CNY Tidbits in Time

Geddesburg?
A chain, a link, a Morgan and a rod is how James Geddes would have first described the town which now bears his name. It was 1793 when Mr. Geddes (born July 22, 1763) first laid eyes on his newest venture. He began his time here involved in the salt industry, however just a few years later, in 1797, it was requested of him to survey the Onondaga Salt Springs Reservation. This began a life long career in surveying.

He would lay out the streets of the Village of Salina and in 1807 laid out the streets of what would eventually become the Village of Geddes. James became such a trusted surveyor that in 1816 he was selected as one of the supervisors for the construction of the Erie Canal. Mr. Geddes also participated, for a short period of time, in the political world. He spent one term, from 1813-1815, in the US House of Representatives.

On August 17, 1838 James Geddes passed away in Camillus, New York. He is buried at the Oakwood Cemetery in Syracuse, New York. A decade after his passing, in 1848, the people of the town honored Mr Geddes with establishing a new town, the Town of Geddes. For a time shortly thereafter, the area where he lived was called Geddesburg, as seen on one of the maps below.