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McDONOUGH, named in honor of Commodore
MeDonough, of the United States Navy, was formed from Preston, April 17, 1816. It is an interior town, lying west
of the center of the County. The surface is hilly and in some places broken by deep ravines and sharp ridges extending
north and south. The principal drainage of the town is Bowman's and Genegantslet's Creeks and their tributaries.
Genegantslet Lake is a fine sheet of water on the west border of the town. The soil is a clay loam, better adapted
to grazing and dairy ing than to tillage. This town was number fifteen of the Chenango Twenty Towns.
McDonough, (p. v.) situated in the western part, on Genegantslet Creek, contains two churches, viz., Baptist and
Methodist, four stores, a hotel, a school house, a harness shop, three blacksmith shops, two carriage shops, a
tailor shop, two saw mills, a flouring mill, two tanneries and fifty-six dwellings, with a population Of about
300. There is also a foundry and manufactory of edge tools and agricultural implements. It was erected in 1846
and is doing an extensive business. There is a valuable quarry of building stone near the village.
East McDonough, (p. v.) situated in the east part, contains a Free Will Baptist church, a school house, a hotel,
a grocery, a store, two blacksmith shops, a shoe shop and about a dozen dwellings.
The first settlements were made in 1795, by Nathaniel Locke, Loring and Emery Willard, Henry Ludlow and others.
Edward Colburn, Benjamin Ketchum, Benjamin Kenyon, Ephraim Fish, John Anderson, Nehemiah Dunbar, Jonah and Sylvanus
Moore, Joseph and Ransom Cook, William Mead, William Norton, Daniel Wainwright, Adam Oyshlenbank and M. Turner,
settled in the town previous to 1808.
The first marriage was that of Sylvanus Moore, and the first death that of Mrs. Benjamin Ketchum. The first school
was taught by Captain Joshua A. Burke. Sylvanus Moore kept the first imi, in 1799, and Henry Ludlow the first store,
in 1802. The first sawmill was erected on the outlet of Genegantslet Lake, in 1798, by Henry Ludlow, and the first
grist-mill by Gates Wilcox, in 1808. This mill was subsequently replaced by a stone one by the same man. The first
paper mill was built at the village in 1828, by J. N evins. The first house was erected in the village of MoDonough
by Mieah Coville, who came here in 1818. He is still living, and eighty-six years of age. The first frame house
was built by Messrs. Sloan and Fanning. The first white child born in the village was Leroy Coville, son of Micah
Coville, in 1818. The first religious society, (M. E.) was organized in 1798. The Congregational Church was organized
July 28, 1814, by Rev. John Truair, of Sherburne. At its organization it consisted of fourteen members, mostly
from Massachusetts. The Church adopted the Presbyterian form of government in October, 1826, and united with the
Presbytery of Chenango, at the first meeting of that body after its organization. Rev. Nahum Gould, Rev. John.
Ivison, Rev. Hiram Dyer and Rev. Charles Bowles are some of the preachers who officiated at this church after it
united with the Presbytery. The Free Will Baptist church edifice was erected in 1831. Elder Cyrus Steer was the
first pastor.
The population of McDonough in 1865 was 1,306, and its area 23,853 acres.
It contains nine school districts and a school population of 421, 353 of whom attended school some part of the
last year. The average attendance was 189, and the amount expended for school purposes for the year ending September
30, 1868 was $1,814.60.
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