Person:David Starr (3)

His name appears on page 91 of Stuart Banyar Blakely's A History of Otego. Originally printed in 1907, the book was reproduced during the bicentennial to benefit the Otego Harris Memorial library relocation.

In 1996, the town of Otego celebrated a date significant in its history: a Bicentennial. On February 5, 1796, the towns of Suffrage, Otego and Butternuts were formed from the town of Unadilla. Suffrage covered what later became Milford and a large part of Oneonta, Butternuts included present day Morris, and Otego comprised the balance of the area afterwards Oneonta, Laurens, and that portion of Otego lying east of the Otsdawa (from Huntington's Old Time Notes, vol. 5). Later other boundary changes were made; in 1807, by a vote of 138 to 121, it was decided to divide Otego which until then had included West Laurens and parts of Oneonta. Another item in Huntington's Notes says the Otego Post Office was in what became Oneonta Plains.

While the name Old Otego was used for this area, the village at least was listed in 1810 as Hamburg. In Spafford's Gazzetteer of 1820, Hamburg was said to contain 30 houses. On April 12, 1822, the town of Huntsville was formed and apparently included some land from Unadilla and Franklin. Huntsville was named for Ransom Hunt, an early settler who owned the hotel where the town meeting was held and he also owned the grist mills and other businesses. Again from Huntington's Notes, April 17, 1830. The name of the town of Huntsville is changed to Otego while most of the old town of Otego with the addition of a portion of Milford is now embraced in the new town of Oneonta, formed this day. "The History of Otsego Co." (1878) lists Otego and Huntsville existing together in 1830 and says Otego had two grist mills, Huntsville, 3; Otego 6 saw mills, Huntsville 4. Only Huntsville had asheries and distilleries.

Any history of the area mentions the fine groves of timber and the rafting of logs down the Susquehanna to Baltimore. An environmental warning that was sounded in 1824 in Spaffords Gazetteer, "...the storekeepers and lumber men will be remembered by those who will suffer by and by for the want of timber."

Early settlers in Otego included the Brimmers, Ogdens, Blakelys, Calders, Bundys, and Hunts. Some residents of Otego today are descendend from these early arrivals. The stories of these and other families parallel the development of the town and are recorded in A History of Otego (1907) by Dr. Stuart Banyar Blakely, and A Bicentennial History of Otego (1976) by Helena Myers. The village of Otego was incorporated in 1892 and a brief history of the village was written by Helen Secor Groves in 1992.