“March 2. Town meeting day and three parties. S—— store turned into a grog shop and all the poorest shacks in town voted his ticket and got drunk on his whiskey. Eells got 130 votes, C. Noble 108, Hough 80, a close run; took a vote to move the town meeting up to Bragg’s and tied; tied again to move to Betts’s, and lost by fifteen votes; therefore it must be at J. Williams’s again.
“March 27. Some of the Clipknockey[33] Dutchmen ran against the free bridge.
“May 18. S. Pooler had a boy of twelve years old lost in the woods near Judson’s mill[34] on Thursday, and all the people for five or ten miles about turned out to look for him, say about 500 men each day, until Sunday all went out and the number was estimated at more than 1,000. They formed companies and each company formed a line and scoured the woods until about two o’clock P. M., when they found him. Then they all rushed to Pooler’s house (and it was a splendid sight), to hear the horns, guns and the hallooing and the multitude altogether produced a scene seldom witnessed anywhere. A joyous smile seemed to light up every countenance. The boy was out three nights and four days. He was able to run about and to all appearances would have lived a month longer.”
A celebration of the Fourth of July, a mad dog scare, the Catskill and Erie railroad,[35] Dr. Walker’s new store, Thanksgiving Day, and the marriage of the Rev. Norman H. Adams are topics touched upon in the ensuing six months:
“July 4. Called very early in the morning; boys firing an old gun; heard the thirteen guns fired down at Williams’s from a three-pounder; worked very hard in the store until ten o’clock; then went down to Williams’s orchard and heard a very good oration from Samuel Gordon, Esquire; marched over to the tavern and sat down to a good dinner; paid four shillings for it; gave one shilling to sit at the wine table. Commodore M. T. Woolsey presided; Captain Thatcher commanded the gun and thirteen regular toasts were drunk, accompanied by the hurrahs of the people and the thunders of the cannon.
“Came home about four o’clock, opened the store and stayed here until about eight o’clock, and then started for Bragg’s where the Bachelors of Unadilla had assembled and all the girls in the village and some from Huntsville and Walton, etc., and together with the officers of the day occupied the whole house; the company a large one and very select. About eleven o’clock the doors to the dinner table were thrown open and all turned in and everyone helped him or herself to whatever they wished. The rooms were handsomely decorated and the tables were furnished with all the luxuries the land produced—berries, cakes, wine, etc. Each and all ate what they wanted, then went down below and promenaded from room to room until they were satisfied, all following the dictates of their own feelings. At a seasonable hour retired each to his respective homes in the best spirits possible. Thus we celebrated the Fourth of July, and it was said by all to be the happiest day Unadilla had to boast of.
“July 16. Some droviers here to buy cattle. George added up accounts of sales to-day and found the month of June $1,900. Store full of hired hands to get their pay for harvesting.
“July 24. In the evening all the girls and boys went to take a walk, say a company of seventeen assorted; went up to the bridge and down to Williams’s corner and home. We have now in our village E. A. Ogden, R. H. Martin, C. C. Noble, three young men, two of whom, Noble and Martin, have just been admitted to the bar and Ogden is a graduate of West Point.
“July 30. Charles[36] started with Piersol for Owego to look at the place and see about going there to settle down. George and all the commissioned officers gone over to Butternuts to officers’ election; returned at night; made A. D. Williams lieutenant-colonel.
“Aug. 30. Great cry about mad dogs. Every person that ventures out in the evening now carries a large cane to kill mad dogs with.