CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
Cornell University Library 
 F 129U8 B14 
 
 olin 
 
 3 1924 028 826 556 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tiiis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028826556 
 
Memorial History 
 
 ' OF 
 
 UTICA, N. Y. 
 
 From its Settlement to the Present Time 
 
 Edited by M. M. Bagg, M.D. 
 
 SYRACDSE, N. Y. 
 
 D. Mason & Co., Publishers 
 1892 
 
PRESS OF 
 
 D. MASON & CO., 
 
 SYRACUSE, N. Y. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 IN submitting this book to the reader its editor may truly say that he 
 is not insensible of its defects : Several topics pertinent to the his- 
 tory of Utica have been left unnoticed. His unwillingness, however, 
 to offer a volume too unwieldy to be handled has constrained him to 
 withhold some chapters which were already in part prepared. Had the 
 necessity for greater condensation been earlier foreseen, some of these 
 topics might have found a place at the expense of curtailing parts that 
 are presented. Further delay in order to effect such condensation is 
 impossible, being forbidden both by the demands of the subscribers 
 and the interests of the publishers. It remains to mention in a word 
 only a few of these omitted subjects, and to waive any attempt at 
 enlargement. The State Hospital for the Insane is not one of the 
 charities of Utica, yet its location within the bounds of the city is so 
 eminently a characteristic of the place, and its many relations connect 
 it so intimately with our people, that to fail of a sketch of it is to fail of 
 an important part of our later history. The cemeteries of the city, the 
 many beautiful monuments of Forest Hill and its Conservatory, so 
 unique a feature of a burial place for the dead, are a source of pride to 
 our inhabitants, and objects to which strangers are commonly con- 
 ducted. The admirable water supply of the place, the police and fire 
 departments, the former and the later interests of some of the citizens 
 in the perfection and expansion of telegraphic and telephonic commu- 
 nication, are all entitled to survey. The noble structure in use by the 
 
12 PREFACE. 
 
 Y. M. C. A., the good it has accomplished, the past doings of the 
 Oneida Historical Society, the multiplied orders and associations for 
 social, benevolent, or useful purpose, these with the preceding must 
 remain undescribed. 
 
 For the assiduous labors of H. P. Smith, of Syracuse, in gathering 
 materials for the history as well as in writing some of its parts, the 
 editor is deeply indebted. To others he would likewise accord his 
 thanks for hints and additions. 
 
 The cost of the numerous steel portraits which adorn the book has 
 been borne by the parties depicted, or by their relatives. In one case 
 only has the expense been defrayed by another. Hon. Addison C. 
 Miller, who declined to admit a likeness of himself, has introduced that 
 of the late S. D. Childs. 
 
 In behalf of the Publishers, 
 
 Dr. M. M, Bagg, Editor. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 OLD FORT SCHUYLER. 
 
 Its Location — A large grant known as Cosby's Manor — The tract surveyed and 
 mapped — Settlers — Peter Smith, father of Gerrit Smith — John Post — The 
 first bridge across the Mohawk — Maj. James S. Kip — More early Settlers — 
 Newcomers in 1796 — Dr. Alexander Coventry — Col. Benjamin Walker — 
 Utica incorporated as a Village 17-49 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 
 THE FIRST VILLAGE CHARTER. 
 
 Counties Erected — Newcomers of 1798 — Notes from Dwight's Travels — The 
 Holland Land Company — The Phelps and GS^orham Purchase — The first Hotel 
 — Its Proprietors — Religious interests and an early Preacher — The Village 
 tax list for 1800 — Notes of another Traveler — Highway Improvements — 
 Business Development — The year 1801 — Recollections of the Welsh Popu- 
 lation — General characteristics at this early Period — Settlers of 1801-04 — 
 Petition for a new Charter — A Map of the Village in 1806 — General Feat- 
 ures 49- 
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 
 THE SECOND VILLAGE CHARTER. 
 
 Officers elected at the first Town Meeting — Their Proceedings and those of suc- 
 ceeding Tears — Newcomers Noticed 89-130 
 
14 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE THIRD VILLAGE CHARTER. 
 
 Its Principal Provisions — The Proceedings of the Successive Boards of Aldermen 
 to 1824 — The Progress of the Erie Canal — The Visit of General Lafayette 
 — Newcomers of the PerioS 131-173 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE THIRD VILLAGE CHARTER CONTINUED. 
 
 Village Proceedings and Incoming Residents to the Year 1832 — A Period of large 
 
 Expectations — Application for a City Charter 173-198 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 FIRST DECADE UNDER THE CITY CHARTER. 
 
 Inauguration of the City Grovernment — Cholera Epidemic — Details of its Rav- 
 ages—The An ti- Slavery Convention — Proceedings of the Successive Coun- 
 cils -- New Comers of the Era 199-243 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 SECOND DECADE OF THE CITY'S HISTORY. 
 
 The Washingtonian Temperance Movement — Establishment of a Recorder's Court 
 — Inauguration of an era of Manufactures — Incorporation of the Utica Water 
 Works — Building of the City Hall 243 270' 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 THIRD DECADE OF THE CITY'S HISTORY. 
 
 The Black River Railroad Project — Extensive Charter Amendments — A Period 
 of severe financial Stringency — Failure of local Banks — A Citizen's political 
 Movement — Beginning of the War Period . . . ; 270-308 
 
CONTENTS. IS 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 FOURTH DECADE OF THE CITY'S HISTORY. 
 
 The War record Continued — A new Armory built on the site of the Market — 
 List of business Houses of 1863 — The Draft in Utica — Burning of the Female 
 Academy and the Free Academy — Close of the War — Grrowth and Prosper- 
 ity in the dawn of Peace — Efforts toward the Establishment of a Police and 
 Fire Commission — Building of the new County Clqrk's Office 308-341 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE CITY'S HISTORY: 1872-1880. 
 
 Important charter Amendment — Enlargement of the city boundary on the West 
 
 — Formation of the Utica Manufacturing and Mercantile Association .... 341-352 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE LAST DECADE OF THE CITY'S HISTORY. 
 
 Summary of recent History — Extensive and new methods of Paving— Street light- 
 ing Improvement — Development of the Street Railway System^Mohawk Val- 
 ley and Skenandoa factories Built — Government Building and new Churches 
 Erected — Toung Men's Christian Association and Soldiers' Monument 352-361 
 
 CHAPTER Xn. 
 
 MODES OF TRAVEL AND TRANSPORTATION. 
 
 The Mohawk River as a Public Waterway — The Genesee Turnpike — Early Stages 
 — Construction and Opening of the Brie Canal — Early Railroads East and 
 West — The Plank Road Era— Northern and Southern Railroads 361-395 
 
 CHAPTER Xni. 
 
 CHURCHES OF THE SEVERAL DENOMINATIONS. 
 
 Presbyterian Societies — Congregational Organizations — The Reformed Church — 
 The Episcopal Denomination — The Methodists — The Baptists — The Lutherans 
 — The Moravian Church — Roman Catholics — The Hebrews and their Syna- 
 gogues — Welsh Churches — Sketches of some of the Clergymen who have 
 preached in Utica 396-448 
 
1 6 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 THE SCHOOLS AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOL LIBRARY 449-476 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 THE PRESS 476-490 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 THE BENCH AND BAR OF UTICA 491-567 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS 567-590 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 MANUFACTURES 591-615 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 CHARITIES 616-632 
 
 PART II. 
 BIOGRAPHICAL q33 
 
MEMORIAL 
 
 HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 OLD FORT SCHUYLER. 
 
 Its Location — A large grant known as Cosby 's Manor — The tract surveyed and 
 mapped — Settlers — Peter Smith, father of Gerrit Smith — John Post — The first bridge 
 across the Mohawk — Maj. James S. Kip — More early Settlers — New comers in 1796 
 — Dr. Alexander Coventry — Col. Benjamin Walker — Utica incorporated as a \'illage. 
 
 THE original settlement made at Utica took its name of Old Fort 
 Schuyler from a fort which had been erected here during the 
 French and Indian war. This fort, which was designed to guard the 
 fording-place in the Mohawk River above it, was situated on the south 
 bank a very little distance southeast of the present intersection of Sec- 
 ond street and the Central Railroad. The left bank of Ballou's Creek, 
 which joins the river just below, was formerly much depressed a short 
 distance above its mouth, so as to form in high water a lagoon that 
 must have reached almost to the walls of the fort, and thus have facili- 
 tated the landing and embarkation of troops. The fort consisted of an 
 embankment surrounded by palisades, nearly all traces of which had 
 disappeared at the time of the arrival of the fijst settlers. It was named 
 in honor of Col. Peter Schuyler, an uncle of Gen. Philip Schuyler of 
 the Revolution. During and subsequent to this war it went by the 
 3 
 
1 8 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 name of Old Fort Schuyler to distinguish it from another fortress 
 erected at Rome, and which was sometimes known as Fort Schuyler, 
 though it had been christened and was therefore more correctly called 
 Fort Stanwix. 
 
 The choice of this spot as a place of settlement after the war was prob- 
 ably determined by the following circumstances: The presence of the 
 hills which confine the Mohawk at Little Falls, and their close approxi- 
 mation for some way above that point, restricted the range of the earlier 
 immigrants into Central New York, and concurred with the fertility of 
 the soil along the valley to fix them within the limits of the latter. To- 
 ' ward Old Fort Schuyler these hills decline in height and begin to melt 
 away to the right and the left. Here, therefore, was the first place where 
 facilities appeared for a divergence from the former course, while the 
 beautiful valleys that open southward at this point and at Whitesboro 
 tempted settlers who found t'he lands below already in occupation to 
 depart from the line of the river in search of homes more remote. The 
 old Indian path from Oneida Castle here intercepted the path along the 
 river- side leading to the portage at Fort Stanwix. Both crossed the 
 Mohawk at the only place in the neighborhood where fording was 
 easily practicable, and this was at the site of the present bridge at the 
 foot of Genesee street. Asa place of trade with the outlying settlements 
 beyond, which required supplies that could best be brought by the 
 river, the spot seemed an advantageous one. 
 
 The soil along the stream was, it is true, wet and marshy and the 
 same was the case with nearly all the land in the vicinity with the ex- 
 ception of a low, gravelly ridge lying parallel with the southern bank 
 some dozen rods distant, and from whose upper end diverged a sHghter 
 ridge southward. There were no promising mill privileges, no quar- 
 ries of valuable building stone, no mines of metals or useful minerals, 
 no salt springs or other special features of the spot that pointed it out 
 as an attractive site for a settlement and gave assurance of extended 
 growth. The Mohawk was indeed navigable for vessels of small ton- 
 nage from Schenectady to Fort Schuyler and even to Fort Stanwix, 
 whence, after a short portage into Wood Creek, water passage was con- 
 tinuous by way of Oneida Lake, Oneida and Oswego Rivers, to Ontario 
 and the far West ; and this in fact had from the earliest' period in 
 
EARL Y WA TEH WA YS AND ROADS. 19 
 
 the country's history formed the principal thoroughfare of travel and of 
 trade. The real and practical head of navigation on the Mohawk was 
 at Fort Stanwix, and this place was looked upon — to use the language 
 of the commissioners of the Inland Navigation Company — as " the 
 future great city west of Albany." Even the mouth of the Sauquoit 
 formed a much more natural and important landing. Previous to the 
 improvement of the road extending west from Old Fort Schuyler both 
 Rome and Whitesboro at the mouth of the Sauquoit far exceeded the 
 former place in the amount of their river transportation. 
 
 The most that could have been expected by its earlier traders was to 
 make it a landing-place whence goods could be conveyed to the places 
 rapidly settling in its immediate vicinity. Thus it happened that for a 
 long time its business was carried on near the river on Water street or 
 in the street which ran parallel a short distance above. This was called 
 Main street, its extension toward Whitesboro being known as the 
 Whitesboro road. Nor did the settlement reach much above this line until 
 the village had had several years of existence. Not until after the ap- 
 propriations made by the legislature in 1794, '95, and '97 had been ex- 
 pended on the road to the " Genesee country," and especially not until 
 after the incorporation of the Seneca Turnpike Company in 1800 and 
 the construction by it of a more perfect road, which, starting at the 
 ford, ran much to the southward of Rome and Whitesboro, did Utica in- 
 crease materially and become the virtual head of trade upon the Mohawk. 
 
 Southward from the Hne of the river the ground rises by a gentle ac- 
 clivity that reaches about three fourths of a mile, when it falls over a 
 short course to rise again beyond. Curving toward the northwest on 
 its western side this acclivity approaches the river more nearly on the 
 western border of the present city than it does on the eastern. It is 
 upon this hillside that the Utica of today is mainly built, the lower por- 
 tion having the larger part of the places of business. Both on the east 
 and on the west this hillside is cut by small streams, Ballou's and Nail 
 Creeks, that join the Mohawk nearly at right angles. Still farther east 
 and on the confines of the city another creek, the Starch Factory, pur- 
 sues a similar course. 
 
 The territory on which Old Fort Schuyler was settled formed part of 
 a tract of 22,000 acres granted on the 2d of January, 1734, by George 
 
2 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 II., King of England, nominally to several persons, but in reality to in- 
 ure to the benefit of William Cosby, colonial governor of New York 
 and New Jersey; it was thence known as Cosby's Manor. In default of 
 the payment of arrears of quit-rents it was on the 4th of July, 1 7/2, sold 
 by the sheriff under warrant from Daniel Horsmanden, the chief justice 
 of the colony, and was purchased by Col. (afterward Gen.) Philip 
 Schuyler for the joint benefit of himself. Gen. John Bradstreet, Rutger 
 Bleecker, and John Morin Scott. They paid for it £\,Z^7, 4s., jd., or 
 at the rate of fifteen pence per acre. By them or their heirs it was held 
 at the time the first settlements were effected. The whole tract ex- 
 tended easterly from the mouth of the Sauquoit Creek eleven miles, 
 seventeen chains, and was six miles wide, three upon each side of the 
 Mohawk River. It was divided into lots that ran back from the river 
 three miles and were sixteen or seventeen chains in width. 
 
 The manor formed a part of what was known as German Flats in 
 Moiitgomery County, the name of the county having been changed 
 from that of Tryon in 1785. On the 7th of March, 1788, the district of 
 German Flats was divided and " Whitestown" was set off as a separate 
 town, which was bounded on the east by a line crossing the Mohawk at 
 the ford and running thence to the bounds of the State. It cut the 
 settlement of Old Fort Schuyler in the middle, leaving a part in Whites- 
 town and a part in German Flats. Upon the formation of Oneida 
 County in 1798 this east line was thrown eastwardly to the present line 
 of the city and county^ This immense region, now teeming with peo- 
 ple, then numbered less than 200 inhabitants. But the tide of immigra- 
 tion had already begun to flow. The reaction which slowly followed 
 the exhausting struggle for the nation's independence was awakening 
 enterprise and directing it into new paths of activity. The fame of "the 
 Whitestown country" had reached New England and was enticing 
 thither the adventurous settler as to a land of promise. The neighbor- 
 ing settlements of Whitesboro, Oriskany, Westmoreland, etc. had been 
 commenced a year or two previously ; that of Deerfield, broken up and 
 destroyed during the Revolution, had also just been resumed. 
 
 In the year 1786 a survey of the manor of Cosby together with a map 
 of the same was made by John R., son of Rutger Bleecker. It appears 
 therefrom that two houses were located near the ford on what is now 
 
FIRST SETTLERS AND SETTLEMENTS. 21 
 
 the east side of Genesee street and one on the west side. Improve- 
 ments had been made a little farther westward somewhere between the 
 present lines of Broadway and State streets, and there were also im- 
 provements near the present eastern hmits of the city. Outside of these 
 evidences of a commencing civilization was an unbroken forest consisting 
 chiefly of beech, hemlock, maple, and elm. 
 
 The occupant of the house nearest the river on the eastern side of 
 the road was John Cunningham, his neighbor beside him being George 
 Damuth. The resident of the opposite side was Jacob Christman. The 
 settler toward the west was a man named McNamee, and the clearings 
 on the eastern border were designated as those of McNamee and Abra- 
 ham Boom. 
 
 An emigrant who passed through the place the following year like- 
 wise informs us that there were three log huts or shanties near the old 
 fort. The statement furnished by a settler who arrived in 1788 con- 
 firms the evidence of the map, showing that Cunningham, Damuth, and 
 Christman were living near the ford while it adds to the list the name 
 of Hendrich Salyea. Of these men we know little. Most of them were 
 of Palatine descent, and had probably removed hither from settlements 
 lower down the Mohawk. 
 
 The lease from Rutger Bleecker, of the city of Albany, to " George 
 Damuth, of Montgomery County,'' (the name then applied to all of the 
 State west of Albany County,) is dated July 28, 1787. It demises 273^ 
 acres, being part of lot No. 94, for the term of twenty- one years at a 
 yearly rent of one shilling per acre. The first payment was to be made 
 on the 28th of July, 1793, and subsequent ones annually thereafter. 
 Mr. Damuth made assignment of his lease and probably died ere 1790. 
 It was with Cunningham that Moses Foot, who began the settlement at 
 Clinton, found a lodging in 1787.^ His legal title to the land he occupied 
 he probably obtained about the same time with Damuth. From a state- 
 ment of the payments received thereon it would appear that it conveyed 
 ninety-one and a half acres of lot No. 94 for the term of ten years at one 
 shilling an acre each year, and that the times of payment were fixed on 
 the 26th of July, 1793, and annually on the same day thereafter ; that is 
 to say, within two days of the beginning of payments on the lease of 
 
 1 Journal of Dr. Alexander Coventry where the statement is made on the authority of Mr. Foot. 
 
22 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 George Damuth. As with the latter so with Cunningham, not one of 
 the payments were made by the original lessee, Cunningham having 
 already before 1793 sold his lease and his betterments to John Post and 
 departed. 
 
 Of Jacob Christman's title we know nothing, nor whether, indeed, he 
 ever had any. Of McNamee our information is still less. Abraham 
 Boom obtained from Gen. Philip Schuyler in 1790 a life lease of the 
 land on which he had located, and after his death his son, William 
 Boom, disposed of it to the Christmans. 
 
 Hendrich Salyea had a twenty-one years' lease from Rutger Bleecker 
 dated on the same day with that of George Damuth, namely, July 28, 
 1787. This lease on the 19th of September, 1789, he covenanted to sell 
 to John Post, the purchaser of the interest of Cunningham and in part of 
 that of Damuth. The improvements which he had made on a strip of 
 land lying adjacent and Mke the former on lot No. 93 he sold on the 
 15th of March, 1790, to Peter Smith for the sum of ^5. He squatted 
 again on a part of lot No. 90, occupying a log house that stood on the 
 north side of the present Broad street opposite the site of the subse- 
 quent farm-house of Matthew Hubbell. The improvements on the lat- 
 ter tract he sold the same year to Mr. Hubbell, but continued to live a 
 straggler in the village for several years longer. He was the only one 
 of these earliest settlers near the ford who remained in the vicinity. 
 These were the forerunners of the settlement which was presently known 
 as Old Fort Schuyler. 
 
 The settlers who successively came in to swell our quota of this now 
 populous district let us proceed to consider. In March, 1788, arrived 
 Maj. John Bellinger, the first who effected a lodgment after the persons 
 whose names occur on Mr. Bleecker's map. Major Bellinger was a 
 native of the Mohawk Valley, and with two other members of his fam- 
 ily was present at the battle of Oriskany, where he stood by the side of 
 the gallant Herkimer when the latter received his mortal wound. At 
 the time of his journeying hither the ground was covered with four feet 
 of snow. Immediately on his arrival he constructed a hut of hemlock 
 boughs in which he lived four months. It was placed near what is now 
 the east corner of Whitesboro and Washington streets. The same year, 
 it is said, he began to clear up a piece of land and to build a small 
 
ATEJV COMERS TO THE YOUNG SETTLEMENT. 23 
 
 frame house, he being his own artificer. If it be true that the house 
 now pointed out by old residents as Mr. Bellinger's is the one he then 
 erected it is a noteworthy object and does credit to the builder's skill. 
 It stands in the rear of a wagon shop on the south side of Whitesboro 
 street, third house east of Washington, and is a story and a half gable- 
 roofed house. It has a tough, weather-beaten look that promises for 
 it several years' duration. Here while Mr. Bellinger managed his farm 
 he entertained the stream of emigrants on their way to more distant 
 homes. He afterward erected a larger building nearly opposite, a part 
 of which was known at the time it was burned as the New England 
 House. This he continued to keep as a public house until his death 
 in 1815. 
 
 At this time, we are told by Judge Jones.^ a family named Morey, 
 Philip the father, and Solomon, Richard, and Sylvanus his sons, from 
 Rhode Island, were living as squatters on lot No. 97 and Francis Fos- 
 ter was then a squatter on lot No. 96. Philip Morey subsequently had 
 a lease of his land. ' 
 
 The following year (1789) came Uriah Alverson, a native of Rhode 
 Island. He journeyed through the place some two years before, when 
 he determined to locate here, and returned east for his family. On his 
 second arrival he took up some land in what is now West Utica on a 
 long lease from General Schuyler, and built him a house. His son, 
 William Alverson, accompanied his father on his first visit as well as 
 when he came here to reside, and was then a youth of nineteen. He 
 followed several different pursuits : by trade a journeyman carpenter 
 he was also a farmer, a brewer, a grocer, and a painter. 
 
 Some time during the year 1789, or the latter part of the previous 
 year, came one of those remarkable men that new countries are apt to 
 produce, and whose eminent success, especially in the acquisition of 
 wealth, is not surpassed by the richest gains of metropolitan commerce. 
 This was Peter Smith, father of the more widely known Gerrit Smith. 
 Peter Smith was a native of Rockland County and was born in 1768. 
 Apprenticed at sixteen as a clerk in the importing house of Abraham 
 Herring & Co. he left them at the end of three years and, stocked 
 with a supply of goods for a country store, settled himself in trade at a 
 
 ^ Annals of Oneida County. 
 
24 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 small place called Fall Hill a couple of miles below Little Falls. Here 
 he remained but a single year, and while yet a minor came to Old Fort 
 Schuyler. He put up a log store, which as nearly as he could recollect 
 in his later years stood where Bagg's Tavern was afterward built. 
 J. F. Watson, in his "Antiquities of the City and State of New York," 
 says that Peter Smith in 1787 bought of the widow Damuth for a few 
 pounds of Bohea tea her log house that stood on the ground where was 
 afterward built Bagg's Hotel. He soon built another store of the same 
 kindnear the lower end of Main street, and not far from the handsome 
 two-story dwelling he subsequently erected on the corner of Main and 
 Third streets. Mr. Smith's later residence was the house on Broad 
 street, beyond the gulf, afterward occupied by his son-in-law, Capt. 
 Walter Cochrane. To this house was attached a farm of two or three 
 hundred acres. Here in March, 1797, was born his noted son Gerrit. 
 He removed in 1806 to Peterboro after a brief residence of three years 
 at Yorkville, then known as Wetmore's Mills. He had been sheriff of 
 Herkimer in 1795 when that county included Oneida also. On the or- 
 ganization of Madison County, the same year of his removal thither, he 
 was appointed one of its judges and the following year became first 
 judge. This position he continued to hold until 1821, and as it was 
 said by the lawyers of the day made an excellent magistrate. 
 
 In the spring of 1790 John Post with his wife, three young children, 
 and a carpenter, supplied with a stock of merchandise, furniture, and 
 provisions, embarked upon the Mohawk at Schenectady and in eight 
 or nine days landed at Old Fort Schuyler. Besides the purchase from 
 Salyea he had also the ownership of the lease of John Cunningham and 
 of a part of that of George Damuth. We are told hy a settler of the 
 Genesee country who passed up the river the summer previous that 
 Mr. Post was then finishing his house on a half acre of land that he had 
 cleared. i The clearing was probably made by Cunningham, the prev- 
 ious settler. The house, as Mr. Post subsequently informed Dr. Alex- 
 ander Coventry,^ was probably the first frame house erected in the 
 county. Judge White, of Whitesboro, was still living in a log house. 
 This house of lyir. Post stood on the west side of what is now lower Gen- 
 
 1 Turner's " History of the Phelps and Gorham Purchase," 
 '^ Dr. Coventry's journal. 
 
JOHN POST'S PIONEERSHIP. 25 
 
 esee street not far from Whitesboro street. Mr. Post was of Dutch ex- 
 traction and was born in Schenectady in December, 1748. He had 
 faithfully served his country during the entire period of the Revolution, 
 and was at the taking both of Burgoyne and Cornwallis. For some 
 years prior to his settlement at Old Fort Schuyler he had been em- 
 ployed in trading with the Six Nations, and removed to this place to 
 engage in the same business. At first he kept his goods for sale in his 
 dwelling, which from necessity was made a house of entertainment also, 
 and until the year 1794 there was besides this and the extemporized 
 lodging place of Major Bellinger no other tavern in the place. In the 
 year 1 79 1 he erected a store beside his house and near what now con- 
 stitutes the northwest corner of Genesee and Wliitesboro streets. His 
 trade was principally with the neighboring Indians, who would bring 
 him in the furs of the animals they killed, and also ginseng, a plant 
 growing in the woods, and which was then in great request as an article 
 of export to the Chinese. In return he furnished them spirits, tobacco, 
 blankets, ammunition, beads, etc. It is said by his daughter to have been 
 a common occurrence that thirty or forty Indian men, women, and chil- 
 dren remained at his house through the night, and if the weather was 
 cold surrounded the immense kitchen fire of logs, or in the milder sea- 
 son lay upon the grass plats by the side of the log and brush fences of 
 the vicinity. From the journal of travelers ^ who took dinner and sup- 
 per here in November, 1793, and then looked into his store, we learn 
 that " it was well stocked and a favorite place for tipplers and custom- 
 ers." But Mr. Post was an unwilling landlord; he kept tavern with 
 reluctance and no longer than until others arrived to fill the duty. Gen- 
 eral traffic by land and water was more suited to his tastes. He erected 
 on the river bank a three-story warehouse of wood, which was after- 
 ward moved a few rods above the site of the bridge and was still there 
 at a comparatively recent period. Mr. Post owned several boats which 
 were employed in taking produce to Schenectady and in bringing back 
 merchandise and the families and effects of persons removing into the 
 new country. He ran three stage-boats, as they were called, fitted up 
 with oil-cloth covers and with seats, more especially for the accommo- 
 dation of passengers. 
 
 4 
 
 1 Journal of the Castorland Company. 
 
2 6 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 Within a few years of his arrival, viz., on the 13th of July, 1792, Mr. 
 Post purchased of the representatives of General Bradstreet eighty-nine 
 and a half acres of lot No. 95, which now includes the heart of the city. 
 He had by his trade and by the early purchase of lands acquired what 
 was deemed no little fortune, and it was said was about to cease from 
 business. 
 
 Giles Hamlin was taken into partnership in May, 1803, and the bus- 
 iness was recommenced on a large scale, for Hamlin's ambition was to 
 do a wholesale trade. He went to New York and purchased on Post's 
 credit a large stock of goods, which he soon sold to small dealers in the 
 neighboring settlements, receiving in return their promissory notes. A 
 second trip was made to New York and a still larger supply was 
 bought and sold on credit. In 1803 Post & Hamlin advertised five tons 
 of candles by the ton, box, or pound, also 1,000 hundred- weight of 
 cotton yarn. 
 
 But just as their New York creditors were pressing them for pay- 
 ment, and when in making collections they had received a large 
 amount of wheat and pork together with a sum in bank notes, came a 
 sudden end of all the prosperity of Mr. Post. Between 2 and 3 
 o'clock in the morning of February 4, 1804, a fire broke out in his store 
 which was so far advanced before it was discovered that nothing was 
 saved but a part of their account books and some silver money. Post 
 behaved honorably and sold all his lands to secure some preferred 
 debts, and became in his old age divested of all the property for which 
 he had labored during his whole life. 
 
 In April, 1 790, a sm.all colony of two or three families arrived here 
 from Connecticut, prominent among whom was Capt. Stephen Potter. 
 Captain Potter was born January 12, 1739. He served throughout the 
 war of the Revolution, and there is reason to think that although then 
 young he was also a soldier in the old French war that preceded it. 
 His several commissions as ensign, second lieutenant, first lieutenant, 
 and captain are still in existence, bearing respectively the stirring names 
 of Jonathan Trumbull, John Hancock, John Jay, and Samuel Hunting- 
 ton. In July, 1775, he was second lieutenant in the regiment known 
 as " Congress's Own," the same in which there was serving under the 
 same rank the lamented Nathan Hale, who was executed by the British 
 
CA PTAIN POTTER AND MA TTHE W HUB BELL. 2 7 
 
 as a spy in the following year. Captain Potter was an excellent man and 
 greatly esteemed. His piety was of the strict Puritan order and he was 
 himself a worthy descendant of the Potters who signed the "Plantation 
 Covenant" at New Haven in 1638. At a meeting held at Whitesboro 
 in April, 1793, for the purpose of organizing a religious society he was 
 put on the committee to draft a constitution, and when the society was 
 incorporated shortly afterward, by the style of the United Society of 
 Whitestown and Old Fort Schuyler, he was elected one of its trustees. 
 When, in 1803, it was deemed advisable to elect a portion of the session 
 from that part of the church residing in the latter place Captain Potter 
 was created both deacon and elder. 
 
 In company with Captain Potter came his son-in-law, Benjamin Plant, 
 from Brantford, Conn. Purchasing a portion of the Potter lot he set- 
 tled thereon, remaining a farmer all his life. Among the reminiscences 
 of Benjamin Plant, jr., the eldest son, who was born in 1794 and who 
 resided on the New Hartford road for upward of fifty years, is of having 
 once come very near to encountering a bear with her cub in the road 
 near his father's. He was in company with the latter,' who, seeing the 
 bear approaching, advised the son to lie down and keep quiet. This he 
 did, when the mother, being intent on getting her young one through a 
 brush fence that impeded their course, passed near and went on her 
 way. 
 
 Another settler of 1790 was Matthew Hubbell from Lanesboro, Mass. 
 Born in 1762 he was drafted into military service at the age of fifteen 
 and took part in the battle of Bennington. Before he came to this 
 place he had occupied for a single season a farm on the Phelps and Gor- 
 ham purchase in Ontario County. But his wife being discontented in 
 so savage a wilderness, where bears were too plenty and neighbors too 
 few, he sold at sixty-six cents -per acre the land he had bought at thirty- 
 three cents, and leaving Bioomfield returned eastward. He bought 
 Salyea's interest in the River Bend farm and subsequently obtained a 
 deed of it from Agatha Evans and Sir Charles Gould, heirs of General 
 Bradstreet. This purchase cost him at the rate of $2.50 per acre. 
 SeUing a part on the west he continued to cultivate the remainder until 
 his death, and here he reared a large family. Possessed of a fair share 
 of New England energy and enterprise, with the moral and virtuous 
 
2 8 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 habits there inculcated, Mr. Hubbell was a useful and respected citizen. 
 He was a member of the first grand jury that ever sat in this State 
 west of Herkimer. He was among the earhest and most prominent 
 of the Baptist denomination in this section, having received immer- 
 sion in 1803 at the hands of Elder Covell, a Baptist elder then on 
 a tour of visitation and preaching throughout the State, and who has 
 published a journal of his labors. During some years Mr. Hubbell was 
 a respected magistrate of the town. He died October 12, 1819, in con- 
 sequence of sickness contracted at Sackets Harbor, whither he carried 
 supplies in the War of 181 2. 
 
 Yet another comer of the year 1790 was Benjamin' Ballou. His 
 native place was somewhere in Rhode Island, whence he came, bringing 
 a family of grown-up children. He had a lease from the Bleecker 
 family in 1797 of 126 acres of lot No. 92, and occupied a house east of 
 the Big Basin near the site of the boatyard. Besides farming he also 
 carried on a smalltannery. 
 
 So destitute were the Mohawk settlements at this period of articles 
 that are now of almost daily use and abundant wherever stores exist 
 that a gallon of wine could not be found throughout the valley. Such 
 is the testimony of a settler of Palmyra who journeyed eastward in 
 1790 in quest of wine for an invalid neighbor, and without success until 
 he reached Schenectady. ^ 
 
 In July, 1791, Thomas and Augustus Corey purchased 200 acres 
 of lot No. 95, and they resided nearly on the site of the brick 
 house now standing on the northeast corner of Whitesboro and Hotel 
 streets. Their house was remarkable as being shingled on the sides as 
 well as above. In 1795 they sold out to Messrs. Boon and Linklaen, 
 agents of the Holland Land Company, and left the place. Peter Bellin- 
 ger purchased this year 150 acres of lot 89 lying in the gulf east of 
 Mr. Hubbell. He remained there until his death. 
 
 In 1792 Joseph Ballou, a brother of Benjamin, from Exeter, R. I,, 
 embarking on board a sloop at Providence with his wife, two sons, and 
 a daughter, proceeded by the route of Long Island Sound and the Hud • 
 son to Albany ; and thence, passing overland to Schenectady, came in 
 boats up the Mohawk and landed a short distance below the ford. Mr. 
 
 1 Turner's " History of the Phelps and Gorham Purchase." 
 
BUILDINGS AND A BRIDGE ERECTED. 29 
 
 Ballou settled himself upon lot No. 94. This it will be remembered is 
 the lot of which Rutger Bleecker leased 273^ acres to George Damuth 
 for the term of twenty-one years. Previously to the date agreed on for 
 the first payment (July, 1793) Mr. Ballou would seem to have obtained 
 from Damuth or his widow an assignment of a part of this lease, the 
 remainder being held by Mr. Post since this first payment was made 
 jointly by them both. The payments of 1794 to 1797 inclusive are 
 also endorsed as made in part by Mr. Ballou, while those which follow, 
 of 1802-07, were wholly received from him. This farm, or so much of 
 it as reached from the river to a line south of where the canal now runs, 
 he had under cultivation. In August, 1800, he and his sons procured 
 each of them, from the executors of Mr. Bleecker, a deed of a lot on 
 Main street near the present John, and upon these lots they erected a 
 house and a store. The house stood where John street opens out of 
 the square. It then fronted toward the square, but when John street 
 was opened it was faced about to the latter street and made a part of a 
 public house. This house, once known as Union Hall and subsequently 
 by many different names, occupied the site of the present Ballou block. 
 His sons were merchants and occupied a store which was adjacent to 
 the farm-house on the west. He was one of the village trustees, elected 
 at the first meeting held under the charter of 1805, and held the office 
 by successive re-elections for four years. 
 
 In the summer of 1792 a start seems to have been given to the 
 settlement by the erection of a bridge across the Mohawk. The peti- 
 tion to the legislature asking aid to build it fortunately still survives. 
 It is valuable at the present day, not only because it shows the difficulty 
 of the work without such assistance as well as the inconveniences that 
 had been previously felt, but because it has preserved in the names of 
 its signers what may be termed a tolerably complete enumeration of 
 the people then living in the vicinity. No apology, therefore, can be 
 needed for transferring it in full. Those of the petitioners known as 
 settlers of Old Fort Schuyler are designated by italics : 
 
 "Ti? the Honorable the Legislature, &^c., Sr^c. : 
 
 "The petition of the subscribers, Inhabitants of the County of Herliimer, Respect- 
 fully sheweth : 
 
 " That having for a long time endured the inconveniences and dangers of fording the 
 Mohawk River at Old Fort Schuyler, did some time past associate and by voluntary 
 
3° 
 
 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 subscription attempt to raise money to erect a bridge across the river at said place, 
 but after their most strenuous exertions, find themselves, on account of the infant 
 state of the adjacent settlements, incapable of effecting said purpose ; and your Peti- 
 tioners beg leave to state that in addition to the inconveniences of fording said river, 
 (which at some seasons of the year is very dangerous,) the pubHc in general are highly 
 interested in the erection of a bridge at said place, as it- is one of the greatest roads in 
 the State of New York, being the customary, (and in consequence of the erection of 
 bridges over the Canada Creeks below,) the most direct route from the eastern to the 
 west part of the State. In this situation, while the more interior parts of the State 
 are enjoying liberal donations from the State for building of bridges, your Petitioners 
 earnestly implore the Legislature to extend a helping hand to those who, having but 
 recently settled in almost a wilderness, have devolved upon them a very heavy burden 
 in making roads and building bridges; they therefore pray the Legislature to grant 
 them the sum of Two Thousand Pounds toward defraying the expense of erecting a 
 bridge at the place above mentioned, as it will require nearly double that sum to com- 
 plete the same ; and your petitioners will ever pray. 
 " Herkimer County, October 24, 1792. 
 
 " Thos. R. aold, 
 Thomas Hooker, 
 Peleg Hyde, 
 Edward Johnson, 
 Ezra Hovey, 
 Jacob Hastings, 
 Elias Kane, 
 Jeremiah Poibell, 
 Asa Kent, 
 Claudius Wolcoot, 
 Archibald Bates, 
 John Cunningham. 
 Joseph Harris, 
 Sani-uel Wells, 
 fried rieghauman, 
 Uriah Sayles, 
 Jacob (illegible), 
 John Whiston, 
 Daniel Campble, 
 Isaac Brayton, 
 Caleb Austin, 
 
 Nathan Smith, 
 George Doolittle, 
 Daniel Reynolds, 
 Just's Grriffeth, 
 Benj'n Johnson, 
 Philip Morey, 
 Henry Chesebrough. 
 G-eorge Staples, 
 Solomon Harter, 
 Oliver Trumbull, 
 AVm Bmm {Boom) 
 Daniel C. White, 
 Matthew Hiibhell, 
 Solomon Wells, 
 David Andrew, 
 Theodore Sprague, 
 Benjamin Carney, 
 Abram Jillet, 
 Solomon Whiston, 
 Peleg Briggs, 
 Townsin Briggs, 
 
 Asa Brunson, 
 Robert Bardwell, 
 John Post, 
 Nath'l Griffeth, 
 John H. Pool, 
 Silvanus Mowry, 
 Abr'm Braer, 
 WiUiam Sayles, 
 Nathaniel Darling, 
 John Crandal, 
 Sam'l Wilbur, 
 Jacoh Chris/man, 
 
 Ohadiah Ballou, 
 Ellis Doty, 
 Augustus Sayles, 
 George Wever, 
 Samuel Griffith, 
 Thomas Scott, 
 
 William. Alverson, 
 Samuel Barnes, 
 Wdliam haile, 
 
 Elizur Moseley.) 
 Gaius Morgan, 
 Phillup Alesworth, 
 John Lookwood, 
 Aaron Bloss, 
 John Foster, 
 John Richardson, 
 Noah Kent, " 
 Shadrach Smith, 
 Daniel PoUett, 
 John Bellinger, 
 John Christman, 
 John D. Petrye, 
 Jeremiah Read, 
 William Sayles, jr., 
 Seth Griflfeth, 
 Henry Pall, 
 David Stafford, 
 Francis Guiteau, 
 Samuel Stafford." 
 
 Having been assigned to a committee of the House on the supple- 
 mentary bill favorable action was taken. The bridge had been raised 
 however, the previous summer. It was placed on the line of Second 
 street where the banks were somewhat higher than at the site of the 
 
ADDITIONAL INHABITANTS. 31 
 
 present bridge. The raising took place on Sunday in order that more 
 of the inhabitants of the vicinity might be at leisure to assist. There 
 was living in Deerfield a few years since a man who, when a child, was 
 present at the raising. This was Elder George M. Weaver, who was 
 born in January, 1788, and was then in his fifth year. An incident 
 which he related as connected with the event must have contributed to 
 fix the fact in his memory. On the way over with his parents from 
 Deerfield they spied a bear in a tree by the side of the road. While 
 Mrs. Weaver bravely remained at the foot of the tree with her young 
 son and another child in arms, keeping watch of the bear, the father 
 returned home, procured a gun, and shot the animal, after which they 
 continued their course to the river. 
 
 From the preceding list of signers we gather a few additional names. 
 They represent farmers who lived near rather than within the settlement 
 and some actually outside of the limits of Utica as determined by the 
 first village charter. These limits then reached from the, eastern line of 
 lot No. 82 on the east to the western bounds of No. 99 on the west. 
 
 In the year 1793, as we learn from the inscription on his tombstone, 
 came Gurdon Burchard and Elizabeth his wife. They were from Nor- 
 wich, Conn. Mr. Burchard was a saddle and harnessmaker, and occu- 
 pied a lot fronting on Whitesboro street, south side, but reaching through 
 to Genesee, a gore separating it from the corner of the latter. About 
 1 8 10 he abandoned this business and opened a tavern, under the sign 
 of the " Buck," nearly on the site of the present Dudley House. And 
 here he continued, with the exception of a brief period when he was in 
 the " mercantile line," until his death. 
 
 James P. and Stephen Dorchester, who are known to have been hv- 
 ing here in 1794 and who were related to Mr. Burchard, probably came 
 at the same time with him. They were hatters, and occupied a shop 
 on Genesee street a short distance above the rear end of the Burchard 
 lot. On this site James P. erected the first brick store that was built 
 on Genesee street. He soon left the place. 
 
 We come now to the year 1794, when we find that the hamlet is in- 
 creased by the presence of several additional inhabitants. Inasmuch as 
 their names are not to be previously met with it is presumed they had 
 newly arrived. Prominent among them was James S. Kip, who would 
 
PIONEER SETTLERS. 33 
 
 life, interested in all matters of a local nature, and endowed with enter- 
 prise and independence he devoted himself assiduously to the general 
 interests, and became more successful as a public man than he was in 
 acquiring property for himself. He was one of the first Board of Di- 
 rectors of the Utica Bank, and at its election he was chosen as its first 
 president. In 18 1 2 he had the honor of being one of the presidential 
 electors. 
 
 Major Kip's earlier residence was on Main street, where he occupied 
 for a time the handsome house on the corner of Third street which was 
 subsequently the home of Judge Miller. About the year 1809 he built 
 and occupied on a portion of his first purchase the finest mansion in 
 the village. This, which was of cut stone, stood on the westerly side of 
 Broadway within a very short distance of where the canal was after- 
 ward laid out. It was surrounded by handsome grounds, which formed 
 on the south a fine esplanade for military parades. 
 
 One Joseph Pierce was an occupant of a part of the territory acquired 
 by Mr. Kip in his purchase of July, 1794, and is known to have been 
 living thereon in April previous ; how much longer it is impossible 
 to say. Mr. Pierce had been a soldier of the Revolution and bore the 
 title if not the rank of captain. His farm-house was near the eastern 
 line of Broadway a little way up from Whitesboro street. Captain 
 Pierce afterward lived in Deerfield and built the covered bridge across 
 the river, which in 18 10 succeeded the two earlier structures. His sons 
 were Joseph, jr., John, and Parley. The former removed to Cayuga 
 County. John was constable and village tax collector and afterward 
 deputy sheriff. As constable he was often traveling over the country 
 and serving processes in what are now Lewis, St. Lawrence, and Jeffer- 
 son. He-once went to Ogdensburg to serve a summons. 
 
 Thomas Norton, who married Sarah, second daughter of Stephen 
 Potter, had been a sea captain and afterward returned to a sea- faring 
 life. His residence while here was on the upper end of the Potter lot 
 and subsequently on the turnpike near the residence of Mrs. Butter- 
 field, where he kept a public house. 
 
 Another resident of this date was the village physician, Dr. Samuel 
 Carrington. He was a young man of very gentlemanly appearance and 
 manners and of good literary education. He was a druggist, though 
 5 
 
34 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 he was titled doctor, and may have taken the degree. In an advertise- 
 ment of his drugs, paints, and dye woods dated November, 1800, he 
 says he has "determined to sell them at very low prices for ready pay. 
 Having found from sad experience that credit is the bane of trade I 
 decline granting that indulgence in the future and would rather cry over 
 than after my goods." He succeeded Mr. Post as postmaster on the 
 1st of April, 1799, and was a very prosperous man in a pecuniary way, 
 though his emoluments from his office could not have been very profit- 
 able. 
 
 Stephen Ford, a merchant, occupied for a short time a store on the 
 south corner of Genesee and Whitesboro streets, his lot being the larger 
 end of the gore next Mr. Burchard. He married the third daughter 
 of Stephen Potter. He failed and left the place. After his death his 
 widow married William Alverson. 
 
 Aaron Eggleston was a cooper whose shop during most of his resi- 
 dence stood at a long distance from other buildings, viz , near the site 
 of Henry W. Millar's store on the east side of Genesee. With the ex- 
 ception of a brief stay in Clinton, whence he returned in 1804, he lived 
 here in the exercise of his trade until his death. 
 
 John Hobby was a blacksmith, his shop being just above the site of 
 the Central Railroad depot. He had a brother Epenetus, a tall, stout 
 man with but one eye, who was a good hand at fires ; and another 
 brother whose name was Elkanah. The three formed the chorus of a 
 song that was a favorite with the jolly band which sometimes met of an 
 evening at the village inn. The song was entitled " All on Hobbies." 
 At the end of the first verse all would shout: "That 's John Hobby ! " 
 after the next: "That 's Neet Hobby ! " etc. John died February 6, 
 1812. 
 
 Thomas Jones was a black and whitesmith who sometimes worked 
 for Hobby. He was a superior workman and is said to have been so 
 expert a picklock as to have been in durance in England for the unlaw- 
 ful exercise of his skill. Another Jones, Simeon by name, lived in a 
 house on stilts that stood upon a knoll in a swamp. That swamp was 
 near the eastern end of the site of the Globe Hotel. 
 
 The parties who are known to have been new comers of the year 1794 
 were Moses Bagg, John House, Jason Parker, and ApoUos Cooper. 
 
EARLY TAVERN-KEEPERS: 35 
 
 Moses Bagg, of Westfield, Mass., with his wife and two sons landed 
 from the river about two miles above the ford in the autumn of 1793, 
 and after tarrying through the winter at Middle Settlement arrived at 
 Old Fort Schuyler on the 12th of the following March. In August 
 Mr. Bagg obtained from Joseph Ballou four acres of his leased farm, — for 
 which he subsequently got a title from Mr. Bleecker, — and began to 
 practice his trade of blacksmith on what is now Main street a little 
 east of the corner of the square. His house, a log structure, or, as one 
 eye-witness avers, a shanty made of hemlock boards nailed to the stubs 
 of trees, stood directly on the corner; and this he opened for the accom- 
 modation of travelers. Shortly afterward he put up a two- story wooden 
 building on the same site. 
 
 Shortly after the arrival of the preceding family came another inn- 
 keeper who opened a house on the southeast corner of Genesee street 
 and the Public Square. This was John House, of whom we know little 
 besides the fact that he was a pleasant man and a popular tavern-keeper. 
 He removed early from the place, and by the year 1802 his house was 
 kept by another. His daughter became the wife of Myron Holley, of 
 Ontario County. William House, his son, was a merchant in Lockport, 
 N. Y. One of Utica's most useful and best remembered citizens ap- 
 peared on its stage when, in 1794, Jason Parker took up his abode 
 therein. He undertook the employment of post- rider between Cana- 
 joharie and Whitestown, and in 1795 began running a stage bfetween 
 Albany and Old Fort Schuyler. A greater part of his life was there- 
 after devoted to that business, either alone or in company with others, 
 as is more fully explained in a later chapter of this work. Mr. Parker 
 also served as a trustee of the village, and was in all ways an active and 
 a public spirited citizen. 
 
 Apollos Cooper was born at Southampton, L. I., February 2, 1767, 
 was a carpenter by trade, and had come into Oneida County in. 1790. 
 Before coming to Old Fort Schuyler he had lived at Johnstown, and 
 was also in the employ of Mr. Scriba at Oneida Lake. On the nth 
 of April, 1795, he bought of James S. Kip 117 acres of great lot No. 
 96, which the latter had bought the year previous. This land consti- 
 tuted a narrow strip extending from the river nearly to the intersection 
 of Genesee and State streets. Early in the fall of 1794 he had gotten 
 
36 MEMORIAL HISTOR Y OF UTICA. 
 
 possession of the land and built the rear part of the house on Whites- 
 boro street, where he afterward resided throughout his life. The home- 
 stead yet remains while the farm has long since been swallowed up by 
 the encroaching city. 
 
 Mr. Cooper does not seem to have long pursued his trade, but when 
 not engaged in official duties he was chiefly busied with farming. The 
 bridge across the river at the foot of Genesee street which replaced the 
 earlier bridge is, however, said to have been the work of his skill. A 
 peculiarity of this bridge consisted in the long covered avenue of trestle 
 work that led down to it, reaching back half way to Main street, a 
 proof, as it would appear, that the river bank was then much lower than 
 at present and the bridge in consequence more difficult of approach. 
 This bridge had a stone abutment in the center, and was of more sub- 
 stantial construction than its more immediate predecessor. Mr. Cooper 
 was also the artificer of Hamilton Oneida Academy, the precursor of 
 Hamilton College. His early location in the county secured to him an 
 extensive acquaintance and obtained for him no small share of public 
 favor, which was manifested by his appointment at various periods as 
 judge, representative, and sheriff, and by his filling also many subordi- 
 nate stations in the place of his residence. Mrs. E. A. Graham, his 
 daughter, is still a resident. 
 
 On a farm next west of Nathan Smith, and half way to Whitesboro, 
 lived William Inman, a gentleman who was in habits of constant inter- 
 course with the people of the settlement, though he did not move into 
 it until a few years later ; but as this farm has by a recent legislative 
 ordinance been included within the domain of Utica we introduce him 
 here. Mr. Inman was a native of Somersetshire, England, and in early 
 life was a clerk of Lord Pultney. He first sailed to America March 
 13, 1792, and arrived in June. He soon after was entrusted with the 
 interests of certain Englishmen, prominent among whom was JPatrick 
 Colquhoun, high sheriff of London, for whom he purchased in trust the 
 tract of land called Inman's Triangle, including the towns of Leyden 
 and Lewis in Lewis County, N. Y. The following year he returned 
 to England, but ere long he was again in this country. 
 
 In 1793 he obtained of Rutger Bleecker two leases of land in lot No. 
 104, containing in all 153 acres, and not long after came to reside in 
 
SKETCH OF WILLIAM INMAN. 37 
 
 Oneida County. He lived at first in the house that is situated on the 
 north side of the Whitesboro road, opposite the half-way bridge over the 
 canal. But disgusted with the "Yankee dust" which reached him from 
 the neighboring highway he built the large house that stands quite back 
 from it on the south side, and which has been of late years known as 
 the Champlin house. Possessed of ample means he hired laborers and 
 lived upon his farm as a private gentleman. " He had considerable 
 knowledge of English literature, was fond of books, and exhibited in 
 his conversation the superiority which results from culture and in- 
 tercourse with refined society. His handwriting was handsome ; he 
 was accurate and methodical, understanding well his own interests, and 
 apt in drafting all legal papers relating to his property and dealings." 
 He consequently maintained a high social standing and participated in 
 the best society which the neighborhood afforded. He rode in a heavy 
 English carriage and wore powdered hair, with short clothes and knee- 
 buckles. 
 
 As early as 1-804 he erected a brewery on the site of what is now the 
 northwest corner of Broadway and Whitesboro streets, wherewith Ed- 
 ward Smith and Aylmer Johnson, under the firm name of E. Smith & 
 Co, he commenced business as brewer and maltster. In April, 1805, 
 the partnership was dissolved and the brewery was thereafter for some 
 years conducted by Mr. Inman alone. Mr. Inman was among the fore- 
 most of those who took a part in founding Trinity Church ; he was 
 placed on the subscription and also on the building committee, and while 
 he lived in Utica served either as vestryman or warden. William, his 
 eldest son, became a commodore in the navy of the United States ; John 
 was an editor of New York city, being connected successively with the 
 Standard, the Spirit of the Times, the New York Mirror, the Commer- 
 cial Advertiser, and the Columbian Magazine ; Henry distinguished 
 himself as a painter, excelling in portraiture, in landscape, and in genre 
 painting. 
 
 An inhabitant of whom we get the first hint in 179S, at this time a 
 carpenter, but who afterward developed into a merchant as successful 
 as any that Utica has produced, was Watts Sherman. He came from 
 Newport, R. I. He soon obtained the office of constable, and as we 
 are assured manifested unusual zeal in the discharge of his duties, having 
 
3S MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 on one occasion descended into a chimney in order to seize a silk 
 dress which the party having it determined he should not obtain pos- 
 session of, and so debarred him other entrance into his house. 
 
 In 1802 Mr. Sherman formed a partnership in trade with Arnold 
 Wells, another early settler, the latter furnishing the most of the cap- 
 ital. In this new sphere he evinced unusual capacity, for he was un- 
 commonly shrewd and stirring. Being too ambitious for Mr. Wells they 
 separated, while Mr. Sherman enlarged his business and directly took 
 rank among the leading merchants. With others he bestirred himself 
 in the creation of the first glass works of the county, the factory at 
 Vernon, and was one of its directors. Under date of May, 1813, he 
 informed the community that he had taken into partnership Henry B. 
 Gibson and Alexander Seymour under the name of Sherman, Gibson 
 & Co. While the junior member remained in Utica the two former 
 established themselves in'New York, wherp their skillful conduct of trade 
 secured an independent fortune for each of them. 
 
 Samuel Jewett was one of the pioneer settlers of New Hartford and 
 used to say that he had helped to raise the first barn, the first frame 
 house, and the first meeting-house that were built in that town. He re- 
 moved hither in 1795 and purchased of Stephen Norton a part of the 
 Potter farm. His late residence on the line of the Seneca turnpike, 
 built before that road had been worked, but not before it was laid 
 out, forms at this day almost the only remaining landmark of its gen- 
 eration. 
 
 We come now to the year 1796, in which (or possibly in 1795) Eze- 
 kiel Clark arrived and began a small business as a merchant in Bagg's 
 Tavern. He continued a resident almost, if not quite, until the hamlet 
 became a city, and was by turns merchant, innkeeper, baker, cooper, 
 and merchant again. 
 
 Of the new comers one was a merchant, but did not remain long a 
 merchant. With him there was abundant reason for the change : his 
 educational training had been in a totally different direction, and was 
 too complete a one to admit of sacrifice ; this, together with his natural 
 bias and the needs of his neighbors, soon inclined him to pursuits more 
 congenial. This was Dr. Alexander Coventry, whose character and ca- 
 reer deserve a fuller consideration. He was born near Hamilton, Scot- 
 
DR. ALEXANDER COVENTRY. 39 
 
 land, August 27, 1766, the son of Capt. George Coventry, who had 
 served under his majesty George III. in the old French war. The son 
 attended medical lectures at Glasgow and at Edinburgh, and imbibed 
 the instruction of those eminent teachers, Monro, Cullen, Hope, and 
 Gregory. In July, 1785, he sailed for America and first settled at Hud- 
 son in this State, where he became engaged in agricultural pursuits in 
 conjunction with the practice of his profession. Thence he removed to 
 Romulus, on the east side of Seneca Lake, which place he left in 1796 
 on account of the sickness of himself and his family, and came to Old 
 Fort Schuyler. At first he entered into mercantile business with John 
 Post, but soon separated from him and opened a physician's office just 
 above, that is to say, on the west side of the Genesee road about two 
 doors above the corner of Whitesboro street. About 1804 he had for 
 a partner Dr. David Hasbrouck; but having purchased a farm m Deer- 
 field he removed thither and once more engaged in agriculture. 
 
 The doctor pursued farming, and especially fruit growing, with all 
 the ardor of more modern amateurs, and his grafted apples and other 
 fruit were famous the country round. From this period onward until 
 his death his time and attention were divided between his farm, his 
 books, and the practice of his profession, although during his latter 
 years the demands of his profession were paramount to all besides. He 
 had formed a partnership in 18 17 with the late Dr. John McCall, then 
 also residing in Deerfield. In the following year, when the latter came 
 to this place, their office was in a small wooden building on the north- 
 west corner of Broad and John streets, and here joined him his next 
 and last partner, his son, Dr. Charles B. Coventry. 
 
 As a family physician and obstetrician Dr. Coventry was eminently 
 distinguished ; and not only in our own but in the adjoining counties 
 he maintained a standing no less respectable as a consulting one. His 
 uniformly courteous and sympathizing manner with the sick, co-operat- 
 ing with his clear and discriminating judgment, obtained for him unriv- 
 aled esteem and affection. Every one felt safe when his skill and 
 experience could be secured. In person he was muscular and moder- 
 ate in height ; in manners without pretence, but affable and engaging; 
 in tastes, social ; in temper, sometimes irascible. 
 
 The public appreciation of the science and standing of Dr. Coventry 
 
40 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 is shown by the offices he held. Besides-presiding for several succes- 
 sive years over the medical society of his own county he was twice 
 elected president of the medical society of the State. He was a trustee 
 of the Fairfield Medical College, a member of the Society for the Pro- 
 motion of Agriculture, Art, and Manufactures, a member of the Albany 
 Lyceum, and a corresponding member of the Linnjean Society of Paris. 
 He was an occasional contributor to the political and agricultural jour- 
 nals of the day, and was also the author of some professional papers for 
 the medical serials. From the period of his studentship to the last year 
 of his life he kept a diary in which he noted at length t^is medical and 
 agricultural employments, with references now and then to social and 
 other current events of the day. About the year 1817 he led the way 
 in the formation of the first agricultural society of the county, and was 
 its secretary and presiding genius. 
 
 While attending a dangerous case of sickness in the family of Nicho- 
 las Devereux he fell a victim to an epidemic influenza and died De- 
 cember 9, 1 83 1. His wife, Elizabeth Butler, of Brantford, Conn., had 
 died some years before. He left a family of seven sons and four 
 daughters. Of these the late Dr. Charles B. Coventry was the only one 
 who made a home in Utica. 
 
 A merchant who may be set down as of this date was Talcott Camp, 
 for he visited the place in the fall of 1796, bringing iVith him a portion 
 of goods, though he returned east for the winter, to come again with his 
 family the following spring. Shortly before the date above named he 
 was in New York city, and a sight he there beheld determined, it is said, 
 his course to the new settlement. This was a barrel or two of silver 
 coin which William G. Tracy, of Whitesboro, had brought down to ex- 
 change for the goods he needed in his trade. Returns like these be- 
 tokened a market that was worth the seeking, and he sought it. Talcott 
 Camp was born in Durham, Conn., and held during the greater part of 
 the Revolution ^ post in the commissary department. Settling after- 
 ward in Glastonbury he was engaged chiefly in mercantile pursuits, 
 although he was also associated with a partner in the manufacture of iron. 
 
 For a few years after his removal to Old Fort Schuyler he devoted 
 himself to trading, and was not at all unsuccessful in the pursuit, though 
 he ere long disposed of his interest and engaged in the purchase and 
 
HON. HORATIO SEYMOTJR. 
 
TALCOTT CAMP AND OTHER TRADERS. 41 
 
 sale of lands. But it is as an upright and esteemed magistrate, as he 
 long was, that 'Squire Camp is best known, and tradition recalls the 
 impartial dignity with which he was wont to pronounce " the opinion of 
 the court." In 1809 he was made president of the village, a station 
 which he held for five successive years. This was in part during the 
 turbulent period of the war, when troops were often marched through 
 the village or quartered in the neighborhood, and when aggressions and 
 quarrels were rife. Much responsibility and care were of course de- 
 volved upon him. He was some time trustee of the Presbyterian 
 Church and bore a part as one of the original board in the founding of 
 the Utica Academy. Prominent among those who made honorable the 
 beginnings of Utica he was a man of intelligence and integrity, of ster- 
 ling sense and judgment, " of marked and dignified appearance and 
 courteous manners, who always commanded respect and in his later 
 years veneration." 
 
 Before speaking of the new comers of 1797 let us notice a few individ- 
 uals who were already located when the settlers of 1797 themselves 
 appeared. Besides other merchants than those we have mentioned Clark 
 & Fellows kept at this time the largest store in tlie place, that is to say 
 for the benefit of the inhabitants, Post's trade being chiefly with the In- 
 dians. It was situated on the north side of the Whitesboro road near the 
 present Division street, and was in fact but a mere hut. Silas Clark, the 
 elder partner, was a stirring man and made money. He owned a 
 farm at the eastern end of the settlement ; also a house and lot some- 
 what nearer, besides the house in which he lived on the south side of 
 Whitesboro street and almost opposite his store. 
 
 William Fellows, after the death of his associate, formed a connection 
 with Moses Bagg, jr., for the sale of the miscellaneous goods of a 
 country store. This connection was closed in the year 1807, when John 
 Camp, who had been their clerk, purchased Mr. Fellows's interest. 
 
 Men of higher mark than these were Nathan WilHams and Erastus 
 Clark, the earliest lawyers of the place, who will be noticed in a later 
 chapter. Francis A. Bloodgood, admitted as an attorney of the Su- 
 preme Court, August 5, 1790, made his debut before a Fort Schuyler 
 audience on the anniversary of our nation's independence, 1797. His 
 address was delivered in a grove in the rear of the shingle-sided 
 
42 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 house heretofore mentioned, and on whose site was erected the fol- 
 lowing year The Hotel, as it was called, par eminence. Mr. Blood- 
 good was a native of Albany and a graduate of Union College. 
 What headway he made in the practice of his profession we are unable 
 to declare; but two years later he was appointed county clerk, and 
 herein he found what was almost his life work ; at least during nearly 
 the whole period of his residence did he hold by successive re- appoint- 
 ments this remunerative and responsible station. His political feelings 
 were strong and his influence, both by means of his pen and by per- 
 sonal efforts, was considerable. Neither was he by any means indiffer- 
 ent to all that related to the interests of the town. He was a village 
 trustee in 1805, and on the organization of the Bank of Utica became 
 one of its trustees. In 18 10, as senator, he represented the district at 
 Albany, where he was a zealous follower of De Witt Clinton. He 
 resided on W^hitesboro street within a short distance eastward from the 
 office over which he presided. 
 
 As notable a person as any we have yet mentioned, conspicuous alike 
 for his past eminent service to the country as for high social position 
 and influence and example in the village he chose for his later residence, 
 was Colonel Walker. Col. Benjamin Walker was born in 1753 in England 
 and it is believed in the city of London, and was a pupil in his youth of the 
 Blue Coat School. He did not receive a brilliant but a solid education, 
 and having afterward passed some time in France he became a mas- 
 ter of the French language. At an early age he entered the service of 
 a respectable mercantile house in London, under whose patronage he 
 came while yet a youth to this country and resided with an eminent 
 merchant in New York. He was still in the service of this gentleman 
 when the Revolutionary war commenced. At the beginning of the 
 contest he entered warmly into the cause of American independence. 
 He was serving in the rank of captain in the Second Regiment of New 
 York when he was appointed to act as aid-de-camp to the Baron Steu- 
 ben. It was at Valley Forge on the 25th of April, 1778, that Steuben 
 took him into his family as his first aid. In this situation he gained the 
 warmest friendship and most intimate confidence of the baron, and was 
 ever after regarded by him with the affection of a son. Frederick Kapp, 
 in his Life of Steuben, informs us that Walker superintended all his cor- 
 
CAREER OF COL. BENJAMIX WALKER. 43 
 
 respondence and writing from 1778 to 1782. Steuben dictated to him 
 in French and Walker wrote it out in English. Thus almost all the 
 drafts of Steuben's reforms and plans are written in Walker's neat hand - 
 writing. He accompanied his general to all the inspections and reviews, 
 acted as translator in ease of need, and often extricated him from diffi- 
 culties. Even in the most difficult matters Steuben relied chiefly on 
 Walker's sound judgment, and the success of Steuben's reforms is in a 
 great measure due to his able and indefatigableaid-de-camp. In the year 
 1781-82 Walker joined General Washington's suite and acted as his aid 
 to the close of the war. He was one of the persons so strongly rec- 
 ommended to the patronage of Congress in the letter of Washington 
 accompanying his resignation, and was for many years honored with 
 an epistolary correspondence with that great man. After the con- 
 clusion of peace he was at first secretary to the governor of New York, 
 but soon after established himself in the wholesale hardware and com- 
 mission business in company with Maj. Benjamin Ledyard. He was also 
 naval officer of the port of New York and continued to hold the place 
 until 1797. In the latter year, when he was appointed agent of the Earl 
 of Bath's great estate, a landed property lying chiefly in Madison 
 County, he removed to Old Fort Schuyler, where he resided the remain- 
 der of his life. The management of this estate as well as the care of 
 the lands devised to him by Baron Steuben, and which were situated 
 chiefly in the northern part of this county, occupied much of his atten- 
 tion. He was in 1800 chosen to represent this district in Congress, but 
 could never afterward be prevailed upon to enter on the duties of public 
 life. Although he declined the public services of his country he was 
 by no means inattentive to the welfare of his fellow citizens. 
 
 Among those who took part in the organization and erection of Trin- 
 ity Church he was perhaps the foremost. The Bleecker family had 
 promised the donation of a site to the first church of any kind that 
 should be erected in this place. Lady Bath, of England, had also 
 pledged the gift of several hundred acres of her land in Madison County 
 to the first church of an Episcopalian character that should be built in 
 this part of the State. Not only was it through the agency of Colonel 
 Walker that this latter gift was realized, but his name also heads the list 
 of individual subscriptions made for the church, and in association with 
 
44 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 Nathan Williams and William Inman he was appointed on the building 
 committee. 
 
 He built for himself a fine mansion at the eastern end of Broad street 
 which then had a large farm attached. His house was the seat of re- 
 fined and elegant hospitality and he a model gentleman. " He gave 
 much of his time to the society of his friends, to whom his gay good 
 sense, his unassuming manners, his open, generous temper, his independ- 
 ent spirit, and his extensive acquaintance with the world rendered him 
 a most enlivening and instructive companion." For those days his style 
 was considerable ; he kept three slaves, employed several men on his 
 garden and grounds, had a good deal of plate, and was the first inhab- 
 itant who owned a coach. Of Colonel Walker it is said that " it was his 
 peculiar delight to search out merit in distress, to cheer the poor man 
 in despondency, to prove himself a father to the fatherless, and to restore 
 hope and comfort to the breast of the widow. To these benevolent pur- 
 poses he appropriated a large share of his income, and it is confidently 
 believed that no individual in tliis part of the country distributed more 
 in charity than he. And yet in all this there was no ostentation of benef- 
 icence." In person he was rather short and fleshy, having a decided 
 English physiognomy and an expression of benevolence coupled with 
 some degree of sternness. He had a fine voice, and when he presided 
 at one time at a meeting of citizens called to express their disapproba- 
 tion of Mr. Jefferson's embargo he addressed them in a loud tone and 
 with a curt, martial air, as he would have issued orders on the field 
 of battle. His death took place on the 13th of January, 18 18. His 
 remains, which from that time had lain in the village burying ground, 
 were on the 17th of June, 1875, reinterred with public and befitting 
 ceremonies in Forest Hill Cemetery. His portrait is preserved in the 
 picture of Washington resigning his commission, painted by Trumbull 
 for the rotunda in the capitol. 
 
 The next to be chronicled is Bryan Johnson, widely known after- 
 ward as one of the foremost merchants of Utica. He, too, was a native 
 of England, and was born about the middle of the last century. A 
 brother of his had lived some time in this country and was an enthu- 
 siast in all that related thereto. Influenced by his representations Mr. 
 Johnson was induced to relinquish his trade in London and to embark 
 
BYRAN JOHNSON, AN EARLY MERCHANT. 45 
 
 for America. Leaving his family, then consisting of his wife and one 
 son, to remain until he should have secured for them a permanent home 
 he departed for Dublin, whence he sailed for New York. Proceeding 
 to Albany and thence up the Mohawk on his way to Canada Mr. John- 
 son arrived at Old Fort Schuyler on the 4th of July, 1797. He was so 
 much pleased with the appearance of the place that he decided to re- 
 main here, and soon established himself in a small building on the 
 Whitesboro road near where is now Division street. 
 
 His earliest advertisement acquaints the. public that he will advance 
 ready cash on all kinds of produce. He kept a good assortment of 
 goods, which he sold at prices unusually low. His ambition for some 
 time seems to have been directed more to the transaction of a large 
 business than to make great gains. To attain his object he sought the 
 reputation of selling goods cheaper than his village competitors and 
 to purchase country produce at higher prices. His greatest compet- 
 itors were, however, outside the village. Messrs. Kane & Van Rens- 
 selaer, a highly respectable and rich firm, were established at Canajo- 
 harie and were transacting a great business, extending far beyond this 
 place. Their store at Canajoharie was near the Mohawk, and as their 
 business kept declining they would hail the boats passing down the 
 river with wheat and potash in order to ascertain to whom the freight 
 belonged. The answer was, "To Bryan Johnson, of Old Fort Schuyler" ; 
 and as boats returned up the river loaded with merchandise gave the 
 same answer when questioned as to the ownership of the goods Messrs. 
 Kane & Van Rensselaer resolved to go to the new emporium and to 
 share in the same trade. The rivalry thus produced continued with un- 
 abated force after Messrs. Kane & Van Rensselaer had established them- 
 , selves here and as long as Mr. Johnson remained in business. 
 
 In the meantime, however, there arrived from England the son of the 
 latter, the late A. B. Johnson, who became an associate of his father. 
 The following is their advertisement of 1802: "New universal cheap 
 wholesale and retail store. B. Johnson takes this opportunity of inform- 
 ing the public that he has, in addition to his former store, opened the 
 above, adjoining the printing office on the Genesee road, where he has 
 received a large and fashionable assortment of dry goods, &c., &c. He 
 continues paying, as usual, the highest prices in cash for seasoned furs. 
 
46 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 rtax seed, wheat, pot and pearl ashes." The son never participated in 
 the rivalry so far as to disregard the great object of trade, the acquisition 
 of property, and wielding a very considerable influence over his father ; 
 notwithstanding he was yet much under age he succeeded in impress- 
 ing him with his own views. The result was that more money was 
 realized in the last few years of Mr. Johnson's business than in all the 
 former. But in 1 809, soon after the son had attained his majority and 
 several years before his own death, he thought best to retire. He had 
 now for many years maintained his position as a leading merchant, and 
 by trade as well as by some fortunate purchases of real estate had 
 acquired a property of almost $50,000. 
 
 Maj. Benjamin Hinman was a native of Southbury, Conn. He served 
 several years with much credit in the army of the Revolution as captain, 
 commissary, wagonmaster, and aid to General Greene. He was one 
 of the thirteen Hinmans who held commissions in that war from the 
 town of Woodbury. On one occasion, when the British threatened to 
 attack the fort at Rome, he was sent thither, and was so much pleased 
 with the character of the country through which he passed that he 
 determined on the expiration of the war to settle there. He came ac- 
 cordingly about the year 1787 and purchased a tract of about 2,000 
 acres at Little Falls. In 1797 or 1798 he removed to Fort Schuyler. 
 After occupying two or three different residences on this side of the 
 river and keeping a public house a few years across the bridge in Deer- 
 field he finally took up his residence in Main street a few doors east of 
 the square. While living in Deerfield he superintended the construction 
 of the dike across the flats. The former road had been an ungraded 
 and meandering one, following the course of the higher portions of land. 
 
 Rev. John Hammond was a Baptist minister who in 1797 was living 
 in this place, his house being on the public square a little below Bagg's 
 Tavern. While here he preached at Deerfield and elsewhere in this 
 vicinity. At this time he is said to have conducted a class on Sunday 
 for instruction in the Scriptures, and may therefore be regarded as a 
 pioneer in the work of Sunday school teaching. He also labored occa- 
 sionally among the Indians; but Elder Hammond was not solely and 
 exclusively devoted to ministerial labors ; he was also a land surveyor 
 as were his three sons. Assisted by these sons he surveyed the tract in 
 
CAPTAIN MACOMBER AND SAMUEL HOOKER. 47 
 
 the northern part of the State purchased by John Brown, of Providence, 
 and known as Brown's tract. 
 
 In the course of this year Capt. George Macomber conducts hither 
 his eldest son and leaves him to manage for himself while he goes back 
 to Taunton, Mass., and after a year or more comes again, bringing with 
 him the remainder of his family. This family claim to be descendants 
 of one of the historic company of the Mayflower, and still cherish as a 
 sacred heirloom a ring that bears the name of Mary Standish. 
 
 Capt. George Macomber had previously followed the sea, but leaving 
 this hazardous pursuit now that he was past middle life and responsible 
 for the settlement of a family of ten children he emigrated with them 
 to the new country. As for himself, it being too late to acquire a new 
 profession, he spent the remainder of his days in gardening. 
 
 Samuel Hooker was another carpenter who at this time took up his 
 residence here. Originally from Barre, Mass., he had settled in Albany 
 and was engaged in his chosen calling when he was induced to come to 
 Old Fort Scliuyler to superintend the erection by the agents of the 
 Holland Land Company of a large brick hotel on Whitesboro street. 
 His son Philip remained in Albany and became eminent as an architect, 
 having been employed in the erection of St. Peter's and the Lutheran 
 Churches as well as the State capitoh The remainder of Mr. Hooker's 
 family removed with him, including his son John, who was also a car- 
 penter and builder. These two were the only persons resident who 
 were competent to project and carry on so important a structure as the 
 hotel. It was probably begun in 1797 and was finished near the close 
 of the year 1799. A more particular account of it will be given here- 
 after. In June, 1803, when a subscription had been started looking 
 toward the building of Trinity Church, the Messrs. Hooker presented 
 plans which were accepted, and they were engaged to go on with the 
 work until the money had been expended. Beside these and other 
 more private undertakings Mr. Hooker was in 1808 acting as agent for 
 two fire insurance companies. He was an unassuming, industrious, and 
 upright man. That he was much respected in his own church at least 
 may be inferred from the fact that for twenty-one years he was annually 
 elected one of its officers, two-thirds of which time he was a warden. 
 Hooker, son of the foregoing, after following for some years his trade of 
 carpenter and builder, went into the sale of lumber with Seth Dwight. 
 
48 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 Seventy acres of lot No. 96 were on the 2d of January, 1897. bought 
 by Richard Kimball from Jedediah Sanger, of New Hartford, who had 
 himself bought of James S. Kip. This farm, which Mr. Kimball 
 occupied until 1804, lay chiefly on the eastern side of Genesee Hill, but 
 extended in part across to the western side nearly as far as the pres- 
 ent Aikin street, where it bordered on the southern line of Judge Coop- 
 er's purchase. The farm-house, which since Mr. Kimball's day has been 
 the home of numerous successive tenants, stood nearly on the site of 
 the sumptuous mansion of Irvin A. Williams. At present it stands on 
 the street which in after years was named in allusion to the early owner 
 of the territory it traverses, though in allusion merely, since contempt 
 for a name so wanting in honorable belongings as Kimball has changed 
 it to Kemble. This owner, having sold his farm, went back to Con- 
 necticut. 
 
 We have arrived at the spring of 1798, a period which to their suc- 
 cessors is an entirely arbitrary one, yet which to the inhabitants of our 
 settlement was the beginning of a new epoch. They had begun to 
 realize the need of a more formal civil organization, and moreover as- 
 pired to have their place recognized by a name that should be both 
 more distinctive and more easy to speak than the accidental one it had 
 thus far borne. As a curious illustration of the nature of fame the orig- 
 inator of the name of Utica cannot be admitted as past all doubt. The 
 common report goes that the inhabitants were assembled in the public 
 room of Bagg's Tavern and the question was raised of a designation for 
 their soon to be incorporated village. A number of names were pro- 
 posed. Some of those present were in favor of retaining the present one ; 
 one individual liked Indian names and wished that the village shouldtake 
 the patronymic of the noble Oneida chief, Sconandoa ; another preferred 
 a more national hero and would have it called Washington ; another who 
 was in search of briefness would call it Kent, an euphonious term and full 
 of pleasing memories to the descendant of English ancestry. This 
 latter had strong advocates, but was defeated by the ridicule of a 
 citizen of whom we now hear for the first time, but of whom I can pick 
 up nothing more except that his name was Little, and that he afterward 
 drowned himself 
 
 Finding agreement by other means impossible it was resolved to de- 
 
UTICA NAMED AND INCORPORATED. 49 
 
 cide the name by lot. Each person present deposited in a hat the name 
 of his preference written on a slip of paper, and of these there were 
 thirteen. The name first drawn was to be the accepted one. And so 
 the lot fell upon the heathen name of Utica, the choice of that eminent 
 classical scholar, Erastus Clark. 
 
 In due time came from the State legislature the act of incorporation 
 already applied for. This act, passed April 3, 1798, defined the bound- 
 aries of the village and gave the citizens the right of self-government 
 under five freeholders duly elected as trustees, and who were invested 
 with the powers usually granted to small incorporated villages. And 
 yet these powers were quite restricted, amounting to little more than 
 protection against nuisances on the highways and the prevention and 
 extinction of fires. In its title the village is named by the name it had 
 previously borne ; in the body of the act it is named only by its new 
 one. And thus was Old Fort Schuyler merged into Utica. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE FIRST VILLAGE CHARTER. 
 
 Counties Erected — New comers of 1798 — Notes from Dwight's Travels — The 
 Holland Land Company — The Phelps and Gorham Purchase — The first Hotel — Its 
 Proprietors — Religious interests and an early Preacher — The Village tax list for 
 1800 — Notes of another Traveler — Highway Improvements — Business Develop- 
 ment — The year 1801 — Recollections of the Welch Population — General character- 
 istics at this early Period — Settlers of 1 801-04 — Petition for a new Charter — A Map 
 of the Village in 1806 — General Features. 
 
 NOT the settlement of Old Fort Schuyler alone dropped at this time 
 the name which had previously attached to it; the territory in 
 which it was located received Hkewise a new christening in the spring 
 of 1798. The former county of Montgomery had already by successive 
 acts of the legislature been curtailed of its vast dimensions, and the 
 counties of Chemung, Ontario, Tioga, Otsego, Herkimer, and Onon- 
 7 
 
50 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 daga had been one after another erected. Whitestown at the date in 
 question was still a part of Herkimer County, though diminished in size 
 by the setting off of several independent towns. By an act passed 
 March 15, 1798, Herkimer was itself divided and the additional counties 
 of Chenango and Oneida were formed. Whitestown now fell to the 
 belongings of Oneida, and Utica was but an inconsiderable though in- 
 corporated village in this still extensive township. 
 
 Of the first seven years of its corporate life all records are lost; they 
 were burned in the fire which on the 7th of December, 1848, consumed 
 the council chamber and the most of its contents. A like fate has 
 befallen the early town records of Whitestown. The times of adoption 
 of a few streets of Utica, which were copied from the latter before their 
 destruction, are the sole items saved. The newspapers of that date are 
 quite barren of news merely local ; engrossed with foreign concerns their 
 editors gave little heed to events that happened directly around them ; 
 still less did they think to cater for those who at this day might study 
 their sheets to seek out the past. Thus of village affairs our ignorance 
 is nearly complete, and we know scarce one of the names of those who 
 then were in rule. From a manuscript saved we gather that Francis A. 
 Bloodgood was treasurer in 1800 and 1801 and Talcott Camp in 1802. 
 We know also from subsequent minutes that at the first freeholders' 
 meeting held under the charter of 1805 the trustees were present. But 
 who the trustees were and what had been their official acts has perished 
 forever. On the occasion of the fire which burned the store of Messrs. 
 Post Sz; Hamlin in February, 1804, a card was issued by the trustees of 
 the village in which they present " their warm thanks to the fire com- 
 pany and to the citizens and strangers in general for their eager exer- 
 tions in saving the property of the sufferers and in extinguishing the 
 flames." So far as we know this card is the only evidence left us that 
 as a corporate body the trustees ever existed, and the thanks accorded 
 the firemen the only proof that their powers had once been in exercise, 
 as they would seem to have been in organizing the company. For as- 
 sociate enterprise the time was much too new, and institutions, commer- 
 cial, manufacturing, or benevolent, awaited a more established order of 
 things. Dismissing then the expectation of obtaining any light from 
 records written or printed upon this infantile portion of the civic life of 
 
THE NEWLY NAMED VILLAGE. 51 
 
 Utica we must go on as we have begun with the narrative of the com- 
 ponent parts of the population and be content to infer the tenor of the 
 public acts from the character of the actors. 
 
 It so happens besides that the period of the first charter covers the 
 advent of many whose healthful influence was felt throughout the entire 
 village history, who, like some already sketched, were men of nerve, 
 fortitude, and energy, honest in principle and in conduct, wise and dili- 
 gent in their own behalf, yet zealous for the interests of the place of their 
 adoption. These for their private worth and their public deeds should 
 be held in perpetual honor. And though of the period in question there 
 is little of the heroic to relate, though it may have been " a day of small 
 things," its actors were steadily laying the foundation of a greater future, 
 were forming for themselves and their village a reputation for thrift, en- 
 terprise, and virtue which their descendants glory to inherit, and were 
 preparing to become partakers in most of those local and general under- 
 takings that have given prosperity to town and county. 
 
 Turning to the fresh comers of the newly named village the first we 
 notice is Thomas Skinner, a student of law. A graduate of Williams 
 College in the year 1797 we find him the next year prosecuting his 
 studies and boarding at the house of Talcott Camp, on Whitesboro street, 
 in company with his preceptor and former fellow townsman at Will- 
 iamstown, Nathan Williams. It was not long before they were part- 
 ners in practice and were still further united by the marriage of the lat- 
 ter to Mary, the sister of Mr. Skinner. Far short of Mr. Williams in 
 force, learning, or legal acumen he surpassed him in fluency and grace 
 as a speaker. He had a fine imagination and a classical taste improved 
 by the choicest reading. Possessing skill also as a writer he became 
 one of the principal contributors to the Columbian Gazette. In 1807 
 he was the attorney of the village and somewhat later held similar re- 
 lations to the Utica Bank. For some years he acted as treasurer of the 
 Presbyterian Church and was also a village trustee. His oratorical 
 repute and his skill as an advocate secured him at one time a nomination 
 to Congress, but he was beaten by that abler man, Thomas R. Gold. 
 
 The year 1798 is signalized as that in which was established the first 
 newspaper in Utica. This was the Whitestown Gazette, which had been 
 first set up in New Hartford in 1793. Four years later its publisher. 
 
52 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 William McLean, removed it here, changing its name to theWhitestown 
 Gazette and Caio's Patrol, the addition having reference to the younger 
 Cato, who was the defender of ancient Utica. Mr. McLean was a 
 native of Hartford, Conn., where he was born December 2, 1774, and 
 could not have been long out of his apprenticeship when he started his 
 paper. He was assiduous in his devotion to business until the year 1 803, 
 when he sold out to two of his apprentices, Messrs. Seward and Will- 
 iams, and moved back to New Hartford. 
 
 Under date of November 23, 1798, John C. Hoyt "begs to inform 
 the public," through the columns of the Whitestown Gazette, " that he 
 has commenced business as a taylor at the shop formerly occupied by 
 William S. Warner, opposite Bagg's Inn, Utica, where he hopes to give 
 satisfaction to all who may favor him with their commands." His shop 
 was on the southwest corner of the Genesee and Whitesboro roads. 
 Here he continued his business for more than twenty years, reared a 
 family, and gained the respect of his fellow townsmen. He was twice a 
 trustee of the village and was likewise a trustee of the Presbyterian 
 Church, and was an upright and benevolent man. ' 
 
 The appearance of the place at the period in question we have a 
 picture of from the pen of an intelligent and trustworthy traveler. In 
 the year 1798 Rev. Timothy Dwight, D.D., president of Yale College, 
 made a tour through this portion of the State, and in the published vol- 
 umes of his travels, wherein he has condensed the results of this and a 
 somewhat later journey, he thus discourses of Utica : " Utica, when we 
 passed through it, was a pretty village containing fifty houses. It is 
 built on the spot where Fort Schuyler formerly stood. Its site is the 
 declivity of the hill which bounds the valley of the Mohawk, and here 
 slopes easily and elegantly to the river. The houses stand almost all on 
 a single street parallel to the river. Generally those which were built 
 before our arrival were small, not being intended for permanent habita- 
 tions. The settlers were almost wholly traders and mechanics, and it 
 was said that their business had already become considerable. Their 
 expectations of future prosperity were raised to the highest pitch, and 
 not a doubt was entertained that this village would at no great distance 
 of time become the emporium of all the commerce carried on between 
 the ocean and a vast interior. We found the people of Utica laboring 
 
SOME INTERESTING DESCRIPTIONS. 53 
 
 and in a fair way to labor a long time under one very serious disadvant- 
 age. The lands on which they live are chiefly owned by persons who 
 reside at a distance and who refuse to sell or to rent them except on 
 terms which are exorbitant. The stories which we heard concerning 
 this subject it was difficult to believe, even when told by persons of the 
 best reputation. A company of gentlemen from Holland who have 
 purchased large tracts of land in this State and Pennsylvania, and who 
 are known by the name of the Holland Land Company, have built here 
 a large brick house to serve as an inn. The people of Utica are united 
 with those of Whitesboro in their parochial concerns." 
 
 With reference to the sanguine and seemingly fallacious expectations 
 of the settlers, and to the obstacle which in the opinion of this author 
 hindered the rapid growth of their place, I add a single sentence from 
 the recorded notes of an early resident. He says : " The inhabitants 
 always entertained a very hopeful opinion of their village, and real estate 
 was in more request and at higher prices than in the surrounding 
 villages. This was much induced by the withholding from sale of the 
 Bleecker estate, which covered a large part of Utica." 
 
 A noteworthy fact mentioned by Dr. Dwight is the existence of a 
 large brick house then recently erected for an inn. The magnitude of 
 the structure for the time and place, the expectations of its owners, and 
 the fact that it remains today almost the only landmark of Utica as it 
 was upwards of ninety years ago will justify us in devoting a few para- 
 graphs to its history. 
 
 On the 2d of November, 1795, the agents of the Holland Land Com- 
 pany bought of Thomas and Augustus Corey 200 acres of great lot 
 No. 95, which purchase, or a part of it, was commonly known afterward 
 as the hotel lot. Within two years the company proceeded to erect upon 
 it a large brick hotel, which was not only the first brick house in the 
 village, but the first of its size in the county and probably in the State 
 west of Albany. Indeed it may be scarcely an exaggeration to say there 
 was not its like anywhere between the Hudson and the Pacific Ocean. 
 The site selected was near the shingle-sided farm-house of the Coreys on 
 Whitesboro street, and was probably as swampy a spot as any in the vil- 
 lage — a veritable flag-pond. The contract for the erection of the build- 
 ing was made with Samuel Hooker and John, his son. As we have 
 
54 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 seen they were carpenters and architects of Albany who, being invited 
 to undertake the job, came here and made the place their subsequent 
 home. The bricks were made by Heli Foot, of Deerfield. After suffi- 
 cient earth had been removed there were laid, as foundations for the 
 superincumbent stone and brick, hemlock logs placed lengthwise along 
 the sides and ends. Perishable as such a foundation may seem it served 
 well for a while, but in process of time these timbers settled consider- 
 ably. Fortunately this settling was uniform, so that while it diminished 
 the height of the building it did no material injury to the walls or the 
 flooring. When completed it was a square, three-storied structure 
 with a four-sided roof It contained, besides the usual public rooms and 
 numerous lodging apartments of a house of this nature, a large ball room 
 in the second story of the west end and a room which was soon occu- 
 pied by the Masonic lodge. It was an immense edifice for the time and 
 place, and loomed above all the story and a half wooden houses of the 
 village like a palace among hovels. Upon its front was displayed in 
 chiseled letters which no subsequent repaintings have been able to 
 wholly obliterate : " Hotel." 
 
 Ten years before, in July, 1788, Messrs. Phelps and Gorham bought 
 from the State of Massachusetts the title to the Genesee country, so 
 called, containing more than a million of acres now included in the sev- 
 eral counties, and began to offisr these lands for sale. Within two years, 
 as we learn from the census of 1790, there were already settled upon 
 them a population of upwards of 1,000, and this amount was annually 
 augmenting. The Military tract, southwest from Utica, and the Hol- 
 land Land Company's purchase, lying beyond that of Phelps and Gor- 
 ham, were soon after likewise thrown upon the market and like it were 
 being speedily peopled. The rapidity, in fact, with which Western New 
 York was now filHng up is paralleled only by the rapidly growing West- 
 ern States of the Union. 
 
 Another evidence of the tide of emigration that was now flowing to- 
 ward this western El Dorado may be seen in the following, culled from 
 the "Annals of Albany": In the winter of 1795 1,200 sleighs loaded with 
 furniture and with men, women, and children passed through Albany in 
 three days, and 500 were counted between sunrise and sunset of February 
 28th of that year. All of them were moving westward. Wearenotthen 
 
THE FIRST HOTEL AND ITS LANDLORDS. 55 
 
 surprised to learn that in the experience of the small taverns of Utica it 
 was by no means uncommon to have not only all the beds of the house, 
 but the floors also, crowded with guests, and are ready to believe that a 
 hotel of large dimensions was a thing of necessity. But the Holland 
 Land Company had another object in view. They were owners of ex- 
 tensive tracts of land north and also southwest of Utica, and still broader 
 ones at the west, and it is to be presumed that they were desirous of a 
 house where they, could detain some of these many emigrants and more 
 easily tempt them to a purchase and a settlement. 
 
 The precise era when work was begun upon the hotel cannot be accu- 
 rately determined, though it was probably in 1797. But if there is a 
 doubt as to the time of commencement of the work there is none as to 
 the date of its completion and occupancy as a hotel. On the 2d of 
 December, 1799, it was formally opened by its first landlord, Philip J. 
 Schwartze. Not long after the inauguration of the hotel, probably in 
 the year following, a street was opened southward from it and intersecting 
 the Genesee road at the upper part of the village. This it was hoped 
 would divert the travel from the west and bring it directly to the doors 
 of the company. Naturally it took the name of Hotel street.^ The 
 proprietorship of Mr. Schwartze was of short continuance, for within a 
 year he was succeeded by Hobart Ford, whose stay would seem to have 
 been as brief as that of his predecessor, since he died on the 1st of 
 December, 1801. Later proprietors were Thomas Sickles, a major of 
 the Revolution who had been an assemblyman and a judge in Rensse- 
 laer County before coming to Oneida ; Henry Bamman, who gave to 
 the building the name of York House and kept it until the success of 
 the canal drew away travelers from the river and so diminished its pat- 
 ronage ; and Seth Dwight, a previous merchant and auctioneer of the vil- 
 lage who opened it as a boarding-house. During the war it was for a 
 time garrisoned with soldiers, but has since been successively a board- 
 ing-house, a young ladies' seminary, and a private residence. 
 
 Up to the year 1801 the only existing (and continuous) religious soci- 
 ety was that which had been organized at Whitesboro in 1793 under 
 
 * The absence of parallelism between the two sides of this part of Whitesboro street and the 
 deep bay which exists on its northern side are portrayed on extant maps made in 1798 and 1800. 
 This wide space was doubtless designed for the easier movements of stages in front of the hotel. 
 Its convenience made it, down to a comparatively recent period, a parade ground for military com 
 panics and a rendezvous for partakers in civil displays. 
 
S6 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 the title of the United Society of Whitestown and Old Fort Schuyler, 
 and over this there was settled on the 2ist of August, 1794, the Rev. 
 Bethuel Dodd. One-third of the services were to be bestowed at Utica 
 and two -thirds at Whitesboro, and the salary of the minister was to be 
 raised in rateable proportion from the two parts of his parish. After a 
 few months the connection seemed to be dissolved ; the preaching at 
 Utica was discontinued because there was no place in which public 
 worship could be attended. In 1797 this obstacle was removed by the 
 enlargement of a school-house on Main street. And to this building 
 for a period of several years repaired all the church-going inhabitants of 
 Utica of whatever denominational persuasion. Up to the year 1 800 there 
 were not above four members of the church who resided in the place, 
 but as this number increased Mr. Dodd preached here more frequently, 
 and before his death in 1804 one-half of the time. On days when his 
 duty called him elsewhere the congregation were assembled to listen to 
 the reading of a sermon by Talcott Camp, Hiel Hollister, Solomon P. 
 Goodrich, or others. Nathan Williams, with becoming taste and pro- 
 priety, conducted the singing and was assisted in the bass by the sten- 
 torian lungs of Richard Kimball. Rev. Bethuel Dodd was a native of 
 Bloomfield, N. J., and was graduated at Queens (now Rutgers) College 
 in 1792. He followed the tide of emigration to the "Whitestown 
 country,'' where his preaching being received with favor he was called 
 to assist in forming the first Presbyterian Church that was established in 
 Oneida County, those of Clinton and New Hartford being Congrega- 
 tional. Dr. Dwight, who knew him personally and heard him preach 
 at Whitesboro, says : " He was a very worthy and excellent person who 
 left behind him a name which is as the odor of sweet incense." From 
 one who was a child during his pastorate we learn that for a few months 
 Mr. Dodd held at Utica, during the intermission between the morning 
 and afternoon services, a meeting for the children. Requiring of them 
 lessons from the New England Primer, and especially the catechism, he 
 commented and taught them thereupon. 
 
 The old school- house, once the sanctuary of the fathers of Utica, the 
 seat of learning for their sons, and a place of general assembly, still exists 
 as a shed. It stands on the south side of Main street about midway 
 between First and Second streets, with its end to the street ; its longer 
 
'-^^■^^ .<a^^ 
 
THE WHITESBORO ROAD. 57 
 
 side formerly faced the highway. It formerly embodied all of the char- 
 acteristics of the old-time school-house — rough, uncomfortable, and 
 gloomy. As a place of worship the building was used until the comple- 
 tion of Trinity Church in 1806, when for a brief period the two congrega- 
 tions alternately worshiped in the latter edifice. As a school-house and 
 for town meetings it held out a little longer, but after its stove and lamp 
 had been sold at auction in 1808 its usefulness we may presume had 
 departed. 
 
 The settlement, as we have learned from Dr. Dwight, was mainly 
 confined to a single street. This was known as Main street, the western 
 end being called the " Whitesboro road." A few settlers were located 
 on the lower end of the " Genesee road " and a' few were scattered 
 about in the vicinity. Manuscript maps of this date, now in existence, 
 show two or three additional streets, but as yet they were unoccupied 
 and without a name. 
 
 The westward course of the road to Whitesboro was after leaving 
 Potter's along the lines of the present Varick and Court streets. The 
 public square, formed at the intersection of the Genesee and Whitesboro 
 roads and now known as Bagg's Square, was then more deserving of the 
 name of square than in recent times, since its western side, instead of 
 diverging from the eastern one as it now does, ran up from the river 
 nearly parallel with it until it reached a point a little short of the north- 
 ern line of Main, when it curved westward in a quarter circle toward 
 the Whitesboro street corner. Thus its shape, in place of being tri- 
 angular as at present, approximated to that of an oblong whose greatest 
 length was east and west, and having an arm extending from its eastern 
 end toward the river. 
 
 The year 1800 furnishes the first tax list of the population of Utica 
 that is now extant. Merely as a list of inhabitants it is of interest, and 
 more especially as the names follow pretty nearly in the order of resi- 
 dence, beginning at the eastern limits of the settlement and proceeding 
 along Main street and the northern side of Whitesboro as far as Potter's, 
 thence back on the southern side, and a little way up Genesee. The 
 extreme smallness of amount of tax when compared with the course of 
 modern taxation would lead one to question whether it comprises the 
 whole levy of the year or whether it is not rather some special assess- 
 
S8 
 
 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 ment. It is entitled, however, " Utica Village Tax List for 1800, 
 we print it verbatim as an interesting list worthy of preservation, 
 as follows : 
 
 DoUs. Cts. 
 
 Silas Clark 50 
 
 J. D. Petrie 25 
 
 Matthew Hubbell 25 
 
 Benjamin Walker, esq 1 00 
 
 J. Booking 25 
 
 75 
 
 Peter Smith, esq 
 
 Benjamin Ballou 
 
 James S. Kipp, esq 
 
 Widow Dawson (Murphy) , 
 
 Samuel Carrington 
 
 Sylvanus P. Dygert 
 
 Samuel Forman 
 
 Clark ,. 
 
 John Curtis 
 
 John Hobby 1 
 
 Benjamin Ballou, jr 
 
 Jere. Oowden 
 
 Eiohard Smith 1 
 
 Joseph Ballou 
 
 0. k J. Ballou 
 
 John House 1 
 
 John Post 2 00 
 
 Daniel Budlong 1 25 
 
 (0 
 
 25 
 
 12i 
 
 37i 
 
 37i 
 
 Ti\ 
 
 37i 
 
 ]2i 
 
 37i 
 
 25 
 
 12i 
 
 75 
 
 87i 
 
 00 
 
 William Pritchard 
 
 Nichols, Bagg's house . . . 
 
 James Bagg 
 
 Moses Bagg 
 
 Worden Hammond , . . . . 
 
 John Smith 
 
 Byran Johnson 
 
 Administrator of Daniel Banks. 
 
 Clark & Fellows 
 
 Eemsen 
 
 Proprietors of Hotel 
 
 12i 
 
 75 
 
 12i 
 
 00 
 
 50 
 
 87i 
 
 00 
 
 621 
 
 87i 
 
 50 
 
 00 
 
 Dolls. 
 
 Nathan Williams 
 
 Barnabas Brooks 
 
 J. Bissell 
 
 John Bellinger 
 
 John C. Hoyt 
 
 Samuel Rugg. . , 
 
 Barabas Coon 
 
 John Cooper ; 
 
 Jeptha Buell 
 
 Stephen Potter 
 
 Ramsey & Co 1 
 
 G-urdon Burchard 
 
 Francis Bloodgood 1 
 
 William Halsey 1 
 
 Nathaniel Butler 1 
 
 William Williams 
 
 Peter Cavender 
 
 Jan Garrett 
 
 Jonathan Foot 
 
 Simon Jones 
 
 Joseph Peirce 
 
 G. Boon's house 
 
 ApoUos Cooper 
 
 John Watley 
 
 Gurdon Burchard 
 
 William McLean 
 
 James P. Dorchester 
 
 Samuel Hooker 
 
 Watts Sherman 
 
 Erastus Clark 
 
 Charles Easton 
 
 — Van Sykes 
 
 ' and 
 It is 
 
 cts. 
 
 75 
 
 50 
 
 25 
 
 62i 
 
 50 
 
 25 
 
 12i 
 
 I2i 
 
 25 
 
 25 
 
 25 
 
 75 
 
 00 
 
 00 
 
 I2i 
 
 75 
 
 50 
 
 25 
 
 25 
 
 124 
 
 25 
 
 25 
 
 25 
 
 25 
 
 25 
 
 75 
 
 50 
 
 87i 
 
 50 
 
 50 
 
 374 
 
 124 
 
 $40 00 
 
 The brief notes of another traveler deserve a few words of comment. 
 This was an Englishman named John Maude, whose " Visit to the Falls 
 of Niagara in 1800" was published at Wakefield and London in 1826. 
 And this is what his journal contains under date of Thursday, July 3, 
 
THE GREAT GENESEE TURNPIKE. 59 
 
 1800: " Utica [Fort Schuyler] ninety-six miles. Schwartz's hotel; 
 excellent house and miserably kept ; built by Boon & Linklaen [agents 
 for the Holland Land Company], the proprietors of a considerable num- 
 ber of the adjoining building lots. Those east of these are the property 
 of the Bleecker family, on which the principal part of the present town 
 is built ; built, too, on short leases of fourteen years, after which the 
 houses become the property of the owners of the soil to the certain loss 
 and .probable ruin of the present residents. Utica is in the township of 
 Whitestown, and contains about sixty houses. No _g-^«Z'^^/ family, save 
 Colonel Walker's, and he resides at a small distance east of the village. 
 The great Genesee road turns off at this place. An act has lately 
 passed for making it a turnpike road to Genesee and Canandaigua, a 
 distance of 100 miles and upwards ; the expense is estimated at $I,000 
 per mile; the road to be four rods in width. The inhabitants of Utica 
 subscribed to finish the first mile ; they formed twenty shares of fifty 
 dollars each ; these shares they afterward sold to Colonel Walker and 
 Mr. Post for forty-four cents on the dollar, who have finished the first 
 mile ; thirty miles it is expected will be finished before winter sets in. 
 Bridge here over the Mohawk ; the river narrow, clear, and shallow ; no 
 fish; seven boats at the wharf ; heard a bull frog; groves of sugar maple, 
 a tree very common' here." Friday, July 4th, Mr. Maude writes : 
 "Mounted horse; passed Inman's at noon, and arrived at Whitesboro, 
 100 miles." 
 
 With reference to the great Genesee road here spoken of by Mr. 
 Maude, and whose construction was so important, not to Utica alone, 
 but to the whole Western country, a few additional facts may be sub- 
 joined. As early as 1790 a road along the course of the Great Trail 
 had been opened by William and James Wadsworth on their way to the 
 Genesee country, where they planted a colony. The State afterward, 
 in the year 1794, appointed three commissioners to lay out a road from 
 Utica, by Cayuga ferry and Canandaigua, to the Genesee River at Avon, 
 and in this and the following year made appropriations for its con- 
 struction. Though laid out it seems not to have been constructed 
 at this time, for in June, 1797, Colonel Wilhamson, of Ontario, repre- 
 sents the road from Old Fort Schuyler to the Genesee as little bet- 
 ter than an Indian trail. In this latter year a law was passed by the 
 
6o MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 State authorizing the raising of $45,000 by lotteries, which was to be 
 expended in improving various roads in the State, of which sum $13,- 
 900 was to go toward the betterment of the Genesee road in all its ex- 
 tent. The improvements now made upon it were such that on the 30th 
 day of September, 1797, a stage started from Old Fort Schuyler and 
 arrived at Geneva in the afternoon of the third day. The extension of 
 this thoroughfare to the most westerly county of the State, and the un- 
 exampled passage of a stage in three days over a distance of nearly. 100 
 miles, sixty of which had been the same season in their original state, 
 were to the dwellers along the western terminus just causes of gratu- 
 lation. This road was as yet a simple highway of earth ; and through 
 swamps and in low places the crossing was made over layers of logs, 
 such causeways occurring even within the limits of the village. There 
 was therefore great need of still further improvement, and in the year 
 1800 the Seneca Turnpike Company was chartered to effect it. The 
 capital stock was to be $i 10,000 in shares of $50 each. Jedediah 
 Sanger, of New Hartford, and Benjamin Walker, of Utica, were 
 associated with Messrs. Charles Williamson and Israel Chapin, of On- 
 tario, as commissioners. According to one traveler one mile of the 
 road was finished in July, 1800. A citizen who rode over it in April 
 following as far as New Hartford tells us that he met squads of men at 
 work along the way, and that this portion of it was then a good passa- 
 able road. 
 
 The thoroughfare leading eastward from the settlement would seem 
 to have been at this time in no greater forwardness than the western 
 one if we may infer the truth from an advertisement of the Mohawk 
 Turnpike and Bridge Company that appeared in the village paper bear- 
 ing date October 21, 1800. The company therein solicits proposals 
 until the first of January following for the building of a bridge across the 
 Mohawk at Schenectady, and also for completing ten miles of turnpike 
 road, or any part of the said ten miles, beginning at the bridge at the 
 village of Utica and running easterly, as well as for completing other 
 portions of the road toward its eastern end. As the result of the efforts 
 of this company a beneficial change was effected. The portion of the 
 road lying between Utica and Deerfield was straightened, it having be- 
 fore been a devious way that meandered carefully from pomt to point 
 
CHARLES C. BRODHEAD. 6i 
 
 along the swampy interval. But it was not until after many years had 
 elapsed that this section of the road was put in a state fit to be traversed 
 with ease and comfort. 
 
 Among the new arrivals of 1800 we notice first one whose remark- 
 able previous experience, his long residence of fifty years, and the con- 
 spicuous position he held justify ample consideration. We refer to 
 Charles C. Brodhead. While yet a lad he began the business of sur- 
 veying, serving under the instructions of W. Cockburn, an eminent sur- 
 veyor of Kingston in his native county of Ulster. In 1793 Messrs. 
 Desjardins and Pharoux, agents of a French company owning a large 
 tract of land on the Black River and known as the Castorland Compan}', 
 employed him to assist in laying out this tract. This appointment was 
 regarded as a high compliment to young Brodhead, both as a surveyor 
 and an honorable man ; and the manner in which he fulfilled his engage- 
 ments pleased his employers so well that in addition to the covenanted 
 remuneration they gave him a valuable lot of land as a testimonial of 
 their appreciation of his scientific and moral worth. In the course of 
 this survey, which occupied about three seasons, Mr. Brodhead en- 
 countered several hazardous adventures and made more than one hair- 
 breadth escape from death. After the expiration of his term of service 
 with the Castorland Company he was employed as a deputy by the 
 Hon. Simeon De Witt, surveyor- general of the State of New York, and 
 to him were confided all important surveys and negotiations. He like- 
 wise carried on one or more treaties with the Indians, and these he con- 
 ducted with singular ability and discretion, in every case winning the 
 confidence of the redmen. After a negotiation of this kind with the 
 St. Regis Indians of the northern border of the State he was adopted as 
 a member and honorary chief of the tribe. When not engaged else- 
 where Mr. Brodhead's headquarters during this period would seem to 
 have been at Whitesboro. In the year 1800 he received from the Gov- 
 ernor and Council the appointment of sheriff of the county. In August 
 of the following year it was required of him to officiate at the first ex- 
 ecution which took place in the county. The criminal was an Indian, a 
 native of Montauk Point, who was convicted of having killed his wife 
 and was hung on the hill west of Whitesboro in the presence of a large 
 assembly of people. 
 
62 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 When the construction of the Erie Canal was resolved on the surveyor- 
 general was charged with the preliminary surveys, and Mr. Brodhead 
 was in the year i8i6 entrusted by him with the eastern section, extend- 
 ing from Albany to Rome, a part of the work of greater extent, im- 
 portance, and difficulty than any other, and requiring great discretion, 
 science, and practical skill. From the earliest period of his residence here 
 Mr. Brodhead was often called upon to survey lands for individuals both 
 in town and county. His accuracy of work was much confided in, and 
 numerous are the landholders of the vicinity who are indebted to him 
 for the carefully executed and trustworthy maps which define the limits 
 of their property. Mr. Brodhead was one of the commissioners who 
 ran the lines of the town of Utica when it was set off from Whitestown 
 in 1817. From this period he ceased to act professionally except when 
 Mr. De Witt, in the fullness of his confidence, pressed him into the 
 service of the State to execute some work demanding great accuracy 
 and prudent negotiations. For a few of his more cherished friends he 
 would consent to run the lines of their estates, but otherwise engaged 
 in no occupation, and for thirty years lived almost a recluse. Previous 
 to the War of 18 12 he had accumulated a competent fortune, but had 
 invested a large portion in business. The reaction of the peace caused 
 the failure and dissolution of the firm. By economy and prudence as 
 well as by the rise in the value of real estate he, however, retrieved his 
 loss, so that for the last twenty years of his life he lived in comparative 
 affluence. 
 
 Under date of July 10, 1800, there appeared in the Columbian Ga- 
 zette the following announcement : " Archibald Kane and Jeremiah Van 
 Rensselaer, jr., under the firm name of Kane & Van Rensselaer, have 
 opened a house at Utica, where may be had a general assortment of dry 
 goods and groceries on moderate terms." This brief announcement pre- 
 ludes the establishment here of one branch of a widely ramified and 
 prosperous mercantile house that long held a leading place in the vil- 
 lage, and which, from its far-reaching and successful enterprise, was well 
 known throughout the State. Its resident member and his family were 
 conspicuous in society, and contributed by their intelligence and refine- 
 ment, by their liberality, pubhc spirit, and moral purity, not less than by 
 their wealth and aristocratic connections, not a few of those traits that 
 
THE FIRM OF KANE b- VAN RENSSELAER. 63 
 
 gave a charm to early Utica. Uniting with Archibald Kane he settled 
 at Canajoharie, Montgomery County, in 1795. Here they soon com- 
 manded a trade which was the largest in the interior of the State- 
 Ere long, however, encroachments were made upon their customs by 
 stirring rivals in Utica and they determined to repair thither. Mr. Kane 
 did not himself remove, though he continued a partner in the house. 
 The store here was conducted by Mr. Van Rensselaer, assisted at the out- 
 set by his brother James, with whom was presently associated Fortune 
 C. White. It was situated on the east side of Genesee street a little 
 north of the corner of Broad, and was graced by the sign of the " Eagle." 
 It was oblong in shape, presenting its broader side to the street. When 
 on thelaying outof Broad street its upper end was found to encroach upon 
 the projected highway and it became necessary to turn it half way 
 round ; this was accomplished by balancing the building on a cannon 
 ball as a pivot, after which it was easily swung into place. The store 
 soon became popular and the business an extended one. It was the 
 fountain head whence many a country store drew its constant supplies. 
 They advertised freely and constantly, occupying a conspicuous place in 
 the weekly papers for a long series of years. 
 
 Mr. Van Rensselaer built himself an elegant mansion on what were 
 then the outskirts of the village, on grounds as remarkable for their ex- 
 tent as for the taste expended upon them. They were situated on the 
 east side of Genesee street and included nearly the whole space that is 
 now bounded by Devereux, Genesee, Carnahan, and Charlotte streets. 
 But when several years of prosperity had rolled over him there came at 
 length a change. The firm of Kane &Van Rensselaer encountered the 
 commercial storm which followed the resumption of specie payments 
 after the War of 181 2-1 5. It prostrated the house of John Kane in 
 New York and with it fell all the associate houses. Resuming business 
 alone Mr. Van Rensselaer carried it on for a few years, but was at length 
 obliged to suspend. About 1825 he left the village and went to Can- 
 andaigua, where his son-in-law, Mr. Granger, resided, and was there 
 secretary of a fire insurance company. 
 
 As a foremost participant in the business interests of the place as well 
 as in its benevolent and religious affairs, not less than as a dignified and 
 courtly gentleman, Mr. Van Rensselaer ranked high. He was of the first 
 
64 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 Board of Village Trustees under the charter of 1805 and two years 
 their president ; of the first Board of Directors of the Ontario Branch 
 Bank and president of the Capron factory ; of the first Utica Board of 
 Tustees of the Presbyterian Church ; and president of the first Board of 
 Trustees of the LJtica Academy. When the site for the academy was 
 in contemplation he offered to give for the purpose a fine lot on Gene- 
 see street adjoining the. grounds which he himself occupied. He was 
 also a trustee of Hamilton College until his removal. 
 
 There came in the year 1 800 Jesse Newell, who opened a department 
 of business which is still prosecuted by later members of the family, 
 and which is doubtless the oldest establishment in Utica. Together 
 with George Macomber, eldest son of Captain Macomber, he set up as 
 a painter and glazier. To the practice of their art they added the sale 
 of materials pertaining thereto, and ere long the manufacture of brushes. 
 Their partnership continued twenty eight years and the business was 
 continued by Mr. Newell, after the retirement of his partner, in company 
 with his son, Norman C. Newell ; next by the latter ; and now by the 
 grandson. 
 
 Passing on to the year 1801 we find evidence of the residence of the 
 following persons : Aylmer Johnson, brewer ; Martin Dakin, clerk ; 
 James Ure, brewer ; Bela Hubbard, tanner. 
 
 Dr. Francis Guiteau, jr., and Abraham M. Walton justify more de- 
 tails. The former was a descendant of one of those exiles from France, 
 the Huguenots. His father was a physician in Pittsfield and after- 
 ward in Lanesboro, Mass., but passed his latest years in Deerfield in 
 this county. Francis was the eldest of several sons, of whom two, Cal- 
 vin, the surveyor, and Dr. Luther Guiteau, of Trenton, became early 
 denizens of Oneida County. He moved into the town of Deerfield and 
 assumed his professional charge as early as 1792. His circuit of prac- 
 tice was extensive, embracing not merely Utica and its environs, but 
 sometimes transcending the present bounds of the county. He occu- 
 pied a farm east of the Corners, the same which was afterward held by 
 Abraham Walton, and he was the first supervisor of the town. April 4, 
 1803, he announces that ill health induces him to call for a settlement; 
 but in July of the same year he enters into partnership as practitioner 
 and druggist with Dr. Solomon Wolcott. They built each a house on 
 
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES. 65 
 
 Whitesboro street a little west of the Globe Hotel. Their announce- 
 ments occurred from time to time in the village weeklies until January, 
 1807, when they dissolved and Dr. Guiteau devoted himself exclusively 
 to practice. He was deemed skillful and held in high esteem as a phy- 
 sician, and his practice was considerable. His only near rivals were Dr. 
 Alexander Coventry, who was still a resident of Deerfield, and Drs. 
 Hasbrouck and Stockman, of Utica, both of whom as well as Dr. Wol- 
 cott were in part druggists also. In manners Dr. Guiteau was genial 
 and pleasant, but decided in his opinions and free in the expression of 
 them. A leading man among the Baptists, and a zealous advocate of 
 their principles of belief, he was sensitive to any opposition to his relig- 
 ious views. He was also a strong Democrat. His death occurred about 
 1823. He had ten children, five sons and five daughters. 
 
 Although the home of Abraham M. Walton was in Deerfield and not 
 in Utica, yet the latter was his place of business, and with its people he 
 was in daily intercourse. He was the son of Abraham Walton, of New 
 York, and a descendant of one of the old families of that city. He 
 opened an office in Utica, and besides the care of the estate he was sent 
 to manage did something in the practice of his profession and some- 
 thing more in the purchase and sale of lands. His brother Charles 
 was associated with him in a part of his transactions; his law partner was 
 Abraham D. Van Home. 
 
 A notorious member of one of the proprietary families was Martha, 
 daughter of Maj. Samuel Bradstreet, of the Fortieth Regiment of Eng- 
 lish Infantry, who was a stepson of Gen. John Bradstreet. She was born 
 on the island of Antigua, W. I., August 10, 1780, and married in Ire- 
 land to Matthew Codd, April 16, 1799. They came to America in the 
 fall of the same year and not long after were living in Utica. After her 
 divorce from Mr. Codd she became notorious as a strenuous and perse- 
 vering claimant of a large part of the soil of Utica. She harrassed 
 numbers of its citizens with suits at law and besieged the courts with 
 her causes. These trials are fully reported in the law reports, so that 
 it will be hardly worth the while to present here anything more than 
 the barest outline of the points at issue. 
 
 General Bradstreet, one of the joint owners of Cosby's Manor after a 
 division had been made between the purchasers, devised his share to his 
 9 
 
66 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 two daughters, Martha and Agatha. Martha, who died unmarried, de- 
 vised her portion as follows: one-third to her sister Agatha, one-third 
 to her half-sister Elizabeth, and one-third to the children of her half- 
 brother Samuel, of whom one was Martha, who became afterward Mrs. 
 Codd. Elizabeth willed what Martha had left her solely to this same 
 Martha. Thus, by a double devise, Mrs. Codd derived title to a large 
 share of the lands of General Bradstreet. The executor of the first 
 above mentioned will was Sir Charles Gould, and he by its terms was au- 
 thorized to sell and dispose of the real estate therein devised. Through 
 his attorneys, Edward Gould and Daniel Ludlow, this was done, and be- 
 tween the years 1790 and 1794 several of the earlier settlers thus re- 
 ceived titles to the land which they then or afterward occupied. Mrs. 
 Codd in the suits which she brought against the occupants of these 
 lands insisted that the conveyances by these attorneys of Sir Charles 
 Gould were not valid, because no authority for that purpose was shown 
 to have ever existed, and because Sir Charles Gould could not have 
 legally delegated to another the power he possessed under the will of 
 Martha Bradstreet. This position of the plaintiff was offset by the 
 production of a deed executed by Gen. Philip Schuyler, executor of 
 General Bradstreet, to Agatha, daughter of General Bradstreet, wherein 
 in order to invest Agatha with her portion he empowers Edward Gould 
 to sell and convey the lands of the other devisees and to divide the pro- 
 ceeds between them. This Edward Gould, who became a bankrupt, 
 executed afterward a deed to Mrs. Codd conveying to her all the real 
 estate held by him, but with covenant of warranty that he should not be 
 held responsible for any. sales which he might, have made prior to his 
 bankruptcy. But the sales to the occupants of the lands, the same lands 
 which Mrs. Codd was now laying claim to, were made years before the 
 bankruptcy of Edward Gould and while he was acting as attorney of 
 Sir Charles Gould. Such, in brief, was the claim of Mrs. Codd, and 
 such the ground of defence made by the defendants in her suits, which 
 defence was moreover strengthened by the fact of possession for thirty 
 years, for it was not until after the lapse of this length of time and not 
 until she had resumed her maiden name that the suits were in prosecution. 
 Mrs. Bradstreet was a woman of vigorous natural talent, masculine in 
 features and in temperament, though not without considerable of the 
 
SOME EMINENT BUSINESS MEN 67 
 
 refinement and bearing of a lady. Acquiring by study a mastery of the 
 law of real estate she was a host in herself; but she enh'sted in her aid 
 some of the ablest counsel of the State. She was herself invariably 
 present at trial of her causes, an eager witness of every step, and a sed- 
 ulous adviser of her advocate. 
 
 Capt. James Hopper was a native of England. For many years he 
 was in command of vessels in the English merchant service and owned 
 shares in them and their cargoes. Shortly after his arrival he bought 
 considerable land on the southern borders of the village. Forty-nine 
 acres of it were the cleared farm of Benjamin Hammond in great lot 
 95, which the latter had obtained from John Bellinger ; in part it was a 
 portion of the Holland Land Company',s purchase, and other smaller 
 parts were bought of John Post, Richard Kimball, and Jonathan Evans. 
 On this purchase Captain Hopper put up a house that he enlarged on 
 the arrival of his family, and engaged in farming and also in tanning, 
 both of them pursuits to which he had never been accustomed. The 
 land which he bought increased, however, in value, and became ulti- 
 mately, through the skillful management of his sons, a handsome estate. ^ 
 
 Daniel Thomas, a merchant of reputable standing, has from that time 
 to the present been worthily represented by descendants in city and 
 county. 
 
 Ebenezer B. Shearman became at an early period largely interested 
 in the manufacture of cotton goods and window glass, for the sale of 
 which his store formed the agency. After having been one of the com- 
 pany which in conjunction with Seth Capron set in operation at New 
 Hartford the first cotton factory in the county he purchased the bulk 
 of the shares and managed the institution with skill and profit. The glass 
 that he sold was made at the Oneida glass factory in Vernon by a com- 
 pany of which Mr. Shearman and his brother, Willet H., formed the lead- 
 ing members. At one time he assumed the superintendency of the Utica 
 Glass Works, situated in the town of Marcy, but relinquished it when 
 he found that crown glass, which the company essayed to make, could 
 not be produced cheaply enough to compete with that of English man- 
 ufacture. By his energy and assiduous devotion to business he became 
 independently wealthy. Nor was his enterprise expended in his own 
 
 1 See sketch of Thomas Hopper in the biographical department of this work. 
 
68 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 behalf merely. His interest in public affairs was conspicuous and the 
 share considerable which he bore in the civic affairs of his time. For 
 three successive years he was village trustee, for thirty years a trustee of 
 the Utica Academy, and most of that time its secretary. From its 
 foundation he was so long as he lived a director of the Utica Bank, and 
 in 1828 he was one of the electors for President of the United States. 
 
 A few individuals of the Welch race were settled in Utica before 1801. 
 Soon afterward they were coming in numbers and formed the only 
 considerable foreign immigration to Oneida County which occurred at 
 the beginning of the century. Those who were farmers dispersed them- 
 selves over the rich hillsides of Steuben, Remsen, and Trenton, while 
 those who had trades lingered in the villages and were universally cred- 
 ited with being the best mechanics and especially builders of the time. 
 Among them were Elders Abraham Williams, Joseph Harris, Daniel 
 Morris, David Reed & Sons, the James family, Watkin Powell, Samuel 
 George, etc. 
 
 A settler of 1802 and a very prince among his fellows was John C. 
 Devereux, whose honorable career and many deeds of charity have left 
 behind him a memory as verdant as that of the green isle whence he 
 came. He was born at Enniscorthy in County Wexford on August 
 5, 1774, and was the son of Thomas and Catharine Corish Devereux. 
 The family were wealthy and well connected throughout the county and 
 lived at ease upon a handsome estate called " The Leap," from the width 
 of the ditch that surrounded it. But they sympathized warmly in the 
 agitations which preceded and attended the outbreak of the Irish rebel- 
 lion in 1798, supplying food and assistance to the patriot army. Com- 
 ing up to this county in order to locate in business, and prompted per- 
 chance by the advice of his friend, William James, Mr. Devereux stopped 
 first atRome,but soon turned backto Utica. From hisfirstadvertisement, 
 dated November 8, 1802, we learn that he "opened an assort~inent of 
 dry goods and groceries at the store lately occupied by John Smith." 
 This was upon the site of a part of the present Bagg's Hotel. Some- 
 what later his store was nearly opposite and about midway between 
 Whitesboro and Water, a store that, jutting out eastward from the present 
 line of the street, formed the west point of the square. When the street 
 was afterward straightened he built a brick store in the rear of the above 
 
JOHN C. DEVEREUX. 69 
 
 mentioned spot. The goods he had on sale were unusually handsome. 
 The salesman had energy, shrewdness, and industry, a temper most gen- 
 erous, a tongue that was persuasive and fluent, and manners benignant 
 and polished. These brought him quick custom and insured suc- 
 cess from the outset. His business became so extensive that he was 
 probably as generally known through Central and Western New York 
 as any merchant west of Albany. His sales, as reported by one of his 
 later clerks, amounted each year to $100,000. He had a pride in his 
 calling and kept ever in view a high standard of credit and honor. Un- 
 sparing of himself he was no less exacting of others. Yet he contrib- 
 uted freely his advice and personal and pecuniary aid to young men 
 engaging in similar pursuits. Among those he thus helped were his 
 brothers, Luke, Nicholas, and Thomas, the first two being his clerks in 
 succession and afterward partners. But the canal was just opened and 
 the Mohawk about to be left. The current of business was setting up- 
 ward, and the lonely and grass-covered square alarmed the merchants 
 who were settled about it. Not backward in action he purchased with 
 Nicholas the land next above the newly opened canal where the modern 
 Devereux block is now located, and there in 1821 they placed a large 
 warehouse and store. At this place the trade was conducted many years 
 by Nicholas Devereux and his various partners, John C. continuing as 
 before to lend his countenance and credit. Some ten or twelve years 
 later, when there was started a Utica branch of the United States Bank, 
 Mr. Devereux was appointed its president and held the position as long 
 as the bank was in existence. He was strongly attached to the place of 
 his residence, devoted to its interests, and contributed freely to its insti- 
 tutions. Some of them in fact owed their existence and continued sup- 
 port largely to his agency. Such was the Utica Savings Bank, which was 
 established by the two Messrs. Devereux in company with other benevo- 
 lent citizens of the period. Although a zealous adherent of the Roman 
 Catholic Church, and in later years its most munificent patron, yet when 
 Utica was an inconsiderable hamlet, and when all of its inhabitants met 
 in one common place of worship, he not only bore about the plate which 
 was to receive the donations of the worshipers, but gave a contribution 
 of $300 toward the erection of the first Presbyterian Church. Repeat- 
 edly at later dates he contributed freely to many poor and struggling 
 
70 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 religious societies. To his own church, once so small that he often had 
 all of its members assembled in his own parlor, he was an early, a con- 
 stant, and a generous benefactor. 
 
 "Charitableness and hospitality were perhaps the most striking traits 
 in Mr. Devereux's character. He extended the hand of brotherhood to 
 all who were not utterly abandoned, while his house was always open 
 and his welcome to it remarkably courteous and earnest. The poor 
 had reason to bless his memory, and upon no citizen were there more 
 numerous claims." "The city manifested its sense of obligations by 
 electing him its mayor in 1840, at the first election under the law by 
 which the office was derived directly from the people, he having prev- 
 iously held it by appointment of the common council." Others of 
 this date were James Delvin, coppersmith ; Renajah Merrill, auctioneer 
 and sheriff; Solomon Goodrich, bookseller and teacher; Flavel Bing- 
 ham, watchmaker ; Frederick White, promiscuous trader; Benjamin 
 Hicks, hatter; Edward Baldwin, carpenter; William Rees, farmer, etc. 
 
 Of the appearance of Utica in 1802, and more especially of the char- 
 acteristics of its people as they presented themselves to one temporary 
 visitor among them, we have a few hints in the journal of Rev. John 
 Taylor, of Westfield, Mass. His journal of a missionary tour through 
 the Mohawk and Black River country is contained in the third volume 
 of the " Documentary History of New York." In the course of his ex- 
 cursion he stopped two or three times at Utica, and the following pas- 
 sages are extracted from his notes : " This is a very pleasant and beau- 
 tiful village ; but it is filled with a great quantity of people of all nations 
 and religions." " There is but a handful of people in this place who 
 have much ^regard for preaching or for anything in this world. Eight 
 years ago last spring there were but two houses in the present town 
 plot. There are now above ninety." " Utica appears to be a mixed 
 mass of discordant materials. Here may be found people of ten or 
 twelve different nations and of almost all religions and sects; but the 
 greater part are of no religion. The world is the great object with the 
 body of the people." 
 
 That the place presented at this early period of its existence much of 
 the roughness both of morals and of manners so commonly found in 
 freshly settled districts is altogether probable. In the hurry of clearing 
 
A PEN-PICTURE FROM MR. TAYLORS JOURNAL. 71 
 
 and of building, in the general scramble of trade, men were intent on 
 immediate interests, eager to fix a position and a business, and might 
 have been neglectful of the courtesies of the present life, still more of 
 the claims of the future. Beset on all sides by strangers, either settling 
 among them or crowding past toward new homes in the wilderness, 
 they hardly knew who were their neighbors or had come to realize the 
 fullness of their social obligations. In the absence of churches and of 
 schools there was little of the restraint so controlling in older commun- 
 ities, fewer influences to persuade to the practice of what was due to 
 themselves, their fellows, and their Maker. But that Utica was not 
 wholly made up of the worldly-minded and irreligious people which this 
 writer would have one to believe, that there was a goodly leaven at work 
 amid the fermenting mass, the personal sketches thus far exhibited will, 
 I trust, sufficiently show. Churches and schools were obtaining a foot- 
 hold, and their healthful influence with that of the many educated and 
 superior minds now beginning to assert themselves was fast shaping 
 these "discordant materials" and giving correctness and elevation to 
 the morals of society. Were there no other evidence of a want of 
 charity in Mr. Taylor than those to be met with elsewhere in his jour- 
 nal there is certainly some inconsistency in the picture contained in the 
 last of the quotations we have drawn from him when contrasted with 
 the fact recorded under the same date. He preached, he says, on the 
 afternoon of that day (August 1st) to 300 people. In the morning of the 
 same day his congregation at Whitesboro had amounted to 250, though 
 the service at Whitesboro, it should be added, was the communion, 
 when audiences are usually smaller. Three hundred people were, it is 
 probable, at least half the population of Utica. 
 
 Accompanying the journal of Mr. Taylor there is a rude diagram of 
 the place with its buildings set down in their relative]position. Eighty- 
 two are figured extending about seventy rods on Main street, and sixty 
 on Whitesboro, and on Genesee street ten rods below the square and 
 sixty above it. The drawing of the west line of the square as the arc of 
 a circle concaves inward there is reason to believe is incorrect, the 
 saliency being in fact angular and toward the center, while the quarter 
 circle which connects this angle with Whitesboro street'formed but an 
 inconsiderable part of the whole west line ; so also is there an error in 
 
72 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 the drawing of Genesee street at right angles with the intersecting 
 street. Notwithstanding these inaccuracies the map is valuable as the 
 only picture of the hamlet at so early a date now known to exist. 
 
 Arrived at the year 1803 we encounter several additional names, 
 among which we recognize not a few of those of citizens who were 
 afterward prominent. " David Ostrom was a soldier of the Revolution 
 and among the earliest settlers of Oneida' County. About the year 1790 
 or 1 79 1 he removed from Dutchess County to New Hartford, and after- 
 ward lived in Paris, whence he removed to Utica. Upon the organ- 
 ization of Oneida County in 1798 he was appointed one of the county 
 judges, which office he held until 1815, with the exception of three 
 years in which his name was omitted from the General Commission of 
 the Peace of the county. For a considerable period he executed the du- 
 ties of a magistrate in the village with great correctness and to universal 
 acceptance." As early as February, 1804, he was installed as landlord 
 of the Coffee House, a well known public house which occupied the 
 ground now covered by the Devereux block, and therein remained a 
 number of years. Later he lived nearly opposite on the site of the 
 Franklin House, now covered by the arcade. 
 
 Dr. Marcus Hitchcock came with his father from New Haven, Conn., 
 to New Hartford, N. Y., and there studied medicine with Dr. Amos G. 
 Hull. After removing to Utica he began to practice, but was not satis- 
 fied with the profession and soon opened a drug store in compan)? with 
 Dr. John Carrington. The latter was a brother and brief successor of 
 Samuel Carrington. The postoffice fell to him with the drug business 
 of his predecessor, and of this he was the official head from July i, 1803, 
 down to January 21, 1828. 
 
 In July, 1803, a partnership in the practice of medicine and in the 
 sale of drugs was effected between Dr. Francis Guiteau, jr., and Dr. 
 Solomon Wolcott, jr. Studying medicine with Dr. Hastings, of New 
 London, Dr. Wolcott settled himself in Williamstown, Mass. There 
 by the exercise of his profession, and by the purchase and sale of 
 bounty lands given to the soldiers of the Revolution, he acquired some 
 property, and ttiere he was married. Thence he was drawn to Utica 
 chiefly by the persuasion of his former fellow townsman, Nathan 
 Williams. 
 
^ ^>^^. 
 
EDITOR JOHN H. LOTHROP. 73 
 
 After Dr. Guiteau withdrew Dr. Wolcott had in succession two or 
 three other partners. In April, 1815, he was appointed garrison sur- 
 geon's mate in charge of the hospital established for the relief of the 
 government soldiers, the care of whom he had already had for some 
 months. About the same time he was made one of the judges of Com- 
 mon Pleas. Toward the close of the war he became interested as a 
 silent partner with William Gaylord in dealings in crockery. Through 
 ill-timed business ventures and the disappearance of his partner Dr. 
 Wolcott practically lost an estate that was appraised at $iOO,ooo. In 
 1804 he had bought the farm originally settled by John D. Petrie next 
 east of Matthew Hubbell, and to it had added another by a subsequent 
 purchase. There about the time of his embarrassment he built the 
 large wooden house where some ten years afterward was opened the 
 Utica High School. 
 
 John H. Lothrop — lawyer, farmer, editor, merchant, and, last and 
 longest, a banker — found in the e.xercise of his pen the calling most suited 
 to his genius and which he most persistently practiced. In 1803 he 
 assumed the editorship of the Whitestown Gazette and Cato's Patrol, 
 at that time relinquished by Mr. McLean. Its name he changed to the 
 Utica Patriot and settled himself in Utica to conduct it. The following 
 year in company with Ralph W. Kirkland he seems to have made a 
 short essay in trade ; at least their names appear in a single announce- 
 ment to that effect. The editorship of the paper filling up neither his 
 time nor his pockets he served also as deputy in the office of the Supreme 
 Court clerk. This he sold in 181 1, when, having disposed of his interest 
 in the paper, he removed to New Hartford. He remained there about 
 five years, striving to earn his livelihood by the practice of law, but 
 having been appointed cashier of the Ontario Branch Bank he came 
 back to Utica to assume the duties. And these formed his principal 
 employment for the remainder of his days, while he still continued to 
 contribute to the Patriot or its successor almost to the close of his life. 
 He was expert as a writer of fluent and graceful English, enlivened by 
 playful fancy and lively wit, and chastened by a cultured taste. He 
 had facility also in the making of verse and considerable repute in its 
 exercise. 
 
 One of the printers and publishers of Mr. Lothrop's paper was Ira 
 10 
 
74 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 Men-ell. He learned the printer's art with William McLean, and when 
 the latter disposed ofhis paper in 1803 he joined his fellow apprentice, 
 Asahel Seward, in printing it under the editorship of Mr. Lothrop, and 
 continued with him about three years. Some time afterward he was 
 for five or six years foreman of Seward & Williams, and printed for 
 them this same Patriot when they were its proprietors. A later paper 
 on which he did the press work was the Western Recorder, published by 
 Merrell & Hastings, that is to say his brothers, Andrew and Charles 
 Hastings, and edited by Thomas Hastings, the brother of Charles. 
 He also printed a good deal on his own account. Among his issues 
 was a Welsh hymn book. 
 
 Thomas Walker, who had learned his trade as a printer with Isaiah 
 Thomas, of Winchester, camiC to Oneida County with enterprise and in- 
 dustry, here to seek his fortune and help in building up the nascent civ- 
 ilization. In conjunction with his brother-in-law, Ebenezer Eaton, he 
 started alone a newspaper called the Columbian Patriotic Gazette. This 
 was on the 17th of August, 1799. The Whitestown Gazette had been 
 established at New Hartford in 1796; the Westertt Seyitinel at Whites- 
 boro in 1794. This was therefore the third newspaper published in the 
 county. They brought the printing materials with them and hired a 
 man in Rome to make a Ramage press, and on this the paper was 
 printed. The publication price was $1.50. Mr. Eaton was connected 
 with the paper about eighteen months. 
 
 In March, 1 803, through the influence of personal and political friends, 
 Mr. Walker removed his paper to Utica, called it the Columbian Ga- 
 zette, and made it a supporter of the administration of Thomas Jeffer- 
 son. The first number of this weekly sheet appeared March 21st. Its 
 dimensions were ten and a half by twelve inches, and the paper was 
 coarse and dingy. The second page and about one-half of the third 
 was devoted to foreign news, editorials, and communications; the re- 
 mainder was filled with advertisements. The office was located at about 
 44 Genesee street. As editor as well as publisher Mr. Walker con- 
 ducted the Gazette for twenty-two years, securing success by his enter- 
 prise and faithful devotion to business. He wrote little himself, but 
 exercised good judgment in his selections and was assisted by able con- 
 tributors. He also dealt to some extent in the sale of books. A large 
 
SOME EDITORS AND PRINTERS. 
 
 75 
 
 share of the population whom he wished to reach with his paper re- 
 sided at the north as far as Lewis and Jefferson Counties, and there were 
 then no post routes and no eommunication thither except by chance 
 passengers. Mr. Walker obtained the requisite authority from the 
 Postmaster- General and established several post routes, contracted for 
 mail conveyance, etc. Few publications were issued from his office be- 
 sides the paper. 
 
 During the War of 1812-15 Mr. Walker held the position of collector 
 of United States revenue for this district, a position which it so hap- 
 pened that his son, Thomas R., was the first to hold after the late war of 
 the Rebellion. He was a Democrat in all the forming days of the gov- 
 ernment. In the Clintonian struggle in this State he took sides with 
 De Witt Clinton, was afterward a Whig, and latterly a Republican. In 
 1825 Mr. Walker sold the Gazette to Samuel D. Dakin and William J. 
 Bacon, by whom it was united with the Sentinel under the title of the 
 Sentinel and Gazette. These gentlemen having purchased also the /'«//'Z£?/, 
 the successor of Mr. McLean's paper, there were thus brought together 
 the remains of the three earliest papers of the county. Mr. Walker was 
 one of the directors named in the charter of the Bank of Utica. For 
 several years he was its vice-president and in 1845, when Henry Huat- 
 ington declined a re-election, he was chosen its president, and was an- 
 nually re elected up to the time of his death. He was also for many 
 years president of the savings bank, and was the first treasurer and the 
 fourth president of the trustees of the Utica Academy. He was a man 
 of singular modesty, simplicity, and purity of character. His death 
 occurred June 13, 1863, in his eighty-sixth year. 
 
 Asahel Seward, eldest son of Col. Nathan Seward, of New Hartford, 
 was born in Waterbury, Conn., August 19, 1781. Apprenticed when 
 fifteen years old to William McLean, printer, at New Hartford, he after- 
 ward worked as a journeyman in different offices in New England and 
 New York, in that of Isaiah Thomas, of Worcester, Mass., in an office in 
 Boston, and in that of the Morning Chronicle of New York, of which the 
 father of Washington Irving was then the proprietor. In 1803, in copi- 
 pany with Ira Merrell, he bought of Mr. McLean his interest in the 
 Utica Patriot and removed to Utica to publish it. In this paper, under 
 its varying names of Patriot, Patriot and Patrol, and Utica Sentinel, he 
 
76 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 retained an interest until 1824, successively with Mr. Merrell, with 
 William Williams, and still later as one of the firm of Seward & Will- 
 iams with William H. Maynard. At this last named date the paper 
 was sold to Samuel D. Dakin and William J. Bacon, the sellers giving 
 a bond never to pubhsh another paper in Utica. In October, 1806, he 
 established a book printing house and bindery, and soon afterward 
 opened also a book store. About the year 1 8 14 he was joined in this 
 enterprise by Mr. Williams, till then associated with him as a printer 
 only. The house was a prosperous one and for many years the chief 
 publishing house west of Albany; if rivaled at all it was by that of 
 H. & E. Phinney, of Cooperstown. The foundation for a respectable 
 competency was early laid by the purchase from Noah Webster of the 
 right to publish in the Western District of New York his Elementary 
 Spelling Book. For fourteen years this was the leading feature of their 
 business, affording an annual income of $2,000. The other works they 
 issued were chiefly school books, though not exclusively so. After his 
 withdrawal Mr. Seward was not again actively engaged in business. He 
 and others were interested in the Capron cotton-mills, established in 
 1814, and he was secretary of the company. 
 
 William Williams was the son of Dea. Thomas Williams, of Roxbury, 
 Mass., though he was born in Framingham in that State, October 12, 
 1787. With his fathers family he migrated to New Hartford in this 
 county, and with Asahel Seward he moved to Utica in 1803 and 
 learned of him the trade of printing. About 1808 he became a partner 
 in the business of printing, and at a later period the partnership was 
 made to include bookselling likewise. Together they published the 
 Utica Patriot and its successors, the Patriot and Patrol and the Utica 
 Sentinel, down to the year 1824. As publishers and dealers in a great 
 variety of books the firm was widely known and was distinguished 
 for its enterprise and its probity. Their partnership was termin- 
 ated in 1824 by the withdrawal of Mr. Seward, but the business in all 
 its departments was actively carried on several years longer. About 
 i8;28 Mr. Williams associated himself with Messrs. Balch and Stiles, who 
 had commenced business in Utica as engravers. The firm issued bank 
 notes for the Utica and some Western banks, and also maps of New 
 York, Michigan, etc. Mr. Williams entered heartily into the cause of 
 
WILLIAM WILLIAMS AND SAMUEL STOCKING. 77 
 
 anti-Masonry and became about 1829-30 the publisher of the Eliicidator, 
 a paper designed to advocate its principles, which was edited by B. B. 
 Hotchkin. The Elucidator, like the " Light on Masonry" above men- 
 tioned, detracted from in lieu of increasing revenues. Mr. Williams 
 was conspicuous among his townsmen for his warm interest and his 
 efficiency in all matters that concerned the general welfare. His time 
 was all given either to business or to some public enterprise or to some 
 religious or moral mission. Though a lover of peace and fruitful in the 
 works of peace he was an ardent patriot, and could not be negligent of 
 his country's claim in time of war. When in 1813 an attack on Sack- 
 ets Harbor was expected and volunteers were called for he was the 
 first and most active man in Utica in raieing a company. In 1832, dur- 
 ing the cholera epidemic, he was one of the most self sacrificing and 
 heroic men in the place and was unsparing of his labors for the afflicted. 
 Mr. Williams was early identified with the religious movements of the 
 place, and in his life he was the very pattern of a Christian gentleman. 
 From 1812 to 1836 he occupied the post of elder in the Presbyterian 
 Church and was one of its most honored office bearers. On the or- 
 ganization of the Utica Sunday School in 18 16 he became its first super- 
 intendent, and for years afterward and until he was summoned to act as 
 an instructor in the Bible class he was its ruling spirit. Nor were his 
 services in the higher department less devoted or valuable. He was 
 also president of the Western Sunday School Union, 
 
 Within a year of his arrival Samuel Stocking erected a building 
 on the east side of Genesee a short distance above the corner, which 
 was known as Mechanic Hall, and was soon filled with tenants, and into 
 this his own hat shop was ere long transferred. But in 1816 he removed 
 to the brick store fronting Broad street, where he was to be found 
 during the rest of his residence. For many years after his first estab- 
 lishment he continually enlarged his operations until they assumed a 
 magnitude in his particular line never before or since attained in any 
 part of the State. His purchase of furs for the manufacture of hats 
 brought him early to the acquaintance of John Jacob Astor, then in the 
 zenith of his usefulness. Astor soon appreciated the person with whom 
 he thus dealt, and yielded to him implicit confidence and unbounded 
 credit. Mr. Stocking acquired gracfually by his business and by saga- 
 
78 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 cious purchases of land in Utica and other places a very large property, 
 amounting it is said to half a million of dollars before its partial reduc- 
 tion by the revulsion of 1837. The simplicity of his personal manners 
 continued, however, unabated, together with his perseverance in the 
 business to which he had been educated. 
 
 As closely given to business as the preceding, as charitable and as 
 useful, was James Dana, who attained at least a competence of worldly 
 goods while securing an unusual share of public respect for his straight- 
 forward honesty and his earnest and consistent religious life. 
 
 David P. Hoyt was a tanner and currier and a shoemaker. Possessed 
 of decided energy and perseverance,^ with an excellent judgment in 
 matters of business, he was successful therein to a greater degree than 
 any other person in the same employment. For many years he carried 
 on his trade in shoes and leather on Genesee street a little way above 
 Whitesboro. His tannery was on the latter street beyond Broadway 
 and adjoining the lane called by his name. Here he had iio vats 
 covered with buildings and a little below them on the lane a windmill 
 to grind his bark. Besides his tannery he had, after the construc- 
 tion of the canal, a warehouse on its southern bank next west from 
 Washington street, and a basin beside it. Mr. Hoyt was always a prom- 
 inent man in the affairs of the place, and by his industry as well as by 
 his interest in its good assisted much in promoting the prosperity and 
 growth of Utica. He was treasurer and afterward trustee of the village, 
 a director of the Bank of Utica, and in 1819 he represented the district 
 in the chamber of the Assembly. 
 
 At the meeting of the first Board of Trustees held under the new 
 charter of 1805 David W. Childs was appointed their clerk, and con- 
 tinued to record the meetings until September of the following year, 
 when ill health obliged him to withdraw. On the organization of the 
 Bank of Utica in 18 12 Mr. Childs, who was a director, obtained also a 
 more profitable office, being made its attorney and notary. In suits by 
 the bank for notes that were not paid it was the duty of the attorney to 
 issue writs for each of the endorsers, and for these writs he received a 
 handsome fee. By means of his office and by other business, for he 
 was a sound and industrious lawyer, he acquired a valuable property. 
 Among the provisions of his will was a legacy to the Utica Sunday 
 
SKETCH OF ABRAHAM VARICK, JR. 79 
 
 School of $250. while to the Theological Seminary at Auburn, to the 
 Western Education Society, and to the American Bible Society he 
 also gave $500 each. 
 
 A member of the legal profession, though conspicuous chiefly for his 
 business enterprise and the magnitude of his undertakings, and who 
 was long an honored citizen of Utica, was Abraham Varick, jr. His 
 ancestral home was in Hackensack, N. J., but he was the son of Abra- 
 ham Varick, of New York, and nephew of Col. Richard Varick, of Rev- 
 olutionary memory, former mayor of that city and attorney- general of 
 the State. In the summer of 1804 he came to Utica to settle. Though 
 educated to the bar he was never an attendant on the courts nor took in 
 hand the suits of others. For many years he acted as agent for the 
 Holland Land Company, and was busied in selling for them the lands 
 they owned to the north of Utica. Being an active and capable busi- 
 ness man and full of enterprise he devo'ted himself throughout his life 
 to dealing in lands, to the management of factories and furnaces, and to 
 other financial projects. As early as September, 1S04, he bought the 
 large farm lying at the head of Genesee street, which was known as the 
 Kimball farm, paying for it the sum of $5,500. It was mapped out for 
 building purposes, and within two years sales were made at prices 
 which were then deemed quite high. Subsequently Mr. Varick became 
 possessed at various periods of a number of lots and buildings in differ- 
 ent parts of the village. But his largest investments were made in West 
 Utica. About 1827, in connection with A. B. Johnson, he bought the 
 Jason Parker farm, which extended from the river to Court street oppo- 
 site the asylum. And together with Charles E. Dudley, of Albany, he 
 bought about the same time from Philip Schuyler a part of great lot 
 No. 99, being the farm adjacent to the preceding on the east. These 
 were also converted into building lots and yielded rich returns to their 
 owners, while they opened the way for the extension of the city toward 
 the west. His name is preserved in the main avenue of these western 
 domains. He was largely interested in many factories of different kinds, 
 as in the cotton-mills at Clinton, the Oneida factory at Yorkville, the 
 Oriskany factory, the Utica glass factory, etc. An iron furnace at 
 Constantia was chiefly controlled by him as well as mills and a rope- 
 walk at Denmark in Lewis County, and he was a heavy stockholder in 
 
8o MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 one of the earliest railroads of the State, that known as the Ithaca and 
 Owego. His latest and most considerable operations were carried on at 
 Oswego, where he came in possession of a property which included no 
 small part of the business section of the town. There he built a fine 
 cotton factory, of which the machinery alone cost him $6o,ooo, and had 
 also a dry dock and a marine railway. In the Presbyterian Church he 
 was a prominent person, and when measures were set on foot to estab- 
 lish a Reformed Dutch Church no one was more zealous or liberal 
 than he. He was one of its first elders. For a time he was president 
 of the Oneida County Bible Society. In person he was tall and impos- 
 ing, in demeanor dignified and sedate. 
 
 Dr. David Hasbrouck was a native of Shawangunk, Ulster County, 
 N. Y. He studied medicine with Dr. James Graham, of Shawangunk, 
 and attended lectures in New York. He came to Utica in 1804 and 
 formed a partnership in practice with Dr. Alexander Coventry, he occu- 
 pying the office on the west side of Genesee street next door below the 
 mouth of Broad while Dr. Coventry continued to reside in Deerfield. 
 There also he sold drugs. His practice was for the most part restricted 
 to a few leading families. He was the first secretary of the County Med- 
 ical Society on its organization in 1806. About 1815 he removed to 
 Kingston, Ulster County, but died in Schenectady in October, 1823, at 
 the age of forty- five. 
 
 " Dr. Christian Stockman, from Germany and last from Albany, 
 where he has resided for the last ten years, has opened in Utica on Gen- 
 esee street a general assortment of drugs and medicines. He will like- 
 wise attend to any calls in the line of his profession as physician and 
 give advice at his store in all cases, and when requested visit any pa- 
 tient who may favor him with a call." Besides drugs he kept also 
 German toys for sale. His announcement a few years later of a Ger- 
 man almanac must have seemed to the readers of the Gazette outland- 
 ish and strange. He was lost at sea on his return from a trip to 
 Europe. 
 
 Into the growing hamlet there came in the course of the year 1804 
 two brothers from Connecticut, and with them there came one who has 
 generally passed as a third brother, but who was in reality a cousin 
 and the brother-in-law to each of them, each having- married one of his 
 
SKETCHES OF PIONEER CITIZENS. 8i, 
 
 ( 
 sisters. These were Abijah and Anson Thomas and their relative, 
 
 B. W. Thomas. All survived by many years the early period of our 
 
 history and contributed by their honorable career as merchants and 
 
 their responsible position in the church to the fair name and prosperity 
 
 of Utica. Anson Thomas engaged in no business until about 1815, 
 
 when he began as a merchant in company with B. W. Thomas, which 
 
 partnership lasted fifteen years. His later partner until he retired from 
 
 business was James Button. In March, 1839, he was chosen president 
 
 of the Bank of Central New York, which .office he held while he lived, 
 
 discharging its duties with watchful fidelity. 
 
 The earliest hint we have of Hugh Cunningham is furnished by him- 
 self in 1804, when he informs the newspaper readers that Hugh Cun 
 ningham & Co. have opened a new store in the village opposite the 
 postoffice, which was lately that of William Fellows. Next we get a 
 telescopic peep at him through the memory of one of his contem- 
 poraries. A group of citizens are gathered around the pump in the pub- 
 lic-square gazing at the great eclipse of 1806, and prominent among 
 them sits Cunningham, astride the pump handle, enlivening the com- 
 pany with his waggery. In 18 10 he built himself a store on the east 
 corner of Genesee and the square, the site of the early House Tavern ; 
 but hardly was it complete when on the night of the 3d of October it 
 was burned to the ground. Presently rebuilt he was in it by the mid- 
 dle of January ensuing and ready to wait on purchasers of dry goods. 
 
 Isaac Coe was made village treasurer at the first election held under 
 the charter of 1805, and continued in the office by annual re-elections 
 as long as he remained in Utica. I'ossessed of decided enterprise, an 
 active mover in the project for establishing a glass factory at Vernon, 
 and the largest subscriber to the stock of the company he was if not 
 the first at least one of its earliest presidents. But his ambition outran 
 his resources and his career ended like that of many another : he failed 
 and went West. In September, 1810, a new treasurer was appointed 
 "in lieu of Isaac Coe, who has left the place." Upwards of fifty years 
 after the abrupt departure of Mr. Coe, and when nearly all who had 
 once known him had gone down to their graves, he re-appears on the 
 scene of his youthful experience to make good his delinquencies. Call- 
 ing upon the son of one of his former creditors he deposits with him the 
 II 
 
82 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 means with which to pay with interest all his old indebtedness. Other 
 men have made restitution after years of pecuniary indebtedness; not 
 many have carried a burdened conscience for fifty years without the 
 power to absolve themselves and yet have lightened it at the last. 
 
 Enos Brown and Daniel Stafford were dealers in hardware, and after 
 their failure in 18-20 the former became again a butcher as he had been 
 in his youth. He lived here in feeble health until 1856. A tinman, 
 coppersmith, and nailer in company with David Stafford was Augus- 
 tus Hickox, whose activity and zeal for the public good brought him to 
 the front and eventually made him president of the village. William 
 Tillman was a cabinetmaker ; Ara Broadwell, a mason, much employed 
 both on public and private constructions; Elisha Spurr, a jolly tapster 
 and a busy politician ; Chauncey Phelps, pavior ; Alfred and Solomon 
 Wells, carpenters ; Elisha Rose, blacksmith. 
 
 August 13, 1804, the firm of Walton, Turner & Co. took possession 
 of a store below Bagg's and at the same time opened the forwarding 
 business in two warehouses situated a little distance below the river 
 bridge, where the Central Railroad now runs. Duncan Turner was a 
 Scotchman who came from Nova Scotia to Albany, where he sold 
 little notions and accumulated about $500. Joining Jonathan Walton, 
 of Schenectady, he engaged in forwarding and came to Utica to manage 
 the business at this end of the line. The warehouses were set on upright 
 posts, which were undermined by a freshet about 1807. The buildings 
 were secured by being fastened to a tree, but the wheat stored therein 
 was so much damaged that it was sold to Mr. Gilbert to be made into 
 starch. Their later store was on Genesee where Broad street enters it. 
 At the beginning of the War of 181 2 Mr. Turner removed to Lowville 
 and shortly after to Ogdensburg. 
 
 In approaching the year 1805 we begin, as it were for the first time, 
 to meet with evidences of united interests among the villagers, and we 
 find these evidences in the expression of a desire for a more perfect 
 corporate life. Their wishes in this respect are contained in a petition 
 to the legislature for a new charter, which was received in the Assemblyi 
 February 12, 1805. Their reasons are so fully set forth that we make 
 no apology for copying the document in full together with the appended 
 names : 
 
PETITION FOR A NEW CHARTER. 83 
 
 " To the Honorable the Legislature of the State of New York in Senate and Assem- 
 bly convened: 
 
 "The petition of the freeholders and inhabitants of the village of Utica, in the 
 County of Oneida, humbly sheweth : 
 
 "That the rapid increase of buildings, business, and population in said village seems 
 to demand a police belter regulated and more enlarged than at present the said village 
 enjoys, particularly with respect to fires and the prevention of public nuisances ; That 
 your petitioners have already in many instances experienced a want of power in the 
 inhabitants of said village and the Trustees elected by virtue of the law under which 
 the affairs of said village are now regulated ; That a greater number of firemen are re- 
 quisite than is at present allowed;- That the population of the village is very rapid to- 
 ward the west and south, so that the bounds of the same as now settled in these 
 directions are too much limited ; That a great portion of the inhabitants of said village 
 are in the habit of consuming baker's bread, and there being no assize of bread the 
 poor as well as others are obliged to pay for that necessary article a greater price than 
 is paid in New York and Albany ; That it is found impossible in many cases to carry 
 into effect the laws respecting swine, &c., running at large in the streets, having no 
 power to distrain and impound, and the owner being frequently unknown. 
 
 "For these and other reasons your Petitioners therefore pray that your Honorable 
 body will grant to the freeholders, inhabitants, and Trustees of the said village powers 
 similar to those enjoyed by the village of Poughkeepsie; in order that the above and 
 many other existing evils may be avoided ; That the bounds of said village may be ex- 
 tended ; and that the annual meetings of the inhabitants of said village may be here- 
 after on the first Tuesday in April in each year." 
 
 B. Walker, Brastus Clark, N. Williams, Thos. Skinner, Daniel Thomas, S. P. 
 Goodrich, Talcott Camp, Wra Fellows, M. Hitchcock, David Hasbrouok, Frederick 
 White, David W. Childs, Watts Sherman, James Dana, Thomas Walker, J. Ballou, Apol- 
 los Cooper, Benj'n Ballou, Jason Parker. Judah Williams, jr., Willett Stillman, John 
 ilayo, Rufus Brown, Ira Dickenson, Elkanah Hobby, William Webster, Samuel Web- 
 ster, Thaddeus Stoddard, Caleb Hazen, Augustus Hickox, Sam'l Ward, Benajah Mer- 
 rell, Abraham Williams, John Adams, Ab'm Varick, jr., N. Butler, Jer. Van 
 Eensselaer, jr.. Christian Stockman, Bryan Johnson, Francis A. Bloodgood, John B. 
 Murdock, Francis Guiteau, jr., John Hobby, Charles C. Brodhead, Ezekiel Clark, Ayl- 
 mer Johnson, Moses Bagg, jr., John C. Uoyt, B. Brooks, Gurdon Burchard, D. Turner, 
 E. B. Shearman, Philip J. Schwartze, Joseph Ballou, Elisha Capron, James Brown, 
 Thomas Ballou, Joseph Ballou, Thomas Jones, Elisha Eose, Obadiah Ballou, James 
 Hazen, David Stafford, Bph'm Wells, John Bissell, Evan D^vies. 
 
 Having thus scanned the population of the nascent village, and passed 
 in review many of its members from the origin of the settlement down to 
 the beginning of extant historic records, let us now consider the people as 
 a whole and the appearance of Utica at the date in question. The vil- 
 lage, it is evident, had now taken a start and was growing with some 
 
84 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 degree of vigor ; and this start would seem to have begun from about 
 the year 1794, as will be seen from a glance at the few data we possess. 
 The three log shanties of the Bleecker map of 1786, and as observed 
 by a passing settler in 1787, had in 1790 hardly increased in number, 
 for this is the sum of them given by Morse in his earlier gazetteer, and 
 William Miller, of Trenton, found no more in 1793 when he first passed 
 through the place. In 1794 there were, according to Judge Jones, ^ about 
 ten resident families, or according to a settler of that date seven or 
 eight houses, although two Welsh emigrants on their way to Steuben 
 counted the next year only four houses and a barn on the main street. 
 In 1796 the number of houses, says Morse, had increased to thirty- 
 seven and in 1798 Dr. Dwight estimates their number at fifty. Maude, 
 two years later, tells us there were sixty, while another authority ^ rates 
 the population of 1801 at 200 souls. In 1802 the number of houses, as 
 we learn from Rev. Mr. Taylor, had grown to nearly ninety, and in 
 1804, when Dr. Dwight was here again, he found 120 houses and a long 
 train of merchants' stores and other buildings. 
 
 The actual narrowness of confine of the Utica of 1805 and the small 
 progress it had made toward its present measure of prosperity will 
 be evident when we know that the only streets in use were Main, 
 Whitesboro, Genesee, Hotel, and a portion of Seneca, the latter having 
 been added to the preceding in the year 1804. Others were laid down 
 on the manuscript maps of the proprietors, but unrecognized by author- 
 ity and as yet without houses. Business found its way from the river 
 as far up Whitesboro as Hotel street, as far up Genesee as the upper 
 line of Broad, and a little way along Main ; beyond these limits shops 
 and stores were sparingly intermingled with private residences. The 
 business was mostly conducted in little wooden buildings. Not more 
 than two brick stores had yet found a place. The dwelling houses of 
 Main and Whitesboro streets may be judged of by a few specimens still 
 to be seen east of First street and west of Broadway. The road along 
 Genesee street consisted of a log causeway barely wide enough for teams 
 to pass one another, and having a ditch on either side into which if the 
 hindmost wheels slipped a vigorous pull was required to raise them 
 again to the track. 
 
 1 Annals of Oneida County. 
 iJ A. B. Johnson. 
 
A CRITICAL ESTIMATE OF EARLY U2ICA. 85 
 
 The corduroy road, which once started between what are now Broad- 
 way and Washington streets and pursued its winding way to New Hart- 
 ford, was ere this abandoned for the more direct turnpike continuous 
 with Genesee street. The transient occupancy of many of the stores 
 and houses and the general floating habit of many of the traders and 
 artisans is markedly evident. At this time, as well as for some years 
 longer,- there was doubtless much of the rawness of a new people living 
 apart from populous centers and almost destitute of schools and 
 churches. Yet there was on the whole an unusual amount of intelli- 
 gence and good morals. Some of the settlers had been bred at college, 
 others had enjoyed a wide experience abroad and had moved in polished 
 circles, and the majority had been trained under elevating and purify- 
 ing influences. Utica was surpassed both by Whitesboro and New 
 Hartford, and at least equaled by Rome, its later and more enduring 
 rival. These places were not only earlier in their origin and had already 
 become centers of trade, but Whitesboro in 1802 became with Rome 
 a half-shire town of the county. Here the courts were held and here 
 the chief officers and many of the leading lawyers had their abode. 
 Already there were clustered in it a few legal gentlemen of marked 
 ability who would have been distinguished in any community, whether 
 for their eloquence and skill as advocates, their sound learning, or their 
 just estimate and successful practice of the dignity and duties of their 
 profession. 
 
 But as yet these heads of the profession were not only founders of this 
 bar ; they had also a monoply of its privileges, so that in legal as in 
 other needs Utica was but secondary and dependent. If an order were 
 to be procured from the courts or any other business to be transacted 
 therein, or even if it were wished that a deed should be acknowledged, 
 a journey to Whitesboro was necessary. In matters of household con- 
 venience and daily consumption a like dependence was also though not 
 so imperiously felt. If a fastidious citizen despaired of getting from the 
 stores of his own traders the finest loaf sugar or a nicer kind of tea than 
 the Bohea, then in common use, he would be sure of finding them with 
 WilHam G. Tracy, of Whitesboro ; and both this place and New Hart- 
 ford had for many years thriving merchants who drew custom from 
 Utica. New Hartford, too, in the cultivation and polish of many of its 
 
86 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 families, had social advantages that were little short of those possessed 
 by Whitesboro. 
 
 A natural characteristic of the small and sparse population of the 
 vicinity was the very great freedom of intercourse which existed. De- 
 pendent on one another for fellowship and assistance they were knit by 
 the closest of bohds and found much of their enjoyment in the exchange 
 of hospitable visits. Ranks and degrees in society there were, as at 
 present, but these distinctions were less marked and the bars easily 
 broken down. Thus each was impressed by his fellow, and happily 
 there were enough of ennobling agencies at work to chasten and exalt 
 the whole. Moreover distances were of little account and bad roads 
 so trifling an impediment that if congenial associates were deficient or 
 unsatisfying at home they were sought in the cultured and high toned 
 families of the neighboring settlements ; and so it was that Utica was 
 scarcely more indebted to its own leaders than to the foremost people 
 of Whitesboro and New Hartford for the influences that formed and en- 
 riched its character. 
 
 As we have seen a goodly number of stores and shops were dis- 
 persed along the principal street. Yet there was room enough outside 
 of it for the operations of farmers, and some of these were cultivating 
 the soil of what are now the oldest parts of the city. As luxuriant a 
 crop of wheat, said an eye-witness, has been grown in the Second 
 ward of Utica as he afterward met with in the famous wheat regions 
 of Genesee ; and as for potatoes the most abundant growth he re- 
 members to have witnessed in all his lifetime was the product of this same 
 neighborhood. The few simple manufactories as yet in existence have 
 been mostly already glanced at. There was the shop of William Smith 
 for the making of wrought nails on the east bank of Nail Creek. There 
 was a small shop for cut nails on the south side of Main street a little 
 east of the square. It was followed by the similar shop of Delvin on 
 Genesee street. These were worked by no other power than the hand 
 and foot, the nails being cut by one process and headed by another. 
 There was Ure's brewery on Nail Creek opposite Smith and there was 
 the new one of Inman just opened on the corner of Broadway. There 
 were four tanneries, viz.: those of Ballou, Hopper, Hubbard, and Hoyt. 
 There was the wagon shop of Abijah Thomas and the hat factory of Sam- 
 
EARLY TRADING AND BARTERING. 87 
 
 uel Stocking. There were a few places where chairs and other furniture 
 were made, and there were shops where other mechanical trades were 
 conducted. And these constituted the whole manufacturing interests. 
 
 It was trade that chiefly commanded the enterprise which is at pres- 
 ent enlisted in a great variety of pursuits. Audit found a vastly wider 
 field for its exercise than is enjoyed by the local merchants of to-day. 
 From Lewis and Jefferson, from Onondaga, Madison, and Chenango 
 Counties, farmers and country dealers sent hither their wheat and other 
 grains, their pot and pearl ashes, and the surplus of their farms and 
 dairies, to receive in exchange for consumption or for sale goods from 
 the East that were best attainable by transport on the river. Compar- 
 atively little money was in use, and business was largely a system of 
 barter and credit wherein the merchants on the Mohawk held toward the 
 outlying settlements relations akin to those now existing between the 
 importers of the metropolis and inland dealers all over the country ; they 
 found a market for these frontier producers and supplied them in return 
 with the manufactures of Europe and the groceries and liquors of 
 New England and the West Indies. The following are a few only of the 
 prices of articles in common use, both imported and native. A kind of 
 East India muslin that would scarcely hold together to be measured 
 was sold for two shillings. This was called bafters. A somewhat finer 
 variety known as giirrers commanded a sixpence more. Calicoes were 
 six shillings and sixpence per yard; better* and handsomer can now be 
 bought for one shilling. West India sugar sold at from ten to fourteen 
 cents ; maple sugar in its season at sixpence. Board was $2.00 a week ; 
 a single meal two shillings. 
 
 Let us not imagine that the streets were thronged with traffickers or 
 that they ever presented a scene analogous to those so often witnessed 
 nowadays. Many years yet elapsed ere one of them was paved or 
 lighted, while the sidewalks, not yet taken in hand by the trustees, were 
 scarce distinguishable from the roadways, A single constable formed 
 the total police, and he was often called in the discharge of his duties to 
 distant points of the State, for Madison, Lewis, Jefferson, and St. Law- 
 rence formed parts of his bounds. No bank had yet been established. 
 The Welsh had the only church actually erected. Trinity was in progress, 
 but not ready for use, and the sole mode of access to it was by a lane 
 
88 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 known as Church lane, which anticipated the present First street ; and 
 even this was entered through a gate. On the map of Whitestown 
 made by Peleg Gifford in 1806, of which a part is shown below, this 
 church is represented as standing quite alone in the rear of the row of 
 houses that line the course of Main street. The other church pictured 
 on his map was not yet begun. For most worshipers the school-house 
 was the customary place of resort. Baptists who did not understand 
 
 Welsh attended the Welsh Baptist Church when there was preaching in 
 English, and sometimes made a journey to Herkimer in order to wor- 
 ship. Methodists gathered on the New Hartford road. 
 
 The village had its burying ground, and in 1806 a deed of the 
 premises was obtained from Stephen Potter, the owner, but with a re- 
 served clause that savors little of the modern taste and sentiment that is 
 exercised in providing for the last resting place of our departed friends, 
 as it reserved to the former owner the right of pasturmg sheep and calves 
 therein. 
 
PROVISIONS OF SECOND CHARTER. 89 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 THE SECOND VILLAGE CHARTER. 
 
 Officers elected at the first Town Meeting — Their Proceedings and those of suc- 
 ceeding Years — New comers Noticed. 
 
 THE petition heretofore recorded which the citizens had addressed 
 to the legislature was granted, and a new and more compre- 
 hensive charter was accorded them. By order of Talcott Camp, clerk, 
 the inhabitants were called to meet at the school-house on Tuesday, May 
 7, 1805, in order to choose five trustees and do any other necessary 
 business, at which time " the law is to be read." This charter, which 
 bears date April 9, 1805, secured all the privileges that were asked. 
 The bounds of the village on the east were fixed as they now exist. 
 Those on the west extended to the west line of lot No. 99. The free- 
 holders were declared a body corporate with power to raise among them- 
 selves a tax not exceeding $1,000 in one year for public buildings, fire 
 expenses, and necessary improvements. Five trustees were to be elected 
 annually at a meeting of freeholders to be held on the second Tues- 
 day in May. Any person who declined to serve when so elected was 
 liable to a fine of $25. To these trustees it was given to fix the price 
 of bread, assess all taxes, appoint twenty-five firemen, make all by-laws 
 necessary for protection against nuisances, and for the general regula- 
 tion of municipal affairs, and to them was entrusted full power to enforce 
 the same The president whom they should appoint was required, in 
 addition to his duties as presiding officer of the board and superintend- 
 ent of the public interests, to look after the utensils used at fires, while 
 the trustees were to serve also as fire wardens. There was to be ap- 
 pointed also at the annual meeting a treasurer and a collector who were 
 to receive compensation for their services. The foregoing is an out- 
 line of the charter which the inhabitants were now met to hear and in 
 accordance with whose provisions they were to organize. Their pro- 
 ceedings as well as those of subsequent annual meetings, and those also- 
 12 
 
^o MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 of the monthly meetings of the trustees then elected, are preserved to us 
 in the records which still remain, so that we may from this time onward 
 trace the official history of the place and are no longer restricted to 
 the individual histories of its citizens. 
 
 At this first annual meeting the former trustees presided. The fol- 
 lowing were chosen trustees for the ensuing year : Jeremiah Van Rens- 
 selaer, jr., Nathan Wilhams, Francis A. Bloodgood, Jerathmel Ballou, 
 and Erastus Clark. Isaac Coe was chosen treasurer and Worden Ham- 
 mond collector. It was resolved that the sum of $300 be raised by 
 assessment on the freeholders, of which two and one-half per cent, was 
 to go to the collector and one per cent, to the treasurer for their com- 
 pensation, and the residue be devoted by the trustees to the payment 
 of the expenses of digging wells, procuring pumps and fire utensils, 
 and the contingent expenses. 
 
 At the first meeting of trustees, which was held at the hotel four days 
 afterward, Jeremiah Van Rensselaer, jr., was appointed president and 
 D. W. Childs clerk. The early provisions for extinguishing fires are 
 detailed in a later chapter devoted to the fire department. At the same 
 meeting the trustees adopted a seal, which was a heart with the letter F 
 in the center, and also passed an ordinance to restrain horses, hogs, and 
 neat cattle from running at large. At the third meeting of the trustees 
 an ordinance was passed in relation to fire buckets. Its provisions, which 
 seem now so singular, but which with some modifications were in force 
 for several years, were substantially the following : The owner of every 
 dwelling, store, or workshop, or occupant of the same if the owner 
 were a non-resident, was required to keep hung up in the principal hall, 
 or in some conspicuous place in the building, one or more leathern fire 
 buckets of the capacity of eight quarts, and in number proportioned to 
 the fire-places or stoves the building might contain, though no one was 
 expected to have more than six. These buckets were not to be used 
 for any other purpose than to carry water at fires. For non-compliance 
 with the ordinance the owner or occupant was subject to fine. The 
 operation of the ordinance was to extend from the east line of great lot 
 No. 93 to the west line of lot No. 96, that is to say from First street to 
 the present State street, and as far south as the line of Blandina street. 
 The next meeting was held on the 3d of June, when the assize of bread 
 
PROCEEDINGS OF TRUSTEES. 91 
 
 was fixed. The price being regulated in accordance witli the price of 
 wheat, this first assize, which was made when wheat was selling at four- 
 teen shilhngs per bushel, was as follows : A loaf of superfine wheat 
 flour to weigh two pounds ten ounces, for one shilling; a loaf of super- 
 fine flour to weigh one pound five ounces, for sixpence ; a loaf of com- 
 mon wheat flour to weigh three pounds three ounces, for one shilling; 
 a loaf of common wheat flour to weigh one pound nine ounces, for 
 sixpence. 
 
 It might be presumed from the desire the citizens had expressed for 
 power by their charter to adjust the price of bread and the prompt 
 exercise of this power by the trustees that baker's bread was the only 
 kind in use, and that few if any families baked their own. And this was 
 probably the case to a much greater extent than at present. The prac- 
 tice arose chiefly from the difficulty of getting brevi;er's yeast with which 
 to leaven their bread. The very earliest settlers made their own beer 
 from wild hops they gathered in the woods, and the emptyings were 
 used for yeast ; but such yeast was troublesome to make and soon 
 soured. After the erection of a brewery, and especially after Mr. Inman, 
 the brewer, announced through the papers that private families would 
 be waited on with fresh yeast every Tuesday and Friday, domestic 
 bread, as we may conclude, came more into use. But that manufactured 
 by the bakers was always in demand. Its assize was renewed or newly 
 regulated at each monthly meeting, and was published in the weekly 
 papers over the signature of the president. Any baker who violated 
 the ordinance was subject to a fine of $5. 
 
 In July it was determined to dig three public wells for the supply of 
 the village with water. These wells were all dug, were fitted with 
 pumps, and in use for sometime. The lower one on Genesee street was 
 found to afford excellent water, and was so great a convenience to man 
 and beast as to be kept open. It served as a notable place of rendez- 
 vous for the inhabitants nearly if not quite down to the time when the 
 village became a city. At the same meeting laws were passed forbid- 
 ding the deposit of firewood any further in the street than fifteen feet 
 from the sides, and requiring its removal within twenty-four hours after 
 purchase ; requiring the removal also of building material, potash ket- 
 tles, hogsheads, standing wagons, and rubbish ; excluding slaughter- 
 
92 
 
 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 houses between lots 90 and 97 ; forbidding the burning out of chimneys 
 on other than rainy days or the burning of combustibles in the street 
 before sunrise or after sunset. A week later the money raised by assess- 
 ment was apportioned according to a schedule agreed on. The above 
 was in substance all that was done by the trustees during the year, 
 although they met every month to declare the assize of bread. 
 
 The firemen held also monthly meetings and were duly exercised at 
 each of them. Those who failed in their attendance for three consecu- 
 tive months were to be reported to the trustees. They supped together 
 on the 1st of January, 1806, at the small cost to the company of $1. 
 It would seem, however, that they presently' devised another mode of 
 expending the fund arising from the accumulated fines, for in February 
 they voted that tickets in the Lottery for the Encouragement of Litera- 
 ture to the amount of moneys in fund be purchased and that numbers 
 be recorded by the clerk for the use of the company. The amount thus 
 expended was $19.50. 
 
 The freeholders of Utica held likewise two other meetings during 
 the current year besides the annual one already mentioned. The first 
 was for the election of a new collector in place of one who resigned. 
 The second was called to consider the means of supporting a night 
 watch and was to be held at the hotel. Of the proceedings had on the 
 occasion no record is left ; the result we may infer from the following vol- 
 untary pledge, which bears date the following day. The original, a time- 
 stained and much- worn paper, has attached the signatures of the trustees 
 and a large number of the active men of the era, ninety-eight in all. 
 
 This pledge reads thus : 
 
 "Utica, Dec'rio, 1805. 
 " We, the subscribers, esteeming a Night Watch in the Village of Utica as necessary 
 to guard us against the clangers of fire, do hereby associate ourselves for that purpose, 
 and mutually pledge our honor to each other to act during the winter ensuing as good 
 and faithful watchmen, under the direction and superintendence of the Trustees of 
 said village." 
 
 These watchmen, as we learn from other sources, were distributed 
 into squads of five or six each and took their turns in patrolling the 
 village from end to end of its two principal streets. This ample pro- 
 vision both of watchmen and of firemen, and this extreme vigilance 
 on the part of all the inhabitants to protect themselves against de- 
 
VILLAGE TEACHERS— JOHN STEWART, JR. 93 
 
 struction by fire, though in part due to the fact that the buildings were 
 mostly of wood, must have had some more cogent reason peculiar 
 to this special time. And we are ready to believe as is reported that 
 the settlers were in terror from the attempts of incendiaries, and there- 
 fore the more ready to sacrifice their ease to oppose such evil minded 
 marauders. The system once inaugurated was continued for some time 
 longer as appears by a later though undated list of volunteers, and it is 
 not until the year 1810, as we learn from the records, that paid watch- 
 men were employed by the trustees. 
 
 Rev. Bethuel Dodd, the first Presbyterian clergyman, died in April, 
 1804. In October following Rev. James Carnahan arrived to succeed 
 to his charge. 
 
 The first master who ruled the village school after the departure of 
 Mr. Dana was a brother of Silas Clark, and next after him the first of 
 whom we hear was R. Holcomb. The teacher of whom we next get 
 any intimation was Gideon Wilcoxson ; and of him little is known as 
 a pedagogue, though we have a better acquaintance with him as a law- 
 yer. He was a student of Hamilton Oneida Academy and in Novem- 
 ber, 1805, he opened the school- house on Main street for pupils. But 
 he soon took to the law, becoming a student of D. W.. Childs. 
 
 Another lawyer who spent a few years in Utica was Abraham D. 
 Van Home, a native of Montgomery County who pursued his studies 
 with Joseph Kirkland at New Hartford and then began practice in Utica 
 as the partner of A. M. Walton. In July, 1807, he was made village 
 attorney, but resigned in October and returned to New Hartford to join, 
 his preceptor. 
 
 Among the newly established merchants were John Stewart, jr., who 
 during the few years of his residence in this place was conspicuous for 
 his enterprise, public spirit, and pecuniary success ; Jesse Doolittle, "a 
 very synonym of gentleness and integrity," who lived here forty years, 
 occupying positions of responsibility and usefulness; and Moses Bagg, jr., 
 who soon relinquished an active share in mercantile pursuits and assumed 
 the charge of the tavern that had been conducted by his father. 
 
 This tavern was a two-story wooden building on the corner of Main 
 street and the square. Its meager dimensions when compared with the 
 present enormous pile known as Bagg's Hotel may be judged from the 
 
94 
 
 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 following : When the first Board of Canal Commissioners in the course 
 of their preliminary surveys visited Utica in July, i8io, two of them, 
 Messrs. Stephen Van Rensselaer and Gouverneur Morris, who had made 
 the journey by land, occupied with their servants the whole of the tav- 
 ern, while the rest of the commissioners who came on by the river were 
 forced to seek quarters elsewhere. In 1812-15 Mr. Bagg erected on 
 the site of this wooden structure the central portion of the brick hotel 
 which bears his name, and to it he subsequently added on either side. 
 This he conducted with 
 brief intermissions until 
 the year 1836, when it 
 was sold to a company 
 of individuals. In the 
 latter part of his career 
 in the hotel he became 
 associated with Alfred 
 Churchill, who eventu- 
 ally bought the compa- 
 ny out and joined also- 
 the Bleecker house on 
 the north. Soon after 
 the erection of the ear- 
 lier portion J. Parker & 
 Co. established their of- bagg-s hotel in iSis. 
 
 fice in the basement corner, and thus the house became the principal 
 stopping place for the stages from all directions and was more generally 
 resorted to by travelers than any other public house of the village. On 
 the opening of the Utica and Schenectady Railroad the nearness of the 
 hotel to the terminus of the road gave it an advantage that was enjoyed 
 by no other house but the one adjoining it, with which, as has been 
 stated, it was shortly united. It has been kept as a hotel continuously 
 to the present time. 
 
 Rudolph Snyder, a prosperous cabinetmaker, was long a trustee of 
 the village and for two terms its president. For five successive years 
 he was president of the Mechanics Association and for two years one 
 of the commissioners of common schools. In the Methodist Society he 
 
OTHER SETTLERS OF 1805-06. 95 
 
 was a person of consideration and influence, and was elected one of the 
 first trustees on the incorporation of the society and the erection of 
 their chapel in 1815. At an earlier period he had put up a school- 
 house on ground adjacent to the Parker block which was used by them 
 as a place of worship. 
 
 Other residents of 1805 not before mentioned were James A. and 
 Lynott Bloodgood, ironmongers who continued here about five years, 
 but of whom the latter returned at a later period and spent his declin- 
 ing years with his daughter and her children ; Seth Dwight, by turns 
 merchant and hotel-keeper; George Tisdale, another tavern-keeper; 
 Joseph Barton, watchmaker; Benjamin Payne, fashionable tailor; Will- 
 iam Hayes, earthenware maker ; William Baxter, gardener and baker 
 and progenitor of numerous later Uticans ; Samuel Hickox, builder of 
 the noted political boundary, the "Cayuga bridge"; and B. B. Rathbun, 
 whose chief notoriety was acquired at Buffalo. 
 
 At the annual meeting of freeholders and inhabitants held in May, 
 1806, the former trustees were re-elected. The proceedings of five of 
 their monthly meetings are duly recorded, those of the remaining seven 
 months being wanting in consequence of -the sickness and absence of 
 Mr. Childs, the clerk. The sum of $200 was deemed sufficient for the 
 expenses of the year. The determination of the assize of bread seems 
 to have been the only business occupying the attention of the trustees 
 that is deemed worthy of a place in their minutes. 
 
 By direction of the Whitestown commissioners of highways Wash- 
 ington street, which had just been opened on the property of Mr. Bell- 
 inger, was now declared a public street as far as the present Liberty, 
 and the last named street, extending from Hotel to meet it, was also 
 recognized as public. 
 
 In the year 1798 John Post had received as an inmate of his house- 
 hold his nephew, Abraham Van Santvoort, who became eventually his 
 successor in the business of transporting on the Mohawk. He informs 
 the public in 1806 that he has commenced the storage and forwarding 
 business to and from Schenectady, Albany, and New York, and any 
 part of the western country, for which purpose he has taken one of the 
 large and convenient stores of John Post on the dock in Utica. He has 
 made arrangements with Eri Lusher for conveying by water between 
 
96 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 this place and Schenectady and with David Boyd between Schenectady 
 and Albany. The storehouse he at first occupied was originally above 
 the bridge, but very near to it. It was afterward moved up the stream 
 to the foot of Division street. And nearly on the last named site Van 
 Santvoort in company with Mr. Lusher and others erected toward the 
 close of the War of 1812 a brick warehouse which has remained stand- 
 ing until a comparatively recent period. 
 
 Mr. Van Santvoort held during the war the office of sub-contractor 
 for the supf)ly of provisions for the soldiers and acted as government 
 storekeeper. 
 
 Others of 1805 were Jonathan Child, teacher and afterward first 
 mayor of the city of Rochester ; Bennett Bicknell, cabinetmaker, after- 
 ward a leading politician of Madison County ; Henry Kip, brother of 
 James, ropemaker here and at Buffalo ; two brothers Oudenarde ; and 
 the rnechanics John Culver, carpenter, Thomas James, wagonmaker, 
 and John Queal, shoemaker, who were much less transitory in their 
 abode. 
 
 At the freeholders' meeting of May, 1807, the trustees who were 
 elected were the same as those of the two preceding years, except that 
 John Hooker was substituted for Francis A. Bloodgood. The board 
 made Erastus Clark their president. The principal business recorded 
 as done by them throughout the year related to the fire company. 
 Having in July examined the books of the clerk of this company and 
 discovered frequent absences they resolved that every fireman noted as 
 absent from the monthly meetings seven times between May, 1806, 
 and June, 1807, should be ordered to appear before them. Twelve ap- 
 peared agreeably to such citation, and after a full examination of their 
 several excuses all were excused except one, who had been absent 
 twelve times ; he was removed. The clerk of the company was directed 
 to report thereafter every quarter such firemen as were absent from the 
 monthly meetings, and as a consequence a few were subsequently re- 
 moved and their places supplied from the list of ready candidates. The 
 coming of the Fourth of July brought its troubles to the officials of 
 1807 just as its approach entails anxiety and care upon the authorities 
 of today ; and trivial as would seem the prank which now occupied 
 their attention the author of it was not thought unworthy of detection 
 
TRUSTEES' PROCEEDINGS— A TRAVELERS NOTES. 97 
 
 and punishment by the village fathers. Under date of July 6th we find 
 the following: 
 
 " Resolved, That five dollars be giveh to any one who will discover the person who 
 took away the bolt from the pump at the lower end of Genesee street on the evening 
 of the 3d instant, so that the offender may be prosecuted ; and that the same be ad- 
 vertised three weeks in botli the papers.'' 
 
 In order to judge rightly of the gravity of the offence it should be re- 
 membered that the town pump was an important auxiliary in the ex- 
 tinguishment of fires, as it was the usual place and means of drill for 
 the firemen at their monthly meetings ; and though a missing bolt 
 could be easily replaced it might be lacking when most it was needed, 
 and hence exemplary punishment was required. An ordinance was 
 passed in amendment of a previous one which was designed to prevent 
 the erection of buildings on a street and to cause the removal of build- 
 ings already so erected. Besides the foregoing proceedings the board 
 granted a license for the erection of a slaughter-house. Before the ex- 
 piration of the year they resolved that with their consent seven per- 
 sons and no more be licensed to keep tavern in the village during the 
 ensuing year. 
 
 Another traveler has left us his impressions of the appearance of Utica 
 as he saw it in the summer of 1807. This was Christian Schultz, jr. 
 He speaks of it as a flourishing village, and tells us it "contains at 
 present about 160 houses, the greatest part of which are painted white, 
 which gives it a neat and lively appearance. Foreign goods are nearly 
 as cheap here as in New York, which, I presume, is owing to the mer- 
 chants underselling each other; for this, like all other country towns, is 
 overstocked with shopkeepers. Most of the goods intended for the salt 
 works are loaded here in wagons and sent on overland, a distance of 
 fifty miles. The carriage over this portage is fifty cents a hundred- 
 weight.'' 
 
 Peter Bours, at first a hardware merchant, was very active in organ- 
 izing the Utica glass factory, a manufactory started at Glassville, so 
 called, in the present town of Marcy. He acted for some time as its 
 superintendent and moved thither with his family. The factory proved 
 unsucpessful as will be shown in a future notice of its operations, and ia 
 1818 Mr. Bours opened a land office in Utica for recording and exhib- 
 
 13 
 
gS MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 iting for sale unsettled lands and improved farms. This, too, bringing 
 him no compensation he next entered upon the profession of an auction- 
 eer, a profession in which his active spirit and plausible address soon 
 secured him plentiful employment. The frequent noisy cries of his 
 sturdy negro as he patrolled the streets, bell in hand, proclaiming a sale, 
 and calling bystanders to walk up to Mr. Bours's auction rooms, are 
 recollections fast in the memory of all older citizens of Utica. 
 
 Stalham Williams, who had been a clerk and a merchant in Utica, was 
 appointed collector on the newly opened middle section of the Erie 
 Canal and served some time as such. From the expiration of this service 
 until he again entered the employ of the Messrs. Devereux he was a 
 short time book-keeper for James Dana, and during a still longer period 
 acted as secretary and treasurer of the Erie Canal Packet Boat Com- 
 pany. After John C. and Nicholas Devereux had retired from active 
 business they retained an office on Bleecker street and managed a sort 
 of unchartered savings bank. Here the scant savings of poorer citizens 
 who confided in the integrity of these gentlemen were sacredly guarded 
 and regular interest was paid on all accumulated balances. The routine 
 work was performed by Mr. Williams and was performed with rare fidel- 
 ity. When in process of time the deposits had grown so large that it 
 was deemed best for the accommodation of all classes of depositors that 
 a savings bank should be organized Mr. Williams was made its secre- 
 tary and treasurer. This was in 1839, and the office he continued to 
 hold until his death. When he had reached the age of seventy he ten- 
 dered his resignation to the directors of the bank, fearing that age had 
 impaired his usefulness. But they refused to part company with their 
 faithful officer and he remained long after he had passed his ninetieth 
 year in the daily performance of his duty. He reached nearly a century. 
 
 Another long continued establishment, started in November, 1807, 
 was that of Bagg & Camp. John Camp, eldest son of Talcott Camp, 
 became a clerk for William Fellows, and two years after the latter had 
 associated himself with Moses Bagg he bought out the interest of Mr. 
 Fellows and the new firm was formed. Under the name of Bagg & 
 Camp the two carried on for some years the usual miscellaneous business 
 of the time. When the former ceased from its active prosecution the 
 firm assumed the name of John Camp & Co. Next it was changed to 
 
THE BROTHERS CAMP— JACOB SNYDER. 99 
 
 John Camp & Brothers, and under this name the three Messrs. Camp, 
 John, Harry, and Charles, continued their business until about the year 
 1 834, the period of the death of Charles, when John withdrew. The store 
 which at first had been kept in the building next adjoining Bagg's Tavern 
 on the north was in later years on Genesee street nearly opposite Cath- 
 arine. Mr. Camp continued to act as director of the Bank of Utica the 
 remainder of his days. Of unobtrusive and retiring manners, clear and 
 calm in judgment, and of unblemished private character, no one of the 
 earlier merchants left behind him a fairer reputation than John Camp. 
 
 Harry Camp was a clerk and afterward partner of Abraham Van 
 Santvoort. Mr. Van Santvoort was both forwarder and merchant, and 
 during the war held also the office of sub-contractor of supplies for the 
 counties of Oneida and Madison. While in his service, besides his ordi- 
 nary duties of superintending the transportation of goods between Sche- 
 nectady and the West, Mr. Camp was often deputed to go out and meet 
 companies of soldiers destined to or from the seat of hostilities and pro- 
 vide them with the necessaries of subsistence. He once made a journey 
 on horseback to Buffalo in order to carry $2,200 with which to cancel 
 orders for goods supplied to the troops. Not long after the close of the 
 war occurred the failure of the important transporting firm which was 
 epresented in Utica by Mr. Van Santvoort as its head, when this gentle- 
 man moved away from the village and it fell to Mr. Camp to close up 
 its concerns. The latter then joined his brothers, John and Charles, in 
 general trade and formed an important factor in the good name of the 
 honorable house of John Camp & Brothers. After its dissolution in 1834 
 Harry remained at the old stand and transacted a moderate business for 
 some years longer. 
 
 Jacob Snyder made chairs which have not their match in modern 
 times for strength and durability, and in the sale of them he had almost 
 the monopoly of the market until after the War of 18 12. Some thirty 
 years before his death he withdrew from business, because, as he believed, 
 it was no longer carried on as honestly as it should be. He was a leader 
 among the society of Methodists and his house a coveted place of rest 
 and refreshment for the traveling preachers of the sect. With a voice 
 like rolhng thunder he exercised it often in exortation and in prayer, 
 wherein his language was choice and scriptural. Temperance and anti- 
 
100 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 slavei-y were reforms which were near to his heart and formed themes for 
 his tongue and his pen. 
 
 Bildad Merrell kept a livery stable on Hotel street, was godly in life, 
 and head of a respectable family. In the fall of 1814, by direction of 
 Postmaster Hitchcock, he went with men and horses to organize an 
 express system between Sackets Harbor and our army at Plattsburgh. 
 The battle of Plattsburgh soon followed, the enemy withdrew, and but 
 one express was ever carried. After the opening of the middle section 
 of the Erie Canal he drew up a boat from the river and kept it on livery 
 for pleasure excursions. Some time later, when he had gotten together 
 a moderate property, he engaged in staging, running lines north and 
 south of Utica. His conscientious objections to Sunday traveling led 
 him to take a pecuniary interest in the Pioneer line which was run on 
 week days only. 
 
 John B. Harrington, butcher, lived until 1852; John B. Gilbert, and 
 his sons after him, made starch just over the eastern border. 
 
 In May, 1808, the freeholders met to elect trustees, and for the last 
 time in the old Main street school-house, the furniture of the building 
 having been advertised for sale shortly afterward. The new trustees 
 were Morris S. Miller, Jerathmel Ballou, John Hooker, Nathaniel Butler, 
 and John Bellinger. Morris S. Miller was made president of the board. 
 Of their proceedings there is not much that is noteworthy; the meet- 
 ings were held regularly every month and the assize of bread made out 
 and published. The usual vigilance is evinced with respect to danger 
 from fires and to faithfulness on the part of the firemen, absentees being 
 duly reported and those of them who were unexcused removed from 
 position. An ordinance was passed forbidding the use of firearms, rock- 
 ets, or squibs between the east line of lot No. 92 and the west line of No. 
 96 and the southern boundary of the village; also forbidding fast driv- 
 ing and ball playing between 90 and 96. A subscription was set on 
 foot to fence the burying ground and another to procure a hearse, and 
 these moneys so subscribed the collector was directed to collect. 
 
 The firemen likewise met monthly for practice with the engine, but 
 did nothing else except to mark the absent ones and assess them with 
 fines the next time they came. During the summer of 1808 an addi- 
 tional street was opened. This was Broad street, which, though laid out 
 
EMBARGO MEETINGS— ARTHUR BREESE. loi 
 
 and partially worked a little time before, was now extended to Genesee 
 street. Two brick houses were commenced upon it. 
 
 A meeting was held this year of the electors of the county to take 
 into consideration the expediency of petitioning the President of the 
 United States to suspend the operation of the embargo. The meet- 
 ing was held at the hotel on the 3d of September. It was a large and 
 exciting one. Resolutions were proposed by Thomas R. Gold and adop- 
 ted, and a petition proposed by Jonas Piatt was forwarded to President 
 Jefferson asking for the suspension of the embargo act. The reply, re- 
 ceived six weeks later, gave the petitioners little consolation. They 
 were told they must wait the action of Congress. 
 
 It was during this same exciting era that a military company was 
 drafted in Utica to serve in case hostilities should ensue. The drafting 
 took place in the public room of the hotel. Maj. John Bellinger was 
 chosen captain, the second and third officers being Silas Clark and Ben- 
 jamin Ballou, jr. But their military prowess was not then called to the 
 test. 
 
 One of the prominent men of Oneida County while the county was 
 yet new was Arthur Breese. As early as 1794 he removed to Whites- 
 boro, where he became a partner in practice with Jonas Piatt. He 
 acted also as deputy clerk of the county (Mr. Piatt being clerk), was a 
 master in chancery, and in 1796-97 was a representative in the legislat- 
 ure. Upon the organization of the new county of Oneida he was ap- 
 pointed surrogate, and held the office so long as he remained at Whites- 
 boro. But when a clerkship of the Supreme Court was established at 
 Utica in 1808 he was made clerk and removed thither. The building he 
 occupied stood where now stands the office of the county clerk. He 
 soon built for his dwelling a large stone house directly opposite and next 
 above Jeremiah Van Rensselaer's, a site now filled by the Miller or step- 
 ladder row. On the death of its first president Mr. Breese held also for 
 a time the position of president of the Ontario Branch Bank. He left 
 numerous descendants. 
 
 A lawyer of standing in his profession and an eminently pure and de- 
 vout man was Walter King. Graduated at Yale College in 1805 he came 
 shortly afterward to Utica and commenced a course of law studies in 
 the office of Erastus Clark. With Mr. Clark he then became a partner 
 
I02 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 and continued this connection until the death of the latter gentleman in 
 1825. He subsequently pursued the practice of his profession until the 
 year 1832,3 part of the time as a partner of James Dean, and was a good 
 office lawyer. He was for a long period a leading officer in the First 
 Presbyterian Church and a favorite teacher in its Bible class. His 
 knowledge of sacred literature was varied and exact. The Scriptures he 
 studied in their original tongues and by the aid of abundant critical 
 authorities. He prepared and published a Gospel Harmony. 
 
 About this time came the first of two brothers Malcom, of most hon- 
 orable connection, and pending their few years' stay their polished and 
 engaging families held a noteworthy place in the society of Utica. They 
 were sons of Col. William Malcom of the Revolution. Samuel B. Mal- 
 com was born in New York, was private secretary of John Adams during 
 his administration, studied law and entered upon practice, but about 
 1808 removed to Oneida County. His chief employment here was the 
 care and sale of lands in Cosby's Manor, the property of his wife, who 
 was Catharine Van Rensselaer Schuyler, youngest daughter of Gen. 
 Philip Schuyler. She is reported to have received at her marriage 
 $100,000 in money and a like value in real estate, situated mostly in 
 this vicinity. Many years later and when she had become a second 
 time a widow she filled the office of postmistress at Oswego. 
 
 The freeholders' annual meeting of 1809 was held at the hotel. The 
 trustees who held office during the year were Talcott Camp, president; 
 Solomon Wolcott, John Hooker, Jerathmel Ballou, and John Bellinger. 
 The amount assessed on the inhabitants was but $350. Further meas- 
 ures were adopted to provide by subscription for a public hearse. A 
 lot for an engine-housfe, situated in the rear of Trinity Church, was given 
 by the Bleecker family through their representative, Morris S. Miller. 
 An attempt to call the inhabitants together to consider the propriety of 
 selling the engine and buying a new one failed of result, inasmuch as 
 few appeared, and no action was taken. The resignation of the clerk 
 and the appointment of a successor seems to have been thought so press- 
 ing a matter as to require the holding of an extra meeting of the trus- 
 tees on a Sunday evening. Occasion for another Sunday meeting was 
 found when the president reported that in compliance with instructions 
 previously given him he had employed three watchmen to serve from 
 
IMPROVEMENTS OF 1809. 103 
 
 10 o'clock until daylight. A practice so different from the modern one, 
 and apparently so little in accordance with the pious habits, of our fath- 
 ers, is readily explained when we remember that a majority of them were 
 emigrants from New England, where the evening of Saturday, not that 
 of Sunday, was looked upon as a part of the sacred day of rest, and where 
 sundown of the latter day still ushers in the secular duties of another 
 week. Of the watchmen, whom the president now informs the trustees 
 he had put on duty, two were to patrol the streets from Judge Cooper's 
 to Morris S. Miller's, that is, from the westerly end of Whitesboro street 
 to the easterly end of Main street and from the bridge to Arthur 
 Breese's, including the side streets, while the third was to remain as a 
 sentinel at the watch-house. 
 
 Broad street, we have seen, was opened the previous summer. On 
 the 27th of February, 1 809, it was formally adopted as a street by order 
 of the commissioners of highways of the town of Whitestown, from 
 Genesee street to its intersection with the road leading to Slayton's set- 
 tlement (2,052 feet), that is to say, a short distance east of Third street. 
 At the same time the following were also adopted, viz.: First and Sec- 
 ond streets from Broad to the river, Third street from Main to Broad 
 and from thence to be continued to the intersection of the road to Slay- 
 ton's Settlement, and Water street from First across Genesee to Hotel 
 street. 
 
 During the present year Bridge street — the present Park avenue — was 
 laid out and macadamized. This was a great undertaking, and involved 
 much forethought and care as well as a very considerable pecuniary out- 
 lay. It was wholly executed at private expense, being like Broad street 
 the work of Judge Morris S. Miller with the co-operation of his father- 
 in-law and brother-in-law, of Albany. Beginning opposite Mr. Plant's, 
 at the head of Genesee street, it ran in a northeastly direction behind the 
 southern margin of the village, crossed the river, and continued until it 
 intersected the river road in Deerfield. Designed apparently to draw 
 trade and travel from their present course along the Genesee road it 
 failed of wholly accomplishing its object; yet it did much to promote 
 the extension of the village in a southerly and easterly direction. 
 
 Meantime the growth of the village was inspiring a feeling of deeper 
 interest in its future and its desirabihty as a center for manufacturing 
 
I04 MEMORIAL HISTORYOF UTICA. 
 
 industries. Stimulated by the offer of co-operation and assistance from 
 Lawrence Schoolcraft, superintendent of a glass factory near Albany, a 
 company was formed in Utica for the establishment of a similar factory 
 in this vicinity. The company was incorporated February 17, 1809, 
 with a capital of ioo,ooo, and was known as the Oneida Glass Factory 
 Company. It carried on a successful business until 1 836, when it wound 
 up its affairs. 
 
 The necessity was felt, also, about this period for a larger circulation 
 of currency, and particularly the need of bills to take the place of the 
 silver then constituting almost the entire medium. This led to the open- 
 ing of a branch of the Manhattan Bank of New York in Utica and the 
 founding of the Utica Bank in 18 12. These enterprises are further 
 alluded to in later chapters devoted to manufacturing and banking. 
 
 On the 1st of May, 18 10, the freeholders met at Mr. Dixon's school- 
 house and elected as their trustees for the ensuing year Talcott Camp, 
 John C. Hoyt, John C. Devereux, Rudolph Snyder, and Abraham M. 
 Walton, the former of whom was appointed president. The sum voted 
 to be assessed was $500, which after remunerating the treasurer and 
 collector was to be appropriated as follows : First, to the sexton for 
 ringing the bell in the Presbyterian meeting-house ; second, to fencing 
 the lot presented by M. S. Miller and building an engine-house thereon ; 
 third, to digging and stoning a sewer on the east side of Genesee street 
 from the corner of Broad ; fourth, to pay balance due the watch; fifth, 
 to pay balance due for hearse and other contingent expenses. And 
 these were accordingly the principal matters that occupied the attention 
 of the trustees throughout the year. A new subscription was started to 
 provide for the watch of the current year and also a subscription for the 
 purchase of a new engine, the avails of which being deemed sufficient 
 were put into the hands of Watts Sherman with authority to buy the 
 same. In addition to the foregoing, as also the repairing of the fixtures 
 about the wells, the appointment of a new treasurer (E. B. Shearman), 
 and the discharge of a few small accounts, the only other transaction 
 of the board was the offer of a reward of $150 for the detection of 
 the incendiary who, on the night of the 2d of October, set on fire the 
 new store of Hugh Cunningham. 
 
 The Whitestown records inform us that in November, 18 10, C. C. 
 
GRADUAL EXTENSION OF THE VILLAGE. 105 
 
 Brodhead surveyed and the commissioners of highways adopted the fol- 
 lowing streets, viz.: Part of First from Broad to Rutger ; Broad street 
 extended to the lands of Colonel Walker; Catharine street from Third 
 street to the Seneca turnpike (Genesee street) ; First street extended to 
 Bridge. Bridge street, which as we have seen was laid out in 1809, was 
 also now adopted. A map made by Mr. Brodhead in 18 10 for the heirs 
 of John R. Bleecker exhibited all the streets parallel to Broad as far 
 upward as South, laid down thereon as they now exist. But we have 
 no evidence of the acceptance by authority of any other than Catharine 
 street, and it is certain that most of them were not in use until some 
 years later. By a newspaper advertisement of September in this year 
 we are informed that the house situated on the corner of Catharine and 
 Genesee was for sale and must be removed within ten days of date. It 
 is reasonable to infer that Catharine street was now demanded by the 
 growing necessities of the village, or at least its western end ; further 
 on it remained a quagmire until after the opening of the canal. In this 
 connection and as bearing on the increased value of real estate in Utica 
 we quote a few self-gratulatory words contained in a village paper of 
 this era, and constituting one of those rare occurrences for the era, an 
 item of purely local interest. " We are informed," says the Patriot ol 
 October 9, 18 [O, " that a small triangular lot on the corner of Genesee 
 and Whitesboro streets in this village has been sold after the rate of 
 $300,000 an acre, which same land twenty-five years ago might have 
 been purchased for $1 an acre." Utica contained at this time 1,650 
 inhabitants and 300 houses. A journalist records that he " counted 
 forty-five houses on the street leading to Judge Miller's." 
 
 A beginning was made this year in the construction of two important 
 roads leading north and south from the place, viz.: The Utica and Black 
 River turnpike and the Minden turnpike, known of late years as the 
 Burlington plank road. 
 
 Certain citizens of 1808-10 remain to be chronicled, yet with brevity. 
 These were Eliasaph Dorchester, teacher, bank clerk, assistant on the 
 Columbian Gazette, founder of the Utica Observer, and again a teacher ; 
 Rev. David R. Dixon, teacher, favored by the Federal families as Mr. 
 Dorchester was by the Democratic Republican ; Henry B. Gibson, 
 Motgomery Hunt, to appear hereafter among the bankers; Seymour 
 u 
 
io6 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF VTICA. " 
 
 Tracy, attorney and notary of the Manhattan ; James Van Rensselaer, 
 merchant, for whom was erected the brick row on the southerly side of 
 Liberty street between Hotel and Seneca; Thaddeus Wakeman, cap- 
 italist, known as the walking bank ; Paul Hochstrasser, gentleman; 
 Daniel Stafford, packet boat captain after his failure in hardware ; Joshua 
 Ostrom, who ran stages in competition with Parker; William Whiteley, 
 who made musical instruments down to 1850, and who in 181 1 leased 
 to Trinity Church a barrel organ with three cylinders of fifteen tunes 
 each, agreeing to perform on it at every regular service ; Shubael Storrs, 
 watch and instrument maker; Robert McBride, mason, who put up the 
 nucleus of the present Bagg's Hotel and had a part in the construction 
 of the Erie Canal ; Thomas Thomas, another mason, who besides other 
 buildings erected one of the structures of Hamilton College; William 
 Penniman, tanner ; T. H. Nurse, reedmaker ; Thomas and Luther 
 Christian, of varied occupations; Joseph Simon, furrier; John Bailey, 
 who was the father of the four brothers of the nahie that are mostly 
 resident; and John Robinson, blacksmith, father of the notorious Jack 
 Robinson, circus performer and wealthy proprietor. 
 
 On the 7th of May, 181 1, the citizens convened as usual at Mr. 
 Dixon's school- house. They elected as trustees Jeremiah Van Rens- 
 selaer, Talcott Camp, Frederick White, John C. Devereux, and E. B. 
 Shearman, and as treasurer John C. Hoyt in place of Mr. Shearman, 
 thus exalted to a trusteeship. Nicholas Smith was elected collectdr. 
 The amount of tax ordered to be raised was $500. Very little was 
 done by these trustees in the course of the year that is deserving of 
 remembrance. They held their meetings regularly, sometimes at the 
 hotel, sometimes at the office of their president, Mr. Camp ; delinquent 
 firemen were removed and their successors appointed, watchmen were 
 procured, the ringing of the bell provided for, bills were paid, and the 
 assize of bread determined. The only noteworthy event was the ar- 
 rival in the fall of the new engine for which payment to the manufacturers 
 had been forwarded in the spring. On its arrival the duty was imposed 
 on the captain of the fire company to take it out once a week, and to be 
 careful also to keep the old one in repair. At the same time a commit- 
 tee was appointed to make inquiry for a site for an engine-house near 
 the store of Hugh Cunningham, that is to say near the heart of the 
 village. 
 
INFANTR V COMPANY— J. HELLISH' S NOTES. 1 07 
 
 An intimation of the prevalence of a martial spirit at this time, and of 
 a readiness on the part of young men to engage in military duty, would 
 appear from an announcement made early in April. Nathan Williams, 
 captain of the Independent Infantry Company, in a newspaper call in- 
 vites the band of the company to meet with " the members of the band 
 of music " at the hotel, and invites also young men who are inclined to 
 become soldiers in the above company to attend and enroll their names. 
 In the beauty of its uniform, in its discipline and drill, this company, 
 which had probably been organized a year or two before, became the 
 distinguished one of the county. It was at first commanded by Nathan 
 Williams and afterward by William Williams, the bookseller and pub- 
 lisher. With their tight pants and tasselled boots these crack soldiers 
 were wont to parade to the satisfaction of the villagers in front of the 
 hotel; and there they had a public dinner on the Fourth of July, 1812, 
 the tables being arranged under booths which ran along the street. 
 The company went into the public service in the War of 1812 and as 
 an organization was disbanded. 
 
 We extract the following from the published notes of J. Mellish, an 
 English traveler : 
 
 " Utica is the capital of Oneida County, and consists at present of about 400 houses, 
 containing 2,000 inhabitants. It began to settle about twenty-three years ago, but it 
 has been principally built since 1796 and two-thirds of it since 1800. The buildings 
 are mostly of wood, painted white, but a good many have lately been built of brick 
 and some few of stone. The public buildings are four places for public worship, two 
 of them elegant, an academy, clerk's office, etc., and there are six taverns, fifteen stores 
 and two breWeries. There are three printing offices, viz., one for books and two for 
 newspapers, one bindery, two morocco factories, and one manufactory of musical in- 
 struments, three masons and a number of brickmakers and carpenters, four cabinet 
 and chairmakers, two coopers, seven smiths and nailors, two tinsmiths, one copper- 
 smith, four silversmiths and watchmakers, three tanners and curriers, one furrier, six 
 butchers, two bakers, three hatters, four tailors, four painters, and four druggists. 
 
 " The village lots are from fifty to sixty feet front and one hundred to one hundred 
 and thirty deep and sell for from $200 to $1,000. The out-lots contain twelve acres 
 and $500 is asked for them. House rent for mechanics is about $60 to $100; wood 
 $1.25 per cord, flour $8 per barrel, potatoes two shillings per bushel, turnips thirty-one 
 cents, cabbages four cents each, beans sixty-two cents per bushel, onions seventy-five 
 cents, beef, mutton, and veal five cents per pound, venison four cents, fowls nine cents 
 each, ducks two shillings, geese four shillings, turkeys five shillings, butter one shilling, 
 cheese seven cents, hog's lard six cents, beer $5 per barrel, whisky forty-five cents 
 per gallon, boarding $2.50 per week. 
 
io8 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 " The government of the village is vested in a board of five trustees chosen annually 
 bv the inhabitants. There are five schools in which are taught all the various branches 
 of education, which is pretty well attended to ; and there is a very good seminary for 
 young ladies. The expense of tuition is about from %2 to I4 per quarter. The com- 
 merce of Utica consists of dry goods, groceries, crocl<ery, hardware, and cotton, im- 
 ported ; and of grain, flour, provisions, ashes, etc., exported. The chief part of the 
 commerce is with New York, but it is said a considerable smuggling trade \\3.i, of late 
 been carried, on with Canada. Wheat is Si. 12 per bushel, corn forty-four cents, bar- 
 ley seventy-five cents, ashes nominal, cotton twenty-one cents, horses I50 to $100, cows 
 $15 to §22, sheep f2 to 12,50. Lands on the turnpikes in the neighborhood sell for 
 from %^o to $100, further off $40 to $50; but the lands in both village and country 
 have greatly depreciated in money value." 
 
 Richard Montgomery Malcom, brother of Samuel B. Malcom already- 
 mentioned, had been a merchant in the city of New York and was hv- 
 ing there just before the outbreak of the War of 181 2. On the 8th of 
 April, 18 12, he received a commission as captain in the Thirteenth Regi- 
 ment of United States Infantry. On the 13th of October following he 
 took part in the battle of Queenstown and was wounded in the thigh by a 
 musket ball. In March, 1813, he was promoted to major and in June 
 of the next year to lieutenant-colonel of the same regiment. In June, 
 1815, he was disbanded. His family meanwhile were living in Utica 
 from an early period of the war. A few months after leaving the army 
 we find Colonel Malcom announcing in a Utica paper that he " will pro- 
 cure soldiers' bounties," and a year later that he is acting as commission 
 broker and ready to serve any one living out of the village who will 
 make him his agent to execute business at the banks or elsewhere. 
 His residence in Utica continued until about 1823. 
 
 The enterprising successor of the Messrs. Wolcott, who in the end 
 was more fortunate than either, was John Williams. Received into part- 
 nership by Dr. W. H. Wolcott when the latter separated himself from 
 his brother he soon became the real manager of the firm of Wolcott & 
 Williams, and remained therein until its dissolution in 18 17. He now 
 opened a store of his own at No. 34 Genesee street, where, and at his 
 later store, he carried on for many years a large trade in drugs and 
 groceries. Partly through the steady accumulation of trade, partly by 
 means of the privilege he held of furnishing supplies for the packet boats, 
 and partly by his leading interest in the very productive stock of the 
 Packet Boat Company he gained a large fortune and came to be one of 
 jthe foremost men of the place. 
 
DR. AMOS G. HULL. 
 
 109 
 
 One of the earliest and best remembered surgeons of the county- 
 was Dr. Amos G. Hull. In 1798 he was practicing in New Hartford. 
 In the year mentioned, with a zeal in behalf of science that was character- 
 istic of a young and ambitious practitioner, he was alert in obtaining for 
 purposes of dissection the body of the first criminal of the cobnty con- 
 victed for murder. And though on the morning of the day appointed 
 for the execution the criminal was found dead in her cell at Herkimer 
 jail, having hanged herself with the expectation that she could thus 
 evade the whole of her sentence, yet, says Judge Jones, in this she was 
 mistaken, for science had its subject. On the organization of the Oneida 
 County Medical Society in 1806 Dr. Hull took part therein and was 
 elected its first president. Four years later we find him announcing 
 that he has fitted up an establishment next door to the Coffee House in 
 Utica for the sale of mineral waters. 
 
 The sale of Ballston and Saratoga salts in solution, which he would 
 seem to have been the first to introduce into the village of Utica, he 
 continued some years longer in his office on Main street, adding thereto 
 the practice of electricity and galvanism. A specialty that absorbed 
 much more of his attention was the manufacture and sale of hernial 
 trusses. These he first advertised in March, 18 17, but continued to 
 modify and improve so long as he remained in the village. They were 
 commended by his medical brethren as well as by several individuals of 
 intelligence and standing, and were in general use among those requir- 
 ing such appliances, being, in fact, almost the sole truss employed in 
 this vicinity. Personally Dr. Hull was amiable and upright, a Methodist 
 in reHgious belief and an influential member of that body, beloved by 
 his patients, and a friend of every child who knew him. Rather short 
 of stature, quick and impulsive in manner, neat in attire, he was withal a 
 Httle vain of his appearance, and looked to it that the knee-buckles 
 which confined his silk stockings were each day duly polished. His 
 earliest partner in Utica was Dr. Ezra Williams, with whom he remained 
 until September, 18 16. In September, 1 821, he was bought out by Dr. 
 Theodore Pomeroy and after a brief association with him removed to 
 New York. 
 
 Among the newly elected officers of the year occurs the name of 
 Nicholas Smith, collector. He had been a resident of the place since 
 
no MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 1788, having come into it as a boy nine or ten years old in company 
 with that pioneer settler, Major Bellinger. He attended school one or 
 two winters and these were all the educational advantages he ever en- 
 joyed. He next served his uncle and two or three of the earlier mer- 
 chants as a clerk, and now he is made village collector. The next year, 
 catching the enthusiasm enkindled by the war and which prevailed 
 along the border settlements, he volunteered his services and was six 
 months on duty as a soldier. In 18 14 he enlisted again and was made 
 adjutant of the One Hundred and Thirty-fourth Regiment called for 
 the defence of Sackets Harbor. "Notwithstanding some peculiari- 
 ties," says a comrade of the regiment, "his habits were temperate and 
 his heart in the right place." This military service was followed after 
 the contest by the command of a company of Utica militia, whence he 
 was called by General Weaver to his staff, and still retaining his rank 
 in the line rose to the position of colonel. Returned from the war Col- 
 onel Smith was a short time in trade and next filled many local offices, 
 being successively deputy sheriff, superintendent of the poor, and alder- 
 man, which latter post he held eleven years. He was conspicuous for 
 his assiduity in the relief of the sick and the burial of the dead during 
 the fearful visitation of the cholera in 1832. Soon after this time he re- 
 moved to his farm in East Utica. 
 
 On the breaking out of the war John E. Hinman, the son of Major 
 Benjamin Hinman, volunteered, served gallantly as quartermaster of 
 the One Hundred and Thirty-fourth Regiment of New York State 
 militia, and was a popular and useful officer. By service then and 
 after the war he rose to the rank of colonel. He was deputy sheriff 
 under James S. Kip, who held office for the third time from 181 1 
 to 1815; and in February, 1 821, he was appointed sheriff. This post 
 Colonel Hinman occupied until the new constitution took effect, which 
 changed the office from an appointive to an elective one, when he was 
 elected as his own successor in November, 1822. The constitution 
 prohibiting a re-election he retired at the end of his term, but in No- 
 vember, 1828, was again made sheriff and served another three years. 
 After failing of an election as State senator, for which he was nomi- 
 nated in 1849, he was in 1850 elected mayor of the city and by suc- 
 cessive re-elections held the office three years. His energy and execu- 
 
J. E. HINMAN AND OTHERS — PROCEEDINGS OF 1812. 1 1 1 
 
 tive ability were tested at this time by the destructive operations of an 
 organized band of incendiaries. The mayor's proclamations were fre- 
 quent and lengthy. When the alarm of fire was sounded he hastened 
 to the spot. If in the night time he drew a white handkerchief about 
 his hat to designate his official rank and distinguish him' from the crowd, 
 and while on the ground was no idle spectator, but prompt in directing 
 and vociferous in his orders. 
 
 A few others of i8i i were Joseph S. Porter, a watchmaker and jew- 
 eler of gentlemanly bearing who kept a showy and attractive store and 
 had for many years the best of custom ; Alfred Hitchcock, druggist, 
 who with many removals and a varying though never very prosperous 
 tide of success continued many years in the place, dying in 1872 ; Eras- 
 tus Cross, a marble cutter whose chisel cut the headstone of very many 
 of our earlier citizens; Riley Rogers, gunsmith. 
 
 At the charter election held on the 5th of May, 18 12, there were but 
 four trustees elected on the first ballot, viz. : Talcott Camp, Jeremiah 
 Van Rensselaer, E. B. Shearman, and Morris S. Miller. Frederick 
 White, of the former board, had left the village and Mr. Devereux was 
 dropped for a reason which we may soon surmise. Mr. Miller was, 
 however, excused from serving and, on a fresh ballot for two, Bryan 
 Johnson and Thomas Skinner were elected. Mr. Johnson also asked to 
 be excused, when Arthur Breese was elected to the vacant place. Mr. 
 Hoyt was again made treasurer and Nicholas Smith collector. The 
 sum of $450 was voted to be raised for the support of the watch, the 
 ringing of the bell, and for contingent expenses. But in addition it 
 was voted to build a market-house on the public square between Bagg's 
 Tavern and the store of John C. Devereux, at a cost of $300, which sum 
 was to be assessed on the inhabitants. However convenient this mar- 
 ket-house might be to the citizens at large it is natural to presume that 
 it would not be deemed very desirable by those living or doing busi- 
 ness in its immediate neighborhood, and the reason is obvious why Mr. 
 Devereux was not placed on the board. We are prepared also to learn 
 that within a few weeks the president, Mr. Camp, is directed to confer 
 with Moses Bagg and Hugh Cunningham and ascertain what sum they 
 will procure to be paid for the purchase of a lot on which to place the 
 market, if it can be removed from the place designed for it. No report 
 
112 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 appears from the president; but, instead, we learn of another public 
 meeting of the inhabitants being held in July to reconsider the action 
 of the annual meeting with reference to the market- house. A vote to 
 repeal this action was lost. Next follows the payment of Mr. Culver's 
 account for building the market, and in November the ordinance reg- 
 ulating the same and the authority granted to the president, who was 
 made clerk of the market to lease seven of its stalls. By the provisions 
 of this ordinance butchers and victualers, licensed by the payment of 
 six shilling's, were the only persons allowed to sell meat in quantities 
 smaller than the quarter of an animal, and this only in the stalls of the 
 market, at least during market hours; butchers refusing for six days to 
 supply their stalls with good meat were subject to penalties, and they 
 were required to pay the clerk a tax of ten cents for every cow or ox 
 and two cents for every sheep or lamb they sold; other provisions ex- 
 cluded standing carts, live animals, undressed carcasses, hides, etc., 
 and unwholesome meat, and insisted on rigid attention to cleanliness. 
 Aside from the usual routine the foregoing were all the proceedings of 
 the board during the year, 
 
 The Utica turnpike, leading northward, was now in progress and 
 five miles of it already complete. The Minden turnpike, running south- 
 easterly from the village, was opened the year previous. 
 
 Of the course of the war with England, which began in 1812, the in- 
 habitants of Utica had abundant witness, though at a distance from any 
 place of action and undisturbed by hostile demonstrations. Companies 
 of soldiers were frequently passing through on their way to or from 
 some military post and were quartered for a time in or near the village. 
 Thus its residents had an opportunity of becoming cognizant of many 
 of the regiments enlisted, while between these and the villagers who 
 sometimes suffered from their depredations disturbances now and then 
 took place. The local papers were prompt to relate the battles and the 
 military movements on both sides, and everybody was interested to 
 learn the particulars of each important event. Some few people were 
 busy in procuring and forwarding supplies to the nearer scenes of hos- 
 tilities and many others responded to the call of their country, and left 
 business and families to serve in the ranks. But the greater portion 
 pursued their usual duties as in times of peace. 
 
 In the latter part of February, 18 13, about sixty volunteers were en- 
 
THE WAR OF 1812. 113 
 
 rolled at Utica, among whom were included some members of its Inde- 
 pendent Infantry Company. They formed a new company attached to 
 the One Hundred and Thirty-fourth Regiment and were commanded 
 by Capt. William Williams. Of its men the only names that can be 
 recalled were John Grove, orderly sergeant, John George, and Theo- 
 dore S. Faxton. The company remained one month at Smith's Mills, 
 when they were paid off and afterward dismissed. Another^company 
 of the One Hundred and Thirty- fourth Regiment, termed the Silver 
 Grays, was commanded by Nathan Seward, of New Hartford, and 
 among its men was Thurlow Weed from Utica. It was probably at 
 this time also that Nathan Williams went out as major of the regiment, 
 Nicholas Smith as lieutenant, becoming adjutant, and John E. Hinman 
 as quartermaster. Early in the war a drafting took place at the hotel, 
 when a number of men were made soldiers. In September, 1814, the 
 regiment were called out en masse, but continued only a month in arms 
 and without active service. At this time Benjamin Ballou was captain 
 of a company and Nicholas N. Weaver orderly sergeant, but subse- 
 quently promoted to the captaincy, Ballou having been taken sick. 
 To Thomas Skinner, of Utica, was given the captaincy of a company in 
 a regiment of artillery under Col. Elijah Metcalf, but as he did not serve 
 the company was commanded by its first lieutenant. Five or six from 
 Utica had previously volunteered at Buffalo and served in its defence. 
 Six young men of the neighborhood were enlisted as midshipmen during 
 the course of the war, viz.: Samuel Breese and William Inman, of Utica ; 
 John G. Young, of Whitesboro ; Antill Lansing, of Oriskany; and Ed- 
 ward and Benjamin Carpenter, of Whitesboro. There was a recruiting 
 station here under the charge of Capt. P. Mills of the Twenty-third 
 Regiment. The hospital was cared for by Dr. Solomon Wolcott. 
 
 Alexander B. Johnson was a resident of Utica from the year 1801, 
 and was long numbered among its leading inhabitants. During sixty- 
 six years he was identified with its business interests: a director 
 of one of its banks, a founder of another, and for thirty-six years the 
 head of a third, in which posts of responsibility he gained an extended 
 celebrity as a wise and skillful banker. His earliest personal enterprise 
 was the establishment in 1810 of a large glass factory near the village 
 of Geneva. A short time before he had been a director in the glass 
 
 15 
 
114 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 factory at Vernon. As a second one had lately been set up in Marcy 
 he feared the legislature would be unwilling to grant the charter for a 
 third in Oneida County, and so proposed to get permission to start one 
 in Ontario County ; and at length, after numerous journeyings to and 
 fro, after much vexatious delay and many difficulties, the factory was 
 put in operation and glass was made. 
 
 In 1812, while living in New York, he published a volume entitled 
 " An Inquiry into the Nature of Value and of Capital, and into the Opera- 
 tions of Government Loans, Banking Institutions, and Private Credit, 
 with an Appendix containing an Inquiry into the Laws which Regulate 
 the Rate of Interest and the Price of Stocks." The book found a few 
 approving readers and brought him into notice as a thoughtful specu- 
 lator on the subject of finance. Immediately that news came of the exist- 
 ence of war with England, filling the city with consternation, Mr. John- 
 son sold his bank stock at a sacrifice and returned to Utica. Here he 
 invested his funds in the Bank of Utica, which was then organizing, 
 and was ere long compensated many fold for the loss sustained by the 
 panic sale of his New York stock. In April, 18 14, he married Miss 
 Abigail Louisa, daughter of Charles Adams, who was the second son of 
 President John Adams. The lady's father had been a lawyer in New 
 York city, but was now deceased, and she was living with her mother 
 in Utica. Soon after he was appointed one of the State directors of the 
 Bank of Utica, entering therein in antagonism with Montgomery Hunt, 
 its cashier. The latter had procured the removal from the directorship 
 of Messrs. Kip and Bloodgood, for which they in retaliation obtained for 
 Mr, Johnson the place of director for the State. And here it was that 
 he began his first practical acquaintance with banking, a subject which, 
 as we have seen, had already occupied his thoughts. It was not long 
 before his energies were enlisted in a scheme for a bank of his own, and 
 these resulted in the creation of an institution now almost forgotten, 
 whose history will be found in the chapter devoted to the financial insti- 
 tutions of the city. A sketch of Mr. Johnson as a banker only would, 
 however, be to give an incomplete notice of him without reference to 
 his authorship. He adopted banking, as he himself has said, in order 
 that he might have time to write. His writings were numerous. They 
 relate mostly to language in reference to its meaning in something other 
 
JOHN B RADISH— E. S. COZIER. 1 1 5 
 
 than words. The ideas he expressed in several different works upon 
 this topic interested a few minds deeply, but were too abstruse for gen- 
 eral readers. He wrote also on banking, on politics, etc., and he lect- 
 ured before public associations. 
 
 John Bradish was for some time deputy in the office of the Supreme 
 Court clerk. At that time notices of all suits begun in the Supreme 
 Court, or entering on new stages of their progress were sent to the 
 office of the clerk, who transmitted them to the attorney of the oppos- 
 ing party, and in return transmitted the answers of the latter. All costs 
 of suits were likewise taxed by the clerk. Lawyers throughout the State 
 were obliged, therefore, to depend upon agents living near the offices of 
 the clerks of this court to execute the services required therein. Having 
 secured such agency at Utica Mr. Bradish continued to act in this ca- 
 pacity down to the time of the adoption of the new constitution of 1846 
 and the abolition of the old Supreme Court. By the exercise of these 
 duties, which were liberally paid for, and by successful undertakings in 
 real estate he acquired a competency. 
 
 Ezra S. Cozier established himself in 1 8 12 as a hatter. The increas- 
 ing estimation of his fellows, and notably those of the brotherhood of 
 Masons, brought him later into places of responsibility and honor. 
 During one term of service his kindness of heart found full play as over- 
 seer of the poor. Next for seven successive years he was a trustee of 
 the village board and more than half that time (1819-23) its president. 
 And when the village was exalted to a city he was pressed by many for 
 the mayoralty, but failing in this he was made the treasurer. Not long 
 afterward he was among the first of the victims of the cholera epidemic 
 of August, 1832. 
 
 The most engrossing topic with the trustees as well as with the free- 
 holders generally during the year 1813 would appear to have been the 
 market recently erected on the public square. A determined opposition 
 to its presence is revealed in the partial change now effected in the con- 
 stituency of the board, which was made to consist of Moses Bagg, 
 Montgomery Hunt, Seth Dwight, E. B. Shearman, and Talcott Camp. 
 It is still more evident in the resolution which was passed at the annual 
 meeting directing the trustees to sell the market at vendue after the rent 
 of the stalls should have expired. At an early session of these trustees 
 
ii6 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 they passed an ordinance enacting that from the 25th of May to the ist 
 of October anybody might sell meat without a license, provided that it 
 be sold in the market square and conformable to the ordinances, and 
 provided this should not impair any claim by the trustees for rent of 
 stalls. But the friends of the market were aroused, and at a special 
 meeting of the inhabitants held in November the vote of the annual 
 meeting to sell this unwelcome neighbor was rescinded. A little later 
 the trustees ordered six of the market stalls to be put up at auction. - 
 And here the matter rested for the year. Aside from the above and 
 other routine business nothing was done by the board of 1813. 
 • Spafford's " Gazetteer of New York," published at Albany in 1813, 
 contains a notice of Utica, though it adds little to the knowledge of the 
 place we have obtained from other sources. The place is described as 
 a flourishing incorporated post village, the commercial capital of the 
 great western district of New York, and though small in area com- 
 prising a population of 1,700 souls with 300 houses and stores, a Pres- 
 byterian and an Episcopal Church, a grammar school, mills, factories, 
 machine shops, printing offices, etc. " The hotel is an elegant establish- 
 ment, and the many fine private mansions of gentlemen of taste and 
 opulence give Utica a character in this respect worthy a great commer- 
 cial town." 
 
 Barent Bleecker, second son of Col. Garret G. Lansing, opened a 
 store just below the Ontario Branch Bank. In this he was unsuccess- 
 ful, and after a short service as book-keeper of the United States Bank 
 he became cashier, about 1835, of the Bank of Belleville, N. J. Thence 
 he was called in December, 1836, to the cashiership of the Oneida Bank 
 and filled the place until his death. 
 
 An early partner of Mr. Lansing was James Piatt, brother of Judge 
 Piatt. He became a forwarder, occupying a large warehouse on what 
 was known as Bleecker slip, a narrow basin extending from the canal to 
 Catharine street. For a short time he was postmaster. Going to 
 Oswego he was its first mayor and senator from the district. 
 
 A merchant of much weight of character, both personal and mercan- 
 tile, was Alexander Seymour, who entered this year into an arrange- 
 ment with Messrs. Watts Sherman and Henry B. Gibson whereby he 
 was to represent them in Utica while they conducted affairs in New 
 
THOMAS ROCKWELL — E. S. BARNUM. 1 1; 
 
 York city. In 1816 the " Co." attached to his name signified Ezekiel 
 Bacon, and thus it continued until the close of 1822. After this time 
 the principal was alone at 104 Genesee street until 1833, when he moved 
 to Cleveland, Ohio. 
 
 After coming to Utica Thomas Rockwell was at first a teacher, but in 
 18 1 5 entered the service of the Ontario Branch Bank as its book-keeper. 
 For thirty-four years he served the bank with unvarying steadiness. 
 " Much of its prosperity," says its president, A. B. Johnson, " was due 
 to his vigilance and faithfulness. He was never a borrower from the 
 bank and never left his post for recreation or business other than that of 
 the bank. On a salary far too small for the value of his services he 
 maintained a family and left a sufficiency for their support at his death." 
 
 Ezra S. Barnum's chief claim to notice and remembrance comes from 
 his long continued and varied services as a public officer. He was first 
 elected to office in 181 7 and put into triple harness, as it were, from the 
 outset, being made constable, collector, and coroner. At one time, 
 besides these three offices, he held also those of police officer and deputy 
 sheriff. And when to these functions was added those of justice of the 
 peace it was well said of him by the editor of the Club that " Utica con- 
 tains one officer of rare qualifications, for he can issue process, serve it, try, 
 convict, hang, hold inquest, and sell for taxes the effects of the convict.'' 
 The office of justice, which he first received from the council of ap- 
 pointment in 1 82 1, he continued to hold for seventeen years. How 
 well he did, notwithstanding his ignorance of law at the start, may be 
 inferred from the fact that only two cases were ever appealed from his 
 decision ; one of these, though reversed by the court of the county, was 
 affirmed by the Supreme Court of the State and the other was never 
 tried on appeal. On retiring from the justiceship 'Squire Barnum was 
 appointed deputy United States marshal and commissioner of deeds. 
 In 1832 he was elected to the Board of Aldermen and was several times 
 re-elected. At the organization of the Oneida Bank in 1836 he was 
 chosen one of the directors. There remains to add a record of long 
 and eminent service and high honors in the order of Free and Accepted 
 Masons. Few living Masons have been so long connected with the 
 order ; fewer, if any, have been so highly honored by it. He was 
 elected a member of Utica Lodge in January, 181 7, and having soon 
 
ii8 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 gone through the four chapter degrees he was early inducted into official 
 position. From that day forward he was not released from the duties 
 and the responsibilities of office, being promoted from year to year until 
 the highest honor in the gift of the body was conferred upon him. 
 
 A neat white building on the berm bank of the canal south of Gene- 
 see street bridge, known as the Canal Coffise House, was long kept by 
 John Welles, a well mannered and estimable person. Amos Gay, a 
 rather restless man, kept in turn several other hotels and put up for a 
 theater the large brick building which also became a hotel, but gave 
 way to the city hall as its successor. Comfort Butler, a saddler by 
 trade, in 1828 took charge of the Utica museum, soon afterward be- 
 coming totally blind, but remaining in charge with the aid of his family 
 until 1850. William Jones was long the official surveyor, while his 
 brother going South became president of Texas. James C. De Long 
 was a morocco dresser and prominent with the Methodists. Joshua M. 
 Church and Stephen Herrick were carpenters and Nehemiah Brown was 
 a butcher. 
 
 At the annual meeting held in the spring of 18 14 the market-house 
 was still a matter of disagreement among the inhabitants, and after 
 much discussion and the holding of a public meeting it was determined 
 to remove the market to the corner of Division and Market streets. 
 Marketing for the future was made free to everybody and at all times 
 and places. And at a meeting of trustees held on the following day 
 the by laws relating to the market were rescinded, and thus was set at 
 rest, for some years at least, this most perplexing and faction-provok- 
 ing question. 
 
 The trustees who held office during the year 18 14 were Talcott Camp, 
 Jeremiah Van Rensselaer, Nathan Williams, Killian Winne, and Sam- 
 uel Stocking. J. C. Hoyt was continued as treasurer and Nicholas 
 Smith as collector. When the board first met after their election they 
 again made Mr. Camp their president and John H. Ostrom clerk. At 
 one of their meetings held later in the course of the year they appointed 
 William H. Maynard village attorney in the place of Thomas Skinner, 
 the latter having become about this time captain of an artillery com- 
 pany destined for Sackets Harbor. 
 
 The most important business of the board during the year respects 
 
PROCEEDINGS (9i^ 1814. 119 
 
 an improvement which we are surprised to learn has not been made be- 
 fore. That a thrifty village of 1,700 to 1,800 inhabitants, and which has 
 already earned the appellation of commercial capital of the county, 
 should be destitute of so common a convenience as sidewalks seems to 
 us who enjoy so many rarer privileges truly astonishing. Yet so it is 
 that not until the 23d of May, 1814, do we find an ordinance passed 
 "for the better improving the streets of Utica and making the side- 
 walks in said village." This ordinance required the owners or occu- 
 pants of houses on both sides of Genesee street from Bleecker to Water, 
 on both sides of Whitesboro from Genesee to the corner east of In- 
 man's brewery (Broadway), on both sides of Main as far as First and 
 thence on its south side as far as Bridge, to make sidewalks for foot 
 travelers within ninety days in the manner prescribed, or be subject to 
 a fine of $20 and a further one of $2.50 for every month of neglect 
 thereafter. The sidewalks of Genesee street were to be fifteen feet in 
 width, and to be constructed of smooth or cobblestone, from Whites- 
 boro to Catharine, except between the stoops, where at the owner's 
 option they might be made of gravel. Elsewhere, that is to say on 
 Whitesboro and Main streetis, these walks were to be ten feet from the 
 front line of the lots, and of smooth or cobblestone, or of good clean 
 gravel at the option of the maker. The same liberty with respect to 
 material was allowed on Genesee below Whitesboro and above Cathar- 
 ine to Bleecker, a street which seems now first to be officially recog- 
 nized. The outer border of these walks was to be protected by timber 
 and a line of posts, except where passages to barns were needed. 
 
 The ordinance likewise forbade driving upon the sidewalks unless it 
 were to leave or take away loading, the making of fires to heat wagon 
 wheels, or the fastening of a horse or leaving of a wagon thereupon. 
 In September additional sidewalks ten feet wide, but of optional material, 
 were ordered to be constructed on the north side of Liberty street from 
 the office of Joseph Kirkland as far as the Presbyterian meeting-house, 
 and on the south side of Broad street from the corner of James Van 
 Rensselaer's store to the Episcopal Church. The trustees in October 
 proceeded to order at the public expense the laying of crosswalks at 
 all the principal intersections. The work, thus ordered by the trustees, 
 involved an expense not anticipated by their constituents and for which 
 
120 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 no funds had been provided, and it was the first instance in which the 
 board had overrun their estimates. But at the special meeting of inhab- 
 itants which occurred shortly afterward the latter sanctioned the act, 
 requested the trustees to procure the stone that would be needed, and 
 agreed to pay for the same. 
 
 One further proceeding of this board of 1814 is worthy of mention, 
 suggestive as it is of the war and the scarcity of currency which this 
 entailed. Having first obtained a promise from the officers of the Man- 
 hattan Branch Bank that in case of the issue of notes by the board the 
 bank would redeem them they passed in February, 18 15, the following 
 resolution : 
 
 "Resolved, That corporation bills, not to exceed $5,000, be issued, 
 signed by the president, and made payable at the Manhattan Branch 
 Bank." 
 
 The bills were all of fractional currency and of six different denom- 
 inations, ranging from three to seventy-five cents. Specimens are still 
 preserved, which were issued during this and the two succeeding years, 
 bearing the name of the president of the year. 
 
 John H. Ostrom in February, 18 16, opened an office and about the 
 same time was made village attorney. In 1820 he became a partner 
 of Judge Morris S. Miller. A partnership of a later date and which 
 lasted until his death he had with his brother-in-law, Thomas R. 
 Walker. But he was not so much to attain eminence in the law as by 
 his popular manners and personal influence to impress himself upon his 
 fellows, to manage and direct the affairs of town and county, and to 
 serve with credit in numerous public offices. Within his own munici- 
 pality he filled successively the posts of clerk, trustee, and assessor of 
 the village, and after its incorporation as a city those of member of the 
 common council and mayor, besides discharging for several years the 
 duties of chief engineer of the fire department. He rose through the 
 various grades of military preferment to that of major-general, and 
 was likewise clerk of the county from 1826 to 1832. He was an orig- 
 inal director in the Oneida Bank and was of service in the concerns of 
 the Presbyterian Church. His life was one of constant activity and 
 the duties of his several offices were performed with unvarying fidelity. 
 As a lawyer his standing was respectable, but he was chiefly distin- 
 
NICHOLAS DE VERB UX. 121 
 
 guished as a political leader. His success in this regard was largely 
 due to the enticement of his manners, which were elevated, graceful, 
 and insinuating. 
 
 A merchant who filled a tolerably large place in the concerns of Utica, 
 mercantile, social, ecclesiastical, and charitable, was Nicholas Devereux. 
 Received into the store of his brother John he served him for a time as 
 his clerk, and next in turn after Luke became a member of the firm. He 
 prosecuted with ardor his chosen calling, a calling beset for him with few 
 reverses, and Crowned in time with an ample fortune. As a merchant 
 Mr. Devereux's course was marked by industry, accuracy, and economy. 
 It was not until he had in part retired, and when the management of 
 matters was entrusted to his partner, that such pecuniary stress was en- 
 countered as obliged him to again resume the reins. At this time, the 
 fall of 1827, the firm was called on to pay $90,000 within ninety days. 
 But Mr. Devereux was now owner and occupant of the handsome 
 grounds that had once been the home of Jeremiah Van Rensselaer, and 
 which had cost the purchaser only about $7,000. Dividing it into lots 
 and intersecting it by streets he sold it for a sum which added largely 
 to his revenues, while there was developed thereby that spirit of enter- 
 prise inherent in the man and which he soon afterward manifested on a 
 still larger scale. In the interest of the New York Life and Trust Com- 
 pany he spent a portion of a winter at Albany, and while there took an 
 active part in the organization of the Utica and Schenectady Railroad. 
 Not long afterward, while still in the employ of the same company, he 
 traveled extensively through the State and had his attention attracted 
 to the profitable nature of transactions in the uncultivated and fast set- 
 tling lands of its western part. In company with a few gentlemen of 
 New York he bought of the Holland Land Company the residue of their 
 lands in Allegany and Cattaraugus Counties, amounting to 400,000 
 acres. The general care and disposal of this land engaged much of its 
 owner's time during the remainder of his life, its immediate sale being 
 committed to his son, John C. Devereux. But his vigorous and wide- 
 embracing mind was not absorbed in his mercantile duties or his personal 
 investments. Intelligently busied in works of general improvement 
 throughout the State he was, too, deepljr interested in improvements for 
 the good of his own home community, while as an ardent Roman Cath- 
 ie 
 
122 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 olic, consistent and faithful in every requirement of his faith, he was a 
 very pillar of the church and a zealous forwarder of its interests here and 
 abroad. He was mainly instrumental in procuring the establishment at 
 Utica of the first branch of the United States Bank that was located 
 west of Albany. He was also a director of the Utica Savings Bank, — 
 already initiated and conducted by him and his brother before a charter 
 was obtained, — a director of the New York Life and Trust Company, a 
 director of the steam woolen-mills, and a manager of the New York State 
 Asylum for the Insane. 
 
 Briggs W. Thomas experienced his share of the variations of com- 
 mercial life. He had once achieved a competence, but did not enjoy 
 it long, unfortunate endorsements sweeping away all that he had made. 
 When nc longer a young man he was glad to accept of a clerkship in 
 the Oneida Bank, where he again acquired the means to live without 
 employment. At an early period he was active in the affairs of the 
 Presbyterian Church, but in July, 1844, he was one of those who sep- 
 arated themselves from the First Presbyterian and united to form the 
 Westminster Society. From the inception of the Utica Sunday School 
 he took a leading part therein, was its third superintendent, and many 
 years a teacher. The interest he felt in Sabbath schools in the early 
 part of his life did not abate with his years, for in i860, at the age of 
 seventy- five, being convinced of the need of such a school in the upper 
 part of the city, he purchased a lot on Francis street, erected a building 
 thereon, placed in it a library of lOO volumes, and gave it free of charge 
 to the Westminster Church to be used so long as they should maintain 
 a Sunday school in that part of the city. In proportion to his means he 
 co-operated in many of the public enterprises designed to develop and 
 advance the town and its neighborhood. 
 
 The inhabitants, at the annual meeting held on the 2d of May, 1815, 
 ordered that $1,000 should be raised by tax for the current expenses of 
 the year, and they elected the following persons to serve as tru.stees: 
 Abraham Van Santvoort, Augustus Hickox, Gurdon Burchard, Jason 
 Parker, and William Geere. Mr. Van Santvoort was subsequently 
 chosen president. Mr. Parker neglected to qualify and the board fined 
 him $25 for his neglect. Little was done throughout the year that de- 
 serves mention. Additional sidewalks were ordered on both sides of 
 
PR CEEDINGS 07^ 1 8 1 5 — EZEKIEL BA CON. 1 2 3 
 
 Whitesboro street as far west as Washington and on both sides of the 
 latter ; on both sides of Division ; of Main as far as First ; a like dis- 
 tance on the northern side of Broad; and on both sides of First between 
 Main and Broad. The market was leased to Henry Sherman and John 
 Roberts. And before the expiration of their term the board resolved to 
 discontinue the issuing of small bills and appointed Henry Camp to 
 redeem those already issued. 
 
 In August, 1 8 14, Judge Morris S. Miller, joint owner of the Bleecker 
 estate and who looked after the family interest in Utica, addressed a 
 letter to John R. Bleecker, of Albany, with reference to the extension of 
 John street, which had been opened from Main to Broad some four or 
 five years before. The improvements he proposed were probably en- 
 tered upon the following year, and were completed in the course of the 
 season, for in the fall of 1 8 16, when the first village directory was pre- 
 pared, John street had about half a dozen residents and Chancellor 
 Square and Jay street each half as many. 
 
 Already before his history becomes connected with that of Utica 
 Ezekiel Bacon had been some years in public life and had attained high 
 honor and exalted position. He was a member of the Massachusetts 
 legislature in 1806-07 ^"d represented his county in Congress from 1807 
 to 1813, serving on the Committee of Ways and Means and foroneyear 
 as its chairman. He was then appointed chief justice of the Circuit 
 Court of Common Pleas for the Western District of his State, and im- 
 mediately after his assuming this office was made first comptroller of the 
 Treasury by Mr. Madison. Within two years he was obliged to resign 
 by reason of ill health, when he removed to the State of New York and 
 settled in Utica. His first interest here was in merchandise, for he be- 
 came a partner in the firm of Alexander Seymour & Co. In 181 8 he 
 was appointed associate judge of the Court of Common Pleas; in the 
 following year he went as a representative to the Assembly; and in 
 1821 he was one of the honorable men of Oneida who had seats in the 
 Second Constitutional Convention and he took an earnest part in its 
 deliberations. About the year 1824 he was nominated for Congress in 
 opposition to Henry R. Storrs, but was defeated by a small majority. 
 In October of the following year he was selected by his fellow citizens 
 to do honor to Gov. De Witt Clinton, and in a forcible and eloquent 
 
124 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 manner he tendered him their congratulations on the completing of the 
 Erie Canal. As chief of a packet boat company he already had in this 
 canal an interest more personal and profound than that which was shared 
 by other Hberal and enterprising men of his party. From that time on- 
 ward he lived a retired life, and during a large portion of it suffered 
 from protracted ill health and manifold bodily infirmities. At times he 
 wrote largely for the public press and wrote with force and pungency. 
 For a period he was the main editorial writer, and for a longer one a 
 regular contributor, of the Oneida Whig and the Utica Daily Gazette. 
 
 Of the position he occupied when in public life, and the influence he 
 exerted when in the vigor of health, we obtain some idea when we learn 
 that with Mr. Madison he was on terms of great confidence and intimacy, 
 and not with him alone but also with many other leading men of that 
 era. With Judge Story his intercourse was, from an early period, one 
 of unbroken friendship and warm mutual regard, and the appointment 
 of the latter to the position he so highly adorned is due to the personal 
 effort and solicitation of Judge Bacon. During this most active portion 
 of his career he was a Democrat ; after coming to this State he ranged 
 himself with the Whigs ; but when the Free Soil movement arose in 
 1848 his sympathies with the oppressed among his fellow creatures led 
 him to take sides with that party. At the time of his death he was the 
 oldest living graduate of Yale College, the eldest surviving member of 
 Congress, and the last representative of the administration of Mr. 
 Madison. 
 
 Henry Green was born in New York about 1793 and graduated at 
 Columbia College. Coming with the family to Oneida County he 
 studied law with Judge Piatt and set up an office in Utica. Not long 
 afterward the Utica Insurance Company, closed by its originators, was 
 resumed by some of the directors, and Mr. Green was made secretary 
 and attorney of the corporation. Pursuits so alien to the law as those 
 of banking and insurance drew him aside and in a measure disquahfied 
 him for practice in a profession in which he had been ably fitted. And 
 thus it happened that after the concerns of the company had been closed 
 he found employment in the care of property in trust, and still later 
 became the financial manager of a large estate. Herein he was regarded 
 as a man of intelligence and accurate habits, neat and precise, and irre- 
 
DR. THOMAS GOOD SELL. 125 
 
 proachably honest. He died on the 9th of March, 1869, in his seventy- 
 seventh year. 
 
 Dr. Thomas Goodsell had been already some years in the county 
 and when he fixed his residence at Utica he was not altogether a stranger. 
 He was born in Washington, Litchfield County, Conn., in June, 1775, 
 engaged in the study of medicine with Dr. Sheldon, of Litchfield, and 
 settled in Woodbridge, New Haven County. After some years of prac- 
 tice he repaired to Philadelphia, attended a course of lectures at the 
 University of Pennsylvania, and received there his licentiate in 1809. 
 On his return he passed a brief period in New Haven and in 18 10 re- 
 moved to Whitesboro, where he engaged in practice with Dr. -Seth Cap- 
 ron. It was not long before he became satisfied that Utica would give 
 him a better field, and he removed thither, making it his home so long 
 as he lived. He soon acquired an extensive business. Affable and 
 courteous, guided by high and honorable motives, with fair intellectual 
 endowments, and a degree of medical education which was not usually 
 attained by his brethren of the time, he was not long in acquiring the 
 confidence of many of the best families of the place. For one year 
 (1827) he was professor of materia medica in the Medical College of 
 Pittsfield and was at a later period a fellow of that of Albany. He re- 
 ceived the honorary degree of Doctor of Medicine from the Medical De- 
 partment of Yale College and was a permanent member of the State 
 Medical Society. For some years he was much interested in agricult- 
 ural pursuits and was secretary of the earlier society of the county 
 devised to foster such pursuits, and had himself a farm in Clinton. It 
 is said that Dr. Goodsell was first to introduce Merino sheep west of the 
 Hudson River. By his brethren he will be remembered for his uniformly 
 kind and gentlemanly bearing, and for his appreciation of the dignity 
 and usefulness of their vocation, by all for his pure and upright life, and 
 his intelligent interest in matters that concerned the general welfare. 
 He lived until his eighty-ninth year and died January 11, 1864. His 
 wife was a Miss Livingston, niece of Mrs. Jonas Piatt. She survived him 
 but a few weeks. He had three sons and two daughters. 
 
 WilHam Clarke was a lieutenant in the army of 18 12 and was 
 wounded and taken prisoner at the battle of Queenstown, subsequently 
 taking fank as captain. At the time he came to Utica lotteries enjoyed 
 
126 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 a fair reputation and were extensively employed throughout the country 
 for many important and beneficial purposes. Colleges were founded, 
 roads made, bridges built, ferries improved, and hospitals erected by 
 their aid. The lottery business which he established in connection with 
 Yates & Mclntyre, of Albany, he continued to prosecute so long as it 
 was a business that was countenanced by the State. He was a man of 
 much stir and enterprise, and kept the community fully acquainted with 
 him and his dealings. He was president of the village, was one of the 
 State's directors in the Bank of Utica, and by State authority was ap- 
 pointed in 1837 one of the commissioners who planned the building of 
 the State Asylum for the Insane. As with the town and with the State 
 so with the church — he was always responsive to its claims, and as un- 
 selfish and vigilant a trustee as he was while head of the village or pur- 
 veyor to a noble State charity. During the memorable visit of the Rev. 
 Charles G. Finney to Utica, in 1826, Captain Clarke made a profession 
 of his faith in Christ and carried into the church the same useful qual- 
 ities that distinguished him in concerns of secular interest. Although of 
 New England origin for the sake of greater usefulness in a new organ- 
 ization he united with others in the formation of the Reformed Dutch 
 Church, and soon after was elected a member of its consistory. Not 
 without cause did his townsmen value him and take just pride in his 
 open, benevolent, and impressive face, his stout, manly frame, and the 
 venerable gray hair that covered so much of capacity and disposition to 
 do for them. Captain Clarke likewise superintended, in behalf of the 
 owners, the erection of the Bleecker House, afterward a part of Bagg's 
 Hotel. And for himself he erected the brick buildings Nos. 42 and 44 
 Genesee street, which he designed and for some time kept as a hotel. 
 
 A merchant who was a marked one among his fellows was Ephraim 
 Hart — shrewd, self-reliant, and diligent, original, out-spoken, and witty, 
 capital in the management of his own affairs and much trusted in those 
 of others. Succeeding his father in business in 18 10 he carried it on' 
 for some years in Clinton. His success and the wise conduct of affairs 
 he evinced were generally recognized, and he was already a director of 
 the Bank of Utica and of the Mount Vernon Glass Company and a 
 trustee of Hamilton College when he moved to Utica in 1815 ; he was 
 engaged in iron manufacture, being joined therein by Andrew S. Pond 
 
EPHRAIM HART AND OTHERS. 127 
 
 and afterward by his son, Henry R. Hart, and gained a handsome 
 property. 
 
 The personal influence and the superior business qualifications of Mr. 
 Hart were not suffered to go unimproved by the community among 
 which he lived, and in 18 15 he was elected State senator from the West 
 ern District. This office he continued to fill during the last five sessions 
 held under the first State constitution, 1816-22, and during a part of 
 this time he was also a member of the council of appointment. An ar- 
 dent friend of De Witt Clinton he gave a determined support to the 
 Erie Canal. Against the Federalists his prejudices were deep and bit- 
 ter. Though not specially skilled in debate and without training as a 
 speaker his opinion carried weight, but "as a party man he was want- 
 ing in tact, caution, and system." ^ In his comments on men and meas- 
 ures he was, as has been said, free, pointed, and unsparing. 
 
 A few more of the people of this date require at least a word of men- 
 tion. In 181 5 John H. Handy sold cotton goods. Purchasing prop- 
 erty opposite Liberty street he had put up for himself a store and after 
 a time a tavern beside it. This was a good way removed from the rest 
 of the merchants of the place, but ere his death in 1823 he saw them 
 josthng him on either side and crowding past to reach the neighbor- 
 hood of the newly opened canal. The tavern became the National, a 
 much- needed hotel. Robert Shearman was a merchant associated 
 with his brother, William P., at No. 64, an association that was contin- 
 ued after the latter opened his branch in Rochester. Edward Vernon 
 at No. 66 (" don't forget the number") dealt first in dry goods and then 
 kept a depository for the sale of religious tracts and papers. Andrew 
 Merrell pubhshed books and the weekly journal known as the Western 
 Recorder. Zenas Wright, William Geere, and Collings Locke were all 
 dealers in leather, but independently, the former being likewise a just- 
 ice of the peace for the last dozen years of his life. Flavel Gaylord 
 made looking-glasses until 183S, which his brother Edwin continued to 
 do for some time longer. William Blackwood was a brass founder; 
 Nathan Stevens a carpenter; and Ehsha Lovett a grocer, who illustrated 
 in his death a characteristic of the past which seems strange enough at 
 present, for death itself did not absolve the body of this debtor, and so 
 
 1 Hammond's Political History. 
 
128 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 his corpse could not be carried out for burial until the claim of the 
 creditor was satisfied, such then being the law of New York. It was 
 Dr. Hull who advanced the money and comforted the afflicted widow. 
 
 The freeholders met as usual in May, 1816, and at the usual place, a 
 school house on Genesee street, which was at this time occupied by 
 Rev. Mr. Townshend. As before the sum of $1,000 was voted to be 
 raised by taxation to defray the annual expenses. It was voted like- 
 wise to continue to issue small bills, but not to exceed the amount of 
 those already issued. For trustees they chose Rudolph Snyder, Ezra 
 S. Cozier, Augustus Hickox, Gurdon Burchard, and William Geere, of 
 whom Mr.- Snyder was afterward by action of the board made the presi- 
 dent. The trustees in the course of the year ordered that the buildings 
 on Genesee street should be numbered and that the names of the 
 streets should be affixed to the corners. They likewise indulged in 
 further legislation about the market and the vending of meat — selling 
 six stalls of the former at auction and forbidding the sale of meat out- 
 side of the market before 9 o'clock A. M. in quantities less than a quarter 
 of the animal. And this is all the record of the year. Indeed it com- 
 pletes the record of proceedings had under the then existing charter, 
 for in November we read of a call for a public meeting of the inhabit- 
 ants at the school house of Mr. Bliss to receive the new charter. 
 
 The first directory of Utica was published in the year 18 17 and is a 
 thin duodecimo pamphlet of twenty- four pages. It contains, besides a 
 list of the inhabitants with their occupations and residence, which occu- 
 pies eighteen pages, a census of the population. This census, the com- 
 piler informs us, was taken in the fall of 18 16. No further directory of 
 Utica appeared until 1828. 
 
 As we are about to enter upon a fresh chapter of the village history, 
 and to consider the proceedings had under the third charter of this now 
 independent town, it may be well to again survey the place as a whole 
 and seek to picture to ourselves the Utica of seventy- five years ago. In 
 order to form some conception of it and its surroundings let us approach 
 it from the north. Standing on the Deerfield Hill, four or five miles 
 away, the country below you seems like a level swamp covered with for- 
 est, the clearings being scarcely discenible. Beyond the river you 
 perceive the houses on the hill at Utica and an extensive opening in the 
 
PICTURE OF THE VILLAGE /7\^ 1816. 129 
 
 vicinity. Directly south and west nearly one- third of the country is 
 denuded of wood. To the southeast there are only small patches of 
 clearing. Coming down toward the plain you discern the more con- 
 spicuous features of the village. Two church steeples enliven the scene^ 
 the Presbyterian and the Episcopal, which stand like sentinels guarding 
 the approaches on the west and the east, the latter rejoicing in a pointed 
 spire, the former equally happy in its rounded cupola. As you cross 
 the dyke you see plainly before you and towering above their fellows 
 the imposing York House on the right and its closely contesting rival, 
 Bagg's Hotel, directly in front. Having passed over the bridge }ou 
 are at once within the heart of the settlement, the very focus of the 
 town. For the limits of Utica at the time I treat of were rnostly con- 
 fined between the river and the Liberty street road to Whitesboro ; 
 from the square as a center they spread westward along Whitesboro 
 street to Potter's bridge and eastward along Main and Broad to Third 
 street. The course of Genesee street was pretty thickly lined with 
 stores — a few residences only being here and there interspersed — as far 
 upward as Catharine street, beyond which private houses predominated 
 over business places, and these were scattered in a straggling way even 
 to Cottage street. The roadway was guiltless of pavement and the mud 
 at times profound. The sidewalks were paved, if such it might be called, 
 but the pavement — of flagging, of cobble, of gravel, or of tan bark, as 
 suited the convenience or the taste of the householder — bore httle re- 
 semblance to the modern conventional sandstone. " Stately but grace- 
 less poplars stood in unbroken row from Bleecker street to the hill-top." 
 On the west Genesee had no outlet higher than Liberty street, and on 
 the east none above Catharine, for though Bleecker was known by au- 
 thority it was neither fenced nor housed and was only a path to past- 
 ures beyond. The buildings on its business part were mostly wooden 
 and of moderate size and pretension. A few were of brick. On the hill 
 were the spacious grounds and beautiful houses of Jeremiah Van Rens- 
 selaery Arthur Breese.and Alexander B. Johnson. In Whitesboro street 
 were the Bank of Utica, the Manhattan Branch Bank, and the York 
 House as well as the inns of Burchard and Bellinger. This was the Wall 
 street of the village ; it harbored several stores and was more populous 
 than any other except Main, containing probably nearly as many in- 
 
 17 
 
130 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 habitants as it now does. Hotel, in proportion to its lengtli, was quite 
 as tiiickiy peopled. Seneca, Washington, and Broadway reached only 
 to the Liberty street road, Broadway bringing up at the elegant stone 
 mansion of James S. Kip, while Washington conducted passengers no 
 farther than the Presbyterian meeting-house. 
 
 The public square contained the town pump and the market-house. 
 Main street was lined with the comely residences of prosperous citizens, 
 and was terminated by the Methodist chapel and the pleasant home and 
 grounds of Judge Miller. Broad street was occupied as far as the line 
 of Third street, but contained only a small fraction of its present num- 
 ber of buildings. Between it Whitesboro and upper Genesee the best 
 dwelling-houses of the village were unequally distributed. John street 
 had here and there a residence, which in all reached a little higher than 
 Jay, while beyond were the rising walls of the academy and in the rear 
 of this two tenements on Chancellor Square. The faint attempts of 
 Catharine to rival its fellow below were effectually crushed when stakes 
 were planted along side of it to mark the course of the future canal. 
 This settled its fate and consigned it the rank it has held ever since. 
 Water street, now robbed of its former importance, was nearest of all 
 to the then channel of commerce, and besides its houses for storage and 
 forwarding was also the home of a few well-to-do folks. 
 
 Thus as it appears from the directory, while the buildings of Genesee 
 were in number 157, of Whitesboro 84, of Main 6y, of Broad 59, of 
 Hotel 34, of Catharine 20, and Water as many, Seneca had 15, no other 
 street more than 10, and the rest but half or less than half of that num- 
 ber. Of those running eastward not one is named above Catharine. 
 " Cornhill was a forest from South street to the New Hartford line. 
 Another forest skirted the gardens on the west side of Genesee, came 
 down the slope to the present Fayette, and extended west to the Asylum 
 Hill." When the commissioners in the following year ran the line be- 
 tween Whitesboro and Utica, from Jewett's farm to the county line on 
 the east, and to the river on the north they were obliged to fell trees so 
 as to see their flag. 
 
 Such was the "pent up Utica" of 18 16, with its 420 dwellings and stores, 
 with its churches, banks, taverns, printing offices, and other appendages 
 ■of a flourishing country town, and which, according to the enumeration 
 made by the compiler of its directory, contained 2,861 inhabitants. 
 
THE THIRD VILLAGE CHARTER. 131 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 THE THIRD VILLAGE CHARTER. 
 
 Its Principal Provisions — The Proceedings of the Successive Boards of Aldermen 
 to 1824 — The Progress of the Erie Canal — The Visit of General Lafayette — New 
 Comers of the Period. 
 
 ANEW charter of Utica was enacted April 7, 1817. By its terms 
 Utica was set off from Whitestown and erected into a separate 
 town, its boundaries remaining the same as before. It was divided into 
 three wards, as follows : The First ward included that portion of terri- 
 tory lying east of a line running from the river bridge through the mid- 
 dle of lower Genesee, parts of John, Broad, and First streets, to the 
 southern boundary ; the Second Ward, next west of the First, was 
 limited by a line traversing Hotel and upper Genesee streets; and the 
 Third embraced all west of the preceding. The president of the village 
 was to be appointed annually by the Governor and Council of the State. 
 Besides presiding at the meetings of the Board of Trustees he, by and 
 with their advice, granted permits to retailers, tavern-keepers, and 
 butchers, and was ex-officio a justice of the peace. As a compensation 
 for his services he received fees for the permits that were given or in 
 lieu of them a salary amounting to $250. At the annual meeting 
 held on the second Monday of May there were to be chosen by bal- 
 lot six trustees, two from each ward, a supervisor, three assessors, 
 and two constables. The trustees appointed a clerk, a treasurer, col- 
 lectors, an overseer of the poor, and several other subordinate officers. 
 They were empowered to levy a tax not exceeding in amount $1,500 
 to defray the expense of lighting the streets, supporting a night watch, 
 the making of local improvements, and for contingent expenses; and 
 likewise a tax not exceeding $100 to keep in repair the building erected 
 for a free school- house, and to purchase fuel and other appendages for 
 such school. They were made commissioners of highways ; could open, 
 alter, pave, or improve streets, and cause the construction of sewers as 
 they might deem the public good required ; and after the expense of 
 
132 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 the same had been estimated by five disinterested persons, appointed by 
 them, they could enforce its collection from the parties chiefly benefited. 
 They had, moreover, full authority "to make all such rules and regu- 
 lations, by-laws and ordinances for the good government and order of 
 the village as they might deem expedient, not repugnant to the consti- 
 tution and laws of this State," and to enforce the due observance of 
 them by fine or imprisonment. In this authority are enumerated many 
 particulars, though all are included in the general terms above quoted. 
 The share of the school moneys appropriated to the county which 
 these trustees received from the county treasurer they were obliged to 
 devote to the maintenance of a free school for the education of such 
 poor children residing in the village as they might think entitled to gra- 
 tuitous instruction. Such is a very brief summary of the thirty-one 
 sections of the charter. The annual meeting of freeholders was done 
 away with, the government of affairs became wholly representative, and 
 to the trustees was entrusted much more power than they had before 
 exercised. 
 
 The first president appointed under this charter was Nathan Williams, 
 and at the first election held under it there were chosen as trustees Ezra 
 S. Cozier and William Williams from the First ward, Jeremiah Van 
 Rensselaer and Abraham Van Santvoort from the Second ward, and 
 Erastus Clark and John C. Hoyt from the Third ward. The assessors 
 elected were Moses Bagg, David P. Hoyt, and Thomas Walker. Benja- 
 min Walker was chosen supervisor and Ezra S. Barnum and Joshua 
 Ostrom constables. The first business of the Board of Trustees was to 
 enact rules for their own guidance, to employ a surveyor to ascertain 
 the bounds of the village and designate them by boundary stones, to 
 adopt a corporate seal, and to elect additional officers. These officer^ 
 were the following: John H. Ostrom, clerk; E. S. Barnum and Benja- 
 min Ballou, collectors; Jeremiah Van Rensselaer, overseer of the poor ; 
 Judah Williams, treasurer; Frederick W. Potter, poundtnaster ; Benja- 
 min Hinman, Aaron Eggleston, and Jason Parker, fence viewers ; James 
 Hooker, ganger; Benjamin Ballou, superintendent of highways. The 
 ordinances passed by the board in the course of the year were the fol- 
 lowing: A law concerning officers of the village and town; an act for 
 ihe regulation of groceries and victualling houses; an act to prevent the 
 
ORDINANCES PASSED IN 1817. 133 
 
 digging of earth or stones in the streets and highways ; a law to pre- 
 vent nuisances and to regulate the streets ; a law relative to fences and 
 for the establishment of a pound ; a law for the establishment of the 
 assize and regulating the inspection of bread ; a law for preventing and 
 extinguishing fires ; an additional act for regulating groceries and victu- 
 alling houses; a law for the appointment of a village superintendent (of 
 streets) and prescribing his duties ; an ordinance in relation to a watch ; 
 a law regulating the streets and sidewalks. Some few of the provisions 
 contained in these several ordinances it may be of interest to note, for 
 the sake of their relation to the state of things which had preceded them 
 as well as to that which has followed, as showing both the advance made 
 and the shortcomings in view of the present. 
 
 The act to regulate groceries and victualling houses which was 
 passed in May required those keeping such establishments to acknowl- 
 edge a recognizance to the trustees in the penalty of $125, conditioned 
 that they would not sell spirituous liquors to be drank on the premises, 
 nor to an apprentice, servant, or slave without permit from the master, 
 nor harbor noisy persons or gamblers, nor keep open on Sunday or 
 after 10 o'clock at night. But the additional act passed in Decem- 
 ber allowed petty grocers who had obtained a license to retail liquors to 
 be drank on the premises, restricting them only from selling to appren- 
 tices, servants, and slaves, and for this license they were to pay $5 
 and also a fee of $2 to the president. The law to prevent nuisances 
 and regulate the streets, while forbidding the deposit of rubbish, 
 filth, or nuisances of any kind in the streets, or heaps of manure 
 within 100 feet of the principal streets, required the owners or 
 occupants of houses and stores on Genesee street from the bridge to 
 Liberty street, and on Main and Whitesboro from Second street to 
 Broadway, to clean the street in front of their premises and remove the 
 dirt every Saturday forenoon. It allowed the deposit of building ma- 
 terial on certain defined streets only on the written permission of the 
 president and for a term not exceeding six months, which permission 
 might be revoked or prolonged by the trustees. It granted another 
 permission which has since been a source of much detriment to the 
 general good, viz. : The right to build open stoops six feet into the 
 iitreet; on the other hand it forbade billiard tables, shuffle boards, E. O. 
 
,34 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 tables, faro banks, and all other implements of gaming ; it restrained cows, 
 oxen, sheep, and swine from running at large under penalty of being 
 impounded — whence there was no release but by the payment, besides 
 the pound-keeper's iee of a fine, one-half of which was to go to the 
 benefit of the poor of the town and the other to the person delivering 
 the animal to the pound-keeper, but it made exceptions in the case of 
 cows belonging to any inhabitant of the village, and also in the case of 
 working horses the property of any such inhabitant who had first ob- 
 tained the consent of the president. The law relating to the assize and 
 inspection of bread was much fuller in detail than the one that had been 
 before in force. Bakers were to have a license ; they were to mark their 
 loaves with their initials and in addition with the letters S. or C. in order 
 to indicate whether these loaves were made of superfine or common 
 flour ; they were required under penalty to keep on hand a sufficient 
 supply ; there was to be appointed an inspector of bread, who at least 
 once a month was to examine the bread baked and on sale in the vil- 
 lage, with power to enter any bakery or stop and examine any baker's 
 cart and to seize such bread as was not conformable to law, which if fit 
 for use was to go to the overseer of the poor ; none was to be forfeited 
 for want of weight only, unless the weight had been ascertained within 
 eight hours after baking, and if more than eight houj-s had elapsed the 
 inspector was to " make just allowance." The law prescribed also how 
 the assize of bread should be regulated, and contained a mathematical 
 formula to be used in determining what should be the weight of a shill- 
 ing or a sixpenny loaf that it might accord with the varying price of 
 flour. But as this whole ordinance was so inconvenient and difficult of 
 execution as to be almost completely nugatory we will not further en- 
 large upon its provisions. With respect to the law for the prevention 
 and extinguishing of fires the following is new: A fire warden and a 
 fire engineer were to be appointed for each ward. The wardens were 
 to examine at least once a month chimneys, hearths, stoves, stovepipes, 
 ash-houses, etc., and if the^e were found insufficient or insecure they 
 were to order their repair or alteration, or cause the same to be done 
 at the expense of the owner; they were to examine into the suflSciency 
 of fire buckets in the possession of individuals and report monthly to 
 the trustees; to report also what chimneys take fire, to remove or abate 
 
ORDINANCES PASSED IN 1817. 135 
 
 anything which might be dangerous; to attend all fires, bearing staves 
 as badges of office, and there, under the direction of the engineers, to 
 pursue such measures and give such orders to the citizens as they might 
 judge necessary and proper. The fire engineers were to attend all fires 
 with the crown of their hats covered with white for purpose of distinc- 
 tion, and there to have control of the fire companies and engines, and 
 to have power also to pull down buildings if necessary to arrest the fire. 
 Three conservators of property were likewise appointed who were to 
 attend fires with pieces of cloth around the left arm, and they were to 
 exercise such functions as are intimated by their appellation, viz., to 
 take the charge of goods and furniture, to direct their removal and the 
 place of deposit, and secure them from theft. Citizens with their buck- 
 ets were to go to all fires and there be subject to the orders of the three 
 above mentioned classes of officials ; and if the fire occurred in the night- 
 time they were to place a lighted candle in the front door or front win- 
 dow of their houses and keep it burning through the night or until the 
 fire was extinguished. From the fire companies there were set off ten 
 men to act as a hook and ladder company. Chimneys blazing out at 
 the top at any other time than on the forenoon of a day when the roof 
 was wet or covered with snow subjected the owner to a fine of $3. 
 Every person was to have a scuttle on his roof with stairs leading 
 thereto, or a ladder standing against or near his house ; other pro- 
 visions related to the burning of combustibles, to the use of uncov- 
 ered candles in barns and stables, to the firing of squibs and crackers, 
 and to the keeping of gunpowder in quantity in any other place than 
 Van Santvoort's warehouse. Four watchmen were to be apppinted by 
 the trustees in obedience to the ordinance relating thereto, of whom two 
 were to patrol the streets by night in the compact part of the village 
 while their companions remained in the watch house ; they were to cry 
 the hour once at least in every hour ; were to look after and arrest sus- 
 picious persons; in case of fire were to give the alarm to the inhab- 
 itants and more particularly to the trustees and the bellman ; at the 
 fire were to co-operate with the conservators in the protection of ex- 
 posed property, and after its extinguishment were to collect the buck- 
 ets that had been in use and remove them to the market-house. One 
 law which was substantially a repetition of one passed in 18 14 de- 
 
136 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 clared the streets on which owners of property should make sidewalks 
 and how the same should be constructed, and another created a village 
 superintendent whose duty it was to see that this ordinance and that 
 relating to nuisances were faithfully executed, and to report all viola- 
 tions thereof to the Board of Trustees. To each of the foregoing there 
 were afifixed fines and penalties sufficient, as it would seem, to secure a 
 proper observance. 
 
 The Board of Trustees resolved to raise by tax $1,000 for the ex- 
 penses of the year and $50 additional for the repair and fuel of the 
 free school. The meetings of the trustees in the course of the year 
 were numerous, well attended, and apparently harmonious. The board 
 organized two companies of firemen of fifteen and of twenty- five mem- 
 bers respectively ; they granted several licenses to grocers and retail 
 liquor dealers, and a few to keepers of taverns, refusing also some ap- 
 plicants for the latter. 
 
 Much financial embarrassment existed throughout the country at this 
 time and for two years longer, and in this distress the inhabitants of 
 Utica suffered likewise. In June money was so scarce that the banks 
 were drawing in their discounts and many merchants failed. By 
 December money commanded three per cent, a month. Provisions of 
 all kinds were dear. The summer of 18 16 had been unusually cold, frost 
 having occurred during every month of the year. The spring of 18 1 7 
 was backward, and on the first of June there came a severe frost which 
 destroyed all tender vegetables. Hay was selling for $20 a ton, wheat 
 at eighteen shillings and it rose in July to twenty-four shillings, and 
 corn the same, at which time flour was worth $12 a barrel. By Octo- 
 ber hay had fallen to $8 per ton and other commodities also diminished 
 in price. But the scarcity of money prevailed some time longer and 
 the failures continued. 
 
 On the 25th of July in this year occurred the fiist capital execution 
 that had taken place in the village and the second one in the county. 
 The criminal was an Indian of the Brotherton tribe named John Tuhi, 
 who was tried at Rome in the previous month and convicted of having 
 killed his cousin, Joseph Tuhi, in a quarrel when intoxicated. The ex- 
 ecution took place a little east of the present intersection of John and 
 Rutger streets, then a lone and distant suburb. The prisoner was at- 
 
FIUST CAPITAL EXECUTION. 137 
 
 tended in the wagon and at the gallows by two Baptist clergymen, 
 who addressed the crowd. He seemed passive and insensible and 
 stood like a statue till he fell, after which there was one slight struggle. 
 The sheriff was Apollos Cooper, assisted by the under sheriff, John B. 
 Pease, of Whitesboro. The sheriff's duties were fitly performed and 
 with an amount of feeling that greatly exceeded that of the criminal. 
 He wore on the occasion a military chapean and a short, heavj' sword, 
 with which he struck twice the rope that suspended the trap, ^\■hen 
 it fell and he wheeled his horse and rode off the ground. The spec- 
 tators were careless and unfeeling. Men, women, and children seemed 
 to make a frolic of the occurrence, and there was laughing and swear- 
 ing under the gallows, but not much drunkenness except among the 
 Indians, of whom a number got intoxicated. The execution formed 
 a memorable day in the calendars of the men of that generation, an 
 epoch not easily forgotten, and people dated events as happening before 
 or after the Indian was hung. 
 
 Among the accessions to the happily associated society of Utica 
 during the year 1817 were James and Walter L. Cochrane, sons of John 
 Cochrane, director-general of the army hospitals during the war of the 
 Revohition. These brothers were tvpes of an order of gentlemen born 
 and educated in the later colonial period of the Stale, with the polish 
 of manner that resulted from aristocratic associations and not a few of 
 the accompanying prejudices. They had lived in several different 
 places and did not long remain here, nor had they while here any espe- 
 cial vocation. 
 
 Thomas Hastings was of a deeply sensitive nature with a peculiar 
 and imperfect vision, and manifested an early predilection for music. 
 This predilection was soon developed into a pursuit, which he followed 
 through an unusually long life, and in church psalmody, to which he 
 especially devoted himself, he became the most proficient of any in the 
 country. " Whatever true reforms were made in the spirit of praise 
 during the first half of the present century were largely accomplished 
 by and through him." He began his career as a teacher of it in 1805, 
 giving instruction in some of the neighboring parishes, and continued 
 it in the winter of 1806-07. His course of instruction was thorough 
 and a great improvement on that which had preceded it. In 18 16,. 
 
 18 
 
138 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 after having spent one year in business and four in managing his father's 
 farm, he became again a teacher. His lessons were given at New Hart- 
 ford, to the choir of Trinity Church, Utica, in 1817, to that of the 
 Presbyterian Church in 1 8 19, and in several other places. There had 
 been a county musical society in operation. To furnish music for it he 
 and Professor Norton, of Clinton, became composers This was the 
 origin of the collection known as the Musica Sacra, which consisted at 
 first of two numbers of pamphlet size and was afterward enlarged to 
 a considerable volume and subsequently united with Warriner's Spring- 
 field collection. Several successive editions were pubhshed at Utica. 
 From this vicinity Mr. Hastings went to Troy to teach and thence to 
 Albany, where he sang in the church of Rev. Dr. Chester. In 1823 he 
 was invited to come to Utica to take charge of a religious paper abou 
 to be established, and in January of the following year there was issue( 
 the first number of this semi-monthly paper known as the Western Re 
 corder. His editorial labors extended to the ninth volume. He neve 
 lost sight of the interests of religious music and his articles on the sub 
 ject were widely copied. In addition to his conduct of the paper he taugh 
 singing in the Sunday school and elsewhere, and by the establishment 
 of societies for the purpose contributed much to encourage an interest 
 in sacred song. He held that every one could learn to sing, and that 
 it was a duty to learn and to join audibly in divine praise in the house 
 of God, that " religion has substantially the same claim in song as in 
 speech." He composed hymns and tunes and made collections of mu- 
 sic, adapting tunes to words and words to tunes, and thus impressed his 
 own tastes upon the church and the school and inspired them with his 
 own zeal in the cause of reform and progress. For many years he was 
 the chorister of the Presbyterian Church, where his presence and his 
 voice seemed as essential to the ministrations of the sanctuary as were 
 those of any occupant of its pulpit. In 1832, on the invitation of sev- 
 eral churches, he repaired to New York and entered upon the specific 
 work of elevating the standard of congregational singing. He taught 
 large schools, gathered assemblies and trained them, infusing into the 
 people interest and spirit on his favorite subject. He continued his 
 efforts as a composer and wrote much. No man in the United States 
 has been so long and so intimately associated with our church music; 
 
THE BROTHERS HASTINGS— J. E. WARNER. 139 
 
 none has produced more of the hymns and lunes which are now a part 
 of public worship. Between the years 18 19 and 1865 he published up- 
 wards of twenty collections of sacred music besides editing seven or 
 eight others. Of the 600 hymns and versions of the psalms which he 
 composed 200 are current in this country and Great Britain. He re- 
 ceived the degree of Doctor of Music from the New York University. 
 
 Charles Hastings and Andrew Merrell began a new book store in May, 
 1817, to which they soon added a circulating library. They were at 
 the sign of the Bible, No. 40 Genesee street, one door west of the post- 
 office. They published a few books, among which a\ as one with the 
 singular .title "The Missionary Arithmetic," prepared by Rev. Will- 
 iam R. Weeks, D.D., and containing problems based on missionary or 
 rehgious' topics. From the year 1824 they published also the Western 
 Recorder. As agent of the Sunday School Uniim Mr. Ha.stings supplied 
 its auxiliaries with books, and he acted also as secretary of the Western 
 Domestic Missionary Society. In 1826, having lost his partner, he 
 found a new one in Gardiner Tracy. 
 
 By the present generation the house of Jared E. Warner has been as 
 familiarly known as were those of the Wolcotts, Hitchcocks, or Williamses 
 by the earlier one. An heirloom it holds direct from the earliest drug- 
 gists' of Utica is a large show bottle in the front window of the store, 
 which contains the identical colored fluid that was poured into it in 
 18 1 2. Articles in which Mr. Warner once dealt largely besi'les his 
 ordinary trade were the essential oils of peppermint, spearmint, etc., 
 which were distilled for him in the northern part of the county and 
 which he exported. Mr. Warner was closely attentive to his concerns 
 and content with the steady acquisitions of his calling. Being treasu- 
 rer of the County Bible Society, agent of the American Board of For- 
 eign Missions, of the American Tract Society, etc., his store was made 
 the place of deposit and distribution of numerous relegious publications. 
 For many years he was an elder in the First Presbyterian Church and 
 also president of the Utica City National Bank. 
 
 Party spirit seems for the first to have been in exercise at the village 
 election in the year 1818. As a consequence some changes were ef- 
 fected in the constituent members of the Board of Trustees ; some of the 
 older citizens and larger property holders of the Federal party, as 
 
140 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 John C. Devereux and Jeremiah Van Rensselaer, who had been held up 
 as candidates, were rejected and new men elected in their stead. This 
 new board was composed as follows, the president remaining the same; 
 The trustees elected from the First ward were Ezra S. Cozier and John E. 
 Hinmati ; from the Second, Abraham Van Santvoort and Enos Brown ; 
 from the Third, Rudolph Snyder and Marcus Hitchcock. The assessors 
 were Benjamin Ballou, jr., Stalham Williams, and Thomas Walker. The 
 board re- appointed John H. Ostrom clerk and made Judah Williams 
 treasurer. The only noticeable fact in the proceedings of the year was 
 the appropriation of $300 to aid the trustees of the academy in the com- 
 pletion of the court room in the academy building, which room they 
 would appear to have taken from this time under their control. The 
 amount levied upon the citizens for the annual expenses was $1,422.25 
 and that for the school expenses $50.60. It was also voted that $800 
 be raised by direction of the supervisors for the support of the poor. 
 The public school was continued under the direction of Ignatius 
 Thompson. 
 
 Dr. John McCall, a physician long resident, was born in the town of 
 Hebron, Washington County, N. Y., on the 25th of December, 1787. 
 His father and mother emigrated from Scotland and commenced their 
 married life upon a new farm in Hebron. After reaping the advantages 
 of two courses at Columbia College from Drs. Post, Stringham, Mitch- 
 ell, Edward Miller, and others he was for four months the private pupil 
 of the distinguished surgeon, Valentine Mott. Upon his recommenda- 
 tion chiefly the doctor obtained the appointment of assistant surgeon 
 in the army, and was in May, 1812, assigned to duty in the Thirteenth 
 Regiment of Infantry. In September of that year he was with the regi- 
 ment when they marched through Utica on their way to Sackets Harbor. 
 He was present at the battle of Queenstown, and dressed the wound of 
 Capt. (afterward Gen.) John E. Wood. Subsequently and when he had 
 been promoted to the rank of surgeon he was at the capture of Fort 
 George, and under General Wilkinson went down the lake to French 
 Mills, where the army spent " the Valley Forge winter " of 18 14. In 
 July, 181 5, he left the army at Sackets Harbor, and after making a brief 
 visit home returned and commenced practice in Deerfield. In April, 
 J8i8, he formed a partnership with Dr. Alexander Coventry, which 
 
DR. JOHN M' CALL. 141 
 
 somewhat later was succeeded by a longer one with his son, Dr. Charles 
 B. Coventry. Still later he was alone in practice, and thus he remained 
 until disabled by illness, some two years before his death, which latter 
 event occurred October 5, 1867. During all this period of nearly fifty 
 years he remained in constant employment at Utica, rarely absenting 
 himself, and that mostly to attend some medical meetmg. 
 
 In his practice Dr. McCall was strictly conservative, relying more on 
 careful nursing and the reparative efforts of nature than on the effects of 
 medicine. Not only toward mercury, which was his especial abhorrence, 
 toward bleeding, and the other heroic means, once so much in vogue, 
 was he decidedly averse, but toward much -less harmful appliances he 
 was sparing of favor. He had many admiring and attached employers 
 who felt the fullest confidence in his skill, for they knew it to be based 
 upon careful reading, large experience, and much sound sense. He was 
 faithful in attendance, watchful as a nurse, and ready in expedient; in 
 manner wise and oracular he knew how to magnify his office and com- 
 mand respect ; he was cautious in forming his opinions and secretive as to 
 their utterance. He was interested in the elevation and standing of his 
 profession, and himself took rank among its leading members in New 
 York. The County and State Medical Societies conferred upon him their 
 highest honors, for he was president of both. He was also a fellow of 
 the College of Physicians of New York. Phrenology, or cerebral physi- 
 ology as he would call it, engaged the doctor's attention for more than 
 thirty years and to the doctrines ©f Gall, Spurzheim, and Combe he was 
 a thorough convert. He possessed in a marked degree what are con- 
 sidered the elements of the Scotch character. He was positive, firm, 
 peremptory, and unyielding to opposition. The opinions he held ad- 
 mitted of small modification and his rules must be carried out to the 
 bitter end. He was honest in its broadest and fullest sense. He shrank 
 with disgust and hatred from everything mean or dishonorable, and de- 
 spised the man who would resort to trickery to get business or "flatter 
 that favor might follow fawning." His two accomplished children died 
 not long after reaching adult life. 
 
 Theodore Sedgwick Gold as a merchant obtained a fair amount of 
 success, and his discretion in matters of business made him a bank di- 
 rector. But his literary tastes drew him much into diverging and more 
 
142 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 congenial pursuits, and these gave occupation to his time and pen. He, 
 took interest in the Utica Library, the Utica and the State Lyceums, etc. 
 lie was a large reader, possessed a good degree of intelligence and re- 
 fined taste, and was able as a writer. For two years or more he edited 
 the Oneida Whig and proved a vigorous and entertaining journalist and 
 a formidable adversary. In 1837 he was chosen mayor of the city. For 
 a short time also he was a trustee of Hamilton College as he was also 
 of the Utica Academy. 
 
 Oren Clark, a merchant who also made wall paper, removed about 
 1834. Thomas M. Francis, half-brother of WiUiam Francis the car- 
 penter, was successively deputy scribe for the county clerk, canal col- 
 lector, and receiver at the office of the Central Railroad. Two com- 
 panies of Welsh emigrants arrived in the county, leaving in Utica among 
 others David Lewis, Watkin, father of Hon. Ellis H. Roberts, and Ed- 
 ward Morris, father of two sons, of whom one is a professor at Oberlin 
 and another at Cornell. 
 
 The Board of Trustees created by the election of 18 19 did not differ 
 materially from that- of the preceding year. Messrs. David P. Hoyt and 
 Gurdon Burchard replaced Messrs. Brown and Van Santvoortas trustees 
 in the Second ward, the last named having left the village, and William 
 Alverson was elected in lieu of Marcus Hitchcock in the Third ward. In 
 the Third ward ApoUos Cooper was elected assessor in lieu of Thomas 
 Walker. The supervisor, constables, collector, and clerk remained the 
 same. E. S. Cozier was made treasurer in place of Judah Williams and 
 there were a few other changes. The only business transacted during 
 the year that is of importance enough to be noted was the engaging of 
 A. I'Amoureux to take charge of the public school and the appoint- 
 ment of ten persons from among the firemen to form a ladder company, 
 which so reduced the force of the two established companies as to make 
 it advisable to petition the legislature for a change in the charter in 
 order to allow of an increase in the number of firemen. 
 
 The Erie Canal, begun in July, 18 17, and on which work was steadily- 
 progressing, was still far from completion. The eastern portion of its 
 middle section, or so much of it as is included between Rome and Utica, 
 was, however, rendered fit for navigation by the fall of 1819; and on 
 the 22d of October the first boat sailed on the canal from Rome to Utica, 
 
HENR Y SE YMO UR. 143 
 
 the channel having been filled from the Oriskany Creek the day prev- 
 ious. It was an elegant boat, constructed to carry passengers, and was 
 called the Chief Engineer in compliment to Benjamin Wright. On the 
 ensuing day the governor of the State and the Board of Commissioners, 
 attended by about seventy ladies and gentlemen of Utica and vicinity, 
 embarked upon it to return to Rome. The embarkation took place amid 
 the ringing of bells, the roaring of cannon, and the loud acclamations of 
 thousands of spectators. 
 
 There is one able commissioner among the eminent persons appointed 
 by the State to supervise and direct its cherished work, the story of 
 whose life falls within the compass of our records, since toward Utica he 
 held the relations of an honored citizen and for a time was ils official head. 
 This is Henry Seymour. Henry Seymour entered into business as a 
 merchant at Pompey Hill, Onondaga County, N. Y. By his integrity, 
 sound judgment, and capacity to execute he became so well and favor- 
 ably known that from 18 16 to 18 19 he was sent to represent the West- 
 ern District in the State Senate. On the 24th of March, 18 19, he was 
 appointed a commissioner of the canals of the State and was actively 
 engaged in the duties of this office until he resigned in May, 1831. 
 Soon after becoming commissioner he removed to Utica and continued 
 to reside here during the remainder of his life. In 1820 he was elected 
 to the Assembly and in 1822 he became a second time a senator. In 
 March, 1833, he was appointed mayor of Utica, being the second per- 
 son who held the office, and the same year was chosen president of the 
 Farmers Loan and Trust Company of the city of New York. The 
 change from an active life in the country to the sedentary one of an office 
 in the city destroyed his health and he died at Utica, August 26, 1837. 
 
 Justus H. Rathbone acquired his knowledge of law in the office of 
 D. W. Childs, and though versed in his profession he was precluded by 
 grave physical infirmity from attendance on the courts. He was a mas- 
 ter in chancery and a zealous custodian of the first Utica Library, of which 
 he was virtually the founder. He was an elder in the Reformed Dutch 
 Church as well as its treasurer, and was methodical, accurate, and self- 
 denying in all he undertook. Dr. Newell Smith was a physician and 
 druggist and a fair kind of man. Henry Burden, inventor, produced in 
 1820 the first cultivator in the country, and after his removal to Troy 
 
144 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 became the artificer of numerous important improvements. George 
 & Bradford S. Merrill, book-binders, continued their work for many- 
 years, the latter until 1874, busy and respected. 
 
 The village trustees of the year 1820 were E. S. Cozier, John E. 
 Hinman, James Hooker, Abraham Culver, Ezekiel Bacon, and 
 Thomas Walker. Rudolph Snyder was appointed president by the 
 State council on the resignation of Judge Williams. Measures were 
 initiated this year for the construction ofa new road above the canal 
 running westward from Genesee street and in continuation of Bleecker, 
 a road which met with opposition from individuals owning land along 
 its intended course, and which not until after litigation and much 
 delay resulted in the year 1823 in the present Fayette street. Other 
 matters that engaged the attention of the corporation, and in which they 
 felt called on to advise and direct, were the location and construction 
 by the canal commissioners of bridges over such part of the canal as 
 was included within the bounds of the village, the proper adjustment 
 of Liberty street in its relation to the canal, the sanctioning of a basin 
 and slip which John R. Bleecker had obtained leave to construct, the 
 basin on the south side of the canal, and the slip extending from it to 
 Catharine street. 
 
 An act of the legislature was passed this year incorporating the Utica 
 Savings Bank, but for some reason now unknown the bank did not go 
 into operation untjl the year 1839, when a new charter was procured. 
 This first charter was probably in advance of the actual necessity for 
 such an institution and the stock was not taken. The president named 
 in this first charter was the same as the one who headed the later board, 
 viz., John C. Devereux. 
 
 A merchant who, after five years' residence in Utica, returned to New 
 York, became bankrupt, and then burst upon the world as an admired 
 actor of comedy was James Henry Hackett. His earlier and less dis- 
 tinguished but, for' our purpose, most interesting career he himself 
 relates as follows : " Early in i8i"9, when just turned of nineteen years 
 of age, I married. In April, 1820, I chose Utica, in the State of New 
 York, as a promising town to settle in, and I took there a stock of 
 groceries and began business. I had a cash capital of about $3,000, and 
 obtained credit, too, through the late John Beekman, my mother's first 
 
yA MES HA CKE TT— DR. POMERO Y. 145 
 
 cousin, and also the father-in-law of my own first cousin, Abraham K. 
 Fish, with whom I had been a clerk for some two years before my mar- 
 riage. Finding no regular dealer in earthenware in Utica at this time 
 I resolved to try a small assortment of this article, and accordingly pur- 
 chased it. It proved a valuable adjunct to my grocery business, and I 
 soon became a wholesale dealer in it, and occasionally imported earth- 
 enware from the Scotch manufacturers. I was cordially received there 
 and was regarded as an enterprising and industrious young man of busi- 
 ness. My society was generally courted for my acceptable manners 
 and good humor, and that of my dear wife for hers and her proficiency 
 as an accomplished singer. We lived there very happily full five years, 
 when, having accumulated about $18,000 and thinking that New York 
 city afforded a more favorable locality for my capital and enlarged facil- 
 ities, I changed my residence back to New York in March, 1825." ^ 
 Here was born their son, James K. Hackett, the late esteemed recorder 
 of New York, and here he afterward imbibed his law. 
 
 Dr. Theodore Pomeroy, who came from Cooperstown, was born at 
 Southampton, Mass., March 14, 1785, was graduated at Yale Col- 
 lege in 1808, studied medicine with Dr. James, of Albany and after- 
 ward of Utica, and also with Dr. Chester, of Hudson, attended lectures 
 at Pittsfield, and had made a successful stand in Cooperstown. His 
 new venture in Utica was a fortunate one, for he soon fell into a large 
 and profitable business, and for ten or a dozen years at least was the 
 medical adviser of some of the best families of the place. His pleasant 
 manner and his engaging exterior attracted admirers who were changed 
 to friends when they realized the purity and uprightness of his life. He 
 loved his profession as an art more than as a science. He cared less 
 for brilliant exploits in surgery than to relieve the common ailments of 
 humanity, and win the rewards of his exertion as well as the gratitude 
 of those on whom he waited. Other pursuits akin to medicine into 
 which he was drawn tended to lead him more and more from his 
 chosen calling and eventually took him wholly out of it. With 
 Thomas R. Walker he had become interested in an oilcloth factory 
 from their having loaned money to J. D. Edwards, its founder, and 
 which the latter was unable to re-imburse them. They assumed the 
 
 19 
 • Galaxy. 
 
146 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 charge of the factory aad for many years continued its management. 
 After Mr. Walker withdrew, about the year 1854, Dr. Pomeroy kept on 
 in the concern in company with his son Theodore. As a citizen, neigh- 
 bor, and friend the rank of Dr. Pomeroy was among the hberal, the 
 useful, and the trusted. He died at St. Anthony, June 26, i860. His 
 first wife and the mother of three of his children was Mary, daughter of 
 Dr. Thomas Fuller, of Cooperstown. His second was Miss Cornelia 
 Voorhees, of New Brunswick, N. J. 
 
 James Sayre, a long continued hardware dealer, served considerably 
 as a bank director, at first in the United States Branch, then for a short 
 time in the Ontario Branch, and later for many years in the Oneida 
 National, of which he was president at his decease. Of the Black River 
 . Railroad he was a director from its organization, and participated in all 
 labors and responsibilities until stricken down by disease, — " a valued 
 and pleasant associate, in whom the public placed such confidence that 
 his name was a symbol of strength to the enterprise." For many years 
 he was a trustee of the First Presbyterian Church and for no little 
 period its treasurer. Of the Utica Cemetery Association he was also 
 for a time the prudent and judicious head. 
 
 The village corporation of 1821 was constituted as follows: Ezra S. 
 Cozier, president; Benjamin Ballou, jr., and Joh,n Baxter, of the First 
 ward, James Hooker and John H. Handy, of the Second, and Thomas 
 Walker and David P. Hoyt, of the Third, trustees; Benjamin Ballou, 
 jr., Stalham Williams, and Apollos Cooper, assessors of their respective 
 wards; John H. Ostrom, clerk ; John Bradish, treasurer; Thomas E. 
 Clark, overseer of the poor; Daniel Stafford, superintendent of streets ; 
 and Joshua Ostrom and Robert Jones, constables. 
 
 The sum of $723.25 was raised for contingent expenses and $400 
 for the support of the poor ; the market, that former source of conten- 
 tion and which had been banished to Water street, was sold to Daniel 
 Thomas for $50; an alley was ordered to be opened from Genesee to 
 Hotel street, starting from between the stores of William Tillman 
 and Peter Bours. A deed was obtained from the Seneca Turnpike 
 Company of that part of the turnpike lying east of the Supreme 
 Court clerk's office, and a fresh committee was empowered to treat with 
 landholders along the line of Bleecker street continued. 
 
GEORGE DUTTON AND OTHERS. i^-j 
 
 The sons of St. Patrick were now numerous enough and their enthu- 
 siasm ardent enough to prompt them to a public observance of his natal 
 day. About seventy persons, Irishmen and their guests, sat down to an 
 elegant repast, during which much conviviality prevailed. 
 
 Born with an instinctive passion for music George Button had played 
 on several instruments from his boyhood, and had when quite young 
 taken an organ in pieces and reconstructed it. Moreover he had the 
 high wrought organization, the lively susceptibilities of the enthusiast in 
 musical art, his keen delights and his proneness to melancholy. In 
 Philadelphia he received a quarter's lessons on the organ, and this was 
 all the instruction he ever had ; his taste was innate, his skill wholly self 
 acquired. While there his inclination showed itself so strongly that he 
 was supplied by a house of that city with the goods to furnish a music 
 store in Utica. His was the first of the kind that had been opened here 
 and the pianos were a curiosity to most of its citizens. On Sundays he 
 handled the organ of one of the churches, at first of Trinity and after- 
 ward of the Presbyterian Church. In concerts, in the rehearsals, private 
 and public, of the Musical Academy, and in all musical exhibitions 
 where the piano or violin accompanied a chorus or solo he directed the 
 entertainment, for his skill was unrivaled and his taste was law. He 
 trained two sons until they attained unusual musical excellence, and 
 lived to see one of them succeed him in the trade and become as much 
 of an oracle in the art as he himself had been. His death occurred 
 December 21, 1854. 
 
 Other citizens of 1820—21 were as follows: Levi Cozzens, innkeeper 
 and much longer a dealer in lumber, twelve years treasurer of the Me- 
 chanics Association, and a trustee of the First Presbyterian Church ; 
 the four brothers Thurber, for the most part bakers, of whom Philip, a 
 hardware merchant, built the first brick house on Fayette street ; Jabez 
 Miller, baker; Edward Bright, brewer; Elisha Backus, stage proprie- 
 tor — most of them fathers of sons who held relations of interest with 
 the subsequent affairs of Utica ; Otis Whipple, of protracted residence,,- 
 justice of the peace; Major Satterlee Clark, United States paymaster; 
 Robert Jones, grocer and provision dealer ; Elisha Wells, shoe dealer ; 
 Joseph Blake, tailor ; Cyrus Grannis, innkeeper ; Robert R. Rhodes, 
 carpenter ; Thomas Sidebotham, butcher. 
 
148 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 The trustees of the year 1822 consisted of Benjamin Ballou, John 
 Baxter, Ezekiel Bacon, Richard R. Lansing, Thomas Walker, and 
 David P. Hoyt. Ezra S. Cozier was the president; Erastus Clark, 
 supervisor; Thomas Walker, overseer of the poor; the clerk and treas- 
 urer remained as before. In June it was resolved that Genesee street 
 be paved from the canal to the south line of Whitesboro and Main streets, 
 and a committee of five prominent citizens was appointed to make the 
 necessary estimates and assessments. The cobblestone used at that time 
 were larger than those subsequently used, and this first pavement was 
 well laid and of a durable character. The board determined to open a 
 new street from Broad to Catharine. This likewise was done, and in 
 October the new street was recognized by the name of Franklin street. 
 The project broached two years before of continuing Bleecker street 
 westward to the intersection with the Whitesboro road was attended with 
 more difficulty and delay. A committee that was appointed to treat with 
 the owners and occupants of land along the line of the proposed road 
 found that a majority of them were unwilling to treat, or else asked more 
 for their land than the committee deemed reasonable. A jury of twelve 
 men were then called together to assess the damages they thought each 
 person might sustain, and their assessment was ratified by the trustees. 
 From this adjudication several of the landholders appealed to the Court 
 of Common Pleas. Their appeal was sustained by the court so far as 
 respected that portion of the intended road lying between Genesee and 
 Seneca streets inasmuch as it involved the removal of a building stand- 
 ing on Genesee street and in the line of the proposed road. The court 
 having confirmed the appraisal as to the remainder of the road, and 
 such a road being deemed essential to the prosperity of the place, a 
 new committee of freeholders was created to prepare a fresh assessment 
 on a line slightly varying from the former one. Their assessment was 
 ratified May 6, 1823, and on the 28th of the same month Messrs. Cozier 
 and Ballou, of the board of 1822, were authorized to contract for the 
 making of the road. Other proceedings of the trustees of 1822 were 
 the ordering of sidewalks on the south side of Jay street and the fixing 
 -of the assessment for the support of the poor at $400, that for contin- 
 gent expenses at $1,029, and that for the common school at $65. • 
 
 I have before quoted the record of prices of many articles of daily 
 
MARKET PRICES. 149 
 
 use which was made by a traveler of 181 1. Another foreign visitor 
 who was at Utica in September, 1822, gives also its market prices. 
 These with some other particulars he furnished to a magazine published 
 in Wales. They are as follows : " A barrel of 196 pounds of white 
 wheat flour, $5; of medium flour, $4.50; Indian meal, 3s.; oats 
 IS, gd. per bushel; beef and mutton, 5c.; cheese, 6 to 7c.; potatoes, 
 IS. 6d. to 2s. per bushel; best tobacco, 2s. per lb.; beer, $4.50 per bar- 
 rel; cider, $1 a barrel; rum, $1; brandy, $1.25 a gallon; whisky, 
 2s. a gallon ; tea, 5s.; cofifee, 2s. 6d.; white sugar, 2s., and best brown, 
 IS. Wages: Carpenters, from $1 to $1.25 a day; masons, $1.37-5-.; 
 laborers, 6s. as a rule, but sometimes more; servant girls from los. to 
 i6s. a week, though many get twice as much; servant men, about the 
 same as laborers. They can be taught any trade and paid for their 
 work; I know some who are learning trades and earning $8 a month. 
 Shoes from 12s. to 20s. per pair ; a tailor for making a good suit of 
 clothes, $6; blacksmiths for shoeing a horse, $1, iron being about 
 the same as with us. Instead of coal they generally use coke, which is 
 very cheap." By the word coke the writer probably means charcoal, 
 for coke was not made until the introduction of gas, being aproduct of its 
 manufacture. In stating the wages of servant girls at los. to i6s. a week 
 it is reasonable to surmise that the writer was influenced by a desire to 
 encourage emigration among his countrywomen, and has presented mat- 
 ters in the most favorable light, since it is a fact that very many girls 
 received at that time only about half that amount of wages, 8s. a week 
 being common and 6s. not a rare amount. 
 
 Edmund A. Wetmore was admitted to the bar in October, 1820, and 
 not long after became the partner of Judge Morris S. Miller. After the 
 premature death of the latter he formed a partnership with Hiram De- 
 nio, which continued nearly thirty years and was ended by the elevation 
 of Judge Denio to the bench of the Court of Appeals in June, 1853. 
 Mr. Wetmore now gradually withdrew from the active duties of his pro- 
 fession, though he kept himself informed in the current legal lore, and 
 was in all respects a sound, judicious, and trustworthy counselor. Soon 
 after the organization of the State Lunatic Asylum he was elected its 
 treasurer, a position of much responsibility and care. The duties, dis- 
 charged as they were with unsurpassed fidelity, filled up a large measure 
 of his time throughout the remainder of his life. 
 
Tjo MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 " Public honors might well have been his had he aspired to them, for 
 no man would have more faithfully served his constituents. His fellow 
 citizens sought him more than once, and in 1845 he was elected to the 
 mayoralty of the city and re-elected the following year with great una- 
 nimity. After this he declined all public life and devoted himself to 
 other interests in which he rendered invaluable service. On the organ- 
 ization in 1843 of the admirable public school system of Utica he was 
 elected as one of the original six commissioners and continued to be re- 
 elected as long as he could be prevailed on to serve, performing- duties 
 little appreciated, but of the most important and far reaching character 
 He was elected a trustee of Hamilton College in 1849, and continued in 
 that office while he lived, rendering the institution a large amount of 
 valuable and gratuitous service." As trustee of the Female Academy 
 the attention he gave to its duties and the work he performed during a 
 long series of years were surpassed by those of scarce another member 
 of the board, while outside of it he was the special and trusted adviser 
 of the principal and her teachers. In the Cemetery Association, the 
 Water Works Company, and the cotton and woolen-mills he took an 
 active part from their incipiency, concurred heartily in the management 
 of them, and was much depended on by reason of the cautious and dis- 
 creet advice he gave. One of the most important offices he held was 
 that of trustee of the Utica Savings Bank. He was named as trustee in 
 the original charter and after the death of Judge Denio was, by the 
 common voice of his associates, elected to the presidency, which he held 
 at the time of his death. 
 
 The relations of Augustine G. Dauby to the press of Utica and his 
 characteristics as an editor will be treated of in the chapter on the press. 
 It remains to contemplate him in his other relations. In 1829 he was 
 made postmaster. His incumbency lasted full-twenty years and through 
 the administration of four different Presidents, viz. : From the 22d 
 of May, 1829, to the 17th of May, 1849. It was marked by fidehty to 
 his trust, diligence and attention to his duties, and unfailing courtesy 
 toward those tor whose benefit it was administered. " During much of 
 this period he was a controlling power in the Democratic party of 
 Oneida. His management was dextrous, conciliatory, constructive. 
 He did not care to push himself into prominence, but his will was 
 
A. G. DA UBY— DR. I. N. ME A CHAM. 151 
 
 strong, and 'of the able men who were his associates all recognized his 
 sagacity and his skill in leadership. As divisions came into the party he 
 stood with his life-long friends, and with Judges Beardsley and Bronson 
 and Mr. Croswell became the champion of the Hards. He was one of 
 those who early won for Utica its political eminence. He distributed 
 prizes; he did not seek them. He set up men and put them down; he 
 assisted in constructing policies and parties. He was an ally to be 
 sought and an adversary to be feared." When the scheme was on foot 
 of setting up the Oneida Bank he was zealous in promoting it. It was 
 mainly by his personal exertions that the charter was procured, and 
 when the bank was organized he became its president. As chief ofificer 
 he was active in ferreting out the robbers who entered the bank the 
 night before the day when it was to go into operation and despoiled it 
 of a portion of its funds ; with another director he went to Canada, se- 
 cured the chief culprit, and brought him to punishment. Though he 
 did not long remain president he was a director from that time to the 
 day of his death and a regular attendant at its board. At the first ap- 
 proach of the attack which terminated his life he made his way to the 
 bank, saying : " If I am to die I want to die there." For long years he 
 pursued no avocation which kept him in business relations with the com- 
 munity, but was able to enjoy the leisure of a modest competence. 
 
 Dr. I. N. Meacham came in 1822 from the " limits " at Whitesboro 
 and settled in Utica, confinement for debt being still in accordance with 
 law. Dr. Meacham was then a spruce and showy young man, fond of 
 a good horse and riding him gracefully, fond of his flowers and delight- 
 ing to cultivate them. Sharp and sagacious, acute in diagnosing disease, 
 and bold in the treatment of it he won the public confidence and a 
 good circuit of practice. By many he was thought to be unusually well 
 informed and more than ordinarily skillful, and he knew how, by a 
 wise and unoffending self-assertion, to keep them in this opinion. He 
 was social in his tastes and with his intimates truly companionable. 
 These intimates were not, however, among his fellows in the healing art. 
 Separated from his family he lived some years alone in his office, but 
 died in the New York State Lunatic Asylum. His first wife, Marcia M. 
 Tilden, of Whitesboro, who was a woman of beauty, died February 19, 
 1835. His second was a daughter of Todd Dewey, of Walesville. He 
 had one son and one daughter. 
 
152 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF VTICA. 
 
 Hiram Greenman was a packet captain and largely interested in the 
 stock of one of the boat companies wherein the bulk of his property was 
 made. He was among the foremost in all public undertakings, had a 
 share in steamboats on Lake Ontario and in the earlier telegraph lines, 
 possessed a remarkable degree of enterprise and energy, and practically 
 knew not the meaning of the word fail. Whatever he turned his hand 
 to was sure to succeed. His success culminated in the possession of a 
 handsome estate. 
 
 Owen O'Neil, apprentice and then successor of James Delvin, carried 
 on copper and tinsmithing with general hardware until his death in 
 July, 1875. His interest in whatever aimed at the public good conspired 
 with his accurate and honorable dealings to secure him the favorable re- 
 gard of his fellow townsmen. St. John's Church and all its institutions 
 of charity had in him a devoted friend. He was one of its trustees and 
 its treasurer, and was also a trustee of the Hibernian Benevolent Society. 
 He was a director of the Utica Savings Bank, a director of the Oneida 
 Branch Bank, and among the originators of the Oneida Bank. 
 
 The chairmaking of Augustus Hurlburt he removed at this time from 
 New Hartford to Utica. His business excellence had already obtained 
 him a directorship in the Ontario Branch Bank, and this with his ex- 
 cellent sense and irreproachable private character led to his serving two 
 terms in the council. He took to farming and died at Clinton in 1871. 
 
 Samuel Thompson, a friendly and many-friended merchant, lively and 
 sociable, had a store that was known by the sign of " the green door 
 and brass knocker," the door being in the front of the second story and 
 embossed with a gigantic knocker in gilt. After the discovery of gold 
 in California he joined the train of the seekers and there he has only 
 recently found his final resting place. 
 
 James Murdock and Elon Andrews set up a watchmaking firm that 
 long enjoyed the public confidence, the partners themselves holding it 
 still longer. Thomas F. Field, crockery merchant, remained until the 
 canal was completed, when he imported and sold ware decorated with 
 pictures of navigation thereon. James McGregor accomplished as a 
 mason a good deal in the place, building among other str.uctures the 
 earlier edifice occupied by the Reformed Dutch Society and the public 
 house that succeeded the Burchard Tavern, long known as the McGregor 
 
PROCEEDINGS OF 1823. 153 
 
 House and now as the Dudley. John Lloyd, wagonmaker, was best 
 known in his later years as the tender hearted but firm and faithful 
 almoner of the charities of the city, esteemed alike by the givers and 
 the receivers of the people's money. 
 
 The village trustees of the year 1823 were Benjamin BalJou, James 
 Hooker, Ezekiel Bacon, Daniel Stafford, Thomas Walker, and Jesse 1^ 
 W. Doolittle. The assessors were Benjamin Ballou, John Bradish, and 
 ApoUos Cooper. John H. Ostrom was clerk and Thomas Walker 
 treasurer and overseer of the poor. The following streets were paved : 
 Liberty from Genesee to the west line of Hotel; Catharine from 
 Genesee to John; Broad from Genesee to John; and Genesee from the 
 termination of the pavement of the previous year, viz., the line of 
 Whitesboro street, to the river bridge. The street lately laid out from 
 Genesee to Nail Creek received the title of Rome street and a new one 
 running southerly from it — the modern Pine — was ordered to be opened. 
 Fourteen hundred and twenty dollars was the sum voted for contingent 
 expenses, $94 for school expenses, and $400 for the support of the poor. 
 Early in January, 1824, the board learned " with deep regret that Ezra 
 S. Cozier, president of the village, had been superseded in office by the 
 act of the governor and Senate of the State." His successor was Capt. 
 William Clarke. However aggrieved the trustees may have been by 
 the " clandestine manner" in which the change was brought about it 
 was the result doubtless of political sympathies and influence, and the 
 agents at work in it were, notwithstanding, most worthy men. 
 
 A concert that was given on the 6th day of February was for a 
 purpose unlike to any that influences our modern Utica, and intimates 
 a state of society still .primitive and dependent, when denominational 
 differences were subordinate to the actual needs of ecclesiastical exist- 
 ence. It was for the joint benefit of the Presbyterian and Episcopal 
 Churches and took place in Trinity. The choir was led by Thomas 
 Hastings and the orchestra by George Dutton, the singing being done 
 by volunteers. 
 
 The village was favored in the summer of 1823 by the sojourn of 
 
 William Dunlap, the historical and portrait painter. He exhibited at 
 
 the court room his picture of " Christ Rejected," a copy from West, and 
 
 it was very generally visited. Henry Inman, a native of the village, 
 
 20 
 
154 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 but now settled in New York, came also in November in the exercise 
 of his profession as a painter of miniatures. 
 
 Alfred Munson, coming hither with slender means, worked his way to 
 a leading place among the men of business of Utica, and while enrich- 
 ing himself by his operations he was not unmindful of the public inter- 
 est and accomplished much to enrich and to advance the place of his 
 adoption. For about fifteen years after his removal to Utica in 1823 
 he was occupied with the manufacture of burr millstones and the sale 
 of these and other articles used in milling. To his pursuit he devoted 
 himself with unceasing industry, enlarging his business by degrees until 
 it came to be the chief dependence of millers throughout an extensive 
 range of country. From boyhood Mr. Munson had been frail of con- 
 stitution and he was much of his time a sufferer from bodily infirmity. 
 But his mind was unusually active and clear. Joined to sound sense and 
 prudence, to a penetrative and discriminating judgment, he had sagacity 
 to conceive and boldness and wisdom to plan. He was not a hasty or 
 inconsiderate man, and his long-sightedness was almost of a prophetic 
 character. His plans, when matured, needed only the will in execution, 
 his most conspicuous and commanding trait to overcome overy obsta- 
 cle and ensure success. Qualities such as these naturally sought a wider 
 scope for their exercise than was afforded by the calling in which he 
 was at first employed. Moreover he was influenced by purity as well as 
 vigor of purpose, and was liberal minded and public spirited in his aims. 
 
 The list is a long one of the many public projects in which he par- 
 ticipated as well as of the positions of responsibility and honor he was 
 called to fill. For several years he was engaged in the transportation 
 of passengers by the canal and by steamers on Lake Ontario, and was 
 trustee and treasurer of the Ontario and St. Lawrence Steamboat Com- 
 pany until within a few weeks of his death. He took a prominent part 
 in the building of the Utica and Schenectady Railroad, as he did also 
 in those of the Syracuse and Utica and the Syracuse and Oswego roads. 
 Of the first named he was a director from 1834 until about 1844. He 
 was active in the construction of the Utica and Binghamton, which fol- 
 lowed very nearly the course of the State road that he, as one of a com- 
 mission appointed by the State, had laid out thirty years before. And 
 of this railway company he was president at the time of his decease. 
 
ALFRED MUNSON. 155 
 
 No one has done more than Mr. Munson in promoting the manufactur- 
 ing interests of Utica. For he was the early and by the application of 
 his means the efficient advocate of introducing and testing the value of 
 steam-power in the making of cotton and woolen goods. And he was 
 called to the presidency of both of the original boards that managed the 
 steam cotton and Globe woolen-mills. Of the Water Works Company, 
 the Mechanics Association, and the Female Academy he was one of, 
 the instigators and early managers. Over the Oneida Bank he was 
 summoned to preside when it was suffering from difficulties which it 
 incurred at its opening. For seventeen years he held the office, and to 
 his efforts and supervision that institution has been greatly indebted for 
 its prosperous condition. From the incipiency of the New York State 
 Lunatic Asylum he was a manager and chief of the Board of Managers ; 
 from 1842 until his decease he was its devoted friend and much relied on 
 by his associates for his discernment and wisdom of counsel. Outside 
 of Utica he was interested in a real estate company whose headquarters 
 were at Baltimore; he was engaged in the manufacture of iron at that 
 place and at Clinton in this county and in the purchase of extensive coal 
 lands in Pennsylvania, which later became very valuable. 
 
 Among the benevolent schemes which engaged his later years was 
 the construction of an edifice for the parish of Grace Church, with 
 which he had been for some years connected and of which he was a 
 vestryman. Early in 1851, some three years before his death, twelve 
 gentlemen of the parish having purchased the lot on which the present 
 edifice stands, he procured plans and elevations from Richard Upjohn, 
 the most eminent ecclesiastical architect of his day and who it was 
 generally understood by the vestry should be consulted. With him 
 Mr. Munson matured these plans with great care, leaving nothing over- 
 looked to make the building complete. Nearly a year and a half before 
 his death he secured and vested in his own name the title to the lot, 
 the gentlemen who had previously held the title with him having relin- 
 quished it because of their discouragement at the delays experienced in 
 the prosecution of the subscription that had been set on foot to build 
 the church. In the meantime and in the course of its circulation Mr. 
 Munson died, though not without making provision for the accomplish- 
 ment of his kind intentions toward the parish. By his will he be- 
 
iS6 MEMORJAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 queathed $io,000 toward purchasing a lot and erecting a church edifice 
 thereon, $i,ooo for improving the grounds, $i,ooo for the erection of a 
 Sunday school room in the rear of the church, $500 for a Sunday school 
 library, $1,500 for an organ, $500 for a church bell, and $500 for church 
 furniture, on condition that the parish should, within two years, raise at 
 least an equal amount for like purposes, or, if this were insufficient, such 
 other sum as might be necessary for the completion of the church ac- 
 cording to the plans and specifications of Mr. Upjohn. Another object 
 which received most substantial aid from his generosity was the Utica 
 Orphan Asylum. To it he bequeathed the sum of $5,000 toward the 
 erection of a new and suitable building, and the sum of $25,000 to be 
 securely invested, the income of which should be forever applied to the 
 support and maintenance of the asylum, together with lands in Penn- 
 sylvania valued at $4,000 on condition that the citizens of Utica 
 should raise and apply the sum of $10,000 toward the purchase of three 
 acres of ground within the city arid toward the erection of the build- 
 ing. Both of the above mentioned erections were accomplished in con- 
 sequence and by the aid of these munificent gifts, the conditional obli- 
 gations, which the testator had imposed having the effect as he desired 
 to stimulate others to perfect the amounts that were requisite. In the 
 case of Grace Church, however, the original legacy represents but a 
 moiety of what it has received from the heirs and representatives of the 
 estate of Mr. Munson. For the parish, finding it difficult to obtain a 
 subscription which should entitle it to the first part of the legacy, — the 
 $10,000, namely, given for the purchase of a lot and the erection of the 
 church according to the specified plan, — relinquished its latter part with 
 the consent of three representatives and afterward received from them 
 a subscription of a like sum toward this church edifice. This, with 
 later gifts from the same source toward the completion of the tower 
 and its equipment with a chime of bells and for other purposes, has 
 raised the whole amount which the church has received fsom the estate 
 and from its heirs individually to $31,500. The whole amount left by 
 Mr. Munson for charitable and religious purposes and in remembrance 
 of remote relations was understood to be not less than $60,000, or fully 
 ■one tenth of his estate. 
 
 To neutralize the zealous efforts of a runner in the service of their 
 
JOHN BUTTERFTELD. 157 
 
 rivals J. Parker & Co., stage proprietors, engaged John Butterfield. He 
 proved equal to his duties and thoroughly identified himself with the 
 success of the line. After a time he met at the Canal Coffee House a 
 traveler wishing to part with his horse and his one-horse conveyance. 
 These he bought and inaugurated a livery. To it he added as his 
 means admitted, and after his marriage kept also a boarding house. 
 
 Such were the beginnings of a life of great activity and enterprise, 
 and which was bound up with most of the different kinds of transporta- 
 tion now practiced. For in every means undertaken to increase the 
 facilities of travel and intercommunication John Butterfield was for a 
 generation one of the foremost of the citizens of Utica. His livery grew' 
 until it became the leading one of the place. The connection with 
 Parker & Co. lasted so long as they were still in business and was suc- 
 ceeded by important lines of his own, wherein he was a leading mana- 
 ger in the State until staging was superseded by railroads. He had 
 his share, too, in the packet boats and then in the steamboats on Lake 
 Ontario. He gave his earnest personal efforts to create the companies 
 and raise the funds required for the construction of some of the plank 
 roads leading out of the city and was the originator of its street rail- 
 roads. His labors were arduous in stirring up the citizens to the im- 
 portance of roads to the north and to the south ; and to him is Utica 
 largely if not principally indebted for the Black River and both of the 
 southern railways. He was among the first who realized how a lucrative 
 business could be formed by the rapid transportation of such articles as 
 . could afford to pay express charges, and he became an early director 
 in the express company. To him as much as to any other individual 
 was due the high reputation which thie company obtained in commer- 
 cial circles throughout the country as well as the success that has at- 
 tended it. In that organization he remained a directing power until the 
 close of his life and reaped from it a large pecuniary profit. He was 
 also among the first to appreciate the capacities of the electric telegraph, 
 and immediately upon the practical adaptation of the invention he 
 joined with Messrs. Faxton, Wells, Livingston, and others in the estab- 
 lishment of the New York, Albany, and Buffalo Telegraph Company. 
 His faith followed upon his sagacity and he steadily urged and aided 
 in the extension of lines and companies. He assisted likewise in putting 
 
158 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 in operation the overland mail route, the precursor of the Pacific rail- 
 roads, and which did much to demonstrate the importance of a continu- 
 ous connection between the Atlantic and the Pacific States. Having 
 long been a mail contractor he had the experience and practical knowl- 
 edge essential for the execution of the work. Besides his part in the 
 various operations above referred to Mr. Butterfield was a director in 
 the Utica City National Bank and was interested in other stock com' 
 panics and business undertakings. At the same time he invested 
 largely in city property while his cultivated land in the vicinity covers 
 no inconsiderable space. The Butterfield House and the Gardner block 
 are among the handsome edifices which he planned and built, and which 
 have added materially to the city of his residence. On taking posses- 
 sion of the land on the New Hartford road, on a portion of which his 
 late residence now stands, he extended his operations in farming already 
 carried on to a limited extent on Pleasant street. He was prompt to 
 avail himself of the inventiveness of others. A scheme unfolded and 
 what it could accomplish once exhibited he was quick to note its bear- 
 ings and remoter tendencies, and ready in plan and action to grasp suc- 
 cess while as yet practicability was talked of This success he achieved 
 by careful insight and minute attention to detail, wherein he was aided 
 by a memory wonderfully retentive, by a strong and enduring will, by 
 the contagious influence his determination exerted upon others, bearing 
 them along in the current of his own enthusiasm, and by an energy that 
 was balked by no obstacle and never asked for rest. He took but little 
 part in politics and was never an office seeker. By the Republicans of, 
 1865 he was elected mayor of Utica and in the same year was the un- 
 successful candidate for the office of senator. In October, 1867, Mr. 
 Butterfield was stricken with paralysis in New York city, but lingered 
 until the 14th of November, 1869. 
 
 Succeeding to Charles C. Brodhead in the office of village surveyor 
 there was appointed in 1824 Holmes Hutchinson. His professional 
 training he acquired on the Erie Canal, having been appointed an en- 
 gineer in 1819. In this position he acted until the year 1835, when he 
 was made chief engineer, performing the duties of this office during the 
 period of the enlargement of the canal until 1841. He surveyed and made 
 maps for the Erie and Champlain Canals, the Oswego, the Black River, 
 
HOLMES HUTCHINSON— MILLING. 159 
 
 the Chenango, Crooked Lake, and the Chemung, completing the latter 
 canal for an amount much less than his estimates. His plans of locks 
 on the Chenango were adopted and those he made for the double en- 
 larged locks on the Erie were used as a basis in its construction. He 
 had' charge also of the Cumberland and Oxford Canal in Maine and 
 the Blackstone in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, and was frequently 
 employed in locating and defining valuable tracts of land in Oneida and 
 other counties of the State. He likewise projected a scheme for the 
 improvement of the harbor of Oswego, and this, though it was deemed 
 impracticable and rejected, was at a later period successfully carried 
 out by the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad Company. 
 He was one of the directors of the Utica and Syracuse Railroad and 
 remained so until its consolidation with the New York Central ; and 
 was, too, a director in the Syracuse and Oswego Railroad, of which 
 company he was some years president. In the Ontario and St. Law- 
 rence Steamboat Company and in the Bank of Utica Mr. Hutchinson 
 had also a managing interest. 
 
 An influence of the canal that was manifested near at home here de- 
 serves our notice. The Mohawk River being now abandoned for pur- 
 poses of navigation the thought of making it available for other uses 
 took possession of the public mind. It had been proposed the previous 
 season to construct a dam at Utica and thus create hydraulic power. 
 Some opposition arose and there was a newspaper discussion upon the 
 probable evils that might ensue from interrupting the course of the 
 stream. A public meeting was called of those friendly to the project, 
 though of its proceedings we are uninformed. Despite all opposition an 
 act was obtained from the legislature in 1823, a dam was thrown across 
 the river in September two or three rods below the bridge, and a mill 
 erected for the grinding of flour with three runs of stone. The dam was 
 erected by William Alverson for the proprietors, Messrs. Parker & Sey- 
 mour. The first miller employed not succeeding to the satisfaction of 
 the owners Ira D. Hopkins was at the end of three months engaged 
 to run the mill, and he continued to do so while it was in operation. 
 But ere long parties owning property on the river some miles above 
 complained that their land was flooded by the setting back of the water 
 to the height as they alleged of four feet. A suit was brought against 
 
i6o MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 the mill owners, and although it proved unsuccessful it impaired the 
 popularity and custom of the mill so that when a second suit was after- 
 ward begun they anticipated its verdict by giving up their enterprise. 
 This was about 1829. 
 
 Michael McQuade held numerous positions, from the collectorship to 
 that of candidate for mayor, but most signalized himself as the long 
 continued alderman of the First ward, wherein matters were accustomed 
 to go much as he directed, his side being in general the winning one. 
 
 Horace Butler, an amiable and respected merchant, was in turn doing 
 business in New Hartford, one of the firm of N. Devereux & Co. here, 
 a forwarder as head of Butler, McDonough & Co. and next Butler, Liv- 
 ingston & Co., and later doing forwarding with Samuel Farwell. Charles 
 Morris, another forwarder, made but a limited stay. Jonathan R. War- 
 ner, a diligent and intelligent maker and seHer of hats, bore a creditable 
 share in matters of a public nature, amassed property, and was a friend 
 of the Reformed Church, giving to it the bell it now has in use. Chester 
 Griswold was inspector of boats and weighmaster on the canal. Henry 
 White, grandson of the founder of the Whitestown country, superin- 
 tended the interests of the packet boat company. 
 
 The trustees chosen in May, 1824, would seem to have been a diligent 
 and enterprising body, and they effected numerous improvements in 
 comparison with some of their predecessors. They were as follows : 
 Benjamin Ballou, James Hooker, Ezekiel Bacon, James Lynch, Thomas 
 Walker, and Nicholas Smith. The assessors were Benjamin Ballou, 
 John Bradish, and David P. Hoyt, and the supervisor was Ezra S. 
 Cozier. Thomas Walker was treasurer and overseer of the poor and 
 John H. Ostrom clerk. Charles C. Brodhead was elected surveyor, but 
 declining to serve his place was filled by the appointment of Holmes 
 Hutchinson. William Clarke continued to be the president. The do- 
 ings of the board in the course of the year were these: Genesee street 
 was paved from the canal to the east line of the Supreme Court clerk's 
 office above Pearl street; John street from the canal to Main street ; 
 Rome street was widened to its intersection with Genesee by the pur- 
 chase and removal of a building that fronted on the latter street and 
 hindered its width, and in compliment to the distinguished guest of the 
 nation then traveling through the country its name was changed to 
 
PROCEEDINGS OE 1824. 16 1 
 
 Lafayette street; Water street was extended from its termination at 
 the foot of Hotel (Williams) street to the west line of the land of David 
 P. Hoyt; the street now known as Hoyt's alley was opened from Water 
 street to Whitesboro ; Charles street was cut midway of the property 
 of Levi Cozzens; and a "private road " for the benefit of Joshua M. 
 Church and John Bradish was opened through the land of Apollos 
 Cooper from Rome street to the canal along the line of the present 
 Pine street. Sewers were constructed on the east side of Genesee street 
 from opposite the clerk's office to Hotel street, from John street to a 
 connection at Main street with the one befoie opened down Genesee 
 street, on Burnet street, on Charlotte from Elizabeth to Bleecker, and 
 on Bleecker from Burnet to Genesee. Sidewalks were ordered on both 
 sides of Jay street from the packet basin to Bridge street, and on both 
 sides of First from Jay to Broad, except on the north side of that part 
 of Jay which lies between John and First streets. In November aside- 
 walk was directed on one side of Elizabeth from Genesee as far only as 
 Charlotte, and in the following March both sides of it from Genesee to 
 John streets were to be pitched and paved with brick. Moreover it 
 was resolved that in " all cases in which sidewalks are hereafter paved, in 
 pursuance of law or resolution, they shall be paved or flagged with 
 good sound hard brick or square flat stone." A new engine-house was 
 leased from the president on Franklin street, and the lot in the rear of 
 Trinity Church, which had been given to the village for an engine-house 
 by Morris S. Miller and others, was sold to the church. A committee 
 was appointed to treat with Apollos Cooper for six acres of land for a 
 burial ground. The provisions of the ordinance of June 6, 1817, relat- 
 ing to nuisances were now extended to all the streets. Repairs were 
 paid for keeping the town pump in good condition, and Ara Broadwell 
 was armed with full powers as a fire inspector to look after the safety 
 of every tenement. Eight watchmen were now needed to guard the 
 village by turns through the night. The tax for general expenses was 
 fixed at $1,437.25 and the supervisors of the county were requested to 
 levy an additional tax of $400 for the support of the poor. Roswell 
 Holcomb, the former pedagogue of 1797 and 1803 or 1804, was in- 
 stalled as instructor of the public school at a salary equivalent to $350 
 a year. 
 21 
 
i62 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 Milton Brayton and Truman Parmelee formed a partnership at this 
 time to do business in dry goods. To Truman Parmelee a wide and 
 important field of usefulness was presented in the Sunday school. He 
 became a teacher and before he was eighteen was made superintendent, 
 a position which he filled with great satisfaction to teachers and scholars 
 until his removal from the town. His lessons were instructive and full 
 of interest. He was exceedingly patient, gentle, and forbearing. Hand- 
 some and engaging in person his manners also were winning and at- 
 tractive, and his influence over the school was of the purest and strong- 
 est kind. As experience demonstrated to him the defects in the system 
 of instruction which at first existed he applied himself to their correc- 
 tion. In 1824 'ic published for the use of Sunday schools questions on 
 the historical parts of the New Testament, and this was the first ques- 
 tion book used in such schools in this country. The impressions made 
 by the teaching and example of Mr. Parmelee were deep and permanent 
 and the amount of good he accomplished was very great. The first 
 generation of children born in Utica remember him, and till all are dead 
 will continue to remember him, with love and gratitude. His trade of 
 book-binding he never practiced, but was concerned with Mr. Brayton 
 in trade until his removal to New York about 1829-30. Mr. Brayton 
 was a faithful coadjutor in the good works of his time and especially 
 in the religious enterprises that occupied the attention of Mr. Parmelee. 
 
 About 1829 Alrick Hubbell was a deputy sheriff under John E. 
 Hinman, He acted for several years as chief engineer of the fire de- 
 partment and has had few peers in the discharge of duties wherein 
 ■courage and power over large bodies of men are requisites to success. 
 He wa3 an alderman in 1841, was one of the commissioners for building 
 the present jail, and was twice mayor of the city in 1856 and 1857. In 
 1858-59 he served in the State Senate. In all of these capacities he 
 made the public interest his object, and Utica has had few officers who 
 have served it more diligently and more faithfully. He was a director 
 in the Utica and Black River Railroad and to the street railroad he gave 
 no little time and attention. , As a stockholder he was interested in 
 many public enterprises and contributed to the growth and prosperity 
 of the city. He was an earnest member of the Baptist denomination, 
 joined the Broad Street Church in 1820, and was its first clerk. He was 
 
ELHANAN WILLIAMS^ ISAIAH TIFFANY. 163 
 
 a teacher in its Bible class and was not diverted from this duty by public 
 labors, even while at Albany. Of the Baptist Education Society he was 
 a leading member, and for many years rendered good service in the 
 corporation of Madison University, for though he had not enjoyed a 
 liberal education he was yet the advocate and supporter of colleges and 
 theological seminaries. 
 
 Elhanan Williams, who had lived in the village since 1807, having 
 graduated at Union College in 18 18 and pursued the study of law with 
 John Bradish, was now engaged with him in the office of the Supreme 
 Court clerk. He succeeded to the agent department established by 
 Mr. Bradish, and after the abolition of the old Supreme Court his busi- 
 ness became chiefly that of collecting and loaning money. He died April 
 15, 1872, leaving a widow and sons still resident. 
 
 Three physicians became inhabitants of Utica in 1824, of whom Za- 
 dock P. Maine was just retiring from practice and the others about 
 entering upon its duties. Robert C. Wood after two or three years 
 entered the army as a surgeon and by long and meritorious service 
 rose to the rank of assistant surgeon-general. James Douglas formed 
 an association with Dr. Coventry for the treatment of diseases of the eye,, 
 connected himself with the County Medical Society, married a wife, and 
 then removed to Quebec. 
 
 A gentlemanly, fine looking man and much valued citizen was Isaiah 
 Tiffany, who had been clerk in the publishing house of H. & E. Phin- 
 ney, of Cooperstown, and came to Utica to supervise the establishment 
 they opened here. As a bookseller he remained until 1868, when he 
 removed from the city. His store was a place of resort for a few leading 
 Democrats and for many intelligent citizens, and himself and his family 
 were of influence in the church and in society. 
 
 Another stirring man of the same political party and forward in mu- 
 nicipal interests was Harvey Barnard, paper hanger and dealer in wall 
 paper, who with his sons have held a conspicuous place. 
 
 Three hotel- keepers of the time were Abraham Shepard, successively 
 of Bagg's, the United States, and the Coffee House, who finished his 
 career in Utica as a seller of crockery ; Richard Sanger, landlord in turn 
 of the Clinton, the National, the Franklin, and the Coffee House; and 
 Thomas Midlam, of the Catharine, and then a grocer, and lastly keeper 
 of a boarding-house. 
 
1 64 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 Of several printers now acquiring a knowledge of their wnrk the 
 most memorable because the longest engaged in it in Utica was Rufus 
 Northway, who was publisher of the Oneida Whig and the Daily 
 Gazette. As he pursued the quiet, industrious, even tenor of his way 
 he was marked by all and honored with universal respect. He was an 
 officer of the Reformed Church and superintendent of its Sunday school. 
 He removed to Illinois and died in 1871. 
 
 Another who is best remembered for his Sunday school work was 
 George S. Wilson, a man of fervent piety and self-denying faithfulness; 
 and while the spiritual good of his boys was ever uppermost in his mind 
 he strove also to make them intelligent and useful men. As a place in 
 his class was much coveted and more boys applied than could be received 
 he projected a plan by which his own pupils and other boys might meet 
 often for religious and intellectual improvement. An association was 
 formed called the "Juvenile Society for Learning and doing Good," an 
 unique organization which was officered by its own members, but of 
 which Mr. Wilson was the head. The meetings were held weekly and 
 he never failed to be present, the life and spirit of the whole. Reading 
 and conversation were the staple of the exercises, and their conductor 
 never failed in the ingenuity of his devices to interest and instruct. This 
 society soon increased so as to embrace a large number of boys and 
 he had for several years in the class fifty or more, and happier pu- 
 pils never sat under the instruction of a revered and loving teacher. 
 It was impossible to resist the influence of such a character as his, and 
 he molded the minds and hearts of the scholars, impressing them with 
 his own noble and elevated views. At the same time he edited and 
 printed a small magazine called the Stmday School Visitant. On the 
 ■completion of his apprenticeship Mr. Wilson entered more fully into his 
 favorite pursuit of Sunday school instruction. He was active in the 
 formation of the Oneida Sunday School Union and afterward of the 
 Western Sunday School Union of the State of New York. Of the last 
 named society he was made corresponding secretary, and about the 
 same time a depository for the sale of Sunday school books was estab- 
 lished in Utica of which he was the manager. He died May 17, 1841. 
 
 Henry Ivison came with his father to the place in 1820 while he was 
 yet a boy, and became book-binder's apprentice to Seward & Williams. 
 
SEVERAL PRINTERS. 165 
 
 With the latter he remained until 1830, and after his father's removal 
 was an inmate in the household of Mr. Williams. Then after a residence 
 of sixteen years in Auburn he established himself in New York, where 
 he carried on an extensive business as publisher of school books. 
 
 Other printers apprenticed in Utica nearly at this date, perchance a 
 little later, were Henry Day, brother-in-law of George Button, who es- 
 tablished the New York Sun; William Swain, who founded the Phila- 
 delphia Ledger as well as the Baltimore Sun; James O. Rockwell, whose 
 name is to be found in Mr. Bryant's collection as one of the galaxy of 
 American poets, was editor of the Providence Journal and edited it 
 credi,tably ; Francis M. Hill, a rival poet of Mr. Rockwell, who edited 
 the Kingston Chronicle of Canada and was mayor of Kingston ; Charles 
 N. Everest, who edited the " Poets of Connecticut "and became an Epis- 
 copal minister of repute, and who died early in 1877; Amos E. Law- 
 rence, who also became a Doctor of Divinity; O. N. Worden, editor of 
 the Louisburg Chronicle oi Pennsylvania; Edward P. Wetmore, brother 
 of Edmund A. Wetmore, who was largely engaged in publishing in 
 Cleveland and Cincinnati; William Schram, for thirty-one years con- 
 nected wi.th the Poughkeepsie Eagle ; Edward Bright, editor of the 
 Baptist Register ; Francis D. Fenniman ; and Cephas Bennett, who be- 
 came a missionary to Burmah.and his brother Dolphas, a later publisher 
 of the Baptist Register. 
 
 A copperplate engraver named Vistus Balch, who located himself in 
 the village as early as 1824, found considerable employment as engraver 
 of bank notes, maps, etc. Acquiring reputation he removed to New 
 York and established with others the American Bank Note Company. 
 
 A few more of the denizens of 1824 must be briefly summarized; 
 Ammi Dows, forwarder and flour dealer in company with Ira B. Carey, 
 soon removed to New York, but was succeeded by his brother Harry, 
 with whom the title of the firm was in turn Dows & Hurlburt, Dows & 
 Whiting, Dows & Guiteau, Dows & Kissam, and ran on for many years; 
 Thomas Davies was a long continued watchmaker; Stafford Palmer, 
 Charles Churchill, Andrew O. & Norman Downer traded or worked in 
 lumber ; John F. Vedder in leather ; Elisha Cadwell and David L. Per- 
 kins in groceries ; William G. AUyn and John S. Joslin cut marble ; 
 A. W. Latour was a carriage trimmer and Clark Carpenter a wagon- 
 
i66 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 maker ; Harry Bushnell, a blacksmith and dealer in hardware, but best 
 known as a comical temperance lecturer ; Lawrence Morgan, a dyer; 
 and Dennis Saumet, a barber whose visage was symbolized week after 
 week in a somber looking newspaper wood-cut. 
 
 The Board of Trustees created by the election of 1825 consisted of 
 Benjamin Ballou, Riley Rogers, William H. Maynard, Charles Morris, 
 Nicholas Smith, and John R. Ludlow. Capt. William Clarke remained 
 the president. The supervisor was E. S. Cozier and the assessors were 
 Benjamin Ballou, John Bradish, and David P. Hoyt. The officers ap- 
 pointed by the trustees were John H. Ostrom, clerk ; Thomas Walker, 
 treasurer ; Ara Broadwell, police constable, etc. The board met fre- 
 quently in the course of the year and, while steadily carrying forward 
 the work of their predecessors, effected a few additional improvements. 
 John street was paved from the canal to Bleecker street and Bleecker 
 from John to Genesee. Lafayette street was also paved as far as Mad- 
 ison lane and a sewer laid beneath it to the lot of A. Cooper and 
 thence to the canal. Washington street was provided with graveled 
 sidewalks from the canal upward and Burnet had a brick walk laid 
 along its eastern side. The only new street of the year was Carnahan, 
 now known as a part of Blandina. A stone bridge was erected across 
 the Starch Factory Creek at a cost of $250, and a like sum was given 
 for an acre and a half of land in Deerfield to supply the^ village with 
 paving sand. The advantages to be expected from a public market 
 seem to have taken an early hold upon the minds of the board, since at 
 their second session they resolved to erect one upon such place as 
 might be thereafter agreed on. The market had its friends, but it had 
 also its enemies, and it was not long before there sprang up an opposi- 
 tion among the citizens as strong as that which had been experienced 
 some years previously, when the same project was on foot. They 
 were pretty generally arrayed on one side or the other as remonstrants 
 against the location of the market in the square or as petitioners for 
 that location. For the present the market remained where it had been 
 placed. 
 
 In the proceedings of this year we find the first notice of the sum- 
 moning of a physician to the public exercise of his professional calling. 
 Dr. John McCall, having reported to the board that a person had come 
 
VISIT OF LA FA YF TTF. 1 6 7 
 
 into the village with the small-pox, was at once made health officer 
 and village physician, and it was ordered that the person so infected 
 be forthwith removed to some safe place and a commitlee of three 
 were directed to carry the order into effect. Two days later, as if 
 questioning their own authority in making the appointment, a com- 
 mittee was created to confer with the poormaster and ascertain to 
 whom the right of appointment belonged. As for the sick man he was 
 disposed of as such cases have since then almost uniformly be^n : he was 
 put into a temporary hovel erected for the purpose and there was at- 
 tended in seclusion. 
 
 The scholars in attendance on the public school were required at this 
 time to pay three shillings each term, which fee was to be applied to- 
 ward defraying the expense of the teachers. The village tax for the 
 year amounted to one shilling on every $100. Four hundred dollars 
 were raised through the supervisors for the support of the poor. 
 
 The two great events of the year were the reception of General La- 
 fayette, the nation's guest, then passing in ovation through the country, 
 and the public celebration of the opening of the Erie Canal just com- 
 pleted throughout its whole extent. Both of these events were replete 
 with interest to the generation who bore a part in them. 
 
 "June 9, 1825, the deputations from the general committee of ar- 
 rangements at Utica, of which his honor Judge Williams was chairman, 
 accompanied by Colonel Lansing and his honor Judge Storrs, pro- 
 ceeded to Rome to meet General Lafayette. After fitting honors had 
 been paid him both at that place and at Whitesboro the committee pr-o- 
 ceeded to conduct him hither. The procession was formed at Whites- 
 boro ; the general was seated in the barouche accompanied by Judge 
 Williams and preceded by an escort of cavalry commanded by Gen. 
 John J. Knox. The general was followed by a carriage conveying his 
 son. Colonel Lafayette, Colonel Lansing, Colonel Mappa, and Richard 
 R. Lansing. Next succeeded coaches with his secretary, M. Le Vas- ^ 
 seur, the other gentlemen of his suite, and the Utica committee, Judge 
 Storrs, Lieutenant Simonson, and Captain Wright, of Rome. A large 
 cavalcade of citizens on horseback riding three abreast followed, and 
 were succeeded by a squadron of cavalry under the command of Lieu- 
 tenant Cone. The procession moved rapidly and increased as it passed 
 
1 68 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 from the accession of citizens. All the way the fences were lined and 
 the houses thronged with people manifesting the utmost eagerness to 
 see the favorite and guest of the nation. When the general arrived at 
 .the boundary of the village a salute of twenty-four guns was fired. The 
 procession entered Lafayette street, where the troops under the com- 
 mand of Lieutenant-Colonel Ostrom were drawn up on both sides of 
 the way and saluted the general as he passed. The procession entered 
 Genesee street, the crowd of eager spectators accumulating at every 
 step, and passed the bridge over the canal where a triumphant arch was 
 erected surmounted by a flag labeled ' Lafayette, the Apostle of Lib- 
 erty, we hail thee — welcome ! ' The procession moved down Genesee 
 street and stopped at Shepard's Hotel, where the general was received 
 on the steps at the front door by William Clarke, esq., president of the 
 village of Utica, and a speech was delivered by Mr. Clarke followed by 
 a reply from Lafayette. 
 
 " The general breakfasted and dined at Shepard's, and in the interval 
 the ceremonies of introduction and the review of the troops were per- 
 formed. Au immense number of gentlemen of the county of Oneida 
 and the vicinity were introduced to the general, and at 12 o'clock the 
 ladies were introduced, which ceremony occupied nearly an hour, so 
 great was the number whom patriotism, respect, and affection called to 
 the interesting scene. The troops passed in review before the general, 
 who received their salute standing with head uncovered on the steps of 
 Mr. Shepard's front door. At the particular request of Lafayette the 
 chiefs of the Oneidas were invited to meet him, and among them he 
 recognized two whom he knew during the Revolutionary war. But 
 one of the most solemn and affecting incidents was the interview be- 
 tween the general and the old soldiers of the Revolutionary army. A 
 large number were assembled, some of whom were with him at the at- 
 tack on the redoubts at Yorktown. The deep and keen feelings mani- 
 fested by these venerated men on once more beholding their beloved 
 general, and his frequent exclamations ' Oh, my friend, I know you I' 
 with the impassioned salutations, excited the liveliest symyathies of 
 every heart. 
 
 " Over the front door of Mr. Shepard's hotel was placed a splendid 
 transparent painting by Mr. Vanderlip, on which was inscribed in large 
 
I 
 
 'Sn^ PbyFl KBrvu>y<^^ 
 
VISIT OF LA FA YE TTE. 1 69 
 
 letters 'Welcome, Lafayette.' After the general had partaken of a cold 
 collation (the only dinner which circumstances would permit), at which 
 Rev. Mr. Wiley craved the blessing of Providence, the general, by par- 
 ticular request of the President of the United States, visited the family 
 of Alexander B. Johnson, esq., (Mrs. Johnson being a niece of the Presi 
 dent,) who with a few ladies of the village received him with tlie cordi- 
 ality and respect which all feel. On his return he called for a moment 
 at the house of Arthur Breese, esq , where the Rev. Mr. Galusha de- 
 livered him a neat poetical address. The general then paid his respects 
 to the family of President Clarke and was conducted to the packet boat 
 Governor Clinton, named for the occasion Lafayette, commanded by 
 Major Swartwout, and which had been fitted in tasteful and elegant 
 style for his accommodation to Schenectady. It was drawn by three 
 white horses, which with their rider had appropriate decorations. At 
 the moment of embarkation a salute of twenty-four guns was fired, and 
 when the boat began to move the citizens congregated on the bridges 
 and banks of the canal rent the air with loud and long continued cheer- 
 ing, which was repeated at intervals until the general had passed the 
 compact part of the village. At the last bridge, near the residence of 
 the lamented Judge Miller, little boys threw baskets of flowers into the 
 boat as it passed. The general all the time presented himself to the 
 people and answered \heir congratulations with bows and expressiv e 
 gesticulations. The committee attended him to the bounds of the 
 county and a deputation proceeded with him." 
 
 The Erie Canal was completed on the 26th of October, 1825, water 
 from Lake Erie was admitted into it at Black Rock, and on this day 
 the first boat ascended the Lockport locks, passed through the mount- 
 ain ridge, and entered the lake. The opening ceremonies were attended 
 with unbounded joy and enthusiasm ; cannon were stationed along the 
 banks from one end to the other at a distance of four or five miles 
 apart, and a series of reports was echoed through its length in token of 
 the mingling of the waters; music and all the festivities that a grand 
 national success can invent were put in requisition to glorify the occa- 
 sion. A flotilla of boats, having on board Governor Clinton and officers 
 of the State government, a committee of the common council of New 
 York, and numerous delegates from towns along the line of the canal, 
 22 
 
lyo MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 made the passage from Lake Erie to Sandy Hook. Leaving Buffalo 
 on Wednesday morning it was their intention to be in Utica on Satur- 
 day night, but unforseen delays procrastinated their arrival until Sun- 
 day noon. In the afternoon they attended divine worship at the Presby- 
 terian Church. Early on Monday morning these distinguished guests 
 were received at the court-house, where an address was delivered by 
 Judge Ezekiel Bacon in behalf of his fellow townsmen, to which Gov- 
 ernor Clinton replied. " Of the manner in which the addresses were 
 delivered it was observed that Judge Bacon, who always does such 
 things well, was never more happy. Governor Clinton was sensibly 
 affected and delivered his reply with much feeling. The address ex- 
 pressed in a forcible and eloquent manner the congratulations of the 
 citizens of Utica, and paid appropriate and merited compliments to all 
 those who had planned or assisted in the execution of the stupendous 
 work. The reply of the governor contained a well-turned and well- 
 merited eulogium on the Hon. Judge Piatt, who by his exertions in 
 the Senate and in the Council of Revision afforded powerful and 
 efficient aid to the cause of the canals, and to whom also we were first 
 indebted for the favorite and popular expression of ' The Young Lion of 
 the West.' " They then re-embarked and continued their excursion. 
 In the evening the canal was illuminated along its course through the 
 village by floating tar barrels on fire. The committee from Utica 
 appointed to take part in the celebration at New York consisted of Will- 
 iam Clarke, president of the corporation, Jonas Piatt, Thomas H. Hub- 
 bard, Charles C. Brodhead, Richard R. Lansing, and Alexander Cov- 
 entry. Elsewhere along the whole line and to the city of New York 
 the occasion was observed with similar demonstrations of delight. 
 Medals were struck, sketches of canal scenes were imprinted on earth- 
 enware, on hankerchiefs, etc., in commemoration of the event. 
 
 As an evidence of the rapidity with which the canal was brought into 
 use and of the very great change which it made in the mode of trans- 
 portation from those before employed it may be stated that the num- 
 ber of canal boats which arrived at Albany during the season of 1823 
 ■was 1,329, during that of 1824 2,687, during that of 1825 3,336, and 
 up to September 6th of the year 1826 4,380, which number it was 
 presumed would, by the close of navigation, be increased to 7,000. The 
 
SPENCER KELLOGG. 171 
 
 rate for transportation on the turnpike in 1826 was one and one half 
 cents per mile ; the rate by the Erie Canal was five mills. The impetus 
 it gave to the city of New York is shown in part by the fact that its 
 proximate completion caused the erection there in 1824 of 3,000 new 
 houses. 
 
 Lawyers who entered on practice in 1825 and who held a prominent 
 position in the afifairs of Utica were William J. Bacon and Charles A. 
 Mann. A notice of Judge Bacon will be found in the chapter on the 
 Bench and Bar and of Mr. Mann in the biographical portion of this 
 volume. 
 
 Spencer Kellogg, a leading merchant, was born at Williamstown, 
 Mass., the son of a Revolutionary sire; he became early in life a resident 
 of Otsego County, N. Y., embarked in business, and was prominent in 
 civil, military, and religious circles. In 1824 he removed to Utica and 
 conducted a large dry goods trade with remarkable energy and success. 
 His hrst partner was S. H. Reynolds; later he was associated with his 
 son, Palmer V. Kellogg, and afterward with others. He took an active - 
 part in public affairs and filled various public offices, among others that of 
 mayor. He was largely instrumental in inaugurating steam manufact- 
 ures, and thus contributing to secure the city from the decline to which 
 it was tending and turning it to the thrift it has since been pursuing. 
 With a few associates he afterward started the Black River Railroad and 
 was one of the directors. An invaluable member, elder, and trustee of 
 the First Presbyterian Church, taking part also in its Sunday school 
 and Bible class as long as his age and health permitted, he signally 
 illustrated Christian public spirit, seeking earnestly the correction of pre- 
 vailing evils and the redress of wrongs. His humanity committed him 
 particularly to the abolition of slavery, and while deploring the intem- 
 perance with which it was advocated he gave it his best powers. Mr. 
 Kellogg's strength of mind, boldness, indomitability, and power of exe- 
 cution presented him to strangers chiefly as the embodiment of force. 
 His friends recognized him as personifying delicacy of sensibility. He 
 was a child in his affections, more tender of heart than irresistible of 
 hand. During the epidemic of cholera in 1832 he devoted his time, 
 energy, and sympathies to the suffering and dying and to the comfort 
 of their afflicted families. In one instance he took bereaved daughters. 
 
172 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 and sisters to his own house ; in another, where one of two maiden 
 sisters in humble life was taken away by the fell disease and the grief 
 of the survivor was intensified at the thought of her hasty and unat- 
 tended burial, Mr. Kellogg procured suitable conveyance for the coffin 
 and sent his own carriage that she might accompany the remains to 
 their final resting place, his own aged father volunteering and serving 
 as the driver. 
 
 Andrew S. Pond at this time became associated with Ephraim Hart 
 in the casting of iron. Subsequently he carried on the same business 
 with Robert Higham at the Vulcan works in West Utica, and was also 
 a maker of steam engines. 
 
 J. B. (Jean Baptiste) Marchisi had a youthful experience that was 
 unique and a subsequent one that for its duration as a resident of 
 Utica was as much so. Born in Piedmont, Italy, August 6, 1789, he 
 was conscripted at the age of eighteen and served in some of the cam- 
 paigns of Napoleon, not as a bearer of arms, but in the departments of 
 adjutant and quartermaster. Taken prisoner by the English he was 
 sent to Gibraltar and thence to Canada, where he was three- years in 
 their service. He married and in 18 15 came to Utica. For ten years 
 an assistant of Dr. Amos G. Hull he began in 1825 the selling of drugs. 
 This pursuit he followed in various locations almost to the time of his 
 death, February i, i888, at the age of ninety- five. Quiet, trustworthy, 
 and a faithful keeper of his business it kept him and a large family and 
 won for him the public regard. His Catholicon, patented many years 
 since, has still a large sale. 
 
 Dr. Meacham had as a partner Dr. Jonathan Day, who a little later 
 held an honorable position among the profession of Syracuse and died 
 there when the cholera visited that place in 1832. 
 
 Stephen Mather, tinsmith, was for many years an elder in the First 
 Presbyterian Church and the head of a large family, of which one son, 
 William L., became a minister. 
 
 Others whose names are now first met with, though they may per- 
 chance have gained an earlier foothold in the place, were Dr. Edward 
 Aiken, student and for a short time partner of Dr. Theodore Pomeroy; 
 A. & S. Lightbody, leather dealers ; Hastings & Company, wholesale 
 grocers, the company being at this time Theodore S. Gold, but ex- 
 
THIRD VILLAGE CHARTER. 173 
 
 changed in the following year for Milton D. Parker, son of Jason 
 Parker ; Matthew Codd, proprietor of the Utica brewery ; S. A. Sibley, 
 tinsmith and stove dealer; James Ingols, dealer in fancy articles; 
 N. F. & J. Vedder and Peter McDougal, leather dealers. 
 
 Nicholas F. Vedder, born in Schenectady in January, 1804, for some 
 years carried on the shoe trade with two of his brothers. He was 
 energetic and ambitious and attained a prominent position in business 
 circles; was a stockholder in the telegraph company and the Oneida 
 Bank, a director in the Gas and the Water Works Companies and in the 
 Utica and Black River Railroad. He died May i, 1873, leaving one 
 •daughter. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 THE THIRD VILLAGE CHARTER CONTINUED. 
 
 Village Proceedings and incoming Residents to the Year 1832 — A Period of large 
 Expectations — Application for a City Charter. 
 
 THE history of the village during the few years succeeding the 
 opening of the canal shows that a spirit of enterprise and hopeful- 
 ness was abroad in the community, and from this time forward for sev- 
 eral years and until the financial panic of 1837 progress was rapid and 
 encouraging. The following are the officers of the village for the year 
 1826: President, Ezra S. Cozier; trustees, John E. Hinman, Riley 
 Rogers, Abraham Culver, Amos Gay, Nicholas Smith, John R. Lud- 
 low; assessors, Benjamin Ballou, John Bradish, David P. Hoyt; treas- 
 urer, Thomas Walker; constables, Robert Jones, Nathan Christian; 
 police constable, Henry W. Osburn ; surveyor, William Jones (first 
 term of this office) ; superintendent, Nicholas Smith ; clerk, John H. 
 Ostrom. 
 
 For the first time the clerk was voted a salary to the amount of $50. 
 The proceedings of the year consisted of the paving of Liberty street 
 from Hotel to Broadway ; of Hotel, Seneca, and Washington from Lib- 
 
174 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 erty to the canal; of Elizabeth from Genesee to Charlotte; of Char- 
 lotte from Elizabeth to Bleecker ; of First between Broad and Main ; 
 the putting in shape with graveled sidewalks of Carnahan, Union, and 
 Blandina streets and the extension of Broadway to Genesee street; the 
 appointment of a hook and ladder company and eighteen fire wardens; 
 and in the latter part of the year the leveling and improvement of 
 Chancellor Square. The sum of $125 was appropriated to clean the 
 streets. A change was made in the ordinances providing that no build- 
 ing should be erected till " the range of said building with the street 
 shall have been laid down by the surveyor." For this work the builder 
 was to pay $I. 
 
 The labor of keeping the village orderly occupied considerable atten- 
 tion, and the place was probably more difficult to govern according to 
 its size than the city is now. The number of watchmen employed 
 would seem to indicate this ; from six to eighteen constituted the force 
 for a number of years. Early in the year it was resolved by the board 
 that the watch should be continued, " provided they would receive 
 orders on the treasurer payable when there are funds." It is little wonder 
 they objected. The force was discharged at the next meeting of the 
 board in March. 
 
 On the 20th of February a resolution was adopted that the Court for 
 the Trial of Impeachments and the Correction of Errors be respectfully 
 invited to hold its next term in Utica. A special meeting of the United 
 States District Court was held here in the court-house in the same 
 month. The Utica Aqueduct Company was chartered this year to 
 supply the village with wholesome water for household purposes. Seven 
 years later we learn from a directory that no exertion had been made 
 to carry the improvement into effect. There was also chartered the 
 Utica Horticultural Society, of which Nathan Williams was the first 
 president and Thomas Colling secretary. It accomplished something 
 more than the preceding, though its existence was brief The company 
 purchased and filled with plants four and one-half acres of ground on 
 the east side of Garden street (doubtless so called therefrom) not far 
 from Bristol street. It was cared for by Richard Despard, but was ad- 
 vertised to be sold at auction in January, 1829. 
 
 The Utica Lyceum, formed in 1823, was at this time incorporated. 
 
DR. PECKHAM— TRUSTEES OF 1827. 175 
 
 Its chief object was declared to be " to encourage the study of natural 
 history and other useful sciences by means of public discussions, lect- 
 ures, and essays." It was in fact a debating society sustained by the 
 intelligent men of the town, and was a profitable and entertaining place 
 of weekly resort for the more cultivated of both sexes, lasting until its 
 place was taken by the Young Men's Association. 
 
 Among the new comers of 1826 were the subsequently eminent 
 legist, Hiram Denio, and the busy practitioner of medicine, Dr. Peleg 
 R. Peckham. The former will come under notice hereafter in the chap 
 ter on the Bench and Bar. Before coming to Utica Dr. Peckham had 
 already made a beginning of practice in Otsego County. Here he was 
 for many years a leading physician. He did little surgery, but was ex- 
 clusively a family physician, enjoying the full confidence of many of 
 the best families of the place as their much trusted adviser and friend. 
 He was constant in attendance, cheerful and kind in manner, intelligently 
 observant of the sick, minute and positive in directions, and insistent on 
 the observance of them. Relying strongly on his own judgment he 
 was little given to seek the aid of others, though ready to have it in 
 severe cases or when urged by his patrqns. He had less esprit de corps 
 than some others of his contemporaries, had no desire for medical or 
 other public office, and cherished few interests alien to his legitimate 
 duties. He was prompt as a collector, shrewd in business transactions, 
 and successful in acquiring property. In his church he was warmly in- 
 terested and was one of the foremost in the organization of Grace 
 Church. He removed from the city about 1853. 
 
 The following officers were elected for 1827 : Trustees, John H. Os- 
 trom, Augustine G. Dauby, Abraham Culver, Thomas Colling, Amos 
 Gay, Chester Griswold, Augustus Hurlburt, Nicholas Devereux ; asses- 
 sors, Benjamin Ballou, Apollos Cooper, Joshua M. Church, Comfort 
 Butler; constables, Nathan Christian, A. C. Ellenwood, Birdseye Clark; 
 clerk and surveyor, William Jones ; treasurer, Thomas Walker ; police 
 constable, Henry W. Osburn. The president, receiving his appoint- 
 ment from the governor of the State, was E. Z. Cozier. 
 
 A village attorney was for the first time created, the incumbent of 
 the office being Robert Van Rensselaer, a temporary resident. The 
 union of the offices of clerk and surveyor, now first occurring, was con- 
 
176 , MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 titiued for several years, and in April action was taken which resulted 
 in dividing the village into four wards, regulating the elections, and 
 empowering the trustees to raise $3,000, and $1,000 in each of the suc- 
 ceeding five years for a market. This question of establishing a market 
 occupied a good deal of public attention for some time. The action 
 above noticed followed upon the circulation of a petition which T. S. 
 Mitchell was authorized to circulate in the village relative to raising 
 money for the market; the petition was signed by about two-thirds of 
 the freeholders. A committee consisting of E. Z. Cozier, A. Culver, 
 A. Hurlburt, Chester Griswold, and J. H. Ostrom were appointed to 
 ascertain where and on what terms a suitable piece of ground could be 
 obtained. A lot was selected and bought of John R. Bleecker on the 
 corner of Bleecker and Back streets at a cost of $1,000. On the 26th 
 of September the committee was directed to proceed with the erection 
 of a building, and on the 25th of January of the next year it was re- 
 solved that the market committee be instructed to receive proposals for 
 building a market according to the plans, and also for a building two 
 stories high and one of one story. On February i6th a special meet- 
 ing was held and it was resolved to adopt the plans of Mr. Colling for 
 the market, and on the 20th of that month the committee was author- 
 ized to build at a cost of $40,000. 
 
 Steuben Square was ordered named, laid out, leveled, and otherwise 
 improved with fences, trees, and walks. Rutger street was opened to 
 P'irst street and South street extended from West to Steuben. Other 
 streets improved were Lafayette, Washington, Genesee, Seneca, First, 
 John, and Jay, parts of which were paved and sidewalks laid. 
 
 An ordinance was passed defining the fire limits, which were as fol- 
 lows: Beginning at the east line of First street at the corner of Water 
 street and running thence southerly along the easterly line of First street 
 to the southerly line of Elizabeth street; thence westerly along the 
 southerly line of Elizabeth street to Genesee street ; thence south- 
 erly along the easterly line of Genesee street to a point opposite 
 the westerly line of Washington, street, where the same intersects Gene- 
 see street ; thence northerly from said point of intersection along the 
 westerly line of Washington street to the northerly line of Whitesboro 
 street ; thence easterly along the northerly line of Whitesboro street to 
 
EVENTS OF 1827. 177 
 
 Division street; thence northerly along the westerly line of Division 
 street to Water street ; thence easterly along the southerly line of Water 
 street to the easterly line of First street; and including both sides of 
 First, Elizabeth, Genesee, Washington, Whitesboro, and Division streets 
 and the southerly side of Water street. In August the ordinances were 
 changed, making more stringent regulations for caring for the streets, 
 to suppress gambling, preventing cattle from running at large, prevent 
 ing bathing in the canal, and other matters. A public meeting was held 
 February 28th at which a committee of five was appointed to co oper- 
 ate with the authorities in raising $2,000 for the purchase of a fire engine 
 and hose, and for no other purpose. Two large fires which destroyed 
 Shumway's coach factory and Harden's brewery, and which occurred 
 within a few days previously, were mentioned as the cause for this action 
 by the people. The want of hose was much felt. Another public 
 meeting was called to express sympathy with the Greeks then suffering 
 from their Turkish oppressors and to render them financial aid, for 
 which purpose a committee was appointed to solicit funds. 
 
 Nicholas Devereux, who had become the owner of the Jeremiah Van 
 Rensselaer propert}', intersected it with streets and laid it out in lots. 
 Lots sold on some of the streets, seventy-five by twenty feet in dimen- 
 sions, for $1,200 to $1,500 each. Another lot on Genesee street just above 
 the canal, having a frontage of eighteen feet, was disposed of at this time 
 for $166 per foot. This was spoken of as evidence of great advance in the 
 value of real estate. Considerable stir was made in the early part of the 
 year toward removing the State capital from Albany to Utica. A pub 
 lie meeting was held in January at which resolutions favoring the scheme 
 were adopted, and it was assumed that the inhabitants would subscribe 
 liberally toward a new building. A committee of fifteen leading citi- 
 zens were deputed to endeavor to secure the object. 
 
 Among the minor occurrences of the time was the observance of Inde - 
 pendence day by the Sunday schools of the village, a procession of 70a 
 or 800 scholars marching to the First Presbyterian Church, and after 
 listening to an address by Rev. Mr. Aiken proceeding to the warehouse 
 of James Piatt, on Bleecker slip, where they partook of a collation pre- 
 pared for them. The Methodist chapel on Bleecker street was this year 
 dedicated. A theatrical company is announced as having returned to 
 
178 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 give entertainments, as a circus had already been doing for a year or 
 more in the rear of tiie Canal Coffee House. The artist, Samuel F". B. 
 Morse, was in town and advertises that he would devote a week or two 
 professionally. Fifty cadets from the military school of Captain Part- 
 ridge, of Middletown, Conn., marched in from the East in September, 
 among whom was Horatio Seymour, as much admired then as he was 
 throughout his later career. In sympathy not only with the growing 
 pride of its people, but as a proof also, drawn from without, that the 
 town was in fact experiencing a decided impetus from the increasing 
 traffic through the canal, I introduce the following notice of Utica 
 copied into one of the papers from the Hartford Times: 
 
 " The business of the place at the present time surpasses all expectation. In walk- 
 ing through Genesee street a person might well think himself in one of our largest 
 cities. The rich variety of goods displayed and the numerous country merchants who 
 come here to supply their own stores would tell you that Utica is a place of business 
 and wealth. In passing around this village we find the appearance of permanent pros- 
 perity rarely lo be witnessed in a new country. The public buildings have an impos- 
 ing aspect. A Roman Catholic, an Episcopalian, a Baptist, a Methodist, and two 
 Presbyterian Churches are beautifully located and built according to the most approved 
 style of architecture. There are also many private dwellings which exhibit fine taste 
 in their design and execution."^ 
 
 A lawyer who began his professional career at this time was John G. 
 Floyd. He was the son of Col. NicoU Floyd, of Mastic, L. I., and grand- 
 son of Gen. William Floyd, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. 
 He was born at Mastic, February 5, 1806, was graduated at Hamilton 
 College in 1824, and pursued his legal studies with Joseph Kirkland, 
 -of Utica. He was clerk and attorney of the village from 1829 to 1833. 
 He represented this district in Congress in 1839-41 and 1841-43. 
 His profession he practiced at first in company with Rutger B. Miller, 
 next with William Tracy, then alone until 1840, when he became associ- 
 ated with Charles H. Doolittle and continued thus associated during 
 the remainder of his stay in Utica. About 1842 he returned to Mastic 
 and to the family estate. There he was as prominent in public affairs 
 as he had been here. He was State senator from Suffolk County in 
 1848—49 and subsequently was elected to Congress from the First 
 
 ' It is worthy of notice that at the time under consideration there was a strong rivalry between 
 the villages of Utica and Rochester, while not a word appears as to the prospects of Syracuse ; at 
 the present time the latter city has far outstripped Utica and has become in some sense a rival of 
 Rochester. 
 
DA VID WA GER—R UTGER B. MILLER. 1 7 9 
 
 Congressional District, serving from December, 1851, to March, 1853. 
 He was a Democrat until the formation of the Republican party, when 
 he joined that party and acted with it during the rest of his life. His 
 death occurred October 6, 1881. His wife was a daughter of Gen. 
 Joseph Kirkland. He left a family of three sons and two daughters. 
 
 Those who remember David Wager in his prime recall a stalwart 
 figure, impelled by a vigorous brain, quick and decided in action, and 
 exerting a marked power over men. Much withdrawn for many years 
 by reason of impaired sight from free participation in public affairs he had 
 stood at one time in the front rank in Central New York for ability and 
 influence. He was a son of Henry Wager, of Western, and was born 
 there March 17, 1804. He was educated at P'airfield Academy when 
 that institution was hardly less than a college in the facilities it afforded. 
 He read law in the office of the newly associated partners, Samuel 
 Beardsley and Greene C. Bronson, and at their feet he learned the 
 political gospel of which he became an enthusiastic disciple. He entered 
 on practice with Charles A. Marin, who had been his schoolfellow at 
 Fairfield. Subsequently he had J. Watson Williams as a partner. He 
 stood well as a lawyer, although his practice was confined to a com- 
 paratively few years. It was as a public man that he was chiefly con- 
 spicuous, for he was a striving and prevailing power among the Utica 
 members of the Albany Regency at a time when that regency was 
 uppermost in the political control of the State. In the Assembly of 
 1833—35 '^nd in the Senate of 1836-40 Mr. Wager occupied a leading 
 position. He was a director in the Utica and Syracuse Railroad and for 
 a time its treasurer, and after the consolidation a director in the Central. 
 He was a man of strong convictions, usually taking the extreme posi- 
 tions of his party and maintaining them with rugged persistence. His 
 counsels were highly regarded by representative Democrats here and 
 elsewhere. He had been for some years in poor health and lived toward 
 the close of his life in the Colonel Walker mansion on the eastern 
 border of the city. His wife was a daughter of Judge Nathan Williams, 
 who, with an only daughter, Mrs. A. T. Goodwin, still survives. 
 
 Rutger B. Miller at about this time began his career as a prominent 
 and active citizen. He was the eldest son of Judge Morris S. Miller,. 
 was born in Lowville, July 28, 1805, and was brought here while yet 
 
i8o MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 an infant. His education was obtained in part at Montreal and- in part 
 at Yale College at New Haven. He was trained for the bar at the law 
 school at Litchfield and in the office of Hiram Denio. His first associ- 
 ate in practice was John G. Floyd and a little later it was Chester Hay- 
 den. In 1832 he served a term as member of the State Assembly and 
 in 1833-34 was clerk of the United States District Court. In the latter 
 year he was elected to Congress in place of Samuel Beardsley, resigned. 
 The pursuit of the law did not accord with his tastes nor with the cares 
 required of him in the management of the estate of his father and other 
 relations. About 1830 he erected, on the site of the ground where his 
 father ere his death had been preparing to build, the first and central 
 building of the Rutger Place, now occupied by Mrs. Roscoe Conkling; 
 also the block of brick buildings on the east side of Genesee street 
 next south of Blandina street. The block which forms the northern 
 angle of Whitesboro and Genesee streets was also put up by him. He 
 was active in the construction of the canal basin known by his name and 
 built a large block of three-story brick houses on Bridge street near 
 Broad, a large warehouse on the basin, a grist-mill opposite, and a dry dock 
 at its head. He was active in pushing the construction of railroads, espe- 
 cially the Utica and Schenectady. Other projects, whether of a public 
 or a private nature, occupied his time and thought, the success of some 
 of which did not always accord with the promise of his too sanguine 
 expectations. His later years were passed in part upon his farm in 
 Eoonville and in part in quiet reading and study at home. His wife 
 was the eldest daughter of Henry Seymour and sister of Horatio, and 
 his domestic life was engaging. He died November 12, 1877, leaving 
 two sons and four daughters, one son having died. 
 
 A new coming hotel keeper was Alfred Churchill. He was born at 
 Chatham, Conn., August 29, 1790, and brought when a child with his 
 father's family to Richfield, Otsego County, N. Y. Early in life he en- 
 gaged in mercantile business at Monroe, Mich. He had had few advan- 
 tages of education and at the age of twenty- five he entered Hartwick 
 Academy, supporting himself there for some years by his own unas- 
 sisted efforts. He came to Utica in 1827, at first as an assistant, but 
 soon as a partner, of Moses Bagg in the hotel then and since known by 
 his name. He remained in that connection until the year 1836 (except- 
 
ALFRED CHURCHILL. i8i 
 
 ing one year spent as proprietor of the North American (located on 
 Genesee street nearly opposite Broad), when the hotel was bought of 
 Mr. Bagg by a stock company, of which Mr. Churchill was one. This 
 he continued to carry on until his death January lo, 1865, having at 
 intervals purchased the interests of his associates as well as the Bleecker 
 House adjoining on the north and uniting the latter with his own. By 
 his fellow citizens Mr. Churchill was known as a man of unsullied integ- 
 rity, kind and considerate to those in his employ, and tender and affec- 
 tionate in his family relations. In politics he was identified with the 
 Democratic party, yet was not in any sense a politician, looking as well 
 to the candidate as to the principle involved in casting the vote. Through 
 the suffrage of his townsmen he held the office of alderman for several 
 terms, and was moreover liberal in the discharge of the claims of society. 
 Some years before his death he bought a large tract of land near Daven- 
 port, Iowa, much of which he disposed of in parcels, and which by its 
 gradual rise in value realized for him a very considerable fortune. He 
 was long a faithful and attentive director of the Utica City Bank. His 
 wife was Emma Darbyshire, of Otsego County, and sister of the wife 
 of Mr. Bagg. His eldest son was lost at sea ; another, G. Clarence, is 
 still a resident. 
 
 Three private schools were in operation at this time, that of Mr. and 
 Mrs. C. A. Evarts for young ladies, which received the patronage of 
 the leading families of the place, that of Charles Bartlett for boys, 
 known as the High School, and that of Lewis Bailey. 
 
 Thorn & Curtis, forwarders, now bought out Charles Morris and con- 
 tinued a business on Jay street and the canal which still exists and is in 
 part in the hands of a member of one of these families. Simon V. 
 Oley, an apprenticed shoemaker from Albany who had been three or 
 four years in the employ of Elisha Wells, now opened a shop of his own 
 and continued it until his death June i, 1857. Modest, honest, and ex- 
 emplary he was better known in successful business and in the services 
 of Grace Church than in doings more public. Otis Manchester, mer- 
 chant tailor, received into partnership Abram Williams and Robert S. 
 Latimore, both of whom remained some years in the place. So also 
 ■did William B. Gray, saddler ; J. McElwaine, livery stable-keeper ; 
 Ransom Curtiss, dealer in dry goods and groceries ; William P. Ballou, 
 
i82 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 keeper of Union Hall. More temporary ones were John Mason & Co., 
 painters; George F. Wicker, painter; W. Holcombe, coachmaker; 
 S. C. Brewster, lottery and exchange manager; Joseph E. Bloomfield, 
 miller and dealer in real estate. 
 
 The officers for the year 1828 were: President, William Clarke ; trus- 
 tees, John H. Ostrom, James Piatt, Abraham Culver, Thomas Colling. 
 Chester Griswold, Augustus Hurlburt, Nicholas Devereux, R. R. Lan- 
 sing; assessors, Benjamin Ballou, Zenas Wright, Joshua M. Church, 
 Thomas Christian ; clerk and surveyor, John Fish.; treasurer, Thomas 
 Walker; Ara Broadwell, superintendent. 
 
 In June a committee was appointed to formulate a code of laws for 
 the government of the market. The annual rent of stalls was fixed at 
 $45 for eight- feet stalls, $40 for seven-feet stalls; and $35 for six-feet 
 stalls; cellars, $10. The details of these laws need not be given; 
 they regulated the sale of meat, of which none was to be sold elsewhere ; 
 how it should be dressed and cut; no private slaughter- houses were 
 permitted and meat was not to be bought at the market and sold again. 
 Thomas Broadway was appointed superintendent of the market and it 
 was opened on the 25th of June. "The display of meat and other 
 provisions on that morning spoke favorably of the abundance of the 
 country and evinced a disposition on the part of the butchers to keep 
 the market supplied with provisions of the best quality." The market 
 stood where is now the armory on the corner of Bleecker and Culver 
 streets. The first floor was devoted to the display and sale of meats, 
 the basement to vegetables, while the second story contained the coun- 
 cil room of the fathers. After a time the vegetables were shown in 
 stalls on the sides while the basement was used as a lock-up for crimi- 
 nals. The market continued in existence until about 1845. 
 
 The fire department was re- organized to some extent and William 
 Williams was appointed chief engineer (an office that probably had not 
 existed before that time); E. Z. Cozier, first assistant ; Abraham Culver, 
 second assistant; Moses Bagg, T. S. Faxton, B. B. Lansing, John E. 
 Hinman, James Piatt, Spencer Kellogg, R. R. Lansing, and Kellogg 
 Hurlburt, fire wardens. 
 
 Paving was continued on various streets and Canal street was opened. 
 A large fire occurring in April swept away several wooden buildings 
 
JAMES DEAN. 183 
 
 on the south corner of Broad and Genesee streets. At a public meet- 
 ing held in February a resolution was adopted declaring it expedient 
 to change the law so as to admit of the election of president of the vil- 
 lage instead of his being appointed by the governor as had been done. 
 
 In December of the previous year a communication appeared signed 
 by M. Hunt, T. H. Hubbard, and R. R. Lansing stating that the search 
 for coal here had long been a topic of discussion. Experiment had 
 been put off on account of expense, but now it could be done cheaply. 
 An association had been formed to raise money and the above named 
 signers were a committee to receive subscriptions. In this year boring 
 was effected on the Hopper farm on South street ; but it was wholly 
 unsuccessful as was also a later attempt by the Water Works Company 
 to procure water by extending the boring. 
 
 The Pioneer line of stages, running two stages daily through from 
 Albany to Buffalo, was inaugurated this year and attracted consider- 
 able attention on account of its determination to cease travel on Sun- 
 day and to elevate the whole tone of its conduct and employees. It is 
 further alluded to in a later chapter. 
 
 The lawyers who opened offices this year were as follows : William 
 Tracy (see chapter on Bench and Bar), James Dean, Thomas R. Walker, 
 H. H. Pease, Elizur Goodrich. James Dean was the son of Judge 
 James Dean, of Westmoreland, or Dean's Patent as it was once called, 
 and was born there in 1788. He is said to have been the first male 
 child born within the present limits of Oneida County. It was while 
 he was still an infant that occurred the rescue of his father by three 
 Indian women, wives of Oneida chiefs, from the judgment of the coun- 
 cil of the tribe that he should suffer death in atonement for the murder 
 of an Oneida by some one without the tribe — an incident that is related 
 by William Tracy in his " Men and Incidents of Oneida County," and 
 which is paralleled only by the romantic story of Pocahontas and Cap- 
 tain Smith. The son was graduated at Union College in 18 10, receiv- 
 ing the highest honors of his class, and three years later became a tutor 
 at Hamilton College, which post he held until 1819 In 1820 he was 
 elected a member of the Assembly from Oneida and Oswego. When 
 and where he studied law is not known, though it is certain that he was 
 then living in New Hartford, where he married his first wife and built 
 
i84 MEMORIAL HISTORY Of UTICA. 
 
 the story and a half cottage the first story of which lies against the hill- 
 side on the right-hand side of the road leading to Clinton. In 1825 
 and until 1828 he was treasurer of Hamilton College. About 1828 he 
 removed to Utica and soon formed a partnership with Walter King, 
 which was not, however, of long duration. During the years 1834-37 
 he was treasurer of the city and in 1839-40 was county clerk. He 
 built a brick house that stood on the upper part of the site now occu- 
 pied by Grace Church and afterward the house on Devereux street 
 subsequently used by the Utica Club. Here he died May 23, 1841. 
 Mr. Dean was an accurate scholar in the Greek and Latin classics and 
 well informed in English and French literature. It seems now as if he 
 should have given his life to teaching and to literary pursuits. He 
 loved the county of his birth with enthusiastic attachment, and inherited 
 his father's friendly interest in the Oneidas, manifesting it often in per- 
 sonal benefactions to members of the tribe. He was a Christian gen- 
 tleman, cultivated, tasteful, refined, modest, perhaps too modest to be 
 successful in the aggressive work of his profession, yet in the highest 
 degree trustworthy in all his professional work. Mr. Dean married, 
 secondly, Mrs. Mary Upson, who survived him many years. 
 
 Thomas R. Walker, son of Thomas Walker, editor and banker before 
 noticed, was born in Utica in 1806. He was graduated at Hamilton in 
 1824, studied law with his brother in-law, John H. Ostrom, and began 
 practice with him. His next partner was Wallace McCall and subse- 
 quently he was the head of the firm of Walker & Conkling. He was 
 much interested in politics and of influence therein, being a Whig and 
 afterward a Republican. He was city attorney in 1840, alderman in 
 1 846, and mayor in 1 849-50. He was long in the Board of School Com- 
 missioners, was the first United States collector of internal revenue for 
 this district, and held the office except for a brief interval down to 1867. 
 Mr. Walker was interested in very many of the local enterprises of the 
 city, being one of the originators of the first telegraph company and its 
 president about five years. He took an active part in the Gas Company 
 and was president of it from 1850 until his death. For some years he 
 was likewise president of the Cemetery Association, of whose original 
 Board of Trustees he formed a part, and may justly be regarded as the 
 prime mover in the undertaking. Mr. Walker had much liberality and 
 
THOMAS R. WALKER— C. B. COVENTRY. 185 
 
 refinement of character. Art was a passion with him. It led him to 
 practice painting in his younger years, and at a later day to the dissem- 
 ination and encouragement of a love of art in others. It was through 
 his instrumentahty that the genius of Palmer, the sculptor, was first 
 brought to Hght, and that he and other incipient artists were assisted in 
 their efforts to gain repute. This love of the beautiful was conjoined 
 with a strong interest in his native home and occasioned in him much 
 earnest effort in its behalf He was, moreover, pure in character, affa- 
 ble, and agreeable. He resided in New Haven during a few of the later 
 years of his life and afterward traveled in Europe. He died at Dres- 
 den, January 10, 1880. His wife was Sarah A., daughter of Arthur 
 Breese. They had three daughters, of whom two are living. 
 
 John Parsons began living in Utica at least as early as 1828, and was 
 a justice of the peace during nearly the whole of his long residence in 
 the place. He was intelligent and pleasant and much respected. 
 
 The doctors commencing practice this year were John P. Batchelder, 
 Charles B. Coventry, Heman Norton, Patrick McCraith, A. McAllister. 
 
 A physician who for nearly fifty years was a leading practitioner in 
 Utica was Dr. Charles Brodhead Coventry, son of Dr Alexander Cov- 
 entry. He was born in Deerfield, April 20, i8o[. Occupied upon his 
 father's farm during the summer months he attended school during the 
 winter, and as his health was not strong, so that he was unfitted for farm 
 labor, he spent a good deal of time in the office with his father and Dr. 
 John McCall, partner of the latter. With them he studied medicine, 
 attending lectures at the Medical College of the Western District situated 
 at Fairfield, and there he was graduated in 1825. In 1828 he was ap- 
 pointed lecturer on materia medica at Berkshire Medical College, Pitts- 
 field. To this branch was subjoined in the following year that of obstet- 
 rics. This lectureship he held for three years, when by reason of the 
 infirm state of his health and having suffered from a severe hemorrhage 
 he removed to New York to establish himself in j/ractice, but on the 
 death of his father he came back to Utica. In anticipation of an invasion 
 from the cholera he was sent by the council early in 1832 to study its 
 nature in the Eastern cities, making a report thereon upon his return. In 
 1839 he took part in the organization of a medical institution at Geneva 
 and again assumed the professorship of materia medica and obstetrics, 
 
 24 
 
1 86 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UIICA. 
 
 lecturing there several successive seasons. In 1846 he became likewise 
 professor of physiology and jurisprudence in the Buffalo Medical College. 
 With the exception of the temporary absences these lectures entailed, 
 and with that caused by a trip to Europe in 1868, he was mostly ab- 
 sorbed in practice. Endowed with strong sense, well informed in what 
 has been acquired and taught by others, prompt to know what was dis- 
 coverable in every case he met with, he had laid up a large store of use- 
 ful experience which his judicious and ready mind fitted him most 
 wisely to apply. At home in the teaching of his profession he was still 
 more at ease by the bedside, and notable for the tenderness he mani- 
 fested toward those submitted to his skill. If he loved his calling for its 
 intellectual pleasures he loved it still more as a means of good to others 
 and because it gave exercise to the feelings of a kind and generous heart. 
 As an avenue to wealth he scarcely seemed to think of it, and never 
 was the proverb " Galenus dat opes " more falsified than with him. He 
 was strongly zealous for the dignity of his profession, labored in his 
 writings and in his daily life for its elevation and advancement, and 
 gave no countenance to empiricism or pretence. Long before the cre- 
 ation of the State Asylum for the Insane he moved both State and 
 County Medical Societies to urge the legislature to take action in be- 
 half of this unfortunate class, nor did he intermit his efforts until the 
 asylum was established. He was appointed by Governor Seward as 
 one of the original Board of Managers and was placed by them on a 
 ■committee to arrange plans for its organization. Dr. Coventry was 
 president of St. Luke's Hospital and Home, president of the Board of 
 Trustees of the Utica Female Academy, and a warden of Grace Church. 
 As a man no one was more pure minded and honorable, more kind and 
 benevolent, more consistent as a Christian. By his brothers of the pro- 
 fession he was honored, by his patients beloved ; all esteemed him as a 
 friend, and enemy he had none. Though he had several hemorrhages 
 at various intervals of his life he survived until nearly seventy-four, dy- 
 ing February 23, 1875. 
 
 In an advertisement that appeared in May, 1828, of a partnership 
 just formed between Drs. Theodore Pomeroy and John P. Batchelder, 
 it is stated that the latter " has had twenty years of experience, has 
 been a lecturer on anatomy and surgery for ten years, has operated for 
 
DRS. BATCHELDER, NORTON, ETC. 187 
 
 cataract eighty times, is prepared with instruments, and will not de- 
 cline operating in any case of surgery in which prudence may dictate it." 
 Not long after it was advertised that he was prepared to deliver anatomical 
 lectures in Peale's (Utica) Museum. A ticket costing $10 was to admit 
 to the museum for three months. Some time later there was a proposal 
 for the establishment of a medical college in the place if thirty pupils 
 should be found to put themselves under its instruction. The professors 
 were to be Drs. Alexander Coventry, Thomas Goodsell, and John P. 
 Batchelder. As we learn no more of it it is probable that a sufficiency 
 of students was not found to justify the undertaking. Doubtless of this 
 school Dr. Batchelder was to have been the teacher of anatomy and 
 surgery. Surgery was his chosen field, and while he lived he devoted 
 himself especially although not exclusively to it, being for years the 
 only person who operated so often. Yet he was the adviser in many 
 families. Dr. Batchelder's later partners were successively Drs. L. B. 
 Wells and William Kirkwood. He was an enterprising and pleasant 
 man. He remained until 1845, when he repaired to New York and 
 operated some years longer. 
 
 Dr. Heman Norton moved here from Litchfield Hill, where he had 
 been both doctor and farmer, and while here was still interested in his 
 farm. His professional standing was fair, his business not large, though 
 he was an agreeable and humorous man. Dr. Patrick McCraith was 
 busier, his practice being extensive with the Irish, and continued so 
 until about 1853. 
 
 A long abiding dentist was Alvin Beardsley, pupil of Dr. Gedney, 
 and a leader of his craft. Druggists now starting were David Hunt, jr., 
 and Bristol & Hunt. The former died quite recently in his native town 
 of Northampton, Mass., whither he went from New York city several 
 years since after a rather enduring trade in Utica. William Bristol's 
 home in the place was yet longer, continuing until April 18, i866, and 
 the public side of his life more memorable. Interested at an early age 
 in the Horticultural Society he was later the first treasurer of the Ceme- 
 tery Association, and by the community he was confided in for his 
 efficient aid in matters of common utility as well as by reason of his in- 
 dividual worth. 
 
 Gardiner Tracy came to Utica from Lansingburg, where he had con- 
 ducted a paper and was prominent as a politician. Here he established 
 
1 88 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 himself in printing and bookselling. He had a vigorous and acquisitive 
 mind, and was an extensive reader, being especially well informed in 
 American history. Ardent and fearless in temperament his religious 
 faith was strong, and as a citizen he maintained the character of a highly 
 respected and useful one. He died May 25,1 849, at the age of seventy- 
 two, having given up business some two years before his death. He 
 left a son, George Tracy, who succeeded to it, besides another son, who 
 returned to Lansingburg, and three daughters. 
 
 A printer of 1828 was Elisha A. Maynard, a partner with Mr. Dauby 
 in the Observer. Merchants were Cooper & Ellis, Cornelius Swartout, 
 William W. Backus ; the latter also engaged in the business of exchange 
 and as an auctioneer and dealer in dry goods ; John R. Ludlow, crockery ; 
 F K. Boughton & Co., John Latimore, Alfred Hunt (Stocking & Hunt), 
 hatters ; Benedict & Roby, Chauncey Rowe, William J. Buck (Dana & 
 Buck), hardware; E. S. Comstock, grocer; Jonas Fay, lumber dealer. 
 The new come mechanics were Philo C. Curtis, machinist, noticed else- 
 where; Joseph D. Daniels, iron founder; Ebenezer Leach, H. S.Brad- 
 ley, Benjamin F. Brooks, jewelers ; Richard Huntington, silversmith ; 
 Noah White, potter ; S. H. Addington, stoneware manufacturer ; C. O. 
 Nye, carpenter; Sylvester Doolittle, boat builder ; Walton & Hardaway, 
 saddlers; Morgan James, lastmaker; J. D. Edwards, painter; Z. & P. 
 Lyon, E. W. Blake, merchant tailors ; John Hale, Isaac Bond, masons; 
 John Mairs, tinner; Mulford R. Bond, shoemaker and afterward grocer 
 and hosemaker; Benjamin Arnott, shoemaker; John B. Harrington, 
 butcher ; George L. Brown, hair-dresser. 
 
 Nearly all of the above had a residence of some years duration. Since 
 it is impossible to discourse upon them individually I must be content 
 to introduce a word or two of some of them. Of Noah White it may 
 be said that he established the pottery in West Utica which was after- 
 ward conducted by his son and more recently by his grandson, that he 
 lived until November, 1865, and that he was twenty years an elder in 
 the First Presbyterian Church ; of Ebenezer Leach that his fondness 
 for music led him to become a teacher of flute playing and to issue mu- 
 sical instructors ; that at a later day his visual impairment caused him to 
 make a study of ophthalmia and its treatment, and to practice this treat- 
 jnent upon others, wherein his skill brought him repute and a follow- 
 
MILLER'S BASIN. 189 
 
 ing from all over the country ; of Sylvester Doolittle that he had a 
 screw dock in West Utica of vi^hich he was the inventor, where he was 
 a maker and repairer of boats, and that afterward in Oswego his busi- 
 ness was still more widely extended; of J. D. Edwards that he was one 
 of the founders of the Mechanics Association and that he had a part in 
 the creation of- the oilcloth manufactory which, through his failure, 
 came into the hands of Dr. Theodore Pomeroy and T. R. Walker; of 
 Hardaway & Chatfield that they became afterward the proprietors of 
 the National Hotel ; of the Lyons, continuous partners for many years, 
 that while the younger one was zealous as a Free Mason his brother was 
 long a warden of Grace Church ; of Benjamin Arnott, soon followed by 
 his brother Joseph, his Doppel-ganger in looks and tastes (so much 
 alike were they that they were known as the brothers Cheeryble), that 
 in musical circles their accomplishments were often in request, and that 
 Joseph published several of the Utica directories ; of George Brown, 
 though a mulatto, that he was as proper and modest a gentleman as 
 any citizen Utica ever possessed ; instructing the younger ones in the 
 courtly grace of the dance he made friends of the older by his respect- 
 ful and easy demeanor and the tasteful trimming he gave them for ap- 
 pearance without. 
 
 An enterprise of considerable magnitude undertaken in 182S and 
 completed in 18^9 was the conversion of the ravine or gulf of Ballou's 
 Creek in the eastern part of the village into a canal basin. Before the days 
 of railroads basins were regarded next to harbors as cradles for business. 
 This undertaking was effected chiefly by residents of Broad street. The 
 land to be submerged was donated or bought, the lower end of the ra- 
 vine considerably dug out, docked up, the culvert under the canal for 
 the creek stopped, the basin bridged on Broad street, and, the consent 
 of the State authorities having been obtained, connection was made with 
 the Erie Canal, and the basin, extending nearly to Rutger street, was 
 filled. It was styled by its builders the Public Basin, but was popularly 
 known as the Big Basin or Miller's. It wiped out several nuisances, 
 slaughter-houses, etc., but otherwise was not a success. Instead of ex- 
 tending the growth of the town eastward it proved as effectual a barrier 
 for many years as the Mohawk River is to its northward extension. Its 
 large warehouses burned down. The basin became as an asylum for 
 
1 90 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 sinking boats and gradually filled up when its connection with the 
 canal navigation was shut off. 
 
 The village officers for 1829 were as follows:. President, Capt. Will- 
 iam Clark; trustees, John Williams, R. B. Miller, Abraham Culver, 
 Thomas Colling, Andrew S. Pond, Sylvester Doolittle, Robert McBride, 
 Asahel Seward ; assessors, Benjamin Ballou, Zenas Wright, Joshua M. 
 Church, Thomas Goodsell ; clerk and attorney, John G. Floyd ; treas- 
 urer, Thomas Walker ; police constables, William J. Nichols, T. S. 
 Mitchell. 
 
 The watchmen of the village were reduced in June to six, doubtless 
 because there was less fear of fires. On the 22d of July a resolution 
 was adopted that a sum adequate to the expense " be and the same is 
 hereby appropriated for the construction of two engine-houses and one 
 hook and ladder-house, the same to be constructed so as to be capable 
 of being removed from one extremity of the village to the other with- 
 out injury to the buildings.'' A committee was appointed to seek loca- 
 tions and the resolution may have been carried out, but there is no 
 record to that effect except as will be found in the next year's proceed- 
 ings. The principal public improvements were: Hamilton street laid 
 out ; Breese street opened from Whitesboro to Johnson ; Water street 
 continued; Main street opened from the " old Methodist Church," op- 
 posite the corner of Third, to the starch factory bridge (or at least this 
 extension was ordered); sidewalks laid on John street; Chancellor 
 Square further improved by trees and walks ; a box drain in John street 
 from Rutger to Elizabeth and in Center street. The street cleaning of 
 that day was confined to Genesee street. Liberty street from Genesee to 
 Hotel, Catharine from Genesee to John, and Whitesboro from Genesee 
 to Division once a week. All other streets were cleaned once a month. 
 
 Among the large additions which were being made to the population 
 at this time were the following lawyers : Joshua A. Spencer, Ward 
 Hunt, Samuel P. Lyman, and Alexander M. Beebee. The first two of 
 these are noticed in the chapter on the Bench and Bar. Samuel P. Ly- 
 man lived twelve or fifteen years in the place, was a short time editor of 
 the Elucidator, and then removed to New York, where he was concerned 
 in various literary and speculative enterprises, notably the promotion of 
 the building of the New York and Erie Railroad. He died near Gar- 
 
E.M. GILBERT— EDWARD CURRAN. 191 
 
 rison's on the Hudson and was interred in Forest Hill. Alexander M. 
 Beebee devoted himself almost exclusively to the editorship of the Bap- 
 tist Register and gave little attention to the law. 
 
 Among the merchants of this era was Elisha M. Gilbert, who began 
 as dealer in dry goods. About 1832 he entered on the sale of leather, 
 at first in company with John Williams, but ere long prosecuting it alone, 
 and this continued to be his employment until two or three years before 
 his death. He was enterprising and prosperous and acquired a large 
 fortune. He was engaged in large moneyed transactions elsewhere as 
 well as in Utica and was for some years president of the Michigan 
 Southern and Northern Indiana Railroad. He was a director in the 
 Bank of Utica, a trustee of the Utica Cemetery Association, and at one 
 time an alderman. To Westminster Church he gave the chapel attached 
 to that edifice. His wife, a daughter of John C. Hoyt, and other mem- 
 bers of his family were among the foremost in the creation and organ- 
 ization of Bethany Church, and to the building of its edifice he also 
 contributed. For his own use he built the large brick house which until 
 recently stood on Whitesboro street opposite Seneca. Mr. Gilbert died 
 March 16, 1868. His children now resident are Frederick, Miss Sarah 
 Gilbert, and Mrs. Francis G. Wood. 
 
 Another leather dealer who now embarked in a long continued busi- 
 ness in company with Alrick Hubbell was Edward Curran. This busi- 
 ness he followed assiduously, reaping a harvest commensurate with his 
 care of it down to his death, June 27, 1858, and in which he has been 
 followed by two of his sons. Singularly retiring and diffident he held 
 in the minds of those who knew him best the place of a benevolent, 
 upright, and valuable citizen. His first wife was a daughter of Montgom- 
 ery Bartlett ; his second was a daughter of George Langford. One of his 
 sons was killed in battle and another was so much injured that he did not 
 long survive. Three of them and a daughter, as well as his widow, are 
 living. 
 
 Other merchants now in business were Sylvester Aylsworth, soon 
 having as an associate Sylvanus Holmes, dealers in hardware; Haynes 
 Lord, not long afterward Lord & Shapley, dry goods ; C. Holgate, 
 Ezra Dean, dry goods ; Oliver Obear, forwarder ; Herring & Whiting, 
 John Baxter," Leonard & White, grocers, of whom Alvin White (the last 
 
192 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 named) was the one who had the most protracted residence. Among 
 the most notable of the mechanics was Lewis Lawrence, who will be 
 sketched in the biographical department. 
 
 Chauncey Palmer, who was born in North Bridgewater, August 4, 
 1807, and there learned his trade as a carpenter and joiner, came to 
 Utica, says the newspaper notice of him, in 1825. If so he must have 
 been in his minority. He was married in 1829 and probably about that 
 time began to do business on his own account. This engaged him act- 
 ively for fifty-five years. Among the structures whose carpentry was 
 due to him were a part of Bagg's Hotel, the Herald h\v\di\ng, the Dudley 
 triangle, the Globe mills, a portion of the Utica steam cotton-mills, the 
 State Hospital, the Remington works at Ilion, etc. With Lewis Law- 
 rence he shared in running the planing- mill that had first been set at 
 work by Philo C. Curtis, and for thirty- five years he had a foundry in 
 connection with his carpenter shop. In 1844 he was burned out and 
 lost his works, but struggled on and paid his debts in full, for he was 
 emphatically honest and trustworthy. His death occurred June 10, 
 1884. His widow with two sons and two daughters survive. 
 
 Another carpenter much esteemed was John J. Francis. His parents 
 were both children of early Welsh dwellers in Utica, and here he was 
 born November 6, 1808. He received a good academic education, 
 learned the trade of his father, and became prominent among the builders 
 of the city. In middle life it was as a dealer in real estate that he was 
 principally employed. He bought, improved, and sold much property 
 of this kind, and upon present or future valuations of it his judgment 
 was unsurpassed. In the creation, too, of various companies and busi- 
 nes organizations his counsel and co-operation were relied upon, as in 
 the screw factory, insurance, etc. In 1854, together with E. A. Wet- 
 more, E. A. Graham, Thomas Hopper, J. Watson Williams, and John 
 Dagwell, he was appointed a commissioner for the building of the city 
 hall. He was placed on the building committee during the construc- 
 tion of the House of the Good Shepherd, having been one of its Board 
 of Trustees from its inception. He was active in the making and the 
 management of the Utica and Mohawk Street Railroad. He was an 
 alderman in 1840-42, was one of the first life members of the Mechanics 
 Association, and was a vestryman of Trinity Church. Every trust 
 
JULIUS A. SPENCER— W. D. HAMLIN. 193 
 
 referred to him was faithfully performed, and his life as a citizen, a 
 churchman, and the head of a household was faultless and exemplary. 
 His wife, daughter of John A. Russ, remembered with favor, is living 
 as is also a daughter. He died May 5, 1877. 
 
 Julius A. Spencer, a resident of Utica for fifty years and a jeweler by 
 trade, was born in Lenox, Madison County, in 1802. For some time 
 he was a member of the firm of Rogers & Spencer, machinists at Wil- 
 lowvale, having previously been a partner with Robert Higham in the 
 Vulcan works. He was actively concerned in the Utica and Schen- 
 ectady Railroad, and after its consolidation with other roads into the 
 New York Central he became assistant superintendent. He removed 
 to Albany and had charge of the line from there to Schenectady. Of 
 later years he was adjuster of claims against the company. His active 
 and useful life was closed November 3, 1874. One daughter still resides 
 in Utica. 
 
 William D. Hamlin, born in Connecticut in 1805, came to Utica it 
 is said in 1822, but as his name was not publicly registered before 1829 
 it is presumed that he was at first an apprentice, learning his trade as 
 a blacksmith. He was afterward widely known as a wagonmaker and 
 a man of wealth, of influence, and of high standing in the community. 
 He was a director and second vice-president of the Second National 
 Bank and was president of the Utica Water Works Company. 
 
 Moses T. Meeker, starting as a coachsmith, became somewhat later a 
 dealer in iron and coal, acquired property, and left a good name behind 
 him. He died September 19, 1874. Another blacksmith whose history 
 is somewhat similar was David Timmerman — first a worker at his trade 
 and later a seller of coal, an unassuming and unimpeachable man. 
 
 The officers chosen for the year 1830 were : President, Ezra S. Cozier ; 
 trustees, John Williams, Chester Griswold, Thomas Colling, Rudolph 
 Snyder, Sylvester Doolittle, A. S. Pond, Robert McBride, R. B. Miller; 
 assessors, Benjamin Ballou, Zenas Wright, J. M. Church, Kellogg Hurl- 
 burt; clerk and attorney, John G. Floyd; treasurer, Thomas Walker; 
 surveyor, John F'ish. 
 
 The legislation needed to consummate the charter amendment pro- 
 viding for the election of president and the appointment by the trustees 
 of the treasurer and street commissioner was enacted early in they ear. 
 
194 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 The amendment also provided for better protection of the villagefrom fire. 
 On the 30th of September John H. Ostrom was appointed chief engi- 
 neer and the number of watchmen was reduced to four. PubHc im- 
 provements were Hmited. South street was opened and worked from 
 Steuben to Third ; Rutger street from First to Third ; Mohawk it was 
 ordered should be extended from Broad to the river bridge and Main 
 street to the starch factory. Sidewalks were laid on Devereux, Broad- 
 way, and Whitesboro streets. A census of the population was taken 
 in July with the following result : Males, 4, 135 ; females, 3,968 ; colored, 
 183 ; making a total of 8,286. 
 
 A venerable minister who had passed the active period of his life else- 
 where and who removed to Utica in 1830, where he lived upwards of 
 twenty years longer, was Oliver Wetmore, father of Edmund A. Wet- 
 more and two other sons whose early home was here. Here he had no 
 settlement, but occasionally suplied a vacant pulpit. He was a stern 
 Puritan in character, of intense faith, and of much general worth. He 
 acted as secretary of the anti- slavery convention that met in Utica in 
 1835. He lived here until 1852. 
 
 Orsamus B. Matteson was born in Verona, August 28, 1805, being 
 the son of an early settler of Oneida County. When about nineteen 
 years of age he came to Utica and entered the law office of Bronson & 
 Beardsley. He remained with them several years as their chief clerk 
 and became a partner of Mr. Beardsley after the removal of Judge 
 Bronson. In 1830 he was admitted to the bar. In 1834 he was attor- 
 ney of the city and again in 1836. For a number of years he was 
 Supreme Court commissioner. It was, however, in the arena of poli- 
 tics that Mr. Matteson chiefly figured, and he was an important factor 
 therein from 1846 to 1856. He was a Whig, but not of the then con- 
 servative party. Imbibing anti-slavery ideas and forming a friendship 
 with William A. Seward he accepted all of his teachings, and was bold 
 and positive in the advocacy of them. He carried into politics vast 
 energy, unwearying attention to details, rare skill in organization, and 
 the faculty to infuse into his supporters the enthusiasm of his own char- 
 acter. About the time when he became a candidate for Congress the 
 use of money at elections received an impetus in this county. For this 
 evil he was only in part responsible ; but it cannot be denied that he 
 
O. B. MATTESON. 195 
 
 fell in with it. Many of the conservative Whigs, or Silver Grays as they 
 were termed, were at sword's point with the wing that Mr. Matteson 
 represented. They disliked his strong personal sway and tactics that are 
 now regarded as a machine. Yet for twelve years he was able to secure 
 the nomination of his party to represent them in Congress and four 
 times to compass his election. He was first nominated in 1846,, but was 
 defeated by Timothy Jenkins, of Vernon. His first election was in 1848 
 to the Thirty- first Congress; faihngin 1850 he was chosen to the Thirty- 
 third, Thirty-fourth, and Thirty-fifth Congresses. In that body he 
 formed close relations with the Free Soil leaders and was recognized as a 
 shrewd and efficient worker. His principal speech in Congress was in 
 advocacy of the reduction of postage and of the measure which became 
 a law. He was not a debater, but as a manager on the floor and on 
 committees he was conspicuous and successful. Upon the circumstances 
 which brought about his expulsion, or forced resignation, from Con- 
 gress I shall not enter. Want of space forbids it, besides those details 
 pertain rather to the history of the nation than to that of Utica. After 
 his retirement he was interested in a scheme for the construction of the 
 St. Mary's Ship Canal, in a Utica Bullion Mining Company, in lumber- 
 ing at Forestport, and the iron works near Clinton. He acquired title 
 to large tracts of land in Iowa, Texas, and the Adirondack region iri 
 this State. In the latter his Mountain Home became famous. Misfort- 
 une, ill health, and a temporary blindness darkened his declining years. 
 His leading traits of character were energy, enthusiasm, and hopeful- 
 ness. His impelling power gave vigor to his undertakings ; his enthu- 
 siasm swept away obstacles that would have discouraged other men ; and 
 his great hopefulness led him to expect success in all his undertakings. 
 His fruition in politics led him to take hazards in business affairs, but 
 his never dying hopefulness did not permit him to see the dark side whert 
 it was apparent to others. As a conversationalist he was entertaining 
 and instructive, and from his tenacious memory he was full of reminis- 
 cences and anecdotes. His death took place December 22, 1887. He 
 left a widow and a'daughter. 
 
 Dr. John W. Hitchcock, son of Marcus, opened an office for the prac- 
 tice of medicine, but soon removed to Mt. Vernon, 111. A gentlemanly 
 man who lived here some four years was William W. Frazier, cashier 
 of a branch of the United States Bank, which was established in 1830. 
 
ig6 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 Joseph A. Shearman, a nephew of Ebenezer Shearman before noticed, 
 and who came to live with him when he was fourteen years of age, now 
 engaged in business for himself He was born at Kingston, Washing- 
 ton County, N. Y., April 6, 1803, finished his schooHng in the Utica 
 Academy, and became a clerk with his uncle, marrying Jane Shearman, 
 his cousin. In 1830 he advertised dry goods under his own name, but 
 soon became a partner with Ebenezer. They remained together until 
 1840, when both sold out and engaged in cotton manufacture at New 
 Hartford, which the nephew continued until 1865, retaining his residence 
 in Utica. Mr. Shearman was much interested in politics and of con- 
 siderable influence therein ; he was an ardent Whig and Republican, 
 conspicuous in support of war measures, and was instrumental in advanc- 
 ing the political fortunes of Roscoe Conkling, though he was subse- 
 quently his determined enemy. He was appointed postmaster in 1849 
 and held the office four years. Before this he had been chief of the fire 
 department and in 1864 he was police commissioner. He was a warden 
 in Trinity Church. He lived here until July 21, 1886. 
 
 A popular dry goods store, and perhaps the most favored resort of any 
 of them for ladies intent on dresses and trimmings, was for a time that 
 of the enterprising and genial Thomas G. Perkins. About 1834 he went 
 to Buffalo and into the employ of the notorious Rathbun. Benedict & 
 Roby now disposed of their stock of hardware to Rockwell & Sanger. 
 Philo Rockwell, father of James Rockwell now resident, was the first 
 victim of the cholera visitation of 1832. Gerry Sanger, whose next 
 partner was Lewis Benedict, after living here many years and rearing a 
 family of daughters went in old age to New Haven, where he still 
 lives. 
 
 Of the firm of Bidwell & Williams the former is the only one who 
 remained. He had been a very successful man in Connecticut, but after 
 having failed there he came to Utica and as merchant and clerk con- 
 tinued until he was able to say that " for sixty- four years he had been 
 behind the counter." Thomas James succeeded to the last factory on 
 Liberty street that had been set up by Morgan James. D. J. Morris, 
 •draper and tailor, another descendant of an early Welsh settler, went 
 ito Syracuse and lived there until recently. Other mechanics were 
 Carmi Hart, cabinetmaker ; William P. Case, joiner ; Riley Rogers, 
 gunsmith; E. P. Curry, lastmaker. 
 
PROCEEDINGS OF 1831. 197 
 
 The first temperance house in Utica was opened by N. Safford next 
 door to where William Clarke had kept his lottery and exchange. He 
 went to Albany, where he kept another temperance house. A bathing 
 establishment made its appearance on Whitesboro street, and with it was 
 a public garden. It was kept at first by E. S. Comstock, then by James 
 Hinman, and afterward by Dr.Marchisi, W. H. Green, and others. 
 
 The officers of the village for 1831 were as follows: President, Ezra 
 S. Cozier ; trustees, John Williams, E. S. Comstock, Thomas Colling, 
 T. S. Faxton, A. S. Pond, Sylvester Doolittle, Robert McBride, R. B. 
 Miller ; assessors, Benjamin Ballou, Zenas Wright, Augustus Hurlburt, 
 Adam Bowman ; treasurer, Thomas Walker ; clerk and attorney, John 
 G. Floyd ; surveyor, John Fish. 
 
 Under act of legislature of February 3d the fire department was re- 
 organized and made to consist of a chief, two assistants, and eight fire 
 wardens, with four engine companies, numbered consecutively from 
 number i, and a hook and ladder and a hose company. An engine- 
 house was built during the year in the rear of the public school-house. 
 Fifty dollars were appropriated for celebrating the 4th of July, which 
 was probably the first action of that character in the village. A reso- 
 lution was adopted on the i ith of November that a meeting of citizens 
 be called on the following Monday evening at the court-house to take 
 into consideration the subject of petitioning the legislature for city priv- 
 ileges and such other amendments to the charter as might seem expe- 
 dient. This was the first step toward city incorporation, which was 
 consummated in the following year. 
 
 On the 30th of November a committee was authorized to buy the lot 
 on the corner of John and Catharine streets at $1,500 and procure 
 plans for an engine-house and a school-house, and contract for their 
 erection, to be finished by June i, 1832. Public improvements were 
 Hmited to paving on Elizabeth, Post, Burnet, Water, Albany, and Main 
 streets. In September a large meeting of citizens was held in the court- 
 house in behalf the Poles then engaged in their last struggle for liberty 
 against Russia. A committee of the foremost men was appointed to 
 raise funds and transmit them to General Lafayette, who had consented 
 to become the medium of transmission between the Americans and that 
 suffering people. His reply, dated November 29, 1831, acknowledges 
 
igS MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 the receipt of $974-59, together with the accompanying resolutions and 
 address of the citizens, coupHng his " admiration, pride, and gratitude 
 with the remembranceof the situation of your part of the country in 1777 
 and 1794, as well as the welcome bestowed upon me six years ago in 
 your flourishing and beautiful town." In May of this year the first 
 steps were taken toward the formation of the Utica Mechanics Associa- 
 tion, which was not, however, incorporated until two years afterward. 
 
 Of those whose names are now first met with one was Chester Hay- 
 den, who was born in Granville, Washington County, N. Y., on the 5th 
 day of November, 1789, and came with his parents to the village of 
 Steuben, Oneida County, about the beginning of this century. He was 
 educated at Fairfield Academy and read law with James Shearman, of 
 Rome, whose sister he subsequently married, and began practice with 
 Wheeler Barnes. In 18 18 he was town clerk and soon after removed 
 to Pulaski, where he was surrogate of Oswego County and afterward a 
 representative in the State Assembly. About 1827 he returned to Rome 
 and practiced with Henry A. Foster. January 5, 1830, he was ap- 
 pointed first judge of Oneida Common Pleas and soon afterward made 
 his home in Utica. This office he held about ten years, becoming in 
 1843 one of the side judges and also canal appraiser.' Not far from 
 1848 he removed to Albany, starting a little later a law school at Ball- 
 ston Spa and continuing it at Poughkeepsie. In Ohio in 1856 he opened 
 another school of the same kind which he removed to Cleveland. There 
 he died February 6, 1863. A studious man of gentle and unpretending 
 mien he was conversant with the law, of special repute in matters of 
 chancery, and a just and prudent judge. As a church officer and a 
 teacher of the Scriptures he rendered service both at Rome and in Utica. 
 
 J. J. French, John Egan, and Alexander Cameron were auctioneers, 
 the latter only maintaining a considerable stay, at first with Egan and 
 afterward alone. Lyons & Williams were coachmakers, the former only 
 living some time in the place. There may be mentioned here James 
 Benton, who is still living, though in retirement, but who in times past 
 has borne an active and important part as a master mason in the ma- 
 terial growth of the city, and who as mayor has presided at its council. 
 
UTICA AS A CITY. 199 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 FIRST DECADE UNDER THE CITY CHARTER. 
 
 Inauguration of the City Government — Cholera Epidemic — Details of its Rav- 
 ages — The Anti-Slavery Convention — Proceedings of the successive Councils — 
 New comers of the Era. 
 
 '^T~'HE act to incorporate the city of Utica was passed by the legislat- 
 i ure February 13, 1832. The first section prescribes the bounds 
 of what shall hereafter be known as the city of Utica. These bounds are 
 as follows : Beginning at a point on the south side of the Mohawk River 
 where the division line between lots number 90 and 100 in Cosby's 
 Manor strikes the said river ; thence running southerly in the said divis- 
 ion line to a point fifty chains southerly of the great road leading to 
 Fort Stanwix ; thence south 53° east to the easterly line of the county 
 of Oneida; thence northerlyin the said county line to the Mohawk River; 
 thence westerly up the middle of the said river to the place of beginning. 
 Subsequent sections of the act incorporate this district as a city; divide 
 it into four wards corresponding to the heart of the first four of the present 
 time ; declare that its officers shall be a mayor, twelve aldermen -(three for 
 each ward), four justices of the peace, a clerk, a supervisor, a treasurer, 
 an attorney, one or more collectors, four assessors, three constables, and 
 authorize the appointment by the council of certain other officers ; name 
 the first Tuesday in March as the date of the annual election ; declare that 
 the aldermen shall be elected by the people and prescribe the mode of elec- 
 tion and the qualification of the electors, one of which was the possession 
 of a freehold estate of the value of $250 over and above all incumbrances; 
 that the mayor and other officers were to be elected by a vote of the 
 council, who were to fix their compensation, excepting only that of the 
 mayor, which was to be $250. Other acts related to the levying of 
 taxes for the expenses of the city, which were placed at $8,000, but if 
 this sum was found insufficient it was subject to increase on the consent 
 or petition in writing of a majority of the taxpayers ; to the powers and 
 duties of the council and the various officers, etc. 
 
200 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 The new common council met March 13, 1832. The names of the 
 aldermen were as follows : Ephraim Hart, Rudolph Snyder, John Will- 
 iams, Charles A. Mann, Ezra S. Barnum, Augustus Hurlburt, Robert 
 McBride, Harvey Barnard, Chauncey Rowe, John A. Russ, John H. 
 Ostrom, and Rutger B. Miller. The oath of office was taken and John 
 H. Ostrom appointed cX^xV. pro tern. A mayor was then elected by bal- 
 lot, Joseph Kirkland being chosen the first mayor of Utica. Aldermen 
 Hurlburt and Rowe were appointed a committee to wait on the mayor, 
 who came in and took the official oath. Other officers were then bal- 
 loted for with the following result : Clerk, Thomas Colling ; treasurer, 
 Ezra S. Cozier ; attorney, David Wager ; street commissioner, John 
 McElwaine ; police constables, Samuel Hall, Thomas Parmelee ; sur- 
 veyors, John Fish and E. O. Baily. Aldermen Hart and Mann were 
 appointed a committee to procure a seal. Aldermen Mann, Snyder, and 
 Ostrom and the mayor were made a committee to report a code of by- 
 laws, police regulations, and rules for the government of the council. 
 This committee reported accordingly and the report was accepted ; the 
 new ordinances were read before the board at intervals during the en- 
 suing few weeks and were finally adopted in April. Five watchmen 
 were appointed, and in March Levi Ballou was chosen as beadle and a 
 scavenger was appointed for each ward. 
 
 On the 9th of April a committee was appointed to sell the free school 
 lot on Catharine street and buy another suitable for common school and 
 fire purposes ; the lot was sold to John R. Bleecker for $300. On the 
 15th of May it was resolved that the street commissioner be authorized 
 to expend not to exceed $300 on repairing roads ; Aldermen Miller, 
 Hart, and Hurlburt were made a committee on the expediency of buy- 
 ing a town clock. June 1st it was ordered that " two bells be rung for 
 the accommodation of citizens" — Presbyterian and Episcopal. 
 
 A special meeting of the council was held June 14th. It had been 
 reported to the board that a son of John Adams was sick with small- 
 pox. A resolution was adopted directing Drs. McCall and Peckham to 
 visit the person and ascertain wliether he could be removed to the pest- 
 house without danger ; a committee was also appointed to put the house 
 in condition. But a far more terrible enemy was approaching than the 
 small-pox, that was to create consternation throughout the country 
 
Allantir: Pulilishing SL Enjravin^ C°J^Y 
 
CHOLERA EPIDEMIC. 201 
 
 and carry to the grave many dwellers in Utica — the Asiatic cholera. At 
 a meeting of the council on June i6th the following was adopted: 
 
 " Whereas, The council has received information that the Asiatic cholera has 
 recently appeared in Canada, and there being just grounds to fear that in a short time 
 it may reach this city, and the common council deeming it incumbent on them I0 
 adopt such measures as may be best adapted to prevent the introduction and spread of 
 such disease, therefore, 
 
 '^Resolved, That Drs. Goodsell, McCall, Coventry, Peckham, and McCraith be and 
 they are appointed (with the council) as a Board of Health. That said board are 
 hereby authorized to make such regulations as they may deem expedient to prevent the 
 i)itroduction and spread of disease and to preserve the health of the inhabitants of the 
 city." 
 
 The council took active steps to carry into effect the regulations of 
 the Board of Health. The aldermen of each ward were constituted a 
 committee for their respective wards to examine houses, streets, lances, 
 and outhouses for the removal of nuisances and " cleaning and filling up 
 streets." The following resolution was passed : 
 
 ''Resolved^ That this board will provide for the payment of all expenses incurred 
 under the preceding resolutions." 
 
 On June 20th Dr. Goodsell was made president of the Board of 
 Health and published for that body a communication recommending 
 every possible sanitary precaution. A resolution was adopted that a 
 temporary hospital be erected at some point east of Miller's Basin and 
 near the old weigh lock, to receive such sick persons as the board should 
 direct to be placed therein. Fifty bushels of lime were purchased for 
 the use of the poor. A special meeting of the council was held on the 
 23d of June at which Dr. John McCall was appointed health officer and 
 Joseph Kirkland, Drs. Goodsell, Peckham, Coventry, and McCraith, and 
 Aldermen Mann and Ostrom were constituted the Board of Health. 
 Early in July the religious societies petitioned the council to unite in 
 observing a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer "in consequence of 
 the pestilence." This request was carried out. On July 3d it was re- 
 solved that the police constables cause the body of John Hilliard, "now 
 lying dead in Ehzabeth street, to be interred during the night." This is 
 a grim and suggestive record, characteristic of the time. 
 
 On the 29th of June $50 were placed at the disposal of the Board of 
 Health and on August lOth $100 were thus appropriated. At a special 
 
 26 
 
202 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 meeting July 27th Drs. McCall and Coventry were authorized to visit 
 New York and Albany to collect information regarding the cholera. 
 They did so and made an intelligent report, but it resulted in very little 
 good. On June 26th the following was adopted : 
 
 "Resolved, That Joseph P. Newland and Lucien B. Wells be appointed assistants to 
 Dr. McCall, health officer. 
 
 •• Resolved, Thai Drs. Goodsell and Peckham be a committee to procure suitable 
 places for the accommodation of those who may be sick with the cholera or small-pox, 
 and to furnish for the sick such medicine, attendance, nurses, and other things as may 
 be proper and necessary for their comfort. 
 
 "Resolved, That General Ostrom and Dr. McCraith be a committee to designate the 
 proper place where boats may perform quarantine and where they may be cleansed and 
 purified, and report.'' 
 
 The report named Johnson's Basin on the west and the starch factory 
 and Miller's Basin on the east. Committees of two in each ward were 
 appointed on nuisances, and Hon. Joseph Kirkland and Dr. Coventry 
 were made a committee to publish daily the state of health of the city. 
 The committee for the purpose could not find suitable buildings for a 
 hospital and recommended as a site for the erection of a fitting structure 
 Huntington's Common and a spot northeast of the Sulphur Spring. 
 The Sulphur Spring, it should be remarked for the present genera- 
 tion of readers, was in the gulf, the channel of what was known as Bal- 
 lou's Creek, more recently Grace Creek — it trickled from the base of 
 its east bank a little below Rutger street. On the 4th of July the com- 
 mittee reported that they had agreed with a Mr. Clover for the use of, 
 his house, if needed, for a temporary hospital, and about the first of Au- 
 gust a building was erected near Miller's Basin for the same purpose. 
 About the middle of August Samuel Hall, John Dickey, Chauncey 
 Phelps, John Y. Pierce, John Cooper, and William Fay were appointed 
 assistants to the Board of Health, and it was made their duty to see to 
 the care and removal of poor persons sick with the cholera and the 
 burial of the dead. 
 
 Most of the foregoing resolutions and proceedings are taken from the 
 book of minutes of the Board of Health, and convey a good general 
 idea of the action taken to mitigate the horrors of the plague. The last 
 record in the book is under date of August 13th. The council proceed- 
 ings show, however, that on the isth of that month Drs. Goodsell, 
 
CHOLERA EPIDEMIC. 
 
 203 
 
 Coventry, Peckham, and McCraith resigned from the Board of Health 
 and E. S. Cozier, William Williams, Joseph E. Bloomfield, Spencer 
 Kellogg, and Alfred Munson were appointed. On the 27th Mr. Bloom- 
 field resigned and Moses Bagg was appointed. On the 14th of Septem- 
 ber Dr. F. B. Wales, physician in the hospital, resigned and received 
 resolutions of thankfulness for his labors. Dr. McCall resigned on the 
 7th of December. 
 
 At one time in the height of the disease the academy was used as a 
 temporary hospital. The alarm felt by the community and with which 
 it was seized upon the first appearance of the disease had become ex- 
 treme, and large numbers fled from the city. It was estimated that 
 3,000 persons had departed to various parts of the surrounding countrj- 
 in search of a securer refuge from the mysterious scourge. All business 
 was suspended ; schools and churches were closed ; the silence of death 
 reigned in the streets ; few other vehicles were seen but hearses for the 
 dead and carriages for the sick, or in provision for their needs ; minis- 
 trants in like services were the only persons on foot that ventured 
 abroad. Daily bulletins were issued by the Board of Health, and these 
 were continued until early in the month of September. There is no 
 doubt that fear added greatly to the malignity of the disease and set 
 almost at naught the prescriptions of the physicians and the solicitous- 
 nursing of friends. The summary of deaths from August 12th to Au- 
 gust 28th was announced as 5 1 ; the number of cases, 1 72. By Septem- 
 ber loth the number of deaths had reached 65 ; of cases, 206. 
 
 The hospital which had been established in the academy was discon- 
 tinued on the iith of September, and the president of the Board of 
 Health published a statement declaring that no more danger existed to 
 persons returning to the city if reasonable precautions were taken. 
 The papers insisted that the health of the city was quite good. On the 
 25th of September they announced that the "city was never more 
 healthy and not a case of cholera had occurred since the last issue." 
 
 The following additional particulars relating to the epidemic have 
 been gathered from the public journals and other sources. Cholera 
 broke out in New York and Albany early in July. All through the 
 latter month and down to August 13th the Utica papers insisted that 
 this place was in perfect health and congratulations appeared that no^ 
 
2 04 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 case of cholera had yet occurred. But on the 13th of August the 
 papers printed the following: "The Board of Health have the melan- 
 choly duty of announcing to their fellow citizens that the malignant 
 cholera has at length appeared in our city. For the last twenty- four 
 hours there have been four cases, all of which proved fatal. Physicians 
 are ordered to report all cases at or before noon of each day." The 
 four cases mentioned were Philo Rockwell (who was the first), Miss Os- 
 trom, Miss Gainer, and a Mr. Martin. The first three lived in Wash- 
 ington street, which was characterized as one of the cleanest in the city. 
 From the 14th to the i6th there were four cases. On the 17th there 
 were twenty-eight cases. Two hospitals were soon provided — one near 
 Mr. Plant's on upper Genesee street, a little out of the city, and the 
 other at the corner of Columbia and State streets. 
 
 The public improvements of the year consisted of the laying out of 
 Columbia street from Broadway to Genesee street according to John 
 Fish's survey, a matter that had been often discussed before ; paving of 
 parts of Whitesboro and Water streets ; a sewer in Genesee street from 
 J. Singer's store to the sewer in Broad street; Steuben Squre enclosed, 
 walks laid, etc. In spite of the cholera $50 were appropriated 
 for celebrating the 4th of July. It was also determined to erect two 
 new school- houses, one in the Third and one in the Fourth ward. There 
 were at this time five fire companies and a hook and ladder company, 
 and the number of men reported as belonging to each was from thirty- 
 five to sixty, an average of a fraction over fifty, and a contract was 
 entered into for erecting an engine-house on Hotel street. 
 
 It will be of interest at this point — the beginning of the history of 
 IJtica as a city — to record the condition of business on the main 
 thoroughfares of Genesee street, and the names of all occupants of build- 
 ings on both sides of that street. This has been carefully compiled from 
 ■existing records and is doubtless correct. 
 
 Genesee Street, east side — Beginning at the foot of the street, east side, 
 •was No. 9, William Dobson, grocer'. 11, John Mason & Co., paints, 
 -oil, and glass, also 3 Granite building. 13, Garnet Jones & Son, cabi- 
 net warehouse. 15, George Martell, grocer. 19, Bagg's Hotel, corner 
 
 1 Mr. Dobson resided at the same number, and this was the case with a large number of the 
 .business men at that time — they lived in the same buildings in which they carried on trade 
 
BUSINESS RECORD. 205 
 
 Main, Bagg & Churchill, proprietors ; J. Parker & Co., Elisha Backus, 
 John Butterfield, stage proprietor's office. (Main street.) 21, John 
 Adams, merchant. 21 yi, Oilman & Fuller, grocers. 23, Hubbell & 
 Curran, hides and leather. 25, Joab Stafiford, hardware merchant. 27, 
 E. B. Shearman & Co., manufacturers and dealers in American goods 
 and window glass. 29, Warner & Southmayd, druggists. 31, Jona- 
 than R. Warner, hat and fur store. 35, Frederick K. Boughton, hat 
 and fur store. 39, Stephen Thorn, saddler. 41, Elias Rose, grocer; 
 Joseph Jones, cabinet warehouse; John Baird, jr., hat and fur store. 
 43, Walton & Hardaway, saddle, harness, and trunkmakers. Corner 
 Broad, Dodge & Dickey, grocers, confectioners. (Broad street.) 53, 
 William Clarke, lottery and exchange office; Oneida Temperance House, 
 Jonathan M. Ropes, proprietor. 55, Elisha M. Gilbert, dry goods; 
 Ephraim Feltt, dry goods. 57, Nathan Davis, dry goods; Joseph Kirk- 
 land, mayor and attorney, John G. Floyd, attorney, and Dr. William 
 Van Zandt, upstairs ; also Joseph Colwell, publisher of the Utica In- 
 telligencer. 59, Wells M. Gaylord, looking-glass store ; John Jay Hin- 
 man and William A. Hinman, attorneys, upstairs. 63, Mrs. Lemuel 
 Snow, millinery, etc. 65, Harvey Barnard, paper hangings; Mrs. 
 Barnard, millinery store. 67, Bidwell & Williams, Utica cash store. 
 69, George Dutton, music dealer; Mrs. Dutton, millinery. 71, Thomas 
 & Knowlson, dry goods. 73, Robert Jones, grocer and confectioner. 
 75, Roderick Matson, lottery and exchange office. (Catharine street.) 
 79, Ezra S. Barnum, grocer, justice, and commissioner of deeds ; Jesse 
 Newell, paints, paper hangings, etc., and brush factory; Cornelius 
 Swartout, dry goods. 81, J. Murdock & Co., watchmakers and silver- 
 smiths; H. & E. Phinney & Co., booksellers; Isaiah Tiffany (of H. & 
 E. Phinney & Co.), commissioner of deeds; Elisha A. Maynard, editor 
 and printer of the Utica Observer. 83, Alfred Hitchcock, druggist. 
 85, Thomas Harris & Co., crockery ; Abraham B. Williams, draper 
 and taitor ; Robert S. Lattimore, tailor ; Thomas F. Field, merchant. 
 2>'j, John R. Ludlow & Co., china, glass, and earthenware; William 
 Jarrett. 89, Sanger & Benedict, hardware; Thomas J. Newland, cop- 
 persmith; Peter B. Ballou, livery stable, rear of National Hotel. 91, 
 National Hotel, John Wells, proprietor. 93, James Sayre, hardware 
 and dry goods ; John F. J. Vedder, boots and shoes ; Nicholas F. Ved- 
 
2o6 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 der ; Heman Norton, physician, upstairs. 95, James Henry, city 
 boot and shoe store ; Alexander M. Beebee, attorney, editor of New 
 York Baptist Register, upstairs ; Pierre O. Beebee, attorney, upstairs ; 
 George L. Brown, hair-dresser. (Erie Canal.) Packet office below 
 Genesee street bridge, next door to Coffee House. 101-103, Shepard's 
 Coffee House, Abraham Shepard, proprietor; Bachelder & Wells, phy- 
 sicians, under the stage office, Shepard's Coffee House. 105, John H. 
 Swift & Co., hats and furs. 107, Philip and Ira Thurber, grocers and 
 fruits. 109, Hunt & Bristol, grocers and druggists, ill, Edward 
 Norris, grocer and forwarder. 113, Egan & Clarke, auctioneers and 
 commission merchants; Circulating Library. 115, Franklin House. 
 117, Louis Green, grocer and ironmonger. 119, Samuel A. Sibley, 
 stoves, copper, tin, and hardware. 121, Tillman & Benjamin, cabinet 
 warehouse. 123, United States Branch Bank, John C. Devereux, 
 president. 129, Aylesworth & Holmes, importers and dealers in hard- 
 ware ; Isaac B. Everson, fruit store ; Tarous & Dufrainoit, hair- dressers. 
 (Bleecker street.) 131, William G. Allyn, auctioneer and commission 
 merchant; Hallock Thorne, merchant; Erastus Cross (C. & Joslin 
 and C. &Sykes), merchants, corner Bleecker. 133, Rowe & Woodruff, 
 hardware and fancy goods ; Arunah Monroe, tinner. 135, John Cun- 
 ningham, millinery and fancy goods. 137, Edward Vernon, bookseller. 
 139, Frank B. Wall, physician. 139^, Utica Museum, upstairs over 
 141. 141, John P. Bachelder, physician. 143, John E. Powell, mer- 
 chant tailor. 145, Miss M. Stoddard, millinery. 147, John Bradish, 
 attorney, office upstairs. 149, William Clarke, ladies' shoe store. 151, 
 Francis T. Lobridge, tailor; Farmers' Tavern, Moses B. Maxon, pro- 
 prietor. 157, Richard B. Bloomfield, grocer, corner Elizabeth street. 
 (Elizabeth street.) 159, Braman's Hotel (changed from Eagle Tavern), 
 David M. Braman, proprietor. 161, James Dean, attorney. 161-163, 
 Carmi Hart, cabinet warehouse, dealer in mahogany. (Devereux 
 street.) 177, David L. Mallison, physician; Hiram Rogers, physician. 
 199, City Hotel, Harvey Mason, proprietor, corner Carnahan street. 
 
 Genesee Street, -west side — Owen Quin, blacksmith, corner Genesee 
 and Water. 6, Hugh Rooney, grocer. 8, Edward Evans, tinner and 
 brazier. 10, Edward Baldwin, dry goods and flour dealer ; Miss Jane 
 and Catharine Baldwin, milliners and mantua makers. 12, Ezra S. 
 
BUSINESS RECORD. 207 
 
 Comstock, grocer and confectioner, proprietor of city garden and 
 baths; Levi Comstock, inspector of leather. 14, Levi Barnuni, hat 
 store; Samuel Lightbody, hide and leather store; Harvey Hannahs, 
 grocer, confectionery, and fruits, 2 Granite building; John Mason & Co., 
 paint, oil, and glass store, 3 Granite building. 20, Henry L. Smith, 
 grocery store, 3 Granite building. 22, Hickcox & Brown, hardware, 
 merchants, and grocers. Granite building. (Whitesboro street.) 26, 
 Lemuel Snow, shoe store, corner Genesee and Whitesboro ; Francis D. 
 Grosvenor, general agency ofiSce, corner Genesee and Whitesboro ; 
 William Whiteley, musical instruments. 30, Leach & Bradley, military 
 and jewelry store; Thomas Davies, watch repairer; Patrick McCraith, 
 physician, upstairs over 30 Genesee street. 32, Curtis & Savage, 
 crockery merchants and grocers. 34, Oren Clark, merchant. 36, 
 Benjamin Frankland, city hat store. 38, Blake & Smith, drapers and 
 tailors; Ostrom & Walker, attorneys, upstairs over 38 Genesee street; 
 Ward Hunt, up stairs, over 40 Genesee street. 42, James Ingols, fancy 
 goods and hair-dresser; Jacob Overacre, lithograph printer, upstairs 
 over 42 Genesee street; Samuel P. Lyman, attorney, upstairs over 42 
 Genesee street. 44, Spencer Field, clothing store; Matthew Talcott, 
 attorney, upstairs over 44 Genesee street ; Beriah B. Hotchkin, editor 
 of the Elucidator, over 44 ; George W. Herrick, copperplate printer, 
 upstairs over 44. 46, Joseph S. Porter, jewelry and military store ; 
 Richard Huntington, silversmith and jeweler ; Otis Childs, spectacle 
 maker. 52, George Bray ton, fancy and staple goods and wholesale 
 dealer in stoneware. 54, Barton & Butler, dry goods merchants. 56, 
 Stocking & Hunt, hats and furs. 58, Daniel B. Lothrop, druggist and 
 grocer. 60, William Williams, bookseller and publisher ; Balch, Styles 
 & Wright, engravers and copperplate printers. 62, Robert Shearman, 
 dealer in carpetings and dry goods. 64, Theodore S. Gold, dry goods l^ 
 merchant. 66, Oliver A. Newell, dry goods merchant. 68, Samuel 
 Thomson, dealer in carpetings and dry goods. 70, Ellis & Cooper, dry 
 goods merchants ; Ontario Branch Bank, A. B. Johnson, president.V^ 
 72, Stacy & Allen, dry goods merchants. 74, Thomas G. Perkins, dry 
 goods; Horatio. Seymour, attorney, upstairs over 74; Samuel D. 
 Dakin, attorney, John Fish, city surveyor, both over 74. ^6, Thomas 
 Hopper, dry goods merchant. Marble building; Button & Hovey, dry 
 
2o8 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 goods merchants, Marble building; Kirkiand & Bacon, attorneys, I 
 Marble building; William Tracy, attorney, 2 Marble building; J. Wat- 
 son Williams, attorney and clerk in chancery, 4 Marble building; 
 Nathan Williams, circuit judge, 5 Marble building ; Burton D. Hurl- 
 burt, attorney, 6 Marble building; Sidney T. Fairchild, attorney, 6 
 Marble building. 78, Daniel J. Morris, draper and tailor. 80, O'Neil 
 & Martin, hardware and copper manufactory and store. 82, John & 
 William Williams, druggists and wholesale and retail dealers in grocer- 
 ies and paints and dyes, 84, Elisha Wells, boots and shoes. Law 
 building; John Parsons, justice of the peace. Law building; Thomas 
 Walker, i Law building; King & Wright, attorneys, 2 Law building; 
 Wetmore & Denio, attorneys, 4 Law building. 88, Daniel Cleveland, 
 dry goods merchant. Law building; Stalham Williams, treasurer of 
 packet boat companies ; James Dana, importer and dealer in hardware 
 and saddlery. 90, Parker & Hastings, wholesale grocers. 92, Joseph 
 A. Sherman, dry goods merchant; Elhanan W. Williams, attorney, up- 
 stairs ; Asa S. Ruddock, physician, upstairs. 94, Otis Manchester, 
 draper and tailor; Grove Penny, tailor; Hastings & Tracy, booksell- 
 ers, printers, and publishers of the Western Recorder ; Western Recorder 
 office, Thomas Hastings, editor. 96, Lord & Shapley, dry goods; 
 Beardsley & Matteson, attorneys, upstairs. 98, John Camp & Broth- 
 ers, merchants. 100, Spencer Kellogg & Son, dry goods; John Os- 
 born, glover, upstairs. 102, Jesse W. & Charles R. Doolittle, dry 
 goods. 104, Alexander Seymour, dry goods. 106, Milton Brayton, 
 dry goods. 1 08, Hughes & Barry, tailors; Thompson Bacon, jr., boots 
 and shoes; Jacob Vanderheyden, cordwainer. iio, Ziba & Phil- 
 emon Lyon, tailors; Simon V. Oley, boots and shoes and leather. 
 112, William W. Backus, dry goods, corner of Liberty street; Al- 
 bert Bacon, boots and shoes, corner of Genesee and Liberty street. 
 (Liberty street.) 114, Dennis Nellis, tailor, corner Liberty. 116, 
 Charles Brewster, lottery and exchange agent ; Samuel C. Brewster, lot- 
 tery and exchange broker; George Parker, silversmith; Thomas T. 
 Rowe, watch repairer. 118, Riley Rogers, gunsmith, upstairs. 120, 
 Benjamin F. Brooks, music and jewelery ; Norman Tryon, auctioneer; 
 Joab Griswold, watchmaker ; George Thorp, silverplater ; Landais 
 Wood, silversmith ; John P. Merrill^ carver, upstairs. 122, Alexander 
 
BUSINESS EECORD. 209 
 
 Cameron, auction and commission merchant; Rufus Northway, jr., 
 printer and publisher of the Utica Sentinel and Gazette, upstairs, cor- 
 ner Canal ; Russell Loomis, innkeeper and grocer, and Lewis C. Loomi?, 
 grocer, corner Genesee and Canal. 124, Mairs & Dows, grocers and 
 tinners, corner Genesee and Canal. (Erie Canal.) 126-128, Butler, 
 McDonough & Co., forwarders and commission merchants and whole- 
 sale dealers in merchandise ; John B. Pease, justice of the peace, upstairs >- 
 over 126; Henry H. Pease, attorney, and Thomas Goodselj, upstairs. 
 130, George Manchester, draper and tailor; McAllister & Grant, phy- 
 sicians, upstairs. 132, Dennis Saumet, hair-dresser. 134, John B. 
 Marchisi, druggist and grocer. (Franklin Square.) Murray & Carroll, 
 dry goods ; Maynard & Spencer, attorneys, upstairs ; White & Crafts, 
 attorneys, upstairs; William S. Spear, publisher of the Lever ; all of 
 these were in the Devereux building. John Anson, grocer, head of 
 Hotel street. Thomas Jenkins, boots and shoes, head of Hotel street ; 
 Mrs. Midlam, millinery, head of Hotel street ; William G. Miller, sad- 
 dler and harnessmaker, head of Hotel street ; James S. Foster & Co., 
 merchants, corner of Fayette. (Fayette street.) 1 36, Bennett & Bright, 
 printers, booksellers, and publishers of the New York Baptist Register 
 and Youth's Miscellany ; Theodore Pomeroy, physician, upstairs; 
 Quartus Graves, publisher of the Record of Genius and the Co- Opera- 
 tor. 138, Hurlburt & Brownell, manufacturers and dealers in cotter* 
 goods. 140, Edward Owens, cutler and surgical instrument maker. 
 142, Stephen M. Ferine, chair warehouse; William C. Rogers, cabinet 
 warehouse. 144, Robert Disney, druggist; John P. B. Sloan, physi- 
 cian. 146, John Hale, master mason and merchant; Harvey N. Smith, 
 coroner. 148, Charles Easton, hardware and paints ; George North, 
 merchant. 154, Thomas Bradwell, boots and shoes. 156, Henry New- 
 land, boots and shoes. 158, Robert Higginbotham, shoe store ; Isaac 
 N. Meacham, physician. (Columbia street.) 162— 164, William B. Gray, 
 saddle, harness, and trunkmaker. 178, Milo Arnold, grocer, corner 
 Pearl street. (Pearl street.) Rev. Samuel Whittlesey, young ladies* 
 seminary, Genesee and Pearl. 
 
 To this list are added the names and residences of a few additional 
 persons whose places of business were outside of the limits included 
 in the foregoing : Parker & Swift, grocers. No. i Canal buildings (on 
 
 27 
 
210 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 the canal between Hotel, Seneca, and Liberty streets). Jacob C. Space, 
 No. 7 Canal buildings. John Guild, merchant, Bleecker east of Bridge. 
 William Cattell, city mill. Nicholas and Nehemiah HaJlock, pork 
 packers, Elizabeth street. B. S. Merrill, book- binder, corner of Main 
 and Third. Thomas M. Francis, canal collector. Jacob Wrattan, car- 
 penter and joiner. Steuben Square: Charles Churchill, lumber dealer, 
 residence Seneca above Canal. James McGregor, master mason, resi- 
 dence Seneca above Liberty. Stafford Palmer, carpenter and joiner, 
 residence Washington above Fayette. J. C. Shippey, master mason, 
 residence Fayette west of Cornelia. Lyman Scranton, carpenter, resi- 
 dence Washington above Pearl. Chester D. Clark, auctioneer, residence 
 Cooper west of Broadway. George Lawson, currier, residence Whites- 
 boro west of Broadway. Roberts & Sidebotham, butchers, 14-16 
 Clinton market. Tunis Van Syce, though he was temporarily absent 
 from the place in 1832, had already been ten years a grocer here. In 
 1833 he built the Oneida brewery and conducted it until his failure, but 
 lived here some time longer. 
 
 Resum.ing our narrative I proceed to notice the new comers of the 
 year 1832. Of the aspirants of the profession of law three had de- 
 parted by 1837, viz.: Sidney T. Fairchild, Fortune C. White, and Fla- 
 vel W. Bingham. The following were longer connected with the his- 
 tory of Utica, viz.: Horatio Seymour, Alvan Stewart, Burton D. 
 Hurlburt, J. Watson Williams, and Willard Crafts. Sketches of Mr. 
 Seymour and Mr. Williams will be found in the Biographical Department 
 and of Mr. Stewart in that of the Bench and Bar. 
 
 Willard Crafts, a native of Pomfret, Conn., was born in 1789 and 
 came the following year with his parents to Otsego County, N. Y. He 
 •was graduated at Middlebury College, Vt., and after pursuing a course 
 of French studies in Montreal began the study of law with Robert 
 Campbell, of Cooperstown, finishing his course with George Griffin, of 
 New York city. In 181 5 he opened an office as attorney in Bridge- 
 water, whence he removed after seventeen years of practice to this city 
 in the spring of 1832. This practice he continued until his death, De- 
 cember 9, 1866. Mr. Crafts was never ambitious of either fame or 
 wealth. He acquired a sufficiency for an unostentatious life and never 
 sacrificed a principle for advancement or gain. His tastes were simple; 
 
BURTON D. HURLBURT AND OTHERS. 211 
 
 his habits temperate and frugal; his manners affable and genial ; and 
 his home hospitable. Equable of temper he pursued the even tenor of 
 his way without either giving or taking offence, and was ever ready to- 
 do any service in his power. 
 
 An obituary notice of Burton D. Hurlburt informs us that he was 
 born in Augusta, Oneida County, May 30, 1807. He was educated in 
 Hamilton Academy and entered Hamilton College, but two years later 
 went to Union, where he was graduated with valedictorian honors in 
 1829. He studied law in different places and was admitted to practice 
 in 1832. He was a few months a partner of Sidney T. Fairchild and 
 was ambitious to rise, but ill health forced him to retire from genera! 
 practice about 1845. While still doing law business he devoted him- 
 self for some years to the oversight and management of a farm in New 
 Hartford. The failure of Frederick Hollister caused him a heavy loss. 
 as his endorser, and through this failure he was engaged as attorney by 
 Brown Brothers, of New York, in important suits affecting the title to 
 the Clayville mills, which Mr. Hollister had owned from 1842 to 185 i. 
 Mr. Hurlburt had charge of the steam woolen- mills, the property 
 of A. T. Stewart, of New York. He was thereby involved in much liti- 
 gation and was successful in seventeen out of eighteen of their suits; 
 the last one, involving $50,000, was carried before the Court of Appeals- 
 and was won by Mr. Hurlburt after six years of prosecution. Mr. 
 Hurlburt was one of the original stockholders of the Oneida Bank. He- 
 died September 25, 1887. 
 
 Physicians now first noted as resident are Lucien B. Wells, Asahel 
 Grant, John P. Newland, John P. B. Sloan, John Budlong, and' Row 
 land Sears. Dr. Wells studied with Dr. Theodore Pomeroy and prac- 
 ticed for some years elsewhere, but returned again to Utica and has 
 lived and practiced here for quite a number of years. 
 
 Dr. Asahel Grant soon left the place to go on a mission to the Nes- 
 torians of Persia. His labors among them and his history of that an- 
 cient semi- Christian people are well known. Dr. Newland practiced 
 some time here. 
 
 Palmer V. Kellogg, son of Spencer Kellogg, the merchant of 1825, 
 became in 1832 a partner with him in the dry goods trade, which con- 
 nection was changed in 1842 to one with James Rockwell. This lasted 
 
212 {MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 until 1847, after which and until 1853 he had as a partner his brother, 
 Charles C. Kellogg. About this time he entered on the making and 
 sale of clothing, at first in company with Alexander Rae, but shortly- 
 after with John H. Prentiss and James K. Hitchcock, under the firm 
 name of P. V. Kellogg & Co. They made a large quantity of goods 
 -which were mostly sent for sale to an associate house in Chicago. To 
 that city Messrs. Kellogg and Prentiss removed in 1869. There the 
 manufacture was continued on a still larger scale, and there Mr. Kel- 
 logg amassed considerable wealth. In addition to the cares of his busi- 
 ness Mr. Kellogg was while here much busied in politics and exerted a 
 go.^d deal of influence in the Whig party. He was ambitious for office 
 and skilled in the advanced methods of politics. He was supervisor for 
 the city, sheriff" of the county, and United States marshal for the North- 
 ern District of New York. 
 
 James Button, a native of Lebanon, Conn., after serving as a clerk in 
 Richmond, Va., came to Utica in 1831 and served in the same capacity 
 with Anson Thomas. In 1832 he established a dry goods business of 
 his own and continued it more than an average life-time, always com- 
 manding the entire confidence of all who held relations with hrm. He 
 was naturally retiring and modest and managed his affairs as became 
 such a nature. His investments were carefully made. Fortune smiled 
 upon his industry and integrity and he quietly enjoyed its fruits. His 
 home was for many years in New Hartford while he carried on business 
 here. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church of that village 
 and was an honor to his Christian profession. His first wife was Eliz- 
 abeth, daughter of Walter King, by whom he had four children. His 
 second was Annie, daughter of Adam Traquard, of Philadelphia. 
 
 Theodore P. Ballou was the son of Jerathmel Ballou and grandson 
 of Joseph Ballou, one of the pioneer settlers of Utica. He was born 
 March 18, 1808. He was a clerk for some years for Ebenezer B. Shear- 
 man, his uncle, and in 1832 became one of the firm of E. B. Shearman 
 & Co., remaining in it until the death of Mr. Shearman. Afterward he 
 engaged in the lumber business and in insurance. He was the owner of 
 the gang- mills at Prospect, built the Ballou block on the site of his 
 father's store, and was concerned in other business. He died February 
 28, 1887, leaving a widow and two children. 
 

 
 .^«»^«^ 
 
 
 
 
 wt~^^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 "^ 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 
 
 
JOHN CARTON AND OTHERS. 213 
 
 Martin Hart, first as a book-deeper for Alfred Munson, but soon hav- 
 ing an interest with Mr. Munson in the making of burr millstones, re- 
 mained long in the same connection, unassuming and retiring, but 
 reposing in the full confidence of his fellow townsmen. 
 
 A wholesale grocery establishment was this year inaugurated by Job 
 Parker and William P. Swift under the firm name of Parker & Swift. 
 The latter remained some years in Utica, Mr. Parker very much longer, 
 retaining throughout a character for high integrity and general excell- 
 ence. He died in 1872. His sons succeeded to his business as Job Par- 
 kers Sons. 
 
 John Carton, a native of Dublin, came to this country and to Utica 
 when he was twelve years of age, learned his trade as a coppersmith 
 with O'Neil & Martin, and having served an apprenticeship became one 
 of the partners, which partnership he retained until 1845. ^"^ that date 
 he conducted business alone. By his industry, energy, and self-reliance 
 he became one of the most successful business men of the place, gaining 
 steadily in wealth as well as in the esteem and confidence of all with ~ 
 whom he had to do. He was a manufacturer of tin, copper, and sheet 
 ironware, the inventor of hot-air furnaces known by his name, a man- 
 ufacturer of headlights, and proprietor of a cheese vat. Mr. Carton 
 was for some years a director of the Oneida Bank, a trustee of the Sav- 
 ings Bank, and a trustee of the Female Academy. Brought up under 
 the discipline of the Catholic Church he was warmly attached to its in- 
 terests and a supporter of its institutions. He left five sons and two 
 daughters. 
 
 Others whom it must suffice to mention by name only were Grove 
 Penny, one of the firm of Manchester & Co., tailors, who is still living; 
 Orville Olcott, boat builder ; and T. J. Newland, coppersmith. 
 
 1833. — ^The city officers for the year were: Mayor, Henry Seymour ; 
 aldermen, Charles A. Mann, Rutger B. Miller, Harvey Barnard, John 
 Butterfield, Robert McBride, Chauncey Rowe, Gardiner Tracy, Ches- 
 ter Griswold, Ezra S. Barnum, Zenas Wright, Ephraim Hart, Nicholas 
 Smith; clerk, Thomas Colling; treasurer, Thomas Walker ; attorney, 
 John G. Floyd ; surveyor, John Fish. 
 
 On the 3d of January a committee was appointed consisting of the 
 mayor and Aldermen Griswold, Mann, and Tracy to present a memo- 
 
214 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 rial to the legislature praying for " alteration in the location of the 
 Chenango Canal at its northern termination." On the loth of January, 
 1834, the following preamble and resolution were unanimously adopted 
 by the council : 
 
 Whereas, Certain individuals now in our city are disturbing the peace of the good 
 citizens thereof, by circulating sentiments which we deem demoralizing in themselves 
 and little short of treason toward the government of our country, 
 
 Resolved^ That we, the common council of the city of Utica, regard the agitation of 
 the question of Negro Slavery as it exists in the Southern States of this Republic to 
 be highly inexpedient at the present juncture of our National affairs ; and that it can 
 only tend to keep alive the dying embers of internal discord, which we fondly hope and 
 believe will soon be entirely extinguished if not disturbed by the zeal of misguided 
 philanthropists. 
 
 This preamble and resolution were ordered to be sent to the repre- 
 sentative in Congress. 
 
 January 31st an ordinance was adopted designed to effectually close 
 and control brothels, gambling places, assignation houses, etc. 
 
 The Utica and Schenectady Railroad project was now before the pub- 
 lic and the subscription books were opened here during June 17, 18, 
 and 19. Utica subscribed for about $4,300,000 of stock. On the 19th 
 of July a committee was appointed to report at what point in the city 
 the railroad should terminate. The report stated that " it shall-termin- 
 ate on the square (so called.") 
 
 The question of procuring a town clock had been before the author- 
 ities for a year or more and on the 26th of April Aldermen Mann, 
 Hart, and Tracy were made a committee to contract for a clock to be 
 placed on the Bleecker street church.' 
 
 August 9th the aldermen of the Third and Fourth wards were au- 
 thorized to contract for the purchase of lots selected in those wards for 
 school purposes, and report plans for brick school- houses on each lot. 
 A lot was purchased in the Third ward for $1,250. 
 
 The principal improvements of the year were the extension of State 
 street from Fayette to Huntington's basin ; improvement of Chancellor 
 Square by setting trees and making walks ; paving Broadway from 
 Pearl to the canal; building a two- foot sewer from the junction of the 
 then present sewer with the culvert under the canal near James Kip's 
 residence diagonally across land owned by J. M. Church to Pine street, 
 
LA WYERS OF 1833 — J. H. EDMONDS. 215 
 
 and in Pine Street across Fayette to an alley and through the alley to 
 Columbia street. Other proceedings of the council were the appropri- 
 ation of $50 to the Mechanics Association, just incorporated, for the 
 purchase of medals, and the appropriation of $350 for a new engine 
 for company No. 3 if an equal sum should be subscribed. 
 
 From the Elucidator is gleaned the following: Business is spoken of 
 as prosperous. The Utica and Schenectady Railroad was incorporated 
 and the stock sold here at ten per cent, advance. After the opening 
 of the canal business was active; but. the first influences of the ap- 
 proaching financial stress of 1836-37 were, doubtless, beginning to be 
 felt. There was a need of banks here and the amount of currency was 
 insufficient. In 1834 this financial stringency was more marked and 
 there was bitter opposition to the removal of the deposits from the U. S. 
 Bank. It was stated that " money was never more scarce and local 
 banks were discounting no paper." 
 
 The men of the bar now first met with were P. Sheldon Root, John 
 H. Edmonds, John Hogan, James Knox, John L. Talcott, and John C. 
 Van Rensselaer. Of these the first three were the only ones who were 
 fixed in Utica for any considerable period. Mr. Knox, a brother of 
 John J. Knox, of Augusta, having studied law with Joshua A. Spencer, 
 was one year in partnership with him, when he removed to Illinois and 
 was there a conspicuous and useful man. Mr. Hogan was in practice 
 until 1840-42, when he received a consular appointment to Hayti and 
 left the city. Mr. Talcott, son of Samuel A. Talcott, made his reputa- 
 tion as a judge of the Supreme Court in Erie County. For sketch of 
 P. Sheldon Root see chapter on the Bench and Bar. 
 
 John H. Edmonds was a native of Utica. After receiving his aca- 
 demic education he studied in the office of John Bradish and was ad- 
 mitted to practice in 1833. For some years longer he remained with 
 Mr. Bradish, who acted as agent for attorneys throughout the State in 
 the service of papers in the Supreme Court. Assisting him in these 
 duties the assiduous labors of Mr. Edmonds undermined his health. It 
 was re-established by a long journey taken on horseback. In 1838 he 
 became a partner of Charles A. Mann and so. continued until the death 
 of Mr. Mann in i860. During this period he was several years master 
 in chancery, the only official position he ever filled. He did not seek 
 
2i6 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 office, but his life was one of continuous labor. After the death of Mr. 
 Mann he was associated with his son, James F. Mann, and with Addison 
 C. Miller until 1871, when he retired. His occupations were mostly 
 attendance on reference cases and the management of private estates. 
 His opinion, especially on the nature and management of property, was 
 given with careful deliberation, was weighty, and was much confided in. 
 His is the spotless record of a good and true man. Few have better 
 deserved the tribute of respect and esteem which was universally ac- 
 corded him. He died on April i, 1881, leaving a widow, son, and 
 daughter. 
 
 Physicians who first advertised in 1833 were Josiah Rathbun, Will- 
 iam Morris, David L. Bradford, Walton H. Peckham, the first two be- 
 ing the only ones who were persistent in Utica. Josiah Rathbun was 
 born in Brookfield, Chenango County, N. Y., on January 12, 1795. 
 He spent the time until he was seventeen years of age at home, receiv- 
 ing the advantages only of the common school. His father being in 
 limited circumstances Josiah resolved to leave home and begin a busi- 
 ness life for himself. He accordingly went to Martinsburg, N. Y., 
 where he worked on a farm for two years, attending school during the 
 winter seasons. It was during this time, on account of a feeble consti- 
 tution, that he became impressed with the idea of leading a professional 
 life, and entered Onondaga Academy, where he remained for nearly 
 three years including the time spent in teaching in winter. In the 
 year 1820 he began the study of medicine at Lowville, Lewis County, 
 N. Y., which he continued for some three years, including one course 
 of lectures at Fairfield, Herkimer County, and two courses in the old 
 Medical College of New York. After receiving his license Dr. Rath- 
 bun practiced some eight years in Martinsburg, and then in the spring 
 of 1833 settled in Utica, where he remained in the practice of his pro- 
 fession until his death. He lived to see pass away most of his associates 
 of the medical fraternity who were here when he came. He was a 
 member of the Presbyterian Church and a liberal supporter of all kin- 
 dred interests. As a practitioner he was careful and judicious, honor- 
 able in his" professional intercourse, and quiet and unobtrusive with the 
 sick. Affable and courteous a large and influential circle called for his 
 aid, and through many years he ministered to the same families. 
 
DRS. WILLIAM MORRIS AND G. A. FOSTER. 217 
 
 Dr. William Morris was born in Chatham, Columbia County, Decem- 
 ber 29, i8o6. He was left an orphan when but five years old and sub- 
 sequently entered a family related to him, where he assisted at farm 
 work. In later years he followed school teaching, in which he was 
 very successful, and for several years he pursued that occupation in win- 
 ters and worked on a farm in summers. By economy he was enabled 
 to take a course at Hamilton Academy and later graduated with high 
 honors from a medical college in Massachusetts. He came to Utica in 
 1832 and soon gained friends and a considerable practice, particularly 
 in the rural districts. He was an attentive and kind adviser and a 
 worthy and upright member of society. He left two sons, one of whom 
 succeeded him in practice, 
 
 In the directory of the previous year Dr. Gilbert A. Foster had been 
 chronicled as a machinist ; in that of 1833 he appears as a dentist. As 
 such he filled a leading place almost to the time of his death, and most 
 of the time in connection with his son, Dr. Charles B. Foster. Resolu- 
 tions passed by the profession after his decease declare that he was a 
 "power among them." To his geniality and good fellowship, his de- 
 light in sports, in music, and in Masonry, multitudes of his cotempo- 
 raries can attest. 
 
 Beginning at this time as a dry goods merchant Jarvis M. Hatch 
 appears some three years later as a lawyer, in which profession he re- 
 mained, having by turns several different partners until 1849, when he 
 went to Rochester. 
 
 Other dealers were George D. Foster, who was with Alfred Hitch- 
 cock in the sale of drugs and groceries and afterward of the firm of 
 Foster & Dickinson. Another was Stephen Comstock, also grocer. 
 
 Jireh Durkee was proprietor of the Utica Steam Mills, which were 
 set in motion this- year on the corner of Fayette and Cornelia streets 
 and of which John Dagwell was the millwright. Mr. Durkee afterward 
 sold flour, but did not stay long. Mr. Dagwell has remained to the 
 present, having succeeded to the foundry established by Ephraim Hart 
 and conducted by him and his son. Mr. Dagwell became the associate 
 of the latter and has lived an industrious and respected life. Francis 
 Ramsdell was a clerk in the mill. Asaph and Bradford Seymour 
 started the City Furnace on the north corner of Jay street and First 
 
 28 
 
2i8 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 street. The former did casting for a few years (till 1 847 at least), but 
 eventually went back to Hecla, whence they came. 
 
 Two sign painters who for many years pursued their useful calling 
 and were both respected men were John Tunbridge and George Bullock. 
 Charles Adams for a long series of yt::AV^ transported the United States 
 mails between the postoffice and railroads. Other long lasting residents 
 were Peter Brewer, cooper, and Trumbull Smith, grocer. 
 
 1834. — The officers for the year were as follows: Mayor, Joseph 
 Kirkland ; aldermen,. Zc-na^ Wright, Sylvanu.s Holmes, Comfort Butler, 
 Thomas McQuade, Robert McBride, James Sayre, John Williams, Au- 
 gustus Huriburt, Chauhcey Rowe, Daniel Stafford, Gardiner Tracy, 
 Edward Curran ; treasurer, Thomas Walker; attorney, Orsamus B. 
 Matteson ; clerk, Jacob D. Edwards ; surveyor, John Fish ; street 
 commissioner, Morris Wilcox. 
 
 April 4th tiie aldermen of the Fourth ward were appointed as a 
 committee to erect a school-house in that ward and were authorized to 
 contract for a lot and report. On the ist of August $200 were appro- 
 priated in addition to $1,250, which had been previously appropriated, 
 for the lot and school-house. 
 
 At a special meeting of the council held April 5th a committee prev- 
 iously appointed on the termination of the Chenango Canal made their 
 report. This matter was before the people and the authorities a long 
 time and created much feeling, but it was finally amicably arranged by 
 locating the canal where it was constructed. 
 
 April ilth one alderman from each ward and the street comtras- 
 sioner were appointed a committee to superintend the laying out and 
 fencing of "the new burial ground recently purchased of W. F. Pot- 
 ter." This was an additition to the'former one. 
 
 May i6th the clerk gave notice that he would receive separate 
 proposals for cleaning the streets for the year. This seems to have 
 been the first year the street cleaning was done in this manner. Con- 
 tracts were awarded at $100 each tn various persons for cleaning each 
 ward In June the name of Stc-uben Square was officially clian^tfij to 
 Steubeti Park The .-jtreets were also numbered this summer at a cost 
 of $47.50, under direction of a committee, and within the fire limits 
 only. The common council took new quarters on the east side of Ho- 
 tel street about midway betwicn Liberty and Whitesboro. 
 
CYCLONE OF AUGUST, \%^^. 219 
 
 July nth the Utica and Schenectady Railroad was given permission 
 to lay tracks in Main, or Water, or Jay, or John street, " provided that 
 no steam be used in propelling cars after they pass Third street." 
 
 The success of the Erie Canal led to a prevailing inclination through- 
 out the State to project new canals, and Utica felt her proper degree of 
 interest in the work. At this tirtie there was considerable discussion 
 over a ship canal to Oswego, and the authorities actually appropriated 
 $350 toward $1,000 proposedfor a survey of the route. The project 
 was also characterized as a "steamboat canal." 
 
 Trere was very little street improvement this year, Hleecker street 
 was graded and improved from Bridge to First and several streets re- 
 ceived sidewalks. 
 
 On the afternoon of the 14th of August there sw( pt over the city a 
 violent cyclone which was quite destructive in its eft'ects, unroofing 
 bu''dings and demolishing chimneys and trees. Coming from the west 
 its course was most severely marked along the line of Court street. He- 
 sides the unroofing of one or two of the houses on this street and adja- 
 cent thereto several others near its intersection with Genesee and one 
 of the few then standing on Rutger street it carried awav the spire of 
 the -Second Presbyterian Church on Bleecker street, bent the lightning 
 rod of the I'irst Presb\'tericin, and capsized a few wooden houses. 
 ■ There was no loss of life or injury to any individual. The tnwn clock, 
 betVre alluded to, had been placed in the tower of the Hleecker street 
 church only a fortnight previous. » 
 
 On the 1 8th of November the flouring- mill of Parker i\: .Seymour, 
 just below the river bridge at the foot of Genesee street, was destroyed 
 by fire. The dam below which it was located, and which had been the 
 cause of much litigation, was -uon broken up and was never rebuilt. 
 
 The Young Men's Association of the City of Utica was founded in 
 F'ebruary, 1834. Its object was the mutual improvement of its mem 
 bers bj' establisliing a reading room, a library, a society for public de- 
 bate'-\ and courses of lectures. James Watson Williams was the first 
 president; Milton D. Parker and Henry R. Hart, vice-presidents ; Will- 
 iam Tracy, corresponding secretary ; James Knox, recording secretary ; 
 Ward Hunt, treasurer. For a few j^ears it had a vigorous life, collected 
 a respectable library, and had delivered before it some able addresses by 
 
220 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 the best talent of the city. A struggle for office and a partisan spirit 
 killed it. The Utica Mechanics Association contributed also to sup- 
 plant it. 
 
 The Utica Museum was founded in May, 1828, and in 1834 it was 
 located at 173-175 Genesee street. Its founder was Linnaeus Peale, of 
 Philadelphia. " The entire collection of curiosities is quite respectable." 
 The first keeper of it after Mr. Peale was Comfort Butler. 
 
 Prior to the year 1827 a wooden building for a circus and theater had 
 been erected and used. A spacious brick building; designed for a the- 
 ater, was put up about 1827 on the corner of Genesee and Pearl streets 
 where is now the city hall. It was soon occupied for a tavern and 
 afterward became the temporary place of the Female Academy. The 
 tone of public sentiment was such in early years as to discourage per- 
 sons of talent from resorting here to give theatrical exhibitions. How- 
 ever a building was suitably fitted up and opened in February, 1834, 
 and a company embracing some of the best histrionic talent of the large 
 cities played several weeks to good audiences. It was called the " Utica 
 Theater." 
 
 The most notable lawyer who now first made his home in Utica was 
 William C. Noyes, of whom a sketch will be found in the chapter on 
 the Bench and Bar. Others of his profession were Aaron Hackley and 
 Anson Little, who were some time quartered here, the first named be- 
 coming recorder and the latter clerk of the United States District 
 Court. 
 
 A merchant whose extraordinary career in Utica deserves notice was 
 Frederick Hollister. He had been for some years a clerk in the drug 
 and grocery store of John Williams, as had also been Abijah Lobdell. 
 Together they now began business in their own names. Ere long Mr. 
 Hollister was associated with Mr. Williams and eventually succeeded 
 him. Of great activity of mind and body, with broad conceptions, a 
 sanguine temper, and unrestrained ambition, possessed, moreover, of a 
 personal magnetism that gave him power over others, Mr. Hollister 
 embarked in projects alien to his legitimate trade, which, succeeding at 
 first, eventually wrought his ruin, entailing therewith damage to many 
 who had confided in hini. He began operating at Checkerville in 1840, 
 buying up the mill of Isaac Mason. By two fires, against which he was 
 
FREDERICK HOLLISTER AND OTHERS. 221 
 
 not insured, he lost about $40,000, but kept his loss to himself so as 
 not to injure his credit, and rebuilt with improvements. In 1842 he 
 bought property at Clayville and built the factory known as the Empire 
 Mill. At these two points he expended nearly $500,000. But his re- 
 turns were not adequate to meet the investment. In 1851 he failed 
 with liabilities not far from $1,800,000. His endorsers were numerous, 
 and so, too, were the individuals of small means who had entrusted their 
 earnings in his hands. For Mr.^Hollister was generally popular, and il 
 reckless in some of his doings he was believed to be honest. He had, 
 too, considerable public spirit. He was an alderman about 1838 and 
 mayor in 1843. He was the originator of the Bridgewater plank road, 
 the first of the kind that led out of the city. After his failure he re- 
 moved to New York and became a broker. His death occurred De- 
 cember 18, 1863. 
 
 One or two clerks may here be sketched who had already lived some 
 years in Utica and who afterward rose to prominence. One of them 
 was Charles S. Wilson. Born in Scotland in 1809 he came to New 
 York in 1830 and later to Utica. From 1832 to 1848 he acted as teller 
 of the Bank of Utica. Then with others he co-operated in the organi- 
 zation of the Utica City Bank and became its cashier. As a banker he 
 stood high. As a Democrat he was interested in city politics. He was 
 three years an alderman and in 1859 was nominated for mayor. Though 
 he failed of election, yet when Roscoe Conkling not long afterward re- 
 signed the mayoralty in order to enter Congress Mr. Wilson was ap- 
 pointed by the council to fill his place. In 1863 and again in 1867 he 
 was elected by the popular vote. Mr. Wilson was for some years a 
 vestryman of Trinity Church. He was proud of his native land and 
 versed in its history and literature. His death occurred July 30, 1884. 
 
 Another was James V. P. Gardner, who from 1829 had been a stage 
 agent in the employ of J. Parker & Co. As agent, book-keeper, and 
 partner in the firm of J. Butterfield & Co. he remained as long as stages 
 were run. Through this, the express company, and similar investments 
 he acquired a handsome property and was relied on as a safe man in 
 business undertakings, but took no especial part in municipal affairs. 
 He died September 30, 1882, leaving a widow, but no children. 
 
 John S. Peckham, born in Rensselaer County, October 3, 1803, was 
 
2 22 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 a resident of this county and of Utica frofii bis youth. In 1828 he suc- 
 ceeded to the plow factory of his uncle, Seth Peckham. In 1855 ^'s 
 half-brother, Msrritt, took part in it and the firm of J. S. & M. Peckham 
 was formed and continued until the death of the senior partner May 2, 
 1879. In business, prompt, energetic, decided, he was willing to work 
 hard and accomplished much by his broad views and his industry. 
 A consistent friend of temperance he carried his principles to the point 
 o{ a crusad^ against tobacco. Originally a Whig he went into the Free 
 Soil movement in 1848, and became a Republican, giving to that party 
 toil and counsel and believing in it with intense faith. His zeal was 
 horn of patriotism and not of ambition, for he sought not place, but 
 only the success of the principles which he espoused. He was distin- 
 guished for his public spirit, for his efforts for the comm'bn welfare, and 
 especially for the advancement of those who labor with the hands. In 
 tlie Utica iVlechanics Association he found a means to that end. He 
 entered it in early manhood and gave to it of his means and his labor. 
 He was one of those who organized the lecture system on a paying 
 basis and agreed to the plan of including in every course some scientific 
 instruction. He was active in maintaining the fairs which were for 
 years so useful a feature of that society. Out of the same aims and 
 purposes ;4re\v the Art Association, of which Mr. Peckham was one ot 
 the founders. He had enthusiasm himself and was able to impart it to 
 others. He was one of those positive, energetic men who are a power 
 in a community. He gave an impetus to the city in many directions 
 '.vhicli was long felt for good. 
 
 1835. — Officers for the year: Mayor, Joseph Kirkland ; aldermen, 
 Hdward Curran, Rufus Peckham, Sylvanus Holmes, Comfort Butler, 
 Samuel .Sidebotham, James Dean, John Williams, Gardiner Tracy, 
 James C. De Long, Spencer Kellogg, Robert McBride, George W. Hub- 
 bard ; clerk, Jacob D. Edwards ; attorney, William C. Noyes ; treas- 
 Mier, Thomas Walker; surveyor, John Fish; supervisor, Joshua M. 
 Church. 
 
 Early in April a street marshal was appointed to enforce the ordi- 
 narces, restrain animals from running abroad in the streets, etc. In the 
 same month a committee previously appointed to inspect the schools 
 reported them in a satisfactory condition. It was provided that no 
 
DJSCUSSION ON COLONIZATION. 223 
 
 paying scholar was to be admitted to school privileges to the exclusioLi 
 of those too poor to pay. A committee of four (one from each ward) 
 was appointed to liear appeals from tlie conclusions of teachers on 
 tuition. Records of attendance were ordered kept, honorary certificat- ■. 
 provided for, and vaccination of pupils made compulsory. 
 
 May 22d the committee on fire department were authorized to sell 
 engine No. 5 and buy a n&-w suction engine costing not to exceed $700. 
 A new engine-house was ordered erected a few months later on Union 
 street for the use of this company and its engine. 
 
 September I ith a committee I'eported that a different method of pay- 
 ing for pavements should be adopted and recommended heavier assess- 
 ments on real e.state. About this time the practice of borrowing money 
 to meet current expenses, a practice that sooner or later seems to over- 
 take all cities, began in Utica, when $3,000 were borrowed for that 
 purpose. November 27th it was resolved that the city will furnish a, 
 jail lot if the supervisors of the county will erect a building. 
 
 The principal street improvements were : Court street opened from 
 State to Varick, sidewalks laid on John, Cornelia, Blandina, Mary, and 
 the paving on Genesee street extended. A new ordinance was adopted 
 relative to not selling wood in the streets unless measured by the official 
 wood measurer and his certificate obtained; providing, also, that no 
 load should stand more than twenty minutes in any square or street ex- 
 cept the Public Square "opposite Bagg's Tavern." 
 
 In the year 1833 Rev. J. N. Danforth, agent of the American Col- 
 onization Society, came to Utica and invited the public to meet him in 
 the Dutch Reformed Church on Broad street on the evening of De- 
 cember 2 1 St. Several meetings were held between this date and the loth 
 of January, 1834, and speeches were made to the following resolution: 
 
 Resolved, That this meeting deeply deplores the- unfortunate condition of the colmil 
 population of this country and commends to the zealous support of the ]ihilanthropis= 
 and the Christian the American Colonization .Society, as the instrument under Provi- 
 dence which is best calculated to alle\iate the condition of the free negro and secure 
 the ultimate emancipation of the slave. 
 
 The burden of the discussion fell chiefly upon Mr. Danforth aind Rev. 
 Beriah Green, then president of the Oneida Institute at W'hitesborc, 
 though it was participated in by William Tracy, Benjamin F. Cooper, 
 Rev. George W. Bethune, and others. It continued two weeks, th; 
 
2 24 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 meetings being chiefly held in the First Presbyterian Church, which was 
 crowded to its utmost capacity. The speeches were bitter and intense 
 and caused much excitement in the community. 
 
 The years 1833, '34, and '35 were characterized by great excitement 
 throughout the country on the subject of abolition. The efforts of the 
 abolitionists to hold public meetings in advocacy of their views were 
 everywhere met by meetings of their opponents in denunciation of them, 
 and tumults and riots occurred in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and 
 • numerous other cities and smaller communities. The mischief which 
 agitation of this topic was elsewhere occasioning had been a matter 
 that was introduced into the Utica council of 1834, when resolutions, 
 before quoted, were passed in deprecation thereof. 
 
 On September 3, 1835, a public meeting was held in the court-room 
 of " the citizens of Utica who are opposed to the proceedings of the 
 abolitionists," at which resolutions denouncing such proceedings were 
 adopted. Soon afterward the Utica Anti- Slavery Society issued a call 
 for a State convention to be held at Utica on the 21st of October for the 
 purpose of forming a State Anti -Slavery Society. On the 8th of Octo- 
 ber another public meeting was held of those citizens " who approve of 
 the sentiments expressed at the meeting held September 3d'' and "are 
 opposed to the assembling of a State convention in Utica for the pur- 
 pose set forth in a call of the Anti-Slavery Society of this place." The 
 common council on October 1 6th did, however, grant by a vote of seven 
 to four the request of the society to hold the convention in the court- 
 room. The next day a large meeting of citizens convened in the court- 
 room and denounced this action. The meeting adjourned to the 2 1st 
 of October. Another meeting in behalf of free speech and of the right 
 of the people peacefully to assemble, while disavowing all sympathy 
 with abolitionists, was held in the court- room on the .20th of October. 
 The meeting was a large one, but it was considerably disturbed by in- 
 truders, who at times threatened violence, and was prematurely ad- 
 journed. Prominent among the opponents of the anti-slavery men 
 were the leading inhabitants of the place without distinction of party 
 — mayors, judges, and in general the older and more stable of the citi- 
 zens, desirous to preserve the laws and peace of the country, and 
 anxious that Utica should not become'the theater of such acts of violence 
 
o^^,:^ 
 
ANTI-SLA VER Y CONVENTION. 
 
 225 
 
 as had been witnessed elsewhere. The adjourned meeting of October 
 17th convened at the court- room at 9 o'clock October 21st for the 
 avowed purpose of preventing the meeting of the anti-slavery conven- 
 tion on that day "in a building," as one of the resolutions phrased it, 
 " erected by the voluntary contributions of the citizens for better and 
 different purposes." The gist of the preamble and resolutions adopted 
 by the meeting was that public agitation of the slavery question was 
 mischievous to all concerned, the enslaved and the free alike ; that the 
 delegates to the proposed anti-slavery convention could be regarded in 
 no other light than as intruders upon the quiet of a well-ordered com- 
 munity, after they had been repeatedly asked to stay away ; and that if 
 disorder and violence should come of their persisting in holding a con- 
 vention "upon them would rest the whole blame and responsibility." 
 
 The chairman of the meeting appointed a committee of twenty-five 
 to go before the convention, report the proceedings of this meeting, and 
 respectfully urge the convention to break up and leave the city forth- 
 with. This was carried out and the committee returned in about an 
 hour and reported that they had found the convention assembled in the 
 Bleecker street church, had read the resolutions before it, and that after 
 a little delay the convention had adjourned. During the delay thus 
 alluded to there were undoubtedly some lively scenes inside of the 
 church. The appearance of the committee was an incentive to what- 
 ever rowdy element was present in the church, as well as on the outside, 
 to create a disturbance ; there was much noise, some threats of violence, 
 hymn books and other missiles were tossed about, and some personal 
 assaults, in one of which Spencer Kellogg's coat was torn from his back. 
 Meanwhile an immense crowd gathered in the streets. While the com- 
 mittee were still in the church a sudden disturbance occurred on the 
 borders of this crowd, and there was a swaying of the multitude toward 
 Genesee street. This was caused by a lot of roughs who broke through 
 the crowd with the ladder of one of the hook and ladder companies. 
 The ladder was raised against the church and two men sprang up it. 
 Then some one started hurriedly into the church, crowding his way as 
 best he could, and informed the assemblage of the impending danger, 
 and soon Charles A. Mann, then agent of Charles E. Dudley, of Al- 
 bany, the owner of the building, came upon the porch of the church 
 
 29 
 
226 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 and asked the crowd to disperse, telling them that the building was 
 private property. He begged of them to respect it and protect it from 
 violence. The men on the ladder then came down. The excitement 
 was intense and it was remarkable that a destructive riot did not follow. 
 Strangers were denied admittance to all the taverns on the street and to 
 many of the stores, or were indiscriminately hustled out into the rain, 
 which had begun to fall. A cannon was brought out and fired as a 
 signal of triumph, the abolition convention having adjourned. In the 
 assemblage within the church was Gerrit Smith as a spectator. When 
 the necessity of breaking up the convention became apparent he in- 
 vited the people to go home with him, where they would find a warm 
 welcome. About 400 accepted the invitation and the work of the con- 
 vention was finished at Peterboro. 
 
 The foregoing is a cool and dispassionate account of that event and is 
 based upon what was given in a lecture on the history of the Bleecker 
 street church, by Thomas W. Seward, an eye-witness of the proceed- 
 ings at the church. 
 
 In 183s a little book was published entitled "The Enemies of the 
 Constitution Discovered," in which is given the other side of the story. 
 In that work the conduct of the committee who went to the church and 
 of the mob on the outside is characterized in the bitterest and most 
 denunciatory terms ; and it is stated, inferentially at least, that the mob 
 waited only the word of Mr. Beardsley, chairman of the committee of 
 twenty-five, or some other prominent citizen, to have committed untold 
 violence and probably murder. Altogether it was an occurrence the 
 import of which and its causes it is somewhat difficult to appreciate at 
 this day, when slavery, the odious institution which occasioned many 
 such scenes as well as a subsequent bloody war, has disappeared from 
 the country forever. 
 
 The winter of 1835—36 was a severe one, and especially marked by 
 the great amount of snow that fell. A special meeting of the council 
 was held Sunday, January loth. The mayor informed the council that 
 he called the meeting at the request of several citizens " to adopt such 
 means as might be deemed expedient in consequence of the long-contin- 
 ued storm," which was still prevailing, and thedistress apprehended among 
 the poor from the unusual depth of snow. Resolutions were adopted 
 
PROCEEDINGS OF 1836. 227 
 
 that the police constables and the street commissioner be directed to 
 call out the city watch and to organize a force sufficient to patrol the 
 streets and ascertain the condition of the poor, afford such relief as may 
 be required, and that they act in concert with the committee recently 
 appointed by the citizens for the same purpose. Other resolutions 
 adopted on the 15th of January provided for the payment of people for 
 cleaning the streets of snow and appropriated $100 to buy wood for 
 the poor. 
 
 1836. — The officers of the year were as follows: Major, John H. 
 Ostrom ; clerk, J. D. Edwards ; aldermen, Edward Curran, John A. Russ, 
 Alvin White, Sylvanus Holmes, T. S. Faxton, William Burtch, Joshua 
 M. Church, A. S. Pond, Willard Crafts, Robert McBride, E. S. Barnum, 
 Harry Mason; treasurer, James Dean; attorney, O. B. Matteson ; 
 street commissioner, John Riley. 
 
 At the beginning of the year the mayor addressed the council and 
 laid especial stress upon the necessity of " a rigid enforcement of the 
 excise laws in relation to tippling shops," also upon the importance of 
 adoping some measures for the relief of the poor. 
 
 April 8th the following streets, or the nucleus of them, increased in 
 some instances by subsequent extension, were declared to be public 
 highways: Hamilton, Bright, Philip, Saratoga, Schuyler, Erie, Hope, 
 Burnet, Devereux, Union, Rebecca, Meadow, Lark ; Charlotte was 
 extended to Steuben Park. Ballou and Grand streets were opened the 
 same month and Mandeville and Aiken in the following month. It 
 was resolved in May that Columbia street should be graded and graveled 
 from Varick to Whitesboro and State street from Columbia to Genesee. 
 In June Main street was directed to be continued to the east line of the 
 Bowman farm ; also Jay, Bleecker, Mary, Blandina, Lansing, Rutger, 
 and South streets ; and Seward, Ransom, Backus, and Warren streets 
 were extended from Bleecker to the east line of the Bowman farm 
 New streets designated were Marshall and Webster from Broad to South 
 and Clay streets and Jackson from Broad to the railroad. A few of these 
 streets were never brought into use and some are now known by other 
 names. Parts of Main and Columbia streets were graded and paved. 
 
 In July the city watch was suspended as to its duties on account of 
 some alleged shortcoming, and Bildad Merrill, Hugh Williamson, Bar- 
 
228 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 ney Keating, and James Dempsey were appointed, Mr. Merrill being 
 chosen captain. In the same month is found the first mention of a 
 watch-house, which was repaired. 
 
 On the 24th of June the fire department was asked to recommend a 
 suitable person for the position of chief and R. B. Miller was appointed 
 on the 1st of July. In the same month the engine then located on Di- 
 vision street was removed to the engine-house on Hotel street. 
 
 Other proceedings of this council were the followingi: On the 15th 
 of April are noticed movements relating to the location of the insane 
 asylum here. It was resolved that a committee of one member from 
 each ward confer and correspond with the commissioners of the asylum 
 and adopt such means as should secure its location in this city. 
 
 September 23d a committee was appointed to report on the expe- 
 diency of " paving Genesee street with wooden blocks." 
 
 Cars began running on the Uticaand Schenectady Railroad and were 
 a source of much curious interest. In August the Clinton House, which 
 occupies the site on which the Mechanics Hall was to be placed, was 
 torn down. A contract for the erection of the new building was given 
 to James McGregor. In November the Oneida Bank, just as it was 
 ready to begin business, was robbed of nearly $110,000. 
 
 It is noticeable that an unusual number of streets were opened dur- 
 ing the present year. In fact a speculative spirit was rife in the com- 
 munity. Landholders were eager to have laid out into lots and inter- 
 sected by streets property which they flattered themselves would soon 
 be in request. As evidence of this spirit and of the aspiring views of 
 the citizens in general it may be of interest to here insert some of the 
 doings of this council before the close of their term. 
 
 On the 13th of January, 1837, a committee of five was appointed to 
 confer with a committee from Deerfield as to the propriety of annexing 
 a part of that town to the city. There was a report at the next 
 meeting in favor of the project and a public meeting was held in Febru- 
 ary to consider the matter. The question of annexing part of New 
 York Mills was also under consideration. On the 3d of February it 
 was resolved that the council "will apply to the legislature for charter 
 amendments providing for the election of a supervisor from each ward." 
 This was doubtless a measure to secure more influence in the Board of 
 
A SLAVE CAPTURE. 229 
 
 Supervisors for the interests of the city as against those of the county. 
 In the winter of 1836-37 there occurred a disturbance and mob akin 
 to that of 183s and arising from the same cause, but ending in defiance 
 and subversion of law. This incident, now generally forgotten, deserves 
 mention as among the first of such occurrences which less than a score 
 of years later became very common, and ultimately proved too much 
 for the whole strength of the United States government. 
 
 A Virginian presented himself one morning at the office of a distin- 
 guished advocate of the city with the proper papers for the return of a 
 fugitive slave whom he had traced to Utica, and engaged the services 
 of the advocate. The fugitive was soon discovered by a constable and 
 taken before Judge Hayden, United States commissioner, and the pa- 
 pers together with the law of the United States were duly submitted by 
 the claimant's lawyer. Alvan Stewart appeared in behalf of the fugi- 
 tive, and presenting to the court a Bible quoted therefrom and com- 
 mented in his inimitable manner to the edification and amusement of 
 the crowded audience until dinner-time, for which the court adjourned. 
 In the afternoon Mr. Stewart resumed his argument and continued it 
 till dark and tea-time, for which another adjournment was made. The 
 fugitive meanwhile was retained in the office in the custody of the con- 
 stable. Before the session was resumed a mob suddenly appeared in 
 the street, marched up the stairway, burst into the office, overcame the 
 officer, and carried off the slave, presumably to the station of the under- 
 ground railway for Canada. 
 
 1837. — Officers for the year were as follows: Mayor, Theodore S. 
 Gold ; aldermen, Harvey Barnard, Harry Bushnell, Benjamin Cahoon, 
 Apollos Cooper, Edward Curran, Thomas Goodsell, Ephraim Hart, 
 Frederick HoUister, "Sylvanus Holmes, Robert McBride, Henry New- 
 land, James C. Belong ; treasurer, James Dean ; attorney, William J. 
 Bacon; clerk, John S. Ray ; surveyor, John Fish ; street commissioner, 
 John Riley. 
 
 January I2th a resolution was adopted that a new engine be pur- 
 chased, " which will make two to each ward," and each ward be divided 
 into two fire districts. On the 26th of the same month it was decided 
 that one of these engines should be purchased at a cost of not more 
 than $700, while on the 5 th of January a committee was appointed to 
 
230 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 form a "bucket company" and fifty buckets were purchased in Febru- 
 ary. Fears were expressed of disastrous fires, as the water was drawn 
 out of the canal. 
 
 April 7th it was resolved that the street on the east side of Chancel- 
 lor Square between Bleecker and Elizabeth be named Kent street and 
 that on the west side Academy street. 
 
 In April of this year a memorial was addressed to the legislature re- 
 ferring to a recent disastrous fire, and on that account in part asking as 
 a means of relief to the city the remission of the tax for the location 
 of the terminus of the canal ; and also asking for the location of either the 
 lunatic asylum or State capital in Utica. The fire just mentioned, 
 which occurred March 31, 1837, was the largest one the city had as yet 
 experienced, sweeping away a large portion of the buildings on both sides 
 of Genesee street below Broad. A local paper said of it : " It broke 
 out about 2 A. M. over the watch and jewelry factory of C. V. Brooks, 
 on the east side of Genesee street north of Broad street. It destroyed 
 the whole block on Genesee street down to the square, every build- 
 ing on Broad street as far east as John, and all the buildings on the 
 west side of John to the square at the foot of Genesee with the ex- 
 ception of the brick store of Thomas E. Clark on the corner of Main 
 and John, John E. Hinman's store on John street, and the fireproof 
 building of E. B. Shearman & Co. in the i^ear of their Genesee street 
 store. The fire crossed to the west side of Genesee, to the store of 
 Stocking & Hunt, and entirely destroyed every other building on that 
 side down to Whitesboro street, with all of the shops and buildings in 
 the rear. From that point the fire extended up Whitesboro street to 
 the house of H. K. Sanger, on the corner of Burchard street, where it 
 was finally checked. The building in which the fire originated was of 
 wood and burned with great rapidity. A stormy wind from the east 
 drove the flames across the street and the flying cinders fell in a con- 
 tinuous shower on the buildings, so that within an hour from the time 
 the fire broke out the whole block on the west side of Genesee street 
 from the North American Hotel to the store of Stocking & Hunt was 
 ignited about the same time, thus rendering it impossible to arrest the 
 fire with any means at the command of the fire department, or of the 
 citizens, until it reached a less compact part of the city." 
 
HARD TIMES. 231 
 
 May 26th a resolution was passed prohibiting profane and indecent 
 language by porters and others at the packet dock and railroad station ; 
 and on the 30th of June an ordinance went into effect prohibiting the 
 solicitation of passengers for canal boats, stages, and railroads, and the 
 police were called upon to enforce it. 
 
 The mayors had for several years previous to the date under consid- 
 eration given their salaries of $250 per year to the dispensary. This 
 institution was at this time under direction of one alderman from each 
 ward. In making the donation this year Mayor Gold said that on 
 " account of the great distress " such a course was more than ever desir- 
 able. But in spite of the hard times the council appropriated $100 with 
 which to celebrate the 4th of July. The hard times continued with in- 
 creasing severity and there was much distress, for the prices of all the 
 necessaries of life were higher than ever before. Flour was at onetime 
 $10.50 per barrel, with none in the city, and the banks soon suspended 
 specie payment. The newspapers, however, made the most of the fact 
 that Utica escaped the effects of the stringency with less of actual suf- 
 fering than most cities. In one of them we find the following: "The 
 merchants in this city are proverbially sound in their circumstances, and 
 have managed their business through the whole period during which 
 the speculative mania raged in different sections of the Union with 
 unusual prudence and conservatism." Their credit in New York was 
 reported good and local builders were actively employed. The banks 
 recommenced discounts to some extent in June.^ 
 
 December 8th public gratification was expressed that the military 
 spirit was not extinct, and the following was published : "A few young 
 and enterprising men of the city have organized a corps which they 
 are determined shall compare for appearance and discipline with any in 
 the State." This was the Utica Citizens Corps, now beginning its long 
 and brilliant career, and for which the council purchased the following 
 year fifty stand of arms. 
 
 The Syracuse and Utica Railroad was nearing completion and in the 
 spring the Clinton and Utica Macadam Turnpike Company was incor- 
 porated, as also was the Young, Men's Association ; but public im- 
 provements as a whole were confined to the construction of a few side- 
 
 1 See chapter on the banks and tinances. 
 
232 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 walks, the relaying in part of a sewer in Genesee street, and the paving 
 of the lower end of First street ; the only other improvement was the 
 extension of Washington street to the river. 
 
 The city watch was disbanded on the 2 2d of September and a new 
 one appointed, Moses T. Meeker being captain ; John Wilson, assistant. 
 Mr. Meeker resigned in January, 1838, and Bildad Merrill was appointed 
 in his stead. 
 
 On the 3d of November a committee of one from each ward was 
 appointed to superintend "the interest of the city in relation to the en- 
 largement of the Erie Canal." 
 
 John Savage, a most distinguished member of the legal profession 
 who now first appears as a citizen of Utica, will be noticed in the chap- 
 ter on the Bench and Bar. 
 
 Among those succeeding about this time to the business of older 
 members of their respective families were George Tracy, bookseller ; 
 Henry R. Hart, iron founder ; George S. Dana, hardware ; Norman C. 
 Newell, paints and brushes; all of whom had influence in public mat- 
 ters as well as in their own. Henry R. Hart, son of Ephraim H. 
 and for some years a partner with him in the management of the iron 
 foundry, was well known for his geniality, his generosity, his ardent 
 participation in all undertakings, local or general, that promised to be 
 profitable or beneficent. Modest and unobtrusive, with refined tastes, 
 he was bold and efficient in the discharge of his duty. He was captain 
 of the Citizens Corps, active in the Mechanics Association, and in the 
 fire department. He died in 1868 aged fifty- seven. George S. Dana, 
 at first with his father, James Dana, and then succeeding him, man- 
 aged also a factory for the making of locks and had an interest in one 
 for the making of screws. He, too, died comparatively young. N. C. 
 Newell, following in the career of his father, survived much longer than 
 the preceding, transmitting the business to his son. 
 
 Among the newly come merchants were Thomas H. Wood and 
 George W. Wood, hardware ; J. L. Pierce, Thomas F. Tracy, Rugene 
 Swartwout, dry goods ; W. C. Butler, crockery ; Frederick W. Guiteau, 
 forwarder and grocer. Mechanics were Selden Collins, watchmaker ; John 
 W. Bates, coachmaker; Robert Higham, engineer; Augustus C. Pal- 
 mer, carpenter ; Burton Hawley, livery ; George Langford, at first book- 
 keeper and soon after cashier of the Oneida Bank. 
 
GEORGE W. WOOD. 233 
 
 George W. Wood, who was born in Ashley, Mass., August 29, 1809, 
 had been engaged for a short time before coming to Utica in the book 
 publishing business. About 1837 he settled in Utica and formed a 
 partnership with his brother, Thomas H. Wood, for the purpose of 
 dealing in hardware. This partnership was dissolved, when he took the 
 City Furnace with John F. Seymour and engaged in the manufacture of 
 stoves and castings. At the time of Mr. Wood's death Mr. Seymour 
 had retired from the business, Thomas H. Wood having secured his 
 interest. Very soon after coming to Utica Mr. Wood became a teacher 
 in the Bible class of the First Presbyterian Church, a noted class of 
 eight or nine sections under the care and instruction of excellent and 
 capable men. They met once a week to examine and discuss the 
 lessons and make out a set of questions for the class. These were 
 printed and put into the hands of the learners and made the theme of 
 the teaching. It included such teachers as Walter King, Thomas E. 
 Clark, William and Charles Tracy, Judge Hayden, Deacon Mather, 
 Spencer Kellogg, and others. Mr. Wood was not a classical scholar, 
 but like some of the above named had a thorough knowledge of the 
 Bible and was an interesting teacher. He was one of the directors of 
 the Bank of Utica and a trustee of Westminster Church, of which he 
 was a founder, and one of the building committee of the present edifice. 
 His fine, manly form and attractive manners added to his superior busi- 
 ness traits and his personal worth made him conspicuous. Mr. Wood 
 died in New York city September 21, 1854. His wife, daughter of 
 Thomas E. Clark, two sons, and two daughters survive him 
 
 Thomas Hosmer Wood, who was some eleven years older than his 
 brother, was born February 18, 1798. He came to Utica a short time be- 
 fore him and was many years his survivor. On the death of George he be- 
 came the head of the firm of Wood, Roberip & Co., but after some years of 
 prosperous business he retired from active pursuits to the indulgence of 
 his taste in cultivating and adorning his grounds, and to the exercise of 
 it as an amateur and as a patron of the fine arts, for which he had a nat- 
 ural apitude and a marked enthusiasm. It led him to take an active 
 part in the forming of the Art Association and in the exhibition it gave 
 to the community. He did not engage in them simply for the passing 
 pleasure they afforded his towns-people, but more particularly for the 
 
 30 
 
234 
 
 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 cultivation of a love for the beautiful in the neighborhood around. His 
 earnest efforts in this direction were warmly commended at his death by 
 the association of which he was the president, and their obligations to 
 him for the success of their several exhibitions fully acknowledged. A 
 sincere lover of art in all its branches his especial fondness was for paint- 
 ing, and the pictures which adorned the homes of many citizens in the 
 vicinity are testimonies to his success. His connoisseurship and prac- 
 tical knowledge in the art of architectural designs were beyond that of 
 most men who do not pursue the art as a distinct profession, and some 
 of our public buildings are standing monuments of his judgment and skill 
 in conception. He was a man of eminent integrity and stainless life, 
 fulfilling every duty devolved upon him, and moreover a sincere Chris- 
 tian whose pathway as noiseless as the sun " shone more and more unto 
 the perfect day." He was one of the trustees of the Savings Bank and 
 an elder in the Reformed Church. At the time of his death he was mak- 
 ing a tour of the art centers of Europe, though in feeble health, and 
 traveling partly for the benefit of it. He died in Paris, January 14, 1874. 
 His widow still remains here as likewise an adopted daughter. 
 
 1838. — Officers of this year were as follows : Mayor, Charles P. Kirk- 
 land ; aldermen, Samuel Farwell, E. M. Gilbert, Henry Newland, Rufus 
 Peckham, Harry Bushnell, Frederick HoUister, James Dean, Benjamin 
 Cahoon, James McGregor, J. C. De Long, Lewis Lawrence, Edward 
 Curran ; treasurer, George J. Hopper; attorney, Hamilton Spencer; 
 clerk, John S. Ray ; street commissioner, John Riley. 
 
 On the 1 8th of January $200 were appropriated for firemen who 
 might be injured at fires while on duty. On the 25th of that month a 
 resolution was adopted that " it is expedient to establish a third free 
 school," and requesting the committee on fire department to ascertain 
 whether the fire engines could not be so distributed as to allow such 
 school to be located where the engines then were on Hotel street. In 
 February the committee on fire department was directed to carry out 
 this plan, and it was done in March, and the school established. 
 
 On the 20th of June the corner-stone of the Female Academy was 
 laid with appropriate ceremonies. 
 
 On the 2 1 St of December a resolution again passed the council that 
 application be made to the legislature for a charter amendment pro- 
 
GEORGE R. PERKINS. 235 
 
 viding for one supervisor in each ward. A public meeting was held the 
 same month to provide for the relief of the poor of the city. Street 
 improvements were limited to a few new sidewalks and paving part of 
 Hotel street. 
 
 The most notable person to become at this time a citizen of the place 
 was Professor Perkins of the Utica Academy. From Otsego County, 
 where he was born May 3, 18 12, George R. Perkins went to Clinton in 
 1 83 1 to take the place of a teacher in the Liberal Institute, and after 
 remaining there seven years removed to this city in 1838 to act as 
 principal of its academy. He had early evinced remarkable aptitude for 
 mathematics, studying under great disadvantages in inadequate schools. 
 During the year before he came to Clinton he was engaged as a surveyor 
 on the Utica and Susquehanna Railroad. In 1840 he began the publi- 
 cation of a series of arithmetics, which have been much used in schools. 
 For many years his calculations, for almanacs were sought for by many- 
 publishers. Subsequently he produced text books on algebra, geome- 
 try, trigonometry, and surveying, which met with the favor of careful 
 instructors. When the State Normal School was opened in Albany in 
 1844 he went thither as professor of mathematics, and in 1848 was 
 chosen principal. In 1852 he assumed the superintendence of the Dudley 
 Observatory. In 1862 he was made a Regent of the University and 
 was created LL.D. by Hamilton College. Professor Perkins was not 
 simply a theorist in mathematics ; he knew how to apply science to 
 practical life. la the great consolidation of railroads which made the 
 New York Central the accountants were in a hopeless maze over the com- 
 plicated calculations, when he was invited to bring order out of 
 the confusion, which he promptly and successfully accomplished, With 
 reference both to our railroads and our canals he was thoroughly 
 well informed, and to both he contributed peculiar service. As an in- 
 structor he was clear, earnest, and thorough, but especially considerate, 
 and he won the esteem and gratitude of his pupils. As an author he 
 early introduced practical methods, and as he saw his science clearly 
 tried to present it in its simple grace in direct and clear language. In 
 every trust he was conscientious and laborious, and as true to integrity 
 and honor as the right line of his own problems. He was one of the 
 founders of Grace Church and to his death a vestryman and its treas- 
 
236 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 urer. He thought much on religious subjects and was deep.ly interested 
 in the growth of his church. For some time his chief occupation in 
 later years was the care of his real estate investments in Utica, which 
 were considerable. He was esteemed for his attainments and his mod- 
 esty. He died August 22, 1876 ; his widow still is a resident, 
 
 1839. — Officers for the year : Mayor, John C. Devereux : aldermen, 
 John Butterfield, H. S. Bradley, Edward Curran, Ransom Curtiss, 
 Charles H. Doolittle, Ephraim Hart, Spencer Kellogg, Lewis Lawrence, 
 Thomas McQuade, Rufus Peckham, Gerry Sanger, E. A, Wetmore ; 
 treasurer, George J. Hopper ; attorney, Joseph Benedict ; clerk, John 
 S. Ray ; street commissioner, Morris G. Dickinson. 
 
 May 24th a company was organized called the " Utica Fire Bucket 
 Company, No. i," with sixty members. Each member was required 
 to furnish himself with two buckets to be kept at his residence. On 
 the 25th of June the committee on fire department were authorized to 
 sell engine No. 7 and on July 1 2th were authorized to buy a new engine 
 at not to exceed a cost of more than $800. 
 
 Gas was discovered the present summer while excavating near Bagg's 
 Hotel and the mayor was authorized by the council to pay the expense 
 of examination into the subject. Nothing of practical value was de- 
 veloped. Lafayette street was paved from Varick to Whitesboro street 
 and new walks were laid on several streets. The Utica Savings Bank 
 went into operation this year. Local banks reduced their circulation 
 heavily and money was very scarce. The' first train passed over the 
 Utica and Syracuse Railroad on the 27th of June. 
 
 The directory of 1839 exhibits a somewhat lengthy array of lawyers 
 not previously recorded. Of these Fhilo Gridley and Alexander S. 
 Johnson will be noticed in the chapter devoted to the legal profession. 
 Joseph Benedict is still in practice in the city and the oldest member of 
 its legal corps. Luther R. Marsh, after a stay of about four years, re- 
 paired to New York, where his reputation has been principally gained. 
 Hamilton Spencer, as an associate with his father, Joshua A. Spencer, 
 remained until about 1854, when he removed to Canastota and was for 
 a short time engaged with Charles S. Spencer in the manufacture of op- 
 tical instruments, and thence to Chicago and Burlington, 111., there re- 
 suming his profession and continuing it until his death in 1891, leaving 
 
JOHN F. SEYMOUR. 237 
 
 behind him a name for familiarity with the principles and rules of the 
 law quite equal to that of his father and for skill little short of his in their 
 exposition and bearing. Wallace McCall, son of Dr. John McCall and at 
 first a partner of Ostrom & Walker, a young man of brilliant promise, 
 died about 1848 ere his laurels were attained. William M. Allen dis- 
 appeared from the city the same year. Orchard G. Kellogg lived here 
 until 1863. Dexter Gilmore, who finished his studies in 1839, lived 
 until March, 1882, having been for nearly thirty years a justice of the 
 peace, besides acting as clerk of the Board of Supervisors, busying him- 
 self in the affairs of the volunteer firemen, and being a leading member 
 of the Odd Fellows. A sketch of Edmund A. Graham will be found 
 in the Biographical Department of this work. 
 
 John F. Seymour, son of Henry Seymour, was born at Pompey Hill, 
 Onondaga County, September 21, 18 14, and removed with his father's 
 family to Utica in 1820. He was educated at the High School sf 
 Charles Bartlett and at Yale College, from which he was graduated in 
 1835. He studied law at Litchfield, Conn., and in the office of Kirk- 
 land & Bacon in Utica, and was admitted to practice in 1839. Becom- 
 ing a partner of his brother Horatio he for fourteen years conducted a 
 large practice. Horatio did not occupy himself much with law, but 
 was engaged in politics and in various business projects. In many of 
 these projects John, much 'devoted to his brother, also engaged, and was . 
 thus by degrees led away for a time from the close following of his pro- 
 fession, though he resumed it later. In 1853 he was instrumental in 
 obtaining the passage of an act of legislature organizing a company to 
 construct a Bhip canal at St. Mary's Falls in Michigan. This company 
 succeeded in opening such a canal between Lake Superior and Lake 
 Huron at a cost of $1,000,000. In 1855 this company, consisting of 
 Horatio Seymour, Erastus Corning, Hiram Barney, and others, prose- 
 cuted this enterprise still further, and through the agency of John F. 
 Seymour opened the canal from the Mississippi to the great lakes by 
 the way of Fox and Wisconsin Rivers, a work of great importance. In 
 1853 he was made a director of the New York Central Railroad. Hora- 
 tio Seymour was chosen governor for the second time in 1862, and 
 made his brother his private secretary and entrusted him with the deli- 
 cate mission of assuring President Lincoln of the support of New York 
 
2^8 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 in the contest with the South. He was also made State agent for the 
 care of the sick and wounded soldiers. This was a work altogether in 
 harmony with his benevolent and tender nature. Not only in general 
 oversight of military operations, and especially in those that were taken 
 part in by the soldiers of New York, did he render invaluable service, 
 but he visited several battlefields and the hospitals of the neighbor- 
 hood, and gave his personal attention to the sufferers. No task was too 
 hard or too repulsive for him, and he gave the fullest effect to the lib- 
 eral provisions made for the soldiers' relief The same humane spirit 
 led him to make weekly visits to the hospitals and the sick within the 
 limits of this city. The experience he gained made him a most impor- 
 tant member of the Board of Charities, which was formed in 1873, 
 wherein he greatly contributed in benefiting the hospital and improving 
 the system adopted for the support of the poor. A little later he was 
 a trustee of St. Luke's Hospital and became the president of the board. 
 Akin to these pursuits was the interest he felt in education,, both secu- 
 lar and religious, as manifested in his service as a school commissioner 
 and as teacher and superintendent of Sunday schools. His tastes 
 equally with his heart were warmly exercised in the creation and adorn- 
 ment of that beautiful resting place of the dead. Forest Hill Cemetery. 
 He partook of his brother's taste for local higtory, as was shown in his 
 valuable addresses at Trenton, July 4, 1876, on Olden Barneveldt, and 
 on many other occasions. He was the most active and efficient pro- 
 moter of the centennial celebration of the battle of Oriskany as well as 
 of the subsequent monument erected on its field, which will long be 
 identified with his memory. He was one of the founders of the Oneida 
 Historical Society. Mr. Seymour's first wife was a daughter of Arthur 
 Tappan, of New York. He subsequently married Miss Ledyard, of 
 Cazenovia. His death occurred February 22, 1890. Two children, a 
 son and a daughter, survive him. 
 
 Hiram Hurlburt, a native of Eaton, Madison County, followed his 
 brother, Burton D., to Utica, studied law with him, and for five years 
 practiced in company with him. He afterward continued alone. An 
 unpretentious man he filled an important role. Whatever he did was 
 always well done, and no interest entrusted to his care ever suffered 
 where accuracy, skill, and patience could protect it. For a dozen years 
 
ISAAC MAYNARD AND OTHERS. 239 
 
 he acted as attorney for the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Rail- 
 road in this city and his management of its legal interests gave the most 
 perfect satisfaction. As one of the trustees of the First 'Presbyterian 
 Church, and more especially as its clerk, he did much for the church, 
 performing voluntarily works of the kind that the best members are apt 
 to shirk, but which never suffered at his hands. He died on his sixty- 
 first birthday, September 6, 1880. His widow and one son, Edward 
 Hurlburt, live here. 
 
 Physicians now first met with were Jonathan Hurlburt and G. Z. Hav- 
 ens, who both practiced here a few years. 
 
 Continued devotion to affairs of his own, united with an active in- 
 terest in more- general matters, secured for Isaac Maynard an ample 
 fortune for himself and with it the willing confidence and esteem of his 
 fellow townsmen. He was born in Somersetshire, England, June 10,1805, 
 and came to this country and to Utica in the fall of 1836. He formed 
 a partnership with his brother-in-law, John Thorn, in the manufacture 
 of soap and candles, a business which proved very profitable to both of 
 them. In 1861 he acquired an interest in the firm of John S. Kirk & 
 Co., of Chicago, also soap dealers, and met with abundant success. 
 Mr. Maynard was prominently connected with the Utica and Black 
 River Railroad, he and Mr. Thorn being its principal managers after the 
 failure of the first company and the re-organization. He was elected its 
 treasurer in 1 861. He was likewise a director in the Utica, Clinton, and 
 Binghamton Railroad and in 1880 became its president. Others of his 
 official relations were with the Utica Water Works Company and the 
 Utica Steam Woolen-Mills. Mr. Maynard was a close business man and 
 his co-operation in public enterprise was relied on. Personally he was 
 affable, amiable, and trustworthy. He was a member of the Tabernacle 
 Baptist Church, but during his later years attended the First Presby- 
 terian. Mr. Maynard was the father of three sons and four daughters, 
 all of them residents of Utica and most of them heads of families. 
 
 Other business men of the era were Heman Ferry, of the Bank of 
 Central New York, started in 1838; George Westcott and Ira A. Bu- 
 ton, hatters; EH Avery, forwarder; William Hackett, confectioner; 
 Thomas L. Kingsley, grocer and afterward dealer in clothing; John 
 Best, carpenter, and his brother, James, painter and subsequently music 
 
240 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 teacher ; George Pearson, livery-keeper ; Joseph S. Fuller, builder ; 
 John O. Jones, still in the trade of grocer as he then started. 
 
 1840. — The officers for the year were: Mayor, John C. Devereux 
 (elected by the people, the first who, in accordance with a recent act 
 of the legislature, was raised to the office by popular vote) ; aldermen, 
 Alrick Hubbell, Frederick Hollister, John J. Frances, Horace S. Brad- 
 ley, George W. Hubbard, Gardiner Tracy, Harry Bushnell, Benjamin 
 Gaboon, Stephen M. Ferine, Gerry Sanger, Anthony W. Latour, Simon 
 V. Oley ; attorney, Thomas R. Walker; treasurer, George J. Hopper; 
 surveyor, Lorenzo M. Taylor; clerk, Sylvanus Holmes. 
 
 The most important of the transactions of the council related to' the 
 revision and improvement of the system of common schools, it being 
 determined that there should be eight of them. An appropriation 
 also was made for the creation of a free school for colored children. 
 Another appropriation of $515 was made for the purchase of a public 
 library in accordance with the law of the State directing such appro- 
 priation. A new fire engine company was organized, with the name 
 of Osceola No. 9; No. 7 was removed to the engine-house in West 
 Utica. 
 
 Alrick Hubbell was made chief of the fire department. The follow- 
 ing companies were in existence : Clinton, Hardenbrocke, Fulton, 
 Lafayette, Neptune, Mechanics, Mohawk, Eagle, Osceola, a hook and 
 ladder company, and a^ bucket company. Pine street was declared a 
 public highway. The number of notaries was limited to eight. Eight 
 thousand dollars was voted for current expenses. The Oneida Whig 
 and the Utica Democrat were declared to be the papers in which the 
 proceedings of the council should be published. 
 
 On the i6th of January was founded the Utica Musical Academy, its 
 object being the promotion of skill and taste in both sacred and secular 
 music. It numbered over eighty performing members, including a 
 superior orchestra. Its rehearsals were private and it gave six public 
 concerts a year. George Button was its conductor and Prof J. Finley 
 Smith, of Hamilton College, its vocal leader. It lasted several years and 
 gave a marked impulse to musical art. 
 
 1 84 1 . — The officers elected March 2d were : Mayor, Spencer Kellogg ; 
 aldermen, Aldrick Hubbell, George W. Hubbard, Jared E. Warner, 
 
PROCEEDINGS OF 1841. 241 
 
 Isaiah Tiffany, Augustus Hurlburt, Andrew S. Pond, Robert Hallock, 
 Alfred Churchill, Simon V. Oley, Hugh Crocker, Gardiner Tracy, John 
 J. Francis ; treasurer, George J. Hopper ; attorney, Jarvis M. Hatch ; 
 clerk, Dexter Gilmore ; surveyor, Lorenzo M. Taylor. 
 
 To the official papers of the preceding year was added the Utica Ob- 
 server. It was resolved April 23d that on the 8th of May the coun - 
 cil will meet as a Board of Excise. Before that time a petition was pre- 
 sented to the board signed by Alvan Stewart and 900 others, praying 
 the council not to grant any licenses. Permission was, however, given 
 to applicants to make their appearance ; and that licenses were granted 
 may be inferred from the resolution of October 29th to the effect that 
 $55, the amount due for licenses, be given to the Qtica Orphan Asylum. 
 Whether this was the full anount received from this source, or only a 
 balance that remained unpaid, I am unable to state. 
 
 July 31st at a joint meeting of the council and the commissioners of 
 highways of the town of Deerfield it was determined to rebuild the lower 
 bridge over the Mohawk River at the joint expense of the town of Deer- 
 field and Utica, in accordance with plans submitted, and the contracts 
 were let. The council ordered also that plans be procured for a new 
 bridge over the basin on Broad street. The stand for a hay market was 
 changed from Broad street to Washington, beween the canal and 
 Columbia street, and again changed to Broadway, between the canal and 
 Fayette street, and also the south side of Whitesboro street between 
 Burchard and Division streets. An ordinance was passed forbidding 
 the keeping by any individual of more than twenty- five pounds of gun- 
 powder, or for a longer time than twelve hours, in any other place than 
 in the public powder magazine. Dr. Newland, who had been acting as 
 city physician, was allowed $50 for his services during the year, although 
 he had asked the privilege of doing the work gratuitously. The time 
 of meeting of the council was changed from a weekly to a fortnightly 
 one. A public meeting was called in view of the decease of President 
 William Henry Harrison. 
 
 From the report of the treasurer for the year 1841-42, published 
 in the spring of the latter year, it would appear that the gross ex- 
 penses of the city were $11,734.96 and that the gross receipts were 
 $12,014.09. 
 
 31 
 
242 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 The trial of William McLeod was the principal event of public in- 
 terest. Some notice of it will be found in the biographical sketch of 
 Joshua A. Spencer. 
 
 One who entered upon the dry goods business in 1841, was emi- 
 nently successful therein, and was known for many years as one of the 
 most prominent of the class was John B. Wells. He was born in Col- 
 chester, Conn., August 24, 1816. After serving as a book-keeper in 
 Massachusetts he came in 1839 to Utica and entered the store of A. L. 
 & H. Wells, his cousins. Two years later, in the spring of 1841, he 
 formed a partnership with Lewis Bailey, of Utica, for five years. The 
 business was commenced and conducted in Auburn for two years and 
 the remaining three years in Utica. In 1846 the partnership expired 
 and Mr. Wells commenced business on his own account at 88 Genesee 
 street, remaining there ten years. In 1856 he removed to the Marble 
 block, then newly built, and in 1864 to the present location, 79 Gene- 
 see street. A year later the firm name was changed to J. B. Wells & 
 Co. and in 1874 to J. B. Wells, Son & Co., the junior members being 
 Edward L. Wells and John S. Capron. When he first occupied his 
 store 79 Genesee street it was but eighty feet deep. It was extended 
 about sixty feet in 1871 and later the store No. yj, formerly occupied 
 by the Boston store, and the store No. 81, formerly occupied by Buck- 
 ley & Co., were added, making the establishment one of the largest in 
 the city. As a business man Mr. Wells was noted for his energy, per- 
 severance, strict integrity, and close application to affairs. No em- 
 ployee in his establishment worked harder than he, and for twenty-five 
 years at least he did the work of three men. His energy, perseverance, 
 and capacity for work were wonderful. There was no kind of work 
 about his establishment which he would not do and his example exerted 
 a good influence over all his employees. Thrifty as he was no one was 
 more liberal than he or more ready to part with his hard earned wealth. 
 Not that he spent it on himself, but he gave very liberally to every de- 
 serving cause. He was treasurer of the Home for the Homeless since 
 the death of George R. Thomas, and gave very largely to that charity 
 as well as to very many others. Mr. Wells's private life was as spot- 
 less as his business career was distinguished and successful. Though a 
 lover of economy he was a generous provider for his devoted family. 
 
OFFICERS OF 1842. 243 
 
 He had been a member of the First Presbyterian Church since 1843, 
 was deacon about ten years, and for about thirty years past one of the 
 ruling elders. The church found in him a most liberal supporter of its 
 organized work in behalf of education, home and foreign missions, and 
 benevolence for many years, and he had for a long time supported a 
 missionary in the Western field. To the Young Men's Christian Asso- 
 ciation his gifts amounted to more than those of any other individual. 
 Since 1887 he had been president of its Board of Trustees. His death 
 occurred November 17, 1891. His wife had died before him. His 
 surviving children are one son and three daughters. 
 
 CHAPTER VH. 
 
 SECOND DECADE OF THE CITY'S HISTORY. 
 
 The Washingtonian Temperance Movement — Establishment of a Recorder's 
 Court — Inauguration of an era of IVIanufactures — Incorporation of the Utica Water 
 Works — Building of the City Hall. 
 
 THE following officers were chosen for the year 1842 : Mayor, 
 Horatio Seymour; aldermen, Thomas Lennebacker, Hugh Crocker, 
 John J. Francis, Hiram Greenman, Jared E. Warner, Gardiner Tracy, 
 Robert T. Hallock, Amos Scranton, T. Parmelee, David Wager, Com- 
 fort Butler, Hampton Clark ; treasurer, M. M. Jones ; attorney, Wallace 
 McCall ; clerk, Huet R. Root ; surveyor, Lorenzo M. Taylor ; street 
 commissioner, Levi Smith. John H. Ostrom was made chief of the fire 
 department. A State law was enacted on the 7th of April that at the 
 next charter election there should be elected six school commissioners 
 and that two be elected annually thereafter. 
 
 The local press claim that in spite of the cry of " hard times " consid- 
 erable building was going on. There were mentioned a block on the 
 corner of Whitesboro and Genesee streets for the Charles E. Dudley 
 estate and a hotel on Whitesboro street, and a number of other build- 
 ings are alluded to in the following month. The fare on the railroad to 
 
244 MEMOHIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 Syracuse was fixed at $i, the same as charged by the boats. A new 
 packet line was inaugurated in April and was announced to be largely 
 patronized. The competition at the station and on the docks for pas- 
 sengers was soon at its height and many collisions occurred between 
 runners. 
 
 The years 1841, 1842, and 1843 were signalized by a comprehensive 
 and systematic effort in the cause of temperance all over the country. 
 It had for its legend " Moral Suasion " and its canonized patroness was 
 Martha Washington. This movement, known as the Washingtonian, was 
 more generally successful than anything of the kind had been or possi- 
 bly has been since. In Utica, besides numberless week-day meetings, 
 there were meetings every Sunday afternoon during the temperate 
 months in the old academy yard on John street. The general meeting 
 of the temperance societies was always held in the Bleecker street 
 church. 
 
 Lawyers who began business about 1840—42 were Charles H. Doo- 
 little and Samuel B. Garvin (to be noticed in the chapter on the Bench 
 and Bar), William Baker, John G. Crocker, Morven M. Jones, Alexan- 
 der Seward, Edward S. Bray ton, Jason G. Coye, Huet R. Root, Will- 
 iam L. Walradt, George Langford, jr. 
 
 William Baker, who had been a supervisor and was later the first re- 
 corder of the city (1844), made the patent laws a specialty. In that 
 department he was a recognized authority. Courteous in manner and 
 upright in life he commanded general respect. His death occurred 
 November 6, 1871. 
 
 John G. Crocker, who lived here from an early age and who was in 
 practice from 1840, did not die until July 8, 1888. He was prominent 
 in legal circles during early and middle life, although for twenty years 
 or more of its latter part his work was mostly in the direction of settling 
 estates and similar office work. He was of a retiring, studious habit, 
 but was a favorite with many, especially of his own profession, by reason 
 of his extensive and varied acquirements, his readiness to impart his in- 
 formation to any who sought it, his sound sense and reliable judgment, 
 and his kindness of heart. He wrote several works of a legal character. 
 He was a Democrat in politics and an intimate friend of Governor Sey- 
 mour, but never asked for office. 
 
M. M. yONES — E. S. BRA YTON. 245 
 
 Morven M. Jones, a long time justice of the peace of Utica, was born 
 in Lairdsville, Westmoreland, June 20, 18 14, and was the son of Hon. 
 Pomeroy Jones, author of the Annals of Oneida County. He was edu- 
 cated in the common schools and the Clinton Academy. At twenty 
 years of age he came to Utica and entered the layif office of'Seymour & 
 Root, with whom he studied about seven years. He was admitted to 
 the bar and began practice, a practice which was, however, materially 
 interfered with by other duties and engagements. He was an assistant 
 of his father in the preparation of his Annals, which appeared in 185 1, 
 the son writing the whole of the chapter on Utica. In 1861 Mr. Jones 
 organized a company of the Second Heavy Artillery, went into the war 
 as first lieutenant, ?nd was promoted afterward to the post of captain. In 
 1863 he went to Washington in the employ of the New York State agent 
 in the care of wounded soldiers. While there he was arrested and confined 
 five months in the Old Capitol prison on the charge of illegally procur- 
 ing soldiers' votes, was tried by a court-martial, and was acquitted. 
 At the close of the war he was made brevet- major of volunteers. In 
 politics Mr. Jones was a Democrat and earnest in advocacy of the prin- 
 ciples of his party. Early in his career he was overseer of the poor and 
 treasurer of the city. He was justice of the peace nearly thirty-three 
 years. In January, 1868, Governor Fenton appointed him chief clerk 
 in the office of the Secretary of State, which position he held four years, 
 and on his return to Utica he resumed his office of justice. He was a 
 trustee of the Odd Fellows Association and for many years an ardent 
 Free Mason, being at the time of his death chaplain of Utica Lodge, 
 No. 47, and likewise commander of Bacon Post, G. A. R. Major Jones 
 was one of the founders of the Oneida Historical Society and was its 
 corresponding secretary and librarian. In his religion he was a Baptist 
 and a prominent member of the Bleecker street and afterward of the 
 Tabernacle Church. In his private career he was esteemed by a wide 
 circle of friends. 
 
 Edward S. Brayton, son of George Brayton, of Western, and brother 
 of Milton Brayton, the Utica merchant of 1824, was born early in 18 17, 
 was educated in Utica, at Hamilton, and later at Union College, at which 
 latter place he was graduated in 1836. He pursued the study of law 
 with Kirkland & Bacon and was admitted to the bar in 1840. His mar- 
 
246 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 riage a few years later to Sarah, the only daughter of Judge Morris S. 
 Miller, determined to a great degree the course and occupation of his 
 life. This consisted largely in managing the property in Utica and 
 elsewhere of the numerous non-resident representatives of the Bleecker, 
 Miller, and Dudley families. Besides his occupation by these cares, and 
 by labor among the fruits and flowers of his garden, much of his time 
 was taken up by the various employments of a public nature that were 
 imposed upon him, for he was prompt to respond to every call and in the 
 performance of every duty was self-sacrificing, helpful, and reliable. Mr. 
 Brayton's life was so full and rich, so identified with all that was good 
 and true in the social, municipal, and religious concerns of Utica, that it 
 seemed almost selfish for any corporation to claim a special bereave- 
 ment in his loss. To many of them he gave the benefit of his strong 
 practical sense and great executive ability, and at his death they con- 
 curred in expressions of their appreciation of his services. These serv- 
 ices were rendered to the Second National Bank, both in its organiza- 
 tion and during its subsequent history ; to the Female Academy for 
 twenty- five years of its career, before and after the dark hour of that in- 
 stitution, when fire had destroyed its costly buildings, but when his 
 hopeful predictions of new and better ones and his active eflbrt to supply 
 them gave courage and confidence to all ; to the Cemetery Association 
 by the exercise of his wise counsel, his keen appreciation of all that is 
 beautiful in nature, his skill in landscape gardening, and his years of de- 
 votion. By the Reformed Church it was declared that his services were 
 invaluable, his attendance on its ordinances unremitting, his care for its 
 interests watchful and unstinted, and that his name and character for 
 every manly virtue were indelibly impressed upon the hearts of its peo- 
 ple. Mr. Brayton married, secondly. Miss Catharine, daughter of John 
 L. Curtenius, who with three daughters survive him. He died June 2, 
 1887. 
 
 Jason G. Coye was a close office lawyer who by industry, judicious 
 investments of his gains, and economy in their expenditure acquired the 
 means to leave at his death a valuable legacy to the Old Ladies' Home 
 and another to Calvary Church. His death occurred March 9, 1872. 
 Another lawyer of unusual gifts, who now made a beginning, was Huet 
 R. Root, brother of P. Sheldon. This beginning was closed by an early 
 death. 
 
WILLIAM WALCOTT. 247 
 
 Physicians of 1840-42 were Theodore Dimon, who practiced here for 
 a few years and then removed to Auburn ; Daniel James, who had be- 
 fore a long experience in Albany; and George W. Gardner, of much 
 longer residence. 
 
 About 1840 there came to reside in the city a man whose occupa- 
 tion was chiefly outside of it, though with its citizens he had many in- 
 terests in common. This was William Walcott, long associated with 
 his brother Benjamin in the management of the New York Mills. Born 
 in Cumberland, R. I., August 9, 1794, he removed to Whitesboro in 
 181 1 and soon afterward engaged in mercantile business, being con- 
 nected with the Oneida Manufacturing Society, principally as agent for 
 the sale of its goods. At that early age he displayed unusual business 
 talent with great activity a:nd industry. He was for a very long period the 
 general agent and superintendent of this factory. He was closely asso- 
 ciated in business with Benjamin S. Walcott in the New York Mills 
 and the two brothers worked hand in hand for over half a century in 
 promoting the industrial and moral interests of that widely known man- 
 ufacturing center. After coming to Utica he superintended the erection 
 of the Utica Steam Cotton- Mills, which were pronounced by competent 
 judges to be one of the best constructed establishments in the United 
 States. He was one of its first Board of Directors. For a few years 
 before his death he was a director of the Chicago and Rock Island Rail- 
 road. Later he was treasurer of the Michigan Southern and Northern 
 Indiana Railroad, and performed the duties of that arduous and respon- 
 sible post with singular industry and fidelity. For more than thirty 
 years he was a director of the Bank of Utica and was also a director of 
 the Savings Bank. For many years he was a member of the Presby- 
 terian Church of Whitesboro ; on removing to Utica he united with the 
 Reformed Church and was made one of its elders. A worthy and use- 
 ful citizen and sincere Christian he was greatly respected and beloved. 
 He died November 8, 1859. 
 
 Edward H. Broadhead, nephew of Charles C. Broadhead, was a 
 resident engineer on the Erie Canal about four years. He was subse- 
 quently a prosperous and leading citizen of Milwaukee. 
 
 Rev. Wesley Bailey, a minister of Fayetteville, came here in 1842 at 
 the instigation of Alvan Stewart and others, and set up the Liberty 
 
248 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 Press as an organ of the Anti-Slavery party, which succeeded to the 
 Friend of Man, its previous organ. This paper Mr. Bailey edited until 
 1848. He afterward united with the Barnburner Democrats in the or- 
 ganization of the Republican party. Finding that there was less reason 
 for the continued advocacy of anti-slavery doctrine he changed the char- 
 acter of his paper, making it a supporter of temperance and calling it the 
 Teetotaller. As such he conducted it until about i860, with the excep- 
 tion only of the year 1857, when he served as State prison inspector, 
 having been elected by the Republicans. In i860 he removed to Ohio, 
 where he had charge of another paper until near his death. He died in 
 February, 1 89 1. He had two sons, of whom one, E. P. Bailey, is now 
 editor of the Utica Observer. 
 
 Among the merchants was George C. Tallman, who was born at Ta- 
 berg in this county, where his father's family were temporarily resident, 
 though their prior and subsequent home was in Brooklyn upon a farm 
 which, from the natural growth of that city, became very valuable. At 
 an early age he entered a dry goods store in New York and soon be- 
 came head of the firm. Settling afterward in Oneida County he located 
 first in Whitestown and then in Utica. Here he began the wholesale 
 dry goods trade, but was soon dealing in real estate. In this latter his 
 operations were successful and conducted on a large scale. At one 
 time he owned 50,000 acres of land in Iroquois County, 111., and had 
 property in sixty counties of Western States. In Utica also he owned 
 land, especially a valuable tract in the eastern part. He lived here 
 about twenty years and in 1866 returned to Brooklyn, continuing a like 
 pursuit until his death May 4, 1880. He was a shrewd business man 
 and acquired a large property. One only of his large family, Edward 
 A. Tallman, is left in Utica. 
 
 Other merchants were Alfred A. and Richard H. Wells (successors of 
 Thomas G. Perkins), Doolittle & Norris, Peter Wellbon, Owen and 
 Michael Gaffney, Kellogg & Rockwell, all in the dry goods trade ; 
 Charles C. Backus and Horace H. Hawley, booksellers and publishers ; 
 George Dickinson, druggist; Adrian Kissam, Nathan B. Wilcox, for- 
 warders ; William H. Scranton, grocer and afterward clothing mer- 
 chant ; Horace Whitman, David Donaldson, Paul Keiser, grocers, the 
 latter being the founder of the German paper, the Oneida Demokrat. 
 
\^ 
 
 Inij.tAiI.CWiUj'.msiBrM 
 
MECHANICS OF i?,^2. 2^^ 
 
 Among the mechanics beginning now to Uve in Utica was Joel C. 
 Bailey, the son of an early settler of Whitestown. After working in 
 blast furnaces in various places in this State and conducting one of his 
 own at Schenectady he came in 1842 to Utica and purchased the Eagle 
 Furnace on Columbia near Cornelia street. There alone and with his son - 
 in-law, Russel Wheeler, he carried on the manufacture of stoves until 
 his retirement in 1856. The woolen-mill known as the Globe Woolen- 
 Mill had failed not long after it had started. Mr. Bailey purchased and 
 re-organized it and became its president, continuing as such until, on 
 his resignation by reason of the arduousness of other cares, he was suc- 
 ceeded by Mr. Faxton, when he was made vice-president. He was 
 likewise interested in the Steam Woolen and the Steam Cotton-Mills. 
 Long a deacon and influential in the Bleeker Street Baptist Church he 
 left behind him a reputation above reproach and an example worthy of 
 imitation. He died February 23, 1882, when upwards of ninety years 
 of age. A notice of Abijah J. Williams will be found in the Biograph- 
 ical Department. 
 
 From among the mechanics entering on business about this date and 
 who are now deceased it may be permitted to select one or two to briefly 
 characterize. William Brady was a master mason to whom was 
 due the construction of the stone and brickwork of several public and 
 private buildings of the city, and Azel J. Lathrop was a master builder 
 who had as important a part in the woodwork of these structures. Mr. 
 Lathrop had been bred a carpenter and he continued his shop and his 
 work, but while thus engaged he studied the science of architecture 
 and spared no pains and no expense in perfecting himself in that pro- 
 fession. The buildings erected by him were put up in a substantial 
 and workmanlike manner. His architectural success is best attested by 
 the many handsome buildings of his design, not only in Utica, but in 
 surrounding places. Among those now standing in this city may be 
 mentioned the Marble block, the county clerk's office, the Butterfield 
 House, the Utica Savings Bank, the Gardner block, the Globe Woolen - 
 Mills, the Faxton Hospital, Faxton Hall, the Old Ladies' Home, and 
 several private residences. His long residence here and the amount of 
 work done by him made him the best known architect in this part of 
 the State. Accurate and precise in his plans he omitted nothing in 
 
 32 
 
2SO MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 his specifications. His death, which was sudden, occurred March i6, 
 1880. His wife was Margaret Arthur and he was the father of eight 
 children. 
 
 Another mechanic conspicuous for the public positions he held was 
 Hugh Crocker. Born in New York in 1808 he came to Utica in 1819 and 
 grew with its growth. His original vocation was that of a butcher and 
 this he prosecuted for many years. He was afterward engaged in more 
 miscellaneous business. In 1861 he was chosen sheriff of the county 
 on the Democratic ticket, and ten years later he was elected to the same 
 office on the Union ticket. He returned to the Democratic party and 
 was active and influential in it. About 1866 he became superintend- 
 ent of the Utica and Black River Railroad and it was in the faithful 
 prosecution of the duties of this office that he lost his life. This was the 
 result of a landslide that occurred in the spring of 1869, a few miles 
 north of Lyons Falls. Having started on a locomotive in advance of 
 the train to inspect the road, then in a dangerous condition, he with his 
 engine was overtaken and crushed. The incidents of his last hours are 
 eloquent in eulogy of his care for the road and his forgetfulness of 
 self 
 
 Other mechanics, since deceased, were John F. Kittle, printer and 
 publisher of the Observer ; Lemuel Pittman, carpenter ; A. J. Bice, John 
 W. Porter, shoemakers ; Gordon & Pond, saddlers (Theron T. Pond being 
 the inventor of Pond's extract); Marvin H. Lines, saddler; Joseph Har- 
 ter, tanner; George Ralph, brewer ; William Ralph, tinsmith ; David 
 Hull, tinner ; Isaac Tapping, maker of regalia ; Edward Broadwell, paper 
 hanger; R. N. Loucks, leather dealer; Henry Roberts, butcher. 
 
 Several of the inhabitants of Utica who entered on business about 
 1840-42 are still alive. As the history advances the number of living 
 ones will steadily increase. These, it is evident, cannot all be discoursed 
 upon ; lack of space forbids it. To select a few of them only might 
 seem invidious, and therefore I must deny myself even the mention of 
 their names Names to many would be but " non-conductors and void 
 of interest." 
 
 1843 — Officers for the year 1843 were as follows : Mayor, Frederick 
 HoUister; aldermen, Hiram Greenman, Jared PI Warner, Joseph B. 
 Hoyt, N. N. Weaver, William Baker, Ezra S. Barnum, Abraham Hig- 
 
PROCEEDINGS OF 1843. 251 
 
 I. 
 ham, Charles Tracy, John Butterfield, Chauncey Palmer, Gerry Sanger, 
 
 C. B. Coventry ; treasurer, George J. Hopper ; attorney, William Allen ; 
 clerk, Richard U. Sherman ; surveyor, Lorenzo M. Taylor; street com- 
 missioner, L. M. Taylor ; school commissioners, Spencer Kellogg, 
 Robert T. Hallock, Rudolph Snyder, Hiram Denio, Francis Kernan, 
 James Watson Williams. 
 
 During the year 1842-44 the financial indebtedness of the city oc- 
 cupied much of the attention of the council and the people. The Daily 
 Gazette'wL February, 1842, discoursed as, follows : " Our city affairs are 
 now in a peculiar condition. Deeply in debt, with a revenue entirely 
 inadequate to allow of a hope that it can ever be met from ordinary 
 means, we need all the ingenuity and financial knowledge that can be 
 possessed by one Board of Aldermen to devise some means of relief" 
 The same journal calls for the election of a new Board of Aldermen 
 with the exception of two. The city debt at that time was less than 
 $5,000, outside of bonds. The following statement was published of 
 the city debt for the ten years succeeding its incorporation : 1833, 
 $1,366.17; 1834, $2,316.54; 1835, $2,500; 1836, $2,292.05; 1837, 
 $3,492.86; 1838, $3,500; 1839, $3,600; 1840, $3,590; 1841, $1,592.- 
 64; 1842, $3,246.87; 1843, $4,458-24- 
 
 The council in February resolved that application be made to the 
 legislature to amend the charter so as to authorize the council to raise 
 either an annual tax of $10,000 or by special tax a sum sufficient to 
 extinguish the present indebtedness. On the 23d of the same month 
 a public meeting was held at which it was resolved to submit the mat- 
 ter to a committee of citizens who should report at a subsequent meet- 
 ing. This committee was composed of E. A. Wetmore, Spencer Kel- 
 logg, Hiram Denio, Robert T. Hallock, Thomas Colling, Martin Hart, 
 and Horatio Seymour. The report of the committee recommended 
 application to the legislature for authority to borrow on bonds of the 
 city $3,500 for three years for the payment of liabihties exclusively, 
 and an equal amount of which one- third should be raised in each of the 
 next three years by special tax. (The latter clause of the report was 
 left out upon its final adoption.) The saine committee also recom- 
 mended that future work on roads, streets, and bridges, and the street 
 hghting be let on contract to the lowest bidder; that the number of the 
 
252 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 city watch be reduced ; and that no future appropriation be made ex- 
 cept as authorized by the charter. This report was adopted on the i ith 
 of March and the necessary steps were taken to give it effect. In the 
 treasurer's report for the year ending February, 1843, the entire ex- 
 penses of the city from the ordinary fund are given as $1 1,734.96. The 
 fund raised each year had been for several years $8,000. 
 
 November 24, 1843, it was announced in the council that application 
 would be made to the legislature for charter amendments authorizing 
 the division of the Third and Fourth wards, the establishment of a Re- 
 corder's Court, and the election of one supervisor from each ward. The 
 Recorder's Court was inaugurated in the following year. On the ap- 
 plication of the school commissioners the council ordered the raising by 
 tax of the sum of $1,618.50 for the alteration, repairing, and improving 
 of the school- houses, for purchasing apparatus, and for fuel and contin- 
 gent expenses of the schools. 
 
 In September Nicholas Devereux offered to build a hall for city pur- 
 poses and give to the corporation a perpetual lease of it free of charge 
 on condition thathe be allowed to occupy that part of Hotel street be- 
 tween Franklin Square and the canal for part of his building. This 
 proposal met with much opposition from many citizens who desired a 
 park at that point. Very few public improvements were made by the 
 council. It was an era of retrenchment, with much talk of hard times. 
 In July there was held the first large military encampment here. The 
 four Utica companies and others from Rochester, Schenectady, New 
 Haven, and New York took part. General Wool was present to review 
 the troops and $50 was appropriated by the council to the mihtary 
 companies to aid in defraying expenses. The encampment occupied 
 the ground enclosed between the Chenango Canal and Court and Var- 
 ick streets, there being only a few houses along the line of these two 
 streets. 
 
 The Gazette of December 7th began an editorial as follows : " Pros- 
 pects of our City. — Every one conversant with the different portions of 
 Utica must have been struck with surprise at the great amount of build- 
 ing which has been going on during the last year or two." The editor 
 then proceeded to show how this was being greatly overdone ; that 
 money left in the hands of real estate owners by the general interruption 
 
PROCEEDINGS OF 1844. 253 
 
 of business was being used by them to put up stores and blocks for 
 which there was not and could not soon be a demand. In April of this 
 year the two railroads began running two trains daily each way. The 
 packet boats were still continuing an active opposition, and Captain 
 Greenman put on two new boats this year. In July the number of 
 daily railroad trains was increased to three. 
 
 1844. — The charter election of 1844 was an exciting one. The Hol- 
 lister administration had given satisfaction by its economy and prudence 
 and he was renominated for mayor, but through a coalition of Hunkers, 
 Barnburners, and Abolitionists there was a defeat of the Whigs. The 
 following officers were chosen : Mayor, Ward Hunt ; aldermen, B. B. 
 Lansing, Charles H. Doolittle, Abraham Higham, Stephen Comstock, 
 Jared E. Warner, George Tracy, Joseph B. Hoyt, Charles Tracy, George 
 Curtiss, Francis Kernan, Charles S. Wilson, Jere Mather; treasurer, Jar- 
 vis M. Hatch; attorney, Huet H. Root; clerk, Joseph B. Cushman ; 
 surveyor, Francis F. Curry ; street commissioner, Thomas Mclncrow. 
 
 In April a petition came into the council for the location of a public 
 square between the canal and Genesee and Hotel streets, which was 
 merely referred, and to Mr. Devereux was given a portion of that space 
 for his block as already alluded to. After this matter was settled the 
 local press began agitating the subject of a public square at the head of 
 Washington street. AppUcation was made to the council in August 
 for the necessary action to divide the Fourth ward into two election 
 districts — a measure that was adopted at a later date. Public improve- 
 ments were limited : an appropriation of $100 was made for the repair 
 of the starch factory road, a sewer was laid in Hopper street, and Mo- 
 hawk street was graded. 
 
 This was the year of the Henry Clay campaign and politics absorbed 
 a large share of public attention. Mass meetings were held, clubs 
 formed, and excitement ran high in Utica as well as elsewhere. The 
 Recorder's Court was instituted by act of legislature. Its jurisdiction 
 covered both civil and criminal cases, civil cases being tried by the 
 recorder alone and criminal cases by him in association with two 
 aldermen. Terms began on the fourth Mondays of January, March, 
 May, August, and November. The first session of this court was held 
 on the 27th of May, 1844, and a little later it was given two rooms in 
 
2S4 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 Washington Hall. William Baker was the first recorder and Dex- 
 ter GiUmore the first clerk of the court. 
 
 1845. — Officers elected in March were: Mayor, E. A. Wetmore ; 
 aldermen, Alfred Churchill, Stephen Comstock, Thomas Hopper, Jo- 
 seph B. Hoyt, Otis Manchester, M. T. Meeker, David E. Morris, Or- 
 ville Olcott, Gerry Sanger, William Walcott, Charles S. Wilson, Charles 
 H. Doolittle; treasurer, George J. Hopper; attorney, Erastus Clark; 
 clerk, Alexander Coburn; surveyor, Lorenzo M. Taylor; street com- 
 missioner, Charles Downer. 
 
 At a special meeting of the council of 1844, held January 21st, a 
 communication was received from E. H. Broadhead asking the council 
 to aid him in a petition to the legislature for an act incorporating a 
 company to supply the city with water. The petition was ordered for- 
 warded to Albany and on the 2ist of March a resolution was adopted 
 urging the passage of the water bill. At a special meeting February 
 4, 1844, a resolution was adopted that application be made to the next 
 legislature for authority to collect a tax, with the next general tax, of 
 $1,200 for a culvert over Nail Creek. The treasurer's report for the 
 preceding fiscal year gave total receipts as $12,576.38 and expenses as 
 $12,921.70. On the i6thof May a petition was presented to the council 
 which led a little later to the formation of Oneida Square. 
 
 There were many fires during the summer, but no very destructive 
 one ; they were believed in many cases to have been of incendiary or- 
 igin and the mayor offered $150 reward for the apprehension of the 
 culprits. It was supposed by many that the fires, or some of them at 
 least, were started by rivals in the fire companies, which had been 
 proven the case in some other cities. Sidewalks were laid on Kemble, 
 Genesee, Varick, South, Union, and Lansing streets ; drains on Colum- 
 bia and West streets ; and parts of Columbia and Jay streets were 
 paved. 
 
 A published list of the manufactories of the place is as follows: two 
 grist-mills, five iron works, one oilcloth factory, three tanneries, two 
 breweries, one ashery, two saw-mills, with a total manufactured output 
 for the year of $236,81 1. The population of the city was 12,190. This 
 list of manufactories is a limited one for so large a place, a fact which 
 doubtless inspired the numerous editorials in the local press in favor of 
 
LAWYERS, DOCTORS, TEACHERS, MERCHANTS. 255 
 
 the establishment of more manufacturing industries. In October ap- 
 peared a notice of a proposed cotton factory and about $60,000 was 
 subscribed to the stock. The State Fair was held here this year on the 
 ground east and southeast of Oneida Square; it began on the i6th of 
 September. 
 
 Lawyers entering on practice during the years 1843-45 were Francis 
 Kernan (see Biographical Department), Eaton J. Richardson, Richard 
 H. Morehouse, Arthur M. Beardsley, Erastus Clark, Alexander Coburn, 
 still resident; George H. Congar, Matthew D. Bagg (most of whose 
 professional life was passed in New York), deceased ; Bradley B. Burt, 
 of Oswego ; William C. Johnson, of Newburyport; James DaJhba, of 
 Marquette ; and Delos Lake, late of San Francisco. 
 
 Physicians now first presenting themselves for favor were Erastus 
 Humphrey, soon joined by Frederick Humphrey, the first representa- 
 tives of the homoeopathic school of medicine in Utica, and Thomas 
 Scott, whose stay was not protracted. 
 
 Teachers were George Spencer, principal of the Utica Academy, a 
 skilled instructor,firm disciplinarian, and most companionable associate ; 
 John G. Webb, employed in the same institution who afterward was a 
 druggist ; and Henry J. Turner, a native of France who had been a ship 
 captain, now opened a boarding school where elementary instruction 
 was imparted through the medium of his own vernacular. Peter Clog- 
 her, at this time an assistant in one of the public schools, became ere 
 long an important agent in the conduct of the Steam Woolen- Mills. 
 
 Of the dealers in dry goods the one I shall specially notice was 
 D. V. W. Golden. He had already served a clerkship in the place, but 
 in 1844 set up for himself in company with Rugene Swartwout. With 
 him and afterward with other partners, or else alone, he continued many 
 years in business, transferring the popular seat of his own kind of trade 
 from the west to the east side of Genesee street, and by his energy and 
 sagacity, his pleasant manners, his skill in providing, and his honesty in 
 dealing winning a large share of the female preference and custom. He 
 died July 13, 1873. 
 
 Other dry goods men were Samuel B. Gaston & Co., Samuel Church- 
 ill, James and Peter Brady, Harrison & Cone, and John B. Wells, of the 
 firm of Bailey & Wells. Other merchants were Miller & Lansing, drug- 
 
2s6 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 gists and grocers in the old checkered store, of whom John B. Miller, 
 a lawyer by education, became afteward an editor of the Observer and 
 U. S. consul at Hamburg ; Benjamin F. Ray, partner of J. E. Warner, 
 Walker & Clark, grocers and flour dealers ; Richard Lee, grocer ; Abra- 
 ham E. Culver, forwarder. 
 
 Urbane Dunning, daguerreotypist, was probably the first of the nu- 
 merous makers of sun-pictures who have since succeeded him in this 
 profession, Other mechanics were George R. Sheldon and Le Grand 
 Moore, Alexander C. Hart, Homer Townsend, and Isaac Whiffen. Of 
 the latter it may be said that his interest in municipal concerns, his 
 energy, straightforwardness, and integrity were admitted by all. So, 
 too, were patent his fondness for manly sports and the pleasure he drew 
 from fellowship with his brothers of St. George. Less known were his 
 rare but unostentatious benevolence and the social enjoyment which 
 in such associations he was better fitted to impart than to imbibe. Ho- 
 mer Townsend, another Englishman, was likewise an esteemed citizen. 
 A foreman in his younger years of the Osceola Fire Company he was 
 afterward one of the most influential of the Exempt Firemen and the 
 Firemen's Benevolent Association ; an earnest and honest worker in his 
 political party; an active member of the Board of Charities; a trustee 
 of the House of the Good Shepherd ; progressive and practical in doing 
 every possible good for the public ; and withal a wonted resource of the 
 needy and afflicted. 
 
 1846. — Officers chosen were as follows: Mayor, E. A. Wetmore; al- 
 dermen, Richard S. Jones, David E. Morris, Gilbert A. Foster, Orville 
 Olcott, Moses T. Meeker, Stephen Thorn, Thomas Hopper, George S. 
 Dana, John Bryan, Stephen Comstock, Thomas R. Walker, Alfred 
 Churchill; treasurer, George J. Hopper; attorney, Erastus Clark; 
 clerk, George Murphy ; surveyor, L. M. Taylor ; street commissioner, 
 Thomas Geary. 
 
 The treasurer's report for the fiscal year gave the total receipts as 
 $16,383.35 ; expenditures, $15,571.79. A license election was held in 
 May and a majority of 505 voted against license ; none were granted. 
 The Steam Woolen- Mills, said to be the first in the United States, were 
 started in November. A screw factory under the management of 
 Lewis Lawrence, John J. Francis, and Harvey Barnard was put in opera- 
 
PROCEEDINGS OF 1847. 257 
 
 tion about this time which made exqellent screws. It was continued a 
 dozen or more years, when it was bought out by a rival company of 
 Providence, R. I., which closed up the work here. 
 
 Wise, the aeronaut, made two ascensions from the City Garden on 
 Whitesboro street. This garden, situated on the south side of Whites- 
 boro a little east of Burchard lane, was now a popular place of resort, 
 where shows of various kinds were frequently exhibited. 
 
 1847. — Officers chosen for the year were: Mayor, James Watson 
 Williams; aldermen, M. McQuade, R. S. Jones, R. H. Shearman, H. T. 
 Miller, John Dagwell, Stephen Thorn, John Reed, Alfred Churchill, H. 
 Barnard, George Curtiss, Charles S. Wilson, B. F. Brooks ; treasurer, 
 George Tracy; attorney, O. G. Kellogg; clerk, James Mclver; sur- 
 veyor, L. M. Taylor; street commissioner, A. H. Thomas; recorder, 
 Aaron Hackley. 
 
 The retiring mayor delivered an address in which he congratulated 
 the city on its financial condition and general prosperity. He said that 
 the city debt was very small when compared with those of other similar 
 cities, but the taxation would soon have to be increased to meet current 
 expenses. The treasurer's report gave the total receipts as $15,850.82 ; 
 expenses, $15,250.62 ; leaving a balance of $600.20. The preceding ad- 
 ministration had been conducted on economical lines, expenditures be- 
 ing limited to necessities. The funded debt now reached almost $8,000 ; 
 this had been increased by the fact that no license fees had been re- 
 ceived in the past year, while there had been some unusual demands on 
 the treasury. It is probable that the loss to the city of about $1,100 in 
 license fees operated at the license election of the next year to throw 
 the majority in favor of license. In March the mayor was asked to call a 
 public meeting to consider the city finances and how to pay the debt. The 
 meeting was held March 23d and it was resolved that $10,000 be raised 
 annually by tax thereafter instead of $8,000 ; and that besides this a 
 sufficient sum be raised in annual installments of $2,000 to liquidate the 
 city debt; that thereafter the council should submit all expenditures of 
 an extraordinary character to a vote of the people and should borrow 
 no money except in anticipation of the annual tax levy; and that no ob- 
 ligation should be created that was not to be provided for and paid 
 within the same year. These various wise provisions were embodied 
 33 
 
2s8 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 in charter amendments and a law passed the legislature giving them 
 effect. 
 
 A part of the Schuyler farm in West Utica was bought in Septem- 
 ber, 1847, by Nicholas Devereux and was soon laid out in lots and 
 offered for sale. This tract, extending from Court street to Walnut 
 and limited by Hicks street on the east and City street on the west, is 
 now pretty thickly covered with residences. 
 
 In a local paper of June 30th it was said that "our city is beginning 
 to feel sensibly the influence of the newly awakened spirit of enterprise 
 which has induced the investment of a portion of the capital of her citi- 
 zens in manufactures, in her present prosperity, and the prospect which 
 is opening for her future advancement in wealth and population." 
 About this time the Steam Woolen- Mills declared a dividend of ten per 
 cent, a fact which, doubtless, quickened the interest in manufactures. 
 
 This year saw the beginning of what may be called the plank road 
 era, and before its close a number of those useful highways were either 
 in process of construction or projected. Among them were one between 
 Rome and Utica ; one from Utica to Bridgewater ; one from Utica to 
 Clinton ; one from Rome to Oswego ; and one from Utica to Boonville. 
 The building of these roads at that period, when most country roads 
 were bad, exercised a very beneficial influence upon all trade centers. 
 Some of the roads paid good profits while others did not ; but they 
 served to tide over a period when there were few railroads and opened 
 up more active communication between important points. Richard U. 
 Shearman in company with E. R. Colston and R. W. Roberts estab- 
 lished this year the Utica Morning Herald in opposition to the Ut'ica 
 Daily Gazette. 
 
 1848. — The officers of the year were as follows: Mayor, Joshua A. 
 Spencer; aldermen, Egbert Bagg, Alfred Churchill, Michael McQuade, 
 Richard S. Jones, Henry T. Miller, Robert H. Shearman, George N. 
 Beesley, Abraham Higham, Orville Olcott, Francis Kernan, Richard 
 Lee, Henry H. Fish; treasurer, George Tracy; attorney, R. H. More- 
 house; clerk, James Mclver ; surveyor, L. M. Taylor ; street commis- 
 sioner, Horace Halbert. 
 
 March 3d a report was made to the council that the unencumbered 
 property of the city was valued at $29,901 ; that the unusual expenses 
 
PROCEEDINGS OF i?,^,?, — FRESH RESIDENTS. 259 
 
 of the previous year were $2,865, one considerable item of which was 
 for the purchase of two new engines and the erection of a hose tower. 
 The total expenses of the city for the year were $17,883.20. This was 
 the first year in which the sum of $10,000 was raised for the ordinary 
 expenses of the city. March 3 1st the Utica Water Works were incorpo- 
 rated. The stock was to be not less than $30,000 nor more than 
 $100,000. James Watson Williams, Nicholas Devereux, Alfred Mun- 
 son, Andrew S. Pond, Charles A. Mann, Horatio Seymour, Silas D. 
 Childs, Willard Crafts, and Thomas Hopper were the trustees. A gas 
 company was organized in the latter part of the year. The directors 
 were Nicholas Devereux, Silas D. Childs, J. F. Seymour, H. Spencer, 
 J. W. Williams, George S. Dana, and T. R. Walker. 
 
 The improvements of the year consisted of a drain from the canal 
 basin on Catharine street to Genesee, and down Genesee to Main street, 
 and the building of sidewalks in various streets. Sewers were laid in 
 Louisa from Steuben to Leah street, in Leah to Miller, and in Miller 
 to Ballou's Creek, and in Post street. 
 
 Candidates for the bar admitted to it in 1846-48 who are now de- 
 ceased or no longer resident were Jonas P. Harris, Montgomery H. 
 Throop, E. J. Stoddard, James W. Bond, Aras G. Williams, Andrew Mel- 
 hinch. Messrs. Harris, Stoddard, and Bond had the longest and best 
 known careers in Utica. Mr. Throop has made a reputation elsewhere. 
 
 A physician, acknowledged as a devoted and skillful one, was Daniel 
 P. Bissell. He was born in Randolph, N. Y., May 27, 1802, and taken 
 by his parents to Ontario County when a child. He was graduated 
 from the Yale Medical College in 1826 and became a partner of his 
 brother, who was practicing at Moscow, Livingston County, N. Y. In 
 1842 he was made canal commissioner by the legislature and in 1846' 
 was elected to the same office by the Democratic party, holding the 
 office until January, 1848. In the meantime he had removed to Utica 
 and engaged in the duties of his profession, being for some years ini 
 company with Dr. Thomas Goodsell and afterward alone. In i860' 
 he was sent as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 
 South Carolina. He was a manager of the State Hospital for the In- 
 sane, and among strictly professional holdings was successively presi- 
 dent of the Livingston County, the Oneida County, and the State Med- 
 
26o MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 ical Societies. His life was an active one, and in all positions of trust 
 and honor to which he was elevated he performed his duties faithfully 
 and conscientiously. He was a public spirited citizen, a companionable 
 neighbor, and a kind hearted friend. His standing in his profession 
 was high and its honor he cherished with jealous regard. 
 
 Dr. NicoU H. Bering, who had for twenty-five years carried on a 
 successful business in the city of New York, removed to Rome in 1842 
 and in 1847 came to this city. His wide experience gave him at once 
 a standing with the profession and caused him to be often summoned in 
 council. His courteous manners, his upright and engaging character, 
 his humanity toward the suffering, and sympathy with every enterprise 
 for the amelioration of his fellows insured him the confidence of the 
 community. For many years a ruling elder in the Brick Church of 
 New York he was elected to the same office in the First Presbyterian 
 Church of Utica. In this ofSce he was active and efficient and was fre- 
 quently chosen to represent the church in the General Assembly. His 
 first wife and the mother of his children was a daughter of Henry 
 Huntington, of Rome ; his second of Henry D. Strong, of New York. 
 He left one son and four daughters. 
 
 A dentist of some years' residence was A. H. Colling. A veterinary 
 surgeon fully competent for his work was Arthur S. Copeman. He 
 was a lecturer in the Veterinary College at Boston. In New York city, 
 where he afterward resided, he became wealthy. 
 
 A long continued newspaper editor was De Witt C. Grove. He was 
 born in Utica, December 16, 1825. He never attended school after the 
 age of ten, and in his thirteenth year was apprenticed to the printer's 
 trade. Subsequently by his own efforts he gained a sound English and 
 a fair classical education. With the exception of a few months spent in 
 the study of law he was devoted to his trade until 1846, when he in 
 company with Benjamin Welch, jr., became one of the editors and pro- 
 prietors of the Utica Democrat, the organ of the " Barnburners" or rad- 
 ical faction of the Democratic party. When the two factions came to- 
 gether in 1853 the two organs of this city did the same, and Mr. Grove 
 became the principal owner of the Observer, the leading Democratic 
 journal of Central New York. The firm was for a few months only 
 Lyon & Grove, when Mr. Grove bought out his partner and controlled 
 
DE WITT C. GROVE— T. O. GHANNJS. 261 
 
 the paper. This control he held for thirty years, covering the period 
 of the Civil war and the growth of modern newspapers. In January, 
 1867, he formed a partnership with E. Prentice Bailey, who had long 
 been his associate, and some eighteen months later this partnership was 
 merged in the corporation of which Mr. Grove was president. He was 
 an intense partisan and a writer of force. As a man of business he was 
 thrifty and careful and his prosperity steady. In 1 860, after four years 
 of service as alderman, Mr. Grove was chosen mayor of the city, was 
 re-elected in 1861, and again in 1862 by an increased majority, retiring 
 at the end of his term with the good will and wishes of his constituents. 
 In the meantime in the autumn of i860 he was nominated for Con- 
 gress, but was defeated by the candidate of the opposition, Roscoe 
 Conkling, at a time when this opposition was largely ascendant. Mr. 
 Grove was a genial and pleasant gentleman who attached men to him 
 generally and strongly, kind especially to young men, and cordial with 
 all. His wife was Caroline L. Pratt ; their children were a son and a 
 daughter. 
 
 Timothy O. Grannis had already been for many years a citizen of 
 Utica, having come here with his father, Cyrus Grannis. After a two 
 years' essay in New York as a student of law he returned to this place 
 and served a short time in the office of the county clerk. About 1832 
 he entered the Bank of Utica as a clerk and from discount clerk became 
 teller. In 1838 the Bank of Central New York was organized and Mr. 
 Grannis was its teller and shortly its cashier. July i, 1862, the T. O. 
 Grannis & Co. Bank was opened for business. At first under the State 
 charter it soon became a private institution, the successive partners 
 with Mr. Grove being J. Benedict, George Curtiss, and his own son, 
 Charles K. By the latter the bank was continued a short time after the 
 death of his father. In these various positions Mr. Grannis had a long 
 and intimate relation with the business of the city. The only public 
 office he ever held was that of alderman in 1849. He was long con- 
 nected with Trinity Church and, upon its organization, with Grace 
 Church. He was a good citizen, a good husband, and a good father. 
 His death occurred May 19, 1883. Two sons are living. 
 
 Among the merchants that should be recorded as beginning about 
 this time are William Stacy, William Willard, Jerome B. Tyler, in dry 
 goods; Uriel H. Kellogg, in drugs; James H. Read, in groceries. 
 
262 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 Samuel W. Chubbuck, a mechanic who came here from Eaton, Madi- 
 son County, was born at Winchester, Va., December 25, 1799. With 
 small advantages from a school education he possessed an active and 
 acquisitive mind, and studied and thought deeply. He was employed 
 in a furnace, but occupied his leisure in the indulgence of a passion for 
 mechanical invention, in the practice of which he exhibited rare ingenu- 
 ity. Throughout the vicinity of Eaton he was known as one who was 
 able to make or mend anything that called for skill, from the parts of a 
 gun to a philosophical or chemical apparatus. Among the contrivan- 
 ces one, which is said to have been devised by him, is now universally 
 used and so simple in character that it seems strange it should not have 
 been invented before. This was the binding post of the magnetic bat- 
 tery, which is a projection of its frame work perforated near its extrem- 
 ity for the passage of one of the wires connecting the poles of the battery, 
 being fixed in its place or loosened therefrom by a thumb- screw, a 
 similar post confining the wire of the opposite pole. Before this time 
 connection had been made through the medium of a fluid contained in 
 a vessel into which the wires were introduced. The reputation Mr. 
 Chubbuck had obtained led Mr. Faxton and others concerned in the 
 New York, Buffalo, and Albany Telegraph Company to bring him to 
 Utica. The possibility of the magnetic telegraph he fully believed in, 
 for he had followed the experiments of Professor Morse, as well as the 
 earlier ones of Professor Henry, with the deepest interest. Here he 
 manufactured the first telegraph instruments ever made. The "sounder," 
 since everywhere used, was his invention. The Montreal line, the 
 Washington and Baltimore line, and many others were indebted to him 
 for their instruments. The making of them formed his chief occupation, 
 though his skill in similar work was in frequent request, it being well 
 understood that no one surpassed him in the execution of difficult or 
 delicate jobs. He made half a dozen inventions, either one of which 
 was worth a fortune to the patentee ; but he patented nothing. One 
 of these was for a lift-bridge, the design of which was freely given to a 
 builder who went away and patented the invention. He was prodi- 
 gal of his talents. It was so easy for him to improve on any instru- 
 ment he was called to make that it did not seem to have occurred to 
 him that his inventions were worth securing by letters patent. In 
 
i'. W. CHUB BUCK— EDMUND MUNSON. 263 
 
 numismatics Mr. Chubbuck was an expert. He made one of the finest 
 collections of coins in the United States, one which was estimated to be 
 worth at least $6,000. He was an excellent mathematician, and the 
 intricate problems of exact science fitted the peculiar cast of his mind. 
 In the discussion of topics of this character professors and scientists 
 delighted to pass their leisure hours in his presence and always came 
 away edified. His shop, slovenly enough in its appearance, was strewn 
 with books intermixed with all sorts of miscellaneous stuff, but whose 
 use and whose place were familiar to him, and which in his hands wrought 
 results that were perfect. His death occurred January 28, 1875. 
 
 Edmund Munson, born in Litchfield County, Conn., May 2, 1805, 
 was brought up by his father in all the details of the milling business, 
 and in 1829 built a flouring-mill with four pairs of French burrstones 
 which were made by himself In 1835 ^^ came to Utica and engaged 
 with Alfred Munson, his uncle, as superintendent of his mill-furnishing 
 business. Between the spring of 1842 and that of 1847 he was absent 
 at Brownville, still engaged in the construction and management of 
 mills. In the latter year he returned and entered into partnership in 
 mill furnishing with Alexander C. Hart under the firm name of Hart 
 & Munson. This partnership was continued until 1869, when it was 
 exchanged for one with his three sons, and thus continued until his 
 death March 14, 1872. The patents obtained by Mr. Munson were 
 for a turn-table for finishing millstones, an improvement for hanging 
 them, and a portable mill, all of which are of use to the milling interest. 
 Mr. Munson stuck closely to his business and was not largely known 
 outside of it, but unquestionably merited the respect which was gener- 
 ally accorded him. 
 
 Another mechanic, at first serving as patternmaker for the casters of 
 stoves, was shortly known as a cutter of portraits in conchiglia. He 
 had learned that he had a talent in this direction which brought him 
 repute. It led him into training for cutting marble, which has since re- 
 sulted in his becoming one of the leading sculptors of the country. 
 This is E. D. Palmer, author of several much admired pieces. 
 
 A miller now engaged in the manufacture of flour was for many years 
 a prominent figure in the politics of Oneida County. This was Charles 
 H. Hopkins, son of Ira D. Hopkins, first conductor of the City Mill. 
 
264 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 Mr. Hopkins had strong qualities and was efficient in work for his- 
 party. He was the devoted friend of Senator Conkling and his fidelity 
 and zeal were of great value to that gentleman. Upon his recommend- 
 ation, while a representative, Mr. Hopkins was put into the Utica post- 
 office and held it for some years. Private business he sacrificed to pol- 
 itics, was unwearied in his labors, and enlisted every influence to advance 
 the intense convictions which he cherished. He was positive in his- 
 views and aggressive in his hostility as well as in his friendship, and 
 had some enemies while he had many friends. In his church, too, h& 
 was zealous and active. He died May 15, 1885, after a tedious illness. 
 
 A new comer of this date and who lived some dozen years in Utica, 
 partaking of its social and civil interests, marrying a daughter of one of 
 its older citizens, and who was an instructive companion, was J. Sidney 
 Henshaw. Born in Boston in 181 1 he had been twenty years a lieu- 
 tenant in the navy of the United States and during the latter years of 
 this connection a teacher of mathematics. He had traveled and seen 
 much and had read much in various branches of learning, his chief pleas- 
 ure being in the pursuit of mental philosophy and other abstruse sub- 
 jects. In 1847 he went to Europe on the frigate Macedonian, then car- 
 rying contributions of the United States to starving Ireland, and on his 
 return published a Life of Father Mathew. He wrote articles for the 
 newspapers, published a volume on the duties of American consuls, and 
 at the time of his death was engaged on a work to be entitled " Bible 
 Ethics." His death occurred April 29, 1859. His wife was Jane, 
 daughter of John H. Handy. He had a son and a daughter. 
 
 One of the earliest of the now numerous florists of the city was Fred- 
 eric W. Boyce, whose garden was on Oneida street ; though he was 
 not actually the first, William Archer having preceded him and Thomas 
 Annon soon following. William Clark and Thomas McQuade dealt in 
 coal and William P. Battey had a variety of pursuits. 
 
 1849. — The following officers were elected this year : Mayor, Thomas 
 R.Walker; aldermen, M. D. Bagg, H. W. Chittenden, Michael Mc- 
 Quade, R. H, Shearman, J. W. Stevens, John Whiting, Timothy O. 
 Grannis, A. A. Jones, J. S. Kirk, Alvin White, Richard U. Shearman,. 
 A. J. Williams ; treasurer, Lewis Jones ; attorney, A. G. Williams ;. 
 street commissioner, Hugh Williamson ; clerk, James Mclver ; surveyor,. 
 L. M. Taylor. 
 
A NEW CITY HALL— OTHER PUBLIC WORKS. 265 
 
 The project of a new city hall was actively agitated this year and a 
 special election to decide as to its erection was ordered by the council 
 for May T4th, but it was postponed to December 17th and again to 
 February 26, 1850. The first proposition was to raise $27,000 in in- 
 stallments during three years. Before the final election it had been ar- 
 ranged that the city pay $24,000 and the county $12,000, and the Board 
 of Supervisors took action accordingly. A ttill finally passed Congress 
 appropriating $12,000 for a perpetual lease of one-third of the building 
 for the United States Courts, the supervisors' action having been found 
 illegal or unauthorized. Out of 506 votes 453 favored the measure 
 Room for the council meetings was taken in the spring in the Mechan- 
 ics Hall, its late place of assembly having been burned. August 24th 
 a resolution passed the council that the committee on police inquire 
 into the workings of the force, learn its abuses and defects, and report 
 a remedy. 
 
 The city water works were completed this year and the council voted 
 to pay the company $1,300 for water to extinguish fires, and also voted 
 $1,500 for fifty hydrants. The gas company was organized in 1848-49 
 and the laying of pipes in the city was prosecuted through the summer. 
 The principal public improvements were an iron bridge over the canal 
 at Breese street and the construction of various sewers.; Kirkland 
 street was opened, a plank road laid in Hopper street, Philip street was 
 graded, and sidewalks were laid on Spring and Eagle streets. 
 
 The California gold fever began this year and a few went from this 
 vicinity, and during the following year the number of gold seekers was 
 greatly increased. The number of wards in the city was now increased 
 to six, the Fifth and Sixth being formed from the southern portions of 
 the Third and Fourth. The privilege, more than once asked, of electing 
 one supervisor from each ward was now granted. The population of 
 1840 was reported as 12,783; that of 1845, 12,190; that of 1850 was 
 found to be 17,556 — showing a marked increase, due unquestionably to 
 new manufacturing enterprises proposed or actually begun, two large 
 woolen factories having been put in operation and an extensive cotton 
 factory being ready to receive its machinery. 
 
 1850. — The principal officers elected were: Mayor, Thomas R. 
 Walker; aldermen, M. McQuade, H. C. Pond, John C. Hoyt, John W. 
 
 31 
 
266 MEMORIAL H J STORY OF UTICA. 
 
 Stevens, James S. Lynch, Russel Wheeler, Alvin White, Richard Lee, 
 Egbert Bagg, William Clark, Benjamin S. Piatt, Nicholas A. White; 
 treasurer, Uriel H. Kellogg ; clerk, James Mclver ; surveyor, L. M. 
 Taylor; street commissioner, Horace Halbert ; attorney, Morris M. 
 Mitchell. The last five officers had up to this time been appointed 
 by the council. The amended charter now went into operation. The 
 number of watchmen was increased from two in each ward to three, and 
 the street names were placed on the corners where they intersect. 
 
 Sewers were laid in Lafayette, State, Burchard, Warren, Carna- 
 han, Brids.i;e, Whitesboro, and Washington streets. South and John- 
 son streets were extended. The increase of new buildings on Genesee 
 street was noticed in the newspapers. April 8th an act of the legislat- 
 ure was passed to provide for the erection of a city hall. By its terms 
 the city was authorized to borrow $24,000 for site and building. The 
 commissioners were J. Watson Williams, E. A. Wetmore, John J. Fran- 
 cis, Thomas Hopper, E. A. Graham, and John Dagwell. 
 
 1851. — Officers elected : Mayor, John E. Hinman ; aldermen, Hub- 
 bard C. Pond, Charles H. Sayre, John W. Stevens, John C. Hoyt, 
 Russel Wheeler, Isaac Tapping, Richard Lee, Luke Wilkins, William 
 Clark, Charles Millar, Nicholas A. White, Benjamin S. Piatt; treasurer. 
 U. H. Kellogg ; attorney, William A. Spencer ; surveyor, William B. 
 Taylor; street commissioner, H. Halbert; clerk, James W. Bond. 
 
 There was at this time complaint of insufficient school accommoda- 
 tions. There were 4,000 children between the ages of five and sixteen 
 years and accommodations for only 1,500. In the charter election a 
 -vote was taken for and against " new school-houses." The result showed 
 784 votes for and 146 against the measure. This led to the prompt 
 addition to the school facilities. In the clerk's report, besides the$io,- 
 -000 ordinary tax, the expenses of the city were as follows : 
 
 Special tax for water for 1850, . . . $1,300.00 
 
 " " for two school-houses, 1850, .... 2,666.66 
 
 " " for one-third of $16,000 for four school-houses and lots, 5,333-33 
 
 Last year's deficiency, , . , . 525.25 
 
 Interest, ... . . 147.78 
 
 Common school purposes, . 3,000.00 
 
 Second installment city hall, . . , ... 3,000.00 
 Special tax for hose and hydrants 1,600.00 
 
 Total, ;t;[7, 573.02 
 
INCENDIARIES— SITE OF THE CITY HALL. 267 
 
 The First Presbyterian Church was destroyed by fire on the 13th of 
 January. This was about the first of a series of fires, most of which 
 were incendiary, which led to the disbandment of all tlie fire companies 
 early in April and a re-organization of the department. Two arrests 
 were made and convictions followed, and both persons were sentenced 
 to be hanged; one was executed on tiie 21st of November. The in- 
 cendiary fires grew in part out of rivalry and bitterness among the vol- 
 unteer fire companies, but still more from an eagerness for the excite- 
 ment of a fire that was sought chiefly by hangers-on who delighted to 
 run with the engines, but were not firemen. On the i6th of April, 
 1851, a committee which had been appointed to submit a plan of re- 
 organizing the fire department made their report, which resulted in the 
 prompt re-organization of the department, as related in a later chapter 
 devoted to the fire and police departments. 
 
 The question of a new city hall was settled during the year and com- 
 missioners were appointed by the legislature to report a site, etc. Two 
 sites were discussed, one on the corner of Pearl and Genesee streets and 
 one called the Thorn and Maynard lot on Genesee street. A special elec- 
 tion was held October 2d, when 417 votes were cast for the Pearl street 
 corner and 173 for the other, resulting in the selection of the former. The 
 court-house and jail were also built this year. There was much discus- 
 sion over the location, but the academy lot was finally selected as the 
 place for the court-house. The jail was erected on Mohawk near the 
 corner of Eagle street. 
 
 Rutger street was opened from Third to Webster, South street from 
 Third to the Minden turnpike (now Albany street), and Bleecker street 
 was paved from Genesee to John. There was much public discussion 
 of the project of building a railroad to Binghamton and a public meet- 
 ing was held January 4th. Jenny Lind sang in the Bleecker street 
 church and 1,033 tickets were sold at $5 each. 
 
 About 1850 there sprang into existence four or five local insurance 
 companies conducted on the stock and mutual principle. Four of them, 
 the Utica, the .^tna, the Globe, and the American, were under control 
 of Utica directors and one, the Farmers, chiefly of citizens of Deerfield. 
 They were not durable. The Central City Savings Institution was now 
 incorporated and opened in the Ontario Branch Bank building. 
 
268 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 Of the eighteen or twenty deceased or non-resident lawyers who be- 
 gan practice during the era of 1849-51 those who remained the longest 
 were Roscoe Conkling, William A. Spencer, J. Wyman Jones, N. Curtiss 
 White, and Grove W. Bagg. Mr. Conkling will be noticed in the chapter 
 on the Bench and Bar. Mr. Spencer, Mr. Jones, and Mr. White, after 
 living here a few years, removed the one to St. Paul and the others to 
 New York. Mr. White has more recently returned, as did also Mr. 
 Bagg, who was away a few years. 
 
 Among the doctors the longest to remain here were Drs. D. G. 
 Thomas, William Russell, Isaac J. Hunt, and Herbert Hastings. Dr. 
 Daniel G. Thomas, who removed from Whitesboro in 1848 to enter into 
 partnership with Dr. Charles B. Coventry, had already been some years 
 in practice. A native of Dutchess County he removed in his childhood 
 to Columbia, Herkimer County, studied medicine with Drs. Peck and 
 Clark, of Whitesboro, attending lectures at Fairfield and subsequently 
 in Philadelphia, and began his professional work at Norwich in this 
 •county. Thence he removed to New Hartford and from there to Whites- 
 boro, where he was quite busily engaged. With Dr. Coventry he con- 
 tinued until i860, taking afterward his own son into connection with 
 him. As a physician he was skillful and his practice was large both in 
 Utica and its vicinity. He was a leading member of the Oneida County 
 Medical Society and held in turn every office of honor and trust in that 
 organization. He was a contributor to the literature of his profession, 
 and was several times sent as a delagate of the society to the American 
 Medical Association. Brought up in the Society of Friends he remained 
 in that connection until 1848, when he became a communicant of the 
 Protesant Episcopal Church and was both vestryman and warden, as 
 well as delegate to the diocesan conventions. His death occurred March 
 26, 1880, in his seventy- fifth year. 
 
 A sketch of Dr. Russell will be found in the Biographical Department 
 of this work. 
 
 A successful dentist, but recently withdrawn from the city and busi- 
 ness, was Dr. L. W. Rogers. D. S. Heffron became superintendent of 
 schools and so remained until his removal to Chicago. Rev. William 
 A. Matson now assumed the editorship of the Gospel Messenger, previ- 
 ously edited by Rev. Dr. W. A. Rudd, and Ellis H. Roberts that of the 
 ■Oneida Herald. 
 
CHARLES E. BARNARD AND BROTHERS. 269 
 
 Among the dry goods dealers were Willard & Sheffield, successors of 
 Alfred Wells ; Alexander Rae, who came here from Vienna as county- 
 clerk and at the expiration of his office entered into trade, an active 
 politician, an open-hearted, companionable, and fair-minded man, cut off 
 by an early and sudden death ; Seward & Thurber were booksellers ; 
 William H. Button succeeded his father, George Button, as an organist 
 and dealer in musical instruments. 
 
 Charles E.Barnard, son of Harvey Barnard, was born on the spot 
 where was situated the store of his father, and where the sale of paper 
 hangings was conducted by him and his brothers. Remarkable for his 
 energetic devotion to his own affairs, for his interest in those of a public 
 nature, and his zealous discharge of every service assigned him he re- 
 vealed himself as one of Utica's most respected and honored citizens. 
 He occupied a seat in the common council for two successive seasons 
 and in 1876 was mayor of the city, performing its duties with scrupu- 
 lous and fearless fidelity. Before that time, in the days of the volunteer 
 fire department, he was one of its most stirring members and after its 
 disbandment was as much valued as one of the exempt firemen. He 
 was a trustee of the Cemetery Association, a member of the Citizens 
 Corps, and a participant in two or more Masonic bodies. He died May 
 4, 1888, leaving one son and one daughter, whose mother, the wife of 
 Mr. Barnard, was the daughter of Lewis Lawrence. 
 
 Associated in business with the above were his two brothers, Harvey 
 and Horace Barnard. Of Harvey it may justly be said that punctuality 
 and fidelity were the rule of his action. He was an active member 
 of several civic associations and took a keen interest in municipal affairs. 
 The only office in the gift of the city which he ever held was that of su- 
 pervisor of his ward, refusing afterward all offers of public station. He 
 was, however, a member of the old Columbian Artillery and then of 
 the Citizens Corps, one of the chartered associates of the Tiger Hose, 
 one of the body of Free Masons, and was elected eminent commander. 
 Less active in temperament, and less forward than either of his brothers 
 in matters of general concern, Horace was light hearted and genial, of 
 warm impulses and generous nature. He, too, was a Mason. His death 
 occurred November 2, 1873; he left a wife and two daughters. Har- 
 vey died nearly ten years later, April 2, 1883. His young wife he had 
 
270 
 
 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 laid in Forest Hill Cemetery the summer before, where he had placed a 
 beautiful monument to her memory. 
 
 Edward^Evans, the tinner and brazier quartered on lower Genesee 
 street, whose former associate had been T. J. Newland, now received 
 into partnership Thomas W. Chatfield, a new comer from England. Mr. 
 Chatfield was the inventor of hot air furnaces, ventilators, and refriger- 
 ators that have been in general use. He died November 9, 1881, leav- 
 ing a family behind him. 
 
 William France, plumber and gasfitter, found employment from the 
 recent introductjon of gas, as did Dwight E. Ray, superintendent of the 
 gas company. 
 
 About this time there came from Paris Hill with his family Jesse 
 Thompson, the father of four sons who have since been stirring partici- 
 pants in the business concerns of the city. Mr. Thompson opened an 
 office and dealt chiefly in loans and exchanges. He did not long sur- 
 vive his removal, having ere this already passed the more active stage 
 of his career. 
 
 The Utica Museum, so long under the charge of Comfort Butler, now 
 fell to V. W. Roth. Others of this date were I. J. Knapp, grocer ; Tim- 
 othy Cronin, carpenter; John R. Jones, wagonmaker, sheriff of the 
 county in 1850; Thomas Lennebacher, upholsterer. 
 
 CHAPTER Vni. 
 
 THIRD DECADE OF THE CITY'S HISTORY. 
 
 The Black River Railroad Project — Extensive charter Amendments — A Period 
 of severe financial Stringency — Failure of local Banks — A Citizens' political Move- 
 ment — Beginning of the War Period. 
 
 THE principal officers for the year 1852 were: Mayor, John E. Hin- 
 man ; aldermen, Charles H. Sayre, M. McQuade, John C. Hoyt, 
 Truman K. Church, Isaac Tapping, William H. Ferry, Luke Wilkins, 
 Richard Lee, Charles Millar, David Perkins, Benjamin S. Piatt, Paul 
 
PROCEEDINGS OF 1852. 271 
 
 Keiser ; treasurer, John W. Fuller; attorney, M. M. Mitchell; sur- 
 veyor, William B. Taylor ; street commissioner, Christian Costleman ; 
 clerk, James W. Bond. On the 9th of January a resolution was adopted 
 ill the council declaring that the condition of the poor demanded a public 
 work-house and a hospital without delay. Some progress was reported 
 in the matter, but nothing was really accomplished during the year. On 
 the same date it was resolved that the sum of $10,000 was wholly inade- 
 quate for city expenses and that a petition be made to the legislature 
 for an amendment to section ninety of the charter so as to read " not 
 exceeding $15,000." This was promptly tabled; but it is an indica- 
 tion of the growth and financial needs of the city. In the same line was 
 an attempt on March 12th to petition the legislature for a charter 
 amendment providing that in addition to the $10,000 authorized to be 
 raised the amount necessary for street lighting be raised by a tax on 
 persona! property. This was not carried out. On the 23d of January a 
 resolution was adopted that a special election be held on the iithof 
 February to vote upon the raising of $2,000 for expenses incident upon 
 holding the State Fair in the city. 
 
 On the 1 2th of May a petition signed by ministers and others was 
 presented to the council requesting them to stop milk selling after 9 A. M. 
 on Sundays. A long and facetious reply was adopted, one sentence of 
 which was as follows ; " Consistence would seem to require that these 
 reformers should have extended their scheme of moral reformation so as 
 to prohibit smoking, drinking, riding, walking for pleasure, reading 
 novels, laughing, sneezing, snoozing, sighing, dreaming, posting books, 
 absence from church on Sunday, any and every of which are more 
 tangible violations of a Christian observance of Sunday than the pur- 
 chase of an article of diet always necessary and frequently indispens- 
 able." 
 
 June 4th a report was made by the paving committee stating that a 
 part of Genesee, Fayette, and Bleecker streets were in a deplorable con- 
 dition, and that there was no money with which to repave them. They 
 recommended a petition to the legislature for authority to raise money 
 for this purpose by special tax. 
 
 May 22d a public meeting was held in relation to the reception of 
 Louis Kossuth. He came on the ist of June and was given a warm 
 
272 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 welcome. In the evening a large assemblage gathered at the museum 
 and W. J. Bacon made a brief address. He was followed in an elo- 
 quent speech by the Hungarian patriot. Gen. Winfield Scott, the Whig 
 presidential candidate of the year, paid the city a visit on the 1 6th of 
 October. On the i8th of August a fire destroyed the Lewis Lawrence 
 planing-mill on Seneca street; loss $30,000. 
 
 The Utica Scientific Association was inaugurated in August, 1850, 
 under the name of the Amicable Library. Its plan was subsequently 
 enlarged and a more suitable name adopted. Its object was stated as 
 "the promotion and encouragement of scientific knowledge." Several 
 prominent physicians and others were in the list of officers of 1852. A 
 small scientific library and a small collection of specimens, mineralogical 
 and geological, etc., were gathered. The association was short lived. 
 
 The business of glass-staining was first introduced about this time. 
 Its founder was Charles P. Davis, an Englishman. 
 
 1853. — The officers of the year were as follows : Mayor, Charles H. 
 Doolittle ; aldermen, M. McQuade, H. C. Bond, Truman K. Church, 
 Franklin J. Clark, William H. Ferry, James S. Lynch, Richard Lee, 
 Paul Brentnall, David Perkins, Griffiths G. Roberts, Paul Keiser, Peter 
 Clogher ; treasurer, John W. Fuller ; attorney, Samuel J. Barrows ; 
 surveyor, Egbert Bagg; street commissioner, Christian Costleman ; 
 clerk, Andrew H. Green. 
 
 The city went Democratic strongly at the charter election. Charles 
 H. Doolittle was elected mayor, and the Whigs elected only one super- 
 visor, two aldermen, four assessors, one constable, and one collector. 
 The outgoing mayor congratulated the city on its general quiet' and 
 freedom from rowdyism, and trusted that the time had come when the 
 people elected to office would no longer lend their countenance in any 
 sense to such acts. The incoming mayor called attention among other 
 things to the fire department, which he hoped might be made more 
 efficient ; reported the city debt at the beginning of the fiscal year as 
 $4,323.34 and other outstanding accounts as about $500; balance 
 owing on the court-house, %6Q6.66; $15,000 yet to be raised in three 
 annual installments for the court-house ; amount to be applied to school- 
 houses for the year, $5,333.39 ; contingent expenses of schools, $3,000; 
 water, $1,300; lighting, $2,500; general expenses, $10,000. The whole 
 
^^^^U^ CJ^'^^ CJZ<jz/f 
 
 AtldiitlG Ptrhlisiino atEnnrannn C^KY 
 
PROCEEDINGS OF 1852. 273 
 
 amount collected by general tax, $29,337; from county tax for schools, 
 $5,500; State school fund, $5,000; from licenses, $1,938.24; carriage 
 licenses, $500 ; left over from fund to build the Miller bridge, $297,55 ; 
 from local tax, $12,000. A committee was appointed to inquire into 
 the state of the city finances and their report was chiefly remarkable for 
 its bitter denunciation of the " street commissioner and his drunken 
 satellites " who had squandered a good deal of money ; it demanded 
 better methods, particularly in that department. 
 
 Brick sewers and many plank drains were laid. Bleecker street was 
 extended to the east line of the Bowman farm ; Schuyler street from 
 Warren to the Chenango Canal ; Walker street from Kimball to Gen- 
 esee ; and Jay and Elizabeth were opened from Hubbell, Mary from 
 Albany street eastward, and Blandina from Mohawk to Albany. 
 
 There were two incendiary fires in March, and two men were ar- 
 rested and committed for trial. It developed through the evidence that 
 there was a regular gang of conspirators who had been in the habit of 
 setting fires at such intervals and such places as would enable them to 
 escape detection. They would meet in saloons and on street corners 
 and coolly discuss where and when the next fire should occur and the 
 prospect it would offer for fun. A remarkable state of affairs which 
 attracted attention throughout the State! Circumstances like these con- 
 curring with similar ones some two years previous led doubtless to the 
 placing of the firemen on a paid basis as before noted. 
 
 The year was signalized by the beginning of the agitation which 
 finally resulted in the building of the Utica and Black River Railroad. 
 A large meeting was held at Bagg's Hotel on the 25th of January and 
 another on the 28th, when the organization was effected. Many prom- 
 inent citizens were in the Board of Directors, and the city by consent of 
 the legislature took $250,000 of the stock, which was eventually lost 
 except as it may have been a source of benefit to the growth and pros- 
 perity of the city. An act of the legislature passed May 27th gave the 
 council the power to make this appropriation. 
 
 A charter amendment of this year authorized the raising of $12,000 
 
 instead of $10,000, as theretofore, for general expenses. The city at 
 
 this time was mentioned publicly as being practically free from debt. 
 
 Under the head of improvements the following is from a paper of the 
 
 35 
 
274 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 day: "Any one who will take the trouble to note the different improve- 
 ments of the present time going on in our quiet little city will, we ap- 
 prehend, be no little astonished as well as gratified at their extent, 
 variety, and importance." 
 
 The corner-stone of the city hall was laid September 27th with proper 
 ceremonies. Buildings in process of erection were the city hall, Kel- 
 logg & Ferry's warehouse, steam planing-mill, and many dwellings. 
 
 1854. — The officers were : Mayor, John E. Hinman ; aldermen, H. C. 
 Pond, Franklin J. Clark, James S. Lynch, Paul Brentnall, G. G Roberts, 
 Peter Clogher, M. McQuade, Truman K. Church, Cordon Hackett, 
 Richard H. Francis, John B. Owens, William White; attorney, Alex- 
 ander Coburn ; treasurer, Lansing Thurber ; surveyor, John M. Barnes; 
 street commissioner, Jefferson Allen; clerk, James G. French. 
 
 The city went Democratic, John E. Hinman being elected mayor. 
 The Whigs elected their treasurer, attorney, surveyor, and overseer of 
 the poor. In Mayor Hinman's inaugural he recommended greater 
 facilities for extinguishing fires and a better water supply; also the ap- 
 pointment of a secret night watch by the mayor when deemed neces- 
 sary and the erection of a city hospital and work-iiouse. On the 21st 
 of July a committee appointed for that purpose reported in favor of 
 building a city hospital and work- house near the corner of Mohawk and 
 South streets; by a special election on August 17th 135 votes were 
 cast, 100 of which were in favor of the plan. 
 
 Several brick sewers were laid in the course of the year. By amend- 
 ment of the charter the bounds of the city were enlarged on the west 
 by the width of one great lot, about seventy feet, and on the south to 
 the extent of upwards of a mile ; there were to be six wards ; two alder- 
 men were to be elected annually from each ward ; the recorder was to 
 be elected once in five years ; a Board of Excise was to be elected an- 
 nually, having the powers before exercised by the council, and at an 
 election previous to theirs ; two daily papers were to be designated an- 
 nually by the council in which the proceedings should be punished. 
 
 There were a few cases of cholera in the city, but not sufficient to ex- 
 cite much public alarm. In December the completion of the Utica and 
 ];51ack River Railroad as far as Boonville was observed by a public cele- 
 bration at that place, to which and the excursion thither a large num 
 ber of people were invited and many attended. 
 
D£S. S. G. WOLCOTT AND H. B. DAY. 275 
 
 Not more than two of the seven or eight lawyers who were admitted 
 during the era embraced in the years 1851-54 remained long enough 
 to identify themselves with the place. William B. Dana made himself 
 a reputation elsewhere, less, however, as a lawyer than as an editor. Of 
 the like number of physicians more than one-half practiced for some 
 time, maintaining a position of credit. The first of the profession in 
 Utica who made of surgery his nearly whole occupation was Dr. Samuel 
 G. Wolcott, who was born at Hanover, Mass., in 1820. Mr. Wolcott's 
 early education was obtained at Phillips Academy, Andover. He after- 
 ward entered Trinity College, Hartford, and was graduated in 1847. 
 He began the study of medicine with Dr. Winslow Lewis, of Boston, 
 and at the same time was a student in the Medical Department of Har- 
 vard, where he was graduated in 1850. He settled in Utica in the fall 
 of 1850, directing his attention to surgery and afterward making it a 
 specialty, and doing a large share of the surgical business of the city and 
 county. He was one of the corps of auxiliary surgeons appointed dur- 
 ing the Civil war and rendered valuable aid in the field and hospital. 
 He was afterward appointed examining surgeon for pensions. He was 
 a prominent member of the Oneida County Medical Society ; also a 
 member of the State Medical Society and one of the censors for the 
 middle district of New York; a permanent member of the American 
 Medical Society; a member of Grace Church and for years a member of 
 its vestry ; a director of the Utica Savings Bank and interested in sev- 
 eral of our manufacturing associations. He showed also a scientific 
 taste and zeal in horticulture; his conservatory contained one of the 
 best collections of ferns and orchids in the State. He was a man of 
 quiet manners, with good natural capacities, and was cultivated in many 
 directions. He married, in 1854, a daughter of Thomas H. Hubbard, 
 of Utica ; by her he had four children, all of whom are now living. His 
 wife died in 1867 and he married afterward a daughter of William C. 
 Pierrepont, of Pierrepont Manor, Jefferson County, N. Y., who survives 
 him. He died June 3, 1883. 
 
 Dr. Horace B. Day was born in West Schuyler, Herkimer County, 
 N. Y., in January, 1819. He graduated at the Albany Medical College 
 in 1844 and soon afterward began practice in Herkimer County. He' 
 practiced in Utica about nineteen years, devoting his best powers to his 
 
276 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 profession, and showing qualities that warranted a fair degree of success. 
 He was an influential member of the city and county societies and an 
 honored member of the Masonic fraternity. He was killed August 24, 
 1870, while entering the cars at Fitzwilliam Station, N. H. A reso- 
 lution of the Utica Medical Society says : " In his professional inter- 
 course he was governed by high and honorable motives. . . He 
 was an unceasing enemy of charlatanry." He was thrice married and 
 left two sons. 
 
 Another practitioner of medicine coming at this time was Dr. Lauren 
 F. Rose, who was born in Schuyler, Herkimer County, N. Y., was grad- 
 uated at the Albany Medical College in 1851, and at once began prac- 
 tice in this city. Naturally benevolent of heart the appeal of suffering 
 humanity was sure to meet his response. When on the i6th of July, 
 1857, the alarm of fire at the State Hospital thrilled this community he 
 repaired to the burning building and rendered such assistance as he 
 could. While engaged in the work of rescue on the second floor the 
 one above fell and caught him in its ruins. He lingered a few days in 
 much suffering and then died. He was about thirty years of age and 
 left a wife and one son. Short as was his residence here he had already 
 gained the esteem of all who knew him and a creditable rank as a phy- 
 sician of attainments. 
 
 Other physicians were William H. Bailey, now of Albany ; J. C. Ray- 
 mond, now of Oakland, Cal.; Benjamin F. Flower, deceased ; and Will- 
 iam H. Watson, noticed elsewhere. 
 
 The starting of the new manufacturing industries brought hither from 
 the East William C. and Samuel Churchill to act as agents, the former 
 for the Steam Woolen and the latter for the Globe Woolen, and gave a 
 cashiership to Ephraim Chamberlain in the Steam Cotton-Mills as no- 
 ticed more fully hereafter. 
 
 Edward T. Manning was a dealer in dry goods conspicuous among 
 his associates in the trade. Born in Wicklow County, Ireland, in Feb- 
 ruary, 1 82 1, he came to this country in 1 850, when he chose Utica for 
 his home. He began as peddler of dry goods, employed for awhile by 
 O. & M. Gaffney, but soon set up an establishment of his own and in 
 time expanded it to one of the largest in the city. He built the block 
 which for some time bore his name to accommodate his increased busi- 
 
THE BROTHERS YATES. 277 
 
 ness. Hugh Glenn became partner with him April i, 1879, and con- 
 tributed a large capital and experience. A year later (November, 1880) 
 Mr. Manning retired from the firm and engaged in real estate and in- 
 surance with Henry Hopson. Mr. Manning was zealous and pro- 
 nounced in his convictions and impulsive in his nature, though amiable, 
 generous, and courteous. He was popular as a citizen, a communicant 
 of the Episcopal Church, and a Democrat in politics. He died Febru- 
 ary 23, 1883, leaving a wife and an adopted daughter. A brother of 
 Mr. Manning was interested with him in his mercantile concerns ; an- 
 other was employed by him. 
 
 Rynier V. and Charles A. Yates were the sons of Abraham P. Yates, 
 who came here in his declining years from Johnstown, Montgomery 
 County. The sons became active business characters. R. V., the eld- 
 est, was among the first in the city to enter upon the profitable work of 
 selling ready-made clothing. In this he was engaged until he won a 
 competency, when he removed to New York. He afterward returned, 
 resumed his business, and continued it until the close of his life, adding 
 to his wealth and performing his duties with fidelity and honor. He died 
 February 8, 1879, leaving a wife, since dead, two sons, and two daugh- 
 ters. Charles A. Yates, who was some nine years younger than his 
 brother, his birth dating from the 27th of October, 1820, began 
 business later. He, too, was a dealer in ready-made clothing, prose- 
 cuting it with unflagging devotion and securing it by rich pecuniary 
 results. He occupied the middle store of the Marble block on Genesee 
 street opposite Broad, and for his residence he built the handsome house 
 now occupied by I. A. Williams. A quiet, unassuming man, of refined 
 tastes and feeling, he was estimable in character and honest in dealing. 
 His death occurred July 5, 1872. He was twice married. His chil- 
 dren no longer reside here. 
 
 About 1820 there came to Oneida County from Thetford, Vt., Noah 
 White and family and in i828toUtica. He was a potter by trade. Not 
 long after his settlement he and his son, Nicholas A. White, formed a 
 "business connection with Samuel H. Addington, who owned the poitery 
 where the present West Utica pottery now stands. Mr. Addington 
 furnished the real estate, machinery, etc., and the Whites conducted the 
 business. Soon afterward Messrs. White & Son bought out Mr. Add- 
 
278 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 ington and for nearly fifty years N. A. White had important connection 
 with those works. The latter in 185 i represented his ward in the com- 
 mon council; in 1858 his town in the Board of Supervisors ; and in 
 1873 his district in the Assembly. He took great interest in Uticaand 
 its prosperity ; was thoroughly respected and showed himself to be kind 
 and friendly with all whom he met. He was a member of the First 
 Presbyterian Church and an Odd Fellow ; a director of the Utica Me- 
 chanics Association ; and in politics first a Whig and later a Republican. 
 His death occurred August 9, 1886. His widow and five children sur- 
 vive him. 
 
 A clergyman who, as respects our history, is of more interest for his 
 agricultural successes than as respects his faithful exercise of the minis- 
 terial function was Rev. Chauncey Enoch Goodrich. He was born in 
 a suburb of Troy, N. Y., September 19, 1801 ; was graduated at Union 
 College and at Princeton Seminary; spent nearly two years as assistant 
 in the Oneida Institute ; and was set over a church. Five successive 
 pastorates in different parts of Central New York he filled before he 
 gave up the charge of a parish and betook himself to Utica. Here he 
 acted for nineteen years as chaplain of the State Hospital. This did not, 
 however, engage his whole attention ; he was occupied besides in trial 
 methods of vegetable and fruit raising and in attempts to acclimate the 
 growths of milder regions. Many of these attempts, carefully con- 
 ducted and with the utmost nicety of science, were successful. When 
 the potato disease first threatened that priceless crop he addressed him- 
 self to its cure, and getting acquainted, as he thought, with its pathol- 
 ogy he sought the remedy; — conceiving that the disease was the re- 
 sult of exhaustion of the energy of the plant consequent on the 
 continual propagation from the tuber without fresh reproduction from 
 the seed, or from newer and hardier plants, he procured a few potatoes 
 from Chile, its native habitat, and with these he commenced experiments 
 for a renewal of the vegetable from the seed, and also sought renewal 
 of the seed from South American tubers. Year after year for sixteen 
 years he patiently pursued his experiments and investigations. His 
 communications to agricultural journals and societies and to scientific 
 magazines exceed 130, while he gathered a large amount of material on 
 vegetable physiology and pathology which he had not strength to put 
 
REV. C. E. GOODRICH— GEORGE LAWSON. 279 
 
 into form for the public. He perfected several varieties of the esculent 
 that are universally known as good eating. The Garnet Chile was 
 estimated many years ago to have saved $2,000,000 to the country, and 
 had he chosen to make money out of it he might have accumulated 
 wealth. His motive, however, was philanthropic, not mercenary. His 
 sales did not cover his expenses, and, supplemented as they were by 
 premiums from the State Agricultural Society, they left him, as shown by 
 a careful examination of his accounts, a balance of but $50. While 
 no mercenary motives actuated Mr. Goodrich in his efforts to save the 
 most important of esculents, neither was it the mere love of science that 
 moved him. Paramount to his affection for it was his love of man and 
 through him his love of God. Clergymen were his companions and 
 Christian assemblies his resort. He never left home except on secular 
 or ecclesiastical business, indulged in no recreation or amusements, and 
 was stern in maintaining what he considered the proprieties and sepa- 
 rateness from the world of the Christian life. His death occurred May 
 II, 1864. His wife was a daughter of William G. Tracy, of Whites- 
 boro. Of their four daughters one only survives. 
 
 George Lawson, a native of Lancashire, England, had settled in Utica 
 as early as 1832, gaining his livelihood as a tanner. After remaining 
 some years he went to Rome to live. Returning about 1853 he became 
 superintendent of the city water works and was thus employed until a 
 short time before his death, June 8, 1876. " Mr. Lawson was a man of 
 marked mental and moral characteristics. He was eminently honest, 
 truthful, and pure, and always had the courage of his convictions. He 
 was a Puritan of the strongest type, an ardent lover of free institutions, 
 a stern hater of all tyranny and oppression, and a strong anti- slavery man. 
 The ruggedness which some, perhaps, might deem the sternness of be- 
 lief never affected the true kindness of his nature and the benignity of 
 his manners." 
 
 Another Englishman whose good works entitle him to remembrance 
 was Thomas Maynard, brother of Isaac Maynard, before noticed. He 
 had a residence in Utica from 1S41 10 about 1859, when he removtd to 
 Cleveland, Ohio. He was engaged in various branches of business, the 
 most extensive one being in connection v\ith the Utica Lock Company. 
 Mr. Maynard was actively associated with the Sunday schools and for 
 
28o MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA, 
 
 many years superintendent of the First Presbyterian Church Sunday 
 School. He was also diligent in mission Sunday schools in the remote 
 parts of the city and in Deerfield Corners. He delighted to address a 
 juvenile audience, and his hearty good nature, his direct appeals to the 
 feelings of his little parishioners, made his voice clear and eloquent. 
 He collected and had printed hymns for his own and their use, calcu- 
 lated to encourage the young heart and ear. His collection reached its 
 fourth edition and numbered nearly 200 pages. Mr. Maynard's death 
 occurred at Cleveland, January 31, i860. 
 
 John Munn had been a clerk in the branch of the llnited States Bank 
 which had a brief existence in the place. Afterward moving southward 
 he established himself in Mississippi. He now settled here anew with 
 a southern wife and a growing family. He soon erected the house that 
 stands on the east of the line of Rutger Place and lived on his means 
 without ostensible occupation. Mingling freely with all classes of peo- 
 ple he identified himself with them and with such concerns as they had 
 in common, and from his engaging and friendly manners, his intelli- 
 gence, his generosity and upright life, secured their esteem and regard. 
 Ere long his affection was tried by the exciting scenes and events of the 
 war with the South. His patriotism stood firm and he was as ready 
 as were others to encourage our departing soldiers on their way to the 
 battlefield, despite the fact that his tears revealed the bitterness of his 
 heart, and how moved he was by the anticipation of the woe soon ta 
 come upon those among whom he had so lately made his home. Mr. 
 Munn died in the city of New York. 
 
 Dr. Joseph Sieboth for thirty- six years was a teacher of vocal and in 
 strumental music, and thus had close relations with many families and 
 with full two generations of pupils. He was a recognized authority and 
 unquestioned leader in the science and art of music and did much for its 
 development in taste and practice. In 1871 Hamilton College conferred 
 upon him the degree of Doctor of Music. He was a thorough student 
 himself and aimed at a sound basis and close discipline in his pupils. He 
 was the composer of a large number of pieces, mostly of church service, 
 with organ accompaniment. He was organist in Trinity Church and 
 served there twenty-one years. For two years of this period he was 
 also organist of the Reformed Dutch Church, and this position he 
 
ED WARD KUNKEL Y— J. S. L YNCH. 281 
 
 retained with great acceptance for many years and until his death. He 
 responded to every call of charity for musical aid and organized and sus- 
 tained many associations for musical culture. He was married in early 
 manhood in Germany, where he had been reared and educated, and left 
 a widow, two daughters, and one son. 
 
 In the directory of 1854 there first appears the name of Edward Kun- 
 kely, artist, and as such he remained until his death September 14, 1878. 
 As an artist he was best esteemed for his skill in India ink work upon 
 photographs and for the decoration of porcelain ware. His fondness 
 for music and his zeal in behalf of associations among the Germans for 
 musical culture and other purposes were more widely known and ren- 
 dered him popular among these his countrymen. His obsequies were 
 observed by the Mendelssohn Club, of which he was one of the found- 
 ers, the Maennerchor, the Liederkranz, the Leseverein, the Germania 
 Industrial Association, and the Oriental Lodge of F. A. M., in whose 
 rites he was buried. 
 
 As editors of this date there should be mentioned the brilliant Sam- 
 uel Williams, of the Morning Herald and afterward of San Francisco ; 
 the enterprising and popular James Mclver, of the Evening Telegraph. 
 
 James S. Lynch, long conversant with the financial affairs of the city, 
 was a native of New York and was born April 3, 1823. Coming to 
 Utica in 1839 ^^ remained here with the exception of about nine years 
 until his death April 3, 1889. Most of this time, he found employment 
 in the Ontario Bank either as clerk or teller, and in the later years of 
 the bank's existence was its cashier. On the organization of the Utica 
 and, Black River Railroad he was its treasurer. In 1850 and again in 
 1853 he was a member of the council and in 1856 was a Fremont pres- 
 idential elector. After the closing up of the affairs of the bank he de- 
 voted himself to search-making and the examination of legal titles, as 
 shown by the records of the county, and in this business he was a de- 
 cided expert. His wife was a daughter of Alexander B. Johnson. Mrs. 
 Lynch, one son, and three daughters still survive him. 
 
 Additional merchants and mechanics were William H. Ferry, some 
 time teller in the Oneida Bank and then one of the clothing firm of 
 Rockwell & Ferry; John W. Fuller, the brave and capable general of the 
 United States volunteers from Ohio; and Anthony A. Jones, Lewis 
 
 36 
 
282 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 Jones, Milo Pratt, Daniel Mitchell, Philip Thomas, John B. Wasmer, and 
 D. & T. M. Owens. 
 
 1855. — The officers for this year were: Mayor, Henry H. Fish; treas- 
 urer, Miles C. Comstock; surveyor, Henry Baker; street commissioner, 
 Jefferson Allen; attorney, Charles A. Butler; aldermen, M. McQuade, 
 Solomon McKennan, Truman K. Church, Henry Fowler, Cordon Haclt- 
 ett, Ephraim Chamberlain, Richard H. F"rancis, Philip Thomas, John B. 
 Owens, Lansing Thurber, William White, John B. Wasmer; clerk, 
 James G. French; supervisors, James McQuade, Llewelyn D. Howell, 
 John Griffiths, R. U. Shearman, G. G. Roberts, WiUiam Harrington. 
 
 The population in 1855 was 22,183. The city was growing fast and 
 was also getting into debt again. The debt was reported on the 13th 
 of March as $11,271.41, and a resolution passed the council on the 13th 
 of July that the city borrow on its bonds a sum sufficient to pay the 
 debt, payable in three equal annual installments on the 1st of Decem- 
 ber, 1855, 1856, and 1857. The ordinary and extraordinary taxes this 
 year amounted to $49,826 and the citizens began to grumble, leading 
 a little later to much excitement over what was to be done to reduce 
 expenses and secure a more prudent administration. A resolution was 
 adopted October 25th to the effect that there should be appropriated 
 $4,000 for highways and bridges, chiefly because two had been washed 
 away, and $2,500 for more hose and equipments for the fire department, 
 in order to secure reasonable protection during the coming winter, 
 " making $6,500 beyond any sums now authorized to be expended by 
 the common council." A special election to vote on this proposition 
 was appointed for October 23d. The majority against the proposition 
 was overwhelming, only forty-one voting for it and 400 against it. 
 This indicates the uneasy state of feeling over the finances of the city, 
 the result of which soon appeared. At about the same time a commu- 
 nication was published, signed by forty citizens of the Fifth ward, com- 
 plaining of their lack of protection from fire and demanding action for 
 their benefit. 
 
 In council on the 9th of November the mayor invited the taxpayers 
 to meet at the court-house on the 13th to consider the state of the city 
 treasury and the propriety of disbanding the present fire department. 
 The meeting was held on the 20th after one postponement. Hiram 
 
CITIZENS' MEETING OF 1885. 283 
 
 Denio presided. Mayor Fish stated the objects of the meeting and de- 
 tailed at length his views of the situation — how the taxes were im- 
 posed and what they were or should be expended for. He claimed 
 that the opinion had generally obtained that taxes were unreasonably 
 high, and that they were squandered in reckless expenditures. The 
 taxes for all purposes amounted to about $50,000, but without consider- 
 ation "the seeming conclusion has been reached that the whole burden 
 had been induced by the weakness orwickednessof your public servants." 
 He then alluded to the unauthorized debt of about $18,000 contracted 
 within the last few years without any authority of law and in violation of 
 the charter. The then present condition showed an excess of liability over 
 resources of $153, and he stated that if the city government continued 
 through its year as then organized, and any reasonable provision was 
 made for extinguishing fires, they must provide for the following : 
 
 Salaries, fuel, etc., fire department, .S 1,000 
 
 2,000 feet of hose, . . . 2,500 
 
 Salaries of city officers to end of year, 1,140 
 
 Watch, . 900 
 
 Incidentals, 500 
 
 Excess of liability, 1 53 
 
 To which add Genesee street improvement, 1,000 
 
 Treasurer's fees |8oo to . 1,060 
 
 Total, $8,193 
 
 And there was nothing in that list for two bridges recently washed 
 away nor for roadways damaged by the same agency. A long dis- 
 cussion followed. Some thought the charter only was at fault for the 
 state of affairs, and various suggestions were made for overcoming the 
 difficulty. Finally a motion was made that the mayor and council make 
 a statement of the amount necessary to go through the year and that 
 an election be ordered to vote whether the amount should not be raised 
 to pay the shortage. Another motion followed that a committee of five 
 be appointed to consider the whole matter and report at a future meet- 
 ing. The meeting to hear the report was n6t held until January 16, 
 1856, but it may as well be disposed of here. The report showed the 
 total indebtedness of the city, including the Black River Railroad bonds, 
 to be $304,047.60. The city had paid up to December 21st out of the 
 $12,000 general tax $1 1,275.83, and they estimated that $6,328 would 
 
284 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 be needed to take the city through the fiscal year. The report con - 
 tinued that if the suggestions of the committee were carried out in the 
 future they believed the annual ordinary expenses would not be more 
 than $16,000. The tax levy of 1855 was $49,225.90, and the great 
 increase in the few preceding years was caused by the establishment 
 and support of free schools and building the city hall and the Cily Hos- 
 pital. There was no immediate prospect of lower taxes. To meet the 
 present emergency they recommended the passage of a law authorizing 
 the city to borrow not more than $6,300 and add it to the next annual 
 tax levy. The committee then took up the question of charter amend- 
 ments (thus, as it was afterward charged, exceeding their authority) and 
 made a number of radical recommendations. They would make the 
 mayor the chief executive officer and separate his duties from those of 
 the council, and give him the appointing of the principal subordinate 
 ofificers as had then recently been done in neighboring cities, Syracuse 
 being mentioned ; they would have but one official paper, thus saving 
 expense'; would make the treasurer's salary $600 in lieu of all fees; 
 the charter was also defective in power to open and lay out streets ; they 
 said the city now owns four fire engines, one ladder wagon, ten ladders, 
 seven carts, a little over 3,000 feet of hose, with three companies of 
 twenty two men and sixty-seven men with the hook and ladder and 
 hose companies, a total of 133 men ; recommended the establishment 
 of a hose depot with a superintendent ; the city was then in one great 
 school district, and therefore drew no more of the State fund than would 
 a district of thirty scholars, and recommended its division. The com- 
 mittee were Charles A. Mann, T. E. Clark, T. S. Faxton, Joseph Bene- 
 dict, Thomas Hopper. 
 
 An adjournment was taken to the next Monday, January 21st, when 
 another public meeting was held and the various propositions voted 
 upon — and nearly all of them favorably. Thus: To raise $6,300 and 
 $1,000 for a hose depot at once; the mayor to have the appointment 
 of the street commissioner, surveyor, watch, and police constables ; to 
 abolish the office of marshal ; to have only one official paper ; making 
 the treasurer's salary $600 ; appropriating $4,000 for the City Hospital ; 
 granting more power in the opening of streets ; and dividing the city 
 into school districts of 100 scholars each. All of these changes and 
 other minor ones were soon embodied in charter amendments. 
 
>^5:^Z3 
 
PROCEEDINGS OF 1856. 285 
 
 The pavement on Genesee street was extended to Oneida Square. 
 Officers' salaries for the year made: Mayor, $250; clerk, $600; marshal, 
 $500; street commissioner, $500. The Maine liquor law went into 
 operation in July and at first was generally observed, but after a little 
 time was often violated and many arrests followed. Part of the offenders 
 were convicted and part discharged. A call for a mass meeting signed 
 by about 150, to be held July 23d, was issued, " to make an expression 
 on the subject of the thorough execution of the law." The meeting 
 was held and resolutions adopted to the end in view, but it probably re- 
 sulted in nothing, as such meetings commonly do. 
 
 1856. — Officers were: Mayor, Alrick Hubbell ; treasurer, Ira A. 
 Button ; surveyor, Harvey Park ; clerk, James G. French ; street com- 
 missioner. Christian Costleman ; attorney, Charles A. Butler; aldermen, 
 M. McQuade, Truman K. Church, Daniel B. Johnson, Alvin White, 
 Peter Cunningham, De Witt C. Grove ; supervisors, James McQuade, 
 E. E. Roberts, William H. Ferry, R. U. Shearman, William Clark, D. Van 
 Valkenburgh. Alrick Hubbell was elected mayor by the Whigs and 
 Republicans as were also a majority of the aldermen and one- half of 
 the supervisors. 
 
 On the 14th of January fire destroyed five stores on Genesee street, 
 beginning in No. 56, where the Marble block now stands. The loss 
 was $77,000 with $57,000 insurance. Some of the public prints were 
 most bitter in their denunciation of the inefficiency of the fire depart- 
 ment. The Gazette said the trouble arose from a stopped hydrant. 
 On the 25th of March fire in the Devereux block did about $10,000 
 damage and on the 28th, in the council, a motion was adopted that a 
 committee of three examine into the practicabihty of abaadoning the 
 present organization of the fire department. Early in the year exten- 
 sive changes were made in the ordinances, especially in relation to fire 
 apparatus and its care, street begging, sale of liquors to minors, etc. 
 
 April 4th the city was authorized by the legislature to borrow on its 
 bond $6,500 to pay the floating debt and raise the amount by tax, and 
 amendments to the charter were polled in compliance with a suggestion 
 made by a citizens' meeting called to consider the debt. The most im- 
 portant of these amendments was a provision in regard to the treasurer 
 and the city funds. His salary was reduced to $600 and he was re- 
 
286 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 quired to deposit the city moneys in such bank as would pay the highest 
 interest to the city and give security approved by the council. The 
 amount of the general fund was raised from $I2,000 to $i6,000. Au- 
 gust 8th a special committee on fire matters reported in favor of an en- 
 gine-house and 500 feet of hose for Corn Hill and a new hook and lad- 
 der truck ; these were purchased and in September 2,000 feet of hose 
 were bought. A new hook and ladder-house was built the latter 
 part of the year out of the old vegetable market on Bleecker street. 
 Improvements effected by this council consisted in laying down a few 
 sewers in various streets and in the extension of Hobart street from 
 Kemble to Elm. 
 
 There was more complaint of the acts of the street commissioner. 
 An inventory of property in his hands was asked by the council, and he 
 was peremptorily ordered to contract for no more work without knowl- 
 edge and consent of the council. Ordinary and extraordinary taxes 
 for the year were $56,547.16, including street lighting. 
 
 1857, — Officers: Mayor, Alrick Hubbell; treasurer, James McDo- 
 nough ; clerk, David Perkins; surveyor, Harvey Park, jr.; street com- 
 missioner, William Stanford ; attorney, Edward R. Bates ; aldermen, 
 John Cantwell, Thomas F. Lynch, John H. Prentiss, jr., Lansing Thur- 
 ber, John Myers, John B. Wasmer, Henry Ney, and William B. Taylor 
 from the Seventh ward ; supervisors, Harvey Barnard, jr., Amos H. 
 Thomas, Hawley E. Heath, John B. Owens, William Clarke, Roderick 
 J. Comstock, Richard U. Sherman. The Whigs and Republicans elected 
 all the city officers except the marshal. In his address Mayor Hubbell 
 expressed regret that the council had been forced to overrun their funds 
 as allowed by the charter. He stated that the salaries of the fire de- 
 partment were $2,725 and thought that this item should be saved. It 
 was said that the fire apparatus was out of order. This was a natural 
 result of the almost entire cessation of fires and alarms after the adop- 
 tion of the paying system and the consequent diminution of vigilance 
 and practice. 
 
 Whoever has watched the yearly details of the city finances has no- 
 ticed the regularity with which the expenditures exceeded the income. 
 No matter how much the latter was increased from time to time; in 
 hope of preventing such a discreditable result it occurred all the same. 
 
PROCEEDINGS OF 1856. 287 
 
 An annual deficit seems to be a law of municipalities as much beyond 
 the control of citizens and legislatures as the laws of nature. Time and 
 and time again as the urgent debt appears the penitent council appeal 
 for relief; the citizens scold, but wipe out the debt and increase the gen- 
 eral fund beyond the utmost limit of expenditure yet reached. All in 
 vain. In the earlier days remonstrances alone were tried. In the char- 
 ter revision of 1849 a new section was inserted prohibiting the common 
 council from incurring any debt not payable within their year and out 
 of its income, and this section remains in the charter to this day. 
 
 In 1856, as we have just seen, on the occasion of funding a larger debt 
 than usual and increasing still more the general fund, the citizens' meet- 
 ing imposed provisions to reduce the treasurer's salary and save the in- 
 terest on the city funds for the city, which were incorporated in the 
 charter simultaneously with the enactment of the relief measures, but 
 too late for operation in that fiscal year. At the first meeting of the 
 new council in 1857, when the resolution was offered for ascertaining 
 the bank entitled to the city deposits under the charter amendment of 
 1856, it was on motion laid on the table. At the next meeting, when 
 the resolution was called up, it was announced that the amendment of 
 1856 was no longer in force, a bill repealing it and restoring the old law 
 having been passed and signed that day. This restored the treasurer's 
 salary to $8oo and left the city deposits entirely to the discretion of the 
 common council without a word about interest. Of course there was 
 then no alternative but to follow the existing law. 
 
 As soon as the transaction became known it created intense excite- 
 ment. A citizens' meeting opposed to these proceedings was imme- 
 diately called at the city hall. Before the hour specified — by a cheap 
 device which had of late become familiar in political caucuses — the room 
 was packed with the partisans of the speedy legislation and the organi- 
 zation of the meeting captured. A general row ensued until the lights 
 were extinguished, after the historic method in New York city. A 
 resolution was adopted in the dark for an adjourned meeting, which was 
 soon after held in Mechanics Hall, hired for the purpose and guarded 
 by paid policemen. At this meeting the mayor presided, assisted by 
 every living resident ex-mayor as vice-presidents. It was forcibly ad- 
 dressed by most'prominent citizens of all parties, a resolution for the 
 
288 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 restoration of the repealed section unanimously adopted, and a com- 
 mittee appointed to attend to it. The section was restored by the legis- 
 lature of 1858 and still remains in the charter. The bank which had 
 been prominent in retaining the city funds under the old system failed 
 in the summer of 1857, but the city deposit was removed before the 
 failure was made known. 
 
 James street was extended from Steuben to Elm ; Leah street to 
 Oneida Square; an iron bridge built at John street; and a few brick 
 sewers were laid. The tax levy for all purposes was $55,241.55. Cer- 
 tain amendments were made in the city charter, of which the most 
 notable one was one forming a Seventh ward. 
 
 This was the year of hard times, the worst the country had known 
 since the crash of 1837. The Ontario Bank and the Central City Sav- 
 ings Institution failed through the crisis, and there was much distress, 
 though Utica seems to have escaped better than many places as to 
 business failures. The common council appointed a committee to take 
 measures for the relief of the poor and the Association for the Relief of 
 the Poor was aided; a public meeting was held for this purpose in No- 
 vember and a good deal was done to minister to the needy. The 
 Centra) City Savings Institution depositors became uneasy and it was 
 reported that the bank was insolvent ; but the books were examined 
 and in October it was declared to be solvent, and it went on for a short 
 time. 
 
 The main building of the State Asylum burned in the day time on 
 July 14th, causing a loss of near $200,000. Patients were all successfully 
 removed to groves near by and were guarded by the Citizens Corps. 
 There were 470 in the building. Most of them returned to the building 
 before night. Dr. L. F. Rose was so badly burned that he died and a 
 fireman, William Cessford, was killed. On the i8th of the same month 
 a stone barn at the asylum was burned, being set on fire by a patient who 
 was allowed liberty about the place. He was placed under arrest and 
 held for the grand jury, and ultimately sent to State prison for life. 
 
 Citizens freshly arriving during the years 1854—57, or newly establish- 
 ing themselves in business, were as follows : Of two physicians who 
 now came one had been educated here and practiced elsewhere, but 
 now returned to eke out many further years of an active and useful life. 
 
DUS. I. H. DOUGLASS AND yACOB HUNT. 289 
 
 This was Dr. Isaac H. Douglass. Born in New York city, November 
 26, 1808, he passed his boyhood in New Hartford and in the schools of 
 Utica, studied medicine with Dr. Pomeroy, of the latter place, and in 
 the medical school at Fairfield, and then went to Bucyrus, Ohio, to 
 practice it. There he prosecuted for many years a successful career. 
 About 1857, after a short stay in New Hartford, he set up in this city. 
 Here his success was equally marked. He was informed in his art, judi- 
 cious, discreet, and faithful in its exercise. With keen and tender sym- 
 pathies his presence at the bedside was ever a benediction ; of so 
 gentle and loving a nature he inspired the confidence and the love of 
 others; his patients were his friends and with them he was the beloved 
 physician. His tastes were refined and his associations the best. All 
 things beautiful in nature and in art attracted him. His daily life was 
 simple, unobtrusive, and sincere. A Presbyterian during the most of 
 his career he returned in later life to the Episcopal fold, in which his 
 infancy had been nurtured. He died March 13, 1884, leaving one 
 daughter now resident. 
 
 Dr. Jacob Hunt was born in Hillsdale, Columbia County, in 1810, 
 but came with his parents to Westmoreland, N. Y., four years after- 
 ward. He obtained an education at the Clinton Academy and at Caz - 
 enovia Seminary. When he reached his twenty- first year he began 
 the study of medicine and was graduated at the Medical College of Fair- 
 field in 1836. He opened practice at Lowell, N. Y., remaining until 
 1853, when he settled in Utica. In the treatment of fevers he achieved 
 remarkable success. He was a member of the State as well as the 
 County Medical Society. He was a life-long member of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church and was deeply interested in its welfare, having been 
 five times a delegate to the General Conference ; he was in sympathy like- 
 wise with the cause of temperance and other reforms. Both of the suc- 
 cessive wives of Dr. Hunt were of Utica. The last, a daughter of 
 Henry Snyder, is still resident. 
 
 Miss Caroline Brown appeared in 1857 as the first female physician 
 of the place. 
 
 Rev. H. N. Dryer filled with credit for thirty years a responsible po- 
 sition in the service of the State Hospital at Utica, and as a citizen of 
 the place maintained the public regard as well for the excellence of his 
 37 
 
290 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 private character as for the useful part he bore in its charitable and re- 
 ligious concerns. Born at West Stockbridge, Mass., October 30, 1805, 
 he had already run a varied career and filled many positions before 
 coming to the city! About 1856 he found employment in the State 
 Hospital as its steward and until his death performed its exacting 
 duties. Acting under the control of the superintendent he was really 
 in many respects the executive officer of the board ; was responsible 
 for the purchase of supplies as well as for their safe keeping and eco- 
 nomical use ; hired all employees and was accountable for the faithful 
 discharge of their duties ; spent as much time as he could spare with 
 the male patients and looked to their comfort and well being. Outside 
 of his special duties he preached at times as a temporary ministerial 
 supply, served as secretary of the County Bible Society, took an active 
 interest in the welfare of his own Christian denomination, and was much 
 relied on in religious and moral undertakings. At his death in 1887 
 he left a widow and two children. 
 
 With respect to Dr. Charles B. Foster, who was long associated with 
 his father, Gilbert A. Foster, in the practice of dentistry, it may be re- 
 marked that he stood high in his profession, showing competence in 
 more than one of its departments ; that he had many excellent social 
 and personal qualities; and that he was prominent in Masonic, musical, 
 and other associations. 
 
 John T. Clark, who had a brief residence here, was well known 
 throughout this and other States as an able engineer. Of New York 
 he was State engineer in 1854—55 and was long connected in various 
 capacities with many of its public works. He was acknowledged to be 
 a man of ability and stubborn integrity. His death took place Novem- 
 ber 10, 1862, in the sixty- fifth year of his age. 
 
 Another short term resident was Col. Edward Jewett, retired half- 
 pay officer of the U. S. army. He took no part in the public affairs of 
 the town, but from his pleasant social qualities, his intelligence, and the 
 enthusiasm he manifested in the study of geology, conchology, and 
 other branches of natural science, in which he had made large collec- 
 tions, he drew about him quite a circle of admiring friends and did 
 much to diffuse a taste for the studies with which he was himself enam- 
 ored. He removed to California and died there. 
 
EDWARD CHAPMAN AND J. G. MARKLOVE. 291 
 
 Edward Chapman, born in Kettering, England, September 13, 1802, 
 was already well known in the city as ati expert accountant. When 
 Butterfield, Faxton, and others formed the telegraph company Mr. 
 Chapman was employed by them, first as clerk and then as secretary 
 and treasurer of the company. He opened the first set of books for a 
 telegraph company anywhere in the world. He served the company 
 here until the combination resulting in the Western Union Telegraph 
 Company, whose center of operations was at Rochester, when he re- 
 moved thither. Later, when the headquarters were taken to New York, 
 he followed, living in Brooklyn and holding an important position in 
 the auditing department of the company. His death took place in Kal- 
 amazoo, August 9, 1886. He lived a very useful and honorable life, 
 was a very religious man, and was one of the pillars of the Broad street 
 (now the Tabernacle) church. 
 
 John G. Marklove had learned the art of organ building in Glouces- 
 ter, England, his native city. Immigrating to America in 1850 he first 
 located in New York and came thence to this city. After being a short 
 time in the service of Mr. Andrews he opened a factory for himself He 
 thoroughly understood the art of organ making in every detail and 
 made improvements in the delicate mechanism of the instrument which 
 were immediately recognized as standard and adopted by manufactur- 
 ers. Specimens of his skill may be seen and heard in the Reformed, 
 Calvary, and St. Francis de Sales Churches in this city as well as in 
 many other places. Devoted to music he never lost an opportunity to 
 promote it ; he was a charter member of the Utica Academy of Music and 
 of the Mendelssohn Club. Rather retiring in disposition he sought not 
 acquaintances, but was deeply attached to those whom he made friends. 
 He was a member of Oriental Lodge F. and A. M., the St. George's 
 Society, and Trinity Church, of which he was for many years vestry- 
 man. He was drowned while bathing at Scarboro, Me., August 21, 
 1891. He left a son and a daughter. 
 
 Hawley E. Heath, who since 1848 had been connected with the 
 clothing business of the brothers Rice, carried it on next with Nettle- 
 ton, Heath & Co., and on his retirement transmitted it to his sons. 
 Somewhat active in local politics he was for three years supervisor of 
 his ward. He was one of the founders of St. George's Church. He 
 died October 22, 1844, leaving a widow and two sons. 
 
292 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 A. L. Woodruff, who had been a denizen of the place since the chol- 
 era season of 1832 and had served as a clerk in different establishments, 
 set up about 1854 as a commission merchant and wool dealer. This 
 after a few years he exchanged for wholesale dealing in wines and 
 liquors. Affable and friendly he was deemed also a man of integrity. 
 At his death, September 25, 1888, he left a widow and one son, and 
 four married daughters. 
 
 1858. — Officers for this year were: Mayor, Roscoe Conkling; treas- 
 urer, Ira A. Button ; surveyor, Harvey Park, jr.; street commissioner, 
 William Stanford ; attorney, Josiah K. Brown ; clerk, David Perkins ; al- 
 dermen, Michael McQuade, Charles H. Hopkins, William H. Ferry, 
 Samuel Y. Lane, Patrick Devlin, De Witt C. Grove, Henry Ney ; super- 
 visors, William R. Hopkins, David Wager, Hawley E. Heath, Daniel 
 Morgan, John J. Conaughty, Nicholas A.White, Thomas Lennebacker. 
 
 There was great interest in politics at large with heavy Republican 
 victories — the precursor of the storm that was to come in i860. Ros 
 coe Conkling was elected mayor by 364 majority and nearly all the 
 other city officers were Republican. The fire ordinances were amended 
 early this year, the principal provisions being the appointment of seven 
 wardens, one from each ward, to hold office at the pleasure of the coun- 
 cil ; the appointment of firemen after their approval by the chief engi- 
 neer, and the appointment of foremen and their assistants, after approval 
 by the council and recommendation by the chief and wardens. Hose 
 companies Nos 2, 4, 5, and 7 were ordered attached to the engines of 
 the same numbers and all compensation to firemen abolished. 
 
 The local tax for the year was $70,646.20. Public improvements 
 were very much curtailed and the administration seems to have been 
 conducted on an economical plan. Chenango avenue was opened to 
 the southerly line of the city. About $500 was expended for fire pur- 
 poses on Corn Hill ; paving and sewers were almost wholly neglected. 
 The first Atlantic cable was laid this year and the event was properly 
 celebrated in Utica. 
 
 1859. — Officers: Mayor, Roscoe Conkling; treasurer, Ira A. But- 
 ton ; clerk, James McDonough ; surveyor, Harvey Park, jr.; street com- 
 missioner, Jacob Ehresman; attorney, Josiah K. Brown; aldermen, 
 John Cantwell, William N. Weaver, George H. Wiley, Burton Hawley, 
 
PROCEEDINGS OF 1859. 293 
 
 John Myers, John B. Wasmer, Williana B. Taylor; supervisors, John 
 H. Douglass, Silas C. Greenman, Hawley E. Heath, Daniel Morgan, 
 John D. Regan, James Merriman, Thomas Lennebacker. Before the 
 completion of the year 1859 IMr. Conkling resigned the office of mayor, 
 and on the 2d of December Charles S. Wilson was appointed by the 
 council to fill his place. Mr. Wilson found an unsatisfactory state of 
 the finances with a floating debt of several thousand dollars, and pub- 
 lished a communication on city extravagance, censuring the council for 
 its action leading to such a condition of affairs. This led to the appoint- 
 ment, January 14th, of a committee to revise the charter, which was 
 subsequently reported and adopted in 1862. It resulted also in a call 
 for a public meeting " with a view to reduction in taxation, observance 
 of legal restrictions on the annual expenditures, the separation of the 
 charter election from general politics, and the nomination of the best 
 men for office." This meeting was held February 14, i860, and Theo- 
 dore Faxton presided. A committee of seven was appointed to report 
 the names of committees of three from each ward whose duty it should 
 be to nominate city officers to be supported at the ensuing election. 
 The committees did their work and the nominations were made on the 
 simple plan of selecting suitable men for ward officers from citizens of 
 each ward who belonged to the political party prevailing in such ward, 
 thus giving Hobson's choice to the hide-bound partisan, that or noth- 
 ing. These nominations did not, however, prevent the Republicans and 
 Democrats from making their regular nominations, taking necessarily in 
 the wards the candidates named by the citizens' committees, who were 
 nearly, if not all, elected. In the city officers, it being impossible to 
 divide the candidates as had been done in the wards, the unconquerable 
 party distrust prevailed, and notwithstanding the citizens' nominee for 
 mayor was a Republican, eminently adapted in character and by public 
 service for the position, the Republicans nominated Calvin Hall and a 
 full city ticket, and the Democrats also nominated their full city ticket. 
 The election resulted as follows : 
 
 i860. — Officers: Mayor, Calvin Hall ; treasurer, Charles H. Sprague; 
 marshal, J. Augustus Allen ; attorney, Lewis H. Babcock ; aldermen, 
 William M. Everts, Evan E. Roberts, John Griffiths, Benjamin F. Shaw, 
 Patrick Devlin, James Merriman, Homer Townsend ; those holding over 
 
294 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 were John Cantwell, William N. Weaver, George H. Wiley, Burton 
 Hawley, John Myers, John B. Wasmer, William B. Taylor (five of 
 the elected aldermen were also on the Citizens' ticket) ; supervisors, 
 A. Churchill, Silas C. Greenman, W. D. Hamlin, Luke Wilkins, John D. 
 Regan, Paul Keiser, Thomas Lennebacker ; of these four were on the 
 Citizens' ticket. The political complexion of the officers was five Dem- 
 ocratic aldermen and three supervisors. The Citizens' city ticket re- 
 ceived only ninety- four votes. 
 
 On the 20th of March the council took the necessary steps to secure 
 legislation enabling the city to raise money to pay the floating debt. 
 The result of this was an act which was passed by the legislature pro- 
 viding for raising $i2,ooo with which to wipe out the debt, payable in 
 three installments beginning with 1862. May nth the resignation of 
 Mayor Hall was presented to the council and accepted. De Witt C. 
 Grove and Charles S. Wilson were named as candidates for the office, 
 but the vote was a tie. Mr. Grove was placed in the office at a meeting 
 of the council held a few days later. May 26th. . In June he delivered 
 his inaugural report and the amount of the tax levy was stated to be 
 $117,706. 
 
 On the nth of May a resolution was adopted to open Hobart street 
 from its then termination to Genesee street ; the expense to the city was 
 estimated at $3, 000. Commissioners were appointed in the matter and 
 considerable difficulty seems to have been encountered. At least the 
 engineer was censured for negligence in not making a map of the pro- 
 posed improvement and in September was removed from office for that 
 cause. Harvey J. Park, jr., was placed in his stead. After the appoint- 
 ment of two other commissions the street was finally opened in 1861. 
 In May a resolution was adopted accepting land from the Utica Steam 
 Woolen Company for a new street to connect Edward with the inter- 
 section of Hamilton and Columbia streets. 
 
 On the 7th of September the common council ordered a brick 
 sewer eighteen inches in diameter in Charlotte street from Elizabeth 
 street to Steuben Park and thence to Hopper street. The census of 
 the year i860 resulted as follows: First ward, 1,421; Second ward, 
 2;734; Third ward, 3,388; Foiirth ward, 3,719; Fifth ward, 3,101; 
 Sixth ward, 4,841 ; Seventh ward, 3,427 ; showing a total of 22,631, 
 
PROCEEDINGS OF 1S60 — JVEW COMERS. 295 
 
 an increase of 462 over the year 1855. Following is the tax hst for 
 
 the year : 
 
 Ordinary tax, . $16,000.00 
 
 Schools, . 16,500.00 
 
 Water, 1,300.00 
 
 City hall bonds, . . 6,000.00 
 
 On bonds and interest Black River Railroad, . 20,660.88 
 
 Interest city hall bonds, . . . 1,128.70 
 
 Interest on city bonds, ordinary, . , 388.37 
 
 Lighting, . . 5,500.00 
 
 Total, . . 167,477.95 
 
 In May, i860, the corner-stone of the Orphan Asylum was laid, 
 ground was broken for a school-house on Court street, and Grace 
 Church was opened for religious services. Among the new coming law- 
 yers of 1858-60 was one whose residence was short-lived, for he passed 
 away on the 1st of August, 1863. This was George E. Quin, brother- 
 in-law of the brothers Kernan. He came here from Chemung County 
 to become a partner with the latter, the firm being Kernan, Quin & 
 Kernan. He was an excellent man, of noble impulses, and genial and 
 cheerful temper. He died in his forty-fifth year and in the communion 
 of the Catholic Church, leaving a widow and three sons. 
 
 Two new physicians were Walter B. Coventry and C. Judson Hill. 
 Dr. Coventry was a son of Charles B. Coventry and a grandson of Alex- 
 ander Coventry. Soon after beginning his practice he was attached as 
 surgeon to the Twenty-sixth Regiment, 'and in the performance of these 
 duties his health became so shattered that he did not long survive. He 
 acted also as a State agent for the relief of sick and wounded soldiers. 
 He died at Marquette, Mich., not long after the close of the war. His 
 medical associates united in commending his professional skill and his 
 high personal worth. 
 
 Dr. Hill had likewise experience as an army surgeon, and that in more 
 than one regiment. Returning therefrom he resumed practice and re- 
 mained steadfastly engaged in it, and with much acceptance to a large 
 clientage and maintaining the common respect until near the close of 
 his life, interrupted only by occasional turns of ill health. Having lost 
 his first wife he had but recently married a second when he was him- 
 self taken away by a long-standing infirmity. His death occurred in 
 February, 1891. He left one son. 
 
296 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 A leading merchant of the place was Daniel Grouse. He was of 
 German ancestry, his father having come from Palatine, in Saxony, and 
 was born in Mindenville, Montgomery County, April 29, 1805. At the 
 age of twenty-two he started in mercantile business at Canastota, Madi- 
 son County, with his brother John, a connection which lasted until 1853, 
 after which the trade was his own. This trade was extensive and his 
 position an influential one. He was the founder and president of the 
 Canastota Bank and at one time a candidate for Congress from the Mad- 
 ison and Oswego district. In i860 he established a wholesale grocery 
 house in Utica, of which his son, D. N. Crouse, had for a time the man- 
 agement, and removed here himself about two years later, joining with 
 him successively two others of his sons. With great industry, great 
 capacity for work, and abundant capital Mr. Crouse ere long built up 
 what has been and still is one of the foremost houses of the kind in the 
 city. He took an active and intelligent interest in municipal affairs, 
 was a director in the Second National Bank, and conspicuously a busi- 
 ness man. He was a Democrat, but not a partisan, and without desire 
 for office or public station. In the Civil war his sympathies and his en- 
 ergies were fully enlisted on the side of the Union. In 1871 Governor 
 Hoffman designated him with General McClellan and others to test de- 
 vices for using steam on the canals. Mr. Crouse was a member of the 
 Reformed Church and illustrated his faith by a spotless life and liberal 
 charity. His death occurred September 28, 1877. His wife and three 
 sons survive him. 
 
 Edward D. Buckingham, born at Saybrook, Conn., February 22, 1818, 
 was early apprenticed to the trade of cabinetmaking. His trade ac- 
 quired he spent the little money he had saved in an effort to improve 
 by an academical training the education which he realized had been 
 defective, and afterward by private study rectified in a measure his early 
 deficiencies. His trade he practiced in different places in Connecticut 
 and afterward in Waterville in this county. At the latter village he put 
 in operation a manufactory of pianos, and had already gained a reputa- 
 tion for the goodness of his instruments when the stringency of the dis- 
 astrous year 1857 brought his works to a close,leaving him a debt which 
 he subsequently cancelled. He removed to Utica, soon after bought 
 up the stock of William H. Dutton, and opened a store for the sale of 
 
E. D. B UCKINGHAM — HENR Y LUX. 297 
 
 musical wares and objects of art. This store, conducted with Andrew 
 J. Ketchum and later with other partners, went on with increasing at- 
 tractiveness and success until it became the foremost of its kind in the 
 county. By the liberal manner in which it was managed much has 
 been accomplished to improve the taste of our people both in music 
 and in art. It was a gathering place of musicians, and some of Utica's 
 best amateur concerts were given within its galleries — galleries where 
 choice specimens of painting and engraving were on exhibition, free to 
 visitors whether coming with intention to purchase or from motives of 
 curiosity alone. In movements affecting the welfare of the city Mr. 
 Buckingham took an active interest and contributed liberally. It was 
 largely through his efforts, as it is said, that when he was a member of 
 the Board of Aldermen fountains were provided for the parks of the 
 city. Genial, benevolent, business-like, and thoroughly honest Mr. 
 Buckingham on his sudden taking off in May, 1891, was sincerely 
 mourned. He left a family of five daughters, of whom three are mar- 
 ried. 
 
 In the career of Henry Lux we have a noteworthy illustration of the 
 rise of an humble individual through his own efforts to a position of im- 
 portance and usefulness. Born in Alsace, November 26, 1827, he came 
 to this country with several brothers and sisters when he was seventeen 
 years of age. He was successively chore-boy with several families in 
 the city, fireman on the Central, and stationary engineer in a lumber 
 factory, when he entered the employment of W. Hallock, a butcher. 
 In 1855 '^^ began business for himself and by strict devotion to its re- 
 quirements, wherein he was aided by two sons, he succeeded in build- 
 ing up the largest meat trade in the city, having the greater share of 
 the custom of the leading hotels and the prominent families. Of jovial 
 disposition and obliging temper he had always a pleasant word for 
 every one, and his friends were many. He was active in municipal 
 affairs and attentive to the city's prosperity. In 1867, 1869, and 1871 
 he was a meiiber of the common council. In 1874, on the formation 
 of the police and fire commission, he was appointed commissioner and 
 did much toward establishing the system the city now possesses. In 
 the month before his death to the satisfaction of all he was re- appointed 
 on this commission. Mr. Lux was a vestryman of St. Luke's Church, a 
 
 38 
 
298 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 Mason, an Odd Fellow, and a member of several German societies. He 
 died May 21, 1891. 
 
 Calvin Hall, son of an early settler of Deerfield of the same name, 
 had lived in that place nearly all his life. In 1859 he was elected 
 sherifif of the county, very soon afterward moved into Utica, and in the 
 spring of i860 was chosen its mayor. By reason of ill health he re- 
 signed on the 20th of May and died a httle later. 
 
 John Henry Douglass was a native of Utica, though he passed a por- 
 tion of his youth in Cincinnati, where his parents then lived Soon 
 after their return he became an orphan. Stephen M. Ferine, an early 
 undertaker of Utica, was his uncle, and Douglass assisted him when not 
 in school ; was a clerk under Postmasters Tiffany and Lyon and a gen- 
 eral favorite. When Mr. Ferine went to New York he sold his business 
 to John H. Van Ness and Mr. Douglass, and the firm existed thirteen 
 years, after which the busine.ss was conducted by Mr. Douglass until his 
 death. He had for some years the charge of the burial of patients who 
 died at the State Hospital, but his happy adaptation to the performance 
 of funeral rites brought him ere long the favor of all classes of our 
 citizens, and he was greatly esteemed for the efficiency, the tenderness, 
 and delicacy with which he performed his tasks. He was one of the 
 charter members of Tiger Hose and was foreman several years. He 
 was a member of the Citizens Corps from his youth and commanded it 
 four years. He represented the First ward twelve years in the Board of 
 Supervisors, beginning with 1859 ; was an efficient member of the board 
 as well as of the Masoijiic fraternity and several civil organizations. His 
 widow survives. They had three children. Mr. Douglass died March 
 13, 1884. 
 
 William Dunn and William Lent were for twenty-seven years associ- 
 ated in the useful, laborious, though comparatively humble employment 
 of carrying baggage to and from the railroads. Both had lived long in 
 the city, both were popular and respected, and from their personal 
 characters and the faithfulness with which they ministered to the indis- 
 pensable needs of the community they together constituted one of its 
 important institutions. 
 
 Thomas B. Devereux, son of Nicholas, was a coal merchant ; Peter 
 Vidvard an importer of wines and liquors ; Enos Wood a machinist ; 
 and George W. Lewis an enterprising dealer in shoes. 
 
PROCEEDINGS OF 1861. 299 
 
 1861. — Aij abolition convention was advertised for January 14-15, 
 1 86 1, at which such celebrities as Susan B. Anthony, E. Cady Stanton, 
 Samuel J. May, Beriah Green, and others were noticed as speakers. A 
 special meeting of the council was called to decide upon the advisability 
 of allowing the convention to be held. It was resolved not to allow it 
 and the meeting was not held. 
 
 At the charter election De Witt C. Grove was elected mayor ; treas- 
 urer, William P. Carpenter; marshal, David Hess; attorney, Arthur B. 
 Johnson ; aldermen, John Cantwell, William N. Weaver, John Best, 
 Adrian Kissam, Patrick McGough, John M. Hahn, Elijah J. Herbage ; 
 supervisors, John H. Douglass, S C. Greenman, Owen Eynon, George 
 Pearson, John D. Regan, Paul Keiser, Thomas Buchanan, jr ; clerk, 
 Peter Cunningham ; street commissioner, Jacob Ehresman ; surveyor, 
 Harvey Park, jr. 
 
 In his inaugural Mayor Grove expressed himself very forcibly upon 
 the importance of keeping expenses within the amount authorized and 
 the necessity of great economy in order to do so ; said a new watch- 
 house would haveto be provided ; and expressed himself as pleased with 
 tjie provisions of the new charter. Salaries were left the same as the 
 previous year, viz.: Treasurer, clerk, and marshal each $6go ; street 
 commissioner $500; janitor $325. 
 
 Again the restriction of expenditure to income by the act of 1849 
 was unavailing, and a debt of $i2,ooo,for which there were no resources, 
 must be paid or the city hall and other city property might be sold on 
 execution, to say nothing of the distress of those who had eagerly 
 trusted the city. This time the iron-clad proviso which still remains in 
 the charter was imposed by the citizens. It is as follows : 
 
 Sec. 3 of Chapter 24, Laws of i85i. In case any alderman of the said city shall vote 
 for any appropriation or for the expenditure of any moneys not authorized by the char- 
 ter of said city or by some law^ or in violation of any of the provisions of law, every 
 such alderman shall be liable to a penalty of f 100, to be sued for and recovered in any 
 court with costs, by and in the name of any citizen of said city. And in case the com- 
 mon council of said city shall contract any debts after the first Tuesday of March in 
 any year and before the first Tuesday of March thereafter, which shall remain unpaid 
 for one month after the last mentioned day for want of sufficient funds in the treasury 
 to pay the same, or in case the common council shall authorize any expenditure for 
 any purpose in such year, exceeding the amount which the said council are authorized 
 by law to raise for such purpose, the aldermen voting for the contracting any such 
 
300 MEMORIAL HISTOR Y OF UTICA. 
 
 debt or to authorize any such expenditure shall be personally liable to each and every 
 party entitled to payment ; the city ot Utica shall not be liable to pay the same, nor 
 shall the common council credit or pay any debt so contracted or expenditure so made. 
 
 But laws are of little value so long as there are any who choose to 
 disobey them and none who have the principle or pluck to enforce 
 them. This remarkably strict law, though often referred to by those 
 about to violate it, remains a dead letter thus far, its penalties not in- 
 flicted either on the actual debtors or the cognizant creditors, who risk 
 its violation, trusting to the long enduring mercy of the taxpayers It 
 deserves a place in this history as a striking example of " how not to do 
 it " in thirty years. 
 
 The council adopted a resolution July 1 2th that thereafter all petitions 
 for local improvements must have on them names of property owners 
 representing a majority of property in value. Further proceedings of 
 this board were a resolution to extend Blandina street from its termina- 
 tion to Albany street, one to lay down an 1 8-inch sewer on a portion of 
 First street, and one to appoint a committee to report a plan for a watch- 
 house. 
 
 The cloud which was to envelop the country in civil war could now 
 be seen "no bigger than a man's hand." A meeting was called for 
 February ist of all " who believe a real and substantial difficulty exists 
 ill the administration of the Federal government." The call received 
 400 or 500 signatures. Lincoln had been elected after one of the most 
 enthusiastic campaigns ever known in America, and the mutterings of se- 
 cession came up from the South. The meeting was held and Ward 
 Hunt presided. Speeches were made upon the attitude of national af 
 fairs by John F. Seymour, C. H. Doolittle, Hiram Denio, Ward Hunt, 
 Roscoe Conkling, E. H. Roberts, and others, and a series of resolutions 
 in support of the government was adopted. President Lincoln was ex- 
 pected to arrive in Utica on the i8th of February and a meeting was 
 held to make arrangements for his reception. Alrick Hubbell presided, 
 and thirty four persons were named as a general committee of reception. 
 The President arrived at 1 1:30, and standing on the rear platform of the 
 train made a very few remarks and was addressed by Mr. Hunt. A 
 great crowd was in attendance. 
 
 With the firing upon Fort Sumter the city became filled with martial 
 enthusiasm, and when the President issued his call for 75,000 volunteers 
 
W^AH PROCEEDINGS OF i86i. 301 
 
 no city responded more promptly or enthusiastically than this. Capt. 
 William Christian at once began the organization of a volunteer battal- 
 ion of four companies, which number was eventually increased, and en- 
 listments were rapidly made. This finally became the Twenty- sixth 
 Regiment. On the 17th of April the Citizens Corps- tendered its serv- 
 ices to the government and announced its readiness to march at forty- 
 eight hours' notice. The armories of the different companies in the city 
 were scenes of the greatest activity ; the city was ablaze with flags, 
 drums beat, and everywhere that spirit of patriotism which was soon to 
 be tried on many a bloody field prevailed. 
 
 Recruiting was active under the July call of the President during the 
 fall months. Fourteen men left on September 6th and seventeen on 
 the 9th, part going to each of the Fourteenth and Twenty-sixth Reg- 
 iments. The Herald oi September 17th said that no place could offer 
 better opportunities for enlistments, " and the streets present as much 
 of a military appearance as they did when the fall of Sumter ex- 
 cited two regiments to go forth almost at a moment's notice." Lieut. 
 L. R. Sherwood of the Twenty-sixth Regiment opened a recruiting of 
 fice in the armory on the 26th of July for three years' men and offered 
 the bounty of $100. October 9th a local paper said that Utica was 
 doing more in proportion to population to fill the ranks of the army 
 than any other city or town in the State. Eighteen recruiting offices 
 existed and nearly 400 men were enrolled in the ten days. A great 
 Union meeting was held October loth with Daniel S. Dickinson as ora- 
 tor. On the 15th of October a meeting was held to encourage organ- 
 ization and enlistments in the Fourth Oneida County Regiment. W. J. 
 Bacon presided. Nine companies of the Third Oneida Regiment were 
 mustered at Boonville before October i8th. Captain Bates's Empire 
 Battery left for Elmira on October 22d, 150 strong, and was destined ere 
 long to see hard service. 
 
 A citizen of Utica who bore a somewhat conspicuous part in the mili- 
 tary and other relations of the State was James McQuade. He was the 
 eldest son of Michael McQuade and was born April 27, 1829. After 
 attending the public schools and obtaining a classical education at 
 Montreal he began the study of law. The law not being congenial to 
 him he entered the Bank of Utica as clerk and then as an ofificer. In 
 
302 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 i8s I he went to Albany as assistant clerk of the Assembly under Gen. 
 R. U. Shearman. Next he was in turn engaged in the coffee and spice 
 business, and had charge of the books of the Gulf Brewery. He repre- 
 sented the First ward in the Board of Supervisors in 1855-56. He was 
 a member of Fulton Fire Company, No. 3, and also of the Exempt 
 Firemen's Association. He was chosen president of the Firemen's Be- 
 nevolent Association in 1861 and again in 1866. In 1859 he was 
 elected member of Assembly by the Republicans and served his con- 
 stituents acceptably. He took an early and active interest in military 
 affairs and was a member of the old Columbian Artillery. About the 
 year 1847 he joined the Citizens Corps and became one of its foremost 
 members ; he was captain of the corps for three years just previous to 
 the Civil war, and on the day following the firing on Fort Sumter he 
 offered his own services and those of his entire company to the govern- 
 ment for two years ; they became a part of the Fourteenth Regiment, 
 of which he was elected colonel. The regiment passed the winter of 
 that year near Washington and in the spring of 1862 it was ordered to 
 advance. It bore an honorable part in the seven days' fighting from 
 June 27th to July 3d, and when at Malvern Hill Colonel McQuade par- 
 ticularly distinguished himself, acting as brigadier- commander through 
 nearly the whole engagement. For gallantry and bravery he was 
 recommended for promotion to brigadier- general. He was taken ill 
 and carried in an ambulance to the field of Chancellorsville, and there 
 mounted his horse and commanded his regiment through the fight. 
 When the battle was over he fell exhausted and was confined to his 
 tent for two weeks. The regiment returned to Utica, May 21, 1863. 
 Colonel McQuade was not a rigid disciplinarian, but was gallant and 
 brave on all occasions and greatly endeared to his men. Soon after 
 the close of the war he was breveted brigadier- general on the recom- 
 mendation of nearly all of the New York State congressmen. He was 
 one of the founders of the Loyal Legion and one of the earliest mem- 
 bers of the G. A. R., and he organized the George Washington Post in 
 New York city. In 1879 he was elected department commander of 
 that order. His military duties over he opened a pension office in Utica. 
 In 1866 he was elected mayor of the city by the Republicans and in 
 the same year was appointed postmaster, but served only a few months. 
 
THOMAS DA VIES. 303 
 
 In 1867 he was one of the Democratic presidential electors and the fol- 
 lowing year was appointed inspector- general on the staff of Governor 
 Hoffman. In 1870 he was again chosen mayor of Utica, this time by 
 the Democrats, and in 1882 was a prominent candidate for lieutenant- 
 governor. Other positions which he filled were the following : Presi- 
 dent of the Jefferson Car Company ; quarantine commissioner of the 
 port of New York ; and one of the managers of the State Hospital, be- 
 ing chairman of the auditing committee and secretary of the board. In 
 1882 he was a prominent candidate for lieutenant-governor. Mr. Mc- 
 Quade died March 25, 1885, leaving a son and two daughters. 
 
 Thomas M. Davies, one of three sons of the veteran jeweler, Thomas 
 Ddvies, was born in Utica and learned his father's trade with him. 
 Until a few years before his death he was a member of the firm of 
 Davies & Sons, afterward B. F. & T. M. Davies. He was an early 
 member of the Citizens Corps and a charter member of Tiger Hose 
 Company. Joining the Fourteenth Regiment with Captain McQuade's 
 company he was commissioned first lieutenant, his later promotions fol- 
 lowing those of his senior officers until he rose to the rank of colonel. 
 He was a faithful, brave, and noble soldier. Returning to Utica at the 
 close of the war he was chosen captain of the re-organized corps and 
 labored hard to establish the company on a firm basis. A few years 
 before his death he was made inspector of the Old Fort Schuyler distil- 
 lery in the revenue department and held the position until his decease. 
 In 1877 Colonel Davies was appointed a member of the Board of Police 
 and Fire Commissioners and served in that position faithfully ; he held 
 the office until a few weeks before his death. Early in life he married 
 a daughter of Colonel Norton, an old| resident of the city. He was a 
 man of fixed, firm opinions and felt contempt for mean, small men and 
 things. He was generous to a fault and^^did not know the meaning of 
 fear. He was devoted to his friends, who were numerous in the city of 
 his birth. His death took place May 14, 1882, at the age of forty- 
 nine. 
 
 Another Utica soldier memorable for his bravery and breveted by 
 the United States government was Egbert Bagg. He was the son of 
 Moses Bagg and was born February 2, 1820. His academical educa- 
 tion was obtained here and his collegiate at Geneva (now Hobart) Col- 
 
304 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 lege. Before entering college and after leaving it he gained a practical 
 acquaintance with engineering by service in the work of the Erie Canal 
 enlargement. He completed a course of law study, but never engaged 
 in practice. After a few months' service in the machine shops of the 
 New York Cotton-Mills to learn the rudiments of the business he en- 
 tered into partnership with William Roberts, the foreman of the shop, 
 and began machine making in Utica. Bagg & Roberts made some 
 needed machinery for the factories then finding a place in the city. 
 Ere long they encountered a reverse entailing much pecuniary loss. 
 Mr. Bagg now gave himself to surveying, and in 1853-54 he was the 
 surveyor of the city. In 1855 he went to Fort Dodge, Iowa, and 
 remained until 1861. In 1862 he entered the military service as quarter- 
 master with the rank of first lieutenant in the One Hundred and Seven- 
 teenth Regiment New York State Volunteers, which was then organiz- 
 ing. He soon displayed such admirable soldierly qualities that he rose 
 rapidly from grade to grade, and in August, 1864, was made major. 
 As an officer he was strict in discipline, but admired by his men, was 
 enduring, fearless, and even reckless in his exposure of himself He 
 was engaged in thirteen fights, nine of which were pitched battles, and 
 had command of the regiment in several engagements. It was at the 
 attack on Fort Fisher that he especially distinguished himself, and there 
 he received a wound of the shoulder from which he was permanently 
 crippled. For gallant and meritorious service in this battle he received 
 from the United States government a brevet as lieutenant- colonel. 
 Slowly rallying from his wound he resumed his employment as a sur- 
 veyor, was the official surveyor of the city during the years 1866 to 
 1869, also in 1878, and was both surveyor and superintendent of Forest 
 Hill Cemetery. He did it good work, both by his taste and care in the 
 management of the grounds, but still more by the plotting of a large 
 part of the lots then in demand and by the preparation of maps, which 
 were at that time greatly needed. His death took place November 18, 
 1885, while on a voyage to Europe. His wife, a daughter of Mont- 
 gomery Hunt, still survives, as does also one son. 
 
 When the war broke out Joseph S. Lowery was working for his brother 
 in a store at Boonville; he was one of the first to respond when it was 
 proposed to raise the One Hundred and Forty-sixth Regiment in 
 
COLONEL LOWERY — LIEUT.-COL. H. H. CURRAN. 305 
 
 Oneida County. When Mr. Lowery left Rome with his regiment it was 
 with the rank of second sergeant. He at once became a favorite, and 
 in the winter of 1862 was commissioned second Heutenant of Company 
 E. In the campaign that followed Mr. Lowery's soldierly qualities were 
 severely tested, but he never failed in the duty assigned him. When 
 the proper time came he was promoted to the captaincy of Company A, 
 and in that position participated in the battles of Fredericksburg, Chan- 
 cellorsville, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, 
 and other minor engagements. At Spottsylvania, while in command of 
 a skirmish line, he advanced in the face of a destructive fire and took 
 shelter under the enemy's breastworks, where his men were forced to 
 remain until nightfall, which covered their retreat. For his bravery in 
 this event he was publicly complimented in general orders and breveted 
 major. At Cold Harbor Colonel Lowery was severely wounded and 
 borne to the rear, waving his hat and cheering on his comrades. His 
 chance of recovery from the wound was as one in a thousand, and he 
 was carried many miles on a stretcher to White House Landing, whence 
 he was taken to Washington, where he remained in the hospital three 
 months. He finally recovered and was breveted colonel "for gallant 
 and meritorious services during the war." Returning home he became 
 associated with his brothers in starting a knitting-mill on Pine street. 
 This was destroyed by fire and was not rebuilt. He subsequently 
 united with James A. Lowery in the cotton commission business, which 
 was successful, and remained so until his death. As a military man 
 Colonel Lowery left an enviable record. He was a member of Post 
 McQuade, G. A. R., and also of the Veteran Legion. In politics a 
 Democrat he was twice elected school commissioner and was otherwise 
 conspicuous in his party. He was a director of the City National Bank, 
 a trustee of the Soldiers Monument Association, and of the Citizens 
 Corps, in all of which organizations he took an active interest. He died 
 on the 19th of October, 1891, leaving a widow and two children. 
 
 Henry Hastings Curran was the son of Edward Curran and was 
 born September 27, 1841. He entered Hamilton College from the 
 Utica Free Academy and. signalized his undergraduate course by ob- 
 taining a succession of college laurels in classical and belles-lettres studies. 
 Besides the reputation of marked ability he bore, too, the respect and 
 39 
 
3o6 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 affection of all for those qualities of mind and heart which constitute the 
 true man and the gentleman. The war for the Union broke out in the 
 midst of his junior year. Immediately on the President's call for 75,000 
 men he and some of his companions began by daily drill in arms to pre- 
 pare themselves for their country's service. They went further ; they en- 
 listed and organized a company of recruits and transferred them to New 
 York, where promises had been made them of their incorporation into one 
 or other of certain regiments then being formed. But being deceived by 
 false promises, and kept long in waiting while their men were dropping 
 off or being decoyed out of their ranks, and incurring heavy expense, they 
 became discouraged and separated. Profiting by his sad experience, 
 yet not chilled in patriotic ardor, Mr. Curran returned to college and 
 finished his course. Immediately on its completion in 1862, when en- 
 listments nearer home were in progress and under auspices more favor- 
 able, he again raised a company and was made its captain. It formed 
 a part of the One Hundred and Forty- sixth Regiment of New York 
 State Volunteers, which was commanded by Col. Kennar Garrard, a 
 West Point graduate who had seen some years of service. It was as- 
 signed to the Third Brigade of General Sykes's division of the Fifth 
 Army Corps. In this corps Captain Curran served with such fidelity 
 and persistent endurance, such bravery and soldierly sagacity, that he 
 was rapidly promoted to higher positions. As unassuming and gener- 
 ous as he was brave his soldiers loved him like a brother, while his su- 
 periors accorded him unqualified respect and trust. He was in the 
 battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and the Wilder- 
 ness. At this latter contest, while he was at the head of his men, he was 
 shot through the heart and instantly killed May 4, 1864. He was then 
 acting as lieutenant- colonel, although holding the commission of major. 
 His appointment as lieutenant-colonel, dated the 4th of the preceding 
 April, reached his family after his fall. At the reception given his regi- 
 ment in July of the succeeding year on their return from the war no 
 more affecting feature was witnessed than the horse of Colonel Curran, 
 with that of Colonel Jenkins, led by grooms in the civic and military 
 procession which marked the occasion. A more lasting and appropriate 
 honor was paid to his memory by the founding of a prize medal to be 
 annually awarded to the best classical scholar in the junior class of Ham- 
 
LIE UT. C. L. B UCKINGHAM — " WILLIE " BA CON. 307 
 
 ilton College, thus linking his name with a competition in which he had 
 himself gained distinction. 
 
 A classmate of the foregoing was Charles L. Buckingham, eminent 
 like him for scholarship, having taken more prizes than any other mem- 
 ber of the class, including the Clark prize, and who became a part of 
 the same regiment. He was the son of Daniel P. Buckingham, clerk 
 of the county and a recent comer to Utica. The son entered the One 
 Hundred and Forty- sixth as second lieutenant. He was wounded at the 
 Wilderness and while at home recovering from his injury was pro- 
 moted to first lieutenant. He rejoined his comrades and was only 
 eight days in their midst when he was killed while on picket duty. Be- 
 loved by a large circle of friends his loss was widely mourned. 
 
 "Willie" Bacon was another brave youth who was summoned from 
 his college studies by the first notes of war. He was the son of Hon. 
 William J. Bacon and was born in February, 1842. He entered Ham- 
 ilton College in 1859 and was quietly pursuing his alloted tasks when 
 the guns of Sumter aroused the patriotism slumbering in so many 
 hearts. He at, once presented to his parents his earnest plea to be per- 
 mitted to enroll himself in any capacity among the defenders of his 
 country. This leave was obtained and he was enlisted as a private in 
 Company A of the Fourteenth Regiment. With it he went to Wash- 
 ington in 1 86 1. A month later, by invitation of Colonel Christian, of 
 the Twenty-sixth, he was transferred to that regiment and in August, 
 in consequent of the retirement of some of its officers, he was commis- 
 sioned its adjutant. Ere long he was engaged in the trying service 
 which fell to its lot. He was wounded at the second fight at Manassas 
 and was over a month at home, but returned before his convalescence 
 was complete. In the meantime he had passed from the light hearted 
 and impulsive boy to the maturity of early manhood, and his second 
 return to duty was with a sober and thoughtful view of the condition 
 of the country and of his own responsibilities and risks. Overtaking 
 his comrades he shared with them the exhausting marches thrdugh Vir- 
 ginia to the Rappahannock. When, on the 13th of December, 1862, 
 they were engaged in the fierce assault upon the entrenched position 
 at Fredericksburg he was conspicuous for his manly bravery and an ex- 
 ample to his soldiers. While gallantly leading them onward he fell 
 
3o8 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 mortally wounded and survived but three days longer. Modest, gen- 
 erous, and fearless he was universally admired and never was a word 
 lisped to his discredit. 
 
 Another victim of the battle of Fredericksburg was Lieut. N. Garrow 
 Throop, of noble and generous impulses and an efficient officer. He 
 raised the first company for Colonel Zook's regiment (the One Hundred 
 and Fifty-seventh), saw much active service, was badly wounded at An- 
 tietam, but returned to duty to meet his death-stroke in the desperate 
 assault on Fredericksburg. He was a nephew of Hon. Ward Hunt. 
 
 Catharinus B. Mervine, who died at City Point, Va,, August 17, 
 1864, was the son of Rear- Admiral William Mervine, for many years 
 a sojourner in Utica. Admiral Mervine entered the navy in 1809 and 
 was nearly sixty years in service, twenty-five years at sea, four on shore, 
 and thirty unemployed. From the War of 1812 to that of 1861 he had 
 been on numerous cruises and borne a part in many naval undertak- 
 ings. Wounded at Black Rock, guarding in Charleston Harbor against 
 the nullification disturbances of 1832, capturing in the Mexican War 
 a brig which had two American vessels under her guns, planting the 
 American flag on the fort at Monterey in 1848, and in 1861, while in 
 command of the Gulf Blockading Squadron, planning the attack which 
 was so heroically carried out by his subordinate — these are among the 
 events of his more active life. When off duty his home was here, where 
 his untarnished record, his social attractiveness, and courtly, old-school 
 manners secured him universal regard. He lived to see the war at an 
 end, though unfitted by his age to take a conspicuous part in it, and 
 died September 25, 1868. His son ("Cass" as he was familiarly 
 called) joined the army in 1 86 1 as a private in the Citizens Corps 
 (Company A of the Fourteenth Regiment), was made sergeant-major 
 when the regiment was organized, and later was appointed adjutant. 
 He served on the staff with General McQuade while he was brigade 
 commander in General Porter's division. After the seven days' battles 
 before Richmond he was appointed assistant adjutant-general to Gen- 
 eral Griffin by reason of his good conduct in those battles, and at the 
 time of his death he held the same rank in the First Division of the 
 Fifth Corps. He possessed sterling qualities as a man and a soldier. 
 
 The above are but a few, a very few, of the brave men who imperilled 
 
i^//u 
 
 AilatTtii: Puhlf-^tiing 1 Enrirrtvitig Co, N.Y 
 
BEGINNING OF THE FOURTH DECADE. 309 
 
 their lives in our behalf. The whole number is large of those who went 
 from Utica and were enrolled in the regiments of Oneida County and 
 elsewhere. To catalogue more of them, to tell of their heroic deeds 
 and of the hardships they encountered, would be to compile a military 
 history of a large portion of the State rather than a record of the annals 
 of the city. It would be to give to the career of the soldiers a promi- 
 nence disproportionate to those of many worthy civilians whom our 
 limited space forbids us even to mention. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 FOURTH DECADE OF THE CITY'S HISTORY. 
 
 The War record Continued — A new Armory built on the site of the Market — 
 List of business Houses of 1863 — The Draft in Utica — Burning of the Female 
 Academy and the Free Academy — Close of the War — Growth and Prosperity in the 
 dawn of Peace — Efforts toward the Establishment of a Police and Fire Commission — 
 Building of the new County Clerk's Office. 
 
 THE officers elected at the charter election of 1862 were as follows: 
 Mayor, D. C. Grove; clerk, Thomas Mclncrow; treasurer, Will- 
 iam P. Carpenter ; attorney, William J. Stanford ; supervisors, John H. 
 Douglass, W. Baker, H. H. Roberts, George Pearson, G. G. Roberts, 
 Paul Keiser, T. Buchanan, jr. ; aldermen, William A. Everts, Thomas 
 Van Embergh, John Griffiths, Benjamin F. Shaw, Patrick Devlin, James 
 Merriman, Homer Townsend ; surveyor, Harvey Park, jr. ; street com- 
 missioner, Jacob Ehresman. The mayor in addressing the old board 
 complimented them on their harmony and measures of economy during 
 the year. In his inaugural he said there was no floating debt on the 
 city and the treasury was free from every embarrassment. Balance in 
 the treasury was $4,000 and there was about $1,000 yet to be collected. 
 He spoke of the new police force provided for by the new charter and 
 the need of a watch-house. The city debt he said was $162,000, in- 
 cluding $250,000 Utica and Black River Railroad bonds, which was 
 $10,000 less than in 1858. 
 
3IO MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 In the council on March 2 1st the salaries of the new police force were 
 fixed at $40 for the chief and assistants per month and $35 for the 
 members. The same meeting appointed the following as the first paid 
 policemen as distinguished from " watchmen " : Lawrence Sullivan, H. 
 Scholtes, David Hess, John Nenninger, James H. Frear, Patrick Waldon, 
 George W. Keating, John Johnson, James McVey, W. W. Long, 
 Thomas Dolan, Jacob Seaman. David Hess was chosen as chief and 
 James H. Frear assistant. On the 31st of March the council adopted 
 rules and regulations for the new police. 
 
 A brick circular sewer was ordered in May in Washington street from 
 Fayette to the seminary buildings ; a stone sewer was ordered in Tibbits, 
 Eagle, Howard avenue, and Leah street at a cost of about $5,000. 
 This was the principal improvement for several years. The policy of 
 the city government this year was one of continued economy and very 
 little improvement was made. The Herald sa\d the council of this year 
 was earning a reputation as economists. August 15th the council was 
 petitioned for privilege to build a horse railroad between Utica and 
 New Hartford and Utica and New York Mills. The petition was subse- 
 quently granted and the road built in 1863. Late in 1859 a petition 
 was presented to the council signed by a large number of citizens asking 
 a grant to the State of the Market lot and land on Bleecker street for a 
 site on which to build an armory for the Forty-fifth Regiment, on con- 
 dition that the basement should be reserved for a watch-house. On 
 the 3d of February, i860, a resolution was adopted to execute a deed 
 of the property to the State without the watch-house provision, the 
 State refusing to accept it with that provision. The necessary steps 
 were taken and the State erected the building at a. cost of $6,000. The 
 armory was finished in 1862. On the loth of February the Sixth 
 ward was by resolution divided into two election districts. The com- 
 mittee appointed to revise the charter reported their work as embracing 
 three kinds : First, the consolidation of the original charter and its 
 amendments into one homogeneous whole ; second, the supply of appar- 
 ent deficiencies. Of these changes the most important, and all that call 
 for especial mention here, were an entire change in the police depart- 
 ment by abolishing the night watch and marshal, dispensing with the 
 work done by constables as far as it related to the city, and the substi- 
 
fVAJi MATTERS OF 1863. 311 
 
 tution of a paid police. The term of office of assessor was made two 
 years instead of one, and the selection of mayor was placed in the hands 
 of the council. The various changes made by this committee, and 
 particularly the genera] consolidation and simplifying of the provisions, 
 was perhaps the most important work done on the charter down to that 
 time. The new charter was adopted in February, 1862. 
 
 After a period of comparative quiet in relation to war matters the 
 governors of loyal States recommended to the President the call for 
 300,000 volunteers (issued July 6th) and news of McClellan's bal ties be- 
 fore Richmond again excited the public pulse. In those battles a large 
 number of Uticans were killed or wounded, among them Colonel Mc- 
 Quade, Captain Harrer (who died from loss of a leg), and Lieut. George 
 W. Griffiths and E. H. Lloyd. The total loss of the Fourteenth and 
 Twenty-sixth Regiments in the series of battles was 226 killed, wounded, 
 and missing. No sooner was the call for more volunteers promulgated 
 than measures were adopted here to fill the quota. A meeting was 
 held "in support of the government" on July 14th after the issue of a 
 call which was numerously signed by leading men. The meeting was 
 a large one and was addressed by the mayor, Horatio Seymour, W. J. 
 Bacon, Francis Kernan, E. H. Roberts, H. Denio, and C. H. Doolittle. 
 A subscription list was circulated to raise a fund to pay a bounty to 
 volunteers and over $7,000 were subscribed, which amount was largely 
 increased within a few days. The State also provided for the payment 
 of $50 bounty, which, with a like amount offered by citizens and the 
 national bounty of $100, made $200 that the volunteers were offered. 
 The county bounty was provided for at a supervisors' meeting of Au- 
 gust 15th. The city was again filled with enthusiasm and by July isth 
 four companies were well under way. On the 24th of July Colonel Mc- 
 Quade came home after fifteen months' service and was given a royal 
 reception, and in the same month Capt. Thomas H. Bates, of the Em- 
 pire Battery, which had been almost wiped out of existence at the front 
 and had lost its guns, came home to recruit for it so as to again place it 
 on a strong footing. The quota of the city of CJtica on each call for 
 300,000 men was 325. Under the first call Oneida County enlisted about 
 1,300 more men than her quota called for. Early in August the first 
 company of the Fourth Oneida Regiment was mustered with Alvin 
 
312 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF VTICA. 
 
 White as captain ; George W. Brigham, first lieutenant ; Isaac H. Dann, 
 second lieutenant ; and on the 9th of that month Captain Daggett mus- 
 tered a company as B. The draft that was anticipated caused no ap- 
 prehension in Oneida County. By the 15th of August so active were 
 the efforts made to recruit that the fourth regiment from the county was 
 filled and left for Washington on the 22d after a splendid demonstration 
 in its honor. The draft was ordered for September ist, and prepara- 
 tions were carried on almost to the last day, undoubtedly stimulating 
 enlistments, but the enrollment was not completed in time and the draft 
 was necessarily postponed. As the enrollment advanced it was learned 
 that the quota for the county under the two calls was 3,254, of which 
 Utica had to furnish 1,354. 
 
 During the month of September in anticipation of the draft recruit- 
 ing was very active and the fifth regiment from the county (afterward 
 the One Hundred and Forty-sixth) was rapidly filled up. It encamped 
 at Rome and on the nth of October left for the front under command 
 of Col. Kenner Garrard. On the 22d of August the military com- 
 mittee asked the mayor to urge merchants to close their stores at 4 
 o'clock every day but Saturdays in order to give them and their em- 
 ployees opportunity to aid in recruiting. The mayor complied in a proc- 
 lamation and the movement began on the 25th of August. The war 
 fever was at its greatest height and meetings were held almost every 
 night, and before September 17th the First, Fourth, and Seventh wards 
 had filled their quotas. On the 8th of November an order was pro 
 mulgated from Albany to hold the draft until further orders, and the 
 county bounty was ordered by the supervisors to be paid until the draft 
 took place or the quota was full. The date of the draft had already 
 been postponed to November loth. The outcome was that the persist- 
 ent work of citizens filled the quota and the draft was averted. 
 
 In September and October the need of more small currency began to 
 be seriously felt, and on the 20th of November a meeting of merchants 
 was called to devise some means of relief. Many business men had al- 
 ready issued shinplasters upon their own credit, but it was felt that this 
 was a doubtful means of relief. At the meeting a committee was ap- 
 pointed to report a plan of relief. Their report was that it was advisa- 
 ble to ask the council to authorize the issue by the city of fractional 
 
MEN IN BUSINESS IN 1863. 313 
 
 currency. The application was made to the council and at the next 
 meeting the matter was brought up. Mayor Grove opposed such ac- 
 tion as being illegal and was supported by a few of the aldermen ; but a 
 resolution to issue $20,000 in fractional notes was adopted. Better coun- 
 cils prevailed, however, before the succeeding meeting and the measure 
 was stifled by a failure of the council to appoint a committee of issue. 
 The increase of the United States fractional currency soon rendered 
 such a course on the part of the city unnecessary, although many other 
 cities had adopted it. On the 5th of December the same council asked 
 the district attorney to prosecute all persons who should issue shinplas- 
 ters after Januar)' i, 1863. 
 
 Thomas H. Bates, captain of the Empire Battery, who has been al- 
 luded to as having returned home to recruit his depleted battery, left 
 the city on the 9th of October with volunteers and his battery became 
 Company A in the First New York Artillery ; but his old battery (what 
 was left of it) was held by the War Department in the organizations to 
 which they had been assigned in June. He returned again in Decem- 
 ber to fill up his battery. 
 
 The history of this decade may properly be closed with the following 
 list of men who were in business in Utica in 1863 — thirty- one years 
 after its incorporation as a city. It is inserted chiefly for its value as a 
 reference : 
 
 Academies and schools, James Lumbard, Utica Academy, Utica Female Academy, 
 John Williams. Collecting agents, William H. Pratt (insurance and real estate), T. P. 
 Ballou, B. G. Brown, William P. Carpenter, M. M. Ellis, Hoyt & Butler, Hutchinson & 
 Brown, John J. Francis, George S. Porter, L. M. & W. B. Taylor, Milton H. Thompson, 
 Walker & Wood, Charles S. Wilson (passenger), S. G. Burke, 8. T. Peckham. Agri- 
 cultural implements' Peter Auld, Dana & Co., O'Neil & Co., James H. Read, Wheeler 
 & Bailey. Architects and builders, M. F. Cummings, A. J. Lathrop, 0. Palmer. Auc- 
 tioneers, B. F. Brooks, G. B. Gray. 
 
 Bakers and confectioners, Charles Dupre, C. Hackett, I. Heidel, Alexander Horsburg, 
 William Humphreys, William B. Lyman, D. Owens & Son, Thomas M. Owens, Freder- 
 ick Reith, Luke Wilkins. Banks, Bank of Utica, Oneida Bank, Oneida County Bank, 
 Utica City Bank, T. 0. Grannis & Co., Central City Savings Institution, Savings Bank 
 of Utica. Billiards, H. Griffin, Albert Spencer. Blacksmiths and wheelwrights, Ben- 
 jamin Bowen, Clark Carpenter, Nathan Christian, Haley & Hughe.'!, William Haynes, 
 
 Henry Healy, John T. Jones, William H. Rose, Seisselmeir, Griffiths Thomas, 
 
 William Thomas, Patrick Walker, Matthew Welch. Blank book manufacturers, B. 8. 
 Merrell,W. J. Roberts. Boat builders, David Schwab, W. & L Thomas. Boiler makers, 
 40 
 
314 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 Wood & Mann. Bonnet bleachers, Daniel Bradley, James P. Gilmore. Book-binders, 
 B. S. Merrell, Watkin J. Roberts. Booksellers and stationers, Davis & Gilbert, Nathan 
 Hollister, Warren 0. MoClure & Co., William A. McDonough, A. B. Yale & Co., J. 
 French, Thomas W. Seward, I. Tiffany. Boots and shoes, Sylvester Barringer, A. J. 
 Bice & Son, T.W. Bolles, Thomas Breeze, Hugh Callanen, John Cantwell, H. D. Coram, 
 William R. Denison, Jacob Gottry, Hamlin & Myer, James Henry, C. Hurley, John D. 
 Jones, William W. Jones, P. Laney, Lewis & Co., Thomas Nutt, A. S. & G.W. Oatley, 
 William Owens, John G. Phelps, John W. Porter, Christian Sautter, Michael Shields, 
 D. L. Vanderheyden, Francis Wiesmantel, Samuel Wilkins. Boot-claspmaker, L. J. 
 Worden. Boot crimper, John P. Gibbs. Boot-lastmaker, Ebenezer Jones. Bowling 
 saloon, Peter Agne. Brass founders, S. W. Chubbuck, William Dent, James Garri- 
 gan, WilUam Higgs, George Potter. Brewers, F. Bauer, Gulf Brewery, Charles Bier- 
 bauer, Joseph Denk, Henry H. Haworth, 0. Hutton, John Hutton, Midlam & Co., 
 George Ralph & Son, M. Remmer. Brokers, Simeon Loucks, S. T. Peckham. Brush- 
 maker, N. C. Newell. Burr-millstones, Hart & Munson. Butchers and meat markets, 
 John G. Brand, Frederick Breitenstein, William H. Clark, Scholey & CoUins, John P. 
 Grupp, Otto E. C. Guelioh, J. Hallock, George Hamlin, Thomas Horton, John L. 
 Hughes, William S. Jackson, Edward Jones, Martin Laetanmier, Henry Lux, Edward 
 Norton, Westcott & Overocker, John Platter, Williams & Roberts, H. Roberts & Son, 
 John Siegrist, Jacob Spath, WiUiam Stanford, Isaac Whiffen, J. U. Whiflfen. 
 
 Cabinetmakers and furniture dealers, Crawford & Co., J. A. Davies, Matthias Fritz, 
 Theodore E. Hibbard, Peter Hensel, John B. Hornung, De Long & Lennebacker, Nel- 
 bach, Wiegand & Co., Christian Weiss, William Weiser. Capmaker, Mrs. Mary Hesse. 
 Carpenters and builders, H. T. Bolles, William P. Case, Timothy Cronin, Walter 
 Embley, Joseph James, A. J. Lathrop, William Metcalf, Winchenbach & Mentz, Frank 
 Miller, Henry F. Millar, Lemuel Pitman, Edmund Richards, John A. Russ, John Schwab, 
 Richard Weaver, Jacob Wratten. Carpets, oilcloths, etc., D. V. W. Golden, P. Wel- 
 bon. Carriage, coach, and sleigh builders, John W. Bates, Clark Carpenter, T. Davis, 
 William D. Hamlin, John J. Holmes, H. McKay, John Paul, Erastus Pitts', D. L. Rus- 
 sell, H. Thomas, Turner Brothers, William B. Walling. Carriage, coach, and saddlery 
 hardware, Henry Sanders. Chain pump manufacturer, W. P. Newton. China, glass, 
 and earthenware, George Dubois, N. Hopkins, Sherwood & Hopson, N. White & Son. 
 Cigar dealers and tobacconists, C. A. Davenport, G. A. Embley, Joseph Joerrison, 
 Mooney & Howe, Zechariah Morris, Isaiah C. Parker, Walter B. Pierce, Stephen Sher- 
 wood, Warnick & Brown, J. D. Waters. Clothiers and tailors, Mrs. Joseph Babcock, 
 Bond & Scranton, Edward Briggs, John Crook, Davies & Jones, John Evans, Thomas 
 James, P. V. Kellogg & Co., T. L. Kingsley & Son, Manchester & Penny, Meacham & 
 Farwell, Thomas D. Lewis, Lyon & Williams, Mary Makepeace, J. M. Rice & Co., Mat- 
 thew J. Shanly, H. J. Wood & Co., Henry I. Woodhull, C, A. Yates. Clothing (sec- 
 ond-hand), Samuel BHtz, E. Griffiths, James Mullen, Patrick Smith. Coal dealers, T.B. 
 Devereux, Fowler & Gilmore, Thomas McQuade & Son, Leonard Moore, J. S. & M. 
 Peckham, William Pittman, D. Timerman. Coffee roasters and spice factors, J. Grif- 
 fiths & Co. Commission merchants, B. F. Brooks, I. D. Everson, C. W. Hutchinson, 
 James Rockwell, Thorn, Shaw & Co., A. L. Woodruff. Confectioners, Charles Dupre, 
 
BUSINESS MEN OF 1863. 315 
 
 Cordon Hackett, I. Heidel, I. Myers, D. Owens & Son, T. M. Owens, Luke Wilkins. 
 Coopeis, Michael Clark, Patrick Corbally.. Cotton goods manufacturers, C. Hurlburt, 
 J. A. Shearman, Steam Cotton-MiUs. Cutlers, J. Louis, George Shapland. 
 
 Daguerreotypes, photographs, and ambrotypes, William J. Baker, H. J. Harwood, 
 "Walter C. North, John V. Parker, S. S. Rounds, J. B. Smith. Dentists, Theodore H. 
 Bradish, Alfred A. Colling, G. T. De Roe, T. D. Evans, G. A. Foster & Son, B. W. 
 MoQuivey, A. N. Priest, L. W. Rogers, Swartwout & Brockway. Distiller and recti- 
 fier, Isaac J. Knapp. Druggists, W. E. P. Baylis, William Blaikie, T. K. Butler, Corn- 
 stock, Dickinson & Co., J. A. Hall & Co., T. Manahan, J. D. Kellner, T. C. B. Knowl- 
 son, Lalor Brothers, J. B. Matchisi, Warner & Ray. Dry goods dealers, Owen Baxter, 
 J. & P. S. Brady, Cohen, Edloff, Camitksky & Co., James Dutton, Falkner's, Owen 
 Gafifney, D. V. W. Golden, B. T. Manning & Co., Lanigan, McCall & MoMorrow, John 
 MuIhoUand, Putnam & Kincaid, Maria Smith, Stewart & Leo, J. B. Wells, Welbon & 
 Tyler, Wilcox & Smith, W. Williams & Co. Dyers and scourers, John Brown, Jules 
 Doux, Andrew McLean. 
 
 Electro plater, C. Proeligh. Embrocation, B. Cline. Engines (portable), Wood & 
 Mann. Engineers (civil), Harvey Park, jr., William B. Taylor. Engravers, L. F. Han- 
 nas, Sereno Woodhull. Expresses, American Express Company, William Dunn (city 
 (baggage), Utica and Binghamton Express Company, H. yates (American Express Com- 
 pany). 
 
 Fancy goods, T. & A. Cash, Owen Gafifney, Mrs. A. King, William M. Storrs & Co. 
 Fish and oyster dealers, John Beston, Edward Leach, Miller & Son, Rowe & Son, 
 Thomas R. Thomas. Flour and grain dealers, A. B. Culver & Co., Dows & Adams, 
 Everson & Hayes, G W. Head, Hopkins & Lane, Hunt & White, Hurd & Co., A. Kis- 
 sam & Son, J. W. Mather & Co., W. M. Owen, W. H. Royse, W. C. Wilcox, Thomas 
 S. Young. Flour-mills, Utica city mills, Hopkins & Lane. Forwarding and transpor- 
 tation merchants, A. E. Culver & Co., A. Kissam & Son, Thornshaw & Co., J. N. Swits- 
 Fruit dealers, John Beston, Edward Leach, Miller & Son, M. M. Northrup, Rowe & 
 Son, Nelson M. Shepard, Charles Spratt, T. R. Thomas. Fur manufacturer, Anton 
 Albrecht. 
 
 Gents' furnishing goods, E. H. Fish, Robinson & Ball, William Smith. Glass manu- 
 facturers, E. G. Brown, C. P. Davis. Glove manufacturer, G. A. Clark. Groceries and 
 provision dealers, S. Abby, Paul Agne, Lawrence Bailey, T. G. Beokworth, William 
 Blaikie, WiUiam Breen, Benjamin P. Bullock, D. Burton, M. E. Burrill, T. K. Butler, 
 William Carey, Edwin D. Clark, Michael Clark, Lorenzo Conrad, Patrick Corbally, 
 Charles Crippen, Crook & Paradise, Daniel Grouse, Son & Co., J. C. Curry, Patrick 
 Devlin, Dickinson, Comstock & Co., Alfred B. Dobson, Miss Eliza A. Dunwell, J. G. & 
 P. Egert, John W. Evans, Robert J. Evans, Charles Fass, Joseph Faas, Walter E. 
 Field, M. Freidman, George Fulmer, Theodore H. Gordon, George Haenl, John M. 
 Hahn, J. A. Hall & Co., Joseph J. Hall, William Haworth, George W. Head, M. W. 
 Hull, F. W. Hurlburt, John Keenan, James Kivlin, T. C. B. Knowlson, Evan Jones, 
 Silas W. Jones, Joseph Leuthauser, Thomas Lumbard, Mrs. Rosina Magee, J. W. Mather 
 & Co., Asaph D. Mather, Daniel McCormick, Patrick McGough, James Merriman, 
 Christopher H. Mooney, William O'Reily, Thomas Owens, Owens & Griffiths, J. Parker 
 
3i6 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 & Sons, David Perry, R. "W. Phillips, Pierce & Howell, Joseph Raedeok, James H. 
 Read, D.E. Richards, J. Richards, Roberts & Owens, A. Rowley, N, M. Shepard, James 
 K. Smith, Trumbull Smith, William B. Smith, George Soley,John Soley, John Spanton, 
 Anton Sprattler, A. L. Staring, John W. Stevens, William C. Swertfager, Ira Tallman, 
 Horace Whitman, James Wood. Guns, pistols, etc., Morgan James, G. H. Ferris, E. 
 Remington & Sons. 
 
 Hair-dressers, Batchelor & Brothers, Joseph Carr, G. Cornelius, John Diefenbeoker, 
 W. W. Denike, Peter Freeman, George Hartman, Hiram W. Gilbert, Jacob Graff, F. C. 
 Lippin, Reuben R. Lippins, Michael O'Donnell. Hardware and cutlery, Dana & Co., 
 Thomas Foster, M. T. Meeker, Owen O'Neil & Co., J. E. Roberts & Co., James Sayre 
 & Son. Harness, saddles, and trunks, John Biederman, W. H. Duval, William Joyce, 
 Le Grand Moore, F. Pigeon, L. T. Smith. Hats, caps, and furs, Anton Albrecht, 
 Charles Barnum, I. A. Button, J. F. Crump, Hammond & Hill, E. W. Jarrett, John Lati- 
 more, Vedder & Brower, George Westcott, J. D. Williams. Hide and leather deal- 
 ers, Edward Curran's ^Sons, Joseph Harter & Son. Hosiery, W. H. Stewart, S. S. & 
 J. S. Lowery. Hotels, American, Burdiok & Martin ; A. Churchill, Bagg's ; A. Brendle, 
 Central Hotel ; J. L. Davis, Cottage ; H. T. Rowe, Clinton ; L. Larcher, Dudley House ; 
 Mrs. Huntington, Fayette House; George Bryant, Fifth Ward House; Franklin 
 House, J. M. Buell; Fuller House, H. W. Fuller; German Hotel, Charles Wolff; Lib- 
 erty Street House, Mansion House, P. F. Martin ; Northern Hotel, H. W. McDonald; 
 Oneida House, H. A. Pegg; Plank Road House, Thomas Wiokens; Potter & Cavana, 
 Sherwood House, D. L. Keys ; West Utica, C. Nestle & Son. 
 
 Ice dealers, Mumford & James, Thomas A. Quin. Iron fences, railings, doors, etc., 
 L. Dean & Co., C. Palmer. Iron founders, J. H. Chapman, Hart & Dagwell, G. 6. 
 Miller, Cyrus Palmer, J. S. & M. Peckham, Wheeler & Bailey. 
 
 Knitting-mill, S. S. & J. S. Lowery. 
 
 Ladies' furnishing goods, Mrs. H. Callanen, G. S. Davis, J. S. Fredericks, Patrick 
 Gaffney, Mrs. A. King, W. H. Stewart, D. Thomas. Lager beer saloons, Peter Agne, 
 Christian Binder, Anthony Brendle, Francis Herbrand, John Hemmberger, Herman Korff, 
 Jos. Leuthauser, Jos. Meinong, Michael Remrner, Geo. Richard, Anton Siegenberger, John 
 Spindler, John Thelen, Warner Zimmerman. Lamp manufacturers, John Carton, A. 
 Leach, I. A. Williams. Lawyers, G. W. Adams, W. R. Anthony, W. J. Bacon, W. & R. C. 
 Baker, Sam. J. Barrows, Arthur M. Beardsley, Ezra M. Birdseye, J. W. Bond, A. A. 
 Boyce, Brayton & Seward, Brastus Clark, A. Coburn, John D. Collins, W. H. Oomatock, 
 Geo. H. Conger, Roscoe Conkling, Benj. F. Cooper, Henry Cooper, J. G. Coye, Crafts & 
 Brown, J. G. Crocker, Sylvester Dering, Peter Davies, Doolittle & Babcock, Edmonds 
 & Miller, James G. French, N. Floyd, Dexter Gillmore, Edmund A. Graham, H. A. 
 Grant, jr., Henry Green, Philo Gridley, Hamilton & Melhinch, Hoyt & Butler, Hunt 
 & Waterman, Hiram Hurlburt, Jay Hyde, Arthur B. Johnson, 0. G. Kellogg, Kernan, 
 Quin &L Kernan, James F. Mann, Matteson & Benedict, A. J. & I. C. Mcintosh, J. W. 
 McQuade, Morris S. Miller, R. H. Morehouse, Wallace M. Mott, Eaton J. Richardson, 
 P. Sheldon Root, Richard Sohroeppel, Horatio Seymour, John F. Seymour, George J. 
 Sicard, George W. Smith, Spriggs & Molncrow; W. J. Stanford, Eugene Stearns, David 
 C. Stoddard', E. J. Stoddard, John R. Timan, Montgomery H. Throop, Isaac Trippe, 
 
BUSINESS MEN OF 1863. 317 
 
 Thomas R. Walker, Edmund A. Wetmore, White & Lalor, Joel Willard, E. W. Will- 
 iams, J. Watson Williams. Leather and findings, Edward Curran's Sons, J. Harter & 
 Son, Louoks & Searls. Leather beltings, C. W. Hutchinson, J. A. Williams & Co. Lime 
 and cement, William Brady, T. B. Devereux, Hart & Munson. Lithographer, B. S. 
 Merrell. Livery stables, Moses Barney, J. Butterfield & Son, William Oodner, David 
 Cruikshanks, Charles Green, B. Hawley & Son, George S. Makepeace, J. C. & "W. H. 
 Mapes, George Pearson, Levi Rich, Charles Rice. Locksmiths and bell hangers, 
 G. Eidepenz, William Hanusch, William Higgs, Joseph Louis, George Potter. Look- 
 ing glasses and picture frames, J. A. Davies, N. HoUiater, Solomon McQuivey, Alfred 
 Walker & Co., John Wright. Lumber dealers, T. P. Ballon, George Beckworth, Downer 
 & Kellogg, Owen Eynon, Jonathan Goodier, Hiram P. Huxford, Lewis Lawrence, 
 James H. Read. 
 
 Machine cards, C. W. Hutchinson, A. J. Williams & Co. Machinists, Philo S. Cur- 
 tis, William Dent, Hart & Munson, George Potter, C. T. Smith. Manufacturers' sup- 
 plies, C. W. Hutchinson, A. J. Williams & Co. Manure, G. T. Hollingworth. Marble 
 workers, Rufus C. Dodge, Lewis L. Lewis, Quick & Hughes. Mattresses, G. A. Clark, 
 Lennebacher & Delong. Milliners and millinery goods, H. Barnard's Sons, Mrs. S. L. 
 Brownell, Mrs. M.. J. Cameron, Miss H. Chapman, Mrs. M. C. Dieokow, Miss Sophronia 
 Garripy, Jones & Harrington, Miss R. Lumbard, John Mulholland, Mrs. O'Hara, Miss 
 L. W. Parker, Miss J. A. Reynolds, Miss M. A. Reynolds, Miss A. Sanford, Spertzell 
 & Davis, Mrs. C. Warmoll. Music and musical instruments, George A. Andrews, 
 Buckingham & Ketchum, N. Hollister, William A. McDonough, James A. Rich. 
 
 Naturalist, J. P. Davis. News and periodical depots, George N. Beesley, Nathan 
 HoUister, William A. McDonough, J. French. Nurserymen, seedsmen, and florists, 
 William Archer, Frederick W. Boyce, A. G. Howard. 
 
 Oculist and aurist, C. J. Fox. Oil refiners, Stuber Brothers. Organ builders, George 
 A. Andrews, John G. Marklove. 
 
 Painters (house and sign), George Bullock, Thomas Goult, 0. P. powers, John Tun- 
 bridge, R. R. Wiseman. Painters (portrait), M. E. D. Brown, Charles H. Judson, Ed- 
 ward Kunkely, A. Walker & Co. Paints, oils, and glass, W. E.' P. Baylis, T. K. But- 
 ler, Comstock Dickinson & Co., J. A. Hall & Co., N. C. Newell, T. C. B. Knowlson, 
 Warner & Ray. Paper hangers, H. Barnard's Sons, N. C. Newell, Wesley J. Segar. 
 Physicians, M. M. Bagg, Daniel P. Bissell, Caroline Brown, Burke & MoOwen, C. B. 
 & W. B. Coventry, Horace B. Day, J. H. Douglass, B. F. Flower, C. J. Fox, G. C. 
 Fuller, C. J. Hill, Ira D. Hopkins, jr., Isaac J. Hunt, Jacob Hunt, F. W. Klages, John 
 McCall, J. C. McKenzie, P. McCraith, William Morris, H. A. Oaks, J. A. Paine, Charles 
 F. Powers, J. Rathbun, J. C. Raymond, James Reese, J. Robinson, William Russell, 
 Thomas Spears, A. T. Spencer, D. G. Thomas, J. Ward, George Washburn, William H. 
 Watson, L. B. Wells, H. L. Williams, Mrs. 0. C. A. Wood, S. G. Wolcott. Pianoforte 
 dealers, Buckingham & Ketchum, Williams & Eaton. Planemaker, John Reed. Plan- 
 ing-mills, Downer & Kellogg, Hiram P. Huxford, Lewis Lawrence. Plumbers, copper- 
 smiths, and gasfitters, John Carton, P. J. Curley, James Garrigan, Edward Martin, 
 Sherwood & Hopson, Charles Millar, R. P. Williams, Pottery, N. White & Son, 
 Printers (book and job), Childs & Williams, Curtis & White, T, J, GriflSths, DeWitt C. 
 
3i8 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 Grove, Paul Keiser, T. R. MoQuade, Ellis H. Roberts, Evan E. Roberts, R. W. Roberts, 
 J. W. Segar. Pampmaker, W. P. Newton. 
 
 Restaurants, P. 0. Ballou, Henry Banker, John Beston, P. Cassidy, E. G-ebhardt, 
 Hugh Hamill, Herman Korff, W. W. Long, Edmund Laughlin, Patrick Neegan, John 
 Montgomery, M. O'Brien, Michael Rabenstein, J. Siegrist, John Shott, D. Snyder, E. E. 
 Williams. 
 
 Sash, blind, and doormaker.'J, Downer & Kellogg, Hiram P. Huxford, Lewis Law- 
 rence. Saw manufacturers, B. Partello, Simpson & Lennebacker. Sewing machines, 
 Buckingham & Ketchum, W. S. Taylor. Shirt manufacturers, E. H. Fish, S. F. Merry, 
 Robinson & Ball. Silver platers, WiUiam Dent, Charles Froehgh, Henry 8ande^^', 
 W. D. Smith. Silverware manufacturers, Charles C. Shaver. Skein manufacturer, 
 J. H. Chapman. Soap and candle factory, Tavender, Heath & Co., Thorn & Maynard. 
 Stained glass, Charles P. Davis. Starch factory, C. W. Hutchinson. Stoves, ranges, 
 and furnaces, W. W. Bennett, John Carton, T. W. Chatfield, Owen O'Neil & Co., J. S. 
 & M. Peckham, Wheeler & Bailey, J. E. Roberts & Co. 
 
 Tailors, G. Laimbeer, John Weikert. Tanners and curriers, Harter, David Jones, 
 Thorn & Maynard. Taxidermist, J. P. Davis. Teachers (music), James Best, Joseph 
 Sieboth, Charles Sutorious, W. Williams. Telegraphic instrument maker, S. W. Chub- 
 buck. Tinsmiths and stove dealers, Batohelor & Wicks, Henry Beokwith, W. W. Ben- 
 nett, Joseph Briggs, W. A. Cameron, John Carton, T. W. Chatfield, J. Donahoe, Henry 
 Hastings, WiUiam B. Henry, N. Hopkins, Loak '& Osborne, Charles Millar, Owen 
 O'Neil & Co , J. S. & M. Peckham, J. E. Roberts & Co., Wheeler & Bailey, George 
 Willis. Turners (wood), H. C. Beare, E. B. Paine. 
 
 Hmbrellamaker, Philip Gardner. Undertakers, W. B. Monroe, Van Ness & Douglass. 
 Upholsterers, G. A. Clark, J. A. Davies, John H. Keating, Lennebacker & De Long. 
 
 Variety stores, G. A. Clark, Eliza Conway, J. Corbally, H. L. Hurlburt, Mrs. A. 
 King, Charles Kirkland, Lyman Mumford, William Storrs & Co. Veterinary surgeon, 
 A. S. Copeman. 
 
 Watches, jewelry, etc., Selden Collins, B. F. & T. M. Davies, F. Darrigrand, 
 A. Leach, Frank W. Marchisi, Marsh & Son, W. 8. Taylor, Charles C. Shaver. 
 Wheelwrights, John M. Dyme, Joseph Dixon, Cadwell Richards. Wig and toupee 
 makers, Batohelor Brothers, Reuben R. Lippins. Window glass, E. G. Brown, N. C. 
 Newell. Window shades, J. W. Segar, A. Walker & Co. Wines and liquors, Breen 
 & Co., John Buswell, Peter Cunningham, T. H. Gordon, Isaac J. Knapp, C. M. Mitch- 
 ell, D. Mitchell, P. Vidvard & Co. Wood moulding, E. B. Paine & Son. Wooden and 
 willowware, G. A. Clark, William M. Storrs & Co. Wool dealers, James Rockwell 
 & Co. Woolen goods manufactures. Globe Woolen Company, Kernan & Helm, Utica 
 Steam Woolen Company. 
 
 Yankee notions, T. & A. Cash, W. Williams & Co. 
 
 1863. — On the 1st of March a finance committee previously ap- 
 pointed reported on the condition of the city finances. There was no 
 floating debt and every claim against the city in the year had been 
 promptly paid. There was a balance on hand from the $12,000 raised 
 
PROCEEDINGS OF 1863. 319 
 
 to pay the floating debt (before mentioned) of $1,275.83. All the tax 
 of 1862 was collected except $449.13, a result that had never before 
 been reached. The receipts from various sources, besides the $16,000 
 ■authorized annually, were $7,183.94, and there was a good balance on 
 hand. The city hall debt was extinguished, and the whole city debt 
 was $250,000 railroad bonds and $4,000 of the bonds for the money 
 raised to pay the floating debt. 
 
 The charter election went strongly Democratic, owing somewhat to 
 the effect of the war and the repeated calls for troops and threatened 
 draft on the lower classes. The mayor chosen was Charles S. Wilson ; 
 treasurer, Thomas M. McQuade ; attorney, Ichabod C. Mcintosh ; 
 clerk, Thomas Mclncrow; surveyor, Harvey Park, jr.; street commis- 
 sioner, Benjamin F. Woodworth ; aldermen, N. Curtiss White, William 
 N. Weaver, Theodore S. Sayre, William H. Clark, Patrick McGough, 
 John M. Hahn, William Howarth ; supervisors, John H. Douglass, 
 William Baker, Sylvester Dering, George Pearson, Peter Cunningham, 
 Peter Clogher, Joseph Benedict. 
 
 In his inaugural Mayor Wilson counseled continued economy, the 
 amount authorized being, as he thought, very small on which to run 
 the city government. He spoke of there being eleven brick school- 
 houses, forty-four female and seven male teachers, which made the de- 
 partment a costly one. He complimented the new police force. In 
 July the mayor complained to the council of their extravagance and a 
 resolution was adopted asking from the finance committee a statement 
 of expenses and appropriations to that time. The report was made and 
 showed that there had been audited $7,989.29, an increase over the 
 preceding year of $2,950.19. Of this increase $1,046.38 was charged 
 against the police department and $1,134. 10 to the fire department. 
 
 On August 14th a resolution was adopted appropriating $1,000 for 
 paving Genesee street, providing the citizens raised $2,000 more. Noth- 
 ing .appears to have come at this time of this action. City matters out- 
 side of military affairs were still neglected. The paving of Charlotte 
 street and also of Rutger, the former having already been twice ad- 
 vertised, was re-advertised for the third time in September and the 
 work was finally done. The first track of the street railroad was laid 
 in the summer and the first cars began running September 14th. The 
 
320 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF VTICA. 
 
 Stare Fair opened September 15th and brought a large attendance. On 
 the 1st of February all recruiting for volunteers in State organizations 
 was ordered stopped, the quotas being filled. 
 
 In June, 1863, an extension was- made of the tract bought by Nicho- 
 las Devereux in 1847 t>y the purchase of a part of the- Hamilton farm 
 extending southward to the Thorn farm. It was laid out by L. M. 
 Taylor and its lots were offered for sale. Reaching from Walnut street 
 on the north to Thorn street on the south, and frorti the Chenango 
 Canal on the east to York street on the west, it now has upon it a large 
 number of buildings, chiefly residences. 
 
 On the Sth of May a meeting was held at the city hall to make arrange- 
 ments for the reception of the Fourteenth and Twenty-sixth Regiments. 
 The regiments were received on the 20th with an ovation. The Four- 
 teenth was quartered in the city hall and the Twenty-sixth in the court- 
 room, both being fed at the armory. 
 
 A meeting was held at Bagg's Hotel on the 19th of May to make 
 arrangements to entertain the Loyal League Convention. Theodore S. 
 Faxton presided. The convention met here May 26th and drew an 
 immense crowd, said to be the largest political gathering ever held in 
 Utica. 
 
 Enrollment for a conscription was made in Jurie and July\ In the 
 latter part of June recruiting was active, six offices being open, under 
 the last call of the President for volunteers. On the 23d of June the 
 Forty-fifth Militia Regiment in Utica was ordered to prepare immedi- 
 ately for active service. This caused a good deal of excitement. A later 
 message from the governor explained that he wanted only volunteers 
 and not the regiment perforce ; and that if Colonel Willard could not 
 bring his regiment, as volunteers, himself would be taken as captain 
 with one company. At an assembly of the regiment June 23d only 
 forty or fifty volunteered. Jmig 30th Provo st- Marsh al Richardson was 
 ordered to rnake^J]_n_ecessaix,greparatiqns^ for^_dxaft For the week 
 ending July 18th there were forty- foiar^enlistnieivts in Utica and they 
 continued active down to the date of the draft. Trouble was antici- 
 pated at the draft and extra police were sworn in for the possible 
 emergency. The city's quota was 594 and the county's 1,667^ Recrui t:^ 
 ing was further stimulated in July by the offer by the gen eral govern- 
 
'V- 
 
DRAFTING IN 1863. 321 
 
 ment to soldiers re-en listing $402 , which made, with the State bounty- 
 then offered of $1 50, $552, of which $i72jwas to be paid upon r^enlist- 
 ment. The enrollment in the countyjvas cojipjeted earjj^ in July and 
 numbered in the county 9,842 and in the city 2,170. These figures 
 were subsequently reduce d to_8^26o_and^jj^02_respectively. 
 
 At Gettysburg on July i, 2, and 3 the troops from this county suf- 
 fered severely, but the victory and the threatened invasion of the North 
 gave new inspiration and stimulated enlistments ; twenty- seven enlisted 
 in Ut.ica in the week ending July 4th. 
 
 Under the last call of the President for 300,000 volunteers the draft was 
 oj^deredJoLAjugust^ith. August 2 0th forty- two^soldiers of the^Inyalid 
 Corpsarrived jtojjreservejDrder during_the draft, and on the 21st one 
 hundred members of the Fourteenth Heavy Artillery came for a like pur- 
 pose. The draft began at Mechanics Hall on the morning of the 25th 
 and continued several days until completed, the draft for the city oc- 
 curring on the 28th. A blind man, Albert West, of the city, was depu- 
 tized to do the drawing and several of the most prominent citizens, in- 
 cluding the mayor, were present to see that the drawing was honestly 
 conducted. Provost- Marshal Richardson presided. The box was 
 placed in an open window where it could be seen from the street, and in 
 the gloom of a rainy day the assembled crowd saw the first ticket taken 
 from the box, for the town of Annsville, the towns being taken in alpha- 
 betical order. John Putnam was the first name drawn. When the 
 town of Deerfield was reached the crowd was greatly augmented and 
 as the names of the unfortunates came forth there were wild demon- 
 strations of joy, ridicule, hand-shaking, etc. About one- fifth of the 
 whole number were drawn the first day. When the city was reached 
 business was largely suspended, and the assemblage outside of the 
 building was the merriest. of all. The names of the city conscripts were 
 all drawn by i o'clock. Rosettes appeared on the coats of the unjucky 
 ones and in the evening a parade of their number was organized. 
 There was general quiet, and at the first opportunity substitutes began 
 to be furnished in some cases, but in more the commutation of $300 
 was paid. Examinations of the drafted men were begun within a few 
 days and continued through September and a part of October. 
 
 On the 3d of September a special meeting of the Board of Supervis- 
 
322 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 ors was called to take steps to raise money " to mitigate the severities 
 of the draft." Committees were appointed and re-ported; but the dis- 
 cussions need not be followed, as nothing was done. The proposi- 
 tion was to raise money to pay commutation of drafted men. A fund 
 was also raised by the Democrats of the Seventh ward with which to 
 pay the commutation of residents of that ward who were drafted and 
 who belonged to the Democratic party. 
 
 Another call was issued for 300,000 volunteers by the President on 
 October 17, 1863, to be followed by a draft in case the quotas were not 
 filled, and an increased bounty was offered to stimulate enlistments. 
 The State election went strongly Republican, and there was adertermi- 
 nation on the part of those in power to throw into the field an army so 
 overwhelming in numbers that the Rebellion would be speedily crushed. 
 On the 9th of November there were four recruiting offices in the city, 
 and on the i6th recruiting agents appointed by the governor took the 
 field, eight of them being located in Utica. Under active proceedings 
 by the Board of Supervisors provision was made for the payment of 
 $300 bounty to each volunteer (as detailed in the chapter on military 
 affairs) and enlistments again were active. 
 
 1864. — A call was made for 500,000 men on the 1st of February, 
 1864, and this was followed by another for 200,000 on the 14th of 
 March. A public meeting was held on the 19th of February. This 
 was occasioned by previous discussion of the necessity of more than 
 $16,000 for city expenses, the need of a hose depot, and a new bridge 
 at the foot of Genesee street. Nothing of importance was done except 
 the passage of a resolution to purchase two engines at a cost of about 
 $8,000. Another public meeting occurred March i6th to consider 
 application to the legislature for authority to raise money for improve 
 ments in the fire department. Two engines were needed, 1,500 feet of 
 hose, a watch-house, hydrants, and the Charlotte street paving (all cost- 
 ing $10,950). There was about $5,500 on hand. The question of buy- 
 ing a steamer was also discussed. Mr. Doolittle offered a resolution 
 that application to the legislature be made for authority to raise $10,000 
 for the purposes named. This was followed by the offer of a resolution 
 by Peter Clogher that $12,000 be added to Mr. Doolittle's resolution 
 with which to pay city bonds issued to relieve citizens from the draft of 
 
PROCEEDINGS OF 1864. 323 
 
 1862. The warmest kind of a discussion followed, and on the final vote 
 the chairman declared both resolutions carried. De Witt C. Grove was 
 in the chair. A motion to adjourn was adopted; and then Mr. Doo- 
 little asked the taxpayers to remain, and a large number did so and 
 adopted his original resolution, and a committee of ten was appointed to 
 carry out its provisions. 
 
 Officers : Mayor, Theodore S. Faxton ; treasurer, Thomas McQuade ; 
 attorney, Ichabod C. Mcintosh ; clerk, David Perkins ; surveyor, Har- 
 vey Park, jr.; street commissioner, David Hughes; aldermen, Holland 
 Yates T. F. Butterfield, C. C. Kellogg, Thomas B. Howell, Patrick Dev- 
 lin, James Merriman, Homer Townsend; supervisors, John H. Doug- 
 lass, William Baker, H. H. Roberts, David Donaldson, George Young, 
 Peter Clogher, Thomas Buchanan, jr. 
 
 A special election on the question of the soldier's franchise was held 
 on March 8th; the majority in favor of granting it was 1,106 in the 
 city. 
 
 A committee was sent to New York in April to investigate regarding 
 steam fire engines, resulting in the introduction of the first steamer in 
 May. News of the Wilderness battles excited the city early in May and 
 it was reported that out of over 500 who went into the fight of May 7th 
 in the One Hundred and Forty-sixth Regiment only about 200 were 
 left unhurt. 
 
 May 20th a committee was appointed in the council to procure plans 
 for a watch-house. The bloody battle of Cold Harbor in June of this 
 year showed a list of many wounded soldiers from Utica and vicinity, 
 and the complaint came that they were not being well cared for. On 
 the 1 8th a resolution passed the council that the City Hospital be rented 
 at $600 for the care of the Oneida wounded who should be brought 
 home. It was rented for one year. On the 28th of that month a pop- 
 ular festival was held at the city hall as a means of raising funds for sol- 
 diers' families, and about $1,000 were realized. On the i8th of July 
 came another call for volunteers of 500,000, with a draft for all defi- 
 ciency on the 5 th of September. 
 
 September 24th a public celebration was held over the great victories 
 of Sheridan and a spirit of hopefulness prevailed. During the fall the 
 excitement of a great presidential campaign filled the public mind and 
 
324 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 very little work of a public nature was done in the last half of the year. 
 Charlotte street from Elizabeth to Bleecker was ordered paved, and 
 there was considerable paving and sidewalk construction around and 
 near Steuben Park. The city fund of the year for all purposes was 
 $72,087.92. 
 
 ' On the i8th of December, just as the labor of filling the former quota 
 was over, call for another 300,000 volunteers came and discouraged 
 many who were not upheld by supreme faith in the Union cause; but 
 the task of recruiting for it was promptly begun and with the eventual 
 success that had before crowned the efforts of patriotic Oneida County. 
 
 1865. — The year opened with military matters still uppermost. The 
 two calls for volunteers made during the two preceding six months were 
 not yet wholly filled, and the possibilities of a draft with the energetic 
 labor necessary to avert it commanded the attention of the public. 
 The quota of the city under both of the calls alluded to was filled with- 
 out a draft, and early in the year it was clearly comprehended that the 
 Rebellion was in its last throes. In February the city was the scene of 
 the greatest snow blockade since 1835. A statement of city finances 
 made February 25th showed a reduction in the expenses of most of the 
 city departments. 
 
 April 3d news was received of the fall of Richmond, and on the 9th, at 
 10:30 A. M., news of Lee's surrender reached the city. A cannon was 
 brought out on Bagg's Square, bells were rung, bonfires were started, the 
 fire department came out, the sleeping people were aroused, a procession 
 formed and marched to the mayor's residence, and general excitement 
 prevailed. A public meeting was called for the 14th to consider what 
 action should be taken regarding a general celebration and it was de- 
 termined to hold one on the 20th. But before that date, and on the 
 15th, news was received of the assassination of President Lincoln, and 
 the celebration was abandoned. The remains of the martyr President 
 passed through the city on the 26th. On the 19th the funeral was ob- 
 served here. 
 
 By an amendment of the charter, passed by the legislature May ist, 
 the county tax assessed in Utica was made payable at option to the 
 city treasurer for thirty days after completion of the tax lists, without 
 any commission for collection, thus saving the taxpayers much money 
 and inconvenience. 
 
OCCURRENCES OF 1865. 325 
 
 At the charter election there were chosen the following officers : 
 Mayor, John Butterfield ; aldermen, William A. Everts, William N. 
 Weaver, John Griffiths, Julius A. Hall, James H. Read, J. B. Wasmer, 
 Lewis H. Babcock ; treasurer, Thomas M. McQuade; attorney, E. B. 
 Hastings ; street commissioner, Clark Burnham ; surveyor, Harvey 
 Park, jr.; clerk, Thomas Mclncrow. 
 
 March 17th the greatest freshet known occurred and continued sev- 
 eral days, flooding cellars, destroying bridges and other property, stop- 
 ping railroads, stages, telegraphs, etc. Water was two feet deep at the 
 corner of Whitesboro and Genesee. March 24th a special meeting of the 
 council was held. A committee was appointed to take necessary steps 
 to secure legal authority to raise $10,000 by special tax for city pur- 
 poses — to pay debts not represented by bonds, freshet damages, make 
 repairs, etc. 
 
 June 19th the One Hundred and Seventeenth Regiment returned on 
 Sunday. Tables were erected at the depot for refreshments, cannon 
 were fired, and Home, Sweet Home, was played by the city band. They 
 were formally received by Roscoe Conkling, to whose address reply 
 was made by General Daggett ; the regiment passed on to Syracuse to 
 be mustered out. The Fourth of July was celebrated with unpreced- 
 ented display. There were fireworks in Chancellor Square and a 
 speech by Francis Kernan. July 22d the One Hundred and Forty- 
 sixth Regiment was welcomed, tables were spread in Chancellor Square, 
 and an address was spoken by Judge Bacon. August ist the Ninety- 
 seventh Regiment returned, the old regiments acting as escort ; refresh- 
 ments were served in Chancellor Square and an address was delivered 
 by Rev. S. H. Coxe, D.D, November 30th a citizens' meeting has held 
 to hear the report of the committee previously appointed on railroads. 
 They reported in favor of a subscription of the city for $500,000 of the 
 stock of the Utica, Chenango, and Susquehanna Valley Railroad. The 
 police took possession of the new watch-house on December 2d. 
 
 Many incendiary fires had occurred during the past twelve months, 
 destroying important buildings as the Female Academy on the 27th of 
 March and the Free Academy on the 13th of May. A reward of $1,000 
 was offered for the conviction of the offenders. This amount was paid, 
 $800 to Charles Latham and $200 to Mrs. M. A. Everson. 
 
326 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 1866. — At the council meeting of January 12th a report was offered 
 by a committee previously appointed to examine as to what charter 
 amendments were necessary to enable the council to carry on the city 
 government and to appropriate the money received from the State for 
 reimbursement of bounties paid. Amendments proposed were to in- 
 crease the fund for general expenses from $16,000 to $25,000 ; to raise 
 $15,000 for the fire department, of which $7,250 was for two new 
 steamers and $6,000 for 3,000 feet of hose. Also to appropriate the 
 $68,400 received from the State, first, to pay outstanding bonds of the 
 city ($48,500 and interest) and to pay commutation or relief bonds 
 outstanding ($11,700 and interest), and balance to be used as the coun- 
 cil might direct. These amendments and appropriations were adopted 
 and the legislature was requested to enact them. 
 
 A special election was held March 7th on the question of bonding in 
 aid of the Utica, Chenango, and Susquehanna Valley Railroad, result- 
 ing 1,055 iri favor and 339 against. The city was accordingly bonded 
 for $500,000 and about $200,000 was subscribed to the stock by citi- 
 zens. Work was begun in June. 
 
 Officers elected at the charter election: Mayor, James McQuade; 
 clerk, Thomas S. Mclncrow ; aldermen, Holland Yates, Joseph Faas, 
 T. S. Sayre, Thomas B. Howell, John Johnson, James Merriman, Homer 
 Townsend ; surveyor, Egbert Bagg. 
 
 The new mayor said in the past year the receipts were $34,022.12 
 and the expenditures $33,878.45, while the average for the preceding 
 three years was $28,807.32. This state of things presented a great 
 financial problem. A part of Cooper street was closed in September 
 in order to give the Steam Cotton-Mills a site for their new mill. 
 
 On the 31st of August President Andrew Johnson, his cabinet, and 
 General Grant passed through Utica. They were given a reception on 
 Bagg's Square and an address was delivered by Charles H. Doolittle, to 
 which the President replied. On the 17th of September a company of 
 Southern Unionists visited the city and were given a generous welcome 
 by a large committee and citizens generally, which took the form of a 
 meeting at the city hall. The city received a strong impetus in growth 
 and activity in building at this time, probably on account of the pleni- 
 tude of money disbursed for the war and the general feeling of pros- 
 
PROCEEDINGS OF 1867. 327 
 
 perity engendered by the reign of peace. The Butterfield House and 
 the new Free Academy building were begun. (See 1868.) Railroad 
 operations were also active ; the extension of the Black River road, the 
 opening of the Utica and Whitesboro street school in June, and the 
 Utica and Clinton road in September being features of this era of ad- 
 vancement. There was some fear of cholera which worked for the good 
 of the community through careful sanitary precautions. Incendiary 
 fires prevailed and led during this and the succeeding year to the re- 
 organization and strengthening of the fire department. 
 
 1867. — In January a bill was pending in the legislature providing for 
 the organization of a police commission to have control of the police of 
 Utica and Rome. The act creating the Utica Police Commission was 
 passed April 17, 1866, and on the 23d of April, 1867, a special elec- 
 tion was held for police commissioners, resulting in the selection of 
 Hawley E. Heath and Joseph Shearman, who received the highest num- 
 ber of votes, and William N. Weaver and William W. Long, who re- 
 ceived the next highest number. These two highest of each party were 
 to constitute the board by the law. There was some political feeling 
 engendered over this election, and a meeting of " those who will not be 
 made subservient to any such interest as that which has controlled the 
 nominations so far " was held just before the election ; but the feeling 
 soon disappeared. This re- organization of the police force was the out- 
 come of agitation which had been continued through most of the year ; 
 but it was a movement for the better undoubtedly. Commissions were 
 devised originally to save important interests from the. absolute control 
 of political parties in common councils and for a time worked fairly 
 well, but as soon as they naturally became composed of or adopted the 
 methods of graduated aldermen, as in the Tweed era, the remedy 
 proved worse than the evil. 
 
 As a result of the charter election there were chosen : Mayor, Charles 
 S. Wilson; clerk, Thomas S. Mclncrow; treasurer, Le Roy Midlam ; 
 attorney, Thomas E. Kinney; aldermen, W. A. Evarts, Jacob Ehres- 
 man, Charles C. Kellogg, Isaac J. Hunt, John Myers, Henry Lux, John 
 Howarth. The mayor said in his inaugural that he could not congrat- 
 ulate the council on the state of the finances. The total receipts for the 
 year were $129,783.14 ; total expenditures, $127,887.92. 
 
328 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 On the 14th of June a contract was made with James Benton for the 
 erection of a hose depot for $5,725. In the same month appeared the 
 subject of a better paving of Genesee street, a subject that was not to 
 be finally disposed of for several years. On the i8th of July the coun- 
 cil empowered a committee to contract for the Nicholson pavement in 
 front of the city hall and the clerk's office. This pavement was put 
 down, but was serviceable for only a few years. 
 
 A public meeting was held on February 5th to take action for the 
 relief of the South through the Southern Relief Commission of New 
 York. Committees were appointed, and during the spring a consider- 
 able sum was raised in the city and county and forwarded. This year 
 Theodore S. Faxton built Faxton Hall in West Utica (Union Hall), 
 chiefly for the use of the workingmen of that district. It cost $15,000. 
 It was dedicated December 31st. The Utica, Chenango, and Susque- 
 hanna Valley road was opened to Waterville on the 14th of November 
 with an excursion there and a dinner from the Watervillians. 
 
 1 868. — On the iith of January a petition to the legislature was pre- 
 sented to the council by the committee on charter amendments, accom- 
 panied by an act for the repeal of the recently passed police act. The 
 petition set forth that the force under the new regulations cost much 
 more than under the old, and that after paying the force out of the reg- 
 ular fund of $25,000 other departments of the city government must 
 suffer; that the city was uniformly peaceable and quiet and did not 
 need a large and costly force under control of a police commission. 
 The petition was signed by all of the aldermen but one, and by the 
 mayor. But nothing was done further in the matter during the year. 
 A communication from the commissioners was published denying that 
 the force was very much more costly than before, etc. A resolution to 
 divide the Fifth and Seventh wards was carried in the council pending 
 the requisite legislation. As an evidence of the growth and prosperity 
 of the city a statement was published of the money that had been ex- 
 pended in the several wards during the year 1867 for building, as follows: 
 First ward, $134,500; Second, $52,300; Third, $795,600; Fourth, 
 $538,300; Fifth, $147,500; Sixth, $65,400; Seventh, $222,450. To- 
 tal, $1,956,050. This led to a large increase in the assessed valuation 
 of the city by the county supervisors. 
 
PROCEEDINGS OF 1868-69. 329 
 
 Officers for 1868: Mayor, J. Thomas Spriggs; clerk, Thomas Mcln- 
 crow ; aldermen, Holland Yates, William N. Weaver, T. S. Sayre, 
 George Pearson, John Johnson, James Merriman, Philip Edmunds, John 
 Howarth ; treasurer, Samuel Y. Lane ; attorney, Thomas E. Kinney. 
 The city finances were stated by the incoming mayor as in about the 
 same condition that they had been, some $15,000 behind. Steps were 
 taken to remedy this trouble in the usual manner, and an act to borrow 
 $25,000 was obtained from the legislature. 
 
 The need of better water supply had become a pressing one and in 
 April an agreement was reached between the city and the company by 
 which the latter was to lay twelve miles of new mains and build a reser- 
 voir of about 50,000,000 gallons capacity, and the city should pay the 
 company $I0,000 annually for an adequate supply. The new reservoir 
 was commenced in June. In July action was taken by which parts of 
 Water, First, and Second streets were abandoned for the use of the 
 Central Railroad as a depot site. Eagle street was extended to East 
 street. The sewer systems were considerably extended. 
 
 The entirely unexpected nomination of Horatio Seymour for Presi- 
 dent by the Democratic National Convention in New York city, over 
 which he had been presiding for many days, caused the greatest excite- 
 ment throughout the city. In addition to the customary salute of can- 
 non the city hall bell rang a joyous and protracted pea! and many vol 
 unteers pulled the rope. It was the first time that the distinguished 
 honor of candidacy for the highest office had fallen upon a citizen of 
 Utica. 
 
 1869. — The new Free Academy was dedicated on the 31st of Janu- 
 ary, President Brown, of Hamilton College, and James Watson Will- 
 iams delivering the addresses. The Butterfield House was finished and 
 opened with considerable ceremony on the loth of June. The principal 
 fire of this year was the burning of two stores at 44 Genesee street on 
 February loth, with a loss of about $40,000. On the 19th of August 
 the Utica, Chenango, and Susquehanna Valley Railroad was opened to 
 Sherburne and the event was properly celebrated. The several exten- 
 sions of the Black River road were also rapidly pushed during the year. 
 
 It was an era of rapid growth and extensive public improvements in 
 the line of paving, sewers, etc. In the Herald of January was given a 
 
 42 
 
330 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 list of buildings just completed or in course of erection, and the total 
 value of those begun and not yet finished was stated as $754,100. 
 Whitesboro, Broad, and Fayette streets were among the prominent ones 
 that were extensively improved ; but in the council there was much 
 quarreling, and charges of mismanagement of the city's financial affairs 
 were frequent. The Utica Driving Park Association was incorporated 
 on the 1st of February with James P. Brown, president ; G. G. Williams, 
 vice-president; Mortimer G. Thomson, treasurer; and L. H. Babcock, 
 secretary. The salary of the recorder was increased in February to 
 $1,800. The Mohawk Street Railroad was opened September i6th. 
 Among the prominent blocks erected were the Crouse block and the 
 Yates block. The census of the year was given at 28,845. 
 
 The council had much trouble with the street railroad company on 
 account of the banks of snow which the company persisted in piling up 
 on each side of its tracks on Genesee street, rendering the street almost 
 impassable. It was even threatened at one time that if the company did 
 not at once remedy the difficulty the authorities would fill up the ravine 
 oa the tracks with snow. The chief public work of the year was the pro- 
 jected pavement of Genesee street. The discussion began early in May, 
 when a number of leading citizens who were interested in the subject 
 appeared before the council and advocated the work. After some dis- 
 cussion in council a resolution was passed on the 14th of May that the 
 customary regular notice be given that bids would be received for pav- 
 ing the street with Nicholson (wooden) pavement for fifteen feet on each 
 side of the car tracks, and with cobblestone from that point to the gut- 
 ters. Ttiis action raised a storm of discussion in and out of the council. 
 It had at that time become apparent to men of good judgment that the 
 Nicholson pavement as then laid in various cities was practically worth- 
 less, and after a committee of the council had been sent to New York to 
 examine the pavements there, and reported strongly in favor of a wooden 
 pavement of some kind, the owners of property on the street with few 
 exceptions objected to laying such pavement, which was to cost almost 
 twice as much as stone. A public meeting was called for July 20th 
 which was numerously attended, and there the wooden pavement 
 received the strongest condemnation ; and the idea that the council 
 could with impunity order a pavement which those who must pay for 
 
GENESEE STREET PA VEMENT. 331 
 
 it did not want was strongly denounced. A period of delay was 
 secured and meanwhile a committee was sent to Rochester and Buffalo 
 and other western cities to examine the Nicholson pavements there. 
 The committee learned very little in its favor and reported at a public 
 meeting held July 29th in favor of a Medina sandstone pavement. It 
 was followed by the publication of a petition signed by nearly all of the 
 property owners on the street asking that the council order the sand- 
 stone pavement. Nevertheless the council ordered the Nicholson pave- 
 ment. An injunction was obtained against the council on the ground 
 that the Nicholson pavement was patented and thus shut off competi- 
 tion. This injunction was dissolved by the court after argument, and the 
 contract for the pavement was awarded to the Nicholson Pavement Com- 
 pany. By a provision of the city charter any one liable to be assessed for 
 pavement and other work might offer to do it for fifteen per cent, less 
 than it had been contracted for, at the next meeting of the council after 
 that which awarded it. A few persons thus liable prepared to make 
 such an offer. To avoid this the council for several weeks would not 
 hold any meeting. When at length it met the proposal of those liable 
 to be assessed was offered and summarily rejected on the ground that it 
 was "unreasonable." Soon after work was begun on the upper end of 
 the section to be paved by plowing up. the old pavement. Before it 
 had proceeded far another injunction stopped the work and a writ of 
 mandamus was applied for against the council to compel it to accept the 
 bid made by persons liable to be assessed. The mandamus was ordered 
 by the court after much and costly opposition from the council, which 
 paid for it out of the general fund. The Nicholson Company then bought 
 out the right to the contract, which the court had adjudged to the few 
 property owners who had offered to take it. Meanwhile, however, the 
 council had concluded to let the property owners have the pavement 
 they desired, the Medina stone. The contract for it was let to James 
 Finnegan, of Syracuse. The last that was heard of the Nicholson Com- 
 pany in Utica it was trying to buy out Finnegan. They failed to come to 
 terms and the Medina pavement was begun and completed in 1870, the 
 memorable year of culmination of the gigantic frauds in the New York 
 city government, which brought the participants unenviable renown, 
 prison, and exile. 
 
332 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 The district west of the Chenango Canal and south of the asylum was 
 made more accessible from the center of the city by the building of a 
 bridge on Hickory street. Building was active, the principal structures 
 now commenced being the old Savings Bank of Utica building and the 
 Opera House, undertaken by the Mechanics Association. Early in 
 the year an editorial in a local paper, headed " Utica Enterprise," said 
 that those words a few years earlier were seldom used either by citizens 
 of the place or others abroad ; that the city then seemed to have set- 
 tled into a " slough of despond." The article then drew a strong con- 
 trast between conditions of that stagnant period and those of the present 
 and attributed the improvement to the northern and southern railroads 
 which the city had aided. 
 
 The Utica, Clinton, and Binghamton Railroad was opened to Oris- 
 kany Falls in February with becoming ceremonies, and a special tax- 
 payers' election was held on the 29th of June upon the question of an 
 appropriation in aid of the Utica and Mohawk Railroad. But the ma- 
 jority against the proposition was over 500. Early in the year the sub- 
 ject of the proper observance of the Sabbath commanded the attention 
 of many good citizens, who believed that the police force was not doing 
 its duty in this direction. A resolution was adopted upon the report 
 of a committee that the council had no power to enforce the ordinances, 
 that the police commissioners be called upon to do their duty and en- 
 force the legal observance of the Sabbath. 
 
 The velocipede mania attacked the city this year and for a few months 
 schools of riding and racing exhibitions were given in Concert Hall and 
 the city hall, which attracted crowds of young men and some older 
 ones. Three months later the excitement declined as rapidly as it 
 sprang up. 
 
 Officers chosen this year : Mayor, Ephraim Chamberlain ; clerk, 
 Thomas Mclncrow ; aldermen, William A. Evarts, Joseph Faas, John 
 Ross, Henry Ney, John Platter, Henry Lux, Luke Hill; treasurer, 
 Charles K. Grannis ; attorney, Thomas E. Kinney ; surveyor, Egbert 
 Bagg ; street commissioner, Lawrence Conrad. In his inaugural ad- 
 dress the new mayor strongly disapproved of the existing organization 
 of the police force aad hoped it would soon be changed. He also com- 
 mented upon the unsatisfactory condition of the city finances and 
 

 /^-^^t^/ri^,^ (^C^.^ 
 
PROCEEDINGS OF 1870. 333 
 
 showed how utterly inadequate the sum of $25,000 was for the annual 
 expenses, expressing himself strongly in favor of increasing the amount 
 to $40,000, and advised the most rigid economy in the city govern- 
 ment. 
 
 On the 5th of March a report of a committee on charter amendment 
 reported in favor of increasing the city fund to $40,000 and giving the 
 council power to raise the salary of the city attorney to $1,000 and that 
 of the treasurer to $1,200. The report was agreed to in the council, 
 but five members opposed it. 
 
 1870. — The officers of the city for this year were : Mayor, James Mc- 
 Quade ; clerk, Thomas S. Mclncrow ; aldermen, Holland Yates, W. N. 
 Weaver, Theodore S. Sayre, George Pearson, Joseph E. West, George 
 T. Hollingsworth, Peter Clogher, John Johnson ; treasurer, Charles K. 
 Grannis ; attorney, H. D. Talcott ; street commissioner, Patrick Mc- 
 Gough ; surveyor, John R. Baxter. 
 
 The council on the 15th of January reported, through a committee 
 previously appointed, in favor of forming the Eighth ward from those 
 parts of the Fifth and Seventh lying east of the gulf; and on the 28th 
 of the same month the Sixth ward was divided on the line of the division 
 into election districts, thus creating two new wards which were numbered 
 Eighth and Ninth. The year was a somewhat memorable one on account 
 of the increase in the number of wards, active efforts to re-organize the 
 fire department on a paid basis, important charter amendments, and a 
 continuous and bitter struggle among the aldermen. Proceedings be- 
 gan in the council on the 7th of January, when a resolution was offered 
 that the mayor request the taxpayers to name a committee of seven 
 (one from each ward) to confer with a committee of the council to 
 recommend such amendments to the charter as should be thought best 
 for the good of the city. This was temporarily laid on the table. On 
 the 2 1 St of January a committee was appointed to inspect the proposed 
 charter amendments before their submission to the council, consisting 
 of Francis Kernan, A. S. Johnson, P. V. Kellogg, De Witt C. Grove, 
 E. H. Roberts, T. J. Spriggs, William J. Bacon, and D. P. White. The 
 proposed amendments were reported at a special meeting held Febru- 
 ary 1st, of which the following is a brief digest : To give the recorder 
 power to try violations of the city ordinances; providing that only a 
 
334 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 synopsis of the reports of city treasurers be published in the news- 
 papers ; giving the council power to appoint the city attorney and the 
 overseer of the poor, and making the term of the city clerk three years; 
 (only the last of these provisions was adopted ;) organizing a new Board 
 of Health with the mayor as president ; raising the amount of the city 
 fund to $40,000; providing for more prompt payments of funds by the 
 collectors to the treasurer; giving the council power to appoint police- 
 men, making the strength of the force twenty, and giving the mayor 
 power to dismiss members for cause ; compelling the street railroad 
 companies to do certain paving along their lines ; giving the council 
 power to open new streets without reference to the location of buildings 
 on the line ; giving the council power to enforce the proper connection 
 to be made with sewers and gas and water pipes ; divesting the council of 
 power to order a pavement to which two-thirds of the property owners 
 along its line object (which is still the law) ; ordering the council to 
 raise annually not less than $15,000 nor more than $25,000 with which 
 to redeem the bonds in aid of the Utica and Black River Railroad 
 Company ; and a few other minor changes. These were, in many re- 
 spects, radical alterations, and generally served a good purpose in the 
 government of the city. 
 
 Another effort was made to get rid of the police commission in Janu- 
 ary by the offer of a resolution providing that the council should peti- 
 tion the legislature for an act repealing the existing police law in that 
 respect, and expressing the opinion that such action would please a 
 large majority of the taxpayers. This raised a storm in the Board 
 of Aldermen, and at the next meeting, March 23d (a special meeting), 
 twenty policemen were appointed, with John Baxter as chief, John R. 
 Healey as assistant, and their salaries fixed. The date of the succeed- 
 ing regular meeting was March 25th and no quorum was present. The 
 mayor and the city attorney decided that the proceedings of the late 
 special meeting were illegal, it having been called without giving the 
 requisite notice to members of the board ; and that therefore the police 
 appointments were void. While this action was being taken a major- 
 ity of the aldermen had gathered in a room in the Mansion House. 
 The mayor and the minority, learning where the delinquents were, sent 
 first messengers and then officers after them and commanded them to 
 
THE POLICE AND FIRE DEPARTMENTS. 335 
 
 attend the meeting. This command was not heeded. The chief of 
 police was then ordered to station himself in the Mansion House and 
 place the room containing the aldermen in a state of siege. At 1 1 
 o'clock the proprietor of the house sent for the sheriff to aid in the pro- 
 tection of his guests in the room. The recorder soon appeared on the 
 scene and ordered the besiegers to disperse. The mayor and others 
 were then in the hotel and they refused to obey the command of the 
 recorder, who thereupon left to procure a warrant for their arrest. At 
 half past twelve the sheriff arrested the chief of police, Messenger Sup- 
 ple, and Officers G. W. Miller, G. W. Keating, and Thomas Higginson, 
 and the party proceeded to the recorder's office. The ground was taken 
 by the majority of the aldermen who refused to meet with the minority 
 that the latter could compel the majority to act, and this opinion was 
 shared by the recorder. As a sequel to that night's operations the 
 majority did go over to the council room, where they promptly put a 
 motion to adjourn, and of course carried it. At the next meeting on 
 the 1st of April, when all of the aldermen but one were present, the 
 records of the proceedings of the minority meeting were expunged. 
 The former action making the police appointments was then re- affirmed 
 and the number of the force raised to twenty-four. 
 
 A similar contest soon sprang up in regard to the fire department, 
 growing out of efforts on the part of Mayor McQuade and his friends 
 to establish the department on a paid basis. Early in May nearly the 
 whole fire department disbanded and made a pretentious farewell pa- 
 rade, because of the previous action depriving them of the election of 
 the chief of the department. At the meeting of May 20th a special 
 committee was appointed to report on a new organization of the de- 
 partment ; the report was made, but was not acted upon nor made pub- 
 lic until later in the year. In June another committee reported in favor 
 of reducing the number of firemen with each steamer to ten men and 
 that No. 4 Company be disbanded, fixed the salaries of the engi- 
 neers and firemen, and recommended the provision of an office for the 
 chief. This report was tabled and the committee charged with shirk- 
 ing their duty in re-organizing the department. Meanwhile the depart- 
 ment existed in a peculiar condition that did not inspire much confi- 
 dence in its efficiency. A special meeting on re- organization gathered 
 
336 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 at the clerk's office on the 15th of July. The pohcy of establishing a 
 paid department was discussed and the discussion continued at the next 
 regular meeting of the council July 22d. On the 5th of August noth- 
 ing had been accomplished and the mayor published a communication 
 recommending the immediate organization of a paid department. On 
 the i6th of September another special committee was appointed to re- 
 port plans for a paid department ; but on the 21st of October a report 
 on organization previously made, and substantially on a volunteer basis, 
 was adopted. 
 
 The May report before alluded to was at this time made public by 
 the mayor. It provided in brief that the department be continued with 
 a chief at a salary of $850, one assistant at $150, one at $100, a fore- 
 man at $150, an assistant at $100, an engineer at $400, and a fire- 
 man at $150, with eight hosemen at $60 each. Speakers who were 
 present when this report was read in October discussed the project on 
 all sides. Friends of a paid department argued that the figures above 
 given did not cover a tithe of the cost of a department, and gave esti- 
 mates running as high as $30,000, while others thought a good depart- 
 ment might be operated for $7,000. With the reading of this old 
 report were offered two resolutions, the first of which favored re- organiz- 
 ing the department and giving back to the companies the election of 
 their chief This resolution was adopted; but the second one, detailing 
 how the department should be re-organized, was not adopted, leaving 
 matters still unsettled. On the 2d of December the harrassing subject 
 again came to the surface in an estimate offered by Mr. Sayre giving 
 the cost of a good paid department as $11,650. But the consummation 
 of the plan was still further delayed. 
 
 The building of the new county clerk's office was commenced this 
 year by the Board of Supervisors of the county. In 1867 a petition of 
 the judges, county officers, and leading lawyers had been presented to 
 the board, stating the necessity of a safer and more commodious build- 
 ing, and recommending a site adjoining the court-house on the corner 
 of Bleecker and John streets, then obtainable for $6,000, having streets 
 on two sides and open public grounds promised on the other two, thus 
 securing safety from fire and ample light. The proposition did not find 
 favor with the board. In 1869 the county clerk reported that his office 
 
COUNTY CLERK'S OFFICE— NEW COMERS. 337 
 
 was actually tumbling down and the supervisors were compelled to do 
 something. Rome offered gratis a site in its public square and there 
 was a lively competition from Utica real estate holders. Between them 
 and timidity lest the sale of the old site on Genesee street might not 
 quite cover the cost of the new, now doubled, the proposition of 1867 fell 
 to the ground and the old site was retained to the detriment of the eyes 
 and patience of all those compelled to use the office and the increased 
 cost of a fireproof building. The cost of the building exclusive of fur- 
 nishing was $42,000. At the same time all the indices of deeds and 
 mortgages were copied, under authority of an act of the State legis- 
 lature, at nearly the same cost without request or murmur from any 
 quarter. 
 
 Among those who began living in Utica during the period covered 
 by the years 1864—70 were-the following: Alexander S. Johnson will 
 be found sketched in the chapter on the Bench and Bar. T. Scott Lord, 
 of Geneseo, who had been county judge of Livingston, came to Utica 
 to engage in practice in 1871, and formed a partnership with Roscoe 
 Conkling and Alfred Coxe. He was elected to Congress in 1874 and 
 served a single term, but was defeated in running for the second term. 
 Not long afterward he removed to New York city, where he filled a 
 highly creditable position. He showed great aptitude and diligence at 
 the bar, was of courtly and dignified manner, and gracious and winning 
 speech. His tastes were scholarly and his habits refined, and his read- 
 ing and attainments outside of his profession were broad. He died Sep- 
 tember 13, 1885. His wife died a few years before him. They had 
 two sons and two daughters. 
 
 Enoch B. Talcott lived only two years in Utica and died June 21, 
 1868. He had already been a successful lawyer at Oswego, had been 
 a State senator, and while sitting in the Court of Appeals had read opin- 
 ions that were deemed equal to those of any of his colleagues, and had 
 been collector of customs at Oswego. His widow, a sister of Hon. 
 Charles H. Doolittle, a son, and two daughters are still living. 
 
 Hiram T. Jenkins was the son of Timothy Jenkins, of Oneida Castle, 
 
 well known in the annals of the county as district attorney and member 
 
 of Congress. On the death of his father he succeeded him as district 
 
 attorney, and so well did he perform the duties of the office that he was 
 
 43 
 
338 MEMORIAL BISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 re-elected almost by acclamation. He was a graduate of Hamilton 
 College of more than ordinary scholarly attainments and decided legal 
 ability. He died July 29, 1868, at the early age of thirty-four. His 
 wife was a daughter of Augustine G. Dauby. 
 
 Joel Willard, a native of Schuyler, after a few years of residence in 
 Utica was in 1866 elected county judge. He achieved fair distinction 
 as an able and impartial jurist. Failing health prevented his seeking a 
 renomination. He died January 12, 1880. 
 
 A surgeon foremost in the ranks of his profession was Dr. Edwin 
 Hutchinson. He was born in Utica in 1840 and was the son of Holmes 
 Hutchinson. After graduating at the Free Academy he entered the 
 Yale Scientific School and was graduated in i860. He studied medi- 
 cine with Dr. John McCall and at the College of Physicians and Sur- 
 geons in New York. In August, 1861, he was commissioned medical 
 cadet of the regular army and afterward joined the Fourteenth Regi- 
 ment of Volunteers. In September, 1862, he was commissioned assist- 
 ant surgeon of the Third Regiment of Maryland Volunteers and went 
 to the front- In the next year he was assigned as surgeon of the One 
 Hundred and Thirty- seventh New York Volunteers and remained on 
 duty to the close of the war. He next resumed his college studies 
 and received his degree. Beginning in Utica he soon had a large 
 practice. It consisted mostly of general surgery, becoming more and 
 more exclusively such, and in the end was still more narrowed by his 
 special devotion to the treatment of the diseases of the eye and ear. He 
 was active in the establishment of St. Elizabeth's Hospital, took charge 
 of the medical department, and kept it until his last sickness. He took 
 a deep interest in his profession and was a member of various medical 
 societies, county. State, and national. Here his voice was always heard 
 with pleasure, and the Opthalmological Society regarded him as one of 
 its best specialists. He was the author of a valuable treatise on hos- 
 pital construction. In 1872 he was breveted colonel by Governor Hoff- 
 inan for his distinguished service to the State, and shortly afterward was 
 appointed surgeon of the Twenty-sixth Brigade of the National Guard 
 of the State of New York. He died at St. Elizabeth's Hospital, Octo- 
 ber 19, 1887. 
 
 George R. Thomas was the son of Daniel Thomas, of Utica, and was 
 
STEPHEN SICARD— J. C. DEVEREUX. 339 
 
 born January 8, 1822. Receiving a good education he took to banking 
 and was employed in two or three banks in different parts of the State, 
 the longest in the Rome Bank, where he was teller and cashier until the 
 expiration of its charter. In 1864 he came to Utica and with E. S. 
 Brayton and others he organized the Second National Bank, and was its 
 cashier until his death. By reason of the confidence reposed in him for 
 his fidelity and self-denying care he held many positions of financial 
 trust. He was treasurer of St. Luke's Home and Hospital and of Grace 
 Church. Few men were more intelligent, sincere, and practical in re- 
 ligious belief Mr. Thomas died July 25, 1887. His wife, who was a 
 daughter of Hervej^ Brayton, brother of E. S. Brayton, and four daugh- 
 ters are still residents. 
 
 Stephen Sicard had had a long experience in banking, and was the 
 grandson of Montgomery Hunt, Utica's earliest banker. Born in New 
 York in 1835 he was reared in Utica, and was educated at New Hart- 
 ford and at Mr. Turner's French school in Utica. From 1854 to 1865 
 he was employed in the Oneida Bank, first as clerk and then as teller. 
 In the latter year he became a member of the firm of H. H. Hurd & 
 Co., in the wholesale grain business, and this was his position at the 
 time of his death. He was secretary of the Board of Trustees of the Fe- 
 male Academy, was a member and at one time captain of the Citizens 
 Corps, and for many years was a director of the Oneida Bank. Mr. 
 Sicard was of a warm, impulsive nature and was frank and open in his 
 dealings. He died suddenly on November 5, 1890. His wife was a 
 daughter of Judge Philo Gridley. Besides his widow he left three sons 
 and a daughter. 
 
 About 1868 there returned to take up his residence in the city 
 John C. Devereux, son of Nicholas Devereux, who had spent a large 
 part of his life in the management of an extensive landed estate acquired 
 by his father in Cattaraugus and Allegany Counties. Again in his 
 natal home he was for some years secretary and treasurer of the Rem- 
 ington Agricultural Works. Ere long his time and his sympathies were 
 fully engrossed with the responsible duties of the State Board of Health, 
 of which he was a valued commissioner. He was also a director of the 
 Utica Savings Bank. His death occurred December 24, 1884, his wife 
 having died a few years before him. They left nine children. 
 
340 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 William B. Jackson, a native of Westport, Conn., began business life 
 in New York city and later was concerned in banking in Newburg. 
 Ill health led him to settle in 1852 in Forestport, where he was in the 
 lumber trade and looked after the estate of his father-in law, Anson 
 Blake, in that place. About 1864 he removed to Utica and became a 
 partner with Theodore Pomeroy in the manufacture and sale of oil- 
 cloths. Soon after the death of his wife, in 1874, he retired from active 
 business, though continuing to serve in some important public trusts, 
 such as the directorship of the Second National Bank, trusteeship of the 
 Episcopal fund of the diocese of Central New York, and of St. Luke's 
 and of Faxton Hospital, being also vestryman and warden of Grace 
 Church. He died December 28, 1890. His second wife, Cornelia F. 
 Mumford, still survives, as do also two sons and three daughters. His 
 oldest son, a young man of deserved esteem, was drowned near Min- 
 neapolis, whither he had removed, leaving a wife and young family. 
 
 In 1869 there was started by James Eaton a factory for the manufact- 
 ure of matches. Its founder had previously managed factories of the 
 same kind in one or two other places in the State, including one near 
 Richfield Springs, which was the second of the kind in the United 
 States. The one established here was in the gulf, and was carried on 
 by him and his son until 1 88 1, when it was sold to the Diamond Match 
 Factory Company, which monopolized the match business of the coun- 
 try. Mr. Eaton remained here until his death, November 18, 1890. 
 He was intelligent and possessed of strong inventive power, independent 
 and firm in principle, kind, and charitable. 
 
 David P. White was born in Edmeston, Otsego County, April 9, 
 1822. Beginning the printer's trade at an early age he followed it fn 
 other places as well as a long time in Utica, working here on the Lib- 
 erty Press, the Gazette, and elsewhere. He next commenced job print- 
 ing, at first with H. H Curtiss and from 1869 with T. H. Floyd, which 
 latter connection lasted until his death. Public spirited and popular he 
 was active as a fireman, a Mason, and an Odd Fellow, but was especially 
 conspicuous in the affairs of the city and was among the foremost in 
 working for its improvement. Long an alderman he was for eighteen 
 years a commissioner of public schools, and was secretary and treasurer 
 of that board, evincing in his various offices faithfulness to the duties 
 
PROCEEDINGS OF 1871. 341 
 
 which pertained to them. His death took place June 19, 1881. He 
 left a wife and six children. 
 
 1 87 1. — The officers chosen at the election in March of this year were 
 as follows : IVIayor, Miles C. Comstock ; clerk, Thomas S. Mclncrow ; 
 treasurer, Charles K. Grannis ; attorney, Harvey D. Talcott ; aldermen, 
 William A. Everts, Thomas R. Thomas, James H. Williams, William R. 
 Holden, J. Johnson, Charles Faas, William Metcalf, Philip Edmunds, 
 Henry Lux ; street commissioner, E. Lee ; surveyor, J. R. Baxter. 
 
 It was decided that the election in the Fifth ward was a tie on the 
 vote for alderman and a special election was held on the 15th of April, 
 resulting in the choice of John Johnson. April 8th the charter was 
 amended so as to give the mayor the veto power. August 1 2th permis- 
 sion was granted to the Utica, Clinton, and Binghamton Railroad to lay 
 tracks through the city. The great Chicago fire occurred this year and 
 on the loth of October a special meeting was held by the council, when 
 a city bond was ordered for $1,000, which was never sent, being illegal, 
 but liberal private subscYiptions were sent on to the sufferers. The Utica 
 Opera House was opened on the 17th of October and the Globe Woolen- 
 Mills were destroyed by fire' September 6th ; total loss $335,000. The 
 Young Men's Christian Association rooms were formally opened on the 
 2 1st of March on the third floor of the Manning block. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE CITY'S HISTORY: 1872-1880. 
 
 Important charter Amendment — Enlargement of the city boundary on the 
 West — Formation of the Utica Manufacturing and Mercantile Association. 
 
 IN January, 1872, a bill was proposed for legislative action providing 
 for opening a boulevard around the city. This was the last that was 
 heard of it. There was also considerable discussion over the project of 
 building a public market. A bill passed both Houses in Albany in Jan- 
 uary raising the salary of the recorder to $2,500, but it awaited the sig- 
 
342 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 nature of the governor. A resolution was adopted by the council fav- 
 oring the act and it was signed. In council February 23d a resolution 
 was adopted urging the speedy erection of a swing bridge on Hotel 
 street : the first step to the lift-bridge. 
 
 The question of better water supply was discussed at a public meet- 
 ing held February 24th. Mr. Faxton presided. Three propositions 
 were submitted by the company, by one of which the city was to pay 
 the company $ioo,000 as it might be needed for their expenditure, and 
 the company would then build a new reservoir which would be ample 
 for the need of the city and reduce the existing charge for water from 
 $10,000 annually to $5,000. This proposition was accepted by the city, 
 and Francis Kernan, Ward Hunt, and E. Chamberlain were made a com- 
 mittee to draw a statute to carry out the proposition. 
 
 The officers chosen in 1872 were as follows: Mayor, Theodore F. 
 Butterfield; aldermen, H. C. Case, Frank Sang, John W. Hirt, D. Don- 
 aldson, C. D. Faulkner (to fill vacancy), M. W. Quinn, N. A. White, 
 A. H. Sheldon, W. Wilsey, Peter Clogher, D. P. White, and F. B. Mc- 
 Call (Tenth ward) ; clerk, Thomas S. Mclncrow ; treasurer, Thomas F. 
 Clarke; attorney, S. M. Lindsley ; street commissioner, John Adrian; 
 surveyor, W. H. Christian. The new council appointed a new police 
 force, retaining many of the old officers, and made A. Charles Luce, 
 chief; Robert Mcllwaine, assistant. Before the year ended the chief 
 was removed for cause and Mr. Mcllwaine appointed. In his inaugural 
 the new mayor recommended a paid fire department and economy in 
 city management. It was the first time in several years that a Repub- 
 lican mayor had been elected. The committee appointed to investigate 
 the floating debt next year found nothing to warrant eulogy. On the 
 24th of May Daniel Batchelor was appoiated superintendent of public 
 parks without pay. 
 
 On January 15 th the Midland Railroad Company took control of the 
 Utica, Clinton, and Binghamton and the Rome and Clinton roads, and 
 the completion of the road to Norwich was celebrated by a free trip to 
 that place and dinner. The Rome, Watertown, and Ogdensburg road 
 was also opened to connect with Watertown, over which there was pub- 
 lic rejoicing. On the 30th of July President Grant and members of his 
 family visited the city as the guests of Senator Conkling. He had a 
 
PROCEEDINGS OF 1873. 343 
 
 public reception at the opera house and was welcomed in a short address 
 by the mayor. Events and acts of some note that occurred during the 
 year were the renumbering of the streets; the first steps toward the 
 location of the government building here ; the paving of Rutger street 
 with the Ballard wooden pavement ; the burning of the Reynolds shoe 
 manufactory on the 23d of November, causing a loss of $120,000; the 
 failure of the People's Savings Bank and its branch at Syracuse in Octo- 
 ber, and of Burke's Savings Bank about the same time ; the disband- 
 ment of the Monitor Hose Company and the Active Company on 
 account of insubordination and insulting language to aldermen and the 
 mayor at the Reynolds fire. 
 
 1873. — On the 26th of January a lot was purchased by the city, 136 
 feet front on Elizabeth street, for $18,000, for a city library. February 
 28th a law was passed providing for six commissioners of charity to per- 
 form the duties before delegated to the overseer of the poor, the latter 
 office being abolished, by which a saving of about one-half of the yearly 
 expense was effected. A report made by the surveyor in February shows 
 that the city had 224 streets with a total length of 497,700 feet (ninety- 
 four and one-fifth miles) ; also that the cost of pavement laid in 1870 was 
 $370,500 and in 1872 $88,265. The officers of 1873 were: Mayor, 
 Charles K. Grannis; aldermen, I. C. Mcintosh, Frank Sang, Thomas 
 R. Thomas, W. W. Long, Victor B. Stewart, John M. Hahn, John 
 Howarth, John J. Cahill, Adam Bach, Francis B. McCall, John John - 
 son ; treasurer, Thomas F. Clarke ; attorney, Smith M. Lindsley ; clerk, 
 Thomas S. Mclncrow ; surveyor, W. H. Christian. 
 
 The council passed the usual ordinance at the beginning of the winter 
 prohibiting the street railroad companies from piling snow beside their 
 tracks, and this year the ordinance was enforced. This resulted in the 
 company placing upon their cars standing idle in Bagg's Square pla- 
 cards reading " stopped by order of the mayor," while they ran only one 
 sleigh to the toll-gate and to Whitestown. The Mohawk Street Rail- 
 road Company carried their passengers on runners An act was passed 
 April 19, 1873, authorizing the borrowing of $32,000 on city bonds to 
 pay the city debt, if the taxpayers voted it, which they refused to do on 
 May 7th. A meeting of citizens to consider the matter was held May 
 2 1 St and a committee was appointed to investigate and report through 
 
344 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 the papers, which was done June 2 1st, and the matter dropped for the 
 year. 
 
 In May the site of the U. S. government building for postoffice, U. S. 
 Court, etc., was selected on Broad street, where it was afterward erected. 
 On the 13th of June the council turned the City Hospital over to the 
 Board of Public Charities. A new county jail was provided for in the 
 latter part of the year, subsequently erected on Bleecker street, and the 
 supervisors added $500,000 to the assessed valuation of the city. Febru- 
 ary 5th a citizens' meeting was held which resolved that elevated bridges 
 were necessary on John and Seneca streets and a committee of seven 
 was appointed to urge the matter. A bill was introduced in the legis- 
 lature incorporating Faxton Hospital. Mr. Faxton built the hospital at 
 a cost of $50,000 and endowed the institution with $25,000 by his will. 
 September 30th the Clayton branch of the Utica and Black River Rail- 
 road was opened and a large excursion went to Clayton, where they 
 were warmly welcomed. 
 
 1874. — A public meeting was held January 19th and a resolution 
 adopted that application be made to the legislature for authority to bor- 
 row on bonds of the city such sum as might be necessary to pay the 
 floating debt, not to exceed $30,000, to be paid in three annual install- 
 ments, and raised by ordinary city tax. At the council meeting Jan- 
 uary 27th a remarkable measure was adopted to coerce the taxpayers 
 into paying the debts for which the aldermen contracting them were 
 liable by law. After approving the election of Wesley Dimblebee as 
 chief engineer a resolution was adopted that at its next meeting " this 
 council will discharge all persons in the employ of the city, including 
 firemen and policemen, unless strong assurances be given or means pro- 
 vided for the proper running of the city government. Two days later, 
 January 29th, a special session of the council was held to consider the 
 resolution of the previous week relative to the payment of the floating 
 debt, that measure having become a law. The act provided for the 
 submission of the matter to the taxpayers, as last year's special election 
 was held February 9th, when the measure, having been approved by a 
 number of distinguished and clever judges and lawyers, was adopted, 
 and $24,000 fixed as the sum to be raised. The majority in favor of 
 bonding the city was 461. 
 

 ^^ff f'>y r aKeTK-v%wy^ 
 
 ^-*^— ^^-z_-C. 
 
• PROCEEDINGS OF 1874. 345 
 
 Chief Engineer Dimblebee was removed from office in February, 
 whereupon four of the fire companies refused to serve longer. This ac- 
 tion resulted in the disbandment on March i6th of Rescue, Tiger, 
 Friendship, Neptune, Washington, Franklin, and Rough and Ready 
 Fire Companies, which made another farewell parade. New companies 
 reported for organization, but the council took up the consideration of 
 establishing a paid department, and on the 28th of March the res- 
 ignations of the above named companies were officially accepted and 
 new companies organized for temporary service. On the 7th of May 
 the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners met and re-appointed Wes- 
 ley Dimblebee as chief engineer, and on the 28th of May a paid depart- 
 ment was organized which has continued in existence to the present. 
 (See history of the fire department.) 
 
 Officers for the ensuing year were : Mayor, Theodore S. Sayre ; clerk, 
 Thomas S. Mclncrow ; aldermen, Jonathan D. Moshier, William N. 
 Weaver, William Ralph, Robert S. Williams, M. W. Quinn, Benjamin 
 A. Clark, Robert B. Poole, Patrick J. Coakley, Charles M. Butcher, 
 David P. White ; treasurer, John Kohler ; attorney, Patrick F. Bulger ; 
 surveyor, John R. Baxter. 
 
 On April loth a resolution was adopted that $10,000 be borrowed 
 on bonds of the city to erect a school building on Steuben street and 
 Bagg's Square was ordered paved. On the 2d of June the new police 
 force was organized, and in the same month a new bridge was ordered 
 over the Mohawk at the foot of Park avenue by a joint committee of high- 
 way commissioners of Deerfield and Utica ; the cost was $5,550. 
 Bleecker street was planked this year at an expense of $6,954. A public 
 meeting of citizens in favor of the unconditional repeal of the U. S. 
 bankrupt law was called for January 7th, the call being signed by more 
 than 500 citizens. On the night of the 5th of January the entire roof 
 of the new Arcade building, then unfinished, fell in, causing a loss of 
 $10,000 February 15th a meeting of citizens was held to discuss pro- 
 posed amendments to the charter. On September 3d a great charity 
 carnival was held at Utica Park. The city bell was rung for half an 
 hour in the morning, dinner was served to the orphans, and 6,000 
 people were present, despite a rain storm. The proceeds were di- 
 vided between the orphan asylums and St. Luke's and St. Elizabeth's 
 Hospitals ; profits, $2,000. ** 
 
346 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 October Qth the Central New York Fair began and continued nine 
 days with great success. Governor Dix was present on the fourth day. 
 In this month the mayor announced that as there was no money in the 
 treasury no more business would be transacted, and adjourned the 
 council for four weeks. 
 
 1875. — January 8th a resolution was adopted in council that a peti- 
 tion be sent to the legislature to repeal the act establishing the Boards 
 of Fire and Police Commissioners. If the petition was sent it failed of 
 its purpose. 
 
 As a sequel to this action the council prepared a bill for the legislat- 
 ure in the latter part of January by the provisions of which the 
 whole control of the fire and police departments was given to the coun- 
 cil. This bill was submitted to a public meeting of taxpa3'ers Febru- 
 ary 3d. The mayor and clerk did not give notice of this meeting and 
 it was meagerly attended by a few prominent citizens and non-taxpay- 
 ers, who voted to approve the bill, striking out a clause which authorized 
 the council to raise $10,000 if necessary to pay the expense of the paid 
 fire department. 
 
 Resolved, also, that the clerk report monthly to the council the number of marriages, 
 births, and deaths. 
 
 This was probably the beginning of the registry of vital statistics. 
 
 Officers of 1875 were as follows: Mayor, Charles W. Hutchinson; 
 aldermen, Henry C. Case, Joseph J. Illingworth, Edward D. Bucking- 
 ham, John Johnson, Paul Keiser, jr., Michael Bannigan, Andrew Hoover, 
 William E. Henry, William B. Monroe, David P. White ; treasurer, 
 Thomas S. Geary ; attorney, O. Arthur White ; surveyor, John R. Bax- 
 ter ; clerk, Thomas S. Mclncrow. At the charter election the proposal 
 to enlarge the advanced school building was voted on and approved, 
 and the work was consummated in the summer. The old school build- 
 ing on Steuben street was sold, it being unoccupied. The annual re- 
 port of the chief of police shows the number of arrests to have been 
 1,333 for the year. 
 
 November iSth charges had been brought and were heard on this 
 date against the police and fire commissioners ; the charges were 
 brought by private citizens and heard before the mayor, and embraced 
 misappropriation of funds obtained by selling city property, influenc- 
 
OCCURRENCES OF 1875. 347 
 
 ing voters, unfitness for office, abusive conduct, and appointing detect- 
 ives contrary to law. This went into history as " the famous investi- 
 gation." The winter was a memorable one on account of deep snows 
 and intensely cold weather. This occasioned considerable trouble 
 between the city authorities and the railroads. No trains came through 
 from Watertown for six days ending February 15th, and other roads 
 were seriously obstructed. 
 
 On the 15th of January the Gardner block was partially burned, with 
 a loss on building and of tenants of $50,000. This was an incendiary 
 fire. In February the Utica and Binghamton Railroad leased to the 
 Midland road, and the lease guaranteed by the Delaware and Hudson 
 Company was partially abandoned and its property seized for taxes and 
 indebtedness. The Delaware and Hudson Canal Company provided 
 for operating the road, but it has since been run by the Delaware, 
 Lackawanna, and Western Company. On the 5th of March proposed 
 amendments to the city charter were approved as follows : Confining 
 the sitting of the Board of Registry to one day; giving the appointments 
 of the city council to the common council. The bounds of the city were 
 enlarged on the west by the addition of a strip included between the 
 Whitesboro road and the Central Railroad and extending to the west 
 line of lot No. 104, and this was made a part of the Second ward. 
 
 The House of the Good Shepherd was opened on the 8th of June ; 
 a history of the institution will be given in a later chapter. On the 
 17th of June very impressive ceremonies were held in connection with 
 the removal from the old Water street cemetery to Forest Hill of the 
 bodies of two Revolutionary notables. Col. Benjamin Walker and Sur- 
 geon-General James Cochrane. This was done by the Forest Hill 
 Cemetery Association. 
 
 September 15th the Army of the Cumberland was received in the 
 city with a great display. An oration was delivered by Colonel Water- 
 man. General Sherman and Governor Tilden were among the guests. 
 
 1876. — Officers: Mayor, Charles E. Barnard; clerk, Thomas S. Mc- 
 Incrow ; aldermen, Henry C. Case, H. Ray Barnes, W. N. Weaver, 
 Owen Eynon, Robert S. Williams, Matthew Quinn, Aloise Linck, John 
 N. Siegrist, P. J. Coakley, Charles M. Butcher, D. P.White ; surveyor, 
 John R. Baxter; treasurer, Thomas S. Geary; attorney, O. Arthur 
 White. 
 
348 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. ■ 
 
 The report of the city treasurer shows a deficit of $2,331.66. The 
 council was authorized to levy $12,000 to pay deficiency bonds; only 
 $6,000 was, however, levied, the remainder being paid from the ordinary 
 fund. This latter fact accounts for the above deficit. March nth a 
 committee previously appointed on charter amendments reported, em- 
 bodying the proposed amendments of the preceding year, and the fol- 
 lowing additional : making the mayor presiding officer of the council, 
 but without a vote ; providing for one alderman only in each ward; 
 protecting the city against suits for damages for sidewalk accidents. 
 Prior to 1849 nothing was said in charter or ordinances about snow and 
 ice. Then a new section of six lines was inserted, requiring lot owners 
 to remove snow and ice from their sidewalks. When, about 1870, this 
 little section first showed its evil fruit in an action for damages for slipping 
 down the obvious remedy was to cut it out entirely at once. Instead, 
 after nearly $50,000 damages had been harvested from the city, the bane- 
 ful section was cultivated into this statute of a page and a half, requiring 
 the snow and ice not only to be removed, but " cleaned away," and 
 shifts the risk of an action against the city to the individual citizen. 
 April 29th " resolved that the salary of the street commissioner be 
 $r,000 for the next year." 
 
 In October the mayor called attention to the police station-house and 
 recommended a new building on land owned by the city, corner of 
 Pearl and Washington streets, and the Board of Police and fire depart- 
 ment heartily concurred in the plan. At its meeting December 3d the 
 council concluded that it was short of funds and would do no more im- 
 portant business during the remainder of the year. The school report 
 of the year shows that the city now owns eighteen school- houses ; 
 school property valued at $417,971.73 ; that 4,711 pupils were enrolled 
 during the year. 
 
 November 30th a meeting was held in the interest of a narrow gauge 
 railroad from Utica to Ilion. A company was organized for this pur- 
 pose in December, but the project was soon abandoned. 
 
 1877. — This year opened in Utica in the midst of a great snow storm, 
 which continued until January loth; trains were blockaded on the rail- 
 roads, and few strangers came into the place. Superintendent McMillan 
 in his annual school report (February 5th) gave attendance of pupils for 
 
PROCEEDINGS OF jSyj. 349 
 
 the year as 4,776; teachers employed, 91. The report showed the 
 necessity of increased accommodations in West Utica and advised the 
 enlargement of the Court street school at a cost of $6,000. The coun- 
 cil on the 1st of March resolved to submit the Court street school 
 enlargement to a vote of taxpayers at the charter election. 
 
 Officers : Mayor, David H. Gaffin ; clerk, Thomas S. Mclncrovif ; alder- 
 men, H. Ray Barnes, William N. Weaver, Owen Eynon, R. S. Will- 
 iams, Matthew Quinn, Aloise Linck, John N. Siegrist, Patrick J. Coak- 
 ley, Charles M. Butcher, David P. White (these aldermen held over from 
 the previous year ; none were elected this year, a recent charter amend- 
 ment providing for one alderman only in each ward) ; treasurer, Martin 
 S. Gottry ; attorney, Arthur M. Beardsley ; surveyor, Patrick J. Kin- 
 ney. Mr. Beardsley resigned as attorney on the i6th of March and 
 Johnson L. Lynch was appointed. 
 
 The plans for a new station-house were agreed upon by the council 
 June 1st, a three- story and attic building with slate roof, corner of 
 Washington and Pearl streets. The school commissioners announced 
 their purpose in June to erect the library building during the summer. 
 The act authorizing this building was passed in 1873, but owing to other 
 demands on the commissioners it had been left in abeyance. The 
 building was to cost not more than $20,000, which should be raised on 
 city bonds, of which $5,000 should be redeemed annually for-four years. 
 
 Utica participated largely in a celebration of the centennial of the 
 battle of Oriskany on the 5 th of August. It was conducted under the 
 direction of the Oneida Historical Society, and addresses were made by 
 Lieutenant-Governor Dorsheimer, Douglass Campbell, and others. 
 
 1878. — Officers: Mayor, James Benton; clerk, Thomas S. Mcln- 
 crow ; aldermen, H. Ray Barnes, William N. Weaver, Thomas A. 
 Lowery, William H. Price, John Johnson, E. J. Callahan, Eli Cone, 
 Gottleib Zitzner, John Carney, George Shotthafer; treasurer, Martin S. 
 Gottry; attorney, J.Thomas Spriggs ; surveyor, Egbert Bagg. The 
 election this year was remarkable from the fact that three of the alder- 
 men and the mayor were candidates of the workingmen and were elected 
 on that basis They had the balance of power in the council, there be- 
 ing three Republicans and five Democrats in that body. 
 
 January 19th, the council having previously resolved to remodel the 
 
350 MEMORIAL HISTOR Y OF UTICA. 
 
 city hall, a committee was appointed to confer with the United States 
 government to release its rights therein and allow the fitting up of the 
 United States court-room for a council chamber. This measure was 
 carried out. March 1st the council resolved to lower the Columbia 
 street bridge over the Chenango Canal, and to lower and widen the 
 pavement. Application was made to the legislature for authority to 
 carry out the measure. June 8th Oneida street was ordered macadam- 
 ized its whole length. Resolutions were passed in April and May or- 
 dering wholesale paving in various streets, but these were afterward 
 rescinded, and on the 21st of June the council decided that they would 
 do no paving at all ; they spent about $800 on surveys and advertising 
 for contracts, and arrived at the same conclusions with those of previ- 
 ous councils. The council appears to have been one that was deter- 
 mined on efforts to economize. In August they voted $28,000 for 
 street lighting — a reduction of $10,000 from the previous year. On 
 the 14th of October the mayor vetoed the street lighting contract, there 
 having been no competition in bids, and most of the prominent ordin- 
 ances of the year were vetoed by him ; in one case he offered afterward 
 to withdraw his veto, but learning that he could not legally do so it 
 was left to stand. Whatever public work was accomplished was effected 
 chiefly over the opposition of the workingmen and the mayor's veto. 
 As far as lighting the streets was concerned an ordinance was adopted 
 ordering it again in October. There was much conflict between mayor 
 and council. 
 
 An important public work was contracted on the 12th of October — 
 a trunk sewer from the outlet of the Third and Seventh wards sewer to 
 the outlet of Nail Creek at Columbia street. This had been under dis- 
 cussion some time by the council and cost $15,808. In December it 
 was discovered that the plans for the sewer above mentioned were in- 
 correctly drawn and the sewer could not be laid from them. The coun- 
 cil resolved to suspend the city surveyor, which was done. At the 
 next meeting he was reinstated. 
 
 On the 25th of January it was resolved by the council to ask legis- 
 lation authorizing the council to borrow on bonds to pay judgment 
 against the city for injuries received by a fall, together with authority 
 to raise $4,250 on city bonds for the additional expense of building the 
 police station and repairing the city hall. 
 
OCCURRENCES OF 1879, 351 
 
 Officers : Mayor, John Buckley ; clerk, P. J. McQuade elected for 
 three years for the first time) ; aldermen, H. Ray Barnes, Thomas A. 
 Lowery, John Johnson, Eli Cone, John Carney, Joseph J. Richards, 
 William H. Price, E. W. Callahan, Gottlieb Zitzner, George Shotthafer; 
 treasurer, Jacob Schwab ; attorney, S. J. Barrows ; surveyor, William 
 B. Taylor. The charity commissioners reported $15,963 expended and 
 1,986 persons relieved. 
 
 July 26th Alderman Johnson was removed from the council room by 
 force for disorderly conduct; he was drunk and had frequently come to 
 the council in that condition. July nth the Utica Manufacturing 
 and Mercantile Association, for the promotion of those interests in the 
 city, held its first meeting. At a second meeting, July 24th, it was an- 
 nounced that the William A. Wood Mower and Reaper Company, of 
 Utica, was organized. It never began operations. The Eureka Mower 
 Company did build and commenced working. In December a large 
 knitting-mill was started in East Utica by Wild & Devereux, chiefly 
 through the efforts of the Merchants and Manufacturers Association, 
 which gave the fTrm a lot worth $1,200, for which they agreed to double 
 the number of hands employed and the capacity of the mill. Septem- 
 ber 9-1 2 the StateFair was held here; aggregate receipts about $13,000 
 and over 50,000 people in attendance during the week. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 THE LAST DECADE OF THE CITY'S HISTORY. 
 
 Summary of recent History — Extensive and new methods of Paving — Street light- 
 ing Improvement — Development of the Street Railway System — Mohawk Valley and 
 Skenandoa factories Built —Government Building and new Churches Erected — 
 Young Men's Christian Association and Soldiers' Monument. 
 
 OF the proceedings and events in the city's history of the ten years in - 
 eluded between 1880 and 1890 I give a summary only. For al- 
 though much that is important occurred during the period the particulars 
 are so well known to most of my readers as to make it unneccessary and 
 
352 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 scarcely compatible with the space at command to detail them in full. 
 Near the beginning of the period, the politics of the city having become 
 degraded with much mismanagement of public affairs and disregard of 
 the laws, especially with respect to the observance of the Sabbath and 
 the sale of intoxicating liquors on that day, the indignation of the 
 community was aroused. A public meeting was held and a Citizens' 
 ticket was adopted for use at the approaching election. The efforts of 
 the citizens toward the enforcement of the laws relating to the sale of 
 liqiior were met by organization on the part of the liquor dealers. At 
 the charter election which followed the ticket proposed was in part 
 elected. The new mayor entered upon his duties with vigor and a 
 spirit of reform, but for various reasons his efforts were attended with 
 only partial success. During this and the succeeding years there were 
 various attempts to amend the charter, or to pass ordinances bearing 
 upon the welfare of the city, a part only of which resulted in actual leg- 
 islation. Upon the attempts, which were fruitless, I cannot enter. 
 Some of the charter amendments were the following: An amendment 
 of 1883 authorized the Police Board to appoint twenty- five policemen 
 and extra ones when necessary. In lieu of the Recorder's Court there 
 was established, in accordance with an amendment of 1882, a local court 
 of civil and criminal jurisdiction, entitled the City Court. Its officers 
 were a judge and a special city judge, the former holding office for four 
 years and the latter for three years, chosen at the annual election, and 
 a clerk appointed by the judge. It was to sit daily, have a seal of its 
 own, to preserve records, and to exercise within the city all the powers of 
 justices of the peace and recorder. The latter office was abolished and 
 the number of justices of the peace was restricted to two. Another 
 amendment made the term of the treasurer two years and required him 
 to have an office in the city hall, keeping it open during certain fixed 
 hours. By another amendment it was directed that the mayor and the 
 council's committee on assessments should meet at a specified time to 
 receive complaints from taxpayers who deemed themselves unjustly 
 assessed. In 1886 the fund for the support of the police and fire depart- 
 ments was increased to an amount not exceeding $60,000, and a little 
 later this fund was directed to be separated from the general city fund. 
 In 1889 the paving fund, which at first was placed at $20,000 and after- 
 
OFFICIAL PROCEEDINGS OF THE LAST DECADE. 353 
 
 ward increased to $35,000, was raised to $50,000. From this fund was 
 to be paid one- third of the cost of paving the streets, the remaining 
 two- thirds being paid by the lot holders on the street paved, and from 
 it came likewise all the subsequent repairs of the same A change in 
 the charter enacted in 1890 made the term of office of the mayor two 
 years instead of one, fixed his salary at $1,600 annually, required. him 
 to keep his office in the city hall, maintaining there a clerk, to sign all 
 deeds and contracts made by the city, certify his approval or disapproval 
 of every act or ordinance, gave him supervision over subordinate officers 
 with power of suspension for official misconduct, free access to books of 
 other officers, and other increased authority. His duties as presiding 
 officer of the Board of Aldermen were, however, taken from him and con- 
 ferred upon one of their own number, whom they were to elect 10 the 
 place at the beginning of each fiscal year, which president of the board 
 was, in the absence of the mayor from the city, to perform his duties. 
 A still later legislative act conferred on each alderman a salary of $300 
 per annum. Other legislative acts authorized the construction of a new 
 jail on Bleecker street east of Mohawk; of an engine bouse on Wash- 
 ington street for the use of the chemical engine; of a lift- bridge over 
 the canal on John street ; of an outlet under the canal for a new sewer 
 that was laid along Ballou's Creek; the borrowing of $30,000, subse- 
 quently increased to $36,000, for the construction of an iron viaduct 
 over Ballou's Creek at Rutger street; the granting of permission to the 
 Baxter Telegraph and Telephone Company to string its wires in certain 
 streets. This company, it may be observed, was ere long supplanted 
 by the Central New York Telephone Company, as is noticed on a sub- 
 sequent page of this volume. 
 
 Yet another charter amendment enlarged the northern bounds of 
 the city by taking in a strip of land from Deerfield of nearly half a 
 mile in width, extending from opposite the western point of the original 
 city line to a point some distance north of the northern point of Hub- 
 bell's Bend in the river. This latter act grew out of a proposition to 
 straighten the channel of the Mohawk along the northern boundaries of 
 the city — a proposition which was much discussed during the year 1890. 
 
 Perhaps the most important improvements made under direction of 
 the council related to the paving and lighting of the streets. Early in 
 45 
 
3S4 MEMORIAL HISTOR Y OF UTICA. 
 
 1882 it was ordered that Fayette street should be paved with sandstone, 
 and the contract was let. In the following year, after three extensions 
 of time had been granted to the contractor, the work was finished, 
 though not to the satisfaction of the lot holders of the street, and they 
 obtained an injunction restraining from payment. The injunction was 
 after a time dismissed and the money collected. The affair created much 
 delay and ill feeling before it was finally settled. In March, 1 883, it was 
 resolved to pave Bleecker street from Genesee as far as Albany with 
 sandstone, and thence to Culver avenue with McAdam pavement, and 
 to transfer the track of the Utica and Mohawk Street Railroad to the 
 middle of the street, this track having, in compliance with the wishes 
 of its residents, been previously placed on the north side. The resolu- 
 tion was vetoed by the mayor, but was passed over his veto. The work 
 was entered upon, but soon afterward, May 25th, a portion of the track 
 was torn up by the lot holders. It was relaid, but was again twice torn 
 up in the course of the following year. A suit was brought by the com- 
 pany against the city ; there were conferences between the company, 
 committees of the council, and the dwellers on the street, and the mat- 
 ter formed a subject of much controversy and excitement throughout 
 the year 1884. It was finally disposed of by an agreement to place the 
 track in the center along that part of the street which lies between the 
 intersecting streets of Mohawk and Jefferson, and to leave the remainder 
 on the north side. In July, 1883, it was determined that Lansing street 
 should be paved with Hammond stone and Eagle street with Telford 
 pavement, and the work was effected. The report of the city surveyor 
 showed that in the year 1883 there were ninety- four miles of streets 
 within the city, of which between fourteen and fifteen were paved, a 
 large portion being cobble. But a new era was beginning, when a bet- 
 ter kind of pavement was in demand. In 1885 preliminary steps were 
 taken toward paving Rutger street with asphalt and this was laid down 
 the following year. In 1887 John street from Bagg's Square to 
 Bleecker street was paved with granite and Steuben street with sand- 
 stone ; in 1888 Genesee from Eagle street to the city line. Garden and 
 West to South were laid in asphalt, and the lower block of Howard avenue 
 with sandstone ; in 1889 Hopper, the lower section of Miller, Cornelia, 
 Elizabeth, Albany, and the upper sections of John and Miller were pro- 
 
PAVING AND LIGHTING OF THE LAST DECADE. 355 
 
 vided with pavement, nearly all with asphalt. The next year Kemble, 
 Mary, Saratoga, Brinkerhoff, and Seymour avenues, Dudley and Broad- 
 way were paved with asphalt and Burchard with granite. In 1891 Rome 
 street was paved with sandstone, Whitesboro from Genesee to Potter's 
 bridge was paved with asphalt, as likewise Columbia from Genesee to 
 Whitesboro, and the upper end of Whitesboro as far as the old city line 
 with silica baryta. In the case of Genesee street opposition to payment 
 arose among a portion of the lot holders, from the fact that the con- 
 tractor did not pave between the two tracks of the street railroad and along 
 two feet on each side of them. Legal proceedings were instituted and 
 it was decided that these parties should pay their proportion of the as- 
 sessment. From this decision they appealed to a higher court and pay- 
 ment has not yet been made. Difficulty from a similar cause occurred 
 in the laying of Columbia street, but which was sooner settled. Nor was 
 the paving of Steuben wholly unattended with obstacles. The desire 
 for better pavement is strongly felt throughout the city arid will no doubt 
 continue with further advantage to the community. 
 
 At the beginning of this decade a contract was in existence for light- 
 ing with naphtha such parts of the city as were not furnished with gas. 
 It was annulled June 15, 1882, and soon afterward one was made with 
 another company for a term of five years. This, too, being unsatisfac- 
 tory for proper illumination the board entered into an arrangement with 
 the Utica Gaslight Company, the latter having the right of lighting with 
 electricity. They did light with electricity a few lamps in the business 
 part of the city. In December, 1887, the Utica Electric Light Com- 
 pany, using the Ft. Wayne and Jenne system, undertook to do the 
 lighting, and in 1890 their contract was renewed. They are paid $35 
 per light for 365 nights. The 367 lamps which they engaged to light 
 not proving enough to illuminate sufficiently the council has directed 
 that thirty -three more should be put in use. The newer ones are the 
 Brown lamp, the Slattery lamp being discarded. 
 
 In 1883 the Utica Water Works sued the city for repudiation of its 
 indebtedness to the company incurred in the previous year, which re- 
 pudiation was based on an alleged insufficiency in the supply of water, 
 the company also claiming the failure of the payment agreed upon by 
 the city of six per cent, on the cost of the street mains. Pending the 
 
356 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 controversy a project was discussed of establishing by the city a plant 
 of its own to supply it with water. But, though talked of, nothing was 
 effected and the city was forced to cancel its indebtedness. The water 
 company, however, set about enlarging its reservoirs and increasing the 
 number and capacity of its pipes, and at a cost of about $150,000 was 
 enabled to furnish water at a lower rate than that which had been prev- 
 iously charged. 
 
 Among the most important improvements of the decade is the de- 
 velopment of the street railway system. In 1886 the Utica Belt Line 
 Railroad Company was organized and immediately began the construc- 
 tion of a new system of surface roads extending through all parts of the 
 city. In December of the same year the company leased from the 
 Utica, Clinton, and Binghamton Railroad Company its line running to 
 New Hartford and the New Hartford and Whitesboro line running to 
 Whitesboro. This was followed by the extension of the latter by means 
 of a branch line to New York Mills. In the same year the company 
 obtained permission to lay the South street and the Blandina street 
 lines, and also the West Belt line. These several lines were made 
 up of twenty- three miles of track. A very complete and satisfactory 
 horse car service was then established, which was liberally patronized. 
 This enlarged street railway service contributed very materially to the 
 growth and prosperity of Utica. 
 
 In August, 1889, it was determined by the management to abandon 
 the use of horses in the propulsion of the cars, and in their stead to 
 operate the entire system by electricity. The well-known banking 
 house of A. D. Mather & Co. had up to this time owned a controlling 
 interest in the Belt Line Railroad, and in connection with John W. 
 Boyle managed successfully and profitably this grbwing property. 
 The Thomson- Houston system of electric traction was adopted, and 
 the Belt Line Railroad, together with the Utica and Mohawk Street 
 Railroad, a line about two miles long running easterly to the Masonic 
 Home, were in 1889 and 1890 electrically constructed and equipped 
 and are operated as electric roads, giving excellent service and doing 
 much to extend the city's bounds. 
 
 Among the events of general interest that have transpired during the 
 decade were the following: In March, 1880, the Mohawk Valley Cot- 
 
^:^^'-i^^^^TC<...<--.c^-^^^tii.'e--^C^-<i. — 
 
OCCURRENCES OF THE LAST DECADE. 357 
 
 ton Manufacturing Company was organized. The company erected a 
 factory near the eastern end of Broad street and in September, 1882, 
 its first piece of goods was on sale. In February of this latter year 
 was formed the Skenandoa Company for the making of cotton yarn. 
 The company started with a capital of $200,000, which was afterward 
 increased, as was also the capacity of the mill, which they built in the 
 vicinity of the one just mentioned. These, together with the iron pipe 
 factory of Charles Millar, which was a little later in its origin and placed 
 somewhat farther east, have by reason of the need of homes for the 
 operatives contributed materially to the growth of the eastern part of 
 the city. 
 
 In July, 1880, the appeal from Utica and New Hartford to the State 
 assessors against the supervisors of Oneida County for raising the valu- 
 ation of the assessors on the appellants was heard, and after much evi- 
 dence and argument the appeal was sustained. It was proved that 
 values and rents had decreased instead of increasing. In this connec- 
 tion it may be stated that a statement of the rents of some twenty stores 
 on Genesee street for eight years from 1875 to 1882 showed a steady 
 decrease in their rents from $20,700 to $11,775. It is proper to add 
 that they subsequently picked up. 
 
 In February, 1882, the Reformed Church, situated on the corner of 
 Genesee and Cornelia streets, was destroyed by fire with a loss of $25,- 
 000. It was handsomely rebuilt and its interior tastefully decorated. 
 Other churches newly erected or rebuilt during this period are Plymouth, 
 by the Congregationalists, on Plant street ; Olivet, by the Presbyterians, 
 on Howard avenue (1890); the Holy Cross, by the Episcopalians, in 
 East Utica, and St. Andrew's Mission, on Faxton street (1891); St. 
 Francis de Sales, by the Roman Catholics, corner of High and Eagle 
 streets (1888) ; the Church of Our Father, by the Universalists, in East 
 Utica (1891); of the Moravians, corner of Cooper and Cornelia streets; 
 the Century, by the Methodists; and the Highland, by the Presbyte- 
 rians (189 1 ). Grace Church also received in 1890 an addition to its length 
 and extensive improvements within. The West Shore Railroad was in 
 process of construction and was opened for travel in 1884. 
 
 Relatives of Baron von Steuben, who as guests of the nation had 
 been present at the centennial celebration of the surrender of York- 
 
358 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 town, came here soon after to visit the grave of the baron at Remsen 
 in this county. They were received by delegates from the Oneida His- 
 torical Society, who accompanied them in their visit, and were addressed 
 by John F. Seymour. In April, 1882, the postoffice was removed to 
 the still unfinished government building. The building was completed 
 in the fall at a cost of upwards of $484,000 and received the court-room 
 and the chambers ot the judge and clerk of the U. S. District Court. In 
 September, 1882, the State Fair was again held in Utica ; its success was 
 considerable, the receipts amounting to $15,540. In December, 1883, the 
 match factory in the gulf was burned with a loss of $25,000, and not 
 long afterward the Empire Brewery, whose loss was $35,000, A much 
 more disastrous fire occurred on the 2d of the following March. 
 Though not so extensive in reach as the fire of 1837 the loss incurred 
 was probably twice as great. It extended from the store of Edward 
 Martin, No. 123 Genesee street, as far along Genesee and Catharine as 
 Peckham's furnace opposite Franklin street, sweeping away every build- 
 ing on the southern side of both these streets and doing damage to the 
 upper part of the First National Bank on the northern side. The loss 
 to individuals has proved a fortunate gain to the community, inasmuch 
 as the finer structures that replaced the former ones have added much to 
 the beauty of the streets. The American District Telegraph and Tele- 
 phone Company was organized in December, 1877, and in May, 1879, 
 began using the Edison apparatus. In May, 1882, the Central New 
 York Telegraph Company was organized with a capital of $500,000 and 
 its center of operation was located here. It soon absorbed the rights 
 and the property of preceding companies, the District Telephone, the 
 Baxter, etc., and greatly increased the facilities and the circuit of this 
 business. 
 
 Another important enterprise of this era was the building of the hand- 
 some and costly edifice for the Y. M. C. A., a brief account of which is 
 given in another place in these pages. The destruction by fire of the 
 Oneida National Bank on the loth of June, 1886, caused its replace- 
 ment by a finer and more desirable structure, which was finished in 
 September of the following year. A home for the indigent and disa- 
 bled Masons of the State, with their families, was in contemplation by the 
 members of this organization as early as 1884. After deliberate ex- 
 
CONSTRUCTION IN THE LAST DECADE. 359 
 
 atnination of numerous sites that had been offered them in different parts 
 of the State it was determined to place this home on the eastern border 
 of Utica. The ceremony of laying the corner-stone in the spring of 
 1891 was made the occasion of a very large gathering of the members 
 of the order and a public procession which has never been exceeded in 
 this city in the magnitude and the imposing nature of its display. The 
 presence of this institution, when completed and occupied, must tend 
 materially to add to the prosperity of the city. 
 
 Another ceremony attended the unveiling of the soldiers' monument 
 in the fall of 1891. The building of this monument to the memory of 
 the Oneida County soldiers who had been killed in the war of the Re- 
 bellion had been for a long time under consideration, and the raising of 
 the necessary funds was the earnest work of a few persons. These funds 
 were obtained through gifts, through public entertainments managed 
 largely by the ladies, and finally by means of a direct tax authorized 
 by public vote. 
 
 A home for old men, in connection with Faxton Hospital, was built 
 in 1890, and in 1891 extensive additions were made to the State Hos- 
 pital and to the Utica Orphan Asylum. 
 
 Another event of the latter part of the decade should here be re- 
 corded. Edward D. Matthews came in possession of the Ballou 
 farm, a tract of land lying west of the State Hospital, which had long 
 been in litigation. It is elevated, healthful, and commands a wide and 
 beautiful prospect. Most of it runs south from the Whitesboro road 
 and alongside of the Hospital farm several thousand feet. It has 
 been graded, laid out in three extended avenues and numerous cross 
 streets, and is offered for sale for building purposes. A street through 
 the upper part of the tract continuous with Hickory street and reaching 
 westward to Louis street, cutting the Hospital farm some 1,540 feet to 
 the rear of the hospital buildings, will probably soon be opened, and 
 thus offer the shortest road to New York Mills. The lots are sold under 
 desirable restrictions as to size and character of buildings, sale of liquor, 
 gambling, etc., upon easy terms of payment. These highlands, so called, 
 are in demand as future homes, while they present greatly needed 
 facilities for the westward growth of the city. A new church and a 
 few houses have already been erected thereon. 
 
360 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 Following are the principal officers of the city during the last decade: 
 Mayors: 1880, Thomas J. Spriggs ; 1 881, James Miller ; 1 882, Francis 
 M. Burdick ; 1883, Charles A. Doolittle ; 1884, James S. Sherman; 
 1885-87, Thomas E. Kinney; 1888, Henry Martin; 1889,5. J. Bar- 
 rows; 1890, Alexander T. Goodwin. Clerks: 1879-84, Patrick J. Mc- 
 Quade; 1885-87, Thomas S. Geary ; 1888 to the present time, Patrick 
 J. McQuade. Treasurers: 1879-80, Jacob Schwab; 1881-82, James 
 T. McLaughlin; 1883-88, William F. Hoerlein ; 1889, Edmund A. 
 O'Brien ; 1890, Patrick Griffin. Corporation counsel : 1879-83, Samuel 
 J. Barrows; 1884, Edward D. Matthews ; 1885, Myron W. Van Auken ; 
 1886, Charles A. Talcott ; 1887, Myron W. Van Auken; 1888-90, 
 Frederick B. Spriggs. Recorders: 1875 to 1884, Patrick F. Bulger. 
 City judges ; 1884, Patrick F. Bulger; 1888-90, Samuel A. Beardsley. 
 Aldermen; 1880, William P. Carpenter, John D. Jones, Patrick F. 
 Quinlan, Luke Hill, John Carney, William Reichert, John N. Siegrist ; 
 1881, Fred Haak, William H. Price, Joseph Tessey, Michael J. Dulan, 
 James Hayes, John M. Siegrist ; 1882, H. Ray Barnes, John D. Jones, 
 Patrick F. Quinlan, Horatio S. Van Valkenberg, George C. Helfert, 
 William Reichert; 1883, Fred Haak, Moses Barney, Joseph Tessey, 
 Gottlieb Zitzner, James Hayes, Michael Doll; 1884, H. Ray Barnes, 
 George J. Buchanan, William McTiernan, Edward M. Brown, John F 
 Geerer, Joseph P. Davis; 1885, Henry Kinzinger, Charles I Williams, 
 John S Bach, John P. Murphy, James Hayes, David T. Jones; 1886, 
 H. Ray Barnes, Edward J. Dillon, James Hackett, Edward M. Brown, 
 Horatio S. Van Valkenberg, William Reichert; 1887, Henry Kin- 
 zinger, Daniel McGucken, Joseph Tessey, John P. Murphy, Willard D. 
 Ball, Michael Doll ; 1888, H. Ray Barnes, John D. Jones, James Hack- 
 ett, Thomas Heslan, Enoch Jones, Joseph P. Davis; 1889, John L. 
 Dowd, William G. McNall (to fill vacancy), Daniel McGucken, Joseph 
 Tessey, John P. Day, Willard D. Ball, Michael Doll; 1890, H. Ray 
 Barnes, Hudson Bidwell, James Hackett, John Redmond, James Mul- 
 ligan, Joseph Hollingworth, jr. (to fill vacancy), Charles F. Clark. 
 
 Thus far an outline of the municipal and civil history of Utica has 
 been presented, together with notices of many of its past innabitants, 
 from the earliest settlement of the place down to the year 1891. It re- 
 mains to consider the institutions and co-operating enterprises in which 
 
TRAVEL ON THE MOHAWK. 361 
 
 its people have been and are now enlisted. In the chapters which fol- 
 low these will be briefly treated and in a manner that must needs be 
 succinct and statistical. Other biographies will be found in these vari^ 
 ous chapters and in the Biographical Department of the work. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 MODES OF TRAVEL AND TRANSPORTATION. 
 
 The Mohawk River as a Public Waterway — The Genesee Turnpike — Early Stages 
 • — Construction and Opening of the Erie Canal — Early Railroads East and West — 
 The Plank Road Era — Northern and Southern Railroads. 
 
 SETTLERS in a wilderness country are never long located before they 
 feel the pressing necessity of roads of some description, and this is 
 true even in those favored localities where nature herself has supplied 
 waterways over which may be transported the meager belongings of 
 the pioneer. As far as relates to the early settlements on the site of 
 the city of Utica the Mohawk River, then a stream of much larger vol- 
 ume than at the present time, was a natural highway, and the first one 
 over which the pioneers of this locality transported their little stores 
 with comparative ease and later their surplus produce to the markets 
 of the East. This river was used for those purposes before as well as 
 long after there were any roads in the vicinity of its upper waters that 
 deserved the name of highways. There were of course Indian, trails 
 extending the entire length of the immediate territory over which 
 ruled the powerful nations of the Iroquois, but probably few of them 
 were used as roadways in this vicinity, either in their primitive condi- 
 tion or after subsequent improvement. Indian trails were as a rule 
 tortuous in their courses to an extent that would make the white pio- 
 neer shun them. The Indian would make a detour of miles around a 
 swampy locality where the white man would build a corduroy road 
 across it ; the red man would go around a hill rather than climb it. 
 
 46 
 
362 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 The earlier boats in use upon the Mohawk were Canadian batteaux, 
 clinker built, and capable of carrying one and a half to two tons up the 
 stream and five tons downward. They were known as three-handed 
 or four-handed boats, according as they required three or four men to 
 propel them, or, with reference to their capacity, two or three hogshead 
 batteaux. They were forced over the rapids with poles and ropes, the 
 latter drawn by men on the shore. Such was the mode of transporting 
 merchandise and Indian commodities to and from the West until some 
 time after the Revolution. 
 
 The early navigation of the Mohawk and contiguous waters was 
 greatly facilitated in 1796 by the improvements of the Western Inland 
 Lock Navigation Company, which was incorporated under an act passed 
 March 30, 1792. The project of connecting the Hudson River with 
 Lake Champlain and Western waters by means of canals was discussed 
 before the Revolutionary war ; but that struggle in which the whole 
 energies of the new country were involved put an end to the matter for 
 a time. When the company was finally organized a list of nearly thirty 
 directors pushed ahead the work. The plan contemplated a canal and 
 locks around the Little Falls on the Mohawk, a canal across the portage 
 at Rome, and the improvement of Wood Creek and the Oneida, Sen- 
 eca, and Oswego Rivers. The work was completed, as stated, and 
 proved a very useful improvement in developing the western part of the 
 State. About the year 1812 it was estimated that 300 boats with 1,500 
 tons of merchandise went through the canal across the Rome portage in 
 a single year. With the completion of the Erie Canal this waterway 
 was abandoned. 
 
 After the enlargement of the locks by this company the boats carried 
 twenty tons or more in high water and eight to ten in what was called 
 " full channel " water, which meant twenty inches over the rifts. These 
 latter boats were known as Durham boats, and were in shape not unlike 
 a canal scow, being low and open, fitted with a walking-board along the 
 gunwale, and with a mast that could be raised when required. They 
 were propelled by means of long poles thrust into the river and pushed 
 from the shoulders of 'men, who walked from end' to end of the boat, 
 bowed almost to the face in their efforts to move it forward. The poles had 
 heads that rested against the shoulder, which was often galled like that 
 
EXTRACT FROM SCHULTZ'S TRAVELS. 363 
 
 of a collar-worn horse. Down the stream advantage was taken of the 
 current, and along the straight reaches of the channel and when the 
 wind was favorable a sail was hoisted. The crew consisted of five or 
 six hands, who considered themselves fortunate when they made ten 
 miles in one day. The delay of unloading at Little Fails had been 
 obviated, but it was found more difficult to force large than small craft 
 over the rapids. Several boats usually went in company, and if any 
 arrived first at a rift they awaited the approach of the others that the 
 united strength of many might aid in the labor before them.^ From a 
 Schenectady paper of 1803 we get an idea of the dimensions of one of 
 these Durham boats then on her first trip: "She is sixty-three feet 
 keel, eleven feet wide, and two feet three inches deep. When loaded 
 she draws two feet of water and will carry twenty- four tons. She now 
 brought down 250 bushels of wheat and will next trip bring 800." In 
 1791 it cost from $75 to $100 per ton for transportation from Seneca 
 Lake to Albany; in 1796 the cost was reduced to $32 per tpn and to 
 $16 on returned cargoes. 
 
 In further illustration of boat traveling on the Mohawk in former 
 times is inserted the following from the journal of travels made through 
 several of the inland States in 1807-08 by Christian Schultz, jr.: ^ 
 
 " I have noticed but three different kinds of boats used in navigating 
 the river. Those called Schenectady boats are generally preferred 
 and will carry about ten tons burthen when the river is high ; but when 
 it is low, as at this time, they will not take more than from three to four ; 
 they generally advance against the stream at the rate of from eighteen 
 to twenty or twenty- five miles a day. These boats are built very much 
 after the model of our Long Island round bottom skiffs, but proportion 
 ately larger, being from forty to fifty feet in length, and steered by a 
 large swing oar of the same length. They have likewise a movable 
 mast in the middle. When the wind serves they set a square sail and 
 top sail, which, at a few miles distance, give them all the appearance of 
 small square rigged vessels coming down before the wind. Our galley, 
 which I am just now informed is called the Mohawk Regulator, has 
 gone at the rate of six miles an hour against the stream; and during 
 
 1 Simnas's History of Schoharie County. 
 
 ^ See illustration on another page of this work. 
 
364 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 this time, believe me, nothing can be more charming than sailing on the 
 Mohawlv. 
 
 "It is not often, however, that a fair wind will serve for more than three 
 or four miles together, as the irregular course of the river renders its aid 
 very precarious ; their chief dependence, therefore, is upon their pike 
 poles. These are generally from eighteen to twenty-two feet in length, 
 having a sharp pointed iron, with a socket weighing ten or twelve 
 pounds, affixed to the lower end; the upper has a large knob, called a 
 button, mounted upon it so that the poleman may press upon it his whole 
 weight without endangering his person. This manner of impelling the 
 boat forward is extremely laborious, and none but those who have been 
 for some time accustomed to it can manage these poles with any kind of 
 advantage. Within the boat on each side is fixed a plank running fore 
 and aft, with a number of cross cleats nailed upon it for the purpose of 
 giving the poleman a sure footing in hard poling. The men after set- 
 ting their poles against a rock, bank, or bottom of the river, declining 
 their heads very low, place the upper end or button against the back 
 (front ?) part of their right or left shoulders (according to the side on 
 which they may be poling); then falling down on their hands and toes 
 creep the whole length of the gang-boards and send the boat forward 
 with considerable speed. The first sight of four men on each side of a 
 boat creeping along on their hands and toes apparently transfixed by a 
 large pole is no small curiosity, nor was it until I had observed their 
 perseverance for 200 or 300 yards that I became satisfied they were not 
 playing some pranks. From the general practice of this method as 
 likewise from my own trials and observations I am convinced that they 
 have fallen upon the most powerful way possible to exert their bodily 
 strength for the purpose required. The position, however, was so ex- 
 tremely awkward to me that I doubt whether the description I have at- 
 tempted will give you an adequate idea of the procedure. I have met 
 with another kind of boat on this river which is called a dorm or dorem; 
 how it is spelt I know not [Durham]. The only difference I could ob- 
 serve in this from the former one is that it is built sharp at both ends, 
 and generally much larger and stouter. They have likewise flats simi- 
 lar to those you have seen on the Susquehanna, but much lighter built 
 and longer. On all these they occasionally carry the sails before men- 
 tioned. 
 
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 c 
 
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 a 
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366 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 "The Mohawk is by no means dangerous to ascend on account of the 
 slowness of the boat's progress; but as it is full of rocks, stones, and 
 shallows there is some risk in descending it of staving the boat, and at 
 this season is so low as to require it to be dragged by hand over many 
 places. The channel in some instances is not more than eight feet in 
 width, which will barely permit a boat to pass by rubbing on both sides. 
 This is sortietimes caused by natural or accid-ental obstructions of rocks 
 in the channel, but oftener by artificial means. This which at first view 
 would appear to be an inconvenience is produced by two lines or ridges 
 of stone generally constructed on sandy, gravelly, or stony shallows, in 
 such a manner as to form an acute angle were they to meet, the extrem- 
 ities of which widen as they extend up the river, whikt at the lower end 
 there is just space enough left to admit the passage of a boat. The 
 water being thus collected at the widest part of these ridges, and contin- 
 ually pent up within narrower limits as it descends, causes a rise at the 
 passage, so that where the depth was no more than eight inches before 
 a contrivance of this kind will raise it to twelve ; and strange as it may 
 appear a boat drawing fifteen inches will pass through it with ease and 
 safety. The cause is simply this : the boat, being somewhat below the 
 passage, is brought forward with considerable velocity, and the moment 
 it dashes into the passage its resistance to the current is such as to cause 
 a swell of four or five inches more, which affords it an easy passage over 
 the shoal." 
 
 Mr. Post had several boats employed in conveying produce and ran 
 three stage boats for passengers. In 1812 Eri Lusher & Co. were run ■ 
 ning during the season a weekly line of boats from Schenectady for 
 Cayuga, Seneca Falls, and Oswego, and by means of wagons also, which 
 were kept in constant readiness, they were enabled to "transport from 
 Albany to any part of the western country either by land or water what- 
 ever property might be directed to their care." Parties living at a dis- 
 tance from the water communication were assured that their goods 
 would be delivered at any place they might designate. They adver- 
 tised also stage boats to run between Utica and Schenectady for the 
 accommodation of passengers, which, leaving Utica twice a week at 5 
 A. M., were to arrive in Schenectady the following morning in time for 
 breakfast, and thence the passengers were to be conveyed in carriages 
 to Albany. 
 
EARL Y HIGHWA YS. 367 
 
 Turning our attention to tiie early overland roadways we find that in 
 1794 legislative action was taken and three commissioners were ap- 
 pointed to lay out a road from Utica via Cayuga Ferry and Canandai- 
 gua to the Genesee River at Avon, and in that and the following years 
 appropriations were made to aid in its construction. The portion of the 
 road from Albany to Utica was doubtless constructed first and was gen- 
 erally known as the " State Road," while that section from Utica to the 
 Genesee River was called the " Genesee Road." The road was not im- 
 mediately constructed, and in 1797 Colonel Williamson, who traveled 
 through the country as agent for English landowners, characterized it 
 as little better than an Indian trail. But early in 1797 the legislature 
 passed an act authorizing the raising of $45,000 by a lottery for the 
 benefit of the various roads in the State, $13,900 of which sum was to be 
 appropriated to the use of the Genesee road. This action resulted in 
 the rapid completion of the road, which was so far advanced by the 30th 
 of September, 1797, that a coach of four passengers left Old Fort Schuy- 
 ler (Utica) and arrived at Geneva, Ontario County, a distance of 100 
 miles, on the 2d of October. This section was the first opened west of 
 Utica, the inhabitants along the line subscribing 4,000 days' work to 
 aid in its construction. The road was sixty- four feet wide and built of 
 earth and gravel, with numerous sections of "corduroy" over swampy 
 places, and bridges over ravines and streams. Imperfect as this early 
 road undoubtedly was in many respects it was still a wonderful im- 
 provement, and the inhabitants of the western part of the State rejoiced 
 greatly over its completion. 
 
 But in a short time it was seen that a more perfect highway than 
 this was a necessity, and in 1800 the Seneca Turnpike Company, with 
 a capital of $110,000, was chartered by the legislature. The shares 
 were $50 each. The commissioners were Jedediah Sanger, of New 
 Hartford, and Benjamin Walker, of Utica, for Oneida County, Charles 
 Williamson and Israel Chapin, of Ontario County. According to the 
 journal of John Maude, an EngHsh traveler who passed through Utica 
 on his way to Niagara Falls, one mile of it only was completed in July, 
 1800. This road passed through the villages of New Hartford, Kirk- 
 land, Lairdsville, Vernon, and Oneida Castle. The road leading into 
 Utica from the East seems to have been still unfinished at this time, as 
 
368 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 would appear from an advertisement of the Mohawk Turnpike and 
 Bridge Company, published in the village paper of October 2i, 1800, 
 in which the said company solicited proposals for a bridge over the 
 Mohawk, at Schenectady, for completing the road for the ten miles 
 lying immediately east of Utica, and for finishing other portions farther 
 east. 
 
 Up to the date of the organization of the Seneca Turnpike Company 
 the road leading across the Mohawk bottom between Utica and Deer- 
 field had been very tortuous and at times nearly impassable. About 
 this time it was straightened across this intervale and otherwise im- 
 proved, but it was several years before it became a'tolerable road. The 
 building of the great western thoroughfare was the first important fac- 
 tor in the growth and advancement of Utica, for it virtually made it the 
 head of navigation and the principal landing place on the Mohawk River 
 for the emigration then just beginning to seek the fertile regions in West- 
 ern New York, and the embryo commerce destined to expand in the 
 swift-coming years to fabulous proportions. The opening of this road 
 ten miles to the south forced Rome to take the second place in the 
 county in commercial importance and give Utica the preponderance 
 which she still retains. Over this thoroughfare ran the early stages, 
 some of whose owners, managers, and drivers became in later years 
 leading citizens of this and other cities. Prominent among them was 
 Jason Parker, who came here in 1794 from Adams, Mass., of which 
 place he was a native. His first employment was as post-rider between 
 Canajoharie and Whitestown. These journeys were made on horseback 
 and sometimes on foot, and his wife now and then assisted him, eking 
 out the trip between Utica and Whitesboro. The contract from the 
 government for carrying the mails, which had been given the year prev- 
 ious to one Simeon Pool, soon passed into his hands. It is related 
 that on one occasion when Mr. Parker arrived with the mail from Albany 
 it contained six letters for the inhabitants of Old Fort Schuyler. This 
 remarkable fact was heralded from one end of the settlement to the 
 other, and some were incredulous until assured of its truth by the post- 
 master, John Post. In August, 179s, Mr. Parker began running a stage 
 between the above mentioned places, and thus announced his under- 
 taking : 
 
'yASON PARKER PETITIONS THE LEGISLATURE. 369 
 
 " The mail leaves Whitestown every Monday and Thursday at 2 
 o'clock P. M. and proceeds to Old Fort Schuyler the same evening; 
 next morning starts at 4 o'clock, and arrives in Canajoharie in the even- 
 ing, exchanges passengers with the Albany and Cooperstown stages, 
 and the next day returns to Old Fort Schuyler. Fare for passengers 
 $2.00 ; way passengers four cents per mile, fourteen pounds of baggage 
 gratis; one hundred and fifty pounds weight rated the same as a pas- 
 senger. Seats may be had by applying at the postoffice, Whitestown, 
 at the house of the subscriber, Old Fort Schuyler, or at Captain Roof's, 
 Canajoharie." 
 
 That his experiment was a difficult and doubtful one when left un- 
 aided by the fostering care of the government we may justly infer, and 
 we are not surprised to find him joining with eastern proprietors in a call 
 for legislative help. Their petition, which is dated January 18, 1797, 
 sets forth that " at an early day, and when no other persons could be 
 prevailed on to hazard so precarious an undertaking, they set up a line 
 of stages from Albany to Lansingburg and another from Albany to 
 Whitestown, and for several years ran them at great loss to themselves, 
 in anxious hope and expectation that, by persevering in so laudable an 
 undertaking, they should at some future time receive a compensation, 
 when the population of this new and growing country would admit." 
 Then adverting to the embarrassing and destructive consequences of 
 opposition which had been set up on some of the eastern lines the peti- 
 tioners continue as follows : " The western line must inevitably share the 
 same fate unless your petitioners can obtain the interference of the hon- 
 orable the legislature. And although they are desirous of continuing 
 to prosecute their present concerns in the stages, particularly on the 
 western routes, they dare not flatter themselves in being able to do it 
 unless they can obtain an act of exclusive privilege for a certain num- 
 ber of years." Whether their petition achieved them any good we are 
 unable to say, but in November, 1799, we find that the mail stage be- 
 tween Schenectady and Utica is still run twice a week by " the public's 
 most humble servants," Moses Beal and Jason Parker. In 1802 the 
 public are further informed that, in addition to the above arrangements, 
 " a stage for the conveyance of the mail, and those who wish to travel 
 by stage, will start from Utica for Onondaga twice a week." 
 
 47 
 
370 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 In March, 1803, Mr. Parker is again before the legislature, in com- 
 pany with Levi Stephens and other associates, suing for the exclusive 
 right of running stages from the village of Utica to the village of Can- 
 andaigua for the term of ten years, and averring that "the present 
 emoluments are inadequate to reimburse the expenses by the proprie- 
 tors." Accordingly an act was passed the following year granting to 
 Jason Parker and Levi Stephens the exclusive right for seven years of 
 running a line of stages, .for the conveyance of passengers, at least twice 
 a week, along the (jenesee road, or Seneca turnpike, between the above 
 mentioned villages. They were bound to furnish four good and sub- 
 stantial, covered wagons or sleighs, and sufficient horses to run the 
 same. The fare was not to exceed five cents per mile, and they were 
 to run through in forty-eight hours, accidents excepted. They were 
 forbidden to carry more than seven passengers in any one carriage, ex- 
 cept by the unanimous consent of said passengers. If four passengers 
 above the seven applied for passage they were obliged to fit out and 
 start an extra carriage for their accommodation ; any number less than 
 four might be accommodated by paying the rate of four. 
 
 By September, 18 10, a greater degree of expedition was attained on 
 the eastern route, so that we read of a daily line of stages between Al- 
 bany and Utica, and in September, 181 1, of another line three times a 
 week in addition to the daily one. In January of the latter year the 
 route westward had been extended to Buffalo and Niagara Falls. Thus 
 he commenced by such humble beginnings a business which, partly 
 alone and partly in association, he prosecuted throughout his life time, 
 and which within that time increased so as to become one of the largest 
 business organizations ever formed in the place. At the time of his de- 
 cease there were eight daily lines of stages running through Utica, east 
 and west, besides twelve daily, semi-weekly, or weekly lines running 
 north and south, in most of which he was or had been interested. 
 
 But Mr. Parker's activity was not wholly expended in the running of 
 stages. Besides serving as a trustee of the village, and besides bearing 
 a share in the public undertakings of the day that concerned him equally 
 with his fellow citizens, he also carried on milling and flouring. He 
 also at an early period had an interest with Stalham Williams in mer- 
 cantile business. 
 
-&"J hziKlmm, t/BrvlfT 
 
 '>/?/ OU-J 
 
RIVALRY OF STAGE PROPRIETORS. 371 
 
 T. S. Faxton, S. D. Childs, and John Butterfield, all of whom be- 
 came prominent in the travel and transportation business, as we shall see, 
 were greatly indebted to Mr. Parker for the impetus which started them 
 on successful careers; the former joined him as his outside assistant in 
 1813, Mr. Childs as his book-keeper in 1816, and the latter in 1822, at 
 first as a runner and eventually as his successor in the stage and trans- 
 portation business, though he was never, as Messrs. Faxton and Childs 
 were, one of the firm of J. Parker & Co. Mr. Parker died in 1830 in 
 the full enjoyment of the respect of all who knew him. 
 
 It is interesting to note some of the legislative regulations imposed 
 upon those early stage proprietors. The more important of these en- 
 actments are recorded on the preceding page. Stage proprietors were 
 regarded then the same as railroad companies are regarded now. They 
 possessed certain responsibilities as public servants and in most cases 
 complied with every requirement of the law. It is interesting as well 
 to notice the comparison between legislative regulations governing 
 transportation companies of that time and similar rules applying to like 
 bodies of to-day. 
 
 Joshua Ostrom, son of Judge David Ostrom, began running stages 
 at an early date, and in 1810— 1 1 he and his partners were in close com- 
 petition with Jason Parker & Co. A glance at their respective adver- 
 tisements will be of interest as illustrating not only the gradual advance 
 in the business of staging, but showing also the rivalry and strife which 
 then prevailed between the opposing companies. On the 20th of Sep- 
 tember, 1810, Joshua Ostrom, Baker & Swan, and J. Wetmore & Co. 
 announced a new steamboat line of stages which will leave Albany 
 Monday and Friday ; Utica, Monday and Thursday. The competing 
 companies, Powell & Parker, Campbell & Co., " in order to prevent the 
 delay at Utica " in their western line, determined to run their stages 
 every day. Next Ostrom & Co. ran theirs three times a week, but 
 "without the encumbrance of postoffice regulations." Then on the 21st 
 of January, 181 1, we find the following announcement from Parker & 
 Powell : " Eight changes of horses. The mail stage now leaves Bagg's, 
 Utica, every morning at 4 o'clock. Passengers will breakfast at May- 
 nard's, Herkimer, dine at Josiah Shepard's, Palatine, and sup (on oys- 
 ters) at Thomas Powell's Tontine Coffee House, Schenectady. Those 
 
372 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 ladies and gentlemen who will favor this line with their patronage may 
 be assured of having good horses, attentive drivers, warm carriages, and 
 that there shall not be any running or racing of horses on the line." 
 The rival proprietors, still unencumbered by postoffice regulations, were 
 ready a week later to " go through in one day, unless the extreme bad- 
 ness of the traveling rendered it utterly impossible." Passengers were 
 to " have the liberty of breakfasting, dining, and supping where, when, 
 and on what they please. No more than eight passengers unless by 
 unanimous consent." Only one further advertisement of Mr. Ostrom 
 and his associates appears, and this is dated April, 1811, for he failed 
 and wound up his affairs. 
 
 Under date of May, 181 1, appeared the following announcement: 
 " Powell, Parker, Baker & Co., Parker Sz; Powell, Hosmer & Co., and 
 Landon & Co. ran a line of stages from Albany to Niagara Falls. 
 N. B. — The public will observe that this is the only line which reaches 
 the Falls and that the stages of the speculative oppositionists who im- 
 pose on travelers by assuring them that their stages extend to Canan ■ 
 daigua or the Niagara Falls go no farther than Utica ; but that the 
 present line of stages will afford them a safe and direct passage either 
 to Utica, Canandaigua, Buffalo, or the Falls, without subjecting the pas- 
 sengers to the trouble of applying to another stage for conveyance. 
 Fare from Albany to Utica, $5.50 ; from Utica to Geneva, $5 ; Utica 
 to Canandaigua, $5.75 ; from Canandaigua to Buffalo, six cents per 
 mile." In September, 1816, Jason Parker St Co., with half a dozen 
 confederates, in addition to their stages which left Utica and Canandai- 
 gua six times a week and ran through in a day and a half, were running 
 a line three times a week between Albany and Canandaigua, going by 
 the way of Auburn, Skaneateles, Onondaga, ManliuF, Cazenovia, Madi- 
 son, and Cherry Valley, and these stages went through in two days. 
 
 The English traveler from whom we have already quoted gave a list 
 of the principal taverns and stopping places on the road from Albany 
 to Geneva. Those between Fort Schuyler and Geneva were as follows, 
 with their distances from each other : " From Fort Schuyler to Laird's 
 on the Great Genesee road, 10; Van Epp's, near the Oneida Reserva- 
 tion, 6 ; Sill's, at the Deep Spring, 11; Keeler's, junior, 12; Tyler's, 
 Onondaga Hollow, 10; Rice's, Nine Mile Creek, 10; Cayuga Ferry, 
 20; Powell's Hotel, Geneva, 13." 
 
THE WEEK-DAY LINE OF STAGES. 373 
 
 The monopoly of staging enjoyed by Parker & Co. after the failure 
 of Joshua Ostrom & Co., in 18 12, continued until about 1821, when a 
 new line was started by Peter Cole, aided at Utica by a plausable, super- 
 politic runner named Henry S. Storms. This line was, however, soon 
 overpowered, and the influence of Mr. Storms effectively met by intro- 
 ducing from Albany the energetic, driving John Butterfield, the services 
 of the other runner being transferred to the packets. About 1828 the 
 old line encountered more serious opposition when Josiah Bissell, of 
 Rochester, set on foot a week-day line to traverse the State, and enlisted 
 in its behalf the sympathies and the money of church members along 
 the route. The project caused an intense degree of excitement ; the 
 sin of traveling on Sunday was freely discussed and a fierce war raged 
 within and without the church. It was no long time after the preach- 
 ing of Mr. Finney in the larger towns on the way, and when men's 
 minds were alive to questions of religion. Dissensions in the Presby- 
 terian Church of Utica were especially rife, because it was there that 
 Messrs. Parker, Faxton, and Childs all attended, and the pastor, peace- 
 able as he was and perhaps a little irresolute withal, found it hard to 
 conduct himself to the satisfaction of every one. But the week-day 
 line lapked both capital and skill in its managers, and besides had not 
 the privilege enjoyed by the other of carrying the mail, and so after a 
 contest which impoverished itself, and greatly straitened the resources 
 of its rival, it finally yielded the field. Until 1836 this field continued 
 free ; but when the Utica and Schenectady road was opened the east- 
 ward route was blocked, and afterward, as the railway was gradually 
 extended, other routes were more and more curtailed, and Parker's with 
 the associate line of stages was brought to a close. 
 
 Mr. Butterfield proved equal to his duties and thoroughly identified 
 himself with the success of the line of J. Parker & Co. After a time he 
 met at the Canal Coffee House a traveler who wished to part with his 
 horse and conveyance. These he bought and thus inaugurated a liv- 
 ery. To this he added as his means admitted, and after his marriage 
 he also kept a boarding-house. Such were the beginnings of a life of 
 great activity and enterprise, and which was bound up with most of 
 the different kinds of transportation now practiced. For in every 
 means undertaken to increase the facilities of travel and intercommuni- 
 
374 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 cation John Butterfield was for a generation one of the foremost of the 
 citizens of Utica. His livery grew until it became the leading one of 
 the place. The connection with Parker & Co. lasted so long as they 
 were still in business and was succeeded by important lines of his own, 
 wherein he was a leading manager in the State until staging was super- 
 ceded by railroads. He had his share, too, in the packet boats and then 
 in the steamboats on Lake Ontario. He gave his earnest personal ef- 
 forts to create the companies and raise the funds required for the con- 
 struction of some of the plank roads leading out of the city, and was 
 the originator of its street railroads. 
 
 His labors were arduous in stirring up the citizens to the im- 
 portance of roads to the north and to the south, and to him is Utica 
 largely if not principally indebted for the Black River and both of the 
 southern railways. He was among the first who realized how a lucra- 
 tive business could be formed by the rapid transportation of such arti- 
 cles as could afford to pay express charges, and he became an early 
 director in the express company. To him as much as to any other in- 
 dividual, say the resolutions of the board, was due the high reputation 
 which this company obtained in commercial circles throughout the 
 country as well as the success that has attended it. In that organiza- 
 tion he remained a directing power until the close of his life, and reaped 
 from it a large pecuniary profit. He was also among the first to appre- 
 ciate the capacities of the electric telegraph, and immediately upon the 
 practical adaptation of the invention he joined with Messrs. Faxton, 
 Wells, Livingston, and others in the establishment of the New York, 
 Albany, and Buffalo Telegraph Company. His faith followed upon his 
 sagacity, and he steadily urged and aided in the extension of lines and 
 companies. He assisted likewise in putting in operation the Overland 
 Mail Route, the precursor of the Pacific railroads, and which did much 
 to demonstrate the importance of a continuous connection between the 
 Atlantic and the Pacific States. Having long been a mail contractor 
 he had the experience and practical knowledge essential for the execu- 
 tion of the work. Besides his part in the various operations above re- 
 ferred to Mr. Butterfield was a director in the Utica City National 
 Bank, and was interested in other stock companies and business under- 
 takings. At the same time he invested largely in city property, while 
 
BEGINNING OF THE ERIE CANAL. 375 
 
 his cultivated land in the vicinity covers no inconsiderable space. The 
 Butterfield House and the Gardner block are among the handsome edi- 
 fices which he planned and built, and which have added materially to 
 the city of his residence. On taking possession of the land on the New 
 Hartford road, on a portion of which his late residence now stands, he 
 extended his operations in farming, already carried on to a limited ex- 
 tent on Pleasant street. 
 
 However enterprising the men who had the management of those 
 •early stage routes, and however perfect their systems of transportation 
 of passengers and freight, it soon became apparent that such primitive 
 methods could not long endure through a section of country so rich in 
 natural resources and growing so rapidly in population as the State of 
 New York. For several years before the War of 1812 the subject of 
 connecting the Hudson River with Lake Erie by an artificial waterway 
 received a good deal of attention throughout the State. Three routes 
 were in discussion, and as the committee were disposed to favor the one 
 by way of Oswego all three were finally surveyed. 
 
 The War of 1812 caused a suspension of the whole project until the 
 legislative session of 1816, when a memorial was presented to the legis- 
 lature signed by more than 100,000 persons, calling on members to 
 prosecute and complete the work without delay. Excavation began 
 wiih appropriate ceremonies at Rome on the 4th of July, 1817. The 
 eastern portion of the middle section, or so much of it as is included 
 between Rome and Utica, was fit for navigation by the fall of 18 19, and 
 on the 22d of October the first boat sailed on the canal from Rome 
 to Utica, the channel having been filled from Oriskaiiy Creek on the 
 previous day. It was a beautiful boat and was called the Chief Engi- 
 neer in compliment to Benjamin Wright. It was fitted up to carry pas- 
 sengers and on the ensuing day the governor of the State and the Board 
 of Commissioners, attended by about seventy ladies and gentlemen of 
 Utica and vicinity, embarked upon it to return to Rome. The embark- 
 ation took place amid the ringing of bells, the roaring of cannon, and 
 the loud acclamations of thousands of spectators. 
 
 From one of the papers of Utica of that date we borrow a few par- 
 ticulars of the event, as follows: "Seldom has there been seen more 
 heart-felt joy than was manifested on this occasion ; and the feelings of 
 
376 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 those who viewed the departure from Utica of this the first boat which 
 the waters of the canal had ever borne bordered on enthusiasm. All 
 the way to the embankment across the Sauquoit Creek many hundreds 
 of spectators followed the boat, and frequently filled the air with their 
 animated cheers. At Whitesboro the arrival was announced by a 
 national salute and by the cheers of people assembled to witness the • 
 scene. After a sail of a little more than four hours the boat arrived at 
 Rome. It remained at that place until a quarter past three, when it set 
 out on its return, and arrived at Utica ten minutes before eight.' This 
 first trial of the canal was highly gratifying, not only to the commis- 
 sioners, but to all who beheld it; and if ever deep-felt gladness was 
 exhibited it was in universal and full display throughout this excur- 
 sion." 
 
 Nathan Williams, as president of the Board of Village Trustees, on 
 the same day addressed a congratulatory letter to the Board of Canal 
 Commissioners : " From Erie to the Atlantic, a distance of 500 miles, 
 more than 300 is to be traversed by this canal. Considering the infancy 
 of the settlements through which it is to pass, and that it is commenced 
 by the efforts and patriotism of a single State, it will be viewed by future 
 generations as a wonderful work. The experience of this day's excursion 
 must do away with all doubt, if any remain, of the practicability of con- 
 structing this ' stupendous artificial river of the west' It appears now 
 indeed to be rendered certain that they who projected the plan, and they 
 who so faithfully persevere to execute it under the wise sanction of our 
 laws and the patriotic co-operation of our citizens, will be ranked among 
 the greatest benefactors of our country." 
 
 In Governor Clinton's message of 1820 he reported ninety- four miles 
 of the canal finished on the middle section, with a lateral branch from 
 Syracuse to Salina. In April of that year a trip was made between 
 Utica and Montezuma, in which a large company joined. On the 20th 
 of May Governor Clinton and the canal commissioners, accompanied by 
 as many gentlemen from Utica and Whitesboro as could be accommo- 
 dated, went on the boats Montezuma and Chief Engineer from Utica 
 to the Seneca River. On the first of June, we are informed by 
 advertisement, that " boats for the accommodation of passengers 
 lOO miles on the canal are now in operation by the 'The Erie 
 
ERIE CANAL NAVIGATION. 377 
 
 Canal Navigation Company.' They sail every Monday and Thursday 
 morning from Utica at 9 o'clock and arrive at Canastota (Lenox) at 
 7 P. M.; proceed next day at 2 A. M. and arrive at Montezuma at 7 
 P. M. Price of passage including provisions, $4. A small advance to 
 be made when the toll and lockage are established For passage apply 
 to Doolittie & Gold, or at the stage office." In the weekly chronicle of 
 arrivals and departures on the canal, which began at this time to be 
 pubHshed in the papers, we find that five boats departed and two ar- 
 rived on the 1st of July, one each on the 2d, and four departed and one 
 arrived on the 3d; between July 31st and August 7th there were 
 twelve arrivals and nineteen clearances; between August 14th and 
 August 25th there were twenty-two arrivals and seventeen clearances. 
 Most of these boats were loaded with merchandise, two only car- 
 rying passengers. The Fourth of July was celebrated on the canal by 
 a large concourse of people from various parts of the Western District. 
 The Oneida Chief irota Utica and the Montezuma from Cayuga Lake, 
 accompanied by a number of other boats filled with passengers from 
 the intermediate country, met at Syracuse. His excellency the gover- 
 nor with his secretaries and other gentlemen from New York were of 
 the passengers from Utica. 
 
 The interest felt by Governor Clinton in this his favorite project 
 brought him as we have seen often to the interior and western parts of 
 the State. It was in the summer of 1820, while traveling up and down 
 the course of the future canal, that he wrote his well known letters of 
 Hibernicus. From the mansion at Mr. Greig at Canandajgua, from Au- 
 burn, from Utica, and from other places he penned those classic letters 
 to the Statesman — letters abounding in instruction upon the natural 
 history and resources of the country through which he journeyed, and 
 prophetic of the good to be expected from the completed canal. At the 
 York House in Utica he held a conference with Dr. Barto, of Newport, 
 and learned much of the composition and qualities of water- lime, which 
 had been recently discovered and put in use on the canal by Canvass 
 White, one of the engineers. 
 
 With the opening of the season of 1822 the packet boats Montezuma 
 and Oneida Chief renewed their trips and there was also started by Bil- 
 dad and Isaac Merrell a new boat called the Utica Packet. It -had already 
 
 48 
 
378 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 done service on the river as the Commodore Perry, and was dragged 
 thence to its new channel. The canal had now become so great a curi- 
 osity that by midsummer the public houses were crowded with strang- 
 ers from the East on their way to see it and to ride upon its waters. A 
 new line of post coaches running from Albany to Ulica was likewise 
 announced. 
 
 The progress of the canal from the time of its begintiing until it was 
 nearly or quite completed gave a great impetus to the growth of Utica. 
 At the date under consideration (1822-23) the village was growing rap- 
 idly, its population in the latter year being computed by its citizens at 
 4,000. The Erie Canal Navigation Company announced in April, 
 1823, that in addition to their last year's establishment they had incor- 
 porated into their line four new, spacious, and beautiful boats, and that 
 they had commenced running regular trips between Utica and Roch- 
 ester. 
 
 "The whole course of the great work from Utica to Rochester ex- 
 hibits," says the Albany Argus, " the bustle and stir of business. The 
 amount and variety of the productions which are constantly passing and 
 repassing upon it fill the mind with astonishment. It is the flux and 
 reflux of the great tide of Western wealth and Western enterprise." At 
 a late period in the previous season water had been let into the channel 
 of the eastern district. And now on the loth of June, 1823, we read 
 that "a line of elegant packet boats is preparing and will be ready to 
 run between this village and Schenectady on the opening of the canal, 
 which it is expected will take place about the 20th inst." This com- 
 pany, of which the trustees were E. Bacon, Ephraim Hart, and E. B. 
 Shearman, started a boat at 8 o'clock every morning which it was ex- 
 pected would arrive at Schenectady at the same hour the following 
 morning. And on the 8th of October was celebrated at Albany with 
 imposing ceremony the completion of the whole eastern section and the 
 ingress of waters to the Hudson. Thus in little more than six years 
 280 miles of this great artery of commerce were opened and its healthful 
 influences already widely felt. 
 
 An influence that was at once produced to diminish former more in- 
 convenient modes of transportation deserves our notice. The Seneca 
 Turnpike Company in addition to its usual semi-annual dividend de- 
 
COMPLETION OF THE CANAL. 
 
 379 
 
 dared in April, 1823, a surplus dividend of like amount. The reasons 
 for so doing they thus state : Previous to the completion of the middle 
 section of the canal the proprietors of the road apprehended a great 
 diminution in the value of their stock by the effect the canal would have 
 upon the travel of this road — which runs its whole length of 112 miles 
 parallel with the canal. The experiment has proved the canal to be 
 very beneficial to the interest of the road company. The heavy teams 
 with six to eight horses are now mostly removed from the road in con- 
 sequence of the reduced price of transportation, and the light travel in- 
 creased by the natural increase of business produced by the facility of 
 intercourse with New York. 
 
 The canal was completed on the 26th day of October, 1825, water 
 was admitted into it at Black Rock, and on this day the first boat as- 
 cended the Lockport locks, passed through the mountain ridge, and 
 entered the lake. The opening ceremonies were attended with un- 
 bounded joy and enthusiasm. A flotilla of boats, having on board Gov- 
 ernor Clinton and officers of the State government, a committee of the 
 common council of the city of New York, and numerous delegates from 
 towns along -the line of the canal, made the passage from Lake Erie to 
 Sandy Hook. Leaving Buffalo on Wednesday morning it was their in- 
 tention to be in Utica on Saturday night ; but unforeseen delays hindered 
 their arrival until Sunday noon. In the afternoon they attended divine 
 worship at the Presbyterian Church. Early on Monday morning these 
 distinguished guests were received at the court-house, where an address 
 was delivered by Judge Ezekiel Bacon in behalf of his fellow towns- 
 men, to which Governor Clinton replied. They then re-embarked and 
 continued their excursion. In the evening the canal was illuminated 
 along its course through the village by floating tar barrels on fire. The 
 committee from Utica appointed to take part in the celebration at New 
 York consisted of William Clarke, president of the corporation, Jonas 
 Piatt, Thomas H. Hubbard, Charles C. Broadhead, Richard R. Lansing, 
 and Alexander Coventry. Elsewhere, along the whole line and to the 
 city of New York, the occasion was observed with .similar demonstra- 
 tions of delight. Medals were struck, sketches of canal scenes were im- 
 printed on earthenware, on handkerchiefs, etc., in commemoration of the 
 event. 
 
38o MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 As an evidence of the rapidity with which the canal was brought 
 into use, and of the very great change which it made in the mode of 
 transportation, particularly as regards freight, it may be stated that the 
 number of canal boats which arrived at Albany during the season of 
 1823 was 1,329; during that of l824it was 2,687 ! duringthat of 1825 
 it was 3,336; and in 1826 it was about 7,000. The rate for transpor- 
 tation on the turnpike in 1826 was one and one-half cents per mile; the 
 rate by the canal was five mills. But it should not, therefore, be in- 
 ferred that all passengers deserted the stages for the packet boats. The 
 canal passage was still tedious beside land travel, and was chosen chiefly 
 by those who desired to lessen the fatigue of a journey ; it was avoided 
 where time was of account. Merchants, bankers, and tradesmen bound 
 to or from the metropolis, lawyers in their progress to the courts, and 
 all fulfilling engagements or intent only on business and who must 
 needs go in haste made use of the stages. And though the number of 
 those who then traveled by stage cannot be justly estimated by the 
 multitudes who now daily sweep past on the rail, and though journeying 
 by one's own conveyance, was formerly much more customary than at 
 present, yet it is not difficult to conceive that stage travelers were 
 numerous, and that the business which consisted in finding and regu- 
 lating the means to carry them onward was a large and important one. 
 At the date of the death of Mr. Parker, in 1828, there were eight daily 
 lines of stages running through Utica east and west, besides four lines 
 running north and south, with the departure and arrival of eighty-four 
 stages weekly. And the old stages held their own to a considerable ex- 
 tent even after the railroad had been in operation several years ; and the 
 rivalry between the runners for the packet boats, the stages, and the 
 railroad trains was intense, and often developed into riotous proceed- 
 ings which the police of the village and city were called upon to quell. 
 
 The revised estimates of the cost of the canal placed it at nearly 
 $S,000,000. By an act of May 11, 1835, an enlargement was ordered, 
 which was begun in August, 1836, and completed in September, 1862, 
 at a cost of $36,495,535. This of course greatly increased the capacity 
 and usefulness of the canal and rendered it one of the finest artificial 
 waterways in the world. 
 
 The Chenango Canal was opened to connect the Erie Canal at Utica 
 
CHENANGO CANAL — PLANK ROADS. 381 
 
 with the Susquehanna River at Binghamton ; it is one of the many 
 projects (most of which were never carried out) which sprang from the 
 completion and success of the Erie Canal. Legislation for these artificial 
 waterways in all parts of the country became very popular, and vision- 
 ary people saw the State covered with a network of canals. The act 
 authorizing the Chenango Canal was passed February 23, 1833, and the 
 work of construction began in July, 1834. Several points of connec- 
 tion with the Erie Canal were discussed, and it was only by the most 
 persistent and unremitting efforts that Utica was finally selected. To 
 pay the expenses of securing the termination for this city a tax was 
 imposed and in later years unavailing efforts were made to secure its 
 payment by the State. 
 
 The canal was finished in October, 1836, at a cost of $2,782,124. It 
 was ninety- seven miles long exclusive of feeders, forty feet wide at 
 the surface, twenty-four at the bottom, and four feet deep, and calcu- 
 lated for boats from fifty to seventy tons. The canal was for a number 
 of years of considerable importance to the city of Utica, especially for 
 the conveyance thither of coal from the mines of Pennsylvania, but the 
 construction of the railroad through the same section of country soon 
 reduced its traffic, and after a good deal of discussion it was finally 
 abandoned. 
 
 What may be properly termed a plank road era began about 1845—46, 
 and within a few years thereafter the construction of those then neces- 
 sary and useful roadways extended throughout the State. They were 
 commonly built by stock companies organized under the "Act to pro- 
 vide for the incorporation of companies to construct plank roads and 
 of companies to construct turnpike roads," which act was passed' by the 
 legislature on the 7th of May, 1847. 
 
 Becoming fully convinced of the value and importance of the new 
 roadways the citizens of Utica held a meeting in January, 1847, at 
 which resolutions were adopted setting forth the merits of plank roads, 
 the desirability of building them between Utica and surrounding vil- 
 lages, and entreating the authorities for a general law endowing con- 
 structing companies and pledging $50,000 from the people of the city 
 for the building of such roads as were then had in view. On the last 
 day of June, 1847, ^'^ association was formed to construct a plank road 
 
382 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 to the nothward. Its proposition was to start from the corners at Deer- 
 field and extend to a tavern known as Hicks's, five miles north of the 
 village of Remsen, whence other companies were to carry it onward. 
 Its capital was $50,000, of which nearly four- fifths were taken in Utica. 
 Seven of the nine directors were of Utica, as follows : John Butterfield, 
 Ward Hunt, James Rockwell, Horatio Seymour, John B. Miller, Elisha 
 W. Teackle, Jonathan R. Warner, John Billings, and Mather Beecher. 
 Mr. Butterfield was its president and Benjamin F. Ray treasurer. Of 
 this road the last plank was laid in the fall of 1848. The new highway 
 was a source of great benefit for a number of years, was extensively 
 traveled, and brought a reasonable profit to its owners; but with the 
 increasing cost of plank, and still more with the opening of the Black 
 River Railroad, its necessity was greatly lessened and its income re- 
 duced. When its charter expired in 1877 it was not renewed. 
 
 The northern was only one of these highways that were now taken 
 in hand. The moneyed men of the town joined in league with those 
 from without, and in meetings everywhere held unfolded their projects ; 
 funds were secured and companies formed, and ere long these roadways 
 extended toward nearly every point of the compass. With Rome, 
 with New Hartford and Clinton, with Bridgewater, Waterville, Burling- 
 toti, Mohawk, and Schuyler our connections were vastly bettered. 
 
 The ultimate fate of these roads was in general similar to that depicted 
 of the northern. While new and promotive of business and travel they 
 seemed to be paying investments, and were kept in good condition so 
 long as it cost but little to do so. But as they became worn and cost 
 of repairs was enhanced the incomes were reduced, and many of them 
 finally ruined their owners. A few exchanged their old planks for a 
 basis of stone, but most were outrivaled by the railroads. 
 
 Prior to the year 1826 (only sixty- five years ago) there was not a rail- 
 road in America. In that year a road four miles in length, called the 
 " Quincy Railroad," was built in Massachusetts for the transportation 
 of granite from the celebrated quarries. The motive power was horses; 
 the use of steam was hardly thought of at that time. In April of the 
 year in which the Quincy Railroad was built the legislature of the State 
 of New York chartered the " Mohawk and Hudson River Railroad 
 Company " to construct a railroad between Albany and Schenectady. 
 
MOHA WK AND HUDSON RAILROAD. 383 
 
 This was the first chartered railroad company in the Union authorized 
 to carry on a general transportation business of freight and passengers. 
 It was the year the Erie Canal was brought fully into use, and it had 
 already become a general conviction that at an early day a railroad 
 would run along its course as a competitor for a' share of the traffic. 
 As business in all of its various channels rapidly increased, demanding 
 increased activity on the part of merchants and manufacturers, the ele- 
 ment of time became a larger factor in every man's business and had a 
 distinct effect upon his profits and losses. Shrewd and far-seeing men 
 realized that this line across the Emire State was the natural course for 
 through trade, as it is now termed, and busy brains were speculating 
 upon ways and means and possible results of building railways that 
 would, at least, divide the traffic of the canal and the stages and prove 
 a profitable investment. The capital of the Mohawk and Hudson 
 River Company was $300,000 with the privilege of increasing it to 
 $500,000. 
 
 In the meantime, and before work on this road was begun, railroads 
 in other States were commenced, finished, and brought into use, with 
 locomotives propelled by steam. Among these was the Auburn and 
 Syracuse Railroad, which was chartered in May, 1834, and was first 
 operated by steam in 1839. In August, 1830, and about twenty 
 months before the expiration of the six years in which the road was to 
 be built, the work of construction was begun and it was pushed forward 
 with so much energy that in October, 1831, it was fully completed and 
 carrying about 400 passengers daily on the average. This road, the 
 first in the State, was of course crude in its plan, imperfect in construc- 
 tion, and expensive in operation. The road-bed was mostly of solid 
 stone, and with such an unyielding foundation it acted as an anvil and 
 the rolling stock as hammers to batter and wear out the timbers, cross- 
 ties, and rails. Its cost was $68,000 per mile. 
 
 During the ten years subsequent to the charter of the first railroad in 
 this State, the legislature granted many charters for the building of rail- 
 roads in various parts of the State. The success, such as it was, of the 
 road from Albany to Schene'ctady served to inspire confidence in more 
 extensive and better railroads and taught many valuable lessons that 
 later builders were not slow to turn to their own account. The charter 
 
384 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 for the Utica and Schenectady Railroad was granted in 1833. The 
 road was to run between those two places, on the north bank of. 
 the Mohawk River, and its western terminus to be at such point 
 as should be determined by the common council of the city of 
 Utica. 
 
 The capital stock of this railroad was placed at $2,000,000, and the 
 work of construction was to be begun and $100,000 expended within 
 two years, and the road to be completed within ten years after the pas- 
 sage of the act, or the charter of the company would be forfeited. 
 Property (freight) was not to be transported over the road except the 
 ordinary baggage of passengers, and the company was limited to four 
 cents a mile for carrying passengers, and before beginning passenger 
 transportation the company was required to pay or tender to the Mo- 
 hawk Turnpike Company $22. 50 on each share of the stock of said Turn- 
 pike Company. That turnpike was chartered in 1800, as noted on an 
 earlier page. 
 
 The State reserved the right to become the owner of the railroad 
 within ten years after its completion. Work was begun in the fall of 
 the year 1834 and the road was fully finished at a cost of $20,000 per mile 
 in the summer of 1836, so that it was in running order and regular trips 
 were begun on the 2d of August of that year. The opening of the road 
 was a great event, not only in Utica, but all along its line, and it was 
 celebrated with enthusiasm. The newspapers throughout the State 
 announced the opening with a grand flourish and boasted that the com- 
 pany had six locomotives, fifty cars, and fifty emigrant wagons, and 
 that each car "would carry twenty- four passengers." 
 
 The business of the railroad appears to have been excellent from the 
 outset, notwithstanding the various imperfections of the line and the 
 rivalry between the runners for the packet boats on the canal, the stages, 
 and the railroad, which became intense and continued for several 
 years. 
 
 The next year after the Utica and Schenectady Railroad Company 
 was chartered the Auburn and Syracuse {lailroad Company was organ- 
 ized, as before stated, and this fact — that there were to be railroad con- 
 nections between Albany and Utica and Auburn and Syracuse — very 
 naturally awakened the people along the line to the desirability of sup- 
 
UTICA AND SYRACUSE RAILROAD. 385 
 
 plying the necessary links to complete the chain from the Hudson River 
 to the lakes. The railroads already built were well paying investments 
 and would clearly be of great benefit in developing the country through 
 which they passed. 
 
 These considerations led to the nomination for the legislature of 
 the year 1836 of men whose power and influence would be potent 
 and reliable for the introduction and passage of charters for other roads. 
 In the fall of 1835 David Wager, of Utica, was chosen State senator 
 from this county and in the Assembly were John Stryker,'of Rome; 
 Henry Graves, of Boonville ; John W. Hale, of Clinton ; William Knight, 
 of Paris; and Jared' C. Pettibone, of Lee. In the Assembly from Madi- 
 son County were William J. Hough, df Cazenovia ; John B. Yates, of 
 Chittenango ; and Ephraim Gray, of Lebanon. These three Madison. 
 County members were strong and influential men, and from their geo- 
 graphical location would naturally favor a route running farther south 
 than the one finally selected. In the Assembly from Onondaga County 
 were John Wilkinson, of Syracuse, a man wlio had already taken a deep 
 and active interest in the new railroads; David, Munro, of Camillus; 
 Sanford C. Parker, of Marcellus; and Daniel Dennison, of Manlius. As 
 was expected the legislature of 1836 was besieged with petitions for 
 railroad charters in all parts of the State, and among them was one for 
 a railroad from Utica to Syracuse as well as one. for a road from 
 Auburn to Rochester. 
 
 At the opening of the session the friends of this road and of the two 
 routes advocated were on hand in force. One party insisted that the 
 road should be built wholly on the south side of the Erie Canal, start- 
 ing al a point in Utica near the site of the present city hall, thence through 
 New Hartford, Westmoreland, Vernon, and as near Oneida Castle and 
 the Madison County hills as the grades would permit. This was the 
 shorter distance and brought the road nearer the more cultivated por- 
 tions of Madison County, and hence was strenuously urged by the 
 assemblymen from that section as well as by a large part of the popu- 
 lation of that county. Most of the Utica influence also favored that 
 route, as it would insure a break in the line at this point and make the 
 city a "carrying-place." It was argued by many Uticans that if the 
 railroad were continuous this city would in time become little better 
 49 
 
386 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 than a way station on the great thoroughfare, and its growth and busi- 
 ness facilities would be crippled. The more northern route was favored 
 by the people of Rome and the northern portion of the county, because 
 of its favorable grades, consequent cheapness of construction, and the 
 small amount that would have to be paid for land damages. In the 
 selection of the railroad commissioners, who at that time were named by 
 the legislature, and whose duty it was to open the subscription books for 
 the sale of the stock and to distribute it among the subscribers, a consid- 
 erable majority were in favor of the Rome route, as it was termed, and in 
 this majority were a number of very strong men. John B. Yates. was 
 chairman of the railroad committee' in the Assembly, and in that fact 
 the advocates of the southern route had a decided advantage ; but after 
 a prolonged and intensely earnest discussion and a great deal of wire- 
 pulling Orville Robinson, of Oswego, struck a popular chord when he 
 moved that the majority of the directors should locate the road " on the 
 most direct and eligible route." This was carried and the contest in 
 the Assembly was ended. On the iith of May the bill became a law 
 and the following were named as commissioners: Julius A. Spencer, 
 Henry A. Foster, David Moulton, Timothy Jenkins, Pomeroy Jones, 
 Israel S. Parker, Riley Shepard, of Oneida County ; John Knowles, 
 Ichabod S. Spencer, John Williams, Benjamin Enos, of Madison County ; 
 and Vivus W. Smith, Miles W. Bennett, Horace Wheaton, Thomas J. 
 Gilbert, E. L. Phillips, Aaron Burt, and James Beardslee, of Onon- 
 daga County. The capital stock of the company was $800,000, and 
 if the road was not commenced in two years and at least $25,000 
 expended, and was not finished in four years after the passage of the 
 act, the charter was forfeit. Subscription books were opened on the 
 19th, 20th, and 2ist of July, 1836. Although the capital stock was 
 only $800,000 nearly $2,500,000 were subscribed outside of the city of 
 New York, of which Utica took $1,066,000. There was some complaint 
 over the distribution of the stock under these conditions and charges 
 of political preferment were made ; but it is claimed by good authority 
 that there was very little ground for such charges. 
 
 The first election of directors was held on the 22d of September, 
 1836, at the Syracuse House in Syracuse, and the following were 
 chosen : Henry Seymour, David Wager, Henry A. Foster, David 
 
UTICA AND SYRACUSE RAILROAD. 387 
 
 Moulton, Samuel French, John Wilkinson, Oliver Teall, James Beards- 
 lee, James Hooker, Isaiah Townsend, Miles W. Bennett, and Charles 
 Stebbins. Henry Seymour was elected president of the road ; Vivus 
 W. Smith, secretary; M. S. Marsh, treasurer; and Aaron Burt, super- 
 intendent. Oliver H. Lee, formerly engineer on the Utica and Schenec- 
 tady road, was made chief engineer, with J. P. Monro and C. B. Stuart 
 as assistants. 
 
 Surveys of the different routes were at once begun. In August, 
 1837, Mr. Seymour died and Mr. Wilkinson -was made president of 
 the road, and held the position until the consolidation into the New 
 York Central Company in 1853. 
 
 Within fourteen months after the road was put under contract it was 
 fully completed. Much of the way it was built upon piles, a system 
 which was mainly the invention of E. P. Williams, of Utica. The road 
 was fully completed in June, 1839. Its cost was $700,000, which was 
 $100,000 less than its capital stock. 
 
 The first engines on this as well as on the Utica and Schenectady 
 road wei;e single- drivers with small trail wheels under the cab, which 
 consisted of a roof hung around with oilcloth during the winter. The 
 weight of the locomotive was from four to six tons. The first cars had 
 four wheels. The conductor passed along on the outside of the compart- 
 ments, which had four seats each, and collected the fares. In 1843 
 the cars had no projections over the platforms and were low and illy 
 ventilated. It was quite a step in advance when locomotives with four 
 drivers were placed in use, and even they had no pilots ; some 
 had two splint brooms set in front just in position to. clear the track, 
 and others flat iron bars bent forward and sharpened at the ends. This 
 was the "cow-catcher." In winter a large wooden plow was placed in 
 front of the engine. 
 
 The first railroad track was soon superseded by an eight- by- eight 
 wooden rail, along the center of which was placed strap- iron of the 
 same width and thickness as that at first used. In 1849 '^ second track 
 was laid and heavier iron put oh both roads. The council of Utica 
 granted privileges to the railroad company, as had already been done 
 to the Utica and Schenectady Company, for laying tracks, building 
 depots, etc. On Thursday, June 27, 1839, the first train of cars ran 
 
388 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 between Utica and Rome, and an editor of that place boasted in his 
 journal that he bad shaken hands on the day mentioned with persons in 
 Rome who had left Utica only forty-five minutes before. In the after- 
 noon the train proceeded to Syracuse, and there was great rejoicing 
 along the whole line. During the first week the cars were run free, 
 but on Wednesday, July 3d, the company began taking pay, and the 
 average receipts for a number of days were over $600 per day. On 
 the 4th of July there was a great excursion over the road and the day 
 and the scene were not soon forgotten by those who participated in it. 
 The road ran most of the way through a dense forest ; the tracks were laid 
 upon piles without filling between so that the train seemed to run in 
 the air. Everything was new and rural. On Wednesday, July 10, 
 1839, the completion of the road was celebrated with ampler state and 
 ceremony, marked at Syracuse with a military escort, the ringing of 
 bells and the firing of cannon, the tumultuous rejoicing of the people, 
 and a dinner at which were seated 400 or 500 prominent citizens of Al- 
 bany, Utica, and Syracuse. 
 
 The railroad was a great success for that time in every sense. In the 
 same week that it was finished its stock sold at ten per cent, advance. 
 Both of these lines thus far described were merged in the New York 
 Central Railwa}' in 1853, the charter of that company being dated April 
 3d. The consolidation included the following companies: The Albany 
 and Schenectady, the Schenectady and Troy, the Utica and Schenec- 
 tady, the Mohawk Valley, Syracuse, and Utica, the Rochester and 
 Syracuse, the Rochester, Lockport, and Niagara Falls, the Rochester 
 and Buffalo, and the Buffalo and Lockport, of which the Mohawk Val- 
 ley and the Syracuse and Utica direct railroad (as it was termed) were 
 not built. In the year 1869 this company was merged in the New 
 York Central and Hudson River Railroad Company, acquiring control 
 of the line along the river to New York city. Subsequently the road 
 was equipped from Albany to Buffalo with four tracks — the only 
 line of that character in the country. In 1885 the New York, West 
 Shore, and Buffalo Railroad was absorbed by the Central, thus giving 
 the latter control of six tracks; and on the 14th of March, 1891, the 
 Central assumed under a lease the entire system of the Rome, Water- 
 town, and Ogdensburg Company, making it at the present time one of 
 the most powerful railroad corporations in the country. 
 
UTICA AND BLACK RIVER RAILROAD. 389 
 
 The Utica and Black River Railroad was first formed under the name 
 of the Black River and Utica Railroad Company on the 29th of Janu- 
 ary, 1853. The original company contained many prominent citizens 
 of Utica, of whom Theodore S. Faxton was president, and the project 
 awakened unusual interest, not only in the city, but along its entire pro- 
 posed line. Public meetings were held here and elsewhere and it was 
 not long before the enterprise assumed tangible shape. Some idea of 
 the interest in this city may be inferred by the fact that its promotors 
 were able to induce the city corporation to take $250,000 in the stock 
 — a very large amount of money at that time, and which was eventually 
 a loss. 
 
 Work was begun late in the same year and prosecuted throughout 
 tlie following one. The road was opened to Boonville on the 13th of 
 December, 1854, and to Trenton on the ist of January, 1855. From 
 the report made at the meeting of stockholders held in January, 1856, 
 it appeared that the first thirty-five miles with finished parts beyond 
 had consumed the whole of the capital and involved its friends and the 
 city in loss. The work had proceeded too fast for the means at com- 
 mand ; especially had the company erred in encouraging engineer's 
 costs and in distributing labor along the whole line in lieu of complet- 
 ing a little at the nearer extreme. Of other graver mistakes it is need- 
 less to speak. It only remained to issue fresh bonds, and these were 
 now put freely in market at seventy, at sixty, and then at fifty cents on 
 the dollar. They were increased by degrees until they reached the 
 sum of $800,000. When these failed of interest their holders commit- 
 ted the road to John Thorn and Isaac Maynard to operate as trustees. 
 That the- road was a failure was not due to the location or business, 
 which from the first had exceeded all expectations; nor was it, moreover, 
 deficient in good in enlarging the bounds and augmenting the value of 
 Utica. 
 
 To put its concerns on a more economical basis on the 9th of May, 
 1 861, a re-organization took place. The holders of bonds exchanged 
 them for a new issue of stock, and the corporate name was changed to 
 Utica and Black River Railroad and new directors were elected. The 
 first Board of Directors were : John Thorn, president; James Sayre, 
 A. J. Williams, Martin Hart, Charles Millar, Edmund A. Graham, John 
 
390 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 Butterfield, Isaac Maynard, Thomas Foster, Dan P. Cadwell, Russel 
 Wheeler, and two others from outside the city. The capital of the new 
 company was $8i 1,500, of which $535,000 was owned by Utica people. 
 
 In this unsatisfactory condition of the road John Thorn ^ and his asso- 
 ciates immediately inaugurated a system of economy in management, 
 improvement of the road-bed and rolling stock, and soon changed the 
 whole aspect of the affairs of the company. He held the office of presi- 
 dent until the present time excepting the period from 1 873 to 1 879, when 
 David C. West was president. A plan of extension was adopted which 
 soon became a powerful factor in the prosperity of the road. On the 
 iith of November, 1863, the stockholders were surprised with a two 
 per cent, dividend, the first that the road had ever paid. In 1867 the 
 road was continued to Lyons Falls, ten miles; in 1868-69 to Lowville, 
 seventeen miles; in 1869— 70 to Carthage; and from there to Philadel- 
 phia in 1871-72, connecting with the Black River and Morristown road, 
 which then had about seven miles of road completed. That line was 
 at once finished and absorbed, and in 1872 the company leased the 
 road from Carthage to Watertown. Two years later the line was com- 
 pleted to Sacket's Harbor, involving under that lease about thirty miles 
 of road. In 1874 a conection was made with the Clayton and Theresa 
 road at Theresa Junction, and that line was also taken under a lease. In 
 1878 the road was extended to Ogdensburg, eleven miles. In 1883 a 
 consolidation was effected with the Black River and Morristown road, 
 and in 1886 all of these various branches excepting the Carthage, 
 Watertown, and Sacket's Harbor road (which continued under lease) 
 were consolidated under the name of the Utica and Black River Rail- 
 road Company, comprising about 150 miles of road. On the 14th of 
 April, 1886, this entire system was leased to the Rome, Watertown, and 
 Ogdensburg Company for seven per cent, on its capital stock. On the 
 14th of March, 1 89 1, the road passed with all of the lines of the Rome, 
 Watertown, and Ogdensburg Company under control of the New York 
 Central and Hudson River Railroad Company. 
 
 In the spring of 1853, just after the Black River Railroad was pro- 
 jected, a movement was made toward a road to the south. Meetings 
 were held in various towns and a company was organized with Alfred 
 
 1 See biography in anot'ner department of this work. 
 
U., C, AND S. V. RAILROAD. 
 
 39' 
 
 Munson as president. His death, the failure of the Black River road, and 
 other causes occasioned suspension and delay. The matter continued, 
 however, to be talked of, and more earnestly as the northern road 
 emerged from its pressure and was again prepared for extension. In the 
 winter of 1863 the excitement ran high when two definite plans were 
 found to exist ; with Sherburne as the objective point to be reached 
 one party chose a line by way of Clinton and Hamilton along the 
 course of the Chenango Canal, while the other would follow the Sau- 
 quoit to its source, thence down the Chenango to Waterville, and 
 through the Long Swamp to Sherburne. As a consequence of the di- 
 vergence of interests, as soon as the energies of both parties were con- 
 centered each on its own, steps were taken to open up both. A road 
 was now built from New Hartford to Clinton and connected by horse 
 car with Utica. Having constructed this much its company waited 
 some years ere they built any farther. Meantime the other proposal 
 was zealously forwarded. A committee appointed September 2$, 1865, 
 to make a survey of the district involved, in November following ad- 
 vised that a road should be built to course along the Sauquoit, a valley 
 abounding in manufactures and people, to a point beyond Clayville, 
 whence a branch should extend to the village of Waterville, and pass- 
 ing near Hamilton should reach down to Sherburne, and so command 
 the rich trade of the Chenango ; while another, going through Bridge- 
 water, Winfield, and Richfield, should move on to Colliersville on the 
 line of the Susquehanna. Each branch would in time be extended. 
 The road now proposed was to be something over eighty miles long, 
 was to cost $30,000 per mile, and so needed a capital of $2,400,000. 
 Of this amount Utica's share was $700,000, whereof $200,000 was to 
 be raised by subscription and the remaining $500,000 was to come 
 from the bonds of the city. Other towns on the line were disposed to 
 contribute according to their numbers and wealth. 
 
 With the fate of the Black River in mind it was recommended besides 
 that the road should be paid for as built, and go forward no faster than 
 funds were on hand, so that when finished it would be left without debt. 
 After sufficient discussion the resolves of the committee were passed 
 and the company organized with the directors they named, and the cor- 
 porate title " Utica, Chenango, and Susquehanna Valley Railway." 
 
392 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 The directors were Lewis Lawrence, Daniel Crouse, A. J. Williams, 
 James F. Mann, James K. Hitchcock, John Butterfield", Thomas Foster, 
 and John Thorn, of Utica ; George W. Chadwick, of New Hartford; 
 N. W. Moore, of Sauquoit ; D. B. Goodwin, of Waterville ; and Devillo 
 White, of Sherhurne. Mr. Lawrence was made the executive head and 
 gave to the wqrk the same earnest purpose and vigilant care, the same 
 surrender of self and control over others, which had marked his conduct 
 in private affairs. Other directors rendered useful assistance by their 
 money and labors. Mr. Lawrence assumed most of the load and was 
 unremitted in his duty through storm and through cold. The $200,000 
 required by private subscription was raised in our midst, and $17,000 
 besides. Opposition was fruitless, and when in March, 1866, on days 
 determined by law, the question of bonding came up at the polls, it re- 
 ceived the assent of above two out of three of the voters. Our bond- 
 ing accomplished other towns followed suit. Ere long enough was se- 
 cured to warrant commencement and ground was broken on the 1st of 
 July. Thenceforward work never flagged and the enterprise fast as- 
 sumed a tangible form. On the 14th of November its coaches con- 
 veyed a large and joyous assembly to Waterville. Like diligent energy 
 on the part of the company, like credit from the towns on the line, to 
 that which had conducted the road thus far, conducted it later to Sher- 
 burne. Four additional miles were constructed the next spring, and 
 there at Sherburne Four Corners the work for the present was stayed ; 
 for now by the aid of the Midland passage was accomplished to Nor- 
 wich. The branch that turned eastward from Cassvilte was taken in 
 hand in October, 1868. Traversing Bridgewater, Plainfield, and Win- 
 field this work, of something harder construction, was successfully car- 
 ried to Richfield, which it reached near the close of 1870. Of the road 
 as projected sixty-seven miles were finished, with about seven of siding 
 at a cost to the owners of about $28,000 per mile. It was pretty well 
 stocked with rolling material and equipped with the requisite buildings. 
 On both of its branches two or more trains ran daily forward and back. 
 Its receipts for passage and freights contented the most sanguine ex- 
 pectants. 
 
 And now, just before its completion to Richfield, the whole of the 
 road, including this part yet unfinished, was leased for the remaining 
 

UTICA, CLINTON, AND BINGHAMTON RAILROAD. 393 
 
 term of its charter to another more opulent company owning $15,000,- 
 000 of capital, having control of the coal mines at Scranton, and 
 enormous producers and consumers of the fuel. By the terms of agree- 
 ment with the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railway the lessors 
 were to finish to Richfield, to increase the amount of their cars and loco- 
 motives, and to make th'eir issue of stock not to exceed $1,800,000. In 
 return the lessees would extend the first branch thirty-seven miles 
 farther, and thus by means of roads of their own would reach down to 
 the mines ; besides they would pay a six per cent, annual dividend to 
 all holders of stock in the road they now leased. The arrangement 
 took effect on the first day of May, but by a later arrangement the ex- 
 tension was really made by the Utica, Chenango, and Syracuse. Their 
 stock was augmented from $2,500,000 to $4,000,000, and with this en- 
 largement of capital the company carried its road to Greene on the 
 borders of Broome. Here it touched the Binghamton and Syracuse 
 and established the wished-for relations with Scranton. 
 
 Let us now notice another road to the south which was projected and 
 partly constructed in advance of the preceding, then enlarged in de- 
 sign, made to run a somewhat parallel course, and like the preceding 
 leased when completed to a long established and opulent company well 
 known as importers of coal. The Utica,Clinton, and Binghamton Com- 
 pany was organized in August, 1862, to construct a horse or steam road 
 " from the village of Clinton through the town of New Hartford and city 
 of Utica into the town of Whitestown, to the village of Whitesboro, or 
 New York Mills, or both." Its capital stock was $23,000, and of its 
 thirteen directors these six were of Utica, viz.: John Butterfield, Alrick 
 Hubbell, John Thorn, Lewis Lawrence, Hugh Crocker, O. B. Matteson. 
 With them were joined Daniel C. Mason, of New Hartford, and six 
 others from the east, Mr. Butterfield being the prime mover and head. 
 By the fall of 1863 the rails were in place and carriage by horse was 
 accomplished from New Hartford to Utica. Conceiving designs more 
 ambitious the company changed its name the next year by legislat- 
 ive permission, and planned an extension to Waterville. Pushing for- 
 ward the work first undertaken they had built by the summer of 1866 
 a horse road to Whitesboro and a road for steam-power from New Hart- 
 ford to Clinton, which was worked by a dummy that ran in connection 
 
 50 
 
394 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 with the hprse cars from Utica. In December, 1867, being now opened 
 to Deansv^Se^they organized anew with a capital raised to $1,000,000. 
 Of its board the Utica members nearly all retained their places in di- 
 rection. Their aim was now directed to Sherburne. Difference of 
 sentiment as to the best route to this spot was now prevailing, and so 
 strong was the strife that the movers in behalf of both routes were 
 hampered in getting the means they required to effect their respective 
 designs. With an increase of resources derived from the bonding of 
 Hamilton for $60,000, of Madison for $100,000, and of Augusta and 
 Kirkland for $40,000 each the company continued to move forward 
 their road. Henceforth they were known as the Utica, Clinton, and 
 Binghamton. Their track, which was laid to Oriskany Falls in 1868, 
 they carried to Hamilton in 1870, and by a three miles farther exten- 
 sion they joined, at Smith's Valley, the line of the Midland, and thus 
 were assured of the terminus sought. 
 
 But though the road was opened thus far, and was much in use by the 
 public, the line to New Hartford was still unfittedforsteam, and for luggage 
 and freight as well as for passengers the horse road was the only means 
 of conveyance. The delay and inconvenience of transfer, the obstruc- 
 tion of the street by the passage of lumbering cars, and their unsightly 
 presence in our principal avenue were felt as an evil by townsmen and 
 traveler and yet more by the company. Room must be found for an 
 additional road and likewise the funds essential to build it. Failing in 
 efforts to obtain from their rival permission to use this end of its line 
 by means of connection made at New Hartford they next appealed to 
 the city for aid. The city furnished its bond for $200,000. At a cost 
 of nearly $400,000 the new road was built in 1871. The steam road 
 w IS leased the year after its completion to the New York and Oswego 
 Midland. In September, 1873, this company went into the hands of 
 receivers, who continued to operate the part that was leased until No- 
 vember, 187s, when they failed in their rent and abandoned the charge. 
 A new lease was effected with a corporation more free of embarrass- 
 ment and which has stood as a guarantee of the former. This was the 
 Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, widely known for its wealth and 
 connections as one of the great purveyors of coal. 
 
 The constructions we have had under survey — these roads to the 
 
NE W YORK, WEST SHORE, AND B UFFALO RAILROAD. 395 
 
 south and the one to the north, thus intersecting the Central — have 
 made an important center of Utica and immensely increased its con- 
 venience for transportation and trade. Its compass of business is again 
 what it was when the country was new and there were few towns about 
 us to compete for a share. And as the outlying population is denser 
 by far than it was then, and its wants in proportion augmented, we make 
 up in absolute increase for all that is lost of the trade to rivals more re- 
 cently started. 
 
 The New York, West Shore, and Buffalo Railroad Company was 
 chartered on the 14th of June, 1881, and the New York, Buffalo, and 
 West Shore Railway Company was afterward formed under the laws of 
 New York and New Jersey by consolidation of the original company 
 with the North River Construction Company. The original capital 
 stock was $40,000,000, and the first officers were Horace Porter, pres- 
 ident; Charles Hurd, vice-president ; Theodore Houston, second vice- 
 president ; Alexander Taylor, secretary and treasurer ; Charles Paine, 
 general manager. The road was opened from Weehawken to Syracuse 
 on the 1st of October, 1883, and to Bufifalo on January i, 1884. On 
 the 2d of October, 1885, judgment of foreclosure and sale of the road 
 was entered in the Supreme Court of the State of New York. The 
 property was sold at auction, and on the 5th of December was trans- 
 ferred to the purchasers, J. Pierpont Morgan, Chauncey M. Depew, and 
 Ashbel Green, as joint tenants. The road was then at once leased to 
 the New York Central Company. 
 
 In July, 1884, D. B. McCoy was appointed superintendent of the 
 Buffalo division of the line, relieving Superintendent Merrill. This di- 
 vision then extended from Bufifalo to Syracuse, with headquarters at the 
 former city. H. W. Gardner was superintendent of the Mohawk di- 
 vision, from Syracuse to Coeyman's Junction on the Hudson River, 
 from 1884 to April, 1885, when the Mohawk division was absorbed in 
 the Hudson River and Bufifalo division, which terminated at Frankfort, 
 with Superintendent McCoy's 6fifice at Newark. In April, 1888, his 
 ofifice was removed to Syracuse and his authority extended to Coey- 
 man's. J. P. Bradfield was made superintendent from there to Wee- 
 hawken. This road has never exerted a great influence on the city of 
 Utica, as it passes nearly two miles to the southward of the central part 
 of the city. 
 
396 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 CHURCHES OF THE SEVERAL DENOMINATIONS. 
 
 Presbyterian Societies — Congregational Organizations — The Reformed Church -^s- 
 The Episcopal Denomination — The Methodists — The Baptists — The Lutherans — 
 The Moravian Church — Roman Catholics — The Hebrews and their Synagogues — 
 Welsh Churches — Sketches of some, of the Clergymen who have preached in Utica. 
 
 IT is a conspicuous fact, and one pleasant to contemplate in the civiliza- 
 tion that progressed westward with the settlement of America, that 
 very few if any communities located and remained for any considerable 
 time in the wilderness without founding there an altar, however humble 
 and however few the number that could be gathered around it for the 
 w orship of the Creator. His presence and His power were needed and 
 felt in the wilderness as much and more, perhaps, than in the busy 
 scenes of later and larger communities. 
 
 Up to the year 1801 the only existing and continuous religious soci- 
 ety here was that which had been organized at Whitesboro in 1793 
 under the title of the " United Society of Whitestown and Old Fort 
 Schuyler," Of this church and its first pastor a brief account has been 
 given on pages 55 and 56. 
 
 Trinity Church dates its origin from the year 1798. Its actual be- 
 ginning we have in the words of its founder. Rev. Philander Chase, af- 
 terward bishop of Illinois. In 1798 Mr. Chase was occupied in mis- 
 sionary labors in this State, and while thus engaged arrived in Utica, 
 " This now flourishing city was then," he says, " but a small hamlet. 
 The stumps of the forest trees were yet standing thick and sturdy in 
 the streets, if streets they may be termed, where scarcely two of them 
 were fenced out. Even Colonel Walker's house, for some time the best 
 in the place, was not then built. That worthy Christian gentleman re- 
 ceived the writer in a small tenement which he then occupied, and it 
 was by his encouragement that the writer succeeded in organizing a 
 parish according to an act of the legislature passed two or three winters 
 before. The parish was named ' The Rector, Wardens, and Vestry- 
 
THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 397 
 
 men of Trinity Church, Utica.' " Mr. Chase, having thus formed the 
 few Episcopalians of the place into a society, persuaded them to meet 
 together every Sabbath and read the prayers of the church and ser- 
 mons. This the records inform us was for some time done. " But the 
 people of other persuasions increasing fast, and having engaged the 
 Presbyterian minister of Whitesboro to attend regularly, the meetings 
 of the Episcopalians was discontinued." Thus the society appears to 
 have slumbered until 1803, when a re-organization was effected and 
 measures were taken to erect a church building as will be described a 
 little further on. 
 
 Of the United Society of Whitestown and Old Fort Schuyler, which 
 was the first Presbyterian society of Oneida County, I here resume the 
 narrative. In 1803 the number of members of the united church living in 
 Utica had increased to twenty, that of the congregation being probably 
 still greater. It was therefore recommended by the session that one 
 deacon and two elders be chosen from that part of the congregation 
 living in Utica. On the 2d of the following month, at a meeting 
 held in the School-house, Capt. Stephen Potter was elected deacon and 
 Capt. Stephen Potter and Ebenezer Dodd were elected elders. The 
 congregation was incorporated as a distinct society on the 15th of No- 
 vember, 1805, and Jeremiah Van Rensselaer, Erastus Clark, Talcott 
 Camp, Apollos Cooper, Benjamin Ballou, jr., Benjamin Plant, John C. 
 Hoyt, Nathaniel Butler, and Solomon P. Goodrich were chosen the 
 first trustees. In October of the year of Rev. Mr. Dodd's death (^8o4) 
 Rev. James Carnahan came to take the charge, though it was not until 
 the following January that he was ordained and installed. 'If the former 
 is remembered with gratitude for his earnest piety and his faithful dis- 
 charge of the pastoral office the latter is held in deeper and more gen- 
 eral respect, because to these high merits he added also a natural vigor 
 of intellect and a ripeness of scholarship which gave him rank among 
 the foremost of his calling, and in after years gained him distinction as 
 president of Princeton College. 
 
 James Carnahan was born in Cumberland County, Pa., November 15, 
 1 775, and having been trained by one who was an exceptionally fine class- 
 icaj scholar he entered the College of New Jersey and was graduated 
 therefrom in 1800, serving it next as tutor. He was licensed in 1804, 
 
398 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 and after brief periods of service in New Jersey and Pennsylvania he 
 accepted a call from the United Society with a salary of $700, at the 
 same time declining a salary of $1,500 from the Dutch Church of 
 Albany. On the 5th of January, 1805, he was ordained and installed 
 pastor of the United Churches. Preaching alternately in Whitesboro 
 and in Utica his place of worship in the latter village was at first in the 
 school-house on Main street, then in the new edifice of Trinity until the 
 congregation provided a building of their own. Measures for this pur- 
 pose were taken early in his pastorate, a lot being given by John Bel- 
 linger on the sole condition that he should have a pew in the church. 
 This lot was situated on the corner of Washington and Liberty streets. 
 The building was begun at once and finished in the summer of 1807. 
 Up to the year 1807 the whole number of persons received into com- 
 munion with the church was one hundred and twenty-one, of whom 
 only eighty-eight were then in actual fellowship, and of these not more 
 than one- half, and probably not more than one-third, were residents 
 of Utica. It is not forgotten that Dr. Carnahan was foremost in the 
 organization of the Oneida Bible Society, that powerful agent for the 
 spiritual good of this newly- settled region. In 1821, two years before 
 he was chosen president of Princeton, he received from Hamilton Col- 
 lege, of which he was already a trustee, the degree of Doctor of Divin- 
 ity. His dismission from this charge took place November 4, 18 12. 
 
 On the 3d of February, 1813, the United Church was divided; fifty- 
 seven of its members, with two elders, were by act of the Presbytery 
 constituted a church, which took the title of the First Utica Presbyterian 
 Society. On the following day, February 4th, Rev. Henry Dwight, 
 who had temporarily supplied the two pulpits, was ordained and in- 
 stalled their minister. Mr. Dwight — by turns merchant, minister, and 
 banker, a devout, humble, and most useful man, and a prince of pastors 
 — served the church about as long as Mr. Carnahan and was then dis- 
 abled from the same cause. He was born in Springfield, Mass., June 
 25, 1783. He graduated from Yale in 1801 and began his professional 
 studies in New Haven with Rev. Dr. Dwight, finishing at Princeton 
 Theological Seminary. About six weeks after the settlement of Mr. 
 Dwight Rev. John Frost was ordained over the church at Whitesboro, 
 and thus the independence of the two societies was established, though 
 
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 399 
 
 by vote of their respective trustees the ministers continued to exchange 
 pulpits for a considerable period. Almost immediately Mr. Dwight 
 began to reap from the sowing of his predecessor, and ere long his own 
 faithful labors were crowned with yet happier results. No communion 
 season passed without some accessions, and in one year more than 100 
 were added to the previously small number of communicants under his 
 care. It was not long before the modest church edifice was insufificient 
 for the congregation and in 1815 it was elongated by the addition of 
 about one-quarter to its length, and this, with a porch at the end, some- 
 what marred its architectural proportions. Within it was still more 
 unique, for its sentry box of a pulpit was perched against the wall in 
 the middle of the north side and had a canopy or sounding-board above, 
 while the pews were for the most part so placed as to look one- half 
 westward and one-half eastward, a few square ones being immediately 
 in front of the pulpit and a few long ones under the chorister's gallery 
 on the south side. 
 
 The ministry was Dr. Dwight's delight, but after less than five years 
 exercise of it, and when the number of his church members had in- 
 creased from 57 to 222, the failure of his voice compelled his reluct- 
 ant return to secular pursuits. Upon the departure of Mr. Dwight 
 the congregation extended a call to Rev. Samuel C. Aikin. He 
 was born in Windham, Vt., was graduated at Middlebury College, 
 and entering Andover Seminary completed his theological course in 
 1 8 17. After his graduation he was employed a few months in mission- 
 ary work in the city of New York and came thence to Utica. His or- 
 dination and installation took place on the 4th of February, 1818. As 
 a preacher Mr. Aikin at once became popular. He was in person com- 
 manding and dignified, his voice was sonorous and pleasing, and, like 
 his gesticulation, had been skillfully cultivated ; to these qualities he 
 added clearness and finish of diction, an engaging address, and an 
 earnestness which arose at times to eloquence. That his ministrations 
 were fraught with good we may judge by the fact that within a little 
 more than a year after they were begun the church was blessed with a 
 fruitful revival and 113 persons were added to its communion. In 
 1 82 1 a session or conference room for the use of the society was 
 erected on Hotel street, which was also used by the Sunday school. 
 
400 ■ MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 It was enlarged four years later by the addition of a second story at the 
 expense of the Sunday school. The church was not supplied with an 
 organ until 1824, when one was placed in the south gallery. In the 
 latter part of the year 1823, the congregation having become so large 
 that all the seats below and many in the gallery were taken up, and the 
 cares of the minister being deemed too onerous for him to bear alone, 
 it was determined to appoint him an assistant, who, if thought advisable, 
 should organize a new society. Rev. S. W. Brace, then settled in 
 Phelps, Ontario County, was called and arrived in February, 1824. 
 For a time he preached alternately with the regular pastor and next in 
 the session room of the church on Hotel street. Here a new society 
 was formed May 6, 1824, as related further on. A few months later it 
 was proposed by Mr. Aikin's congregation that a new edifice be erected. 
 The proposal to build, and to build a large and handsome church, re- 
 ceived general concurrence. Liberal subscriptions were made and a 
 large number of pews were sold while the building was yet in contem- 
 plation, the amount of $2,000 being assessed on these pews. In the 
 summer of 1826 the plans of Philip Hooker, of Albany, were accepted 
 and the foundations of the new edifice laid twelve feet north of the old 
 one. On the 8th of November, 1827, the new building was formally 
 dedicated. It was a substantial brick structure surmounting a basement 
 of stone; it was 72 feet by 106 with a steeple 208 feet high. The 
 basement contained a session room and two large rooms for the male 
 and female departments of the Sunday school. The auditorium was 
 roomy and well lighted, and over the pulpit was an organ fifteen by ten 
 feet in dimensions and having twelve stops. For many years this fine 
 Ionic edifice surpassed in magnitude and convenience any church 
 structure in Central and Western New York. The old church was 
 neither torn down nor burned up ; it was dismembered and some of its 
 parts still stand. 
 
 The most notable event in this era of the history of the Presby- 
 terian Church was a great revival which occurred in the year 1826, 
 chiefly through the evangelical labors of the Rev. Charles G. Finney. 
 Crowds attended his administrations and the effects of his work were 
 felt throughout the county. The probable number of converts in Utica 
 was about 500 ; in the county at large they were reckoned at more than 
 
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 401 
 
 3,000. Differences of opinion respecting the character of Mr. Finney 
 and the influences of his labor tended to mar the harmony of the con- 
 gregation, and to this source of disagreement between the pastor and 
 his people were added the questions of Sunday mails and anti-slavery, 
 on both of which Mr. Aikin was in advance of the sentiment then gen- 
 erally prevailing; but none of these questions caused anything like an 
 open rupture, and when, therefore, he decided to accept a call to the 
 Presbyterian Church of Cleveland, O., his decision was received with 
 profound regret by his congregation. He left them in May, 1835. 
 Mr. Aikin was succeeded by Rev. John W. Fowler, May 9, 1836, who 
 came from Binghamton ; he was deposed from his oflSce and retired 
 June 15, 1841. Rev. Charles S. Porter, previously of New York, be- 
 came pastor March 23, 1842. He remained only till November 18, 
 1844. His call had been unacceptable to many and a considerable 
 number of families withdrew from the congregation. He was succeeded 
 by Rev. William H. Spencer, then a licentiate, January 13, 1846. He 
 removed to Milwaukee, September 24, 1850, and afterward accepted 
 the secretaryship of the Presbyterian Committee of Publication and died 
 while pastor of the Westminster Church, Chicago. Rev. Philemon H. 
 Fowler, D.D., previously of the Second Church, Washington, D. C, 
 and next of the First Church of Elmira, N. Y., began his labors here on 
 the 1st of January, 185 i. As a scholar, as a gentleman, as a Christian, ;is 
 a pastor, as a philanthropist, as a man of affairs he possessed qualities 
 of a high order, and wherever he moved he won recognition as a leader 
 of men. Dr. Fowler was born in Albany, February 9, 1814, and grad- 
 uated from Hobart College, Geneva, in 1832, and from the Theological 
 Seminary at Princeton, N. J., in 1836. After a pastorate in Washing- 
 ton and one in Elmira he came here and was installed February loth. 
 For nearly a quarter of a century he served this church admirably and 
 so as to bear his sheaves with him in any reckoning of fidelity and 
 efificiency. His scholarship was broad ; he was naturally a student ; 
 but he deemed nothing pertaining to humanity alien to himself; he ex- 
 emplified in many respects the ideal Christian pastor. He was a tower 
 of strength and a beacon light to Presbyterianism here in Central New 
 York, and he did a strong man's share in behalf of morality, education, 
 and true progress. Among the most distinguished men who ha\e 
 
 51 
 
402 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 brought honor to the pulpit of Utica not one in any denomination has 
 lived a purer hfe, has been a broader type of manhood, has had higher 
 aims, has left behind him better fruit of his ministry or the perfume of 
 a more saintly influence. He was also an active and influential mem- 
 ber of the committee which led the way in the reunion of the Presby- 
 terian Church, and he was the last moderator of the new school 
 assembly which adopted the plan ; in 1870 he preached before the first 
 assembly of the United Church. His long and useful service he closed 
 on the 4th of February, 1874. He died December 9, 1879. Of his 
 two sons and two daughters the latter alone remain. 
 
 On the 26th of June, 1872, Rev. Samuel P. Sprecher was installed 
 as CO -pastor with Dr. Fowler, having been called from the First Luth- 
 eran Church of Albany. He was remarkable for his fluent and seem- 
 ingly extemporaneous delivery of thoughtful and well arranged dis- 
 courses. Receiving a call from the First Presbyterian Church of 
 Oakland, Cal.,he resigned the pastorate of this church October 6, 1879. 
 On the 9th of April, 1880, the church called as its pastor the Rev. Rob- 
 ert O. Bachman, D.D., o.f Fayetteville, N. Y., who is in charge of the 
 field at the present time. 
 
 The beautiful brick church which has been described stood until the 
 13th of January, 1 85 I, when it was destroyed by fire of incendiary ori- 
 gin. Measures were promptly adopted to rebuild, and a still more beau- 
 tiful structure was erected on the corner of Washington and Columbia 
 streets. In its dimensions it is 104 feet long, 72 feet wide, with a spire 
 225 feet in height. Attached to the rear is a chapel which was 
 originally fifty-two feet long and forty-six feet wide, with a Sunday 
 school room above of the same dimensions. This building was dedi- 
 cated October 19, 1852. In 1868 the chapel was lengthened to sixty- 
 four feet, and there was added a church parlor thirty-six feet long and 
 twenty-nine feet wide, a large kitchen, and a pastor's study. The Sun- 
 day school room was lengthened to 1 19 feet. 
 
 Three churches in Utica are offshoots from this one and four others, 
 now extinct, sprang from it, and 15 missionaries and 31 ministers 
 have been sent out from it. Among the missionaries were H. G. 0. 
 Dwight, D.D., of Constantinople; Asahel Grant, M.D., of Persia; Henry 
 R. Hoisington, of India; W. F. Williams, of Mozul ; and S. Wells Will- 
 
REV. S. W. BRACE. 403 
 
 iams, LL.D., of China. The first Sunday-school west of Albany was 
 organized by five young ladies of this church. There are at present 7 
 officers, 51 teachers, and 350 scholars in the Sabbath school. From 
 the time of its organization the church has continued steadily to grow 
 and the membership is 650, while since its organization over 3,300 
 members have been received into the society. 
 
 On December 21, 1890, the session established a mission Sabbath 
 school in the western part of the city, which is known as Highland Mis- 
 sion. A chapel has been erected on a piece of ground Sox 1 16 feet on 
 the west side of Matthews avenue. The membership of the school on 
 April I, 1891, was thr.ee officers, 12 teachers, and 140 scholars. 
 
 In this account of the First Presbyterian Church allusion has been 
 made to the services of Rev. S. W. Brace and to the formation of an- 
 other church of this denomination which must have its proper phice 
 here. Rev. Samuel W. Brace removed in his }'Outh from Rutland, Vt., 
 to Lysander, Onondaga County, N. Y. Zealous of obtaining a college 
 education he walked from Oswego, where the family were then living, 
 in the winter of 1809 to Hamilton Oneida Academy at Clinton. Here 
 his progress was so creditable that he was soon appointed an assistant, 
 and by diligent study and occasional engagements as teacher in other 
 schools he was enabled to enter the sophomore class at Hamilton Col- 
 lege and graduate with the class of 1815. One of the engagements 
 he filled as a teacher was at Onondaga Valley and another in the vil- 
 lage of Utica, where in 181 5 he for a time supplied the place of Henry 
 White, disqualified by sickness. Having determined to become a min- 
 ister he entered the Theological Seminary at Andover, was graduated 
 from there in 1818, and was licensed to preach the gospel. After a few 
 engagements elsewhere he was invited to come to Utica, where he 
 preached alternately with Mr. Aikin, as previously, stated, until the 
 formation of another church on the 6th of May, 1824, which took the 
 name of the Second Presbyterian Church. Twenty-seven persons were 
 at first enrolled as its members. They worshipped for a time in the 
 session room of the Presbyterian Church on Hotel street, and near the 
 close of the year 1824 Mr. Brace was by the Presbytery of Oneida duly 
 installed over them. In the spring of 1825, their number being aug- 
 mented, thev took measures for the erection of a church edifice. Be- 
 
404 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 sides the funds they could raise among themselves they were promised 
 assistance by several members of the older congregation, and they de- 
 termined on the lot corner of Charlotte and Bleecker streets as a site for 
 their building. The trustees now in charge were Dr. Thomas Goodsell, 
 Greene C. Bronson, Jason Parker, D. G. Bates, and Lyman Hotchkiss. 
 The contract for erecting the building was taken by Samuel Farwell. 
 This building, at first called the Bleecker Street Presbyterian, the same 
 which was at a later period known as the Bleecker Street Baptist Church, 
 was 56x80 feet in dimensions. It was completed in the summer of 1826 
 and dedicated on the 24th of August of that year. The building with 
 the lot cost about $15,000. The ministry of Mr. Brace was a very suc- 
 cessful one and lasted about four years. During this time 250 persons 
 were added to the church, of whom 130 came from other churches and 
 80 were the fruits of the revival in 1826. The debt contracted in build- 
 ing proved a source of continued embarrassment. The aid promised 
 by members of the. First Presbyterian congregation was by no means as 
 valuable as the new society had been given reason to expect, for the 
 latter congregation proceeded to build a new house for themselves and 
 were taxed to accomplish it. The salary due to Mr. Brace fell behind 
 to the amount of over $1,100. His brother-in-law, Judge Bronson, who 
 was one of the trustees, was often called on to contribute toward the pe- 
 cuniary necessities of the congregation. In this state of affairs Rev. 
 D. C. Lansing, D.D., of Auburn, had become unsettled there, and over- 
 tures had been made him by certain members of the First Presbyterian 
 Church to come to Utica and be settled over the congregation of Mr. 
 Brace. Judge Bronson and the other trustees now suggested to Mr. 
 Brace that if a favorable opportunity presented itself of locating else- 
 where he should do so. Receiving an invitation to East Hartford, Conn., 
 he accordingly resigned his pastorate in July, 1828, and went to that 
 place. After a brief ministry there he was settled some time longer in 
 Skeneateles and next at Binghamton. Having resolved to retire from 
 the active duties of the pastoral office and to preach in vacant churches, 
 as opportunity might offer, he returned to Utica in August, 1845. ■^'^'^ 
 here he continued to live a number of years, acting as stated supply of 
 various churches in the vicinity.^ 
 
 1 The further history of this church is taken from an address on the Bleecker street church by 
 Thoinas W'. Seward, esq., read before the Oneida Historical Society. 
 
REVS. D. C. LANSING AND A. T. HOPKINS. 405 
 
 Mr. Brace was succeeded in his pastorate in the year 1829 by Rev. 
 Dirck C. Lansing, D.D., of the First Presbyterian Church, Auburn. 
 Dr. Lansing was among the foremost of American Presbyterians, and 
 held a long pastorate at Auburn, during which he had been mainly in- 
 strumental in founding and building up Auburn Theological Seminary. 
 He was a man of commanding presence, of wonderfully ingratiating 
 manners, of great force of character, allied to a temperament warmly 
 sympathetic. As a preacher he was without hyperbole the Henry Clay 
 of the Presbyterian pulpit. The Second Church felt assured of a re- 
 trieval of all disaster and a prosperous future when Dr. Lansing was in- 
 stalled. But somehow their anticipations were not realized. There re- 
 mained a heavy debt so that men of substance who would have been 
 glad to sit under Dr. Lansing's preaching cautiously avoided identifica- 
 tion with his church. Moreover he had lately become addicted to the- 
 ological controversy, whereby it was thought his usefulness at Auburn 
 had been seriously impaired. He preached a series of vigorous sermons 
 against Universalism, but he met an adroit and wary antagonist in Rev. 
 Dolphas Skinner, pastor of the Universalist Church, who fought Dr. 
 Lansing, not from his pulpit, but from the columns of a denominational 
 paper, which he owned and edited, and which for the time being was 
 distributed broadcast through the village. 
 
 In the year 1833 Dr. Lansing was succeeded by Rev. Asa T. Hop- 
 kins, a young man of twenty- eight years of age, a graduate of Yale who 
 had acquired his theological education in a clergyman's family. Mr. 
 Hopkins was shy in manners, of a shyness, however, that vanished when 
 antagonism was aroused, was something of a recluse, and was devoted 
 to and absorbed by his profession. His pulpit ability was of the high- 
 est. His sermons were strong in original thought-, phrased in compact 
 diction, and were spoken with all the vehemence of his enthusiastic nat- 
 ure. During his pastorate the church prospered in everything except 
 its finances. Its meetings were always full, and especially were young 
 men drawn to them by the oratory of the preacher. Resigning his pas- 
 torate Mr. Hopkins went to the First Presbyterian Church of Buffalo 
 and was succeeded in 1838 by Rev. Amos Savage It was during the 
 ministry of the latter that Elder Jacob Knapp, a noted Baptist revivalist, 
 began his work in the Bethel Chapel on State street. The house proving 
 
4o6 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 too small for the numbers that flocked to hear him he came down to the 
 Bleecker street church, where he preached three weeks to a house uni- 
 formly filled to its utmost capacity, the night meetings seldom breaking 
 up before ii o'clock. At last the meeting overflowed into the First 
 Presbyterian Church, where the revival scenes ended. Nothing like this 
 religious awakening has been known since the great Finney revival of 
 1826, which it surpassed. 
 
 Mr. Savage was followed in the year 1839 by Rev. C. Edward Lester, 
 who acted as pastor of the church down to the time of its breaking up 
 as a Presbyterian organization in 1840. Mr. Lester is best known as 
 the author of the " Glory and Shame of England," which he wrote during 
 his residence here. He was also joint editor with Jarvis M. Hatch in 
 1841 of the first daily newspaper of Utica. He has since written other 
 works, served as consul at Genoa, Italy, and held other positions of note. 
 
 After the Bleecker street edifice ceased to be occupied by the Pres- 
 byterians it was for a very brief period hired and used by a Congrega- 
 tional society of which some notice will be given shortly. The edifice, 
 which had become the property of Hon. Charles E. Dudley, of Albany, 
 and was now standing vacant, was in September, 1843, hired by Rev. 
 Joshua H. Mcllvaine, of Little Falls. Through the aid of Rev. Dr. 
 Cuyler, of Philadelphia, he obtained the sum of $200 with which to pay 
 the rent for the first six months. The further sum of $200 was raised 
 by collections taken in the church for the rent of the rest of the year. 
 The whole pecuniary responsibility of the transaction was assumed by 
 Rev. Mr. Mcllvaine. As soon as a congregation was gathered a Sab 
 bath school was started, which in less than two months numbered 250 
 children and thirty teachers, which was superintended by Mr. Mcllvaine. 
 The Board of Missions contributed $400 to the support of Mr. Mcll- 
 vaine in the first year of his labors in this new field ; at its close and 
 three months after its organization the church was self-sustaining. The 
 services thus begun were regularly continued with increasing success 
 until July 23, 1844, when the Westminster Presbyterian Society of Utica 
 was formally organized with sixty- one persons for its membership, and 
 with the installation of the Rev. Mr. Mcllvaine as its pastor. Soon 
 after this the church building owned by the Universalist Society on 
 Devereux street was purchased and immediately occupied. On Sep- 
 
WESTMINSTER CHURCH. 
 
 407 
 
 tember 3, 1847, the connection between pastor and people was termi- 
 nated by the resignation of Rev. Mr. Mcllvaine. Rev. Mr. Mcllvaine 
 was a young preacher of great personal energy and independence of 
 character, possessing to a marked degree orignality of thought and an 
 accurate and logical method, joined with an earnestness and enthusi- 
 asm well fitted to win all classes of hearers. The Rev. Hugh S. Dick- 
 son, of Philadelphia, was chosen the second pastor of this church and 
 was installed October 31, 1848. The membership at this time was 
 about 100. The period of his pastorate was an eventful one. The 
 church building on Devereux street was materially improved and en- 
 larged ; a few years later it was totally destroyed by fire. During the 
 temporary occupation of the court-house for Sabbath and other servi- 
 ces the active business qualifications of Rev. Mr. Dickson "were em- 
 ployed in devising and executing plans for the erection of its present 
 beautiful church building at the head of Washington street, which was 
 completed and occupied early in 1855. By the persistence and enthu- 
 siasm of bdth pastor and people all difficulties were overcome and the 
 sum of nearly $35,000 was provided with which to purchase the site and 
 erect the church building. During the pastorate of Mr. Dickson the 
 membership of the church was more than doubled, and those great 
 material advantages acquired which enabled it to fill an important 
 and influential position as one of the leading religious organizations of 
 this city. After a pastorate of about ten years of active and practical 
 labor, in which period Dr. Dickson had endeared himself to all by his 
 kindly, social, and Christian graces, he offered his resignation, which was 
 most reluctantly accepted. 
 
 In June, 1858, the Rev. Samuel M. Campbell was elected the third 
 pastor and duly installed over a church having a membership of about 
 230. In many respects totally unlike either of his predecessors he was 
 inferior to neither in personal character or mental ability. A man of 
 independent, earnest, and intense convictions, with courage to follow 
 wherever they should lead him, he did not fail to take an advanced po- 
 sition on all the great questions of reform. It is given to few men to 
 concentrate thought with such logical precision and conciseness of state- 
 ment. Dr. Campbell's ministrations quite largely increased the mem- 
 bership of the church; they gained for it a reputation for conspicuous 
 
4o8 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 pulpit ability and attracted the attention and respect of many of the 
 most cultivated minds in the community. Under this pastorate Briggs 
 W. Thomas, one of the oldest and most respected members of this 
 church, generously provided a convenient and commodious building on 
 Francis street for the Olivet Mission School. This school was for many 
 years a flourishing and important auxiliary to the church. The Rev. 
 Dr. Campbell resigned his pastorate to accept a call to the Central 
 Church of Rochester, N. Y. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Fisher, president of Hamilton College, accepted the invi- 
 tation of the session to supply its pulpit upon the Sabbath, and for some 
 months regularly preached to this people, which was soon followed by a 
 call to the pastorate. The only obstacle that seemed in the way of its 
 acceptance was the change required by the transfer of the connection of 
 this church from the old to the new school general assembly, it having 
 thus far affiliated with the former. The consent of the church and con- 
 gregation having been given to the proposed change in church rela- 
 tions, and Dr. Fisher having resigned the presidency of Hamilton Col- 
 lege for this purpose, he was elected pastor on the 8th of May, 1866, and 
 was installed on the iSth of November of the same year. Dr. Fisher 
 was now at the very maturity of his physical and mental powers, and 
 he entered upon this new field of labor with great vigor and enthusiasm. 
 Into every department of the church he at once began to infuse his own 
 personal energy and activity. The early part of his ministry was sig- 
 nalized by the accomplishment of two important results. The personal 
 attachment of his people led them to purchase for a parsonage a valua- 
 ble and finely located residence on Rutger street ; the beautiful chapel 
 building which had been erected by E. M. Gilbert was now by him 
 deeded to the church ; and the mission enterprise in East Utica (which 
 in former years had its origin in the generosity of Mrs. H. C. Wood), 
 having grown into a mission church, now became an independent or- 
 ganization under the name of the Bethany Church. To aid this new 
 organization the home church gave up fifty-one of its own members. 
 Under Dr. Fisher's administration the Sabbath school of the church 
 and its two mission schools numbered nearly 600 scholars, and the 
 church membership subsequent to the organization of Bethany Church 
 leached about 365. On the evening of May 11, 1870, Dr. Fisher was 
 
WESTMINSTER AND BETHANY CHURCHES. 409 
 
 stricken with paralysis, which, after holding him within its grasp for 
 nearly four years, at length caused his death at Cincinnati. The hope- 
 lessness of his case induced him on the 13th of January, 1871, to offer 
 his resignation. For nearly a year and a half the church was deprived 
 of the services of a regular pastor, when a call was made to the Rev. 
 Thomas J. Brown, of Philadelphia, who is the present pastor. He en- 
 tered upon his duties on the 30th of April, 1871, and was installed on 
 the iith of October, 1871, the church then having about 365 members. 
 Under his pastorate the church has prospered in all its various depart- 
 ments of religious work, and has never been in a more flourishing con- 
 dition than at the present time. The Sabbath school now numbers some 
 550 scholars. The church membership is about 750. 
 
 The disbursements of the church for the past twenty years amount to 
 $392,633, of which $143,637 were given for benevolent purposes. The 
 average congregational expenses of the church are about $12,000. It 
 is the parent of two of the other Presbyterian Churches of Utica, — 
 Bethany and Olivet, — both of which are large and flourishing churches 
 and entirely independent of the mother church, though to the support 
 of the latter Westminster is still a large contributor. 
 
 In the year 1858 the first Sunday scliool was organized in East Utica 
 in an old school-house near the toll-gate, then standing on what is now 
 Albany street. Afterward Mrs. Harriet C. Wood converted a small 
 dwelling into a chapel. In 1865 a lady missionary visited the locality 
 and preached from house to house, and in November public serv- 
 ices were established in the chapel. In 1868 the school was given the 
 name of the Bethany Sabbath School. In October, 1867, an assistant 
 pastor, Rev. P. W. Emens, of Westminster Church, began work iji the field 
 and continued until the spring of 1 869. He was succeeded by Rev. C. M. 
 Whittlesey, who acted as stated supply from October, 1869, to October, 
 1870. A triangular lot 120x150 feet on the corner of Albany and 
 Lansing streets was donated to the people by Mrs. Harriet C. Wood, 
 and there in 1869 a frame church was erected by Mrs. Sarah A. Gilbert, 
 of Utica, and her daughters. Miss Sarah E. Gilbert, Mrs. Anna G. 
 Cowan, and Mrs. F. G. Wood. It was dedicated December 29, 1869, 
 and cost $21,000; its seating capacity is 400. The Bethany Presby- 
 terian Church as organized about this time was composed of fifty-one 
 
 52 
 
4IO MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 members of Westminster Church and nine members of other evangehcal 
 bodies. Rev. G. T. Le Boutillier succeeded Rev. Mr. Whittlesey as 
 pastor April 2, 1871, and was in turn succeeded by Rev. George Van 
 Deurs on November 28, 1872. Rev. James Lamb became pastor April i, 
 1874, and was succeeded by Rev. Charles F. Goss in June, 1881. He 
 was followed by Rev. George O. Phelps on July i, 1885, and the latter 
 resigned October 26, 1890. Rev. Stanley B. Roberts was called to the 
 pastorate in October, 1891, and is the -present pastor. The present 
 membership of the church is 274, and of the Sunday school 375 scholars 
 and 38 teachers. The elders of the church are F. G. Wood, David 
 Everest, Joseph Beggs, R. McGregor, Joseph Hollingsworth, and John 
 Nelson. 
 
 The Olivet Sunday School was established February 27, 1876, by 
 workers from the Westminster Society. They met regularly in a room 
 of the Benedict House until spring opened, when it was deemed neces- 
 sary to provide more commodious accommodations. A chapel was 
 accordingly erected near the corner of Square and Miller streets and 
 opened on June 11, 1876. George E. Allen was the first superintend- 
 ent. In June, 1882, his son, Theodore H. Allen, was engaged by West- 
 minster session to hold regular Sunday evening services at the mission 
 and to work in the field. In 1886 Arthur C. McMillan had charge of 
 the Sunday school. In March, 1887, Rev. F W. Townsend came in 
 response to a call of the session of Westminster Church and presided in 
 the chapel as the coming pastor of the new church. On April 26th the 
 church was duly constituted with Rev. Mr. Townsend as pastor, and the 
 following were made elders : George E. Allen, Marcus S. Willard, Tim- 
 othy Parker, and James Shetler. Two days later the trustees were 
 elected and the Olivet Presbyterian Society incorporated. In August 
 a lot at 103-105 Howard avenue was bought and on September 15, 
 1889, the corner-stone was laid. On the I2th of April, 1 891, the church 
 was dedicated. It is a handsome Gothic structure built of stone at a 
 cost of $20,000. Its seating capacity is 500. There are at present 225 
 members in the church and 250 scholars in the Sunday school. The 
 present elders are M. S. Willard, Timothy Parker, James Shetler, 
 George N. Mitchell, Griffith H. Humphrey, and Griffiths E. Williams. 
 
 The Memorial Presbyterian Church of West Utica was organized 
 
MEMORIAL CHURCH— HOPE CHAPEL. 411 
 
 February 10, 1868. It was the outgrowth of a Sabbath school that had 
 been maintained there since 1848. A chapel was erected on Court 
 street near Garden and dedicated December 15, 1867. A congrega- 
 tion quickly gathered here and two months later, with thirty persons 
 from the First Presbyterian Church, an organization was effected. Rev. 
 J. W. Whitfield, before acting as missionary in connection with the 
 school, now became pastor of the church and continued the work until 
 April, 1874. He was succeeded by Rev. A. F. Kyle, who remained 
 until October, 1876. The present pastor, Rev. Dana W. Bigelow, was 
 installed April 17, 1878, having at the date acted as pastor for a yenr. 
 On September 4, 1882, the nanie was changed to the Memorial Pres- 
 byterian Church, and in the following year a lot 50x120 feet and 
 adjoining the chapel was purchased for $4,700. The change in the 
 name was in honor of the gift to the society of a beautiful church edi- 
 fice by Hon. Theodore S. Sayre as a memorial to his father. On the 
 lot mentioned Mr. Sayre erected the present church at a cost of $30,000. 
 Mr. Sayre has been an elder in the church and a teacher in the Sunday 
 school almost from its origin. The new church was dedicated January 
 25, 1884; its seating capacity is 400. The present member.ship of the 
 church is 225, with 360 scholars and 41 teachers in the Sund?y school. 
 The present elders are : Theodore S. Sayre, George C. Curran, Martin 
 V. Gorton, and Solomon Boyd. 
 
 The Elizabeth Street Presbyterian Church (colored) was organized 
 under the auspices of the First Presbyterian Church. In r862 a Sunday 
 school was started and regularly conducted in Elizabeth street. In 1869 
 a commodious chapel was erected at No. 23 Elizabeth street and dedi- 
 cated in the same year. It is built of wood and will seat about 350. 
 The following year W. H. Morris was settled as a supply at an annual 
 salary of $750. The first regular pastor was W. H. Thomas. In 1873 
 Moses Hopkins, who was a student at Auburn Theological Seminary, 
 supplied the pulpit, coming to Utica for that purpose every week. For 
 several years the mission, which had thus far been called Hope Chapel, 
 was conducted as a church, the colored people having entire control of 
 it. Owing to their inability to successfully manage the affairs of the 
 church its oversight has again been assumed by the First Church. 
 Services are regularly held and a Sabbath school is maintained, though 
 there is no settled pastor in charge. 
 
412 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 The Bethesda Congregational Church was organized on the 1st of 
 January, 1802, as a congregational or independent church by the Welsh 
 people of the vicinity. This was the second religious society formed in 
 Utica which has continued in uninterrupted existence to the present 
 time. It consisted at first of some twenty- five persons, of whom ten 
 had the year previous joined the church at Whitesboro, but now de- 
 tached themselves from it in order to become members of this. The 
 first minister was Rev. Daniel Morris, who arrived early in 1803 from 
 Philadelphia. Worshipping for a time in private houses the congrega- 
 tion erected in 1804 a small frame house on the corner of Washington 
 and Whitesboro streets, and this was the first church that was completed 
 in the village, though Trinity was previously begun. In 1817 a Sab- 
 bath school was organized. In 1823 Rev. Robert Everett came from 
 Denbigh, Wales, and was settled as pastor over the church, which was 
 known as the the Welsh Congregational Church. His standing in the 
 community was elevated and his labors fruitful of good. In harmony 
 with the other evangelical clergy he took full part in public reforms 
 and in general schemes of benevolence. He was called to Winfield in 
 1836 and was succeeded by Rev. James Griffiths, of South Wales, who 
 devoted fifteen years to this field of labor. His successor was Rev. 
 Evan Griffiths, who remained six years and was followed by Rev. 
 David Price, also from Denbigh, Wales. After six years he was suc- 
 ceeded by Rev. Griffith Griffiths, who two years later removed to Cin- 
 cinnati. His successor was Rev. R. G. Jones, a native of Brecknoch- 
 shire, Wales, and a graduate of Brecon College, who was called in May, 
 1867. In 1865 a portion of the congregation withdrew from the church 
 and established a service of their own. They purchased the old Grace 
 Church (Episcopalian) on Columbia street and called Rev. James Grif- 
 fi.ths from Cattaraugus to the pastorate. This church was known as the 
 Second Congregational. Rev. Mr. Griffiths served the church for about 
 five years. In 1871 this society returned to the old church and the two 
 congregations united in the erection of a new brick edifice. It is located 
 at 108 Washington street and was built at a cost of $22,000. The seat- 
 ing capacity is 580. When united in 1871 the name Bethesda was taken 
 at the suggestion of the pastor, who had been called from Bethesda, 
 Merthyr Tydvil, in Wales. Mr. Jones still serves as pastor of the 
 
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES. 413 
 
 church. At present the membership of the church is 298 ; of the Sun- 
 school 150 pupils and 18 teachers. The deacons are William O. Will- 
 iams, William W. Williams, William E. Jones, Edward H. Jones, 
 Thomas G. Jones, David Anthony, David D. Griffiths. 
 
 Some time in the year 1841 a Congregational society, which had been 
 organized the year before by Rev. Theodore Spencer, and which had wor- 
 shipped in a room fitted up for the purpose in the Museum building, hired 
 the Bleecker street church, then vacant, and occupied it for about three 
 years. Mr. Spencer was endowed with a vigorous intellect, trained by 
 the study and practice of the law before he entered upon the Christian 
 ministry, and his character was marked by corresponding force and 
 persistence. He was entitled by inheritance to these gifts of mind and 
 character, for his father was New York's great chief justice, Ambrose 
 Spencer, and he was a brother of Hon. John C. Spencer, of Canandaigua, 
 U. S. secretary. After losing his voice Mr. Spencer had to give up 
 his pulpit and all public speaking, whereupon his society was disbanded. 
 He substituted conversation for sermons and reached a larger number 
 than most preachers. Many of the most intelligent people of the city 
 and from all denominations sought instruction from him. He had con- 
 ceived a theory of conversion containing some peculiarities which he 
 applied with great power and effect. He afterward accepted the secre- 
 taryship of the Home Missionary Society and filled it with distinction, 
 acting as a bishop of the feeble churches as well as gathering funds for 
 the society. For twelve or fourteen years he was disqualified for labor 
 by exhausting' illness and died in Utica, July 14, 1870. He was twice 
 married and the father of three sons. 
 
 Under the auspices of the New York Home Missionary Society on 
 the 13th day of May, 1883, Rev. Edward Taylor, D.D., of Binghamton, 
 began Congregational religious services in the common council chamber, 
 the Bible, organ, and hymn books all being borrowed. These services 
 were continued morning and evening for four Sabbaths, the congrega- 
 tion numbering from forty to seventy. About thirty persons tarried 
 after the morning service on the fourth Sabbath and voted that the 
 meetings should be continued with reference to the organization of a 
 Congregational Church, and that the vicinity of Oneida Square called 
 for an enterprise of this character. The only place which could be ob- 
 
414 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 tained there was a small room known as Dobson's Hall. This was 
 secured, seats furnished for a little more than lOO persons, a preach- 
 ing desk extemporized, and the hall was well filled each Sunday 
 morning and crowded in the evening. The Plymouth Congregational 
 Church organization was effected September i8, 1883. On August 26th 
 a Sunday school of thirty- three scholars was organized. In the follow- 
 ing year the society purchased property at the corner of Plant and State 
 streets for $14,000, having one frame cottage and a brick dwelling 
 standing upon it. On the vacant piece of land adjoining the cottage, 
 on Plant street, a chapel has been erected at a cost of $6,560. It is a 
 wooden structure and was first occupied January 25, 1885. A building 
 fund has been started and the church will eventually build anew upon 
 their site. Dr. Taylor closed his labors in this church March 30, 1884. 
 Rev. D wight E. Marvin succeeded him October i, 1884, and continued 
 until December i, 1888. Rev. M. E. Dunham, D.D., the present pas- 
 tor, began his labors March i, 1889. The present membership of the 
 church is 225. The deacons are Owen Baxter, Owen Griffith, and 
 Chauncey B. Moore. 
 
 The Reformed Protestant (Dutch) Church in Utica grew out of the 
 evangelical labors of Rev. John P. Spinner, pastor of the Reformed 
 Church at F"ort Herkimer, in 1801, and of Rev. Mr. Labagh, who visited 
 this field as early as 1820. Mr. Spinner preached about 1823 in 
 private rooms and occasionally in the Baptist Church when not used 
 by that congregation. He appointed George M. Weaver and Adam 
 Bowman as elders to assist in this evangelizing work. In the years 
 1824-25 services were held every alternate Sunday in the old Metho- 
 dist Church on Main street, Utica, by Rev. Mr. Spinner. In 1826-27 
 services were held by Mr. Labagh in Washington Hall. In 1828 Rev. 
 John F. Schermerhorn assumed charge of the field, and in June, 1830, 
 the Broad street church was completed. It was a brick building, 
 75 X 54 feet in dimensions, and cost $20,000, and was located at the cor- 
 ner of John and Broad streets. On October 26, 1830, the Reformed 
 Protestant Dutch Church was organized with forty-six members and 
 the following officers: Elders, Abraham Varick and George M. 
 Weaver, jr.; deacons, Nicholas G. Weaver and Richard Vaughan. In 
 November, 1830, Rev. George W. Bethune, then at Rhinebeck, became 
 
PROTESTANT REFORMED CHURCH. 415 
 
 pastor and continued until June 18, 1834. His reputation for eloquence, 
 scholarship, and graceful poetry was known throughout the country. 
 Upwards of 130 were added to the communion during his pastorate. 
 The Rev. Henry Mandeville, D.D., was installed on the 12th of October, 
 1834. A logically clear and instructive preacher, with strong, natural 
 powers and much proof of various reading, he was afterward eminently 
 successful as a teacher and author in rhetorical studies. He resigned 
 January 20, 1841, in order to become a professor in Hamilton College. 
 During his ministry there were 1 12 additions to the church. Rev. John 
 P. Knox was installed on the 6th of October, 1841, and resigned Feb- 
 ruary 16, 1844. At the close of his ministry the membership numbered 
 197. The Rev. Charles Wiley, D.D., was installed June 27, 1845, ^""^ 
 resigned May i, 1854. Dr. Wiley was a learned and finished writer. 
 Rev. George H. Fisher, D.D., was installed January i, 1855, and re- 
 signed July 13, 1859, — an earnest and faithful preacher, zealous for the 
 interests of the denomination as well as for his own individual church, 
 broad in his sympathies, and a son of consolation among the afflicted. 
 The next preacher was Rev. Charles E. Knox, who began his labors 
 July 29, i860, but deferred his installation. He resigned August 4, 
 1862. Rev. Ashbel G. Vermilye, D.D., was installed May 14, 1863, 
 and resigned July 31, 1871. During his incumbency a new church was 
 built on the corner of Genesee and Cornelia streets. He was followed 
 by Rev. Isaac S. Hartley, D.D., whose installation took place Novem- 
 ber 16, 1871, and his resignation September i, 1889. It was while he 
 was pastor that the church was destroyed by fire and handsomely re- 
 built. Rev. Oren Root, of Hamilton College, became the supply in the 
 fall of 1889 and assumed charge of the church as pastor in the follow- 
 ing spring. The present church is of brick with stone trimmings, and 
 of the Queen Anne style of architecture. It has a seating capacity of 
 700. The present membership is about 125 and of the Sunday school 
 160. 
 
 Trinity Church (Episcopal), as we have already learned, was organ- 
 ized in the year 1798 by the Rev. Philander Chase, afterward bishop 
 of Illinois. For a period of five years services were imperfectly main- 
 tained by lay- reading, and it was not until the year 1803 that measures 
 were taken toward the building of a church edifice. In that year 
 
4i6 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 John R. Bleecker, of Albany, gave a lot on the corner of Broad and First 
 streets, lOO feet front and 127 feet deep, in fulfillment of a promise that 
 such a gift would be made to that religious society which should first 
 undertake the erection of a church edifice. On the basis of a subscrip- 
 tion of a little more than $2,000 the building was commenced, but it 
 was not until the year 1806 that it was so far completed that Bishop 
 Moore was induced to consecrate it. In December, 18 10, it was fin- 
 ished, having cost $7,140. Of this sum $2,000 was~ contributed by 
 Trinity Church, New York. The building, an unpretentious yet taste- 
 ful structure, was designed by Philip Hooker, of Albany, an architect 
 who did some good work in his day, as witness in his. own city old St. 
 Peter's Church, the old State capitol, and the academy. The first 
 chosen officers of the church were Abraham Walton and Nathan Will- 
 iams, wardens ; William Inman, Charles Walton, John Smith, Benjamin 
 Walker, Samuel Hooker, Aylmer Johnson, James Hopper, and Edward 
 Smith, vestrymen. The first minister in charge was the Rev. Jonathan 
 Judd, who officiated from 1804 to 1806 alternately here and at Paris 
 Hill, though not continuously in either place. The first rector was the 
 Rev. Amos G. Baldwin, who held that position from 1806 to 18 18. He 
 constructed with his own hands the first organ in the church having a 
 manual or key-board. This organ did good service for many years in 
 Christ Church, Sherburne, and can now be seen, with some enlarge- 
 ments and improvements, in the Presbyterian Church at New York 
 Mills. Mr. Baldwin died at Auburn in 1844. 
 
 Through the influence of Col. Benjamin Walker, who may be regarded 
 as the lay founder of Trinity Church, the Countess of Bath (England) 
 was induced in 1808 to give to the church 265 acres of land in the 
 town of Eaton, Madison County. This gift was of no great benefit to 
 the church. The income from it was small and hard to colkct, and 
 finally, in the year 1815, the land was sold for a sum of money barely 
 nominal. Nearly contemporaneous with the donation from the Countess 
 of Bath was one from the corporation of Trinity Church, New York, of 
 three lots in Reade street and one in Clark street in that city. Two of 
 the Reade street lots and the one in Clark street are still the property 
 of the church in Utica. The income from the whole property, though 
 comparatively small, has been of essential service. 
 
TEINITY CHUR CH. 417 
 
 In the year 1819 Mr. Baldwin was succeeded in tlie rectorship by 
 the Rev. Henry M. Shaw, who remained about two years. Rev. Henry 
 Anthon was rector from 1821 to 1829, in which year he accepted a call 
 to St. Stephen's Church in New York, afterward becoming assistant 
 minister in Trinity Church, and finally spending the last twenty -years 
 of his life as rector of St. Mark's in the Bowery. Rev. Mr. Anthon's 
 pastorate was most gratifying and successful. His sermons were marked 
 by purity, beauty, and finish of style, and in both them and his conver- 
 sation there was a racy flavor of strength that betokened ability of a 
 high order. He was an attentive and indefatigable pastor and a genial 
 and faithful friend. It was during Mr. Anthon's pastorate that the first 
 rectory was built in rear of the church. The next rector was the Rev. 
 Benjamin Dorr, whose^ministry extended from 1829 to 1831, when he 
 resigned the charge. He was afterward rector of Christ Church, Phil- 
 adelphia. Dr. Dorr was succeeded in 1836 by the Rev. Pierre Ale.xis 
 Proal, who came from St. George's Church, Schenectady. His pastor- 
 ate was much longer than that of either of his predecessors, terminating 
 with his death in September, 1857. He was one of the most scholarly 
 and oratorical of the preachers of the city. For a long ptriod he was 
 annually elected secretary of the Diocesan Convention of Central New 
 York. He was a trustee of Hamilton College, and \\as frequently 
 called upon to fill other posts of educational and religious importance. 
 He was succeeded by the Rev. Samuel Hanson Coxe, whose ministry 
 continued to November, 1877. He was followed in f^ebruary, 1878, 
 by the Rev. Charles H. Gardner, who resigned in Octol er, 1886. The 
 present rector, the Rev. William D. Maxon, took charj^e of the church 
 in April, 1887. 
 
 The present wardens of the church are Miles C. Comstock and 
 William M. Storrs. The membership of the society is 270 and of the 
 Sunday school 105. The present valuation of the church property is : 
 church, $15,000; rectory, $4,500; chapel and lot, $5,000. 
 
 The dimensions of the church edifice were originally 45 x 60 feet, be- 
 sides a recessed chancel and contiguous robing- rooms. In 1833 it was 
 lenghtened twenty feet by extending the front to the .Mdewafk, and the 
 steeple and entire front were rebuilt on new foundations In 1857 ""e- 
 pairs to the amount of $6,000 were made. The present bell was pur- 
 chased and hung during the winter of 1818, and for nearly seventy- 
 53 
 
4i8 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 five years its iron tongue has called worshipers to the shrine. The 
 structure is cherished, not only because it is a comfortable and pleasant 
 house of worship, but also because it has great historic interest, and is 
 a landmaric and monument of the early growth of the city. 
 
 There is a mission at Deerfield in connection with this church known 
 as St. Paul's. It was established by Rev. Mr. Gardner and has services 
 once each month. The members are considered a part of Trinity Church. 
 
 Grace Church (Episcopal) was originally a portion of Trinity parish. 
 The church was incorporated May 21, 1838, and services were held at 
 first in a small room at No. 215 Genesee street. The Rev. Albert C. 
 Patterson was chosen rector April 19, 1839. The first wardens were 
 Dr. P. B. Peckham and Ziba Lyon. A lot was leased on the corner of 
 Broadway and Columbia streets for a period of ten years, and the first 
 church edifice was erected there and opened for divine service in Au- 
 gust, 1839. The building was enlarged in 1841 at an expense of $1,500. 
 On November 4, 1847, plans were prepared for a new church edifice. 
 Ihe rector having at this time resigned Rev. George Leeds was called 
 as his successor. He resigned in July, 1853, to accept a call to Salem, 
 Mass. The Rev. John J. Brandegee came to the parish early in 1854. 
 The work of building a new church now rapidly progressed. The pres- 
 ent site, corner of Elizabeth and Genesee streets, was selected and pur- 
 chased with the aid of the late Alfred Munson, who gave $I0,000 
 toward that object, to which he added $5,000 toward the erection of 
 the church. Mr. Upjohn, of New York, was the architect. The build- 
 ing committee consisted of the rector and J. W. Williams, David Wa- 
 ger, G. R. Perkins, E. A. Graham, and George H.Wiley. The church 
 proper was finished in i860, the tower in 1870, and the spire in 1875 ; 
 the latter was erected by Mrs. James Watson Williams as a memorial to 
 her father and her husband. There is an excellent chime of ten memo- 
 rial bells in the tower. The entire cost of the edifice was $120,000. 
 Its seating capacity is 800. 
 
 Beginning in 1884 a series of parish rooms was erected adjoining the 
 church, consisting of vestry, choir, and Bible-class rooms and a study 
 for the rector. These were finished in 1888. In 1890 the old chancel 
 was removed and a new one, larger and more elaborate, was put up in its 
 place. All of these were the gifts of Mrs. James Watson Williams. In 
 
GRA CE AND CALVARY CHUR CHES. 4 1 9 
 
 the same year the congregation purchased a new organ at a cost of 
 $10,000. At the death of Dr. Brandegee in 1864 the Rev. Edward M. 
 Van Deusen, who came from St. Peter's Church, Tiitsburgh, Pa., be- 
 came rector of the church. On account of ill health he resigned in Feb- 
 ruary, 1884, and was succeeded by the present pastor, Rev. Charles T. 
 Olmsted. The wardens at the present time are: Willinm H. Watscn, 
 M.D., and L. C. Childs. The church membership is 500 ; Sabbath 
 school 210. 
 
 Of the foregoing rectors, while all are remembered ■with respect and 
 affection, it is with especial tenderness that are recalled the finished ser- 
 monizer, the courteous, gentle, and loving Leeds; the self-denying la- 
 bors of his successor. Dr. Brandegee, who superintended the erection of 
 the present edifice ; and the dignified and courtly Dr. Van Deusen, effi- 
 cient in zeal for the prosperity of his church and its charities, and 
 through whom much was accomplished toward its usefulness and suc- 
 cess. It was during his rectorship that St. Luke's Hospital and Home, 
 the House of the Good Shepherd, and St. Luke's Memorial Church all 
 had their origin and largely his aid. 
 
 In January, 1850, the Rev. Beardsley Northrup, at the suggestion of 
 the Rev. Dr. Proal, then rector of Trinity Church, and with the approval 
 of the bishop of the diocese, began holding services in a small school- 
 house on the corner of West and Eagle streets. Three months later a 
 larger room on Chatham street was obtained and used for about a year 
 and a half The parish began its corporate existence under the name 
 of Calvary Church on the 15th of December, 1850. A lot on South 
 street, where the old church now stands, was secured by L. M. Taylor 
 from the Bleecker and Tibbitts estate, and a church capable of seating 
 300 persons and costing: $2,700 was erected. It was afterward twice 
 enlarged to meet the growing congregation. In 1859 a house on the 
 corner of South and Neilson streets was purchased for a rectory site at 
 a cost of $1,600. Later a lot on South street of posite the old church 
 was purchased for $1,500 as a site for a new church. In 1869 the lot 
 and rectory on South street were sold for $6,000, and a better site on 
 the corner of Howard avenue and South street was purchased with a 
 commodious house for a parsonage, the whole costing $10,000. The 
 new church, which was designed by Henry M. Congdon, was begun on 
 
420 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 the 14th of June, 1869, and finished in the fall of 1872. The congre- 
 gation was greatly aided in the work by the liberal gifts of Jason G. 
 Coye and George J. Hopper, now deceased. The wnw church cost $50,- 
 000. In 1880 the chapel was thoroughly repaired at an expense of 
 $500. The church was consecrated by the Rev. F. D. Huntington, 
 S.T.D., bishop of the diocese, January 18, 1884. The Rev. William A. 
 Matson was the first rector of the parish, assuming the duties on the ist 
 of May, 185 1, and was assisted by Mr. Northrup above mentioned. 
 Rev. Mr. Matson resigned March 16, 1854, and Rev. Henry A. Neely, 
 who had served as assistant about a year, succeeded him. He left the 
 parish in August, 1855, at the request of the bishop to undertake a sim- 
 ilar work in Rochester, where he was subsequently rector of Christ 
 Church. Later he was chaplain of Hobart College, Geneva, assistant 
 minister in Trinity Church, New York, and bishop of the diocese of 
 Maine. 
 
 The Rev. N. Barrows became rector in August, 1855. Receiving a 
 call to Zion Church, Rome, he tendered his resignation April 28, 1857. 
 During the following two years Rev. Mr. Matson was the pastor and 
 went from here to the De Lancey Memorial Church, Geneva, N. Y. , 
 where he received the title of D.D. from Hobart College. The present 
 rector, Alfred B. Goodrich, D.D., entered upon the charge August 21, 
 1859. He has repeatedly refused calls to other fields of labor. For 
 his long continued faithfulness not the church alone but the town feels 
 a debt of gratitude. At present the number of communicants in the 
 church 13446; Sunday school scholars 335. The present wardens are 
 Alonzo Churchill, M.D., and Irvin A. Williams. 
 
 St. George's Protestant Church (Episcopal) was authorized by Bishop 
 De Lancey and the standing committee of the diocese in January, 1862, to 
 replace the former parish of St. Paul's, organized in 1 849 and afterward 
 allowed to die out. At that time (1862) all existing churches of the 
 Protestant Episcopal communion were located on the east side of Gen- 
 esee street. The corner-stone of St. George's was laid May S, 1862. 
 The first election of wardens and vestry took place May 19, 1862, and 
 the church was ready for occupation in the fall. It stands on State 
 street near its intersection with Cottage street. It is of wood and will 
 seat 400 persons. The church with its furnishing cost about $5,000. 
 
Sr. GEORGES AND ST. LUKE'S CHURCHES. 421 
 
 The furnishings are the gift of Horatio Seymour ; the stained glass win- 
 dows of C. P. Davis, of Utica. The church was consecrated by Bishop 
 De Lancey on June 7, 1864. In the rear of the church is a wooden 
 building 22x40 feet, erected in 1873, and named the "mission room," 
 it having been opened witli mission services by the Rev. J. W. Bonham 
 of the Church of the Evangelist. It is now used for Sunday school, 
 week- day services, and parochial festivals. The first rector of the church 
 was Rev. W. J. Gibson, D.D., then editor of the Gospel Messenger. 
 He was succeeded in 1866 by Rev. S. F. Jarvis, of Connecticut, who 
 was soon followed by Rev. E. W. Hager. The latter resigned in 1873, 
 having received the appointment of chaplain in the United States navy, 
 and the duties of the parish were then resumed by Rev. W. J. Gibson, 
 D.D. He was succeeded in 1883 by Rev. W. B. Coleman, jr., the 
 present rector. The present wardens are W. M. Gibson, M.D., and 
 Edward Trevett. The present communicant list of the church is 160 
 members ; of the Sunday school 90 with eight teachers. 
 
 St. Luke's Memorial Church (Episcopal) began as a mission of Grace 
 Church in 1869 in a room of St. Luke's Home for Aged Women on 
 Columbia street. The following year a lot adjoining the Home was 
 given by Truman K. Butler for future church building purposes, and a 
 handsome stone church was soon erected. It was consecrated on Oc- 
 tober 18, 1876, and cost with its contents about $22,000. It has a seat- 
 ing capacity of about 400. From 1869 to 1876 the parish was served 
 by the assistants of Grace Church, Dr. E. M. Van Deusen being pastor 
 of the parish. In June, 1876, Rev. Barnard Schulte was called to the 
 charge with the title of associate rector of St. Luke's Memorial 
 Church. This relation of associate rector was dissolved in June, 1880, 
 and the clergyman in charge now bears the title of rector according to 
 the order of the Protestant Episcopal Church of America. Mr. Schulte 
 is still in charge of this parish. The rectory of the church, 192 Colum- 
 bia street, was purchased by the congregation in 1886 and with the ad- 
 joining house is valued at about $8,000. The church membership is 
 600; Sabbath school scholars 583. The present wardens are Jonathan 
 Aucock and Henry Hopson. 
 
 In 1871 the late Evan R. Goodwin and the late Philip Herbert in- 
 augurated a movement tending to the establishment of Episcopal serv- 
 
42 2 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 ices in East Utica. An upper room on Elizabeth street was soon ob- 
 tained and services of the Memorial Church of the Holy Cross (Episco- 
 pal) were regularly held, being conducted at times by Rev. Samuel H 
 Coxe, of Trinity Church, or Rev. Alfred B. Goodrich, of Calvary 
 Church, or some other of the clergy. The worshipers were then 
 known as the Mission of the Good Shepherd, Rev. Edward Z. Lewis 
 was the first pastor and continued as such until his death in 1874. He 
 secured the erection of a frame building on Mohawk street, which was 
 afterward moved to the lot purchased on Bleecker street and enlarged. 
 It is still being used for worship. The first Sunday school superintend- 
 ent was Edward Peckham. In January, 1889, the Rev. James J. Burd 
 became and still is the resident pastor. On October 9, 1890, the corner- 
 stone of a new stone church on Bleecker street was laid by the Rt. Rev. 
 F. D. Huntington, bishop of the diocese of Central New York. The 
 building is in the English style of architecture, was designed by James 
 Constable, jr., of Utica, and cost about $25,000. There are ninety 
 families represented in the church and a Sunday school of about 180 
 members. 
 
 Wherever there is a pioneer settlement there will be found earnest 
 Christians of the Methodist denomination, often meeting together and 
 exhorting one another to good works. Such was the case in Utica for 
 some years before they had a place of worship in the little village. The 
 first Methodist sermon in Utica was preached by Freeborn Garrettson 
 in 1792 In that year, in the capacity of presiding elder of the Albany 
 district, he made a journey as far west as Whitestown and prepared the 
 way for the establishment of regular appointments, and for embracing 
 this region within the bounds of a circuit on the Mohawk River. At 
 first the members of this faith residing here were attached to a class 
 that met in a small church on the road to New Hartford. The relic of 
 that church still remains and may be identified as a part of the small 
 white dwelling house directly opposite the west end of Pleasant street. 
 In 1808 Solomon Bronson, a man of means and influence living near 
 this church, was converted, and being earnest and zealous, a good singer 
 and exhorter, he used to come down to Utica and hold meetings in a 
 building back of the line of Genesee street .ind in the rear of where the 
 store of Newel! & Co. now stands, which building was designed and 
 
FIRST METHODIST CHURCH. 423 
 
 used as a school-house. This, then, was the first place of meeting and 
 here the society had occasional preaching. J. Huestes, Benjamin G. 
 Paddock, and Charles Giles preached in that school-house while they 
 traveled the circuit which included Utica, and which was known as the 
 Westmoreland circuit. But very soon — probably in 1808 — Rudolph 
 Snyder built for the society a house of worship on ground situated 
 where the southern end of the Bradish block now stands, beside the 
 shop of his brother Jacob, which occupied the corner of Elizabeth 
 street. It was a small wooden building of a single story, and was in- 
 tended for a school-house as well as a church. It was occupied by the 
 society about six years. Through the influence of Solomon Bronson 
 quite a number were converted, and the influence of Methodism in Utica 
 began to be strongly felt. Preaching in this place was for several years 
 only occasional, for the little house near the gate on the New Hartford 
 road was also maintained by them as a place of assemblage. In 18 15 
 Utica was erected into a station of the recently formed Oneida district 
 of the Genesee Conference. Rev. Benjamin G. Paddock was appointed 
 preacher in charge and a powerful revival was the result of his labors. 
 The society now centered in the village and was legally incorporated 
 under the title of the First Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
 in Utica. Some of the first trustees were Rudolph Snyder, Robert Mc- 
 Bride, J. C. De Long, Erastus Cross, and Ara Broadwell. The build- 
 ing on the New Hartford road was sold to Levi Thomas for 70,000 
 brick, and with these and additional ones a new house was built under 
 the supervision of Mr. Paddock, who raised the necessary funds. It 
 stood on the north side of Main street, at its extreme eastern end, a little 
 west of Ballou's Creek and nearly opposite the extremity of Third street, 
 and was a small, plain chapel without spire or cupola. It was dedicated 
 August 16, 1816, by Rev. Daniel Hitt, then general book steward in 
 New York, Charles Giles being presiding elder. The pastors who were 
 successively placed in charge during the years that this chapel was in 
 use were as follows: 18 16, B. G. Paddock; 1817, George Gary; 18 18, 
 W. Barlow; 1821, B. G. Paddock; 1822-23, George Peck; 1824, 
 George Harmon; in 1825 Paris and Utica were united under the charge 
 of Z. Paddock and Ephraim Hall. It was during this year that the 
 chapel on Bleecker street was built. It was dedicated February 22, 
 
424 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 1827. Later in 1827 Fitch Reed was appointed pastor. Subsequently 
 the church was served by the following pastors : Elias Bowen, George 
 Peck, Daniel Barnes, Joseph Castle, Schuyler Hoes, William N. Pearne, 
 Bostwick' Hawley, H. R. Clark, William Wyant, A. J. Dana, David 
 Holmes, A. S, Graves, L. D. Davis, J. F. Wright, A. J. Grover, John 
 C. Crippen, Fitch Reed, W. C. Steele, A. D. Whedon, and O. H. 
 Warren. 
 
 In 1832, a class having existed in West Utica for some time, a church 
 was erected. This class was considered as a part of the Bleecker Street 
 Society and the property was held by the trustees of that society. Sub- 
 sequently, owing to the embarrassment of the society, the property in 
 West Utica was sold. 
 
 In 1847 ^ "sw society was formed in West Utica, embracing seven- 
 teen members of the Bleecker Street Society. This society was organ- 
 ized as the State Street Methodist Episcopal Church. Joseph Hartwell 
 was the first pastor. The succeeding pastors were, as far as known, 
 Isaac Foster, E. Williams, D. W, Thurston, Charles Blakeslee, J. T. 
 Wright, L. D. Davis, M. L. Kirn, W. C. Steele, D. W. Bristol, A. B. 
 Gregg. By the burning of the State street church on February 3,1867, 
 the consolidation of the Bleecker Street and State Street Societies, which 
 union had been for some time under consideration, was effected and the 
 new organization was named the " First Methodist Episcopal Church 
 of Utica." The first pastor was William Reddy. The present edifice 
 of the society, corner of Court street and Broadway, was built during 
 the pastorate of William Reddy, to whose untiring zeal the society owed 
 much of its success. The first Board of Trustees was composed of H. N, 
 Dryer, Dr. Jacob Hunt, Charles Barnum, Isaac Estes, E. M- Harter, 
 H. Beckwith, A. J. Bice, Edward Rowell, and Harrison Gilmore. The 
 corner-stone of the new church was laid July 30, 1868, Rev. J. P.New- 
 man, D.D. (now bishop), making the address. The chapel was finished 
 and dedicated February 28, 1869 ; the church was dedicated February 2, 
 1 87 1, Bishop Matthew Simpson preaching in the morning and the Rev- 
 Jesse T. Peck, D.D. (since bishop), delivering the sermon in the even- 
 ing. The property cost $80,000 and is free from debt. The following 
 named pastors have since served the church : 1870-72, Ross C. Hough- 
 ton ; 1873-74, E. C. Bruce ; 1S75-77, L. D. White ; 1878, Thomas Kelly ; 
 
SOUTH STREET METHODIST CHURCH. 425 
 
 1879-80, J. L. Humphrey; 1881-83, Samuel Call; 1884-85, J. D. Phelps; 
 1885-87, F H. Beck; 1888-89, Gordon Moore ; 1890, Addis Albro, the 
 present incumbent. The church has a membership of upwards of 500 
 and is in a flourishing condition. It is thoroughly organized and 
 aggressive. 
 
 In the summer of 1852 Thomas J. Francis of the Bleecker street 
 church, aided by W. D. Frederick, Charles B. Manning, and William 
 R. Denison, started church services on Corn Hill. During the session 
 of conference which convened in the city hall that fall meetings were 
 held every evening in a partially completed building on Chatham street. 
 The conference gave them Rev. B. I. Ives for a pastor, and an organization 
 of the South Street Methodist Episcopal Church was effected in Sep- 
 tember with eighty members from the Bleecker street church. The 
 first trustees were Thomas J. Francis, Spencer B. Alden, Mordecai 
 Wing, E. W. Roberts, and William Goodenow. A lot Nos. 31-33 
 South street was bought of Thomas Hopper for $450, and a church 
 40 X 70 feet in dimensions and two stories high was erected. It was ded- 
 icated in the spring of 1853 and cost $4,500. During the years 1856— 
 58 there were two Sunday schools having 400 pupils and 40 teachers. In 
 1863 thirty-eight members withdrew and organized the Free Methodist 
 Church. In 1869 a parsonage was built on a lot adjoining the church 
 at a cost of $9,000. In 1886 extensive repairs were made upon the 
 church at an expense of about $2,000. The present membership of the 
 church is 260 ; of the Sunday school 240. The list of pastors is as fol- 
 lows : Revs. B. I. Ives, 1852-54; E. Hoag, 1855; James L. Wells, 
 
 1856-57; William H. Olin, 1858-59; Simon Peter, i860; Gray, 
 
 1861 ; Thomas Harroun, 1862; E. C. Curtis, 1863-65 ; L. Hartsough, 
 1866-67; Theron Cooper, 1868-70; W. F. Markham. 1871-73; A.J. 
 Cowles, 1874-76; W. D. Chase, 1877-79; W. F. Hemenway, 1880- 
 81; A. Bramley, 1881-83; W. E. Reynolds, 1884; H.W.Bennett, 
 1885-87; H. E. Waugh, 1888 to the present. The stewards of the 
 church are Henry Beckwith, George C. Hazard, E. H. Bice, George O. 
 Pennock, Joseph Joyce, C. W. Fuess, H. C. Matteson, S. R. Lewis, B. E. 
 Foster, R. B. Poole, S. D. Latcher, C. A. Enquest, C. E. Bigelow. 
 
 The Free Methodist Church was organized August 7, 1863, by Rev. 
 D. W. Thurston, with forty-eight members who came from the South 
 54 
 
426 ■ MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 street church. The society worshiped in Morgan Hall, corner of 
 South and West streets, until 1865, when, under the labors of Rev. 
 D. M. Sinclair, a church edifice was erected. It was a wooden structure 
 on the corner of South and Miller streets, and cost $3,000. It will seat 
 250 persons. As the congregation continued to increase in numbers 
 more commodious accommodations were sought, and in 1880—81 a neat 
 brick church was erected at No. 30 Chatham street. It is two stories 
 high, with an audience room capable of seating 350 persons, and cost 
 $11,000 The present trustees of the church are Selden Beckwith, 
 George W. Gurley, and George H. Garrett; class-leaders, Olney Ladd, 
 George W. Gurley, and George H. Garrett. The present membership 
 of the church is eighty ; of the Sunday school sixty. The list of its 
 regular pastors is as follows: Rev. J. Mathews, 1864; D. M. Sinclair, 
 1865; J. W.Selby, 1866-67; Z.Osborne, 1868-69; E.Owen, 1870; 
 G. W. Anderson, 1871-72; A. F, Curry, 1873; J. B. Freeland, 1874; 
 B.Winget,i87S ; A. N. More, 1876; James Odell, 1877; O.W.Young, 
 1878-79; E. Owen, 1880; O. M. Owen, 1881-83 ; M. D. McDougall, 
 1884-86; Thomas Whiffin, 1887-88; Zenas Osborne, 1888-89; 
 Almiron Smith, 1890. 
 
 For some time previous to 1867 a Sunday school had been held 
 in West Utica under the direction of the members from the First 
 M. E Church. Immediately after the burning of the State street 
 church a chapel was built at the corner of Court and Stark streets 
 at a cost of about $2,600. Here Sunday school and evening serv- 
 ices were held. In jMay, 1886, the Dryer Memorial Methodist 
 Episcopal Church was organized, about forty members coming 
 from the First Church. Rev. F. W. Merrick was appointed to 
 the charge. Rev. F. D. Leete succeeded him September 22, 1887. 
 Rev. F. D. Torrey came to the charge April 15, 1891. The first trus- 
 tees were James W. Rowe, Alfred Broadbent, Thomas Drew, M. H. 
 Hubbard, and Isaac Estes. This board is still serving. The name 
 of this church was taken in memory of the late Rev. H. N. Dryer, an 
 efficient worker in the Sunday school,, to whom^ in great part the suc- 
 cess of the school was due. The church membership is 130 and there 
 are 160 pupils in the Sunday school. In 1890 an addition was built 
 on the west side of the church at a cost of $855, to be used for Sunday 
 school and evening services. 
 
CENTENARY METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 427 
 
 July I, 1879, a prayer meeting was held at the residence of Tracy H. 
 Wade, on Kossuth avenue, and it was there determined to continue these 
 meetings regularly, which was done for about a ye;ir. At this time 
 Rev. W. F. Hemenway organized a class there, and preaching was con- 
 tinued with some regularity. In 1882 a hall was hired at the corner 
 of South and Albany streets. A Sunday school was then begun under 
 charge of William Hughes. In 1883 a frame church was erected on 
 the corner of Nichols and Lansing streets on a lot given by Francis 
 Kernan. The church cost $5,000 and will seat 325. In 1884 it be- 
 came a regular charge, the congregation being organized as the Cen- 
 tenary Methodist Episcopal Church on March 31, 1884. During the 
 present year (1891) a parsonage is being built on a lot adjoining the 
 church, and will cost about $2,000. The pastors have been : Revs. L. D. 
 White, 1884-86; Samuel Call, 1887; J. G. Benson, 1888-89; George 
 W. Adams, 1890—91. The present trustees are J. W. Morris, George 
 E. Davis, John W. Wilkinson, J. M. Grouse, Richard Hill. The present 
 membership of the church is 100; of the Sunday school 150. 
 
 On February 20, 1830, a few Calvinistic Methodists took their let- 
 ters of dismissal from the Congregational Church in Remsen, and Da- 
 vid Stephens was authorized to organize these members into a Welsh 
 Calvanistic Church in Utica. This was done in March, 1831, under the 
 title of the Moriah Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Church, the following 
 being the members : Robert J. Jones, Richard H. Hughes, Evan Roberts, 
 David I. Jones, Evan Ellis, David Williams, and their wives. Services 
 were first held in a school-house that stood on Bleecker street. In 183 1 
 a church was built on Seneca street between Liberty and Whitesboro 
 streets. By 1847 the membership had increased to 190 and it was de- 
 cided to build a larger church. The old one was taken down and a 
 new edifice 60 x 90 feet, with seating capacity of 630, was erected. In 
 1882 the church property was sold for $5,200 and the present church 
 built on Park avenue corner of Dakin street. The church cost $21, 
 000 and seats 850. During the first two years of its existence the 
 church was supplied by Revs. David Stephens, William T. Roberts, and 
 Benjamin Davies. Near the close of 183 i Rev. Morris Roberts came 
 here from Wales and remained until 1833, when he removed to Rem- 
 sen, but he and Rev. Morris Davies preached here most of the time un- 
 
428 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 til 1837. From that year until 1841 Revs. Mr. Davies and David 
 Davies were the principal supplies. During the latter year the church 
 ■extended a call to Rev. Williana Rowlands, who remained until the 
 •close of 1844, when he removed to New York city. Rev. Thomas 
 Foulkes was pastor during the years 1847—48 and again from 1852 to 
 1855. In 1859 Rev. William Hughes came from Wales and remained 
 three years. In 1863 Rev. Mr. Rowlands was again pastor and re- 
 tnained until his death in 1866. Rev. Ebenezer T. Jones was pastor 
 for one year, and in 1870 Rev. James Jarrett assumed the charge and 
 remained until August, 1875. He was succeeded by the Rev. William 
 Roberts, D.D., who came from Bellevue, Pa., and remained until 
 his death in the year 1887. The present pastor. Rev. Robert Will- 
 iams, M.A., came from Coowen, Wales, in May, 1889. The present 
 membership of the church is 443 ; of the Sunday school 200. The 
 deacons are T. Solomon Griffiths, William C. Jones, William R. Morris, 
 John R. Jones, David P. Salisbury, Elias Ellis. The church has a 
 mission Sunday school in the old Olivet Chapel on Miller street, called 
 the Penvel Sunday School. The property was bought in 1889 from the 
 Presbyterians. There are 130 pupils in this school, which also has an 
 English branch of about thirty pupils under the care of Mrs. R. D. 
 Williams. 
 
 The Coke Memorial (Welsh Methodist Episcopal) Church was formed 
 about the istofjuly, 1849, with twenty- seven members. For the first 
 eight months they occupied the old Cambrian Hall on the lower side of 
 Liberty street between Hotel and Seneca. Its first trustees were John 
 Parry, Thomas Morris, John H. Jones, William W. Jones, Evan E. 
 Jones, and Thomas Hughes. May i, 1850, the society purchased the 
 building on Washington street known as the " Commercial Lyceum " 
 and fitted it up as a house of worship. Rev. Rees Davies and Rev. 
 Thomas Hughes were pastors until May 1, 1850, when Revs. Davies 
 Hughes, and John Jones preached alternately until September 15, 1852. 
 John Jones then took, charge and continued alone until January I, 1854. 
 In December, 1853, Rev. R. L. Herbert came from Liverpool and began 
 his labors January i, 1854. He remained until April, i860. At the 
 time he commenced the church membership numbered forty-seven, the 
 .average attendance in the Sunday school was sixty, and the church was 
 
COKE MEMORIAL CHURCH. 429 
 
 free from debt ; at the close of his pastorate he made the following re- 
 port: " Number of persons received on probation thirty-three, received 
 by letters forty- three, bacl<slided seven, died seven." In March, i860, 
 Rev. Thomas Thomas came from Ironton, Ohio, and at the annual con- 
 ference in April was appointed pastor of the church. He served for 
 three years and was followed by Rev. H. Humphreys as pastor, who 
 ■commenced in the spring of 1863 and continued until the spring of 
 1867, when he moved away and the church for one year was in charge 
 of D. T. Davies, who in turn with Rees Davies and others occasionally 
 supplied the pulpit. In the fall of 1867 Rev. Isaac Thomas came from 
 Witton Park, North of England, and preached for the church until the 
 following spring, when he was appointed regular pastor by the annual 
 conference. He continued in charge until the spring of 1871. The 
 number of church members at this time is reported sixty; average at- 
 tendance in Sunday school eighty. At the annual conference in 1871 
 D. T. Davies was appointed to the charge and continued until the spring 
 of 1873, the church membership being seventy- two and the Sunday 
 school average attendance eighty- five. In 1873 Rev. H. Humphreys, 
 who had had the care of a church in St. Louis, Mo., returned to Utica 
 and by request of the church was appointed pastor. His pastorate this 
 time .continued until the spring of 1878, when he resigned, and the 
 church for the following year was in charge of the presiding elder of 
 the district. Rev. L. D. White, the preaching being done by three or 
 four different ministers who understood the Welsh language, which Mr. 
 White did not. In the fall of this year Rev. David Williams, who was 
 residing at Pottsville, Pa., came and supplied the pulpit until the follow- 
 ing spring, when he was appointed pastor. He served faithfully until 
 the spring of 1881. Rev. W. R. Griffith, a young minister, came from 
 Wales and served the church on trial for one year, and at the annual 
 -session of the conference in April, 1882, was appointed pastor, remain- 
 ing until July, 1889. In May, 1885, the society sold the old church 
 property on Washington street and bought a lot on the corner of Hop- 
 per and Union streets. In the spring of 1886 the building of the new 
 church was commenced. The corner-stone was laid the following Au- 
 gust by Bishop Hurst. The new edifice was dedicated in August, 1 887, 
 ±he entire cost, including the lot, being about $16,000. In October, 
 
430 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 1889, Rev. Isaac Thomas, a former pastor of the church, became its 
 minister and served until April, 1890. The church was. without a reg- 
 ular pastor from that time until the following October, when Rev. J. L. 
 Davies, a professor in Genesee Wesleyan Seminary at Lima, N. Y., was 
 requested to take charge. He is now ministering to the church: faith- 
 fully and acceptably. The society numbers eighty-two members. The 
 official members are D. J. Davies, Rees R.Williams, William Foulks, Evan 
 O. Williams, and Richard Morris, trustees ; John I. Morris, Rees R. 
 Williams, D. J. Davies, Evan Jones, and Sylvanus E. Jones, stewards ; 
 D. J. Davies, recording steward. At the dedication of the new church 
 the name was changed to Coke Memorial in honor of Bishop Coke, the 
 first Methodist bishop sent to this country who was a Welshman. 
 
 In 185 I the Rev. F. Herlan, then preaching in Deerfield, expressed 
 a desire to transfer his labors to Utica. J. Kratzenberg offered his house 
 on Saratoga street as a place for worship. In the same year an old 
 school- house on Sunset avenue (Garden street) was bought and used as 
 a house of worship up to the year 1858, when the present church edifice 
 was erected on Sunset avenue south of Court street. It will seat 250 
 persons. From 1849 to 1854 the First Church of the Evangelical As- 
 sociation (German Methodist) belonged to the Mohawk circuit and was 
 served by the Rev. J. G. Bosch, F. Herlan, J. Yenni, J. Dereisch, A. Z. 
 Gottwals, F. Scharfe, and J. Grenzebach. In 1855 Theobald Schneider 
 served Utica as a mission. The following ministers have served the so- 
 ciety : 1856-57, J. Grenzebach ; 1858-59, L. Hermann ; i860, S. Weber; 
 1861, J. Umbach; 1863, A. Klein; 1864-65, A. Miller; 1866-68, 
 A. Holzwarth ; 1868-69, G. Eckhardt ; 1870, E. A. Weier; 1871-73, 
 J. Schafif; 1874, J. Siegriest; 1875-77, M. Yauch ; 1878-79,. J. F. 
 Buesch; 1880, P. Glanz ; i88i,Ph, E. Bahn ; 1882, J. G. Held; 1883- 
 85, F. Lohmeyer ; 1886-88, J. Eberhng, 1889-90, L. HeinmiUer. The 
 present trustees of the church are as follows: G. Herthum, presi- 
 dent ; J. Sittig, secretary ; G. Keidel, treasurer ; C. Schad, W. Gucke- 
 mus. The present membership of the church is 103. The German 
 language has been used altogether in the services until about one year 
 ago, when the services on the first and third Sunday evenings of the 
 month were designated for the English language. 
 
 The Welsh Baptist Church, one of the oldest in Central New York, 
 
FiaST WELSH BAPTIST CHURCH. 431 
 
 owes its early origin to the sturdy emigrants from Wales to Utica. It 
 isi said to be due to Colonel Walker that individuals of this people were 
 first led to make their homes in this region. Appreciating their industry, 
 thrift, and many moral virtues he persuaded them to come and occupy 
 his extensive wild lands in Steuben and its vicinity. Among these pio- 
 neers those who had trades lingered in the villages and were credited 
 with being thebest builders and mechanics of the town. Nor could 
 these latter long deny themselves the enjoyment of their cherished in- 
 stitutions and the ministry of the pastors who accompanied them. On 
 the I2th of September, 1801, twenty-two persons of this people, who 
 were Baptists, met at the log house of John' Williams, upon the road 
 opposite the State Hospital, and formed a church. Some of them lived 
 probably without the village, or if resident in it were so for a short time 
 only. The church they formed is the first, exclusively of Utica, whose 
 organization has been continuous and services unbroken to the present 
 time. It is known as the First (Welsh) Baptist and is the parent of the 
 Broad street (now Tabernacle) church. This congregation erected in 
 1 806 a church edifice near where the canal now intersects Hotel street. 
 It was moved when the canal was opened to the site of the present 
 church on Broadway a little north of Liberty. Among the twenty- two 
 who united in its organization were Elder John Stevens and Elder James 
 Harris, who ofiiciated as ministers, Elder Abraham Williams, Joseph 
 Harris, David Reed, Simon Johns, Nathaniel Davis, Samuel George, 
 James Phillips, Daniel Richards, David Thomas, etc. The first deacons 
 were Joseph Haines and David Reed. 
 
 Elder John Stevens was the first minister. He preached alternately 
 in English and in Welsh. In five or six years he removed to New York, 
 but returned about 1814, and a second time became the head of the 
 church. Elder Abraham Williams was their second pastor. He after- 
 ward removed to Rome and died October 25, 1839. On the 23d of 
 September, 18 19, seventeen members were dismissed from the Welsh 
 Church to form the Broad street (P^ngjish) church, now the Tabernacle. 
 On June 23, 1806, the first trustees were elected; they were Daniel 
 James and John Adams. Four men acted as pastors alternately and 
 for irregular periods until 1837. They were Rev. Richard Roberts, 
 Elders D. Griffiths, Richards, and Stephens. Rev. William H. Thomas 
 
432 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 became pastor July i, 1837. The membership was then 135. Rev. 
 William F. Phillips succeeded Mr. Thomas in the fall of 1840. David 
 J. Phillips succeeded to the pastorate in 1846. Rev. David Jenkins be- 
 came pastor in 1851 and Rev. Morris J. Williams followed him in 1854. 
 During this period the church was at the height of its prosperity. The 
 church records show a membership of 283. Rev. John Edred Jones 
 became pastor in 1858. Rev. Joshua T. Morgans succeeded him in 
 January, 1869. Eight years later Rev. Owen Griffiths became pastor 
 for one year. In 1878 Rev. John Edred Jones again assumed the 
 charge. Rev. William M. Evans became pastor in 1883 and was suc- 
 ceeded by Rev. John D. Roberts in 1885. Rev. Thomas Morris became 
 pastor in 1887 and continued as such until April i, 1890. Since that 
 time the pulpit has been supplied by licentiates. The present member- 
 ship is seventy-eight. The Sabbath school numbers about fifty. The 
 present deacons are John M. Williams, Evan Roberts, and William 
 Roberts. The church has decreased in membership because the Ameri- 
 can born Welsh cannot understand the Welsh language, in which the ser- 
 mons are preached, and Welsh emigration toUtica has practically ceased. 
 In 18 19 seventeen members of the Welsh Baptist Church were at 
 their own request dismissed and united themselves in covenant for the 
 purpose of forming an English church, calling it the Second Baptist. 
 Rev. Elijah F. Willey, of Lansingburg, N. Y., was called and assumed 
 the pastorate in November, 18(9. A frame church capable of seating 
 400 people was soon erected on Broad street. After Mr. Willey came 
 in succession Revs. John C. Harrison, William Hague, D.D., Elon 
 Galusha, Edward Kingsford, Thomas Wilkes, Daniel Eldridge, Dudley 
 C. Haynes, and Horatio N. Loring., A new brick church was erected 
 on the same site at a cost of $10,000, with a seating capacity of 500, 
 and on September 28, 1848, was formally dedicated. Rev. Edward 
 Turney was pastor from July, 1848, to June, 1850. Rev. Thomas O. 
 Lincoln, D.D., then became pastor and served until 1861. In 1861 
 Rev. Nehemiah M. Perkins became pastor; he died at Monroe, Conn., 
 August 20, 1863. In June, 1864, the church and society voted to 
 vacate their house and move to a more central location. In October, 
 1864, a lot was bought on the corner of Hopper and King streets and 
 a fine stone edifice erected. The architect was G. S. Meacham, of 
 
TABERNACLE BAPTIST CHURCH. 433 
 
 Boston. The church cost $30,000 and will seat 600 persons. The 
 corner-stone was laid August 3, 1865, with appropriate services, and in 
 September of the following year the church was dedicated. The con- 
 gregation worshiped in the U. S. Court- room in the city hall until their 
 new edifice was dedicated. Rev. Alfred S. Patton, D.D., of Watertown, 
 Mass., became pastor in July, 1864, and continued until June 30, 1873. 
 At a regular meeting of the society held October 11, 1864, the name 
 " Tabernacle Baptist Church " was unanimously adopted. Rev. Noah 
 R. Everts, of Little Falls, N. Y., succeeded Mr. Patton as pastor in 
 January, 1873. He resigned in October, 1878, and was succeeded in 
 Feburary, 1879, by Rev. John W. Curtis, D.D., of Chicago. After five 
 years Rev. Mr. Curtis's health failed and he was obliged to leave the 
 pastorate. Prof. Sylvester Burnham, D.D., supplied the pulpit then 
 for a few months. In June, 1885, Rev. Albert P. Brigham, of Still- 
 water, N. Y., was called to the pastorate. His successor has signified 
 his acceptance of a call, but is not yet installed. A new chapel was 
 built upon property adjoining the church on King street and dedicated 
 October 4, 1889. The building, with the ground, cost about $4,000, 
 which was supplied by voluntary ofiferings. It is used for the Sunday 
 school, the membership of which is 320, and for evening services. It 
 has a seating capacity of about 400. The present membership of the 
 church is 360. The deacons are I. D. Hopkins, M.D., Clark Wood, 
 George C. Hortoii, William Fisher, and W. Henry Start. 
 
 To descant uporfthe individual characteristics of the several ministers 
 of this church is evidently impossible. Let it suffice to note with com 
 mendation a few of the earlier ones whose influence for good was marked, 
 not solely upon their own people, but to a large extent upon the com- 
 munity in general. Such were Revs. Willey, Galusha, and Hague, who 
 ministered to the church while on Broad street, and Revs. Lincoln and 
 Patton, who served it after its removal. 
 
 In 1837 (December 3d) the Second Baptist Church on Broad street 
 (now the Tabernacle Baptist on Hopper street) appointed a committee 
 to superintend religious worship in West Utica until the following May. 
 On the 2ist of March, 1838, eleven persons met at the home of Edward 
 Wright and organized a society to be called the " Bethel Baptist Church 
 in Utica." They prosecuted this work for some time in the old build- 
 55 
 
434 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 ing known as " Old Bethel," formerly occupied by the Presbyterians. 
 During the first year of their existence they erected a church on State 
 street, in size 35 x 50 feet, and dedicated it to the service of God on 
 August 7, 1839. January I, 1845, 't was decided to rent the Bleecker 
 street church, which had been erected and used by the Second Presbyte- 
 rian Society. The old building was soon afterward rented to the Metho- 
 dists. The first pastor was Rev. J. O. Lowell, who labored in the church 
 from October i, 1838, to January 27, 1840. Rev. Edward Bright, who was 
 licensed by the church January 3, 1841, succeeded Mr. Lowell and re- 
 signed November 12, 1841. The church then called Rev. D. G. Corey, 
 D.D., to the pastorate. He became pastor January 2, 1842. The 
 membership of the church was then 141. In February, 1847, it was 
 •decided to purchase the Bleecker street church. In August of that 
 year the membership had reached 249. In April, 1862, steps were 
 taken for the enlargement of the church, the membership then being 
 407. Property was accordingly bought in the rear of the church for 
 Sunday school and prayer meeting purposes. September 14, 1886, a 
 meeting was held to consider the matter of changing location and soon 
 afterward the church property was sold, to be used as a site for the 
 Young Men's Christian Association. A lot was then purchased on the 
 corner of Rutger and West streets and on June 29, 1887, the corner- 
 stone of a new brick church was laid. The name Park Baptist was as- 
 sumed on March 22, 1888, this being the fiftieth anniversary of its 
 founding. The edifice is no feet front, 105 feet deep, cost $70,000, 
 and will seat 900 persons. Dr. Corey preached his last sermon in the 
 church July 14, 1889. He died February 20, i8§0, having been pas- 
 tor of the church over forty- eight years. Nearly a generation and a 
 half had listened to his words of admonition, of hope, and sympathy. 
 Those who first heard him as little children grew to manhood under 
 his ministry, and their children in turn advanced to see the same familiar 
 figure in the pulpit. He loved the truth and always felt it to be his 
 duty to preach it without abatement or modification. He was an ear- 
 nest, forceful, fearless man who commanded the respect of those even 
 who did not think as he did. As a pastor he was greatly beloved. 
 The social and business interests of his people were of as much concern 
 to him as their spiritual welfare. His relations with them were those 
 
EBENEZER AMD IMMANUEL BAPTIS2 CHURCHES. 435 
 
 of a close friend rather than of a religious teacher. In the pulpit and out 
 of it, in efforts to reform and uplift his fellowmen, he labored patiently 
 and persistently, content to do his duty, and confident in the power and 
 purpose of his Lord. The impress he made upon the religious thought, 
 social culture, and moral progress of the city is beyond estimate. Rev. 
 C. A. Taylor assumed the pastorate June 5, 1890. The present mem- 
 bership of the church is 485 ; of the Sunday school 275. The present 
 deacons are John Ryalls, Isaac D. Ryalls, F. P. Ashley, S. U. Cook- 
 inham, and John Rowlands. 
 
 The Ebenezer Baptist Church was incorporated in August, 1836, 
 with the following trustees : Deacon Joseph Goodliffe, Garrett Jones, 
 jr., James Stone, William Towers, William Jarrett, and Jacob Loak. 
 During a pastorate of forty years Elder Thomas Hill officiated. He 
 was called in March, 1835, and was the only pastor the church ever 
 had. The record shows that he received no salary while he could work 
 at his trade, which was wood-turning. He died August 9, 1874. A 
 lot on Columbia street was purchased in 1836 of Appollos Cooper for 
 $450, and it was agreed to erect a building at a cost of $350 or $400. 
 The church is a frame building and at the present time is offered for 
 sale, there being only about fifteen members to support it. No Sunday 
 school has ever been held in connection with the church. The society 
 will purchase where land is cheaper or rent rooms. Since the death of 
 the pastor the pulpit has been supplied by Elder S. H. Durant and 
 Elder Baylis Bundy. The present trustee is John Brimson. 
 
 The Immanuel Baptist Church was organized January 29, 1890, with 
 a membership of forty-two. The first house of worship was erected at 
 the corner of Eagle and Dudley streets at a cost of $6,000. This 
 church was dedicated, free from debt, March 12, 1890, Rev. R. G. Sey- 
 mour, D.D., of Auburn, N. Y., preaching the sermon. It has a seating 
 capacity of 450. Rev. James M. Hutchinson is the pastor. The dea- 
 cons are William B. Walling, Thomas H. Peters, William R. Rowlands, 
 and Thomas E. Morris. The Sunday school from which this church is 
 an outgrowth was organized December 26, 1888, at 75 Seymour avenue, 
 with an attendance of 187. The present membership of the church 
 is 143. 
 
 The Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church (German) was organized May 
 
436 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 15, 1842, at its place of meeting — the " Old Bethel," on Fayette street 
 in West Utica. There were fifty-six charter members, all natives of 
 Germany, in which language the services have always been conducted. 
 The first elders of the church were Charles A. Wolf, sr., and Michael 
 Breitenstein. The first house of worship was erected upon the south 
 side of Columbia street near St. Patrick's Church at a cost of about 
 $2,000, and was dedicated September 28, 1844. It was destroyed by 
 fire February 28, 1851. The site was then sold to the Catholics and 
 the present church building was erected on the corner of Cooper 
 and Fay streets at a cost $4,000; its seating capacity is 550. In 1868 
 -the edifice was lengthened by an addition of twenty feet. The first 
 pastor of the church was Rev. A. Wetzel, who continued as such until 
 1879. He was succeeded by Rev. John P. Lichtenberg, who labored 
 in the pastorate until May, 1889, when Rev. A. Oscar Gallenkamp, the 
 present pastor, came to the charge. A day-school building was erected 
 in 1870 on Columbia street near Varick at a cost of $8,000. It is of 
 brick, three stories high, and over 150 pupils are in attendance. It is 
 Icnown as Zion's Day School. Over 200 families are in attendance at 
 this church and there are 475 pupils in the Sunday school. The present 
 deacons are Gaius Bach, Michael Agne, and Martin Schwartz. 
 
 On the 25th of March, i860, the Evangelical Lutheran Zion's Church 
 of Utica, Rev. A. Wetzel, pastor, resolved to establish a German Mis- 
 sion in the southeastern part of the city (Corn Hill). A lot was given 
 and a suitable small building secured, which was consecrated in August 
 ■of the same year as St. Paul's Lutheran Church (German). Pastor 
 Wetzel and his son-in-law, Pastor Schmidt, served the congregation for 
 eight years, when it united with the New York Ministerium and called 
 the Rev. C. Fischer, under whom a new building was begun. Scarcely 
 was the corner-stone laid when Mr. Fischer died. During the pastor- 
 ate of his successor the building was completed. Rev. D. W. Petersen 
 served the congregation from 1875 to 1880, when he removed to Mid- 
 dleville, N. Y. He was succeeded by Pastor O. Kaselitz, under whom 
 the congregation met with the most severe trial that had yet befallen it. 
 During the night of the 6th of November the roof of the church was 
 torn off" by a storm and the building was so much injured that it be- 
 came necessary to raze it to the ground. Without a house of worship, 
 
LUTHERAN CHURCH OF THE REDEEMER. 437 
 
 and with a debt of $4,000 on the building just destrojed, the members 
 though greatly discouraged took heart and began the erection of the 
 present building, thus increasing the debt to $13,000. Under Rev. 
 A. J. Heisler, who became pastor in 1885, the condition of the congre- 
 gation improved. It numbered 400 from Utica, had two Sunday 
 schools, one English the other German, and English services were held 
 once a month. The debt was materially reduced. After his resigna- 
 tion and a season of irregular services Rev. G. A. Bruegel, of Syracuse, 
 entered upon his work October i, 1890. At present there are two 
 Sunday schools and English services are held twice a month. Much 
 is due to those members who, though one pastor died in office and sev- 
 eral others resigned on account of ill health, though the storm increased 
 their debt and other misfortunes befell them, have steadily persevered, 
 •clinging to the congregation of their choice, and gradually reducing 
 their indebtedness until they freed themselves from all obligations. 
 
 In the month of June, 1877, seven members of the Evangelical 
 Lutheran Zion's Church started a movement which resulted in a meet- 
 ing at the dwelling of John C. Hieber, corner of Cottage and Hart 
 -streets, July loth, and the form of an organization that should be 
 known as the " English Lutheran Church Association of Utica," the 
 object being to establish a church of that faith. A method of system- 
 atic giving for church expenses was inaugurated October 16, 1878, a 
 •call was extended to Rev. Theodore B. Roth, of Philadelphia, and he 
 began his labors November 24th. The M. E. Chapel, corner of Court and 
 Stark streets, was rented for one year and services were held regularly, 
 morning and evening. The following Sunday a Sabbath school was 
 organized. December 27, 1878, a church organization was effected 
 under the name of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Redeemer. 
 March 30, 1879, the constitution was adopted and the following deacons 
 elected : Henry Martin, John C. Hieber, Louis F. Leo, Adam Martin, 
 John Reichart, John G. Hoerlein, Anton Dougne, and John R. Bucher. 
 During the summer of 1881 a building lot known as the " old malt- 
 house," fronting 1 19 feet on Columbia street, was purchased for $6,850, 
 and thereon a stone chapel was erected ; it was occupied on December 
 25, 1883, and the church proper on May 17, 1885, the buildings having 
 ■cost upwards of $30,000. This church called Rev. G. A. Bierdemann 
 
438 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 to mission work in the city and through his efforts the Church of the 
 Holy Communion was organized. Rev. Mr. Roth has had repeated' 
 calls to other fields, but still holds to the church of his own building. 
 The membership of the church is 500 and of the Sunday school 350. 
 The present deacons are Henry Martin, John C. Hieber, John Kohler, 
 John R. Bucher, Christian Sautter, John George, Henry Scheehl, and 
 Louis F. Leo. 
 
 Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church (German) was organized Au- 
 gust 21, 1 88 1, in the house of Lewis Guckemus on Stark street. At 
 this meeting it was also decided to form a Sunday school and a day 
 school. St. Patrick's school building on Columbia street was hired and 
 a day school begun. Rev. C. J. Oelschlager was called to the pastorate 
 and in December the first trustees were elected. March 12, 1882, the 
 Beriah Green property on Hamilton street was purchased and the house 
 remodeled for church purposes. Rev. C. A. Germann was called to 
 succeed Mr. Oelschlager, September 30, 1883. Two years later the 
 present brick church was erected at a cost of $13,000, and was dedi- 
 cated December 12, 1886; its seating capacity is 500. A frame build- 
 ing was also built in the rear of the church for a day school. There are 
 about eighty children in attendance here and the Sunday school has 
 160 pupils. The church has 100 families in its fold. The present 
 elders are George Edinger, L. Fehrmann, and Peter Peterson. A par- 
 sonage was erected on a lot adjoining the church in 1884. The value of 
 the church property is about $25,000. 
 
 The Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Holy Communion is a frame 
 structure in the Gothic style of architecture located at tlie corner of Sun- 
 set avenue and Mulberry street. It was built in the winter of 1887-88 
 at a cost of $6,3000, including cost of the lot. It seats 400 persons. 
 The pastor of the church is Rev. Gustavus A. Bierdemann, who began 
 his labors as missionary in southwest Utica by a house-to-house can- 
 vass of the district, in the fall of 1887, having been , called to the work 
 by the Church Council of the Church of the Redeemer from a well es- 
 tablished church at Boylestown, Ohio. The society was organized after 
 the church was built and numbers 167 persons; the Sunday school has 
 150 pupils. A new organ has just been placed in the church at a cost 
 of $1,600. 
 
MORAVIAN CHURCH. 439 
 
 In 1854 several families made application- to the authorities at 
 Bethlehem, Pa., for admission into the Moravian Church, and at the 
 same ti-me requested an appointment. In response Rev. Valentine 
 Miller was given the pastorate. Services were held For a time in private 
 houses. After an official visit by Rt. Rev. H. A. Shultz, from Bethle- 
 hem, a small frame church, corner Cornelia and Cooper streets (formerly- 
 Lutheran), was purchased and the congregation was formally organ- 
 ized as the Moravian Church on July 2, 1856. Rev. Valentine Batterer 
 succeeded Mr. Miller in 1856 and remained until 1862. His successor 
 was Rev. John Praeger, who had charge of the parish until 1876. Rev. 
 J. Wuensche was pastor from 1876 until 1882 and was succeeded by 
 Rev. P. F. Rommel, who remained until 1889. His successor was Rev. 
 L. P. Clewell, the present pastor. During the administration of Rev. 
 Mr. Miller a parsonage was built. At length the old church became 
 too dilapidated for use and it was decided to build a new one, together 
 Avith a parsonage. This was done during the administration of Rev. 
 Mr. Clewell in the summer of 1891. The new edifice (which is built 
 •on the old site) is of brick and of good dimensions. Its cost was $1 1,- 
 000, and it has a seating capacity of 500. There are 300 members in 
 the church and 175 in the Sunday school. The present elders are 
 John Beisiegel, Frantz Weber, and Vitus Frank. 
 
 The Moravian Mission on South street is a branch of the Moravian 
 Church above described and was organized in April, 1 882. The services 
 and Sunday school were first held in the house of Mr. Kehle, 301 South 
 street. The room soon became inadequate on account of the continual 
 growth of the school and it was found necessary to obtain a larger 
 apartment. Hence in February, 1883, it was decided to build a chapel. 
 A lot was purchased on South street at the foot of Leeds street and the 
 present wooden edifice erected thereon. The pastor was Rev. P. F. 
 Rommel. This mission is under the care of the pastor of the Moravian 
 Church. 
 
 A published notice in the papers of the day announced to the people 
 of Utica that Mr. Thompson was to preach in the court-house on Sun- 
 day the 20th of November, 1825, and the Universalists of the village 
 and neighborhood were requested to meet at the same place on Monday 
 evening the 2ist for the purpose of organizing a society. Accordingly 
 
440 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 " a number of persons believing in the doctrine of God's impartial and 
 universal love " met at the time and place appointed and organized the 
 " First Universalist Society of Utica." The following persons were ap- 
 pointed trustees : Andrew S. Pond, Daniel James, John R. Ludlow, 
 John H. Hickox, Roswell Woodruff; and the following were appointed 
 deacons : Ezra S. Barnum and William Stevens. Forty-two persons 
 signed the constitution. Rev. John S. Thompson, the chairman of the 
 meeting, remained only a short time as the pastor, and the society was 
 supplied with occasional preachers, among whom was the father of the 
 late T. Starr King. A church was erected in 1828-30 on Devereux 
 street, and in the latter year Rev. Dolphas Skinner, D.D., became the 
 first settled pastor. The church became involved in financial difficult- 
 ies and was subsequently sold. In 1848 services were re-commenced 
 in Mechanics Hall and a new society was organized under the name of 
 the Central Universalist Society, commonly known as the Church of 
 the Reconciliation: A brick church was erected on Seneca street near 
 Genesee and completed in 1851. It cost $12,500 and has a seating 
 capacity of 480. Rev. Mr. Francis was the pastor. He resigned his 
 charge in 1853 and was succeeded in October by Rev. Theophilus Fisk. 
 Rev. C. C. Gordon became pastor in 1857 and resigned his charge in 
 August, 1859. Rev. T. D. Cook, who had been one of the earlier 
 pastors of the old church, began a new pastorate in i860 and spent 
 four years in the work here. He was succeeded by Rev. D. Ballou in 
 October, 1864, who remained five years. In August, 1870, Rev. A. J. 
 Canfield was called and continued his labors until May, 1873. In De- 
 cember of that year Rev. Charles F. Lee became pastor and continued 
 until January i, 1879. Rev. Marion Crosley was the next pastor, 
 officiating from January, 1880, to July, 1882. He was succeeded by 
 Rev. O. A. Rounds, who came in the following September and con- 
 tinued as pastor until September, 1887. Rev. Clarence E. Rice, the 
 present pastor, came to the work December i, 1887. In 1877 the 
 church was extensively repaired and a new chapel was built. The 
 present membership is 200 and the Sunday school has an average at- 
 tendance of 150. 
 
 The services of the Second Universalist or Church of our Father were 
 first held in May, 1888, in the Mary street school-house and a Sun- 
 
ST. yOHN'S CHURCH. 441 
 
 day school of nine scholers was gathered. This continued until Oc- 
 tober, when a chapel was built on Bacon street. Rev. C. E. Rice, of 
 the First Universalist Church, supplied the preaching, the services being 
 held in the afternoon until July, 1889. At this time Rev. George A. 
 Sahlin came to the work. After one year he was succeeded by Rev, 
 H. W. Smith, the present pastor. In 1890-91 a lot was purchased on 
 Bleecker btreet between Nichols street and Kossuth avenue, and a brick 
 church was erected, the house and lot costing $12,000. The church 
 will seat 400 persons. The membership of the church is nearly eighty 
 and of the Sunday school about 100. 
 
 The first priest whose name is found mentioned in connection with 
 the Roman Catholics of Utica was Rev. M. McQuade. He was pastor 
 of St. Mary's Church in Albany. He took charge of the scattered 
 Catholics in this district and said mass for them occasionally from 18 13 
 to 1 8 16. When he first began his labors here the diocese of New York, 
 to which Utica belonged, was without a bishop. On the 24th of April, 
 1808, Father Luke Concanen was consecrated as bishop of New York. 
 He died before leaving Naples, and was succeeded by Father John Con- 
 nolly, who was appointed in the fall of 18 14. Arriving in New York 
 he remained there, and in the year 1818 dispatched Rev. Michael 
 O'Gorman to Albany and the northern part of the State, where a 
 church was soon erected. The first notice found of Catholic services 
 being held in Utica is in 18 19. 
 
 Agreeably to a notice previously published Rev. Mr. O'Gorman, 
 from Albany, met the adherents of this faith on the loth of January in 
 the academy for public worship. Mass was celebrated, six or seven 
 females and two males received the consecrated water, and eight or ten 
 children were baptized. In the evening Mr. O'Gorman preached. On 
 the 15th of March the Catholics of Utica and its vicinity were invited to 
 attend divine service on the following Sunday, which was to be per- 
 formed by Rev. Mr. Farnon ; and on the 24th of May it was announced 
 that " Rev. Mr. Farnon, who is now established rector of the Western 
 District, has returned from a circuit through said district, and will per- 
 form divine service afthe academy on the 30th inst." 
 
 The foregoing were the first steps taken toward assembling and or- 
 ganizing the now numerous body of Christians of this faith, who were 
 
 56 
 
442 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 still so few and sparsely scattered that the vvhoIe'Western District was 
 included in one religious society. The first trustees of this church, St. 
 John's, were John C. and N. Devereux, of Utica ; James Lynch, until 
 then a resident of Rome, but who about this time removed to Utica; 
 Francis O'Toole, of Augusta; and another from Johnstown. Measures 
 were at once taken to erect a church edifice. The resident congrega- 
 tion did not exceed twenty- five or thirty and these few contributed 
 freely to defray the expense. Much generous assistance was also ac- 
 corded by Protestants generally. Moreover the construction of the Erie 
 Canal, now in progress, had caused a large immigration of Irish laborers, 
 who, though poor and without homes, could not be denied the privileges 
 of their own form of worship. From their scanty wages they each gave 
 $1 a month toward the building of the church. A lot was presented by 
 Judge Morris S. Miller and wife on condition that it should revert to 
 the owners or their heirs whenever it ceased to be used for the pur- 
 pose for which it was given. This lot, on the corner of John and 
 Bleecker streets, is the same that is now occupied by St. John's Church, 
 though the building first placed thereon was afterward moved across 
 Bleecker street to its lower side, where with some alterations it still 
 stands. An Englishman named Crane took the contract for the erection 
 of the building, and it went rapidly forward. The congregation in the 
 meantime worshiped in the parlors of one or other of the Messrs. Dev- 
 €reux, or on saints' days, and when unusual services were held, in the 
 court-room of the academy building. When completed the church was 
 a pretty Gothic structure of wood 45 x 60 feet, surmounted by a low 
 spire, and painted white. It was consecrated on the 19th of August, 
 1 82 1, by Rt. Rev. Bishop Connolly, assisted by Revs. O'Gorman, 
 O'Connor, and Farnon. But though fit for use it was about two years 
 before it was finished and only about ten pews were let at this time. Rev. 
 Mr. Farnon's position was by no means a sinecure, since in addition to 
 the superintendence of the erection of the church he was much occu- 
 pied in ministering to the parishioners of his widely extended district, 
 and in visiting the sick and destitute up and down the line of the canal. 
 As a preacher he was plain and practical, and spoke without notes. 
 The rectory, adjoining the church on the west side, and which has given 
 way to the present one, was built in 1824. Mr. Farnon remained until 
 
ST. JOHN'S CHURCH. 443 
 
 1825 and was succeeded by Rev. Richard Bulger, a talented young 
 Irishman who remained two years. Rev. Charles Brennan succeeded 
 Father Bulger, but on account of ill health he remained only nine 
 months and removed to Paterson, N. J. Rev. John Shanahan was the 
 next pastor, and probably came to Utica toward the end of August, 1825. 
 There were then only sixteen Catholic families in Utica. Rev. Luke 
 Berry was an assistant pastor under Father Shanahan from September 
 1, 1827, and when the latter left he acted as pastor until December 
 19, 1828. The congregation of St. John's now numbered 600 with 
 a Sunday school of 85 scholars. Rev. Hatton Walsh was pastor from 
 December 19, 1828, to November 24, 1829. He was succeeded by 
 Rev. P. J. M. O'Reilly, who arrived August 14, 1829, and continued 
 until November, 1830. Rev. Michael Cummings became pastor on 
 December i, 1830. He was first assisted by Rev. James B. Cahill,. 
 who came early in 183 1 and became pastor March 6, 1832. During 
 the prevalence of the epidemic of that year his labors were indefatigable. 
 He remained until May 8, 1833, and on the 8th of June of the same 
 year was succeeded by Rev'. Walter Joseph Quarter as assistant. 
 Through the generosity of John C. Devereux he brought hither the 
 Sisters of Charity, who have cared for and instructed the children of the 
 flock for more than half a century. Early in 1834 steps were taken for 
 the erection of a larger and more commodious church. The corner- 
 stone was laid in June, 1836, and it was completed before the end of the 
 year. It was not as large as the present church, extending west only 
 as far as the present galleries. 
 
 Rev. Walter J. Quarter took charge of the parish January i, 1835, 
 and the first assistant pastor, Rev. William Beecham, began his labors 
 December 23, 1836. Rev. Father P. Bradley also assisted the pastor. 
 Rev. P. McCloskey became assistant pastor January 27, 1838, and was 
 succeeded by Rev. D. W. Bacon, January 13, 1839, Rev. Francis 
 Farrell took charge of the parish as pastor November i, 1839, and re- 
 mained until his death, which occurred in December of the following 
 year. He was succeeded by Rev. John Loughlin, afterward bishop of 
 Brooklyn, who remained until January 10, 1841, and was followed by 
 Rev. Thomas Martin. He organized a temperance society and labored 
 to suppress the evils of drunkenness. Rev. Joseph Stokes succeeded hini 
 
444 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 May 12, 1845, and remained six years, leaving the Albany diocese on 
 account of ill health in F"ebruary, 1851. He was succeeded in the fol- 
 lowing month by Rev. Francis P. McF;irland, who was pastor until 
 March, 1858, at which time he was appointed third bishop of Hartford, 
 in which see he was consecrated bishop March 14, 1858. Remembered 
 as well for his sweet and kindly disposition as for his zealous labors for 
 the church, it was during his pastorate that the Brothers of the Christian 
 schools came to Utica. The Assumption Academy was opened Sep- 
 tember I, 1854. His assistants were Michael Clarke, who removed to 
 Carthage in February, 1854; William Coghlan, afterward the first resi- 
 dent pastor of Clinton; Eugene Carroll, who went to Port Leyden ; 
 James Smith, afterward pastor at Fulton, N. Y.; John U. Herbst; Dan- 
 iel P. Falvey, who died while pastor in Schenectady; John McDermott, 
 afterward pastor at Oneida, was assistant under F. P. McFarland from 
 August, 1855, to mid-lent in i856,and was succeeded by William J. H. 
 Maeyer, who remained until Father Daly took charge after Easter, 1858. 
 Thomas Daly was appointed by the then Bishop McCloskey in April, 
 1858. His assistants were Rev. P. J. McGlynn, Eugene Carroll, Will- 
 iam F. Sheahan, Francis J. Purcell, John McDonald, P. F. Smith, B. B. 
 Grattan, William F Smith, James M. Ludden, Aloysius Murphy, Luke 
 G. O'Reilly, and Edward A. Terry, who remained until September 21, 
 1880. Under Father Daly's administration St. John's Church was 
 greatly developed, and it soon became evident that a larger church and 
 accommodations must be provided. The St. John's Building Associa- 
 tion was organized with the object of aiding the pastor and securing the 
 necessary funds for building the new church, and the work went rapidly 
 forward. The corner-stone was laid on the 27th of June, 1869, and the 
 edifice was finished in 1871. 
 
 It was under his administration, too, that the Christian Brothers 
 opened an orphan asylum for boys in a portion of the School building 
 of the Assumption Academy, March 25, 1862. These accommodations 
 were soon found inadequate, and in 1869 a large building Was erected 
 on the corner of Rutger street and Taylor avenue, which is now known 
 as St. Vincent's Male Orphan Asylum. This asylum is desfcribfed a little 
 further on. 
 
 Father Daly's health failed and Father Terry became acting pastor in 
 
ST. JOSEPH'S CHURCH. 445 
 
 1879. As soon as it became evident tliat Father Daly's health would 
 not be restored Rev. James M. Ludden, pastor of St. Mary's Church, 
 Little Falls, was called to the position of acting pastor. Considerable 
 trouble arose in the congregation during Father Ludden's administra- 
 tion over the fact that a large number of the parishioners ardently de- 
 sired that Father Terry should remain in charge. A petition was drawn 
 up setting forth the grievances of the people and sent to Rome. Mean- 
 while Father Ludden continued faithfully in the discharge of his duties 
 in the parish. In January and February, 1882, a correspondence oc- 
 curred between members of the church and Bishop McNierney, which 
 resulted in the transfer of Father Ludden to St. John's Church, Albany, 
 and the appointment as acting pastor of Rev. J. S. M. Lynch, who en- 
 tered upon his duties February 18, 1882. Father Lynch remained with 
 the church, conducting its affairs with success and to the satisfaction of 
 its large congregation, until the beginnmg of 1887, when he was trans- 
 ferred to Syracuse and was succeeded by Father Moriarity. His term of 
 service was, however, very brief, for he died in November, 1887. Father 
 T. F. Cullen was then called to the pastorate, but he, too, was called by 
 his Master on the gth of May, 1891. Father Lynch was then re- 
 transferred from Syracuse and is the present pastor. 
 
 St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church (German) was organized in 1842 
 by Rev. Joseph Prost. The first house of worship was a frame building 
 purchased from one of the Methodist congregations of the city, and 
 located on Fayette street. The congregation grew rapidly and in 1855 
 a fine two- story brick building was erected and used as a school. In 
 1874 the old frame church on Fayette street was torn down and the 
 handsome new brick church edifice erected on Columbia street. It is 
 built in the Romanesque style, has two towers, and is 200 feet long. 
 Its erection extended from 1869 to 1873, under the pastorate of the 
 late Father Alpheus Zoller, of the Fathers Minor Conventual of St. 
 Francis, who took charge of the congregation in 1858 ; the church will 
 seat 2,000 persons. In 1878 a new convent was built on the east side 
 of the church and in 1885 a spacious brick school- house was erected. 
 The latter has eight school rooms, with an attendance of 500 children 
 under the charge of one male teacher and six sisters of the Order of 
 St. Francis. There is now in course of erection a commodious convent 
 
446 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 for the school sisters on Fayette street. In the Sabbath school are 240 
 scholars. The present pastor is Rev. Clement Luitz, who is assisted by 
 the fathers of the order. The congregation owns a fine cemetery. 
 There are 600 families connected with the church. 
 
 St. Patrick's Catholic Church was organized on the natal day of its 
 patron saint, March 17, 1850. Services were held at first in a building 
 (now a part of St. Elizabeth's Hospital) erected for the purpose on Col- 
 umbia street west of Varick. The first pastor was Rev. Patrick Car- 
 raher. When he first came to the parish he inaugurated a movement 
 to secure a new church. A lot was purchased on the corner of Colum- 
 bia and Huntington streets, and on July 30, 185 r, the corner-stone of 
 an edifice 120x64 feet was laid. The building was of brick and cost 
 $30,000. Rev. John McDonald, the present pastor, succeeded to the 
 charge in October, 1888, Father Carraher having resigned after a pas- 
 torate of over forty years. He died in October, 1890. In November, 
 1890, fire destroyed the church building and services have since been 
 held in the old school -house near the church site on Columbia street, 
 which has been the property of St. Patrick's Church for many years. 
 In March, 1886, the church property was sold on a mortgage foreclos- 
 ure. Father Carraher being the purchaser, and its affairs are still in liti- 
 gation. The congregation numbers 1,500 and there are 225 children 
 in the Sunday school. 
 
 The present edifice of St. Mary's Catholic Church (German) was pur- 
 chased in 1870 by the first pastor of the congregation. Rev. G. Veith, 
 from the German Lutheran Church on South street. It is located at 
 the corner of South street and Taylor avenue. Two years after the pur- 
 chase Father Veith was succeeded by Rev. J. B. Eis, who remained only 
 six months, and was followed by Rev. H. Fehlings, who was appointed 
 by the bishop of the diocese in 1873. During his ministration a rectory 
 was added to the church on a lot adjoining on South street. The 
 church building has been enlarged and with its various additions now 
 assumes the form of a cross. Connected with this society is a parochial 
 school numbering over 100 children, and three benevolent societies — 
 the Society of St. Boniface, the Society of St. Aloysius, and the Society 
 of St. Stanilaus. A cemetery is owned by the congregation. Two 
 hundred German families are connected with the church and the pres- 
 ent pastor is Rev. Andrew Lindenfeld. 
 
ST. FRANCIS DE SALES AND ST. AGNES CHURCHES. 447 
 
 In April, 1877, Rev. Father McNierney, bishop of the diocese, gave 
 letters of instruction to Rev. Luke G. O'Reilly, then assistant of St. 
 John's parish, authorizing him to organize a new parish of all that sec- 
 tion east of Genesee street and south of South street, to be known as the 
 Church of St. Francis de Sales (Roman Catholic). About 300 members 
 of St. John's parish who lived in this district met at first in a school- 
 house, which was placed at their disposal by the city authorities. Within 
 a year after the establishment of the parish the building located on Steu- 
 ben street near South street, which had been one of the public school edi- 
 fices, was purchased, entirely remodeled and beautified, and by the liber- 
 ality of the members of the parish paid for. Father O'Reilly has been in 
 charge of this parish from the beginning and is still the pastor. Persist- 
 ent efforts were made from the first to get a good church edifice and a 
 suitable site was finally secured at the corner of Eagle street and Summit 
 avenue (lately High street). Ten years from its organization the church 
 had completed the erection of a beautiful brick building and parochial 
 residence. The property is valued at $75,000. The church is in the 
 Romanesque style of architecture, with one tower, and will seat 1,000 
 persons. Father O'Reilly is assisted by Rev. Bartholomew Stack. The 
 congregation numbers 1,000 communicants and there are 300 scholars 
 in the Sunday school. 
 
 In 1886 a Sunday school was established by members from St. John's 
 Church in the old public school building in Mary street, which was soon 
 afterward turned into a Catholic school. In May, 1887, a new Roman 
 Catholic parish was formed of all that section east of Mohawk street and 
 called St. Agnes. Rev. John J. Toomey, who had been assistant at St. 
 John's for five years, was appointed pastor over this district, services were 
 begun, and steps were taken toward the erection of a church building. 
 A lot was secured at the corner of Blandina street and Kossuth avenue 
 and the corner-stone of the church was laid in July, 1887, the services 
 being conducted by Rt. Rev. Bishop Ludden, while Father Lynch of 
 St. John's preached the historical sermon. Father Toomey died June 13, 
 iSgr, and Rev. Michael O'Reilly, of Pompey, N. Y., was appointed his 
 successor. The church services have been held in the basement thus 
 far, but the completion of the building will be rapidly pushed forward. 
 There are about 2,000 persons in the congregation. 
 
448 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 The first Hebrew congregation in Utica was organized in 1848 with 
 Rabbi EUsner as leader. They worshiped in rooms hired for the pur- 
 pose on Hotel street. In 1852-53 the congregation was re-organized 
 with Rabbi Rosenthal as pastor. They built a small frame edifice on 
 Bleecker street for a synagogue. These services did not continue long, 
 the records showing that from 1855 to 1870 the congregation had no 
 place of worship. In 1870 a synagogue was built on Whitesboro street 
 and chartered in the name of the House of Jacob. It was a frame build- 
 ing seating 300 persons. Rabbi Sapero then oflSciated and was suc- 
 ceeded by Revs. Jacob Hess, L. Eisenberg, A. Sinai, H. Lavine, N. 
 Ticken, D. Lavine, L. Sher, and H. Friedlander, the present rabbi, who 
 came in May, 1891. In 1882, during the pastorate of Rabbi Sinai, the 
 synagogue was sold to Solomon Griffiths, and July 22d a church standing 
 at No. 1 1 Seneca street was bought from the Moriah Welsh Church for 
 $7,000. The present attendance is about 200. The president is P. Ga- 
 linski ; trustees, Joseph Lipstein, B. Jacobson, and N. Levi. 
 
 On December 7, 1888, Levi Lyons, Elias Marulsky, and David Roth- 
 stein purchased from the city a school-house at the corner of Whites- 
 boro and Washington streets for $2,715. These men formerly wor- 
 shiped with the House of Jacob. A congregation was soon gathered 
 at the school-house and January 5, 1889, an organization was effected 
 and a charter obtained. They took the name House of Israel. The first 
 president was Levi Lyons; vice-president, Elias Marulsky; and these 
 officers are acting at present. During the 'year 1S89 repairs to the 
 amount of $3,000 were made upon the building, which seats 375 persons. 
 Rev. Morris Coplin was the first rabbi ; his successor was Rev. Birnie 
 Lavine, the present rabbi, who came to the synagogue August 15, 1890. 
 The membership is about fifty. A small Sunday school is held in the 
 basement in connection with the synagogue. 
 
EARLIEST SCHOOLS. 449 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 THE SCHOOLS AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOL LIBRARY. 
 
 THE first school in Utica (then Old Fort Schuyler) of which we have 
 any account was kept in a building on the south side of Main 
 street about midway between First and Second. This old school- house, 
 once the sanctuary of the fathers and the seat of learning for their sons, 
 as well as the ordinary place of assembly for secular as well as sacred 
 purposes, still exists, now degraded to a shed. Its longer side was 
 once parallel with the street. It has since been wheeled around so that 
 it now stands endwise with the street. The seats were in part slabs of 
 rough boards without backs, ^.nd resting on logs inserted in auger holes. 
 The teacher was ensconced in a seat to the left of the entrance. As a 
 place of worship the building was used until the completion of Trinity 
 Church in 1806, when for a brief period the Episcopalians and the 
 Presbyterians worshiped there alternately. As a school-house and for 
 town meetings it held out a little longer, but after the inauguration of 
 two grammar schools farther up town, and after its stove and lamp had 
 been sold at auction in 1808, its usefulness had departed. The teacher 
 in charge in 1797 was Joseph Dana, who is well spoken of as a good in- 
 structor, remarkable for the order and discipline he maintained. He 
 was succeeded by one Clark, and he by Roswell Holcomb about 1804, 
 the same who twenty years later was in charge of the free school that 
 sprang up afterward. In 1805 we hear of another teacher, Gideon Wil- 
 coxson, but he soon took to the law and became elsewhere prominent 
 therein. In 1807 Jonathan Child presided over a school that was kept 
 in the Welsh Church on the corner of Washington and Whitesboro 
 streets, but his stay was short. 
 
 In 1808 Eliasaph Dorchester was teaching in the Welsh Church 
 while his rival, David R. Dixon, occupied a building which stood where 
 Grace Church now is, and which, besides serving as a school-house, 
 became now the place of assemblage for the trustees of the village. 
 Mr. Dixon had graduated at Yale College in 1807, only a short time 
 57 
 
450 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 before he began his school. In February, i8i i, he opened an evening 
 school for instruction in singing while continuing his grammar school 
 through the day. At the same time he was privately carrying on a 
 course of study in divinity. This he prosecuted under the direction of 
 Rev. Mr. Carnahan. In 1813 he left the place. As a teaclier Mr. 
 Dixon was capable and good tempered. His school was the Federal one 
 in contrast with that of Mr. Dorchester, whose patrons were found 
 among the Democratic families. Among his pupils he had two who 
 were subsequently admirals in the navy, two State senators, an eminent 
 portrait and genre painter, and others scarcely less celebrated. 
 
 Thomas Colling during the years 1810-11 kept a night school. In 
 the year 1813 a private school was in operation which was known as the 
 Juvenile Academy. It was kept in the third story of Ihe building 
 situated on the north corner of Broad and Genesee streets. The room 
 had been constructed for a Masonic hall and consisted of a tolerably 
 sized hall and two small rooms in the rear. It was attended by many 
 of the children of the principal families of the village, male and female, 
 instruction being given in all the branches of a classical education as 
 well as in the elements of English learning. The first teacher was 
 Henry White, a gentle, fair-haired man who afterward became a minis- 
 ter. Being taken with a fever and afterward going away to recruit the 
 remainder of one of his years of teaching was completed by S. W. 
 Brace, then a pupil of Hamilton College. The teacher in theyear 1816 
 was Oded Eddy, son of the first Baptist preacher of Deerfield. 
 
 In the year 18 13 nineteen citizens of Utica asked the Regents of the 
 University to incorporate an academy to be located in their village. A 
 charter was granted on the 28th of March in the next year, in which charter 
 the following persons were named as trustees : Jeremiah Van Rensselaer, 
 Arthur Breese, Talcott Camp, David W. Childs, Francis A. Bloodgood, 
 Bryan Johnson, A. B. Johnson, Thomas Skinner, Thomas Walker, Apol- 
 los Cooper, Solomon Wolcott, Anson Thomas, Ebenezer B. Shearman. 
 They elected Mr. Van Rensselaer their president ; Mr. Walker, treasurer; 
 and Mr. Shearman, secretary. They also started a subscription to raise 
 the means with which to erect a building and create a fund that should 
 yield an annual income of $200, for these were the preliminaries on 
 which depended the validity of their charter. After a little fruitless ex- 
 
UTICA ACADEMY. 45, 
 
 periment in favor of their design it was found necessary, as it would seem, 
 to modify the terms of their subscription in order to give it success ; and 
 a marginal after-thought was appended, enlarging the original purpose 
 of a mere academic building into that of a building for the accommoda- 
 tion of courts of justice and public meetings. Though the circulation of 
 the subscription ceased after only about $1,600 had been subscribed 
 the trustees formally accepted their trust, and, as we have said, requested 
 Rev. Jesse Townshend in June, 1815, to take charge of their "infant 
 seminary." This Mr. Townshend was born in 1766 at Andover, Conn., 
 was graduated at Yale College in 1790, after which he prepared himselt 
 for the ministry and took charge of a church in his native State. More 
 recently he was a teacher at Madison,' Madison County. The repute of 
 his school at the latter place had drawn thither several boys from Utica 
 and its vicinity, and gained him a patronage which induced him to settle 
 there. At the time of his appointment by the trustees he was teaching 
 a grammar school in the village. Mr. Townshend remained instructor 
 about two years and then became pastor of the Presbyterian Church at 
 Palmyra, N. Y. With respect to his personal character it is said that 
 "few men have lived of more uniform and undissembled piety." 
 
 In the meantime a committee of citizens proposed to the trustees, in 
 the year 18 16, to aid them in erecting a building which should subserve 
 the joint purposes of "an academy, town- house, and court-house," and 
 fresh subscriptions were started. At once there sprung up a famous 
 controversy about a sice for the proposed structure; and Genesee road. 
 Miller road, and Whitesboro road had a street fight to settle that mat- 
 ter. The Van Rensselaers, the Bleeckers, Dudleys, and Millers, the 
 Coopers, Potters, and Bellingers contested it so hotly that it became 
 necessary, as expressed in the new subscription paper, in order to 
 "secure harmony in the village," that the subscriptions should be so 
 made as that every subscriber to the amount of $5 should have a vote 
 for either of two sites designated, one of which was the site finally 
 adopted and the other a lot on Genesee street then adjoining the old 
 Van Rensselaer homestead. On polling the votes for a site, as pro- 
 vided in the do'cument, tQ'] votes were found in favor of the site on 
 Chancellor Square and 445 in favor of that on Genesee street, being a ma- 
 jority of 222. The choice was strongly stimulated by an auxiliary sub- 
 
452 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 scription containing the significant signatures of John R. Bleecker and 
 Charles E. Dudley, who offered two village lots valued at $500 contingent 
 on the selection of their favorite site. The subscription amounted to 
 $5, 000, but was inadequate to finish the building and yield the requisite 
 income of $100 a year. To this sum the village authorities at length 
 voted an addition of $300 more, and this was followed in the summer 
 of 1 8 18 by a fresh subscription on which was raised $500 and by a 
 pledge of the Dudley and Miller lots to secure the annual income. 
 The building was finally completed in the summer of 1818. It occu- 
 pied the site of its imposing successor. It was an unpretending brick 
 edifice of two stories, about fifty by sixty ieet with a wide hall, one 
 large room on the north and two smaller on the south on the first floor, 
 and the whole upper floor was the court- room. The external appear- 
 ance of the structure was not such as would now suit favorably, al- 
 though it was a well proportioned and symmetrical building. But it 
 was never commodious for its purpose and was ill calculated to serve 
 the double use it was destined to. Constables were required to stand 
 guard during play hours to stifle urchin shouts, while the sacred silence 
 of study hours was interrupted by the tread and turmoil of throngs of 
 jurymen, witnesses, attorneys, and judges, to say nothing of the pleas- 
 ant grievance of being routed out of this and that recitation room to make 
 way for jurymen about to cast lots or toss coppers for verdicts. -And 
 thus with all its inconveniences and its hinderances it stpod for over 
 forty years without change of purpose or of plan, never lacking of a 
 teacher or pupils, yet harboring from term to term the followers of 
 the Supreme, the National, and the County Courts, and serving likewise 
 the ends of citizens intent on matters of local or of general interest — a 
 nursery for generations of youth, a hall of judgment for the wrong-doer, 
 and a town hall for a public spirited and intelligent people. 
 
 In August, 18 18, the Rev. Samuel T. Mills, a Presbyterian clergy- 
 man, was appointed the first preceptor of the academy at a salary of 
 $800 a year, and in October a Mr. Whiteside was chosen assistant for 
 six months with a compensation at the rate of $300> In January, 1819, 
 William Hayes was appointed to teach writing and arithmetic at $50 a 
 quarter, this quarter consisting of eleven and one-half weeks. It \\as 
 now determined that there should be a public examination and exhibi- 
 
Evf,.h,ELWM,„.,.!,a.,m' 
 
UTICA ACADEMY. 453 
 
 tion every year, that the trustees should visit the school once a month 
 in classes, and that it should be examined by the teachers at the close of 
 each quarter. There were three classes of pupils, one of whom paid 
 $5, one $4, and one $3 a quarter for tuition. Mr. Whiteside was suc- 
 ceeded by Ambrose Kasson as teacher in the English department. Mr. 
 Mills, though an earnest and worthy man, was infirm of constitution 
 and soon resigned. His place was temporarily filled by William Spar- 
 row, a graduate of an English or Irish university, who was a student of 
 theology and a candidate for orders in the Protestant Episcopal Church, 
 to which he was soon ordained. However skilled for a professor he was 
 not well adapted for popularity with boys in consequence of a certain 
 distance and air of haughtiness which forbade familiarity. For a short 
 time in 1822 the principal teacher was Edward Aikin, brother of Rev. 
 Samuel Aikin, who was afterward a physician. There is a gap in the 
 records and nothing to indicate the situation of the academy until April, 
 1824. During that interval, or the most of it, the school was in charge 
 of Capt. Charles Stuart as principal. He was a half-pay officer in the 
 British East India service and had been many years in the East. He 
 was a peculiar mixture of the severe and the plaj'ful ; tremendous in 
 his wrath and hilarious in his relaxed moods ; with a most attractive 
 smile and a thunderous volcanic frown in which there seemed to be a 
 struggle to put down some violent passion ; withal of the most humane 
 and tender feelings; fond of children and youth and of joining boyishly 
 in their sports, but strict with them and often bitter in his reproofs, and 
 terrible in his punishments of casual offences of which they did not always 
 know the exact enormity; particularly of those against religion, purity, 
 and good manners. He was an earnest, energetic, enthusiastic man ; 
 every way uncompromising; conscientious to morbidness; and alto- 
 gether one of the most eccentric and mystical of men. His system of 
 instruction was eminently rehgious and it was so spontaneously and 
 naturally. It is believed that he was the first teacher in this country to 
 introduce the practice of singing a hymn in school worship. 
 
 Succeeding Mr. Stuart was Alexander Dwyer, a graduate of Trinity 
 College, Dublin, accomplished both in the classics and in mathematics. 
 His discipline was somewhat of the Busby sort, but he did not suc- 
 ceed in administering it satisfactorily either to the recipients or their 
 
454 MEMORIAL HISTOR Y OF UTICA. 
 
 natural guardians. It was probably this circumstance and his cold, 
 ungenial manners that shortened his connection with the school. A 
 brother of his, also a Trinity College man, was his assistant. 
 
 In January, 1825, David Prentice, then principal of the academy 
 at Oxford, Chenango County, to which he had given such a good name 
 for thoroughness of teaching and discipline that scholars flocked to it 
 from considerable distances, was appointed principal. He was a single- 
 minded devotee of Latin and Greek, and spent his life in teaching them 
 with diligence and enthusiasm. He imparted a more vigorous spirit 
 into the management of the school, the Regents of the University now 
 pronouncing their testimony in favor of it by saying that " it has 
 established a public character." In November, 1828, military drill was 
 established as an experimental regular exercise. In 1832 the school 
 was broken up by the prevalence of the cholera and the academy build- 
 ing, on account of its isolation, was devoted to the purposes of a hos- 
 pital. In December, 1836, Mr. Prentice announced his intention of 
 removing to Geneva to accept a professorship of languages in the col- 
 lege there. He was an unobtrusive, faithful, indefatigable teacher, and 
 was for several years a professor in Hobart College. He died in Geneva 
 in 1859. 
 
 In December, 1836, Rev. Thomas Towel was appointed his successor 
 in the academy. About this time a proposition was made by the trus- 
 tees to annex the Utica Female Academy, under the charge of Miss 
 Urania E. Sheldon, as the female department, in case she should consent- 
 To this Miss Sheldon wisely declined. It is a suitable place to say here 
 that female pupils had from time to time been taught in the academy as 
 well in the languages as in other branches of instruction. Mr. Towel 
 found it necessary to suggest that some new rules might be devised for the 
 government of the institution, probably for the purpose of defining the 
 relative positions of the principal and assistant teacher. The committee 
 to which these were referred for consideration concluded that a new 
 organization was necessary, and to make a clear field both the princi- 
 pal and the assistant resigned their places. Mr. Towel wanted the 
 pluck to maintain his superiority as the principal against a spirited and 
 antagonistic asssistant and the tact requisite to manage boys. 
 
 In April, 1838, Mancer M. Backus, a former pupil of Mr. Prentice, 
 
UTICA ACADEMY. 455 
 
 who was just graduated from Columbia at the age of twenty, was made 
 principal. He had two assistants, one of whom remained only until 
 August. The following year George R. Perkins was appointed mathe- 
 matical professor and William A. Barber teacher of English, and an ap- 
 propriation was made for the purchase of books and apparatus. There 
 was now a call for more room and in 1840 the unprecedented force of 
 five teachers. In 1841 Henry J. Turner was engaged to teach French 
 and Theodore W. Dwight became an assistant classical teacher. 
 Such an appointment became necessary in consequence of the failing 
 health of the principal. It was insufficient to respond to his energies. 
 Under his auspices, assisted as he was by Professor Perkins, the school had 
 taken a forward spring and reached the highest state of prosperity it had 
 yet attained. The same day Mr. Backus resigned George R. Perkins, his 
 associate, was appointed principal — the first instance of the appointment 
 to that post of any person who did not claim to be qualified in classical 
 studies. In July, 1842, George Spencer was appointed classical teacher 
 at a time when th« academy seemed to be falling off in consequence of 
 that department not being adequately filled. 
 
 Other causes were at work tending to undermine the academy as an 
 independent school. About this period the state of the common schools 
 of the city began to excite a degree of attention that resulted in a com- 
 plete reformation of the whole local system, and it was not long before 
 the common schools gained a repute that commended them to general 
 favor. In proportion as the new system advanced and ripened the 
 academy seemed to languish. The ordinary branches of an English edu- 
 cation could now be taught with such order, gradation, and efficiency, 
 and so entirely without individual expense, that the academy had little 
 to depend on but its Greek and Latin and the higher mathematics. It 
 could still train pupils for a collegiate course, and that was all that it 
 could do better than the city schools ; and as its pupils diminished its 
 resources diminished, too, until it became a struggle for bare existence. 
 
 In November, 1844, Mr. Perkins resigned as principal in order to 
 accept an appointment in the State Normal School, when Mr. Spencer 
 was made principal. Oren Root (now professor in Hamilton College) 
 was selected as the teacher of mathematics, a place which he retained 
 only a few months, when he was followed by John G. Webb. In 1848 
 
4s6 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 Edwin B. Russ was appointed a teacher in the English department. 
 In June, 1849, Mr. Spencer was allowed to employ a substitute for a 
 period, when the number of pupils seems to have run down to about 
 thirty- five. In September, 1850, partly from discouragement and prin- 
 cipally from ill health, he resigned his place as principal and Ellis H. 
 Roberts, a graduate of Yale College, was chosen to succeed him. Under 
 Mr. Spencer the academy had the reputation of a thorough classical 
 school. He was devoted to it and possessed the requisite ambition, per- 
 severance, and energy for a valuable teacher had his health seconded 
 and sustained him. He was an enthusiast on the subject of education, 
 to which he had designed to devote his life. Mr. Roberts had not in- 
 tended to be a teacher professionally, and within a year he entered upon 
 more congenial employment. It was in 185 i that the trustees determined 
 to sell to the county for a court house the John street front of the academy, 
 about 100 feet by 115, on condition, in addition to a pecuniary consid- 
 eration, that the release of the remainder should be obtained from the 
 original grantors and from the city, so that it might be free of all ease- 
 ments for courts and public meetings, which was finally consummated. 
 Mr. Roberts's place was for a short time occupied in turn by a Mr. 
 Newcomb and a Mr. Kenget. 
 
 In April, 1852, a committee of the trustees was appointed to confer 
 with the school commissioners — a board now in charge of the common 
 schools — respecting some arrangement by which the office of superin- 
 tendent of schools and of principal of the academy might be united ; 
 and in August a plan for a connection was suggested by the school com- 
 missioners, to which the trustees responded by the appointment of a 
 committee with full power to complete the union. And this was the 
 last act of the trustees under the old charter. In May, 1853, an act of 
 the legislature provided for an arrangement by which the school com- 
 missioners became the trustees of the academy, preserving the venerable 
 charter and binding its vitality to that of the city itself, and converting 
 an old close corporation into one controllable by a popular vote. The 
 new organization was accomplished in February, 1854, by the choice of 
 Edmund A. Wetmore, chairman of the school commissioners, as presi- 
 dent, and Daniel S. Hefifron, superintendent of the schools, as secretary. 
 
 A few more words will suffice for the history of the Utica Academy, 
 
FIRST FREE SCHOOL. 
 
 457 
 
 for though it has continued and for the most part in a highly prosper- 
 ous state to the present time it is no longer a wholly independent in- 
 stitution, but is hnked with the other public schools of the city in one 
 graded system of which the academy is the head. Under this new 
 regime Mr. Weld, a graduate of Brown tJniversity, was selected for prin- 
 cipal with three female teachers for assistants. By subscriptions and 
 by appropriations made by the Regents of the University the school 
 apparatus was increased to the value of nearly $800. The standard of 
 education was high, and pupils went to college with qualifiations ex- 
 ceeding the collegiate standard. In December, 1857, Mr. Weld resigned 
 and the present principal, George C. Sawyer, a graduate of Harvard, 
 succeeded him. For now thirty-four years he has been at the head of 
 the crowning school of our system. 
 
 We come next to consider the first free school of the place. The 
 first act of the legislature in relation to the schools of Utica was passed 
 April 7, 1817. That act applied "ail school moneys coming to the 
 said village under the school laws to the support of a free school for the 
 education of such poor children as were entitled to a gratuitous educa- 
 tion." And by section 28 "all the property of the twelfth district of 
 Whitestown [which then included Utica] was vested in the trustees 
 of the village of Utica for said free schools." The proceedings of the 
 trustees for the year 1817 relate that in pursuance of their intention to 
 establish a free public school they erected a building and engaged Igna- 
 tius Thompson, " a teacher in Utica," to keep the school for three 
 months, from the .first Monday in December, at $40 per month. Fifty 
 dollars were appropriated for the repair and fuel of the school Public 
 notice was given, and children were admitted on the presentation of a 
 ticket signed by one of the trustees. Shortly after the expiration of 
 this engagement it was resolved, at a special meeting, that Mr. Thomp- 
 son have the use of the school-house for two quarters, free of rent, pro- 
 vided he teach the scholars for $2 per quarter each. But two days 
 later, at a regular and fuller meeting of the board, it was determined, 
 without any cause that appears on the record, that the school-house be 
 shut up, and hot opened, either for school-keeping or religious meet- 
 ings, until further order of the board. This two- story building after- 
 ward known as the Lancaster school stood upon the south side of 
 
 58 
 
4s8 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 Catharine street nearly opposite Franklin, its upper story being used 
 by the Masons. During the following year it was still continued under 
 the direction of Mr. Thompson. But in 1819 it was to be conducted on 
 the Lancaster system agreeably to a proposition made the trustees by 
 Mr. I'Amoureux. In September he published a report of his school 
 for the first term. He reports 213 as having been admitted and 203 
 now remaining in the school. Of these 26 read in the New Testament, 
 28 are learning to read simple stories on cards, 130 are making rapid 
 improvement in spelling and reading words of two to eight syllables, and 
 19 are learning to make the alphabet in sand ; 60 have learned to write 
 a tolerable hand and 80 are learning to write words of from one to three 
 letters ; 32 are learning to cypher, seven of whom are nearly masters of 
 the first four rules of arithmetic ; and a class in geography is now com- 
 mitting the first principles. 
 
 In 1822 Andrew I'Amoureux was still the teacher, but in 1824 his 
 place is occupied by Roswell Holcomb, one of the early teachers of the 
 Main street school-house, his salary being equivalent to $350 a year 
 and $65 being allowed for fuel and repairs. We next read that in 1825 
 the scholars were obliged to pay three shillings each term, which sum 
 was to be applied toward defraying the expenses of the teachers, the sum 
 received from the school fund not being adequate for the purpose. Rev. 
 Joseph Carter became principal in 1828 and the school was re- organ- 
 ized. The appropriations made to it amounted to about $600. There 
 were then about 150 pupils and the school was represented as flourish- 
 ing. Mr. Carter was succeeded by Eliasaph Dorchester, assisted by 
 Miss Susan Wright in the female department; he presided for some 
 years. A legislative act was passed in 1830 giving to the trustees of 
 the village power to establish schools at their pleasure and distribute 
 the public money as to them shall seem proper, and in April of the fol- 
 lowing year a committee of the trustees was appointed to sell the free 
 school lot on Catharine street and buy another suitable for common 
 school and fire purposes. The school was next kept in the session- room 
 of the Second Presbyterian Church on the corner of Charlotte and Eliz- 
 abeth streets. The same year (1831) a school district was established 
 in the eastern part of the village and a school located oh the corner of 
 East and Minden streets. A third public school was added in 1834 
 with Abraham Yates as principal. 
 
INFANT SCHOOLS— PRIVATE ONES. ' 459 
 
 The foregoing is a very brief and inadequate description of the free 
 schools of an early date. No statistics exist showing their actual con- 
 dition, nor are there any records prior to the time when they came un- 
 der the control of the Board of School Commissioners in 1842. A 
 further consideration is therefore deferred. 
 
 Two other schools of a public nature may be mentioned here. In 
 April, 1828, an infant society was organized with four directors and 
 twenty- four managers, whose object was to give care and instruction to 
 the infant poor of the place of eighteen months to two years of age, to 
 relieve their parents during the day, and to screen their children from 
 such evil influences as they might encounter from without. In fact the 
 institution resembled what has been known in more recent times as a 
 creche. It relied upon public liberality for its support. Mrs. Moses 
 Bagg was the first directress and Mrs. Emma R. Crowley the precept- 
 ress. In 1829 a similar school, termed the Pattern Infant School, was 
 started in another locality under the patronage of Jesse W. Doolittle. 
 Both of them received in 1832 an appropriation of $92 each from the 
 council. 
 
 While thus treating of public schools it must not be presumed that 
 there were no private ones at this era. The latter were in fact the most 
 numerous. The directory of 1829 gives a list of thirty-three teachers 
 who were then ministering to educational wants. Indeed, when regard 
 is had to the respective populations of that time and the present, they 
 were more abundant than they now are. The excellence of our public 
 schools of the present day has much diminished the need of private 
 ones. Let us briefly notice a few of these latter, omitting for the pres- 
 ent those designed for ladies only. Ambrose Kasson, who in 1819 was 
 an assistant in the academy, opened shortly after a school of his own 
 on Whitesboro street corner of Division. He ranked high as an- in- 
 structor and received large patronage. During a part of his career he 
 had as a colleague Mrs. S. Gridley. Cotemporaneously with him as a 
 teacher was Royal West, with whom the trustees arranged for the pub- 
 He building next to Trinity. William Sparrow opened a classical school 
 of his own, but soon entered the academy as its principal. In 1824 
 Elisha Harrington, compiler of the earlier directories, gave himself to 
 teaching and was aided therein by his sister. 
 
,460 
 
 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 The next in order was the Utica High School, known afterward 
 as the Utica Gymnasium. This was a school of considerable note 
 throughout the State, and the only boarding school for boys that 
 ever continued for much length of time in Utica. It was founded 
 in 1827 and flourished about eight years. Its founder and princi- 
 pal was Charles Bartlett, who was a native of Charlton, Saratoga 
 County, a graduate of Union College, and a Presbyterian. He had 
 previously for a short time conducted a select school on Wash- 
 ington street a little above Fayette. This school he gave up to Isaac 
 Wilmarth before starting the high school. For the latter purpo e he 
 leased the house and farm at the lower end of Broad street which had 
 belonged to Dr. Solomon Wolcott. The farm comprised from sixty to 
 eighty acres and was taken in charge by Joseph Bartlett, brother of 
 Charles, and as the latter remained some years unmarried he was aided 
 in the domestic part of the school by the family of his brother-in-law, 
 Jeremiah Waring, and next by his own brother, Dudley. While these 
 families occupied a part of the building the rest of it was given up to 
 dormitories, dining hall, recitation -rooms, etc. Here the session was 
 begun in the autumn of 1827. The annual expense to each pupil was 
 $200 (afterward reduced to $150). Mr. Bartlett did not confine him- 
 self to any special branch of study, teaching several English ones as well 
 as the rudiments of Latin and Greek. Though not a profound scholar 
 he taught earnestly and was a strict disciplinarian. The pupils were 
 also taught horseback riding, swimming, gardening, were exercised in 
 gymnastics, and listened to lectures in chemistry, botany, mineralogy, 
 etc., from the teachers in this department, and made frequent excursions 
 into the surrounding country in pursuit of knowledge in some of these 
 branches. Careful attention was given to morals and deportment ; the 
 pupils were required to attend church on Sunday and were instructed 
 in the Scriptures on Sunday evening. Among the teachers who were 
 prominent in this school besides the principal were Fay Edgerton, a 
 graduate of the Polytechnic School at Troy; Dr. Asa Gray, the distin- 
 guished botanist ; Rev. John P. Spinner, a native of Germany, father 
 of the late Francis E. Spinner, United States treasurer, who taught lan- 
 guages ; Uridge Whififen ; Silas Kingsley ; and George F. Comstock, 
 late judge of the Court of Appeals of New York and still living in Syra- 
 
UTICA HIGH SCHOOL. 461 
 
 cuse. A new school-house was erected on the further side of the play- 
 ground, three stories in height, with entrances on each side to the lower 
 rooms and stairways leading to those above. The lower rooms were 
 used by the boys when not on duty in school and for shelter in bad 
 weather. The story above contained the school-room and four recita- 
 tion-rooms, while the third story was one large dormitory. The later 
 built school- house was still more unique in character and stood farther 
 eastward than the former ones. It was of brick, two stories high, but with 
 only one room and semi-circular in form, with its flat side and entrances 
 toward the street. Around the inside of the whole half circle were 
 ranged two series of stalls, one above the other, and wide enough for a 
 single desk in each. Thus each pupil was unable to communicate with 
 his neighbor and was in plain view of his teacher, who sat opposite in 
 the center of the circle. There was an annual attendance at the school 
 of upwards of forty, the largernumber of whom were from Utica. Among 
 those who were more or less distinguished were the two eminent 
 professors of Yale College, James D. Dana, the naturalist, arid S. Wells 
 Williams, the Chinese scholar ; the late Alexander S. Johnson, judge of 
 the Court of Appeals of this State and afterward circuit judge of the 
 United States; the late Morris S. Miller, brevet brigadier- general 
 U. S. A., and his brother, the late John B. Miller; and others. John 
 F. Seymour, Edward S. Brayton, besides others now living were like- 
 wise pupils. 
 
 A fire which in the year 1835 destroyed the second of the school- 
 houses caused the disruption of the establishment, and so far embar- 
 rassed the principal that he abandoned the field. He removed to 
 Poughkeepsie and there kept a successful school until his death. 
 
 Another much prized school, established two years later than Mr. 
 Bartlett's, was the Classical and Commercial Lyceum of Messrs. Philips 
 & Kingsley. But as Mr. Philips was soon succeeded by Lewis Bailey, 
 and as the latter was ere long left alone in charge, it is best known as 
 his school, he continuing it until about 1 840. Mr. Kingsley, who taught 
 the English branches, was the same who taught for Mr. Bartlett. He 
 removed to Buffalo and there followed with success the same vocation. 
 Lewis Bailey was a graduate of a New England college and was 
 skilled as a teacher. The school was situated on the east side of Wash- 
 
462 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 ington street between Whitesboro and Liberty. It enjoyed the pat- 
 ronage of many of our best citizens and trained many of their sons. It 
 ceased about 1839-40, and Mr. Bailey, after a temporary absence, 
 came back and in company with the late John B. Wells had a part in 
 the founding of the well known mercantile house of the latter. After- 
 ward alone he remained in the dry goods trade until near his death, 
 September 20, 1852. Another classical and commercial school was begun 
 in 1832 by John Williams, who conducted it for a period of forty-one 
 years, terminating with his death m 1873. Its location was on Carnahan 
 street (now Blandina). The same year the Catholics had a school on 
 John street above Bleecker, which was mostly maintained by private 
 subscription. A little later, about 1835-38, William Barrett presided 
 over a school on Genesee street a few doors below Carnahan. He stud- 
 ied law and located in Little Falls. Two of the best remembered 
 dames' schools of those days were those of Miss Dickens and Miss 
 Bowen, where were upwardly inclined many of the twigs which began 
 their sprouting from 1820 to 1830 or thereabouts, the former having 
 in care the shoots of Whitesboro street and vicinity, the latter those 
 of John, Broad, etc. 
 
 In thus glancing at some of the private educational enterprises of that 
 time, which were either designed wholly for boys or were mixed in their 
 character, I have not noted the institutions intended for young ladies ex- 
 clusively. The very earliest of the latter kind was doubtless that of Solo- 
 mon P. Goodrich, a dealer in books, a trustee and a man of influence in 
 the Presbyterian Church. Of his school nothing is now remembered ex- 
 cept that one day in 1806 he kindly dismissed his scholars that they 
 might witness the progress of the sun's eclipse of that year. About 1818 
 a young ladies' school was opened by Montgomery R. Bartlett, which 
 at once met with favor among the best families of the town. Mr. Bart- 
 lett, who was a native of New Hampshire, was in some departments an 
 accomplished scholar, being the author of an astronomy, a map of the 
 heavens, and an edition of Murray's English Reader with definitions of 
 inflection and emphasis and rules for reading verse. He was rather 
 severe in discipline and did not teach long, but lived in Utica until 
 about 1830. 
 
 A school of 1822 was memorable for the mannered rules of fashion 
 
THE WOODBRIDGE AND EVERTS SCHOOLS. 463 
 
 which were there imparted. It was kept by Madam Despard on Broad 
 street near Genesee. Not so skilled in grounding her pupils in the ele- 
 ments of English scholarship she could teach them French and music 
 as well as how to enter a parlor, how to receive, and how to deport 
 themselves au salon. But the time was not yet propitious for a fashion- 
 able boarding school and so its mistress went elsewhere. 
 
 A veteran teacher, one who was a pioneer in the business of conduct- 
 ing young ladies' schools, and who established one in Utica in 1824, 
 was Rev. William Woodbridge, who was born September 14, 1755, and 
 was consequently now in his seventieth year. In the winter of 1779— 
 80, being then in his senior year, he taught a young ladies' school in 
 New Haven County. It was then quite a novel experiment, but it suc- 
 ceeded and was soon followed by others. He afterward taught in 
 Phillips Academy and elsewhere before coming to this place as well 
 as afterward; in all about fifty-six years. He wrote for the An- 
 nals of Education, conducted by his son, Rev. William C. Woodbridge, 
 and for other periodicals. In 1799 he was president of an association 
 formed at Middletown, Conn., for the improvement of common 
 schools, which is believed to have been the first of the kind that was 
 ever formed in the United States. In Utica Mr. Woodbridge was well 
 received, his school containing many of the daughters of the leading 
 families of the place. It was situated on the northwest corner of John 
 and Catharine streets, on the site of Reynolds's shoe factory. 
 
 A school wherein the English branches were not neglected while the 
 ornamental ones received also a due share of attention was that of Mr. 
 and Mrs. Charles C. Everts, which was begun in 1826. It was on 
 Whitesboro street opposite the first site of the Bank of Utica, and was 
 generally favored by- those who had daughters to be educated. Music 
 and perhaps some other accomplishments were imparted by Mrs. Everts, 
 the remainder by her husband and their three assistants. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Everts remained here until 1840, though it does not appear that the 
 school was continued so long. In the York House, nearly opposite, 
 there established themselves in 1828 Rev. Samuel Whittlesee and wife. 
 They had ha:d experience elsewhere and were now prepared to accom- 
 modate fifty boarders. Their terms were $25 per year for the English 
 studies with extra payment for Latin, French, music, drawing, or paint- 
 
464 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 ing, etc., and $2 per week for board. They had four assistants. In 
 1833 their school was on the corner of Genesee and Pearl, and there 
 they were busy in editing the Mother's Magazine. Their successor in 
 the York House was Samuel H. McLauren, who termed his venture the 
 Female Institute. He kept the institute but a single year and yielded 
 it to Mr. and Mrs. H. Johnson. The terms and methods of the latter 
 were nearly the same as those of the former, except that no additional 
 cost was asked for the study of French, which was to be the language 
 of the family. 
 
 But the people of Utica felt at this time the need of a place for the 
 training of their daughters which should be as good as the academy 
 had been for their sons, which should do away with the necessity of 
 sending their daughters away to be educated as many had been, and 
 should at a more moderate cost offer advantages for instruction, not only 
 to residents of the city, but to those of the country around. Men of in- 
 fluence were enlisted in the accomplishment of the object. By them 
 the public were aroused to its importance, a stock company was formed, 
 without'expectation, however, of pecuniary gain, and the means were se- 
 cured. This institution was chartered April 28, 1837. The first trus- 
 tees named in the charter were John H. Ostrom, Nicholas Devereux, 
 Horatio Seymour, C. A. Mann, Joshua A. Spencer, S. D. Childs, T. S. 
 Faxton, John C. Devereux, Alrick Hubbell, T. E. Clark, T. H. Hub- 
 bard, Theodore Pomeroy, A. Munson, B. F. Cooper, Chester Griswold, 
 John Williams, Horace Butler, Charles P. Kirkland, S. P. Lyman, 
 Holmes Hutchinson, and Henry White. The same year four lots lying 
 between Washington street and Broadway, with the buildings upon 
 them, were purchased at a cost of $6,300. The school was first opened 
 in the building known as the United States Hotel, corner of Genesee 
 and Pearl streets, where it was continued until the new building was 
 finished. Tlie number of students in December, 1838, was 168. In 
 1838-39 an academy building of brick, three stories, 50 by 150 feet in 
 dimensions, was greeted, the corner-stone having been laid with proper 
 ceremonies June 20, 1838. The first principal was Miss Urania E. 
 Sheldon, who continued until August, 1842, when Rev. James Nichols 
 and wife succeeded her and remained until June, 1844, when they retired 
 and were succeeded by Miss Jane E. Kelly, who continued to fill the 
 position until 1865. 
 
UTICA FEMALE ACADEMY. 465 
 
 The fitness of Miss Sheldon to conduct a seminary had been shown 
 as the head of one in Schenectady. To this of Utica she at once gave 
 as great success. In the household department she was aided by her 
 sister Cynthia, and in that of instruction, besides others, by two pupils 
 she brought with her, who became afterward her earliest successors. 
 She was herself drawn away from teaching by her marriage to Rev. Dr. 
 Eliphalett Nott, president of Union College. Her first brief successor 
 has been known to her credit in similar service in Rochester. On the 
 more lasting and meritorious work of Miss Kelly it seems needless to 
 enlarge. Her capacity as a moral as well as intellectual Mentor, her 
 skill and tact in the management of this numerously attended institu- 
 tion, the able corps of teachers she from time to time collected to her 
 assistance, are familiar not solely to this community, but are lauded by 
 her scattered pupils the whole country over. After her retirement she 
 continued to live in the city until her death. One of her sisters, chief 
 dependence of the house and its inmates, still survives. 
 
 The building was burned on the 27th of March, 1865. The present 
 elegant and substantial building was erected on the same ground about 
 1869-70 at a cost of $75,000. It is 60 by 150 feet in dimensions, three 
 stories and basement, and constructed of brick with roof laid in varie- 
 gated slates. It is one of the finest structures in the State, and justly 
 a source of pride to the citizens of Utica, even among the many noble 
 educational and charitable institutions which ornament the city. More 
 ground has since been added on the north and on the south of its rear. 
 The school was interrupted from 1865 to 1871, in which latter year Mrs. 
 E. F. Hammill, of Brooklyn, leased the building for three years and 
 opened school. At the end of the three years she leased it again for one 
 year and continued to the summer of 1875, when she was succeeded by 
 the present principal, Mrs. J. G. C. Piatt. At the present time the school 
 employs about fifteen teachers in the various departments, and has from 
 thirty to forty regular boarders and from eighty to ninety day scholars. 
 Formerly known as the seminary, or by its official title as the Utica 
 Female Academy, it is now " Mrs. Piatt's School," though still owned 
 by the stockholders and controlled by the trustees whom they annually 
 elect. Reports of its condition are required by the Regents, though 
 Regents' examinations are no longer made and no funds are obtained 
 from the literature fund. ^^ 
 
466 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 Let us now return to the narrative of the public schools and consider 
 them from the time of the appointment of a school board, which board 
 united the academy with the other public schools, incorporating them 
 into one common system and effected important improvements in their 
 modes of disciphne and management. About the year 1843 the state of 
 the common schools of the city began to excite public attention. By 
 virtue of a legislative act of that year demanded by strong popular feel- 
 ing they were put under the charge of six commissioners, eligible from 
 year to year in successions of two each year. As it was conceded from 
 the first that the schools should not be under any partisan domination 
 the two leading political parties concurred in establishing a precedent 
 that each of them should name one candidate every year, and the two 
 thus nominated should be indiscriminately voted for. This precedent, 
 which has no legeal sanction to enforce it, has in no case been positively 
 disturbed. The commissioners elected at the charter election in 1843 
 were Rudolph Snyder, Hiram Denio, Spencer Kellogg, RobertT. Hallock; 
 Francis Kernan, and James Watson Williams. To an address delivered 
 by Mr. Williams before the friends of the academy in 1868 I am indebted 
 for the particulars of the foregoing history of the institution. Their first 
 act was to institute a thorough and faithful examination of the existing 
 schools, which resulted in showing a great lack of system, a looseness 
 of discipline, a sad deficiency of teaching power and talent, a miserable 
 niggardliness of compensation, and a perversion and misapplication of 
 funds that proved the necessity of some radical change, or a complete 
 abandonment of common education to private enterprise and liberality. 
 The city owned but three indifferent school buildings and hired three 
 or four, more indifferent still, and there were about i,iOO children at- 
 tending them. The commissioners immediately commenced a thor- 
 ough re- organization; they repaired and improved the old school build- 
 ings and soon commenced the erection of larger and more convenient 
 ones ; they adopted a graded system extending from the primary depart- 
 ment up through the ward schools and the advanced school to the acad- 
 emy; and they put in use a uniformity of text books. In 1850 the board 
 appointed Daniel S. Hefifron superintendent of schools. Mr. Heff- 
 ron possessed in an eminent degree a knowledge of school organization 
 and discipline, and for over seventeen years he labored earnestly and 
 
THE ADVANCED SCHOOL. 467 
 
 faithfully in conjunction with the commissioners in their efforts to elevate 
 the common schools of the city. These efforts have always been cheer- 
 fully seconded by the citizens. When called upon for the funds needed 
 for building school- houses and the support of the schools they have 
 responded cheerfully and almost unanimously. At the date of the be- 
 ginning of their labors the buildings owned by the city were a brick 
 school-house on the corner of Bleecker and Bridge streets (now Park 
 avenue) and one on Columbia street, and a wooden one on the Minden 
 turnpike (now Albany street) ; schools belonging to the city were like- 
 wise conducted in the basement of the Welsh Church on Whitesboro 
 street corner of Washington, on Franklin street, and on Bleecker street. 
 Some of these were infant schools, some for older scholars. The aggre- 
 gate amount of real and personal property pertaining to the schools 
 then owned by the city was $3,169.50 and the amount of the school 
 fund was $3,167.25. In 1868, the date of the first published report of 
 the commissioners, which covers very nearly the period of service of 
 Mr. Heffron, there were twelve school-houses of various grades under 
 their control besides the academy. These were as follows: 
 
 The advanced school edifice. This is located on the corner of Eliza- 
 beth and Charlotte on a lot presented to the city for school purposes by 
 John R. Bleecker, of Albany, in May, 1846, and was completed the fol- 
 lowing year. It is a central school where pupils transferred from the 
 intermediate schools receive a good common school education and a 
 preparatory course for entrance into the academy. It is a three- story 
 brick building, well warmed, ventilated, and lighted, and will accommo- 
 date 468 pupils. It has three departments with a principal over each 
 and six assistants. This building is still occupied by the advanced 
 school, although it has been considerably enlarged and improved since 
 it was first built. Next followed the Hamilton street and the Steuben 
 street schools, built in 185 i. The Blandina, Aikin, and Catharine were 
 begun in 1852, though the latter was not occupied until 1856; the Whites- 
 boro street school erected in 1853; the Albany street and the Lansing 
 street in 1858 ; the Court street in i860; the South street and the Fran- 
 cis street in 1867. These are all brick buildings, two stories in height 
 and of similar style, are designed for the instruction of primary and in- 
 termediate pupils, and have each a principal and two or three assistants. 
 
468 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 To these must be added Faxton Hall, a two-story, substantial brick 
 building erected by the late Theodore S. Faxton near the Globe Woolen 
 and Steam Cotton- Mills, of which the first story is designed for school 
 purposes, the second story containing an assembly-room, library-room, 
 and reading-room, which hall Mr. Faxton in 1868 generously donated 
 to the city on the conditions that the commissioners assume its mainte- 
 nance and control ; that the city keep it in repairs, pay all taxes and as- 
 sessments, and rebuild it if destroyed. The commissioners were, more- 
 over, expected to act in co-operation with trustees from the above 
 named factories. 
 
 On the morning of May 13, 1865, the Utica Academy, with its fur- 
 niture, apparatus, and library, was destroyed by fire. By permission of 
 the Board of Supervisors the school was opened and continued in the 
 court-house until the completion of a new building. The commissioners 
 took immediate steps for enlarging the academy grounds and obtained 
 possession of the lot on the corner of Academy and Bleecker streets. 
 In March, 1866, the plans for the new building were adopted and the 
 erection commenced, although it was not completed until the autumn 
 of 1867. This building, in the Renaissance style of architecture, is located 
 on the site of the former one, that is to say a little back from the corner 
 of Academy and Bleecker streets, and near the center of a lot contain- 
 ing about 32,000 square feet. It is built of selected brick, two stories 
 high, and covered with a Mansard roof. A tower fourteen feet square 
 projects from the east fa9ade and is ninety-eight feet high. The stories 
 are respectively thirteen and twenty- one feet in height. The first con- 
 tains recitation- rooms, laboratory, and reception-room; the second, 
 besides wardrobe and library, has a study-room of magnificent propor- 
 tions. In architectural design, convenience of arrangement, and com- 
 pleteness of finish this building compares favorably with any similar 
 institution in the State. Besides the principal, who teaches the ancient 
 languages and mental philosophy, it has another teacher in the ancient 
 languages, a teacher of the natural sciences, a teacher of mathematics, 
 one of French language and literature, one of German, and one of the 
 higher English. The course of study is comprehensive and embraces, 
 four years in the classical and English department ; the classical, giving 
 thorough preparation for admission to college, may be completed in 
 
THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 469 
 
 three years. The number of pupils in the academy in the year 1868 
 was 143 and in all the schools under the control of the school commis- 
 sioners 3,836, and the expenses for the year, not including the cost for 
 the new academy building and its equipment, was $36,667.25. 
 
 On the 13th of July, 1867, Mr. Hefifron resigned his position as su- 
 perintendent of schools, his labors extending over a period of seventeen 
 years. Courteous in manner, clear in judgment, deliberate in opinion, 
 with the best interests of the schools at heart, the teachers at all times 
 found him a firm friend and a judicious counselor, the patrons of the 
 school a careful guardian of their rights, and popular education a con- 
 scientious advocate and supporter. 
 
 Mr. Heffron was succeeded by Andrew McMillan, who for the past 
 twenty-four and one-half years has had, in conjunction with the suc- 
 cessively appointed commissioners, the control and management of the 
 schools. He prepared the first school report, that of 1868, since which 
 time these reports have been made and published annually, and to him 
 more than to any other person are the schools indebted for the perfect- 
 ing of their present system. 
 
 Having thus briefly noticed the public schools that were in existence 
 in 1868 I proceed to summarize the later additions. In January, 1869, 
 an evening school was commenced in the Faxton school building, and 
 in May of the same year St. Patrick's Parochial School, which occupied a 
 brick building on Columbia street, was placed in charge of the school 
 commissioners and organized as one of the public schools of the city. 
 This building, the same which had been built and used by the city, and 
 which was subsequently sold to the Roman Catholics, was now volun- 
 tarily tendered to the school commissioners free of rent for seven years. 
 In 1870 they purchased the Welsh Congregational Church on Wash- 
 ington street and remodeled it for a school, the lower story being 
 divided into recitation- rooms and the upper converted into a study- 
 room. The large and commodious school-house corner of Miller and 
 Leah streets was constructed in 1870-71 ; it accommodates more than 
 twice as many pupils as either of the other ward school-houses. 
 
 The Court street school-house was in 1878 enlarged to twice its orig- 
 inal capacity and much improved in its general arrangement, having 
 now two stairways leading to the second story, one at each end of the 
 
470 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 building, one for the boys and one fpr the girls. It will now seat 366 
 pupils. In 1879 the Lansing street school- house was enlarged and im- 
 proved on the same general plan and thus provides seats for 130 more 
 scholars from that district. In 1880 a new and commodious building 
 was erected on the corner of James and Kemble streets. It is 72 x 102 
 feet in dimensions and furnishes accommodations for 500 pupils. It is 
 of a more modern style of architecture, and is more appropriately con- 
 trived with respect to lighting than either of its predecessors, the area of 
 glass being equal to one-quarter of the area of the room lighted. 
 
 Owing to the rapid increase of population in the eastern part of the 
 city a new school building was imperatively demanded. A site for the 
 purpose was bought in 1879. This site extended from Blandina to 
 Mary near Jefferson avenue. Upon it was placed for temporary use a 
 small wooden building, which was removed from the Lansing street lot, 
 where it had been used for a primary school. During the year 1881 a 
 large and conveniently arranged brick structure took the place of this 
 temporary one; it is one of the most fitly arranged school buildings in 
 Central New York. 
 
 In 1888 the old landmark, first a church, then a school-house, known 
 as the Washington street school, was sold and the proceeds devoted to 
 the erection of a new and spacious structure in the same district, located 
 on Whitesboro street. In respect to architecture, beauty, ventilation, 
 heat, and light it is unsurpassed. It is of brick, with brown stone and 
 moulded trimmings, modern in style and pleasing in effect, and so at- 
 tractive within as to make school-room duties a pleasure rather than a 
 task. 
 
 The report of Mr. McMillan, school superintendent, made to the 
 board December 3, 1 891, presents the following summary of the schools 
 for the year then expired : The school property owned by the city, ex- 
 clusively of the library building, consists of eighteen buildings, all of 
 which are substantially built of brick and in general presenting a neat 
 appearance, while some may be considered as models of school archi- 
 tecture. Their estimated value, independent of furniture, apparatus, 
 etc., is $354,464. The whole number of teachers employed during the 
 year was 1 78, viz.: Nine in the academy, eighteen in the advanced school, 
 sixty- five in the primary schools, sixty- three in the intermediate, 
 
THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 471 
 
 nine in the evening schools, and eleven substitute teachers for general 
 work. The amount paid for teachers' salaries was $73,826.19. The 
 number of pupils enrolled during the year was : in the primary depart- 
 ment 1,407 boys, 1,832 girls, making a total of 3,239 ; in the intermed- 
 iate department 1,177 boys, 1,037 girlS) total 2,214; in the advanced 
 school, boys 376, girls 488, total 864; in the academy, boys 106, 
 girls 154, total 260 ; evening schools, boys 341, girls 376. Thus 
 the total enrollment was 6,953. The expenditures for the year amounted 
 to $21,480.31, the receipts for the same period being $114,989, of which 
 latter amount $79,000 was raised by city tax, $25,875 came from the 
 State appropriation, and $1,513.60 from the literature fund dispensed by 
 the Regents of the University. 
 
 At the close of every spring term of the schools oral examinations, 
 followed by exhibitions, musical, declamatory, etc., are held in all of the 
 lower departments, and these are largely attended by the parents and 
 friends of the children. At the end of the year there are written exam- 
 inations in all of the departments but the primary, by which are tested 
 the capacity of the scholars to enter upon a higher grade, and only in 
 case such examination is satisfactorily sustained are the candidates ad- 
 mitted to such advance.. The questions submitted for the examination 
 of the academic pupils are prepared by the State Board of Regents, 
 being the same intended for all the academies of the State. Those de- 
 signed for the advanced and the intermediate scholars are prepared by 
 the school superintendent, and as trials of the degree of attainment of 
 these classes of scholars these papers are equally exacting. The thor- 
 oughness of teaching and of scholarship which is expected, and which 
 in fact does characterize the various departments of the system of Utica 
 public schools, is worthy of the highest praise ; it is said by competent 
 judges to have no superior in the State. Most of the middle-aged and 
 younger men brought up in this city have been pupils in these schools, 
 and the number of its eminent graduates is considerable. 
 
 A few others of the present schools of the city must be briefly noticed. 
 One of these is the Business College, another the Assumption Academy 
 under Catholic direction, besides which there are a few parochial schools 
 connected with the churches and two or three private schools. 
 
 The Utica Business College was opened in 1863 by C. A. Walworth, 
 
472 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 who conducted it under the firm ndme of Bryant, Stratton & Walworth. 
 It was then known as the Bryant & Stratton Utica Business College. 
 Mr. Walworth retained his interest till July i, 1867, when the school 
 was purchased by H. B. McCreary and Thomas H. Shields, and the 
 business continued under the name of McCreary & Shields. After the 
 death of Mr. McCreary in 1887 the school was continued under the 
 same firm name till July, 1889, when the McCreary interest was pur- 
 chased by G. F. Hendrick, who in company with Mr. Shields has since 
 conducted the business under the firm name of Shields & Hendrick. 
 The aim of the institution is to fit young men and women for the duties 
 of a business life. It makes a specialty of the practical branches, such 
 as book-keeping, penmanship, commercial arithmetic, commercial law, 
 stenography, typewriting, telegraphy, etc., and has a large and steadily 
 increasing patronage from this and adjoining States. 
 
 The Assumption Academy was opened August 15, 1854, under the 
 direction of Father McFarland, then pastor of St. John's Catholic 
 Church. The school building had been erected during the summer 
 preceding the opening of the school and was originally built exactly as 
 it now stands; the interior only has suffered any change, and this con- 
 sists in the removal of the stairway to the center of the building and 
 the re- arrangement of the school- rooms. It stands at the corner of John 
 and Elizabeth streets, is built of brick, three stories high, and eighty 
 feet square. When first erected it was the only Catholic school in the 
 city and had an attendance of 700 pupils. But when St. Vincent's Or- 
 phanage was taken by the Brothers a part of the pupils were taken there ; 
 and when St. Agnes's parish was established the school was again re- 
 duced. Father McFarland's plan was to have this school the central 
 one of several located throughout the city, and he intended that pupils 
 should finish here what had been begun in the lower schools, but his re- 
 call and appointment to a charge in the East caused these plans to be 
 somewhat altered. The school, however, furnishes primary instuction 
 and fits pupils for college. There are at present six Brothers teaching 
 in the school, one secular teacher being also employed. The Brothers 
 have been in charge of the school from its inception. It is free to all in 
 St. John's parish, by which society it is supported; others pay $10 
 yearly for tuition. There are no pupils living in the school building 
 
UTICA LIBRARY— PUBLIC SCHOOL LIBRARY. 473 
 
 and but few pupils live outside the city. There are two terms of five 
 months each, and 310 scholars. Brother Alpheus is the principal. 
 
 ^ public library was incorporated on the 5th of March, 1825, under 
 the title of the Utica Library, and was opened in July following with 
 1,100 books. It was owned by shareholders and controlled by a board 
 of twelve trustees. The number of shares was fixed at 400, their value 
 being $3 each ; and these were nearly all of them soon sold and were 
 held at an advance from the original price. The books were well 
 selected and of standard authority, and among them were sets of the 
 best English and American periodicals. Within a few years this num- 
 ber was increased to 2,500. The faithful librarian was Justus H. Rath- 
 bone, who attended for the drawing of books once in each week. In the 
 course of a few years the books, which had at first been kept in the 
 office of Mr. Rathbone on Broad street, were removed to rooms in the 
 building of the Mechanics Association, and the library was opened six 
 days in the week. Nothing of this library is known later than 1837. 
 
 The origin of school district libraries in the State of New York dates 
 from the year 1838. In that year $55,000 of the $260,000 belonging 
 to the income of the United States deposit fund was directed to be dis- 
 tributed to the several school districts of the State for the purchase of 
 books for the district libraries. Utica received her share in the distri- 
 bution and appropriated it as directed by law, thus establishing the free 
 library of the city. By legislative act of 1842 the library of Utica was 
 placed under the control of the school commissioners. In their first re- 
 port these commissioners state that "the annual apportionment of 
 school moneys gives at present the sum of $583.86 for the purchase of 
 books, and furthermore the library is thought to be well selected and 
 contains about 1,700 volumes ; that the drawings are well attended, 
 from one- half to two- thirds of the volumes being in constant circulation 
 among all classes." It is probable that a large part of these 1,700 vol- 
 umes was secured either by donation or purchase from the library 
 association above mentioned, or from the collection of the Young Men's 
 Association disbanded about this time. The presumption is based on 
 the fact that many of the books now in the library were printed twenty 
 or thirty years before its establishment, and some as long as fifty to one 
 hundred years before that time. The school library was located over 
 
 60 
 
474 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 the Central New York Bank on Franklin Square, and Francis D. Gros- 
 venor was the first librarian appointed by the commissioners, continuing 
 to act until 1851. The growth of the collection was slow ; in 1865 it 
 amounted to but 4,000 volumes, in 1868 to 5, 000, in 1873 to 6,028, and 
 in 1876 to 6,146. It was, however, a well chosen one, its largest part 
 consisting of standard works in history and biography, besides which 
 there were a goodly number of voyages and travels, of literary, poetic, 
 and scientific productions, while of novels, adventures, etc., the most 
 were selected from leading and approved authors, and of books of ref- 
 erence there were 580 volumes. In 1856 the library was removed, with 
 the office of superintendent of schools, to the new city hall building, 
 where it remained until the completion of the present library building in 
 1878. This building is situated on the north side of Elizabeth street 
 between Genesee and Charlotte, and has a frontage of sixty-four feet 
 by a depth of eighty-eight feet. It is of the Victoria Gothic style. Its 
 front and sides are faced with Croton pressed brick, with black brick to 
 mark lines and arches, and is trimmed with brownstone and Prospect 
 limestone. The main building has two stories and an attic and the fa9ade 
 is surmounted by a tower. The library proper — 40x60 feet and 47 
 feet to apex of roof — is situated at the rear end of the main hall 
 and is lighted by side and clere- story windows. It contains a gallery 
 supported on iron brackets and is reached by an iron stairway. This 
 part of the building is fireproof, the roofs being of slate, the clere-story 
 of galvanized iron, the windows furnished with iron shutters, while 
 double iron doors shut it off from the remainder of the building. Ad- 
 joining this room is a reference library and reading-room. Other 
 rooms on the first floor are the superintendent's office, a room for the 
 Board of Education, etc., while the second floor contains a lecture- room 
 with a seating capacity of 400. For completeness of arrangement, 
 elegance in finish, and beauty of architecture the building is excelled 
 by few similar institutions. 
 
 Through the bequest of Theodore S. Faxton the library in 1881 came 
 into possession of $2,500 to be used for the purchase of additional 
 books. The money could not have been more worthily bestowed. The 
 amount annually received from the State and city (at that time about 
 $600) had always been insufficient to keep the library in repair and to 
 
PUBLIC SCHOOL LIBRARY. 475 
 
 buy the new books which were considered necessary. The increased 
 number of patrons found it impossible to obtain the books wanted and 
 those in the collection were being worn out through constant use. In 
 the course of three years after the receipt of the legacy about four- fifths 
 of it were used and over 1,200 standard books, including many duplicates 
 of the former possessions, were placed in the " Faxton alcove." From 
 a full report made in 1885 by Benjamin N. Lewis, then librarian, we 
 learn that there were then on the shelves 10,020 volumes, of which num- 
 ber 8,460 were for circulation and 1,560 for reference. The library was 
 about that time designated as a depository for public documents issued 
 by the general government. While the value of some of these docu- 
 ments may be questioned it is certain that a part of them are well 
 worth preserving. The State legislative documents are also regularly 
 received and are available for reference. During the year 32,497 books 
 were taken from the library, being an mcrease of 7,202 over the num- 
 ber drawn during the previous year. Fifty- six per cent, of the drawers 
 were adults, the remainder being chiefly school children. In additiori 
 to the patrons of the circulating library several hundred persons con- 
 sulted the books of reference of whoTi no record was kept. The 32,- 
 497 books drawn during the year were classified as follows: Novels, in- 
 cluding not only light fiction, but those of Scott, Thackeray, Dickens, 
 Cooper, Hawthorne, etc., 14,880; juvenile books, comprising besides 
 children's stories all histories of a juvenile nature, 12,409; historical, 
 scientific, and other works, 5,568. The hours during which the library 
 is open for drawing are 10 A. M. to 12:30 P. M. and 2:30 to 8 P. M., ex- 
 cept during the school vacations, when the number of hours in each 
 day is lessened. The librarian's report for 1890 shows that there are 
 now in the library 12,840 volumes; the total number of patrons wha 
 have drawn books 3,840; that there have been added within the year by 
 purchase 548, by donations 198, by periodicals bound for the library 
 18; total 764. Of the 52,500 books given out 23,926 were juvenile, 
 26,669 were novels, and 7,905 historical, literary, and scientific. 
 
 By the more cultivated portion of the community it is commonly felt 
 that the School Library of Utica — or the City Library as it is more fre- 
 quently called — is inadequate to the needs of a city of 40,000 inhab- 
 itants. When it is recollected, however, that several book clubs are in 
 
476 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 existence which supply themselves, not only with the leading periodicals, 
 but with the bulk of the more approved recent publications ; that there 
 is here a historical society with a fast growing collection ; and that the 
 books of reference on the shelves of the school library are numerous 
 and valuable it cannot be denied that the facihties for reading are very 
 considerable, and for popular use quite adequate to the popular demand. 
 By scholars in quest of rarer and more recondite works, and by those 
 pursuing special lines of inquiry, a deficiency is chiefly felt. And here 
 it must be admitted that Utica is behind many other cities of equal size. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE PRESS. 
 
 BEGINNING with the earliest newspaper^ issue of Utica, and trac- 
 ing its history down to the paper into which it has been absorbed, 
 I shall next notice the contemporaries of the latter and afterward more 
 briefly a few journals and magazines that are now extinct. The first 
 newspaper printed west of Albany in this State was the Whitestown 
 Gazette at the village of New Hartford, then a part of Whitestown. It 
 was commenced July 1 1, 1793, as is shown by a copy of its first number 
 in the possession of the Oneida Historical Society. The publication 
 was suspended the following winter, but was resumed in May, 1796, 
 William McLean being printer and shortly after becoming proprietor. 
 In July, 1798, the year in which Oneida County was organized, Mr. 
 McLean moved to Utica and issued his paper under the name of the 
 Whitestown Gazette and Cato's Patrol, the additional title referring to 
 the defender of ancient Utica. This was the first paper printed in Utica 
 or in Oneida County. The second in the county was the Western Cen- 
 tinel in Whitesboro, begun in January, 1794, and discontinued after a 
 few years. In February, 1803, Mr. McLean disposed of his paper to 
 
 ' The genealogy of the earliest newspaper in the list was prepared by Alexander Seward, esq. 
 The sketches o£ the remaining ones, that is to say, of those now published, were mostly furnished 
 by their respective editors. 
 
THE EARLIEST NE WSPAPER. ^•j'j 
 
 John H. Lothrop, who changed its name to the Patriot, Merrell & Sew- 
 ard becoming the printers. 
 
 In 1804 the title of the Patriot was changed to the Utica Patriot, 
 under which name it continued until 1816, being printed "for the ed- 
 itor" after 1803 by Ira Merrell and after 18 13 by Merrell & Camp. Wm; 
 H. Maynard succeeded Mr. Lothrop as editor and proprietor in 181 1. 
 
 The Patrol was commenced by Seward & Williams at Utica on Janu- 
 ary I, 181 5, and was united with the Utica Patriot on January 2, 1816, 
 under the name of the Utica Patriot and Patrol. It was printed for the 
 proprietors by Ira Merrell and was issued semi- weekly, Tuesday and 
 Friday, for about one year, then weekly, on Tuesdays, till 1821. The 
 proprietors, according to its prospectus, were Asahel Seward, William 
 H. Maynard, and William Williams. The name of the editor did not 
 appear in those days on the paper itself Examination of these old 
 newspapers shows that the part of the editor then was very different 
 from what it is now. What is termed editorial matter seldom appears. 
 The paper was chiefly made up of news selected from other newspa- 
 pers, with the briefest editorial headings and communications and 
 advertisements. In fact the editorliterally fulfilled the dictionary defini- 
 tion of the word — one who arranges, prepares, and superintends the 
 publication of the work of others — a much, humbler part than that of 
 the newspaper editor of the present time. 
 
 The Utica Sentinel appeared in the place of the Patriot and Patrol on 
 March 13, 1821. The cause of this change of name was somewhat pe- 
 culiar. The Patriot and Patrol was Clintonian in its politics, represent- 
 ing the sentiments of a large majority of voters in this district. The 
 politics of the editor changed and the tone of the paper also. An 
 alarming loss of patronage naturally followed. No arrangement being 
 practicable between the parties in interest the Patriot and Patrol, under 
 the advice of prominent Clintonian lawyers, was dropped by its pub- 
 lisher and the Utica Sentinel, " printed by Ira Merrell for William Will- 
 iams, editor and proprietor," appeared in its stead. The Utica Sentinel 
 was sold to Samuel D. Dakin and William J. Bacon, and by them united 
 with the Columbian Gazette and issued May 6, 1825, under the name of 
 the Utica Sentinel and Gazette, " printed by Northway & Bennett " till 
 April I, 1828, then by Northway & Porter. Messrs. Dakin and Bacon, 
 
478 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF VTICA. 
 
 were joint editors and proprietors from 1825 till 1828, when S. D. Da- 
 kin became sole editor and owner, and in 1829 he sold it to its printers, 
 Northway & Porter. It was published semi- weekly till January, 1829. 
 In 1 83 1 Rufus Northway became the sole proprietor. Theodore S. 
 Gold became editor after Mr. Dakin and continued so till the establish- 
 ment of the daily paper in 1842. 
 
 The Columbian Gazette, which was united with the Utica Sentinel, 
 was first published at Rome, August 17, 1799, by Thomas Walker and 
 Ebenezer Eaton by the name of the Columbian Patriotic Gazette, and 
 was removed to Utica and issued March 21, 1803, as the Columbian 
 Gazette by T. Walker, and continued to be so published' until its union 
 with the Sentinel in 1825. Eliasaph Dorchester was associated with 
 Mr. Walker in its publication in 181 5 and 18 16. 
 
 In January, 1830, the Am.erican Citizen and August 7, 1832, the 
 Utica Intelligeticer were united with tlie Sentinel and Gazette. 
 
 The Utica Intelligencer was commenced February 2, 1826, by Will- 
 iam Tracy as editor and proprietor, and was printed by Ira Merrell for 
 one year and afterward by Joseph Colwell till its termination. E. S. 
 Ely succeeded Mr. Tracy as editor May 9, 1828, for two years, and he 
 by Joseph H. Buckingham from January ist to October 5, 1830. 
 
 The first number of the American Citizen appeared June 8,1830. 
 George S. Wilson was the editor and proprietor. The paper was con- 
 tinued about half a year. 
 
 The Elucidator, the organ of the anti- Masonic party, was commenced 
 January i, 1829, by Beriah B. Hotchkin as editor and proprietor and 
 was published from January i, 1830, to May, 1834, by William Will- 
 iams as proprietor. Samuel P. Lyman became the editor after the re- 
 tirement of Mr. Hotchkin, January i, 1833. It was united with the Sen- 
 tinel and Gazette and the combined paper issued May 20, 1834, under the 
 name of the Oneida Whig, " R. Northway, printer and publisher." This 
 paper, in which so many previous ones were merged, continued to be 
 published weekly by R. Northway and his associates for nearly twent\- 
 years till October 12, 1853, when it was sold to Lyon & Arthur and 
 the name changed to the Weekly Gazette, J. M. Lyon, editor; and July 
 25, 1856, it was transferred to N. D. Jewell, C. J. Radford, editor, and 
 the name became Weekly Gazette and Courier, by whom it was contin- 
 
^^1/-^^-r^ 
 
THE EARLIEST NEWSPAPER. 479 
 
 ued to January 29, 1857, when its subscription list passed into the hands 
 of Ellis H. Roberts, the purchaser of the Utica Daily Gazette, with 
 which it had been associated from 1842. 
 
 Tiie Utica Daily Gazette was the first daily paper published in Utica 
 with the exception of the Morning News, published for one month im- 
 mediately preceding and two subsequently by Lyon & Arthur, and ed- 
 ited by Jarvis M. Hatch and C. Edwards Lester. The Daily Gazette was 
 commenced by Rufus Northway, the publisher and proprietor of the 
 Oneida Whig, February 4, 1842. Richard U. Shearman was its editor 
 and Erastus Clark and William Allen were associates for the first year. 
 Ezekiel Bacon was editor for two months following. Alexander Sew- 
 ard became the editor and joint proprietor May i, 1843, and under the 
 firm name of R. Northway & Co. it was published till the fall of 1853. 
 Dr. H. C. Potter was associate editor from November i, 1847, ^"d the 
 sole editor from May 1st to September 23, 1850, when he became part 
 proprietor with Northway & Seward. Erastus Clark was Dr. Potter's 
 associate editor till November i, 185 i, when Mr. Seward resumed the 
 editorship with Dr. Potter. The establishment was sold to Lyon & Ar- 
 thur on October 12, 1853, and J. M. Lyon became editor. It was bought 
 by N. D. Jewell, July 25, 1856, who published the paper till January 29, 
 1857, C. J. Radford being editor, when the name and good will were 
 purchased by Ellis H. Roberts and united with the Morning Herald. 
 
 The pecuniary value of these newspapers appears to have fluctuated 
 widely. When the Sentinel was substituted for the Patriot and Patrol 
 by William Williams, in 1 821, he was adjudged by arbitrators to pay to 
 William H. Maynard $7,500 for the latter's interest in the old paper, a 
 weekly in a village of 3,000 inhabitants. The Sentinel, thus dearly paid 
 for, was sold to Dakin & Bacon four years later, 1825, for $3,500, which 
 included $500 for the printing materials. Of this sum $3,000 was sub- 
 sequently recovered of the seller for printing a ppecimen number of the 
 American Citizen, a paper projected and subsequently published a short 
 time by G. S. Wilson. 
 
 In 1843, when the population of Utica had become 18,000, R. North- 
 way sold to A. Seward one-half of the Daily Gazette and the Oneida 
 WAig and of the printing office for $2,250. The Gazette was then the 
 only daily paper in Utica and had 120 subscribers, not one of whom 
 lived outside of the city. 
 
48o MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 In 1853 R. Northway & Co. sold their paper and office to Lyon & 
 Arthur for $12,000, the circulation of the daily paper being then about 
 1,200, notwithstanding the existence of three other dailies, the Observer^ 
 Herald, and Telegraph. 
 
 Meantime in November, 1847, publication of the Oneida Morning 
 Hetald had been begun by Robert W. Roberts, Richard U. Shear- 
 man, and Edwin R. Colston. The last named withdrew from the 
 firm in 1848 and Mr. Shearman in 1851, when Ellis H. Roberts be- 
 came editor and proprietor. The Gazette was merged with the Her- 
 ald in 1857, the consolidated paper taking the name of Utica Morning 
 Herald and Daily Gazette. At the same time the Oneida Whig dis- 
 appeared in its weekly, — the same paper which had come down through 
 the Sentinel and Gazette, the Setitinel, the Patriot and Patrol, and the 
 Utica Patriot from the original Whitestown Gazette of 1796. From 
 1851 to 1872 Ellis H. Roberts continued editor and sole proprietor of 
 the Herald. His brother, Robert W., had charge of the job office. 
 
 In the editorial work of the Herald there were associated with him at 
 different times brainy men, among others Samuel Williams, later of the 
 San Francisco Bulletin ; Henry L. Lamb, later superintendent of the 
 bank department of New York ; Charles M. Davis, who dropped the 
 editorial pen to take to his death bed. In 1872 Mr. Roberts asso- 
 ciated with himself in the publication of the Herald his nephew, George 
 L. Roberts, and S. N. D. North, under the firm name of Ellis H. Rob- 
 erts & Co. Mr. North withdrew from the firm in 1885 and was for a 
 few years editor of the Albany (N. Y.) Express, from which he retired 
 to accept the secretaryship of the National Wool Growers Association, 
 main office at Boston. Financial difficulties, growing through a series 
 of years, culminated in June, 1890, in the appointment of a receiver for 
 Ellis H. Roberts & Co., publishers of the Herald, Ellis H. Roberts, who 
 had been appointed by President Harrison assistant United States 
 treasurer at New York, being agreed upon for that office. The af- 
 fairs of the old firm were adjusted in a few months and in October, 1890, 
 the Utica Morning Herald plant was sold by the receiver to the Ulica 
 Herald Publishing Company, a corporation including among its mem- 
 bers Warner Miller, of Herkimer ; George West, of Ballston Spa ; Jo- 
 seph R. Swan, Charles W. Hackett, J. Fred Maynard, A. D. Barber, 
 

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UTICA MORNING HERALD. 481 
 
 and Ellis H. Roberts, of Utica ; Titus Sheard, of Little Falls ; Clinton 
 L. Merriam, of Locust Grove ; and R. S. Campbell, of New York Mills. 
 This company organized by electing Joseph R. Swan, president ; Titus 
 Sheard, vice-president; Fred H. Wienke, secretary; and Joseph R. 
 Swan, Charles W. Hackett, Titus Sheard, Ellis H. Roberts, and J. Fred 
 Maynard, trustees. The trustees in turn constituted Mr. Hackett, Mr. 
 Swan, and Mr.Maynard an executive committee. Fred H. Wienke was 
 made business manager and John H. Cunningham editor. Both had 
 been with the Herald several years. 
 
 Under its embarrassments and changes the Hera/d retained its hold 
 upon the large constituency it had served so many years. Its new 
 management has maintained its high standard as a Republican news- 
 paper and has added new features of interest. It has a strong editorial 
 and reportorial corps, maintains two correspondents at Albany, one at 
 Washington, and two in New York, a " regular" and " special." It has 
 regular correspondents in each of sixteen counties throughout Central 
 and Northern New York. The Herald was one of the charter members 
 of the New York State Associated Press, whose service it has daily by 
 special wire in its editorial rooms The Herald is the official organ of 
 the dairy interest in Central New York and gives special attention to hops 
 and other agricultural matters. Its managers report that the year 1891 
 was one of constant progress, the subscription lists of the Morning Her- 
 ald and the Weekly Herald showing large increase. 
 
 The first number of the Utica Observer, which is now quoted every 
 day in the year in every part of the Union for its opinions and its char- 
 acteristic method of expressing them, was issued on the 7th of Janu- 
 ary, 1817. It was launched by Eliasaph Dorchester, who was probably 
 not even dimly conscious of expectation that his venture would carry 
 his name down to the end of the century in which it was early begun. 
 The Observer has experienced nearly all the vicissitudes of newspapers 
 of its times and came slowly to solid and permanent prosperity. Within 
 two years after its birth the publication of the Observer was transferred 
 to Rome and its name changed to the Oneida Observer, but a return to 
 Utica and a restoration of its first name, the Utica Observer, soon fol- 
 lowed. The destruction of nearly all the files of this paper in the dis- 
 astrous fire in 1884 makes it impossible to give an accurate history of 
 
 61 
 
482 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF VTICA. 
 
 its early years. But it is recalled that Augustine G. Dauby, C. C. 
 Griffiths, E. A. Maynard, John P. Bush, John F. Kittle, Arthur M. 
 Beardsley, Joseph M. Lyon, and ,De Witt C. Grove were successively 
 connected with its management between 1820 and i860. Of these only 
 Mr. Beardsley is living. Two of the gentlemen named were prominent 
 in the affairs of Utica. Mr. Dauby was postmaster of Utica for twenty 
 years — from 1829 to 1849 — ^^^^ under four different Presidents. At 
 the same time he was editor of the Observer and his utterances, stately 
 and thoughtful and graceful, were giving a marked character to the 
 paper and were only second in strength and significance to the promul- 
 gations of the famous Albany Regency in the Albany Argus. Mr. 
 Grove, who was the sole owner of the Observer from 1853 to 1867, 
 was a prominent factor in city affairs, and was mayor of Utica at the 
 time of the breaking out of the war of the Rebellion. In this crisis his 
 patriotic services at the head of the city government and as the conduc- 
 tor of the Observer were of great value to the community. 
 
 Mr. Grove came to the Observer through the consolidation of the 
 Utica Democrat with the former. The Democrat was commenced by 
 John G. Floyd in 1836 and was successively edited and published by 
 Edward Morrin, Jarvis M. Hatch, Benjamin Welch, jr., Welch & Grove, 
 and DeWitt C. Grove. In 1852 party expediency pointed to the union 
 of the papers as desirable and Joseph M. Lyon and DeWitt C. Grove 
 came together under the firm name of Lyon & Grove in the manage- 
 ment of the Observer. This partnership was of short duration, how- 
 ever, for it came to an end early in 1853. The Daily Observer via.^ 
 started in 1848. Kittle & Beardsley and Beardsley & Lyon were its 
 conductprs until Mr. Grove's connection with it began. After Mr. 
 Lyon's separation John B. Miller was employed as editor for several 
 years and until he was appointed consul at Hamburg about 1857. ^^• 
 Grove then became the recognized editor and so remained until 1883. 
 His connection with the Observer covered a period of thirty years. 
 During all these years, save a part of the first one, there was associated 
 with him in the editorial department E. Prentiss Bailey, who became his 
 business partner in 1867 under the firm name of Grove & Bailey. To 
 this partnership several years later succeeded a corporation of the same 
 name, with a capital stock of $84,000. The ownership, except for the 
 
THE UTICA OBSERVER. 483 
 
 admission of Col. Theodore P. Cook as a stockholder and trustee, was 
 unchanged. So it remained until ill health compelled the retirement 
 of Mr. Grove. His shares were purchased by Mr. Bailey and the name 
 of the corporation became E. P. Bailey & Co. Coincident with this 
 important change was the introduction of Thomas P. Clarke as one of 
 the owners, and the officers of the corporation thereafter were E. Pren- 
 tiss Bailey, president, and Thomas F. Clark, vice-iiresident and treas- 
 urer. Lansing C. Bailey is the present secretary of the corporation. 
 
 The fire which has been mentioned occurred on the morning of March 
 2, 1884. The flames in a few hours devoured the Observer office and 
 nearly $1,000,000 in neighboring property. The loss of E. P. Bailey 
 & Co. largely outran their insurance and was a most serious blow. But 
 it enabled them to adopt new and broader plans and to obtain a plant 
 of the most modern description, and thus make their facilities such as 
 belonged to newspapers of the first rank in circulation and influence. 
 A site was purchased for a building which was to be devoted exclu- 
 sively to the business of the Observer. This site was on the south side 
 of the lot of the government building on Franklin street, and this fort- 
 unate location promised to provide always an unobstructed light to 
 the building which should be erected upun it — a consideration of no 
 little importance in the business of an afternoon newspaper. The new 
 structure was at once recognized when finished, by publishers and the 
 public, as complete in its adaptation to its purposes. The Hoe perfect 
 ing press and the stereotyping machinery are on the same floor as the 
 counting-room, and visitors from city and country are welcomed daily 
 to witness with delight the production of eight - page newspapers, 
 printed on both sides, folded and pasted at a speed of 10,000 copieii 
 per hour, and to occasionally also see four page supplements for the 
 daily or the weekly printed at twice this rate. Intricate as is this won- 
 derful machine, and fine as are its necessary adjustments, it has never 
 failed to supply the daily editions of the paper. The editorial and mail- 
 ing-rooms are on the second floor; the stock- room (which sometimes 
 holds from ten to twenty tons of waiting rolls of white paper) is on the 
 third floor ; while the fourth story is devoted to the use of foreman, 
 proof-readers, and compositors. The editor is Mr. Bailey, who is as- 
 sisted in the daily preparation of the paper by editorial writers, local 
 
484 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 reporters, a telegraph operator, and a staff of correspondents numbering 
 in all some thirty persons. The steadiest and greatest advance of the 
 Observer in circulation>and popular favor has been in these later years, 
 and its strides have lengthened as its independence in politics and its 
 faithfulness to the moral and social interests of Utica and Central New 
 York have been made increasingly manifest. Today the daily circula- 
 tion is fully twenty times as large as it was when Mr. Bailey's connec- 
 tion with it began. 
 
 Early in 1882 the printers employed on the UticaHera/d expressed 
 dissatisfaction with their wages and sent in a petition for an increase, 
 which was not granted. Negotiations of this character were unsuccess- 
 ful, and finally a week's notice was served on the proprietors that if an 
 advance was not given the men would quit work the following Saturday 
 morning. The week passed and the office declined to accede to the 
 terms proposed, and refused to compromise at any figure. The men 
 ' left Saturday and that night the wage- workers of the city had a meet- 
 ing and decided to start a daily in opposition to the Herald. A job 
 printing office on Columbia street, owned by H. M. Greene, was secured, 
 a stock company with shares at $25 organized, and the union printers 
 issued the first copy of the Press on the morning of Monday, March 13, 
 1882. It may be interesting to note how the paper came to be called 
 the Press. No thought had been given to the choice of a title until the 
 work of making the paper was well under way. The resources of the 
 job room were limited and there was no font suitable for a head-letter. 
 The proprietor had once been connected with The Rensselaer County 
 Press and had an old electrotype head- line among the rubbish and 
 refuse. Some one found it and with a saw cut out the two middle words 
 leaving The Press, and that became the name of the paper. It was a 
 matter of convenience rather than choice. The first issue was a typo- 
 graphical crazy quilt, made up of innumerable styles of type. In a few 
 days the paper moved to an office of its own, upstairs on Seneca street, 
 where it remained till the following May, when it went down town to 
 No, 7 Broad street, whence it went to its new building. No. 17 Main 
 street, in November, 1891. At first the stock of the company was all 
 owned by the printers. There were various changes of stockholders 
 from the. start till February, 1883, when a new company was organized 
 
THE PRESS. 485 
 
 which included some of the leading business and professional men in the 
 city. Shortly after its re-organization Col. F. A. Eastman, ex- post- 
 master of Chicago, was made editor and continued in that capacity two 
 years. In February, 1885, a majority of the stock came into the hands 
 of Otto A. Meyer and George E. Dunham, and the latter was made presi- 
 dent and the former secretary and treasurer of the company. Colonel 
 Eastman resigned as editor and Mr. Dunham, who had been with the 
 paper since July, 1882, and lastly as city editor, became the editor, and 
 Mr. Meyer continued as business manager, a position he had efficiently 
 filled for two years previous to the transfer of the controlling interest. 
 F. W. Bensberg has been associated with Messrs. Dunham and Meyer, 
 and besides being a large stockholder has charge of the mechanical de- 
 partment, the three constituting the executive committee of the 
 directors. 
 
 The Press circulation started with a boom occasioned by general 
 sympathy in the city with the printers. Since 1885 its growth in every 
 way has been both rapid and substantial, so much so as to be widely 
 commented on by newspaper people throughout the State. The Press 
 is independent in politics and in a great measure owes its success to its 
 uniform promptness in getting the news and accuracy in its publication. 
 It seeks to be emphatically a newspaper. The Press purchased a lot 
 near the New York Central station and in the spring of 1891 com- 
 menced the erection of a building especially designed for its own use and 
 sole occupancy. The structure is 110x22 feet, four stories above the 
 basement, of brick with brownstone trimmings. When finished it was 
 ■equipped with the most modern machinery and appliances, including a 
 Scott perfecting press capable of printing from 12,000 to 15,000 com- 
 plete papers an hour. The building and its fixtures are counted almost 
 a model and have been visited by newspaper men from all sections. 
 A weekly edition is published every Friday morning. The Press is a 
 four-page paper five days in the week and eight-paged on Saturday. 
 The weekly is eight pages. 
 
 The Sunday Tribune was founded in May, 1877, by Dennis T. Kelly 
 and T. F. Baker. It was successful from the start, and its first office was 
 located at the corner of Broad and Genesee streets. The present pro- 
 prietor, H. E. Devendorf, became interested in the fall of 1877 and sole 
 
486 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 owner in 1883. The office was removed in 1878 to the corner of Broad 
 and John streets, where the paper, then an infant, expanded and grew 
 until it became entirely too large for those quarters. For nearly two 
 years the machinery of the old office was entirely inadequate to meet 
 the demands made upon it and it was only by means of the most inces- 
 sant labor that the entire edition could be handled on Sunday. Then, 
 too, for some years Sunday trains were few and far between. None 
 were run on the Rome and Watertown or Delaware, Lackawanna, and 
 Western Railroads. To offset this the Tribune tried some interesting 
 experiments which have never been met in the way of enterprise by 
 any newspaper in this section. For years it maintained a pony express 
 Sunday mornings from Utica to Waterville. At the time of the strike 
 on the Central road pony expresses carrying the Tribune were run as 
 far west as Rome and as far east as Little Falls, and the readers had 
 their papers on time, though not a wheel moved on the railroad. For 
 three months in the summer of 189 1 a special edition of the paper was 
 made ready at 1:30 A. M. for the St. Lawrence River and northern 
 points, and it found its way into Philadelphia, Gouverneur, Canton, 
 Potsdam, and Norwood, where here'tofore it had been a stranger. The 
 Tribune reached Clayton with this edition at 6 A. M. and Alexandria 
 Bay at 8, and the number of papers printed for this route in the height 
 of the season reached 1,000. From June 15th to October 1st in each 
 year the Tribune is sold in Richfield, Springs and the towns between 
 that popular resort and Cassville Junction. The Tribune \s cosmopoli- 
 tan in its circulation. It is read by the rich and the poor, the high and 
 the low. Its circulation is between 7,000 and 8,000. 
 
 The Utica Saturday Globe was founded May 21, 1 881, by William T. 
 and Thomas F. Baker. The circulation grew so rapidly that enlarged 
 quarters were obtained three times before its permanent home in 
 Whitesboro street was built in 1886. Two enlargements were neces- 
 sary here, and since the completion of the last the Globe doubtless occu- 
 pies more room than that devoted exclasively to the publication of any 
 newspaper in the State. The circulation during 1891 averaged 165,354 
 copies and on occasions has risen to 2691175 and 268,536. A. M. 
 Dickinson is editor-in-chief; associate editors, Timothy H. Sweeney, 
 Hugh P. McCabe, Frederick G. Reusswig, Ward Hunt Johnson, Byron 
 B. Merrill, John Aloysius Cogley, and William R. Merrell. 
 
DEUTSCHE ZEITUNG. 487 
 
 In the year 1853, after there had been started in Albany and Syra- 
 cuse German newspapers, a movement was set on foot in Utica to found 
 a paper for the German population of the city and vicinity. About a 
 dozen of the then well known citizens of German descent, among whom 
 were Charles Bierbauer, Frank Sang, John M. Hahn, J. W. Wasmer, 
 Capt. A. Brendle, Joseph Leuthaeuser, Joseph Faass, Paul Keiser, Fred 
 Koelbel, and others, formed a stock company and founded a paper, the 
 name of which was Central New York Demokrat. Messrs. Timm and 
 Brand, two efficient printers from New York, were the first printers and 
 Dr. H. Soden its first editor. About two years after the twice- a- week 
 sheet passed into the hands of Paul Keiser, alderman of the Sixth ward, 
 and he changed the name of the paper to the Oneida Demokrat. In 
 1858 the paper was published by Paul Keiser & Co. (Paul Keiser, 
 Henry Jost, and J. C. Schreiber). In i860 Paul Keiser resumed the 
 publication of the paper again alone with J. C. Schreiber as its editor. 
 In 1865 the latter bought the then weekly published paper of Paul Keiser 
 and he returned it to a semi- weekly publication. In 1872 the paper 
 was made one of the official papers of the city of Utica. Its proprietor 
 and editor, J. C. Schreiber, changed the name of Oneida Demokrat to 
 its present title, the Utica Deutsche Zeitung (Utica German Gazette), 
 and issued it three times a week. The Utica Deutsche Zeitung gained 
 tinder the management of its editor and proprietor, J. C. Schreiber, 
 great influence among the German population of Utica and Central New 
 York and has a large circulation. Since April i, 1891, the Zeitung is 
 published by a stock company, with J. C. Schreiber as president and 
 editor and John C. Fulmer as secretary and treasurer. The com- 
 pany has been incorporated under the name of the Utica Detitsche Zei- 
 tung Company. The paper is in a flourishing condition, its circulation 
 is very large, and it is gaining steadily in public favor. Independent in 
 politics it has gained entrance into almost every German family in our 
 city and vicinity. The present proprietors are enterprising men who 
 are looking forward to make of the Utica Deutsche Zeitung a daily 
 paper. 
 
 On January 2, 185 i, John M. Jones, of New York city, published the 
 first number of Y Drych (The Mirror), the first weekly Welsh news- 
 paper printed in America. In December, 1854, he sold it to a stock 
 
488 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 company. In a couple of years it passed into the hands of J. W. Jones, 
 then to J. Mather Jones, and is now owned by Thomas J. Griffith, 
 who has printed it in Utica for nearly twenty years. J. W. Jones be- 
 came one of its editors in its second or third year and has been its chief 
 editor (except for a short time) ever since. J. C. Roberts has been as- 
 sociated with him for about twelve years. In the beginning of 1854 a 
 stock company in Utica started F Gwyliedydd Americanaidd (The 
 American Watchman). It was printed at the office of the Utica Herald 
 until 1855, when it was bought by V Drych Company. In 1868 
 another stock company established the Baner American in Scranlon, 
 Pa., and published it for several years. It was sold in 1877 to T. J. Grif- 
 fith, proprietor of Y Drych, with which paper it was merged. Y Drych is 
 the oldes^Welsh newspaper in the world. One was established before it in 
 Liverpool, but was afterward merged in a later one. Both directly and 
 indirectly it has been of incalculable benefit to the Welsh people. Its 
 literary standard has always been high, and under its present editors 
 will compare favorably with any newspaper in the same language pub- 
 lished anywhere. It has a circulation in all parts of the world. In 
 addition to the above described weekly newspaper two Welsh monthly 
 magazines are issued in Utica. 
 
 The Church Eclectic, a monthly magazine of church literature and 
 ecclesiastical miscellany, is the title of a new enterprise by Rev. W. T. 
 Gibson, D.D., then rector of St. George's Church, Utica. The first 
 number was issued March i, 1873, in a thin pamphlet of thirty-two- 
 pages, and the publication has continued to the present time (Vol. xix.. 
 No. 10), enlarged to 100 pages octavo. Its object was announced 
 as intended to do for church literature what the Living Age and similar 
 publications are doing for secular literature, without infringing on the 
 functions of the weekly religious press. It has, however, in addition to 
 its choice selections from foreign periodicals, published many editorial 
 and other original contributions by some of the oldest writers in the 
 church, besides having a department for correspondence, book notices, 
 and notes and comments on current events. It has already had a longer- 
 existence than any other monthy of the Episcopal Church except the 
 Spirit of Missions. 
 
 A monthly paper known as the Christian, Worker is issued by the 
 
JOURNAL OF INSANITY-^ EVENING TELEGRAPH. 489 
 
 Woman's Christian Association in the interests of Christian and chari- 
 table work. It contains hsts of the officers of the charitable societies of 
 the city and is otherwise made up of original and selected matter. Its. 
 editor is Mrs. S. W. Crittenden. 
 
 The American Journal of Insanity is a quarterly journal devoted ta 
 the consideration of mental disease and its treatment, which had its 
 origin with Dr. Amariah Brigham, the first superintendent of the State 
 Hospital in 1844. It is conducted by the superintendent of this insti- 
 tution and his assistants, receiving aid also from other alienist physicians, 
 and has been issued continuously by the successive officers of the hos-, 
 pital from its beginning to the present time. 
 
 The papers thus far sketched are now in existence. Those which fol- 
 low are no longer issued. 
 
 The Evening Telegraph, an independent daily paper, was started on 
 May I, 1851, by T. R. McQuade & Co., the Co. representing James 
 Mclver, who was the responsible editor. It was aided by several cor- 
 respondents, among whom were James and John McQuade, brothers of 
 Thomas R., Judge Smith, R. B. Miller, J. S. Henshaw, Erastus Clark, 
 Dr. Edwin Hutchinson, H. H. Fish, etc. Mr. Mclver left the city in 
 1856, when James McQuade became the editor and continued as such 
 until 1 86 1, when he entered the army. Next Henry W. Chase had 
 charge of it. In the fall of the year 1863 it was sold 'to F. A. CrandalJ 
 and continued for a long time, when it passed into the hands of D. T. 
 Ritchie, who like the former had been one of the staff of the Utica 
 Herald. The paper came to its end in the summer of the year 1865. 
 It was a sprightly and enterprising journal, was ably edited, and en- 
 joyed a good circulation. 
 
 The Gospel Messenger, the organ of the Protestant Episcopal Church 
 in Western New York, was founded by Dr. John Churchill Rudd in 
 1827, less than a year after he came to Auburn from New York to take 
 charge of St. Peter's Church in that village. The first number of the 
 paper is dated Auburn, Saturday, January 20, 1827. It was a sheet of 
 four pages (9^ x 13^ inches) with four columns (2^ inches) to each 
 page. It was started with the strong approval and support of Bishop 
 Hobart, whose death took place while on a subsequent visit to Auburn 
 at Dr. Rudd's parsonage, September , 12, 1830. About the year 1846 
 
 C2 
 
490 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 Dr. Rudd removed with the paper to Utica, where he died November 
 15, 1848, after which for a short interval the paper was cared for by Rev, 
 Dr. Leeds, then rector of Grace Church, Utica. Bishop De Lancey, 
 then succeeding to the ownership of the paper by arrangement with the 
 heirs of Dr. Rudd, " assigned " it over to Rev. Dr. WiUiam A. Matson 
 as "editor and proprietor," who conducted it down to the year i860, 
 when he resigned the position and removed from the city. Bishop De 
 Lancey then made the same arrangement with Rev. Wilh'am T. Gibson, 
 D.D. (1862), who then becanae editor and proprietor from January, 1861, 
 and. continued as such until January, 1872, Bishop De Lancey having 
 died April 5, 1865, and the new diocese of Central New York having 
 been set off in 1868. In January, 1872, the Gospel Messenger was re- 
 moved t^ Syracuse and conducted by the recently elected bishop of 
 Central New York, the Rt. Rev. F. D. Huntington, until November of 
 that year, when it was merged into the Church Journal of New York, 
 which in its turn was a few years after merged into the present Church- 
 man. This paper was once extensively circulated, not only in Central 
 and Western New York, but throughout many of the newer States of 
 the West. 
 
 It remains to note by name only a few of the earlier issues, chiefly de- 
 nominational, of Utica. , 
 
 There were the Utica Christian Magazine, published by a com- 
 mittee composed of Congregational and Presbyterian ministers and 
 printed by Merrell & Camp, 18 14— 15 ; the Christian Repository, a 
 monthly printed by William Williams, 1822-28 ; the Western Recorder, 
 1823-28, a weekly published' by Jlerrell & Hastings and having two 
 or three different editors ; the Baptist Register, a weekly started by Rev. 
 E. F. Willey and Elon Galusha, and continued for several years by Rev. 
 A. M. Beebee; in 1855 't was removed to New York and consolidated 
 with the Examiner and Chronicle ; the Utica Evangelical Magazine and 
 in a new series termed the Magazine and Advocate, owned and edited by 
 Rev. Dolphas Skinner in behalf of Universalism, 1827—31 ; the Western 
 Sunday School Visitant, 1826-28 ; the Friend of Man ; the Teetotaller ; 
 the Mechanics Press; the Uticaniau ; the Mothers Magazine, 1833; 
 and the Club, by Henry Goodfellow, esq., 1814-15. 
 
SEATS OF THE EARLY COURTS. 491 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 THE BENCH AND BAR OF UTICA. 
 
 THE earliest courts of the county of Oneida were held at various 
 places, as at New Hartford, Rome, and Whitesboro, and after 
 1803 more especially at the two latter places, since in that year these 
 were made half-shire towns of the county. Utica had no building suit- 
 ably adapted for their sessions until after the academy was completed 
 in 1 8 18. This building it has been seen was intended for the joint pur- 
 poses of a school, a court-house, and a town hall, and was taken in 
 charge by the trustees of the village, who soon presented a request that 
 the sessions of the Supreme and of the United States Courts should 
 be held within it. By a legislative act of April 21, 181 8, the justices of 
 the Supreme Court were authorized to hold terms of the Circuit Court 
 and Court of Oyer and Terminer, between the regular terms of August 
 and January, at such places in the county as they should deem proper,, 
 and it appears that they were held at Rome, Whitestown, and Utica. 
 About this time it was ordered that a session of the United States Dis- 
 trict and of the Supreme Court of the State should be held in the acad- 
 emy at Utica. 
 
 A visitor who attended the October term of the latter held in Utica 
 in the year 1820 saw there a full bench, Chief Justice Spencer pre- 
 siding, flanked by Judges Van Ness and Piatt on his right and Judges 
 Yates and Woodworth on the left. The bar was filled with lawyers of 
 the first ability and reputation, including Aaron Burr, Thomas J. Oak- 
 ley, Martin Van Buren, Elisha Williams, etc., the last two named being 
 opposed in a trial. 
 
 Another old-time resident has not forgotten the forming of the pro- 
 cession in the vicinity of Bagg's Square which was to escort the United 
 States district judge to the court-house. The constabulary with the 
 marshal and his deputies preceded the lawyers, who were followed by the 
 judge in his robes. 
 
 On the 4th of February, 1836, "an act relative to the county jails. 
 
492 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 County Courts, and Courts of Oyer and Terminer in the county of 
 Oneida " was passed by the legislature. One of the provisions declared 
 that " in case one of the new jails shall be located in Utica the County 
 Courts, now required by law to be held at Whitestown, shall be held in 
 the court-room of the building called the academy in Utica. Under 
 this act the academy served as a court-house until the erection of the 
 present court-house in 1850-51. 
 
 The Bench and Bar of Oneida County have from an early period been 
 highly estimated both at home and abroad, and in this estimate the law- 
 yers and the judges of Utica have held a full share. Such of the law- 
 yers as have been chiefly conspicuous in public stations or in the affairs 
 of city and county, and have been noteworthy rather as politicians or else 
 as men of affairs, active promoters of the enterprise of the place than as 
 advocates or presiders in the courts, have been already noticed. In this 
 chapter it is proposed to sketch those chiefly who, restricting themselves 
 more closely to the line of professional duty, have obtained notoriety 
 as jurists, advocates, and judges. While others that have preceded in 
 our narrative have shared with them in their legal and forensic engage- 
 ments these have been mostly typical of our former bench and bar. 
 
 Nathan Williams was without doubt the first lawyer to permanently 
 locate in Utica, where he afterward became eminent in his profession. 
 He was born in Williamstown, Mass., December 19, 1773, and although 
 it is not positively known when he first came to Utica it is believed to 
 have been not later than 1797. At the first term of the Common Pleas, 
 held in Oneida County in 1798, he was admitted to practice in the court; 
 he had already been admitted to the bar in Herkimer County. In the 
 same year he was admitted to the courts of Chenango County and was 
 appointed district attorney of that county in 1802. He soon com- 
 manded a large practice, although it is said of him that he habitually 
 aided his clients to avoid law suits rather than undertake them. His 
 biographer says of him : " Prompt and exemplary in all that related to 
 local or general benevolence his contributions of time, influence, and 
 property entered largely into nearly every measure that elevated the 
 town of his adoption. At an early period of his residence he assisted 
 in the establishment of a well selected public library. Of this he was 
 for many years librarian." He was active in religious affairs and zeal- 
 
NATHAN WILLIAMS — ERASTUS CLARK. 493 
 
 ously co-operated in the organization of Trinity Churcli, of which he 
 was warden. He was president of the village corporation and president 
 of the Manhattan Bank. In the War of 18 12 he gave freely of his in- 
 fluence and energies to uphold the cause of the government, and even 
 left his business to march with the volunteers to Sacket's Harbor, then 
 under command of his brother-in-law. Gen. Jacob Brown. He was 
 district attorney of the Sixth District in 1801-03 ^nd again of Oneida 
 County in 1818— 21 ; was representative in Congress in 1805-07; and 
 member of Assembly in 18 16, 1818, and 18 19. He was also a member 
 of the Constitutional Convention of 1821. He was appointed in April, 
 1823, to the responsible office of Circuit judge and held the position for 
 many years. " As a judge," says his biographer, " his addresses were 
 fervently moral. Few men could attend his court in any capacity and 
 not obtain instruction in the duties of life and encouragement for their 
 •cultivation." Every part of his life was filled up with something to 
 render his memory dear to his kindred and honored by his country. 
 At the age of sixty years he resigned his office of Circuit judge and a 
 few months before his death he removed to Geneva upon receiving the 
 appointment of clerk of the Supreme Court. His death occurred Sep- 
 tember 25, 1835. Of his family, which was a large one, nearly all are 
 now deceased. Three daughters are still residents. 
 
 Erastus Clark, son of Dr. John Clark, was born in Lebanon, Conn., 
 on the nth of May, 1763. He was one of the earliest attorneys of 
 Oneida County and located in Utica in 1797. He was a graduate of 
 Dartmouth College, and after diligent study of the law and admission 
 to the bar he removed to Clinton in 1791 and there began practice. 
 His learning, his industry, and above all his character for probity grad- 
 ually raised him to a high rank in his profession. In the early village 
 •of Utica he was called to various offices of public trust ; was elected a 
 village trustee under the charter of 1805, held the office many years, 
 and was also among the earlier local presidents. In 18 17, when a new 
 and enlarged charter was accorded the village, he was again called to 
 guide in its administration. In the meantime he had twice represented 
 his district in the State Assembly. Associated with Alexander Hamil- 
 ton, Egbert Benson, Jonas Piatt, Thomas R. Gold, and others he was 
 named a trustee in the original charter of Hamilton College. And yet 
 
494 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 so long as he lived few of his profession were more diligent at the court 
 or more relied on for the wisdom and soundness of their legal counsel. 
 For, although he was not endowed with the fascination of popular elo- 
 quence, in the learning of the law he was unsurpassed. The following 
 estimate of the character of Mr. Clark was written by Judge Jonas Piatt : 
 
 " For originality and decision of character his name was proverbiaL 
 An enlightened conscience was his habitual guide ; and if from precip- 
 itancy or irritation his head sometimes erred there was a redeeming 
 principle in his heart which reclaimed and regulated his erring judgment 
 and passions with magnetic influence. His frankness was sometimes ill- 
 timed and excessive. What others thought he spoke, and this naked and 
 unreserved habit of mind and expression frequently gave offence when 
 he was not conscious of it, and sometimes betrayed apparent vanity. But 
 of no other man can it be more truly said that those who knew him best 
 esteemed him most. His liberal charity and his generous spirit in pro- 
 moting benevolent objects and public institutions were ever leading and 
 conspicuous, while no man was less indulgent to his own appetites or 
 more self-denying in his pleasures and personal gratifications. His- 
 habit of living was simple, plain, and frugal ; and yet his house was the 
 abode of cheerful, cordial, and familiar hospitality. In the more inti- 
 mate and tender relations of domestic life the virtues of this excellent 
 man shone with peculiar luster. His religious character was free from 
 ostentation, but uniform, consistent, sincere, and ardent" Mr. Clark 
 died November 7, 1825. His daughters are deceased. His son and. 
 namesake is living. 
 
 Francis A. Bloodgood, admitted as an attorney of the Supreme Court 
 on August 5, 1790, made his debut before a Fort Schuyler audience on 
 the anniversary of our nation's independence, 1797. He was a native of 
 Albany and a graduate of Union College. Two years later he was ap- 
 pointed county clerk, and in that office he accomplished what was almost 
 his life-work. He was a village trustee in 1805 and on the organization 
 of the Bank of Utica became one of its trustees. In 1810, as senator, 
 he represented the district at Albany, where he was a zealous follower of 
 De Witt Clinton. He died in Ithaca, whither he removed about 1823. 
 
 Judge Morris S. Miller, born in 1780, was a son of Dr. Matthias Bur- 
 nett Miller, of Long Island. He graduated from Union College with. 
 
MORRIS S. MILLER. 
 
 495 
 
 valedictorian honors in 1798, arid studied law with Cornelius Wendell, 
 of Cambridge, Washington County; and-then became private secretary 
 to Governor Jay. Upon his arrival in Utica in 1806 Mr. Miller began 
 the practice of his profession, and being a man of decided ability, Well 
 versed in the law, and conciliating in manner he soon established him- 
 self in the public confidence.; Within two years he was made president 
 of the village and within four years he received the appointment of 
 first judge of the county. The latter office he continued' to hold by 
 successive re- appointments until his decease, discharging its duties with 
 credit and public approval. In 1813-15 he represented' his district in 
 the thirteenth Congress. His first speech received the Varm commend- 
 ation of John Randolph. . By it and by others directed likewisfe against 
 the war measures of the administration he gained some reputation. He 
 was then a Federalist, but some years later he'i deserted his former po- 
 litical friends and became a Bucktail Democrat, bein^ one' of the so- 
 called." high .minded gentlemen" who opposed the nomination of De 
 Witt Clinton. In July, 18 19, Judge Miller was serit by Mr. Calhoun 
 to Buffalo to represent the United States government at the negotiation 
 of a treaty between the Seneca Indians and the proprietors of the Sen- 
 eca Reservation. Besides the offices we have mentioned and a trustee- 
 ship in Hamilton College he held ^other places of triist and honor. 
 For his public spirit and liberality were active and his merit acknowl- 
 edged; capable and conscientious, intelligent and refined, courteous to 
 all, and hospitable almost to excess he was deservedly esteemed and 
 his standing was one of mark and influence. A striking trait in his 
 character was his attachment to the Episcopal Church, an attachment 
 not hastily formed, but the result of a rational, diligent, and well ma- 
 tured inquiry ; yet whilst he valued his church before every other he 
 freely conceded to all that liberty of conscience which he required for 
 himself, and willingly co-operated with those of a different faith in ef- 
 forts to promote good morals and extend evangelical religion. An el- 
 derly person lately deceased relates the following incident : " I happened 
 to be at Rome in the winter of 1815-16 where the judge was holding 
 the Court of Common Pleas A trial was going on which excited much 
 interest, and in which two important witnesses had been examined on 
 opposite sides of the case, whose testimony was so directly opposed to 
 
496 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 each other's that either one or the other must have been perjured- 
 Judge Miller, in his eloquent charge to the jury, said they must recon- 
 cile the lamentable conflict of testimony the best way they could to se- 
 cure the ends of justice, and so warmly expressed his feelings in wit- 
 nessing such an unfortunate scene of human frailty as to draw tears, not 
 from himself alone, but from the whole audience." It may be added 
 that he was prompt in his affairs, neat to fastidiousness in his person 
 and his grounds, and though neither tall nor spare, being rather mid- 
 way of extremes, his frame was both delicately and firmly knit and his 
 features regular and pleasing. Throughout his residence he managed 
 the interests of the Bleecker family in Utica, an estate which was 
 thought to be worth $4oa,ooo, and of this Mrs. Miller owned one-quar- 
 ter. They occupned the house at the lower end of Main street, already 
 spoken of as the earlier residence of Peter Smith and also of James S. 
 Kip. It was a two-story house of wood, painted yellow, and having a 
 piazza on the front or north end. The grounds about it were ample 
 and the garden well stocked with fruit trees, especially the Bleecker or 
 orange plum, which the judge first introduced here from Albany. Free 
 as he was in dispensing this choice plum among the gardens of his neigh- 
 bors he was equally free in disseminating the products of his extensive 
 orchard of grafted apples. This orchard filled the space now bounded 
 by West, Rutger, Steuben, and South streets, and from it any farmer 
 who would be at the trouble to plant them might take fifty young trees.. 
 Before his death Judge Miller had made preparations to build at the 
 head of John street, had put out the shrubbery and shade trees, and 
 had erected a wall in front of the site where his son, Rutger B. Miller, 
 erected in 1 830 the fine stone mansion which now forms the central 
 building of the Rutger place. His death occurred while he was still in 
 the prime of his years, November 19, 1824. 
 
 Thomas Emmons Clark was born February 11, 1788, at Colchester, 
 Conn., and began practice in Utica in 181 1. He was a graduate of 
 Union College, studied law with Judge Jonas Piatt, of Whitesboro, and 
 was admitted to the bar in the fall of 18 11. As a lawyer the merits of 
 Mr. Clark surpassed his reputation. If he was less conspicuous as a 
 speaker than some of his illustrious peers of the Oneida bar he made 
 up in solid acquirements and strong native sense what he lacked of 
 
THOMAS E. CLARK— JOSEPH KIRKLAND. 497 
 
 more showy qualities. He was rather learned than brilliant, rather 
 given to convincing the understanding than exciting the imagination. 
 He was a large reader, a laborious and profound scholar, a man with 
 whom it was impossible to come in contact without feeling the impress 
 of his learning and his worth. His knowledge of the classics as of 
 the law was thorough, while he was largely versed in metaphysics, the- 
 ology, and the Bible. He was singularly unambitious and unaffected. 
 Earnest for his client he never thought of himself or uttered anything 
 merely for effect. Without the least assumption of dignity there was ' 
 in him a dash and a directness of purpose that were equally evident in 
 his brusque, noisy talk and wholesome laugh, his headlong gait, and his 
 swift and all but unreadable writing. He was a member of the As- 
 sembly in 1828 and of the Senate in 1848-49; of the Presbyterian and 
 afterward of the Dutch Reformed Church he was long an elder and 
 a Bible-class teacher. He died April 14, 1857. His daughter, Mrs. 
 George W. Wood, is the only survivor of his family. 
 
 While Oneida was still a part of Herkimer there settled within its 
 borders a young lawyer who was acknowledged at once as an equal 
 among the best of his associates at the bar, and who since then, not 
 more by rare e.xcellence in his calling than by weighty sense and energy' 
 in action, uprightness, purity, and benevolence of conduct, and much 
 effective and unselfish official service, has made the name of Joseph 
 Kirkland suggestive to all of virtue, usefulness, power, and honor. At 
 the first term of Common Pleas held in the county after its organiza- 
 tion, in company with Thomas R. Gold, Jonas Piatt, Erastus Clark, Na- 
 than Williams, Arthur Breese, and others, all of whom had practiced in 
 the courts of Herkimer, he was admitted to the same privilege in 
 Oneida and together with those enumerated he was appointed to report 
 a system of rules for the court. Mr. Kirkland, by his unremitting ap- 
 plication, tenacity of purpose, and an integrity that amid the fierce 
 collisions of legal competition was never called in question, soon rose to 
 an eminent rank. In 1801 he ran as a candidate for delegate to the 
 State Constitutional Convention and received as many votes as his op- 
 ponent, Henry Huntington, of Rome, though the seat was accorded to 
 the latter. In 1803 he was chosen by the Federal party to represent 
 them in the State Assembly. Of his career while here it may be said, 
 
 63 
 
498 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 as of his like experience in later years, that no man ever gent from the 
 county carried with him and preserved more completely the confidence 
 of his constituents. From February, 1813, to February, 1816, he dis- 
 charged with ability and faithfulness the duties of district attorney for 
 the Sixth District. That these duties involved much labor and care, in 
 addition to no small amount of professional skill and acquirement, we 
 are assured when we consider that this district then comprised Herki- 
 mer, Otsego, Chenango, Madison, Lewis, and Jefferson as well as Oneida 
 Counties. 
 
 It was in 1813 that Mr. Kirkland transferred his residence from New 
 Hartford to Utica, and thenceforth for thirty years he was identified with 
 its prosperity and enterprises, with its charities, hospitalities, and its 
 municipal administration. Sent again to the legislature during the ses- 
 sions 18 18-2 1 he vacated his seat in the latter year to fill a higher one 
 in the seventeenth Congress, where he succeeded that eminent speaker, 
 Henry R. Storrs. After serving a single term with great acceptance to 
 members of all parties he was again elected to the Assembly of 1825. 
 Mr. Kirkland was the first mayor under the city charter of Utica and * 
 was re-elected in 1834, two years afterward. Without disparagement 
 to his successors it may be affirmed that no administration is remem- 
 bered with a livelier gratification than the one of which he was the head. 
 It was while he presided over the public councils that the city was 
 visited by that desolating calamity, the cholera, which in no part of the 
 State broke out in a more sudden or fearful manner or swept into eter- 
 nity, in proportion to the population, such a crowd of victims. A large 
 number of citizens left the place. Men much younger and better able 
 to contend against the ravages of disease fled their homes, Mr. Kirk- 
 land, although then sixty years of age, remained at his post and con- 
 tinued during the entire period of this frightful visitation to perform the 
 duties which devolved upon him. He was ever devising measures to re- 
 lieve those who were smitten or to check the violence of the pestilence 
 and prevent its spread. He manifested during this crisis the real boldness 
 and energy of his character, and showed that there was in him a spirit 
 which, in more auspicious circumstances and on a larger field, would 
 have_ secured to him no ordinary amount of reputation. In the upbuild- 
 ing of Hamihon College, the Utica Academy, the Presbyterian Church, 
 
WILLIAM H. MA YNARD. 499 
 
 the Ontario Branch Bank, the Oneida Glass Factory, the New Hartford 
 Manufacturing Society, the Farmers Factory, the Paris Furnace Com- 
 pany, and other early institutions of the county Mr. Kirkland bore a 
 part from their inception. If not one of the originators he was at a 
 very early stage of the enterprise a coadjutor in opening and construct- 
 ing the Seneca turnpike, the great internal highway of commerce 
 through Central New York, and was for many years and until his death 
 the president and treasurer of its corporation. And in schemes after- 
 ward projected to advance the educational, commercial, or manufactur- 
 ing interests of town or county there was scarcely one in which this 
 public hearted man was not called to participate. To a large circle of 
 individuals also, of various classes, he was the valued counselor or com- 
 passionate friend. He died January 2, 1844. He had a large family, 
 of whom scarcely one survives. 
 
 William Hale Maynard was one of the ablest lawyers and acutest and 
 best furnished intellects of any that has ever made his home in Utica. 
 He was the son of Malachi and Anna Hale Maynard, of Conway, Mass. 
 Soon after his graduation he removed to New Hartford in Oneida 
 County and entered himself as a student of law in the office of Gen. 
 Joseph Kirkland. To some extent he continued his employment of 
 teaching, and was at the same time diligent and laborious in the study 
 of his profession. In the year 1811 he purchased of John H. Lothrop 
 his interest in the Utica Patriot and at once assumed its editorship. 
 With this paper he retained a connection and was its chief contributor 
 down to the year 1824. In January following he was made attor- 
 ney of the village. His first associate in practice was Samuel A. Tal- 
 cott. Their office in 18 16 was at No. 4 Broad street. Another attor- 
 neyship which he received about this time was of more importance to 
 him pecuniarily than that of prosecutor of the village. He was ap- 
 pointed law officer of the Utica Insurance Company, which was a bank- 
 ing company also, and here he laid the foundation of his property. 
 In 1818 he was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court. "But," 
 says Judge Bacon, " he rose rapidly after he had made his first mark, and 
 was soon employed on one side or the other in most of the heavy litiga- 
 tion that engaged the attention of the courts of the county." ^ It was in 
 
 ^ Bacon's Early Bar of Oneida County. 
 
5°o 
 
 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 the Supreme Court and that for the Correction of Errors that his talents 
 found the best field for their exercise ; the preparation of a cause for 
 trial in the inferior courts, the presentation of the evidence, and the art- 
 ful moulding of the jury to an opinion favorable to one's own client 
 were done as well by many others. But in logical acumen and in wealth 
 and profundity of learning, in exact perception of the points at issue, 
 and in thorough elucidation of them by all of law and of precedent that 
 were citable and apposite, and that, too, in the presence of his com- 
 peers, and where reason and not prejudice or feeling was to judge, — 
 it was here that Mr. Maynard most excelled and where his principal 
 laurels were obtained. For these were his distinguishing traits, and 
 which characterized him both as a speaker and a writer. He had little 
 imagination ; he was not graceful in manner nor finished in elocution, 
 though the language he used was always the purest and plainest Saxon. 
 But his mental vision was clear and his reasoning cogent, and, in addi- 
 tion, he was possessed of a mem'ory wonderfully retentive and whose 
 stores were ever at command. He would try a cause for days without 
 touching pen to paper and yet in the end retain all the evidence adduced. 
 
 A mind thus copiously furnished and so clear in its convictions could 
 not be otherwise than instructive, and its possessor was much sought 
 both as a companion in private and as a speaker in publfc. His public 
 addresses were spontaneous and free, and though often abounding in 
 facts and statistics were delivered without notes and apparently with- 
 out purposed preparation. To the confidence reposed in him as a wise 
 adviser and a skillful manager of the concerns of individuals he added 
 also much influence in matters of general and political interest. He 
 was among the early trustees of the Utica Academy ; and we are in- 
 formed by the historian of that institution that from his entrance to the 
 board the marks of his vigor and activity are traceable in various sug- 
 gestions and reports in writing, which, although not signed by him, are 
 cognizable by his peculiar handwriting; and also that he was one of a 
 committee appointed to make arrangements for the opening of the 
 school, to procure a teacher, and to devise a system of instruction. 
 
 In politics Mr. Maynard was the leading spirit of the Adams admin- 
 istration in this county, his most formidable opponent being Samuel 
 Beardsley. In 1819, when De Witt Clinton was nominated as governor 
 
WILLIAM H. MAYNARD. 
 
 501 
 
 in opposition to Daniel D. Tompkins, he left the Federal party, which 
 had now almost ceased to exist as an organized faction, and took sides 
 with the fifty-one " high-minded " gentlemen who befriended Governor 
 Tompkins. Naturally he soon began to manifest his change of senti- 
 ment by a change in the tone and conduct of the paper which he man- 
 aged. Messrs. Seward & Williams, the publishers and chief owners of 
 the Patriot, were startled at this sudden revolution in the character of 
 their paper and alarmed by the falling off of its subscribers. Legal ad- 
 visers whom they consulted recommended the setting up of a new one 
 as their only mode of relief and accordingly they started the Utica 
 Sentinel. Mr. Maynard had been a member of a Masonic lodge, yet 
 when, in consequence of an atrocious crime committed in Western New 
 York by some individuals among the Masons, there arose a strong op- 
 position to the whole order, which, spreading through the State, resulted 
 in the formation of the anti- Masonic party, he took sides with that party. 
 In 1828 he was by them elected senator from his district and continued 
 to serve during the years 1829, '30, '31, and '32. By his election the 
 Senate received a great accession of talent, and though he was one of a 
 small political minority he exercised a high and commanding influence 
 and became in the latter portion of his career the acknowledged leader 
 of that body. " He was," says Proctor, " the great intellectual light of 
 the Senate — the Halifax of his party." In the different branches of the 
 legislature of 1832, to quote further from this author, "two future gov- 
 ernors of the State occupied seats, one of whom was William H. Seward 
 and the other John Young. The former was elevated from the guber- 
 natorial chair to the Senate of the United States and thence to be 
 prime minister of two presidential administrations. Both of these 
 gentlemen in 1832 were overshadowed by the talents, position, and in- 
 fluence of Maynard and Granger. The early death of the former 
 opened a field for the splendid abilities of Mr. Seward, while the mental 
 resources of John Young gradually removed all opposition in his way 
 and he grasped the highest honors of the Empire State." Among the 
 projects advocated by Mr. Maynard while in the Senate, and one which 
 was mainly effected through his advocacy, was the act for the creation 
 of the Chenango Canal. In its favor he delivered a long and able 
 speech, statesmanlike in its pohcy, and marked by careful research, un- 
 
502 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 erring figures, and wise deduction. During this period he continued to- 
 be actively engaged in the duties of his profession and was so up to the 
 time of his death. From the year 1822 his law partner had been Eb- 
 enezer Griffin. After 1828 this connection was exchanged for a part- 
 nership with Joshua A. Spencer. A brief editorial notice of Mr. May- 
 nard appeared in the Albany Armies immediately after his death. After 
 adverting to his vigor of mind, thoroughly imbued with the learning of 
 the day, professional and political, his exactness of logic, and his remark- 
 able facility of bringing out and applying his resources, Mr. CrosweH' 
 continues as follows : "As a lawyer, as a debater in the Senate, and as a 
 capable writer he has left few superiors among his cotemporaries. 
 Although of opposite politics with ourselves we knew and estimated the 
 power of his intellect, and along with our friends have felt the sharpness- 
 and force of an encounter with it. To his personal friends his death is 
 a severe deprivation. In the political party to which he was attached 
 he has left no equal and none that can supply his place." 
 
 First among the persons admitted to a residence in the year i8i6 comes- 
 one who was confessedly primus inter pares, eminent not here alone, 
 but throughout the country, whose transcendent abilities gave him a 
 repute that was national and a celebrity that is enduring. Samuel 
 Austin Talcott was the son of Samuel Talcott, of Hartford, Conn., and 
 Abigail, daughter of John Ledyard, of Bristol, England, and sister of 
 Colonel Ledyard, who so gallantly defended Fort Groton in the war of 
 the Revolution. This Samuel Talcott was son of Col. Samuel Talcott,. 
 who was sheriff, colonel, etc., and grandson of Gov. Joseph Talcott, the 
 first governor of Connecticut born within its limits, and who occupied 
 the chair seventeen years. Samuel Austin, who was born at Hartford,- 
 December 31, 1789, lost his father while yet a boy. At the age of four 
 years he was sent to a school kept by a Mrs. Peterson, where he re- 
 mained three years, and was then put under the care of Dr. McClure,, 
 of East Windsor. He continued with him until he was fourteen, when he 
 went to Colchester Academy, and after a residence of two years entered 
 the sophomore class of Williams College in 1806 and was graduated 
 in 1809, and at the age of nineteen. Shortly afterward he married Miss 
 Rachel Skinner, daughter of Dea. Benjamin Skinner, of Williamstown^ 
 and immediately began the study of law with Thomas R. Gold, of 
 
SAMUEL A. TALCOTT. 503 
 
 Whitesboro. His course of study ended he practiced in Lowville, 
 Lewis County, at first in partnership with Isaac W. Bostwick. About 
 18 16 he removed to Utica and entered into a like connection with Will- 
 iam H. Maynard, the contemporary of his college days. A vacancy 
 having been created at New Hartford by the removal from that place to 
 Utica of Gen. Joseph Kirkland Mr. Talcott took up his residence in 
 the former village, and by the aid of his associate in Utica maintained 
 an office in both places. On the 12th of February, 1821, he received 
 the appointment of attorney- general of the State, when he made his 
 home in Albany, and continued to live there during his administration 
 ■of this office. From Albany he repaired to New York and carried on 
 practice until his death, March 19, 1836, in his forty-seventh year. 
 
 Such in brief terms are the main incidents in the life of one of the 
 marked men of the county and of the State. Indeed a friend of his 
 youth, and one who was competent to judge, has pronounced him one 
 of the most extraordinary men of the age. The characteristics of Mr. 
 Talcott as they were seen in college this writer^ thus describes: "At 
 this early age all those extraordinary qualities were developed which 
 marked his career and so greatly distinguished him in after life, — tow- 
 ering genius and profound investigation ; astonishing facility in acquir- 
 ing knowledge and a memory which never lost what it had once ac- 
 quired ; surpassing eloquence as a writer and speaker ; a mind which 
 could grasp and master whatever was most difficult in the abstruse sci- 
 ences, and at the same time exhibiting powers of the imagination, wit, 
 humor, raillery and sarcasm which have rarely been equaled. To all 
 these were added the advantages of a commanding person, unrivalled 
 address, a head, eye, and countenance 'the pattern of a man.' He was 
 in all respects most truly one of nature's noblemen. His heart was gen- 
 erous to a fault and he had a soul which knew not fear." Eulogium so 
 lavish one might impute to the partiality of a friend did it not accord 
 with the written testimony of a few cotemporaries of his m.anhood as 
 well as with the traditionary report of all his generation. As a lawyer 
 all admit that he was born to the calling ; they join in praising the 
 acuteness of his intellect and the cogency of his logic, his abundant 
 learning and close and critical research, to which they add an eloquence 
 
 • Hon. William H, Dillingham in Durfee's Biograpliical Annals of Williams College. 
 
S04 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 of oratory seldom witnessed. Though from an early period in his pro- 
 fessional life Mr. Talcott was engaged in nearly every important case 
 that was tried at the Circuit, and often argued at the bar of the Su- 
 preme Court, yet scarce an impress of his commanding power is now to 
 be traced. A few skeletons of arguments are preserved in the reports 
 of the court, but this is all. In his day there was no reporting of the 
 particular character that we now have, and the public efforts of this 
 great lawyer have perished with the occasion. In respect to his style 
 of oratory his sentences', we are told, were for the most part short and 
 pithy; he did not practice high-wrought illustration or nicely balanced 
 periods, nor call on Shakespeare or some other poet to assist him in his 
 flight and make good his own deficiencies; graced'with a fancy all his 
 own, spoken in a deep-toned, resounding voice, and in a manner that 
 was most impressive his utterances were forceful and direct ; weighty 
 with reason they captivated the understanding while they charmed the 
 sense; or changing with magical transition from the subtlest argument 
 they melted the hearer to the deepest pathos. " He produced in the 
 minds of his audience," says Proctor, '^ "all the sympathy and emotion of 
 which the mind is capable — all which the argumentative can produce — 
 all which solidity, pathos, or splendor, whether derived from original or 
 assisted powers, can convey of pleasure or conviction." " But with all his 
 ability he had striking weaknesses and some lamentable vices. Among 
 the former was a foolish vanity of having it thought that all his gifts and 
 resources came by inspiration and were not the fruit of careful study 
 and laborious preparation." 2 This led him to conceal every evidence 
 of toil and to pass his da}-s in idleness or worse, while his nights were 
 often consumed in diligent reading and laborious thought. He spurned 
 the labor of others and refused to appear in court with a brief that had 
 been wholly or in part prepared by an associate. No cause was worthy 
 of his handling that had not been subjected to his midnight crucible 
 and worked up to the standard of his own conception. He never 
 sought business, was not anxious for the pecuniary gains he might so- 
 easily have grasped, but solicitous only for professional fame he strove 
 in what he did do therein without seeming effort and as it were by sheer 
 force of genius to excel. 
 
 1 Bench and Bar of New York. 
 
 2 Bacon's Early Bar of Oneida County. 
 
SAMUEL A. TALCOTT. 
 
 505 
 
 In proof of some of these traits, and more especially of his simulated 
 idleness, his accurate learning and its covert acquisition, is the narra- 
 tive of the venerable Charles Dayan, of Lowville, who, at the same time 
 with the late Russel Parrish, was a student in the office of Messrs. Bost- 
 wich & Talcott. He says : " Mr. Talcott was, I think, the laziest man 
 I ever knew. He would lie in bed till 10 o'clock and would lounge for 
 hours. In fact I seldom or ever saw him read a book ; and we began 
 to set him down as an ignorant, clownish fellow. So Parrish and I one 
 day laid a plan to trap and expose him by asking about some principle 
 of law on which we had been posting ourselves from the books. Mr. 
 Talcott replied that the principle had been discussed some years ago, 
 and referred us to a case in the English term reports, mentioning the 
 judge, the year, volume, and page. Turning to the authority we found 
 the matter fully stated and decision given. ' Now,' said he, " are you 
 satisfied?' 'Yes, of course; it is quite plain.' 'But,' said he, 'in a 
 case reported some years later this same principle arose and was set- 
 tled in a different way.' Having recourse to the volume, page, and 
 name of parties indicated we found the decision (this time by Lord 
 Mansfield) as he had informed us. We again declared ourselves fully 
 satisfied. But, remarking that the law was very uncertain, he cited 
 another case some years later, in which a third decision had been ren- 
 dered, differing from either of the former ones. We never again un- 
 dertook to cross examine Mr. Talcott upon principles of law, but found 
 him always ready to cite from memory upon any point on which we 
 needed information." "In trying causes," said Judge Pomroy Jones, 
 " he seemed to take pride in making it appear that he was paying no at- 
 tention to the testimony or the summing up of opposing counsel. I 
 have seen him during the progress of a trial making pictures and pass- 
 ing them to members of the bar ; but when he came to sum up all of 
 the testimony, even the very words of the witnesses as well as of the law- 
 yer in opposition, seemed to have been photographed on his memory." 
 His appointment by the Council to the high po.sition of attorney-gen- 
 eral, in place of Thomas J. Oakley, when he was but thirty- one years 
 of age is evidence of the estimate that was placed upon his talents. 
 This appointment, remarks Mr. Hammond,' was considered peculiarly 
 
 64 
 ' Hammond's Political History of New York. 
 
5o6 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 Mr. Van Buren's. " Mr. Talcott had been a Federalist, but with many 
 others of that party had opposed the election of Mr. CUnton ; and Mr. 
 Van Buren no doubt felt that good policy required that some distin- 
 guished mark of attention and respect should be bestowed on some of 
 the individuals who had been ranked among the Federalists. Mr. Tal- 
 cott, too, was a young man, and it was said to be a part of Mr. Van 
 Buren's policy to appear as the patron of young men whose abilities 
 and position in life afforded a promise that they would become influential 
 in society." But though the acuteness of this "sage" leader may have 
 led to the selection of Mr. Talcott for this honor it is also true that he 
 was twice re-elected to the office, — once by the unanimous vote of the 
 legislature, — that he held it during the greater part of nine years, and 
 that he has been adjudged by competent authority as second in talent 
 and ability to no former incumbent, unless it be Alexander Hamilton. 
 Deeply pitiable it is to record that his own vices required his resig- 
 nation : that habits of intemperance which had fixed themselves in his 
 youth became so strengthened by long years of indulgence, and were so 
 gross in their manifestations, as to disgrace him in the eyes of the public 
 and disqualify him to retain so responsible an office. For a time he con- 
 tinued to practice in New York, and " such was his elasticity of body 
 and mind that when he came out of his revels he would stand up and 
 measure his strength with the ablest and best in the land." Its last and 
 most memorable display we relate in the language of Judge Bacon: ^ 
 " One of the last occasions on which he appeared was before the Supreme 
 Court of the United States in what was known as the ' Sailor's Snug 
 Harbor ' case. This had been preceded by a week of indulgence, so 
 that his friends began to fear that he would be utterly unfit to stand in 
 the presence of that high tribunal. But on the day assigned for the 
 argument he strode into the court room attired with scrupulous neat- 
 ness, fresh as a bridegroom, and his imperial intellect untouched and un- 
 obscured. Beginning in a low and measured tone he gathered strength 
 and power as he proceeded in his masterly discourse, and for five hours 
 or more he held the breathless attention of bench and bar and audience 
 in an argument which the illustrious Marshall declared had not been 
 equalled in that court since the days of the renowned lawyer, William 
 
 ' Bacon's Early Bar of Oneida County. 
 
SAMUEL A. TALCOTT. 507 
 
 Pinckney. It was an argument that Daniel Webster, bis great antag- 
 onist, found it impossible with his profound learning and colossal intel- 
 lect to overcome or even successfully to meet." Mr. Dayan, who was 
 present and heard this speech, tells us, in reference to its effect on the 
 chief justice, that, forgetting the staid dignity which he usualy carried, 
 his head from bolt upright began to lean forward as the argument ad- 
 vanced, until it bent quite down to the desk as he earnestly gazed and 
 listened. The impassioned fervor of Robert Hall brought men, it is 
 said, from their seats to their feet; the splendidly flowing logic of Tal- 
 cott bowed the chief court of the nation in rapt and passive deference. 
 "This," continues Judge Bacon, " was his last great effort, and from that 
 altitude he rapidly sank ; like the sun even at high noon, in the meridian 
 of a day that should have been flooded with light, his orb went out in 
 dismal darkness." 
 
 Immediately on the opening of the Supreme Court, which was in 
 session in the city of New York at the time of the death of Mr. Tal- 
 cott, his decease was announced by Henry R. Storrs, whereupon the court, 
 after a feeling and eloquent address by Chief Justice Jones, at once ad- 
 journed. And at a meeting of the members of the New York bar, held 
 on the same day, it was 
 
 "Resolved, That this meeting have heard with deep regret and sympathy of the 
 death of Samuel A. Talcott, late attorney-general of the State ; that in the brilliant 
 course of his professional life they find much to shed honor, not only upon his own 
 name, but upon the State to which he belonged and the bar whose reputation he ele- 
 vated ; that his distinguished talent, profound learning, and finished scholarship have 
 rarely been equaled and never been surpassed at the bar of this State." 
 
 To their opinion thus expressed may be joined the verdict of Daniel 
 Webster given in 1838, and which was concurred in by Martin Van 
 Buren, that Mr. Talcott was the ablest living lawyer of America. By 
 his first wife, who died in 18 19, Mr. Talcott had one son, John Led- 
 yard, late judge of the Supreme Court of the Eighth District and re- 
 siding at Buffalo, and one daughter who died in infancy. By his sec- 
 ond wife, Miss Mary Eliza Stanley, of New Hartford, he had one son, 
 Thomas Grosvenor, a lawyer of much native capacity who settled in 
 Hartford, Conn., but died in 1870. 
 
 James Lynch had already for several years maintained a creditable 
 place at the bar of Oneida. He was a son of Dominick Lynch, of 
 
5o8 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 Rome, and was born about 1786. He was graduated at Columbia Col- 
 lege in 1799, studied law at Rome, and began practice in that place. 
 During the sessions of 1814-16 he represented his town in the State 
 legislature. About 18 19 he changed his residence for one in Utica, con- 
 tinuing in the exercise of his profession and having as his partner Abra- 
 ham Varick, who had been his classmate at Columbia. He lived at his 
 coming on -the north side of Broad street between Genesee and John, 
 butabout 1823 he built for himself the fine house on Chancellor Square, 
 afterward occupied by Thomas H. Hubbard and by Dr. S. G. Wolcott. 
 In 1825 he moved to New York city, where he was appointed ajudge^of 
 the Marine Court. In this office he remained until his death, October 
 3, 1853, at the age of sixty- seven. Mr. Lynch was one of the founders of 
 St. John's Church and after removing to New York he was an early 
 and active member of the American Institute. Judge Bacon, in his 
 " Early Bar of Oneida," speaks of him as " of princely bearing and com- 
 manding presence." As a lawyer he was creditable and above medio- 
 crity, though in the opinion of the judge he was "capable when roused, 
 of efforts little inferior to those of Storrs and Talcott." Judge Lynch's 
 wife was Miss Janette Tillotson, of an aristocratic family of Rhinebeck, 
 N. Y., and was a member of Trinity Church in Utica, though her hus- 
 band was foremost among the Catholics. They had three sons and four 
 daughters. 
 
 Foremost among the new comers for the year 1820 I introduce Eb- 
 enezer Griffin, a gifted lawyer who for a few years adorned the bar of 
 Oneida, but removed so long since that not many of the present gener- 
 ation have any knowledge of him. The account I present is drawn 
 almost wholly from the " Bench and Bar " of Proctor. He was born in 
 Cherry Valley, July 29, 1789. While quite young he removed with 
 his father to Clinton in this county and there he was prepared for col- 
 lege. He entered Union and soon gained the reputation of a close and 
 thorough student. Desiring, however, to enter his chosen profession 
 with as little delay as possible he left college two years and a half after 
 entering and immediately commenced his legal studies with Mr. Hotch- 
 kiss, of Clinton. The degree of A.M. was subsequently conferred on 
 him by the authorities of Hamilton College. In due time he was pre- 
 pared for the bar and was admitted at the July term of the Supreme 
 
EBENEZER GRIFFIN. 509 
 
 Court in 181 1. He began practice at Clinton ; but his growing repu- 
 tation demanded a more extensive field and in June, 1820, he opened 
 an office in Utica. In 1821 he was appointed examiner and master in 
 chancery. In April of the following year he formed a business connec- 
 tion with William H. Maynard, succeeding therein to Mr. Talcott, just 
 appointed attorney-general. While here, and still more after his re- 
 moval to New York city in 1825, he was engaged in a large and exten- 
 sive practice. His reputation extended throughout the State, and his 
 practice in the Court for the Correction of Errors, in the Supreme 
 Court, and in the various Circuits in the State was equaled by few 
 lawyers then at the bar. He seemed, says Proctor, almost ubiquitous : 
 now in Buffalo, then at Bath, then at Albany, then at New York. 
 Among the many important cases in which he was retained that of the 
 Bank of Utica vs. Wager tended most, as Mr. Proctor tells us, to in- 
 crease and extend his reputation. It was tried at Utica in November, 
 1 82 1, before Hon. Jonas Piatt, Circuit judge. Judge Piatt ordered a 
 verdict for the bank subject to the opinion of the Supreme Court. It 
 was argued before that tribunal in May, 1824. Henry R. Storrs 
 opened the argument for the plaintiff" and Joshua A. Spencer for the de- 
 fence. Mr. Griffin made the closing argument for the defence. When 
 he arose to address the court many supposed that the subject had been 
 exhausted by Mr. Spencer, that whatever else might be said would be but 
 the work of supererogation. A few moments, however, sufficed to con- 
 vince all present that, as by intuition, Mr. Griffin had penetrated deeper 
 into the subject, had more fully and logically grasped the great questions 
 of the case, than either of the other counsel. His argument was one of 
 the most able, profound, and elaborate ever heard at the bar of this 
 State. Every authority bearing on the matter, whether American, 
 English, or French, was fully considered, examined, and digested. It 
 was lengthy, yet did not touch upon anything which could excite the 
 fancy or please the imagination. It contained nothing but logic and 
 learning ; yet the court and bar listened with deep and unwearied atten- 
 tion. The court sustained him in his view of the case, the judgment 
 being pronounced by Chief Justice Savage. An appeal was taken to 
 the Court of Errors and the case was argued in December, 1826. The 
 argument of Mr. Griffin was superior even to that which he had made 
 
510 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 before the Supreme Court. He seemed to rise with the occasion and* 
 to gain mental power as it was demanded, and he was again victorious. 
 But his victory was purchased at a fearful expense. So great were his- 
 labors in the preparation and trial that a cerebral agitation soon fol- 
 lowed, which at times through life quite unsettled his splendid mind. 
 Mr. Griffin continued to live in New York until 1842, when he removed 
 to Rochester and resided there until his death. This occurred on the 
 22d of January, 1861, in his seventy-third year. Mr. Griffin was quite 
 agreeable in his intercourse, was tall and heavy in person, weighing at 
 least 220 pounds, and yet quite prepossessing. Politically he belonged 
 to the famous high-minded gentlemen. 
 
 A lawyer admitted to practice in 1820 was Charles Pinckney Kirk- 
 land, son of Joseph Kirkland. He was born in New Hartford in 1797, 
 graduated at Hamilton College in 18 16, and entered upon legal study 
 in the office of his father. Admitted to the bar he was received into 
 partnership with the latter and remained with him until the year 1830,. 
 soon after which time he united in practice with William J. Bacon. 
 About 185 I he removed to the city of New York. During the whole 
 of his residence in Utica and for some time longer he was engaged un- 
 ceasingly in his professional duties, was a diligent worker, an honest 
 business man, and took high rank throughout the State as a skillful ad- 
 vocate and a wise and trusty counselor. As a politician he was fair and 
 unprejudiced. In 1838 he was mayor of Utica and in 1846 was a 
 member of the convention to revise the constitution. For many years 
 he was a trustee of Hamilton College and received from that institution,, 
 as he did likewise from Columbia, the degree of LL.D. A trustee alsa 
 of other educational, manufacturing, and commercial corporations he 
 was actively concerned in every means devised for the good of the 
 place in which he lived. Afterward in New York his influence and 
 his usefulness were not less than they had been in Utica. One daugh- 
 ter alone survives of several children. His wife, a daughter of Maj. 
 James Kip, died quite recently. 
 
 Thomas Hunt Flandrau was the son of Elias F. Flandrau, of New 
 Rochelle, Westchester County, N. Y., whose ancestors had been living 
 in that place since the immigration of Jacques Flandrau, a Huguenot from 
 Rochelle in France, in 1686. Elias F. died within a year after his- 
 
THOMAS H. FLANDRAU. 511 
 
 removal to Oneida County, when his widow and children took up their 
 residence in Utica. His son, who was born in New Rochelle, Sep- 
 tember 8, 1801, was fitted for college in the juvenile academy of Mr. 
 White and entered Hamilton in the sophomore year. His collegiate 
 course was chiefly distinguished by his attainments in mathematics, 
 though his standing as a classical scholar and a writer was more than 
 ordinary, while among his companions he was noted also for his re- 
 markable powers as a talker. After leaving the institution with one 
 ■of its highest honors he bent himself to the law in the office of Nathan 
 Williams. These studies completed he united in its practice with Rod- 
 erick Morrison, in the second story of a building on the east side of 
 Genesee street nearly opposite the postoffice. They were not there 
 over two years when Col. Aaron Burr, who in the course of his attend- 
 ance on the courts had made the acquaintance of Mr. Flandrau, and 
 being impressed with his superior gifts invited him to join him in busi- 
 ness in New York. He at once entered upon this new connection and 
 reaped a few years of valuable discipline, in which his mental and in- 
 dustrial capacities were thoroughly tasked, wherein he was often placed 
 in opposition with such men as David B. Ogden and Chancellor Jones, 
 and where his intellectual and professional accomplishments procured' 
 him a high reputation. In 1825 he was married and not long afterward 
 came back to Utica. But about the time its city charter took effect he 
 withdrew from the place and made his home in Waterville, for he dis- 
 trusted a city government and was wary of holding property that was 
 subject to the taxation of a council of aldermen. After years of absence, 
 clouded by turns of sickness, and wanting in the displays of genius he 
 had before and which he subsequently manifested he returned in 1845 
 to his earlier residence ; and then, having passed three busy years in 
 practice, he fixed himself at Whitesboro. There he died rather suddenly 
 on January 2, 1855. From the estimate of his professional character- 
 istics prepared by the late Benjamin F. Cooper we extract the fol- 
 lowing : 
 
 " As a writer Mr. Flandrau was distinguished for his method, for his 
 singularly precise, felicitous, and appropriate language. Whatever fell 
 from his pen was classical and finished. He was rarely under the neces- 
 sity of correcting an expression ; his ideas fell unconsciously, as it 
 
SI2 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 were, into line, and when committed to paper were ready for the press. 
 He had, too, the rare capacity of writing a short article at the moment,, 
 and needed not the labor of curtailment and condensation. These 
 characteristics of his miscellaneous writings are to be seen also in his- 
 legal papers. In the preparation of them he had few equals. His bills 
 in chancery and his pleadings, and even his drafts of affidavits, were so 
 impressed with the above mentioned qualities that they might be studied,, 
 not only as specimens of legal skill, but even as models of composition. 
 As a speaker, also, Mr. Flandrau was noted for his rapid analysis, acute 
 discrimination, uncommon method, and clear and happy expression. In 
 fact so simple was he in his clearness, so orderly, so accurate, and yet so 
 strong that most men might be deceived and think that in his forensic 
 displays there was nothing extraordinary. It was left to the circle of 
 his professional brethren to judge of him with a more just appreciation. 
 It was these traits which made him eminently successful with juries, while 
 at the same time his correct taste, well-balanced mind, and high cultiva- 
 tion prevented his obtaining that degree of popularity with the multitude 
 which was sometimes ^accorded to men who were greatly his inferiors. 
 Methodical as he was mentally he was so in few other respects. In refer- 
 ence to most matters of life he had all the want of order that has too 
 often been the attendant of exalted genius. In his earlier years it seemed 
 as If he never ate nor slept wheti others did. " Often,'' says Mr. Cooper, 
 " have I known him to keep his companions awake to the small hours of 
 the night with his extraordinary colloquial powers ; and when at length 
 they began to think of their pillows he would rise from his seat with the 
 remark that he thought he would go and visit some one of his associates,, 
 deeming them apparently as sleepless in their nature as he was himself 
 When and where he read it was difficult to ascertain, yet he never 
 seemed to be wanting in a knowledge of facts. How he studied it was 
 not so difficult to understand, for that was done by thinking, and much 
 of it, too, when he lay in bed. Yet his acquirements were by no means 
 small, even outside of the range of his legal ones. He was a mathema- 
 tician, a mechanician, a classical scholar, and a poet." 
 
 At his death the lawyers residing at Utica declared in a resolution 
 that, in gentlemanly deportment in his profession, in rigid and accurate 
 investigation of legal questions, in logical reasoning, in precision and 
 
SAMUEL BEARDSLEY. 
 
 513 
 
 force of language, and in the zealous performance of his professional 
 duties, he left no superior at the bar of Oneida County. 
 
 Samuel Beardsley was born at Hoosick in Rensselaer County, Febru- 
 ary 6, 1790, but while an infant his parents moved to Monticello in 
 Otsego County. Samuel attended a common school in winter and in 
 summer he worked on a farm. But his love of knowledge was strong 
 and he sought every opportunity of acquiring it. For a time he en- 
 gaged in teaching, but at length decided to enter the medical profession 
 and began his studies with Dr. Joseph White, of Cherry Valley, While 
 thus employed it was his fortune to be present at soine important trials 
 at Cooperstown. He watched them with the deepest interest and was 
 so fascinated as to lose all love for medicine, and to direct his hopes 
 and ambition toward the bar. At one of these trials he made the ac- 
 qu.aintance of Judge Hathaway, of Rome, signified to him his desire to 
 study law, and was invited to enter his office. He was then eighteen. 
 Fortunate in the choice of a preceptor of learning and skill, and who 
 became deeply interested in him, the young student made rapid pro- 
 ficiency, supporting himself meanwhile by teaching a select school. 
 Having been admitted to practice in 181 5 he located at Watertown, 
 but only remained there one year, when he returned to Rome to pursue 
 his profession. For a time he was the partner of James Lynch and 
 was afterward alone. The industry and energy of the student he kept 
 up when he became a lawyer. From the commencement he was dis- 
 tinguished for unusual vigor of intellect, constant labor, and untiring 
 perseverance. In the language of one of his eulogists : he began with 
 study, he continued with study, he ended with stud3^ These qualities 
 at once placed him in the highest rank of the profession and this posi- 
 tion he steadily maintained to the time of his death. Method and order 
 marked the preparation of his causes ; hence his labor was effective, 
 and each step was the firm foundation for another. He never addressed 
 the fancy of his audience. Clear argumentation and a bold, indignant 
 denunciation of wrong were his chief weapons and in his hands they 
 were almost uniformly fatal to an undeserving adversary. In February, 
 1821, Mr. Beardsley was appointed district attorney of Oneida County, 
 succeeding Nathan Williams, and he continued to discharge the du- 
 ties until October, 1825, when his term of office expired. As an evi- 
 
 05 
 
514 
 
 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 dence of his familiarity with all the forms and technicalities which then 
 formed a part of the system of law and of the modes of procedure in 
 criminal cases Mr. Proctor relates the following : On one occasion, in 
 draughting an indictment for arson in the first degree, the district attorney 
 omitted an allegation which the lawyer defending believed to be fatal; 
 but having some doubt he consulted Joshua A. Spencer on the point. 
 That sagacious man, after examining it some time, replied : ' Well, I 
 think, though Archbold and Chitty may both sustain you, yet if Beards- 
 ley insists that he is correct I should prefer his opinion to theirs.' The 
 lawyer, however, made his motion to quash the indictment. A long 
 and interesting argument followed ; but Mr. Beardsley's knowledge of 
 the criminal law gave him a decided advantage. The authorities were 
 as familiar to him as the schoolboy's every day lesson and he sustained 
 the indictment. 
 
 At the first election held under the constitution of 1822 Mr. Beards- 
 ley was chosen senator for the Fifth District and took his seat on the 1st 
 of the ensuing January, but in the arrangement of classes by lot he fell 
 into that class whose term of service was limited to a single year. It was 
 this year (1823) that he transferred his residence to Utica, taking as his 
 partner Thomas S. Williams. On the death of Morris S. Miller in No- 
 vember, 1824, the position of first judge of the county was tendered 
 him, but he preferred to retain the more active labors of prosecuting at- 
 torney. In March, 1823, he was appointed by President Adams United 
 States attorney for the Northern District of New York. He held the 
 post until November, 1830, when he was elected by the Democrats to 
 represent them in Congress. As representative he was four times 
 elected — in 1830, 1832, 1834, and 1842. In all of the exciting ques- 
 tions that were agitated during the administration of General Jackson 
 he was the uncompromising friend of the President and enjoyed his in- 
 timate confidence. He believed that the existence of a moneyed insti- 
 tution like the United States Bank in a government such as ours was at 
 ■war with the principles upon which the government was founded. In 
 April, 1834, he delivered a speech on the currency which attracted 
 great attention throughout the country for its vehemence and fiery de- 
 nunciation. In the course of it he said: "Sooner than extend the ex- 
 istence of the bank of the United States let it perish, and in its fall carry 
 
SAMUEL BEARDSLEY. 515 
 
 down every bank in the Union. I say for one perish credit, perish 
 commerce, perish the State institutions ; give us a broken, decayed, 
 worthless currency rather than the ignoble and corrupt tyranny of an 
 irresponsible corporation." His opponents seized on the striking alter- 
 native he presented and were long and bitter in their denunciations. 
 Niles's Register, while commending the ability displayed in the speech, 
 laments the expression by a man of Mr. Beardsley's poise, ability, and 
 moderation of sentiments, such as those above quoted, as dangerous in 
 their influence. It was in truth bold language, yet characteristic of its 
 author, and uttered in the spirit of a Spartan virtue, which preferred 
 liberty with poverty to the grandest luxury of despotism and corrup- 
 tion. In January previous in a speech of great liberality he opposed a 
 measure to restrain freedom of speech by the reporters of Congress. 
 He stood by the right of petition in the face of the power which then 
 controlled party politics, and even against some of his colleagues from 
 this State ; he maintained the combat with all the ardor and energy of 
 which he was master, and he had the satisfaction of knowing that his 
 efforts were of service in preserving this sacred right unimpaired. 
 
 In January, 1834, Nathan WiUiams, judge of the Fifth Circuit, 
 became disqualified by reason of age, and he therefore resigned. Gov- 
 ernor Marcy immediately nominated Mr. Beardsley as his successor and 
 the Senate promptly confirmed the nomination. As soon as the intel- 
 ligence reached Washington Mr. Beardsley signified his intention tore- 
 sign his seat in Congress. He was sent for by General Jackson, and ia 
 the presence of his Cabinet and some of the most eminent members of 
 both Houses was urged to remain. He at length consented. No cir- 
 cumstance in his congressional life more strongly exhibits his standing- 
 as a statesman and his importance to the administration and the party. 
 Early in January, 1 836, a vacancy occurred on the bench of the Supreme 
 Court of New York, which was filled by the appointment of Greene C. 
 Bronson, who was at that time attorney- general. Mr. Beardsley was at 
 once appointed to succeed Mr. Bronson. The office of attorney-general 
 was at that time one of great labor and responsibility. Nothing en- 
 trusted to Mr. Beardsley was left undone ; all things proceeded sure and 
 certain and with rapidity, yet according to law. His official term ex- 
 pired on the last day of December, 1838, when he resumed practice. 
 
Si6 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 Having been once more chosen to Congress in 1842 he withdrew in 
 February, 1844, to accept the appointment at the hands of Governor 
 Bouck of justice of the Supreme Court, a seat made vacant by the death 
 of Eseck Cowan. For a judicial position he was remarkably adapted. 
 His habits of patient and impartial investigation, his quick preception 
 and accurate judgment, seemed to have formed him by naturefor a judge. 
 On the bench he was dignified and courteous ; his manner of listening 
 to an argument elicited the confidence of the speaker and drew from 
 him all that he desired the court to understand. He rose with great 
 rapidity in public opinion and in the estimation of both bench and bar. 
 On the retirement of Chief Justice Bronson in June, 1847, Judge 
 Beardsley succeeded him, and was the last chief justice of the old 
 Supreme Court, as he was also the chief of the judges under the organ- 
 ization created to close up the business of the earlier tribunal. After 
 retiring from the bench he pursued his profession for a year or two in 
 New York, though his domicile was still in Utica, and to it he shortly 
 returned. His efforts were now limited for the most part to arguments in 
 important cases in the Court of Appeals. Here he maintained the very 
 foremost rank, being second to none in compactness, vigor, and com- 
 prehensiveness. 
 
 Though from this time forward Judge Beardsley held no public office 
 he remained prominent in politics and impressed an influence on his 
 party such as more pretentious and noisy men could never have exerted. 
 As to the ability of Judge Beardsley, his learning in the law, the pains- 
 taking faithfulness of his judicial functions, and the able decisions he 
 uttered, all those most competent to speak united in declaring. " I think 
 it could be safely said," remarks Judge Bacon, "there was not at the 
 close of his life a more thoroughly read and firmly grounded lawyer in 
 this State, nor one whose opinion carried greater weight with the courts." 
 " I think," says Governor Seymour, "that he evinced his highest quali- 
 ties in statesmanship. In public life he was bold, invasive, and self-reli- 
 ant, and showed that he had resources and infventive genius to meet the 
 varying exigencies of passing events. Here he sought no authorities, 
 nor did he lean upon the assertions or opinions of others. I have known 
 many of the prominent men of our land, and none of them excelled him 
 in power of acting upon the public mind or in the high qualities de- 
 
SAMUEL BEARD SLE Y— JONA S PL ATT. 517 
 
 manded for leadership. His correct views of life, business, and public 
 morals kept him from falling into questionable positions. His bearing, 
 person, and mind fitted him to comrpand and he always had a strong 
 power over those with whom he acted ; those who may have differed 
 from him felt the force and strength of his antagonism." As a private 
 ■citizen he was exemplary in all the charities and amenities of society, 
 both civil and religious. "I know of no one," remarked Governor Sey- 
 mour, " who contributed more, by speech and example, to form and en- 
 force the unwritten laws of just moral rectitude. No one did more to 
 elevate the tone of morals in this city or to keep up the standard of 
 good conduct and just dealings." Judge Denio did not hesitate to as- 
 sert that he never knew a man having so many qualities worthy of imi- 
 tation. And yet though so dear to his, intimates, so kind and tender to 
 his family, and although so neighborly in his general intercourse, and 
 grateful for the confidence of private friendship — to his enemies, to 
 those who crossed his path in hatred, he was stern in his wrath and 
 ■sometimes aggressive in his resentments. The agony of his short but 
 distressing sickness was endured with the fortitude of a martyr, and he 
 •expired on the 6th of May, i860. The news of his death caused a pro- 
 found sensation with the members of the bar in New York city, and all 
 the courts that were then in session were suspended, and judges and law- 
 yers concurred in praise of the deceased and in grief at their loss. A 
 meeting for a similar purpose was held by the bar of Utica and its vicin- 
 ity soon after. Arthur M. Beardsley, of Utica, is his only surviving 
 child. 
 
 Jonas Piatt, son of Zephaniah Piatt, of Poughkeepsie, was born in that 
 place June 30, 1769. He studied law with Col. Richard Varick, of 
 New York, and was admitted to practice in 1790. The same year he 
 married Helen, daughter of Henry Livingston, of Poughkeepsie, and 
 sister of the wife of Arthur Breese, with whom he was soon to beasso- 
 ■ciated in business Early in 1791 he located in Whitesboro, seven years 
 after its first settler, Hugh White, had planted his log cabin. On the 
 17th of February in that year he was appointed clerk of the county of 
 Herkimer and held the office until Oneida was set off from it in 1798, 
 and was also the first clerk of the new county. At the first Court of 
 Record held within the present Hmits of Oneida, which was a term of 
 
5i8 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 the Herkimer Common Pleas, held in January, 1794, he was clerk of the 
 court, and at the first term of the Oneida Common Pleas held in May,^ 
 1798, he was placed on a committee to prepare rules for its guidance. 
 In 1796 he represented the counties of Oneida and Onondaga in the 
 State Assembly. In the Sixth National Congress, that of 1799-1801,, 
 he represented the Ninth District of New York. During the years 
 1 8 10, '11, '12, and '13 he was State senator from the Western District. 
 His success as a candidate for senator and the proof it afforded of his 
 personal popularity in the old Western District, which, until the previous- 
 election, had been considered the stronghold of Democracy, or Repub- 
 licanism as it was then termed, led to his being selected as a candidate 
 for governor in 18 10. This election was sharply contested and Mr. 
 Piatt was defeated by his rival, Daniel D. Tompkins. His career in 
 the Senate is memorable for the part he took in the first legislative ac- 
 tion on the subject of the Erie Canal. The facts as given in Renwick's 
 Life of De Witt Clinton are as follows : Thomas Eddy, on behalf of the 
 Western Inland Lock Navigation Company, visited Albany in 1809 for 
 the purpose of procuring the passage of a law authorizing the appoint- 
 ment of commissioners to explore a route for a canal from Oneida 
 Lake to Seneca River, with a view to the execution of the canal by 
 that company. To Mr. Piatt as the acknowledged leader of the Fed- 
 eral party and its nominated candidate for the office of governor he 
 applied for his influence. Mr. Piatt, who knew the wants and wishes 
 of the western part of the State better, perhaps, than any other person, 
 and who had long considered the policy which the State ought to- 
 pursue in the premises, replied at once that " the company had dis- 
 appointed public expectations, and that it would be inauspicious to pre- 
 sent any project which should be subject to that corporation." As a 
 substitute he proposed a plan for instituting a Board of Commissioners 
 to examine and survey the whole route from the Hudson to Lake 
 Ontario and to Lake Erie also. Mr. Eddy having been satisfied that 
 this plan was to be preferred it was agreed on the suggestion of Mr. 
 Piatt to call into their councils De Witt Clinton, who, at that moment, 
 held a preponderating influence with the Democratic party. The result 
 of the interview with the latter was that Piatt forthwith presented in 
 the Senate a resolution for the appointment of commissioners and the 
 
JONAS PLATT. 519 
 
 resolution was seconded by Clinton. By the aid of their joint efforts 
 the .resolution passed both Houses and the commissioners were named 
 alternately from the two opposing parties. " We cannot but con- 
 sider," remarks Renwick, " that the public mind would have been more 
 easily satisfied of the feasibility of the project had Mr. Piatt permitted 
 himself to be named on the commission. With his sound and steady 
 judgment it would have been impossible that any plan bearing imprac- 
 ticability on its face," as was true of the scheme entertained by one of 
 the commissioners appointed, " should have been laid before the public. 
 Piatt, however, seems to have shrunk with innate modesty from assum- 
 ing place on a commission established by a resolution which he himself 
 had drawn. Here, therefore, all direct agency on his part in the canal 
 policy of the State seems to have ceased ; yet he is well entitled to the 
 merit of having made the first efficacious step toward the attainment 
 of the great object of uniting the lakes with the Atlantic." 
 
 In the year 1814 a judge of the Supreme Court was to be appointed 
 in place of Smith Thompson, appointed chief justice. Mr. Piatt re- 
 ceived the appointment. " He had at this time," says Hammond, ^ 
 ^'been in extensive practice, and though his talents were not brilliant they 
 were of a character highly respectable ; his morals were perfectly pure ; 
 though he possessed a deep and intense tone of feeling and a high sense 
 of personal honor he had acquired, apparently, an entire control over 
 his passions ; his quiet and calm deportment indicated a contemplative 
 and considerate mind, not liable to be hurried into the adoption of ill • 
 adjusted plans or to determinations which might lead to actions indis- 
 creet or ill-advised. His address was unobtrusive, modest, and con- 
 ciliatory. He had a high regard to courtesy and propriety, as well in 
 respect to political conduct as in the private and social concerns of life." 
 The opinions he delivered on the bench are represented as respectable, 
 but never brilliant nor distinguished for any depth of learning He re- 
 tained the seat until January 29, 1823, and was " constitutionalized out 
 of office" by the constitution of 1821. He was a member of the con- 
 vention that framed this constitution and had opposed some of its 
 features, by reason of which he was obnoxious to the party then in the 
 ascendancy, and was rejected by the Senate when nominated by Gov- 
 
 ' Political History. 
 
520 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 ernor Yates on the re-organization of the court. Upon his retirement 
 from the bench he took up his residence in Uticaand resumed the prac- 
 tice of his profession in company with his son, Zephaniah ; but within 
 three or four years he removed to New York. There he prosecuted his- 
 profession with all the industry of youth, and by his coolness and his. 
 candor was often able to bear away the palm from abler and more ardent 
 competitors. He died at Peru, Clinton County, February 22, 1834. 
 Judge Piatt was a finished gentleman. " He carried his courtesy at 
 times," says Judge Bacon, " almost beyond the bounds required by the 
 conventionalities of ordinary life, and a retort or a rebuke from his lips 
 was conveyed in terms that had the similitude of and might almost have 
 been mistaken for a compliment.'' 
 
 A lawyer whose professional life was closed ere he settled ia 
 Utica was Thomas H. Hubbard, though he lived many years longer- 
 one of its most prominent and respected citizens. He was born at New 
 Haven, Conn., December 8, 1781. Soon after receiving his degree he 
 commenced the study of the law in the office of John Woodw'orth, of 
 Troy, N. Y., afterward judge of the Supreme Court. As soon as he 
 was admitted to the bar he settled in the practice of his profession at 
 Hamilton in Madison County. His native talents and his thorough 
 training won for him ere long an extensive business in that and the- 
 adjoining county of Chenango. On the organization of Madison 
 County in 1806 he was appointed surrogate and discharged its duties 
 for about ten years. In 18 16 he was made prosecuting attorney, next 
 after Joseph Kirkland, for a district comprising several counties, and in 
 this capacity conducted some important criminal trials. As an accurate- 
 and intelligent business man he was unsurpassed, and as an advocate 
 those who knew him at that period represent him as able and effective. 
 The same year he was elected to represent the then congressional dis- 
 trict of Madison and Herkimer in the fifteenth Congress, and at a 
 somewhat later period he was elected to serve the same district in the 
 session of 1821-23. Hamilton is justly proud to claim him as one of 
 her early law- givers as well as efficient and honored pioneers. The- 
 period of Mr. Hubbard's removal to this county coincided with the or- 
 ganization of the courts under the constitution of 1822, and he was in, 
 June, 1823, appointed the first clerk of the Court of Chancery for this- 
 
THOMAS H. HUBBARD— GREENE C. BRONSON. 521 
 
 judicial district. This office he held but a short time and was then 
 selected for the office of clerk of the Supreme Court, which had become 
 vacant by the death of Arthur Breese. The duties of this office he dis- 
 charged with faithfulness until the year 1835. After his retirement 
 from it he did not again engage in public employment, but devoted 
 himself to the management of his now ample fortune. " It would seem 
 as if the rude encounters of the legal forum could have been little con- 
 genial to the temperament of Mr. Hubbard. His gentleness of disposi- 
 tion and his liberal and charitable habit of mind must have rendered 
 him averse to the scenes of strife and contention inseparable from a life 
 spent in the courts. No kinder or gentler spirit ever animated a mortal 
 man. Governed by the most pure and virtuous intentions himself he 
 was unwilling to believe evil of others, and always construed their mo- 
 tives in the most charitable sense. He was greatly respected by all 
 and tho.se who knew him well were his warm and devoted friends. A 
 marked feature in his character was his liberality toward religious and 
 charitable objects. No reasonable appeal for such purposes was ever 
 rejected by him and his contributions were constant and large. He was 
 made a vestryman of Trinity at the first Easter after his arrival, and he 
 continued from that day forward to be a conspicuous and shining pillar 
 in the spiritual edifice." He was a trustee of the Utica Academy as 
 he had been one of the founders of that of Hamilton as well as of the 
 college of that name. While residing in the latter place he was one of 
 the electors who cast their vote for James Madison in 1812. He was 
 twice chosen to the same office from this county, on the occasion of the 
 elections of Mr. Polk and General Pierce. 
 
 Judge Bronson, the distinguished jurist now to be noticed, offers a 
 striking example of one who, without the aid of wealth or family con- 
 nections, or even of such advantages of education as are furnished by 
 our academies and colleges, was enabled by manly self-reliance and 
 resolute energy to attain the highest positions and to fill them with em- 
 inent success. Greene Carrier Bronson was born in Simsbury, Conn., in 
 November, 1 789, and, was the son of Oliver Brownson, a teacher of vocal 
 music, who published one of the earliest singing books that were used 
 in the country. He had only a limited school education ; all that he 
 acquired besides was the result of solitary appHcation, and by persever- 
 
 66 
 
522 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 ing industry he made himself a good scholar as well as a good lawyer. 
 After leaving school he was for a time a clerk at Simsbury, until with 
 his father's family he removed to Peterboro, N. Y. While there he 
 procured a Latin grammar from Rev. Calvin Bushnell, the Presbyterian 
 minister in charge at Vernon, and used to go to Vernon to Mr, Bushnell, 
 twelve miles through the woods, to recite his lessons. For a short time 
 he taught school also, one of his pupils being Hon. Henry A. Foster. 
 He afterward studied law in the same place with John P. Sherwood, 
 maintaining himself during his pupilage by practice in the inferior courts, 
 and when his term of study was complete he became a partner with 
 his preceptor. He was endowed with unusually quick and clear per- 
 ceptions and acquired knowledge with facility. And having also a keen 
 desire to obtain it, and a noble ambition which looked for no outside 
 support, his time as a student was well spent. He early made himself 
 acquainted with the principles of the common law and with the system 
 of equity jurisprudence as administered in this State and in England. 
 Once admitted to practice his standing was assured. And though a 
 compeer with Storrs, Talcott, Maynard, Beardsley, Spencer, and other 
 prominent members of the bar of Oneida he was their fitting associate. 
 In April, 1819, he was appointed surrogate of the county and filled the 
 office two years. Then he was elected a member of Assembly from 
 Oneida and Oswego. In the legislature he proved an able debater. 
 He distinguished himself more especially by his opposition to a bill in- 
 tended to deprive the inmates of the State prisons of the use of the 
 Bible and other religious reading. The bill was defeated effectually. 
 At this time he was a Clintonian in politics, but turned before Clinton 
 died to the opposing side and became a Bucktail, siding ever afterward 
 with the hard section of the Democratic party. He had agreed to join 
 Thomas H. Hubbard, of Hamilton, and settle and practice at Utica in 
 1823. But when the time came for moving he was detained by his con- 
 nection with the glass works at Vernon and unable to leave. Mr. Hub- 
 bard came without him and Mr. Bronson followed the next year. He 
 soon formed a partnership with Samuel Beardsley, which continued so 
 long as he remained in Utica, and together they conducted a large 
 share of the legal business of the neighborhood. " As a lawyer his 
 reputation rested on a solid basis. There was nothing meretricious in 
 
GREENE C. BRONSON. 523 
 
 his mode of handling a subject. He did not strike for effect, but to do 
 execution. His learning, comprehensive and profound, was available 
 to sustain. If an authority was to be questioned, or a case doubted, it 
 was not mutilated and misrepresented, but fairly and openly attacked. 
 No timidity prevented him from meeting an objection wherever it might 
 present itself As a speaker he was not gifted with an impressive ad- 
 dress. His remarks were pointed and to the purpose ; but a natural 
 hesitancy of manner and the want of warmth of imagination deprived 
 him of much of the power that was due to the strength of his intellect." 
 He was apt to discourage litigation and dissuaded many who applied to 
 him from entering on a suit. Nor would he undertake one unless he 
 was satisfied that the right was on the side of his client. 
 
 On the 27th of February, 1829, Mr. Bronson was elected by the legis- 
 lature attorney-general of the State in place of Samuel A. Talcott. 
 The rival candidate of his party was Benjamin F. Butler, of New 
 York, who was a protege of Mr. Van Buren, and the preference given to 
 the former was a triumph of the Utica Regency over the arbitrary rul- 
 ers of the Democracy whose headquarters were at Albany. To Albany 
 he now removed and continued to fill the office, by re-election in 1832 
 and again in 1835, until January of the ensuing year. Of the character 
 of its administration it is enough to say that he was the successor of 
 Talcott and the dignity of the office was never known to depreciate in 
 his charge. In January, 1836, he was elevated to the bench of the 
 Supreme Court, a vacancy having been occasioned by the resignation of 
 John Savage, and was himself succeeded in the attorney-generalship by 
 his late partner, Mr. Beardsley. On the 5th of March, 1845, he became 
 the presiding judge of the court. Two years subsequently, at the first 
 election of judges under the new constitution, he was made one of the 
 judges of the Court of Appeals and continued such until his resignation 
 in 185 I. Thus for fifteen years he was a member of our highest judicial 
 tribunals, the Supreme Court, the Court for the Correction of Errors, 
 and the Court of Appeals, and in all of these public trusts he aquitted 
 himself with signal ability. " In the department of judicial duty he was 
 justly pre-eminent and his opinions are modelsof judicial excellence. In 
 conciseness and perspicuity of ebcpression, in terseness and directness of 
 style, in compactness and force of logic, in sturdy vigor of intellect, and 
 
524 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 in their stern sense of right and justice" these opinions have by com- 
 petent judges been declared to be unsurpassed, and as constituting "a 
 valuable and enduring contribution to American jurisprudence." No 
 man, says Judge Sutherland, ever discharged the duties of judge with 
 stricter integrity. There never was a judge who, in construing the 
 statutes and written constitutions of government and administering the 
 law, was less influenced by arguments and considerations addressed to 
 judicial discretion, or by considerations even of public policy, not de- 
 clared by the law. His prompt answer to all such arguments and 
 considerations was ita lex scripta. 
 
 After leaving the bench Judge Bronson removed to New York city 
 and resumed the practice of his profession. But having become in- 
 volved in some unfortunate enterprises he lost much of his property. 
 In 1853 he was appointed by President Pierce as collector of the port, 
 but held the office only a short time, his removal having been effected 
 by Secretary Guthrie because he persisted in retaining in office men of 
 opposite party. Declining to displace an official whose removal was 
 desired by the secretary he accompanied the act with a published letter 
 setting forth his reasons for the refusal. A public correspondence ensued 
 between him and the secretary, which was marked on the part of Judge 
 Bronson by his usual clearness and force ; but though he had the better 
 in argument it was closed by his dismissal from the collectorship. His 
 course on this occasion was a subject of much comment by the public 
 and gained him greater notoriety than before and the strong approval 
 of many. For Judge Bronson was emphatically an honest man. The 
 popularity he acquired in the transaction above mentioned procured for 
 him, in 1854, the nomination for governor. In the meantime, however, 
 new issues arose that were paramount in interest with the public and he 
 was beaten in the canvass. In December, 1859, he was elected to the 
 office of counsel for the corporation of the city of New York and con- 
 tinued to discharge the duties until January, 1863, the term for which he 
 was elected. Smitten with paralysis no long time afterward he endured 
 for several months much physical pain. But throughout his sufferings 
 he was sustained by the consolations and the hopes of that Christian 
 faith of which he had for many years been a consistent professor. His 
 departure occurred, after a renewed attack at Saratoga, on the 3d of 
 September, 1863. 
 
GREENE C. BRONSON. 525 
 
 On the opening of the next General term of the Supreme Court in 
 New York a request was presented that a tribute of respect to the mem- 
 ory of Judge Bronson should be entered on the minutes, and this request 
 was signed in behalf of themselves and their brethren of the New York 
 bar, by James J. Roosevelt, Daniel Lord, Charles P. Kirkland, Marshall 
 S. Bidwell, Charles O'Connor, and William Curtis Noyes. A similar 
 tribute was in January following placed on the minutes of the Court of 
 Appeals. Quotations from both of these records, heretofore freely made 
 in this article, exhibit the appreciation in which he was held by his as- 
 sociates at these courts. To these might be added the testimony of the 
 bar of Saratoga, recorded at a meeting held shortly after his death, and 
 especially that of Chancellor Walworth, their presiding officer, who de- 
 clared the deceased to have been one of the ablest and most upright 
 judges that ever occupied a seat upon the bench of this State. As an 
 evidence of the high estimation in which he was held in this vicinity it 
 may be mentioned that in 1845, sixteen years after his removal from 
 Utica, when, in view of the approaching State Constitutional Conven- 
 tion, his party determined to send thither the strongest men they could 
 select, they nominated Judges Beardsley, Denio, and Foster and m ith 
 them Judge Bronson. 
 
 Yet though a man of such singular power and strongly marked 
 individuality Judge Bronson was at the same time genial and gentle 
 in all the relations of friendship and private life. Bold and determined 
 as he was in the denunciation of fraud he was notwithstanding a lover 
 of peace and disliked contention and the acrimony of party. He was 
 generous in disposition, kind and sympathizing, firm in his attachments, 
 devoted as a friend, husband, and father. In his address he was cour- 
 teous and affable ; in his manners pleasing. There was neither affecta- 
 tion nor stiffness, but an easy dignity enlivened by an agreeable pleas- 
 antry. For the old Court of Errors he had a very low estimate and 
 made free to manifest it; for on one occasion when a cause came before 
 him for adjudication on the bench, which involved a principle that had 
 once been determined by this court, he overrode this decision by an 
 opinion wholly adverse. Judge Bronson's father's family were Bap- 
 tists, but when he united with the church at Vernon it was with a Pres- 
 byterian one. After removing to Utica he took an active part in 
 
526 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 sustaining the infant organization that was ministered over by his 
 brother-in-law, Rev. S. W. Brace, and was a trustee in this church. 
 
 Benjamin Franklin Cooper was the son of Apollos Cooper and was 
 born in Utica in 1801. He entered Hamilton College in 1816, but 
 left that institution for Union, where he graduated. He began the study 
 of law in the office of General Kirkland and spent a year in the law 
 school at Litchfield, Conn; Returning to Utica in the fall of 1824 he 
 entered upon the practice of his profession in connection with Roderick 
 N. Morrison. Subsequent to the fall of 1827, on account of delicate 
 health, he spent a few years in southern travel, but returned to Utica in 
 1832, and with the exception of a year or two in Detroit, commencing 
 in 1840, continued to reside here until his death. In 1846 he was a 
 member of the legislature, and was one of its most active, intelligent, 
 and laborious members. 
 
 Some of his early legal efforts were distinguished by earnest and able 
 argument, by keen analysis and penetration, and by forcible and cour- 
 ageous assertion of what he believed to be the right of his clients. In 
 the suits brought with reference to the 'distribution of the stock of the 
 Oneida Bank and that of the partition of the stock of the Utica and 
 Schenectady Railroad, in both of which cases subscribers who failed of 
 receiving stock they had subscribed for brought suits to compel a re- 
 distribution, he took a leading part in the arguments and attracted to 
 himself a large share of public attention. For some years before his 
 death he had withdrawn from professional avocations. He died May 4, 
 1864. A son and a daughter survive him. They are non-residents. 
 
 In one respect it is an easy task to fashion a memorial of Judge Will- 
 iam J. Bacon, for no exaggeration need restrain its language, and so 
 numerous were the testimonials to his worth that were put on record 
 when he died. The only embarrassment is from the profusion of topics 
 which his life and varied qualities suggest. Of all the citizens of Utica 
 none bore a larger and at the same time a more honored part in its his- 
 tory. For two full generations he was a prominent actor in the affairs 
 of city and county. With graces of mind and body possessed by few, 
 and accomplishments due to broad and generous study, with a readiness 
 to do for the general good all that could be prompted by a loving heart 
 and an enlightened conscience, he won both admiration and affection by 
 
WILLIAM y. BACON. 527 
 
 a character which combined spotless purity with rare attractiveness and 
 amiability. For a life- time and more he was deemed both here and 
 abroad as among the chief ornaments of the place. 
 
 WilHam Johnson Bacon was born in Williamstown, Mass., February 
 18, 1803. He was a son of Ezekiel Bacon and grandson of John. The 
 latter, of Stockbridge, Mass , was pastor of the Old South Church, Bos- 
 ton, at the breaking out of the Revolutionary war ; he represented 
 Berkshire County in the Massachusetts Senate and was president of that 
 body in 1800. He also represented that county in Congress from 1801 
 to 1803, and was subsequently presiding judge of the Berkshire Com- 
 mon Pleas. The father, Ezekiel Bacon, has been already noticed as a 
 leading citizen of Massachusetts, who afterward did honor to Utica as 
 the place of his later sojourn. His son enjoyed the benefit of New 
 England training, receiving preliminary instruction in part at school, in 
 part from private teachers, and in part at Lenox Academy. Removing 
 with the family to Utica in 18 15 he entered Hamilton College at the 
 age of fifteen and was graduated at nineteen in the class of 1822. He 
 was an earnest scholar, and his subsequent habits and acquirements 
 proved that he carried away the full benefit of his course. He never 
 lost his love for the ancient classics, and he kept up his study of English 
 literature, especially its poetry. Immediately after graduation he entered 
 on the study of law with Gen. Joseph Kirkland and his son, Charles P. 
 Kirkland, remaining with them three years, with the exception only of 
 the second one, which he spent in the law school of Judge Gould, of 
 Litchfield, Conn. This he has said was a most profitable year to him, 
 in which by hard study he mastered not merely the elementary but 
 many of the deeper problems of the law. Admitted to practice in 1824 
 he offered his services to waiting clients, but was soon in part diverted 
 from his chosen path by engaging with Samuel D. Dakin in the pro- 
 prietorship and editing of the Sentinel and Gazette. This employment 
 occupied his attention about two years, when he disposed of his interest 
 and resuming his previous functions was soon able to command a fair 
 share of practice. In the year 1832 he became a partner with his 
 brother-in-law, Charles P. Kirkland, a partnership which proved a highly 
 successful one, and which lasted until the removal of Mr. Kirkland to 
 New York in 185 1. Mr. Bacon continued in practice about three years. 
 
528 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 when in the fall of 1853 he was elected judge of the Supreme Court in 
 the Fifth District. By re-election at the end of his term he remained 
 on the bench sixteen years, retiring in 1870, Subsequent to that time 
 he did not resume practice in the courts, but contented himself with 
 giving counsel and serving as a referee. 
 
 Of the legal and judicial career of Judge Bacon I prefer to speak in 
 the words of his colleagues who were best qualified to estimate him 
 aright. Hon. A. M. Beardsley says of him that " while he was one of the 
 firm of 'Kirkland & Bacon to him was entrusted in a great degree 
 the first steps in legal proceedings and the drafting of pleadings, upon 
 the accuracy, learning, and sound judgment of which depend most 
 largely the triumphs achieved. In these departments he gained an en- 
 viable reputation, one richly deserved and generally acknowledged." 
 Both Mr. Kirkland and Judge Foster concurred in the remark that as 
 a framer of pleadings he excelled any lawyer they ever knew. " His 
 tastes," continued Mr. Beardsley, " did not lead him to the contests of 
 jury trials, but rather to those requiring argument, exacting thought, 
 investigation, clearness, and force in written composition. He was by 
 nature and education more at home in the broad fields of equity than 
 in the restricted bounds of common law. On the bench as judge dis- 
 pensing law and equity in decisions abounding in strong thought and 
 deep learning, and in language and forms of expression the most forci- 
 ble and elegant. Judge Bacon deserves the high reputation he won 
 among the members of his calling as well as /rom all those who were 
 acquainted with his work. He was more interested in the principles of 
 law and equity than in the mere recollection of cases, and hence when 
 facts of an unusual character were laid before him his mind at once re- 
 verted to these principles, and by their agency he rapidly worked out 
 conclusions that were correct, logical, and conclusive." As a judge he 
 manifested his integrity on all occasions. "If ever there was a just- 
 minded judge," says Senator Kernan, " I think he was one. I have seen 
 him tried where he might naturally have had a prepossession, but I 
 have never seen him yield to it knowingly." To his patience in listening 
 to every fact or argument presented on either side, to his encouraging 
 kindness to the younger men who appeared before him, to his urbanity 
 and dignity as well as to his impartiality, his intelligent and able rul- 
 
WILLIAM J. BACON. 529 
 
 ings, the generation of lawyers with whom he was associated and over 
 whom he presided unite in their testimony. Under the system which 
 formerly prevailed he took his turn as a member of the Court of Ap- 
 peals, sitting two years on that bench, and when he left it the opinions 
 given by him in his private practice as a referee were invariably sus- 
 tained by that court. 
 
 Judge Bacon was always interested in politics, but was neVer an office 
 seeker. He accepted public office as he did so many of the local trusts 
 that were laid upon him, and discharged its functions with fidelity. He 
 was city attorney in 1837 and was elected to the Assembly in 1850, 
 taking high rank with his associates. In 1876 he was elected as a Re- 
 publican to represent the Oneida district in Congress; and the honor 
 was the more grateful to him as he followed his grandfather and his 
 father in the experience of service in the State legislature, in Congress, 
 and on the bench. In Congress he sat with the minority, but in debate 
 and in committee as well as in personal influence he served well. Dur- 
 ing his life-time Judge Bacon was officially connected with many liter- 
 ary, business, and charitable institutions, for Utica never had a more 
 public spirited inhabitant who was both more ready and more compe- 
 tent to supervise and manage its concerns and those of the neighbor- 
 hood. Indeed he was so long identified with the best interests of the 
 community that it is difficult to think of the city without a recognition 
 of his genial and earnest personality. Some of the positions he filled 
 are here igiven : Member of the Board of Trustees of Hamilton College 
 for many years and senior member at the time of his death ; a director 
 for upwards of twenty years of the Oneida County Bible Society ; direc- 
 tor of the Second National Bank and trustee as well as president of the 
 Utica Savings Bank; director and vice-president of the Utica Gaslight 
 Company; director and president of the Forest Hill Cemetery Associ- 
 ation; director of the Utica and Black River Railroad, of the Utica 
 Water Works Company, and of the Utica Cotton- Mills ; trustee of the 
 Home for the Homeless and consulting manager of the Utica Orphan 
 Asylum; councillor and vice -president of the Oneida Historical Soci- 
 ety and trustee of the Saratoga Monument Association ; president of 
 the Utica Philharmonic Association, etc. These were not empty sine- 
 cures, honorary posts without a duty attached ; he was punctual in re- 
 
 67 
 
S3° 
 
 MEMORIAL HISTOR Y OF UTICA. 
 
 spondiiig to the summons of these assembh'es, where his counsel wa3 as 
 trustworthy as it was free and courteous in the giving. 
 
 Judge Bacon was also a inan of marked literary attainments and cult- 
 ure. His knowledge was wide, his taste refined ; he loved the best 
 things and charged his mind with the most precious of scholarly lore. 
 Shakespeare was a never-ending delight, but above Shakespeare he 
 ranked the Bible, not alone as a treasury of the highest morals and for 
 the wisdom and intellectual strength it imparted, but for the majestic 
 imagery of its poetry, the logic of the Pauline and other epistles, and the 
 beauty of the life and teachings of Jesus. As a writer and speaker he 
 was facile, elegant, and forceful, a favorite orator at public celebrations, 
 and happy with voice and pen to promote municipal, social, religious, 
 and patriotic advancement. His contributions to this class of literature 
 were varied and numerous; not a few of them will long endure in local 
 chronicles. Especially may be mentioned his masterly address upon 
 the Continental Congress read before the Oneida Historical Society ; 
 his discourse upon the Early Bar of Oneida County delivered to a gath- 
 ering of his colleagues of the bar, an instructive and valuable contribu- 
 tion to the history of the county; his touching tribute to the late Presi- 
 dent Fisher spoken in the chapel of Hamilton College; and his welcome 
 to Kossuth on his visit to Utica in 1852, which was one of the most ele- 
 gant of his platform addresses. His newspaper articles, recognizable by 
 their justness, their finish, and the appropriateness of their illustration, 
 were called out on occasions of great public importance or when some 
 person of unusual merit had recently ended his career. 
 
 The public life of Judge Bacon was spent during the most stirring 
 period of our nation's existence. He was intensely and aggressively 
 right on all the momentous questions that were agitated before and 
 during the war of the Rebellion. He could and did take part in meet- 
 ings for the Union cause, for he had laid his only son as an offering on 
 the altar of his country. What that sacrifice cost him few but his in- 
 timates ever knew, yet through it all he never murmured. At the re 
 unions of the soldier boys of the Twenty-sixth Regiment, to which his 
 son belonged, nearly every year since the war the judge was present to 
 express his appreciation of their success, and while he bestowed his 
 praise upon the living and dead heroes but few knew how his heart 
 
WILLIAM y. BACON. 531 
 
 bled for the light of a life so soon gone out. Geniality and benevo- 
 lence, honesty and purity, attachment to his country and to his home, 
 these were his most obvious traits, and it was these which made him 
 universally trusted and beloved. Yet it was easy to see that beneath 
 these more salient features Christian truth leavened his entire character 
 and made his as one of old " in whose heart there was no guile." Em- 
 inently a religious man, long active as a teacher and superintendent in 
 Sunday schools, a pillar in the church, he illustrated in every relation 
 the vitality of his faith and his principles. He loved men because they 
 were children of a common father and the inheritors of a common des- 
 tiny. His hand was an open hand ; he helped the poor and lifted up 
 the fallen; he was kind to the erring, more ready to pity than to con- 
 demn ; he hated the sin, but not the sinner. It would be difficult to 
 name a cause having as its object the amelioration of mankind in which 
 he had not an interest. Rank or position no more affected his courtesy 
 than though no such social distinction had being. His knowledge of 
 the Bible, as I have said, was phenomenal. He honored and loved the 
 sacred volume for what it had plainly revealed, and his reading of it 
 was' devotional. Its history, its eloquence, its literary beauties pos- 
 sessed for him a charm ; but far more sweet were its spiritual truths — 
 their tenderness and their purposes, as they gave an inward joy which 
 all else failed to impart. During the earlier years of his residence in 
 the city he was connected with the First Presbyterian Church, but for 
 more than half a century he was a member and for forty- nine years an 
 officer of the Reformed Church. " Exemplary and consistent," say the 
 resolutions of the officers of that church, " fervent in the cause of relig- 
 ion and the prosperity of our own church, calm, judicious, and unpreju- 
 diced, we regarded him as our pattern and guide. No one accepted 
 more willingly the responsibilities in which he was called to engage, or 
 discharged them with more faithful exactitude. Absent by necessity 
 only from the meetings of consistory and the services of the Sabbath 
 and the week-day, no one held more naturally the leadership among us, 
 voiced more acceptably the feelings of the worshipers, both in prayer 
 and in praise, aided more helpfully the pastor in his duties, or suc- 
 ceeded more fittingly to these duties in his absence. Esteemed as he 
 was in his public and official positions and widely admired by those of 
 
532 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 like standing with himself, admired not less in social life for the exhibi- 
 tion of gifts which win attraction to the foremost in those walks, he 
 never lacked in a word of friendliness and sympathy toward the low- 
 est among his fellow members of the church. Both his counsel and his 
 purse were freely opened to the needy, and numerous were the objects 
 of his beneficence." A mere catalogue of single words and phrases, 
 whose appropriateness will be questioned by none who knew him, may 
 serve somewhat to delineate the character of the subject of my sketch. 
 An honorable lawyer, an upright judge, an honest politician, a pure 
 legislator, a ready co adjutor, a scholar, a patriot, a gentleman, a good 
 citizen, and a consistent Christian, unostentatious, unaffected, social, 
 courteous, affable, cheerful, frank, sincere, charitable, kind, sympathetic, 
 and humane, — together these qualities present a rare summary. His 
 wife and the mother of his children was Eliza, daughter of Gen. Joseph 
 Kirkland, who died many years before him. At an advanced age he 
 was again married to Mrs. Susan Sloane Gillett. His only surviving 
 child is Mrs. Seth W. Crittenden. The judge himself passed away July 
 3, 1889, when he had reached the age of eighty-six. 
 
 Oneida County has produced few jurists who, in broad views, in 
 sound judgment, in legal learning, stand above Hiram Denio.i With 
 the cast of mind eminently judicial, with studious habits that never 
 wearied, with conversance with the principles as well as the letter of 
 the law seldom surpassed, and with integrity neve'r questioned, he de- 
 serves to rank with the magnates of the bar of the county and the 
 State ; as a judge of the Court of Appeals his decisions are accepted as 
 standards and as models. He was not a man to startle observers by 
 brilliance and eccentricity. His prudence, his common sense, his thor 
 ough conscientiousness were his marked characteristics. He was trained 
 in the best school of the law, for he studied with Henry R. Storrs, 
 whom Henry Clay pronounced the most eloquent man he ever listened 
 to. Young Denio learned early the need of thorough preparation of 
 his cases, and this was always a rule with him. He was a student 
 throughout his life, and his culture was broad and varied, reaching be- 
 yond his profession into the rich fields of literature and of history. 
 
 1 This obituary notice of Judge Denio was prepared for the Utica Mornins Herald by its editor, 
 Ellis H. Roberta. 
 
HIRAM DENIO. 
 
 533 
 
 "Conspicuous for his discretion and tiis integrity he was burdened with 
 trusts as executor and trustee, and at his death was president of the 
 Savings Bank of Utica. .As a citizen he was above reproach. His re- 
 ligious connections had been for years with Grace Church. In politics 
 he was a Democrat, but he was still more a patriot. He gave all his 
 sympathies to the Republic during the war, and voted for Lincoln for 
 President and sustained the measures necessary for the nation's life. 
 His fame will rest upon the services which he rendered as judge of 
 the Court of Appeals. His decision on the metropolitan police law 
 offended extreme Democrats at the time, but it illustrated his independ- 
 ent and non-partisan character, and the party was compelled to recog- 
 nize his fairness and his integrity by a renomination. The ermine was 
 honored by him. As he was without dogmatism he could admit and 
 •correct errors. In every sense he was a good judge, and in some re- 
 spects his associates have pronounced him among the best and fore- 
 most that ever sat upon the bench of our highest tribunal. 
 
 Judge Denio died at his residence on Broad street Sunday, Novem- 
 iber 5, 1871, aged seventy-two years. He was born at Rome on the 
 2 1 St of May, 1799. He was two years a student in the academy at 
 Fairfield, Herkimer County, with Albert Barnes for his classmate. 
 He came to the bar in the light of some of the greatest names which 
 have adorned our local history, and he did no discredit to their tutelage. 
 After commencing the study of the law with Judge Hathaway at Rome 
 in 1816 he came to Whitesboro and entered the office of Storrs & White, 
 where he remained until 1821. In that year he became a partner of 
 Wheeler Barnes, a lawyer in established practice at Rome. October 30, 
 1825, he was appointed by the Court of General Sessions district at- 
 torney to succeed Samuel Beardsley, and he served worthily in that 
 capacity for nine years. In the meantime, in July, 1826, he became a 
 resident of Utica and a partner with his Hfe-long friend, E. A. Wet- 
 more, esq., in the law firm of Wetmore & Denio. May 7, 1834, Mr. 
 Denio was appointed a Circuit judge for the Fifth Circuit, and then began 
 the judicial career in which he won eminence, serving about four years. 
 About 1836 Judge Denio formed a partnership with Hon. Ward Hunt, 
 and for some time the firm of Denio & Hunt stood in the fore-front of 
 the profession here. On the 23d of June, 1853, he was appointed to 
 
S34 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 fill a vacancy on the bench of the Court of Appeals and twice afterwarcP 
 elected to the same position, closing his career in 1866. Other honor- 
 able positions he also held, such as bank commissioner and clerk of the 
 Supreme Court, and he was from 1835 a useful and efificient trustee of 
 Hamilton College. Judge Denio married, in May, 1829, Miss Anne H. 
 Pitkin, of Farmington, Conn. Three children were born to them : one 
 died an infant ; the eldest daughter died in Madeira, where she had 
 gone in search of health ; the third is the wife of Dr. L A. Tourtellot, 
 of this city. A paralytic stroke befell Judge Denio on the 17th of Oc- 
 tober, 1868. He partially recovered from the effects of it, but was 
 neveragain fully himself. For some time he had been failing. For a fort- 
 night his friends knew that death was nigh. He has passed away, a 
 high type of the Christian jurist of whose memory eulogy may speak 
 without reservation. His life proves that eminence involves no sacrifice 
 of worth, that purity of personal character is consonant with personal,, 
 professional, and political success. 
 
 William Tracy was the son of William G. Tracy, an early merchant 
 of Whitesboro, where he was born June 16, 1805. He was educated at 
 the school of Rev. Mr. Halsey, a somewhat noted teacher of that vil- 
 lage, and at Union College, where he was graduated in 1824. He 
 studied law with Henry R. Storrs, came to Utica in 1827, and opened 
 an office in the following year. In 1833 he was associated in practice 
 with John G. Floyd and the following year with William C. Noyes, the 
 husband of his sister. In 1837 his own brother, Charles, became his 
 partner and they remained some years together. In 1854 he removed 
 to New York city and resumed his partnership with Mr. Noyes, Charles 
 having preceded him by a few years. In the metropolis Messrs. Noyes 
 and the brothers Tracy all took high rank. So long as he was a resi- 
 dent here Mr. Tracy was awake to municipal affairs and assisted materi- 
 ally in the conduct of them. He was one of the early Board of School 
 Commissioners, a trustee of the Utica Academy and of the Female Acad- 
 emy, and of the Cemetery Association. In the First Presbyterian Church 
 and afterward in the Reformed Church he was an officer and a teacher 
 in a Bible class. He took much deeper interest in the Society for the 
 Colonization of the Negroes of Liberia than he did in that which agitated 
 the country for the immediate abolition of slavery. He was almost the 
 
WILLIAM TRACY. 
 
 535 
 
 earliest person to enlist the community in its own local history, having 
 delivered an address before the Mechanics Association upon men and 
 events of Oneida County in 1838, an address which has furnished im- 
 portant material for subsequent workers in this field. He was a pro- 
 moter of horticulture, a lover of art and science, getting up annual ex- 
 hibitions of the products of his own and his neighbors' gardens, attach- 
 ing himself to a scientific association and an art association. He had 
 an inquiring mind and clear judgment, was possessed of much general 
 intelligence, and was often called on both as a speaker and a writer. 
 He delivered a Phi Beta Kappa address at Union College in 1862, and 
 before that an address before the alumni of Madison University. He 
 founded a weekly paper known as the Intelligencer and conducted it 
 for a number of years. With all this outside activity he was never 
 neglectful of professional business, which was large and important. He 
 was well informed in the law, diligent in the study of his cases, and 
 earnest in their advocacy. With Hiram Denio he published the fourth 
 edition (1852) of the Revised Statutes of New York, Judge Denio aiding 
 him, but Mr. Tracy being principally responsible for the work. He 
 published also an edition of Cowan's Treatise on Justices' Courts and a 
 legal hand-book for commercial men. 
 
 Mr. Tracy had a keen sense of justice and could never refrain from 
 denunciation of whatever seemed in conflict with it. Be the sufferer 
 rich or poor his sympathies were stirred in equal measure and his 
 efforts in defence outspoken and earnest. These sympathies found 
 active exercise during the invasion of the cholera, when he allowed him- 
 self little rest from his labors among the sick. Thus upright, generous, 
 and kind Mr. Tracy was impulsive in manner, and at times gave offence 
 from the very ardor and quickness of his temperament. He had like- 
 wise a strong love of humor, which, conjoined with his extensive ac-^ 
 quirements and readiness to talk, made him delightful as a companion, 
 yet betrayed him occasionally into speeches that were damaging to him- 
 self more than to the subject of them. Mr. Tracy received from Union 
 College the degree of LL.D. in 1862 and was a trustee of that institu- 
 tion from 1868 to his death, never missing his attendance at commence- 
 ment. He died in December, 188 1. 
 
 In the list of noble names which have shed luster upon the bar of New 
 
S36 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 York State must be placed that of Joshua Austin Spencer. ^ Born at 
 Great Barrington, Mass., May 13, 1790, removing to Lenox, Madisor* 
 County, N. Y., when but eighteen years of age and to Utica at the age 
 of thirty- nine, the most important part of his life was spent in this city, 
 and while residing here he rose to be one of the leading members of the bar 
 of Oneida County when that bar was celebrated for its ability throughout 
 the State. In many respects he stood pre-eminent among them. " Mr. 
 Spencer," said the Hon. Ward Hunt, in generous tribute to his com- 
 manding talents, "is like Saul among his brethren, head and shoulders- 
 above us all." " He had become one of the foremost men of his pro- 
 fession," said Judge Denio, " and he maintained that rank until the day 
 of his death. No man within my knowledge has acquitted himself for a 
 life-time with such universally distinguished ability." " He was a law- 
 yer of great learning and ability," said the Hon. D. Wager. " His legal 
 skill in the trial of causes, and his commanding eloquence, made him one 
 of the brightest ornaments of the profession." When on one occasion 
 he stood before the Court of Errors, convened in the city hall of New 
 York, opposed to Daniel Webster in a cause of far-reaching importance,. 
 it was not wholly because Mr. Spencer had the better case that the 
 great expounder of the constitution in spite of his " powerful argument," 
 and practiced skill, and solemn eloquence, was not able to save his client 
 from defeat. " He battled with giants," said one of him, " and achieved 
 greatness among the great, because he was strong." 
 
 The influences which early disciplined the mind of Mr. Spencer and 
 moulded his character, added to his own indomitable energy and industry, 
 carried him to this commanding position. Some preparation for hi& 
 subsequent successes he received by heredity, and much by wise training 
 and instruction, but to these he added an earnest and persistent diligence 
 in the pursuit of knowledge, and a patient thoroughness of preparation 
 for whatever duty was assigned him ; and these he faithfully continued 
 to the end of his career. His successes were well earned. From an ad- 
 mirable sketch of his life written by his eldest son, the late Hamilton 
 Spencer, who inherited in large degree his father's intellectual power 
 and acquired much of his legal ability, we learn that Samuel Spencer, the 
 
 1 Begun by Hamilton Spencer, son of Joshua A., this article was |iinished after his sudden death 
 by Rev. George A. Howard, D.D,, son-in-law of the distinguished advocate. 
 
JOSHUA A. SPENCER. 537 
 
 first American ancestor of Joshua A. Spencer, emigrated from Sheffield, 
 England, and landed at Salem, Mass., on the 20th of July, 1633, and 
 shortly after removed to Suffield, Conn., where he married and contin- 
 ued to live until his death. Joshua Austin Spencer was the fifth in 
 descent from him, and, as we have stated, was born at Great Barrington 
 in 1790. He received only the public education then aff"orded by the 
 common schools of Massachusetts. But he was the child of exception- 
 ally intelligent parents. His father, who was a millwright and a skilled 
 mechanic, was an omnivorous reader, and continued to be so, with a 
 true scholar's hunger for knowledge, down to the very close of a long 
 life. His mother, who was the daughter of Joshua Austin, esq., was a 
 woman of remarkable intellectual power, and her features, mental and 
 physical, were stamped on her son. Born and educated in Puritan Con- 
 necticut she was a dissenter from what then was virtually the established 
 church — the Congregational. As a member of the Baptist Church she 
 had, according to their custom, the liberty of public speech, and was 
 recognized as a preacher of unusual knowledge and discernment and 
 fervid eloquence. In addition to the instruction received in the schools 
 of the day Mr. Spencer with his brothers and sisters attended an even- 
 ing school at home, in which these well-informed parents were the teach- 
 ers, and there they received a moral, religious, and intellectual education 
 which distinguished them from their associates and helped to shape their 
 future lives. All the sons of the family became members of learned 
 professions. Two were lawyers, one a clergyman, and one a physician ; 
 each of them achieved considerable local reputation and two of them 
 became widely known. 
 
 In his boyhood Joshua reihoved to Greenville, Greene County, N. Y., 
 and for a .short time was a clerk in " a country store" there. About the 
 year 1808 he rejoined his father's family, which had removed to Lenox, 
 Madison County, N. Y. Here, not finding as yet his true vocation, 
 he was apprenticed to Waters Clark, a carpenter. In this employment 
 he developed that unusual physical strength for which he was noted in 
 subsequent years, and which now, young as he was, enabled him to do 
 "the work of two men," as his employer said he often did; and the 
 knowledge of the trade which he obtained in these cheerfully toilsome, 
 years was more than once in later life of use to him in the practice of his 
 
 68 
 
538 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 profession. This apprenticeship was short, extending only from some 
 time in his eighteenth year to his majority ; and when it ceased he en- 
 tered the office of his elder brother, Gen. Ichabod S. Spencer, as a stu- 
 dent of law. He had, however, hardly settled himself to his studies 
 when the war with Great Britain in i8i2 broke out, and catching the 
 patriotic enthusiasm which swept over the land he enlisted and was ap- 
 pointed orderly- sergeant of a company of horse artillery which was or- 
 ganized in Madison County and commanded by one Captain Jennings. 
 Repairing to the northern frontier he remained on duty at Sacket's 
 Harbor until his term of service had expired. The performance of this 
 duty cost him something more than the time which he gave to it, for 
 when the company -was mustered out, and its members scattered to their 
 homes, young Spencer was left behind, fatally ill as was thought with 
 " camp fever." But youthful vigor and a good constitution drew him 
 back to life, and after his recovery he returned with new zest to his legal 
 studies. 
 
 In 1814, at the early age of twenty-four, he married, at Lenox, Miss 
 Clarissa Phelps, by whom he had two children, Hamilton, late of Bloom - 
 ington, 111., and Clarissa, afterward the wife of the Rev. Duncan Ken- 
 nedy, D.D. While both these children were very young their mother 
 died ; and Mr. Spencer subsequently married Miss Electa Dean, daugh- 
 ter of the elder Judge James Dean, a graduate of Dartmouth College 
 and a gentleman of high character and influential position. 
 
 Upon his admission to the bar Mr. Spencer entered into partnership 
 with his brother and at once took a high rank in his profession. After 
 a few years of growing practice and steadily increasing reputation, in 
 1829 he formed a partnership with the distinguished William H. May- 
 nard and removed to Utica. This partnership, so important to his in- 
 terests, continued for less than three years and was then dissolved by 
 death. Mr. Maynard was elected senator from the Fifth Senatorial Dis- 
 trict of New York, and while attending the Court for the Correction of 
 Errors in the summer of 1832 died from an attack of Asiatic cholera. 
 But the whole burden of an extended business thus thrown upon 
 Mr. Spencer found him prepared to sustain it. He was now in the full 
 maturity of his great powers and familiar with the work he had to do. 
 He had a strong and healthy body. His habits were temperate. His 
 
JOSHUA A. SPENCER. 535^ 
 
 position was assured ; and it aided him not a little that he had the most 
 friendly relations with other members of his profession, for he cordially 
 rejoiced in their successes and his dignified but ever kindly courtesy 
 made him popular with them. In court a truthful, upright, honorable 
 character gave weight to his statements, and his legal attainments and 
 direct, logical clearness commanded close attention to his arguments. 
 He never wearied court or jury by tediously saying all that could be 
 said ; his habit was to select a few strong points of the view he took of 
 the case he had in hand and, making them indisputably evident, to 
 press them home with earnest and generally irresistible force. In ad- 
 dressing a jury he was distinguished, says Hamilton Spencer, for 
 the clearness and fairness with which he stated and commented upon 
 the evidence, and for the simplicity yet elegance of the language he em- 
 ployed. His gestures were few and simple, his voice was clear and 
 powerful, and his articulation singularly distinct. His illustrations 
 were always apt and often were beautiful, and when the subject called 
 for passion in the denunciation of crime and falsehood, or for pathos in 
 the description of suffering, the power of his appeals was overwhelm- 
 ing. 
 
 He was chiefly distinguished before the public as a jury lawyer, but 
 to those who knew him intimately and were associated with him in the 
 intercourse of professional life his profound knowledge of law and his 
 entire mastery of the great underlying principles of jurisprudence ga\c 
 him a rarer excellence and one of greater dignity and worth. For 
 more than twenty years he attended every term of the Supreme Court 
 and the Court for the Correction of Errors, and listened to or took part 
 in almost every case discussed before these tribunals. 
 
 Mr. Spencer, says one who knew him well, had a wonderful quick- 
 ness of apprehension, and when called upon even unexpectedly to as- 
 sume the management of a cause, he was soon able to master it in all its 
 details, however complex or multifarious they might be. Gifted with 
 quick perceptive faculties he was apt also in detecting the vulnerable 
 points in the arguments of an opposing counsel. He excelled in the 
 trial of criminal causes and his services were in demand from every 
 part of the State. His thorough acquaintance with our penal 
 statutes, the great facility of his mental resources, and, when re- 
 
540 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 quired, his marvelous eloquence placed him in the front rank as a 
 criminal lawyer. As a cross-examiner he had no superior. A hostile 
 or corrupt witness could not endure his terrible scrutiny. His com- 
 manding presence, his piercing eye, his resonant voice overwhelmed 
 a witness who was conscious of falsehood. Hamilton Spencer was 
 once associated with the Hon. W. H. Seward in the trial of a 
 strongly contested case at Oswego, and in a walk with him expressed 
 his admiration of the subtle skill with which the ex-governor had suc- 
 cessfully examined an untruthful witness and spoke of the difference 
 between his manner and that of Mr. Spencer: the one so smooth, gen- 
 tle, friendly, and seductive, leading the witness into all manner of traps 
 and contradictions ; the other direct, fierce, and overwhelming. 
 " Yes," replied Mr. Seward, " your father is as tall as a giant, and has 
 an eye like a hawk, and a voice like a lion, and he seizes hold upon a 
 witness and tears him in pieces ; but if I, with my slight frame and 
 light hair and dim eyes, should rush upon a witness in that way prob- 
 ably I should be the one to suffer." 
 
 Not infrequently a witness endeavoring to bolster up a bad cause by 
 his perjuries, and showing at first a security bordering upon insolence, 
 would gradually quail before Mr. Spencer's piercing eyes and searching 
 questions, and fall into utter confusion and shame under the exposure 
 which he felt powerless to escape. " Why did you not stick to your 
 story?" asked a discomfited and angry plaintiff of such a witness 
 on whom he had relied. " I 'd like to have you stick to your story," 
 cried the crest-fallen man, "with Joshua Spencer's black eyes looking 
 through and through you I " 
 
 The world-known novelist, J. Fenimore Cooper, when rising to ad- 
 dress the jury in one of his famous libel suits in reply to Mr. Spencer, 
 showed how his personality impressed a cultivated and observant 
 listener. " The opposing counsel," he said, " is a man whose presence 
 is of great dignity, whose voice is majestic, and whose very stature gives 
 force to the words he utters." Mr. Spencer, however, did not rely too 
 much on these natural advantages, nor upon his great fluency and the 
 fervor of his appeals. He laid solid foundations for his work, and to 
 this his successes were mainly due. Every cause which he undertook 
 he prepared with conscientious and painstaking thoroughness before he 
 
JOSHUA A. SPENCER. 541 
 
 carried it into court. He made himself familiar with the facts connected 
 with it by frequent consultation with his client, and he carefully exam- 
 ined the legal questions involved and was not careless in regard to 
 seemingly unimportant details. He went into battle fully armed. Of 
 course, though faithful in all, he was not roused to equal effort by every 
 cause in which he was engaged ; but often, and especially in causes 
 which involved great principles, and in which important interests were at 
 stake, he was not only thorough in preparation, but seemed in advocat- 
 ing them to acquire new power and inspiration as he spoke, and rose to 
 his most commanding eloquence. 
 
 In 1841 he was appointed attorney of the United States for the 
 Northern District of New York, then including the whole State except 
 the city of New York and four or five counties adjacent to it. This 
 office he held until the spring of 1845. I" this latter year he was 
 chosen senator for the Fifth Senatorial District of New York. During 
 his official term the new constitution of the State went into effect, radi- 
 cally changing the judicial system and relieving him of two years of 
 service in the Senate. As a member of the judiciary committee the 
 arduous labor of preparing the legislation to put the new courts at work 
 ■devolved upon Mr. Spencer. In 1848 the favor with which he was re- 
 garded by his fellow townsmen was manifested by his election as mayor 
 of Utica. Notwithstanding the duties which these offices involved he 
 enjoyed not even a temporary respite from his professional work. In 
 this he continued actively employed until arrested by his last illness. 
 Hamilton Spencer remembers that once on his father's return from 
 a Circuit Court in one of the northeastern counties of New York he 
 said " I have now tried cases in every county of the State." This could 
 probably have been said by no other lawyer of his day or since. But 
 it shows the versatile vigor of the man that while pressed by his many 
 duties he accepted an invitation to deliver the oration at the great Berk- 
 shire jubilee. Through life he cherished a warm attachment to the 
 county of his birth — that mother of great men. " It is a part of my 
 religion," he said with quiet enthusiasm to a friend, " to go back there 
 once a year." And often he fondly dwelt on his many strolls in his 
 boyish days along the beautiful banks of the Housatonic and amidst the 
 picturesque scenery which surrounds Great Barrington. And so step- 
 
542 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 ping out for the time from his wonted sphere of thought and action, 
 where President Hopkins of Williams preached the opening sermon, and 
 Oliver Wendell Holmes read one of his wittiest poems, and men of 
 world-wide fame were gathered, and a great multitude was assembled, 
 he delivered an oration which Dr. Roof characterized as one " of sur- 
 passing beauty and eloquence." 
 
 In regard to his professional_ work it would far exceed the limits of this 
 sketch to even enumerate the many important causes argued by him in 
 the Circuit Courts and before the Supreme Court and the Court of Errors. 
 The one case in which he was prominent, and which attracted most at- 
 tention in this country, and excited no little interest in England, was 
 that of the People vs. Alexander McLeod, which is reported in the 
 Twenty-fourth Volume of Wendell's Reports. In the summer and fall 
 of 1837 a rebellion broke out in Canada, and a body of insurgents and 
 of sympathizers from the American side of the Niagara River had en- 
 trenched themselves upon a small island belonging to Great Britain, called 
 Navy Island, which lies near the village of Chippewa and four or five 
 miles above the great cataract. A small steamer known as the Caro- 
 line had been cut out of the ice in Buffalo harbor and brought around 
 into the Niagara River, where she was engaged in transporting sup- 
 plies, munitions of war, and volunteers from the New York side at Fort 
 Schlosser to the entrenched camp on Navy Island. On the night of the 
 30th of December, 1837, a boating expedition under the command of 
 Lieutenant (afterward Captain) Drew R. N., conveying; a body of soldiers 
 under Colonel (afterward Sir) Allen McNab, crossed the river at mid- 
 night and attacked the Caroline as she was moored at the dock at Fort 
 Schlosser. Boarding her they cut her loose, set fire to her, and let her 
 drift down the rapids and over the falls, and then returned to Chippewa. 
 During the affray while those on board were escaping, Amos Durfree 
 was killed by a pistol shot and his body was found on the wharf where 
 the boat had been moored. For this violation of its territory the United 
 States demanded reparation. The British government, through Lord 
 Palmerston, then Secretary of Foreign Affairs, and Henry S. Fox, 
 British minister at Washington, avowed the attack to have been made 
 by its authority and justified it as an act of war, apologizing afterward, 
 however, for the invasion of the American territory. In February, 1 841, 
 
JOSHUA A. SPENCER. 543 
 
 McLeod was indicted in the Court of General Sessions of Niagara 
 County for the murder of Durfree, arrested, and imprisoned. The 
 British government demanded his release, on the ground that if he were 
 one of the party which destroyed the Caroline he was acting as a British 
 subject under the orders of the officers of his own government, and was 
 under no individual responsibility for his acts, that government dis- 
 tinctly assuming all responsibility for the destruction of the boat. Mr. 
 Spencer was retained to defend McLeod, who was brought before the 
 Supreme Court of New York on habeas corpus at the May term, 1841. 
 His discharge was claimed on the ground above stated. After the argu- 
 ment was closed and while Mr. Spencer yet remained in the city of New 
 York Daniel Webster, then Secretary of State, passed through the city 
 on his way from Marshfield to Washington. "He sought an interview 
 with Mr. Spencer and inquired with great anxiety as to the probable 
 outcome of the argument. When told that it was doubtful whether the 
 court would discharge the prisoner upon the writ for certain technical 
 reasons, which were mentioned, he urged that the record should be so 
 prepared that in case of an adverse decision a writ of error might take 
 the case to the Court for the Correction of Errors, and from there, should 
 need be, to the Supreme Court at Washington, saying it was of the 
 utmost importance that McLeod's life should not be put in jeopardy by 
 a trial. To this Mr. Spencer replied that it was McLeod's preference to 
 be tried before a jury in order that he might avoid the long imprison- 
 ment which he would be compelled to suffer while waiting the slow 
 process of the case through the higher courts, and to this McLeod 
 added that he was a resident of that part of Canada which bordered on 
 the Niagara River and should have frequent occasion to visit the 
 American side, and on this accountalso preferred to be tried and acquitted 
 by a jury — for he was confident of acquittal — that he might be free 
 from any further suspicion and annoyance. 
 
 A few days after this interview a letter was received from Mr. Web- 
 ster asking if McLeod remained of the same mind, and Mr. Spencer 
 requested McLeod to write him a letter stating at length his reasons for 
 wishing to be tried by a jury. This McLeod did, and the letter was 
 forwarded to Mr. Webster. In October following McLeod was tried at 
 Utica, to which city the case had been transferred by the Supreme 
 
544 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 Court, and McLeod was acquitted. The trial excited great interest, but 
 the public knew little of the momentous issues involved. The British 
 Parliament had voted ^20,000 to pay the expense of McLeod's defence,, 
 and when soon after a change of ministry occurred, Lord Palmerston 
 attacked with characteristic vigor the ministry which had displaced his 
 own, charging them with cowardice in yielding to the arrogance of the 
 American government and suffering a loyal subject of Great Britain to- 
 be put in peril of his life for obeying her command, and saying that 
 when he was in power he had notified the United States that if McLeod 
 was put upon his trial it would be the occasion of war between the two- 
 countries. His successor. Lord Aberdeen, replied that they had taken 
 the same ground and prepared to abide by it, but they had been met by 
 McLeod's own written election to be thus tried, and could do no more 
 than to see that he was properly defended. 
 
 For this statement of the case we are indebted to Hamilton Spencer, 
 who adds that going immediately after this trial to the West Indies, he 
 found there a large fleet which had been hastily completed and armed 
 and sent out to meet the issues of this affair. The wise and successful 
 management of the case was of national importance. Mr. Spencer's 
 speech in defence of McLeod was one of his ablest forensic efforts, and 
 the service which by his management of this cause he had rendered to 
 the country, served, among things of more moment, to cement more 
 closely the warm personal friendship which existed between him- 
 self and Mr. Webster and which terminated only with Mr. Spencer's 
 life. Mr. Spencer was a man to make and to hold such friendships. 
 His genius, his generosity, and his warmth of heart won for him a host 
 of friends. The students in his office, among whom were men who rose 
 to national distinction, became strongly attached to him ; his interest in 
 them, his sympathy, his prompt and cordial encouragements bound 
 them to him with bonds that never grew weak. " I cannot express my 
 indebtedness to him," said Roscoe Conkling ; " whatever success I may 
 have had in life I owe in a great measure to Mr. Spencer." '"A tide 
 of personal recollections comes over me," said his friend and neighbor, 
 the Hon. W. J. Bacon, at the meeting of the members of the Oneida 
 County bar after Mr. Spencer's death, " which renders me incompetent to 
 pay a suitable tribute to an uncommon man. He was a friend tender and 
 
JOSHUA A. SPENCER. 545 
 
 faithful, just and kind, and magnanimous in all the relations of life." 
 " Those who were young in his time," writes Hamilton Spencer, " and 
 especially young men in his profession, will remember his cordial 
 readiness by word or deed to assist them in their early professional 
 struggles and hisquickness to applaud and encourage their youthful 
 efforts. He was eminently an unselfish man." It will illustrate this to 
 add that when on one occasion the son was the opposing counsel to his 
 father and secured a verdict for his client, his father instantly came up 
 to him, his face aglow with pleasure, and congratulated him upon his 
 management of the cause and his success. 
 
 Mr. Spencer, though crowded for time by his professional duties, was 
 a man of great public spirit and prompt to take his part in defending or 
 advancing public interests. The cause of education also had his advo 
 cacy and support. For many years he was a trustee of Hamilton Col- 
 lege, active to make it known, and to enlarge the grand work that it was 
 doing. He was a trustee for many years also of the Utica Female 
 Academy, and by his counsel and frequent presence largely aided its 
 success. " He was a princely man ! " said an enthusiastic woman whose 
 spirit was akin to his own. Mr. Spencer, it need hardly be said, was 
 not a lover of money. In the judgment of some he was too careless 
 in regard to it. He appears to have been governed by the enthusiam 
 of his profession and by a love of truth and justice, and to have cherished 
 not the least desire to accumulate "a fortune" and to command tlie 
 power and displays and luxuries of wealth. The Hon. Francis Kernan, 
 his partner from 1840, publicly said of him : "He would never put forth 
 his talents unless firmly persuaded that he was exerting them in the 
 cause of truth and for the ends of justice." 
 
 We may find a reason for this in the fact that Mr. Spencer was a 
 Christian. " He sincerely believed in the Christian religion," says his 
 son, and when the occasion permitted he avowed his belief reverently, 
 earnestly, and with impressive decision. The Rev. Dr. Fowler, then 
 president of the Board of Trustees of Hamilton College and speaking of 
 him as a co-trustee, said : " His distinction rose not alone from his intel- 
 lectual energy. It was higher than that won by forensic triumphs. 
 His unselfish spirit prompted him to act for others, while religion con- 
 secrated all that was natural and superadded its own peculiar excel- 
 
 69 
 
546 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 lence." Mr. Spencer, often seemingly so stern, had an unusually kind 
 and tender heart and his humane spirit pervaded his life. Many dis- 
 putes and angry differences which might have been nursed into a 
 remunerative ligitation were settled by him in his office, and without 
 cost, except that of a little shame to the dispikants. He gladly did 
 much professional work for the poor gratuitously. His contributions in 
 times of general distress were generously out of proportion to his means, 
 and a private appeal which touched his heart, easily touched, often 
 emptied his pocket-book when it had just been filled by his fees. After 
 his death large numbers of people to whom he had been secretly a 
 benefactor and who were unknown to his family came to look with 
 tears upon his face ; and some of the members of the bar of Oneida 
 County at the meeting which has been mentioned, when they rose to 
 speak of him, stood in painful silence for a time unable to begin. 
 
 Imperfect as this sketch of the man must be it were more imperfect 
 if we did not speak, though but suggestively, of what Mr. Spencer was 
 in his home. There his warm and generous heart had free sway. He 
 was a most devoted and affectionate husband and father, and always 
 happiest when in the midst of his family. The Hon. James Knox, of 
 Knoxville, III, who was a law student with Mr. Spencer and subse- 
 quently for a time his partner, and who was for life his admiring and 
 grateful friend, in a letter which was written a year or two before his 
 own death lifts for us the curtain which secluded this home. He had 
 gone to Mr. Spencer's house upon some important business, and being 
 ushered into the parlor entered it unperceived and stood in the door- way 
 arrested by a scene which he was unwilling to disturb. The stately 
 lawyer sat on the sofa covered by his children. They were crowding 
 on his knees ; two were standing on the sofa, one on each side close to 
 him braiding his hair; his arms were around as many of them as he 
 could clasp, and his happy heart given to them all. " It is a picture," 
 wrote Mr. Knox, " which I have never forgotten and never shall 
 forget." 
 
 For many years Mr. Spencer was a member of the First Presbyterian 
 Church and then of the Reformed Church in Utica, and when dying 
 of the disease from which he had. patiently suffered much and long he 
 was comforted and sustained by the faith which had made him the friend 
 
WAJiB HUNT. 547 
 
 of man by making him a follower of Christ. The life-like and full length 
 portrait of him now in the court- room at Utica, of necessity presents but 
 one aspect of the man, showing him to us as he stood before a jury. 
 The truthful and comprehensive epitaph composed by his son-in-law, 
 the Rev. Duncan Kennedy, D.D., and inscribed upon the granite shaft 
 which rises beside his grave in the cemetery at Utica, tells us more. 
 "Joshua A. Spencer died April 25, 1857, ^g^d Qj years. Majestic in 
 presence, strong in intellect, simple in manners, sincere in faith, active 
 and benevolent in life, fearless and hopeful in death." Of his large 
 family there remain two sons and three daughters, neither of whom live 
 in Utica. 
 
 Ward Hunt was the son of Montgomery Hunt, of Utica, and was 
 born here June 14, 1810. His education was pursued chiefly at the 
 Academy in Oxford, Chenango Count}', where he was a schoolmate of 
 Horatio Seymour, with whom he was afterward associated in his law 
 studies. His collegiate course he began at Hamilton, but changed it 
 afterward to Union in order to profit by the teaching of President Nott, 
 and was graduated in 1828. He attended the law lectures of Judge 
 Gould at Litchfield, Conn., and continued to study with Hiram Denio, 
 whose partner he became. His political career was begun in 1839, 
 when he served one term in the Assembly. In 1844 he was mayor 
 of Utica. In 1848 he cast his energy into the free-soil movement 
 for Van Buren and Adams, risking hope of preferment for the sake of 
 his principles. In 1853 he was nominated by the Democrats for the 
 justiceship of the Supreme Court of this district against William J. 
 Bacon, who was elected. With others he was an architect of the Re- 
 publican party, was a delegate to its conventions, and was often heard 
 as an advocate on the rostrum. So prominent was he that in 1857 he 
 was named as a candidate for United States Senator. He was beaten 
 by Preston King, though the caucus recognized by a resolution the fit- 
 ness and the claims of Mr. Hunt. In the meantime he continued to 
 carry on a large and lucrative practice. If other men excelled him in 
 oratorical display before a jury, our bar has seldom had at its head one 
 more esteemed by his brothers of the profession or more influential 
 with the court. He adorned his calling by his research and his sound 
 sense and by an integrity that all men honored. In 1865 he became a 
 
S48 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 candidate for the Court of Appeals and was elected. Entering on duty 
 in 1866 he was raised by the resignation of John K. Porter and the 
 death of William B. Wright to the headship of the court. After the 
 reconstruction of the Court of Appeals Judge Hunt was still retained 
 as a member until his resignation January 7, 1873, preparatory to his 
 entrance on the duties of judge of the Supreme Court of the 
 United States. To this position he had been nominated by General 
 Grant on the nth of September previous. Welcomed by his associates 
 on the bench he had now attained the fruition of his desires as a law- 
 yer, though it exacted from him severe labor which he willingly be- 
 stowed, for in study he was patient and zealous. His summers he spent 
 in Utica, his winters in Washington. Failing health prevented him af- 
 ter a time from continuing in active duty upon the bench, though he re- 
 tained nominal connection with the court until 1883, when he resigned. 
 Judge Hunt excelled in judgment and in solidity of acquirements rather 
 than in brilliancy of intellect, nor were these acquirements limited to 
 the law, but extended to the world of letters and affairs. His decisions 
 were simple in diction, forcible in statement, and exhaustive in treat- 
 ment. Both from Union and from Rutgers College he received the 
 honorary degree of LL.D. His death occurred March 24, 1886. Mr- 
 Hunt was twice married, his first wife and the mother of his children 
 was the daughter of Judge John Savage, of Salem and later of Utica; 
 his second, Miss Taylor, of Albany, who still survives. One son was 
 lost in the war of the Rebellion, another son and one daughter are still 
 living. 
 
 Alvan Stewart was born in South Granville, Washington County, 
 N. Y., September i, 1790. In 1795 his father, Uriel Stewart, removed 
 to Chittenden County, Vt. There the son attended district school and 
 at seventeen was qualified to teach. In 1808 he began teaching, de- 
 voting his leisure to the study of anatomy and medicine. In the spring 
 of 1809 he closed his school, determined to acquire a liberal education. 
 He was admitted to the University of Burlington and soon became one 
 of the most thorough and methodical students in the college, shining 
 especially in the languages and in rhetoric and eloquence. Procuring 
 a professorship in a school at Montreal he studied the French language 
 and remained there until June, 181 2. He became principal of the 
 
ALVAN STEWART. 549 
 
 Academy at Cherry Valley and began studying law. ,In May, 1813, 
 he returned home and in June went to Plattsburg and entered the office 
 of Palmer & Walworth. Steady adherence to the study of law was in- 
 terrupted by the want of funds and by two journeys he made to the 
 South, during parts of which he was employed as a teacher. They 
 were, however, completed in 1816 in the office of Judge James O. 
 Morse, of Cherry Valley. Being admitted to the bar he became a part- 
 ner of the judge and soon acquired a high reputation for his eloquence 
 and talents and gained a prosperous practice. For sixteen years he 
 devoted himself to it with great pecuniary success. His health becom- 
 ing impaired he went abroad in 1 83 1 and returned improved. Early 
 in 1833 he disposed of his interests in Cherry Valle)- and removed to 
 Utica where he resumed his practice, but confined himself wholly to 
 business in the courts. In his capacity as counsel his business extended 
 ■over a large part of Central New York and even into distant counties, 
 meeting in antagonism the ablest lawyers of the State. Luther R. 
 Marsh, son-in-law of Mr. Stewart, thus speaks of him : " He was one 
 of the most formidable adversaries that ever stood before a jury. You 
 could do nothing with him nor make any calculations upon him. It 
 was impossible to tell where the blows would fall, or where the point of 
 attack would be, or what scheme of defense he would adopt. His pe- 
 culiar and overflowing humor, strange conceptions and original man- 
 ner, united with sturdy common sense, seemed to carry the jury irre- 
 irresistibly with him and submerge the sober arguments of his opponent 
 in a sea of laughter." During his active practice at the bar Mr. Stew- 
 art, though he took a deep interest in public affairs, devoted but little 
 time to politics as a mere partisan. He had no ambition for office, but 
 on great nationalquestions he had pronounced convictions and expressed 
 them wherever he felt that his influence would tend to the public 
 good. He was a pronounced protectionist and a series of articles writ- 
 ten by him on the tariff attracted public attention and greatly enhanced 
 his popularity. He was chosen delegate to the National Convention- 
 at Harrisburg in September, 1827, where he took a prominent part in 
 its proceedings. 
 
 For several years prior to 1830, the era of the establishment of the 
 Liberator by William Lloyd Garrison, the anti-slavery agitation at- 
 
Sso MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 tracted Mr. Stewart's attention and he at length came to consider what 
 he called the mighty question of human liberty as paramount to all oth- 
 ers, and enteredthe crusade against slavery with all his mind and ability. 
 Whatever were his faults, extravagances or fanaticism, the heroic self- 
 denial with which he gave himself to the cause, the splendid and lofty 
 eloquence with which he maintained his position, won the warmest sym- 
 pathy and commendation. 
 
 The quaint, often grotesque oratory of Mr. Stewart as displayed on 
 the platform it is difficult to picture. His large, ungainly figure, his- 
 drawling speech, his solemn countenance, not once relieved by a smile^ 
 and maintained even while uttering conceits the most extravagant, com- 
 parisons striking in their force though outre beyond the common con- 
 ception, ridicule the severest, or humor provocative of the broadest up- 
 roar, these displays varied at times by touching pathos or by bursts of 
 eloquence rising to the sublime, these varying elements all kept in hand 
 and made to aid him in his argument, were captivating to auditors of 
 every class. If they failed at times to secure the full sympathy of his 
 hearers, for his theme was not for the most part a popular one, they at 
 least betokened the power of a genius that was unique, one whose de- 
 liverances it was a rare pleasure to listen to. Mr. Stewart died on the 
 1st of May, 1849. The esteem with which he was held was attested by 
 the general regret and sorrow which was manifested. The public jour- 
 nals and the bar, in appropriate language eulogized him, while letters of 
 condolence from the most distinguished persons in the country were 
 received by his family. 
 
 P. Sheldon Root was born in Vernon, Oneida County, April 17,. 
 1 809. He graduated from Madison University, and came to Utica about 
 1 83 I, entering the law office of Maynard & Spencer. He subsequently 
 studied with Graham & Sandford in New York city. Upon his admis- 
 sion to the bar he returned to Utica (about 1833) and began practice in 
 association with J. H. Rathbone, and in the following year with Horatio 
 Seymour. He was examiner and master in Chancery during one period 
 of his career. His partnership with Mr. Seymour continued three years 
 and at a later date he was a partner of O. B. Matteson. In 1841 he was 
 elected county clerk, holding the office one term; In 1841 he was ap- 
 pointed by the governor first judge of Oneida County, which office he- 
 
WILLIAM C. NO YES. 551 
 
 held until the adoption of the new constitution of 1847, when he was 
 elected to the office of county judge. He held the office by repeated 
 elections until 1859. From that time until his retirement he was en- 
 gaged in the practice of his profession. He was much esteemed as a 
 judge, possessed good ability as a lawyer, and enjoyed the respect of the 
 community as a citizen. He was married in 1836 to Elizabeth Middle - 
 ton, daughter of Lynott Bloodgood. They had three children : Louisa 
 B., who married Rev. Samuel B. Sherrill ; Ruth D., who married Rev. 
 Dr. C. C. Kimball ; and Lynott B. Root. Judge Root died January 
 13, i8;o. 
 
 An eminent jurist who, although he lived only a few years in Utica, 
 deserves an ample notice, was William Curtis Noyes. He was born at 
 Castleton, Rensselaer County, N. Y., on the 19th of August, 1805. 
 His means of acquiring an education were limited to the common 
 schools and academy, and with a fair knowledge of Latin he entered 
 the law office of Welcome Esleeck, in Albany, at the early age of 
 fourteen. Continuing his studies until he was nineteen, he came 
 with his family to Oneida County and entered the office of Storrs 
 ■& White, at Whitesboro. He was admitted as an attorney of the 
 Supreme Court in February, 1827, and as counselor in 1830. He 
 began practice with Wheeler Barnes, at the close of which he formed a 
 partnership with Henry A. Foster and Charles Tracy, at Rome, and 
 practiced there three or four years. He then removed to Utica and 
 practiced in partnership with William Tracy until 1838, when he re- 
 moved to New York city. There he rapidly won distinction in his pro- 
 fession and at the time of his death he stood, if not at the head, cer- 
 tainly in the front rank of the bar. In legal lore he was the peer of 
 any of his contemporaries. In 1856 the honorary degree of Doctor of 
 Laws was conferred upon him by Hamilton College. In 1861 his 
 friends presented his name as candidate for United States senatorship, 
 but political combinations prevented it from becoming very prominent. 
 Again in 1863 he was mentioned conspicuously in connection with that 
 office, but commercial influences predominated and a selection was 
 made from the mercantile class. During the last eight years of his 
 life he was associated with David Dudley Field and Alexander W. 
 Bradford in the great work of preparing the Civil Code. Mr. Noyes 
 
552 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 never sought public office, giving his whole energies to his profession. 
 The only political offices he ever held were those of city attorney of Uticai 
 (1835) and district attorney of Oneida County. He was nominated in 
 1857 for the office of Attorney- General, but shared in the defeat of his 
 party. He had a decided taste for literature and was fond of general 
 reading, especially poetry. He possessed a fine miscellaneous library,, 
 and gathered at great cost one of the largest and most valuable private 
 law libraries in the country ; this he bequeathed to Hamilton College. 
 To his brethren at the bar Mr. Noyes was ever considerate and court- 
 eous. His demeanor in court was respectful and decorous. Though 
 free from anything like assumption, he had a dignity of manner which 
 always commanded respect. In social life he was deservedly held in 
 high esteem, and it was said of him that " his private life was as pure 
 as his public record was spotless." Mr. Noyes was twice married ; first 
 to the daughter of the late William G. Tracy, of Whitesboro, and second, 
 to the daughter of Hon. F. A. Tallmadge, of New York. He left two 
 daughters, one by each wife. 
 
 Charles Tracy, long known as one of the ablest lawyers in New York 
 city, began his career in Utica. He was the son of William G. Tracy,, 
 of Whitesboro, where he was born. He prepared for college at Middle- 
 town and went to Yale College from Utica, where the family were then- 
 residing. He was graduated in 1832, pursued legal studies at first with 
 Noyes & Tracy and afterward with Henry R. Storrs, of Whitestown, 
 and Henry A. Foster of Rome, having been admitted as an attorney in 
 1835 3^nd as a counselor in 1837. Returning to Utica he became as- 
 sociated with his brother William, remaining thus until 1848, when he 
 removed to New York. He had an acute, broad and inquisitive mind,, 
 with habits of extreme industry, pains-taking and thoroughness; was 
 well grounded in the law and possessed of wide general intelligence. 
 The firm enjoyed a high reputation and had a large business. Mr. 
 Tracy participated heartily in all that was conducive to the best inter- 
 ests of our city. He was a trustee of the academy, a bible class teacher 
 in his church and a member of the board of aldermen. He took a deep 
 interest in local politics and used his best endeavors to have only good 
 men elected to offices. After his removal to the metropolis, where he 
 entered into several successive partnerships, Mr. Tracy was the legal 
 
JOHN SAVAGE. 553 
 
 counsel for many railroad corporations and by his unremitting devo- 
 tion won a name among the foremost lawyers of the city. He suc- 
 ceeded Charles O'Connor as president of the New York Law Institute 
 and was vice-president of the New York Bar Association. He was a 
 benefactor of many institutions of learning and of art, an officer of the 
 American Bible Society and senior warden of St. George's Protestant 
 Episcopal Church. Mr. Tracy had a love for historical research and 
 writing, and his address delivered at Whitestown at the celebration of 
 its centennial in 1884, is a fit companion to the lectures on the earl);^ 
 history of Oneida County delivered by his brother nearly fifty years 
 ago. Mr. Tracy married, in 1837, Louisa, daughter of Gen. Joseph 
 Kirkland, and they had seven children of whom five are living. His 
 death occurred in March, 1885, and that of Mrs. Tracy only a little 
 while afterward. It was in reverence for their memory that their son- 
 in-law, J. Pierpont Morgan, erected a magnificent building for the use 
 of St. George's Church. 
 
 John Savage was born in Salem, Washington County, N. Y., Febru- 
 ary 22, 1779. He was of Scotch descent, his ancestors having emi- 
 grated to this country from the north of Ireland. He took his degree 
 of B.A. at Union College in 1799, and was admitted to the bar after the 
 usual probation, beginning practice in his native town. At that time 
 the State was divided into large districts for the administration of crim- 
 inal justice, and Mr. Savage was appointed district attorney for the 
 northern district. His health becoming impaired he made a voyage to 
 Europe, and returning was re-appointed to his former position. In 
 1812 he was elected Member of Assembly from his native county and 
 was active in support of the government in the war with England. He 
 subsequently served two terms as a representative in Congress in 1814, 
 being re-elected in 18 16. After the expiration of his last term he was 
 appointed comptroller of the State. While it is impossible here to men- 
 tion all the various public measures in which Mr. Savage participated 
 or which were originated by him, it may be noted that the system of 
 taxing corporations, as such, was originated by him while acting as 
 comptroller. The new system was adopted in consequence of an elabo- 
 rate repor| from the comptroller, and has ever since been the established 
 policy of the State. While Mr. Savage occupied the office of comptrol- 
 70 
 
554 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 ler, the constitution of 1822 was adopted and went into operation. 
 The changes effected by that instrument necessitated a complete reor- 
 ganization of the judiciary, and Mr. Savage was called to and reluctantly 
 accepted the office of chief justice of the Supreme Court, to which he 
 was appointed January 29, 1823 ; he continued in that high office until 
 the latter part of the year 1836. It was in this office that the greatest 
 distinction of his life was earned. Having served a long time in other 
 walks of the public service, he did not consider that he possessed any 
 especial qualifications as a judge; but those who controlled the matter 
 thought otherwise. His labors were now to be performed in the face 
 of a learned bar and under the disadvantage of succeeding to the seat 
 of a race of judges of high reputation, of whom the State liad justly 
 been proud. But, with a good legal education, unusually strong com- 
 mon sense, and good judgment, with high powers of discrimination, and 
 patient study, added to perfect uprightness and integrity, he immedi- 
 ately overcame the slight embarrassments of his situation and by the 
 unanimous verdict of bar and community, he was one of the best judges 
 who ever presided in our highest tribunals. The character of his mind 
 was that of directness and simplicity. This quality enabled him at once 
 to see the controlling point in a cause and to divest it of all extrinsic 
 and superfluous considerations. His judgments, though generally the 
 result of much reflection, appeared so obvious when matured, as to com- 
 mand ready acquiescence. The nine volumes of Cowen's reports and 
 the first fifteen volumes of the reports of Mr. Wendell, contain the evi- 
 dences of his judicial labors, and form a lasting monument to his mem- 
 ory. The resign ition of Judge Savage was occasioned by the illlnessof 
 his wife. The only public employment in which he afterward engaged 
 was a short term of service as clerk of the Supreme Court in this city. 
 He afterward removed to his farm at Salem, and again within a few 
 years returned to Utica where he passed the remainder of his life. 
 Judge Savage had some marked peculiarities of character. Reserved 
 and diffident to a degree quite unusual in one who had mixed so much 
 with his fellow men, to common acquaintance he seemed cold and re- 
 served. The contrary of all this was certainly the fact. Among inti- 
 mate friends no man was more genial and interesting. Scarcely any 
 person had greater tenacity of purpose where questions of principle 
 
PHILO GRID LEY. 555 
 
 were concerned and opinion had been formed, In common with all 
 good men he was deeply afifected by the condition of the nation at the 
 time of his death, and saw no safety for the Union except in the vigor- 
 ous prosecution of the war. He died October 19, 1863, in the full 
 Christian faith. His wife was Esther, daughter of Gen. Timothy Newel, 
 of Sturbridge, Mass. One of his daughters became the wife of the Hon. 
 Ward Hunt. The other, Miss Laura Savage, is still a resident in Utica. 
 Philo Gridley was born at Paris, on September ]6, 1796. Having 
 completed his preparatory studies he entered Hamilton College at the 
 opening of that institution in 1812 and was graduated in 1816. While 
 teaching a classical school he began law with Thaddeus M. Wood of 
 Onondaga, and continued it at Waterville with Othniel Williams, father 
 of the late Judge Othniel Williams of Clinton. Admitted to its prac- 
 tice in 1820, he began in Waterville and after a few years removed to 
 Hamilton, Madison County, where he remained until he was raised to 
 the bench. It was here that he developed those traits of character 
 which gave him such deserved eminence in the profession. These were 
 strength, industry, and indefatigable perseverance. His temperament 
 was ardent, intense, vehement, and he was capable of sustaining labor 
 in the preparation of cases beyond that of most men. No case of im- 
 portance came into his hands which he did not investigate, both as to 
 the law and the facts, to its utmost depth. His persistence was not less 
 marked; and these enabled him with his elocution, his ardent, impetu- 
 ous manner, to take the judge and jury by storm. Having by his prac- 
 tice laid the foundation for an ample fortune, and having held for several 
 years the office of district attorney, he accepted in 1838 the appoint- 
 ment of circuit judge of the fifth judicial district, made vacant by the 
 resignation of Hiram Denio. ^The following year he' removed to Utica, 
 where he afterward continued to reside. Under the constitution of 
 1846 Judge Gridley was elected one of thirty-two judges comprising the 
 Supreme Court of the State. He served six years and next as one of 
 the judges of the Court of Appeals, when he resumed the practice ofhis 
 profession, though prolonged ill health obliged him ere long to discon- 
 tinue it. As a judge his quickness of apprehension, his thorough knowl- 
 edge of the law made it a pleasure to address him. His energy and 
 endurance now and then wore out the strength of lawyers attending 
 
556 MEMORJAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 upon the sessions of his court, while his promptitude and dispatch 
 gained for him the sobriquet of "the steamboat judge.'' He was the 
 judge who presided at the trial of Alexander McLeod, upon the issue 
 of which was believed to depend the question of a war with England. 
 The progress of the trial was watched with the utmost attention both at 
 home and abroad. His firm and impartial demeanor, and his able dis^ 
 charge of his arduous and delicate duties on this occasion, received from 
 all quarters the highest encc^miums. It will strikingly illustrate the 
 character of his mind and how completely he had abstracted himself from 
 all extraneous considerations, to state that as soon as the jury had re- 
 tired, the judge calmly took up the calendar and called a civil cause 
 for trial. Many of his decisions are in the published reports and are 
 characterized by discrimination and marked general ability. Judge 
 Gridley's acquaintance with books was extensive for one so exclusively 
 devoted to a single pursuit, and his relish was decided for literary criti- 
 cism and for historic and scientific research. He died August i6, 1864, 
 leaving a widow, since deceased, and four daughters. 
 
 Alexander Smith Johnson was born in Utica on July 30, 1817. He 
 was the oldest son of Alexander B. Johnson and grandson of Bryan 
 Johnson, one of the early settlers of Old Fort Schuyler. He was graduated 
 from Yale College in 1835 with the highest honors, and irnmediately 
 began the study of law ; he was admitted to the bar when twenty- one 
 years old. In the following January the late Judge Beardsley, recog- 
 nizing his bright prospects, offered him a partnership, but the connection 
 lasted only a few months. A field of larger usefulness opened to Judge 
 Johnson in New York city, whither he removed in 1839. He practiced 
 in that city until 1851, when he was named by the Democrats for judge 
 of the Court of Appeals. He was then only thirty-four years old, and 
 was triumphantly elected. Retiring from the bench in i860 he returned 
 to Utica and resumed his practice. In 1864 he was made a Regent of 
 the University, and in the same year was chosen by President Lincoln 
 as a United States Commissioner to settle the claims of the Hudson Bay 
 and Puget Sound Companies. In 1873, when Judge Ward Hunt was 
 elevated to the Supreme bench of the United States, Judge Johnson 
 succeeded him in the commission of Appeals. A year later, when 
 Judge Peckham was lost at sea. Judge Johnson was transferred to that 
 
A. S. JOHNSON— C. H. DOOLITTLE. 557 
 
 court. He was the candidate of the Republicans for the full term in 
 1874, but was defeated with the rest of his ticket. In 1875, however, 
 Governor Tilden recognized his high qualifications by naming him as 
 one of the commissioners to revise the statutes. In October of the 
 same year he was appointed by the President to the judgeship of the 
 United States Court for the Second Circuit, embracing the States of 
 New York and Vermont. It was written of Judge Johnson at the time 
 of his death (January 26, 1878) as follows : "Nature fitted him for the 
 •duties of a judge. He was calm, self-poised, and singularly impartial. 
 No wave of passion ever obscured his vision or swept his judgment 
 from its moorings. He could hear and determine without prejudice. 
 To these natural qualifications he added a comprehensive knowledge of 
 the law and a vigorous grasp of its underlying principles. He was a 
 student from choice, not from necessity. Learning to him was not a 
 weapon wherewith to conquer success, but a key opening the vast store- 
 houses of a high and enduring pleasure." Aside from his professional 
 training he was cultured in science, in letters, and in art. His widow, 
 a son and three daughters survive him. 
 
 Charles H. Doolittle, son of Dr. Harvey Doolittle, of Herkimer, a phy- 
 sician of reputation and skill, was born at Herkimer on February ig, 
 1816. He received early training at Fairfield Academy, and went 
 thence to Amherst College, and was graduated with distinction in 1836. 
 The successful man was already foreshadowed in the industrious and in- 
 quiring boy, fully appreciative of his good opportunities and determined 
 to make the most of all that God had given him. Beginning immedi- 
 ately the study of law he was some little time in the office of Simeon 
 Ford, at Little Falls, and then came to Utica to continue these studies 
 in the office of Denio & Hunt. He was admitted in 1839, and shortly 
 afterward formed a partnership with John G. Floyd, which continued 
 until Mr. Floyd's election to Congress. Subsequent partnerships were 
 formed, the most recent of which was Doolittle, Talcott & Swan. His 
 standing in his profession was quickly established. The key to his 
 quick success is found in the habits of his professional work and in some 
 of the characteristics of his mind. He was a most untiring worker. 
 He never undertook a case which he did not thoroughly master before 
 appearing with it in court. Ere other men were up in the morning, 
 
5s8 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 after others had sought their bed at night, Mr. D. was at his desk 
 preparing and re-preparing his cases, studying the facts from every 
 point of view and bringing under command every detail of the law. 
 He tried his cases on both sides and over and over again. No lawyer 
 in the city so rarely met with defeat, and the best of them dreaded to 
 cope with him ; they found him invulnerable in every point of law and 
 fact. His mind operated rapidly, running from point to point, con- 
 necting each detail with every other, and graspmg the whole with a 
 swiftness that was electrical, and yet he never committed himself to a 
 conclusion that thus flashed upon him until he had carefully sifted, 
 weighed, contrasted, and matured it. These qualities made him invalu- 
 able as a counselor, and during the years previous to his elevation to 
 the bench a large portion of his time was, thus engrossed. 
 
 In the fall of 1869 Mr. Doolittle was made the candidate of the Re- 
 publican party for the office of judge of the Supreme Court of the Fifth 
 Judicial District and received the endorsement of both parties. He 
 brought to the bench a splendid training for the duties it involved, with 
 habits of industry so firmly fixed as to become a second nature, with a 
 mind broadened and liberalized by study, with a profound appreciation of 
 the dignity and sacredness of the law. In all his practice he had shown 
 how keenly he felt the difference between mere law and absolute equity ; 
 the theory of his practice had been to maintain and establish abstract jus- 
 tice. He had no patience with men who seek to rob justice of its due 
 by a resort to a technicality of the law, the courts or the code. This was 
 the spirit with which Judge Doolittle attained the ermine ; with which he 
 heard cases, gave rulings, charged juries and rendered decisions. His 
 anxiety to sustai'n the right and just, his constant fear lest on account of 
 some lack of consideration he should unwittingly do wrong, led him to 
 study laboriously, following out every detail in all its bearings,. sifting 
 and analyzing every argument with all the acumen he possessed. His 
 labors on the bench were even more protracted and unbroken than those 
 connected with his practice. He was conscientious to a degree that 
 frequently brought him embarrassment and anxiety. In all these par- 
 ticulars he was an ideal judge ; forgetful of self, bound only to discover 
 the right way and to do the right thing if unwearied investigation could 
 attain it. Judge Doolittle was always considerate toward the younger 
 
SAMUEL B. GARVIN. 559 
 
 members of the bar ; full of encouragement where he detected earnest 
 and honest endeavors. His opinions were written with singular clear- 
 ness and force and stand upon the records in the highest estimation. In 
 appeal cases they have frequently been adopted by the higher courts as 
 embodying all that could be said upon the case, and as saying it in the 
 best way that it could be said ; very few of tliem were ever overruled. 
 Personally he was a good neighbor, an active citizen and a courteous 
 gentleman. His personal friends were warmly attached to him and he 
 was high in the estimation of the community. 
 
 Judge Doolittle was a member of the City Council in 1839 and again 
 in 1844-45, ^"d was mayor in 1853. He held the position of president 
 of the Oneida County National Bank, was one of the managers of the 
 New York State Inebriate Asylum, and for some years a vestryman of 
 Grace Church. He died May 21, 1874, leaving a wife, three sons and 
 two daughters. 
 
 Samuel B. Garvin was born at Butternuts, Otsego County. In that 
 retired village he lived until he was seventeen or eighteen years old, 
 when he went to Norwich, N. Y., and engaged in the study of the law. 
 Here, after being admitted to the bar, he married a daughter of Dr. 
 Henry Mitchell, a well known Congressman during Jackson's adminis- 
 tration. About 1840 he removed to Utica. Here he established an 
 enviable reputation as a lawyer and a citizen. In 1850 he was elected 
 district attorney of Oneida County, and during his term he successfully 
 conducted several important criminal trials. By President Pierce in 
 1856 he was appointed United States district attorney for the Northern 
 District of New York. After serving in this capacity for two years he 
 resigned his office, went to New York city and engaged in the practice 
 of law. He was a member of the law firm of Schaefer, Garvin & Dodge. 
 About 1862 he was elected judge of the Inferior Court. Resigning this 
 office he was appointed district attorney by Governor Hoffman to fill 
 the vacancy by the election of A. Oakey Hall to the mayoralty. Upon 
 the expiration of the partial term he was elected and filled the term pre- 
 ceding that of Mr. Phelps. After his retirement from that post he was 
 actively engaged in the practice of his profession and was unusually 
 successful. He died suddenly in New York in June, 1891, leaving a 
 wife, three daughters and one son', Henry M. Garvin. 
 
56o MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 The distinguished lawyer, orator, poHtical leader, and statesman, 
 Roscoe Conkling, was born in the city of Albany on the 3d of October, 
 1829. He was the youngest son of Judge Alfred Conkling, who was 
 United States judge for the Northern District of the State of New 
 York for more than a quarter of a century, or from 1825 to 1852. 
 Judge Conkling was afterward minister to Mexico, and died in Utica at 
 an advanced age in 1874. The son received an academic education 
 and had the advantage of excellent training. In 1846, at the age of 
 seventeen, he entered as a student the law office of Spencer & Kernan. 
 It is not remarked of him that he was a plodder in his legal studies, 
 although he gave to them as much attention as might be expected of 
 one so young in years. Of rhetoric, oratory, and politics he was pas- 
 sionately fond, and to them he devoted himself with keen assiduity. 
 About the time of his admission to the bar, and when he was scarcely 
 twenty-one years of age, he was appointed by Gov. Hamilton Fish to 
 fill a vacancy in the office of district attorney of Oneida County. This 
 office he is said to have filled with exceptional ability. For the regular 
 succeeding term he received the nomination of the Whigs, but failed of 
 election. Then for a number of years he devoted himself to the prac- 
 tice of his profession, displaying a vigor and attaining an eminence 
 rarely reached by one of his years. In the conduct of trials, especially 
 in the examination of witnesses and as an advocate before the jury, he 
 developed powers which promised a brilliant professional career. Dur- 
 ing this period of his life he closely applied himself to the study of the 
 principles of law bearing on his cases, and those who met him in con- 
 sultation in later years realized how much of the learning he then ac- 
 quired his tenacious memory held in store to the last. His ability to 
 recall the names of cases and state the points decided was remarkable. 
 In the spring of 1858 he was elected mayor of the city, a post he held 
 for two years. His administration was a model of efficiency and econ- 
 omy. But his dominant desires and aspirations not unnaturally sought 
 a wider plane of action. In November, 1839, he was elected to repre- 
 sent the district in Congress, succeeding to O. B. Matteson. From that 
 day forward till 1881, a period of twenty-two years, he was mainly en- 
 grossed with public affairs. In 1867, while still a member of the lower 
 House, he was chosen senator from New York to succeed Ira Harris. 
 
ROSCOE CONKLING. 561 
 
 He was re-elected in 1873 and again in 1879. During the two terms 
 of President Grant Mr. Conkling was his trusted adviser and friend. 
 He was an earnest supporter of Mr. Lincoln's adiiinistration during the 
 war of the Rebellion, and of that of General Grant during the recon- 
 struction period that followed. His voice was always raised and his 
 votes were always given upon the side of freedom and in behalf of Re- 
 publican principles. In the legislation necessary for the preservation 
 and reconstruction of the Union his is one of the most distinguished 
 figures in our political history. He opposed the restoration of secession 
 leaders to power in national affairs, was among the foremost advocates 
 of the civil rights bill, and an unwavering champion of specie resump- 
 tion. Perhaps the most important service he rendered his country dur- 
 ing his public career was in the framing and the passage of the electoral 
 commission bill under which the disputed presidential election of 1876 
 was determined, and but for which the nation would most certainly 
 have been plunged into civil war. In the advocacy of this bill Mr. 
 Conkling made a speech of two days' duration, and the array of facts and 
 details it contained regarding the practice and precedents of the nation 
 in the counting of electoral votes affords a fair insight into the thor- 
 oughness and completeness of all his work. Still it cannot be said that 
 he was a constructive statesman in the larger sense. His skill was dis- 
 played in the correct and judicious management of current affairs. As 
 a political chieftain Mr. Conkling was the embodied supremacy of or- 
 ganization in politics. He understood it thoroughly and he realized its 
 full capacity as an agent for control. But his were not the methods 
 that seek a following through familiarity or sacrifice of dignity. His 
 recognized genius commanded confidence and admiration without re- 
 sort to the acts of smaller-minded politicians, and he disdained victories 
 that could be won only at the sacrifice of dignity and self- respect. 
 There was an imperialism about his nature which forbade him to parley. 
 He compelled obedience and swept to his purpose with an impetuosity 
 that brooked no restraint. A man was either for him or against him, 
 and it apparently made little difference which ; but there was no n'iiddle 
 ground. To his friends he was ever generous and loyal ; to his enemy 
 he was either indifferent or implacable. More than any other man he 
 possessed the quality of leadership. He had the gift of choosing able 
 
562 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 lieutenants, and he infused among his followers an intensity of personal 
 devotion that bound them to him through good report and evil report. 
 But Mr. Conkling could not conciliate ; concession was repugnant to his 
 reason. This weakness, while it made him many enemies, was in the 
 estimation of his adherents more than counterbalanced by his consum- 
 mate ability, his matchless courage, his sublime faith in the justice of 
 the cause he espoused, his spotless integrity, and his unswerving loyalty 
 to country and friends. 
 
 Mr. Conkling made very few speeches which will live in literature as 
 models of the oratorical presentation of general principles, or be read 
 by coming generations as the speeches of Burke are read. And yet 
 there is no living American with capacity for so powerfully impressing 
 and influencing an audience as he possessed, and there has been none 
 to compare with him in his day and generation. There was a master- 
 ful eloquence in his simple appearance on the rostrum, and when to 
 that was added his voice, his intonation, his gesture, and his rugged, 
 plain and penetrating Saxon, the sense of power was complete. It was 
 so in the practice of his profession, on the floor of Congress, in his plat- 
 form addresses, and in his individual contact with men. Always there 
 was a sense of mastery present in his presence and radiating in his ut- 
 terance. He was a graceful orator, a finished rhetorician, and a keenly 
 logical, if not always a profound debater. 
 
 The last few years of Mr. Conkling's life were spent in the practice 
 of his profession in the city of New York. Going there in 1881, broken 
 in health and struggling under a load of debt contracted through the 
 demands of friendship, he advanced almost at a single bound to the first 
 rank at a bar perhaps the able^st in the world. When it is remembered 
 that during his long and exacting Senatorial service he had practically 
 abandoned the law, that when he opened his office anew he was alone, 
 without business connection or clientage, and that he had to compete 
 with a host of able practitioners entrenched in popular favor and jealous 
 of any new aspirant for the emoluments and honors they had so long 
 enjoyed, his success at the bar may be said to be almost unparalleled. 
 As the result of six years incessant toil he not only discharged every 
 obligation but amassed a princely fortune. He was employed in many 
 difficult and important causes and received a larger professional income 
 
ROSCOE CONKLING. . 563 
 
 than was ever paid in the same length of time to any lawyer of this 
 country. Something, doubtless, is to be credited to personal admira- 
 tion and devotion, but in the main his unprecedented success was due 
 to the fact that he was deemed by those having great interests at stake 
 to be as much a power at the bar as he had been in public life. Not- 
 withstanding Mr. Conkling's long career in Congress, during which he 
 was in the midst of the Pacific road and Credit Mobilier scandal, no 
 suspicion ever attached to his name. The tone of public morality was 
 undoubtedly lowered in consequence of the enormous expenditure made 
 necessary by the Civil war, but our Senator's standard of virtue never 
 fell. Mean and petty things he despised ; dishonesty he abhorred. 
 
 He was a man of great application and he gave nights as well as days 
 to his labors. He had the capacity to master almost any subject how- 
 ever abstruse or complicated, and it was his delight to conquer knotty 
 problems in law or in politics. He read much and his power of mem- 
 ory was phenomenal. He could recite long poems and passages from 
 the writers in whom he delighted. His capacity to recall on the mo- 
 ment historical facts and reminiscences, both political and literary, for 
 argument and illustration, was a gift which afforded equipment for fo- 
 rensic effort that few of any time have possessed. He enjoyed the 
 society of his friends, and while at Washington his dinners were fre- 
 quent and his hospitality lavish. He appeared well as a host, and as a 
 guest was a favorite wherever society was congregated. To those he 
 liked he was as gentle and winning as a child. His likes and dislikes 
 were not confined to party or faction. Among his most sincere friends 
 in the United States Senate, among his warmest admirers of the 
 denizens of Oneida County were many of the most ardent Democrats. 
 General Grant admired Mr. Conkling for sterling qualities manifested 
 by the young senator during a time when duplicity and dishonesty were 
 the rule and not the exception in public life. Mr. Conkling on his side 
 was attracted to the simple and rugged character of Grant. The latter 
 offered him in 1873 the chief justiceship of the Supreme Court of the 
 United States, and also the mission to the Court of St, James. In 1882 
 he was appointed associate justice of the same Court by President 
 Arthur. These positions he declined. In nearly all of the numerous 
 articles of the press evoked by his death he was recognized as one of 
 
564 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 the great figures which have appeared on our political stage. Nor was 
 he unknown or unnoticed abroad ; even the Continental press, as far 
 remote as Austria, treated his death as an important event. Utica and 
 Central New York took a large degree of pride in Senator Conkling. 
 In spite of partisan and factional warfare his distinction was regarded 
 as a possession in which the community had a share. So it was that 
 when in the summer of 1877 his ill-health led him to seek recovery 
 abroad a public reception was, on his return, accorded him by the cit- 
 izens generally. A committee met him on the train which was bearing 
 him homeward, and a procession of military and civic organizations 
 formed an escort to his residence, while decorations were displayed from 
 private houses and places of business. The address of welcome was 
 pronounced by Senator Kernan, professionally and politically the fre- 
 quent rival of the guest. Speaking for neighbors and friends of all par- 
 ties he testified their respect and regard and bade him welcome home. 
 The response of Mr. Conkling was felicitous and graceful. His rare 
 intellectual gifts, his imposing figure, his stately air and manner were 
 familiar to all. Yet it is not easy to accurately describe him. He was 
 what we may call a unique and formidable personality. He had great 
 but ill- regulated powers, made some grave mistakes, and was not with- 
 out peculiar weaknesses. There is reason to believe that with a sterner 
 and more rigorous self-control he would have wielded his great abilities 
 with more uniform and happier effect. He died in the city of New 
 York on the i8th of April, 1888. He was many years united with the 
 youngest sister of the late Gov. Horatio Seymour, who, with their only 
 child, Mrs. Oakman, survive him. 
 
 John Thomas Spriggs, a prominent criminal lawyer, was born in 
 Northamptonshire, England, May 5, 1820, and came with his parents 
 to this country in 1836, locating at Whitestown. After a period in 
 school he spent two years in Hamilton College, following with a term 
 of study of the law at Holland Patent, after which he entered Union 
 College and graduated from^ it in 1848. He then resumed the study 
 of the law and soon after graduation was admitted to the bar. He 
 practiced first with Thomas Flandrau in Utica ; removed to Rome 
 where he joined with Thomas G. Frost, a connection which continued 
 until 1859, when Mr. Spriggs took up his residence in Utica. In 1862 
 
J. THOMAS SPRIGGS. 565 
 
 he was a partner of Richard W. Mclncrow, continuing thus until 1870. 
 Still later he was associated with E. D. Matthews, and lastly with his 
 son, Fred. B. Spriggs. While still quite young Mr. Spriggs showed 
 evidence of that ability which afterwards distinguished him in his pro- 
 fession. I^een and quick in examining into a case and ready with an 
 opinion, he was much sought and trusted as a legal adviser. Though 
 never reaching the heights occupied by profound expounders of consti- 
 tutional law, he had a strong grasp of the intent and meaning of the 
 penal statutes of New York State and his interpretation of them 
 was rarely wrong. It was this faculty that helped to place him among 
 the foremost criminal lawyers of the State. Back of this was his advan- 
 tageous gift of power as a pleader. There were not many who were 
 superior to him in those qualities which go so far toward persuasion of 
 a jury. His style was direct and earnest and full of convincing ex- 
 pression, and he could hold for hours the close attention of a crowded 
 audience without the aid of notes. He was identified with many of the 
 most important criminal trials in this part of the State, and for twenty- 
 five years his reputation as a criminal lawyer was very high. In poli- 
 tics Mr. Spriggs was an ardent Democrat. His first public office was 
 that of district attorney, to which he was appointed by Governor Sey- 
 mour in 1853, to fill a vacancy. In 1854 he carried the county for the 
 office of county treasurer, and in 1868 was elected mayor of Utica. In 
 the fall of that year he was induced to accept the nomination for Con- 
 gress and was defeated. In 1878 he was again a candidate and although 
 he ran ahead of his ticket he was again defeated. Three other times 
 he ran for this office and was elected in 1882 and 1884; in 1886 he 
 was defeated. In Congress he occupied a high position and was placed 
 on important committees. He was a delegate to the National Conven- 
 tion at Baltimore in i860, also to the convention which nomin- 
 ated Greely in 1872, and to Cincinnati in 1880. He was re- 
 peatedly sent to State Conventions as delegate, and was a power in 
 Democratic politics. Mr. Spriggs was married in 1852 to Helen, 
 daughter of Dr. Henderson, of Whitestown. They had four children, 
 of whom two are living : Fred B., and the wife of Dr. Blumer, of Utica. 
 In the year 1870 there came to live in Utica a most worthy repre- 
 sentative of our judiciary, who had already in another county filled a 
 
S66 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. , 
 
 large measure of usefulness. This was Judge Charles Mason of Ham- 
 ilton. Born in Plattsburgh on July i8, i8lO, a law student and then a 
 partner at Watertown with the late Judge William Ruger, he succeeded 
 at Hamilton to the business and the offices of Philo Gridley, on the re- 
 moval of the latter to this city. Like him he was a successful prac- 
 tioner, district attorney of Madison County and long a justice of the 
 Supreme Court of the State. As an advocate he is described as a for- 
 cible and effective speaker, clear and logical in argument and often 
 brilliant in illustration. His legal ability and personal worth were so 
 well recognized that before he had reached his thirty-seventh year he 
 was nominated by the Democrats and was elected a justice of the Su- 
 preme Court for the Sixth District. Lot gave him the term of six 
 years ; at its close he was re-elected for eight years, and again in 1861 
 for a like period. In January, 1868, a vacancy was created on the 
 bench of Appeals, and Governor Fenton naturally chose Judge 
 Mason who had been the unsuccessful candidate of the preceding elec- 
 tion. \n 1870, under the amended judiciary article of the constitution. 
 Judge Mason was one of the Republican candidates for judge of the 
 Court of Appeals, but was not successful. The same year the appoint- 
 ment of clerk of the United States Circuit Court was conferred upon 
 him, and he took up his abode in Utica to attend to the duties of that 
 office. As a judge he was careful and conscientious, with perceptions 
 sure and grappling rather than rapid, and with wide knowledge, un- 
 wearying application and great precision in stating and deciding the 
 exact points. His mind was singularly free from prejudice or from 
 caprice. He could hear and decide with perfect impartiality. His 
 memory was remarkable. He could recite off-hand volume and page 
 of the reports where decisions could be found bearing on the case in 
 point. Yet he was no blind worshiper of precedents. His strong 
 sense, his intuitive knowledge of right and wrong were his ultimate 
 guide, and these strengthened by his knowledge enabled him to reach 
 decisions which are remembered as among the best that were rendered 
 in the high Court of Appeals. Judge Mason was a member of the 
 Protestant Episcopal Church, was prominent in its councils and faith- 
 ful to his religious obligations. Through and through he was a man of 
 sterling excellence. Modest in his estimate of himself, not demonstra- 
 
OBSTACLES TO BUSINESS SUCCESS. 567 
 
 tive, but in every relation fulfilling his obligations manfully, cheerfully, 
 and with exemplary fidelity. He was twice married. His last wife 
 with two daughters still survive him. His death occurred in 1879. 
 
 CHAPTER XVn. 
 
 FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 IT is an acknowledged fact that the city of Utica of today rests upon a 
 financial foundation more stable and sound than those of the major- 
 ity of the large communities of the country. This position has not been 
 reached, however, without bitter lessons of experience, struggles to 
 avert disaster, and periods of monetary stringency that threatened to 
 overwhelm the business of the place. From the consequences of the 
 well known financial " panics," as they are called, which have afflicted the 
 country, Utica has suffered more than many of her sister cities. There 
 are good reasons for this, and they lie chiefly in the facts that apart from 
 her location in the midst of a rich agricultural region, she possesses no 
 natural sources of wealth, and that she has no large water power, 
 from which in early years might have been cheaply developed a large 
 manufacturing industry. While Syracuse, for example, could pass 
 through a financial revulsion supported by her wealth- creating salt 
 production, Rochester by the great manufacturing establishments made 
 possible and profitable by her immense water power, and other cities 
 by distinct advantages, Utica and places similarly situated have had, at 
 least down to the era of the extensive adoption of steam as a motive 
 power and the concentration of many railroads at large commercial cen- 
 ters, little else than the ordinary gains of trade and the energy and 
 determination of their citizens to carry them through a period of finan- 
 cial stringency.! Undoubtedly well situated for a commercial center 
 
 1 Note. — Until after about 1845 there were almost no manufacturing operations in Utica, while 
 Whitestown, New Hartford, Clinton, Paris, Oriskany, and Waterville were the sites of flourish- 
 ing establishments. 
 
S68 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 thus making a good market for products of the land, which are in one 
 sense the creator of wealth, yet mere commercial activity — the ex- 
 change of necessaries or luxuries for money — does not serve as a secure 
 anchor in time of great shrinkage and scarcity of money, as does a heavy 
 manufacturing element; this approaches nearer to the creation of 
 wealth, or of something that can be exchanged for wealth, and has ex- 
 tensively employed labor in its production. 
 
 In consequence of these facts Utica has suffered deeply in the sev- 
 eral periods of financial distress which have prevailed throughout the 
 country. ■ But she has grown (possibly, through the lessons of those 
 troubled times) to a present condition of financial soundness and good 
 repute, not so rapidly perhaps as many cities, but no less surely, and 
 has outstripped most cities in the character of her business citizens, as 
 far as relates to their business standing, conservatism, prudence, and 
 average wealth. This conservatism and prudence may at times have 
 operated as a check upon public enterprise and to delay or wholly pre- 
 vent the consummation of undertakings that might have conserved the 
 public welfare and given additional impetus to the growth and prosperity 
 of the community ; but it may be safely argued that it is better to 
 draw the line in all business operations far on the safe side of rashness, 
 than to overstep that line ever so little. It is, generally understood 
 that the business men of Utica have, as a rule, pursued this conservative, 
 prudent course, have conducted their various operations with good 
 judgment and foresight, and thus gained them the reputation for finan- 
 cial soundness to which we have referred. Unfortunately it has not 
 always been so, and in years long past when financial upheavals have 
 swept over the country leaving ruin in their tracks, the fever of specu- 
 lation and false theories as to the principles of wealth- making and the 
 values of various kinds of property, found proportionately as many 
 credulous victims in Utica as elsewhere. It may be astonishing, but it 
 is nevertheless doubtless true, that lots of land in what are now the sub- 
 urbs of the city, were sold fifty years ago or more for higher prices 
 than they would command today. When the fever of speculation runs 
 high true values are lost sight of; and when reason asserts itself on the 
 subject, ruin must follow. 
 
 Down to about the year 1810 the money in use was chiefly silver, 
 
THE MANHATTAN BANK—H. B. GIBSON. 569 
 
 and for the most part the Spanish milled coinage. Bank bills were few 
 and consisted of notes of eastern banks. For loans Utica business men 
 were dependent on Albany. The beginning of banking operations in 
 Utica dates from the arrival of Montgomery Hunt in 1809, he having 
 been sent hither by the Manhattan Bank of New York to organize a 
 branch of that institution. Mr. Hunt was well qualified for the task, 
 and he located his institution in a small building that stood back frorn 
 the west line of Hotel street, a little south of Whitesboro. In July, 
 1809, the lot on the corner of these streets was bought and a brick 
 building erected thereon for the bank. Mr. Hunt's only associate was 
 Henry B. Gibson, who acted as teller and bookkeeper. The directors 
 for the year 1810 were as follows: William Floyd, of Westernville, 
 James S. Kip, Francis A. Bloodgood, Solomon Wolcott, John Bellin- 
 ger, Thomas Walker, Apollos Cooper, Marcus Hitchcock, Henry Hunt- 
 ington, of Rome, Nathan Smith, Ephraim Hart, as yet of Clinton, and 
 Nathan Williams, who was the president. With one exception all of these 
 gentlemen seem to have left the Manhattan in 18 12 and taken part in 
 the'Utica Bank. The institution continued in existence until 1818 and 
 appears to have prospered. Among those who were on its board of 
 directors were Morris S. Miller (who was president in 1816), Nathan 
 Williams, James Van Rensselaer, jr., John C. Devereux, John C. Hoyt, 
 John H. Handy, James Dana, James S. Kissam (who was for a short 
 time its manager after the retirement of Mr. Hunt), Mr. Gibson and 
 James Nazro. 
 
 Henry B. Gibson was born in Reading, Pa., April 13, 1783, and when 
 nine years old went with his father to Saratoga, N. Y., where he re- 
 peived his principal education. Determining to become a merchant he 
 began as a clerk at Cooperstown, and from there located in Utica as 
 clerk for Hugh Cunningham. He was afterward employed as writer 
 in the clerk's office under Francis A. Bloodgood, and in 1812 was made 
 teller in the Bank of Utica. Owing to disagreement with Mr. Hunt as 
 to loaning money from his private purse, Mr. Gibson resigned his posi- 
 tion and went with Watts Sherman to New York in the spring of 181 3. 
 There as merchants they carried on a successful business, having Alex- 
 ander Seymour as their associate and representative at Utica. In this 
 firm, and after the death of Mr. Sherman, in other connections, he re- 
 
 72 
 
570 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 mained in the city until 1820, when he was called to the position of 
 cashier of the Ontario Bank at Canandaigua. That position he filled 
 until the expiration of the charter of the bank in 1856, retrieving its 
 affairs and gaining the reputation of being a uniformly successful 
 banker. In February, 181 1, a newspaper call was published asking all 
 who were interested in the establishment of a bank in Utica to meet at 
 the hotel. The result was the incorporation of the Bank of Utica on 
 the 1st of June, 1812, and it began business on the 8th of December 
 following. The capital stock was placed at $1,000,000, but it did not 
 really exceed $600,000, and on the renewal of its charter in 1832 it was 
 fixed at the latter sum. The second charter extended to 1850, since 
 which time the business has been carried on by an association under 
 the general banking law of the State. For a short time after its estab- 
 lishment the business was conducted on the west side of Genesee street 
 not far from Bleecker, and in 18 13 was removed to the brick building 
 on the north side of Whitesboro street next east of the hotel. Here it 
 remained until February, 1854, when it was removed to its present loca- 
 tion on Genesee street. The directors named in the charter of the 
 bank were James S. Kip, Thomas Walker, Samuel Stocking, David W. 
 Childs, Marcus Hitchcock, ApoUos Cooper, Henry Huntington, Nathan 
 Smith, Solomon Wolcott, Jedediah Sanger, John Bellinger, Francis A. 
 Bloodgood, and John Stewart, jr. Its first president was James S. Kip ; 
 Montgomery Hunt, cashier; Henry B, Gibson, teller; and Thomas Coll- 
 ing, book-keeper. Mr. Kip held his office only to the first annual elec- 
 tion, when he retired and was succeeded by Abraham Van Santvoord 
 as director, and by Henry Huntington of Rome, as president. The lat- 
 ter held the office of president by repeated elections until 1845, when 
 he declined a re election and was succeeded by Thomas Walker. In 
 June, 1863, Benjamin N. Huntington was elected president in place of 
 Mr. Walker, deceased. In 1876 P. V. Rogers, then cashier, was elected 
 president and still holds that office. William B. Welles succeeded Mont- 
 gomery Hunt as cashier at the beginning of 1835, ^"f^ continued in the 
 office until July, 1863, a period of nearly thirty years, and was then suc- 
 ceeded by P. V. Rogers. When Mr. Rogers was elected president John 
 A. Goodale was made cashier and still holds the office. 
 
 The directorship of this old and stable institution has included many 
 
UTICA BANK— MONTGOMERY HUNT. 571 
 
 of the leading business men of Utica, and the bank has from the first 
 been managed with prudence and good judgment. In times of embar- 
 rassment the directors first cut down the measure of their own per- 
 sonal discounts before reducing those of the other stockholders. The 
 bank liberally supplied funds to the government for the payment of 
 troops in the war of 18 12. Less than a year after this bank began bus- 
 iness application was made to the directors for a branch at Canandai- 
 gua, and after it was several times repeated the directors decided to 
 concur with the petitioners in an application to the legislature for a 
 charter which was granted in 181 5, and in Januar)' of the following year 
 the branch was opened. It continued in existence until 1850, the direc- 
 tors and officers being chosen by the parent bank from which it re- 
 ceived its working capital. 
 
 The early years of the existence of the bank brought it great pros- 
 perity. Not more than twelve and one- half percent, of the stock was 
 called in before a semi-annual dividend was declared, and down to 1825 
 only 25 per cent, of the subscriptions had been asked for, while the semi- 
 annual dividends of four and one half percent, were regular for the first 
 sixteen years. In 1832 the capital stock was certified as $600,000, the 
 same as at the present time. On the 1st of September, 1865, the Bank 
 of Utica was organized under the national system and became the First 
 National Bank of Utica as at present. The present officers of this bank 
 are as follows: President, P. V. Rogers;' vice-president, Edward Cur- 
 ran ; cashier, John A. Goodale ; teller, H. R. Williams. 
 
 Montgomery Hunt was the son of Ward Hunt, of Westchester Count)-, 
 New York. He graduated from Columbia College in 1792, and was 
 then placed as a clerk in the Bank of America. He came to Utica in 
 1809, in the employ of the Manhattan Bank, as the cashier of its branch, 
 and was afterward transferred to the Utica Bank. He became known 
 throughout the State as one of the ablest and most skillful financiers. 
 During all of the fluctuations of trade and the shocks and reverses to 
 which every country is exposed, he displayed judgment and sagacity 
 that are rarely surpassed. During the war period of 18 12 and a few 
 years threafter, when so many of the banks succumbed, he maintained 
 the credit of his and pushed its notes into circulation as far distant as 
 
 1 See biography in another department of this work. 
 
572 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF tlTJCA. 
 
 New Orleans. The deposits of the Bank of Utica rarely exceeded 
 $200,000, while the circulation was three times as largfe. Mr. Hunt was 
 conspicuous as a Mason, and in 1816 was one of the presidential elec- 
 tors. After his resignation in the bank he lived about two years in New 
 York, but died in St. Cruz, whither he had gone to improve his health, 
 February 24, 1837. 
 
 Thomas Colling, so long in the service of the Bank of Utica, was of 
 English birth and came to America while still a minor and engaged in 
 teaching. In 1810-11 he taught a night school in Utica, at the same 
 time being a writer in the office of the county clerk. He had a good 
 mathematical education and was an expert accountant; besides he was 
 a man of steady industry and punctual habits, which rendered his serv- 
 ices invaluable to the bank. He was retained in its employ until his 
 death, February 25, 1859, at the age of seventy. He was the first clerk 
 of Utica after it became a city. 
 
 William B. Welles had a long and honorable connection with the Bank 
 of Utica, and was one of the pioneers of the place. He joined Asahel 
 Seward as clerk about 181 1, and remained with him three years. He 
 then served Jesse Doolittle in the same capacity for about a year. In 18 14 
 he was made teller of the Bank of Utica, at which time he was regarded 
 as the best judge of paper money in the village, a qualification which at 
 that time was of great importance. In 1824 he succeeded Orson Sey- 
 mour as cashier of the branch of the bank at Canandaigua, and in 1835 
 was recalled to take the place of Montgomery Hunt, as cashier of the 
 parent institution, and as before noted filled that station with honor for 
 about thirty years, and until 1863. The later years of his life were 
 spent in Brooklyn. 
 
 Alexander B. Johnson was intimately connected with the financial 
 history of Utica for many years, and was also associated with the man- 
 agement of the Bank of Utica. He was born in Gosport, England, 
 May 27, 1786, and came to New York with the family in April, 1801. 
 His father became a merchant in Utica, and his son began keeping his 
 books soon after his arrival in this country. With the foundation of 
 education obtained in London, and later earnest and sustained endeavors, 
 he acquired a large stock of information, and became a vigorous and 
 original thinker, and a terse and forcible writer. In the year 1810, soon 
 
ALEXANDER B. JOHNSON. s73 
 
 after he had attained his majority, he estabUshed a large glass factory 
 near the village of Geneva, N. Y. In i8 12 he wrote and published a 
 book entitled "An Inquiry into the Nature of Value and of Capital, and 
 into the Operation of Government Loans, Banking Institutions, and 
 Private Credit, with an Appendix containing an Inquiry into the Laws 
 which Regulate the Rate of Interest and the Price of Stocks." This 
 work brought him into notice as a thoughtful speculator on the subject 
 of finance. It was not long before his energies were enlisted in a scheme 
 for a bank of his own, and these resulted in the creation of an institu- 
 tion now almost forgotten. About the year 1798 Aaron Burr had 
 secured banking privileges for the Manhattan Company of New Ydrk, 
 under the plea of furnishing " pure and wholesome water," and for his 
 management in getting such a charter through the legislature he was 
 greatly applauded. His adroitness was not without influence on Mr. 
 Johnson. Ambitious of securing a charter for another bank in Utica he 
 yet feared opposition from the law-makers at Albany, as well as hostil- 
 ity from the banks already in existence. Deluded by the successful ex- 
 ploit of Mr. Burr, he resorted to similar means to compass his purpose. 
 He drew a charter for the Utica Insurance Company, which was so cun- 
 ningly worded that, while it seemed to convey only permission to in- 
 sure property, it in reality granted the privilege of banking also. This 
 charter he skillfully maneuvered through the legislature during the 
 winter of 1815— 16. On coming home he called together Messrs. Kip, 
 Bloodgood and others, who all agreed that the charter by its terms con- 
 ferred the right of banking, and in this opinion concurred also Thomas 
 Addis Emmet and Richard Harison of New York. A company was 
 soon formed and the $500,000 of capital was taken up. The directors 
 were James S. Kip, president ; Francis A. Bloodgood, Nathan Williams 
 {who soon, however, gave place to Nicholas Devereux), Bryan and 
 Alexander B. Johnson, Charles C. Broadhead, Killian Winne, Hugh ■ 
 Cunningham, and Richard R. Lansing. Mr. Johnson was made secre- 
 tary and treasurer as well as cashier, and A. D. Smith served as teller. 
 Operations were begun in July about where is now the Second National 
 Bank, though the company afterward bought of the Johnsons a part of 
 the property on the corner of Division and Whitesboro streets, where 
 their store had previously been, and erected thereon a suitable building. 
 
574 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 They made banking their principal business, and soon had in circulation 
 $190,000 of their notes of one dollar and upwards, with about $3,500 
 of small fractional change. The loans ran up to nearly $300,000. 
 They met with much opposition from the Utica and Ontario banks, 
 which endeavored in every possible way to embarrass them. These 
 banks collected with avidity the notes of the Insurance Company and 
 returned them speedily. Mr. Johnson conducted the war with vigor and 
 skill, sending out agents with the notes of the company, who exchanged 
 them for other bank notes. He insured also to the extent of $1,000,000 
 and fortunately met with no losses by fire. Martin Van Buren had in 
 the mean time become attorney- general of the State. He applied to 
 the chancellor for an injunction against the company. The legislature 
 of 1818 amended the restraining law, as it was termed, which prevented 
 individuals from banking, and made it apply to corporations also, affix- 
 ing severe penalties for its infraction. On this account the company de- 
 termined to suspend business on the 3d of August, 18 18, theday before 
 the act was to take effect. Both deposits and notes were paid in full, 
 and the outstanding policies of insurance were transferred to a New York 
 insurance company. The court gave judgment against the Utica com- 
 pany, when a majority of the stockholders, through their proxies 
 obtained by Mr. Johnson, dissolved the company on the 6th,of July, 
 , 18 19, and he, by his unaided efforts wound up its affairs with trifling loss 
 to the stockholders. Though Mr. Johnson was commended by many 
 for his acuteness in securing the charter for the above described institu- 
 tion, the matter was a source of regret to him in later years. 
 
 In June, 18 19, he was made a director of the Ontario Branch Bank, 
 and in September following was elevated to the presidency. That bank 
 emanated from Canandaigua, where its parent had been established 
 about a year after the organization of the Bank of Utica, and it began 
 business here in December, 1815. During a number of years the capi- 
 tal was divided equally between the parent bank and its branch, but 
 subsequent to 1843, $300,000 were located in the branch, and the re- 
 maining $200,000 in the parent institution. The existence of the cor- 
 poration was limited to June, 1843, but in 1829 it was extended by 
 legislative act to January i, 1856. A general supervisory and directing 
 power remained of course with the board at Canandaigua, who ap- 
 
ONTARIO BANK. 575 
 
 pointed the principal officers of the branch, advised as to the selection 
 of its directors, as well as with respect to the administration of its affairs, 
 and to this board weekly returns were made of its condition and its do-- 
 ings. The first directors at Utica were as follows : Benjamin Walker, 
 Jeremiah Van Rensselaer, Arthur Breese, Joseph Kirkland, William G. 
 Tracy, Charles C. Broadhead, James Piatt, Kellogg Hurlburt, Jesse W. 
 Doolittle, Abraham Varick, Moses Bagg, Jason Parker, and James 
 Lynch. Colonel Walker was the first president, and was succeeded 
 after his decease by Arthur Breese. 
 
 Mr Breese resigned in his favor and Mr. Johnson succeeded him, 
 though under the title and guise of president he became de facto cashier 
 also. With him rested all the management of the bank, the care in 
 selecting directors, attending to the sufficiency of notes and the security 
 of those already in the bank, all the responsibility in the eyes of the 
 public and the Canandaigua board for its general safety and prosperity, 
 all the care of preserving harmony between the bank and its dealers, 
 and among the members of its own board of directors. And he was 
 daily present at the bank from its opening till its close. Its affairs when 
 he assumed control were greatly depressed ; its notes were not taken at 
 all in Utica, and were sold in New York at twelve and a half per cent, 
 discount. In fact the bank was closed from the middle of July to the 
 fore part of November. Such, however, was the public confidence in 
 his integrity and financial ability that the notes very soon rose to par 
 and obtained an extensive circulation. From that day forward the On- 
 tario Branch Bank was one of the most prosperous banks in this or any 
 other State. It was conducted on sound principles, and experienced 
 almost no loses. 
 
 In 1852, by reason of severe domestic affliction and consequent in- 
 capacity for business, Mr. Johnson was obliged to take a voyage to 
 Europe. During his absence he could not of course exercise a per- 
 sonal supervision of the affairs of the bank, nor did he afterward assume 
 as direct a management of its concerns as he had previously done. 
 Upon the expiration of its charter in December, 1855. 'ts connection 
 was severed with the parent bank, and its capital and interests were 
 merged in a new one formed under the general banking law, with the 
 name of the Ontario Bank. Mr. Johnson took part in organizing it. 
 
576 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 and when, as he supposed, it was placed nn a sure foundation, he ceased 
 ip part from his labors and left the details to others. Within eighteen 
 months after its organization the bank was insolvent. The occurrence 
 in all of its painful aspects, the ruin produced, the brief period of its ac- 
 complishment, constitute a case almost without parallel in banking, and 
 which is exceeded by nothing but the elaborateness of the means em- 
 ployed to conceal the progress of the ruin from the president who was 
 constantly in the bank, and from the scrutiny of directors of experience 
 and caution who met weekly as a board. Mr. Johnson devoted himself 
 to the utmost to save those who had placed confidence in him from loss, 
 and the bill holders were all paid off and a trifle restored to the stock- 
 holders. 
 
 Mr. Johnson died September 9, 1867, at the age of eighty-one. 
 Prominent and distinguished as he was as a banker, Mr. Johnson re- 
 garded his reputation and success in that character as of secondary im- 
 portance to himself He adopted that profession in order, as he himself 
 has said, that he "might have time and opportunity to write." "The 
 labors of the counting room and the study were constantly intermingled, 
 and often the sheet of a treatise in hand and a current balance sheet 
 might be seen on his table together ; but the business of the day was 
 never for a moment sacrificed to its relaxations, and the balance sheet al- 
 ways had the preference." He wrote treatises upon the subject of bank- 
 ing and finance which received high commendation from those who 
 were best qualified to judge of their merits ; for few men in our country 
 understood better than he the principles which should govern all finan- 
 cial affairs, or were more practical in applying them. Yet though he 
 devoted so much time and study to such subjects, " the great and promi- 
 nent study of his life was language with reference to its meaning in 
 something other than words." 
 
 With the exception of the general unsettled financial condition of the 
 country during and succeeding the war oi 18 12-14, the first period of 
 severe monetary stringency occurred in 1835-37. The causes of this 
 panic had their beginning in the very financial foundation of the govern- 
 ment as developed by the policy of General Jackson and in antagonism to 
 that policy by the United States Bank and its coninections. While the tide 
 was rising, banks multipliec^ in various parts of the country and their 
 
SPECULATIVE EXCITEMENT. s77 
 
 managers, who had thus become able to control large resources in depre- 
 ciated currency, engaged heavily in real estate and other speculations, 
 indulged extravagantly in the purchase of luxuries, and thus aided in 
 turning the heads of their more conservative neighbors. Prices of lands 
 and all other kinds of goods were greatly inflated, money was plenty, eas- 
 ily got and as readily spent. Usurious rates of interest prevailed, money 
 commanding from three to five per cent, a month, with an unusual de- 
 mand at even those rates. This apparent anomaly is explained by the 
 fact that many persons were led into borrowing money at enormous 
 rates of interest, in the hope that by its use they could realize the same 
 large profits that were being made by their neighbors ; thus almost the 
 entire community was drawn into the whirlpool and an era of general 
 speculation followed such as 'the country has never since experienced. 
 Upon the subject of actual gains by the mere transfer of land from hand 
 to hand, and always at enhanced prices, men otherwise apparently sane 
 seemed to have gone mad. Tracts of land which, even at this late day, 
 are not looked upon as very desirable residence or business property, 
 were laid out and mapped and sold over and over at constantly advanc- 
 ing prices, until the crash came, with ruin in its wake. This was the case 
 in Utica as well as in most other cities of the country ; and it is doubt- 
 less true that tracts of land here changed hands between the years 1836 
 and 1839 at higher prices than they would bring today. For months 
 after the excitement had subsided letters were frequently received from 
 persons at a distance making inquiries about the value of city lots they 
 had bought here when the fever was at its height. They learned in 
 reply that these lots were located quite outside of the inhabited portions 
 of the city and were of value simply for farming purposes, The record 
 of mortgages in the office of the county clerk reveals a long list of mort- 
 gages given by one man as securities for the purchase of " lots " which in 
 fact lie within the confines of New Hartford or beyond the boundaries of 
 Utica on the east. The fever of speculation invaded all classes of the 
 community. Some persons saw the approach of coming disaster and es- 
 caped in time; but large numbers became bereft of ordinary judgment 
 and clung to the impossible theory that money could be actually created 
 by such operations, until they were finally overwhelmed. The general 
 crash was finally precipitated by President Jackson's " specie circular," 
 
 73 
 
578 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 which required all payments for public lands that had been eagerly 
 located and absorbed in the west, to be made in specie, and the with- 
 drawal of deposits from the United States Bank. In Utica the general 
 demand for a greater volume of circulating medium, and particularly for 
 more extensive banking facilities, began several years before the period 
 of active speculation, and manifested itself in one direction by repeated 
 efforts for the establishment of the Oneida Bank. This was, however, in 
 1836, as related further on. In September, 1838, the Bank of Central 
 New York was established with a capital of $100,000. This, as well as 
 the Ontario Bank, failed in the panic of 1857. 
 
 When the day of general disaster approached, a meeting was called 
 in Utica at which a resolution was adopted that a public meeting should 
 be called at once to consider the question of the suspension of specie 
 payments by the local banks. This call was made, and the second 
 meeting held on the i6th of May, 1837, and the call was signed by 
 Theodore S. Gold, Horace Butler, Bradford Seymour, George Tracy, 
 G W. Hubbard, and I. Tiffany. A resolution was adopted at the 
 meeting expressive of confidence in the banks and in the belief that their 
 notes would be paid. The suspension followed as it had almost univer- 
 sally elsewhere. There was much ruin and distress, and many, especi- 
 ally among the j'ounger business men, were financially stranded. Flour 
 sold at one period here at $10.50 per barrel (higher by about a dollar a 
 barrel than the New York quotation), and for a few days there was not 
 a barrel of that necessary in the Utica market. 
 
 A resolution was adopted on the 19th of May in the common council 
 that a plate be struck promising to pay one dollar in specie to the holder 
 of the scrip one day after the banks should resume specie payments, or 
 in Safety Fund bills whenever five dollars' worth of the notes should be 
 presented to the treasurer. A protracted discussion followed, and the 
 matter was finally referred to the committee on public improvements ; 
 but we do not learn that anything was accomplished in that direction. 
 The force of the storm finally passed, and early in 1838 the banks began 
 the resumption, this action having been preceded a few months earher 
 by similar action by the New York banks. A local paper said on the 
 8th of May : " The banks of the city have for some time paid specie on 
 all demands, and they issue their own notes without reserve." In 1838 
 
SPECULATIVE PERIOD. 579 
 
 the general banking law was passed, which exerted a powerful influence 
 in restoring public confidence. 
 
 From the financial wreck just described Utica did not recover as 
 rapidly as many other places. But the reaction throughout the country 
 brought an era of general prosperity in which this city shared. Mer- 
 cantile operations became active, building progressed, and some new 
 manufactures were projected. A short period of stringency occurred in 
 1847, the evil results were confined largely to the channels of mercantile 
 business. Prices of all kinds of goods were greatly advanced, flour 
 selling here at one time for $13 a barrel, and there were a few failures. 
 This was followed by ten years of encouraging prosperity when the 
 great panic of 1857 overwhelmed the country. Utica had by this time 
 grown to a prosperous and thriving city, and her citizens shared in the 
 feeling of independence and over- confidence in the future which was 
 universal. The surrounding country had reached a position of tolerable 
 independence; the farming community had in most cases wholly or in 
 part paid for their lands; plank-roads had been built and extended 
 from the city directly to the doors of the farms, and over them were 
 easily drawn the products which were turned into money in the 
 city. But as has often been the case, the tide of prosperity brought its 
 own destruction ; business of all kinds became excessively overdone ; 
 railroads and other great undertakings were recklessly projected in all 
 parts of the country ; the banks in many of the States inflated the cur- 
 rency beyond necessity or prudence, and a great crash followed. It 
 was precipitated in the fall of 1857 by the suspension of specie pay- 
 ments in the city of New York, which was followed by similar action on 
 the part of the local banks. Money had never before been so scarce, 
 and no paper was so good as to secure a discount. It is said that in Utica 
 a business man pinned a five dollar bank bill to his own note for the same 
 amount, and offered it for discount at one of the banks and was refused. 
 The great and immutable laws of finance were not so well understood 
 then as now, particularly by the general public, and ignorance usually 
 leads to suffering. One of the directors of a local bank asked a clerk if 
 the bank did not have a great amount on hand in their own notes. He 
 was answered in the affirmative. He replied that it was just as he 
 thought, and he would see that they had less of them. He accordingly 
 
s8o MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 made his own note for $I0,000, and offered it for discount and was re- 
 fused. He was deeply incensed and could not understand it. In this 
 crisis the Ontario Bank and the Bank of Central New York failed. The 
 hard times following this event continued through 1858-59, when the 
 country began to recover from its effects, only to be plunged into the 
 horrors of a great civil war. 
 
 The incorporation of the Oneida National Bank was effected on the 
 13th of May, 1836, but it did not begin business until late in November 
 in that year. Strenuous efforts had been made for two or three years 
 to secure better banking facilities in Utica which were not successful 
 until the date mentioned. The first board of directors were Charles A. 
 Mann, Horatio Seymour, John H. Ostrom, John D. Leland, Van Vech- 
 ten Livingston, A. G. Dauby, Ezra S. Barnum, Henry Wager, Jesse W. 
 Doolittle, Israel Stoddard, Charlemagne Tower, Hiram Shays, and 
 Jonathan R. Warner. Augustine G. Dauby was its first president and 
 Kellogg Hurlburt the first cashier. The stock of thd new bank was in 
 great demand and its distribution caused much excited feeling and even 
 litigation, so great was the disappointment of those who could not secure 
 shares in its stock. About a million of dollars was subscribed while the 
 capital was but $400,000. A sad mishap befell the bank ere its start. 
 On Sunday night, November 20, 1836, the night just preceding the 
 proposed opening of the bank for business, it was robbed of $108,000 
 in cash besides $8,500 in drafts. This money had just been paid in for 
 stock. A watchman was provided for the bank and he seems to 
 have performed his duty faithfully until an early hour in the morn- 
 ing, when he supposed there was no further danger and went home. It 
 was subsequently learned that the thieves had been on the watch for a 
 considerable period waiting for the money to be paid in and placed in 
 the vaults, and were in the end enabled to carry out the crime with less 
 trouble and risk than they perhaps anticipated. This robbery created 
 great excitement. Persistent efforts were made to trace the robbers 
 and these were in a measure finally successful. By means of marked 
 bills one of the thieves was at last located in the western part of the 
 State and another near Hamilton, Canada. Both had purchased farms 
 and had apparently settled down to enjoy the proceeds of their crime. 
 They were arrested and property to the value of nearly $50,000 was 
 
ONEIDA BANK. 581 
 
 recovered. Only one of the robbers was convicted. The loss was a 
 severe one, but the bank began business through a re-distribution of 
 the stock and soon became a strong institution. On the istof July, 
 1865, the bank went into the national system, taking the name of the 
 Oneida National Bank. 
 
 Mr. Dauby held the office of president only about three months when 
 he was succeeded in December, 1836, by Alfred Munson, who contin- 
 ued in the office until his death, May 6, 1854. In June of that year 
 Charles A. l\Iann was elected to the office, which he filled untilhis death 
 January 20, i860, and was succeeded by James Sayre, whose election 
 occurred in June, i860. He died April 24, 1877, and on the 6th of July 
 of that year A. J. Williams was elected president and continued in the 
 office until his. death in August, 1886. In November of that year the 
 present incumbent, R. S. Williams, was elected. 
 
 Succeeding Kellogg Hurlburt as cashier, who held that office only a 
 short time, came B. B. Lansing, who continued until 1854, when he was 
 succeeded by James Watson Williams ; he resigned in October of the 
 same year and was succeeded by George Langford, who held the office 
 until January 13, 1863. On that date R. S. Williams ^ was placed in 
 the office and administered its duties until his elevation to the presi- 
 dency. The present officers of the bank are as follows: R. S. Williams, 
 president; E. Chamberlain, vice-president; George L. Bradford, cash- 
 ier; H. K. Van Size, teller; George D. Dimon, discount clerk; William 
 Wright, book-keeper. The capital of this bank has always remained 
 at the original amount, $400,000. Its present handsome building was 
 erected in 1886-87 °^ ^^ site always occupied by the bank. ' 
 
 The legislative act under which the Utica City Bank commenced is 
 dated April 8, 1838, but it did not begin business until September i, 
 1848, when the organization was effected at a meeting held at Bagg's 
 Hotel and the following directors were elected : Hiram Denio, Charles 
 H. Doolittle, William Bristol, Isaiah Tiffany, Cyrus Clarke, Jared E. 
 Warner, Edward Curran, S. V. Oley, Samuel A. Munson, George S. 
 Dana, Charles S. Wilson, James M. Kimball, and James A. Mott. 
 Hiram Denio was elected the first president and held the office until 
 September 5, 1859, when he was succeeded by Jared E. Warner. On 
 
 ■ See sketch of R. S. Williams in the biographical department of this work. 
 
S82 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 the lOth of January, 1878, Mr. Warner resigned the office and Isaac 
 Maynard succeeded. He died on the 23d of February, 1885, and on 
 April 7, 1885, Charles S, Symonds assumed the office and has held it 
 to the present. The first vice-president was Jared E. Warner, and upon 
 his elevation to the presidency, as noted, he was succeeded by Daniel 
 P. Cadwell. The latter died November 4, 1863, and the office was un- 
 filled until September 6, 1864, when Charles McLean was elected who 
 held the office until the lOth of January, 1878. He was succeeded by 
 R. V. Yates, who died February 8, 1879, and Russell Wheeler was 
 elected and still fills the office. The first cashier of the bank was Charles 
 S. Wilson, who served in that capacity until March 6, 1868, vvhen 
 Charles S. Symonds took the office and continued until April 17, 1885, 
 when he was elected to the presidency. Melville C. Brown succeeded 
 and is the present incumbent. Francis H. Thomas was the first teller 
 and was succeeded by John S. Hunt, and he in February, 1861, by Mr. 
 Symonds. On November 29, 1881, he was succeeded by Mr. Brown. 
 The original capital of this bank was $125,000, but on the nth of May, 
 1849, it was increased $75,000. It remained at this amount until Jan- 
 uary, 1888, when it was raised to $400,000. Business was first opened 
 at No. 37 Genesee street. In 1862 the property on the corner of Gen- 
 esee and Catherine streets was purchased, and in the next year a sub- 
 stantial building was erected at that point. This was occupied until 
 March 2, 1884, when a destructive fire swept over nearly the whole of 
 that square, and the property and books of the bank were destroyed 
 except the books in current use. The bank continued business in rooms 
 furnished by Roberts, Butler & Co. until the 20th of March, when it 
 removed to the Exchange building, where it remained until May 5, 
 1885. On that date it occupied its present handsome and convenient 
 banking house situated on the former site. In May, 1865, the bank 
 was re-organized under the national system. The institution has been 
 a prosperous one from the beginning, and its prudent management has 
 carried it through the various periods of stringency and panics without 
 very material suffering. Its capital was impaired in 1868 by about 
 $24,000 through failures of some of its customers. Its present gross 
 resources are $1,169,296.88, and its deposits are about $600,000. 
 
 Following are the names of the present Board of Directors : John 
 
EmbySCWdlmmESBruHr 
 
 lA^t 
 
ONEIDA COUNTY BANK. 583 
 
 Thorn, Thomas Foster, Charles S. Symonds, J. Stuart Lowery, William 
 Heath, E. A. Tallman, George Young, Isaac N. Maynard, Thomas F. 
 Baker, Dr. Alonzo Churchill, Samuel R. Campbell, John W. MacLean, 
 Henry W. Miller. 
 
 The financial institution known as the Oneida County Bank was organ- 
 ized in the year 1853, with a capital of $125,000, and the following Board 
 of Directors: Chauncey S. Butler, Ira B. Cary, Charles H. Doolittle, 
 Samuel Morgan, J. R. Noyes, Elias Root, David Dows, Benjamin Carver, 
 Owen O'Neil, Samuel Cary, Richard S. Jones, George Thomas, John Car- 
 ton, Francis Kernan, John F. Seymour, R. V. Yates. Its capital has al- 
 ways remained the same, and it has always occupied its present quarters 
 at No. 73 Genesee street. The first president of the bank was Ira B. Cary, 
 who died in 1855, ^"^d was succeeded by Judge Charles H. Doolittle, 
 who was elected in June of that year and served to the tim.e of his death 
 in 1874. In June, 1874, Francis Kernan was made president and con- 
 tinued in the office until August 2, 1 887, when the present president, John 
 Milton Butler, was elected. Mr. Butler came to Utica in 1853 to enter 
 this bank, of which he was made cashier in 1855, succeeding J. R. Noyes. 
 He held that office until August, 1887, when he was elevated to the 
 presidency. During his connection with the bank his wise and prudent 
 counsel' and his conservative course have given the institution an excel- 
 lent reputation. The first vice-president of this bank was Judge Charles 
 H. Doolittle, and when he was elevated to the presidency he was suc- 
 ceeded by the present incumbent of that office, Chauncey S Butler. 
 When John M. Butler was promoted from the cashiership, in 1887,' he 
 was succeeded by the present cashier, F. A. Bosworth. The institution 
 has always maintained its credit and has passed through the several pan- 
 ics -almost unscathed. At the present time it shows profits amounting to 
 more than $250,000. 
 
 The Second National Bank is located at No. 75 Genesee street, where 
 it first began business. It was incorporated December 10, 1863, and 
 was authorized by the Comptroller to do a banking business in January, 
 1864; its doors were opened in the following month. The first officers 
 were as follows: William J. Bacon, president; Theodore S. Faxton, 
 -vice-president ; William D. Hamlin, cashier. Mr. Bacon declined the 
 
 ' See biography o£ J. Milton Butler in the biographical department. 
 
584 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 presidency of the bank very soon after its organization, and was suc- 
 ceeded by Theodore S. Faxton. The first Board of Directors were 
 William J. Bacon, William D. Walcott, Robert Middleton, Daniel Grouse, 
 William D. Hamlin, G. Clarence Churchill, Edward S. Brayton, Zenas 
 
 C. Priest, and John Butterfield. The original capital stock was $300,- 
 000, which remains the same, and the institution now has a surplus of 
 about $100 000. The affairs of this bank have always been judiciously 
 and prudently managed, and its deposits now amount to more than 
 $250,000, with over $500,000 of loans and discounts. Mr. Faxton held 
 the office of president of the bank until his death in 1881, when he was 
 succeeded by Edward S. Brayton, who continued in the office until his 
 death in 1887, when he was succeeded by the present president, Will- 
 iam M. White. 
 
 George R. Thomas filled the office of cashier until 1887, and in the 
 fall of that year was succeeded by the present cashier, D. A. Avery. 
 Mr. Avery is a native of Otsego County, and had an experience of 
 twelve years as cashier of the Second National Bank of Cooperstown be- 
 fore accepting his present position, to which he was called by the Board 
 of Trustees without solicitation on his part. The present officers of the 
 bank are as follows: William M. White, president; Henry Roberts, 
 vice president ; D. A. Avery, cashier ; Willard Conkey, assistant cash- 
 ier ; Frank R. Winant, book-keeper ; Henry Harmon, clerk. The Board 
 of Directors are William M.White, Henry Roberts, G. Clarence Church- 
 ill, Robert Middleton, Benjamin Allen, T. R. Proctor, M. H. Thomson, 
 Henry Martin, D. C. Murray, N. E. Devereux, N. E. Kernan, and 
 
 D. A. Avery. 
 
 The charter of the Utica Savings Bank ^ was granted by the legisla- 
 ture in the year 1821, incorporating "A Bank for Savings in the City 
 of Utica." The incorporators and trustees named in the act were John 
 C. Devereux, Ezekiel Bacon, Nathan Williams, Morris S. Miller, Sam- 
 uel Stocking, Erastus Clark, Moses. Bagg, David P. Hoyt, Montgomery 
 Hunt, John H. Lothrop, Apollos Cooper, Thomas Walker, Rudolph 
 Snyder, William H. Maynard, and Ezra Cozier. For some reason now 
 unknown no further action was taken in the matter until 1839, at which 
 time there were eleven savings banks chartered in this State, all of 
 
 ' Condensed from a history of the bank by Addison C. Miller. 
 
UTICA SA VINGS BANK. 58; 
 
 which with one exception, are still in operation. On the 26th of July 
 1839, a charter was granted to the Savings Bank of Utica, and the in- 
 stitution was at once organized and began business on May 18, of tha' 
 year, in the office of Nicholas Devereux, on Bleecker street. Great credil 
 must be given to the gentlemen who organized and promoted the 
 establishment of this bank, without the least pecuniary compensation 
 with no possible benefit to come to them. They were directly prohib- 
 ited from receiving any compensation for their services, or from borrow- 
 ing or using a dollar of the funds of the bank, and denied the privilege 
 allowed to all others of being depositors in the bank. They voluntarily 
 assumed the responsibility of receiving, caring for and investing the 
 money of the poorer and laboring classes. The system of savings bank; 
 was still in its infancy, its success was by no means assured. If they 
 failed in giving due attention to its business ;' if they were wanting ir 
 proper skill ; or if the system itself should prove a failure, they woulc 
 be held responsible, not only by the depositors, but by the whole com- 
 munity of Central New York. 
 
 By the provisions of the original charter the deposits which the ban! 
 could receive in the aggregate were limited to $500,000. The invest- 
 ments were required to be made in United States or State stocks, or ir 
 the bonds of the city of Utica, or on bond and mortgage on real estat( 
 worth double the sum loaned, exclusive of buildings, except that th( 
 trustees were authorized to loan $3,000 of the funds of the bank upoi 
 approved notes. The directors were prohibited from borrowing o 
 using the funds of the bank. The board was to regulate the rate o 
 Interest to depositors, so that they should receive a ratable proportion o 
 all the profits of the bank, after deducting the exp,enses. The bank wai 
 required to report annually to the legislature and to the common coun 
 cil of the city. The trustees were authorized to accumulate graduallj 
 a surplus fund, not exceeding ten per cent, of the deposits, for the bet 
 ter security of the depositors. The amount to be deposited by any on< 
 person could not exceed $2,000, and the trustees could not become 
 depositors. The charter was the model for many subsequent charter: 
 of savings banks in this county. The first meeting of the board wai 
 held at the office of Nicholas Devereux, on the second day of May, 1839 
 when John C. Devereux was elected president, Thomas Walker vice- 
 
 74 
 
586 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 president, and Stalham Williams secretary. The second meeting was 
 held at No. 12 Bleecker street, on the eighth day of May, 1839, at which 
 a code of' by-laws was adopted, and Stalham Williams was appointed 
 the treasurer of the bank, which office Mr. Williams held for thirty four 
 years, and until his death in 1873, at the age of ninety nine and a half 
 years. The board was at first divided into committees of three, and it 
 was the duty of those committees in turn each month to attend at the 
 bank and direct as to its transactions. 
 
 On the 1 8th day of May, 1839, the first deposit was made in the sum 
 of $100 by John Hurley, of whom nothing is known beyond the fact 
 stated in the signature book, that he was an Irishman, twenty-four years 
 of age, and lived at Boonville, and could not write his name. The growth 
 of the bank was exceedingly slow. The number of accounts opened 
 for the first eight years averaged about 200 each year. The number of 
 open accounts on the first day of January, 1844, when the bank was 
 five years old, was 209, and the amount of deposits was $27,173.72, an 
 average of $130 to each depositor. At the end of twenty years, on the 
 first day of January, 1859, the number of depositors was 2,041, and the 
 amount due depositors was $412,079.98, an average of $201. Ten 
 years later, on January i, 1869, the number of depositors was 6,037, 
 and the amount due depositors was $1,907,256 65, an average of $310. 
 January I, 1879, the number of depositors was 11,100, and the amount 
 due depositors was $3,674,724.07, an average of $331. January i, 
 1889, the number of depositors was 16,994, and the amount due depos- 
 itors was $4,418,339.13, an average of $209 for each account. 
 
 In 1842 an act was passed authorizing the bank to loan on personal 
 security to the amount of $5,000, instead of $3,000, as provided in the 
 original charter, but providing that no such loans should be made with- 
 out the; consent of a majority of the board of trustees. In i860 an act 
 was passed limiting the deposits to $1,000,000, instead of $500,000. In 
 1864 the limit was increased to $2,000,000, and in 1869 to $3,000,000. 
 In 1870 the charter was amended as to the manner of the investments 
 upon bond and mortgage. Prior to that date the loans upon bond and 
 mortgage were limited to one- half of the value of the mortgaged prem- 
 ises, exclusive of the value of the buildings. This provision, prevented 
 the bank to a large extent from making loans on property in Utica, as 
 
UTICA SA VINGS BANK. 587 
 
 the value of the buildings in most cases exceeded many times the value 
 of the land on which they vsrere located. Thus if a borrower had a lot 
 of the value of $500, upon which he erected a house costing $1,500, 
 making the total value $2,000, the bank could not loan him to exceed 
 one-half the value of the land, which would be $250, on property worth 
 $2,000. Thus the mortgage loans of the bank were mostly upon farm 
 lands. After considerable discussion in the board, it was finally agreed 
 to apply to the legislature for permission to loan on productive un- 
 incumbered real estate situate in Utica, to the extent of one-third the 
 value, including buildings, but providing that no loan should exceed 
 the sum of $10, DOG, and such permission was granted by the legislature. 
 A further amendment was made limiting the amount of any single de- 
 positor to $5,000. In 187 1 the charter was again amended limiting the 
 amount of deposits to $5,000,000, instead of $3,000,000. 
 
 On the 20th of June, 185 1, the legislature passed an act incorporating 
 the Central City Savings Institution of Utica, which continued in exist- 
 ence until 1873, when it failed, and its affairs were wound up by John 
 A. Goodale, who was appointed receiver for that purpose. On the 22d 
 of March, 1865, the legislature passed an act incorporating the National 
 Savings Bank of Utica. On the 14th of May, 1868, the legislature granted 
 a charter incorporating the People's Safe Deposit and Savings Institution 
 of the State of New York. A branch of the same was opened at Utica 
 and also at Syracuse. The affairs of the National Savings Bank soon 
 after became merged in the People's Safe Deposit and Savings Institution. 
 The provisions of the charter of the latter bank have been justly criti- 
 cised, and the bank was overtaken by bankruptcy early in the year 
 1872. 
 
 The failure of these two institutions caused some distrust among the 
 deposhors of the savings bank of Utica, which finally culminated in a 
 run upon the bank in the latter part of December, 1872. 
 
 On Saturday, the 21st of December, there were thirty-four accounts 
 closed, which was an unusually large number, but at no time was the bank 
 crowded. A full house was expected Monday morning. Monday 
 forenoon was unusually quiet. On opening the bank after dinner, how- 
 ever, more depositors desiring to draw their money were found than could 
 be promptly attended to. It was determined, if possible, to clear the 
 
588 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 bank, which was held open until 7 o'clock in the evening for that purpose, 
 but finally closed without materially lessening the crowd waiting for their 
 money. They were dismissed pleasantly, and invited to come at 9 
 o'clock the next morning, when their money would be given them as fast 
 as they could get to the counter. The run continued until the following 
 Saturday noon, at which time the officers succeeded in keeping the bank 
 clear of a crowd, but the draft upon the bank caused by fright continued 
 until about the lOth of January, 1873. 
 
 Many improvident charters were granted to savings banks by the 
 legislature of this State between 1865 and 1873. Many of these banks 
 were continually in trouble, which brought great discredit upon the 
 whole system. In 1873 a commission was created in this State for the 
 purpose of revising and amending the constitution, A general law 
 had been many times proposed for the government of savings banks, 
 but a general law would not prevent the legislature from granting 
 special charters. Our respected townsman, Hon. Francis Kernan, was 
 a member of the constitutional commission from this county. He had 
 witnessed the trouble following the granting of special charters in the 
 case of the two savings banks which had failed in Utica. He had a 
 strong desire to make the savings banks in the State. safe and secure in- 
 stitutions, and it was upon the suggestion of the ofificers of this bank 
 that Mr. Kernan secured the adoption of an amendment to article VIH. 
 of the constitution, making it the duty of the legislature to conform all 
 charters of savings banks, or institutions for savings, to uniformity of 
 powers, rights and liabilities, and prohibiting the granting of any more 
 special jcharters. This amendment was subsequently ratified by the 
 people, and in 1875 the legislature passed a general act in conformity 
 to the requirements of the amended constitution, since which no special 
 charters have been granted, and to this general act all former charters 
 were made to conform. 
 
 When the run on the bank in December, 1872, and January, 1873, 
 had ceased, the trustees found that the bank had on hand in its vault 
 about $500,000 of currency. They had sold and converted into money a 
 portion of the securities of the bank, in order to be able to meet promptly 
 the demands of the depositors. How and in what way this money was 
 to be disposed of was a question for the board to determine. The run 
 
UTICA SA VINGS BANK. 589 
 
 had demonstrated the fact that the bank possessed deposits belonging 
 to persons possessed of larger means than those for whose benefit the 
 bank was designed. The fact that the People's Bank had been bidding 
 for the business had doubtless stimulated the officers to allow deposits 
 to increase, so as to make as good a showing of business as the active 
 rival, but, fortunately, the bank, in its desire to secure business, had in 
 no way lost sight of the absolute security of its investments. 
 
 After much discussion the board concluded that money held for busi- 
 ness or commercial use should not be deposited in the Savings bank; 
 that the business of the bank should be confined to persons who could 
 not care for and invest their funds, but would be likely to lose their 
 money if they did not have a safe place to deposit it. In accordance 
 with the policies thus declared, notice was given to depositors (who were 
 supposed to be able to take care of their funds) to the amount of $300,- 
 000 that they must withdraw their deposits, and that no more interest 
 or dividends would be allowed on their accounts. In this way the bank 
 had no difficulty in making a safe investment of the currency on hand 
 at the end of the run, by paying it back to the designated depositors. 
 Such has been and is still the policy of the bank. The board has re- 
 peatedly given a like notice to depositors who they thought did not 
 come within the class for whom the bank was created, and for whom it 
 should be continued. 
 
 In 1851 the store on the east side of Genesee street, near the corner 
 of Bleecker, which is now occupied by John H. Shehan, was put in use 
 by the bank and was thus used for many years. This was sold in 1869, 
 and the lot purchased on the corner of Genesee and Fayette streets, 
 where was soon erected the handsome iron building in which the in- 
 stitution is now tenanted. Following is a complete list of the trustees 
 and officers of the bank from its organization to the present time : 
 
 JVusiees.— Thomas Walker, 1839-63, died ; John C. Devereux, 1839-49, died ; Sam- 
 uel Stocking, 1839-58, died; Joseph Kirkland, 1839-44, died; Silas D. Ohilds, 1839-66, 
 died; Stalham Williams, 1839-73, died; John Savage, 1839-41, resigned; Thomas H. 
 Hubbard, 1839-57, died; John H. Ostrom, 1839-45, died; Hiram Denio, 1839-71, 
 died; Charles P. Kirkland, 1839-50, resigned; James McGregor, 1839-54, resigned; 
 Joshua M. Church, 1839-61, died; William Francis, 1839-49, died ; Nicholas Devereux, 
 1839-56, died; Owen O'Neil, 1841-75, died; William Waloott, 1844-59, died; Francis 
 Kernan, 1845-64, rt-signed ; E. A. Wetmore, 1849-73, died; Thomas R. Wallier, 
 1849-75, resigned ; Jame.s Sayrc, 1854-77, died ; John C. Dovereux, 2d, 1856-84, died^ 
 
S90 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 Samuel G. Wolcott, 1857-83, died ; Charles A. Mann, 1858-60, died ; Thomas H. Wood, 
 1860-74, resigned; Truman K. Butler, 1860-88, died; Thomas Buchanan, 1861-66, 
 resigned; Ward Hunt, 1863-73, resigned; Alexander S.Johnson, 1872-76, resigned; 
 Francis G. Wood, 1874-88, resigned; John Carton, 1874-88, died; S. S. Lowery, 
 1877-78, resigned. The present trustees with the dates of their election are: WilUiam 
 J. Bacon, 1850 ; William D. Walcott, 1864 ; Bphraim Chamberlain, 1866 ; Addison C. 
 ililler, 1867 ; William Kernan, 1873 ; G. Clarence Churchill, 1875; Alexander T. Good- 
 win, 1876; William Blaikie, 1878; Robert Middleton, 1881;. Edward Curran, 1883; 
 Philo S. Curtis, 1885 ; Eufus P. Birdseye, 1888; James H. Williams, 1888. 
 
 Presidents. — John C Devereux, Thomas Walker, , Hiram Denio, Edmund A. Wet- 
 more, William J. Bacon. 
 
 Vice-presidents. — Thomas Walker, Hiram Denio, Silas D. Ohilds, Thomas R. Walker, 
 Truman K. Butler, Ephraim Chamberlain, William D. Walcott. 
 
 Treasurers. — 1839, Stalham Williams, died 1873 ; 1878, Addison 0. Miller, in service. 
 
 The present officers of this bank are as follows : Ephraim Chamber- 
 lain, president; Addison C. Miller, first vice-president; Edward Cur- 
 ran, second vice-president; A. C. Miller, treasurer ; Rufus P. Birdseye, 
 secretary ; R. H. Thompson, teller ; John Welbon and M. J. Kernan, 
 book-keepers. The report of January i, 1891, gives the assets of the 
 bank as $5,484,799.29; liabilities, $5,000,091.76; surplus on par val- 
 ues, $484,707.53. 
 
 A. D. Mather & Co. (Asaph D. Mather and Joshua Mather) estab- 
 lished a private banking house in Utica in March, 1866. The business 
 was thus continued until the death of A. D. Mather on the 8th of April, 
 1880, when the firm of Joshua and Charles W. Mather was constituted. 
 The business continued as a private bank until November, 1890, when 
 the institution was organized as a State bank, with a capital of $200,- 
 000. Joshua Mather was made president ; Charles W. Mather, vice- 
 president; Edward Bushinger, cashier. These men still hold their re- 
 spective offices. For two years a building which stood on the site of 
 the present bank, corner of Genesee and Bleecker streets, was occupied. 
 In 1868 the present structure was erected. 
 
ONEIDA GLASS COMPANY. 591 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 MANUFACTURES. 
 
 UTICA during much of its history has not been noted for its man- 
 ufactures. Its situation near the head of Mohawk navigation and 
 its consequent convenience as a place for the receipt and distribution of 
 goods from the east, and the return of the products of agriculture from a 
 rich and wide reach of country gave it a start as a fit place for com- 
 merce. And in commerce its people were largely employed. But the 
 lack of water power suitable for the driving of factories and mills, at a 
 period when such power was wholly relied on, forbade that its industry 
 and its capital should be directed to manufacturing. There were of 
 course the usual complement of shoe shops, tin shops, chair, cabinet and 
 wagon- makers. There were tanners, iron founders, and nail makers. 
 To wider and more aspiring methods of gain, and pending the period 
 of the more developed uses of steam, Utica was by its site wholly denied. 
 Among its business men there has never been a lack of enterprise, but 
 its manifestations were seen in the conduct of each one's private affairs. 
 As wealth increased other fields were sought wherein to invest the sur- 
 plus products of industry ; and with thought and hands busy at home, 
 capitalists have added to their store while helping to build up towns at 
 a distance in which they had small cause for personal concern. Nearer 
 home they shared in the stock of some of the mills of the Sauquoit, and 
 when in i8lO a factory was projected at Oriskany, over one- third of its 
 subscribers, representing one fifth of the capital, were dwellers in Utica, 
 the bulk of the capital having been obtained at the east. 
 
 The earliest instance known of a union of capital to further a manu- 
 facturing enterprise of their own, was one formed for the making of 
 glass, which was incorporated in February, 1809. It was known as the 
 Oneida Glass Company, and had a capital of $100,000, Its establish- 
 ment was brought about through the stimulus of an offer of co-opera- 
 tion and assistance from Lawrence Schoolcraft, then superintendent of 
 a company near Albany. The prominent men of this county sub- 
 
592 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 scribed liberally to tiie stock, and the factory was soon in operation in 
 Vernon. The first directors were : Watts Sherman, Abraham Varick, 
 John Steward, jr., Alex. B. Johnson, and Richard Sanger. The works 
 were carried on with moderate success until August, 1836, when the 
 company closed up its affairs. 
 
 Encouraged by the temporary success of the Oneida Glass Factory, 
 Peter Bours now took the lead in getting up, in 18 10, a company to 
 manufacture crown glass, which it was proposed should be superior to 
 any made in the country. With him were associated Benjamin Walker, 
 John Steward, jr., Hugh Cunningham, John Hooker, Seth Dwight, and 
 others. A special charter was obtained from the legislature of 1809-10, 
 and a capital stock was raised of $250,000. A tract of land was bought 
 some three miles north of Utica, in the part of Deerfield now known as 
 Marcy. In the course of the ensuing season suitable buildings were 
 put up, workmen were obtained from Boston (the only place where 
 crown glass was then made), and the manufacture was begun. Within 
 a year the stock had been called in. Bours seemed to carry all he 
 undertook. By continuous boasting the new stock became a kind of 
 South Sea bubble and sales were reported at a hundred per cent., though 
 such sales were probably fictitious. A gentleman who visited the 
 works in 18 13 was informed that the expenses were $30,000 annually, 
 the value of glass made $50,000; amount of stock $100,000. That 
 the works of the company were not in reality very productive, and 
 were, in fact, for a time suspended, we infer from the announcement of 
 Mr. Bours, the superintendent, made in February, 1814, a few months 
 after the purchase of 790 additional acres of land, to the effect that the 
 factory was again in operation and that orders are received on the prem- 
 ises, or at the store of Luke Devereux. The company struggled on a 
 few years longer, but the renewed efforts proved futile ; it was found 
 impossible to manufacture crown glass which would compete with that 
 of English workmanship. Finally, on the 22d of March, 1822, the com- 
 pany leased their factory for four years to their predecessors, the Oneida 
 Glass Company. A good deal of money was sunk in the enterprise 
 and the losers were numerous. 
 
 The few early manufactures managed by individual skill I proceed to 
 notice somewhat in the. order of their establishment. In 1820 Seth 
 
EARL V FO UNDRIES— POTTER Y. 593 
 
 Peckham, from Troy, started the making of plows and other implements. 
 He was located on Catherine street, where, soon after, Amos Peckham 
 was his partner. Seven years later he sold his factory to his enter- 
 prising nephew, John S. Peckham, who continued it until 1835. Up to 
 this date the business had been confined to the manufacture of plows. 
 In that year J. S. and Merritt began the casting of stoves. The establish- 
 ment which is a large and important one is now in the hands of 
 Merritt and S. Townshend Peckham, son of John. The casting is done 
 on the block bounded by Broad, Catherine and Third streets, and the 
 canal basin, covering an area of 2,400 square feet. The products are 
 stoves, ranges, and agricultural implements. 
 
 Another foundry was started in 1822 by Ephraim Hart, who soon 
 had as a partner Andrew S. Pond, and next his son Henry R. Hart. 
 With the latter was John Dagwell. It is still perpetuated, being now 
 managed by H. Gilbert Hart, grandson of Ephraim. Beside other cast- 
 ings, he aow makes hot air furnaces, and has an output of about $120,- 
 
 000. 
 
 Mention has heretofore been made of the attempted use of the Mo- 
 hawk River as a source of power, and the construction of a mill thereon 
 in 1823. The second grist-mill, known as the city mill, which was to 
 be supplied with force from the waste water of the canal, was built not 
 long afterward by Rutger B. Miller, and was run by William Cattell, 
 and later by Ira D. Hopkins and his son Charles H. A stone mill for 
 grinding wheat was erected in 1833. 
 
 The premises where the pottery stands were originally occupied by 
 two firms, both engaged in the manufacture of pottery, Justin Campbell 
 beginning in 1826, and Messrs. Brayton, Kellogg & Doolittle who be 
 ganthe following year,but were soon succeeded bySamuel H.Addington. 
 Noah White, at first employed by the latter, soon leased it, and ere long 
 got possession of the plant. By him, his son Nicholas A., and the son 
 of the latter, it has been continued to the present time. It is now 
 known as the Central New York Pottery, Charles N. White being the 
 general manager. The building was quite small at first, but building 
 after building has been added, until now there are several, occupying 
 an area of 400 feet front on Whitesboro street, and extending back to 
 the Erie Canal. The goods manufactured up to 1840 were common 
 
 75 
 
594 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 stoneware ; then fire brick were added, and later sewer pipe. At pres- 
 ent there are also made the Flemish goods in stoneware. There are 
 sixty employees. 
 
 The manufacture of buhr- millstones was commenced by Alfred Mun- 
 son in 1823, on the corner of Hotel and Liberty streets, in the base- 
 ment of the Kirkland block. He soon removed to the east side of 
 Washington street, where it is crossed by the canal. Martin Hart be- 
 came associated with Mr. Munson in 1830, under the firm name of 
 Munson & Hart. This continued for a number of years, when the firm 
 dissolved, and Alexander B. Hart (a son of Martin) and Edmund 
 Munson (a nephew of Alfred) became associated under the name of 
 Hart & Munson. Edmund Munson has already been noticed as an ex- 
 cellent mechanic and inventor, and under his direction the business rap- 
 idly increased. The firm of Hart & Munson did an extensive business, 
 employing at times as many as 100 hands. In 1868 this firm dissolved 
 and a new one was formed, under the title of Munson Brothers. Sim- 
 ilar manufactures have since been established in Buffalo, Indianapolis, 
 Richmond, and other localities, creating competition. The raw mater- 
 ial (French buhr-stone) comes from a locality near Paris, France, and 
 is imported through New York houses. The trade covers all parts of 
 the United States and Canada. In 1888 a foundry was added to the 
 plant, an unused portion of the west building being utilized for this pur- 
 pose. The firm employ at present fifty hands, and manufacture porta 
 ble grain mills, roller mills, water wheels, and all kind of corn and flour 
 mill machinery. Also dealers in German, English, and domestic 
 cements, plaster, etc. 
 
 Another long continued foundry and machine shop known for many 
 years as the Vulcan Works, and now as the Utica Steam Engine and 
 iJoiler Works, was erected in 1832 by Philo C. Curtiss, father of the pres 
 ent proprietor. Asa machine shop it was run for about three years by 
 Mr. Curtiss when he failed and the property passed out of his hands. 
 Its successive occupants since that time have been numerous; those of 
 longest duration having been Pond, Higham & Co. Here were cast 
 the wheels for the first passenger- car placed on the Utica and Schenec- 
 tady Railroad, D. A. Lyons, a Utica carriage maker, having the contract 
 for its woodwork. The establishment came again into the hands of Mr. 
 
LUMBER DEALERS. 595 
 
 Curtiss in 1 86 1. A year later Philo S. Curtiss bought out his father and 
 has since conducted the works. The plant covers an area of 350 x 260 
 feet between Whitesboro street and the Erie Canal. From its outset it 
 has been devoted to the making of machinery in general, to the furnish- 
 ing of boilers and other wrought iron work, and to the casting of a 
 wide range of foundry work. It has always been operated on these 
 lines, and today with largely increased facilities. 
 
 Not far from the Vulcan works there was running in 1828 what was 
 known as the " dog nail" factory. The bellows were operated by a dog 
 moving on a wheel, and by this aid Mr. Masseth, the German proprie- 
 tor, turned out a good article of wrought nails. Though it was but a 
 small affair, it excited curiosity at a time when the service of dogs in 
 mechanical purposes was by no means so common as among the farm- 
 ers of the present day, especially in dairy districts. 
 
 It is natural to presume that in a new and growing community the 
 need of lumber for the construction of houses, furniture, etc , should 
 call for persons prepared to minister to this necessity, yet it is not be- 
 fore about 1830 that we know assuredly of any one who made a dis- 
 tinct business of dealing in lumber. It was begun about this time by 
 Dr. Jonas Fay, who had previously been a practicing physician, on 
 ground adjoining the Erie Canal near the place of its subsequent inter- 
 section with the Chenango. A rival dealer soon appeared in the person 
 of Joshua M. Church, who had small yards on Pine street. Charles 
 Downer was also among the early dealers in lumber. Beginning at the 
 corner of the Chenango Canal and Cooper street his yard was next on 
 Fayette street, and later on the corner of Court and the Chenango. 
 At one time or other Mr. Downer is said to have owned and operated 
 every lumber establishment in Utica. In 1844, while he was located 
 on Fayette street, he took into partnership Charles C. Kellogg. At a 
 subsequent date his partner was his son, Edward F. Downer, to whom 
 he gave up the business in 1877. 
 
 But it is not solely in the selling of lumber in its raw state that these 
 and other dealers have been engaged ; they planed it and likewise con- 
 verted it into various objects of utility. It has been already mentioned 
 in our notice of Chauncey Palmer that he shared with Lewis Lawrence 
 in the running of the planing-mill that had been put in operation by 
 
596 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 Philo C. Curtiss. In 1834 they began the making of window sash, doors, 
 blinds, etc., by the aid of steam. These articles had already been pro- 
 duced, by the assistance of a horse to drive his machinery, by Truman B. 
 Dixon, son-in-law of J. M. Church. About 1849 Mr. Lawrence bought 
 out his partner, and in 1857 sold the business to Downer & Kellogg. 
 They remained together until 1877 when Mr. Downer withdrew. It has 
 been continued by Mr. Kellogg, who has had in turn two different part- 
 ners. The plant, which was smaller at first, now consists of a large 
 manufactory with work shop, engine-house, and sheds, 133 feet on Sen- 
 eca street, and extending through to Washington street, where there is 
 a frontage of 206 feet and adjacent to the Erie Canal. They have also 
 piling ground near the gas works and four acres for the same purpose 
 in West Utica. They employ 140 hands, sell 1,000,000 feet per month, 
 besides what is used in the mill, and their products go to all parts of the 
 country. 
 
 Edward F. Downer, in partnership with his son, has a plant at 32-34 
 Canal street, occupying five acres of land, and they make the same arti- 
 cles as the above. 
 
 A planing-mill started in 1861 by Metcalf & Daring is now in the 
 hands of a company with a capital of $40,000. The premises cover the 
 block bounded by Culver, Franklin, Fulton streets and the Erie Canal. 
 The articles they manufacture are like those of the preceding, and their 
 annual sales amount to 5 ,000,000 feet of lumber. They are known as 
 the Utica Planing Mills Company. 
 
 Besides the above there are at present the lumber yards of R. J. 
 Knox, Jonathan Goodier and Joseph Hollingworth. 
 
 While sketching the career of Dr. Theodore Pomeroy I made men- 
 tion of the manufacture of oil cloth begun by J. D. Edwards, but soon 
 falling into the hands of Dr. Pomeroy and Thomas R. Walker. This 
 manufacture started in 1832, has for sixty years been steadily contin- 
 ued almost on its original site, and it still remains the only factory of 
 its kind west of Lansingburgh. Its management has to some extent 
 been changed, and the machinery in use greatly improved, much of 
 what was once done by hand being now effected by power ; but the fac- 
 tory is still in motion under the direction of Theodore and George D. 
 Pomeroy, son and grandson of the original proprietors. They occupy 
 
TOBACCO MANUFACTURE — SOAP FACTOR Y. 597 
 
 extensive buildings and grounds on the west side of Cornelia street and 
 reaching through from Columbia to Cooper. 
 
 The manufacture of tobacco and cigars in Utica began about the year 
 1835, first in Pine street and next at 35 Liberty street, and was started 
 by a man named Tomlinson. He continued in the business only a 
 short time, selling out to Messrs. Leslie A. Warnick and John Bryan. 
 This was in 1839. Several men started small concerns soon after this, 
 but none of them had permanency, so that Warnick & Bryan may be 
 said to have been the pioneers in cutting tobacco. Messrs. Warnick & 
 Bryan removed to 112 Genesee street from Liberty street about 1845, 
 and occupied that location for several years, when the firm came to 86 
 Genesee street. In 1852 Mr. Bryan was succeeded by John G. Brown, 
 who has been in partnership with Mr. Warnick since that time. Dur- 
 ing its early years the firm employed few hands, but recently about fifty 
 hands are employed. They manufacture all grades and styles of to- 
 bacco and cigars, their trade extending beyond the limits of the State. 
 
 Over thirty other establishments within the bounds of the city are 
 now engaged in this line of business. To notice a few only might be 
 deemed invidious, to enumerate all would be impossible. 
 
 It is an interesting fact that the making of soap and candles as a sep- 
 arate industry of Utica had its origin in the old market house which 
 had been the cause of much serious disagreement between the near and 
 remoter dwellers about Bagg's Square in 18 12 and 18 14. In compli- 
 ance with a resolution passed by the trustees of 18 14 declaring in its 
 preamble that this market was " situate in a very improper place," and 
 determining that the "removal of the same would be of public utility," 
 it was removed to the north side of Water street near Division. In this 
 market house the manufacture was begun about 1830 by two men 
 named Boyd and Chamberlain. Mr. Chamberlain having died in the 
 fall of 1832, the fixtures and rights of the surviving partner were bought 
 by John and Stephen Thorn who resumed and continued the business. 
 Together they remained until July, 1835, ^nd M""- John Thorn two years 
 longer. Taking Isaac Maynard into partnership Mr. Thorn removed 
 in September, 1837, to a new building across on the south side of 
 Water street, and here they carried on the business until about 1875, 
 when they gave it up to William Heath and Joshua Tavender. Mean- 
 
598 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 time Benjamin Cahoon had in 1839 set up a similar factory in West 
 Utica, and was succeeded in 1845 by a firm of which John S. Kirk, late 
 of Chicago, was the leading party, Both Thorn and Maynard were with 
 him-in the partnership until i860, while Mr. Kirk remained here, and 
 twenty years after he went to Chicago. The factory on Division street 
 has of late been conducted by J. Tavender & Son, who have a melting 
 house on Kiel's Creek in Deerfield. As the lessened use of candles has 
 narrowed their business their attention has been principally given to the 
 making of soap. 
 
 In the former part of this book it has been stated that the manufac- 
 ture and sale of ready-made clothing was the business of a few of our 
 early merchants, a business which was then and has for the most part 
 since been highly profitable. It was begun by James B. Martin about 
 1836, and continued by the brothers Yates, whose sister Martin married. 
 The establishment of R. V. Yates, Nos. 100 and 102 Genesee street, was 
 sold in 185 s to Henry J. Wood. The latter after continuing it about two 
 years sold it back to Mr. Yates. From him it descended to his sons, 
 and thence, after various changes of proprietorship, it passed to the pres- 
 ent firm of William Taylor & Co. They employ 300 hands besides 
 cutters and spongers. 
 
 Henry J. Wood, after the purchase of the stock of his employers, 
 conducted manufacture alone for twenty years. In 1875 he sold to 
 James Rockwell and H. L. White. The latter having withdrawn, it has 
 since been carried on by Rockwell and his later partners Rhodes & Mil- 
 ler, and has been removed from its former place on Catherine street 
 to 25 and 27 John street. The firm employs 450 hands, has a capital 
 of $100,000, and sells annually $300,000 worth of goods. 
 
 A house which has succeeded to that of Charles A. Yates is that of 
 Roberts, Butler & Co. Mr. Yates's first partner was Matthew Griffith, 
 who after the death of Mr. Yates united with himself James Roberts 
 and J. Milton Butler. Both Mr. Griffith and Mr. Roberts are now 
 deceased. Of the latter a notice will be found in the biographical de- 
 partment. The personnel of the firm has changed from time to time, 
 though the house continues to exist as a large and prosperous one, em- 
 ploying 800 makers of men's and children's clothing, besides cutters and 
 trimmers. 
 
.^- 
 
 o-^-o^-t^ 
 
CLOTHING MANUFACTURES. 599 
 
 The founder of another house in this line was Matthew Griffith, who 
 withdrew from that of Roberts & Butler in 1881, erected a large four 
 story brick building on Main street and soon took in a partner. He 
 died April 16, 1883, when a new firm was created which continued 
 manufacturing clothing until 1888. After it closed the fixtures were 
 bought by H. P. Grouse and Edward Brandegee. These have entered 
 upon an extensive and rapidly growing business, employing 220 hands 
 within the building and very many outside. 
 
 A clothing manufacture was begun in 1844 by Thomas L. Kingsley, 
 which is still continued by his son, Gharles G. Kingsley. 
 
 The beginning of another clothing house dates from the departure 
 from the city of P. V. Kellogg & Go., already noted as manufacturers 
 here, and afterwards in Ghicago. Owen, Pixley & Go., then just organ- 
 ized, purchased the fixtures of the retiring firm, engaged their workmen 
 and began in Franklin Square where Kellogg & Go. had been estab- 
 lished. In 1885 the firm dissolved, and Mr. Pixley started a business 
 of his own. . They were then located in the Ballou Block at the lower end 
 of John street. Here the Messrs. Owen employ nearly 900 hands, have 
 a capital of $800,000, and an annual output which approximates 
 $900,000. 
 
 Two years after Pixley began independently, his son was admitted to 
 partnership, and the firm became H. D. Pixley & Son. They occupy a 
 five story building in the Ballou Block, and as annex a portion of the 
 old Washington Hall, the power being supplied by cable from the main 
 building. They employ 600 hands. 
 
 The next year after the starting of Owen & Pixley, was begun another 
 large clothing house that is now known as H. H. Gooper & Qo. At first 
 on the corner of Broad and Genesee, it was three years later removed to 
 John street, corner of Gatherine. Mr. Gooper has had various associ- 
 ates, Henry R. Judson and John Gummings, Jr., being still of the firm. 
 It calls into requisition the labor of 700 to 800 men and women, and 
 makes sales amounting to upwards of $300,000, its market being in the 
 northern and western States. 
 
 Other firms making like the preceding men's, boys' and children's 
 clothing are those of McGall & Go., Galder & Co., and I. H. Howe & 
 Co., established successively in 1881, 1888 and 1889. The num- 
 
6oo MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 ber of hands they employ ranges from 150 to 350. Nearly all of 
 the above are prosperous houses. They are furnished with engines 
 driven by steam, have in use the most improved machines, and disperse 
 their goods all over the United States. 
 
 Before proceeding to consider the results of the awakened zeal for 
 manufactures which began to show itself about the year 1845, and induced 
 the people of Utica to unite in large undertakings to further them, it re- 
 mains to note a few more private establishments which were doubtless 
 wholly independent of such extraneous influence. One of these was the 
 stove and machine foundry of Joel C. Bailey who bought out Chester 
 Dexter and began in 1842. Another was the foundry for the casting 
 of hot air furnaces by John Carton. These.have been alluded to in the 
 notices of Mr. Bailey and of Mr. Carton. Of the former a further account 
 will be given in the biography of Russell Wheeler, partner and succes- 
 sor of Mr. Bailey. The invention and making of furnaces was estabhshed 
 by John Carton in 1847, ^'^^ continued until his death in 188 1. It has 
 since been conducted by a stock company, incorporated- in 1883, with 
 working capital estimated at $125,000, whose works are on Rome street, 
 extending through to the canal. They busy 125 hands in making the 
 Carton furnace, of which there are several varieties. The company 
 consists of V. B. Stewart and two sons of Mr. Carton. Yet another 
 concern was that of A. J. Williams for making shuttles, heddles and 
 other manufacturers' necessities, which was removed here from Oriskany 
 in 1841, and carried on by Mr. Williams until near the close of his life. 
 Now much increased in the superiority as well as number of articles 
 made, as well as in those produced elsewhere but kept for supply, it is 
 carried on. by James H. Williams, his son. 
 
 Abutting on the rear of the foregoing is the house of I. A. Williams 
 & Co., I Blandina street. This house was founded in 1851, by Irvin 
 A. Williams, who invented the locomotive headlight which has come 
 into general use, his first patent being granted him in 1854. The pres- 
 ent firm name was taken in 1881, when Charles I. Williams, son of 
 I. A , became a partner. The plant of the firm comprises a five 
 story brick building at the above location. The firm has a branch 
 house, PhcEnix building, Chicago. It employs twenty- five men, and 
 manufactures exclusively locomotive head-lights, i,6oo being turned 
 
ORGAN BUILDING, ETC. 6oi 
 
 out annually. The sales extend throughout the world wherever the 
 American type of locomotives is used. 
 
 Organ making was begun in 1852 by A. Andrews in the rear of the 
 Exchange building, the entrance being on Charlotte street. Continued 
 by him and his son George, it was subsequently carried on in a factory 
 erected for the purpose on Seymour avenue. In 1854 J. G. Marklove, 
 who had served an apprenticeship to organ building in London, was 
 employed by Mr. Andrews to voice his instruments, and he soon be- 
 came one of the firm. On the retirement of Mr. Andrews he engaged 
 in the business for himself, which he continued, at first on the corner of 
 Bleecker and Academy streets, and afterward at 60 John street, until 
 his death. There it is still continued by his son, C. F. Marklove. 
 
 The effect of the canal on the growth and business of Utica was 
 marked. It quickened the impulse and doubled the population in ten 
 years from its completion. Something later the popular spirit of enter- 
 prise again broke forth in the prospect of a railroad to Albany. This 
 would connect them more closely with the seaboard and metropolis 
 and vastly increase their commercial facilities ; would make their city 
 the last reach of easy transit westward and an emporium for the whole 
 outlying trade. It was a prospect which might well awaken to exer- 
 tion. Subscriptions to the stock of the company flowed in so freely 
 that only a part of them could be taken, and the road was com- 
 pleted in 1836. For a time the people of Utica realized all they had 
 hoped for; reaching down to the great mart of commerce, they grasped 
 with one hand its riches, and with the other exacted a toll from seekers 
 less favored who were living beyond them. But such exclusive gains 
 were of short duration ; the gates were opened anew, and barely three 
 years elapsed when the railroad was finished to Syracuse. Thence it 
 went on extending and three years later was opened to Buffalo. Utica 
 was now a mere point on the line. Though its westward connections 
 were greatly increased, its hold on their custom was lost and its trade 
 restricted to a narrow circle about it, or at most extended northward and 
 southward. Still, with the rich farming lands of Oneida and contigu- 
 ous counties and the multiplied industry upon them ; with the busy 
 mill wheels on the streams of the neighborhood, and the diligent, eco- 
 nomical habits of its home population, the city was steadily growing. 
 76 
 
6o2 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 Between 1842 and 1845 ^ve hundred houses were built; rents were re- 
 duced, and provisions were cheap and abundant. But against this was 
 the fact that the trades and professions were all full, the profits of the 
 nierchants were not what they had been, and occasional forced sales of 
 bankrupts among them made those of their rivals still less. To men of 
 sagacity it soon became apparent that this town, without seaport and 
 shipping, without mines or minerals, and which relied on its internal 
 trade with that which was drawn from a fertile but limited district,, could 
 never attain a high degree of importance. This consideration impelled 
 the leading minds of the town toward movements which, concurring 
 with incidents that happened near the time of which we are speaking, 
 drew attention to the needs of the place and to efforts to promote its 
 advancement. These movements had in view the organization of com- 
 panies for establishing factories. From such signs as appear on the 
 surface, the first who essayed to awaken the town to the need of a 
 change in the current of business, and to plead for home manufactures 
 as a field in which all should take a part, was the the late B. F. Cooper. 
 But though his pen gave early impulse to the work, he was not alone 
 in conceiving it, nor acted without counsel with those who concurred in 
 promoting its further advance. As mouth-piece of other prominent 
 men he wrote in 1845 a series of papers for the Daily Gazette, which 
 appeared every week in July and continued at intervals afterward. In 
 these he set forth the present condition of Utica and its probable fate if 
 left to go on without an effort to revive it ; discussed the fitness of the 
 place as a site for manufactures, the kinds of manufactures which would 
 probably succeed ; the power that would be the most available, com- 
 paring water with the then little used steam, and all the other features 
 of the subject. The last of his articles appeared in October. In this he 
 urged his townsmen to subscribe to a paper which it seems was already 
 in progress, seeking the means wherewith to build and conduct a large 
 cotton mill. For this object enough had been subscribed before the 
 winter closed in to render the project a probable success. 
 
 In this connection we must refer to a circumstance which doubtless 
 had an influence in giving force to the arguments used. By the returns 
 of the census of 1845, the people °f Utica were startled to find that 
 they had already gone backward in numbers, that the population was 
 
UTICA STEAM WOOLEN MILLS. 603 
 
 nearly six hundred short of what it had been five years earlier ; and al- 
 though it was shortly discovered that there had been an error in the 
 census report which indicated this unwelcome condition, and that there 
 had in reality been no actual decline, yet the importance attached to 
 the pubHshed returns, the fear of some possible truth in their evidence, 
 and the mortification of having the decline of Utica published abroad, 
 awoke a home spirit and assisted to further the projects for factories, 
 both woolen and cotton, which now busied the town. This led to a 
 willingness on the part of those who had money to spare, to invest it 
 in manufactures. Meetings were held and their practicability freely 
 discussed. To be assured of their benefit, and above all, to learn 
 whether water or steam was the most advisable agent to use, a com- 
 mittee of three prominent men was selected to visit mills in the east 
 and obtain the information desired. The committee comprised Spen- 
 cer Kellogg, A. S. Pond and E. A. Graham. Their report was briefly 
 to the elfect that such mills were largely profitable and that steam was 
 the most desirable source of power. This report settled all doubts and 
 increased the desire to invest. Within a few months, beside the com- 
 pany first in the field, two others were formed and the capital raised to 
 enter on the manufacture of woolens, while at the same time the pre- 
 paratory steps were taken which led to the extensive manufacture of 
 cotton goods, as hereafter described. 
 
 There was organized at this time a company with a nominal capital 
 of $100,000, for the manufacture of woolen goods; its tijle was the 
 Utica Steam Woolen -Mills. Sufficient of the amount was subscribed 
 to enable the company to be incorporated February 27, 1846. The 
 first directors were : Andrew S. Pond, president ; Samuel Churchill, 
 secretary; Thomas Colling, treasurer; Dolphas Skinner, Nicholas 
 Devereux, George F. Taylor, Benjamin Cahoon, Hamilton Spencer, 
 and C. Goodrich. William C. Churchill, was the agent. The buildings 
 were erected in 1847, o" Columbia street and Nail Creek, where they 
 are still standing. The machinery consisted of twenty- seven carding 
 machines, forty-four looms, 264 spindles, and an engine of fifty horse- 
 power. About 100 hands were employed, and 300,000 pounds of wool 
 were consumed annually, making 150,000 yards of broadcloths. Dur- 
 ing a long course of years the company reaped a full share of success. 
 
6o4 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 The mill became the property of A. T. Stewart, of New York city, in 
 1869, under a judgment sale. Mr. Stewart made improvements and ad- 
 ditions and operated the mill until his death. His partners continued 
 the business until December, 1877, since which date the mill has been 
 closed. 
 
 The company known as the Utica Globe Mill, with like ample equip- 
 ments, followed a year after the former, its buildings being up and its ma- 
 chinery in motion near the close of 1847. Pond, Higham & Co. 
 constructed the engine. Puffer & Co. the looms and three sets of cards, 
 Bagg & Roberts completing the rest of them. Messrs. Munson, Faxton, 
 William J. Bacon, Martin Hart, Horatio Seymour, Hamilton and Julius A. 
 Spencer, Andrew S. Pond, and Palmer V. Kellogg were its first board of 
 directors, and Samuel Churchill, its agent. Its first eight years of ex- 
 periment were not years of success. The company failed, lost the whole 
 of its capital, and was compelled to assess dollar on dollar upon each 
 holder's stock. A new one was formed which bought up the assets for 
 the sum of $40,000, and as the Utica Woolen Mills started afresh on 
 the first day of August, 1855. T. S. Faxton, the former vice-president 
 and a large owner of stock, was prominent in organizing the new com- 
 pany. He was elected its president and had as associates Joel C. Bailey, 
 William D. Hamlin, Alrick Hubbell, Palmer V. Kellogg, Benjamin F.Ray, 
 John Thorn, and John M. Rice. The panic of 1857 having been safely 
 passed through a prosperous season began, and under the able manage- 
 ment of its.president and Robert Middlefon as agent, aided by the advice 
 of its trustees, the mill gained large profits for its shareholders, and a re- 
 pute for its fabrics that is second to none in the country. The capital 
 which had been $70,000 in the beginning, was in 1868 increased from its 
 earnings to $300,000. New buildings were erected and the old machinery 
 wholly replaced. The name was changed to The Globe Woolen Mills — a 
 title borrowed from each of the former — was the one now assumed by the 
 company. While at the height of success a disastrous fire which 
 occurred in September, 1871, laid in ashes the mill and its contents. 
 But it did not dishearten the owners. Their own interests, those of the 
 city, and of the numerous workmen thrown out of employment, required 
 its rebuilding; and before the debris had cooled, gangs of men were at 
 work and plans in preparation to put up two new ones. Early in 1873 
 
INFLUENCE OF THE FACTORIES. 605 
 
 these mills were completed, 234 and 150 x 50 feet. In 1886 a worsted 
 mill 50x210 feet in size and four stories high was added to the plant. 
 The motive power is furnished by two engines of 300 horse-power each. 
 The mills contain twenty- one sets of Piatt's English cards, thirty self- 
 acting mules, 166 broad 6x4 Crompton looms, and the most approved 
 finishing machinery of French, German and English manufacture. The 
 mills and other buildings practically cover nine acres on the corner of 
 Stark and Court streets, and furnish employment to nearly 1,000 
 operatives. The company manufactures the finest fancy woolen and 
 worsted goods, their sales extending throughout the United States. 
 The present directors are, Robert Middleton, president; A. C. Miller, 
 vice-president; John Thorn, Russell Wheeler, John W. McLean, James 
 G. Hunt, and Walter D. Middleton. The company has an office in 
 New York where they sell their own goods. W. W. Coffin, treasurer, 
 has charge of the office. 
 
 Returning to the year 1847 we find that the influence caused by these 
 undertakings was soon palpably felt in the quickening of business and 
 awakened spirit of enterprise. New streets were opened, old ones re- 
 graded; old tenements were undergoing renovation and change, while 
 neat dwellings in numbers were taking the place of what had before 
 been but commons. The spirit aroused gave birth to new projects and 
 strengthened the force of some already in being. A screw factor}', east 
 of the market and between Bleecker and Jay streets, erected by Messrs. 
 Barnard, Francis and Lawrence, and at work since the winter before, 
 was increased in its stock and its company, and was making 1,000 gross 
 of wood screws per day. The old City Mill was possessed of every con- 
 venience for flouring, but depended for water on the waste from the 
 weigh lock. It received at this time an engine of eighty horse- power, 
 which insured its ability to turn out a grist of 300 barrels each working 
 day. By machinists and the makers of manufacturers' findings, in the 
 preparations of snuff and tobacco — a business now fast gaining a foot- 
 hold — in the sawing and polishing of marble for monuments, and in 
 other employments where steam was of aid, this agent was coming more 
 and more into use ; and at least twenty engines, large and small, were 
 then doing work in the place. 
 
 The manufacture of cotton in Utica seemed from the start to hold 
 
 / 
 
6o6 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 out special hopes of success ; and by the winter of 1845-46 funds enough 
 had been promised to engage in the work ; but the wish to augment 
 the investment occasioned delay. Those interested were waiting till 
 a general law should be passed to incorporate companies with a capi- 
 tal of $200,000 or more, and freed from the clause which made the 
 owners of the stock liable, in case of loss, to even twice the amount of 
 their holding. To secure the enactment of this law some of the num- 
 ber went to Albany and urged forward the bill at each session ; and 
 pending its passage they drew up a paper which was to be in force when 
 it passed, and to hold its subscribers when $120,000 were pledged. It 
 bore the date of January 1 1, 1847, ''"d by its terms of agreement named 
 as trustees, Theodore S. Faxton, Silas D. Childs, Alfred Munson, 
 Charles A. Mann, Edmund A. Graham, Andrew S. Pond, and Horatio 
 Seymour. In the meantime the land was secured and the foundations 
 begun. On the 17th of February, 1848, the act took effect, and the 
 next season there was started the first of the large structures now in 
 use by the company. It was 300 x 65 feet in size, with wings, and an 
 engine-house attached. A Corliss engine was purchased, while the 
 shafting was made by Puffer & Co., the looms by A. J. Williams, and 
 the frames and some of the cards by Rogers & Spencer. William Wal- 
 cott became the next year the general agent and treasurer, and when, 
 in the fall, these duties were severed, Mr. Childs took charge of the 
 finances and Rufus Stafford was made superintendent. In 1850 the 
 mill with its 8,000 spindles, 180 looms and 165 hands, began the man- 
 ufacture of wide cotton goods. The production of this mill was 1,200,- 
 000 square yards of cloth annually, and double that number when the 
 whole mill was put in operation about five years later. The lower mill 
 was erected and put in operation in 1870. Its dimensions are similar 
 to those of the No. i mill, except that it is four stories high. No. 3 
 mill is an addition to, and connected with, No. i mill ; it was erected in 
 1880-81 and immediately began operations. It is also four stories high. 
 During the present year (1891) extensive improvements are in progress, 
 mainly for the purpose of consolidating the steam and motive power, 
 with additional buildings for a prospective increase of productive capac- 
 ity of about 15,000 spindles. The entire establishment occupies the 
 oblong block bounded by State, Columbia and Court streets, and the 
 
^^ff?'^F.&.KBTria'a2^y 
 
 V^^ 
 
WORKERS IN IRON. 607 
 
 Chenango Canal, covering about four acres. The chartered capital is 
 at the present time $690,000, but the actual amount invested exceeds 
 $1,000,000. The number of operatives employed is about 800, and the 
 number of spindles is over 40,000. The annual output of the mills is 
 about 9,000,000 square yards of sheetings and shirtings, of various 
 widths. The following are the present officers of the corporation: 
 Ephraim Chamberlain, president and treasurer ; George H. Wiley, 
 vice president and superintendent; F. G. Chamberlain, secretary and 
 assistant treasurer. Mr. Chamberlain, the president, has been connected 
 with the corporation since 1849, ^nd Mr. Wiley since 1852. (See 
 biography of these men in later pages.) 
 
 The success which attended the working of these factories just de- 
 scribed, the proof they gave of the capabilities of steam in lieu of falling 
 water for the propulsion of machines, stimulated other undertakings 
 both individual and associate for the making of wares in iron, wood, 
 cloth, leather, etc. How far this influence was felt in each individual 
 case it is impossible to say. Some may have arisen from the growth of 
 the town and the increased needs of its people, — needs brought about, 
 it may be, or enhanced by the very existence of the machines and con- 
 structions which had already preceded them ; some from an inventive 
 search for employment and the investment of money in unoccupied 
 fields ; some from the improved ease in dispersing abroad, the fruits of 
 home labor through the multiplied railways that were now centered in 
 Utica. No other course, therefore, is left in our notice of such as are to 
 follow than-to keep on in the arrangement somewhat chronological thus 
 far attempted. 
 
 Other workers in iron, beginning between 1850 and i860, were the 
 following : The Phoenix Iron Works of Chauncey Palmer, started in 
 1852, destroyed by fire in 1857 but rebuilt the year after, have been 
 since in the hands of his son Cyrus F. Palmer. Additions have been 
 made until now the plant covers 200 x 140 feet and consists of several 
 buildings. The products are hot-air and hot-water heaters, architect- 
 ural and ornamental work, settees and lawn adornments and all kinds 
 of iron work. 
 
 Another maker of ornamental work is Linus Dean, who began in 
 1858, and from a small business has made additions as occasion de- 
 
6o8 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 manded. His lot and buildings, with a front of 125 feet on Whitesboro 
 street, extend back to the canal. Iron fence in every style, urns, fire 
 escapes, and lawn furniture are made. 
 
 In a small way and alone, E. A. Wood undertook in 1861 the fabri- 
 cation of steam guages. Six years later Francis G. Wood became a 
 partner and the firm name of Utica Steam Gauge Company was adopted. 
 In 1882 Francis G. having withdrawn, his place was supplied by William 
 E. Wood, son of the founder. Their premises, fronting on Fayette 
 street, consist, besides their office and foundry, of some smaller build- 
 ing and yard. They manufacture gauges for steam engines and other 
 engine-room fixtures. To this they have added the branch industry of 
 steam heating. Wood's patent pedal valve for radiators is one of the 
 articles made. 
 
 In a building on Broad and Mohawk streets, built for Dana's lock 
 factory, Chapman & Co. started a foundry which ere long became that 
 of Le Roy, Shattuck & Head. In consequence of deaths and other 
 changes it is now known as Heads', George W. Head being president 
 and Francis T. Giblin secretary of an incorporated company. Fifty 
 men are employed in the making of hot-air furnaces and hot water 
 boilers, wagon hardware and plumbers' materials. 
 
 Justus Child started at Willow Vale, in i860, the manufacture of mow- 
 ing machines, his office and headquarters being^in Utica. The proprie- 
 tors have since been in turn, J. M., Wallace B., Orlando J., and Charles H. 
 Childs, and Everett B. Crumb. Their storehouse and salesroom is 
 located at the corner of Fayette and Seneca streets. They manufacture 
 and sell a large assortment of agricultural implements, wagons, etc. 
 Since 1879 one of this house has been interested in another factory for 
 the making of articles in agriculture which was set on foot by Jones & 
 Falkner in 1865. It is now Childs & Jones. They make dairy and 
 agricultural implements, and deal besides in stoves, tinware, bicycle.=, 
 etc. Their headquarters are at 84 Genesee street. 
 
 Charles Millar, a man of unusual stir and enterprise, who had been 
 for years a successful carpenter and builder, took to dealing in hard- 
 ware. This business was established in 1861, and five years later his 
 son, Henry W. Millar, joined his father therein. In 1867 the firm oc- 
 cupied the Millar building, which was just completed on Genesee street. 
 
BAKERY— SHOE MANUFACTURE. 609 
 
 They manufactured cheese and butter-making apparatus, and were 
 wholesale dealers in plumber's and farmer's supplies. In 1883 the man- 
 ufacture of lead pipe was begun, and two years later a warehouse and 
 factory were erected on Main street, on the line of the New York Cen- 
 tral Railroad. In 1885 John L. Murray, son-in-law of Charles Millar, 
 was admitted to the firm, and he, with Henry W. Millar, make the pres- 
 ent firm. In 1889 the firm, with the assistance of Nicholas E. Kernan, 
 Irvin A. Williams and William M. White, organized the Utica Pipe 
 Foundry Company, and Mr. Millar became its first president. The firm 
 employs 120 men. They manufacture cast iron water pipe and specials 
 for gas and water works. (See biography of Charles Millar in the part 
 of the volume devoted to biography.) 
 
 George Young, who had been brought up in Germany to the trade 
 of baker and was engaged in it for some time after his settlement 
 in Utica, bought, in 1864, the bake shop of Luke Wilkins and entered 
 on a business which has by degrees grown to be one of large extent and 
 importance. He occupies three adjoining stores on Bleecker street, 
 and has numerous hands in his service in the baking and sale of crack- 
 ers and bread, besides teams to distribute these products abroad. 
 Crackers and Vienna bread are his specialties. 
 
 An important addition to the manufactures of Utica has been that of 
 ladies' and misses' shoes. This branch of industry was commenced 
 about 1862—63, by James M. Wiswell, who subsequently became asso- 
 ciated with James H. Thompson. In 1866 J. Newton Cloyes purchased 
 Wiswell's interest, and the firm became Thompson & Cloyes. From 
 1872 Mr. Cloyes has been sole proprietor. When the business was be- 
 gun it was on a limited scale, in the attic of No. 12 John street. Mr. 
 Thompson employed from five to ten hands, and put in operation the 
 first McKay machine ever brought here. In 1880 Mr. Cloyes, after sev- 
 eral preceding changes of location, moved to his present quarters on 
 Meadow street, and has at work 175 men. 
 
 R. S. and William H. Reynolds began the same industry in 1865, 
 their brother, George A , being admitted to partnership the following 
 year. In 1873 fire partially destroyed their building, and they erected 
 a large one on the corner of John and Catherine. It is occupied by 
 George A., one of his brothers having died and the other withdrawn. 
 The business has increased to large proportions, employing 500 hands. 
 77 
 
6io MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 A third firm to engage in the same business was that of Holbrook & 
 Ludlow, who began in 1872 on lower John street. In 1880, Mr. Lud- 
 low having withdrawn, Lewis H. Lawrence became a partner. The 
 business was transferred to its present site on Catherine. It was de- 
 stroyed in the large fire of March, 1884, but has been handsomely re- 
 built. About 300 hands are busied. 
 
 Next door to the preceding there has been quartered till recently the 
 shoe firm of Tallman & Hurd. This firm has been recently dissolved, 
 with the probability of the setting up of two new ones in its stead. 
 
 Cabinetware has of course been produced in Utica from an early pe- 
 riod of its history, and its producers have been numerous. It is un- 
 necessary to notice more than two or three of their establishments. 
 The Union Cabinet Association, made up of sixteen members, chiefly 
 from the shop of Perrine & Fowler who had just failed, was formed 
 in 1855. At the end of the year eight of them had dropped out. 
 They had two workshops and employed twenty-five men. To increase 
 their capital others were taken in while some withdrew. After various 
 changes of membership and of location the property was bought by 
 Joseph B. Nelbach, one of the company. It then stood on Fayette 
 street near State. Adding to it a double store adjoining, Mr. Nelbach 
 has continued the sale of cabinetware and furniture. But little manu- 
 facturing is now done. 
 
 A factory established some years afterward, that is to say, in 1878 
 on the corner of Broad and Hubbell, by George E. Lord and William 
 E. Latimer, employs 100 hands and manufactures parlor suits, rockers 
 chairs, etc. The annual output is about $150,000. 
 
 The Utica Furniture Company erected buildings in 1887, on the cor 
 ner of Broad and Gilbert streets, having had an origin some time before 
 They failed in 1889 and the plant was idle for a year. Early in 1891 
 the company was incorporated with a paid up capital stock of $10 
 000. They manufacture roller- top and flat- top desks. Of this com 
 pany George F. Ballard is president. 
 
 The making of spring beds was begun in 1871 by Segar & Co 
 The parties engaged- in it have subsequently been Segar & Mallory 
 Segar & Foster, and are now Foster & Brothers. Begun on Cathe- 
 rine street, the factory is now on Broad street, corner of Clay, where 
 
KNITTING FACTORIES. 6ii 
 
 are manufactured spiral springs and spring beds of variojus styles, and 
 sixty hands are at work. There is a branch in St. Louis and another 
 in Baltimore. 
 
 The making of knit goods by machine process was commenced by S. S. 
 Lowery and J. L. Lowery in 1863, with an investment of about $10,000. 
 The plant was located on Pine street, and was operated until 1866 in 
 the manufacture of knit goods, chiefly stockings for the use of the army. 
 In 1867 a new firm was organized, consisting of S. S. Lowery and J. L. 
 Williams, and the mill fixtures were removed to the corner of Fulton 
 and Franklin streets, where a large brick building was occupied. The 
 mill had four sets of cards, with spinning and weaving machinery to 
 correspond, and consumed annually about 200,000 pounds of cotton 
 and wool in about equal quantities. The annual output was $150,000 
 value in ladies' and children's fine underwear. In 1886 this company 
 closed up the business and the plant was idle for a time. In 1889 a 
 stock company was formed and operated the factory for a year and a 
 half. This company was not successful, and in May, 1890, a firm, con- 
 sisting of Quentin McAdam, Erwin B. Kenyon, Charles Rathbun, John 
 W. AUis and James McGuire, was organized and took possession of the 
 property. This company manufactures exclusively children's knit un ■ 
 derwear, and employs 125 hands. They do a large jobbing trade in 
 this city through the wholesale house of Quentin McAdam & Co., 
 which is connected with this manufactory, and in New York, Boston, 
 Philadelphia and Baltimore, their output being 60,000 dozens for the 
 past year. Reorganized in December, 1891, the company is now known 
 as the Utica Knitting Company. It has a capital of $20,000, fully 
 ■paid in. 
 
 In the mean time another establishment of like character was started 
 by Charles Stewart, who was joined in 1870 by John Wild, a man prac- 
 ticed in this business, who came here from Oswego. Their factory was 
 on Jay street. The business was carried on in a comparatively small 
 way until 1873, when Mr. Stewart died. Mr. Wild then acquired his 
 partner's interest and conducted the industry alone until 1874, when 
 N. E. Devereux joined him and the establishment was enlarged. At 
 the time of the formation of the firm of Wild & Devereux the entire 
 working force, including the proprietors, numbered twenty-nine hands, 
 
6i2 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 and the annual production had a value of only about $30,000. A few 
 years later they purchased land on Broad street, facing Kossuth avenue, 
 where they erected a large three- story factory. The new mill was oc- 
 cupied in 1880. The firm now employs 440 hands, and the annual prod- 
 uct has a value of $400,000, and consists of knit underwear of cotton. 
 
 The manufacture of Scotch caps is an industry that was begun in 
 a small way at New Hartford, in 1868, by Thomas Hanford, and con- 
 tinued by him at that place until 1881. While there he sold the shells 
 of such caps to D. W. Northrup, who put in the linings and placed 
 them on the market. This was about 1875. Mr. Northrup has since 
 conducted the manufacture on a larger scale down to the present time, 
 his plant being on Liberty street. In the spring of 1884 the factory of 
 Mr. Hanford and his partner, John E. McLoughlin, was removed to the 
 lower end of Park avenue in this city. Hiram E. Brewster was admit- 
 ted as a partner, and the name of Mohawk Valley Cap Factory. Com- 
 pany was adopted. The place of Mr. Hanford, who has withdrawn, is 
 filled by William F. Allen. They employ about 250 hands, and the 
 annual capacity of production is 60,060 dozen caps, which are disposed 
 of in this country and abroad. Another company engaged in the same 
 business is that of the Empire Scotch Cap Factory, Nos. 123-129 Broad 
 street, started in 1883, but organized in 1887. It consists of Alfred 
 Bayliss and C. F. Crandall. The premises are like those of the pre- 
 ceding, and their equipment includes two sets of cards and twenty- 
 €ight knitting machines. About 125 operatives are employed, $75,000 
 of capital ' is invested, and the trade is widely diffused. 
 
 The Lynch Scotch Cap Company began operations in 1885. It is 
 located on Culver street in a four- story brick building, employs about 
 fifty hands and makes 20,000 dozen caps. Its market is in the United 
 States and Canada. The Lenox factory, an incorporated company, be- 
 gan on upper Genesee street in 1888. - 
 
 The Mohawk Valley Cotton Mills, Broad street, foot of Nichols, has 
 the same executive management as the Utica Steam Cotton Mills with 
 which it is affiliated. The company was organized in 1880 for the pur- 
 pose of meeting the demand for sheetings of a little different texture, 
 but of same widths as those manufactured by the last named mills. 
 The capital stock is $500,000. The buildings of this company are a 
 
SKENANDOA COTTON CO. — EUREKA MOWER CO. 613 
 
 main building 100 x 200 feet in dimensions, four stories high ; one wing 
 100 feet square, three stories high ; one wing 40 x loO feet, two stories 
 high ; engine and boiler houses, and a large store house, the latter on 
 the north side of the canal. There are in operation 21,000 spindles, 
 and equal to 600 4-4 looms (from 4-4 to 10-4), with a motive power of 
 400 horse-power. About 350 hands are employed, and the annual out- 
 put is .ibout 4,500,000 square yards. 
 
 The Skenandoa Cotton Company, Broad street, foot of Milgate. — 
 This enterprise was started in 1882, with a capital stock of $200,000, 
 which has since been increased to $300,000, and with J. B. Wells as 
 president. The manufacturing plant comprises atrick mill at the above 
 location, two floors in height, 537 x 100 feet in size. It is equipped 
 with 22,000 spindles and other necessary machinery, and run by two 
 engines, one condensing and one compound, of 600 horse-power. There 
 are 480 male and female operatives employed. The products of the 
 company are fine hosiery yarns, furnished on cops, skeins, and cones 
 ready for use by manufacturers ; also yarns of common American cot- 
 ton, Egyptian and Peeler cotton. The present directors are : President, 
 George H. Wiley; J. K. Chamberlayne, M.D., J. H. Williams, P. V. 
 Rogers, N. E. Kernan, D. N. Crouse, John B. Wild. The products from 
 this mill are sold direct to manufacturers of underware and hosiery. 
 
 The Eureka Mower Company had been located in Towanda, Pa. 
 The company, after determining to change its location, was per- 
 suaded to come to Utica by the offer of eight acres of land from the 
 Hamilton farm, and the consent of several Utica capitalists to take a 
 portion of stock. The land was bought with money raised for that 
 purpose by subscription of the citizens of Utica. The secretary of the 
 company, S. Rendell, being unable to leave other interests at Towanda, 
 was succeeded by Edward Norris, of Utica. The property is bounded 
 by Hickory, Schuyler, Linden and Hicks streets, upon which are erec- 
 ted several buildings, at a cost of $40,000. There are thirteen directors; 
 James H. Williams is president. Their machines meet with a ready 
 sale. 
 
 A flouring mill was established in 1887, by Messrs. Graff, Young & 
 McElroy, ?t the corner of Main and Second streets. The plant con- 
 sists of a brick mill, equipped upon what is known as the full roller and 
 
6i4 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 centrifugal system, by which system all the nutritious gluten and albu- 
 men contained in the wheat is saved. January 13, 1891, the firm be- 
 came Young, McElroy & White. 
 
 As yet no mention has been made of the brewing of malt, which was 
 one of the earliest industries established in U.tica. Not to speak of the 
 place where Matthew Codd "brewed his peck of maut " for the use of 
 Utica's early villagers, the breweries known as the Gulf and the 
 Oneida were put in operation as early as 1830-32. For ten years at 
 least they sufficed to satisfy the needs of the community. About 1840 
 one was started for the making of lager beer, the delight of the German 
 population. Breweries have since become numerous, so that eight of 
 them have now a place in the city. To recount the history of each 
 with an enumeration of their various proprietors, to describe the build- 
 ings in use or relate the amount of their products, would far transcend 
 the limits at our command. Those latest established were begun in 
 1888 and 1890. 
 
 The Utica Burial Case Company was incorporated in April, 1890, 
 with a capital stock of $90,000, and with the following trustees : Nich- 
 olas E. Kernan, president; Henry Martin, vice-president; Joseph B. 
 Nelbach, secretary and treasurer ; Joseph Faass, Matthew Turnock, 
 Peter J. Nelbach, Patrick F. Bulger, George Windheim, and Jacob 
 Agne, jr. A building was completed and occupied in June, 1890, front- 
 ing on Hickory street, corner of Wheeler avenue, the property extend- 
 ing to Chenango and Sunset avenues. The company employs sixty men 
 in the manufacture of all kinds of burial cases. The trade extends 
 throughout the Eastern and Middle States. 
 
 The foundation of the city gas making was laid in 1848 by the Utica 
 Gas Light Company. As manufacturers of gas they lighted the city 
 for forty years. The present company succeeded to the ownership of 
 the plant in 1888, organizing under the name of the Equitable Gas and 
 Electric Company, with the following officers : R. M. C. Graham, pres- 
 ident ; H. Keene, vice-president and treasurer; Harold Graham, secre- 
 tary and manager. The capital stock with bonds outstanding is $600,- 
 000. An electric light plant, added to the works just previous to its 
 transfer to the present company, operates six dynamos which are sup- 
 plied with power from three engines of 225 horse-power. The plant of 
 
EQUITABLE GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY. 615 
 
 the company is located on Water street, at the foot of Seneca, and cov- 
 ers about two acres of land, upon which are erected various brick build- 
 ings and two holders. The company also owns a block bounded by 
 Noyes, Francis, Mulberry streets and Sunset^avenue, upon which an- 
 other large holder has been erected for regulating gas pressure in that 
 section. The company makes gas by three processes, coal gas, water 
 gas by the Granger process, and water gas by the celebrated Jerzman 
 owski process, the latter yielding light of high candle power. The com- 
 pany furnishes 75,000,000 cubic feet of gas yearly, and 100 electric lights 
 of sixty-five candle power, besides electricity and gas for power. The 
 present officers are: Casimir Tag, president; H. Keene, vice-president; 
 and E. A. Pinkney, superintendent. The construction of the plant 
 shows on the part of its builders expectation of a large city, either one 
 of the three processes being equipped and of sufficient capacity to fur- 
 nish all the gas consumed at the present time. The capacity of the 
 plant is 800,000 cubic feet per day. 
 
 As new fields have been disclosed for the employment of capital, and 
 our people have seen the good which its earnings have brought to the 
 city, a home feeling has arisen in lieu of the languid interest in the place 
 of their residence so many had heretofore shown. This home feeling, 
 this pride in the ventures which have proved a success, and the desire 
 to do more to enlarge and build up the city, has had no small share in 
 the creation of some of the establishments recently started. Especially 
 have its effects been manifest in the formation of a society purposely 
 designed to promote such advancement. It is known as the Merchants' 
 and Manufacturers' Association. By its aid parties proposing to found 
 some branch of industry that requires peculiar facilities, or ready for 
 the sake of a better location to relinquish the one where they were pre- 
 viously settled, have been sought out and their aims and resources 
 made the subject of careful inquiry; if approved, such projectors have 
 been encouraged to locate in Utica and have been aided by the proffer 
 of money or of land. The fostering care of this association has already 
 accomplished much, and it is hoped will accomplish yet more in the 
 future. 
 
6i6 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 t 
 
 CHARITIES. 
 
 SO abounding are the charities of Utica as to have given it an hon- 
 ored reputation in other parts of the country. To fail of describ- 
 ing the most conspicuous of these institutions would be to omit one of the 
 chief characteristics of the place. Leaving out of notice such as pertain 
 to the county at large, and in which the people of Utica have borne 
 only a share, as likewise those within its limits which enlist the sympa- 
 thies and form a part of the work of each religious society or benevolent 
 order, I propose to describe such as are sustained by the efforts of our 
 people in common. Of the benevolent operations of wider embrace 
 that have existed in the past, bare mention must suffice. Such was 
 the Female Charitable Society of Whitestown created in 1806, and 
 known after 1814 as the Female Missionary Society of Oneida. Such 
 too was the Bible Society of Oneida which has received support from 
 all over its bounds ; founded six years before the American Bible So- 
 ciety it has now observed its eightieth anniversary ; it has many times 
 canvassed the county and furnished with Bibles every person in want of 
 them. Such were the similar society for supplying Welsh- speaking 
 readers, and the Bible and Prayer- Book Society cared for by a special 
 denomination. Originating in Utica these latter have had their head- 
 quarters and most of their officers here. 
 
 Let us turn to review the history and work of the institutions wholly 
 local, tlie asylums, the homes, the hospitals that are maintained by the 
 city's united benevolence. 
 
 The history of the Utica Orphan Asylum begins properly with the 
 establishment of the Female Society of Industry in October, 1826. This 
 society was composed of seventy members who paid in $6 each annu- 
 ally, either in cash or needle- work, and in January, 1828, began to raise 
 a fund for the founding of an orphan asylum. The officers were Mrs. 
 Sophia Bagg, president and treasurer, and Mrs. Ann Breese, secretary. 
 By the end of the following year the investments of the society reached 
 
UTICA ORPHAN ASYLUM. 617 
 
 $600, and by the fall of 1833 had increased to $3,000. The circum- 
 stance which gave direction to the purposes of the society, and opened 
 a channel for the flow of its charity, was briefly this: Three children of 
 Thomas Arthur and wife were suddenly left by the death of their par- 
 ents, without means of support. One of the managers of the affairs of 
 the society was well acquainted with the parents of these children and 
 knew of their bereavement. After making the matter known to her 
 associates it was determined at her suggestion, that their first object 
 should be the maintenance of these destitute orphans, and not only so, 
 but that an asylum should be founded which, in the words of the sub- 
 sequent act of incorporation, " Shall be for the support and education 
 of orphans." A charter was drawn and a public meeting held in Wash- 
 ington Hall, January 7, 1830. A constitution was adopted and officers 
 were chosen, all of them being ladies, with the exception of three gen- 
 tlemen who were to act as an advisory committee. A meeting of sub- 
 scribers was held in September, when a few changes were made in the 
 Board of Managers, and from this time forward the meetings were fre- 
 quent. Committees were appointed to obtain subscriptions, and others 
 to ascertain what orphans there were in the village who were proper 
 subjects for charity. At first such were boarded in the houses of others, 
 and Mrs. Philomela A. Brown, of Litchfield, Oneida County, was en- 
 gaged to care for them and direct their education. Housekeeping was 
 begun in November of this year, in a building that stood on the north- 
 east corner of John and Catharine streets. In May, 1833, the family 
 was removed to a house near the southeast corner of Chancellor Square. 
 The financial panic of 1837, ''"'^ the stringency of the few succeeding 
 years, had a marked efiect on the asylum and came very near to closing 
 its doors. During the year 1840 there is no record of any meeting, but 
 the annual meeting and election of officers occurred in September. In 
 December, 1842, another general assemblage occurred of the members 
 and of those who were interested in the asylum, to take measures to re- 
 commence the institution. The old constitution was approved, and it 
 was determined to apply for an extension of the charter and for such an 
 alteration of it as would admit, without charge, half orphans, as well 
 as those deprived of both parents; also conferring the privilege of hold- 
 ing a larger amount of property than $10,000. Six additional niana- 
 
 78 
 
6i8 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 gers were created. Deferring the question of a building which had 
 been discussed, the asylum was reopened on Broadway, east side, a few 
 doors above the canal, in May, 1845, with Mrs. Cooley as matron. In 
 1846 lot No. 312 Genesee street, was purchased with the proceeds of 
 two fairs, and in June, 1847, gi'ound was broken for a new building 
 which was finished in May, 1848. Its cost was $5,550, the society 
 having at interest $7,611.31 when it was begun. In this commodious 
 structure, and with increasing revenue, the means of good were greatly 
 enhanced. Among the important accessions to the funds were the re- 
 ceipt from the Comptroller of the State, of the apportioned share of the 
 appropriation of $5,000 made by the legislature to the orphan asylums 
 of the State ; another gift of $800 from the State, being a part of an 
 estate that had come into the treasury ; the donation by T. S. Faxton, 
 of 100 shares of water stock of Utica ($2,500) ; the legacy of a like 
 amount from Dr. Healey, of Syracuse ; $485 from the Fulton Fire En- 
 gine Company, the avails of an engine sold by them ; besides various 
 smaller donations. But the most munificent gift of that epoch, and the 
 one which prepared the way for the erection of the present commodious 
 home, was the legacy of $34,000 left them by the will of Alfred Mun- 
 son. To this gift were attached certain conditions; the citizens must 
 raise, within five years after his decease, $io,000 for the purchase of 
 suitable grounds not less than three acres in extent, and any balance re- 
 maining after the purchase of the grounds must be applied toward the 
 erection of a building. This provision was accomplished in the year 
 1855. While these matters were in progress, Benjamin F. Jewett 
 tendered the society a gift of three acres of land on the corner of Gene- 
 see and Pleasant streets, a beautiful and convenient site. The offer was 
 accepted and an additional acre was purchased of him. 
 
 It was not until i860 that the details of payment of the legacy of Mr. 
 Munson were arranged so that the erection of the building could pro- 
 gress ; but they were finally adjusted, a subscription of $5,000 additional 
 to the $10,000 already pledged was raised, and on the 30th of May the 
 corner-stone of the new building was laid. An able address was de- 
 livered by Prof. Anson J. Upson, and on the evening of the same day 
 Mrs. Macready gave a dramatic reading in the city and donated the 
 proceeds ($175) to the asylum. By the middle of the summer of 1861 
 
UTICA ORPHAN ASYLUM. 619 
 
 the structure was completed and furnished, $25,628 having then been ex- 
 pended upon it. There was considerable indebtedness left, but a legacy 
 of $9,000 left by Augustus White, and the funds received from the sale of 
 the abandoned house, materially reduced the obligation, and by the fall 
 • of 1863 the cost of the building was paid and the receipts made ade- 
 quate for the current expenses. Since that time the career of the soci- 
 ety has been one of continuous prosperity and increasing usefulness. 
 Conspicuous among the endowments of subsequent years was the munifi- 
 cent bequest of $25,000 from Silas D. Childs. This was followed a few 
 years later by a similar gift from his widow, and which was increased 
 by a residuary interest in her estate to the generous amount of $5 1,000. 
 Francis Ramsdell left the asylum $17,000 and B. F. Shaw, $4,850. 
 Mrs. Alfred Churchill gave it $5,000 for the construction of a laundry, 
 and Jonathan R. Warner $10,000, the income of which must be used 
 for the payment of insurance and repairs and improvements on the 
 premises. Nicholas F. Vedder gave $5,000, and smaller sums were 
 given by others. 
 
 The successive matrons of the asylum since the departure of Mrs. 
 Brown, have been Miss Thomas, Mrs. Cooley, Mrs. Sarah Beard, Mrs. 
 Harriet W. Jones, Miss M. J. Foster, Mrs. Catharine Pease, Mrs. Tuffts, 
 Miss Hinsdale, Mrs. Jane M. Talcott, and Mrs. Julia E. Stevens. 
 
 Some idea of the great usefulness of this institution may be gained 
 from a few figures. The number of children housed and cared for pre- 
 vious to 1880, was 1,578 ; and since that date, 880, making a total of 
 2,458. None but orphans are taken absolutely free of charge ; half- 
 orphans being charged for at a low rate, according to the circumstances 
 of the parent. Children are admitted from the age of two years, are 
 enabled to acquire a good English education, and are kept, boys until 
 twelve, girls until they are fourteen, when they are put out at service, 
 the person taking them giving bonds for their care and maintenance. 
 The system of internal management has not been changed from the be- 
 ginning, the constitution being the guide which is strictly followed. It 
 is Protestant, Evangelical and Catholic. It is governed by women 
 elected from all the churches of faith thus described, and governed in a 
 spirit of harmony that has never been broken. They visit the asylum 
 frequently and in turn, and through their committees perform all the 
 service that is required. 
 
620 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 In 1834 the late John C. and Nicholas Devereux made application to 
 the Sisters of Charity to conduct a Catholic asylum and day school in 
 Utica. Accordingly, three Sisters were sent from the Mother House at 
 Emmettsburg, Md. The asylum was opened in December, with three 
 children, in a small frame dwelling-house a story and a half in height, in 
 the center of the lot now occupied. A day school was opened after a 
 time in an adjoining building on Burnet street. The institution, St. John's 
 Female Orphan Asylum, was incorporated March 18, 1848. The 
 grounds and early buildings were the gift of the Messrs. Devereux, who 
 were the chief support of the institution until its incorporation. The 
 number of children increased rapidly, and the building used for the asy- 
 lum became crowded. The work of the Sisters, aided by their friends, 
 has made trie building what it now is. The area of land now occupied 
 is 29,000 square feet, the asylum fronting 140 feet on John street and 
 200 feet deep, and the entire building is four stories high. The origi- 
 nal building was the central part of the present building, which was two 
 stories high It was increased to three when the addition was put on 
 the north side, and afterward to four when the south addition was put 
 on. These enlargements were made as money was obtained by the 
 Sisters to do the work. There are at present 140 children in the asy- 
 lum, and they are cared for by seven Sisters. The support comes 
 mainly from the county, which pays $200 a week for those it sends 
 there. Half orphans are partially supported by the remaining parent, 
 and all attend the day school, but in a separate room from the day 
 scholars. The asylum has room for about 200 children. The day 
 school is open forty weeks each year, has 250 scholars in attendance, 
 and five Sisters are occupied as teachers. This building is in the 
 rear of the asylum building and fronts on Burnet street. It was re 
 modeled in 1886, and made one-third larger to provide for the in- 
 creased number of pupils. It has five grades of study, extending 
 through the academic course. It is supported by St. John's parish and 
 is free to all children from this church. Sister Stanislaus is Superioress 
 of the combined institutions. 
 
 A Catholic Asylum for boys was founded March 25, 1862, by Rev. 
 Thomas Daley, of St. John's Church, and was called St. Vincent Male 
 Orphan Asylum. It was incorporated April 21 of the same year. It 
 
ST. VINCENT INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL. 621 
 
 had its beginning in the rooms of the Assumption Academy, but soon 
 enough children were gathered to warrant the erection of a building for 
 its purpose. During this period the institution was mainly supported 
 by St. Vincent De Paul Society and the congregation of St. John's 
 Church. Its affairs were directed by the Brothers of the Christian 
 Schools, and its finances were controlled by a board of managers. The 
 Brothers resigned April 12, 1876, and the board then assumed entire 
 charge of the school. It was at this period that the institution was in- 
 corporated under the title of "St. Vincent Protectorate and Reforma 
 tory for destitute children in Oneida and adjacent counties." At the 
 end of the year the property was sold at public auction. Rt. Rev. 
 Bishop McNierny purchased it and recalled the Christian Brothers Jan- 
 uary 19, 1877. In this way the school was continued until August, 
 1885, when the Christian Brothers purchased the property of Bishop 
 McNierny, and re incorporated it under the name of " St. Vincent In- 
 dustrial School." Improvements to the amount of $8,000 were now 
 made upon the building which is built of brick, three stories and base- 
 ment, and 140 X 70 feet in size, located in the center of seven acres of 
 land, on Rutger street between Taylor avenue and Third street. Ma- 
 chinery consisting of thirty-six small knitting machines, four ripping 
 machines, a steam press, a tailor shop (where the children make and re- 
 pair their own clothing), and a wood carving shop had been put in at a 
 co.stof $6,000. There are at present 160 boys in the institution, which 
 is conducted by nine Brothers under the management of Brother Adel- 
 berian. Not all of these come from Central New York; some are from 
 the metropolis, by whose funds they are supported. Boys are taken 
 ordinarily between the ages of six and fourteen, and instructed in the 
 ordinary branches of study and in religion, and spend three hours each 
 day in some one of the workshops. 
 
 The first steps towards the founding of an institution for infirm and 
 destitute children under the direction of the Episcopal denomination 
 were taken in the winter of 1872-73. A meeting was called at Trinity 
 Rectory, at which Bishop F. D. Huntington presided, where ways and 
 means were fully discussed and decided upon. Soon after, in May, 
 1873, a small tenement on Blandina street was rented, through the gen- 
 erosity of the late Mrs Charlotte B. Crouse, and the House of the Good 
 
62 2 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTTCA. 
 
 Shepherd went into practical operation. It openejfl with two children 
 as innnates, but before the week closed this number was increased to 
 twelve, filling the little house to its utmost capacity and proving imme- 
 diately the great need of the charity. Eleven trustees and six mana- 
 gers were given the control of it. 
 
 Soon after the opening of the small house subscription papers were 
 put in active circulation, and as a gratifying result there occurred on the 
 8th of June, 1875, the formal opening of the present commodious house 
 on the corner of Bleecker and East streets. Interesting addresses were 
 made on this occasion by Bishop Huntington, the city clergy, and by 
 several distinguished laymen. The house was thusffully launched on its 
 career of usefulness. Its articles of associations set forth that " the par- 
 ticular business and objects of this society shall be the care, mainte- 
 nance, and instruction of friendless, neglected, or destitute children of 
 the Diocese of Central New York, of the Protestant Episcopal Church, 
 and shall be carried on in Utica, Oneida County." The constitution 
 says with equal brevity, but with great comprehensiveness, that " the 
 business of the society shall be the permanent care of infirm children, 
 and the temporary care of friendless, neglected, and destitute children, 
 without requiring their surrender." The children in charge are not or- 
 phans (except in exceptional cases). Very few of the parents, however, 
 owing to illness or other disabilities, are able to pay anything toward 
 the support of their children, who would be homeless and destitute but 
 for this kindly home. There are always many more applications for 
 admission than can be granted, and many and heart-rending are the 
 tales of sorrow and destitution wliich reach the ears of the managers. 
 
 This is the only institution in the city where children under two years 
 of age are admitted, but here the nursery has always fourteen or fifteen 
 inmates, requiring great care and entailing much expense for nurses and 
 attendants. But two deaths (both infants) have occurred in more than 
 three years. 
 
 The house, as has been seen from its articles of association, is under 
 the care of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and the religious instruc- 
 tion of the children is guided by that church ; but in this connection it 
 should be stated that the question of the special creed, or absence of 
 creed, of any child asking for admission is never taken into account, and 
 
HOME FOR THE HOMELESS. 623 
 
 children of every Protestant denomination, and many Roman Catholics, 
 have from time to time found shelter in the house. Prayers are read 
 once every day in the chapel, and on Sundays the children attend morn- 
 ing service and Sunday-school at the church of the Holy Cross, on 
 Bleecker street; but Roman Catholic children are allowed to attend 
 their own church. 
 
 Since the present house was built it has been enlarged and improved 
 by the building of an infirmary, school- room and chapel, and several lots 
 have been added to the grounds, three by gift, the rest by purchase. It 
 is hoped that in the future a house for boys can be built on a part of 
 this land. The present capacity of the house is about forty- five, and it 
 is always filled to overflowing. The names of nearly 600 children are 
 to be found upon its bool<s since they were opened. The house main- 
 tains a regular day school for the older inmates and they are well and 
 carefully taught. The girls are also thoroughly instructed in sewing. 
 Great care is taken of their religious training, manners and general be- 
 havior, and in these respects they compare most favorably with children 
 blessed by a home atmosphere. 
 
 The total value of the present house and grounds is about $17,000. 
 The institution is supported mainly by the charity of its many kind 
 friends, though it has received since its incorporation several legacies 
 which have been invested and yield a moderate income. To this is 
 added annually a considerable sum received from the supervisors of sev- 
 eral counties who have committed children to the house. Over and 
 above these sources of revenue it is dependent upon the gifts of its 
 friends, and as its annual expenses amount to nearly $5,000, it is appa- 
 rent that these are constant and generous. Following are the officers 
 of the institution as shown by the report of 1890: President ex- officio, 
 Rt. Rev. F. D. Huntington, S. T. D.; Chaplain, Rev. J. J Burd ; house- 
 mother, Mrs. Mary F. J. Frisbie. Of the board of managers. Miss L. C. 
 Watson, is president. Of the board of trustees Thomas R. Proctor is 
 president. 
 
 November 19, 1866, a charter was granted to an association under 
 the name of " Home for the Homeless in the City of Utica," the object 
 of which was and is the protection, assistance, and support, wholly or 
 in part, of respectable, aged, indigent or infirm women, who are un- 
 
624 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 able to support themselves without assistance. The Home was opened 
 in a building on Whitesboro street, opposite the State Asylum grounds, 
 in May, 1867, and during the first year received seven aged women. 
 But it was clear that a suitable building must be erected in order to make 
 the institution a permanent success. Mr. T. S. Faxton offered to give 
 $20,000 toward the erection of a home, provided a like sum should 
 be subscribed by January i, 1869. Success so far attended the efforts 
 of the ladies that $26,000 was subscribed by that time, and the founda- 
 tion of an appropriate structure was laid upon the two acres of land do- 
 nated by Mr. Faxton on Faxton street, where the Home now stands. 
 In December, 1870, Mr. B. F. Jewett, aided by his sisters, donated four 
 lots, each 40 feet front and 126 feet deep, adjoining the lots donated by 
 Mr. Faxton. The Home was built of brick, three stories in height, at a 
 cost of $30,000, and was opened to the public December 26, 1870. 
 There were twenty- six inmates who occupied the new home during this 
 first year of its existence. The Home at that time contained two front 
 parlors, sixteen double and twenty single lodging-rooms, and dining- 
 room, with closets and bath-rooms and kitchen. In December, 1872, an 
 exhibition of allegorical tableaux was given for the benefit of the house 
 the proceeds of which amounted to $703.42, and were applied to the 
 purchase of a lot in the cemetery. In 1879 a new building was added 
 to the old one at a cost of $6,000, this having been found necessary ow- 
 ing to the increased number of applications for admission. During the 
 following year a public announcement was made of the bequest of 
 $35,000 by Jason G. Coye to the Home, and, at the present writing 
 another extensive addition is being made to the institution to accommo- 
 date the increasing number who have applied for admission. When the 
 Home was first organized it was placed under a board of thirty-seven 
 •lady managers, and from this number its officers were chosen. The 
 first officers were : Mrs. S. W. Fisher, president ; Mrs. P. V. Rogers 
 treasurer; Mrs. A. Seward, corresponding secretary; Mrs. James H. 
 Williams, recording secretary; and ten vice-presidents. Mrs. Daniel 
 Grouse became president in 1870, and has since held that office. Mrs. 
 Rogers was treasurer until October, 1882, since which time Mrs. Ed- 
 ward Curran has held that office. The Home is still managed as it was 
 at first, and has given refuge during its twenty- five years of existence to 
 
FAXTON HOSPITAL AND HOME. 625 
 
 over 200 women. The matrons who have successively managed the 
 affairs of the home are : Mrs. Sarah Judson, Miss Ellen Jones, Miss 
 Lucretia Spurr, Mrs. Mary E. Sharpe. 
 
 The Faxton Hospital was erected in 1874 and 1875 by Hon. Theo- 
 dore S. Faxton, who not only gave the means for its entire construc- 
 tion, but carefully supervised the execution of his plans. In June, 1875, 
 he placed the institution in the hands of a Board of Trustees, created at 
 his instance by act of the legislature two years previously. With these 
 trustees its management vested until 1878. By them a medical and 
 surgical staff was appointed, nurses were engaged, and the sick were 
 received. The demands upon the Hospital for the accommodation of 
 patients did not, however, meet the anticipations of its generous founder. 
 A study of the reasons for this led the trustees, in 1878, to place the insti- 
 tution under the care of a board of forty lady managers, with powers and 
 duties similar to those given the lady managers of the Home for the 
 Homeless. By them the second and third floors of the building were 
 set apart for the shelter of aged men, the lower one being devoted to 
 the care of the sick. The Faxton Hospital thus became not only a 
 hospital, but a home — a shelter and permanent resting place for re- 
 spectable men, who, at an advanced age, are left helpless and alone. 
 Three were admitted that year, four the year following, and six in 
 1880. 
 
 In February, 1882, articles of incorporation of the Home for Aged 
 Men were duly filed, the gifts at that time being $1,000 from the late 
 A. J. Williams, $500 from Miss Jane E. Kelly, and $1,000 from the 
 estate of Mrs. George S. Green. It has recently been decided, on ac- 
 count of numerous applications, to admit aged men, together with their 
 wives, and three such have been received. In the early part of the 
 year 1890 efforts were put forth toward the erection of a building for this 
 purpose. A lot on Sunset avenue was secured and a large and commo- 
 dious structure has been placed thereon at a cost of $35,000. It was 
 opened with appropriate ceremonies July 15, 1891. Since its incep- 
 tion in 1878 the home has received and sheltered sixty-five inmates. 
 As a hospital for the treatment of the sick, the building first erected is 
 still maintained, there being two physicians in charge, one from both 
 of the two principal schools of practice, and the patients having the 
 
 79 
 
626 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 choice of their medical attendant. From thirty to forty patients are 
 annually received. At present it is being remodeled. 
 
 St. Elizabeth's Hospital and Home was organized December I2, 
 1866, by Mother Bernardine, a member of the charitable Order of St. 
 Francis. The firgt patient was received in a small wooden building on 
 Columbia street, which was kindly given by the Franciscan Fathers, 
 rent free, for the purpose. Through the generosity of Thomas B. Dev- 
 ereux another building was added to the institution, and soon after- 
 ward still another, all within two years. As the number of patients in- 
 creased new nurses were obtained. The funds necessary to carry on 
 the work at that time came entirely from the contributions of charitable 
 citizens. In 1868 the old buildings were removed to make room for 
 the new St. Joseph's Church, and a purchase was made of a house a 
 few doors west of the former location. This building was repaired and 
 put in order for the comfort of the sick, and was finally opened for pa- 
 tients October 15, 1869. It was built of wood, two stories high, and 
 would accommodate about thirty patients. A lying-in department was 
 at once opened, and in 1871 a dispensary for the out-door poor. Med- 
 icine is furnished free to those needing it. The design of the institution 
 is to provide for the medical and surgical care of all persons who may 
 apply for relief, without regard to age, sex, color, nativity, creed or 
 ability to pay ; and to furnish a home for the aged and infirm of both 
 sexes. Those who are able are expected to pay the cost of their sup- 
 port ; and others what they can afford. By this plan the money of the 
 charitable is applied directly to the benefit of the destitute poor. The 
 hospital is under the supervision of the Sisters of the Order of St. Fran- 
 cis, and is not connected with any parish or church. Several physi- 
 cians and surgeons are on the staff of the hospital, and daily minister to 
 its inmates. Dr. Hamilton S. Quin is the chief of staft". 
 
 St. Luke's Home was incorporated December 23, 1869. It grew out 
 of the personal labors of Rev. E. M. Van Deusen, D.D., who preached 
 a sermon in October, 1867, suggesting such a church home. Truman 
 K. Butler, in the fall of 1869, offered the use of an unfurnished build- 
 ing in course of erection for a factory boarding-house for eighteen 
 months free of rent, with the condition that, if the establishment of 
 such an institution could be proven practicable, after he had completed 
 
ST. LUKE'S HOSPITAL AND HOME. 627 
 
 it he would, at the expiration of that period, give a deed of the prop- 
 erty. An informal service was held on St. Luke's day, October 18, 
 1869, and the home was called St. Luke's. The object of the institu- 
 tion was, and is, "The establishing and maintaining in the cityof Utica 
 a refuge for the poor and friendless members of Gra.ce Church parish 
 in Utica, and such others as the Board of Managers may think entitled 
 to its benefits." The corporators and managers for the first year were 
 the rector, wardens and vestrymen of Grace Church. Its board of 
 twelve almoners had as officers: Mrs. Van Deusen, president; Mrs. 
 James S Lynch, treasurer; and Mrs. James F. Mann, secretary. Miss 
 Mary Northrup was the first matron. On the 3d of January, 1870, a 
 school was opened in the Home building, but was discontinued after 
 about two years. It was now found that a hospital was necessary, and 
 accordingly, September i, 1870, a double two-story brick dwelling ad- 
 joining the home was bought of Mr. Butler for $6,000, he contributing 
 $1,000. In this the hospital was opened July 9, 1872, with Mrs. Sarah 
 J. Brown, president, and Mrs. Louise G. Schantz, secretary and treas- 
 urer. The first matron was Mrs. Butterworth, who was succeeded by 
 a Mrs. Mallick for a short time. Miss De Lancey was the third matron. 
 The present one is Mrs. Anna Stewart. On September. 7, 1874, Grace 
 Church, in consideration of the request of Mr. Butler, quit claimed to 
 the corporation the hospital premises subject to the mortgage which was 
 paid one-half by subscription, the rest, $1,500, by Mr. Butler. In 1875 
 a lot owned by the city west of the hospital was purchased for $1,500. 
 On November i, 1876, Mr. Butler purchased alotin Forest Hill Ceme- 
 tery and gave it to the Home. In 1880 a medical director was chosen 
 for the hospital, and the custom has since continued. Dr. Willis E. 
 Ford is the present medical director, and with him are associated a num- 
 ber of other physicians and surgeons. The Helen Ledyard Seymour 
 memorial fountain, which adorns the lawn in front of the house, was 
 given September 6, i88i,and February 10, 1883, Mr. Butler conveyed 
 to the corporation the vacant lot used as a lawn. In 1886 a new brick 
 building was erected at a cost of $13,890. In June. 1887, the Board 
 of Managers purchased the dwelling, No. 305 Whitesboro street, for 
 $2,300, and all the indebtedness on the above property is at the present 
 time cancelled. January 21, 1888, the name became St. Luke's Home 
 
628 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 and Hospital in the city of Utica. During the same year the board 
 fitted up the " Lancaster House " for the use of nurses and other hos- 
 pital purposes. A school for nurses was established in 1889, and is 
 proving a very successful feature of the work. Plans have already been 
 drawn for another building, to be used for general hospital purposes. 
 Three hundred and eighteen patients have been cared for during the 
 year closing October 1, 1891. The Hospital and Home has eight male 
 managers and twenty- four lady almoners. 
 
 The City Hospital was erected by commission in 1856 at the expense 
 of the city, and was intended to be used as a w»rk-house. Two years 
 later it became a hospital under the superintendence of the poor- master, 
 and when the Board of Charities superseded him it came under the care 
 of the latter. Its cost was $12,000. The building was built of brick, 
 three stories high. Two wings, before incomplete, have since been re- 
 modeled and put in use, one designed to lodge court witnesses, and boys 
 awaiting trial oa criminal charges, the other for those sick with conta- 
 gious diseases. There is room for about fifty patients, and the recoid 
 shows that 3,300 patients have been treated during the past ten years. 
 A physician appointed by the Board of Charities is in daily attendance. 
 The successive, keepers have been Frederick Sehn, Henry G. Neejer, 
 Frederick Saul, David Dimbleby, and Richard R. Pritchard. The hos- 
 pital is located at the corner of South and Mohawk streets, and has ex- 
 tensive grounds about it. While under the direction of the Board of 
 Charities it may be taken into control by the city at any time. 
 
 By act of the legislature there was created, in 1873, a Board of Char- 
 ities of the city of Utica, the object of its creation being to sever the 
 administration of these charities as much as possible from political in- 
 fluence. This board consists of six commissioners, one- half of whom 
 are elected by popular vote, and one-half appointed by the town auditors, 
 one commissioner being thus elected and one appointed every year, and 
 each holding his office for three years. To this board are entrusted the pow- 
 ers and duties of a poor-master, but v/ithout pecuniary compensation. 
 By it is appointed a clerk, who not only keeps a full record of all official 
 proceedings, but acts as the paid and authorized agent of the board in 
 administering the charities of the city, which include the care of the 
 hospital and relieving the wants of the necessitous outside of it. By it 
 
THE BOARD OF CHARITIES. 629 
 
 are appointed the keeper and the physician of the hospital, and a phy- 
 sician for each of the wards of the city. While the clerk is thus made 
 the chief agent for carrying out the duties pertaining to their office, the 
 board are themselves distributed into committees, who supervise and 
 direct in such matters as the furnishing of supplies for the hospital, the 
 care of its building and grounds, the examination of bills and accounts, 
 the proper performance of their duties by the physicians, the keeper, 
 etc.; and they meet once a month to examine and decide upon all af- 
 fairs that relate to the public charities. Besides the foregoing functions 
 they have the powerto committothe County House at Rome, to the State 
 Hospital for the Insane, to the Idiot Asylum at Syracuse, and to the 
 various orphan asylums of Utica, such members of the indigent por- 
 tion of the community as are shown to be subjects suitable for these 
 respective institutions. These services are of necessity mostly per- 
 formed by the clerk, their executive officer, who is in daily attendance 
 at his office to respond to numerous demands on his attention, and he 
 is required to have personal knowledge of every applicant for relief, 
 and to examine into the character, habits, condition and necessities of 
 each. He may grant relief to any indigent person needing only tem- 
 porary assistance, may furnish plain single meals to such deserving 
 transient persons as may apply for them, and likewise transportation, 
 not exceeding twenty miles, to such deserving transients as are found in 
 the city ; and he is, moreover, authorized to bury any deceased person 
 whose friends are unable to bury him. Through the clerk the board 
 reports annually to the public the number of persons assisted and the 
 kind of such assistance rendered, together with the amount of expense 
 incurred in each case. He is aided by a secretary on whom are largely 
 devolved the registry of his multipHed acts The total expenses of the 
 board during the year ending March i, 1891, were $15,750.19. The 
 average per year since the institution of the board has been $16,318.47, 
 while the average of the seven years that preceded its institution was 
 $32,895.13; which plainly shows the superiority of the present plan of 
 administering the city's charities over that by a poor- master. The 
 present Board of Commissioners are Joseph Faass and John Evans, 
 three years; Joseph Joerissen and Edmund Richards, two years; 
 Charles N. White and Timothy Coakley, one year. The clerk has been 
 for several years Lawrence Conrad. 
 
630 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 July 1 1, 1870, a number of Christian women, incited to do something 
 toward bettering the condition of their own sex who were less favored 
 than themselves, organized a Woman's Christian Association. Mrs. 
 P. H. Fowler was the president, and there were six vice-presidents. 
 The eighty- two original members had increased by the end of the year 
 to 223. The object of the Association was, and is, to improve the phys 
 ical, intellectual, moral, and religious condition of women dependent 
 upon their own exertions for support. It was at once placed under a 
 board of managers consisting of two ladies from each evangelical 
 church, together with the officers of the association. One of the firt>t 
 considerations was the establishment of a boarding-house where young 
 women, away from home and friends, could secure room and board at 
 reasonable rates. The opportunity came in the spring of 1871, and the 
 property at the corner of Court and Cornelia streets was purchased for 
 $12,160. Two houses stood upon the property, and the one facing 
 Cornelia was soon afterward sold. The other is the present " Industrial 
 Home," built of brick and three stories high. A number of benevolent 
 gentlemen made the first payment of $3,000, and the ladies have raised 
 the rest. The "Home" was opened in April, 1871, equipped and 
 ready for boarders, and was chartered May 6, 1871. June 8, 1891, the 
 corner-stone of a new building, on ground just east of the old "Home," 
 was laid, to be known as the " Georgia Porter Memorial " Building. 
 It was given to the association by Mrs. E. M. Pike, in memory of her 
 daughter, Mrs, Porter. It is of brick, three stories high, and cost 
 $10,000. This building will be used for the work of the association. 
 In the spring of 1886 an act of legislature allowed married women to 
 hold property. The association was accordingly incorporated April 15, 
 1886, and the property transferred to them. The first trustees were : 
 Mrs. M. W. Bussey, president ; Mrs. S. W. Crittenden, treasurer ; Mrs. 
 C. C. Shaver, secretary ; Mrs. M. H. Merwin, Mrs. J. G. Brown, Mrs. 
 C. C. Kellogg. The association is supported by voluntary contribu- 
 tions from churches and private individuals, no benefit entertainments 
 having been held since the first year of its organization. It has one 
 source of revenue, The Christian Worker, a monthly edited by Mrs. 
 S. W. Crittenden, which was started in 1875. Beyond that of publish- 
 ing and distributing, there is no expense attending it. This paper is 
 
EXCHANGE FOR WOMEN'S WORK. 631 
 
 run by the association, and has netted to the treasury for general work 
 over $2,500. There are numerous branches of work carried on, two of 
 which we mention, (i). A young woman's class and reading-room was 
 started some years ago by the association, and is now under a depart- 
 ment by itself, and solicits for its own support. Rooms in the new 
 building will be fitted up for this purpose. (2). Two visitors are ap- 
 pointed for each ward who report to the association meetings each week 
 for relief, and all relief given must be by a vote of the association. The 
 present officers are : President, Mrs. M. W. Bussey ; vice-presidents. 
 Miss S. E. Gilbert, Mrs. Jacob Hunt, Mrs. C. M. Green, Mrs. Clark 
 Wood, Mrs. S. W. Crittenden, Mrs. Dr. W. E Ford ; recording secre- 
 tary, Mrs. C. C. Shaver; corresponding secretary, Mrs. R. H. Wicks; 
 assistant secretary, Mrs. Dr. Glass ; treasurer, Mrs. George R. Thomas. 
 These, with ladies from seventeen churches, make the present board of 
 managers. The total money expenditure for the past year is $2,460, 
 besides large contributions of clothing and other gifts. There were 
 1,150 visits made. 
 
 In the spring of 1889 there was incorporated a society known as the 
 Utica Exchange for Women's Work. Its object is " to provide a depot 
 for the reception and sale of any marketable article made by a woman, 
 or any valuable article which her necessity may oblige her to dispose of, 
 and to assist a needy woman to turn to personal profit whatever useful 
 talent she may possess." It is controlled by a board of twelve direc- 
 tors elected annually from its body of upward of lOO managers, consti- 
 tuted such by the payment of $5 a year. Besides its president, three 
 vice-presidents, a corresponding and recording secretary, and a treas 
 urer, it has the following committees, viz. : Executive, fancy and needle 
 work, culinary, employment and entertainment. Each manager is en- 
 titled to three tickets, which she may donate to persons willing to enter 
 their handiwork at the depot of the Exchange. Work so entered is in- 
 spected by the committees of the respective kinds of work, and if ac- 
 cepted is placed on sale, the maker paying ten per cent, on the price 
 that is realized, which she herself affixes. During the jear 1890, 3,188 
 articles were received, thirty three being rejected. Moreover, there is 
 reported a steady improvement in the taste and skill of the consignors, 
 as these artificers are called. Besides the sales daily made at the depot, 
 
632 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 several other sales have been made in other and often distant parts of the 
 country. Orders have been taken in during the year to the value of 
 $590. Some kinds of cake are regarded as specialties of this exchange, 
 being of a delicious quality and cheaper than can be made at home. 
 The profits realized during the year from all sources, including the an- 
 nual subscriptions, amount to over $7,000. Another feature of the 
 work is the registering the names of women and girls seeking employ- 
 ment and procuring their testimonials of character, etc. The president 
 of the exchange is Miss A. Louise Lynch. 
 
PART II. 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL. 
 
PART II. 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL. 
 
 SEYMOUR, HORATIO, came of an honored and patriotic ancestry. The family 
 was among the earlier settlers of Hartford, Conn., and contributed not a little to 
 the glory and development of that State. In the war of the Revolution his grandfather 
 was captain of a troop of horse, in which capacity he served in some of its more im- 
 portant struggles. Of his five sons one became distinguished as a financier and presi- 
 dent ; two became high sherifls of the county of Litchfield; one was a representative, 
 senator, and canal commissioner in the State of New York; and one represented the 
 State of Vermont for twelve years in the United States Senate. His maternal ancestry 
 was none the less noted. His mother's father, Lieutenant-Colonel Forman, served in 
 the Revolution with the New Jersey troops. In the early part of the century the 
 father of Mr. Seymour removed from Connecticut and made his home in Pompey, On- 
 ondaga County, N. Y. Though now living among strangers he soon won tlieir affec- 
 tions, and but a few years passed before he received from them a practical expression 
 of tlieir confidence in selecting him to represent the Western District in the State Senate 
 for the years 1816-19. At this period, as the project of the Erie Canal was receiving 
 considerable attention, he was appointed a commissioner for the same, which he re- 
 tained until 1831, when he resigned. On his removal to L'tioa in 1820 he was imme- 
 diately elected to the Assembly and two years later was returned again to the Senate. 
 In 1833 he was elected mayor of his adopted city and subsequently discharged the duties 
 of president of the Farmers Loan and Trust Company till 1837, when he died. 
 
 Horatio Seymour was born in Pompey, May 31, 1810. Though he had seen but ten 
 summers when his father removed to Utica these early years were improved by attend- 
 ing the academy of his native village. When Utica became his home he was sent to 
 the Oxford Academy ; from there he entered what is now known as Hobart College, 
 where, however, he remained only two years. He was neither rugged nor strong in 
 youth and early manhood. His parents, believing, therefore, that an institution which 
 had connected with it enforced drill and exercise might contribute to his strength, sent 
 him to a military school at Middletown, Conn. This change proved highly beneficial, 
 and led also to the door through which he was subsequently to pass to his many honors.. 
 
4 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 The pi-incipal in this school, an officer in the army, was accustomed to take some of his 
 pupils occasionally on a visit to Washington, and as young Seymour availed himself of 
 this opportunity before he was sixteen years of age he became thus early acquainted 
 with the capital and its historic associations. The academical curriculum completed he 
 returned to Utica and after a little delay entered the law office of Greene C. Bronson 
 and Samuel Beardsley, with whom he remained until admitted to the bar in 1832, It 
 is questionable whether hd ever possessed a natural fondness for the law or for that 
 close apjihcation which success in the more learned professions plainly requires. Dur- 
 ing the following year he was invited and became the private secretary of Governor 
 Marcy, serving in that capacity seven years, Albany was then the resort of the more 
 influential in politics and many families of the officials made the city their temporary 
 home. Mr, Seymour was not long in imbibing the atmosphere of his surroundings 
 and receiving impulses which throughout his life never forsook him. From the strong 
 personal friendship of Martm Van Buren and other Democratic leaders he became im- 
 bued with those broad and patriotic sentiments which he subsequently illustrated. It 
 was at this early period thai he acqaired his love for the constitution and Republican 
 institutions. The more clearly he discovered their necessity and became acquainted 
 with their benevolent purport the more firmly was he convinced that they should not 
 only be maintained, but wisely developed and yield their legtimate and desired fruit. 
 
 In 1841 he received his first office, being selected by the Democrats of Oneida County 
 to represent them in the Assembly, His fellow assemblymen included the historic 
 names of Sanford E, Church, Levi I. Chatfield, John A. Dix, David R. Floyd Jones, 
 Michael Hoffman, and others who a few years later received the highest political honors 
 in the gift of the State, The attitude of Governor Bouck had somewhat divided the 
 Democratic party, resulting in crimination and recrimination, nor did the sharp discus- 
 sions concerning the canal policy which now occurred tend to heal the increasing diffi- 
 culties. On the contrary the Democratic party found itself divided, one wing being 
 represented by Mr, Hoffman, the other by Mr, Seymour. As the counsels of Mr. Sey- 
 mour finally prevailed from this hour many looked upon him as rapidly advancing 
 toward political leadership. Returning to Utica the next year he became its mayor 
 and in the years 18'i3-4J: was returned to the Assembly. In entering anew upon State 
 legislation he found that none of the previous poUtico-personal frictions which had so 
 recently revealed themselves had disppeared ; still the party which he represented on 
 so many issues was strongly united. One thing was manifest; within the past few 
 years the gulf between the Whigs and the Democrats had widened, and both were 
 bent on obtaining the mastery. Combinations brought upon the Whig party perhaps 
 the most inglorious disaster in its entire history. The triumphs of the Democratic party 
 in this heated canvass brought Mr. Seymour once more into prominence. He became 
 speaker of the Assembly and, by virtue of his influence, did much to heal the differences 
 existing among his political associates and secure the advance of Democratic principles. 
 In 1850 he became the nominee of his party for governor, but owing to the popularity 
 of his opponent and a division among the Democrats he was defeated. When renom- 
 inated in 1852 he was elected. Later, in the years 1854, 1862, and 1864, the guber- 
 natorial chair was offered to him, but he was successful only in the year 1862. Party 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL. 5 
 
 differences and the influence of the Know-Nothings contributed largely to his defeat in 
 1854. Perhaps the most important question that arose during the magistracy of gov- 
 ernor was what was known as the Maine law. Contrary to the expectation of many 
 when the law came before him from the legislature he attached to it his veto. His 
 postion in the main was that intemperance was a sore evil, but depriving citizens of 
 their rights and personal liberties was a greater wrong. Men are^not reformed by law- 
 making, nor does severity conquer the lawless. Laws are wise only as they have edu- 
 cation, morality, and religion for their basis, and not coercion — an opinion the Supreme 
 Court a little later fully sustained. It is doubtful whether any of the previous ofScial 
 acts of Governor Seymour received more severe and unkind criticism. In the storm 
 however, he remained true to his convictions, both as to the mission of the law and to 
 the great principle which he considered as underlying democratic government. 
 
 During the intermitting years of Horatio Seymour's public trusts the State and 
 nation passed through extraordinary trials. While the State was divided and sub-divided 
 into many political factions and the nation was rapidly realizing that a moral cancer 
 was threatening its very life, and differences existed concerning the politics in the new 
 States and Territories, a new party appeared whose mission was to right, if possible, 
 existing wrongs and free the country from the troubles investing it. It called itself the 
 Republican party. As its purposes became understood many of previously conflicting 
 opinions identified themselves with it. Quite contemporaneous with the birth of this 
 party the clouds which had been gradually gathering thickened and darkened. At 
 last the nation found itself engaged in fratricidal war. Though not occupying any 
 official position at the outbreak of the war, when, however, it had been formally de- 
 clared and means for defence had been entered upon Mr. Seymour was convinced it 
 should be prosecuted. His popularity at this time is seen in his succeeding Governor 
 Morgan in the governorship. Never since New York became a State had one of its 
 magistrates been summoned to a position more difficult to fill than the one on which he 
 now entered. While believing that the rupture might have been avoided, and the life 
 and property which it threatened and finally consumed could have been spared, and at- 
 tributing its origin as much to the intemperated speech of the North as to the error 
 and obliquity of the South, he deplored the struggle and denounced the Rebellion as most 
 wicked. Governor Seymour was a war Democrat of the purest luster. At the open- 
 ing of the conflict, when the general government appealed to New York for assistance, 
 he was made chairman of a committee of hi.'^ own county to raise needed troops, and 
 by purse, influence, and word did much to preserve the dignity and integrity of the 
 Union. Having been inaugurated governor in 1863 his message contained expressions 
 of the strongest character in support of the government in its struggle and deprecation 
 of any division of the Union. Necessarily omitting reference to those numerous meas- 
 ures which Governor Seymour at this crucial period in the nation's hfe proposed for its 
 integrity, as well as all consideration of the addresses which he so frequently delivered 
 bearing upon the issues of that time, including his special messages to the legislature, 
 and the firmness with which he declared that at all risks the public faith and the credit 
 of the State should never be impaired, the appearance, however, of the "riots " caused 
 him and others of every political complexion great alarm. But the roots of these dis- 
 
6 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 turbances existed anterior to his administration. The thistles, and the thistles only, 
 were his. At this period in the estimation of not a few the conflict had become nothing 
 but an abolition war. This opinion begat not only new differences, but gave new force 
 to the inquiry whether the general government was not violating by its acts the con- 
 stitution and trampling upon the rights which its very genius conferred. While these 
 convictions were spreading the North was fairly appalled at its misfortune in the field. 
 Volunteers were slow in enlistment. To remedy the strain to which the government 
 was rapidly being subjected an act providing for the enrollment of the national forces 
 was adopted. Attempting to enforce this act precipitated the riots. No sooner, how- 
 ever, did this spirit exhibit itself than Grovernor Seymour sought to arrest it by force 
 and by words. The latter, owing to the disturbed condition of the public mind, re- 
 ceived from many unkindly criticism. G-overnor Seymour never denied the abused 
 phrase; on the contrary he acknowledged it would have been wiser perhaps to have 
 chgsen language less exposed to twist and misinterpretation. In brief his relations to the 
 war were quite as pronounced as those of many sitting in the halls of legislation or active 
 in the field. Yet measures were proposed and in some instances enforced that he did 
 not approve. When, however, the great question came, "Shall the Union be pre- 
 served? " no one displayed a more determined purpose. Amid the excitement of those 
 war hours the problem which came home to him with seriousness was not, as some 
 have conjectured, whether the national unity shall be broken, but now, that it is in 
 jeopardy, what were the wisest and the legitimate methods by which it could be con- 
 served and its perpetuity forever secured ? 
 
 At the expiration of Governor Seymour's war term he resolved to return to his rural 
 home and devote himself to study and rest. He did so. But he was often solicited to 
 express his opinions upon prominent political measures then in process of formation- 
 and he was presently selected as a candidate for governor in opposition to Reuben B. 
 Fenton. In this canvas-s he was defeated by a small majority. When in 1868 the 
 national convention assembled to select a candidate for the presidency Horatio Seymour 
 attended as a delagate and was chosen its presiding officer. On the third day of the 
 session, after the names of several candidates had been before the convention, the name 
 of Horatio Seymour was introduced; and notwithstanding his earnest opposition it 
 was unanimously resolved that he be the candidate. With General Grant, then wear- 
 ing his many laurels as the victorious military commander, as his opponent it was a 
 forgone conclusion that the Democratic candidate would be defeated. With the close 
 of this campaign Governor Seymour's political life may be said to have come to an end. 
 Contrary, however, to his oft expressed wishes he was renominated in 1876 for gov- 
 ernor ; and had it not been for his resolve to pass his remaining years in retirement he 
 would have been sent the same year to the United States Senate. The other official 
 positions proffered to Horatio Seymour were State senator and congressman. He held 
 likewise at various times the following offices : In 1868 he was chosen one of the first 
 of the commissioners of State fisheries, in 1876 member of State survey, and in 1878 
 president of the Board of Commissioners of State survey. For many years he occupied 
 the presidency of the National Dairyman's Association, of the American Prison Asso- 
 ciation, and was the presiding officer of the Oneida County Historical Society from its 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL. 7 
 
 inception until his death. It is worthy of note here that the many positions which had 
 been offered to Mr. Seymour by his neighbors, his district, his State, and the nation 
 came wholly unsolicited. He never asked for office. 
 
 A subject very near the heart of Mr. Seymour was the waterways of the State. He 
 early appreciated their usefulness and in 1844, when member of the Assembly, he made 
 a report to that body covering seventy-two octavo pages in which he outlined what 
 should be the policy of the State in reference to its canals, a report which still bears 
 fruit. During this period of his busy career he wrote for and addressed the public, not 
 only on political questions, but on themes purely philanthropic and unpartisan. His 
 contributions to the State library and to the topography and history of the State and 
 its natural resources were extensive and valuable. Few were better acquainted with 
 the early history of the State. He studied with care the habits, travels, and character- 
 istics of the Indians and his articles on the Iroquois are numerous and authoritative. 
 
 Few men in public life have revealed such an even and rounded character. There 
 was a charm about him that was irresistible. All who came to him received prompt 
 recognition. His love for our common humanity was intense. He loved men because 
 they were men ; friendliness permeated his whole being. His beneficiaries were almost 
 innumerable and unlimited by creed or nationality. Even his political opponents en- 
 rolled themselves among his friends and he harbored enmity against none. His humor 
 was always pleasant, never coarse. In his manner he was gentle, courteous, and digni- 
 fied, and free from even the appearance of affectation. In his religious views he was 
 as clear and definite as he was in those that pertained to the welfare of the State. His 
 presence was often seen in the higher councils of the Episcopal Church and for many 
 years he was warden of old Trinity Church of Utica. All the years of his public life 
 fail to disclose an act that aflfects either his honesty, purity, or uprightness, or that mars 
 his escutcheon with a single blot. 
 
 Horatio Seymour married. May 31, 1835, Mary, the youngest daughter of John Rut- 
 ger Bleecker, of Albany. They had no children. He died February 12, 1886. and his 
 widow followed him within a few weeks. 
 
 GRAHAM, EDMUND A., born in October, 1802, in New York city, of mingled 
 Scotch and Huguenot descent, past the first five or six years of his life in the 
 metropohs. Then.his family removed to Newburgh, where he had the benefit of 
 instruction in the village academy until he was twelve, afterv/ard for about two years 
 mingling farm work with attendance at school. At the age of fifteen years he went to 
 Ogdensburg to be under the care of his uncle, Louis Hasbrouck, a lawyer who was also 
 postmaster. The nephew was put to work with the mails and soon took full charge of 
 them, reading law as his leisure would permit, and by his industry in due season he was 
 admitted to the bar and entered upon practice. He found no difficulty in building up a 
 profitable practice from clients in New York, Albany, and Troy as well as at home. He 
 was made the attorney of the Bank of Ogdensburg, of which he was a director, and also 
 agent for David B. Ogden to manage and sell tracts of land in the town of Oswegatchie. 
 For four years he was clerk for the village of Ogdensburg. In 1830 Mr. Graham was 
 
8 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 one of the projectors and a director of the company which ran the first line of American 
 steamers on the St. Lawrence and the lakes, that was for a long time maintained after- 
 ward in no small part by Utioa capitalists like Alfred Munson, Samuel Farwell, John 
 Butterfield, and Henry Barnard, whom he enlisted with himself. It is a tradition that 
 the first steamer of the line was built from his designs. 
 
 In 1835 he married Miss Cornelia Cooper, only daughter of Judge Apollos Cooper, of 
 Utica, and on the death of the judge in 1839 he removed here to manage the large 
 estate to which local growth was adding value — an estate which extended from the 
 Mohawk to Cornelia street and from G-enesee street quite a distance westward, and 
 which he laid out in streets and lots. This task he combined with his law practice, and 
 for half a century Mr. Graham was an active factor in the community. 
 
 The present generation can hardly appreciate the services rendered by Mr. Graham 
 and his associates, who, in 1845, entered upon an investigation of the feasibility of intro- 
 ducing manufactures by steam mto the city. The lack of water-power was recognized 
 and the statutes then forbade corporations with a larger capital than |100,000 while the 
 use of steam required larger mvestments. The population of the city had fallen from 
 12,000 to 10,000 and the increase of manufactures was relied upon to turn the tide. 
 At a public meeting Spencer Kellogg, Andrew S. Pond, and Mr. Graham were appointed 
 a committee to visit New England and report upon the relative cost and advantages of 
 steam and water for manufactures. Their report started both the cotton and woolen 
 factories within the city. Mr. Pond favored the organization of a company for woolen 
 manufacture, and the steam woolen- mills were built. Mr. Graham, and Mr. Kellogg 
 recommended investments in cotton manufacture in preference, and the Ulioa steam 
 cotton-mills have for more than forty years confirmed the wisdom of their choice. In 
 order to permit the use of capital to the amount necessary, and to get rid of full personal 
 liabihty on the part of the stockholders, Mr. Graham drafted what became the general 
 manufacturing law of 1848, but hard labor at Albany during two sessions was necessary 
 to secure its nassage. The chief work of raising the capital, for the cotton-mills was 
 done by Alfred Munson, T. S. Faxton, S. D. Childs, and Mr. Graham, and they met with 
 many difficulties before success was assured. When the company was organized Mr. 
 Munson was chosen president and Mr. Graham secretary as well as director. Upon the 
 latter fell the task of drawing the contracts and making many of the purchases. He 
 continued to give close attention to the mills, became one of the largest stockholders, 
 and for many years and down to his death was president of the company. 
 
 Of the original movement in behalf of the Black River and Utica ilailroad he was one 
 of the most zealous and influential promoters. His acquaintance with Northern New 
 York enabled him to see the need for the road and to render important services in its 
 behalf. The struggle between Rome and Utioa for the northern alliance constitutes an 
 interesting chapter of local history, in which a compromise was offered by our neighbor 
 that the railroad project be abandoned by both parties. Mr. Graham devoted much time 
 to the enterprise and subscribed $5,000 to the stock, which was lost. He was attorney 
 and counsel for the original company up to the foreclosure of the mortgage, as he was 
 also a director in that, and he held the same positions until 1884 in the corporation 
 which bought in the property. For a considerable period he was vice-president of the 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL. 9 
 
 Utioa and Black River Railroad Company and acted as president for three or four seasons 
 while Mr. Thorn was abroad. For a number o£ years Mr. Graham owned and con- 
 ducted in Sauquoit the mill for the manufacture of white paper previously belonging- 
 to Savage k, Moore, but the introduction of wood pulp brought changes which closed 
 that establishment. 
 
 The number of positions of trust to which he was called was many, and he was faith- 
 ful in them all. He was one of a committee to prepare amendments to the city charter 
 and at his instance a provision to make aldermen personally liable for excessive expend- 
 iture was enacted. As one of the commissioners to acquire the site and build the city 
 hall he served with three other citizens. In 1847 he was chosen a director of the Oneida 
 Bank and survived every one of his associates of that time. From 1853 to 1872 he was 
 one of the managers of the State Lunatic Asylum in this city and gave to the institu- 
 tion a great deal of care and attention. In the Utica Gaslight Company he was long a 
 director and for some time its vice-president. He was one of the organizers of Grace 
 Church, a vestryman, and a church warden. As chairman of the committee appointed 
 for the purpose he superintended the enlargement of the older edifice and w as one of 
 the building committee for the erection of the present building. At a later period he 
 was one of the vestry of the mother church. Trinity. He was often a delegate to the 
 diocesan convention. 
 
 As a lawyer he exhibited the quilities which marked him as a man. Well grounded 
 in the principles of his profession he was careful in his preparation, carelul, accurate, 
 aud persistent in his work. He was concerned in some great litigations. In the long 
 contested Bradstreet cases, which involved a large amount of property, Mr. Graham was 
 the attorney who studied out the law and dug out the facts, and was instrumental in 
 carrying the cases to a successful termination. His business was largely in chanoerj, 
 in the equity side of the Supreme Courts, at general term and the Court of Appeals, 
 more than at the circuit and before juries, and his railroad cases were important and 
 numerous. Politically he started as a Democrat and had clear and strong convictions, 
 but since his clerical service in early manhood he was but once only a candidate for 
 office. After the Charleston convention of 1860 he left the party and became an ardent 
 supporter of Mr. Lincoln and of the war for the Union. 
 
 The record of such a life is its own best commentary. Of unquestioned integrity, an 
 excellent neighbor, a faithful friend, a useful and enterprising citizen, diligent in busi- 
 ness, honoring all the obligations of religion, unostentatious and patriotic, he needs no 
 eulogy in a community where for half a century he lived a quiet and exemplary life. 
 
 rAXTON, THEODORE S., a native of Conway, Mass., was born about 1793, on 
 the lOlh of January. His educational advantages were limited and concluded 
 with six months in school at Clinton soon after his taking up his residence in Utica in 
 1812. In 1813 he obtained a position as driver on the stage and from that time until 
 1817 he held the reins of four-in-hand every day with the exception of the six months 
 in school alluded to above. After 1817 he only occasionally mounted the box ; yet such 
 was his acknowledged skill as a reinsman that on occasions of ceremony, or where some- 
 
lo MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 thing extraordinary was required, he was the person usually selected to do honor to the 
 service. For example, when Lafayette visited the place in 1825 Mr. Faxton secured six 
 dashing gray horses, put silverplated harness on them, borrowed the old Van Rensselaer 
 carriage, and drove to Whitesboro, where the distinguished guest was to be received. 
 After (3-eneral Lafayette left the boat and entered the carriage Mr. Faxton felt, as he him- 
 self said, grander than Napoleon Bonaparte. After the year 1817 Mr. Faxton for a 
 consider.ible period had charge of a portion of the stage business of Jason Parker, and 
 a little later was offered an interest in the concern, the sole condition being that he 
 should pay for his share as fast as the profits would permit. It was in 1822 that he 
 thus became a partner, together wilh Mr. Ohilds, in the firm of Jason Parker & Co. In 
 spite of the competition of the new Erie Canal the stage business through Central New 
 York continued very large for a number of years, and at the death of Mr. Parker in 
 1828 there were eight daily lines running through Utica east and west besides four 
 hnes north and south. This vast and intricate business the firm continued to success- 
 fully manage for ten years after the death of the senior member, and they continued in 
 partnership some time longer. Together they erected the Exchange building on the 
 site of the old Canal Coffee House and occupied themselves with collecting the rents of 
 this, the Eagle Tavern, and other real estate which they held in common. Before the 
 conclusion of the partnership Mr. Faxton joined with John Butterfield, Hiram Green- 
 man, and others in running a line of packet boats on the canal. In connection with 
 Alfred Munson and associates he organized the first American line of steamers that ran 
 on the St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario, and for a number of years was one of the man- 
 aging directors. He was one of the originators of the Utica and Black River Railroad, 
 paid in a larger subscription than any other man, and for a long time held the office of 
 president of the company. He gave the first $100 that was subscribed to found the 
 "Utica Mechanics Association and held the presidency several terms. Together with 
 Willett H. Shearman and Anson Dart he was one of the commissioners who, in 1843, 
 •completed the erection of the State Lunatic Asylum in Utica. In 1852 he was chair- 
 man of the able commitcee who superintended the erection of the First Presbyterian 
 Church in this city. Mr. Faxton was also one of the originators of the Utica Water 
 Works Company, the Utica steam cotton-mills, of which he was president for a time, 
 and the Second National Bank, of which he was also president. He also deserves par- 
 ticular credit for the conspicuous part he took in 1845 in developing and adapting to 
 wider use the then greatest invention of the century, the telegraph. He was attracted 
 to the possibilities of the wonderful invention at the first, and soon after the success of 
 the first line from Baltimore to Washington he went to the latter city to investigate for 
 himself and the few others who shared his confidence. He had learned from his expe- 
 rience in his Telegraph line of stages — a line his company fitted out to carry » small 
 number of passengers at the greatest possible speed, and which had been so popular 
 that every seat was spoken for days in advance of departure — that men loved speed and 
 would encourage the fastest stages, the fastest boats, and the fastest means of trans- 
 mitting intelligence. While absent he obtained the right to establish a telegraph line 
 between New York and Buffalo, the owners of the patent to have one-half of the stock 
 of the company when the hne was complete. Returning home he united with John 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL. i , 
 
 Butterfield, Hiram Greenman, Messr?. Livingston, Wells, and others and formed a com- 
 pany with a capital of $200,000, which laid the first wire between the cities above 
 mentioned. He was chosen president of the company and superintendent of the line, 
 and continued to act in that capacity seven years, laboring hard against much opposi- 
 tion to make the enterprise the great success which it proved to be. The first wire used 
 was copper, costing about $60 per mile. Professor Morse believed that iron wires 
 would rust and could not be used unless they were perfectly insulated. Mr. Faxton's 
 attention was called to the wire fence which had been in use twenty-five yeais on 
 Colonel Walker's grounds, and he concluded that if iron wire was good for fences for 
 such a length of time it would also do for telegraphing. The copper wires were taken 
 down and sold for enough to put up two iron wires, the latter kind costing only $18 per 
 mile. 
 
 Mr. Faxton never took a very active part in politics, but was often called to positions 
 of honor and trust. In 1831 he was a trustee of the village of Utica, and was an alder- 
 man in 18.36 and mayor in 1864. He was a delegate to the Whig National Convention 
 which nominated Zachary Taylor in 1848, and was also sheriff of the county in 1842- 
 but he held the office for only a few weeks, when he was displaced by the governor 
 solely for political reasons. In addition to the stage, packet, steamboat, railroad, and 
 telegraph lines, banks, manufactories, and other enterprises that have added wealth and 
 prosperity to Utica Mr. Faxton left three other monuments which will perpetuate his 
 name and add honor and blessings to his memory — the Old Ladies' Home on Faxton 
 street, Faxton Hall at the junction of Varick and Court streets for the education of the 
 children of factory operatives by day and night, and Faxton Hospital. 
 
 Mr. Faxton was a man of marked sociability, great kindness of heart, of strict integ- 
 rity, and possessed unusual executive and business ability. He died on the 30th day 
 of November, 1881. 
 
 CHILDS, SILAS D., was prominent among the early public spirited and active citi- 
 zens of TJtica. He was born at Conway, Mass., in 1794 and came to Utica in 
 1816. He had received » good common school education, had already served as a clerk 
 in his native town, and arriving in Utica he at once found kindred employment with 
 his former fellow-townsman, Stalham Williams, who was then connected with Jason- 
 Parker in his staging business. It was not long before the young clerk became Mr. 
 Parker's book-keeper and was installed in the stage office situated at the southwest, 
 corner of the basement of Bagg's Hotel. Uis muiteous manners, his dihgent and ac- 
 curate habits, and his conscientious discharge of all his duties soon won upon this ap- 
 preciative and wisely judging proprietor. In 1820 he took him into partnership and 
 subsequently gave him his daughter in marriage. The monopoly in staging enjoyed 
 by Parker & Co., ever since the failure of Joshua Ostrom & Co. in 1812, continued 
 until about 1821, when a new line was started by Peter Cole, aided in Utica by a run- 
 ner named Henry S. Storms. This line was, however, soon overpowered, and the in- 
 fluence of Mr. Storms effectively met by introducing from Albany the energetic John 
 Butterfield. About 1828 the old line encountered more serious opposition when Josiah 
 
12 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 Bissell, of Rochester, set on foot a week-day line to traverse the State, and enlisted in 
 its'behalf the sympathies and the money of church members along the route. The pro- 
 ject caused much excitement, coming as it did at a time when men's minds were pecul- 
 iarly alive to religious questions. Dissensions in the Presbyterian Church in Utica 
 were especially rife because it was there that Messrs. Parker, Faxton, and Childs all 
 attended. But the week-day hne lacked both capital and skill in its management and 
 besides had not the privilege enjoyed by the other of carrying the mails, and so after a 
 contest which impoverished itself and greatly straightened the resources of its rival it 
 finally yielded the field. Until 1836 this field continued free, but when the Utica and 
 Schenectady Railroad was opened the eastward route was blocked, and afterward as 
 the railway was gradually extended other routes were more and more curtailed and 
 Parker's with the associate line of stages was brought to a close. Messrs. Faxton and 
 Ohilds still remained a while together closing up the concern and caring for the real 
 estate they owned in common. 
 
 Detached at length from his near forty years' connection with his partner Mr. Childs 
 did not engage in any new business of a merely personal nature. So much of his time 
 as was not spent in do.ng for the community was occupied with his own private affairs 
 and the care of his now ample estate. The chief solace of his later life he found in the 
 pursuit of horticulture. He had a passion for flowers and the raising of fruits and espe- 
 cially grapes. In the exercise of these pleasures he evinced remarkable taste and skill 
 and met with a high degree of success. The products of his garden delighted all be- 
 holders and were the comfort of many a chamber of the sick, while his annual grape 
 parties were among the expected and most agreeable events of the winter. In other 
 particulars also his benevolence was genuine and his giving profuse. A good object or 
 a needy one he never turned away empty. Abounding in public spirit, and deeply in- 
 terested in every project devised for the benefit of the town, he could not be an idle or 
 a useless spectator. Trusted by his townsmen for his liberahty, his integrity, his good 
 sense, his fidelity, his prudence, and his wisdom in -affairs he was relied on as an im- 
 portant actor in every public undertaking whether social, charitable, commercial, or 
 manufacturing. He was a director in the Utica Savings Bank and in the Oneida Na- 
 tional; a director in the steam cotton and the Globe woolen-mills; a director in the 
 Black River Railroad and a manager of the State Lunatic Asylum ; a trustee in the 
 Female Academy and in the Cemetery Association; a counselor of the Utica Orphan 
 Asylum and a trustee of the Reformed Church. By him these various positions were 
 never regarded as empty honors, tributes to his wealth and standing which made no 
 exactions on his time and efforts. He was prompt at every meeting, faithful to every 
 trust, and cheerfully aided with his judicious but unobtrusive counsel. 
 
 Mr. Ohilds was by instinct and in the highest sense a gentleman. He had not only 
 the suave courtesy of manner and of tongue and the modest unpretention of the well- 
 bred man ; he had also the refinement of feeling, the justness of sentiment, the kind- 
 ness and generosity of heart, the evenness of temper, and the purity of motive which 
 are the basis of the true born gentleman. He was sensitive to opposition and to wrong 
 but he had the rare ability to keep silent when disturbed or to retire if unduly excited. 
 His death occurred suddenly while he was in the directors' room of the Oneida Na- 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL. 13 
 
 tional Bank on the 11th of July, 1866. The munificent legacies left by Mr. Childs for 
 educational and elemosynary purposes were in harmony with the many charitable 
 deeds of his life. They amounted in all to $90,000 and were as follows : To Hamilton 
 College for the founding of a professorship of agricultural chemistry, $30,000 ; to the 
 Utioa Orphan Asylum, $25,000; and to the following $5,000 each, viz.: Forest Hill 
 Cemetery, the Reformed Church of Utica, the Board of Foreign Missions of the Re- 
 formed Church, its Board of Domestic Missions, its Board of Publication, the Anjeri- 
 can Bible Society, and the American Tract Society. 
 
 His wife, Roxana (Parker), with deep veneration for his memory, purchased the 
 chapel then recently erected at Forest Hill Cemetery and presented it to the association 
 to be maintained in memory of her husband as a place for funeral services and for tem- 
 porary sepulture, in free and common use forever. In her will she supplemented his 
 bequests, selecting for the most part the same objects that had profited by his benefac- 
 tions. And these were her bequests, increased as they were by a residuary portion of 
 her estate: To Hamilton College for the agricultural professorship, $58,101.64; to the 
 Utica Orphan Asylum, $48,417.04; to the Utica Female Academy, $16,367.04; and to 
 the following each $9,683.04, viz.: Forest Hill Cemetery, the Board of Foreign Mis- 
 sions of the Reformed Church, its Board of Domestic Missions, the American Bible So- 
 ciety, and the American Tract Society. 
 
 /V\ ANN, CHARLES ADDISON, a native of Fairfield, Herkimer County, N. Y., 
 / \ came to Utica at the age of nineteen and entered upon the study of law with 
 Lynch & Varick. In 1825 he was admitted to the bar and became a partner with Mr. 
 Varick, Mr. Lynch removing at this time from the place. This partnership had a great 
 influence upon the course of his life. Mr. Varick was largely interested in real estate 
 and before he too removed to New York Mr. Mann purchased through him the re- 
 maining interests of the Holland Company in the northern part of Oneida which he 
 had conducted. This property absorbed a large share of the time of the purchaser and 
 led him away from his profession. Still although he frequented the courts very little 
 he gradually came to be one of the best real estate lawyers in the county, and his opin- 
 ion in legal matters was highly prized. The property he bought was disposed of on 
 easy terms to settlers in plots and farms and sold largely on contracts. It laid the 
 basis of his fortune. From about 1829 Mr. Mann was associated with David Wager 
 and in later years with John H. Edmunds. As the city grew Mr. Mann's attention 
 was directed to many new enterprises. Public spirited and energetic, with a sound 
 judgment and far-sightedness above the average, his aid was sought and freely given 
 to many of the undertakings of the time. He was active among the projectors of the 
 Utica and Schenectady Railroad. He was a leading spirit in the Oneida Bank, and 
 after its disastrous robbery was successfully employed with others in detecting and 
 bringing the robbers to justice, and was for many years vice-president of the bank and 
 subsequently was president. He was one of the founders and for some years president 
 of the Utica steam cotton-mills. In 1856 after a long term as director he was elected 
 
14 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 president of the New York and Buffalo Telegraph Company, and remained as such 
 until ill health compelled bim to give up the position in 1859. 
 
 Besides his business connections Mr. Mann took an active interest in educational and 
 charitable enterprises. He was one of the original managers of the State Lunatic Asy- 
 lum and for a long time chairman of the board. He devoted much time to this insti- 
 tute and was particularly busied in perfecting its system of ventilating and heatmg. 
 As a counselor of the Utica Orphan Asylum he did good but humble service. The 
 financial management of its affairs was largely in his hands, his mother-in-law, wife, 
 and daughter having in turn held the position of treasurer from its foundation to the 
 present time. He was one of the founders of the Utica Female Academy as well as a 
 trustee of the Utica Free Academy before it was absorbed in the common school sys- 
 tem. He also rendered excellent service as school commissioner for the five years pre- 
 vious to his death. 
 
 He drafted the charter under which Utica was incorporated as a city in 1832, and 
 was for several ensuing years a member of the common council. In 1840 he was 
 elected to the Assembly by the Democratic party. The clearness and soundness of his 
 views especially on questions of finance attracted attention and his speeches on these 
 topics were widely published. In 1848 he became a member of the Free Soil Party 
 and was nominated for Congress, but failed of election. He returned to the Democratic 
 party, but never hesitated to denounce the aggressions of the slave power and to de- 
 clare the necessity of opposition to them. In 1850 he was elected to the State Senate 
 and at once assumed a leading position. 
 
 On the impending passage of a bill relating to the canal known as " the nine million 
 bill " his sense of right and justice was so shocked that he advised the resignation of 
 the Democratic senators rather than permit the consummation of what he deemed an 
 outrage, and his advice was followed. This act was not approved by the directors and 
 a new Senate was chosen which passed the bill ; but the courts eventually affirmed its 
 unconstitutionality, thus vindicating his judgment. Even those who condemned the 
 resignation. were forced to admit the unbending integrity and sacred regard for the 
 constitutional prohibition which impelled Mr. Mann as the leading adviser. This act 
 ended his political life. Business and local affairs engrossed his time and he never had 
 any heart again for politics, though repeatedly urged to accept of subsequent nomina- 
 tions, particularly that of comptroller. 
 
 He died January 9, 1860, his loss being fully appreciated by the people of Utica, and 
 the large att3ndance at his funeral showing how closely he had linked himself with the 
 affections of his fellow citizens. Simple in his habits, calm and unperturbed in man- 
 ners, quick and penetrative in his judgment, and though uncompromising in the deliv- 
 ery of his opinions and inflexible in his integrity, yet easy of adaptation to others and 
 prompt to enlist for the common good, he secured a leading place in the community. 
 
 rARWELL, SAMUEL.— The professional life of Mr. Farwell made him conspicuously 
 a benefactor. Born on May 19, 1795, amid the hills and the bracing air of Litch- 
 field, Herkimer County, and trained on a farm by his father, a practicing physician he 
 commenced active life with a. stalwart frame and active limbs, and to the last was a 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL. 15 
 
 picture of health and strength. Joining his brother Eli, a master mason at Herkimer, in 
 1812 he soon learned the trade and carried it on during his minority for his brother, 
 when his health failed and then he conducted it on his own account. This prepared him 
 for the public works in which he engaged and on which he entered soon after his mar- 
 riage in 1820. The number and magnitude of these have been rarely surpassed by in- 
 dividual contractors. The first was performed under Canal Commissioner Henry Sey- 
 mour and consisted in the building of the aqueduct, culverts, and all the other masonry, 
 except locks, of the portion of the Erie Canal extending between Steele's Creek and 
 Little Falls. Early in 1821 he made an additional contract to build the mason work 
 between Tankee Hdl and Schenectady, and this was afterward extended to Alexan- 
 der's Bridge in the town of Watervleit, where the canal crosses the Mohawk. This 
 work was finished in 1823, and he returned to the neighborhood of his father's and 
 bought a farm. Hiring a man to manage it his own time was principally occupied in 
 building. Among other structures erected by him at this time was that of the Second 
 Presbyterian Church of this city, the same which is now known as the Bleecker Street 
 Baptist Church. 
 
 In 1824 or 1825, in company with three or four associates, he began to construct a 
 portion of the Oswego Canal below the falls on the Oswego River. During the first 
 season at Oswego he and his partners took a contract on the Delaware and Hudson 
 Canal to build the locks and other masonry at Rondout from tide-water to the High 
 Falls. They completed their work and spttlpil in 1826. The following spring they 
 entered into an engagement for the building ol nine lockis, aqueduct, and dam across the 
 Mongaup River from Port Jervis to opposite the mouth of the Lackawaxen, twenty- 
 five miles. While this was in progress they contracted to build up the Lackawaxen 
 River Valley to Honesdale, the end of the canal, whence a railroad extended to the 
 Carbondale coal mines. Before this was finished they engaged to construct locks and 
 dams across the Lehigh River, and also other structures of masonry pertaining to the 
 Lehigh Canal from Mauch Chunk to Baston. They finished in 1829. 
 
 During all this time while Mr. Farwell was personally engaged in the above mentioned 
 works his associates were occupied on the Chemung Canal, the Crooked Lake Canal, 
 and the Chenango Canal, he holding an interest with them, but, with the exception of 
 the former canal, only giving a partial superintendence to the operations. In the 
 meantime two of his earlier partners began making lumber at Fulton, and opened 
 a yard for its sale in Utica, of which Mr. Farwell on his return took charge. This 
 yard occupied nearly the whole space embraced between Bleecker street and the canal 
 and between John street and the rear of the stores on Genesee. At this time (1830) 
 he built a house for himself on the corner of G-enesee and Court streets, and for the 
 firm of Farwell, Case & Co. he put up a dwelling-house and a block of stores on the 
 site of the Butterfield House.- During 1831-34 his time was employed on a portion of 
 the Delaware and Raritan Canal. It extended from Bordentown to New Brunswick 
 and included two tide locks in the harbor of the latter city. This canal opened a chan- 
 nel for vessels between New York and Philadelphia, and now does most of the coast- 
 ing trade between the two cities. In the prosecution of his portion of the work Mr. 
 Farwell was associated with his brother Eli and others. In the fall of 1835 he bought 
 
1 6 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 the interest of James Piatt & Oo. in the forwarding and commission business. This, 
 which they had transacted on the shp that then extended from the canal to Catharine 
 street, he removed to the site of the Empire block on Franklin Square. His first part- 
 ner in this employment was Horace Butler; his later ones were J. S. Harrington and 
 H. H. Pish. They owned the New York, Utica, and Oswego line of canal boats and were 
 part owners of propellors plying between Oswego and Chicago and a hne of canal boats 
 on the Waliash. Meanwhile, entrusting the forwarding largely to his partners, Mr. 
 Farwell was busy with public works. He supplied ties and lumber to the Mohawk and 
 Hudson, Hudson and Berkshire, Utica and Schenectady, and Syracuse and Auburn 
 Railroads, and completed a contract on the Erie Canal enlargement. In 1838 he en- 
 gaged with Moreau Delano, Charles G-. Case, J. W. Baker, and Thomas E. Brayton in 
 a large contract on the Croton aqueduct, and spent most of his time in carrying it for- 
 ward. It embraced the archway for the passage of the Saw-Mill River, the roadway, 
 the foundation for conduit over the valley of this river, some sixty feet high, and 
 piercing the mountain on the south side by means of a tunnel eighty or ninety feet be- 
 low the surface three-fourths of a mile in length. From this point (Yonkers) his work 
 extended south to King's Bridge. It was closed in 1840. During the last year of its 
 progress a contract to build the New York and Albany Railroad was made by Messrs. 
 Farwell, Case, Baker, Daniel Oarmichael, J. S. T. Stranahan, and Alva P. Downer. 
 Progress was made at Troy, at Q-reenbush, and in Columbia, Dutchess, Putnam, and 
 Westchester Counties. Funds were limited and the work slow, and eventually the 
 company, proving unable to pay the estimates of the contractors, sold out their line 
 to the Hudson River Company. While engaged on the New York and Albany the 
 associates entered into terms with the New York and Erie Company to build from fifty 
 to seventy miles of their road through Sullivan County and a large section in Orange 
 County. Operations on the former were stopped by a bill in chancery, procured by the 
 Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, which ran alongside the proposed route. But 
 in Orange County the work progressed until the company failed, owing the contractors 
 from $50,000 to $70,000. For this amount they obtained judgment and levied on the 
 locomotives running over twelve miles of the completed road nearest New York. Feel- 
 ing friendly to the company they took a receipt and allowed the latter the use of these 
 locomotives; and thus for five years, and until State aid was obtained, Messrs. Strana- 
 han, Carmichael & Farwell carried the Brie on their shoulders. Mr. Farwell also took 
 another contract on this road from Port Deposit to Binghamton, which, however, he 
 was not allowed to build, and out of this grew a protracted lawsuit. About this time 
 he was also interested in work on the Brie road in Allegany and Cattaraugus Counties 
 and took personal charge of it. About 1840-41 he bore a part in the organization of 
 the Ontario and St. Lawrence Steamboat and Canal Packet Boat Company and was 
 one of the first directors. After its re-organization in 1857 he was made president and 
 continued -to hold this position during the remaining eleven years of the existence of the 
 company. 
 
 In the spring of 1847 he spent some time at Clayton supervising the building and 
 fitting out of the Ontario, one of the boats of his hne, and so soon as the machinery was 
 in place and the vessel launched he set out for Boston to fulfill a contract he and others 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL. 
 
 17 
 
 had made to build the Beacon Hill reservoir in that city. His associates were Messrs. 
 Carmichael, Case, Stranahan, Joseph Gonder, and John Duff, but the execution of the 
 work fell to Mr. Case and himself. This reservoir, which fills a square in the rear of 
 the dwellings on Beacon street, is sixty-three feet above the flagging on its highest side 
 and contains 27,000 cubic yards of granite masonry. It was completed in November, 
 1849. Almost cotemporaneously Mr. Farwell perfected the channel for the supply of 
 the city of Brooklyn with water. In October, 1850, he began the construction of 105 
 miles of the Great Western Railway in Canada, a portion of which embraced some of 
 the heaviest work on the road. This, with the branch running to Gait, occupied him 
 about four years. Samuel Zimmerman and Messrs. Stranahan & Farwell were the 
 partners in this enterprise, they having purchased the interests of numerous other con- 
 tractors. Mr. Farwell's next contract was for the construction of a section of the 
 Utica and Black River Railroad. It occupied him during the years 1854-56. His old 
 associates. Baker, Case, and Stranahan, and also James G. Lund, co-operated with him 
 in this work. Though the contract comprised the whole of the road they completed 
 work only as far as Boonville, doing, however, considerable grading beyond. He was 
 afterward one of the directors. He entered upon the Flint and Pere Marquette road 
 in 1854, and was at his death still concerned in it. His associates were T. D. Estabrook, 
 A. M. Farwell, his nephew, and Dr. H. C. Potter, his son-in-law. Mr. Farwell and Dr. 
 Potter bought up the interests of the others and have the chief management of the 
 road. It extends from Lake Erie to Lake Michigan, 253 miles, has thirty miles of 
 branch roads, and cost nearly $7,000,000. In view of its magnitude and that he was 
 the leading person in its construction, besides aiding largely in procuring the necessary 
 funds, it may be considered his greatest undertaking. 
 
 What an immense amount of labor is sketched in this epitome! It seems incredible 
 that human powers should be equal to it; and there was involved in it the severest 
 mental strain. Yet Mr. Farwell passed his fourth-score year without a sign of having 
 been overtaxed. No man stood higher in the respect, confidence, and favor of the 
 community. With the instincts of a thorough gentleman his fine person and courteous 
 manners made him noticeable on the streets, in business circles, and in society, while 
 his face beamed with intelligence and kindness. Exceedingly trying tests weie appUed 
 to him, and they notably proved to the satisfaction and admiration of all his absolutely 
 perfect integrity- and honor. For fifty years he conducted colossal enterprises in differ- 
 ent parts of the United States and Canada, but without the shghtest abatement of his 
 geniality. With a warm, tender, generous heart for all men, and a loving and devoted 
 friend, his conspicuous charm was in the household of which he was the center and idol. 
 The halo of religion suffused his character and the spirit of religion pervaded his being. 
 His pubhc works are the monuments of his usefulness, and fond memories will ever 
 cherish his integrity, his nobility, and his loveliness. 
 
 rISH, HENRY HOPKINS, born in the village of Herkimer, October 22, 1813, was 
 the youngest son of Walter and Jane (Whitney) Fish, who came from Bozrah, 
 Conn., in 1793. He started with the education derived from the common schools of two 
 generations ago, which later on he extended by broad and varied reading and study in 
 C 
 
1 8 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 many directions, so that he impressed those with whom he came in contact with the 
 scope and value of his Icnowledge. His ambition was to become a lawyer, but his 
 father meeting with business reverses the son was obliged to begin his career at six- 
 teen as teacher in a country school, a position that was very distasteful to him. In 
 1837 he came to Utica and was engaged by Butler & Livingston, who placed him in 
 entire charge of their forwarding business at Albany. He married, in 1841, Cornelia 
 Phelon, daughter of Dr. Thomas Phelon, of Litchfield, Herkimer County, and two 
 years later returned to Utica and engaged in forwarding with Samuel Farwell. The 
 firm name was Farwell & Fish, and their stand was on the site of the one now occupied 
 by George W. Head k. Co. Some years later he was associated with A. E. Culver in 
 the same business, the title of the firm being Culver, Harrington & Fish. In 1851 Mr. 
 Fish abandoned the forwarding business and took a fortunate step in helping to organ- 
 ize the Utica G-aslight Company. He was made superintendent and treasurer of this 
 organization. The latter, position he occupied until the day of bis death. It was in this 
 responsible post that he displayed his native energy of character and his intelligent con- 
 ception of true business methods. At the time he took charge the company's finances 
 were in such condition that he was unable to borrow on the credit of the company alone 
 such moneys as were needed, and he lent it his own credit. He developed its resources 
 and its facilities by adopting new methods and machinery so as to keep them apace with 
 the requirements of the city. From a very modest beginning the company came into 
 possession of an extensive plant and held high rank among the city's enterprises. 
 
 Tlie main details of Mr. Fish's business career are easily given ; but it is quite another 
 task to indicate what manner of man he was, to measure his natural ability or the ex- 
 tent of his acquired knowledge of numerous matters of current interest, and to estimate 
 his influence therein. In the welfare of the city. State, and country he displayed an 
 active and vigilant concern. He was elected alderman in 1848 and in 1855 was chosen 
 mayor, conducting a successful administration. For sixyears following March, 1857, he 
 was one of the most valued and efficient members of the Board of School Commis- 
 sioners. A Whig and afterward a Republican in politics his methods of political 
 thought were conservative and often decidedly independent. He was a delegate to the 
 convention at Chicago which nominated Abraham Lincoln for President, and prided him- 
 self in the issue of that assembly. He was for a time collector of internal revenue 
 under the administration of President Johnson. Pie was familiar with traffic on the 
 canal, and once delivered an able address on that subject before the Canal Committee of 
 the legislature; and he bore part with Samuel Farwell and Dr. H. C. Potter in the 
 preparation for the building of the Pere Marquette Railroad, as he did subsequently in 
 the adjustment of its embarrassed affairs. To every movement in which he enlisted him- 
 self he brought a proper degree of enthusiasm backed by persuasive powers of speech. 
 He possessed rare gifts as a conversationalist, and he frequently demonstrated his 
 ability to make a sustained address of telling force and symmetrical construction. On 
 subjects of even commonplace interest his discursiveness often revealed a vein of thought 
 that was philosophic and instructive. For that reason he was always an agreeable man 
 to meet. While advancing his convictions with earnestness he was never offensive in 
 his mode of expressing them. He could write as gracefully and effectively as he could 
 
! \ 
 
 ^''•y. .'v E Q ]¥ilh:ov ;■ fiBro Vf 
 
 ^^c^ iflS-<.,yut^ 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL. 19 
 
 talk, and the columns of the local press frequently bore testimony to his vigorous 
 mastery of good English as well as to the soundness of his opinions. 
 
 A man possessing the fine judicial mind and the happy temperament of Mr. Fish — 
 a man given, as he vsras, to the studious examination of all contemporaneous topics and 
 an earnest promulgation of the principles he formed after careful research — is always a 
 valuable factor in the life of a commuuity ; and he will long be remembered for the ex- 
 cellent influence he exerted upon the thoughts and purposes of our leading citizens. If 
 to this is added his responsiveness of action, his tact in dealing with men, and his skill 
 in managing large affairs we are not surprised that his co-operation in the conduct of 
 them was deemed of importance and was often sought. His home life was affectionate 
 and exemplary. By his many subordinates he was ever esteemed and beloved. His 
 death took place on April 1, 1887. His widow, two sons, Winslow P. and William A. 
 and a daughter, Grace, survive him. 
 
 CURTIS, PHILO C— The father of Philo 0. Curtis was Asahel Curtis, a native of 
 Old Canaan, Conn., who had seen service on our Northern frontier during the war 
 of the Revolution, and who after two or three different residences in the eastern part of 
 this State finally settled in 1803 in Bast Sauquoit, Oneida County, N. T. He was rec- 
 ognized as a man of integrity and worth, was a justice of the peace, commissioner of 
 deeds, and for several years superintendent of the Stockbridge and Brothertown In- 
 dians. The historian of Paris, in speaking of him, remarks that " Philo C, the second 
 son, was a mechanic of rare skill and great inventive genius, perfecting an improvement 
 of the power loom at an early period of its introduction into the factories of the Sau- 
 quoit Valley." 
 
 This Philo C. Curtis was born at Hoosick, Rensselaer County, N. Y., June 21, 1789. 
 His mechanical ingenuity was displayed at an early age. He took great interest in 
 textile machinery and the first three patents taken out by him were of that nature. 
 The first one he obtained in 1810, the year when he became of age, and was for an im- 
 provement of the loom. In 1828 Mr. Curtis removed to Utica and started a machine 
 shop on the west side of Cornelia street opposite what was at that time the foundry of 
 Bphraim Hart. He there built the first steam engines that were made in Utica. Ir» 
 1831 he took out a patent for an apparatus for heating the supply water of boilers after 
 the water had passed the pump and was under boiler pressure. To accomplish this 
 purpose he utilized the heat of the exhaust steam from the engine. This patent was 
 of great intrinsic value and is today in almost universal use, especially with non- 
 condensing engines. It is, therefore, deserving of high consideration. In 1832 he 
 built and changed his place of business to the shop in West Utica known for many years 
 as the Vulcan works. Here he continued the making of steam engines and of machinery 
 in general. According to the City Directory of 1832 there were then twenty-one steam 
 engines at work in the county, ten of which were in Utica ; eighteen of them were 
 made by Mr. Curtis. Like most mechanics who are given to invention he gave more 
 time to carrying out mechanical ideas than he did to matters of finance, and so it fol- 
 lowed that the building of the West Utica shop, in connection with other matters he 
 had under way, caused his failure, resulting in the loss of all of his property and obliging- 
 him to retire from busirress for a season. 
 
20 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 In 1837 he entered into an arrangement with J. M. Church, a lumber dealer, by which 
 was procured a Woodworth planer and matcher and a few auxiliary tools, as well as an 
 engine and boiler for running the same. This machinery was set up in a large frame 
 building then standing on Pine street near the canal and it was started by Mr. Curtis, 
 and the first planing and matching of flooring and dressing of lumber by power that was 
 done in Utica was done under bis direction and supervision. After carrying on the 
 work for a while Mr. Curtis sold his interest therein to Chauncey Palmer and Mr. 
 Church disposed of his to Lewis Lawrence. After this episode Mr. Curtis moved away 
 from the city and for some years lived in New Hartford. In the fall of 1845 he returned 
 to Utica and started a machine shop on Jay street near the old city furnace. Although 
 his facilities were limited his acquired reputation as a mechanic gave him employment. 
 After two or three changes of location he moved in 1849 into a building on Pine street, 
 where he remained for twelve years, and from which he again moved to the West Utica 
 shop he had erected in 1832, and where he had met with his financial reverse. He sold 
 his works in 1862 to his son and retired wholly from active business pursuits. Besides 
 being an industrious and skillful mechanic Mr. Curtis was a man of thought, and one 
 whose thoughts led in the main to sound practical results, results that benefited- the 
 entire community in which he lived. He had, perhaps, too much of a spirit of inven- 
 tion for his own pecuniary good. He loved invention better than he loved wealth and 
 disregarded the essentials needed to secure it. Among others of his devices not already 
 mentioned above was a pump for raising water and other liquids. This was a very 
 valuable invention and had it been well followed up would have made his fortune. This 
 was patented in 1835. 
 
 In resolutions passed after the death of Mr. Curtis, which occurred September 23, 
 1864, by the Oneida R. N. Chapter it was said that, in the inventive talents of the de- 
 ceased, man has been benefited by the ingenious application of machinery to various 
 implements of industry, making latent power subservient to his will, overcoming ob- 
 stacles heretofore considered impracticable, and conferring a boon upon the "man of toil." 
 It was added in the same resolutions that in his life we have an example of the upright 
 citizen, a kind and affectionate parent, and one who by strict integrity in all the rela- 
 tions of life has left behind him a name both honored and respected. His family con- 
 sisted of his wife, a son, and a daughter. The daughter died in 1852. His wife and son 
 survive him. 
 
 GRAY, JOHN PERDUE, M.D., LL.D., died at Utica, N. Y., on the the 29th day 
 of November, 1886, at. the age of sixty-one years. The initiatory cause of his 
 final illness wag the result of an attempt made by an insane man to assassinate hinl, in 
 March, 1882, immediately upon his return from Washington at the conclusion of the 
 trial of Gruiteau for the murder of President Garfield. This injury, with the nervous 
 strain and responsibility of the protracted trial, combined with the continued perform- 
 ance of the duties of his position in the asylum, perceptibly impaired his health and 
 were powerful factors in producing the fatal results. In January, 1886, the Board of 
 Managers of the asylum gave him a leave of absence for six months. A portion of this 
 period was passed in the South and the remainder in a foreign tour, undertaken in the 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL. 
 
 21 
 
 h'ope of improving his health. He returned m October, seemingly benefited by the 
 change, and again resumed his labors, but under- peculiarly trying circumstances. Early 
 in November business called him to Baltimore, whence he returned much prostrated and 
 suffering from a recurrence of the disease which was so soon to prove fatal. Prom this 
 time it was evident that little hope could be entertained of his recovery. He slowly 
 failed from blood poisoning induced by disease of the kidneys, and died in urcemic coma. 
 
 Dr. Gray was one of nine children, and was born on the 6th of August, 1825, at 
 Half Moon, Center County, Pa. He was educated m the common school, in Bellefonte 
 Academy and Dickinson College, and received his medical degree from the University 
 of Pennsylvania in the class of 1848. After a period of two years' service in the Phil- 
 adelphia Hospital he was chosen on account of his qualifications and ability the junior as- 
 sistant in the State Lunatic Asylum at Utica. He passed through the higher grades of 
 second and first assistant and in July, 1854, was elected the superintendent of the asylum. 
 At the early age of twenty-nine years he was thus placed in a most responsible position 
 at the head of what was then the largest asylum for the insane in the country. He be- 
 came the successor of Drs. Brigham and Benedict, whose skill and ability had given the 
 Utica Asylum an enviable reputation. This Dr. Gray not only sustained, but widely 
 extended, by improving the old and originating new measures of administration. Ac- 
 cepting unreservedly the view that insanity was a physical disease the medical care of 
 patients assumed the highest importance and the institution was made more completely 
 than ever before a hospital for the nursing and care of patients as sick people. The 
 influence of the predominant idea was felt in every part of the asylum. To the strictly 
 medical treatment of insanity he gave special consideration ; the medical history of 
 patients was more fully sought out and recorded and the resources of the pharmaco- 
 poeia were employed with a belief in their efficacy in this as in other forms of disease. 
 The moral treatment by employment, amusement, and mental occupation was early given 
 a prominent place. One of the methods introduced by Dr. Gray was the establish- 
 ment of the Opal, a paper contributed to and published by the patients in the asylum. 
 This was continued until the third issue of the tenth volume and proved of great in- 
 terest and value to the patients, and was also a source of revenue. Its exchanges 
 reached as high as 300 newspapers and periodicals annually ; it added several hundred 
 volumes to the library and hundreds of dollars to the amusement fund for patients. His 
 labors were always in the direction of progress, both in material improvement and 
 administration, as well as in the treatment of patients. The organization, making subor- 
 dinates individually responsible to heads of departments, and these in turn to the super- 
 intendent as the highest authority, resulted in improved order and discipline and in- 
 creased efficiency. The Utica Asylum under his control became the model for many 
 of the institutions subsequently erected, and later a school of instruction which has 
 furnished a larger number of men equipped for the specialty than any other asylum in 
 the country. 
 
 Early in his career as superintendent, and while most men would have been fully oc- 
 cupied with the details of management, he enunciated the principles which have since 
 largely guided the State in the care of the insane. In the resolutions passed by the 
 superintendents of the poor in 1856 we recognize his hand. These were that the State 
 
22 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 should make ample provision for all of its insane who were not in condition to reside in 
 private families; that none should be cared for in any county poor and almshouse; that 
 the proper classification demanded for the care of the insane could only be secured in 
 establishments constructed with special view to their treatment; and finally, that the 
 curable and incurable should not be cared for in separate institutions. In accordance 
 with these views he urged the erection of two State hospitals for the insane so located 
 that in conjunction with the Utioa Asylum they would most fully meet the needs of 
 the people of the State. In the discussion of the question of separate institutions for 
 the acute and chronic classes of the insane, which excited deep interest in the pro- 
 fession. Dr. Q-ray bore a notable part and one which gave him great prominence. He 
 maintained then, as always, that it was the duty of the State to provide for all of the 
 insane the best medical care, and to remove them from the county poor-houses to asy- 
 lums properly equipped with every means to promote recovery. Although overruled 
 by the estabhshment of asylums for the chronic insane he lived to see his plans carried 
 out in the erection of the Hudson Eiver Hospital at Poughkeepsie and the Buffalo 
 State Asylum at BuiFalo to accommodate the patients in the eastern and western 
 divisions of the State respectively. Another movement in which Dr. Gray was identi- 
 fied as the originator, and which he carried to a successful issue, was the removal of 
 children from the poor-houses to the various orphan asylums and their support at pub- 
 lic expense. This reform, first inaugurated in Oneida County, has been adopted in the 
 other countiee of the State, and has been of inestimable benefit in rescuing children 
 from the association and degredation of life in the poor-bouses and giving them the ad- 
 vantage of training and education. This philanthropic work entitles him to rank as a 
 public benefactor. 
 
 The separation of the convict and criminal insane from other patients, and treatment 
 in an institution constructed with special reference to their isolation and safe-keeping, 
 was largely if not entirely due to the efforts of Dr. Gray. The wisdom of this action 
 has been fully sustained, and the example has been followed by other States ■nthere the 
 numbers of this class warranted the expense of their separate maintenance. Subse- 
 quently he was made one of the commission to locate both the Willard and Buffalo 
 Asylums, for the latter of which he furnished the plans and was one of its Board of 
 Managers until it was in full operation. The subject of the causation of insanity has 
 always received the careful consideration of alienists. In the asylum under Dr. Brig- 
 ham, and for some years under Dr. Gray, the two classes of causes, moral and physical, 
 were recognized as productive of the disease. The moral causes were given a largely 
 predominating position and included all of the cases in which there had been a history 
 of any emotional excitement or disturbance, while to physical causes were attributed 
 only the small number of cases which were the result of injuries or deformities of the 
 head and like material influences. Upon more prolonged observation and reflection 
 Dr. Gray became convinced of the incorrectness of this theory and practice, and satis- 
 fied that moral causes alone were not sufficient to produce disease. He believed that it 
 was only when the physical health was affected that insanity resulted, and that this 
 change was really the cause of the emotional disturbance. From this time forward he 
 regarded physical causes only as producing insanity and recorded none but them in 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL. 23 
 
 the tables of causation. This was deemed a most important step, as it gave the first 
 place in treatment to therapeutic measures, and divorced the subject more fully from 
 the influence of the metaphysical theory that insanity was a disease of the mind. 
 "Rest, nutrition, medication —could then be presented in truth as the relief of sorrow.'' 
 Insanity, a physical disease due strictly to physical causes, was one of the distinctive 
 features of his belief and teachings. 
 
 Dr. Gray was the first in this country to recognize the importance of and to intro- 
 duce special investigation into pathological conditions existing in insanity, and to the 
 TJtica Asylum belongs the credit of having the first special pathologist appointed on its 
 official staff. This course has been fully endorsed by the specialty and the profession. 
 However great the success and credit Dr. Gray deservedly gained for his labor in the 
 directions already mentioned it was in the field of medical jurisprudence, as an expert 
 in insanity, that he attained the greatest triumphs of his life. Beginning with the 
 Parish will case and the trial of Fyler for murder, one of the first in which epilepsy 
 was pleaded as a defence, his course is fairly marked out by recalling the list of promi- 
 nent trials throughout the State. A few of these are the trials of Heggie, of Buckhout, 
 of Euloff, of Walworth, of Montgomery, of Dillon, of Gaffney, of Waltz, of Mancke 
 for murder, and the Vanderbilt and Fillmore will cases. In behalf of the general gov- 
 ernment during the war he presided at the trial of Dr. Wright, of Norfolk, Va., for 
 the murder of a lieutenant of colored troops, and was a witness in the case of Stewart, 
 tried for poisoning a fellow soldier in the recruiting camp at Elmira, and of Payne, one 
 of the assassins of President Lincoln. He was many times appointed a commissioner 
 by the various governors of the State to whom a final appeal had been made for execu- 
 tive clemency. His aid was often sought by prosecuting officers and by the friends of 
 the accused when there was a suspicion of the existence of insanity. On whatever side 
 his services were employed his testimony was true to his convictions of right, and 
 always carried with it the force of bemg truthfully and honestly given. No imputation 
 of being influenced by any unworthy motive was ever cast upon his evidence. He re- 
 sorted to no subterfuges, clothed no mere theories in the garb of science to excuse 
 crime, yielded to no clamor, but always took his position and sustained himself upon 
 the principles deduced from his broad krtowledge and vast experience, and consequently 
 his opinions had the utmost weight with the judge, the jury, and the people. He bore 
 successfully the most searching questions of the best legal talent, at times lasting sev- 
 eral days, and no exceptions to his testimony were ever made a ground of appeal to a 
 higher court. The amount of labor he was called upon and often compelled to perform 
 against his most earnest desire furnishes the best evidence of the value placed upon his 
 services. Upon his conduct of the Guiteau case, in which he was the principal medical 
 witness for the prosecution, may rest his reputation as the leading expert in insanity in 
 the country. His testimony is a model of terse logic, of strong statement, of clear expo- 
 sition of principles and facts of science, incontrovertible and convincing in its~ conclu- 
 sions, a fit culmination of his labors. 
 
 Dr. Gray also achieved success as a lecturer on insanity. For some years he occupied 
 the chair of psychological medicine and medical jurisprudence in the Albany and Belle- 
 vue Medical Colleges. These lectures were undertaken not so much for his own honor 
 
24 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 and emolument as for the advancement of the medical profession. His lectures were 
 noted for their clearness and deflniteness of statement, and for an eloquence and grace 
 of style which attracted many hearers besides the students of his own department. More 
 than any other person Dr. Gray shaped the lunacy legislation of the State of TSTew York 
 and it is largely to his influence with the commission appointed to codify and revise the 
 law that we owe the present lunacy statutes. In matters pertaming to other de- 
 pendent classes his influence was also felt, as his advice was often sought by the Boards 
 of Managers having charge of the various charities, reformatories, and prisons, by legis- 
 lators, judges, and officials. 
 
 As a writer Dr. Gray was widely known to the profession, though he never pub- 
 lished, as he was often importuned to do, any consecutive work upon the subject of 
 insanity. He wrote many articles for the Journal of Insanity and addresses before so- 
 cieties which attracted attention and showed his ability as an author. The annual 
 reports of the asylum were often important contributions to the specialty, as they con- 
 tained, not only his views and ideas upon subjects of interest in the study and treat- 
 ment of disease, but also details of construction, organization, and administration of 
 great value to those in charge of like institutions. 
 
 In the death of Dr. Gray the medical profession lost one of its strong, great men, and 
 one whom it has honored by the many offices and preferments conferred upon him. He 
 was successively chosen president of the Oneida County Medical Society, of the State 
 Medical Society, of the State Medical Association, of the Association of Superintendents 
 of American Institutions for the Insane, and of the Association of Medical Editors. He 
 was an honorary member of the Psychological Association of Great Britain, of the Medico- 
 Psychologique of Paris, of the Society de Freniatrioa of Italy, and of various other 
 scientific bodies. He was president of the Psychological Section of the Centennial 
 Medical Congress of 1876 and at the time of his death held a similar position in the 
 Ninth International Medical Congress, held in Washington in September, 1887. 
 He also had conferred upon him the title of LL.D. from Hamilton College. As a phy- 
 sician he held a high place in the regard of the profession and the public. He was 
 readily approached, gave freely and willingly of his time to all, but especially to the 
 younger members of the profession who appealed to him for assistance. In his prac- 
 tice he exhibited the same characteristics as in his conduct of public affairs. He pos- 
 sessed a comprehensive knowledge of medicine which, combined with ripe judgment, 
 the power to note the salient points of a case, and to apprehend the relation between 
 cause and effect, made him a safe counselor, inspired confidence m his decisions, and 
 caused him to be consulted in the most important cases, both by physicians and those 
 occupying the highest official and social positions. No better evidence could be given 
 than the confidence thus reposed in him by those most competent to judge of his at- 
 tainments in his profession. 
 
 Though fully occupied with the labors of his position Dr. Gray found time for the 
 exercise of the duties of a citizen, and as such was most highly respected. His patriot- 
 ism was unquestioned and unbounded. Unable to enter the army from the position 
 he held as superintendent of the asylum he gave freely of his means and time in col- 
 lecting money and obtaining recruits to fill the quota of the city. He was generous. 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL. 25: 
 
 liberal minded, and active in every charitable and public work vphich would relieve suf- 
 fering or promote the interests of the community. Among charities which had their 
 origin with him was one designed to provide nurses for lying-in women in needy cir- 
 cumstances. A suggestion of the want of such aid made in a lecture delivered in Utica 
 gave rise to the Maternity Society of this and other places. He was domestic in his 
 feelings and tastes, and loved to spend the time not urgently demanded by his duties in 
 his home surrounded by his family and intimate friends. He was an aflfectionate hus- 
 band and an indulgent father, a sympathizing friend in sickness, and an admirable nurse. 
 Among the most notable characteristics of Dr. Grray were his readiness to appreciate- 
 and ability to state in a clear, forcible manner the fundamental principles of any ques- 
 tion, his rare power of observation, his calm and independent judgment, and his strong 
 convictions. These qualities, combined with an indomitable will, fully explain his influ- 
 ence over others and were elements of his success. He had a wonderfully retentive 
 memory both of persons and things, great affability of manner and kindness of heart, 
 and a strong love for children, by whom he was always beloved. 
 
 In conversation he was brilliant and instructive. From every place he visited and 
 from every person he met he gathered information which it was his pleasure to impart 
 to others. To all he was a cheerful and agreeable companion. Though like all men 
 with true independence of character he met with opposition and criticism of his ad- 
 ministration ; they rarely provoked him into controversy or changed his course of ac- 
 tion, but if attacked upon charges reflecting upon the probity o£ his official acts he never 
 failed to defend himself successfully. Dr. Gray was a firm believer in the Christian 
 religion and a member of the Reformed Church in Utica. His religious views, formed 
 early in life, were settled convictions and never a subject of question or doubt. They 
 controlled his life and conduct. 
 
 In looking over his life work there is a richness of labor and a fullness of success that 
 rarely falls to the lot of man. In all the fields of action in which he bore a part, as the 
 head of a great charity, a medical jurist, a lecturer, as toe editor of the Journal of Insanity, 
 as a physician, a citizen, and a friend, there were the evidences of great power, of 
 strength of character, and generosity o£ disposition, which were the elements of his- 
 success, which made him beloved, and which made his death a serious calamity to the 
 community, to the profession, and to his friends. What higher tribute could be given 
 to his memory ? 
 
 Dr. Gray married Mary, eldest daughter of the late B. A. Wetmore. Of their several 
 children two sons and one daughter are living. 
 
 n OFFER, THOMAS, was born on the site of his present residence in the city of 
 Utica, January 31, 1807. His father was Capt. James Hopper, a native of Eng- 
 land. For many years he was in command of BngUsh vessels in the merchant service 
 and owned shares in them and their cargoes. During the war between France and 
 England he commanded an armed vessel of sixteen guns, and furnished with letters of 
 marque from the British admiralty he cruised in the South Seas. Attacked on one 
 occasion by a superior vessel his ship was taken after a brave defence and he was car-- 
 D 
 
26 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 ried a prisoner to France. His release and that of another captain were effected by 
 ■exchange for the celebrated Marshal Junot, who had been captured in Egypt. A short 
 time subsequently to this he came to America, his principal object being to secure in- 
 demnity for the loss of another vessel that had fallen into the hands, of the French 
 through information furnished them by an American, and which vessel had been sold 
 afterward to persons from America. He engaged General Hamilton in New York as 
 his counsel, but failed in accomplishing the object of his visit. By General Hamilton 
 he was prevailed upon to come to Utica and see the country. This visit was made in 
 the year 1801, and shortly after his arrival he bought considerable land on the southern 
 borders of the village and never returned to his native country. Forty-nine acres of 
 the tract purchased comprised the cleared farm of Benjamin Hammond in great lot No. 
 95, which the latter had obtained from John Bellinger. In part it was a portion of the 
 Holland Purchase, and other smaller parts were parchased of John Post, Richard Kim- 
 ball, and Jonathan Evans. On his purchase Captain Hopper built a house, which he 
 enlarged on the arrival of his family, and engaged in farming and in tanning, to neither 
 of which pursuits had he been accustomed. He brought tanners from the East, paying 
 tliem high wages, and in order to improve his land he expended his means freely in 
 having the stumps grubbed out of the ground. Hence his projects were to some ex- 
 tent a failure; he also lost considerably in the Utica Glass Company. The land which 
 he purchased, however, increased in value and later in the skillful hands of his sons be- 
 came a handsome estate. Captain Hopper left a reputation for integrity and respecta- 
 bility, but living a little apart from most of the other residents of the village he was 
 not especially concerned in public affairs of his time. He died May 16. 1816. His 
 widow married Joshua Wyman and died December 11, 1843. Their children were 
 George J. (born in England), Ehzabeth Ann, Thomas, and Mary (Mrs. Bradley and 
 afterward Mrs. McOlure). All of these excepting Thomas are deceased. 
 
 Thomas Hopper passed his boyhood days at home and obtained a good English edu- 
 cation at the common schools and the Utica Academy. Early in life he determined to 
 follow mercantile pursuits and at the age of twenty-six years began business in Utica 
 as a merchant, but after about four years he gave up that occupation and turned his 
 attention to improving and dealing in real estate, which he has followed the greater 
 part of his life. From 1835 to 1844 he resided in New York city, where he also oper- 
 ated in real estate. The property purchased by his father was greatly improved by 
 him and many residences erected on it, and ^ it now constitutes one of the finest resi- 
 dence sections of the city. Soon after his return from New York Mr. Hopper pro- 
 jected and against much opposition established and himself constructed the splendid 
 system of water works for the city of Utica. He was one of the first board of nine 
 directors and has filled the office of president for about twenty years. During that 
 period he has refused all remuneration for his services in the company and is given the 
 credit in the community of conferring an inestimable boon upon the inhabitants. Mr. 
 Hopper was also one of the first to instigate the organization of the Cemetery Associa- 
 tion, which resulted in giving the city its beautiful burial place. Here partially at his 
 own expense he erected a splendid chapel for the comfort and convenience of those 
 gathered on burial occasions in stormy weather. 
 
^^i> 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL. 27 
 
 Following in the footsteps of his father, who was one of the first members of Trinity 
 Church, Mr. Hopper has always identified himself with religious and kindred interests 
 that tend to the benefit of the community. He was treasurer of the Bishop's Fund for 
 the diocese of Western New York for fourteen years, and is a director in the Utica 
 National Bank and has been for many years. In politics he is a Republican, but has 
 never taken a very active part in that field and has declined political preferment. Mr. 
 Hopper now looks back upon a well-spent life and is among the very few persons who 
 were born in Utica at the very beginning of the present .century and still live here. 
 
 nILLAR, CHARLES. — Among the many of her adopted citizens to whom Utica is- 
 under lasting obligations for his business thrift and standing none left a more 
 honorable record or one more worthy of emulation than Charles Millar. The enter- 
 prises which he started and with which he was connected were among the most im- 
 portant in the city,, and will continue to grow and add to her wealth and standing. His- 
 steady and persistent application to business brought him success. Scrupulously 
 upright in his dealings, farsighted and comprehensive in commercial and financial condi- 
 tions, he not only conquered fortune, but received and held the confidence of the com- 
 munity and the sincere regard of all who knew him. He was born in Greenwich, Eng- 
 land, March 9, 1808 ; received a good education in the parochial schools of London ; 
 married in 1833 Miss Jane Quait, who survives him ; and came to this country two 
 years later and to Utica in 1838. Here for more than half a century he was an active 
 force in the business, social, and public hfe of Utica; a thorough believer in her he had 
 pride in her growth and beauty, and assisted to his utmost to increase and secure the 
 importance she has now attained. 
 
 On arriving in Utica Mr. Millar at once commenced business in the line in which be 
 had been educated, that of master builder. He secured large and important contracts, 
 erecting many of the most prominent of the older buildings in Utica, among which may 
 be mentioned the court-house, Mohawk street jail, Tibbitts block, several public schools, 
 and John Thorn's residence. From IS;')? to 1860 he was the agent and manager of the- 
 Utica Screw Company. At the time he assumed charge the company was suffering 
 from the financial depression and was virtually bankrupt, but through his efibrts it . 
 rapidly recovered and became such an important competitor that the American Screw 
 Company, of Providence, olTered to buy the stock at par, which offer, contrary to Mr. 
 Millar's advice, was accepted by the directors. The correctness of his views was after- 
 ward confirmed by the advance of the Providence company's stock many hundred- 
 fold. In 1861 he became superintendent of the Utica and Black River Railroad, which 
 office he held for six years, and laid the foundation for the future prosperity of that 
 important road; he made many improvements in the property, among the most notable- 
 of which was the filling of the immense trestle work at Trenton. N. T. This was a work 
 of great magnitude, taking several years and requiring several million yards of sand and 
 gravel. His management of the afi'airs of the railroad company was so energetic and 
 characterized by such good judgment that the road was enabled to earn and pay its first 
 dividend. He resigned his position on the railroad in 1867 to erect the Millar building; 
 
28 MEMORIAL HISTOR Y OF UTICA. 
 
 on G-enesee street in Utica. He had purchased in 1861 the wholesale tin, plumbing, and 
 steamfitting business which he continued to conduct up to the time of his death, and 
 which is one of the most extensive of its kind in the United States. He admitted his 
 son, Henry W. Millar, to full partnership in 1866, forming the firm of Charles Millar & 
 Son, and as the business had grown rapidly, requiring better facilities and more room, he 
 erected the above building for its use. His firm became extensive manufacturers of 
 cheese and butlermaking apparatus and many of the appliances were of Mr. Millar's 
 invention. This machinery was sold all over the United States, and large quantities 
 were shipped to Europe, Australia, Canada, and South America. 
 
 September 15, 1883, Mr. and Mrs. Millar celebrated their golden wedding, and the 
 same year the manufacture of lead pipe was commenced by his firm in Utica and was a 
 success from the start. In 1885 the large factory and warehouse on Main street was 
 erected for the purpose of extending this branch of the business. Soon afterward his 
 son-in-law, John L. Murray, was admitted a member of the firm, the firm name remain- 
 ing the same. In 1889 the firm, with the assistance of Nicholas K. Kernan, Irvm A. 
 Williams, and William M. White, organized the Utica Pipe Foundry Company and Mr. 
 Millar was elected its first president. Under his direction the extensive buildings were 
 •erected, and the company was about to cast its first pipe at the time of his death. He 
 always took a deep interest in political matters. He was a strong anti-slavery man and 
 a Free Soil Democrat, identifying himself with the Republican party from its start; he 
 was always an earnest advocate and staunch supporter of its principles. He repre- 
 sented the Fourth ward in the common council at the time of the incendiary fires, and 
 was himself a sufferer from the burning of his carpenter shop on Division street. " Dad ' ' 
 Orcutt, one of the gang of incendiaries who was convicted, afterward confessed the 
 ■crime. He was president for one term of the Utica Mechanics Association and chair- 
 man and manager of one of their most successful fairs, which for many years were so 
 popular. 
 
 He lived to a good old age, and was active and busy up to the last. On Saturday, 
 February 22, 1890, he was apparently enjoying his usual health j he spent the greater 
 part of the day visiting his different places of business, his store, the lead pipe works, 
 and the new pipe foundry building, at all of which he directed various matters ; return- 
 ing home at the usual hour he spent the evening with his family. He died in his bed 
 suddenly the next morning at 8 o'clock of heart failure. 
 
 Mr. Millar was a pleasant, agreeable, and courteous companion, loyal and devoted to 
 his friends, and loving and kind to his family. His enterprises were uniformly success- 
 ful ; he never failed, but left a record of which his descendants may always be proud. 
 
 LAWRENCE, LEWIS, was born in the town of Otego, Otsego County, N. Y., De- 
 cember 21, 1806, and died on Fourth Lake, Fulton Chain, N. Y., September 8, 1886. 
 Fifty-eight of the nearly eighty years of his life were spent in Utica, N. Y., identifying 
 him in 'many ways with the growth and prosperity of the city and securing for him an 
 honorable place among its distinguished citizens. He was of New England descent, his 
 parents, Daniel and Penelope Lawrence, having settled in this State some years previous 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL. 
 
 29 
 
 to his birth. He was their only son, standing midway in a group of five children, two 
 of his sisters being older and two younger than himself. All these died while Mr. Law- 
 rence was yet a lad, leaving him to fight alone life's battle and to carve out his own fort- 
 une and destiny. His early years, like those of most successful Americans, were spent in 
 the country upon a farm owned by his father. But at the age of fifteen he left Otego 
 and went to live in the town of Franklin, Delaware County. There he spent the next 
 seven years living m the family of his employer and learning the trade of a carpenter. 
 On reaching his majority he determined to find a larger sphere for his activity, and 
 chose Utica, N. Y., for his future home. He came to this city in April, 1828, without 
 acquaintance and with only $3 in his pocket. He found himself in the midst of a 
 rapidly growing community, recognized his opportunity, and seized upon it. He at 
 once began business upon his own account, and though without money he pushed for- 
 ward with the confidence of a capitalist. His enterprises were successful. Friends 
 gathered about him and within two or three years of his coming here he was an ac- 
 knowledged leader among the builders of Utica. 
 
 About the year 1834 he became a manufacturer of and dealer in lumber, and from that 
 time until 1865 his mills and business were extensive, requiring and bringing out the 
 indomitable energy and good judgment which characterized his life. In the year 1865 
 he gave his attention to the construction of the Utica, Chenango, and Susquehanna Val- 
 ley Railroad, organized the company, became its president and treasurer, and in 1870 
 leased it to the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad Company, and then 
 sought rest and recreation for the first time in his life. With his son and his son's wife 
 he spent nearly three years in travel in this country and in Europe. Returning here in 
 1874 he gave his time to various enterprises of business and benevolence in which he 
 was interested, spending his winters in Florida, to which State he became much at- 
 tached. In politics Mr. Lawrence was a Republican and from the beginning an Abo- 
 litionist and a temperance man. He was a staunch supporter of Senator Oonklin, his 
 neighbor and life-long friend, in whose interest he, in 1877, founded the Utica BaUy Re- 
 publican. He was a man of large benevolence and a friend always to be relied upon. 
 He was a member of Westminster Church and its strong friend. There survive him his 
 only son, Lewis H. Lawrence, and Charles B. Barnard and Miss A. G-. L. Barnard, chil- 
 dren of his only daughter, Mrs. Charlotte A. Barnard, wife of ex-Mayor Charles B. Bar- 
 nard, who died April 15, 1886. 
 
 The wife of Mr. Lawrence was Miss Anna G. Skinner, daughter of Samuel and Ruth 
 B. Skinner, of Colchester, Conn., to whom he was married January 18, 1828, and who 
 died November 30, 1868. 
 
 WILLIAMS, ABIJAH J., was born near Oriskany, N. Y., on the 13th of July, 
 1806. After a period of school study he engaged early in life at his native place, 
 and about 1845 came to Utica, beginning business on the site where his sons have con- 
 tinuf d since on Genesee and Blandina streets. There he manufactured bobbins, shut- 
 tles, etc., for cotton and woolen-mills, and gradually built up the large trade afterward 
 transferred to his sons. This business brought him into association with large manu- 
 facturers throughout this region and he became a stockholder in almost all of the lead- 
 
30 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 in^ manufacturing corporations in the cotton and woolen business. Some years previ- 
 ous to his death he became connected with the Empire mills at Clayville and at his 
 death owned the property in connection with his sons. He was president of the 
 Oneida National Bank at his death and also of the Skenandoa Cotton Company. He 
 was the largest owner of the stock of the Utica steam cotton-mill, and a director of 
 the company, and also a director in the Mohawk Valley mill. Never taking a very 
 active interest in politics, in which he was a Republican, he still felt a deep concern for 
 the well-being of the city. He was elected alderman in 1849. Late in life he made 
 several notable donations to charitable institutions. He gaVe $1,000 toward founding 
 the department for old men in the Faxton Hospital and $2,000 toward the Y. M. C. A. 
 building. Mr. Williams was a man of great industry and close application to his business, 
 of unquestioned integrity and uprightness, and fully capable of grasping and executing 
 large plans and usually with success. In financial and business matters of importance 
 he was universally trusted in this community and his counsel was often sought. 
 
 Mr. Williams was married in 1825 to Mary Billington. His sons who survived him 
 are Irvin A. and James H. A son, Norman A., died in 1879. Aras Q-., another son, 
 was a resident of Brooklyn, where he was prominent in politics, and died there several 
 years since. Mr. Williams died August 5, 1886. 
 
 THORN, JOHN, president of the Utica and Black River Railroad Company, 
 was born in Ruishton, near Taunton, Somersetshire, England, December 6, 1811. 
 Robert Thorn, his father, was a shoemaker, and died in that place in 1844. His mother, 
 Betty Palmer, also died at Ruishton in 1867. John Thorn's young boyhood was spent 
 at his home, where he attended the primary school until he was nine years old. These- 
 were the meager educational opportunities that were offered him ; but he made the most 
 of them and acquired the foundation of an education. After his school days he worked 
 for about six years on a farm and learned the soap and candle business. At fifteen 
 years of age he attended a higher school for about eight weeks, and then returned to- 
 'the soap and candle business, which he continued until the summer of 1832, when on 
 the 12th of July he sailed for America, the Mecca of so many ambitious young men 
 from the mother country. After a voyage of seven weeks and three days he landed in 
 New York city with about £25 in EngUsh money and a letter to a resident of the me- 
 tropolis. It was not a fortunate time for a young man to arrive in America with no 
 friends and little pecuniary means, for that dreaded pestilence, the Asiatic cholera, had 
 just made its terrible march over the Northern States and the country was still suffer- 
 ing from its effects. Mr. Thorn's friend, therefore, advised him to not linger in New 
 York, but to push on westward. He accordingly started for Zanesville, 0., traveling 
 from Albany to Buffalo on a canal boat, from Buffalo to Cleveland by steamboat, and 
 from Cleveland to Zanesville by canal boat, making a journey of about two weeks. In 
 Zanesville he met the first person he had seen in this country whom he had ever before 
 seen. He remained there only a few weeks and then returned as far as Utica, reaching 
 this place on the first of October. When passing through Utica on his way westward 
 he had been favorably impressed with the village, then just being transformed into a 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL. 31 
 
 «ity, and he concluded to remain here; to that end he engaged his services at once to 
 Boyd & Chamberlain, who were carrying on a small soap and candle business on Water 
 street. Three months later, in company with Stephen Thorn (not a relative), he bought 
 the establishment. They continued together one and a half years, when John Thorn 
 purchased his partner's interest and conducted the manufactory until September 1, 1837, 
 the business in the meantime having been considerably extended and the product im- 
 proved. He then took as a partner the late Isaac Maynard, thus inaugurating a har- 
 monious business connection which continued for many years and to the death of the 
 latter on the 23d of February, 1885. Mr. Maynard was Mr. Thorn's brother-in-law 
 through the marriage of the latter to Miss Mary Maynard on the 17th of September, 1833. 
 She died April 23, 1891. The Maynard family were from Mr. Thorn's native place in 
 England. The business of the two men, as far as it related to the soap and candle man- 
 ulacture, was given up about the year 1880, having grown to large proportions and 
 giving profitable returns. In the year 1840 the firm purchased of James C. Belong his 
 wool and pelt business located on Whitesboro and Water streets, which they success- 
 fully continued until 1870, at which time it had grown to a large and profitable traffic. 
 In the year 1860 they associated with James S. Kirk, formerly of Utica and then of 
 Chicago, in the establishment of a large soap and candle manufactory in the latter city. 
 This was continued to 1880, when it was sold out to Mr. Kirk at a time when it was 
 largely profitable and was doing a business of about |2,000,000 a year. These several 
 undertakings constitute the actual business life of Mr. Thorn, and their uniform success 
 and comprehensive character testify to his capacity and good judgment, which have also 
 served him equally well in still larger fields. 
 
 In 1859 Mr. Thorn was elected a director in the old Black River and Utica Railroad 
 Company, whose line then extended only from Utica to Boonville. The affairs of the 
 company were then in a complicated, unprofitable, and unsatisfactory condition, and 
 under direction of the court it was closed up and sold in 1860, Mr. Thorn buying it 
 for the bondholders. In the following year he was elected president of the company, 
 an office which he has held almost continually since. He immediately re-organized the 
 company, the name being changed to the Utica and Black River Railroad Company, 
 with capital to the amount of the bonds, about $860,000. In the failure of the first 
 company the city of Utica lost about $250,000. Mr. Thorn continued as president until 
 1873, when he made one of his periodical visits to England for the benefit of his wife's 
 health as well as his own, and was succeeded by Hon. De Witt C. West, who had been 
 vice-president. In 1879, while Mr. Thorn was again visiting England, lie was recalled 
 on account of the illness of Mr. West, and again assumed the office, which he did not 
 again relinquish. The railroad work of both a practical and diplomatic character which 
 was accomplished under Mr. Thorn's administration and largely through his efforts has 
 been astonishing. When he first took the road in charge he began radical improvements 
 both in the roadbed and the equipment. He accepted only $250 salary for himself, 
 cut down all expenses to the utmost limit, and devoted the entire income of the road to 
 its betterment. The nine trestles between Utica and Boonville were .Irst filled, one of 
 them requiring 700,000 yards of earth, and with other equally important changes the 
 business of the road began to improve at once and to such an extent that on the 11th 
 
32 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 of November, 1863, the stockholders were almost overwhelmed by the receipt of a two- 
 per cent, dividend — an event that had never occurred before in the history of the road. 
 An annual dividend of from four to six per cent, has never since been missed, and the 
 stock has steadily advanced in value until it was leased to the Rome, Watertown, and 
 Ogdensburg Company in 1886, when it commanded $1.20. In 1867 Mr. Thorn inaugu- 
 rated a series of extensions by continuing the road to Lyons Falls, a distance of ten 
 miles, still adhering to the economical and prudent measures first adopted. In 1868-G9 
 the line was continued to Lowville, seventeen miles; in 1869-70 to Carthage; and 
 from there to Philadelphia in 1871-72, connecting there with the Black River andMor- 
 ristown road, which had about seven miles constructed. That road was at once com- 
 pleted to Morristown and leased by the Utica and Black River Railroad Company, and 
 in 1872 the company leased the road from Carthage to Watertown (then known as the 
 Carthage, Watertown, and Saekets Harbor Company). Two years later the line was 
 completed to Saekets Harbor, involving under this lease about thirty miles of road. In 
 1874 a connection was made with the Clayton and Theresa road at Theresa Junction, 
 sixteen miles, and that line was taken under a lease. In 1878 the system of extension 
 was still further advanced by building from Morristown to Ogdensburg, eleven miles. 
 In 1883 a consolidation was effected with the Black River and Morristown road and in 
 1886 all of these various branches, excepting the Carthage, Watertown, and Saekets 
 Harbor (which continued under lease), were consohdated under the name of the Ulica 
 and Black River Railroad Company, comprising about 150 miles of road. On the 14th 
 of April, 1886, this entire system was leased to the Rome, Watertown. and Ogdens- 
 burg Company for seven per cent, on its capital stock, that company assuming all of its 
 liabilities, the bonded indebtedness— about f2,000,000. On the 14th of March, 1891, 
 the road passed with all of the lines of the Rome, Watertown, and Odgensburg Com- 
 pany into control of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Company. 
 
 Assuming that this development of railroad property from an insignificant, non-pro- 
 ductive short line to a large, comprehensive, and profitable system is largely due to Mr. 
 Thorn's energy, capacity, and labor (which none will dispute who is conversant with the 
 facts) it is no more than just to place it among the remarkable executive achievements of 
 the time. Mr. Thorn as well as his friends look upon this work as the crowning success of 
 his long and active life. His business qualifications are fully recognized by his fellow 
 citizens. He has been a director in the Utica City Bank almost from the time of its 
 organization ; a director in the Globe Woolen Company since its organization ; a di- 
 rector for a term of years in the Utica woolen-mills; a director at present and one of 
 the organizers of the Utica, CUnton, and Binghamton Railroad Company ; a director in 
 the Utica, Chenango, and Susquehanna Valley Railroad Company and in the Rome, 
 Watertown, and Ogdensburg Railroad Company ; a member of the Utica Mechanics 
 Association ; a trustee of the Faxton Hospital, etc. 
 
 Mr. Thorn has been a member of the Tabernacle Baptist Church since 1833 and a 
 trustee for about fifty years. In politics he is a RepuMican, but takes only the interest 
 of a public spirited citizen in that field. 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL. 33 
 
 ROGERS, PTJBLIUS VIRGILIUS, was born at Antwerp, Jefferson County, N. Y., 
 December 30, 1824. He was the eldest child of Ralph Rogers, M.D., a native of 
 Acworth, N. H., who removed in early life to Litchfield, Herkimer County, N. Y., and 
 soon afterward to Watertown, Jefferson County, N. Y. Dr. Rogers received his i^edi- 
 cal education in the medical college at Fairfield, N. Y., and practiced medicine at Ant- 
 werp until 1833, when he removed to Watertown, N. Y., where he was a leading mem- 
 ber of his profession up to the time of his decease, February 21, 1872, in the eightieth 
 year of his age. Mr. Rogers's mother, Sarah Corse, was a native of Duxbury,Vt. She 
 died at Watertown, N. Y., September 19, 1875, in the seventy-third year of her age. 
 
 Publius V. Rogers received his early education in the district schools of Antwerp and 
 Watertown. One of the teachers of his boyhood at Watertown was the late Judge 
 Charles Mason. He was afterward a student m the Watertown Academy while the late 
 Judge Joseph MuUin was its principal. He began his preparation for college in the 
 "Black River Literary and Religious Institute" of Watertown under the instruction of 
 the late Rev. Dr. James R. Boyd. He entered the sophomore class of Hamilton Col- 
 lege in 1843 and was graduated in 1846. In scholarship Mr. Rogers ranked with the 
 best men in his class. One of his collegiate instructors writes with discrimination and 
 emphasis of his college course : " While Mr. Rogers was one of the youngest of his 
 class, his manliness and maturity of character were beyond his years. He was prompt 
 and faithful at the post of duty. His mind and attainments were well balanced, so that 
 the outcome of his undergraduate studies was a well-rounded, generous culture." 
 
 Soon after his graduation Mr. Rogers began the study of the law in the office of 
 Skinner & Brown at Adams, N. Y., spending one hour each day at book-keeping at the 
 Hungerford Bank ; afterward he continued his studies in the office of Judge George C. 
 Sherman at Watertown. During the summer of 1848 he took part in the survey of 
 the Rome, Watertown, and Ogdensburg Railroad. On the organization of the Water- 
 town Bank and Loan Company by Judge Sherman in 1849 Mr. Rogers was placed at 
 the head of its management as cashier. In September, 1850, he was appointed cashier 
 of the Fort Stanwix Bank at Rome, N. Y., and on September 1, 1853, cashier of the 
 Bank of Utica. This appointment was due largely to the influence of the late Hon. 
 Hiram Denio. In the litigation of certain cases in which the Fort Stanwix Bank was a 
 party Judge Denio had observed the thorough knowledge of banking and of the 
 laws appertaining thereto which Mr. Rogers possessed. When the directors of the 
 Bank of Utica had decided to appoint a new cashier on his recommendation Mr. Rogers 
 was elected. The appointment of so young a man to be the principal manager of so old 
 and influential a bank, having so large a capital and so many stockholders and custo- 
 mers, was a very high compliment to the ability, integrity, and trustworthiness of Mr. 
 Rogers. Soon after entering upon his official duties the new cashier discovered that the 
 capital of the bank had been impaired to the extent of one-sixth of its amount — $100,- 
 000. With the concurrence of the directors he had the courage to suspend the payment 
 of dividends until this loss should be made good. Under his administration the 
 capital was restored gradually to its full amount ; and since its restoration the bank has 
 paid semi-annual dividends with the regularity of the periods and has accumulated a 
 
34 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 sarplus of $400,000. That Cashier Rogers has fully met the expectations of the directors 
 was shown by his election as president of the bank in 1876. 
 
 His reputation for financial ability, integrity, and public spirit has been further shown 
 in his annual election as a director of the Utica Water Works Company since 1872. 
 He is also a director of the Utica Cotton- Mills, of the Mohawk Valley Cotton-Mills, of 
 the Sknandoa Cotton Company, and of the Utica and Willowvale Bleaching Company. 
 As a faithful trustee of Hamilton College since 1869, and as the treasurer of the college 
 from 1880 to 1887, Mr. Rogers has manifested his grateful affection for his alma mater, 
 his faith in collegiate education, and his salf-sacrificing spirit. As a financial adviser his 
 judgment has been of the highest value to the Board of Trustees, and has greatly 
 strengthened the confidence of the alumni and friends of the college in the wisdom of 
 its management. Mr. Rogers has served the State as a manager of the Utica State Hos- 
 pital, having been appointed by the governor and Senate of New York in 1881, and 
 elected president of the board in 1886. He has been president of the Home for the 
 Homeless since 1889 and the president of the Fort Schuyler Club since 1888. He has 
 been a faithful and useful trustee of the Reformed Church, Utica, for many years. 
 
 Throughout his long residence in Utica Mr. Rogers has been proverbially modest, un- 
 aggressive, and unostentatious. He has gained the confidence of the community by his 
 unswerving fidelity in the performance of official duties, while his frequent acts of self- 
 sacrificing kindness have strengthened and deepened the sincere regard of his many 
 friends. 
 
 On September 11, 1861, Mr. Rogers married Bh?abeth Butler, daughter of Chaunoey 
 S. Butler, of Sauquoit, N. Y. 
 
 nEAD, GEORGE WASHINGTON, a native of Paris Hill, Oneida County, N. Y., 
 was born on the 21st of May, 1815. The remote ancestors of this family came 
 from Ireland and settled in New England. The father of George W. was Jonathan 
 Head, of Rhode Island, who came to Oneida County very early in its history. He 
 Wivs a successful farmer, an ardent temperance worker, and was very prominent in the 
 organization and upbuilding of the church at Paris Hill. He died there on the 10th of 
 February, 1866, at the age of ninety-one years, having accumulated property and 
 gained the esteem of his tovs^nsmen. His wife was Hepzibah Livermore, who died in 
 March, 1862. The family of children numbered eleven, of whom nine were sons, 
 George W. being next to thy youngest. 
 
 George W. Head passed his boyhood at home and in attendance at the district school, 
 where he acquired the foundation of an education which was afterward extended in a 
 practical way by reading and his natural ' habits of observation and thought. While 
 still young he went to live with his elder brother, Ralph, at Paris. Jesse Thompson 
 then kept a tavern at that place. It was one of the old stage-houses which in early 
 days were thickly scattered along the turnpikes, receiving a large patronage from trav- 
 elers and furnishing welcome accommodations. There the young man acted as clerk 
 and made himself generally useful, and broadened his knowledge of human nature and 
 of business methods. He remained there until 1837, when he was twenty-two years 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL. 35 
 
 old, and then established himself in a country store on his own account at Paris Hill. 
 He at once gained the good will and confidence of a large business constituency and 
 was very successful. He conducted his store on the same basis of integrity and fair- 
 nfess that has characterized his whole life, and put forth his best energies with the usual 
 results of such a course. He carried on the store for ten years, and in 1857, feeling 
 an ambition for larger fields, he went to New York city, where he was engaged for a 
 number of years with Hurlburt, Sweetzer & Co. in the dry goods trade. During this 
 time his capital was invested with the firm of Head, Campbell & Head, foundrymen 
 and stove manufacturers in Kenosha, Wis., but he gave no personal attention to this 
 business. This connection continued ten years. After his return from New York Mr. 
 Head joined with WiUiam S. Bartlett in the lumber trade, buying in the West and sell- 
 ing in the South, an enterprise that met with success. Still later he traveled for Theo- 
 dore Pomeroy in the interest of the oilcloth manufactory until the year 1861, when he 
 founded the business with which he has ever smce been identified, the firm of G. W. 
 Head & Co., dealers in flour, feed, grain, and kindred products. His partner was D. D. 
 Winston, and their place of business was in the "checkered store" across the canal 
 from the present location. For twenty-eight years those two men carried on their 
 large and rapidly growing enterprise, which was successful in the broadest sense of the 
 word, for it not only brought to its owners the material benefits which are sought by 
 all, but also the more desirable returns that grow out of the respect and esteem of one's 
 fellow citizens. At the end of the term mentioned Daniel Head purchased Mr. Win- 
 ston's interest in the business and the new firm continued it one year, when the pres- 
 ent stock company was organized in 1890 with George W. Head as president, although 
 he has not for some time taken part in the active labors of the business. 
 
 Mr. Head's prominent personal characteristics are benevolence, indulgent kindness to 
 family and friends, and a disposition essentially retiring and modest in its nature. 
 Though an active worker in and supporter of the temperance cause, and a faithful ad- 
 herent to the Republican party in politics, he has never held office though often solic- 
 ited to do so. He is the president of Head's iron foundry, which came. to a large ex- 
 tent under his direction through the death of his son. While it is true that Mr. Head 
 has not united with a church he has always been a regular attendant at divine worship 
 and has liberally supported the cause. For twenty years he attended the Bethany 
 Presbyterian Church, but in later years has attended the Westminster Presbyterian. 
 
 Mr. Head married, June 15, 1843, Sarah 0., eldest daughter of Horace Bartlett, of 
 Paris Hill. She was a woman of strong character and possessed deep-rooted ideas of 
 right and wrong. Her good common sense and clear-sighted views were of great 
 value to her husband. She died May 22, 1890, aged sixty-seven years. Their children 
 were five daughters and one son : the oldest is Helen F., who resides at the family 
 home ; Sarah Elizabeth also lives at home; Florence Amelia married Rev. H. M. Sim- 
 mons, of Minneapolis; and John Q. (deceased), Emma Grace (deceased), and Alice 
 Augusta (deceased). 
 
36 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 KBRNA.N, FRANCIS. — Among the immigrants to this country from Ireland in the 
 early years of the century was Gen. William Kernan. He landed in New York 
 city, where he remained about two years, and then went to Steuben County in that part 
 of it now included in Schuyler County, and purchased a tract of wildland in what is 
 now the town of Tyrone. Settling on this he took up the life of a farmer and there 
 married Rose Stubbs, also a native of Ireland, who had with her parents come to that 
 locality in 1808. William Kernan and his wife remained on the farm where they first 
 settled until they were far advanced in years, when they came to Dtica and died here. 
 Francis Kernan, son of William and Rose Kernan, was born on the homestead farm Jan- 
 uary 14, 1816. He remained at home until he was seventeen years of age, laying the 
 foundation of an education in the district school when he could be spared from the 
 farm labor. At the age of seventeen years he went to Georgetown College, an excel- 
 lent educational institution in the District of Columbia, and remained there until 1830. 
 In the fall of that year he began the study of his chosen profession, the law, in the office 
 of his brother-in-law, Edward Quin, at Watkins, N. Y. In 1839 he removed to Utica 
 and finished his study in the office of Hon. Joshua Spencer, and was admitted to prac- 
 tice in July, 1840. Mr. Spencer's confidence in and respect for the character and 
 talents of Mr. Kernan are clearly indicated in the fact that as soon as Mr. Kernan was 
 admitted he was taken as a partner by Mr. Spencer. From that time until 1857 he was 
 in constant practice and soon exhibited in strong light the remarkable legal insight, the 
 comprehensive grasp of every salient point in the many important oases that came into 
 his hands, and the ability to turn to the benefit of his client every possible advantage, 
 which for many years characterized his work at the bar. In 1854 he was appointed 
 reporter of the Court of Appeals, which office he held until 1857. Politics early at- 
 tracted the attention of Mr. Kernan, and in that field he found work that was congenial 
 to him and in which he was successful. It was about the year 1860 that he entered the 
 political arena with all his native ardor, and where he soon attained an eminent station. 
 It was a stirring time. The very foundations of the Union were threatened and Mr. 
 Kernan threw himself into the ranks of the staunchest supporters of the government 
 with the utmost zeal. In 1860 he was nominated by the Democrats for the Assembly 
 in the first district of Oneida County. That disirict had been a Republican stronghold, 
 Gen. James MoQuade having carried it by 1,500 majority at the previous election; but 
 such was Mr. Kernan's popularity and strength that he was elected over his opponents 
 by about 200 majority. In the Assembly he at once took high rank as a legislator, and 
 at the same time continued active in his support of the government in its great trial. 
 Utica had few more powerful and gifted defenders of the Union and his war speeches 
 were frequeni. and intensely loyal and eloquent. 
 
 In 1862 Mr. Kernan was elected to Congress, his Republican opponent being Roscoe 
 Conkling. Two years previous to that time Mr. Conlding ran against De Witt C. Grove 
 for the same office and was elected by a majority of 3,500. After a very spirited can- 
 vass Mr. Kernan was elected over his powerful opponent by about ninety majority. In 
 his early congressional career Mr. Kernan was particularly active in all measures for the 
 support of the government and was often called in consultation by President Lincoln. 
 In 1864 he was renominated and Mr. Conklmg was again his opponent and succeeded 
 
^«:'<-VA 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL. 37 
 
 in defeating him. Mr. Kernan then took up his law practice with new vigor and rapidly 
 won distinction in the foremost rank of the bar of this State. In 1867 he was elected 
 a delegate at large to the Constitutional Convention of 1867-68 and performed a prom- 
 inent part in that body. In 1872 he was honored by the Democratic and Liberal parties 
 with the nomination for governor of the State, but -was defeated by Governor Dix. In 
 1875 the Democrats gained control of the State legislature and Mr. Kernan was chosen 
 State senator to succeed E. E. Fenton. His services in that high office were such as to 
 fully sustain his previously acquired reputation as a wise and an able statesman. All meas- 
 ures affecting the State of New York received his special attention, while those of a 
 more general character were not neglected. His term expired in 1881. 
 
 Mr. Kernan married in 1843 Miss Hannah Devereux, daughter of Nicholas Devereux, 
 a prominent early resident of Utica. They have had ten children. 
 
 BUTLER, TRUMAN KELLOGG, was born in New Hartford, Oneida County, 
 October 31, 1810. His grandfather came to New Hartford from Middletown, 
 Conn., in 1789, bnnging with him four sons, Ashbel, John, Sylvester, and Eli, jr.; the 
 latter was the father of Truman K. Eli, sr., settled on a farm which was said to have 
 once been the property of Gen. George Washington. Eli, jr., married a daughter of 
 Truman Kellogg and they had eight children, and the family was one of character and 
 respectability. 
 
 Truman K. Butler left New Hartford and located in Utica when he was fourteen 
 years of age, in the year 1824, and lived out his long life in this place. He saw its 
 growth from a humble village to a city of more than 40,000 population, and was closely 
 identified with its advancement in many directions. During the first years of his resi- 
 dence in Utica he attended a school in what was known as the Kirkland block, on the 
 corner of Liberty and Genesee streets, and then entered the store ol Devereux & Co. 
 That firm was composed of John C. and Nicholas Devereux and Horace Butler, the lat- 
 ter being a cousin of Truman K. Their business was at that time on the site of the 
 Devereux block with a warehouse on the opposite side of the canal, and they carried 
 on a large wholesale grocery trade and forwarding and commission business. In 1826 
 the firm dissolved, the Messrs. Devereux withdrawing, and it was continued as Butler, 
 O'Connor & Co., the firm being represented by James McDonough. A few years later 
 Mr. O'Connor died and the business was continued by Butler, McDonough & Co., rep- 
 resented by Van Vechten Livingston. The latter soon afterward entered the firm, 
 which was then succeeded by the firm of Livingston & Butler, the subject of this sketch 
 being one of its members. The business was at that liime on Catharine street with a 
 retail store on the corner of Broad and Genesee streets. Mr. Butler remained in this 
 firm but a short time, when he sold out and purchased the drug and grocery business of 
 Dr. Peleg Peckham, then located in a store now occupied by Charles & H, H. Ham- 
 ilton. After several years of successful business alone Mr. Butler took as a partner 
 Miles C. Comstock. The latter retired about the year 1858, and the firm became But- 
 ler & Hamilton with Charles Hamilton as the partner. The business was carried on 
 with flattering success by this firm until the year 1887, giving Mr. Butler a period of 
 activity in the trade interests of Utica extending over more than sixty years. 
 
38 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 Mr. Butler was largely interested in the manufacturing industries of Utioa as well as 
 in its benevolent and charitable institutions. He was made a trustee in the Utica Ootton- 
 Mills Company in 1861 and continued in that capacity until his death. He was chosen 
 president of the Mohawk Valley Cotton-Mills at the organization of the company and 
 continued in the office until 1887. He was for forty years a trustee of the Utica Sav- 
 ings Bank and one of its most faithful and conservative officers. He was a trustee of 
 Forest Hill Cemetery many years. But the work for which he will be most gratefully 
 remembered by the people of Utioa, and which displays the benevolent tendencies of 
 his nature, was that in connection with the founding of St. Luke's Home and Hospital. 
 In 1869 he was the owner of a house on the corner of Columbia and Hamilton streets, 
 which had been erected as a boarding-house for factory operatives. At the suggestion 
 of Dr. Van Deusen and others, of G-race Church, he leased it for one- year to the corpo- 
 ration of St. Luke's Home, for the reception of aged and indigent persons in that church. 
 The great need of such an institution was apparent through the number of inmates that 
 came to its doors and at the end of the year Mr. Butler presented the building to the 
 corporation. He soon afterward sold to them the wooden house adjacent for mission 
 purposes. This was the foundation of St. Luke's Hospital. He subsequently sold to the 
 corporation the house on the corner of Whitesboro and Wiley streets, contributing lib- 
 erally from the purchase price, and gave to the institution the lot on which St. Luke's 
 Memorial Church stands. At a still later date, when more ground was desired by the 
 hospital, Mr. Butler and Charles Downer purchased the vacant lot belonging then to the 
 city, on Columbia street west of the Home property, and presented it to the hospital au- 
 thorities. He also presented to the Home and hospital the handsome park on Whitesboro 
 street on condition that it should remain for the benefit of the sick and aged, and that 
 no buildings should be erected on it. He also purchased a piece of ground in Forest Hill 
 Cemetery opposite his own vault, erected upon it a monument, and enclosed the whole 
 for the benefit and use of the hospital. Mr. Butler's benefactions to this most worthy 
 institution probably exceeded $20,000, and it was to him a source of great satisfaction 
 that it became the noble and useful charity that is now the pride of Utica. In Mr. But- 
 ler's long life in Utica he developed a character which commanded the respect of all 
 with whom he came in contact; his integrity was unyielding, his friendships strong and 
 lasting, and his public spirit active. Upon his death the Board of Managers of the hospital 
 and the trustees of the Savings Bank adopted resolutions appreciative of his good works 
 and character. 
 
 RUSSELL, WILLIAM. ' — Thirty-five years ago, when the writer's acquaintance with 
 the physicians of Oneida County began, the city of Utioa was widely known for 
 the high character and distinguished ability of its medical practitioners. A majority of 
 them had reached middle age and a large proportion 'were well advanced in years. It 
 was, perhaps, the custom of that time to set a high value upon age and experience in 
 the practice of medicine. At any rate nothing but death or positive disability was per- 
 mitted to deprive the public of the services of these nestors of our profession. Three 
 
 1 See Transactions of the Medical Society of the State of New York, iSgi. 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL. 39 
 
 of their number survived at the beginning o£ the year 1890 and still retained their 
 place as leaders of their brethren. Since that time one of them, and the youngest, 
 although on the verge of three score years and ten, has gone over to the majority. 
 
 " Happy is the man who is without a history," says the proverb, and the happy and 
 fully rounded term of our brother's life presents few salient points for his biographer. 
 But it is none the less due to the profession which he loved so well and to the com- 
 munity he so long and faithfully served that the archives of this society should embalm 
 his memory. 
 
 William Russell was born in the city of Glasgow, Scotland, on the 5th of June, 1821. 
 He was the eldest son of Robert Russell, a coal factor in that city who came to this 
 country with his family in 18^2 and settled in Oneida County. William received his 
 education in the common schools and in Whitestown Seminary. A special taste for the 
 physical sciences led him to the choice of medicine as his| profession, and he began its 
 study in the office of Dr. Whiting Smith, of Whitesboro, in' 1845. His studies were 
 continued in the Berkshire Medical College at Pitlsfield, Mass., whence he was gradu- 
 ated in the autumn of 1848. During the following winter be took a post-graduate 
 course in the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, where he also attended 
 the lectures of the famous surgeon, Dr. Valentine Mott. The next year he entered 
 upon practice in Utica, where he soon became prominent and gradually won a place in 
 the front rank of his profession. He was an active member of the Oneida County Med- 
 ical Society and was its secretary for ten consecutive years. After serving as vice- 
 president of the society he was elected its president in 1871. In the following year he 
 delivered an able address to the society upon the question : " Is Woman Ad"apted by 
 Nature and Social Position for the Arduous Duties of the Medical Profession ? " Sub- 
 sequently he read before the same body a series of papers on '" Diseases Peculiar to 
 Women." In 1868 Dr. Russell was elected a permanent member of the State Medical 
 Society and a member of the American Medical Association. He was appointed con- 
 sulting surgeon to the Provost-Marshal's Board for the examination of drafted and en- 
 listed men during the Civil war. Upon the organization of the Faxton Hospital in 
 1875 he was elected a member of its medical staff, and served this important charity 
 faithfully for several years. He was also for a time on the consulting staff of St. Luke's 
 Hospital in Utica. The local organizations to which he belonged were Utica Lodge 
 P. and A. M. the Utica Mechanics Association, and the Oneida Historical Society. 
 
 Dr. Russell was a member of the First Presbyterian Church from his youth and was 
 very regular in attendance upon its services. Strictly temperate in all thmgs he was a 
 model of sobriety, industry, and devotion in his duties, public and private. His disposi- 
 tion was kind and benevolent, his bearing modest, and wholly free from pride and self- 
 assertion. During a life which nearly filled the allotted term of human existence he 
 preserved a character without reproach and gained the love and esteem of all who 
 knew him. Although never seeking in name or in fact the position of specialist Dr. 
 Russell's practice was for many yeai's largely that of the gynecologist and obstetrician. 
 He had performed every operation in the obstetrical field except that of Cesarean sec- 
 tion, and he was in later years frequently called to the assistance of his brethren in this 
 department. During thirty years of active practice his obstetrical cases amounted to 
 
40 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 about 2,500, and he never shrank from night work in this or any branch of his profes- 
 sion until after its effects upon his health had become too plain to be mistaken. He 
 would not deny that upon this point his life should be taken as a warning and not as an 
 example to others. It is proper to say, however, that he was not led into this serious 
 error by the love of money or by any selfish ambition. A very large part of his prac- 
 tice was unremunerative. His charges were uniformly moderate and their collection was 
 made with due consideration for the circumstances of his patrons. The modest compe- 
 tence which he acquired was wholly the result of prudent living and careful manage- 
 ment. But he was fond of his work, and his constitution was so perfect that it gave 
 him uo warning of the strain to which he was subjected until too late. Insomnia, the 
 consequence of his excessive night work, came first in the train of morbid symptoms. 
 The automatic activity of the brain and its period of rest are as cyclical in their nature 
 as the systole and diastole of the heart, and it is impossible to violate this law with im- 
 punity. Nor could the effect of this violation be limited to the cerebral hemispheres. 
 It was extended everywhere into the nervous system and thence to the muscular and 
 glandular tissues. Muscular rheumatism and prostatitis were added to the insomnia, 
 which was made much worse by these complications. As his disorders were unfavor- 
 ably affected by the length and severity of our cold season Dr. Russell sought and found 
 rehef by a stay in Florida during the winters of 1883, 1884, 1885, and 1886. But it 
 was plain that the rapid progress of decay which was certainly premature in his case 
 could not be arrested. A third trip to Florida in the winter of 1889-90 no doubt had 
 the effect of hastening the inevitable end. The season was cold almost beyond prece- 
 dent throughout the South and the proper means for protecting invalids from its sever- 
 ity were almost wholly lacking. Symptoms of organic lesion of the heart and lungs 
 were manifested, and the invalid was forced to return home early in the spring. He 
 died of emphysema and pneumonia on the 27th of June, 1890. 
 
 In how great a degree the nature of the morbid processes which destroy human life 
 determines the mental states of the dying is well known to our profession? It is no 
 leas certain that the rapid and premature decay which proceeds from external causes 
 and takes some specific form of disease is attended with far more suffering, mental and 
 bodily, than the slow decay of age, in which life is not seldom 
 
 " Mellowed and softened as with sunset glow, 
 A golden day's decline." 
 
 This euthanasia, so much to be desired, was not vouchsafed to our brother, and his 
 was the common fate of medical men who find little comfort in those hopes of improve- 
 ment and relief with which he had so often soothed the decline of others. Nor was he 
 wont to call 
 
 " His brother doctor of the soul. 
 
 To canvass with official breath 
 
 The future and its viewless things — 
 
 That undiscovered mystery 
 
 Which one who feels death's winnowing wings 
 
 Must needs read clearer, sure, than he." 
 
 But our dying friend had in full measure the philosophy which common sense and 
 clear conscience bring to the support of every man who cometh into the world, if he 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL. 41 
 
 will but heed them. In that intuitive reason, and that conscience whose dictates had 
 been the rule of his life, he found a clear revelation of Qod and a sure ground of hope 
 in Him which neither science nor theology has given or can take away. 
 
 Dr. Russell, was married in December, 1851, to Agnes, daughter of Alexander Pat- 
 terson, of New Hartford, N. Y. In her strong character and high ambition he found a 
 stimulus and support which gave hfe its purpose and made its labors easy. Her sudden 
 death in January, 1887, while it removed a prop which was sorely needed in his declin- 
 ing days, served at the same time to reconcile him to the swiftly approaching end. He 
 left two children. Dr. Charles P. Russell, of Utica, and William G. Russell, attorney and 
 real estate dealer at Denver, Col. 
 
 WHEELER, RUSSEL, manufacturer, was born in Rome, Oneida County, N. Y., 
 Angust 7, 1820. His father, George Wheeler, born in February, 1791, came 
 from Glastonbury, Conn., to live with his father upon the farm which the latter had 
 purchased in Oneida County. This farm, situated three and one-half miles from the 
 city of Rome, is still owned by Russel Wheeler. George Wheeler belonged to one of 
 those old New England families so many of whom moved at tlie beguming of this cent- 
 ury into Central New York, stamping its localities with their New England names and 
 invigorating the new-born business interests of the country with their New England 
 virtues. He died at the homestead September 9, 1882, in the ninety-second year of 
 his age. He had one daughter and seven sons, of whom the third was Russel. 
 
 Russel Wheeler, after acquiring a good English education in the district schools, came 
 to Utica at the age of eighteen and entered the hardware store of John Mairs, where lie 
 remained four years. In 1842 he became book-keeper and manager for Joel C. Bailey, 
 who had just purchased the Chester Dexter foundry on Columbia street. Two years 
 later he became a partner, and the new firm of Bailey, Wheeler & Co. was then estab- 
 lished and continued the previous business of the foundry, increasing the amount and 
 nnproving the quality of its products until they had won a deserved reputation for 
 excellent wares. It is interesting to note that the first coal cooking stove manufactured 
 west of Albany was made in this factory on Columbia street. During the twenty-one 
 years of the firm's continuance they secured many patents for improvements in the 
 construction of stoves, and laid the foundation for a business of unusual stability. In 
 1855 Mr. Wheeler bought his senior partner's share in the business and ten years later 
 he secured that of S. Alonzo Bailey. After twelve years of sole ownership Mr. Wheeler 
 admitted his son. Prank E. Wheeler, to partnership, and two years later a share in the 
 business was acquired by Francis Kernan, jr. This partnership continued until January 
 1, 1890, when Mr. Wheeler and his son purchased the interest of Mr. Kernan and 
 established the business under its present name. The firm of Russel Wheeler & Son 
 employs from 150 to 200 men, and is well known throughout the country as one of the 
 leading manufacturers of stoves, ranges, and heaters. Some of their greatest improve- 
 ments iu recent years have been in their furnaces for heating residences, on which they 
 hold many valuable patents. 
 
42 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF VTJCA. 
 
 Mr. Wheeler was married August 5, 1845, to Miss Amanda Bailey, the daughter of 
 his senior partner. She died at Saratoga Springs, August 29, 1884, and was buried in 
 Forest Hill Cemetery. They had one son, Frank E. Wheeler, who is still living and is 
 the junior member of the firm. On November 10, 1887, Russel Wheeler was married 
 to Mrs. Katharine Iv. Anderson, of New York. 
 
 Outside of his regular and personal business life Mr. Wheeler has been identified 
 with numerous interests of the city and its vicinity. His only tenure of a city office 
 was in 1849-50, when -he was alderman, but many business enterprises of the town 
 have had the advantage of his judgment and experience. He is a director of the 
 Oneida National Bank and the Savings Bank of Utica, and was for many years vice- 
 president in the Utica City National Bank, resigning recently in view of an extended 
 absence in Europe. The manufacturing establishments in which he holds the position 
 of director are the Utica Steam Cotton-Mills, the Globe Woolen-Mills, and the Willow- 
 vale Bleaching Works. He was also a director of the Utica and Black River Railroad 
 up to the time of its passing under control of the Rome, Watertown, and Ogdensburg 
 Railroad Company. He has thus been connected with a large number of the most im- 
 portant business interests of Utica, and is one of those to whose good judgment and 
 sound principles the city owes much of its present prosperity. In educational matters 
 he has long taken an active interest and has for many years been a trustee of Colgate 
 (formerly Madison) University. 
 
 Mr. Wheeler has been an extensive traveler in this country as well as abroad. He 
 has made many trips through the West, where he has real estate interests, and he has 
 also vibited for pleasure Europe, Egypt, and parts of Asia, thus gaining personal knowl- 
 edge of many places not familiar to the ordinary traveler. His son, Frank E. Wheeler, 
 was born in Utica in 1853. After passing through the public schools and the academy 
 he entered Yale University, where he was graduated in 1876. During the past few 
 years the business of the firm has been left largely in his hands and he has successfully 
 maintained its high reputation. He was married in 1878 to Miss Louise Vanette Ames, 
 the daughter of Senator Cheney Ames, of Oswego, N. Y. 
 
 CHAMBERLAIN, EPHRAIM, was born in the town of Burlington, Otsego County, 
 N. Y., January 2, 1825. His remote ancestors emigrated from England to America 
 about the middle of the seventeenth century and settled at Biddeford, Me., and through 
 at least six generations of the family there has been an Ephraim among them. The 
 subject of this memoir has now in his possession a small souvenir that has passed down 
 to him through one of that name through six generations. When about four years of 
 age his father, Clark Chamberlain, with his family moved to the adjoining town of Pitts- 
 field, where Ephraim lived until he was sixteen years of age, in the meantime attend- 
 ing a common school, receiving some private tuition, and ending with an academic course 
 of two terms. He then entered a country store belonging to his uncle of the same 
 name, in West Edmeston, Otsego County, as a clerk, where he remained until he was 
 twenty years old. At that age in the year 1845 he came to Utica as a clerk in the 
 canal collector's office and remained there until 1849, with the exception of one year in 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL. 
 
 43 
 
 which he was employed in a Utica dry goods store. "While employed in the canal col- 
 lector's office the Utica Steam Cotton-Mills, a corporation for manufacturing cotton cloth, 
 was organized with the late Alfred Muiison as the first president. In the latter part of 
 1818, when the walls of the first factory of that corporation were up, but the buildmg 
 incomplete, Mr. Chamberlain applied in person to President Munson for the situation of 
 book-keeper, although he was then personally unknown to Mr. Munson. After giving 
 his references and answering a few questions asked by Mr. Munson Mr. Chamberlain 
 left with the impression that his chances for obtaining the situation were very slight 
 from the fact that there were many other applicants for it. A few weeks later, how- 
 ever, Mr. Munson sent for Mr. Chamberlain and engaged him to take charge of the com- 
 pany's books, wliich he did in February, 1849, thus connecting himself with a corpora- 
 tion with the success of which he has ever since been intimately associated. In 1854 
 Mr. Chamberlain was appointed trea.surer of the company, thereby becoming financial 
 and chief business officer of the corporation. In 1859 he was elected secretary in addi- 
 tion to the office of treasurer. In 1882 he was elected a trustee, in 1889 vice-president, 
 and in January, 1890, president. These several responsible stations connected with the 
 immediate management of the financial affairs of this successful company have de- 
 manded Mr. Chamberlain's energies through a large part of his business life and were 
 tendered to him because of his acknowledged ability to administer their duties with the 
 highest eflciency. 
 
 Mr. Chamberlain was one of the incorporators and also one of the first trustees of the 
 Mohawk Valley Cotton-Mills and of the Willowvale Bleaching Company, and was 
 elected secretary and treasurer of both corporations. In 1866 he was elected a trustee 
 of the Savings Bank of Utica and is now the oldest living member of the board. In 
 1875 he was elected second vice-president, in 1888 was elected first vice-president, and 
 in 1889 succeeded the late Judge Bacon as president. For many years he has been a 
 director and vice-president of the Oneida National Bank. The tender of these high 
 positions in Utica's largest financial institutions are eloqent tributes to Mr. Chamber- 
 lain's financial skill and his integrity from his fellow citizens. At the present time Mr. 
 Chamberlain is president, treasurer, and director of the Utica Steam Cotton-Mills ; sec- 
 retary, treasurer, and director of the Mohawk Valley Cotton-Mills 'and the Utica Wil- 
 lowvale Bleaching Company; president and trustee of the Savings Bank of Utica; 
 and vice-president and director of the Oneida National Bank. 
 
 In politics Mr. Chamberlam has been a life-long Democrat, but has never been an 
 active worker in that field further than is demanded of all public spirited citizens. In 
 1856-57 he represented the then Third ward in the common council as alderman, and in 
 1869 was elected mayor of the city and is now the oldest living ex-mayor. 
 
 Mr. Chamberlain has been twice married and has had two children: Frank C, who 
 died in 1885, and at the time of his death was engaged in business in New York city ; 
 and Frederick G., now secretary and assistant treasurer of the Utica Steam Cotton-Mills, 
 and assistant treasurer of the Mohawk Valley Cotton-Mills. 
 
44 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 WATSON, WILLIAM H., A.M., M.D., was born at Providence, R. I., November 
 8, 1829. He is the only son of the late Hon. William Robinson Watson. On 
 the paternal side he is descended from the oldest, most respectable, and most distin- 
 guished families in the State of Rhode Island, among whom may be named the Wan- 
 tons, Hazards, Robinsons, and Browns, who at a period anterior to the Revolutionary 
 war were the largest landed proprietors in the southern portion of that State. These 
 families were noted for dispensing an elegant and prmcely hospitality, and for furnish- 
 ing a genial and polished society when the cii,y of Providence was yet but a small and 
 inconsiderable village. Dr. Watson on the paternal side is the lineal descendant of the 
 fifth generation of G-ideon Wanton, the colonial governor of Rhode Island in 1745 and 
 1747. Five of Dr. Watson's ancestors had filled the gubernatorial chair of that State 
 previous to the Revolution of 1776. The original ancestor of the Watson family, John 
 Watson, came from England about 1680 and settled in South Kingston, R. I. Dr. Wat- 
 son's father, son of John J. and Sarah (Brown) Watson, was born at South Kingston, 
 December 14, 1799. He pursued his early preparatory studies at the Plamfield Acad- 
 emy at Plainfield, Conn., and was graduated from Brown University, class of 1823. 
 Among his classmates were Chief Justice Ames, of Rhode Island, Rev. Dr. Crane, 
 George D. Prentice, the distinguished editor of the Louisville Journal, and Judge Mel- 
 len, of Massachusetts. Professor G-ammell, in an article on the necrology of Brown 
 University, 1863-64, states that Mr. Watson "was admitted to the bar, but engaged to 
 only a very limited extent in the practice of his profession. His life was devoted pre- 
 eminently and almost exclusively to politics. For nearly forty years he was one of the 
 most active and prominent politicians in Rhode Island. Very probably no individual 
 ever exerted a greater influence in its local politics. Mr. Watson was also, during a 
 greater part of his life, a writer for the political press. In several instances, usually 
 for brief periods prior to important elections, he conducted editorially certain papers 
 with which he was politically connected, his influence and support being invariably ex- 
 erted in the interests of the Whig party, of which he was a devoted champion in Rhode 
 Island. The most elaborate of these were a series of papers first published in the Jour- 
 nal in 1844 under the signature of 'Hamilton.' These papers were afterward collected 
 and reprinted in pamphlet form. The political doctrines then held by the Whig party 
 were therein explained and vindicated with unusual force and clearness." 
 
 Mr. Watson was distinguished alike for the integrity and ability with which he dis- 
 charged the duties of the many and varied public offices which he filled; for grace, 
 elegance, and force of diction; and for kindness of heart and dignified urbanity of man- 
 ner. These traits of character secured the attachment of many of the warmest of 
 friends, by whom his agreeable qualities were fully appreciated. Dr. Watson's mother, 
 Mary Ann Earle Watson, was the daughter of Hon. Caleb Earle, a former governor of 
 Rhode Island. Dr. Watson pursued his preparatory studies for college at the high 
 school and the University Grammar School in Providence. He entered Brown Uni- 
 versity in 1848 and was graduated therefrom in 1852. On admittance to college in 
 1848 he received the first entrance prize in Latin and the second entrance prize for pro- 
 ficiency in Greek studies. During his collegiate course he was particularly noted for 
 fondness of and high standing in the classic languages of antiquity. He obtained prizes 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL. 
 
 45 
 
 for compositions in Latin in 1849, '50, and '51 and in Greek in 1849-50, and at the 
 Junior Exhibition in 1851 he was awarded the high distinction of delivering the 
 Oratio Latina. He was one of the "commencement orators" on graduating in 1852. 
 While in college he was elected a member of the United Brothers, Psi Upsilon, and 
 Phi Beta Kappa Societies. He received the degree of Master of Arts from Brown 
 University in 1855. From his earliest youth he had shown a love of and an aptitude 
 for the profession of medicine. He entered upon its study immediately after gradu- 
 ation from college in the oface of the late Dr. A. H. Okie, of Providence. After attend- 
 ing medical lectures at the Homoeopathic Medical College of Pennsylvania, the Uni- 
 versity of Pennsylvania, and the Pennsylvania Hospital at Philadelphia in the spring of 
 1854 he received the degree of Doctor of iledicine. On his graduation in medicine he 
 was chosen to deliver the address before the Hahnemann Medical Institute of Philadel- 
 phia, February 28, 1854. Having decided to select an inland location he removed in 
 the spring of 1854 to the city of Utica, N. Y., where he still enjoys an extensive and 
 influential practice. 
 
 Dr. Watson has held many responsible offices and appointments, among them several 
 of the highest that can be conferred by any association or local or State authority. 
 The more important of these are named in the following paragraphs : 
 
 Dr. Watson began practice when an espousal of the homoeopathic system aroused in- 
 tense opposition and involved entire social ostracism from old-school association and 
 fellowship. The homoeopathic system had acquired a distinctive sectarian name, an inex- 
 cusable offence in the eyes of the dominant school, one to whioli even to the present 
 time it has not become reconciled. At that early period nearly all the homoeopathic 
 practitioners had seceded from the old school. A few informal homoeopathic medical 
 associations, composed of these often widely separated physicians, had been formed and 
 were feebly maintained. The homoeopathic school was then in its formative stage. No 
 concerted action had been taken toward securing for it distinct and influential organi- 
 zations. Dr. Watson at once perceived the necessity for a removal of the legal disa- 
 bilities to which homoeopathists were subjected, and the acquirement on their part of a 
 legal status equal in every respect with that of the old school. He entered with alacrity 
 and zeal upon the work of securing these desirable results. He gave to the cause freely 
 of his time and means. To his wise counsels, his indefatigable energy, his steadfast- 
 ness of purpose, and his controlling influence is largely due the advanced standing, 
 the thorough organization, and the scholarly position of the homoeopathic school of the 
 present day. While he maintains that a distmctive name seems requisite m order to 
 represent a particular system of therapeutics he holds that the medical profession should 
 not be classified thereby. He is an uncompromising opponent of sectarianism in 
 medicine. He would have the terms of admission to membership in all homoeopathic 
 medical societies so broad as not to exclude any educated physicians on account of ther- 
 apeutic belief. 
 
 Dr. Watson was one of the original members and founders of the Oneida County 
 Homoeopathic Medical Society, having united with the society at its first meeting in 
 1857. He was elected its president in 1860. He became a member of the Homoeo- 
 pathic Medical Society of the State of New York in 1855. At the re-organization of 
 
46 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 the society in February, 1861, he delivered an inaugural address entitled '' The Past and 
 Present Position of Homceopathy and the Duties of its Practitioners." He was elected 
 a permanent member of the society in 1866. He was elected its president in 1868 and 
 at the following annual meeting delivered an address entitled " The Medical Profession: 
 Its Duties and Responsibilities, and the Relation of the Homoeopathic to the Old-School 
 Branch of the Medical Profession." In February, 1872, he delivered another adtJress 
 before the New York State Homoeopathic Medical Society entitled " The Homoeopathic 
 School, the Modern School of Rational and Liberal Medicine." This address, while it 
 aroused decided hostile criticism, by its reasonableness and Catholicity gained for him the 
 cordial approval of the liberal minded members of both the new and old schools of med- 
 icine. He became a member of the American Institute of Homoeopathy in 1854, and 
 having completed twenty-five years of continuous membership therein in 1879 he be- 
 came a senior member thereof. At the session of the institute held in 1873 he intro- 
 duced and in an elaborate speech supported the following resolutions: 
 
 " Resolved,, That homceopathists should strenuously insist upon the non-violation of 
 the great fundamental American principle of ' no taxation without representation ' by 
 sectarian monopoly of either national. State, county, or city institutions that are sup- 
 ported by legal assessments, or of those private eleemosynary institutions which derive 
 their support from individual contributions. 
 
 " Resolved, That the recognition of this principle by the legislature of Michigan, by 
 its recent action in creating two professorships of homoeopathy in the University of 
 that State, meets the most hearty approval of this body." 
 
 These resolutions, indicating the liberal policy of the homoeopathic profession, were 
 unanimously adopted. 
 
 He was one of the founders of the New York State Homoeopathic Asylum for the 
 Insane at Middletown, N. Y. In his "Introductory Address" before the New York 
 State Homoeopathic Medical Society in 1869 he recommended the appointment of a 
 committee to urge upon the legislature the necessity of taking appropriate action for the 
 erection of a State asylum for the insane, to be located in one of the southern tier of 
 counties of the State, and to be placed under the control of a physician of good stand- 
 ing in the homoeopathic school. Four years after, in 1873, when the Middletown asy- 
 lum had been created by legislative enactment, secured largely through his persistent 
 efforts and influence, Dr. Watson was appointed by Gov. John A. Dix a member of its 
 first Board of Trustees. He resigned this office after a service of three years on ac- 
 count of inability, by reason of other professional duties, to attend the meetings of the 
 board. He was appointed in March, 1875, to the office of United States pension exam- 
 ining surgeon and served in that capacity six years. He resigned the office in 1881 on 
 account of an intended visit to Europe. The degree of Doctor of Medicine, honoris 
 causa, was conferred on him by the Board of Regents of the University of the State of 
 New York on the nommation of the State Homoeopathic Medical Society in 1878. 
 
 Dr. Watson was appointed surgeon-general of the State of New York, with the rank 
 of brigadier-general, by Gov. A. B. Cornell in January, 1880. He was elected to the 
 office of Regent of the University of the State of New York by the legislature of the 
 State, February 2, 1881, and holds that position at the present time. He was nomi- 
 nated in 1888 without any solicitation or knowledge on his part, by Gov. David B. Hill, 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL. ~ 47 
 
 to tfte office of commissioner of the State Reservation at Niagara, and his nomination 
 was unanimously confirmed by the State Senate. He, however, felt impelled to decline 
 the honor so gracefully conferred on account of the pressing nature of private and pro- 
 fessional engagements. He is a member of the Medico- Chirurgical Society of New 
 York city, a member of the staff of Faxton Hospital at Utica, a trustee of the New 
 York State Library and State Museum of Natural History at Albany, a member of the 
 Fort Schuyler Club of TJtioa, a member of the University Club of New York city, a 
 member of the American Society for Psychical Research of Boston, a member of the 
 Oneida County Historical Society, a corresponding member of the Rhode Island His- 
 torical Society, a member of the American Historical Society, and senior warden of 
 Grace Episcopal Church at Utica. He has not infrequently represented the Protestant 
 Episcopal Church in its diocesan conventions, and was a delegate to the general con- 
 vention of the church held in New York in October, 1889. In 1887 he visited Califor- 
 nia. Having had ample opportunity for personal observation, and for mstituting a just 
 comparison between the famous watering places of the Old World and the health re- 
 sorts of the United States, he published several monographs presenting valuable infor- 
 mation upon these subjects. In the spring of 1888 he visited Florida in order to become 
 acquainted with its advantages as a desirable health resort. 
 
 Dr. Watson took a very active part in the controversy of 1870 and 1871 regarding the 
 unjust and illiberal action of Dr. H. Van Aernam, United States commissioner of pen- 
 sions. Dr. Van Aernam had removed from the office of pension surgeon Dr. Stillman 
 Spooner, of Oneida, Madison County, N. Y., and also a number of other homoeopathic 
 pension surgeons in various parts of the country, giving as a reason that " they did not 
 belong to the school of medicine recognized by the government." Dr. Van Aernam by 
 this impolitic action sought to commit the government of the United States to the direct 
 endorsement of the old school to the exclusion of the homoeopathic school, thereby prac- 
 tically establishing sectarianism im, medicine. Dr. Watson entered with earnestness and 
 zeal into the contest carried forward on the part of homoeopathic physicians in several 
 Northern States. He instituted a very extensive correspondence, formulated pointed 
 and forcible resolutions, and published stirring and vigorous appeals to his associates 
 throughout the country. By means of these well-directed efforts the author of these 
 discourtesies and acts of intolerance toward the homoeopathic medical profession was 
 summarily removed and the ejected homoeopathic pension surgeons were restored to their 
 former positions. Dr. Watson in the early part of his medical life warmly espoused the 
 cause of higher medical education. As early as 1868, during the sessions of the Consti- 
 tutional Convention of that year, he and Dr. H. M. Paine, of Albany, devised the form of 
 an amendmentfor securing higher and more uniform standards of medical attainment by 
 the establishment of State supervision of medical licensure through the instrumentality of 
 State boards of medical examiners.' 
 
 This amendment provided : (1st) For the appointment of a 5taie i/erfjcaZ^oar-d; (2d) 
 that in the construction of such board none of the schools of medicine should have major 
 representation; and (3d) that after the establisliment of such boards it should be made a 
 
 ' Transactions of the Homoeopathic Medical Society of the State of New York, Vol. X., 1872 ; p. 412. 
 
48 MEMORIAL HISTOR Y OF UTICA. 
 
 criminal offince, to practice medicine without a license therefrom. Subsequently the form of a 
 bill for creating a higher degree in medicine under State supervision was devised by Dr. 
 Searle, and closely following that came the proposed law of 1872' for creating State boards 
 of medical examiners, under which the licensing franchise was tentatively transferred, as 
 far as was then permissible, from the medical colleges to State control. Dr. Watson was 
 very active in his efforts in behalf of this law. His wise counsels and sagacious sug- 
 gestions were followed in its construction, and his personal influence greatly promoted 
 its passage through the legislature of that year. He became a member of the First 
 Board of Examiners appointed by the Regents under that law, at its organization in 1872, 
 and remained in office until his election in 1881 by the legislature to membership in the 
 Board of Regents. While a member of the Board of Examiners he held the appoint- 
 ment of Examiner in Diagnosis and Pathology. 
 
 Dr. Watson passed several years (1881-83) in visiting the hospitals in the principal 
 cities and the most noted health and pleasure resorts of Europe, making also, at the 
 same time, a critical examination of the different systems of medical education in the 
 various countries. Upon his return he delivered an address on " Medical Education and 
 Medical Licensure " at the twenty-third convocation of the University of the State of 
 New Yorlt held at Albany in July, 1885. In this address he showed that the scope and 
 relation of the medical profession demanded a high standard of education in its candi- 
 dates in order to insure the greatest efficiency in its practitioners. He demonstrated 
 that the present standard is so low as to have given rise to an urgent demand for its 
 elevation. He strenuously insisted that it is the prerogative of the State to determine the 
 educational qualifications of those who are to care for the lives and health of its citizens, and 
 that there must be an entire separation of the teaching from the licensing interests. He 
 outUned the proper condition of licensure as follows: (1) A fairly liberal preliminary 
 education ; (2) Four years of professional study ; and (3) Examination and licensure by 
 an impartial court appointed by the State. This address received the unanimous ap- 
 proval of the convocation and, widely attracting public attention, was most highly com- 
 mended by gentlemen of prominence in educational matters in different portions of the 
 country. The law of 1872 proved the forerunner of that of 1890," by the provisions of 
 which the right of medical licensure is effectively transferred from the medical colleges 
 to Stale Boards of Medical Examiners. In the contest which preceded the passage 
 of the law of 1890 Dr. Watson took a deep personal interest, the principles involved 
 therein being consonant with the lines of progress which he had held and endeavored 
 to promote during a life-long adherence thereto. 
 
 Dr. Watson, in his place as a member of the Board of Regents as also on all other 
 suitable occasions, has endeavored to promote the general welfare of the medical pro- 
 fession, and also more particularly to elevate the standards of medical education. His 
 influence in behalf of the latter is shown by the following extract from the record of 
 the minutes of the Board of Regents for 1889, page 532 : 
 
 1 Session law of 1872, Chap. 746. 
 
 2 ''To Establish Boards of Medical Examiners of the State of New York for the Examination and 
 Licensing of Practitioners of Medicine and Surgery, and to Further Regulate the Practice of Med- 
 icine and Surgery."— Session laws, Chap. 507. 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL. 49 
 
 " Dr. Watson asked the Regents to approve and request of the legislature favorable 
 action on the bill for giving to medicine the same statutory safeguard against illiterate 
 practitioners now given to law by the law student's examination. After reading it 
 was voted that the committee on legislation be directed to support the passage of the 
 
 bill. ' 1 i r D 
 
 Dr. Watson during his whole professional life has held sound medical tenets and prin- 
 ciples. While his position has been in advance of that of his associates the profession 
 has in every instance finally adopted the propositions which, as a wi.-se and prudent 
 leader, he originated, described, and earnestly advocated. As early as the year 1861 in 
 an inaugural address' Dr. Watson urged the lengthening of the term of medical studies 
 from three to four years in the following words : 
 
 "Let us seek to introduce and maintain a higher standard of professional require- 
 ments. . . I would myself desire that the time required for the study of medicine 
 should be extended to Jour years instead of three." 
 
 This standard, suggested by Dr. Watson twenty-nine years ago, was adopted by the 
 American Institute of Homoeopathy at its last annual meeting as none too long for ac- 
 quiring a practical knowledge of medicine. After a lapse of twenty-three years, by the 
 law of 1890, the State has assumed legal control of the right of medical licensure, a prin- 
 ciple which Drs. Watson and Paine advocated and endeavored to have approved by 
 the Constitutional Convention of 1867. In his inaugural address, to which reference 
 has been made, Dr. Watson advocated as early 1861 substantially the same preliminary 
 educational quahficationsas are now required by the law of 1889, which law was framed 
 in compliance with his suggestions and earnest advocacy. 
 
 Thus it will be seen that Dr. Watson has the satisfaction of having witnessed the 
 complete adoption, into the form of law and into the tenets of the medical profession, 
 of three great reformatory measures to which he has given special thought, and for the 
 success of which he has labored with undiminished energy and zeal. In the frequent 
 contests waged by the homoeopathic school during the past thirty years in defence of 
 civil lights, of which that school has often been deprived by allopathic leaders, notably 
 
 * The law (chapter 468, laws o£ 1889) as given below was drawn up by a lawyer at Dr. Watson's 
 suggestion. It was subsequently passed by the legislature and was signed by the governor June 
 13, 1889, and is now the law of the State : 
 
 An Act to Provide for the Preliminary Education of Medical Students. 
 
 Section i. Before the Regents of the University of the State of New York or trubtees of any medi- 
 cal school or college within this State shall confer the degree of Doctor of Medicine on any person 
 "who has not received a baccalaurate degree in co^urse from a college or university duly authorized 
 to confer the same, they shall require him to file with the secretary or recording officer of their uni- 
 versity or college a certificate showing that, prior to entering upon the prescribed three years* 
 study of medicine, he passed an examination conducted under the authority and in accordance with 
 the rules of the Regents of the University of the State of^New York, in arithmetic, grammar, geog- 
 raphy, orthography, American history, English composition, and the elements of natural philoso- 
 phy, and such certificate shall be signed by the Secretary of the Regents and countersigned by the 
 principal or commissioner conducting said examination. 
 
 Section 2. This act shall not apply to persons who have already entered upon the three years' 
 study of medicine, nor shall it alter the time of study or the courses of medical instruction required 
 to be pursued in the medical colleges of this State by existing statutes. 
 
 Section 3. This act shall take eifect immediately. 
 
 2 Inaugural address, entitled " The Past and Present Position of Homoeopathy and the Duties of 
 its Practitioners," before the Homoeopathic Medical Society of the State of New York, February 
 28, 1861. Transactions of the Society, Vol. i, 1863 ; page 39, 
 
50 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 the introduction of homoeopatliy into tlie Michigan University, the Van Aernam episode, 
 the expulsion of homojopathic physicians from the Massachusetts (allopathic) State Medi- 
 cal Society, and many others, Dr. Watson has always urged the largest liberty of opin- 
 ion and action in the exercise of all civil rights on the broad American principle of " no 
 taxation without representation." And he has embodied the sentiments of this sound 
 proposition in many of the large numbers of resolutions and declarations of rights 
 which he has so often formulated and presented at medical meetings. 
 
 Dr. Watson has been a frequent contributor to medical literature. In addition to the 
 essays and addresses previously referred to the following articles are the more promi- 
 nent among his pubhshed papers: " Cerebro-Spinal Meningitis"; Transactions of the 
 New York State Homceopathio Medical Society, 1864; " Nosological Classification of 
 Diseases," ihid., 1864; " Allopathic Bigotry," 1869; " Old-School Intolerance," iWd, 
 1872, p. 657; ihid., 1873, p. 117; "The Advanced Medical Act," fiid, 1872, p. 425 ; 
 " No Sectarian Tests as a Qualification for Office, and no Sectarian Monopoly of Na- 
 tional Institulious," iUd., 1872, p. G84 ; and '' Homoeopathy," Zell's Popular Bncyclo- 
 paidia, 1870. 
 
 In the early part of his medical career Dr. Watson aspired to the attainment of the 
 highest standing in the medical profession. That these laudable aspirations have been 
 fully realized is attested by the quality and thoroughness of his medical accomplish- 
 ments. As a sound and reliable practitioner he has, these many years, stood at the 
 forefront of the profession. He has endeavored to represent that which is truly con- 
 servative and rational in the homoeopathic school in contradistinction to that which, 
 through Hahnemann's errors, is visionary, unphilosophical, and irrational therein. He 
 has been eminently successful in, carrying out this line of practice, as is evidenced by the 
 high standing that he has attained in the community where he has so long resided, as 
 well as by the frequency with which his advice is eagerly sought as a wise consultant 
 in the management of difiicult cases, both in the city of his adoption and, in fact, in all 
 the central counties of this State. By wisely endeavoring to adhere to homoeopathic 
 principles when applicable, and at the same time appropriating all that is of essential 
 value m other systems of treatment, he has fairly attained the enviable reputation of 
 being a practitioner of recognized ability and of great practical sagacity. He has been 
 an earnest and constant student, not only in the field of his chosen profession, but also 
 in other departments of science and general literature. Having oratorical powers of a 
 high order his impressive and graceful presentation of any cause that he may espouse 
 renders that object or association, be it medical, political, or literary, exceedingly fortun- 
 ate in securing his interest and influence in its behalf. Dr. Watson was an intimate 
 personal friend and political adherent of the late Hon. Eoscoe Conkling, and for more 
 than thirty years his attending physician. He delivered several poHtical addresses in 
 Mr. Oonkling's interest before the Conkling Club, of Utica, when the possibility of the 
 nomination of Roscoe Conkling for the Presidency seemed so promising in the year 
 1876. 
 
 Dr. Watson married Miss Sarah T. Carlile at Providence, E. I., May 1, 1854. Mrs. 
 Watson died at Utica, July 27, 1881. On December, 1891, he married Mrs. Julia M. 
 Williams, of Utica, N. Y. He has one son, William Livingston Watson, who was a 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL. 51 
 
 member of the class of 1879 at Harvard College, and one daughter, Lucy Carlile Wat- 
 son, both of whom reside with their father at Utica, N. Y. William Livingston Watson 
 was married to Miss Alice G. Parkinson of Jamaica Plain, Mass., October 12, 1887. 
 
 ADAMS, CHARLES D., born November 3u, 1828, atLowville, Lewis County, N.Y., 
 is a son of Dr. Seth Adams, who came from New Hampshire, where his family 
 had been settled since an early day. His mother was a daughter of Gen. Oliver Col- 
 lins, of New Hartford, who came from Meriden, Conn., at the close of the Revolution- 
 ary war. After completing his education Charles D. studied law with Hon. Bla Col- 
 lins, at Lowville, and was admitted at Utica in January, 1852. He practiced his 
 profession at Lowville until January, 1870. While at Lowville he ran on the Demo- 
 cratic ticket for district attorney, as delegate to the Constitutional Convention, 
 and for county judge. As his county and d'strict were hopelessly Republican he 
 was elected to neither of these positions. He came to Utica in 1870, taking the 
 place of Charles H. Doolittle, who had been elected justice of the Supreme Court. The 
 large business to which he came, and which continued till the war business of the 
 country was closed up, threw upon him a large practice, which he conducted success- 
 fully and with dispatch. His practice has been from the first in large and important 
 cases and in the higher courts. His cases which have been reported have contributed 
 as much as those of any lawyer in Northern or Central New York to the legal litera- 
 ture of his time. 
 
 Among his cases which have attracted public attention were the Budge case, the case 
 of Smith vs. Pease, Nicholson vs. Wilson, the capital case of Powers, the North. Lake 
 Reservoir cases before the canal appraisers, and the cases of the estate of L. R. Lyon, 
 arrising in Northern New York, and the Mallon homicide case, the Joseph B. Taylor 
 estate cases, the Utica Water Works case, the Clinton Water Works case, and the Piper- 
 Hoard cases, arising in Oneida and Hei-kimer Counties. In his professional work Mr. 
 Adams is most thorough and industrious in his preparation of his oases, profoundly 
 learned in the law, clear, forcible, and logical in the presentation of his views, and most 
 ingenious in meeting the difficulties of his case. 
 
 Mr. Adams ran on the Democratic ticket in the Fifth Judicial District for justice of 
 the Supreme Court in 1880 and 1882, each time running much ahead of his ticket, but 
 not enough to overcome the heavy Republican majorities. He has always been a Dem- 
 ocrat and during the war of the Rebelhon was a war Democrat. Since his residence 
 in Utica he has taken little part in politics. 
 
 ROBERTS, JAMBS, was born in the town of Steuben, Oneida County, N. Y., Au- 
 gust 26, 1837. . His father was John 0. Roberts ; his mother was a daughter of 
 James Owen. His early life was spent upon a farm, but preferring a commercial life 
 he soon made an exchange, his subsequent successes abundantly proving the wisdom of 
 his choice. A copartnership was formed between himself and a friend, carrying on 
 
52 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 business in Remsen under the firm name of Jones & Roberts. Mr. Roberts was well 
 known and very popular in the northern tier of towns in the county. In politics he was 
 throughout his life a staunch Republican and stood high in the councils of his party. 
 
 In 1869 he disposed of his interest in the store at Remsen and went to New York 
 city for a visit. While absent his friends and neighbors, without his knowledge, nomi- 
 nated him as a candidate for member of the Assembly for what was then the Fourth 
 District. He accepted the nomination, was elected, and served his constituents well at 
 Albany. With the exception of a short service as town clerk this was his only experi- 
 ence in public office. In the fall of 1870 he came to Utica and became a member of the 
 firm of Griflfiths, Roberts & Butler, successors of the firm of Charles H. Yates & Co., in 
 the manufacture and sale of clothing. This firm carried on the business very success- 
 fully for about ten years at No. 54 G-enesee street. In 1881 its personnel was changed 
 by the introduction of Russell H. Wicks and John Peattie as partners. The following 
 year Mr. Griffiths, the senior member, withdrew and the firm of Roberts, Butler & Co. 
 was formed. Mr. Roberts applied himself with unusual assiduity, and in the face of 
 sharp competition built up the largest business in clothing in the city. He was system- 
 atic, methodical, and attentive to detail. His judgment in matters of business as well 
 as of men and their actions was accurate and trustworthy, was freely sought, and as 
 freely given. Sharp in trade, and quick to see where an advantage was to be gained, 
 he was nevertheless open and generous, not easily offended, and as averse to giving of- 
 fence, for his social qualities were as marked as his business traits, and in this respect 
 he was one of the most companionable of men. Loyalty to the friendships of his early 
 days was characteristic of the man. He manifested signal power in his relations with 
 his employees, whom he treated always with extreme courtesy, and whose respect he 
 uniformly commanded. " If he had a failing as a business man," said one of his partners, 
 " it was that he would not or could not throw upon others responsibilities and cares 
 which he had no right to carry.'' Thus intent on his own affairs Mr. Roberts did not 
 fail of care for those of a more public character. He was interested in political matters 
 and in current events was thoroughly posted. He was ever ready to lend a hand in 
 inaiigurating any enterprise which promised to be a public benefit. One of the last oc- 
 casions on which he appeared in public was the inauguration of the movement to 
 establish the Conservatory of Music. He was a director in the Skenandoah Yarn-Mill 
 and ft stockholder in the Eureka Mower Company and the Mohawk Valley Mills. 
 
 In 1875 Mr. Roberts married Delia, youngest daughter of Hon. Samuel Campbell, of 
 New York Mills, a lady to whom he was most tenderly attached and who accorded 
 fully with his natural instinct, for he was strongly domestic in his tastes, and when not 
 at his business he devoted himself to his wife and his home. 
 
 In the winter of 1888, accompanied by his wife and members of her family, he visited 
 Europe, where he passed most of the season in the delightful atmosphere of Italy and 
 Southern France. During his stay in Rome and Florence he purchased several choice 
 works of art to adorn the home to which he was so devotedly attached, and the artistic 
 decorations of which bespoke the cultured taste of its owner. In the spring he went to 
 Great Britain, paying while there a visit to the home of his ancestors in Wales. An 
 American by birth and education his Welsh ancestry was to him a source of pride and 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL. 53 
 
 pleasure. He was proud of the industry, thrift, and integrity which characterize that 
 people. His charities he kept to himself ; his modest, engaging demeanor was not so 
 easy of concealment, and this, with his cheerfulness, frankness, and straightforward 
 integrity, caused the regret that was felt at his death to be widespread and sincere. 
 
 While yet comparatively young the career of this robust, healthy, handsome man, 
 popular and respected, and by his intimates warmly beloved, was brought to an early 
 close. Hia death occurred July 4, 1889. He left to his friends the memory of a most 
 genial companion and a generous helper in times of need and to the rising generation 
 of our young men a noble example of energetic, independent American manhood. 
 
 lyi IDDLETON, ROBERT, president of the Globe Woolen Company, of ITtica, was 
 [ \ born in the city of Aberdeen, Scotland, May 25, 1825. He is the third son in a 
 family of eight children born to Robert and Marjory (Burnett) Middleton, both of whom 
 were natives of Aberdeen. His father was a manufacturer by occupation while in 
 Scotland, and emigrated to America with his family in 1839. He settled at Middle 
 Granville, Washington County, N. T , and during the remainder of his life followed 
 farming. He was a man of probity and respectability in a broad sense and died where 
 he first located in the year 1876, at the age of eighty-six years. His wife died in the 
 year 1856 aged fifty-two years. 
 
 Robert Middleton's educational advantages were confined to the common schools of 
 Granville, N. Y., but he made the best of his opportunities in this direction until he 
 was eighteen years of age, when he went to Lowell, Mass., and engaged his services for 
 six years to the Lowell Carpet Company. The succeeding seven years he spent with 
 the Merrimac Woolen Company, acting as assistant superintendent of the company's 
 mills. In these capacities he found an occupation which he liked and which was the 
 foundation of the life-work in which he has been more than ordinarily successful. In 
 the latter part of April, 1857, Mr. Middleton was invited to visit the Utica Woolen-Mills 
 with a view of accepting the agency of the same, and after a personal interview with the 
 late Theodore S. Faxton, then president of the company, and an examination of the mill 
 property he was engaged as agent and superintendent and entered upon his duties as 
 such on the 10th of May, 1857. The Globe Mills, as they were then called (later the Utica 
 Woolen-Mills), had then been in existence a number of years, as related in an earher chap- 
 ter of this work, but as a business enterprise they had been unsuccessful. In the year 
 1854, just before the approach of the severest financial struggle the country has ever 
 passed through, the company failed and the stockholders were assessed ninety-eight per 
 cent, to pay outstanding debts, and the mill was sold at auction. In 1855 the new com- 
 pany was organized under the name of the Utica Woolen-Mills, and though severely tried 
 by the panic of 1857 the establishment passed safely through the crisis and a few years 
 later paid the first dividend it had ever made. Mr. Middleton's excellent practical quaU- 
 fications and his natural executive ability found ample scope for exercise and he gave his 
 best energies to the upbuilding of the affairs of the company ; the product was greatly 
 improved in quaUty under his skillful direction and other reforms were inaugurated 
 which soon placed the company on a firm and permanent foundation.' The product of 
 
54 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 the mills was formerly sold by commission houses, but on the 1st of January, 1864, a 
 salesroom of their own was established in New York city, which is now in charge of 
 W. W. Coffin, and the entire product amounting to about $1,200,000 annually is sold 
 from there. When Mr. Middleton assumed charge of the mills the product was not 
 more than one-fifth the present quantity, while the quality of the goods manufactured 
 has advanced still more rapidly, and at the present time cloths are made that are not 
 excelled in the country. 
 
 On the 6th of September, 1871, the entire property of the company was burned, but 
 the mills were immediately rebuilt, and in 1886 a worsted-mill was added to the plant. 
 It is eminently .proper to state that the stockholders of the company attribute a large 
 share of the credit for the success of their mills to Mr. Middleton. In 1868 his son, 
 Walter D., entered the offices of the company in a subordinate position and has risen 
 regularly by various promotions to the superintendenoy, which position he now holds. 
 On the 19th of January, 1882, Mr. Middleton succeeded Theodore S. Faxton as presi- 
 dent of the company, and during the remainder of the life-time of Mr. Faxton he was 
 Mr. Middleton's faithful and trusted adviser. Outside of his regular business connec- 
 tions Mr. Middleton is a public spirited citizen, possesses a large fund of general infor- 
 mation, and willingly lends his aid to any movement for the good of the community. 
 He is prominently connected with the local banking interests and with various private 
 business undertakings, all of which are gainers through his counsel and material par- 
 ticipation. In politics he is a Republican, but throughout his life he has held himself 
 aloof from active work in that field. 
 
 'In 1849 Mr. Middleton was married to Miss Lucy Ann Cummings, daughter of Ira 
 Oummings, of Greenfield, N. H., and they have four children: Walter D.; Ella, wife of 
 James G. Hunt, of Utica; Mary, wife of Fred Gebhard, of Jersey City; and Florence, 
 wife of Dr. Charles Pilgrim, superintendent of the Willard Asylum. 
 
 WILBY, GEORGE H., vice-president and superintendent of the Utica Steam 
 Cotton-Mills and superintendent of the Mohawk Valley Cotton-Mills, was born in 
 East Douglass, Mass., January 12, 1826. His education was obtained in the common 
 schools in the several villages where he lived in the States of Massachusetts and Rhode 
 Island, supp.emented by a few terms at a select school in Lonsdale, R. I., which was 
 kept by an Episcopal clergyman. His father was a machine builder and a skillful me- 
 chanic, and in his early life was connected with some of the first cotton-mills built in 
 New England. His ancestors came to America from the Highlands of Scotland and 
 settled in Massachusetts about 1770, and many members of the family have developed 
 and made their lives successful upon the natural Scottish traits of industry, integrity, 
 sturdy preseverance, and good common sense. When Mr. Wiley reached his seven- 
 teenth year he began work in the Providence steam-mill and soon afterward entered 
 the employ of the Lonsdale Company. His father was at that time engaged in building 
 machinery at that place, which gave his son superior advantages for obtaining practical 
 knowledge that soon enabled him to assume charge of the different departments of 
 cotton-mills. About 1846 his father removed to Pawtucket, R. I., and the son found 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL. 
 
 SS 
 
 employment in some of the mills of that city and assisted in putting up and starting 
 the machinery of two new mills there. A little later he put up and started machinery 
 in a new mill at Warren, R. T., and immediately afterward performed a like service in 
 the first Wamsutta mills. These various mills were new and modern in all of their 
 features, and his experience with them gave Mr. Wiley practical advantages which few 
 young men possessed at that time and rendered him thoroughly competent for the con- 
 struction and management of a cotton-mill. 
 
 In the spring of 1852 the trustees of the Utica Steam Cotton-Mills prevailed upon Mr. 
 Wiley to come here and superintend their mills, which at that time contained about 
 7,000 spindles. This number was gradually increased to 15,000 in 1856, and as the 
 mills under Mr. Wiley's management were proving successful it was decided in 1868 
 to build mill number two and equip it with 15,000 spindles. This mill was planned and 
 built by Mr. Wiley and began operations in 1869. The thorough, intelligent, and effi- 
 cient management of Mr. Wiley and the care and skill of the trustees and managers 
 had now changed the former unprofitable conditions of the manufacture to a larger and 
 better product with comparatively less expense, and the reputation of the goods was 
 established as first-class, commanding a ready sale and profitable returns. In 1880-81 
 the number one mill was remodeled and enlarged to contain 25,000 spindles, the plans 
 for which changes were made by Mr. Wiley. The success of these mills led to the con- 
 struction of the Mohawk Valley Cotton-Mills (under substantially the same direction), 
 which were planned by A. D. Lockwood associated with Mr. Wiley and erected wholly 
 under supervision of the latter. These mills began work in 1882. In 1881-82 the plans 
 of the Skenandoa Yarn-Mill were prepared under Mr. Wiley's direction and Isaac R. 
 Scott was engaged to take charge of its construction and management. Under his ju- 
 dicious and efficient administration the mill has been doubled in its capacity. In addi- 
 tion to all these responsible undertakings Mr. Wiley was associated with the late Hon. 
 G-eorge W. Chadwick in arranging and constructing the Willowvale Bleachery in New 
 Hartford, which is well known for the excellence of its productions. 
 
 The foregoing record covers a period of forty years of practical work in his line in 
 the city of Utica, which has been one of uninterrupted success, and it may be said here 
 with entire propriety that very few men in the country, and none in this vicinity, stand 
 higher in all matters pertaining to the manufacture of cotton cloth than Mr. Wiley. He 
 is at the present time vice-president and superintendent of the Utica Steam Cotton- Mills ; 
 superintendent of the Mohawk Valley Cotton-Mills ; a director in the Skenandoa Yarn- 
 Mill ; president of the Willowvale Bleachery ; was a member of Grace Church vestry 
 twenty years and one of the building committee in charge of the erection of the present 
 church edifice ; was chairman of the building committee and took an active part in the con- 
 stuction of the Utica Opera House and of the St. Luke's Home and Hospital ; and has been 
 trustee of the latter institution from ivs beginning. Mr. Wiley is now engaged in remod- 
 eling the Utica Steam Cotton-Mills and when finished they will contain 55,000 spindles. 
 He is trustee ol the Masonic Home and Asylum fund to be devoted to the erection of 
 a fine building for a Masonic Home and School in Utica. He is a Democrat in politics, 
 but has never given more attention to that interest than is demanded of every pubUc 
 spirited citizen. 
 
56 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 In 1857 Mr. Wiley was married to Miss Anna E. Thorn, daughter of Stephen Thorn, of 
 Utica. They had one daughter, Sarah T. Wiley, now the wife of William B. Lane, M.D., 
 of Brooklyn, N. Y. Anna E. Wiley died November 16, 1877. In 1880 Mr. Wiley 
 married Helen A. Taft, of Worcester, Mass., who died August 2, 1891. 
 
 WHITE, WILLIAM MANSFIELD, president of the Second National Bank of 
 Utica, is a direct descendant of Hugh White, the pioneer of Whitestown who 
 traced his lineage to Elder John White, who landed from the good ship Lyon, at Bos- 
 ton, on the 16th of September, 1632, coming from Clemsford, the county seat of Essex 
 County, England. His father was the Hon. Hugh White, who represented the Saratoga 
 district in Congress from 1846 to 1852, a graduate of Hamilton in 1823, and a law stu- 
 dent with Gov. John A. Dix in New York in the office of Col. Charles G. Haines. 
 Being a practical man his knowledge of geology enabled him to discover a mine of hy- 
 draulic cement at Chittenango, Madison County, and he at once began the manufacture. 
 Prior to this time all water-lime had been imported. He afterward discovered larger 
 deposits near Kingston and developed the Rosendale cement works, furnishing large 
 quantities for the Croton aqueduct. His brother, Canvass White, was one of the earliest 
 and ablest engineers of the Erie Canal, and afterward was employed by the State of 
 Pennsylvania on the construction of the Union, the Lehigh, and the Delaware and Rar- 
 Jtan Canals. He was a man of whom Henry Clay said, when an engineer was being 
 sought for the construction of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal : " Get Canvass White ; 
 no man is more competent, no man more capable ; and while your faith in his ability 
 and fidehty increases your friendship will grow into afi'ection.'' Mr. White's mother 
 was Maria Mills Mansfield, of Kent, Conn. On the mother's side of the Mills family 
 the Rev. Samuel J. Mills, the first missionary, is the best known representative. 
 
 William M. White was born in Waterford, Saratoga County, N. Y., July 8, 1833. 
 At the age of twelve years he was sent to the Galway Academy, then under the charge 
 of Prof. Charles Durkee. In the fall of 1846 he was sent to the military school of 
 Professor Kinsley, at West Point, where the drill of body and mind was most thorough 
 and the morale of the school high toned and religious. Here he spent three years, 
 and some time after he entered the sophomore class of Hamilton College, graduating in 
 1854. During his college course his vacations were spent on Sweet Briar Farm in the 
 town of Ossian, Livingston County, N. Y., belonging to his father and which afterward 
 became his own, and where he resided for thirty years. An enthusiast in agriculture 
 he was active in local societies and in the State Agricultural Society, and was its presi- 
 dent in 1884. In politics Mr. White is a Republican, having cast his first vote for Fremont. 
 He has always been active and loyal to the party of freedom and progress. In the 
 world of finance he believes in the wisdom of one measure of value, the recognized 
 standard of the world, gold. In religion he is a member of the Episcopal Church, and 
 has been honored by that body as warden, member of the standing committee of the 
 diocese, and delegate to the triennial convention of the church and to the? general 
 council. He has also acted as a lay-reader by appointment of the bishop and is the 
 president of St. Luke's Home and Hospital. 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL. 57 
 
 On the 22d day of January, 1863, he was married to Miss Anna Maria Pierrepont, 
 daughter of Hon. WiUiam 0. Pierrepont, of Pierrepont Manor, N. Y., by the Rt. 
 Rev, Bishop De Lancey. Eleven children blessed this union, of whom six were sons : 
 Hugh, a business man in Utica; William Pierrepont, a graduate of Columbia Law 
 School, admitted to the bar ; Hubert Lawrence, a student of law at Cornell University ; 
 and De Lancy Pierrepont, Charles Carroll, and John Dolbeare, who are attending the 
 public schools. Mrs. White died in Utica on the 22d day of September, 1884, and was 
 hurried at Pierrepont Manor. Mr. White removed to Utica on the 1st of September, 
 1882, and resided for three years in the old Johnson mansion at 234 Genesee street. In 
 the spring of 1885 he purchased of 0. B. Matdson his present residence opposite Bakin 
 street. 
 
 Mr. White was elected a director in the Second National Bank in January, 1889, with- 
 out his knowledge. The sudden and unlooked-for death of his friend, its president, 
 Edward S. Brayton, and the death of the cashier, George R, Thomas, together with the 
 illness of the vice-president, William B, Jackson, necessitated immediate action and the 
 Board of Directors unanimously elected Mr. White president and Henry Roberts vice- 
 president. The looked-for cashier was found in David A. Avery, of Cooperstown, and 
 since July 1, 1887, the bank has recovered the losses of the past and has been uniformly 
 successful and prosperous. Dividends have been resumed and confidence fully re- 
 stored, so that its stock is eagerly sought as a safe and permanent investment. 
 
 Mr. White is a director in the JeiFerson County National Bank and has been a di- 
 rector in the Rome, Watertown, and Ogdensburg Railroad Company since 1871. He 
 is vice-president of the Utica Pipe Foundry Company, organized in 1889, and a di- 
 rector in the Bleecker Street Railroad Company, and for a number of years has had the 
 care of the large estate of his father-in-law, the late William C. Pierrepont. 
 
 WOOD, HENRY J., was born in Clinton, Oneida County, N. Y., July 19, 1829. His 
 father was Clark Wood, who came from Washington County, N. Y., and was one 
 of the very early settlers of the town of Kirkland, where he was a respected farmer. 
 He died there on the 6th of June, 1869. His wife was Amanda Jones, daughter of 
 Nehemiah Jones, of Westmoreland, who died April 30, 1855. Of the large family of 
 children there are now living, besides Henry J., Clark and Charles Wood, both residents 
 of Utica, and Mrs. Mary E Myrick, of Clinton, N. Y. Henry J. Wood obtained his 
 education at the Clinton district schools and the grammar school, supplemented by one 
 year of study in the Clinton Liberal Institute. In the year 1845, when he was sixteen 
 years old, he began his business career by taking a clerkship with Beardsley & Rossiter, 
 grocers, of Little Palls. After two years of faithful service there he spent one year in 
 a country store in Frankfort, N. Y., and in 1848 accepted a similar position at New 
 York Mills, where he remained until 1850. At this time, having had five years of mer- 
 cantile experience, in which he had become conversant with nearly all kinds of goods 
 and learned what constituted good business methods, Mr. Wood came to Utica as a 
 clerk in the old and well known dry goods house of James Button. Here he spent three 
 years acquiring valuable knowledge in that particular line of trade, and at the end of 
 
 H 
 
S8 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 that time entered the estabUshment of R. V. Yates, manufacturer and jobber of clothing, 
 a business in which he was to find his future occupation and attain remarltable success. 
 Two years later, in 1855, Mr. Wood began business on his own account by the purchase 
 of his emplo3'er's establishment. Into the conduct of the concern he immediately put 
 new vigor and inaugurated advanced methods of business, which rendered it more pop- 
 ular and consequently more profitable than it had previously been. For twenty years 
 Mr. Wood conducted the establishment, constantly increasing its output and the repu- 
 tation of its goods, and winning the good will and esteem of all with whom he came in 
 contact, from his humblest employee to his largest customer. In 1874 preparations were 
 made to receive his son, Charles H. Wood, as a partner in this business. In August of 
 that year, however, his son died at the early age of twenty-two years. The death of 
 his son and only child alienated his taste from further mercantile pursuits. In 1875 Mr. 
 Wood sold his business to Rockwell & White at a time when his annual sales had reached 
 about $400,000, and retired wholly from active pursuits in the full enjoyment of the 
 respect of the community. 
 
 Such is a brief record of the active life of one of the foremost business men of Utica. 
 Naturally of a retiring and reserved temperament Mr. Wood has found his greatest 
 pleasure in his home and among his intimate friends, and in the natural satisfaction that 
 follows devotion to business wherein he found unusual material success, while at the 
 same time these characteristics and the habits thus formed drew hirr. away from public 
 life and prevented his acceptance of public station which he might have had and which 
 he would have honored. In politics he is a Republican, but never sought preferment in 
 that field ; he haSj however, been called to other positions of trust of a more private 
 character. He acted as trustee of the Faxton Hospital for several years and down to 
 two years ago ; has been prominently connected with the administration of the alFairs 
 of the Forest Hill Cemetery as one of its Board of Trustees and its vice-president for 
 the last three years. In 1888 Mr. Wood assumed active control of the finances of the 
 Cemetery Association and has conducted them on the same successful basis that has 
 characterized his private concerns. At that time he found the association laboring un- 
 der a floating indebtedness of $20,000 and a bonded indebtedness of $7,000. In thirty 
 days the entire floating indebtedness was extinguished by subscriptions secured by his 
 personal solicitation, and before the close of the following year the revenues of the asso- 
 ciation had been so well managed that the bonded indebtedness was paid and it became 
 iree from debt. Not content with this achievement he continued with untiring energy 
 to create a surplus fund, which now amounts to $7,000. Another monument to the dis- 
 interested and restless activity of Mr. Wood's character is found in the improvement of 
 Highland avenue leading from G-enesee street to the Forest Hill Cemetery. This 
 avenue was formerly almost impassably in the rainy seasons. He solicited funds by 
 means of which the entire roadway was regraded and macadamized, and it now offers a 
 smooth, handsome drive at all times. He is also a director of the Utica Water Works 
 ■Company, and in that capacity has recently introduced an improvement which is of the 
 utmost importance to consumers of the water. This is what is styled an aerating foun- 
 tain and was devised by Mr. Wood, who had noticed the improved quality of artesian 
 -well water in Florida by its fall of several feet in the open air. It consists of a number 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL. 59 
 
 of pipes laid in the bottom of the reservoir from which a large number of smaller pipes 
 extend several feet above the surface of the water. The water coming into the reser- 
 voir is forced through these fountain pipes in small columns forty feet into the air and 
 falls back in spray, thus thoroughly oxygenizing it. This is believed to be the only 
 arrangement of the kind in this country, and is considered a, valuable hygienic im- 
 provement. 
 
 Mr. Wood was married in the year 1850 to Susan Homer, who died on the 3d day 
 of May, 1891. 
 
 SEYMOUR, GEORGE, M.D., was born in De Ruyter, Madison County, N. Y., on 
 the 5th of October, 1839, during the temporary residence of his parents at that 
 place. The ancestors of Dr. Seymour on his father's side were from Normandy and 
 settled in New England. His grandfather was Silas Seymour, who was born in the 
 State of Connectieut and died in West Winfield, N. Y.; he was a farmer by occupation. 
 His grandmother was Hannah (Tompkins) Seymour, also a native of Connecticut. She 
 was a woman of strong character and useful life. 
 
 The father of Dr. Seymour, David Tompkins Seymour, was the fourth child of Silas 
 and Hannah (Tompkins) Seymour and was born in West Winfield, N. Y., on March 11, 
 1813. Just before the birth of George the family removed to De Ruyter and remained 
 there about two years, during which the son was born, as above stated. David T. Sey- 
 mour married Hannah Dodge, daughter of Amasa Dodge, of West Winfield, on the 15th 
 of November, 1836. She is still living at Pulaski, Oswego County, N. Y. The family 
 returned to West Winfield from De Ruyter and remained there seven years, when 
 they removed to Oswego County, where Mr. Seymour died October 5, 1888. He was 
 a farmer, a carpenter and joiner, and an excellent mechanic. He followed the latter 
 occupation for many years and was a leader in the business in the section where he 
 lived. George Seymour attended the district school of his neighborhood until he was 
 fifteen years old. He was born with a natural desire for the acquirement of knowledge, 
 and so assiduously did he exercise that desire that at the age of seventeen years he was 
 competent to teach. He accordingly spent five years in alternate attendance at the 
 academies in Pulaski and Mexico, in the same county, and in teaching. He closed his 
 academic studies at Mexico in 1859, when he was twenty years old. After about a year 
 of ill health he began the study of medicine under the direction of Dr. F. S. Low, of Pu- 
 laski, but taught every month of one of the years of his study (1863-64) in the State of 
 Ohio, at the same time pursuing his studies evenings and during his leisure hours. In 1862 
 he began attending lectures at the Medical College of the University of the city of New 
 York, and followed them until his graduation from that institution in March, 1865, fully 
 imbued with a love for his profession and a determination to advance in its ranks as far 
 as his natural and acquired powers would permit. The war of the Rebellion was then 
 nearing its close and, hke many other young physicians. Dr. Seymour turned his atten- 
 tion at once toward the battlefields, where none ever waited for practice. (He went 
 out as acting assistant surgeon and was assigned to the Army of the Potomac ; but, as 
 is well known, the war ended soon after he reached the scene of his expected duties 
 and he returned to Pulaski after three months of service. There he began practice at 
 
6o MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 first with Dr. Low and afterward alone for the remainder of four years. At the end 
 of that period he succeeded Dr. J. N. Lyman, at Mannsville, Jefiferson County, and 
 practiced there six years. He then went to New York city and spent one and a half 
 years, during which he took a post-graduate course in the institution from which he had 
 graduated. In February, 1877, Dr. Seymour came to Utica and has since that time been 
 in constant practice of his profession. In the city of Utica his success has been pro- 
 nounced and steadily increasing, and he now enjoys a practice which commands his en- 
 tire time and energies. This success must, in his case, be largely attributed to persistent 
 hard work which he has for twenty-seven years given to his profession, combined with 
 an unusual degree of self-reliance and natural qualifications for the treatment of the 
 sick. To enlightened judgment he adds watchfulness and care, kindness of demeanor, and 
 a spirit of sympathy which wins the confidence of his employers and fixes his hold upon 
 them as their family friend and adviser. In the ordinary walks of Hfe and outside of 
 his profession Dr. Seymour has gained the unqualified respect and esteem of his fellow 
 citizens. 
 
 Dr. Seymour has been honored by his professional brethren in various ways which 
 indicate their appreciation of his attainments. He was sent as a delegate to the State 
 Medical Society in 1881 and made a permanent member in 1884 ; was made a member 
 of the Oneida County Medical Society in 1877 ; was one of the incorporators of the 
 Utica Medical Library Association and has always been an active member ; served two 
 years soon after his arrival in Utica in the Maternity Department of St. Elizabeth's 
 Hospital ; was for five years regular visiting physican in the Faxton Hospital, and re- 
 signed in 1890 on account of his private practice ; has been for twelve years one of the 
 physicans of St. Luke's Hospital, sustaining an active relation as visiting and consulting 
 physician and lecturer on obstetrics to the school for nurses connected therewith ; has 
 contributed largely to the literature of his profession in valuable papers to the State and 
 oouiity societies and to medical publications. At the alumni dinner of the University 
 of the city of New York, held in 1891, he was called upon to respond to the toast 
 " The Alumni," when he made a capital address that was warmly received by all who 
 heard it. Dr. Seymour has no specialty in his profession, but has given a large share of his 
 time and attention to gynecology, in which branch he has achieved flattering success. 
 
 Dr. Seymour was first married on the 21st of June, 1866, to Lydia Winegar, of Cent- 
 ral Square, Oswego County, and they had one daughter, Anna. His wife died Janu- 
 ary 11, 1870. He subsequently married (second) Mrs. Sarah B. Kinney, daughter of 
 Mr. and Mrs. T. B. Shepherd, of Mannsville, Jefferson County, N. Y. 
 
 BUTLER, JOHN MILTON, was born in Sauquoit, Oneida County, N. Y., on the 
 9th of July, 1827. John Milton's father is Chauncey S. Butler, who was also 
 born in Sauquoit and has passed his long life as a farmer and a civil engineer. He is a 
 man of excellent character and m early days was prominent in military aff'airs, being a 
 ■colonel of a regiment of horse which had a high reputation. He still lives at his native 
 place at the age of eighty-nine years. His wife, the mother of John Milton, was 
 3etsey Mosher, of Willowvale, and is deceased. 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL. 6i 
 
 John M. Butler had the advantages of a collegiate education, and after spending his 
 youth in the district schools entered Hamilton College in 1844 and graduated with credit 
 in the class of '48. His first business experience was as a partner of S. A. Millard, at 
 Clayville, N. T., in the manufacture of farmers' tools. This connection began in 1850 
 and continued only two years, when the precarious condition of Mr. Butler's health 
 compelled him to abandon the undertaking and seek restoration in travel, and he accord- 
 ingly passed the following year in the South. Eeturning with restored health he was 
 solicited to come to Utica as book-keeper in the Oneida County Bank, which he did in 
 1853. In the following year he was made teller and in the succeeding year cashier, 
 which position he filled for thirty-two years until 1887, when he was elected president 
 of the institution and still holds that of&ce. The year 1853, the date of the organiza- 
 tion of the Oneida County Bank, was not a very auspicious time for the launching of a 
 financial institution, for three years later saw a panic such as has not since been expe- 
 rienced, and many banks which were accounted strong went down in the crisis. But 
 under the prudent management of Mr. Butler and his associates this institution weath- 
 ered the storm safely, and most of the detail and a large share of the general manage- 
 ment of the bank have since that time fallen directly upon Mr. Butler's shoulders. The 
 dissension that early arose among the directors soon disappeared and Mr. Butler applied 
 a firm, conservative hand to the conduct of the institution, which has enabled it since 
 the beginning of his administration to accumulate a surplus of $250,000 on a capital 
 of }!125,000, and has always made larger dividends than most banks. 
 
 The Oneida County Bank did not pass into the national system with the many others 
 that did adopt that course, chiefly because it had been uniformly successful as it was, 
 leading a number of the directors to favor its remaining a State bank, although Mr. But- 
 ler favored the change. Few financial institutions in the interior of the State have a 
 better standing at the present time than this one. 
 
 In politics Mr. Butler is a Republican, but he has always persistently declined any 
 active labor in that field and refused all offers of official position; it has been his policy 
 and belief that a man in his position should give his whole time and energies to the bank 
 of which he is manager and carefully watch over its interests. Mr. Butler's life is an 
 excellent example of faithfulness to his duty, and he has met with a degree of success 
 that gives himself and his friends the right to look upon his record with complacent sat- 
 isfaction. Mr. Butler has never married. 
 
 PIXLEY, HENRY DAVID, was born at Kirkland, Oneida County, N. Y., Septem- 
 ber 5, 1831. His ancestors came from England in 1661, and an old map of Had- 
 ley, Mass.,' bears the name of William Pixley. Two of the family, David Pixley, a 
 colonel, and Benjamin, a private, were in the Revolutionary army. Noah Pixley, one 
 of the family who settled in Southampton, Mass., was scalped by the Indians in 1748. 
 Mr. Pixley's grandfather was David Pixley, who left Stratford, now Bridgeport, Conn., 
 where his father owned a mill, and came to Oneida County, settling on a farm in Kirk- 
 land in 1798. He was a man of broad views and enterprising and bold in business 
 operations. He built at Kirkland the first stage-house west of Bagg's Hotel in about 
 
62 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 1805-06, and in 1811 organized the Manchester Manufacturing Company for making 
 cotton goods, the mill being established on his farm. He died at Kirkland in May, 1840. 
 His sons were William, David, Isaac, and Charles Pixley. David, the father of Henry D., 
 inherited the stage-house, which he continued to keep until its day of usefulness was 
 passed with the building of the railroad. He also acquired the factory property and 
 acted as its president and manager, and carried on a mercantile business at the same 
 time. He died at Kirkland, July 5, 1885. 
 
 Henry David Pixley was educated at the Chnton Liberal Institute and was in classes 
 with Leland Stanford. Leaving the school in 1850 he began work as clerk in his father's 
 store and cotton factory. His father gave him a one-half interest in the mercantile 
 business on his twenty-first birthday in 1852, under the firm name of D. Pixley & Son, 
 which was dissolved in 1858. From that time until 1860 he lived on the homestead. 
 In the year last named he went to New York city and was occupied two and a half years 
 in a jobbing house, dealing in hats, caps, and furnishing goods, and the same length of 
 time with another firm which dealt in cloths also. There he learned the details of the 
 trade and the excellent business methods which have so well served him since. In 1864 
 he came to Utica and traveled for the large clothing manufacturing establishment of C. A. 
 Yates & Co. He had in earlier years well fitted himself for this work by more or less 
 traveling with the cotton goods manufactured at Kirkland, and his success was marked. 
 In 1870 he organized the firm of Owen, Pixley & Co., consisting of Philip Owen, John 
 Owen, and himself, for the manufacture and sale of ready-made clothing, succeeding P. V. 
 Kellogg & Co. on Franklin Square. The firm soon had the largest business in that 
 line in Utica, and also established branches in Western cities. One year later they re- 
 moved to the Ballou block, where Mr. Pixley has remained ever since. The firm of 
 Owen, Pixley & Co. continued about thirteen years, when it was dissolved, Mr. Pixley 
 continuing alone. He removed the establishment to the other end of the same block 
 (its present location) in 1884 and in, 1887 took his son as partner. The career of this 
 manufacturing and jobbing house has been one of uninterrupted and gratifying success, 
 very much of which is due to Mr. Pixley's personal labors and business skill. Since 
 1887 the firm name has been H. D. Pixley & Son, and they have branches with which 
 they are directly connected in Fort Wayne, Ind.; Terre Haute, Ind.; Bloomington, Dan- 
 ville, and Rockford, 111.; Kansas City, Mo.; Sioux City and Cedar Rapids, la.; Sioux 
 Falls, Dak.; Janesville and Oshkosh, Wis.; and a New York oifice at 338 Broadway. 
 Mr. Pixley has also given much attention to other enterprises of importance. When 
 the cotton factory above mentioned was burned he purchased the site and still retains 
 his interest in the estate of his father, consisting of a homestead farm and store. That 
 locality is underlaid with great quantities of valuable iron ore, in which he has firm 
 faith. In 1872-73 he organized a stock company for the erection of a blast furnace, in 
 which several very prominent men took an interest. The details of the working cf 
 this enterpri.'ie need not be followed here, though its success has been sufficient to indi- 
 cate the good judgment of its founder. Mr. Pixley is not now and has not been for 
 several years connected with the furnace. The past season he organized a creamery 
 company for the manufacture of fine butter. The buildings are nearly complete, and 
 the capacity is 1,'200 cows. 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL. 63 
 
 It is a source of especial pride with Mr. Pixley that he is so prominently connected 
 with the Commercial Travelers Mutual Accident Association, which has its headquarters 
 in this city. This association was organized and incorporated in March, 1883. It is an 
 offshoot of the Commercial Travelers Life Associations of the United States. When 
 the organization of the association in question was agitated Mr. Pixley was called upon 
 and requested to accept its presidency, which he finally did. His administration of the 
 responsible ofSce has been prudent, sagacious, and successful in the broadest sense. The 
 association now has 10,000 members, and they get insurance at less than one-half the 
 cost of most other companies organized for a like purpose. Mr. Pixley's valuable serv- 
 ices are recognized by the members of the association in the fact that he has not been 
 allowed to retire from the office to the present time. In the business community of 
 Utica Mr. Pixley occupies an honorable position, and in the welfare and prosperity of 
 the city he takes a proper interest. 
 
 nUNT, Dr. jambs G. — The ancestry of Dr. James G-. Hunt is traced backward 
 throusjh several generations to the Rev. Robert Hunt, who was one of four 
 brothers who emigrated from England to this country about the beginning of the seven- 
 teenth century, and settled in the township of New London, Cot?n. Among his sons 
 was Timothy Hunt, who afterward located in Tryon County (now Florida, Montgom- 
 ery County), N. T., and died there. During the days of the Revolution Timothy Hunt 
 and his family were among the sufferers by the Tories and Indians, under the leader- 
 ship of William Butler and Joseph Brant, a, Mohawk sachem. On the morning of 
 November 12, 1778, after they had accomplished the destruction of Cherry Valley and 
 the surrounding country, they did not stop until they had reached the settlement of 
 Chuctenunde Creek in the town of Florida. His buildmgs were burned and most of 
 his stock was killed, while the balance escaped to the forest. Timothy Hunt and his 
 family were saved by conceahng themselves in a ravine near by, closely filled with 
 elders willows and thick underbrush. His wife was Susana Vermilia, who was of 
 French descent. Timothy Hunt had a son Isaac, who was born in Florida, Montgomery 
 County. He was one of ten children, five sons and five daughters, and married Polly 
 Kinney, of Florida, Montgomery County, N. Y. 
 
 Rev' Robert Hunt, '.id, was a son of this Isaac and the grandfather of Dr. James G. 
 He was born in Florida, Montgomery County, November 25, 1792, was one of twelve 
 children, and married Margaret Johnson, of Columbia, Herkimer County, N. Y. He 
 began preachhig in the Freewill Baptist denomination as soon as he reached manhood, 
 first in Warren, Herkimer County, and afterward at Columbia, Schuyler Lake, Whit- 
 mantown, and Southville, and in 1852 removed to Troy, Ohio, where he remained one 
 year. The next twelve years were passed at China, Wyoming County, N. Y., where 
 his health failed and he thereafter made his home at Hudson, Mich. In 1871 he came 
 with his son^ Dr. Isaac J. Hunt, to Utica, where he died December?, 1872, at the age of 
 eighty. The Rev. Robert Hunt had ten children, five of whom were sons, and all of 
 them became physicians. One of these, Isaac J., the father of James G., was born in 
 Warren Herkimer County, N. Y., March 27, 1820. He married Mary IngersoU, 
 
64 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 daughter of John IngersoU, a farmer and manufacturer of Ilion, Herkimer County, N. Y. 
 He was a successful physician and practiced his profession for nearly thirty years in the 
 city of Utioa. He was a graduate of the Castleton Medical College in Vermont. His 
 death occurred January 25, 1875. 
 
 James Gr. Hunt was born in Litchfield, Herkimer County, N. Y., on the 21st of June, 
 1845. His boyhood experience was not materially different from that of a large major- 
 ity of American youths, though he was fortunate in being able to devote nearly the 
 whole of his early years to study. Beginning with the district school he continued on 
 until he graduated at the Utica Free Academy at a comparatively early age and began 
 preparation in his father's office for the profession which was to be his life work, and he 
 maybe said to have grown up surrounded by the atmosphere of the medical profession. 
 After about four years of industrious study under the careful instruction of his father he 
 entered the Medical Department of the University of Michigan, where he took two 
 courses of lectures and a course in the laboratory of analytical and applied chemistry. 
 These were followed by a third course in the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, 
 from which he graduated on the 1.3th of March, 1871. Returning to Utica he entered 
 immediately into practice in association with his father. This partnership continued 
 until 1874, since which time Dr. Hunt has conducted his large practice alone, and he has 
 met with an unusual degree of success. In attempting to note the elements of this success 
 it may, perhaps, be justly said that they consist chiefly in his thorough knowledge of his 
 profession, gained by persistent and judicious study, supplemented by constant reading 
 of the later developments that have been recorded throughout the range of medical 
 literature, coupled with a temperament and manner which happily fit him for his work. 
 His capacity for professional labor is almost unbounded and he never spares his energies 
 in his devotion to his duties. 
 
 Dr. Hunt's professional standing, as well as the position he occupies in the com- 
 munity, may be judged to a certain extent by the various calls that have been made 
 upon him to stations of honor and responsibility. He is a member of the Delta Phi 
 Society, Iota Chapter, of the University of Michigan, 1869, and of the Jefferson Medical 
 College Alumni Association, 1871; was made a member of the Oneida County Medical 
 Society on October 7, 1872 ; is a member of the Utica Medical Library Association and 
 was its president in 1886; was elected a member of the Oneida County Microscopical 
 Society on June 19,1881; is a member of the American Medical Association, the NewYork 
 State Medical Association, and was chosen a member of the American Public Health As- 
 sociation on December 7, 1880 ; was appointed by Gov. A. B. Cornell » member of the 
 State Board of Health from 1880 to 1885 ; is physician to and one of the incorporators of 
 the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, organized February 1, 1881; is a life 
 member and a trustee of the Utica Mechanics Association ; was appointed surgeon of 
 the Board of United States Pension Examiners on March 30, 1889 ; was made a trustee 
 of the Utica Female Academy on February 6, 1888; and is a director of the Globe 
 Woolen- Mills. Dr. Hunt has also taken a deep interest in fraternal organizations and 
 is prominent as a Mason, having taken the 32°, and is an Odd Fellow. It is much to his 
 professional credit that he was chosen a surgeon for the Delaware, Lackawanna, and 
 Western Railroad Company in 1885, and is acting in that capacity at the present time ; 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL. . 65 
 
 also the New York, Ontario, and Western Eailroad and of the New York, West Shore, and 
 Buffalo Eailroad from 1886 to 1889. He has also filled the post of surgeon in the Fax- 
 ton Hospital (1880-86), St. Luke's Hospital (1883 to the present time), and St. Eliza- 
 beth's Hospital (1888 to the present date). He holds the rank of first lieutenant in the 
 Forty-fourth Separate Company National Guard and is assistant surgeon in that military 
 organization, and was president of the Utica Citizens Corps in 1886, '87, and '88. It is 
 just to say that in all of these various positions Dr. Hunt has shown his fitness and capacity 
 for the capable discharge of their duties and earned the respect and esteem of those with 
 whom he had been associated. 
 
 In politics Dr. Hunt is a Republican, and was appointed coroner by Gov. John A. 
 Dix to fill vacancy in November, 1873, and continued in the office nearly ten years. 
 On the 12th of June, 1874, he was appointed health officer of the city and still holds the 
 office. In 1887 he' was strongly urged for the mayoralty of the city and received the 
 unanimous nomination at the convention, but for personal reasons he was compelled to 
 decline the honor. 
 
 On the 28th. of January, 1874, Dr. Hunt was married to Ella R. Middleton, daughter 
 of Robert Middleton, of Utica. They have four children, Gertrude May, Mabel Lillian, 
 Robert Middleton, and Ella Louisa. 
 
 nATHER, JOSHUA, was born at Schuyler, Herkimer County, N. Y., February 21, 
 1825, where his boyhood and youth were passed on his father's farm and at the 
 local school. The Mathers are one of the pioneer families of the Mohawk Valley and 
 a branch of one of the most remarkable families of the sturdy early settlers of New 
 England. Rev. Richard Mather, the father of Dr. Increase Mather, one of the early 
 presidents of Harvard College, came from Lewton, Winwick Parish, Toxteth Park, 
 England, and settled at Boston, Mass., in 1635. No brighter names stand in Massa- 
 . chusetts's early history than those of his immediate descendants. Dr. Increase Mather, 
 Cotton Mather, Dr. Samuel Mather, and others of the family who were instrumental 
 not only in shaping the institutions and character of the Commonwealth, but in giving 
 tone to the liberal sentiments that finally culminated in the adoption of the principle of 
 self-government. 
 
 Asaph Mather, of the fifth generation of Rev. Richard Mather's descendants, born 
 at East Lyme, Conn., in 1753, emigrated first to Rockingham, Vt., and afterward became 
 one of the pioneers of the Mohawk Valley, settling at a point afterward known as 
 Schuyler in Herkimer County in 1792. Joshua, his son, there grew up to manhood and 
 became a most respected and influential member of the community, which for over fifty 
 consecutive years elected him its justice of the peace and supervisor. In 1810 he mar- 
 ried Miss Cornelia Willis, daughter of Rev. Joseph Willis, an earnest and influential 
 minister in the Methodist Church. The children of this marriage were Luoinda, Wes- 
 ley, Asaph D., and Joshua, the youngest. In 1847 the latter came to live in Utica, en- 
 gaging in partnership with his older brother, Asaph D. Mather, in a grocery business 
 at the corner of Genesee and Bleecker streets. The two brothers were possessed of 
 unusual business and financial tact and foresight. Success and wealth came to them 
 
66 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 rapidly. During the war of the Rebellion they were prominent among the compara- 
 tively few business men who placed unbounded faith in the ultimate triumph of the 
 Union cause, in its permanency and the stability of its credit, subscribing liberally to 
 the discredited securities which the nation was obliged to issue, and unflinchingly hold- 
 ing them and buying more when in the darkest hours of the nation's peril frightened 
 investors, discouraged speculators, and weak-kneed patriots were throwing them over 
 at any price they could get. At the successful termination of the war the brothers 
 found themselves rich men. 
 
 In 1866 the grocery business was given up and in the same location they opened a 
 private bank under the name of A. D. Mather & Co. The firm soon became the cor- 
 respondents of and engaged in large financial enterprises with some of the great bank- 
 ing concerns of New York and Philadelphia, and were known as one of the most reli- 
 able and enterprising private banking houses in rural New York. On the death of A. D. 
 Mather in April, 1880, Joshua Mather associated in the banking business with him- 
 self Charles W. Mather, a 'nephew who had for several years previous to that time 
 been connected with the firm ; the partnership still retained the old firm name of A. D. 
 Mather & Co. 
 
 Among the many local enterprises with which Mr. Mather has been connected, and 
 upon which he has left the imprint of his strong and energetic individuality, is the 
 street railroad system of Utica. In 1887, when that system was almost useless tci the 
 city, made up as it was of a few dilapidated, slow-moving horse cars traversing our 
 principal streets once each half hour, its finances in a hopeless state of bankruptcy, 
 A. D. Mather & Co. obtained control of the stock of the Utica Belt Line Eailroad and 
 Joshua Mather became its president. Under his administration the old City Street 
 Railroad was leased and consolidated, the main track on Genesee street doubled, 
 branches built to the new and growing parts of the city and to important suburban 
 districts, an equipment furnished worthy of so large and important a road, broken 
 down horses exchanged for electricity as a motive powter, and cars run at frequent in- 
 tervals. The finances of the company were rehabilitated and the road placed on a pay- 
 ing basis. After the road had been made one of the most perfect and useful street 
 railroad systems in this country in January, 1890, the control of the stock having been 
 sold to a syndicate of New York capitalists, Mr. Mather resigned his position as presi- 
 dent. Mr. Mather has ever been most loyal toward the city of Utica and enthusiastic 
 and liberal in everything that concerned its growth and progress, and has given of his 
 money, his time, and his energies to the building up of its industries and its charities 
 and to the improvement of its physical condition. He pays a larger amount of city 
 taxes than any other citizen ; while others were seeking more attractive fields in the 
 West and elsewhere for rapid increase of their capital his unlimited faith in the growth 
 and future of Utica and his loyalty to her interests have led him to invest his surplus 
 from time to time in Utica real estate, until he is now the large'st holder of real estate 
 in the city. 
 
 In November, 1890, the private banking firm of A. D. Mather & Co. was merged 
 into A. D. Mather & Co.'s Bank, a corporate concern under the banking laws of the 
 State of New York with a capital stock of ^200, 000, of which Joshua Mather is pres- 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL. 67 
 
 ident and Charles W. Mather vice-president. The banking house of this concern is 
 still located at the corner of Genesee and Bleecker streets, where the two brothers 
 Mather began their grocery business in 1847. 
 
 LINDSLEY, SMITH M.— The family of which Smith M. Lindsley is a member, and 
 its ancestors and various branches, have always been identified with the history of 
 Sullivan County, N. Y. Mr. Lindsley's grandfather, Bliud Lindsley, was one of the 
 pioneer settlers of that region and was a man of marked characteristics. The local his- 
 tories contain detailed accounts of his sturdy and honorable character and of the man- 
 ner in which he impressed his views and the example of his staunch integrity and 
 upright life upon the people who settled in that county. It is also a branch of this fam- 
 ily from which sprang the several noted college presidents and professors who have 
 been so conspicuous in the educational history of the State of Tennesee. His father is 
 Rufus B. Lindsley, of Monticello, N. Y., where he still resides. He lives, as he always 
 has, a modest, quiet life as a farmer and general stock dealer, enjoying the respect of 
 his townsmen. His mother was the daughter of Smith Weed, who was also an early 
 and prominent resident of Sullivan County, and a member of the Weed family of which 
 the famous Smith M. Weed, of Clinton County, is a member. 
 
 Smith M. Lindsley was born in Monticello, N, Y., in 1847. He received an excellent 
 English and classical education at the then noted academy of his native place, and grad- 
 uated therefrom as valedictorian of his class. He afterward continued his studies at 
 the Wyoming Seminary and College in Pennsylvania, and was a member of the faculty 
 of that institution for one year. He had long before determined upon the profession of 
 law as his life work, and previous to his leaving the college had begun its study. From 
 Wyoming he went to Wilkesbarre in the same State, where he continued the study of 
 the law through one year and down to 1869, when he removed to Utica and entered 
 the office of ex-Senator Francis Kernan. There he finished his legal studies and was 
 admitted to the bar in 1870. He immediately entered upon practice in this city, where 
 his natural and acquired qualifications for his profession soon gave him a large measure 
 of success. He had, too, at the same time so early gained the confidence of the citizens 
 of Utica in both his ability and his integrity that in 1872 he was elected to the office 
 of city attorney by the Democrats, with which party he has always been identified. In 
 that campaign every other candidate on the Democratic ticket, with one exception, was 
 defeated. His service in that office was so entirely satisfactory to the community that 
 he was re-elected by a largely increased majority. Meanwhile his private practice had 
 greatly advanced and it now made such demands upon his time and energies that he 
 declined a third nomination. He had now won the broad confidence of many of the 
 leading business men of the city and his business became correspondingly lucrative and 
 extensive, while at the same time his rapidly extending reputation as a brilliant and 
 successful court lawyer and pleader brought him into connection with many prominent 
 cases where large interests and intricate legal questions were involved. 
 
 In 1884 Mr. Lindsley was unanimously nominated by a joint convention of citizens 
 representing both political parties for the office of mayor of Utica; but long before this 
 
68 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 he had become fixed in his determination to give all his energies and time to the prac- 
 tice of his chosen profession, and with that end in view to accept no offer of political 
 preferment however flattering it might be ; he therefore declined this high and excep- 
 tional honor. He has since that time had many flattering inducements to enter the 
 political field as a candidate for important positions, but he has uniformly and persist- 
 ently refused. In his later practice Mr. Lindsley has achieved conspicuous success and 
 counts a large number of the best and most substantial business men of Utica and its 
 vicinity among his clients. He has also a large consulting clientage ; but it is as a law- 
 yer at trials and in the argument of appeals that he has attained his greatest promi- 
 nence. His success is reflected in a continually increasing business. He is the stand- 
 ing counsel and attorney of a number of insurance companies and has had especial 
 success in that branch of legal effort. It is not out of place to mention his successful 
 defence of the Utica Observer, which he conducted in the noted Van Auken libel case 
 in 1891, which attracted attention throughout the country, and for which he was highly 
 complimented by the legal profession, the press, and others throughout the State. Mr. 
 Lindsley is continually retained by other attorneys as advisory counsel and for the trial 
 of cases and the argument of appeals ; and he has been selected by the attorney-general 
 to act for the State in important affairs. 
 
 It has been said of Mr. Lindsley by one who has known him intimately from the 
 beginning of his career that " he has acquired his present conspicuous position at the 
 bar by being an almost tireless worker. He sharpened his natural abilities by fearless 
 contests with the ablest among those older in the profession when he began. When he 
 enters court with a case not one atom or item of preparation is wanting. Every fact is 
 marshaled and weighed, and in his mind is placed where it belongs and where it will be 
 most effective.'' In another and a different direction it is flattering to Mr. Lind- 
 sley's capacity for practical business and financial undertakings that he was in 1885 
 ■chosen president of the First National Bank of Ohittenango, an office which he still suc- 
 cessfully administers. 
 
 Mr. Lindsley is a Mason, an Odd Fellow, and an active and prominent member of 
 other well known organizations of a social and benevolent character. In 1887 and the 
 two years next succeeding he served as supreme regent or chief executive officer of the 
 Eoyal Arcanum, one of the principal fraternal benefit or insurance societies of the 
 country. He managed its business of collecting and disbursing several millions of dol- 
 lars, and in the line of his profession successfully solved many intricate legal problems 
 involved in the adjustment and payment of death claims and losses. He infused vigor 
 into every department of the organization, so that its later growth has been almost phe- 
 nomenal, numbering now about 130,000 members. As the official head of this organiz- 
 ation he was called to many parts of the country, and thereby he acquired a very wide 
 and extended acquaintance in many States. Socially and in the every-day affairs of life 
 Mr. Lindsley is a popular and respected gentleman, admired for his manly independence 
 and adherence to the principles of living which he believes right, and holding the warm 
 regard of many friends for his excellent qualities. 
 
 In 1873 Mr. Lindsley married Dorlissa, ■ daughter of John W. Johnston, a, well 
 known and prominent lawyer of Sullivan County. They have one daughter. 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL. eg 
 
 ^AYRB, THEODORE SHELDON, was born in the oity of Utioa, at the same place 
 -J where he now hves, on the 25th of April, 1837. His father was James Sayre, a 
 native of Milton, Saratoga County, N. Y., born in 1799, and came to Utica in 1817. 
 James Sayre was a man of upright character, good business qualifications, and in early 
 years was quite conspicuous among the public spirited citizens of the place. He was 
 at first employed in the store of John H. Handy, afterward became a partner, and on 
 the death of Mr. Handy assumed the whole business. Down to the year 1852 he had 
 several partners, and also in 1837 joined in the firm of Townsend, Sayre & Clark for 
 carrying on trade in New York oity ; this continued until 1852. Prom that time on- 
 ward to his retirement he conducted his business with his sons, Charles and Theodore. 
 He took a deep interest in public affairs, but sought no office and held none but that 
 of alderman in 1834. He was director in the United States Branch Bank and for a 
 short time in the Ontario Branch and for many years in the Oneida National, of which 
 he was president at his decease. He was director of the Black River Railroad from 
 its re-organization and for many years was a trustee of the First Presbyterian Church. 
 He was also for a time the prudent and judicious head of the Cemetery Association. 
 
 In 1824 Mr. Sayre was married to Miss Amelia Van Ranst, of New York city and 
 they had five children, three sons and two daughters, viz.: Charles, Anna (Mrs. Byxbe) 
 James, Caroline,- and Theodore. Mr. Sayre died April 22, 1877. Mrs. Sayre is still living. 
 Theodore S. Sayre enjoyed only ordinary advantages for securing an education ; he 
 attended the city schools and boarding school at Westmoreland until he was seventeen 
 years old, when he entered his father's store as a clerk. Three years later in 1857 he 
 was taken as a partner in the business and occupied that station until the death of his 
 father; the firm name was James Sayre & Son. The location was at 119-121 Genesee 
 street, and after the death of James Sayre the business was carried on for two years by 
 the two brothers, Theodore and Charles. In 1879 Theodore retired and Charles con- 
 tinued until the great fire on that square in 1884, which burned him out and he did 
 not resume. Although Mr. Sayre's business life of twenty years in Utica was alike 
 honorable and successful it is in public life that he has been most prominently before 
 the community. He is a consistent Republican in politics, and as early as 1863, when 
 he was twenty-six years old, was elected alderman of the Third ward and held the 
 office eight years. In 1874 he was elected mayor of the city and dechned a renomina- 
 tion, but his friends insisted upon his candidacy, and without his knowledge put him in 
 the field and he was defeated. While serving as mayor in 1874 the Board of Fire and 
 Police Commissioners was first established, an important act for which Mayor Sayre 
 was largely responsible. In the fall of the same year (1875) he was elected State sen- 
 ator for this district and had the satisfaction of carrying the city by a considerable ma- 
 jority which he had lost in the previous local election. In the Senate Mr. Sayre proved 
 himself a prudent, conservative, and useful legislator, if not a brilliant speaker; he 
 served on the Cotnmittee on Internal Affairs, was chairman of the Committee on Roads 
 and Bridges, and was a member of the Committee on Salt. The interest of the local 
 bills which came before the Senate was carefully and efficiently supported by him. 
 Mr, Sayre was appointed to fill a vacancy in the Board of Police and Fire Commissioners 
 and re-appointed for the full term in 1886 ; he has also been one of the Civil Service 
 
70 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 Commissioners. He is a director in the City Water Works Company and held a similar 
 station in the Utica and Black River Railroad Company until the lease of the road to the 
 Rome, Watertown, and Ogdensburg Railroad Company. He is one of the advisory com- 
 mittee of the Orphan Asylum and has faithfully watched over its affairs. He was formerly 
 identified with the First Presbyterian Church, but now with the Memorial Presbyte- 
 rian. To this latter church Mr. Sayre has been a most liberal and judicious benefactor. 
 For many years there was a mission and Sabbath school in West Utica dating back to 
 about 1848. It finally outgrew its surroundings and a building was erected on Court 
 street, which was dedicated December 15, 1867, and the Presbyterian Church of West 
 Utica was organized February 10, 186S. The church building sufllced for its purpose 
 until about the year 1880, when a more commodious edifice became a necessity. A lot 
 was secured on the corner of Court street and Sunset avenue, and Mr. Sayre erected 
 and presented to the society the beautiful and substantial edifice now standing on that 
 site at a cost of $30,000. It was dedicated in 1884 on the anniversary of his father's 
 birth, and in commemoration of Mr. Sayre the name of the church was changed to the 
 Memorial Presbyterian Church of Utica. This is one of the notable individual benefac- 
 tions of the city and endears Mr. Sayre to a large circle of friends. 
 
 Mr. Sayre is in his nature essentially modest and retiring, but among his friends is 
 genial and courteous always. He has never married and lives at the homestead with 
 his sister. 
 
 LAIRD,' FRANK FOSTER, A.M., M.D.— On the direct road from Rome to Trenton 
 Falls and at the dividing line between the towns of Trenton and Floyd, Oneida 
 County, N. Y., stands the " old Townsend homestead," the residence of William 0. and 
 Sarah A. Laird. Here on April 15, 1856, was born the subject of this sketch, the 
 youngest of three children. The eldest, Mary, died in infancy ; the brother, William T. 
 is now a prominent physician in Watertown, N. Y. On the paternal side he is a de- 
 scendant of Samuel Laird, for whom Lairdsville, N. Y., was named, and whose father 
 came from Scotland in the early history of this country. Samuel Laird was a native 
 of New Marlboro, Berkshire County, Mass., but moved to Lairdsville in 1788 with his 
 son, Salmon Laird, the paternal grandfather who was then seven years of age. Sam- 
 uel Laird died May 21, 1820, leaving as a legacy to his son not only a valuable prop- 
 erty, but also the priceless treasure of an unsullied name and a noble life. William C, 
 father of Frank F., became a dentist. He married Sarah A. Townsend, of Floyd, 
 N. Y., and now at the ripe old age of seventy-four is still actively engaged in the prac- 
 tice of his profession. On the maternal side the original ancestors resided in Rainham 
 Castle, County Norfolk, England. The great-grandfather, Nathan Town.send, came to 
 this county from Hancock, Mass., in 1801, and was one of the original settlers of the 
 town of Floyd. The grandfather, William Townsend, was for twenty-four years a 
 justice of the peace who was renowned for his " having peaceably settled more quarrels 
 than he made." 
 
 Dr. Laird's preliminary and preparatory studies were pursued at Whitestown Semi- 
 nary, where, having entered its primary department in 1868, he was graduated in 1873. 
 During these five years he was under almost constant tuition in elocution, his instruct- 
 
En-j t,jF;;i</'/,,,-,_- Ijfnlff 
 
 ^ y c>^^:z-^^^Jc::^ 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL. 71 
 
 ors being H. Sam Dyer and Rev. John R. Lewis, two of nature's gifted orators. A 
 prize in declamation and one in oratory attested the high standing he attained at that 
 institution. He entered the freshman class at Hamilton College in the fall of 1873, 
 and during his connection therewith received the following honors : He was appointed 
 prize speaker the first year and won the first prize in essay writing ; secured the first 
 honorable mention in essay writing during the sophomore year; won the Hawley 
 medal for excellence in classical studies in the junior year; and during his senior year 
 was appointed to represent Hamilton College at the Intercollegiate Oratorical Contest 
 at the Academy of Music, New York city, in January, 1876, and on that occasion won the 
 second consecutive victory for his college. He was appointed prize debater, but declined 
 the honor. He was graduated from Hamilton College in June, 1877, being the third in 
 his class and dehvering the class-day oration in connection therewith. His high standing 
 gave him membership in the Phi Beta Kappa Society of " honor men." He received the 
 degree of A.M. in course in 1880. He pursued the study of medicine under the super- 
 vision of his brother. Dr. W. T. Laird, of Watertown, N, Y., and was graduated from 
 the Hahnemann Medical College of Philadelphia in the sprmg of 1880, taking the high- 
 est general average save one (that of Prof. W. B. Van Lennep) ever obtained at that 
 institution, and winning the position of valedictorian of his class. He began practice 
 at Ogdensburg, N. Y., removing, however, in the fall of 1880 to Augusta, Me. The 
 climate proving too severe he returned in the spring of 1881 to New York State, mak- 
 ing Utica, where he still resides, his permanent home, and where he is actively engaged 
 in the duties of general practice. 
 
 Dr. Laird has held the office of president of the Oneida County Homoeopathic Medical 
 Society. He was elected first vice-president of the Homoeopathic Medical Society of 
 the State of New York in 1889. He was appointed chairman of the Bureau of Materia 
 Medica of the State Society and held that office three years. He became a member of 
 the American Institute of Homoeopathy in 1887. He holds the office of medical director 
 of the Commercial Travelers Mutual Accident Association of America. Dr. Laird has 
 been a frequent contributor to the medical literature of the day, his articles published 
 in current medical journals and in the transactions of the State Society being among 
 those embodying in an eminent degree highly practical suggestions, the following spec- 
 ifying the more important : 
 
 1. Contributions to the department of materia medica: Analytical Studies of Hy- 
 irastis- Lycopus Virginicus; Guaiacum ; Ammonium Muriatioum ; Naphthalin; and the 
 ■' Physiological Action of Belladonna in its Relations to Homoeopathic Therapeutics." 
 
 2. Contributions to the department of clinical medicine: "The Reflex Symtoras of 
 Phymosis;" "Lithoemia: Its ^Etiological and Pathological Relations;" " The .^tiol- 
 3gy, Pathology, and Treatment of Diabetes Insipidus ; " " The Therapeutics of Spinal 
 Irritation ; " " Obscure Reflex Symptoms in Chronic Diseases." 
 
 Dr. Laird possesses rare mental qualities which qualify him for attaining the highest 
 Dositions in his chosen profession. His breadth of culture, quickness of perception, 
 inusual powers of analytical study and research have already, although still at the be- 
 'inning of a brilliant professional career, secured for him an advanced standing in the 
 nedical profession of Oneida County. In practice he is a prescriber of singular ability 
 
72 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 and precision, his analytical powers of mind enabling him in the differentiation of rem- 
 edies to attain success in many difl&cult and unpromising cases. Without having de- 
 signed to become proficient as a specialist in one department more than another Dr. 
 Laird has attained an acknowledged reputation as a successful obstetrician, and as par- 
 ticularly skillful in the treatment of the diseases of children. In the application of 
 homoeopathic remedies he rejects as untenable Hahnemann's peculiar theories of im- 
 material dosage, believing that while the doctrine of similars involves small and even 
 infinitesimal doses its curative efficacy is circumscribed by the limit of materiality, and 
 should always be applied in accordance with sound and well recognized principles of 
 therapeutic action. Dr. Laird, as an earne.«!t advocate of liberty of medical opinion and 
 action, became deeply interested in the great legislative contest waged during the win- 
 ter and spring of 1890 by the allopathic and homoeopathic schools, the latter making an 
 effort by means of a bill for creating a single State board of medical examiners to ob- 
 tain legal control of, and in fact monopolize, the civil right of medical licensure. 
 
 By acquiring this povver and control the representatives of the allopathic school 
 could, and unquestionably would, make use of it as an intimidating force by which it 
 could promote its own growth and prosperity, and also be able to exert powerful intimi- 
 dating influences which would greatly retard the development of, and ultimately bring 
 about the disintegration of, the homoeopathic school. The homoeopathic representa- 
 tives on the other hand introduced a bill for providing separate examining and licensing 
 boards for each school, the construction being such as to make its executive functions 
 binding upon all schools alike ; that is, embodying provisions for permitting the repre- 
 sentatives of each school the free exercise of the civil right to examine and license the 
 graduates from their own medical colleges. While Dr. Laird may not have participated 
 as actively in this important canvass as some of his medical associates he exerted a very 
 powerful personal influence in behalf of the homoeopathic bill as embodying sound, safe, 
 and conservative principles, so constructed in the form of law as to promote the inter- 
 ests of the several schools equally. 
 
 Dr. Laird is a fluent and forcible speaker, ever ready in debate and witty repartee. 
 He was elected as the orator on the occasion of the Masonic jubilee commemorating 
 the freedom of the craft from debt, held in the city of Utica in April, 1890. ■ In 1883 
 Dr. Laird married Miss Annie C. Taylor, daughter of ex-State Engineer the Hon. W. B. 
 Taylor, of Utica. He has two children, a son and a daughter. 
 
 SWAN, JOSEPH ROCKWELL, was born September 10, 1842, in Columbus, 0. 
 He is the second son of the late Joseph Rockwell Swan, for many years the chief 
 justice of the Supreme Court, the court of final resort of the State of Ohio. His mother 
 was Hannah Ann Andrews, of Rochester, N. Y. He received his education in the 
 schools of Columbus and at Kenyon College. Coming to Utica in 1862 he began the 
 study of law in the office of Hon. Charles H. Doolittle and in 1 863 was admitted to the 
 bar. By his ability and industry he soon gained the confidence of Mr. Doolittle, who 
 in 1864 made him a member of his law firm. This partnership continued until 1870, 
 when Judge Doolittle was elected a justice of the Supreme Court of the State. Mr. 
 
j^tlaQUcPuiliBliriig ^^Engravirrrf C°NY 
 
 ©vnStvt^vcj. 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL. 73 
 
 m 
 
 ,wan has continued to practice law i„ Utica, where he has obtained a high standing .„ 
 us profession, and has the confidence and respect of the community. No lawyer of his 
 ■ears is more often consulted in the organization and management of large business 
 orporations. Mr. Swan has carefully revised to the satisfaction of the bar, the county 
 ■fficers, and the business men of that State the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth edi- 
 ions of that most useful book, " A Treatise on the Law relating to the Powers of Justices 
 f the Peace of the State of Ohio," by his father, Judge Swan. He was one of the orig- 
 lal incorporators and the first president of the People's Eailroad Company of Syra- 
 use, in which he still has a large interest and is its legal adviser. "For a'number of 
 ears he was one of the most influential managers of the New York State Lunatic 
 Lsylum and is now vice-president of the Fort Schuyler Club. In October, 1890, Mr. 
 iwan was influential in organizing the Utica Etrald Publishing Company, of which he 
 ras elected and still remains the president. His prominent characteristics are his 
 lodesty, courage, loyalty to his friends, and his personal kindness to those in whom 
 e is interested. 
 
 Mr. Swan married, April 27, 1 870, Miss Emma Mann, daughter of Hon. Charles A. 
 lann and Emma Bagg, of the city of Utica. 
 
 3ARLINa, Gen. CHARLES W., was born in Nev/ Haven, Conn. His family is 
 of New England origin, having intermarried with the families of Pierpont, Noyes, 
 Ihanncey, Eli, Davis, and Dana. His great-grandfather, a graduate of Yale, was Hon. 
 'homas Darling, an eminent jurist who resided in New Haven, Conn., and who married 
 Lbigail Noyes, granddaughter of Rev. James Pierpont, of New Haven. The paternal 
 randfather of Gen. Charles W. was Dr. Samuel Darling, of the same city, a graduate 
 f Yale who married Clarinda, daughter of Rev. Richard Ely, of Saybrook, Conn. His 
 oungest son, the father of General Darling, was Rev. Charles Chauncey Darling, who 
 ■as graduated at Yale College and at Princeton Theological Seminary, and having en- 
 ired the ministry subsequently made his residence in New York. He married Ade- 
 ae E., daughter of William Dana, of Boston, and granddaughter of Gen. Robert Davis, 
 1 oSicer of artillery in the war of the Revolution. 
 
 The boyhood years of General Darling were devoted largely to study under the 
 aidance of a private tutor. After matriculating at the classical and mathematical de- 
 irtment of the New York University he passed through its regular curriculum, and at 
 le end of the course entered as clerk a mercantile house in New York. Several 
 sars later he became connected as secretary of an incorporated company under the 
 •esidency of Commodore C. K. Garrison. Shortly afterward he resigned his position 
 • accept the presidency of a manufacturing company, with which he was associated 
 veral years. When he ceased his immediate relations with business he made his first 
 ip to Europe to gratify those literary and artistic tastes which his active life had for- 
 dden. Returning froni his Continental trip when the questioaof the possible seces- 
 Dn of the South from the Federal Union was receiving much public discussion he 
 •nnected himself with the National Guard of New York, and when Hon. Edwin D. 
 organ was elected governor he was appointed a member of his staff' with rank of 
 
 J 
 
74 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 colonel. He also identified himself with political matters and was president of one of 
 the Republican organizations of his district. By his decision of character he united 
 many discordant elements in the party, subdued the passions of some, deepened the 
 love of country in the hearts of others, and preserved order frequently under difficult 
 circumstances. When in the summer of 1863 New York became the scene of riots 
 Q-eneral Darling was called upon to perform difficult and dangerous duties, and his firm 
 stand on that memorable occasion received the most cordial approbation of the military 
 as well as the civil authorities. As the following letters have a historical as well as a 
 personal signification for the first time they are given publication : 
 
 " Headquarters First Division N. Y. S. N. G., \ 
 New York, July 21, 1863. ( 
 
 ''Col. C. W. Darling, 
 
 " Colonel : — Having a vacancy on my staflf I shall be happy to receive you as a mem- 
 ber of my military family as volunteer aide-de-camp, you to retain your rank of colo- 
 nel. At the same time I take occasion to express my thanks for your services during 
 the late riot. I am, very respectfully, 
 
 " Your obedient servant, 
 
 " Charles W. Sandford, Major- General." 
 
 "New York, August 17, 1863. 
 " Col. C. W. Darling, 
 
 , "Colonel: — It always gives me pleasure to do justice to those who are prompt in 
 discharging the duty which they owe to their fellow citizens in resisting violence, let 
 it come from what source it may. Your gallant and efficient efforts to put down the 
 riot in New York, so disgraceful to the city, on the 13th, 14th, and 15th of July last, 
 entitle you to the thanks of a grateful people. I am, 
 
 ''Very respectfully yours, 
 
 ''John E. Wool, Major- General U. S. A." 
 
 " State or New York, 
 "Dept. of the Commissary- G-eneral of Ordnance, 
 New York, August 22, 1863. 
 " Col: C. W. Darling, 
 
 "Colonel: — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication 
 informing me of your instructions to the commanding officer of the Eighth Regiment 
 to withdraw his command from the State Arsenal, and to thank you for so doing. Per- 
 mit me to express my thanks for the energy displayed during the scenes of disorder that 
 occurred in our city in the month of July, and to assure you that we will recall with 
 pleasure the names of yourself and fellow officers with whom the occasion brouo-ht us in 
 close connection, and to whose effiarts the State and this Department are much indebted. 
 
 " Very respectfully yours, 
 " W. R. Fabrell, Commissary -General of Ordnance." 
 
 " Mayor's Office, New York, August 24, 1863. 
 " Col. C. W. Darling, ^ 
 
 " Dear Sir : — Accept my thanks for your energetic and efficient service on the occa- 
 sion of the disloyal outbreak in this city on the 13th, Uth, and 15th of last month. The 
 help of the military in subduing the riot was invaluable, and among them I was pleased 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL. 75 
 
 to recognize yourself as prominent for gallantry and good conduct in the performance 
 of the duty devolvmg upon you. It gives me pleasure to find that General Woo] in 
 command of the United States troops called on duty, General Sandford, commanding the 
 First Division N. Y. S. N. G., and the Commissary-General of Ordnance have accorded 
 to you so much credit for the part you took on that occasion. I trust that our city 
 may never again undergo a similar trial, but if it should I hope that we may find in the 
 hour of need many such as yourself coming forward equally prompt, earnest, and effi- 
 cient to perform the patriotic duty of defending government and order against treason 
 and anarchy. With high regard, 
 
 " Very truly yours, 
 
 " Geokge Opdtke, Mayor." 
 
 Early in 1864 Colonel Darling received the appointment of additional volunteer aid- 
 de-camp on the staff of Maj.-Gen. Benjamin F. Butler, then in command of the Army 
 of the James, and was assigned special duties at his temporary headquarters in New 
 York. At this time the draft was to be enforced, when it was anticipated that new 
 disturbances might occur, threatening the peace of the State. As it was known that 
 the authorities had made every preparation, and 16,000 men under arms were afloat on 
 the harbor, no attempt was made to resist the enforcement of the law. When Hon. 
 Reuben E. Fenton was elected governor of the State of New York in 1865 Colonel 
 Darling was recommended for the position of head of one of the military departments. 
 His qualifications for the important trust were supported by recommendations from 
 Major-Generals Butler, Doubleday, and Warren ; Brigadier-Generals Van Vliet, Webb, 
 Davies, Morris, Gordon, and Granger; and twenty-one commandants of regiments and 
 batteries in the field. A large number of influential politicians also joined in the request, 
 among whom were the mayor of New York, the collector and surveyor of the port, the 
 postmaster, the chairman of the Union Central Committee, and several members of 
 Congress. This powerful influence thus brought to bear upon the administration had 
 its effect and Colonel Darling, in view of his past business training and his reputation 
 for order and integrity, was assigned to duty in the paymaster-general's department, 
 which at this critical period was of the first importance. As many of the soldiers were 
 being mustered out through the expiration of their terms of enlistment no little watch- 
 fulness and executive ability were required to protect the interests of the brave defend- 
 ers of their country as well as those of the government. Nearly every New York reg- 
 iment had unsettled accounts with the Federal and State governments, and many 
 unprincipled claim agents were following the soldiers hke sleuth hounds. The pressure 
 to which the occupant of this responsible office was subjected at this period is well 
 illustrated by the following brief quotation from one of the New York daily papers : 
 
 " The number of claimants at the ofBce of Colonel Darhng averages about 200 daily. 
 He is beset with land-sharks, bounty-brokers, middlemen, etc., who are trying all sorts 
 of ways to grab a portion of the money being disbursed, but the colonel thwarts all 
 their contrivances in the shape of offered presents, commissions, percentage, etc., and 
 will manage affairs so that every man who is justly entitled to pay shall receive the 
 same without drawbacks or deductions." 
 
 The drafted men m the city who furnished substitutes and who were reimbursed by 
 the State were also notified to file their claims at this office, where they were examined 
 and passed over to the supervisors at New York for final adjustment. The vouchers 
 
76 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 were sent by the supervisors to the paymaster-general at Albany and the funds were 
 transmitted from headquarters for payment to individuals. At the Union State Con- 
 vention of the Republican party held in Syracuse, September, 1866, among the dele- 
 gates from the city of New York was General Darling. When the roll of delegates 
 was called it was claimed that the delegates sent from the Seventh Asserablj' District 
 represented the conservative element and were hostile to the radicals who called the 
 convention. It caused some excitement ; a recess was called, and during this recess 
 General Darling with wise diplomacy reconciled opposing factions by resigning his seat 
 in favor of Sinclair Tousey upon condition that his two associates should compose with 
 him the delegation. This arrangement wag acceptable to the convention and the re- 
 nomination of Governor Fenton was thus secured beyond a doubt and made unanimous. 
 Had this course not been adopted it hae been gravely doubted whether Governor Fen- 
 ton would have been elected for a second term. In 1866 Colonel Darling was commis- 
 sioned as commissary-general of subsistence, which brought him into still closer rela- 
 tions with Governor Fenton as a member of his military cabinet. This office he held 
 until January 1, 1867, when, on the re-election of the governor. General Darling received 
 the appointment of military engineer-in-chief of the State of New York with the rank 
 of brigadier-general. When the administration of Governor Fenton was nearing its 
 close General Darling applied for and obtained leave of absence to visit Europe again on 
 a tour of instruction and pleasure. 
 
 While in England he received many courtesies; among the various invitations ex- 
 tended to him was one from Lord Elcho to meet the Prince of Wales and the Duke of 
 Cambridge, and be present with them on a review of troops at Aldersholt. In a sub- 
 sequent trip abroad with his wife he traveled extensively through Europe, Asia, and 
 Africa, making the trip up the Nile, through Ethiopia and Nubia, as far as the river is 
 navigable. During this time many articles from his pen appeared in our journals of a 
 historical and political as well as of a social character. Having means at his command, 
 which renders him independent of business cares. General Darling has been able to 
 gratify to the utmost his literary and scientific tastes. Ten years of his life have been 
 devoled to foreign travel in nearly every country on the globe, and from this broad ex- 
 perience he has returned with a knowledge of national manners and customs and a 
 fund of general information which has been of great value in his writings. Intensely 
 fond of historical studies he has prosecuted his investigations in' this department of 
 learning with unusual diligence and with excellent results. His writings cover a wide 
 range of themes, which he handles with skill, and in a way to interest both the special- 
 ist and the general reader. His high character, scholarly attainments, and distinguished 
 public services have given him a large acquaintance with many of the public men of 
 the day and earned for him many scientific and literary honors. 
 
 His active interest in public affairs and his prominent connection with some of the 
 most stirring events happening in his time have necessarily made him to a certain ex- 
 tent a conspicuous figure among his fellow citizens, by whom he is held in universal 
 esteem. Notwithstanding the fact that he has persistently held aloof from politics, 
 preferring the more congenial pursuits of literature and historical research, he has sev- 
 eral times been asked to become a candidate for municipal positions, but while ap- 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL. 77 
 
 predating the honor he has dedined all political preferment. His work is performed 
 quietly among his books, from which he feels that nothing save the gravest condition of 
 public affairs can separate him. For several years he held the office of president of the 
 Young Men's Christian Association of Utioa, his present adopted home, and he is now one 
 of its directors. Those ^\-ho are familiar with the past struggles of that association for 
 life concede that he carried it through the most critical period of its history. As a re- 
 sult of those arduous undertakings an elegant structure has been erected for the Utica 
 Young Men's Christian Association by its friends, and the building is considered one of 
 the most conspicuous ornaments of the city. General Darling was also a member of 
 the State Executive Committee of Young Men's Christian Associations and on the ex- 
 piration of his term of office in 1888 he was elected one of its trustees. His interest in 
 religious matters, however, is not confined to affairs connected with this department of 
 Christian work. He is a ruling elder in the First Presbyterian Church of Utica, and in 
 the private hfe to which he has retired he is the object of the warm regard of a large circle 
 of friends. Through his connection with the Oneida Historical Society he has culti- 
 vated his taste for historical studies and his literary productions are numerous. He 
 never writes for pecuniary compensation, and the monographs, brochures, essays, ex- 
 cerpta, etc., which he frequently sends out are printed for private distribution. 
 
 On the 21st of December, 1857, G-eneral Darling married AngelineB., second daugh- 
 ter of Jacob A. Robertson, a wealthy and highly respected citizen of New York. His 
 father was Archibald Robertson, the Scotch artist who painted from life the celebrated 
 miniatures on ivory of General and Martha Washington, during the time when he was 
 sojourning as a guest in the family of the "First President." His brothers were An- 
 drew J., Alexander H. (who at the time of his decease was grand master of the Grand 
 Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of New York), and Anthony L., sur- 
 rogate of New York in 1848 and chief justice of the Superior Court m 1860-69. A sister 
 of these brothers married Henry Winslow, founder of the banking house bearing his 
 name. Another sister married Robert N. Tinson, of England and well known as a 
 resident of New York city. General Darling has no children to inherit the honor of a 
 good name, but his fondness for the little ones makes him always a favorite with them. 
 
 In 1891 he was elected president of the Uplands Park Investment Company, of Pu- 
 eblo, Col., and when this company merged its interests in the South Side Land Syndi- 
 cate Company, of the same place, he became its president. This organization has a 
 capital paid in of $518,000 ; it was incorporated under the laws of Colorado and its 
 home office is in Denver. W. H. Chamberlin, of the Chamberlin Investment Company, 
 is associated with him as first vice-president and A. W. Chamberlin, of the same com- 
 pany, is treasurer. With such strong influence as this company can command it bids 
 fair to become an important factor in building up the young city of Pueblo, which is 
 already becoming a formidable rival of Denver, 150 miles distant. General Darling has 
 also recently been selected as a member of the advisory council of the World's Con- 
 gress Auxiliary of the World's Columbian Exposition on historical literature. This 
 congress is authorized and supported by the Exposition corporation for the purpose of 
 bringing about a series of conventions of the leaders, at home and abroad, in the vari- 
 ous departments of human progress during the Exposition season of 1893. It has been 
 
78 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 approved and recognized by the government of the United States, and its general an- 
 nouncement has been sent to foreign governments by the Department of State. An 
 appropriation on account of its expenses has been made by an act of Congress. 
 
 G-eneral DarUng is a '' Son of the Revolution " by reason of his being a great-grand- 
 son of Gen. Robert Davis, of the artillery under G-eneral Washington. He is also a 
 member of the American Historical Association and of the New York Genealogical 
 and Biographical Society ; Fellow of the Society of Science, Letters, and Art, Lon- 
 don, England, and associate member of the Victoria Institute ; honorary member of 
 the Chautauqua Society of History and Natural Science, Neve York ; Waterloo His- 
 torical Society, New York ; New Jersey Historical Society, Alabama Historical Society, 
 Mississippi Historical Society, Iowa Historical Society, and Alaska Historical Society ; 
 and corresponding member of the American Ethnological Society, Academy of Anthro- 
 pology, American Numismatic and Arohseological Society, Buffalo Historical Society, 
 and the Cayuga County Historical Society, all of New York. In the State of Maine 
 he is in the same manner connected with the Bangor Historical Society ; in New Hamp- 
 shire with the Historical Society of Concord ; in Vermont with the Middlebury 
 Historical Society ; in Massachusetts with the New England Historic-Genealogical So- 
 ciety, the Dedham Historical Society, the Old Colony Historical Society, and the Ips- 
 wich Historical Society ; in Rhode Island with the Newport Historical Society ; in 
 Connecticut with the Connecticut Historical Society, the New Haven Colony Histor- 
 ical Society, the Fairfield County Historical Society, and the Saugatuck Historical So- 
 ciety ; in Ohio with the State Archreological and Historical Society and the Western 
 Reserve Historical Society ; in Pennsylvania with the Numismatic and Antiquarian So- 
 ciety, the Linnean Historical and Scientific Society, and the Wyoming Geological and 
 Historical Society ; in New Jersey with the Burlington County Lyceum of History and 
 Natural Science ; in North Carolina with the Historical Society of Chapel Hill ; in In- 
 diana with the Geological and Historical Society at Indianapolis ; in Maryland with the 
 Historical Society of Baltimore; in Virginia with the Historical Society at Richmond; 
 in Georgia with the Historical Society at Savannah; in Tennessee with the Historical 
 Society at Nashville; in Wisconsin with the Historical Society at Madison; in Minne- 
 sota with the Historical Society of St. Paul ; in Kansas with the Historical Society at 
 Topeka; in Nebraska with the Historical Society at Lincoln; in California with the 
 Historical Society at San Francisco and Los Angeles; and in Canada with the Quebec 
 Historical Society. He is a life member of the Oneida Historical Society at TJtica, 
 N. Y.| and its corresponding secretary. 
 
 WILLIAMS, ROBERT STANTON, the youngest surviving child of William and 
 Sophia WilUams, was born in Utica, September 10, 1828. His father, being at 
 this time in rather straightened circumstances the boy learned in early youth to un- 
 derstand the restrictions and trials inseparable from poverty. After the sale of his 
 book store Colonel Williams removed in 1836 with his family to Tonawanda to take 
 charge of an estate of which he was part owner in connection with Henry Huntington, 
 of Rome. Life on an Erie County farm in the earlier years of the century meant hard 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL. 79 
 
 work and little recreation, exterior conditions not likely to teach a child much un- 
 less it were the art of goiag deep, of tracing to their sources the ways of nature, and 
 obtaining those sound and thorough habits which spring from intinaacy with country 
 living. Whatever childhood in a Western village may be to the imagination its reality 
 in the case of Robert Williams was not sufficiently attractive to have crowded his 
 memory in after years with many recollections of the place. Having passed his tenth 
 birthday lie was placed with Henry Ivison (his father's former apprentice in the Utica 
 book-bindery), at that time a prosperous bookseller in Auburn. An agreement was 
 made under which the boy was received in the family of his employer and allowed to 
 pay for the cost of board and schooling by doing odd jobs in the store and learning the 
 book-binder's trade. But Mr. Ivison, though a just man, was a Scotchman, and as the 
 lad became increasingly useful his duties developed to the detriment of his lessons until 
 hardly any time at all remained for study. Under these circumstances he served in some 
 respects a rather painful apprenticeship in Auburn, the reminiscence of which has occasion- 
 ally returned to him as a fitful cause of dejection. Eager and industrious as he normally 
 was he naturally failed of success in his classes when continually kept away from them 
 to assist in the bindery or at the book store. Of his education he has been heard to speak 
 with disparagement, asserting that he got Httle by the brief and irregular periods of his 
 schooling. To a mind, nevertheless, accustomed from the first to self-instruction with 
 its subjective development, mere presence in a class-room is of secondary importance 
 His training was one which fits men to deal with real persons and things, though it 
 never became simply an outgrowth of worldly wisdom. He did not neglect the duty 
 every mind owes to itself of making steps forward in culture, and even as a hard- 
 worked boy he often renounced the pleasures dear to children of his age in order to sat- 
 isfy an appetite for literature, whetted, probably, by his environment in the book store. 
 Cultivation which comes in this way is never a thing to be afterward forgotten or set 
 aside in a busy career ; it is a matter of the heart as well as of the intellect and estab- 
 lishes that balance and unity with oneself which is, next to spiritual peace, the highest 
 service of mind to material happiness. 
 
 If at this time Mr. Williams's contention was true in the conventional sense that he 
 learned nothing he at least became something. But the strain of over-many duties 
 presently told on his health, and by the summer of 1842 he was compelled to seek the 
 rest and change of country life. During the two following years he hved on the farm 
 of his uncle, James Wells, at New Hartford, where with his brother Edward he became 
 acquainted with the approved methods of Oneida County farming. In 1844 he went 
 to Brooklyn, where his brother Dwight, now of Utica, was living, and there attended 
 school for a term. Returning in the winter to Auburn he re-entered Mr. Ivison's em- 
 ploy, remaining with him until September, 1846. The appetite for learning was not 
 yet appeased in spite of this hopeful opening in a business career. Broken in health 
 his father was quite unable to aid his younger children in their education, but by some 
 additional exertion, furthered doubtless by the interest of older brothers, the young man 
 was able to resume his schooling. This time, with better success in his selection than 
 before, he entered the Cortland Academy at Homer, then under the management of 
 Samuel B. Woolworth, afterward secretary of the Regents of the University of the 
 
8o MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 State of New York, and in this institution he remained until March, 1848, nearly com- 
 pleting his preparation for college. 
 
 The slender accumulation of means seems to have been at length exhausted. Those 
 were the days when universities, by an all but absolute custom, were closed to poor 
 boys who had no distinct aims toward professional careers, the knowledge which is in- 
 bibed from contact with great seats of learning being supposed to benefit only the not- 
 ably rich or clever lads in a community. Though for this reason '' defrauded," as 
 Charles Lamb somewhere says of himself, "of the sweet food of academic instruction '' 
 he did not, while earning a livihg, suffer his mind to starve for want of such nourish- 
 ment as good and plentiful reading could supply. After a year spent in Utica he re- 
 ceived an appointment (July, 1849) in the railway mail service as route agent between 
 Albany and Buffalo. The work was fatiguing in the extreme, and railway travel in 
 that day was not only tiresome, but rendered dangerous by frequent accidents. An 
 incident is related which illustrates his broad conception of duty in this position, charac- 
 terizing a man who is more than his words, whose moral size is measured by disinter- 
 ested fidelity to others. He soon discovered that an immense amount of petty pur- 
 loinings was practiced by government servants. Doubtless the checks upon dishonesty 
 were not as systematic and effective then as now, but operations of this sort when- 
 ever he met them outraged that irrefragable rectitude which is a part of his Puritan 
 heredity and prompted him to especial efforts in behalf of the service. On one occa- 
 sion, when the unaccountable consumption of canvas mail-bags along his route was suf- 
 ficient to palpably cripple the distribution of the newspaper mails, he got permission to 
 employ a holiday in investigating the deficit. He observed in a certain village where 
 the postmaster was a miller that the flour sacks appeared to be of an unusually stout 
 make, and following up the clue found at the mill a heap of canvas mail-bags which 
 the thrifty operator had accumulated and made fit for his private purposes by turning 
 inside out to conceal the government mark. Such disclosures of fraud were not unat- 
 tended with discomfort to the agent who made them, for officials with a political " pull " 
 did not scruple to revenge their disgrace if they could ; but Mr. Williams has always 
 believed that real evils were to be combated and overthrown at every hazard, and the 
 peril of pursuing them probably never occupied his thoughts. 
 
 Early.in the year 1852 he resigned his position to attend his brother James during a 
 fatal illness, which terminated in March of that year, and with his return to his native 
 town begins Mr. Williams's permanent and intimate association with its progress and 
 interests. Without marked predilection for any particular occupation it was perhaps 
 an accident at first that secured him a place as book-keeper in the City Bank, but the 
 choice once made was most fortunate for the exercise of his abilities to their best ad- 
 vantage. Emphatically masculine, robust, and sane, accomplishing his ends by shere force 
 of honesty, of being in the right rather than by mere cleverness, he soon won from 
 those who could best judge his course that confidence and respect which constitute the 
 necessary moral capital of every successful banker. To a man of his singleness and 
 intensity there could be no question of the indispensable nature of this kind of credit. 
 Since to the great majority actual genius is denied to some a compensating gift of in- 
 dustry is given, the value of which is often higher in correlation to the conditions of 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL. 8i 
 
 modern life, and it was the development of this quality which earned the young clerk 
 the precious reputation in the community of being " prompt, accurate, and reliable." 
 While in his subordinate position he lost no opportunity of improving his technical 
 knowledge. To this end, when one of his senior fellow clerks became restless by being 
 kept long after banking hours, he induced him as a favor to teach him the method used 
 in his department, and was soon able to take care of part of jhis and all of his own 
 books, while his friend prolonged his restful sessions in the pursuit of literary fame. 
 This sort of devoted diligence earns its reward even outside of the region of moral fic- 
 tion ; the directors of the Oneida Bank had, it may be inferred, a pretty definite con- 
 ception of his working capacity when they induced him to enter their eniploy in Octo- 
 ber, 1854, the same month in which he was married. During his term of nearly forty 
 years, the longest service of any individual in this bank, Mr. Williams has passed 
 successively through all its grades and concerned himself heartily in its welfare. As 
 one of Utioa's business institutions its history belongs elsewhere and we need not lin- 
 ger in this place to repeat his share in the story. After a few months in the position 
 of book-keeper he was made teller in February, 1855 ; from this, in 1863, he was pro- 
 moted to the chair of managing cashier and at the same time elected a director. As 
 cashier he conducted for nearly a quarter of a century the affairs and policy of the bank, 
 which he has retained in his control during his term as president, an office given him 
 upon the death of A. J. Williams in 1886. 
 
 With increasing years have come multiplying opportunities for good and faithful serv- 
 ice in many fields, while the essential characteristics of the man remain unchanged. His 
 performances in the business and industrial community have latterly been on a larger 
 scale but they are of a piece with his early work and have fitly crowned it with success. 
 To examine these m detail would carry us into almost every important industrial concern 
 that titica has known during a generation. Before them all in his own estimation 
 would come the First Presbyterian Church and Sunday school, the church of his father, 
 whose successor he has been, both as ruling elder and Sunday school superintendent. 
 In the work of establishing mission branches in Deerfield and Bast and West Utica he 
 has displayed the same practical zeal which characterized both his parents as Christian 
 laborers among their fellow citizens. His interest in educational matters has engaged 
 him actively in behalf of both pubhc and private schools. Soon after the destruction by 
 fire of the Utica Female Academy, in 1865, he was elected a trustee and placed upon 
 the executive committee in charge of erecting the new building. As an expression of 
 the committee's foresight and faithful stewardship the building is more successful, per- 
 haps, than as an sesthetio ornament to the town. In the progress and success of the 
 school itself, with which Mr. Williams has ever since been closely associated, he takes 
 the liveliest satisfaction, a good part of which comes from his personal share in calling 
 Mrs. Piatt to her felicitous and effective career as its principal. He was elected in 
 1870 a public school commissioner, serving three years, at a time when the board ex- 
 ercised its discretion in deciding upon text-books and studies within its jurisdiction, and 
 there was rather more room than exists now for individual initiative. Among other in- 
 novations he advocated teaching music in the public schools, and secured for this end 
 the permanent employment of a qualified teacher. 
 
 K 
 
82 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 Though with no greater relish than most refined and domestic natures for public life 
 Mr. Williams has not been disposed to keep adriotly away from the real contest when 
 asked to use his influence or his energies in political affairs. During two terms as alder- 
 man from 1874 to 1878 he labored for economy in the management of municipal mat- 
 ters, and, though on the minority side of the council, succeeded simply by strength of 
 integrity in carrying out some reforms o£ lasting benefit. His measures as chairman of 
 the finance committee dealt with the things of a technical rather than of a general inter- 
 est, but in his resolute effort to raise the City Library from a mere assortment of juvenile 
 literature to be a medium of substantial benefit to the whole community he won the thanks 
 of every citizen. He also strongly advocated and assisted in the change from a volunteer 
 to a paid fire department. Flis active connection with local politics terminated in 1878, 
 when he became a candidate for the mayoralty. He accepted the nomination, as he 
 declares in a card announcing his determination, '' with considerable reluctance andiSt 
 some personal sacrifice, solely in behalf of strict economy and honesty in every branch 
 of city government." Aspirants for suffrages in this country who confine their efforts 
 during election to announcing a platform of plain truth and honesty are not generally 
 successful, nor was Mr. Williams in this instance, though well supported by the tax- 
 payers. His defeat was almost wholly due to his unwillingness to bind himself by 
 pledges of any sort to political managers, "who were so impressed with his fearlessness 
 and independence as to prefer to see a candidate of the opposite party elected. Mr. 
 Williams has also served as one of the railroad commissioners for the city of Utica, being 
 appointed in 1871 under the law of 1869 providing for the municipal aid of railroads. 
 In this capacity he assisted in the issue of $200,000 in bonds of the city of Utica, in aid 
 of the Utica, Clinton, and Binghamton Railroad, and was elected in 1872 a director of 
 this road to represent the city's interest. In 1881 he was made secretary and treasurer 
 of the company and has, since its re-organization, been prominent in its management. 
 
 The list of business organizations in which Mr. Williams has been more or less directly 
 concerned is much too long for comprehensive notice; there remains space to indicate 
 only a few, to the success of which his judgment and energy have largely contributed. 
 Since 1879 he has been on the executive committee of the Utica Cemetery Associa- 
 tion, which induced the association to buy the tract of 150 acres adjoining Forest Hill 
 Cemetery when it could be procured at a reasonable figure, thus adding to its beauty 
 and insuring room for its enlargement for many years. Upon the first introduction of 
 the Edison telephone, in 1879, Mr. Williams, with others, organized a company, for pro- 
 viding telephone service within a fifteen-mile circuit about Utica. The license for five 
 years obtained by this company was in 1882, in connection with similar licenses held by 
 four other companies, voluntarily surrendered, in exchange for a perpetual license from 
 the Bell Telephone Company covering a territory of twelve counties in Central New York, 
 and a new company was formed known as the Central New York Telephone and 
 Telegraph Company with a capital of $500,000, of which Mr. Williams was made presi- 
 dent. Another project which originated at about this time (1880), when after the re- 
 sumption of specie payment money was comparatively plenty and capital sought em- 
 ployment, was the " Mohawk Valley Cotton-Mills,'' a company for the manufacture of 
 cotton cloth. In association with Messrs. T. K. Butler, Ephraim Chamberlain, Addison C. 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL. 83 
 
 Miller, P. V. Rogers, Nicholas E. Kernan, and others the scheme was promptly started 
 and Mr. Williams elected vice-president. The call for such legitimate and promising 
 investments being still greater than the supply the " Skenandoa Cotton Company " was 
 organized in 1881 by nearly the same gentlemen to manufacture yarn. Its success has 
 been due principally to its reputation for making the best possible quality of goods, and 
 in the second place to its practice of selling directly to consumers, avoiding in this way 
 the middlemen with their commissions. Still a third venture of this sort, the "Utica 
 Willowvale Bleaching Company," originated under the same auspices in 1881 and like- 
 wise numbers Mr. Williams among it directors. 
 
 This is but the bare enumeration, indeed, of some of the chief lines of his activity, 
 omitting from the list many other movements, like those of the street railways, the gas 
 and water works, the Oneida Historical Society, etc., in which he has at one time or 
 another borne his share of risk or effort. Of his social and intellectual qualities it is 
 hardly fitting to speak while he continues to hold his cherished place in the hearts and 
 homes of many Uticans. His private library, one of the largest collections in the city, 
 is the accumulation of many years and represents pretty accurately the subjects of gen- 
 eral and particular interest with which he has stored his mind; in the association of 
 such companions he has acquired an intelligent comprehension of extraordinarily wide 
 range, fulfilling in his intellectual life the high mission to which sound culture calls each 
 of us. It is due to the dignity and simplicity of such a career that its history should be 
 told briefly, if at all. In lives like these there is a freedom from tumult, an absence of 
 strong color, that makes it easy and natural for the world to forget when they are gone. 
 Labor and frugality, with no adventure or excitement except that which comes from 
 strict and invariable adherence to the line of duty, are not attributes in themselves suit- 
 able for picturesque treatment. Yet there is a genuine satisfaction in beholding and 
 considering each example of such triumph of sober and right conduct over temptation 
 achieved in the station of life where the great majority are placed. It is not the special 
 situation, but the type, which is all-important and interesting. 
 
 rORD, Dr. WILLIS ELLARD, was born at Belfast, N. Y., and was educated in the 
 Genesee Valley Seminary at that place. He was fitted for college at the age of 
 seventeen, but did not enter, pursuing his studies at the seminary for two years and 
 then beginning his course in medicine. Grraduating in medicine in 1872, from the Med- 
 ical Department of the University of the city of New York, he was employed a short 
 time in demonstrating anatomy there, and then by competitive examination won a place 
 on the medical staff of Charity Hospital, New York, and served the regular time as 
 interne. Just before the completion of his term of service in Charity Hospital he was 
 asked to go to Utica to see Dr. Gray, then the distinguished superintendent of the New 
 York State Lunatic Asylum at that place. Dr. Gray's attention had been called to his 
 services in Charity Hospital, and liking the young man he appointed Dr. Ford to fill the 
 vacancy on his staff. Thus began a warm friendship which was terminated only by the 
 untimely death of Dr. Gray. After five years and more of service at the asylum Dr. 
 Ford began private practice in the city of Utica. At the time he left the service at the 
 
84 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 asylum, December 26, 1878, he married Miss Mary Ledyard Seymour, daughter of the 
 late John P. Seymour, of Utica. In private practice his success was more imme- 
 diate than is commonly the case, because he was favorably known to many if not all 
 of the physicians in this part of the State. He was at once sought for, not only by sick 
 people, but by physicians who desired counsel. 
 
 In 1882 he was made medical director of St. Luke's Hospital, a place he still holds. 
 After four years of service there the institution had so grown in importance that a new 
 hospital building was needed. Dr. Ford was active in securing necessary subscriptions 
 and in the building of the hospital, which, as it now stands, is a source of pride to the 
 city. He instituted in 1888 the St. Luke's School of Instruction for Nurses, which is 
 one of the most popular institutions in the city today. For some years he has given 
 much attention to gynecology, and his success in using electricity in this field caused 
 his appointment in 1889 as professor of eleotro-therapeutins in the Medical Department 
 of the University of Buffalo and next year as lecturer on the same topic in the Medical 
 Department of the University of the city of ;New York. He holds both positions now 
 and gives annually a course of lectures to the medical students in these colleges. In 
 1884 the degree of M.A. was conferred upon him by Madison University. He has been 
 a liberal contributor to current medical literature. Dr. Ford, besides being a member of 
 various local medical organizations, is a Fellow of the American Gynecological Society, 
 a member and this year president of the American Climalogical Society, a Fellow of the 
 New York Academy of Medicine, a permanent member of the Medical Society of the 
 State of New York, and a member of and this year president of the Alumni Associa- 
 tion of the Medical Department of the University of the city of New York. 
 
 GREEN, WALTER JEROME, late a prominent citizen and business man of Utica, 
 member of the banking house of Charles Q-reen & Son, of this city, and president 
 and owner of the Jacksonville, St. Augustine, and Halifax River Railroad of Florida, 
 was born in Hubbardsville, Madison County, N. Y., October 10, 1842, and died in Utica 
 on January 27, 1885. His widow and an only child (a son) survive him. His father, 
 Charles Grreen (who still resides at the family homestead in Hubbardsville), was bom in 
 Sangerfield, Oneida County, N. Y., May 28, 1811. He has been in business in Utica for 
 a number of years, and is probably one of the oldest and best known bankers and busi- 
 ness men in this part of the State. The father of Charles Green was David Green, who was 
 born at South East, Putnam County, N. Y. His ancestors came Over in the Mayflower. 
 He was related to Gen. Nathaniel Green, of Revolutionary fame. His mother's name was 
 Deliverance Hatch, who was born at Cape Cod, Mass. Her mother's name was Sears. 
 David Green was also related to the Sears family. The mother of Walter Jerome 
 Green was Mary Jane Hubbard, of Hubbardsville, Madison County, N. Y. Her father 
 was Oliver Kellogg Hubbard, born at Windsor, Conn. Her mother, Mary Meaohem, 
 was born at -Simsbury, Conn. Mr. Green , married, June 26, 1867, Miss Sarah L., 
 daughter of Henry Swartwout, of Troy, N. Y. The mother of Mrs. Green was Maria 
 Lester Kittlehuyn, whose great-grandfather was William Kittlehuyn, of Saratoga, N. Y., 
 who in 1734 was the owner of land ten miles square in what is now the village of 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL. 85 
 
 Saratoga. Mrs. Green's father is descended from the family of Swartwouts who 
 came from Kirkoven in Holland to this country and settled in New Netherlands, now 
 New York. A large grant of land upon the Mohawk Eiver was made by the Dutch 
 government to Johannes von Swartwout. The family have held the rank of barons in 
 the United Netherlands for more than three centuries. The head of the family is now 
 the Baron von Swartwout, of Kirkoven. 
 
 " It is related of Capt. Abraham Swartwout that probably the first display of the 
 American flag at a military post was at Fort Schuyler, on the site of Rome, N. T. The 
 fort was besieged early in the month of August, 1777, and the garrison were without a 
 flag, so they made one according to the prescription of Congress by cutting up sheets to 
 form white stripes, bits of scarlet cloth for the red stripes, and the blue ground for the 
 stars was composed of portions of a cloth cloak belonging to Capt. Abraham Swart- 
 wout, of Dutchess County,,N. T., and the flag was unfurled August 3, 1777." , 
 
 Walter Jerome Green received a liberal education in his youth, having attended Caz- 
 enovia Seminary and Madison University. Deciding to. enter the legal profession he 
 was properly qualified for it by an extensive course of study, which was closed at the 
 Albany University, whence he was graduated in 1864 and admitted to the bar. Having 
 practiced his profession two years the increasing importance of his father's business 
 made it desirable for him to come to his assistance, and he abandoned the legal profes- 
 sion and entered the bank. In a short time he was admitted to partnership, the firm 
 becoming Charles Green & Son. Young though he was his enterprising spirit soon 
 made itself felt in the afi'airs of his father's business, which gradually broadened its 
 field of operations and took a leading part among the similar enterprises in the central 
 part of the State. An important department in the business of the house was the trade 
 in hops, which became so extensive as to place the firm among the largest dealers in 
 this country. To meet the demand for reliable intelligence bearing on the hop trade 
 the firm published a journal known as Charles Green <h Son's Hop Paper, a large, 
 handsomely printed, four-page folio of twenty-eight columns, of which an edition of 
 about 5,000 was issued, gratuitously, quarterly. Mr. Green became interested in a rail- 
 road project in Florida, which promised the happiest results. Seeking a new field for 
 investment of his capital his attention was drawn to the lack of modern transporta- 
 tion facilities in the fruit growing section of that State ; and guided by the promptings 
 of his judgment, which on many previous occasions had been exercised with the most 
 fortunate results, he threvsr both energy and money into the scheme. The outcome of 
 this efi'ort was the Jacksonville, St. Augustine, and Halifax Eiver Railroad, of which 
 Mr. Green was president and the entire owner. This began at Jacksonville on the St. 
 John's River in the northeastern corner of the State and extended southwardly and east- 
 wardly to St. Augustine on the Atlantic Coast, and was thirty -seven miles in length. 
 The road connected with the Atlantic Coast Steamship Company, running outside to 
 New Smyrna on the Halifax Coast. Mr. Green's intentions were to extend the road 
 a distance of 106 miles to New Smyrna. This would have afforded quick and cheap 
 transportation between Jacksonville and the Halifax and Indian River country. Al- 
 though recently constructed the road received an extensive patronage, and its energetic 
 president and his assistants gave ample proof of their ability to meet every demand that 
 
86 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 should be made upon them. It ran through a fertile and rapidly developing region, and 
 shortened the time of transport between the orange country of the east coast of Florida 
 and New York by some eight days — a most important consideration under any circum- 
 stances, but more especially in view of the perishable nature of the delicate fruit tranf- 
 ported. While the possibilities of this section of Florida as a fruit-growing country and 
 health resort had long been known, and to some extent developed, progress had been 
 slow and uncertain owing to the lack of railroad facilities. Mr. Green's enterprise bid 
 fair to remedy this completely, and the beneficent effects were perceptible in a great 
 variety of ways in the fertile, beautiful, and salubrious peninsula traversed by his road. 
 Among the most notable results is the laying out of new towns between St. Augustine 
 and Jacksonville. Here the balmy breezes from the Atlantic, softened and toned by their 
 passage through miles of health-giving pine forests, impart a recuperative property to 
 the air which cannot fail to make the locality a favorite resort for invalids, while its easy 
 accessibility must also contribute greatly to its popularity. The impetus given to the 
 whole peninsula by the building of the Jacksonville, St. Augustine, and Halifax River 
 Railroad rapidly attracted northern capital, and it is probably no more than just to say 
 that this project, so successfully inaugurated and carried through by Mr. Grreen, has had 
 more to do with the upbuilding of this part of the State of Florida than any other in- 
 fluence. The railroad rapidly enlarged its terminal facilities and was supplied by its 
 active president with additional freight and passenger cars, including two new parlor 
 cars and a magnificent new ferry boat. The Mechanic, 140 feet in length, and said to be 
 the finest looking craft of its kind in any waters south of New York city, capable of 
 carrying 1,800 people and 15 large teams. The arrival of The Mechanic recorded an- 
 other step taken by Mr. G-reen to secure for Jacksonville the immense trade that was 
 developing along the South Atlantic Coast, and the railroad being now equipped with 
 two steamers was better than ever prepared to command it. 
 
 Speaking of the death of Mr. Green the Florida IKmes- Union says : 
 
 "A host of friends in Jacksonville were shocked this morning by the announcement 
 of the death W. Jerome Green, of Utica, N. Y. At once the flags on the steam ferry 
 line were displayed at half-mast and the ofiSce in this city draped in mourning. In the 
 death of Mr. Green Jacksonville loses one of her best friends, for he realized that the 
 interests of his road and that of the city were identified, and shaped the management 
 and policy of the road accordingly. Our business men feel deeply his death, for it was 
 well known that it was his policy to push the road to Daytona and points farther south 
 with all possible speed. While it is true that Jacksonville, in the death of Mr. Green, 
 has lost a friend it is still more true if possible that the whole Halifax Coast has suf- 
 fered a much more serious loss. Mr. Green's wife and son and friends have the deep- 
 est sympathies of our entire community in their sad bereavement." 
 
 On the death of Mr. Green the property was left to trustees for his son. It was sold 
 six years ago to H. M. Flagler, of New York, who has carried out the plans and ideas 
 of its late owner. The road brought $350,000, which is invested in government bonds 
 for his son and in that shape will await his maturity. 
 
 In the varied enterprises in which he had been engaged Mr. Green showed himself 
 possessed of superior intelligence and judgment and a rare degree of push and energy. 
 He seldom entered upon a project as a mere speculation and what, to less far-sighted 
 and sagacious persons might seem fraught with disaster, proved in his competent hands 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL. 
 
 87 
 
 prolific of success. Not alone in Utioa, but throughout the central part of the State, 
 where his business relations have been numerous, important, and in active operation for 
 », score of years, he was highly respected as an honorable and successful banker and 
 merchant and an upright man. In the South, where his capital, intelligence, and en- 
 ergy had of late provided congenial and profitable employment, the results of his labors 
 have already been recognized as alike beneficent and progressive. Returning from active 
 labors in Florida in the winter of 1884-85 he was passing some time at his home in 
 Utica, when he was stricken with apoplexy, and died January 27, 1885. 
 
 Exceptionally far-seeing, and possessing rare judgment in business matters, Mr. Green 
 had accumulated a handsome property. He spared no pains to render his home beauti- 
 ful and attractive within and without, and the residence on Rutger Place is one of the 
 handsomest in this city. Bright, genial, hospitable, well informed, and entertaining he 
 had a large number of friends to whom his sudden and unexpected death was the occa- 
 sion of profound sorrow. 
 
 HUTCHINSON, Hon. CHARLES WEBSTER, was born at Providence, R. I., on 
 July 4, 1826, in which city his parents were then temporarily residing. His birth 
 took place at the residence of Maj. Samuel McClellan, who occupied the dwelling on 
 the corner of School and Benefit streets in that city. Mr. Hutchinson has been a resi- 
 dent of the city of Utica from the year following his birth, and here received his early 
 education under such prominent instructors as Thomas Towell, William Backus, Will- 
 iam Williams, William 0. Barrett, David Prentice, LL.D., Gleorge R. Perkins, LL.D., 
 and others. At the age of fifteen he entered the Scientific Department at Q-eneva Col- 
 lege, devoting himself principally to these studies and the modern languages. He was 
 then appointed to a position as clerk in the office of the Syracuse and Utica Railroad 
 Company at Utica. He resigned this position in 1847, having been appointed teller of 
 the Fort Plain Bank, and acted for the three subsequent years in that capacity. 
 
 Returning to Utica he assumed charge of the combined interests of his father and 
 Hon. Horatio Seymour in the manufacturing firm of E. K. Browning & Co., but after a 
 few months he took charge under his own name and devoted himself to its interests 
 until the autumn of the year 1865, when he disposed of the business and went to 
 Europe with his wife, passing between two and three years in travel upon the Conti- 
 nent and a winter in Africa and Egypt, returning to Italy by the Mediterranean and 
 Sicily. Upon his return home to Utica he took an active interest in matters of a pub- 
 lic character, and for several years was a director of the Utica Mechanics Association. 
 He was vice-president and presiding officer of the New York State Sportsmen's Asso- 
 ciation for several years from its organization, and was a member of the first committee 
 who presented a revision of the game laws to the legislature of this State, which were 
 adopted, and in 1871 he was elected its president. He was elected mayor of the city of 
 Utica in 1875, and during his term of office a number of important local measures were 
 successfully inaugurated and completed. Several artistic fountains were erected in the 
 public parks, and the latter beautified and reclaimed from their former neglected con- 
 dition ; several culverts were built, and the work of filling the streets over them was 
 
88 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 rapidly pushed forward, the benefits of which were soon proved by the rapid improve- 
 ments and growth of the easterly part of the city. His administration was marked by 
 a judicious economy in public expenditures, and many improvements were inaugurated 
 to the ultimate advancement of the interests of the city. The year of his mayoralty, 
 being notable as the centennial year, was a period which brought into more than or- 
 dinary prominence the local executive officials throughout the country. During that 
 year the citizens of Utica extended the hospitalities of the city for the ninth annual re- 
 union of the Army of the Cumberland, which invitation was accepted for the dates of 
 September 15th and 16th. Mayor Hutchinson, in his official capacity as chief magis- 
 trate, made the address of welcome in the opera house, and addresses were also delivered 
 by Hon. Horatio Seymour, Hon. Roscoe Oonkling, and other citizens. Among those 
 present were President Grant, Vioe-Pres. Henry Wilson, several members of the na- 
 tional cabinet, and judges of the Supreme Court of the United States, while the army 
 was represented by General Sherman and his staff, and Generals Joseph Hooker, H. W. 
 Slocum, H. A. Barnum, J. G. Parkhurst, Henry M. Cist, Daniel Butterfield, J. S. Ffil- 
 lerton, David S. Stanley, A. G. McCook, James McQuade, J. B. Kiddoo, Frank Wheaton, 
 James G. Grindlay, W. H. Christian, and many other distinguished Union commanders. 
 His Excellency Governor Samuel J. Tilden was the guest of Mr. Hutchinson, and with 
 him were many other prominent State officials, constituting altogether one of the most 
 distmguished gatherings of national and State dignitaries ever assembled outside of the 
 capital of the nation. The re-union was a grand success and was fully appreciated by 
 all the delegates and guests who were in attendance, and they expressed the highest 
 gratification at the attention shown them by the citizens and their liberality of enter- 
 tainment and generous hospitality. Railroad trains and other modes of conveyance 
 were kept at the free disposal of the visitors, and Trenton Falls, the armory at Ilion, 
 the cotton factories, and other industries of the city and New York Mills and adjoining 
 villages were visited. The re-union closed with a reception and ball at the opera house. 
 President Grant and Governor Tilden receiving in the proscenium boxes. One of the 
 guests wrote of it as follows: 
 
 " No notice of this event, written at the late hour required by the circumstances, can 
 do justice to its elegance and success in every particular. Each succeedmg moment 
 seemed to be more and more enjoyable, and the culmination was a grand triumph. 
 Nothing of the kind ever before attempted in this city or vicinity equalled it; it re- 
 flected the greatest credit upon the city and the good people who tendered it with the 
 most perfect cordiality to their honored guests, the brave men of the Society of the 
 Army of the Cumberland. It will be a long time ere the bright dream will be for- 
 gotten." 
 
 Mr. Hutchinson was prominent in organizing the Utica Park Association, and was 
 its president from its incorporation from 1872 until 1889, excepting three terms, when, 
 other matters engrossing his attention, he decHned an election. This park property 
 was estimated to have cost over $150,000, but it was sold by him to the State Masonic 
 Home in 1889 for the sum of $75,000. To this noble charity, in which as a Mason 
 Mr. Hutchinson was deeply interested, he donated toward this purchase price the sum 
 of $25,000. As a Mason he is a member of Utica Lodge, Oneida Chapter, Utica Com- 
 mandery of Knights Templar, and Yah-nun-dah-sis Lodge of Perfection, and has taken 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL. 89 
 
 the 32d degree of Jthe Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite in Cosmopolitan Consistory 
 of New York. He is also prominent in the order of Odd Fellows and now holds the 
 position of colonel and chief of equipment of the Patriarchs Militant Independent Order 
 of Odd Fellows in the Department of the Atlantic, was for several years president of 
 the Utica Club, and is a member of the Democratic and Manhattan Clubs, both of New 
 York city. Mr. Hutchinson was one of the organizers of the Oneida Historical Society, 
 associated with Alexander Seward, S. N. D. North, John F. Seymour, and Morven M. 
 Jones, of which the late Pon. Horatio Seymour was president from its founding in 
 the year 1876 until his death. During this period he was first vice-president and acting 
 president, is one of the Board of Councillors, and is now its president, being elected in 
 1891. He has delivered several addresses before the society upon subjects relating to 
 the| early history of the Mohawk Valley, and was a member of the committee of five 
 who selected the design and erected the monument commemorating the battle of Oris- 
 kany, August 6, 1777. He is also a corresponding member of a number of historical 
 societies. For many years he has devoted a portion of his leisure to the studies of eth- 
 nology, history, and allied subjects, and his library is large and valuable in rare books, 
 in both English and foreign languages. One of his favorite subjects of study is In- 
 dianology, particularly relating to the Iroquois or tribes of the Six Nations. His cabi- 
 net of Indian curios and relics is one of the most noted in the State, and v/as exhibited 
 at the Bartholdi Exhibition in New York, at the Albany Bi-Centennial, and at the In- 
 ternational Fair in 1888 held at Bufifalo. Mr. Hutchinson, in appreciation of the warm 
 interest he has taken in matters relating to the condition and welfare of the Iroquois, 
 was adopted by them and given the name of "Gy-ant-wa-ka" (The Cornplanter) by a 
 council of the Senecas on their reservation, June 15, 1885. 
 
 Among the corporate positions held by him was that of president of the Utica and 
 Mohawk Raihoad Company, and he ultimately became the owner of that road. He is 
 also president of the Central New York Agricultural Association and is a trustee of the 
 Holland Trust Company of New York city. He was elected a vestryman of Trinity 
 Church Utica, in 1861 and warden in 1887. This church is one of the oldest Episco- 
 pal churches in the western part of this State, having been organized May 24, 1803 
 and incorporated August 14, 1804. He is largely interested in real estate and the man- 
 ufacturing interests of the city of his residence, and is sanguine of a rapid and prosper- 
 ous development of its great natural resources in the near future. „ ^, , , 
 
 Mr Hutchinson was married October 9, 1851, by the Rt. Rev. Thomas M. Clark, the 
 present bishop of Rhode Island, to Miss Laura Clark Beckwith, the eldest daughter of 
 the late Alonzo S. Beckwith, a prominent citizen of Hartford, Conn. She died April 
 11 1883 leaving no children. Mrs. Hutchinson was active and generous m all chari- 
 table works, and her sister and herself were the " two founders " of that benevolent 
 institution the " House of the Good Shepherd," whose mission is the care of httle 
 children Mr. Hutchinson's father. Holmes Hutchinson, was an eminent civil engineer 
 and was a son of Amaziah Hutchinson and Elizabeth Mack He was born at Genoa 
 Cayu<.a County, N. Y., January 5, 1794, and removed to Utica in 819, and was almost 
 constantly employed as an engineer upon the Erie Canal and its enlargement and other 
 ca^a s of the State from that date until 1835, when he was appointed chief engineer of 
 
90 MEMORIAL HISTOR Y OF UTICA. 
 
 the middle division, which position he held until 1841. During this period he made the 
 maps and surveys of the Brie Canal from Canastota to the Hudson River, the Black River, 
 Cayuga, Crooked Lake, Chemung, and Seneca Canals, the G-lens Falls feeder and the 
 Rochester aqueduct, and of a proposed canal on Long Island uniting Jamaica Bay with 
 Rockaway Inlet. His report to the legislature, dated March, 1826, says " that construct- 
 ing nine miles of canal through the inland bays form a continuous navigation from Sag 
 Harbor to the city of New York, a distance of 115 miles,'' and he recommended its 
 construction. In 1889, after a lapse of sixty-three years, this project was again brought 
 into prominence. In 1825 he was engaged as chief engineer by the Connecticut 
 River Company upon the recommendation of Gov. De Witt Clinton, of New York, 
 to survey a route of water communication from Barnet, in the State of Vermont, to the 
 city of Hartford, Conn., a distance of 219 miles. Upon receiving his report the directors 
 of the company by resolution said "that Mr. Hutchinson has fully justified their high- 
 wrought anticipations." In 1826 he was appointed by the authorities of the State of 
 Rhode Island chief engineer of the construction of the Blackstone Canal from the city 
 of Providence to Worcester, Mass. In 1828 he was chief engineer of the constrution 
 of the Oxford and Cumberland Canal in the State of Maine. He married February 15, 
 1824, Maria Abeel Webster, the second daughter of Joshua Webster, M.D., of Fort 
 Plain, N. Y., who was one of the most prominent among the early physicians of the 
 Mohayvk Valley. Dr. Webster was a lineal descendant of Thomas Webster, of Ipswich, 
 England, and was a son of John Webster, of Scarboro, Me. He was surgeon of the 
 One Hundred and Thirty-eighth Regiment New York State Volunteers during the 
 War of 1812 and was a member of the State legislature in 1822. Dr. Webster mar- 
 ried Catharine Wagner, whose mother was the daughter of John Abeel, the Indian 
 trader, whose father, Johannes Abeel, resided in Albany, and was recorder and mayor 
 of that city during the years 1C94 and 1695 and also during 1709 and 1710. He was 
 also one of the commissioners of Indian affairs from 1706 to 1710. Mrs. Webster's 
 grandfather was Col. Johan Peter Wagner, who with William Fox had the distinction 
 of being the first two of the Palatinates who settled in the Mohawk Valley, easterly of 
 Garoga Creek, in the town of Palatine in 1723. The colonel's oldest son, also Johan 
 Peter, was a member of the committee of safety during the Revolution, and was lieu- 
 tenant-colonel in the regiment of Colonel Cox at the battle of Oriskany, August 6, 1777, 
 in which battle two of his sons, Johan Georg and Johan Jost, and five, members of the 
 Wagner family were also engaged. After General Herkimer was wounded and Col. 
 iEbenezer Cox was killed tradition says that Colonel Wagner took command of the 
 brigade, which resulted in the victory so decisive for the American forces. Mr. Hutch- 
 inson was prominent in many of the early enterprises in the State ; was one of the 
 •original directors of the Syracuse and Utica Railroad, of the Lake Ontario Steamboat 
 Company, of the Bank of Utica, and other corporations; and was for some years 
 the president of the Syracuse and Oswego Railroad. He was quiet in his demeanor 
 and courteous in speech and manner, and all who were brought into Contact with him 
 accorded him their respect and esteem, and acknowledged his high sense of- honor and 
 scrupulous integrity. He died suddenly at his residence in the city of Utica, February 
 21, 1865, aged seventy-one years. 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL. 91 
 
 The records and traditions of the Hutchinson family are that the founder of this old 
 family is traced back to the tenth century and came from Cranborg, in the Danish 
 island of Zealand, with Harold Harefoot, and he was then designated in Latin Kfeinensis, 
 meaning a native of Witton. The family settled in England at or near Middleham, in 
 the bishopric of Durham, and they were free tenants of the Prince Bishops of that 
 manor, particularly Cornforth and Humber Knowles, after the Conquest. Bleazer 
 Hutchinson, the ancestor of this branch of the family, came to America in 1633 and 
 afterward settled at Lebanon, now Andover, Conn. There were four of this name in 
 direct descent. Eleazer the second married Ruth Long. They had seven children, 
 Amaziah, the father of Holmes Hutchinson, being the third son, who was born Decem- 
 ber 14, 1762. He married Elizabeth Mack, March 30, 1791. They had ten children, 
 Holmes being the second son. His mother's grandmother was Sybella Browne, the 
 only daughter of Sir John Browne, Viscount Montague, of Londonderry, Ireland, who 
 married John Mack, who with his wife and William, his son, came from the town of Ar- 
 magh to America in 1732 and settled at Londonderry, N. H. Tradition records that 
 Isabella Browne, the cousin of Sybella, was married to the grandfather of Gov. 
 George Clinton, of New York. 
 
 WILLIAMS, JAMES WATSON, was the son of Nathan Williams, for many 
 years circuit judge, and was born in Utica, May 18, 1810. In his youth he 
 held the first positions in the schools and in the College where he was educated. 
 He studied law with his father and was at first a clerk in the court of the vice- 
 chancellor. Then in association for some years with David Wager, his brother-in-law, 
 and still longer alone, he was more or lass occupied with the duties of his profession. 
 It was an occupation, however, in which he found little that was congenial, so that his 
 time and attention were largely engrossed with other employments. About 1835 he be- 
 came editor of the WttUy Ohstrver and was connected with it over two years, giving 
 brilliant proof of strength as a logician, high culture, and patience in study and research. 
 In all matters of hfe and business Mr. Williams was remarkable for the neatness and 
 the accuracy of his transactions. His clear-headed insight, his conscientious fidelity, his 
 fine penmanship, and the nice care with which everything was executed that fell to his 
 lot to do were so universally felt that demands upon him were frequently made to per- 
 form public and official duty which no one else could so well do. In 1847 he was made 
 mayor of the city and in 1848 was placed in nomination for Congress. He was a most 
 serviceable commissioner of the public schools and as such a judicious guardian of the 
 interests of the Public Library, and an active trustee of the Female Academy ; one of the 
 original Board of Trustees of the Utica Cemetery Association on whose unerring taste 
 hislssociates largely relied ; president of the Board of the Utica Water Works Company, 
 and secretary as well as manager of the Managing Board of the State Hospital for the 
 
 Insane. ,■ 1, -o 
 
 He was in fact noted for his taste and skill in a wide range of accomplishments. He 
 was well read in English literature and had a refined appreciation of all that related to 
 the arts He spoke and wrote with ease and with a choiceness of phraseology which 
 
92 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 showed that he had given days and nights to the best of models. He was well fitted to 
 deliver addresses on public occasions on a great variety of topics, and was ever ready 
 to pay a public tribute to those of his acquaintance who passed to their final rest before 
 him. At the lime of his own death he was busied in preparing a discourse to be shortly 
 spoken before the Phi Beta Kappa of Hamilton College. 
 
 Mr. Williams had the abilities which qualified him for eminence and usefulness in 
 public relations. Yet his critical taste and habits of minute and careful elaboration held 
 him back in some degree from reaching that prominence in the public mind to which by 
 his talents he was entitled. His very fastidiousness and nicety were apt to make him 
 dissatisfied with his own productions, and prevent his coming forward as freqently and 
 as boldly as he should have done in justice to himself. Added to this his scholarly 
 habits and inclinations led him to follow, in preference, the more peaceful and retired 
 walks of private life. All those who knew him, however, from his earliest youth felt 
 that if he had seen fit to throw himself into the struggle for public distinction he had the 
 ■ qualities and attainments that would have enabled him to reach any point at which his 
 ambition might have aimed. 
 
 Beyond respect inspired by his abilities Mr Williams was also held in high regard by 
 the community for his unbending integrity. From earliest youth, his career was 
 marked by the blamelessness of his character, and in all his dealings since he was up- 
 right, honorable, and courteous. In his disposition he was mild, amiable, and genial, 
 while his intercourse with his fellowmen was marked with kindly charity and benevo- 
 lent interest. His rehgious convictions were strong and clear, his "devotion to the 
 church of his fathers constant and invaluable. He was a considerate husband and 
 a tender father. His wife was Helen, daughter of Alfred Munson, who together with 
 two daughters is still living. Another daughter died in childhood. 
 
 ROBKRTS, ELLIS H., was the son of Watkins Roberts, and was born in Utica, 
 September 30, 1827. His preliminary education he obtained in the Whitestown 
 Seminary, and thence he went to Yale College, whfere he was graduated in 1850, taking 
 the second honor. During his college vacations he spent his time in the printing 
 office of his brother, and by his diligence in type-setting he became a practical printer. 
 After graduation he was for a short time principal of the academy, and then joined 
 Messrs. Sherman, Colston & Roberts in the conduct of the Utica Morning Herald, which 
 had been recently started by them. Of this paper he soon became sole editor and pro- 
 prietor, and continued to conduct it with the help of able assistants down to October, 
 1890, when it passed into the hands of a company. Mr. Roberts was a terse and forci- 
 ble writer, firm and consistent in support of the principles of the Republican party, yet 
 too independent to be led into the advocacy of men or measures which his judgment 
 did not approve. He gave to the paper a character for enterprise, intelligence, and 
 uprightness which secured it a wide circulation in Central and Northern New York 
 and an enviable repute the whole country over. He left it to become assistant treasu- 
 rer of the United States at New York city, where he now resides. 
 
 Mr. Roberts sat as a member of the New York Assembly in 1867, and was afterward 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL. 93 
 
 •a representative of his district in the Forty-second and Forty-third terms of the United 
 States Congress, where he served in the Committee of Ways and Means. At the close 
 •of these official duties he made an extensive tour in Europe, returning to the manage- 
 ment of the HeraU. His interest in the civic, educational, and other affairs of Utica 
 that concerned its general welfare were shown not only by the support he gave them 
 in his paper, but his concession to the frequent demands made upon him for addresses 
 on pubKc occasions. He was and is still a trustee of Hamilton College, from which he 
 received the degree of LL.D., and of the Utica Female Academy. The same honor was 
 likewise conferred on him by Yale College. He succeeded Governor Seymour as presi- 
 dent of the Oneida Historical Society, and was president of the Fort Schuyler Club, as 
 well as of the Beehive Bank, so-called. He was author of a history of New York, pub- 
 lished as one of the Commonwealth series, and of a work on Government Revenue, which 
 was made up of six lectures he delivered before the students and faculty of Cornell 
 University. 
 
 COMSTOCK, MILES CHESTER, was born in Hartwick, Otsego County, N. Y., 
 May 7, 1823, and was the oldest of ten children. Nine years later his father, 
 Sheldon Comstock, a respected, well-to-do farmer, moved with his family to Westford, 
 in the same county, and here the boy received such an education as the district school 
 of the day afforded. During the summer months life in the country was all work for 
 the industrious youth, and the winter found him busy in school, especially in the study 
 •of mathematics, of which he was naturally fond. At the age of seventeen, having lost 
 his mother to whom he was devotedly attached, he decided to leave the farm and to 
 accept a position offered him in a grocery store in Utica, on Genesee street, just below 
 Fayette. On arriving in Utica he found himself with a capital of one shilling, a new 
 ■suit of clothes, willing hands and a determination to succeed. Before the expiration of 
 the year, however, the firm by whom he was employed failed and he returned to West- 
 ford, rich in a pi'oportion of his year's salary, which was to have been eighty dollars. 
 After another winter in school he came back to Utica and entered the store of Elijah 
 G. Peckham, who sold out a little later to T. K. Butler. In Mr. Butler's employment 
 Mr. Comstock, by industry, good management and economy, laid the foundation for a 
 .successful business career. After five years' clerkship he was admitted to partnership 
 the firm becoming T. K. Butler & Co. In 1855 Mr. Comstock organized the firm of 
 Dickinson, Comstock & Co., which was changed on the death of Mr. Dickinson to 
 ■Comstock Bros. Since this time he has extended his business interests in various 
 ways, giving employment to a large number of workingmen. The manufacturing firm 
 of Comstock Bros. & Co. began in 1868, and some years later Mr. Comstock purchased 
 the factories of the Segar Manufacturing Co., of Utica, and Hard Bros. & Co., of 
 Oneida, and incorporated them as the Comstock Manufacturing Co. From time to 
 time he hasinvested in city property, always with the idea of its ultimate improvement, 
 and the several handsome edifices which he has built add materially to the city of his 
 TBsidence. 
 
 In politics Mr. Comstock belongs to the party which Jefferson established and in 
 1855 was nominated by the Democrats for city treasurer and was elected by 100 ma- 
 
94 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. 
 
 jority; the nominee for mayor on the Whig ticket that year receiving a majority of 
 600. In the spring of 1871 he was elected mayor of the city and four years later was 
 appointed fire and police commissioner. Many of our citizens remember the terror 
 caused in the community about this time by a series of well-planned burglaries. No 
 efforts on the part of the proper authorities seemed to avail in discovering the perpe- 
 trators. Mr. Comstock with all the enthusiasm of his nature threw himself into the 
 work of detection, and by almost single-handed efforts succeeded in arresting and con- 
 victing several desperate criminals. As an office holder he faithfully fulfilled the trust 
 reposed in him, being heartily interested in the welfare of the people and never permit- 
 ting private interests to interfere with the higher duties of citizenship. In the old days 
 of the volunteer fire department, when for a season fires were raarvelously frequent 
 and buckets took the place of hose, he was an indefatigable worker and member of In- 
 dependent Engine and Hose Company No. 3. 
 
 Many positions of trust and honor have been held by Mr. Comstock For five years 
 he devoted much time and attention to the interests of the Utioa State Hospital, having 
 been appointed manager in 1885. He took a prominent part m the building of the 
 Utioa and Susquehanna Valley Railroad, and its subsequent leasing to the Delaware,. 
 Lackawanna and Western. As a member of the Mechanics' Association, the Mendels- 
 sohn Club, the old Oneita and present Fort Schuyler Clubs, and charter member and 
 treasurer of Faxton Lodge, he has shown a lively interest in the social and fraternal in- 
 tercourse of his fellowmen. For nearly a quarter of a century he has been a director in 
 the First National Bank, faithfully aiding with his unobtrusive counsel. 
 
 Before leaving the home of his boyhood. Miles C. Comstock was baptized and con- 
 firmed by Bishop Onderdonk of the Protestant Episcopal Church. Upon arriving at 
 Utica he at once allied himself with Trinity Churck, and has ever since been a devoted 
 member of this parish. Since 1844 he has been connected with its Sunday-school 
 either as teacher or superintendent, having held the latter office twenty-five years. In 
 1856 he was elected vestryman of the church, in 1886 warden, and for several years 
 has served on the finance committee of the diocese. To the charitable and educational 
 institutions of the city he has been a cheerful giver. A trustee of the House of the 
 G-ood Shepherd, and for some time president, he has devoted much time and attention 
 to its welfare. 
 
 No one has done more to advance the interests of the city of his adoption than Mr. 
 Comstock. Whatever he undertakes he loves to push to success. In all public enter- 
 prises looking to the interests of the community he has stood with the foremost. In 
 mercantile circles he is distinguished for honesty, hberal dealings, executive talents of 
 no mean order and a kindly consideration towards others. His private life is without, 
 blemish, and his modest unpretension, refinement of feeling and generosity of heart 
 mark the true gentleman. 
 
 Mr. Comstock has been twice married. His first wife was Miss Emily M. Eoseboom 
 of Otsego County, and their children are Mrs. Frederick '&.. Peckham and Arthur Com- 
 stock. His second wife was Mrs. Helen Mar North, of Middlefield N. Y. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Academy, Assumption, 472. 
 Utica Free, 450-457. 
 burned, 325. 
 dedicated, 329. 
 Female, 325. 
 Abolition Convention forbidden by trust- 
 ees, 299. 
 Adams, Charles D., biography of. Part II, 
 51. 
 
 portrait of, facing 212. 
 Advanced School, the, 467. 
 American Citizen, 478. 
 
 District Telegraph and Telephone 
 
 Company, organization of, 358. 
 Jourtj.al of Insanity, 489. 
 Anti- Slavery Convention, 225. 
 Armory, erection of, 310. 
 Army of the Cumberland, meeting of, 347. 
 Assumption Academy, 472. 
 Asylum, State Lunatic burned, 288. 
 
 Utica Orphan, corner-stone laid, 295. 
 
 Bacon, Ezekiel, 123. 
 Bacon, William J., 527. 
 
 portrait of, facing 526. 
 Bacon, " Willie," 307. 
 Bagg, Egbert, 303. 
 Bagg, Moses, jr., 93. 
 Bagg, Moses, sr., 35. 
 Bagg's Hotel, 1815 (out). 94. 
 Bailey, Joel C, 249. 
 Bailey, Rev. Wesley, 247. 
 Baker, William, 244. 
 Ballou, Joseph, 29. 
 Ballon, Theodore P., 212. 
 Bank of Utica, 570. 
 
 Oneida County, 583. 
 
 Oneida National, 581. 
 
 Ontario, 575. 
 
 Manhattan, 569. 
 
 Second National, 583. 
 
 Utica, 581. 
 
 Savings, 584. 
 
 Baptist churches, 430-435. 
 Barnard, Charles B., Harvey, jr., and Hor- 
 ace, 269. 
 Barnard, Harvey, 168. 
 Barnum, Ezra S., 117. 
 Basin, Miller's, 189. 
 Batchelder, Dr. John P., 186. 
 Battle of Oriskany, its Centennial ob- 
 served, 349. 
 B-^ardsley, Samuel, 513. 
 Beardsley, Dr. Alvin, 187. 
 Beebe, Alexander M., 191. 
 Belt Line street railroads, 1886-90, 356. 
 Bellinger, John, 21. 
 Bench and Bar of LTtica, 491. 
 Bethel Park Baptist Church, 433. 
 Bethany Church, 409. 
 Bethesda Congregational Church, 412. 
 Bible Society of Oneida, 616. 
 Biography of. Part II. 
 
 Adams, Charles D., 51. 
 
 Butler, John M., 60. 
 
 Butler, Truman K., 37. 
 
 Chamberlain, Ephraim, 42. 
 
 Childs, Silas D., 11. 
 
 Curtis, Philo C, 19. 
 
 Darlmg, Charles W., 73. 
 
 Farwell, Samuel, 14. 
 
 Faxton, Theodore S., 9. 
 
 Fish, Henry, 17. 
 
 Ford, Willis E., 83. 
 
 Graham, Edmund A., 7. 
 
 G-ray, John Pe-due, 20. 
 
 G-reen, Waiter Jerome, 84. 
 
 Head, George W., 34. 
 
 Hopper, Thomas, 25. 
 
 Hunt, James G., 63. 
 
 Hutchinson, Charles W., 87. 
 
 Kernan, Francis, 36. 
 
 Laird, Frank P., 70. 
 
 Lawrence, Lewis, 28. 
 
 Lindsley, Smith M., 67. 
 
 Mason, Charles A., 13. 
 
96 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Biography of, Part II. 
 
 Mather, Joshua, 65. 
 
 Middleton, Robert, 53. 
 
 Millar, Charles, 27. 
 
 Pixley, Henry D., 61. 
 
 Roberts, Ellis H., 92. 
 
 Roberts, James, 51. 
 
 Rogers, Publius V., 33. 
 
 Russell, William, 38. 
 
 Sayre, Theodore S., 69. 
 
 Seymour, George, 59. 
 
 Seymour, Horatio, 3. 
 
 Swan, Joseph R., 72. 
 
 Thorn, John, 30. 
 
 Watson, William H., 44. 
 
 Wheeler, Eussel, 41. 
 
 White, William M., 56. 
 
 Wiley, George H., 54. 
 
 Williamson, Abijah J., 29. 
 
 Williams, James Watson, 91. 
 
 WiUharas, Robert S., 78. 
 
 Wood, Henry J., 57. 
 Bissell, Dr. Daniel P., 259. 
 Bloodgood, Francis A., 494. 
 Board of Charities, 628. 
 
 to take possession of City Hospital, 
 344. 
 Bonding the city for railroads, 326. 
 Bounds of the city enlarged, 353. 
 Bours, Peter, 97. 
 Bradish, John, 115. 
 Bradstreet, Martha, 65. 
 Brayton, Edward S., 245. 
 Brayton, Milton, 162. 
 Breese, Arthur, 101. 
 Breweries, 614. 
 
 Bridge, first, across Mohawk, 29. 
 Bristol, William, 187. 
 Brodhead, Charles C, 61. 
 Bronson, Greene C, 521. 
 Buckingham, Charles L., 307. 
 Buckingham, Edgar D., 296. 
 Business College, 471. 
 Business men in 1863, 313-318. 
 Butler, Horace, 160. 
 Butler, John M., biography of. Part II., 60. 
 
 portrait of, facing 582. 
 Butler, Truman K., biography of. Part II., 
 37. 
 
 portrait of, facing 136. 
 Butterfleld, John, 157, 375. 
 
 Calvary Church, 419. 
 Camp, Harry, 99. 
 Camp, John, 98. 
 
 Camp, Talcott, 40. 
 
 Canal, Brie, opened from Rome to Utica, 
 142. 
 completed, ceremonies, 169. 
 Capital execution, first in the county, 61. 
 
 of John Tuhi, 1'36. 
 Carter, John, 213. 
 Catholic churches, 441-447. 
 Central New York Demohrat, 487. 
 Central New York Telephone Company,. 
 
 organization of, 358. 
 Centenary Methodist Episcopal Church, 
 
 427. 
 Central New York Pottery, 593. 
 Chamberlain, Bphraim, biography of. Part 
 II., 42. 
 
 portrait of, facing 332. 
 Chapman, Edward, 291. 
 Charities, 616. 
 
 Charity carnival held at Utica Park, 345. 
 Charter of 1805, 89. 
 1817, 131. 
 city, 197. 
 Chenango Canal, opening of, 381. 
 Childs, David W., 78. 
 Childs, Silas D., biography of. Part II., 11_ 
 
 portrait of, facing 370. ■ 
 Cholera epidemic, 201-204. 
 Christian Worker, the, 488. 
 Chubbuck, Samuel W., 262. 
 Church Eclectic, the, 488. 
 Churches built in years 1888-91, 357. 
 Presbyterian, 397-411. 
 Bethany, 409. 
 
 Elizabeth Street (colored), 411. 
 Memorial, 411. 
 Olivet, 410. 
 Old Fort Schuyler and Utica. 
 
 (First Presb.), 55, 397. 
 Second Presbyterian, 403. 
 Westminister, 406. 
 Congregational, 412-414. 
 Bethesda, 412. 
 Plymouth, 413. 
 Protestant Reformed (Dutch), 414. 
 Protestant Episcopal, 415-422. 
 Calvary, 419. 
 Grace, 418. 
 •St. George's, 420. 
 St. Luke's Memorial, 421. 
 Trinity, 415. 
 Methodist Episcopal, 422-430. 
 Centenary Methodist, 427, 
 Coke Memorial, 428. 
 Dryer Memorial, 426. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 97 
 
 Churches, Methodist Episcopal. 
 
 Evangelical, 430, 
 
 First Methodist, 423. 
 
 Moriah, 427, 
 
 South Street Methodist, 425. 
 Baptist, 430-435. 
 
 Bethel (Park) Baptist, 433. 
 
 Ebenezer, 435. 
 
 First (Welsh) 431. 
 
 Immanuel, 435. 
 
 Tabernacle, 432. 
 Lutheran, 435-438. 
 
 Church of the Holy Communion, 
 438. 
 
 Church of the Redeemer, 437. 
 
 St. Paul's, 436. 
 
 Trinity Evangelical, 438. 
 
 Zion Evangelical, 435. 
 Moravian, 439. 
 Universalist, 
 
 First (Reconcihation), 440. 
 
 8econd (of Our Father), 440. 
 Roman Catholic, 441-447. 
 
 St. Agnes, 447. 
 
 St. Francis de Sales, 447. 
 
 St. Jphn's, 441. 
 
 St. Joseph's, 445. 
 
 St. Mary's, 446. 
 
 St. Patrick's, 446. 
 Hebrew. 
 
 House of Israel, 448. 
 
 House of Jacob, 448. 
 Churchill, Alfred, 180. 
 Citizens Corps, organization of, 231. 
 City Court, establishing of, 352. 
 City Hall, laying of corner-stone, 274. 
 
 site selected, 265. 
 City Hospital, the, 628. 
 
 in use for vsrounded of the county, 
 323. 
 City Officers, last decade, 360. 
 Clark, Brastus, 493. 
 Clark, John T., 290. 
 Clark, Oren, 142. 
 Clark, Thomas E., 496. 
 Clark, WiUiam, 125. 
 Classical and Commercial Lyceum, 461. 
 Clothing manufacture, 598. 
 Cochran, James and Walter L., 137. 
 Coe, Isaac, 81. 
 
 Coke Memorial (Welsh M. E.) Church, 428. 
 Colling, Thomas, 572. 
 Colonization, discussion on, 223. 
 Columlian Gazette, 478. 
 Common Council, first meeting of, 200. 
 
 M 
 
 Oomstock, M. C, portrait of, facing 192 
 Congregational Churches, 412-414. 
 Conkling, Roscoe, 560. 
 
 portrait of, facing 560. 
 Convention, Anti- Slavery, 224-226. 
 Cooper, Apollos, 35. 
 Cooper, Benjamin F., 526. 
 Corporation currency, issuing of, 120. 
 Cosby's Manor, grant and survey of, 20. 
 Cotton manufacture, 606, 612. 
 County Clerk's office, building of, 336. 
 Court-house, (second) erection of, 267 
 Courts, 491. 
 
 Recorder's, 253. 
 City, 352. 
 Coventry, Dr. Alexander, 39, 40. 
 Coventry, Dr. Charles B., 185. 
 Coventry, Dr. Walter B., 295. 
 Coye, Jason &., 246. 
 Cozier, Ezra S., 115. 
 Crafts,' Willard, 210. 
 Crocker, Hugh, 250. 
 Crocker, John C, 244. 
 Grouse, Daniel, 296. 
 Cunningham, Hugh, 81. 
 Curtis, Philo C, biography of. Part II.,fl9. 
 
 portrait of, facing 18, Part II. 
 Curran, Henry H., 305. 
 Curran Edward, 191. 
 Cyclone of 1834, 219. 
 
 Dagwell, John, 217. 
 
 Dam and mill iu Mohawk, 159. 
 
 Dana, George S., 232. 
 
 Darling, Charles W., biography of, Part 
 II., 73. 
 
 portrait of, facing 72, Part II. 
 
 Dauby, Augustine G-., 150. 
 
 Davies, Thomas, 303. 
 
 Day, Dr. Horace B., 275. 
 
 Dean, James, 183. 
 
 Bering, Dr. NiooU H., 260. 
 Democrat, the, 482. 
 Denio, Hiram, 532. 
 Devereux, John C, 68-70. 
 Devereux, John C. 2d, 339. 
 Devereux, Nicholas, 121. 
 Doolittle, Charles H., 557. 
 Doolittle, Jesse, 93. 
 Douglass, Dr. Isaac H., 289. 
 Douglass, John H., 298. 
 Drafting averted in 1862, 312. 
 
 in 1863, 321. 
 Driving Park Association organized, 330. 
 Dryer Memorial M. E. Church, 426. 
 
98 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Dryer, Rev. H. N., 289. 
 Dunn & Lent, 298. 
 Dutton, George, 147., 
 Duttou, James, 212. 
 
 Early editors and printers, 74-77. 
 highways, 367. 
 merchants, 38 46. 
 religious services, 55, 56. 
 settlers, 21-48. 
 stage lines, 368-374. 
 tavern-keepers, 35. 
 Eaton, James, 340. 
 Ebenezer Baptist Church, 435. 
 Edmonds, John H., 215. 
 Edwards, John D., 139. 
 Elizabeth Street Presbyterian Church,-41 1. 
 JEluddator, the, 478. 
 Embargo, public meeting for suspension of 
 
 101. 
 Empire Scotch Cap Factory, 612. 
 Episcopal churches, 415-422. 
 Equitable Gas and Electric Company, 614. 
 Erie Canal, beginning of, 375. 
 
 -completion of with ceremonies, 
 
 379. 
 first packet boat thereon, 376. 
 opened from Rome to Utica, 142. 
 Eureka Mower Company, 613. 
 EvangeHcal Lutheran Church of the Holy 
 
 Communion, 438. 
 Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Re- 
 deemer, 437. 
 Evans, Edward, 270. 
 jEvening Telegraph, the, 489. 
 Exchange for Women's Work, 631. 
 
 Harwell, Samuel, biography of, Part II., 
 14. 
 
 portrait of, facing 388. 
 Paxton Hospital incorporated, 344. 
 Faxton Hospital and Home, 625. 
 Paxton, Theodore S., biography of, Part 
 IL, 9. 
 
 portrait of, facing 624. 
 Female Academy, 464. 
 
 Charitable Society of Whitestown, 
 
 616. 
 Missionary Society of Oneida, 616. 
 Society of Industry, 61G. 
 Ferry, William H., 281 
 Financial Institutions, 567. 
 
 stringency of 1816-18, 136. 
 183.5-37, 576. 
 1855-57, 288. 
 
 Pire Departrnent, attempts to establish on 
 paid basis, 335. 
 
 reorganized, 1831, 197. 
 
 description of, 1837, 230. 
 
 limits established, 1827, 176. 
 First Bridge across the Mohawk, 29. 
 
 Church of the Evangelical Associa- 
 tion, 430. 
 
 execution in the county, 61. 
 
 free school, 457. 
 
 hotel and its landlords, 54-55. 
 
 Methodist Episcopal Church, 423. 
 
 newspaper, 51. 
 
 Presbyterian Church, 397-402. 
 
 settlers and settlements, 21. 
 
 Universalist Church, 440. 
 
 Welsh Baptist Church, 431. 
 Pish, Henry H., biography of. Part II., 17. 
 
 portrait of, facing 88. 
 Plandrau, Thomas H., 511. 
 Floyd, John G., 178. 
 Ford, Willis E., biography of. Part IL, 83. 
 
 portrait of, facing 320. 
 Foster, Dr. Charles B., 290. 
 Foster, Gilbert A., 217. 
 Foundries, 593, 600. 
 Francis, John J., 192. 
 Free Academy, burning of, 325. 
 
 new, dedication of, 329. 
 Free School, the first, 457. 
 Freshet of 1865, 325. 
 Fuller, John W., 281. 
 Furnace manufacture, 600. 
 
 Gardner, James V. P., 221. 
 Garrow, Lieut. N., 308. 
 Garvin, Samuel B., 559. 
 Gas Company organized, 259. 
 Geuesee Road. 59-60, 367. 
 Genesee street in 1832, 204-210. 
 
 paving of, 330. 
 Gibson, Henry B., 509. 
 Gilbert, Ehsha M., 191. 
 Olobe, the Saturday, 486. 
 Gold, Theodore Sedgwick, 141. 
 Golden, D. V. W., 255. 
 Goodrich, Rev. Chauncy E., 278 
 Goodsell, Dr. Thomas, 125. 
 Gospel Messenger, the, 489. 
 Government Building, site selected, 344. 
 
 completed, 358. 
 Grace Church, 418. 
 
 Graham, Edmund A., biography of, Part 
 II., 7. 
 
 portrait of, facing 56. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 99 
 
 Grant, Dr. Asahel, 211. 
 
 Grrannis, Timothy 0., 261. 
 
 Gray, Dr. John P., biography of, Part II., 
 
 20. 
 
 portrait of, facing 152. 
 Green, Henry, 124. 
 Green, Walter Jerome, biography of, Part 
 
 II., 84. or./., 
 
 portrait of, facing 308. 
 Greenman, Hiram, 152. 
 Gridley, Philo, 555. 
 Griffin, Ebenezer, 508. 
 Grove, DeWitt 0., 260. 
 Guiteau, Dr. Francis, jr., 64. 
 
 Hackett, James Henry, 144. 
 Hall, Calvin, 298. 
 Hamlin, William D., 193. 
 Hammond, Rev. John, 46. 
 Handy, John H., 127. 
 Hart, Ephraim, 126. 
 Hart, Henry R., 232. 
 Hart, Martin, 213. 
 Hasbrouck, Dr. David, 80. 
 Hastings & Co., 172. 
 Hastings, Charles, 139. 
 Hastings, Thomas, 137. 
 Hayden, Chester, 198. 
 Head, George W., biography of. Part II., 
 34. 
 
 portrait of, facing 168. 
 Headhght manufacture, 600. 
 Heath, Havyley E., 291. 
 Hebrew congregations, 448. 
 Henshav7, J. Sidney, 264. 
 Herald, 480. 
 High School, 460. 
 Highland addition, 359. 
 Hill, Dr. C. Judson, 295. 
 Hinman, Johji B., 110. 
 Hinman, Maj. Benjamin, 46. 
 Hitchcock, Dr. John W., 195. 
 Hitchcock, Marcus, 72. 
 HoUister, Frederick, 220. 
 Home for Aged Men, 625. 
 erected, 359. 
 
 for the Homeless, 623. 
 
 Masonic, corner-stone laid, 368. 
 Hooker, Samuel, 47. 
 Hopkins, Charles H., 263. 
 Hopper, Capt. James, 67. 
 Hopper, Thomas, biography of. Part 11,25. 
 
 portrait of, facing 120. 
 Horticultural Society, chartering of, 174. 
 Hospital, City (see City Hospital). 
 
 Hotel, the first, 54. 
 
 House of the Good Shepard, 621. 
 
 opened, 347. 
 of Israel, 448. 
 of Jacob, 448. 
 Hoyt David P., 78, 
 Hubbard, Thomas H., 520. 
 Hubbell, Alrick, 162. 
 Hubbell, Mathew, settlement of, 27. 
 Hull, Dr. Amos G., 109. 
 Hunt, David, 187. 
 Hunt, Dr. Jacob, 289. 
 Hunt, James G., biography of. Part II., 63. 
 
 portrait of, facing 62, Part II. 
 Hunt, Montgomery, 571. 
 Hunt, Ward, 547. 
 Hurlburt, Augustus, 152. 
 Hurlburt, Burton D., 211. 
 Hurlburt, Hiram, 238. 
 Hutchinson, Charles W., biography of, 
 Part II., 87. 
 
 portrait of, facing 272. 
 Hutchinson, Dr. Edwin, 338. 
 Hutchinson, Holmes, 158. 
 
 Immanuel Baptist Church, 485. 
 Incendiary fires of 1851, 267. . 
 
 1853, 273. 
 Independence Day observed by the Sun- 
 day Schools, 177. 
 Infant schools, 459. 
 Inman, William, 36-87. 
 
 Jackson, WiUiam B., 340. 
 Jail on Bleeoker street built, 344. 
 Jenkins, Hiram T., 837. 
 Jewett, Col. Edward, 290. 
 Johnson, Alexander 13., 113, 572. 
 Johnson, Alexander S., 556. 
 Johnson, Andrew, visit of, 326. 
 Johnson, Bryan, 44-46. 
 Jpnes, Marvin M., 245. 
 
 Kane & Van Rensselaer, 62. 
 Kellogg, Palmer V., 211. 
 Kellogg, Spencer, 172. 
 Kernan, Francis, biography of. Part II., 
 36. 
 
 portrait of, facing 36, Part II. 
 King, Walter, 101, 
 Kip, James S., settlement of, 32. 
 Kirkland, Charles P., 510. 
 Kirkland, Jeseph, 497. 
 Knitting factories, 611. 
 Kossuth, Louis, visit of, 271. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Kunkely, Edward, 281. 
 Kellogg, Spencer, 171. 
 
 Lafayette's visit in 1825, 167. 
 
 Laird, Frank F., biography of, Part IL, 70. 
 
 portrait of, facinff 70, Part IL 
 Lathrop, Azel J., 249. 
 Lansing, Barent Bleeoker, 116. 
 Lawson, George, 279. 
 Lawrence, Lewis, biograpbv of, Part IL, 
 
 28. 
 
 portrait of, facing 392. 
 Leach, Ebenezer, 189. 
 Lee's surrender, reception of news of, 324. 
 Libraries, 473. 
 
 Library building, erection of, 349. 
 Lighting of streets, action of years 1882- 
 
 90, 355. 
 Limits, fire (see fire limits). 
 Lindsley, Smith M., biography of, PartlL, 
 
 67. 
 
 portrait of, facing 66, Part II. 
 Lord, T. Kcott, 337. 
 Lothrop, John H., 73. 
 Lottery for benefit of roads, 367. 
 Lowery, Joseph S., 304. 
 Loyal League Convention, 320. 
 Lumber dealers, 595. 
 Lutheran churches, 435-438. 
 Lux, Henry, 297. 
 Lyceum, TJtica, 174. 
 Lyman, Samuel P., 190. 
 Lynch, James, 507. 
 Lynch, James S., 281, 507. 
 
 McOall, Dr. John, 140. 
 McLeod, William, trial of, 242. 
 Macomber, Capt, George, 47. 
 McQuade, James, 301. 
 MoQuade, Michael, 160. 
 Malcom, Richard M., 108. 
 Malcom, William, 102. 
 Manhattan Bank, 104, 569. 
 Mann, Charles A., biography of. Part IL, 
 13. ■ 
 
 portrait of, facing 72. 
 Manning, Edward T., 276. 
 Manufactures, 591-616. 
 Marohisi, Jean Baptiste, 172. 
 Market house, opposition to, 115. 
 prices in 1811, 108. 
 
 1822, 149. 
 Marklove, John G., 291. 
 Mason, Charles, 566. 
 Masonic Home, corner-stone laid, 358. 
 
 Mather, A. D. & Co., 590. 
 
 Mattesoh, Orsamus B., 194. 
 
 Mather, Joshua, biography of, Part IL, 65. 
 portrait of, facing 356. 
 
 Mather, Stephen, 172. 
 
 Maynard, Elisha A., 188. 
 
 Maynard, Isaac, 239. 
 
 Maynard, Thomas, 279. 
 
 Maynard, William H., 499. 
 
 Meacham Dr. L N., 151. 
 
 Meeker, Moses T., 193. 
 
 Meetings, public (see Public meetings). 
 
 Memorial Presbyterian Church of West 
 Utica, 411. 
 
 Merchants' and Manufacturers' Association, 
 615. 
 
 Merrell & Hastings, 139. 
 
 Merrill, Andrew, 139. 
 
 Merrill, Bildad, 100. 
 
 Mervine, Catharinus B., 309. 
 
 Mervine, William, 308. 
 
 Methodist Episcopal Churches, 422-430. 
 
 Middleton, Robert, biograpbv of. Part IL, 
 53. 
 
 portrait of, facing 248. 
 
 Military company drafted, 1808, 101. 
 
 Millar, Charles, biography of, Part IL, 27. 
 portrait of, facing 26, Part II. 
 
 Miller, Morris S., 494. 
 
 Miller, Rutger B., 179. 
 
 Mohawk and Hudson River Railroad, 382. 
 
 Mohawk, dam and mill thereon, 159. 
 
 Mohawk river, as a public waterway, 361- 
 366. 
 
 Mohawk street railroad, opening of, 330. 
 
 Mohawk Valley Cotton Company, organ- 
 ization of, 357, 612. 
 
 Monument, soldiers (see Soldiers' monu- 
 ment). 
 
 Moravia Church, 439. 
 
 Moriah Welsh Calvinistic Methodist 
 Church, 427. 
 
 Morris, Dr. William, 217. 
 
 Munn, John, 280. 
 
 Munson, Alfred, 154. 
 
 Munson, Edmund, 263. 
 
 Museum, Utica, founded, 220. 
 
 Nathan, Williams, 492. 
 
 National Bank, Oneida (see OneidaBank). 
 
 First (see Utica Bank), 
 
 Second, 583. 
 New Churches built in years 1888-91, 357. 
 Newcomers in 1798, 51. 
 Newspaper, the first, 476. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 New York, "West Shore and Buffalo Rail- 
 road, 395. 
 Northway, Rufus, 164. 
 Norton, Dr. Heman, 187. 
 Noyes, William 0., 551. 
 
 Observer, the, 481. 
 
 Occupants of Genesee street in 1832, in 
 
 the order oE their. occupancy, 204-209. 
 Old Fort Schuvler, 17-48. 
 Oley, Simon V., 181. 
 Ohvet Church, 410. 
 Oneida County Bank, 583. 
 Oneida County erected, 49. 
 Oneida Glass Company, 591. 
 Oneida Morning Herald, 480. 
 On'eida National Bank, 580. 
 
 burned, 358. 
 Oneida Whig, 4:7%. 
 O'Neil, Owen, 152. 
 Ontario Bank, 575. 
 Ordinances of 1817, 183-137. 
 Organ manufacture, 601. 
 Oriskany, centennial of battle of, 349. 
 Orphan Asylum, laying of corner-stone, 
 
 295. 
 Ostrom, David, 72. 
 Ostrom, John H., 120. 
 Owen Brothers, 599. 
 
 Packet boat, the first, 375. 
 Palmer, Chauncey, 192. 
 Palmer, E. D., 263. 
 Parker & Swift, 213. 
 Parker, Jason, 368. 
 
 petitions the legislature, 369. 
 Parker, Job, 213. 
 Parmelee, Truman, 162. 
 Parsons, John, 185. 
 Patriot and Patrol, the, 477. 
 Paving of Genesee street with sandstone, 
 331. 
 
 of years 1882-91, 354. 
 Peckham, Dr. Peleg B., 175. 
 Peckliam, John 8., 221. 
 Perkins, George E., 235. 
 Phoenix Iron Works, 607. 
 Pioneers, 21-28. 
 
 Pixley, Henry D., biography of. Part II., 
 61. 
 
 portrait of, facing 296. 
 Pixley, H. D. & Son, 599. 
 Plank roads, 381. 
 Piatt, James, 116. 
 Piatt, Jonas, 517. 
 
 Police Commission, organization of, 327. 
 Pomeroy, Dr. Theodore, 145. 
 Pond, Andrew S., 172. 
 Population, 1830, 194. 
 Post, John, pioneership of, 25. 
 Potter, Capt. Stephen, 26. 
 Presbyterian churches, 397-411. 
 Press, the, 476-490. 
 Press, the 484. 
 Printers of 1824, 165. 
 Private schools, 459. 
 
 Protestant Reformed (Dutch) Church, 414. 
 Public basin, building of, 189. 
 Public meeting for suspension of embargo^ 
 101. 
 
 in behalf of suffering Poles, 197. 
 
 in support of government in 1862, 
 311. 
 Public reception to General Lafayette, 167. 
 
 Louis Kossuth, 271. 
 
 of 14th and 26th Eegts., 320. 
 
 Andrew Johnson and Gen. Grant, 
 326. 
 
 Winfield Scott, 272. 
 Public School Library, 473. 
 Public Schools, 466-471. 
 
 Quin, George E., 295. 
 
 Railroads. 
 
 Belt Line, organized, 356. 
 Mohawk and Hudson, 382. 
 N. T., West Shore and Buffalo, 395. 
 Rome, Watertown and Ogdensburgh, 
 
 opening of, 342. 
 Utica and Black River, 389. 
 Utica, Chenango and Susquehanna, 
 
 391. 
 Utica, Clinton and Binghamton, 393.. 
 Utica and Schenectady, 384. 
 Utica and Syracuse, 385. 
 Rathbone, Justus H., 143. 
 Rathbun, Dr. Josiah, 216. 
 Rebellion, war of, 300-325. 
 Reception, Public, of Andrew Johnson and 
 Gen. Grant, 326. 
 Q-en. LafayetCB, 167. 
 Louis Kossuth, 271. 
 Winfield Scott, 272. 
 14th and 26th Regts., 320. 
 Recorder's Court, estabhshment of, 253. 
 Religious services of an early period, 55. 
 Reformed Church, 414. 
 
 burned, 357. 
 Roberts, Butler & Co., 598. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Eoberts, Ellis H., biographv of, Part II., 
 51. 
 
 portrait of, facing 478. 
 Eoberts, James, biography of, Part II., 51. 
 
 portrait of, facing 598. 
 Eockwell, Thomas, 117. 
 Eogers, Dr. L. W., 268. 
 Eogers, Publius V., biography of, Part II., 
 33. 
 
 portrait of, facing 570. 
 Eoman Catholic churches, 441-447. 
 Eome, Watertown and Ogdensburg Eail- 
 
 road, opening of, 342. 
 Eoot. P. Sheldon, 550. 
 Eosej Dr. Lauren F.. 276. 
 Eussell, William, biography of, Part II., 
 38. 
 
 portrait of, facing 236. 
 
 St. Agnes Church, 447. 
 St. Elizabeth Hospital and' Home, 626. 
 St. Francis Le Sales Church, -447. 
 St. George's Protestant Church, 420. 
 . St. John's Church, 441. 
 St. Joseph's Church, 445. 
 St. John's Female Orphan Asylum, 620. 
 St. Luke's Home and Hospital, 627. 
 St. Luke's Memorial Church, 421. 
 St. Mary's Church, 446. 
 St. Patrick's Church, 446. 
 St. Paul's Lutheran Church, 436. 
 St. Vincent Industrial School, 621. 
 Savage, John, 553, 
 Savings Bank, 584. 
 Sayre, James, 146. 
 Sayre, Theodore S., biography of. Part II., 
 
 69. 
 
 portrait of, facing 344. 
 Schools, infant, 459. 
 in Utica, 449-473. 
 private, 459. 
 Schultz, Christian, jr., notes of travel of, 
 
 363-366. 
 Scotch cap manufacture, 612. 
 Scott, General Winfield, visit of, 272. 
 Second National Bank, 583. 
 Second Presbyterian Clmrch, 403. 
 Second Universalist Church of our Father, 
 
 440. 
 Seneca Turnpike Company, 60. 
 
 chartering of, 367. 
 Seward, Asahel, 75. 
 Seymour, Alexander, 116. 
 Seymour, George, biography of, Part II., 
 
 59. 
 
 Seymour, George, portrait of, facing 58, 
 
 Part II. 
 Seymour, Henry, 143. 
 Seymour, Horatio, biography of. Part II.,3. 
 
 portrait of, facing 40. 
 Seymour, John F., 237. 
 Shearman, Ebenezer B., 67. 
 Shearman, Joseph A., 196. 
 Sherman, Watts, 37. 
 Stove manufacture, 609. 
 Sicard, Stephen, 339. 
 Sieboth, Dr. Joseph, 280. 
 Skenandoa Company, 357, 613. 
 Skinner, Thomas, 51. 
 Slave capture, 229. 
 Small-pox in the village, 167. 
 Smith, Nicholas, 109. 
 Snyder, Jacob, 99. 
 Snyder, Eandolph, 94. 
 Soldiers' monument, unveiling of, 359. 
 South Street Methdist Episcopal Church, 
 
 425. 
 Speculative excitement, 577. 
 Spencer, Hamilton, 236. 
 Spencer, Joshua A., 536. 
 
 portrait of, facing 536. 
 Spencer, Julius A., 193. 
 Spriggs, J. Thomas, 564. 
 Stage Imes, 368-374. 
 State Asylum, burned, 288. 
 Stewart, Alvan, 548. 
 Stewart, John, jr., 93. 
 Stocking, Samuel, 77. 
 Stockman, Dr. Christian, 80. 
 Sunday Tribune, the, 485. 
 Swan, Joseph B., biography of, PartII.,72. 
 
 portrait of, facing 480. 
 
 Tabernacle Second Baptist Church, 432. 
 
 Talcott, Enoch B., 337. 
 
 Talcott, Samuel A., 502. 
 
 Tallman, George C, 248. 
 
 Tax list for 1800, 58. 
 
 Taylor, William & Co., 598. 
 
 Temperance efforts of 1841-43, 244. 
 
 Thomas, Abijah, Anson and B.jW., 81. 
 
 Thomas, Briggs W., 122. 
 
 Thomas, Daniel G., 268. 
 
 Thomas, Di'. Daniel G., 268. 
 
 Thomas, George E., 339. 
 
 Thompson Je.^se, 270. 
 
 Thompson, Samuel, 152. 
 
 Thorn, John, biogi.nphy of. Part II., 30, 
 
 portrait of, facing 390. 
 Thorn & Curtis, 181. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 103 
 
 Throop, N. Garrow, 308. 
 
 TiflFany, Isaiah, 163. 
 
 Timmerman, David, 193. 
 
 Tobacco manufacture, 597. 
 
 Townshend, Homer,- 256. 
 
 Tracy, Charles, 552. 
 
 Tracy, Gardiner, 187. 
 
 Tracy, Wilham, 534. 
 
 Tribune, the, 485. 
 
 Trinity Church (Episcopal), -396, 41S. 
 
 Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, 438. 
 
 Trustees, meetings of, 90. 
 
 Turner, Duncan, 82. 
 
 Union Cabinet Association, 610. 
 
 United Society of Whitestown and OW 
 
 Fort Schuyler, 55-56. 
 United States government building, site 
 of selected, 344. 
 
 completion of, 358. 
 Universalist churches, 440. 
 Utica, naming of, 48. 
 incorporation of, 49. 
 of 1798, as seen by Rev. Timothy 
 
 D wight, 52. 
 of 1802, as seen by Rev. John Tay- 
 lor, 70. 
 of 1805, description of, 84. 
 of 1806, map of, 88. 
 of 1807, as seen by Christian Schultz, 
 
 97. 
 of 1813, as noticed in Spaflfbrds' Gaz- 
 etteer, 116. 
 of 1816, description of, 128. 
 of 1827, as noticed by a Hartford pa- 
 per, 178. 
 Utica Academy, 450-457. 
 Utica and Black River Railroad, 389. 
 Utica and Schenectady Railroad, 384. 
 Utica and Syracuse Railroad, 385-388. 
 Utica Belt Line Railroad Company, organ- 
 ization of, 356. 
 Utica Burial Case Company, 614:. 
 Utica Business College, 471. 
 Utica, Chenango and Susquehanna Valley 
 
 Railroad, 391. 
 Utica City Bank, 581. 
 Utica City, incorporation of in 1832, 199. 
 proceedings and occurrences from 
 1832 to 1842, 199-243. 
 from 1842 to 1852, 243-270. 
 from 1852 to 1862, 270-309. 
 from 1862 to 1872, 309-341. 
 from 1872 to 1880, 341-357. 
 from 1880 to 1891, 351-361. 
 
 Utica, Clinton and Bmghamton Railroad 
 
 393. 
 Utica Daily Gazette, 479. 
 Utica Democrat, the, 482. 
 Utica Driving .Park Association, incorpo- 
 ration of, 330. 
 Utica Deutsche Zeitmng, 487. 
 Utica Exchange 'for Women's Work, 631. 
 Utica Female Academy, 464. 
 Utica Furniture Company, 610. 
 Utica Gas Light Company 614 
 Utica Globe Mills, 604. 
 Utica High School, 460. 
 Utica Intelligencer, 478. 
 Utica Knitting Company, 611. 
 Utica Library, 473. 
 Utica Lyceum, incorporation of, 174. 
 Utica Manufacturing and Mercantile Asso- 
 ciation, first meeting of, 351. 
 Utica Morning Herald and Daihi Gazette 
 
 480. 
 Utica Observer, the, 481. 
 Utica Orphan Asylum, 616. 
 Utica Patriot and Patrol, 477. 
 Utica Planing Mills Co., 596. 
 Utica Saturday Glohe, the, 486. 
 Utica Savings Bank, 584, 590. 
 Utica Sentinel. 477. 
 Utica Sentinel and Gazette, 477. 
 Utica Steam Cotton Mill=, 606. 
 Dtica Steam Engine and Boiler Works,594. 
 Utica Steam Woolen Mills, 603-. 
 Utica village, description of, 1816, 128-130. 
 division into virards, 131. 
 early records of lost, 50. 
 incorporation of, 49. 
 map of, 1806, 88. 
 petition for new charter, 1805, 83. 
 proceedings and occurrences un- 
 der first charter, 49-89. 
 under second charter, 89-131. 
 under third charter, 131-198. 
 third charter, provisions of, 131- 
 132. 
 
 Van Santvoort, Abraham, 95. 
 Variok, Abraham, jr., 79. 
 Vedder, Nicholas F., 173. 
 Village attorney, office created, 175. 
 Village lots valued in 1827, 177. 
 Voyaging on the Mohavck, 365. 
 
 Wager, David, 179. 
 Walcott, William, 247. 
 Walker, Benjamin, 42-44. 
 
104 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Walker, Thomas, 74. 
 
 Walker, Thomas E., 184 
 
 Warner, Jared E., 139. 
 
 Warner, Jonathan E., 160. 
 
 War of 1812, volunteers for, 112-113. 
 
 War period, beginning of, 300. 
 
 Waterways and roads, 19. 
 
 Water Works, incorporated, 259. 
 
 completion of, 265. 
 Watson, William H., Isiography of, Part 
 II., 44. 
 
 portrait of, facing 200. 
 Welles, WiUiam B., 572. 
 Wells, John B., 242. 
 WesUrn Centinel, 476. 
 Western Inland Look Navigation Com- 
 pany, organization of, 862. 
 Westminster Church, 406. 
 Wetmore, Edmund A., 149. 
 Wetmore, Oliver, 194. 
 Wheeler, Eussel, biography of. Part II., 41. 
 
 portrait of, facing 184. 
 Whiffler, Isaac, 256. 
 White, David P., 340. 
 White, Noah, 277. 
 Whitesboro road, 57. 
 Whitestown 'Gazelte, 51. 
 Whiiestown GazsUe and Caio's Patrol, 476. 
 White, William M., biography of, Part II., 
 56. 
 
 portrait of, facing 260. 
 Wild & Devereux, 611. 
 Wiley, Q-eo. H., biography of, Part II., 54. 
 
 portrait of, facing 606. 
 Willard, Joel, 338. 
 
 Williams, Abijah J., biography of, Part II., 
 29. 
 
 portrait of, facing 104. 
 Williams, Blhanan, 163. 
 Williams, I. A. & Co., 600. 
 Williams, James Watson, biography of, 
 Part II., 91. 
 
 portrait of, facing 452. 
 Williams, John, 108. 
 
 Williams, Eobert S., biography of. Part 
 II., 78. 
 
 portrait of, facing 224. 
 Williams, Stalham, 98. 
 Williams, William, 76. 
 Wilson, Charles S., 221. 
 ■ Wilson, George 8., 164. 
 Wolcott, Dr. Samuel G., 275. 
 Wolcott, Dr. Solomon, 72. 
 Wood, George W., 233. 
 Wood, Henry J., biography of. Part II., 57. 
 
 portrait of, facing 284. 
 Woodruflf, A. L., 292, 
 Wood, Thomas Hosmer, 233. 
 Woolen manufacture, 603. 
 Woman's Christian Association, 630. 
 
 Yates, Eynier V. and Charles A., 277. 
 
 V Drych, 487. 
 
 Y Owyleidydd Americanaedd, 488. 
 Young, McBlroy & White, 613. 
 
 Young Men's Association, founding of, 613 
 
 incorporation of, 231. 
 Y. M. C. A. building, erection of, 358. 
 
 Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church, 435. 
 Zeitung, the, 487.