Early History of Bainbridge, NY

Early Bainbridge, Chenango Co., NY History

(Author unknown)

Edna Pixley Scrapbook

The rattle of musketry has scarcely been quieted by the close of the American War of Independence, when the states of Vermont and New York became involved in a bitter boundary dispute, which ended with Vermont confiscating the boundary lands of families who had believed in sovernity of New York.

 

On March 1, 1786, the State of  New York granted the lands now comprising the Towns of Bainbridge and Afton to these families.  The grant was name Clinton.  In 1791 the name Jericho was given a Town then formed which consisted of present Bainbridge town Afton, parts of Oxford, Greene and Norwich, but the name Clinton was unofficially retained for parts of the Town.  Norwich and Oxford were taken off in 1793, Greene in 1798, and Afton in 1857.

 

Shortly after the grants to the "Vermont Sufferers," these families started coming into what was then a peaceful wilderness.  Elnathan Bush is recognized as having been the first settler, although Robert Harper had lived here claiming all the land under grant from the friendly Indians.  The state repudiated Harper's claims.

 

Bush settled here in 1786; in what is now the Town of Afton, but moved a few years later to the land now known as Harmony Farms.  In 1786, Caleb Bennett made the first settlement in what is now the Town of Bainbridge, and the community of Bennettsville, which was named after him.

 

In the next few years the Kirby, Guthrie, Evans, Bixby, Stowel, Smith, Fuller, Bacon, Newton, Allison, Redfield, Stockwell, Hitchcock, Nourse, Campbell, Betts, Carpenter, Myers, Warner, Beals, Humphrey, Hyde, Fairchild, Bump, Nicholas, Prince, Conant, Samuel, Pearsall, Curtis, Sears, Banks, Thompson, Seely, Lawrence, Fitch, Benton, Searles, Ireland, Lyon, Copley and Johnson families, came in and by the turn of the century the Town of Jericho was thriving although only a sparsely settled community.

 

Indians never bothered the settlers to any degree, as there is no record of Indian warfare.  Wild animals must have been fairly numerous and evidently did considerable damage to the cattle herds--in 1792, a bounty of forty shillings was voted at a town meeting for the destruction of "wolves and painters " [panthers].

 

One of the interesting sidelights of these early days, was the pumpkin freshet, so called because a sudden flood swept hundreds upon hundreds of these vegetables into the current.  Gould Bacon, whose home was on the low lands, escaped drowning by hastily straddling a floating log, and in his words, was soon "surrounded by pumpkins and painters"--his log finally came to rest in a drift of flood wood, and Bacon was able to roast pumpkins for food and shoot at painters for sport until rescued.

 

The early settlers prospered both in agricultural and business life, and men with capital joined the first families shortly after the start of the nineteenth century.

 

Baron de Zeng, a Hessian who had arrived in the new world just too late to take part in the Revolutionary war, became so interested in the new Republic that he transferred his possessions to America and settled in Bainbridge.

 

The baron invested heavily in turnpikes, farms, and other business ventures and built some of the earliest mansions here.  His home, which was located across the Susquehanna became the show place of his time, and the business life of the community for years centered more or less around his activities.

 

He also built a beautiful home for his brother, which was later sold to Colonel Richard Juliand, the first president of the corporation of Bainbridge. Colonel Juliand filled his home with beautiful furnishings which in later years became exceptionally valuable antiques. The Juliand family still occupy [in 1930s] this show place of Bainbridge, and Miss Janet Juliand, her sister and niece, Mrs. and Miss Dickinson, take an active part in the social and civic life of present day Bainbridge.

 

Peter Betts, who founded the settlement of Bettsburg, nearby, moved to Bainbridge early in the century and for a number of years was one of the leading business men.  Betts also speculated in land and in industrial plants, and was intimately connected with the development of the section.

 

Bainbridge, Chenango Co., NY, Historical Dates

 

Declaration of independence signed..................................................................July 4, 1776

Herkimer-Brant meeting....................................................................................1777

Governor Clinton purchased this territory from Indian tribes...........................June 25, 1785

N.Y. Assembly granted this territory to "Vermont Sufferers"...........................March 1, 1786

Caleb Bennett, first "Vermont Sufferer" arrives here........................................July, 1788

First Civic gathering ever held here, Summer of...............................................1789

First Library Organized......................................................................................1789

Name changed form Clinton to Jericho..............................................................Feb. 16, 1791

First Church Organized......................................................................................April 30, 1793

First Bridge across Susquehanna built...............................................................1799

First Postoffice opened by Eliab Skeel..............................................................1802

Dr. Porter, first Physician, arrived.....................................................................1805

Name change from Jericho to Bainbridge.........................................................April 15, 1814

Village Corporation formed...............................................................................April 21, 1829

First President (i.e. Mayor)................................................................................Col. Richard Juliand

Civil War: Bainbridge Company of Chenango County Regiment formed........Aug. 14, 1861

Gail Borden successfully markets processed milk.............................................1869

World War, first Bainbridge boys left................................................................May 1917