Comstock's History Page Nine

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!

 Page Nine

to Alexander Robinson who shortly vacated and Smith went into business and continued as a merchant, fruit buyer, and poultry dealer until about 1900 when Thomas J. Ryan took over the business.

Samuel Phelps built in 1814 the store which he leased to a native by the name of King who did not stay long. He sold to a man named Parsons who sold to Josiah Bowen (father of Hon. Sales J. Bowen of Washington DC).

Bowen sold to David P. Johnson, whose daughters married some of our well known citizens of the Town of Scipio, namely George Coy, John Mallory, Ruben Rumsey, John Strong and William D. Bennett, Esq.

Johnson vacated this store in 1819 when it was purchased by Alsop and Howland who did business until 1824 when Alsop sold to his partner Howland who continued alone until 1833 when he took a nephew Ledra Heaslit in the spring of 1840. Slocum continued alone until 1847 when he took his son William as a partner, and it continued as Slocum Howland and Son until the death of Slocum which occurred in 1881. William carried on the business until his death in 1905. Ledra Heazlett, above mentioned, married Rebecca Otis. Their son, William Heaslit, moved to Auburn and was the father of Dr. Heaslit who was one of the best surgeons this county has ever known.

Soon after, the cast iron plow was invented by Jethro Wood. Slocum Howland entered into partnership for its manufacture.

The iron was bought in Albany and taken to Montville to be cast. The castings wee then brought to Sherwood and were wooded and finished in their own shop which was located where the Frank C. Smith house now (1938) stands (in 2001, Marjorie Whitten’s). Moravia, or rather Montville, makes claims to being the first cast iron plow factory which is true so far as the casting of iron goes, but they were not finished there for many years as the account books of Slocum Howland prove, both as to the pay for the casting and also credits to several for work done in the plow factory at Sherwood when Slocum was a hard working man and had to make his stake before going into business for himself. His brother Humphrey Howland urged him to give up his idea of speculating and devote himself to helping his father on the farm two miles west of Poplar Ridge, but Slocum felt that he was the best judge of his future and continued in his speculations until he went into the mercantile business as a clerk for Alsop. Even after that, he would buy hogs and ship them through. He also bought turkeys and had them driven to New York by a farmer by the name of John F. Smith who the writer knew very well in his later years. From the fact that he drove live turkeys to New York he was always known as “Turkey John Smith.” He continued

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Comstock's History Page Eight

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!

 Page Eight

to sell and brought back goods with them for sale in their store. The ashes cost them nothing but the trouble of drawing them from where a log heap had been burned to clear the land of the forests. When they gave up business or why is not known, but it was probably about 1809. The store was moved away by S. B. Mastin in 1837 for a barn.

The first boot and shoe shop was conducted by two men, whose names have been lost, in the loft of Melvin Brown’s store. There were undoubtedly other shoemakers previous to the days of Henry Kimbark who came from Shawagunk, Ulster County, in 1815 or before. He built the small building, later used as a tailor shop and post office by S. W. Green, to whom we are indebted for much of our knowledge of local history. Kimbark carried on the shoemaker’s trade for several years, but finally sold the place to his brother John for a tailor shop. Since writing the above I find that the building built by Kimbark was not the same one occupied later by S. W. Green, but that it was moved a ½ mile south of Sherwood and later brought back and placed on land of S. B. Mastin. S. B. Mastin occupied a shop, later, that Kimbark also built, as a shoe shop, which he occupied until his death on 1875. This building was also used for some time as a broom shop until the 1880’s.

In 1810, John Lytle built the building which is now, 1938 and on the southwest corner, occupied by B. T. Brown, our merchant, as a residence, and as a carding mill, to be run by horsepower. This venture was not profitable, and he sold the following year to Dr. Tallman, who did not come here but rented it to two men from Auburn who brought goods and ran a store for about two years. These merchants Thomas Alsop then rented and ran the store until 1819 when he took his clerk Slocum Howland as partner and moved into another store, which is now the annex to the Sherwood Hospital.

Thomas Tallman sold the store that Alsop and Howland had occupied to Allen Thomas, who took a cousin George as partner, who continued for a year or so and was succeeded by Arthur Phelps, who stayed about the same length of time and sold his shares of the business back to Mr. Thomas, who continued the business until the spring of 1862 when he died.

Allen Thomas was a man of fair education, a gentleman, honest and kind-hearted and good company, indulging in dry humor and much appreciated wit, but not fond of hard work. He spent much of his time seated in an old armchair covered with a sheepskin, not caring to do much business or gain wealth. He with his wife and their two children now lie in the little graveyard at Sherwood. After the death of Thomas, this property was sold to John S. Smith from New Jersey, who leased 

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Comstock's History Page Seven

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!

 Page Seven

Lapham also built a wagon shop south of his house which was purchased in 1853 and turned into a dwelling house by Alonzo Comstock, who died there in October 1874, his wife having died the April before him.

In the spring of 1837, Henry Fisher sold the balance of the Partello property to Slocum Howland. At that time the only habitations on the northeast corner were the old tavern, the house just built by Lapham, and an old house later owned and rebuilt by Herman Phillips, now (1938) occupied by LaMar Lane, principal of Emily Howland High School, and owned by Rev. Harry Stubbs of McGraw.

In the summer of 1837, Slocum Howland built the “cobblestone” store, took down part of the old tavern and moved away another part, and made the house owned for years by Conrad Koon and now owned by Effie K. Battey. (1958, Russell Brown’s).

The same summer a blacksmith named James Davis built a house where Isabel Howland’s house stands. The same summer S. B. Mastin built the house known as the Mastin house, and now occupied by Arthur Bowness (southeast corner – later occupied by Ruth Stedman and in 1958 by Wesley Winters).

The tavern has a very romantic history. About 1800, a story became current that this building was haunted. Strange sounds and unearthly noises were said to have been heard, and a headless man was said by many to have been seen in the night. The excitement spread for more than 100 miles. At that time the superstition was believed and passed from parent to child. Committees were appointed to visit this celebrated place and report. The floor was torn up and the ceiling taken off, but nothing could be found, although there is a tradition that the bones of a murdered traveler were found, some say under the floor and some say in the well.

The first store was erected on the southeast corner of the Village of Sherwood by Melvin Brown, who afterwards took Joseph Barnes as partner. It was this same Melvin Brown who was the original character of that name in the once popular romance entitled The Mountain Mourner. Brown and Barnes in 1803 did a flourishing business, and also boiled

potash in kettles brought from Albany on wagons; they also drew their potash to Albany

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Comstock's History Page Six

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!

 Page Six

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 16^th, 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.

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Comstock's History Page Five

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!

 Page Five

and a beautiful fowling piece. Evidently they were honest and felt that they had paid for the blankets. Inquiry disclosed that two Indians were seen wearing blankets like Tracy lost. I was told this story by Capt. Tracy’s son Calvin, who showed me the two guns.

John Baker, a former slave, occupied a log cabin on lands then owned by Col. Lyon, now by Patrick Donovan. This was on the southeast corner of Donovan’s wood lot. The Edmund Tracy farm has been owned in succession by Marvin Warner, John Mallory, Wm. F. Bancroft, Wheeler Powell, Oliver Wood, Slocum Howland, Zacheus Powell, Charles Weaver and later by James A. Gould, now by his widow Carrie King Gould.

The place now owned by Edwin Bishop has been owned at various times by Merriby Cogswell, Deacon Ward, Zalmon Cogswell, Chauncy Linn, Thomas Heffron, Thomas Fitzpatrick, Wilson M. Gould and now the present owner.

The D.C. Gould farm was owned in rotation by the following parties: Gilbert Tracy, Henry and George Bolt, Lewis Robinson, Moses T. Fell, Edward Akin and then by D.C Gould.

Dr. Sanford Smith came previous to 1800 and bought the place where G.F. Slocum (Adolph Krueger) home is, and practiced his profession until 1815 when his son-in-law, Dr. John Thompson, took his place and Smith retired. Smith and Thompson came from Washington County, NY.

Dr. Pearley Kinney came in from Connecticut about 1800, married Judge Sherwood’s daughter, settled on the S.G. Otis farm, and built the old house that still remains as a shop. He lived in this until 1815 when he built the new house, and died in 1821, aged 54. Dr. John Thompson owned the farm now owned by Mr. H.G. Robinson southwest of Sherwood. This farm passed through several owners. George Merritt owned it for a time and built the present house about he time of the Civil War. The house stands in the center of 100 acres.  Merritt sold the farm to Nathan Cook and Cook sold it to James B. Chase. Chase sold to Charles Otis and his widow to the present owner.

Immediately after settling on this land, Seth Sherwood had sold the west part of his land to Samuel Phelps, who put up a house and began selling building lots, as did Sherwood, and the place assumed the name of Sherwood Corners.

In the summer of 1796, Sherwood built the first hotel about where the Howland block now stands or rather the north end of it. At that time the country was fast filling up with a hardy race of people. Sherwood moved into his hotel and did a large business for some 14 years. He then leased it to Samuel Phelps, Jr., who ran it for two years. At the expiration of this lease he sold the tavern and 25 acres on the

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Comstock's History Page 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. I hope you find something new!

Page Three

This land was divided in comparatively small lots and given numbers. Then a soldier’s name was called and the ballot box shaken up; a number was drawn out and the

soldier drew that lot. Then, if he was entitled to several times as much, other tickets were drawn. The first ticket perhaps gave him a lot of 120 acres in the Town of Scipio and the next in Cortland County, and another was perhaps near Canandaigua. For this reason there was much trading in soldier’s claims, and also speculators bought much of the and very cheap. Many drew land who had no desire to leave the locality where they lived, so they would sell their soldier’s land for a small sum.

There was also the soldier who was entitled to 600 acres and found that he held land in five different counties 50 to 100 miles apart. He would then try to trade with some soldier who had drawn a lot adjoining one of his lots. He would perhaps succeed in getting two or three lots together and sell the balance to anyone who would buy. I remember some years ago while I was working with Frank Avery Skilton, late of Auburn, we came across a man who had drawn land in Cortland County and also near Canandaigua, and sold the land in Cortland, 120 acres as I remember, to another soldier whose land adjoined it for a yearling ox and a five gallon keg of whiskey. Probably both were overjoyed at the bargain, but be it remembered that the best whiskey sold at that time for only about what a drink now costs, and so the seller only realized about 10 to 15 cents per acre for his land.

Seth Sherwood of Washington County purchased Lot 36 which comprises Sherwood and vicinity. When he arrived in 1792, he found a cleared field, oval in shape, which contained about three acres of land. The foundation of a cabin and a dirt cellar were there, but the place was deserted. Judge (Seth) Sherwood said that the Indians told him that a man by the name of White had come there and wanted to settle among them. This they allowed, and claimed that they cleared this lot and lived there several years, but all died. This is no doubt true, but it is often wondered what was the cause of their deaths.

Col. Lyon bought this farm (the Giles Slocum farm) and plowed it once in 1823, the year after he bought it, and it is said to have raised rye nine feet high, but he never plowed it again during the 40 years he owned it. This was because he and his neighbors all felt that it should not be plowed as it was not known where the bodies of White and his family were buried.

This sounds strange to some of us now, because Judge Sherwood’s body was taken up a few years ago from a hog lot that had once been

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