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CORTLAND COUNTY. 251
Manufactures are of limited extent. The completion of the Syracuse, Binghamton, and New York
R. R„ through this county has given an additional impulse to every branch of business, and has
greatly enhanced the value of the farms by furnishing an easy and direct avenue to market.1
Cortland Village, the county seat, is situated upon the Tioughnioga, near the center of the town
of Cortlandville. The county clerk’s office and the court house are finely situated in the center
of the village.2 The jail is located in the basement of the court house, the floors of the cells being
4 or 5 feet below the surface of the ground. The average number of prisoners is 2. The poor
house is situated upon a farm of 118 acres, 3 mi. n. e. of Cortland Village. The average number
of inmates is about 50. The farm yields a revenue of $600.
There are four papers published in the county.3
Few events of general interest have occurred in this county. Settlement began in Homer in
1791, in Virgil and Cortlandville in 1794, and in several other towns before the commencement
of the present century. Being remote from the great routes of travel, its settlement advanced but
slowly for many years, and the fertile but more distant valley of the Genesee had been mostly
taken up by immigrants before civilization spread over the hills and along the valleys of Cortland
county. The fear of Indian massacre then had not entirely subsided, and at times occasioned
distress almost as real as if hostilities actually existed. The wild beasts often claimed a share
of the little flocks and herds of the pioneers; and long, weary forest roads to distant mills and
markets, for many years, proved a heavy burden to the early settlers in this and many other sections
of the State not favored with navigable streams.
ClflfCIUT1VATUS—was formed from Solon, April 3, 1804. It embraced the township of Cin¬
cinnatus, or No. 25 of the military tract, a name applied by the Land Commissioners upon its first
survey. The present town is one-fourth of its original size,—having been reduced by the erection
of Freetown, Willett, and Marathon, hT 1818. It lies upon the eastern border of the county, s.
of the center. Its surface consists of the narrow valley of the Otselie River and of the high ridges
which rise upon each side. Deep ravines, forming the valleys of small tributaries to the river,
extend laterally far into the highlands, dividing nearly the whole surface of the town into steep ridges
of hills. The soil is generally a gravelly loam, and best adapted to grazing. Cisiciima,tfis
(p.v.) contains about 290 inhabitants, and Lower Cincinnatus 150. The former contains
3 churches4 and an academy.5 The first settlers were Ezra and Thos. Rockwell, from Lenox,
Mass., who located upon lot 19; and Dr. John McWhorter, from Salem, N.Y., on lot 29, in 1795.®
The first church (Presb.) was formed by a union of the people of Cincinnatus, Solon, Taylor, and
Pitcher, Chenango co.
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The Cortland Journal, and in 1832 as
The Cortland Advocate. It was published successively hy C
W. Gill, H. S. Randall, and David Fairchild, and in 1845
it was styled
The Cortland Democrat. Seth Haight & H. G. Crouch have
been interested in its management; and it is now pub¬
lished by A. P. Cole, as
The Cortland Gazette, which name it received- in 1857.
The Cortland Chronicle Was started in 1828 by Reed & Osborn.
It was sold to R. A. Reed in 1832, and by him called
The Anti-Masonic Republican. In 1833 it was styled
The Cortland Republican, and in 1837 it was united with
The Homer Eagle.
The Liberty Herald, semi-mo., was published at Cortland Village
in 1844 and ’45 by E. F. Graham.
The True American and Religious Examiner was started in
1845, at Cortland Village, by C. B. Gould. The follow¬
ing year it passed into the hands of S. R. Ward, was
issued by him as
The True American, and continued until 1848.
The Republican Banner was started in 1858 by E. D
Van Slyck & P. H. Bateson.
The South Cortland Luminary was published in 1840, at South
Cortland, by M. Reynolds.
The Morning Star was published at McGrawville in 1850, and
The Central Reformer in 1858.
4 Cong., Bap., Meth.
5 Cincinnatus Academy was chartered hy the regents, April
21,1857.
6 Eb’r Crittenden, from Barrington, Mass., removed to the pre¬
sent town of Willett in 1793, and to the present limits of this
town in 1797. The first child born was Bally Rockwell, the
first marriage that of Dr. McWhorter to Katy Young, and the
first death that of Daniel Hartshorn,—all in 1796. Mrs. H. Beebe
taught the first school, in 1797; Col. John Kingman, the first
inn; Elijah Bliss, the first store; and Eph’m Fish built the first
mill, in 1814. |
1
This road is built along the Tioughnioga Valley, connecting
with the N.Y. C. It. R. at Syracuse, and with the N. Y. & E. R. R.
at Binghamton. It has stations at Preble, Little York, Homer,
Cortlandville, Blodgets Mills, State Bridge, and Marathon.
2
a The county courts were first directed to be held at the
schoolhouse on lot 45, in Homer. By an act of April 5, 1810,
Joseph L. Richardson, of Auburn, Nathan Smith, of Herkimer,
and Nathaniel Locke, of Chenango, were appointed commission¬
ers to select the site for a court house, and $2000 was appro¬
priated for the erection of the building. The first county officers
were John Keep, First Judge; Wm. Mallory, Sheriff; and John
McWhorter, Surrogate.
3
8 The Cortland Courier was established at Homer in 1810 hy
Jas. & Sami. Percival. In 1812 H. R. Bender & R. Wash-
hurne became the proprietors, and changed its name to
The Farmers Journal. They sold it to Jesse Searl in 1813, by
whom it was issued as
The Cortland Repository, and continued until 1825. Then Milton
A. Kinney became proprietor, and changed its title to
The Cortland Observer. It passed into the hands of S. S. Brad¬
ford in 1833, and in 1836 into those of Holmes,
by whom its title was changed to
The Homer Fagle. In 1837 it was united with the Cortland Re¬
publican, and issued by R. A. Reid as
The Republican and Eagle, and continued until 1852. C. B.
Gould then became proprietor, and changed it to
The Cortland County Whig. In 1856 it was sold to J. R. Dixon,
and by him it is now published as
The Cortland County Republican.
The Protestant Sentinel was started at Homer in 1831 hy John
Maxson, and continued until 1833.
4
The Cortland Republican was commenced in 1815, at Cortland
Village, by James Percival, and was continued by him,
by Osborn & Campbell, and by the Campbell Bros.,
until 1821.
5
The Western Courier was founded at Homer in 1821 by Roberts
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