Town
Historians |
Bob
and Beth Wilson
6451 Mill Pond Rd.
Byron, New York 14422-0201 |
Byron
Historical Museum |
East
Main Street, Byron, NY
Open: Sundays, June - September, 2 pm - 4:30 pm
By Appointment: (585) 548-2807, 548-9008
In
1967, The German Luthern Concordia Church disbanded, giving
the church to the Town of Byron to be used as a Museum by
the Byron Historical Society. The museum opened in May, 1967.
The official ribbon-cutting ceremony took place on October
24, 1968 with Russell Gillett, former Supervisor as the speaker.
Some
pews were left in the Museum as well as the old round oak
wood stove, stovepipe, large kerosene chandelier, alter and
sacraments, organ, baptismal font and lectern. In 1986 a Carriage
Building in back of the Gillam Room was built to display agricultural
artifacts, maps, a bell from the old Byron School and a showcase
of items from former Byron businesses.
The museum is open to the public from Memorial Day through
Labor Day. Members of the Historical Society are hosts and
hostesses every Sunday afternoon from 2 pm - 4 pm.
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Byron
Town Hall |
Town
Clerk - Jeanne A. Freeman
P.O. Box 9, 7028 Byron Holley Rd., Byron, NY 14422
(585) 548-7123 |
First
Settlers of Byron |
Gillian,
Shumway, Forsyth, Jones, Green, Nobles, Vanderpane, Sands, Patten,
Barker, Walker
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1850
Mortality Census |
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Byron,
named from Lord Byron, was formed from Bergen, April 4, 1820. It
lies on the north border of the County, east of the center. The
surface is gently undulating, with a slight inclination towards
the north. Black Creek flows north to near the center of the town,
receiving as tributaries Bigelow and Spring Creeks, then turns and
flows north-east into Bergen. The soil is a fine quality of sand
and gravelly loam. A sulphur spring, from which issues carburetted
hydrogen gas, is found on Black Creek, a little north of Byron.
An acid spring, known as the "Sour Spring", is found in
the south-west part of the town. This spring issues from a hillock
about 230 feet long, 100 feet broad and elevated about four or five
feet above the plain. The strength of the acid is increased by drouth
[sic], and in some places it is quite concentrated and nearly dry
in its combination with the charred vegetable coat which everywhere
covers the hillock to the depth of from five to forty inches.
Byron
(p. v.) situated near the center of the town, on Black Creek, contains
two churches, viz., Presbyterian and Methodist, one hotel, two stores,
several mechanic shops, a foundry and about 150 inhabitants.
South
Byron, (p.v.) in the south part, is a station on the N. Y. C. R.
R., and contains a Methodist church, a hotel, three stores, a school,
two wagon shops, three blacksmith shops and about 200 inhabitants.
North
Byron is a hamlet containing a Baptist church and about a dozen
houses.
The
town was first settled by Bonhomie PRESTON in 1807, on lot 197,
about a mile north of Byron Center. Elisha TAYLOR, from Otsego Co.,
located on lot 186 in 1810; and Theater T. HOLBROOK, from Cayuga
Co., Whitney CARPENTER, from Rhode Island, and Elisha MILLER, from
Pennsylvania, on lot 2 in 1809. Elijah LOOMIS settled on lot 197
in 1808; T. M. FENN settled on the same lot in 1809, previous to
the survey of the 100,000 Acre Tract. Nat SPAFFORD, from Cayuga
Co., settled in Bergen in 1807, and in 1812 removed to Byron, about
one mile east of the center. Cyrenius WALKER, with his father, from
Berkshire Co., Mass., settled on lots 41 and 29, in July, 1811.
Nathan HOLT, from Otsego Co., and Asa MERRILL, from Oneida Co.,
came in in 1810.
Mr.
MERRILL located on lots 162 and 174, and still resides there. He
started from Oneida County for his new home with two yoke of oxen
and a sled. Soon after crossing Cayuga Lake, the snow disappeared,
and with his family he stopped at a tavern and tried in vain to
procure a wagon with which to proceed on his journey. At length
he went to the woods and, with the aid of the landlord, cut an oak
tree about three feet in diameter, and having sawed off blocks for
wheels, a vehicle was constructed upon which he placed his sled
and other loading and came to Byron. He set out an orchard of about
seven acres, in which is a tree eight feet two inches in circumference,
the branches covering a space seventeen paces in diameter.
Andrew
DRIBBLE, from Massachusetts, purchased lot 7 in 1811, and located
with his family in 1816. Levi FISK, from Franklin County, Mass.,
settled near Byron Center in 1811.
Captain
James PENDALL was an early settler on lot 78, where Erastus CASH
now resides. In front of the house stands a large willow tree with
a double trunk, each about three and a half feet in diameter. This
tree was once a riding whip which Mr. Pendall used on his return
from LeRoy. It was set in the ground by Mrs. Pendall and has produced
the present tree.
Paul
BALLARD, from Oneida Co., settled in the south-west part of the
town in 1812.
The
first birth was that of a son of Elisha TAYLOR, in 1809; the first
marriage that of Samuel MONTGOMERY and Polly PARKS, in 1811; and
the first death that of a son of Mr. HASKINS. Theater T. HOLBROOK
taught the first school, in 1810-11; Ira NEWBURG kept the first
inn, in 1815; and Amos HEWETT the first store, in 1813. William
SHEPARD erected the first saw mill in 1813, and Asa WILLIAMS the
first grist mill, in 1814. The first religious services were held
in 1809 by Rev. Royal PHELPS, of the Presbyterian Church, from Cayuga
County. The first Church (Bap.) was organized in 1810 by Elder Benjamin
M. PARKS.
The
population of the town in 1865 was 1,645, and its area 20,531 acres.
There
are nine school districts employing the same number of teachers.
The number of children of school age is 557; the number attending
school, 410; the average attendance, 204, and the amount expended
for school purposes during the year ending September 30, 1868, was
$3,507.99
Transcibed
by Kristy Lawrie Gravlin
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