The Historic Eaton Church is 193 Years Old Today!

June 6th is an important date in Eaton as it is the Anniversary of the founding of the Eaton Church founded on June 6th, 1833 and is the sight I see each morning while writing this blog. At that time it was the Congregational Church, its founding members included two of the original incorporators of the Baptist Theological Seminary that became Madison University and today's Colgate University.

In 1848 the church hosted the Congregational Society’s yearly northeast meeting at which time the Congregational Society officially adopted an anti-slavery stand.  Some information on this is in the Cornell College Library.

The church had many noteworthy pastors including its first installed minister the Reverend E D Willis.  I became interested in Willis because he lived in my house, a house that Allen Nelson Wood and his wife would buy on their return to Eaton.

The church’s members at that time included Allen Nelson Wood founder of the Wood, Taber & Morse Steam Engine Works and both his partners Loyal Clark Taber and Walter Morse.

Other famous Eatonites who attended services were Melville Delancey Landon and his family. Landon became a well known as both a writer and as a lecturer. Many rich and famous people attended the church during the Victorian era during what time Grover Cleveland’s brother; the Reverend William Cleveland was its pastor. E D Willis the first installed Minister was a friend of Gerrit Smith and married the Tiffany Family members.

The church still today houses a historic Meneely Clock and Bell that were paid for in 1848 by Ellis Morse son of Joseph Morse founder of Eaton. and the churches windows which bear the names of some of Eaton’s greats... still grace its interior; an interior that sported  hand turned pillars turned by Allen Wood himself.

During the Civil War the Eaton Churches banded together and held services attended by each other patrons during the week to pray for the wars end.  Prayers were also read during the Wars that followed.

Eventually, the Congregational Church became part of the Federated Churches of Eaton and then later became a Community Bible Church under the Pastor Thomas Clark who improved not only the building, and but helped institute a fabulous AWANA program. During the time he was pastor the congregation also built a large activities building  that is used today for youths to play basketball and games and to host special functions.

The Church located on Brooklyn Street is the focal point of a new display at the Eaton Museum.

Speech at the Cemetery on Memorial Day...& Thank You!

 Well folks..... the Big Memorial Day Event is over.....with a bit of rain and good help... it was a success....To all that turned out..Thank You!

For me the big complaint was the speaker system at the cemetery...So sorry we tried to borrow one...but was unable to, most likely because of other Memorial Day Services.  Since it was important to the event...I will give you what I said that morning here!

The Historic Eaton Cemetery has within its grounds the bodies of many of the men who fought in the Revolutionary War and who moved west to settle this historic town.  Veterans of that war who fought at Lexington and Concord...(the Shot heard around the World) as well as Bunker Hill (Breeds Hill)

These men moved to this community from, in many cases, Massachusetts to make this part of that state. We ended up becoming  New York State.

George Washington and George Clinton with Col. William Smith rode through this area after the war to look for land to buy.  Today the Washington Tract still has Historic Markers that read to that effect.

Col. William Smith an adj. to Washington. who married President Adams daughter Abigail, bought the parcel that makes up much of Eaton selling these parcels to Col. Joshua Leland.   The area became known as Smith's Valley and is the first clearing in Madison county. These men fought for freedom and democracy and so we honor them here today...including Miles Standish III...grandson of Miles Standish...and all the Veterans of all the Wars fought for our Freedom buried here. 

The flag that we raisted was sent to us in 1995 by the Hometown of many of these men, Sherburne, Mass...they flew the flag over the Town Hall and presented it to us with a formal proclamation!

Below is a video I did for this area which tells the rest of the story...put you sound on and learn local history!

Lets come together for Memorial Day and Remember what is good and enjoy our community!

Today here in Eaton we say Eaton Day or “History Day” as we originally called it and celebrate it on Memorial Day, but for many years it followed the tradition of a “community day” every year on the 4^th of July.  Today of course, Hamilton has stolen the 4^th as their big day… but in the past it was Eaton’s Day and people came for miles to strut their stuff and catch up with the community and it people.

In those days the event even included horse racing at breakneck speeds through town and across.  The local stable was a noted hang out to “star” horses and one of its ‘overnight” guests was the incredible horse Dan Patch.  Flora Temple once graced the small paddock on what was then the Hamilton Skaneateles Turnpike, a road whose cost the Morse family of Eaton half paid for in 1811.

The Eaton Band and the Military Band beat the drums and blared martial music as the merchants (then many) put out their wares. The bandstand was located next to the place we hold Eaton Day each year on what was then the Skaneateles Turnpike today’s route 26.   The spot we set up is actually the spot where Samuel Chubbuck invented the key and sounder for SFB Morse’s Telegraph!  It is his equipment that sent the first message. Chubbuck’s father was noted for running a hotel and more than one Tavern.

The ladies aid put on supers and the lunch business thrived.  A dance and suppers were often held in the Masonic Hall, a building that is dilapidated today but still standing in town with a roof that once extended over gas pumps.

 The ladies of the churches put on meals for visitors… and their famous preachers including Grover Cleveland’s brother, and Nathaniel Kendrick… would have tried to tone down the activities. One of Eaton’s historic churches still stands with its historical marker out front. Families of the Churches would have included the famous missionaries to be, Emily Chubbuck Judson, Jonathan Wade, Andrew Bigelow Morse, and more.

Wood. Taber & Morse's new Steam Engines would be there in front of the factory...all shined up ready to impress, Melville Landon "Eli Perkins" might be up from New York or Washington to summer and relatives from far and near would return to enjoy the community they sprung from.

Gone is Davenports Store that was noted for its wares and for its owners who were loved by the population and were successful for many years.  That store is still standing is now a residence with its large white pillars on the side…. not in the front! 

Paddy Miles firing not a cannon but his anvil for many years jolted the town awake.  Yes, an Anvil…. that had a hole in it where black powder was poured and a fuse lit.  Today we have Jim Monahan and his cannon crew who dress in Revolutionary War era costume and fire a real cannon on occasion.  This tradition being brought down since the majority of founding fathers served in the Revolution.

And for the holiday itself, the Eaton Cemetery is spruced up and over 200 flags grace the graves of men and women who served their country in all conflicts of the past including some that were at Bunker Hill, Lexington and Concord.

Old times and memories to be sure, but pieces of history that should be celebrated, and people who should be honored for their service in this the 221^st year of the community.  In order to protect their history and the artifacts that remain… we the Friends of the Old Town of Eaton Museum... beg you to come out and enjoy the day. Talk to each other, eat, get involved in the raffles, bake sale, white elephant sale… join the "Friends" and support a museum that preserves the history of the area and the “Community.”

Future generations will thank you for it!

News for Memorial Weekend here in Eaton.

 This year we are starting the Event on Sunday with our Annual White Elephant/Garage Sale and Gift  Shop & Bake Sale.  The fun begins at 9am and will close at 3pm.  Come early as the goodies won't last long..  The Old Town Museum will be open from 1pm to 3 pm with Backstreet Mary there to answer any questions you might have.  At the Gift Shop and Sale you will be able to purchase our 50/50 Raffle tickets as well as our Raffle of many special Donated items including  

an Afghan, Art Work,  Craft Items & More... that have been Donated.

SETTLEMENT 

I decided this year it would be proper for us we to honor the Revolutionary War Veterans who settled this area, including Smith's Valley.

One of the more interesting aspects of our area is the old historic marker that stands on River Road marking Madison Counties Early settlement history.  The marker lies just below the Old Town of Eaton Museum and lists the first clearing in what is now Madison County.. 1788...The Bark Hut.

If one takes the time to pick threw Mrs. Hammond's History of Madison County you will note many stories on our early founding including where men forged into what was still considered" indian country," and upon arrival made a rudimentary hut to stay in. This area actually formed what was eventually a set of log homes that stretched from Lebanon to Eaton then dubbed "Log City".

Most of these men and those that came later were veteran's of the Revolutionary War and some had followed Col. William Smith to his land patent set up by Joshua Smith (not a relative) who served under him. Joshua was sent by Col. Smith to find him the best tract of land in the area...which Joshua did, and where upon he built a bark hut.These actual squatters were indeed our first settlers and ironically today over two hundred years latter,  many of these families names still live on here.

Col.William Smith is buried inWest Hill Cemetery in Sherburne, but members of his family (sisters & brothers) owned land in Eaton.  It is interesting to read the many storied by Harry Hart, and one in particular that accused Smith's brother Justice of trying to hold up deeds from purchasers.

We have many veterans buried in the area and some like Miles Standish who is buried in the Eaton Village Cemetery,

To honor these men we decided to do a talk on the Revolutionary War to open our Memorial Day
Celebration if it is possible.

Backstreet Mary will be Speaking on Memorial Day... Subject Early Settlement!

Come and join us on Memorial Day to learn the history of our early settlement...straight out of our 250 years of History!

There is so much history in this little CNY area I live in …but it seems time and time again only the glitzy, money pushed, history sites make it to our attention.

Take for instance the existence of a peace-seeking town where people could interact as brothers working together to form a new community and a better life after many struggles.

No it isn’t a commune with religious fanatics or gun totting radicals… it is a place called Brothertown. Yes Brothertown.  

This town like every other Native American site has been pushed out of our local history.  Brothertown was located around the area we call Deansboro today.

The population of it was made up of a number of New England tribes that had been marginalized (our new modern term) as the white man took over American soil.  Pequots, Mahegans, Mohegans, Narragansetts,  and more. (Yes Uncas’ Mohegans) 

The idea was the brainchild of leaders like Joseph Johnson and then organized and realized by Samson Occum.  Both Native Americans who had attended the school of Rev. Eleazer Wheelock, both Christian converts.  Samson Occom became the first Native American to have his works published and was considered a fabulous public speaker which can be attested to by the amount of money he raised in England for Rev. Wheelock’s cause… of educating Native Americans in Christian white culture. The money raised eventually helped Wheelock form Dartmouth College, which like our own Hamilton College pandered to white societies children.

Started on a tract of land given to them by the Oneida Nation prior to the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, the community never came into being until after the Revolution.  Then the group in the 1830’s was pushed out to Wisconsin.  A few remained or returned thanks to the help of Quaker missionaries… but the site itself now is just another American community called Deansboro, and roads like Bougusville Hill Road are nothing but back roads where a NYS Historic Marker denotes an abandon cemetery or two… and nothing more.

Samson Occum was a special man we should know about in our local history. 

With all the rain this week I was unable to finish a video that I have planned to do on Samson Occum's graveyard at Occum Grove. As the Madison County Historian I got to meet one of the Mahican historian's who was researching the different families that migrated to Brothertown and although many think that the Brothertown and Stockbridge tribes just signed the paper to sell the land without duress before their move to Wisconsin... this is something I sincerely doubt considering the atmosphere and hatred of the era of "Indian Relocation to reservation in the West".  We may never know.  But locally the move occurred after the death of Samson Occum their leader.

Samson Occum was an unusual man… he was said to be a direct descendant of the great Chief Uncas of the Mohegan’s.  (There were a number of Uncas leaders… a fictitious one was put in as a character in James Fennimore Cooper’s “Last of the Mohegan’s”.)

Occum studied at the Rev. Eleazer Wheelock’s “Latin Theology” school and was able to read English and Hebrew. After graduation Samson became an ordained Presbyterian minister and teacher to the Pequot’s of Montauk, New York.

In 1851 his former teacher Rev. Wheelock…asked Occum to travel abroad to raise money for a charity school he was founding for the schooling of Native American children in Christian white ways.  

On this tour of England, Occum and a co-speaker raised over 12,000 pounds for Wheelock and preached 300 plus speeches (sermons – appeals) to an audience that was most likely in awe of a Native American preacher and speaker. *King George himself donated 200 of these pounds.

While Occum was out of the country however… the money he raised was being used by Wheelock to start what would become Dartmouth College, a school that catered to children of white families with some money.  (Wheelock had also failed to take care of Occum’s wife and children… something that was part of the agreement he made with Wheelock before leaving.)

So with his son-in-law Joseph Johnson, Occum then set out to found his own tribe of Christian Indians from the New England area, they became known as Brothertowns.  The Brothertowns settled on a parcel of property given to them by the Christian Oneida’s of Kanowanhole, the land lying in today’s Town of Marshall.  

This piece was just outside of Rev. Samuel Kirkland’s parcel now called Clinton. (Kirkland)  Ironically Kirkland said that he too was going to found a college where the White and Native Americans could learn together.  That college became today’s Hamilton College and up until recent years that school had not graduated one Native American.

Occum’s home is marked by and NYS Historic marker near Deansboro and Samson Occum is buried in the Occum Grove Cemetery on Bougusville Hill Road. His obituary was carried in many Newspapers and the Rev. Samuel Kirkland delivered his funeral sermon.  Some of Occum’s papers rest today at Dartmouth College.  

The chief of the Christian Oneida’s that supported the colonies in the Revolutionary War and great friend of Kirkland’s who gave land  and promoted the college for co-education of Native Americans and whites...(Skenandoah) is buried with Kirkland at the Hamilton College Cemetery.

History of a Cemetery that is Historic Itself!

                                       Grave of Rev. War Vet. Miles Standish ..Yes grandson of Miles Standish!

Sometimes a cemetery is historic for a number of different reasons as well as for the famous people buried in it. One such cemetery is the  Eaton Village Cemetery which occupies a hill outside of the Hamlet of Eaton and contains the remains of many famous and near famous people.

M E Messere

The cemetery itself dates to before 1800, on a piece of property donated by Squire Eldred. It rests on the side of the Old Indian Trail, a recently discovered map shows that the early road was exactly where the current road is. 

M E Messe 

Little care or attention was given the site for a number of years with cattle roaming it and overgrowth covering it, but in 1852, George Morse, grandson of the famous Joseph Morse, bought a piece of property next to the cemetery which started him on a labor of love keeping the grounds for his lifetime.

Morse took care of the grounds planting trees & planting the myrtle that still covers the hill today.  Morse also installed fences to keep the cows that roamed nearby out. Other early pieces of property that added to the cemetery's size belonged to J. T. Whitney.  In 1884 the present Eaton Village Cemetery Association was formed, an association that still cares for the cemetery today.

Buried within its borders are the founding Morse family, the Landon Family members including the famous Eli Perkins (Melville Landon) who is buried at the top of the cemetery steps. There are Chubbucks, including the father of Samuel W. Chubbuck inventor of the camelback key and sounder for Morse’s telegraph and siblings of Emily Chubbuck Judson,  the author and missionary.

Many Civil War veteran's including Col. Henry Bagg Morse of the famous 114th Regiment of NYS Volunteers and relatives of Charles Grandison Finney who once attended school in the one room school house that was located in the cemetery. 

 In a special section lies the first female physician of Madison County Diedamia Button Chase and beside her is her famous daughter, historian Luna Chase Hammond. Near the front of the cemetery lies Allen N. Wood  founder of the world famous Wood, Taber & Morse Steam Engine Works, and many more.

So take a short hop on NYS Scenic Highway Route 20, and visit historic Eaton, for a Special Memorial Day Celebration. The Parade starts at 10 AM and it will take you to the Cemetery where there will be a Prayerservice presided over by Rev. Smalley and music by the MECS Band and Chorus.  Back in town there will be a classic truck display, Revolutionary War Display, Gift Shop and White Elephant sale...come join the Celebration!

Col. Leland and the Ponds...a Revolutionary Soldier!

The week has been cold and wet again and spring is in full swing down here in Eaton... but soon after Memorial Day with summer people arriving with boating, kayaking, fishing and the reopening of  summer camps....I had a request to do a piece on Eaton's Leland Ponds also someone is restoring the old Dunbar house, which in actuality was the original site of Col. Leland's first home...so as lazy as I am lately about writing, I pulled this from my past writing and put it up for your enjoyment.  If you can please share and help our small rural Southern Madison County area attract new people and in the process help restore awareness to those who have forgotten what a wonderful place they live in.

The heat of this summer has drawn people to small bodies of water to cool off, swim and fish. Since history lurks everywhere some of those that have enjoyed fishing at the beautiful Leland Ponds in the Town of Eaton, may actually not realize what a special part of history the “ponds” have.

Located equidistant from both Eaton Village and Hamilton, the ponds today are a vibrant part of NYS Fishing areas and are also a very early and important part of the Town of Eaton’s history. A NYS Historic Marker denoting its famous founding family, the family of Joshua Leland, today marks the site but of course, a marker cannot tell the full story.

Born in Massachusetts in 1741, “the Colonel” as he was always referred to, moved to the town of Eaton, then a part of Chenango County and a large tract of land called Hamilton. Leland settled first on English Avenue near today’s Eaton Village, but then moved to the current site of today’s Leland’s Ponds, then called Leland’s Lakes.

The Col. was a Revolutionary War Militia soldier and ventured out with family to find a new home and a fortune. Their removal to Eaton was not without troubles as when the Colonel after clearing land, went back home to get his wife and five children and their wagon got stuck in the mud at the very location they would eventually move to. The Leland’s also arrived so late in the year that they are recorded as spending their first winter in a three side hut with their animals.

An avid astronomer, hotel owner and miller, Leland was a favorite of the many Native Americans who fished the ponds and who regarded the Col. and his wife Waitstil with great esteem. The Leland Family also ran an ashery that made potash and in fact it is how the Col. died. When on a trip to Albany with this much needed commodity, Leland was killed when the barrel of potash they were carry on a wagon rolled off and fell on him as he was ascending a steep hill on the Cherry Valley Turnpike.

Leland is mentioned as Hamilton’s first Supervisor but at that time Eaton was part of Hamilton breaking off in 1795. At that time Leland became and important part of Eaton’s history and he actually owned one seventh of the landmass of Town of Eaton at one time. His heirs continued in their father’s footsteps’ becoming businessmen and the Leland family name is well remembered.

Leland’s Ponds was also the early fisheries of the Oneida Nation, and later was the site of the largest port on the Chenango Canal, Peck’s Port. Today its waters are a vacationers paradise and allow fisherman to revisit the quiet haunts of native fishermen.

For those who like cemeteries, the family cemetery lays 

on Route 12B a short distance from the site of his home. Crow’s Hill, his property that he once gazed at the stars from, is today dotted with wind turbines, proving that Eaton is still a place where “history meets progress!”.

Remember the Memorial Day Parade...come to Eaton, enjoy the history and Beauty!