230 



HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK. 



and are intimately connected with its history. The arrival 

 of Amos Hamlin on the south border, near Lindley, in 

 1826, and Colonel Isaac Thompson, in 1827, opened a set- 

 tlement in the beautiful little valley of Cram's Creek. 

 These old men have long since passed away, but their sons 

 still inherit the lands as well as energy of their fathers, 

 John Thompson having made of the old Thompson home- 

 stead one of the best and most productive farms in the 

 town. His residence is surrounded by a beautiful grove of 

 maples, and commodious farm-buildings please the eye. 

 Ira C. Hamlin, son of Amos Hamlin, is one of the most 

 energetic business men of Lawrenceville, Pa., though still 

 livin^^- upon the old homestead. On the southeast hill, near 

 the centre of the town, live Orlando Emerson and the sons 

 of Stephen L. Gregory, in modern farm-houses overlooking 

 the quiet little village of Caton Centre, on the land their 

 father Dr. Gregory, settled upon when in 1825 he came 

 from Chenango County to the" West" of that day, looking 

 for a new home in which to develop his restrained ambition. 

 Elias P. Babcock, one of the purchasers of the 4000-acre 

 tract in the southeast part of the town in 1822, has passed 

 away. His son, Henry L., a man of wealth and enterprise, 

 still owns the old farm into which Caton Centre has crowded 

 half its houses, and his grandson, Julien Babcock, conducts 

 the store in which, in 1819, W. D. Gilbert sold the first 

 f>oods in a village of two houses and a thinly-settled farm- 

 inc>- community as a doubtful venture. Mr. Gilbert retired 

 from business several years ago, but is still a moving spirit, 

 thou^di venerable with age. From the old families of Caton 

 are descended many of the leading business men of Corn- 

 ino- and the surrounding villages, whose success speaks well 

 for their early training. 



George Bucher and Benoni Johnson were here as early 

 as 1823, and Rufus Howe. Ephraim Hill planted the first 

 fruit-trees bringing with him some plum-trees in an old 



churn. 



In 1820, Eli Gridley, Amos Bonham, George Thurber, 

 and ximos Lewis— who said he lived in "No. 1, in the 

 brier-patch !" — came. Mr. Lewis was a great bee-hunter, 

 and, as bee-trees were plenty in the woods, made himself 

 known and welcomed. 



In 1827, Col. Isaac Thompson settled in the southeast, 

 near the Lindley line. 



In 1835, Rev. Arthur Wescott and his brother Horace 

 came from Chenango County, and located for themselves 

 and their brother George ; but when he came, two years 

 after, with his family, Mr. Herrick had had the smallpox 

 in his cabin, and he refused to occupy the place. 



In 1832, Frederick Barnard and Gershom Wilcox came, 

 with their families, and erected a frame house, near the 

 Corning line, in twenty days, and Mr. Barnard erected a 

 saw-mill at once. In a letter written back, Oct. 23, 1832, 

 he says he has working for him Samuel Gorton, James Gor- 

 ton, Dick Clark, two Dills, J. Wood, Rowe, Hurd, Gregory, 

 and Gilbert, and speaks of them as " a noisy set of fellows." 



John Rowe opened the farm near the old Baptist church 

 at a very early day. 



Shepard Hurd was the first child born in town. Oliver 

 Woodworth and Elizabeth Hurd were the first couple mar- 

 ried. Joseph Toby was an early settler. 



Samuel Wormly kept the first tavern and post-ofiice, on 

 the Neals place, where were formerly the four corners. 



W. D. Gilbert opened the first store, in 1849, when there 

 were but two houses in the " Centre." He said, " They all 

 went to bed as soon as it became dark, and he had no night 

 trade." 



Several years after the mill was built ague became preva- 

 lent, and the people, believing the cause to be damming the 



marsh, which was a level bed of swamp a quarter of a 



mile in width and extending south some three miles, and 

 covered with a forest of balsam and white ash, — complained 

 uritil the dam was opened. As the clearings became older 

 and more developed, the ague ceased to exist. 



Orchards were planted early, Mr. Hill putting out 100 

 apple-trees the year after his arrival, 1825, and others 

 following his example. 



In 1824 there were but three spans of horses in the 

 town. A trip to Corning — seven miles — had to be made 

 over the hills, consuming a full day to go and return. 



But few residents were scattered about the town, and 

 farming was hard work. Game was a necessity rather than 

 a luxury, and what was raised was well earned. The first 

 corn raised was backed to the old " pound-mill" at Painted 

 Post. Often children would sit up waiting for the return 

 and a supper of new corn, or the eldest boys would sally 

 forth with rifle to meet father and keep ofi" the wolves, which 

 were numerous long after the settlement began, but were 

 vigorously hunted for the $40 bounty. 



James Davison was an early settler. Charles, his son, a 

 resolute farmer, is remembered by the old settlers as the 

 champion w^olf-slayer, he continuing to follow them, with 

 unerring aim, until they disappeared, — he at one time kill- 

 ing six, and at another following a single wolf until he 

 had run it down. 



The early settlers came poor, working on the river for 

 corn and provisions; then for themselves, clearing while 

 their supplies lasted; holding logging-bees, in which all 

 joined, until a few acres were cleared for each. 



The vicinity of Caton Centre was originally covered 

 with a variety of hard timber, the hill west being a dense 

 growth of tall, straight beeches, covering the ground with 

 nuts in autumn. Maple-sugar was, and still is, an impor- 

 tant source of revenue to the farmers of Caton. Shingle- 

 making was extensively carried on with profit, if the maker 

 did not suffer loss in rafting to market. Then the travel- 

 ing "shingle weaver," with his axe, froe, saw, and rifle, 

 would steal his way into some secluded cluster of pines, erect 

 a roof against some upturned tree, and with his solitary 

 companion spend the season shaving shingles, living on the 

 proceeds of his rifle. When done, he would knock the 

 prop from his roof, and set the pile of shavings and the 

 woods on fire to blacken the stumps and destroy the proof 

 of his clandestine labors. 



Flax was raised in those days, and every daughter taught 

 to spin and weave. Cows and oxen ran at large in the woods, 

 subsisting through the season on mosses and tw^igs. A few 

 years before the settlement, say the " old men," worms in 

 large numbers killed the hemlocks on the highlands, and 

 the woods soon became filled with dead trees, which con- 

 tinued falling as they rotted or were blown over. 



