The History of Cayuga County 1789-1879 page 273
TOWN OF VICTORY/ BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

HOMER LOCKWOOD.

Notably among the prominent early settlers of Northern Cayuga was HOMER LOCKWOOD, who settled in Victory (then Cato) in 1817. Homer Lockwood, whose father was a Revolutionary patriot, was born in Brookfield, Conn., November 7th, 1793, and Sally Benedict, his wife, was born October 27th, 1795, in Ridgefield, Conn. They were united in marriage October 2d, 1816, and the year following moved to Victory and settled upon the farm they subsequently lived upon for over half a century.

Northern Cayuga was then mostly a wilderness and the latter part of the three weeks' journey from New England, by wagon, was over corduroy roads, and many miles were traveled with only marked trees to guide them.

Long years of the most arduous, patient toil, resulted in their ability to purchase additional tracts of land until the "Lockwood farm" was known as one of the most extensive in that part. Mr. Lockwood never had a taste for public or political preferment, yet was always foremost in matters pertaining to the social and educational welfare of the community. He was founder of the first school-house in the town and of the first academy, and actively promoted the temperance reforms under the old Washington society, and was founder of the first Methodist Episcopal Church in that region. He was a positive man, and never hesitated to champion the cause of right.

Mr. and Mrs. Lockwood celebrated their golden wedding October 2d., 1866, surrounded by their three children then living,. twelve grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

Homer Lockwood, although infirm in limb, yet vigorous in body, lived to the age of eighty-two, and died February 12th, 1875. Mrs. Lockwood lived to her eighty-second year, and died August 24th, 1877.

The Lockwood family traces its ancestry directly back to Rev. Richard Lockwood, Rector of Dingby, county of Northampton, Eng., in 1530.

Ephraim Lockwood, a descendant of Richard, settled in Norwalk, Conn., in 1650, from which family the subject of this sketch descended.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

TOWN OF IRA.

IRA is the north-east corner of town of the County, and is bounded on the north by Oswego county, on the east by Oswego and Onondaga counties, on the south by Cato, and on the west by Victory. It was formed from Cato, March 16th, 1821; and a portion in the south-east corner was reannexed to that town in 1824.

The surface is rolling, the summits of the ridges rising seventy to seventy-five feet above the valleys, and 225 to 275 feet above the level of Lake Ontario. It is poorly watered, the only streams being small creeks and brooks, which possess very little commercial importance. There is very little waste land, as the town contains neither marsh nor swamp and only one very small pond, in the west part.

It is underlaid by the rocks of the Niagara group, in the limestone of which several quarries have been opened. The most important one is that known as Fox's kiln, at Fox's Corners, about a mile west of Ira, which has been in use for fifty years. The lime is of excellent quality, though not perfectly white. Another quarry is opened on the farm of Jarius Palmer, about a mile south-west of Ira; and a third on the farm of Stephen Pierce. In all three, lime is obtained at the north end of the ridges.

The soil in the south part partakes of the excellent character of that in Cato, while in the central and northern parts it is lighter and less productive, being largely intermixed with sand and gravel. In the north is a cold sandy soil.

The Southern Central R. R. enters the town about a mile and a half east of the west line, and leaves it about two miles south of the north line.

The first settlements were made in 1800, in which year David and Eleazer Stockwell, brothers, came in from Whitehall and located on lot 58, about a mile north of the south line, David, on the farm owned by Dewitt C. Pulsipher, and Eleazer, on the farm on which his son Augustus now lives. Both died on the farms then taken up. They were brothers of Andrew Stockwell, who settled the same year in Cato. David Stockwell kept the first inn in 1800; and his daughter Polly, who was born in April, 1802, was the first child born in the town. Eleazer Stockwell and Margaret Noble, contracted the first marriage March 7th, 1802. Wm. Patterson and Henry Conrad, Germans, came the same year and settled on lot 32, about three-fourths of a mile west of Ira. Conrad's farm joined Patterson's on the south. Both died there.

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