The History of Cayuga County 1789-1879 page 312

ing was begun in 1820 by Harry Rice, who settled here at that time and erected a building for that purpose, taking water from the saw-mill flume. Mr. Rice carried on the business till his death a few years after, when, in the spring of 1824, the property was rented by Wm. Hayden, a native of Conway, Massachusetts, who came into the town of Sennett about 1801, where his father commenced the business of wool-carding and cloth-dressing. William Hayden removed to Auburn about 1820 and connected himself with the late Levi Lewis in the cloth-dressing business; and two years later, having separated from Lewis, he commenced the manufacture of cloth at Clarksville, now a suburb of Auburn. He was the first person in this County to manufacture cloth by machinery. About 1824 he removed to the locality above described, in this town, for the purpose of carrying on the business of wool-carding and cloth-dressing, which he continued ten or twelve years, when, having then purchased the property previously rented, he added the manufacture of cloth. Since his death in 1866, the business has been conducted by his sons, Ezra B., William, Martin, John, George, Charles and Samuel. Ezra B. Hayden has had the entire management of the business since 1875, in which year he became the sole proprietor. The building erected by Rice went to decay, and in 1828 the present one, which is 90 by 26 feet, and has four floors, was built and used about three years as a tub and pail factory, by Charles and Amos Parks, of Auburn. William Hayden bought it soon after the death of the senior Parks, in 1831, and converted it into a woolen-mill in 1835. It is provided with two sets of woolen machinery, capable of turning out 60,000 yards of cloth per annum, and gives employment to about twenty men and women. The motive power is furnished by the Owasco Outlet, which has a fall of ten feet at this point. The Haydens have acquired some notoriety for the excellence of the cloths manufactured by them.

David Clark, of Clarksville, built a saw-mill on the creek here about 1816.

A fruit drying establishment was started in this locality in the summer of 1877, by John Hayden.

The later Brigham Young, the noted Mormon and polygamist, resided in this locality about one year, in 1832, on lands now owned by the Haydens. He was in the employ of David Smith, a merchant of Port Byron at that time. The house in which he lived was sold in May, 1878, by Mrs. Lucy T. Hayden to James Palmer, of Throop, who removed it to his place in that town, to be used as a summer kitchen. The price paid was $10.

The first settlements in the town were made in 1797, near Port Byron, which occupies parts of lots 61, 62, 72 and 73, River street, in that village, being the dividing line between lots 72 and 73. In that year Philip King, Seth Higley, Josiah Partridge and Chas. Annes had located there. 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, all of whom are now dead. 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. It is related of Mr. King, that at one time he desired to cross Seneca River with a potash kettle to a sap bush on the north side of the river. The owner of the skiff refused to carry the kettle, when Mr. King, with characteristic energy, launched the kettle and safely ferried himself across in it. Josiah Partridge was from Massachusetts, and settled on lot 73. Chas. 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, on the place now owned by Francis M. Groom. Mr. Annes sold to a Mr. Beebe.

In the spring of 1798, Aholiab Buck, a native of Pennsylvania, moved in from Big Flats, Chemung county, and located on River street, opposite the residence of Samuel N. Dougherty, 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

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