12/97 appt. Byron W. Elias
1998-2001 William Keiser III
2001 to present Ralph Humphreys

Thursday, September 5, 2002
6:00 PM Social Hour 6:45 Dinner
$8.00 per person
First United Methodist Church
105 Genesee St., New Hartford

Don Wisnoski, from the Oneida County Historical Society
will talk on the role of Oneida County in the Civil War.

You are! That’s right! It’s time for the Annual Dinner Meeting of the New Hartford Historical Society. We promise you a delicious meal, good fellowship, and an interesting program.

Our presenter is Don Wisnoski from the Oneida County Historical Society who will talk on the role of Oneida County in the Civil War. If any of you have attended some of his programs at OCHS you know what a pleasant evening we will have. For the rest of you, don’t miss this presentation. You will go home with a better understanding of what went on during those turbulent years of the Civil War.

In an ad published in the Whitestown Gazette of December 3, 1798 the oldest record of the name New Hartford appeared for probably the first time.

For which CASH will be paid, if delivered immediately at Col. Sanger’s Mill in New Hartford. Apply to HEZEKIAH RICE

Exactly how and when New Hartford got it’s name remains a mystery. Some say that the Kelloggs, who were the earliest settlers, came from Hartford, Connecticut and liked the name "Hartford", and so they started calling this place New Hartford.

The Whitestown Gazette, under the proprietorship of Jedediah Sanger, Samuel Wells, and Elisha Risley with Richard Vandenburg as its printer was first issued on July 10, 1793, only four years after the first building was erected in the settlement of New Hartford. The masthead of the paper states that the printing house was "opposite the Meeting House". Presumably this was on Oxford Road since the Meeting House (the Presbyterian Church) then faced that street.

This paper had the distinction of being the first newspaper published west of Albany.

In 1796 Samuel Wells became the proprietor and William McLean the printer. Later, in 1798, McLean became the proprietor and moved the paper to Utica where it appeared under the title of WHITESTOWN GAZETTE AND CATO’S PATROL.

The earliest known copy of the paper now existing is dated August 22, 1793. It contained both foreign and local news as well as advertisements. All news from Europe had to come by sailing vessel and then by horse from the sea coast. These stories were over two months old by the time they were printed.

"Whereas my wife ANNE hath behaved herself in a very unbecoming manner, so as I think it not my duty to live with her, I therefore forbid all persons harbouring or trusting her on my account, as I will pay no debts of hers contracted after this date.

On Saturday the 2d instant between the store of Jedediah Sanger and Co. and Capt. Eli Butler’s, a drab coloured SURCOAT with white flannel lining. The owner, by paying charges, may have it again by applying to

The papers contain many ads for both lost and found pigs, sheep, cows and horses giving detailed descriptions of their ages, colors, marking, etc.

News items include court trials in Albany and New York and George Washington’s statement declining to run for a third term as president.

MEMORIES OF THE EARLY DAYS AT THE YAHNUNDASIS GOLF CLUB (continued from May, 2002)

Down under the kitchen was a very small service room with a dumb waiter that came down from the kitchen and a small service bar that only had room for four men to stand at to order drinks. I ripped out the bar to the floor and walls on either side and arched the entire space. In this space I built an oak circle bar and display back bar. My father was a cabinet maker so I had experience and tools of all kinds for most any kind of work,

On the third floor in the extreme west end of the club house the manager had just one room, a combination living room and bed room with an adjoining bathroom. He felt he should have another room for his bed so I cut a doorway through the wall of steel lath and plaster and installed frame work casing with a door. This was unusual work for an employee of the club with just ordinary wages.

"Charlie, I wish you could have been a little mouse and listened in on the annual Board of Governors meeting last night. The talk that Attorney Dan T. Burke gave on you was about the work you have done for the club and the money you have saved us. A motion was made by Mr. Walter D. Jones that you be given a vote of appreciation in the minutes."

If I was to write about my experience in the boiler room and heating of the club house and the two ton York ice machine that the club had installed for making their own ice and for refrigerators, I could keep writing for a long time.

I have spent the most part of my life working for the club and I was always interested in the work that I had to do. If you would care to look over some of my work, play the back nine on the Yahnundasis golf course. And I was also happy to know and see and be able to speak of such players as Gene Sarrazen, Walter Hagen, Joe Kirwood, Babe Didrikson Zaharias, Helen Mays and other who played on a golf course that I had built. I am only speaking for the back nine which is professional. The front nine is still immature as I have been told by a man who has spent many years working on the course. I have talked with two important members who said that they had given supervision on the location of one green each.

One morning in 1907, Mr. D. Clinton Murray who was one of the organizers of the club in the year 1897, had an important match to play off. His caddy was late in coming. I was sent to the first tee to caddy for Mr. Murray. I had the golf bag on my shoulder ready to leave the first tee when the caddy showed up. That was the nearest I ever got to being a caddy.

In the years of 1905-06 and 7, Mr. James Corcoran was golf professional. In the late summer of 1907 he was taken sick so I was assigned to take over the pro shop for one week.

I don’t remember just what years that attorney Dan T. Burke was chairman of the house committee, but one of my jobs was to look after all mechanical work in the club house. Anything that I could not do by myself I was to hire it done. They would honor any bill that my name was on without question up to fifty dollars. Over that I would have to go before the Board of Governors. Mr. Leon Ross, a member, was with the Utica Plumbing Supply. I was able to get any plumbing supplies that I needed through him. I never had any trouble getting anything I wanted from Langdon and Hughes in electrical supplies. I remember one time when Dan Burke did okay a bill for me that was around $500 for changing the water pipes to copper. What would it cost today?

In later years Mr. Sherrill Sherman was employed by Roberts Hardware. One day I met him in the Utica Post Office and to be friendly, I said hello. Mr. Sherman turned and said hello as if he did not know me and then turned away. I approached him a second time and said, Mr. Sherman, don’t you remember Charley McCarthy at the Yahnundasis Golf Club?"

He said, "I don’t recall ever seeing you before", and he asked in a friendly way, " Why should you say that you do know me when you don’t know me?"

I could never forget those words. I thought it was so funny for Mr. Sherman to make a remark like that to me that I had to get it on paper so that others could read it. I know that in Mr. Sherman’s younger life he was rated as a pretty fair golfer. I have a picture of Sherrill and his brother Tom when they played in the club team in the year 1909, and also of Sherrill in the Iroquois team of 1924. I also remember in the year 1922 when we had the back nine under construction, he made the remark to me that he would not know how to handle a shovel full of dirt. I always believed that he had told me the truth.

I have the full page clipping that was in the Daily Press on April 22, 1924 announcing the formal opening of the new club house and golf course, which was on my birthday.

I have lived in the same house at 80 Seneca Turnpike for the past fifty three years and sorry to say that it is the last house left in my neighborhood that is just waiting to be destroyed. All other homes in the neighborhood have either been burned to the ground intentionally by the New Hartford Fire Department or destroyed by a bull dozer. Who knows what the future will bring?

In the early days in winter the roads were never plowed. As many people refer to as the good old days, it was a pleasure to look out and see a neighbor driving with horse drawn sleigh with a load of milk cans going to the creamery or on other business. If you had to walk any place you could always walk in the tracks that the horses and sleighs had made in nice clean white snow or maybe steal a ride on the back of a sleigh, which was a thrill.

Well, it is now June, 1974, and I am at the age of 85 years. I am not able to play golf but I do enjoy watching it on television and take particular notice of the greens as to how they are built. It looks to me like the golf courses where the big money games are played the greens areas are very large and level, so the players are able to sink very long distance puts. I am also interested in anything that I can read about nearby golf courses. I have just read an article in the paper about thirty golf courses nearby and of managers remarks about the cost of playing golf, whether it is cheaper to be a member or pay as you play. I should think it would make a difference as to what kind of course that you play on. I don’t mean to criticize any golf course. Years ago you had to be well-to-do to play golf, but today it is everybody’s game. You had to go to a pro shop to buy golf clubs and golf balls. Today you can go to most any drug store and they have golf equipment.

At our June 6, 2002 annual meeting outgoing President Bob Dicker said to incoming President Barbara Zobgy as he shook hands and congratulated her, "We should have a gavel to hand over during this ceremony". Our fellow member, Bill Terrill, past master of the Masonic Lodge-Faxton 2x, received many prestigious honors locally and area wide including the Oriental Lodge, which honored him with a gavel. It is inscribed on the head with these words: Fellowcraft Club of Oriental Lodge F&AM224. Bill has given this gavel to the Historical Society and we will use it the next time the office of President changes. Thank you, Bill.

Another addition to our collection consists of the following glass milk bottles from New Hartford dairies, donated by Bob Dicker:

You may have seen these bottles on display in the showcase of the New Hartford Public Library during the month of July.

If anyone has other New Hartford Dairy bottles they might want to donate or sell, contact Bob Dicker at 724-7293.

The transition of Presidents at the June annual meeting does not really permit the full expression of feelings. I would like to express special appreciation to:

Members: Your numbers grew. Dues renewal, interest, support and enthusiasm were much appreciated.

The Board: I worked with an outstanding board. Their dedication, cooperation, initiative and completion of projects was exceptional.

I appreciate the opportunity to have served as your President, including the honor and enjoyment that goes with it. I wish Barbara Zogby and all who serve with her continued success.

A request was received, by phone, from Applebee’s headquarters in Texas to supply twenty 8" x 10" historical photos of New Hartford from 1900 to 1950 to be displayed in the new Applebee’s Grill and Bar in Consumer Square. Burke Galer, Bob Dicker, Barbara Munde and Robert Sudakow of Focus Photo responded with pictures of the Presbyterian Church, an aerial view of Hymphreys farm, interior of the American Emblem plant in 1940, Wanamaker’s Furniture Store 1945, Butler Hall 1901, Jack & Andy’s Diner 1950, Sears Oil Company Gas Station 1936, trolley in front of Ken-Wel Manufacturing Co. 1935, Socony Gasoline Pump in front of Williams Hotel in 1922, Standard Silk Mill, Chadwicks 1915, Jedediah Sanger’s Home early 1900’s, picture of the Home Defense Corp in the Village Park 1917, Yahnundasis Golf Club 1924, Point School 1908, Utica Mutual Insurance Co. 1951, Paris Cinema/Players Theater, Country Day School 1921, Amicable Masonic Lodge on Oxford Road 1926, New Hartford Citizen’s Band 1928 and Rhoads Hospital 1943. Applebee’s reimbursed us for the cost of the enlarging and printing. The restaurant opened early in August.

The pictures are in a rather inconspicuous place high on the wall in the immediate entry way where it is not easy to read the captions under them, but do observe them as you go to patronize this new style restaurant. Perhaps we can get the location changed.

At the August 21st New Hartford Historical Society Board meeting the officers and trustees recommended that Robert E. Dicker be made an Honorary Trustee of the New Hartford Historical Society in recognition of his years of dedicated service to this organization as President and Board Member.

This proposal will be presented to the members and formally voted on at the September dinner meeting.

In 1953 an article in the Observer Dispatch described Oxford Heights as follows:

Turn up Hoffman Road off Oxford Road in New Hartford and you are in Oxford Heights. Hoffman Road climbs one of the hills in the low range. Oxen made the first pathway up the heights. Somewhere in that area it is said that an ox kicked some dirt out of a ditch and traces of iron ore had the pioneer settlers excited for a bit.

Hugh R. Jones Company bought the Christopher Hoffman farm and subdivided it. The farm barns were torn down. If they were standing today they would be right in the middle of the road. Hoffman kept the lot on the righthand side and built a new house.

The real estate name for the area is Oxford Heights, and on Hoffman Road the Jones company put up eight or nine of the stone and colonial houses, and went pretty well up into the woods. Then there was trouble. The trees had to come out or the road had to detour, and there were no bulldozers in those days. So the Jones company experimented with a coal burning, steam-boiler shovel. They did not make much progress in clearing the lots or the road so they dynamited. Finally they actually hewed the road through the woodland. A little park was laid out and Boy Scouts used to camp there.

President	Barbara Zogby 797-6311
Vice President	John Pitarresi
Secretary	Barbara Couture
Treasurer	Ken Kazanjian
Trustees	Arthur Baker Robert Jones Jim Spellman Judy Wenner Burke Muller
Past President	Robert Dicker
Archivist	Burke Gale
Honorary Trustees	Nellie Kazanjian Robert Anderson
Tally Ho Editors	Barbara Munde 737-8216 Martha Smith Judy Wenner

Thursday, June 6, 2002 7:00 PM
Community Building Washington Mills, NY
Emcee - Jack Yntema

It is that time of year again when we bring articles to our meeting and try to stump the experts. It is always a fun evening and a nice way to end the season. So look in those boxes piled in the attic or the garage and see if you can come up with something that was ordinary in days gone by, but out -of-the ordinary today. Or anything you think would interest our members. We look forward to seeing you on the 6th.

The coordinator of nominations for 2002-2003 and her assistants have reported that Margery Showalter has withdrawn her candidacy for President of the New Hartford Historical Society.

As you will read further on in this newsletter, the Board of Trustees met and proposed an amendment to the by laws that allows the President to serve five one-year terms instead of the previous three one-year term limit. I accepted their offer to serve, if elected, for another one year term.

However, since then I have had some minor health problems and must curtail some of my activities. The post of president is an exciting one but it also is a busy one. I therefore, of necessity, must remove my name from the nominations. Barbara Zogby has accepted the nominating committee’s offer to have her name placed on the slate as President.

Our many projects continue to expand and compliment the routine operation of the society.

Be sure to view the NH Historical Society exhibits in the NH Public Library cases in June on "The Churches of New Hartford, Then and Now" and in July on "History of Farms in New Hartford" that are being prepared by Judy Wenner and Barbara Couture.

I encourage your attendance and participation at the June 6th annual meting, election, and the fun program of Show and Tell.

The History of the Farms in New Hartford project, coordinated by Barbara Couture, continues to grow with over 40 responses to date.

The early milk and soda bottle donations to the Society continues to grow, also. A bottle cap recently donated by Jim Cookingham is from the Silverbell Jersey Farms, New Hartford.

Please forward any historical information or memorabilia. available you may have on farms in the area - where they were located, when they were in existence, owners of the farm, and general information. Barb can check and see if the information is in her notes. We may come up with farms that we are not aware of.

The following information was narrated by Mary Hughes who was raised on the Hughes Farm, Paris Road, New Hartford.

It was Christmas 1912. I was 4 1/2 years old. My Father who had been a widower for three years married a widow - the owner of our house on Paris road. There was only 13 acres - hardly big enough to be called a farm. The acreage had been part of the farm across the road. My step-mother's first marriage was to David Owens and after his death, she sold it to the Yeandle family.

My step-mother’s house was built in 1905. Behind it was a carriage house and another building for pigs and hens. My father soon extended the carriage house in order to have room for six cows, a team of horses (Polly and Molly) and Gyp, our horse who pulled the cutter or carriage. This was all before the time to own an automobile.

The six cows gave almost one can of milk and my father, with a wheelbarrow, delivered the milk to the Yeandles across the road who had a milk route. We always kept a pail for ourselves. This was poured into a tin pan and kept on a shelf in the milk room of the kitchen. The cream was skimmed and with a barrel churn, made into butter. We always had cottage cheese processing on the back of the old iron kitchen range, a Stewart made in Troy, New York.

Our hens produced eggs for the three of us and we sold the rest. We had two or three pigs - one of which was always slaughtered in the fall. We cured our own ham over smoldering corn cobs and my mother made sausage and scrapple. Her scrapple was the best. Of course we had a vegetable garden and the Home Bureau (to which most farm ladies belonged) taught my mother how to use a pressure cooker. Fruit was abundant - apples, cherries, and berries, some made into preserves for future consumption.

From the village of New Hartford, Paris road begins an incline and at the top is Pippen Hill, the name Frederick Proctor gave to his estate. It is the area now named Tennyson, Longfellow and Lowell roads. It really was an estate with a superintendent (Frank Wright) and a groundsman named Vito Strafella. Their houses are still on Tennyson but the green house is no longer there. It was before the days of tractors so Mr. Proctor hired my father during the summer to plow and maintain the grounds. My father went to work walking behind Polly and Molly. And Mr. Proctor bought his eggs and butter from us. About once a week he would arrive with an empty butter crock in hand and there he stood at our front door. When the bell rang, we knew who it was because no one else ever came to our front door. Farmers usually entered by the back door. Mr. Proctor was a friendly, nice man and always had time to sit in the living room and chat. He knew that my mother was interested in flowers so he taught her many botanical names. Of course, I was always in on the conversations. Mr. Proctor taught me the Latin meaning of nasturtium. It means crooked nose and I amused him when I giggled and laughed.

Mr. Proctor was not the only person hiring my father and his team of horses. Benjamin and Sue Gilbert had purchased a farm and had built the house where the Matts live now. They developed one acre building lots and Compton and Gilbert roads became part of the landscape. Mrs. Gilbert was a Compton and her father was a doctor who cared for the Rockefeller family in a Cleveland, Ohio suburb. Mrs. Gilbert was a vibrant friendly person, always giving us farm children a ride to school in her automobile. I never met Mr. Gilbert, but I do know that he was a sculptor. They had two children - Bingo and Susan.

Now back to upper Paris Road. There was the Tuttle farm - husband Gary and his wife Mary, they did not have any children. They owned about 60 acres which extended across the present Route 12 almost to Rock City. They had many sugar maples and in the spring time they would make a huge log fire and make maple syrup. Neighbor farmers would arrive with sap and use this fire to make their syrup. Gary was a fine man but not overly ambitious. He always worked hard to make enough money to keep body and soul together but not much more. He had a few cows and a cream separator. He sold the cream to Acklers grocery store in the village. In the summer, he would drive his small herd down the road toward the village. He owned the land which Bill Morris Sr. developed into Morris Circle and it was on this acreage that his cows pastured. I recall that most of the neighbors were upset when the houses on Morris Circle appeared thinking it would spoil the neighborhood. It was early suburbia and how I wish that my parents could see it now.

After the Civil War, the Tuttle house became part of the under ground railroad. A black family by the name of Wills owned the property. I had a picture of Mr. Wills and gave it to one of the many families who have since lived in the little brown house. The little brown house is no longer little. Dean Gordon and his family now live there.

The Yeandles had seven children. The oldest girl, Gertrude, was married to Roy Guller and lived on Brimfield Street. All of the Yeandle children were brilliant. Two graduated from high school and one of those, Fred, had a BA from Hamilton, an MA from Yale and a PHD from Columbia University. Fred taught Spanish and French at Columbia until he retired. The Yeandles had a dairy and milk route. Toward the village, next on the east side of the road lived Jimmy Miller. He had a dairy and a milk route. Today his farm has houses in the $200,000 plus range. For years, Jimmy was a bachelor but then married a widow who had a son George Walter. As a wedding present Jimmy gave his wife to be a new colonial house - it is still there between the two entrances to Morris Circle. The old farm house is now owned by the House of Good Shepard.

The McNamara’s - John and Kate, Rhoda, Mary and Kate, all daughters of Gertrude. Kate and Rhoda worked in the cotton mill in New Hartford. That mill was on the Sauquoit Creek about where the approaches are for Route 8. I think they worked a 7 to 5 shift. Their brother, John, had a cold cure and several alcoholics lived with the family in this house. We always wondered how so many people could live in such a small space. I remember when John would walk his patients past our house on warm day.

Across from the McNamara’s lived a family by the name of Schultz. I do not remember if they were farmers. Two of the daughters worked in Utica. A son Raymond, a little older than I, walked to school with the rest of us, but I never knew this family very well. But I do recall Lena, one of the daughters who married Denny Crowd. He was a motorman on one of the Utica Street cars - but he also managed a house of ill repute. This brothel was on Pearl Street near Utica’s old City Hall and my father’s friends were always concocting stories about Denny. They said that when the street car came to the city hall, Denny would jump off and run down the street, check on his business and then jump back on and continue the route. Later Denny did have problems with the police. There was some truth to the gossip. I do recall that the Schultz family were Christian Scientists and they were the first family of that sect that I have ever known.

Almost on the corner of Gilbert and Paris, on the east side of Paris, is a little old farm house, once the Ganey farm. When I was going to school, a Mr. and Mrs. Tappin (an elderly couple) lived there. They always sat in their window in the morning and waved to us.

Paris Road was once the turnpike linking Utica to Binghamton. The Yeandle house was once an Inn. If you look at that house, even today, you will note a door on the left. This door opened into the bar and the stairway leading to the loft where people slept. I remember my parents, if they saw someone walking up the road, would remark, "Who’s coming up the pike now?" Paris Road was modernized with concrete in the early 1920’s at the place where Old Paris Road meets Route 12, a swampy area. Originally they had cut large trees and placed them across the road - a corduroy road. I remember watching them remove those logs when they hard surfaced Paris Road. As soon as we had a modern road, the Binghamton-Utica bus began it’s daily schedule going past our house. It was most convenient. We would stand at the edge of our driveway, flag it down, and in a very short time be in downtown Utica.

We purchased our first car in 1915. It had a rubber bulb shaped horn, brass lights, and some kind of curtains which we could attach it if rained. Roads were not kept free of snow, so no winter driving. My father, that first winter, decided to put the car in the barn behind the cows. It rusted, so he built a garage. The people on Pippin Hill banded together and purchased a huge roller. They hired my father and Polly and Molly to roll the snow so that the surface was hard. But it was not a successful venture and my father refused to offer the next winter - too much to ask of Polly and Molly.

Before our May monthly meeting, Margery Showalter regretfully informed the Board of Trustees and the nominating committee that she had decided to withdraw her name from the nominating committee list of officers for the year 2002-2003. A special Board meeting was held prior to the May meeting at which time her withdrawal was accepted and the following Constitutional Amendment was proposed.

The following amendment was considered by the Board at their special meeting on May 2, 2002.

"Amend ARTICLE VI, SECTION E following ‘or as President or Vice President for three consecutive terms’ and insert ‘ for five full consecutive years’ in its place."

The amendment was passed at the Board’s regular meeting on May 21, 2002 completing procedures for amendment approval specified in ARTICLE VIII.

The rational for this change is to achieve greater continuity in the operation of the Society that is not

Barbara Zogby has accepted the Nominating Committee and Boards offer to place her name in nomination to serve as president for the 2002-2003 year.

Barbara Zogby - President
John Pitarresi- Vice President
Kenneth Kazanjian - Treasurer
Barbara Couture - Secretary
Jim Spellman - Trustee to 2004
Judy Wenner - Trustee to 2005
Burke Muller - Trustee to 2005

The first teacher of record in New Hartford was Samuel Dakin, who came to this settlement in the autumn of 1815. He was born in Mason, New Hampshire, November 17, 1770, and studied law at Dartmouth College, where he graduated in 1797. Upon admission to the bar, he entered practice at Jaffrey, New Hampshire. In 1801, he married the daughter of the Rev. Stephen Farrow, of New Ipswith. In 1815, when Dakin arrived in New Hartford, the village was larger and more important than Utica. As he was unable to begin practice of his profession, the law then in force requiring a prior residence in the state of three years, he engaged in teaching young men for college. Mr. Dakin continues his teaching for six years, then resumed his law practice and entered into partnership with James Dean. He became a Justice in the Town in 1836.

Justice Dakin recorded some 64 cases between April 10, 1836, and April 11, 1837, and some 67 cases the following year. Most of the cases were appeals for damages by one citizen against another, although some concern offenses against the State. The more serious of the latter cases were sent to higher courts and the damage cases largely fill the Dakin docket.

Several cases were settled by the non-appearance of the parties involved. Timothy Wilcox sued Frederick Morgan for damaged done by Morgan’s cattle and horses to the Wilcox farm. After several delays neither party sowed up in court and Dakin entered "non-suit" for the case.

Fines were often very small. In the case of Ichabod Potter vs. Andrew Williams, Potter asked $50 from the defendant for breaking into his house, violently injuring his property, and abusing his wife and children. The award was $4.50. One New Hartford litigant was awarded six cents for a broken fence, damaged grapes and herbage and pulled-up trees. Numerous cases involved non-payment of promissory notes or unpaid labor. New Hartfordites were hailed into Dakin’s court for non-payment on pigs, house rentals, shop rental, lodging a horse, meat and provisions, and board and room. Ezra Lee had to pay $5.80 for work done on his mother’s coffin. An offense against the Sabbath was committed in 1837 when a tavern keeper sold spirituous drinks on Sunday to people who were neither his lodgers nor travelers. The fine was $2.50. Also in 1837 four citizens were charged with keeping a bawdy house or a house for the resort of prostitutes, drunkards, tiplers and gamesters. Four men were fined $25 for selling strong drink without a license.

In 1837 a case was sent to the court of General Sessions. John Schuyler tried to kill Samuel Bennett at John Hamlin’s tavern. Schuyler was jailed but escaped. He was captured and again jailed. Women were involved in the justice court from time to time. In 1839 Frederick Morgan and Thankful Brown (women) charged Peter Smith with letting his cattle destroy their corn. Thankful withdrew and the case was dropped. Thomas Morgan was accused in 1840 of beating the wife of John Whitaker. This case was dropped too, but Morgan may have made amends privately. In another case two men were charged with carrying off the wife and furniture of James Marsh. In a paternity case the defendant had to pay $25 for the mother’s confinement and recovery and $1 a week for care of the baby.

Horse stealing was common in New York and was serious enough for the citizens to organize a society to detect and apprehend such thieves in New Hartford. Apples and butternuts were stolen. A man broke into a schoolhouse and stole the school master’s umbrella, his razor, and five books. The culprit receive a sentence of four years in State Prison.

Offenses against the public welfare included a fine on a fireman for missing two meetings of the New Hartford Crocket Fire Company No. 2. He paid fifty cents and costs. John French received a fine for driving his carriage on the towpath of the Chenango Canal: Fine: $5.

Sam Dakin died in 1844 after eight years of providing justice for New Hartford. Today most of the justice cases are automobile-related but you can find the same type of justice needed today as in Dakin’s court.

The first regularly published newspaper west of Albany called the WHITESTOWN GAZZETTE was published and printed in New Hartford in 1791.

The first church building west of Herkimer was built in New Hartford in 1793 by the First Religious Society of the Town of Whitestown and still stands as the beautiful building of the New Hartford Presbyterian Church.

The first cut nail factory in the State of New York is said to have been operated by Jonathan Richardson. He made his own machinery and is said to have purchased used wine and liquor casks the hoops of which he made into shingle nails.

The first regular stage coach line from Utica to the great western country ran through New Hartford and was operated by Jason Parker who was one of the first settlers in New Hartford.

A group of chess enthusiasts checked into a hotel and were standing in the lobby discussing their recent tournament victories. After about an hour, the manager came out of the office and asked them to disperse. "But why?" they asked, as they moved off. "Because," he said, "I can’t stand chess nuts boasting in an open foyer."

Scott Fiesthumel, baseball historian and author, will present a video on the history of the Ken-Wel Sporting Goods Company. Scott, a graduate of Whitesboro schools and MVCC, is a member of the Society for American Baseball Research, member and volunteer at the Oneida County Historical Society, columnist for the Life & Times of Utica, and author of the books Pent-Ups, Minor League Baseball in Utica 1878-1892, Barnstorming Champions, the 1920 Adirondack Stars, and a booklet Major League Glovemakers which tells about the Ken-Wel Sporting Goods Company.

If you own any, please bring Ken-Wel items: i.e. photos inside and outside, advertising, sporting goods made by the company, etc. to share with Scott and those in attendance.

"The Tragedy of Delta" program was interesting, very informative, and well presented by Mary Centro who has really researched in depth and detail. Our compliments and appreciation to her. We were joined by quite a number of people who attended just to hear the program.

I am looking forward to the program on KEN-WEL by Scott Fiesthumel who is also a talented researcher and presenter. Be sure to attend and participate - bring Ken-Wel items if you have any.

Most all Society projects are progressing well. Some need final authorization by members. Be sure to attend on May 2, 2002.

Most all road access to Utica at one time was by turnpikes which charged a toll at tollgates at the entrances to the city.

Shippers and travelers called Utica "Penned Up" because of the inability to enter without payment of a toll. They started and continued to bypass Utica and the area on alternate routes with no toll.

This is one of the reasons Syracuse and area grew to its greater size than Utica.

Ed. note: My father referred to Utica as the Pent Up City. He always felt that the city fathers did not take the initiative many times to improve the industrial climate and attract new business. Also, Utica did not become the center of the railroad. That also went to Syracuse.

MEMORIES OF THE EARLY DAYS AT THE YAHNUNDASIS GOLF CLUB (continued)
by Charles T. McCarthy

There was a heated argument between the two When it ended, I stayed with the big team of horses. The next day Mr. Ball sent all three horses out to work on the Golf Course. Mr. Collins had no work for me and Mr. Ball would not have me so I had nothing to do but care for the horses and kill time. It was late in the fall. Mr. Ball’s time was nearly up for the season, so when he left things were back to normal again.

In the 1909 Mr. James Cochrane was manager in the club house and had brought a niece from Lockport, NY to work as a waitress who happened to be just my age. We became friends. The club was her home, so I courted her in the club house and May of 1910 we were married from there and given our wedding breakfast in the club house. At that time I went to work in the club house as a waiter and bar tender for a number of years. Mr. Ball returned in the spring of 1910 and as I worked at the bar we became friends again. Mr. Ball spent many hours at the bar every day drinking Scotch Whiskey and causing arguments, so that was his last season.

In the spring of 1922 Mr. Wheeler, a building contractor, had finished his contract in building the addition to the point school in New Hartford and had taken the contract for building the new club house. He was from the north country. Mr. Walter J. Travis, Garden City, NY, honorary member, was the architect for the present golf course. He had supplied the blue prints for the golf course and stakes were driven for the location of tees and greens. In 1922, in early spring, Mr. William Tull of 68 Orchard Place, Bloomfield, NJ, Mr. Travis; construction expert, was sent to the Yahnundasis to stake out the greens to elevation and to get the work started. I was sent to work with Mr. Tull. An ad was put in the paper for men. About 35 were hired for hand labor and three teams of horses for grading. Topsoil had to be removed at the location of each green seven inches deep and according to the size and specifications on the blueprints before the greens could be staked to the elevation. The first green staked to be built was number eleven. Mr. Tull and I worked together for three days. At the end of the third day he said,

"McCarthy, I must leave you tonight. You are the man picked out to build this golf course. I have other courses under construction that I must give supervision on. I will leave you written instructions on how to keep the men and teams of horses at work and refer to the blueprints about the work you have to do. I will see you again in the two weeks. I will leave my address in Bloomfield, NJ in case you would like to get in touch with me."

In the month of June after having number thirteen and fifteen greens completely finished and ready for the stolons to be planted for grass, we had three days of heavy rain. The water in the crick went over its banks and over the thirteenth green which was completely washed out. I had to restake and rebuild number thirteen with much damage done to number fifteen. There was no refill soil to be had around number thirteen. It all had to be shoveled by hand into a wagon from another place and brought to number thirteen by horse and wagon. In planting stolons on a putting green for grass it required a lot of hand work by men with shovels. A small portion of land had to be staked out and inside of these stakes the men had to shovel so many yards of rich soil, so many yards of rich muck, and then spread so many bales of peat moss and a certain amount of fertilizer and thoroughly mix. After standing for a certain length of time a layer is spread on a putting green, then a layer of chopped stolons which were covered with another layer of germinated.

One day while at the eighteen green which was all graded to a finish, Mr. John E. McLoughlin, president of the Yahnundasis Golf Club, approached me and said,

"Charlie, this green is too close to the club house and must be moved father away."

That meant leveling the green again and restaking to elevation father away which meant a lot of extra work. While cutting the trees through the swamp area the fourteen and fifteen fairways were coming together. Mr. Walter J. Travis, Architect from Garden City, NY had to be called in to straighten things out. Mr. Thomas M. Sherman who was a member and a popular golfer, winner of many events and a very good friend of Mr. Travis was called in on that day by brother Sherrill to meet Mr. Travis. Mr. Thomas M. Sherman, Mr. Sherrill Sherman, Mr. William J. Tull, Mr. Walter J. Travis and myself walked around the back nine discussing the building of the golf course and that gave me a chance to talk with Mr. Travis who at one time was New York State amateur champion and the first non-Britisher to win the British Open. He also won the first Yahnundasis tournament in 1909. I remember meeting Mr. Travis at that time.

In 1909 the club had a clam bake. souvenir beer mugs were made for the occasion, enough for everyone. I wonder how many are around today. I have a pair as nice as the day they were made.

In 1924 Mr. Tull became a golf course architect on his own with an office in Greenwich, Conn. In May, 1924, I received a letter from him saying he had a contract to build a golf course in the Thousand Island, Alexandria Bay. He had the land surveyed and stakes were driven in the locations for tees and greens and he had the blueprints ready. He wanted to know if I would be interested in building the golf course. He stated the wages and said all hotel and traveling expenses would be paid if I accepted. Because it was better than I could do at the Yahnundasis, I accepted. By the end of the season I had nine holes completed.

I went back to the Yahnundasis after that and worked as a waiter for a few years and then took over the care of the tennis courts under orders from Mr. George F. Murray, chairman of the greens committee and all mechanical work in the club house, under orders of attorney Dan T. Burke who was chairman of the house committee. All the improvements that I suggested in the house had to be approved by the board of governors and the go ahead orders given to me by Mr. Burke, who was a prince to take orders from.

On the third floor over the large hall on the main floor was the ladies quarters. The stairway from the main floor led up into the ladies lounging room, then to the lockers, then to the shower room. Over the main dining room was a large attic space used mostly for storage and junk, In order to give the ladies more lounging room, I had to move one shower to get to the back wall in which I cut a doorway into the attic space. After getting a doorway through, I moved all of the ladies lockers out into the attic space, which gave the ladies a larger lounging room. Then I put partitions across the attic room and in the southeast corner I built a lounging room for the girl who was in charge of the ladies rooms.

In order for this girl to give kitchen service to the ladies locker room she had to walk to the front of the house to the stairway and down to the front of the house and then out to the kitchen. In order to make a short trip for her I had to cut an opening through the attic main wall to which I had to chisel through brick and tile into the helpers quarters over the kitchen. There I found the floor four feet lower than the attic floor. I had to build a stairway down and had to case everything in, but it made only a few steps for her down to the kitchen.

To Ena and Tony D’Apice for the excellent article in the Primetime paper. They were selected as a couple who exemplified the theme "Achievement is Ageless" selected by the Oneida County Office For the Aging & Continuing Care. To quote from the article. "This talented, spirited and highly motivated pair stays busy and loves life. They encourage everyone around them to do the same and prove that achievement is indeed ageless".

To Dr. Arthur Baker for the stamp collecting exhibit currently at the New Hartford Public Library. Art Baker is president of the Utica Stamp Club which sponsors the exhibit.

To John Pitarresi who was enshrined in the Outdoorsmen Hall of Fame on Saturday, April 13, 2002. John has written about the outdoors in four different decades at the Observer Dispatch.

Notice is hereby given of the slate of officers and trustees for the year 2002-2003. The slate consists of:

Margery Showalter - President
John Pitarresi Vice President
Kenneth Kazanjian - Treasurer
Barbara Couture - Secretary
Jim Spellman Trustee to 2004 replace John Pitarresi
Judy Wenner -Trustee 2005
Burke Muller - Trustee 2005

This slate will be voted on at the June annual meeting. Anyone wishing to hold office or present another candidate may do so before the start of the June meeting.

In 1635 in the city of Crakow, Galicia , a document was uncovered that stated the following:

"Whereas the young men of this country have taken to indulging in almost endless courtships, which are liable to wear out a maid’s patience while at the same time being a heavy expense to her parents, who must necessarily entertain and feed the groom while he pretends to become better acquainted with his future wife; therefore, be it resolved that the diet make it unlawful for any man to woo a maid longer than a twelvemonth - that is to say, no man shall be allowed to defer marriage, after proposing to a maid, more that a year’s time. In June of every year the parents of a maid shall have the right to demand of any wooer of long standing either to declare himself as to his intentions or withdraw his suit."

In the early days of our country life was mostly rural. People depended for a living on tilling the soil and harvesting the products of the forest. They lived at a distance from the few cities and centers of learning. Doctors were few and far between, and if they were present their training was often meager indeed, perhaps only a few months or a year or two as an apprentice to an older man. Modern medicine, hospitals and wonder drugs were still far in the future.

If someone got a fever, a belly ache or an infection, chances are no doctor could be found. Even if there were one a few miles off, there was no telephone to use to summon him and no automobile to get him to the patient in a hurry. So home remedies were developed. Some were ancient and traditional, some came from the Indians, some came by way of experimentation, and some doubtless had their origin in the medical science of the day. They tended to be wonderful mixture of herbology, magic, religion, superstition, signs, faith healing, and plain quackery. All manner of substances and performances were boiled, mixed, grated, pounded, sifted, and concocted into doses, drinks, teas, salves , poultices and whatnot. Sometimes the cure was worse than the ailment. Sometimes the remedy was a good one and effective.

There were literally books full of "good-fors", as well as those cures simply handed down by tradition or word of mouth"

-to stop a headache, gather up the clippings when you get your hair cut and put them under a rock.

-To get rid of warts. cut the wart, take a drop of blood from it and put it on a grain of corn and feed it to a chicken.

To cure spider bite, drink strong likker from 3 o’clock to 7 o’clock in the afternoon.

Take 2 ounces of allums, 2 of ginger, 1 of mace, 1 of cinnemon, and 1 of gerdain saffron. Pound them separate then pound them together. Cork them tite in a bottle. 1 teaspoonful is a portion. Sometimes it takes 6 and sometimes it takes 36 but you must give the patient a little magnisha in water to prepare the stummack to receive the powder for they will puke up the powder if they receive not the magnisha first for they will be sick and weak

Take 1 pound of good plug tobackco, 1 pound of itch weed, bile it in 4 quorts of water till half water left, squese the dregs, throw them away. Then take an old insole of a child’s shoe at 10 years old, burn it to a blister, pound it until you can sift it. Add to the fine part 2 ounces of casporas. Put them both in a kettle, simmer them down to a salve sturing it often over a slow fire-not to burn it- fetch the patient a tea made of cowcumger wood bark for their constant drink. Apply the salve to the canser on a lather plaster and follow them both til the canser gets well. The salve will eat the canser and you must change the salve once in every day for it will afterwards heal it up and the above tea will clense the blood.to cure horse glanders

1 quart of strong beer, black pepper elecompaine of each 1 table spoonful - boil these in the beer down about one third. Then put in 5 ounces of butter and 5 ounces of wistendy moelses and to yelks of two new laid eggs. Beat them all togeather and give it to the horse luke warm. Then in 24 ours after a drink prepaired, take the best vinegar, put in 3 whole eggs, let them ly in 24 ours then beat them up shells and all. Then give it to the horse 3 times as you nead requires and it will carry off the glanders.

(Ed. note: Glanders is a contagious and destructive disease, esp. of horses, caused by a bacterium and characterized by creating nodular lesions that tend to break down and form ulcers.)

The anniversary celebration in connection with the sesqui-centennial year of First Presbyterian Church will be celebrated with a harvest dinner on Sunday, Sept. 22 at 12:45. Members and friends are invited. The entire proceeds will be applied toward the mortgage fund.

Mrs. G. L. Harrison and Mrs. G.F. Riley, co-chairmen; Mrs. Harold Adams, Mrs Stewart Foster, Mrs Brayton Pugh, Mrs. C.M. Quilter, Mrs. C.W. Thornhill, Mrs. George Yates, Mrs. Arthur English, Mrs. Tom Johnson, Mrs. Edith Gale, Mrs. Wille Sherwood, Mrs. Robert Codner.

Dining room: Mrs. H.D. Shepard, chairman; Mrs. Everette Grupe, Mrs. Alan Jackson, Mrs. William LaGrange, Mrs. Emerson Jones, Mrs. Seymour Hatfield, Miss Hannah Hatfield, Mrs. Forest Riley, and Miss Marion Cotins.

What happened to the village of Delta? Mary Centro, historian and authority on the subject, will reveal this interesting story with slides and a lecture. It is a piece of history that would be forgotten if not recorded as Mary has done. The presentation will be one worthy of seeing. We hope you will attend and welcome Mary Centro.

Our sincere thanks to Norris Ellenwood who substituted for Charles Haskin and did a very good job presenting the History of the Welsh Church and the Amicable Lodge at our March meeting. Our very best to Mrs. Haskin in her recovery and rehabilitation from knee replacement surgery. My thanks to all the members who attended and participated, especially Walter Cookinham. The refreshments, which included a delicious cake decorated in our honor, were thoroughly enjoyed by everyone. Thanks to the Lodge group who provided them for us.

The fifth in our HISTORY SERIES, "The Churches of New Hartford, Then & Now" is complete to the extent the 22 churches responded and ready for further distribution. They are FREE, one to a member; $3.00 each for extras and non-members. If you did not receive your copy at the March 10th meeting, they will be on hand at all of the next meetings through June for you to pick up. If meeting attendance is impossible, please make contact (737-8216 or drop us a note) and we will make arrangements for delivery. All out-of-town members will have a copy mailed to them in the very near future.

A timely REMINDER - Spring 2002 has arrived! As that traditional extra house cleaning in many homes takes place, please think of donations and/or loans to the Society. For example; advertisements or pictures of theaters or restaurants that existed in New Hartford such as Players Theater, White’s Inn, Cavanna’s, Busy Bee, Obie’s, etc.

The program at the April 4, 2002 meeting will be well presented and interesting, containing thoroughly researched material. We join in welcoming Mary Centro. I encourage your attendance and participation. If you have related items regarding Delta, the village or the dam, and would like to share them, bring them along.

In 1976, after 187 years, the village of New Hartford finally had its own seal. Drawn by Clinton artist Brewerton H. Clark, Sr., it shows Jedediah Sanger and his wife, founders of New Hartford, with the millstone that was used in the grist mill established in 1789. We have copies of this seal on hand in our bookstore.

Cast in Metal	$15.00
Chenango Canal	$ 4.25
Here Comes the Trolley	$ 5.00
Home School For Girls	$ 8.00
Ice Harvesting in Amer.	$ 5.50
Liberty March	$20.00
Valley of Liberty	$12.95
Roadside Markers	$ 9.00
The Sauquoit Valley	$19.00
200 Yrs. Oneida Co. Hist.	$16.00
Flying to Marcy	$24.95
Crystal Goblet	$24.95
Loomis Gang Video Tapes	$20.00

Overseer of Poor	$ 206.00
Com. of Schools	$ 191.00
Town Charges Supt.	$ 247.00
Town Clerk	$ 51.00
Paid County	$ 980.00
Total	$1675.00