Dan Weiskotten's Recommended
Cazenovia Research Resources
How to Research an Old House in Madison County, NY
 
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Daniel H. Weiskotten
(updated from the original paper of November 1988)

        One of the most common questions that I get when studying Cazenovia is "what can you tell me about my house?"  In a community like Cazenovia, where old houses, history, and historical resources abound, it is rare that one does not have an inherent curiosity of the past.  Purchasing an old house, finding an old photograph, driving down any one of our roads or streets,  or hearing a story about days-gone-by all tend to arouse one's interest enough to send them on a quest for more information.
        As a starting point countless people have come to me to obtain what information I might have gleaned through more than two decades of intensive research.  The vast majority of them show a desire to conduct their own research - but as novices they need a little advice and guidance in order to satisfy all that pent up curiosity.
        Obviously one does not pick up an old newspaper and immediately discover what they seek, nor do they spend a few leisurely hours at the County Clerk's Office to complete their project.  A full scale study much like a police or scientific investigation must be conducted if the truth is going to be uncovered.  Attempts to try some of the leads which I will present outside of Cazenovia will not always work, but following the rules of evidence surely will if sufficient resource material is available.  Not all evidence is worthy of the same weight and each tidbit must be measured for its validity and uses accordingly.  The nearer the original source the more valuable it is, but, for innumerable reasons, one must be aware of the reasons why the information was generated in the first place.
        The methods I have used and perfected over many years are particularly suited for research in Cazenovia as well as anywhere in Madison County, and indeed, I have employed them successfully in more than half of New York State's 62 counties while conducting archaeological surveys.
        Cazenovia has an incredibly well preserved documentary history.  The important records of many of the Village and Town are available on microfilm at the Cazenovia Public Library and Lorenzo State Historic Site.  Madison County has an immense wealth of research material in the form of deeds and mortgages; State and Federal census records; village, town and county maps; and a great variety of miscellaneous "stuff".  Also available locally on microfilm is a massive collection of Cazenovia newspapers, nearly complete and covering all but the first fifteen years of Cazenovia's history and a few other years.
        For earlier land records (1798-1806) the deeds and mortgages are still to be found in Chenango County (those of 1793 to 1796 were in Herkimer County but burned in 1803).  At Lorenzo State Historic Site in Cazenovia the early personal and business records of John Lincklaen, the founder of the village, and the 1793 to 1820 store of Samuel S. Forman, as well as many records of their contemporaries and successors, may be studied.  The records at Lorenzo are accessible by appointment and have been fully indexed, with several computer data bases for easy searching.
        The above mentioned municipal and official records, like the early records at Lorenzo, are all first hand, contemporary, unbiased, legal, and factual PRIMARY resources, and from these you will obtain your most important information.  The origin of the source needs to be understood in order to determine what biases it might have.  A dairy may be a primary source for information, but the entry recording that Grandfather Jones built a house 100 years ago needs to be understood for its secondary nature.  In other cases contemporary personal opinions may be biased by the selective feelings of the day.  Generally, the use of primary resources, when the clues are properly interpreted, will give you a dry and straight forward story of the past.
        Secondary sources such as local history texts and reminiscences can be dangerous, but the logical use and understanding of secondary sources will help to give life to your research project.  In using secondary resources such as the nineteenth century reminiscences, Cazenovia and County history books, as well as in collecting oral stories pertinent to your subject, you must be extremely careful in choosing which bits of information are worthy of keeping.
        Logic of a statement plays an important part in its value.  The explanation that the front door was built three feet wide so that an oxen could drag fire wood into the kitchen or parlor (as is told about several Cazenovia Houses) may be a wonderful legend; but if you can imagine what a full grown ox weighs, and take into consideration the destruction that such an act would cause,  you would immediately discount this story.  But, you should never fully disregard the tale.  Not only does it add life to your story (as long as it is clearly defined as folk lore), but it may somehow be based on some strange incident of long ago.  Perhaps an oxen did make an impromptu visit to the parlor and this could be the only record of it!
        Architectural elements of a building have fooled many in Cazenovia.  Cazenovia architecture is somewhat falsely noted for its "intactness" but this sense of purity is not true by a long shot.  We may still have rows of old buildings lining the streets, but little embellishments here and there, new porches, changed roof lines, enlarged windows, and new wings have modified many houses over the years so that the original builder would probably have difficulty recognizing it.  Architectural appearance is only skin deep.
        A grain of salt is necessary in using any secondary source but one must never fully ignore the information it contains.  Many of the "historical accounts" that appeared in the newspapers around the turn of the century and into the 1930s are interesting and full of all sorts of facts, but I find time and time again that these "facts" are used entirely out of context.  Unfortunately, unless you have an extensive background in local history these out-of-context facts are impossible to differentiate from the related facts.
        Even more recent historical studies, such as the architectural studies made by Hutchins and Hubbard in the 1950s and 1960s and then by Helen Kennard in the 1960s and 1970s, while highlighting the importance of Cazenovia's architecture and history, have had a profoundly negative impact on the real histories of many of Cazenovia's most popular houses.  It was through their widely accepted articles that the notion that Michael Day (actually Ebenezer Johnson) had a tavern and that the Cazenovia Public Library was built as a classic Greek revival residence in 1836 (actually 1819 and achieved its present form in the 1850s - see below) (these being two examples out of about twenty) became the standard history for these places and the community.  These errors are based in the reliance on erroneous historical texts and observance of external architectural details and not the "material characteristics" of the buildings construction liberally supplemented with properly interpreted historical records.  I must say though, that the hindsight with which I view these errors, is unfair as Cazenovia's documentary research was in its very primeval stages and the sources we have today were available but not as accessible at that time.  They did lay the groundwork from which I have built my studies, but because the work of these earlier historians is still held in high esteem, it has been a very difficult job to set the record straight (thus the emphasis on noting your sources).
        Another facet of Cazenovia's architectural landscape that is not fully understood is the frequency of buildings being relocated or adapted for other uses.  While residence relocation was not too widely practiced in the rural areas (barns were always on the move) there are dozens of documented house relocations for the village of Cazenovia.  House moving was a widespread practice throughout most of Cazenovia's history but in the past decade or two it seems to be falling out of favor with even viable houses.  House moving can really screw up the history vs material characteristics venue of analysis.  Many times I have done research on an old house, found that the property was an open pasture until after the Civil War, but when I took a look at the attic and cellar, I have found houses that date much earlier!.  Many houses were moved from the earlier core of the village to the outer margins and are now to be found on side streets such as South, Union, Farnham, Center, Burr, and William streets.  When Cazenovia College was expanding in the 1950s several houses along Sullivan and Nickerson Street were moved to the margins of the village on Ten Eyck Ave., Upper Lincklaen Street, and out into the country.  Beware that this was a formerly common practice.

Researching
        When beginning to research the history of your old house a basic knowledge of what research materials are available is necessary, and what are available.  An out line of this I have supplied above as well as on a  separate web page.  What you must provide is a desire to carry out a variety of tasks that consist of not only research to find clues, but intensive inductive and deductive reasoning that will bring those clues together in a comprehensible conclusion.
        To begin I suggest a short study of some of the local history books just to get a good idea of what to expect and so that you may be better able to tie some facts together.  Even if you don't find anything about your house in particular you may pick up a good background on local history.
        After studying the various available historical maps (1852, 1853, 1859, 1875, and 1895 in particular) to find who may have owned your property, I recommend that you do your research in the County Clerk's Office in Wampsville.  With the help of the Clerk's staff, I became familiar with the use of the Deeds and Mortgages and the other resources in the office.  They are happy to help anyone get started in their search, but, please do not expect the Clerk's staff to do the work for you.  They have other obligations, besides, while it may be confusing at first, it is a challenge that can also be fun.
        Through the deeds you should be able to complete a continuous succession of ownership for the property, from the first days of settlement to the present.  The deeds are by far the most important of the primary sources you will use.  What is nice about the deeds is that you don't have to work from the present back or the distant past forward - you can start where ever you have information and work either direction to find what you want (thus the added value of the names upon historic maps).
        The mortgages, also in the County Clerk's Office, are of value if you suspect that there may have been a foreclosure or forced sale of the property.  You may run into one dead-end after another and only through persistent searching will you find what you need.  If you are unable to read the handwriting of the early deeds I can not help you in this, but I suggest that you work with a more recent document which may make you aware of the wording of the deed.  Also you must learn to read past all the legal mumbo-jumbo to make quick work of your research, it is never worth all the effort to pay attention to these details (that is, unless your signature is on the deed).  To copy each deed word for word is unnecessary and an abstract of the essential descriptive words will satisfy your purposes (see below).
        In understanding the information presented in the deed you will need to know more than just the name of the owner.  I have seen several Cazenovia homeowners who tried the research on their own and paid little attention to the description of the parcel being transferred.  In historical property research, just like today, the most important aspects of real estate are location, location, and location.  Of great necessity in identifying the property is the number of the "Great Lot" and Tract upon which the house stands.  While researching the old house that I grew up in on Ridge Road not only did I need to know that it was on lot number 14, but I had to know that it was the east part of Great Lot 14, of the Fourth Allotment of the New Petersburg Tract, and that it contained only the eastern 100 acres of the original lot.  This is the legal description.  Some old maps are available in the Clerk's Office which may give you the lot number you need.  Most deeds contain the legal description, but you should confirm this with a map.  Modern property tax maps are available in the Tax Mapping Office and your particular parcel should be easily recognizable.
        The above example of location description is simple compared to others where not only the tract, lot and size is needed but also the shape of the lot, wherein the length of the side, the bearing that it runs, and the angle of the corners are a must for recording and identification!  Here it pays to have a little understanding of surveying, but it is not necessary (never having any formal training in this I had to learn on my own).  The old deeds are measured in chains and links and knowing how to convert the old measure of chains and links into feet and inches is a must though (a chain is 66 feet and there are 100 links in a chain, so, by turning the chains and links into a decimal number - 6 chains and 33 links = 6.33, and then multiplying by 66, will give you the answer in feet 6.33 x 66 = 417.78 feet).  If you ignore all the statements about "stumps," "stakes and stones," and "beech trees," which are only reference points and are not particular to your property, your understanding of the lot layout will be much easier.
        With deeds information that must be recorded are: Person Selling, Person Buying, Date of the Transaction, Transaction Price, and Location and Description of the Parcel (Lot and Tract, Metes and Bounds, Area).  All pertinent information should be immediately recorded, do not rely on your memory to help you sort it out later.  It is all too easy to get your facts confused or crossed.  You will be painfully aware of the wisdom of this note when you need to re-check something but realize that you don't know from which of the 800 or so books (each containing upwards of 700 pages!) it came.  You will have learned your lesson - too late!

        A tried and true format that I have used for many years to successfully (and expediently) record this data is as follows:

        It often helps to plot out your deed so that you can match it to the property maps for your land.  The example given above is nearly a triangle, but you would not necessarily think so with the four bounds given.  Plotting each deed takes a bit of skill, but if not within your learning curve, the written description of the parcel (if it has not been divided) will suffice in most cases.  A comparison of the information from deed to deed will confirm if the lots being studied are the same or not and what changes have taken place.
         One particularly important feature of the deeds is the description of the contents of the lot.  One or more of the deeds may mention either a house, barn or out-building which would be most useful in your study.  Also the price paid for the lot is important, as a lot with a house is far more valuable than the same lot without a house.  All pertinent information should be immediately recorded, do not rely on your memory as it is all too easy to get your facts confused or crossed.  When you need to re-check something, but suddenly realize that you don't know which of the 800 or so books (each containing upwards of 700 pages!) it came from, you will have learned your lesson - too late!
        In several instances you may find no deed recorded for the property, and thus you will need to resort to other sources to find a record of the transaction.  If the owner died while in possession of the property a record of a transfer may be found with that persons will.  If the property was lost to foreclosure you might find a mortgage which would lead you to the names of people that were involved.  In other cases all your leads may run out, and for this I suggest a title search of neighboring lots, where you may find your property described as lying to the south of so and so's lot.  This is done the same way as you would search your lot, but you are doing it to your neighbor's lot.  Since you are expending your energy in this direction be sure to share your findings with them.  It is hoped that by doing this, or some other method of your own invention, you may find your property described or mentioned in those deeds.
        And if you are really stuck a study of the property owners family tree may be in order to find who may have inherited or taken over the property.   Following this a check of the wills on file in the County Surrogates Office is suggested.  These are available on microfilm, but access is slow and tiresome.  Genealogical information about families in the area may be available through Peggy Ladd, the Town Historian at the Town Office, or her assistant, Rush Marshall, at the Cazenovia Public Library.
        For more recent information on your lot a quick check of records in the County Planning Office may be necessary, but this information is also of limited access.  Much of this information may be more easily located in the County Clerks Office.  Be careful of the "abstract" that was created when you purchased the property - the goal of these is to find a "Warrannted" deed and not record history - they are a good starting place but bewware of errors!
        Once you have found a number of important dates that are connected with your house you should look to the local newspapers for any possible news items of interest.  A unique collection of local newspapers including the Cazenovia Republican is available on microfilm in the Cazenovia Public Library, Lorenzo State Historic Site, and the High School.  Do not use original papers as they are too fragile for use and are all available on microfilm.
        In the Cazenovia newspaper collection, besides a variety of out of town papers dating from 1801 to the 1850's and published in Ballston, Utica, Auburn, Hamilton, Morrisville, Syracuse, Ovid and Chittenango, we are fortunate to have an incredible selection of papers published in Cazenovia.  In the 205 years since the settlement of Cazenovia, less than thirty two years are not covered by existing Cazenovia papers, and very few issues are missing from those volumes that are available.  As the first paper, The Pilot, was begun in 1808, that leaves only seventeen years for which papers are at this time not available for the village of Cazenovia.  The collection is missing a few single issues, but for the 188 years that we do have I can say that the collection is better than 90% complete.
        Just as a warning though, I must say that only through many hours of diligent searching will you find what you are looking for, and then again you may or may not find the desired information.  As the papers were published in the village of Cazenovia most of the news items are of village events and only occasionally a notice of rural events.  Some years, principally the earliest issues, have virtually no local news, their value lies in the information contained in the advertising and legal notices of foreclosure sales.
        As an example of what can be expected from the local papers (if you are extremely lucky), I found an item in the Cazenovia Republican of April 7, 1857 indicating that Edward M. Holmes was about to make improvements to his residence on Albany Street.  He was planning to rebuild a portion of the house, and entirely remodel it in a manner that would add greatly to its appearance.  He also had plans to build a new barn that would be a "model of its kind."  Holmes' house still stands as does the barn, and through research I have been able to identify his residence as that which is today occupied by the Cazenovia Public Library.
        Further research, not of papers but of wood and stone (the "material characteristics" of the structure itself,) has shown me that the house today looks much different than it did when it was originally built.  While tradition has said that the house was built 1836 as a fine example of Greek Revival architecture, my findings show that the Public Library building was built in 1819 or 1820, and almost 20 years earlier than its architecture would indicate!  To the untrained eye the materials of which the house is constructed will usually say only that the house is new or old.  Crawled through countless cellars and attics one gets quite adept at "reading" the great variety of information within a building - observing the characteristics of the brick, stone, nails, mortar, or wood of which the building is put together.  The way in which the beams were cut and how the bricks were mortared together are a very important, but often overlooked, part of the story a building has to tell.
        Are the bricks of local manufacture? were they made in the kiln at Bingley? in Number Nine? in the village? or at the kiln where Willow and Carpenter Streets now are?  From which quarry did the stone for the foundation come? was it cut from the old quarry on Stone Quarry Hill? from the quarry north of the village? from the more recent quarries at Chittenango Falls? or was it brought in from some distant point by rail road?
        With a trained eye the observation of the material characteristics of an old (or new) house can give a fairly accurate date, a date that can also be compared with those which you may have obtained from documentary research.  Unfortunately I have found time and time again, as in the case of the Public Library building, that the architectural details of a house can be very misleading.  If a house was entirely remodeled, or even simply added to or modified, the new design elements would indicate a later date, while the unalterable frame or structure of the house retains its original characteristics.
        One method that has been used somewhat successfully to date historic houses in this country as well as Europe, is dendrochronology.  Dendrochronology is a dating system which is based on patterns of growth rings in trees.  Any of us who have counted the rings on a tree stump to find when it was planted have, in a way, had experience with this interesting idea.  As the tree grows an annual ring forms and the size of the ring is determined by the amount of rain fall and how warm or cold it was that year.  Over the years a distinctive pattern of rings is formed which may be the same from tree to tree.
        In the arid south west U.S. this method has been used successfully to date - to the exact year- when the ancient pueblos were built hundreds of years ago.  In the southeast US the technique is being used to date older plantations, barns, and houses of the colonial period.  In the Cazenovia area the technique would probably be the same, but because the central New York climate varies much more widely over the region, it might not be feasible to use it over a large area (a tree from Chittenango would surely show a different ring pattern than a tree from Cazenovia or the patterns may vary as locally as from the hill tops to the valley).  In our area a pattern of tree rings established from still living trees could be extended back in time by using patterns obtained from old beams and boards that are known to have been cut locally.  In dating a house a small core would be taken from a beam and compared to the established tree ring chronology and, if a pattern is matched, a date could be determined by its placement in the pattern.  If a sample is obtained which still has the bark on the exact year that the tree was felled could be determined, and thus the date of construction is also determined.  Much more research into this method must be done before its application and usefulness is certain.

Your Story
        During the course of your research you will have accumulated quite a pile of notes on your house.  It is very important to keep these notes very well organized so that when you compile everything and draw your conclusions you can be sure of getting the facts straight.  It is also up to you, now that the work has been done, to make it available for others who may be interested, or to preserve it in a usable form for the future.  Depending on the amount of information that you collect you may wish to compile a short paragraph or perhaps an extended description of your findings.  It is always interesting to see the final product of your work and it is much more rewarding to look at an interesting story of your own making than a jumbled pile of notes and pictures.  Even if your research is incomplete it may be desirable to compose a short story or synopsis in order to give your self a clear idea of what questions have or have not been answered.  The point is that it would be nice to pass this all on to the next generation, the next owner, or to the community.
        In writing up your project you should always try to include all of the pertinent information that you may have dug up about your house and property.  You may just want to write about your house or you might want to take your story back before your house was built and back to the first days of settlement.
        When I write about a house I always start from the very beginning and carry it chronologically into the present.  With my interest in the prehistoric populations of the area I can easily take the history of any location back at least five thousand years (the first few years are always a little sketchy).
 Don't worry about your conclusions being found in error at some future date - I have built from the foundations laid by others.  I look back at some of my early work and often (all too often!) make corrections.  I hope the future historians will build from my work and correct me where I am wrong (at least I have cited my sources.)
        By compiling your information you have a chance to sort out your facts and figures and you will then be able to arrive at a more logical conclusion for some of the mysteries you first set out to solve.  You will also have something of substance, something other than a jumbled pile of notes or old stories to show to others who may be interested in local history.
 

 Good Luck!