Historic Moment: Revolutionary War

By BEtH BAtLLE toWn historiAn

We have very little about Skaneateles in the Revolutionary War. That’s because there was no one here at that time.

At the end of the Revolutionary War in 1776, the State of New York kept its promise to pay the officers and soldiers who had served, not with money but with land. Each portion of land was one mile square and was known as a “Military Lot.”

At this time Skaneateles was still part of the township of Marcellus. It wasn’t until 1830 that 39 of these lots were removed from the Town of Marcellus and formed into the Town of Skaneateles.

During the war one of the men who had served was Stephen Benson. He had been a corporal in Captain Daniel’s Company. His unit had marched to Roxbury, responding to a call to arms. After ending his service in 1799, Stephen came to Skaneateles with his family and settled between Owasco and Mandana where he lived until his death in July of 1823. He was buried in Owasco Cemetery. The road near his home, leading to the Village of Skaneateles, still carries the Benson

A response to Green Corner

To the editor:

Where to start? It is necessary to read the last part of your piece before reading the rest. It always comes down to the big nasty corporations, doesn’t it? Where nasty capitalists take, take, take from the “common” people and hold too much wealth for themselves. And that is where you went. It is not redistribution that has caused income to rise for most of the free world – it has been capitalism.People working hard and accumulating wealth on their own. Marxists find that simple truth extremely annoying.

I also like how it ends up in a church in Skaneateles where Sundays you can go to hear a climate “scientist” browbeat you about the “existential threat” of “climate change”. While shilling her book.

The high prices being paid at the pump are not the fault of the oil companies. It is an issue of demand and basic economics. The federal government places limits on drilling, pumping, refining and shipping fuel. Then the same federal government spends trillions of dollars flooding our economy with dollars. These dollars are worth less everyday – this is called inflation. So we have less fuel available and more money chasing it and, tada, prices rise. Go figure.

Let’s look at the religion of government. We have spent the years since the Great Depression looking to government to solve “our problems.” The governments at state and federal level grow and consume more. Gov- family name. Nathaniel Eells also served during the war, in the Third Company of Massachusetts. He fought in the battle of Bunker Hill with his brother, Daniel. He settled in Skaneateles in 1800 and purchased the property on Onondaga Street opposite the old brick school house. Here he built the Ells Tavern, later known as the Somerset House. He died on Jan. 7, 1815 and is buried in Lakeview Cemetery.

William Webber enlisted in Captain Pray’s Company of the First Regiment in the Massachusetts Line in 1781, serving until June of 1783. He was both religious and musical: his property consisted of a Bible and a psalm book, the total value being 70 cents. A common laborer, after the war he lived in Skaneateles with his wife and son.

John Wilkinson

John Wilkinson, at the age of 17, fought in the Revolutionary War and was taken prisoner by the British. He was held in a notorious prison ship in New York City harbor until his release nine months later.

He then returned to Rhode Island and married 18 year old Elizabeth Tower. They lived in Troy, New York ernment produces nothing but they can write checks like rain. Plus, they are not always truthful about the problems and solutions. Take the recent pandemic – most of what government said about it was wrong. On top of that, the voices of dissent were suppressed. Masks, cleaning, 6 foot spacing, lock downs and the vaccines were not effective. I stood in line to receive the Polio vaccine when children in my elementary school were sick with this disease. That was a real vaccine. I took three shots and got COVID twice.

The great thing about America, you have the freedom to cut up whatever card you want. You can write opinion pieces. You can organize scientists to plug their books. Life is good. I have the freedom to comment about your opinion. I know right where you are coming from. You are one of those who think 330 million Americans should feel guilty for their affluence; we should be the world’s “example” and reduce our CO2 emissions. You are definitely smarter than the rest of us. All this when the other 7.7 billion folks on earth want what we have – a good life. Where they have freedom to work, freedom to worship, start a business, care for their families. What hubris and narcissistic behavior to further a self-righteous attack on wealth and energy. We should be ashamed as a country to think we are so important that we can preach to others around the world how environmentally pure we are. 4.1% of the world’s population is not the moral majority.

JAMIe RODeMS bAldWinsville