It is believed there were between 4,000 to 6,000 octagon buildings constructed, only which only about 400 still exist. For further information on octagon buildings go to: http://www.octagon.bobanna.com/main_page.html
House Has Interesting History
The Cobble Stone House on Canal Road in Bouckville
By Helen Howard Peckham, June 1991
The Cobble Stone House on the Bouckville-Solsville Road was built by my great great grandfather, James Howard, and his brother Silas Howard. It took two years to build it 1840-42.
They used field stones that were very abundant on the farm. The stones were left after a glacier passed through the section from Central New York to Western New York. At the present time there are enough field stones collected in piles to build another house. If more are needed all one need do is plow the garden. It is surprising how many stones turn up each time.
They were assisted in building the house by a stone mason, Joe Stevens, who might have been one of the men who helped in building the Chenango Canal 1834-37. Many men who worked on the canal settled in the vicinity after the canal was completed.
The cobble stones used in building the house were similar in size, but varied in shape and color. They were set in horizontal rows with straight horizontal mortar joints. (My grandmother, while working in her flower garden once heard two slightly inebriated gentlemen while walking down the road exclaim one to the other that if they had that house they would paint each stone a different color.)
Four huge stones (one the floor of the front porch and three that make the floor of the side porch) were brought by flat boats on the canal from the Quarry at Oriskany Falls. The Quarry is still in operation at the present time. James had a canal boat named The Madison and undoubtedly brought the corner stones and the large long one above the front door on it for the house.
The Howard brothers also operated a brick factory on their land which had once belonged to Abjih Parker and is now owned by Don Livermore. The location is on the left side of the road after crossing the bridge going toward Solsville.
In l840 the land owned by Leon Livermore and the late William Livermore were part of the Howard farm, about 500 acres.
In 1874 the part now owned by Leon Livermore, about 100 acres, was purchased by John Livermore and given to his son Newton Livermore (Leon's grandfather) as a wedding present. Later more land was sold so that at the time it became my Mother's there were about 80 acres in the farm.
In addition to the brick mill, they had a saw mill on the Oriskany Creek which originally flowed toward Bouckville through the Howard farm; but when the canal was built its course was changed to flow north as more water was needed to feed the canal in the direction of the Mohawk River than toward the Susquehanna.
The Oriskany begins on the Cameron farm, runs through a gully on the Bridge farm, and through Leon Livermore's to the lock near Solsville. The lock in the canal is still in evidence. The area on the southwestern part of the Howard farm had been swampy and the canal helped to drain it.
The first home of James Howard, one of the early settlers in Bouckville, was on the Crooked S Road. This road ran from Indian Opening Road along what is now called Livermore Road and up over the hill (Crow Hill) and down into Bouckville at Root Chapel, which now is the home of Harry Wood. This was the direct route to Bouckville until Canal Road was built after the canal. Root Chapel was the meeting house.
James' home, reported to have been made of logs, was on the north side of the Crooked S Road at the foot of the hill on land now owned by Leon Livermore. During my life time, evidence of the foundation was still there on the abandoned road.
When the canal was built it cut the Howard farm in two. I imagine the road was soon built along the side of the canal. Silas Howard was a bachelor. James was married to Sylvia Leland, daughter of Col. Joshua Leland and Waitstill Greenleaf Leland, and had nine children. Silas and James decided to build a stone house, on the new road. It is a very large house, having three sections, but all were built at the same time.
The front section (three stories) consists of a large living room 32 x 15. I understand that this room was originally two rooms but my grandfather had a partition removed when he moved into the house. It has a fireplace with a glass enclosed cupboard built into the chimney. The windows had 12 panes each with deep window sills, five windows in all.
When a spark from a passing train caused the barn to burn, the windows were put in the new barn and two paned windows were put in the house. The central hall with sixteen steps leading to the second floor has a scroll paneling in mahogany along the side of the stair way which enhances the beauty of the room. The front door is a solid wooden one, locked on the inside with only a hook. On either side and above the door are narrow glass windows. In the hall hang the pictures (on the north side) of my great grandparents Alanson and Ann Howard Martin. On the south wall the pictures of my great grandparents James and Sophia Berry Edgarton and my grand parents Smith and Helen Martin Edgarton.
My grandmother had inherited 1/3 interest in the house and my grandfather bought the remaining 2/3 from Helen's sister, Belle Warren and brother Howard Martin. They moved into the house in July 1883, one month before my Mother, Clara Edgarton Howard was born.
At my grandfather's death in 1935, my Uncle Albert Edgarton inherited it. After my Father, Frank Howard, died in 1916 my mother and I moved from the White house 1/4 mile away. This house also belonged to my grandfather. (This property was not a part of the original tract of land, but had been purchased from his brother-in-law, Howard Martin, who had inherited it from his father, Alanson Martin.
My Mother took care of her parents and brother, Albert, during their life time. When my Uncle died January 1, 1979 it became the property of my Mother. She owned it until it was sold to Fred Hilsinger and Mark Salamida in 1990.
Going back to the rooms in the house, across the living room is the parlor and parlor bedroom. The doors and windows are beautifully carved. The bedroom and the one above it have the only two clothes closets (being built under the stairs). There are four bedrooms on the second floor and a large garrett (attic) over the entire front section of the house. There are two cellars with dirt floors, one holds the furnace and the second was used for storage. A third cellar is under the middle section of the house and opens into the other cellars. In this cellar, fruits and vegetables grown on the farm were stored, also home canned foods, a pie safe and cistern for the kitchen.
Above the cellar is the dining room, pantry, small bedroom which later became the bathroom and an entry way to the third section which was at right angles with the rest, but was built at the same time as the rest. The dining room is large with eight doors and four windows with deep window sills which my mother had filled with violets that always seemed to be in blossom. The outside door locked with a sliding bolt. There was no way to lock the house originally from the outside.
There is a thick wall between the dining and living room which undoubtedly was put there to give extra support from the cellar to second floor. The width of the door casings are 24" and each is made from a single board that wide. In 1957 the large pantry was converted into a kitchen with electric stove, refrigerator, and double stainless steel sinks.
The pantry open shelves were removed to make a work counter and a place for the stove. Opposite the refrigerator was the electric washing machine, and the door in the back of it was cut to make a Dutch door into the dining room. The two cabinets that swung open to hold 24-pound sacks of flour and sugar were placed under the sink to open as before, but no longer was sugar and flour bought in such big quantities.
Previously the small bedroom (but I do not remember the date) was made into a bathroom. My grandparents had the wide floor boards in the dining room covered with a hard wood floor which I remember being laid by my Uncle Levi Warren when I was real young. I remember the wainscoting as always being painted white, but the present owners have scraped it and found the wood cherry. There is a passage way which we called the entry that leads from the dining room to the kitchen (what a lot of steps to carry food), and a rolling door that leads to the bedroom above the dining room. My grandfather did not approve of eating in the kitchen.
The house was heated originally with stoves in each room and a fireplace in the living room and kitchen. As long as I can remember there was a hot water furnace with radiators in all the upright part and the dining room. I do not know when the acetylene lights were put in, but I do not remember kerosene lamps much. Later electric lights replaced the acetylene.
The kitchen has no cellar under it. It originally had a fireplace, Dutch oven, and a brick archway which held a large black kettle (called a scalding kettle) especially used in time of butchering. (My cousin, Raymond Edgarton, bought the kettle at the auction.) There is a dry sink and a pump used to be beside it to draw water from the cistern. On the other side of the pump there was a hand sink for washing hands, and to the right of that a shelf on which were placed one or two pails of spring water (drinking water) brought in from the milk house. A dipper hung beside them.
There are four iron hooks in the form of a square on the ceiling from which foods like apples, corn, etc. could be hung to dry. In back of the fireplace there was a room entirely lined in brick which was the smoke house. A big wood box was built outside the kitchen which was filled with wood from the wood shed. A sliding door in the kitchen could be opened to take out wood for the stove. My grandmother wanted a modern kitchen with a wood stove, and she had all the fireplace removed and installed her new wood stove with reservoir. I hope in the future the fireplace can be restored.
In hop picking season another stove was put beside the other to help in preparing food for about 40 pickers. The wood shed was three steps lower than the kitchen, but all is one building. Wood was stored here, also washing machine etc., and a stairway led up to the floor above where many beds were set up for the hop pickers during late August and early September.
The house and land has belonged to four generations: Howard, Martin, Edgarton, and Howard. My Uncle Albert Edgarton who died January 1, 1979 left it to my Mother because she had made a home for him.
The following is a history of the families and their relatives who lived in the Stone House:
James Howard, one of the builders of the house was born January 15, 1799 and married Sylvia Leland on January 30, 1823. Sylvia Leland was born August 5, 1798. Sylvia was a daughter of Col. Joshua Leland and Waitstill Greenwood.
Joshua Leland, Sylvia Howard's father, brought his family from Sherburne, Massachusetts in the middle 1700's by ox cart. He had intended to settle in Hamilton, New York (then known as Slab City), but his ox cart bogged down in the mud at Fargo Corners, which it is now called, but at that time it was populated by trees and Indians. He decided to build his cabin there.
The Mosher family now live on the site in a modern home. They grow the most delicious strawberries. Joshua made his living by making potash; which he carried in barrels to Albany. Potash is made by burning timber and slacking the ash. On a trip to Albany, the barrels rolled over onto him and killed him.
His wife Waitstill Greenleaf Leland had befriended the Indians and they would bring their sick children to her to cure with her home made medicines. She kept her family together by turning her home into an Inn for travelers. The Indians called her the "beautiful white squaw" and worshipped her as a goddess. Her boys had unusual names, all beginning with a vowel: Amasa, Ezra, Isaac, Oscar, Uriah, and Yale. Her girls were: Phoebe, Sylvia and Julia. A little pond near the family home was named Lelands Pond, and a marker at the cross roads marks this historic spot.
Joshua and Waitstill and several of their children are buried in Pine Woods Cemetery with Joshua's monument on the highest ground as befitting this prominent gentleman. James and Sylvia had nine children:
1. Sylvia Elizabeth Howard Born 10/25/1824 - Died 1900
Married: 1st husband, William Mize
2nd husband, Horace Keeley
2. James Leland Howard Born 9/23/1826 - Died 1888
Married: Helen Dunlap
3. Mary Sophia Howard Born 9/27/1828 - Died 9/1883
Married: Walter DeLong
4. Maria Waitstill Howard Born 9/25/1830 - Died 1868
Married: William W. Edgarton
5. Ann Amelia Howard Born 10/27/1832 - Died 7/28/1899
Married: Alanson Martin Born 7/18/1825 - Died: 10/14/1906
(Both were buried in Indian Opening Cemetery)
6. Catherine Cordelia Howard Born 4/28/1835 - Died 4/1/1905
Married: Edwin Eastman
Catherine Cordelia Howard, [one of James Howard's daughter's] marriage was rather interesting. She was observed by Edwin Eastman while he was surveying for the soon to be built Ontario and Western Railroad as she ran out of the kitchen door with a pan of dish water and threw it on her brother-in-law, Walter DeLong. Edwin Eastman said, "That's the prettiest girl I ever saw, and I'm going to marry her; and he did in 1855.
7. Henry Dwight Howard Born 10/25/1837 - Died 11/12/1915
Married: Mary Smith
8. Clarinda Adelaide Howard Born 9/6/1841 - Died 11/17/1923
Married: Charles Underwood
9. Melville Greenwood Howard Born 12/12/1843 - Died 1/28/1898
Married: Alnetta Belle Daniels
(Melville was probably born in the Stone House.)
Silas Howard, brother and co-builder of Stone House, was born October 25, 1808. He was a bachelor and I do not know where he lived in his early life. He was a great hunter and trapper. One winter he caught enough mink to make his niece, Ann, a long cape. He also was a traveler and went around Cape Horn and South America.
Sylvia Howard died July 3, 1862 and was buried in Pine Woods Cemetery. James died in 1872, also buried in Pine Woods Cemetery. Silas inherited the house but was living with his niece, Ann, at the time in the White house 1/4 mile from Stone house.
Alanson Martin who married Ann Amelia Howard was a very good musician, and wrote many musical compositions. There was a stack of music he had composed sold at the auction. According to a diary he kept which the present owners found in the attic, he had a band that played all over the country for dances, concerts, weddings, etc.
Ann Amelia Howard, born July 19, 1825, and who had grown up in the Stone House, married Alanson Martin on February 20, 1854. In the following agreement Silas gave the Stone House to Ann and her husband Alanson on January 27, 1878 for which they were to pay $200 each year on April the first. (I have a copy of the agreement.) They were "to furnish him a good comfortable home and suitable board at the home of the first parties (Ann's) for and during the term of his natural life. For the performance of this agreement the said Ann Martin hereby charges her separate estate and the first parties also hereby bind their heirs, executors, administrators, and assigns for the performance of this agreement."
Until my grandparents bought the house, Henry Dwight Howard brother of Ann Amelia lived in the house. He let it run down considerably.
Ann Amelia Martin gave the Stone House to her three children, Helen Amelia born April 15, 1855, Isabelle Edna born December 18, 1857, and Howard Edgar born February 8, 1875. Helen Amelia Martin married Smith Berry Edgarton on August 17, 1877. Smith Berry Edgarton was born March 15, 1852. Smith bought out the interest of Belle and Howard and they moved into the Stone House in July 1883.
Silas Howard died on May 7, 1887 and was buried in Pine Woods Cemetery. In his will he mentioned he had already made the property agreement with Ann Martin. Second he left his guns to Howard Martin (son of Ann and Alanson Martin), and lastly the rest of his personal property and money was to be divided in fifteen equal shares to be divided among his other nieces and nephews. One niece, Maria Waitstill Howard Edgarton had died before Silas and her husband, William (a cousin of my grandfather Smith Edgarton) sued the estate for her share.
The original furniture in the house had to be auctioned off to pay him. Therefore most of the furniture was of my grandmother's, Helen Edgarton, era and not as most thought originally in the house. My grandfather, Smith Edgarton's sister, Mary (Aunt Mate) brought many pieces of furniture when she moved back from Michigan which were antiques.
When Ann Martin died on July 28, 1899, she was living in the White house where my grandmother was born. Ann was buried at Indian Opening Cemetery, Madison New York. Her husband, Alanson, lived until October 14, 1906 and was buried at Indian Opening.
He had been taken care of by his son, Howard Martin, who then moved to Norwich, New York.
As previously stated, Helen Amelia Martin, born April 15, 1855 in the White house married Smith Edgarton. He was born March 15, 1852 to James Edgarton who was born on February 1, 1808 and his second wife Sophia Berry Edgarton was born May 14, 1812.
Smith was born in the Guillaume house which I knew as the Sorenson home on the right corner as you turn toward the William Edgarton farm on Crow Hill Road. When Smith was four, his family moved to Armo, Wisconsin and returned to Bouckville when he was eleven. I remember he said, "I have been milking cows ever since." They settled on the Henry Lewis farm (now Joe Bono's). When he and Helen were married on August 17, 1877 they lived on the Craine farm (later owned by Fred Dahn, then Willard Dahn, and now by Vincent Raisa).
1. Their children Irving Dwight Edgarton was born here on July 25, 1878, and married Lyle Main Kellogg on September 22, 1903 who was born on April 14, 1872. They had two sons, Fay Avery and Raymond Smith.
2 and 3. Pearl Alice and Rose Edgarton, twins, were born on October 4, 1880. Rose died January 22, 1882. Pearl married Jared Harry Reynolds on July 7, 1908 and had four children: Ruth Edgarton Reynolds, Leland Denyck Reynolds, Eleanor Alice Reynolds, and Elizabeth Emily Reynold.
I was surprised when one day I was looking in the cellar for some of the white dishes that had been used in hop picking time, to discover a foot stone with Rose on it. Rose, Pearl's twin, lived a little over a year and was buried in Madison Cemetery. When Ernest died, it was decided to get matching footstones so the first one for Rose was put in the cellar.
4. Clara Belle Edgarton born August 29, 1883 married Frank Jesse Howard on February 21, 1906. Frank Jesse Howard was born on February 4, 1884. They had one child (me) Helen Carolyn.
5. Ernest James Edgarton was born July 1, 1889 and died on September 9, 1893.
6. Albert Martin Edgarton was born September 28, 1892 and died January 1, 1979.
7. Marjorie Alma Edgarton was born September 5, 1897 and was married to Willard Edgar Dahn. They had two children, Lois Marjorie Dahn and Norma June Dahn.
The term White house has been mentioned several times. Alanson and Ann Amelia Martin lived there and raised their three children. It was 1/4 mile toward Bouckville from the Stone house.
Ann Howard lived in the Stone house but she was not born there. When she married Alanson she moved to the White house. Helen Martin, my grandmother, was born in the White house and after marrying Smith Edgarton and living for a few years in Bouckville, they moved into the Stone house where my mother was born one month later on August 29, 1883. Clara married Frank Howard (who was not related to James or Silas Howard), and moved to the White house. Although I lived in the White house. I was born in the Stone house, but after my father died my mother and I went to live again in the Stone house.
My grandfather bought the White house and land owned by Alanson Martin (about 20 acres) after Alanson died. He also bought a three cornered piece that ran to the "Willows" from Fay Livermore. This piece my mother sold to Ed Wood in 1981. She sold the land across the railroad to Richard Bridge; land across the canal to Dean Kemp and Sid. Fuess, leaving 16.1 acres with the house, barn, hop kiln, garage, hen house, and ice house.
My grandfather raised hops for many years and hired people from Carthage to pick them. This was a busy time especially in the kitchen. My grandmother hired extra help. They put another stove in the kitchen, and for weeks before made crocks full of cookies and pound cakes, etc., besides preparing three meals a day.
The pickers ate at long tables in the dining room, and slept; the women over the dining room and the men over the wood shed. There were generally about 36 to 40 pickers. In later years my grandfather hired Italian families who did their own cooking in a temporary shed built each year for them. They slept as the others had, but it certainly made it easier in our house not to have the cooking to do.
My grandfather dried the hops himself; sleeping in the hop kiln to keep the furnace going to dry the hops and to turn them several times during the night. The hops were placed on the floor above the furnace. The boards of the floor were separated and covered with burlap so the heat could more easily dry the hops. When dried they were moved to a floor lower than the first. When all were dry they were pressed compactly into bales similar to cotton bales. My grandfather loved working the hop yard, and it was said you never saw a weed in his 18 acre hop yard. He loved the hops, but not the product for which they were used.
Around 1925 a blight developed in the hops and hop raising was given up. My parents moved into the White house before I was born, but I was born in the same room in the Stone House as my mother.
We lived in the White house until my father died April 17, 1916. Then my Mother and I moved to the Stone House. My mother took care of her parents and brother, Albert, who had just been graduated from Colgate University, and who chose to remain on the farm helping his father instead of teaching at Penn State University where he was offered a position.
When my grandfather died August 20, 1935, Albert inherited the farm. My grandmother lived until May 24, 1940 suffering badly with asthma. Both grandparents were buried in Madison Cemetery. My Uncle Albert died January 1, 1979, and he left the Stone House and farm to my Mother because she had made a home for him.
Note: Clara Belle Edgarton Howard, born August 29, 1883 is now 108 years old, and is living at the Geriatric Center in Green Cove Springs, Florida. I, Helen Carolyn Howard Peckham, am her only child, born January 1, 1908. I am living at Penney Retirement Community in Penney Farms, Florida. (As of November 2, 1991.
Date stone over door
The Phelps farm cobblestone barn about a half mile north of house in September, 1970. Now demolished.
46, Town of Eaton.
of Mishelle Magnusson.
Silas Seymour house, 5658 Geer Road, Lebanon. Stone house with cobblestone addition in rear. Original house built 1828. Farm included 200 acres. It is now called the Bewkes Center, and is owned by Colgate University. Silas Seymour, the seventh and youngest son of Eleazer and Anna (Merrills) Seymour, a nail maker, was born in Hartford, Conn., May 7, 1777. Soon after his father's death that same year, the family moved to Stillwater, N. Y. Silas was raised by his brother, William. Several members of the family served in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. In 1800, Silas married Sally Gilbert and in 1802 they migrated to Lebanon in Madison county. His farm eventually encompassed more than 200 acres on Lot 24. It was inherited by his son, Alfred. Silas resided on the farm until his death on August 2, 1845. His wife also died there on October 5, 1850. They were buried in the Campbell Burying Ground. Silas became a useful and influential citizen, always interested in the prosperity of his town. He was first town clerk of Lebanon. The welfare of common schools largely engaged his attention. He remained on his homestead his entire life, and raised 10 children.
As it appeared in 2020.
Adjacent farm house has been restored to its 19th century appearance. Willard Abbott Crandall was born April 6, 1829 on this farm where he spent his childhood. In 1847, when about 18 years of age, he entered Cazenovia Seminary. After leaving there he continued in farming. He married Clara Conable in 1859 and they had a son and a daughter. He became postmaster of Cazenovia in 1890. He died March 13, 1891 and was buried in Evergreen Cemetery.
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