MORE WRITINGS BY MRS. DAISY FRANCIS: Erieville Hotel

Some of the Historical Facts of the Town of Nelson and our Village of Erieville

Nelson was formed from Cazenovia, March 13, 1807, and named for Lord Nelson, the distinguished British Admiral.

It was number one of the Chenango Twenty Townships.  It is an interior town, lying south-west of the center of the county, and is bounded on the north by Fenner and Smithfield, on the sourth by Georgetown, on the east by Eaton, and on the west by Cazenovia.  Its surface is a hilly upland, having a general north & south direction.  It occupies a part of the elevated ridge, which forms the watershed between the streams flowing north to Oneida Lake and south to the Susquehanna.  The principle stream is Chittenango creek.  The Erieville reservoir, now known as Tuscarora Lake, was constructed in 1850, at a cost of $36,837, as a feeder for the Erie Canal; its supply being 2,526 cubic feet a minute.  It covers an area of 340 acres.  At one time this body of water was a dense wilderness.

My great-grandfather Ensign came here from Connecticut with oxen.  He settled on the Ensign hill which is located back and above where the Bastians (Wesley Sternberg Farms) now live, building a log cabin. They notched trees crossing what is now the reservoir, so that his brothers who followed could locate them.  They later built the old Ensign homestead which was the home of four families, with 3 fireplaces downstairs, and the same upstairs.

The Eaton Reservoir lies partly in this town.  The underlying rocks are the Tully limestone, the Genesee slate, and the Ithaca group, which covers the entire surface of the town, except in the north-east and south-west where the rocks of the Hamilton group come to the surface.  Limestone exists only in the form of boulders.  There are some quarries.  The soil is generally a gravelly loam, well adapted to the purposes of the dairy industry.

The Syracuse and Chenango Valley Railroad crosses the south-west portion of the town, and was completed in 1872, Erieville being situated on this line.

In its early history, Erieville had three churches, Baptist, Methodist-Episcopal and Universalist, a district school, a hotel, four stores, a steam saw-mill, a cheese factory (Peter Duffy) south of the village (about where Pearl Briggs barn now stands), James Stevenson Cooper shop, 2 black smiths shops, Whitnall harness shop (in the front part of the building on the corner now burned), a milliner shop, Frank Moore's Tin shop, and a population of about 300.

The first merchant was Josiah Hayden who built in 1807 a store later known as George Moore's store.  Soon afterward it was used for a school house as Dr. John Heffron taught school there in 1810.  It was later converted into a gunshop by Thomas Medbury, and he & his oldest son, Isaac, carried on this business for about ten years.  The building was subsequently moved a little south and used as a dwelling.  The Moore store on the original site was built in 1834 by Nelson Richardson.  This is the place now occupied by our W. Sec., Mrs Heffernan and husband, Mrs. Lines, Mrs. Howells and family.  The Harrison Burgess residence (now occupied by Ellis English) was built about 1811 for a school and Baptist Church.  About a year later the Baptist trustees having neglected to procure a title were dispossessed by what is known as the Temple, later used as a school house, now owned by Ross Wallace and used as a garage.

The Baptists used it until 1821 when they built their church, which is now the only church here & which they deeded over to the Methodists about 24 years ago.  This was located on part of what is now the cemetary, when it was removed in the summer of 1877 to its present location.  This church is now over 115 years old.  It was in 1809 that the Baptist church here was formed and April 26, 1810, one hundred persons subscribed to the articles of faith at the home of Jesse Braman.  The original cost of the present church was $2,000, and after its removal $4,000 was expended in remodeling it.  It was dedicated November 4, 1876.  I was church clerk, Supt. of Sunday school, church organist, etc. at the time we consolidated with the M.E church 24 years ago and continued my labors afterwards as long as my health permitted.

The first meeting here of the Methodists was held in 1826.  Meetings were held by circuit preachers in school houses and private houses every two weeks, and for several years at the school house on the line of Nelson and Georgetown, and later in Erieville school-house.  In 1850 they built their church at the cost of $800.  It was sold for our town hall and destroyed by fire a few years ago.  Chas Spaulding store is on the same site.

The Universalists church was built in 1842, by Benjamin Wadsworth, George Richardson, Ruel Richardson, ____ Wells and Nathaniel Davis.  They once had a large society.  This church is now our own Grange Hall. 

Nathaniel Hotchkin & Alpheus Morse carried on the foundry business and ashery in 1812 for about 3 years.  They made the first cast iron plow used in this locality.

There were many merchants staying here only a few years until Joseph Maynard took possession of the main part of what is now the Gaige store, October 31, 1866, in partnership with W.S. Coate's.  In February 1866, C.E. Maynard bought Mr. Coate's share in it, and it continued under the name of C.E. Maynard & Co., until September 1, 1879, when Chas bought his father's interest and later took his son, D.P. Maynard in with him.  Later D.P. took Mr. Gaige into partnership, (March 30, 1916) who since bought out his share so it is now Gaige's store (February 1, 1927). The smaller part was for many years the E.S. Jillson store, commencing business December 3, 1879, and did a very large and successfus <sic> business.  He sold it later and it was consolidated into the present building.  Russell Bronson also had a jewelery <sic> repair shop.  Later it was occupied as such with a stock of goods by Massa Jackson who was a prominent merchant here for about 20 years.  G.C. Moore occupied and did a good business for many years in the building mentioned previously, having bought out the business of H. Burgess and Son October 1874.

Thomas Medbury was the first postmaster and kept his office in the Griffin Hotel in 1822.

The first physician was Dr. James Pratt who lived at Eaton, but ministered to the needs of the people here.  Dr. John Heffron was the first resident physician beginning in 1809 and he continued until his death May 30, 1861, aged 73.  All of the older people will remember Dr. Greenwood and Ranson who practiced here a great many years, their office being our former library and the Hudson home was Dr. Greenwood's residence.  Many physicians have followed, among them Dr. L.C. Beebe now of Hamilton, Dr. Chas Monroe, Dr. E.L. Ensign & Dr. White, all successful.  Other <sic> here only for a short time.

Franklin Moore the patenter commenced the manufacturer <sic> of Moore's Empire Milk Pan and Cooler in 1876.  A stock company was formed with a capital stock of $25,000 for the manufacturer of the above article, and to deal in other dairy utensils.  They made an average of about 50 sets per year.

The Erieville House or Hotel was built by Thomas Medbury in 1820.  It was kept from 1871 by H.L. Griffin who was my father as most of you know.  The first tavern on its site, built by Ephiraim Mallory was a frame building a torn down to make roon for the one built by Mr. Medbury.  In July 1884, the hay in the barn caught fire at noon from Mr. Kelly's saw-mill that was near where the depot now stands, and in 20 minutes everything was in ruins, only a very few things were saved.  Our horses were saved as they had carried the Sunday school children to the Temple for a picnic.

It was thought at one time that the whole town would be wiped out as 57 fires started from this one.  I was ill in bed with measles.  They carried me from one place to another as the places caught fire and finally down to where Sarah Beebe now lives as that house hadn't caught fire.

After the fire we lived in the Sternberg place which we owned at that time.  One year from the date of the fire, my father had this new hotel built and we were again living on the same site.  My parents died there and I operated it alone, (a temperance hotel) for a year, then sold it and vacated soon after I was married about 32 years ago.  It is now owned by Mrs. Frank Blair.  Not many years ago our depot located on the west side of the R.R. track was destroyed by fire and the one now here was built later.

I have endeavored to make this as brief as possible yet give you some of the facts which might be of interest to you about our little burg of Erieville nestling among the hills but a very lively little town in former years as it is at present.

This piece was written in longhand and read by Mrs. Daisy Francis at Grange Meeting Dec. 4, 1936 at Erieville Grange.  The website owner does not vouch for the "truth" of its contents but welcomes emails from readers with corrections or further information (contributions of pictures, reminiscences or written records will be especially appreciated).  As always, a special "thanks" to our Postmaster, Donna, for sharing this record with us.