SPAFFORD
By T. Elmer Bogardus
Published August 27, 1933 in the Syracuse Post-Standard*
Back in 1899, Spafford had two stores, a blacksmith shop, and a hotel.
Today, Spafford has one store and blacksmith shop combined. The hotel is crumbling
ruins and the other store burned in May.
Deserted houses dot the once-pretty village high on the hills in the southwestern section
of Onondaga and the few remaining residents, most of them descendants of the Collins or
Roundy families, hang on with grim determination, but resigned to the fact that Spafford
is going downhill fast.
To adequately recite the rise and fall of Spafford, we will go back to the beginning. The
first settler was Gilbert Palmer, a revolutionary soldier who came from the east in 1794.
For eight years he and his son were the only white inhabitants.
Capt. Daniel Tinkham came in 1802 and Isaac Hall came in 1806 and settled on the farm
later owned by Asahel Roundy, who came on horseback from Rockingham, Connecticut,
in 1807.
In 1820, Mr. Roundy built the Spafford Hotel – now ruins – and ran it until 1843. He also
owned a 100-acre farm near the hotel. He was the first postmaster of the village, the first
justice of the peace, and the second supervisor.
Two children, Prof. C.O. Roundy and Uriah Roundy, were prominent. The professor,
born in 1823, was graduated from Hamilton College and taught school at Spafford,
Skaneateles, and Baldwinsville before coming to Syracuse in 1852 to become principal of
Prescott School following the death of R. R. Stetson. Later he was principal of Syracuse
High School and resigned in 1871 because of poor health.
Uriah Roundy began life as a farmer, spent a year in Michigan, and returned to Spafford
where he conducted a general store for 22 years. He was supervisor for three years and
justice of the peace 27 years.
Jared Babcock opened the first store in 1809 and soon another store was opened by
Lauren Hotchkiss, a brother-in-law of Asahel Roundy. In 1810-11 Josiah Walker and
Judge Walter Wood built two sawmills on Cold Brook in the southeastern portion of the
town.
Only one church exists in Spafford now – the same as back in 1899. But it was thriving
then whereas now it hasn't held a congregation since the summer of 1932. Residents
stoutly maintain the church will reopen when times get better.
The existing church is the Union Church, built in 1839. Generally it housed Methodists,
but all denominations were welcome.
The Close Communion Baptists built a church later, but it was abandoned 70 years ago
and was used as a store. It was that building which burned last May. Alton Grinnell was
the last storekeeper.
The Free Will Baptists built a church in 1840 and it was used for years as a house of
worship, but the church was "struck by a proselytizing wave from the newly discovered
Mormon religion and a large share of its membership, under the lead of the pastor, Elder
Gould, was carried from the fold into the embraces of the new church."
The quotes are from the History of Spafford by Capt. George Knapp Collins, a native of
Spafford, who died in Syracuse, August 2, 1931.
Among those who went west to Salt Lake City with the first Mormons of Joseph Smith
were Shadrack Roundy, Uriah Roundy, and others. But the Mormons didn't stick
together very well in the west, Captain Collins tells us, and many of the Spafford
immigrants returned home. It was too late then, however, to do anything about the church
and it declined into history, even traces of its ruins being obliterated by the years.
Captain Collins was born in Spafford, April 15, 1837, served in the Civil War, and was
an attorney and prominent citizen of Syracuse for many years.
His interesting history book tells of early Spafford. In 1805, Amos Miner built near the
village, a factory for the manufacture of wheel heads used for spinning woolen yarn.
In 1813, William Marsh built a carding mill and clothing works. In 1819, Alexander
Webster built a distillery, but Dr. Jonathan Kneeland is quoted in the history as
remarking: "The distillery did not last very long as its owner soon boiled himself to death
in his own mash tub." The distillery operated until 1825.
Captain Collins gave a 600-volume library to Spafford 20 years ago and it is called the
Collins Library. It is operated by two sisters, Mrs. Ida Barker Smith and Miss Jennie
Norton.
The sisters reside in a comfortable home near the center of the village and, incidentally,
have the only telephone left in the section. The phone is a community affair.
Walter Hyer is the present storekeeper and village blacksmith. He has been in Spafford
since last December, going there from McLean, Cortland County.
There, folks, is the history of the Village of Spafford, formerly Spafford Corners. Captain
Collins would probably resent its being termed a forgotten village, but if it isn't already,
it soon will be at the rate it is going.
Mr. Smith and Miss Norton are more philosophic.
"We are doing all we can for Spafford," they say, "but it isn't much. There isn't much left
to work with."
Source: "The Forgotten Villages of Onondaga County – Stories from the Post-Standard,
1933-1934", originally published in the Syracuse Post-Standard 1933-1934 by T. Elmer
Bogardus and Elizabeth Pyke. Edited by Dick Case.
Copyright 1999 by The Syracuse
Newspapers. Requests for permission should be addressed to The Syracuse Newspapers,
Clinton Square, P.O. Box 4915, Syracuse, NY 13221.
Thanks to Barbara Shoemaker, Spafford Town Historian, for loaning us this book.
