Hugh White 1733-1812

Whitestown's namesake Hugh White, who founded White's Town in 1784, was one of the pioneers who led the fight in the 1790s for the formation of an Oneida County. He was born in Middletown, Connecticut in 1733 and served in the quartermaster with the American Continentals during the Revolutionary War.

In 1783, he and a group of other men bought 6,000 acres of land near what is today Whitestown, and White was sent there to survey the purchase. He liked what he saw fertile soil and an abundance of water and trees.

In early May 1784 White, accompanied by his family, journeyed along the Mohawk River. When they reached the mouth of Sauquoit Creek, on June 5, 1784, he saw only an unbroken forest.

The first accomplishment of was the erection of a temporary home. He constructed a bark shanty very close to the Sauquoit Creek. In the spring of 1785, he started to build his permanent home on the east end of what is now the Village Park. The location he selected was several hundred feet from the Military Road between Old Fort Schuyler ( Utica ) and Fort 5tanwix ( Rome ).

The Sadaquada River ( Sauquoit Creek ) was much larger at that time, as the volume of water was sufficient to operate gristmills and sawmills. Gristmills and sawmills were of extreme importance in the founding of a community. At the time of White's arrival the nearest gristmill was at Canajoharie, some forty miles down the valley. To remedy this situation Amos Wetmore and Hugh White built a gristmill in partnership on Sauquoit Creek.

White continued to clear land, planted crops and built homes. White's Town was born. He saved all his biggest ears of corn, squash and other vegetables, the best apples and, of game shot, the best and finest looking furs and sent them back to Middletown, Connecticut with tales of the productivity of the "Whitestawn Country". This approach was a huge success, as attested to by the fact that by the time the 1810 Census was taken the population of the original town of Whitestown exceeded that of his native state of Connecticut.

Through the years, he served as justice of the peace and when Oneida County was formed March 15, 1798, he was commissioned to “keep the peace” and was appointed one of its first judges. He continued to serve in that position until 1804. He died the 16th of April 1812 and was buried in what is now Grand View Cemetery.

Jedediah Sanger 1751-1829

New Hartford's founder Jedediah Sanger was one of the first pioneers to settle in the Upper Mohawk Region. He founded New Hartford in 1788 and spent the early 1790s working to convince state legislators in Albany to form an Oneida County. Sanger was born in Sherburne, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in 1751, being the ninth of a family of ten children of Richard and Deborah Sanger.

In May 1771, Jedediah Sanger married Sarah Rider by whom he had four children: Sarahin, Sarah, Walter and Zedekiah. In 1782 he moved to Jeffrey, Cheshire County, New Hampshire. There he established a large farm, store and tavern. Fire destroyed his property in 1784 and forced him into bankruptcy.

Soon after, he heard of the "Whitestown Coun­try," purchased by land speculators George Washington and George Clinton. In 1788 he purchased 1,000 acres of land at fifty cents an acre from Washington and Clinton. This tract was divided almost equally by the Sauquoit Creek and included what is now the Village of New Hartford. He built a log cabin and in March 1789, he brought his wife and family to his wilderness home. In this same year he built a sawmill and in 1790 a gristmill and the famous "Sanger Barn" used as a meeting place for the early settlers.

Jedediah bought and sold thousands of acres of land throughout the country, including the purchase from the State in 1790 and 1791, the land comprising the Town of Sangerfield, from whom the town derives its name.

In 1793 Sanger, along with Samuel Wells, Elijah Risley and the printer, Richard Vanderburg, published the first newspaper west of Albany ever printed, the Whitestown Gazette. He was among the founders of the Hamilton­Oneida Academy now known as Hamilton College.

He built oil and paper mills in New Hartford and was engaged in the manufacture of cotton. He served in Albany as a member of Senate and Assembly for many years. He was the first supervisor of Whitestown and was appointed one of the first judges of Oneida County.

His first wife died Sept. 26,1814 and he married Sarah B. Kissam on Aug. 31, 1815. She died April 23, 1825 and he married his third wife, Fanny Dench on Oct. 3, 1827.

Judge Sanger died June 6, 1829. He was originally interred in the village cemetery in New Hartford, later in a family burial lot on his farm and finally in Forest Hills Cemetery in Utica.