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ONEIDA COUNTY.
tains a church and 15 houses. Hillside (p. o.) contains 8 houses. Dig Drook (p. o.) is a
hamlet, near the e. line. Delta (p.v.) is in the s. w. corner, mostly in the town of Lee. The
first settlement commenced in 1789, by Asa Beckwith and his sons Asa, Reuben, Wolcott, and
Lemuel, and Henry Wager.1 The first church (Bap.) was formed in 1798; Rev. Stephen Parsons
preached occasionally. There are now 6 churches in town.2
WESTMORELABfl®—was formed from Whitestown, April 10, 1792. A part of Whites- ;
town was annexed March 15, 1798. Yerona and part of Yernon were taken off in 1802. It is an
interior town, lying s. of the center of the co. Its surface is a rolling upland, with a mean eleva¬
tion of 150 to 500 ft. above the Mohawk. The streams are mostly small brooks. Iron ore has been
obtained in large quantities for the Westmoreland, Lenox, Onondaga, and Paris furnaces. Several
quarries of fine building stone have been wrought; and from some of these grindstones were for¬
merly manufactured. The soil is principally a gravelly and clayey loam, adapted to grain raising
and pasturage. Hampton, (Westmoreland p.o.,) in the e. part of the town, contains 3
churches, several manufactories,3 and 400 inhabitants. liOwell, (p.v.,) in the n.w. part, con¬
tains a church and 25 houses. Mecla Works, (p. v.,) s. w. of the center, contains a large fur¬
nace4 and 16 houses. Tairdsville,5 (p. v.,) in the s. part, contains a church and 15 houses.
Speiacer Settlement, on the n. line, and Eureka, 2 mi. s., each contains about 15 houses.
The first settlement was made by James Dean, upon a patent granted to him under an act of May
5, 1786.5 The first church (Cong.) was formed Sept. 20, 1792.6
WHITESTOWH7—was formed March 7,1788, and included an indefinite amount of territory
extending westward. Steuben, Mexico, Paris, and Westmoreland were taken off in 1792; a part
of Cazenovia (Madison co.) in 1795; Augusta and a part of Westmoreland in 1798; Utica in 1817;
and New Hartford in 1827. It lies upon the s. bank of the Mohawk, a little s. e. of the center of the
co. A broad, flat intervale extends along the Mohawk; and from it the surface rises in gentle slopes
about 100 ft. and from the summits spreads out into a rolling upland. Oriskany Creek9 flows
n. e. through near the center, and Sauquoit Creek through the e. part. The soil is mostly a fine
quality of gravelly loam and alluvium, well adapted to grain raising. WliiteslMJro’,10
(Whitestown p.o.,) in the Mohawk Yalley, in the s.e. part of the town, was incorp. March 26,
1813. It contains 4 churches, the Whitestown Seminary, a bank, and several small manufactories.
It is a canal and r. r. station. Pop. 953. Oriskany, (p.v.,) near the mouth of Oriskany Creek,
is a canal village and r. r. station. It contains 5 churches and several extensive manufactories.8
Pop. 711. Yorkville and Sew York Milts, in the s, part, are manufacturing villages, upon
Sauquoit Creek, the former containing about 50 houses and the latter 3 churches and 60 houses.9
Walesville, (p.o.,) Colemans Mills, and Pleasant Valley are hamlets or thickly
settled farming neighborhoods. The first settlement was made by Judge Hugh White and his 5
sons, Daniel C., Joseph, Hugh, jr., Ansel, and Philo, in May, 1784.13 This was the first settlement
in the co., and became the nucleus of civilization for Central N. Y. The first church (Presb.) was
formed Aug. 20, 1794; the first settled pastor was Rev. Bethuel Dodd.10
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taking his life to atone for the deat.i of one of then number who
was accidentally killed by a Dutchman on the Mohawk. Ha
died Sept. 10,1823, aged 76 years.—Jones's Oneida, p. 749. A
MSS. account of Indian mythology, written hy him, is in the
State Library.
I Tho census reports 7 churches in town; 3 M. E., Lap., O. S.
Bap., and Friends and Prot. E.
8 Named from Hugh White, the pioneer settler.
9 Signifying “ river of nettles.”
10 The first courthouse of Herkimer co. was erected here in
1793. A clerk’s office of the Supreme Court of the State was
established at this place April 4,1807.
II Oriskany Manufacturing Co., incorp. Feb, 16, 1811, for the
manufacture of woolen cloths, was the oldest eo. of the kind in
the State. It has been turned into a foundery. It had 8 sets of
machinery, and employed 130 hands. The Dexter Manufacturing
Co. has 10 sets of machinery, and employs 130 hands.
12 The New York Mills, an extensive manufactory of cotton,
has branches at Yorkville, New York Mills, and Upper New
York Mills,—the last named in New Hartford. It has a capital
of $200,000.
13 Among the other early settlers were Amos Wetmore, Jonas
Platt, Geo. Doolittle, Thomas R. Gold, Reuben Wilcox, Arthur
Breese, Enoch Story, Elizur Moseley, Caleb Douglass, Wm. G.
Tracy, Gerrit G. Lansing, and Henry R. Storrs. The first child
horn was Esther White; and the first death, that of Mrs.
Blacksley, soon after the first settlement. The first gristmill in
the town and co. was built in 1788, hy Judge White, Amos Wet-
more, and John Beardsley.
There are how 13 churches in town ; 3 Presb., 3 M. E., 2
Bap., 2 Prot. E., Cong., Calv. Meth., and Union. |
1
These settlers, with one exception, continued to reside on
their first locations until their deaths. Gen. Wm. Floyd, one of
the signers of the Declaration of Independence, settled here in
1803, and continued a resident until his death in 1821. The
leasehold tenure long retarded settlement, and is still a source
of dissatisfaction.
2
3 M. E., Calv. Meth., Presb., and Friends.
3
The Malleable Iron Works of Smith, Ilallack & Co., at this
place, employ 40 hands, and have a capital of $20,000. Smith,
Ilallack & Co.’s Hardware Manufactory has a capital of $55,000,
and gives employment to 75 hands.
4
These works, engaged in the manufacture of shelf hardware,
have a capital of $40,000, and employ 40 hands. A blast furnace
5
Named from Samuel Laird, an early settler.
6
6 This patent names Dean’s Creek as Kanaghtarageara, and a
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small branch of Oriskany Creek, Kan-yqu-scot-ta. Among the
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and Samuel Laird,—all of whom located on Dean’s Patent. In
1789, settlements spread rapidly, and John and Nathaniel Town¬
send, Benjamin Blackmer, John Vaughan, Josiah Stillman,
Nathan Loomis, Joshua Green, Joseph Blackmer, sen., Amos
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this grant through a stipulation made hy the Indians as a
reward for services rendered to their nation. Although greatly
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attached to him, these savages upon one occasion came near
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