[Footnote A:  Many have erroneously believed this patent to have been the grant made by the Indian chief to Sir William in accordance with a dream the latter had, i.e., he had dreamed that the Indian gave him all of a certain described tract, whereupon the Indian told him that he supposed what he had dreamed must be true, but “be sure and not dream again.”  “Dreamland,” by good authority, is said to be in Herkimer county.]

Some years before the commencement of hostilities, Henry Schramling, a hardy pioneer from the older settlement at German Flats, on the Mohawk, came into the valley and made a settlement at a point near the Otego creek bridge, but by reason of the troubled condition of the country after 1775, Mr. Schramling moved back to the Mohawk for greater security.  After the war he with his brothers, George and David, returned to the Susquehanna.  It is believed upon good authority that he was the first white settler in the town of Oneonta.  After the departure of the Schramling family, many years elapsed before any pioneers were found venturesome enough to settle in this portion of the valley.

Abram Houghtailing, Elias Brewer and Peter Swartz became settlers here in 1786.  Houghtailing and Brewer came from Washington county, and Swartz from Schoharie.  About the same date, James Youngs settled near the mouth of the Charlotte and Baltus Kimball settled north of the village on the farm now owned by Jacob Morell.

About the year 1790, Thomas Morenus[A] settled on the south side of the river.  He was a German from Schoharie.  About the same time Frederick Brown came from Fulton, N.Y., and settled on the farm formerly owned and occupied by Eliakim R. Ford.  At this time Brown’s house was the only one standing within the limits of the present village corporation.  About the year 1795, one Aaron Brink built a large log house by the mill pond, or rather between the railroad crossing on Main street and the mill pond.  Brink’s house was the first hotel kept in the village of Oneonta, and perhaps the first that was kept in town.  Between Brown’s house and Brink’s tavern there was only a common wood-road, with a dense forest on either side.

[Footnote A:  Thomas Morenus, before settling here, had been a captive among the Indians, and had “run the gauntlet” at Fort Niagara.  The terrible scourging he had received at the hands of the savages left marks which were plainly traceable when he had become an old man.]

About the same time John Vanderwerker built the first grist-mill.  This mill stood some distance east of the grist-mill now standing in the lower part of the village.

In 1791, Asel Marvin came from Vermont and first settled at Oneonta Plains.  Shortly afterwards he removed on a large tract of wild land, about two miles from the village, upon the Oneonta Creek.  He was a well-known builder and lumberman.  For twenty-two consecutive years he rafted lumber to Baltimore.  He built the first school house on the Oneonta Creek road, and when the first church edifice was built in town, he was one of the trustees of the church society.  When Mr. Marvin moved into the valley of the Oneonta Creek, the country across the hill from Oneonta to Laurens, was almost an unbroken wilderness.