Early History of Norwich NY - Part 2

Early History of  Norwich

Chenango County, New York

Chenango Union, January 31, 1907

 

Before the coming of the white man this region had been occupied by Indians of the Oneida and Tuscarora tribes who were friends and allies.  There are many traditions in regard to their history previous to the coming of the whites.  The Tuscaroras professed to date back to events which happened 1000 B.C.  Much of interest could be written about their customs and habits in times of peace and war.  In comparatively recent times they were accustomed to go to war as far south as Florida and the gulf.  In the main they were peaceable and friendly to the white settlers.

 

When the first whites arrived at Norwich, the Indians had a fort called the Castle about one mile below the present town near Polkville on a bluff on the east bank of the river.  In 1817 there still remained traces of the fortifications.  Here they held councils and appointed courts for the trial of delinquents.  Here too they received their chief and entertained guests from neighboring tribes.

 

Surrounding the castle was an Indian village with wigwams and corn fields.  Across the valley on the flats below the confluence of the Chenango and Canasawacta were clearings known as the Indian Fields (on Jeduthan Newton farm).  This was a favorite resort of theirs.

 

The two earliest white settlers in his locality came from Norwich, Conn., and settled here before the Indian claim was extinguished. They were James Glover and Avery Power.  James Glover arrived in 1787.  He passed across the valley and located in the present town of Preston, then part of the town of Norwich, where he built in 1789 the first grist mill in the county and opened the first store in the county in his dwelling house.  He was born in Norwich, Conn. in 1765 and was a brother-in-law of Gen. Hovey, who came from Oxford, Conn. about the same time and was one of the first settlers of Oxford, N.Y.  Mr. Glover represented Chenango county in Assembly in 1801.  To him probably belongs the honor of having named the town of Norwich.  Preston was not set off from Norwich until 1806.  The town next adjoining Norwich, Conn. on the east is Preston, Conn.

 

Avery Power, who was born in Norwich, Conn. in 1772, came here in 1788, a lad of sixteen years.  He squatted on the lands known as the Indian Fields for which he subsequently paid the state 3s per acre.  To him undoubtedly belongs the title of first settler in Norwich.  His farm contained 286 acres, lying on both sides of the river, mostly on the west side.  Here, as has been said, was much land already in cultivation and there were apple trees in bearing.  His log cabin stood a few rods east of the large barn on Newton farm, just east from where the canal later was cut through.  His was the first dwelling house in the town and he seems to have kept open house for the entertainment of whites and savages.

 

We learn that he returned to Connecticut for his wife for in "Early Connecticut Marriages" it states that Avery Power married Prudence Benjamin, Jan. 12, 1797 at Preston, Conn.  His daughter, Lucy, was the first white child born in this town.

 

"Mr. Power was a man of bold venturesome spirit" says Clark "which made him restive under the restraint of civilization.  He was a sort of compromise between a savage Indian and a civilized white man.  He soon pined for wild associations which this locality was rapidly losing."

 

In 1800 he sold his land to John Randall for $4100 and removed to Ohio.  He died in service in war of 1812.  His removal was doubtless hastened by misfortunes which overtook him, for he lost in as many weeks, three daughters after a brief illness.  Burial was made on Burlingame farm, the yard being still preserved.  These deaths are supposed ot have been the first in the town.