Buchanan County bulletin and guardian. (Independence, Iowa) 1866-1869, 1867-06-07

Three miles west of the village Of George
town, Madison County, New York, is place
known as Mather Farm. 1t comprises some
seven hundred and thirty.fve acres. A cor
respondent of the Oneida Dispatch furnishes
some interesting facts in its early history:
In the year 1910, an individual known at
that time as Lewis Anathe Muller, and as
French refugee, settled on this tract, then .
wilderness, more desolate than now, and at.
tempted the establishment of q village. He
erected spacious dwelling, strong and solid
walls being constructed Of hewn timber, eve.
ry hent being raised closely against another
making wall of solid timber twelve to four
teen inches thick. This fortresslike frame
was well covered without, and most careful.
" finished within, after style best fancied
BY the strange builder. The walls present
q nice finish, and time has proved their du-
rability. The building is Of the European
STYLE Of architecture Of that time, being not
far from eighty feet long, and of proportion.
ate width, divided into rooms and halls.
Originally, there were seven 6re.places. II
is said that in the cellar an apartment, un-
discoverable by stranger, whose secretpur-
poses were never told, was provided. Large,
commodious out-buildings were erected two
large store houses, numerous fruit trees
planted, and an artificial pond raised, the
dam Of which years ago was leveled by sub.
sequent occupants, none of whom, to my
knowledge, have owned il or any part of it.
Muller brought here with him about one hun.
dred and fifty hands, as stated BY some Of
our oldest men, who knew him and assisted
him in his enterprise, and $l5O,000. Many
supposed him to be Louis Philippe himself,
King of France, and that he sought this Sc
cluded hill and constructed this house in its
peculiar manner as q means OF defense in
case of danger. At any rate, there was not,
and is not to-day, any doubt that be was one
Of the nobility OF France, for when Bonaparte
abdicated be returned to France, leaving his
family wife and chidren) in New York.
Evidently NO pains we're spared to make this
lonely place pleasant, and render the lands,
naturally sterile, fruitful and agreeable to
the apparently cultivated taste Of the exiled
Frenchman. Consequently, forests were lev
eled, and hundreds OF acres cleared with par
ticular care. Money vas lavished, and labor
without stint applied to beautify this wild,
secluded hill. On going to France be left
his property in care Of some Of his servants
who accompanied him here. But after .
few years be returned to New York, thence
to Georgetown to find his adopted home
nearly deserted, everything in dilapidated
state his valuable and costly furniture car
RED away or broken, and Of al the property
which be bought, amounting to $l50.0OO or
more, il Is related that he did not recover
$3.50. He returned to New York, disposed
Of his lands and immovable estate at ruin.
Gus bargain, and sailed for France. None
in this vicinity know to this day who he was,
or what vas bis real character. The farm
has ever since been owned by parties living
in New York or in eastern counties, and has
been worked, when worked at al, by tenants
who wanted 20 live bad enough to do il, a.
ways 1t "poor lay" even i al their own
way. An air Of romance has ever since clung
around that stern but stately mansion With
its lofty poplars and spacious green in front.
And, until recently, reports were rife, and
frequently believed, that this house was
haunted, and its occupants have been fright
ened pale, ard some have been known to
!eave, actually believing in the my :erious
tales Of haunted houses, and that this was
one.