TOWN OF COHOCTON. 



239 



he was confined in jail. He succeeded in breaking out, 

 and made his escape to the United States. He made his 

 way to Jerusalem, in Yates County, the home of his sister- 

 in-law, Jemima Wilkinson, and afterwards moved to North 

 Cohocton. From 1815 to about 1830 he kept a hotel on 

 the corner of Liberty and Naples Streets in North Cohoc- 

 ton. This was the second hotel in the place, and was after- 

 wards kept for many years by his son, Elijah Hartwell. 

 Mr. Hartwell and his wife both died many years ago. 



Matthew Hatch, with his two sons, Philip and Sylvanus, 

 settled at Lent Hill about the year 1812. They came 

 from near Whitehall, Washington Co., N. Y. Matthew 

 Hatch died at Lent Hill, and was the first person buried in 

 the Hatch burying-ground. His son, Barnabas C. Hatch, 

 removed to Jackson Co., Mich., where he became a judge 

 of the county court and a member of the State Legis- 

 lature for that district. He died in 1874. Nelson Hatch, 

 another son, accidentally shot himself when a young man. 

 Philip Hatch lived at Lent Hill till 1876, and then re- 

 moved to Wayland, where he has since resided. Sylvanus 

 died, at the house of his only son, Hiram W. Hatch, of 

 Blood's Station, in 1874. 



John C. and Thomas Bowles were early settlers of Co- 

 hocton. 



Trippknock, the four corners west of Liberty, was first 

 settled by Jared Barr, about the year 1807. Afterwards 

 the Tripps — Charles and family — settled there, and kept a 

 hotel. They were noted wrestlers and boxers, and probably 

 from this came the peculiar name of the place. It is said 

 that the cognomen was first applied to it by Ben Haight, 

 commonly known as " Crazy Ben," who, on one occasion, 

 got rather roughly handled at Tripp's tavern. There was 

 once a brewery at Trippknock on what is now the A. H. 

 Weld lot. Paul C. Cook and Daniel H. Davis owned an 

 interest in the concern. 



On Potter Hill, Gideon Potter, Sr., and Anthony Crosby 

 were the first settlers. Job and Benjamin Briggs settled 

 farther west. At Brown Hill, John Brown and his sons, 

 William, Abram, Manville, Sylvanus, and Richard, were 

 the first settlers. 



James Armstrong settled on the place where he now 

 resides, in the Armstrong neighborhood, in 1815, where he 

 has ever since resided. He came with his father, Martin 

 Armstrong, and two brothers and two sisters ; they built a 

 log house on the west part of the farm, and afterwards a 

 double log house, hewed down and plastered, in the vicinity 

 of the residence of his brother, Cook Armstrong, who 

 occupies the western portion of the estate. The present 

 residence of Mr. Armstrong was erected in 1833. 



About 1823 a saw-mill was built on the site of the 

 present Hoag Mill, by Gabriel Dusenberry and his sons, 

 Seth and John. About 1842, Stonins; and Brown con- 

 verted it into a paper-mill, and continued to operate it 

 very successfully for several years. Merritt H. Brown then 

 retired, and his father, Merritt Brown, and his brother, 

 Lucius, conducted the mill till it was destroyed by fire, 

 together with a large dry-house which stood on the site of 

 the present Hoag blacksmith shop, about 1852. It had 

 been operated about ten years as a paper-mill, and several 

 houses had been built near it. Benjamin S. Hoag then 



bought the property and built a saw-mill upon the site of 

 the paper-mill ; this was burned, and he built another, 

 which was also destroyed by fire in 1875 ; he then built 

 the mill, which he now owns and operates, upon the site of 

 the former mills. Mr. Hoag came here from Montgomery 

 County in 1814. 



REMINISCENCES. 



Among the pioneers have often been found many quaint 

 and original characters. Cohocton was not without its 

 representatives in this regard, among whom may be men- 

 tioned Isaac Morehouse, Philetus Finch, and Charles 

 Burlingham, or " Charlie," as he was familiarly called. 

 " Charlie never failed to be on hand on election and town- 

 meeting days. Placing himself under the exhilarating 

 efi"ects of old Bourbon, he would make fun for the hun- 

 dreds with his dance and song, ' Laugh when you win, 

 laugh when you lose,' and ' Hay foot, straw foot,' etc., etc. 

 Isaac Morehouse was emphatically the leader of the turf ; 

 he was equal to all emergencies in that line, and in ten 

 minutes could 'drive dull care away' by getting every 

 one in the community excited over a horse-race ; even the 

 snow-paths in midwinter were used for his race-courses. 

 Philetus was always on hand to say and do just the right 

 thing to give character, point, and pathos to the operations 

 of Charlie and Isaac. Philetus played a very practical 

 joke on Constant Cook ; it was about as follows : In those 

 days the law for imprisonment for debt was in full force. 

 Philetus was Mr. Cook's debtor, and failed to make pay- 

 ment. Mr. Cook had him consigned to jail at Bath, where 

 he remained for some time. When court sat, the judge 

 directed that Mr. Cook be informed that if Mr. Finch was 

 kept any longer in custody he, and not the county, would 

 have to pay his board. There was sufficient logic in that 

 reasoning to induce Mr. Constant Cook to see that his 

 imprisoned debtor was released, and accordingly he set out 

 for Bath on horseback, the best means of conveyance then 

 at hand. Arriving there, he immediately effected the re- 

 lease of Finch, who pretended to be sick, and would not 

 consent to be released unless Cook would take him back to 

 Liberty ; this he agreed to do, provided they would " take 

 turns" in riding the horse on the return journey. Cook 

 took the saddle first, and Finch went limping and cringing 

 after, playing sick to perfection ; they had not gone far 

 when Cook stopped and waited for Finch to come up, when 

 he told him to get on and ride and he would walk a little 

 way. Finch took the saddle and made a forced march 

 right through to Liberty, leaving Cook to foot it the whole 

 distance, sixteen miles. Philetus on arriving home found 

 himself in perfect health." 



In the early days the administration of law was conducted 

 upon principles peculiar and in keeping with the primitive 

 condition of the times. Among the early justices of the 

 peace were Constant Cook and Esquires Slack and Barnard. 

 While Esquire Slack was justice there was a case before 

 him in which Esquire Patchin was defendant. The case 

 was set down for one o'clock, but defendant Patchin did 

 not arrive till a little after two On his arrival he found 

 the justice fast asleep in his chair and nobody present. He 

 took the justice by the shoulder and shook him vigorously, 

 inquiring what had been done with the suit. The justice 



