USA > New York > Livingston County > A history of Livingston County, New York: > Part 1
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51
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HISTORY
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A
HISTORY
OF
LIVINGSTON COUNTY,
NEW YORK:
FROM ITS EARLIEST TRADITIONS, TO ITS PART IN THE WAR FOR OUR UNION :
WITH AN Account of the Seneca Nation of Indians, AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF
EARLIEST SETTLERS AND PROMINENT PUBLIC MEN:
BY
LOCKWOOD L. DOTY. .
Illustrated by Portraits on Steel, and Engravings on Wood. - TO WHICH IS PREFIXED
A BIOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION, BY A. J. H. DUGANNE.
C. GENESEO : EDWARD E. DOTY. 1876.
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1889, Sept. 20. Peabody Museumin . .
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Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1876, by EDWARD E. DOTY, in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
J. W. CLEMENT, -
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GENESEO, N. Y.
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BIOGRAPHIC INTRODUCTION.
BY A. J. H. DUGANNE.
When Elias Harrison, great-grandfather of Look- WOOD LYON DOTY, had served through an apprentice- ship to his "Uncle Corsen," he bought a Bible and " Westminister confession of faith." This record was made, in a manuscript book, by John Harrison, son of Elias, who closes an account of trials and hard- ships passed, by the following words : "I ought to thank, before mortal man, my Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son, my dear Redeemer, for their loving kindness and tender mercies through sickness, and in preserving me from death."
Words are impressions for the future ; and the children, who have read that old manuscript, repro- duce those impressions in life after life. When Lock- wood L. Doty read those words in his grandfather, John Harrison's book, they became more than passing impressions on his brain. They made lines of thought in his mind ; guide-lines on the way he walked as a man and a Christian.
We need not, in the manner of biographers, dwell upon the early years or childhood of this good citizen,
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this earnest laborer in all worthy work which his hand and heart shared earnestly, through manhood and maturity. But, from many kindly tributes of memory, which friends and kindred brought, like flowers, to decorate his quiet grave, I take the following note of a juvenile episode :
" In the family life, where little things are counted great, where the records of thoughts and sayings and doings of children, precocious in their wisdom, or profoundly suggestive in their simple innocence, are treasured by their elders, the story is still told, illustrative of Lockwood's persistent en- deavor to accomplish his own wishes. He had been allowed the free use of an axe, which he had named his "dull axe." The implement having been sharpened, and so rendered dangerous as a plaything, he was denied the fur- ther use of it. Coming to his mother, one day, he said: "Mother, will you let me take my axe ? She answered, "No, my child, I cannot." "But, why ?" " You know, Lockwood, the axe has been sharpened, and it is not safe or proper for you to use it." Again he urged, "But I want my 'dull axe.'" Again the denial; again and still again the same demand; and again the same firm answer, "My boy, you cannot have it;" until, at length, after repeated efforts, he gave up the battle, and retired from the field."
This persistency of purpose in what he believed to be a legitimate pursuit, became moulded into the char- acter of Lockwood L. Doty, and sustained his life of effort until all effort succumbed to that final " cannot" which ends the pleadings and purposes of all, under the sheltering bosom of our mother-NATURE. For those who knew the man, that earnest longing of the child possesses interest ; as the rays of a bright dawn- ing, in promise of a brilliant day. For, if the feet of this obedient son, this good husband, this provident father, were not led out, as they might have been, to. brilliant fields of courage and patriotism-as a de- fender of his country in her momentous struggle for assured liberty-we know that his example of de- voted sympathy with our soldiers "at the front;" not less than his active labors in semi-military posi- tions, faithfully held under successive Governors of our State ; and his later arduous work under the Pen-
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sion Bureau in New York ; shows such a bright and busy life, of patriotic effort, that it is no marvel he should win the praise of statesmen divided by politics and the esteem of soldiers transiently separated by sectional strife. Col. Doty's military commission was no less a brevet of honor because it certified his merits and fidelity as a staff officer, on duty at the capital of our State, than it would have been if Gen'l Grant had signed it, as commander-in-chief of our army and navy. Because the work of Col. Doty, as Private Secretary of Maj. Gen'l Morgan, in the most difficult years of our war for the Union ; and his subsequent work as Chief of the Bureau of Military Record, and his "aid and comfort" of our New York soldiers; here, there and everywhere, as duty called him under three Governors of the State; were so marked and effective, in their earnestness and discreet persistency, as to make his name a synonym 'of official integrity.
Do I praise him too much ? Not, I think, in the candid appreciation of citizens, who knew him, as I knew him, or, who, not having my near occasions for learning his inner nature, were yet cognizant of his untiring method in duty and his help of others in their duty, whenever possible. My relations with him were more than business relations, and he was accustomed to open his confidence to me in many ways; so that I learned to value him because his nature was warm and zealous; to rely upon him, because he loved the truth ; and to sympathize with him, because he viewed with charity the faults of other men. I speak in terms of praise consistent with my knowledge of a co-laborer in some ways of work ; of a dear friend during the life of days our ties of thought and action were measured by ; and of an ardent patriot, as all who knew his motives and his aims must unite in bearing witness.
That Col. Doty was the depositary of official trust
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under successive Governors, and won the esteem of a Democratic State administration, as he gained the respect of Republican officials, shows clearly, in con- nection with his known firmness of personal and political character, that he possessed rare qualities as a MAN, not less than as a WORKING man. He might honestly differ with a superior in office, as to political right ; but as to his own duty, in the office he held, his path was never obscured by passing exhalations from the dust of party success, so long as he could labor for the cause of his country and the good of her defenders. And, above all transient shadows of error or enmity cast about the course of differing State ad- ministrations, we may now do manly justice to the clear-minded discrimination-not only of Governor Morgan, who called the subject of this notice to posi- tions of usefulness during our civil strife-but of his Democratic successor, Governor Seymour, who con- tinued the faithful Secretary in place ; and, finally, to Governor Fenton, who, from his nature, placed firm reliance upon one who ever served him, as he served the State, with a single eye to official duty.
Governors pass away ; but their record, like all im- prints of life, whether high or low, remain, to direct or to repel the feet of those who must walk, in turn, the quicksands of official tenure. And the archives of our commonwealth contain no fairer pages, of trust reposed and borne, than those which certify the high- toned official connection between Governors Morgan, Seymour and Fenton, and their honored subordinate, LOCKWOOD L. DOTY.
But yet, Colonel Doty did not attain honorable po- sitions, without an old-fashioned " apprenticeship" to his trade, as a WORKER; like that .which his great grandfather ELIAS HARRISON "finished," by that purchase of "a Bible and Westminster Confession of Faith."
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BIOGRAPHIC INTRODUCTION.
Work underlies all worthy success. While Mr. Doty laboriously performed the duties which, being well done, exalted him, from year to year, we have seen many place-holders rise to high office, and leave it both with riches and notoriety. But, if we weigh the " hollow brass" of such "successful" men, with that solid gold of good repute, which Colonel Doty left, as a legacy to his children, we shall realize the intrinsic worth of a virtuous man's life, in comparison with the surface-gilding of station without merit, and wealth that no honest labor earned, and which re- . warded no good citizenship.
When the child, LOCKWOOD, was "booked" for his first " school," there was a conflict between his boy- ish will, and obedience to his mother ; with a lingering hope that his kind father might interpose, to permit a longer indulgence of " home," without the dreaded discipline of learning.
That intelligent memory which preserved a note of his " dull axe," recalls the little fellow -
" With shining, morning face, creeping, like snail, Unwillingly to school,"-
in the same way, probably, that Shakspeare imagined of his "school-boy " in the "Seven Ages."
Being duly equipped, and with his mother's kiss still warm upon his cheek, he started reluctantly for school. This was his first step in the pursuit of knowledge, as laid down by rule. Going but a little way, he came back again, begging most earnestly for an interview with his father. The mother, knowing the soft heart of the father, and how readily he would yield to the boy's entreaties to remain at home, and realizing how pernicious such a course would be, denied the request, though urged with tears; and the lad was again started for school. Again he returned with the same burden, "One minute let me see my father, only one minute." The same resolute "No! my child." Another departure, another return; until, at last, the mother, her heart full of sympathy for the child, took his hand within her own, and, leading him for a mile, nearly to the door of that temple of knowl- edge, again left him, and turned her steps homeward. Not far, however, before little footsteps followed fast, and the same pleading voice : " Just one minute with my father. Then the mother, with her heart almost overflow-
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ing, must present " school " and implicit obedience, or an alternative of per- sonal chastisement. The little fellow yielded; the struggle was ended. And however reluctantly he entered upon the life of a scholar, he afterwards took up the work and walked in the way of a student, with earnestness and patience that were not without their reward.
Education is culture ; and school lessons are seeds for future fruitage ; yet it is true, not seldom, that cultured minds do not always bespeak genial disposi- ' tions ; and that the tutelage of an academy may be like that of a dancing-school, productive of exterior graces, with no depth of intellect, and no refinement of heart, beneath their superficial gloss. Happily for himself and for others, in after life, the nature of Lockwood L. Doty was that of a gentleman ; and he became dis- tinguished in business, as well as socially, for urbani- ty of manner, and courtesy of action, such as we sel- dom meet with ; gracefully blended, in all walks of life, with firm decision on points of morality or where principles were at stake. No man in official relations was more remarkable for strict business regularity, and prompt activity where duty called ; and no official ever bore himself with more uniform politeness, toward all who approached him properly, whatever their sta- tion or exterior. Colonel Doty's example might be followed by many men in places of transient authori- ty, who assume to be masters instead of servants, in public business. But a gentleman, no less than a "poet," must be "born," not "made." No tailor's padding or laundress's starch can make a figure of buckram answer for a MAN. NATURE makes MEN ; and real gentility comes from the heart.
Young Lockwood's application in school years, as one of his near friends writes, "fitted him for all the ordinary duties and relations of life, and made attain- ments of no mean order in the higher walks of litera- ture. By his own effort, he mastered Greek, sufficient to read the New Testament in that language."
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. In the discipline of school, he attained, however, that government of himself which was necessary to restrain the persistency of purpose that sometimes leads to obstinacy of will. He always cherished a love of truth ; and that love kept him from the sin- nous courses of mere political expediency. Well would it be for our commonwealth and for the repub- lic, if officials generally followed those straight lines along which this meritorious public servant wisely walked ; wisely, not only for his personal well-being in life, and for the example he gave to others ; but wisely for the memory he leaves to his children, as an assurance to them that if they do their duty as pri- vate citizens toward their fellow men, or as public men towards their fellow citizens, the approval of fu- ture years will come ; as surely as future censure must condemn all looseness in moral principle, all mere self seeking in political practice.
After leaving school, the young man entered as a law-student, the office of MR. JOHN YOUNG in Gene- seo, and in 1847, when Mr. Young was made Gov- ernor of the State of New York, his law-student fol- lowed him to Albany, and was appointed to a posi- tion in the office of Canal Appraiser; whence he was promoted, in the first year of Governor Young's ad- ministration, to the responsible post of Deputy State Treasurer, under ALVAII HUNT. By this time, his character became so marked for adherence to princi- ple and application to duty, in all positions he held, that private, as well as public, business men, were mindful of his value ; and when a consolidation of several railroad lines, to form the " New York Central Railroad Company," was determined upon, Mr. ERASTUS CORNING, President of the Company, in- . . vited Mr. Doty to conduct the clerical work rendered necessary. After satisfactorily performing this ser-
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vice, he returned to Albany, and was re-appointed Deputy Treasurer under Mr. SPAULDING of Buffalo. He continued in that State office, under Mr. STEPHEN CLARK, until that noted business man became Presi- dent of the "La Crosse and Milwaukee Railroad Company ;" when his deputy received the appoint- ment of Secretary and Treasurer of the road.
Here, in the face of responsibilities and complica- tions of a great enterprise-nearly destroyed under corrupt official managment, and a venal State Legis- lature-LOCKWOOD L. DOTY found himself obliged to choose between negligence of duty, in easy compli- ance with shifts and subterfuges such as had demoral- ized the Company, or, on the other hand, a refusal to become involved in such dishonest practice.s Out of respect to President Clark, and to second the en- deavors of that gentleman to restore financial sound- ness to the enterprise, he devoted his customary energy and intelligence to its affairs ; until, to seduce him from strict duty, a large sum of money was prof- fered to him, after the fashion which had already tempted and ruined many public men and officials in- trusted with public affairs in Wisconsin. Their in- sulting, though covert, attempt, to make him an in- strument of fraud, in the issue of illegal bonds, de- cided Mr. Doty's course at once. He resigned con- nection with the " La Crosse and Milwaukee Railroad Company," and returned to his native State.
Governor E. D. MORGAN then appointed Mr. Doty Chief Clerk in the Executive Department, No choice could have been more pleasing to friends of an honest administration, as was indicated by numerous ex- pressions of approval in journals of the day.
About this period Mr. Doty employed all the hours he could spare from business, in his task of collecting material, from all accessible sources, for the "HISTORY
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OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY," which is now printed, years after the faithful hand that prepared its details, ceased to labor, and the eyes that sought clear light for its pages, were closed upon earthly scenes.
And here it is proper to remark-what is strictly true-that no historic basis was ever built with more care, upon FACTS, than the foundation of this modest chronicle of a New York county, from its early pio- neer life, to its place among the most prosperous shires of our State. Whatever LIVINGSTON COUNTY has become, in peaceful and worthy rivalship with her sister counties, of those lovely regions watered by Genesee river, is the product of that pioneer life which, though in conflict, at times, with wildness in abori- ginal man and animal, was ever in harmony with Nature's thrift and quiet. Like her noble river, which out of rocks and fastnesses, descends through green meadows, brown glens, purple orchards, and silvery wheat fields, blessing and blest, the rural life of LIV- INGSTON County flows on now, as it flowed in colonial days, only leaping at intervals, to agitation, in the spirit of MANHOOD springing toward righteous liberty ; as those "Falls of the Genesee," always true to Na- ture, flash out their waters in the spirit of freedom.
Whatever could throw intelligent light upon the primitive social condition of this portion of our com- monwealth-second to no other in the worth of its inhabitants, whether weighted by money or mind,- Col. Doty, in his thorough research, collected together, as materials for his book. To say that he was pains- taking, is to say little ; he was indefatigable. He ran- sacked libraries, and corresponded with men and women of Livingston County antecedents ; tracing their whereabouts, out of the county, as well as in, and often to remote towns in our Republic. If he heard of an old resident, possessed of records or remi-
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niscences, he hastened to obtain data from such sources. If a centennial relic of some Indian tribe was to be "interviewed," he journeyed to make that aboriginal acquaintance. Seeking "light," as I have said, he was eager to find breath anywhere, to enliven whatever old brands of tradition might be buried under ashes of council fires on the site of perished wigwams, or of watch fires, once blazing on fields of fight in revolutionary days. Such a delver after "facts" was fitted to write a history ; and, although his term of mortal years could not witness the publi- cation of these annals, his busy life yet gave him op- portunities of personal supervision ; so that nearly half the work was printed under his eye; while other completed chapters, and numberless notes-ample for a volume thrice Ce bulk of this in ordinary hands- left comparatively a light task for that discriminating literary citizen of Lima who has wrought all detached leaves into concluding chapters of this comprehensive "HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY."
When Governor Morgan entered his second term of office, Mr. Doty became his Private Secretary. It was the most trying period of that vital struggle in which our people were engaged, with the resolution to make "all free " in the bonds of Union and "all united " in the freedom of manhood. If his appointment to an arduous clerical situation, as Chief Executive Clerk, had been hailed by the press as eminently "fit to be made," our journals no less cordially approved Gov. Morgan's judgment in calling Mr. Doty to confiden- tial relations with himself in a time of momentous in- terest to all citizens. The Albany Argus, of opposing politics, testified to the Secretary's merits as "a mod- est and unassuming gentleman, of undoubted qualifi- cations for the position ;" and, in a concurrence of editorial opinion respecting the appointment, political differences seemed to be forgotten.
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In his new relation, Mr. Doty continued to deserve appreciation. Entering upon his trust in November, 1860, he familiarized himself with its executive busi- ness before President Lincoln's call to arms, following the capture of Fort Sumter in April, 1861. The news of that capture reached Albany on Sunday morning, April 14th, and a meeting was convened that Sabbath afternoon, in the Governor's room ; at which were pre- sent Gov. Morgan and other State officers, the Speaker of the Assembly, and members of military and finance committees of the legislature. That evening a bill was drafted, providing for an enrollment of thirty thousand State volunteers, and an appropriation of three million dollars for their equipment. Twenty- four hours afterwards, the bill was passed, with an amendment establishing the "State Military Board ;" New York State legislation actually anticipating President Lincoln's call for twenty-five thousand militia in loyal States. Then began, and continued without cessation, an unexampled press of official labor for Governor Morgan and his Private Secretary. From all points came telegrams, letters, suggestions, good or worthless, applications for authority to re- cruit, tenders of "material aid." timid whispers of apprehension, manly voices of "aid and comfort." It was the Private Secretary's duty to take note of all, to be mindful of all, to answer here, to consult there; in a word to be the Governor's ear, and oftentimes his tongue ; and to do all with tact, forbearance, modesty, and timely reticence. That Mr. Doty accomplished his work, not only in accord with Governor Morgan and the "State Military Board," but to the satisfac- tion of persons brought in contact with him from all parts of the State, is a matter of official history during that term of anxiety and toil.
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