238 



HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK. 



settled on lands afterwards owned by Dennis Connor. He 

 was a cooper by trade, and followed that occupation. Ste- 

 phen Burrows was the first settler on lands now owned by 

 Henry Paul. Ebenezer Keeler was one of the early set- 

 tlers on Twelve-Mile Creek, and was a prominent and in- 

 fluential man in the affairs of the town. Joseph Jackson, 

 Eleazer Tucker, John, George, and Paul Wilson, and Sal- 

 mon Brownson and his sons were the first settlers on Loon 

 Lake, then in the town of Cohocton. (See history of Way- 

 land.) 



Early in the year 1805, Joseph Chamberlin, from Her- 

 kimer County, settled on the Davis farm, near Liberty. His 

 efiects consisted of a cow and a dog, and a few articles tied 

 up in a pack which he carried upon his back. His mode 

 of living, in its primitive simplicity, is said to have rivaled 

 that of even Diogenes himself, who lived in a tub, for he had 

 not even a tub nor a milk-pail. As a substitute for the latter 

 he chopped a notch in a log. and trained his cow to step 

 astride of it ; then milking her into the notch, he crumbed 

 in his bread and ate with a wooden spoon. 



The following year Levi Chamberlin, Joseph Shattuck, 

 and Deacon Horace Fowler became settlers in the town. 

 Among the early settlers were also Timothy Sherman, James 

 Barnard, Samuel Rhodes, Jesse Atwood, Isaac Morehouse, 

 Charles Burlingham, and Richard Hooper. The latter died 

 Feb. 10, 1801, and his death is believed to have been the 

 first in town. 



The first marriage was that of Joseph Biven and Sarah 

 Hooker, who were united in marriage in 1798, and their 

 first child, Bethiah Hooker Biven, born in 1800, was the 

 first white child born in town. 



The first school was taught by Sophia Trumbull, in the 

 house originally built by Jonas Cleland on the Larrowe 

 place. The first school-house was a log building, and 

 was erected near the river, on the Dusenberry farm, about 

 1810. 



The first tannery was built by William Walker, about 

 1816. It was located a mile and a quarter below Liberty, 

 on premises now owned by James Moulton. This tannery 

 was operated about twenty-five years, and was an import- 

 ant establishment in the early settlement of the country. 

 Richard Treneman, of Rochester, established the present 

 tannery on the site of the old woolen-mill, formerly owned 

 by Fred more & Dance. 



Soon after the Cleland grist-mill was got in operation, 

 Rudolphus Howe, father of the editor of the Prattsburgh 

 News, and Jonathan Danforth, of Saratoga, bought an acre 

 of land of Jonas Cleland and erected the first distillery in 

 town. It stood between the present road and the barn con- 

 nected with the Davis mill-house, owned by Mr. Thomas 

 Warner. Mr. Cleland owned an interest in this distillery 

 during the later years of its existence, and it continued to 

 be used as a distillery till about 1833. In a series of reminis- 

 cences recently published we find the following allusion to 

 the establishment : 



"At a time when the still was in operation, Abram Lent 

 and his brother John were lumbering in the woods near the 

 place where Hiram Dewey now lives. The weather being 

 rather cold, it was proposed that one of them should take 

 a jug and go down to the still and get it filled with Uno e 



Jonas' best whisky. This was done by Abram ; but on 

 his return with the jug the whisky refused to come out, 

 and on examination it was found to be frozen. John ac- 

 cused Abram of playing a joke on him by filling the jug 

 with water and pretending it to be whisky. Abram insisted 

 that it was Cleland's best. He inserted a stick in the jug, 

 and by stirring vigorously succeeded in getting a little out, 

 which John admitted had a slight whisky flavor, yet he ex- 

 pressed an opinion that it ought to be boiled down in order 

 to make it what it should be. He accordingly proceeded 

 to boil a quantity of it until it was about two-thirds boiled 

 away ; when in tasting he declared it was water, pure and 

 simple, even the flavor of whisky having entirely disap- 

 peared." 



Judging from the above the distillery was not a very 

 strong anti-temperance institution. 



In the reminiscences just quoted we find the following 

 reference to the old settlers : " Lucius Shattuck in 1810 

 built a log tavern on the site now occupied by the law- 

 office of the late C. J. McDowell. ... He was the father 

 of Hon. Stephen D. Shattuck, who is now one of the 

 leading merchants of Cohocton ; Jonas Cleland, who came 

 here about the year 1805 ; Joseph Chamberlin, who kept 

 the log hotel above referred to ; Joseph Shattuck, who was 

 a Revolutionary soldier, and is buried in the cemetery at 

 Liberty, he was the father of Lucius Shattuck ; David 

 Parmenter, well known to most of the voters of Cohocton, 

 who died but a few years ago at the age of eighty-seven 

 years, he was the ancestor of the Parmenters of to-day ; 

 Philip Cook (father of Constant Cook), who was a slave- 

 holder and owned slaves in Cohocton, it being lawful at 

 that time to hold slaves in the State of New York ; David 

 Loomis, Samuel Leggett, father of the late Allen Leggett ; 

 Abram Lent, father-in-law of Hiram Rynders ; Isaac More- 

 house ; Cornelius Crouch, ancestor of the present Crouches j 

 Liberty Chamberlin, Dan Davis, father of A. M. Davis, 

 Esq., and Melvin H. Davis, Mrs. N. J. Wheeler and Mrs. 

 S. S. Rosenkrans, who reside in the village of Liberty ; 

 Paul and Constant Cook, sons of Philip Cook ; John Lar- 

 rowe, who bought the flats below the village, which are 

 now known as the Larrowe farm. He died about ten years 

 aire * leaving a lar";e fortune to be divided between his sons 

 Albertus and Franklin, or rather the heirs of Franklin, he 

 having died just previous to the decease of his father ; Law- 

 rence Van Wormer, father of Valentine, John, and Henry 

 Van Wormer, who now reside in or near the village." 



The family of Horace Fowler, father of 0. S. and L. N. 

 Fowler, the distinguished phrenologists, were among the 

 early settlers of Cohocton. They resided in the village, in a 

 house which stood on the site of the present residence of 

 Mr. A. Larrowe. 



Abram Lent was the first settler on Lent Hill, in 1810. 

 He married Betsey, the oldest daughter of Samuel Hart- 

 well, who was a nephew of Roger Sherman. Mr. Hart- 

 well's wife was Elizabeth Wilkinson, a sister of the celebrated 

 Jemima Wilkinson, the " prophetess." Samuel Hartwell 

 passed through many adventures during the war of 1812. 

 He was taken by the British and carried to Kingston, where 



* Written in 1876. 



