Scipio Civil War Veterans

The various municipal Historians in Cayuga County have expended a great deal of time and effort in compiling service records and names of the Civil War veterans of their respective towns. That includes this Historian! But just when I think I have every name, I find another one. Such was the case when I was looking at www.FultonHistory.com, a website I highly recommend. Filled with searchable newspapers from the central NY area, it is often possible to find new information on a subject.
Some of these names are new to me, some are not. I wanted to share them with you today:

From the Auburn Semi-Weekly Journal of January 4, 1907:
Libbeus Merry, a well-known citizen of Scipio, suffered a paralytic stroke this morning. Mr. Merry is 71 years of age and served during the Civil War with the ninth Regiment.

From the Auburn Citizen of August 1, 1930:
James Benton Hitchcock , 89 years old, prominent farmer of Scipio, died yesterday at his home in that town after being in failing health for some time. Mr. Hitchcock had lived in the Town of Scipio for many years, and was well known throughout that vicinity. He was born in Uxbridge, England on March 24, 1841 and came to this country May 10, 1850, when nine years of age. Mr. Hitchcock had a splendid war record, having served in many battles during the Civil War. He saw service in the siege of Yorktown in the battles of Hanover Courthouse, Gaines Mills, Malvern Hill, Fredericksburg and Gettysburg. He was honorably discharged at the close of the war with the rank of quartermaster sergant.
Mr. Hitchcock in 1874 married Miss Carrie Batten who survives him. He was the son of Thomas and Hannah Gunnell Hitchcock. For many years Mr. Hitchcock operated his farm in Scipioville and at one time was employed by the American Express Company in this city. He also had worked at cabinet making in Auburn and the vicinity of Scipioville. He was a member of the Scipio Center G. A. R Post and attended the Presbyterian Church at Scipioville. For 28 years Mr. Hitchcock served as Justice of the Peace.
He is survived by his wife; one son, Byron Hitchcock; four grandchildren and one great-grandson. Funeral services will be held at 2:30 o’clock Sunday afternoon at the home in Scipio with the Rev. Casper Gregory, pastor of the Presbyterian Church,. Officiating. Burial will be in Evergereen Cemetery, Scipioville. Mr. Hitchcock is also survived by two nephews, C. A. Hitchcock of Chittenango and Frederick W. Hitchcock of Sonyea.

From the Auburn Citizen of Tuesday October 10,1905:
Funeral of a Veteran
The funeral of Eber F. West was held at his late home in Scipioville yesterday afternoon. The house was filled with sympathizing friends. Rev. W. P. Garrett, the retiring pastor of the M. E. Church officiated. The M. E. choir sang two appropriate selections. The bearers were J. B. Hitchcock, Nathaniel Hoagland, George E. Carr, Daniel Sunshall (sic), George Bowen and Martin Myers, all of them veterans of the Civil War. Mr. West was a veteran, having enlisted in Company K under the late Captain Angel serving from November 5 1861 until June 30, 1865. There was a profusion of flowers. Burial was made at Evergreen cemetery, Scipioville.

Early Scipio Marriages

It is a challenge to find vital records in New York for any period much before 1850, and even those are pretty sparse. I am also always on the search for ways to identify maiden names of women so their branch of the family tree can be fleshed out.
I was fortunate enough to receive a transcription of some early marriage records for central New York, including Scipio, Springport and Aurelius. Let's see if you are related to any of these folks.

These early marriage records were provided courtesy of Norma Bilak in January 1998. A former very dedicated Historian, Norma is now deceased.
This material was copied from Nellie Flinn’s scrapbook by Arlene Young, then transcribed by Norma.

The following record of the marriages of some of the old inhabitants of Springport, Scipio, and Aurelius is taken from leaflets of a memorandum kept by Rev. Warner Lake, who for 20 years was Pastor of the Baptist Church, located near Powers Corners. Some of these folks descendants are still living in our midst. On a side note, the Rev. Lake was grandfather to J. B. and George W. Clark.
The town listed appears to be the residence of the husband. Some did not have a town listed, but presumably at least one of the couple was local.

Date names town

Nov. 20 1817 Harvey Bush to Arbella Whipple Aurelius
Feb. 19 1818 Timothy Bush to Lydia Bliss
Sep. 03 1818 Justus Boid to Almira Nutt Aurelius
Sep. 10 1818 Nicholas Gray to Laura Clark Aurelius
Nov. 01 1818 Gyeduthor P. Tabor to Mary Rob
Dec. 16 1818 Elam Anthony to Nancy Hunt
Mar. 23 1809 Wm. Crise to Eliza Elenor DeShong
Oct. 7 1809 Daniel Lummis to Polly Corley Aurelius
Oct. 14 1819 Mr. Roberts to Mary Bush
Nov. 2 1819 Hull Thompson to Diana Allen Scipio
Nov. 9 1819 Samuel Burghardt to Sally Snider Aurelius
Nov. 11 1819 Lewis Clark to Rhoda Lake Aurelius
Dec. 30 1819 Herlan Chamberlain to Anna Bush Scipio
Mar. 14 1819 Ichabod Clark to Hetty Gray
Mar. 21 1819 William Richardson to Hannah Dougherty Aurelius
Jul. 16 1820 Benjamin Roberts to Sarah Mosher Aurelius
Aug. 23 1820 Joshua Millard to Hannah Hall Scipio
Apr. ? 1822 Lenineu Mosher to Patty Booth Aurelius
Jul 7 1822 Abraham Johnson to Maria Bancroft Aurelius
Dec. 19 1822 Thaddeus Bennett to Betsey Ingram
Jan. 29 1824 Benjamin Sherman to Phebe Sprague Auburn
Dec. 29 1824 Amos Darling to Alma Hale Aurelius
Apr. 19 1827 Abraham Flinn to Fanny Weed Aurelius
Jan. 19 1826 Sylvester Frances to Lovey West
Jan. 19 1826 Alanson Rittenhouse to Mary Swallow Fleming
Feb. 2 1826 Manson Powers to Eliza Gray
Jun. 15 1826 William DeCoy to Harriett Duboll Springport
Oct. 18 1827 Abram Kirby of Ledyard to Lydia Gray of Springport
Jan. 17 1828 John Clark to Lizzie Flinn Springport
Mar. 9 1828 Oziah Smith to Hannah Lamb Springport
Apr. 9 1829 _?__ Wheeler to Sally Bigsby Aurelius
Dec. 13 1829 Mr. Boseman to Maria Beardsley Springport
Jan. 1 1827 Philip W. Hewitt to Nancy Seabolt Springport
Sep. 26 1827 Jacob Schenck to Maria Roberts Springport
Feb. 28 1828 Benj. F. Martingail to Widow Clark Springport
Mar. 29 1828 Zurah Curtis o Maria Wheeler Springport
May 12 1829 Samuel Dills of Scipio to Mary Lawrence of Springport

Mail in the 1830's

I was browsing through some old newspapers, including some available online at www.Fultonhistory.com, and found some records of mail waiting to be picked up. Looks like the Post Master wanted to start the new year off by clearing out some old mail.

On January 1, 1832, several Scipio people had letters remaining for them at the Post Office. Their names were printed in the Cayuga County Patriot. Where the name was not too clear, I have placed a question mark:
Roger Alexander
Uriah Benedict
Daniel Benham
Jas. E. Brinkerhoff
Thomas Bowman
Isaac Brown
David Carpenter
William Cowen
Ebenezer Chevall
Terry Clark
Gideon Cornell
William Daniels
Daniel Dearborn
Skaden Dean (?)
Mathew Easton
Owen Eddy
Jeffrey A. Takman (?)
John Fancher
Jonathan Green
Nathan Hale
Solomon Hull
Ebenezer Kimball
Reliance Newcomb (?)
Joseph Pierce
Richard Shaw
Henry Spencer
Alexander Story
Ephraim Starkweather
Lewis D. Sutphen
Seneca Tracy
John Winslow
Josiah Woodworth
Josiah C. Wheaton
Raymond Warin
William Weed
Marrin Warner or John Rellett (?)
Jethro Wood
John T. Walker
Certified by Andrew Groom, Post Master

Letters were also waiting for pickup at Sherwood’s Corners, but the newspaper is difficult to read and many names are illegible. Some I can see:
John Anthony
Timothy Butler
Humphrey Howland
Robert Lawrence
Lydia A. Palmer
Jethro Wood
Wilbur Dennis
Allen Hoxie
Josiah Letchworth
Irene Peck
Mary Smith
John Wood
Samuel Worden
Certified by A. Thomas, Post Master

The 1827 list of letters waiting at Sherwood’s Corners is much clearer:
William H. Allen
Thomas Alsop
Abm. Barker
Josiah Bowen
Nathaniel Close
Joseph Estes
Jesse McCarty
John S. Gifford
Phebe Johnson
Daniel Maybey
Henry H. Mosher
Joseph Manly
Monmouth Purdy
Benjamin Smith
James Stillson
James Sayles
Lucinda Sanford
William Slocum
Mr. Stubbs
John Vanduser
John Wood
William Wooden Jr.