USA > New York > Ontario County > A history of Ontario County, New York and its people, Volume I > Part 11
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So through the later campaign, that for the nomination and election of county and district officers, as had been the case in that for the election of delegates to the State convention, the Whig leaders kept up their organization and many of the Free Soil Dem- ocrats continued in active affiliation with the party to which they had so long acknowledged allegiance. The local campaign, there- fore, was a tangled one, and it is difficult, after this length of time. to follow its turnings.
Both the Republican and Democratic county conventions were held on October 13, with a view to bringing about a union between the Republicans and Democrats in the nomination of a ticket of candidates for county offices. Upon recommendation of a confer- ence committee, it was decided that each convention should nomi- nate a full ticket and then appoint another committee of conference, with power to make up from the two sets of candidates a union ticket.
The Republican convention thereupon nominated the following candidates, constituting the first ticket put in the field by the Republican organization of Ontario county: For county judge, Samuel A. Foot, of Geneva; for county clerk, Nathan J. Milliken, of Canandaigua; for sheriff, William A. Willson, of Manchester ; for district attorney. Emory B. Pottle, of Naples; for county treas- urer, John Mosher, of Canandaigua ; for justice of sessions, Arunah Jones, of Bristol; for superintendent of the poor, George Dunkle, of Hopewell.
The Democratic convention first nominated Charles J. Folger as county judge, but he peremptorily declined, and the ticket was made up as follows: For county judge, Albert Lester ; for county clerk, Elnathan W. Simmons: for sheriff, Dexter H. Hawks; for district attorney, Elisha W. Gardner: for county treasurer, Jacob J. Mattison: for surrogate, John N. Whiting; for superintendent
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THE FIRST FREE SOIL CONVENTIONS.
of poor, George Gooding: for justice of sessions, George W. Stearns.
Myron H. Peck, Elbridge G. Lapham, William C. Dryer, Eli- sha W. Gardner and Henry O. Chesebro, appointed to confer with a similar committee from the Republican convention as to a union ticket, reported that they could not reach a satisfactory agreement as to the matter.
But the effort to unite on a tic- ket was not given up and finally, when only one working day remained before election, there was a compromise effected by which the following union ticket was agreed upon : For county judge, Emory B. Pottle (Rep.) : for sheriff, Nathan J. Milliken (Rep.) : for county clerk, Elna- than W. Simmons (Dem.) ; for district attorney, Dolphin Steph- enson ( Rep. ) ; for surrogate, John Whiting (Dem.) ; for county treasurer. Jacob J. Mattison (Dem.); for superintendent of poor, Henry Mott (Dem.) ; for justice of sessions, Arunah Jones (Rep.)
The opposing Know Nothing ticket was made up as follows : SAMUEL A. FOOT. For county judge, Peter M. Dox, Samuel Alfred Foot was born at Water- town, Connecticut; graduated from Union College in 1811; admitted to the bar in 1813; District Attorney of Albany county, 1819- 1821; appointed to vacancy on Court of Appeals bench, 1851, and was the Whig can- clidate for the position that year, but was defeated at the polls. Having become a resi- dent of Geneva, was elected Member of Assembly from the Eastern district of On- tario county in 1855 and was reelected to that office in 1856. Died at Geneva, May 11, 1878. of Geneva; for sheriff, Henry C. Swift, of Phelps; for county clerk, John J. Lyon, of Canandaigua : for county treasurer, George Will- son, of Canandaigua; for district attorney, T. O. Perkins, of Can- andaigua ; for superintendent of poor, J. Q. Groesbeck : for surro- gate, Samuel Salisbury, of Canandaigua; for justice of sessions, James M. Pulver, of Gorham.
There was also a "Hard Shell" ticket, on which Thomas M. Howell ran as a candidate for county judge; Edgar W. Dennis, for
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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.
district attorney; Nathaniel K. Cole, for county clerk; Justus H. Dawley, for sheriff, and William H. Phelps, for county treasurer.
The county election resulted in the success of the entire Know Nothing ticket, excepting its candidates for county treasurer and surrogate, to both of which offices the coalition candidates (both of them Democrats) were elected by small majorities.
At the Eastern or Second Assembly district Republican con- vention, held at the Canandaigua hotel, October 13, 1855, and at which Silas C. Brown, of West Bloomfield, acted as chairman, and Arunah Jones, of Bristol, as secre- tary. Judge Henry W. Taylor, of Canandaigua, was nominated to the office of member of Assembly.
JACOB J. MATTISON.
Jacob J. Mattison, editor and proprietor of the Democratic newspaper organ at the county seat for thirty-four years, was born in New Jersey, July 19, 1813. Became a resi- dent of Canandaigua when seventeen years of age, and entered upon an apprenticeship in the office of the Ontario Repository then owned by Chauncey M. Morse; in 1845 be- came owner of the Ontario Messenger; in 1862, bought the Repository and consolidated the two papers ; was Ontario County Treas- urer, 1856-58. Died in Canandaigua, July 28, 1879.
At an adjourned meeting of the First district Republican con- vention, held at Clifton Springs, October 6, Samuel A. Foot, of Geneva, was placed in nomination for the Assembly.
Judge Foot was elected over his Know Nothing opponent, Corydon Wheat, by 48 plurality, while Stephen H. Parker, the Hard Shell candidate, received 745 votes. Judge Taylor was de- feated by Oliver Case, renominat- ed by the Know Nothings, by 197 plurality. The Hard Shell candi- date, Myron H. Peck, received 202 votes.
For Senator of the Twenty- ninth district, the Republicans had presented John Wiley and the Know Nothings Sidney Sweet. The latter was elected. For Justice of the Supreme Court, E. Darwin Smith, the Know Nothing nominee, defeated Addison T. Knox, Republican.
Preston King, who headed the Republican ticket as a candi-
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THE FIRST FREE SOIL CONVENTIONS.
date for Secretary of State, was defeated by a small plurality by Joel T. Headley, the Know Nothing or American party candidate. The other nominees were Aaron Ward, National Democrat, and Israel T. Hatch, Soft Shell Democrat.
Notwithstanding these successes in State and local elec- tions, the day of Know Nothingism had ended. Many of those who had voted its tickets had never become members of the order, and had no sympathy with its secret purposes. They had used it as a weapon with which to wreak vengeance on the old leaders. That accomplished, there was another shift of the political kaleidoscope. Even in New York State hope of resuscitating the Whig party was abandoned. The various movements that had masqueraded under the guise of Anti-Nebraskaism, People's convention, Anti-Hin- dooism, etc., had become Republican in name-"Republican, no prefix, no suffix; but plain Republican." But by one of those strange mutations that occur in politics, not all those who had identified themselves in the various independent and protesting movements were to join the new party-some of those who opposed those movements were to become active and influential in its councils.
In these imperfect sketches of the movements out of which was organized the Republican party in Ontario county, the writer has gone into particulars as far as possible as to the members and officers of conventions and committees, realizing that such details may not be interesting to the general reader, but believing that in them is contained the most valuable record of the party's beginnings here. They embrace the names of some, not all by any means, of those to whom belong the honor of guiding and uniting the anti- slavery sentiment of the time, and to whom should go the credit for organizing and setting in motion the party machinery.
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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.
XII
ONTARIO IN THE 1856 CAMPAIGN.
Growing Strength and Confidence of the New Party-Fremont the Standard Bearer-Free Soil Democrats Unite with the New Political Organization -- John C. Fremont Nominated for Presi- dent-District and County Conventions-Republicans Name a Complete Ticket.
The Republican party gained its first victory of a national character in the election of the Speaker of the House of Represen- tatives, at the opening of the Thirty-fourth Congress in December. 1855. After a protracted contest, in which no less than twenty candidates were voted for, the Republicans, Anti-Slavery Whigs, Anti-Slavery Democrats, Anti-Slavery Americans, and other Free Soilers, united and elected Nathaniel P. Banks to the office. Bleed- ing Kansas, through the settlement of emigrants from the East, was slowly materializing into a Free and Republican State. The attack upon Charles Sumner in the United States Senate also helped to make the men of the North who thought alike realize that they must act alike, if they were to successfully oppose the aggressions of the slave power.
The first movement toward the organization of a national Republican campaign was that voiced in the call, signed by the chairmen of the Republican State committees of Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, and Wisconsin, for an informal convention of the Republicans of the Union to be held at Pittsburg, February 22, 1856. Of the cau- cuses and conventions held in Ontario county preliminary to this convention we have no record, as the Times office, then under the management of Willson Millor, was burned out on February 6th of that year and the paper was not reestablished, except through the occasional issue of leaflets, until the first of the following May. The other village papers did not attempt to report the primaries of the new party, the Repository being wedded to the Know Nothing
.
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ONTARIO IN THE 1856 CAMPAIGN.
cause and the Messenger flying the Democratic colors. We learn from the latter, however, that the delegates elected to repre- sent the Ontario-Seneca-Yates Congressional district in the Pitts- burg convention were ex-State Senator William M. Oliver, of Penn Yan, and ex-Congressman William A. Sackett, of Seneca Falls.
The Pittsburg convention named a national executive commit- tee of which Edwin D. Morgan, of New York, was chairman, and adopted resolutions demanding repeal of laws favorable to the extension of slavery, favoring the admission of Kansas as a Free State, and declaring the national administration of President Pierce to be identified with the progress of the slave power to national su- premacy.
The executive committee ap- pointed at this convention prompt- ly issued a call to the friends of freedom to send delegates to a convention to be held at Philade .- phia, June 17, "for the purpose of recommending candidates to be supported for the offices of Presi- dent and Vice President of the United States." Thus was inaug- urated the first national campaign by the Republican party.
The Republican State con- vention was called to meet in Syracuse, May 28.
HENRY W. TAYLOR.
Henry W. Taylor, one of the Vice Presi- dents and a speaker at the original Anti- Nebraska meeting, in Canandaigua, Febru- ary 28, 1854. Born February 2, 1796, at Deerfield, Mass. Became a resident of
The convention for the West- Ontario county in 1816 .. Member of the New York Assembly in 1837, 1838, 1839, and 1840. Removed to Michigan in 1840; a member of the Michigan Senate in 1846. Returned to Canandaigua in 1848. Appointed Justice of the Supreme Court in 1850; County Judge, 1858-1860. Originally a Whig, then a Republican. Died in Can- andaigua, December 17, 1888. ern Assembly district of Ontario county was held at Collins's hotel, in East Bloomfield, May 16, and was presided over by Myron Adams, of East Bloomfield, as chairman. Francis J. Lamb, of Canandaigua, acted as its secretary. Roswell C. Munson, of East Bloomfield, and Shotwell Powell, of South Bristol, were elected delegates to the State convention.
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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.
At the convention for the Eastern district, held at Clifton Springs, May 24, Jedediah Dewey, Jr., of Manchester, acted as chairman, and Dolphin Stephenson, of Phelps, as secretary. Thomas U. Bradbury, of Farmington, and Cuyler F. Greene, of Gorham, were elected delegates to the State convention, and Dolphin Stephenson, of Phelps, and G. B. Sears, of Seneca, alternates. Resolutions were adopted declaring, in addition to opposition to slavery extension, that the delegates felt "impelled to discard all former political differences and to unite for the common good," etc. D. Stephen- son, A. S. Crittenden, and William Johnson were named as a district committee. Thomas J. McLouth, of Ontario, John E. Seeley, of Seneca, and M. H. Lawrence, of Yates, were selected as delegates, and Henry W. Taylor, James K. Richardson, and A. V. Harpend- ing, as alternates, to represent the Twenty-seventh district in the National convention.
The Times had been established in Canandaigua as the organ of that faction of the Whig party which hailed William H. Seward, then representing the State in the Senate of the United States, as their leader, and who supported him in his effort to make the party independent of slavery dictation. It had urged the importance of his reelection to the Senate and rejoiced when he was reelected, but previous to that, at the time when the repeal of the Missouri Compromise had stirred the North to indignation and protest, as early as June, 1854, it had put at the head of its editorial columns this legend :
For President, WILLIAM H. SEWARD, of New York.
And it had kept the declaration in place all through the Free Soil campaign of that year, through the campaign of the next year, in which the party was organized and adopted the name Republican, and into the Presidential campaign of 1856. William H. Seward, able, statesmanlike, eloquent, who had led the van in the fight for Free Soil during the preceding years, became the leader of the Republican party in New York State as he had been the leader of the dominant faction of the old Whig party. He was the choice of the New York delegates for the Presidency in the National conven- tion at Philadelphia, June 17, 1856. He probably could have been nominated. There was no strife among candidates. It was too
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ONTARIO IN THE 1856 CAMPAIGN.
clearly shown that the contest must be fought for the sake of future good, not for present success. Thurlow Weed and other New York admirers of the great statesman wanted to avoid his sacrifice. His name was therefore withdrawn, and he received only one vote in the balloting on the second day of that historic gathering. The first formal ballot determined the result.
John C. Fremont, "the Pathfinder," was chosen to lead the Republican army, yet ignorant of its own strength, doubtful of its future, but inspired by a noble purpose, in its first campaign for the Presidency. William L. Dayton, of New Jersey, was selected as its candidate for Vice President.
Though the leaders of the Republican party in the 1856 cam- paign had little hope of electing their candidate for President, they believed they could carry most of the Northern States and so organize and establish the new party that the Free Soil sentiment of the Nation could successfully assert itself in succeeding contests.
The Democrats who were opposed to the extension of slavery into free territory and to the outrages committed upon the free settlers of Kansas, had been finally alienated from the Democratic party by the pro-slavery principles enunciated by the Cincinnati convention, which had nominated James Buchanan for the Presidency, and were ready now to take the step that should make them members of the Republican party in full and regular standing. In Ontario county they held a convention, at the court house in Canandaigua, July 19. Chester Loomis, of Gorham, the year before the unsuccessful People's candidate for State Senator, acted as chairman, and E. W. Gardner, of Canandaigua, as secretary. James C. Smith, Elnathan W. Simmons, David Paul, Chester Loomis, Charles J. Folger, and Thomas U. Bradbury, were elected delegates to a State convention of the "Democratic-Republican" party, and James C. Smith and Elbridge G. Lapham made speeches, which, the secretary reported, were able and eloquent, and "served up the Cincinnati platform and its candidates in true Democratic style." The men mentioned as active participants in this meeting, like thousands of Free Soil Democrats throughout the North, immedi- ately took an active and influential part in support of the Republican party.
In New York as in other States, that party nominated full State and local tickets and conducted a most aggressive and success-
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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.
ful campaign. The convention for selecting candidates for the State offices to be filled was called to meet in Syracuse, September 17.
At the convention for the First Assembly district of this county, held at Clifton Springs on September 13, 1856, David Pickett, of Gorham, acted as chairman, and George B. Dusenberre, of Geneva, as secretary. Thomas Hillhouse, of Geneva, afterwards State Comp- troller, State Senator, and Assistant Treasurer of the United States, and Jedediah Dewey, Jr., of Man- chester, already mentioned as most active and prominent in the earliest movements toward the organization of the party, were elected delegates to the State convention, and George B. Dusen- berre, of Geneva, county judge from 1861 to 1868, and A. G. Crittenden, of Manchester, alter- nates. Delegates to the Congres- sional convention were elected as follows: Hon. John Lapham, of Farmington; Platt C. Reynolds, of Manchester ; Jonathan Pratt, of Hopewell; Dolphin Stephenson, of Phelps, and A. J. Shannon, of Seneca.
EDWARD BRUNSON.
Edward Brunson, member of Committee on Resolutions of the Anti-Nebraska con- vention at Canandaigua, August 5, 1854. Early became prominent in the Republican party and was for many years one of its most influential county leaders. Born in East Bloomfield, August 14, 1824; repre- sented that town in the Board of Supervisors in 1859, '60 and '61; Member of Assembly in 1865 and 1866. Removed in 1879 to Solo- mon City, Kansas. and was postmaster at that place at the time of his death, August 5, 1890. The Second district conven- tion, held at Canandaigua, August 30, was presided over by Doctor Z. Paul, of Richmond, as chair- man, and Myron S. Hall, of West Bloomfield, as secretary. The Canandaigua delegates were Charles Coy, Evander Sly, Joel M. Howey, Elisha W. Gardner, and John H. Morse. Elbridge G. Lapham, afterwards member of Congress and United States Senator, and Edward Brunson, after- wards member of Assembly, were elected delgates to the State convention, and Josiah Porter, of Naples ; Richmond Simmons, 2nd, of Bristol; Z. Paul, of Richmond; Myron S. Hall, of West Bloom- field, and Charles Coy, of Canandaigua, delegates to the Congres-
-
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ONTARIO IN THE 1856 CAMPAIGN.
sional convention. Charles Coy, Edwin Hicks and Lanson Dewey were named as a campaign committee. The State convention made these nominations: For Governor, John A. King; for Lieutenant- Governor, Henry R. Selden; for Canal Commissioner, Charles H. Sherrill; for Inspector of State Prisons, Wesley Bailey; for Clerk of the Court of Appeals, Russell F. Hicks.
The Twenty-ninth Congressional district convention was held at Geneva, in Linden Hall, October 4, Hon. John Lapham acting as chairman, and A. T. Knox, and M. S. Hall, as secretaries. The three counties of the district-Ontario, Yates, and Seneca-were fully rep- resented. On the first formal ballot for candidates for member of Congress, Emory B. Pottle, of Naples, received thirteen votes, to six cast for Addison T. Knox, and one for J. E. Seeley, and was declared the nominee. J. V. Van Allen, of Yates; Isaac Fuller, of Seneca, and Henry W. Taylor and Thomas Hillhouse, of Ontario, were named as the central committee for the campaign.
The county nominating convention was held at Canandaigua, October 14, 1856, Simri Collins acting as chairman and William H. Smith and William Carson, as secretaries. Candidates for county offices were nominated as follows: For county judge, Henry W. Taylor; justice of sessions, George W. Stearns ; super- intendent of poor, John Lapham; coroners, John Q. Howe and Rollin Gregg. An apportionment of delegates to represent the several towns in future conventions was made as follows: Canan- daigua, 7; Phelps, 7; Manchester, 5; Farmington, 5; Gorham, 5; Victor, 4; East Bloomfield, 4; Bristol, 4; Naples, 4; Hopewell, +; West Bloomfield, 3; South Bristol, 3; Seneca, 9; Richmond, 3; Canadice, 3. Nathan J. Milliken, James C. Smith, Albert G. Murray, Ira R. Peck and A. J. Shannon, were named as the county com- mittee for the ensuing year.
The nominating convention for the Eastern district named the Hon. Samuel A. Foot, of Geneva, for reelection to the Assembly. That for the Western district placed Zoroaster Paul in the field as its candidate for membership in that body. Elnathan W. Simmons acted as chairman of the convention last named and Elisha W. Gardner and Martin Remington as secretaries. The delegates were as follows :
Canandaigua-Willson Millor, Elisha W. Gardner, Spencer Gooding, Ansel Debow, Martin Remington, Holmes C. Lucas, and Charles P. Johnson.
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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.
Victor-Asa Wilson, Rufus Humphrey, Hiram Ladd, Melanc- ton Lewis.
East Bloomfield-Nelson Parmeie, Henry W. Hamlin, Joseph Steele, Loren H. Brunson.
West Bloomfield-James H. Hall, S. C. Brown, John Wood.
Richmond-Parley Brown, D. L. Hamilton, Zoroaster Paul.
Bristol-Elnathan W. Simmons, William A. Reed, Seymour Reed, Richmond Simmons, 2d.
South Bristol-Simri Collins, Theron Buell, Amos Crandall, Jr.
The work of this convention, held on the 24th of October, completed the Republican ticket. The party had presented candi- dates for the Presidency, State offices, Congress, county offices, and the Assembly.
These were opposed by two full tickets, one nominated by the Americans or Know Nothings, who were trying to save their now rapidly disintegrating party from complete extinction, and the other nominated by the Democratic party. This last was made up of those members of the old Democratic party who had resisted the call to unite in the formation of a new political organization and was destined eventually to absorb the anti-Seward Whigs and that portion of the American party which deprecated any action that might lead to a break with the South.
The canvass of 1856 was a lively one, and beyond the substan- tial victories gained in State and local elections, served the all- important purpose of welding the diverse Free Soil elements that had been theretofore clinging to their old party names into one compact organization-"Republican, no prefix, no suffix ; but plain Republican."
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THE NEW POLITICAL LEADERS.
XIII
THE NEW POLITICAL LEADERS.
The Campaign in Ontario County for "Free Speech, Free Press, Free Men, Free Labor, and Fremont"-Clubs Organized and Meetings Held-Joshua R. Giddings Speaks in Canandaigua, His Native Town-Success Won in the County and State, but the National Ticket Defeated.
"New occasions teach new duties" and discover new men. The crisis into which the country was plunged by the repeal of the Missouri Compromise brought new leaders to the fore in every community. Men who, like William H. Seward and Abraham Lincoln, were quick to feel the approach of the tidal wave of public indignation against the slavery propaganda and had the courage to cast off old party ties for conscience sake, came in 1856 to the front of the new Republican party. The old party leaders, many of them not less patriotic, but more timid, and perhaps less discern- ing, stepped one after another to the rear.
As it was in the arena of National and State politics, so it was in Ontario county. The older, more experienced, and up to that time most trusted leaders in both the Whig and Democratic parties failed to see, or, seeing, lacked the courage to grasp, the opportunity presented in the new political organization. Men younger in years, untrained in party management, and compara- tively obscure, became the Republican leaders. Nathan J. Milliken, James C. Smith and Albert G. Murray, the Canandaigua members of the Republican central committee of the county in that year, were only thirty-five, thirty-nine and forty-six years old respectively. Myron H. Clark, elected Governor in 1854 by a coalition of the political forces that were later destined to form the new party, was fifty years of age. Elbridge G. Lapham, who became one of its first "spellbinders," was forty-five. Edward Brunson was thirty- two, Edwin Hicks was only twenty-six, and William H. Smith only
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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.
twenty-seven. Emory B. Pottle, its first candidate for Congress, was forty-one.
The campaign of the Republican party in the memorable year of 1856 was one that appealed to the noblest emotions. Men engaged in it because they hated slavery and loved freedom, because they felt that the destiny of the Nation was at stake, because they esteemed principle before party. Its rallying cry-"Free Speech, Free Press; Free Men, Free La- bor, and Fremont"-was in itself an inspiration.
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