Preface.


In the preparation of the following pages, I have not attempted to
give a complete history of the town of Oneonta. My main object has
been to put into a more preservative form some of the facts that have
been derived from the recollection of the older inhabitants as well as
from family papers, which, in the lapse of time, would be forgotten
and lost to the public. This is not so much a history as it is a
sketch of history, but it may be made a beginning of a more
pretentious historical work. I have endeavored to make it trustworthy,
and in my efforts in this direction, I have not relied upon any
information pretended to be conveyed in the recently published large
"History of Otsego County," which is better known as a voluminous
compilation of gross inaccuracies in which are transmitted to future
times the names of the good and bad, equally bespattered with praise.

If the names of any of the older settlers have not received deserved
mention, the omission is due to the fact that their representatives or
those having information to give, have withheld or neglected to
furnish facts which they alone could furnish.

D.M.C.

ONEONTA, _April, 1883_.