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THE TOWN OF LITCHFIELD

HERKIMER COUNTY, NY




Cedar Lake Church

Cedar Lake United Methodist Church
Photo Copyright ©2003 Al White

The Town of Litchfield was formed from German Flatts in 1796. Many early settlers came directly to the frontier of Litchfield from Connecticut and other New England states. Much of Litchfield's early history is intertwined with that of the neighboring township of Paris, Oneida County. If you're searching ***specifically*** for Litchfield ancestors, be sure and check out the Oneida County NYGenWeb Page and its queries board and listings of local historical resources, some of which have early records.

As usual, our section for the township of Litchfield begins with the popular Hamilton Child 1869-70 Directory and the 1870 profile of the township, as well as the roster of Capt. Zachariah P. Townsend's 1814 militia company and several early cemeteries. If you've researched ancestors in the border township of Litchfield and have photos, newspaper articles and obits, more cemetery lists, or info about your own ancestors, etc. to share with other Litchfield researchers, we'll be happy to post them in this section.





LITCHFIELD DIRECTORIES
GAZETTEER AND BUSINESS DIRECTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY FOR 1869-70: LITCHFIELD
1888-1889 Herkimer County Directory: Litchfield


LITCHFIELD CENSUS
1800 CENSUS OF LITCHFIELD


LITCHFIELD HISTORY
Village of Cedarville
Minutes of Town Meetings 1796-1816
Early Winfield and Litchfield Student Lists
Names From 1830s Business Documents
History of Olive Branch Lodge, No. 40 - includes early Litchfield Masonic history
Norwich Corners School District #3
Cedar Lake United Methodist Church
Cedar Lake Club Membership List, 1930 - several hundred Mohawk Valley Region Masons
Old Cedarville News from 1886


LITCHFIELD FAMILIES AND PERSONS OF NOTE
The Bravery of Capt. William Scott
The Jury/Paddock Farm


Do you have ancestors who lived in the Town of Litchfield but near Cedarville -- in the 1880s? Perhaps they were mentioned in the diary of Lena Louisa Kibby (born 1871)! Check out the list on the Village of Cedarville Page.


THIS AND THAT
Postcards of Cedar Lake


LITCHFIELD CEMETERIES
Goodier Cemetery: Town of Litchfield
Jerusalem Hill Cemetery
Litchfield Cemetery
Some Small Cemeteries: Town of Litchfield: Jones Family, Cole Family, Crane's Corners and Smiley Church Graveyards
MORE SMALL CEMETERIES: Gird Family, Un-Named Rte. 145, Abandoned Brigham Road and Walker Cemeteries, and a more recent Crane's Corners reading


LITCHFIELD MILITARY
Surviving Civil War Veterans and Widows from the 1890 Census
Captain Zachariah P. Townsend's Company, September 20, 1814




PROFILE AND HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF LITCHFIELD
from the Gazetteer and Business Directory of Herkimer County, N.Y. 1869-70


LITCHFIELD, named from Litchfield, Connecticut, from which place many of the early settlers came, was formed from German Flats, February 5, 1796. A part of Winfield was taken off in 1816. It lies upon the west border of the County, south of the Mohawk. The surface is elevated and moderately hilly, its mean elevation being about 500 feet above the river. In the south and west is a series of ridges known as the "Dry Lots", from the circumstance that no water is found upon them. The streams are small, some of them flowing north into the Mohawk, and others south into the Unadilla. In the east part is a sulphur spring of some notoriety.

Litchfield, (p.o.) in the north part, contains a church and about 20 dwellings.

Cedar Lake (p.o.), Cedarville (p.o.) and Jerusalem are hamlets.

North Litchfield is a post office.

There is a Wesleyan Methodist society at Cedar Lake, a Universalist society at Cedarville, and a Methodist Episcopal church at Jerusalem Hill.

The first settlement of this town was commenced in 1786, by Elijah Snow, from Massachusetts. The place was formerly called Snow's Bush, but more recently Whelock's Hill. William Brewer and Ezekiel Goodale, from Mass., John Andrews, Christopher Rider and John and Eleazer Crosby, from Conn., and Ebenezer Drewry and John Everett, from New Hampshire, came into the town about the year 1787. Samuel Miller, from Conn., and James Gage and Nathaniel Ball, from New Hampshire, settled about 1788; Selah Holcomb, from Conn., settled in 1791. William and Thomas Jones, Oliver Rider and Joseph Crosby were among the other early settlers.

The first birth in the town was that of Luke Andrews, in 1790; and the first marriage that of Joseph Day, the same year. Jeremiah Everett taught the first school; Joseph Shepard kept the first inn, and David Davis the first store. John Littlejohn built the first grist mill, and ___ Talcott the first saw mill, in 1806-7.

An iron foundry was established here for the manufacture of hollow ware, at which a considerable business was formerly carried on, and during a pressure in the money market, notes were given payable in Litchfield hollow ware.

The first religious services were held in 1794; Rev. ___ Spaulding was the first preacher. Elder Joel Butler was the first preacher of the Baptist denomination.

The population of the town in 1865 was 1,397; its area is 15,777.




Surviving Litchfield Soldiers, from the 1890 Veterans and Widows Census

ALVORD, James L., Pvt., Co. L, 2nd NY Inf., 26 Dec 1863 - 10 Jun 1865
CONKLING, John B., Pvt., Co. D, 121st NY Inf., Jul 1862 - Apr 1865
KNOPP, Phebe L., widow of Edward P., Pvt., Co. A, 11th NY Cav., 24 Dec 1863 - 30 Sep 1865
MARRIOTT, Thomas, Cpl., Co. L(?), 2nd "Bat" -- , 24 Jul 1862 - 26 Jun 1865
MARSHALL, Dolphus S., Pvt., Co. B, 121st NY Inf., 1 Aug 1862 - 28 Jun 1865
McGOWAN, James, Lt., Co. E, 152nd NY Inf., 6 Sep 1862 - 14 Jul 1865
MORRISON, Joseph, Pvt. [no further data]
[SIDER?], Michael, Pvt., Co. H, 41st NY Inf., 7 Dec 1861 - 3 Jan 1864
WILLARD, Bethany, widow of Cole, Pvt., Co. E, 152nd NY Inf., 1862 - 11 Jun 1865

The above list was also transcribed from census film and contributed by Lisa Slaski, Towns of Ohio and Wilmurt/Webb Sections Editor.



Source: "Boyd's New York State Directory, 1872-3," business directory and gazetteer, by Andrew Boyd, Syracuse, N.Y., 1872

Litchfield, Herkimer Co.

Day Almeron, Grocer.


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Last Updated: 9/30/17
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