While working on a new book named the past few days, I came across much information that has actually never come to light in regular history books.Many of the young folk in Eaton actually tried to become missionaries to exotic lands many were successful.It seems the lure of Burma and Siam was a firm and large part of the missionary movement here in the early 1800’s.
Everyone remembers stories of Eaton’s Emily Chubbuck, the writer who wrote under the pen name “Fanny Forrester,” who married Adoniram Judson and went off to Burma, but what about Andrew Bigelow Morse???
The Reverend Andrew Bigelow Morse was the son of Ellis Morse and grandson of Joseph Morse. In 1849, at the early age of nineteen, Mr. Morse was graduated from Hamilton College in Clinton, where his ranking as student admitted him into the scholarship roll of Phi Beta Kappa.
After two years’ experience as principal of a Young Men’s Classical Institute in Albany, N.Y., he entered the Princeton Theological seminary, where he was graduated in 1864.After another two years, part of which was spent in post-graduate work in New York and a part in the service of the church, he and his young wife, commissioned by the Presbyterian board of foreign missions, started for Siam.This was the goal of their ardent ambitions and consecrations.
Once in the field, he threw himself whole-heartedly into the work, but within two years Andrew’s health was shattered and he was ordered home. He continued working for several years on a literary work of permanent value.
Because of his poor health during the Civil War, he was exempt from military service and debarred from the Christian commission.So instead, he spent three years at Washington in the Treasury Department, ministering often in hospital and barracks.In Washington he served in the somewhat famous “Treasury Guard” of which he frequently spoke with a smile.
It is here he also became acquainted with many men who afterward became famous.Among these was the one whom he always mentioned with a great admiration and reverence – the distinguished martyr President Lincoln.
Andrew takes his place of honor with the other young men of Eaton who also went to Siam (Burma) and China, Jonathan Wade and William Dean. **Newspaper stories filled with letters sent back to Eaton from Siam still exist in the Old Town of Eaton Museum today.
The best remembered and photographed times in Eaton were the “field days” held yearly to celebrate the Fourth of July. This community, born out of Revolutionary blood felt it a duty to put on big yearly celebration.
The big day usually started with cannon volley, which in later years is remembered as Patty Miles “firing” his anvil. This was done by filling the hole in the bottom of the anvil with black powder and setting it off. Any late sleepers would be awakened if their children had not already forced them out of bed in their excitement to get downtown.
Horse racing was part of the day and baseball games were played in different fields around town, big rivals for Eaton’s team was the Bouckville Bucks. Food was available everywhere from the churches where the ladies aid put on a dinner, to the food stands on Main Street (front street) and the hotels, some brought their own lunches, but everybody ate.
The "Town" filled with music with people listening, especially when the Eaton Military Band played. In the evening there was always a dance that was well attended at the opera house in town, and the Rebekah Lodge usually served coffee to the attendees, with the dance continuing until midnight.
By the 1920’s, the world was at war; the steam engine plant was closing, water power had given away to electricity, woolen mills were closed, the Chenango Canal had ceased to be a transportation route and was only used to fill the Erie Canal, the “Great Depression” was on and the march to the city for work began.
No more does the anvil fire, and only once every three years is there a parade in Eaton and “History Day” is now on Memorial Day, (instead of Field Day on the Fourth of July). In Eaton, however the memories live on in this rural community, remembered most of all for its once glorious past replete with famous Eatonites, famous inventions and stories of the wars. Eaton like so many of its rural counterparts has gone to Sleep! Happy Fourth America! Every community needs a Band!
The Fall is coming on us quickly, and while getting ready stacking wood and thinking of our next museum event, " Fall Festival History Weekend...I dug this up and thought you might enjoy reading it again! Many of our original settlers in Eaton date back to the Mayflower and the settlers of Natick especially the Morse, Leland, Kent and Stowe families. Eaton followed much of the tradition of Natick so I thought I would include some wonderful history on Thanksgiving and Governor Bradford who Grandma Clark was a direct relative of.
The first Thanksgiving was truly different from what we see portrayed today on TV and in the movies.In actuality, the Pilgrims who had invited the Indians over to thank them for their help in cultivating corn, in fishing and in hunting, and for basically keeping them alive for the first year, were stunned when the Indians arrived for the feast in numbers far beyond what the Pilgrim’s could feed.So, the Indians left and hunted for deer and fowl and returned with the food necessary for the feast to last three days…yes, three days.
This occasion was unusually frivolous for the stern Pilgrims and comprised of continuous eating, the marching of Myles Standish’s little band of soldiers, bow and arrow competition etc…The feast meanwhile was tended to by five of the eighteen women who survived the first terrible winter.Imagine trying to fix a feast for 140-150 people over an open fire, and then stretch it to three days.
The great Governor Bradford delivered this prayer on the first Thanksgiving and I thought I would include it for us:
Oh give thanks unto the Lord; sing unto him; sing praises unto him, for the precious things of heaven for the dew, and for the deep that couches beneath, and for the precious fruits brought forth from the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon, and for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the everlasting hills, and for the precious things of the earth and its fullness.Let everything that has breath praise the Lord, Praise ye the Lord.
Of interest, I think, are a number of passages from “Of Plimouth Plantation” by Governor Bradford, which mention the colony’s success only by acts of what he referred to as “God’s divine providence”.
Bradford mentions windfalls of corn from unexpected quarters, a mysterious voice that warned the colonials of a store-house fire, showers that came just in time to save the crops, even the turning back of a ship that would foreclose on the colony.These quotes show the success of the colony having been squarely laid on the cornerstone of faith.
This faith led Bradford to guide the colony through all of its terrible trials and gave him the moral capacity to do what was right for all without wish for personal gain.From his first election in 1622 until 1639, he received nothing for dining the court during their monthly sessions.One comment I received after the piece on the “Common Good” read “too bad things could not be like that today!”To this I say, “Amen!”The word “altruism” is too seldom used to describe our modern leaders.
The key word in our pursuit of the history of the Pilgrim’s is DEMOCRACY.Democracy, is the basis for the Pilgrim’s government, carried through both the church and the state, something we need to concentrate on today I think. Fall Festival will be the later in October - 21 & 22 this year our little museum in its 25 year will close for the season at the end of the month. For those days the museum will host a special display on the Chenango Canal with Backstreet Mary on hand give a small talk on the Canal and Eaton's industries which made Peck's Post in Eaton, the Canal's busiest port.
Put your sound on and listen to and oldie and a fall favorite from a past Fall History Weekend theme!
Today as I sit here in my office looking out over the the Old Union School and the historic Eaton Church, I was struck by the fact that since I came to this little hamlet in 1984 things have changed drastically. The change has been not for the better in many cases.
The old friends I used to treasure are for the most part gone, many relatives gone, associates gone, and most original museum members are gone. An old friend Nellie Wooten taught me so much about the people she knew each time we walked in the cemetery...once on the way down to town she looked back over her shoulder and said wistfully with sadness...all my friends and relatives are here...I miss them.
Maybe because of my tiredness and depression caused by the fact that I have not accomplished more in this short summer that is slipping away...whatever it is... I could not stop singing or humming a very sad song…"Deep Purple"!
When the deep purple falls..
Over sleepy garden walls?…
And the stars begin to twinkle in the night..
In the mist of a memory ..
You wander on back to me..
Breathing my name with a sigh..
As of course, you would suspect …the song has an unbelievable history. This piece of music was written originally as a piano piece written by pianist Peter DeRose, who broadcast, 1923 to 1939, with May Singhi as "The Sweethearts of the Air" on the NBC radio network.
"Deep Purple" was published in 1933 as a piano composition. The following year, Paul Whiteman had it scored for his suave "big band" orchestra that was "making a lady out of jazz" in Whiteman's phrase. "Deep Purple" became so popular in sheet music sales that Mitchell Parish added lyrics in 1938 or 1939.
It was recorded so many times by different bands and sung by different singers that it is amazing. On the hit charts it was a number 1 song in 1939 with Larry Witman, it was also number 2 for Jimmy Dorsey and His Orchestra, a number 9 for Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians, number14 on the charts for Bing Crosby, number 17 for Artie Shaw and His Orchestra….. all in 1939.
By January 1949 Paul Weston and His Orchestra recorded it as well as Billy Ward and His Dominoes in September. For us 70 year olds it became number 1 again for Nino Tempo and April Stevens in September 1963 and also a hit for Donny and Marie Osmond in December 1975.
It just seems to remind you of every love, every person you ever knew.. and how loneliness feels at night in this small town.
In the still of the night
Once again I hold you tight..
Though you're gone,
Your love lives on when moonlight beams
And as long as my heart will beat,
Sweet loved ones we'll always meet..
Here in my deep purple dreams…
I have been working all summer on my house that was going to the bulldozer when I bought it...Mr Woods house... and part of the old school. It has survived 200 plus years of floods, wars, trees falling on it, and this past two a fire...I am still working on it.
I am working on a growing website of history for Eaton, another website to try and help people understand the importance of fixing their animals called 4 Community Cats, my blog View from the BackStreet that reflects my thoughts on history on the area, and a perhaps a bit of hope.
My hope rises as the Stone Morse House on the hill is finally being saved, plus all in all we still have here Eaton Fire Department, a Community Bible Church, a well kept EatonVillage Cemetery, the Old Town of Eaton Museum, a store and gas station... as well as a beautiful scenic place to live. A place we can just look out at the world with all its wars, sorrows, and disasters from.
Depressed...yes I am...but filled with some hope for the future.
The James Pratt house, which for almost 70 years has sported a historic marker, burned. The house located today on Route 26 once sat on the hill next to the Great Skaneateles Turnpike on lands once owned by Joseph Morse, who was considered by many to be the father of Eaton because of his expansive business empire. Its builder, Dr. James Pratt, came from Massachusetts in the early 1800’s and became the first physician in the Town of Eaton and the town’s first teacher, moving to teach in the early days in rotation to three different sites within the town.
The house which had fallen into disrepair over the years was currently a two story home, but in the early 1800’s when built it was described by noted artist Carlton Rice as a white one-story building. Rice would come to Eaton with Pratt’s cousins to visit his Rice relatives who also lived in Eaton.
The Dr. once owned interest in the Eaton Woolen Mill with Joseph Morse and others and had married Laurency Eaton, the daughter of James Eaton one of Eaton’s first settlers. (*Please note Eaton was not named for James but for Gen. William Eaton of Tripoli fame.)
After his first wife’s death Dr. Pratt took Joseph Morse’s daughter Eunice as his wife in one of the most notable wedding ceremonies ever held in the village.The wedding took place on the first of June, of 1814, at the Morse’s new Stone house in the Village of Eaton. (Also marked by and historic marker) and among its guests were some of the notables of Madison County’s history including Col. Lincklean, Col. Angel DeFerrier and his wife Polly, Peter Smith and his sons Gerrit (the abolionist) and Peter Skenandoah Smith, Joshua Leland’s widow Waitstill and an entourage of Native Americans, the Stowes, the Cramphins and many others, basically anyone who was anybody.The couple were married by the Rev. Jonas Thompson.
Eunice Morse had come to the then wilderness of what would become Madison County with her father, the son of Capt. Joseph Morse and mother Eunice, who was of the famous Bigelow family of Natick immortalized in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Old Town Folks. Young Eunice attended school under Dr. James Pratt, and was exceedingly friendly with the Indian children of the area, often inviting them in to warm by the fire. (The Morse family always left the “latch spring” open for their native friends.) After her father’s death, Ellis, a brother who also came with them, would take the businesses of Eaton over from his father and his brother Joseph Morse Jr. Joseph Sr. upon his death had bequeathed Eunice $600 to be paid by Joseph Jr. in 3 years from his death, and a lot. Eunice continued her education going on to graduate from Clinton Academy in 1810 – the last graduating class before it became Hamilton College.
The family was on a move to Palmyra, MO. Where a son James by his first wife found prosperity and died, his grave has never been found. Eunice moved west, some believe perhaps in hopes of finding him. She never did. Dr. Pratt and Eunice’s children and Dr. Pratt’s grown children from his first wife settled near Knox where Eunice lived until her death. She was considered by all a remarkable woman for her time, she had served the earliest period of our county’s history.
An interesting side note is that Dr. Pratt’s will created quite a storm when he left money to fight an ongoing lawsuit with the Congregational Church he was such a part of. During this period Charles Grandison Finney, the Evangelist of Oberlin fame, had favored the congregation standing to sing and sitting to pray. Dr. Pratt believed this wrong and spent much of his fortune fighting this practice. He suing the church, thechurch he (Ironically, Charles G. Finney as a boy lived in early Eaton Village then Log City with his aunt and uncle the Cyrus Finney
As they say.. everything old is new again...and that goes for the history of an area and its products. As I was getting ready to pack my hops from this years hops plants into pillows I decided to blog on Hops.... Hops played a large roll in the early history of our rural area. Like much of the history of Early American, hops were grown to make beer in colonial times. The Bitter taste was made into tonic, and the blossoms were put into pillows for winter colds. Try putting some of your hops into pillows when you are stuffed up. You'll note the Eucalyptus smell will act as a vaporizer.
In our area the year of its arrival came when 1808 James D. Coolidge planted the first hops field in Madison County. By 1859 NY was suppling 87 percent of hops grown in the U.S.
That is an unbelievable statement but it is true. Madison County grew hops and the crop was a bumper crop that made many of the farmers in the area, but it also destroyed some.
The Hop commodities market was actually moved to Waterville where hops were bought and sold with the fluctuating hops market.Many an Eaton Farm grew hops and held hops to get the best value at market. They also welcomed the pickers in season because in town the money flowed from outside to in.
Many a farm put families up during the “season” and stories of fun and friendships made abound… a more simple time.My own mother recalled taking the canal to Madison County where her family would pick hops.She as a small child remembered hiding under her mother’s skirt on the trip.
The hop fields of Samuel Coolidge ran between Madison and Eaton near the Summit level of the Chenango Canal.The field crops were called by some locals, as filled with “the Devil’s weed”… because of Hops addition to beer to make it bitter or to add flavor and aroma.
Hops would later disappear from the hills of Eaton and Madison County because of blight and because of white or blue powdery mold.Another problem “Temperance” played a large part.
Another facet of hop production were the numerous attempts to patent labor saving devices.A few out of Eaton and the area are pictured in the back of the book.
One was a “HOP-PICKER’S BOX” designed by Frederick A Fargo of Pine Woods, New York it was Patent No. 949,915 dated November 22, 1881. (Fargo Corners in Eaton today).He states that: “My invention consist of a hop-picker’s measure or box having such construction that it may be easily taken apart for stowing away in small spaces and for transportation, and easily set up for use.”
Another interesting invention out of Morrisville is a Vine Trellis.The Trellis was submitted by Andrew S. Hart and is Patent number 495,673, dated April 18, 1893. Hart says: “The object of this invention is to provide a trellis for training chiefly hop-vines, and which shall be permanently erect on the ground to afford ready access to the uppermost parts of the vines.”
The time of hops passed and became a time of cows and corn that have in recent time given back land to the cultivation of Hops in Eaton and in Madison County.It is interesting to note that at Fargo Corners today you can see where a new “hop field” was located on today's Mosher Farm.
The James Pratt house, which for almost 70 years has sported a historic marker, burned. The house located today on Route 26 once sat on the hill next to the Great Skaneateles Turnpike on lands once owned by Joseph Morse, who was considered by many to be the father of Eaton because of his expansive business empire. Its builder, Dr. James Pratt, came from Massachusetts in the early 1800’s and became the first physician in the Town of Eaton and the town’s first teacher, moving to teach in the early days in rotation to three different sites within the town.
The house which had fallen into disrepair over the years was currently a two story home, but in the early 1800’s when built it was described by noted artist Carlton Rice as a white one-story building. Rice would come to Eaton with Pratt’s cousins to visit his Rice relatives who also lived in Eaton.
The Dr. once owned interest in the Eaton Woolen Mill with Joseph Morse and others and had married Laurency Eaton, the daughter of James Eaton one of Eaton’s first settlers. (*Please note Eaton was not named for James but for Gen. William Eaton of Tripoli fame.)
After his first wife’s death Dr. Pratt took Joseph Morse’s daughter Eunice as his wife in one of the most notable wedding ceremonies ever held in the village.The wedding took place on the first of June, of 1814, at the Morse’s new Stone house in the Village of Eaton. (Also marked by and historic marker) and among its guests were some of the notables of Madison County’s history including Col. Lincklean, Col. Angel DeFerrier and his wife Polly, Peter Smith and his sons Gerrit (the abolionist) and Peter Skenandoah Smith, Joshua Leland’s widow Waitstill and an entourage of Native Americans, the Stowes, the Cramphins and many others, basically anyone who was anybody.The couple were married by the Rev. Jonas Thompson.
Eunice Morse had come to the then wilderness of what would become Madison County with her father, the son of Capt. Joseph Morse and mother Eunice, who was of the famous Bigelow family of Natick immortalized in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Old Town Folks. Young Eunice attended school under Dr. James Pratt, and was exceedingly friendly with the Indian children of the area, often inviting them in to warm by the fire. (The Morse family always left the “latch spring” open for their native friends.) After her father’s death, Ellis, a brother who also came with them, would take the businesses of Eaton over from his father and his brother Joseph Morse Jr. Joseph Sr. upon his death had bequeathed Eunice $600 to be paid by Joseph Jr. in 3 years from his death, and a lot. Eunice continued her education going on to graduate from Clinton Academy in 1810 – the last graduating class before it became Hamilton College.
The family was on a move to Palmyra, MO. Where a son James by his first wife found prosperity and died, his grave has never been found. Eunice moved west, some believe perhaps in hopes of finding him. She never did. Dr. Pratt and Eunice’s children and Dr. Pratt’s grown children from his first wife settled near Knox where Eunice lived until her death. She was considered by all a remarkable woman for her time, she had served the earliest period of our county’s history.
An interesting side note is that Dr. Pratt’s will created quite a storm when he left money to fight an ongoing lawsuit with the Congregational Church he was such a part of. During this period Charles Grandison Finney, the Evangelist of Oberlin fame, had favored the congregation standing to sing and sitting to pray. Dr. Pratt believed this wrong and spent much of his fortune fighting this practice. He suing the church, thechurch he (Ironically, Charles G. Finney as a boy lived in early Eaton Village then Log City with his aunt and uncle the Cyrus Finney
For young people today it would be interesting I think to learn about how things were done and how people traveled in the early days... even learning about money and currency. There was no plastic money or Western Union.
Currency was issued by different institutions, not only the US Treasury. In reading some of the old Morse letters of Eunice Morse Pratt and her families removal from Eaton to the west,I ran across this interesting letter that explains much about this and life in the early 1840's as well as information on her family for genealogists in the area.
"Palmyra April 13th 1842
Dear Brother - I received your letter the fourth of April dated March 15 and with it the Draft for eighty-six dollars dated March 15. The Draft here was worth ten percent more than currency. I sold it to Mr. Locthan the largest merchant in Palmyra for cash and left the money with him and get a little at a time as I want to use it. The western Banks are a breaking so fast there is no safety in keeping one dollar. I shall get what things I need and let the rest be until have use for it.
You would like to know where I live. I lived with Edwin three years then I went to the farm and stayed two years. I liked to live there I felt as if it was my home in January I came to see Edwin I found him sick with a cold, nobody but his little boy and Gridley for company and blacks to do his work he wanted I should stay it is a good home for me.
Gridley goes to school here and I expect Mary here this week to go with him. There is no school near the farm. I expect to stay here with them some time. Virgil, Warner, Fanny and James live on the farm. They are a sawing and grinding and making the improvements better.
Warner is one of the Candidates for sheriff he thinks he should get it but it will be a doubtful case. The present sheriff and another popular man are on the ticket.
Edwin is doing a good in land and is farming and selling wood. He has two children Betsy and John. The little girl lives with Lawyer Wright her uncle. There is a great scarcity of money here all business men are crying hard times many go to work and spend less.
Eunice had quite the life and her obituary tells us much of her story and so I include a bit of it here."
OBITUARY OF EUNICE MORSE PRATT
"Mrs. Eunice Pratt, widow of the late Dr. James Pratt and mother of
Colonel Warner Pratt, died on December 30, 1869 at the residence of her daughter, Mary Shotton, who is the wife of Judge William N. Shotton.
The deceased was born in Sherburn, Mass December 10, 1790 and emigrated with her father, the late Joseph Morse, Esq. to the Burchard Farm in Madison County, New York, in 1796. Here, her father built one of the first frame houses erected in that region. It was near the Indian trial from the Susquehanna to Stockbridge and thus at a remarkably early period in life she made an acquaintance with the red skins and began an extraordinary life of pioneer service.
In 1802, four years before the town of Eaton was set off from Hamilton, her father moved to Eaton, which is now the seat of the family homestead and erected one of the first gristmills south of Whitestown. Here in company with the late Ellis Morse, Esq. and her other brothers and sisters, she spent her youth, became familiar with every phase of pioneer life, its perils, its hardships and its attractions, and here supplied with such books as Dilworth’s Spelling book, Dabolls Arithmetic, the Columbian Orater and the Bible, she began her education with she concluded at the old Academy at Clinton where she graduated two years prior to its institution as Hamilton College.
In 1814 Eunice married to Dr. James Pratt, a brother of the father of the Hon. Daniel D. Pratt, United States Senator from Indiana and raised a numerous family.
After his death she again, in 1836, entered upon the pioneer life and removed, with her family, to Palmyra, Missouri, making the entire distance in a wagon. Shortly afterword a family homestead was purchased within what is now part of Knox County and she located thereon.
She was certainly a woman of indomitable resolution and energy or at the age of 46. when a widow, she would have hesitated long ere removing from a home among friends surrounded with the refinements of civilization into a comparatively unknown section to again endure the trials, privations and hardships incident to pioneer life. She was, as it were, a connecting link between the centuries and had, in her youth, seen the wilderness of New York transformed into a center of civilization.
She had seen towns and cities spring up on every hand and institutions of learning, now justly celebrated through out the country, established. In middle life she had again contributed her energy to subdue the wilderness. She had again seen the form of the savage recede from the rushing time of civilization and once more had seen towns and cities rise phoenix like from mother earth. Her memory was richly stored with narratives of the War of Independence and she had lived through two important conflicts through which this country has passed. What an unusual experience was hers."
I could not have summed it up better...a true glimpse of our past and a women's role!
It is so interesting to find history in your mailbox. I received a note from a lady in Missouri who was looking for information on her family members who arrived from Eaton in the early 1830’s. Since I do history on the Morse family it proved to be an interesting relook at history for me. Her relative was Eunice Morse, Joseph Morse’s daughter.
Eunice received a good education starting as a child in Eaton under the tutorship of Dr. James Pratt our town’s first teacher. He taught school early on and the school rotated from Col. Leland’s to Joseph Morse’s and on to the “Center” as it was called near todays Morrisville.
Pratt was married to Laurancey Eaton, who died and left him to fall for one of his students, daughter of Joseph Morse. Their wedding was the first at the Old Stone Morse Mansion and was attended by anyone who was important from Gerrit Smith and his father to Mrs. Leland who arrived in a carriage guarded by other guests, the Native American friends of area. It is said they came in full native regalia on impressive horses.
She and her husband eventually moved on to find a new home and follow others from their family and area to Missouri. Unfortunately, on a trip west he was killed. Undaunted she decided to follow and look for the truth.
I have copies of some of the letters she sent back from there and they are so interesting I thought I would do a series of articles on her, her time, and Eaton. Included here is an excerpt from - Palmyra Marion County Missouri in October of 1836.
“Dear brother - We arrived safe in Palmyra in five weeks and one day from the hour we left home had a very pleasant journey most of the way. We had some difficulty to get through the mud, which we should not have had if we had started sooner.
When we came to the first bad road we had to walk some and ride some. We found a man with a four-horse wagon without a load. We hired him to carry us and our load to Indianapolis 36 miles then we found roads very good until we came to the first prairies in Illinois here these roads were very good a few roads then a slough so deep it was almost impassable. It was nearly dark and we were nine miles from a tavern. David was sick with a headache. We began to be afraid of being stalled in the sloughs. We soon saw two horsemen a coming towards us one of them road forward to show us the way. He offered to put in his horse and ride and let David ride our smallest horse, which was very tired.
We got along very well until a little after dark. The horses then mired in a slough and after making many unsuccessful attempts to extricate the wagons the horses fell and they had to hold their heads out of the muddy water till they could clear them from the wagon and as a last resort we left our wagon and rode two on a horse near three miles. We then arrived at this young mans house that helped us.
We had every attention that poverty joined with kindness could bestow. They went with James in the morning and got the wagon. We hired one of them to go with us with his horses ninety miles. We then came to the stage road, which was very good. We did not like Ohio nor Indiana as well as Illinois the land is good and very handsome but unhealthy. They can raise grain with very little labor. When we arrived Galen was absent. Two Mr. Wrights his wives brethren were a boarding at his house. They received us with as much pleasure as if they were brothers.”
It is so interesting, and such a long journey for a widow from Eaton who became a pioneer much like her mother who came to Eaton in 1796 by oxcart with husband and children, Eunice Bigelow Morse.
By the late 1880’s a cry had raised up, from the northern, more populous part of the county, asking that the location of the courthouse be changed to the north. The main complaint was that travelers to the clerk’s office or the courts could not easily get to Morrisville by train. The train that passed through the town of Eaton, by-passed Morrisville, and travelers had to go over steep hills to get to the county buildings at Morrisville from Morrisville Station. Other complaints included a lack of adequate accommodations for visitors. This fight was the most divisive struggle in the history of Madison County lasting for almost 30 years. This struggle had a polarizing effect that is even evident in many ways today.
It is interesting to note that in 1893 a petition was passed by the people of Eaton Village to have the courthouse relocated there. Eaton had the rail stop and had many more amenities than Morrisville at the time. This was blocked by H. B. Conan who protested this move, using the fact that if the courthouse was moved the land would revert to the former owners, a fact that later effected the property when it was to become part of the state agricultural school.
The towns of Lenox and Oneida kept the fight going for more years through self-interest, each one wanting the county seat to be located in their towns. Petitions for removal stated that Morrisville was 2 ½ miles from the nearest rail terminal, that it was too expensive to pay mileage for jurors, that the jail was condemned by State authorities and that it took a whole day to reach Morrisville from any other point in the county.
The compromise was choosing the current courthouse’s location in Wampsville and the village was basically created (incorporated as a village on September 25, 1907) to hold the county seat. Wampsville was located on the main line of the New York Central and the West Shore Railroads where twenty-four trains stopped daily.
Finally on November 5, 1907 this issued was turned over to the voters and the county seat was changed from Morrisville to Wampsville by a margin of 756 votes. Of interest is that 10 of the 16 towns actually voted against this, the north winning because of its larger population.
The New Courthouse
The next step was acquiring the land in Wampsville to build on. It is here John Wesley Coe enters the picture. Coe had been the foreman of the Madison County Jury for 14 years and was one of the supporters of the relocation of the county seat to Wampsville. It is said that he was tired of his lengthy commute to Morrisville, especially in the winter season. Coe originally from Madison County, had become wealthy in the oil fields of Ohio and Pennsylvania. Coe returned to Madison County with that wealth, buying a 78 acre farm to retire on as a gentleman farmer. Coe had been partners in the oil fields with President James A. Garfield and remained a close friend until his death. Coe put up orchards on his property and later sold two strips of his property to two different railroad companies, which effected the decision to move to his lands.
Coe originally wanted to be paid for his prime parcel of land near the railroad, but later on February 12, 1908, he decided to deed the land to the county for just $1. When the county asked him for more land he sold the county land for the jail and let the county rent land for vegetable gardens. John Wesley Coe refused to sell his house however, stating that he “brought the house to live and to die in”, and that he did. This house later was purchased by the county and had to be removed to build new county facilities.
So on July 16, 1908 ground was broken for the start of a new Courthouse in the newly formed Village of Wampsville.
James Riley Gordon designer of the new Courthouse
The Madison County Courthouse in Wampsville was designed by the famous architect James Riely Gordon, who is also the architect of the Cortland County Courthouse. Gordon worked for a time for the Irving Corner Company of New York before moving to Texas. Texas, which has more courthouses than any other state (225) was a ripe field for Gordon, who is credited with building over 60 courthouses across the United States, 16 in Texas alone. If you go on line to http://www.waxahachiechamber.com you can learn about the construction of the Waxahachic courthouse that was described by James A. Michener in his book Texas.
Gordon’s style of architecture was considered Richardsonian Romanesque and among his most memorable building accomplishments was the Texas Building for the Columbian Exposition of 1897.
The missionary movement of the early 1800’s was very much a part of our local history, and doing the research on it has been interesting and informative. While on my search for information on the different missionaries from the Eaton area, I came across an interesting bit of information on the Reverend Dr. William Dean.
I knew of his fame but was never able to put words to it. After much searching and reading I came across a site on the Anniversary of the Hong Kong Baptist Mission which marked in 2002 their 160th year. There smack dab in the middle, was the honored story of the Reverend William Dean and his wife.
I did some more digging and have come up with a wealth of information that links him to many things in the missionary movement. In the biography of Emily Chubbuck I found out that it is Dr. Dean who baptized her when as a young women she was finally formally entered into the Baptist Faith. Dr. Dean was also the corresponding secretary as a young man for the Hamilton Literary and Theological Institution.
In an interesting letter that was sent to Dean as recording secretary was a reply by Andoniram Judson, American missionary to Burma. In the letter Judson says:
“I feel called upon to answer, for you ask my advice on several important points. There is, also, in the sentiments you express, something so congenial to my own, that I feel my heart knit to the members of your association, and instead of commonplace reply, am desirous of setting down a few items which may be profitable to you in your future course. Brief items they must be, for want of time forbids my expatiating.”
The rules basically covered rules for those contemplating the missionary life. Among them are remarks that include his telling them to come out to the missionary field for “life” not just for a limited term. He also gives them information which I still laugh over and my women readers will enjoy-please read:
“In choosing a companion for life, have particular regard to a good constitution, and not wantonly, or without good cause, bring a burden on yourselves and the mission.”
We can only assume he had what he considered “good cause” when Judson married for the third time a very unhealthy young lady by the name of Emily Chubbuck!
William Dean was born in Eaton, N.Y. on June 21 of 1807. Eaton had just become a town and early settlements were started in 1793, so his family was one of the early residents. Dean being a brilliant student went on to attend the Hamilton Literary and Theological Institution, which became Madison University then Colgate University. In 1833 he was ordained a Baptist minister and sailed for Siam to become a missionary for the Baptist Missionary Union to the Chinese in Bangkok, arriving in Thailand in 1835.
Of note* He received his confirmation just before he “Baptized Emily,” we learn this from her biography! Dr. Dean was the first pastor of the Baptist church organized there in 1837.
In the year 1842 he moved his labors to Hong Kong where he founded a Swatow-speaking Baptist church in 1843. Dean remained in Hong Kong until 1845, when he returned for a year to America. Dean returned to Hong Kong and continued working in the missionary field there until 1865.
His worked included publication of mainly translations and tracts on the Bible to the Chinese language. Many of them were translations of the New Testament in part and unbelievably some early texts were printed by local printers (in Chinese) using wooden blocks.
In 1797 Eaton’s first teacher and physician made his way to Eaton. At that time Eaton was no more than a “log city” with promise for the future. Dr. James Pratt and three brothers settled in Eaton and Dr. Pratt, though eminently qualified to teach at a college level, commenced to teach school for the settlers’ children.
The schooling would take place at the homes of different prominent men in the area, with the students boarding at that house while school was in session. The first month it was at Joseph Morse’s house (the first Morse house at the foot of what is now Hamilton Hill Road), the next at the home of Joshua and Waitstill Leland at Leland’s second house at the pond, and the third at the Thomas Morris residence in Morris Flats (which become Morrisville).
James Pratt was a member of the Madison County Medical Society and in 1806 was its’ Treasurer. In 1808 he became the Justice of the Peace and was an early member of the Congregational Church. This church, established in 1805, was located in Eaton Center Which no longer exists.
One of the young Morse students he taught was later to become his much younger wife.Eunice it is said, took a long time to transform herself in the Doctor’s eyes, from student to wife.Theirs was the first marriage in the new Stone Morse Mansion and they resided in the red house on Route 26 which, was noted by a New York State Historic marker, both house and the marker have disappeared from history.
It is believed that Dr. Pratt was killed by robbers while traveling with a large amount of money and word of his death took much time in arriving because he was traveling in disguise, as many wealthy people did in those days, to prevent such an occurrence.
Humorously, in reading certain historic records it is important to make sure that you are reading about the right person. This is true in the early Eaton record books as in Eaton at the same time, 1807, there was indeed another James Pratt. James Pratt was a tavern keeper in the village from 1805-1807. This James Pratt was a Juror in 1828, and was a member of the Anti-Mason delegation in 1829. Since we know that this James Pratt died in 1836, at the age of 68 and is buried at Madison Lake, we feel that we are right in assuming that Dr. James Pratt was the man killed by thieves, especially with Eunice’s letter to her family from the west saying, “…that it is true about my poor husband.”
Dr. Pratt’s three brothers, one of whom he taught and who traveled with him during the school year, were all Physicians.
Certainly one of the most notable members of Eaton’s Morse family was Ellis Morse.Ellis, born in 1789 in Natick, Mass. was the eldest son of Eunice Bigelow and Joseph Morse, came with the family from Sherborn as a very young boy.He helped his father build the early mills and houses and completed the families fine Stone Mansion on Route 26, when his father died at an early age. As a young man, after his father's death in Massachusetts, Ellis brought his father's corpse home to Eaton in a ox cart.
Though a “Tee-totaller” throughout his life, he ran one of the largest distillery businesses in central New York. In its “hey day,” 350 bushels of grain were distilled every day. (Ellis had learned distilling by working at his father’s distillery as a boy.)
Ellis, in his efforts to bring prosperity to Eaton, also paid for and was in charge of building the first plank road (now Rt. 26). This road became the known as the Skaneateles Turnpike. Other endeavors included the building of the Exchange Hotel and many of the businesses in the downtown Eaton area.
His father, Joseph, had played an important role in bringing the County Court House to Morrisville and had been in charge of building the first court house, Ellis upon “it’s” razing was in charge of building the second county court house. Curiously, when the building also burned, Ellis Morse’s son, George Ellis, was in charge of building the third, which stands today and is now called Madison Hall.
Morse House
Ellis Morse, who received his education from the first teacher of the area, Dr. James Pratt, also financed a private academy in Eaton, in an effort to improve the community. One of its notable teachers was Reverend Eels, who later went on to Lane Seminary in Cincinnati, Ohio. Ellis was also a strong supported of the church and the Theological Seminary that is today's Colgate.
Few men had the impact on young Madison County that Ellis Morse did, and few had children who in some cases eclipsed their father’s fame and greatness. Among his children were Civil War hero and Judge- Colonel Henry Bagg Morse, missionary to Siam, Reverend Andrew Bigelow Morse, New York Assemblyman Gardner Morse, Alfred Morse (who was killed at the Battle of Cedar Creek), and Walter Morse, who was a member of the firm of Wood, Taber and Morse.
Ellis was a high-masonic leader who served as a Quarter Master in the 65th Regiment in 1820. He is buried with his large family in the Historic Eaton Cemetery.
