Part 1 ~ Part 2

Improvements Began

Soon after the organization of Pulteney began, improvements were made   in every direction.  School districts were formed, roads were surveyed and opened. Roads were called beats and each landowner was responsible for certain portions of the road. For instance when the snows came it was up to the settlers to see that the snow was cleared. The late Bernice Stanhope, a former resident and schoolteacher in Pulteney explains:
“It all had to be done with a shovel. Several men would get up on a sleigh with shovel’s and all helped to clear off the snow. Sometime, if the snow was soft enough, a log was attached   behind the sleigh which acted as a plow.”

The settlers had no time or materials to erect fences, so the cattle roamed freely throughout the community. Pounds were erected to contain the stray animals and were held, until they were claimed by their rightful owners. In 1819 the town started a marking system. Lambs, sheep, hogs, horses, and cattle were marked for easy identification. There were 70 different markings registered in Pulteney. An owner might make a square crop on the right ear of his hog, or a short slit on the left ear. A book was kept with a list of names and opposite each name a description of a mark that the pioneer was requested to make upon his animals for identification. Some of the descriptions were called: swallow tail, holes, half pennies, crops, slits, fore gods, hind gods, brands, square crops and forks. Other marks were added as new settlers came into town.

Herds for shipments were often driven along the road heading for the steam boat landings. When Glenview Cemetery was laid out, an iron fence  was erected to keep the cattle from trampling on the consecrated grounds. The original fence still remains today.
In the Town Minutes of March 4,  1817, it was voted ”that there be a fine of two dollars to impose on all persons who shall suffer their rams at large between the 1st day of September and the 10th of November.” Presumably this rule was to prevent rams from roaming when school was in session. They still roamed freely as late a 1863 and 1875.

October, 1863 School District #7
 “Move that no person shall be allowed to pasture the School House yard.” 
It is difficult for us today to visualize what it was like when Pulteney was in its primitive state, and even more difficult to comprehend how the pioneers managed to survive. Their fears and apprehensions must have been mind boggling. Wild animals roamed the land and were a constant threat, they made frequent raids on sheep folds. Wolves were hunted without mercy and bounties were offered for their scalps. In 1809 the town offered a $5.00 bounty on wolves and panthers. Two years later the bounty was raised to $ 10.00. Also in 1842 a bounty of fifty cents was paid for every crow that was killed, a desperate attempt to save the crops. This bounty was repealed after two years.

To acquaint the reader further, what life was like in early Pulteney, following is a story   related to me  by Howard Tyler of Elmboise, in 1980:
“In order to clear the lands, my great grandfather Isaac Tyler, had to windrow the big pines, one on top of the other then set fire to them, but many large stumps still remained some four feet in diameter. That first year my great grandfather planted potatoes amongst the stumps, the ground was so fertile that it only took something like five or six hills to get a bushel full. Some of those stumps can still be seen today (1980). The winter months were extremely cold then. My great grandfather built his log  house and was living alone. One night it was so cold he set his feather tick on the floor next to the fire place and fell asleep. Late into the night the tick caught fire, nothing happened to him but the house burned to the ground. But that didn’t discourage him, he just built himself another house on the same spot just like the first one.”
 
Many of the early settlers who found their way to Pulteney were people of means and well educated. But town records also reveal that, there were a good  share of poor people with large families.  In 1810 a special meeting was called to raise money for the support of the poor, they collected $100.00, a large sum for the times.  Also it often happened that families with a lot of children found they could not provide for them. The children in some instances boarded out with a family with less children, or with families who had no children, and had the means to rear the children, in exchange for their services. In some instances people were paid for keeping the children.

From Pulteney Town Records:
 “In 1812, Asa Cooper was paid $8.00 for keeping John Murray’s child.”
“Polly Flecher at age of eight years and three months and nine days was made an apprentice of Nathan and Elizabeth Taylor. They entered into a covenant with the overseer of the poor to take Polly Fletcher into their home where she will learn to be a housekeeper. They agreed to instruct her to read and write as far as possible and to cipher as far as the rule of three. She was to be allowed sufficient meat and  drink, washing, lodging and apparel for working and holy days. When she reached the age of 18 years, she was free. She was to have one good suit of holy day clothing to the value at least $8.00, plus two suits of every day wear, a good bible, a good bed and bedding. Polly on her part agreed to serve her master and mistress well and faithfully, according to her power and ability and be honest in all things. She was to behave herself toward her  said master and mistress, and the rest of the family and she too did so covenant with the overseer of the poor. The covenant also stated that Polly shall never in any way or matter be a charge to the town of Pulteney or its people.” Remember the child was only eight years old.

Another child in 1824, an eleven year old girl, was much the same way apprenticed. Only she fared a little better. She was to receive upon reaching age of 18, a cow not over five years old, and five sheep.

The custom of boarding out children prevailed  not only in Pulteney, but  also throughout the entire country in the early stages of  its development. Ellen Tomer a great granddaughter to early settler John Tomer, reveals in her diary that during the winter months she was sent to the Baldwin  family in Elmira , to do the sewing for the entire family’s wardrobe in exchange for board and piano lessons. Her diary reveals how lonesome she was for her family and counted the days when she could return home.