CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY iSIFT OF Mrs. St. John DATE DUE SEP 6 79 JR 1 NCF y6/^o/HCl > Cernall Unlvanlty Ubrary F129.IS B96 llllillllill 3 1924 030 991 487 olln ow* PHINTCO IN U.S.A. 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/cu31924030991487 Initial Ithacans THOMAS W. BURNS INITIAL ITHACANS COMPRISING SKETCHES AND PORTRAITS OF THE FORTY -FOUR PRESIDENTS OF THE VILLAGE OF ITHACA (1821 TO 1888) AND THE FIRST EIGHT MAYORS OF THE CITY OF ITHACA (1888 TO 1903) BY THOMAS W. BURNS A NATIVE OF ITHACA AND MEMBER OF THE BAR ITHACA, N. Y. ; PRESS OF THE ITHACA JOURNAL 1904. P r ^B^a%•'^6 DEDICATED TO EBENEZER MACK TREMAN Whose modest but open-hearted encouragement of contemporaries engaged in dignifying and preserving the history of his native city has accomplished far more than will ever be known to the people of his own generation ; with whose superior literary taste and talent manifested in many a chapter from his pen and in his commentaries upon, and his knowledge of, standard authors and literature, the writer is familiar, with at least a part of which the public may hereafter become familiar, as it is now conversant with his high rank among our leaders in finance and commerce ; who as a philanthropic patron of music of the highest standard has elevated and refined the musical sense of a much wider community than the city and whose sympathetic and generous nature has, along other lines, contributed materially to its happiness and its pride. Christmas, 1903. THOS. W. BURNS. INDEX PAGB PRBSIDENTS OF ITHACA Daniel Bates , 3 Andrew DeWitt Bruyn 6 Pavid Woodcock 10 Ben Johnson.fiCL'^ 13 Charles Humphrey • 16 Henry S. Walbridge ^ 20 John Holman : 23 I only upon them, but upon the entire community in Which he.had passed 40 year? of his noble life. CHARLES HUMPHREY-Fifth President. CHARLES HUMPHREY-FIFTH PRESIDENT. The portrait of Obarles Humphrey, fifth president of the village of Ithaca, presents a very interesting study. It is a Greek head and face of a captain of the War of 1812. The single epaulet denotes his rank. He was a native of Little Britain, N. Y., and educated in the neighboring schools and acadetay of New- burg. He enlisted when 20 years of age and served as captain until the close of the war. While camping and sleeping upon the bare ground Captain Humphrey con- tracted neuralgiia. -which affected his spine and in later years made it very painful for him to stand or walk unaided by crutches. During his last years he suffered almost constantly from the neuralgia. But Captain Humphrey possessed the heart as well as the face of a Greek hero and was never heard to utter a com- plaint. His experience in the camp and field and his sufferings were guarded al- most as secrets by himself and his family, attributable to their innate modesty. It explains why no flag, no flowers have ever been placed upon his grave in the city cemetery on Memorial Days, although the adjoining grave of tda son Charles, a veteran of the Civil War, receives annually the affectionate and patriotic decora- tion 'of the Grana Army of the Republic. Captain Humphrey was a law student in 1812, in Newburg, and resumed his studies after ending his military service. He was admitted to the Bar in 1816 and located in Ithaca in 1817 as attorney and manager of the Ithaca Branch of the Bank of Newburg. His position as banker and lawyer from the day of his arrival in the village was a passport of supreme im^portance to him and to the people of Ithaca. He was only 24 years of age. He was a Deputy United States Marshal in 1820, and signed the public notice of application for a village charter. In 1821 he presided at the public meeting of freeholders that elected David Woodcock school trustee andhimself trustee of the "Gospel and School Lot." In 1823 he was one of the organizers of Rescue Fire Company, No. 1, the first fire company organized in the village, and was appointed Fire Captain by the board of trustees. In 1825, wben 32 years of age, Captain Humphrey was elected member of Congress. In 1827 he was Master in Chancery, and the same year he was elected village trustee and president, and re-elected to both ofiices in 1828. In 1831-2-3-4 he was surrogate of Tompkins County, and in 1834-5-6 and 1842 he was elected a member of Assembly. In an address delivered at the dedication of the Cornell village library in 1866 that brilliant writer William H. Bogart said: "Charles Humphrey was a man of commanding intellect whose life of suffering could not quench the mastery of his mind, whose broad comprehension and noble thought gave him such power in his time. Judge Humphrey would have known the more than golden worth of this library and strengthened in its strength." His character as lawyer and jurist won him a large practice. His editorial work known as Humphrey's Precedents Reports re- ceived extensive praise from judges and lawyers in all the States. Judge Humphrey was an able debater, upright, fearless, industrious, modest, learned in and an ornament to his own profession. His domestic and social life were admirable. He was an earnest and faithful member of the Presbyterian Church. He was devoted to the education of the common people. He was suc- ceeded in his educational activities by his son, the late William R. and his grand- 17 daaghter, Katberine Humphrey. The Humphreys were prominently identified in the school affairs of the village for 67 years. Judge Humphrey ranked among the ablest and most accomplished poli- ticians in southern New York and in legislation he was reputed a statesman. His training and experience in Congress equipped him as a parUamentarian. During his first year in the Assembly in Albany his talents were recognized and so great- ly admired that during the second and third years he was elected Speaker. His debate with Chairman Youngs of the Committee on Banks, upon a bill to charter the Bank of Ithaca, involved the fundamental purpose, power and prerogatives of a legislative committee and occupied several entire sessions. The banking question was then a Uve one. The debate held the close attention of the whole State, and won for both men wide distinction. Danng the long legislative battle between Ebenezer Mack, of Ithaca, Chair- man of the Committee on Railroads in the Senate, in 1836, and the opponents of the bill proposing to loan the credit of the State for $3,000,000 to aid in the con- struction of the Erie Bailroad, Governor WUUam L. Marcy asserted that, in the persons of Senator Mack and Speaker Humphrey, Tompkins County was the most ably represented county in the State legislature; a pronouncement that meant much when it is recalled that Mark Sibley, of Canandaigua, and John McEeon, of New York, were assemblymen, and William H. Seward, Daniel 8. Dickinson and Robert Lansing were senators. Judge Humphrey carried through the Assembly, against powerful opposition, in 1834, a resolution for the appointment of a committee 'to investigate and report upon the system, in force in this State,by which convicts in prisons were compelled to manufacture goods and wares for public markets that made the State a com- petitor with the mechanics and laborers of the State. He was appointed chair- man of the committee and wrote and filed an elaborate report that was influential in abolishing that system. He proposed and successfully championed a bill that gave to Ithaca a canal collector's office. It raised Ithaca to an importance and recognition Vsommensurate with its then extensive canal traffic. He found congressional Ufe and duties aggravating his bodily infirmities, and took warning from Judge Bmyn's experience. He guarded his health by declining to serve more than one term in Congress. His three years of service in the Assembly were highly honorable, but equally arduous, and he declined further service in that body until 1842. But he was not so active during that year and refused to accept another election. The resolutions adopted by his colleagues of all parties at the close of the two annual sessions when he was Speaker were of unusual force. They were extra- ordinary tributes to his broad and logical and affable poise, as well as to his talents as legislator and parUamentarian. His responses to these were modest and eloquent. Not an adverse criticism can be found against him in the press published in New York, Albany or Ithaca during the years that he presided over the Assembly. In politics Judge Humphrey was a Jacksonian. He was active in local and State and National campaigns. Ithaca village and Tompkins County swung to and fro — Democratic andWhig — with almost the regularity of a pendulum until it became an adage through the State that "as Tompkins County goes, so goes the State." An observer of the political history of New York will discover its truth when he refers to the history of the parties in the thirties and forties, and later. He will also learn tiiat the issues and campaigns of recent times are mild indeed compared to those of bygone years. Judge Humphrey was elected president of the village before his term as congress- man expired. His local standing was very high and his influence great among his contemporaries. While president of the village in 1827 he obeyed the request of the Board of Trustees to supenntend the laying out and building of new roadways on West Hill which resulted in his appointing the first street i8 committee in the Board. He advanced $512 to pay for a new fire engine and was reimbursed for it a year later. In 1828 he selected the site for an engine house and contracted for 26,000 bricks and water lime to use in the construction of street cisterns for fire purposes. In the same year he purchased a site for a vil- lage market on the northeast corner of Mill and Tioga streets from General Simeon DeWitt and removed the old one from the southwest corner of Tioga and Green streets. His Board of 1828 ordered flagstone sidewalks Hi feet wide, and stone curbing, on State street from Cayuga to Aurora streets; the cross-walks, hitching-posts and all other expenses to be paid by the owners of adjoining . prop- erty; and that Aurora street sidewalks be laid with stone flagging from State street to Mill street; and that Cayuga street be graded and graveled from State street to Clinton street. In 1843 Judge Humphrey was appointed to what was believed to be a life office, clerk of the Supreme Court in Albany. His neuralgic infirmity having in- creased upon him, and the duties of his profession become more arduous, the peo- ple of the village and county were elated over the honor, the generous salary and the long term of the office. The members of his profession tendered him a fare- well banquet in the Clinton House, which he reluctantly accepted, for he loved the people and reluctantly parted from them. He removed from the village with his family to Albany and performed his new duties with the distinguished success that his contemporaries predicted. But the Constitutional Convention of 1846 abohshed the Supreme Court as it then existed. Judge Humphrey finished his official duties in 1848 and' returned to Ithaca to resume his practice as a lawyer. He was welcomed back again in a very cordial manner. He erected and resided in the house now occupied by Charles C. Garrett on the northeast corner of Cayuga and Mill streets. His last work was to argue a case for the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad Co., in Albany, in July, 1850. He succceeded, but was immediately stricken down with illness and died in one week, aged 58. His remains were brought for burial to Ithaca, the village he had served with such loyalty and honor in many positions of trust and power. HENRY S. WALBRIDGE-Sixth President. HENRY S. WALBRIDGE-SIXTH PRESIDENT. Henry Sanford Walbridge, the youngest of the trustees and presidents of the village of Ithaca, was 28 years old when first elected in 1829; and 41 when elected the second time, in 1842. He had served as clerk of the Board of Supervisors in 1824, and joined the first fire company when it was organized in 1823. The com- pany received a new machine in 1828. Its old one was passed to a company then organizing and with it passed the number of the older company. The first com- pany became Eescue No. 2; the second company Red Rover (now Cayuga) No. 1. This confusing historical paradox has existed 74 years. In 1846 Mr. Walbridge served as a member of Assembly. One of his col- leagues and intimate associates during the session was Samuel J. Tilden. In 1852-3 he served as a' member of Congress. From 1859 to 1867 he was county judge and surrogate. Judge Walbridge was possessed o-f those attributes which attract and win and retain the admiration of individuals and the confidence of a community. Honesty and frankness were his chief characteristics. He was popular with all classes throughout the county. One of his partners, a jurist whose character and fame have shed lustre upon Ithaca and his profession wherever the judgments of the highest court of the State of New York are read, has said: "Judge Walbridge'held a unique place in Ithaca as judge and jurist. He was more powerful before juries by his honesty and fearless devotion to truth and justice than were lawyers with more brilliant intellects and' more eloquent tongues. People knew him and ac- cepted his statements of disputed facts as if he were a disinterested witness rather than a lawyer pleading the case of a client. He would not depart from truth to favor any client." Judge Walbridge was a practical and industrious man of affairs and mingled daily with the people. His personal, commercial and political life was open to the public. He was a native of Norwich, Connecticut, and was educated in Bennington, Vermont, coming to Ithaca during his minority. He prepared for the Bar in the offices of Ben Johnson and Charles Humphrey when those lawyers were partners, and was afterwards a partner in the firm composed of Johnson, Walbridge & Riggs. Francis Miles Finch studied law with Walbridge & Riggs, after Ben Johnson's death, and became a partner with Mr. Walbridge, after Marcus Riggs removed to Buffalo. Ben Johnson urged upon young Walbridge that a young lawyer should not permit the duties and distractions and animosities of politics to divide the time and divert the thought that were essential to success in his chosen profession. Mr. Johnson practiced his own teaching in that regard as in all others. Judge Wal- bridge followed it and refused political preferment for thirteen years after his first term as village president. Six years elapsed between his terms in the Assembly and in Congress. He declined a second term in the Assembly and in Congress. Ijenry W. Sage succeeded him in the Assembly. Such a fair-minded jurist upon the bench and as surrogate was desired by the village and county. Henry 8. Walbridge yielded to the popular demand and for eight years made an ideal magistrate. Lawyers and litigants submitted to his de- cisions with respect. He was endowed with the very rare gift of com- plete self-control under all conditions and against all provocations. He was a model of dignity, gentleness and courtesy to his juniors and to the common peo- 21 pie who sought his counsel. He was also beyond the reach and influence of cun- ning politicians. Judge Walbridge found and enjoyed recreation upon his farm, one mile south from the village, at the base of West Hill. • So enthusiastic did he become in his agricultural pursuit that he nearly abandoned his law practice. But he could not escape further public honors and pubUc service and he was drawn again from the farm to the village and his professional duties. His Congressional experience soon followed. His young partner, Francis M. Finch, conducted the business of the firm during his abserice in Washington, the larger part of two years. Judge Walbridge owned the site and erected the flouring mill now conducted by Albert M. Hull. He erected and occupied the gothic residence on the south- west corner of Buffalo and Parker streets. He was from 1858 to 1868 president of the Board of Trustees of the Ithaca Academy and for many years was an active elder in the Presbyterian Church. The logic of his nature and of his life led him to those high places. He was a champion of public education and of practical Christianity. During his 50 years of residence in Ithaca he aided and welcomed every advance in its moral, mental and physical development. His name is ut- tered at the present time with reverence by his old acquaintances and contem- poraries. One of the admirable chapters in the history of Judge Walbridge was the apt- ,ness of his scholarship in learning and maintaining the high standard of his prede- cessors in village administration, and in the performance of legislative duties. He had been a daily associate of Presidents Bruyn, Woodcock, Johnson and Hum- phrey. They were his friends and advisors. The Board of Trustees in 1829 held its sessions at Grant's Coffee House; the Board of 1842 at the Clinton House. He was active in correcting the excesses in drinking liquors, metheglin and hard cider sold in the village groceries in 1829, and created a tumult among the grocers and their tippling customers. He, with Trustee Julius Ackley,, framed a code that "regulated the grocery traffic" in intoxicants. The Board oi 1842 was progressive. Its records show that the village had de- veloped largely during the thirteen years intervening since President Walbridge had served before. The condition of the village sidewalks was ordered examined officially for the first time. Joseph Esty was "granted permission to build the first family vault in the village burying ground." A new bucket company, "of not less than 40 members," was authorized. The sums of $600 for lighting streets; $1,000, for building and repairing bridges; and $1,600, for contingent ex- penses were allowed. At a mass-meeting of tax-payers President Walbridge was appointed one of a committee to end the contention between the village and owners of dams and obstructions in the village creeks by bringing, actions against them in the courts. Judge Walbridge removed to Leonia, New Jersey, in 1868, for a home, and opened a law office in New York city. He crossed the Hudson river twice daily. On the 27th of January, 1869, when 68 years of age, at the entrance to the Bergen tunnel, while standing on the ground waiting to take passage on a train, he was killed by a locomotive that came from the tunnel. His burial was in the vil- lage of Ithaca. The funeral was attended by a concourse of people who sin- cerely manifested its respect and affection for him in its church, bar, press and society resolutions and obituaries. He had for half a century typified all that was best in pubUc, private and official life in the village. JOHN HOLMAN-Seventh President JOHN HOLMAN-SEVENTH PRESIDENT. John Holman, the seventh president of Ithaca, was probably a native of Salem, Massachusetts. His earlier years had been passed as sailor,mate and sea- captain. But the garb and jargon of sailors, the sight of ships and oceans, the wiles of sea-coast cities and the witchcraft memories of Salem, became distaste- ful and monotonous to him. The winds in the tarred rigging of ships in the har- bor recalled years of fretting and loneliness upon distant seas. To escape them all he sold his ship "The Two Brothers," abandoned Salem and the sea and sought peace and livelihood in this faraway inland village. His manner was gentle, his speech chaste, his stories of the sea modest but interest- ing. His nature was charming' and generous, his intellect superior and his char- acter for honesty very high. The poor admired him, the vyell-tg-do respected him, the community trusted ^im and recognized in him a valuable citizen. True to his calling Captain Holman was not a partisan in politics, nor a seek- er after preferment nor political favors. His election in 1830 as trustee and presi- dent of the village was purely a compliment to him. He established a large va.iety store, including drygoods and groceries on East State street, opposite the Mack & Andrua book-store. It was well patron- ized; but his capital and stock declined as the years passed by. His generos- ity was greater than were his means to maintain it. His residence was on the northwest corner of Buffalo and Geneva streets now occupied by Edwin Gillette. Captain Holman was born prior to 1772. He died in Ithaca, in 1858, and was probably buried in Salem. The time of his coming to Ithaca is not known. He had two sons who died in early manhood in Ithaca. One was a physician. A discolored marble slab lying on the ground and partly hidden bj the grass, in the northwest comer of the old cemetery tells that Olivia, wife of John Holman, died in 1831. The brief records of the village clerk of 18^0 show that President Holman's administration was meritorious and progressive. Important improvements were inaugurated. It proposed to the officers of the Presbyterian Church that they pass over to the Board of Trustees the care, custody and control of the Public Square, now known as DeWitt Park, the title to remain in the church. The name of Aurora street was changed to Pearl street. Hudson street was opened and graded. Eastport, Westport and Fulton streets were surveyed, graveled and graded. Miles of sidewalks on State, Seneca, Albany and Mill streets were or- dered graveled and graded. The office of chief of the fire department was creat- ed. Uri Y. Hazard was appointed captain of the volunteer night-watch. The Board heard an appeal argued by Judge Dana and his partner Judge Bruyn in behalf of the new Bank of Ithaca to secure a reduction of the assessment made against the bank by the village assessors Horace Mack and Ira Tillotson. The assessment was sustained by the Board, appealed from to the courts, became famous, and was compromised several years later. Notwithstanding President Holman's pastoral simplicity, he stamped his per- sonality upon his municipal administration with the characteristic force of the ideal sea-captain. No favors were granted at the expense of taxpayers. The laws were obeyed because they were enforced. He interpreted the village charter with intelligence and without fear. He wisely followed the precepts and manners of his distinguished predecessors who had framed and introduced and construed the charter for six years. ^4 A single term cloaed his official life. He refused another. His refusal was sincere. His gentle nature was not fitted for judicial or executive contentions. His heart was not tempered with alloy. His ^ abandonment of the sea and of Salem and their unpleasant elements must not be to assume the burden of similar ones in Ithaca. His portrait shows him, with spy-glass in hand, a mild and gentle and modest soul, a winning and conservative mind. And yet, he had an aversion to making his age known. His widow inquired among his. male friends, after his death, for his age which he had kept a secret from her. Jacob R. Wortinan, one of Captain Holman's personal friends, purchased from his widow a pair of corsair pistols which he had carried on the seas. Mr. Wortman caused Ezra Cornell to make, purchases from Mrs. Holman of various keepsakes and marine trophies of the dead captain. The pistols and keepsakes were presented to the village museum. They included a painting of "The Two Brothers" executed for Captain Holmap while the ship rode at anchor in the har- bor of Venice. Mrs. William Halsey bought a' small oil painting from Mrs. Holman; took it among the professional and business men; sold it to them for vari- ous prices; asked for and received it back again. When night came she was in Spence Spencer's store, weary but radiant. He paid her a generous price for the painting which she did not ask him to return to her. Mr. Spencer 'and Mrs. Halsey then made haste to surprise Mrs. Holman with a present of her painting, which Mr. Spencer hung in its accustomed place upon the parlor wall, and with a handsome sum of money which Mrs. Halsey ■ pressed into Mrs. Holman's trembling hand. "A testimonial of the respect which the citizens feel tor John Holman's memory," said Spence Spencer. "A tribute of affection for his widow," added Mrs. William Halsey, and then kissed away a tear from^the widow's cheek. A side-Ught cast upon earlier days in Ithaca. LEVI LEONARD— Eighth President. LEVI LEONARD-EIGHTH PRESIDENT. It might be fairly assumed that the portrait of Levi Leonard resembles an actor of the Edwin Forrest school. He was a business man of modesty and re- finement of manner and of high mental and moral standards. He gained and held the respect of the entire community. His father, Asa Leonard, was a native of Lynn, Connecticut, and enlisted three times during the Revolution, the first time when he was 16 years old, and served four years in camp and field. Asa was too proud to apply for or accept a pension until in 1832, after the lapse of 50 years, when a pensioner of the Revolution had become a distinguished and honored per- sonage in the public mind. Levi Leonard inherited his father's pride. From his childhood in his native village of Berkshire, N. Y., until his death it was his guiding star. It was not the "pride that puffeth up," but the pride that makes every thought and act honor- able and admirable in the sight of mankind. He was often heard to say: ''My father was a battle-scarred patriot of the American Revolution." Mr. Leonard •bore an active part in the development of Ithaca into a busy little port for receiving and shipping grains, lumber and general merchandise, after the village had secured connection with the Ene canal. His place of busi- ness was at the Inlet, where a large part of the trade of the county was then transacted. His residence was an attractive house that stood directly west of the confluence of Six Mile Creek with the Inlet. The old store- house and the grain elevator of William Taber now occupies part of the Levi Leonard property. That section of the village witnessed the beginning of many a fortune that was amassed by the pioneer shippers, warehousemen, lumber-dealers and boat-builders of Ithaca. He was a shipper and forwarder, and a dealer in lumber and builders' merchandise. The village audits in 1828 include a bill for water-hme furnished to village officials by Levi Leonard. Water-lime was an im- portant output from the rocks on the lake-shore for many years, even as Portland cement is now becoming a prominent commercial product from the same source. Levi Leonard was in Ithaca in its early days for he was elected village as- sessor in 1823. In 1830-1-2 he was elected a member of the Board of Trustees. His colleagues chose him to preside over them as president of the village during the last two years. In 1837 he was appointed Village Agent under the session laws of that year, section 5, chapter 303, that amended the village charter. It was an important oflScial position. He was the first chairman of the first committee on sidewalks; and was selected by his fellow trustees to speak for them at important public meetings, because of his grace of manner, and generally attractive person- ality. While on a visit in New York in the forties Mr. Leonard and the late James Quigg were invited and escorted by a relative ol Simeon DeWitt to hear a sermon by a famous preacher. Upon their return to their hotel, the Astor House, the Ith- acans were asked what they thought about the preacher. • Mr. Quigg did not answer. Mr. Leonard was equally reservea. The question was repeated by their New York friend. Mr. Leonard answered that he would have enjoyed the preacher's sermon more if he had quoted his Bible text correctly. His answer caused the New Yorker to assert ttat the preacher 27 was without doubt the most eloquent, the most learned clergyman in that city, and that his quotation must have been correct. A spirited debate followed until someone in another part of the Astor House loaned the contestants a Bible. The text was found, and read, and Levi Leonard was declared by his host to be a "better scholar, a closer student of the scriptures than the greatest clergyman in the city of New York." Mr. Quigg related thi* incident just before his death, in 1902. During Levi Leonard's presidency in 1832 the Clinton House was completed and opened to the public, and appeared then nearly as it appears today. It was a great event in Ithaca. The last session held by the Board of Trustees in Jesse Grant's Coffee House, was when he was first chosen president in March, 1831. The Boards had met in that tavern for ten years and then "resolved" to hold their sessions at the Ithaca Hotel for one year. The dams owned by Blythe & Bennett, Beebe, The Eagle Factory Company and Henry Ackley; and the McCormick "tail race," constructed along the Six Mile Creek as tar down as Clinton street; and the Box Factory dam in the Cascadilla Creek, were declared by the Board to be nuisances. The owners were ordered to remove them upon pain ot fine and pun- ishment for refusing or neglecting to obey the "ordinance" of removal. The Board declared them menaces to the village because they were obstructions that caused overflows into the village. This order resulted in litigation and public meetings of tax-payers and entered as an influence into local politics. The bell in the Old Dutch church was ordered rung daily at 9 A. m; 12 m. and 9 P. m. at village expense. Village physicians were paid $200 by the Board for vaccinating people during the smaU-pox epi- demic in the winter of 1830-1. The citizens had been acting as volunteer night watchmen. President Leonard appointed Village Clerk George Freer captain of the two watchmen of the night and added $10 a month to his oflBcial compensa- tion. The Board of 1831 at its last session appointed Derick B. Stockholm, one of its own members, village attorney, the first one appointed in Ithaca. The same Board by a resolution adopted in June, appointed President Leonard chairman of the first finance committee in Ithaca. He appointed inAugust 1831, the flrstBoard of Healthin the village. He instruct- ed Village Attorney Stockholm to take $125 from the village treasury and go to New York City and defend the village in the argument upon the appeal taken by the Bank of Ithaca from the decision of the Board sustaining the action of the village assessors in their assessment of the property of the bank during the preceding year. The Board also directed Attorney Stockholm to take an appeal from the decision of the Board ot Supervisors that refused to build "a good bridge over Fall Creek near the mill." According to the meager information that is obtainable of him Levi Leonard was not an active politician. He declined a nomination for the Assembtv; but he responded eloquently to a toast, "Republican Government," at the famous Jackson Day midday banquet January 8, 1828. Mr. Leonard was a favorite with all classes. He was always courtly and serious. He was heard to kindly chide a female rela- tive who spoke to him of her husband and did not refer to him as "Mr." Chil- dren greatly enjoyed his company, his refinement and delightful stories. He was generous to every deserving person and was adored and venerated by his own family. Upon viewing several dogs manifesting fond familiarity with William Leonard, a son of Levi, while William, in the late forties, was landlord of the Clinton House, his friend, Abel Burritt inquired: "William, Why such companionship? Are you related to those dogs?" William answered: "No, Abel. 'Tis not the tie of blood, though much iu that there be: It's warmth 'of heart and flow of soul that binds these dogs to me." Levi Leonard could have truthfully made a like answer. He died in 1862, at the home of tiis son William, in Jersey City, aged 75. He is buried in the old part of the ItiiacaScemetery. IRA TILLOTSON-Ninth President ■IRA TILLOTSON-NINTH PRESIDENT. Ira Tillotson's name appears often in the early records of Ithaca. His public spirit and wisdom were manifest and popular; his character was held in esteem. He was born in Farmington, Connecticut, in 1783. In 1790 he removed, with his father. Gen. John Tillotson, who was on General Washington's staff during the Revolution, to Whitestown, N. Y., and in 1794 to Genoa, then Milton, N. Y. He was educated in the then far-famed Genoa school and in the Aurora academy. When 18 years of age, young Tillotson joined a party of government survey- ors who were establishing the boundary, line between Canada and the United States. He became a victim of fever and ague, and was compelled to return to his home in Genoa. He journeyed on foot and alone through the pathless forests, and rested and slept, wherever night overtook him, by the sides of logs or of fal- len trees; his companions being the storms, the winds, the howling wolves, and his chills. The ambition of the boy did not jrield to the illness that weakened his body. He came to Ithaca in 1809, and adopted the avocations of surveyor, architect and builder with marked success. His rise in the hamlet was rapid. He designed and builded the Presbyterian, Dutch Reformed, First Methodist and other churches, and many of the principal buildings in the village and county. He was given charge of making the underground cisterns in the streets for fire purposes, and the building of "superior" bridges over the village streams, thus substantially ex- tending and bettering the principal driveways long before he was chosen to an office. In 1824 Mr. Tillotson served upon a committee of citizens which selected for the county the site for an alms-house — the one still used for that purpose. In 1816 he served on a committee, and made its report, to select a site for a schoolhouse. In 1820 he was one of the signers for the village charter and one of the incorpor- ators of the Cascadilla Canal Company. He succeeded Nathan Herrick as super- visor of the township in 1827. He was re-elected annually until 1835. He declined that office in 1835 and removed to Buffalo; bu^ he was compelled to return to Ith- aca by reason of ill health. In 1836 he was again elected supervisor. In 1829-30-1-2, he was elected a village assessor; in 1828 and 1833 a village trustee. In 1833 he held the three important offices of supervisor of the township, president of the village and member of Assembly. He was several times chairman of the Board of Supervisors. He resigned as roadmaster of Ithaca village and supervisor of the township in 1836. He removed in September of that year to Calhoun County, Michigan, where he served ten years as county clerk; and one year as supervisor in Eaton county in 1848. Ira Tillotson was an active and devoted adherent of the political, military and personal fortunes of Andrew Jackson. The board of Trustees of 1833 empowered him to invite General Jackson to visit Ithaca and partake of its hospitality. He was chairman of a committee on resolutions at a Jacksonian mass-meeting held at the court house in 1828, and presented and read the resolutions indorsing a bill, then pending in Congress, favoring protection to all kinds of American products and industries by the imposition of a tariff on foreign made goods imported into this country. His declining years were cheered when this protective and old-time Democratic doctrine and its advocates scored victories. General Levi Hubbell was chairman and Judge Andrew DeWitt Bruyn secretary, of the mass-meeting. 3° Mr. Tillotson was elected chairman of the public meetings of taxpayers in 1830—1. He was appointed on the Board of Health in 1832 to carry out impor- tant changes in Ithaca after a scourge of smallpox. He was one of the subscrip- tion commissioners who secured in three days $200,000 for the new Bank of Ith- aca, in 1829. He was village surveyor for years, and graded and laid out village streets. He was an organizer and charter member of Tornado Hook and Ladder fire company in 1831. In 1833 he was appionted member of a citizens' com- mittee to institute proceedings against owners of dams in Six Mile Creek, and Jacob M. McCormick's flume; and to have them declared nuisances, by the courts, and ordered abolished. Humphrey & Maynard were village attorneys during his administraticn. He appointed the first road-list committee in the Board of Trus- tees. The committee assessed two days of highway work against every male in- habitant and 4,500 days for highway tax in the village. Ira Tillotson's Board proudly called public attention to the seven cents ihat remained in the village treasury, at the close of the year, and boasted that every obUgation created by the Board was paid in full. • ^ One of the fixed opinions of this most remakable man was that destiny would witness Ithaca occupying an important place on Cayuga Lake, near its southeast corner. Eecent developments in that direction seem to verify his prediction. His talents, his accomplishments and integrity were as highly prized in Michigan as in Ithaca. His death occurred at the age of 75, in Bellevue, Eaton Countv, Mich- igan, in 1858. He was buried in Marshal, Michigan. WAIT TALCOT HUNTINGTON-TenthTPresident. WAITTALCOT HUNTINGTON-TENTH PRESIDENT. Wait Talcot Huntington was a versatile and popular member of the "Con- necticut Colony" in earlier Ithaca. He left his native village, Ellington, Conn., in 1805, at the age of seven, and located in Owego, N. Y., with his father, where he was educated, and where he taught school until 1818 when he was 20. He then came to Ithaca to assume the management of his father's branch store. His talents and accomplishments were soon appreciated in Ithaca. In 1821 he was selected to survey the lines that bounded the new village. In 1822 he was chosen principal of the academy. In 1826 he purchased the brewery that stood until 1878, on the east bank of Six Mile Creek, midway between the Clinton street and Cayuga street bridges. He owned and conducted a store on State street. Added to natural abilities he was possessed of such engaging manners and pleasing person- ality that he was for many years prominent in village activities. He was elected town clerk in 1826, and re-elected annually until 1833. In 1829 he was elected, and in 1830 he was appointed, village treasurer. In 1831-2-4-1854-5 he was elected a trustee of the village; in 1834 and 1855 president of the village, being elected the latter term by the people, the charter having been amended in 1854. In 1837 he was elected county clerk for three years; in 1844 he was presi- ident of a taxpayers' meeting to raise funds for purchasing additional cemetery land and in 1859 he was elected a justice of the peace. Mr. Huntington was a charter member of Tornado Hook and Ladder com- pany. He was married to Sophronia Carter, of Aurora, N. Y., in 1840. Mr. Huntington was from his 23d year a member of Fidelity Lodge F. & A. M., being Master in 1847-8-9. He was a loyal and constant member of Eagle Chapter B. A. M. for many years, and during the trying anti-masonic period that began in the later twenties. He was made High Priest in 1851 when Eagle Chapter, under dispensation, resumed its meetings after 20 years of cessation. In the Masonic circles of the State his name was honored; it is still an honored name among the 900 or more Masons in the city of Ithaca and the nearby villages of Tompkins county. Charles Humphrey, the fifth president of the village, had been High Priest of Eagle Chapter in 1820-1-2-3-4. In 1860 he purchased a half-interest in the patent of the original Ithaca calendar clock and had the clock manufactured by the Seth Thomas company.The Civil War interfered with that class of business, and he abandoned it. He was an active supporter of President Lincoln, and presided at a mass-meeting in Ith- aca, in 1862, which resolved itself into a Loyal League, an influential organization that gave valuable aid to the Lincoln administration. In 1863 Mr. Huntington entered the service of the Pension Department in Washington ; in 1865 he was transferred to the War Department, and in 1874 to the New York post office. In 1879, at the age of 81, his failing health caused him to resign his position. He retired to private life with his daughters in Moravia, N. Y., where he died and was buried in 1880. As the nominee for village president of the American or "Know Nothing" party, in 1855, Mr. Huntington received nearly three-fourths of all the votes cast, against the very popular and three-times president Nathan T. Williams the Dem- ocratic nominee. The country was aroused against aUeus being permitted to vote before they had resided in the United States at least 21 vea.rs. The Kitt^,. 33 Masons, was less general than the dislike shown in the fifties to the "foreigners." But, like the anti-masonic sentiment, the anti-alien fury soon spent its force, and the populace recovered its political equilibrium in its treatment of fellowmen from foreign lands. Ithaca was a hot-bed of "Americanism." Its most eloquent champion, Stephen H. Gushing, was carried on the crest of its fury into the office of attorney-general of the state. It proved costly to him for he became a victim of the excitement and reaction of that period anddi d soon after his term expired, and after a brief but brilliant career in New York City as the law partner of the father of General Daniel E. Sickles. It is justice to President Huntington to note that he was not inspired to bigotry by the "American" sentiment. It was not a sectarian or anti-Catholic crusade, as the following facts show, in the minute? of the Board of 1855. Cath- olics should know it and remember it. The first appointments made by Presi- dent Huntington and his Board of Trustees were: John W. Pickering, cemetery keeper, and Hugh McDonald, head constable. Mr. Pickering was an Englishman, by birth, and a Protestant. Mr. McDonald was an Irishman, by birth, and a Catholic. They were reputable and experienced men who had served under a pre- ceding Board. The races and creeds from which the two men came were as well known to the Board of 1855 as to the Baard of 1854. The populace demanded their dismissal from their official positions. The excellent record made by Mr. Pickering for years, as cemetery keeper, did not weigh much with the village "Americans." Constable McDonald's patriotic record under Generals Scott and Shields in the Mexican war a few years before did not aid or save him from public humiliation. The reappointments were revoked, reluctantly, at a subsequent meeting of the Board and other men were appointed to fill the vacancies. Wait T. Huntington has been known to the people of Ithaca as the "Know Nothing" president of the village, and particularly to one sect of Ithacans; but this record proves that it was not a religious or merely sectarian animosity that inspired or governed the movement. It was a sentiment, a crusade based upon the theory that no person born in the United States should be compelled to reside in them for a longer period, in order to gain the right of suffrage, than a person not born in them. He was not among those who looked upon Catholics as foreigners, as a matter of course, to the spirit and purpose of our Government. His theory was the popular theory all over the United States until the Civil War was begun and when entire regiments and brigades of foreign born and Catholic recruits and volunteers marched to the front with that spirit and dash and loyalty to the Government that made the "Americans" see how much in error they were in the fifties. Wait T. Huntington was one of those "Americans" who enjoyed the spectacle and became the true and liberal American that made him so popu- lar and so valuable in that Ithaca of which he was so proud until his last day. AMASA DANA-Eleventh President AMASA DANA-ELEVENTH PRESIDENT. Amasa Dana was the eleventh president of Ithaca and a potent influence in moulding and directing its moral and intellectual advancement for half a century. It is asserted that he was the strongest and soundest pillar of the local Methodist society as his contemporary Ben Johnson was of the Presbyterian Church during the last thirty years of his life. Richard, the progenitor of the American Danas, was a French Huguenot who came to Massachusetts in 1640, 20 years after the landing of the Pilgrims. This family has furnished many eminent leaders in patriotism, jurisprudence, science, literature, arts and scholarship in the Eastern and Middle States.Their names are fa- miliar to students in every branch of American history. Amasa's grandfather, Anderson Dana, a lawyer, while doing military duty in 1778 near his own home in the Wyoming Valley, protecting helpless women and children from England's Hessian and Indian allies, was brained by the hatchet of an Indian to glut the vengeance of the Tories. His widow and his seven young children escaped the massacre and on foot, suffering hardships and terrors beyond the power of pen to describe, over 300 miles of swamp, mountain, river, and through forest and wilderness infested by Redcoat and savage, reached their former home in Pomfret, Connecticut, after an absence of five years. When General Sullivan had banished the British and savages from the Wy- oming valley Amasa's grandmother and her children returned to her lonely home, now the city of Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania. It was there that her son Aziel was married to Rebecca Cory, who had escaped the massacre. In 1792 their son Amasa Dana was born, 14 years after the flight to Connecticut. How natural that his life from his childhood to his grave was haunted by the awful shadow, influenced by the tragic memories of the most atrocious massacre ever perpetrated by any so-called civilized people. He was educated in the Dana academy in Wilkesbarre; an educational insti- tution that is mentioned in Miner's History of the Wyoming Valley and by other historians of Pennsylvania, and in Owego, New York. That his education was substantial is to be seen m a Fourth of July oration delivered in 1819, the manu- script of which is now preserved by his niece, Mrs. Helen Dana Angell, of Ithaca. It affords abundant evidence that he was a perfect grammarian and a close stu- dent of history. His penmanship was elegant, his diction pure and his sentiment intensely patriotic. Although he was only 26 years of age the oration proves that he was matured in mind and an able debater. Young Dana asserted that America's French allies had, while aiding us, breathed the invigorating air of true freedom and when they returned to France spread it as an influence among their kindred. It became in France as in Ameri- ca the sun of liberty and withered tyranny beneath its powerful rays. The mon- archs and the nobility watched and hated it. Like a horde of confederated mer- cenaries they saw and realized its development in France and they broke into that, country to stop its progress. The French rose in vengeance against [them and swept over Europe in triumph. But the French armies, he said, and the French people became intoxicated with glory and power and abandoned the goddess of liberty; and in Russia and at Waterloo the goddess in turn abandoned them. Referring to the War of 1812 he said that our 30 years of peace and prosperity after the Revolution had excited the 36 envy and jealousy of our English brethren who goaded us into a second war. But that war had plucked some of the laurels of the Nile and Trafalgar from the brows. of English sailors and transferred them to the foreheads of American naval heroes; there to remain until ocean tides shall cease to roll and time shall be no more. England had lost her supremacy upon the seas; her trident was broken; her lion was crouching beneath the stars and stripes of the United States since the conflicts al Bridgewater, Erie, Plattsburg and New Orleans. This oration is now 83 years old, and its author has been dead 35 years; but it predicts "the danger to the people in the selBshness and combinations of moneyed powers in the hour of commercial competitions." Amasa Dana was appointed district attorney of Tompkins County in 1823h Master in Chancery in 1828; elected a member of Assembly in 1828-9; a trustee and president of the village in 1835-6-9; surrogate and county judge in 1837; mem- ber of Congress in 1839 and 1843. Between his two terms in Congress he served (1842) the township as supervisor. He was chairman of the Assembly judiciary committee in 1829 and received a number of votes for Speaker. His record as a lawmaker and legislator was honorable and conspicuous. His chief laurels were won in Congress in his successful battle to reduce the prices of postage. His purpose was sentimental but thoroughly practical. The reduction in the rates doubled and tripled the volume of postal business and the communi- cation of the people between distant geographical points. Judge Dana was a man of well balanced personality. He excelled in all of the elements that are essential in the man who makes and enforces laws; in the vil- lage, the county, the state and the nation, all of which he served. The name of Amasa Dana is today the most revered of all long list of laymen who have been communicants at the altar of the First Methodist Episcopal Church in Ithaca. His church work would make an interesting volume. He had been generous to its various missionary and charitable demands. At his death he be- queathed it $10,000 more, thus proving the sincerity of his religious activities. H& presided at a meeting of the congregation in 1851 and earnestly advocated the or- ganization of a second society and the building of a second Methodist Church in the village. He was sustained in his position and the Seneca Street (now State Street) Church and congregation followed. His religious activities were begun in his youth. He had presented the Methodists in this society in 1826 with several hundred dollars with which to purchase books tor a circulating library. He became intensely religious at the great Methodist revival of 1826 and from that time, un- til his death he was a leader in all church affairs. The painting of a noble appearing officer in scarlet uniform that has for thirty years brightened the wall in the Cornell city library is the Duke of Wellington. He was a relative of Judge Dana's wife, Mary Harper Speed, a native ot Virginia. Other members of the Harper family were married to members of the Bonaparte and Charles Carroll of CarroUton families. The portrait of the duke is of high ar- tistic and historic value and a gift from Judge Dana and his wife to the Library. Judge Dana was Judge Bruyn's law partner from early in the twenties until the death of Judge Bruyn in 1838. He succeeded Judge Bruyn as surrogate, county judge and congressman. Their relationships in personal and business and legal matters were very close and constant. In later years Judge Dana was senior part- ner with a son of Jonathan Gosman, George D. Beers and Ossian G. Howard. He was attorney for the Bank of Ithaca, president of the Tompkins County bank, an extensive dealer in real estate and interested in various commercial concerns. Judge Dana was eminent as a lawyer and distinguished for the care and study he gave to the preparation of cases for trial. He had been an eloquent advocate in early years, but he almost abandoned the trial .courts in the fifties and sixties and confined his work to his office practice. He was at his best in his of- fice and as a connselor. He was blessed in havine a laree and healt.hv nViv.a;nno 37 movements. He was a model of industry, dignity, courtesy and self-control. It has been said of him: "He kept his hands so very clean that he used to wash them with invisible soap." Judge Dana encouraged young men in business ventures and professional am- bitions, as this incident will prove: Svdney Dean, at present a resident of Ithaca, when a boy of 16 came from his father's (Jefferson Dean) farm in Newfleld to Judge Dana in 1861 and made known his desire to go to Pennsylvania to purchase sheep for the Ithaca and surrounding market. When asked by the lawyer why he did not go and buy them the boy answered that he had no money. When asked how much he would need to carry out his plan the boy answered: "Five hundred dollars." Judge Dana wrote and handed him a check for that sum. When a note for $500 was tendered Judge Dana he said: ' 'The note will be worthless if you lose the money. And,Sydney,you are a minor and I cannot collect it. If you succeed, your word and honor will be my security." The boy did not fully com- prehend the transaction until his relatives expressed their surprise at Judge Dana's act. An interesting incident in his middle life was the breaking of the cable that held a car at the upper end of the steep "inclined plane" of the old Owego and Ithaca Railway, and the dash made by the car to the bottom of the hill until it struck "the level" near the mineral and gas wells, about one-half mile south of the Cayuga street bridge over Six Mile creek. The car contained passengers, Judge Dana being one of them. All but a man named Babcock jumped from the car. Judge Dana sustained a painful sprain of a leg. The lone passenger, as the story has been told for at least 40 years, was not badly harmed, being under the influ- ence of intoxicants, "notwithstanding the fact that no piece was left of the car as large as himself. It was dashed into pieces ready for kindUng wood." Babcock soon recovered from his shock. Judge Dana was elected to Congress while serving his third term as president of the village. He resigned the presidency when he departed for Washington. His municipal administrations covered a very dark and embarrassing period in Ithaca which cannot be forgotten nor its influence be eradicated from municipal affairs. Reference will be made to it in the sketches of Judge Dana's immediate successors,. George P. Frost and Caleb B. Drake, who served as presidents of the village between his second and third terms. Notwithstanding the commercial embarrassments mentioned his administrations were marked by progressive ^but conservative steps. The Board of Trustees of 1836 reported at its last session that no corporation tax had been levied during the year; and declared that something •should be done to enlarge the powers of the citizens of the village in laying and collecting taxes to keep pace with the increased and increasing business and pop- ulation of the village; especially of the needs of good roads and bridges; that the citizens would cheerfully vote to pay for these if they had authority to raise the money needed; and that measures had been taken to remedy this want of the village. The Board of 1839 paid $16. to the trustees of the Baptist Church for winding the village clock; offered $100. reward for the conviction of the person who "set Are to the village market-house last Sunday evening," and returned stall moneys to the stall tenants who had paid in advance. It granted a permit to the Owego and Ithaca R.R. Co., to build a track on State street from Aurora street to the Inlet. Wages of laborers were 87 cents a day on the village streets. The bell in the Dutch Reformed Church was ordered rung as formerly, at 9 a. m. , 12 m. and 9 P. M. at village expense, and daily. Railroad and Lake avenues were extended. A proposition to the Board was made by the Water Works Company for fire pro- tection, and referred to a committee consisting of Trustees Jacob M. McCormick, Horace Mack, sr., and William Andrus. A romantic story, founded probably upon truth, comes from the Speeds who knew and admired Judge Dana and refer to him with affection and respect. Dr. 38 Joseph Speed and his family while on their way from Virginia in 1805 to Tomp- kins County, their future home, overtook a boy who was walking up the val- ley from Wilkesbarre, his shoes hanging over one shoulder and his bundle of shirts, stockings, handkerchiefs, etc., on the other shoulder. The boy was invited to ride "up the valley a way". He gladly accepted the invitation and joined the family in the wagon. He said that he was going to his uncle, Eleazer Dana, a law- yer in Owego, N. Y. His father was dead and he had started out in search of op- portunity and fortune. His name was Amasa Dana, his age 12. The Speed fam- ily passed through Owego. The boy parted with them and impressed them with his sense of gratitude. For years he was not heard from by the Virginians in their Tompkins County home. But one of the doctor's sons, who was preparing for the bar, in Owego, found a chum in another law student whom he brought for visits to the parental home in Speedsville. The sequel is the old and the happy one. The chum law stu(^ent was Amasa Dana. Like many others he "fell in love" with Mary, the doctor's daughter. When Judge Dana was in Washington as congressman his wife, Mary Harper Speed, was regarded the most attractive because the most beautiful and most stately woman in the capital. The domestic life of this couple was ideal, if happiness can be used as a standard. Her Virginia;n charac- teristics and accomplishments made her a favorite in church and social life wher- ever she went. Judge Dana held a high place in the respect and confidence of his own profes- sion and in the community. He was in apparent health and strength when he was stricken with apoplexy in 1867, at his home. No. 117 East Buffalo street, now occu- pied by Dr. Chauncey P. Biggs as a residence. It was natural that his death, which goon followed, was regarded as a public loss. His obsequies were conducted with church and professional honors. GEORGE P. FROST-Twelfth President GEORGE P. FROST-TWELFTH PRESIDENT, When George P. Frost was elected a village trustee in 1835 Ithaca was at- tracting national attention. Its inhabitants were enthusiastic in their efforts to make known to the world its natural commercial advantages and magnificent scenery. Its rapid expansion into a large city was unquestioned. Ambi- tion inspired them, realization of hope seemed certain and happiness prevailed. They charmed and converted the surrounding villages and counties until the project became woven into the warp and woof of village life and at the end allured them into overwhelming disappointment and distress. Prosperity had aided the village for years but in 1835 it began to assume new life. Real estate swiftly advanced in prices if not in value. Mills, factories and houses were erected in the valley and on the hillsides. People flocked to Ithaca for work and for permanent homes. Merchants and capitalists from other parts came to invest and join the commercial throng. Professional men also arrived and became Ithacans. The village press heralded the ambition and purpose of local statesmen and capitalists to build a ship canal from Cayuga Lake to Lake Ontario and thus con- nect Ithaca with the St. Lawrence river and the Atlantic. An outlet to the Atlan- tic by the way of the Ithaca and Owego railway connecting with the Susquehanna river at Owego, thence to Baltimore and the Chesapeake Bay was made part of the plan. The railroad was to link the new metropohs of Ithaca with the Susque- hanna and Cayuga Lake; the short ship canal would link Cayuga Lake with Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence. The Erie canal would serve as a tributary to this grand circuit and bring New York within its reach. With Baltimore as the south- ern terminal and Buffalo the western, the whole country and Canada would be added to the circuit. Not a railway existed to compete with this route over which the products of America must be exchanged and transferred. An extensive ship yard and an inland naval station would be established at or near the head of Cayuga Lake. Ithaca was to hethe center of this plan and re- ceive a lion's share of gain. The State would constract the Cayuga and Ontario ship canal. Ithaca and Owego capitalists would build the railway. Pennsylvania would prepare the channel of her mighty Susquehanna. Baltimore would lend her aid and energy, and milk and honey would find their way in plenty to every table along the route. When Mr. Frost was re-elected a trustee in 1836 his constitutents were battling loyally to accomplish the work here outlined and believed themselves near the goal. Ebenezer Mack, one of the ablest and soundest thinkers and writers in cen- tral New York was re-elected to the Senate. Speaker Humphrey was returned to his place of power in the Assembly and controlled the appointment of committees which acted upon appropriations. Judge Bruyn was in Congress from this district. Surely such leaders among lawmakers must succeed. No voice was raised in their districts, nor in those adjoining, against the -s^isdom or the patriotism of the great scheme. Everything in Washington and in Albany appeared to point to its success. The marvelous prices paid for roil efetate within a radius of three miles 41 from the Clinton House and for the water-privileges of the village streams illus- trate the conditions existing in 1836. They seem incredible now, and read like a chapter from Washington Irving or Fenimore Cooper. The Bloodgood tract of swamp and hillside shale sold for $100,000; more than three times greater than the price paid for it by C. M. Titus and John McGraw 32 years afterward. Part of the Simeon DeWitt estate on East Hill sold for $200,000. Henry Ackley refused $20,000 for a half interest in a vacant square at the Inlet now occupied by the Gunderman store-house, Lackawanna depot and St. John Hotel. Water rights at Fall Creek sold for $220,000. A piece of the DeWitt estate that was sold for $4,676 in January brought $52,929 in July. One farm one mile and one-half outside of the village boundary was sold for $500 an acre by its owner, who paid $50 an acre for it ten months before. Other farms sold in like manner. The late and lamented James Quigg, in May, 1902, said to the writer of these sketches: "I met a man named McCormick on a steamer on Lake Ontario, many years ago, who told me that he was one of two men who were employed by wealthy business men in Oswego to lobby in Albany against the proposition of the representatives of Tompkins and adjoining counties to build the ship canal from Cayuga Lake to Lake Ontario. 'We were prepared' he said, 'to abandon our opposition if a few thousand dollars had been forthcoming as they would be today. We wanted the contract to do the dredging. It was a plan easy to carry out and not very expensive. It came very near to success anyway. Ithaca would have jumped into a very big and rich city if that canal had been built.' " When Mr. Frost was again elected a trustee in 1837 by the people and chosen president of the Board and of the village he was at his zenith, and about 37 years of age. What could he not do with genius and capital? And genius and capital were abundant in Ithaca. Prices continued to rise and every thing continued to point to an inland metropolis. But President Andrew Jackson created the contention with the banks and forced a contraction of the currency. A money panic fell upon the Nation and plunged it into distress too deep for hope of speedy relief. Senator Mack knd Speaker Humphrey voted with the large majority in both branches of the legislature to loan the counties $3,000,000 for temporary aid. The Ithaca Chronicle(now the Democrat) published six columns of names of men in this county who protested against the principle of mendicancy contained in the bill. Every business interest in Ithaca except usury came to a stand-still. Real es- tate became a drug in the market and people loathed it. Business men were heavy-hearted .at the awful change in commercial conditions. George Frost was forced to meet the local distress as president of the village. He performed his duties wisely and fearlessly. He had been a bright and promi- nent business man since 1821. His store was No. 12 North Aurora street and con- tained an extensive stock of saddlery, hardware and harness and carriage mater- ials. He was experienced and popular and counseled patience and hope and in- dustry to the public. He had been an active fireman since the first company was organized in 1823. and in 1831 he had joined Tornado Hook and Ladder company at its organization. His prominence in church affairs led him to the su- perintendency of the Sunday school of the Dutch Beform (now Congregational) Church. Mr. Frost had as a single committeeman from the Board of Trustees in 1835 adjusted the long standing contention between the Board and the officials of the Presbyterian Church relating to the care and con/trol of DeWitt Park, and accom- plished that which other village presidents and trustees had attempted but failed. His adjustment still holds good between the city and the Presbyterian society; a period of 67 years. He had settled differences of like character between the three Boards of which he was a member and the people of the village. 42 But his presidency ended his public services for the village, except as a fire- man. He could not restore confidence, business prosperity and happiness. He was himself a victim of the financial stringency. During his presidency wages were reduced to fifty cents per day and the 8-hour system abolished upon village works. The villaafe ran in debt although the tax budget was increased. Citizens were discontented. Taxes were levied but difficult to collect. And yet, Mr. Frost's administration was positive and spirited and progressive. The Simeon DeWitt system of maps and streets was accepted and the com- missioners, Eichard Varick DeWitt, Ancel St. John and William A. Wood-- ward, carried out that system and it has been made permanent. Buffalo street was opened from Aurora street to Eddy street. Spring street and Stewart ave- nue were opened from State street to Buffalo street. Tioga and Utica streets were extended to Tompkins street. Yates and Marshall streets were opened from Lake avenue to Aurora street. Both sides of Cayuga street were ordered flagged from creek to creek. The first sprinkling cask was purchased and used on the streets. Extra compensation was voted to the lamplighter who was com- pelled during the winter days to take his street lamps to a stove to thaw the oil for night use. Gen. Levi Hubbell, a son-in-law of Simeon DeWitt and member of the Board of Trustees, was appointed village attorney. In 1834 Mr. Frost was secretary of the county temperance society. He read the Declaration of Independence in the Baptist Church at the Fourth of July cel- ebration in 1838. In 1839 he served as assessor and in 1849 he was elected to serve again but decUned . His residence, a fine one in his day, was the present No. 427 East Seneca street. Part of the land is now occupied by former Mayor John Barden's residence. He was chosen second assistant chief of the fire department by the Board of Trustees in 1849. General Robert Halsey was chief and Josiah B. Williams firs? assistant chief. Mr. Frost resigned in 1851, having served 28 years in the department. No information can be obtained of his antecedents nor of his later years. His wife was Eliza Benjamin of Lansing. She died in 1860 in Mendon, Illinois, aged 55 years. Mr. Frost's store and stock were ruined by fire and water for the third time about the year 1854. After receiving his insurance money from George W. Schuyler, the company's agent, Mr. Frost and family removed to Mendon. He was of large and imposing form and personally attractive. He was a humorist as well as a public speaker. While presiding at a session of the Board of Trustees and debating and lamenting the distress that depreseed the people, in December, 1837, he asserted that the Lord had put a frost in his garden every morning during the summer and fall. When challenged for his remark here- plied that he was the Frost that the Lord had sent in to his garden. CALEB B. DRAKE— Thirteenth President. CALEB B. DRAKE-THIRTEENTH PRESIDENT. Caleb Beverly Drake was a local celebrity whose many years of useful public service made his name a household term. He was appointed and elected to more important local oflScial positions of trust and influence and served more years than any other man in the history of Ithaca. His service was of high standard. He died while a public oflScial. He was a son of Benjamin Drake, a Revolutionary veteran and one of the earliest settlers of Tioga county, N. Y. Caleb was born in the house owned and occupied for many years in Peekskill, N. Y., by Henry Ward Beecher. Here- moved with his father to Tioga county, N. Y. He served as an adjutant in the War of 1812. In 1805 he came to Ithaca and served as a clerk in the store of David Quigg for seven years, during which he prepared for the bar as a student of David Woodcock. ,Mr. Drake was a large property owner in the village and in the township. He owned and resided on the southeast corner of State and Tioga streets, his lot ex- tending to Six Mile creek. He was the owner of the building on Tioga street in which for five years the first fire company kept its engine. His business and professional standing was excellent. The panic of 1836-7 numbered him among its victims. ♦ Mr. Drake was made Master in Chancery in 1817 and won local distinction in 1819 as a magistrate, when Ithaca was part of Ulysses, and four years before Ith- aca village was incorporated. He was in the same official position when he died in 1861, aged 75 years. He was, like the members of his profession generally, an influential and constant advocate of advanced education, from the primary de- partment of the common school to the last day in the class of the college senior. In 1816 he was appointed on a committee with two other young 'uen, who were in attendance at a school meeting, to obtain the assistance of Fidelity Lodge F. & A. M. , to build a new school in the unchartered village of Ithaca. The committee was Caleb B. Drake, Ira Tillotson and Luther Gere who were also members of that Masonic Lodge. An elaborate document now in the possession of Isaac Dodd and daughters, Mary and Kate, of Ithaca, contains considerable penmanship of Caleb B. Drake, reference to which will interest many who have known only the handwriting that made him a subject of comment in his later years. The document is an article or proof of a sale in 1792 by Simeon DeWitt, as surveyor-general of the State, of a parcel of land in Solon, New York. The acknowledgement was drawn by Caleb B. Drake. General De Witt's signature and seal were attached and acknowledged before Caleb B. Drake, commissioner, in 1829. Moses DeWitt and Francis Blood- good signed as witnesses. Mr. Drake's penmanship is plain and admirable. Mr. Drake was a lawyer whose wide reading and extraordinary memory confined his practice to his office. He was credited with the faculty of reading a book and years afterward, with ease, accurately repeating its details and dates. This made his knowledge of local affairs valuable to the public. He was a victim of dropsy in his later years which affected his penmanship so much that his legal documents became subjects of general criticism. His mental facultv remained unimpaired. Mr. Drake was elected a village trustee and president in 1838 under conditions 45 that were a high cocnpliinent to his character and popularity and merit a record here. Prior to the village election that year Ezra Cornell, Charles E. Hardy, John James Speed, John Hawkins, George McCormick, Anson Spencer, Frederick T. Deming, Joseph Burritt, Henry Hibbard and Wait T. Huntington issued a public call for a Whig mass-meeting. The meeting was well attended and appointed a "vigilance committee of 100 Whigs to act for the party and the ticket until after election." The result of the committee's efforts was a startling surprise to the Democrats. Every man on the Whig ticket was elected except Ezra Cornell, a nominee for trustee. Former Speaker Charles Humphrey was one of the defeated Democratic nominees for trustees. Mr. Drake, Mr. McCormick and Mr. Speed were elected as trustees. Mr. Drake was chosen president of the Board and of the village. It might be asserted that Caleb B. Drake was of heroic nature to accept such a public position at such a period. The panic of 1836 was yet stifling the commercial life and happiness of the village and no sign pointed to a break in its severity. His party mercilessly assailed the Jacksonians with having brought ruin upon the country. The Demo- crats were forced to Jackson's defence. It was a great political contest. Caleb B. Drake was the center of the local field during that year. He was elected as justice of the peace for the township several weeks later. His office was convenient of access for the clamoring and hungry and idle throng and he soon tired of the presidency. He was powerless to relieve the awful conditions of the working people. He realized the emptiness of the presidency as it related to pub- lic or private honors. He did not improve conditions because he could not. Ithaca had been running wild in all kinds of speculation and had no substantial reserve forces or wealth to protect the village from the influence of the reaction. People were comprehending their own condition and its causes. They saw that years of hardship and poverty, and many cases of bankruptcy were ahead, and that the long battle for the ship canal, the ship-yard and naval station would not be a pleasant or profitable battle to continue. The great satisfaction remained to President Drake and his party colleagues in the Board of Trustees in not being charged with causing the prevailing industrial distress. Mr. Drake's administration was unavoidbly conservative but gave special at- tention and consideration to the poor and deserving. A new village clock was placed in the tower of the Baptist Church at an expense to the village of $500. The Judge Dana petition for the right to lay a railway on State street from the In- let to Aurora street, by the D. L. & W. R. R. was referred by the Board to Presi- dent Drake as a single committeeman with full authority to act upon it. The right was not granted until Judge Dana became president the third time, in 1839. The railway was never laid on that street. Upon the reorganization of Eagle Chapter R. A. M. in 1851 Mr. Drake was appointed Scribe. He presided at several public meetings of taxpayers, includ- ing one in 1839, when taxes were to be raised for village expenses. In 1854 he re- ceived the nomination for police justice. His opponents were two popular and intelligent men, former President George P. Frost and Chaunoey G. Heath. He received 42 votes more than were cast for both of them. His salary was $500. He was elected a justiceof the peace in the township the year before. His cour- room was where the First National Bank now stands. Ithaca was in need of an upright and fearless and intelligent police magistrate in his time and he faithfully and ably performed his duties. The village had been expanding. The canal had increased the number of men and women of bad character and disorderly conduct in the village. He won high praise for his manner of sitting in judgment upon them. His reputation although admirable as a lawyer now stands chiefly i^jon his career as magistrate which won for him' the familiar title by which he was and is still known far and near: Squire Drake, He was twice married; first to Aurelia Buell and after her death to Lucy Ann Buckley. He was buried in the village cemetery with many public, society, bar and church honors. JACOB M. MCJCORMICK-Fourteenth President, JACOB M. McCORMICK-FOURTEENTH PRESIDENT. Jacob M.McCormick, fourteenth president of Ithaca, was stately in appearance and active in his citizenship. His only existing portrait is on the wall of the Ma- 'sonic Temple in a city on the Hudson. It was painted for that temple. He wore his regalia when sitting to the artist. Mr. McCormick was one of the distinguished members of the Grand Lodge; and had won and borne many local Lodge honors by his faithful service and his excellent Masonic example during many years of membership. While reverently viewing this portrait recently one of his old Ithaca contemporaries asserted that Jacob M. McCormick was no more impressive to the sight than he was to the mind of all who knew him. It has been said that Jacob McCormick and his wife were fit subjects for sculptors' models. Mrs. Mc- Cormick, Catherine Conrad, of Lansing, N. Y. was called the " Lady-of-the-Lake" in admiration for her personal beauty and social graces. Mr. McCormick was born in Big Flats, Chemung County, N. Y. in 1793. His grandfather, Joseph McCormick, resided and died near tfce Giant's Causeway, Ireland. Joseph's widow emigrated to America in 1760. She was a McDowell and a native of Scotland. Jacob's father came to America as a lieutenant in the British army at the beginning of the Revolution. He was captured by the Amer- icans and became a willing and contented prisoner of war until he learned that his brother was serving in Washington's army. He found him, changed his uni- form, enlisted with his brother and, receiving an officer's commission, fought valiantly with the Colonials against his king and former comrades until freedom for the colonies was attained. He then settled in Painted Post, N. Y., and led an industrious and successful life. He was elected to various important oflices and became an extensive land owner. Imbued with his father's military spirit and influenced by his example, Jacob, our subject, enlisted and served in the War of 1812, leaving the army, at the close of the war, with a major's commissioif. He is another president of Ithaca whose patriotic service as a soldier during that war has never been known to the veter- ans of the Civil War. His grave in the city cemetery has not been honored by the veterans on Memorial days. Jacob McCormick was one of four brothers who served in the War of 1812. All of them were ofiicers. One of them. Col. Henry McCormick, killed an Indian chief who was shooting the colonel's men from his hiding place behind a fallen tree. The chief was very brave and refused to surrender. Col. McCormick took the Indian's leather pouch, in which he carried his bullets and flints, as a trophy, and many years afterward presented it to his nephew, John H. McCormick, of Ithaca. Jacob McCormick's gentle manners did not indicate the spirit of the warrior that was in him and his kin. He said that in civilized commuuities such a spirit should not be encouraged or tolerated. His contest with the village authorities over his- mill-race by the side of Six Mile Creek ended in a friendly compromise. Jacob M. McCormick was one of the most active and most progressive busi- ness men in Ithaca for many years. Inheriting considerable property he invested it in his new village home. He owned oil, grist and plaster mills, large farms, a foundry, a hardware store and much merchandise. He erected the mansion now occupied by Miss Belle Cowdry on East State street, and resided in it. He owned the Ithaca Hotel. He conducted and owned the stage route from Owego to New York, involving large capital in its purchase and the responsibility of a common 48 carrier of passengers, mails and light freights in its conduct. He was interested", in other industrial and financial enterprises than above indicated. • His official career was conspicuous and approved. He was postmaster for years; elected village assessor in 1827 and several times thereafter. He was ap- pointed on a committee in 1828 to select the site for a new public market. He was^ elected a village trustee in 1836-7-9-1840 and in the last named year was chosen president of the village. He was appointed the first chief of the fire department, in December 1838; and again in 1839. When President Dana resigned, in January 1840, to serve in Congress, Mr. McGormick was elected to fill the vacancy. He served with Ancel St. John as firewarden in 1829 and presented a petition to the Board of Trustees, the same year, for flagstone sidewalks Hi feet wide on State street,, between Aurora and Cayuga streets, with stone curbing. The Board ordered the plank sidewalks replaced with flagstone. His Board established the first fire limit or wooden building forbidden district in the village; 100 feet from State street be- tween Aurora and Cayuga streets. It offered "$1,000 reward for the conviction Of the persons who set the village on fire on the 28 of May, 1840." He advertised in the village papers, in 1827, that he wanted to purchase wheat at fiis hardware store (now C. J. Rumsey & Go's) ; and that he had for sale the newest improvement on the spinning wheel. Hs opened, graded and presented Spring street to the village in 1837. He was the first chairman of any street com- mittee in the village. He presented and moved the adoption of the resolution which ordered the levy of a tax by the annual taxpayers' meeting of 1849 for the expenses of the village. In that year he was appointed a member of the Board of Health to improve the sanitary conditions of the village under the provisions of a new act of the legislature passed after a cholera scourge had inspired the inhabi- tants here to a deeper sehse of their negligence. Mr. McCormick was an enthusiastic partisan and fervid Jacksonian in all the tenets of the Democratic party, — except one. He despised the very thought of slavery. He was in that respect a fervid Abolitionist. His generous nature was logical. He declined elections to State and National positions. His intimate friends understood his reasons. He was tendered every official honor within the power of his fellow citizens to confer; but he invariably selected personal friends of high moral and intellectual equipment and intense patriotism for such honors, when not confined to local affairs. He contended that it was moral and political treason to refuse to serve a municipality when selected by the people. Mr. McCormick possessed a happy nature. He infused happiness in those who associated with him. He enjoyed carrying a bright countenance where a sad one might show the weight of care and sorrow. No village president has been survived by a more tender or more loving memory than he. His endowments were superior in mind and heart and person; but his deep and unvarying sympa- thy with his kindred and his neighbors is the first characteristic to be mentioned by those who knew him well and still survive him. It was the secret of his power and popularity in his family, among the people and among the Masons. Gray-haired men of the present day tell their admiration for Jacob McCormick during their childhood and boyhood; tor his gentle and generous manner toward them. His family revered him as a saintly man. His domestic relation was ideal. He was well informed in the standard literature and politics of America and Europe; and a delightful companion. Association with him was pleasant and in- structive. His integrity was above question. Mr. McCormick was among the scores of wealthy men in Ithaca who bore their heavy financial cross during and after the inflation and panic of 1836 with patient. and surprising fortitude. He knew that he was only one of a large com- pany; and he did not unduly mourn. His sunny nature continued to dominate him and inHuence all around him. He was foremost in encouraging the villagers in their efforts to retrieve their lost wealth; and to hasten the development of the village. His death, in 1855, was caused by an iiilment considered incurable in his time. The community mourned him and praised him. I'he press and the pulpit commended his life work as an inspiration and his character as a noble example.. BENJAMIN G. FERRIS— Fifteenth President BENJAMIN G. FERRIS-FIFTEENTH PRESIDENT. Benjamin Gilbert Ferris was the last lawyer elected to the presidency of the village of Ithaca. He served two terms: 1841- and 1852. He was in the front rank of the old school of professional gentlemen and maintained his standard until his death. His father was a native of Peekskill, N. Y., and one of the first settlers and most prominent citizens, a surveyor, magistrate and property owner of Spencer, Tioga County, N. Y. It was there that his son Benjamin was born in 1802. His preparatory education was received in Spencer and Canandaigua; his advanced education in Union College, from which he was graduated in 1828. His commencement oration was delivered in Latin. Mr. Ferris was prepared for the bar in the ofiices of Charles Humphrey and David Woodcock in Ithaca and ad- mitted in 1829 to the attorneyship, and as counselor and equity practitioner sever- al years later. Mr. Ferris was married to Cornelia, the older daughter of David Woodcock, in 1830. Until Mr. Woodcock's death in 1835 Mr. Ferris resided in the house now used as a city hall annex. It then occupied the corner where the city hall now stands. In 1837 he erected and for years resided in the Leander B. King brick house on West Green street. About 50 years ago he made a honae of the resi- dence in Ferris Place, now occupied by his nephew Horace Mack. It was there he died in 1891 in his eighty-ninth year. , --'' Mr. Ferris was not a believer in the doctrine of Talleyrand, that language w&s devised to enable men to disguise their thoughts. He was a student of books and of language throughout his life. He was a thoroughly cultivated man in addition to his learning as a lawyer. He was an ardent friend of all grades of educational institutions. His great hope was that the schools would develop into one grand system that might teach and influence youth and men to be frank and truthful and just, as well as learned and refined. It was the thought nearest to his Jieart; and from it he never varied for an hour. His entire life was elevated, his daily conduct and example were in- spired by that one desire, that central thought. Hence it was that no man was more respected and more honored in his community than he. Mr. Ferris was a lawyer by profession and education, but by nature a stu- dent. His special line of study was the origin of species. He was a student of Darwin, Huxley, Tyndall, Herbert Spencer and their class. He wrote and pub- lished articles and pamphlets upon his favorite theme and often took issue with the reasoning of those great leaders upon the origin of man and animals and mat- ter. Book reviewers wrote of him as "the new philosopher of Ithaca" and ac- corded him respect and praise. But Mr. Ferris did not urge hiS literary produc- tions upon the pubhc nor receive the distinction that would have been awarded a less modest and more aggressive writer of his standard and industry. His studies and researches became simply his mental recreation. During his four years (1874 to 1878) as a law student in the offices of Ferris & Dowe the writer of these sketches never saw Mr. Ferris pass .an idle quarter-hour. Spec- imens of the best literature of his day were in his hands when he was not per- using a law book or preparing a legal document. He would not listen to an unchaste story or a racy joke although coming from the lips of a client or friend. Mr. Ferris was a disciple of Swedenborg and maintained and practiced the tenets of the sect with perfect consistency. He did not put them aside as im- 51 practible or inconvenient wtiile performing his worlc as a lawyer. Always ready to act along honorable lines, he frankly and without hesitancy declined all ques- tionable cases in the courts. His office and court business suffered,, but his con- science did not. His associates were the learned and honored' men of his times. His home was a center of social and intellectual hospitality and his own dignified example M'as the center of its popularity. After Cornell University was opened many of its leading professors were regular guests at his evening fireside. He was a wise and conscientious counselor a chivalrous friend of the dis- tressed; a paragon of patience and courtesy to the students and juniors in his pro- fession. He uttered an admirable truth when he said that he had been a success- ful lawyer in preventing law suits. He might have claimed with absolute justice that he was, in that relation, one of the most accomplished lawyers of his times, considering his opportunities and his financial conditions for he became com- paratively poor. He held his last partner, General Dowe, in exalted esteem as lawyer, man and companion. He was a partner of the brilliant orator and attorney-general, Stephen B. Gushing, who also was married to a daughter of David Woodcock. He held an aversion for criminal case.s and the atmosphere that surrounded them. He was an office lawyer rather than a trial lawyer. His old school of professional ethics was not rapid enough for the age of electricity and multi-millionaires. His commentaries upon the change in every department of education (except the classics) and in industrial, commercial and professional development were such as might be heard from a proud, refined and philosophical lawyer of the year in which Mr. Ferris was born. The Golden Rule never lost its golden purity and priceless value when it could be used as an infiuence in his hands. He despised all other rules of life or of action. His accomplishments were utilized by the founder and directors of the Cornell