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Gc 974. 702 R66W 2027416
REINOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01126 1507
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/ourcityitspeople00wage_0
OUR CITY AND ITS PEOPLE
A DESCRIPTIVE WORK ON
THE CITY OF ROME
NEW YORK
EDITED BY
DANIEL. E. WAGER
THE BOSTON HISTORY COMPANY, PUBLISHERS 1896
4
78 8190 15
PREFACE.
2027416
All persons into whose hands this volume will be delivered are familiar with the fact that during its compilation, its author, the late Daniel E. Wager, was stricken with death It is fortunate for those who will peruse these pages that his work thereon was nearly com- pleted when his summons came. The arrangement of the matter and the preparation of some of the chapters was necessarily left for other hånds; but the chief historical part of the work, and that which had demanded from Mr. Wager an astonishing amount of research, was finished. It is entirely safe to say, and it is due to his memory to re- cord it here, that no other similar city has had so much intelligent labor bestowed upon the preparation of its early history ; it may also be truly said that no other person could so well have performed the task for .Rome.
The names of the very many who have kindly aided in the gathering of facts for the preparation of the history of the city in more recent times, its institutions and industries, cannot be even mentioned here ; it would embrace all the city officials, pastors of churches, proprietors of manufactories, and heads of families almost without number, and a general expression of gratitude for such aid must suffice. But it is proper to state that the complete account of the Masonic Order was
Reed Jan 5-1979
iv
PREFACE.
written by Mr. O. P. Backus, whose time was fully given also to intelli- gent criticism of other parts of the work.
The portraits and biographies in the volume were without exception approved by Mr. Wager, and they add to the value and attractiveness of the work. It is believed that, as a whole, this history of Rome will meet a welcome reception.
-
CONTENTS.
.CHAPTER I.
EARLY SETTLEMENT
CHAPTER II.
CANTERBURY HILL
CHAPTER III.
THE RIDGE AND OTHER LOCALITIES .... -
2.4
CHAPTER IV.
THIE VILLAGE IN EARLY YEARS 27
CHAPTER V.
TOWN MEETING. PROCEEDINGS
35
CHAPTER VI.
VILLAGE INCORPORATION AND CIVIL LIST 43
CHAPTER VII
EARLY BUSINESS AND BUILDINGS IN ROME 48
CHAPTER VIII
THE GREAT FIRE AND THE REBUILDING OF DOMINICK STREET. 63
CHAPTER IX.
THE CANAL ROUTE CHANGED AND THE CONSEQUENCES
vi
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER X.
CANAL VILLAGE IN EARLY YEARS 9.1
CHAPTER XI.
JAMES STREET NORTH OF THE CANAL 102
CHAPTER XII.
BUSINESS INTERESTS OF ROME IN 1848 125
CHAPTER XIII
CITY INCORPORATION AND. CIVIL LIST 131
CHAPTER XIV.
SCHOOLS OF ROME 137
CHAPTER XV.
RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS
147
CHAPTER XVI.
1
PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS 163
CHAPTER XVII.
THE NEWSPAPERS OF ROME
158
CHAPTER XVIII.
POST-OFFICE AND MAILS 183
CHAPTER XIX.
FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS
186
CHAPTER XX.
THE BAR OF ROME 192
CHAPTER XXI.
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION 213
CONTENTS. vii
CHAPTER XXII
MANUFACTURES
CHAPTER XXIII.
MERCANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS, ETC.
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE MASONIC ORDER IN ROME 241
PART II-BIOGRAPHICAL.
BIOGRAPHIES 1-39
INDEX
41-54
PORTRAITS.
Abeel, James S., Capt facing 16
Bissell, Gordon N facing 24
Comstock, Calvert facing 32
Sayles, Joseph I facing 160
Comstock, Edward facing 40
Scripture, William E facing 168
Draper, Virgil
facing 48
Seudder, Samuel O., M. D facing 176
Ethridge, Alfred
facing 56
Searles, James H .: facing 184
Flandrau, Thomas Macomb facing 64
Smith, J Arthur, V. S. facing 192
Haselton, J. S facing 80
Soper, Albert facing 200
Huntington, Edward facing 96.
Soper, Arthur W facing 208
Kingsley, W. J. P., M. D facing 112
Stryker, John facing 216
Lawton, Elon J., M. D facing 120
Utley, David facing 224
Mann, Newton facing 128
Wardwell, Daniel facing 232
Nock, Thomas G facing 136
West, M. Colvin, M. D
facing 2.10
Prescott, Cyrus Dan facing 144
Reid, Christopher C., M. I) facing 152
OUR CITY AND ITS PEOPLE.
CHAPTER I.
EARLY SETTLEMENT.
It is undoubtedly true that no limited section of the great Empire State is richer in historical materials and memories than the one of which this volume treats. Far back in the past it was most important from a military point of view, while in the struggle of the American colonies for independence it was the theater of events which exerted a powerful influence in attaining the success that marked the final culmi- nation of that contest. All of the memorable events of the long period of strife from 1754 to the close of the Revolutionary war have been ade- quately described in Chapters II to VI inclusive of Volume I of this work. Our present purpose is, therefore, to follow in detail the history of this locality from that time to the present. It is essential, however, to a clear understanding of the record of later events, to refer again to the settlement at or near the site of Fort Stanwix prior to the Revolu- tion of John Roof and his family ; and the reader will also be aided greatly by reference to the accompanying plan of the siege of Fort Stanwix, particularly in studying the account of the early settlements thereabouts.
It is quite clearly settled that John Roof (originally Johannis Reuff) settled at Fort Stanwix in 1760. That was two years after the fort was built. Here Mr. Reuff resided from that time until driven out, with several other families, by the siege of Fort Stanwix in 1777. The Reuff
1
2
OUR CITY AND ITS PEOPLE.
family then located at Canajoharie. Mr. Philip Rooff, an intelligent gentleman, a grandson of Johannis Reuff, furnished interesting facts concerning the births and names of the first white children in what is now Oneida County. On his summer visit to the old home. at Canajo - harie, he found in possession of a great-granddaughter of Mr. Reuff an old deed, bearing date May 2, 1778, from George Schimling to said Jo- hannis Reuff, conveying 659 acres of land. This deed covered the old homestead of Colonel John Roof (son of Johannis), and also the same land on which the village of Canajoharie now stands. The date of this deed shows the purchase was made in the spring of the next year, after the destruction of Mr. Reuff's property at Fort Stanwix, and when he and his family were driven away from this fort. Mr. Roof writes. that on the back of this deed is a record, in the handwriting of Johannis Reuff, of the names, places, and times of the birth of his children. The writing, by reason of age, has become quite indistinct to the naked eye, but by the aid of a magnifying glass it can be deciphered. It is sup- posed that this record was made on the back of the deed in conse- quence of the loss of the family Bible, which contained the original rec- ord at the time the Reuff family were driven from Fort Stanwix. The list, as copied from the back of that deed, reads as follows :
Fort Stanwia.
My first son, John Roof, was born the 28th of August, 1762. My first daughter, Susannah, was born 9th August, 1766. My second daughter, Barbara, was born 80th October 1771. My second son, Adam, was born 16th May, 1773. My third daughter, Mary (or Maria), was born 5th April, 1777.
Canajoharie:
My third son, Daniel, was born 8th March, 1779.
My fourth son, Martyn, was born 19th April, 1783. My fifth son, Andrew, was born 1st July, 1785.
From the foregoing, positive evidence is furnished that five of the Roof family were born at Fort Stanwix during the seventeen years that
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ROAD TO ELEVATED PLAIN.
WOOD.
MA CREEK
10/
N
A
COO YAROS.
SPRIN
YDS
SCALPING
.
TREE.
GROUNDS
-
--
RTVE
8
REFERENCES.
A-Fort Stanwix.
B-Site of Old Fort Craven. C- 41
Williams.
D- .Newport.
E-Besiegers' Approach.
1-3-Gun Battery.
2-4 Mortars.
3-3-Gun Batterv
4-Redoubts.
5-Willett's Attack.
ROAD TO
BY L FLURY.
6-English Encampment.
/
7-Royalist
8-Indians.
BANY.
SCALE- 1500 FEET.FR INCH.
NOTE .- According to the records the "Scalping tree," some distance west of the Fort, received its name from the following circumstance : "Three little girls went out to pick berries. While thus engaged, about one hundred rods from the fort, the reports of four guns were heard in quick succession, and a party of soldiers hastening to the spot, met one of the girls returning towards the fort with her basket in her hand, having two balls in
CLEARED
PLAN OF THE
SIEGE FORT STANWIX, FROM A SKETCH
PRESENTED TO COL. GANSEVOORT
LAND.
V.
12 111
3
CULTIVATED
her shoulder and the blood streaming down her person. The other two girls were found shot and scalped, one of them dead, and the other died soon after being taken into the fort. The sav- ages who fired the shots fled into the woods and escaped. One of the girls who was killed was a young lady twenty years old, named Caty Steers, and the daughter of a man living at that time in the neighborhood of the fort."
3
EARLY SETTLEMENT.
family were residing here. before the siege of Fort Stanwix; one of them but a few months before the siege commenced.
This Philip Roof was a grandson of Martyn, above named. It will be remembered that at the time the Reuff family resided at Fort Stanwix there were four other families residing here, viz., Bartholomew Brodock, William Klein, Thomas Mayers, and -Steers. Unto one or more of those families children were born at Fort Stanwix, before the Revolu- tionary war. The daughter of Mr. Steers was the one who was shot and scalped while outside the fort blackberrying a few days before the siege commenced. Descendants of that Brodock family are yet resi- dents of Rome.
Early in the year 1789 Thomas and Ebenezer Wright, sr., brothers, Willett Ranney, sr., and Bill Smith came to Fort Stanwix from Connec- ticut ; they were all connected by marriage and probably came together. The two Wrights and Mr. Ranney had married three sisters, the Misses Butler of Connecticut, and Bill Smith married a daughter of Mr. Ran- ney. At the time of their settlement Thomas Wright, the elder broth- er, had ten children, Ebenezer Wright, sr., had six children (the eldest one twenty years old and the youngest five). Mr. Ranney had nine children, all grown to maturity, and most if not all of them married. Bill Smith had two children and another was born to him in February, 1789, soon after his arrival.
The Oneida county records show that in June, 1789, Sylvester Der- . ing of Suffolk county conveyed to Seth Ranney, son of Willett, sr., 100 acres of land in what became Wright Settlement and which constituted the farm on which D. W. Knight resided in recent years. Mr. Der- ing had purchased that farm and other lands of William Floyd, one of the owners of Fonda's Patent, a few months earlier. We have not been able to ascertain that a conveyance to an actual settler in what is now Rome bears an earlier date than this deed to Mr. Ranney. Those four families remained at the fort the first year after their arrival, cultivating
4
OUR CITY AND ITS PEOPLE.
small pieces of ground on the adjacent clearing, and in the mean time making an opening in the woods at Wright Settlement where they had taken up land.
In the following year, 1790, there was a great rush of immigrants from the east to Fort Stanwix. The number was greater than in any previous year and possibly in any later year, if we may judge by the number of leases granted to persons who became actual settlers. While the system of leasing land which prevailed at that time was most ob- jectionable, in many ways, it still possessed an attraction to immigrants who had little money to pay down for land. Whether David I. Andrus and Nathaniel Gilbert (noticed further on) came in 1789 or 1790 cannot now be learned. Quite likely they came in 1789, with or soon after the Ranney family, for both married daughters of Willett Ranney, sr.
Durin ; the year 1790 all the lands of Wright Settlement, the Sel- den neighborhood, and most of the territory north of the Ridge to the town line was leased and taken up by actual settlers. Most of these leases bear date of June 4, 1790, and were granted to the persons and include land, as follows :
Seth Ranney, in addition to his before-named purchase, leased of George Clinton 249 acres extending from the Mohawk River easterly and including the farms of the late Andred Vredenburgh and W. K. Reese.
David I. Andrus leased of Mr. Clinton 138 acres next north of Seth Ranney. The road crossing the river at the Ridge going easterly to Wright Settlement was the northern boundary of that 138 acres.
Nathaniel Gilbert leased of Mr. Clinton 100 acres next north of Mr. Andrus.
Roswell Fellows leased of Mr. Clinton 100 acres directly west of Mr. Gilbert's above described tract, and extending to the river. If Mr. Fel- lows ever resided on the farm he did not remain long, for the county records show that on June 17, 1790, he leased 200 acres on the road
5
EARLY SETTLEMENT.
from Rome to Delta, located there, and lived there twenty five years and there died.
Ebenezer Wright, jr., leased of Mr. Clinton 196 acres next north of Nathaniel Gilbert's tract and extending to the river; it included the farm and residence afterwards occupied by his son, E. W. Wright.
Willett Ranney, jr., leased of Mr. Clinton the 100 acres next north of Mr. Wright, just described, and constituting the farm which subsequent- ly passed to and was long owned by John Butts. Directly west of this last described farm, Benjamin Gilbert leased 100 acres.
John Wright, son of the pioneer Thomas Wright, leased of Mr. Clin - ton 100 acres on Penny street, which is the road leading through the Selden neighborhood to the covered bridge over the Mohawk. That . farm embraced the fifty acres east of the highway and afterwards known as the Gates place and fifty acres west of the highway known many years ago as the Waters place and later as the Henry Dopp farm.
Moses Wright, brother of the last mentioned John Wright, leased of Mr. Clinton the foo acres next north, which farm was afterwards owned by Silas Wightman.
Asa Knapp leased the 100 acres next north of Moses Wright, where afterwards resided Roswell Edgerton and later Asa Fuller and still later Philemon and Philander Selden.
Jasper French leased of John Lansing, jr., the Ico acres next north on the east side of the highway, and which was afterwards divided and a part became the residence of Thomas Selden and part the residence of Joseph Otis. The 100 acres just west of this French lease and includ- ing the farm afterwards owned by Jesse Childs was leased to Elijah Weeks.
Elijah Root leased the 100 acres next north, and adjoining him on the north, was Chester Gould's lease ; these leases embracing the farms afterwards owned by George, Daniel and John Ashby and Samuel and ' Daniel W. Lamb and all the lands cast of the river at that point, and down to the covered bridge.
6
OUR CITY AND ITS PEOPLE.
On the 17th of June, 1790, Mr. Lansing leased 159 acres at the Ridge to Elisha Walsworth, father of the late Elisha Walsworth, and on the same day leased 160 acres north of it to Jonathan French and Benjamin Gilbert.
Dyer McComber leased the 100 acres next north on June 4. 1791, which afterwards became the Isham Simonds farm and later the resi- dence of the late John. H. Wilcox; on the same day Abner Pitcher leased the farm owned in recent years by H. L Adams. All the re- mainder of the "lands to the town line, except the Fellows farm and a 100 acre tract leased a few years later, were leased the same day, which indicates how rapidly the territory in that part of the town was taken up in 1790 and 1791.
To the foregoing list of the settlers in that part of Rome may be added the following who came in prior to 1800: Jesse Childs came about 1792 and settled in the Selden neighborhood, near the river. Joseph Otis came in 1793 and settled on the farm occupied in recent years by A. M. Potter. William West came in 1793 and bought out the before described lease of David I. Andrus Edward Simons in 1793 owned and lived on a farm of 310 acres south of the late A. Vreden- burgh residence ; in 1796 he sold fifty acres to John Simons and sixty acres to Jonathan Brainard, who was the father of Jeptha Brainard. Asa Fuller lived on the Asa Knapp place prior to 1795, and about that year it was taken by Roswell Edgerton. About 1795 Daniel W. Lamb, John and Daniel Ashby located near the covered bridge. At about the same-time Thomas Selden lived on the hill where Alexander Coventry resided in recent years.
In 1795 Cornelius Van Wormer resided on the John Butts place, and not long after that Zaccheus Abell, brother in law of D. W. Knight, lived on top of Canterbury hill on the east side of the highway. About that time Abiather Seekill resided east of Grant Wheat's old residence, and Peter Lampman, " Pigeon" Palmer, and Luke Usher lived near the
7
EARLY SETTLEMENT.
covered bridge. In 1796 Rufus Barnes located on Penny street on what was afterwards known as the Whittlesy place. About 1800 John Ely located near the big gulf north of the Butts neighborhood, where Daniel Kirkland and Thomas Jewett afterwards resided. In the same year Benjamin Raymond bought ninety acres of the Ed. Simons farm and lived on the site where Joseph Briggs, Jacob Tibbetts and C. D. Denio afterwards resided. Many of these are more definitely mentioned further on.
The sons of Ebenezer Wright, sr., were Ebenezer, jr., Benjamin, Allen, William, and Joseph Butler; of these Ebenezer, jr., and his brother Allen turned their attention to farming ; William was a mer- chant in his early life in Rome and Pulaski; Benjamin became con- spicuous as a surveyor and engineer and is entitled to more extended notice. He came to Fort Stanwix in 1790 when twenty years old. His father's family had located in the previous year at what is known as Wright Settlement, leaving Benjamin behind in Connecticut to finish his studies in surveying. From 1796 to 1800 he was engaged in sur- veying in what are now Franklin, Jefferson, Lewis, Oneida, Oswego and St. Lawrence counties. In what was then Oneida county he laid out over 500,000 acres into farms before he was twenty-six years old. Mr. Wright ran for Assembly in 1804 on the Aaron Burr ticket in the guber . naforial contest between the latter and Morgan Lewis; Mr. Wright's opponent was Gen. Walter Martin of Martinsburg. Without counting the vote of the town of Adams, then in Oneida county, the vote was a tie between those two men ; in Adams thirty- four votes were cast, all of them for " Benj. Wright," and the question arose as to whether they should be counted for Benjamin Wright. When the facts were communicated to the Assembly on the second day of its session, the seat was given to Mr. Wright. He was the first Roman elected to the As- sembly after the organization of Oneida county .. Mr. Wright ran again for Assembly in 1807 and 1808 and was successful. About that time
.
8
OUR CITY AND ITS PEOPLE.
the Erie Canal question became conspicuous before the public and Mr. Wright became one of its most ardent and influential advocates. When the time arrived for making the first survey for the canal, Mr. Wright and James Geddes were employed to do the work. In 1813 Mr. Wright was appointed one of the judges of the Common Pleas, and in 1817 was defeated in his candidacy for the Assembly. He was a partner in mercantile pursuits in Rome from 1804 to 1817, at first with Peter Colt and later with his own brother, William Wright. He removed to New York about 1825 and died there.
The elder Ebenezer Wright was a man of strong character and en- dowed with energy and perseverance. In 1794 he was an assistant justice of the peace ; was foreman of the grand jury in 1798, and in 1790 was one of the assessors of the town of Whitestown. He died in 1808 . aged sixty six years. Thomas . Wright, brother of Ebenezer, sr , de- voted much of his attention to his farm, but also became interested in other pursuits. He and his sons built across the Mohawk at the Ridge the first dam there, and on the west side of the river they built before 1800 a grist mill and saw mill. Not far from the same time, at the covered bridge higher up the stream, John Barnard erected mills which were long known by his name. Thomas Wrighit was overseer of the . poor of the town of Steuben, 1793-95, while Rome was a part of that town, and in 1796-99 held the same position in the town of Rome. He died in March, 1812, and his farm was afterwards owned by his sons, Joseph, Ebenezer and John, His other sons were Moses, Thomas Wright, jr., and Allen. Of these, Moses Wright became almost as cel- ebrated as a surveyor as his cousin Benjamin. He laid out many of the early roads in this section ; and in 1797 surveyed the Holland Patent .. About 1790 he built the frame dwelling at the Ridge, afterwards known as the Wardwell place. In 1807 he bought of Henry Huntington 158 acres on the Turin road He settled on that farm and lived in a log house which stood near the " Fish Pond " and on which stream then stood a distillery, erected some years earlier.
9
EARLY SETTLEMENT.
,The sons of William Ranney, sr., were Seth, James, Willett, jr., and Butler. It has already been stated that Seth Ranney purchased 100 acres in June, 1789, in Wright Settlement, which he sold a year later to the father of D. W. Knight. The indications are that Seth Ranney never lived at Wright Settlement. In the old account books of George Huntington & Co., opposite Seth Ranney's account are the words " Canada Creek," thus indicating that he then resided in the west part of what is now Rome. He probably left this section within a few years. James Ranney, son of Willett, sr., removed to Adams, Jefferson county, about 1806. Butler Ranney removed to Redfield, Oswego county, abont 1808 and later during the war of 1812 to Adams where he kept a public house, and still later to Watertown. Willett Ranney, jr., prob- ably removed to Saratoga county in the first year of the present cen- · tury. His sons were Anton, John, Orville and Lester.
Col. Daniel Whitman Knight, sr., was born in Lisbon, Conn., in 1764 and purchased of Seth Ranney in 1790, as before noticed, building a log house near where George Wheat lived in recent years. They re- moved, however, to the foot of Canterbury hill where he purchased 100 acres in the southwest corner of lot 48, Fonda's Patent, and, which in- cluded the homestead of his son, Deacon D. W. Knight. Mr. Knight's latter purchase was an absolute deed free from all future rents, and he procceded with his native industry to clear up his land and create a permanent and attractive home. There' he resided forty years of his life and died March 31, 1830. He was commissioner of highways in 1793, assessor of Rome in 1798, and commissioned one of the justices of the peace upon the formation of Oneida county. He had six chil- dren, of whom David, Clark, and Daniel Whitman were the sons. The latter married a daughter of Joshua Kirkland ; resided most of his life on the homestead where he was born and was an honorable and useful citizen. .
. The longevity of some of the persons above named is somewhat re- 2
10
OUR CITY AND ITS PEOPLE.
markable and worthy of note; and it is also worth while to call atten- tion to the fact that about every man above named was the father of quite a large family. For instance: Thomas Wright was the father of ten children, Ebenezer Wright, sr., six, .E. Wright, jr., nine, Joshua Kirkland, eight, Wm. West, six, Asa Colborn, six, Col. D. W. Knight, five, Daniel Kirkland, six, Samuel Williams, eight, Abiather Seekill, six, Daniel Butts, eight, Elihu Butts, ten, Grant Wheat, nine, Samuel Smith, eleven, Asa Smith, six. The young people as they grew up to man and womanhood, made a congenial and pleasant society, the more especially as about every family in the neighborhood was related by blood or connected by marriage with every other family.
Roswell Fellows died in 1813 at the age of sixty-six years. A few years after his death his farm was sold to Milo Lester, excepting half an acre, house and lot, reserved for the widow. There Molly Fellows; the widow, and her daughter Roxy resided, and there the widow died in 1849 at the age of ninety-eight years, six months and twenty- six days, lacking three months of the age of Solomon Williams at his death the next year. Molly Fellows was a woman of more than ordinary strength of mind, body and character. She lived in eventful and per- ilous times and to an unusual age, yet she retained her faculties to a remarkable degree nearly to the time of her death. The country, which was almost an unbroken wilderness when she settled here, she lived to see become clear of its forests, abounding in rich and cultivated fields, the sites of prosperous and flourishing towns, villages and cities, and the abodes of a thrifty and cultivated people. Where she found the wig- wam of the savage and the lair of the wild and ferocious beasts, she was spared to see . those wild and rude habitations displaced by pleasant farm houses and palatial residences. In her first residence on the old homestead, the wily and suspicious red men of the forest were her near- est neighbors and most frequent visitors. On numerous occasions when her husband was absent from home, she was obliged to flee with her
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