Editing Augusta, New York (section)

== History ==
Augusta was settled in 1793 by a man named Gunn, whose son, Peter Smith Gunn, was the first child born in the town.<ref name="Durant">History of Oneida County New York, Samuel W. Durant, Philadelphia, Everts & Gariss, 1878</ref>

===Other early settlers=== 
Gunn was followed by Benjamin Warren, David Morton, and John Alden.  On August 17, 1793, Ichabod Stafford, and Joseph and Abraham Forbes arrived bringing the population to 23.  Other settlers arriving in 1794 and 1795 were Isaac and Benjamin Allen, Amos Parker, a [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]] veteran, James Cassety, Frances O'Toole, Ozias Hart, Abel Prior, Thomas Spafford, Ezra Saxton, Abiel Lindsley, and J. Reynolds.

1796 brought Abraham and Alexander Holmes, Oliver Bartholomew, Deacon Philip Pond, William Martin, Stephen Crosby, Archibald and John Manchester, Robert Worden, and John Goodhue.

Several families arrived in 1797, all from [[Washington, Connecticut]].  These were Robert Durkee, Newton Smith, Joseph Hurd, Sheldon Parmalee, Benhamin and Joseph Durkee, and David Curtis.

Andrew McMillan arrived from [[North Conway, New Hampshire]], in 1798.  McMillan's son, also named Andrew McMillan, became superintendent of the [[Utica City School District|Utica Schools]].  The first merchant, named Adams, opened in 1798.

Josiah Cook came from [[Otis, Massachusetts]], in 1799.  The area in which he settled was called "Cook's Corners". Several other settlers arrived from an adjacent town, [[Blandford, Massachusetts|Blandford]] including Abner Ranney, Elisha Shepard, and many belonging to the Knox family.  Cook's Corners was later renamed Knox's Corners then Knoxboro.

Another early settler was Charles Putnam, from [[Stonington, Connecticut]], having first lived in Clinton for two years.  He is also a Revolutionary War veteran<ref name="Wager">Our County and Its People:A Descriptive Work on Oneida County, New York, Daniel Elbridge Wager, The Boston History Company, 1896</ref> and is credited with building the first [[timber frame]] barn in the town, built of [[black ash]].<ref name="Durant"/>

===Land===
The town is made up of land of:<ref name="Wager"/>
*The Peter Smith tract (later called the New Petersburgh Patent), an Indian lease of 60,000 acres in 1794. Smith sub-divided his tract and [[Leasehold estate|leased]] the land to settlers.
*Part of the approximately 4,000 acre [[Stockbridge Indians|Stockbridge Indian]] reservation (later called the Stockbridge Patent)
*a small portion of the "Chenango Twenty Towns" (or the "Governor's Purchase"), purchased via treaty from the [[Iroquois|Six Nations]] in 1788
*a portion of the "Oneida Reservation", a tract sold by the [[Oneida Indians]] to New York State in 1795 and auctioned by the state in 1797.<ref name="Pomroy">Annals and recollections of Oneida County, Jones Pomroy, Rome, NY 1851</ref>

===Civic formation===

The first attempt to organize the town was in 1797.  A bill was considered in the New York State Legislature and passed the Assembly, but failed in the Senate because Senator Samuel Jones noted that town officers must be [[freehold (law)|freeholders]] and many of the prospective town officials were lessees of Peter Smith's land.<ref name="Durant"/>  Organization was successful the next year and Augusta was created as a town simultaneously with the creation of Oneida County on March 15, 1798.  It was created from part of the town of [[Whitestown, New York|Whitestown]].<ref name="Wager"/>

The first town meeting was held on April 3, 1798.  The following positions were filled: [[town supervisor]], [[town clerk]], [[Tax assessment|assessor]]s (4), commissioner of highways (3), [[overseers of the poor]] (2), [[constable]] and [[Tax collector|collector]], inspectors of schools (3), [[fence viewer]]s (3).<ref name="Durant"/><ref name="Wager"/>

Part of the town was taken to form part of the new town of [[Vernon, New York|Vernon]] on February 17, 1802.<ref name="Wager"/>

===Name===

The act that created the town specified it would be called Augusta to honor General Augustus Van Horn.  This was arranged by Thomas Cassety, son of James Cassety and a Colonel in the militia, in exchange for a new military hat from Van Horn.<ref name="Durant"/>

===Commerce===

James Cassety built a [[saw mill]] in 1794 and the first [[grist-mill]] in 1796, which was destroyed by flooding around 1807.  A second mill was built by David Currie and had an adjacent [[saw-mill]], both powered by the water of [[Oriskany Creek]]. A [[tannery]] and [[currier]] was built by Aaron Burley in 1816.  The building was subsequently used as a grist-mill, distillery, and later a wool factory. A hotel was built around 1836 by John Stebbins.  A [[foundry]] and [[machine-shop]] was built in 1853 that manufactured various machines and implements. A later grist-mill was built by Martin Miller in 1861–62. A yarn factory was built in 1865.

A [[plank road]] was constructed through Oriskany Falls connecting Deansville (now [[Deansboro, New York|Deansboro]]) and [[Hamilton, New York|Hamilton]] in June 1848 by the Hamilton and Deansville Plank Road Company.  It was abandoned in 1874.<ref name="Wager"/>

A plank road was constructed through Augusta connecting [[Rome, New York|Rome]] and [[Madison, New York|Madison]] by the Rome and Madison Plank Road Company in April 1850.<ref name="Durant"/><ref name="Wager"/>

The [[Chenango Canal]], connecting the [[Erie Canal]] in [[Utica, New York|Utica]] with the [[Susquehanna River]] at [[Binghamton, New York|Binghamton]] was constructed from July 1834 to October 1836 and passed through a corner of Augusta.  It was an important means of transporting [[coal]] from [[Pennsylvania]] but ceased operation in 1878 and was abandoned after rail transport became dominate.<ref name="Wager"/>

The railroad reached Augusta in the late 1860s with the construction of the [[Utica, Clinton and Binghamton Railroad]] with a station in the [[Oriskany Falls]], a village in southeast Augusta, on the line from Utica to the [[New York, Ontario and Western Railway]].<ref name="Wager"/>

The economy of the town was largely based upon agriculture, the small industry centered around the village of Oriskany Falls, and the quarrying of lime and limestone which was in abundant supply and exported around the country.<ref name="Pomroy"/>

===Assemblymen from Augusta===

The following people from Augusta represented Oneida County in the [[New York State Assembly]].<ref name="Wager"/>

*David I. Ambler - [[40th New York State Legislature]], 1816–17
*Winthrop H. Chandler - [[50th New York State Legislature]], 1827
*Riley Shepard - [[54th New York State Legislature]], 1831 and [[58th New York State Legislature]], 1835
*David Murray - [[66th New York State Legislature]], 1843