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The research center at the Cortland County Historical Society is THE place to find answers about your ancestors, famous people from the area, or property around Cortland County. Using the center’s resources I’ve been investigating the first settlers of the various towns in our county. Some very interesting stories!! Following Amos Todd and Joseph and Rhoda Beebe, Joseph Chaplin was the first to settle his family in Virgil (1794-5). He built his home on the Tioughnioga River near what is now Messengerville. He had been previously busy establishing the first road from Oxford to Ithaca. His family originated in Massachusetts. The next settlers in VirgilRead More →

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Rhoda Beebe, her husband Joseph, and her brother Amos Todd left New Haven, CT in 1789 and settled in Windsor, NY. They left Windsor in 1791 and became the first white settlers in what is now known as Cortland County. Until then the area was a fertile hunting ground for the surrounding Haudenosaunee confederacy. One can only imagine the difficulties Rhoda faced with such a daunting move. After traveling the Tioughnioga River to an area now marked with a large stone in Homer, NY, they built a primitive structure of poles with a blanket for a door. In the winter of 1792, the men traveledRead More →

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Have you ever hit a brick wall when researching ancestors? While preparing the stories of first settlers I’ve been able to find significant information in the books of Cortland County history, family folders in the research library, maps, and online resources. The first settler in Lapeer is quite a different story! Early books report that Phinias (Primus) Grant, a black man, was the first settler in Lapeer. He settled on lot 594 in 1799. This lot was not in the original Military Tract but was part of what is called the Boston Ten Townships. One report said he was a native of Guinea and thatRead More →

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Moses Butterfield first came to Homer in 1803, bought land on Lot 47, and built a log house. He planted some corn and returned to Connecticut to ready his family for the move back to Homer. He returned in October of the same year with his (second) wife and four children by his first wife. They spent an evening with Deacon Miller and went to their land the next day. Mrs. Butterfield was discouraged to find that their new dwelling had neither a door nor a roof. Moses went to work and before long they had both floors and a roof made of logs (noRead More →

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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 →