Because the Scriba/Oswego Road passed over the top of the hill in the eastern part of what is now the Village of Mexico and because the first comers to this immediate vicinity almost of necessity chose sites on the road for their homes, it happened that the Nathaniel Roods, the Calvin Tiffanys, the Phineas Davises, and the John Mortons were our first families of the village.
Nathaniel Rood built the first home in the plot that was to become Mexico Village. Nathaniel died in "The Great Calamity" of 1799. Their son, Truman, born on August 10, 1766, was the first baby born in the village. Truman ran a tannery and shoe shop in Colosse. He was 78 when he died on April 10, 1877.
The Davises and the Tiffanys rented the Rood cabin on their arrival in February 1799. They then built a cabin in lot 53 which was taken over by the Davises alone; their home became the second one built in the village. It was replaced by a frame house in 1813 and then by their son's brick house (currently the Munson home) on North Street in the 1870's.
The Tiffanys remained in the Rood cabin and rebuilt their home on the same site in 1801. The old cabin witnessed the first village marriage and welcomed the first bride and groom: the widow Rood and Richard Gafford.
Again it was the location of the Scriba Road that made the John Mortons another first family of the village, for they built their cabin on the highest point of the east hill, soon to be known as Morton's Hill and later as Pulaski Hill. It is said John's voice could be heard in his devotions for a mile in every direction. He took a contract for the whole of lot 64, lying on both sides of Salmon Creek, 168 1/4 acres at the contract price of $530.77.
First Families of the Village