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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 →

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The most concrete information I have about the early use of the northwest corner of Main and W Court Streets comes from a deed between Ebenezer Hopkins and Oliver W. Brewster. In 1828, Brewster purchased the property which he used as a female seminary. But the deed indicates that the lot was “known and distinguished by the Ballard stand,” with reference to it being a tavern. This “Ballard” appears to be Joshua Ballard (1774-1855), who in the village of Homer built an inn on the corner of Main and Albany Streets that would later be known as Wisdom’s Gate. In 1819, he moved to theRead More →

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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 →

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Glimpse above the third-story windows of the building at 43-49 Main Street and you’ll find a stone marking it as the J.J. Newberry Building. Indeed, Newberry’s occupied the structure for sixty-five years from 1927-1992. But, built in 1879, it was initially known as the Schermerhorn building, later called the A.M. Collins block. Prior to the block’s construction, it appears that there were two separate frame structures on the lot, one serving as James A. Schermerhorn’s law office, and the other housing various businesses. These include the drug store of Aaron Sager from 1857-1861, and a shoe business owned by a revolving door of partnerships (FitzgeraldRead More →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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The Taylor Hall block is chock-full of history and stories, that it is simply impossible to cover it all in a single post! To dive into all the events, performances, dances, masquerades, concerts, and speakers that graced the Taylor Hall stage alone would likely fill a book. Therefore, this will simply be a brief, surface-level overview. As I often like to do, I first went to Smith’s “History of Cortland County” to see what he had to provide on the early history of the location. What I found proved confusing and contradictory. For those that read the post on the Taylor Building (44-46 Main Street),Read More →

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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 →

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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 →