the late Peter and John Van Woert, came from Albany and settled on the
farm lately owned by his son Peter, near the mouth of the Otego Creek.
Asa Emmons about the same time settled on the south side of the river,
near the Charlotte. He came from Vermont, and settled where Deacon
Slade now lives. Jacob Wolf, the father of Conradt Wolf, had also
settled in the southern part of the town at about the close of the
Revolutionary war. Mr. Wolf had been taken as an Indian captive to
Canada, where he had been detained for several years. His home, when
captured, was in the valley of the Mohawk. While extinguishing a fire
which had caught in a tall hemlock, by night, he was surprised by a
company of Indians, by whom he was easily overpowered. He at length
escaped from his captors, and making his way southward, after a long
and perilous journey, he met with friends on the Tioga river. He
rejoined his wife on the Mohawk, and afterwards removed to the
Susquehanna, on the farm now owned by George Swart, southwest of the
village.

Elihu Gifford, with four sons, came from Albany county in 1803, and
first settled at West Oneonta, on the farm now owned by Joseph Taber.
In 1806, Mr. Gifford moved to the farm now owned by Henry Gifford on
Oneonta Creek. About the same time Josiah Peet and Ephraim Farrington
moved into the same neighborhood. Later, Col. Wm. Richardson settled
further up the creek and built a saw-mill and a grist-mill.
"Richardson's Mills" became a well-known place in a few years, and a
thriving hamlet soon began to form around them. Col. Richardson was an
enterprising man of business and took a prominent part in the affairs
of the town. He served in the war of 1812-15.

When Elihu Gifford moved to the Oneonta Creek there were only four
"clearings" in that valley. A Mr. Armitage had made some inroads upon