Guilford NY History (1927)

Guilford History

Chenango Telegraph, August 19, 1927

Guilford [Chenango Co., NY] is a small town, pleasantly situated, nestling midst rugged hills on the southeast side of Chenango county and lies on the New York, Ontario & Western railroad [in 1927].  This railroad has a 668 mileage from New York to Oswego, crossing some of the most beautiful places in many different counties.  It crosses diagonally across this town and has some very heavy grades which occur especially in Guilford.  It attains an elevation of 390 feet of Guilford Center (railroad name Parker) 1,486 feet at Guilford village and 1,616 feet at the summit above the lake.

Guilford is 16 miles from the city of Norwich, the county seat, which lies on the north side of the village, seven and one-half miles from Oxford on the west and ten miles from Sidney, Delaware county, on the southeast.  Bainbridge lies eight miles over the hills south of Guilford.

Settlements were made as early as 1790.  Many of the old settlers came by a foot path, the only guide being blazed trees.

Roger Williams came to Guilford from Gloucester, R.I., and settled at Cable Pond, afterward the Guilford Pond creek and now Guilford lake.  In 1834 he removed to the second house below Guilford village which is now [in 1927] occupied by Charles Reynolds. Williams had six children, among whom was Anthony Williams, who remained on the old homestead until his death.  He was a descendant of Roger Williams of New England, whose fame made him prominent.

William Gunn came to Rockwells Mills in 1810 from Cambridge [MA].  He built here the first carding and cloth dressing establishment in the county.  The factory stood on the site of Rockwells stone mill.  The building was built about 1814 and was continued for many years afterward, but by the death of the Rockwells the mill was discontinued.

Another of the early settlers was Ezekiel Wheeler, who came from New Hampshire in 1790, settling first at Unadilla Forks.  In 1794 he came to Guilford and settled on a farm a little south of Latham's Corners.  In his log cabin in 1796 he opened a tavern which was the first in the town.

John Dibble settled in Guilford village in 1798.  When he came in there was but one log house and a small clearing on the site of the village and that was abandoned.  He died in 1806.

The first town meeting was held at the home of Jehial Parsons, March 1, 1814, and Samuel Smith was elected the first supervisor of Guilford and Daniel T. Dickinson town clerk.  In careful search of the town books it is found that the following have served as supervisors from 1865 to the present time.

1865-1867:  Sylvanus Shumway

1868:  Chester W. Rockwell,

1868-71, Randall E.Ingersoll

1872:  Henry W. Curtis

1873:  George H. Baldwin

1874:  Henry W. Curtis

1875:  George H.Baldwin

1876:  D.L. Shepard

1877-78:  K.E. Bunnell

1879-82:  George H. Baldwin

1883-87:  Harvey A.Truesdell

1888:  B.F. Smith

1889:  Frank S. Clark

1890-91:  B.F. Smith

1892:  Charlton Phillips

1893:  B.F. Smith

1893-97:  Truman F. Ford

18989-99:  C.D. Mickel

1901-02:  Charles S. Brooks

1903-06:  A.H. Wheeler

1907-12:  C.D. Mickel

1913-14:  Otto L. Ives

1915-19:  John H. Curtis

1920 to the present time [1927]:  C.D. Whittemore

Daniel S. Dickinson was an early settler in the town.  He was born in Goshen, Conn.  He learned the trade of carding and cloth dressing in the factory of C.W. Morse, which was located on the turnpike about three miles from Guilford.  He studied law in Norwich and was elected state senator from 1837-40; judge of the court of errors, 1836-1841, and lieutenant governor form 1842 to 1844;  presidential elector at large in 1844, when James K. Polk was elected president.  He was again elected to the senate from 1844 to 1851 and attorney general of the state in 1851-62.  The Guilford Center Presbyterian church has the honor of his being baptized there and received into the church membership.  He married Lydia, daughter of Dr. Colby Knapp who was the First physician in the town. Descendants of Mr. Dickinson still remain in the place [as of 1927], namely, F.T. Dickinson and Miss Flora Dickinson.

Guilford at the lake is becoming more and more popular each year as a place to spend the summer vacation and enjoy the pure air of Guilford climate and pass the time in good spirits.  Nearly every day boating, bathing and picnic parties are enjoyed. There are now about twenty summer homes with the prospect of more being built later and a store gas station and auto furnishing store.  In 1789 two Frenchmen, Mercereau brothers, settled at the mouth of Guilford Pond creek and erected the first mill in the town. The stream which passes through Guilford village is fed from the lake and has a fall of 140 feet.

A camp was opened in 1921 on the former Brooks farm at North Pond, which was later owned by Cuyler Adsit.  It was purchased by the Jewish people for the purpose of bringing their young girls and boys here to pass their summer vacation.  At this camp there are now [in 1927] twenty buildings for the summer guests, two mess halls, one social hall and a midway cottage for the accommodation of their city visitors and the parents of the children who "drop in" at different times.  Boating, bathing and nearly all kinds of jolly sports are indulged in. The camp is known as the Guilford-Oxford camp. There are nearly 300 people there now [1927].  Many improvements are being made each year.

The farm and house situated on Gospel hill, in which Isaac Weir now lives [in 1927], is said to be one of the oldest, if not the oldest house, in the town of Guilford.  For over 61 years the farm was owned by the Robinson family, having been purchased in 1859 of Charles B. Hyde by Franklin B. Robinson, who came here form Cortland, N.Y. The house was built by Deacon "Joe" Ogden about 133 years ago. Although many repairs have been made on the house, there is some timber in the building which still remans that is better than some of the later built.  The farm, which consists of 129 acres, was purchased the last week in July 1921, by Isaac Weir, who moved here from Milltown, Wis.

Many old settlers that figured in the early history of Guilford are buried in the Gospel hill cemetery, which joins the farm.  They are the Ingersolls, Sherwoods, Ogdens, Smith, Wades and Lucy Ella, oldest daughter of Franklin and Emmeline (Huntley) Robinson, and other families too numerous to mention. The farm lies close to the border line of the town of Oxford.

For a year and a half [in 1927] Guilford village has been lighted with electricity by the New York Electric Company. The lights were installed in December, 1926.  Fire protection commissioners were recently elected and fire hydrants have bene placed in the village. The officers are:  Commissioners, G.A. Richards, H.L. Hutchinson and Theodore Hoffman; Treasurer, F.S. Tripp.

There are here [in 1927] three grocery stores, one clothing store, one hardware store, one inn, one barger shop, one opera house, one feed store, one Sheffield milk station and two churches, Methodist and Episcopal.  At Guilford Center, a mile and a half below the village, there is a Presbyterian church, one grocery store, one inn, a milk station and a depot.