Comstock's History Page Twenty-three

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. 

The index is also being published at  http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nycayuga/ and will eventually have a link back to this blog.

I hope you find something new!

Page Twenty-three

times. Major Phillip Buckhout was made a Mason on St. John’s Day 1814, and was one of the older ones but he still, until his death took him, knew his duty and its every call attended.

About 1820, Richard Church sold his place to Andrew Merritt, a cooper by trade. The Lodge then moved to another place. The exact spot is unknown but some authorities claim it moved to Number One, some claim it went to the present home of Earl Cook at Warings Corners, and some claim that it held meetings in private homes for a time and finally disbanded.

The old cooper shop was sold and moved to Bolt’s Corners.

After Merritt’s death, the place was sold to David L. Holley and by him sold to Rowland H. Hazard who later sold to Samuel D. Otis.

Greenfield Iden came here from Buck’s County, PA in 1822. He had been unfortunate and lost his wife; finally he remarried, bought a large farm, made a small payment and lost it. The bad season made it impossible for him to meet his obligations. He turned his back on his native place leaving some debts.

This was a new country and business was good and work plenty. In a few years he had enough money to buy a small place and a few years later he got into making plows. He soon accumulated enough to go back to PA and pay his debts, which he did. As he approached one house, the man cursed him in “Dutch” and ordered him to leave the place. Mr. Iden advanced and said, “My friend, I did not intend to wrong thee and now have come to pay thee.”

He paid all his debts and returned. He prospered and lived on the place for 57 years. He died in 1877 at the age of 87 years, his wife preceding him by a few days. His son George succeeded to the estate. The place is now owned by John Marshall.

The little hamlet two miles east of Sherwood was known as Bolt’s Corners, now containing but seven houses and only agriculture as a business, was once a place of some importance and did more business than any other place in the town.

The place was settled in 1788 by Elisha Durkee and Gilbert Tracy. They bought one mile square of land and divided it in the center, each taking half. Salmon Creek was not vexed by dam of flume and was a fine trout stream; beavers were numerous there.

Tracy and Durkee were soon domiciled in log cabins and were clearing their lands. Roads were laid out and immigrants arrived, and the proprietors were soon busy in selling building lots. In 1789, a man named James Wilcox bought a lot and built a hotel, which he kept for a few years

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