Historical Wyoming County Jan 1980 - Old Fulton History

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PAGE 62 (The Warners Cont) thought as odd in that time. Myron had a pair of oxen that could trot as fast as many horses. TREE SLASHING Since the labor of cutting down large trees was great they were often girdled which soon caused their death. The ground under was planted to corn and sown to grass seed for pasture. Several acres of such areas existed down to 1850 and later. There were also some 20 acres of meadow on which the stumps were so thick the hay had to be raked by hand. C.O. Warner remembered his father Milo partly cut trees on a hillside, used three in a row, and then cut a fourth one till it fell against the next one and all four went down in one crash. They were all large trees. Such a cutting was called slashing. Farmers would cut a piece of timber in June or July when in full leaf and let them lay till August when the leaves were perfectly dry and still hanging on the limbs. On a day of no wind, two men would take torches and starting near together walk or run around the field in opposite directions, setting fire to the leaves as they ran. As the fire started it caused a great draft and the flames rose to great heights. The smaller limbs and branches were thus burned and afterwards the trunks were cut, piled and burned. This burning would darken the sky for days and the smoke would drift for miles. Timber then had no value, but less than 60 years later these same areas had to import timber from Oregon! For the smaller children, who usually went to school in the summer, reading and spelling were the main concerns. The children were aligned with their toes to a crack in the floor and words pronounced for spelling, beginning at the head of the class. If a word were missed it was passed to the next and onward until it was correctly spelled. That child then went to the head of the line. One teacher in Java used to give a cent to the scholar that led off at the head at night. There were usually two or three girls that almost always got the pennies. Nature in pioneer days was carefully observed. The Warners remembered the 1858 beautiful comet that was visible for nearly a month. On the 8th of June 1859, it snowed in the afternoon and that night a freeze destroyed even the small apples, about the size of walnuts and they fell; corn had to be replanted and the hay crop was hardly worth harvesting. There was suffering in some families and they received aid from relatives. Cordelia Warner Morrill, who had the last family home built, was the fourth child of Milo and Luncina Kent Sykes Warner, and was born in Java in 1817. She began teaching at •MT JANUARY 1980 the age of 17 in Strykersville, and a similar school in Warsaw under the direction of Miss Sill, who later was president of the Rockford 111., Seminary that became Rockford College. Miss Sill persuaded Cordelia to go West to teach botany at Rockford. She returned to western New York, taught at Ellicottville and Springville. About 1850, she went to Brooklyn as governess to a wealthy family. Soon she was persuaded to join the faculty of Packer Institute where she remained eleven years until she marred Dr. Henry E. Morrill in 1863. He was a homeopathic physician, a widower, and both were members of Dr. Henry Ward Beecher's Plymouth Church, she as a teacher in the Sunday School and Dr. Morrill as superintendent. Morrill had been a classmate of Beecher's in Amherst and they were closely associated in church work. The Morrill home was across the street from the church. When Dr. Morrill died in 1874, Cordelia and her step-daughter traveled to Europe and remained a year and a half. After the daughter's marriage in 1880, Mrs. Morrill decided to return to Java. She bought the interest of a brother in the old family farm and began the erection of the new spacious home. There she lived until her death in 1906, after which she was interred in Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn. A Neighboring House Near Warner's WARNER GENEALOGY The immediate progenitor of the Warners of Java was Omri Warner and his wife Prudence Hillister Warner, married in 1787 according to a Bible record that is incorrect. He wrote that he was born May 1, 1762, and listed nine children, including Milo, the Java pioneer who had married Lucinda Sykes, Dec. 9, 1813. Omri was a soldier of the Revolution. His record in the Massachusetts archives stated that he was 17 when he enlisted in 1778, had (continued on poge 63)
JANUARY 1980 PAGE 63 (The Warners Cont.) a light complexion and was 5 feet 8 inches tall. He went from Sandisfield and is credited for several days service. In April 1818, his pension application, accepted by the Government, stated that he enlisted in August 1777, and served nearly eight months. In May 1778, he began nine months service in the Continental establishment. He also listed several short militia terms. In March 1780, he reenlisted and served alternately with his brother Levi until 1788, when the brother died of yellow fever in Philadelphia. Apparently during the year 1820, he moved from Massachusetts to Rutland, Vt., since his name appears in both the Sandisfield and Rutland census schedules. He moved from Vermont to Wales in 1821. His wife, Prudence, died about that year and he married a second time, June 12, 1825, Catherine Evans. He died in Wales Dec, 20, 1841 and was buried in the Strykersville Pioneer Cemetery, where it is believed his remains are undisturbed. However, there is a marker on the Warner family plot for him in the newer Strykersville cemetery. His widow was pensioned in 1858, aged 79. She lived with Milo and family during her last years. Milo said he and his wife, when they were first married, lived with Omri, and the wife recalled Omri's fondness for reading aloud to her from books and papers while she was t working about the house. Milo Warner, son of Omri, as stated above, served in the War of 1812 in Canada. Many of the Warner clan were in the military. Grandsons of Omri who served in the Civil War included Marcellus W. Warner, son of Hyman Warner, killed at Vicksburg; Adne Mio Hyman Warner, killed at Vicksburg: Adne Milo Warner, son of Philetus, who died in Saulsbury Prison in 1865; and Adoniram Judson Warner, son of Levi, who rose to the rank of Colonel in his Pennsylvania regiment, was severely wounded at Antietam, but went to the battle at Gettysburg. President Lincoln named Col. Warner to the Indianapolis trials of the notorious Knights of the Golden Circle, a group that opposed the North and performed traitorous acts. Col. Warner served in Congress from Ohio, 1870-81, then moved to Georgia where he owned gold mines and was connected with the electric railway system and power plants in and around Gainesville. He died at Marietta, Ohio, in 1910. C.O. Warner (Orville C.), grandson of Milo, was in the 44th New York Regiment for three years. He remembered seeing Lincoln and Seward on occasions as he was stationed around Washington. He was made a prisoner in Libby Prison, but was released and took part in lateF battles. For some forty years, it is thought, the Warner families gathered in Java Village for an annual reunion and on these occasions members of the family would give a talk or write their remembrances in letters or poetry. One family history was deposited by Mrs. Morrill in a box in a corner stone laid for the new home in 1880. C.O. Warner collected family records and copies of these "annuals", as they were called, and in 1916 published a bound volume under the title of Genealogy of the Descendants of Omri Warner and a more extended History of Milo Warner and his Family. It was published by the Wolfer Printing Company of Los Angeles. It is from the more than 200 pages of this illustrated volume that this material has been taken. The Warner clan was long prominent in Java and descendants have lived in many states of the union. - AT THE OFFICE - Our office recently received a copy of the major histories of the Aldrich, Arnold, Claeys, Edwards, Shaver, Schepke, and Stewart families. It was presented to the county with the following note: "This book is a gift to the people of Wyoming County in care of Mr. Wilson, County Historian. Please make this information available to anyone doing research.. If I may be of service I will be glad to share any other information I may have. Sincerely, Wesley Arnold, 3972 Dallas, Warren, Mich. 48091 - QUERIES - Beer's History of Wyoming Co. states that a Smith girl and her grandfather, Mr. Bangs were buried very early just north of the Pioneer Cemetery in Portageville. It also says that Dr. Nathan Bangs left some money for a gravestone to be erected for his father. Mr. Gordon McCoy of Rochester wants to know if anyone knows of the existence of this gravestone. JOSEPHINE BERGENER of Rochester, has the family bible and Revolutionary War documents of the Thompson family from New Britain in Albany Co.; also some references to Merrill family: Hannah Merrill, mother of Samuel W. Merrill (d Dec. 21, 1844). Are these Merrills related to family of S.W. Merrill & Sons, merchants in Perry? The writer wishes to pass on these documents to some descendant of Merrill family.
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Historical Wyoming County Jan 1980 - Old Fulton History

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