My name is and I am the new Town Editor for Volney.  I grew up on Oneida Lake and my heart is still there.  I lived in Volney for several years, later discovering that part of the property we had purchased, had once belonged to one of my ancestors. My motto:  "Live, Love, Laugh!"

Town Historian:
  George Wise
  1445 County Route 6
  Fulton, NY 13069
  (315) 593-8288

VOLNEY⁶----was formed----by the name of "Fredericksburgh"----from Mexico as part of Oneida co., March 21, 1806.  It's name was changed April 5, 1811.  Scriba was taken off in 1811, and Schroeppel and Palermo in 1832.  It lies upon the E. bank of Oswego River, S.W. of the center of the co.  It's surface is undulating, with high, steep banks bordering upon the river.  The ridges are 50 to 100 feet above the valleys and 100 to 200 feet above Oswego River.  The red sandstone crops out on the bank of the river and is extensively quarried for building stone. The falls upon the river furnish an immense water-power.⁷The soil is a sandy and gravelly loam. Fulton,⁸ (p.v.,) on Oswego River, at the Oswego Falls,⁹ was incorp. April 29, 1835.  It contains 6 churches, the Falley Seminary,¹⁰ a newspaper office, and a large number of manufacturing establishments.  Pop. 3,192. Seneca Hill, (p.v.,) on Oswego River, in the N.W. corner of the town, contains 50 dwellings and the largest flouring establishment in the State.¹¹Volney Corners, (Volney p.o.,) near the center, contains 18 houses.  The present Village of Fulton became the seat of a floating population in the early part of the eighteenth century; but permanent settlement was not commenced until 1793.¹²  The first church (Presb.) was organized in 1814; and the Rev. Mr. LEAVITT was the first settled minister.  There are 9 churches in town.¹³

⁶  Named in honor of Volney, the French author, who visited the town in 1808, while on a tour through the U.S.

7.  There are 7 flouring mills in town, having an aggregate of 42 run of stone; also a large number of sawmills and other manufacturing establishments.

8.  Named in honor of Robert Fulton.  It was originally called "Oswego Falls."

9.  The portage at this place was the only interruption in the internal water communication between Schenectady and the ports upon Lake Ontario and the St.Lawrence River, after the construction of the canal connecting Wood Creek with the Mohawk River, by the Western Navigation Co., in 1796.

10. The Fulton Female Seminary was incorp. in 1836, and in 1842 it was changed to the Fulton Academy. In 1849 it received a donation of $3,000 from Mrs. E. Falley and assumed the name of the Falley Seminary.   At the same time it came under the charge of the Black River Conference of the M.E. Church.  It is a prosperous institution.

11.  This flouring mill has 15 run of stone, with a separate wheel to each run, and a capacity of grinding and packing 1,200 barrels of flour per day.

12.  Daniel MASTERS settled at Oswego Falls in 1793;  Laurence VAN VALKENBURGH, below the falls, in 1795; and John VANBUREN in 1796. John WATERHOUSE settled in the town in 1797; and Ebenezer WRIGHT in 1800. 

The first birth after the permanent settlement was in 1795.

The first death, that of John WATERHOUSE, in Aug. 1799.

Daniel MASTERS kept the first inn, at the falls, in 1794; and he and _____GOODELL erected the first sawmill, in 1796. 

Miss A. WATERHOUSE taught the first school, in 1800.

13.  2 M.E., Presb., Prot.E, Cong., Bap., Prot. Meth., Wes. Meth., and Union.