TOWN OF GREENWOOD. 



303 



of almost insufferable hardship, arrived at his destination, 

 and purchasing an improvement, made that summer the 

 first three firkins of butter for market which were shipped 

 from the town. He soon increased his dairy to 30 cows, 

 and built him a house, three stories in height, on the point 

 of a high hill overlooking the village, from which he took 

 the name of " High Jimmy" McCormick, as he is popu- 

 larly known throughout the surrounding country. 



Among the earlier settlers are also Henry Young, who 

 came from Tompkins County in 1826, and settled where 

 his son William now lives. George Updike came from 

 Seneca County in 1828 ; Benjamin Edwards from Newfield, 

 Tompkins Co., in 1830 ; Wm. Atkins from Enfield in 1832 ; 

 Abram Williamson and Daniel Eichey from Ulysses in 



1827, settling in the west part of the town. John J. 

 Dutcher settled near Krusen's in 1826. John llogers, 

 from Lansing, Cayuga Co., settled in the south part of the 

 town, near the old Catholic church, in 1832. Hiram Bur- 

 ger, who lives near Greenwood village, came with his 

 father, Ezekiel Burger, from Troupsburgh, where he was 

 born, in 1815. Enos Smith came from Seneca County in 



1828, and settled on the hill west of the village. Homer 

 Mallory, supervisor of Greenwood for the past six years, is 

 a son of Samuel Mallory, who came from Connecticut, and 

 settled near Krusen's Corners in 1838. John Balsby 

 settled in the northwest corner of the town in 1828. 



Charles C, son of Ezra Stephens, was the first white 

 child born in the town, his birth occurring in 1824. The 

 first marriages were, on Christmas, 1828, Hiram Putnam 

 to Lucinda, daughter of Ezra Stephens; and, June 14, 



1829, Redmond Davis, son of Levi Davis, to Jane, daugh- 

 ter of Nathaniel Porter. The first school was taught by 

 Sarah Carr. 



When the first settlements were made, the valley was 

 filled with a heavy growth of nutritious herbage, upon 

 which cattle were driven up from the river to fatten. The 

 first settlement south was Mr. Olmstead's, now Rexville. 



Richard Krusen came from Dry den in 1825, and opened 

 the cross-roads, four miles west of Davis' store, towards 

 Andover, where he kept a tavern until the country had 

 become well settled, and railroads changed the routes of 

 travel. Acting as a sub agent for the land-office at Bath, 

 he did much towards attracting a good class of settlers 

 from his native country. 



In 1828, the first clearing west of Greenwood was that 

 of Joseph Crossing, and just beyond, on the Ridge road, 

 lived Randal Pease and Daniel Richey, who came in 1827. 

 The next place west, on the hill, was Aden Lewis, William 

 Brown, and Timothy Terpeting. Then, nearly opposite 

 each other, were James and William Bess ; and back some 

 distance from the road was John Potter. Timothy Hol- 

 loway from Dutchess County, on the right, was the next 

 settler, and half a mile throuiijh the dark woods was the 

 little clearing of Elisha Sanford. Joining the Sanford 

 place was Anson Cook, Esq. Robert Richards lived where 

 Alva Richards, who came in 1834, now lives. Nathaniel 

 Richards, their father, came in 1828. 



Enos Mead, from Newfield, Tompkins Co., made the 

 first clearing west of Krusen's Corners, in 1827. His son, 

 Alvin Mead, who came a few months later, brought the 



first wagon into that part of the town, his brothers chop- 

 ping the road ahead for him to drive through. Mr. Mead 

 contracted for 1050 acres of land, and brought several 

 families of his relatives. The Mead settlement became a 

 centre of improvement, and a post-office was established 

 there in 1842, with Alvin Mead postmaster. The post- 

 office was discontinued on the opening of another at Rex- 

 ville, in the north part of West Union. 



William Burrows was an early settler still west, near the 

 county line, and built a saw-mill in 1830. Joshua Gold- 

 smith, a son-in-law of Derrick Krusen, the school-teacher, 

 lived near him. Half a mile north of Krusen's Corners 

 was the log school-house where Sophie Phelps taught school. 

 There were many small clearings in that part of the town 

 as early as 1830. 



A spring of salt water was discovered by Ezekiel Burger, 

 a native of Delaware County, while hunting, before the set- 

 tlement of the town. This spring was a resort for deer and 

 elk, and was well known by the Indians, who watched for 

 them as they came to drink its waters. Mr. Burger and a 

 Mr. Mathews had built a couple of cabins at the spring, one 

 roofed with elm-bark, and the other with what was called a 

 ''stake and ridered roof;" that is, built in at the top, and 

 the rough-split shingles laid in courses and held in place by 

 logs laid over each course and held in place by stakes or 

 wooden pins. The spring was close to the creek, but a drill 

 had been erected and a well sunk sixty-four feet by hand, 

 when the drill was broken off in the well. Boiling was 

 carried on in kettles until Mr. Davis bought the land, and 

 Mr. Mathews died, when the enterprise was abandoned. 



After the well had been abandoned for a few days the 

 settlers would come and pump out the water and boil down 

 a sack of salt in Burger's kettles until they were taken 

 away. Salt was hard to get in those days, and the well was 

 much frequented. Afterwards, when roads were opened, 

 salt was imported so cheaply that the well was abandoned. 

 In 1870 a well was drilled at this place for oil to a depth 

 of 600 feet, resulting*' in gas, which would burn freely 

 for several minutes, and salt water in small quantities, 

 with some indications of oil. The well was abandoned 

 when the contract under which it was drilled had expired. 

 The north part of the town, west of Bennett's Creek, is 

 quite broken, and its settlement is comparatively recent. The 

 western and central part, which has the appearance of high 

 rolling prarie, is well cultivated, and the view from almost 

 any point is magnificent. Descending into the deep, narrow 

 valley of Bennett's Creek, in the north part of the town, 

 the change is very abrupt. The hills on either side of the 

 deep, narrow valley are cleared and cultivated, and a con- 

 tinuous row of farm-houses extends along the left bank of 

 the stream to the village, some three miles south. Follow- 

 ing the. hill on the right bank of the stream is the partially- 

 completed grade of the Rochester, Hornellsville and Pine 

 Creek Railroad, which was abandoned in 1875, and which 

 has made the town of Greenwood famous for its refusal to 

 pay its assessment of tax upon bonds issued for its con- 

 struction. 



One of the principal citizens of the town, Alexander H. 

 Stephens, the first settler, is a son of Col. John Stephens, 

 one of the earliest settlers of the county, and Olive Frank- 



