Luna M. Hammond Whitney

“ To-day, the dilapidated building upon Quaker Hill, once the center of attraction to a large number of devoted, faithful hearts, where the sunlight of the bright Sabbath mornings once beamed through lattice and doorway upon an exquisitely neat and orderly interior, presents naught to the eye, exteriorly and interiorly, but broke windows, rotting casements, decaying walls, and gathering dust and cobwebs. The atmosphere of the whole location seems pregnant with loneliness. ”

“ Among the hills of Brookfield, however, these places of home sepulture are more frequently to be met with than in any other town of Madison County. This one, belonging to the Welch family who settled here previous to 1800, is neatly kept, as they most generally are here, by the descendants. In some places, where no descendants remain to cherish and care for the spot sacred to the dust of their forefathers, may be seen the broken tombstone, and the sweet wild rose struggling for existence ”

“ No village in the county has a greater reputation for wagon manufactures. In every village, and on farms all over Madison County, and in Oneida, Otsego and Chenango counties, are seen the North Brookfield wagons and carriages, which have given the names of Gorton & Fitch a wide reputation. The King & Cheesebro firm adds to the manufactures of the place. North Brookfield has also other enterprizes, viz., a furnace, grist mill, saw mill, cheese factory, a hotel, two stores, a Baptist church, and has a population of about 300 inhabitants. ”

“ This hamlet now contains a saw mill, grist mill, a manufactory of horse-rakes, a cabinet shop and a meeting house.
It will be seen that most of the earliest settlers located on the hills; they held the opinion that hill farms were more exempt from frosts than valley land. It is remarked that the farm of Dr. Hackley, a valley farm on the Plainfield side of the Unadilla, at the Forks, was once offered by the doctor in a trade, acre for acre, for a hill farm that is not at the present day considered of great value; while the Hackley farm is now worth $200 per acre. ”

“ Our patriotic pioneers made preparation to usher in the day with a salute, --- not of the warlike notes of thundering artillery, but of the cheerily ringing echos of the woodman's ax, the harbinger of progress, prosperity and rural independence! ”

“ The population being greater at first in the hilly sections, embryo villages were earliest planted there. It is said that the old time Billings tavern, at Five Corners, was the first tavern opened in town.
Unadilla Forks was a prominent business point before the building up of Leonardsville, and therefore had a bearing upon the interests of this section of the town. Caleb Brown was the chief mover in the first building movement at the Forks. In 1805, he built the first grist mill, which was in fact the first grist mill in the town of Plainfield. ”

“ In 1840, Clarkville had 450 inhabitants, eighty dwelling-houses, one church, two taverns, five stores, one iron foundry, one fulling mill, two tanneries, three carriage-shops and two cabinet shops. A manufactory for making hoes, horse rakes and other farming utensils, was one of the large business enterprises of later years. Since 1850, it failed; the premises were sold to Samuel Gordon, who converted them into a grist mill and tannery; and within a few years he has built a cheese factory contiguous. An extensive and prosperous business is the result. ”

“ Do we wonder that the unyielding grasp by which the rental system held them, producing often great distress, should foster in the sufferers a spirit of retaliation and cupidity, and that in the course of generations that system should become the nursery of criminal offenses, such as have disturbed the quiet citizens within the precincts of these townships for the past few years? ”

“ There are few in our day who relish a good joke keener than did our ancestors. An apt pun, a witty repartee, or an amusing anecdote served to flavor the daily routine of their laborious life. In one way or another there must be a little "fun," and often in those times it came in the form of a practical joke ”

“ The site of the grist mill was a short distance above Button's Falls, a very pretty cataract some seventy feet in hight. [sic] In a few years Mr. Button moved on lot 82, where he owned two hundred acres, some of his sons continuing in possession of the mill farm. This mill farm is now the property of Hosea Welch.
The high elevation of the land upon which John Button settled, gave it the name of "Button's Hill." When the forest was cleared away it afforded a fine prospect of the surrounding country; and there is truly much varied and beautiful scenery in this section of Brookfield. ”

“ Auspiciously dawned the settlement of Brookfield, which now bid fair to become early populated by a religious, intelligent and industrious people. But the spirit of speculation came also. The same year that Stephen Hoxie and Capt. Brown came in, Michael Myers, Jedediah Sanger and John I. Morgan, purchased all the unsold lands of Brookfield, together with Sangerfield. ”

“ The hill is one of the highest in this hilly region; far around are to be seen broad grazing farms, dotted with herds of cattle, and now and then an isolated barn, but with very few farm houses in view ”

“ It would seem that Captain Brown's family were equal to the tasks generally required of youth and of early man and womanhood; for he was the father of ten robust, spirited daughters, each six feet in hight, [sic] not one of whom feared to do a man's work if it were necessary. ”

“ Easterly from the falls is one of those ancient family burial grounds, which were once to be found on very many homesteads in our country, now only seen occasionally as relics of the past, their silent occupants having been removed to modern cemeteries. ”

“ He also erected a building for a woolen factory on what was called the "Island," perhaps three-fourths of a mile south of the Forks. He was preparing to set up machinery, --- had already employed workmen and commenced spinning on "Jenneys" set up in the chamber of his spacious dwelling, when his active career was cut short by sickness and death, leaving his business in an unfinished, unsettled state. Mr. Brown had also been largely engaged in farming, being the owner of considerable land in Plainfield, as well as Brookfield, on which, in each town, he employed workmen. ”

“ This family consisted of the father and mother, and thirteen children who located around them. The eldest, Charles, was married in Stonington, and himself brought a family of wife and two children. His son, Hosea W. Welch, lives near the Welch family burial ground and owns the farm on which it is situated. Numerous descendants of the Welch family live in Brookfield; they are generally thrifty farmers and are worthy and useful citizens. The pioneer Welch and his wife, and other members of their family, died during the great epidemic of 1813, being some of its first victims. ”

“ Stephen Hoxie was one of the two agents thus deputized, who, with others of that company, came on the same spring. On their way they stopped at Albany, and made purchase of thirteen lots at fifty cents per acre. We have before us the original patent of the lot Mr. Hoxie chose for himself. It is dated the 3d day of May, 1791. The tract was described as situated in the County of Montgomery, on the west side of the Unadilla, distinguished as Lot No. 96, of Township 19, of Twenty Townships. This lot contained 350 acres. As in other ancient patents, the State reserved all gold and silver mines ”

“ Among these lot holders were John and Elias Button, Thomas and James Rogers, and Peleg Langworthy, whose possessions, contiguous to each other, spread over the hills westward and northward of Leonardsville, in the 19th township; while Elder Simeon Brown, Phineas Babcock, Elder Henry Clark and others had their farms in the immediate vicinity. Most of the farms taken up by these pioneers are now owned by their descendants. ”

“ The Chief sagaci [ousl] y replied: --- "Just so white man crowd poor Indian; keep crowding; keep crowding; by and by crowd him clear off! where poor Indian the [n] ?"
Previous to this treaty, in the year 1785, a traveler passing through the locality where Leonardsville now is, found nothing by a well worn path, --- a branch of the Oneida trail, --- to guide his footsteps, while a miserable quagmire lay where the main street of that village now passes. ”

“ He reared a large family of sons and daughters, who settled in this town and Plainfield, Otsego Co. They are mostly farmers, of the enterprising, progressive sort. Several of the descendants of Joshua Whitford are residents of Brookfield. This pioneer was one of the first assessors of the town --- chosen in 1795 --- and was afterwards for several years Town Clerk, as was also his son William. ”

“ John Clark, and his wife Mary Wait Clark, moved from Exeter, Rhode Island, in the fall of 1810, and located on lot No. 16, of the 19th township. Mr. Clark had a family of eight children. Of the four sons, three resided in town many years. At the present writing (1870,) only one resides here --- Mr. Wait Clark, of Clarkville.
Capt. Samuel Clark was from Westerly, Rhode Island. He came to Brookfield in 1810, and located on lot No. 35, of the 18th township. He had a family of six sons and three daughters, all of the sons but one locating in town. Judge Joseph Clark is one of these sons. ”

“ It was located on land now enclosed within John Babcock's door-yard. The first postoffice of the town was kept here, and was named from Mr. Leonard; hence the name of Leonardsville. The Leonard store in later years was moved across the street on the southeast corner of the cross roads, and was occupied in its several divisions as a dwelling, grocery, shops, &c. Early in 1849, the building was pretty thoroughly repaired and refitted, and is now the store of Nathan V. Brand. A profitable trade has always been carried on here. ”

“ At different periods during the war, he accumulated a handsome property by industry, and invested nearly the whole of it in a valuable sloop and cargo, which, with himself and several other men, was unfortunately captured by a band of marauders known as "Refugees." ”

“ To Mr. Carr. P. S. --- I heard that Cherry Valley people is very bold and intended to make nothing of us. They called us wild geese but I know the contrary. Jos. B."
Before the close of the Revolution, a party of hostile Indians invaded the domain, killed the hired me, burned the barn, destroyed the property, and carried Mr. and Mrs. Carr into captivity. ”

“ The 17th Township was taken off from Brookfield in 1805, to form Columbus, Chenango County.
The town lies in the south-east corner of the county; is bounded north by Sangerfield and Bridgewater, Oneida County, east by the Unadilla river, south by the Unadilla river and Columbus, Chenango County, and west by the towns of Hamilton and Madison. Its surface is hilly and broken; it is traversed longitudinally by a succession of ridges almost mountainous in some sections. The high hills and deep valleys are crossed and re-crosse [d by] [???] ”

“ CLARKVILLE, Or Brookfield, P. O., was originally called "Bailey's Corners," after Dr. Bailey, one of the earliest resident physicians. During the infancy of this village, its growth was materially forwarded by the building of a foundry by Joseph Clark. He also built a carding and clothier works. Jonathan Babcock built a tannery some fifty years ago, which did a heavy business for many years.
Ethan Babcock kept the first tavern, which was built by Reuben Leonard. It was situated on the present location of the Clarkville Hotel, now kept by Henry Keith. Mr. ”

“ He was the first one born in the town of Brookfield, and lived his whole life and died on his farm about four miles from his birthplace."
"Died in Brookfield, February 18th, 1810, Abigail, wife of Capt. Daniel Brown, aged 76 years; also, in Brookfield, December 25th, 1814, Capt. Daniel Brown, in the 90th year of his age."
Aged Pioneers. --- John Button and his wife, Anna, lived to advanced ages. Anna died in 1840, aged ninety-three years; John Button died in 1841, aged nine-two [sic] years. In the last years of his life, the chief desire of Mr. ”