Story of Wilkins Settlement
Afton Enterprise, March 16, 1933
In the latter part of the 18th Century, ..., there came into the town of Coventry, Chenango County, a man from Vermont, named Cooley Wilkins, one of those known as Vermont sufferers, many of whom came to Coventry and vicinity around that time. Cooley Wilkins settled on a farm at the foot of the hill leading to Coventryville at which place he settled for a time. Becoming dissatisfied, he purchased a farm, the last one in the town of Coventry, in the corner of the town where it joins what is now Bainbridge on the east and what is now Afton on the south. His wife was Polly Crandle. They built their log house on the bank of a small creek, and on the opposite side was a spring of pure, ice-cold water. There they lived for several years where they raised a family of nine, all brothers. There on the old homestead they all remained for several years. Part of the forest was cleared away and the land proved very fertile. Grain and vegetables were raised in abundance for this large family. Each spring hundreds of pounds of maple sugar were obtained from many maple trees left standing.
The eldest of the brothers was Ezra who, when he married, made his home within sight of his boyhood home, it being but a few rods distant. He always followed farming for a livelihood.
His brother, Royal, when he married, made his home at the foot of the hill below his brother's house near the bank of the creek, to this day [1933] known as Wilkin's Creek.
When David married, a house was built for them also on the old homestead, a short distance up the side road from his brother's.
Joshua married Polly Stowell and made their home on the first farm after crossing Wilkin's Creek, where they remained to the end of their days.
Preston lived in a house now torn down, on a road running parallel with the one near his boyhood home.
Henry also married and settled in the neighborhood.
When Davenport married Marinda Smith, a house was built for them on the old homestead, where a road branched off to the left.
Lyman and Chauncy, the two youngest, remained on the old homestead, caring for their parents in their old age.
Cooley Wilkins passed away at a ripe old age, leaving his wife, Polly, to live with her son, Lyman, and his wife, Melissa Landers.
Chauncy married Fanny Wakeman, both of the brothers and their families living in the old homestead.
Ezra and his wife had six children: Harvey, Lepha, Susan, Silas and Thomas. The children of Royal, Henry, and [Preston] are unknown. David had no children.
Davenport had two children, Mary and Fanny. Joshua had Walter, Burr, Agusta, Amarilla, Anna and Wallace. Lyman had one son, Charles.
Chauncy had two sons, George and Ray. George enlisted during the Civil War and was left wounded on the battlefield of Cedar Creek, and is supposed to have died and been buried on the battlefield. He was never heard from again. His mother ever after kept a light burning in the window at night hoping he might yet come home and be guided by her light.
Thomas, youngest son of Ezra, and Wallace youngest son of Joshua were also Civil War veterans. The latter was a prisoner at Salisbury prison for nine months but survived and lived several years after.
In all, seventeen young men from this small neighborhood answered the call of Lincoln and only seven ever returned. One of the seven never walked again without cane or crutches and in a few years, was obliged to suffer the amputation of his left leg. Two of the others came home in carriages propped up with pillows. The resting places of the remaining ten are scattered from Harper's Ferry, Va., to Brasher City, LA.
At one time, the nine Wilkins brothers all lived within sight of the oldest brother, Ezra's home, but after some years Preston went to Ohio, Royal to western New York and Henry to Pennsylvania.
The brothers followed different vocations: Henry, a blacksmith; Joshua, was noted for his knowledge of horses and their training. Davenport learned the art of shoemaking in his early days, but later for many years, was a noted Free Will Baptist minister.
Aunt Polly Wilkins, as Cooley's wife was called, had an abiding faith in her boys, that no mother ever raised a finer family of children. One amusing incident after she became a widow, serves to illustrate this trait. One morning, her son, Joshua, came with a horse and buggy for her to spend the day at his home, having to go down a hill to reach there, the horse ran away. The next day, one of the neighbors called at the home of the son, Lyman, to learn if the aged lady had suffered any ill effects from the accident. On learning that she had not, the neighbor asked, "Aunt Polly, weren't you frightened when the horse ran away yesterday?" She calmly replied, "No, I can't say that I was, I trusted to Providence till the breeching broke and then I knew Joshua would manage somehow." Such was the abiding faith of this mother in the ability of her sons.
Cooley and Polly Wilkins are now resting side by side in the cemetery at Coventryville.
C.M.B.
Chauncy married Fanny Wakeman, both of the brothers and their families living in the old homestead.
Ezra and his wife had six children: Harvey, Lepha, Susan, Silas and Thomas. The children of Royal, Henry, and [Preston] are unknown. David had no children.
Davenport had two children, Mary and Fanny. Joshua had Walter, Burr, Agusta, Amarilla, Anna and Wallace. Lyman had one son, Charles.
Chauncy had two sons, George and Ray. George enlisted during the Civil War and was left wounded on the battlefield of Cedar Creek, and is supposed to have died and been buried on the battlefield. He was never heard from again. His mother ever after kept a light burning in the window at night hoping he might yet come home and be guided by her light.
Thomas, youngest son of Ezra, and Wallace youngest son of Joshua were also Civil War veterans. The latter was a prisoner at Salisbury prison for nine months but survived and lived several years after.
In all, seventeen young men from this small neighborhood answered the call of Lincoln and only seven ever returned. One of the seven never walked again without cane or crutches and in a few years, was obliged to suffer the amputation of his left leg. Two of the others came home in carriages propped up with pillows. The resting places of the remaining ten are scattered from Harper's Ferry, Va., to Brasher City, LA.
At one time, the nine Wilkins brothers all lived within sight of the oldest brother, Ezra's home, but after some years Preston went to Ohio, Royal to western New York and Henry to Pennsylvania.
The brothers followed different vocations: Henry, a blacksmith; Joshua, was noted for his knowledge of horses and their training. Davenport learned the art of shoemaking in his early days, but later for many years, was a noted Free Will Baptist minister.
Aunt Polly Wilkins, as Cooley's wife was called, had an abiding faith in her boys, that no mother ever raised a finer family of children. One amusing incident after she became a widow, serves to illustrate this trait. One morning, her son, Joshua, came with a horse and buggy for her to spend the day at his home, having to go down a hill to reach there, the horse ran away. The next day, one of the neighbors called at the home of the son, Lyman, to learn if the aged lady had suffered any ill effects from the accident. On learning that she had not, the neighbor asked, "Aunt Polly, weren't you frightened when the horse ran away yesterday?" She calmly replied, "No, I can't say that I was, I trusted to Providence till the breeching broke and then I knew Joshua would manage somehow." Such was the abiding faith of this mother in the ability of her sons.
Cooley and Polly Wilkins are now resting side by side in the cemetery at Coventryville.
C.M.B.
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