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 in McGraw, the short lived, radical school which embraced equality of the sexes and opened its doors to all, regardless of gender or race. The Starr family was likely against slavery; Nicholas Sr. subscribed to a Washington, DC anti-slavery newspaper. Nicholas Jr. remembered bringing this newspaper home in the weekly mail he delivered to the family farm while he was attending the New York Central College. While the children attended school in McGraw and the family attended church there, they did their trading in Homer because of the better selection of goods available.
We will focus on the line of Nicholas Starr, Jr. for this piece, because the story begins at the New York Central College. This is where he met and fell in love with his future wife, Permelia Corey. Nicholas Jr. was born in Homer in 1833, and Permelia was born in Little York that same year. Permelia’s mother (Parmelia Hitchcock) died when she was just three months old, and her father (David Corey) remarried to provide care for his infant daughter. Her stepmother was Milissa Stone. David and Milissa Corey lived in Little York until Permelia was about eighteen, at which time they moved to McGraw. She finished her studies at the New York Central College and was an instructor for a few years before her marriage to Nicholas Jr.
Nicholas Jr. and Permelia married in 1859, and they moved to Solon for a couple of years before they moved to the Starr family farm in Homer. By then, Nicholas Sr. and Abbyline were aging, and his brother Thomas was ill. The Civil War had robbed the family of the youngest child, Benjamin. He had mustered into Company E of the 44th New York Infantry on September 19, 1861, and died in a Virginia hospital from disease on April 13, 1862. It was a time of mourning for the family, but the sadness would turn to joy on June 9, 1862, when a son was born to Nicholas Jr. and Permelia. They named their first child Benjamin, presumably to honor Nicholas’s lost younger brother. Two more sons were born to Nicholas Jr. and Permelia. Asa Nicholas would follow Benjamin in 1863 and Frank Corey arrived in 1867. Life was full and family was at the heart of it for the Starrs.
Nicholas Jr. and Permelia attended the Baptist church in McGraw where he was a deacon, and she taught an adult women’s Sunday school class. Nicholas Jr. was part of the Cortland County Agricultural Society and very much connected to the soil. Starr is said to have contributed much to the agricultural growth and success of Cortland County. In fact, he invented, patented, and manufactured an iron and steel harrow that was popular with farmers. Permelia had an artistic bent, and CCHS recently received a piece of her artwork completed while she was a student at the New York Central College.
Later in his life, Nicholas Jr. would recall memories from the span of his long life. He lived to be 99 years old, and he could recall stagecoaches, the plank road, and tollgates. He remembered the first rail being laid for the railroad and when everything from Greenbush Street to the Tioughnioga River in the village of Cortland was pasture with just a few sparse dwellings. He was five before his family could replace their log cabin home with a frame house. He recalled that matches were one of the greatest inventions in his lifetime, but they were a luxury for the rich. Starr reminisced about fiddlers at dances and huskin’s for entertainment (probably communal corn husking to lighten the work of harvest time), and he talked about driving his father’s yoke of oxen as a boy.
The three sons of Nicholas Jr. and Permelia grew up and became successful businessmen in their own right. Benjamin lived in Homer and was a business partner to Augustus Bennett, whom we have covered in another article. Asa Nicholas owned a farm on the road between “Munson’s Corners and the Virgil highway,” and Frank Corey was a salesman. Frank often returned to Homer and stayed with his brother Benjamin when he visited. Some of the Starr grandchildren stayed local, like Asa’s son Floyd W. Starr who started Cortland Auto Supply in 1913. Some left the area, but the Starr family was close and cared for one another, and they contributed to this community, and beyond, in a variety of ways. From their agricultural roots to their inclination as astute business leaders, the Starr family left their mark in Cortland County.
The love story of Nicholas Jr. and Permelia came to a close when she passed away in 1922. Nicholas Jr. would not follow her for another ten years. During that time, he moved to their son Asa’s farm where he continued to do light chores and enjoy his last few years surrounded by family. He was looking forward to reaching his 100th birthday, but he didn’t quite reach that milestone, dying at 99 years, seven months, and two days. Nicholas Jr. and Permelia are at rest at McGraw Rural Cemetery which seems so appropriate. After all, their love story began in McGraw.
~ By Tabitha Scoville, Cortland County Historical Society Director
*Nicholas Starr and his son Nicholas Starr were referred to as Senior and Junior in some places and as Nicholas III and Nicholas IV in others. For ease of reading, I’ve used Sr. and Jr. with the father and son to keep things as clear as possible.