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This new series will be focusing on people you may not have heard of, but they are at eternal rest in the cemeteries of Cortland County. We’ll be exploring their contributions and stories in Slumbering Souls. Leman W. Potter began his life in Cortland County on April 26, 1853, when he was born in Scott to E.H. Perry Potter and Roxanna Burdick. The Potter family’s roots were in Rhode Island, where Leman’s grandparents Ezekial Potter and Abigail West originally hailed from. Grandfather Ezekial was a miller and served in the War of 1812, winning honors for his service as a “post rider.” The Potters moved theirRead More →

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  The history of numbers 22-28 Main Street in Cortland, like several other addresses previously covered, starts with a house. Sylvester Blair (-1836) built his home on the property “consisting of a large and advantageously situated village lot” with a brick house, neighboring brick store (what would be no.18), extensive out buildings and well selected orchard. Blair was partnered with his brother-in-law, Asahel Lyman, in the mercantile business and in 1829 originated a pottery establishment located on the corner of Graham and Groton Avenues. Unfortunately, he did not have long to enjoy success for he died of fits (a seizure) in 1836 while traveling onRead More →

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This location has the distinction of having had one of the last remaining family residences in Cortland’s business district! Believed to have been built in the 1830s, what is commonly known as the Keator House was torn down in 1937. But let us start at the beginning: The first owner that we can attribute to the home is Tercius Eels, a private in the War of 1812, Cortland’s Poor Master in 1831, and additionally active as postmaster, Whig leader, Town Clerk, and as a merchant. Eels sold to Oren Stimson, who served as County Clerk and kept a dry goods store. Harmon S. Conger boughtRead More →

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Alice Cately was born in Tully, New York, the daughter of Shepard W. Cately, renowned carriage manufacturer. Alice graduated from Cortland Normal School in 1871 and taught for a few years before training as a nurse. She married Henry Ettling but was widowed in 1885 at the age of 35, after only four years of marriage. She had one child and never remarried. Her father left his carriage business in Tully in 1876 and moved to Cortland where he was employed as a salesman at Fitzgerald and Kinney, wagon manufacturers. He was always an inventive man, and he continued to develop and patent his designs.Read More →

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We’ve recently been working with Molly Kathleen Reagan to highlight three important women from Cortland County’s past. We supplied information and Molly created portraits of each of the three women. This is week two of our series. This project is made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrants Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by CNY Arts. Bertha Eveleth Jones was the oldest of two girls born to Augustus and Helen Jones. She was born on September 7, 1866 inRead More →

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How can we know so little about someone who left behind so much? That is the question I often ask myself when I consider what we know about miniature portrait artist, Meriva Carpenter. Carpenter provided inspiration for local artist Molly Reagan for her “History Highlighted” series created for Cortland County Historical Society. This project is made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrants Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by CNY Arts. Meriva Carpenter was born to Dr. Ruggles andRead More →

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The first known building on the spot that is now 9 Main Street was a wooden structure that shows up in the same photo depicting the corner of Main and Clinton that has been featured in past posts. The earliest I can trace the businesses back is to a gentleman named James Van Valen, who came to Cortland from Madison County and kept a “cash and barter” store in 1845. An ad from 1849 shows it came under the ownership of Daniel Schermerhorn who advertised his takeover of Van Valen’s “old stand” with a new  stock of dry goods, groceries, and hardware. In the 1860sRead More →

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The earliest building that appears on maps was an L-shaped brick structure that at the time was the residence of Robert O. Reynolds (1811-1855). Reynolds was partnered with Hiram Crandall as attorneys and counselors at law, and their office neighbored Reynolds’ home. By 1876 the house was reduced to a square shape and was owned by Julius A. Graham (1827-1902), who once ran the Cortland House and was involved in many different enterprises over the years. The residence underwent renovations in 1895 to form a new business block (#12) that would contain the drug business of Fred I. Graham, and an article from the HomerRead More →

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The beginning of the history of #3-5 Main Street overlaps with that of #1 covered several weeks ago (https://tinyurl.com/zd4y4h). Joshua Ballard is quoted in H.P. Smith’s “History of Cortland County” as saying: “The corner lot where stands the noble brick edifice of Major Aaron Sager and the Dexter House, was once occupied by a tavern building of ordinary size, owned by Grove Gillett, with whom Samuel Nelson, afterwards one of the judges of the Supreme Court of the United States, took board for a time.” This seems to be a reference to an earlier building, perhaps latter replaced by the Barnard block seen in theRead More →

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The first structure on the southwest corner of Main Street and present-day Groton Avenue (at one time named Cortland Street) was called the Lyman Block, a two-story brick structure which is said to have been built around 1816-1817 by Asahel Lym an (1787-1840). Ly man conducted a mercantile business on the spot for about 25 years. By 1855, the same William O. Barnard who owned the Barnard block across the street (see the previous Main Street Monday post here: https://tinyurl.com/zd4y4h) took possession of the location that would come to be referred to as the “dry goods corner.” The Samson name comes into the picture someRead More →