SOME
OF THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF SCIPIO
CAYUGA
COUNTY NEW YORK by Austin B. Comstock
I will be posting
each page of this history separately. The index, posted on June 24, 2014 in 4
parts, provides the page numbers; you can also search the blog for a particular
name appearing anywhere within it. I hope you find something new!
Northeast corner to Seymour
Partello of Westchester County, who kept it as a hotel till 1830 when he
sold it to Moses T. Fell, who kept a hotel for two or three years. Fell
sold to Henry Fischer*.
*Note: Comstock later spells this
as Fisher.
It was during Sherwood’s ownership
that Sherwood Corners became the county seat and until a court house and jail
could be built, Judge Sherwood arranged to have court held in his tavern
and also had a room in the southeast corner of the building made into a jail.
The law making Sherwood the county seat was made through the influence of Amos
Rathbone of Scipio and John Grover of Auburn, members of the
Legislature in 1804. The law called for the appointment of a committee of three
to choose a site and erect these two buildings at an expense of not more than
$1,500; the supervisors of the county were directed to raise that amount by
tax. The commissioners appointed were John Tillotson, Augusta
Chidsey, and John Grover Jr., who never acted further than to
designate the site, but before the building was started, the law was repealed
on March 16th, 1805. Thus, Sherwood Corners held the honor for less
than one year.
Hon. Edward Savage of
Washington Co., Hon. James Burt of Orange Co., State Senators and Hon.
James Hildreth of Montgomery Co. were appointed as a committee to look over
the county and decide on a place for the county seat. It was first decided that
Aurora should have the honor, and the residents of that village erected a
building about 20 x 30 feet, built of oak plank made double, the two
thicknesses being placed diagonal like this: XXXXXXXXXX, making it difficult to
cut through it. The commissioners finally decided on Hardenburgh’s Corners and
the jail was only used until the jail and courthouse could be built there. The
jail at Aurora was finally sold and moved to Humphrey Howland’s house
two miles west of Sherwood where it now stands.
During the time Henry Fisher
owned the old tavern and adjacent property, he built the harness shop, now
located in back of the Howland block. He also sold a lot to Horace Lapham
in 1836, and built the house that did stand between Isabel Howland’s
house and the Henry Koon house (north of the Sherwood corner). This
house was moved a few years ago to the site of the first Hepsibeth Hussey
school. Tiberius J. Bryant came in from Pennsylvania and bought the
Lapham house, where he died in 1854. He was the father of Hannah C. King
who owned this place for many years, as did her daughter Mrs. John Morrison.
This house was only a few feet from the well on Isabel Howland’s south porch,
the said well being on the line fence. The writer has a fine Franklin stove
which Bryant brought with him when he came here about 1838.
END OF PAGE 6
No comments:
Post a Comment