Early Chemung
Chapter XXVI, History of Waverly, by Captain Charles L. Albertson
Excerpts taken from the History of Waverly, written by Captain Charles L Albertson, first appearing in the weekly publication, Waverly Sun Recorder prior to 1942. Captain Albertson resided on a farm a few miles from Waverly as a youth. (Contributor – Mary Lou Palmer)
Early Chemung
The Chemung River, from which the county and town derive their name, was originally known to the early travelers as Tioga. It rises in the mountains in the southwest corner of Bradford Co. PA and sweeping around a circuit of one hundred and fifty miles through a beautiful and fertile valley, flows into the Susquehanna near Athens, PA, in the same county in which it rises, within thirty miles of its source. That part in the state of Pennsylvania is still known as the Tioga River. The word, Chemung signifies in the Indian dialect “Big Horn”. This name was given to the river undoubtedly from the discovery therein by the Indians of the tusk of a mammoth, as evidenced by the following incident, related by Capt. Daniel McDowell, formerly a pioneer of Chemung. He states, that while a captive with the Indians, he saw pieces of a huge tusk, which his captors said their fathers had found in this river and on account of this they had given the name Chemung – Big Horn – to the stream.
In Vol. 4, page 42 of the American Museum, published by Matthew Carey, in Philadelphia in 1788, appears the description of a horn or bone, lately found in the river Chemung or Tyoga, a western branch of the Susquehanna about twelve miles above Tioga Point. “It was six feet nine inches long, twenty-one inches in circumference at the larger and fifteen at the smaller end; a cavity of two and a half inches in diameter and six inches deep occupied the larger end, the remainder of the tusk being solid. It was smooth and when not discolored by exposure, of a clear white. It was round or nearly so; was not palmated and incurvated like the arc of an extended circle. Two or three feet from each end of the tusk seemed to have perished or been broken off; the entire length presumed to have been 10 or 12 feet”.
The tusk at the time of publication was in the possession of Hon. Timothy Edwards, of Stockbridge, MA and must have been forwarded to him prior to, or very early in 1788. In the year 1872 two huge teeth, the molars of some pre-historic monster that ranged these valleys, were exhumed from the bank of the Chemung River by the freshet and found on the farm of H.S. Beidleman. One of them weighed nine pounds. Still lower down the valley bones from the huge jaws of the mammoth have been found, being about a foot in length, six inches wide and two inches thick. Miles C. Baldwin states that when they were excavating for the canal near Chemung at a point where this canal left the river, just below the Erie Railroad depot large quantities of these pre-historic bones were unearthed. They were of massive size, fairly well preserved, but upon being exposed to the atmosphere soon crumbled into dust. This would indicate that for some unknown reason, this was a place much frequented by them. That these mammoths or mastodons ranged over this country in the reptilian age, perhaps later, there is positive proof in the numerous museums, where the restored skeletons show what gigantic forms Nature produced in her earlier workmanship. The valley of the Chemung seems to have been the haunts of one or more species of these monsters, at least, and by the death of one of them unwittingly given a name for future generations to remember them by.
The old settlers of the Chemung Valley cherished a strong love for the name of Tioga and on the division of the old county of that name, were earnest and persistent to retain it, basing their claims on the fact that the Tioga as the river had been called for many years, was the principal stream of the county, while not a foot of it watered the newly-limited county of Tioga. The name was endeared to them by a thousand fond recollections and to give it up and transfer it to a locality remote from the scenes that had given it birth, seemed a sacrilege. The Susquehanna, a noble stream flows through the old county and the people of Chemung thought the name of that river should be given to the new County of Tioga; but to no purpose was their remonstrance; the old name was retained by the eastern portion and Chemung was given the western jury district and the old pioneers soon passing away removed all memory of bitterness and the name of Chemung is as fondly cherished now as was that of Tioga. They are both relics of a vanished people, who were once lords of all this country and are of the few monuments that remain to tell of their once princely heritage.
Early Settlement of Chemung
A majority of the early settlers viewed this county for the first time under Gen Sullivan when he passed through this valley. These hardy continental troops, coming as they did from the cold, sterile soil of New England and Eastern New York and the sandy soil of New Jersey and Long Island and the inhospitable companionship of the Penamites of Pennsylvania were astonished to behold such a fertile region as here lay before them. The vast fields of corn, pumpkins, beans and other products, planted and cultivated with the rudest implements in the hands of a savage people, unaccustomed to the pursuits of agriculture, assured them that this was the land that they had long sought. As one views these valleys today, is it at all surprising that they resolved to return and settle here when peace permitted. The fear of the treacherous savage and the long distance to be traveled with wives and little ones before reaching this section deterred all from attempting to make a settlement until about 1786. It is possible that two or three families may have settled here as early as 1785, but in the absence of any written record to the contrary, we believe that no permanent settlement was made here until the spring of 1786.
Capt. Daniel McDowell, a Scotchman by birth, a soldier of the Revolution and Indian wars, settled here in 1786 and located on Lots 4 and 5. He was a remarkable man, though but 25 years of age when he came to Chemung, he had already passed through scenes which fall to the lot of but very few men in a life time. As Captain of a company of scouts, the Tories and Indians had learned to fear him. While on a scouting expedition near Stroudsburg, PA his brother was killed and he was wounded but after a long race for his life, he finally escaped capture by swimming a river. At Shawnee, on September 12th 1782, while working in the field with two brothers, they were attacked by Indians, one brother was killed, one escaped by cutting a horse loose from the team they were working and Daniel was captured. While on his way to Niagara, a prisoner, his captors stopped for the night at the old Indian village of Chemung and he was staked to the ground near a spring just west of the old burying ground, near the foot of narrows hill. They arrived at this point after dark. When it became light in the morning he saw the beautiful valley with the flats covered with corn, pumpkins and beans and was so impressed that he decided if possible, at some future time, to make this valley his home. When he reached Niagara, he was compelled to run the gauntlet, which he accomplished successfully, after which the Indians gave him the name of “Keto” meaning the “Iron Man”. It was on this trip to Niagara the he saw the remains of a mastodon, described elsewhere. Capt. McDowell was the son of John McDowell of Stroudsburg, PA who befriended the Yankees many times during the Penamite trouble. The Captain’s sister married Gen. Samuel McKean who became a member of Congress and later U.S. Senator from PA. In 1786 when Capt. McDowell located in the present village of Chemung, he purchased the land within the borders of which the spring previously mentioned was located and resided in a log house at the northeast corner of the forks of the road leading from the main road across to Wynkoop Creek, nearly opposite Mr. James Owens’ residence. Capt. McDowell died in 1808. His widow married Mr. Baldwin, first name unknown. Hon. John G. McDowell, son of Capt. McDowell, was born in Chemung on Feb. 27th 1794 and died at the age of seventy two. During the war of 1812 he was appointed a first Lieutenant. In 1831 he was elected State Senator. Judge McDowell’s last public office was that of presidential elector in 1852. Two of his sons Major and J.C. resided in Elmira.
Initial Events at Chemung
Major Wm Wynkoop built the first frame house, described elsewhere, the boards and timbers of which were sawed out with a whip saw. He also built the first sawmill very near his residence. Asa Parshall erected the first brick house in the year 1829. Elijah Buck, Wm Wynkoop and Daniel McDowell cleared the first farms. Wm Wynkoop kept the first tavern in 1788. A man by the name of Teator carried the first mail through the valley and made a trip once each week. Stephen B. Leonard the first stage line and Joseph Batterson was one of the first drivers. The first post office was established in 1810 and Elijah Buck was the first post master. The first church edifice was erected by the Methodists at Holbert’s Crossing. The first religious society was formed by the Baptists in 1789, Rev. Roswell Goff being the leader. Guy Maxwell, a young surveyor and Eleanor VonSteinberg, a step daughter of Maj. Wynkoop were the first couple married. It is related that young Maxwell engaged the services of a justice of the peace living at Tioga. The justice on his arrival found that he was outside of his jurisdiction, where upon the large party then assembled at Maj. Wynkoop’s adjourned to the field near the 63rd mile stone and crossing the imaginary line, dividing the states of Pennsylvania and New York, the happy pair were made one. The first birth recorded is that of Morris Catlin, son of Israel and Ditha Catlin. The first death was that of William Bosworth, from Connecticut. He was an uncle of Elijah Buck, and died in 1790. Dr. Hovey Everett was the first physician to settle in the town. Previously the people had been attended by Dr. Hopkins, of Tioga, or Dr. Spring, of Milltown. Moses Dewitt was the first surveyor and ran out the first land for the earliest settlers. Nathaniel Goodspeed was the first Commissioner of Highways. In 1788 Elijah Buck kept the first store and Asahel Buck, his son, was the first lawyer. Daniel McDowell was the first town clerk.
Other Early Chemung History
The names of inn-keepers retailing liquor with license by the payment of two pounds each for the year 1788 are as follows: William Wynkoop, Joel Thomas, Anthony Rummerfield, Ezekiel Brown. In 1789: John Shinneberb, Christian Loop, Joseph Hinchman, William Wynkoop and Moses Brown. In 1790: Joel Thomas, John Konkle, Dunn and Hornell, Isaac Baldwin, Ezra Patterson and John Love.
Ashkenaz Shappe is permitted to keep a ferry and retail strong and spirituous liquors, not to be drank in his own house, by the payment of two pounds.
At a town meeting held April 3rd, 1792, it was voted unanimously that forty shillings be paid by the town for every wolf killed within it’s limits, to be paid in grain.
Chemung Schools
The first school near the present village of Chemung was conducted by Master Cooper, and Englishman, father of George, well known for many years in the town. The school was kept in a part of a log house on the crossroad leading form James Owen’s to Wynkoop Creek, on a part of the farm now owned by Charles H. VanGaasbeck. Master Cooper purchased ten acres from Vine Baldwin, who was the original owner of the Manning farm. This land was to be paid for in the education of Mr. Baldwin’s children. Mrs. Cooper was a weaver. The school and the loom occupied the one room for several years; later, there was a log school house on the same road midway between Master Cooper’s and the river road. The second schoolhouse was built at the top of the hill near Mrs. Joshua Holbert’s present residence, where the trolley line later came into the main road, one-half a mile east of Chemung village. When the district schoolhouse was erected west of Holbert’s Crossing and one in the village of Chemung, the old schoolhouse was converted into a dwelling by Mr. McKinster. About the time of the opening of the last mentioned school, another schoolhouse was built on the south side of the road leading to Dry Brook from the Wynkoop Creek Road, about twenty rods north of the corner. This school was discontinued about 1870, when the district was consolidated with the village. The schoolhouse was converted into and used as a dwelling for several years, but disappeared entirely some time ago.
One Samuel Walker was a school teacher in the town very early in it’s history. Later, it is said, he was killed by the Indians, but when or where we are unable to say.
Chemung Churches
The Methodist Episcopal Church of Chemung was formed during a religious revival in the year 1819. The original society numbered about thirty members. The first meeting was held in the schoolhouse near Wynkoop Creek. Rev. Horace Agard was the first presiding elder and Rev. Sophronus Stocking, one of the first circuit preachers. Rev. William H. Pearne was the first resident pastor. The society continued to hold it’s meetings in the schoolhouse until the year 1838, when they built a small church where the Holbert crossing is now located, which was occupied until 1849, when the Erie Railway Company bought them out and the society erected a church in Chemung village, which was completed in 1850 at a cost of $1,500 and has sittings for 450 persons. This church is now standing in an elegant state of repair, having been thoroughly renovated, inside and out a few years ago. They are and ever have been supplied with a regular minister. The old church at the crossing was removed and is now occupied as a barn on the William Holbert farm near by.
The first Baptist Church of Chemung was organized at Dry Brook, Feb. 3rd, 1855. Previous to that time they were a branch of the Factoryville church and had built a small church edifice at the forks of the road on Dry Brook about 1848. The society upon it’s organization as an independent body was composed of seventy-three members. The society continued to occupy the church at Dry Brook until 1870, when they removed to the village of Chemung, having erected a beautiful church there at a cost of $5,000. The church has never been very prosperous, being for a considerable part of the time without a pastor.
The Chemung River, from which the county and town derive their name, was originally known to the early travelers as Tioga. It rises in the mountains in the southwest corner of Bradford Co. PA and sweeping around a circuit of one hundred and fifty miles through a beautiful and fertile valley, flows into the Susquehanna near Athens, PA, in the same county in which it rises, within thirty miles of its source. That part in the state of Pennsylvania is still known as the Tioga River. The word, Chemung signifies in the Indian dialect “Big Horn”. This name was given to the river undoubtedly from the discovery therein by the Indians of the tusk of a mammoth, as evidenced by the following incident, related by Capt. Daniel McDowell, formerly a pioneer of Chemung. He states, that while a captive with the Indians, he saw pieces of a huge tusk, which his captors said their fathers had found in this river and on account of this they had given the name Chemung – Big Horn – to the stream.
In Vol. 4, page 42 of the American Museum, published by Matthew Carey, in Philadelphia in 1788, appears the description of a horn or bone, lately found in the river Chemung or Tyoga, a western branch of the Susquehanna about twelve miles above Tioga Point. “It was six feet nine inches long, twenty-one inches in circumference at the larger and fifteen at the smaller end; a cavity of two and a half inches in diameter and six inches deep occupied the larger end, the remainder of the tusk being solid. It was smooth and when not discolored by exposure, of a clear white. It was round or nearly so; was not palmated and incurvated like the arc of an extended circle. Two or three feet from each end of the tusk seemed to have perished or been broken off; the entire length presumed to have been 10 or 12 feet”.
The tusk at the time of publication was in the possession of Hon. Timothy Edwards, of Stockbridge, MA and must have been forwarded to him prior to, or very early in 1788. In the year 1872 two huge teeth, the molars of some pre-historic monster that ranged these valleys, were exhumed from the bank of the Chemung River by the freshet and found on the farm of H.S. Beidleman. One of them weighed nine pounds. Still lower down the valley bones from the huge jaws of the mammoth have been found, being about a foot in length, six inches wide and two inches thick. Miles C. Baldwin states that when they were excavating for the canal near Chemung at a point where this canal left the river, just below the Erie Railroad depot large quantities of these pre-historic bones were unearthed. They were of massive size, fairly well preserved, but upon being exposed to the atmosphere soon crumbled into dust. This would indicate that for some unknown reason, this was a place much frequented by them. That these mammoths or mastodons ranged over this country in the reptilian age, perhaps later, there is positive proof in the numerous museums, where the restored skeletons show what gigantic forms Nature produced in her earlier workmanship. The valley of the Chemung seems to have been the haunts of one or more species of these monsters, at least, and by the death of one of them unwittingly given a name for future generations to remember them by.
The old settlers of the Chemung Valley cherished a strong love for the name of Tioga and on the division of the old county of that name, were earnest and persistent to retain it, basing their claims on the fact that the Tioga as the river had been called for many years, was the principal stream of the county, while not a foot of it watered the newly-limited county of Tioga. The name was endeared to them by a thousand fond recollections and to give it up and transfer it to a locality remote from the scenes that had given it birth, seemed a sacrilege. The Susquehanna, a noble stream flows through the old county and the people of Chemung thought the name of that river should be given to the new County of Tioga; but to no purpose was their remonstrance; the old name was retained by the eastern portion and Chemung was given the western jury district and the old pioneers soon passing away removed all memory of bitterness and the name of Chemung is as fondly cherished now as was that of Tioga. They are both relics of a vanished people, who were once lords of all this country and are of the few monuments that remain to tell of their once princely heritage.
Early Settlement of Chemung
A majority of the early settlers viewed this county for the first time under Gen Sullivan when he passed through this valley. These hardy continental troops, coming as they did from the cold, sterile soil of New England and Eastern New York and the sandy soil of New Jersey and Long Island and the inhospitable companionship of the Penamites of Pennsylvania were astonished to behold such a fertile region as here lay before them. The vast fields of corn, pumpkins, beans and other products, planted and cultivated with the rudest implements in the hands of a savage people, unaccustomed to the pursuits of agriculture, assured them that this was the land that they had long sought. As one views these valleys today, is it at all surprising that they resolved to return and settle here when peace permitted. The fear of the treacherous savage and the long distance to be traveled with wives and little ones before reaching this section deterred all from attempting to make a settlement until about 1786. It is possible that two or three families may have settled here as early as 1785, but in the absence of any written record to the contrary, we believe that no permanent settlement was made here until the spring of 1786.
Capt. Daniel McDowell, a Scotchman by birth, a soldier of the Revolution and Indian wars, settled here in 1786 and located on Lots 4 and 5. He was a remarkable man, though but 25 years of age when he came to Chemung, he had already passed through scenes which fall to the lot of but very few men in a life time. As Captain of a company of scouts, the Tories and Indians had learned to fear him. While on a scouting expedition near Stroudsburg, PA his brother was killed and he was wounded but after a long race for his life, he finally escaped capture by swimming a river. At Shawnee, on September 12th 1782, while working in the field with two brothers, they were attacked by Indians, one brother was killed, one escaped by cutting a horse loose from the team they were working and Daniel was captured. While on his way to Niagara, a prisoner, his captors stopped for the night at the old Indian village of Chemung and he was staked to the ground near a spring just west of the old burying ground, near the foot of narrows hill. They arrived at this point after dark. When it became light in the morning he saw the beautiful valley with the flats covered with corn, pumpkins and beans and was so impressed that he decided if possible, at some future time, to make this valley his home. When he reached Niagara, he was compelled to run the gauntlet, which he accomplished successfully, after which the Indians gave him the name of “Keto” meaning the “Iron Man”. It was on this trip to Niagara the he saw the remains of a mastodon, described elsewhere. Capt. McDowell was the son of John McDowell of Stroudsburg, PA who befriended the Yankees many times during the Penamite trouble. The Captain’s sister married Gen. Samuel McKean who became a member of Congress and later U.S. Senator from PA. In 1786 when Capt. McDowell located in the present village of Chemung, he purchased the land within the borders of which the spring previously mentioned was located and resided in a log house at the northeast corner of the forks of the road leading from the main road across to Wynkoop Creek, nearly opposite Mr. James Owens’ residence. Capt. McDowell died in 1808. His widow married Mr. Baldwin, first name unknown. Hon. John G. McDowell, son of Capt. McDowell, was born in Chemung on Feb. 27th 1794 and died at the age of seventy two. During the war of 1812 he was appointed a first Lieutenant. In 1831 he was elected State Senator. Judge McDowell’s last public office was that of presidential elector in 1852. Two of his sons Major and J.C. resided in Elmira.
Initial Events at Chemung
Major Wm Wynkoop built the first frame house, described elsewhere, the boards and timbers of which were sawed out with a whip saw. He also built the first sawmill very near his residence. Asa Parshall erected the first brick house in the year 1829. Elijah Buck, Wm Wynkoop and Daniel McDowell cleared the first farms. Wm Wynkoop kept the first tavern in 1788. A man by the name of Teator carried the first mail through the valley and made a trip once each week. Stephen B. Leonard the first stage line and Joseph Batterson was one of the first drivers. The first post office was established in 1810 and Elijah Buck was the first post master. The first church edifice was erected by the Methodists at Holbert’s Crossing. The first religious society was formed by the Baptists in 1789, Rev. Roswell Goff being the leader. Guy Maxwell, a young surveyor and Eleanor VonSteinberg, a step daughter of Maj. Wynkoop were the first couple married. It is related that young Maxwell engaged the services of a justice of the peace living at Tioga. The justice on his arrival found that he was outside of his jurisdiction, where upon the large party then assembled at Maj. Wynkoop’s adjourned to the field near the 63rd mile stone and crossing the imaginary line, dividing the states of Pennsylvania and New York, the happy pair were made one. The first birth recorded is that of Morris Catlin, son of Israel and Ditha Catlin. The first death was that of William Bosworth, from Connecticut. He was an uncle of Elijah Buck, and died in 1790. Dr. Hovey Everett was the first physician to settle in the town. Previously the people had been attended by Dr. Hopkins, of Tioga, or Dr. Spring, of Milltown. Moses Dewitt was the first surveyor and ran out the first land for the earliest settlers. Nathaniel Goodspeed was the first Commissioner of Highways. In 1788 Elijah Buck kept the first store and Asahel Buck, his son, was the first lawyer. Daniel McDowell was the first town clerk.
Other Early Chemung History
The names of inn-keepers retailing liquor with license by the payment of two pounds each for the year 1788 are as follows: William Wynkoop, Joel Thomas, Anthony Rummerfield, Ezekiel Brown. In 1789: John Shinneberb, Christian Loop, Joseph Hinchman, William Wynkoop and Moses Brown. In 1790: Joel Thomas, John Konkle, Dunn and Hornell, Isaac Baldwin, Ezra Patterson and John Love.
Ashkenaz Shappe is permitted to keep a ferry and retail strong and spirituous liquors, not to be drank in his own house, by the payment of two pounds.
At a town meeting held April 3rd, 1792, it was voted unanimously that forty shillings be paid by the town for every wolf killed within it’s limits, to be paid in grain.
Chemung Schools
The first school near the present village of Chemung was conducted by Master Cooper, and Englishman, father of George, well known for many years in the town. The school was kept in a part of a log house on the crossroad leading form James Owen’s to Wynkoop Creek, on a part of the farm now owned by Charles H. VanGaasbeck. Master Cooper purchased ten acres from Vine Baldwin, who was the original owner of the Manning farm. This land was to be paid for in the education of Mr. Baldwin’s children. Mrs. Cooper was a weaver. The school and the loom occupied the one room for several years; later, there was a log school house on the same road midway between Master Cooper’s and the river road. The second schoolhouse was built at the top of the hill near Mrs. Joshua Holbert’s present residence, where the trolley line later came into the main road, one-half a mile east of Chemung village. When the district schoolhouse was erected west of Holbert’s Crossing and one in the village of Chemung, the old schoolhouse was converted into a dwelling by Mr. McKinster. About the time of the opening of the last mentioned school, another schoolhouse was built on the south side of the road leading to Dry Brook from the Wynkoop Creek Road, about twenty rods north of the corner. This school was discontinued about 1870, when the district was consolidated with the village. The schoolhouse was converted into and used as a dwelling for several years, but disappeared entirely some time ago.
One Samuel Walker was a school teacher in the town very early in it’s history. Later, it is said, he was killed by the Indians, but when or where we are unable to say.
Chemung Churches
The Methodist Episcopal Church of Chemung was formed during a religious revival in the year 1819. The original society numbered about thirty members. The first meeting was held in the schoolhouse near Wynkoop Creek. Rev. Horace Agard was the first presiding elder and Rev. Sophronus Stocking, one of the first circuit preachers. Rev. William H. Pearne was the first resident pastor. The society continued to hold it’s meetings in the schoolhouse until the year 1838, when they built a small church where the Holbert crossing is now located, which was occupied until 1849, when the Erie Railway Company bought them out and the society erected a church in Chemung village, which was completed in 1850 at a cost of $1,500 and has sittings for 450 persons. This church is now standing in an elegant state of repair, having been thoroughly renovated, inside and out a few years ago. They are and ever have been supplied with a regular minister. The old church at the crossing was removed and is now occupied as a barn on the William Holbert farm near by.
The first Baptist Church of Chemung was organized at Dry Brook, Feb. 3rd, 1855. Previous to that time they were a branch of the Factoryville church and had built a small church edifice at the forks of the road on Dry Brook about 1848. The society upon it’s organization as an independent body was composed of seventy-three members. The society continued to occupy the church at Dry Brook until 1870, when they removed to the village of Chemung, having erected a beautiful church there at a cost of $5,000. The church has never been very prosperous, being for a considerable part of the time without a pastor.