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1708 Rt 212 Saugerties, NY 12477
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TOWNS:
BARTON, in the southwestern corner of the county, has an area of 32,686 acres.
It was taken from Tioga and established March 23, 1824. The surface is hilly
, some of the soil rich; dairying is the main industry. The first to settle
in the district were Ebenezer, Ellis and Stephen Mills who located in 1791
near the mouth of Ellis Creek, having come from the Wyoming Valley by way
of the Susquehanna River.
The principal village and business center of Barton is WAVERLY.
It had its inception early but only with the completion of the Erie Railroad
in 1849 did it expand and become of importance. It now vies with Owego in
size of its mercantile section and the number of its industries. The number
of the factories are about equal but of different character. Among the products
of Waverly are: Leather gloves, furniture, silks, stove piping and grist
mill products. Its location on the east bank of the Chemung River among the
hills, has given it a fame for beauty.
Hamlets within the borders of the town are BARTON, RENIFF, LOCKWOOD, NORTH
BARTON and HALSEY VALLEY.
BERKSHIRE, in the northeastern part of Tioga has an area of 17,433 acres, the most of which are highlands, the mean elevation of the town being between 1,200 and 1,400 feet. Its heavy clay soil is difficult to work and mostly used in the production of hay crops and grazing. There are a number of good orchards in the section and certain vegetable crops are grown with profit. New Englanders were the first settlers, including Isaac and Abraham Brown who founded what was known for many years as Brown's settlement. Out of this crude beginning has grown the lovely village of Berkshire, the rural center of the town. It, in the early days, had some prominence as an industrial hamlet, manufacturing wagons, furniture and leather, but is now mostly a residential village, where wealthy farmers have made their homes.
CANDOR, the largest town in the county and in the central part, was settled
in 1793 by Joel Smith and Isaac Judd of Farmington, Connecticut.
They found it a ridge country covered with massive pines, of which there
is now only an occasional remaining tree. The surface was broken by many
small streams which were put to work sawing the pines and grinding grain,
there being several mills before the opening of the new century. The wooded
hills have been made into hay farms, and the mills in the valley are slowly
disappearing as there is little grain grown in the district which is ground.
The principal villages of this section are CANDOR, the industrial center,
WILSEYVILLE, WELTONVILLE, CATATONK.
NEWARK VALLEY, in the eastern part of the county, has gone under a variety
of names, being given the present title in 1862.
As Brown's Settlement it started on its way in 1791 when Isaac Brown and
others located in this region. The valley of East Owego Creek, along which
it lies, is one of charm , and the people who settled and have since lived
there mad,e of it a quiet farming community. The main business and social
center is the village of the same name, with churches, mercantile section
and a few industries, the most of the latter being those which cater to the
farmer. Other hamlets are KETCHUMVILLE, JENKSVILLE, WEST NEWARK, and NEW
CONNECTICUT.
NICHOLS lies in the angle formed by the Susquehanna River, which also
is the north and west boundary, Owego and the Pennsylvania line.
It was formerly a part of Owego from which it separated in 1813, when it
was added to Tioga, from which it was in turn taken in 1824. The area of
its land is 19,850, the most of which is under farm fence. There are few
finer agricultural towns along the Susquehanna Valley. The pioneer of this
section was probably Emanuel Coryell, the agent of Colonel Hooper, the owner
of a large grant. He came in 1791, induced others to follow his lead, and
did much to bring about an early settlement of the area. The business center
of Nichols is the village of the same title near which the first of the mills
were built. Surrounded by a dairy region, it has bottling works for milk.
A furniture factory is another of its industries.
OWEGO, the shiretown of the county, is in the southeast corner and comprises
a district of fertile lands which were once the garden spots of the
aborigines.
OWEGO was known to the Indians as Ah-wah-gah, which means either "swift river"
or "where the river widens," the latter being the more probable. Concerning
the first settlers of the town, something has been already told. The village
of OWEGO, situated at the confluence of the Susquehanna River and Owego Creek,
had been the leading place in the county, even before it was made the sole
county seat. In 1791 there were but six families on the site of the village,
and but nineteen seven years later. But it was the earliest settlement in
this part of the State, and held a place of great importance as the natural
head of the shipping on the river. The road built to Ithaca in 1808 added
to its growth and standing. The traffic on this was so great in a few years
that it was not uncommon for five to eight hundred loaded wagons to come
and go in the hamlet in a single day. Steamboats were also built here, but
met with failure. Not until the Erie Railroad was run through the place did
its importance as a business center wane. In its later years OWEGO has taken
upon itself the dignity and grace of a shiretown. The mercantile district
of the city is larger than is usual in a place of its size. Manufacturing
is carried on, but not in an obtrusive way. There are, perhaps , thirty factories
producing many sorts of articles, but they are well outside the town limits,
and do not mar the beauty of the residential portion. Many who have prospered
in the cultivation of the lands of the county have made this the home in
which to spend their sunset years. John D. Rockefeller lived, as a boy, not
far from the village, and Thomas C. Platt, the famous statesman, was a native
of OWEGO.
Among the hamlets of OWEGO mention should be made of FLEMINGVILLE, one of the earliest to be settled; APALACHIN, a rural place of later growth; CAMPVILLE, which was a rival for the honor of first place in the county; and HIAWATHA, a pleasant summer resort further up the river from the village of OWEGO.
RICHFORD, the northernmost of the towns of the county, is also the highest, the summits of the hills reaching an altitude of 2,000 feet. It is in fact, on the ridge dividing the waters of this part of the State, some flowing to the St. Lawrence, others entering the Susquehanna and by way of this river to the lower Atlantic. Because of its high and isolated location, it was an almost unbroken wilderness, inhabited by the hunting parties of Indians, as late as 1812. When, and by whom, the first settlement was made, is unknown. The name given the town in 1821 was after that of one of its pioneers who, with Stephen Wells, gave a public square in that year, Ezekiel Rich. The region is a dairy section, and the bottling of milk is an important industry. The business centers are RICHFORD and EAST and WEST RICHFORDS.
SPENCER, in the extreme northwestern part of the county, was originally
of great extent, and has been the "mother of towns."
No fewer than five have been separated from her, and the land area left is
now 29,136 acres. Practically all the land has at some time been cultivated,
although there are large parts which are now in grass or coming up in second
growth timber. Benjamin Drake and Joseph Barker were the first settlers of
SPENCER, locating on the site of SPENCER village. This last mentioned place
is the mercantile and social center of the town.
SPENCER, SPRINGS, NORTH SPENCER, and COWELLS are three of the hamlets.
TIOGA was organized in 1788 as the so-called "Old Town of Chemung" and included
what is now the town of OWEGO, created in 1791. Both towns originally embraced
much other territory than is now to be found within their borders. In 1813
it was found advisable to exchange names, whereby the district to the west
became TIOGA. As CHEMUNG, the region had its first settlers in 1785 in the
persons of Samuel and William Ransom and Prince and Andrew Alden from the
Wyoming Valley. Major William set out the first apple trees, and established
the first nursery, the beginning of the present vital industry of this
section.
TIOGA CENTER, the main village of Tioga, was, in the early days, a great sawmill town, but lost its prominence in this with the depletion of the forests.
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