USA > New York > Steuben County > A history of Steuben County, New York, and its people, Vol. I > Part 36
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The building, owned and oceupied during its existence by the Steuben County Bank on the west side of Pulteney square, is now, through the liberality of its president, the home of the Steuben Club, an organization composed principally of residents of Bath. There frequent entertainments extended to visitors are held; the external appearance, as well as the rooms and interior apartments, remain about the same as when, in its early days, the advice, finan- cial aid and common sense encouragement of Mr. Magee were sought and freely given. Many crushing disasters were there met and tided over; languishing hopes were there revived and many a home was saved and made happy in those old apartments. There, more than in any other place, were planted the future wealth, happiness and politieal importance of Steuben county.
In 1851 Mr. Magee became interested in the Blossburg and Corning Railroad. It was then in a bad way, but his energetic co-operation hastened its completion. The coal business at that time had assumed but little importanee in the Tioga valley. In 1859 he made his first purchase of coal lands and opened and de- veloped the mines at Fall Brook, Pennsylvania, the same year.
Within three years he made extensive purchases of property in Watkins, at the head of Seneca lake, for the location of piers, slips, basins and trestle works for the handling of coal. He pro- cured operating rights over the road running to and beyond Wat- kins, and by this means he was able to haul his own loaded cars from the mines at Fall Brook without transshipment or breaking bulk to Watkins. There the shipments were delivered to his eoal
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chutes, bins, yards and canal boats. The last were taken in tow by his steamboats to Geneva, New York, and thence by canal to the eastern, northern and seaboard markets. With the prospeet of an early abandonment of the Cayuga and Seneca canal the Fall Brook Railroad was extended north to Geneva and Lyons, on the New York Central Railroad, and south to Williamsport, Pennsyl- vania, where it intersected the Pennsylvania and the Reading sys- tems of railroads. The Fall Brook mines largely supplied the loco- motives with soft or bituminous coal, as well as the railroads to the south.
In 1863 Mr. Magee removed from Bath to Watkins, where he erected a stately, commodious home. IIe dreaded to leave Bath; it was like breaking his heart strings, but he said on one occasion : "I cannot stay there; they have made me a pariah." In 1867, after he had for years been a resident of Schuyler county, he was made a delegate-at-large to the state constitutional convention. A glance at his associates in that body discloses the names of the most noted, solid and useful men who ever lived in or served the state. This was his last public service and he did not live to see the work of that convention completed, but his influence and opinions were remembered by his survivors. He died of paralysis, at his home in Watkins, on April 5, 1868, and was buried in Glenwood ceme- tery, that village, in the plot of ground he had selected and taste- fully improved as a resting place for himself and his family and where he had delighted to spend the waning years of his life. A stately marble marks his last resting place. An inhabitant of Steuben county visiting this beautiful place involuntarily sighs, "It might have been."
Mr. Magee's estate, at the time of his death, was estimated to be worth $15,000,000. After his decease the representatives of his property undertook to operate it according to his own methods, but were not wholly successful. The Fall Brook Company, owning the railroads and coal mines, was transferred to the New York Cen- tral and Hudson River Railroad Company, and is now known as its Pennsylvania division.
John Magee was an original and distinguished man and a noted specimen of American growth. Starting from poverty and want, without friends or advisers, he developed into wealth, states- manship and great personal influence. He was an honest man and he never stooped to meanness or trickery; he could not endure double dealing in any form. He hated shows of all kinds; pre- tensions and superficial assumptions of knowledge he abhorred. One of the most distinguished jurists of the nation said of him: "He was one of the most sterling and able men whose names we are accustomed to associate with the stability and prosperity of the state, and whose weight of character and integrity far transcends the dignity of mere official position."
BATH BANKS.
On January 1, 1849,- George W. Hallock's Bank was estab- lished at Bath; this was a private institution, with Mr. Hallock as president. Hon. William S. Hubbell, the father-in-law of Mr. Halloek, was the cashier. This arrangement and these designations of position were made for reasons satisfactory to all interested.
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In January, 1862, the building was destroyed by fire, when the present structure was built and occupied. Mr. Hubbell was elected a representative in congress in 1842 from the Thirtieth district of ' the state of New York, serving one term. He was an accomplished business man, a master of finance and accounts, familiar with the character and abilities of the people of his district, and well equipped in every way for this bank position. He was so promi- nently connected with the social, political and financial affairs of Steuben county and so identified with it during his active life that this brief resume is here submitted. William S. Hubbell was born January 17, 1801. He was one of the most magnetic, entertaining and charming men in the state, and no man in the county was his equal in personal beauty, grace of manner or ability or willing- ness to please, especially those he liked or sought to win. Indeed, he would have been an acceptable model in grace, person, address and charming manner for Lord Chesterfield or Beau Brummel. The leading trait in his character, his life and success was his un- conquerable cheerfulness and amiability of temper. No obstacle or opposition daunted him. No impediment overcame or thwarted him; apparently never surprised or disconcerted, no matter how unexpected, severe or serious the occasion or cause. Disasters and reverses did not abate his energy and determination, only sharp- ened him for future contests and future victories. It is doubtful if any person ever saw him discomfited or met him without his constant and perennial smile; it was not assumed; it was a part of his nature. In politics he was a Democrat ; never offensive, always respecting the views and ideas of political opponents. His eye was black, sharp and 'brilliant; his hair as black and glossy as the raven's wing; his complexion ruddy and radiant. He was in all things a high-toned, polished gentleman, and a thorough man of the world. He also performed many acts of kindness and generosi- ty and no needy, deserving person ever left him empty-handed. But he never in any manner referred to favors performed, and likewise forbade others to do so. He gave the wealth of his great affectionate heart to his wife, and after her death to his daughters. He died at Bath, November 16, 1873, seventy-two years old, and left the world better for his life.
Mr. George W. Hallock, an honest, modest and quiet man, survived Mr. Hubbell for a few years, and the affairs of the institu- tion devolved on his son, William H. Hallock. The latter served with signal ability and success, maintaining and, if possible, in- creasing its high financial credit and standing, and died four years since, leaving the management of the bank to his son, William N. Hallock. Mr. Hallock is a lawyer by profession, not now in active practice, but possessing the ability and qualifications of three gener- ations of distinguished and remarkably successful bankers. This bank is still in successful operation, carrying a large line of de- posits and possessing the confidence of the people of Steuben coun- ty. It is also the designated depository for state and county funds.
The Bank of Bath was organized as a private bank, April 11, 1854, with a capital of $50,000, secured by stocks of New York state and real estate, under the Free Banking and Safety Fund acts. Constant Cook was the president and principal owner. It commenced business in a small square, one-story, brick building
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on West Morris street, in the village of Bath (locally known as "Cook Town") adjoining Cook's residence. It afterwards occupied a part of the old landoffice building, on the south side of Pulteney Square, and in 1858 was moved to the new brick bank building, at the corner of Steuben and Liberty streets. On the 14th day of December, 1863, its state charter was surrendered and the bank at once reorganized as the First National Bank of Bath, with a capital of $100,000. Its first officers were Constant Cook, presi- dent; Henry H. Cook, cashier. This bank was one of the very few institutions in this part of New York that so largely and notably assisted the national government in its days of trial and embar- rassment during the Civil war by finding a large sale of its bonds in the adjacent country, for which the thanks of the treasury de- partment were expressed.
When, by reason of his declining years and illness, Constant Cook became unable to personally attend to the details of the busi- ness Henry H. Cook, the son, assumed charge and at the death of his father became president on February 24. 1874. During the administration of Constant Cook the bank occupied a high position in the financial world. It then had a surplus of nearly $50,000. In the fall of 1875 Henry H. Cook, by reason of liis extensive busi- ness relations and interests in the city of New York which de- manded his personal attention, determined his removal to the metropolis. The care of the bank at Bath now devolved upon oth- ers, and affairs were not satisfactorily looked after. Packages of money failed to reach their destinations; large sums of money could not be accounted for; distrust and suspicions prevailed, in view of which situation and circumstances it was deemed the most prudent course to wind up the affairs of the bank, surrender its charter and return its securities. In October, 1878, the bank. with an untarnished record, therefore ceased to exist.
Constant Cook, the founder and first president of this bank, was born in the town of Warren, Herkimer county, New York, November 10, 1797; passed his early years with his father on the home farm; and on December 25, 1819, was married at Richfield, Otsego county, New York, to Miss Maria Whitney, daughter of Nathan and Hannah Whitney, of Fairfield county, Connecticut. In April, 1820, Mr. Cook, with his young wife, came to the town of Cohocton, this county, where he continued the business of farmi- ing. He was a skilful blacksmith and horseshoer and worked at his trade when not employed in farm work. He boasted that he turned twenty horseshoes the day he was married. The vignette on the bills issued by the Bank of Bath while it was a state in- stitution was a blacksmith shoeing a horse, showing the interior of the shop, in commemoration of the employment of Mr. Cook's younger days. He pursned this trade after he came to Steuben county. In 1840, while a resident of Cohocton, he was appointed an associate judge of the court of common pleas of the county, and he said that he added the same value to the court that a cipher did at the left of a decimal. In 1843 Mr. (now Judge) Cook re- moved to Bath and engaged in commercial and contracting pur- suits with John Magee. The New York and Erie Railroad was then in process of construction and they, in company with James S. Stranahan, John H. Chedell, John Arnot and Charles Cook. of
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Havana, New York, took the contract of building the road from Binghamton to Corning. The general management of this work was, by his associates, intrusted to Judge Cook, who prosecuted it with such vigor, attention and success as to win for himself suh- stantial tokens of their satisfaction. Later he promoted the project of the Bloss Coal Company, whose mines were located at Arnot, near Blossburg, Pennsylvania. During the last score of years of his life Judge Cook became widely known by reason of his con- nection with his bank at Bath, which, early in the war, was cou- verted into a national bank, and soon took and maintained rank with the leading and successful banking institutions in the state. In the years 1863 and 1864, when the demands on the states were the heaviest, the army was rapidly depleted. Recruiting was slow and frequently of no avail. A draft was ordered and impending; it was a question as to how the ranks of the military forces were to be kept full, and general alarm prevailed throughout the north. A measure of relief was devised by which negroes in the seceded states were to join the army ; but large inducements in money were required to secure the results. Counties, cities and towns were authorized to issue bonds to produce a bounty for from three hun- dred to one thousand dollars for each recruit. Constant Cook, Ferral C. Dininny and Henry Sherwood, of Addison, undertook to fill the quota of Steuben county with these negroes. They went to the southern states, procured enlistments, filled the quota, re- ceived the bonds of the county-and of some of the towns and so averted the draft, for which the terror-stricken inhabitants, sub- ject to the horrors of enrollment and levy, were willing to subject their property to meet the payment of these obligations. It was a profitable and prolific enterprise for those who engaged in it, and there were persons on the verge of insolvency when entering the enteprise who were wealthy at its close. About six years before his death, by the aid of the efforts and wealth of Judge Cook, the imposing and magnificent church, parish house and parochial resi- dence of St. Thomas ( Episcopal) church were built, furnished and donated to the parish. It was apparent that the colored troops fought bravely and effectively, and for a good purpose.
In his liberality Judge Cook was wise and discriminating, not easily imposed upon. He always insisted upon the performance of every promise made. He ever observed this rule himself, but because of it he was often unjustly criticized. These same persons, in after life, profited by the lessons learned from their transactions with Constant Cook and admitted that integrity and punctuality are the safe guides to financial happiness and comfort.
Judge Cook died at his home in Bath on the 24th day of February, 1874, at the age of seventy-six years, three months and thirteen days. Of his children none now survive except Edwin C. Cook, who lives in enjoyable retirement at the family home in Bath. Henry H. Cook, the cashier of the First National Bank of Bath, was highly successful in his business life in the city of New York. He died there several years ago, leaving a fortune esti- mated at $15,000,000.
The Farmers and Mechanics' Bank is a co-partnership com- posed of J. F. Parkhurst, Abram Beekman, Thomas R. Rutherford, William M. Nichols and Frank Campbell. It commenced business
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January 1, 1880, and all of the original members are now dead ex- cept Mr. Campbell, who still has the active management and con- trol of the business. By his good judgment, knowledge, foresight, honorable reputation and splendid financial abilities he has brought this bank into the front rank of financial institutions of its class in the state. It justly enjoys the confidence, not only of the people of Steuben county, but the moneyed interests of the state. During the last twenty years of his life Mr. William H. Dutcher most ac- ceptably filled the position of cashier of the bank; since his la- mented death Mr. Wilson R. Campbell, son of Hon. Frank Camp- bell, has filled this place.
Of the original members of this banking firm Hon. John F. Parkhurst continued his connection until he was elected one of the justices of the supreme court of the state, which he held antil the close of his life in 1905. Mr. Abram Beekman was a wealthy lumber dealer; William M. Nichols was a lawyer of long experi- ence, and Thomas R. Rutherford was deputy county clerk, also on operator in real estate. Hon. Frank Campbell, the sole survivor, is a son of Hon. Robert Campbell, a lieutenant governor of this state. He was elected comptroller of the state, which responsible position he held during the years 1892 and 1893. Since then he has given his entire attention to the affairs of the bank. Bath, the county seat of Steuben county, has neither a state nor national bank ; it formerly had one of each. The reason for their going out of business has been fully given.
THE BANKS OF CORNING.
The Bank of Corning, the earliest of banking institutions in the now city of Corning, was chartered under the banking laws of the state on January 12, 1839, with a capital of $78,500, secured by stocks of the state of New York and real estate. Its promoters had expectations of a long life, and its charter was for one hun- dred years. It was founded, organized and chiefly supported by the Corning Company. Hiram W. Bostwick was president during its existence. P. J. Mallory was its first cashier, and after his death Laurin Mallory held the position the remainder of its busi- ness life and until it closed its doors. The bank building was lo- cated on Tioga avenue and the career of the institution covered a period of less than twenty years, on the whole largely beneficial to the business interests of the struggling loeality. It went into liquidation in 1855, and its currency and emissions were redeemed by the stockholders, who also paid the depositors.
Hiram W. Bostwick, the president of the Bank of Corning, was born in Connecticut August 28, 1802. When he went to Al- bany, New York, he was sixteen years old, and clerked in a manu- faeturing establishment. He went to Laurens, Otsego county, New York, when twenty-two years old and became a partner with his brother in a general country store; removed to Painted Post in 1836 and engaged in the manufacture of lumber at what was sub- sequently known as the "Gang Mill." In 1838 he removed to Corning, became a member and manager of the Corning Company and president of the Bank of Corning, and so continued until the liquidation of that company in 1855. To him, more than to any other one individual, is the early prosperity of Corning due. He
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was president of the Tioga Iron, Mining and Manufacturing Com- pany, which built the railroad from Corning to Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania, there connecting with the Tioga Navigation Com- pany; and the railroad from Lawrenceville to Blossburg, in the same state, making the first outlet for the bituminous coal from the Pennsylvania mines to the great consumers of this coal and to the markets of the state of New York. Mr. Bostwick was one of the active and chief promoters of the Buffalo and Cohocton Val- ley Railroad. In 1850 the village of Corning was swept by a de- structive fire, but with Hon. Andrew B. (Bray) Dickinson, of Hornby, he built the Dickinson House and Concert Hall Block, and so encouraged others to erect many fine buildings in Corning, now in active occupation. In 1863, at the solicitation of Major Dickin- son, who was then United States minister to Nicaragua, he went to that country as his assistant. This story is told concerning the appointment of Minister Dickinson to this post. He had been more of a theoretical than a practical farmer in the town of Hornby, and had even given more attention to raising turnips and other edible root crops than to cultivating his chirography. He was a leader of men, an active and useful politician. He had held the offices of United States marshal, member of assembly and state senator, and was a firm and reliable vassal and friend of Hon. William H. Seward. During the Lincoln administration "Bray," by his own hand, wrote to Secretary of State Seward, asking for the appointment of governor of the territory of Nevada. The ex- perts of the state department were puzzled, and the letter was sub- mitted to the secretary, who said: "It is plain enough that Mr. Dickinson wants to be appointed minister to Nicaragua." The nomination was thereupon formally made, was signed by the presi- dent, sent to the senate and duly confirmed by that body, and with the congratulations of the secretary of state sent on to the minister. It was not what he expected, but he said he "could do it." He was not so "pig-headed" as to fancy he knew it all. He selected Hiram W. Bostwick as his assistant, and J. C. Harradeen, a bright, young lawyer of Corning, as his secretary of legation. Dickinson's administration of affairs in the country to which he was accredited was a success and today stands high in the diplomatic service at Washington.
In 1866 Mr. Bostwick returned to the United States and made his home at Vineland, New Jersey, where he died April 8, 1868. The year before his death he said to a well-remembered resident of Steuben county, whom he met in the city of New York, that there was but one thing connected with his career in Steuben coun- ty which he regretted; that was consenting to call the town by that name, Corning, instead of Painted Post-the latter being both his- torical, distinctive and familiar. The name Corning was only adopted to flatter the vanity and induce liberal aid to the enter- prises there projected by Erastus Corning. "When I speak of the village of Corning," he said, "no one knows where it is, but everybody has heard of Painted Post and most all know where it is. If it ever grows to be a city I hope it will be called the city of Painted Post. If I am alive then I shall try to have such a city take in both Painted Post and Corning." This scheme probably
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died with Mr. Bostwick; there was reason and merit for the idea, with some egotism.
The next bank in Corning under the state law was the George Washington Bank, an individual bank organized in 1854 by John N. Hungerford and George W. Patterson, with a capital of $50,000. It was located in the Concert Hall block and later it erected and occupied the building now the home of the First National Bank of Corning. Owing to internal dissensions and want of harmony in its conduct and policy the life of the George Washington Bank was unreasonably and unnecessarily short. In 1859 Mr. Hunger- ford withdrew from this bank and organized another one in Corn- ing, called J. N. Hungerford's Bank. This, also a private institu- tion, began business as such March 16, 1859, and Mr. Hungerford continued it until his death. In 1876 he was elected a representa- tive to the Forty-fifth congress from the Twenty-ninth district of the state of New York and served his term of two years. At the time of his death, several years later, he had large and complicated interests in coal and timber lands in Pennsylvania and had he lived his anticipated profits would doubtless have been realized. After his death his executor, Absalom Hadden, took the assets of the bank of Mr. Hungerford's estate and undertook to pay the creditors, but the tangle of the business and misrepresentations of the true condition of affairs led to the tragic death of the executor, further complicating the situation and affairs of the bank and leaving only a gloomy recollection.
Mr. Hungerford was of deep and earnest conviction, firm in upholding what he believed to be right, a man of integrity and uprightness in his relations and dealings, charitable in his judg- ment of the views and deeds of others. He was of a solid nature, which attached to him many warm and lasting friends and his passing left behind a fragrant memory.
About 1856-57 Chester S. Cole and Colonel Charles H. Thom- son organized a savings bank in Corning. It was in active opera- tion about five years and was known as the Corning Savings and Loan Association. In connection with this business it had an in- surance department, operated under the name of Cole and Thom- son. They had the confidence of the people and were known to be reliable and honorable men and the business was transacted and closed to the satisfaction of all concerned. Both were genial and friendly, active, practical and influential politicians of the Re- publican party. Mr. Cole was, by Governor Cornell, appointed captain of the port of New York. Their home office was, after business hours, the gathering place for all of the genial, fun-loving and sympathetic spirits of the locality. Captain Cole was one of the shrewd and dependable men of his party, and his views and advice were eagerly sought and weighed. Everybody was warmly welcomed by him, without reference to race, color, creed or previ- ous condition. Captain Cole was for a time the chairman of the Republican state committee and had a large following in his po- litical party. The office of Cole and Thomson was the political clearing house for the county.
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