Tabitha Scoville

On July 22, 1779, the Battle of Minisink occurred in northern Delaware. This skirmish was between British Loyalists and their Native American allies, who were led by Mohawk leader Joseph Brant. A formidable enemy, Brant received an education at Moor’s Charity School for Indians, which later became Dartmouth College. He learned to read and write in English, and he spoke several languages, making him a valuable ally to the British. Brant’s contingent of British Loyalists and Indigenous volunteers had recently raided nearby settlements, destroying homes, killing settlers, and stealing supplies and livestock. Three local militia units were called to intercept the escape of Brant andRead More →

So many of the most influential citizens of Cortland County relocated here after starting lives elsewhere, and Giles Chittenden, Jr. is one of them. Chittenden was born in New Milford, Connecticut to Giles Chittenden, Sr. and Lavinia Todd Baldwin. Before young Giles was even born on November 21, 1800, his father died, leaving his mother in a quandary. It was quite rare for a woman to keep her children with her if her husband died because she might not be able to care for them financially. If a woman did not immediately remarry, she might have to move in with one of her siblings, andRead More →

The Bennett and Pratt families have deep roots in Homer, and in several columns last year, we learned about how the two families became intertwined through marriage. This is a continuation of that narrative, and if you missed the original articles, you will find the stories of Dr. Lester Pratt, Augustus H. Bennett, Emma G. Pratt, Lester P. Bennett, and Alice Ruth Watson on the Cortland County Historical Society’s blog at www.cortlandhistory.org. On September 5, 1906, Lester Pratt Bennett and Alice Ruth Watson welcomed their son, Porter Kingsbury Bennett into the world, and four years later, another son, Malcolm Watson Bennett, completed their family. LittleRead More →

Lewis Riggs was born and raised in Norfolk, Connecticut. The information about his early life is sparse, but we know that he was the youngest son of a family with seven children. Sources differ on the heritage of his parents, but it seems his father was of English descent and his mother was of Scottish ancestry. His father was a sea captain who left the call of the sea to settle into farming. Lewis was a bright boy with an aptitude for mechanics, and he received a common school education as well as Latin and Greek classes. There was no money for college, so inRead More →

In the last Slumbering Souls, we looked at Philo Miles and surmised that the ripples of his family extended far beyond his own life, but where did some of his descendants end up? Today we’ll follow one of his children and her family over the course of their lives. Philo Miles and his wife Abilena Hopkins had a total of fifteen children, one of whom was Lucy, their fifth child. Lucy married Samuel Foster Andrews, Sr., and they lived in Homer Gulf in a rather small house, about twelve by sixteen feet. Lucy was adept at weaving, as was her mother, and her large loomRead More →

Philo Miles made his way to Homer as a young married man somewhere between 1829-1831. Philo was born on March 16, 1792, to John and Rachel Miles of Connecticut, and the family moved to Eaton, New York. It was here that Philo met his future bride, Abilena Hopkins. The couple were married in 1815 and they purchased land on Lot 91 in Scott in 1829. It was in Scott where their first three children were born, in a log house built by Philo. Conflicting resources make it difficult to know just when the Miles family moved to Homer, but a deed is recorded for aRead More →

One of the names that pops up often enough at the Cortland County Historical Society is that of Ina Hurlbut Bird. Ina left behind scrapbooks containing a wealth of information as well as items which were utilized by her ancestors on the old Scott Road in the early to mid-1800s. Ina Hurlbut was born in Homer on the old Scott Road on February 13, 1870, to Leslie Lafort Hurlbut and Mary Frances Williams. Her father’s parents were children of early Homer settlers, Samuel Smith Hurlbut and Eliza DeVoe, both of whom arrived in Homer as children. Ina was proud of the fact that her greatRead More →

In 1832, Nicholas* and Abbyline Tift Starr came from Connecticut to Homer to begin a new life and foster a tradition of multigenerational community building which would ripple across our county and beyond. Five children were born to Nicholas Sr. and Abbyline: Mary Elizabeth, Nicholas Jr., Thomas (died at one month), Thomas, and Benjamin. The family farm was located on Lot 49 in Homer, just north of McGraw (then called McGrawville). In fact, the children would attend school in McGraw and the family would receive their mail in the village as well. Mary Elizabeth, Nicholas Jr., and Thomas attended the New York Central College inRead More →

People who regularly research Cortland County’s history tend to rely on an 1859 book entitled Pioneer History; or, Cortland County and the Border Wars of New York by H.C. Goodwin. This book has a fantastic amount of information about the early settlement of Cortland County by those of European descent. The author, H.C. Goodwin, had access to people who came to this area as settlers and to the first generation born here. However, just like any resource that relies heavily on oral history, it’s best to use this book as a starting point and to seek out other resources that corroborate the evidence. In theRead More →

In 1808, Josiah Bean and his wife Dolly Dearborn came to the newly formed Cortland County from Candia, New Hampshire and settled in Solon. They located to land on what is now Syrian Hill Road. When the Bean family migrated to Solon, they had seven children in tow. Son Jeremiah (child number eight) is listed as being born in Candia on September 30, 1808, so they must have arrived sometime after that. Traveling hundreds of miles over primitive roads (probably by oxcart) with many children, including their newborn, in the late fall or early winter would not have been an easy journey. Was there someRead More →