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It’s been over two months since I was at the Cortland County Historical Society researching early settlers of Cortland County. I had started looking at documents and pictures for the early history of the Town of Harford and was very excited going through picture files for the town. You never know what you will find! I’m eager to share some of the pictures and stories with you.   Bertha Blodgett called Harford the “place of hills”, Owego Hills to the north, and Richford Hills to the south. It was the last of the towns of Cortland County to be settled. Harford was organized from VirgilRead More →

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In the early history books and accounts, I’ve learned quite a bit about the men who settled Cortland County. The stories of their wives, mothers, and daughters have been, for the most part, only briefly mentioned. The story of Francis B. Carpenter’s grandparents’ journey to Homer is an example of how perilous the journey was for many women. By 1800 the pace of settlement in the Military Tract land had picked up. In June 1800 Noah Carpenter and his wife Charlotte left Pomfret, Connecticut for the 300-mile journey to Homer. They traveled with three of their sons in a heavy oxen-drawn wagon and a pairRead More →

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Adventuring Inside Cortland County Historical Society: Dr. James H. Hoose, First Principal of Cortland Normal School. Another esteemed figure in the history of Cortland County is Dr. James H. Hoose (1835-1915). Although not a native of Cortland, Dr. Hoose is known to us as the first principal of the Cortland Normal School, elected in 1869 and serving for over twenty years until differences with the school board led to his dismissal in 1891. “Cortland College: An Illustrated History” by Leonard F. Ralston provides a fantastic overview of the character of Hoose and his influence as “one of the most controversial figures in American teacher education,”Read More →