WOODHULL
Steuben County
New
York
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WOODHULL |
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Few Landmarks Remain to Remind
Descendants of the Early
Pioneers When the pioneer Caleb Smith came to the place which was to be the village of Woodhull in 1806, he brought some human saplings which were quickly and easily transplanted into the new soil. The two first born, the twins Clarissa and Amaza soon married; the altter to Sophronia Sweetland and the former to AAsa Wisner. The next child, John Cornell married a Miss Rowley who lived between Addison and Woodhull, while Hannah Smith married Alexander Simpson. Those branches of the Caleb Smith tree have been separated by time and distance from the branches which settled in and around Woodhull for four or more generations. However, Benjamin Drake Smith, next eldest of the clan, fathered children many of whose descendants still have stayed within a comparatively short radius of the land Caleb Smith selected. Benjamin Smith was married three times and his courtships were so unusual, even for pioneer days, the story is worth repeating. Crossing the high ridge which separates Tuscarora Creek Valley from the Cowanesque valley, Benjamin found a family which had three girls. They were the Howlands, descendants of the Howland who came to Plymouth just a few years after the Mayflower and built a house that is still exhibited as the oldest in New England. Benjamin Smith wooed Polly Howland, but surprised the entire countryside in the Cowanesque valley by marrying her sister, Eunice Howland. Benjamin returned to Woodhull, after a short sojourn in the other valley and built himself a log house north of the village on land that undoubtedly was part of his father's 1,700 acres. To them were born four children; Eddie Howland, Asa Wisner, Ira and Eunice Parker Smith. When his wife Eunice died Benjamin soon began to travel over the ridgeland again to resume his wooing of Polly Howland. But again he seemed to be looking at Polly and thinking of her sister for when the wedding bells rang a second time they were for Rhoby Howland and Benjamin Smith. She, too, bore her husband four children; Amelia A., Mary Howland, Lester A. and Susan M. Smith. Then she, too, died and her heavy hearted husband remembered again the Howland girl still left in the Cowanesue valley. To be wooed twice and jilted for a sister might seem to be the limit of a girl's patience, but not so Polly. Whether from pity for her nieces and nephews, or love of Benjamin we do not know, but her rivals being gone Polly married her man and probably lived happily ever after. In any event she brought him no more children, which might have been the reason he never again had to seek a wife. The family of eight children grew up happily under the care of their aunt and foster mother. Those were still wild days and the sixth child, Mary Howland Smith Falkner told the writer many things about pioneer life, when he was a boy. Much of this we remember but much more is forgotten. Those were the days when the early inhabitants had to live largely off the land. When the family needed meat one of the boys; Eddie, Asa, Ira or Lester would take turns getting up long hours before daylight to lay in the wheatfield. When day broke there was usually a deer feeding on the wheat, to be shot. One afternoon Lester was sent into the woods to round up the cows, but could not find them. Caught by darkness deep in the timber he climbed a large tree and spent the night there, to stay out of reach of the dangerous wild beasts. Perhaps it was a little earlier than this that two of Benjamin Smith's brothers had a long chase after an unusually large panther. The dogs finally treed this beast in a large tree near where the Woodhull-Addison highway passed the old Holden place. The huge tawny animal lay streched out on a high limb where it was difficult to distinguish it in the foliage. The first shot took no effect, but when the second gun spoke the big panther came tumbling down; shot directly through the eye. Benjamin Drake Smith's eight children left many descandants in his third generation. Eddie Howland Smith had one son; Frank, and one daughter, Hattie Smith Hand. Frank married Nettie Daniels of Knoxville and spent the greater part of his life on the fine farm Eddie Howland cut out of the wilderness on Pulteney HIll. There are children, grandchildren and great grandchildren of Frank Smith still living around Woodhull and elsewhere. Asa Wisner Smith moved to Woodstock, Ill., and was postmaster of that village many years. He had three children, Cora, Rocky and Arnie, none of whom left any progeny. The record page is blank concerning Ira, son of Eddie Howland. Amelia A., daughter of Benjamin and Rhoby, married Dr. Dolson and herself became a practicing physician in Bath and later Hornell. She had two sons, Edward and Charles Dolson, both lawyers. The latter has children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. Mary Howland married Rensylaer Falkner and had four children, Ida F. married Charles Miller; Lester, unmarried; Carrie married Edward Crittenden and Mary married Frank Little. The first and last mentioned have descendants to the fourth generation. Lester A. Smith studied law and then volunteered for the Civil War. He died shortly after the end of that struggle. Susan M., the last daughter of Benjamin Smith left no record available to this writer. Eunice Parker, fourth daughter of Benjamin and Eunice Smith, married into another pioneer family which made a great mark in the county. Shortly after Caleb Smith settled at Woodhull he was followed by Micajah Sherwood who made an opening in the forest about a half mile east of the center of what was to be a village, Micajah first built a log house, according to tradition, "upon a large hemlock he felled across the hill." He built the first piece of road eastward from the village and later ereted his second permanent house, a stately structure with pillars which stands today at the east edge of the village. Micajah had three sons, the Hon. Henry Sherwood of Corning, Hiram of Jasper and William Mason Sherwood of Woodhull. He married Eunice Parker Smith. To them were born a daughter, Eva Sherwood who married Francis McDowell of Wayne. He was one of the seven gentlemen who organized the Patrons of Husbandry in 1867-68. He was elected the first treasurer of the National Grange and after his death Eva Sherwood McDowell succeeded him in this office which she held some 50 or more years. Her daughter, Dr. Louise McDowell is a retired Wellesley College professor of physics. The Sherwood home has been owned and occupied the past 23 years by Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Brutsman. Mr. Brutsman's paternal ancestor was also one of the early pioneers who helped settle Woodhull. That family home was erected about two mile west of the village. The other son of Caleb Smith who married and had descendants known to be still living in the county were Jeffry and Alfred. Jeffry had his father's number of children, 14, one of whom was Edwin Farwell Smith. He followed the stream back down-water to Painted Post and became the father of Walter Smith. Walter Smith in later years returned to the region settled by his great grandfather Caleb and bought back into the family for his own home the house picture last week in the Corning Sunday News. Several children and grandchildren of Walter Smith still live in and around Woodhull. Alfred Smith, 11th child of Caleb also left descendants who are well known in Steuben County. A great grandson of Alfred is now the Supervisor of a Steuben County town. There are numerous other descendants of Caleb Smith scattered over the state and probably over the entire country. If one could gather together all the living descendants of this pioneer at the first house he built on the west side of the village there would be a little army of relatives carrying dozens of names besides the persistent one of Smith. Few landmarks remain at Woodhull to mark the activities of this pioneer family. When they came to Woodhull the area covered by the residential section of the village was a grove of great maple and hemlock trees. The old town hall, which once was the first village school, stands on the very site where "the Smith boys," hung their iron kettle to make maple sugar for the family needs. Nearly a century and a half has passed since the smoke curled skyward around that kettle, and the scenes of 1806 have vanished almost as completely as that evaporated smoke. Gone are the stately pines and hemlocks, gone are the log cabins and the men and women who lived their lives in them. Left today are only the everlasting hills which rolled up to the north and south the day Caleb Smith brought his family into the valley which was to be called Woodhull. The Corning Leader (Corning, NY) July 7, 1955; page 1. |