Melanie Zimmer - Forgotten Tales of New York

Published by The History Press

Charleston, SC 29403

www.historypress.net

Copyright 2009 by Melanie Zimmer

All rights reserved

First published 2009

e-book edition 2012

ISBN 978.1.61423.541.5

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Zimmer, Melanie.

Forgotten tales of New York / Melanie Zimmer.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

print ISBN 978-1-59629-678-7 (alk. paper)

1. New York--History--Anecdotes. 2. Tales--New York. I. Title.

F119.6Z56 2009

974.7--dc22

2009026272

Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press. The author and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

During the course of writing Forgotten Tales of New York, I was helped by many fine people who unselfishly offered their knowledge about history and New York State. I will attempt to thank them all.

Ellen Murphy of the Vernon Historical Society supplied a manuscript by Breta Lewis, Dr. Lewiss daughter, called Vernon Doctors, which I used as the basis of the section on Dr. Lewis and the Oneida County Medical Society. Thank you to Sue Bork of the Tabernacle Baptist Church in Utica for supplying me with historical material about Cephas Bennett. Thank you to the people of Peterboro, who provided me with information on Greene Smith. Thank you to Carol Rubenstein, who granted me an interview about her work on the poems of Borneo. Thank you to Joanne Larson of the Gorman Foundation, who granted me an interview about Alice Gorman. Thank you to Karen Osburn at the Geneva Historical Society for information regarding the Louis-Philippe painting hanging over the mantle in the Rose Hill Mansion and to the docent who originally told me the story. The information on Louis-Philippe in New York State was drawn largely from Morris Bishops article Louis Philippe in America (American Heritage magazine, April 1969). Doris Wolf contributed some marvelous tales of Waterloo. The racehorse story came from Beckers History of Waterloo. Information on the worlds largest puzzle came from an exhibit at the Mansion House. Dr. Tony Wonderley, curator of the Oneida Community Mansion House, provided me with additional information regarding the puzzle when I was unable to discover Rays last name (it was Noyes). Dr. Sally Roesch Wagner from the Gage Foundation provided the interesting tale of how the foundation originated, as well as information on Matilda Joslyn Gage. Thank you Dr. Daniel Ward, who once showed me the building that housed the eighth wonder of the world.

Thank you to Dave Furer, proprietor of The Only Caf in Vernon, for the story of the Republican flagpole. A special thanks to Francis Zimmer, my husband, for discovering the Universal Friend while I was indulging in a sumptuous chocolate mousse cake with a friend of mine. Thank you to the Waterloo Historical Society Archives for information on the Railroad Mill Fire, Seth Genungs expandable table and the information on Louise Scherbyn. A special thanks to Tanya Warren at the Waterloo Historical Society Archives for drawing my attention to Louise Scherbyn. The archives have numerous boxes of material on Scherbyn, but before now, they have gone largely unnoticed. Tanya told me about Louise and how her story needed to be heard, and indeed it does. Thank you also to Tanya for showing me the human skull in her collection and providing the information from the Waterloo Historical Society Archives about the bone-stealing dog. Thank you to any source that has preferred to remain unnamed. To any source that I have unwittingly omitted, my profound thanks and deepest apologies.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to New York! The history of New York State comprises both what is written within our history books and what is unwritten. Without doubt, we recall the names and lives of famous men and women. We remember the major battles and events of our states past; but more often than not, the story of the average man or woman is completely forgotten. This book hopes to tell a few of those stories and several unusual, little-remembered stories of famous individuals, as well. As often as not, I think we may find the average man or woman in these tales hardly average at all. While all of the monumental stories of New Yorks history should not be set aside, the little-known stories can help us remember our states history a bit differently and, perhaps, in a way that is fuller, richer and more human. We cannot forget that every one of us, no matter how insignificant we may feel, is shaping history each day as we live. The world would not be exactly the same without us.

The stories you will discover in this book are all pieces of historynot from a faraway or exotic land, but from here in our very own New York State. These stories focus on the multitude of places that lie outside of the metropolis of New York Citythat is, these are primarily stories of Upstate New York. Most are little known, and some were known by only a few prior to this printing. All, I hope, are entertaining. The stories, as you can see from the acknowledgments, were taken from a wide variety of sources, and the tales themselves are equally as diverse. I hope that between the covers of this book you discover a new New York, a place of unusual events and people.

WHATS IN A NAME?

Anyone who has ever perused a map of New York State could easily imagine a world itinerary without ever leaving the boundaries of New York. A traveler is likely to find names such as Troy, Rome, Cicero, Syracuse, Utica, Paris, Naples, Athens, Attica, Greece, Sparta, Florence, Damascus, Barcelona, Phoenicia, Ithaca and Jerusalem, among many others. Any visitor, or even a resident for that matter, might begin to wonder how and why New Yorks cities and villages took on such an international flavor.

It all began with the Revolutionary War. The United States Congress had promised every soldier one hundred acres of land if he served in the war until a peace treaty was ratified. On September 16, 1776, Congress passed a provision requiring that eighty-eight battalions of soldiers be enlisted. These eighty-eight battalions were divided among the states, and New York was required to raise four of them. However, by March 1781, it had only formed two battalions; it seems that interest in serving in the Revolutionary War had limited appeal among many New Yorkers. To raise the two additional battalions of men, New York offered an appealing incentive. In addition to the one hundred acres of land a soldier would receive from the United States, New York would offer an additional five hundred acres for the common soldier who served for three years. These men became known as the New York Line. Commissioned officers would receive between one and five thousand acres of land depending on their rank. The generous incentive worked, and New York was able to fulfill its quota of men to aid in the Revolution.

Though the war ended in September 1783, lots were not distributed quickly. Land was set aside in originally twenty-five military tract townships, but later three more were added to accommodate the number of claims on it. To further complicate matters, before the land was distributed, treaties with the Onondaga and Cayuga Indians were required. Then the land had to be surveyed and divided into lots. In each township there were ninety-four deeded lots, and six were reserved for schools, churches or other public needs. At long last, in the middle of 1790, the names of soldiers were dropped into a barrel and then drawnlots were simultaneously drawn from the township box.