Vital Records, Chenango County, NY (1879)

 Chenango American, Greene, NY, February 13, 1879

Death

In Buffalo [Erie Co. NY] on Jan. 26th, 1879, Miss Elizabeth F. Loomis daughter of the late General Thomas Loomis, of Brownville, N.Y. [Jefferson Co.] and sister of Mrs. Dr. Rogers.

Bainbridge Republican, Bainbridge, NY, February 20, 1879

Marriages

Bennettsville, Chenango Co. NY: And still the good work goes on.  Mr. Frank Benedict of Ohio returned home Wednesday and Thursday Rev. E.T. Jacobs of Afton came up, and with a few short words united him to Miss Eugenia Corey with bonds that last until death does part.  May they live to celebrate their diamond wedding.

Miss Jennie Wilson formerly of this place [Bennettsville, Chenango Co. NY] has committed the same crime with Roswell K. Palmerton MD. of Deposit [Delaware Co. NY].  May they live to enjoy the bliss of wedding life to a good old age.

Deaths

A telegram from Sherburne [Chenango Co. NY] announces the death of Mrs. Rufus Smith well known in this vicinity as "Aunt Hannah."  She has been failing some time and we understand her death was hastened by a fall in which her hip was broken.

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Jacob Bixby:  A prominent resident gone to his reward.

"A mournful office is thine, old bell! / To ring forth naught but the last end knell, / Of the coffin warm, as he passes by, / And thou seemest to say, / Ye all must die!"

Jacob Bixby was born in Milford, Otsego County [NY] March 18, 1809, and moved to this place in the year 1857.  His home was in the southern part of the village, where he breathed his last on Thursday night of last week.

Such announcements are of so frequent occurrence that we simply read them, perhaps exclaim "Ah well! another has paid the debt of nature," and then perhaps never think of the circumstance again.  But Mr. Bixby enlists our pen for more than a passing notice, as he had as much to do with the building up of Bainbridge [Chenango Co. NY] as any other single person. At the time of his death, he was the builder and owner of eight houses in Bainbridge, nine in Oneonta, one in Masonville and one in the town of Sanford. These houses were all rented, except the one he occupied, and it kept him busy most of the time in attending to them and collecting his rents.  In his boyhood he learned the masons trade and by economy he amassed quite a fortune and of late years it was his pride to tell how he commenced a poor boy and come what would he always made it a point to save a shilling a week. The houses were all built when real estate was high, consequently the depreciation will cost a great sacrifice when his estate shall have been closed up.  He was one of the most prominent workers in town affairs and always took a deep interest in our school.  He was a man that was always accommodating yet very exacting, was prompt in all his business transactions and expected the same of those with whom he did business.

Mr. Bixby was conscious up to within two or three hours of his death and at noon of the same day attempted to write a letter to his sister who resides in Maine village, and supposed that he had completed it, but it was written in such a manner than nothing but the date line could be deciphered.

The funeral services were conducted by Rev. A.F. Brown at the M.E. Church on Sunday morning last, at 11 o'clock and were largely attended by the people of the town. The sermon was from the text "We do all fade as a leaf," and was of deep feeling.  His remains were deposited in the cemetery at this place.  His death was caused from disease of the liver, and he was only sick about three weeks.

News Items

Rev. Mr. Manderville, pastor of the Presbyterian Church of this village [Masonville, Delaware Co. NY] celebrated the seventy-ninth anniversary of his birth on Saturday the fifteenth inst.  Though so aged he is still doing effective work as a pastor.

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Our Early Settlers, Sidney Plains, Delaware Co. NY

Mrs. John Baxter [Mary J. Johnston], now in the 85th year of her age, occupies an important place in the biographical sketches of the inhabitants of this town.  She was the daughter of Col. Witter and Jane Johnston and was born in Sidney Plains, Feb. 1, 1795.  Her grandfather, Rev. William Johnston, who was a Presbyterian clergyman, was born in the north of Ireland, but was educated in Scotland and came to this country, locating at Schenectady [Schenectady Co. NY] at an early day, and in the year 1772, in company with his son, "Witter," who was then only 18 yrs. old and an Indian guide, explored the Susquehanna valley, selecting Sidney Plains as his future home, and were the first white persons that settled in this place.  He had the promise of six hundred acres of land from Mr. Bradstreet's patent, and after selecting a location he returned to Schenectady for his family, leaving Witter alone with the Indians till the following spring when he returned. 

Witter during the absence of his father lived with Indians occupying what is now known as the Indian knoll or mound, situated about one half mile west of the central portion of this village, but which was nearly destroyed by the building of the New York and Oswego Midland railroad which passes nearly through the center of it, and was used by them (with the exception of a small portion of the eastern section which is now owned by Jabez J. Rogers and who will undoubtedly preserve it from any further depredations) for grading up their road across the flats. This mound which should have been preserved as a memento of a race now extinct, and who had used it in part as a burial place for their dead, was singularly constructed, being built upon the ordinary level of land near the river and being about 12 rods long by 6 rods wide with rounded or pointed ends something in the form of a canoe and was raised eight feet high, with the sides and ends sloping at an angle of about 45 degrees. the Indians at the time occupied it for their village.  It was also planted with apple trees, set in regular rows and which in their season bore fruit. a few years after the settlement was commenced, Gen. Herkimer interviewed the Indian chief, Brandt, at this place and the unfriendly attitude of the Indians led Mr. Johnson and others to remove their families to Cherry Valley [Otsego Co. NY] for safety, where they remained until the trouble had somewhat subsided.  

Witter, who afterwards became a colonel and fought through the revolutionary war, was married February 24, 1791, and died October 4, 1839, aged 86 years.  His father died at Schenectady before the close of the war and his mother resided with him in Sidney Plains, where she died April 11, 1795.  Mrs. Baxter's mother was born in the year 1753 and died in 1817, leaving eight children - three sons and five daughters - all of which lived to grow up and become settled in life. But Mrs. Baxter and one brother are now the only remaining ones of this family.

The land that they were supposed to receive from Mr. Bradstreet afterwards proved not to be within his patent but on what was known as the Wallace patent, and from whom they received a title. But Wallace, proving a Tory, fled and his property was confiscated. But they subsequently obtained a title from the State of New York and have ever been in peaceful possession of it.

Mrs. Baxter, for a person so far advanced in life, is still quite active and prefers doing the ordinary work of her own household.  She is neat and tidy, and her house always presents the appearance of being in perfect order. The family consists of herself, husband, and his invalid brother.  They occupy her father's homestead, which has always remained in the hands of the family.  Mrs. Baxter is a member of the congregational Church in this place of which she has been a communicant since the year 1808, and she has by her long life and residence here formed those pleasant associations which must inevitably leave a lasting impression upon the minds of those who have had the pleasure of her acquaintance and the old and young alike would miss her kind and genial smile, and that extended hand of friendship, as she passes downs the aisle of the church or meets with them at the social gatherings as well as the hearty welcome which they receive at her long loved and cherished home.