ff>m!* 
 
 mmf^ 
 
BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME 
 FROM THE 
 
 SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND 
 
 THE GIFT OF 
 
 Henrg W. Sage 
 
 1891 
 
 .M2"^-^'f- ^^JPA. 
 
Semi-Centennial 
 
 OF 
 
 The City of Utica, 
 
 MARCH I ST, 1882, 
 
 AND 
 
 FIRST ANNUAL SUPPER 
 
 OF 
 
 The Half Century Club, 
 
 MARCH 2D, i! 
 
 .PUBLISHED BY 
 THE ONEIDA HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 UTICA,. N. Y. 
 CURTISS &,CHI1.DS, PRINTERS, 167 GENESI;E ST. 
 
 MDCCCLXXXIl. 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 ^^ 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028826614 
 
FIRST MAYDR, 
 
Semi-Centennial 
 
 OF 
 
 The City of Utica, 
 
 MARCH 1ST, 1882. 
 
 AND 
 
 FIRST ANNUAL SUPPER 
 
 OF 
 
 The Half Century Club, 
 
 MARCH 2D, 1882. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 THE ONEIDA HISTORICAL .SOCIETY. 
 
 UTICA, N. Y. 
 
 CURTISS & CHILDS, PRINTERS, 167 GENESEE ST. 
 MDCCCLXXXII. 
 
Proceedings of Semi-Centennial. 
 
 The Charter of the City of Utica was adopted 
 February 13, 1832, and by its provisions it went into 
 effect on the first day of March. The anniversary of 
 the fiftieth year frorri its organization, it was thought 
 by many of its citizens should be commemorated by 
 an approj)riate public observance in which former 
 residents should be invitpd to participate. The ar- 
 rangements for such observance were assumed by the 
 Oneida Historical Society, which at its meeting, in 
 February, 1882, appointed Robert S. Williams as 
 Chairman of a Committee for the purpose, with au- 
 thority to select his associates. The Committee thus 
 formed issued the following circular which was sent to 
 some three hundred persons, former inhabitants of 
 Utica, and leading individual^ of the vicinity. 
 
 1832-1882. 
 
 Utica, N. Y., Feb. 17, 1882. 
 Dear Sir : 
 
 The Oneida Historical Society proposes to commemorate the 
 Semi-Centennial Anniversary of the Charter of the City of Utica, 
 by appropriate exercises, on Wednesday, March i, 1882. It cor- 
 dially invites you, as a former resident, to be present on that occa- 
 sion. The exercises will be a Symposium of brief addresses, letters, 
 reminiscences and social intercourse. In the event of your ina- 
 
4 Semi-Centenuial of 
 
 bility to come, the Society solicits from you a letter which may be 
 
 read on the occasion. 
 
 An immediate response is requested. 
 
 ROBERT S. WILLIAMS, Chairman. 
 WILLIAM J. BACON, JAMES McQUADE, 
 
 ALEXANDER SEWARD, ALEXANDER T. GOODWIN, 
 
 M. M. BAGG, E. PRENTISS BAILEY, 
 
 ELLIS H. ROBERTS, MILES C. COMSTOCK, 
 
 CHARLES E. BARNARD, THEODORE S. SAYRE, 
 
 C. W. HUTCHINSON, MORVEN M. JONES. 
 
 The larger Utica Opera House having been pre- 
 engaged, the Committee was compelled to take the 
 City Opera House for this Serai-Centennial meeting. 
 This they adorned by hanging above and around its 
 Stage portraits of former village and city officials, 
 among whom were included : 
 
 Rudolph Snyder, President of the village in 1818-20, 
 also Alderman in 1832. 
 
 Gen'l Joseph Kirkland, first Mayor of the city, 1832. 
 
 John C. Devereux, Mayor 1839-40. 
 
 Joshua A. Spencer, Mayor 1848. 
 
 Alrick Hubbell,Mayor 1856-57. Alderman 1840-41. 
 
 Theodore S. Faxton, Mayor 1864. 
 
 Thomas Walker, Trustee 1821-24. Overseer of the 
 Poor 1822. Treasurer 1833-35. 
 
 Thomas Colling, Trustee 1827-31, Clerk 1832-33. 
 
 Aldermen, — E. S. Barnum, 1832-33, 1836, 1842 ; 
 Harvey Barnard, 1832-33, 1837, 1847 ; John A. Russ, 
 1832; James Sayre, 1834; Spencer Kellogg, 1839; 
 Michael McQuade, 1839, 1847-48, 1850-56 ; John J. 
 Francis, 1840-43; J ared E. Warner, 1841-44; Hiram 
 Greenman, 1842-43. 
 
The City of Utica. 5 
 
 Orsamus B. Matteson, City Attorney 1832-33. 
 
 Thomas Broadway, Clerk of Clinton Market 1832. 
 
 Alexander Coburn, City Clerk 1845. 
 
 Cards of invitation, of which the following is a 
 copy, were sent to a very large number of citizens, to 
 more in fact than it was feared the hall would accom- 
 modate : 
 
 Semi-Centennial 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CHARTER OF THE CITY OF UTICA, N. Y„ 
 
 g?:d0eM<sy,^aj;£b^,j,j^§|j 
 
 The Gneida^ilRiirseill^^PMMIf^ri'^^ 
 ance at a Symposium, at the City Opera House, Wednesday even- 
 ing at 7.30, March i, 1882, ^^ 
 
 I ^ ROBE/RTS. WILLIAMS, ehairmariy-? 
 
 I WILLIAM J. BACON, JAMES McQUADl 
 
 ' ALEXANDER SEWARD, ALEXANDERS 
 
 M. M. BAGG, E. PRENTISS BAILEY, 
 
 ELLIS H. ROBERTS, MILES C. COMSTOCK-^ 
 
 CHARLES E. BARNARD, THEODORE S. SAYRI 
 
 C. W. HUTCHINSON, MORVEN M. JONES. 
 
 ' ADMIT GE^^^^^^Lg^A^DY. 
 
 gHOW THIS TICKET AT THE DOO^Stt— S<***"*^^ 
 
 All through the day and evening of March ist, 
 rain fell in torrents, and though this had the effect of 
 limiting the audience, yet this audience was a full and 
 a thoroughly representative one, the older and better 
 known of the people of Utica and its neighborhood 
 being, for the most part, present. While the hall was 
 
6 Semi-Centennial of 
 
 filling the Philharmonic Orchestra, led by Prof. 
 Lombard, played in pleasing style and with acceptance 
 the Grand National Overture. 
 
 Upon the stage were seated, besides the speakers of 
 the evening and the Committee of Arrangements, 
 Mayor James Miller, Ex-Mayors H. H. Fish, Ephraim 
 Chamberlain, DeWitt C. Grove, Theodore F. But- 
 terfield, Charles K. Grannis, James McQuade, M. C. 
 Comstock, Theodore S. Sayre, Chas. W. Hutchinson, 
 Chas. E. Barnard, Hon. M. H. Merwin, Hon. A. T. 
 Goodwin, and other honored guests, including James 
 C. Delong, Alderman in 1835, 1837-38, now in his 
 92d year, and Liberty Powell, who was born in Utica in 
 1796. 
 
 The exercises of the occasion were conducted nearly 
 in accordance with the following programme : 
 
 THE PROGRAMME. 
 
 Overture — Grand National. . D. Weigand 
 
 Philharmonic Orchestra. 
 PRESENTATION OF LETTERS, . R. S. Williams 
 
 1 THE FIRST TWO MAYORS. . . Hon. W.. J. Bacon 
 
 2 EARLY UTICA, . . Thomas Allen Clarke, Yonkers 
 
 3 THE CLERGY OF UTICA, . Rev. D.. G. Corey, D. D. 
 
 PicoLO Solo — La Flute Enchantee, . . 
 
 Dr. P. Melfi. 
 
 4 UTICA AND THE NORTH, Walter B. Camp, Sacketts Harbor 
 
 5 OUR CHARITIES, . . Hon. John F. Seymour 
 
 6 OUR SISTER CITIES, . . B. B. Burt, Oswego 
 
 7 THE MENTAL AND INDUSTRIAL ACTIVITY 
 
 OF UTICA, . . Hon. Ellis H. Roberts 
 
 8 OUR LEARNED PROFESSIONS, . Hon. Francis Keknan 
 
 9 CONGRATULATIONS OF A SISTER SEMI- 
 
 CENTENNIAL CITY, . . . F. F. Fargo, *Buffalo 
 
 Waltzes — Sweet Sixteen, A. Aronson 
 
 Philharmonic Orchestra. 
 10 OUR EARLY PUBLISHERS, . Hon. DbWitt C. Grove 
 
 Cornet Solo — The Favorite, . y. L. Gartland 
 
 *Mr. Fargo did not appear. 
 
The City of Utica. 7 
 
 11 READING OF THE CITY CHRONICLES, Dr. M. M. Bagg 
 
 12 THE MILITARY HISTORY OF UTICA, Gen.jAMES McQuade 
 
 13 OUR LATE COMERS, . . Rev. I. S. Hartley 
 
 Polka De Concert — Le Dame de Coeur, P. Farbach 
 
 Philharmonic Orchestra. 
 Galop — Bascher Entschluss, . . C. Faust 
 
 Philharmonic Orchestra. 
 
 At 7.30 P. M., Robert S. Williams, Chairman of the 
 Committee of Arrangements, called the meeting to 
 order and invited Hon. Wrni. J. Bacon to preside. 
 Judge Bacon, took the chair amid the hearty applause 
 of the audience. 
 
 Chairman Williams said he had received letters of 
 regret from over one hundred former citizens of UtiCa 
 and vicinity, all of which it would be impossible to read. 
 He read extracts from a few of them which were 
 listened to with pleasure, and were read with delight 
 in the papers of the following day wherein they were 
 printed more at length. These letters appear below 
 arranged in alphabetical order. 
 
 HON. WILLIAM J. BACON. 
 
 Judge Bacon opened his address in his usual happy 
 and facetious style, and then spoke as follows of 
 " The First Two Mayors of Utica " : 
 
 What little I have to say on this occasion will be simply in- 
 troductory, and have relation principally to a mention of the 
 two men who stood at the head of the city government, your 
 first two mayors, and to the remarkable visitation which signal- 
 ized the administration of the first. As most of you will 
 readily recall, the first mayor of Utica was Joseph Kirkland ; 
 the second was Henry Seymour. The first was elected in 
 1S32. and the second in 1833. Without dwelling on their 
 
8 Semi-Centennial of 
 
 special characteristics, which time will not allow, I can com- 
 prehensively and truthfully say of both, that they were model 
 mayors. They were dignified and courtly in manner, perfect 
 gentlemen of the old school, men of clear, cool heads, of un- 
 questioned integrity, and who properly magnified their office 
 and faithfully discharged its duties. In their days "the 
 righteous flourished like the palm tree, and corruption stood 
 afar off." 
 
 In the first year of the city government that dreaded 
 scourge, the Asiatic cholera, made its appearance here. It; 
 came upon us almost unheralded, and what gave to fear addi- 
 tional wings was the fact that instead of first assaulting the 
 homes of the vilest and the lowest, it struck down as its earliest 
 victims some of our best and most worthy citizens. The con- 
 sequence was that universal terror reigned, places of business 
 were mostly closed, and the silence of death reigned in the 
 streets, and soon an alarming exodus prevailed among the 
 people. The multitude was paralyzed with fear, and the 
 ^^Sauve qui peuf after Waterloo was the general crJ^ There is 
 no doubt that mere physical fear added greatly to the malig- 
 nancy of the disfease, and set almost at naught the prescriptions 
 of the physicians and the solicitous nursing of the most devoted 
 friends. Many a man rose from his bed with the morning sun 
 apparently vigorous and cheerful, upon whose grave the 
 twilight shadows fell. A few brave and self-sacrificing spirits 
 stood up, '^ unshaken, unseduced, unterrified," but the mass 
 verified Byron's description of the shipwreck : 
 
 " Then rose from sea to sky the wild farewell. 
 
 Then shrieked the timid, and stood still the brave ; 
 And some leaped overboard with frantic yell, 
 
 As eager to anticipate their grave." 
 
 Among the calmest and bravest was the mayor, General 
 Kirkland, who never for a moment yielded to unmanly fear, or 
 omitted a duty to which he was called. I saw him every 
 morning, as he quietly looked over the sick and the death roll 
 of the preceding day and gave the necessary orders for removal 
 or interment. And without disparagement to others, let me 
 mention here two men most conspicuous in their service and 
 most helpful by their activity, until each in turn was stricken 
 down by the fell disease — not fatally, indeed, but most seriously 
 
The City of Utica. g 
 
 and alarmingly. Those men were Spencer Kellogg and 
 Colonel "William Williams. Nothing daunted them, nothing 
 withheld them from the bedsides of the sick and dying, or 
 even the offices needful for the dead. The cheerful, beaming 
 face of Williams carried in itself benediction and healing, and 
 the firm determination of Kellogg inspired courage and hope 
 in almost despairing hearts. 
 
 This much I have felt it due to say of an event the darkest 
 and most mournful in our history, and which was coeval with 
 the first year of our municipal existence. If we are ever 
 visited again with a like calamity, may we find officials equally 
 prompt and brave to meet it, and citizens adequate to the toils 
 and sacrifices it calls for. 
 
 Let me claim your indulgence for trespassing a little beyond 
 the space I had allotted to myself, by mentioning very briefly 
 one other of the early mayors of Utica, whose name ought not 
 to be forgotten on such an occasion as this. Edmund h. 
 Wetmore was an alderman, and for two consecutive terms 
 Mayor of the city. But perhaps the most conspicuous, and 
 certainly the most valuable service he rendered, was as Com- 
 missioner of our Common and Advanced Schools and Free 
 Academy. Of the system which has worked so admirably, he 
 was mainly the author, and he was chosen to that position for 
 twenty years and would have been even longer continued but 
 for his voluntary retirement. He was a Trustee of our Female 
 Seminary, and largely confided in by its conductors as their 
 wise and trusted adviser. He was the first Treasurer of the 
 State Lunatic Asylum and continued in that office until his 
 death. And he was a Trustee and for many years President 
 of the old iron Savings Bank, which has been so beneficent and 
 helpful a friend to those especially in the humbler walks of .life. 
 He was, indeed, ever and always the poor man's friend, and 
 when he was laid away to rest, the tears of many such bedewed 
 his grave. Ko citizen of Utica, it may be safely said, ever 
 gave to its people a more useful or disinterested service, and 
 not one that has borne office among us, has left behind him a 
 purer or brighter record. 
 
 In conclusion Judge Bacon read the resolution lim- 
 iting the speakers to ten minutes. 
 
lo Semi-Centennial of 
 
 THOMAS ALLEN CLARKE. 
 
 (late of new ORLEANS.) 
 
 When I received the circular invitation to be present on this 
 occasion and my eye traversed the names of the committee, I 
 felt a glow of excitenient. All were familiar, each name sug- 
 gested a father of the hamlet. The form, features, walk, and 
 character of each appeared before me as in very' life. Bat 
 when a special invitation to address you came, I said to myself, 
 if I allow the flood gates of memory to be unlocked, I shall 
 overwhelm and drown ; and then I thought that there was no 
 need to bring before you in large and exhaustive statement, 
 incidents of lives so well and faithfully recorded by my life- 
 long friend, Dr. Bagg, whose book detained me, when I opened 
 it, far into the night, with exciting pleasure. 
 
 I will detain you with but few reminisences, though they 
 bristle around me. I wish rather to impress you with the 
 mighty potentialities of this small and siniple village life. It 
 is said that in old age, while the memory of the recent is blank 
 and unfaithful, the buried treasures of childhood rise with 
 freshness to the heart and beam forth in the countenance. I feel 
 myself to night a boy again. I tread the unpaved streets 
 within the limits of Broadway, j ust by the eastern boundaries 
 of Judge Cooper's farm, in front of Judge Ezekiel Bacons 
 early home and by the tannery of David P. Hoyt. I see the 
 white grave stones in the distance, near Mr. Potters' farm 
 honse. I ascend by the birthplace of Henry Inman towards 
 the hill, cross Liberty street just in sight of James S. Kip's 
 then palatial stone mansion, lingering to play in Mr. Thomas 
 "Walker's yard, and then without crossing a canal — for there 
 was none then constructed — across field and through woods, 
 reaching Genesee street not far above Greneral Kirkland's 
 mansion, Mr. Plant's farm lying in sight ; then down by the 
 homes of the Van Rensselaers, (now the site of the Butterfield 
 House,) and those of Arthur Ereese, father of United States 
 Senator Breese and the Commodore Breese, A. B. Johnson 
 and Thomas E. Clarke; crossing eastward over field to the 
 bridge road, then to what was planned to be Chancellor square 
 and onward to the creek, where'Butcher Brown kept his sham- 
 
The City of Utica. J i 
 
 bles ; thence toward the river, tarrying at Judge Miller's for 
 fun and frolic with the boys, one of whom was a future general 
 in the army ; then flanking or jumping over the ruins of old 
 Fort Schuyler, reaching the swimming place. What a congre- 
 gation of boys ! On an equality as pure as nature. If I had 
 possessed a prophetic ken, I would have seen in Hans Crocker, 
 the enterprising millionaire of Wisconsin, 'the son of a mason, 
 the renowned Harry Eockwell, equestrian, dashing water over 
 doctors of "law, medicine, divinity and renowned civilians, 
 known in all ranks of life, senators, judges, governors, swim- 
 ming in competition with jDrofessors of oriental and scientific 
 lore, a grand counsel of harmonies made up of the unharmon- 
 ious. But I hasten on by the river bank to the landing near the 
 foot of Genesee street. Boats of commerce propelled by poles 
 with auxiliary sails are loading and unloading — the great four- 
 horse wagons are passing their loads to the boats and receiving 
 new to carry to the then far west of Onondaga and the Genesee 
 country. Ah ! the distant sound of the horn intimates' the 
 speedy arrival of the stage coach. All run to witness a 
 bustling scene — the proud horses dashing around the squai-e in 
 full career to the door of Bagg's Tavern, the passengers 
 alighting, wearied but delighted with the promised rest and 
 food. But John Butterfield or Theodore Faxton beckon to 
 me I run to accept the itivitation and to jump upon the box 
 beside him and ride around — a proud boy — to the stable. 
 Meeting there the then venerable Jason Parker, and by invita- 
 tion accompany him to his farm, where I was petted with all 
 sorts of good things, and a promise of a colt. I have passed 
 around the boundaries of the village. 
 
 At a liitle later period when Chancellor Square has been 
 laid out and the building known as the Academy has been 
 erected, and the United States Court is to hold sessions there, 
 during court time the boys of the Academy are let loose with 
 freedom. Ah ! they will not forget to go in the early morning 
 to the vicinity of Mr. Bagg's tavern to see the forming and 
 movement of the procession to escort Judge Conkling to the 
 Court House. The constabulary of the county, with the 
 marshal and his deputies, precede the lawyers, who are followed 
 by the Judge in robes. 
 
12 Semi-Centennial of 
 
 I would like to enter the court room with you and see the 
 orderly administration of justice, witness the sharp encounters 
 of the great lawyers of the state, to tell you about each — Aaron 
 Burr, Jonas Piatt, Sainuel Beardsley, Joshua A. Spencer, B. 
 F. Butler, Henry E. Storrs, General Kirkland and others. 
 Your own county men were by general judgment the peers of 
 all. 
 
 I wish you to walk with me up Genesee street, starting from 
 Whitesboro street. I would like to introduce you to all the 
 worthy men by the way : talk with Dr. Hitchcock about the 
 wonderful virtues of Dr. Eoberts' Welsh medicamentum. 
 That fine, tall and portly gentleman standing at his door and 
 dangling his watch chain with its heavy seal is Ebenezer B. 
 Shearman, the father of the cotton manufactory of the county. 
 Look at that eign opposite Broad street, '' Seward & Williams, 
 Booksellers." A little farther along look at this building of 
 more than the usual architectural appearance ; it is the Ontario 
 Branch Bank; this sign, "James H. Hackett, Grocer;" and 
 this, "James Dana, Hardware." 
 
 Asahel Seward, the senior, is a quiet earnest citizen ; his 
 boys are with you now. William Williams, the busy man, 
 fills a large place in the village activities. Colonel of the 
 militia, elder in the church, foreman of the only fire company, 
 editor of the leading newspaper, and probably one of the most 
 earnest and popular men of his time. His sons went forth 
 from their home to become missionaries, one to China as a 
 printer has become one of the best known orientalists of the 
 times. The government has often demanded his services as 
 Charge d' affaires. He opened, as interpreter for Commodore 
 Perry, the way of communication with the Japanese, and now 
 as a Professor in Yale and as President of the American Bible 
 Society, S . Wells Williams is spending the evening of his 
 honored life. Another son spent his life in endeavoring to 
 awaken the fatalistic Moslem to an understanding of the faith 
 of Jesus Christ. I need not make to blush by notice another 
 who is present to-night. Within that bank are two men of 
 marked but different character and disposition — the one divid- 
 ing his time between finance and lexicography-^the other 
 attending diligently to his work, but evidently longing for a 
 diversion into the realms of literature and art — and to minister 
 
The City of Utica. ij 
 
 at the altar of hospitalitj'. In the former you see potentially 
 the great and esteemed jurist who but recently departed this 
 life. In the other — a divine, for long years edifying and bless- 
 ing the people of Boston — and a naval commander of the 
 highest rank in a sister republic, who to defend a friend whom 
 he deemed unjustly accused and'whom he had been compelled 
 to supercede, exposed himself to the sure perils of a pesti- 
 lential atmosphere, dying to defend the honor of his profession. 
 James H. Hackett, himself the most distinguished "FalstafE" 
 of his time — potentially John K. Hackett, Eecorder of New 
 York, one of the best administrators of criminal justice known 
 to that city. " James Dana," a faithful christian gentleman — 
 potentially in James Dwight Dana — as I have been often told, 
 since Humboldt, the best known and most esteemed abroad of 
 the geologists of his time. 
 
 We are just above Liberty street. Do you see yonder in- 
 struments for survey ? Do you note the two men directing 
 their movement in the hands of subordinates? The younger 
 one is the bright, alert, and handsome Holmes Hutchinson. 
 His name is lamiliar to you to-day, and you have honored it 
 with the chief magistracy of your city. The eldei' of the two 
 is Henry Seymour, Canal Commissioner, a man to attract your 
 attention, and if you know him, you admire him for his placid, 
 dignified bearing, strong judgment, and undeviating truth. 
 As ardent an advocate of the canal and as earnest worker for 
 the object as DeWitt Clinton. No wonder that his sons and 
 his son's son have taken up their father's work, that his labors 
 may have fruition in the freedom of this great arteiy for the 
 commerce of the world. 
 
 It has been my privilege to meet in familiar converse men 
 of influence and distinction in all political parties from all 
 parts of our country, and though differing from him in many 
 points, yet all concur that for political sagacity, large and 
 broad views of public policy, learning, and wisdom, and all 
 endowments of statesmanship, with eloquence and energy, no 
 one in this land of ours surpasses, if any are equal, to the 
 eldest son of Henry Seymour. 
 
 These men, Hutchinson and Seymour, are apparently pre- 
 paring temporary obstruction in the street just near, north of 
 the dwelling of Samuel Stocking, but in their minds they are 
 
i_f. Scrni-Centenniai of 
 
 opening across the street the water way by which the commerce 
 of the great west may reach the ocean. They lived to see the 
 event. 
 
 Pardon a personal allusion to an historic event. I saw 
 myself the spade remove the earth at this point, and the waters 
 from the west break for the first time from the western level 
 into the eastern. And later on I was present at the bridal of 
 the great western lakes with the ocean at Sandy Hook. 
 DeWitt Clinton, the great high priest of improvement, per- 
 formed the ceremony, and I witnessed the marriage and heard 
 the benediction pronounced by his eloquent lips, and which 
 has had such abundant fruitage. 
 
 I would like to carry you around the village and introduce 
 you to each and all, that you might see in detail the simple 
 village life with its unconventionalities. For I believe there 
 was a time when I knew every man, woman and child, as they 
 also knew me. But one or two incidents, somewhat personal, 
 I must not pass before I relieve your attention, especially as 
 one illustrates the proper subordination of the military to the 
 civil. The Academy to which allusion has been made was 
 sixty years or more ago under the charge o£ Captain Charles 
 Stuart, a half-pay officer of the British a,rmy. He organized 
 the school with a military command, submitting to the boys 
 all authority, only reserving to himself the privilege of musi- 
 cian. He was the sole musician — the instrument a flute. His 
 uniform, the same as his ordinary dress — a Scotch plaid straight 
 collar, single breasted frock, nankeen pantaloons, and low 
 glazed leather cap. An election of officers was had, and will 
 you believe it, the youngest and smallest boy in the school was 
 choosen major general. His chief duty was to walk beside 
 Captain Stuart with such provision of uniform as a boy's toys 
 may afford. ' Why this choice was made I never kne w, but in 
 reading history after the event I presume it was another illus- 
 tration of thwarted ambition, as in the case o£ a cardinal who 
 was elected pope because the condition of his health implied 
 that he would scarcely survive the cardinalship. Or the case 
 of the Grecian general who, though least esteemed, received all 
 the votes of his associates for chief command, because each 
 one expected it for himself, and all voted for the man least 
 likely to be voted for. But it happened in the school that the 
 
The City of Utica. is 
 
 general outside was guilty of insubordiAation. Then must 
 come punishment,' and to his chargin the captain, Stuart, im- 
 ■ pressed • the lesson which all military men should heed : 
 " Tommy, you are my general out of school ; I am your gene- 
 ral in school." His military honors soon terminated. He has 
 had none since. His fellow-citizens have never been so careless 
 as to bestow upon him their suffrages. But he prides himself 
 as having had under his command, and "the boy is father to 
 the man," men of the loftiest civil, military and naval rank. 
 This is all the military or civil glory he has or to which he 
 aspires. 
 
 The forefathers of this village believed in a personal God. 
 They unitedly established worship without distinction of sect. 
 Roman Catholics and Protestants united for some time in 
 public worship in such hall as they could obtain. It is, I 
 believe, a well authenticated fact that John C. Devereux, a 
 distinguished Roman Catholic, carried around the plate to 
 gather contributions for the maintenance of worship. And 
 afterward, when from the influx of an Irish population it was 
 deemed for the public interest to found a Roman Catholic 
 Church, the people generally contributed to that end, and quite 
 a large wooden edifice, of graceful proportions, was erected at 
 the corner of John and Bleecker streets. I well remember the 
 first pi-iest of that church. Father Farnum. He was a person 
 of fine appearance and manners, and known familiarly in 
 society. I remember his oft kindly greeting when I was a boy. 
 The other clergy of that period were men of learning and 
 piety and held a commanding influence in the church. Few 
 of us can remember Henry Dwight — afterward the distinguished 
 banker of Geneva — but many will remember Elon Galusha, 
 Dr. Aikin, Dr. Bethune, Henry Anthon and William Plague. 
 What channel of public influence has not been followed by 
 your townsmen. 
 
 Upon what point can you stand of art, (Inman and Palmer 
 were of this village,) letters, science, philosophy, theology, law 
 or statesmanship — the Senate of thjs Union — the highest 
 judicial tribunals, State or National, and not feel. assured that 
 the impress of the minds of this valley is fell. It has been my 
 privilege to meet in different parts of this land citizens of 
 Utica, and they have all testified their pride of origin. 
 
1 6 Semi-Centennial of 
 
 It seems to me that all the highways have a beginning at 
 Utica. Certainly the avenvies to the Pacific slope, the course 
 of the electric current carrying words to and from all quarters 
 •of the globe, and the great express companies owe much,' if not 
 their beginning, to T. S. Faxton and John Butterfield. There 
 is one avenue yet for a son of Utica to tread, and it is not too 
 much to expect that at no remote period that to the White 
 House, will be trod in state by some one of your worthy sons. 
 
 There is a vast distinction between property and wealth, A 
 nation may spread itself over thirty' degrees of latitude and as 
 many of longitude and yet be poor indeed. On our southern 
 border lies a country sweeping south into the isthmus, and 
 washed on her eastern and western shores by the great oceans 
 ■of the world, upon which nature has bestowed latent resources 
 of wealth, rivaling those of ancient Egypt — the granary of the 
 then known world. And yet how poor ! Compare it with 
 England, so insignificant in her home territory that you might 
 place it upon a single province of Mexico. Not her beds of 
 ■coal nor iron, nor her ponderous engines, nor her valleys, nor 
 her hills, nor her cities or her towns, nor her armies or her 
 navies, but that life blood which circulates through all these 
 great arteries, pulsating with the swelling of her great heart, 
 makes her preeminent among the nations in wealth and power. 
 It is- the living man who touches with his wand the latent 
 powers of earth, and wealth flows forth to refresh and sustain. 
 
 Friends and townsmen, you may to-night permit me to, 
 address you with something of the prophet, but more of the 
 ■dogmatist in the well-known apostrophe to Cato — 
 
 " No pent up Utica contracts your powers. 
 But the whole boundless continent is yours. 
 
 WALTER B. CAMP. 
 
 Hon. Walter B. Camp of Sacketts Harbor, then 
 spoke on " Utica and the North," as follows: 
 
 The question may naturally arise in your minds why a 
 stranger to most of this assembly should be introduced, when 
 so many of your own and honored citizens are ready to pay 
 
The City of Utica. ly 
 
 homage to the good name of the city of their adoption or 
 birth, and to whom you are pleased always to give a listening 
 ear. I beg the privilege of entering into your joy this even- 
 ing, not as an apparent heir, but heir apparent by direct de- 
 scent to some of the rich legacies Utica has bequeathed with 
 unsparing hand to her favored and grateful children. She gave 
 our house an honored parentage, entered into under the ben- 
 edictions of that worthy divine, Henry Dwight. At this 
 favored hour we come to wave a censer of sweet odors in honor 
 of her name. 
 
 In 1809 Talcott Camp, our ancestor, was chosen Presi- 
 dent of the village of Utica, and this is the fiftieth anniversary 
 of his death among you, falling a victim to cholera, in 1832, on 
 its introduction and dreaded march over our continent How 
 fitting that he retire to rest, when the Utica of his love, the 
 child he fostered at the cradle, could stand at his bier adorned 
 in robes of full municipal power, to cast a token of her affec- 
 tionate regard. 
 
 Utica and Sacketts Harbor were closely allied by the stir- 
 ring events of the war of 1812. Through your valley and vil- 
 lage hastened troops from the east, carrying with them many 
 of your patriotic citizens to that lake port, zealous to defend ouir 
 land from invasion by the powers of Great Britain, or to be 
 aggressors upon the soil or the waters of our enemy. Nicholas 
 Smith is recorded as arriving to the distinction of Colonel. 
 Col. William Williams, with his companions, volunteered 
 instantly on the call for recruits, and in a few hours were 
 on their way to the Harbor. Notably among the hoys were 
 Theodore Faxton and that printer, Thurlow Weed, who still 
 lives, and but lately, with vigorous pen held up for emulation 
 the stalwart worth of your fathers. 
 
 Lusher. Van Santvoord & Co. furnished the army with sup- 
 plies, and met all the demands of trade by the means of river 
 and lake navigation. The first steamboat on lake Ontario, or 
 any lake, was built by M. T. Woolsey, Samuel P. Hooker, 
 Elisha Camp and Hunter Crane at Sacketts Harbor, in 1816, 
 Lusher, Smyth, and Gen. Jacob Brown claiming the right to 
 steam navigation upon this lake, by privilege from Mrs. Eob- 
 ert Pulton. 
 
1 8 Serni-Centennial of 
 
 When no longer the Mohawk river was desirable as a 
 medium of transportation, Mr. Van Santvoord made New York 
 his home, becoming foremost in establishing steamboat lines 
 of transportation on the fludson. His son Alfred, called the 
 Commodore, inherited his father's tastes, and now unchallenged 
 sends those swift palace steamers through the length of that 
 beautiful river. Utica having originated and being the great 
 stage center of the State, remained' in supreme command till 
 Faxton and Butterlield fired the fatal shaft at their own enter- 
 prise, by aiding or constructing the inevitable railroad. For 
 relief and fresh air Mr. Butterfield sent his coursers from Mis- 
 souri over the Indian territory, the 'stake plains of Texas, 
 through the canons to Santa Fe, till he marked the course for 
 another railroad to the Pacific. If the proclivities of this life 
 are followed in the better country, we may presume " Uncle 
 John" has driven his tandem team to the North Pole, and as 
 the last place on earth to press his leader, leaving there some 
 memento of his visit. 
 
 Expectations of a great city at the foot of all the lakes in- 
 duced merchants, artisans, professional men. divines, and that 
 wealthy innkeeper. White, from their avocations here, to be- 
 come citizens of Sacketts Harbor. My father, after the disso- 
 lution of the firm of Camp, Merrell & Camp, moved his press 
 there and started the first newspaper, in May 1817, calling it, 
 of course. The Gazette. In 1816 officers of the army and navy, 
 with our citizens, " called" Eev. Sidney Snowden of New 
 Hartford, wlio married Susan Breese, to be pastor of the Pres- 
 byterian Society. He was followed, in 1827, by the eccentric 
 and gifted evangelist, Jedediah Burchard. In 1836 you also 
 gave us George Wilson, whose memory is precious and his. 
 works impressed on your lives. In turn, we gave you the 
 gallant and brave Woolsey, and the Eeverend for whom Mr. 
 Burchard preached on a memorable Sabbath, and prayed "that 
 the Lord would give him a baptism of fire," for he had been . 
 feeding the people six years with water— diving into an ocean 
 o.f metaphysics and bringing up a continent of mud." He 
 then implored for " more fire and less water." Our commerce 
 flourished till the construction of the Rome and Watertown 
 Eailroad, in 1851, when our merchants sought the growino- 
 West, with which they had been closely allied. When Chicacr'o 
 
The City of Utica. ig 
 
 ■was a hamlet, they sent the first vessel that entered that creek 
 with 50 barrels of pork and the same of flour, as a venture. 
 The return of that cargo has been marvelous. Eailroads are 
 now traversing all the old stage routes to the lake and river. 
 Our merchants again are active, forwarding the products of land 
 and lake. The iron horses of Thorn & Maynard are refreshed 
 every few hours with a sip of water from Ontario. 
 
 A further notice of Talcott Camp seems appropriate at this 
 time. At the age of nineteen he left an unfinished course at 
 Yale, to engage in the War of Independence. Being attached 
 to the Commissary department, he was soon made aware of the 
 sufierings of the army, and her limited supplies. Immediate 
 action on the part of Washington was taken to prevent the 
 already disheartened troops from knowing the condition of 
 affairs and by sonie means secure subsistence before the rations 
 were exhausted — a dreaded calamity, for starvation ends 
 patriotism in mutiny and a lost cause. Our overweighted forces 
 were surrounded by the enemy who were ready to take advan- 
 tage of our misfortunes. Young Camp was chosen for the 
 emergency to convey to a distant post the information. Riding 
 all night and well into' Sunday, he overtook a man and wife 
 horseback, on saddle and pillion, going to church. An ex- 
 change of horses was requested, — to meet a decided refusal. 
 When the emergency was made known and the commandei"'s 
 orders to press into service all needful helps, the loyal and 
 losing owners of a splendid animal willingly gfive it up. "For 
 Washington says so." In a moment more the tireless rider 
 and the beautiful grey mare flying on their mission — supplies 
 were secured, and forwarded in time to avert the impending 
 disaster. 
 
 Before coming to Utica, he traveled into the far West, horse- 
 back, in company, so said, with the renowned Commodore Paul 
 Jones, to locate land, settling at last near Fort Washington. 
 Here he laid out what comprised half of the city of Cincinnati, 
 in 1828. An unfaithful or treacherous agent took advantage 
 of distance'and let this valuable possession pass out of keeping. 
 For no inducements or consideration would^the origiup,! owner 
 or his heirs distress the innocent occupants in after years. My 
 faiiier was ih that city during the winters- wf 1828-30, and at 
 ||ie time of the great flooS. At night he heard a call foi*help and 
 
20 Semi-Centennial of 
 
 periled his life in a small boat to rescue a young man clinging 
 to a tree top yet left unsubmerged. It proved to be the son of 
 the unprofitable agent. 
 
 His namesake and nephew, T. H. Camp, son of George 
 Camp, has for many years managed the largely increased in. 
 xerests of the Jefferson County Bank, Watertown, N. Y., as 
 President, of which F. White, before mentioned, was about its 
 first, in 1816. His brother, G. H. Camp, left Utica for Georgia 
 in 1842, and soon became interested in cotton manufacturing. 
 When Gen. Sherman broke the Kenesaw barrier for Atlanta, 
 his extensive works were given to the flames. They would 
 have remained uninjured, but for a "Truly Lile" young 
 spinner, with a little mill below, raising a French flag. He 
 and Napoleon, in Mexico, were going to "do the business,' 
 which flaunt was met by ordering my brother's establishments 
 burned,* by supposing him the offender. 
 
 Mr. Henry Merrill, son of Andrew Merrill and Harriet Camp, 
 left Utica in 1839, and the employ of the Walcotts, for the 
 South, and became a contractor and owner of cotton factories in 
 Georgia and Arkansas. During the laje civil war, he was 
 attached to Kilby Smith's Staff as Sjjsref Engineer, and was 
 entrusted also with means to purchase machinery in England 
 to construct factories in Texas. While there an end came of 
 the Confederacy. Mr. M. deposited the funds, half to the order 
 Iwf Kilby Smith and the other to the U. S., and with honorable 
 mention by Mr. Seward, returned to allegiance. 
 
 To show how ubiquitous your inhabitants are, I will relate 
 Mr. M.'s account of'a stage ride in Texas. Expecting an at- 
 tack from rangers for plunder, they wei'e not surprised at 
 hearing the driver say, " There they are," as he stopped the 
 stage. The party sprang from the vehicle with their revolvers, 
 to "do or die." Along an edge of elevated ground were the 
 enemy in position, standing in formidable array against the 
 moon." "What ye going to do?" says the driver. "These 
 screaming varmints are Cy-otes." A few months after Butter-, 
 field's driver (left in Dixie on secession) nudged ■ his passenger 
 on fiierPesee/straet vwtk'th*- suggestive inquiry: " I)id those 
 robbing ^Cy'-otfes evfer troj»blfi..yc« ^^aih-f " 
 
 *Q en.' Hooker. 
 
The City of Utica. 21 
 
 One unpublished incident I relate and finish. Your im- 
 agination will picture the road and vehicle that conveyed three 
 printers to New Hartford, with their instruments of music, 
 wherewith to make merry at the marriage of William Williams 
 and Sophia Wells. Thomas Hastings played before his com- 
 panions and friends, George Camp and Ira Merrill, the wedding 
 march composed for the occasion. Their rehearsal with 
 clarionet, bassoon and flute must have been satisfactory, for all 
 were .delighted with the stirring melody 
 
 How much the world, in its broadest sense, is indebted to the 
 parties of that hour, cah never be recorded. Wherever poetic 
 fire and sacred melody swell the "heavenly flame," Thomas 
 Hastings' name is revered. Ira Merrill had the gift of impress- 
 ing those in his employ to high and worthy motives, and im ■ 
 planting his virtues on his descendants. Of the other it is not 
 for me to eulogize ; his memory is sacred in our keeping. His 
 virtues are for others to praise. 
 
 Of William Williams, are not his name and deeds written in 
 the book of " The Pioneers ?" The results of that union have 
 effected " earth's remotest bounds." Their children have told 
 emperors, shahs and sultans " they are the inhabitants of no 
 mean city." Wells Williams, with the' gifted sons, stands to- 
 day alone preeminently above all men for his knowledge of 
 the Chinese language and empire, and is equaled by few for his 
 varied learning and qualities of heart. 
 
 Citizens of Utica, build your Wallhalla conspicuous and 
 ample. Preserve, in statue and painting the forms of your 
 ancestors and worthies. Eecord the deeds of your states- 
 men and divines, merchants and projectors of great enter- 
 prises, and don't forget the printers' corner. 
 
 Note. — Mr. Camp was a twin brother, married Nancy Hale, twin sister 
 with Eunice (daughter of Captain Jonathan Hale who died on Jamaica 
 Plains, 1776) and had born to him twins, Nancy and Eunice. The latter 
 married Mr. W. P. Potter and became the mother of twin daughters. Dr. 
 H. C. Potter, Mrs. Helen Warner, Mary and Elizabeth still survive her and 
 deserve honorable mention. 
 
22 Semi-Centennml of 
 
 REV. DR. D. G. COREY. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Corey spoke of the "Clergy of Utica," 
 as follows : 
 
 Mr. Chairman — I have been requested to occupy five or ten 
 minutes on this occasion, and devote them to some thoughts 
 concerning former ministers of the gospel in this city. Of 
 course, in so short a time, the view presented must necessarily 
 be very imperfect. 
 
 The history of Utica, like all other cities in this Christian 
 land, has been associated with the presence, power and influ- 
 ence of the Christian pulpit. From the beginning, good men, 
 and true, by the inculcation of the great principles of religion 
 and morality, have contributed to our temporal and religious 
 prosperity as a city. My personal acquaintance with some 60 
 of these men, since 1842, enables me to speak positively of 
 their moral worth, and devotion to every good word and work- 
 
 Among the number of ministers who have labored in this 
 city, there were some men of marked ability, and extensive 
 influ ence in the various denominations to which they belonged. 
 
 Among these were Samuel C Aikin, D. D., who was pastor 
 of the First Presbyterian Church eighteen years. He was a 
 model man in character, a good preacher, and greatly beloved 
 by all the people. P. H. Fowler, D. D., was pastor of the 
 same church twenty-two years. His influence for good will 
 long be felt in the city. Dr. Pierre A. Proal, for twenty-one 
 years, was rector of Trinity Church. He was a man of command- 
 ing presence, and of decided influence among his own people 
 and in the city generally. Eev. Elon Galusha, William Hague, 
 D. D., and Edward Kingsford, D. D., of the Broad Street 
 Baptist Church— now Tabernacle, were men of uncommon 
 pulpit power. My predecessor in the Bleecker Street Baptist 
 Church, was Edward Bright, D. D., now publisher and editor 
 of " The Examiner,'' printed in the city of New 'York. As, 
 the first religious organization in our city was composed of 
 •Wei* citizens, recefttly from Wale§, as^.an»act of Justice, it 
 should be said, that from ^gOl, juatilthe present, Religion? ser- 
 vices have been sustained in the* Welsh laipijage. , Amqng 
 the ministers have been some men of great ability, and effi- 
 
The City of Utica. 2j 
 
 ciency in this work. Dr. Brandegee was the laborious rector of 
 Grace Church. After struggling against disease for years, he 
 fell in the midst of his usefulness. Among the large number 
 of Methodist ministers who have labored in the city, "William 
 Bristol, D. D., deserves special mention as an eloquent preacher 
 and eminently patriotic during our recent war. Samuel Fisher, 
 D. D., of the Westminster Church, was a prince among preach- 
 ers. He was suddenly stricken down in connection with his 
 highest usefulness. Not to speak depreciatingly of others, 
 two men, former pastors of theEeformed Church, deserve special 
 mention as men of eminent ability. Dr. Henry Mandeville 
 was eminent as an elocutionist, both as a teacher and preacher. 
 G. W. Bethune, D. D., was a ripe scholar and an attractive 
 preacher. He was not always as careful as some others, per- 
 haps, to show the clergyman by speech, coat and hat. Not 
 unfrequently he enjoyed a pure witticism and a dry joke. For 
 example, one day he made some inquiry of a gentleman in 
 this city — now dead — as to his personal interest in the subject 
 of religion. "0 !" said the gentleman, "I inherited my religion 
 from my father." "Well," said Dr. Bethune, "your father must 
 have had very little rehgion or a large number of children to 
 supply." This is all that the time will allow me to say upon 
 the subject assigned me. I close by simply saying, that em- 
 bracing all denominations, we have now thirty-two churches in 
 our city. 
 
 Dr. P. Melfi, of the Philharmonic Orchestra, 
 played his piccolo solo, La Flute Enchantee, in ex- 
 quisite style and was warmly applauded. 
 
 HON. JOHN F. SEYMOUR. 
 
 Before openmg his address Mr. Seymour said he 
 was curious to know how Chairman Bacon kept his 
 time, and fearing that he would not be correct, he 
 would keep his own time. If he was permitted he 
 would like to give part of his time to his old friend, 
 
2^ Semi-Centennial of 
 
 Mr. Clarke of Yonkers, with whom he used to race 
 
 down Genesee street. (Laughter.) 
 
 Judge Bacon — Who won the race ? (Laughter.) 
 Mr. Seymour then spoke as follows on "Our 
 
 Charities :" 
 
 To speak of the charities of fifty years ago is to speak of the 
 sainted women of that time, who liere, as well as in other 
 portions of our new country, so lived and helped others to live 
 as to cause that reverence for women which I trust will always 
 characterize the men of America. 
 
 When roads began to stretch out towards the west through 
 the forest there was no despairing poverty, but a new world of 
 hope before all. To every new-comer sympathy and encour- 
 agement were always extended. The settlers were mostly from 
 New England. After a while the thrifty Welsh appeared 
 among us ; the women, wearing tall hats, carried knitting in 
 their hands as they passed through our streets ; and then as 
 canals and other works were called for, Ireland, that birthplace 
 of workers, sent over her people. The forests began to dis- 
 appear from our hillsides ; this was no longer the far west ; the 
 throng of enaigrants passed beyond us to unoccupied fields, 
 but many, captivated by the beautiful valley of the Mohawk, 
 made this their home, and thus, by magic, our city grew. 
 Jason Parker carried the first mail and established a line of 
 stages, and a Butterfield, and a Faxton were among the drivers 
 to acquire wealth and means to apply their hands to enterprises 
 greater than ever entered the minds of their employers. With 
 the population of a city came its unfortunates, its needs, and 
 then the commencement of systematic charities. 
 
 Mrs. Divie Bethune, the mother of the Eev. Dr. Bethune, 
 came among us, and a school to teach young children to sew 
 and to read was established in the old brick Methodist Church 
 at the foot of Main street, and Mrs. Sophia Bagg, and Mrs. 
 Judge Morris Miller and Mrs. Varick were its managers. Sub- 
 sequently, when a change of location became necessary, John 
 K. Bleecker of Albany, built for the use of this school, the 
 brick building on Bleecker street, now occupied by the estab- 
 lishment of Mr. Jules Doux. 
 
The City of Utica. 2^ 
 
 In 1826 a Society of Industry was established, of which 
 Mrs. Sophia Bagg was president and treasurer, and Mrs. Ann 
 Breese was secretary. Subsequently three children " were 
 suddenly left by the death of their parents without protection 
 or means of support." Mrs. Bagg brought before her associates 
 the case of these three children and at her suggestion it was 
 determined that the society should not only support these 
 orphans, but that an orphan asylum should be estabhshed. 
 And accordingly a charter was drawn up, and on the 7th day 
 of January, 1830, a public meeting for the organization of this 
 asylum was held at Washington Hall, on Broad street. Mrs. 
 Maria W. Williams was made first directress, _ Mrs. Jerusha 
 Lotbrop, second, and Mrs. Sophia Bagg, third directress; Mrs. 
 Ann H. Denio, secretary ; Mrs. Eliza Goodrich, Mrs. Abby 
 L. Johnson, Mrs. Esther O. Dorr, Mrs. Abigail Bacon and Mrs. 
 Martha Hastings, managers. Thomas H. Hubbard, Asahel 
 Seward, Joseph Kirkland and Henry Seymour were made an 
 advisory committee. Descendants of some of those whose 
 names I have mentioned are still found among the managers 
 of this institution, which is now self-supporting. It now owns 
 four acres of land (three of Vhich were donated by B. F. Jewett 
 and his sister) on Grenesee street, with suitable brick buildings 
 accommodating 140 children, with school rooms and admirable 
 teachers, and plenty of play ground, and with money invested 
 sufficient to maintain it. So many have helped to sustain and 
 endow this valuable institution — now filled to overflowing — 
 that I am afraid if I mentioned the names of Alfred Munson, 
 Mr. and Mrs. Silas D. Childs, J. R. Warner, Francis Ramsdell, 
 Dr. Samuel Healey of Syracuse, Benjamin F. Shaw, Theodore 
 S. Paxton, Mrs. Alfred Churchill, Nicholas Vedder, Hiram 
 Munroe of Paris, A. Wilmot of New Hartford, William Bris- 
 tol, Eobert Disney, J. B. Wasmer, Sevilla Dudgeon and 
 Augustus White, I shall omit many others, as time would not 
 suflB.ce to mention them all and I am compelled to stop for 
 want of permission to give the name of our " unknown friend." 
 
 There is also another orphan asylum, called St. John's, which 
 was founded by John C. Devereux and Nicholas Devereux. 
 They paid of their own money over $10,000 for lots and 
 buildings located upon them for the purposes of this asylum, 
 and for several years they largely contributed to maintain this 
 
26 Semi-Centennial of 
 
 valuable institution, which subsequently became partially self- 
 supporting with the aid of annual donations from other 
 sources. The success of this asylum is wonderful. It mam- 
 tains and clothes an annual average of 100 orphan girls, whose 
 lives show how admirably it is conducted. 
 
 And there is St. Vincent's Male Orphan Asylum occupied 
 by the managers of the Protectorate and Eeformatory^ for 
 destitute children from Oneida and adjacent counties, located 
 on Eutger street ; this is largely attended. 
 
 A Home for the Homeless aged and indigent or infirm 
 women, who are unable to support themselves, was founded in 
 1867. Theodore S. Faxton contributing $20,000 and other 
 citizens $27,000. Here sixty-one aged women find comfortable 
 homes. 
 
 There is also a Home for Old Men which contains twenty 
 inmates with room for more ; it is not endowed, but is dependent 
 upon the donations of our citizens. The managers of this 
 home are women, they owe nothing, they have no money but 
 would like some. A portion of their building is occupied as a 
 hospital, called Faxton Hospital. It cost not less than $50,000, 
 and was donated by Mr. Faxton, and he leaves by his will 
 $25,000 additional for the support of the Hospital, which has 
 already treated many patients and accomplished much good. 
 
 We have also the St. Elizabeth Hospital, which was estab- 
 lished by the Sisters of St. Francis, in 1866, and who by their 
 devotion and skillful nursing have maintained it in successful 
 operation from that year to this. It will compare favorably 
 with any other hospital in the land. Connected with it is an 
 eye and ear dispensary, which, since 1870, has taken care of 
 3,300 cases gratuitously. Nearly every operation known to 
 surgery has been successfully performed in this hospital. It 
 is sustained by private charity, and occasionally by patients 
 who can afford to pay. 
 
 St. Luke's Home and Hospital, located west of St. Eliza- 
 beth's, is successfully maintained under the auspices of the 
 Episcopal Church, but by donations from people of all denomi- 
 nations. It does a noble and great work. The arrangement 
 of its rooms makes it more like a private hospital and hom'e 
 than almost any institution I know. It is successful in the 
 treatment of the sick, its doors are open to all conditions and 
 
The City of Utica. 2j 
 
 creeds of suffering humanity, and the amount of good accom- 
 plished is so great that I regret that I can not mention the 
 names of its many donors. But I am sure that I shall be 
 pardoned if I mention the name of Truman K. Butler, whose gifts 
 of lands and buildings have made so much good possible. 
 
 The House of the Good Shepherd, in Bast Utica, incor- 
 porated in 1872, for the care, maintenance and instruction of 
 friendless, neglected or destitute children, in-espective of age, 
 sect, creed or condition. This institution is supported by our 
 citizens, and has not room for all who apply for its care. 
 
 Some time in the summer of 1853 a committee consisting of 
 the late William Tracy, James Watson Williams and H. H. 
 Fish was appointed to mature plans and m-ake specifications 
 and estimates of cost of a suitable building for a City Hospital, 
 to be submitted to the Common Council. The principal labor 
 of this committee devolved upon Mr. Fish, who, after visiting 
 the hospitals of other cities submitted the plan of our hospital 
 on South street, which was adopted, and the buildings were 
 subsequently erected under his joint supervision with the late 
 Thomas Lane, for a little less than $14,000, showing the possi- 
 bility of then securing fair equivalents in public as in private 
 transactions. Some repairs and modifications have of course 
 from time to time been made to adapt these buildings to 
 changing exigencies of the service. But they still stand intact 
 in their general features, and, after the lapse of more than a 
 quarter of a century, give gratifying evidence (in the present 
 condition of both material and workmanship) of the fidelity 
 and skill of William Metcalf and the late James Brady, who 
 built them. Here our Charity Commissioners have been able 
 to greatly extend the field of their usefulness by introducing 
 order and system and consequently securing economy in the 
 administration of our charities. During the last year 191 
 patients were received at this hospital. 
 
 Faxton Hall, as it is called, cost about $12,000, in addition 
 to the land upon which it is located, and was given by Mr. 
 Faxton to the city for the benefit of the operatives of the Globe 
 Woolen Company and Steam Cotton Mills, and for evening 
 schools, lecture room and library. 
 
 The beautiful mortuary chapel at the cemetery, which cost 
 $15,000, was paid for by Mrs. Eoxanna Childs, a daughter of 
 Jason Parker, whose name I have already mentioned. 
 
28 Sejni-Ceniennial of 
 
 In addition to these charitable and benevolent societies, there- 
 are 19 others which I would like to present to your considera- 
 tion on this occasion if time permitted. I have not even men- 
 tioned the State Lunatic Asylum in our city, which is One of 
 the largest public charities in this country. It was opened 
 January 16, 1843, and has admitted within its walls 14,451 
 patients bereft of reason, the most pitiable of all objects, but 
 it has restored to reason 5,270. From its long and successful! 
 course, it has become the foremost institution of its kind in' 
 this country, and perhaps in the world. With its hundreds of 
 patients, and with its attendants, it is like a village in popula- 
 tion. Very few, even in our own midst, are aware of the amount 
 of good accomplished by this great institution. 
 
 I must not fail to mention our Savings Bank as one of the 
 charitable institutions of Utica with its Devereux and Wil- 
 liams and Childs and Denio and Wetmore and others. 
 
 The benevolence which characterized the early history of 
 Utica has not died out from among us. The beautiful spire of 
 Grace Church, which points to heaven as the source of all 
 charity, stands, also to record the liberality of one who furnished 
 the means-to build it. In the winter of 1876 and 1877, when 
 thousands of honest men were idle, one individual alone fed 
 from 350 to 400 persons daily, from the 1st of January to the 
 1st of Mai'ch. Assembling, in the twilight of those winter 
 mornings, men, women and children came long distances for 
 their warm morning meal and returned with their pails full for 
 those at home. When the full light of the last day shall be 
 shed upon the world, it will reveal thousands of charitable 
 deeds now unknown. It is impossible in the ten minutes 
 allowed me to mention even the names of those whose good 
 works are well-known. We have but to lift our eyes heaven- 
 ward and behold what a throng of just men made perfect, and 
 what countless numbers of sainted women fill the vision of our 
 recollection. 
 
The City of Ulica. 2g 
 
 HON. B. B. BURT. 
 
 Chairman Bacon said he took pleasure in introduc- 
 ing his old pupil, Hon. B. B. Burt, of Oswego, who 
 would speak on " Our Sister Cities." Mr. Burt, after 
 a brief introduction, said: 
 
 I was not born in Oneida county, but I was born in Onon- 
 daga county when it joined Oneida on the west at Oswego. 
 My father had a farm where is now the city of Oswego, and I 
 ■could look from this into Oneida county. I came to Utica in 
 1836 and entered the law oflfice of Kirkland & Bacon, and con- 
 tinued there till J uly, 1837, when I was admitted to practice. 
 I practiced in Oswego till 1841, and in 1844 returned to Utica. 
 During that stay in Utica I gained many pleasant recollec- 
 tions. I became acquainted in the city very generally. I be- 
 came acquainted with my wife and did my courting here, and 
 that, if for no other reason, is why I have a strong attachment 
 to Utica. In regard to our sister cities, I have learned one 
 -thing. Utica bears a very high position in the scale of the 
 ■cities of the State of New York. There were only five 
 cities incorporated in this State prior to Utica. They 
 were New York, Albany, Troy, Hudson and Schenectady. In 
 1832, the same year that Utica was incorporated, Buffalo was 
 also incorporated. In 1834, Brooklyn, which has now 550,- 
 000 inhabitants, had its charter. Rochester was incorporated 
 the same year ; Syracuse in 1847 ; Auburn and Oswego in 
 1848-; Poughkeepsie in 1854; Newburg and Lockport in 
 1865; Ogdensburg in 1868; Rome in 1870; Binghamton in 
 1867; Kingston in 1872, and so on. There are now in the 
 State of New York 23 cities ; 17 have been incorporated since 
 Otica was. I have been in all these cities and know some- 
 thing of all of them. I think they compare favorably with 
 the cities of any other state in the Union. I can speak more 
 particularly of Oswego. Of Utica I can tell you little that is 
 new. When I was born, Oneida county extended to the 
 Oswego river. You had a port of entry on Lake Ontario. 
 The whole of northern New York comprised only two customs 
 districts, which were formed in 1792. The first collector at 
 
oQ Semi-Centennial of 
 
 Oswego was an uncle of mine. He was appointed March 3, 
 1793. I have in my pocket his commission signed by Thomas 
 Jefferson and James Madison, and I prize it highly. For 
 several years Oswego did not amount to much as a collection 
 office. The collections did not amount to enough to pay tjhe 
 collector's salary. Oswego county was organized and carved 
 out of Oneida and Onondaga counties March 1, 1816, just 
 sixteen years prior to the organization of your city. The cus- 
 toms have increased from that small amount until last year 
 they reached $1,100,000. Oswego is about the sixth or seventh 
 port of entry in the United States. This speaks well of 
 Oswego, which was formerly your port of entry. I believe 
 there is no better place to live in than Oswego to-day. With 
 its fine water powers, large manufactories- 
 Here the hammer fell amid the applause of the 
 audience. 
 
 HON. ELLIS H. ROBERTS. 
 
 " The Mental and Industrial Activity of Utica " 
 was the subject of Hon. Ellis H. Roberts, who was 
 greeted with applause and spoke as follows . 
 
 In sooth it was 
 
 " A goodly place, a goodly time, 
 
 For it was in the golden prime 
 
 Of good Hai-oun Alrasohid." 
 
 The legend on your programme, copied from a medal issued 
 at the time of the opening of the Erie canal, in 1824, claims 
 that Utica was " inferior to no village in the western section 
 of the state, in poptilation, wealth, commercial enterprise, 
 active industry and civil improvement." The claim at least 
 indicates the standard which the inhabitants set up for them- 
 selves. In 1832, the city, with 9,000 population, ranked third 
 in the State, its assessed valuation was $2,6T2,o75, its schools 
 and churches were fully adequate to the demands, it was fore- 
 most in establishing manufactures on the musical streams 
 which rippled in its vicinity ; within its own borders it had a 
 
The City of Utica. 3/ 
 
 marvelous diversity of industry, it was affluent in voluntary 
 organizations for culture and moral progress, and for intellec- 
 tual breadth and vigor no part of the commonwealth surpassed 
 it "We have now a population of 35,000, with an assessed 
 valuation of $16,914,825, and we have inherited all that the 
 brains and culture of that day sowed in this soil. 
 
 We come here with a large measure, not to speak it profanely, 
 of conceit in our well-being and in our reputation. For myself 
 I confess that I am proud of Utica. It was my cradle and it 
 shall be my grave. The delectable mountains continue as fifty 
 years ago to look down upon it from every side. The creeks 
 still flow, perhaps with less charming melody as with less of 
 volume, than then. We are still here in the Long House of the 
 Iroquois, in the pathway of empire, and the growing current 
 of the world's traffic passes our doors. We love the city, as we 
 honor it in its Semi-Centennial Anniversary to-night, and we 
 would decorate it and make it continually worthy of its early 
 history. 
 
 That was a notable community -which dwelt here fifty years 
 ago. The mental and industrial activity which those nine 
 thousand men, women and children exhibited, is not often 
 excelled in any land. What they did and what they were 
 it requires some grasp of mind to appreciate. Out of their 
 number arose the leaders in building telegraphs, in pushing the 
 overland mail, in extending communication in many parts of 
 the country, as here they centered for a while the stage routes 
 of this part of the state when stages were the fastest ministers 
 of travel. With 9,000 population, Utica had among its 
 citizens, Parker, Faxton, Butterfield, Munson, and their fellows. 
 Can we match them to-day in dash and courage, and that in- 
 domitable will which compels success ? If we could do that, 
 can we show their equals multiplied four-fold, as our greater 
 population requires? The present rank of our cotton manu- 
 factures in the world's markets is a source of worthy pride, 
 and our woolen fabrics challenge comparison with the best 
 anywhere produced. Our shoes make beautiful the feet of 
 maidens all over the continent; and in men's clothing and knit 
 goods the production is very large. But after these industries- 
 what has modern Utica to exhibit for the industrial achieve- 
 ments of this generation ? Concede full credit to the revival 
 
02 Semi-Centennial of 
 
 of manufactures now so manifest ; it is in cotton, in which 
 Oneida county was a pioneer. This is well, but that prosperity 
 is safest which after the fashion of half a century ago, rests on 
 the broad base of diversified production. 
 
 Let me not declare that there may not be to day in our 
 streets, perhaps in this audience, some village Hampden, some 
 Milton, yet mute and inglorious, who may hereafter 
 " Read their history in a nation's eyes." 
 
 But I do not see about us the temper and the spirit which 
 elicited the wonderful activity and development of fifty years 
 ago. The young men of those days were studious, thoughtful, 
 with talent which arose in many cases to genius. There were 
 poets then whose productions may not have won fame, but 
 they are like the song of Longfellow, 
 
 " From beginning to end, 
 Pound again m the heart of a friend." 
 
 No village of its size sent so many missionaries abroad to 
 preach the gospel as the Utica of the half century past, and the 
 names of Wilhams, Bennett and their associates adorn the 
 martyr list. 
 
 Fifty years ago Utica contained young men who are among 
 the foremost in their vocations, not only here at home, but in 
 all parts of the United States. P. S. Winston holds a rank at 
 the head of one of the greatest institutions of this age. Edward 
 Bright still adorns the profession which he entered upon here 
 before our charter was adopted, and religious journalism may 
 well honor him as one of its fathers. Henry Ivison, then a 
 bookbinder here, now a prominent publisher in the metropolis, 
 illustrates the intelligence and worth of the skilled mechanics 
 of Utica's early days. E. D. Palmer, fifty years ago, among 
 our residents, and soon to become a skillful model-maker, was 
 doubtless beginning to dream of the Sleeping Peri, the White 
 Captive, and the Angel at the Sepulcher, which were to crown 
 him as a master in the art of sculpture. Time will not let us fol- 
 low those who,in so many walks,have honored their old home,but 
 recall this one fact. Among those who were boys here half a 
 century ago, were developed professors in the universities of 
 Yale, Harvard, Cornell, Madison, and the theological seminaries 
 of Lane and Auburn. What other town of like size has such a 
 
The City of Utica. 33 
 
 record ? All of these left us more than a generation ago, and 
 all except one were natives here. It is at least curious that 
 since the boys of the half century, Dana and Williams now at 
 Yale, Gray at Harvard, Morris at Cornell, and Beebe at Madi- 
 son, and Morris at Lane, and Upson at Auburn, Utica has 
 furnished only two professors in any college — Lewis at Madi- 
 son, and Mann at the Buffalo Medical College. Such a change 
 in the ratio is noteworthy, and suggests inquiry. Will you tell 
 me the cause ? 
 
 Let me not disparage my neighbors, but can any one show 
 me any such ratio of work and progress among our 35,000 
 people as that little band of fifty years ago presents ? Concede 
 that the natural capacity is here. The institutions are lacking 
 for its development. So the fire, the power, the spirit are not 
 visible. You may tell me that mind is as fruitful here now as 
 then ; that genius is as daring, as constructive, as progressive. 
 The proof of the allegation is not forthcoming. 
 
 I am not to trench upon the field assigned to others, and 
 therefore do nothing more than allude to the glories of our Bar, 
 and to the political record of the city in the recent past. That 
 diversion explains in part the lack of candidates for distinction 
 in other walks. But in estimating Utica of fifty years ago, re- 
 member that out of 9,000 population blossomed these flowers 
 which in science, and literature, in self-sacrificing missionary 
 service, in the sphere of productive industry and of material 
 enterprise, you so much admire. 
 
 We have grown in wealth, and luxury has come in full 
 degree. Our industries have been concentrated. Our people 
 have become cautious, and have fortified their position rather 
 than attempted new ventures. Capital sleeps and is selfish. 
 Talent is indolent or is self-seeking. Enterprise is timid and 
 lacks foresight. Industry runs in ruts and is not creative. In 
 some departments we have no need to be ashamed ; in or- 
 ganized charities, as Mr. Seymour has so well told you, the 
 best spirit of the fathers is preserved in its vitality. Of political 
 influence the city has maintained its full share. Can we boast 
 anything like the public spirit of the citizens of half a century 
 ago? The secret of diversity of industry has been thrown 
 away. The zeal for intellectual achievements for its own sake 
 does not bear fruit, if it exists. 
 
j^ Semi-Centennial of 
 
 The age of Pericles gave to Athens its glory and its adorn- 
 ments. After that period it began to totter towards its de- 
 cadence. A city can not live on its reputation. Multiply by 
 four the demands of Utica as they were in 1832, and this gene- 
 ration must respond to them. Individual benefactions for the 
 common good have not been too numerous in our days. Childs 
 and Faxton were young men here fifty years ago. Who will 
 follow them' in liberality for culture and religion and 
 charity \ Other cities, like Cincinnati, when wealth increases, 
 find that some of the surplus is devoted to parks which beautify, 
 to public edifices which educate and inspire, to libraries which 
 are the arsenal and armory of intellectual training and con- 
 quest. 
 
 The half-century bids this generation arise and go forward. 
 We cannot rival other cities in population. We can make 
 Utica increasinglv the most attractive home in the land. We 
 can cherish art and culture, while we add impetus to our pro- 
 ductive industries. We can surround our youth with every 
 influence which ennobles and elevates. We can set at work 
 the causes which will call forth out of the callow elements 
 about us the successors of those who in every place adorn the 
 memory of Utica, and illustrate whatever is most beneficent 
 and worthiest in mental and industrial activity. 
 
 SENATOR KERNAN. 
 
 The orchestra played, and then Chairman Bacon 
 
 said the audience would have the pleasure of listening 
 
 to our distinguished fellow citizen, Hon. Francis 
 
 Kernan. The audience applauded and Senator 
 
 Kernan spoke as follows: 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen • -I thank the gentlemen who origi- 
 nated and have arranged this commemoration of the birthday 
 of the city of Utica. I heartily approve of the practice of 
 publicly celebrating important events in the history and prog- 
 ress of our country. Such celebrations keep in memory the 
 virtues of those who have passed from earth ; and they tend 
 to stimulate the living to follow their example. 
 
The City of Utica. 35 
 
 The character of a city, the estimation in which it is held, 
 depends upon tlie characteristics and conduct of its people — 
 upon the manner in which they discharge their private and 
 public duties. 
 
 Utica has been fortunate in the character of its people. I 
 do not speak of those now living. We must be judged by 
 those who succeed us. I speak of those who lived in Utica 
 fifty yeare ago, and many years afterwai-ds, but wh.o have now 
 passed from earth. As a whole, thej" so acted their part that 
 they made for our beautiful city a reputation of which we may 
 justly be proud. They were a law-abiding, patriotic people. 
 In every walk of life they exhibited intelligence, industry, 
 energy and honesty. They were not wanting in zeal and lib- 
 erality for the prosperity of our city, and the spiritual and 
 temporal welfare of its inhabitants. They never failed to re- 
 spond generously to appeals to their charity and benevolence. 
 
 I have been asked to speak briefly in reference to the Bar of 
 th.e city of Utica, as it was when the city '^as organized. As 
 a member of the legal profession and as a citizen of Utica, it 
 gives me pleasure to do so. The Bar of Oneida County 
 justly acquired at an early day a high character for learning, 
 ability and integritv. Utica has contributed its full share of 
 leading members of the legal profession in the country. 
 Among those who resided in our city half a century ago, were 
 Samuel Beardsley, Greene C. Bronson, Joseph Kirkland, Wil- 
 liam H. Maynard, Hiram Denio, Joshua A. Spencer, William 
 Curtiss Noyes, Thomas E. Clarke, Walter King, David Wager, 
 Charles A. Mann, William Tracy, John Bradish, John H. 
 Edmonds, Thomas H. Flandrau, J. Watson Williams, E. A. 
 Wetmore. These are no longer living. They were able lawyers. 
 They were honest, honorable members of our Utica bar. They 
 did not pursue their profession in a mercenary spirit They 
 never encouraged needless htigation. They, with zeal and fidel- 
 ity, sought what they believed to be justice for their clients by 
 honest and honorable means — and by these means alone. 
 Beardsley and Bronson was each attorney general for our state, 
 and each of them was a justice of the supreme court of the State 
 New York. Denio was the circuit judge and vice chancellor of 
 of the fifth circuit for a number of years, and afterwards a 
 judge, and also chief justice of the court of appeals of this 
 
j6 Semi- Centennial of 
 
 state. Beardsley, Bronson and Denio were learned, and just 
 judges. Their monuments will be found in the records of the 
 highest courts of our state. There are other distinguished 
 members of the legal profession who were associates in Utica 
 of those I have named. But they are still living and hence I 
 do not speak of them. May it be long before we are called 
 upon to mourn their loss. I will mention, however, two mem- 
 bers of the Utica bar who were younger in the profession than 
 those I have named, but who were largely associated with them 
 during life and who sleep with them now. I refer to Alex- 
 ander S. Johnson and Charles H. Doolittle. Each was a dis- 
 tinguished and learned lawyer; each served upon the bench 
 with usefulness to the public and with credit to himself. 
 
 The gentlemen whom I have named were not only leading 
 and honored members of the legal profession, they were esti- 
 mable, public spirited and useful citizens of our city. They 
 did their part in promoting its prosperity, and in giving to it 
 the good repute which -it enjoys. 
 
 May we of the present generation do our duty as faithfully 
 as our predecessors, and may our beautiful city during the 
 next fifty years be even more prosperous and her people more 
 happy than during the last half century. 
 
 JOHN C. HOADLEY. 
 
 In the absence of Mr. Fargo of Buffalo, who was 
 to give congratulations, John C. Hoadlej, of Boston, 
 was called on. After a brief introduction Mr. Hoad- 
 ley said : 
 
 I cannot quite claim to be a native of Utica. My eyes first 
 opened to the light fifty miles from Utica, and about half a 
 dozen years before I came here. But if memory be part of 
 living, let me say that my memory first awoke when I came 
 here. My memory goes back to the first of January, 1825, 
 when the completion of the Erie canal was celebrated with 
 fireworks. I remember the occasion when General LaFayette 
 passed through on a packet boat and how he patted on the 
 head a boy who had acquired great skill in beating the snare 
 
The City of Utica. 3J 
 
 drum. Utica was a small town then, but the stamp of progress 
 was on it, which stamp it bears to-day. The lower end of 
 Genesee street was a fine placfe, as it is to-day. It is as much 
 to-day as it was then. I recognize the front of the old 
 Ontario Branch Bank. It would be unnecessary to say that 
 in those days there were no railroads and telegraphs. There 
 were even no matches ; even the old lucifer matches had 
 not come into use. Utica had the old First Presbyterian 
 Church. ■ It is true another edifice occupies the site now ; but 
 to me who saw the spire of the old First Presbyterian Church 
 over the Deerfield hills, on my way to Potsdam school, and two 
 years later in returning; to those of us who remember the old 
 house as it stood in its grandeur, with its spire soaring up 
 higher than any other has since ; to us nothing soared so near 
 heaven as the spire of this church. I have since then stood 
 under many domes and have seen the tall domes of the Yo 
 Semite, but nothing soars so near heaven as the spire of that 
 old church. 
 
 It is about forty years since I left you, but I always carry 
 around with me an atmosphere made up of the kindness, hospi- 
 tality and generosity which I received from men who were 
 then prominent in Utica. I remember General Kirkland, the 
 first Mayor of Utica, and remember well his election. I re- 
 member also Joshua A. Spencer, Samuel Beardsley, Samuel 
 Farwell, Holmes Hutchinson, Dr. P eckham. Dr. McCall; and 
 others. And wherever I go I remember their kind, courteous 
 and generous recognition which has surrounded me like an 
 atmosphere, and has given me confidence. I thank you for 
 your attention, and shall carry away an enduring remembrance 
 of this new kindness and courtesy on your part. [Applause.] 
 
 HON. DE WITT C. GROVE. 
 
 Judge Bacon said they would now hear about " Our 
 Early Publishers," from Hon. De Witt C. Grove, of 
 the Observer. Mr. Grove spoke as follows : 
 
 The early publishers of Utica, whom I am expected to com- 
 memorate, were printers, moved by their own enterprise and 
 encouraged by local public spirit, to establish newspapers in 
 
j8 Semi-Centennial of 
 
 new settlements, where readers were few and advertisers far 
 between. They struggled for existence as best they could? 
 their main purpose being, as with' their successors, to make an 
 honest living. To a great degree, they were their own editors, 
 set their own type, mailed their own papers, and collected their 
 own accounts. If a more promising field opened to them, they 
 removed without hesitation and with little trouble. Many of 
 their papers bad but a short lease of life. The Whitestown 
 Gazette, our earliest newspaper, established at New Hartford, 
 in 1793, was removed to Utica in 1798, and five years there- 
 after was absorbed by a younger and more prosperous rival. 
 The Utica Observer, established at Utica in 1816, was removed 
 to Eome in 1818, becoming then the Oneida Observer. In 
 1819 it came back to Utica and resumed its original name. 
 Others changed pastures with equal facility, or dropped out of 
 existence as quietly. The success of our early publishers is 
 not to be measured by comparison with present standards, for 
 the modern newspaper is essentially a modern creation. Of 
 many of them little is remembered except their names and 
 their good repute. But their work was useful, and recognized 
 as such. The publisher was respected and honored. The 
 business of printing was considered a profession. There is a 
 professor of the art now living among us who remembers when 
 he was asked if he " practiced " printing. 
 
 By the time Utica assumed the dignity of a city, however, 
 the business of publishing had put on something of its modern 
 character. Our newspapers, although small and issued but 
 once a week, were journals of importance and reputation, read 
 at home and quoted abroad. And there was also in Utica a 
 lively development in the line of religious publications, which 
 acquired large circulation and extended influence. The names 
 of Northway, Dauby, and the Maynards, of Skinner and the 
 brothers Grosh, of Deacon Bennett and his associates, and of 
 the choice spirits who clustered about the office of the Friend 
 of Man, are fresh in the recollection of those familiar with our 
 early city life. I think it may truthfully be said of them all, 
 that they were men well fitted for their respective tasks, men 
 of excellent intentions and effective practice, that they made 
 themselves felt within the community and were an influence 
 for good without, and that they are entitled to a fall share of 
 
The City of Utica. jg 
 
 the credit of establishing the character and reputation of Utica. 
 Their example was good, and affected for good all who grew 
 up within their influence. 
 
 Generally the early publisher was his own editor, but in 
 some cases others were employed, and frequently leading poli- 
 ticians took a hand in editorial work — to advance their peculiar 
 views or their personal interests. Sometimes this worked well. 
 Politicians worked themselves into the legislature, and even into 
 congress, through this instrumentality. In many more cases 
 they missed the object at which they aimed. Sometimes the 
 outside editor got the concern into trouble. This misfortune 
 happened to one Quartus Graves, a publisher who moved his 
 paper here from Waterville in the early city days. In 1835 
 his editorial help became infected with the abolition taint, 
 which wasunpleasant to some of our citizens, and they entered 
 his office one afternoon and threw his printing materials out of 
 the second-story window. Of course, this only resulted in the 
 early establishment of another and a stronger abolition print, 
 but Quartus, the publisher, did not wait to see this come to 
 pass ; he had departed to be seen here no more. I remember 
 the matter well, since my earliest knowledge of printing was 
 derived from picking some of his type fr'om the gutter, where 
 it became the common property of the street boys ; and I re- 
 member it, also, as the only instance in our civic history where 
 a publisher or his paper was maltreated for opinion's sake. 
 
 Of course our early publishers sometimes received substan- 
 tial tokens of the respect of their fellow-citizens. The offices 
 of county clerk and of postmaster were considered specially 
 his fair perquisites, if he could get them. Sometimes he suc- 
 ceeded ; generally he did not. But the idea that the news- 
 paper was the best stepping stone to office was one that 
 largely prevailed in the early days, and it is possible that it in- 
 spired greater activity and better work. 
 
 If any portion of the work of the early publishers is crit- 
 icised ; if their papers seemed sometimes bigoted, intemper- 
 ate in speech, personal even to abuse, and almost malicious in 
 their treatment of opponents, we must remember that they but 
 reflected the manners of their age, and furnished such nutri- 
 ment as delighted their readers most. I think our fathers, as 
 a rule, liked strong things better than we do. Perhaps they 
 
^o Semi-Centennial of 
 
 were more in earnest. .But the early publishers of whom I 
 speak, if rough in manner, were at least fortunate in avoiding 
 personal taint. It is something of which we of the profession 
 have a right to be proud, that from the earliest settlement of 
 Utica no one of our publishers, political or religious, has 
 stained his name with crime, or scandal, or fraud, or pecula- 
 tion ; and that each departed one has left only honored mem- 
 ories. And we can wish no better fortune for ourselves, and 
 for those who come after us, than to be remembered as pleas- 
 antly as those who have gone before. 
 
 Major J. L. Gartland played his " Favorite" cornet 
 solo with magnificent effect, and created considerable 
 enthusiasm, which developed into long-continued ap- 
 plause at its conclusion. 
 
 OUR OLDEST NATIVE CITIZEN. 
 
 Chairman Bacon then presented to the audience 
 the venerable Liberty Powell, who was born in Utica 
 86 years ago — remarking that he was a very well pre- 
 served and fine-looking boy. The veteran was greeted 
 with a double round of applause. 
 
 DR. M. M. BAGG. 
 
 Chairman Bacon said that Dr. Bagg would read a 
 document known as " City Chronicles," a reminiscence 
 connected with the first common council of the city 
 of Utica, in 1832. 
 
 This council consisted of Ephraim Hart, Charles 
 A. Mann, Robert McBride, Rudolph Snyder, Ezra 
 S. Barnum, Harvey Barnard, John Williams, Augustus 
 Hurlburt, Chauncey Rowe, John A. Russ, John H. 
 Ostrom, Rutger B. Miller. The charter officers were 
 
The City of Utica. 41 
 
 Joseph Kirkland, Mayor ; Ezra S. Cozier, treasurer ; 
 David Wager, city attorney; and Thomas Colling, 
 clerk. These latter were all chosen by the common 
 council. The following account of the election was 
 published at the time in the village paper, and was at- 
 tributed to the pen of T. H. Flandrau: 
 
 THE CHRONICLES OF THE GREAT CITY. 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 1. And it came to pass wlien the people waxed fat and be- 
 came puffed up with pride and vanity that they said one to 
 another, let us make unto us a city, that the fame of us may 
 be great through the land. 
 
 2. And they arose with a great noise, and with tumult, and 
 made them a city, and named it a name, and became great in 
 their own eyes. 
 
 3. Then said they let us choose unto us rulers to rule over 
 us, great men of the city, learned scribes and mighty warriors, 
 and they did so. 
 
 4. Twelve rulers, three from the north, and three from the 
 south,' and three from the east, and three from the west, chose 
 they unto themselves. 
 
 5. Now these are the names of the rulers — Harvey, who 
 was a cunning workman in tapestry and fine linen, and 
 wrought in adorning men's houses. 
 
 6. Charles, the son of Abijah, of the sect of the Pharisee, 
 and he was a man without a wife, albeit no woman would 
 marry with him. 
 
 7. John, otherwise called the crafty, who was a strange man, 
 and no one knew whence he came, and he dealt in spices and 
 was a hoarder of pieces of silver and of pieces of gold. 
 
 8. Eudolph, sur-named the obstinate, who was a man after 
 his own heart, neither hearkened be to any one lest perad- 
 venture he should unawares do a wise thing. 
 
 9. Ezra, the peacemaker, of the tribe of Levi, who was 
 aforetime a ruler of the people. 
 
 10. John, the Centurion, who tarried near the stump, a 
 
^2 Semi-Centennial of 
 
 leader of hosts and a maa of valor— howbeit certain of the 
 people doubted thereof. 
 
 11. Ohauncey, the quiet, a trafficker in the notions of the 
 east, yet of him no man knew ought save that he came from 
 a far country. 
 
 12. Ephi-aim, the tinker, who abode in the land of the Hud- 
 dle and dwelt among publicans and sinners. 
 
 13. Augustus, who was reckoned among the wise men of 
 the city, for as much as he held his peacp and no man knew 
 ought to the contrary. 
 
 14. Eobert, the delver, who wrought in pools and was a 
 digger of deep ditches, inasmuch as great vessels floated 
 thereon. 
 
 15. Rutger, the law maker, chosen in the stead of Hiram 
 Ben Israel, whom the people had cast forth from the synagogue. 
 
 16. And John, the carpenter, who dwelt near the outermost 
 gate of the city. 
 
 17. Kow when the rulers gathered together to counsel one 
 with the other, they said let the doors be fastened within and 
 without and let the windows be closed that no man may enter 
 in, lest the people shall see our folly and shall laugh us to 
 scorn. 
 
 18. And when they had fastened the doors, then said they 
 among themselves let us choose a chief man to preside over 
 us, yet agreed they not who should be chosen. 
 
 19. For some said Ezra and some Henry and some Jose- 
 phus, and some Joseph, yet did they not agree who it should 
 be, so they cast lots, and it fell upon Joseph. 
 
 20. Then proclaimed they aloud that they had chosen 
 Joseph to be a chief over them ; and when they had done so, 
 they said let us choose unto us a ready scribe, who shall write 
 down in a book those things which we shall do, that the peo- 
 ple may know thex-eof. 
 
 21. And some said let it be John, who was scribe aforetime, 
 and some said Henry, because he had besought them in the 
 matter. 
 
 22. Then arose Ephraim, the tinker, and lifted up his voice 
 and said, not so ; let it not be John, nor yet let it be Henry, but 
 let it be Thomas, I pray you, for he has entreated Earnestly 
 with me concerning this thing, that he should be scribe, and is 
 
The City of Utica. 43 
 
 also of kin to me, in that he has taken my handmaid to wife 
 wherefore I have promised him that he should be scribe ; now 
 therefore, let him be the man, that my word may not be of 
 none effect ; and when Ephraim had said these things he made 
 an end of speaking. 
 
 23. (Now Thomas was a man who had sojourned in the 
 islands beyond the sea, which lie toward the rising of the sun ; 
 wherefore the multitude called him Veridicus, which being in- 
 terpreted signifieth Longbow.) 
 
 24. Then the rulers after they had consulted together, said 
 unto Ephraim, asy ou have spoken so be it, nevertheless charge 
 Thomas strictly that he put not down his own words, lest 
 when the people shall come to look upon it, they say, behold 
 it is a lie. 
 
 25. A'nd when they had done this, then said they let us 
 choose a great man, one learned in the law to counsel with us, 
 that what we do may be done with great wisdom, and all the 
 rulers said, who shall it be ? 
 
 26. Then arose Charles, and spake unto the rulers, saying, 
 wot ye not of David of Gath, who is a man of mine 
 household, and how that by reason of his great stature, he 
 holds the place of him called Justus. Verily, if ye shall 
 choose him ye shall do well, and so shall I reap great profit for 
 well know I that he will divide unto me the things whereof 
 he shall make gain. 
 
 27. Now, David was of the seed of Goliah, and the measure 
 of his stature was of this sort : From the crown of his head to 
 his shoulder, half a cubit; and from his shoulder to his loins 
 two cubits, and from his loins downward fourteen cubits. 
 
 28. And when Charles had done speaking the rulers an- 
 swered and said unto him, let it be as thou hast spoken. 
 
 29. And it came to pass that when they had chosen Thomas 
 and David, that they would have chosen a man worthy of 
 trust, to keep the treasure of the city, and they knew not 
 wkom they should choose. 
 
 30. Now there was a certain high priest of the city, named 
 Ezra, who was loved of the people; and the people would that 
 the rulers should have chosen him to be the chief man of the 
 city. 
 
//.^ Semi-Centennial of 
 
 31. Therefore, said the rulers one to another, the people would 
 that we should have chosen this Ezra to be the chief man of the 
 city and we have chosen Joseph ; now let us choose Ezra to 
 keep the treasure of the city, lest the people murmur and great 
 evil befal us ; and they did so. 
 
 32. JSTow the other acts of the rulers of the great city, shall 
 they not be written ? 
 
 Many of the audience recognized the hits in the 
 chronicles and were much pleased with them. 
 
 GENERAL JAMES McQUADE. 
 
 On appearing to speak of "The Military History 
 of Utica," General McQuade was greeted with applause. 
 He said : 
 
 Honored Chairman, Ladies and GentLemen : 
 
 Not until within the past forty-eight hours, was I advised of 
 the desire to have me speak upon the military history of Utica. 
 The theme is one so suggestive, so deserving of greater con- 
 sideration than can be accorded in the brief period to which 
 responses are limited this evening, that I distrust my ability to 
 do it justice. Even had the time allotted for preparation 
 been moi-e extended, I doubt whether I could treat the subject 
 in a manner commensurate with its merit. I shall not attempt, 
 therefore, to do more than to present, with some comments, 
 entirely devoid of elocutionary ^pretense, a list, hastily gathered, 
 of those who held commissions in the Union army, during the 
 war for the suppression of the rebellion. This list is necessarily 
 incomplete, for I have had no opportunity to examine records, 
 and have been compelled to trust to my own memory, aided 
 by such fortuitous inquiry as chance meetings in the streets 
 afforded. 
 
 I shall premise with a curSory glance at the history of 
 military organizations before the war, for it was in these that 
 was engendered and fostered the soldierly spirit which 
 responded to the country's call in the hour of peril with a 
 promptness, zeal and enthusiasm unexcelled in any city of the 
 
The City of Utica. ^5 
 
 Union. My recollection of the military of Utica does not 
 reach back to the ef&cient militia which existed prior to the 
 period of independent companies. Some of you may recollect 
 that in the earlier days, while the inspiration of the last war 
 with Great Britain still lingered, the militia was well equipped 
 and that a certain degree of discipline obtained. The militia 
 that I remember had greatly deteriorated, military duty was 
 performed in a loose, shambling and disjointed way ; the force 
 lacking that firmness and cohesion which can only be acquired 
 by constant drill and faithful performance of military exercises. 
 Our defenders were then commonly known as the "floodwood 
 militia." The letter of ■ the law was regarded, so far as the 
 assemblage at stated periods of those liable to duty was con- 
 cerned, but in the matter of the arms and equipments enjoined, 
 there was a lamentable breach of observance. Instead of ap- 
 pearing " armed and equipped as the law directs " — which was 
 the language of the warning — umbrellas were often substituted 
 for firearms, walking sticks for bayonets, while the powder- 
 horn was represented by a flask, which, although capable of 
 producing a " horn," was useless as a receptacle to keep the 
 powder dry. Two days in the year were devoted to the acqui- 
 sition of knowledge of the art of war. The first was the com- 
 pany muster, where each contingent assembled at some place 
 within the military district, and the other, the regimental 
 muster or general training. The largest company in Utica (ex- 
 cepting perhaps the Fourth) was that of the first ward, which 
 mustered in front of Trinity church. Mott. Brown, a member 
 of the Corps, familiarly known as " Old Eosin the Bow," was 
 captain. I think B. F. Kay and Fred. Fargo were lieutenants. 
 I used to sit on the steps of Samuel Stocking's house, directly 
 opposite, and view with rapt admiration the quavering and un. 
 certain line of doughty warriors, in shirt sleeves and straw hats, 
 who, after answering to roll-call, were wont to slip around the 
 corner " to see a man." 
 
 The general training, however, was quite an imposing dem- 
 onstration. Here was some semblance of organization. As a 
 rule, the levies from the verdant hills of Deerfield wore impro- 
 vised uniforms, and were the objects of special youthful com- 
 mendation. They had black beaver hats of the stovepipe 
 pattern, embellished with cockades, and their shoulders were 
 
^6 Semi-Centennial of 
 
 ornamented with epaulets of sheepskin. Then they carried 
 muskets and powder horns, which, in a military poini of view,, 
 possess certain advantages over canes and umbrellas. These 
 exceptionally fine soldiers were described by the envious and 
 sarcastic floodwoodery of the city, as the Deerfield rangers- 
 At the general training, there was an enormous consumption of 
 sweet cider, gingerbread and honey in the comb. It was a 
 great day for the boys. 
 
 When even perfunctorj- compliance with theobigation to do 
 military duty had passed into desuetude, and militia parades 
 became farcical, there sprang np the independent military 
 companies, the precursors of the present national guard system ; . 
 the school in which was taught that familiarity with arms 
 which proved so advantageous to the Union cause when the 
 land was plunged into actual warfare. 
 
 First deserving of mention, for it is nearly as old as the 
 chartered city itself, is the Utica Citizens Corps This noble 
 company has for forty-five years maintained its efficient organi- 
 zation, and exhibited a martial proficiency and decorous deport- 
 ment which justly entitle it to the high place it has always held 
 in the estimation of the citizens of Utica. Perhaps to say that 
 it maintained its organization for forty-five years is not strictly 
 correct. One April morning, in the year 1861, it disappeared 
 from the streets of Utica, and emerged at the rendezvous in 
 Albany as Company A, 14th Eegiment JSTew York Volunteers, 
 enlisted to fight for the Union. But it reorganized after the 
 war, and has flourished vigorously ever since, retaining its old 
 traditions, proud of its renown, exemplifying in an eminent 
 degree the close afiinity of the soldier and the gentleman. 
 
 The Corps made its first parade in the year 1837, under the 
 command of Major E. K. Barnum, U. S. A. Its captains in suc- 
 cession were W. W. Backus, H. E. Hart, Alvin White, Edward 
 Broadwell, James McQuade and C. A. Johnson. For three 
 years before the war, an officer was elected to command who 
 declined to serve, and, the company refusing to elect any one in 
 his stead, the command devolved upon Lieutenant Horace 
 Barnard. At the reorganization, Colonel T. M. Davies was 
 elected captain ; he was succeeded in turn by Captain James 
 Miller, John H. Douglass and Major D. T. Everts, who is the 
 present commander. 
 
The City of Utica. 4.'] 
 
 The day after the firing upon Port Sumter, the Corps offered 
 its services to Governor Morgan, and subsequently organized 
 as a company of volunteers under the first call for troops. The 
 tender of services -was made by resolution, as follows: 
 
 Whereas, It is the duty of every citizen to respond promptly to the cal' 
 of the country for aid ; therefore, 
 
 Mesolved, That the Utica Citizens' Corps hereby tender their services to 
 the Governor of this state as volunteers to join any force that may be raised 
 to meet the demand of the general government for forces against the traitors 
 in the South. 
 
 Mesolved, That the Corps will be ready to march at forty-eight hours 
 notice, fully armed and equipped. 
 
 H. Barnard, Lieutenant Commanding. 
 
 J. F. McQuADE, First Sergeant. 
 
 The order for the departure of the company marks an event 
 that will live long in the memory of the spectators. 
 
 The Corps was the nucleus of the 14th Regiment New York 
 Volunteers, which, before it received its numerical designation, 
 was described as the Corps Regiment. United with it were 
 the Washington Continentals, (Co. B) Lafayette Rifles, (Co. C) 
 and Seymour Artillery, (Co. B.) 
 
 A ROLL OF HONOK. 
 
 The roll of the Corps, from its organization to the present 
 time, bears the names of the following officers who held com- 
 missions in the Union army : 
 
 Maj. General Daniel Butterfield, colonel U. S. A. 
 
 Bvt. Major General J. W. Fuller. 
 
 Bvt. Major General James McQaade. 
 
 Bvt. Major General J. J. Bartlett. 
 
 Brigadier General J. H. Ledlie. 
 
 Brigadier General J. H. Oley. 
 
 Brigadier General N. G. Williams. 
 
 Bvt. Brigadier General C. A. Johnson. 
 
 Bvt. Brigadier General W. H. Christian. 
 
 Bvt. Brigadier General W. W. Robbins. 
 
 Colonel Alvin White, 117th N. Y. V. 
 
 Colonel R. C. Enright, 63d N. Y. V. 
 
 Colonel J. F. McQuade, A. D. C. 5th Army Corps. 
 
 Bvt. Colonel F. X. Meyers, 117th K Y. V. 
 
 Lieutenant Colonel W. H. Reynolds, 14th N. Y. A. 
 
^8 Semi-Centennial of 
 
 Bvt. Colonel T. M. Davies, 14th N. Y. V. 
 Lieutenant Henry Fowler, 63d N. Y. V. 
 Lieutenant Colonel J. C. Bronson, 57tli N. Y. V. 
 Bvt. Lieutenant Colonel Egbert Bagg, 117th N. Y. V. 
 Bvt. Lieutenant Colonel J. Stuart Lowery, 146th N. Y. V. 
 Bvt. Lieutenant Colonel D. F. Ritchie, 1st N. Y. A. 
 Major T. F. Lynch, 63d N. Y. Y. 
 Major D. T. Everts, 89th N. Y. V. 
 Major If. Garrow Throop, 57th N. Y. V. 
 Captain W. R. Brazie, 14th K Y. V. 
 Captain G. T. Hollingworth, 14th K Y. V. 
 Captain G. A. Reynolds, 14th K Y A. 
 Captain T. H. Bates, (14th K Y.) 1st N. Y. A. 
 Captain T. J. Sawyer, Jr., (14th N. Y) 47th N. Y. V. 
 Captain A. G. Bice, (14th K Y.) 92d K Y V. 
 Captain G. W. Cone, (14th N. Y.) 146th N. Y. Y. 
 Captain C. B. Mervine, (14th IST. Y) and A. A. G. 5th Corps. 
 Captain M. McQuade, Jr., (14th N. Y.) and A. D. C. 5th 
 Corps. 
 
 Captain E. A. Tallman, (14th N. Y.) and 24th K Y. Cav. 
 
 Captain R. P. Egan, 14th N. Y Cav. 
 
 Captain Samuel Stocking, (14th N. Y.) and 25th N. Y. V. 
 
 Captain S. Walter Stocking, (14th N. Y.) 1st N. Y. A. 
 
 Brevet Captain W. Wright, 146th K Y V. 
 
 Brevet Captain A. G. Spencer, 14th N. Y. Y. 
 
 Rrevet Captain James Miller, 14th N. Y. V. 
 
 Brevet Captain John O'Brien, 14th N. Y Y. 
 
 Lieutenant William K Bacon, (14th JST. Y.) 26th N. Y. V. 
 
 Lieutenant John CNeil, (14th N. Y) 3d IST. Y. A. 
 
 Lieutenant G. W. Abbey, 14th N. Y. Y. 
 
 Lieutenant E. H. Lloyd, i4th N. Y. Y. 
 
 Lieutenant G. W. Griffith, 14th K Y. Y. 
 
 Lieutenant Henry Purcell, (14th N. "Y.) 13th N. Y A. 
 
 Lieutenant E. Woodward, 2d K Y. A. 
 
 Lieutenant R. D. Crocker, 14th N". Y. Y. 
 
 Lieutenant J. Augustus Curry, 14th N. Y. Y. 
 
 Lieutenant A. B. Grunwell, 14th IST. Y. Y. 
 
 Lieutenant John S. Hunt, 4th U. S. Artillery. 
 
 Lieutenant A. J. Heffron, I4th N. Y Y. 
 
 Major J. E. West, Surgeon. 
 
The City of Utica. ^g 
 
 Major E. Hutchinson, Surgeon. 
 
 Brevet Major W. Brodhead, Q. M. 14th N. Y. V. 
 
 Lieutenant W. B. Eichards, Q. M. 117th K Y. V. 
 
 Lieutenant A. Marquisee, 117th N., Y. Y. 
 
 Lieutenant C. M. Scholefield, Paymaster U. S. A. 
 
 And in the ISTavy : 
 
 Admiral Melancthon Woolsey, U. S. Navy. 
 
 Assistant P. M. Frank Bissell, U. S. Navy. 
 
 So far' as can be ascertained, there was but one member of the 
 Corps in the Confederate service— Elisha Eogers, who served 
 with Stonewall Jackson and attained the rank of Brigadier 
 Greneral. 
 
 I have devoted so much time to this company because it is 
 an independent, distinctively Utica organization. It has ex- 
 isted through all vicissitudes of the past and promises a long 
 career of prosperity in the future. The history of the Corps 
 is part of the history of Utica. Indeed there are few places 
 of business on Genesee street which have not at some time 
 contributed to its rnembership ; few of the older families which 
 have not had representatives in its ranks. The surviving 
 members of the original Corps of 1 S37 are : Grove Penny, 
 William K Weaver, George Westcott, Thomas J. Newland 
 and Albert Spencer, of Utica ; W. W. Backus , of Brooklyn ; 
 John Bryan, of New York ; William-C. Johnspn, of Newbury- 
 port, Mass., and Stephen 0. Barnum, of Buffalo. 
 
 Albert Spencer, who made the first parade with the Corps, 
 is still a regular attendant at the convivial meetings, and, 
 although he can no longer shoulder a musket, he is not a 
 veteran who "lags superfluous on the stage," but one who 
 retains the ardent warmth of a youthful heart under the snows 
 of a "frosty pow." He paraded with the Corps of '37; his 
 son fought with the Corps of '61. 
 
 There were other excellent independent companies in Utica 
 which were most creditable organizations during their existence, 
 and formed valuable recruiting agencies for the Corps ; that 
 company absorbing many of the members after their disband- 
 ment. The first in seniority, I believe, was the Light Guard, 
 commanded by Captain W. H. Chase. There are many here 
 who will remember that this company excelled in skirmishing 
 and street-firing. On one occasion, while practicing firing on 
 
JO Semi-Centennial of 
 
 Genesee street, the waggisli druggist, Uriel Kellogg, shot off 
 the plume of William Stanton's hat, to show his proficiency as 
 a marksman. General H. Seymour Lansing, of the Union 
 Army, was an ofiicer in the Light Guard. 
 
 Time will not permit me to do more than mention the other 
 companies in a desultory manner. There was the Union 
 Guard, organized by Sergeant McNab, a recruiting officer for 
 the regular army, stationed here. The captain was W. L. 
 Cowan, afterwards a captain in the 14th Eegt., N. Y. Vols.; the 
 Emmett Guard, Gapt. John Flanagan ; the City Guard, Capt. 
 James Mapes. Capt. M. Cossleman, 26th N. Y. V., killed at 
 second Bull Eun, belonged to this company. The Washington 
 Continentals, Capt. E. H. Richardson, Colonel 26th JST. . Y. V. 
 (Bvt. Brig. Gen. R. Daggett was in the Continentals ;) the Sey- 
 mour Artillery, Bvt. Lieut.-Col. Lewis Michaels, Bvt. Major 
 Edward Warr, and Capt. A. Sears, all of the 14th N. Y. V., 
 belonged to this- company. The LaPayette Rifles, Capt F. 
 Harrer, killed at Gaines' Mills, while commanding Co. C. 14th 
 N. Y. Vols. Col. Peter Claesgens belonged to the Rifles ; also 
 Lieut. Smith and Lieut. Alfater. The Utica Grenadiers, 
 Capt. A. Brendle, 26th K Y. V. 
 
 There was a company of cadets, Capt. Jedediah Tallman, 
 which was succeeded by another juvenile company, the Colum- 
 bian Artillery, Capt. J. L. Beardsley, who lost his arm while 
 firing a salute from the corps' gun on Chancellor Square one 
 4th of July. Bose Roberts was another unfortunate who lost 
 his arm on the occasion. There are but seven survivors of the 
 Columbian Artillery : Harvey Barnard, Dr. C. B. Poster, 
 Irvin A. Williams, G. H. Snyder, J. E. B. Thorn, T. E McQuade 
 and the speaker. The appearance of the company as flying 
 artillery elicited much comment. Recently we had the Adju- 
 tant Bacon Cadets, Capt. O'Donnell. 
 
 In addition to the names I have mentioned connected with 
 the several independent companies, I have gathered the follow- 
 ing, who held commissions in the army during the war : 
 
 General James A. Mulligan, of Lexington, Mo., fame. 
 Brevet Brigadier General W. R. Pease. 
 Brevet Lieutenant Colonel James McQuade, 63d N. Y. 
 Brevet Colonel A. Churchill, surgeon 14th ISC. Y. V. 
 Colonel John H. Howell, 3d IST. Y. A. 
 
The City of Utica. 5/ 
 
 Brevet Lieutent Colonel C. H. Ballou, 39th N. Y. V. 
 
 Captain J. F. Kerrigan, 117th N. Y. V. 
 
 Captain E. 0. Jones, l46th K Y. V. 
 
 Captain J. F. Bates, A. D. C. 3d Corps. 
 
 Captain Enoch Jones, 26th N. Y. V. 
 
 Captain W. E. Mercer, 3d N. Y. A. 
 
 Captain George Klinck, 2d N. Y. A. 
 
 Captain C. K. Baker, iOOth N. Y. V. 
 
 Captain Harrison Pease, 117th N. Y. V. 
 
 Captain G. W. Ledlie, 16th N. Y. A. 
 
 Brevet Major Louis Faas, 14th N. Y. A. 
 
 Captain N. W. Palmer, 26th JST. Y. V. 
 
 Major C. J, Hill, surgeon 91st N. Y. V. 
 
 Major H. H. Curran, 146th N. Y. V. 
 
 Captain H. W. Fowler, 1 6th N. Y. A. 
 
 Major W. B. Coventry, surgeon 26th N. Y. Y. 
 
 Captain C. K. Button, 146th K Y. V. 
 
 Captain William Fowler, A. D. C, 5th Corps. 
 
 Captain H. R. Lahee, 14th K Y. V. 
 
 Lieutenant M. M. Jones, 2d N. Y. A. 
 
 Lieutenant W. H. Ellis, 14th N. Y. V. 
 
 Lieutenant J. M. Latimore, 16th N". Y. A. 
 
 Lieutenant C. L. Buckingham, 146th N. Y. V. 
 
 Lieutenant J. A. McDonough, (14th N. Y.) 78th N. Y. V. 
 
 Lieutenant H. H. Timerman, 16th K Y. A. 
 
 Lieutenant J. T. Kingsbury, 26th N. Y. V. 
 
 Lietenant James Handwright, (14th IST. Y.) 146th K. Y. Y. 
 
 Lieutenant Hugh Duffy, I4th N. Y. V. 
 
 Lieutenant Noah Wadhams Rae, Illinois Regt 
 
 Lieutenant B. F. Miller, 117th N. Y. V. 
 
 J. C. Farrer, 14th N. Y. V. 
 
 Captain Dodge, 146th JST. Y. Y. 
 
 Captain Lewis, 146th N. Y. V. 
 
 Lieutenant W. J. Hunt, (14th F. Y.) ll7th]Sr. Y. V. 
 
 Captain Smith, 26th K Y. Y. 
 
 H. C. MattesoD, P. M. 
 
 George Pomeroy, P. M. 
 
 Alrick Hubbeli, P. M., 14th. N. Y. V. 
 
 C. E. Hewes, chaplain 14th N. Y. V. 
 
 Eev. D. W. Bristol, chaplain 26th N. Y. V. 
 
5^ Semi-Ccntennml of 
 
 Lieutenant William Abner Hopkins, 97th N. Y. V. 
 
 Lieutenant S. H. Beckwitb, U. S. Mil. Tel. 
 
 It would be impossible to make a list of the non-commis- 
 sioned officers and privates from Utica who served their 
 country gallantly. They are too numerous. But this array of 
 officers demonstrates how valuable was the contribution of en- 
 listed men ; and I take occasion to say here that the private 
 soldier who discharged his duty faithfully ia entitled to equal 
 merit with the officer. It was the fidelity and devotion, not the 
 rank, that deserves praise. A good corporal is worthier of 
 commendation than a poor major general. Our war was not a 
 triumph of generalship, but success crowned the indomitable 
 pluck, fortitude and endurance of the intelligent rank and file. 
 
 I have made here no mention of the National Guard, which 
 has always borne an excellent reputation, from the <lays when 
 the orderly 45th regiment was evolved from the chaotic 134th, 
 until this sad epoch of disbandment. The record is so mixed 
 up with that of the independent companies that it is difficult to 
 dissever the components. Nor have I gone back to the days of 
 the rifle company, in which Jesse W. Doolittle and John H. 
 Ostrom were officers, I might speak of the Mexican war, 
 where Captain Walrath and Lieutenant (now General) C. A. 
 Johnson served with the 10th United States Infantry, John S, 
 Reed, of the corps, being 1st sergeant. Henry Perry also served 
 there, in McClellan's Corps of Engineers, as well as Michael 
 Donalty. General Christian went out with Stephenson's Cali- 
 fornia regiment. But I must forbear or I will get back to the 
 war of 1812, with reminiscences of our lately-departed friends, 
 T, S. Faxton and Leonard Moore. Thurlow Weed was a prin- 
 ter in Utica when he went to Sacketts Harbor in 1818. 
 
 In its military history, Utica presents a brilliant record. 
 Here were organized the 14th, 26th, 117th and 146th regi- 
 ments, and, to some extent, the 97th regiment of New York 
 Volunteers. The 2d Artillery was also partially recruited in 
 Utica ; as were Bates' Battery, companies of the 14th Artillery, 
 16th Artillery, 24th Cavalry, the 57th Infantry and others. It 
 would not be becoming for me, perhaps, to speak i)i laudation 
 of the services of Oneida regiments, nor to individualize gallant 
 deeds. While Utica furnished no renowned soldiers to em- 
 blazon the pages of history with the glory of distinguished 
 
The City of Utica. S3 
 
 actdeTemeats, it maj be said that those who went from here did 
 their devoir, wherever thej were placed, with unswerving fideli- 
 ty and nnflinching heroism. The names of Bacon, who left the 
 studious retreats of peaceful Hamilton, a mere stripling, to 
 shoulder a musket in the ranks of the -Corps when it volun- 
 teered for the war, and died on the field of honor, adjutant of 
 the 26th B^iment ; of Mthful Griffith, who fell with his &ce 
 to the foe at Malvern Hill : of Lloyd, whose bones lie moulder- 
 ing on the spot where a bullet stopped the beadngof his noble 
 heart ; of impetuous Harrer, shot while leading his men to the 
 «h^ge : of the chivaboTis Curran, the dashing Throop, Buck- 
 in^am, Bae, Gossleman — all these are forever enshrined in the 
 grateful memory of TJtica. The bloody fields of Grains' Mil Is, 
 Fredericksburg, Fort Fisher, Gettysburg, of the Peninsula and 
 the Wilderness, attest the valor and devotion of Utica soldiers. 
 And in the magnificent fabric- of the history of the war for the 
 union is interwoven a strand of imperishable luster — ^the mih- 
 tary history of the city of TJtica. 
 
 REV. DR. ISAAC S. HARTLEY. 
 
 The sentiment " Our Late Comers," was responded 
 to by the Rev. Isaac S. Hartley, D.D, who spoke as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 A few years ago a noble ship, under faU canva^ was 
 skirting along the sandy coast of South America bound for 
 hrar northern home. With her wide spreading sails and 
 whitened hull, she appeared like some fabulous albatros, altra-- 
 nately plowing and plunging through the crested wav^ 
 seeking her daily food. Far, far to the east lay the arid shores 
 of Africa : while some fifty miles or so to the west, were the 
 &agrant meadows of Brazil. As she sped on her course, bound- 
 ing and careering, suddenly the air became filled with the 
 sweetest music : so sweet, so loud, s.? fall that for the moment 
 the helmsman let go the wheel, and abandoned the craft to 
 herself. Becovering himself he grasped anew the wheel, and 
 as she again received her course, again and again were heard 
 the same sweet sounds. Though the brave steersman had 
 
5/ Semi- Centennial of 
 
 become bronzed by his experiences among the warm waters 
 of the tropics, never before had he heard such sweet 
 music amid the restless billows of the sea. A few months later 
 he learned, that on that very day and at that very hour, imme- 
 diately abreast his course, convent bells had been tolling th©' 
 beginning of a religious festival. As a strong westerly wind 
 bore the music ao'oss the water, the bended sails of the^ ship 
 catching the sounds delivered them to that steersraah, almost 
 with the same fullness as they fell upon the ears of those whom 
 they awoke to religious joy and thanksgiving. 
 
 In some such manner, may I say, has it been with me as I 
 have been listening to the remarks and memories of the long 
 line of worthies who have preceded me. As in imagination I 
 traveled with them along the shores of fifty years ago, I heard 
 sounds quite as sweet as convent bell ever rung out ; and of 
 those whose forms I never knew, whose voices I have never 
 heard, and whose hands I have never grasped. 
 
 Fifty years ago ! what a period! and during their revolution 
 how marked the changes ! Fifty years ago France was Bourbon, . 
 Germany and Italy lai-gely Austrian, and continental Europe 
 under the dominion of the miscalled " Holy Alliance." Fifty 
 years ago there were no steamships, ijo oceian cables, no tele- 
 graphs, no telephones, no sewing machines, and but few of the 
 many arts now in daily use. Fifty years ago the hero of New 
 Orleans occupied the Presidential chair, and numerous were 
 the pilgrimages made to the old Hermitage. Fifty years ago 
 but four and twenty jewels glistened in our national coronet, 
 and the population of the United States was less than twelve 
 millions. Fifty years ago Mexico was possessed of our richest 
 beds of gold and silver, and petroleum, with all its magnificent 
 dyes, lay undisturbed in its slimy bed. 
 
 Here in our own city, fifty years ago, the place on which these 
 memories are being rehearsed was quite upon the outskirts of 
 the town. Then, but few of pur streets were paved ; and only 
 here and there along our sidewalks grew the elm and maple to 
 shade the busy civilian or the traveler as he journeyed. The 
 flash of gas was nowhere seen, nor did the water mains as living 
 streams lace and interlace our thoroughfares, nor was there a 
 single fountain to throw high in air the cooling spray. There 
 were no homes for the homeless, no hospitals for the sick, no 
 
The City of Utica. 55 
 
 retreats for the aged, nor asylums for the young. Thus might 
 I continue. These honored men, whose glow and life the artist 
 has caught, and who, as I speak, are looking down upon us 
 from the silent canvass, were here and as active in life as have 
 been their children. 
 
 But what changes have these passing years wrought? Few 
 of the many that were then brave and venturesome remain ; 
 and from a village we have grown to the proportions of a pros- 
 perous city. Among all the cities in this vast republic we are 
 first in health, while in loyalty, benevolence, stability, culture, 
 and in all that constitutes abiding progress, we have but few 
 superiors. And dear fathers and brethren, under God, to none 
 are we more indebted than to you — ^you who have lived among 
 us for fifty years and whose personal counsel and unwavering 
 zeal and devotion have made us what we are. Grand and rich 
 and influential have been the cities which have dotted our 
 globe, but no city makes its citizens ; it is the citizens that 
 make the city. As is the seed, so is the bloom and the fruit. 
 
 But I have no time to speak as 1 should, and as this happy 
 occasion so naturally demands. Let me then say, in the name 
 of those whom I have the honor this evening to represent, that 
 with a true and full heart we thank you for the wisdom, and, 
 zeal, and faithfulness which you have so plainly exhibited in 
 the past, and for bequeathing to us your immediate successors, 
 such a noble heritage. We thank you for guarding our liber- 
 ties, for securing to us so many blessings and privileges, for the 
 homes, and hospitals, and asylums, and numerous other chari- 
 ties which you have founded in our midst ; for your courage, 
 your devotion and your though tfulness ; in a word, for devis- 
 ing and continuing in successful operation those numerous and 
 happy forces which have given the city of Utica throughout our 
 broad country such a fair and enviable name. I can only say, 
 in return for your loyal and loving labors, that we who are be- 
 hind you will endeavor to guard most zealously the great in- 
 terests entrusted to us, and so to conduct ourselves as to merit 
 not only your approbation, but a kind remembrance also by 
 those who are to be our successors. And now as symbolizing 
 the victory which you have achieved, and as a pledge likewise 
 that " the late comers " shall preserve green the memories of 
 this hour, and of your toil and devotion, permit me, Mr. Presi 
 
5<5 Semi-Centennial of 
 
 dent, as most worthily representing those over whom you now 
 so happily preside, to lay upon your honored aud reverend 
 head this humble wreath of laurel. May Grod grant that, when 
 you and I and the many whom we unitedly represent are called 
 upon to leave this city — the city in which you have passed 
 more than three score years — and the city of my adoption, it 
 may be to pass within the pearly gates of that upper city, 
 where brows are crowned with sparkling gems, and whose 
 serene atmosphere throbs with greetings joyous and innumera- 
 ble. 
 
 A HAPPY THOUGHT. 
 
 The enthusiasm which followed Dr. Hartley's unex- 
 pected crowning Judge Bacon, the venerable chair- 
 man, with a wreath of laurel, was one of the remarka- 
 ble incidents of the evening. The doctor's address 
 was beautiful in thought and it was delivered with re- 
 markable effect. Judge Bacon had no suspicion of 
 what was to follow, and was so much affected that he 
 could not speak. Round after round of applause fol- 
 lowed. Professor Lombard and the orchestra took up 
 the notes as they were dropped by the ladies and gen- 
 tlemen, and played the farewell selection — Rascher 
 Entschluss. 
 
 Judge Bacon then declared the symposium at an 
 end and expressed the hope that all had enjoyed the 
 reunion and reminiscences of days that were hallowed 
 by happy memories. 
 
 The exercises closed at 10:50 p. m. 
 
THIRLJ MAYDR, 
 TliB First BlEctBd by the Penpls ' 
 
The City of Utica. 57 
 
 LETTERS RECEIVED. 
 
 FROM HON. T. G. ALVORD. 
 
 Assembly Chamber, Albany. 
 EoBEKT S. Williams, Esq., Chairman: 
 
 Dear Sir — Permit me to acknowledge your invitation either 
 to be present in person or by letter, on the occasion of the com- 
 memoration of the "Semi- Centennial Anniversary" of the 
 " Charter of the Cit}^ of Utica," by appropriate exercises, on 
 Wednesday, March 1, 1882. 
 
 I desire in this connection to say, that my residence in Utica 
 commenced fifty years ago, but was a brief one of little over 
 six months. While there it numbered among its inhabitants, 
 my esteemed uncles, Eev. Dr. Lansing and the honest and up- 
 right Alexander Seymour, merchant, and it would be impos- 
 sible for me not to recollect my esteemed tutors in the law, 
 Charles P. Kirkland and William J. Bacon, whom I have 
 always respected and who I am happy to say, I love, and have 
 reason to believe that they have never lost interest in my life 
 or career. Your distinguished fellow citizen, Hon. Horatio 
 Seymour, has been for a life time intimately connected with me- 
 in public duties, and our friendship, although we have diverged 
 politically, still remains intact. 
 
 It would take too much space and occupy too much of your 
 time, in relation of incidents or in reference to persons, the 
 recollection of whom have always bound me with cords of af- 
 fection to the people, and have always made me anxious for 
 the prosperity, of the city of Utica. 
 
 I hope that you will receive this letter in lieu of a personal 
 appearance, inasmuch as my attendance on my legislative 
 duties has never yet been broken save by illness. 
 
 Yours with respect, Thomas Gr. Alvobd. 
 
 FROM DR. J. B. ANDREWS. 
 
 Buffalo, N. Y., Feb. 28, 1882. 
 EoBERT S. Williams: 
 
 Thanks for the invitation to attend the Semi-Centennial 
 Anniversary. I recall with pleasure my long residence in 
 Utica, and retain a warm interest in all that relates to the 
 welfare of the city and its citizens. I regret my inability to be 
 present. J- B. Andrews. 
 
S8 Semi-Centennial of 
 
 FROM REV. EDWARD BRIGHT. D. D. 
 
 New York, Feb. 23, 1882. 
 
 i^. S. Williams, Esq., Ghairman,- etc. 
 
 My Dear Sir — I have your invitation to be present at the 
 Semi-Centennial Anniversary of the charter of the city of Utica, 
 and it would give me great pleasure on many accounts to be 
 with you on that intei-esting occasion. But the nature of my 
 engagements is such for the next two weeks that it will be im- 
 possible for me to do so. 
 
 Many of the pleasantest recollections of my life are con- 
 nected with Utica. It was my home from early boyhood to 
 early manhood, and it was the place of the beginnings of all 
 that made my subsequent life. To be with you at the coming 
 anniversary would be both pleasant and sad — pleasant to see 
 again how your goodly city has advanced in population, wealth 
 and intelligence, and sad to see how few are left of those whom 
 1 knew as boys and as men. / The only familiar name on your 
 committee, of whom niy personal recollections go back through 
 all the period of my Utica life, is that of the genial and gen- 
 tlemanly William J. Bacon, one of the best models I have 
 ever known of a truly Christian gentleman. Other names are 
 familiar, but the men who now have them are of another gen- 
 eration than those with whom my earliest recollections are as- 
 sociated. Such are the names of Williams, Seward, Bagg, 
 McQuade and Sayre. 
 
 But I have- some most interesting Utica ties in this great 
 city. Here are my Sunday school teacher, Frederick S. Wins- 
 ton, Esq., my fellow Sunday school scholar, Mr. Henry Ivison, 
 and Hon. T. L. James, a boy in the first Sunday school of 
 which I was superintendent, all of whom maintain, without a 
 jot of abatement, the noble characters that had their earliest de- 
 velopments in Utica. 
 
 Hoping that you will have such an anniversary as will meet 
 all your wishes, and be worthy of the city whose fiftieth year 
 it is to commemorate, I remain. 
 
 Very truly yours, Edward Bright. 
 
 FROM STEPHEN O. BARNUM. 
 
 Buffalo, Feb. 22, 1882. 
 EoBERT S. Williams, Esq., Chairman, etc., Utica: 
 
 Dear Sir — Business engagements render it impossible for 
 me to accept your invitation to be present at your meeting. I 
 will, however, give you a few of my recollections of the old 
 business houses, which may recall pleasant memories of the 
 
The City of Utica. 5^ 
 
 past to a few of your society who were boys with me fifty years 
 ago. 
 
 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS OF THE BUSINESS SIGNS AND MER- 
 CHANTS ON GENESEE STREET FIFTY YEARS OR MORE AGO. 
 
 Whiie on a visit to my native city a few years bade, stand- 
 ing in the door of our old friend Davies, the jeweler, and while 
 they were repaving Genesee street, we recalled the site of the 
 old town pump that stood at the junction of Whitesboro and 
 Genesee street, which led us to think of how few of the old 
 business signs and men remained now, that we could recall to 
 memory, of those days. We began with the old sign on the 
 red covered bridge over the Mohawk, " One dollar tine for 
 crossing this bridge faster than on a walk." Then Pocock, the 
 tinner, later Evans ; Edward Baldwin, flour and saw filer ; 
 Hinman, dry goods ; Samuel Lightbody, leather ; J. B. "Warner, 
 now Ray's, drug store; Oren Clark, "variety store ;'' M. Hitch- 
 cock, drugs and post office ; Dr. Marchisi, drugs ; Hoyt, the 
 tanner ; Joseph Ingals, the hair dresser ; J. S. Portei-, the 
 jeweler; Barnum's. afterwards Vedder & Oley, shoes; Thomas 
 Davies. jeweler ; Samuel Stocking, hatter; Williams, Seward 
 & Tracy, books ; Merrill, bookbinder ; Thomas Walker, printer ; 
 Tom Tracy, dry goods ; T. S. Gold & Samuel Thompson, dry 
 goods and carpets ; A. B. Williams, tailor ; the Ontario Bank 
 and residence of Thos. Eockwell, cashier ; Wells, dry goods ; 
 John & William Williams, drugs and groceries, checquered 
 store; Elisha B. Wells, shoes ; Swartwout, dry goods; James 
 Dana, hardware ; Parker, fancy groceries ; Robert Disney, 
 afterward O'Neil & Martin, tin and coppersmiths ; William 
 Stacy, succeeded by Golden & Walker, dry goods ; Otis Man- 
 chester, afterward Manchester & Penny ; John & Harry Camp, 
 dry goods ; Spencer Kellogg, Dry goods ; Bristol, drugs ; John 
 & Charles Doolittle, dry goods ; Hinman, confectioner ; Cross, 
 marble cutter ; John Baxter, groceries. On the opposite side, 
 and below the bridge, we had James Sayre, and later Sayre 
 & Townsend. hardware ; National Hotel, kept by Welles, later 
 by Chatfield&Hardaway ; Gaylord's, looking glasses ; Thomas 
 Field, crockery; Williams & Kent, Tailors; McDonough's 
 grocery; Alfred Hitchcock, drugs; Murdock & Andrews, 
 jewelers ; Isaiah Tiffany, books ; Newell & Macomber, now K 
 C. Newell, paints ; Barnum's bazar, later S. V. Oley, shoes ; 
 Bverson & Bryant, later Barnum & Jones, and Robert Jones 
 & Sons ; Anson Thomas, later Dutton ; George Button, music 
 and millinery; Bidwell, dry goods; Harvey Barnard, paper 
 hangings; Stalham Williams, millinery ; Woodruff, dry goods ; 
 Boughton, furs; Captain William Clark, exchange and lottery 
 office ; the Temperance House ; Sibley, tin and coppersmith : 
 
6o Semi-Centennial of 
 
 Alverson, grocer, later Livingston & Butler, dry goods ; Barnum 
 & Son, bazar ; Comfort Butler, succeeded by Walton & Harda- 
 way, saddlery and harness ; Eeynolds, museum ; J. R. Warner, 
 Hatter ; E. B. Shearman, drugs and groceries ; Hurlburt, cotton 
 goods ; Hubbell & Cun-au, hides ; Joab Stafford, hardware, later 
 Roberts : John Adams, grocer. 
 
 Respectfully, Stephen 0. Baenum. 
 
 FROM JAMES P. BRADISH. 
 
 Whitestown, N". Y., Feb. 28, 1882. 
 
 Gentlemen — As reminiscences of the early days of the 
 
 city are now called for, please accept the enclosed patriotic 
 
 effusion of Utioa's sable bard, Joseph Pancko, a lament for the 
 
 loss of several of our brave generals at the battle of Chapultepec. 
 
 Very respectfully, James P. Bradish. 
 
 COMPOSED BY JOSEPH C. PANOKO, OF UTICA, 
 
 &t to the Air of " Bonaparte crossing the Rhine.'" 
 
 My once dear Master, they do say 
 His soul to Heaven has made its wa}'' ; 
 But if it is not so, we regret, 
 For while on earth his name was great. 
 
 Brave General Worth, it has been said 
 Was numbered with the unlucky dead ; 
 It is but a rumor, yet we fear 
 It may to us in truth appear. 
 
 Brave Brigadier General Persifor Smith, 
 Whose service we shall never forget. 
 Has shared the same in this affray. 
 We hope its but an idle phrase. 
 
 Brave General Pillow, hear again, 
 It states was one among the slain ; 
 But yet we hope its not the case. 
 But if it is, its no disgrace. 
 
 Those Generals which I did relate. 
 Has striven for the United States, 
 And gem enibellishments have proved. 
 Which caused the union them to love. 
 
 Brave General Worth we once did have 
 To shield Columbians from the grave ; 
 His name in history ere must stand. 
 And honored through the Christian land. 
 
The City of Utica. 6i 
 
 FROM HON, LEVI BLAKESLEE. 
 
 New York, Feb. 28, 1882. 
 Hon. Egbert S. Williams, Chairman, and others : 
 
 Gentlemen — I am in receipt of your kind invitation to be 
 present and participate in tbe Semi-Centennial Anniversary of 
 the charter of the city of Utica, and I greatly regret 
 that I am unable to do so, for wherever my lot may be 
 cast, my heart will always turn with fond remembrance, to the 
 many kind friends of my earlier years, in Utica and vicinity. 
 Yery few cities can show such a long and honored list of 
 names of men, now or formerly citizens, eminent in public 
 station, or able and successful in the management of large bus- 
 iness enterprises, and I have felt it a sufficient honor, to war- 
 rant a journey of two hundred and fifty miles and return, each 
 year for the last eight years, to cast my vote with my old 
 neighbors, and thus retain an unquestioned right to subscribe 
 myself " A citizen of Utica." 
 
 Yery truly yours, Levi Blakeslee. 
 
 FROM B. B. BURT, ESQ. 
 
 Oswego, Feb. 24, 1882. 
 My Friend, Mr. Williams: 
 
 I have received the invitation to be present at the exercises 
 to commemorate the Semi-Centennial Anniversary of the charter 
 of the city of Utica on Wednesday, March 1, 1882. I hope to 
 be present on the occasion. 
 
 Cordially yours, B. B. Burt. 
 
 Egbert S. Williams, Chairman. 
 
 FROM JAMES H. BUTLER. 
 
 New York, Feb. 25, 1882. 
 
 Egbert S. Williams, Chairman : 
 
 Gentlemen — Your kind invitation requesting me to be 
 present at the Semi-Centennial Anniversary of the charter of the 
 city of Utica, March 1, 1882, is duly received, with many 
 thanks. I sincerely regret my inability to be present on that 
 most interesting occasion, but I assure you I will be with you 
 in spirit if I cannot be in person. I have always felt proud to 
 say that Utica was my native place ; I was born on Genesee 
 street two years before it became a city. It would give me 
 great pleasure to accept the invitation, but my busmess engage- 
 ments will make it impossible for me to be absent at the time 
 of your meeting. Hoping you will have a cheerful and happy 
 time. I am very respectfully, yours truly, 
 
 James H. Butler. 
 
62 Semi-Centennial of 
 
 FROM MR. BUTl.ER'S AGED MO'J'HER. 
 
 ]5hooiclyn, April 24lli, iSHii, 
 R. S. Williams, Ks(|., Ohairman ; 
 
 My Dear Sir — Being nii old resilient of Ul.iefi, \ think that 
 perhaps I can add a little to the reminiscenccH ol' foi'incr times, 
 of which I suppose you have many contribiitionH. i settled in 
 your city with my husband, Ouloncl (Jornfort Butler, in 1815, 
 at which time there were very few inhabitants. 
 
 Mr. Butler was, I think, the firnt one who commanded the 
 militia in Utica, and on the occasion of the reception of Genei'al 
 LaFayette he took an active part. One of my sons han now in 
 his possession two commissions signed by (lovciTior Clinton, 
 which were issued to Mr. Butler, lie was one of the original 
 projectors of the old Mechanics' Jjibrary Assoeintion, and while 
 reading the second book, which he had drawn, he K^st thn siffht 
 of one eye, and in less than two years afUsr, he became totally 
 blind, from which he never recovered during tlie remainih-r of 
 his life, a period of about thirty-Hcvon years. 
 
 After a residence of thirty-seven years in Utica we removed 
 to Brooklyn, where, twelve years later, Mr. ]iutlor ];)a8Hed 
 away. 
 
 I am now eighty-five years of age and still have vivid recol- 
 lections of Utica, and my thoughts often wander into the past, 
 recalling many happy days spent th<;rc. 
 
 With my best wishes for the success of your association, 1 
 
 am, Very respectfully. 
 
 AHTHA BUTJ/KU. 
 
 FROM HON. JOHN D. CATON. 
 
 Ohioaoo, March 7, J 882. 
 Robert S. Williams, Esq., (Jhainann,^ Sc: 
 
 Dear 8ir — Your circular mvitation by th(! Oneida Historical 
 Society toattend the Sumi-Centcnnial Anniversary of thecharter 
 of the City of Utica, on the Ist inst., was not received in time 
 to enable me to reply before that date. 
 
 ThiH reference to the event which yon have just celebrated 
 revives memories of fifty years ago, when 1 was working hard 
 there, trying to understand what BlackstfHie, (Jhitty anrf Kent 
 said about the law. There I learned the rudiments dI my pro- 
 fession so as to barely pass an examination by an IJIinois judge, 
 across an oak stump on the banks of the Illinois river f)y 
 moonlight. There I listened to the law lectures of J^eardsley, 
 Spencei-, Denio, Maynard and others, not in a law Hfhool, but 
 in the court, and the principles thus learned have, I think, been 
 the most staying of any. 
 
itJdte nm^igsiseosis ]^ik% csK^i^is tht; 'W'^ijfe -vnsM, aedTii^ 
 ^xifsmRg ^^is wad !^^^ 'wwe ianix' jil*eftt»i^^»d[ <» »jr 
 
 iww; aimers fewei to- d»c»i 
 
 Ftitans %a^ always 3ea»eii 33«!»er $c« m^ iHRd 1 
 
 BettHte, «w s«H» s»c^ ssuaa* (all fa«»ebai^ -wsa* jbgs: dosBeas 
 
 idwase who «>e9« t^a» m^ a^H^Rsr die «ai«s a»i tdbe 
 
 «l fife. AkmL iasHoilker s«x^ra»or. stesS! §»«*» ^' 
 <M -wltea acaoaiKsr :l^Kr yesis ^aQ3 iat* pstss&i llsy^ 
 
 ST 
 
 M«?st sralT Tcvars. '_ i Bl Catox 
 
 FROM HOTEY K. CLARKE. 
 
 Mt Bew ^— Jsmi ws^ <.>%&! *» vwa isr i3» isTteawsa 
 ml»iA ««Bae v> Bae a lew t^TS 3^o w a«Ksed ite «3»9«a^ br win^ 
 tW <(>a«saa By^QOKal Sc»a«T^T>ri-3ivi8*e5_'eia i*e is3. wf MsK-i, m 
 
 &e««nir «sf Unca. I ^« ^rf *» ^ wtj^aiaei as -oMe wli© 
 ■w««M"&e iaa^w^sed im sack aa «Wffli; ^l Aes Ijiudisuc^ «© 
 ■Bp ane^ipttmcie «l tosh- ieimsiiaisai ai* 39 saaare-, Aaa I J»«a[ t^a 
 ewa trf %» dicaKsMae «fes» all 
 
 Aad, as »» ■" i^aaajjjsfeaieies,"^ I (fcxils le^^ier I lave a®y 
 Aas aa« qaife ssasaye i<» At ««*«* to® aj* -£5 oceHS^SKiJssaAe. 
 Myiife mr-oca b^am i« BeeaaW 1SI«, a»a «aaeiiaJ«% 
 ISSU^BSt after Ilsai «»Hi|fai«dl »y ISA yew, ^««e4i «:^ 
 Iwiore Ac ccaaisjenesaentot Ae SjaateaflBsay elU^a^a i^ 
 Vtati I «e«M ^v «v>^a Mfteaea ««ly ife W* - I ««^ "^ 
 al^t ««ff s«3i0ol«ae»8rs-«.iw^ «t A<Bt ^io i«M ^^laj i^- 
 1^ *o HKt, aii6<sr I i«ras To»%i^ a fev Ssr jeit iwAwfe s&bcxSl — 
 «f HeOo^er, ^A» t^asSiodl e® Ae »«A ^^b «S l^saa 
 
(5^ Semi-Centennial of 
 
 street, between Genesee and John. He was an Irishman, whose 
 badge of authority and instrument of discipline was the "taws." 
 He was a cripple, who could move about from place to place 
 only by the aid of two crutches. Nevertheless, it was noteasy 
 to defy him. Dick somebody did it one day — I have forgotten 
 his other name, but "Dick" describes him well enough — he 
 was an uncommonly exasperating boy, and one day when Mr. 
 McCloskey started for him he ran behind a long desk turned to 
 the wall ; the only way to get at him was by the hole" he went 
 in at. But the retreat was too deep for McCloskey's crutch, 
 thrust in after him as though he were a woodchuck in his hole. 
 Dick trium.phed ! Was there ever a school that would not 
 sympathize with such a hunted outlaw ? I think we did, and 
 that is why I remember it so long. Your brother Wells and I 
 formed a reading-class of two, at this school, in the Autobi- 
 ography of Dr. Franklin. Another of my schoolmasters was 
 Bartlett (Montgomery R.) whose school was on the east side of 
 Hotel street. He is memorable chiefly for his skill in teaching 
 arithmetic, and the severity, or rather the violence of what he 
 probably intended as acts of discipline. Another of my 
 teachers was Winston — afterwards Eev. D. M. Winston — a 
 brother of the present President of the New York Mutual Life 
 Insurance Company. His school was in Minerva Hall, in the 
 third story of a building on the east side of Genesee street,, just 
 below Broad. Here occurred an event, like which I remember 
 none other in my school experience. I was feruled with two 
 other boys — George Burchard and John Edmonds — for decorat- 
 ing the walls of the schoolroom with charcoal sketches, during a 
 noon recess. John " cut up " during his punishment in a way 
 that made the whole scene rather entertaining even to me, though 
 mine was yet to come. Doubtless we should have all fared 
 better in these days of decorative art In the Academy we 
 had Hervey, Dwight — Harrison Gray Otis Dwight, — Stuart — 
 Rev. Captain Charles Stuart — who, of all teachers that I ever 
 knew, was peerless in the play-ground, and in the manifesta- 
 tion of a real affection for his scholars. He would tolerate no 
 disorder in the schoolroom. Even in the prayer with which he 
 opened the morning session, no prank was permitted to escape 
 his notice. He astonished one with, right in among his usual 
 petitions — " James Dana, sit down." " Jim " sat down with- 
 out a moment's hesitation. 
 
 We boys had politics in those days. During a noon recess 
 at Mr. Winston's school we were gathered in front of Pax. 
 Gould's law book store, which was just across the street, in the 
 window of which were displayed the portraits of the various 
 candidates for President at the election then pending — Adams, 
 Jackson, Crawford, Calhoun and Clay. We had our reasons 
 for our preferences, and our declaration of them almost made a 
 
The City of Utica. 6§ 
 
 riot in the street But that was no more peculiar then than 
 it is now. 
 
 Those were the days when the Erie canal was a novelty. 
 But one of the uses to which it was put was appreciated by 
 the boys more than it was by the public. The most superior 
 skating was always at the Starch Factory pond ; and the canal 
 made a very acceptable way on our skates to the splendid 
 skating on the pond. 
 
 And the Mohawk as a place for swimming does not now 
 seem very attractive ! Yet, it was the only place we had — and 
 the location, right opposite the east end of the station build- 
 ings of the Central railroad. I always, when passing through 
 Utica by daylight, spend a few moments in meditating from 
 the car windows upon the good times we had, long ago, in 
 " going in" — for these were all the words ever thought neces- 
 sary to express our purpose. 
 
 Of all the industries carried on in those days whatever may 
 have been the opinion of our seniors, we did not underrate 
 that conducted on the present site of the Oneida Bank, by Mr. 
 Kingsbury. 
 
 As to our holidays and entertainments — Paas in the spring 
 had not entirely lost the favor with which the first settlers in 
 the valley regarded it. But the tricks of the Dutch boys, in 
 emptying their egg shells and filling them with plaster — or sub- 
 stituting for them chalk eggs half concealed, gave the sport of 
 " butting eggs" a hazardous 6haracter, which I dare say, by 
 this time, has banished its use. The " general training" and 
 the Fourth of July were the only regularly observed annual 
 holidays. " Thanksgiving" came every year, of course. But 
 that was more of a holy than a holiday, to many of us. But 
 there was nothing in any of these which afforded anything like 
 the satisfaction which was to be obtained from a fire ! I sup- 
 pose, because it gave unlimited Hcense to noise, and gave the 
 boys an apparently equal place with the men in a great public 
 endeavor. To " holler fire" all the way from Genesee street to 
 Harden's brewery, on a Sunday too, if, as I think it happened 
 on a Sunday, and then to join the lines of the fire-fighters— on 
 the empty bucket side of course — made a day long to be re- 
 membered — and you see I have not forgotten notwithstanding 
 the lapse of more than half a century. (Was not Harden's 
 brewery burnt twice ?) 
 
 The boys were not unobservant of the march of social 
 usages. Fitch Porter told us one day that his father was hav- 
 ing'made in his shop some silver forks for Mr. Seymour. A 
 .great dinner party was impending, very likely a semi-state af- 
 fair, and this was one of the extra preparations for the event. 
 It would be interesting to know whether this was not the first 
 
66 Semi-Centennial of 
 
 breach into the steel fork usage, which Dr. Bagg mentions in 
 his " Pioneers" as prevailing at that time ? 
 
 We were occasionally favored with the sight of historical 
 celebrities, La Fayette, Aaron Burr, Bed Jacket, Martha Brad- 
 street ! The day given to La Fayette, as he passed through 
 TJtica on his grand tour of the United States, was a very mem- 
 orable one. Aaron Burr occasionally attended the sessions of 
 the supreme court at Utica. He was a great lawyer ; he had 
 been very conspicuous in the political history of the country ; 
 but the estimation in which he was then held will appear from 
 what one boy said to me as he was passing along before us — 
 " There goes the man that killed Greneral Hamilton. " Bed Jacket 
 I saw at the stage office adjoining the Canal Coffee House, where 
 he was waiting for the stage, by which he was to pursue his 
 journey west. A large framed stalwart Indian, bearing on his 
 breast, the medal, then somewhat dingy in appearance, said to 
 have been given to him by Washington. He was a stupid 
 iooking man — but this may have been owing to the " fire- 
 water," to which it was said he was somewhat addicted. And, 
 Martha Bradstreet- -a stout, imperious, or rather "a dogmatic- 
 looking woman, with an appearance of smartness and sauciness 
 which may possibly have been owing to the consciousness, that 
 when she was in Utica she was among a people by whom she 
 was not specially admired ! 
 
 But, speaking of celebrities, we did not know then that two 
 •of our boys, then not very much unlike other boys, would 
 within the coming half century achieve for themselves a world- 
 wide reputation for character and learning, which would make 
 their birthplace always proud of them — whose names will 
 never lack honored remembrance in any history of the city of 
 Utica — the names of Samuel Wells Williams and James 
 DwiGHT Dana. 
 
 I wish I could believe that you can be as much interested in 
 what I have written as I have been in recalling the scenes of 
 my boyhood. I wonder if it is not the reason why old or 
 elderly people are called childish, that they are apt to give such 
 ■exaggerated importance to the scenes of their youth ! Never- 
 theless. I have enjoyed the writing of it, and if, I, by the 
 means of it, have emphasized my appreciation of your invi- 
 tation, I shall be satisfied. 
 
 Very truly yours, HoVEY K. Clarke. 
 
 FROM THOS. ALLEN CLARKE, ESQ. 
 
 YoNKERS-ON- Hudson, Feb. 21,1882. 
 My Dear Mr Williams — I thank you for your invitation 
 to be present at the proposed Semi-Centennial Anniversary of 
 the charter of the city of Utica. I accept tlie invitation with 
 
The City of Utica. 6y 
 
 pleasure. Nothing now foreseen will prevent my being with 
 you on an occasion so full of interest. The names attached to 
 your circular recall a crowd of memories of the families they 
 represent Most of their fathers were of my friends. 
 
 Faithfully yours, Thos. Allen Clarke. 
 
 EoBT. S. Williams, Esq., Chairman. 
 
 FROM HON. ROSCOE CONKLING. 
 
 29 Nassau St., New York, Feb. 21, 1882. 
 Egbert S. Williams, Esq., Ulica : 
 
 My Dear Sir — Many thanks for your invitation to attend 
 the Semi-Centennial Anniversary of the charter of Utica, on 
 the 1st of March. 
 
 Whether it will be my privilege to meet the cherished 
 neighbors and friends who then assemble can not now be fore- 
 seen. If I can arrange it, I will do so ; if not, the loss will 
 be mine. 
 
 Under all circumstances, my heart and thoughts will be with 
 you. 
 
 Cordially yours, Eoscoe Conkling. 
 
 FROM REV. S. HANSON COXE, S. T. D. 
 
 Kinderhook, Feb. 23, 1882. 
 To Egbert S. Williams, Chairman., and Gentlemen of the 
 Semi- Centennial Committee : 
 
 Gentlemen — I have had the honor to receive an invitation 
 to attend the Semi Centennial commemoration of the charter 
 of the city of Utica, on Wednesday, March 1, 1882. It would 
 give me pleasure to do so, but engagements for the very day 
 you name will prevent. Having passed twenty of the best 
 years of my life in your beautiful city, and observed its 
 progress during all that time in every department of improve- 
 ment, I should be pleased to review with you its history. 
 
 I congratulate yon on the great names which have been 
 identified with your city in the past, especially in the depart- 
 ment of law ; for where in any place of its size haye there been 
 resident so many distinguished judges, of high character and 
 celebrity : on the benevolent institutions which have there 
 been multiplied; on the annual courses of lectures by the 
 most talented lecturers which have so long been sustained ; on 
 your annual art gallery, so refining, elevating, and improving 
 in its influences ; on the number and strength' of your public 
 buildings; all so creditable and adorning. If the next half 
 century shall do as much for the city as has been done m the 
 past, it will continue to be unrivalled by any, of its own pro- 
 portions. 
 
dS Stm/-Ct'>iftH»fti/ of 
 
 Not long after Utioa, by charter, became a oil v. I visited it 
 as a school-boy, having ascended the Hudson river to Albanv 
 by steam-boat ; thence traveling to Schenectady by horse rjiil- 
 road, and thence by canal packet drawn by three liorses so as 
 to move rapidly-. I remember the high white steeple of the 
 Presbyterian Chni-ch, the Trinity of tlnise days, which I 
 entered and strolled through, and its neighbor, the old Reformed 
 Church on Broad street, where I heard Dr. Bethune's farewell 
 sermon (June 2it, ISS-t,"! from the appropriate and tenderly 
 affectionate text, Philip iv : 1. 
 
 Gentlemen, you have my best wishes for your prosperity, and 
 a successful commemoration, and I remain 
 
 Very respectfully yours, S. Hanson Coxe. 
 
 FROM PROFESSOR JAMES D. DANA. 
 
 New Haven, Feb. 28, 1S82. 
 Mr Roberts. Williams, C/iairiiia» of (he Committee of tlte 
 
 Oiiei'h Historical Society : 
 
 My Dear Mr. AVilliams — I have received your letter of the 
 17th, and would ask you to thank the committee for their in- 
 vitation to the Utica Scmi-Centennial. The occasion will be 
 one I should greatly enjoy ; for I have not lost my affection 
 for the city of my old h*ome and my schoolboy life. But col- 
 lege duties now in progress confine me here, so that I shall 
 have to forego the pleasure. 
 
 Very truly yours, James D. Dana. 
 
 FROM DR. THEO. DIMON. 
 
 AUBCKN, N. Y., Feb. 20, 18S2. 
 Robert S. Williams, Esq., Chairman : 
 
 Dear Sir — Your letter inviting me, as a former resident, to 
 be present on the first of March, at the commemoration by 
 the Oneida Historical Society of the Senii-Centennial Anniver- 
 sary of the charter of tiie city of Utica, is received with pecu- 
 liar pleasure. For the only house I ever owned stood in 
 Utica ; in Utica my wife and two of our children were born ; 
 in Utica are now the only descendants of my father's live sons 
 who bear the family name, and the memory of the years I lived 
 in Utica is bright with the dearest friendships and happiest as- 
 sociations of my life. 
 
 "Oh, those were pleasant days, 
 
 I ne'er shall soo the like ! 
 I had not buried then so many hopes! 
 I had not baried then so many friends!" 
 
 Those days when Barnum was mayor, "Bill Dick" was a man 
 
 of letters known on both sides of the great canal, and wo were 
 
The City of Utica. 6g 
 
 young. William J. Bacon and James "Watson "Williams were 
 then just old enough to be always put in quotation marks for 
 the younger set of us ; they being the good young men of our 
 day. 
 
 My classmates at Yale, Alick Johnson, even then of presence 
 fit to be a judge, and John Seymour, then, as ever since, doing 
 good to others ; Frank Kernan, digesting law enough at Joshua 
 Spencer's office to grovA' into a senator ; J. K. Hackett, since the 
 fierce recorder, then occasionally serenading a Broad street 
 young lady under an umbrella ; Ned Brayton, always singing 
 "Sparkling and Bright," and "hardly ever" "Tippecanoe and 
 Tyler 'too ;"■ Alick Seward, sitting on a camp stool smoking 
 segars (not fiddling) while sedately contemplating the burning 
 up of all the law in Kirkland & Bacon's office, where he was a 
 student; Jack Edmonds serenely sleeping behind his great spec- 
 tacles in attentive attitude (like Huntington's dreaming Mercy) 
 through the sermons at the First Presbyterian Church, are 
 among the many of my remembrances of those days. And the 
 3"0ung ladies of those days ! There never were anywhere else, 
 and there never will be, such refined, beautiful and lovely girls 
 as the girls of Utica forty years ago. Wbitesboro street, Broad 
 street. Chancellor square, Eutger street, Fayette street, and 
 the hill are all classic ground to me. 
 
 "With such recollections to call me to your meeting, I need 
 not assure you how greatly I regret that I cannot be present to 
 compare wrinkles with those by whom I was received with 
 hearty welcome and friendship when I first came to Utica, 
 forty two years ago. 
 
 Very respectfully yours, Theo. Dimon. 
 
 FROM WILLIAM H. BUTTON. 
 
 Philadelphia, Feb. 24, 1882. 
 BoBEET S. "Williams, Esq., TJtim, N. Y.: 
 
 Dear Sir — I have received yours of the 17th, inviting me to 
 the commemoration of the Semi- Centennial Anniversary of the 
 charter of the city of Utica, on March 1, 1882, and deeply re- 
 gret that pressure of business will prevent my attendance. 
 Meanwhile I cannot exp ress to you the pleasure it would give 
 me to revisit dear old Utica, and with heartfelt greeting meet 
 the many companions of my early days, which this occasion 
 will call together. Every name in the list which you have 
 sent me suggests bright and affectionate memories in my mind, 
 of boyhood's playmates, kind neighbors, good friends, none of 
 whom can I ever forget. From 1821 until 1865, I lived in 
 beautiful Utica, and you can easily understand that ufler no 
 other home could claim me this side of the infinite, and that 
 
JO Semi-Centennial of 
 
 like myself, all wanderers from the " lovely_ inland city," 
 wherever they roam, always must reiaomber with ])rido and 
 pleasui'e, as the years increase, the early sunny, golden days of 
 youth in the ever charming Mohawk valley. 
 
 With kindest remembrances to each menabSr of the commit- 
 tee, and regards to all of my old friends in the society, 
 
 I am truly yours, W. II. I!>utton. 
 
 1,115 Chestnut St, I'hihideiphia, Pa. 
 
 FROM KRV. U, W. DWKIHT. 
 
 Cmnton, N. Y., Feb. 21, 1882. 
 Db. M. M. BA(i(J : 
 
 My Dear Sir — The circului' of your Scmi-Centunnial Anni- 
 versary of the Oneida Historical Society, on Marcli 1st next, 
 came to hand yesterday. It is nut stated in it at what place or 
 at what hour it is to be held (whether by day or by night). 
 Whether I can be present T do not yet know. • Prooabilities 
 look strongly the other way. 
 
 I believe neartily in such organizations in all the counties of 
 the state and in all parts of our land. We have had, and are 
 progressively having such a history as no part of the world 
 ever had before; and tlie time to gather for sure preservation 
 the records of the early beginnings of the history of Central 
 New York is now, when we arc so near to them as to be 
 thoroughly accurate, if we will, in our work. The past, so far 
 as it has been right and true in aim and achievement, keens 
 ever growing more and more precious, as we arc continually 
 receding from it. Oneida county has been from the first be- 
 hind no county in the state for size, in sending forth men of 
 talent and nobleness of character to do the very best work of 
 the times in the affairs alike of the State and of tlio Church. 
 Whether I ever meet with you or not, you will always have my 
 spontaneous appreciation and warm sympathy with you in 
 your honorable and useful work. 
 
 I am yours truly, Bbn.jamin W. UwKUir. 
 
 FR(JM HON. S. EARL. 
 
 Hkrkjmkk, Feb. 27, 1882. 
 Gentlemen — ^our letter of the 17th inst., inviting me to be 
 present at tl](; Semicentennial Anniversary of the charter of 
 the city of Ulica, to bo commemorated on the 1st proximo, 
 was received in due time. T have held back my response to 
 your kind invitation until this moment, hoping I might be 
 able to so arrange some appointments setdown for that day, as 
 to enable me to be picscnt. But f regret to be obliged to say 
 
The City of i'tica. Jl 
 
 that I cannot, and must therefore for^o the pleasnre of meet- 
 ing with yon and other citizens of tJtica on the occasion of 
 so much local interest I r^ret this the more, becaose as a 
 native of Herkimer, I feel a just pride iu the growth and prosper- 
 ity of Utica, which Herkimer looks upon, as indeed she is, her 
 yonnger sister on the banks of the Mohawk. Herkimer gave 
 to TJtica some of her earliest inhabitants, among whom were 
 John Bellinger and the late Col. Nicholas Smith : and her first 
 merchant, John Post, was a resident of Herkimer before he be- 
 came a citizen of Utica. 
 
 In a matter of so much interest in a &mily as a semi centennial 
 celebration of a birth, it seems especially fitting, that every 
 branch of the family should be represented at the banquet : and 
 I hope some other representative, from Herkimer, will appear 
 and join in the festivities of the occasion! Between the 
 two places, linked together, as they are by the beauti- 
 ful Mohawk, there has always been, and I trust there al- 
 ways will be, intimate social and business relations — and 
 why should there not be? Herkimer is not envious of 
 the larger growth of her younger sister, but on the con- 
 trary rejoices in her career of prosperity, and in her proud po- 
 sition as the Queen city of the valley of the Mohawk. It is 
 not many years since, and it may be within the memory of 
 persons still living, when all the present site of Utica was em- 
 braced within the county of Herkimer : and at that time Her- 
 kimer was the larger of the two places. It would make this 
 letter too long to enumerate, even, the causes which have made 
 the more rapid growth of Utica, as compared with the slow 
 pn^ress Herkimer has made in that direction. It is sufficient 
 to say, and Herkimer folly acknowledges, that the growth of 
 Utica in all the elements which make up a city is a fact, and 
 that its position as the leading city in the valley of the Mc- 
 hawk is ^tablished. The only thing I claim for Herkimer, as 
 against Utica is on account of her age. 
 
 That she is small for her age is not the fault of Utica. Here a 
 village stood for more than fifty years before there was a civil- 
 ized habitation where Utica now stands ; and here there was a 
 vUlage sacked and a Christian church burned, by an invading 
 armv^ more than a quarter of a century before Utica was 
 known even as a stopping place for the weary white traveler on 
 the •• mighty Mohawk." And here, too, there was a Priest's 
 house, a rendezvous for Christian missionaries, a half century 
 at least before a honse for a Christian minister was built in 
 TJtica. It will be seen from this that there are some things 
 which age can claim. Herkimerwas settled as early as 1 1 23 — 
 Utii-a nearly two thirds of a century later. Herkimer, though 
 small for her age, and of but little reputation as compared with 
 Utica, is thoroughly loyal in her afifection and admiration for 
 
^2 Semi-Centennial of ^ 
 
 her, and is proud of her present greatness as a city of a half 
 century's growth. Time was when Herkimer was larger and 
 better known than Utica. Often the anxious and weary 
 traveler up the valley of the Mohawk who was destined for 
 Utica, but not knowing where it was, whether on the north or 
 south side of the river, would stop at Herkimer to inquire his 
 way. But from the following extracts, taken from the journal 
 of an intelligent and somewhat distinguished traveler during 
 the latter part of the last century, I should say it was at that 
 time rather hard on a hungry traveler to stop where Utica now 
 is. The extract is as follows : 
 
 " Septemher, 17S8. From Colonel Sterling's Schuyler, Her- 
 kimer county: I began to travel the wilderness bordering 
 upon the Indian Territory. The I'oad is almost impassable ; I 
 was upwards of three hours in reaching the Mohawk opposite 
 old Fort Schuyler, a distance of only six miles ; here I re- 
 luctantly forded the river, being alone and without a guide and 
 both shores being alive with savages. Having fasted twenty- 
 four hours in consequence of a severe headache the day 
 previous, I was by this time excessively hungry and fatigued ; 
 as there, was no tavern, and there were only a few scattered 
 houses, I proceeded to an old German log house on the margin 
 of the river and implored for something to eat. At length, 
 after much difficulty, I prevailed on an ill natured German 
 woman to spare me two ears of green corn and some salt." 
 
 The same intelligent traveler, in speaking of his experience, 
 in 1821, says : " I never suffered more from hunger in all my 
 wanderings than I did in 1788, on the spot now occupied by 
 the large and flourishing village of Utica." 
 
 At that time, I think.it safe to say, the same traveler would 
 have most likely been treated to spring lamb and chicken had 
 he arrived in Herkimer in the same starved condition as he did 
 at old Fort Schuyler. Taverns, so necessary for the comfort 
 of the weary and hungry traveler, then abounded in Herkimer; 
 so much again in favor of Herkimer on account of age. But 
 as the age of towns and cities in this country has but little 
 significance as bearing on the question of their size, it is not 
 either strange or surprising that though Utica is now but little 
 more than half as old as Herkimer, it should be more than 
 twelve times its size. Such apparently anomalous things do 
 happen in this country. 
 
 I know of no better time than the present to tender to the 
 Oneida Historical Society, for preservation, an old map show- 
 ing the location of the Palatines' village here as it was in 
 November, 1757, when it was sacked by the French and In- 
 dians and many of its inhabitants taken prisoners and carried 
 captive to Canada ; among whom was the Mayor of the village. 
 The map purports to show the location and shape of the houses 
 
The City of Utica. 7? 
 
 which constituted the village, including the church, the priest's 
 house, and the house also of the mayor. It must have been 
 made from memory by a person previously acquainted with the 
 locality, and considering that it was made without an actual 
 survey, it is quite accurate. The village, as shown by the 
 map, is where Herkimer now is — and it had a Mayor- — and 
 this, too, seventy-five years before such an officer was known 
 to exist in Utica. Here again Herkimer shows age, but age 
 alone, as all here well know, does not make a city. Herkimer, 
 too, has a proud and honored name, and that, too, we find does 
 not make a city. The classic name of Utica which was given 
 to a small settlement on the lovely banks of the Mohawk, 
 where old Fort Schuyler stood, has now been the name of a 
 •city for a full semi-centennial period, but the name did not 
 make a city ; that was made by forces which are still at work 
 and are likely to continue and yearly add to the growth of 
 Utica as time rolls on. 
 
 Hoping that the Semi-Centeonial Annivei'say of the birth of 
 the city of Utica, under a legislative charter, will be fitly com- 
 memorated, and that its growth and prosperity in the future 
 will justly entitle it to be called the Queen city of the Empire 
 State, I am, with great respect, vours, tfec, 
 
 S Earl. 
 To Egbert S. Williams, Chairman and others, Committee. 
 
 FROM DR. THOS. M. FLANDRAU.. 
 
 Rome, Feb. 24, 1882. 
 Mr. Egbert S. Williams, Chairman, &c.: 
 
 Dear Sir— I shall be much pleased to attend the symposium 
 in which the Oneida Historical Society proposes to commemo- 
 rate the Semi-Centennial Anniversary of the city of Utica. 
 
 Notwithstanding the erasure in your note of invitation, I con- 
 sider myself entitled to be classed with the " former residents " 
 of your beautiful city. It was my privilege to spend the year 
 1832 on Whitesboro street, the year which you now celebrate. 
 But aside from this, having passed- so many years in Oneida 
 county, I shall take great interest in the manificent record of 
 growth and prosperity which Utica will be able to present on 
 her fiftieth anniversary. 
 
 Very respectfully, Thos. M. Flandrau. 
 
 FROM NICOLL FLOYD, ESQ. 
 
 Moriches, Suffolk Co., N. Y., 
 Mr. Egbert S. Williams ; March 6, 1882. 
 
 I was not able to accept the invitation to the celebration 
 given by the Oneida Historical Society, though I had at one 
 
"j^ Semi-Centennial of 
 
 time some hopes of doing so ; but I beg to convey through you 
 to the committee, my very sincere thanks for their remembrance 
 of me as a former citizen and constant friend of Utica. 
 
 It was a great pleasure to find every name on the committee- 
 that of an old acquaintance and often a personal friend. 
 
 Many years must pass before it will cease to be a matter of 
 pride to any one in the legal profession to be able to say that he 
 comes from Oneida county. 
 
 In the debt which the state owes to her for the mighty men 
 of law she has sent forth, those following their footstep " liavd 
 ceqyds passihus" bear a double portion. Her best friends- 
 must be satisfied if she continues to live up to her record. 
 Yours very truly, Nicoll Floyd, 
 
 FROM HORACE W. FOWLER, ESQ. 
 
 257 Broadway, New York, Feb. 27, 1882. 
 
 My Dear Sib — I regret very much that my engagements for 
 Wednesday are such that I must give up my intention to at- 
 tend your exercises on that day. 
 
 I am surprised to learn that the city of Utica is only fifty 
 years of age. It, would appear from that fact that neither the 
 city nor I were of age when we first became acquainted ; and 
 that we were, therefore, children together. That may account 
 in some degree for my love for it. 
 
 If I remember rightly, Uticaj before it was a city, was about 
 the centre of the strength of the five nations ; and the whole 
 Mohawk valley has run red with the blood of conflict, and has 
 been the scene of many unheralded sufferings in laehalf of 
 civilization and national independence. The time may come 
 when it shall receive its proper share of credit, and when the 
 story Tryon county has to tell can be heard through the din 
 and clamor for glory that New England makes. 
 
 But when history at last begins to tell the truth, and narrates 
 with proper prominence the battles which have been fought in 
 the Mohawk valley, and the sufferings that have there been 
 endured, it will probably record more important, but cannot 
 possibly record more numerous fights than I have had in the 
 streets of Utica. 
 
 I would name the men I have whipped, except for their 
 feelings. I would name the men who have whipped me, ex- 
 cept for my feelings. I was not quarrelsome, either. But I 
 have fought on Whitesboro street, I have fought on Seneca 
 street, Liberty street. Hotel street, Genesee street, Carnahan 
 street, Union street, at the 3d, 4th, 5th and 6th locks of the 
 Chenango canal, amongst other places. 
 
The City of Utica. y^ 
 
 I don't think I have ever fought with any gentleman on your 
 committee. I think one or two of them may have chased me 
 once or twice. 
 
 If you think these few historical facts would be of interest, 
 you may use them. 
 
 Yours very truly, Horace W. Fowler. 
 
 Mr. Eorert S. Williams, Chairman: 
 
 FROM DANIEL J. FRANCIS. 
 
 No. 123 South Salina Street, ) 
 Syracuse, IST. Y., Feb. 24th, 1882. f 
 
 Egbert S. Williams, and others : 
 
 Gentlemen — It is with great pleasure that I acknowledge the 
 receipt of your invitation to the Semi-Centennial Anniversay 
 on Wednesday next 
 
 I regret that my business engagements are such as to prevent. 
 me from being present upon that occasion. As one of the 
 many sons of Utica, I take the greatest interest in all that con- 
 cerns her, whether of the past, present or future. A cousin, 
 Mr. Daniel J. Morris, long a resident of this city, and a native 
 of Utica, has handed me a programme of the exercises of the 
 Utica Academy, held forty-two years ago, which I enclose, 
 trusting that it may prove interesting to some who may be 
 present at the celebration, next week. 
 
 To any student of those days, when M. M. Backus was 
 principal, and George E. Perkins professor of mathematics, it 
 will revive memories of faces and friendships that the busy 
 duties and cares of after life may have rendered dim and 
 obscure. It may carry them back to the times when they were 
 boys, and remind them of those who entered with them upon 
 the duties of life, of ambitions and hopes, that have been realized 
 or shattered as Dame Fortune has seen fit to will it. 
 
 The programme contains the names of Professor Anson J. 
 Upson, who delivered the valedictory; of ex-Postmaster 
 Thomas L. James, M. L. Langford, Henry M. Peckham, 0. K. 
 Grannis, H. A. Daniels, and many other well remembered 
 names. 
 
 You are welcome to place the programme among the 
 archives of the society, if it is thought worthy of a place. 
 
 The thoughts of Utica's absent sons will be with you at the 
 celebration, and I congratulate the society upon the success of 
 the same, which the names of the committee ensure. 
 
 Very truly yours, Daniel J. Francis. 
 
7(5 Semi-Centennial of 
 
 FROM N. F. GRAVES, ESQ. 
 
 Sykacuse, Feb. 27, 1 882. 
 E. S. Williams, Esq., Chairman: 
 
 Dear Sir — Yoar favor of the I7th inst, inviting me to be 
 present at the Semi-Ceutennial Anniversary of "the charter of 
 the city of TJtica has been received. Soon after the settlement 
 of Utica my father came on horseback from Connecticut, and 
 stayed over night at Utica, in a log tavern, on his way to West- 
 moreland, where he settled on a farm, now occupied by one of 
 my brothers. My father often described the appearance of 
 Utica at that time and thought the surroundings did not 
 promise well for one who wished to cultivate a farm. The 
 landlord advised him to remain there and purchase land close 
 to the settlement, predicting that some day there would be a 
 <-!ity there. The prediction was received with peals of laugh- 
 ter. The cedar swamps were dense and formed a jungle nearly 
 impassable, and looked then as though it might be a better 
 place for bears and wolves than for raising wheat, corn and 
 oats, and so he passed on to Westmoreland to procure good 
 land, and in that he succeeded. My father lived to see Utica 
 a prosperous and beautiful city, and to know that a single lot 
 of the land that he could at first have purchased for a few dol- 
 lars an acre was worth more than his whole farm. 
 
 I often went to Utica when a boy with my father and be- 
 lieved that Utica was the fairest and most beautiful city in the 
 land. I was a boy then, and had not seen other cities, but have 
 since seen the principal cities of the world, but after all I must 
 say my first impression remains, and in my eyes Utica is 
 " beautiful for situation " and one of the fairest cities of this or 
 any other land. I read law in the office of Joshua A. Spencer 
 and there formed the acquaintance of many prominent men, 
 and of many others that have since become distinguished. No 
 city of its size has sent out such an army of men that have 
 made their influence felt far and wide, and that have reflected 
 such honor upon their native city 
 
 Eespectfully yours, N. F. Graves. 
 
 FROM A. H. GREEN, ESQ. 
 
 Syracuse, Feb. 27, 1882. 
 To Egbert S. Williams, Esq., Chairman, and others, Com- 
 mittee, etc.: 
 
 Gentlemen— I regret that I cannot accept the esteemed invita- 
 tion of the Oneida Historical Society, communicated through 
 your committee, to be present at its proposed commemora- 
 
The City of Utica. 77 
 
 tion o£ the Semi- Centennial Anniversary of the charter of 
 the city of Utica. 
 
 I hardly need say that the society deservedly celebrates so 
 important an event in the history of a community distinguished 
 for the worth and intelligence of its citizens, the successful en- 
 terprise and large pubHc spirit of its business men, for its social 
 refinements, and for the remarkable number of eminent public 
 men it has produced, whose names are intimately associated 
 with the government of the state of New York and of the 
 United States. 
 
 Hoping that Utica may have a future greater and more 
 pi'osperous than even its past, I am, gentlemen, with much 
 respect, Very truly yours, 
 
 A. H. Green. 
 
 FROM THOS. D. GREEN. 
 
 Syracuse, Feb. 28, 1882. 
 E. S. Williams, Esq., Chairman, etc. 
 
 Dear Sir— Since giving my acceptance of your invitation to 
 be with you in your commemoratoiy doings to-morrow, I have 
 been a few days from home and have taken a severe influenza, 
 which I find will prevent me keeping my engagement^ and 
 deny me a great pleasure. In your remembr-ances of me as a 
 " former resident " of Utica, I am led to reflect a good deal 
 upon the changes, now near the third decade of years, since I 
 went frotti the old home farm on the outskirts of your city, 
 having remained under the paternal roof during my minority. 
 Looking to the bright side alone, we have seen 'in the time, 
 vour city reaching out on all sides and more than doubling in 
 population ; and from its being the home of men eminent as 
 statesmen, jurists, evangehsts, as well as manufacturers and 
 men engaged in trade, giving you a reputation that is world- 
 wide. 
 
 A couple of weeks ago I saw, as I passed your city east, 
 what thirty years' ago was a single track, ironed with the 
 old strap rail, with but one short side track, and known as the 
 Utica & Schenectady railroad, but which is now a part of the 
 great N. Y. C. & H. R II. R., with its four tracks, and the only 
 four track road in the world, its side tracks now extending so 
 far that they reach quite to the Starch Factory creek, one and 
 one half miles. I think I am correct when I say, that a public 
 street has been laid out by your city, on what was the east 
 line of my father's farm, which we used to call two niiles 
 from Genesee street. I would have had great satisfaction in a 
 reunion with many old time friends and acquaintances, and as 
 I look over the names of the gentlemen of your committee of 
 invitation, I am pleased to see many who were boys with me 
 
7c? Sen/,i-Centennial of 
 
 at the old Academy, and who have attained honorable dis- 
 tinction in the city of their birth. 
 
 I feel honored bv your remembrance, and am 
 
 Very truly yours, Thos. D. Greek. 
 
 FROM T. P. HANDY. 
 
 Clevelakd, Feb. 23, 1882. 
 
 Robert S. Williams, Esq., Chairman: 
 
 My Dear Sir— I am in receipt of yours of 17th inst, inviting 
 me to the Semi-Oenteimial Anniversary of the charter of your 
 •city on the first J)roximo, and regret that I cannot be present to 
 participate in its exercises. 
 
 The memory of my boyhood days in and about Utica is 
 always pleasant to me when I recollect that the first beginnings 
 of my business life were also formed there nearly sixty years 
 ago, resulting in my being transplanted to Cleveland with 
 others of your valued citizens. I cannot look upon it and its 
 growth during the last half century but with increasing inter- 
 est. The old Mohawk river, with its Durham boats propelled 
 by long poles up and down its then broad current, being at 
 that time its only avenue of commerce. The old red ware- 
 house, used by Devereux and others, near the foot of Genesee 
 street, were then among the wonders of my early days. 
 
 The changes during the past fifty years have been marked 
 by more steady and substantial improvements, and while its 
 growth has not equaled that of some of our western cities, it 
 has always been distinguished for a solid and healthful progress 
 among others of greater population. More than all, it can 
 boast of its distinguished men and women, of its abounding 
 charities, and its religious and benevolent culture, the influence 
 •of which has been felt all over our western fields. Few cities 
 have contributed so many able representatives both in our 
 national councils, on the bench and at the bar, as has the city 
 of Utica. 
 
 The names of many of these men, both among the dead and 
 the living, will doubtless be suggested in this review of its 
 past history. I heartily congratulate you all, in its increasing 
 prosperity and commanding influence, and trust the occasion 
 will be one of great pleasure and profit to those who are per- 
 mitted to share in its exercises. 
 
 Thanking yourself and the committee for your kind invita- 
 tion, I remain. 
 
 Yours very truly, T. P. Hanuy. 
 
The City of Utica. yg 
 
 FROM HON. J. T. HEADLEY. 
 
 Newburg, Feb. 27, 1882. 
 To Robert S. Williams and others : 
 
 Gentlemen — It would give me great pleasure to accept your 
 Mnd invitation to be present at your Semi-Centennial Anni- 
 versary o£ the charter of the city of Utica, but it will be impos- 
 ;sible for me to do so. My recollections of Utica are of the 
 most pleasant kind, though I suppose I should hardly recog- 
 nize it now. At the time I was there, if I remember right, it 
 -contained a population of only about 13,000, and a short gallop 
 in every direction but one brought me into a most beautiful 
 ■country, while a short walk in the latter took me into a natural 
 forest. Then, too, if I remember right, there were but two hat 
 stores and one hotel, deserving the name, in the place, while 
 Genesee street meant Utica. Now all this is changed. The 
 •old Indian name, signifying " around the hill," though some- 
 what indefinite, expresses the idea I have always had of the 
 natural beauty of the place. 
 
 Utica has also other associations that make it very dear to 
 me. It holds the ashes of one whom I revered and loved above all 
 •else on earth. The history of Utica is of great interest from its 
 first settlement as a mere outpost, up to 1798, when it was in- 
 ■corporated as a village, as well as since, and I know I should 
 listen with great pleasure to the reminiscences that will be 
 ■evoked at your Semi-Centennial Anniversary. 
 
 Very respectfully and truly yours, 
 
 J. T. Headley. 
 
 FROM JOHN H. HENSHAW, ESQ. 
 
 New York, Feb. 28, 1882. 
 HoBERT S. Williams, Esq., Chairman: 
 
 Dear Sir — I regret my inability to accept your invitation on 
 behalf of the Oneida Historical Society, to attend the com- 
 memorative exercises of the Semi-Centennial Anniversary of 
 the charter of the city of Utica. My early associations and 
 •childhood days spent at my old home on Fayette street are 
 very dear to me. ' My maternal grandmother, Abigail Handy, 
 with her husband, settled in Utica many years before it re- 
 ceived its charter, and identified themselves with its growth and 
 progress. My father also Mr. J. Sidney Henshaw, during the 
 years he was permitted to live in Utica, took ever an active in- 
 terest in its welfare and prosperity, and at the time of his death 
 was writing and compiling a history of the place. Had I ac- 
 ■cess to his manuscripts and papers, I have no doubt that I 
 -could find many valuable documents, pamphlets and books 
 
8o Semi-Centennial of 
 
 that would prove very interesting reading upon an oocasion 
 like the present. 
 
 Yours respectfully, John H. Henshaw. 
 
 FROM JOHN W. HITCHCOCK, M. D. 
 Mt. Vernon, Jefferson Co., 111., Feb. 25, 1S82. 
 
 To Robert S. Williams, Esq., Chairman^ Hon. W. J. 
 
 Bacon, et al., of Oneida Historical Society : 
 
 Gentlemen — I have received within the last hour your invi- 
 tion to be present on Wednesday, prox., when your society pro- 
 poses to commemorate the Semi-Centennial Anniversary of the 
 charter of the city of Utica. How happy I should feel if possibly 
 I could be at the home of my nativity next week to meet those 
 whose names — honored names — bringing to my mind recollec- 
 tions of my boyhood days, touching my heart as only such re- 
 minders can — make me young again, and I see the good peo- 
 ple whom I knew so well and reverenced, e. g , the Williams, 
 the Bacons, Gomstocks, Sewards, Baggs, Eoberts, Barnards, 
 McQuades, Groodwins, Baileys, Sayre and Jones of 60 or 70 
 years ago — and, moreover, I see scores of others, who by 
 precept and example, prompted refined thoughts and noble 
 action. When I think of Utica o£ long ago, I am reminded 
 of certain words of Shakespeare in Eichard II. " This 
 other Eden, demi-paradise,'' and fifty-two years in the 
 great west have failed to produce to me its superior ; 
 hence my gratitude and. thankfulness for this note before 
 me, dated February 17, 1882, to which this scribbled acknowl- 
 edgement carries but a feeble return. If Judge Breese was 
 here, as he formerly came, we would consider historical and 
 other facts pre-historical (?), would judge and bring forth such 
 as we were conversant with near the beginning of this century, 
 and write you a letter perhaps worth reading on the first of 
 March at Utica. I have time to write very briefly and hastily. 
 Your kind note was a week coming hither. It should have 
 come in two days. The fact is, recent deluging rains have so 
 broken up all railroads that transportation and travel are seri- 
 ously interrupted. For five or six days we have not received 
 mails which usually arrive here daily, and the possibility of 
 getting hence to Utica is only ideal, and my desires are, as it 
 were, in medias res, that is, mixed in floods, washouts, broken 
 bridges, blockades of cars, dismal prospects, uncertain locomo- 
 tion. The prospect is more discouraging than I had in 1830, 
 when, having waited a day or so on account of a heavy rain 
 storm, I started from home and drove one good horse about 
 six weeks to the " far west," a myth, supposed to be near 
 where I halted on the Wabash. My long ride carried me into 
 
The City of Utica. 8i 
 
 regions of some historical note ; brought acquaintance with 
 General Harrison and the good and great Abraham Lincoln ; 
 gave me acquaintance with the Black Hawk war, as volun- 
 teer and otherwise ; led me upon mounds upon which T stood 
 considering archaeological questions. First among them I 
 asked : Who were the mound builders ? And next, when did 
 they build ? I dug for relics without learning the who, the 
 when, the why satisfactorily. Out in the great prairies I went, 
 where trees were not to be seen, and I reflected upon the causes, 
 the great convulsions, which drifted soil so widely, so smoothly, 
 and to such great length. I stepped upon a solitary boulder, 
 an immense rounded rock, lying upon the surface of the prairie 
 and wondered how large a piece of ice would be required to 
 transport it to the spot where it apparently had been dropped. 
 I have been at times so lost in wild contemplation of bewilder- 
 ing scenes new to me fifty years ago, that only a rattlesnake, 
 buzzing near me, could change my reflections. I did not in- 
 dulge such vain things' very often, but occasionally I could 
 not escape what Hamlet characterizes thus : " Thoughts be- 
 yond the reaches of our souls." The great varied earth's 
 surface and what it covers, between the muddy waters of the 
 Mississippi and the Pacific ocean, will not let our thoughts 
 rest. " Knowledge is power," (Bacon,) and it stirs our weak- 
 ness to reach, that is if our minds are right. 
 
 May every good aid your efforts historically and otherwise. 
 '^Vith great regard I am truly yours ever, 
 
 "John W. Hitchcock, M. D. 
 
 FROM J. C. HOADLEY. 
 
 Boston, Mass., Feb. 22, 1882. 
 KoBEET S. Williams, Esq., Chairman^ etc. : 
 
 Your circular, bearing date February 17, current, inviting 
 me to attend a commemoration of the Semi-Centennial Anni- 
 versary of the charter of the city of Utica, on Wednesday, 
 March 1, came to hand last evening, forwarded from Lawrence. 
 I take great pleasure in accepting said invitation, and shall not 
 fail to be present unless something now unforeseen should 
 occur to prevent. 
 
 I shall, if possible, start on Monday, I recognize as old 
 acquaintances, M. M. Bagg, C. W. Hutchinson and M. M. 
 Jones, of your committee. 
 
 Yours truly, J. C. Hoadley. 
 
82 Semi-Centennial of 
 
 FROM JOSEPH B. HOYT, ESQ. 
 
 Cazenovia, Feb. 27th, 1882. 
 
 To Robert S. Williams, and Gentlemen of the Oneida His- 
 torical Society : 
 
 Your favor of the 17th instant came duly to hand. It has 
 been well said that '• history is philosophy teaching by ex- 
 ample." Such being the case, it is manifest that Historical 
 Societies, with periodical celebrations of important events, 
 must be of great use to the public at large, in preserving the 
 memory of such events, and thereby keeping alive public 
 spirit in the minds of citizens generally. Hence I am highly 
 gratified that the " Oneida Historical Society " propose to 
 celebrate the Semi-Centennial Anniversary of the granting a 
 <3ity charter to Utica, my native city, where I have resided the 
 largest part of my life, and been honored by thi'ee annual 
 elections as alderman of the second ward, and three more as 
 supervisor thereof. It was thirty years the 25th instant since 
 I left Utica to reside at Cazenovia. During that period many 
 of Utica's most esteemed and highly honored citizens have 
 gone to that " undiscovered country from whose bourne no 
 traveler returns." 
 
 Among them, I flatter myself, I had as many friends as 
 usually fall to the lot of humble individuals like myself. At 
 .all events I cherish their memory with much respect and with 
 heartfelt gratitude for their friendship. I remember also with 
 great pleasure my career as alderman and supervisor in your 
 beautiful and flourishing city. 
 
 It is unnecessary, however, for me to dilate on this part of 
 my life, as your public records will show what part I had in 
 your city aSairs. 
 
 Utica is still my favorite city, wherein I have the satisfaction 
 ■of believing I have many true friends, among whom I hope I 
 may be .permitted to number the members of our very useful 
 " Historical Society." 
 
 Did my health permit, I should very much enjoy being 
 present at our meeting on the 1st of March, to take part in the 
 Semi-Oentennial exerfcises on that very interesting occasion, 
 and to meet the well known faces of my old friends in Utica 
 and its vicinity^ 
 
 With much respect and regard, gentlemen, I remain 
 
 yours most truly, Joseph B. Hoyt. 
 
The City of Utica. 83 
 
 FROM HON. WARD HUNT. 
 
 Washington, D. C, Feb. 23, 1882. 
 Hon. R S. Williams, Chairman: 
 
 Dear Sir — I feel a deep interest in your celebration, as I re- 
 member well when the village of Utica became a city, with 
 Joseph Kirkland as its Mayor. I was absent, but recall the 
 ardor which I felt when informed that Mr. Kirkland had 
 accepted th,e nomination. 
 
 Many men of note have filled the office since then, such as 
 Henry Seymour, John C. Devereux and Charles P. Kirkland, 
 and at a later day, Horatio Seymour and James Watson 
 Williams, all of whom were well known to me. I bear in 
 mind the names of Bleecker Lansing, Jared E. Warner, Joseph 
 B. Hoyt, Charles Tracy and George Tracy among the alder- 
 men. 
 
 At the time that Utica became a city I was but a lad of 
 twenty-one years of age ; now I rank among its oldest living 
 Mayors. Indeed, I know of no one, except Thomas Hopper, 
 Norman C. Newell, Theodore P. Ballou and Daniel Shadrach 
 among the natives of the city who are older than I am. 
 
 On this account, and from so many years' attachment to the 
 place, it is a sincere regret that, owing to ill health, I cannot be 
 with you in its celebration. 
 
 Yours respectfully. Ward Hunt. 
 
 FROM HENRY HURLBURT. 
 
 Bloomfield, N. J., Feb. 28, 1882. 
 
 E. S. Williams, Esq., JJtica, N. Y.: 
 
 Dear Sir — I am sorry I cannot be at the Semi- Centennial 
 celebration to-morrow. There is no place but Utica that seems 
 like home to me, and that, I think, is the brief history of the 
 feelings of all its old inhabitants. And what an eventful his- 
 tory has the last half century been to most of us who are now 
 living ! In this period we have seen the rise, progress and fall 
 of nearly all those we loved and honored of its old inhabitants. 
 Trusting you may have an interesting celebration and resolve 
 to restore your city councils to the hands of men of the respec- 
 table character that at first were called to them, 
 
 I remain yours very sincerely, 
 
 Henry Hurlburt. 
 
8^ Semi- Centennial of 
 
 FROM HENRY IVISON. 
 
 New York, Feb. 24, 18S2. 
 Mk. Robert S. Williams : 
 
 My Dear Friend — I have received the printed circular of the 
 Oneida Historical Society, calling a meeting of the Utica boys 
 on the 1st of March, or a response in writing. 
 
 The position which I occupied in Utica from 1820 to 1830 
 was of so quiet and unimportant a character to every one but 
 myself that I can say nothing that would be of interest to any 
 one now residing there, I was an honored member of your 
 father's family during those ten years, and I shall, while life 
 lasts, hold in grateful remembrance every member of that dear 
 family. Utica has no reason to be ashamed o£ her sons ; they 
 are known and honored in every calling and profession and in 
 every part of the world. I sincerely hope that you may have 
 a large and delightful gathering, and that I shall have the 
 pleasure of reading the proceedings, as I cannot be present in 
 person. With kindest regards to yourself, 
 
 I remain yours truly, H. IviSON. 
 
 FROM HON. THOMAS L. JAMES. 
 
 New York, Feb. 24, 1882. 
 
 R. S. Williams, Esq., and others, Oommittee: 
 
 Gentlemen — I thank you for your invitation to be present 
 at the Semi-Centennial Anniversary of the charter of the city 
 of Utica, to be held under the auspices of the Oneida Histori- 
 cal Society, on Wednesday, the 1st of March. 
 
 As a native of Utica, at this remove, marking her steady and 
 solid growth in population and wealth, in manufacturing in- 
 dustries and railway facilities, which make her the center of a 
 large and growing trade ; noting the charities of her citizens, 
 as shown in the erection of asylums and hospitals, and proud 
 of your admirable system of public schools, nothing would 
 give me greater pleasure than to meet, on such an occasion as 
 this, the men to whose energy, enterprise and zeal the city owes 
 so much of its prosperity, and to listen not only to the historic 
 reminiscences of the last fifty years, but to the golden proph- 
 ecies and promises of the future ; but, muchto my regret, my 
 business engagements conspire to prevent my being with you, 
 and I am reluctantly compelled to decline your invitation. 
 
 Thanking you again for your courtesy, and trusting that the 
 occasion may be one of great interest, 
 
 I am very truly, Thos. L. James. 
 
The City of Utica. 8£ 
 
 FROM W. C. JOHNSON, ESQ. 
 
 Newburg, Monday, Feb. 20, 1882. 
 Egbert S. Williams, Esq., Chairman, etc., Utica, JV. Y. : 
 
 Dear Sir — I am favored this day with an invitation from the 
 " committee of the Oneida Historical Society, to tate part in 
 a celebration of the Semi Centennial Anniversary of the 
 charter of the city of Utica. 
 
 It is with extreme regret I foresee my inability to be present 
 in person, a regret the more poignant as I recognize in each 
 member of your committee, from my venerated preceptor in 
 the law — still happily enjoying an honored aftermath — down 
 through the list, each and all pleasantly remembered associates 
 and friends of my early years. 
 
 Who may measure or explain ". . . qua natale solum 
 duhedine captos ducit.'''' 
 
 I can only say that as Utica was, so it ever has been and 
 always will be "home to me." Though circumstances led me 
 hence " Nihil Uticense alienum me puto.^' 
 
 From its very beginning the home of my ancestors, it still 
 holds most who are dear to me amongst its living and its dead, 
 and with true heart, in the house I long ago prepared, I shall, 
 ere yet a little while, myself be laid to rest " till the shadows 
 flee away." 
 
 Pardon the personal character of this note. Time is not 
 sufficient for maturing anything of general interest, were it 
 otherwise in my power, and kindly express" to your associates 
 the high appreciation of their remembrance of 
 
 Yours very truly, W. C. Johnson. 
 
 FROM J. WYMAN JONES, ESQ. 
 
 Englewood, ]Sr. J., Feb. 22, 1882. 
 
 Egbert S. Williams, Esq., Chairman, <&c.: 
 
 My Dear Sir — The invitation of the Oneida Historical 
 Society, to attend the Semi-Centennial Anniversary of the 
 charter of the city of Utica, on the 1st of March next, is re- 
 ceived. I sincerely regret that an imperative engagement in the 
 city of St. Louis, on the second day of March, renders it im- 
 possible for me to accept the invitation. 
 
 The city of Utica was to me a charming place of residence 
 for ten years. It is the birth-place of my children and their 
 mother— the sepulcher and present abode of many of their 
 kindred — the home of some of my most cherished friends. 
 
 It is endeared to me by most delightful memories, of profes- 
 sional intercourse with its able lawyers — of its social life — its 
 
86 Semi-Centennial of 
 
 devotion to art, music and literature, and the high character of 
 its men of business. 
 
 It is my belief (speaking from impressions derived from my 
 residence there) that in no city in the world is there more de- 
 lightful and rational home-life, in proportion to the population, 
 than in Utica. Neither is there a city of its size so dis- 
 tinguished for the ability of its professional men, for the gen- 
 eral culture of its citizens, and the courageous enterprise they 
 have displayed. 
 
 Being, therefore, as fond and proud of old Utica as if she 
 were my native city, it wo aid give me unqualified pleasure to 
 unite in the exercises proposed in commemoration of its charter, 
 were it possible. 
 
 With kind regards to your committee, nearly every one of 
 whom I recall as a personal friend of the good old "days o' lang 
 syne." I am, sincerely yours, 
 
 J. Wyman Jones. 
 
 FROM HON. POMROY JONES. 
 
 Lairdsville, Feb. 25, 1882. 
 To THE Oneida Historical Society : 
 
 Gentlemen — -I am too infirm to attend your meeting on the 
 1st of March. My eyes are so dimmed that I have to employ, 
 an amanuensis to put down my little jottings. I was born in 
 Whitestown, Montgomery county, not the diminutive town it 
 is now in area. Within the town bounded as it was then, there 
 are now over one million inhabitants. In a few years they 
 spread Herkimer, and then Oneida county, over my residence, 
 and yet I have lived all my life within thirty feet of where I 
 was born. The farm on which I live was the westernmost 
 clearing in the state except Indian settlements. I can just re- 
 member the 7 by 9 log cabin in which I was born. It soon 
 gave way to a more pretentious log house. The first time I 
 was in Otica was in December, 1794 ; then a few small houses 
 graced the plot of what is now the lower part of the city. 
 
 The next time was in 1798. Then two or three small stores 
 had been started on what is now the lower part of Genesee 
 street. I did not seethe fictitious store of John B. McNamara, 
 late of New York, who advertised West India rum at seventy- 
 five cents a gallon, and other things equally low, who, 
 when inquired for by a person from the country, was uni- 
 formly directed to the printer. These little stores were 
 soon replaced by twostory framed buildings, and in a few 
 years these in turn gave place to structures of brick, and 
 some of the brick buildings have got into their third edi- 
 tion. And what has made Utica in its present location? 
 
Tile City of Utica. 8y 
 
 Judge Sanger, the master spirit of the Seneca Eoad Co , got the 
 road incorporporated in 1800, and it must needs pass through 
 New Hartford and strike the Mohawk below, at the most con- 
 venient point, which was found to be the lower part of Genesee 
 street. New Hartford, at one time, it was said, did more busi- 
 ness than Utica, but with the location on the Mohawk and other 
 advantages, Utica soon outstripped New Hartford. I remem- 
 ber the first stage coach that Jason Parker ran west from Utica. 
 In a few months he advertised to run a stage three times a 
 week to Canandaigua and back. He soon started a daily line, 
 and then four daily lines, each way. On one occasion an in- 
 dividual called on Mr. Parker to hire out as a stage-driver. Mr. 
 Parker said he wanted to hire one, but he wanted one that 
 could drive. The individual claimed he had had experience in 
 New England. Mr. Parker " said, there is a team and coach in 
 the yard; you may drivemetoWhitesboro." The driver had 
 something of the rogue in his composition, and he struck every 
 stone in the road going and returning, so that Mr. Parker's posi- 
 tion in the coach was not a very settled one. Mr. Parker saw 
 that it was done on purpose, and when they got back to Utica 
 he says to the driver: " If you can hit all the stones, you can 
 miss them ; I will hire you." Pomroy Jones, 
 
 Aged 92 December 30, 1881. 
 
 FROM SAMUEL A. JONES. M. D. 
 
 Ann Aebor, Mich., Feb. 22, 1882. 
 
 My Dear Sir — The invitation of the Oneida Historical So- 
 ciety awakens the memories of forty years ago, and I am filled 
 with such music as I had not hoped to hear this side of heaven ! 
 
 To meet with you on March 1st, will be to go back to boy- 
 hood, and to know again some superlative girlhood. Oh ! ^how 
 the roses did bloom some forty years ago ! 
 
 But, alas ! to come back to Utica is to find many and many 
 a " vacant chair," and to grow tear-blind over graves filled by 
 an untimely fate. Yet one can be proud even in tears, and 
 Utica may be all that : her dead ones are an honor ; her living 
 not a disgrace. 
 
 God willing I will share your joy in thankfulness on the ap- 
 pointed day. 
 
 Sincerely yours, Samuel A. Jones. 
 
 EoBERT S. Williams, Esq. 
 
88 Semi-Centennial of 
 
 FROM REV. GEORGE LEEDS, D. D. 
 
 171 Park Ave., Baltimore, Feb. 25, 1882. 
 Messrs. Robert S. Williams, and others: 
 
 Gentlemen — I must ask your indulgence for a seemingly 
 late reply to your favor of the 17tli inst. for it came in my 
 absence on a melancholy duty in Boston, from which I have 
 just returned. Though it is not in my power to accept your 
 invitation to the Semi-Centennial commemoration of the char- 
 ter of the city of Utica, to be held the 1st prox. under the 
 auspices of the Oneida Historical Society, it would in ordinary 
 circumstances have given me a rare pleasure to do so. 
 
 Allow me to say, that T regard your beautiful city as one of 
 my homes. Forty years ago next autumn I began my ministry 
 in Utica, when the fathers of the generation now upon the 
 stage were its active citizens. As I recall the worth, the solid 
 intelligence and true refinement that I used to meet with at 
 that early period, I can hardly credit the fact, that it was all 
 the product of a single generation of culture in a modest, 
 though aspiring town. The explanation, no doubt, was to be 
 found in the character and talent and taste that had been 
 brought together from various quarters, to make up its infant 
 settlement. I can wish nothing better for the future of Utica 
 than that it shall be like her past. The crowning privilege of 
 a people is an honored parentage. 
 
 I am happy to be recognized by you to-day as your former 
 fellow citizen ; and I cherish the hope that I shall yet be 
 counted of your number again, when we too shall be gathered 
 unto our fathers and our dust shall mingle with the sacred 
 ashes of many, once dear and never forgotten. 
 
 I am yours, gentlemen, with sincere and grateful esteem, 
 
 GrEOEGE LeEDS. 
 
 FROM JAMES M. LEWIS. 
 
 New York, Feb. 24, 1882. 
 Egbert S. Williams, Esq., Chairman, etc. : 
 
 Dear Sir — I thank you much for your invitation to be present 
 at the Semi-Centennial celebration of the charter of your city 
 on the 1st proximo. I exceedingly regret that my engagements 
 here will prevent my accepting the invitation extended to me 
 as a " former resideAt." 
 
 In the month of April, 1832, I became a resident of your 
 city, almost at its birth, and during upwards of twelve years' 
 residence I made many friends, most of whom have gone to 
 that "bourne from whence no traveler returns;" but I am 
 
The City of Utica. 8g 
 
 happy to say that a few of the friendships then formed exist to 
 the present day, and I assure you it would afford me pleasure 
 to meet them on the occasion to which you refer. 
 
 The growth of your city for the last fifty years, though per- 
 haps not so great as many of her sisters, has been steady and 
 substantial, of which her citizens may justly feel proud. 
 
 Again regretting that I cannot be present, I am 
 
 Yours very truly, James M. Lewis. 
 
 FROM J. A. LINTNER. 
 
 Albany, Feb. 27, 1882. 
 Mr. E. S. Williams, Chairman: 
 
 My Dear Sir — Your invitation to unite in the exercises com- 
 memorative of the Semi-Centennial Anniversary of the charter 
 of the city of Utica, on the first prox., is received. I regret 
 that I am unable to be with you on that occasion, promising as 
 it does, to.be a most interesting one. The reminiscences of fifty 
 years ago, and of subsequent events and progress, in view of 
 your present proud position, cannot fail of being delightful. 
 You will have much of which you may justly boast. Although 
 but for a few years I had place among your citizens, yet I retain 
 many pleasant recollections of my sojourn with you ; and from 
 the honesl pride that I feel in my relationship to one whose 
 labors contributed so largely to the growth of your city, I 
 venture to bespeak in behalf of the memory of Holmes Hutch- 
 inson, the tribute of mention and a thought, as you will recall 
 the honored ones, no longer with you, who aided in making 
 you the Utica of to-day. 
 
 I am, sir, very truly yours, J. A. Lintnek. 
 
 FROM W. K. LOTHROP. 
 
 New York, Feb. 27, 1882. 
 Egbert S. Williams, Esq., Chairman: 
 
 Dear Sir — I received your invitation at the proper time, but 
 failed to notice your request for an immediate response, for 
 which pardon me. 
 
 I regret I cannot come. Business, that inexorable master of 
 the average "American citizen," says " No," and I submit with 
 as good grace as T can. 
 
 I left Utica in the fall of 1831, and emigrated to Syracuse, 
 then in its infancy. I fallowed the example of my immediate 
 ancestors and " went "West " then. The first twenty years of 
 my life were spent in Utica. The remembrances of them are 
 pleasant. . 1 recall the pranks of my boyhood with a mirth dif- 
 ficult to express in any language now in use. I have ever been 
 
go Semi-Centennial of 
 
 proud of my native city and county, and have striven to so 
 " behave myself " that said city and county should not be 
 ashamed of me. 
 
 What more can I say ? What more can you expect of a 
 man whose head, for years, has been "an ant hill of units and 
 tens." 
 
 " Man, through all ages of revolving time, 
 Unchanging man, in every varying clime. 
 Deems his ovrn land of every land the pride, 
 Beloved of Heaven o'er all the world beside ; 
 His home the spot of earth, supremely blest, 
 A dearer, sweeter spot than all the rest." 
 
 Very respectfully, Wm. K. Lotheop. 
 
 FROM REV. S. K. LOTHROP, D. D. 
 
 12 Chestnut Street, Bostoist, .Feb. 27, 1882. 
 Hon. E. S. Williams, Chairman^ etc: 
 
 My Dear Sir — I thank you and the committee for 4;he invita- 
 tion with which I have been honored, to be present at the com- 
 memoration by the Oneida Historical Society of the Semi-Cen- 
 tennial Anniversary of the charter of the city of Utica, on 
 Wednesday, March 1st, 1882. I have not been quite so well 
 as usual this winter, and greatly regret that the present state of 
 my health forbids ray acceptaoce of this agreeable invitation. 
 Nothing would have giveij me greater pleasure than to be pres- 
 ent on this interesting occasion. 
 
 I ceased to be a resident of Utica in 1817, sixty-five years 
 ago next September ; but in all this time never, I think, have 
 more than two years passed without my making a visit to my 
 relatives and friends there. I have a pretty distinct recollec- 
 tion of it as far back as 1808-9, so that I have been more or less 
 familiar with it for nearly seventy years, and have, as it were, 
 seen it grow from a small village, on the bank of the Mohawk, 
 up to its present extended limits and beautiful aspects, through 
 which it may fairly claim to be the Queen City of Central New 
 York. A very large proportion of the names in that interest- 
 ing volume. Dr. Bagg's " Pioneers of Utica," and all the en- 
 gravings ia it, save that of Mr. Alfred Munson, I recognize as 
 the names and portraits of persons \who were familiar to my 
 childhood, and some of them to my maturer years. From that 
 book, as well as froni my own memory and observation, I 
 know that the growth of Utica has been solid and substantial ; 
 that, through the wisdom, public spirit and beneficence of h^r 
 citizens, everything pertaining to the highest and best interests 
 of a community — schools, academies, churches, institutions for 
 the relief and comfort of suffering humanity — all these have 
 been established and maintained in a flourishmg condition. 
 
The City of Utica. gr 
 
 I know the high standard of intellectual and moral charac- 
 ter of the people of Utica, and what a large number of eminent 
 men in all the walks of professional life have, from time to time, 
 been reared or gathered within its borders, or have gone forth 
 from it to fill with honor and usefulness important public posi- 
 tions. 
 
 In short, as one of her sons, I am proud of Utica, its past and 
 present, and its promise for the future. I never visit it without 
 satisfaction, and never leave it without rejoicing, that while I 
 go back to Cape Cod for my first American ancestors, and after 
 a residence of more than sixty years, cannot help being loyal 
 to Massachusetts, I have yet, by right of birth, hj the mem 
 ories of childhood and i the associations of maturer years, a 
 claim upon me, which I delight to acknowledge, for loyalty to 
 New York — especially to the Mohawk valley, Qtica and Onei- 
 da county — all three of which, in their history and in the 
 character of their people, are as honorable as the valley, the 
 city and the county are remarkable in their beauty. 
 
 With my best wishes for your commemoration, that it may 
 be in every way a success — a just tribute to the past and an in- 
 spiration to the future, 
 
 I have the honor to be your friend and obedient servant, 
 
 S. K. LOTHEOP. 
 
 FROM A. R. MACDONOUGH, ESQ. 
 
 New York, Feb. 28, 1882. 
 Dk. M. M. BaG(^ : 
 
 Dear Sir — I have delayed answering the polite invitation of 
 your committee, in the hope of being present in person on the 
 occasion. 
 
 But, life is made up of hopes, delays and disappointments, 
 and I find but a moment left in which to express my regret 
 that I cannot take a part in the interesting celebration pro- 
 posed. 
 
 Yours very truly, A. E. Macdonough. 
 
 FROM DR. M. D. MANN. 
 
 Hartford, Feb. 25, 1882. 
 Mr. E. S. Williams : 
 
 Dear Sir— I regret that I shall be unable to be present in 
 Utica on the occasion of the Serai-Centennial. 
 
 I shall always take a great interest in Utica and all that per- 
 tains to it, and it would give me great pleasure if I could be 
 there, but it is impossible for me to get away. 
 
 I am yours very truly, M. D. Mank. 
 
<^2 Semi-Centennial of 
 
 FROM ELI MANCHESTER, JR. 
 
 New Haven, Feb. 27, 1882. 
 
 Egbert S. Williams, Esq., Chairman : 
 
 Dear Sir — Your circular which you sent my father duly re- 
 ceived. As father is unwell I would say in answer that he 
 would be very happy to be present at the anniversary, but that 
 it is impossible on account of a hard cold which keeps him 
 within doors. Enclosed you will find a letter written to him 
 by his brother, Otis Manchester, formerly a resident of Utica, 
 and also one of the former aldermen, which we think you may 
 like to read on the occasion. Father does not feel able to write, 
 ao sends this instead. 
 
 Whether you make use of the enclosed or not, please be 
 kind enough to return it promptly, as father values it highly as 
 written by his brother, who has now passed away. 
 
 Hoping your anniversary will prove a success in every way, 
 I am yours very truly, Eli Manchester, Jr., 
 152 Columbus Avenue, New Haven, Conn. 
 
 FROM LUTHER R, MARSH, ESQ. 
 
 New York, Feb. 26, 1882. 
 
 Messes. Egbert S. Williams, Chairman, and William J. 
 
 Bacon, and others, Committee : 
 
 Grentlemen — I seize the earliest intermission, to thank you 
 for your kind remembrance, aiid to express my regret that 
 I cannot be with you to enjoy so pleasurable a reunion 
 as that of the Semi-Centennial Anniversary of the charter 
 of Utica. The occasion would be one of great interest to 
 me ; intertwined, as your city is, with the pleasing memories of 
 youth. You might also have included, in the same celebra- 
 tion, the centennial commemoration of the first settlement of 
 the central city of our state, for it was a hundred years ago 
 that two log houses arose to keep each other company, on the 
 site, which soon became old Fort Schuyler, and, afterwards, 
 Utica. 
 
 Your present charter — practically the fourth — was not a 
 very ancient document when I went to Utica to live ; but its 
 locks are now somewhat sprinkled with grey by the lapse of 
 fifty years. It has guarded well the interests and advanced 
 the prosperity of your lovely city ; a city, which, whether 
 from_ the glamour of youthful imagination, or for more sub- 
 stantial reasons, always stands before me as one of peculiar 
 interest and romance. I cannot help thinking that I had the 
 good fortune to reside at Utica in its very halcyon days. There 
 
The City of Utica. gj 
 
 were still living many of the old pioneers — men of wealth, 
 character and strength- to whom your town was indebted for 
 its prosperity and repute, and who gave it dignity. The pul- 
 pits were filled by men of exceptional learning and eloquence. 
 There came also for a residence at Utica, the chiefs of the bar, 
 to disport themselves and test their intellectual might, before 
 courts and juries. Enthusiastically as I enjoyed the spciety of 
 Utica, of its brilliant young men, of its peerless girls, its hos- 
 pitable courtesies, I yet looked -with still greater interest upon 
 those giants of that profession to which I was to devote 'my 
 hfe. There came also young men from all parts of the state, 
 as to the great center of legal education, to learn in the ofiices 
 of the masters, and to list their high debates in the grove of 
 the academy. There, in a room in Pond's Temperance Hotel, 
 was written " The Glory and Shame of England," a book 
 which swept over the country like a prairie fire ; and whose les- 
 sons, in the present attitude of England toward us, might 
 well be rehearsed. There, was the center and animated im- 
 pulse of that anti-slavery agitation — with its moral and intel- 
 lectual heroes — which, encountering the fiercest opposition, and 
 triumphing over mobs by its brave determination, at last up- 
 heaved the deep foundations of society throughout the nation, 
 and culminated in that fiery battle-storm, that left the air pure, 
 and the land free, of our whole domain, and revealed the es- 
 cutcheon of America, with every stain erased. 
 
 But there would come to me a mingled sentiment of sadness, 
 amidst all my rejoicing ; for, not only have most of the men of 
 that day, who renowned your city, gone to join the majority, 
 but the generation of young men, also ; as, William Wallace 
 McCall, Huet E. Eoot, Henry E. Hart, Charles Hurlburt, 
 George Thomas, John H. Edmonds, William 0. Barrett, 
 Mathew D. Bagg. John K. Hackett, and many others — youths, 
 then, full of vitality, and entering on the competition of life 
 with ardent hopes and prospects all aglow. 
 
 Your city, in concurrently contributing the two United States 
 Senators from New York, and. at the same time, a Judge of the 
 Eederal Court, continues to maintain the influence and reputa- 
 tion she formerly held, when she filled the ofiice of Attorney 
 General of the state, with three successive appointees, Talcott, 
 Bronson and Beardsley. 
 
 Utica has been fortunate in her historian ; for few would 
 have had patience to gather, and the skill to weave, the in- 
 cidents of her early life, and the biographies of her early 
 citizens, so well as it has been done in the " Pioneers of Utica." 
 He has brought the record down to near the end of the " Third 
 Dynasty ;"— not trenching on the period of your present 
 charter— and it is to be hoped that this anniversary will stimu- 
 ate the author to resume his labor of love, and volume the 
 
~g^ Semi-Centennial of 
 
 history of Utica, from the time he left it, in 1825, down to this 
 blessed year of 1882. That would be so in the line of the 
 object of your society, that I doubt not you would cordially 
 hail his resolution to attempt it. I have felt the need of this 
 continuation ; for, often in looking through its pages for some 
 familiar name and family, I have found they were excluded by 
 the inexorable date of 1825. 
 
 Wishing you, and all who shall have the privilege of attend- 
 ing the anniversary, the " pleasures of memory " in recalling 
 the past, the joys of reunion in contemplating the present, and 
 the " pleasures of hope " in forecasting the future, 
 
 I am, cordially yours, LuTHER E. Maesh. 
 
 FROM MRS. CORNELIA W. MARTIN. 
 
 WiLLOWBEOOK, N. Y., Feb. 28th, 1882. 
 Mr. Eobeet S. Williams : 
 
 Dear Sir — Mr. Martin acknowedges with many thanks your 
 kind invitation to him to be present at the meeting of the 
 Oneida Historical Society, to commemorate the Semi- Centennial 
 Anniversary of the charter of the city of Utica on Wednesday, 
 March 1st, 1882. 
 
 As Mr. Martin is not well enough to comply with your 
 request to be present on an occasion which cannot fail to be one 
 of great interest to the citizens of Utica, he has requested me, 
 in expressing the regret he feels in being unable to join the 
 friends who will meet together on Wednesday, to say something 
 in relation to my own early associations with Utica. My 
 father came to Utica in the year 1800, and when, the charter 
 was obtained constituting our little town a city, he was elected 
 alderman. The occasion called forth " the chronicles of Utica," 
 by Thomas Plandrau, a paper which I hope may be produced 
 at the meeting of the Historical Society on the first of March, 
 1882. That year, 1832, was memorable on account of the 
 presence in our city of the Asiatic cholera, when Mr. and Mrs. 
 Williams gave themselves to the care of the sick and dying, 
 going from house to house to minister to all classes of the com- 
 munity and helping by their faith and fortitude and tender 
 ministrations to encourage the faint hearted and to administei* 
 relief to tlie suffering. Their work of faith and labor of love 
 can never be forgotten, and will no doubt be recalled by many 
 with the memories of the year when Utica first became a city, 
 
 With the assurance of our deep interest in this Semi-Centen- 
 nial Anniversary, and many thanks for your kind remembrance, 
 believe me, 
 
 '^Qry sincerely yours, Coenelia W. Maetin. 
 
The City of Utica. 95 
 
 FROM HENRY MERRELL. 
 
 Camden, Ark., May 4th, 1882. 
 To Dr. Bagg and others of the Publication Committee, dkc. 
 
 Gentlemen — Thanks for your circular letter of the 12th 
 ultimo giving absentees from the Semicentennial an opportu- 
 nity to amend their written responses. I will avail myself of 
 this option to send in place of ray former letter a sketch of 
 
 THE WHITTLING CLUB 
 
 of fifty or sixty years ago in Utica. Although sufficiently judg- 
 matical in its lucubrations it was not in the least a court of 
 record. In point of fact, it cannot be said to have been ever 
 quite conscious of its own existence as a club. It never con- 
 vened, in the technical sense of that word, and it never 
 adjourned. There was, probably, never a full meeting of the 
 club, and certainly it was never without a quorum when so 
 many as one member was present, for any one of them by him- 
 self alone, could whittle away and be happy; seeing they 
 were, primarily, for the most part old bachelors and therefore 
 pretty well used to that mode of existence. 
 
 Now and then an elderly married man — a man of experience- 
 would drop in for an hour or so, but never, (you may rely upon 
 it,) to stay many minutes after the nine o'clock bell. 
 
 Their time of meeting was after business hours aay night in 
 the week excepting Sunday ; with the benefit of a doubt still 
 lingering in the minds of several whether the Sabbatb did or 
 did not begin in New York State, as it always had done in 
 •Connecticut, at sundown the day before. 
 
 Their place of meeting was on Genesee street opposite Cath- 
 arine, in ihe back end of a brick store occupied by tbe firm of 
 John Camp & Brothers. The Camp Brothers, three in number, 
 John, Harry and Charles, were one and all, of the same persua- 
 sion as to matrimony : they were bachelors, and as such maj- 
 be set down as the nucleus of the club. Every member was 
 supposed to carry somewhere about his person a penknife ; that 
 being, in those days, a necessary part of one's outfit, be he 
 business man, professional gentleman, or a big boy at school. 
 An exact line between the refinement of pen-making and 
 mending, and the vulgarity of whittling has to be drawn some- 
 where and it may as well be laid down just where the pen- 
 knife left off and the jackknife began. 
 
 The whittling club, notwithstanding its name, was, of cdurse, 
 superior to jacknives. Each member, as he dropped in after 
 tea, before taking his seat quietly and as a matter of course, (if 
 he felt inclined to whittle,) reached up and took his own par- 
 ticular shingle from its. place just where he had left it, perhaps 
 
g6 Semi-Centennial of 
 
 a month before, when about to set out on that hazardous and 
 fatiguing journey to New York city and back ; the whole of 
 which he was full ready to narrate for the asking, with par- 
 ticulars of perils from the Yancies at Little Falls, a missing 
 linch-pin at Tribe's Hill, damp linen sheets at one Dutch tavern 
 on the road, and shocking pillow-cases at another ; and worst 
 of all the man who snored in his berth below-decks on board 
 the Hudson river boat, the " North America." 
 
 The seams and fissures of the posts and wood-work overhead, 
 in which those reserves of white-pine shingles bristled, were 
 manifestly the results of a kiln-drying process of long standing, 
 occasioned by the glowing heat of that remarkable stove around 
 which the whittling club assembled. That rude forefather of all 
 Utica stoves had come down to them from a former generation — 
 before ever even the Taberg furnace was in blast. A more in- 
 artificial stove there never was. It was a stove adapted to the 
 understanding of any wild Indian who bartered his furs and 
 ginseng root, at John Post's store, for drink and ammunition ; 
 because, like his own wigwam, its heat and smoke were free to 
 escape together through, a hole in the top. A stove which 
 twenty years later gave assurance of a warm welcome to many 
 and many a Welsh-speaking woodman approaching the town 
 with heavy sleigh-loads of potash and some vension from the 
 new- clearings beyond the Deeriield hills. A stove to make 
 them feel at home plose around it, for was it not akin to one of 
 their potash kettles inverted, squared, truncated, and mounted 
 on slender legs, and at the same time, like unto their camp- 
 fires, consuming always the maximum of fire-wood to the min- 
 imum of heat. 
 
 If this writing were a fable, in which a cast-iron stove might 
 be said to have a moral nature, and be a very hard case at 
 that ; we should say Utica society had been full lenient towards 
 that stove in its old age ; considering what is known of its 
 vicious career. Believed to have been the incendiary which in 
 February, 1804, burned John Post's store to the ground, it 
 survived that conflagration, in which it ought to have perished, 
 to flourish fifty years longer, corrupting each rising generation 
 of new and improved warming stoves by its own reckless waste 
 of fuel and its unsightly appearance. 
 
 Was it then a wholesome lesson for the rising generation, 
 when that disreputable old stove,' instead of being ignominiously 
 smashed into pot-metal, was borne in triumph down Genesee 
 street to a certain hardware store, then and there to receive the 
 apotheosis of brass knobs, and thus mounted to be esteemed 
 for want of something better; as a sort of palladium to the city 
 of Utica? 
 
 After what has been said, there can be no reasonable objec- 
 tion to a short sketch of some notable conversations touching 
 
The City of Utica. gj 
 
 current events, which might have been overheard by that stove, 
 if those brass knobs had been there from the ijrst, to serve as 
 ears, and provided always that what they heard had not " gone 
 in at one ear and out the other, " to as little purpose as the fuel 
 went in at that stove's door, and as smoke went straight out at 
 the chimney. 
 
 What very circumstantial narratives might not the members 
 themselves have given of events within their own knowledge 
 along the Canadian frontier, during the war of 1812 to 1815. 
 How, for instance, several of them had won imperishable re- 
 nown by volunteering, out-of-hand, to march for the immediate 
 relief of Sacketts Harbor, after the British were come and gone ; 
 and what discussions were there not, .to settle the grave ques- 
 tion whether Harry Camp was legally a dead man, or still alive 
 to all intents and purposes. It seems that he had been drafted 
 for the war, and instead of going himself had hired a substitute, 
 and that' substitute was killed in battle; the question then 
 being, was Uncle Harry, after the killing of his substitute, to 
 consider himself, in point of law, as good as dead ? The con- 
 clusion reached at last was that, as it could not be affirmed that 
 going into a battle in place of his substitute, Uncle Harry's legs 
 would have let him stay there long enough to get himself 
 killed, therefore he was still alive, and might have been drafted 
 to go again. 
 
 Born in Utica several months " before the Indian was hung," 
 the writer was, of course, too small a boy to join in conversa- 
 tion with such "grave and reverend seniors" as those who 
 frequented the Whittling Club. How it happened that ever I 
 was privileged to be present at any of its sittings, even as a 
 stow-away, I cannot tell, unless it may have been that my small 
 escort was convenient to my grandfather, Talcott Gamp, Esq., 
 who was the venerable father of " the boys," as he called the 
 firm of John, Henry and Charles. An old-time gentleman he I 
 Dignity and self-respect characterized his deportment always 
 and everywhere. How often did he remind me, in so many 
 words, that there were no boys of late years like the boys of 
 his own time ! Often, when a freshman at old Yale, had he, 
 without grumbling, brought salt water in a clam-shell all the 
 way from Long-wharf to " the Hall," at the behest of a senior 
 whose protection he enjoyed as " fag." He once told the 
 writer, with evident satisfaction, that in all his raising — at Dur- 
 ham, in Connecticut — he had never presumed to pass either in 
 or out at the front door of his father's house without lifting his- 
 hat and saluting its threshhold with more less of a bow ! 
 
 It was to me a Eembrandt picture always, that Whittling 
 Club, dimly lighted up by one fish-oil lamp, or at most by two 
 of Nehemiah Brown's tallow dips, with tin candlesticks and iron 
 snuffers, all plain enough and wasteful enough to match that 
 
gS Semi-Centennial of 
 
 stove around which it was their pleasure to sit in stout Wind- 
 sor chairs of Jacob Snyder's make. Conservatism could go no 
 farther than when it reconciled those substantial men with 
 such an outfit to that degree they never did, as a club, give 
 way to the innovation of hghting by gas, or making themselves 
 comfortable over a coal-burning stove. 
 
 If there ever was any smoking of tobacco in the club, I do 
 not remember it. There were several mouldy casks in the 
 cellar, containing whatever was left of the old trade in rum ; 
 (for that was the tipple in those days) but its sale in that house 
 had stopped short oS at the first intention of the temperance 
 movement, and none of the old liquors that remained ever 
 made their appearance in the club, so far as I know ; yet the 
 firm were not of the style to knock in the heads of their casks 
 and spill all their contents on the ground in a moment of en- 
 thusiasm. I have no idea that in their wildest dreams of dis- 
 sipation, such a thing as a " Symposium " until 6:30 the next 
 day, ever entered their heads. 
 
 More conscientious men than they were never lived, at least, 
 that was the impression their conversation made upon the 
 writer. So long as the national measure of stopping the Sun- 
 day mails was an open question, we find them investing and 
 losing money with resignation in the " pioneer " lines of public 
 conveyances to run at extra speed six days and rest on the Sab- 
 bath. Their swift-running packet-boats, with hulls painted 
 red, made all the speed that towpath regulations would allow. 
 But when " Johnson's Eeport " (as it was called, but under- 
 stood at the time to have been written by Amos Kendall,) dis- 
 concerted the urgent measures of Jeremiah Evarts (the father 
 of our late cabinet officer), who had that measure in hand and 
 took its failure very much to heart, the Whittling Club had 
 not a word to say against the majesty of a law, and I think 
 that afterwards they became rather averse to all the ^wizs which 
 about that time began developing their tendency to become 
 more and more the disturbing forces in American politics. 
 
 At one time the Whittlers were considerably exercised over 
 the fluctuations of a protracted law suit brought by certain 
 Whitesboro farmers against a mill dam which then spanned 
 the Mohawk river near the foot of Genesee street. Its water- 
 fall propelled a grist mill which was very convenient to the 
 country people and useful to the city. The dam was but 
 about seven feet liigh. We boys thought it great fun, of a 
 Saturday afternoon, to drag an old Indian dug-out canoe, as 
 best we could, up the declivity by land, and then to paddle it 
 down again over the fall, which was not very abrupt. 
 
 It was claimed by some farmers, who 'cultivated bottom 
 lands as far up the river as WhiteslDoro, that the Utica mill 
 dam of seven feet high flooded lands not formerly subject to 
 
The City of Utica. gg 
 
 overflow, although the sum of all the shoals between them 
 amounted, say, to twenty feet fall. Plaintiffs' demand was 
 that this dam should be removed. Defendants' counsel ridi- 
 culed the complaint as manifestly absurd, and in the first in- 
 stance found it easy enough to gain a verdict. But, with the 
 appeal to a higher courtfcame evidence so conclusive that the 
 verdict of the court below was reversed, and the obstruction 
 had to be removed. Two results so different, and the latter so 
 contrary, as they thought, to common sense, was sufficiently 
 perplexing to the club ; for was it not self-evident that water 
 will find its level ? But that lesson was, more than once, very 
 useful to the writer afterwards in his engineering career. The 
 lesson that water is a very imperfect fluid, and that running 
 water will, under certain circumstances, pile up and overflow 
 beyond all reasonable bounds, is a good lesson for one to know 
 beforehand, whose lot is cast anywhere in the Mississippi 
 valley. 
 
 But the innovations which most sorely exercised conserva- 
 tive members of the Whittling Club, must have been the in- 
 evitable railroad and the magnetic telegraph. It is scarcely 
 necessarv to say, in this connection, that Theodore Faxton and 
 John Butterfield were not members at all. They were a 
 power, but they were apart to themselves. They did their own 
 thinking and kept their own counsel, finding it, doubtless, for 
 their interest to do so. The Erie canal was already a grand 
 success, and those who had, from the first, predicted its failure 
 ought to have been ashamed of themselves ; for were there not 
 precedents for the canal ? There were canals in Holland and a 
 large one even in conservative China. But where was the ancient 
 authority for railroads ? And as for the present time, engineer- 
 ing skill had not greatly distinguished itself in America. In 
 the dense populations of Europe, long lines might succeed, but 
 never in this wild country. There was rumor of an ambitious 
 southern section of railroad running on stilts through the swamps 
 back of Charleston, in the Carolinas; and there were, to their cer- 
 tain knowledge, sixteen miles of flat rail and snake heads between 
 Schenectady and Albany. But a good Morgan horse could 
 get over the same ground in less time, and without such in- 
 tolerable dust and sparks. The locomotive on that road was a 
 tricky machine, and the passengers had no way of knowing 
 what it would do next. It might jump the track at any 
 moment, and it might refuse to stop or stand, or go backward 
 when it ought to go ahead ; and it was far less sightly to look 
 at than a spanking team of stage horses. The motion of its 
 engine was vertical and connected with its one crank by a 
 working-beam and pitman, speeding up the driving-wheels by 
 a spur-weel working into a smaller pinion. And when you 
 reached Albany it seemed that you were not yet there, for you 
 
loo Semi-Centennial of 
 
 most keep your seat, and be let down an inclined plain by 
 means of a rope and a hoisting apparatus ; arriving at last, ii 
 nothing broke, through a series of mechanical devices which 
 did not at all commend themselves to nervous gentlemen. 
 
 It was very much in this shape that a first call came for the 
 men of Utica to take stock in an extension of the Schenectady 
 railroad westward along the route now known as the " New 
 York Central" — a mighty thoroughfare atthislate'day, with its 
 four tracks of steel rails, but of doubtful expediency at that 
 time, in the opinion of the Whittling Club. They figured up, 
 conscientiously, the daily arrivals and departures of passen- 
 gers by the stages and canal boats, and even allowing that some 
 well-to-do farmers from the country might leave their Dearborn 
 wagons and teams at home, and make their periodical family 
 visits to Connecticut and back again in the cars ; they could 
 not see where the money was to come from, more than enough 
 to defray running expenses,— let alone dividends to" the stock 
 holders. There were other questions as to the cost of a right 
 of way through lands along the Mohawk valley, many times 
 more valuable than the sand-plains of Schenectady were at 
 that time, and about the probable cost of running over dumb 
 brutes ; but the question of profit and loss was, of course, par- 
 amount in their calculations. 
 
 The writer remembers this railroad discussion more dis- 
 tinctly because that was the first time he ever ventured " to 
 speak in meeting." 
 
 If you please, gentlemen," said I — and, right here, if the 
 boy had not been " father to the man" — if he had not been 
 fully possessed with the "courage of his convictions," the 
 instant silence of the club, and the look of amazement wjth 
 which, one and all, its members present turned their faces in 
 the direction of a small voice which proceeded from behind a 
 pile of merchandise, would have disconcerted the speaker, and 
 so his opinion on the railroad question had been lost to the 
 world. As it was, he made his deliverance, pitching his voice 
 half an octave higher and in words to the following effect : 
 
 " It appears to me. Uncle John, that the gentlemen don't 
 look far enough ahead. The canal is doing first rate now. The 
 emigrants are beginning to Just swarm, going west, and they 
 don't talk any more like stopping at the" Western Reserve in 
 Ohio— they are bound to go farther, Indians or no Indians. 
 
 " What goes up must come down, 
 On the head or on the ground." 
 
 Those new settlers will soon be shipping produce this way, 
 and wanting supplies back again. Help build this railroad 
 and the increase of trade and travel will surprise you. The 
 new 'Cumberland Turnpike' will be just nowhere, and New 
 
The City of Utica. loi 
 
 York city will have twenty years the start of Baltimore and 
 Philadelphia. If I was you, I'd take stock in the railroad." 
 
 By this time the boy^shojtj range of consecutive thought 
 was exhausted, and his ffift&as well. He paused for a reply 
 but there was none. The members of the club only exchanged 
 glances and resumed their whittling in a very thoughtful way, 
 and soon after began dispersing to their several places of abode, 
 as the jury is said to do when the judge has got done with 
 them. The essential fact is, that road was built and many con- 
 servative gentlemen took stock in it, never afterwards having 
 to regret that they had done so, unless some may have sold 
 out their stock too soon. 
 
 The writer would not like to be understood — not in the 
 least — as encouraging the average small boy to be forward in 
 the expression of his opinions, but would just intimate that 
 some little credence is due to that fable in which the mouse is 
 said to have gnawed through the net that imprisoned a lion. 
 
 We do not know that the Whitling Club ever pooh 1 poohed ! 
 the Magnetic Telegraph. Probably they did not, for by that 
 time public improvements were becoming lively. . The first tel- 
 egraph dispatch that ever reached Utica came by the hand of 
 Horatio Seymour. The writer, still a youth, happened to be con- 
 versing with his Uncle John Camp, standing on the side-walk 
 in front of his store, when Mr. Seymour, then a young man 
 and as yet in no public position, except as already an influ- 
 ential orator of his party, came walking up the street in his 
 quiet gentlemanly way, and stopped a few minutes to exchange 
 salutations with Mr. Camp, and to show him a slip of paper 
 which he carried in his hand. It was a riband of thick white 
 paper, indented with marks and dots in a manner that required 
 explanation. He said he had just returned from Washington 
 city, and the paper in his hand was the fragment of a message 
 received in his presence by Morse's Telegraph, just then for the 
 first time in working order between Baltimore and the seat of 
 government. 
 
 Of course, after that, it was scarcely possible for even the 
 Whittling Club to question the practicability of telegraphing ; 
 but its general utility was, with them, for a long time, still an 
 open question, and we doubt if any one of them ever got over 
 that depressing emotion which accompanies the receiving and 
 paying for a dispatch — contents unknown — which may be " the 
 tjearer of unwelcome news.'' 
 
 The Whittling Club came to its end as it began, without any 
 violent dispersion of its members. Public events became too 
 fast for them. The saddest event which happens unto all, now 
 and then left a vacant chair. Several of their number, when 
 well advanced in life, surrendering to the inevitable, became 
 exemplary married men, who probably found it better for them 
 
I02 Semi-Centenni'al of 
 
 to spend their evenings at home. Uncle Harry Camp was the 
 last surviving member, and still a bachelor when the writer 
 paid him a visit near the close o£ his life in his lone office on 
 Liberty street. He was still as careful about fire and lights as 
 of old, and far more precautionary against burglars, for he had 
 more reason to expect them. Judging from his conversation, 
 you would conclude that the club in which his habits of 
 thought were modified must have been in the main composed 
 of good-natured men, for he never spoke ill of any one. 
 
 Utica owes a debt of honor to those its "pioneers." Its 
 present substantial prosperity is due mainly to the sound prin- 
 ciples of those who were better qualified to enjoy_ its early vil- 
 lage life than the more enterprising spirit of a full-grown city. 
 Their aversion to debt, and their distrust of innovations did 
 not deter them from accepting ripe improvements, after others 
 had been at all the risk and expense of demonstrating their 
 utility. Their large gains in worldly estate were rarely, if 
 ever, the chance profits of speculation. And what is more and 
 better, they trained up the generation to come after them, with 
 education suited to their several walks in life, taking good care 
 to provide each with a visible means of livelihood. For they 
 had the sagacity to foresee that which of late yeai's has become 
 manifest to every right thinking man ; and they never would 
 have sanctioned the popular fallacy that education iper se is 
 the saving clause in our social and political constitution. They 
 knew full well that to educate a mass of any people above 
 their lot in life, and then provide them with no corresponding 
 career, is but to fill with hopeless aspirations a formidable, dik ■ 
 contented class, dangerous to society and to the state. 
 
 Henry Mebrell. 
 
 FROM HON. C. L. MERRIAM. 
 
 Locust Grove, Lewis Co., N. Y., March 1, 1882. 
 
 . . . We, in this .Black River country, owe so much to 
 the kindly, healthful inflaence of Utica's sons and daughters 
 that my recollection of such men as Joshua A. Spencer, and the 
 majority of his generation, now gone, is only grateful. During 
 my five years' residence there as a boy, I learned what our 
 fathers always told us, "That to know the people of Utica, 
 was to respect and love them." . . . 
 
 Truly yours, C. L. Mereiam. 
 
The City of Utica. loj 
 
 FROM GILBERT MOLLISON. 
 
 Oswego, Feb. 27, 1882. 
 Mr. Eobekt S. Williams, Chairmari, and others, Utica, N. Y.: 
 
 Gentlemen — I have to-day received your invitation to be 
 present at the Semi-Gentennial Anniversary of the charter of 
 the city of Utica, on Wednesday, March 1, 1 882. 
 
 I regret that I shall be unable to attend. It would be very 
 pleasant to hear the reminiscences that will be given on that 
 occasion, and to hear especially of the men who moved the 
 mercantile interests of Utica during 1838 to 1843, the years I 
 was a clerk in your city. How familiar to me yet are the 
 names of Williams, Dana, Sayre, O'Neil, Dutton, Newell, But- 
 ler, Farwell, Livingston, Dov/s and others, with whom my busi- 
 ness relations brought me in contact. 
 
 Believing you will have a Semi-Centennial worthy of your 
 good and prosperous city, believe me. 
 
 Yours truly, Gilbert Mollison. 
 
 FROM REV. E. D. MORRIS, D. D. 
 
 Lane Theological Seminary, ) 
 Cincinnati, Feb. 22, 1882. j 
 
 E,. S. Williams, Esq., Chairman, (&c.: 
 
 Allow me, my dear sir, to express to your committee, 
 through you, my sincere regret that I cannot be present at an 
 anniversary which will present so many attractions to every 
 loyal son of Utica. I have been glad to note the organization 
 of the Oneida County Historical Society, and feel myself 
 honored by even a nominal connection with it. The association 
 will certainly render very valuable service to the future by 
 gathering up the memoranda of a vanishing past, and by com- 
 memorating such significant historic events as the one you are 
 celebrating. And as for the good city of Utica, sitting as queen 
 in the center of the good county of Oneida, all her sons near 
 and far will unite in sending her, on this anniversary of her 
 coronation, their loving and hearty. All hail ! 
 
 Yours truly, E. D. Morris. 
 
 FROM HON. DAVID MOULTON. 
 
 Floyd, N. Y, Feb. 28, 1882. 
 R S. WiLLAMs and others, of Committee : 
 
 Gentlemen— I am in receipt of your honored invitation for 
 the Semi-Centennial Anniversary for March 1st, 1882. It fills 
 
10^ Semi-Centennial of 
 
 me with profound gratitude ; and in my declining years recalls 
 a flood of pleasant associations of early days. For eighty 
 years I have resided upon the confines of Utica. I have wit- 
 nessed its infancy ; I have seen it grow from a wayside village 
 to a flourishing city ; I have rejoiced in its prosperity ; I have 
 had intimate relations with nearly all its men of pi'ominence, 
 who have added their tributes to its renown ; they were intel- 
 lectual giants, possessing the best elements of true manhood ; 
 they have passed away like green leaves in autumn, bearing 
 good fruit in the harvest. I heartily join you in commemora- 
 tion of their virtues, and their works. They have passed, but 
 the city they founded still lives and still flourishes. 
 
 You that are young and in prime, have taken up the thread 
 of its life and its prosperity, and are carrying it faithfully for- 
 ward into the future. In turn you will be, as I have been, 
 practically relieved by the crowding march of youth upon the 
 heels of age. Thus youth renews itself and its works. 
 
 My infirmities will not admit of my personal presence 
 among you. I regret it, for it makes me wish I was young, 
 but my heart is with you in all its youthful spirit. I cannot 
 refrain an expression of gratitude for the kindness of your in- 
 vitation, and the honor and distinction you would confer. 
 Again tendering my earnest thanks, with blessings for you all, 
 I am with high esteem and regard 
 
 Yours truly, David Moulton. 
 
 FROM RT. REV. H. A. NEELY, D.D. 
 
 Portland, Feb. 27, 1882. 
 
 My Dear Sir — I greatly regret that my many home engage- 
 ments at this season will, prevent me from accepting the cordial 
 invitation of the Oneida Historical Society, for March 1. It is 
 now just thirty years since I took up my residence in Utica, 
 andl may, therefore, reckon myself among her older citizens, 
 for as I have not renounced my citizenship there, so I am not 
 aware that I have been declared to have forfeited it. True, I 
 have not paid any taxes in Utica for several years, but that is 
 only because no bill has been sent to me, and my own gratify- 
 ing inference from the latter fact is that I have the freedom of 
 the city. 
 
 In Utica I began my life work, and gained some of my 
 most valued experiences. There, too, I found some whom I 
 still hold as among my dearest friends, and I rejoice to see the 
 names of not a few of them on your committee of invitation. 
 Alas, there are many more upon your mortuary records ; yet 
 not there alone, but cherished in my heart, and in many hearts. 
 And what a galaxy of illustrious names it is which appears as 
 you unfold the roll of the half-century, of men who have 
 
The City of Utica. 105 
 
 adorned and ennobled every profession, and every best walk in 
 life. Truly one may well wish to claim Utica for his city, 
 though his own name be not Cato, and I esteem it a high 
 honor only to have been recognized and encouraged by such 
 men in the days of my youth. 
 
 With my hearty greetings, and trusting that the commem- 
 oration ma.j afford much pleasure to all who are able to engage 
 in it, I am, 
 
 Very sincerely yours, Henry A. Neelt. 
 
 Egbert S. Williams, Chairman, etc. 
 
 FROM PROF. EDWARD NORTH. 
 
 Clinton, Oneida Co., N. Y., Feb. 20, 1882. 
 Dr M. M. Bagg: 
 
 My Dear Sir — I thank you for the invitation, and hope to be 
 present at the Half-Century Symposium on the 1st of March. 
 Yours very truly, Edward North. 
 
 FROM AMOS O. OSBORN, ESQ. 
 
 Waterville, Feb. 28, 1882. 
 Egbert S. Williams, Esq., Chairman, dbc. : 
 
 My Dear Sir — Having been invited by the Oneida Historical 
 Society, through you, to be present at the Semi-Centennial 
 Anniversary of the charter of the city of Utica, I should be 
 very happy, were I able, to be present at the symposium. Jiist 
 what this word means, as used in your invitation, I do not cer- 
 tainly know, but that it is something good I have no doubt. 
 
 While a citizen of Utica, as a student in the oflBce of Joshua 
 A. Spencer, Esq., I made acquaintances whose friendly inter- 
 course has given me great pleasure through my subsequent 
 life, and as a native and citizen of the county whose interests 
 have always been nearly identiiied with that of the city — ^its 
 hub and exponent — I have cherished and shared in the pride 
 of its people, for its position as a representative of most of the 
 valuable interests of human society. 
 
 As a city and county, possessing these in a marked degree, 
 it is not surpassed by any other. It is everywhere known for 
 its representative men -in science (notably in geology and 
 botany,) in statesmanship, in educational institutions, in mission 
 enterprises, in politics, in manufactures and in fine stock 
 raising. 
 
 It is also equally well known for its great physical features 
 in geology, which have given it an equally wide reputation. 
 
io6 Semi-Centennial of 
 
 The Trenton limestone, the Clinton group, the Oneida con- 
 glomerate, the Oriskany sandstone are all named from locali- 
 ties within its borderers. And last, but not least, Utica slates, 
 have they not always furnished the important elements and 
 factors in the machinery of county, state and national politics ? 
 
 In commemoration of the jubilee celebrated this day, it has 
 been proposed, and may very likely be carried into effect, that 
 a memorial hall be erected in the city, for the use of this His- 
 torical Society, and two or three other associations. 
 
 I propose, in view of the facts above stated, and Jhe great 
 fitness of the enterprise, that there be added at least another 
 room to be used for the work of another county society, and to 
 be a Natural History Society, whose work shall chiefly be, to 
 bunt out and preserve and study the curious things so provi- 
 dentially furnished for our ready finding, within our county 
 borders. It is singular, in view of so eminently proper an 
 organization, that such an one has never been formed. 
 
 The time is now suited to vigorous action, and it can be 
 done. The interest in science it would be likely to commarid, 
 the uses it would subserve in education and general knowledge, 
 and the more complete and rounded character it would secure to 
 the city of Utica and vicinity would more than pay for the 
 money expended. 
 
 Truly and respectfully yours, A. O. OsBOEN. 
 
 FROM E. D. PALMER. 
 
 Albany, Feb. 27, 1882. 
 To Egbert S. Williams, Chairman, Utica: 
 
 Dear Sir — Your esteemed favor of the 20th inst., inviting me 
 to participate in the ceremonies of the proposed Semi-Centen- 
 nial Anniversary of the incorporation of Utica as a city, is 
 received. 
 
 I shall be unable to accept the invitation ; and in expressing 
 my regret therefor, there seems very little that I can say instead. 
 It is gratifying to me to believe that the fact of my having 
 been a resident of Utica is not wholly unknown in that beau- 
 tiful city. 
 
 I presume the number of those who were in Utica 50 years 
 ago is not large ; and therefore I think a word in the way of 
 biography of any of those who were, will not be unwelcome 
 at the meeting of your society. 
 
 lu the town of Pompey, and soon after the beginning of the 
 present century, Erastus Dow Palmer was born. The home of. 
 his early years was the then secluded little vale of Limestone 
 Creek, and only a few miles from the honored birth-place of 
 the good Horatio Seymour. In May, of the year 1826, the boy 
 
The City of Utica. loy 
 
 Erastus, then just nine years of age, with his parents sailed from 
 the peaceful glades of Onondaga toward the village of Utica. 
 The ship which bore these wanderers, was the fast-sailing canal 
 boat, "DeWitt Clinton." The voyage was fraught with in- 
 terest and peril, to be sure, but in due time the spire of the 
 village church appeared in view, and not long thereafter, a safe 
 landing was effected. 
 
 Becoming a resident of the village, Erastus remained as such, 
 and was actually present at the birth of the city of Utica. In 
 the course of time and events, Erastus became a man, and 
 ultimately rose to the crowning distinction of having executed a 
 colossal statue of a sheep, which still (I believe) adorns the 
 pediment of one of Utica's great edifices. 
 
 During all the half century just ending, Utica has been one 
 of the homes of the writer of this biography, and indeed, it 
 seems almost his native place; and more than this, it is 
 endeared to him by its having been more than 70 years the 
 home of one of his earliest and best friends. 
 
 With my sincere wish that the Semi-Centennial will 
 prove an event of interest and pleasure to those who can 
 participate in it, 
 
 I am very truly yours, E. D. Palmer. 
 
 FROM HON F. B. PENNIMAN. 
 
 HoNESDALE, Pa., Feb. 21, 1882. 
 Egbert S. Wiillams, Esq., Chairman : 
 
 Dear Sir — I have received the invitation of the Oneida His- 
 torical Society to be present at the commemoration of the Semi- 
 Centennial Anniversary of the city of Utica. I greatly desire 
 to participate in the exercises of the occasion, but imperative 
 reasons forbid me that gratification. 
 
 In Utica I was born and bred, and came to man's estate and 
 loved and married, and there the bones of mv dead are buried. 
 Forty-eight years have come and gone since I made my home 
 elsewhere. But in hours of retrospection memory pictures 
 anew the peaceful valley, the gentle acclivities, the graceful 
 contour of the hills, the luxuriant verdure of sufamer. the vast 
 and whirling snows of winter, the familiar streets and haunts, 
 the schools, the solemn churches crowded with worshipers, the 
 thronged assemblies of the people, the courts of law at which 
 Hooked with young and curious eyes, and many other on-goings 
 of the olden time. The men of those early years, who laid 
 the foundations of your city, are in their graves, but the face 
 of nature remains essentially the same about you, and has 
 charms for me superior and more enduring than those of any 
 other spot of earth. 
 
 Yours very truly, F. B. Penniman. 
 
io8 Semi-Centennial of 
 
 FROM JAMES A. PLATT. 
 
 Mineral Point, Wis., 26th February, 1882. 
 
 Messrs. Robert S. Williams, and others^ Committee of 
 Oiieida Htstorioal Society : 
 
 Gentlemen — My residing at this time upon my farm, a few- 
 miles out from the towb where I have been in the habit of 
 taking my mail, coupled with the inclemency of the weather 
 at this season, accounts for it that it was only yesterday that I 
 received your letter inviting me to participate with you in a 
 memorial feast on the 1st of March prox., commemorative of the 
 Semi-Oentennial Anniversary of Utica, my native city's cor- 
 porate life. The proposal, I assure you, meets with ready and 
 favorable response in my feelings, and, did circumstances per- 
 mit, corresponding action should certainly follow. But it seems 
 unavoidable now that I forego the gratification which meeting 
 with you on this occasion would confer. 
 
 I need but to look at the names appended to your note to 
 be made sure >that there survive among you those who would 
 have many interesting remembrances of early days in common 
 with me. Your chairman, I query to myself — is he a son, or 
 grandson possibly, of William Williams, the stationer and 
 bookseller of those early times, whose store was on Grenesee 
 street, at the head of Broad ? Mr. Bacon (I am not ignorant 
 of his present distinction as judge, but in this connection I pre- 
 fer to think of him as untitled) was a young lawyer whom I re- 
 member as some years my senior, taking part occasionally in 
 public debates before the village lyceum. I have distinctly 
 before my mind all the members of his father's family. They 
 were our next neighbors for several years on Broad street. I 
 remember his estimable wife, Eliza Kirkland that was. Alexan- 
 der Seward ; w^as he not my ,class-mate and room-mate for a 
 season at Clinton ? So long has been the interval since we last 
 met, and such the changes, often-times, which years bring over 
 our countenances, it might be that unwarned of one another's ap- 
 proach, we would pass by each other on Utica's streets without 
 recognizing ; yet how surely, upon a second look, manifold 
 pleasant memories of boyhood days would be quickened with- 
 in us ; and how we should laugh at the thought of the Old 
 Man With The Scythe having power to lay low those heart- 
 amaranths. Mears Bagg ; (I omit the M. D. and give him the 
 cognomen of his early youth,) were we at Mr. Bartlett's High 
 school together? I forget. We " played horse'' together on 
 Broad street often, I venture to say, before that. I wonder if, 
 seeing that the era of stage coaches is so long past, and that 
 the rising generation of boys must be ignorant of the lively 
 sensation of wonder, amounting to admiration, which the rapid 
 
The City of Utica. log 
 
 whirl of the arriving "stage," heralded by the far sounding 
 horn, produced in those days in the minds of us gamins of old 
 Utica, the imitative turn shows itself in young boys now-a- 
 days "playing horse" as universally as formerly. I take it, not. 
 This piece of philosophical history aside ! It would be a pleas- 
 ure to compare notes with Bagg about the revolution vvhich 
 time has wrought in therapeutics (particularly as to the liberal 
 use of violently operative drugs) since we were students to- 
 gether in the office of Dr. Charles Coventry. I should have to 
 congratulate him, too, upon his appearance since before the 
 world as a student of antiquarian lore. Hutchinson, McQuade, 
 Bailey, Comstock, Sayre, Jones, all are names which my mind 
 easily associates with old Utica. 
 
 New Utica, I take it, began with the completion of the New 
 York Central railroad, and the present may be called the railroad 
 era of its history. It has not been in accordance with my wish, 
 but decidedly under constraint of circumstances connected with 
 business interests, that I have been so completely a stranger to 
 my native town during this period. From being a country vil- 
 lage, as my earliest recollection pictures it, without even such 
 modern necessities as sidewalks and street crossings, it has come 
 to be a populous city. Yet the project you announce to me of 
 an anniversary celebration shows that its citizens of to-day still 
 have pleasure in calling to mind " the block from which they 
 were hewn." I have satisfaction in saying I know of no sur- 
 viving representative of- old Utica who feels not a measure of 
 responsibility resting on him to bear himself as one who, in the 
 eyes of others, inherits a certain dignity. 
 
 Fraternally yours, ' James A. Platt. 
 
 FROM JOHN H. PRENTISS. 
 
 Chicago, Feb. 25,. 1882. 
 E. S. Williams, Esq., Chairman : 
 
 Dear Sir — Please accept my thanks for the invitation from 
 the " Oneida Historical Society " for March 1st, and regrets 
 that I cannot be present. 
 
 Eespectfully yours, John H. Prentiss. 
 
 FROM L. H. REDFIELD. 
 
 BY HIS DAUGHTER. 
 
 Syracuse, Feb. 27, 1882. 
 E. S. Williams, Chairman .- . 
 
 Dear Sir— My father, Mr. L. H. Eedfleld, has received your 
 communication of the 17th inst., inviting him to attend the 
 
no Semi-Centennial of 
 
 Symposium of the Oneida Historical Society, to be held on 
 Wednesday, March 1, 1882. 
 
 He regrets extremely that his feeble condition will prevent 
 his accepting your polite invitation. He would be glad to 
 write you personally, but is not equal to the effort. 
 
 He has been confined to^the house for thirteen weeks. He 
 suffers little, his disease (if disease it can be called) being a gen- 
 eral giving out of the power of nature. He has entered his 
 ninetieth year, and while we indulge the hope that he may con- 
 tinue with us months, possibly years, we cannot expect a re- ■ 
 turn of his old-time vigor. 
 
 His interest in all historical societies and their work is un- 
 abated, and were he able, he would gladly contribute something 
 from his memory that might interest in itself, or serve to elicit 
 valuable matter from others. 
 
 Very respectfully (on my father's behalf), 
 
 Mary E. Bagg. 
 
 FROM HON. LORENZO ROUSE. 
 
 Paris, Feb. 25, 1882. 
 R. S. Williams, Esq., Chairman^ and others^ Committee: 
 
 Gentlemen — I have recently received your kind ndte of the 
 17th instant, inviting me to be present at the Semi-Gen tennial 
 Anniversary of the charter of the city of Utica, to be held on the 
 1st of March next. 
 
 Be assured, gentlemen, I should be highly pleased to be able 
 to attend your celebration were it possible for me to do so, but 
 I regret to say, that having been confined to the house for sev- 
 eral weeks by a serious illness, I see no present prospect of my 
 being able to attend, at the time named, which, probably, no 
 one will have occasion to regret so much as myself. 
 
 Having been a resident of the county of Oneida for two-thirds 
 of a century, I, of course, long since came to feel myself fully 
 identified with it, and, consequently, with everything affecting 
 its prosperity, including all relating more especially to the city 
 of Utica — the nearest objective point of importance, to what 
 has for so many years, been my principal location— in fact my 
 real home. 
 
 Permit me to say, just here, that when I first visited Utica, 
 in the days of my boyhood, I found it to be, in my imagination, 
 merely a thriving inland village, not much larger than the 
 village of New Hartford now is, but still, a place of much 
 more business. Produce had been mainly exchanged previous- 
 ly in barte]': but Bryan Johnson had commenced paying cash 
 for produce, and the eagerness to obtain this much coveted 
 medium of exchange, drew most of this produce, and especially 
 
The City of Utica. iii 
 
 wheat, to Utica for a market, which tended, almost immediately, 
 to a wonderful increase of trade at Utica. But the village of 
 Utica had, for its chief competitors for prominence, the villages 
 of Whitesboro and Eome, at that time the two half-shire localities 
 of the county, which was much larger, originally, than at pres- 
 ent, a considerable portion of it having been detached in 1816, 
 at the time of the organization of Oswego county. The towns 
 then detached, and embraced in the new county, were Bengal, 
 Constantia, Mexico, New Haven, Eichland, Eedfield, Scriba, 
 Volney and Williamstown, most of which towns, being large in 
 extent of territory, have since been subdivided, and ten other 
 towns formed from them, making now 19 towns in all, formerly 
 included in this county. Pardon this digression. My purpose 
 was, mainly, to speak more especially, of Utica ; but I was led 
 to explain how it came about that, at so early a day, the county 
 of Oneida should have two county seats, and neither of them 
 located at Utica. Now the fact seems to have been, that Utica, 
 at that time, was part and parcel of the town of Whitestown, 
 and remained so till 1817, while Whitestown, as such, having 
 been settled nearly 30 years prior to the time when the first 
 settlement was made at Utica, and being included in Herkimer 
 county, it seemed an eligible site for the location of a Court 
 House, and jail. After the organization of Oneida county, in 
 1798, embracing, as it did, an almost indefinite amount of ter- 
 ritory to the north and west, it seemed to render the selection 
 of another place as a halfshire town, very desirable, to say the 
 least. Rome, having become comparatively an old town, situ- 
 ated as it was at the site of the old Port Stanwix, and at the 
 head of the " carrying place" between the Mohawk river and 
 Wood Creek, had, for many years been considered ah impor- 
 tant point, and was consequently selected as the other half-shire 
 town of Oneida county. 
 
 As Utica increased in size and population, a rivalry soon 
 sprang up between her and Whitestown with reference to the 
 possession of the county buildings, and the place for the trans- 
 action of the county business. After this contest was decided 
 iu favor of Utica, and the county business formerly transacted 
 at Whitesboro was transferred to Utica, then Eome seemed to 
 assume that rivalry, which is still continued in some degree. 
 If that rivalry shall be continued and be characterized by a 
 rational and considerate spirit, as it is. hoped that it may be, 
 perhaps it may not result in injury to either place ; for a lauda- 
 ble rivalry, properly conducted, may perchance be made to inure 
 to the benefit of both. As I have already stated, when I visited 
 Utica, in 1816, it was a quiet, though rather a thriving inland 
 village with a population of about 2,000 inhabitants all told. I 
 am aware that higher estimates of the population were made at 
 the time, but such estimates were doubtless exaggerated, as they 
 
112 Semi-Centennial of 
 
 are quite liable to be in most such cases. The villagers were 
 mainly clustered near the river and on Main street, and • the 
 places of business were about Bagg's square and below ; also 
 on the lower portion of Whitesboro, street and on Genesee street 
 as far up as the Ontario Branch Bank building, where W. S. 
 Taylor's jewelry store now is. A half hour's walk was suffi- 
 cient to enable an active person to visit every part of the village. 
 The chief points of interest, in a business point of view, were, 
 then, the Bank of Utica, on Whitesboro street, the Ontario 
 Branch Bank, on Genesee street, the County Clerk's Office on 
 Whitesboro street, the office of the Clerk of the Supreme Court, 
 far up Genesee street, where the County Clerk's office now 
 is (then termed " on the JSTew Hartford road ") and William 
 Clarke's lottery and exchange office, and auction rooms, 
 (where lottery tickets were sold for the benefit of Hamilton 
 College) not omitting to mention the post-office, for Utica had 
 a post-office at that early day. 
 
 The Gazetteer of that time, spoke of Utica merely as " a 
 thriving village of Whitestown, on the river, four miles below 
 Whitesboro, with which place it seems likely, at some day to 
 become a dangerous rival. It has a post office, and the County 
 Clerk's office, together with three taverns, three churches, be- 
 sides several stores." Whether Utica finally succeeded in her 
 rivalry with Whitesboro, I leave it to others to determine. Up 
 to this time Utica had never been favored with either of those 
 essential adjuncts to civilization, to wit, a court house or jail. 
 Prisoners were detained in the jails, either of Whitesboro or 
 Eome, and when, in the summer of 1817, (I think it was,) John 
 Tuhi, the Brothertown Indian, who had been been convicted 
 of murder and confined in the jail at Whitesboro, was brought 
 from that place to Utica for execution, great indignation was ex- 
 pressed by citizens of the former place, who felt it to be a direct in- 
 fringment upon their rights, and censured the sheriff, Apollos 
 Cooper, therefor, on the ground of improper favoritism to LJtica, 
 of which place he was a resident. The execution was consumma- 
 ted on the eastern slope of Cornhill, at that time the open 
 country, but long since entirelj'- built over as a part of the city. 
 True, that event did add to the notoriety of Utica, as people 
 came with their teams from all parts of the adjacent country, 
 within a circle of twenty-five or thirty miles from Utica, to 
 witness the execution, the number thus attracted being estimated 
 anywhere from 20,000 to 30,000. At the time which we are 
 thus reviewing, railroads, as a means for travel, were not even 
 dreamed of, and the idea of connecting the great lakes of the 
 west, with the Atlantic, by means of a canal passing through 
 the center of the state, was deemed, by the majority of the 
 people, to be a visionary project, as yet but dimly seen by its 
 projectors, through the misty yail of an uncertain and indefinite 
 
The City of Utica. iij 
 
 future. Very few, at that time, thought of building, for business 
 purposes, so far up town as where the canal now crosses Genesee 
 street ; and I very well recollect that when John H. Handy, (for 
 whom the late James Sayre was then a clerk) commenced to 
 build a brick store, on the east side of the street, near the pres- 
 ent canal bridge, and Levi Cozens was putting up a wooden 
 tavern, nearly opposite, with a view of catching the farmers 
 as they came in from the country, they were both deemed very 
 unwise, to build so far out of town, and they were both jeeringly 
 asked, why they did not build up at New Hartford, while they 
 were about it. 
 
 But subsequent results have shown that these men " builded 
 more wisely" than others then knew or conjectured. With 
 these few reminiscences, hastily gathered from memory's store- 
 house, allow me to close, with the expression of the great satis- 
 faction I have experienced, in looking over the list of names of 
 the gentlemen composing your committee, to find so many 
 honored names of worthy sires, whom I recollect bearing an 
 active "part in the business affairs of the village of Utica and of 
 -the county of Oneida, prior to and at the time when the there- 
 tofore humble village of Utica became legally entitled to take 
 her stand by the side of her sister cities of the Empire State. 
 
 Thanking you, gentlemen, for the courtesy of your invitation 
 to me to participate in the Semi-Centennial celebration of that 
 event, I remain, with great respect, very truly yours, 
 
 Lorenzo Eouse. 
 
 FROM GERRY SANGER. 
 
 BY HIS DAUGHTER. 
 
 New Haven, Feb. 26th, 1882. 
 EoBEKT S. Williams, Esq. 
 
 Dear Sir— My father (Gerry Sanger) regrets his inability to 
 be with you on Wednesday ufght, having been seriously ill the 
 past four weeks, and just recovering from a fit of apoplexy, 
 which has left him very weak, and his eyesight so poor that 
 it would be hazardous to let him go anywhere, unattended. 
 He is now in his 84th year, and until the past two months has 
 enjoyed perfect health, and seemed as young and buoyant in 
 spirits as ever. Father truly appreciates your kind remem- 
 brance of him, and were he able, would like to meet all his 
 old friends once more. He often speaks of his childhood 
 home and its old associations, the many loved and well-remem- 
 bered friends, now gone forever, and that soon he will be num- 
 bered amongst them. He is " only waiting,'^ are his words to 
 mei when I try to cheer him up after a day of unrest. 
 
 Father thinks Utica has changed so much, he would be 
 lost; so many old landmarks are removed, and fine buildmgs 
 
zi^ Semi-Centennial of 
 
 in their stead, that it would rather sadden than give him 
 pleasure to visit it. 
 
 Father has lived to vote the straight ticket 60 years ; and 
 though some spurious tickets were sent him, he laughed, and 
 saidhe was not so blind — he could see right from wrong; — he 
 wanted to vote for " Garfield," our martyred President and was 
 gratified at the result, but sadly grieved at his death._ .; 
 
 Father wishes to be kindly remembered to all his friends. 
 Respectfully yours, Mes. Joel Peck. 
 
 FROM HENRY SANGER. 
 
 New Yoek, March 23, 1882. 
 R. S. Williams, Esq. : 
 
 Dear Sir — I am exceedingly obliged to you for the paper 
 sent me containing an account of the proceedings of Utica's 
 Semicentennial celebration. I have read them with' great 
 pleasure. The speeches and letters called up names and scenes 
 familiar in my boyish days. Congratulating you upon so suc- 
 cessful a result, I am 
 
 Very truly yours, HENiRY Sanger. 
 
 FROM WILLIAM PITT SHEARMAN. 
 
 New York City, Feb. 28, 1882. 
 Robert S. Williams, Esq., Chairman^ Sc, Uiica : 
 
 My Dear Sir — I have the honor to acknowedge the receipt 
 of the kind invitation of your committee to be present on the 
 occasion of the commemoration, by the Oneida Historical 
 Society, of the Semi-Oentennial Anniversary of the charter of 
 the city of Utica. 
 
 1 thank the committee for their courtesy and regret that my 
 engagements are such as to prevent my being present on that 
 interesting occasion. 
 
 The earlier portion of my life was passed in the city of Utica, 
 of which very pleasant memories remain. May the city of 
 Utica continue to be, as she has always been, a prominent cen- 
 ter of wealth and intelhgence, and the nursery of able, virtuous 
 and illustrious citizens, jurists and statesmen ! 
 
 Kindly present my compliments to the individual members 
 of your committee, and believe me, dear sir, 
 
 Very truly yours, Wm. Pitt Shearman. 
 
The City of Utica. ii^ 
 
 FROM ROBERT B. SHEPARD. 
 
 Hudson, N. Y., Feb. 27, 1882. 
 
 My Deae Sir — While thanking your committee of the 
 "Oneida Historical Society" for an invitation to attend the 
 "Semi-Centennial Anniversary of the charter of the city of 
 Utica," (which circumstances compel me to forego,) I cannot 
 refrain expressing the pleasure it would give me to be present 
 and join in the exercises proposed upon that interesting occa- 
 sion, and at the same time the interest and pride I have ever 
 felt in the growth and material prosperity of your beautiful 
 city ; a place endeared to me by many pleasant associations 
 and sacred memories, which time and distance have failed to 
 obliterate ; and still more have I been proud of the intellectual 
 culture and widespread moral influence of its sons and 
 daughters. May its future remain as true to the exalted 
 character and principles of its founders as has been its past 
 history. 
 
 I address this to you. personally, at this late hour, not for 
 publicity, but as an expression of my unalterable love and re- 
 spect for dear old Utica, and the friends still living and of 
 " auld lang syne." 
 
 Very truly yours, Robt. B. Shepaed. 
 
 RoBT. S. Williams, Esq., Utica. 
 
 FROM J. R. SIMMS. 
 
 Robert S. Williams, Esq , Chairman : 
 
 Grentlemen: Under different circumstances and at a less in- 
 clement season of the year, it would afford me very great 
 pleasure to accept your kind invitation and be present at your 
 approaching city festival, and enjoy with you that "feast of 
 reason and flow of soul," sure soon to transpire. 
 
 Nothing could interest and please me better than to join the 
 committee and other friends in celebrating the semi-centennial 
 growth of a young city, to a generous and dignified manhood. 
 Such has your town become on the site of the true Fort Schuy- 
 ler, erected when the city's present streets only felt the foot- 
 fall of Indians and beasts of prey. When Fort Schuyler was 
 erected for the better protection of the present Herkimer 
 county settlements, covering what was then known as Western 
 New York, how little did the projectors of that military post 
 imagine that in 75 years a city charter would cover its site ; 
 and that at the end of a half century more, a brilliant festival 
 would tell to the world that Utica had reached a noble man- 
 hood in both soul and body ; for its mental has kept a steady 
 pace with its phvsical growth. And as an evidence, look at 
 the men of full "stature she has sent into almost every civil 
 
Ii6 Semi-Centennial of 
 
 office and dignified position in life, embracing teachers, profess- 
 ors, etc. Its distinguished judicial ermine has never trailed, 
 while our legislative halls have often felt the influence of the 
 "central city." More than this, Utica has furnished the 
 United States Senate, at one and the same time, two members 
 of marked ability (and what other city of the union, great or 
 small, has ever done this ?) And better than all, she has given 
 the state an honest and model governor, who in his retired life, 
 as a far-seeing statesman, is the peer, to say the least, of any 
 other man in our wide-spread union. 
 
 Thus may we see that Utica, young as she is, when com- 
 pared with many cities in our land, has never been wanting in 
 material manhood to fill the most important positions in life — 
 hence is far from being unknown to fame — saying nothing of 
 her thousand and one great men who have remained unknown 
 to fame, because circumstances never placed them in the pool 
 of preferment. Hence like hidden flowers which bloom un- 
 seen, they were left to dry up at their own domestic firesides — 
 and more's the pity. 
 
 Gentlemen, thanking you for your very kind invitation to 
 the approaching festival, wishing you all a happy time ; and 
 invoking for your charming city a still more prosperous Semi- 
 centennial, if possible, 50 years hence than the last has been, I 
 remain. 
 
 Yours, with great respect, J. E. Simms. 
 
 FROM ANDREW A. SMITH. 
 
 Brooklyn, Feb. 24, 1882. 
 EoBERT S. Williams, Esq., Chairman: 
 
 My Dear Sir — I gratefully hold your invitation to the Semi- 
 centennial Anniversary of the charter of the city of Utica with 
 will and heart to accept it,, and participate in the proposed en- 
 joyments. If I may not, then my loss will be chargeable alone 
 to business engagements. 
 
 That I was a Utica boy from six years old to sixteen, and, 
 part of that time, a student at the Academy under Messrs. 
 Prentice and Barber, and at a later period in the employ of 
 Milton Brayton and J. W. & C. R. Doolittle, are facts which, 
 of however little concern to others, no doubt have had their 
 force in the make-up of my manhood, and have wrought 
 among the influences of a later and not inactive life. Other 
 moral springs had issue in those years. 
 
 I think the time has never been when the comely city of 
 Utica — could there have been the need — would not have 
 found me ready to affirm, — •' Such as I have give I unto thee." 
 Surely, she has ever maintained her own as against all compe- 
 
The City of Utica. ii'] 
 
 titors, and hence her " Oneida Historical Society" will have 
 treasured only her praise. 
 
 My " two mites" cast into this treasury would be lost in the 
 abundance of those who shall, on this occasion, enrich the ar- 
 chives of your society, but it would be all the boy had. If, 
 therefore, I may come to the feast, it must be as receptive, 
 rather than contributive. 
 
 With lively anticipation, most truly yours, 
 
 Andrew A. Smith. 
 
 FROM JOSEPH STRINGHAM, ESQ. 
 
 OsHKOSH, Wis., Feb. 23, 1882. 
 Messrs. R S. Williams, and others : 
 
 Gentlemen — I have the pleasure of acknowledging the re- 
 ceipt of your note of the 17th inst, inviting me to meet with 
 the Oneida Historical Society to commemorate the Semi Centen 
 nial Anniversary of the charter of the city of Utica, and regret 
 very much that it is impossible for me to comply with the in- 
 vitation. I share with you and all the citizens of Utica in the 
 pride you feel in your city. My recollections of it are amongst 
 the most cherished thoughts of my life. They go back some 
 years further than to the city charter — to the village of Utica, 
 when the Eiie canal was completed and the canal boat carrying 
 General LaFayette and Governor Clinton arrived at the Genesee 
 street bridge. A great holiday and a glorious occasion, indeed ! 
 
 A grateful and reverent memory of one who was to me a 
 kind father and faithful friend — Montgomery Hunt, Esq. — binds 
 me to Utica by the sacred ties of home and gratitude, to which 
 is added a vivid recollection of the men who then lived in 
 Utica, and whose names are worthily and justly honored in 
 Dr. Bagg's "Pioneers of Utica" — a true picture of society in 
 Utica at that time. 
 
 Hoping, gentlemen, that you may, in your coming anniver- 
 sary, enjoy the presence of many of the distinguished citizens 
 and good men who have given character to Utica and Oneida 
 county, and thanking you for your recollection of me on this 
 occasion, I am, 
 
 Yours, very respectfully, Jos. Stringham. 
 
 FROM HON. JOHN STRYKER. 
 
 EoME, Feb. 23, 1882. 
 
 Bobert S. Williams, Chairman of Committee : 
 
 Dear Sir — I have received your invitation to attend the 
 Semi-Centennial Anniversary of the charter of the city of 
 Utica, on the first day of March, and requesting a response. 
 
ii8 Semi-Centennial of 
 
 My health will not permit my personal attendance, as I should 
 be glad to do. I well remeniber the passage of the charter and 
 the first organization of the council. Among its members were 
 Messrs. Williams, Ostrom, Barnard, Barnum, E. B. Miller and 
 Mann, all of whom were very valued personal friends. All of 
 them have passed from earth, but their good works follow 
 them ; as they with others aided in the foundation of such 
 steps and measures as have placed Utica in the front rank of 
 the cities of the state and insured her prosperity. 
 
 Very truly yours, John Stetkeb. 
 
 FROM SAMUEL THOMSON. 
 
 Oakland, Gala., Feb. 27, 1882. 
 
 EoBERT S. Williams, Esq., Chairman : 
 
 Appreciated circular. Too late. With you in heart that 
 day.' Samuel Thomson. 
 
 Oakland, Feb. 25, 1882. 
 
 To E. S. Williams, Esq., Chairman, etc.: 
 
 Dear Sir — It would have given me great pleasure to have' 
 responded to your polite circular of the 17th inst, if you had 
 mailed it a few days earlier ; as there are but three days prior to 
 your celebration, my letter would not reach you. 
 
 My pride -would say, don't use this note, but it is the best I 
 can do, finding myself in my eighty-seventh year, partially 
 blind. With great respect to yourself and associates, 
 
 Yours respectfully, Samuel Thomson. 
 
 FROM STEPHEN S. THORN. 
 
 Newakk, N. J. Feb. 27, 1882.. 
 To Egbert S. Williams, and others : 
 
 Dear Sirs — Your note of the 17th instant inviting me to be 
 present at the Semi Centennial Anniversary of the charter of the 
 city of Utica finds me so engaged with business that it will be 
 impossible to be present at your exercises. It has been more 
 than thirty years since I left Utica, the city of my nativity, and 
 where I resided until arriving at manhood. Time has not suf- 
 ficed to weaken my affection for it, nor the many friendships 
 formed there in my early days. 
 
 At the time of my leaving Utica it was but a small city. 
 In visiting the city in late years I have been struck with its 
 wonderful improvement evidencing substantial prosperity, and 
 a glowing testimonial to the enterprise, thrift, and diligence 
 of its citizens. Utica may be justly proud of its success in the 
 
The City of Utica. iig 
 
 many instances in which it has competed with other localities 
 in the onward march of progress. Her industrial pursuits stand 
 today beside the foremost in the country, and have gained for 
 it a fair fame, while the increase of its churches, educational 
 institutions and charities, and its growth in beauty and its at- 
 tractiveness as a place of residence afford abundant evidence 
 of the culture and elevated morality of its citizens. Its distin- 
 guished citizens have made for it a proud recognition through- 
 out the land. I shall always cherish with pride the remem- 
 brance of the city of my birth. 
 
 Eegretting that I cannot be present in person, as I shall be 
 in spirit, and thanking you for your kind invitation, and with 
 the best of wishes for the success of your celebration, and con- 
 tinued prosperity ot Utica, I am yours sincerely, 
 
 Stephen S. Thorn. 
 
 FROM WILLIAM B. THORN. 
 
 ' Detkoit, Mich., Feb. 24, 1S82. 
 Me. Egbert S. Williams, Chairman of the Committee of the 
 
 Oneida Historical Society : 
 
 Dear Sir — Your kind invitation to attend the Semi-Centen- 
 nial reminds me that I am growing old, for had T been born 
 one year sooner, I would have been as old as the city of Utica, 
 my native place. AH the names signing the invitation are 
 familiar to me. The last two signers, Theodore S. Sayre and 
 Morven M. Jones, bring to my mind a little incident. of nearly 
 thirty years ago, which may not be historical, but is one of my 
 reminiscences of old Utica. In the year 1832, when Utica was 
 visited with the cholera, I was clerjiing in the hardware store 
 of the late James Sayre, one of Utica's oldest and most honored 
 citizens. Fearing I might be attacked with the cholera at any 
 moment, I procured of a friend (who doctored the stuS) a bottle 
 of brandy. One morning, in a boyish freak, I said to George 
 Pomeroy and Theodore S. Sayre, you both look very much 
 like having the cholera. So we all took a homoeopathic 
 drink of this doctored brandy, which made us all sick. On 
 my way home, up Fayette street, I was very, very sick, and 
 I tried in every way to heave up Jonah (or the brandy.) I 
 was opposite where it was reported (and I think it was true) a 
 man had died, the night before, with the cholera. I was going 
 through all sorts of contortions when Morven M. Jones ap- 
 proached me and said, '* What's the matter. Thorn?" Sick as 
 I was, here was my time for fun again. So I said, " I do not 
 know ; must have the cholera," when away Mr. Jones ran like 
 a white head .'—which, it seems to me, he must be by this time. 
 
 Trusting you may have a large, pleasant and social gathering, 
 Yours sincerely, Wm. B. Thoen. 
 
I20 Semi-Centennial of 
 
 FROM MONTGOMERY H. THROOP, ESQ. 
 
 302 State Stbeet, Albany, Feb. 24, 1882. 
 My Deae Sir — I have received tbe letter of the committee, 
 of which you are chairman, inviting me to attend, on Wednes- 
 day next, to join with the Oneida Historical Society in com- 
 memorating the Semi Centennial Anniversary of the charter of 
 the city of Utica. I thank you for remembering me by a title 
 I am proud of bearing, that of a former resident of Utica. It 
 would give me the greatest pleasure to participate in the inter- 
 esting exercises, indicated in the committee's letter ; to grasp 
 by the hand the survivors of the many warm and valued 
 friends which I made during my residence of nineteen years in 
 Utica, and to recall and honor the memory of those who have 
 passed away. But imperative engagements here will compel 
 me to forego that pleasure. I shall, however, be with you in 
 spirit. With kindest regards to the members of the committee, 
 in each of whom I recognize an esteemed friend, 
 
 I am very sincerely yours, Montgomeby H. Theoop. 
 To EoBEET S. Williams, Esq., Ohairmcm, etc. 
 
 FROM ISAIAH TIFFANY. 
 
 Clifton Speings, Feb. 21, 1882. 
 To Robert S. Williams, Esq., Chairman ; 
 
 My Dear Sir — The kind invitation extended to me by the 
 Oneida Historical Society through you it^ chairman, to be 
 present at its Semi-Centennial celebration of the anniversary of 
 the charter of the city of Utica was duly received. 
 
 Nothing, my dear sir, would be more gratifying to me than 
 to be able to meet you and the gentlemen whose names are at- 
 tached to the invitation on such an occasion. They are all 
 those for whom I feel the greatest esteem and with whom I 
 have always held the most kind and friendly relations, one of 
 them, the Hon. William J. Bacon, for more than half a 
 century. '■ May his shadow never be less." 
 
 I remember well the occasion which you meet to celebrate, 
 and also the election of the first mayor elected under that 
 charter, the pure, high-minded and patriotic Kirkland. For 
 nearly half a century Utica {never " pent up") was my chosen 
 and happy home ; in "fact, my dear sir, it is my home yet, though 
 absent in body "my heart is in the Hielands, my heart is not 
 here.'' Nothing but infirmities incident to the life of an octo- 
 genarian prevents me from accepting your kind invitation. 
 
 With many thanks and the kindest remembrances for your- 
 self and other gentlemen whose names accompany the invita- 
 tion, I am, my dear sir. 
 
 Yours sincerely, I. Tiffany. 
 
The City of Utica. 121 
 
 FROM CHARLES TRACY, ESQ. 
 
 New York, Feb. 28, 1882. 
 My Dear Sir — I regret to find that a business engagement 
 will deprive me of the pleasure of the meeting of your society 
 to-raorrow, to which you have so kindly invited me ; and it is 
 now too late to give my letter thoughts worthy for the occa- 
 sion. With my best wishes for the success and honor of the 
 society, 
 
 I remain yours truly, Charles Teacy. 
 
 Mr. Egbert S. Williams, Esq., Chairman of Committee 
 of Oneida Historical Society : 
 
 FROM GEORGE TRACY. 
 
 Milwaukee, May 25, 1882. 
 Eorert S. Williams, Esq., Chairman: 
 
 Dear Sir — Your invitation to attend the commemoration of 
 the Semi- Centennial Anniversary of the charter of the city of 
 Utica received, and for this kind remembrance I tender you 
 my sincere thanks. 
 
 It would be a great gratification for me to meet the many 
 old friends and fellow citizens who will be gathered on that in- 
 teresting memorial occasion, could I do so. Please present 
 them a cordial greeting for me. 
 
 I well remember when the good people of the village of 
 Utica concluded to take on themselves the airs of city life, 
 and the lively interest taken in the first election under the new 
 charter, and that Mr. John Williams, General J. H. Ostrom, 
 Ephraim Hart and our genial old friend Eobert McBride, and 
 many others of our most prominent citizens of those days, were 
 much pleased to be selected as the first aldermen of the new 
 city ; and the universal gratification given by the common 
 council in electing General Joseph Kirkland as Mayor, as the 
 very man for the position, and then the appointment of our old 
 fellow citizen, Mr. Thomas Colling, as the first city clerk. 
 Why, it for the time seemed to elevate him even above the 
 prominent position he held in the old Bank of Utica, which we 
 boys of that day thought he must own. 
 
 But I will not enlarge, as there will be many with you at the 
 meeting who will tell the story of Utica and its city origin and 
 developments orally, in a much more interesting way than I can 
 write it. 
 
 I will only say in conclusion, " May Utica and her good 
 people be abundantly prospered," is the earnest desire of an 
 old Utican. Very truly yours, 
 
 George Tracy. 
 
122 Semi-Centennial of 
 
 FROM H. D. TUCKER, ESQ. 
 
 EocHESTER, Feb. 7, 1882, 
 
 Gents— I am reluctantly constrained, by reason of a bodily in- 
 jury, which I by accide'nt received recently, to forego the 
 pleasure of attending the Semi-Centennial Anniversary of the 
 charter of your city. 
 
 Utica, as' a village, was connected with my earliest recol- 
 lections, having been born within two miles of its present 
 limits ; and as a city I passed niy youth in it. 
 
 My mind involuntarily reverts to many of the great meO, 
 who, about the beginning of its chartered city existence, filled 
 a large space in the public estimation, and still larger in my 
 own youthful estimation of great men. There was General 
 Joseph Kirkland, one of your city's first mayors, both in point 
 of time and also of merit — a courteous, dignified, polished 
 gentlemen of the old school ; Charles P. Kirkland and William 
 J. Bacon, then vigorous in life's meridian, the latter of whom is 
 still among you, beloved, respected and honored, whose "eye is 
 not dimmed or his natural force abated ;" Samuel Beardsley, 
 the distinguished jurist and politician, and famous for his suc- 
 cessful tilt with the old United States Bank under General Jack- 
 son's administration ; Judge Hiram Denio, the incomparable 
 judge ; the witty and humorous John G. Floyd, who wrote 
 "The last political Will and Testament of David Moulton of 
 Floyd," one paragraph of which read, "Item: To my beloved 
 friend and Pitcher, Major I. M. H., I give one empty cow's 
 bladder, which he is to receive in remembrance of me, and m 
 resemhlanoe of himself ; Matthew Talcott, who boarded at 
 Bagg's Hotel so many years, the lawyer whose last utterances 
 on his death bed, to his friend, the eccentric but kind-hearted 
 Charles C. Broadhead, were : " I regret that my free and lavish 
 mode of life has made me, at this time, a burden upon my 
 friends, and that I cannot die and be buried like a gentleman ;" 
 Joshua A. Spencer, the great advocate and excellent man, and 
 the eccentric Alvan Stuart, of mirth-provoking notoriety ; Kev. 
 Samuel C. Aikin, of the First Presbyterian Church, with 
 " meek and unaffected grace," and in whom all the virtues of 
 a good life were illustrated. These and many more, both good 
 men and good women, who have many years since passed over 
 to the other side, whose, names are still fresh and green in my 
 memory, illustrious alike for their examples of faith and life, 
 crowd upon my recollection and of whom your city is justly 
 proud. 
 
 Of the gradual, but sure, growth which Utica has made in 
 its material wealth within the fifty years of its chartered city 
 existence, and its enterprising and public-spirited citizens who 
 
The , City of Utica. 12 j 
 
 piloted it onward and upward in its career, it is not for me to 
 speak. In short, gentlemen, if Utica, of ancient renown was 
 a " pent u^ Utica," such can never be the fate of our Utica 
 enthroned m the centre of the Empire State. 
 
 I am, gentlemen, truly yours, H. D. Tuokbk. 
 
 Egbert S. Williams, Chairman, and others : 
 
 FROM REV. ANSON J. UPSON, D. D. 
 
 AuBUEN Theological Seminary, 
 Feb. 28th, 1882. 
 
 My Dear Mk. Williams — I regret exceedingly that un- 
 avoidable engagements prevent my attendance at the com- 
 memoration on Wednesday evening. 
 
 Though not "native," I may claim to be "to the Manor 
 born." My grandsire was one of the presidents of the village 
 of Utica. As president, he welcomed La Fayette in 1825, and 
 in October of the same year represented the village at the 
 opening of the Erie canal. As a boy in one of your homes, I 
 earned my first shilling, by reading aloud the Governor's mes- 
 sage for that year. I made my first speech in one of your 
 schools, and preached my first sermon in one of your churches, 
 The first journey I remember was with the , venerable presi- 
 dent aforesaid, on the second train that ever ran on the railway 
 to Syracuse. I remember only two things about the journey. 
 One was seeing a man on horseback, standing against the sky, 
 in the narrow roadway, just then cut between the trees, through 
 the forest, where is now the populous village of Oneida. Some 
 years afterwards, Luke Hitchcock, Esq., of Vernon, told me it 
 was he who stood there, that day, as the train passed by. 
 
 You will commemorate the first charter to-morrow. That 
 charter was a blessing to one of your boys, especially ; for it 
 gave me an opportunity to gratify in my boyhood, my life-long 
 passion for listening to public 'speech. At almost every session 
 of the common council, before 1 went to college, I sat on the 
 back seats in the old council chamber on Hotel street, listening 
 to the words of wisdom that fell from the lips of the fathers of 
 the city ! And what a luxury is was during some of those 
 years, to sit in the gallery of the old Second Presbyterian 
 church on Bleecker street — now Dr. Corey's Baptist church — 
 and listen, as I did, to the anti-slavery eloquence of those days 
 —the early days of the chartered city ! I may be mistaken, 
 but it seems to me now as if no speakers were ever so eloquent 
 as Gerrit Smith, and Beriah Green, and Alvan Stewart, and 
 William Goodell and Frederick Douglass, and now and then 
 Theodore Weld. At any rate they stirred one young heart with 
 indignant conviction. 
 
12/f. Semi-Centennial of 
 
 No city in all tbe land is more attractive to her sons than 
 Utica. There is no more stately avenue in this country than 
 Genesee street. And the lengthened strength of Jphn street, 
 with Miller Place at the head of it, and Broad street with its 
 quiet dignity, and the cheerful beauty of Eutger street, are al- 
 most as attractive. Among yoar absent sons I am not alone 
 in thinking of Utica always as my home. Nowhere else have 
 I had so many friends. May I not "claim kindred here and 
 have the claim allowed ?" 
 
 Your envious neighbors sometimes say that Utica is not pro- 
 gressive. But in 1832 you had no railway, no telegraph, no daily 
 newspapers, no city hall, no Butterfield house, no opera house, 
 no asylum, great or small, no hospital, no benevolent homes, 
 no large manufactories, no steam woolen or cotton mills, only 
 two banks, no seminary for young ladies, no art gallery, no 
 beautiful cemetery. You have now all you had then attd 
 much more. 
 
 " Old Saratoga" can still wake the echoes, though Lyman 
 Adams does not direct the firing of that " one gun at daybreak" 
 on the 4th of July. Bagg's hotel still opens its hospitable 
 doors. Some of the old church buildings are gone, biit old 
 historic Trinity remains. There never will be a spire so high 
 as that of the old First Presbyterian Church on Washington 
 street. The spire at Strasburg, when I saw it, seemed to me 
 much shorter. I shall never see again such majestic columns 
 as those that towered above the pulpit in that church, in front 
 of that organ from which George Button drew lightning and 
 thunder ! 
 
 But you have many more and better churches, and just as 
 good clergymen, and physicians and lawyers and judges. JSTo 
 city in the world of equal population can rival you in the num- 
 ber and character of high official dignitaries, whom in their re- 
 tii'ement you deservedly honor. 
 
 The tone of your social life has not essentially changed. You 
 never had chques and you never will. You never encouraged 
 ostentation, and I believe you never will. Ostentatious pre- 
 tension has never felt at home in your city. A refined sim- 
 plicity, inherited from the founders, has always characterized 
 your social life. So may it ever be. 
 
 Please present my thanks to the committee for its cordial 
 invitation, and my sincere regret that I cannot enjoy with you, 
 what I know will be a delightful reunion. 
 
 Very truly yours, Anson J. UpsON, 
 
The City of Utica. 12^ 
 
 FROM. HON. S. VAN DRESAR. 
 
 EoME, N. Y., Feb. 27. 
 
 Be pleased to accept my thanks for the invitation from the 
 Oneida Historical Society to attend the Semi-Centennial exer- 
 cises of Utica's charter. It would afford me much pleasure to 
 be present, but other engagements prevent. 
 
 I do not consider myself an old man, nor have I ever been a 
 resident of Utica, yet I well remember when Utica assumed 
 her city garb, and I have a most pleasant recollection of many 
 of her citizens, then young men, but who subsequently became 
 conspicuous actors in the politics and affairs of county, state 
 and nation. 
 
 Fifty years are considered a long time in the life of an indi- 
 vidual, and but d, short period in the annals of a city ; and yet 
 when those whose memories go back for half a century, recall 
 and note what Utica was when she cast off her village robes 
 and what Utica is to-day, the thought and feeling are thrust 
 upon us, that her age is understated, or that her progress has 
 been beyond her years. Trusting that the celebration will be 
 one of unalloyed pleasure and gratification, 
 
 I remain yours truly, Stephen Van Dresae. 
 
 To Egbert S. Williams, Esq., and others of the Committee: 
 
 FROM J. C. VAN RENSSELAER. ESQ. 
 
 11 Livingston Ave., 
 New Brunswick, April 22, 1882. 
 
 Mt Dear Dr. Bagg — We were greatly gratified, this morn- 
 ing, my sister and myself, to find, on receiving the circular 
 which you had the kindness to send us, that the committee of 
 the Oneida Historical Society contemplated publishing, in book 
 form, the proceedings of your Semi-Centennial Anniversary, 
 together with those of the Half Century Club, at their supper 
 on the evening of the following day. 
 
 How can I express to you the extent of my regret that I 
 should have been deprived, by my unfortunate illness, of the 
 pleasure of being of those who were made happy by the charm 
 of those two occasions. I was too ill even to write, and was 
 compelled to avail myself of my daughter's services, and to ex- 
 press through her my appreciation of the kind courtesy of the 
 committee's invitation. I was born in Utica in February, 
 1812, and my recollections of the place and people, very dis- 
 tinct and clear, run back very far toward that date. As a boy, 
 there were few between "Whispering" Ferguson's down the 
 river and the western outer limits of the town whom I did 
 
126 Semi-Centennial of 
 
 not personally know. Many a time since I left Utica in 
 1837, traveling far and wide over our common country, 
 have I encountered Utica boys, grown to manhood, and 
 . although, in many cases, not being able to recall them 
 at once to my memory, been saluted by them with an ear- 
 nestness of recognition which showed the loyalty of the tie 
 which bound them to the place of their birth and any one 
 whose name or presence could remind them of it. The universal 
 answer to my question, " How does it fare with you ?" was, 
 "Success." The Utica of the present day is the legitimate out- 
 come of the men, the measures and the days of those who 
 made the Utica of the early stage. How spontaneous was the 
 recognition of this fact, the applause that followed the crowning 
 of the honored citizen, who connects so well the men of its 
 present with that of its past, well testifies. Let me give you 
 here, in a copy of a letter which I have before me, a graceful 
 evidence of the high breeding which characterized the society 
 of Utica and its neighborhood in the olden time. It is a copy 
 of a letter written to my father by Francis Adrien Van der 
 Kemp, of Olden Barneveld, near Trenton: , 
 
 " Dear Sir — As both your mother's grandmothers descend- 
 ed from the Dutch Beeckmans — being daughters of Henry 
 Beeckman and Joanna de Lopes, whose father expatriated — and 
 Mrs. V. D. K. descended from the other branch, which re- 
 mained in Holland, this short extract from her genealogy can- 
 not be unacceptable. I shall be happy if the discovery of 
 distant ties of relationship with her, can induce you, when you 
 visit once more this village, not to pass by our cottage un- 
 noticed. In this manner I shall anew be indebted to Mrs. V. 
 D. Kemp for an increase of happiness, as I appreciate every 
 kindness received — on whatever score it is — and it will en- 
 courage me to use with more freedom the civilities of Mr. and 
 Mrs. Van Rensselaer. I am yours sincerely, 
 
 Fb. Ade. Van der Kemp. 
 
 Olden Barneveld, 24:th March, 1814." 
 
 This letter was accompanied with a genealogical letter of 
 descent of my father's mother, and of Mrs. V. der Kemp's an- 
 cestry uniting in 1550. 
 
 The spirit of courtesy which inspires that letter was charac- 
 teristic of the time and the society of Utica then existing. The 
 men of those days were as enterprising and energetic as they 
 were graceful and well bred. Their honored names are well 
 known among you, and well worthy of all honor in those who 
 bear them now. Of the ladies of those days, through whose 
 means organization was given to benevolent effort, there were 
 — made prominent by their virtues, by their efforts and by the 
 selection of their friends — Mrs. John H. Ostrom, Mary Walker; 
 
The City of Utica. izy 
 
 Alida Van Rensselaer, afterwards Mrs. Charles H. Carroll, and 
 Sarah Malcolm, now Mrs. Ball. The last — now very, very 
 aged — is the sole survivor of the three. I do not know that 
 there are yet living at Utica any of the companions and friends 
 who remember her life of goodne ss and bounty in her early 
 days with them. If any still live, it maybe a pleasure to them 
 to read a late letter of her's to my sister, which I lend to you. 
 You will be so kind as to return it to me. 
 
 My sister and myself are the only ones left of my father's 
 family. I have lost the sight of one of my eyes, and I lead a 
 quiet life, most of the time in my library. Once a year I visit- 
 the town my father founded — Rensselaer, Jasper county, In- 
 diana, now but two hours and a half from Chicago, by the 
 Louisville, Northwestern and Chicago Railroad. There he 
 died and was buried in the spring of 1847. His memory is 
 there honored as the founder of the town, which is thriving 
 and prosperous. I occupy myself now in writing the history 
 of its early settlement and that of the surrounding country. 
 More than two hundred and fifty years ago the country and 
 the Indians who inhabited it were under the power and sub- 
 jection of the wonderful organization of the " Six Nations," 
 whose power was nearly central where Utica now stands. It 
 was not long after before the soil was trod by some of the 
 heroic band of Jesuit Fathers, the history of whose courage 
 and devotions in face of tortures and death among the same 
 six tribes, will never be forgotten. 
 
 What a wonderful history is yet to be written of the 
 Mohawk. Perhaps some day Utica will bear another name, 
 more in harmony with its antecedent history. 
 
 With great regard, yours truly, 
 
 J. C. Van Rensselabil 
 
 FROM C. VAN SANTVOORD. 
 
 55 Broadway, New York, Feb. 25, 1882. 
 Robert S. Williams, Esq., Chairman and Oentlemen of the 
 
 Committee of the Oneida Historical Society : 
 
 Dear Sirs — T thank you for your courtesy in inviting me 
 •' as a former resident" to be present at the commemoration of 
 the Semi-Centennial Anniversary of the charter of the city of 
 Utica. 
 
 Abraham Van Santvoord, my father, was a resident of 
 Utica, when it was, as described in' the Oasetteer of New 
 York of 1813, (Spafford's) "a flourishing, incorporated post vil- 
 lage, the commercial capital of the great western district of 
 this state, where are many mills, factories, machine shops and 
 a vast many buildings other than those enumerated. Several 
 
128 Semi-Centennial of 
 
 printing offices and large bookstores, where weekly papers are 
 published, which are widely circulated through the surround- 
 ing country. The hotel, which is an elegant establishment, 
 and the many fine private mansions of gentlemen of taste and 
 opulence, give Utica a character in this respect worthy a great 
 commercial town." 
 
 Before IJtica had attained this greatness my father went 
 there as a boy of eleven years of age, in 1796, and was a clerk 
 to his great-uncle, John Post, ia whose employment he traveled 
 among the neighboring Indians and bartered goods for ginseng. 
 John Post was a brother of my father's grandmother. 
 
 Afterwards he was a carrier on the Mohawk river, in con- 
 nection with Walton & Co., of Schenectady, and a member of 
 successive firms of carriers, Walton, De Graaf &.Co., DeGraaf, 
 ■Van Santvord & Co., and finally A. Van Santvoord & Co. 
 
 The course of trade and navigation during this period and 
 later, before and after, was by sloop on the Hudson, between 
 New York and Albany, across the plains to Schenectady by 
 wagons and teams, then by boat (Batteaux) up the Mohawk to 
 Rome, through a short canal at Rome (1^ mile in length) to 
 Wood creek, by Wood creek to and through Oneida lake and 
 by the Oswego river to Lake Ontario. There was a side cut 
 with locks around the Little Falls at Herkimer, and there were 
 dams in Wood creek to hold back the water with side cuts and 
 locks, a portage around the falls at Oswego. 
 
 The growth from a small hamlet, as found by my father on 
 going there at the first, in which were more stores than dwell- 
 ing houses, until its recognition, in 181H, as a great commercial 
 town, was largely owing to expectations founded upon the 
 aforesaid facilities for internal intercourse and navigation, that 
 Utica would become and remain the permanent center for the 
 distribution of stores, provisions, and other supplies, and 
 merchandise and manufactured goods through the northwest 
 and west. 
 
 I was born in Utica» but as my father removed from there 
 with his family, including me, in 1819, before I was six years 
 of age and was still in kilts, I was in some doubt before con- 
 sulting with my good friend, Luther R. Marsh, whether it 
 would be proper for me to consider myself " a former resident 
 of Utica." I think. I may so consider myself, claiming to fall 
 back, if necessary, to support my title, upon my right as rep- 
 resenting my father. 
 
 The Hon. Charles P. Kirkland, whom yoa all know and 
 honor, has sometimes said to me, your father and mine always 
 wore ruffled shirts, and you and I belong to the ruffled shirt 
 party. 
 
 If this is sound there can be no question but that I am a 
 " former resident of Utica" and I am proud of it. 
 
The City of Utica. I2g 
 
 My brother, Mr. Alfred Van Santvoord, late of Albany, now 
 of New York, was born in Utica, and might claim to be a 
 Uticatensian on the ground of origin and the possession of the 
 faculty of successful adaptation of instrumentalities in use to 
 accomplish better results, and at less cost, to his own advan- 
 tage and that of the public, which was a distinguishing and 
 prominent trait of the men whose lives are sketched in the book 
 of Pioneers of Utica. 
 
 My knowledge of Utica from tradition through Abraham 
 Yan Santvoord, my father, antedates its incorporation as a city. 
 But I know from studies in State History, and information 
 from and intercourse with its citizens whom I have known and' 
 know, and other sources of information, that Utica the city has 
 not disappointed the promise of Utica the village. 
 
 It has always had an invigorating air, and citizens distin- 
 guished for good practical sense and enterprising spirit, of no- 
 ble aspirations and generous impulses. 
 
 It never was a " pent up Utica," and is no mean city. With 
 much respect, your obedient servant, 
 
 C. Van Santvoord. 
 
 FROM WILLIAM WALKER. 
 
 87 East 53d Street, Nevst York, Feb. 23, 1882. 
 To E. S. Williams, Esq., Chairman .- 
 
 Dear Sir — Acknowledging the receipt of the invitation of 
 the Oneida Historical Society, forwarded by you, as chairman 
 of the committee, I am very sorry that I am obliged to decline. 
 I am so near mj 80th birthday that I do not feel equal to the 
 fatigue and excitement of the trip. 
 
 I left Utica in the year 1820, so that two generations have 
 passed away since I left. Those now on the stage are, with 
 few exceptions, descendants of old friends and acquaintances. 
 In your name and the names of several of your committee, I 
 recall those whose influence and example had much to do in 
 shaping the character of your people, the distinguishing char- 
 acteristics of which I think are conservatism and sound morality. 
 
 With the hope that your gathering may be a successful and 
 happy one, I am 
 
 Your obedient servant, William Walker. 
 
 FROM SAMUEL E. WARNER. 
 
 98 South Oxford St., Brooklyn, Feb. 22, 1882. 
 
 Dr. M. M. Bagg : 
 
 My Dear Sir— I have just received from the committee, of 
 which I see you are a member, an invitation to attend the Semi- 
 I 
 
I JO Semi- Centennial of 
 
 Centennial Anniversary of the incorporation of our native city. 
 As my business engagements will not allow me to be present 
 on that interesting occasion, I am compelled to send my re- 
 grets, with cordial thanks for the honor of the invitation. 
 
 Of course I can be expected to recall few memories of that 
 important event that occurred in such an early period of my 
 boyhood. The authorities of Utica, whether as a village, or 
 under the more ambitious control of a city corporation, were 
 of little consequence to the boys of my time, whose main con- 
 cern was to secure the greatest amount of play that home duties 
 and school requirements would allow. And that we enjoyed 
 the fullest liberty in this regard, my pleasant recollections 
 abundantly testify. 
 
 My early asssociations of Utica are identified with the old 
 Second ward ; so that the city must, have been fully incorpor- 
 ated before I was conscious of the great civic change. I can 
 recall the patriotic pride with which in our juvenile contests at 
 school and upon the street, we defended our claim to its supre- 
 macy above the other wards. Did it not have the imposing 
 ■common council room, and the Mechanics' Hall, with its glit- 
 tering dome, within its borders ? Were not the most powerful 
 fire engines, the pride and admiration of the boySj located 
 there? Did it not have the largest church, the highest steepte, 
 and the loudest fire-bell, which rung out such stirring music 
 when "Uncle Isaac" was at the rope? Were there any 
 bridges over the canal so fine for coasting, or rather for plain 
 *' sliding-down-hill," as we phrased it in our uncultured days ? 
 And was any ward so sure for a cousing.Whig majority in 
 those by -gone times when boys were ?uch heated and in- 
 telligent partisans ? 
 
 As I recall it in those happy days, the Second Ward was 
 worthy of local pride. It had enterprising, public-spirited 
 citizens for its residents. Utica cannot forget, and will always 
 hold in honor, such names as Horatio Seymour, David Wager, 
 Nathan Williams, John E. Hinman, George Dutton, E." M. 
 Gilbert, Jesse Doolittle, Theodore Faxton, Hiram Greenman, 
 Erastus Clark, James McGregor, Thomas Walker, General J. 
 H. Ostrom, my own honored father, J. E. Warner, several 
 times alderman of the ward, and others whose useful lives were 
 spent in that ward, and some of whose descendants are yet 
 among its residents. 
 
 I especially recall one feature that marked the ward, making 
 it the favored locality of a class of immigrants, who early were 
 attracted to Central New York, and made Utica their center. 
 The Second ward was the headquarters of the Welsh, who at 
 one time constituted an important portion of its population. 
 Here were their two largest churches, and the church then was 
 the favorite institution of the Welsh, as those well remember 
 
The City of Utica. rji 
 
 who lived in the vicinity, and who could hear, if they could 
 not understand, the almost uninterrupted sounds of music or 
 preaching in the numerous services from early dawn till late at 
 night each Sabbath day. The sight of strange costumes, the 
 women wearing men's high hats, and knitting their stockings 
 as they walked, was more frequent in the streets of Utica in 
 those early dayssthan it is now even in Wales. They were an 
 industrious, frugal, steady, virtuous class of population then. 
 Whisky drinking was unknown among them, and liquor 
 saloons had no attraction for them. I hope these traits still 
 characterize their descendants. 
 
 I have no time to prolong my reminiscence of the old Second 
 Ward, dear to me in my boyhood, and remembered still with 
 affectionate pride. 
 
 I trust that the approaching celebration may serve to revive 
 many delightful and honorable memories and associations of 
 the home of our fathers ; and may inspire the present genera- 
 tion with new attachment to the beautiful city that has 
 always borne such a high name for intellectual culture, finan- 
 cial integrity and moral worth. 
 
 Very truly your old townsman, S. E. Wabner. 
 
 FROM PETER G. WEBSTER. 
 
 Fort Plain, Feb. 27, 1882. 
 EoBEET S. Williams, Esq., Chairman, c&c: 
 
 Dear Sir — I have just.at this late day learned that a prior 
 professional engagement cannot be postponed, in order to en- 
 able me to participate in the Semi-Centennial Anniversary of 
 the charter of the city of Utica. I would greatly enjoy the re- 
 newal of old friendships, and the rehearsal of early reminiscences 
 concerning the living denizens and the early history of your 
 enterprising and thrifty town ; while at the same time, in re- 
 curring to the past, I should also be saddened by kind and 
 Endearing remembrances of so many esteemed relatives and 
 friends, and especially of one other dearly beloved one, who 
 were years since intombed in your beautiful city of the dead, 
 the inscriptions upon whose marble tablets recall to memory 
 many of your most distinguished, talented, energetic and use- 
 ful citizens, who. within the last half century, walked your 
 streets in the dignity of manhood' and with the elastic grace of 
 womanhood — all gone, gone, gone forever. 
 
 How relentless and remorseless the ravages of time and death, 
 which have no regard for artificial or natural landmarks, or for 
 age, sex or condition in life. 
 
 In the last year of the last century, my father, Doct Joshua 
 Webster, a young Yankee from the (present) State of Maine, 
 
IJ2 Semi- Centennial of 
 
 who had just completed the study of medicine in Ulster 
 CQuntVj K Y., with Dr. James Oliver, who was then a state 
 senator, requested his preceptor to inquire of other senators in 
 regard to a good location in which to settle. The senator in the 
 Oneida district named Deerfield, in your county, and our sena- 
 tor recommended Palatine, Montgomery county. My father 
 proceeded at once to Deerfield Corners, in Oneida county, 
 where he found the ground preoeeupied by the late Dr. 
 Coventry, Sr. He tarried over night at the small tavern, 
 occupied by Moses Bagg, Sr., on the south side of the Mohawk 
 river ; then wended his way back to Palatine, nearly opposite 
 and a short distance from this place, where he remained three 
 or four years, and then settled at what is now called Fort 
 Plain. 
 
 In 1815, or thereabouts, Dr. Jol;in McGall, of Hebron, 
 Washington county, N. Y., who had just resigned his position 
 as surgeon in the army at the close of the last war, wishing to 
 find a location for practice, was advised by his army friend, 
 Major Myers, to settle at Palatine, near Fort Plain. He gave 
 the doctor a letter of introduction to Captain James Cochrane, 
 informing him that there was no chance for him there, as his 
 friend and family physician. Dr. Webster, supplied all the pro- 
 fessional needs of that section, and named Deerfield, in Oneida 
 county, for the young doctor. Whereupon he, with his wife 
 and furniture journeyed on and located at Deerfield, and soon 
 after formed a copartnership with the late Dr. Coventry, Sr. 
 They subsequently moved to Utica, where Dr. McCall for 
 many years continued a very large and lucrative practice. He, 
 though deemed somewhat peculiar in some respects, was 
 learned and very skillful in his profession. In the year 1832, when 
 Asiatic cholera was desolating the land, and many citizens and 
 physicians fled for their lives. Dr. McOall, a fearless and faith- 
 ful professional guardian of the remainder, stood manfully and 
 undaunted at his post, to combat the dreadful malady. 
 
 He was a courteous gentlemen of extensive and profound 
 general knowledge, in practice adopting the maxim of Jeffer- 
 son, "that an ounce of positive knowledge was better than a 
 pound of conjecture." He was remarkably accurate in his 
 recollection of dates and local events, and often entertained and 
 interested as well as amused others by the relation thereof. 
 
 As a sequence to the preceding coincidences, in 1844 the 
 writer hereof became united in matrimony with Miss Helen 
 Mar .McCall, the highly intellectual, accomplished and dearly 
 beloved daughter of Dr. McCall, whose remains were a long 
 time since deposited in your beautiful 'cemetery, and now lie 
 by the side of her parents and her brother, Wallace McCall, 
 one of the most clear-headed, laconic, talented and promising 
 
The City of Utica. ijj 
 
 young lawyers ia the state, where she awaits the final resurrec- 
 tion of the dead " who die in the Lord." 
 
 Excuse this extended communication, accept my thanks for 
 the very kind invitation to be present on the occasion referred 
 to, and express to your committee my regrets at my inability 
 to attend. 
 
 Yours very truly, Peter Gt. Webster. 
 
 FROM HON. THURLOW WEED. 
 
 New York, February 27, 1882. 
 
 My Dear Sir — Your letter of the 17th inst., inviting me to 
 attend the Semi-Centennial Anniversary of the charter of the 
 city of Utica, was duly received, and, if my health permitted, 
 the invitation would be cheerfully accepted. My recollections 
 of Utica in its village days, and of its early inhabitants, are 
 equally agreeable and enduring. Of those inhabitants then 
 actively connected with its vai'ious pursuits and enterprises few 
 if any survive. The late Theodore S. Faxton, between whom 
 and myself a warm friendship existed for nearly seventy years, 
 was probably the last link in the chain which united the present 
 with the past. 
 
 Utica, I doubt not, owes much of its prosperity to its pioneer 
 professional men, merchants and mechanics. Prominent among 
 the latter class were the Danas, the Culvers, the Hoyts, the 
 Stockings, etc., etc. 
 
 I went from Onondaga to Utica in November, 1812, and 
 was fortunate in obtaining enjployment in the printing office of 
 Seward and Williams. Late in January, 1813, on a report 
 that Sacketts Harbor .was to be invaded William Williams, 
 then a lieutenant in an infantry company, promptly volunteered 
 his services, and consented to enroll me in his company. We 
 started for Sacketts Harbor in sleighs, traveling night and day. 
 Volunteers joined us at Eome, from Lee and Western. The 
 British, however, did not put in an appearance. The most 
 interesting event in that brief campaign was the arrival of the 
 6th regiment of United States Infantry, commanded by Colonel 
 Pike, having marched from Plattsburgh through the Chateaguay 
 woods to Sackett's Harbor on snow shoes. On returning to 
 Utica, after an absence of six weeks, I was pleasantly employed 
 on the Columbian Gazette, a republican paper published and 
 edited by Thomas Walker, Esq., who was also the village mag- 
 istrate. In September of the same year Captain Thomas 
 Skinner's company of artillery was ordered into service. Our 
 foreman belonged to that company, but as he did not, and I 
 did, want to see service, I was accepted as his substitute, and 
 after doing duty three months at diflferent stations on the shores of 
 
134- Semi-Centennial of 
 
 Lake Ontario, was mustered out and returned to' Utica. Captaio 
 Skinner, for what reason I do not know, remaining at home,: 
 our company was commanded by Lieut. Eells, of Whitesboro, 
 with J. B. Pease as second lieutenant. Mr. Higby, of New 
 Hartford, was our orderly sergeant, and Mr. Eichardson, of the 
 same town, our first corporal. While we were stationed at 
 Brownville an aged Quaker lady died. While attending her 
 funeral in a Quaker meeting house, the silence was broken by 
 the sudden entrance of a military ofi&cer in full uniform, who 
 strode up the aisle with a heavy broadsword dangling on the 
 floor, and took his seat with the mourners. That officer was 
 Major General Jacob Brown, a son of the deceased, then in 
 command of the army at the Harbor, who had hastily ridden 
 on horseback to attend the funeral of his mother. The contrast 
 between the simple costume and quiet manner of the Friends 
 and the rich military trappings of the general was highly 
 dramatic. 
 
 The TJtica Sentinel, a federal paper published by Ira Merrill, 
 was edited by William H. Maynard, a young lawyer, who 
 subsequently became a prominent politician, and died of cholera, 
 in 1 832, while attending^an extra session of the senate, of which 
 he was an eloquent and influential member. The late A. Gr. 
 Dauby was then an apprentice in the Sentinel office. We became 
 and remained warm friends for more than half a century and 
 until his death. 
 
 The citizens of Utica during my brief residence among them 
 " pursued the even tenor of their ways" undisturbed by excite- 
 ment or sensations. The leading members of the Oneida bar, 
 as I remember them, were General Kirkland, Nathan Williams, 
 David W. Childs, of Utica, with Jonas Piatt, Thomas E. Gold 
 and Mr. Sill, of Whitesboro. John H. .Ostrom and Charles P. 
 Kirkland were reading Blackstone and reciting Junius. 
 
 My cherished friend, Governor Seymour, so long an honored 
 citizen of Utica, was born in Pompey, in 1810. In two years I 
 became a resident of Utica. 
 
 Colonel Walker, who resided near the south line of the village, 
 was much respected as a citizen, and venerated as having served 
 on General Washington's staff. Bagg's Hotel was an institu- 
 tion. Canals, railroads and telegraphs had not then been even 
 dreamed of. 
 
 There is no better way of contrasting the facilities for 
 traveling in 1812 with those of the present day than by recall- 
 ing the fact that a daily line of stages between Albany and 
 Utica, and a stage every other day between Utica and Buffalo, 
 with an occasional "extra," accommodated the traveling public. 
 At least two-thirds of the pas.sengers were merchants and 
 lawyers — the former going to Albany or New York to purchase 
 goods, the latter attending courts. Jason. Parker of Utica, 
 
The City of Utica. ijj 
 
 Sherwood of Skaneateles, Thorp of Albany, were the widely 
 known proprietors of the line of stages. 
 
 Yerv trulv, Thurlow Weed. 
 
 FROM JAMES C. WETMORE. 
 12 Elm Street. Elizabeth, X. J., Feb. 25. 1SS2. 
 
 To Bobert S. WiLLiAits, Esq.. Chairman, and oAers, Com- 
 mittee of ih£ Oneida Mistarical S:-cieti^. Uiica^X. Yi: 
 Dear Sirs — 1 am in receipt of your kind invitation to be 
 present at the meeting of yonr s-^cietv on the first prox. to 
 commemorate the Semi-Centennial Anniversary of the charter 
 of the dty of Utica. 
 
 fii^retting that my engagements are such as to prevent me 
 from being present, and as yoa further honor me by asking for 
 • a letter that may be read on that occasion," I take the liberty 
 of penning some of my ■ recollections" of the dear old city of 
 Utica and the county of Oneida. To establish my own status, 
 I will state that I was bom in Whitesboro on the 1st of May, 
 1813, and resided there, with my parents, and at Trenton and 
 at Utica up to September, 1S32. 
 
 My ■■recollections" are so full of pleasant iucidents to me, I 
 hardly know what first to pen that would be eidier likely to 
 interest or amuse jou. or add to the local history of your 
 society. 
 
 "eablt hibtokt. 
 
 Some of the senior members of the society may remember 
 that in ■■old times'' there was much rivalry and jealousy existing 
 between Utica and Whitestown. In this, the boys of the two 
 village keenly participated. On Saturdays they would meet 
 in consideratJe numbers, between the two plac^ and have 
 r^ular pitched batiles. On one occasion the Whit^boro boys 
 being victorious, they took a number of prisoners and draped 
 them along up to and underneath the /«j1-j of the then new 
 aqueduct, over the creek, near the " Weimore Mills."' and gare 
 them a good shower b^tL As it may be imagined, it was 
 datigero"-s for anv Whitesboro boy lo be seen in Utica for 
 some time after that In the skating season there were cer- 
 tain marks on the river and canal, above or below which no 
 Utica or Whitesboro boy dared venture. 
 
 While the bovs were fighting it out on their respective lines, 
 the older people were discassing the advantages of their re- 
 speciive places. The Uticans contended that they were at 
 '■the head of navigation." to which the Whitestown people 
 would persistently respond hy calling Utica -a hole," "that no 
 one having r^ard to. his heaiih or respedabiUty would live ia" 
 
1^6 Semi-Centennial of 
 
 Whitesboro at that time claimed, and justly, too, to have the 
 " bevSt society " of any place west of Albany. While the 
 citizens of the two places were contending for the new settlers 
 that were just coming in from New England, Judge Jedediah" 
 Sanger conceived the idea of leaving the contentious people of 
 Utica and Whitesboro "out in the cold," by turning the 
 Genesee turnpike abruptly south to New Hartford. The latter 
 place being upon higher ground, and offering some facilities for 
 mills, etc , would very naturally attract settlers ; but as we all 
 know now, the " barge navigation " on the Mohawk and sub- 
 sequently the canal settled the question in favor of the " place 
 in a hole." 
 
 The leading men engaged in the navigation of the river in 
 my boyhood were the Dows, of Deerfield, one of whom I re- 
 member injured one of his legs so that it had to be amputated, 
 and while the' doctors were sawing it off in a bungling manner, 
 
 Mr. Dows, with a chip between his teeth, said : " This is 
 
 sight harder than poling a boat up the Mohawk." He lived 
 many years afterwards and became a very heavy, stout man 
 and a substantial farmer, on the flats opposite Whitesboro. 
 Some of his descendants have continued the " forwarding " 
 business to this day. Mr. David Dows, of New York city, I 
 believe, is a grand or a great-grandson of the Mr. D. referred to. 
 
 My father, the late Eev. Oliver Wetmore, settled in Oneida 
 county about 1806, having been sent there by an orthodox 
 Congregational Society of Connecticut, as missionary. Duty 
 called him at one time to the "Montezuma country," where 
 there was at that time plenty of "fever and ague." When he 
 was about to return, the people desired to pay him something 
 for his services ; not having any "dollars of their daddies," and 
 little or no market for their wheat, they gave him a barge load 
 of that then [comparatively valueless commodity, which he 
 caused to be brought to Whitesboro. 
 
 Our communication, with the world, at the time I refer to 
 was confined (at least, in the section of the country we lived in) 
 to a two-horse covered wagon, owned and driven by an old 
 man by the name of Parsons, who wore a long " linsey 
 woolsey" overcoat and a wide-brimmed hat and had one eye* 
 that was awfully askew. We did not mind that^ however, for 
 we were always glad to hear his horn and see him, for he 
 brought tidings from old Connecticut. That was enough at 
 that time to make him welcome for heads of families at least. 
 Seats in his stage^ had to be engaged months ahead. At the 
 time appointed the good Parsons would drive around to the 
 different settlements for his passengers. It took him two 
 weeks to make the trip to Hartford. I was a passenger once, 
 so my mother informed me some years afterwards. 
 
 I cannot drop this stage business'without at least having a 
 word to say about the 
 
The City of Utica. 13"/ 
 
 of Jason Parker & Co., that was an institution in its time, that 
 was managed with great success and tended to the building up 
 of Utica and of waste places along the line generally. Their 
 success tempted several " opposition lines," which soon came 
 to naught. One that lasted the longest was a "Great Tem- 
 perance Line of Stages " from Albany to Buffalo. 
 
 It may well be asked what temperance had to do with 
 " horses and stage coaches." I do not know that I have been 
 able to this day to settle, in my own mind, that question. I 
 well remember the plumed horses, the blowing of long tin 
 horns, and the cracking of whips by the ternperanoe (?) drivers, 
 as they drove up Genesee street to the " Coffee House " (kept 
 by Mr. Wells) which was situated on the southeast corner of 
 Genesee street and the canal. Tivie, the settler of all human 
 show and pretence, brought the "Temperance Line" to an 
 auction block, while the " Old Line " went on its even way, 
 making money for its owners, till the iron rails put a stop to it. 
 The people for a long time tried to account for the failure of 
 the Temperance Line. Some said that the taverns which the 
 T. Line stop at were altogether too temperate in the provision 
 they made for the " dry and hungry passengers." The horses, 
 some said, " were kept on too low a diet," while others who were 
 more elevated and religious in their thoughts accounted for 
 the failure by saying that there were more " sinners that 
 traveled than righteous men," ergo, the transgressors all went 
 the " old way," which I think the people of Utica, from the ex- 
 perience they have had in the way of gifts and bequests from 
 some of the "Old Line" proprietors, thought was the right way. 
 Long may the memories of them remain green in the hearts of 
 the people. 
 
 To continue my " recollections " chronologically. The hang- 
 ing of John Tuhi, an Indian, on Corn Hill, back of the present 
 residence of ex-Senator Conkling, was a great event, and created 
 great excitement at the time. People from all parts of the- 
 country went to the execution. The name of an Indian at that 
 time was a terror to all children. 
 
 The next great event was the celebration of the completion 
 of the Erie canal. Soon after followed the visit of 
 
 GEN. LA FAYETTE, 1834. 
 
 He came, as you all know, from Buffalo by the canal. The 
 people flocked en masse to the line of the canal to see and bid 
 him '• welcome." He was received by the citizens of Whites- 
 boro, on a lawn in front of the beautiful residence of Judge 
 Jonas Piatt. A platform was erected under two large elms, 
 the trunks of which supported an arch on which was inscribed, 
 " Welcome, La Fayetter 
 
13S Semi-Centennial of 
 
 Eefreshments were provided in the Judge's house. Soon 
 after, the General was taken over across the "green," to see the 
 old home of Hugh White and to pay his respects to som6 
 female members of the Judge's family that were then living 
 there. Soon after which the '■ Utica Committee " took charge- 
 of the distinguished guest, and lie was escorted by a number of 
 horsemen, followed by the people in carriages and wagons, to 
 Utica. In crossing the canal bridge, midway between the two 
 places, it was said that the general asked a halt, that he might 
 see one of the prettiest views he said he had looked upon in all 
 his travels. Soon after passing the bridge a double brown house, 
 shingled, on the north side of the road, was pointed out as the 
 first dwelling in the county that had glass windows; oiled 
 white paper being universally used in those before erected. 
 
 On reaching IJtica the procession turned to the right and 
 passed along an open, unpaved street, with but few, if any, 
 houses upon it, which was, I believe, christened at the time 
 ' ' La Fayette Street, " in honor, of course, of the distinguished 
 visitor. The street, as well as Genesee street, had several 
 arches thrown over it that had appropriate mottoes or words in- 
 scribed thereon. On reaching "the square," the general 
 alighted and was shown into the right hand parlor of Bagg's 
 Hotel, (I beheve it was called "Bagg's Tavern '' then) and he 
 took his position in the southeast corner of the room. My 
 father, holding me by the hand, presented me. The general, 
 putting his hand upon my head, said many pleasant things 
 which I was too confused to remember afterwards. His 
 features and the occasion I shall probably never forget. I had 
 the satisfaction, twenty-five years later, of visiting his tomb in 
 a small churchyard in the city of Paris. 
 
 THE REVIVAL. 
 
 The next great, sensation in Oneida after the visit of La- 
 Fayette was the " Great Eevival " of the Eev. Mr. Finney, 
 when the "terrors of the law " were preached with all possible 
 vehemence. Daily services, particularly evening services, 
 were held to late hours of the night. Prominent citizens were 
 named in prayers. On one occasion / heard a very distin- 
 guished citizen in the community prayed for in the following 
 language : " Oh, God ! wilt thou take that old sinner, Ool. 
 
 M , and shake him over hell," etc. The clergyman that 
 
 made the prayer was a minister by the name of Smith. The 
 people, as you may imagine, did not take to him much and he 
 '■ went west" The colonel, as it turned out, was neither vexed 
 nor disturbed by being so publicly noticed "in meeting." The 
 young people of the village were horrified at the thought that 
 
 any one should pray that so good a man as Col. M should 
 
 be placed in so imminent a p^ril. 
 
The City of Utica. ijg 
 
 THE WAE OP 181!S-'I3. 
 
 Oneida was in the way of troops passing to and from the 
 lakes. This naturally created in the minds of the youth a 
 military spirit, which lasted for many years. Nothing in my 
 boyhood was more impatiently looked for than the annual 
 training day of the county, Whitesboro being the most central. 
 The one regiment of infantry, one or two companies of cavalry 
 and foot artillery made up the " great parade." 
 
 The streets of the town and the road bordering the parade 
 ground used to be lined with farmers' wagons loaded with 
 barrels of cider and huge flat cakes of gingerbread. The menu 
 prepared by the tavern-keeper consisted, so far as my memory 
 serves me, of 
 
 Roast Pig — Tail turned up, with a turnip in the snout. 
 Sparebibs — That were spare-ribs. 
 
 Boiled Ham — am, naturel, 
 DESSEBT. 
 Pumpkin Pie. Rice Puddins. 
 
 Apple Pie. Bread Pudding. 
 
 FRUIT. 
 Apples — In abundance. Apple Cider. 
 
 Coffee — a la Rye. 
 
 Tea— a la "Schew Shong." 
 
 The furnishing of the feast was contended for by all the 
 tavern keepers. The privilege of holding an officer's horse was 
 esteemed very highly by all the boys^ If the boy had a good 
 stock of courage, he would lead the spirited animal up to a 
 fence or a block and mount and walk him about very gently. 
 
 In what I have said above, I do not; wish you to suppose 
 that the early settlers of Oneida, who were " well to do " in the 
 world, lived upon "hog and hominy." Quite the contrary, for 
 no " new " community probably lived better or more refined 
 than did the best people of Oneida. Their " dinners " and 
 their "evening parties" had a wide-spread reputation. While 
 they did not have fancy or mixed beverages, they had 
 "Maderia" from the Island of that name direct. More atten- 
 tion was paid to kitchens in those days than at present. I will 
 venture to say that no kitchen in amy one of the palatial resi- 
 dences of your beautiful city can compare with the kitchen of 
 Judge Piatt at that time — a' large square room with light and 
 air all about it. Its walls covered with brass and copper plat- 
 ters, dishes and covers, that shone like mirrors, and with a floor 
 as white and clean as any "man-of-war's " deck. Poultry that 
 had been stuffed before killing, was to be met with, on every 
 lady's table. Great attention was paid, in those days, to the 
 gardens and grounds about the dwellings. Judge Piatt's, 
 Thomas E. Gold's, Mr. Tracy's and Mr. Berry's, in Whites- 
 town, were particularly fine, as were the gardens (in Utica) of 
 Judge Morris Miller, foot of Main street ; Mr. Kip's, on the 
 
140 Semi-Centennial of 
 
 south side of the canal, on Washington street ; Mr. Wells', on 
 the canal, back of his house where your city market and other 
 buildings are at present ; and Judge Williams' and the Hon. 
 Henry Seymour's, at a later date, on Whitesboro street. 
 
 About 1828, as many of you probably remember, the 
 " Asiatic " cholera made its .appearance in India, and slowly 
 worked its way into Europe, when our people began to count 
 the years and months when it would reach America, and when 
 it did, that would be the end of things. It did reach us, as 
 many too well and sadly remember, in the summer of 
 
 1832, 
 the year that Utica was incorporated as a city, which circum- 
 stance in its history your society is to meet for the purpose of 
 commemorating. 
 
 It was expected that it would first .make its appearance in 
 New York, where almost everything foreign does appear first, 
 but, to the astonishment of every one, it was first announced as 
 having appeared in Canada. How it came there no one could 
 tell. It was not long before it appeared on the south side of the 
 lakes. Fear seemed to take possession of every one. Every- 
 body that had a cellar, yard or out-building that had never been 
 cleaned before, began to remove and expose to the summer's 
 sun, dirt and vegetation in every conceivable state of decom- 
 position, the result of which was fearful mortality. 
 
 It broke out in Utica on a Sunday morning, while most of 
 the people were in their respective places of worship. Those 
 that attended the First Presbyterian were informed of it just as 
 they were coming out of church. And when they learned that 
 it was Mr. Rockwell, one of the most estimable citizens of the 
 place, who lived just below the church on the opposite side of 
 the street, that had died of the disease, the alarm was fearful. 
 Every one seemed possessed with a desire to flee. Being some- 
 what younger then than I am now, I was disposed to flee to ; 
 so, as early in the week as " arrangements " could be made, 
 Thornton Kirkland, (now dec'd) a son of Gen. Joseph Kirkland, 
 the first Mayor of the city, and myself , took a horse and buggy and 
 turned our faces westward; to where, we did not know exactly our- 
 selves. The first siop we made was at the Turnpike Gate, half way 
 between Utica and New Hartford, (you must remember that 
 everything from Utica was quarantined at that time) but when 
 we reached the gate beyond New Hartford we met with a very 
 different "keeper " from the one we had just left behind. He 
 was determined that we should show a clean bill of health. 
 We put on the best faces we could ; said some things and left 
 some things unsaid, the result of it all was, the man became 
 satisfied that we were not very dangerous. The gate was 
 opened and we passed through, breathing a little more freely. 
 
The City of Utica. 141 
 
 We drove on till night overtook us ; who or what good Samari- 
 tan took US in, I do not now remember. We continued our 
 " Westward Ho " till we reached the beautiful lakes of Geneva, 
 Seneca, etc. At the end of about two weeks we returned to 
 Utica, decidedly in a better frame of mind than when we left. 
 That was the last of my running from diseases. Wherever 
 Providence has cast my lot since, and cholera, yellow fever or 
 smallpox has appeared, I have met it as in duty bound, without 
 fleeing from them. 
 
 In September of the cholera year I left Utica for the city of 
 New York, to live. The following summer I made a visit to 
 Utica, and when about to return to New York I was invited 
 by my friend, George W. Clinton, (now dead) a son of the 
 late Mrs. Abrana Varick, by her first husband, to go with him 
 in an " extra," which he had taken to Schenectady. The trip 
 was to be the quickest ever made. I of course accepted, and had 
 my first experience in 
 
 "rapid transit." 
 
 The coach drove up to the door of Bagg's Hotel, about sun- 
 rise. I got in and took my place on the hack seat, while he got 
 on with the driver. The whip was cracked and we crossed the 
 bridge on to the '' dyke ;" all speed possible was given to the 
 horses. Change of horses were ready at every relay. What 
 with the bridges and rails that we crossed at full speed, and 
 the banging I received, there was not much left of my new 
 high crowned hat when I reached Schenectady, which was 
 ' while the tavern bells were ringing for supper. The time was 
 pronounced the quickest that had ever been made. We were 
 " lions," of course, at the tavern where we took our suppers 
 that night 
 
 Believe me, very respectfully and sincerely yours, 
 
 James Carnahan Wetmore. 
 
 FROM RICHARD WHALEN. 
 
 Eochester, N. Y., Feb. 27, 1882. 
 To Egbert S. Williams, Esq., Chairman of Oneida 
 
 Historical Society : 
 
 Sir — I am honored by the receipt of your invitation to attend 
 the Semi-Centennial Anniversary of the charter of the city of 
 
 Utica. 
 
 Being bound to your beautiful city by many ties of friend- 
 ship of a personal and public nature, it would afford me the 
 greatest pleasure to be present at the exercises commemorating 
 "Utica City's" 50th birthday. I very much regret that a 
 previous engagement will prevent my being present. Though 
 absent in person, I shall be there in spirit. 
 
 Yours respectfully, Eichard Whalen. 
 
14^ Semi-Centennial of 
 
 FROM SQUIRE WHIPPLE. 
 
 Albany, Feb. 27, 1882. 
 
 To Egbert S. Williams, Chairman, and others of the Oneida 
 Historical Society : 
 
 Gentlemen — " Mbriturus saluio vos ;" and thank you for 
 your kind recognition of my humble self, and your invitation 
 to a symposium on the first proximo. 
 
 Once I was young, now I am old. I have often seen the 
 innocent oppressed and the unjust sitting in high places 
 Nevertheless, time wags on, and has wagged out of life many 
 of those whom I knew best while a citizen of your goodly city. 
 I should greatly enjoy the meeting of such old friends as have 
 thus far witnessed the buffets of time, and the successors of 
 such as have departed. But age and bodily condition render 
 it imprudent for me to entertain such a purpose. But your 
 kind compliment excites a few rambling thoughts and reminis- 
 cences, which I may be allowed to express in writing upon this 
 occasion, commonplace though they may be. 
 
 In 1833, I believe, I became a resident of Utica, being then 
 employed in the office of the late Holmes Hutchinson, Esq^., 
 whose genial friendship and kindness to myself will ever be 
 gratefully remembered. The son of that gentleman, whose 
 name I recognize among those who unite in this kind recogni- 
 tion of myself, and who held honorable relation to the affairs 
 of your city, was at time about what might be expected of a 
 bright lad three or four feet high. But they say we were all 
 boys at early periods of life, though we do not all subsequently 
 attain to the honorable position of chief magistrate'of a city 
 like our genial friend C. W. H. 
 
 Considerable changes have taken place since the period 
 above alluded to, in Utica as well as other parts. Then your 
 city contained some twelve thousand people. Since that time 
 the population has more than trebled, and taxation has in- 
 creased in a duplicate ratio to increase of population — unless 
 Utica has fared better in that respect than most other muni- 
 cipalities. 
 
 As this is a matter of some importance to the present genera- 
 tion, let us test the question by figures, which some say will not 
 lie, though others are skeptical upon the subject. IE I am not 
 misinformed the early city charter restricted the amount to be 
 raised for municipal purposes to the sum of $8,000. Assuming 
 that to be so. the population having increased in a three fold 
 ratio, the duplicate of which is nine fold, multiplying $8,000 by 
 nine gives $72,000 for the municipal tax of 1882. Now, if 
 Utica gets off with less than that, she is lucky and my estimate 
 is an exaggeration. 
 
The City of Utica. 143 
 
 Albany, with a population only about double that of Utica, 
 raises a municipal tax of more than six times $72,000. But it 
 may perhaps appear inopportune and ungracious to be croaking 
 about taxation on this occasion, and some of the later acces- 
 sions to the population of Utica, who thirst for historical 
 knowledge, may be glad of the information that the writer 
 hereof, soon after becoming a resident of the city, bought a lot 
 of the late George Hopper, Esq., and built an unpretentious 
 domicile in the then open field, on Steuben, twenty or thirty 
 rods beyond South street, in the part of the city now called 
 Cornhill. Why it was thus named I know not, but I do know 
 that the ground thereabouts at that time had lately borne a crop 
 of corn, and the corn-hills and stubs were still conspicuous. 
 
 That humble domicile of mine stood there many years alone 
 in its singleness, a somewhat conspicuous landmark, visible 
 from the hills on both sides of the Mohawk valley. It is now, 
 however, almost in the heart of tlie city ; insomuch that re- 
 cently on visiting the place I had difficulty in identifying the 
 locality. 
 
 I left the Central for the Capitol city in 1850, leaving many 
 very good friends, and no enemies that I am aware of. For 
 many years thereafter, on my casual visits and short sojourns 
 in your place, I was wont to meet many old acquaintances and 
 familiar faces. But latterly, I have walked the length of a 
 large portion of Genesee street without seeing a familiar face 
 
 The city still contains some reminders of the writer's former 
 labors, but they will soon have to give place to works more in 
 accordance with modern tastes and ideas. Every generation 
 hopes and strives to make its mark a little higher than its 
 predecessor's, and the track must be cleared for the march of 
 progress. 
 
 The Erie casal, the pride of the state, half a century ago, is 
 now obliged to play second fiddle to the railroad, and they say 
 it must work for nothing and find itself, even to enjoy that 
 humble privilege. Call it progress or retrogression, as you 
 prefer. 
 
 The electric telegraph, the photograph, the telephone, electric 
 illumination, electromotion and ocean steam navigation, have 
 all had their birth, and grown to lusty proportions within the 
 period you commemorate ; and, whereas, there were not, in 
 1832, one hundred miles o.f railroad on the continent, the miles 
 of iron way are now numbered by hundreds of thousands. 
 Moreover, at the risk of being charged with an exhibition of 
 bad taste, I will add, that, while fifty years ago there was not 
 an ii-on truss bridge upon this continent, if there was upon this 
 globe, in 1882, there is almost no other, at least, of recent con- 
 struction; and Utica is the point whence that ball was first set 
 a-rolling, and has gone on like fame, " crescens eundo." Utica, 
 
144 Semi-Centennial of 
 
 the city of half a century ; TJtica, the home of eminent states- 
 men and jurists, of philosophers and scholars, and men of en- 
 terprise and distinction in all the honorable departments of 
 human affairs. Cheers for Utica and all its people. 
 
 May your celebration be joyous and your future prosperity 
 continuous. 
 
 Veiy respectfully, Squiee Whipple. 
 
 FROM HON. PHILO WHITE. 
 
 Whitesbobo, Feb. 25, 1882. 
 
 Gentlemen of the Committee of the Oneida Historical Society : 
 
 I am honored with your circular invitation to attend the 
 Semi-Centennial Anniversary of the charter of the "village of 
 Utica," on the 1st of March proximo. I was first a resident of 
 the "village of Utica" in the years 1812 and 1813, being then 
 a pupil in the seminary there, of which Eliasaph Dorchester 
 was the principal of the faculty. Those years, marking an in- 
 teresting era in our "second war of independence" from 
 England, Thomas Walker, senior, the founder and proprietor of 
 the Columbian Gazette, at Utica, persuaded Mr. Dorchester, 
 who enjoyed a fair scholastic reputation, to associate with him as 
 an assistant editor, the thrilling events of the then war bearing 
 heavily upon Mr. Walker's journalistic labors. Mr. Dor- 
 chester's editorial services did not, however, it seems, fulfill Mr. 
 Walker's anticipations, and his connection with the Columbian 
 Gazette ceased after a year or two. Most of the members of 
 our Historical Society are doubtless familiar with Mr. Dor- 
 chester's subsequent course of life. He acquired a smattering 
 of the typographical art while connected with the Gazette office, 
 and some year or so after his severance from that, establishment, 
 he was encouraged by a segment of the democratic party, 
 styled "buck-tails," to start a third newspaper in Utica, named 
 the Utica Observer: The objective aim of the "buck-tails" was 
 to subvert the regular democratic (subsequently known as the 
 "Clintonian") party, and, by an adroit widely-published "pro- 
 nunciamento," signed by " fifty-seven high-minded federal- 
 ists," (as they styled themselves,) who, together with numerous 
 other and miscellaneous accretions, augmented the " buck- 
 tail" party into a majority in Oneida county. The Observer 
 having been their political organ, Mr. Dorchester, its editor, was 
 elected county clerk as a reward for his editorial labors. This 
 vras the climax of his auspicious fortunes. Placing the Obser- 
 ver establishment in the hands of the late A. G. Dauby — by 
 whose enterprise, tact and talent that paper became the leading 
 political journal in Western New York, and under the judicious 
 executive management and expert journalism of Messrs. Grove 
 
The City of Utica, 145 
 
 & Bailey, assisted by the surpassing editorial ability of Colonel 
 Theodore P. Cook, the Daily and Weekly Observer of the pre- 
 sent day ranks as one of the most prominent and ably conduct- 
 ed democratic journals in the state. Mr. Dorchester prospered 
 during the four years' assiduous devotion to his clerical duties. 
 Afterwards he resumed his former vocation as a classical 
 teacher. But, as increase of years decreased his faculties of 
 gaining a livelihood, he died at an advanced age in penury and 
 want. 
 
 I may be pardoned for here recurring to my own case: 
 After Mr. Dorchester resigned his position as teacher to assume 
 that of co-editor, I continued my academic studies under the 
 tuition of William H. Maynard, who, I think, taught a select 
 school, Simeon De Witt Bloodgood and Thomas H. Flandrau 
 being among my fellow students. Eventually, however, instead 
 of matriculating as a •'freshman" in Eev. Dr. Azel Backus' 
 college, at Clinton, I was persuaded to be inducted into Mr. 
 Walker's Columbmn Gazette printing office, to learn the "art" of 
 printing and be taught the craft of journalism. I continued in 
 that "institution" a course of four years, practicing typography 
 and scribbling for the Gazette — the latter clandestinely at first, 
 but subsequently as an acceptable contributor. During this 
 period William Walker (eldest son of the editor) and myself 
 started a small weekly publication which we called the Youths^ 
 Monitor. Quite soon, however, a rival (similar) sheet appeared, 
 the Aurora, gotten up by other tyros of literature, emulous of 
 the eclat of journalism ! Literary and scientific improvement 
 was the professed design of these juvenile "periodicals." But 
 a laudable emulation and natural rivalry between the 
 two was soon fanned into flames of effervescent disputa- 
 tion in their columns, embracing not only mooted for- 
 tuitous problems of discussion, digressing eventually in- 
 to fields of irrelevant criticism of men and of corporate 
 authorities, &c., so pungent as ultimately to cause their quietus. 
 I may here refer to one notable instance : There was then a 
 prominent citizen of Utica named Oudenaarde. He was reputed 
 wealthy ; went precisely clad,, was social, genial and generous 
 with ail whom he met on the street. Now, in Williams' direc- 
 tory of Utica, 1817, the profession, trade or vocation of every 
 male was given. Oudeuaarde had no visible "business" nor 
 was be a professional man; accordingly "gentleman" was placed 
 opposite his name, he being the only one who was thus digni- 
 fied in the directory of that year. This was rich food for the 
 Mbniior^s and the Aurora's sarcasms. They proclaimed it as a 
 shameful scandal, that our favorite "Utica" should possess only 
 one "gentleman" among all its population. Their satire be- 
 came so caustic, on Oudenaarde especially, that the seniors of 
 the village put their heads together and interdicted any further 
 
146 Semi-Centennial of 
 
 issue of those small-fry "periodicals." Thus did I "graduate" 
 as a public journalist, which was the cardinal profession of 
 my after years, bearing me successfully through a lengthened 
 career of private and official life, at home and abroad. 
 
 My health is fairly good ; but I exceedingly regret that a 
 temporary bronchial affection will prevent my mingling in your 
 interesting Semi-Centennial on Wednesday next. 
 
 Very truly your fellow countyman, Philo White. 
 
 FROM A. WILLIAMS. 
 
 Chicago, Feb. 25, 1882. 
 RoBEET S. Williams, Esq., Chairman^ and others : 
 
 Gentlemen — I thank you most heartily for your invitation to 
 take part in the Semi-Centennial celebration of the birth of my 
 native city. I recall many pleasant memories connected with 
 my early home. 
 
 At this distance, and with only the recollections of my early 
 years, I recall many events happening in Utica which are per- 
 haps of more interest to me than would be interesting to others 
 on this occasion. The time seems long, to look at the cold 
 type, which gives the years 1832-1882. I have lived through 
 the whole period. I did not think I v,-as so old. I have been 
 thinking I was still a young man, wondering when- some of 
 these old men were going to get out of my way, when here 
 comes a reminder telling me I am an old man myself. I used 
 to think a man who had lived fifty years had lived long enough, 
 but now I am willing to extend the time. 
 
 Utica to me, who have been absent so many years, will always 
 seem to be the great stage and packet boat center. My con- 
 science ! How the whips would crack and the tin horns peal 
 fonh their music. Butterfield and Greenman were the great new 
 lights that wei'e rushing business. The old OoffeeBLouse had to 
 give way to the new and grand National Hotel, while the days 
 of the York House were numbered in the face of the competi- 
 tion centering about the Genesee street bridge. The attractions 
 for me amid the excitement of the packet boat season, caused 
 such delays in movements as produced very serious un- 
 pleasantness between Schoolmaster Barber and myself. What 
 boy of fifty is tliere among you who has not resolved to whip 
 Schoolmaster Barber ? The city was chartered in the year of 
 the death of my uncle. Ezra S. Cozier, who lost his life in the 
 discharge of a heroic duty during the terrible cholera of that 
 year, and many who take part on this occasion will remember 
 him and his self-sacrificing devotion to Utica in its infancy, 
 and the sorrowing scenes amid which he lost his life. My 
 father, Abraham B. Williams, after a long residence, died there 
 
The City of Utica. 14"/ 
 
 in his prime, and his bones and those of my mother repose in 
 your beautiful cemetery. If my connection with the honored 
 dead herein mentioned had alone prompted the invitation 
 which you extend, I should feel honored and gratified beyond 
 my ability to express. 
 
 As my birth place, and for a long period my home, I feel a 
 great pride in the acknowledged commercial position of Utica, 
 and in her able and good men. I regret that business engage- 
 ments will prevent me from taking part in this celebration. 
 Again thanking you for your remembrance at this time, 
 
 I am yours respectfully, Abbam Williams. 
 
 FROM REV. H. WILLIAMS. 
 
 The Parsonage, So. Portsmouth, R. I. 
 
 Feb. 23, 1882. 
 Robert S. Williams, Esq., 
 
 My Dear Sir — I am sorry that I cannot look forward to the 
 pleasure of joining in the commemoration of the Semi- Centennial 
 Anniversary of my native city, as proposed by the Oneida 
 Historical Society, the 1st of March, to which you have done 
 me the honor to invite me. As I read the names of your com- 
 mittee, I see an ample provision for your evening's entertain- 
 ment My memories are chiefly of my boyhood, before the 
 founding of the city, and having more of the sportive character 
 of Remus than of the gravity of his brother. Children now 
 a days are very much neglected, are put out of the way, by 
 themselves, to enjoy themselves after their own manner, which 
 needs no oversight ; but then, as I recall it. the whole village, 
 with many wide streets, was given up to boys and girls for a 
 play ground. Mud" pies were provided for at every crossing, 
 and one had only to step out of the front door to find a running 
 stream or a small lake to sail his boat in. In the winter it was 
 not enough that we could go to school on skates, but the 
 mighty Mohawk sometimes covered the fields with ice for the 
 especial delight of boyhood. In those days — but you have 
 changed all that, since you became a city — sunshine made a 
 real holiday ; the children looked forward to it and looked 
 back upon it for a long time. 
 
 If at your symposium there should be one venerable gentle- 
 man, who can recall the military glories of the Utica Academy, 
 he should be called upon to tell of the wonderful exploits and 
 more wonderful equipments. These last consisted in part of 
 the discarded habiliments of some company of full-grown 
 soldiers — the head gear particularly, as being too large for them, 
 was allowed to descend upon our shoulders, which it literally 
 did in many instances at first, till stuffed and wadded with 
 newspapers and pocket handkerchiefs. As instead of heavy 
 
1^8 Semi-Centennial of 
 
 muskets we had harmless wooden guns, and instead of plumes 
 on our tall leather hats a curious formation of wool batting— 
 we used to hear at the corners of the streets the derisive shouts 
 of envious boys, out-siders, "Eed broomsticks, fire buckets and 
 rams' tails." 
 
 The Utica of old is chiefly noted for the great men who died 
 tliere; but our modern city fOr those who have lived and still 
 live in it. As an absent native I am proud of this ; but I 
 sometimes ask why is it that your distinguished citizens are so 
 anxious to get away from their privileges, and betake themselves 
 to such dull places as Albany or Washington ; and our best 
 lawyers, just as they ripen, will not be pent up any longer, but. 
 transplant themselves to New York. And I reply, it is that 
 spirit of self sacrififce which is cultivated in your borders, but is 
 more needed in other regions where wisdom and virtue less 
 abound. I cut from yesterday' s Providence JoMrma? an announce- 
 ment of a new, large, public park. It is many years now since 
 T visited my old home and it is probable that in the midst of 
 such a beautiful country an artificial park is not required ; a 
 drive like the Commonwealth avenue, Boston, a wide, open 
 street, planted on both sides of a walk along the center, and 
 leading to one of your pleasant villages around, might be less 
 costly and more attractive for residence. I am, dear sir. 
 
 Most truly yours, H. Williams. 
 
 FROM HON. S. WELLS WILLIAMS. 
 
 New Haven, Feb. 27, 1882. 
 
 Robert S. Williams, Chairman of the Committee of the Oneida 
 Historical Society : 
 
 Dear Sir — It seems to me to be a suitable manner of cele- 
 brating the Semi-Centennial Anniversary of the city charter, 
 and I can do no less than send a short reply to your kind in- 
 vitation to join in the symposium. 
 
 When the city charter was granted I was at school in the 
 Rensselaer institute at Troy, and never had the opportunity of 
 voting at any municipal election. During the fifty years which 
 have since passed, I have spent hardly one of them in Utica 
 altogether, but the scattered visits have served to revive and 
 strengthen the attachments of youth to the town and its citizens. 
 I can be now personally known to comparatively few of the 
 latter, but it has been a source of grateful surprise to me, on 
 my return there at intervals of twelve or fifteen years, to find 
 that I had been kept in memory by so many friends of my pa- 
 rents and brother. 
 
 Out of the fifty years now brought to their close, I have 
 spent forty-three years in China, or (with few exceptions,) away 
 
The City of Utica. i^g 
 
 from Dtica. During that period I have been permitted to see 
 aod aid in one of the greatest improvements of this century 
 — the introduction of China and Japan into the family of 
 nations. Before this century those populous countries had 
 been known rather as vast outlying regions, where untold 
 millions of our fellow-men lived and died in their own special 
 spheres, irrespective of the rest of mankind — somewhat as the 
 outlying planets Uranus and Neptune, which had travelled on 
 for ages in their remote orbits quite unknown to us, until re- 
 cently discovered. 
 
 I arrived in Canton October 25, 1833, and was reported to 
 the Chinese authorities, (who took cognizance of all foreigners 
 coming to dwell in their land,) as &fan kwei, or "foreign devil," 
 who was to reside in the American, or Kwang-yuen hong. 
 Kingqua, its owner, was the special Hong merchant who had 
 the oversight and responsibility of my good conduct. As it 
 turned out, I never saw my guardian, and the American 
 missionaries, four in number, all remained under his nominal 
 cognizance as long as he lived. 
 
 The different state of things when last I left Pekin, October 
 25, 1876, will indicate the great changes which had passed 
 over the empire in the intervening years. Instead of one port 
 where foreign ships of every flag were obliged to trade, thirteen 
 were opened. Nine foreign ministers had their legations at 
 the capital, instead of their several mercantile consuls at 
 Canton, who acted as go-betweens in behalf of their country- 
 men and the native officers ; nor could these be induced to re- 
 ceive anything directly from the hands of the foreigners 
 themselves, while the Hong merchants would accept nothing if 
 not drawn up in the form of a petition. 
 
 In November, 1874, the United States minister, Mr. Avery, 
 delivered his credentials to the Emperor Tungchi, and I inter- 
 preted them and his address to his imperial majesty. The last 
 refuge of Chinese supremacy over other nations had been re- 
 moved the year before, by the emperor's peacefully yielding the 
 point of prostration whenever plenipotentiaries from foreign 
 lands came into his presence. The last and most important 
 change during the period of my residence was the facility 
 possessed for travel and missionary labor. At my arrival, the 
 land was shut up to foreign travelers for any purpose ; while 
 converts in the Protestant mission at Canton numbered only two 
 or three under the care of two missionaries. At my departure, 
 the work was spreading into each of the eighteen provinces, 
 and its legality had been secured and guarded by the sanction of 
 treaty. In forty years, from 1833 to 1873, China had been in- 
 troduced into the fraternity of nations, where, I hope, she will 
 be allowed to stay and exercise her rights. The other govern- 
 ments are likely to make her fulfil her duties. 
 
/JO Semi-Centennial of 
 
 In the opening of Japan I also had a share. In 1837 I was 
 passenger in the American ship Morrison, which was bound to 
 Yedo for the purpose of restoring seven shipwrecked Japanese 
 to their homes, The vessel was repulsed by four cannon 
 brought to bear upon us from the shore, but bappily no serious 
 damage was received during six hours of firing. After our re- 
 turn three of the men were employed in my printing office, and 
 I learned in a rather rude fashion, the use of their native 
 tongue. In 1853 I was one of Commodore Perry's suite, which 
 landed within a short distance of the spot where the four can- 
 non had been placed sixteen years before ; here, on this oc- 
 casion, we delivered President Fillmore's letter asking "for 
 better treatment for American ships than the Morrison had re- 
 ceived. During this short visit and the five months that the 
 squadron was in those waters the next year, I was able to ex- 
 plain much of the purpose of the American expedition to the 
 officials and people at the three ports and the Lewchew islands, 
 and perhaps remove their fears that its real design was conquest 
 or pillage. 
 
 During the half century of your charter, these two ancient 
 nations have undergone the most rapid and thorough changes 
 which have ever happened to any nation recorded in history — 
 changes involving their political, religious, and social life, and 
 which are likely to obliterate the action of their former ages. It 
 was a great satisfaction to me to have been a close observer of 
 and co-worker in these mighty alterations. Most of them 
 tended to the elevation and benefit of the two nations 
 involved ; and with the political and commercial relations 
 established by the treaties of 1858, came also the toleration and 
 teaching of the Holy Scriptures among the people in their own 
 tongues, thereby giving- them valid reasons for the changes pro- 
 posed. 
 
 Few of the citizens of Utica who will join in this half 
 century commemoration have gone further than I have or 
 stayed away longer : yet my love for the old homestead seems to 
 grow with increasing years. Three of my former schoolmates 
 visited me while abroad in the first twelve years — John T. K. 
 Lothrop, Joab Brown and Lieutenant M. Hunt. Out of the 
 whole period I spent twenty-two years in the employ of the 
 American Board of Missions, and twenty-one in the service of the 
 United States ; but my sole aim in all of them was to promote 
 the welfare of the Chinese. 
 
 Allow me, in conclusion, to thank you for this opportunity 
 of joining in your civic celebration. As I cannot tell you any- 
 thing about Utica, I am constrained to say what I do about the 
 land of my adoption — speaking with pleasure of the wonder- 
 ful advances it has made within the past five decades ; and I 
 believe that during the next five, the Governor of the nations. 
 
The City of Utica. i^i 
 
 whose wisdom and power are now seen, as his promises to the 
 land of Sinim are fulfilling, will show even greater things for 
 the ancient race of Ham. 
 
 Wishing for my native town all the ■ blessings which will 
 promote her trae interests, 
 
 I am your fellow-citizen, S. Wells Williams. 
 
 FROM BENJAMIN WRIGHT. 
 
 [tblbgrasi.] 
 
 San Feancisco, Gal., Feb. 28, 1882. 
 
 Robert S. Williams, Chairman &mi- Centennial Anni- 
 versary : 
 
 Utica well represented in this city last kissed by the setting 
 sun, and her golden gate always open for others to come. 
 
 Benj. Wright. 
 
The Half Century Club. 
 
 nS ORGJNIZJIWN. 
 
 The approach of the Semi-Centennial Anniversary of 
 the charter of Utica as a city suggested to some gen- 
 tlemen the propriety of commemorating the accom- 
 plishment of its first half century with becoming ob- 
 servance ; and to this end, a meeting was held, at 
 which it was resolved to form an organization, to be 
 composed of natives of the village of Utica, under 
 the name of the Half-Century Club. In the prelimi- 
 nary selection of officers, it was decided to name as 
 President and Vice Presidents those eligible to mem- 
 bership who had held the position of Mayor of Utica, 
 giving prepedence in the order of official seniority. 
 Accordingly, the Club was organized with the follow- 
 ing ex-Mayors as officers : 
 
 President. . Hon. Ward Hunt, 1844. 
 
 Vice Pres . .YiQir\. DeWitt C, Grove, i860. 
 
 Hon. James McQuade, 1866. 
 
 Hon. Theo. F. Butterfield, 1872. 
 
 Hon. Charles E. Barnard, 1876. 
 
 No further action was taken towards the furtherance 
 of the object for which the Club was initiated beyond 
 the enrollment of names of those qualified to become 
 
I S4 First Supper of the 
 
 members, for which purpose Mr. Eugene Stearns was 
 appointed Secretary. 
 
 The Oneida Historical Society having provided for 
 a Semi-Centennial Celebration, m the form of a literary 
 symposium at the City Opera House, it was proposed 
 to supplement this commemoration with a supper, 
 after the old fashion, at Bagg's Hotel. To make 
 arrangements therefor, a meeting was called at "Bagg's 
 Tavern, in Woodmarket Square," (which was the 
 original designation of the inn,) on the evening of 
 February 25, 1882. 
 
 The meeting was called to order by Mr. John F. 
 Seymour, on whose motion General James McQuade 
 was chosen Chairman, and Col. Egbert Bagg, Secre- 
 tary. After consultation, it was resolved to give a 
 supper on the evening of March 2d, 1882, that date 
 being selected to avoid interference with the Historical 
 Society symposium, to be held on the first day of 
 March, the actual anniversary. A motion for the ap- 
 pointment of a Committee of Arrangements having 
 been adopted, the Chairman appointed the following : 
 
 Benjamin Allkn, N. A. White, 
 
 John F. Seymour, Harvey Barnard, 
 
 Egbert Bagg, B. F. Davies, 
 
 Charles H. Sayre, Eugene Stearns, 
 
 Isaac Whiffen, John G. Brown. 
 
 On motion, the Chairman was added to the Com- 
 mittee. 
 
 At a meeting of the Committee of Arrangements, 
 held the same evening, B. Allen was chosen Chairman, 
 E. Bagg, Secretary, and I. Whiffen, Treasurer. 
 
Half Century Club. r§^ 
 
 The following sub-committees were appointed : 
 Supper — James McQuade, I. Wiiiffen, B. F. Davies. 
 Invitations — Eugene Stearns, C. H.Sayre, J.G.Brown. 
 
 It was resolved to make the organization of the 
 Half-Century Club permanent ; to elect ofificers at the 
 supper ; and to enlarge the qualification for member- 
 ship by making a residence of fifty years in Utica, 
 without regard to nativity, the sole requirement. A 
 resolution was adopted designating General James 
 McQuade to preside at the supper ; and inviting Rev. 
 Dr. A. J. Upson to act as Chaplain, and in the event 
 of his inability to be present, substituting the Rev. 
 Dr. D. G. Corey to officiate. 
 
1^6 First Supper of the 
 
 The Supper. 
 
 The supper was held as appointed, and every seat 
 in the dining-room and adjoining ordinary of Bagg's 
 Hotel was filled; there were present 
 
 Mayor Miller, ex-Mayors James McQuade, D. C. Grove, 
 Theodore F. Butterfield, Miles C. Comstock and Charles E. 
 Barnard; the Hon. A. T. Goodwin, the Hon. John F. Sey- 
 mour, the Hon. John G. Devereux, Eecorder Bulger, City 
 Clerk McQuade, the Hon. Ellis H. Eoberts, Police Commis 
 sioners Mcintosh, Flanagan and Davies, Charity Commissione, 
 Thomas, School Commissioner Symonds, Supervisors Mooney 
 and French, Judge R 0. Jones, Justice M. M. Jones, Superin 
 tendent McMillan, County Treasurer Kohler, Col. J. S. Lowery, 
 the Rev. Dr. Corey, the Hon. W. B. Taylor, Dr, M. M. Bagg, R 
 S. Williams, W. Jerome Green, Maj. D. T. Everts, W. M. 
 Storrs, J. G. Brown, Edward Sturges, M. B. DeLong, Albert 
 Spencer, Horace W. Fowler, Dr. C. B. Foster, John D. Kernan, 
 Harvey Barnard, E. S. Brayton, Benjamin Allen, Isaac Whif- 
 fen, B. F. Ray, Joshua W. Church, Moses Bailey, Harold 
 Frederic, B. F. Davies, T. R McQuade, Robert Middleton, W. 
 W. Coffin, A. L. Woodruff, Richard U. Owens, Coroner Hunt, 
 Lyman B. Adams, William Dunn, William Lent, John W. 
 Bates, Henry Hopson, Joseph A. Shearman, John Butterfield- 
 E. A. Tallman, W. H. Scranton, C. F. Palmer, F. W. Pratt, 
 Otto E. C. Guelich, F. M. Kendrick, J. W. Bond, P. F. De 
 Lester, John G. Fowler, George Washington Keating, Henry 
 Barnard, John H. Davies, E. D. Buckingham, F. W. Hurlburt, 
 K C. Newell, Selden Collins, H. W. McKay, James Ballou, 
 Moses Bailey, Thomas J. Griffith, Daniel McGucken, George 
 Booth, B. A. Clark, Geoi-ge A. Clark, Alderman Carpenter, 
 
Half Century Club. 757 
 
 Corporation Counsel Barrows, Rudolph D. Snyder, David Hull 
 H. T. Miller, Eugene Stearns, Charles Downei-, Colonel Egbert' 
 Bagg, H. D. Pixley, K F. Pegg, John S. Hill, Col. 0. H. Bal- 
 lou, E. Z. Wright, G. L. Bradford, Walter C. North, Cordon 
 Hackett, Alfred S. Hubbell, Henry Hubbell, E.V.W. Griffiths, 
 John Cummings, Walter I. Martin, Thomas Hollingworth,Wm. 
 Heath, George D. Dimon, Robert McElwaine, W. B. Smith, 
 S. C. Davis, Wallace Burt, H. I. Johnson, Theodore P. Ballou, 
 Lute W. Cafferty, John T. Stevens, James Sayre, Samuel 
 C. Davis, Dr. J. E. West, James Greenman, George Allen, 
 Charles Sayre, John O'Donnell, James H. Howe, J. E. B. Thorn, 
 Thomas Crowley, William Dagwell, Thomas Welch, John 
 Gray, Edward Clark, James Thompson, William H. Farwell^ 
 Daniel Batchelor, D. L. Vanderheyden, Thomas E. Patterson, 
 Chauncey Palmer, William Blaikie, Charles Thome, John 
 Springier, J. Burton, P. C. J. DeAngelis, W. W. Fowler, Mor- 
 ris Dickinson, Robert Baxter, Moses M. Bailey, Charles Bar 
 nard and Thomas B. Howell. Among the participants from 
 out of town were Messrs. Brainard and Cooper, of Waterville, 
 Clarke, of Yonkers, Camp, of Sacketts Harbor, Hoadley, of 
 Boston, Burt, of Oswego, George W. Pixley, of Fort Wayne, 
 Ind., J. T. Brush, of Indianapolis, Ind., and George C. Mason, 
 of Lima, Ohio. 
 
 The unique bill of fare was described in the daily 
 papers, as follows : 
 
 The bill of fare, designed as a memento of the occasion, was 
 much approved. The paper was rough, and the covers were 
 illustrated with three old-time wood, cats, one of M. Bagg's 
 Tavern in 1832, one representing a stage-coach of Parker's 
 famous line, and a third depicting one of Greenman's equally 
 famous canal packets. Inside were the names of the Half- 
 Century Committee, Benjamin Allen, Harvey Barnard, Benj. 
 F. Davies, N. A. White, John G. Brown, Egbert Bagg, James 
 McQuade, Charles H. Sayre, John F. Seymour, Isaac Whiffen 
 and Eugene Stearns, surmounted by the Yah-nun-dah-sis seal 
 of the city. The tempting menu was set forth with many local 
 
1^8 First Supper of the 
 
 "hits" of the olden time, and will be generally appreciated 
 and enjoyed : 
 
 Oysters on Half Shell. 
 (From Clara Perkins'.) 
 
 Puree of Chicken. 
 (From King Welch.) 
 
 Broiled Shad. 
 (From Herring & Whiting's.) 
 
 Potatoes. 
 (From Sergeant John Hasson.) 
 
 Filet of Beef, with Mushrooms. 
 
 (Hugh Crocker's best.) 
 
 Potato Croquets. 
 
 (From Pat. Dixon.) 
 
 Potted Pigeons. 
 (Shot on Corn Hill.) 
 
 Roast Spring Lamb, Mint Sauce. 
 
 (From Broadway's.) 
 
 Green Peas, New Potatoes, 
 
 (From John Campbell's.) (From Calvin Steams'.) 
 
 Champagne Punch. 
 (By Bobby Barnes,) 
 
 Roast Mallard Duck, Currant Jelly. 
 
 (From John Beston's.) 
 
 Dressed Celery, Lettuce, Olives, 
 
 (From Chauncey Phelps'.) 
 
 Vanilla Ice Cream, , Jelly Rolade, 
 
 (Peter Palmer.) (From Wm. Hackett.) 
 Bismarck Slices. 
 
 Cocoanut Kisses, Victoria Fingers, 
 
 (From Spurtzell.) (By Miss Derbyshire.) 
 
 Assorted Nuts, Fruits, 
 
 (From Arnold.) (From Wilbur.) 
 
 CoflFee. 
 (By Mrs. Churchill.) 
 
 The Dres.sing Room will be in charge of J. Ingalls and D. Saumet. 
 
 "Pizarro" at Dyke's Catharine Street Theatre this evening. 
 
 Before sitting down to table, grace was said by the 
 Rev. Dr. D. G. Corey. 
 
Half Century Club. i^g 
 
 Immediately in front of the presiding officer's chair 
 was a magnificent basket of flowers, with the mono- 
 gram "M" interwoven with the legend "1832 — 1882," 
 and a card, bearing this inscription : " To General 
 James McQuade, the faithful law clerk of my husband 
 in days of auld lang syne, with the compliments of 
 Mrs. O. B. Matteson." 
 
 After the bill of fare had been discussed with great 
 acceptance, General McQuade called the assemblage 
 to order, and said : 
 
 I beg leave to thank the Committee of Arrangements for the 
 honor conferred in my selection to preside at this commemora 
 tive sapper. I feel that I am not entitled to the distinction 
 ■while there are so many here with superior claims, both from 
 seniority and greater consequence in the community ; and yet 
 my somewhat varied experience, which brought me in contact 
 with a number of the old residents identified with the early 
 history of the city, may afford some ground for the suggestion 
 ■of the appropriateness of choice. It would be mere affectation 
 for me to refrain from expressing my appreciation of the beau- 
 tiful spuvenir before me, recalling as it does a happy period in 
 my careless youth when I was a law student in the office of 
 Matteson & Doolittle. I experienced from Mr. Matteson so 
 much thoughtful and lenient consideration, that I may be par- 
 doned, although merely a personal matter, for taking the oppor- 
 . tunity afforded "to acknowledge an .old-time obligation, which is 
 recalled to memory like the perfume of some long-faded flower, 
 freshened and vivified by the scent of the newly-blown roses 
 before me. 
 
 And lam reminded, too, that Mr. Matteson, who has occu- 
 pied a prominent place as a citizen, and held high public posi. 
 tions, is now the sole survivor of the city officers of 1832. In 
 that year he served as City Attorney, and there is not living a 
 member of the Common Council or a city officer who was asso- 
 ciated with him. He is, I believe, the only resident of Genesee 
 
i6o First Supper of the 
 
 street who lives in the same place he occupied when the city 
 was chartered, fifty years ago. 
 
 As we are in a gossiping mood, and disposed to the playful 
 vein rather than the serious and solemn, it is permissible for 
 one to talk about himself and his neighbors without becoming 
 amenable to the charge of egotism. We come here to talk 
 cheerfully about the old times, and to enrich this feast with 
 tender recollections of the old friends who occupy no chairs at 
 the table to-night, but who are present in our hearts. 
 
 I did not become deeply versed in the profundities uf legal 
 knowledge whilst in the office of Matteson & Doolittle. It was 
 "in my salad days when I was green in judgment," and, unfor- 
 tunately, the corner window I occupied was a "coigne of van- 
 tage" which commanded a clear view of the fashionable crossing 
 at the corner of Broad and Genesee streets, where the fickle eye 
 was allured from the perusal of musty Blackstone, Kent and 
 Chitty, to the critical contemplation of glowing beauty, en 
 'promenade. I suppose I may as well admit, m the words of 
 the poet : 
 
 "Though wisdom oft has sought me, 
 I scorned the lore she brought me, 
 
 My only books 
 
 Were woman's looks, 
 And folly 's all they've taught me." 
 
 It was while floating idly along in the plain sailing of Indeb- 
 itatus assumpsit, or getting involved in the tortuous channels of 
 Cestui que trust, that a financial avocation, growing out of the 
 business of the office, and connected with the adventurous mer- 
 chant and manufacturer, Frederick Hollister, brought me into 
 intimate relations with the late A. B. Johnson, who, then and 
 afterwards, manifested much interest in my welfare, both in 
 private life and public station, giving me the benefit of wise 
 counsels and unvarying friendship and support. Mr. Johnson, 
 it is hardly necessary to say, was a man of varied attainments, 
 of inflexible integrity and, though inexorably just and judi- 
 ciously discriminating, of a kindly disposition. 
 
 Before entering the office referred to, I was for a time a stu- 
 dent with the famous firm of Spencer & Kernan. Joshua A, 
 Spencer will always be regarded as One of the greatest advo- 
 cates of his day, and Senator Kernan has added to a reputation, 
 
Half Century Club. i6i 
 
 for forensic ability the lustre of able, prudent and unsullied 
 statesmanship. In the course of my revolutions as a- rolling 
 stone, I became an officer in the old Bank of Ctica, on Wliites- 
 boro street, when W. B. Welles was Cashier, R. H. Shearman, 
 Teller; Thomas Colling, Bookkeeper; and T. C. B. Knowlson, 
 Clerk. Upon those halcyon days of banking I often look 
 back with a sigh of regret, like one who has left the cool re- 
 treat of some sequestered nook, where he was lulled to repose 
 by soothing murmurs, to encounter the heat and dust of an 
 arid plain, amid the glare and turmoil of unremitting business 
 activity. There was an air of imperturbability' about this dig- 
 nified institution, a ■ placidity of demeanor, in marked contrast 
 with the commonplace bustle ' which pervades the banking 
 offices of this utilitarian period. Yet we were, to some extent, 
 fast even then. Thfe bank clock ■ was ten minutes ahead of the 
 town clock, so we opened the bank for' business by city time 
 and closed it by bank, time.; following Charles Lamb's exam- 
 ple, who made up for reaching his office late in the morning 
 by leaving early in the afternoon. 
 
 These names, so familiar to the older residents, are not par- 
 aded here for the purpose of demonstrating that at an early 
 day I was thrown into the good society of my elders, but are 
 recapitulated by way of an apology for the action of the Com- 
 mittee in designating me to preside at this notable symposium. 
 While my own merit would not accord me the position, I de- 
 rive, from close association with these honored pioneers of Utica, 
 some reminiscent claim to be regarded as not altogether out of 
 place. I serve as a sort of connecting link with the past, and 
 as the shades of those who have left us are evoked in the course 
 of these garrulous remarks, I present a shadowy title to the 
 chair which I fill with a too substantial presence. 
 
 Appropriately are we a,ssembled here in Semi-Centennial ob- 
 servance. This is a festal hallowed ground. This is the re- 
 nowned hostelry, which has stood for over three-quarters. of j a 
 century, a monument of bountiful hospitality, enwreathed' with 
 ]oyous memories, reaching back beyond the personal' recdllec- 
 tion of any present to-night, but preserved- as cherished tradi- 
 tions. /This venerable landmark, which'ijlike some slender, sap^- 
 ling, planted long ago by careful hands in congenial soil, has 
 thrived and expanded into a wide-spreading -tree, capable of- 
 
1 62 First Supper of the 
 
 affording shelter to numerous guests, is a fit place for the estab- 
 lishment of those who are gathered to emphasize. an important 
 event in the history of Utica. These walls ,have resounded 
 with many a sound of revelry, these rafters have rung with 
 shouts of merriment, aroused by the song and story, the quip 
 and jest, of our jovial ancestors, who entered into enjoyment 
 with a zest and fervor unknown in these colder-blooded days 
 of pseudonymous propriety. The exuberant spirits of those 
 hearty men often found vent in unrestrained mirthf ulness and 
 ■abandon which would grate harshly on the fastidious ear of 
 this generation ; but they were honest, true hearted gentlemen, 
 who lived cleanly lives, and scorned cant, hypocrisy and pre- 
 tense. The man who had the respect of the community then 
 was one who deserved it for his good qualities. He was just, 
 sincere and truthful, performing his duty in the pursuit of 
 peaceful vocations with knightly courage and honor. 
 
 '■The knight's bones are dust, 
 
 And his good sword rust ; 
 
 His soul is with the saints, I trust." 
 
 But I shall not engross your attention by extending any 
 further this lengthy apology for my appearance as presiding 
 officer, but will call upon my friend, Mr. John F. Seymour, 
 who bears a beloved name, " familiar as household words" in 
 Utica, and illustrious everywhere, to speak for the "old resi- 
 dents of Utica." 
 
 Mr. Seymour said : 
 
 I thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the compliment you pay to 
 the name of Seymour, and I regret that the elder brother is not 
 here to make suitable response. It is a great pleasure to have 
 the name associated with the history of Utica, one of the best 
 cities in the world. " A city set upon a hill, from whence it 
 overlooks the bright fields which in summer stand dressed in 
 living green beyond the swelling flood" of 'the Mohawk, while 
 the river, its banks crowned with elms and willows and golden 
 rods, flows in graceful curves from one side of the valley to the 
 other, as if it would prolong its stay by all manner of ex- 
 ■cuses. 
 
 The school days of "us boys" were mostly passed atBartlett's 
 High School in Bast Utica, which commanded a view of that 
 ■part of the valley towards the east which was our daily admir- 
 .ation, and here I met Uridge Whiffen, a brother of our fellow 
 
Half Century Club. i6j 
 
 citizen, Mr. Isaac Whiffen, and my teacher in Greek and Latin. 
 He was a fine scholar and a good boxer. He drilled me with 
 Greek and Latin during school hours, and pounded me with 
 boxing gloves out of hours, but gradually I learned to get in 
 blows which made me happy, and fitted me for the brushes of 
 out-door college life, and if I did not learn much of Greek and 
 Latin it was not his fault. 
 
 The friendship formed with Mr. Whiffen was for life, and I 
 am glad that I have this opportunity to pay tribute to the 
 memory of one whose purity and single hearted ness and schol- 
 arly attainments won for him the respect and affection of his 
 pupils. At this school was also Professor Fay Edgerton, from 
 Bennington, Vermont, who taught us Botany, Chemistry and 
 Mineralogy; and walked with us from Troy to the White Moun- 
 tains with knapsacks on our backs, gathering minerals by the 
 way, and health and strength for the journey of life. By us I 
 mean Professor James D. Dana, Professor S. Wells Williams, 
 Judge Alexander S. Johnson, Dr. M. M. Bagg, Matthew Bagg, 
 James L. Butler, William Snyder, Edward P. Handy, George 
 Bemis and others ; boys then, but old men now, such as sur- 
 vive, with warm hearts under frosted heads, and with fresh and 
 happy recollections of a journey, the memory of which has 
 been a life long pleasure. 
 
 Professor Edgerton shared in the affections of the boys with 
 Mr. Whiffen by making us his companions. There are some 
 here to-night who are engaged in the noble work of teaching, 
 whose hearts may sometimes fail them because their pupils are 
 wayward or thoughtless, let them always remember that in due 
 time they will reap a harvest of gratitude provided they do not 
 faint in the work. 
 
 It was my intention to tell you about two beautiful residences 
 and large grounds with trees which were once on the east side 
 of Genesee street, just below the Johnson place, opposite the 
 City Hall and the block below, one being the home of Arthur 
 Breese, and the other that of Jeremiah Van Rensselaer, but I 
 see here my old schoolmate who, when we were boys, beat me 
 in running a race down Genesee street. As he was the winner 
 then he is entitled to the course now, and I introduce him to 
 you as Thomas Allen Clarke, a son of Captain William Clarke, 
 one of the most energetic of the early settlers of Utioa. 
 
 Mr. Thos. Allen Clarke said substantially as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 This concession of my friend Mr. Seymour is but one of the 
 many kindnesses I have experienced from him. In the races 
 to which he has referred, the short ones I may have won, but 
 
164^ First Supper of the 
 
 in the long he was victor. I was but a quarter horse, he 
 had the staying qualities of' a four-miler ; but in the long race 
 of over sixty years, in friendship we have been side by- side. 
 Better would it be for him to continue to-night his recital. I 
 have, what with the boy's ramble last night, and the fuller re- 
 ports in the papers of to-day, occupied enough of your time. 
 
 Many of those before me are my boyhood friends, and many 
 names that have been mentioned recall memories of their 
 fathers. Immediately before me is my friend, Mr. Ballou, of 
 one of the earliest and most esteemed families. I see Mr. Shear- 
 man's familiar face which reminds me of three homes in which 
 the noisy plays of, I fear, rather rude boys were encouraged, 
 certainly very mildly checked. My boyhood friend, Mr. 
 Grannis, looks just as he did long years ago. He " stood by 
 the stafE," and so the Baggs, Williams and Sewards. But I 
 must not call the roll of the village. I have been repeatedly 
 asked to day, "Did you know my father?" I have been 
 happy to say invariably, yes, with some recital of circum- 
 stance. I doubt not that I could give like answer to inquiries 
 from • such as you. By my side is my young, gallant and 
 humorous friend, who reminds me of his father, Michael Mc- 
 Quade, with all his genial qualities, and who, the last time I 
 was here, gave me for an hour his interesting reminiscences. 
 When I used the word " gallant," just now, the Citizens' Corps 
 and its history sprang up before me. Men, possessed of the 
 courage of their convictions, who have been generously re- 
 warded with the honors of fame. Toward this Corps which 
 had been- recently organized when I left for my Southern 
 hom'e 'I have had^ a feeling of tenderness since I was told by 
 my friend, Morris Miller, far away from here, of the honors done 
 by them to one inexpressibly dear to me. I was Jaappy,- to-day, 
 to meet the commander on that occasion and to find him the 
 son of. my long-time friend, Thomas Davies, who closed here 
 recently his long and useful life. 
 
 Thisancient hostelry'in which we meet has historic associa- 
 tions. In this room the great men of the state have been en- 
 tertained. ' LaFayette dined here. Gouverneur Morris, Tomp- 
 kins, DeWitt Clinton, John Wells, Emmett, Butler, Burr, 
 Foote, Marcy, Young, and all who grace the early annals of the 
 state, sat at this board gracefully presided over by Mrs. Bagg. 
 Her coffee was famed for its delicious flavor. Her plans of 
 benevolence were formed and discussed, and in the hall above 
 the beauty and grace of the state have " tripped on light fan- 
 tastic toe." 
 
 A Virginia friend told me, years ago, that in England and 
 on the continent he had heard so much of the enjoyments of 
 this country house, that he determined to visit it on his return 
 ''l|fefore going to Virginia. He came from New York' then, in 
 
Half Century Club. i6^ 
 
 point of time, seven-fold the distance of to-day. His antici- 
 pations were realized. Virginia did not furnish a parallel. 
 This is high praise, as you know a Virginian never yields the 
 palm for anything, whether, quadruped or biped, from the blood 
 of her renowned Sir Archy, to that of his "first families," 
 
 With all the staidness of the early population the village was 
 enlivened by humorists of whom Hackett was fadle princeps, 
 having good foils in Bphraim Hart, Joseph Porter, Mont- 
 gomery Hunt and a numerous circle of our Irish friends, to 
 name whom would be to call up all the sunny faces of that 
 race. Practical jokers there were. One of their pranks will 
 amuse you, as it had a good end and may serve as a useful 
 precedent A tramp was employed, at extravagant wages, to 
 stand all day at the junction of the four streets on the square 
 just before us to serve as a guide board. For an hour he was 
 quizzed by all sorts of questions by the wags following each other 
 in rapid succession, until, exhausted, he incontinently fled the 
 village, without wages, a wiser if not a better man. 
 
 The old bell of the village was an institution. It awoke 
 sleepers in the morning, bid to breakfast and dinner, bade the 
 toiler cease work at six and go to bed at nine, announced lost 
 children. Besides its Sunday calls to worship, it admonished 
 the departure from earth of each soul by tolling the age. On 
 the Fourth of July its tones were jubilant. We all had an 
 affection for the old bell. Its tones often sounded in the ear 
 of memory to me in my distant home. Ah ! the wail of its 
 last notes to many hearts, when by ruthless hands precipitated 
 from its high place. 
 
 You have reason to be proud of the conservative character 
 of your population. Notably of your financial institutions. 
 Eslo perpetuci. 
 
 Since I came here I have heard some whisperings that in 
 prosperity the city is not advancing, especially as indicated by 
 a not proportionate increase of population. As I have passed 
 through your streets I have witnessed no evidence of decay, 
 unless more splendid habitations, art galleries, lofty manufac- 
 tories and a degree of luxury unknown to your fathers is an 
 evidence of decline. There is a marvelous contrast with the 
 appearances of a half century ago, in the equipment for business 
 and for home dwelling. 
 
 I suppose if inquiries were carefully made, many of ypu 
 would be found to have followed Faxton and others, sending 
 out your surplus capital and expending your energies to de- 
 velope the resources of the continent. In early days I remem- 
 ber it was said of Samuel Stocking that he was the richest man 
 in the town, his fortune estimated at $40,000 ; that he pressed 
 his business at home to its capacity, built houses and stores and 
 had a surplus of capital and credit enough with Astor to de- 
 
i66 First Supper of the 
 
 velope the fur trade of the north west, thus adding to his own 
 and to tl^e town's prosperity. 
 
 A village certainly affords in many respects advantages for 
 individual discipline and growth — a closer contact of man with 
 man, or rather boy with boy, more equality of intercourse, 
 more activity by friction, life more transparent, interest for one 
 another increased by interaction, more sympathetic, and the 
 whole pride kept alive in and for the progress of its sons ; while 
 the city has perhaps greater advantages in presenting broader 
 views and smoothing off tendencies to provincialism. But I 
 am running into philosophy. 
 
 T hope that fifty years hence those who meet at this board 
 may have pride in the review of the intervening years, fully 
 equal to that you have to-night in the record of the past. 
 
 May peace, prosperity and happiness attend you and yours. 
 
 The Chairman said that benefit of clergy was a boon .ordinar- 
 ily called for at a late stage, but in the apparent healthiness of 
 this entertainment he would not regard the ministration as a 
 necessity, but would give the cloth the precedence to which it 
 was entitled by merit. He asked Rev. Dr. Corey to respond 
 for the clergy ; which the latter briefly complied with. 
 
 At the conclusion of his remarks, the Chairman said that 
 among the three learned professions, law, physic and divinity, 
 the legal, with characteristic audacity, put itself foremost. In 
 giving precedence to divinity, he had, no doubt, incurred severe 
 pains and penalties which he would suffer were he ever so weak 
 as to become enmeshed in the toils of litigation. But everyone 
 must take risks in the stern and faithful performance of duty. 
 Thpre could be something good said even of lawyers (by them- 
 selves) and he would ' call upon Mr. John D. Kernan, worthy 
 representative of the firm which is the lineal descendant and 
 residuary legatee of the fame of Spencer & Kernan, to plead in 
 mitigation for being retained here without a fee. 
 
 Mr. Kernan said : 
 
 I am exceedingly gratified, Mr. Chairman, on behalf of the 
 legal fraternity for your just recognition of the intimate rela- 
 tion that exists between theology and law, between clergymen 
 and lawyers ! Indeed lawyers have rather the advantage in 
 the comparison, because while our clerical friends " preach the 
 law," lawyers, as is well known, ■'■practice it." 
 
 It is the fashion of these semi-centennial days to picture the 
 wealth of intellect, the integrity and earne§tness of purpose, and 
 
Half Century Club. 16'/ 
 
 the great success of the lawyers of an early day in their forensic 
 struggles. I am not disposed to pursue the theme in that as- 
 pect. We lawyers of the present generation feel that in this 
 there is evident malice towards us, on the part of the seniors of 
 the profession, many of whom here present were partakers in 
 that early glory. To demonstrate how small we are, by pic- 
 turing how great they were, is to us damnum, though perhaps 
 absque injuria. 
 
 That branch of the subject to which I would briefly call your 
 attention would be properly entitled thus : 
 
 IN ANY COURT. 
 
 In the Matter 
 
 OP 
 
 Costs and Disbdrsembnts. 
 
 This important branch of legal practice has always been 
 much neglected by lawyers ! 
 
 The ancient lawyer, like unto us of the present day, lost in 
 anxiety for the success of his client, striving for fame and seek- 
 ing to gather in the approbation of his conscience rather than 
 pelf, often overlooked this little matter of costs and disburse- 
 ments. They came to him rather as votive offerings than as 
 exactions ! His mission was mainly benevolence ; the discour- 
 agement of litigation ; the calming of neighborhood passions ; 
 the untangling of limitless pleadings and decisis stare ! I ought 
 to state perhaps that I am presenting the professional view of 
 this question rather than the unanimous verdict of clients. 
 
 At an early day, when the client had reached red heat and 
 was determined to law his neighbor about a line fence through 
 a stump lot, he came to one of these distinguished ancient 
 practitioners from across the Deerfield hills, with his retainer 
 loaded on a bob-sled, in the shape of cord wood. As the suit 
 progressed he plied the lawyer with refreshers, such as dried 
 apples, butternuts, calf skins "and second-hand buggies. They 
 were all received and duly credited towards costs and disburse- 
 ments. The cellar and backyard of the lawyer, holding many 
 briefs, groaned with costs and disbursements paid in kind. At 
 the end of the litigation professional etiquette required the law- 
 yer to take the balance of the farm. I owe my own introduc- 
 tion to active practice in justice's court to a practitioner of the 
 early bar, Judge William H. Pratt. My first earnest effort was 
 in a calf suit at Dee'fleld Corners, as associate counsel with 
 Judge Pratt I plunged the jury into much law. Notwith- 
 standing my efforts to thus distract them from the merits, they 
 emerged under Judge Pratt's guidance with a verdict for our 
 side. I remember this suit particularly, because true to the 
 early traditions which there cling, the client paid entirely tn 
 kind ■ corn was the kind in that case— corn in the juice at 
 
1 68 First Supper of the 
 
 that ! T desire to- say to my own credit as a precocious collec- 
 tor that the Judge had great difficulty in obtaining his fair 
 share,. of the counsel 'fee. To dilate f.urther would be to en- 
 croach upon the; ;fiye-pinute rijle.' This opportunity to give 
 OfUtsiders a word . of "adyice free ought not -to be lost however. 
 The courts are open y. the lawyers are ready. Permit no tri- 
 fling' with your rights ! ;■ Stand, up like men and repel every 
 menace.' Take no law in your own hands, but take it at the 
 hands of. lawyers ! Be" Machiavelian in your policy, and in 
 peace prepare for war ! Let those not already engaged in liti-. 
 gation seek and retain lawyers that their lamps may be trim-, 
 med when the chance to litigate comes. My legal brethren 
 will recognize the millenium that lies concealed in this advice. 
 To trim a client before suit provokes pleasant sensations., 
 Allow me. sir, to say but a word in seriousness. In the begin-' 
 ning of this century Utica held Courts for the State. To her 
 Terms there came Hamilton, Burr, Hoffman, Talcott and the 
 distinguished lawyers of the country. Here their wit flashed 
 and their learning sowed seed, which -blossomed and ripened 
 into a generation of lawyers, who were very able as practitioners 
 and /irreproachable 'and profound as judges, who, as statesmen, 
 have made the name 'of' Utica a household' word in the land.^' 
 
 In proposing a toast to the medical profession, the Chairman 
 said that it- was not alone in his character of physician, but as 
 the' industrious historiographer of . Utica, that he would call 
 upon Dr. M. 'M. Bagg to respond. To Dr. Baggs patient, 
 painstaking research, which collected the facts, and his facile 
 pen, which embellished them with literary graces, we were in- 
 debted for a vivid picture, replete with graphic individualiz- 
 ations, and accurate presentments of the traits and peculiarities 
 of primitive Utica. 
 
 Dr. Bagg said : 
 
 I have been asked to speak of the formpr doctors of Utica. 
 There have been many of them. To speak of a few only 
 might be invidious ; to introduce them all, in the brief space 
 of time allotted me. would be but to give a mere catalogue of 
 names. Many of them I have elsewhere discoursed on. Be- 
 sides, I have observed that the laity have their partialities about 
 doctors ; they like well enough to hear about their own, but are 
 indifferent to the profession at large. The place where we are 
 seated suggests other themes on which I can be more unre- 
 stricted and less in danger of repeating myself. I prefer to re- 
 late a few incidents of which I am reminded by the house that 
 now harbors us. 
 
Half Century Club. i6g 
 
 Let us go back in imagination to the close of the last century 
 or the very beginning of this one, when the oldest semi-centen- 
 narian of us all was yet unborn, and picture to ourselves a 
 plain, two-storied, wooden building that stood on the corner of 
 the site of this one. It is a commonplace country tavern, as 
 humble in appearance and surroundings as any that can be 
 met with on a retired country road. Its landlord is a plain, 
 though intelligent and amiable man, of an accommodating tem- 
 per, fond of humor and. endowed with a fair share of sense and 
 shrewdness. Next to his house on the north there lived a 
 blacksmith, their grounds adjoining in the rear and separated 
 by a fence, which, if not of brush, was not much better in struc- 
 ture. This blacksmith was a good enough neighbor in the 
 main, but if he thought himself aggrieved disposed to make 
 trouble. Looking out in front, one, day, the landlord saw^ this 
 neighbor driving off, some swine which he knew were his own, 
 and whose place was in the rear of his yard. "Where are you 
 driving my hogs?" said he. " To the pound," was the answer. 
 " Oh ! no, neighbor Hobby, you wouldn't drive my hogs to the 
 pound, would you?" "They have been trespassing on my 
 grounds, and I mean they shall be shut up." " Leave them to 
 me and I will see that they trespass on you no more." " No ! 
 I mean they shall go to the pound." Finding persuasion use- 
 less, our landlord returned to the bar-room and hastily filling a 
 measure with oats or meal from a bin that was near at hand, he 
 reappeared outside, and giving the pigs a sniff of the appetizing 
 fodder, he soon coaxed them away from, the irate Hobby and 
 back into the cover of his own premises. The incident I 
 relate, not so much to characterize the men of whom it treats, 
 as because it reveals the simplicity of those early days, when 
 provender for beasts was kept in proximity with the barroOm, 
 when alongside of the tavern-keeper was a blacksmith, their 
 backyards being separated merely by a fence so frail that hogs 
 could make their way through it. Another fact in illustration 
 of the difference between the Bagg's Hotel of that day and this : 
 This landlord had a saddle-horse which he often let on livery, 
 and which was a general favorite with the villagers, by reason 
 of its sagacity and gentleness as well as its other good qualities 
 as a horse for riding. When the party hiring him came back 
 from his ride, he had only to turn the horse loose and it was 
 sure to find its way to the stable, for every one knew Saladin, 
 and no one would interfere with his movements. In sooth, 
 those we're primitive times in Utica, which incidents like these 
 best enable us to realize. 
 
 This wooden tavern stood until the beginning of the war of 
 .1812. So small was it that when the first Board of Canal 
 Commissioners visited the place in the course of their prelimin- 
 ary survey, in 1810, two of them, Messrs. Stephen Van Eens- 
 
//o First Supper of the 
 
 salaer and Goaverneur Morris, with their attendants, occupied 
 so much of the room that the rest, who arrived later by the 
 Mohawk, were forced to go, to the York House for quarters. 
 In 1812-15, Moses Bagg, Jr., who had succeeded his father in 
 1808, removed the wooden structure and put up on its site the- 
 corner portion of the present brick one. This he conducted 
 until 1825, when having prepared a home for his family on 
 Broad street, he rented the tavern for three years to Abraham 
 Shepard, of New London, Conn. Mr. Shepard was followed 
 by Alfred Churchill, of Otsego county, brother-in-law of Mr. 
 Bagg, who kept it in company with the latter until 1835, and 
 left it to manage a temperance house, newly built on the west 
 side of Genesee below Broad street, being succeeded, for a, 
 single year, in the hotel by a man named Ottey, from Canada. 
 A strip was ere this time added on the north. In 1836 the 
 hotel was sold to a company, of which Mr. Churchill was one, 
 — the purchase including also the Bleecker House, the large 
 structure adjoining on the north, built by one of the Bleecker 
 family of Albany, and opened by Eansom Curtiss. The din- 
 ing-room wing on the east having been added by this company, 
 the whole was now incorporated under the charge of Mr. 
 Churchill, who eventually bought out his associates and con- 
 tinued to run it until his death in 1865. His successors have 
 been in turn James A. Southworth, and since the fall of 18(39 
 Thomas E. Proctor, the present incumbent. Here then we 
 have a continuous series of landlords from the settler of 1794, 
 who welcomed guests, in the log-house wherein at first he dwelt, 
 and erected afterwards the scarcely less humble structure I 
 have above described, to the present proprietor of this and two 
 vast establishments beside. 
 
 So much for the keepers of the house. But what of the 
 kept ? What guests it has sheltered — how many and who — in 
 the course of its lengthened career, it were in vain to endeavor 
 to tell. Nearly all who, ere the days of the canal and the rail- 
 way, would make their way through Central New York, 
 whether moving by stage or by boats on the Mohawk, must 
 needs stop in Utica, and where so natural a place for refresh- 
 ment and sleep as the stage-house by the river. As the chief 
 resting-place onfthis great highway of intercourse, it must have 
 received and entertained not only the most of the tourists from 
 Europe and the eastern parts of our own country, but no small 
 portion of the frontier settlers of New York, Ohio, Illinois and 
 the neighboring States. It has entertained them on their jour- 
 ney outward, and it has entertained them on their business 
 trips to the metropolis. If other houses were good, this was 
 the most convenient one, an advantage it has held ever since, 
 despite the changed means of conveyance, while in comfort and 
 fare it was the equal of any. 
 
Half Century Club. ijr 
 
 _ These flying visitors of all ranks, professions and degrees of 
 distinction, I should essay in vain to enumerate, for though I 
 might name a few of the notable ones, very many of conse- 
 quence must of needs be forgotten. Some who have been 
 longer participants of the hospitalities of the house may be- 
 briefly alluded to, as the Commissioners who had in hand the 
 construction of the Erie Canal, and who often journeyed to and 
 fro in the course of their duties, the judges and lawyers of the 
 Supreme Court of the State, who were every year quartered 
 here for weeks at a time, and the old-time citizen-boarders. 
 
 Of one of these commissioners, the brilliant and versatile 
 Morris, we are told that he showed himself while here to be a 
 lover of good things to eat, and not only a lover but an adept 
 also in their making, and that more than once he has descend- 
 ed to the kitchen and instructed the cook in his method of pre- 
 paring some savory viand. In this, by the way, he rivalled the- 
 American Bonapartes, who, when they tarried a few days while 
 on their course to visit Le Eay de Chaumont, brought their 
 own cook along. The honey of Oneida Mr. Morris specially 
 prized, and ordered a hive every year for consumption at home. 
 
 The learned and stately bar of former times others remember- 
 better than I do. Indeed you have already b6en told of those 
 dignified processions from the hotel to the Court House, when 
 led by some such princely-bearing Sheriff as James S. Kip or 
 John E. Hinman, with drawn sword at his shoulder, there set 
 forth Judges Van Ness, Yates, Piatt or Thompson, or Nelson, 
 Bronson and Cowan, followed by Burr, Hoffman, Van Buren, 
 Oakley, Ogden, Williams, Wells, Henry, Storrs, Talcott or 
 others, awing all beholders by their august presence and the 
 gravity of their state and functions. These sights I have heard 
 of but do not recall, since during court sessions the children of 
 the household were condemned to Coventry, to bide with coun- 
 try cousins or friends. Tradition has told me of Aaron Burr 
 that he never slept without a lighted candle at his bedside, and 
 that once when, at 4 o'clock, his relay was exhausted, he ap- 
 peared below stairs in his night gown, in quest of another, and 
 startled the cook who was busy at pie-making. 
 
 Among the boarders of shorter or of longer continuance I 
 might speak of Dunlap and Inman, the painters, of the earlier and 
 the later Freeman ; of Col. Nelson and Major Barnum, U. S. 
 A., the latter the organizer of our Citizens' Corps, and of that 
 other captain so universally known as a shot that he had only 
 to raise his gun to an aim when the coon would cry out, "don't 
 shoot. Captain Scott, and I will come down;" of the courtly 
 Major Satterlee Clark, the Paymaster, and his polished wife, 
 who had a home in the house until they went to occupy the 
 Van Eenssalaer Mansion on the hill, and the contemporaneous 
 inmates, James H. Hackett, the merchant-actor, his wife, and 
 
I"/ 2 First Supper of the 
 
 Mrs. Sharpe, sister of the latter, and like Mrs. Clark, a skillful 
 pianist and singer, pending whose stay there was small lack of 
 music and of merriment to enliven the place ; of Col. Combe and' 
 wife and the accomplished family of James Lynch, domiciled 
 here while their subsequent homes were in preparation — Col. 
 Combe, officer of the first Napoleon, who returned to France 
 on the accession of Louis Phillippe and was killed at Perpig~ 
 nan at the head of his regiment, his wife the daughter of our 
 own Col. Benjamin Walker ; James Lynch, afterwards Judge 
 of the Marine Court of New York, and his daughters inter- 
 liriked with widely different circles ; of the Gray family; one of 
 whorn was married in the hotel to Alexander W. Bradford, of 
 N ew York ; of the Tiffanys, who something later, received 
 with courtesy, at Hamilton in Canada, the directors of the 
 Oneida Bank, drawn thither in pursuit of Harvey, the robber 
 of their funds ;. of the testy, fitful Charles Brodhead, the in- 
 telligent, well-bred William B. Welles, and the self-conserved, 
 soi-disant genteel Matthew Talcott, three long tenants of the 
 house ; of M. Vicat and Charles de Ferriere, true samples of 
 the old regime of France ; of the flighty Bainbridge, "nephew 
 of the commodore," and the ponderous Alvan Stewart, "borealis 
 lux" of the anti-slavery sentiment of the neighborhood ; of David' 
 Wager and Charles A. Mann ; of Cattell and Camp and Eoot!; 
 of Hart, Edmonds, Doolittle,' Keruan, Barret, Marsh, Butler 
 and the jolly fellows of more recent date. 
 
 The house has witnessed many birth.s, many deaths and no 
 small number of marriages. It stood sponsor at the christening 
 of Utica, and has noted its measured growth from a hamlet of 
 one or two hundreds to a rank with the first fifty cities of the 
 Union. It was the clustering point of its early business, the 
 trysting place of its news loving towns-folk, the scene of not a 
 few of its festive gatherings. A contemporary of the rough 
 boatmen of the Mohawk, it has seen the struggles of runners 
 for the packets and the stages ; it has heard, and -resounds;, to 
 this day with the battle cry of porters, besieging the outflow 
 from, the railroads. It welcomed, on its right hand, the first 
 locomotive from the east, on its left the electric wire that .joined 
 us more closely with the west, and again it rejoiced • with the 
 assemblage in the square when they met to triumph in the 
 newly-laid cable to Europe. It has been worked into a scene 
 of one of Miss Leslie's novels, and it was the study where the 
 eloquent Bethune penned a few of his youthful sermons. 
 Within it, was devised the first society to advance the agricul- 
 tural good of the county, and here are now held the weekly 
 sessions of the Board of Trade of Central New York. It aided 
 in the honors rendered to LaFayette and to Kossuth, to Clin- 
 ton and to Peters, to Webster and to Clay. It has been the 
 headquarters of multifarious conventions, and it has looked out 
 
Half Century Club. lyj 
 
 upon a variety of civic assemblies gatliered for purposes of pub- 
 lic interest or display. It has. in fact, a history hardly equalled 
 in length or exceeded in detail by any hotel in the country. 
 To pa^ng travellers it is all of tJtica the most of them know 
 of ; for ourselves, though but a point on om borders, it has a 
 claim to r^ard unsurpassed by any building in our midst. 
 Long may it continue to stand — ^to outsiders an attractive type 
 of the hospitality of the city, to citizens themselves a cherished 
 link between the present and the past ' 
 
 The chairman said that, while Uiica was renowned for 
 statesmen, politicians and men of affairs, and, indeed, gave 
 just cause for the popular complaint against a monopoly of 
 public honors, the city was indebted in a great measure for this 
 preeminence to the press, which no where had abler conductors. 
 He called upon an editor, who occupied a foremost place in the 
 profession of letters, Hon. Ellis- H. Boberts, to respond for the 
 press. 
 
 Mr. Roberts said : 
 
 These h:ilf century reminiscences make one feel old. It is 
 not so long ago when we all thought that a man of fifty ought 
 to be buying a coffin, and yet aU this circle of boys of half a 
 century look and act as though they had in them life enough 
 for twice as long a period of enjoyment in the future I may 
 as well confer that my connection with the press b^an just 
 about half a century ago. It must be about that date that I 
 was sent to the Lancastrian school on Catharine street, just 
 where our friend Delong's furniture store now is. The teacher 
 was Eliasaph Dorchester, who had been an edibjr of the Cofum- 
 hian Gasette, one of the sources of the present Utica Morning 
 Herald, as he was also the founder of the Utica Observer. He 
 was easv-going as a teacher then and afterwards, but occasion- 
 all v prsinks would arouse him to practical protest. Was it 
 prophetic that his ferule was applied with such vigor as to give 
 me my first serious introduction to the pre^ and to suggest as 
 Saxe teUs of, an irate mother : 
 
 - If the boy had been a, tnb. 
 She'd knocked the bottom out?"' 
 
 One of the pioneers in the newspaper enterprise in Utica, was 
 brought so earlv and emphatically into the sphere of my ex 
 perience. 
 
 I count it one of the determining influences of my life that I 
 was earlv taken into the office of William Williams, where my 
 brother was employed and where he was in the later years of 
 that establishment the foreman. My memory is very distinct 
 
I J 4 First Supper of the 
 
 that on more than one occasion, upon an imposing stone now 
 m my own office, T folded copies of the Elucidator. The 
 ■chronicles show that that journal ceased to exist in 1834, so 
 that my service must have been rendered before my seventh 
 year, and it was doubtless brief and perhaps incidental, al- 
 though it remains' as so vivid a memory with me. 
 
 When I began to frequent the (jffice of Mr. Williams the 
 traditions were fresh of S. Wells Williams, of North, of Samp- 
 son and of Webster, who had gone forth as missionaries, and 
 of Everest, of George S. Wilson, of Shepard, of Frederick S. 
 Winston, of Henry Ivison, and others, who had been connected 
 with the business in one capacity and another, and most of 
 them as printers or binders. They had left a halo about the 
 •old stands and cases which served for an inspiration to those 
 who came after ; they had left proof that a printer's apprentice 
 or clerk, or a book-binder, might rise to high service for 
 humanity, and might rival those of any class in the career of 
 usefulness. After such a brotherhood it was my good fortune 
 to be enrolled among those who became connected with the 
 printing-office of William Williams, and I was probably the 
 last person ever employed by him in his printing-office, for 
 part of my early labors were to assist as a little lad might do, 
 in closing up his affairs. 
 
 Into that office came in those early days Ira Merrell, then a 
 venerable man. full of instructive talk and skillful as a printer. 
 He had learned his trade with William McLean, who, in 1793, 
 started the Whitestown Gazette, origin of the present Utica 
 Morning Herald. Mr. Merrell had been himself a publisher, 
 and the typographic art in Utica owed much to him. Not in 
 that office, but revered in my boyhood, was Thomas Walker, 
 who, in 1799, started the Columhian Patriotic G'^aze^te in Eome, 
 and four years later removed it to Utica. To secure facilities 
 for circulating his paper to the northward, he organized post 
 routes into Lewis and Jefferson counties, and with such enter- 
 prise and rare intelligence he served his generation. Mr. ' 
 Walker was modest to a fault, was accurate and systematic and 
 successful in business, and full of public spirit. Many were 
 the kindly words which he addressed to me, as doubtless to 
 other lads within his circle. Courteous gentleman and worthy 
 ■citizen, the influence he exerted on the press and on the com- 
 munity was beneficent and beautiful. 
 
 Eufus Northway was an apprentice of Ira Merrell and had 
 learned his trade two years before I was born. To my memory 
 he rises as the equable, patient, plodding publisher of the 
 Oneida WAig, goaded by competition into starting the Uiica 
 Daily Gazette. He had the toil of journalism without many of 
 its rewards. A printer rather than an editor, something of a 
 politician' in his way, and too cautious to win prominence on a 
 
Half Century Club. ly^ 
 
 large field, perhaps he did as well as any one could the initial 
 work essential to successful daily journalism in Utica. 
 
 Dolphus Skinner was a notable figure here when we were 
 boys ; editor as well as clergyman, and a man of mark in any 
 capacity, as he proved often by stepping aside from both voca- 
 tions and winning laurels as a sound and convincing speaker 
 on the political rostrum. Nor could one fail to be impressed 
 with the courtly appearance and the impressive bearing of A. 
 M. Beebe, editor of the Baptist Begibier, printed by Bennett & 
 Bright. He was a type of scholarship and fidelity to his voca- 
 tion worthy to be studied in these days. Eev. Dr. Rudd, too, 
 although to me hardly more than the shadow of a name, we 
 all recall and connect him in some indefinite way with his 
 colored man, Harry, who still survives. Shining in the galaxy 
 of that period and shedding his rays down to almost the current 
 time, was that elegant gentleman whose mind was stored with 
 the lore of our history and with incidents of the politics and 
 politicians of the century, and with studies of affairs in all ages 
 and in all lands, whose spirit almost seems to hover about this 
 house in which we are assembled, Augustine Gr. Dauby. 
 
 It was a privilege to know even afar off such men as these, 
 and to enjoy personal acquaintance, as a young man may with 
 his seniors, with some at least of them. If he were not yet an 
 ornament in our community, and brilliant in an unfailing 
 youth, I would not fail to mention in this list William J. 
 Bacon, as early as 1824 an editor of the Sentinel, and then of 
 the Sentinel and Gazette. And although he does not know it, 
 until these words reach his ears, to him I am indebted for not a 
 little of the inspiration which turned my steps to a training 
 for editorial work and for life-service on the press. Now in 
 any gathering he would rival most of us in any competition 
 which would involve sprightliness and manly vigor, for all 
 scholarly accomplishments and social graces. 
 
 With such influences gathered about the press of Utica , my 
 fingers were taught to handle the types ; and one of my teachers 
 in the art preservative of all arts was that venerable gentleman, 
 whom you may see at yonder table, William, the Baron De 
 Britt, as with mingled affection and respect we learned to style 
 him in those far-gone days. Except my brief connection with 
 the MvMdator, my labors on the press may be dated from the 
 Democratic Rasp, a campaign paper printed by my brother in 
 1840, and edited in large part by General Eichard U. Sherman, 
 on which I set type, and served as the only carrier. In my 
 library is treasured a volume presented to me at the close of 
 the campaign for fidelity in the duties entrusted to me. 
 
 All of the dailies which Utica has ever possessed have had 
 their birth since I became connected with printing here, and 
 over the graves of those which have passed away, and their 
 
i'/6 First Supper of_ the 
 
 name is legion, the mourners have gone in and out within my 
 sight. 
 
 It is not my purpose to adopt Walt Whitman's verse : . 
 
 " I celebrate myself and sing myself. 
 And what I assume you shall assume, 
 For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you." 
 
 For I am impressed as I recall the days which have rolled, 
 away, of the admirable men who have shed honor on the press 
 of our city, every one a gentleman, pure, worthy, useful and 
 generous-hearted. Yet the connection which it has been my 
 good fortune to enjoy with those who in turn carry the, history 
 of our press to its beginning, is the burden of my thoughts to- 
 night. Who will say that half a century hence any one will 
 have as much occasion to boast of the men who are in the fore- 
 front to-day? We are celebrating the anniversary of our city,' 
 and joy and hilarity become the occasion. But reminiscences 
 always have a sad side to them. I could recall those who have 
 been our companions and have joined the silent majority. Their 
 services and character justify me in saying here, not for- the 
 men of to-day, but for tlaose who are no longer among us, that 
 the press of Utica has in all times been worthy of the intelli- 
 gent and progressive population whom it has addressed, and has 
 produced characters who- have honored the'ir home and their 
 vocation. I - speak not only for those who have wielded the 
 pen, but for those no less worthy who have from the case and 
 the press gone forth to wider and more influential cai'eers, and 
 have adorned scholarship and religion in other continents and 
 conferred lasting blessings on those who have come within the 
 sphere of their influence. 
 
 But I fear I am taking advantage of the privilege of an old 
 man, and growing garrulous, although neither you nor I, Mr. 
 Chairman, feel a day older than when we used to play mumble 
 the peg, down in Cooper's woods in intervals of swimming, and 
 whenever a circus came to town, tried to rival the acrobats in 
 throwing handsprings and risking somersaults wherever we 
 could find a haymow or a soft bit of ground. So I commend 
 you again to Walt Whitman, with his boast, fitting doubtless 
 for the master of ceremonies in a celebration like this : 
 
 " I loafe and invite my soul." 
 
 At the symposium, last night, the Chairman said, Mr. Burt 
 was fortunately interrupted by the Procrustean hammer of 
 Judge^Bacon, enforcing the ten-minute rule, or he might have 
 convinced his hearers of the commercial supremacy of Oswego, 
 a harbor on Lake Ontario, over Utica, which is a port of entry 
 on the Erie canal. Perhaps the Hon. W. B. Camp, a descend-' 
 ant of one of the old Utica families, may excite our envy, an'd* 
 
Half Century Club. ly^ 
 
 possibly our patriotic incredulity, by dilating upon the merits 
 of Sacketts Harbor. 
 
 Mr. Camp said : 
 
 After the complimentary introduction, and the liberty gratu- 
 itously accorded me by your distinguished Chairman, I feel 
 justified in speaking a word in honor of the village of my adop- 
 tion. 
 
 No detractions of Utica are in order, or possible. Strained 
 comparisons here would be odious. This feast would cease to 
 be appetizing if the spicy reminiscences of her victories were 
 not added to give flavor — as it does cloyless satisfaction — to 
 our enjoyment. Names mentioned here come to me like the 
 sweet influences of an opening season, after a long winter — an 
 odor ever fresh and pure. They carry me back to childhood 
 hours, when the nursery tale presented some one of them as a 
 model for emulation ; or a tuneful melody, with song or hymn 
 to bless a night's repose, brought a worthy exemplar to mind 
 and heart. I am not alone ; Utica's impress is diffused in dis- 
 tinctive strain of generous blood over our own and distant 
 lands. Her sons to-night, everywhere, are happy in their 
 mother's arms. 
 
 For Sacketts Harbor I will say, you and the world at large 
 are indebted to her for the discovery of chloroform, and no one 
 agent has been so potent as a mitigator of human suffering. In 
 1831, Dr. Samuel Guthrie reported his discovery, as you find 
 by reference to Silliman's Journal, and the U. S. Dispensatory. 
 Soubeirin and Liebig are accredited as discoverers also, in 1833 ; 
 but our distinguished townsman, — we. proudly claim him, — is 
 entitled to full and first recognition above the eminent names 
 mentioned Strange it seems, no fitting monufnent commemo- 
 rates the event, or that a should-be grateful people have for- 
 gotten the man. 
 
 Dr. Gruthrie is also entitled to distinction as the inventor of 
 percussion powder, and the lock for the explosion of firearms. 
 While we were indifferent to its adoption. Prance took the 
 hint, and sent to this country three barrels of metallic caps for 
 him to charge, rightly thinking a tube to hold a cap in some 
 respects preferable to the exposed chamber, for the "punch" 
 and pellet of powder. To repay them for their appreciation of 
 his invention, he not only gave them the formula for making 
 his powder, but described a method by which to load the caps. 
 The effect of this last invention has been to change the whole 
 manner and mode of warfare among civilized nations, and gives 
 the sportsman a perfected weapon to pursue the enjoyments of 
 the field. Cast your sight back to the days of fuse and flint, 
 
I"/ 8 First Supper of the 
 
 and see how insignificant and uncertain were the then superior 
 engines of aggression and defence. 
 
 Suspended from my wall, a cherished relic, hangs the old 
 ancestral fowling gun — a rare piece of workmanship, with orna- 
 ments of silver, ivory and brass of manifold windings. With 
 this our venerated grand-parent often sought some favorite 
 spot on the Mohawk in pursuit of game, and to relieve himself 
 from the onerous duties of office. When the pigeon came with 
 the gi:een leaf, and the wild fowl with the russet, there was no 
 place like Genesee street bridge to fill a hunter's bag. This, 
 too, could be accomplished without derangement of his accus- 
 tomed dress, in ruffled shirt, knee breeches, and silver-buckle 
 shoe. If any gentlemen present doubt the bridge a good 
 place for ducks, I advise them to seek the old haunt while now 
 the morning hour approaches, " lay low," and await results. 
 
 Archaeologists and ethnologists place man in successive steps 
 among the ages, formulating . them, — old stone, new stone, 
 bronze and iron ages. It gives me pleasure to night to add 
 two more to the list, and shall call them flint-lock and cap-lock. 
 Last night we celebrated the former; to-night the cap, — both 
 loyally and royally. 
 
 The firm of Puck and Morse girdle the earth to-night with 
 messages greeting our friends who would gladly participate in 
 our festive celebration. Before morning the telephone may be 
 perfected, allowing us to say to them, audibly, as we close this 
 happy and long-to-be-remembered occasion : "Good day to you 
 — good by to you !" 
 
 With this sentiment I leave you : May the virtues of the 
 flint lock age be engrafted on the cap ; if calamities or trials 
 assail us, individually or as a nation, may we imitate their cour- 
 age, "peck flint and try again." 
 
 The Chairman said that Mr. Camp had forcibly advanced the 
 claim of Sackeits Harbor to two inventions, one of which 
 accelerates the infliction of pain, and the other alleviates it, 
 but, deterred no doubt by his warning, no allusion had been 
 made to trade and commerce and its necessary adjunct, bank- 
 ing, without which it would be impossible to conduct business 
 of modern magnitude ; banks being the adjusters and regula- 
 tors of values in business. The reputation of Utica in this 
 connection was well established on a sound basis. He desired 
 to preface the next toast with an anecdote. 
 
 Some forty or fifty years ago, his father, the late M. McQuade, 
 was collector of the city taxes. It might be remarked paren- 
 thetically, as evidence of the simplicity of the times, that i,t 
 was his habit to place all the moneys received after banking 
 
Ha^f Century Club. ryg 
 
 hours in the drawer of a wooden desk in Plafct & Pease's ware- 
 house, at the Catharine streep slip, for safe keeping during the 
 night. Some legal question had arisen regarding the validity 
 of an assessment upon the Bank of Utiea, and when the col- 
 lector called to receive the tax, payment was refused by the 
 cashier, Mr. Welles. The collector informed the cashier that 
 he would be compelled by the instruction of his warrant to 
 levy on sufficient personal property to satisfy the tax, and, as 
 the most convenient form of personal property was the " porta- 
 ble," he would levy on cash. In order to evade the seizure, 
 the cashier caused all the money to be placed in the vault and 
 locked the door. Mr. McQuade made a formal demand for 
 access to the vault, in the discharge of his duty to distrain, and 
 being refused, left the office, saying that he would return with 
 a key. Shortly afterwards he reappeared, accompanied by the 
 late Harry Bushnell, armed with sledges, chisels and the formi- 
 dable tools of his trade. . The cashier was informed that unless 
 the tax was paid, forcible entry would be effected, and a levy 
 -made on the cash ; whereupon, after sundry negotiations, the 
 cashier surrendered at discretion to the collector and payment 
 was satisfactorily arranged. 
 
 This was the first attempt made by Mr. McQuade to break a 
 TDank literally, although he made many indirect essays in the 
 same direction by indiscriminate and injudicious endorsement 
 of promissory notes. The late Briggs W. Thomas, for a long 
 -time notary public of the Oneida Bank, used to say, occasion- 
 ally, " this is one of mj off -days ; I have no notice of protest 
 -to serve on Michael McQuade." 
 
 Having thus referred to an effort to break a bank, the Chair- 
 man would call uppn a gentleman who has aided, by long- 
 continued, capable service (making him the senior bank officer 
 of Utica) to build up the staunch financial institutions of the 
 city. He asked Mr. Robert S. Williams to respond for the 
 bankers. 
 
 Mr. Williams said : 
 
 When the early settlers of that beautiful valley first saw the 
 Sauquoit creek, wasting all its energies madly bounding over 
 its rocky bed, fed as it was by the innumerable small streams 
 and rivulets flowing down from every hillside, not one of which 
 alone possessed any special power, they at once foresaw that the 
 
i8o First Supper of the 
 
 waters of this stream possess a reserve force when aggregated 
 and applied by the use of proper dams, which would make that 
 valley a garden of industry and enterprise, cheered by the hum 
 of wheels, spindles, and 'forges that would give to their suc- 
 cessors a wealth of prosperity which would insure them a good 
 name abroad and a paradise of beauty at home. So the 
 founders of the banking institutions of this city, by gathering 
 up the small surplus savings from the early comers to the place, 
 soon gained sums sufficient to form the capital of the Bank of 
 Utica, which was chartered in 1812, of which institution the 
 present First National Bank is the lineal descendant. This 
 "was in due time followed by organization of the Ontario Branch 
 Bank, in 1815, and in 1836 the Oneida Bank, which was the 
 last bank ever chartered by the legislature of the State of New 
 York. And from these small beginnings of aggregated 
 capital have gradually grown some of the most substantial as 
 well as the most prosperous financial institutions of the State 
 and the country ; and to whose kindly aid is due the success 
 of many business and manufacturing enterprises which have 
 their home in Central New York and of which we are so justly 
 proud. 
 
 But I will not take up your time, Mr. Chairman, with this 
 detail, but rather will I refer to the banks of fifty years and 
 more ago and their ways of doing business. There were no 
 express companies in those days, and the transportation of 
 bank notes and coin was a considerable problem, and all sorts 
 of methods were resorted to in order to carry money from one 
 place to another. I have often heard my step-mother, who was 
 the daughter of the late Henry Huntington, for many years 
 president of the Bank of Utica, relate this circumstance : She 
 was returning to Eonie from a visit to New England, and was 
 about to take a sloop for Albany,, and just before leaving her 
 friends in New York, her uncle carelessly threw a small bundle 
 in her lap, simply saying " take that to your father from me." 
 She put the package in her carpet bag and scarcely thought of 
 it again till she reached home nearly two weeks after, (for the 
 trip by sloop to Albany and stage to Eome was not then made 
 in a day,) when her father asked her, on the evening of her 
 arrival, " Did your uncle Havens send anything for me ?" She 
 produced the package which contained $35,000 in bank notes. 
 
 Another method was to cut the large bills in two pieces and 
 send them each piece by a different mail, and when both arrived 
 at the proper destination to paste them together again. In 
 those days too, " circulation " (which then cost only the printing) 
 was the great source of profit to a bank, when deposits were 
 usually small; bank bills were often marked and punched 
 with small holes, to test the sincerity of the borrowers to whom 
 loans were made on condition of giving '■'■first rate drcvlatiori, " 
 
Half Century Club. i8i 
 
 to the notes of the lending bank. It may not be known to 
 many here that the brick building on the south side of Catha- 
 rine street, near the canal bridge, was once occupied for bank 
 note engraving, and that there were printed the notes for the 
 Bank of Utica, Ontario Branch Bank, and many other interior 
 banks. I can remember, as a child, seeing these" sheets of bank 
 notes brought to my father's house, now the residence of 
 Merritt Peckham, and there trimmed before being signed by 
 the bank officers and issued for circulation. To contrast the 
 methods of fifty years ago with our own, both as to security 
 and stability ; we have seen during the past few months the 
 erection of the elegant vaults and safes for the First National 
 Bank, the cost and safety of which far exceed that of all the 
 banks m the place fifty years ago. When the Oneida Bank 
 was reorganized as a National bank, in 1865, I put in a new 
 " Herring's safe," and thinking to utilize the old safe for storing 
 vouchers and papers, which safe formerly belonged to the Utica 
 branch of the old tfnited States Bank, and had been in con- 
 stant use for forty years or more, a safe formidable only in ap- 
 pearance, thickly studded with huge headed nails and double 
 bands of (sheet) iron, I carefully locked the safe door and told 
 the porters to swing it around to one side of the vault; the 
 two men took good hold of the door handle and pulled with 
 all their might ; the massive door flew open and landed both 
 men flat on their backs. When I came carefully to examine 
 the door I found that the bolts struck against the jamb, and 
 that the door of that safe had never been really locked during 
 the forty years of its service. We took it out, broke it up, and 
 found that this formidable looking safe was made of rotten oak 
 plank steeped in muriatic acid and bound with one eighth 
 Eussia band iron, so that all its safety was in appearances. 
 
 I wish, Mr. Chairman, that your time or my ability would 
 admit the proper recital of the personnel of the men of those 
 early days, of their character and energies. They were Just 
 passing oflf the stage of active business life when I began as 
 clerk in one of the banks, thirty years ago. Such names as 
 Alfred Munson, a synonym of successful enterprise in every 
 avenue of business, for many years president of the Oneida 
 Bank, and to whose indomitable energy and activity Utica 
 owes much of her manufacturing success ; Charles A. Mann, 
 his successor as president, the worthy associate and helper in 
 many of his enterprises, a man of rare virtues, the best of 
 advisers and the warm friend of every one who needed his aid. 
 
 A little incident comes to my mind connected with Mr. 
 Mann, showing how impossible it is for one to get beyond 
 Utica or Oneida county men. We were traveling in the sum- 
 mer of 1859 in the upper Lake Superior region in quest of 
 health and recreation. Landing from a steamboat after -mid- 
 
i82 First Supper of the 
 
 night, we rodo througb tlio hmoly woods for nom'ly an lionr, 
 when wo iirHvod iit ihu Biriiill liivnni luul rousod up "iiiiiio 
 host," Mr. Mann romiu'kod, "I, think W(-i hnvo nlioiit roac.iiud, 
 the uiul ot cvoation ; no ono lioro probubly ovor liQfii'd of 
 lltica." Thu landlord linaJly n|)|i(-'ii,ral with h IB LaHow dip and. 
 we registered our nanios and reipioHtod rooms; tho man loolcud 
 at thenamoa anddrawlod out, "(IharicH A. Mann, lltim, N. V. 
 Why," Haid ho, looking; np, "didn't lio mM,rry Mohoh Bngg's 
 daug'hiur? T usod to livo in Onoida, co'atd,y." Mr. Mann 
 iauglied, and said, '' .1 ts no iwo, I. givo it up; Onoida county 
 men aro known ovorywlioro — and tlio Hun nevor uonHOH toHhirio 
 upon thorn." 
 
 Augustine Q-. Dauby, was from itHoi'garuzation tohis doalJi a 
 director oi! the Oneida Hank, a man wIioho natural ])olitene»s 
 of maniioi' always w(»n I'rietals, and wIioho eordialil^y a.iid Icind- 
 nosH towards " batdc olerkH" made him tlie model dir(!etor. My 
 time will not admit of more than to n imo Tliorrum II. Tlubbard, 
 Samuel Stocking, Bryan JohriHon, iJavid Wager, Hi)a» l). 
 Clnlds, a noblo man, one who was nover known l,o Hpouk ill of 
 any ono, Naaman W. Moore, Martin Hart, -Tohn Oamp, Alex. 
 B. JohnHon, Bleooker V>. JjanHing and many others, bul, ther(! is 
 one man that my alleetion will rujt allow me to omit, a, man. 
 that I love to honor with a tribute of my poor praise, for liin 
 more tbati twenty years of unbroken, ehoerful kindness to me. 
 James Sayre was a director in the United SLates liranch Ha,rdv, 
 theOrd;ario, and for over thirty-five years in tlm Oneida, .Baid<, 
 of which ho had been tlie president for severd.eeri years at tho 
 time of his death. With a heart full of sympatliy and tender 
 as a woman's, he felt \m first duty was to the interest of the 
 bank, iand for that ho earnestly sought; and if ever his sym- 
 pathy got the better of his judgment he always orrod on tlio 
 right side. By a long life of oeonomy, careful, honost indus- 
 try, he amassed a large fortune, but tho ri'thest, nobhist 
 heritage lie left to his children, was his spotleiB re[)utation and 
 his unsullied honor. 
 
 But, Mr. Chairman, I liavo taken up too much of your time. 
 I am glad of this celebration and congratulate the founders of 
 this Half Century Club — it makes us the connecting lird< that 
 binds tlic past to tlie future, it stimulates us all to higlair and 
 nobler aspirations for good. As we call to mind and admire 
 the virtues. of the men <jf fifty years ago, so (nay wc ho[)e to 
 emulate their goodness, and hand down to those who shall be 
 rricmbers of this elub li fty years hence, no dishonored heritage of 
 worthless work, but profiting by their exam[)lo, encouragc,d and- 
 stimulatcd by their success, when the Ocnt«nnial Anniversary 
 of this city charter comes to be celebrated, may our names Ij© 
 'surrounded by a bright<ir halo of su<«e»»s, and we then be re- 
 membered for the good we have done, while we were upon thb 
 
Half Century Club. i8j 
 
 active stage of life, in endeavoring to make this lovely city of 
 our birth the most desirable spot on earth in which to live, as 
 well as to be the most beautiful place on earth in which to die. 
 
 Undoubtedly, said the Chairman, the claim of Boston to be 
 regarded as the "hub" was generally acknowledged by the 
 ignorant world outside of Utica, but Uticans knew that their 
 city was the veritable, only genuine Hub. ISTo argument could 
 convince them to the contrary ; still, in a spirit of hospitality, 
 an opportunity would be afforded Mr. John C. Hoadley, of 
 Boston, formerly a resident of Utica, to advocate the claim of 
 his present home, if he so desired. It was probable, however, 
 in view of the manifest futility of any effort to that end, how- 
 soever eloquent, that be might be loath to engage in a task of 
 whicb absolute failure might be predicated at the outset. The 
 Chairman felt assured that Mr. Hoadley would not make the 
 fruitless essay, but would renounce allegiance to Boston and 
 return to his first love. 
 
 On revient ioujours d nos premiers araours. 
 
 Mr. Hoadley rose, and without noticing, perhaps 
 without having heard, the form of the President's in- 
 troduction, spoke as follows : 
 
 Mr. President and Gentlemen: The hour admonishes me to 
 be brief, and I certainly will not detain you long. Our Boston 
 poet, the genial Doctor Oliver Wendell Holmes, exclaims in a 
 manner to challenge contradiction : 
 
 "0 ! what are the trophies we perish to win 
 To the first little shiner we caught with a pin ?" 
 
 If this be true, and who can doubt it? — then the supreme re- 
 ward of earthly endeavor came to me under the shadow of 
 Whitesboro street bridge, out of the limpid waters of Nail 
 creek. Times are changed since then. I don't suppose that 
 boys catch shiners in Nail creek now — perhaps there are no 
 shiners there — perhaps no boys ! But life, fortunately has other 
 prizes. If we can't always go a-fishing — and we can't, certainly, 
 always be catching our "first little shiner," — there are other 
 rewards, some of them inferior only in that they are not the 
 first. One such I recall in the generous, whole-hearted kind- 
 ness of Holmes Hutchinson. Tell me not of common gener- 
 osity ! No man ever gave as he ga\re. He gave more than all 
 that he had, he gave all that he was,— he gave his friendship. 
 
184 First Supper of the 
 
 — he gave himself ! It was one of life's best prizes that he 
 patted, me on the shoulder, a boy of fifteen, me, a stranger, 
 with no claim to his notice, asked my name, gained my heart 
 by his cheerful smile and his pleasant words, took me into his 
 house, — into his library, — offered me books to read, and told 
 me to come as often as I liked to bring them back and get 
 others. He left the choice to me. He didn't say: "Here, 
 now, is a good book, read it, 't will do you good ; and when 
 you have read it, bring it back and T will give you another." 
 Had he said this, or something like it, I dare say I should not 
 have read his books, and I am certain they would have done 
 me little good if I had read them. No; he said : "'Take what 
 you like, read it if you like it, and bring it back and get more." 
 And I did. About once a week I washed myself very clean, 
 dressed myself carefully in my best clothes, and went to his 
 pleasant house on Chancellor square, where I was always ad- 
 mitted at once to the library and left there by myself, returned 
 the book I had brought back, uninjured, to its place, and after 
 rummaging for half an hour or more took away another. I 
 used to read the Penny Magazine ; and long years afterward, 
 when, as I was climbing a short, broad flight of stone steps at 
 the British Museum, a liveried attendant approached me with 
 the bow and smile which I had learned to interpret as the lively 
 expectation of a shilling, and said : — " If you please, sir, the 
 Portland vase is in a private room, just here. It is not com- 
 monly shown, but intelligent gentlemen like yourself are much 
 interested in it, and are quite welcome to examine it." I re- 
 called at once the account of the Portland vase which I had 
 read in the Penny Magazine : how it was found as fresh as if 
 just fresh from the artist's hands in a tomb in Etruria, how it 
 was bought by the Duke of Portland for £1500, and deposited 
 in the British Museum ; how a madman dashed it upon the 
 marble floor and shattered it into thousands of fragments ; how 
 its pieces were carefully gathered up, sorted out under a micro- 
 scope, spread out on a sheet of paper, drawn and engraved, and 
 then all put together again so that it shows traces of the disas- 
 ter only on close inspection ; and how it has sinqe been kept 
 locked up from public view. All this came back to me in an 
 instant, and as I looked with curiosity and interest at this 
 beautiful relic of a remote antiquity, I blessed the memory of 
 Holmes Hutchinson for his Penny Magazine. Again, beneath 
 the same roof, when I came across the famed Eosetta Stone, I 
 remembered that its tri-lingual inscription, in archaic Greek, in 
 Coptic and in sacred hieroglyphics, had proved a key to un- 
 lock the mysterious inscriptions on the tombs and temples of 
 Egypt, closed for four thousand years ; and when I recalled 
 the description of this stone in the Penny Magazine, I once 
 more blessed the memory of Holmes Hutchinson. And I read 
 
Half Century Club. 185 
 
 many other books from his library, and no reading of my life 
 has been more profitable Or better remembered. 
 
 Well, the time came when he said to me one day : — "Hoad- 
 ley, you'd better go to school this winter." Now I didn't like 
 to ask my over-burdened father, with seven children, of whom 
 I was the oldest, — and all the rest girls, — for time and money, 
 ix)o ; so on getting joyful permission to go if I would pay my 
 own tuition, 1 made a bargain with the officials of the tltica 
 Academy to supply them with some much needed black-boards 
 for a term's tuition. I made the black-boards — and I trust 
 they were good, honest black-boards— and attended the winter 
 term of 1835-6 at the Utica Academy, under Professor Pren- 
 tice, whom I learned to love very much, and his assistant, Wil- 
 liam W. Williams, than whom no better teacher in his favorite 
 branches of the mathematics ever lived ; — and pursued a spe- 
 cial course of study, embracing algebra, geometry, surveying, 
 and a little Latin. Mr. Hutchinson continued to encourage me 
 with his friendly interest, and to ask me to come and see him ; 
 and one morning in the spring — and it was the first day of 
 May 1836, — as I was about to enter his office in Bleecker street, 
 just as he, with others, was coming out, he placed a tape-line 
 in my hand and said : — "Come, young man, come with us !" 
 And this was the beginning of nine years constant occupation, 
 and the decisive event as to my whole course of life. 
 
 And there were other prizes, — the stimulating and encour- 
 aging words of many men and many noble women, whose 
 memory is dear to me. 
 
 One among many, I will mention, — General Spinner. Fran- 
 cis E. Spinner, best known in those days as Frank Spinner, 
 was one of several sons of the venerable Dominie Spinner, of 
 Herkimer, whom I well remember, with his flowing, silvery 
 locks and beard, at a time when full white beards were less 
 common than I see them around me now. He was said to ' be 
 a ripe classical scholar, but so little confidence had he in schol- 
 arship as an aid to a useful and happy life, that he denied it to 
 his sons, and brought them up to be plain farmers. But Frank 
 Spinner was not contented with this out-look. He descried a 
 larger horizon and sought for wider fields of usefulness. Mr. 
 Clarke, the "father of your eloquent and honored guest, had 
 drawn a plan, or set of plans of a lunatic hospital to be built at 
 Utica, his plans had been approved by the Governor, and the 
 work had been begun under his supervision as the acting mem- 
 ber of a Board of Commissioners ; and I had been detailed by 
 the Chief Engineer, with the consent of the Canal Commis- 
 sioner, as by statute provided, to furnish all needful engineering 
 assistance, surveying, leveling, measuring quantities of excava- 
 tion and brick and stone masonry, and instrumental work of 
 all kinds ; and when, a little later, a new Board of Commis- 
 
1 86 First Supper of the 
 
 sioners was appointed, and Mr. Spinner became tHe acting 
 Commissioner, I, continuing to do the same duties as before, 
 became very well acquainted with him, and formed for him a 
 friendship which I have delighted to keep up. We were both 
 young, — he a little the older, it is true,— but as there is equality 
 among gentlemen, so between those who can still claim the 
 glorious heritage of youth, there is equality of youthfulness 
 despite some disparity of years; and we loved to confide to 
 eaqh other our plans, our hopes, our expectations. We were 
 soon widely separated, and met but rarely, but I always loved, 
 when in Washington during his long residence there, to call on 
 him and revive old and pleasant associations. 
 
 And there were others — but I fear I have already gone to 
 the extreme limit of my promise on rising, and perhaps already 
 tasked your patience, and close with the assurance that all my 
 memories of ITtica are pleasant memories, and that not among 
 the least agreeable or the least enduring, will be the memory 
 of your kindness and courtesy. 
 
 THE OFFICERS. 
 
 Here the proceedings were interrupted for tlie pur- 
 pose of electing officers of the Half Century Club, as 
 provided at the meeting of February 25, 1882. 
 
 The following named gentlemen were duly elected : 
 
 Prm&w<— Colonel Egbert Bagg. 
 
 Vice Presidents — John G. Brown, Chas. H. Sayre, General 
 James McQuade. 
 
 Secretary and Treasurer — Eugene Stearns. 
 
 Executive C'ommiHee — Benjamin Allen, B. F. Davies, Isaac 
 Whiffen, N. A. White, John E. Seymour, Harvey Barnard, 
 W. B. Taylor. 
 
 Historical Committee. — Alex. Seward, DeWitt C. Grove, 
 Ellis H. Eoberts, Erastus Clark, R. U. Sherman, M. M. Bagg, 
 T. R. McQuade. 
 
 Prof, A. McMillan, Superintendent of Public 
 Schools, being called upon to speak in behalf of the 
 institutions entrusted to his wise and faithful guidance, 
 discoursed as follows : 
 
Half Century Club. i8j 
 
 Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen: — I feel it an honor to be 
 called upon to respond to the sentiment " Our Public Schools," 
 yet at this late hour you will hardly expect me to make any 
 extended remarks. I will simply give a few statistics, enough 
 for a general comparison of the schools of the city as they ex- 
 isted tifty years ago with the schools of to-day.' Fifty years 
 ago there was only one common school in Utica. This school 
 was established in 1816, the village of Utica being at that time 
 a part of Whitestown ; the school house was located in Cath- 
 arine street at the head of Franklin street. The teachers were 
 Eliasaph Dorchester, principal, and Susan Wright assistant. In 
 1831, a school district was established in the eastern partof the 
 city, .the house to be located at the corner of Minden and East 
 streets, but the school was not opened for the reception of pupils 
 until the winter term of 1832. Hence there was, as before 
 stated, but one public school in operation fifty years ago to- 
 night. The number of common schools continued to increase 
 as the population of the city increased, under the old school dis- 
 trict system, until 1842, when an act was passed by the Legisla- 
 ture placing the schools of the city under the control of a 
 Board of School Commissioners. This system has been in ex- 
 istence since that date. The names of the first Commissioners 
 elected under this act were Rudolph Snyder. Spencer Kellogg, 
 Hiram Denio, Robert T. Hallock, Francis Kernan and James 
 Watson Williams. 
 
 At this date the number of schools had increased to twelve. 
 Many of these, however,. were infant schools, conducted in 
 rented rooms, there being only two school houses owned en- 
 tirely by the city — one located in Columbia street and the 
 other corner of Bridge and Bleecker streets. To show that the 
 school ofiicers of that date were not extravagant in the matter 
 of school furniture I will give a verbatim statement of personal 
 property belonging to the City in one of the schools as found in 
 the first inventory taken by the newly-elected School Commis- 
 sioners, in 1843 : 
 
 1 stove and pipe % 3 00 
 
 4 school desks, 8s 4 00 
 
 1 table 38., one chair Is 50 
 
 5 National readers 4d 20 
 
 1 blackboard 13s., 3 brooms, 8d 1 66 
 
 1 pail Is. 6d., 1 cup 6d 35 
 
 1 pair shovel and tongs 68 75 
 
 6 Emerson's arithmetics 6d., 6 testaments 6d 73 
 
 Total $11 08 
 
 The total amount of all school property owned by the city in 
 1843 was $3,169.50. The amount now is $708,570.82. The 
 number of pupils enrolled in 1832 was 2C0 ; in 1843, 1,100 ; 
 and in 1882, 5,318. The amount of money received from the 
 
i88 First Supper of the 
 
 State the past year for the support of our schools was $20,587.57 
 as against $689.88 in 1832. 
 
 Had I time I might give a detailed statement of the yearly 
 growth of our excellent system of public schools. Enough has 
 been stated, however, to show that this important factor in the 
 growth and prosperity of our city has kept well abreast with 
 the other institutions that have done so much towards giving 
 Utica the high standing she has taken among the cities of the 
 country, for the enterprise, culture and refinement of her citi- 
 zens. 
 
 While I am not "to the manor born," yet as an adopted citi- 
 zen I feel proud of the good name Utica now bears in regard to 
 the moral and intellectual culture of her citizens. 
 
 Twfenty-five years ago I came to this city a stranger and the 
 hoys of the Advanced School " took me in," and we have lived 
 together in harmony during a quarter of a century, ever striv- 
 ing for our mutual benefit and for the welfare and advance- 
 ment of all enterprises that would tend to the prosperity of our 
 beautiful city. 
 
 While listening, as I have with pleasure during, the past 
 twenty-four hours to the laudation of the fifty-year-old boys, I 
 cannot refrain from giving the boys of to-day credit for possess- 
 ing quite as much talent and culture. In fact we claim that 
 the boys of to-day are and ought to be, with the higher privi- 
 leges they have, far superior to the boys of fifty years ago, in 
 all those acquirements that fit them for making not only their 
 native city, but the world at large, the better for their having 
 lived in it. We have only to look around us and we will find 
 young men, late graduates from our public schools, holding 
 prominent positions in all departments of industry — busy ail — 
 in the work.shop, in literature, in the professions ; ever active, 
 working their way to eminence, often against strong competi- 
 tion, yet with a preparation for their work and a will that war- 
 rant success. 
 
 While a few isolated cases of marked success have been men- 
 tioned among those who were educated fifty years ago, a much 
 larger number of the boys of to-day can point with equal pride 
 to their attainments in all departments of life, and yet you must 
 remember we are still in our infancy compared with the fifty 
 year-old gentlemen I see before me. 
 
 Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, we cordially invite you to 
 meet with us at this same Bagg's Tavern fifty years from to- 
 night, and we will astonish you with the wonderful stories we 
 shall be sure to relate, concerning the transactions of our half- 
 century of endeavor and achievement. 
 
 The Chairman called upon Hon. A. T. Goodwin to speak to 
 any topic that might suggest itself, the- regular list of toasts 
 
Half Century Club. i8g 
 
 being exhausted. Mr. Groodwin would be allowed the largest 
 liberty incident to the late hour, compatible with the gravity of 
 the occasion and a strict construction of the Constitution. Al- 
 though not a native of tTtica, and, unfortunately, some years 
 behind the venerable stage of the semi-centenarian, which 
 would render him eligible to membership in the Half-Century 
 Club, he was free of the guild by adoption, as a member of the 
 family of the late David Wager, first City Attorney. The 
 Chairman had not suggested a toast for Mr. Goodwin's response, 
 as his ready eloquence could not fail to adorn any subject 
 which he might be pleased to select. 
 
 Mr. Goodwin spoke, as follows : 
 
 Mr. Chairman: — The hour is late. Already the clock has 
 struck two, and still we linger, talking of playmates and com- 
 panions ; of the days of childhood, and of the old familiar pla- 
 ces and faces, nearly all of which are gone. To me, sir, the 
 symposium of last evening, and this gathering of Utica's boys 
 of fifty years ago, have been events of the deepest interest and 
 delight ; and why I have been honored by a place at either 
 festival, cannot well be explained, unless it be that adopted sons 
 have favors bestowed which rightfully belong to more deserv- 
 ing members of the family. Much has been said, — too much 
 cannot be said, — of the beauty of our city, its growth in wealth, 
 intelligence and refinement ; of her sons, distinguished in the 
 professions, in art, science, politics, and in all manufacturing 
 and industrial pursuits. We are justly proud of their names, 
 and of their deeds, and of their influence in the development 
 and growth of a commonwealth which has become the Empire 
 State of our grand Union. To sound their praises, is not my 
 privilege to-night. That has already been done eloquently 
 and well by the, distinguished gentlemen who have had that 
 duty in charge. Nor will I trespass by speaking of the benev- 
 olence of our women, to whose perseverance, zeal, self-denial 
 and faith, we owe our noble charities "that soothe and heal 
 and bless" so many of the unfortunate in our midst. 
 
 I desire, Mr. Chairman, to speak only a word for the hospi- 
 talities of the citizens of Utica, and to remind her sons, that 
 among all the precious jewels which adorn her crown, there are 
 none more beautiful and durable. 
 
 I speak, sir, to-night, for thousands who have shared that 
 hospitality. I speak for those who have come among you as 
 strangers, and have been received as friends and brothers. I 
 proclaim to those who are coming among you, that here in 
 
J go First Supper of the 
 
 Utica they will receive encouragement and kindness, and will 
 soon learn to know that liere, we " weigh the man, nqt his title ; 
 'tis not the king's stamp can make the metal better." It has 
 been so from the beginning. Dr. Bagg tells us in his " Pioneers 
 ■of TJtica," that the manufacture of silver spoons was among the 
 first of our industries, — in order, doubtless, that we might the 
 more acceptably entertain the numerous and distinguished vis- 
 itors who so frequently came among us. 
 
 That old silver goblet, Mr. Chairman, which stands before 
 you, and from which I have just quaffed the famous "Moun- 
 tain Dew," reminds me and others here, of the good cheer and 
 hospitality of its original owner, — your own revered father. 
 The women of Utica, whose strong good sense has done so 
 mu.ch to develop and strengthen the characteristics which have 
 distinguished so many of your citizens, have ever and always 
 been hospitable. Their graces and their virtues, as brilliant as 
 their beauty, have shed a lustre over your homes which refines 
 «,nd purifies, as well as attracts, all brought under its influence. 
 And now, my friends, those of us who were not born here, but 
 had the good sense to come here, how are we to pay the debt 
 -we owe to Utica? Shall our Chairman, when he presides, as 
 we hope he may, at the Centennial Anniversary of the Half- 
 Century Club, be obliged to exclaim: 
 
 "Pair Utica! sad relic of departed worth! 
 Immortal, though no more, though fallen, great!" 
 
 Shall it be said of us, that 
 
 " We carved not a line and we raised not a stqne," 
 
 Or shall we, by emulating the examples of the founders of Utica, 
 extend her borders, promote her growth and prosperity, preserve 
 her high moral, intellectual and social character, so that our 
 ■children may say of us, as we now say of those who have com- 
 mitted the fair heritage to our keeping, " We bless you all, for 
 what you have done for Utica "? 
 
 Mr. C. S. Symonds, who was called upon by the Chairman 
 as the gentleman present most familiar with the subject, his 
 varied experience having embraced a wide range of objects, re- 
 sponded briefly for the ladies, the lateness of the hour preclud- 
 ing an extended treatment of the transcendent merits of the 
 ■case. 
 
 The festivities thereafter assumed an informal char- 
 a^cter, and the symposium was prolonged until a late 
 
Half Century Club. igi 
 
 hour by a number of good companions. Colonel J. 
 Stewart Lowery recited with thrilling effect the trials 
 and tribulations of the poor " Irish Emigrant Boy." 
 Songs were sung by Mr. John D. Kernan, the veteran 
 Sergeant Albert Spencer, of the Utica Citizens' Corps, 
 Dr. C. B. Foster and Eugene Stearns. Ex-Mayors 
 T. F. Butterfield and C. E. Barnard related amusing 
 anecdotes of their early contemporaries, Geo. Martell, 
 John Post, Jeremiah Van Rensselaer, and others. 
 Captain Horace W. Fowler made a witty speech ; and 
 Col. T. M. Davies, W. M. Storrs, Moses Bailey, Ed- 
 ward Sturges, W. Jerome Green and M. B. DeLong. 
 interjected pungent remarks. It was a feast worthy 
 of the olden time. 
 
 As a fitting conclusion of the symposium. General 
 McQuade sang Moore's beautiful ballad : 
 
 "Farewell ! but whenever you welcome the hour 
 That awakens the night-song of mirth in your bower, 
 Then think on the friend who once welcomed it too, 
 And forgot his own griefs to be happy with you." 
 
 Thus joyously Utica entered the threshold of the 
 Second Half Century. 
 
The Old Families. 
 
 The following, whose names appear in the Directory 
 of 1832, are still residents of Utica : 
 
 Adams Lyman, 
 Bacon William J., 
 Barnes Abram A., 
 Bailey Moses, 
 Ballou Theodore P., 
 Bates John W., 
 Benton James, 
 Butler T. K., 
 Carpenter Clark, 
 Cassidy Patrick, 
 Comstock Roderick J., 
 Crocker John G., 
 Curtis George, 
 Dagwell John, 
 Douglass Dr. Isaac H., 
 *DeLong James C, 
 Dickinson Morris G., 
 Estes Isaac, 
 Foster James S., 
 Grannis T. C, 
 Griffiths John, 
 Hecox George, 
 Henry William, 
 Higgs Thomas, 
 
 Hopper Thomas, 
 Horton Thomas, 
 Hull David, 
 Hunt Ward, 
 Hurlburt Burton D., 
 James Joseph, 
 James William, 
 Jewett B. F., 
 Jones Ebenezer, 
 John John, 
 -Latimore John, 
 Lawrence Lewis, 
 Lewis David, 
 Lewis Reese, 
 Loucks R. N., 
 Lyon Ziba, 
 *Marchisi John B , 
 Matteson O. B., 
 McQuivey Solomon, 
 Miller Henry T., 
 Newell Norman C, 
 Newland Thomas J., 
 O'Hara John, 
 Osburn Henry W., 
 
 Owens Thomas M., 
 Palmer Chauncey, 
 Penny Grove, 
 Perkins Thomas P., 
 Porter John W., 
 Rich James, 
 Richards Owen, 
 Roberts Henry, 
 Robinson Alexander, 
 Rockwell James, 
 Rodgers Junius, 
 Sammons Benjamin, 
 Schwab David, 
 Seymour Horatio, 
 Shadrach Daniel, 
 Shearman Joseph A., 
 Spencer Albert, 
 Swartwout Rugene, 
 Thomas George, 
 Wells Dr. L. B., 
 White Isaac, 
 Wilson Charles S., 
 Williams John D., 
 Williams Rowland. 
 
 •Recorded also in the Directory for 1817. 
 
ig4 Lui of Residents 0/1832 noiv Deceased, 
 
 The following is a list of residents of Utica in 1832, 
 now deceased, whose posterity reside here ; 
 
 Abbe)' Stephen, 
 AdamR Charles, 
 Adams John, 
 Allen James, 
 Allen Job, 
 Arnoit Benjamin, 
 Bacon E/,elcicl, 
 Baker John K,, 
 Bagg Moses, 
 Bailey John, 
 Bailey Robert, 
 Baldwin Ebenezer, 
 Ballou Levi, 
 Ballou Pcler P., 
 Ballou Philo C, 
 Barber William, 
 Barnard Harvey, 
 Barnum Charles, 
 Barnum Ezra S,, 
 Barnum Levi, 
 Beardsley Samuel, 
 Beattie lienry. 
 Bed bury Joseph, 
 Bellinger John, 
 Bigg William, 
 Blakeman Moses, 
 Bloodgood Lynott, 
 Boice Philip H., 
 Bogart Thomas S., 
 Bond Isaac, 
 Bowen Jerome, 
 Bradish John, 
 Brand William, 
 Bright Edward, 
 Britt Nathan, 
 Broadwell Ara, 
 Brooks ]',. v., 
 Brown Abram, 
 Hrown John, 
 Butterfield John^ 
 Camp John, 
 Carpenter Clark, 
 
 Ciirlon John, 
 Carver Frank, 
 Case William P., 
 Chase Ira, 
 Christian Gedrgo, 
 Christian Nathan, 
 Christian Thomas, 
 Church Joshua M., 
 Churchill Alfred, 
 Clark Chester 1)., 
 Clark ICrastus, 
 Clark William, 
 Cleghorn Charles, 
 Cole Andrew, 
 Cole Barnard, 
 Colling Thomas, 
 Cprbally Patrick, 
 Corey Francis D., 
 Costleman Jacob, 
 Coventry Dr. C. B., 
 Crocker Hugh, 
 Crocker James, 
 Cronin IJavid, 
 Crumley James, 
 Culver Abram, 
 Cummins Jason, 
 Curran Edward, 
 Curry John C, 
 Curtiss Kzei<iel, 
 Curtiss Phllo n„ 
 Dana James, 
 Dana George S., 
 Darling Cook, 
 Davis ICvan I., 
 Davies OrifRth, 
 Davies Thomas, 
 Dempsey James, 
 Denio Iliram, 
 Dennison Abisha, 
 Devercux Nicholas, 
 Dickinson George L,, 
 Dobbic Thomas, 
 
 Dobson William N,, 
 Donaldson' David, 
 Doollltle Charles R,, 
 Dorchester Ellasapli, 
 Dowd Lawrence, 
 Downer Norman, 
 Dudley Richard II., 
 Dutton (Joorge, 
 Edmonds J. II., 
 Edwards John, 
 Edwards Robert, 
 Ellis Evan, 
 Evans Grifflih J., 
 Evans Jonathan, 
 Eversen Adam, 
 I'airbanks Isaac N., 
 F.-irnon John, 
 Farwell Samuel, 
 Fisher Fredericli, 
 Foster Gilbert A., 
 Fo."itor George U,, 
 Fowler W. T., 
 Francis John J,, 
 Frear John I , 
 Frederic Henry, 
 G.irrett James, 
 Gardner Morgan, 
 Gay Samuel, 
 Gilbert K. M.. 
 Goodllff Joseph, 
 Grannls Cyrus, 
 Green lienry, 
 Greenrnan Hiram, 
 GrilTith Rev, David, 
 Griffith Evan, 
 GrilTuh Owen, 
 GroSvcnor F. D., 
 fjrove John, 
 Hackett William, 
 Haley James. 
 Handy John H,, 
 Harrington William, 
 
List of Residents of i8j2 now Deceased, igs 
 
 Hart A. C, 
 Hart Ephraim, 
 Hart George W., 
 Hart H. R., 
 Harter Joseph, 
 Herrick Edward, 
 Hopper James, 
 Hoyt David P., 
 Hubbard G. W., 
 Hubbard T. H.. 
 Hubbell Alrick, 
 Hughes Richard, 
 Hunt Montgomery, 
 Hurlburt Kellogg, 
 Hutchinson Andrew, 
 Hutchinson Holmes, 
 Irons Reuben. 
 Isham John W., 
 James David, 
 James Thomas, 
 Jarrett William, 
 Jennison Henry, 
 Johnson A. B., 
 Jones Lewis, 
 Jones Richard T., 
 Jones Robert, 
 Jones Rowland, 
 Jones Thomas, 
 Keating Barnard, 
 Keeling James H., 
 Kellogg Spencer, 
 Kirkland Joseph, 
 Kittle John F., 
 Kitts Adam, 
 Knowlson T. C. B., 
 Lane Walter, 
 LaPaugh C. N., 
 Lathrop A. J., 
 Latimer Robert S., 
 Lawson George, 
 Leach Ebenezer, 
 Ledlie George F., 
 Leonard James, 
 Litle John, 
 Lumbard Royal, 
 Lumbard Theophilus, 
 Magee John, 
 Maine Dr. Z. P., 
 Mann Charles A., 
 McCoy Baker, 
 
 McElwaine John, 
 McVey Tully, 
 McNall John, 
 McQuade Michael, 
 McQuade Thomas, 
 Marcy Stephen, 
 Marshall Richard, 
 Martin Henry, 
 Mason Harvey, 
 Meeker Moses T., 
 Merrell Bildad, 
 Merrell B. S., 
 Midlam Francis, 
 Miller Jabez, 
 Miller William G., 
 Miller Rutger B., 
 Mooney Thomas, 
 Moore Leonard, 
 Mofrin Edward, 
 Morris David E., 
 Mortley John, 
 Munn John, 
 Munson Alfred, 
 Neejer George, 
 Newell Jesse, 
 Newland John, 
 Newland Dr. P., 
 Nightingale William, 
 Norris Edward, 
 Norton Dr. Heman, 
 O'Neil Owen, 
 Osborn John, 
 Owens David, 
 Owens Owen, 
 Owen Thomas, 
 Palmer StaflFord, 
 Parker Job, 
 Pease John, 
 Peckham John S., 
 Perkins David, 
 Perry David, 
 Perry Richard, 
 Phelps Chauncey, 
 Pollard Richard, 
 Pomeroy Dr. Theo., 
 Pond Andrew S., 
 Pond H. C, 
 Potter Thomas G., 
 Potter William F., 
 Prentice David, 
 
 Purcell William, 
 
 Queal John, 
 
 Quin Hugh, 
 
 Reed David, 
 
 Reed John, 
 
 Rees William, 
 
 Richards William, 
 
 Riley John, 
 Roberts Evan, 
 
 Roberts John, 
 
 Roberts Hugh, 
 Roberts Robert W., 
 
 Roberts Watkin J., 
 Rockwell Philo, 
 Rockwell Thomas, 
 Roper William, 
 Rose Elias, 
 Rose Hiram, 
 Russ John A., 
 Saumet Dennis, 
 Sayre James, 
 Scranton Lyman, 
 Schwab John, 
 Seward Asahel, 
 Sexton Michael, 
 Seymour Henry, 
 Shearman E. B., 
 Smith Nicholas, 
 Snyder Jacob, 
 Snyder Rudolph, 
 Spencer Norman, 
 Spencer Julius A. 
 Spurr Elisha, 
 Stearns Calvin, 
 Stearns Gordis, 
 Stevens Nathan, 
 Stevens William, 
 Stocking James M., 
 Stocking Samuel, 
 Stone James, 
 Storrs Charles, 
 Storrs Shubael, 
 Supple William, 
 Swartwout Cornelius, 
 Timerman D., 
 Timon James, 
 Thoman Anson, 
 Thomas Daniel, 
 Thomas Levi, 
 Thorn Steven, 
 
ig6 List of Residents of i8j2 now Deceased. 
 
 Trembley Jonathan, 
 Tunbridge John, 
 Vanderheyden Jacob, 
 Van Size Tunis, 
 Vedder N. F., 
 Vinn Thomas, 
 Wade Anson, 
 Wager David, 
 Walker Thomas, 
 Warner J. E., 
 Weaver N. N., 
 
 Wetmore E. A„ 
 Wetmore Oliver, 
 Wheeler John, 
 Whiffen John, 
 Whipple Otis, 
 White Alvin, 
 White Noah,' 
 Wilcox Erastus, 
 Wilcox Morris, 
 Williams Rev. Abram, 
 Williams Elhanan W., 
 
 Williams John, 
 Williams Nathan, 
 Williams Stalham, 
 Williams William, 
 Williams J. Watson, 
 Wood David, 
 Woodward Solomon, 
 Wratten Jacob, 
 Wright Josiah, 
 Yates A. P. 
 
Cornell University Library 
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