He was a Private in the New York Militia in the Revolutionary War. [SAR Application]. Oliver Stevens lived in 1789 in Brewerton, Onondaga County, New York,
1789 - Oliver Stevens Block House - Brewerton, New YorkIn 1789 Oliver Stevens Settled on the north side of the [Oneida] river by the site of the abandoned fort. For protection against Indian attacks, Stevens built a block house with aid from the state. He used many of the timbers and bricks form the original fort of 1759.
FORT BREWERTON - Early SettlersAt the close of the War of Independence, by act of Congress on April 11, 1783, pioneers began to push from the east to the west and to settle along the waterways of this region. One Colonel Barent L. Staats was given a land bounty consisting of 400 acres and including the portion of Brewerton, New York, lying on the north side of the Oneida River, Town of Hastings, County of Oswego, which at that time was a part of Tyron County. A letter of patent was given and dated August 8, 1789.
The first white man to settle in the vicinity of Brewerton was Oliver Stevens, who located on Col. Staats' property close to "Old Fort Brewerton" where he constructed a log house of sufficient dimensions to accommodate his family, consisting of his wife [Nancy Chittenden Stevens] and three children [Artemissia, Myson and Olver, Jr.], besides offering room for merchandise, and a transient guest or two. He settled between the old fort site and the Oneida River in 1789 in what is now Oswego County and Town of Hastings.
Here he opened a tavern for accommodation of the bateaux-men who navigated this route. He also began a thriving trade with the Indians: exchanging rum, ammunition and provisions for their furs, pelts, etc.
The nearest market at which he could purchase his supplies and dispose of his barter was Fort Stanwix.
Oliver Stevens, Brewerton's first settler, was born in Canaan, Connecticut, in 1759. He married Nancy Chittenden, who was a cousin of the Governor of Vermont. She was born in Canaan, Connecticut, on March 17, 1762.
Oliver Stevens served in the Revolutionary War from 1776-79.
Through representations made by his brothers, who on some of their military expeditions had been at Fort Brewerton, he accompanied by his wife and three children, left their home in Connecticut and took up residence at the outlet of Oneida Lake. They were surrounded by forests infested with wild animals and Indians; he planted a new home in the wilderness. His nearest neighbor was Ephrain Webster, an Indian Trader, who located his trading post near the mouth of Onondaga Creek 12 miles distant, in 1786. Four miles farther away on the present site of Onondaga Valley were the families of Asa Danforth and Comfort
Tyler of Massachusetts. They had located there-in 1788.
In 1790
Mr. Stevens had a neighbor settle across the river by the name of Dexter, a blacksmith. Where he came from or how long he stayed is unknown.
The following year, 1791, Mr. Rial Bingham located on the same side of the [Oneida?] river as Mr. Stevens, and a Mr. Patrick MaGee located on the south side -- the present site of the Village [of Brewerton?]. Mr. Stevens and Bingham paid an annual rental of 20 pounds (or $100) each for use of the land. They desired to purchase it, but Mr. Staats would not sell.
About 1794, the Indians by that time had become very troublesome, and fear of open hostilities was steadily increasing. Stevens applied to Gov. Dewitt Clinton for permission to erect a block-house, at the expense of the state, for protection. Permission was granted, and he erected it near the fort grounds.
The block-house was built of hewn square timbers, two stories high. It has been recorded that when completed it was surrounded at a distance of four rods by a palisade of logs 12 feet high. it was used as a dwelling place until 1828. After that, it was put to various uses, such as a barn, and at the same time as a cider mill with a one horse sweep. The end of the block-house came with the erection of the first Fort Brewerton House (Hotel) in 1849.
Mr. Stevens was appointed the first clerk of the Town of Mexico, Oneida County, which then included the land between the Oswego River and the present counties of Lewis and Jefferson, all lying west of the Black River.
In dividing up the Military Tracts for soldiers' payment, John Babbit received lot 9, township of Cicero. Lot 9 forms the western boundary of the village of Brewerton. It was sold by him to Wait Ball in 1797 for 70 pounds. In 1801 Stevens bought from Mr. Ball the lot consisting of 600 acres for $100 and used part of it for a garden. In 1802 this property was sold at a sheriff's sale in a suit of Patrick MaGee vs. Oliver Stevens for $300, to James Wells of Onondaga.
Mr. Stevens died in 1813 and according to the family tradition was buried on the north side of the [Oneida ?] river near where an infant [Horatio Stevens I] was buried. However, there had never been a marker there as late as 1885. When a cellar was being dug on the north side near the spot where the Stevens family lived, the bones of an adult and a child were uncovered. It was the belief of the grandchildren that it was Oliver and his son Horatio, first white child born in the Town of Hastings, as well as the first death, 1792. The story is told that Oliver Stevens, not having any lumber with which to make a coffin, broke up a chest that he had brought from Connecticut and constructed a coffin in which to bury the child.
The Stevens children numbered six -- three born in Canaan, Connecticut. Artemissia was born in 1780 and first married Sheldon Thrall who died, and later she married Gibbs skiff of Cicero. She died in 1873.
Myron was born in 1783 and married
Sarah Shepard whose father
[Capt./Rev. John Shepard] drew Revolutionary lot No. 11 located just east of Brewerton. Oliver Stevens, Jr. married Abbie Hall. Next came the baby Horatio, followed by John Lansing, born in Salina on January 15, 1802. He was named for an early settler in the Brewerton area. Due to the lack of a doctor in the settlement, Oliver and wife took up residence in Salina where they remained until the baby was born. They had already lost one child because of a lack of medical care. The last child to be born to Oliver and Nancy Stevens was Horatio II born 1804 and died at Oneida Castle in 1846. His daughter married Mr. Patrick H. Agan a former newspaper man in Syracuse.
The same year that Rial Bingham settled near Oliver Stevens (1791), two new settlers, Patrick MaGee and Timothy Vickery who came from Nassau County [New York] built dwellings on the south side of the Oneida River. They owned adjoining farms, and both sold to James Ball in 1795. Mr. MaGee after his arrival in Brewerton erected a two story log tavern just back of the site of the present Brick Hotel, now known as the "Village Inn". He did not stay here long, moving in 1793 to Three Rivers and there erected another tavern. It was said that he first saw Three Rivers while being transferred as a prisoner of war to Canada and decided in after years to make this beautiful spot his home.
Copyright © Fort Brewerton Historical Society 1999 -- All rights reserved. Updated - August 1, 1999
1789 - Oliver Stevens Block House - Brewerton, New YorkIn 1789
Oliver Stevens Settled on the north side of the [Oneida] river by the site of the abandoned fort. For protection against Indian attacks,
Stevens built a block house with aid from the state. He used many of the timbers and bricks form the original fort of 1759.
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