USA > New York > Steuben County > A history of Steuben County, New York, and its people, Vol. I > Part 46
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65
In 1853 the Rogersville Union Seminary officially began its life. It was chartered by the regents of the University of the State of New York on January 28th of that year. Rogersville was a very pleasant, healthy and strictly temperate little village, surrounded by a thriving agricultural region, away from any large attractive town. It was at an altitude of about one thousand and three hundred feet, on the divide between the streams that flow north into Lake On- tario, through the Genesee river, and those to the south into the Chesapeake bay, through the Canisteo, Conhocton and the Susque- hanna system of rivers, forming glens, ravines and cascades, rich in geological specimens; one of the best fields in the northern states for the pursuit of that great science. A more desirable location for a literary institution would be difficult to find. The course of study was very complete. First it covered the common branches, spelling, arithmetic, geography, grammar and elementary history; after thor- oughly mastering these, natural philosophy, chemistry, botany, geol- ogy, zoology, mineralogy, mechanics, astronomy, mental and moral philosophy, English, Latin, Greek, German and French, higher mathe- matics, logic, science of government, bookkeeping and accounts, music, drawing, painting and deportment, rhetoric and elocution. The course covered three years and at its completion the graduate received a diploma, which entitled him to admission into any college in the state. The institution was well supplied with good chemical and philosophical apparatus, astronomical instruments, and a carefully selected library, to which the students had access without discrim- ination other than good standing. Two literary societies were con- nected with the school, one composed of males, the other of females, both conducted by students.
The seminary was well attended and prosperous from the be- ginning and was considered one of the best educational institutions
341
HISTORY OF- STEUBEN COUNTY
in western New York, or in the adjoining territory of Pennsylvania. Its pupils came not only from the immediate vicinity. but from the eastern counties of the state, as well as from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, Connecticut and Massachusetts.
Among the many principals and preceptresses who have left their noble and enduring work upon the students and patrons of this school and on the countryside are Professor Edwin Wildman and the preceptress, Miss Etta Wildman, who married while here; Professor and Mrs. McMahon; Professor Hill and Miss Josephine Miller ; Professor W. A. Dawson and Miss Elizabeth Lyon. Mr. Dawson, was the last, or one of the last, principals, and was strenu- ous for the advancement and good order of the school. The citizens of the place, because of the pecuniary burden of the investment com- pared with the less expense of Union free schools and normal schools, rapidly lost interest in the academy, and the young people became imbued with the home sentiment, treating the principal in a das- tardly manner. The seminary building was closed. No more the long-expected, glad commencement day, at which great crowds at- tended to hear the production of the "honor" students of both sexes and the presentation of the much-coveted diplomas, to hear the sing- ing and music of the seminary band and chorus, and to listen to addresses of such men as President Jonathan Allen of Alfred Uni- versity, Judge William Rumsey of Bath, Rev. Dr. William A. Niles of Hornellsville, and other equally attractive speakers. After the suspension of the seminary the former graduates and citizens for sev- eral years made post-mortem attempts to observe the anniversaries of the commencement days. They were grim funereal affairs. The ghosts of the past did not materialize; only the old seminary in mournful, decaying grandeur! It was suggested by some admirer, bold enough, that it be put into repair for a memorial building. The penny-pinching majority resented the extravagant proposition and the old and venerated building was sold, dismantled and wrecked, transported to Loon lake and re-erected as a temple to music, mirth and revelry. To what base uses many noble efforts can be put.
"Imperial Caesar turned to clay May stop a crack to keep the wind away."
ROUNSVILLE WILDMAN.
Rounsville Wildman, a son of Principal Edwin Wildman and Etta Rounsville Wildman, was born in the Rogersville Union Semi- nary, where and while his parents were principal and preceptress. This boy in his teens attended this school. His mother was born in Oramel, Allegany county, New York. She was one of several sisters -all bright, intellectual women and noted, efficient teachers. She, with her sister, Esther Adelia, the wife of Benjamin N. Payne, of Elmira, New York, and the mother of Frederick Rounsville Payne, an officer (lieutenant-commander) in the United States navy, now on the retired list on account of physical disability, were both edu- cated at and graduated from the Lima, New York (Genesee Wes- leyan) Seminary, and were teachers at Rogersville (New York) Seminary, in the public schools at Corning, and in the state normal school at Mansfield, Pennsylvania.
342
HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY
Rounsville Wildman completed his education at the Syracuse (New York) University. Afterwards he went west and engaged in newspaper work. For a period he was the editor of the Overland Monthly, published at San Francisco, California. He married a niece of the wife of the then United States senator from Nevada, Hon. William M. Stewart. He was appointed United States consul at Singapore, and in 189" became United States consul at Hong- kong, and later the United States consul-general at that port.
During the Spanish-American war Consul-General Wildman was much in the public eye on account of his acquaintance with Agui- naldo, and the active part he took in inducing the Filipino leader to accompany Commodore Dewey to Manila to locate the torpedoes planted by the Spaniards in the harbor. While abroad Consul- General Wildman wrote several books, which had considerable cir- culation, one of the best known of them, "Tales of the Malayan Coast," being published in 1899. Returning to the United States with his family -- wife and two children-on the Pacific mail steam- er, "Rio de Janeiro," plying between Japan and China, the boat struck a hidden rock outside the Golden Gate, San Francisco, just before daylight of Friday morning, February 22, 1901, and within twenty minutes the steamer sunk. About eighty persons were saved by taking to the small boats, and one hundred and fifty perished, in- cluding Mr. and Mrs. Rounsville Wildman and their two children.
This unexpected catastrophe created intense excitement through- out the United States. To determine the status of the ownership of their property the assistance of the courts of California was sought. Applying the common law rule, it was held that the husband was the longest survivor, by reason of the superior strength of the man to that of the wife.
A few years subsequent Mr. and Mrs. Fair, residents of Cali- fornia, were touring by automobile in France, and the machine dashed down a precipice, hurling both husband and wife against a tree and instantly dashing out the brains of both. The court held there was no survivorship.
FRANKLIN ACADEMY, PRATTSBURG.
Franklin Academy, at Prattsburg, the oldest, most celebrated and successful institution of the kind in Steuben county, was in- corporated by the regents of the University of the State of New York, February 23, 1824. The town of Prattsburg was founded and settled about the beginning of the last century by people from the eastern counties of New York and from the state of Connecticut, who were largely, if not wholly, of New England lineage, religion and ways of living, mostly of the Congregational faith. With them, after the church the school was the next to receive their earnest attention. No sacrifice was too great or expensive to deter people of such determination and faith from accomplishing the cause of their desire. The subject began to be thoroughly discussed as early as the summer of 1822. Subscription papers were put in circulation- one to secure the necessary means to build a suitable building, an- other to create a permanent fund for the maintenance of the school, either wholly or in part. In 1823 a sum deemed sufficient was sub- scribed, and that year trustees were appointed and arrangements made for the erection of the building.
343
HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY
At that time there were few inhabitants in the town of Pratts- burg, mostly of limited means and interested in their farms. Con- sidering the situation, the result is surprising. The amount sub- scribed and pledged for the building was over $2,000; to maintain and support the school, $4,000. It is justly suspected that consid- erable of these sums came from well-to-do sympathizers outside of the town, who were ready to assist in this most worthy effort.
The grounds upon which the academy stands were purchased of Judge Porter, the consideration being more than nominal. The building, when first erected, was fifty-two by thirty-five feet, two stories high, surmounted by an ornamental cupola or belfry. Its dimensions have been doubled since. A large share of the praise in this undertaking is without doubt due to the undismayed and un- tiring exertions of Dr. Niles of fragrant memory.
Early in the first year of its existence, the building was so nearly completed as to admit of commencing the first academic term, which was inaugurated under the principalship of William Beardsley, A. M. In 1827 the prosperity of the institution was deemed to be so well established that its future success warranted the establishment and addition of a separate female department. That year witnessed this beneficial addition and enlargement. Through the exertions of Hon. Grattan H. Wheeler, then a member of the legislature, an appropriation was made of $2,000 for an academic library, which proved a great benefit to the institution and to the community at large.
In 1868 the academy, as chartered, disappeared, being merged in the Franklin Academy and Prattsburg Union Free School. It has since been conducted under and pursuant to the education law, maintaining the standing in scholarship required of secondary schools. The curriculum prescribed for the old academies has been much cut down and reduced by that of the high school.
The effort that founded, built and opened this academy was a general and united one, and the good that has resulted therefrom has been of great benefit to the young men and women who were blest with its advantages. Its life of more than sixty years has not all been a career of uninterrupted prosperity, for, like all organiza- tions, it has had its days of darkness and adversity, but its career has been generally prosperous. Its governing board and faculty have been disposed to deal justly with all, awarding merit where justly due, withholding where undeserved. Its career has been noble; the good can never be fully realized. Its founders built better than they knew. The old building and campus have not been desecrated by vandals ; no hand, but of time, must change or destroy.
"In youth it nurtured an cared for us; We will protect it now."
WHITMAN AND SPAULDING.
Its graduates, living and dead, are scattered all over the na- tion. Without being accused of invidiousness, we think two deserve special mention to clarify misapprehension. Of these, one was Miss Narcissa Prentice, daughter of Esquire Stephen Prentice. A school girl attending the academy, she had been for some time engaged to be married to Marcus Whitman, a native of Rushville, Ontario coun-
1
344
HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY
ty, New York. By reason of the death of his father in 1810, he was sent to his grandfather, Samuel Whitman, of Plainfield, Massachu- setts, where he remained for twelve years for training and education. He received a liberal education in the more advanced studies. Some years after the death of his grandfather he returned to his mother's home in Rushville. At the age of nineteen years he joined the Con- gregational church, was desirious of studying to become a clergyman, but subsequent events determined him to study medicine. He took a three years' course and graduated from the Fairfield (New York) Medical College. He went to Canada, where he practiced medicine four years. Then he practiced his profession at the town of Wheeler, Steuben county, where he became a member of and an elder in the Presbyterian church. He and his brother owned a sawmill in that town, where he assisted, and learned the trade of a carpenter, most useful to him in his after life.
The other of the two graduates above referred to was Henry K. Spaulding, born in the town of Wheeler, then Bath, Steuben county, in 1803. More than an orphan boy, a stain by the accidency of birth, reared and cared for by a devoted mother, whose name he took and bore, he early applied himself to obtaining an education. He joined the Presbyterian church. With great effort he attended the academy at Prattsburg, and determined after graduation and ordination to become a missionary to the Indian tribes of the Rocky mountains. While a student at the academy he was snubbed, jeered and neglected because of the circumstance of his birth. But, re- gardless of this unkindness and un-Christian treatment, he never wavered in his determination, and found a true and faithful woman, who was ready and willing to link her life with his. They were married and were sent out by the Presbyterian church of Prattsburg as missionaries to the chosen field. This was in 1836. Whitman, who by nature was largely inclined to selfishness, as soon as he heard of Spaulding's field, resolved to marry and follow. Miss Prentice was then at Prattsburg. The determination had been announced, and a large congregation assembled at the church to bid them good- bye. Miss Martha J. Lamb, many years after writing in the Maga- zine of American History, recorded that the charming Miss Pren- tice, in her justly celebrated sweet voice, sang her "Swan's Song" on that occasion. Her father had moved to Angelica, Allegany coun- ty, and thither the groom and his bride journeyed, where they were married the next day, and hastening on, overtook Missionaries Mr. and Mrs. Spaulding at Hudson, Wisconsin. Thence they traveled together. Whitman's was a dominating disposition, disposed to listen to no one. Spaulding and his wife decided to locate with and labor among the Nez-Perces and to found a mission at Lapevai, then in the territory (now state) of Idaho. Whitman determined to go farther west. He located at Waiilatpui in Oregon, now Washington.
These men, Whitman and Spaulding, did not appear to under- stand how the Indians had been governed by the kind and gentle ministrations of the Jesuit preacher, Father De Smet, under the wise administration and policy of the Hudson Bay Company. Spaulding more adroitly and diplomatically adapted his methods to the situation as he found affairs. On the other hand, Whitman would not adapt his mission or himself to the existing situation, but was disposed to domineer the Indians as if they were accustomed to civilized methods
345
HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY
of government. He did not seem to comprehend the nature of the beings that he was dealing with; as well might a person undertake to rob the female lion of the tender fawn she had brought for her cubs. It was as natural for an Indian, in his normal condition, to take what he wanted to satisfy his desires as for the lion to do it. The policy of the Hudson Bay Company was, in case of thefts or purloining by the Indians, to administer a mild reproof, or if thought best, to buy the missing article. They realized that they were mak- ing enough out of the natives to amply afford to so deal with them. This policy was adopted by the Jesuit missionaries. Said the Jesuit missionary : "I have traveled in a cart, drawn by a single ox, all- the way from Winnipeg to the Pacific ocean without being once disturbed by Indians, simply for the reason I had the crest of the English crosses nailed to the sides and back of my cart."
Whitman had no sympathy for the Roman Catholic church, but its great influence with the Indians and its close relations with the Hudson Bay Company operated to thwart all of his efforts to main- tain the desired relations with the Indians for a successful mission- ary enterprise. Spaulding remonstrated with Whitman for his strenuous ideas, and was himself more docile in his intercourse with the Indian. . He did not seek to win them from their allegiance to the Jesuit missions or the Hudson Bay Company. He was more forbearing, more diplomatic and less demonstrative. Because of this attitude, by many who were over-zealous in sustaining the position of Dr. Whitman, he was accused of duplicity, and by others of un- gratefulness, and even of falsehood. Their places of abode were about fifty miles apart.
Whitman avowed his purpose of visiting Washington to induce the United States authorities to prohibit the Hudson Bay Company from operating in Oregon. The perilous undertaking was, with a few reliable adherents, made at an unfavorable season of the year. Arriving at Washington about the time the Maine or northeastern boundary question was being considered by Mr. Webster, secretary of state, and Lord Ashburton, the British minister, the Oregon boundary question was not then a subject for consideration. How- ever, Dr. Whitman obtained an interview with President Tyler and Secretary of State Daniel Webster, both gentlemen listened with great interest to his narrative and views. The president was urbane and kind, and promised, at the proper time, the subject should re- ceive due consideration. It is said Mr. Webster was somewhat an- noyed by this irrelevant intrusion. Afterwards Dr. Whitman visited the board of missions at Boston, which had control of such matters, the officers of which unhesitatingly denounced the visit of Dr. Whit- man to Washington for the purpose indicated and refused to give him money to defray his expenses. One of the objects of the doc- tor's mission was to conduct a large party of emigrants across the plains, to induce settlement, increase his mission and dispose of property of which he had control. Such schemes are not at this day unknown; they have existed, with indifferent and varying suc- cess, since the discovery.
At Dr. Whitman's mission the object of his absence was en- larged and dreadful events were promised to the recalcitrant and ungovernable Indians, whose temper was not thereby improved. The
346
HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY
Cayuse Indians, among whom he labored, were among the most treacherous of all of the tribes of the mountain region. But Whit- man did not relent in the strictness of his dealing with them. They. revolted at the order maintained, and knew of no other relief from their real or fancied wrongs than the tomahawk, bludgeon or scalp- ing knife. They resorted to these terrible instruments on November 29, 1847, by butchering Dr. Whitman, his wife and several of the occupants of their household. What was the cause or who was im- mediately responsible has never yet been ascertained. A number of women and children were carried into captivity, but to the great honor of the Hudson Bay Company officers and employees too much cannot be said in praise of their prompt action, which resulted in the return of the captives and bringing the cruel savages to justice.
So much has been said and written of "How Marcus Whitman saved Oregon" that a few historical facts, if studied, may afford much light. The contention of the "saving of Oregon" by Marcus Whitman has been so earnestly contested that it has, in a measure, cast such doubts and suspicions upon the character and acts of Whit- man as to obscure much of his justly earned fame. At the time of the visit of Dr. Whitman and the alleged interview with President Tyler and Daniel Webster the subject of the Oregon boundary ques- tion was not under consideration between Mr. Webster and Lord Aslıburton. The Oregon or the northwest boundary question came up for consideration between John C. Calhoun, as secretary of state, and Lord Palmerston, the British minister, and on July 17, 1846, the forty-ninth parallel from its intersection with the Columbia river was settled upon as the boundary line between the United States and British America. By the convention between the United States and Great Britain the forty-ninth parallel from the Lake of the Woods to the intersection with the Pend d'Oreille, or Columbia river, thence down that river to its mouth, became subject to the joint occupation of the citizens of both countries and could terminate by either party on notice to the other. The treaty of July 17, 1846, terminated the question of joint occupation. But that treaty did not settle the question of boundary until 1872, the commission ap- pointed to locate the boundary could not agree. For England the claimed boundary was through the Rosario strait; the Americans in- sisted on the Canal de Haro. It was, by treaty, agreed to submit the question to the Emperor of Germany, who decided in favor of the American contention.
Before the acquisition by the United States by purchase of Alaska from Russia the southern boundary of Alaska had been settled by treaty between Russia and the United States on April 17, 1824, and between Russia and Great Britain, February 25, 1825, as par- allel fifty-four degrees, forty minutes, north latitude. This became so much of a public question that in the political campaign of 1844 the war-cry of one of the great political parties of the United States was "Fifty-four Forty or Fight."
It matters little whether or not Marcus Whitman had any active part in fixing the boundary of the United States and Great Britain on the northwest coast. The fact that he materially contributed to the large migration to Oregon is well settled. He was, it must be conceded, a strong, self-willed man, of great force of character, but was never turned aside from the primary object of his struggles to
347
HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY
found a mission and settlement for the advancement of the Protes- tant faith and the American idea. That he was unjustly and savage- ly criticised, the following extracts will show:
THE MARCUS WHITMAN LEGEND.
Demolished by Professor Bourne of Yale, and Revived in a Government Document.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN :- Sir: Is there no way to check the abuses of the Government Printing Office?
Let me lay before your readers a particularly offensive case in which "leave to print" has been given by the senate of the United States. There has been issued a reprint of senate "Ex. Doc., No. 37, Forty-first Congress," entitled "Letter from the Secretary of the Interior, communicating informa- tion in relation to the early labors of the missionaries of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions in Oregon commencing in 1836."
This document was first printed in 1871. It is notable for two things. One is the fact that it contains the germ of the "Marcus Whitman" legend, which after some thirty years of fairly vigorous life, was finally destroyed some two years ago by Professor Bourne in the American Historical Review for January, 1901, and by William I. Marshall of Chicago; and the other is the fact that it absolutely teems with the most violent abuse of the Catholics in Oregon, charging them directly with the murder of Whitman and the other missionaries in 1847.
The letters, documents, etc., now republished by the senate, were collected by the Rev. H. H. Spaulding, one of Whitman's colleagues. This man was doubtless an earnest missionary, and we may give him all credit for the best intentions. In the judgment of his own colleagues, however, he was known to be utterly unreliable in his statements. In 1840 W. H. Gray, a fellow missionary, said of him: "Duplicity is a trait in his character that never in all probability will change." Dr. Mowry, the most recent biographer of Whit- man, admits Spaulding's untrustworthiness, and the unreliability, "in some respects,". of this very senate document. Spaulding was by many believed to be insane in his hatred of Catholicism. His language bears out the idea.
The whole document is utterly unhistorical in character, wildly intem- perate in statement and calculated to inflame the most ignoble passions of bigotry. It does not stop short of deliberately charging murder against a Catholic priest who was known by all fair-minded people of his day as a saintly man. Why should it be circulated at the cost of the public?
The "Whitman legend" is dead in a historical sense, but this senate document will give fresh life to it in the minds of ignorant people, only too ready to believe ill of their Catholic neighbors.
The Sun of March 3, 1901, contained a good statement of the legend, and its summary execution at the hands of Professor Bourne of Yale.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.