Joel Goodell was the son of Ezekiel Goodell and his wife, Martha McComb/Macomber. He, along with his father and brother, Samuel, were pioneer settlers of Hopkinton, NY.
The following passage comes from Sanford's History of Hopkinton, regarding the Goodells and their part in establishing the town:
"The Goodell boys, Samuel and Joel, were sons of Ezekiel, of Hartford, N.Y., a thrifty farmer of that town. They were strong, vigorous young men and looking, as was the custom in those days, for some forest land to take up for purposes of a home. Samuel was born in 1778, and was then twenty-four or nearly that, and Joel twenty-one, having been born January 6, 1781. The latter survived till October 21, 1869, and was a vigorous man to the end, and took great delight in recounting his early experiences in town, and especially to his grandson, John Leach, in whom he was much interested. The story of the Goodells coming to town as often told to Mr. Leach and well remember by him is as follows: There being no desirable land about their home in Hartford for the sons to take up, the father started out on horseback accompanied by the two sons on foot, each with an axe. They must have crossed Lake Champlain on a ferryboat as they reached Benison's Tavern, near Vergennes, that evening. At this place they accidentally met Roswell Hopkins, who, soon learning their errand, and no doubt that they had the cash with them, became greatly interested. He labored with them all that evening to induce them to buy land of him in township number fifteen, very soon after called Islington, but as it seems, with poor success.
They seem to have had their minds fixed on looking for land about Plattsburgh and so set out for that place in the morning. Mr. Hopkins, nothing daunted, started for his home and securing his brother-in-law, Jared Dewey, and Eliphalet Brush, who was no doubt in his employ, and his son, B. W. Hopkins, pushed rapidly forward to overtake the Goodells at Plattsburg, which they did. After much earnest pleading and positive assurances by Mr. Hopkins that he would build a sawmill and gristmill the following year in case they bought of him, they consented to come on and inspect his tract. They came through Malone and Bangor, where there were a few settlers, crossing Deer River just below Lawrenceville and following a slightly cut out trail or road westerly across Chesterfield to Stockholm, where there were seven families which had wintered there. From there Mr. Hopkins took them up through Stockholm to the north part of his tract, close to the present cemetery, and on easterly as far as what is known as the Moses farm. In that neighborhood they came to a fine spring and sat down to rest. Presently Samuel got up and going to a knoll nearby began chopping down a tree. His father called to him to know what he was doing, and he replied that he was going to build a cabin on that spot. Ezekiel replied, ‘Well, if you do, I think you will stay here alone, for I don't think I shall purchase here.' At this point Mr. Hopkins urged the party to take a little tramp southward and see what a great growth of timber there as and what rich, heavy soil, which they did, probably going as far as the present highway from Hopkinton to Nicholville and circling about. Reaching the spring again which attracted the Goodells, they sat down to rest and eat a lunch and to discuss the subject of purchase, which was the one topic before them. Samuel's argument seems to have won the decision in favor of purchase, though Ezekiel was highly pleased with the soil and timber after the trip they had just made. Samuel had recently been to Ohio with a view to purchasing there, but found the land flat, low and wet and the people suffering from fever and ague, which did not comport with his ideas of a place to settle. Here, as he told his father and the others, is just as good soil and timber as in Ohio, free from swales and swamps, miasma and ague, sparkling springs gushing from the earth here and there, and a great river close by ready to furnish all the power that may be required. What more is needed and what more can be found anywhere?
With his son's experience in Ohio and the rich soil and fine timber about them, Ezekiel finally decided to purchase. Accordingly he set about inspecting the land carefully for that purpose and selected the to farms extending southward from the north bounds of Islington one-half mile to the present highway, so long and still known as the Joel and Samuel Goodell farms. It was then understood that there would be a highway along the north bounds of Islington, and so there they built their first log cabins, the ruins of that of Joel's, built near a spring, lasting till within the remembrance of several people still living.
Mr. Hopkins had now made a start. He had secured two robust setllers with the cash or quite a part of it for their farms. He was greatly encouraged in his project, but he must push matters thenceforth without abatement if he would keep them and get more, in the way of roads, bridges, shops and mills. Accordingly he and Joel Goodell started for Cornwall, Canada, for supplies, using no doubt the two horses which Mr. Hopkins and Ezekiel Goodell had rode into town. They went down through Stockholm to St. Regis, where they hired Indians to row them over the St. Lawrence to Cornwall. They were gone about a week and brought back all they could bring of pork, meal, flour, molasses and probably some rum. While they were gone the others were at work chopping for a road and building cabins. Mr. Joel Goodell always and to a great many asserted, among them John Leach and Edward H. Abram, that the tree cut at this time by Samuel Goodell was the first one ever cut in town, at least for a habitation…
…At this time and while in Islington Mr. Ezekiel Goodell paid over to Mr. Hopkins the sum of four hundred dollars on the purchase of the two farms. Dr. Hough says it was in silver, while J. Henry Henderson says it was in gold. His grandfather David was a neighbor of Ezekiel at Hartford, N.Y., and Joell Goodell, Sr., in 1804 married Lydia, sister of his father. Owing to this close relationship of the families, Mr. Henderson claims that both his grandfather and father became very familiar with all the incidents of the trip of 1802 and often heard them related by both, and his memory tells him the payment was in gold…
…According to Dr. Hough, the others of the party remained and did some clearing, returning to Vermont on the approach of winter in 1802. This is no doubt the fact, except that the Goodell boys went home and helped their father in haying, returning to their work when that was done. In all probability Ezekiel Goodell and B. W. Hopkins returned to Vermont with Judge Hopkins, leaving only the two Goodell boys and Jared Dewey and Eliphalet Brush to chop, clear land and build cabins.
The Goodell boys no doubt gave all their time to clearing on their own lands and building a cabin or two. Messrs. Dewey and Brush were in the employ of Mr. Hopkins and probably spent their time in cutting out a road along the north bounds of Islington from a point a half mile below Nicholville where it crosses the river to Lyd Brook, and in building one or more cabins on or near the latter stream preparatory to the coming of more people the following year…
…That a road was cut out along this line and used more or less for some years is supported by the recollection of too many people to be questioned or gainsaid. Mr. Joel Goodell built his cabin on it a half mile north of the present Goodell residence and lived there some seven or eight years. He certainly would not have done this had there not been a road to let him out. He got title to his one hundred and fifty acres October 30, 1803, and Samuel to his one hundred and sixty-nine and one-half acres August 11, 1810."
The following passage recalls the story as told by Joel's grandson, adding details pertaining to the houses Joel built:
"The Story of Mr. Joel Goodell's coming to town (Hopkinton, N.Y.) with his wife in Feb. 1804, to settle, as told by his grandson, John Leach, to whom he often told it with much clearness and certainty:
They came in the dead of winter to the cabin already built a half mile north of the present residence, reaching it after dark and on the eighteenth birthday of his wife which was the 25th of Feb. 1804.
The wife was Lydia Henderson, sister of John Henderson, and they were married Feb. 7. What a journey was that for a wedding trip! Joel Goodell's father, Ezekiel, came with them on horseback. They came with a yoke of oxen to haul their goods, and drove a cow. The horse got tired out wallowing in the deep snow, when near the cabin, and the men went ahead, leaving wife, oxen horse, and cow where they were, to rest while they built a fire in the cabin, to thaw it out and get it habitable, and then they returned and took all to camp. The only food the horse and cattle had was some corn in the ear, and what they could get from browsing from trees and bushes.
The floor of the cabin was made from puncheons, that is, split or hewed out logs. The fireplace was a crude affair with a hole in the roof for the escape of the smoke. He very soon after built a chimney, which improved matters. This was the home to which he came and where he lived for seven or eight years, when he built a log house, some thirty yards west of the present brick residence. He later built a frame house which his son Joel took down when he built the present brick residence, about 1870.
The British Officers called there on some errand (the log cabin) at the time they took the flour in 1814.
Joel Goodell built a two story frame house where the brick house now stands, in 1817, (The house which his son, Joel, took down.)"
The frame house mentioned above, built by Joel Goodell Jr., still stands today on 11B between Hopkinton and Nicholville.
The following passage comes from Sanford's History of Hopkinton, regarding the Goodells and their part in establishing the town:
"The Goodell boys, Samuel and Joel, were sons of Ezekiel, of Hartford, N.Y., a thrifty farmer of that town. They were strong, vigorous young men and looking, as was the custom in those days, for some forest land to take up for purposes of a home. Samuel was born in 1778, and was then twenty-four or nearly that, and Joel twenty-one, having been born January 6, 1781. The latter survived till October 21, 1869, and was a vigorous man to the end, and took great delight in recounting his early experiences in town, and especially to his grandson, John Leach, in whom he was much interested. The story of the Goodells coming to town as often told to Mr. Leach and well remember by him is as follows: There being no desirable land about their home in Hartford for the sons to take up, the father started out on horseback accompanied by the two sons on foot, each with an axe. They must have crossed Lake Champlain on a ferryboat as they reached Benison's Tavern, near Vergennes, that evening. At this place they accidentally met Roswell Hopkins, who, soon learning their errand, and no doubt that they had the cash with them, became greatly interested. He labored with them all that evening to induce them to buy land of him in township number fifteen, very soon after called Islington, but as it seems, with poor success.
They seem to have had their minds fixed on looking for land about Plattsburgh and so set out for that place in the morning. Mr. Hopkins, nothing daunted, started for his home and securing his brother-in-law, Jared Dewey, and Eliphalet Brush, who was no doubt in his employ, and his son, B. W. Hopkins, pushed rapidly forward to overtake the Goodells at Plattsburg, which they did. After much earnest pleading and positive assurances by Mr. Hopkins that he would build a sawmill and gristmill the following year in case they bought of him, they consented to come on and inspect his tract. They came through Malone and Bangor, where there were a few settlers, crossing Deer River just below Lawrenceville and following a slightly cut out trail or road westerly across Chesterfield to Stockholm, where there were seven families which had wintered there. From there Mr. Hopkins took them up through Stockholm to the north part of his tract, close to the present cemetery, and on easterly as far as what is known as the Moses farm. In that neighborhood they came to a fine spring and sat down to rest. Presently Samuel got up and going to a knoll nearby began chopping down a tree. His father called to him to know what he was doing, and he replied that he was going to build a cabin on that spot. Ezekiel replied, ‘Well, if you do, I think you will stay here alone, for I don't think I shall purchase here.' At this point Mr. Hopkins urged the party to take a little tramp southward and see what a great growth of timber there as and what rich, heavy soil, which they did, probably going as far as the present highway from Hopkinton to Nicholville and circling about. Reaching the spring again which attracted the Goodells, they sat down to rest and eat a lunch and to discuss the subject of purchase, which was the one topic before them. Samuel's argument seems to have won the decision in favor of purchase, though Ezekiel was highly pleased with the soil and timber after the trip they had just made. Samuel had recently been to Ohio with a view to purchasing there, but found the land flat, low and wet and the people suffering from fever and ague, which did not comport with his ideas of a place to settle. Here, as he told his father and the others, is just as good soil and timber as in Ohio, free from swales and swamps, miasma and ague, sparkling springs gushing from the earth here and there, and a great river close by ready to furnish all the power that may be required. What more is needed and what more can be found anywhere?
With his son's experience in Ohio and the rich soil and fine timber about them, Ezekiel finally decided to purchase. Accordingly he set about inspecting the land carefully for that purpose and selected the to farms extending southward from the north bounds of Islington one-half mile to the present highway, so long and still known as the Joel and Samuel Goodell farms. It was then understood that there would be a highway along the north bounds of Islington, and so there they built their first log cabins, the ruins of that of Joel's, built near a spring, lasting till within the remembrance of several people still living.
Mr. Hopkins had now made a start. He had secured two robust setllers with the cash or quite a part of it for their farms. He was greatly encouraged in his project, but he must push matters thenceforth without abatement if he would keep them and get more, in the way of roads, bridges, shops and mills. Accordingly he and Joel Goodell started for Cornwall, Canada, for supplies, using no doubt the two horses which Mr. Hopkins and Ezekiel Goodell had rode into town. They went down through Stockholm to St. Regis, where they hired Indians to row them over the St. Lawrence to Cornwall. They were gone about a week and brought back all they could bring of pork, meal, flour, molasses and probably some rum. While they were gone the others were at work chopping for a road and building cabins. Mr. Joel Goodell always and to a great many asserted, among them John Leach and Edward H. Abram, that the tree cut at this time by Samuel Goodell was the first one ever cut in town, at least for a habitation…
…At this time and while in Islington Mr. Ezekiel Goodell paid over to Mr. Hopkins the sum of four hundred dollars on the purchase of the two farms. Dr. Hough says it was in silver, while J. Henry Henderson says it was in gold. His grandfather David was a neighbor of Ezekiel at Hartford, N.Y., and Joell Goodell, Sr., in 1804 married Lydia, sister of his father. Owing to this close relationship of the families, Mr. Henderson claims that both his grandfather and father became very familiar with all the incidents of the trip of 1802 and often heard them related by both, and his memory tells him the payment was in gold…
…According to Dr. Hough, the others of the party remained and did some clearing, returning to Vermont on the approach of winter in 1802. This is no doubt the fact, except that the Goodell boys went home and helped their father in haying, returning to their work when that was done. In all probability Ezekiel Goodell and B. W. Hopkins returned to Vermont with Judge Hopkins, leaving only the two Goodell boys and Jared Dewey and Eliphalet Brush to chop, clear land and build cabins.
The Goodell boys no doubt gave all their time to clearing on their own lands and building a cabin or two. Messrs. Dewey and Brush were in the employ of Mr. Hopkins and probably spent their time in cutting out a road along the north bounds of Islington from a point a half mile below Nicholville where it crosses the river to Lyd Brook, and in building one or more cabins on or near the latter stream preparatory to the coming of more people the following year…
…That a road was cut out along this line and used more or less for some years is supported by the recollection of too many people to be questioned or gainsaid. Mr. Joel Goodell built his cabin on it a half mile north of the present Goodell residence and lived there some seven or eight years. He certainly would not have done this had there not been a road to let him out. He got title to his one hundred and fifty acres October 30, 1803, and Samuel to his one hundred and sixty-nine and one-half acres August 11, 1810."
The following passage recalls the story as told by Joel's grandson, adding details pertaining to the houses Joel built:
"The Story of Mr. Joel Goodell's coming to town (Hopkinton, N.Y.) with his wife in Feb. 1804, to settle, as told by his grandson, John Leach, to whom he often told it with much clearness and certainty:
They came in the dead of winter to the cabin already built a half mile north of the present residence, reaching it after dark and on the eighteenth birthday of his wife which was the 25th of Feb. 1804.
The wife was Lydia Henderson, sister of John Henderson, and they were married Feb. 7. What a journey was that for a wedding trip! Joel Goodell's father, Ezekiel, came with them on horseback. They came with a yoke of oxen to haul their goods, and drove a cow. The horse got tired out wallowing in the deep snow, when near the cabin, and the men went ahead, leaving wife, oxen horse, and cow where they were, to rest while they built a fire in the cabin, to thaw it out and get it habitable, and then they returned and took all to camp. The only food the horse and cattle had was some corn in the ear, and what they could get from browsing from trees and bushes.
The floor of the cabin was made from puncheons, that is, split or hewed out logs. The fireplace was a crude affair with a hole in the roof for the escape of the smoke. He very soon after built a chimney, which improved matters. This was the home to which he came and where he lived for seven or eight years, when he built a log house, some thirty yards west of the present brick residence. He later built a frame house which his son Joel took down when he built the present brick residence, about 1870.
The British Officers called there on some errand (the log cabin) at the time they took the flour in 1814.
Joel Goodell built a two story frame house where the brick house now stands, in 1817, (The house which his son, Joel, took down.)"
The frame house mentioned above, built by Joel Goodell Jr., still stands today on 11B between Hopkinton and Nicholville.
Joel Goodell was the son of Ezekiel Goodell and his wife, Martha McComb/Macomber. He, along with his father and brother, Samuel, were pioneer settlers of Hopkinton, NY.
The following passage comes from Sanford's History of Hopkinton, regarding the Goodells and their part in establishing the town:
"The Goodell boys, Samuel and Joel, were sons of Ezekiel, of Hartford, N.Y., a thrifty farmer of that town. They were strong, vigorous young men and looking, as was the custom in those days, for some forest land to take up for purposes of a home. Samuel was born in 1778, and was then twenty-four or nearly that, and Joel twenty-one, having been born January 6, 1781. The latter survived till October 21, 1869, and was a vigorous man to the end, and took great delight in recounting his early experiences in town, and especially to his grandson, John Leach, in whom he was much interested. The story of the Goodells coming to town as often told to Mr. Leach and well remember by him is as follows: There being no desirable land about their home in Hartford for the sons to take up, the father started out on horseback accompanied by the two sons on foot, each with an axe. They must have crossed Lake Champlain on a ferryboat as they reached Benison's Tavern, near Vergennes, that evening. At this place they accidentally met Roswell Hopkins, who, soon learning their errand, and no doubt that they had the cash with them, became greatly interested. He labored with them all that evening to induce them to buy land of him in township number fifteen, very soon after called Islington, but as it seems, with poor success.
They seem to have had their minds fixed on looking for land about Plattsburgh and so set out for that place in the morning. Mr. Hopkins, nothing daunted, started for his home and securing his brother-in-law, Jared Dewey, and Eliphalet Brush, who was no doubt in his employ, and his son, B. W. Hopkins, pushed rapidly forward to overtake the Goodells at Plattsburg, which they did. After much earnest pleading and positive assurances by Mr. Hopkins that he would build a sawmill and gristmill the following year in case they bought of him, they consented to come on and inspect his tract. They came through Malone and Bangor, where there were a few settlers, crossing Deer River just below Lawrenceville and following a slightly cut out trail or road westerly across Chesterfield to Stockholm, where there were seven families which had wintered there. From there Mr. Hopkins took them up through Stockholm to the north part of his tract, close to the present cemetery, and on easterly as far as what is known as the Moses farm. In that neighborhood they came to a fine spring and sat down to rest. Presently Samuel got up and going to a knoll nearby began chopping down a tree. His father called to him to know what he was doing, and he replied that he was going to build a cabin on that spot. Ezekiel replied, ‘Well, if you do, I think you will stay here alone, for I don't think I shall purchase here.' At this point Mr. Hopkins urged the party to take a little tramp southward and see what a great growth of timber there as and what rich, heavy soil, which they did, probably going as far as the present highway from Hopkinton to Nicholville and circling about. Reaching the spring again which attracted the Goodells, they sat down to rest and eat a lunch and to discuss the subject of purchase, which was the one topic before them. Samuel's argument seems to have won the decision in favor of purchase, though Ezekiel was highly pleased with the soil and timber after the trip they had just made. Samuel had recently been to Ohio with a view to purchasing there, but found the land flat, low and wet and the people suffering from fever and ague, which did not comport with his ideas of a place to settle. Here, as he told his father and the others, is just as good soil and timber as in Ohio, free from swales and swamps, miasma and ague, sparkling springs gushing from the earth here and there, and a great river close by ready to furnish all the power that may be required. What more is needed and what more can be found anywhere?
With his son's experience in Ohio and the rich soil and fine timber about them, Ezekiel finally decided to purchase. Accordingly he set about inspecting the land carefully for that purpose and selected the to farms extending southward from the north bounds of Islington one-half mile to the present highway, so long and still known as the Joel and Samuel Goodell farms. It was then understood that there would be a highway along the north bounds of Islington, and so there they built their first log cabins, the ruins of that of Joel's, built near a spring, lasting till within the remembrance of several people still living.
Mr. Hopkins had now made a start. He had secured two robust setllers with the cash or quite a part of it for their farms. He was greatly encouraged in his project, but he must push matters thenceforth without abatement if he would keep them and get more, in the way of roads, bridges, shops and mills. Accordingly he and Joel Goodell started for Cornwall, Canada, for supplies, using no doubt the two horses which Mr. Hopkins and Ezekiel Goodell had rode into town. They went down through Stockholm to St. Regis, where they hired Indians to row them over the St. Lawrence to Cornwall. They were gone about a week and brought back all they could bring of pork, meal, flour, molasses and probably some rum. While they were gone the others were at work chopping for a road and building cabins. Mr. Joel Goodell always and to a great many asserted, among them John Leach and Edward H. Abram, that the tree cut at this time by Samuel Goodell was the first one ever cut in town, at least for a habitation…
…At this time and while in Islington Mr. Ezekiel Goodell paid over to Mr. Hopkins the sum of four hundred dollars on the purchase of the two farms. Dr. Hough says it was in silver, while J. Henry Henderson says it was in gold. His grandfather David was a neighbor of Ezekiel at Hartford, N.Y., and Joell Goodell, Sr., in 1804 married Lydia, sister of his father. Owing to this close relationship of the families, Mr. Henderson claims that both his grandfather and father became very familiar with all the incidents of the trip of 1802 and often heard them related by both, and his memory tells him the payment was in gold…
…According to Dr. Hough, the others of the party remained and did some clearing, returning to Vermont on the approach of winter in 1802. This is no doubt the fact, except that the Goodell boys went home and helped their father in haying, returning to their work when that was done. In all probability Ezekiel Goodell and B. W. Hopkins returned to Vermont with Judge Hopkins, leaving only the two Goodell boys and Jared Dewey and Eliphalet Brush to chop, clear land and build cabins.
The Goodell boys no doubt gave all their time to clearing on their own lands and building a cabin or two. Messrs. Dewey and Brush were in the employ of Mr. Hopkins and probably spent their time in cutting out a road along the north bounds of Islington from a point a half mile below Nicholville where it crosses the river to Lyd Brook, and in building one or more cabins on or near the latter stream preparatory to the coming of more people the following year…
…That a road was cut out along this line and used more or less for some years is supported by the recollection of too many people to be questioned or gainsaid. Mr. Joel Goodell built his cabin on it a half mile north of the present Goodell residence and lived there some seven or eight years. He certainly would not have done this had there not been a road to let him out. He got title to his one hundred and fifty acres October 30, 1803, and Samuel to his one hundred and sixty-nine and one-half acres August 11, 1810."
The following passage recalls the story as told by Joel's grandson, adding details pertaining to the houses Joel built:
"The Story of Mr. Joel Goodell's coming to town (Hopkinton, N.Y.) with his wife in Feb. 1804, to settle, as told by his grandson, John Leach, to whom he often told it with much clearness and certainty:
They came in the dead of winter to the cabin already built a half mile north of the present residence, reaching it after dark and on the eighteenth birthday of his wife which was the 25th of Feb. 1804.
The wife was Lydia Henderson, sister of John Henderson, and they were married Feb. 7. What a journey was that for a wedding trip! Joel Goodell's father, Ezekiel, came with them on horseback. They came with a yoke of oxen to haul their goods, and drove a cow. The horse got tired out wallowing in the deep snow, when near the cabin, and the men went ahead, leaving wife, oxen horse, and cow where they were, to rest while they built a fire in the cabin, to thaw it out and get it habitable, and then they returned and took all to camp. The only food the horse and cattle had was some corn in the ear, and what they could get from browsing from trees and bushes.
The floor of the cabin was made from puncheons, that is, split or hewed out logs. The fireplace was a crude affair with a hole in the roof for the escape of the smoke. He very soon after built a chimney, which improved matters. This was the home to which he came and where he lived for seven or eight years, when he built a log house, some thirty yards west of the present brick residence. He later built a frame house which his son Joel took down when he built the present brick residence, about 1870.
The British Officers called there on some errand (the log cabin) at the time they took the flour in 1814.
Joel Goodell built a two story frame house where the brick house now stands, in 1817, (The house which his son, Joel, took down.)"
The frame house mentioned above, built by Joel Goodell Jr., still stands today on 11B between Hopkinton and Nicholville.
The following passage comes from Sanford's History of Hopkinton, regarding the Goodells and their part in establishing the town:
"The Goodell boys, Samuel and Joel, were sons of Ezekiel, of Hartford, N.Y., a thrifty farmer of that town. They were strong, vigorous young men and looking, as was the custom in those days, for some forest land to take up for purposes of a home. Samuel was born in 1778, and was then twenty-four or nearly that, and Joel twenty-one, having been born January 6, 1781. The latter survived till October 21, 1869, and was a vigorous man to the end, and took great delight in recounting his early experiences in town, and especially to his grandson, John Leach, in whom he was much interested. The story of the Goodells coming to town as often told to Mr. Leach and well remember by him is as follows: There being no desirable land about their home in Hartford for the sons to take up, the father started out on horseback accompanied by the two sons on foot, each with an axe. They must have crossed Lake Champlain on a ferryboat as they reached Benison's Tavern, near Vergennes, that evening. At this place they accidentally met Roswell Hopkins, who, soon learning their errand, and no doubt that they had the cash with them, became greatly interested. He labored with them all that evening to induce them to buy land of him in township number fifteen, very soon after called Islington, but as it seems, with poor success.
They seem to have had their minds fixed on looking for land about Plattsburgh and so set out for that place in the morning. Mr. Hopkins, nothing daunted, started for his home and securing his brother-in-law, Jared Dewey, and Eliphalet Brush, who was no doubt in his employ, and his son, B. W. Hopkins, pushed rapidly forward to overtake the Goodells at Plattsburg, which they did. After much earnest pleading and positive assurances by Mr. Hopkins that he would build a sawmill and gristmill the following year in case they bought of him, they consented to come on and inspect his tract. They came through Malone and Bangor, where there were a few settlers, crossing Deer River just below Lawrenceville and following a slightly cut out trail or road westerly across Chesterfield to Stockholm, where there were seven families which had wintered there. From there Mr. Hopkins took them up through Stockholm to the north part of his tract, close to the present cemetery, and on easterly as far as what is known as the Moses farm. In that neighborhood they came to a fine spring and sat down to rest. Presently Samuel got up and going to a knoll nearby began chopping down a tree. His father called to him to know what he was doing, and he replied that he was going to build a cabin on that spot. Ezekiel replied, ‘Well, if you do, I think you will stay here alone, for I don't think I shall purchase here.' At this point Mr. Hopkins urged the party to take a little tramp southward and see what a great growth of timber there as and what rich, heavy soil, which they did, probably going as far as the present highway from Hopkinton to Nicholville and circling about. Reaching the spring again which attracted the Goodells, they sat down to rest and eat a lunch and to discuss the subject of purchase, which was the one topic before them. Samuel's argument seems to have won the decision in favor of purchase, though Ezekiel was highly pleased with the soil and timber after the trip they had just made. Samuel had recently been to Ohio with a view to purchasing there, but found the land flat, low and wet and the people suffering from fever and ague, which did not comport with his ideas of a place to settle. Here, as he told his father and the others, is just as good soil and timber as in Ohio, free from swales and swamps, miasma and ague, sparkling springs gushing from the earth here and there, and a great river close by ready to furnish all the power that may be required. What more is needed and what more can be found anywhere?
With his son's experience in Ohio and the rich soil and fine timber about them, Ezekiel finally decided to purchase. Accordingly he set about inspecting the land carefully for that purpose and selected the to farms extending southward from the north bounds of Islington one-half mile to the present highway, so long and still known as the Joel and Samuel Goodell farms. It was then understood that there would be a highway along the north bounds of Islington, and so there they built their first log cabins, the ruins of that of Joel's, built near a spring, lasting till within the remembrance of several people still living.
Mr. Hopkins had now made a start. He had secured two robust setllers with the cash or quite a part of it for their farms. He was greatly encouraged in his project, but he must push matters thenceforth without abatement if he would keep them and get more, in the way of roads, bridges, shops and mills. Accordingly he and Joel Goodell started for Cornwall, Canada, for supplies, using no doubt the two horses which Mr. Hopkins and Ezekiel Goodell had rode into town. They went down through Stockholm to St. Regis, where they hired Indians to row them over the St. Lawrence to Cornwall. They were gone about a week and brought back all they could bring of pork, meal, flour, molasses and probably some rum. While they were gone the others were at work chopping for a road and building cabins. Mr. Joel Goodell always and to a great many asserted, among them John Leach and Edward H. Abram, that the tree cut at this time by Samuel Goodell was the first one ever cut in town, at least for a habitation…
…At this time and while in Islington Mr. Ezekiel Goodell paid over to Mr. Hopkins the sum of four hundred dollars on the purchase of the two farms. Dr. Hough says it was in silver, while J. Henry Henderson says it was in gold. His grandfather David was a neighbor of Ezekiel at Hartford, N.Y., and Joell Goodell, Sr., in 1804 married Lydia, sister of his father. Owing to this close relationship of the families, Mr. Henderson claims that both his grandfather and father became very familiar with all the incidents of the trip of 1802 and often heard them related by both, and his memory tells him the payment was in gold…
…According to Dr. Hough, the others of the party remained and did some clearing, returning to Vermont on the approach of winter in 1802. This is no doubt the fact, except that the Goodell boys went home and helped their father in haying, returning to their work when that was done. In all probability Ezekiel Goodell and B. W. Hopkins returned to Vermont with Judge Hopkins, leaving only the two Goodell boys and Jared Dewey and Eliphalet Brush to chop, clear land and build cabins.
The Goodell boys no doubt gave all their time to clearing on their own lands and building a cabin or two. Messrs. Dewey and Brush were in the employ of Mr. Hopkins and probably spent their time in cutting out a road along the north bounds of Islington from a point a half mile below Nicholville where it crosses the river to Lyd Brook, and in building one or more cabins on or near the latter stream preparatory to the coming of more people the following year…
…That a road was cut out along this line and used more or less for some years is supported by the recollection of too many people to be questioned or gainsaid. Mr. Joel Goodell built his cabin on it a half mile north of the present Goodell residence and lived there some seven or eight years. He certainly would not have done this had there not been a road to let him out. He got title to his one hundred and fifty acres October 30, 1803, and Samuel to his one hundred and sixty-nine and one-half acres August 11, 1810."
The following passage recalls the story as told by Joel's grandson, adding details pertaining to the houses Joel built:
"The Story of Mr. Joel Goodell's coming to town (Hopkinton, N.Y.) with his wife in Feb. 1804, to settle, as told by his grandson, John Leach, to whom he often told it with much clearness and certainty:
They came in the dead of winter to the cabin already built a half mile north of the present residence, reaching it after dark and on the eighteenth birthday of his wife which was the 25th of Feb. 1804.
The wife was Lydia Henderson, sister of John Henderson, and they were married Feb. 7. What a journey was that for a wedding trip! Joel Goodell's father, Ezekiel, came with them on horseback. They came with a yoke of oxen to haul their goods, and drove a cow. The horse got tired out wallowing in the deep snow, when near the cabin, and the men went ahead, leaving wife, oxen horse, and cow where they were, to rest while they built a fire in the cabin, to thaw it out and get it habitable, and then they returned and took all to camp. The only food the horse and cattle had was some corn in the ear, and what they could get from browsing from trees and bushes.
The floor of the cabin was made from puncheons, that is, split or hewed out logs. The fireplace was a crude affair with a hole in the roof for the escape of the smoke. He very soon after built a chimney, which improved matters. This was the home to which he came and where he lived for seven or eight years, when he built a log house, some thirty yards west of the present brick residence. He later built a frame house which his son Joel took down when he built the present brick residence, about 1870.
The British Officers called there on some errand (the log cabin) at the time they took the flour in 1814.
Joel Goodell built a two story frame house where the brick house now stands, in 1817, (The house which his son, Joel, took down.)"
The frame house mentioned above, built by Joel Goodell Jr., still stands today on 11B between Hopkinton and Nicholville.
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