WILLIAM WORTMAN BIOGRAPHY, YATES, NEW YORK Copyright (c) 2000 by John G. Abrahamson (bigabe@prodigy.net). ************************************************************************ USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submittor has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. ************************************************************************ From pages sent to me by Donald Arthur Rowland Historian, Town Of Wayne Hammonsport, NY Probable from the newspaper THE DUNDEE WILLIAM WORTMAN PIONEER by Stella Crosby You asked me when we met last year To tell you why we gather here. I wondered then if I=d find out, But I=ve learned how it came about. I=ve read that near New Brunswick town, New Jersey state, a boy was born The time when Sullivan had placed His troops near here and they laid waste The fields of corn and orchards wide And burned the red men=s homes beside, In seventeen hundred seventy-nine The month and day I could not find, But William Wortman, Pioneer, I am quite sure was born that year. He soon was left with sister small An orphan with no home at all, While friends the girl a home did give And took her farther south to live, No place was found for our grandsire Till he was bound to MacIntyre. When freedom came, the valiant band That had laid waste the Red Man=s Land Went home and told their friends they=d found A garden here, and soon around Lake Seneca were clearings made And cabins built in forest shade. And MacIntyre, among the rest, Brought William too, when he came west. They reached Peach Orchard at that date Where William grew to man=s estate And married Anna, good as gold- Anthony Swarthout=s girl, I=m told. When they their married life begun How swiftly Anna wove and spun! Her little ones made much to do So she worked fast, but rested too. As she herself was not a shirk, She taught her daughters soon to work For Fanny told me that each day She spun her stint ere she could play. The oldest Wortman child was she And busy too, as she could be. Both parents felt they needed aid I wonder how she ever played! In early pring, I=ve heard her tell, She took with her a goose-egg shell To fill with boiled down syrup sweet, It surely must have been a treat A sugar camp to visit then; For Fanny went with grandsire when They sugar made to last a year. >Twas fun to gather sap so clear From maple trees, then boil it down. Did eager children gather round When Fanny held the egg to view- Big brother Amos, Charlotte, too, With Mary next and Asa small While father brought a feast for all? As settlers then came on space The red men sought another place. Along Big Stream their wigwams stood For near there stretched a dense pine wood With other timber farther west, But savage wolves liked this place best. Small creatures thrived and droves of deer. But white men shunned this forest drear, And so each fall the red men came And spent the winter hunting game. This dark and dismal forest spread In eighteen twelve where settlers led The way to Crystal Springs we call The valley now. These settlers all From Putnam county came, and here Did grandsire came the second year. Why did he come? I think perchance To give each child a better chance. There now were six with baby Joel. With willing hands but no bank-roll Our grandsire from the wilderness Must clear a farm to win success. So grandsire came and Fanny too. To seek a home where land was new. How did they cross the pleasant lake? >Tis thought a ferry they dis take. They landed near a settlement Called Starkey now. Then westward went And so they reached while wandering The tavern kept by Harpending. No town was there where stands Dundee. But next the forest they did see And hemlocks found and lofty pines With undergrowth and creeping vines Along the rough trail where they passed, To Crystal Springs they came at last. Did they go home and then return? Just what they did I could not learn. ATis thought that Fanny came to stay With grandsire who prepared the way. And grandsire built in that dense wood Where wolves did prowl a shelter rude. ATwas there they camped while grandsire cleared A little space, a cabin reared. And when the cabin home was done He brought the rest to Barrington. Then two years passed, I understand, When Elder Sutherland Who came to Milo, first, you see, When he moved west in eighteen three, Who labored with his hands like Paul And preached the Word with zeal to all. The pioneers for miles around, Had formed two churches when he found The Wortmans and their neighbors then No Gospel service could attend. He came and preached and churches met To organize another yet. We would know how those members planned Their meeting house that seemed so grand And grandsire see among the rest Who once agreed it would be best A new framed building soon to raise. Those Baptists toiled there many days To finish what they had begun In eighteen hundred twenty-one Their meeting house in Barrington. Secluded from the world without Those settlers seemed to dwell, no doubt. No daily mail to bring the news With cablegrams and statesman=s views. Few letters then from distant folks, But peddlers= yarns and old-time jokes. The peddlers went from home to home And carried news. When he would come They made him welcome in that day For he brought news from far away. And startling news a peddler dropped When at the Wortmans home he stopped To show his wares and glance around At childish faces there, he found They looked like others that he knew And spoke of it to grandsire, too. The house was full. Six more did come To fill the home in Barrington. Lavinia first and Halsey then, Next black-eyed Sally and again Another William. Andrew small And David, youngest one of all. And so those children stood about To view the peddler=s wares, no doubt. AHave you a sister?@ then he asked, But then so many years had passed Since grandsire saw his sister last That grandsire could not tell for he Had never heard from her, you see. >Twas strange to hear the peddler say He knew a woman (far away She lived) whose children looked the same As those that bore the Wortman name. Then on his way the peddler went, But grandsire now was not content To stay at home. He felt he must Go south to see the woman just As soon as he the time could spare And find some one to drive down there Along with him. The way did seem So far to go with his ox-team That young Alonzo Sunderlin Who married Mary went with him And grandsire often must have thought He might not find the one he sought. So many miles it seemed he=d gone, But still the oxen plodded on. They did not fail him. Day by day Drove grandsire farther on his way. So glad at length to reach the place- His sister=s home and see her face. For forty years I=ve heard had passed Since he had seen his sister last. Our grandsire many years did toil At clearing land and tilling soil. His children married one by one. When they had thus new homes begun A few lived west, the rest lived near And so the reason=s very clear Why his descendants gather here. As grandsire went so far to see His sister and liked company We well may think as we meet here Of William Wortman, pioneer.