The Chenango and Unadilla Valley Fifty Years Ago
S.S. Randall
Chenango Union, February 28, 1872
Norwich, Chenango Co., NY
[A walk about the downtown of the 1820s]
Continued from posting of October 14, 2017
Opposite, or nearly opposite to the Steere farm, on the north side of East Street was the large farm of Asa Pellett, also extending to the river on that side, and occupying a large space north and west. The only remaining buildings on that side were the carpenter's shop and residence of Mr. A. Warner, of the firm of Snow & Warner--the house just south of the present canal, then occupied by Elder Spaulding, and afterwards by Ralph Johnson, the dwelling of Mrs. Clark, afterwards married to Levi Ray, Jr., who succeeded to its occupancy and east of this the carpenter shop of a Mr. Herrick.
On the north-west corner of the Public Square and main street, and opposite the Eagle Tavern of Mr. Steere stood the large dwelling house and store of Joseph S. Fenton--afterwards purchased by Thomas Milner and converted into a hotel. Mr. Fenton was a prominent member of the Presbyterian Church, and at one time Cashier of the Bank of Chenango, under the presidency of Charles Knapp. At the north-eastern extremity of the "East Green," in the immediate vicinity of the old Baptist church, and a little in its rear, was the residence, and hatter's shop of David G. Bright, father of Michael G. and Jesse D. Bright, late U.S. Senator from Indiana; the latter of whom I knew well as a boy, attending the same school with myself. His elder brother Graham--was very generally admired as a brilliant and promising young man, while Jesse was by no means precocious--rather stolid than otherwise. Their father was a man of immense size--ponderous and portly--a genuine and huge Daniel Lambert of a man. He preceded my father as County Clerk, and his facetious deputy, Paul W. Latham, was accustomed to respond to all inquiries at the little seven by nine brick office as to whether his principal was in, by gravely opening all the office desks and peering carefully into the various pigeon-holes, he would venture upon a decided answer in the negative.
West of an adjoining the Clerk's Office, was the residence of Peter B. Guenrsey, Jr., a young man of very superior talents and marked ability--giving great promise of future distinction and usefulness--but whose career was cut short in the prime of life by consumption. After his death the house was successively occupied by R. Johnson and Dr. James Thomson. West street, from the Common to the Canasawacta was occupied only by the residence of the elder Garnsey, on the north side, and a few straggling cottages, till you reached the dwelling of Mr. Pomeroy, Ephraim Peabody, N.D. Stanton, Thomas and Amos Lewis, with their father, Beriah Lewis, Charles Randall and Truman Enos. About midway, on the south side was an extensive potash establishment--long a land mark in that locality. On the east side of the Canasawacta was the extensive tannery of Mr. Enos, and on the west the grist and saw mills of Mr. Garnsey, now in the occupation of his son William. From thence you ascended what was then known as the "Jake Skinner Hill," where you might on any day meet with that eccentric individual himself, ensconced in his well worn gray suit, with his ponderous "bag o' Sa-alt" slug on his shoulders "to keep off rheumatism," and his ancient staff, so desirable as a guide to his failing footsteps, on his daily peregrinations to and from the village. Another eccentric old gentleman, well known to young and old of those early days, as "Uncle Phinn Graves," (P-ft) hailed from the opposite point of the compass--the East hill, or "North-east quarter," and on his frequent arrivals was not seldom taken charge of my the boys and comfortably lodged under an empty crate on the "Commons," from whence he was accustomed to inveigh with fearful pertinacity against his ruthless jailors, threatening with many stentorian puffs unheard of punishments, until towards dark, when he was released from his captivity, carefully disposed in his own lumbering vehicle--which under the familiar direction of his faithful horse, found in due time his rural home. "Uncle Phin," I regret to learn, came to a sudden and calamitous termination of his career a few years since. He was, notwithstanding all his eccentricities and short comings by no means wanting in great shrewdness, tact and many valuable qualities; and I refer to him, here, as one of the "institutions" of fifty years ago, not lightly to be passed over.
To be continued
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