USA > New York > Wayne County > Palmyra > A memorial of the celebration at Palmyra, N.Y. of the centennial Fourth of July, 1876, including the oration by Theodore Bacon, and a sketch of the early history of Palmyra, by Rev. Horace Eaton, D.D > Part 2
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" The Elect of seven millions "-and styled himself in the most solemn instruments, " By the Grace of God and the Will of the People, Emperor of the French; " and which now, dispensing with even the fiction of a Sovereign, administers its affairs with a prudence, wisdom and economy which have drawn the ad- miration of neighboring nations. In United Italy- in the two great empires which share between them Germany and Hun- gary-in the Scandinavian Kingdoms-and at last even in Spain, so long the distracted prey of hierarchy and absolutism, the autocracy of an hereditary monarch has given way to par- liamentary government and ministerial responsibility. The successor of Catherine the Second, by conferring spontaneously upon the half-civilized subjects of his vast empire not only personal freedom, but such local autonomy as they are capable of, is educating them toward a higher participation in affairs. And now, most marvelous testimony to the prevalence of those opinions upon which our own institutions are based, the world has seen within a month, a new Sultan, a new chief of Islam, announced to Europe as succeeding to the chair and the sword of Mahomet, "by the unanimous will of the Turkish people!"
Let us be quite sure, my fellow-citizens, before we boast ourselves immeasurably above other nations by reason of the excellence of our political institutions, not only that they are better than all others in the world, but that we have done something in these hundred years towards making them better ; or at least that we have not suffered ours to become debased and corrupt, while those of other nations have been growing better and purer. Is our law-making and our conduct of affairs -national, state, and local-abler and honester now than then? Is the ballot-box cleaner, and a surer reflection of the public mind upon public men and measures ? Or are we still in some small degree hampered by the tricks of politicians, so that we find ourselves voting into offices men whom we despise,-giving support to measures which we abominate? Has public opinion grown so in that sensitive honor "which feels a stain like a wound," that it compels public men to be not only above reproach, but above suspicion ? Or has it rather come to con- tent itself with weighing evidence, and balancing probabilities, and continuing its favor to any against whom the proofs may
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fall short of absolute conviction of felony ? Is the vast organ- ization of our public business contrived and controlled, as it is in every other civilized country, and as in every successful private business it must be, for the sole end of doing that business efficiently and cheaply ? Or has it become a vast system for the reward of party services by public moneys,-a vast mechanism for the perpetuation of party power by sup- pressing the popular will,-with the secondary purpose of doing the public work as well as may be consistent with the main design ? Have we, through dullness or feebleness, suffered methods to become customary in our public service, which, if attempted in the British post-office or custom-house, would overthrow a ministry in a fortnight-if in the French, might bring on a revolution ? My fellow-citizens, I offer you no answers to these questions. I only ask them; and leave unasked many others which these might suggest. But when we have found answers to our satisfaction, we shall know better how far to exalt ourselves above the other nations of the earth.
3. A more indisputable support for national pride may be found, perhaps, in our unquestioned and enormous multiplica- tion of numbers and expansion of territory.
These have certainly been marvelous : perhaps unparalleled. It is a great thing that four millions of human beings, occupy- ing in 1776 a certain expanse of territory, should be succeeded in 1876 by forty millions occupying ten times that expanse. But let us be quite sure how much the increase of numbers is a necessary result of natural laws of propagation, working unre- strained in a land of amazing productiveness, unscourged by famine or pestilence, and burdened by but one great war during three generations of men; how much to the prodigious importation of involuntary immigrants from Africa during the last century, and of voluntary colonists, induced by high rewards for labor and enterprise, during this; and how much to any special virtue in our ancestors or ourselves. Let us be sure what degree and quality of glory it may be which a nation lays claim to for the extension of boundaries by mere mercantile bargain and purchase, or by strong-armed conquest from its weaker neighbors. Let us remember, withal, that great as has been our growth in population and extent over this vacant con-
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tinent which offered such unlimited scope for enlargement, other nations have not stood still. A century ago there was a little sub-alpine monarchy of two or three million subjects, which within these twenty years ha, so expanded itself by honorable warfare and the voluntary accession of neighboring provinces that it now comprehends all the twenty-five millions of the Italian people. A century ago there was a little Prussian mon- archy of three or four million subjects, which, sparing to us meanwhile millions of its increasing numbers, has grown until it has become the vast and powerful German Empire of forty millions. And, while we take a just pride in the marvelous growth of New York and Philadelphia, and the meteoric rise of Chicago and St. Louis, it is well not to forget that within the same century London has added three millions to its numbers ; Manchester, Birmingham, Sheffield, Glasgow, have sprung from insignificance into the second rank of cities; and that dull Prussian town, which, as the Great Frederick's capital, boasted but 100,000 inhabitants, has become a vast metropolis of nearly a million people, doubling its numbers in the last quarter of that period. If our own increase of population has indeed surpassed these marvelous examples-if our territorial expansion has in fact been larger and swifter than that of the Russian Empire in Europe and Asia, or of the British Empire in India, America and Australia, then the more are we justified in that manner of pride which is natural to the youth grown to a healthy maturity of strength and stature.
4 .- Thus also, if we have not greatly surpassed the rest of the world in our growth in material wealth, and in our subjugation of natural forces to human use, we may fairly claim at least to have kept in the van of progress. Yet here, too, while we have great and just cause for pride, let us not err by confounding the positive merits of our nation with the adventitious advantages which have stimulated or created its successes. It has been a different task, though perhaps not an easier one, to take from the fresh fields and virgin soil of this vast continent, fruitful in all that is most useful for human food and raiment, the wealth that has been the sure reward of steadfast industry,-from the task of stimulating the produc- tive powers of lands exhausted by thousands of years of crop-
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bearing, up to that exquisite fertility that makes an English wheat-field an astonishment even to a Western New York farmer. It is nadeed a singular fortune which ours has been, that every decade of years has revealed beneath our feet some new surprise of mineral wealth; the iron everywhere ; the an- thracite of Pennsylvania ; the copper of Lake Superior ; the gold of California; the bituminous coal of the western coal fields ; the petroleum which now illuminates the world ; and finally, the silver which has deluged and deranged the trade of the Orient. - Let us not be slow to remember that such natural advantages impose obligations, rather than justify pride, in comparison with those old countries where nature has spoken long ago her last word of discovery, and where labor and science can but glean in fields already harvested. And when we look with wonder upon the vast public works, not dispro- portionate to the vastness of our territory, which the last half- century especially has seen constructed, let us not forget that the industry and frugality which gathered the capital that built our railroad system-not all of which, certainly, was American capital,-the trained intellect of the engineers who designed and constructed its countless parts,-are a greater honor to any people than 70,000 miles of track : that the patient ingenuity of Fitch and Fulton are more to be boasted of than the owner- ship of the steam navies of the world : the scientific culture and genius of Morse, than 200,000 miles of telegraphic wire.
5 .- If I have thought it needless to enlarge upon other sub- jects, familiar upon such occasions, for public congratulation, especially will it be superfluous to remind such an audience as this how broad and general is the diffusion of intelligence and education through large portions of our country. But let us not be so dazzled by the sunlight which irradiates us here in New York, as to forget the darkness of illiteracy which over- whelms vast regions of our common country ; that if New York, and Massachusetts, and Ohio, offer to all their children opportunities of learning, there exists in many states a numerous peasantry, both white and black, of besotted ignorance, and struggling but feebly, almost without aid or opportunity, toward some small enlightenment. Let us not overlook the fact, in our complacency, that while we, in these favored communities,
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content ourselves with offering education to those whom we leave free to become sovereign citizens in abject ignorance, other nations have gone beyond us in enforcing universal education ; in not only throwing open the feast of reason, but in going into the highways and hedges, and compelling them to come in.
6 .- Coming to the last of the familiar sources of national pride which I have suggested, we may fairly say that the emo- tions with which a patriot looks back upon the conclusions of the period beginning in 1860 must be of a most varied and con- flicting sort. The glory of successful war must be tempered by shame that red-handed rebellion should ever have raised its head in a constitutional nation. If it was not permitted to a Roman general, so it is not becoming to us, to triumph over conquered fellow-citizens. If we rejoice, as the whole world does rejoice, that the conflict which for four years distracted us ended in the restoration of four million slaves to the rights of free manhood, the remembrance that neither our national con- science nor our statesmanship had found a better way out of the bondage of Egypt than through a Red Sea of blood, may well qualify our reasonable pride; the question, how these mil- lions and their masters are yet to be lifted up into fitness for their new sovereignty over themselves and over us, may well sober our exultation.
If I have departed from the common usage of this occasion, in assuming that you know, quite as well as I do, the infinite causes that exist for pride, and joy, and common congratulation in being American citizens, I beg leave before I close to suggest one further reason for the emotions which are natural to all our hearts to-day. It has been common to us and to other nations,- to our friends alike and our detractors,-to speak of the institu- tions under which we live, as new, experimental, and of ques- tionable permanency. Fellow citizens, if we can learn nothing else from the comparative view of other nations to which I have been hastily recommending you, this fact at least presses itself home upon us : that of all the nations of the earth which are under the light of Christian and European civilization, the institutions of America are those which the vicissitudes of a century have left most unchanged; that, tested by the history of those hundred years, and by the experience of every such
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nation, republican democracy means permanency, not revolu- tion ; wise conservatism, not destruction; and that all other institutions are as unstable as water in comparison. I believe that to-day this American "experiment " is the most ancient system in Christendom. Not a constitution in Europe but exists by grace of a revolution of far later date than the fram- ing of our constitution, which stands now, immortal monument to the wisdom of its founders, almost unchanged from its pristine shape and substance. If the stable British monarchy seems to you an exception, reflect upon the silent revolution which in that time has annulled the power of the crown, and almost subverted its influence; remember the suppression of the Irish Parliament, the removal of the Catholic disabilities which for a century and a half had been a foundation stone of the constitution; remember the Reform Bill which prostrated the power of the aristocracy; the repeal of the Corn Laws, which reversed the economic policy of a thousand years; look at the audacious legislation which within two years has destroyed even the names of that judicial system which is identified with English monarchy-at that which within a few weeks has dared to add a flimsy glitter to the immemorial title of the Sovereign herself-and you may well be proud of the solidity and per- manence of our institutions compared with the swift-dissolving forms of European systems.
We know, however, that institutions, even the best of them, cannot long exist without change. As in physical life, there must be either growth or decay ; when growth has ceased, decay cannot long be postponed. How shall it be with those institu- tions which a noble ancestry has bequeathed to us, and in which we rejoice to-day .? Let us not forget that the day is the beginning of a new century, as well as the close of an old one. Not one of us is to see the close of the coming age, as none of us saw the opening of the last. And while it is given to none to discern the future, we know well that institutions, whether. civil or social, cannot long continue better than the people who enjoy them. Be it ours, therefore, so far as lies in us, to per- petuate for our remote offspring the benefits which have come down from our ancestors. Let us cultivate in ourselves-let us teach to our children-those virtues which alone make our free
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institutions possible or desirable. Thus, and only thus, shall we make this day not merely the commemoration of departed glories, but the portal to that Golden Age which has been the dream of poets and the promise of prophets, and toward which, as we dare to hope, the event which we now celebrate has so. mightily impelled mankind. Our eyes shall not behold it; but woe to us if we cease to hope for it and to labor towards it. It may be hard -it is hard-for us, surrounded by the green graves and the desolated homes which within a dozen years a ghastly civil war has made in this religious and enlightened nation,-for us here, in the very presence of the tattered yet venerated symbols of that strife,* to believe that the day can ever shine upon the earth
When the war-drum throbs no longer, and the battle-flags are furled In the parliament of man, the federation of the world : When the common sense of most shall hold a fretful realm in awe, And the kindly earth shall slumber, lapt in universal law.
The reign of " Peace on Earth-Good Will towards Men"- the dominion of Reason and Justice over Force and Fraud- it may be far off, but it shall surely come.
Down the dark future, through long generations, The sounds of strife grow fainter, and then cease ; And like a bell, in solemn, sweet vibrations, I hear once more the voice of Christ say, " Peace !" Peace ! and no longer, from its brazen portals, The blast of war's great organ shakes the skies ; But, beautiful as songs of the immortals, The holy melodies of Love arise.
* The worn-out regimental colors of the 33d New York Volunteers, a regiment which went to the war from Wayne County, were carried in the procession and set up in front of the speaker's stand.
HISTORY OF PALMYRA. 25
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EARLY HISTORY OF PALMYRA.
BY
REV. HORACE EATON, D. D.
The blossoming of the Century plant, the striking of one hundred by the great clock of time, should open the dullest eye to peer into the future and quicken the most leaden ear to listen to the whispers of the past.
In crossing the first Centennial of the Nation, the words of Elihu, the Buzite, express the common sentiment, " Days should speak and the multitude of years should teach wisdom."
Back of the settlement of the white man, a nebulous haze rests upon the history of Western New York. Then it was the paradise of the Six Nations. Arrow-heads and other memorials of the red man, found in our meadows and along our hillsides, tell of their camping grounds and of openings where maize and tobacco grew under their hand. Once the gleam of their watchfires shimmered across these waters and the smoke of their wigwams curled above the trees. At the close of the Revolution, measures were taken to restrain their hostile attacks and to secure amicable relations with them, and it is grateful to reflect that none of this fertile territory was wrested from the Indian by violence, but was purchased by what was con- sidered a fair and equitable price. For this favored domain God had a higher destiny than the sleepy romance of savage life. The tomahawk was to give way to the ax,-the thick trees to the standing corn,-the rude wigwam to the neat and comely mansion,-the frail canoe to the well built steamer,-the Indian
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trail to the four-track railroad,-the snarl of the wolf to the neighing of the iron horse,-in short, the wild life of the forest was to be exchanged for a refined and Christian civilization.
Different currents of emigration mingled in the early settle- ment of Palmyra. The first pioneers were from Wyoming Valley, Pennsylvania. There is a humble stone in the old graveyard in this village, bearing the inscription, JOHN SWIFT. This name is deeply imbedded in the foundations of this com- munity. Many of the "first things " cluster around it.
John Swift was a native of Kent, Connecticut. At fifteen he enlisted a soldier of the Revolution. At the close of that war he joined the colony of Connecticut people who settled the valley of the Wyoming. Swift was active in defending the colon, against the Pennamites and the Indians. In firing a fort of the enemy he received a ball through the neck. After the massacre, a remnant of these harassed settlers resolved to seek another home. John Swift and John Jenkins were appointed agents to select and purchase lands for their occu- pation. John Jenkins, had been employed by Phelps and Gorham as a surveyor and was acquainted with the Genesee country. In 1789 they secured of the aforesaid proprietors a deed of this township, "No. 12, Second range." The next year Swift moved his family into this then unbroken wilderness. Here he struck the first ax-built the first house. It was of logs covered with bark and stood on the corner of Main and Canal Streets, where Harry Tiller now has his wheelwright shop. John Swift's wife was the first woman who ventured a residence amid the perils of this new settlement. One evening, while preparing her accustomed meal, three Indians came in and sat around the fire. When they made signs of violence, the heroine of the log cabin seized a red-hot poker and so laid it over their heads that they beat a swift retreat.
John Swift was the first pioneer, the first moderator of the first town meeting, the first supervisor, the first pound master, the first captain. At his house was held the first training. Asa, his son, was the first male child born in Palmyra. John Swift gave lands for the first saw mill, the first grave yard, the
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first school house and the first church edifice in this village. From 1790 to 1812 the name of John Swift was connected with every enterprise, pecuniary, political or religious. When the war of 1812 broke out, he was commissioned General of the New York Volunteers. In 1814 he led a detachment from Queenstown Heights down the river to Fort George. There he surrounded and captured a picket guard of the enemy of sixty men. Instead of commanding the prisoners to ground their arms and march away from them, he suffered them to retain their muskets. One of the captives inquired, " Who is Gen'l Swift ?" Most unadvisedly he stood forth and said, "I am Gen'l Swift." In an instant the inquisitive prisoner put a ball through his breast. Dr. Alexander McIntyre was by his side when he fell. He was borne to the nearest house where he died July 12th, 1814, aged fifty-two years and twenty- five days.
After the war, the citizens of Palmyra disinterred his remains and deposited them in the old cemetery in this village. Said a historian of the time, "never was the country called to lament the loss of a firmer patriot or braver man." The New York Legislature voted a sword to his eldest son and directed that a full length portrait of Gen'l Swift should be hung up in the City Hall New York.
Another honored name should here be recorded as the first sacrifice of the war of '12 from Palmyra. Major William Howe Cuyler from Greenbush, N. Y., opened the first Law Office in this Village, in 1800. He was esteemed for his energy, public enter- prise and generous sympathies. He was the Aid of General Hall. On the night of the 8th of October 1812, he was killed at Black Rock by a four pound ball from the British battery at Fort Erie. Major Cuyler left two sons, George W. and William H. Cuyler,-the former a banker, the latter a merchant. The elder, Maj. George W. Cuyler, was announced as President of the Day for the Centennial Celebration on the 4th inst., but was stricken with a fatal disease and died lamented by all, July 20th.
William Jackway, John Hurlburt, Jonathan Willett, Nathan Parshall, Barney Horton, James Galloway and Mrs. Lydia Tiffany were some of the followers of Swift from the Valley of the Wyoming.
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Next in order of time is the Rhode Island colony. In No- vember, 1791, Gideon Durfee Jr., Edward Durfee and Isaac Springer arrived from Tiverton Rhode Island. They came in wagons on the military road to the " Old Castle " at Geneva. From thence without a path they found their way to Palmyra. Early the next spring, Pardon Durfee came driving the cattle belonging to the family. Nearly exhausted with fatigue and hunger, he met his brothers with the cry for food. With tears they were obliged to reply, "we have none." But there was relief in the case. Webb Harwood had gone to Penn Yan, forty miles to the nearest mill and was expected back every hour.
The next August a boat landed near the farm house of Mr. Ira Lakey, bringing Gideon Durfee the elder and Job, Stephen and Ruth Durfee. Lemuel Durfee arrived four years later. Ruth Durfee married Capt. William Wilcox. . This was the first marriage in the town. To the patriarch, Gideon Durfee, there were born eleven children and ninety-six grand children. Stephen Durfee was the first in town to adopt total abstinence principles. In 1811 he raised his house on good food and coffee without any intoxicating drink. It is said that Swift had failed to fulfil his engagements to Phelps and Gorham. But when the Durfee family arrived he took heart for they brought the hard coin in a leathern satchel, sufficient to pay down for sixteen hundred acres of land. This money enabled Swift to secure a warranty deed of the town.
These pioneers were soon followed by William, James and Thomas Rogers, Festus and Isaac Goldsmith, Humphrey Sher- man, Zebulon Williams and Weaver Osburn, all from Rhode Island. Osburn married Hannah Durfee. David Wilcox, with his wife and two children, came from the same state April, 1791. Mary, his daughter, afterward the wife of Alvah Hen- dee, was born the 29th of the next June and was the first white child born in the town.
Next, Long Island sent her contribution to the early settle- ment of Palmyra. With conflicting hopes and fears, a band of emigrants launched away from their sea-girt shore April 4th 1792. Ocean waves bore their humble but trusty bark from
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Southampton around into New York harbor. The noble Hud- son welcomes them to Albany. Here, like the ships of Cleopatra, lifted over the desert, their boat becomes their burden to Schen- ectady. There it is launched anew and pushed up the Mohawk to Rome. From the Mohawk it goes overland to Wood Creek. Through that, it hoists sails on Oneida Lake, feels its way along up to Oswego, Seneca and Clyde Rivers into Mud Creek. After a voyage so peculiar, of five hundred miles in twenty-eight days, this well freighted Argosy comes to anchorage at the mouth of Mill Brook . on Mud Creek, near the present residence of Deacon Hiram Foster.
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