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Borodino Methodist Episcopal Church - Route 174, (Borodino) Spafford, 1834

This church was built in 1833-34 as a Methodist Episcopal Chapel on Genesee Street, Skaneateles. In 1853, the Methodists in the Borodino area, who had incorporated in 1824 as the Borodino Methodist Church, purchased the Route 174 site and the chapel. After 1860 the church was moved by pieces to the new site, where it was enlarged and a belfry added. Later it was moved to a high foundation at the rear of the building lot.

The former Legg house on East Lake Road near the "four corners" in Borodino. Colonel William W. Legg, born 1814, died 1893. Politically Legg was a Whig, and was nominated sheriff on the Know-Nothing ticket. When Civil War broke out, he joined the Republican Party, giving it his full support. He rose to the rank of Brigadier General; he was offered the position of Colonel, but declined for family health reasons. Instead he served his town as Town Supervisor and was appointed Postmaster for both Spafford Corners and Borodino. Colonel Legg owned a blacksmith shop here and was the first wagon maker having in his employ, John Babcock, Solomon Sprague, Seymour Wamer, and Simeon Morchell.

Source: "Onondaga's Centennial", Vol. I, pp. 904-922, edited by Dwight H. Bruce.Published by Boston History Co., 1896. Photo courtesy of Susan Henricksen

The Grange Hall, former Town Hall, Route 41, Borodino, 1830

In 1829, a group of citizens organized the First Religious Society of Borodino. The society constructed this building in 1830 The beams are 12" by 14" and held together with wooden pegs. The society abandoned the property sometime around 1850. In 1919 Borodino Grange Number 1272 purchased the building. More information on SAHS web page:

History of the Borodino Grange 1272

Home of abolitionists in Spafford that hosted Frederick Douglass http://www.pacny.net/freedom_trail/Spaulding.htm - and the First Religious Society of Borodino (known now as the Borodino Grange) http://www.pacny.net/freedom_trail/Borodino.htm

HISTORY OF BORODINO (by Jan Beaman)

1700s
Borodino is a small hamlet located eight miles south of Skaneateles along the east side of Skaneateles Lake. The land was originally heavy forest used by the Onondaga, Cayuga and the Seneca Indians for gatherings and hunting expeditions. The 1792 Revolutionary War Military Tract no. 88 and 89 represent Borodino. Lot number 88 was given to Philip Fields and lot number 89 was given to Frederick Wybert, neither of whom settled on their land.

In 1794, Onondaga became the 21st of 62 New York State counties. The town of Marcellus was also founded in 1794. Borodino originally belonged to the town of Marcellus. The pioneers of Borodino were New Englanders who were mostly English and from North-River counties who were Dutch, Scotch, Protestant Irish, French and Canadian. The land was covered by hemlock, beech, maple and pine trees. The soil was chiefly sandy and gravelly loam. >More...

HISTORY OF SPAFFORD (Beuchamp, 1908)

Spafford had its name from Horatio Gates Spafford, author of an early gazetteer of the state, a man who had opinions and expressed them. It was set off April 8, 1811, from several towns. Marcellus gave it thirteen lots, Sempronius eight, and Tully sixteen. The town if about ten miles long and three broad, occupying the ridge between two lakes and their valleys. With Skaneateles lake on one side, and Otisco lake on the other, it has the longest lake front of any town here, and abounds in picturesque ravines and falls. Ripley hill is not as high as Fabius hill, but commands a finer view. >More...

HISTORY OF SPAFFORD 2 (Clark, Stoddard and Babcock, 1849)

SPAFFORD - was erected into a town in 1811, from portions of the townships of Sempronius, Marcellus and Tully. The boundaries have since been materially altered. At present, it is comprised of eight lots lying east of Skaneateles Lake, being part of the original township of Sempronius; sixteen lots of the north-west part of the township of Tully, and thirteen lots of the south part of the township of Marcellus. It is about ten miles long by three broad, running from north-west to south-east. This town received its name from Horatio Gates Spafford, L.L.D., author of the Gazetteer of New York. The first settler within the present limits of the town, was Gilbert Palmer, who located himself on lot seventy-six, township of Marcellus, in the fall of 1794. He was a Revolutionary soldier, and served for the lot on which he settled. He came from Duchess or Westchester County, and died about...1988. >More...

How Borodino got it's name...

The Battle of Borodino

Pronunciation: [burudyinô´] (key)
'village, central European Russia, c.70 mi (110 km) W of Moscow.

It was the site, on Sept. 7, 1812, of a battle between Napoleon's Grande Armée and Gen. Mikhail Kutuzov's Russian forces defending Moscow. The battle, which cost some 108,000 casualties, is described in Tolstoy's War and Peace. Napoleon entered Moscow on Sept. 14 after severely battering but not totally defeating the Russians.'

The Battle of Borodino

On September 7, 1812, Napoleon attacked the Russian Army in Borodino. He decided to head in with a series of frontal attacks which proved to be costly errors. The Russian army was 111,000 men strong along with 7000 Cossacks and 640 guns. Even as the Russians closed in on Borodino the French kept applying pressure.

1812: Napoleon's Russian Campaign, Richard K. Riehn, 1990

From the Historian's Desk

Memoir of Emma Anthony Becker, 1941

The Story of the Steamboats on Skaneateles Lake, Charles B. Cooper, 1970 (PDF)

The Berry Letters by Bill Breihan
from CNY Geneological Society's Tree Talks 2004

"The Forgotten Villages of Onondaga County", published by the Post-Standard, 1933

Story of the "Puddin' Mill"

"Downtown Borodino" in the1880's

Photos of Borodino

Spafford Historian, Barbara Shoemaker
Phone 315-636-7700 or 607-749-2086

HISTORY OF ONONDAGA COUNTY, BY W.W. CLAYTON, 1878
Spafford, Borodino, Samuel H. Stanton, Spafford Corners, Otisco, Otisco Village, Amber ADDED 5/14/06

Moon Hill Road, 1900, Otisco Valley News

Can you identify the location of this 1928 photo of Otisco Lake? 5/1/06, FROM SPAFFORD HISTORIAN

C.J. Parsons says on 12/10/07-----The barn appears to be opposite Harley Coles. So this would be Willowdale Rd, near the intersection of Becker- which would be to the left out of view.

HORATIO GATES SPAFFORD

Horatio Gates Spafford

Spafford visits Spafford, by Barbara Shoemaker

Letter to Horatio Spafford from Thomas Jefferson

MAPS

1874 Onondaga County Atlas, by Bill Hecht, 2004

Index of maps by Bill Hecht

1868 Otisco Lake map, by Roger Trendowski (2003)

FROM ROOTSWEB