Jedediah Sanger | |
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| Member of theNew York Senate from the Western district | |
| In office November 4, 1800 – April 11, 1804 | |
| In office November 1, 1796 – April 8, 1800 | |
| Member of theNew York State Assembly fromHerkimer andOnondaga County | |
| Member of theNew York House of Representatives | |
| In office January 6, 1795 – April 9, 1795 | |
| Member of theNew York State Assembly fromHerkimer County | |
| Member of theNew York House of Representatives | |
| In office January 7, 1794 – March 27, 1794 | |
| New Hartford Town Supervisor | |
| In office 1789–1792 | |
| First Judge, Oneida County | |
| In office 1798–1810 | |
| Side Judge, Herkimer County | |
| In office 1791–1798 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1751-02-28)February 28, 1751 Sherborn, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Died | June 6, 1829(1829-06-06) (aged 78) New Hartford, New York, U.S. |
| Resting place | Forest Hill Cemetery Utica, New York, U.S. 43°04′39″N75°15′29″W / 43.077600°N 75.257950°W /43.077600; -75.257950 |
| Party | Federalist |
| Spouse(s) | |
| Children | 4 |
| Occupation |
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| Signature |  |
Jedediah Sanger (February 28, 1751 – June 6, 1829) was the founder of the town ofNew Hartford, New York, United States. He was a native ofSherborn, Massachusetts, and the ninth child of Richard and Deborah Sanger, a prominent colonialNew England family. During theRevolutionary War he attained the rank of1st Lieutenant having fought in theBattles of Lexington and Concord, theBattle of Bunker Hill, theSiege of Boston (1776), and during theNew York Campaign.
After the war, he settled inJaffrey, New Hampshire, where he began farming, trading, and running a tavern. He was involved in several civic activities and was appointedLt. Colonel of theNew Hampshire militia. After a fire destroyed his property, leaving him bankrupt, he started over in the frontier ofNew York.
Sanger settled in what was then calledWhitestown. He became aland agent or speculator, buying large tracts of land on both sides ofSauquoit Creek and reselling smaller lots. He was involved in land transactions, one of which involvedGeorge Washington, for the area that would becomeNew Hartford, New York. Between 1789 and 1820, he operated apaper mill,grist mill, andsaw mill there. He also purchased land atSangerfield,Skaneateles,Chittenango, andWeedsport; He established mills in some of these towns. To facilitate travel between the settlements, Sanger was an investor in theSeneca and Chenango Turnpikes (nowNew York State Route 12). Sanger gave his name to a town,Sangerfield, New York, aMasonic lodge, and other places in New York. He is noted as the first settler and founder of New Hartford through two historical markers.
Among his various business pursuits, he was engaged in agriculture and manufacturing. He was a town supervisor, county judge, and state assemblyman and senator. He helped establish churches and a school.
Jedediah Sanger was born inSherborn, Massachusetts on February 28, 1751.[1] He was the ninth child of ten born to his parents,[1][2]: 273 Deborah (née Morse) Sanger and Richard Sanger III (1706-1786), who marriedc. 1729. Like the colonial Sanger men before him, his father plied his trade as a blacksmith.[3][a] Sanger III was also a successful businessman who inherited a sizable fortune from his father in 1731, which he enlarged through a lucrative trading business inBoston, real estate speculation inMaine, and the operation of a store and tavern in Sherborn. The family, one of the most prominent in Sherborn's history, lived in theRichard Sanger III House, which is listed on theNational Register of Historic Places. It was built by his father, Richard Sanger III,c. 1734.[4][b]
Sanger was educated in the local schools and worked on a farm. He may have learned thesaddler's trade and worked in that business in Sherborn. His first marriage was to Sarah Rider in 1771.[2]: 280
Sanger served in theAmerican Revolutionary War, from 1775 to 1781. In his first five days service, in April 1775, he rose from the rank of private in Captain Benjamin Bullard's Company ofMinutemen to 2nd Lieutenant in the1st Massachusetts Regiment. During the war he fought against the British at theBattles of Lexington and Concord (April 1775), theBattle of Bunker Hill (June 1775), theSiege of Boston (1776), and theNew York Campaign (1776). In 1779, he attained the rank of 1st Lieutenant and served inRhode Island until March 18, 1781.[5][6][7][d]
Sanger moved toJaffrey, New Hampshire, inCheshire County, after his military service. He may have first worked there as a saddler. In 1777, he served on a committee of five to resist the annexation of a portion of Jaffrey by the neighboringPeterborough Slip.[9] In 1782, he purchased a farm in Jaffrey nearGap Mountain. Alongside the farm, he operated atavern and a small store on the property.[10][11] From 1783 until 1786, he was selected to petition for a county road, was the town clerk, and was the moderator of one of the annual town meetings.[12][e] In March 1785, he was appointed the Lt. Colonel ofNew Hampshire militia, 23rd regiment (later the 12th).[13]
A fire destroyed his property the night of February 27, 1784. The fire also killed Arthur Clark, a farm worker from Sherborn in the employ of Sanger.[11]: 683 [f] The resulting financial issues Sanger suffered were a contributory factor in his deciding to leave the area and start over in the frontier ofcentral New York.[1]: 22 [2]: 280 [11]: 694
Sanger arrived in the area, then known asWhitestown (the town ofNew Hartford was not split from Whitestown until 1827) in March 1788 at the age of 37, where he would purchase many hundreds of acres of land on both sides ofSauquoit Creek. He resold a large tract east of the creek, a year after purchasing it, to Joseph Higbee, the second settler in New Hartford.[2]: 272 Sanger moved his family to the unincorporated village of Whitestown in March 1789 and built asaw mill there. The following year he added agrist mill. In 1805, he engaged in the manufacture of cotton goods.[2]: 280 Sanger owned apaper mill on Sauquoit Creek, purchasing it around 1810-12 and selling it to Samuel Lyon before 1820.[14][g]
Sanger built a new house in 1810, which was three stories, the third used for at least seven years as meeting space for the Masonic lodge ofFreemasons,[16] which was named Amicable Lodge No. 23, where he presided as Master.[15]: 464 [17]: 174
There is legend that Sanger bought 1,000 acres, some of which became the town of New Hartford, and then sold half to Higbee for the same price.[1]: 58 The earliest recorded account, published by Jones in theAnnals and Recollections ofOneida County in 1851, states that Sanger bought 1,000 acres (400 ha) of land for $500 (fifty cents/acre). Sanger sold the portion east of Sauquoit Creek, thought to be 500 acres (200 ha), to Joseph Higbee (or Higby), within a year, for $500 (one dollar/acre), a shrewd deal netting him the land where the majority of New Hartford's commercial development occurred for no cost. A subsequent survey showed the area Higbee purchased was actually 600 acres (240 ha).[2]: 272 [h][i]
In 1889, it was reported, based upon analysis of property deed records, that Higbee purchased a 492-acre lot in December 1791 for about $1.06 per acre from Sanger, who reserved the rights to thewater power of the creek.[1]: 58 [j]
The 492-acre lot sold by Sanger to Higbee, a 183-acre lot on the west side of the creek that was sold by Sanger in July 1790,[k] and a 234 acres (95 ha) lot also on the west side of the creek that Sanger purchased fromGeorge Washington andGeorge Clinton,[l] add up to 909 acres (368 ha) that makes up most of the original village of New Hartford.[1]: 58
In 1810, Sanger was one of many claimants that sought relief from the legislature to settle a dispute over the title to 1,284 acres (520 ha) arising after the land was omitted from a 1793 deed transferring the property toPhilip Schuyler from the heirs ofWilliam Cosby.[22]: 102 In 1811, they petitioned the legislature again to restrict the commissioners tasked with settling the dispute, between Cosby Patent and Coxe's or Freemason's Patent, to just define the boundary line.[23]
Sanger sold land in New Hartford to Richard Wills, anAfrican American who established a farm and built a house there. The house was later owned by Wills's nephew, an activeabolitionist, and was a stop on theUnderground Railroad.[24]
Sanger continued farming various crops. At theWhitesboro Cattle Show and Fair held in October 1819, Sanger'swinter wheat was judged third-best behind Benjamin Northrop ofDeerfield (second place) and Reuben Gridley ofParis (first place). Hisoats earned first place, having yielded 841⁄4 bushels per acre, for which he was awarded a premium of $15 by the county agricultural society under a program implemented by the state Board of Agriculture "for the promotion of agriculture and domestic manufactures" under an 1819 state law.[25][26] In the domestic animals category, he was awarded bestboar.[27]
In 1788, theState of New York purchased land bordering theUnadilla River from theOneida people.[28] Two years later, Sanger and two others, Michael Myers and John J. Morgan, contracted to buy the portion of this land known as "township 20" from the state in 1790-91 as an investment for "threeshillings and threepence per acre".[2]: 401-402 [m]
Sanger began to sell or lease lots to settlers.[2]: 410 He built the first sawmill there onOriskany Creek in 1793 in what became the village ofWaterville.[2]: 421
In 1795, the town ofSangerfield was created by the state legislature and named to honor Sanger,[30] who in turn agreed to donate 50 acres (20 ha) "to the church of any religious denomination which should build the first house for public worship." He also agreed to donate a "cask ofrum" to the first town meeting.[2]: 410 He provided the rum and donated 25 acres (10 ha) to theCongregational Society as the first religious organization formed in town and 25 acres to theBaptists who built the first church.[2]: 411 Many of the original settlers had disagreed with the town name, wanting it to be called "New Lisbon" instead; they later chose Lisbon for the name of the congregation.[22]: 536
Sanger himself farmed land in Sangerfield, as did relativeWilliam Cary Sanger[22]: 536 much later in the century.[22]: 181
Sanger saw the potential of the area ofSkaneateles Creek at the outlet ofSkaneateles Lake and purchased large amounts of land there. He built a dam about 1796 or '97 and erected the first grist and sawmills there. He divided some of his land into 100 by 330 ft (30 by 101 m) lots which he then sold as the "village plots on the north end of Skaneateles Lake", presently in the village ofSkaneateles.[31] As a controlling investor in theSeneca Road Company, he had the Seneca turnpike built though Skaneateles, which included the first bridge over the creek, built in 1800.[31]
In 1812, Sanger and Judge Youngs, also of New Hartford, purchased 100 acres (40 ha) of land inChittenango inMadison County from the bankrupt owner. They erected a grist-mill, saw-mill, and a cotton/clothing mill onChittenango Creek. They sold the mills, the first commercial operation in this village, in 1816.[32]
Sanger bought a 100-acre (40 ha) tract of land in theOnondaga Military Tract from theprivate who received it from the government for his revolutionary war service and resold individual lots to settlers. This land currently includes the entire village ofWeedsport inCayuga County.[33]
On April 7, 1789, the first town meeting of Whitestown was held in the barn of the area's namesake,Hugh White.[18]: 614 Sanger was selected to be the town's first supervisor and a Commissioner of Highways.[2]: 17 [n] He was re-elected town supervisor in 1790 and 1791.[2]: 17-18, 20 [o]
Sanger was a justice in the first court held inHerkimer County in January 1794,[2]: 23 [34] having been named one of three "side judges" when the county was created in 1791.[1]: 68 [2]: 30 [p][q] WhenOneida County was split from Herkimer County in 1798, Sanger was named "First Judge" of the five county judges.[1]: 68 The first Oneida County Court session was held in May 1798 at the schoolhouse nearFort Stanwix (present-dayRome), with Sanger presiding as First Judge.[2]: 25 He was re-appointed several times through 1810,[2]: 23,28-29 when he was no longer eligible due to his age of 60.[2]: 281 The court was formally the Oneida County Court of Common Pleas and although judges were appointed by theCouncil of Appointment for five-year terms, Sanger was reappointed more often (in 1801, 1804, 1805, 1808, and 1810).[22]: 231 [r]
Sanger first ran for the Assembly in 1792, losing the election by four votes (502-498). He did receive 91% of the votes from Whitestown (of which New Hartford was then still a part), but his opponent,Michael Myers, had most of the other votes from the two other towns in the district (Herkimer andGerman Flatts).[37]
Concurrent with his duty as county judge, Sanger was also a member of theNew York State Assembly from Herkimer County andOnondaga County in 1794-95[1]: 25 [2]: 40 and served in ten more sessions of the Assembly orSenate.[2]: 281 [t] Sanger ran on theFederalist Party ticket.[46]
Sanger was interested in attracting doctors to establish practices in the newly settled areas of the state, and throughout his time in the legislature he introduced numerous bills "proposing state aid to physicians who might establish themselves in the 'West'".[47]
In March 1794, theNew York State Legislature passed a law calling for the laying out and improvement of a public road from oldFort Schuyler (Utica) on the Mohawk River to the settlement ofCanawaugus on theGenesee River, in as straight a line as the topography of the land would allow. Called the "Great Genesee Road",[48] it generally followed the oldIroquois trail toOneida.[49]
By the end of the decade, many portions of the road were still substandard and some sections had still not been completed.[49][50] The state outsourced the task of improving and maintaining the Genesee Road to theSeneca Road Company, chartered by a group of investors led by Sanger. The newSeneca Turnpike was authorized by the state on April 1, 1800, and legislated to run from the village ofUtica west to the village ofCayuga inCayuga County and on toCanandaigua inOntario County. The 157-mile-long (253 km) road was, at the time, the longestturnpike in the state.[49] The turnpike was to generally follow the path of the Genesee Road.[50] Through his controlling interest in the company, Sanger had the road deviate from the Genesee Road after crossing theMohawk River in Utica to turn southwest through New Hartford.[2]: 273 [22]: 480 This made the village prosper as it benefited from both the commerce brought by the road and the industry supported by the water power of the Saquoit.[2]: 273 It was not until the completion of theErie Canal which followed the Mohawk River valley through Utica that Utica overtook New Hartford as the commercial hub of the region.[2]: 274 [22]: 480
In 1801, he was one of the founding members of the Chenango Turnpike Corporation. An act passed by the state legislature in March 1801 specified that the road should be built from the town ofOxford inChenango County and follow as direct a route as possible to an intersection with the Seneca Turnpike (then called theGenesee Road) "at or near the house of Jedediah Sanger".[51] This is the path of presentNew York State Route 12.[52]
Sanger, withElijah Risley and Samuel Wells,[1]: 108 founded the first newspaper printed in the state west ofAlbany, New York. TheWhitestown Gazette was published in Whitestown (now New Hartford) beginning in 1793.[1]: 108 After Sanger's involvement with the paper, it was moved to Utica, and after many mergers it became theUtica Observer-Dispatch.[53]
Sanger was one of the principal proprietors of the Paris Furnace Company, the first manufacturing operation in theSauquoit Valley. The forge and foundry, which went into operation in 1801, made iron products such as axes, hoes,scythes, plows,kettles commonly used at the time for making soap orpotash, andhollow ware. Products were sold throughout New York and to neighboring states. He hired Gardner Avery to supervise the construction and operation of the furnace after witnessing Avery make a perilous crossing of theHudson River, covered in thin ice, when a banker offered $100 to anyone that could deliver a package to the other side.[54]: 278
The site of the company and surrounding settlement, 7 miles (11 km) up the Sauquoit from New Hartford, was known asParis Furnace, and renamedClayville in 1848 in honor ofHenry Clay.[54]: 271 Sanger had the company incorporated in 1823,[55] and it operated until 1832 or 1833, several years after his death.[54]: 268
TheOnondaga Salt Springs Reservation was a tract of land designated by the state legislature in 1797 around a naturalsalt spring for the commercialization of salt production inSalina on the shores ofOnondaga Lake. Production began around 1789; salt was made by boiling thebrine of the water. In 1798, Sanger,Asa Danforth, and about a half-dozen other investors formed the "Federal Company", which increased production by building the first permanent building at the site for salt manufacture, building a new and bigger well, and starting a large-scale operation of 32 kettles for producing salt.[56] This company was the largest producer at the time.[57]: 23 Sanger sold his interest in the company after two years.[57]: 26
He was named one of the directors of the Bank of Utica when it opened on December 8, 1812.[58]
Settlers began to come to the area that would become Whitestone in 1787, when it was wilderness. The town grew to about 3,000 by 1791. Desiring a church, on November 3, 1791, Sanger and others wrote to George Washington requesting a donation of 25 acres for a minister. The petition stated that the influence of a minister would "encourage sobriety, industry, morality, and religion among the people, and to render them good citizens." Washington agreed.[20]
In 1791, aCongregational church was established in a meeting held in Sanger's barn, with Sanger named one of the "first class" trustees. In 1792, the congregation agreed to build a church on land donated by Sanger.[22]: 483 [59] Construction was completed in 1797, and the structure, since 1801 the New Hartford Presbyterian Church, is still a prominent building in the village.[60][61]
In the 1820s, Sanger made significant contributions for the construction ofSt. Stephen's Church in New Hartford. The church contains a marble plaque inscribed "He, being dead, yet speaketh" in Sanger's memory. In 1997, it was listed on theNational Register of Historic Places.[62] According to one source, he also donated the land for this church and left funding in hiswill.[17]: 174
Sanger was a founding member of the New Hartford masonic lodge (named Amicable Lodge) formed in 1792.[17]: 171 He was elected an officer of the Grand (state) chapter at its organizational meeting held in January 1799 inAlbany, whereDeWitt Clinton presided as Grand High Priest.[17]: 736 [63]
In 1793,Samuel Kirkland establishedHamilton Oneida Academy inClinton to educate and civilize theIroquois (Five Nations) Indians in the region. Sanger made a large donation to the school[64] and was named a trustee.[2]: 193 When the school was chartered asHamilton College in 1812, he was again named a trustee.[2]: 195
Sanger was married to Sarah Rider from May 1771 to her death in September 1814 and to Sarah B. Kissam from August 1815 until her death[2]: 281 due toapoplexy on April 22, 1825.[65] He married his third wife, Fanny Dench ofWashington, D.C.,[66] on October 3, 1827. She survived him and died in 1842.[1]: 85
Sanger had four children with his first wife Sarah Rider. The first was Sarah, born in 1772, who died just after her fifth birthday. His second daughter, also named Sarah, was born in 1778. He also had two sons, Walter and Zedekiah, born in 1781 and 1783, respectively, who both died in 1802.[1]: 85
Sarah, the only one of his children that survived him,[1]: 115 married John Eames.[1]: 85 As a wedding gift, Sanger built them a house in New Hartford, now known as the Eames mansion.[60] Sarah and James had nine children, all of whom were born in Sanger's lifetime.[1]: 85 Sarah died in 1861 at age 83 in New Hartford.[1]: 115
Sanger's younger brother, Asa Sanger (born 1753),[3] came to own theAsa Sanger House which is listed on theNational Register of Historic Places.[67]
A nephew, Colonel Calvin Sanger (1768–1835), the son of his brother Samuel, bought all the land inSangerville, Mainec. 1800 which changed its name from Amestown to Sangerville when it was incorporated in 1814.[68] Sanger's nephew Zedekiah, son of his brother Zedekiah, was an early settler in New Hartford, the father of Henry Sanger (born in New Hartford) whose son,William Cary Sanger,[22]: 181 was a member of theNew York State Assembly from 1895 to 1897 and theUnited States Assistant Secretary of War from 1901 to 1903.[69]
Sacred
to the memory
of
Hon. Jedediah Sanger
who died June 6,
A.D. 1829,
The founder of New Hartford.
His charities are widely extended,
And his munificence has reared
And supported several edifices
Devoted to the service of his
Maker.
His virtues are indelibly impressed
upon the
Hearts of his Countrymen.
Sanger died on June 6, 1829,[1][2]: 281 in his home in New Hartford at the age of 79.[70] He was originally buried in the New Hartford village cemetery, then moved to a family burial plot on his farm, and finally was interred at theForest Hill Cemetery inUtica[1]: 27 in a family plot with his second and third wives and several of his children.[17]: 175 The original gravestone, almost illegible, was supplemented with a new one in 2007.[71]
There are twoNew York Historic Markers that commemorate Sanger. One marks the founding of New Hartford ("Jedediah Sanger Founded New Hartford In 1788 By Purchasing 1000 Acres Of Land And Settling Here With His Family") and one the 1790 grist mill ("A Grist Mill Was Built 350 Feet East Of Here In 1790 By Jedediah Sanger, First Settler And Founder Of New Hartford").[62][72]
Sangertown Square, a regional shopping mall in New Hartford, is named after him,[73] as is the New Hartford High School yearbook, the "Jedediac".[74] There is a street named Sanger Avenue in the village of New Hartford.[75] AMasonic lodge was formed in Waterville and named the Sanger Lodge No. 129.[17]: 174 [76]
Sanger's family bible is in the possession of the Oneida County Historical Society and is still used for ceremonial purposes, such as when the new town supervisor took theoath of office in 2010.[77]
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