th of the
village on the farm now owned by Jacob Morell.

About the year 1790, Thomas Morenus[A] settled on the south side of
the river. He was a German from Schoharie. About the same time
Frederick Brown came from Fulton, N.Y., and settled on the farm
formerly owned and occupied by Eliakim R. Ford. At this time Brown's
house was the only one standing within the limits of the present
village corporation. About the year 1795, one Aaron Brink built a
large log house by the mill pond, or rather between the railroad
crossing on Main street and the mill pond. Brink's house was the first
hotel kept in the village of Oneonta, and perhaps the first that was
kept in town. Between Brown's house and Brink's tavern there was only
a common wood-road, with a dense forest on either side.

[Footnote A: Thomas Morenus, before settling here, had been a captive
among the Indians, and had "run the gauntlet" at Fort Niagara. The
terrible scourging he had received at the hands of the savages left
marks which were plainly traceable when he had become an old man.]

About the same time John Vanderwerker built the first grist-mill. This
mill stood some distance east of the grist-mill now standing in the
lower part of the village.

In 1791, Asel Marvin came from Vermont and first settled at Oneonta
Plains. Shortly afterwards he removed on a large tract of wild land,
about two miles from the village, upon the Oneonta Creek. He was a
well-known builder and lumberman. For twenty-two consecutive years he
rafted lumber to Baltimore. He built the first school house on the
Oneonta Creek road, and when the first church edifice was built in
town, he was one of the trustees of the church society. When Mr.
Marvin moved into the valley of the Oneonta Creek, the country across
the hill from Oneonta to Laurens, was almost an unbroken wilderness.

Some years later than the last named date, Peter Dinninny opened the
first store kept in Oneonta. The store then stood where the opera
block now stands. The first school-house was built soon after 1790,
and stood on the rise of ground near the house of Horace Sessions, on
the south side of the river.

Previous to 1816, when the Presbyterian church was built, church
services were generally held in Frederick Brown's barn. The first
clergyman who regularly preached here was the Rev. Alfred Conkey, who
was settled at Milford. Mr. Conkey is yet remembered by some of the
older citizens as a very earnest and zealous m