Miscellaneous News Items

A Golden Anniversary 

Bainbridge Republican, Bainbridge, NY, January 2, 1879

Fifty years ago, last Saturday Mr. Runion Parsons, now living in the village of Afton [Chenango Co. NY], was married by Judge Bigelow, late of Bainbridge, to Mahala Hoffman.  The bride's father at that time lived at East Bainbridge near the forks of the river. We called upon the aged couple on the day of their fifteenth anniversary found them in usual good health and learned a few facts concerning their life.  At the present time there is but one person living who attended their wedding - her brother Chauncey's widow, now living in Illinois.  Her brothers, Chauncy and Joel, were well known military characters in the war of 1812 and after their return from the army, Chauncey established a fencing school and made considerable money by the art.  Mr. Parsons well remembers when the town of Guilford was set off from Oxford, and how they drew a line and those who wanted it at such a place would step on one side and those opposed on the other.  He gave a full description of the pulling and jerking of the opposite parties and how several coats were literally torn to pieces in the fracas. They did not give a grand reception of their marriage anniversary as is customary now a days but enjoyed themselves at home and attending Quarterly Meeting which was then being held in the M.E. Church in that village.  May the good old souls live another half a century and have peace and plenty.

Bainbridge Republican, Bainbridge, NY, January 9, 1879

Afton, Jan. 8, 1879:  Mr. Editor:  As you were pleased to note the anniversary of our fiftieth year of married life, I will give you a few incidents of my early recollections.  At the time of the war of 1812, my father was living in Warrensburg, Warren County, N.Y.  Near the close of the war, early one morning an aged man called upon my father, and in much apparent agitation informed him that there were Indian spies upon what was then called Bishops Mountain, an eminence from the top of which an extensive view of the surrounding country could be distinctly taken for many miles.  He had discovered a fire on the opposite side of the mountain and venturing near saw about a dozen Indians preparing their breakfast.  Being much alarmed he came over the river to see what measures could be taken to protect, if possible, the inhabitants from those unwelcome invaders.  My father took his telescope, and by its aid we could bring them so near as to see that they were indeed savages. At the time my father owned mills and drew lumber to Ft. Edward, consequently kept several horses. They were soon saddled and mounted by boys with instructions to ride in different directions and drop written lines at every house, requiring every man to repair to our place as soon as dark to protect the bridges that spanned the river, and also, if possible, to protect the people along the river and at the village at Lake George.  It was a busy time at our house that day.  The old-fashioned bread tray that would hold a bushel of flour was brought to hand, and the large brick oven heated and re-heated until a sufficient quantity of bread, pies, cake, meat and buns, were prepared to feed a hungry multitude.  Each had their separate duties to perform.  My little brother and myself were furnished from our store with bullet molds, ladles and bars of lead, and we sat upon the hearth before the arch and made bullets until we had a supply large enough, we children thought, to furnish an army.  At dusk the men began to gather, and we soon had quite a respectable sized army.  In the morning of the next day, they proceeded to the mountain, shot at them, but they fled through a large swamp at the base.  Our men preferred to shun the swamp as it was a dense wilderness for miles and returned home without even capturing an Indian.

Soon after this Judge Bishop and my father organized a Silver Gray company, as they were in the service, and I think for a while the old men trained almost every day.

Those familiar with the condition of our country at that time will remember that crockery was very scarce, and as those old men became wearied with marching and exercise, got thirsty, and it was amusing to us children to hear them smack their lips as they sipped the delicious beverage over those broad brimmed vessels which were usually kept on the upper shelves at the store.

Mahala Hoffman, now Parsons

Afton, by Rev. E.T. Jacobs

Afton Enterprise, Afton, NY, April 30, 1886

From the Indian trail to the iron rail; from the flint and steel to the lucifer match; from the inner horn to the steam whistle; from the stagecoach and four miles an hour, to the steam engine and sixty miles an hour; from the bake kettle and crane to a kitchen range; from the power of muscle to the power of brain. these are notches on the tally stick of time, and as we count back they seem like the tread of a giant.  If time be measured by the changes it brings, the progress and improvements, the multiplied facilities it holds, the little notches may stand for ages.

The old man of today who has registered his four score years has lived longer, by this measure, than the men who lived beyond the flood.

Just one hundred years ago Mr. Elnathan Bush commenced the settlement of Afton, not by intention but by compulsion. Afton had nothing to come to but the Indian trail, the flowing river and the fertile valley.  His raft, a rude structure built at Unadilla, on which he placed his family and a few goods and started for Owego, where he expected to make his future home, got broken up or stuck in the mud on one of the Chamberlin islands, and Afton has suffered from similar disasters ever since. The man who undertakes to navigate our sidewalks in the season of mud, will be reminded of the experience of the first settler, Mr. Bush remained, not in the mud but on the shore, till 1790, when he removed to Bainbridge.  In Mr. Bush Afton lost a good citizen and Bainbridge gained one of her representative families, some of whom yet remain.  A cemetery on the farm of Joseph Bush is the resting place of the ancestors of the family.

The Albany and Susquehanna railroad was undertaken more than 40 years ago.  The legislature was petitioned for a charter and aid to help build the road from Binghamton to Albany, a distance of 142 miles, through a section of the state containing rich farming land, valuable timber and much undeveloped wealth, but shut-in from tide water with no market for its products except at great expense.

The building of the Albany and Susquehanna railroad was the commencement of a new era in southern central New York.  It was first thought to be only a small one-horse road, but it has come to be a trunk line, part of a continuous line from Philadelphia to Montreal, with double track already built a large part of the way. We ought to have cheap coal and cheap transportation, but for some reasons not apparent, coal is higher, though so near the mines, than as Albany or Boston. There must be quite a good deal of circumlocution in R.R. Matters.

I may say some things of the "railroad war" in my next.  How they fought with engines, how Jim Fisk did not steal the road, and how some think if he had and it had been made a branch of the Erie instead of being leased to the D.&H. Canal Co. coal would have been cheaper and freights the same as on the Erie.

She Got the Silk Dress, by Rev. E.T. Jacobs

Chenango Union, Norwich, NY, October 11, 1906

When the white people came into the town of Afton [Chenango Co. NY], they followed the course of the river from the north.  They found little clearings where corn had been raised and apple trees were growing.  Their only means of crossing the river was in canoes.  Two ferries were early established and became somewhat celebrated, "Harper's Ferry," almost opposite Nineveh Junction, and "Watsal's Ferry," one mile above Unadilla. The latter was crossed by my mother with her large family, coming from Dutchess County in 1811.  Between thirty and forty years the inhabitants crossed on the ice in the winter and forded and ferried in summer.

A company was chartered in 1826, for the purpose of building the first bridge in the town.  Not having success in the old town records, I cannot name the officers of that company, but the bridge was built by Lord &Batton at a cost of $2,400.  It was a rude structure according to present ideas of bridge structure, but the hills, covered with pine and oak, furnished abundant material for the heavy timbers.  The wood sills remain as sound as when they were first laid.

An incident is related by the old inhabitants as occurring when this bridge was being built, that shows some daring on the part of a young "school marm."  A Miss Hamlin was teaching on the west side of the river while her home was on the east side.  she was in the habit of crossing in a boat, but one night when she was ready to return home, she found the boat was on the opposite side of the river, and like most of her age she did not care to wait.  The piers of the bridge were up and the chords laid, covering the three spans - nearly 400 feet.  the timbers were fourteen inches broad, and she proposed to walk on them.  The three spans with the rise and fall of the chords made it much more perilous than a level surface. As she attempted it the workmen all stopped.  Not a blow was struck, not a word was uttered, as she passed one man after another till the shore was reached.  Turning, she waved her handkerchief in triumph as the men sent up cheer after cheer for the brave little girl. The workmen had agreed among themselves that the first lady that crossed the bridge should have a silk dress, and Miss Hannah Hamlin got it. We wish we had a remnant of it.