Tag: Episcopal

Early History, People

Reminiscences of Morris – Number Six

Donna Foote

by A. S. Avery, Morris Chronicle, October 14, 1874

John Stockwell was a little old man who used to wear a long-tailed coat much too large for him. His business was making corn husk door-mats. He was very courageous when out of danger. It was amusing to hear him tell how he would mow down the enemy in case of war. Cannon was his favorite weapon, loaded with log-chains, which were to spread out as they were discharged, and mow down the enemy by thousands. He was an ardent admirer of Generals Washington and Jackson and was a little proud when called General Stockwell. He was desperately afraid of the Indians, and fifty years ago the Oneidas frequently came and encamped near the village, the squaws selling brooms and baskets. The boys tormented the General by whooping and yelling in the evening around his house, near Arries’. Upon one occasion they disguised themselves and chased him into Gifford’s house. “Hide me: hide me!” said John, “the Indians are after me.” “Where?” said Christopher. “Anywhere, quick, quick, they are after my scalp!” So Gifford picked him up and tucked him into the oven.

John Roberts was another character. He was a large man, full six feet high, an excellent mechanic (wheelwright), and possessed one of the best memories. All the details and history of the Revolutionary War; all the public events, were at his tongue’s end. He, too, like nine-tenths of the people of his day, took a little too much toddy. Here is the original of a certain story which is often requested, viz.: On a certain occasion he met Priest Hill, now in Cal., in Moore’s store. Roberts, being a little full, apologetically regretted that he had not attended meetings of late; that he felt it his duty to contribute something to the dominie’s salary; that he always thought a great deal of the Episcopalians, and that if he joined any church it would be the Episcopal, for they never meddled with politics nor religion.

Thomas Joclyn — “Uncle Tom” — was fond of his half-pint: he was not quarrelsome, but frequently drunk. In those days, men were imprisoned for debt, and upon one occasion, Tom was seized by the constable and locked up in one of the chambers of the old red tavern. The window of this room was not fastened, and beneath the window outside stood an old table, so Tom crawled out and, hanging by his hands to the window-sill, dropped himself down. The window in the room below was raised, and as his feet struck the table it tipped over throwing Tom headfirst into the room. Before he could recover from his surprise at finding himself in the house, the constable caught him again. “How came you in here?” asked the constable. “How?” said Tom; “Well I should like to know how myself; but the fact is, the house stands on a mitre.”

Allen Holcomb sometimes made coffins, and upon one occasion, a townsman called and ordered one made for his child. Holcomb charged him $2.50, and the purchaser complained of the price as exorbitant. Holcomb, being a very passionate man for a “Friend” said, “Well, when thee dies, I’ll make thy coffin for nothing, and I’ll make it out of Hemlock so thee can go through h–l snapping.”

Once upon a time, Zeba Washbon employed Jo Hawley to clear off a piece of pineland, agreeing to give him a certain sum and all the ashes he could save; informing him that white pine ashes were worth $2.00 per bushel. Jo went to work, cleared it off, and burned it over, but when he looked for his white pine ashes they were not to be found. Jo said nothing but waited his opportunity. At the proper time, Washbon got Jo to sow it to round turnips. Instead of getting turnip seed he got mustard. In due time it came up very nicely. After waiting a couple of weeks, the discovery was made that they were not turnips, and Washbon asked Hawley if he had not made a mistake in the seed. “No,” said Jo, “no mistake at all; you just sow some white pine ashes over the piece and you’ll have as nice turnips as ever you saw.”

Very few of my readers can recollect the excitement when Gen. Jackson was running the second time for President. I was then a little puny lad of nine years. The neighborhood of boys, like their fathers, were nearly equally divided into “Jackson men” and “Adams men”. I was a Jackson man.

Upon a certain occasion in that summer before election, we boys were playing on the green in front of the church, and a part of the time our sport consisted in each party trying to make more noise than the other by “hollerin” “hur-r-a-w for Jackson!” and “hur-r-a-w for Adams!” The excitement increased; hard names (as we thought) were called until it became necessary to “resort to arms!” Our reputation was at stake, our strength must be tried, our courage must be put to the test. Off went the coats and everyone was preparing for the contest. I was one of the smallest boys, and wore trousers that buttoned to my coat, and wishing to appear as big as any of them, endeavored to pull off my coat like the rest, and off it came; but down went my breeches, and there I stood with my shirt on. My ludicrous appearance caused a shout from all parties, while I was so mad I cried and gathering up as well I could, started for home.

“What is the matter, bubby?” said my mother. “Uh-uh-uh-bo-o-o, darn him,” said I, bawling as hard as I could, “Hen Holcomb called me an Adams man.”

Next week we will speak of Elm Grove.

Excerpt from Morris, New York 1773-1923 by Joyce Foote, 1970

The previous text was taken directly from the book Morris, New York 1773-1923 by Joyce Foote, 1970. I made a few minor edits, but the content remains unchanged.

Early History, People, Places

Reminiscences of Morris – Number Two

Donna Foote

by A. S. Avery, Morris Chronicle, September 16, 1874

The description given in the Chronicle last week embraces every house on the corporation in 1824 (twenty-nine in all). It may not be inappropriate to say that thirty years before there was not a framed house in town, and there is one person now living in town, Mrs. Benj. Draper, aged 94 years, well remembers that time. A census then (1824) would show about 160 inhabitants. There are but two houses on the corporation to-day that have not been built or altered over, viz.: R. H. Van Rensselaer‘s (Godley) and Dr. Wing‘s (Buhr). It may be a satisfaction, also, to know when certain houses were built, we will, therefore, add the following as a chronology.

Avery‘s cabinet shop (gone now) was built in 1828; S. W. Murdock‘s (G. McWilliams) store, 1827; the old red schoolhouse in 1825; Bergan‘s hat shop (Naylor Co., garage section) in 1830; Matteson‘s tannery, 1831, and burned in 1847; Avery‘s house (Harrington) in 1832; F. Rotch‘s (Gregory) house , 1833-4; Stone hotel and store (Morris Inn and adjacent building), 1833; Hargrave factory, 1833, and burned down in 1850; J. P. Kenyon‘s store (Library), 1832; H. R. Washbon‘s house (Washbon & Olds), 1839; Otsego House, Yates Hotel (Sheldon Auction Gallery), 1840; Perry Block (Kinney), 1844; Masonic Hall (old Baptist Church), Methodist Church, 1845; Universalist Church, 1842; Engine house (behind Brookside) opposite Weeden‘s, 1835, and moved to its present location (Town House) in 1853; J. P. Kenyon‘s shop (Library) 1842; H. R. Washbon‘s office, N. Stevenson‘s shop (H. Lull), 1852; Episcopal rectory, 1841; Wheedon‘s shop (Sinclair), 1847; Davis‘ house (Gage Block) enlarged for a hotel, 1857; J. K. Lull‘s house (Naylor‘s stone house), 1842, and shop 1845; David Beekman‘s house (Naylor Co.) and store, 1865; Lawrence‘s store (Naylor Co., shipping room), 1858 and house 1858; Wing‘s office (Buhr) removed in 1868; School-house built in 1860, (in the north-east corner of the foundation was placed a tin box of documents); C. L. Tucker‘s house, 1868; J. P. Kenyon‘s house (Sanderson), and Dr. Still‘s house, in 1833; Garratt‘s house, 1841; J. Little‘s (P. Decker) house, 1852; Sam. Barrett‘s house in 1849; (this was the first balloon frame in town); Jaycox‘s house, Mordecai Wing (Catholic rectory) in 1838; E. J. Cooke‘s house, Bates (Sloan), 1838.

The first newspaper was printed here in 1845, W. R. Winans, editor, and publisher.

On the corner opposite Bard‘s (Lee‘s) wagon shop, S. E. Barrett built a stone blacksmith shop in 1838 which was afterwards enlarged for an iron foundry and machine shop by J. H. Bump, and finally, it was all torn down or moved away, and is now a vacant corner just as it was fifty years ago.

The sled factory (gone now) up Davis Brook was originally a dwelling house nearly opposite Bowne‘s gate, Elm Grove, and was moved there and used by Allen Holcomb as a manufactory of tobacco boxes and inkstands, It was afterwards enlarged by taking the frame of the old woolen factory and adding to it, and used as a cabinet shop, etc., etc.

When the Hargrave factory was built, the mortar was made from sand taken from the bank back of R. Starr‘s (N. Foote) house, and on the bluff was found the bones of two unknown persons, buried there many years before.

The town of Morris was created by dividing the town of Butternuts in 1849. The village of Morris was incorporated in 1870. J. E. Cooke was the first president, John A. Ward the second, A. S. Avery the third and Peleg Weedon is the present incumbent. The Episcopal Church bell was recast in 1828 and weighs about 800 pounds. The town clock was purchased by subscription in 1847. Before we had a clock, a man used to be paid by subscription (about $25 a year) to ring the bell at sunrise, 12 n. and 9 p.m. The number of houses on the corporation is 175, and the population is about 750. About 185 persons between the ages of five and twenty-one years. The Cemetery was laid out in 1862. The first person buried there was Mrs. Leonard.

We will digress a moment and give a hint by which you can tell or approximate the age of houses. For the style of architecture changes as much as does dress. When you go about the country and see an old house with ten feet posts and fifteen feet rafters, no cornice, a big chimney in the middle or at one end, and a lean-to on the back, (or side, if it stands end to the road), forming a long continuous roof, you may set it down as over sixty years old, say built between 1800 and 1825. If it is a large two-story house with nine windows in front, hall through the center, cornice light, with or without portico, it was built between 1820 and 1840. If of the same shape as just described, with heavy cornice, since 1840. If one-and-a-half or two-story, end to the road, with kitchen on the side, since 1840. If a square looking house, hip-roof or with chambers smaller than the ground floor, piazza and balcony, between 1840 and 1855. If built with steep roof, angular caps over the windows, with drops or brackets under the cornice (what is called Elizabethian architecture), it was built since 1850. If flat or hip roof and brackets all around the cornice, bow window, etc., since 1860. If Mansard roof since 1865. There may be exceptions to these rules, but four times in five they will be right.

We will now speak of the manners and customs of the people. There were no railroads or canals, no telegraph or steam engines, no photographs, no matches, no horse-rakes, mowing or thrashing machines, no horsepowers, no sewing machines or melodians, no buggy wagons, no elliptic springs, no cooking stoves, no coal used, no wall paper, no rubber goods, no cut nails, no corn brooms, no kerosene lamps, no steel pens, no envelopes, no solid head pins, no dentists, very few clocks or watches. It was a common thing for a shoemaker (cobbler) to “whip the cat,” go into a farmer’s house, put his “kit” in one corner of the room, and with one last, made perhaps, from a stick off the wood pile, make the shoes for the whole family; making the largest first, then cutting down the last to the next smaller size, etc.; the farmer furnishing the leather. Rights and left shoes were unknown. The shoe pegs were all made by hand, and I will add, that pegged shoes were once looked upon with distrust. Every-day hats were made of wool, and a fur hat, if one was able to own it, was worn Sunday and to trainings. It was a great discovery when “waterproof” hats were made. Silk or cotton plush was unknown. All cloth, wool or linen, was “spun and wove” by hand, and spinning wheels and looms were as common then as sewing machines and pianos are now.

Excerpt from Morris, New York 1773-1923 by Joyce Foote, 1970

The previous text was taken directly from the book Morris, New York 1773-1923 by Joyce Foote, 1970. I made a few minor edits, but the content remains unchanged.

Early History, People, Places

Early Settlement

Donna Foote

Excerpt from Morris, New York 1773-1923 by Joyce Foote, 1970

Part 2: In this section, I will use the second part of the first chapter from my mother’s book spanning the 1800s.

The decade from 1810 to 1820 brought many new settlers to the area – some just stopping by for a short time on their way to the western part of New York State or Ohio, others to remain permanently. Among the latter were the families of Noble, Washbon, Starr, Skidmore, Somers, Foote, Beers, Tillson, Cruttenden, Hawley, Winton, Braley, Blackman, Botsford, and many other names familiar to present-day residents.

Early in the nineteenth century, small industries flourished in and around Louisville. There were asheries, grist mills, cotton and woolen mills, distilleries, stores, and later, tanneries, a hat factory, a sled factory, a wooden-ware factory, furniture, and boot and shoe factories. These operations were, of course, small by today’s standards, but they provided the necessities and a few comforts of life to the citizens of the area.

The early 1800s also saw the construction of many permanent buildings, both residential and business, in the community. It was during this period that the Manor House was constructed on the Morris family holdings a few miles below the village.

In 1808-1809, the Bowne House was built overlooking the Butternut Creek just above Elm Grove. It was a large, unusual house, consisting of forty rooms, with the central section and wings octagonal in shape. The house burned but the land is now occupied by the Dugan family.

Construction was begun in 1810 on the Franchot House, one of the first frame houses in the village. Judge Paschal Franchot resided in this house until his death in 1855 and during his tenure cleared his own farm which encompassed all the lower section of what is now the village. There have been some changes made to the house over the ensuing years but the original lines of the house are still evident. This house is now owned and occupied by the Medardo Gutierrez family.

The Van Rensselaer House (Godley’s) is typical of Colonial country house architecture. It was constructed in 1814, a large, square, stone section containing living, dining, and bed rooms and a kitchen wing at the back of the house.

Across the road from the Lull Family monument and burial ground, about three miles above the present village of Morris, is the site of the Lull house which was built by Caleb Lull about 1817. He resided there until his death in 1839. According to the Lull Family history, it was on this homestead farm that the first Baptist Church of Butternuts was built in 1818; regular church meetings were held there until a meeting house was constructed in the village of Morris some 23 years later.

This era of the early 1800s brought the establishment of the early churches of Louisville. Between 1808 and 1811, the Friends Meetinghouse was built a short distance east of the corporation line of the village of Morris. It stood for over one hundred years and its congregation was comprised of Friends from a wide area including Delaware and Schoharie Counties as well as Otsego.

The present Zion Episcopal Church was constructed during this period on a plot of ground given by Gen. Jacob Morris. The building, substantially as it is today, was finished in 1818 at a cost of $5,000. It replaced the old Harmony Church, which was situated where the Episcopal burying ground now is on the East River Road. At the time of its construction, Zion Church was an ambitious building, for the village six years later had only twenty-nine houses and a population of between one hundred sixty and one hundred seventy persons.

The above is a picture of part of Main Street of Louisville looking east. The white building in the picture was built early in the 1800s by Jeremiah Cruttenden. The actual construction date seems to be a matter of conjecture with some sources giving the date as 1803 and others as 1822. In any event, the building was for many years kept as a tavern. The trees seen in the picture were about fifteen feet from the fence, enabling teams to drive to the gate. Beyond the building and out of the right-hand side of the picture were the hotel sheds which extended along the road toward the brook, and another road followed the brook to a distillery a short distance downstream.

The second building had been a grocery store occupied by Edward Williams and shortly after the time of this picture was moved down South Broad Street to later become part of E. M. Slone‘s hardware store.

The third building was a store owned by Luther Skidmore. About 1830 to 1833, this building was moved to Grove Street and made into a house.

Davis‘ horse barn is the next building. There was a good-sized goose pond in front of the barn and extending across the road.

On the hill is Zion Episcopal Church. A Virginia rail fence led up the hill from Mr. Skidmore’s store, along the street, and around the church grounds.

The previous text was taken directly from the book Morris, New York 1773-1923 by Joyce Foote, 1970. I made a few minor edits, but the content remains unchanged.

Editor’s note: The Franchot House (pictured above) was badly damaged by fire in the early hours of Friday, February 5, 2010. It was restored shortly thereafter.