ne Street and Lake Street, facing the latter, and the dense evergreen
hedge which surrounds the house seems to hold it aloof from the later
growth of the village. It is said that the house is haunted, for not
long after it was built a tenant of the place murdered his wife by
smothering her with a pillow in her bedroom, and for many years it was
rumored that occupants of the house occasionally were terrified by
muffled sounds of moaning as of one in mortal agony.

[Illustration: _C. A. Schneider_

RESIDENCE OF WILLIAM H. AVERELL AND JUDGE PRENTISS]

The building referred to in Isaac Cooper's diary as "Morrell's and
Prentiss' house" includes the two brick houses on Main Street which
stand conjoined just east of the Village Club and Library. Judge
Morrell went West, and his house, the more westerly of the two, became
better known as the property of its later owner, William Holt Averell,
whose descendants continued to occupy it a century after him. The
adjoining house, built by Col. Prentiss, remained after his death in
possession of his family, and his daughter, Mrs. Charlotte Prentiss
Browning, lived to celebrate its centennial.

Col. John H. Prentiss, for more than half a century a resident, and for
forty years editor of the _Freeman's Journal_, was a notable figure in
Cooperstown. Under his editorial management the _Freeman's Journal_
became a strong political organ, and exercised an influence that made
Otsego one of the stanchest Democratic counties in the State of New
York. Col. Prentiss represented his district in Congress during the four
years of Van Buren's administration, having been reelected at the
expiration of his first term. It was at this time that his next door
neighbor, William Holt Averell, was a candidate for Congress on the Whig
ticket. The first returns indicated that Averell had been elected, and
there was a noisy demonstration by Averell's supporters in front of his
residence, bringing him forth for a speech which was received with great
enthusiasm. The returns came in slowly in those days, and a day or two
had passed before it was learned that Prentiss had been elected, and his
doorstep became the scene of another jubilation. According to the
recollections of some this seesawing of returns occurred more than once,
and the two neighbors, whose friendship was not interrupted by their
political antagonisms, each joined in the demonstration in honor of the
other.

A large part of the work of publis