August 14, 1815 Oldest House in South Seneca County

The April 1987 Historical Society newsletter included an article by Ivan Weaver, “The Oldest House in South Seneca County?” The article is reprinted here.

One of the oldest houses in south Seneca County is located on the southeast corner of military lot #86. The lot is a triangle, one mile north of Trumansburg bounded by Congress Street Extension and Lower Covert Road. According to Mrs. Annis Sears, Charles Crane and a brother came to the Town of Covert from Putnam County in 1811, bought the lot and began to build a house. Mrs. Sears was a great-granddaughter of Charles Crane.

Crane's building project was interrupted early in 1812 by his being called to serve in the militia in the War of 1812. The house was probably finished in 1813 since an old photograph has a date of 1813 on the back.

The House

It is, I am told, a New England Colonial. It is 28 x 38' and two stories high. It sits on a full basement, the walls of which were laid up of loose flagstone. The cellar floor is also flagstone.

The main floor of the house consists of a wide hall with an open stairway to the second floor. This is flanked by two large rooms. One of these, of course was, the parlor. The other one was the living or sitting room. It also served as a dining room when company came and was served by means of large double doors opening into the 14 by 21-foot kitchen. At the end of the kitchen were two small rooms which, I imagine, may have been pantries.

The second floor has two large bedrooms and four small ones. There is a short hallway off one of the large bedrooms leading to the attic stairs.

When I moved in, there was an approximately 20x30' ell attached to the back of the house. It extended about 5' past the north end of the house to accommodate a window in the summer kitchen. This room had a door opening into the main kitchen and one opening outdoors. A third door opened into the rest of the ell. This was what I would call a bad-weather barn. A set of double doors opened to the driveway on the south side and another set directly opposite opened to the driveway on the north side.

I was told that in those days, when the weather was bad, the team and buggy or wagon were driven inside. There the buggy was relieved of its people and parcels, the team unhitched, and then bedded down for the night. The next day they were taken across the road to the barn.

In the far northeast corner of the ell was a fabulous indoor outhouse. It looked like a well-kept closet, and was a three-holer, no less! Under the seats was a trough-like affair which allowed for easy cleaning. This may explain why the garden plot south of the house was so fertile for so long. Well--so much for descriptions. Needless to say, my very first project after I acquired the house was inside plumbing!

The earliest deed I have is dated August 14, 1815 and was eventually recorded at the Seneca County Clerk's office February 21, 1827.

It in, Charles Crane purchased a bit more than 1 ½ acres in a triangular-shaped lot directly across the road from his house from Nathan Cole and his wife for $700.00. This is where he built his barns. Some of them still stand.

From 1815-1867, Mr. Crane purchased parcels of land ranging from 4 acres to 86 acres, totaling about 207 acres. His total investment was $11,106. He continued to live on the farm until his death in the late 1870s. Through a series of claim releases, his widow Annis continued to own the property until her death in the late 1890s. Again through a series of claim releases, Edwin Hawks (a grandson, I think) and his wife Mary became the owners.

After Mr. Hawks died just before World War I, Mrs. Hawks continued to operate the farm until she could no longer handle it. By the time of her death in the 1930s, she had sold all the land except the lot the house is on. Her heirs sold the house and lot to the N.Y.S. Defense Corp. in 1940. They installed the Haines Godfreys, a family displaced by the building of the Sampson Naval Base, in it.

Sometime between then and the end of World War II, they moved and sold the place to Albert Beckley. In 1948, Mr. Beckley sold the place to Ivan Weaver, his wife and young family.

The house had been allowed to run down, probably from the time of Uncle Ed Hawks’ passing. So-o-o my long-suffering wife and I spent the next twelve years modernizing and renovating the place. My son has taken over the reins now and after nearly forty years, he is following in his father's footsteps: he is updating it again.

It is interesting to note that in the nearly 180 years the house has been in existence, only four families--the Cranes, Godfreys, Beckleys, and Weavers-­have owned it.

Dewitt’s Diary, Friday, August 14, 1925

We spread some straw this morning.

Cut my oats this afternoon. They were down bad but I got most of them.