Cato:
"'WAY
BACK WHEN..."
"There is
something rather amusing in finding Cato or Regulus typified by a cluster
of wooden houses; nor perhaps, are the old worthies so much disgraced as
some indignant scholars might imagine." So wrote Frances Wright, in
September 1819 in "A Trip to Niagara," describing her
experiences traveling west by water and wheel.
July 18, 1980 marks the 100th birthday of the upstate village of
Cato, New York in north central Cayuga County; at least this is the
'official' birthday. On that
date in 1880 incorporation papers were filed as a result of the vote taken
six days earlier at the Railroad House: 52 townsmen favored the idea, 1 1
were opposed.
This does not mean, however, that civilization came late to these
parts; on the contrary, settlers from New England and eastern New York
State came into the area around 1800, holding the first Cato Town meeting
in 1803.
The Congress of the United States, two months after the Declaration
of Independence, made provision for the payment of land bounties to those
"who shall engage in the military service of the United States and
continue therein to the close of the war, or until discharged by Congress,
and to the representatives of such officers and soldiers as shall be slain
by the enemy." In 1792 the New York State Legislature set aside for
this purpose 1.8 million acres of former Indian lands, known as the
Onondaga Military Tract. Surveyor-general
Simeon DeWitt and his assistants laid out 28 military townships, each
containing 100 six-hundred acre lots; lots were drawn, rank determining
the number of acres allotted to each veteran.
The present towns of Ira and Victory, plus the upper half of the
Town of Cato and Conquest make up what was the Cato Military Township.
Although
he always maintained he had no part in it, Simeon DeWitt is credited (or
blamed) for the classical names with which the Townships were tagged:
Lysander, Hannibal, Cato, Brutus, Camillus, Cicero, Manlius, Aurelius,
Marcellus, Pompey, Romulus, Scipio, Sempronius, Tully, Fabius, Ovid,
Milton, Locke, Homer, Solon, Hector, Ulysses, Dryden, Virgil, Cincinnatus,
Junius. Galen and Sterling
were added later. These
townships were broken into smaller towns, Sterling being separated from
Cato on June 19, 1 81 2, and Conquest, Ira and Victory breaking off from
Cato on March 16, 1821. The
names 'Conquest' and 'Victory' denote triumph over those opposed to
separation.
Comparatively
few soldiers settled on their claims; the majority sold or traded their
warrants which, in 1788, were priced at $8, and had risen to $30 in four
years. Indeed it was not
unusual for a 600-acre parcel to be traded for a few gallons of whiskey or
a suit of clothes. Paul Wood,
whose Townline Road property has been in the family since 1795, has the
deed which places the purchase price of the property, sight unseen, at one
horse and saddle.
The
four corners of Cato village mark the junction of four lots of the Cato
Military Township. Daniel Parker came in from Marcellus in 1802, but settled
just east of the village, while Joshua Chappell and his family homesteaded
just west of the village that same year.
In 1804 Augustus Ferris and his family came on foot from Galway,
Saratoga County, but settled on what is now Federal Road before being
drawn to village life. He had
the distinction of being the first postmaster in the Town of Cato,
appointed March 1, 1818; he ran a store until about 1840, served as
assessor, collector, constable, school trustee, Town supervisor, and
member of the Assembly.
Platt
Titus is usually regarded as the first settler in the village; he came in
from Onondaga County in 1805 and "felled the first tree;" he
didn't stay long, however, moving north of Meridian after a few years, and
finally to Hannibal, where he
died.
Abner Hollister, who had settled in Meridian, evidently went south
as plantation over-seer and accumulated considerable wealth; he moved
north again, this time to Cato, building the first frame house in the
village on the southwest corner. When
he left for military service in 1812, he sold his lands and improvements
to Doctor John Jakway, who had arrived in 1809 from Vermont; thereafter,
Hollister was identified with Meridian.
Dr.
Jakway, who was reputed to have served with Ethan Allen, is considered to
be the first permanent settler, and for many years the village was know as
"Jakway's Corners." (A Jakway descendent believes the name to be
an Americanization of the French "Jacques.") Jakway was the
first doctor, covering Conquest and other hamlets on horseback.
He opened a store in 1838, served in the Assembly, and signed the
petition requesting formation of the Cato Masonic Lodge.
Storke's
"History of Cayuga County" says "Jakway was a .... man of
generous impulses and marked idiosyncrasies." It is no wonder, then,
that one story in particular revolves around the good doctor: it is said
that he requested to be buried with his head sticking out of the ground,
so that boys could crack nuts on his skull.
Obviously, his request was denied.
His grave on South Street, behind the Davis home, is surrounded by
a wrought iron fence, and level with the ground!
Until twenty years ago thoughtless villagers used the gravesite as
a dumping ground; E.W. 'Buster' Haas, who lived in the house at that time,
and his brother-in-law, Earl Charlebois, became interested in restoring the
memorial to its original condition. They
cleaned up the site, carted away a truckload of debris, and welded the
fence. Nearby residents say
that until the last few years two elderly Jakway descendants came each
year and placed flowers on the grave, a practice we hope will be resumed
by the village in honor of their founding father.
Another Vermonter, who accompanied Jakway, was John Hooker; he built
the first gristmill in the village in 1818 (where the Cato Milling Company
stands), and later a still and sawmill.
Like the other pioneers he also participated in the governmental
process as Commissioner of Highways and Assessor. 
Buildings that stood at North and East Main Streets. 1871
Immigration west was accomplished in many ways; Robert Johnson and
the Ferrises came in on foot and some arrived on horseback; often
the early settlers prospected
the area, then returned home
to fetch the family, bringing them in with ox team and wagon. Some
families brought a cow or two, placing the milk in a churn above the rear
axle of the wagon, and
removing butter from the churn when they stopped for the night.
These were days when mother
spun, wove, and made the clothing for her family, when all articles of food
were raised on the farm or found in the forest, when oxen were used in
ploughing and breaking the land, and in transporting the grain to market,
when grain was reaped and the grass mowed with sickle and scythe, when all
food was cooked before the open fire, and the only lights were tallow dips
or pine knots.
Where people go, goods
and services usually follow, so it stands to reason the tillers of the
soil came the shopkeepers, millers, tanners, blacksmiths and a host of
others. Elihu Perry and his family had arrived by 1820, and had
settled down on the Show Print's lawn; he was a shoemaker.
Making footwear was something that even the self-sufficient
pioneers preferred to hand over to an expert, and so a cobbler would
outfit the whole family at some time during the year.
Other early residents were George H. Carr, Rev.
John M. Bartlett, Seth Turner and Benjamin Conger.
As tracts of land were divided up and sold off and maps needed, an
enterprising surveyor like Carr would have plenty to do.
By 1838 he had been appointed Sheriff and lived on North Street
where Fredenburgs formerly resided; it was his property which the
Disciples Society bought on which to erect their church, and it was his
building, last known as Harry Hogan's (next to the IGA, but torn down
about 15 years ago) in which the newly reorganized Cato Masonic Lodge met
while he was Master. That
building is also said to have housed the post office during Carr's term as
postmaster. His father,
Joseph, a native of Rhode Island, left Hartford, in Washington County,
with his wife, Nancy and six children, settling in Niles in 1802, then
heading north of the river six years later.
His sister, Peggy, married Benjamin Conger, who is generally
considered Cato's third merchant. Conger
and 20 others financed the purchase of 50 barrels of good wheat flour for
$600 to provide food for themselves and others in 1817. The previous year
had been one in which there was a frost each month, and as a result crops
were sparse. Conger was in
partnership with Henry Furman in a tannery (probably on the southeast
corner of Mechanic Street), with Samuel Hale, and also Reuben Conger at
one time or another, as well as combining with his son up in Martville.
Benjamin was elected constable at the first Ira Town meeting in
1821, but when he ran for coroner in 1825, the 2856 votes he tallied
weren't quite enough to get him elected; however he did serve as school
trustee several times.
Rev. John Bartlett was the second pastor of the Second Baptist
Church of Cato, in the village of Victory.
During his tenure there he became interested in the religious body
known as Disciples of Christ, which had been organized twenty years before
by Thomas and Alexander Campbell. At
first the Disciples allied themselves with the Baptists, but a clash of
doctrines caused the 'Campbellites' to form their own churches, and Barnes
moved his congregation to Ira and Cato.
In 1838 there were 37 inhabitants, among them two doctors, a
miller, a surveyor, a cobbier, a tanner, a hotelkeeper, several
shopkeepers, a blacksmith and a pastor.
The village stayed pretty much the same until after the Civil War
when the railroad was completed between Auburn and Fair Haven.
In
1879, the year before incorporation, Storke's "History of Cayuga
County" classified
Cato as an enterprising village of five hundred inhabitants ....
the natural center for shipments on (the Southern Central Railroad) of a
large section of fertile country, abounding in fruit, grain and other
products. The business at
this station is said to exceed that at Weedsport....…”
By then there were three churches (Dutch Reformed, Disciples of
Christ, and Roman Catholic), a union school, four stores, three cigar
shops (turning out more than 50,000 cigars per month!), a steam saw- and
grist-mill combined, a foundry and machine shop, two cabinet shops, two
shoe shops, two carriage shops, three blacksmith shops, two milliners, two
hotels and two barbershops.
During all of Cato's existence people and agencies providing goods
and services have come and gone; businesses have been formed, bought, sold
and merged. There have been
some successes and, yes, there have been some failures; some will be
touched upon, others not. It
is the individuals who are remembered, rather than their professions.
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