THE PEOPLE

Of course the first known people to have lived in the Brutus-Weedsport area were the Mound Builders. No proof of their actual habitation in the present town of Brutus has been documented at this time but residential sites in the towns of Savannah and Elbridge should prove that they traversed this locality. Furthermore, excavation for the Port-40 Motel at 9059 Erie Drive revealed a stratum of clay which contained flakes of mica. The mound builders used this type of clay for making their pottery. Did the Mound Builders use Port 40 Clay?

Later the Iroquois Indians, probably mainly members of the Cayuga tribe, used the area just north of Trombley Road for a summer campground. During the construction of the New York State Thruway, several feet of surface material were removed from the site and it contained quantities of Indian materials. There is evidence too that they camped on a small flood plain on Putnam Brook south of 8244 Shepherd Road. It is believed that these areas were too exposed to weather and too subject to flooding to make year around habitation desirable. Other sites such as the present Auburn Prison area on Owasco Outlet made for better winter living.

The first recorded white settler in the town of Brutus was a man named Aaron Frost. He built a cabin on Frost Island in the Seneca River and lived by hunting and trapping. Soon after, the Hamilton twins, John and Dr. James, settled in the town, about 1802, they built a mill on Cold Spring Brook near 2860 State Road 31, west of Weedsport. Aaron Frost fashioned the millstones and was serving as miller there about 1808. Frost owned the Woodcock farm, 9185 Oakland Road. A family burial plot was located only slightly north of the Thruway but the exact spot has been lost,

The first evidence of white population concentration in Brutus appears in the census of 1800. Abel Powers, Caleb Rood (Rude), William Stevens and David Remington appear to have been neighbors. They were living in a community called Macedonia at the south edge of present Weedsport where Rude Street intersects Route 34, the Weedsport-Auburn Road. Sunderland Sweet doubtless lived nearby. His name is not listed in the census but his child was the first burial in the God's Acre Cemetery across the road. Rood's tombstone inscription reads " ..... the second man to settle in this town." He came from western Connecticut. Macedonia gradually became a larger community boasting an inn and a school. But it soon lost its identity when the Erie Canal was dug a short distance to the north. Weed's Basin then became the center of community life.

Sennett, five miles south of Macedonia was the chief market center for Brutus residents. It appears to have been a more popular trading center than Auburn in the early part of the 19th century.

The name of the hamlet we know as Sennett was called Brutus until 1827. Brutus (Sennett) was settled earlier than Macedonia and its post office served Weedsport and the present town of Brutus. Weedsport received its first post office as late as 1822, with Elihu Weed as postmaster. Brutus also offered religious services and the new Weedsport Baptist and Presbyterian Churches were sponsored by respective Brutus Organizations.

Soon after 1800 another Community began to develop on the northeastern side of the town. Most of the settlement occurred on or east of Cottle Road which was at the time the main thorofare between Weedsport and Jordan.

Early settlers to the east included Adam Helmer, Lewis Putnam, John St. John, Henry Passage, 'Henry reach (Meech,) Henry Crim. When the canal was built Cold Sprinq Pump near the Onondaga County line assumed a position of community importance which largely disappeared when the Erie Canal was abandoned in 1918.

The earliest white settlers in the community came from New England, mainly Connecticut and Massachusetts and from the Hudson and Mohawk Valleys. They were people on the move - out to better themselves. They could see no future in tilling the thin poor quality soils in the East and took a gamble on the soil and living conditions in the Military Tract. These people were hardy, thrifty, religious and innovative. They helped to originate the great middle class which makes this nation unique and their mores set the basic patterns which still guide our society today.

The Hamilton twins settled from Hebron, N.Y. on the Vermont border as did Lewis Putnam, and later the Hopkins and Dixon families. Samuel Bibbens and Abel Powers came from Saratoga County; the Rudes and St. Johns, Connecticut; Stevens, Massachusetts; Emericks from Ulster County; and Helmers, Passages and Crims from the Mohawk Valley. A few early families came from New Jersey.

During the construction of the Erie Canal 1817-25 a number of Irishmen were brought in to work in the Montezurna swamplands and doubtless many worked in the Weedsport area. There is no record that any of these people settled nearby. The story is that most of the Irish moved on to Buffalo and Albany where they took up residence. Many became boat owners and workers on the Erie.

During the railroad building period many more Irishmen worked as laborers. However, when the construction was completed they stayed in communities along the rail lines working on the section hands and as trainmen. Well known Weedsport families who settled here during the railroad years include O'Connell, Lawlot; Burke, Coyle, Cloonan, Coogan, Cooney, Culligan, Doyle, Dunn, Enright, Failey, Graney, Grace,Griffin, Hanlon, O'Neil, Powers, Riley, Tobin and many others. Not all worked on railroads. Some were farmers, others worked at trades. The Irish "Potato Famine" of the 1840's and 50's provided them with an excellent additional reason for migrating to America. The same famine also struck Germany and resulted in a heavy migration to this country. The Germans tended to settle in their own community groups. Brutus never had a strong German population as did Clyde and several other canal towns.

Until World War I the Brutus-Weedsport people could be described as Yankee/Irish but since that time the population has been enhanced by the settlement of a number of excellent Polish, Ukranian and Italian families.

In 1976, as the community becomes more and more a 'bedroom community" for Auburn and Syracuse, a much more extensive admixture of ethnic stock is evident.

Over the years Weedsport has given liberally of its citizen talents to the New York State Legislature. William I. Cornwell served in the Senate in 1848-1849. Serving in the Assembly were - Henry R. Filley, 1838-1839; William. I. Cornwell, 1847-1847; David Baldwin, 1858; Chas. H. Weed, 1868-1859; Ira D. Brown, 1872; L. F. Hardy 1873-1874; Joseph H. Hamilton 1883; Frank M. Parsons, 1886-1887; Chas. C. Adams, 1892-1893; Ernest G. Treat, 1900-1903; Michael Grace, 1912-1913; C. D. Van Alstine, 1928-1930; Charles A. Cusick, 1946-1961.