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!
a churchyard and cemetery, but now is
an orchard and garden with the gravestones being used as walks. The writer
remembers when the White lot was entirely surrounded by woods, and he has an
Indian tomahawk which his father found about 1865 on this lot.
Soon after Sherwood’s arrival, he sold
the west part of his lot to Samuel Phelps, who immediately settled upon
it. Alanson Tracy and his brother Edmund soon arrived and
settled respectively on the farms known as the Calvin Tracy farm and the
James A. Gould farm. Edmund Tracy sold his farm in 1815 to
Marvin Warner from Connecticut and migrated to the western part of the
state where his brother Alanson followed him in 1826, leaving his large estate
here in charge of his son Calvin.
Capt. Alanson Tracy came back
and died in the home of his son in 1852, aged 81 years. He was a man of
sterling integrity and great strength, in proof of which is the
well-authenticated story of his riding a bear. One day in 1798 he was out at
work on the southeast part of his farm when he heard calls for help and he ran
towards the cries. He saw a neighbor, Bennett by name, retreating before
a huge bear. This was south of the D.C. Gould house. The bear, not
noting the approach of Tracy, reared up and folded Bennett in his paws and
proceeded to crush him. Tracy sprang forward and grasped the bruin’s ears. It
was a critical time. Bruin dropped to all four feet and as Tracy had hold of
his ears, he was astride of the bear. After many efforts to shake off his load
he gave up and started to run, but Tracy dared not drop off as the bear might
turn on him. The bear ran fast and Tracy called for help as he hung on. Finally
when they had reached a point near where the Friend’s Church north of Poplar
Ridge now stands, there was a hole filled with water where a tree had blown over.
The bear plunged in. Tracy held the exhausted bear’s head under the water and
drowned her. Bennett revived and sent help to Tracy.
There is another story of Capt. Tracy
which is interesting. During the War of 1812,
call was made for farmers to take food and clothing through to Fort
Niagara. It was in the wintertime, and Capt. Tracy and many others agreed to go
through with supplies. His family had just finished making a pair of woolen
blankets, which were of very fancy colors, owing to the kind of coloring
materials used in those days. They reached Niagara and the following day
started for home. A few miles on their way they stopped at a tavern for a
drink. When they came out Tracy found his blankets gone, but in their place was
an Indian trade musket
END PAGE 4
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