Recollections of the Early Settlement of the Town of Greene
Chenango American, Greene, NY, December 10, 1857
Part 3
Simon Barnet, of whom mention has been made as one among the first French settlers here was not a native of France. Mr. Barnet's ancestors were from France, but he was born in the West Indies, and came to this county at the early age of 14 years. He left his native island in a French privateer which was captured by a British man-of-war and was brought into the port of Philadelphia. Here he made his escape and remained in the city. He afterwards learned the trade of a ship carpenter, and labored at this occupation until he had acquired some property, including a house and lot. This he afterwards exchanged for land in Butternuts [Otsego Co., NY]. He spoke the French language; and being a laborer, acquainted with the use of carpenter's tools, it was supposed that he might be useful in aiding the colony to establish themselves here. At any rate, he was induced to join the first detachment of emigrants that arrived here. He was married in Philadelphia to Margaret Sidell, who emigrated from Germany with her parents. They reared a large family, and after long years of frugal industry died at an advanced age. One member of this family still resides here [in 1857], bearing the name of the leader of the adventurous band of French emigrants. Charles Felix Barnet, the only surviving member, is a man of strict integrity and industrious habits, and occupies a respectable position in society. He has attained the age of 68 years. He can distinctly recollect the gentleman, after whom he was named, and who took an interest in his early education; having sent him to a Boarding School, at the age of six years. Had this gentleman survived there is no doubt but it would have been much to the advantage of Mr. Barnet.
The Indians who formerly roamed at pleasure over the hills and through the valleys of this region of country, without any to dispute their right, had yielded to the importunities, and the pecuniary inducements held out by the Whiteman; and parted with their title to the soil.
At the time of the settlement of the country, many of them still lingered in these valleys. They claimed the right to hunt for game, and to appropriate to their own use any timber that might be necessary to erect their cabins, build their canoes, or for the manufacture of brooms, baskets, &c. For many years after they had removed to their reservations, they continued to make periodical visits to this valley, and remain for months, in order to pursue their usual avocations. Most of these Indians belonged to the Oneida Tribe; and some of them were men of such marked character as to deserve a passing notice. Abram Antone, was one of these. He always went armed, and was considered a desperate man; and when excited by any real or fancied insult, he was never satisfied until he had his revenge.
The first settlers remember that a person engaged in trapping and procuring furs, had collected quite a large quantity with the intention of taking them them to market. This person and his furs disappeared rather mysteriously, and no trace of him ever came to the knowledge of the inhabitants, then residing here. Not long subsequent to his disappearance, it was known that Antone offered for sale a quantity of furs at Chenango Point (now Binghamton) supposed to have been the same that had been in the possession of the missing man. The inference was that he had bene murdered.
A few years since [i.e., in 1857], the bones of a man were found, together with the lock and barrel of a rifle, in the valley of the Gennegantslet creek. The stock of the rifle was entirely decayed, and the appearance of the remains indicated that they had lain there a great number of years. It is not improbable that these were the remains of the murdered man. Other circumstances are related which go to show the desperate character of this individual; but it is enough to make it entirely manifest, when we add, that many years after these transactions, Antone was convicted of a murder committed in the county of Madison [NY], and was executed in the year 1821, at the advance age of 86 years.
Another Indian extensively known from the peculiarity of his character, was Nicholas Goodman, as he called himself, but who was known to all the settlers by the cognomen of Saucy Nick. This man was artful, cunning, plausible, deceitful and dishonest. Though not as dangerous as Antone, yet his character in many respects resembled the latter. He understood the English language very well, and could converse with considerable fluency whenever he chose. It was related of him that when the hunters killed a deer and left the carcass in the woods, as was frequently the case in those days, he would steal the venison or other property and carry it to his cabin and when questioned in regard to it, he could not be made to understand or comprehend a word that was said to him. Saucy Nick never failed to get intoxicated whenever the opportunity offered, and when [drunk] with liquor, he was very querulous and seldom failed to get into some [trouble].
It is an agreeable task to tell, after contemplation of such characters as the two preceding, to introduce another of a different cast in the person of Capt. David, an Oneida Chief of great influence, and held in high esteem by the white settlers, as well as his own people. Capt. David, was a man of honor and strict integrity. His name was a passport to the favor of the settlers. A trait in his character, so unusual with the Indians, should be mentioned to his credit; he never was known to get intoxicated. This Chief made frequent visits to this part of the valley, at the head of a company of men, for the purpose of hunting, and it is within the recollection of an inhabitant of this town, that on one occasion, Capt. David and his company, had been so successful, that he employed two teams to transport the venison obtained to Oneida Castle. In his dealings with the white men, they did not hesitate to receive his verbal pledges for the performance of any contract.
In this connection it may be proper to remark that neither history nor tradition give any account of the aborigines who must have dwelt in this valley before it was trodden by the foot of the white man. At the time of the first settlements here, a small remnant only of the once powerful six nations remained. But evidence is not wanting to prove that at some remote period, anterior to the settlement of this continent by civilized man, there must have been a race of these aboriginal children of the forest inhabiting these regions, of whose existence a few faint memorials are the only testimony. Soon after the settlement of this town, there was discovered a mound of earth, situated about two miles south of the present village, near the junction of the Gennegantslet creek with the Chenango River, on a beautiful piece of table land. This mound was raised about six feet above the natural surface of the surrounding land, and was about forty feet in diameter. Its form was nearly circular. On the top were standing several lofty pines. After removing the timber, the earth was opened, and found to contain a large quantity of human bones, together with stones curiously wrought into various shapes agreeable to the taste or wants of the artist. These were undoubtedly the property of those by whose remains they must have quietly rested for more than two centuries, as the growth of the timber would indicate. One of these trees being cut after it had been dead and in a decaying state for some years, was found to contain by actual enumeration, indications of its annual growth, by concentric circles, amounting to 180 years.
The latest examination of this mound was made in 1829. The bones were found so intermingled with each other, as to preclude the idea of order and regularity in the original interment. The appearances would rather indicate the supposition that they were the remains of those who had fallen in battle, and were hastily buried by their companions. Among the articles found were a large number of arrow heads, manufactured from a very hard flint stone. Some stone chisels, axes, pestles for pounding corn, and other implements have been found in different parts of this town, and it has been quite usual for those who till the soil to pick up quantities of arrow heads. These vestiges of antiquity are the only links to be found, which binds the present to the remote past, and are to us what the "shattered column and broken arch" are to the old world. Could we be made acquainted with the history of those whose bones whiten the banks of the Chenango, we should be led to view the sprightly hunter penetrating the gloomy forest in quest of such game as would yield him food or clothing, or it may be, our attention would be directed to a different scene. We might behold the warrior chief marshalling his forces for the fierce combat; and with these advancing with silent caution, amidst he gloom of night, till the savage yell proclaims the presence of the foe.
The battle ended; the slain are hastily collected and the mound of earth encloses their remains; while the living captive more unfortunate, is preserved to grace the savage dance of the victors, by the endurance of the severest tortures their ingenuity could invent. In those days there were no historians able to snatch the event of their lives from the grasp of oblivion, and place them on the page of the record of the past. Tradition is so corrupted by the mystical channels through which it must necessarily pass, that it can be entitled to but a small share of our confidence. What antiquarian is there who will open to us these rich and exhaustless mines, of the aboriginal antiquity of our country.
Other portions of the valley of the Chenango are not destitute of memorials of great interest.
To be continued
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