USA > New York > Ontario County > A history of Ontario County, New York and its people, Volume I > Part 6
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The first county jail, erected in the early days immediately after the organization of the county, was a log structure and was located on or near the southwest corner of the public square in Canandaigua. its principal use probably was as a place of detention for drunken Indians. It is said to have had only one door, two small windows on each side, a couple of great chains to which the prisoners were fastened and plenty of straw on the floor for bedding. As the population of the county increased, this make-shift for a jail was abandoned, and the second story of the old Pitts tavern, afterwards the Franklin house, at the corner of Main and Coach streets, was fitted up with cells and used for that purpose, which does not appear to have interfered with the business of entertaining paying and orderly guests as conducted on the lower floor.
In 1815 the county had become rich enough to erect for itself a building specifically designed for jail purposes and this was done on the site on Jail street on which the present or "new" jail stands. The jail erected in 1815 was a substantial stone structure, with wards and cells for the prisoners, a high walled yard for their exer- cise and apartments for the family of the sheriff. For many years it was considered a model jail, the most secure to be found in the State west of Utica, and was utilized by all the counties surrounding for the safe keeping of desperadoes.
The new jail was opened by Sheriff Nathaniel Allen, who was followed by Phineas P. Bates and Samuel Lawrence, the last sheriff of the county to hold office under the first constitution. The
58
HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.
first sheriff under the second constitution, adopted in 1821, was Phineas P. Bates, who was followed by Joseph Garlinghouse, in 1825. Garlinghouse, who lived in Richmond, appointed a Mr. Hall as jailor, who resided in the jail and boarded the prisoners.
It was from this jail on the 12th of September, 1826, that William Morgan, who had published a book pretending to reveal the secrets of Free Masonry, was abducted, never to be seen again alive or dead by his family or his friends, and in the same jail were
OLD ONTARIO COUNTY JAIL.
Erected in 1815; demolished in September, 1895. The building from which William Morgan, the renegade Mason, was kidnapped, September, 1826,
confined for eighteen months several prominent citizens charged with being guilty of the crime.
Among other noted occupants of cells in this jail was William Lyon Mckenzie, who was charged with violating the neutrality laws in the Canadian rebellion of 1837 : a famous mail robber by the name of Baux, who was convicted and sentenced to Auburn for fifteen years; the counterfeiter Sims and the murderers Charles Eighmey and John Kelly. The executions by hanging of Eighmey and Kelly took place in the jail yard, the first on September 8, 1876, and the last on July 10, 1889, and were the only executions that have taken place in the county. This jail building was extensively repaired in the early 30's at a cost of $12,000.
The present jail was built on ground immediately west of the building just described and was completed in 1895 at a cost of
59
THE COUNTY BUILDINGS.
$24,747.15. About the first of June of that year the sheriff moved his office and residence to the new brick and steel structure, and the old jail so long an object of historic interest was torn down. From its wreckage was saved the iron framework of the cell in which, it was said, William Morgan was confined and the interesting relic was preserved for a time in the lodge room of the local Masonic body. The lock of the cell is still exhibit- ed there.
The several towns of the county made provision for their own poor until October, 1825, when the board of supervisors ap- pointed Thomas Beals, Nathaniel Lewis and Moses Fairchild a com- mittee to purchase a county farm. Following an advertisement for proposals and an examination of the properties offered, a farm of 100 acres in the town of Hopewell, three miles east of Canandaigua, was purchased at a cost of $1,868.64. In the summer of 1826 a house for the accommodation of dependents and of the keeper and his family was erected, furniture, stock and implements purchased, making the total cost of the establishment at the time the house was opened, October 23, 1826, $7,023.84. Later the farm was enlarged by the purchase of 112 acres of additional land.
THOMAS BEALS.
Thomas Beals, eminent as a banker, was born in Boston, Mass., November 13, 1783; settled in Canandaigua in 1803 and resided in that village until his death, April 30, 1864. Took charge of the Ontario Savings Bank in 1832 and upon its becoming a private bank in 1855, continued as manager. In 1814 succeeded Thaddeus Chapin as County Treas- urer and held that office for a period of twenty-seven years consecutively. Secretary of the Canandaigua Academy Board for nearly half a century. Trustee of the Congregationa! Church society and member of the committee having charge of the erec- tion of the church building in 1812. Was chairman of the committee that purchased the county farm and erected the poor house, and acted as County Superintendent of the Poor for several years.
Although the original alms- house still stands and is still in use, it has been enlarged and im- proved, large barns erected, orchards planted and other betterments from time to time effected, to adapt the property to changing condi- tions and keep it as far as possible a safe and comfortable refuge for those whom misfortune has compelled to depend on public support.
60
HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.
The establishment, however, is now considered out of date, unsafe, and unsanitary, and the county is facing the necessity of replacing it with a fire proof building which will measure up to modern standards for public institutions. Such a building would more fitly represent the country's standing in wealth and progressiveness and constitute a striking illustration of the advancement made since the time when the county house, in addition to being a refuge for dependent poor, was also the home of a considerable group of pauper children (removed to or- phan asylums about 1876), the place of confinement for insane people and imbeciles dependent on public support, who were removed to State institutions for the insane and feeble minded in 1893, and the home of pauper epileptics, who were removed fol- lowing the establishment.of Craig Colony in 1896.
AMBROSE SPENCER.
Judge Ambrose Spencer, who presided at the term of court in the first Ontario county court house at which it was sought to indict Jemima Wilkinson for blasphemy, was born at Salisbury, Conn., December 13. 1765. Graduated from Harvard College in 1783; represented Columbia county in the State Assembly of 1794; was a member of the State Senate from 1796 to 1802; member of the Council of Appointment, 1797; Attorney Gen- eral. 1802-1804; Justice of the 'Supreme Court, 1819-1823 ; Representative in Congress, 1829-1831 ; Mayor of Albany one term; mem- ber of Constitutional Convention, 1821; chairman of National Whig Convention at Baltimore, 1844. Died at Lyons, March 13, 1848. Judge Spencer was the father of John C. Spencer, Secretary of the Treasury under President Tyler.
Nothing has shown the enter- prise and liberality of spirit of the people of Ontario county more than the provision made in 1906, in response to the offer of Mrs. Frederick F. Thompson to pro- vide a suitable building, for the maintenance of a county labora- tory for the use of the physicians and people in fighting preventable and epidemic diseases, the first county institution of the charac- ter to be established in the State.
The laboratory building was erected on the grounds of the Thomp- son memorial hospital in Canandaigua, and is in charge of a bac- teriologist appointed by the board of supervisors and paid by the county.
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THE COUNTY BUILDINGS.
In 1909 the county took another advance step in providing at a cost of $15,000 for the establishment of a county tuberculosis hospital, a step in which it again led the State. A beautiful grove on an eminence in the town of East Bloomfield was selected as the site for this institution and its erection on plans approved by the State Commissioner of Health was brought to completion in the summer of 1910. Both these steps for securing and promoting the health of the people were altogether unprecedented and so unique as to require specific action by the Legislature, action which was properly made general in its character so as to permit other counties of the State to follow the lead of Ontario. The board of managers of the tuberculosis hospital, officially named "Oak- mount," was appointed by the board of supervisors, as follows : Dr. C. C. Lytle, of Geneva, president ; Rev. James T. Dougherty, of Canandaigua, vice president; Heber E. Wheeler, of East Bloomfield, secretary; Dr. Wm. B. Clapper, of Victor; Levi A. Page, of Seneca Castle. The hospital was opened to patients in January, 1911, with Dr. S. R. Wheeler, of East Bloomfield, in charge as superintendent.
62
HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.
VI
ONTARIO'S FIRST HALF CENTURY.
Her Politics and Politicians-Early Elections-Snap Methods- Ontario Firm in the Federalist Faith-The County's Repre- sentation in Congress and the Legislature- Succession of County Officers - Oliver Phelps a Candidate for Lieutenant- Governor.
The first settlement of Canandaigua was cotemporaneous with the adoption of the Federal constitution, in 1788. Ontario county was erected January 27, 1789. So that the county's first half cen- tury was practically the first half of the nineteenth century.
In times of political quiet, when the affairs of government move on in the even tenor of their way, and turn upon questions of per- sonal or party interest, the words and acts of men in each center of population are but the reflex of those prominent in the public eye as leaders. This was especially true of the political history of the earlier part of the period under consideration. Parties had names, it is true, in those days, but they had no organization, and they represented persons rather than principles. The politicians were Clintonians, Lewisites, Burrites, or Jeffersonians, more than they were Federalists or Republicans.
The restrictions on suffrage gave only a part of the people the right to vote, and but few of those having the right cared to exercise it. Only one voter in five reported at the polls at the first elections in the State, as compared with over 90 per cent. at our recent elec- tions. The simple but efficient system of caucuses and conventions which now enables every voter to exercise an influence, however distant it may sometimes seem, upon the naming of candidates and the enunciating of party principles, had no counterpart in those days. Nominations to Congress or the State Assembly were made by the candidates themselves, or by open conventions or "respecta- ble meetings" of such electors as cared to attend. Nominations to
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ONTARIO'S FIRST HALF CENTURY.
the Governorship were left to members of the Legislature to make, or to coteries of politicians at the State capital, like the famous "Albany Regency." It could not well be otherwise. Means of communication were few. Travel was slow, difficult, and expensive. It took longer to go from Canandaigua to Albany than it does now to cross the continent.
Moreover, there were no contests over county officers in the earlier part of the period. Beyond the election of town officers, members of Assembly, and members of Congress, even the select few who had the right to vote had no voice. All the rest was man- aged at Albany-even to the vote of the State for candidates for President. The voters generally did not have the privilege to vote for presidential electors until 1825.
From the time of the adoption of the State constitution until the first general revision of that instrument in 1821, the appoint- ment of all State officers except Governor, and for a part of the time Lieutenant-Governor, and of all city and county officers, was in the hands of a Council of Appointment named by the Assembly from the members of the State Senate. Even auctioneers received their authority to do business from the Council. This powerful body was often at variance with the Governor, and it used its power unblushingly to reward friends or punish enemies of the dominant faction in the Legislature.
As often as the Assembly changed its political complexion, from Clintonian to Federalist, or from Burrite to Lewisite, or vice versa, so often was every important public office in the State, and some that were not so important, changed. So it came about, for instance, that Peter B. Porter was summarily removed from the office of clerk of Ontario county in 1804, on account of his friendship for Colonel Burr, then just defeated of election for Governor. Mr. Porter's successor was Sylvester Tiffany, a good Morgan Lewis Republican, but evidently a poor speller., At least the Ontario Repository of that date records the fact that protests had been signed and forwarded to Albany against his appointment as one which disgraced the county, and in a published address to the appointee, the Burr organ advised him to learn how to spell his own name before entering upon the duties of office. It added :
"Know then, Clerk of Ontario, that the way to spell your Christian name is S-y-1-v-e-s-t-e-r, and not S-i-l-v-e-s-t-e-r, as you, like a blockhead, write it."
64
HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.
But it must not be hastily concluded that because political con- trol was confined so exclusively to the savants at Albany, Ontario county had no politicians in the days when it embraced all of Western New York from Geneva to the Niagara river.
The founders of the settlement and the organizers of the county were doubtless Federalists. All patriots recognized in those days the leadership of President Wash- ington in national affairs, but the party in power at Albany was often in opposition to those who carried the same name at Wash- ington, and when the State was rent in twain, as it was early in the century by the contentions of Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, on one side, and Governor George Clinton, who had up to that time retained the office of chief magistrate unopposed, on the other side, the echoes at least must have reached the "folks in the woods" of Ontario county. But pictures of early politics must do without much local color. We cannot tell even to which party or faction some of the first office holders belonged.
The first political incident of MARK H. SIBLEY, Mark H. Sibley, prominent as a lawyer, a jurist, and a legislator in the early history of Ontario county, was born at Great Barring- ton, Mass., in 1796. Coming to Canandaigua, in 1814, he studied law with Dudley Marvin and was admitted to the bar. He succeeded Oliver Phelps as member of the State Assembly in 1834 and was re-elected in 1835; was a Representative in Congress from 1837 to 1839; a State Senator in 1841, and County Judge from 1847 until 1851. Was a brilliant lawyer and an effective public speaker. Died in Canandaigua, September 8, 1852. note of which we have record as occurring in Ontario county, grew out of the fact that although not entitled by its population to rep- resentation in the State legislature at so early a period, the county by a special act was given this right in 1791. The fact was not known in Canandaigua or Geneva, but the politicians of a small settlement in what is now Steuben county, obtained possession of the secret; and, with an appreciation of the possibilities of snap methods not surpassed by their descendants, gathered a few backwoodsmen, went through the form of an elec-
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ONTARIO'S FIRST HALF CENTURY.
tion, and cast their votes for Col. Eleasor Lindsley, of that settle- ment, for the office of Member of Assembly. The proceeding may have been somewhat irregular, but no one contested, and Mr. Lindsley took his seat. The year following, the people of the county, being awake to their rights, elected General Israel Chapin of Canandaigua to represent them at Albany.
The chief political interest of those days naturally centered about the election of Members of Assembly, for as we have seen, it was the office through which alone the voters could express their will, though ever so indi- rectly, as to State politics or as to appointments to office, but the incident related is about the only knowledge we have of the recur- ring contests, except that con- tained in the list of incumbents of office. Even the local papers, so far as can be judged from the defective files remaining, throw little light on the subject.
General Chapin was succeed- ed in the Assembly by Thomas Morris of Canandaigua, he by Lemuel Chipman, of Pittstown (now Honeoye), and Charles Wil- liamson, of Bath ; and among those elected in the following years were Amos Hall, of Canandaigua ; NATHANIEL W. HOWELL. Born in Blooming Grove, Orange county, January 1, 1770; removed to Canandaigua in 1796; was elected President of the Board of Trustees upon the incorporation of the Vil- lage in 1815; Assistant Attorney General for the Western Counties from 1799 to 1802; member of the Legislature Nathaniel Norton, of Bloomfield ; Peter B. Porter, Augustus Porter, and Thaddeus Chapin, of Canan- in 1804; Representative in Congress in 1813 and 1814, and First Judge of Ontario county from 1819 to 1833. Died in Canandaigua, October 15, 1851. daigua; Polydore B. Wisner, of Seneca ; Daniel W. Lewis, of Sen- eca ; Philetus Swift,of Phelps; William Rumsey, of Bath; Gideon Pitts, of Honeoye ; Israel Chapin, Jr., and Reuben Hart, of Canandai- gua ; Myron Holley, Phineas P. Bates, and John C. Spencer, of Can- andaigua ; Bowen Whiting, of Geneva ; Francis Granger and Walter Hubbell, of Canandaigua; John Dickson, of West Bloomfield; Oli-
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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.
ver Phelps and Mark H. Sibley, of Canandaigua; Henry Pardee, of Victor; Henry W. Taylor, of Canandaigua; Jonathan Buell, Timothy Buell, and Josiah Porter, of East Bloomfield; Alvah Worden, of Canandaigua; Lorenzo Clark and Emory B. Pottle, of Naples.
In the office of clerk, Nathaniel Gorham was succeeded by John Wickham, Peter B. Porter, Syl- vester Tiffany, James B. Mower, Myron Holley, Hugh McNair, John VanFossen, Gavin L. Nich- olas, Ralph Lester, Charles Crane, John I. Dox, Thomas Hall, Alex- ander H. Howell and Reuben Murray, Jr.
ALEXANDER H. HOWELL.
Alexander Hamilton Howell, eldest son of Judge Nathaniel W. Howell, was born in Canandaigua, September 30, 1805, and died in that village on May 8, 1893. Officiated several terms as President of the Village and served a number of years as Chief of the Fire Department; was Clerk of Ontario county from 1844 to 1849 inclusive, also acted as a member of the Board of Trustees of Canandaigua Academy and as President of the Board of Trustees of the Ontario Orphan Asylum.
Judah Colt, the first sheriff, was succeeded by Nathaniel Nor- ton, Roger Sprague, Benjamin Barton, Stephen Bates, James R. Gurnsey, James Rees, Wm. Shep- ard, Nathaniel Allen, Phineas P. ยท Bates, Samuel Lawrence, Joseph Garlinghouse, Jonathan Buell, Jonas M. Wheeler, Myron H. Clark, John Lamport, Eri Dens- more, Phineas Kent, and William H. Lamport.
Oliver Phelps, the first county judge, was succeeded by Timothy Hosmer, John Nicholas, Nathan- iel W. Howell, Bowen Whiting, Charles J. Folger, E. Fitch Smith and Mark H. Sibley.
The surrogates were John Cooper, Samuel Mellish, Israel Chapin, Jr., Amos Hall, Dudley Saltonstall, Reuben Hart, Eliphalet Taylor, Stephen Phelps, Ira Selby, Jared Wilson, Orson Benjamin, and George R. Parburt.
The first district attorney was John C. Spencer. He was followed by Abraham P. Vosburg, Bowen Whiting, Henry F. Pen-
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ONTARIO'S FIRST HALF CENTURY.
field, George W. Clinton, Nathan Parke, Thomas M. Howell, Bar- zillai Slosson, James C. Brown, and Stephen R. Mallory.
In the Senate, the district of which Ontario was a part, was represented by Thomas Morey, Lemuel Chipman, Philetus Swift, Amos Hall, Stephen Bates, Gideon Granger, John C. Spencer, William H. Seward, Mark H. Sibley, and Albert Lester.
In Congress, during the fifty years under examination, the Ontario district had among its representatives Thomas Morris, Oliver Phelps, Peter B. Porter, Nathaniel W. Howell, John C. Spencer, John Dickson, Francis Mayer and John Greig.
Through succeeding cam- paigns in which George Clinton was retired from the governor- ship in favor of Jay, and again elected to that office, John Adams was succeeded by Jefferson as President, and the Republicans of the time, of which our present day Democratic party is the direct de- scendant, controlled the State egislature, Ontario remained firm n the Federalist faith; and this continued true down to the excit- WALTER HUBBELL. Walter Hubbell, a prominent member of the early bar of Ontario county, was born in Bridgeport, Conn., February 25, 1795, and settled in Canandaigua in 1814. Member of Assembly from Ontario county in 1829, was prominently identified with the Canandaigua Academy, and active in church and Sunday school work. Died in Canandaigua, March 25, 1848. ng campaign of 1804, when there vas a pretty general shifting of party lines in preparation for the gubernatorial election of the next April. Ontario rose to new prominence in this campaign, through the nomination of her distinguished citizen, Oliver Phelps, for the office of Lieutenant-Governor, on the ticket headed by the atally ambitious Aaron Burr. Burr and Phelps had the support of large section of the Federalists and of many influential Republi- ans. But the Republican Legislative caucus, after much casting bout, induced Morgan Lewis to accept its nomination for Governor, und almost to its own surprise carried the succeeding election. The ame party elected also a majority of the Legislature, even including ts candidates for the Senate in the Western district, Jedediah Peck
68
HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.
and Henry Huntington, and at least one of its candidates for the Assembly in Genesee and Ontario, then voting together in one Assembly district.
That questionable methods were sometimes adopted to attain political ends in those days, is indicated by an address that was published in the Ontario Repository of March 20, 1804:
To the Electors of Ontario County:
A meeting of a few electors of the town of Phelps being called and held at the home of Samuel Oaks, inn keeper in said town, on Thursday evening, the 15th inst., in a very privat and clandestine manner with a view to make nomination of a character to represent this part of the county in the Legislature at the ensuing election, and the business conducted with so much secrecy as to preclude the attendance of the greatest part of the electors of the said town, we, the subscribers, being by accident present at the said meeting and witness- ing the irregularity with which it was conducted, think it a duty incumbent on us, in order that the general wish of the people should be known, to request that a general meeting of the electors of the town of Phelps and adjoining towns be held at the home of said Oaks on Thursday, the 29th instant, at 12 o'clock noon, for the purpose of nominating proper characters to be supported at the ensuing election to represent this Co. in the Legislature. Deputations from all the towns of the Co. are requested to attend with a view to determining on the county ticket.
This address was signed by Thaddeus Oaks, John Bigelow, Sam'l Shekell, David Cook, and Elias Cost.
A spectator of the Phelps meeting wrote that it "was opened, conducted and finished in a manner peculiarly appropriate to that foul spirit of Democracy, which seems destined to prostrate at the feet of faction the glory, the happiness, and independence of our country."
Out of this and the preceding campaign, which had resulted in the defeat of Col. Burr's ambition to achieve distinction in State or National politics, grew bitter animosity between him and Hamil- ton, the Federal leader. The latter had not hesitated to denounce Burr for his alleged treachery to President Jefferson, and the quarrel ended in the fatal duel at Hoboken. Deep grief at the death of the brilliant Hamilton was expressed throughout the country. Myron Holley, on invitation of a committee of citizens delivered an oration in eulogy of the great man in the court house at Canandaigua.
The spirit of P. T. Barnum must have been abroad even in those days. At least no time was lost by one showman in availing him self of the opportunity for profit afforded by public interest in the
1 1% of
En
69
ONTARIO'S FIRST HALF CENTURY.
Hoboken tragedy. As early as June 4, 1805, he had penetrated the woods as far as Canandaigua, and in the Ontario Messenger "the ladies and gentlemen" of the vil- lage were notified that there was that day opened at the house of Mrs. Gooding, near the court house, "a new and elegant col- lection of wax figures, as large as life;" among which it was adver- tised that there was "a striking representation of the unfortunate duel between Gen. Alexander Hamilton and Col. Aaron Burr;" also Bonaparte, Nelson, a Pius Mother Instructing Her Children, and Samson Asleep in the Lap of Delilah, etc.
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