March 8, 2009
To the Mentz Town Board;
Re: Yearly Report of the Town Historian
Dear Sirs;
In 2008, much time was spent working with the Lock 52 Historical Society and the Heritage Days Committee.
For the Heritage Days Committee, I was charged with; 1) writing the Heritage Days program, 2) writing and conducting a village walk, 3) designing a time capsule.
It was fairly easy to design and write the first two, as both could be done at very little cost. The program was written and given to the Committee, which I believe used the Town Clerks copier to make a small amount of copies that were handed out fro free. The village walk guide was printed and sold by the Lock 52 Historical Society, which was well received and made a small amount of money for the Society. As for the time capsule, I was unable to finish the task, as I found out that building a time capsule is not as easy or cheap as the Committee first thought. We also found that there are other time capsules in the village, and the idea was not as novel as we had hoped. Thus, this task was not finished.
I continued to work with the Historical Society in their struggle to serve the community on a shoe string budget. Through a grant from the Village and the expansion of the downtown improvement zone, the Society was able to fund needed repairs to the house on Pine Street. The Town’s yearly donation is much appreciated and is used to pay for heat and power. I hope that the Town can continue this yearly donation.
Many hours are spent each year dealing with genealogical requests from around the country. As this does not fall with in the prevue of my duties, I will try my best to guide the requests to places where they can find the information they are seeking.
I will point that that genealogical tourism is a growing field and the Town should keep this in mind when they are looking at ways to use cemetery and town records to the benefit of the area. People do plan vacations around visiting the land of their fathers and mothers. I applaud the efforts of the cemetery superintendent in his work to update and catalog the burial records, and the efforts being made by the website designer to get these records out to the public.
This year I was given copies of Town Tax records covering a period from 1851 to the 1980’s. These were being disposed of by the County Records Retention Office and all town historians in the county were given the opportunity to take possession of the books. I have decided to store these at the Lock 52 HS house.
I will once again ask the Town Board to address the issue of the old files left by Bruce Carter. This issue has gone on too long, and came to a head this year when somehow the new Village Historian took procession of the boxes without my knowledge. I was forced to demand the return of the boxes as the Town had not made the decision to dispose of them, causing some amount of strain between the two historians. I ask the Board to finally dispose to the files, which are almost worthless anyhow, and have no bearing on the governance of the Town.
Respectfully,
Michael Riley
The History of Mentz
The idea that America was built on was that all men would own their own land to till and a place to call his own where he could raise his family and hopefully be able to give land to his sons. President Jefferson based his dreams for the new country on this ideal. It is what spurred the movement west for thousands of people.
If we look back to 1797 and the first settler in Mentz in this context, perhaps we can gain a small look into what it was like to be one of the first settlers of this “new “ land we now call home and why they would leave their established lives behind. Philip King and Seth Higley were the first to take the bold step and leave their homes in Saratoga County to begin a new life in a place without roads or any other ways to communicate with the outside world. History tells us that Josiah Partridge and Charles Annes moved here soon after and from there the small settlement grew.
Life in that time revolved around small homestead farms, a place to grow food and raise livestock for your family’s consumption. If, by chance, you had extra, you might trade with your neighbors for items that they grew, raised or made. If your neighbor made shoes, and you had a talent for building furniture, you could trade or barter. The little community would need to be self sustaining if it was to survive. Fresh water was a necessity and the Owasco Outlet would provide that, along with fish and enough flow to power mills. The hills and flats were covered with virgin timber, plenty to build log houses and barns, to feed fires, and give cover to game animals.
George Washington was ending his second term as President when Philip King moved here. At that time, there was no town known as Mentz. All the land, from Cato to Auburn was in the township of Aurelius. It was not until 1802 that this large township was broken up into smaller towns. At that time, the town of Jefferson was created, along with the towns of Brutus and Cato. The name Jefferson most likely in honor of the new President, Thomas Jefferson. However Jefferson was not to last. Records show that the town was renamed in 1808. President Jefferson left office in the spring of 1809, so it could be that the town fathers though it was time to change the name. There were also two other “Jeffersons” in New York State at the time, a Jefferson County to the north and a town of Jefferson in the east. At the time, about 1807, France was conquering parts of Germany that contained Mainz, the capital of the Rhineland. Mainz is also spelled Mentz and it might be that our fore-father’s chose to support the old country by taking the name, or maybe it was unusual enough that they would not need to rename ever again. Another tale told is that Mentz was named after Metz, France. So Jefferson became Mentz in 1808 and that is why we celebrated the 200th in 2008.
History of the Town of Mentz
The town of Mentz is located in the Military Tract of New York. To understand the history and settlement of Mentz, it is helpful to understand, at least in a small part, the history of the Military Tract. For this I have included a bit of a work of a work written by Howard Finlay, a past historian for the town of Brutus.
The Military Tract was a vast area of about 1.75 million acres located in the heartland of central New York. It extended roughly from Lake Ontario southward to the south end of Seneca Lake and from the east line of present Onondaga County westward to Seneca Lake. The present counties of Onondaga, Cortland, Cayuga and Seneca were included as were parts of Oswego, Schuyler, Tompkins, Yates and Wayne. The Military Tract was established by the New York State Legislature on 16 September, 1776. It did not become Onondaga County until 5 March 1794.
Earlier the Continental Congress passed resolutions calling for the raising of 88 regiments of troops among the colonies. New York's quota, based on population, was four regiments but as late as March 1781 only two regiments had been activated. New York argued that since its militia was maintaining the Mohawk frontier it was fulfilling its obligation. However, pressure was exerted and on March 20, 1781 the legislature passed the proper laws and two more regiments were authorized. These troops became known as the New York Line and were enlisted for three years.
The Continental Congress guaranteed every man fighting in the Revolution a bounty of 100 acres of land from the public domain. Since the State of New York had a vast surplus of land and a need for two regiments of military men it decided to add 500 acres to the Colonial 100, and thus did arrive at the somewhat odd figure of 600 acres in its military lot.
Since earlier legislation had assigned the lands in the Military Tract to the Cayuga and Onondaga Indian tribes it was necessary to negotiate with the Indians before the area could be awarded to veterans. The Indians finally agreed to accept the Onondaga Reservation of about 100 square miles, lying south from Onondaga Lake; three reservations on Cayuga Lake, known as the Cayuga Residence and East and West Cayuga Reservations; also several small reservations in the Cayuga Lake, Seneca River areas. Prices paid for the remainder of the big tract were low, even by the standards of that day. Some years later the State "repurchased" all but a very small proportion of the above Reservation lands.
The time element is interesting at this point. The two Line Regiments were established in March, 1781. Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown seven months later, on October 19. The Treaty of Paris which ended the Revolutionary hostilities was signed September 3, 1783. The boundaries of the Military Tract were established on July 25, 1782, but it was 1789 before the division of the area was agreed upon and still another year passed before the surveyors completed their job. The Legislature decided to proceed to lay out 25 townships of 60,000 acres each, that is 100 lots of containing 600 acres. Later three additional townships were ordered surveyed.
Only men who were members of infantry regiments commanded by Colonels Philip Van Cortlandt and Goose Van Schaick; Colonel John Lamb's regiment of artillery and a corps of Sappers and Miners were eligible to receive land bounties in the Military Tract. Land entitlement to men of various ranks was as follows: Privates and Non-commissioned officers, 600 acres; Lieutenants, 1,200 acres; Captains, 1,800 acres; Majors, 2,400 acres; Colonels 3,000 acres.
The survey was finally completed and on January 1, 1791, almost ten years after the war had ended, balloting for the lots began.
The surveyors had laid out 25 "Military Townships" in the tract. Each was divided into 100 lots of 600 acres. Naturally because of unsophisticated surveying instruments, difficult terrain etc. not every lot contained exactly 500 acres. But every township came up with 100 lots except Cicero ! Somewhere along the line Cicero lost one lot.
In the actual balloting process the names of all men entitled to land were placed in a barrel, one name for each lot of entitlement. One hundred numbers were then placed in the "Township Box" as the balloting proceeded a name was drawn from the barrel and a number from the Township Box. The clerk then recorded the name, the township and the lot number in the Balloting Book. Ninety four names were drawn for each township. The remaining six lots were assigned for "school, gospel, certain commercial offices and water-covered land." Monies from the sale of these lands was to be used as designated but most importantly to build churches and schools.
Original patents to military tract lands often contain the term "States Hundreds." These 100 acre plots were deducted from the 600 acre award if the veteran had taken his Colonial Congress bounty in another state or outside the Military Tract in New York. Another term "survey 50's" is also found. The law required that each ballotee must pay the state 48 shillings cash to cover the cost of surveying. Failure to pay the fee resulted in the forfeiting of 50 acres which were later sold by the State.
The names applied to the Military Townships are most interesting. They are as follows: Aurelius, Brutus, Camillus, Cato, Cicero, Cincinnatus, Dryden, Fabius, Galen, Hannibal, Hector, Homer, Junius, Locke, Lysander, Manlius, Marcellus, Milton, Ovid, Pompey, Romulus, Scipio, Sempronius, Solon, Sterling, Tully, Ulysses, Virgil.
Since the first ballot did not absorb all of the land in the military tract the legislature decided to make awards to other service groups. Accordingly, the 26th Township, Junius was ordered surveyed and was balloted to Indian officers who held military commissions. Galen, number 27, was balloted to "surgeons and surgeon's mates" since they were originally excluded from land bounties. Finally the township of Sterling, Number 28, was balloted to the families of men who died in the war or soldiers who were judged to have been wronged or omitted from previous ballots.
Perhaps the most unfortunate facet of the Military Tract Story is the fact that very few ballotee’s even settled on their land. The young soldiers, who should have populated the tract grew tired of waiting for their patents, purchased land and settled elsewhere.
The time lapse was also responsible for a plethora of errors and fraud and many of these problems were created before the war was over. While still in the service many men signed their bounty rights over to others for practically nothing. The ranks included, as now men of all walks and grades. Even as now many lived for the moment so if a few pounds or a suit of clothes seemed important at the time a trade was made. It is said that one lot in the northern part of Cayuga County is-still known as the "Whiskey Lot" as a result of such a transaction. Five, ten or fifteen pounds were common values placed on 600 acres of bounty land. Smart officers were often the recipients in these cases. In addition to being smart (or sharp) they often had wealth, coming as they did from the more affluent families of the state. Later, after the balloting, some of these officers bought large acreages of Survey-Fifties and States Hundreds at bargain prices.
[The above was used with minor changes from: http://www.flls.org/WEEDSPORT/military.html]
Even with knowledge of the Military Tract, the formation of the Town of Mentz is confusing. Mentz was not one the first townships, rather it belonged to the township of Brutus. But on March 5th, 1794, the State government consolidated Cato and Brutus into the township of Aurelius. Then on March 30, 1802, the old townships of Brutus and Cato were detached and formed into separate new townships. However, the new Brutus was smaller then the old Brutus because a new township was formed, that being the town of Jefferson. Jefferson was mostly likely named for the President of the United States. On April 6, 1808, Jefferson was renamed as Mentz. On April 8, 1859, the town was divided again as the Town of Montezuma was formed from Mentz. This is why old deeds will state that land sold in the Town of Mentz once belong to Brutus.
Early maps show how the land was dived up into lots. Each lot was further divided by the owner into smaller plots as people moved to the area and purchased land from the first owners. Now we can turn to Stroke’s 1879 History of Cayuga County to tell us of the events over the early years.
The first settlements in the town were made in 1797, near the village of Port Byron, by Philip King, Seth Higley, Josiah Partridge and Charles Annes. Messrs. King and Higley were from Saratoga County, and settled on lot 72, the latter on a State's hundred, in the south-west corner. Mr. King took up the remainder of the lot and remained there till his death. He raised a large family. His son, Ezekiel, who was born in 1799, was probably the first white child born in the town. Mr. King kept the first tavern, about a mile west of the village, prior to 1815. It was a frame house. Josiah Partridge was from Massachusetts and settled on lot 73. Charles Annes came in from Chemung County in the fall and settled in the south-west corner of lot 73, on fifty acres donated by Elijah Buck to induce a settlement.
In the spring of 1798, Aholiab Buck, a native of Pennsylvania, moved in from Big Flats, Chemung county and located on what would become River Street in the village of Port Byron. He was the first settler in the corporate limits of the village. He built a log cabin that season and cleared a little land. He then went home and married Annis Drake, a native of Goshen, N. Y., with whom he returned the same fall, along with his brother, Elijah Buck, and Elijah’s wife and daughter Sarah. Elijah had previously bought lot 73 of a soldier who served in the Revolutionary War. Aholiab Buck moved to Illinois in 1832.
The town was then heavily timbered, principally with beech and maple, with some basswood, oak, whitewood and hemlock. Game and fish were plentiful, yet breadstuffs and other edibles were scarce. Bears and wolves were numerous and a source of much annoyance. The Outlet was used by the early settlers as a transportation route. The farmers would use a large canoe to ship grain to Seneca Falls to be ground until a mill could be built along the outlet. Of course, the white men were not the first settlers of the land. On the farm settled by Elijah Buck was a well, known as the Indian well, from the supposition that the Indians dug it. It was about ten feet deep and furnished a constant supply of water. Evidences of Indian occupancy, for brief periods at least, probably while on hunting and fishing excursions, exist in numerous flint arrow-heads and stone tomahawks which have been brought to the surface in various localities by the plow. Portions of clay vessels, evidently used for culinary purposed, have also been found.
On the lot bought by Elijah Buck was a splendid water privilege, with a natural fell of ten to fifteen feet. This privilege, with ten acres, was soon after given by the Messrs. Buck to Aaron Knapp for the purpose of erecting a mill there on; and the mill then erected by him was the first one built in the town. The precise year in which it was built cannot now be ascertained. The property soon after passed into the hands of a Mr. Aiken. The erection of the mill gave an impetus to the settlements.
Daniel Loveland, originally from Vermont, moved in from the southern part of the County, with his family, consisting of his wife and four children, one son, and three daughters, in 1799, and settled near where the depot now stands. Peter Ransier and Moses Lent, from Owego, settled on lot 62 in 1800.
Also around 1800, James Dixon and Major Eli Wilson came from Hebron, Washington County, the latter with his wife, Margaret, and daughter, Amy. They settled on a soldier's grant of 600 acres, on the east line of the town, which they took up jointly. John I., David, George and Eli Wilson, sons of Eli Wilson, settled on the same tract a little later.
John Dixon, also from Hebron, Washington County, came in 1804, and settled upon fifty acres of the tract taken up by James Dixon and Maj. Wilson, and died there in 1876, aged ninety-two. Edwin S. and Edwin J., (twins,) Polly, and Marcha, were the children of James Dixon. John C., son of John Dixon, and father of T. Fayette Dixon was the proprietor of the flouring and grist-mill in Port Byron.
Other early settlers were Martin and James Harker, from New Jersey, who located on the site of the village; Reuben Lent and family, from Washington County, who located on lot 62, a little west of Traphagen's grist-mill, about 1806. Lent claimed to have served in the Revolution for that lot, which he twice sold previous to his settlement on it. After his settlement he sold portions of it to other settlers, and was finally ejected with his victims by Jacob Tremper, to whom he first sold it and by whom the title was held. Tremper, who lived in Kingston, Ulster county, never settled here. John Seymour, a Methodist preacher, came with his family about 1806 or `7, and settled on lot 62, a little northwest of Elijah Buck's. He was probably the first preacher in the locality of Port Byron and in the town. Joseph Hamilton and Ira Hopkins, from Washington county, and Caleb Hopkins, from New Jersey, settled on lot 85 previous to 1804.
John Adams Taylor, who was born in Hartford, Washington County, settled in the northwest part of the town on April 14th, 1817. He bought a State's hundred, for which he paid $7 per acre, rather than become involved in the perplexities arising from defective titles to the soldiers' grants, which many of the settlers bought for a nominal sum, and from which they were subsequently ejected. Mr. Taylor had prospected this section of the country in 1815. He came on horseback, and bought of Edward Luck, who was obliged to leave on account of fever and ague, which prevailed here to an alarming extent, but diminished with the increased settlements and the clearing of the lands. Daniel Mintline, a native of Albany, came in from Canajoharie, April 11th, 1805. He was the first settler in this locality and from him it derives the name of the Mintline settlement. Daniel Rairden, a Mr. Buckingham and Andrew Myers were early settlers in the Mintline area. Myers was from Dutchess County.
While all this growth was taking place in the town, the heaviest settlement was taking place around the Owasco Outlet, where it came out of the valley onto the flats of the Seneca River. This was a good place to use the water of the Outlet to power grist and saw mills. The early settlement was called King’s Settlement and then Bucksville. But these places were not an incorporated village, rather they were a recognized Post Office location. All this settlement and growth were taking place twenty years prior to the building of the Erie Canal.
There are no written accounts of life in Mentz before the Erie Canal. But it had to be a rough affair. Most farming was done at the subsistence level for it was almost impossible to ship your goods to places that had money to buy. Most trade that did take place was done by using the Seneca River. Large canoes were floated down the Outlet to the river and then east by a long route that used the Seneca River, Oneida River, Onieda Lake and the Mohawk River. This trip could take weeks. If the goods arrived intact, they were sold and the people would walk home or try to pole their craft west. But it was the American dream to own your own land and be your own master, so many did take the chance to move west and clear land.
The Erie Canal was opened from Rome to Montezuma in 1820, and this spurred a new growth in the town. By 1825, the canal was completed across the state from Albany to Buffalo, eliminating the long route and weeks that it once took to sell one’s goods and wares.
Town of Mentz
When asked, few people say that they live in the town of Mentz. Often they will say that live in or near Port Byron. And many would not be able to say what the boundaries of Mentz are. But it is important to realize that a village is not a town, nor is a town a village. The terms used to describe a town or village can be confusing.
What is a Town?
In New York State, a town is the major division of each county. In other words, every county is sub-divided into two or more towns. Towns provide or arrange for most municipal services for residents of hamlets and selected services for residents of villages. All residents of New York who do not live in a city or on an Indian reservation live in a town. As of the 2000 census, there are 932 towns in New York. Unlike villages, towns cannot cross county borders, since they are part of each county.
Towns lack an executive branch of government. The town board exercises both executive and legislative functions. The town supervisor presides over the board, but does not possess veto or tie-breaking power. The judicial branch is often a town justice of the peace.
A town can contain zero, one or multiple villages. Towns vary in size and population. The largest town (by area), the Town of Brookhaven, covers 531.5 square miles, but half of that is water. The Town of Webb has the most land area at 451 square miles . The smallest, the Town of Green Island, covers only 0.7 of a square mile. The Town of Hempstead has about 756,000 people (2000 census), making it more populous than any city in the state except New York City. The Town of Red House, the least populous, has 38 permanent residents (2000 census).
What is a Village?
In New York State, a village is an incorporated area which is usually, but not always, within a single town. A village is a clearly defined municipality that provides the services closest to the residents, such as garbage collection, street and highway maintenance, street lighting and building codes. Some villages provide their own police and other optional services. Villages have less autonomy than cities. Those municipal services not provided by the village are provided by the town or towns containing the village. As of the 2000 census, there are 553 villages in New York.
The legislature of a village is the board of trustees, composed of a mayor and (usually) four trustees. The mayor may vote in business before the board and may break a tie. The mayor generally does not possess veto power, unless provided by local law. The mayor is also the executive of the village. A village must have a municipal building or village hall. Villages may also have a village justice.
To be incorporated as a village, a territory must have at least 500 inhabitants and be no more than 5 square miles in area (though there are exceptions to the area rule, such as if an entire town wishes to incorporate as a village). The process of incorporation begins with a petition by either 20% of residents or owners of 50% of assessed real property. It is then voted upon by those living in the territory. Currently, some villages have less than a 500 person population due to loss of inhabitants.
Villages often cross other political boundaries. More than 70 villages are located in two or more towns. Seven villages are divided between two counties. The village of Saranac Lake is in three towns and two counties.
The distinction between a town and village can be confusing. We often say that we are going “down town” not “down village”, or that we come from the town of Port Byron. However, it is important to realize the distinctions between the two, especially when we want to ask our leaders to do something for us.
Mentz / Port Byron in 2008
The town has a land and water area of 10,337 acres. It has one village, Port Byron, located in the center of the town. The village contains a total of 627.9 acres of land and water.
Population Statistics
The most recent population data is from the 2000 census. The total population breaks down as such;
Town of Mentz - total population 2446
Males - 1189, Females - 1257
Pre-school age 152
School age (5-20) 557
Working age (20-65) 1391
Retirement age (65 and on) 346
Estimated decline of population between 2000 and 2006 -2.3%
Village of Port Byron – total population 1297
Males 625, Females 672
Pre-school age 80
School age 297
Working age 715
Retirement age 205
Estimated decline of population between 2000 and 2006 -2.7%
Combined total population in 2000 - 3743
Estimated combined total population in 2006 - 3651 -2.45%
Population trends since 1960
2000 1990 1980 1970 1960
Town 2446 2453 2441 2338 2105
Village 1297 1359 1400 1330 1201
Total Households (2000)
Town 932, Village 501
Mean Income (2000)
Town $38,615, Village $37,843
