Delaware County NY Genealogy and History Site

The territory embraced in the present limits of this town was settled as early as any along the west branch of the Delaware river; of the precise time mentioned is made elsewhere in the history of the town. The greater part of this territory was set off from Franklin February 17th, 1797, in the town of Walton, the remaining east part then belonging to Kortright. When Walton was formed it extended to the upper line of White's patent, just above the present village of Delhi, marked definitely by a line running through George Fisher's wagon house, In 1798, March 23d, the town of Delhi was formed from that portion of Walton lying above the upper line of the Livingston patent-being the upper line of the Robert Murray farm in Hamden-and included a portion of Kortright in its stretch up the Delaware river. A portion of Bovina was thus included in Delhi, and it will be well to remember that a large portion of Hamden was also included. In 1812 the town line between Walton and Delhi was moved to the upper line of the Bedlington patent-the lower line of the Arthur Shaw farm; but on the formation of Bovina in 1820 and Hamden in 1825 a small portion of its territory on the east was put into the former, and the lines as they now appear marked the boundaries of Delhi.

The physical features of the town partake of the prevailing irregularity of hills and valleys, differing only from the towns down the river in that the hills are not so high, it being nearer the head waters of the Delaware. The river runs nearly through the center of the town, giving a wide valley of rich alluvial soil. The Little Delaware, rising in Bovina, runs westerly into the river, forming its principal tributary, and gives, along its entire course, one of the most beautiful and fertile farming districts found in the county. On the north the Elk Creek, Falls brook, Steele's brook, Peake's brook and Platner's brook, with their branches, drain a succession of hills and valleys admirably adapted to grazing and farming. The town is well watered with smaller brooks and numerous springs of soft water along its every hillside. It contains about sixty square miles.

HOW IT WAS NAMED DELHI

Judge Foote, who was in the Legislature of 1796-97 from Ulster county, was instrumental in the formation of Delaware county, and was much interested, with many others, in the location of its county seat. The judge was appointed, from his earnest support of the formation of the new country, to give a name to the town so soon to be brought forth, and the clique with which he boarded and was intimate requested him to allow them to suggest a name; he consented. His nick-name was "The Great Mogul," and they, knowing he was to reside here, suggested the name of Delhi, that being the city of the Mogul, and he, agreeable to his promise, so named it. This is the proper account, and will explain why so singular a name appears among the many that followed naturally. A former history of this county gives a ludicrous scene that occurred among other warm friends of the new county, who wished the name to be "Mapleton." General Erastus Root, who was an impulsive gentleman, and leader of those who insisted upon the latter name, when told that the name would be Delhi, said: "Del-hi-hel-high! Better call if Foote-high!" The name was thus given, and the town formed took high rank among sister towns in the general work of the new county.

GLIMPSES OF EARLY TIMES

Our younger readers can form a picture, for themselves, of the state of things then. One hundred and twenty-six taxpaying residents were scattered along the Delaware, between the Kortright line and the then west line of Delhi-the Murray place in Hamden. The river banks at the mouth of Elk creek, the lower part of the present village, and the land at the mouth of the Little Delaware were the only considerable settlements in the town at the time. The valleys were timbered with pine and hemlock, of which only occasional vestiges remain.

There bing no settlers here prior to the declaration of peace in 1783, Delhi did not witness the terrible scenes that Harpersfield and adjoining towns of Schoharie did, but the valley of the west branch was the route traversed by the Indians with their prisoners and scalps, on the road to Niagara. The usual camping place was up the river, near the Hoag farm; this was generally a day's journey from the head waters of the river. Sometimes they encamped at the mouth of Peake's brook, and the early settlers of that section found bones there which were supposed to be those of an old man name Brown, who, with his two grandsons, was taken prisoner from the Harpersfield or Schoharie settlements in April, 1780; Colonel Harper and several sugarmakers were also prisoners, and this old man, not being able to keep pace with the party, was given over to the Indian painted black, who soon appeared with his bloody scalp dangling from a pole.

The change that has affected this beautiful valley is left to the contemplation of the reader as he peruses the account of the early settlement and trials of the intrepid pioneers. He can see the forests falling year by year, the rafts of lumber on their way to the seaboard to pay for the woodmen's homes, the struggles with wild beasts, the steady growth in value and business; and when he realizes the present wealth of the town, and its future greatness, he must accord to the pioneers the credit due their sterling worth.

SETTLEMENT OF THE TOWN

The time is more vague than in some other towns of the county, because there are fewer of the older descendants of the early pioneers living, and less care has been exercised in preservation of dates. Not a few think their ancestors came as early as 1780, but we conclude that not until the year following the declaration of peace, 1784, did any come, and our best information is that the first came in 1785.

George Fisher may possibly have come in 1784, and certainly was settled where the village of Delhi stands in 1785. He came to the head waters and down the river to this site, building his first log house, between the present Main and Second streets. He purchased a strip of land from the river back one mile, of which the present Franklin street was the tower line, and the upper line crossed the court house square. Years after he build a framed house, a little back from Main street, near where the Honeywell's store now stands, and it has been removed within the memory of the present generations. This was the first framed house in the town.

J.B. Yendes, grandfather of the present John B. Yendes, settled in this valley in 1785, about four miles below Delhi village. His first log cabin was erected in the meadow south of the residence of Mrs. G.H. Yendes, and the spot is now marked by a few old apple trees. He took up a large farm there, and the present residence of Mrs. Yendes was build by him in 1799. There he died in 1822.

Jacobs Platner settled a large farm at the mouth of the brook that bears his name in 1785; Mr. Frazer now owns the farm. Peter and George Weismer in the same year purchased and settled farms near him.

Gideon Frisbee in the fall of 1785 purchased a large tract at the mouth of Elk creek, and there built a commodious cabin. His hospitality was proverbial, and his residence was a "tavern" for those early days. His popularity was so conceded that after the formation of the county in 1797 the supervisors met at his house for several years, and the first courts of the county convened there. It is said that the first jury of the county held its deliberations under a large tree that stood across the highway from the residence, and which only a few years ago passed away in its old age.

George Weismer settled in 1785 in the lower part of Delhi, on the slope back of and near Jacob Platner and Bartholomew Yendes.

Alexander Leal was from Scotland, and settled at the mouth of the Little Delaware in 1786. Mr. Meeker's present farm was a portion of the Leal farm, and Leal's two-roomed log castle was erected on the bank now occupied by Mr. Meeker's garden. His son Robert built the church near there, and very early in the history of Delhi that part of the town was prominent.

In 1786 Levi Baxter settled upon the spot now marked by the beautiful residence of G.H. Millard on Main street, in Delhi village. Mr. Baxter purchased a strip that bounded upon George Fisher's and extended easterly as far as Fletcher's blacksmith shop, running back one mile. He was the pioneer who cleared the land along Main street above the public square. In 1792 he cut the trees on his part of the square, which was afterwards given to the county. In 1796 Mr. Baxter with the help of his neighbors erected a log tavern upon the spot now occupied and owned by Mr. Kiff, and there has been a hotel there since that time.

William Denio in 1787 purchased a lot of land similar in size to the adjoining Levi Baxter's. He at once build a substantial log house upon the knoll on the fair ground, and in 1800 erected a frame building there. He opened a hotel, and one was kept there until 1815, when it was burned. The remains of the cellar are yet visible; also traces of the highway, which in those days ran by his door and up through the swamp.

Matthew Ray came in 1785, with George Fisher; he was a lad who grew up in pioneer life, learned the blacksmith trade, and had a shop where Cottrell's barns now stand. Mr. Ray forged the irons of the murderer Graham, and assisted in putting them upon the prisoner. Mr. Ray was a daring hunter, and when a very young man he, with John Fisher, killed a panther on the hill back of the present residence of Mr. Youman's.

Colonel Thomas Farrington settled in 1786 just above the village of Delhi, in a double log house on a farm now owned by Mr. McMullen. This gentleman was a lieutenant in Israel Putnam's company, and commanded the company at Bunker Hill; he continued in the service as lieutenant-colonel to the close of the war. Putnam and Philip, his sons, came to Delhi with him.

Putnam Farrington in 1787 built for himself a residence near where George Fisher lives.

Matthew Riggs came in 1794, and settled up the river near Frisbee's. He was a teacher at the old school-house on the river bank, where was held the first school in this town.

Jeremiah Odell came here in 1792, and settled upon territory up the river then belonging to Kortright, but afterward in Delhi; and in 1797 he moved to the Cyrus Hoag farm. In 1801 he moved to the farm now occupied by his son Henry Odell, just above the fair ground, on the opposite side of the river.

March Farrington was the second son of Colonel Farrington by his first wife, and settled in 1792 on land now included in Meredith. In 1794 he settled on the west branch, directly across the river from Smith & Penfield's grist-mill at Delhi. Morris L. Farrington, his son, now living, was then one year old. In 1803 Mr. Farrington moved up the river to where Morris now resides.

General Erastus Root settled here in 1796; he was originally from Connecticut. He foresaw the formation of Delaware county, and was very active in securing it. In 1798 he was sent to the Legislature. He was an able advocate and representative, and in active life until 1843. In December, 1846, while in New York city on his way to visit a daughter, Mrs. Hobbie, at Washington, D.C., he died.

Oliver Peake settled in 1795 at the mouth of the brook that has since borne his name; a log house, a clearing and a saw-mill were very soon seen as the effects of his industry. The sills of his saw-mill are yet to be seen there on the river bottom.

In 1796 John Denning settled on Peake's brook, on the farm now owned by Mr. Every; his log house was just below the present residence. He was a bold, impetuous man, as well as hunter and trapper. A laughable incident in his experience is given elsewhere.

Ebenezer Foote settled here in the spring of 1798, and from the first was a prominent man in the affairs of the town and county.

Samuel Sherwood came in 1797, and in 1800 was married and settled at the mouth of the Little Delaware. In 1804 he commenced the residence now standing on the rise of ground north of the river bridge, and now occupied as a summer residence by his descendants. Mr. Sherwood was an active man in public affairs. He went to New York to reside in 1830.

Samuel A. Law came here from Philadelphia in 1790-a representative of the Meredith family-and settled on the high land north of the village of Delhi, now over the line in Meredith, where the mansion is still occupied by his descendants.

Henry More settled the Webster farm, four miles above Delhi village, in 1791.

Edward Flint came to Delhi in 1800, and settled where the Edgerton House now stands. He first built a harness shop there, then added to his building and started a tavern. He sold to Edgerton and a hotel has been kept there since.

Jeremiah Launt settled on the hill near Mr. Yendes's, in 1800. He came from Columbia county with his family; a few years after, Peter Launt settled near him-the location is now the Flowers farm. These two families are the ancestors of the family of that name in Hamden and Walton.

Barnett Myers settled on Peake's brook in 1797.

In 1797 Daniel Mabie settled the Mitchell Frisbee farm up the river

John Lee settled just back of the present M. Frisbee farm, on the hill, in 1797.

Jacob Boomhour came here in 1797, and made his first clearing up the river, on the present A.G. Boomhour farm.

Silas Green came in 1797 with his brothers, and settled on the south side of the river above the village, where Adam Scott lives.

Adam Hall came in 1795, and settled where the farm of Leander Hall is located.

Palmer Wardwell settled here in 1797, on the farm now owned by Henry Odell. He sold to Jeremiah Odell in 1801, and bought forty acres just above Bridge street bridge, Delhi, on the south side.

David Rathbon settled on Falls brook in 1796, where Mr. VanDyke now owns. In 1806 he sold to Alexander Maxwell, another old settler.

William Carpenter settled on Federal Hill in 1797.

John Shoemaker came to the mouth of the Little Delaware in 1790, and took up a small farm where the poor house stands. In 1802 it passed into Alexander Leal's possession.

In 1797 Augustus Carpenter settled on the bank above the county house, and John Bromley was the neighbor above him.

John and Chauncey Kidder settler in 1796 on a portion of the present Webster farm, up the river.

Richard Barker and Elijah Gregory settled in that part of Delhi now included in Bovina; they came in 1796.

Daniel Place paid his taxes in an assessment for Delhi in 1798 (the first tax); his place is by later divisions of the county over the present line, up the river.

Seth Whitney settled in 1796 on the Hobbie place, near Hoag's residence, up the river.

Simeon Sloat settled in 1792 up the river, opposite the mouth of Elk creek. He started a blacksmith shop on what is now the Webster farm. He had two brothers, who were in the shop with him.

Francis Yeomans settled in 1797 just above the Stoutenburg farm, up the river.

Benjamin Smith settled in 1796 on the farm now occupied by - Woolerton; his log cabin was just below where the railroad track crosses the highway.

Clark Green was a cooper, and commenced business in 1798 on the place now owned by J. Hughes.

Jacob and Caleb Miller settled "Glenburne" in 1796.

David Clark was snugly cabined on a pine lot near Webster's farm during the winter of 1797 and 1798.

Thomas Gillett settled where the Cavin brother's farms are, on Elk creek, in 1796.

William Brambley was on the Tuttle farm as early as 1796.

Daniel Smith was an early and enterprising pioneer upon the farm now owned by Edmund Rose, Esq., on Elk creek, and did much to make the wilderness "blossom like the rose." He came in 1795.

We find the following persons assessed for taxes in May, 1798, but are not able to determine where their "improvements" were: John Tenbroek, Nathan Stephens, Gilbert Townsend, John Andrews, David King, Enoch Miller and his son, Ebenezer Kenney, Abel Beeman, John Mattice, H. Schomaker, Isaac D. Forrest, Hezekiah Davis, Joseph McFarlin, Isaac Hughson, John Mabie, Asel Jared and William Patchen, Eph. Brownson, Jacob Virgill, Stephen Kiddar, William Bill, Obadiah Ruland, Henry Shoomaker and Jacob Wright.

Samuel Frisbee settled near his relation above the village, prior to 1797.

The following were settled along the Little Delaware in the spring of 1798: Joseph Dodge, Daniel Beardsley, Elijah Beardsley, Abel Beardsley, Jonathan Bill, Benajah Bill, John Sines and Henry Shoemaker.

We find the following on "Federal Hill" in the year 1797: Elias Griswold, Levi Green, John Green, Samuel Robinson, and perhaps others whose settling place cannot be ascertained were there. "Abe" and Joshua Simmons settled in 1792 near the farm now owned by Cyrus Hoag. A son, Joshua, was in the tannery of Mr. Millard.

Joseph Denio came in 1795, and lived on the farm known as the "Woolerton farm," below the village.

James Tifft had a hut near where the present woolen factory of Smith & Penfield stands, in Delhi village, then on Levi Baxter's land, and made brick upon that spot.

John McClelland settled upon a portion of the McMullen farm in 1795.

Joshua Griffith settled in 1797 on the farm now owned by Adam Scott.

Gideon Rathbone owned the first mill on Falls brook, and resided in 1797 where Mr. Van Dyke does at the present time. His brothers, David and Edmund, are supposed to have lived near.

John Cole had a cabin and small lot on the Webster farm in May, 1798.

Henry Leavenworth came to Delhi in 1805, at the age of twenty-one, and entered General Root's office as a law student. In due time he was admitted and became a partner with Mr. Root. In 1812 he was commissioned captain in the United States army, raised a company of men and went into the service. He remained in the service and was promoted, according to his merit, until his death in the West. The monument erected to his memory in the cemetery at Delhi is a just tribute.

John B. Phelps settled in 1804 on the farm occupied by his descendants, opposite the old residence of Ebenezer Foote, down the river.

James Stoddard settled on Scotch mountain-Stoddard Hollow, so called- in 1804. He and William Stoddard settled Peter Arbuckle's farm.

Michael B. Harder in 1807 bought a farm of Mr. Leal on the Little Delaware, where J. H. Harder, his son, resides. The house he built that year is still standing, in the rear of the present dwelling.

Daniel Arbuckle settled Arbuckle Hollow in 1819-the first settler there. The first clearing in that part was made by him on the J. R. Thompson farm.

William Dean settled the farms of Halsey Dean and R. Bogart on Falls brook in 1810; above him, about the same time, Stewart Dean and Samuel Shaw made their first clearing.

Elisha Reynolds settled on Peake's brook in 1807, where his descendants live.

In 1824 John W. White settled on the brook near where his son, D.C. White, lives. Judith, his widow, is still living with the son and aged ninety-four years.

Crawford B. Sheldon, whose name appears in our history as a prominent public man, came from Ulster county in 1824, and purchased the Matthew Ray property, corner of main and Kingston streets, Delhi, where Mrs. Sheldon now resides. He filled many town and county offices during his life, which terminated in 1859.

Andrew Frazer settled on Scotch mountain in 1804, where D. Frazer now lives.

Asahel E. Paine came in 1807, and filled a prominent part in the history of the town as a physician and public man. His son, Anthony M. Paine, still survives and has filed many important positions.

Ezekiel Whitlock came to Delhi in 1809 and settled where Abel W. Thompson lives. Before the war of 1812 he had built and had in successful operation a scythe factory and blacksmith shop, on Dry brook, just above Mr. Cavin's. It was then Delhi, and the same farm is now in Delhi and Meredith. Mr. Owens settled at the same time on the bank near by, and was his assistant.

Guerdon H. Edgerton came to Delhi in 1809, when he was fourteen years of age. He married a daughter of George Fisher and was a very active man in the politics and public affairs of his day. He died in 1860.

John Holmes came from Scotland in 1817 and settled in what has since been called "Holmes's Hollow." Joseph Kelly now owns the farm so many years cultivated by the Holmes family. Mr. Holmes for many years wove cloth for the settlers, for he was an expert in weaving Paisley shawls and was well acquainted with the trade. He was the first to introduce the flying shuttle in country weaving.

In 1821 John Hunt came from Massachusetts, and first lived in a small house where Mr. McLaury's residence is on Main street, Delhi. He was a very active man in the growth and formation of the village; he took contracts for building the Episcopal and Presbyterian churches, and in 1825 for the digging of the canal and dam for the mills now owned by Smith & Penfield. He was commissioner of the village in 1825-27, and was the first man to place gravel upon the sidewalks of the village. He was 89 years old July 4, 1879.

William Blair came from Scotland with his wife and five children in 1805, and at once settled the farm now owned by his son, E F. Blair, in district 9.

Benajah Millard, came in 1800 to the northeastern part of Delhi. Amasa and William Millard were sons of Benjah Millard, and in after years figure largely in the growth and enterprise of the town.

Hon. Samuel Gordon, came to Delhi directly after his marriage in 1831, and at once entered into public affairs. His efficient service as district attorney, representative in Congress, provost marshal, etc., is well remembered by all.

Without treating further individual arrivals, the general tendencies of population may be exhibited by a series of census returns, as follows: 1835, 2,363; 1840, 1,554; 1845, 2,665; 1850, 2,909; 1855, 2,711; 1860,2,900; 1865, 2,785; 1870, 2,920; 1875, 1,945.

INTERESTING REMINISCENCES

In 1801 Jeremiah Odell, who lived where Henry, his son, lives, lost a hog that weighed about 200 pounds, and the trace of the bear as he dragged him was plainly seen up the hill near where the road turns off the river road below Mr. Odell's. Mr. John Denning's bear trap was borrowed and carefully set by the carcass of the hog, but for three nights bruin took care not to "put his foot in it." The fourth morning the trap was missing, but tracks up the hill still further and into a small spruce swamp just over the summit indicated that the bruin was disgusted with hog stealing. Word was sent to Mr. Denning and the settlers and the swamp was soon surrounded by a motley crew, some with guns and some with clubs and pitchforks. Mr. Denning soon discovered the bear in the edge of the swamp, body erect, with the trap fast ot one of his fore paws, and he seemed anxious for an interview. Mr. Denning, with a good club, fearlessly walked up and leveled a crushing blow at the bear's head; but the blow was parried, and the hunter found himself in a close embrace, face to face with the bear! Then he realized that one arm without a trap on it was sufficient to cause the sudden appearance of a multitude of stars in daylight. He told his dog to "take him," and the seizure in the flank by his canine friend caused the bear to release Mr. Denning, who was not slow in putting ample distance between them. The bear was soon shot, and was a large one, as may be supposed. Mr. Denning sustained a wound in his thigh, which was attended to by Dr. Cornelius Fitch, then a young physician.

An amusing incident is related of one Deacon Elijah Smith, who purchased the Baxter property about 1807. He was the host of the log tavern on the site of the present Kiff's hotel, and owned the land back of the village; where High street is was his wheat field, and at the time mentioned an unusually good crop was suffering for the sickle. On a certain Saturday night some of his tavern loungers told him the crop was suffering and should be cut at once, to which he answered that on Monday he should make a beginning. They insisted that it would be proper to put in the sickles on Sunday, because the crop was certainly spoiling and the weather was good. But the deacon said there was to be preaching at the court-house on the following day, and he "must attend the services, and keep things in order." The men determined to cut the wheat on Sunday themselves, to which the deacon answered: "Well, if you will be so wicked, no doubt you will receive your pay." The pious deacon attended "the preaching." He seated himself at the window that overlooked the reapers, but served the Lord with his accustomed fervor. The men found ample dinners prepared for them at the deacon's house, and received liberal compensation for harvesting the grain.

The first building erected by the "square rule" was built about 1805. Asa Maxwell "tried his hand" on Jermiah Odell's barn, and was successful; it was raised, contrary to the expectation of old fogies. A portion of that frame is yet in the barn on the farm of Henry Odell.

The first orchard in Delhi was planted by George Fisher, and is now to be seen north of the village, on the premises of Edgerton and Youmans; it is about ninety years old.

About 1840, when politics was uppermost, an altercation arose about the road now called "Whig road," which lasted some time before a final decision. The Whigs wanted it to cross Maxwell's dam, and the Democrats wished it to go to the left, across the flats. The Whigs cut a road through, built a bridge, secured their pathmaster, beat democrats, and it has bee "Whig road" since then.

"Sam" Robinson was a Federal in olden times, and Mr. Wilbur was of the opposite stripe. At the raising on the hill west of Delhi village, these parties had a political dispute which resulted in a knock-down fight, and "Sam" was victorious. "Federal Hill" has been distinct locality since that time.

As late as 1800 deer and elk flocked to the salt spring on the Frisbee farm in such numbers that the brook received the name Elk creek, and it has been so called since. Elk creek is a historic part of the town, and one of the best. It is said that Gideon Frisbee stopped three days where the Cavins reside, near the spring, thinking to settle there; but from a sudden dislike to the spot he moved down the creek, found a man named Kidder girdling trees for a "patch," gave him a cow if he would quit-claim his right to him, and settled where history places him. It would be proper to speak of the present condition of the salt spring. O. Crane, an old settler, spent much labor and money to obtain salt from the spring which he found beneath the surface, and he succeeded in making salt, but not in paying quantities. In 1866 a company drilled a hole 900 feet deep near by, but spoiled the salt-bearing properties of the vein by opening other springs and being unable to separate them. The spring now produces a mineral water unsurpassed by Deep Rock, Sheboygan, or Hathorn.

CIVIL LIST

Unfortunately the town record for Delhi prior to 1823 was burned, as is supposed, so that the particulars of the first town-meeting and its list of officers cannot be given. We fill out, as far as possible, the list of supervisors for the interim, from the minutes of the board of the county.

Supervisors-1798, Ebenezer Foote; 1799-1802, Gideon Frisbee; 1803-5, Elijah Beardsley; 1806, Alexander McKey; 1807, Elijah Beardsley; 1808, 1809, 1811, Alexander McKey; 1810, Frederick Foote; 1812, 1813, Asahel E. Paine; 1823-29, 1836-39, William Millard; 1830, 1831, W. B. Sheldon; 1832, Charles Post; 1833-35, G. H. Edgerton; 1840, Cornelius R. Fitch; 1841, Hermon D. Gould; 1842, 1843, David McFarland; 1844, Henry Edgerton; 1845, 1847, Alexander Marble; 1846, William Hutson; 1848-50, John B. Yendes; 1851, 1852, 1855, Robert Parker; 1853, Albert Edgerton; 1854, Jonas A. Hughston; 1856, Anthony M. Paine; 1857-59, Samuel Gordon; 1860, 1861, James R. Allaben; 1862, William Murray, jr.; 1863-71, 1879, James H. Graham; 1872, 1873, William Youmans; 1874, Edward A. Griffith; 1875, John A. Hutson; 1876-78, James A. Graham.

Justices-Prior to 1830 they were appointed, and we give those elected, with dates: 1830, Jabez Hitchcolk; 1831, Morris L. Farrington; 1832, Anthony M. Paine; 1833, William Millard; 1834, G. H. Edgerton, Ezekiel Whitlock and James Yeoman; 1835, Simeon Goodman, jr.; 1836, Anthony M. Paine; 1837, David McFarland and Gideon Frisbee (vacancy); 1838, James G. Redfield; 1839, George Wright and Nathaniel Hathaway (vacancy); 1840, Alexander C. Erkson; 1841, Peter P. Wright; 1842, James G. Redfield; 1843, Nathaniel Hathaway; 1844, Charles E. Perry; 1845, Giles M. Shaw; 1846, David McFarland; 1847, William Murray and James G. Redfield (vacancy); 1848, Charles E. Perry; 1849, Abijah G. Boomhour; 1849, William Murray, jr.; 1851, Jesse Palmer; 1852, Charles E. Perry; 1853, A. G. Boomhour; 1854, James Elwood and Amasa J. Parker (vacancy); 1855, Jesse Palmer; 1856, Calvin H. Bell and J. R. Allaben (vancancy); 1857, Abijah G. Boonhour; 1858, H. F. Davidson; 1859, Theophilus L. England; 1860, Henry Davie; 1861, Calvin H. Bell; 1862, H. F. Davidson; 1863, Nathaniel Hathaway; 1864, Benjamin F. Gerowe; 1865, James Davie; 1866, William P. Lynch; 1867, A. D. Knapp; 1868, B. F. Gerowe; 1869, J. M. Preston; 1870, J. I. Goodrich; 1871, A. D. Knapp; 1872, James Davie; 1873, Benjamin F. Gerowe; 1874, John T. Shaw; 1875, H. F. Davidson and W. T. Luddington (vacancy); 1876, Marcus W. Frisbee; 1877, George A. Fisher; 1878, John T. Shaw; 1879, H. F. Davidson and J. T. Shaw (vacancy).

The present town clerk is J. R. Honeywell; commissioner of highways, Charles L. Judson; overseers of the poor, Ira Carrington and Henry Irvine.

SCHOOLS AND DISTRICTS

The first public school in the town was near the mouth of Falls brook, on the high ground just above. It was in a log building which was erected about 1790. At the present day there are but few who remember the hemlock log building, and of the early pupils we know of none living in the town, except Henry Odell and Colonel Farrington. The early teachers were Martha McClelland, ____ Brunson, and T. Benedict. It accommodated all of the early settlers for a few years, when another was built near the Sherwood mansion, which is now designated No. 4.

District No. 1 is a very old one, having been formed soon after 1800. A log school-house was first erected below the present one. The minutes for dates could not be found. The present house near Mr. Russell's was erected about 1837.

A small portion of Delhi at the upper part of Elk creek is joined with Meredith in joint district 1. The early settlers of that portion were Daniel Smith and the Dibbles. Mr. Edmund Rose and Mr. McDonald now occupy the farms. Daniel Smith has a grist-mill on Rose's farm before the war of 1812.

District No. 2 - The present district bearing this number is another very old one, and had the third school-house of the town when joined with the district now No. 1. The house now in use near the "Christian" church has withstood the elements and the jackknives of the boys for many years. The settlement of that part of the town was made very early.

District No. 3 was organized in 1837, and taken from the river district in which was held the first school of the town. The school-house was built in 1837 near the dam on Falls brook. In 1846 a site was purchased on the Olmstead farm, and the house moved thereto. In 1878 a new house was erected upon the same site. The first settlers of the district were David Hollister (in 1812), Ralph Smith, the Judsons, Samuel S. Hall, Mr. Dean and Alexander Maxwell.

District No. 4 - The first school-house in the present district of this number was the second one in the town-at the mouth of the Little Delaware. It was erected on the open space in front of the Sherwood mansion, across the highway. In 1837, it was burned, and school was held in a portion of the old Millard tannery until a new house could be built, on the present site across the river, above Mr. Meeker's. Thomas Farrington, Axie Millard and Daniel Todd were the first teachers. A Sunday-school was established there in 1815. Benjamin and J. H. Hardee, John H. and William Smith are surviving pupils.

District No. 5 was organized in 1845, and the first school-house built on Daniel Frisbee's land. In 1857 the house was moved up the road to John L. Frisbee's land, and repaired, and it is yet in use. The first settlers on the Preston road were Whitney, Dunton, and Youmans; on the Elk creek portion, Daniel Smith, Summers, Wolfe, Shaw, Bundy, Farrington, Hinckley, Frisbee and Whitlock.

District No. 6 (joint with Hamden and the school-house in that town) was early settled and is called Stoddard Hollow, from John Stoddard, who settled in 1804; he was followed by Samuel Patchell, Yaple and Peter Arbuckle.

There is in the south part of the town a joint district with Bovina, numbered 6, in which Arbuckle, Russell and the Olivers were early settlers.

District No. 7 - This district is an important one in the northwest corner of the town, and was organized in 1823. The same year a log school-house was built upon William Graham's farm. In 1833 a frame house was built on the corner of M. Steel's farm; and in 1860 the present one was built, on the farm of Thomas H. Steel. It is a modern house, and speaks volumes for the people concerned in its construction. Early settlers of the district were William Graham, William Kidzie, Reid, Russell, Paterson, Mallorys, McCandlish, Mabie, Foster, Fisk, Myers, Hamilton, McEwan, Steels, Lombard, Drummond and others.

District No. 8 was No. 15, and was changed to 8 in 1822. The first school-house was of logs, on the farm owned by James George, and the second, a frame house, was built on the same site. The first settlers wer the Basleys, Thompsons, Hutsons, etc.

Joint district No. 8 has its school-house and the greater part of its territory in Stamford, but takes in the farms of Messrs. Stoutenburgh, Thomas and Palmer from Delhi, William Youmans, Daniel Mabie and Francis Yeoman settled this portion prior to 1798.

District No. 9 is of recent formation, having been organized from surrounding districts in 1860. It is on the Little Delaware, with a good school-house in the center of the district, which was built the same year.

District No. 10 was organized on Peake's brook in 1834, and a stone school-house built near D. C. White's, which is now used for other purposes. Recently a frame house has been erected near by, and it is now used. The first settlers in the district were J. H. Smith, D. C. White, M. Valentine, Leander Hall, R. Mason, and R. Hall, the last named a surviving pupil of the first school.

District No. 11 was organized about 1830 and the present house built. The early settlers were R. Andrw, Gad Pease, Mr. Roberts and the Hunts.

District No. 12 was organized about 1803, and a log school-house built on the farm of William P. Wilbur, who was one of its early teachers. Another log house was built in 1815 on the farm of the Wilburs. The present school-house, on the Carpenter farm, was erected in 1845. Among the first settlers here were W. B. Wilbur and ____ Hobbie.

District No. 13 (joint with Hamden)-The school-house was built of logs in 1836; was burned after two years, then rebuilt as a frame structure. This house was burned in 1863; in 1864 a new one was built a few rods above, on Holmes's land. The early settlers in the district were Peter McGregor, Robert Bates (where Smith lives), James Smith, John Holmes, Piper Shaw, Michael Taylor and Milton Stevens.

District No. 14 was organized in 1830. The first school-house was of logs and was burned after a few years, when a frame building was erected. The settlers hereabouts were: William Hannes, Charles Steward, Robert Aiken, R. Arbuckle, D. Blair, D. Arbuckle, John Thompson and Daniel Shaw.

District No. 15-In 1865 Robert Young gave a deed for the site of the school-house in this district and one was at once built, which is now in use. Early settlers were James Ainslee, Van Aiken, White, etc. The school-house is situated in "Elk Hollow."

District No. 19 was organized in January, 1847, and the present school-house built on the farm line between Lymington and Glendenning. In 1864 the number was changed from 11 to 19. The settlers here were A. Mallory, N. Covel, Asa Terry, John Fisk, A. Oliver, D. Francisco, Yendes, Ritchie, McNaught and McAllister.

CEMETERIES

There are many private cemeteries, which are kept in good order. The oldest public burial place is near the county house, properly belonging, according to the old custom, to the "Flat church." The church was organized in 1811, but the cemetery was in use years before. The exact date cannot be determined, but a few had been buried thre before 1800. According to our information, one of the children of Jonathan Bill, who lived just above the Harder farm, was the first person buried, some time prior to 1799. While the exact date may be uncertain, it is certain that no title to the ground was given until 1814, and thenit was given to the church. The ground is kept in very good condition for one so old and well filled.

INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL HISTORY

The industrial beginnings of the town, after a laborious research, will be faithfully given in this chapter. Upon no other subject is the opinion of the oldest residents so conflicting, but by careful comparison the most authentic statements have been compiled.

It would be useless to mention any but the earliest sawmills. These were very numerous before 1800, and along the river were the earliest. Each creek could boast of one or more as time progressed and the settlement of its valley required their use. The first mill was erected by Judge Gideon Frisbee at the mouth of Elk creek in 1788, and there is not doubt of the almost simultaneous completion of another by Alexander Leal, on the river, near the school-house above Mr. Meeker's. Falls brook, Peake's brook, and others quickly had mills by which large floats of lumber were prepared for the Philadelphia market or to be used for the growing "settlement."

Grist-Mills - The first settlers of Delhi either tramped to Schoharie with their grists or up the river to the mill on Rose brook. In 1796 David Rathbone settled above the falls on Falls brook, where Mr. Van Dyke lives, and in 1797 or 1798 constructed a grist-mill at the foot of the falls, near where Mr. McMullen lives. He carried the water from the falls in a trunk, securing by the great fall what he must lose by crude and imperfect machinery. This mill was in successful operation for many years. About 1800 Alexander Leal erected a better grist-mill on the river, near whre his sawmill stood. The place is now marked by the growing brush on the river above the school-house. By these "wonderful perfections of art" the settlers, far and near, were supplied with suitable grinding. Soon after 1800 another grist-mill was erected on the river, between the farms of Webster and Hoag, and this mill privilege and its connection with the island in the river at this pint led to the suit between the parties named, as to the ownership fo the island. John C. Thompson is said to have been the owner of the property at that early day, and lost his mill by a freshet. In 1812-15 a mill was in successful operation on Elk creek upon the farm now owned by Edmund Rose, Esq. It was built by Daniel Smith. This was a great help to a portion of the people of Meredith and Kortright, because it was near the town lines. This mill fulfilled its mission well, and to this day a feed mill is in operation near by upon Mr. McDonald's farm. In 1820, the Falls brook mill being inadequate to the demand, Abraham Ogden, of Walton, erected a mill upon the lower part of the falls, which, for improvements and capacity, was considered the great event of the age. In 1846, a mill was built by Smith and Reynolds upon the highway near McMullen's and received its water along the bank from falls; this was burned in the fall of 1872.

The art of carding and preparing wool and flax was second to imprtance to none but that of the preparation of grain for daily food, and was really the second principle of life with the pioneers. It is safe to say that every well-regulated household possessed at least one intelligent and industrious carding machine; but this was not the machine sought by the historian. There is no doubt of the fact that Quire Oliver Peake, in his saw-mill at the mouth of the brook that still bears his name, placed the first machine to card rolls; this was about 1800, perhaps between 1798 and 1800. He first had a saw-mill on the river bottom above the mouth of the brook (of which some of the sills are yet to be seen), and in a corner of the mill he prepared a room for the introduction of the "damaging" innovation. It was in vain that the women talked against it as taking away their labors and duties; it was kept busy in its season of years, and yet the industrious ladies found plenty to do. In 1801 or 1802 David and Eleazer Bundy erected another on Elk creek, near or upon the farm now owned by Mr. Pease; and in 1810 Irenus Eltings and his brother started still another on the Falls brook, on the farm now owned by Mr. Flint. In or about 1812 the fourth was erected by Amos Wood, on the south side of the river, where J. Hughes resides. The later ones dressed cloth and fully realized the wants of the growing settlements of this and portions of the adjoining towns.

Simeon Sloat and his brother Isaac opened a blacksmith shop as early as 1795, on the Webster farm, up the river, which was quite as early as any in the town - certainly the first for that portion of the town. Specimens of their work are still extant; a shop was kept up there by them for many years.

About 1797 we find Daniel Maibee was a settler on the Frisbee farm near Mr. Hoag's, and about 1796 made superior brick for settlers, some of which are still good and in use on Webster's and Russell's farms and about their walls. Brick were made on the spot traversed by High street, many years ago, and in later years they have been manufactured up the river, where the material seems to be the most natural and more easily obtained. Mr. Hughes, near Fitch's bridge, has the only brickyard of the town at the present time.

Ephraim Barrett kept the first store of the town, in 1799; it was at the mouth of Falls brook. A store at that time had a very limited amount of goods; a hogshead of rum constituted its stock of dry-goods; a few needles, some thread and horn buttons its fancy notions; and some sugar, salt and molasses its groceries. Lemuel Lamb succeeded to the business in 1802. About the same time Ebenezer Foote and Robert Leal opened a store at the mouth of the Little Delaware, where the county-house stands; the store building was added to and used as county-house until its destruction by fire. Which of the stores above mentioned was first must be left to the "wisdom of future generations," for "Authentic sources" are evenly divided upon that point. Our best information dictates as written above. The next in order was a small "trading post" on what is now the Russell farm, and was kept by Benjamin Barlow; it soon culminated in a rum-shop.

Delhi's most important industry of half a century ago was the trip-hammer of Amasa Millard, which was on the bank, just above the bridge, near the Sherwood mansion, upon the level, fertile spot south of the highway. Nothing remains to indicate its former importance but the lower bank of the dam; a close observer can trace the canal that supplied that and a tannery with an abundance of water, up to the river near the depot. In 1811 a blacksmith shop was opened upon the site mentioned, but not until the year 1820 was the idea of a heavy water power and a trip-hammer conceived. In 1821 work was commenced, the excavation of the canal being under the supervision of John Hunt, who was first in all important undertakings of that nature. In 1822 it could be said to have been in full operation, and scythes, axes, etc., were manufactured in large quantities, by and under the personal supervision of Amasa Millard. About ten years of active business introduced the Millard scythes throughout the State, and in good qualities they are still remembered by the older inhabitants as excelling every other manufacture then or since.

In 1809 William Millard erected a small tannery adjoining the factory of is brother Amasa, and it was the first regular tannery in Delhi. He ground his bark in the old-fashioned manner-with horse and stone, then with a horse power mill, until the water power mentioned above enabled him to greatly enlarge his facilities. This was the tannery of a large section of territory, and was successfully operated until 1835.

The Delhi Agricultural and Mechanics' Society was organized in the town of Delhi, on the 8th day of March, 1862. It had its origin in the alleged unfairness on the part of the County Agricultural Society toward Delhi and some of the towns lying contiguous thereto in the selection of its officers, in the appointment of judges on articles exhibited at its fairs, in the award of premiums, and in other evidences of prejudice and ill-feeling toward the towns alluded to.

Its first officers were: President, Edmund Rose; vice-president, P. H. Beardsley; secretary, Norwood Bowne; treasurer, Anthony M. Paine. Directors-D. G. Landon, L. G. Hollister, Alexander Marble, A. Cook Edgerton and C. Allen Frost.

The society at once took high rank with the people, soon becoming exceedingly populaar, particularly with the farming and mechanical interests. It held frequent public meetings for the discoussion of pertinent subjects; and its fairs were well sustained, and rendered useful and interesting through the generous display of stock, vegetables, fruits, agricultural implements, specimens of mechanism and art, and ladies' handiwork from all except the more remote towns in the county.

The society, on its organization, purchased of Samuel Sherwood, Esq., a lot in the village of Delhi, containing 5 3/4 acres of land, upon which it erected an agricultural hall, graded a quarter-mile track, and made other improvements. The area of the grounds was subsequently enlarged by leasing a piece of land lying contiguous to it, and the track was enlarged to about double its original dimensions.

In the spring of 1872 it was deemed better for the public interests that this society should be merged in the County Agricultural Society; and negotiations looking to that end were successful, an amicable arrangement being perfected, by a lease to the county society of the town society's grounds for a term of ninety-nine years, with conditions that were entirely equitable and satisfactory; and the fairs of the county society are now all held in Delhi.

CHURCHES OF THE TOWN OF DELHI

First Presbyterian

Prominent among the founders of this church was Judge Alexander Leal, who lived on the farm now occupied by A.L. Meeker. In 1804, in response to a petition of Alexander Leal, Peter McGregor, William Blair, and others, Rev. William McAuly, of Kortright, came here and preached the first sermon, the services being held in Judge Leal's barn, near the Little Delaware, and which has only been removed a few years. In the autumn of 1805 the church was organized under the name of "First Reformed Presbyterian Church" of Delhi, but some years later the word "Reformed" was dropped from the title. About twenty names were enrolled as first members. The first ruling elders were, Alexander Leal, Thomas Simpson, William Blair, Petr McGregor and John Preston; we find that Robert Leal, James Leal, Amos Wamsley, William Moscript and James Kidzie were elders in the earlier years. The first Bible and the first communion set used in the public service were presented by Mrs. Charles Foote, mother of Charles A. Foote, of Delhi village.

Mr. Leal's barn was used in summer for seven years, and his residence in winter, and in 1811 the church was built, which, with some improvements, is still in use; it is a substantial frame building, about one mile south of the village, near the county-house.

In February, 1812, Rev. Eben R. Maxwell was installed the first pastor, and his pastorate continued 28 years, to his death, in July, 1840. He enjoyed the confidence and affectionate regard of his people, and at his death the church membership was about 150. The elders who served during Mr. Maxwell's pastorate were, with those above mentioned, Andrew Cowan, George Wight, James Morrison, William Hutson, Archibald McAuslin, James and John George.

In the spring of 1841 Rev. James McEwen was called to the charge of the church, and March 11th, 1845, he died. July 2nd, 1843, the following elders were elected: William Douglass, Thomas Hymers, George Davidson, John D. Smith and David Fenton. During Mr. McEwen's ministry thrity-four were added to the church. On the first day of Sabbath in July, 1845, Rev. Peter B. Heroy, then a licentiate recently from the seminary, began his services. That fall he was ordained and installed pastor. He was blessed because of his zeal and great earnestness and sixty-eight were added by him to the membership. In November, 1849, he resigned and accepted a call elsewhere. In the latter part of 1850 Rev. Charles B. Smythe, fourth pastor, began his labors, which lasted eleven years, and by which one hundred and nineteen members were added. In October, 1854, William McMurdy and Thomas Brown were chosen ruling elders. From the resignation of Mr. Smythe in 1862 the society was without stated preaching to July, 1863, when Rev. James H. Robinson became pastor. At the time of his installation the church numbered one hundred and seventy-one members, and since that time one-hundred and eighty-three have been added. At an election of elders in 1864 Eben F. Hutson, Robert H. Patterson, Robert Young, James H. Smith and Robert Oliver were chosen, and the last four, with William McMurdy, constitute the present session of the church.

In 1865 the trustees purchased a convenient parsonage in Delhi village, which is occupied by the pastor and his family. This church, during the seventy-four years of its existence has maintained a quiet and uniform growth, and for many years was the only one in town. Many other churches have been formed in close proximity to it, to whose membership and financial support this mother church has largely contributed. Its present membership is two hundred and twenty-five, and Rev. J. H. Robinson is still pastor.

CHRISTIAN CHURCH

The church near Fitch's bridge-a neat, country church-was built early in the town's history, and it is said that Gideon Frisbee granted the land for church and cemetery purposes. The society was organized in 1822 and proceeded at once to build an edifice. In 1859 the society was reorganized, and the present church was built in 1860, in much better style than the former one. The society has stated preaching and Rev. D. Grant has served for many years. Its first pastors were Rev. William Cummings, who was succeeded by Rev. D. Call, Rev. J. M. Westcott, Rev. Mr. Southwick and Rev. D. Grant. Sheds and other conveniences have been added to the property this year.

UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF WEST DELHI

The first service was held in the house of Alexander Hamilton by Rev. John Graham, in January, 1833. Mr. Graham continued, as often as possible, to preach at Mr. Hamilton's, after that worthy gentleman had a more commodious residence; and when no preaching could be had, the people met from house to house for prayer and praise. In 1841 (November 20th), by authority of the presbytery a society was organized by Rev. John Graham, and accessions were rapidly made to the number of its members. In 1846, by the united exertions of the determined few, sufficient labor and money was secured and a church raised, which was used before completion; it cost $415 besides the gratuitous labor. The first pastor was Rev. W. J. Clelland, whose labors began in April, 1847, and extended over a successful pastorate of 17years adding 198 to the membership. Rev. Andrew Thomas became pastor in September, 1863, and his services of 3 years, 47 members were added. June 18th, 1868, Rev. A. G. King was ordained and installed pastor, Rev. N. R. Crow preaching the ordination sermon, Rev. J. D. Gibson presiding, Rev. James Smeallie delivering the charge to the pastor, and Rev. Clark Irving that to the people. During the pastorate of Rev. Mr. King, which still continues, 84 members have been added. In all about 330 persons have been identified with the society, and the present membership is 133.

The Sabbath-school and Bible-classes contain 145 pupils, with the required number of teachers-an excellent showing in every respect for a country church, and an honor to pastor and people.

The first elders elected were Andrew Hamilton and Matthew G. Russell, and the present elders are: M. G. Russell, George Davidson, sr., James Smith, sr., Rodger Patterson, Henry A. Scott, John G. Hamilton and Thomas Telford.

The society has a good parsonage and is very prosperous.

DELHI AND ELK CREE M. E. CHURCH

Is situated on the farm settled by James Cavin in 1816. It was erected in 1861 by the people of that neighborhood, and is a neat, though small edifice. It is a part of the Delhi charge, and the pastor of the Delhi church preaches there at 2 P. M. each Sabbath. About 25 members now belong and a Sunday-school is well supported.

VILLAGE OF DELHI

The territory included in the corporate limits of Delhi, was settled as early as any part of the Delaware valley; first by George Fisher, whose last house, a frame one, is remembered by all the business men of to-day; and whose purchase is mentioned in the history of the town. From Franklin street to the west line of the corporation the land was originally purchased by Mr. Reside; Levi Baxter was the early purchaser of the farm that extended from Fisher's fram to Fletcher's blacksmith shop, and William Denio from Baxter's to and including the fair ground; these all extended from the river northerly up the hill. There was a strife between three sections of the town as to where the village should be located; the first school of the town near Falls brook, and the thickly settled neighborhood of Judge Frisbee, made the claim of that part a prominent one; the mouth of the Little Delaware, by the early growth of that locality, also had its claims for the village to be located there; while the present site, upon which the business seemed naturally to center, was fast outstripping the other points. A compromise was made, and a law passed that the county buildings should be established within two miles of the Little Delaware, and the present public square and village are the result.

CORPORATE HISTORY

The act to incorporate the village was passed March 16th, 1821. On the 1st of May, 1821, the voters of the village met in the court-house and elected the following trustees: Erastus Root, Charles A. Foote, Jabez Hitchcolk, G. H. Edgerton and Nathaniel Steel, jr.; also, Guerdon H. Edgerton, clerk; Hermon D. Gould, treasurer, and Samuel Steele, collector. At a meeting held May 21st, Mr. Edgerton was appointed president, and Jabez Hitchcolk overseer of highways.

In June, 1822, an ordinance was passed to erect the village hay scales, which are still in use. It was also enacted that the seal be the figure of a churn with "VILLAGE OF DELHI SEAL" around it.

In 1824 Charles A. Foote was chosen president; the public square was planted with trees and ornamented in 1825.

In 1825 the small-pox was discovered in the village, a pest-house was provided and stringent provisions were made to confine the disease to those removed to it.

Erastus Root was president in 1822, 1823, 1825 and 1838; Charles Hathaway, 1826-28; Amasa Parker, 1829, 1830; William B. Sheldon, 1831, 1832; Henry Wright, 1833, 1834; Guerdon H. Edgerton, 1835; Crawford B. Sheldon, 1836, 1837; Samuel Gordon, 1839; Freeman H. Wheeler, 1840; Abraham DeGroff, 1841; Richard Titus, 1842; Henry B. Edgerton, 1843; Peter P. Wright, 1844, 1845; Nathaniel Hathaway, 1846; Horace Drake, 1847; Calvin Howard, 1848; Albert Edgerton, 1849; Robert Parker, 1850; Norwood Bowne, 1851, 1863-65; John Blanchard, 1852, 1853, 1859,1861; James H. Wright, 1854, 1857, 1874; Sheldon Griswold, 1855; Stephen C. Johnson, 1856; John W. Woodruff, 1858; Jonas A. Hughston, 1860; John A. Parshall, 1862; Jesse Palmer, 1866-1870; B. F. Gerowe, 1871; R. P. Cormack, 1872; Artemus D. Knapp, 1873; Seth H. White, 1875, 1876; James H. Graham, 1877, 1878.

The officers of the village for the present year are: Jonas M. Preston, president; F. Steifel, T. Jackson, H. F. Davidson and F. L. Norton, trustees: J. R. Honeywell, treasurer; Milton Frisbee, collector, and W. R. Whitney, clerk; board of health, N. Bowne, J. S. Page, C. A. Frost, S. Yeomans and J. A. Parshall; fire wardens, C. F. Churchill, James S. Mabel, William Stoddard and G. W. Hitchcolk; health officer, John J. Buckley; officers of the fire department: chief, George H. Maxwell; assistant, Edward Knapp, clerk, A. G. Frisbee; treasurer, James A. Mable.

As a matter of interest we record that at the first assessment, in 1824-the first general valuation given-the property, real and personal in the village was valued at $20,100, and the last valuation , for 1879 was $657,005.

Division street was laid out in 1837; Kingston and Elm streets surveyed in 1837; Bridge street in 1840; Edgerton, Cherry, Overlook and Prospect in 1874.

MAILS AND STAGE LINES

Delhi had mail facilities at a very early day-say 1800. Two brothers, Amon and Jabez Bostwick, were the first contractors. In 1799 or 1800 Amon Bostwick commenced a weekly mail between Kingston and Jericho, now Bainbridge, starting from Delhi Mondays and returning Thursdays, and the balance of the week was consumed between Delhi and Bainbridge. The Esopus or Kingston turnpike, still so well known by that name, was the mail route of that early day. In 1805 Amon succeeded in securing the Catskill route, and his brother Jabez Bostwick became the contractor of the first name line; both centered at Bainbridge, and soon after, by a compromise, only one mail was carried between Delhi and Bainbridge. It is said that Jabez Bostwick was so punctual in his return from the outer world that Hon. Samuel Sherwood, below the village, knew what minute to step to the door and receive his paper from him on Thursday evening. The Catskill route place the old-fashioned coaches upon its line first-in 1818 to 1820:-and the other line between 1820 and 1822 also indulged in that luxury. These lines were sublet in whole and in part to the Odells, Launts and others, and afforded all needed communication to the west, east, north and south by the connections. Before 1830 William Moscript established a line of coaches for mail and passengers between Delhi and Liberty, Sullivan county, which with the two first-named routes gave ample facilities. Later Mr. Steele was the graet contractor, and had several lines under his control. Towns not upon these lines had short mail and passenger routes to the county seat, and the lumbering coaches went heavily laden in many directions, and were not discontinued until 1872-on the opening of the Midland railroad. After the Erie railroad was opened to Hancock the main travel was between that place and Delhi. There are now five daily stage lines carrying mail and passengers throughout the county, and centering at the county seat, viz: Andes, Franklin via Croton, Bovina, Meredith and Stamford via Bloomville and Hobart.

The first postmaster who had a regular office at Delhi was Adam Doll, the office being in connection with his brother's store.

HOTELS

In the early days of the settlement of this and other towns no taverns was necessary; the hospitality of the settlers was cheerfully accorded to all new-comers, and there was no travel. When but few settlers had made their clearings, some place or places must be had where rum could be got, and before 1790 Gideon Frisbee, at his end of the town, and George Yendes at the lower, opened their log taverns. Mr. Frisbee was the first to entertain man and beast. In 1798 we find Mr. Denio keeping a log tavern on the knoll now encompassed by the track of the fair ground. Soon after 1800 he built a frame tavern, which was retained as such until is destruction by fire in 1815; the cellar is still visible upon the knoll. The highway then passed his door and up along the swamp. About the year 1800 Levi Baxter constructed a very respectable log tavern upon the site now occupied by Kiff's hotel. At that time Main street and the present village had been cleared of the forest. In 1807 Elijah Smith purchased the Baxter property and kept a hotel; he was succeeded by Warring, Steele, Becker, Lupton, Gilbert and others, the house being enlarged as the demand required. In 1812 Matthew Ray opened a tavern where Mrs. Sheldon resides, and was succeeded by Frederick Baldwin. This was made a dwelling in about 1824. G. H. Edgerton early opened a hotel near where the Edgerton House now stands, which was kept by Flint and others in after years. In 1845 the present house was erected. We also learn that Alexander Leal opened a house of entertainment about 1800 or before, at which important personages were lodged when they were attending courts.

CEMETERIES

In 1813 George Fisher deeded to General Leavenworth a square rod of land in the suburbs of Delhi village in which to bury his first wife-the grave, as made in 1812, was to be in the center. Others made the surrounding level a fitting place for the interment of deceased relatives, and the present graveyard was deeded to the village trustees in 1830 by Erastus Root, in part, and the remainder in 1849, by G. H. Edgerton.

The rapid growth of Delhi, and its importance, demanded a more fitting cemetery, and in June, 1849, under the satute, the citizens assembled and organized the Woodland Cemetery Association. With the following officers: Richard Titus, president; H. D. Gould, vice-president; Charles Marvin, secretary; and Horace Griswold, treasurer. A suitable lot was purchased on the Whig road, and laid out into lots.

In 1848-52 the same officers were elected. In 1853 Charles Hathaway was made president, and he continued to serve until 1874. In 1857 lots were $8; in 1874 they were place at $40. The minutes of the association for 1875 could not be found, but in 1876 Seth H. White was made president, and he is serving at this time. At present J. H. Wright is treasurer; D. Williamson, secretary; and E. W. Wheeler, superintendent. The trustees are ten in number: J. H. Graham, George E. Marvin and A. C. Edgerton, who term expires in June, 1880; D. Williamson, W. H. Griswold and John Hutson, in 1881; and Seth H. White, J. W. Woodruff, J. H. Wright and Ferris Jacobs, jr. in 1882.

WILLIAM J. CLARK

William J. Clark was born in Harpersfield, June 27th, 1842 and moved to Delhi January 1st, 1877, from Hobart. He has filled the offices with which his constituents have entrusted him with fidelity, and retired from the office of sheriff with last year, leaving the record of a very efficient officer. He married July 17th, 1867 to Emeline J. Davenport, Davenport, N.Y.

Mr. Clark civil prominence follows an equally honorable military career. He enlisted in the 144th as a private August 12th, 1862. He was appointed corporal September 5th, 1863; sergeant of color guard October 1st, 1863; first sergeant in May, 1864; lieutenant in Company I October 29th, commanding the company from December 9th until May 26th, 1865, when he was made regimental quartermaster. He was chosen by Major General Gilmore on several occasions as bearer of important dispatches to other military posts, and throughout deported himself in a true soldier manner.

RANSOM A. GRANT

The clerk of Delaware county during the last term, Mr. Ransom A. Grant, is a native of Middletown, this county, and was born November 20th, 1847. On the 25th of October, 1869, he was married to Miss S. Augusta Covert, of Afton, Chenango county, N.Y. In November, 1876, he was elected to the office of county clerk by a majority of 452, after holding subordinate clerkships in the office, and in the following April removed from his native town to Delhi.

ISAAC H. MAYNARD

Judge Maynard's present honorable and responsible position is not the first he has held. Among minor offices he was supervisor of the town of Stamford in 1869 and 1870, being chairman of the board in the latter year; and was a member of the Assembly in 1876 and 1877. When Mr. Maynard, who is a Democrat, was elected to his present position in 1877 his popularity was evinced by a majority of 1,355 in a county usually Republican by about 600. Judge Maynard is a native of Bovina, and was born April 9th, 1838. June 28th, 1871, he married Margaret M., daughter of Charles Marvin, of Delhi.

JUDGE WILLIAM MURRAY

William Murray, justice of the Supreme Court of the sixth judicial district, has had a career of steady advancement from his humble work when a boy on the farm with his father to his middle age, when the arduous duties of his present honorable position bring him prominently before the public. Judge Muray shows in his ripened years the elements of his unusual success. His capacity for hard work, his correct habits, uniform good health, a tenacious will and clear judgment would have made him a good farmer, as they have distinguished him in his official life. At a time of life when most men lose their keen relish for earnest professional labor, he manifests the vigor and interest of a zealous student loving his profession.

In 1818 Judge Murray's parents came from Eskdalmuir, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, and located in Andes, this county. Two years afterward, November 21st, 1820, William Murray was born. His parents did not remain long in Andes before they made a permanent settlement in Bovina. There on the farm Mr. Murray spent his childhood, and doubtless in the wholesome work on the farm he laid the foundation for that vigorous health which has served him so well in his mature years. While still a boy his practical ambition was of that quality which would have found its highest aim in farming if after a fair test he found himself adapted for that life; and so we find him in his youth going to the district school winters and helping his father on the farm during the summer.

His limited education and equally limited opportunities for study naturally inclined him to chose what was most easily within his ability, namely the duties of a farmer. But about this time his health was temporarily impaired by a severe sickness, and his attention was turned to the need of a calling demanding less physical exposure and strength. This course was not determined upon, however, until he had tested his own mind in study and had satisfied himself that he could attend school with a fair prospect of success. He therefore, procured a few books, and while ploughing, or during the evening or when stormy weather interrupted his work, he learned his lessons, and was soon encouraged by the thought that he might appear at school without discredit to himself. He was also encouraged about this time in his desire to persevere in a professional career by the confidence which his young companions manifested in him. It seems that under the stimulus of a temperance movement which was at that time agitating the county, a temperance organization was formed by the young men of his town, and he was elected president. The duties of his office strengthened his self-confidence and tested his ability to address an audience; and thus after this preparatory course on the farm, at private study and in the duties of a youthful officer of a temperance society, he left home at the age of twenty-three, entered the academy at Delhi, then under the care of Rev. Daniel Sheppard, and studied a little more than two years, paying his expenses by work during vacations and at other times, and by teaching in the academy.

It was during this time that his younger brother, David Murray, who has since attained eminence as professor in New Brunswick College, and more recently as superintendent of the educational department of Japan, came to attend school with him. Money being the one thing in larger demand than the supply, they hired a room, bought an old stove, and boarded themselves, and thus, by uniting the labors of the kitchen with the duties of academical life, they saved a portion of what they needed for school bills. After leaving the academy Judge Murray entered the law office of Hon. Samuel Gordon, and on the 3rd of January, 1848, was admitted to the bar as attorney and counselor, at a general term held at Albany. Since that date his time has been largely spent in the duties of some judicial position. Before his admission to the bar, in 1846, he was elected justice of the peace of the town of Delhi, and subsequently re-elected. He began the practice of Law in the fall of 1850, and after a few years was elected district attorney of the county, holding the office for three years. In the fall of 1863 he was elected county judge and surrogate of Delaware county, and held the office four years. One month after the expiration of his term for county judge, January 27th, 1868, he was appointed by Reuben E. Fenton, then governor of New York, justice of the Supreme Court in the sixth judicial district, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Judge Mason. In the autumn of 1869 he was elected to the same office for a term of eight years. At the expiration of that time, in the fall of 1877, he was re-elected without opposition, each of the party conventions unanimously nominating him for the office.

In his political life Judge Murray has been uniformly consistent with his early teachings and inclinations. Before the organization of the Republican party he was a Whig, and took a prominent part in local politics in the time of General Taylor's election in 1848, acting as president of a Taylor club. In 1856 he became a Republican, and has ever since been a firm believer in the principles of his party, and a strong supporter of all measures adopted by President Lincoln in our civil war.

November 21st, 1850, Judge Murray married Miss Rachel M. Merwin, of Bloomville, a lady whose loss to church and society, since her death, six years ago, is keenly felt by all her acquaintances.

The struggle through which his early days were passed in preparing himself for his profession, the high value he learned to put upon education by his own limited opportunities for learning, inclined him to encourage his children by obtaining a liberal course of instructions. Judge Murray has from childhood been a zealous worker in the temperance cause, and considers that his health as well as his success were largely due to his correct habits and principles-learned at home. He is widely known throughout this portion of the State, and has the friendship and profound respect of his professional associates. His appearance in the court-room is marked by an affable dignity, and his decisions denote a thorough acquaintance with the law and clearness of a naturally legal mind. For many years he has been a member of the Presbyterian church of Delhi, and is seldom absent from Divine worship on the Sabbath day. He takes a hearty interest in all beneficial measures for church and society, and, so far as his time will permit, generously aids in every good work.

In his laborious career he has not found time for a vacation until a short time since, when he spent a few months visiting different portions of Europe, in company with his younger son.

Up to the present date the same systematic industry that marked his habits when a young man denotes now an undiminished strength, and a purpose to always fill his office well.

J. SAVAN PAGE

J. Savan Page, the present treasurer of Delaware county, was born in town of Otego, Otsego county, November 23d, 1823. His father, Moses McFarland Page, M.D., who was a native of Cambridge, Vt., died when our subject was quite young, and the latter was left thus early to his own resources to work out the problem of life for himself. His early boyhood was spent in Essex county, N.Y. Subsequently he came to Delaware county, and was for a time a resident of the town of Hamden. He came to Delhi in 1845, and in 1850 established himself in the watch-making and jewelry business at that place, which he has since continued. As a dealer in that line he has steadily grown in public favor, and his is now carrying on one of the most extensive and well-ordered establishments of the kind in that section of the State. His attention has not been altogether devoted to business affairs, but he has been active in political matters, as a Republican, and has always been among the foremost in all matters of public improvement, contributing cheerfully of his time, labor and means to all matters looking to the welfare and advancement of the interests of the community in which he lives. He has earned for himself a high position among the substantial business men of his day. He has recently erected one of the finest brick buildings in the village of Delhi or in this section of the State, a portion of which is used by him for his business,, the rest for stores, offices, masonic lodge rooms, etc. In 1875 he was made the nominee of the Republican party and elected county treasurer by a handsome majority, and re-elected in 1878 by a largely increased majority. He now holds that office, and is esteemed not only as a worthy and public spirited citizen, but as an honest and efficient public officer.

SHOPS, STORES, MANUFACTORIES AND BANKS

About 1795 Mat. Ray, who had learned the blacksmith's trade elsewhere, opened a good shop on the spot now occupied by the barns of Cottrell's Hotel. His business was a brisk one, and to him was entrusted important work; he forged the irons for the murderer Graham-made to order and weighing forty pounds-and assisted in putting the "jewels" on the prisoner after his escape and recapture. In 1819 D. Newcomb, William Collins and J. McPherson opened an extensive shop on what is now Bridge street, Thomas L. Landon opened a shop in 1820 in the village, and shops have multiplied according to the wants of the town.

The first brick kilns, although rude, are very worthy of mention. To decide which was the first is difficult, as information on the subject is vague. But we mention first the brick-making of James Tift, in 1797, and possibly earlier, near where the woolen mills now are on Bridge street. He was in the employ of Levi Baxter.

At the opening of this century the village assumed gigantic proportions, and stores like mushrooms sprang up along its one street. John Doll opened one where Woodruff is, in 1805 or 1806. Leal, Baldwin & Edgerton soon had a good one above General Root's residence (now Dr. Buckley's); then Baldwin & Steele succeeded them on the corner now occupied by J. W. Woodruff. H. D. Gould commenced a store in 1819, down the street, where Middlemist is, and about the same year Jabez Hitchcolk opened another on the corner of Franklin road-now Franklin street. In 1821 H. D. Gould moved to the store of Baldwin & Steele, which was soon after moved off (now a portion of the Episcopal parsonage) and the present one was erected, which, occupied by Messrs. Gould, Blanchard, and Woodruff continuously, is still an excellent place of business. Since the incorporation of the village, the places of business everywhere have been sufficient, for the wants of the circle of trade.

We find that T.B. Whitmarsh had a drug store in 1819, the only one of the village-which was moved from Main street across the river to "Lewisville," a name given to the property just below the lower bridge. A hat and shoe store was opened in the doctor's old place by A. & C. Thurber. It is said that the doctor's pill bags and a basket made but one trip to vacate the store.

A cooper shop was started by Clark Green where J. Hughes lives, in 1796, and was kept up for several years.

Benajah Bill had a turning lathe on the Little Delaware, in 1798, where bowls and other wooden-ware were manufactured.

Edward Flint started a regular harness shop in 1820, and R. D. Paine, brother of Anthony M. Paine, Esq., having completed his trade at Mr. Millard's, commenced business in the village in 1827.

An ashery was in operation at an early day near the lower line of George Fisher's farm, above the village, but the vestiges there to be seen are the only evidence to be had of who owned it or when it flourished. H. D. Gould had one in 1821 in connection with his store, back of the present Woodruff store, and John Hunt worked it for several years.

There is a large tannery at the village of Delhi, near Bridge street, owned and operated by Frederick Steifel. It was established early, and has been successfully operated. In 1870 the present owner, Mr. Steifel, purchased it; it is the only one of the town, and does a very large business.

In 1824 the Delaware Woolen Factory Company, of Delhi, commenced the dam and works now in full operation in the upper part of the village. The company was composed of Samuel Sherwood and H. D. Gould principally. In 1825-1826 the present building was mainly erected. It employed a number of hands and was successfully operated. In 1839 Richard Titus purchased it and increased its business greatly, but after a few years assigned it to the Delaware Bank. It was leased and continued yet a few years by that corporation, when it was purchased by N. Hathaway and O.S. Penfield and placed by them upon a better basis. In September, 1865, J. K. Penfield and Henry White purchased the interest of Mr. Hathaway, and the firm became O. S. Penfield & Co. In 1870 E. B. Smith purchased O.S. Penfield's interest, and the present firm of Smith & Penfield entered into full possession. These enterprising men at once added to the buildings and machinery, and made it a woolen mill to suit the growth of the age. It employs ten or twelve hands, and manufactures from 20,000 to 25,000 yards of all-woolen cloths and flannels each year. A custom department for carding and manufacturing is always ready for the public. Market is readily found in the State with merchant tailors and tradesmen. The farmers find sale for their wool, and the firm purchases about 30,000 pounds yearly.

In 1826 or 1827 a grist-mill was built upon the site of Smith & Penfield's grist-mill by George Sherwood, brother of Samuel Sherwood, and it was complete in the improvements of that day. In 1839 Richard Titus purchased the property, and with the remainder of his real and personal estate the mill passed into the hands of the Delaware Bank. In 1870 the present owners, Smith & Penfield, purchased the entire property and its appurtenances and privileges. They at once erected the new building, supplied it with four runs of Burr stone, made its storage capacity 12,000 bushels, and rendered it in every way worthy of the good name it bears.

At present the steam mill of Hutson Brothers near the depot is in operation a portion of the time, which, with a feed mill on Platner brook owned by Mr. Hamilton, and the extensive mill of Smith & Penfield, gives the surrounding country ample facilities for its grain grinding-and how the "hard times" of the present generation differ from the pioneer life of their ancestors can be deduced from the history of grist-mills in the village and town.

The Delaware National Bank was organized from the Delaware Bank in May, 1965; the Delaware Bank was organized April 4th, 1839. Directors met at the Edgerton House in Delhi and elected Herman D. Gould president, and Giles M. Shaw, cashier. October 1st, 1850, Mr. Gould resigned, and Charles Marvine was elected to the vacancy. At the death of Mr. Marvine, February 26th, 1874, George E. Marvine was elected, and has served since. G. M. Shaw held the office of cashier until 1842, and was succeeded by Dubois Burhans. April 27th, 1845, John W. Sherwood was elected to fill vacancy, and resigned July 28th, 1848. August 5th, 1848, Walter H. Griswold was elected, and has since been the cashier, except in the year 1853, when Thomas Edgerton held the office. The bank was organized with a capital of $100,000, which was raised to $150,000.

The Railway Bank is a private institution, belonging to and under the supervision of Seth H. White, Esq. Its deposits range from $20,000 to $30,000 annually, and the banking house has been beautified and refitted very recently. This bank was instituted March 1st, 1872, with S. H. White president and William F. White cashier. Mr. White continued to be its president and manager, and William P. Lynch and Mr. Blakeley its cashier and teller. The office adjoins the Episcopal church, and in addition to suitable banking and law offices Mr. White has established a real estate agency for the county-a proper medium for the purchase and sale of real estate in any of the towns.

PHYSICIANS OF THE PAST AND PRESENT

Dr. Thomas Fitch came from Connecticut, and settled two miles above the village of Delhi, on a faarm on the bank of the Delaware river in 1803. He practiced in his profession until about 1810, when he removed to Philadelphia, and was succeeded by his brother Cornelius. Dr. Fitch was a cultivated gentleman for the time in which he lived. He took much interest in the formation of the county medical society. He was an efficient member and officer of the society from the first. He was chairman of the committee which reported by-laws for the society. He sold his farm in Delhi to his brother Cornelius.

Dr. Asahel E. Paine became a member of the county society in 1807. He had been a student with, and also partner of the Hon. Dr. J. H. Brett, who was the first and presiding judge of the county. Dr. Paine was president of the county medical society in 1816. He was county clerk, member of Assembly, etc.

Dr. Ambrose Bryan joined the society in 1807, and was president in 1813. He married Miss Harriet, daughter of Hon. Ebenezer Foote.

Dr. David S. Denio was born in Delhi about the year 1793. He studied in the office of Dr. T.B. Whitmarsh. He married Miss Sallie Andrews, who survives him. Dr. Denio had a good practice for many years. His patrons like him; but he was too kind, and too self-sacrificing; always caring for his friends and forgetting himself.

Dr. Ebenezer Steele was born in Walton, September 8th, 1893. He was rather sedate, dignified and reticent in his demeanor. He was admitted to the county society in 1821, and was president in 1828 and 1829. Dr. Steele was secretary and delegate to the State society and made permanent member in February, 1865, and died December 3d, following. He was a thoughtful, careful, good physician, highly esteemed by his patrons, and respected by all.

Dr. Turney Vermilyea united with the county society in 1828, was made secretary in 1829 and died in September 1830. Dr. Jacobs came here on the day of his death, and has remained in the practice until now. Dr. Vermilyea had been a valuable and able partner of Dr. Steele for some two years.

Dr. Cornelius Root Fitch was brother of Thomas and William. He studied medicine with Thomas and bought the farm at Fitch's bridge. He joined the county society in 1815 and was president in 1822 and 1823. Dr. Fitch was respected as a gentleman of great worth and ability. He was often slow of speech, careful and thoughtful. At the bedside of the sick he devoted himself exclusively to the care of his patients. Among friends he was genial and free, but among a mixed company he was often reserved.

Dr. Ferris Jacobs was born January 10th, 1802, in Peekskill, N.Y. On graduating from Columbian College, Washington, D.C., in 1833, he came to Delhi. He immediately became a member of the county medical society, of which he was made secretary in 1831. He was a delegate to the State medical society in 1834, president of the county society in 1838 and 1839; a delegate to the State convention in 1840; became a permanent member of the State society in 1845; received an honorary A. M. from Williams College in 1845; an honorary M.D. from the regents in 1865; and an honorary membership in the New Jersey Medical Society in 1872. He has continued practice in medicine and surgery to the present.

Dr. Abraham Miller joined the county society in 1834, and practiced a while in Delhi. He was a permanent member of the Medical Association of the Untied States.

Dr. Almeron Fitch was born in August, 1801. He came to Delhi in 1839, having practiced inhis profession for years in Meredith and also in Franklin. Dr. Fitch was elected president of the county society in 1848 and 1850. He was a delegate to the State society and also to the Medical Association of the Untied States, and was a prominent man in his profession. He died January 6th, 1877. Dr. Fitch graduated from Fairfield Medical College in 1824.

Dr. Calvin Howard was born in Vermont in 1792 and died in May, 1873, at the age of eighty-one years. He was a delegate to the State Medical Society in 1838. He received the honorary degree of M.D. from the Columbian College, D.C., in 1846. No office of honor or trust was withheld from him. A lyceum of natural history was founded in Delhi about the year 1833, under the title of "The Chemical and Geological Society." Dr. Howard was assisted in this work by General Root, Hon. C. Hathaway, Drs. E. Steele and F. Jacobs, N. Hathaway, Esq., and others. Though living at Hobart, sixteen miles distant, he was the life and soul of the society. He removed to Delhi in 1847. He was president of the county medical society in 1826 and 1827. H. N. Buckley came next and is now in practice with his son.

Dr. John Calhoun was elected sheriff from Bovina and moved to Delhi in 1865. Since his term of office expired he has practiced his profession successfully to the present time.

Dr. Isaac Miller, Dr. H.S. Gates and Dr. Mann are also in practice now.

DELHI JOURNALISM

The Delaware Express was established at Delhi in January, 1839, at which time there was but one newspaper in existence in the county-the Gazette. The Express was founded by Norwood Bowne, by whom it has been published and edited to the present time. It was established to advocate the principles of the then Whig party; and continued such advocacy until the Republican party came into existence-a party that has ever since received the support of the Express with all the ardor and never wearying energy that its editor could command, combined with a warm, heartfelt sympathy for the principles enunciated by that party. The cause of temperance and all practical reforms have always found in Mr. Bowne a firm, consistent and efficient advocate.

The Delaware Gazette was the first paper published in the county. It was started by John J. Lappon in November, 1819, and published by him until April 3d, 1822, when the paper passed into the hands of David Johnson. It was published by him till March 27th, 1833, then by Anthony M. Paine and Jacob D. Clark till May 15th, 1839; then continued by Paine alone till February 1st, 1872. Since that time it has been published by George H. Paine and Ira B. Kerr.

When started the paper professed neutrality in politics but in a very few years became Democratic, and has since been attached to that party.

In 1859 the publication of the Star of Delaware was taken charge of by T.F. McIntosh, who had previously been printing it at Bloomville for the editor, Rev. C. B. Smyth, of Delhi, pastor of the Second Presbyterian or "Flats" church.

The Delaware Republican was established at Delhi, by Alvin Sturtevant and T.F. McIntosh as publishers in may, 1860, the first number being issued May 14th. For this purpose they purchased the material and good-will of the Star of Delaware.

The principal editorial control of the paper was assigned to Mr. Sturtevant, who, as well as his partner, was a practical printer and journalist. Mr. Sturtevant was a native of Madison, Madison county, and had been employed on papers at Hamilton and Cortland, and upon the Franklin (Delaware county) Visitor just previous to the establishment of the Republican.

The paper soon had a large subscription list and took a front rank among the Republican papers of the county, which it has ever since maintained. In the exciting events and discussions of the cival war it bore a prominent and influential part. Its correspondence from the seat of war and chronology of the local movements of that period were very full and accurate.

In October, 1863, the Franklin Visitor was purchased of G. W. Reynolds by Messrs. Sturtevant and McIntosh, and consolidated with the Delaware Republican, largely increasing its subscription list and patronage.

In February, 1868, Mr. Sturtevant sold his interest in the Republican to Joseph Eveland (now one of the publishers of the Franklin Register), and the Republican was published until December, 1869, by McIntosh and Eveland, when Mr. Eveland's interest was purchased by Mr. McIntosh, who has since been the sole proprietor.

Mr. Sturtevant purchased the Binghamton Standard, but soon after was seriously burned and otherwise injured at the Carr's Rock railroad disaster, and was obliged to relinquish the enterprise and sell out his paper. He afterward moved to Michigan, where he published a paper at Benton Harbor. He had again sold out and made an engagement to return to Binghamton as managing editor of the Daily Republican, when he was attacked with pneumonia and died at Benton Harbor in May, 1874, at an age of less than 40 years, having won a distinguished place in the fraternity of journalists and rendered his country devoted and valuable services during its struggle for existence.

The Republican, under the management of Mr. McIntosh, has fully maintained its place in the front rank of the county press. In 1873 a Cambell power press was added to its facilities-a second newspaper power press to be introduced into the county-and in 1876 a new convenient and creditable office was constructed for its reception, located upon the west side of the public square, near Main street, to which its material was removed.

Its rooms are upon the first floor; its presses are supplied with steam power, and its extensive and modern outfit added to the ability and enterprise heretofore displayed in its management, are guarantees of an assured, successful and honorable future.

CHURCH HISTORIES

ST. JOHN'S EPISCOPALIAN

In 1819 a number of prominent gentleman of Delhi assembled at the court-house and proceeded to form an Episcopal congregation. Among the founders were many honored citizens, including Hon. Ebenezer Foote, Hon. Samuel Sherwood, Colonel Amasa Parker, Henry Perry, Esq., C.B. Sheldon, Erastus Root, S.R. Hobbie, Judge Fitch, Nathaniel Hathaway, Charles Marvine, etc. The foundation was thus laid by men of sterling integrity and lofty principles. In 1831 a church edifice was erected through the exertions of the parishioners and the aid of Trinity church, New York. In making the last improvements upon the building-which has been wonderfully transformed since its original erection-the traces of the old chancel and pulpit were found; the building itself has been a testimony to the growth and prosperity of the parish.

Rev. David Huntington, rector of St. Peter's church, Hobart, for some time conducted, occasional services, until April 4th, 1820, and Rev. J. P. F. Clarke then had charge until 1822; then for a long period the parish was dependent upon occasional services.

The Rev. Hewlitt R. Peters, D.D., had charge in 1828, and after the erection of an edifice, in 1831, the Rev. Orange Clark was the first settled rector. His pastorate ended in 1834. July 4th, 1835, the Rev. Thomas S. Judd became rector; he resigned in November, 1841. During his rectorship Daniel S. Tuttle, now the distinguished Bishop of Montana, then a boy, was baptized and confirmed, and he began his studies under Mr. Judd's direction.

The Rev. George Waters, D. D., was rector from 1842 to 1849; he was much beloved for his great and conscientious fidelity to all his pastoral duties.

The Rev. Samuel G. Appleton was his successor, serving from May 12th, 1850, to July, 1854, and was much beloved by his people.

The Rev. William Walsh was rector in 1854-56.

Next came the Rev. A.D. Benedict, who was rector from April, 1856 to March 27th, 1864. During this period of devoted service he worked with untiring zeal; his health, impaired by years of active service, gave way; he passed the remainder of his days at Racine, Wis., where he died in 1875.

The Rev. Byron J. Hall was rector from July 10th, 1864, to December 15th, 1867-three years of excellent service.

The Rev. Edward B. Allen was rector for a brief period; he was formerly a Presbyterian minister, and after a short sojourn in the Episcopal fold returned to his original faith.

In 1869 Rev. Joseph Richey became rector. He remained such till 1871, and in his vigorous administration a new life was infused; a spacious recessed chancel, beautiful memorial windows and other material improvements were added to the church and greater interest was awakened among the people. Mr. Richey died a few years later in Baltimore, greatly lamented by his congregation.

The Rev. E. B. Russell was elected September 23d, 1871, and since December 1st, 1871, has had charge of the parish. Under his administration the church building has been entirely remodeled and richly beautified, a new and superior organ purchased, costly gifts secured to the parish, a fine rectory, with spacious grounds, obtained, all indebtedness paid, and many other good works accomplished. A great interest has been awakened in the church and its services, and the parish is now one of the best in the diocese. Its offerings for all objects-home or abroad-have been remarkable 9notably, one of $1,120 given one Sunday in 1876 for missions), and its good tone and churchly life widely known.

SECOND PRESBYTERIAN

In March 1831, a meeting was held at the court-house to incorporate this society. The following persons were elected first trustees: Silas Knapp, Charles Hathaway, Timothy Perkins, Patrick Beardsley, James C. Leal, Jabez Hitchcolk, William Millard, Joseph Dodge and H. D. Gould. April 6th, 1831, the organization was perfected by a committee of the Chenango presbytery, and had a membership of 48. Steps were taken for the erection of an edifice. Charles Hathaway was architect. The timber was furnished by John Hunt, now a resident of Delhi and age 89 years. The building was forty by sixty feet, and cost $3,500. It was dedicated October 1st, 1832.

The Rev. Samuel G. Orton was the first pastor, but Rev. Orlando L. Kirtland was the first who was regularly ordained pastor, commencing his labors in May, 1832. He was succeeded by Rev. Daniel Waterbury in December, 1835, whose pastorate terminated in January, 1838. Rev. Bloomer Kent filled the pulpit one year, and Rev. Nathaniel H. Griffin was called June 29th, 1839, terminating his labors in 1841. December 29th, 1841, Rev. S. G. Spees was installed pastor, and was succeeded by Rev. Josiah Leonard in 1845. In 1847 Rev. Mr. Wynkoop took charge; in 1849 Rev. Dr. Torrey; and in 1863 Rev. Theo. F. White began his labors. Rev. F. A. M. Brown, the present pastor, was called January 15th, 1866, and began his labors in April of the same year. In 1865 an addition was made to the rear of the church building, but a remodeling and enlargement of the entire structure was necessary in 1878. The contractors for this important work were Wright & Frost, David Williamson, and A.C. Menzie, and the cost of enlargement, decoration, etc., was upwards of $7,000. The church will now seat six hundred, and for beauty and convenience is not surpassed in Delaware county, The present ruling elders are Dr. T. W. Brown, O.S. Penfield, J. P. Meigs and Milton Frisbee. The board of trustees is composed of Dr. T. W. Brown, S. H. White, J. K. Penfield, D. Williamson, E. B. Smith, and F. Jacobs, jr., and the membership is about three hundred, with a Sunday-school of corresponding proportions. At the rededication, August 1st, 1878, Rev. Dr. Torrey preached the dedicatory sermon; he with Messrs. Doubleday, White and Brown, the only surviving pastors, being present. The church edifice is centrally located on east side of and facing the public square.

M. E. CHURCH

July 23d, 1839, a few persons met at the court-house to organize a church, and it was resolved that a society be organized and be named the M. E. Church of Delhi. Meetings were at once established and Rev. Joseph B. Wakeley "supplied the pulpit."

In 1840, December 21st, a deed of the present site of the edifice of this society was given by James Howe, and the church was soon afterward erected.

The following is a list of pastors, and the years in which they were appointed: Rev. J. B. Wakeley, 1839; Rev. Aaron Rogers, 1841; Rev. Sanford Washburn, 1843; Rev. Mr. Kelsey, 1845; Rev. Mr. Brown, 1848; Rev. Thomas Carter, 1849; Rev. Joseph Elliott, 1852; Rev. Robert Burr, 1853; Rev. A. T. Sellick, 1854; Rev. Robert Kerr, 1857; Rev. L. B. Andrews, 1861; Rev. W. D. Feroe, 1863; Rev. M. S. Terry, 1865; Rev. A. Ackley, 1868; Rev. J. G. Slater, 1869; Rev. A. R. Burrus, 1870; Rev. Mr. McCumber, 1873; Rev. S. W. Walsworth, 1876; Rev. E. H. W. Barden, 1879. The present trustees are Henry England, T. F .McIntosh, L. G. Hollister, E. VanDyke, John H. Smith, David C. White and Hiram P. Hunt.

BAPTIST CHURCH

This church was organized August 23d, 1842, with 57 members-25 males and 32 females-as follows: Gad Pease, Charles A. Foote, Orrin Fish, Daniel Fish, Ebenezer Mitchell, Ira Park, A. L. Howell, Nathan Merwin, Alvin Merwin, Philo Merwin, W. B. Ray, Milo R. Wilcox, Samuel Bailey, Chester Case, Francis Yeoman, Joseph Sleigh, William Newcomb, Vernon Frisbee, Enos Fisher, Miles N. Mitchell, Samuel Hanford, Edward Taylor, Bela Frost, J.C. Bisbee and John Merwin; Thirza Merwin, Priscilla Bisbee, Lucy M. Bisbee, Julia Pease, Peggy Fish, Betsey Fish, jane Ballard, Elizabeth Mitchell, Polly Blanchard, Julia Wilcox, Lucy M. Hubbell, Julia Hurd, Rebecca Bailey, Frances Wilcox, Ruby Mitchell,Mary Perkins, Margaret Yeomans, Jane Yeomans, Juliette Mitchell, Esther Perkins, Eliza Slocum, Sally A. Howland, Margaret Ladd, Hannah Fisher, Julia A. Yeomans, Finanda Frost, Parmelia Churchill, Eunice Blanchard, Ann Hanford, Augusta Hanford, Freelove Frisbee and Emily Bates.

The first trustees elected were John Blanchard, Charles Foote, Gad Pease, Daniel Frisbee, Nathan Merwin and A. G. Boomhour, and for two years the services were held in the court-house.

On the 7th of September, 1844, th new house of worship was first occupied, having cost, with the lot, $3,000.

The pastors, in order of their succession, have been: Eratust Westcott, Elder John Little, Elder D. F. Leach, Elder M. R. Fary, Elder R. J. Reynolds, Elder R. D. Andrews, Rev. S. Gallup, Aaron Wilkie, O. Sargent, licentiate, and the present pastor, M. L. Purrington.

The value of the church property is $5,000.

The present trustees are J. I. Goodrich, M. Stilson and C. A. Foote.

The present membership is 94, and the number of Sabbath-school scholars 60.

DELAWARE ACADEMY

must have had its beginning some time in the year 1818.

The earliest record known of it is an endowment of $6,000, which was secured to it by an act of the Legislature, April 12th, 1819. This was obtained through the influence of General Erastus Root, and consisted of the proceeds of a confiscated tory estate, as stated in our chapter on patents.

The academy was incorporated by the regents of the university February 12th, 1820.

Its first building was erected on the south side of the court-house square upon lands by General Erastus Root.

The officers of the first board of trustees were: Judge Ebenezer Foote, president or senior trustee; Judge Jabez Bostwick, treasurer; Colonel Amasa Parker, secretary.

The academy had a very successful career in its first building, there being at that time but few competing institutions in its locality. In 1856 it seemed to have out-grown its accommodations in the old building, and the trustees purchased 20 acres of land on the south bank of Steele's brook for a site of new buildings.

About $40,000 was raised, with which an academy and two boarding halls were built. This money was largely raised through the efforts of Professors John L. Sawyer and William Wright. Scholarships entitling each subscriber of $25 to twelve terms of tuition were given in return for the money. For many years these scholarships impeded the usefulness of the institution. In 1870 an effort was made to relieve the academy from this burden, and many scholarships were canceled by the holders.

The academy now contains a valuable apparatus and a choice library of about 2,000 volumes.

The principals have been as follows: John A. Savage, 1821-24; Frederick A. Fenn, 1824-1826; Thomas Farrington, 1826, 1827; Stephen C. Johnson, 1827-29; Robert Tolefree, 1829, 1830; William J. Monteith, 1830-33; Rev. Orange Clark, 1832-34; Rev. Ebenezer H. Cressy, 1834-37; Rev. Daniel Shepard, 1837-46; William R. Harper, 1846, 1847; Merrit G. McKeon, 1847-54; John L. Sawyer, 1854-63; Rev. Silas Fitch, 1863-67; Levi D. Miller, 1867-69; William Wight, 1869-75; Sherrill E. Smith, who since 187 has been the efficient principal.

DELHI FIRE DEPARTMENT

The Delhi fire department was organized April 11th, 160, pursuant to law. It then consisted of 65 members, with the following officers: Chief engineer, A. Cook Edgerton; assistant engineer, Dexter Pettingill; clerk, John A. Parshall; treasurer, Caleb A. Frost.

The following have been chief engineers since its organization: A. Cook Edgerton, Dexter Pettingill, Thomas Jackson, Robert P. McCormack, John C. Howard, George H. Smith, Alexander Hunt, William H. Douglass, George H. Maxwell. The present officers are: Chief engineer, George H. Maxwell; assistant engineer, Edward Knapp; clerk, Arthur Frisbee; treasurer, James A. Mable.

The department when organized consisted of two companies, one of 40 memberts (Coquago Engine Company No.r), and the other 25 members (Youmans Hose Company No.2, formerly Red Jacket Hose Company, No.1).

The department now consists of 134 members, in five companies as follows:

Coquago Engine Company, No. 1, was organized April 11th, 1860, and donsists of 40 me. It is well organized, and thoroughly equipped with a Jeffres & Co. engine, manufactured at Pawtucket, R.I. The first officers were: Foreman, James Cormack, Jr.; assistant forman, George A. Sturgis; secretary, John H. Griswold; treasurer, Minor Stilson. The foremen since its organization have been James Cormack, Jr.; Thomas Jackson, George Maxwell, Thomas J. Jackson, Thomas Elliott, T.F. McIntosh, J.H. Hunt, C.L. Huber, jr/, James S. Nichols, Robert P. Cormack. The present officers are: Foreman, Thomas Elliott; assistant foreman, James H. Banker; secretary, Charles McPhail; treasurer, Frederick Steifel.

Youmans Hose Company No. 2, was organized April 11th, 1860, under the name of Red Jacket Hose Company, No. 1, and consisted of 15 members, with the following officers: Foreman, Charles F. Churchill; assistant foreman, John C. Howard; secretary, J. H. . Gould, jr.; treasurer, A. L. Crammer. The name of the company was changed to Youmans Hose Company No. 2 May 14th, 1873, as a compliment to William Youmans, Esq., of Delhi. This company has always maintained a good organization, is well disciplined, and understands its business thoroughly. The foreman since its organization have been: C.F. Churchill, John C. Howard, Edward F. Hunter, H. S. Phelps, S. Hill, George H. Elliott, J. Gray Bain, George H. Smith, Alexander A. Raff, T. S. O'Neil, W. Crosby, J. Butts, F. L. Norton, William H. Douglass, George W. Hitchcock. The present officers are: foreman, George Smith; assistant foreman, T. O. Neil; secretary, George W. Hitchcock; treasurer, E. Paul.

Graham Hook and Ladder Company No. 3, was organized March 31st, 1861, under the name of Delhi Hook and Ladder Company No. 3. It has twenty-five members and is thoroughly organized, drilled and equipped. The name of the company was change to Graham Hook and Ladder Company No. 3 on June 22,, 1868, in honor of Hon. James H. Graham, of Delhi. The first officers were: Foreman, David Williamson; assistant foreman, Albert Smith; secretary and treasurer, Solomon Rice. The foreman since it organization have been: David Williamson, Solomon Rice, William Fletcher, William Stoddart, James Cormack, George H. Goodrich, William R. Bill, Richard McCall, John Elliott, Alexander Menzie, Alexander Hunt, Thomas Hutson, Ransom A. Grant. The present officers are: Foreman, Ransom A. Grant; assistant foreman, Thomas Hutson; secretary, Wallace B. Gleason; treasurer, William Winters, jr.

Sheldon Hose Company No. 4 - This company was organized October 19th, 1865, under the name of Oceanus Engine Company No. 4, and used the old engine known as "Cataract." On the 24th of May, 1876, it was changed to a hose company, under the name of "Oceanus Hose Company;" and on June 28th of the same year the name was again changed, to "Sheldon Hose Company," in honor of William C. Sheldon, Esq., a wealthy and respected citizen whose summer residence is in Delhi. This company consists of twenty-five men, is well organized and equipped, and was awarded the first prize and championship o Delaware county at a firemen's tournament held at Delhi, on the fair grounds, August 21st, 1878. It owes much of its prosperity to the energy of its foreman, Mr. Charles R. Stilson, who has been for several years its commanding officer. The first officers were: Foreman, Myron Graham; assistant foreman, John VanHoesen; secretary, Russell Frost; treasurer, H. W. Price. The foremen since its organization were: Myron Graham, Russell Frost, Frank Bellar, John D. Williamson, William A. Bellar, Charles B. Stilson. The present officers are: Foreman, Charles R. Stilson; assistant foreman, Jos. Hill; secretary, John Clark; treasurer, Benedict Mendel.

Active Hose Company No. 5, organized June 2nd, 1876 as an auxiliary company to Coquago Company, No. 1, and was changed to an independent hose company April 9th, 1877. It consists of fifteen members. Frank L. Norton has been its foreman since its organization. The present officers are: Foreman, F. L. Norton; assistant foreman, Frank J. Potter; secretary, Walter G. Edgerton; treasurer, Jos. L. Meeker.

All the companies are uniformed, and in good condition in every way.

THE DELHI WATER COMPANY

was organized by a special act of the Legislature on February 19th, 1872.

The body corporate included H. N. Buckley, Charles Hathaway, William Youmans, Charles Marvine, James H. Graham, W. C. Sheldon, T. Benjamin Meigs, James H. Wright, Daniel T. Arbuckle and Caleb A. Frost.

At the first meeting, March 15th, 1872, Charles Marvine was chosen president, Charles Hathaway vice-president; D. T. Arbuckle, secretary and treasurer; and J. H. Wright,, superintendent.

The capital stock of the company was $20,000. The reservoir is three-fourths of a mile from Main street, on Steele's brook, and all water that reaches the village must pass through a washed-gravel filter 160 feet long, 6 feet wide and 10 feet deep.

The water passes through two six-inch pipes to the village, where mains are placed in every street. There are in use four miles of mains. There are 35 hydrants for fire purposes in the corporation, and the entire village has the use of pure, good water.

The officers remain the same as at first, except that George E. Marvine has been president since the death of his father, and William Youmans vice-president since the death of Charles Hathaway. Dividends are made semi-annually, and no inland town has a better system or one more profitable to producers and consumers than this.

James H. Wright, the superintendent, has personally supervised the entire work of digging ditch and laying pipe in a workmanlike and economical manner.

MASONIC

On the 1st of March, 1809, Cassia Lodge, No. 180, was instituted at Delhi. The lodge was an excellent one, and erected a masonic hall, where its regular communications were held; that building has been enlarged, and is now Cottrell's Hotel. The lodge was prosperous until the "Morgan excitement" in 1828. The last officers installed, and who acted for 1827, were: M.L. Farrington, W. M.; L. Henry, S. W.; C. B. Sheldon, J. W.; William Frisbee, treasurer; Thomas S. Leal, secretary; Philip Farrington, S. D.; D. S. Denio, J. D.; John Fisher, tyler. In November, 1827, officers were elected for the ensuing year, but were not installed. Of the last officers of Cassia Lodge only Morris L. Farrington survives.

Delhi Lodge No. 439, F. and A. M. - February 27th, 1857, a dispensation was granted for a new lodge, and July 2nd, 1857, a charter was duly granted by the grand lodge. Wheeler W. Clark, then installed the following officers: P. B. Merwin, W. M.; J. A. Hutson, S. W.; S. Griswold, J. W.; A. Fitch, treasurer; James Smith, secretary; James Cormack, jr. S.D.; G.A. Sturges, J.D.; W. S. Crawford, tyler; M. L. Farring, S. M. C.; B. Griffin, J. M. C.

The masters of this lodge, with date of election have been: P. B. Merwin, 1858-60; Robert Parker, 1861-64; J. S. Page, 1865-1866, 1868; O. W. Smith, 1867, 1869; Robert P. McCormack, 1870; Thomas Jackson, 1871, 1872; Jonas M. Preston, 1872, 1874; Amos W. Abbott, 1875, 1876; James H. McIntosh, 1877.

At the election of 1878-to service for the present year-James H. McIntosh was re-elected W.M.; W. H. Fisher, S.W.; Thomas Roberts, J. W.; A. M. Paine, treasurer; M. Farrington, secretary; F. L. Norton, S. D.; William H. Odell, J. D.; C. Haviland, tyler; O. C. Frisbee, S. M. C.; and C. E. Bellar, J. M. C.

The lodge has over one hundred active members, and the hall, in Page's block, is a model of neatness. The present regular communications are the first and third Thursdays of each month.

Delhi Chapter, No. 249, R. A. M., held its first convocation April 17th, 1870, with the following officers: J. S. Page, H. P.; John Woodburn, K.; J. M. Preston, S.; H. Sinclair, C. H.; Thomas Jackson, P. S.; W. R. Bill, R. A. C.; B. F. Gerowe, I. England an J. R. Honeywell, M.V's; Solomon Rice, secretary. For the years 1871-76 J. S. Page was elected to the office of H. P., and in 1878 was re-elected.

The present officers are: Jonas M. Preston, H.P.; John Woodburn, K.; W. R. Bill, S.; J. M. Bats, C. H.; J. H. McIntosh, P. S.; Solomon Rice, R. A. C.; E. Knapp, W. H. Douglas and F. L. Norton, masters of vails; J. R. Honeywell, secretary; and C. Haviland, tiler.

The chapter's regular convocations are held on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month at Masonic Hall, Page's block, Main street, and there are about sixty members.

TEMPERANCE

Delhi Lodge, No. 748, I. O. of G. T., was instituted at Delhi, N.Y., by George H. Scrambling, of Oneonta, N. Y., and duly chartered by the Grand Lodge of the State of New York on the 7th day of November, 1877.

The charter members were: Truman H. Wheeler, Charles N. Bowne, James H. Banker, Robert Sinclair, John B. Murray, C. B. Hanford, Robert Young, W. R. McCourtie, James F. Currie, Fred Miller, John Frazier, James A. Mable, Walter D. Miller, F. W. Lester, and Charles Kissock. At the institution of the lodge James H. Banker was chosen worthy chief templar, holding the office for one term. On the 29th of January, 1878, Charles N. Bowne was elected to succeed Mr. Banker as worth chief templar, and was re-elected at the close of his first term. On the 30th of July, John B. Murray was made worthy chief templar, and continued in that office for the period of six months, until the 4th day of February, 1879, when he was succeeded by Norwood Bowne. The first lodge deputy was C. B. Hanford. He was succeeded in office by Timothy W. Lester in February, 1878. At the first meeting of the lodge sixteen persons were initiated. The entire membership of the lodge since its organization is ninety-four. The number of present members in good standing is fifty-seven. Seventeen are ladies and forty are gentlemen. Nine have withdrawn from the lodge since it was organized, and twenty-eight have been suspended or expelled.

Norwood Bowne is the present worthy chief templar, and Peter P. Wright is lodge deputy. Their terms expire the first day of August, 1879. Meetings of the lodge are held every Tuesday evening.

Draper Degree Temple-On the 2nd day of November 1878, a degree temple was organized in connection with this lodge, and duly chartered by the Grand Lodge of New York. The temple is named Draper Degree Temple, No. 500, after A. S. Draper, grand worthy chief templar of the State of New York. The charter members were: Charles N. Bowne, John B. Murray, Robert A. Carrington, Wells R. Whitney, Charles Ballon, Arthur W. Webb, Robert H. Wright, John Frost, Leslie Brown, Norwood Bowne, and Peter P. Wright. At the organizaiton of the temple P. P. Wright was elected degree templar. On the 31st of January, 1879, Wells R. Whitney was chosen to succeed him. His term expires on the 31st day of January, 1880. Meetings of the temple are held on the third Tuesday of every month.

Howard Division S. of T., No. 112. - This division was organized February 23d, 1874, and holds an anniversary each year upon the date of its institution. The rooms in Main street are nicely fitted up for its social and regular meetings, which occur Friday evening of each week. The first officers were: A. D. Knapp. W.P.; John Woodburn, W.A.; George L. Gordon, R.S.; Charles R. Stilson, A. R. S.; Charles McPhail, F.S.; J. M. Gordon, Treas.; C. B. Hanford, Chap.; R. McCall, Con.; W. H. Cumming, A.C.; Thomas Gordon, I.S.; S.A. Reed, O. S.; A. W. Abbott, P.W.P. A.D. Knapp acted as W.P. to April 1st, 1875; Alexander Lewis, J. H. McIntosh, and John Woodburn during the remaining quarters of 1875; in 1876 W. R. Whitney two quarters, and W. H. Douglas and W. T. Luddington one quarter each; in 1877 W. T. Luddington, John Woodburn, H.S. Boynton, and J. H. McIntosh; in 1878 J. H. McIntosh, G. H. Maxwell tow quarters and William Gilday; in 1879 Ira G. Moore, two quarters, and the officers at present, the third quarter of the year, are: John H. Owens, W. P.; Charles McPhail, W. A.; R. P. McIntosh, R. S.; W. B. Woodburn, A. R. .S.; L. F. Gleason, F. S.; C. L. Huber, jr., Treas.; D. Becker, Chap.; C. E. Becker, Con.; W.D. Hume, A. C.; W. H. Jackson, I.S.; L. R. Tyrell, O.S.; Ira G. Moore, P. W. P.; H.S.Boynton, organist. The membership is seventy-seven. John Woodburn is the present D.D. P.W.P.

ZETA PHI FRATERNITY

is a secret society organized March 3d, 1855. Its object is social intercourse and intellectual improvement. Regular meetings are held every Monday evening at Zeta Phi Hal, corner Main and Division streets. The fraternity has had a membership of over 200, many of whom have become residents of other States. Its active working membership is about 40.

The society ever since its organization has held an annual festival, the literary exercises consisting of an oration and poem delivered by the members of the society. It is always public, held usually in the afternoon, and a supper in the evening, at which the members attend accompanied by their lady friends, after which, toasts , speeches, sons composed by members of the society, etc. prevail.

"An Act to incorporate the Zeta Phi Fraternity in the Village of Delhi," passed April 17th, 1861, constituted Robert T. Johnson, Harvey F. Davidson, Moses S. Wilcox and Edmund G. Butts, together with such other persons as then were or thereafter might be associated with them, a body corporate, with the above title. The gentlemen named were to be the trustees until others were elected.

JUDGE N. K. WHEELER

Nelson Knox Wheeler was the eldest son of William and Eleanor Knox Wheeler, deceased, who, at the time of his birth, resided in Hancock, Delaware county, N.Y. The family moved to Deposit in 1814, when he was a small boy. He attended the Oxford Academy for about one year, in company with U.S. Judge Ward Hunt and Governor Horatio Seymour. Young Hunt often heard him recite his Latin lessons under the direction of the principal. From Oxford he went to the Cortland Academy, at Homer, where he fitted for college. He entered Hamilton College one year in advance, and remained there nearly two years. He then entered Union College, where he graduated in 1828; then studied law at Delhi with Samuel Sherwood, and in 1832 commenced the practice of law at Delhi with Noadiah Johnson, then member of Congress and so continued till Johnson's death. In 1836 he married Emily B. Ogden, of Walton, by whom he had one son and five daughters, whom he reared and two of whom are married. After Mr. Johnson's death he practiced law in copartnership with his brother, Truman H. Wheeler. He held the office of Supreme Court commissioner when by law the powers of a judge of the Supreme Court at chambers were conferred on said office. He then held the office of district attorney for one term; after that he was surrogate one term and was then appointed first judge of the Court of Common Pleas, under the old Common Pleas system, and acted as such during the notorious anti-rent times. In those times he tried and sentenced many persons to State prison for criminal offences growing out of the anti-rent excitement. He moved with his family to Deposit in 1849, where he practiced law. In 1855 he went west to attend to the foreclosure of a railroad mortgage in Illinois and Wisconsin, and the reorganization thereof under the name of Chicago, St. Paul and Fond du Lac Railroad Company, of which he was vice-president and counsel, in which position he remained until the company became insolvent. He then left that company and accepted the position of commissioner and gent of the Fox and Wisconsin Improvement Company and the trustees of the bondholders, for the valuation and sale of their large quantity of lands in Wisconsin; resididing chiefly at Fond du Lac till the company failed-a result of embarrassment produced by the financial crisis of 1857. Soon afterward he accepted the office of deputy collector of custom's in New York, under Hiram Barney, collector, where he remained several years. After that he was appointed by the mayor and aldermen of the city of New York a police justice for the term of ten years, commencing January 1, 1874, which office he now holds. He was a member of Assembly from Delaware county two terms, the first term when quite a young man.

The writer of this brief biography has known Judge Wheeler well for more than sixty years, having attended common school with him at Deposit under several teachers, and was also with him at the Cortland Academy. In his youth he excelled as a scholar. In the practice of his profession he was a thorough and successful lawyer, In all the offices which he has held, their various duties have been discharged to the entire satisfaction of the public and parties in interest, and through life he has been governed by a high sense of probity and honor. Since 1849 Judge Wheeler has improved his very valuable and picturesque old homestead farm in Deposit, in which he takes great interest. He has a dairy farm of some eight hundred acres near the village; is fond of rural life, and when he can be relieved temporarily from his official duties in New York as police magistrate he immediately takes a run into the country to see his old friends, get a look at his farms and stock and take a sniff of the pure mountain air of his native county. He is now hale and hearty, with a fair prospect of several years of active usefullness. M.R.H.

BIOGRAPHICAL

HON. ERASTUS ROOT

No other citizen of Delaware County was ever so long and so prominently before the public in official positions as the Hon. Erastus Root, of Delhi. For at least thirty years he filled exalted and responsible positions, in a manner which won the respect and esteem as well as the admiration of his constituents.

General Root was born in Hebron, Conn., March 16th, 1773. After graduating from Dartmouth College, studying law and gaining admission to the courts of his native Sate, he removed in 1786 to Delaware county to establish himself in the practice of his profession in this growing community. He was in time to take an active part in the efforts which resulted in the organization of the county which was thereafter his life-long home, and which for so many years be represented in the legislative councils of the State and nation. In 1898 he had already demonstrated the possession of abilities which secured his election to the Assembly in that year, and subsequent re-elections extended his membership in that body of eleven years, during three of which he was the speaker. He served four terms in the State Senate, over which he presided an additional term as lieutenant-governor. In 1803 he took his seat in the House of Representatives, of which he was a member nine years. The particular years of Mr. Root's service in different offices are given on page 62. He used to remark that during his first two years in the Legislature he was the youngest member, and during his last two the oldest.

General Root's public life closed with his retirement from the State Senate in 1843. In December, 1846, he set out for Washington, intending to spend the winter there with his daughter and her husband, Hon. Selah R. Hobbie, then first assistant Postmaster-General. He was taken sick before reaching New York, and after suffering a short illness at the residence of his nephew, Mr. George St. John, he died there, Thursday morning, December 24th, aged seventy- three years and nine months. The event was not unexpected by himself; before leaving Delhi he had alluded to his advanced age and failing strength, and predicted that it was his last departure from home. In this expectation he had put his business affairs in order for the end which he thought approaching.

Funeral services were held both at New York and at Delhi, the latter December 30th, and a public meeting at the court-house in Delhi a few days later fitly honored the memory of the departed statesman.

Mrs. Root's maiden name was Elizabeth Stockton. She was a sister of Dr. Stockton, of Walton. She was born October 25th, 1788, and long survived her illustrious husband, dying February 14th, 1871.

HON. EBENEZER FOOTE

Judge Foote was born April 12th, 1756, in Connecticut. He enlisted in the United States service early in the Revolutionary war, and was a faithful soldier. He was in the battle of Bunker Hill, suffered at Valley Forge, was taken prisoner of war and confined in New York, and only escaped by swimming one of the rivers bounding the city. He was appointed to the rank of major for his meritorious conduct. After the war he was a merchant in Newburgh. He was a member of the Legislature in 1796 and 1797, when Delaware county was formed, and was active in bringing about its formation. He was made its first county clerk by appointment, filled the first offices of his town, was judge of the Court of Common Pleas, was in the State Senate from the old "middle district" four years, and sat in the council of appointment with Governor Jay and other notables. He removed to Delhi in 1797, and at once commenced the erection of his residence at Arbor Hill three miles below the village, which still remains in its pristine beauty of location and finish.

HON. CHARLES HATHAWAY

There are few names better known to the people of Delaware county than that of Charles Hathaway, whose death occurred at his home in Delhi, January 21ST, 1876. He had attained the ripe age of seventy-nine years, ten months and seventeen days.

Judge Hathaway was born at Hudson, N.Y., and came with his parents to Delaware county about the year 1808, first living in Walton. He was a resident of Delhi for nearly or quite a half century. Commencing the practice of law at an early age, he soon rose to eminence and distinction in his profession, and was for a time the law partner of the Hon. Charles A. Foote, deceased. He was excelled by few members of the bar in his day, often coping most successfully with the best legal minds in the State. His peculiar forte was in cross-examination. He retired from the practice of his profession many years before his death, that he might devote his whole attention to the agency of the most important tracts of land to the county. Judge Ebenezer Foote, who originally held these agencies, so admired his business capacity, energy and integrity, that he employed him to assist in their management; and before his death had them transferred to Mr. Hathaway's hands. In1828 our subject was married in the city of New York to Miss Maria Augusta Bowne, a niece of Mrs. Judge Foote, and sister of the editor of the Delaware Express.

Judge Hathaway was emphatically a self-made man. Without the advantages of a collegiate education, he fitted himself for a successful, useful and honored life by the most indomitable energy, industry and self-sacrifice-teaching by day and poring over his studies until the small hours of the morning.

In 1840 he was appointed by Governor Seward county judge and surrogate for Delaware county. It may be said without fear of contradiction that no public officer ever retired from his official position with greater honors, or having given more universal satisfaction. It was during his administration of the office that the alleged outrages in illegal charges by surrogates throughout the State occurred; and all the surrogates were called on by the State Senate for detailed reports of the fees charged by them severally for the preceding year. When the reports (made under oath) were transmitted to the authorities at Albany, that of Judge Hathaway received high commendation, was published as a model for honesty and fairness in every particular, and he was characterized in the Senate and held up by the press of both parties as the model surrogate of the State.

In politics Judge Hathaway was a warm, ardent and devoted Whig until the organization of the Republican party, whose principles were ever equally dear to him. He was also energetic in the crusade against intemperance; and both as a politician and temperance advocate he was a powerful, earnest and effective speaker. In his domestic and social relations he was all that could be asked for by those between whom and himself those relations existed. From his earliest life he was constantly engaged in works of usefulness for the public good. The Presbyterian and Episcopal churches of Delhi bear evidences of his architectural skill, for he was the designer of both. He was one of the building commissioners of the court-house and many of his suggestions were followed in the plans of its construction by Mr. Perry, the designer. It is to his persistent efforts in behalf of its superior water works that Delhi possesses facilities for the extinguishing of fires surpassed by no village in the State. It is undoubedly true that but for such perseverance in securing the organization of the water company, coupled with the generous disposal of his water privileges for the supply of the water, Delhi would to-day be without the benefits it enjoys through that company. H was one of its directors from its organization, and was its president at the time of his death. The Delaware Bank, too, always had in him a warm supporter and friend. He was one of its founders and a director from its organization.

He was one of the founders of the Second Presbyterian and Society of Delhi; was converted under the preaching of the sainted pastor, Mr. Orton, in 1831, and from that time to the time of his death his life was that of the true, faithful and devoted follower of the Lord and Saviour. During his last sickness death had no fears or terrors for him, an d while expressing his entire readiness to depart, he repeatedly gave utterance of his, gratitude to the goodness of the Master for prolonging his life for so long a time. He was permitted the free use of his facilities to the hour of his death, his mind never wandering, nor his faith wavering for a single moment.

COLONEL AMASA PARKER

One of the leading names in the history of Delhi and of Delaware county is that of Colonel Amasa Parker. He was one of a number of natives of Litchfield county, Conn., whose abilities and character have won for them honorable prominence. He was born at Washington, in that county, October 28th, 1784. After graduating at Yale he studied law at Litchfield, and afterward at Kinderhook, N. Y., with Peter VanSchasick. His residence in Delhi began in 1812, when he formed a law partnership with Hon. Samuel Sherwood, which continued until 1827. Mr. Sherwood was succeeded in the firm by Amasa J., a nephew, and he in 1844 by Robert, a son of Colonel Parker. The colonel, besides his distinguished professional labors, performed for many years the duties of surrogate and master in chancery. His life work, characterized by great ability and industry and unchallenged integrity, was done in Delhi, during a residence of more than forty years. There he died, on the 1st of March, 1855. Though he had "reached the bound of man's appointed years," his death was sudden and unexpected, for he was still strong in body and vigorous in mind. He was a pillar in the Episcopal church, and is spoken of by those who recollect him as one whose righteous and useful life did not belie his religious professions.

Still more distinguished in the walks of civil life has been Colonel Parker's nephew, above referred to -

JUDGE AMASA J. PARKER

He was born in 1807, at Sharon, Conn., in the western part of which State his Puritan ancestors had long resided. His father was Daniel Parker, a graduate of Yale, and for nearly twenty years pastor of the Congregational church of Ellsworth, Conn.; and his mother, Anna, a daughter of Thomas Fenn, who was during thirty-eight consecutive sessions, a member of the Connecticut Legislature. In 1816 the Rev. Mr. Parker took charge of an academy at Greenville, Greene county, N. Y. In this institution, a similar one at Hudson, and a three years course of study at New York, our subject gained a liberal education by the time he was sixteen years of age, and for next four years he was principal of the Hudson Academy. During that time he passed examinations at Union College for the entire college course, and obtained the degree of B.A. The college at Geneva subsequently conferred upon him the honorary degree of LL.D. While teaching at Hudson he studied law, and in 1827, as above noted, entered Colonel Parker's office at Delhi. The next year, at the age of twenty-one, he was admitted to the bar, and to partnership with his uncle. The business attained by this firm in the next fifteen years is said to have been the most extensive country practice in the State. Generally speaking, Colonel Parker was the counsel, and Amasa J. the pleader, and as such the young man speedily gained a first-rate reputation, as the fruit of rare ability and industry. In the chapter on the civil history of the county will be found mention of the several offices held by Mr. Parker. Including extended and effective service in the State and national Legislatures, and a most honorable judicial career. He became circuit judge of the third circuit in 1844, at which time he removed to Albany; and was the first supreme court justice elected for the third district under the present constitution. He had to preside over the numerous trials resulting from the Anti-Rent rebellion; and in his exacting position won admiration by the fair, prompt and business-like administration which always characterized his judicial conduct. Judge Parker has been one of the principal lecturers at the famous Albany law school, and has spoken on many occasions outside of his official duties, evincing oratorical power of a high order. He visited Europe in 1853 and delivered an address before the Law Reform Association of England, Lord Broughhan presiding. His interest in political affairs has continued, and in 1874 he divided with Samuel J. Tilden the vote of the Democratic State convention for the gubernatorial nomination.

NORWOOD BOWNE, the editor and proprietor of the Delaware Express, was born in the city of New York on the 2nd day of May, 1813. He was educated entirely in academic institutions. The printing business had for him great attractions, and he became practically familiar with that occupation at an early age. About the year 1830 he came to Delhi for the purpose of studying for the legal profession in the office of his brother-in-law, the late Judge Hathaway; but that not proving congenial to his tastes he abandoned it, and for awhile published a paper in Delhi, originally established by Mr. George E. Marvine, called the Delaware Republican. The enterprise was not successful, and he soon thereafter returned to New York where, as one of the fir of Bowne, Wisner & Co., he established the Protestant Vindictor, an anti-Roamn Catholic journal, having associated with him as editors and contributors the then anti-Popish war-horses, Rev. Dr. W. C. Brownlee and Rev. George Bourne, Rev. Dr. Lillie, Rev. Dr. John C Breckinridge of Philadelphia and his brother, Rev. Robert Breckinridge of Baltimore. Their "Protestant Printing House" at 114 Nassau street, was entirely destroyed by the large conflagration of 1834, which was until that December, 1835, called "the great fire". Not being insured, the firm lost everything.

In September, 1836, Mr. Bowne was united in marriage to Miss Priscilla C. Barry, daughter of at that time the celebrated plane manufacturer, Samuel S. Barry, Esq., of New York. In January, 1839, he was induced by prominent politicians to return to Delhi and establish the Delaware Express, in the interest of the Whig party, the Delaware Gazette, Democratic, being then the only newspaper published in the county. He has conducted the Express to the present time, nearly forty-one years. Under his management that paper has never wavered in its political teachings, being ever an uncompromising opponent of the Democratic party. With the merging of the Whig party into the Republican organization, in 1853, the Express became as warn am advocate of Republicans as it had been of Whig principles. Though not an original "Abolitionist," the system of human slavery has ever found in Mr. Bowne an irreconcilable opponent. In like manner he has ever been a most implacable enemy of the rum power.

He was postmaster of Delhi during the year 1849 to 1852, inclusive.

Mr. Bowne was elected to the office of inspector of State prisons at the general election in 1854, having been nominated on the ticket with Myron H. Clark for governor, Henry J. Raymond for lieutenant-governor, and Henry Fitzhugh for canal commissioner. He held the office for the full constitutional term of three years. Since then he has held the office of supervisors and other town offices.

General Erastus Root, as lieutenant-governor, and Mr. Bowne, were the only persons ever elected to a State office from the County of Delaware.

GEORGE ADEE, attorney at law, was born in Bovina, January 25th, 1824. He commenced the study of law with Gordon & Hughston in August, 1856, at Delhi; was admitted to the bar at Cooperstown on July 15th, 1857, and practised law at Davenport Center until August, 1875, when he moved to Delhi. His father, Stephen B. Adee, was born in Bovina June 14th, 1801. The father's father, Samuel Adee, moved on to the place in April, 1793. George Adee was married to Fannie Fonnan October 4th, 1864, and has one child.

JAMES AISLIE was born in Scotland in 1831, and came here in 1849 with his father, who died in the county in 1876. Mr. Anslie married Marion Brown in 1869; he settled his present farm, made all the improvements, and now enjoys the fruits of his industry with plenty and a happy family about him.

ROBERT ARMSTRONG was born in Ireland, and lived in Washington county and other parts of this State for 50 years prior to 1871, when he came to Delaware county and settled at Delhi. He is a carpenter and joiner, residence, Main street.

CHARLES W. BAILEY is a son of the Edward Bailey who settled in Walton soon after 1800. He was born at Lansingville, Delaware county (now DeLancey), in 1841. He was a soldier in the Rebellion, in active service in Company I, 45th Pa. Volunteers, and was honorably discharged at the end of the war.

WILLIAM R. BILL was born November 15th, 1840, in Meredith, and married Elizabeth Lefevre, of Albany. He came to Delhi in September, 1865, from Meredith, and engaged in mercantile business. He recently sold his interest in the business and retired. He is active in public affairs, and fills important places of trust.

JOSEPH BIRDSELL is a native of this county, born in 1857. He married Alma Goldsmith, who was born in Delhi in 1855. He is a farmer on Platner brook. His parents were natives of this county, and have assisted materially in its improvement.

E.F. BLAIR was born in Delhi in 1809, and lives on the home farm. He was a lieutenant in the old miltia organization. He married Miss. C. A. Jones in 1835. Mrs. Blair was born in New York city in 1815. Robert J. Blair, their son, was born in Delhi in 1848, and was married to Miss M. A. Thompson, a prominent teacher of the town. They occupy the home farm with the parents.

ROBERT B. BRYDON was born in Delhi in 1840 of Scotch parents, who early settled in this county. He married Mary Redman, of this county, and settled in the south part of Delhi. Mr. Brydon has filled prominent official positions.

DR. JOHN CALHOUN was born in 1819, in Scotland, and in 1834 came to America, settling at Bovina with his parents. In 1841 he commenced the study of medicine at Andes with Dr. Peake; in 1844 was admitted, and practiced there two years, then in Bovina until 1865, when he was elected sheriff of the county of Delaware. At the expiration of his term of office in 1868, he resumed his practice and opened a drug store in Delhi, the firm name being J. Calhoun & Son. The son, J. D. Calhoun, died suddenly on Christmas, 1878. Mr. Calhoun married Jane Davis, of Andes, in 1845. He has been prominent in the history of the county.

WILLIAM CAMPBELL, formerly a carpenter, but now a farmer, was born in Scotland in 1813, and emigrated in 1839. In 1845 he married Ann Murray, who was born in 1822, in Scotland. He came to Delhi in 1839. As a mechanic he has built three church edifices of this county.

JOEL B. CARPENTER was born in this county in 1844, and is a descendant of John Carpenter, an old pioneer. He married in 1867 Sophronia E. McIntosh, who is the second daughter of G. McIntosh, and a descendant of a Revolutionary veteran. He is a farmer of District No. 12, with his post-office at Delhi.

H. F. DAVIDSON was born December 29th, 1832, in Colchester. In 1853 he came to Delhi from his native place and engaged in the practice of law. He has held important town trusts, and is an acting justice of the peace at the present time.

HIRAM DEAN was born in Delhi in 1820, and is a life-long resident. He is the son of early settlers on Falls brook. He is a mechanic, with residence and shop on Meredith street.

FRANCIS ELLIOTT was born January 17th, 1821, in Scotland, and came here in 1863. He married Jane Douglas, of Scotland, in 1844. He is a farmer in the southern part of Delhi. In the old country he followed brewing for 20 yars. Mrs. Elliott died October 25th, 1877, leaving eight children.

H. ENGLAND, merchant, was born in England, and emigrated to America in 1827. He commenced business first at Fishkill, and in the fall of 1839 at Delhi. He was elected justice of the peace in 1858, and served two years. His son, Captain Teophilus L. England, raised a company of men for the Union army, known as Company I, 89th N. Y. State volunteers, which was mustered in at Elmira in 1861. He was afterward promoted to lieutenant-colonel, which office he held when he was killed at Petersburg, June 10th, 1864.

MAURICE FARRINGTON was born at Delhi July 19th, 1837, and is the son of Colonel Farrington, who in turn is the son of one of the original settlers. Mr. F. is at present the popular photographer of Delhi; rooms in Calhoun's block.

GEORGE A. FISHER was born May 27th, 1850, in Franklin, and is a descendant of George Fisher, the first settler of Delhi. In 1872 he came to Delhi to study law in Judge Magner's office, and in 1876 was admitted to practice. He is at present a justice of the peace. In 1878 he married Annie Williamson of Delhi. His office is at the court-house.

BUTLER FITCH, born April 5th, 1831, in Meredith, is a son of the late Dr. Almerion Fitch. He married Anna M. Moffitt November 4th, 1857, and is now a farmer on the Little Delaware. He went out as captain of the 8th Independent battery, and served four years.

CHARLES A. FOOTE is a grandson of Judge Foote, and was born in Delhi March 18th, 1818. He has been engaged in the harness business at Delhi for forty years past, and has held many offices of the highest trust in the town and county. He has done much in the building up of the village and its leading interests.

DANIEL FRASIER was born in Delaware County in 1809. He was ten years in Bovina. His father, Andrew Frasier, emigrated from Scotland in 1805 and was an early pioneer of Delhi. Daniel Frasier married Ellen Dougal who was born in Scotland in 1818 and died in 1861. He married for a second wife Margaret Merritt, who was born in 1833 and was a prominent teacher in the county.

O. C. FRISBEE, a descendant of Gideon Frisbee, was born May 27th, 1847, at Delhi. He married Mary Wighoun in 1868. He was formerly a farmer, but in 1873 started a cooper shop on Elk creek, and removed the shop to Main street, Delhi, in 1876. In the spring of 1879 he again removed, to the Cummings cooperage, where he employs machinery and several men. This is the principal establishment in the county.

M. W. FRISBEE, born April 8th, 1817, lives in Delhi village, a retired farmer. In 1845 he married Susan Mitchell, of Meredith. He is a direct descendant of Gideon Frisbee, and lived nearly all his life upon the Judge Frisbee fram. He is an active justice of the peace and has filled other places of trust.

C. A. FROST, of Wright & Frost, dealers in stoves, hardware and agricultural implements, was born in Oneida, September 12th, 1814. His parents soon after removed to Onondaga county, where he lived until 1840, when he removed to Delhi. He engaged in woolen manufacturing in the mill now owned by Smith & Penfield. Mr. Frost sold out in 1850 and entered the hardware business with Mr. Wright. He was married to Miss Mary Griswold October 17th, 1843, and has four children.

JOHN GAMMEL was born in New York city in 1824; came to Delhi May, 1876, and lives a retired life with his family on Elm street.

JAMES D. GEORGE was born in this county in 1844, and married Jennie B. Potts in 1876. He is a son of David George, of Scotland, who emigrated in 1828, settling in Delhi. Mr. George's mother died in 1861. He occupies the homestead farm, and is one of the substantial farmers of the town.

BENJAMIN F. GEROWE was born in Kortright April 18th, 1839. He married Mary Porter, of Delhi. He is an attorney and counsellor at law, and was formerly a teacher. He has filled the office of justice of the peace for twelve years, and at present is the clerk of the board of supervisors and one of the trustees of Delhi village.

JUDGE WILLIAM GLEASON was born at Roxbury, N.Y., January 4th, 1819. He began the study of law with Judge Munson, of Hobart, when he was twenty-one years old; was admitted to the bar in 1845, and practiced law in Hobart. He was elected county judge of Delaware county in the fall of 1851, and removed to Delhi. He served as judge from January 7th, 1852 to 1856, and from 1860 to 1864. He was a member of the Legislature of 1850. He married Caroline Blanchard November 9th, 1853, and has three children.

WALLACE B. GLEASON was born in Delhi, March 14th, 1859. He is now associated with Judge Gleason in the law office of the latter.

MRS. SAMUEL GORDON moved to Delhi in 1831, directly after her marriage with Hon. Samuel Gordon. She was born in Stamford, this county. Her maiden name was Frances M. Leete. Her husband's public acts and high and honorable position in this county are well known in its history; he died in 1873.

JAMES H. GRAHAM, son of James Graham, sen., was born in Bovina September 18th, 1812; was married to Sophronia M. Stilson, July 4th, 1838, and moved to Delhi in 1852. Mr. Graham was appointed commissioner of the Untied States deposit fund, and served eleven years. He was elected to Congress in 1858, and served one term. He was elected supervisor of Delhi the same year and served nine years, and was elected again in 1876. He was elected to the Assembly in 1871, and was in the Senate in 1872 and 1873. James Graham, sen., was born in Scotland in 1788; emigrated to America with his father John in 1801, and settled in the town of Bovina. He moved to Franklin in 1819, and afterward to Meredith, where he died.

WALTER GRAHAM is a native of Scotland, born in 1832. He emigrated in 1845. He married Miss Mary Jackson, of Scotland, who emigrated seven years after. In 1846 he settled where he now resides, and he is a prosperous farmer. He has filled important places in military and local affairs.

FRANCIS GRAHAM was born in Scotland in 1822 and emigrated to America in 1845 with his parents, five brothers and two sisters. His father died in 1858, and his mother in 1870. Francis married May Wite, of Delhi, descendant of an early settler. He is a farmer in district No. 9 and a member of the Presbyterian church.

C.B. GRIFFIS, a proprietor of the Edgerton House, Delhi, was born at Montrose, Susquehanna county, Pa., November 29th, 1820. He removed to Hancock in 1850 and engaged in the lumber business, which he still continues. The mill is located three and one-half miles from Hancock, on the Midland railroad. Mr. Griffis was a merchant in Hancock seven years; owned the stage route from Hancock to Delhi eight years and that to Walton eight years. He was married to Jane Vaughn January 3d, 1844, and has four sons.

W.H. GRISWOLD was born at Unadilla in 1823. In 1864 he married Sarah M. Stoddart, and established himself in Delhi very soon after. He has filled the office of cashier of the Delaware National Bank, of Delhi, from 1848 to the present time, except for the year 1853.

F. S. HALL was born in Delhi on the 25th of September, 1841, and has resided there since. He married Mary P. Johnson, of the same town. He resides on the "Whig road" and is a farmer and milkman.

JAMES D. HALLEN was born in Woodhull, Steuben county, N.Y., January 5th, 1855, and married Mrs. Strock, of Westfield Borough, Tioga county, Pa. Mr. H. studied law with J.W. Dininny, of Addison, and was admitted to the bar on graduating from the Albany Law School in 1878; the same year he engaged in the practice of law in Delhi.

WILLIAM HAMMOND, farmer, was born in Delhi in 1806. His father, Gideon Hammond, was one of the early settlers of Delhi. William married Maria A. Burgett, of this county, who died in 1869, leaving seven children. Gideon Hammond was a shoemaker of pioneer days. A son-in-law, Mr. Gardinier, of Deposit, a member of Company E, 109th N.Y. volunteers, lives at the homestead with William Hammond.

C. B. HANFORD, son of John Hanford, and grandson of Josiah Hanford, a pioneer from Connecticut, was born in Kortright in 1844. He was married in 1806 to Bella A., daughter of William Gibson, of Hobart. Mr. Hanford is engaged with Dr. Calhoun in the Delhi Steam Marble Works.

J. H. HARDER, son of M.B. Harder, was born December 6th, 1826, on the "old farm" on the Little Delaware, where he has since resided. He married Catharine W. Blair, of Delhi, and is a farmer and dairyman.

H. C. HOAGLAND, born in 1838 in Huntington county, N. J., came to Delhi in 1864. He very acceptably fills the position of ticket and express agent at Delhi for the Midland railway, and is agent for tickets to all points of the West.

JOHN S. HOBBIE was born in Delhi in 1804, and is a farmer; his father, Ebenezer Hobbie, was born in Westchester county, N.Y. in 1883; was an early pioneer of Stamford and died in 1838. John S. Hobbie married Sarah E. Wilbur, a native of Delhi. He cleared the farm where he lives. He has five children now living, to whom he has given the advantages of a good education. Mr. Hobbie is a man of noteworthy industry, having built all the good buildings around him, and hauled the stone and with his own hands built over one thousand rods of wall.

MAGGIE HOGG, daughter of William Hogg, of Scotland, a large landholder, was born in 1860, in Scotland, and emigrated with her parents in 1851. Her mother died upon landing in this country, and she had for a step-mother Ann Frazier, who is still living with her father. Miss Hogg, with suitable help, has the care of the homestead farm.

WILLIAM J. HOLLISTER was born in Franklin in 1854; and was married to Sarah A. Williams, of Colchester, born in 1856. They have one child-a daughter. Mr. Hollister's father, J.R. Hollister, was born in Delhi in 1825, and married Emeline R. Able, of Connecticut. William J. is the only son. Post-office, Downsville.

L. G. HOLLISTER, a farmer in district No. 3 was born in 1823, on the farm settled by his father, D. Hollister, and has been a life-long resident. He married Elizabeth Lee, descendant of an old resident of Roxbury. He has followed farming and is one of the best farmers of the town. Post-office address, Delhi.

ROBERT HUTSON was born in Scotland in 1810 and emigrated to America in 1817, settling in district No. 8, Delhi. He settled the farm and put up the buildings where he now resides. In 1835 he married Mary Imrie, of Scotland, who was born in 1813. His son, Thomas, has occupied the homestead, with him since his birth, in 1843. The son married Jane George in 1870.

GENERAL FERRIS JACOBS, JR. was born in Delhi March 20th, 1836; graduated at Williams College in 1856; commenced the study of law in 1857, with Judge Gleason, and was admitted to practice in 1859. He married Mary E. Hyde, November 10th, 1869. He entered his country's service in 1861, and his noble military record will be found in the history of Company E, 3d cavalry on page 85. He is a son of the worthy Dr. Ferris Jacobs. He has filled the office of district attorney two terms with satisfaction to the county.

R. D. W. KIFF, proprietor of Kiff's Hotel at Delhi, with first-class livery attached, was born near Bloomville November 22d, 1829, and in 1869 removed to Delhi and took charge of the hotel.

REV. A. G. KING is pastor of the U. P. Church of West Delhi. He was born on the ocean in 1839, while his parents were on their way to this country. The first settlement of his father was in Bovina, where farming was the occupation. Mr. King commenced preaching and was licensed in 1866. He married Elizabeth K. George in 1868, and entered his present field of labor in 1868.

JOHN A LEAL, born in 1837 in this county, was formerly a carpenter, and for many years has been a prominent farmer. He married Charlotte O'Donnell, who was born in 1836 in Ireland, and came here in 1855. They have eleven children living.

WILLIAM E. LUMBARD, was a Massachusetts man, born in 1815. He married Ruth Barnes in 1846; she is a native of this county. Mr. L.'s father, Luther Lumbard, was an early pioneer of Andes, and brought with him the Puritan faith. Mr. Lumbard settled on Platner brook in 1849, cleared up his farm and has laid 11,000 rods of stone wall.

WILLIAM MABIN is a native of Scotland, born in 1818, and emigrated in 1844. He married Minnie Carns in 1842 and in 1868 came to Delhi. He is a farmer in the southern part of Delhi.

JAMES MABLE was born in Scotland in 1812; emigrated to America with his parents in 1820, settled on the farm where he now resides and cleared it from a wilderness. His father, John Mable, died in 1834, and his mother in 1826. James Mable in 1847, married Violet Ansley, who was born in Scotland in 1828. All are members of the Delhi Presbyterian church. Mr. Mable has filled offices of trust among his townsmen.

L. S. MACDONALD, son of John Macdonald, an early settler of Kortright, was born July 22nd, 1827, at Kortright, where he lived until 1856. He removed to his farm in Hamden, where he resided until 1876; then removed to Delhi. He was a popular host of the Edgerton House for one year, then retired to his residence on High street. On the 29th od December, 1852 he married Adaline Andrews of Hamden, a descendant of early settlers there.

CHARLES MCGREGOR was born February 27th, 1809 in Scotland, and emigrated in 1827. He was married in 1843 to Miss Barbara Hume, also a native of Scotland, who died in 1859, leaving five children. Mr. McGregory in 1860 married Catherine McNeal who is the mother of three children.

THEOPHILUS F. MCINTOSH, proprietor, editor and publisher of the Delaware Republican, was born in Kortright November 3d, 1859, and married Frances S. Keeler, of that town. He removed in 1834 to Delhi, where he lived twenty years; then at Bloomville five years, returning to Delhi in 1859. He was town clerk of Dlehi in 1867 and 1868, and two terms treasurer of the county-from 1869 to 1876.

JAMES H. MCINTOSH was born April 4th, 1845 in Kortright, this county. In September, 1879, he removed to Delhi. He married Amanda L. Dales of Kortright, who is a descendant of one of the first settlers there. He has been the efficient school commissioner of the 2nd Assembly district of Delaware county, and is serving a second term.

M. T. MENZIE was born in Westchester, N. Y., February 15th, 1856. From Hamden he came to Delhi in 1869 and has lived there since. He is engaged in the mercantile business on Main street, opposite the national bank.

G. H. MILLARD & CO., a private bankers, commenced business in 1871. Mr. Millard was born December 18th, 1846, at Delhi. His father, H. R. Millard, was born in the town of Charleston, Montgomery county, January 22nd, 1816; moved to Delhi in 1824, and in 1838 commenced the mercantile business, which he followed until he engaged in banking. He died in the fall of 1878.

ISAAC MILLER, JR., born May 22nd, 1848, at Pittsfield, Otsego county, N. Y., was married June 18th, 1877 to mary L. Cottrell, of Delhi. He came to Delhi from New Berlin. In 1872 Mr. Miller graduated from the New York Medical College with honor to himself, and his is now a practical physician for Delhi and vicinity, and is also actively engaged in all societies of this town and county that are for moral reform and improvement.

WILLIAM H. MURRAY, attorney at law, was born in Delhi, May 2nd, 1843. He commenced to read law with Judge William Murray in 1867, upon his graduation from Union College, and was admitted to the bar in 1868. He enlisted in Company K. 144th volunteers, in August, 1862, and was promoted until, in 1865, he was commissioned second lieutenant of Company A. 144th. He was mustered out July 15th, 1865.

JOHN B. MURRAY, born June 21st, 1850, is a descendant of William Murray and early settler of Bovina. John Murray, his father, came to Bovina in 1819, whEre he resided until 1867, and then removed to New Jersey. John B., the subject of this sketch, is studying law with Judge Maynard; is clerk of the Surrogate's Court, and present stenographer for the Delaware County Court.

JOHN NICHOL was born in Scotland in 1811, and was married in 1841 to Jane Oliver, also a native of Scotland. They came to America in 1841. He purchased his present farm, on Platner brook, when a wilderness, and has brought it to its present improved state by his own industry. James, Jennie and Margaret are their only children.

JOHN OGILVY, a farmer of district No. 6, was from Scotland and born in 1817.. In 1844 he came to this country-the next year after he married Elizabeth Fife, of his native place.

JOHN OLIVER emigrated in 1830 from Scotland, where he was born in 1809. He married Margaret Cowen, of the "old country". Three sons and three daughters, with the parents, constitute the family. Mr. Oliver is a good farmer and in a good part of Delhi.

WALTER OLIVER was born in Scotland in 1802, and emigrated in 1830 to America. In 1835 he married Miss Christina Salton, also of Scotland. In 1835 he settled on his present far, which he bought to its present state of culture. He has been an industrious man, filling places of trust in his town and the military organizations of this county.

ROBERT H. PATTERSON was born in Scotland in 1822. His wife, formerly Janet Patterson, was also a native of Scotland. Mr. Patterson came from Scotland to Delhi in 1846, making a suitable purchase of his farm on the Little Delaware.

JAMES PAINE was born in 1811; was in the old militia; is a farmer in district No. 14, Delhi, and fills prominent positions of trust among his neighbors.

WALTER M. PATTERSON, who is a farmer in district No. 9 of Delhi, was born in 1828 in Scotland; he came to America in 1846, and in 1855 settled the farm where he resides. He married Anna Middlemist in 1855, and they have eight children living.

MRS. ROBERT PARKER, widow of Robert Parker, who died September 24th, 1867, resides on Main street, Delhi. Mr. Parker was a son of colonel Amasa Parker, and was a lawyer of prominence, and a public man of the county for many years.

A. PITCHER was born in Rennsselaer county, N. Y. in 1829. In 1850 he married Evalina P. Bruce. He came to Delhi in 1869 where he has since resided, and with his son (firm name A. Pitcher & Son) conducts an insurance agency in Delhi.

JONAS M. PRESTON was born at Roxbury, November 17th, 1843, and married Anna M. Cottrell, of Cannonsville, July 20th, 1875. He is a direct descendant of David Smith, an old settler of Roxbury, and by his father is a descendant of General Otis Preston. He is an attorney and counsellor at law; has filled many places of trust; was a member of the constitutional convention of 1872, and is now resident of the village of Delhi.

FREDERICK A. RAY was born April 3d, 1838 at Chatham, Columbia county, N. Y. He came to Delhi in 1872 from Otsego county, and engaged in the market business. In the spring of the present year he removed to Otsego county.

SOLOMON RICE was born September 23d, 1826 at Hartford, Conn. In 1858 he removed to Delhi, and has filled various office of trust in the village. He served as first lieutenant in the 8th Independent Battery, as the record of that organization will show. He is now a sign and decorative painter, with a store on Main street well stocked with the goods of his trade.

REV. JAMES H. ROBINSON was born February 8th, 1837 at Argyle, N.Y. He married Mattie A. Stewart of Greenwich, Washington county, in 1865. He came to Delhi in 1863 and is the faithful pastor of the First Presbyterian church.

EDMUND ROSE was born on Rose brook December 8th, 1817 and came to his present farm in 1840. He is a grandchild of Hugh Rose, who had a mill on Rose brook as early as 1780. Mr. Rose married Effie McFadden, a descendant of early settlers on "Scotch mountain". Farming is his business and has been for many yers, but his early life was passed in several States of the west and upon the Pacific coast.

GEORGE SHAW was born November 24th, 1838 at Cabin Hill, in Andes. He is a grandson of David Shaw, an old settler. On the 26th of January, 1864, he married Jennie M. Hutson, a descendant of some of the first settlers. He is a farmer, and has control of the "Sherwood farm".

ALEXANDER SHAW was born at hamden in 1821 and removed to Delhi in 1865. He is a son of Donald Shaw, mentioned in the history of Hamden. He is now deputy U.S. marshal, and has filled the highest office of his native town.

J. T. SHAW was born in Delhi, May 14th, 1844, and married a descendant of Judge Foote. He is a descendant of early settlers of the county. He is an attorney at law, and for several years past has filled the office of justice of the peace.

JOHN SHERWOOD was born August 12th, 1820 at Delhi, in the Sherwood mansion. In 1830 he went to New York city; in 1835 to Yale College graduated in 1839; studied law with his father, Hon. Samuel Sherwood and was admitted in 1842. He married Mary E. Wilson, daughter of General James Wilson. He now resides in New York city, spending the summer at Delhi.

SHERIL E. SMITH was born in Oneonta September 29th, 1834, fitted for college in Delaware Academy, and in 1860 graduated from Union Colege. He was principal of Franklin Academy, Prattsburgh, N. Y., between 1860 and 1866; was principal of Unadeilla Academy in 1867 and 1868 and came to Delhi as assistant principal of the Delaware Academy with Prof. Wight in 1869, which relation existed until 1875 when he assumed the entire control. He married Emily A. Newman in 1862, who assists him in the academy, of which he remains the principal.

JAMES H. SMITH was born in Delhi June 7th, 1831; married Helen Calhoun, sister of Dr. Calhoun, in 1857, and resides upon the same farm, in district 13, which his father pruchased one hundred years ago-the Bates farm. He has filled offices of trust in his town and church.

FREDERICK STEIFEL was born in Germany in 1827 and came to this country in 1851, removing to Delhi in 1870, when he purchased the tannery building and business near the river, and adjoining Smith & Penfield's. He is actively engaged in his business, and fills places of trust among his townspeople.

WILLIAM SYMINGTON was until 1840 a resident of Scotland, where he was born in 1813. He settled here in 1843, upon the same farm he now owns; clearing it from a wild state and making all the improvements by his own industry. In 1838 he married Elizabeth Blake, also a native of Scotland. The only children living are Ellen, now in California, and Maggie, residing with her parents.

RICHARD THOMPSON was born in Delhi in 1852. He married Nettie Butts in 1878; she was a native of Franklin and born in 1859. His father, Richard, was from Scotland, and early settled the present farm, clearing it from a wild state. He died in 1852 while on his way west while the subject of this sketch was an infant.

JAMES M. THOMPSON was born in Scotland in 1812 and came to America in 1840 settling in Middletown, this county, whence he soon came to Delhi. He married in 1840 to Betsey Corrins, who was also a native of Scotland. He is a farmer in district No. 14 and his post office is Delhi.

A. W. WEBB was born in 1826 in England. He came in 1840 to Delhi, where he has resided since, actively engaged in the boot and shoe business. He has filled several important offices, and has ever been an earnest worker for temperance and reform.

SETH H. WHITE, attorney at law and banker, was born in Plymouth county, Mass. December 27th, 1820 and removed with his father, Micah White, to Hancock in 1833. Mr. White graduated at Brown University, Providence, R.I. in 1846; commenced the study of law with Judge Murray, at Delhi, in 1848, and was admitted to the bar in 1851. He began the banking business in 1872. Mr. White is descended from Perigine White, who was born on the vessel"Mayflower". He was married to Ophelia S. McDonald August 8th, 1853, and has five children.

JOHN WOODBURN was born in Ireland in 1827, and emigrated to America in 1847, settling in Delhi in 1852. In 1854 he married Rebecca Burton and the same year moved to Dansville, Livingston county, N.Y. where for ten years he manufactured marble and granite ware. In 1864 he returned to Walton and commenced business with S. H.White as partner, under the firm name of S. H. White & Co. After three years time the firm established business in Delhi. In 1873 the firm was dissolved, since which time Mr. Woodburn has had the management of a factory. His son William B. is connected with him at Delhi and another son S.W. Woodburn has a factory at Walton.

J. W. WOODRUFF, son of Joel Woodruff, was born in Meredith, Delaware county, February 11th, 1825. In the spring of 1849 he moved to Delhi and engaged in mercantile business in the same store he now owns. He was married to Eunice Blanchard September 21st, 1848 and has four children. Joe Woodruff was born in Connecticut, emigrated to Meredith about the year 1800; took part in war of 1812 and died in 1857.

J. H. WRIGHT, hardware dealer, a son of Henry Wright, was born at Deposit December 6th, 1817, and in 1825 removed to Delhi and engaged in the dry goods business. After four years he went into the hardware trade-the same place he now occupies-and is the oldest dealer in town. He was married to Maria Griswold February 2nd, 1842. Mr. Wright's grandfather P. Wright, settled in Colchester when Henry was born. He married Eliza Edick and moved to Deposit in 1820, and thence to Delhi with his son.

PETER P. WRIGHT is the son of P. P. Wright of whom mention is made in the history of the Anti-Rent war. He was born in Delhi in 1850 and resides with his mother and brother on Main street. He is filling the position of freight agent of the Delhi depot.

JOHN B. YENDES was born Mar 3d, 1803 at Delhi, and is a grandson of pioneer who was the first settler of that part of town (in 1785). He married Julia A. Fisher, also a descendant of one of the first settlers-George Fisher. He has been a life long resident, and has always lived upon a portion of the home farm of his ancestors. He has been an active public man, filling the highest offices in the gift of his town.

WILLIAM YOUMANS, attorney at law, was born at Otego, Otsego county, April 18th, 1820. During the "Anti- Rent" war he was one of the militia ordered out by Governor Wright. After the trouble ceased he entered the office of Hon. Samuel Gordon and commenced to study law. He was admitted to the bar in March, 1849, and has since made Delhi his home. He was married to Miss Nancy H. Dickinson July 7th, 1853 and has three children. He was elected supervisor of Delhi in 1872 and 1873. In 1873 he ran for State Senator and was defeated by James G. Thompson, by one vote.