HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF VAN BUREN

HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF VAN BUREN

Town of Van Buren

Submitted by Sue Goodfellow

Source:  Past and Present of Syracuse and Onondaga County by The Rev. William M. Beauchamp.  NY: S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1908, pp. 439-442.


Van Buren was set off from Camillus March 26, 1829.  Two years before Clay had been called after the great Whig statesman, the Democrats now got even by calling this new town after Martin Van Buren, then governor of New York.  It includes thirty-six of the original military lots, but as some bordered Seneca river they were irregular in size.  Most of the rectangular lots averaged about six hundred and twenty acres, but of the river Lots No. 9 contained about six hundred and sixty-three acres, and No. 17 about seven hundred and six; No. 43 had about five hundred and thirty-four, and No. 7 less than five hundred acres, that being the amount to which each soldier was entitled.  In such cases the "State's hundred" was affected.  Lot 15 was given to Pompey Academy by the state in 1813, but that school found little timber left on it.  But one soldier, James Cunningham, ever lived on the lot he drew in this town.  From 1791 to 1800 Van Buren lots sold at from sixty to eighty cents per acre.  In 1795 John McHarrie agreed to give seventy-five cents an acre for land now occupied by the south part of Baldwinsville.

The Seneca river was a highway, and squatters here and there occupied its banks for a time, who have left no record beyond the burnt earth which marks their homes.  In some cases trappers did the same in more secluded situations.  One such was found on the site of Warner in 1791.  John Dunn came in 1791, on Lot 12, staying for several years.  When his wife died he went away, having no land title.  The first permanent settler was John Wilson, an Irishman, who settled on Lot 38 in 1792, leaving several children at his death.  John McHarrie was the first permanent settler in the north part of the town, on Lot 7, now mostly in Baldwinsville.  The falls in the river there were called McHarrie's Rifts from him, and old maps show Macksville on the southern bank.  He came probably in 1792, possibly later, and died there November 26, 1807, aged fifty-five years.  His grave, with others, became the nucleus of Riverside Cemetery.

David Allen settled on the same lot in 1793, and his cabin was probably in the western part of the present cemetery.  He may have died or removed before 1807.  David Haynes came in 1795.  He settled on Lot 12, and got a deed of one hundred and fifty acres of this in 1798.  After his arrival he married Martha Wilson, and their daughter, born in 1799, was the first white child born in the town.  They have still descendants there.  Ebenezer Spencer, John Wigent, William Lakin, John Tappen and Samuel Marvin came soon after, and all but the first of these have resident descendants.  The Taber family, 1800, was prominent in early days.

Phineas Barns, Jr., commenced the settlement of Ionia in 1803, and his frame house of 1808 seems the first in the town.  Not far off Amos and Ezra Warner settled in 1803.  Eben Hart came the same year, and was buried at Sorrel Hill in 1842.  Moses Rogers settled on Lot 19 in 1804, and Jonathan Molby bought part of Lot 12 in 1804.  The same year Joel Foster bought part of Lot 25.  Ebenezer Wells came about 1806, on Lot 7, and left a family of note.  The same may be said of Reuben Smith.

Seth Warner, with Henry, settled in 1807 just west of the village of Warner.  The Parishes were in the southeast part of the town, Stephen Crego on Lot 23, and the Lindsays on Lot 29.  All these were prominent families.  Clark mentions Benjamin Bolton and Gilbert Totten as early residents at Jack's Rifts.

McHarrie found occupation in taking boats up through the rifts.  For some years a rude road terminated at this ford, at the east end of the present cemetery.  About 1806 the State road was laid out, crossing the river as now.  In 1807 Dr. Baldwin built a toll bridge which had a long existence.  This and the canal, mills, etc., drew settlers there.  In the war of 1812 this became an important thoroughfare, and many of the settlers took part in the struggle.  Stephen and Gabriel Tappen were officers, and others were prominent.

Before the erection of Van Buren, Linus Squire, within its limits, was supervisor of Camillus in 1818, and town clerk for several years.  In the new town Gabriel Tappen was the first supervisor, and Abel Lyon first town clerk.

The old State road was to be laid out "From the court house in Onondaga to Ox creek near where it empties into the Oswego river, and from thence to the village of Oswego."  The road is not remarkably straight, and tradition has it that the surveyors went from cabin to cabin, so as to be sure of good meals.  Another state road was ordered laid out in 1811, "From the bridge over Sodus Bay, on the most direct and eligible route, to the new bridge over the Seneca River, at Adam's Ferry, and from thence, on the most direct and eligible route, to the house of Gideon Brockway in the town and county of Onondaga."  The road was surveyed in 1813, running eastward toward Warner.  It crossed Seneca river at Snow's bridge, which was on Lot 9, and appears on old maps.  It was a convenient place for a bridge, but was abandoned about ten years after the opening of the canal.  Landings on the river were frequent for shipping wood to Salina, and early roads led to these which were abandoned later.  On the river bank, a little west of Dead creek, was a blacksmith shop where one road ended.

Ionia was once called Barns's Corners, and a tavern was kept there by Charles H. Toll, who was also justice of the peace there in 1814, as well as merchant.  When Ionia became a post office in 1816 he was first postmaster.  Dr. Jonathan S. Buell was there in 1815, the first physician in the town, and Theodore Popell came in 1818 as the first lawyer.  The canal changed all this.  The first schoolhouse in the town was built there, about 1813, and some years before John Tappen donated the first burial ground, a little west of the corners.  The first teacher in the town is said to have been Augustus Robinson, and the first library, the Alexandrian, was founded in Ionia in April, 1816.

The first sawmill in town was built at Sand Springs, commonly called Bangall, in 1815.  The stream flowing through the picturesque Whiskey Hollow afforded a good water power for successive mills, and a hamlet grew up there.

At the southeast corner of Lot 22 was the hamlet of Van Buren Corners, where Charles turner was the first postmaster in 1829, but there was no mercantile business.  Saw mills were built in many places, and the first grist mill was near Bangall in 1817.  The first on the south side at Baldwinsville, was on the Mercer and Clark site in 1827.  Many manufactories have been located there, of varied kinds.

Memphis was originally called Canton, and was once a flourishing place, succeeding to the business of Ionia soon after the opening of the canal.  The first postmaster was Charles H. Toll in 1828.  For a long time it was an important center for the grain and lumber business.  Warner was less important for a time, but has developed much in later years, partly through the establishment of cement works, which have had variable fortunes.  The first postmaster there was John Skinner in 1837.

The village charter of 1848 included the south side or Macksville as part of Baldwinsville, of which it has long been the first ward.  Some things relating to this appear under Lysander, especially the churches and schools.  A fine school, however, was founded some time after 1830, known as Smith's Academy, and having a prosperous existence for twenty-five years.  The mercantile business had an early hold there, and it is now a favorite residence part of the village, with two churches and a fine school building.  The water works are just south of the village, apparently in an ancient river bed.  The well kept cemeteries are on that side also, and on that side will be the route of the barge canal, the dam and locks costing five hundred thousand dollars.

The town rejoices in many local names, as Satan's Kingdom (the first word now dropped), Dead Creek once Camp Creek, Bangall, Beatall, Shacksburg, Whiskey Hollow, Pleasant Valley, Pine Hill, Sorrel Hill, etc., and there are many pleasant drives, making it an attractive region to visitors.

The churches at Baldwinsville have been mentioned.  The second Baptist church of Camillus was formed near Warner in 1815, and a schoolhouse was used.  With the growth of Memphis services were held there, the first one in the schoolhouse, February 25, 1826, and a society was organized March 30, 1830.  Services were held alternately at these two places till a church was built in the winter of 1833-34.  Presbyterians have been associated with societies in other towns.  The Christian connection effected an organization in 1818.  January 26, 1829, the "Congregation of People called Christians" elected trustees in the Ionia schoolhouse, and incorporation took place April 3.  The first church edifice n the town was then built a little south of Ionia.  It was afterward abandoned, and another was built at Memphis in 1868.

"The Central Congregational Society of Camillus" was formed in Ionia May 19, 1827, but had a brief existence.  A Union society of Methodists, Presbyterians and Universalists was formed at Warner, January 18, 1831, and a church was built.  The second of these withdrew about 1841, and formed "The First Congregational Society of the Town of Van Buren," May 10, 1841, but it had no active existence.  The Methodists absorbed the Union society in 1846, and took the building, which has been recently remodeled.  A class had been formed there in 1830.  A Methodist Protestant church was formed at Van Buren Corners in 1842, but was soon dissolved.

St. Paul's church (P.E.) at Warner, was begun as a mission in 1901, by Rev. J. E. Ramsdell of Baldwinsville.  It is not an organized parish, but has a tasteful chapel.  Emmanuel Mission, Memphis, has also a neat church, and is supplied from Jordan.  Both these missions have zealous congregations.

The swamps were a refuge for wild beasts.  In 1814 Benoni Sherman received ten dollars bounty for wolf scalps, and so did Jonathan Howe in 1815; David Cornell, William Lindsay, Benjamin Weaver, John Paddock and Hiram Nichols in 1816; and Isaac Lindsay in 1817.  Abel Weaver and William Lakin had bounties in 1819 for killing wild cats.  It was in 1819 that the last wolf disappeared from Cicero.

Lot 7, now a part of Baldwinsville, had several early owners.   It was granted to Benjamin Epton in 1790, and in the same year was successively owned by Charles F. Weisenfels, William J. Vredenburgh and Samuel Meredith.  In 1792 it was bought by John McHarrie, and had the name of Macksville for him.

The canvass of 1807 showed all persons entitled to vote through owning and occupying land, and all of the thirty-eight known in Van Buren, several left descendants there.  The list is of value as showing permanent residents, and follows:

Ira Barns, Phineas Barns, John C. Briton, John Clark, Peleg Cornell, Stephen Crego, Isaac Earll, Jonathan Foster, David Haines, Eber Hart, William Laken, Isaac Lindsay, John McHarrie, Daniel McQueen, Peter McQueen, David Parish, Jonathan, Josiah and Samuel Parish, Elijah Rice, Joseph Robinson, Abraham and Moses Rogers, Benoni Sherman, Benjamin and Daniel Tabor, Asher, Gabriel and John Tappen, Amos, Hannel and Seth Warner, Calvin Waterman, Joseph Wilson, Reuben Woodward, John Wygent, James Young.

The names of some of these are now differently spelled, and some have descendants only in the female line.  Some families have disappeared.

Memphis (then Canton) had three stores in 1836, two taverns and fifteen dwellings.  In 1886 it had two general stores, three physicians, harness shop, shoe shop, carriage shop, furniture store, cigar factory, hotel, blacksmith shop and grocery.

In 1836 the south part of Baldwinsville was the village of Macksville, and had a tavern, two stores, grist mill, sawmill, and about thirty dwellings.



Submitted 10 December 1998