This tavern was built and
first owned by the Holland Land Company as one of several improvements
to lure settlers to Cazenovia and keep them here. Elijah Risley may
have had a tavern here before 1796 as he was a proprietor of a tavern for
the Company as early as 1794 and had made an attempt to purchase the property
in that year. Ebenezer Johnson was soon connected with Risley and
took over the payments for the property in 1796. Johnson received
title for the land and buildings from the Company in 1806 and owned it
until he moved from Cazenovia in 1814. Charles Wylie of Rome contracted
to purchase the tavern in 1810 but failed in his payments by 1813 and the
property was taken back by Johnson. During Wylie's time Jacob and
Ralph Day were the tavern keepers. Ralph Day is here for only a short
time but Jacob continued until 1813 when Daniel Day became the proprietor.
James Sherman, of Rome, had purchased the property from Johnson in 1814
but kept Daniel Day on as the tavern keeper until 1817. Sherman owned
the property until 1828 but there is no record of any other tavern keepers
after Daniel Day. It has been a residence since that time.
MICHAEL DAY
It is likely that when the
tavern was in the hands of Jacob, Ralph, and Daniel Day that the establishment
was known as the "Day Tavern." I have never seen any record of this
name, and the history books do not make any mention of the Days as tavern
keepers, but apparently the 1906 historian found some record of it and
made a connection to Michael Day, who had come to the wilderness of Cazenovia
with John Lincklaen in 1793.
When I first conducted the research on the tavern I could find no connection with Michael Day except in 20th century references. All 19th century references only mentioned Day as an axeman for Lincklaen at the opening of the settlement. From the wonderful document collections at Lorenzo and from David Billings' sawmill account book I was able to find a little more about Michael Day, but apparently he was one of those poor folks who was never very successful and continued to live in Cazenovia for many years without ever making it into the history books except for notice of his arrival. The records at Lorenzo and of David Billings show that Michael Day was a skilled stone and brick mason who built fireplaces, hearths, ovens, and laid foundations. Day had come to Cazenovia in 1793 and was still doing mason work in 1822 but no record of his owning or operating a tavern has been found.
On the other hand the evidence for the tavern kept by Ebenezer Johnson is overwhelming, but before that is discussed we need to place the tavern in its historical setting. Tradition says that when the tavern was first opened it stood two doors east of its present location, at 34 Albany Street, where Bill and Carol Eckert now live, and that it was moved to 30 Albany in 1799. Since the land at these two locations was one big parcel owned by the Holland Land Company it seems strange that the building would be moved to a new location only a few yards away. Fortunately we have a painting of the fledgling huddle of Cazenovia which is known to have been executed in 1798 - the year before the tavern was supposed to be moved - and it does show the tavern on the spot where the Eckerts now live. So, it does seem to have been moved 197 years ago. The reason for its being moved is unknown but we should start planning for another celebration in 1999!
The tavern sits at the southwest corner of the Public Square which was set out in the original plan of Cazenovia. The tavern is quite a large building for its time as most of the other buildings on the Square were small or were not permanent. The 1798 painting shows the tavern in its original location, the tavern barn at 32 Albany Street, the large Holland Land Company warehouse on the Square in front of today's Smith's grocery, and several other small buildings at the east end of the Square which may have been shops or residences.
Just after 1800 the lots around the Public Square began to fill up with other buildings and it became the central business district of the community. The general store of Samuel Forman was built in 1808 on the west end of the Square (it still stands). Jabish N.M.Hurd's store was just to the west of the Square. In 1810 Alfred Hitchcock had a hardware store on the site of the Presbyterian church manse and this was made into a tavern by Amos Parmalee in 1812. Ezekiel Carpenter had a store on the corner of Sullivan Street and the Square. Another tavern was opened by Hiram Roberts in 1802 where Smith's grocery now stands and it was replaced 1809 when Lemuel Kingsbury built the famed Cazenovia House. The east end of the Square, where the Merchants and Oneida Savings banks are located, was occupied by several small shops including the post office, a bakery, a lawyer and the office of The Pilot - Cazenovia's first newspaper. At the south side of the Public Square, where the Century House now stands, was the Madison County Hotel, built in 1806 by Eliphalet S. Jackson. A tinsmith's shop, Job Gillett's silversmith shop, and the hotel barn were nearby and the village hay scale and village pound for stray animals was in back.
By 1825 the face of the Public
Square was changing. The Johnson House, since operated by the Days,
had become a residence; the Presbyterian church was moved down from its
original place at the head of Hurd Street in 1828; Parmelee's tavern was
converted to a residence by this time; the Miles brothers built Doris Webster's
house on the west end of the Square between 1828 and 1831. In 1836,
at the opening of the Lincklaen House, the Madison County Hotel was closed,
split apart, and moved from its site. The Century House was built
in 1841 on the Madison County Hotel site. Part of the front of the
old hotel was moved a few feet to the east and became a residence (now
Smith's Funeral Home). By 1832 the business district had formed to
the east of the Public Square and the surroundings of the Public Square
had become residential.
TAVERN BEFORE 1796?
Before the Holland Land
Company took on Ebenezer Johnson as the proprietor of its tavern on the
Square Elijah Risley had been listed as a tavern keeper in the Company
records. Property contracts in the archive at Lorenzo show that Elijah
Risley had tried to purchase the property on the Square as early as 1794
but then transferred it to Ebenezer Johnson in the same year. After
this Risley continued to keep a tavern near his home in the eastern part
of the village.
EBENEZER JOHNSON
Ebenezer Johnson seems to
have been a tavern keeper before the present building was built in 1796,
but there is no record of what sort of building the original tavern was.
From the account books of Samuel Forman's store, now preserved at Lorenzo,
it is seen that Johnson made purchases of nails that were paid by the Company
in 1796, indicating that he was either improving or building a structure
for the Company. On the 1799 Company inventory the tavern was noted
as 32 x 42 feet, 2 stories, with a horse shed and frame barn, and about
three acres of land, valued at $1500.00.
Johnson paid off the deed and received title to the property in June of 1806 and in that same month he purchased a quantity of china and glassware from Samuel Forman's store indicating that he was refurnishing the tavern or at least improving the accommodations. In the Village census of 1800 the Holland Land Company was listed as the owner of the tavern and Elijah Risley was listed as the proprietor although this may be an error in light of other information. Ten persons were in the tavern at the time, perhaps including the tavern keeper's family. In 1801 Ebenezer Johnson was the owner of the tavern and nine people were in residence. Johnson continues in the Village census as the tavern keeper with eleven residents in 1802, ten in 1803, and twelve in 1806.
During the time that Johnson kept the tavern it was the major meeting place for many miles around. In a time when many Revolutionary War veterans were still living in the community the annual 4th of July celebrations were held at the tavern with formal speeches, toasts to liberty and freedom, and patriotic songs. The first town meetings were held there with a liberal supply of rum influencing the proceedings. Even the meetings of the Presbyterian society were held there until they built their church with a meeting room in the basement.
Ebenezer Johnson is last
noted as a tavern keeper in 1808 but he continued to own the building and
property until 1814. He had attempted to sell it to Charles Wylie
of Rome, in 1810, but this failed and he eventually sold it to James Sherman
of Rome. Wylie was noted with the tavern as late as 1813 and seems
to have had Jacob, Ralph, and Daniel Day as the tavern keepers. Neither
Wylie or Sherman appear to have been tavern keepers and had the Days keep
the house.
THE DAY TAVERN
The Days, not Michael Day,
mind you, but Jacob, Ralph, and Daniel Day were three brothers and the
sons of Daniel Day. Jacob and Ralph had built a brick building about
1810 at the northeast corner of the Square, where the wooden back half
the Merchants Bank is now. It seems that it may have been an office
of some sort and Oran Baker printed The Pilot in this brick building between
1810 and 1811.
Jacob and Ralph Day were the proprietors of the former Johnson House as early as 1810 but Ralph Day continued only for a short time and Jacob continued until 1813 when Daniel Day became the tavern keeper. It is not known if this was Daniel Day the father or Daniel Day the son. Daniel Day kept the tavern for a few years and is last found in 1817. It is from the not-so- well recorded ownership of the Days that the confusion with Michael Day has arisen.
THE JOHNSON FAMILY
Ebenezer Johnson, the forgotten
character of the tavern, left Cazenovia in 1814 and he and his family went
on to bigger and better things. From Cazenovia he went to Fredonia
where they lived for a few years before moving to Buffalo. It is
not known what Ebenezer did in those places, but his eldest son, Elisha,
moved to Rochester and became the first Mayor of that city, and the second
son, Dr. Ebenezer Johnson, became the first Mayor of the City of Buffalo.
The third son, Samuel, built the largest hotel of its time in Fredonia,
and it was named the Johnson House. About 1850 many of the family
moved to Tennessee where they had purchased a 35,000 acre tract on the
Tellico River. Many of the family are buried there.