Jedediah Sanger (February 28, 1751 – June 6, 1829) was the founder of the town of

New Hartford, New York New Hartford is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Oneida County, New York, United States. As of the United States Census, 2010, 2010 census, the town population was 22,166. The name of New Hartford was provided by a settler fam ...

, United States. He was a native of

Sherborn, Massachusetts Sherborn is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. Located in Boston's MetroWest region, is in area code 508 and has the ZIP code 01770. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the town population was 4,401. Sherborn shares its highly ...

, and the ninth child of Richard and Deborah Sanger, a prominent colonial

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

family. During the Revolutionary War he attained the rank of

1st Lieutenant First lieutenant is a commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces; in some forces, it is an appointment. The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations, but in most forces it is sub-divided into a s ...

having fought in the

Battles of Lexington and Concord The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. The battles were fought on April 19, 1775, in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, within the towns of Lexington, Concord ...

, the

Battle of Bunker Hill The Battle of Bunker Hill was fought on June 17, 1775, during the Siege of Boston in the first stage of the American Revolutionary War. The battle is named after Bunker Hill in Charlestown, Massachusetts, which was peripherally involved in ...

, the

Siege of Boston The siege of Boston (April 19, 1775 – March 17, 1776) was the opening phase of the American Revolutionary War. New England militiamen prevented the movement by land of the British Army, which was garrisoned in what was then the peninsular town ...

(1776), and during the

New York Campaign The New York and New Jersey campaign in 1776 and the winter months of 1777 was a series of American Revolutionary War battles for control of the Port of New York and the state of New Jersey, fought between British forces under General Sir Willia ...

. After the war, he settled in

Jaffrey, New Hampshire Jaffrey is a town in Cheshire County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 5,320 at the 2020 census. The main village in town, where 3,058 people resided at the 2020 census, is defined as the Jaffrey census-designated place (CDP) a ...

, where he began farming, trading, and running a tavern. He was involved in several civic activities and was appointed

Lt. Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the army, armies, most Marine (armed services), marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use t ...

of the

New Hampshire militia The New Hampshire Militia was first organized in 1631 and lasted until 1641, when the area came under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts. After New Hampshire became an separate colony again in 1679, New Hampshire Colonial Governor John Cutt reorgan ...

. After a fire destroyed his property, leaving him bankrupt, he started over in the frontier of

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. Sanger settled in what was then called Whitestown. He became a

land agent Land agent may be used in at least three different contexts. Traditionally, a land agent was a managerial employee who conducted the business affairs of a large estate (house), landed estate for a member of the landed gentry, supervising the farmi ...

or speculator, buying large tracts of land on both sides of

Sauquoit Creek Sauquoit Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed August 31, 2015 river in New York, United States. It lies within the southern part of Oneida County. The creek flow ...

and reselling smaller lots. He was involved in land transactions, one of which involved

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

, for the area that would become

. Between 1789 and 1820, he operated a

paper mill A paper mill is a factory devoted to making paper from vegetable fibres such as wood pulp, old rags, and other ingredients. Prior to the invention and adoption of the Fourdrinier machine and other types of paper machine that use an endless belt, ...

grist mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the Mill (grinding), grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist i ...

, and

saw mill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ( dimens ...

there. He also purchased land at Sangerfield, Skaneateles,

Chittenango Chittenango is a village located in Madison County, New York, United States. The village is in the southern part of the Town of Sullivan. The population was 5,081 at the 2010 census. Chittenango is the birthplace of L. Frank Baum, author of '' ...

, and Weedsport; He established mills in some of these towns. To facilitate travel between the settlements, Sanger was an investor in the

Seneca Seneca may refer to: People and language * Seneca (name), a list of people with either the given name or surname * Seneca people, one of the six Iroquois tribes of North America ** Seneca language, the language of the Seneca people Places Extrat ...

and Chenango Turnpikes (now

New York State Route 12 New York State Route 12 (NY 12) is a state highway extending for through central and northern New York in the United States. The southern terminus of the route is at U.S. Route 11 (US 11) in the town of Chenango (just nor ...

). Sanger gave his name to a town,

Sangerfield, New York Sangerfield is a town in Oneida County, New York, United States. The population was 2,561 at the 2010 census. The town is named after Jedediah Sanger, an early settler. The Town of Sangerfield is on the county's southern border. Geography Accord ...

, a

Masonic lodge A Masonic lodge, often termed a private lodge or constituent lodge, is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is also commonly used as a term for a building in which such a unit meets. Every new lodge must be warranted or chartered ...

, and other places in New York. He is noted as the first settler and founder of New Hartford through two historical markers. Among his various business pursuits, he was engaged in agriculture and manufacturing. He was a town supervisor, county judge, and state assemblyman and senator. He helped establish churches and a school.

Early life

Jedediah Sanger was born in

on February 28, 1751. He was the ninth child of ten born to his parents, Deborah (née Morse) Sanger and Richard Sanger III (1706-1786), who married . Like the colonial Sanger men before him, his father plied his trade as a blacksmith. Sanger III was also a successful businessman who inherited a sizable fortune from his father in 1731, which he enlarged through a lucrative trading business in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, real estate speculation in

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

, and the operation of a store and tavern in Sherborn. The family, one of the most prominent in Sherborn's history, lived in the Richard Sanger III House, which is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

. It was built by his father, Richard Sanger III, . Sanger was educated in the local schools and worked on a farm. He may have learned the saddler's trade and worked in that business in Sherborn. His first marriage was to Sarah Rider in 1771.

Revolutionary War

Sanger served in the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, from 1775 to 1781. In his first five days service, in April 1775, he rose from the rank of private in Captain Benjamin Bullard's Company of

Minutemen Minutemen were members of the organized New England colonial militia companies trained in weaponry, tactics, and military strategies during the American Revolutionary War. They were known for being ready at a minute's notice, hence the name. Mi ...

to 2nd Lieutenant in the

1st Massachusetts Regiment The 1st Massachusetts Regiment was an infantry unit of the Continental Army that fought during the American Revolutionary War. It was first authorized on 23 April 1775 in the Massachusetts State Troops as Paterson's Regiment under Colonel John ...

. During the war he fought against the British at the

(April 1775), the

(June 1775), the

(1776), and the

(1776). In 1779, he attained the rank of 1st Lieutenant and served in

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

until March 18, 1781.

New Hampshire

Sanger moved to

, in Cheshire County, after his military service. He may have first worked there as a saddler. In 1777, he served on a committee of five to resist the annexation of a portion of Jaffrey by the neighboring Peterborough Slip. In 1782, he purchased a farm in Jaffrey near Gap Mountain. Alongside the farm, he operated a

tavern A tavern is a place of business where people gather to drink alcoholic beverages and be served food such as different types of roast meats and cheese, and (mostly historically) where travelers would receive lodging. An inn is a tavern that h ...

and a small store on the property. From 1783 until 1786, he was selected to petition for a county road, was the town clerk, and was the moderator of one of the annual town meetings. In March 1785, he was appointed the Lt. Colonel of

, 23rd regiment (later the 12th). A fire destroyed his property the night of February 27, 1784, leaving him bankrupt. The fire caused the first recorded accidental death in Jaffrey, killing Arthur Clark, who had come from Sherborn to work for his former neighbor. Sanger decided to leave the area and start over in the frontier of

central New York Central New York is the central region of New York State, including the following counties and cities: With a population of about 773,606 (2009) and an area of , the region includes the Syracuse metropolitan area. Definitions The New York ...

Settlement and land development in New York

New Hartford

Sanger arrived in the area, then known as Whitestown (the town of New Hartford was not split from Whitestown until 1827) in March 1788 at the age of 37, where he would purchase many hundreds of acres of land on both sides of

. He resold a large tract east of the creek, a year after purchasing it, to Joseph Higbee, the second settler in New Hartford. Sanger moved his family to the unincorporated village of Whitestown in March 1789 and built a

there. The following year he added a

. In 1805, he engaged in the manufacture of cotton goods. Sanger owned a

on Sauquoit Creek, purchasing it around 1810-12 and selling it to Samuel Lyon before 1820. Sanger built a new house in 1810, which was three stories, the third used for at least seven years as meeting space for the Masonic lodge of

Freemasons Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

, which was named Amicable Lodge No. 23, where he presided as Master.

Land deals

There is legend that Sanger bought 1,000 acres, some of which became the town of New Hartford, and then sold half to Higbee for the same price. The earliest recorded account, published by Jones in the ''Annals and Recollections of Oneida County'' in 1851, states that Sanger bought of land for $500 (fifty cents/acre). Sanger sold the portion east of Sauquoit Creek, thought to be , to Joseph Higbee (or Higby), within a year, for $500 (one dollar/acre), a shrewd deal netting him the land where the majority of New Hartford's commercial development occurred for no cost. A subsequent survey showed the area Higbee purchased was actually . In 1889, it was reported, based upon analysis of property deed records, that Higbee purchased a 492-acre lot in December 1791 for about $1.06 per acre from Sanger, who reserved the rights to the

water power Hydropower (from el, ὕδωρ, "water"), also known as water power, is the use of falling or fast-running water to produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by converting the gravitational potential or kinetic energy of a wa ...

of the creek. The 492-acre lot sold by Sanger to Higbee, a 183-acre lot on the west side of the creek that was sold by Sanger in July 1790, and a lot also on the west side of the creek that Sanger purchased from

and George Clinton, add up to that makes up most of the original village of New Hartford. In 1810, Sanger was one of many claimants that sought relief from the legislature to settle a dispute over the title to arising after the land was omitted from a 1793 deed transferring the property to

Philip Schuyler Philip John Schuyler (; November 18, 1804) was an American general in the Revolutionary War and a United States Senator from New York. He is usually known as Philip Schuyler, while his son is usually known as Philip J. Schuyler. Born in Alba ...

from the heirs of

William Cosby Brigadier-General William Cosby (1690–1736) was an Irish soldier who served as the British colonial governor of New York from 1732 to 1736. During his short term, Cosby was portrayed as one of the most oppressive governors in the Thirteen Co ...

. In 1811, they petitioned the legislature again to restrict the commissioners tasked with settling the dispute, between Cosby Patent and Coxe's or Freemason's Patent, to just define the boundary line. Sanger sold land in New Hartford to Richard Wills, an

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

who established a farm and built a house there. The house was later owned by Wills's nephew, an active

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

, and was a stop on the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. T ...

Agriculture

Sanger continued farming various crops. At the Whitesboro Cattle Show and Fair held in October 1819, Sanger's

winter wheat Winter wheat (usually ''Triticum aestivum'') are strains of wheat that are planted in the autumn to germinate and develop into young plants that remain in the vegetative phase during the winter and resume growth in early spring. Classification ...

was judged third-best behind Benjamin Northrop of Deerfield (second place) and Reuben Gridley of

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

(first place). His

oats The oat (''Avena sativa''), sometimes called the common oat, is a species of cereal grain grown for its seed, which is known by the same name (usually in the plural, unlike other cereals and pseudocereals). While oats are suitable for human con ...

earned first place, having yielded 84 bushels per acre, for which he was awarded a premium of $15 by the county agricultural society under a program implemented by the state Board of Agriculture "for the promotion of agriculture and domestic manufactures" under an 1819 state law. In the domestic animals category, he was awarded best

boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is no ...

Sangerfield

In 1788, the

State of New York New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. state ...

purchased land bordering the

Unadilla River The Unadilla River is a river in the Central New York Region of New York State. The river begins northeast of the hamlet of Millers Mills and flows generally south to the village of Sidney, where it converges with the Susquehanna River, which d ...

from the

Oneida people The Oneida people (autonym: Onʌyoteˀa·ká·, Onyota'a:ka, ''the People of the Upright Stone, or standing stone'', ''Thwahrù·nęʼ'' in Tuscarora) are a Native American tribe and First Nations band. They are one of the five founding nat ...

. Two years later, Sanger and two others, Michael Myers and John J. Morgan, contracted to buy the portion of this land known as "township 20" from the state in 1790-91 as an investment for "three

shilling The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence o ...

s and three

pence A penny is a coin ( pennies) or a unit of currency (pl. pence) in various countries. Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius (hence its former abbreviation d.), it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system. Presently, it is th ...

per acre". Sanger began to sell or lease lots to settlers. He built the first sawmill there on

Oriskany Creek Oriskany Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed October 3, 2011 river in New York, United States. It rises in Madison County and flows northeastward, primarily thr ...

in 1793 in what became the village of Waterville. In 1795, the town of Sangerfield was created by the state legislature and named to honor Sanger, who in turn agreed to donate "to the church of any religious denomination which should build the first house for public worship." He also agreed to donate a "cask of

rum Rum is a liquor made by fermenting and then distilling sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice. The distillate, a clear liquid, is usually aged in oak barrels. Rum is produced in nearly every sugar-producing region of the world, such as the Phili ...

" to the first town meeting. He provided the rum and donated to the Congregational Society as the first religious organization formed in town and 25 acres to the

Baptists Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...

who built the first church. Many of the original settlers had disagreed with the town name, wanting it to be called "New Lisbon" instead; they later chose Lisbon for the name of the congregation. Sanger himself farmed land in Sangerfield, as did relative

William Cary Sanger William Cary Sanger, Sr. (May 21, 1853 – December 6, 1921) was an American politician who served as the United States Assistant Secretary of War from 1901 to 1903. Biography He was born on May 21, 1853 in Brooklyn, New York City to Henry Sang ...

much later in the century.

Skaneateles

Sanger saw the potential of the area of

Skaneateles Creek Skaneateles Creek is a river in New York, the United States. It drains Skaneateles Lake to the Seneca River. It flows through Skaneateles, Skaneateles Falls, Mottville, Elbridge, and Jordan before joining the Seneca River, about 2 miles northw ...

at the outlet of

Skaneateles Lake Skaneateles Lake ( , ) is one of the Finger Lakes in central New York in the United States. The name ''Skaneateles'' means ''long lake'' in one of the local Iroquoian languages. The lake is sometimes referred to as "The Roof Garden of the Lakes" ...

and purchased large amounts of land there. He built a dam about 1796 or '97 and erected the first grist and sawmills there. He divided some of his land into lots which he then sold as the "village plots on the north end of Skaneateles Lake", presently in the village of Skaneateles. As a controlling investor in the

Seneca Road Company The Seneca Road Company was formed to improve the main road running west from Utica, New York, the Genesee Road, from Utica to Canandaigua and operate it as a toll road or turnpike. The road was originally laid out in 1794 from Baggs Square in down ...

, he had the Seneca turnpike built though Skaneateles, which included the first bridge over the creek, built in 1800.

Chittenango

In 1812, Sanger and Judge Youngs, also of New Hartford, purchased of land in

in Madison County from the bankrupt owner. They erected a grist-mill, saw-mill, and a cotton/clothing mill on

Chittenango Creek Chittenango Creek is a small river in central New York, United States. The creek partially forms the boundary between Onondaga County and Madison County. The Chittenango Creek watershed comprises about of drainage in Onondaga and Madison cou ...

. They sold the mills, the first commercial operation in this village, in 1816.

Weedsport

Sanger bought a tract of land in the Onondaga Military Tract from the

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

who received it from the government for his revolutionary war service and resold individual lots to settlers. This land currently includes the entire village of Weedsport in

Cayuga County Cayuga County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 76,248. Its county seat and largest city is Auburn. The county was named for the Cayuga people, one of the Indian tribes in the Iroquois Confeder ...

Civic leadership

Local government

On April 7, 1789, the first town meeting of Whitestown was held in the barn of the area's namesake, Hugh White. Sanger was selected to be the town's first supervisor and a Commissioner of Highways. He was re-elected town supervisor in 1790 and 1791. Sanger was a justice in the first court held in

Herkimer County Herkimer County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 60,139. Its county seat is Herkimer. The county was created in 1791 north of the Mohawk River out of part of Montgomery County. It is named af ...

in January 1794, having been named one of three "side judges" when the county was created in 1791. When Oneida County was split from Herkimer County in 1798, Sanger was named "First Judge" of the five county judges. The first Oneida County Court session was held in May 1798 at the schoolhouse near

Fort Stanwix Fort Stanwix was a colonial fort whose construction commenced on August 26, 1758, under the direction of British General John Stanwix, at the location of present-day Rome, New York, but was not completed until about 1762. The bastion fort was built ...

(present-day

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

), with Sanger presiding as First Judge. He was re-appointed several times through 1810, when he was no longer eligible due to his age of 60. The court was formally the Oneida County Court of Common Pleas and although judges were appointed by the

Council of Appointment The Council of Appointment (sometimes also Council of Appointments) was a body of the Government of New York that existed from 1777 to 1822. History Under the New York Constitution of 1777, the Council of Appointment consisted of the Governor of Ne ...

for five-year terms, Sanger was reappointed more often (in 1801, 1804, 1805, 1808, and 1810).

State offices

Sanger first ran for the Assembly in 1792, losing the election by four votes (502-498). He did receive 91% of the votes from Whitestown (of which New Hartford was then still a part), but his opponent, Michael Myers, had most of the other votes from the two other towns in the district ( Herkimer and

German Flatts German Flatts is a town in Herkimer County, New York, United States. The population was 13,258 at the 2010 census. The town is in the southern part of Herkimer County, on the south side of the Mohawk River, across from the village of Herkimer. T ...

). Concurrent with his duty as county judge, Sanger was also a member of the

New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Assem ...

from Herkimer County and

Onondaga County Onondaga County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 476,516. The county seat is Syracuse. Onondaga County is the core of the Syracuse, NY MSA. History The name ''Onondaga'' derives from ...

in 1794-95 and served in ten more sessions of the Assembly or

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

. Sanger ran on the

Federalist Party The Federalist Party was a Conservatism in the United States, conservative political party which was the first political party in the United States. As such, under Alexander Hamilton, it dominated the national government from 1789 to 1801. De ...

ticket. Sanger was interested in attracting doctors to establish practices in the newly settled areas of the state, and throughout his time in the legislature he introduced numerous bills "proposing state aid to physicians who might establish themselves in the 'West'".

Turnpikes

Seneca Turnpike

In March 1794, the

New York State Legislature The New York State Legislature consists of the two houses that act as the state legislature of the U.S. state of New York: The New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly. The Constitution of New York does not designate an official ...

passed a law calling for the laying out and improvement of a public road from old

Fort Schuyler Fort Schuyler is a preserved 19th century fortification in the New York City borough of the Bronx. It houses a museum, the Stephen B. Luce Library, and the Marine Transportation Department and Administrative offices of the State University of ...

(Utica) on the Mohawk River to the settlement of

Canawaugus Canawaugus (or Conawagus, or Ca-noh-wa-gas, or Conewaugus) () was a Seneca Indian village. The village was located on the west side of the Genesee River, "about a mile above the ford", on the eastern edge of the Town of Caledonia. It was nearly op ...

on the

Genesee River The Genesee River is a tributary of Lake Ontario flowing northward through the Twin Tiers of Pennsylvania and New York in the United States. The river provided the original power for the Rochester area's 19th century mills and still provides h ...

, in as straight a line as the topography of the land would allow. Called the " Great Genesee Road", it generally followed the old

Iroquois The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...

trail to

Oneida Oneida may refer to: Native American/First Nations * Oneida people, a Native American/First Nations people and one of the five founding nations of the Iroquois Confederacy * Oneida language * Oneida Indian Nation, based in New York * Oneida Na ...

. By the end of the decade, many portions of the road were still substandard and some sections had still not been completed. The state outsourced the task of improving and maintaining the Genesee Road to the

, chartered by a group of investors led by Sanger. The new

Seneca Turnpike The Seneca Road Company was formed to improve the main road running west from Utica, New York, the Genesee Road, from Utica to Canandaigua and operate it as a toll road or turnpike. The road was originally laid out in 1794 from Baggs Square in down ...

was authorized by the state on April 1, 1800, and legislated to run from the village of Utica west to the village of

Cayuga Cayuga often refers to: * Cayuga people, a native tribe to North America, part of the Iroquois Confederacy * Cayuga language, the language of the Cayuga Cayuga may also refer to: Places Canada * Cayuga, Ontario United States * Cayuga, Illinois ...

and on to

Canandaigua Canandaigua (; ''Utaʼnaráhkhwaʼ'' in Tuscarora) is a city in Ontario County, New York, United States. Its population was 10,545 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Ontario County; some administrative offices are at the county complex ...

in Ontario County. The road was, at the time, the longest

turnpike Turnpike often refers to: * A type of gate, another word for a turnstile * In the United States, a toll road Turnpike may also refer to: Roads United Kingdom * A turnpike road, a principal road maintained by a turnpike trust, a body with powers ...

in the state. The turnpike was to generally follow the path of the Genesee Road. Through his controlling interest in the company, Sanger had the road deviate from the Genesee Road after crossing the

Mohawk River The Mohawk River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed October 3, 2011 river in the U.S. state of New York. It is the largest tributary of the Hudson River. The Mohawk f ...

in Utica to turn southwest through New Hartford. This made the village prosper as it benefited from both the commerce brought by the road and the industry supported by the water power of the Saquoit. It was not until the completion of the

Erie Canal The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east-west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, vastly reducing t ...

which followed the Mohawk River valley through Utica that Utica overtook New Hartford as the commercial hub of the region.

Chenango Turnpike

In 1801, he was one of the founding members of the Chenango Turnpike Corporation. An act passed by the state legislature in March 1801 specified that the road should be built from the town of

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

Chenango County Chenango County is a county located in the south-central section U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 47,220. Its county seat is Norwich. The county's name originates from an Oneida word meaning 'large bull-thistle ...

and follow as direct a route as possible to an intersection with the Seneca Turnpike (then called the

Genesee Road New York State Route 5 (NY 5) is a state highway that extends for across the state of New York in the United States. It begins at the Pennsylvania state line in the Chautauqua County town of Ripley and passes through Buffalo, Syrac ...

) "at or near the house of Jedediah Sanger". This is the path of present

Other businesses

Newspaper

Sanger, with Elijah Risley and Samuel Wells, founded the first newspaper printed in the state west of

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...

. The ''Whitestown Gazette'' was published in Whitestown (now New Hartford) beginning in 1793. After Sanger's involvement with the paper, it was moved to Utica, and after many mergers it became the ''

Utica Observer-Dispatch The ''Observer-Dispatch'' (''The O-D'') is the largest newspaper serving the Utica-Rome metropolitan area in Central New York, circulating in Oneida County, Herkimer County, and parts of Madison County. Based in Utica, New York, the publicat ...

''.

Paris Furnace

Sanger was one of the principal proprietors of the Paris Furnace Company, the first manufacturing operation in the Sauquoit Valley. The forge and foundry, which went into operation in 1801, made iron products such as axes, hoes,

scythe A scythe ( ) is an agricultural hand tool for mowing grass or harvesting crops. It is historically used to cut down or reap edible grains, before the process of threshing. The scythe has been largely replaced by horse-drawn and then tractor m ...

s, plows,

kettle A kettle, sometimes called a tea kettle or teakettle, is a type of pot specialized for boiling water, commonly with a ''lid'', ''spout'', and ''handle'', or a small electric kitchen appliance of similar shape that functions in a self-contained ...

s commonly used at the time for making soap or

potash Potash () includes various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water-soluble form.

, and hollow ware. Products were sold throughout New York and to neighboring states. He hired Gardner Avery to supervise the construction and operation of the furnace after witnessing Avery make a perilous crossing of the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

, covered in thin ice, when a banker offered $100 to anyone that could deliver a package to the other side. The site of the company and surrounding settlement, up the Sauquoit from New Hartford, was known as Paris Furnace, and renamed Clayville in 1848 in honor of

Henry Clay Henry Clay Sr. (April 12, 1777June 29, 1852) was an American attorney and statesman who represented Kentucky in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. He was the seventh House speaker as well as the ninth secretary of state, al ...

. Sanger had the company incorporated in 1823, and it operated until 1832 or 1833, several years after his death.

Federal Company

The Onondaga Salt Springs Reservation was a tract of land designated by the state legislature in 1797 around a natural

salt spring A brine spring or salt spring is a saltwater spring. Brine springs are not necessarily associated with halite deposits in the immediate vicinity. They may occur at valley bottoms made of clay and gravel which became soggy with brine seeped downslo ...

for the commercialization of salt production in Salina on the shores of

Onondaga Lake Onondaga Lake is a lake in Central New York, immediately northwest of and adjacent to Syracuse, New York. The southeastern end of the lake and the southwestern shore abut industrial areas and expressways; the northeastern shore and northwestern ...

. Production began around 1789; salt was made by boiling the

brine Brine is a high-concentration solution of salt (NaCl) in water (H2O). In diverse contexts, ''brine'' may refer to the salt solutions ranging from about 3.5% (a typical concentration of seawater, on the lower end of that of solutions used for br ...

of the water. In 1798, Sanger,

Asa Danforth Asa Danforth (1746-1818) was father of salt manufacturer and an early colonizer Asa Danforth Jr. Danforth was originally from Worcester, Massachusetts and moved his family to the Onondaga Valley area of New York. He was known to have anti-British ...

, and about a half-dozen other investors formed the "Federal Company", which increased production by building the first permanent building at the site for salt manufacture, building a new and bigger well, and starting a large-scale operation of 32 kettles for producing salt. This company was the largest producer at the time. Sanger sold his interest in the company after two years.

Bank of Utica

He was named one of the directors of the Bank of Utica when it opened on December 8, 1812.

Religious organizations

Settlers began to come to the area that would become Whitestone in 1787, when it was wilderness. The town grew to about 3,000 by 1791. Desiring a church, on November 3, 1791, Sanger and others wrote to George Washington requesting a donation of 25 acres for a minister. The petition stated that the influence of a minister would "encourage sobriety, industry, morality, and religion among the people, and to render them good citizens." Washington agreed. In 1791, a

Congregational church Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...

was established in a meeting held in Sanger's barn, with Sanger named one of the "first class" trustees. In 1792, the congregation agreed to build a church on land donated by Sanger. Construction was completed in 1797, and the structure, since 1801 the New Hartford Presbyterian Church, is still a prominent building in the village. In the 1820s, Sanger made significant contributions for the construction of St. Stephen's Church in New Hartford. The church contains a marble plaque inscribed "He, being dead, yet speaketh" in Sanger's memory. In 1997, it was listed on the

. According to one source, he also donated the land for this church and left funding in his

will Will may refer to: Common meanings * Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death * Will (philosophy), or willpower * Will (sociology) * Will, volition (psychology) * Will, a modal verb - see Shall and will ...

Other organizations

Sanger was a founding member of the New Hartford masonic lodge (named Amicable Lodge) formed in 1792. He was elected an officer of the Grand (state) chapter at its organizational meeting held in January 1799 in Albany, where

DeWitt Clinton DeWitt Clinton (March 2, 1769February 11, 1828) was an American politician and naturalist. He served as a United States senator, as the mayor of New York City, and as the seventh governor of New York. In this last capacity, he was largely res ...

presided as Grand High Priest. In 1793,

Samuel Kirkland Samuel Kirkland (December 1, 1741 – February 28, 1808) was a Presbyterian minister and missionary among the Oneida and Tuscarora peoples of present-day central New York State. He was a long-time friend of the Oneida chief Skenandoa. Kirkland g ...

established Hamilton Oneida Academy in

Clinton Clinton is an English toponymic surname, indicating one's ancestors came from English places called Glympton or Glinton.Hanks, P. & Hodges, F. ''A Dictionary of Surnames''. Oxford University Press, 1988 Clinton has frequently been used as a given ...

to educate and civilize the

(Five Nations) Indians in the region. Sanger made a large donation to the school and was named a trustee. When the school was chartered as

Hamilton College Hamilton College is a private liberal arts college in Clinton, Oneida County, New York. It was founded as Hamilton-Oneida Academy in 1793 and was chartered as Hamilton College in 1812 in honor of inaugural trustee Alexander Hamilton, following ...

in 1812, he was again named a trustee.

Family

Immediate

Sanger was married to Sarah Rider from May 1771 to her death in September 1814 and to Sarah B. Kissam from August 1815 until her death due to

apoplexy Apoplexy () is rupture of an internal organ and the accompanying symptoms. The term formerly referred to what is now called a stroke. Nowadays, health care professionals do not use the term, but instead specify the anatomic location of the bleedi ...

on April 22, 1825. He married his third wife, Fanny Dench of

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, on October 3, 1827. She survived him and died in 1842. Sanger had four children with his first wife Sarah Rider. The first was Sarah, born in 1772, who died just after her fifth birthday. His second daughter, also named Sarah, was born in 1778. He also had two sons, Walter and Zedekiah, born in 1781 and 1783, respectively, who both died in 1802. Sarah, the only one of his children that survived him, married John Eames. As a wedding gift, Sanger built them a house in New Hartford, now known as the Eames mansion. Sarah and James had nine children, all of whom were born in Sanger's lifetime. Sarah died in 1861 at age 83 in New Hartford.

Notable relatives

Sanger's younger brother, Asa Sanger (born 1753), came to own the Asa Sanger House which is listed on the

. A nephew, Colonel Calvin Sanger (1768–1835), the son of his brother Samuel, bought all the land in

Sangerville, Maine Sangerville is a town in Piscataquis County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,306 at the 2020 census. The town was named after Colonel Calvin Sanger, a landowner. On June 14, 2014 Sangerville celebrated its bicentennial. Geography Ac ...

which changed its name from Amestown to Sangerville when it was incorporated in 1814. Sanger's nephew Zedekiah, son of his brother Zedekiah, was an early settler in New Hartford, the father of Henry Sanger (born in New Hartford) whose son,

, was a member of the

from 1895 to 1897 and the

United States Assistant Secretary of War The United States Assistant Secretary of War was the second–ranking official within the American Department of War from 1861 to 1867, from 1882 to 1883, and from 1890 to 1940. According to thMilitary Laws of the United States "The act of August ...

from 1901 to 1903.

Death and legacy

Sanger died on June 6, 1829, in his home in New Hartford at the age of 79. He was originally buried in the New Hartford village cemetery, then moved to a family burial plot on his farm, and finally was interred at the Forest Hill Cemetery in Utica in a family plot with his second and third wives and several of his children. The original gravestone, almost illegible, was supplemented with a new one in 2007. There are two New York Historic Markers that commemorate Sanger. One marks the founding of New Hartford ("Jedediah Sanger Founded New Hartford In 1788 By Purchasing 1000 Acres Of Land And Settling Here With His Family") and one the 1790 grist mill ("A Grist Mill Was Built 350 Feet East Of Here In 1790 By Jedediah Sanger, First Settler And Founder Of New Hartford"). Sangertown Square, a regional shopping mall in New Hartford, is named after him, as is the New Hartford High School yearbook, the "Jedediac". There is a street named Sanger Avenue in the village of New Hartford. A

was formed in Waterville and named the Sanger Lodge No. 129. Sanger's family bible is in the possession of the Oneida County Historical Society and is still used for ceremonial purposes, such as when the new town supervisor took the

oath of office An oath of office is an oath or affirmation a person takes before assuming the duties of an office, usually a position in government or within a religious body, although such oaths are sometimes required of officers of other organizations. Such ...

in 2010.

Notes

References

External links

*
Founding New Hartford historical marker
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanger, Jedediah 1751 births 1829 deaths American Freemasons Continental Army officers from Massachusetts Members of the New York State Assembly New York (state) state senators People from Sherborn, Massachusetts People from Jaffrey, New Hampshire People from New Hartford, New York County judges in the United States New York (state) Federalists 19th-century American newspaper publishers (people) Hamilton College (New York) people Burials at Forest Hill Cemetery (Utica, New York)