Lucinda Hale

Captain Robert’s daughter, Lucinda, and her husband, Minierva, moved to Sangerfield, NY from New Hartford with ox teams and sleds. After their first day of arrival, the snow was so deep that they made short yokes for their oxen and used bed cords for straps to connect to the oxen to the vehicle that plowed them to their new farm. Only traveling four miles was an arduous task. There was no road and they had to travel over hills, logs, across creeks, swamps and thickets overlaid with at least four feet of snow before they reached their destination.

They purchased land in the village of Waterville next to a lot owned by a Mr. Phelps, whom they lived with until their house was built. The Phelps house was just finished and they moved into it occupying one room with 3 men, their wives and one child, as it was the only place to stay in the town. After the snow began to melt, their proximity to the creek was an annoyance. After a very warm day, they found a portion of the creek had formed a current directly through the house. A cellar had been dug under the floor in the center of the room where the water flowed and the pork barrel waltzed in the eddy. The women remained in bed while the men waded out and cut large logs, on which to make a fire. During the remainder of the day and until the water subsided, the women performed all their housework while upon their beds. A few other settlers moved into town and in 1792 a heavy frost destroyed the corn crop which put emigration off until 1794. Even those already in the town wanted to move if they had to face another disastrous season.

Shortly after Lucinda and her husband moved into their house, a fallen tree that had crushed his leg seriously injured a neighbor. He was brought to their kitchen for an amputation. Minierva Hale rode the only horse in town in search for a surgeon. He used the light of a torch and the moss on the north sides of the trees to guide him to the town of Whitestown. No physician was there who dared to perform an amputation so he proceeded to Fort Schuyler where he found a doctor to return with him. After his examination, he did not want to operate without the counsel and assistance of an older doctor who did assist him in the surgery.

Indians were frequently seen, and sometimes in considerable numbers, while on their hunting and fishing expeditions. They had a well-trodden trail called the Oneida Path. Mr. Phelps built his first house only a few rods from this path. At that point, the Indians had not bothered the settlers but they were careful to cultivate any friendship.

One afternoon in the early part of October, all the men in town, eight in number, were together constructing a bridge over the Oriskany Creek, where Bacon and Goodwin's woolen factory now stands. While they were engaged, they heard the hum of many voices, and a scout who was sent, soon reported that about 150 Indians were passing on their path to the Unadilla, about 200 rods from where the men were. Mr. Hale, knowing that if nothing worse happened, his wife would be frightened, started for his home, but did not arrive as soon as the Indians. Mrs. Phelps, had just finished baking when she saw the Indians, left all but her infant, and ran to Mr. Hale’s house and Mrs. Hale, who was equally frightened, proposed to run to the men. Mrs. Phelps objected on account of her being burdened with her infant. At that moment, she saw through the window a single Indian approaching the house. Mrs. Hale concluded that the two could conquer him, and if not, they would meet the worst as they best could. The Indian, who from his appearance seemed like the son of a chief, addressed her in the Indian dialect which they did not understand. Mrs. Hale, pale and frightened, assumed an air of unconcern and said, "If you want anything, use plain language, and say what it is; if I have it you shall have it." He immediately responded, "Bread," and was soon supplied with all they had. The Indian took out of his belt of wampum a silver brooch of the value of perhaps a shilling and offered to pay for the bread. It was refused and he left with a smile upon his face and soon joined his laughing comrades who had taken over Mrs. Phelps’s house. Mrs. Hale said she presumed the merriment was caused by the description of her pale and trembling figure addressing her visitor with a bold air. Mrs. Phelps, to her astonishment, returned to her house and found her own bread untouched and every thing precisely as she left it.

Their son, Seneca, was born in 1793 and was the first white child born in Sangerfield. Lucinda and her husband donated an organ to the Congregational Church of Sangerfield in 1797. In 1823 half of the congregation separated and formed the 1st Presbyterian Church of Sangerfield. Minierva died on his farm in 1840.

Pomroy Jones' History of the Town of Sangerfield (1851) The research and writing of this particular chapter was credited to Amos O. Osborn, a Waterville historian, lawyer and Renaissance man.

grave https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/65077954/lucinda-hale