The Elk advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Elk Co., Pa.) 186?-1868, 1867-05-23
A HOUSE WITH a ROMANCE.

Three miles west of the village of
Georgetown, Madison county, New
York, is a place known as Mather farm.
1t comprises some seven hundred and
thirtysfve acres. A correspondent 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 a French refugee, settled
on this tract, then a wilderness, more
desolate than now, and attempted the
establishment Of a village. He erected
spacious dwelling, strong and solid
walls being constructed of hewn timber,
every bent being raised closely against
another, making a wall Of solid timber
twelve to fourteen inches thick. This
fortress-like frame was well covered
without, and most carefully finished
within, after a style best fancied by the
strange builder. The walls, present
nice finish and time has proved their
durability. The building is of the Eu.
ropean style of architecture of that time,
being not far from eighty feet long, and
of proportionate width, divided into
rooms and halls. Originally, there were
seven fire places. 1t is said that in the
cellar an apartment, undiscoverablc by
a stranger, whose secret purposes were
never told, was provided, Large, com
modious out-buildings were erected, two
large store houses, numerous fruit trees
planted, and an artificial pond raised,
the dam Of fwhic h years ago was leveled
by subsequent occupants, none of whom,
to my knowledge, have owned it or any
part of it. Muller brought here with
him about one hundred and fifty hands,
as stated by some of our Oldest men,
who knew him and assisted him in his
enterprise, and S150,000. Many sup.
posed him to be Louis Philippe him.
self, King of France, and that he sought
this secluded hill and costructed this
house in its peculiar manner as a
means of defense in case Of danger.
At any rate there was not, and is not
to-day any doubt that he was one of the
nobility of France, for when Bonaparte
abdicated he returned to France, leav-
ing his family (wife and childernl in
New York. Evidently no pains were
spared to make this lonely place pleasant,
and render the lands, naturally sterile,
fruitful and agreeable to the apparently
cultivated taste Of the exiled French
man. Consequently forests were leveled,
and hundreds Of acres cleared with par
ticular care. Money was lavished. and
labor without stint applied to beautify
this wild, secluded hill. On going to
France he left his property in care Of
his servants who accompanied him here.
But after few years he returned to
New York theme 10 Georgetown t. fnd
his adopted home nearly deserted, every
thing in dilapidated state his valua
bic and costly furn .ure carried away or
broken, and Of all the property which he
bought, amounting to $3.50, 600 OR more,
it is related that he did not recover
$3.50. lie returned to New York, dis
posed OF his lands aud immovable estate
at ruinous bargain, and sailed for
France None in this vicinity know
to this day who he was, Or what was his
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 all,
by tenants who wanted to live bad
enough to do it, always at a " poor lay"
even if all 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 rite,
and frequently believed, that this house
was haunted, and its occupants have
peen frightened pale, and some have
been known TO leave, actually believing
in the mysterious tales of haunted
houses, aud that this was one.