Tabitha Scoville (Page 5)

  Last week, we laid out the Cliff Notes version of the William and Roswell Randall tale of two brothers from Connecticut who then migrated to Madison County, and then came to Cortland in about 1812, but even that brief account was so long we could not get to the naming of William, Randall, and Huntington Streets. There is plenty more that could be told about William and Roswell Randall and their children, but right now, we are interested in William’s only child to marry: Antoinette. Daughter Antoinette married a man from Utica by the name of Edward Huntington, and she moved to that areaRead More →

  In the entrance hall at CCHS, there are some fabulous maps that are important resources for research that we use almost daily. We have an 1855 Cortland County map, an 1855 Cortland map, an 1855 Homer map, and an 1888 Cortland map. They offer valuable insight into the past. For instance, William, Randall, and Huntington Streets are all labeled on the 1855 map, along with parceled lots, but neither the streets nor the lots are labeled on the 1888 map. In 1888, it simply says “William Randall, Est.” Interesting. Let’s go back to about 1812 to learn about William and Roswell Randall, two brothersRead More →

Venette Street caught my eye several months ago, but a cursory look for information about Venette Stevens, for whom it’s named, was fruitless. I moved on, but we have so few streets named after women, that this one kept nagging at me. For the last several weeks, I’ve been puzzling out some familial connections and streets, and the answers for Venette Street just floated to the surface! The next several streets that will be posted have been a tangled web of relatives that have been interesting to research. Venette Street was named after Eliza Vennette Stephens, daughter of prominent Judge Henry Stephens. (Note that myRead More →

James C. Pomeroy was the man the street was named after, and he was very difficult to track down! Luckily for me, our old friend A.D. Blodgett had saved a very nice obituary written by Horatio Ballard. (If you don’t know who Horatio is, we will get around to him someday. He will be fun to write about!) I combed through files and books as well as maps and census records and more. There is a folder of Pomeroy-related mortgages and more in another old friend’s papers—Hiram Crandall (Crandall Street). I even encountered Fitz Boynton (Fitz Avenue/West Main Street) in the file! Here’s what I’veRead More →

This street was a challenge with more research needed, for sure. I thought it might be somewhat easy because it was “laid out on land owned by Wadsworth Estate.” There was a C.H. Wadsworth who lived at 80 Fitz Avenue (now West Main Street), so it seemed like a slam dunk. Not so! For starters, C.H. Wadsworth died in 1926, but the property labeled “Wadsworth Estate” is showing up on the 1888 map, and the street was accepted in 1915. The street was listed in city directories as early as 1906. Which Wadsworth left the estate, who was C.H. Wadsworth, and what connection did heRead More →

This street is simply named because of the orchard that was located where the street is today. I mistakenly thought that the orchard belonged to the Randall family, but when I looked more closely at maps, I realized it was part of land that belonged to Josiah Hart. (The Randall family did have a large amount of land, including orchards, on Main Street.) Just who was Josiah Hart? This will be far from a complete look at the man because there are very few leads that I was able to follow. As always, with more time, probably more resources could be found but there isRead More →

  Judge Hiram Crandall was born in Chenango County in 1818 and died in Cortland County in 1881 after living much of his life here. Crandall Street is named after this much loved citizen of Cortland Village. Hiram Crandall’s parents were Richard Crandall and Abigail Ransom Crain. Richard operated a distillery in Norwich in the 1820s but lost everything. He moved to Hornby , Steuben County, and started another, smaller, distillery which also had financial difficulties. He moved to Burdette, Schuyler County, and operated a large distillery for five years before moving to Cortland. It would seem that Richard was a man with a bitRead More →

  According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, excelsior means “fine curled wood shavings used especially for packing fragile items.” Excelsior Street was named after the Excelsior Top Company, a manufacturer of tops, dashes, and trimmings of the carriage trade. Perhaps the company got its name from the fine wood shavings that resulted from all of the work that went into the production of carriage items. It seems excelsior was also used to indicate high quality products at one time. Perhaps we will never know the origins of the name of the company, but Excelsior Street was named after the company because it opens directly acrossRead More →

  Willow Avenue is named after the 14 willow sprouts that were planted on both sides of Otter Creek by Horace Dibble sometime between 1847 and 1852. That is a very short street story, so maybe we should take a look at Horace Dibble, the man responsible for the trees. Horace Dibble was born in Greene River, Columbia County, New York on November 21, 1801 to Lucy King and Ebenezer Dibble. The Dibble family moved to Moravia in 1809. In 1821, young Horace visited the Cortland area to look for work. He had recently completed his apprenticeship of wool carder and cloth dresser. He stayedRead More →