USA > New York > Comley's history of the state of New York, embracing a general review of her agricultural and mineralogical resources, her manufacturing industries, trade and commerce, together with a description of her great metropolis, from its settlement by the Dutch, in 1609 > Part 28
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Smith, H. P .- The biography of such a man as H. P. Smith is fraught not only with readable interest, but has a useful moral effect upon the present time and posterity. It teaches youth what industry and moral worth can achieve, and that they can hope for all things if they make honor their guide and are prompted by honorable emulation.
The subject of this memoir was born April 24th, 1811, in Warren County, N. Y., and he emigrated to Western New York with his father, Isaac Smith, when only eight years old. His first commencement in life was teaching school ; afterward he became a clerk in a mercantile store at Niagara Falls; this he continued for some time, when he moved to Tonawanda, and clerked in the grocery store of Uriah Driggs. In 1833, in company
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with his brother Daniel, he commenced for himself in the general store and stave busi- ness. Though not being entirely satisfied, he moved to Chippewa, Canada, in 1836, and commenced merchandising. Money in those days was a very scarce commodity, so he took in exchange for his wares timber, which in return he brought to Tonawanda to sell and pay for his goods. This he continued till IS.10, when he moved to Lockport, N. Y., and commenced the lumber business with his brother Philo; this partnership lasted till 1844, when he gave his entire business inter- ests to his brother and moved to Township of Walsingham, Canada. With his former good credit in Buffalo, he had no trouble to obtain a stock of goods, which he took to his newly- adopted home in Canada, and commenced exchanging them for saw-logs. This proved eminently successful, and he took in a partner and commenced operations on a large scale. They soon became the possessors of a fine lot of pine saw-logs, which were stored away in the creek, and their next move was to transport them to market. The fertile brain of H. P. Smith conceived a plan to make a large raft and tow them across the lake. (This was the first experiment ever made in this direction, and his plan of making the first one is the same now in use on all the lakes.) After six years spent this way in Canada, he moved to Ton- awanda, continuing as heretofore to ship logs, which he sold to the mills at Tonawanda. In the winter of 1855-6, he went up Sable River on Lake Huron, and put up two large rafts of black-walnut and oak, which he towed to Buffalo. These were the first rafts ever towed on that lake. In 1861, he com- , menced towing logs on Saginaw Bay, in com- pany with Luther Westover, of Bay City, Mich., and continued this business till his death, which occurred July 14th, 1874.
To Mr. Smith more than any other man belongs the honor of inaugurating a business which led to the development of the vast lum- ber interests of Tonawanda, by supplying them with timber, and which was a very haz- ardous and risky business. Besides having the weighty cares of a wide-spread business, he was vice-president of the Niagara County National Bank of Lockport, and a stock- holder from its organization; a director in the National Exchange Bank of Lockport. In ISGo-61, he represented the First district of Niagara County in the State Assembly ; and though this position was offered him a second time, he declined, preferring to devote all his valuable time to business, not caring for polit- ical honors. He also turned his attention. to agricultural pursuits, which proved, as did his business, successful. He was married to Miss Christianna Long, daughter of Benjamin Long, of Marietta, Pa., by which marriage he had nine children, six of whom, with his wife, survive him; his business interest still being continued by three of his sons.
The life of H. P. Smith was an eventful one. He always directed his conduct by principles based on the soundest morality. There was not a word of reproach against his character, nothing to sully his fair name, nothing to dull the lustre of his life, still left shining as a bright example to be followed.
Mr. Smith liberally dispensed his charities, and saw and enjoyed the fruits of them while living. Ilis good works live after him; and now the sands of life are all spent and he has been gathered into his "narrow house," he will be mourned as a public benefactor, and his name will not be forgotten.
Smith, Moses, the subject of this sketch, was born August 12th, 1824, at Springfield, then Essex, now Union County, New Jersey,
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and came from the old settled stock of that State. His father, Samuel C. Smith, his grand- father, great grandfather, and great great grandfather on his father's side, were all born and lived at the same place. He attended the schools of his native town, after which he clerked in the village of his birth for two years, when he emigrated to Oswego with his uncle, N. Robins, and was engaged clerking in the dry goods and forwarding business for eleven years. In 1852, he moved to New York City, where he remained one year, dur- ing which time he clerked in a large produce house. In 1853, he moved to Buffalo, and commenced the lumber business for himself, and in this business he continued for twenty years, when, having a desire to start in the more dignified calling of banker, he in July, 1874, opened a private banking house at 179 Main Street, and in this business he still con- tinues, which proves successful under his man- agement.
In February, 1854, Mr. Smith was joined in wedlock to Miss Esther M. Davis of Buf- falo.
Amid all the political agitation this coun- try has passed through, Mr. Smith has never been allured from his business to take part in factional disputes, but has devoted himself most unremittingly to business, its operations requiring all his time and watchful atten- tion. He is still comparatively young, and in the prime of physical vigor and matured experience.
many positions of trust and responsibility. He has been Mayor of Buffalo, Treasurer of the State of New York, Member of the Canal Board, and Member of Congress. He filled the latter position six years, four of which he was a member of the Committee on Ways and Means, the most important and responsible committee in the House, on which he rendered valuable service to the entire country. During the early months of the war, when the greatest need of the na- tion, next to men, was money, Mr. Spauld- ing's practical knowledge of financial mat- ters was brought into requisition. In framing the legal-tender law he achieved a world- wide reputation as a financier and legislator. The following particulars of his active life are taken from the "Spalding Memorial: A Genealogical History of Edward Spalding of Massachusetts Bay and his descendants, by Samuel J. Spalding," printed at Boston in 1872 :
" He is a descendant in the seventh gener- ation from Edward Spaulding, who emigrated from Lincolnshire, England, and settled in Massachusetts about the year 1630. This early pioneer had five sons, and the Spauld- ing family in this country has increased greatly in numbers during the last two hun- dred and forty years. His father served four years in the war for American Independence, and his grandfather, Capt. Levi Spaulding, was in the memorable battle of Bunker Hill, with eight others of the same family. He has erected a granite monument (cenotaph) in Forest Lawn Cemetery, at Buffalo, in filial regard to their memory. The dedica- tion ceremony was largely attended on the 17th of June, 1875, which was the centennial anniversary of that great battle. Among other
Spaulding, Hon. Elbridge Gerry, was born Feb. 24th, 1809, at Summer Hill, Cayuga County, N. Y., being fifth son of Edward Spaulding and Mehitable Goodrich. He came to Buffalo in 1834 and has resided in this city ever since. He has : inscriptions on the monument is the follow- served the people ably and satisfactorily in ing :--- " One hundred years of Progress," " In
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Memory of the New Eligland Fathers, who fought for Civil and Religious Liberty, Amer- ican Independence, resulting in National Union."
When about twenty years of age, he com- menced the study of law in the office of Fitch & Dibble, at Batavia, Genesee Coun- ty, N. Y. He taught school in the winter and other portions of the year, and also acted as recording clerk in the County Clerk's office, during the first two years of his law studies, in order to pay his board and other ex- penses. In 1832, he entered the law office of Hon. Harvey Putnam, at Attica, in the same county, where he pursued his law stud- ies until admitted to practise in the Court of Common Pleas of Genesee County.
In 1834, he removed to Buffalo, and con- tinued the study and practice of the law in the office of Potter & Babcock. At the May term of the Supreme Court in IS36, he was admitted to practise law as an Attorney of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, and as a solicitor in the Court of Chancery ; and in 1839, as a counsellor of the Supreme Court, and in the Court of Chancery. After his admission to practise as an attorney in the Supreme Court, he entered into partnership, first with George R. Babcock, and afterward with Reman B. Potter, and continued to practise law until 1844, when the partnership was dissolved. He afterward received into partnership the Hon. John Ganson, with whom he continued until 1848. From the time he entered the profession of the law un- til he retired from it, he was laborious and un- remitting in his exertions, and enjoyed an extensive and lucrative practice.
In 1836, he was appointed City Clerk of Buffalo, and in 1841, was elected Alderman. and served as Chairman of the Finance Com- mittee. In 1847, he was elected Mayor of
Buffalo, and during his term many important measures were inaugurated. Among these, he took a very active part in the adoption by the State of the Erie and Ohio basins for en- larging the facilities of lake and canal com- merce at Buffalo; the organization of the Buffalo Gas Light Company for lighting the city ; and the adoption of an extensive sys- tem of sewerage. In 18.18, he served one term as a member of the New York Legislature, and was Chairman of the Canal Committee. In the fall of the same year, he was elected a member of the Thirty-first Congress, which assembled in December, 1849. In the long contest for the Speaker, he voted on every balloting for Robert C. Winthrop, but owing to some defection among the Whig members, Howell Cobb was finally elected. He was placed on the Committee on Foreign Rela- tions. He opposed the extension of slavery on all occasions; supported the policy of General Taylor for admitting California and New Mexico as free States, and opposed the Fugitive Slave Law and the compromise measures adopted at the very long session in 1850, and which received the approval of Mr. Fillinore after the death of General Taylor.
In 1853, he was elected Treasurer of the State of New York, and ex-officio a member of the Canal Board, serving two years from January ist, 185.4. During this term, he per- formed important service as a member of the Canal Board, in adopting the plans and con- tracting for the work of enlarging the Erie and Oswego Canals, involving an expenditure of $9,000,000, which was borrowed on the credit of the State of New York.
He opposed the repeal of the Missouri com- promise in 18544; took an active part in or- ganizing the Republican party; was for several years a member of the State Central Committee; and in 1860 he was an active
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member of the Congressional Executive Com- mittee in conducting the political campaign which resulted in the election of Abraham Lincoln for President.
In 1858, he was elected to the Thirty-sixth Congress, and in 1860 re-elected to the Thirty- seventh Congress, and served four years on the important Committee on Ways and Means. He was one of the most active mem- bers of this committee during a most eventful period in the history of the country. As Chairman of the Sub-Committee of Ways and Mcans, he drafted the National Currency Bank Bill, and originated the Legal Tender Act for the issue of treasury fundable notes to circulate as money, which he introduced in the House of Representatives, December 30th, 1861. fle advocated it as a war ica; ure, and opened the debate upon it in an ex- haustive specch, showing the imperative ne- cessity of the measure to sustain the army and navy.
This speech was the first official exposition of the necessity of the legal tender notes as a war measure, the constitutionality of that measure, and a full statement of the grounds on which it should be supported, in order to provide the means for carrying on the war. It received very general comment from the press, as well as from individuals. The op- ponents of the measure criticised it in severe terms, but the positions he took in the speech, legally and otherwise, have never been suc- cessfully controverted, and it stands to day as one of the best arguments in favor of legal tender fundable notes, as a war measure, that has ever been presented. It had great influ- ence in carrying the bill through Congress. Nearly all the most important Joan laws for carrying on the war originated under the su- pervision of the Sub Committee of Ways and Means, of which he was chairman. In a lot-
ter to him, dated Aug. 3d, 1869, Hon. Charles Summer says : " In all our early finan- cial trials, while the war was most menacing ; you held a position of great trust, giving you opportunity and knowledge. The first you used at the time most patriotically, and the second you use now (in preparing a financial history of the war) for the instruction of the country." The history alluded to by Mr. Summer, as having been prepared by Mr. Spaulding, was published at Buffalo, N. Y., 1869, entitled, " History of the Legal Tender Paper Money issued during the Great Re- bellion."
N. Spaulding has been engaged in bank- ing since 1852. He organized the Farmers and Mechanics' National Bank of Buffalo in 1861, and he owns more than three fomths of its stock, and is its President. By indus try, frugality, and economy, he has accumu- lated a handsome fortune.
Starbuck, Senator James F., was born in Cayuga County. In his carly infancy his parents removed to Niagara County, where he continued to reside till after he was twenty- one years of age. He is of English and New England parentage, being one of the de- seendants of the ancient family of that name, who at an carly day located on Nantucket Island, and were for many years extensively engaged in the whale fishery. During his minority, when not in school, he was or npied in assisting in the cultivation of his father's farm, in Niagara County. He was elected to the Senate in November, 1875, to represent the Eighteenth district, composed of the counties of Jefferson and Lewis. He entered upon the performance of hi, duties as Sena- tor in January, 1876, that being his first ex perience in any legislative body.
After he attained his majority, he soon
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determined to abandon agricultural pursuits and to acquire and practise the legal profes- sion; and, persevering in this purpose, he earned and paid the expenses of his educa- tion, and was admitted to the bar of his State in 1844.
In 1846, he was elected to the office of Secretary of the Convention which framed our present Constitution. The duties of this office brought him into intimate relations with such men as Governor Wright, Comp- troller Flagg, Robert II. Morris, Michael Hoffman, Samuel Nelson, William Cassidy, Edwin Croswell, Samuel J. Tilden, Charles O'Conor, and, in fact, with many of the public men in all parts of the State.
This experience proved of great service. Since then he has kept up an extensive ac- quaintance with the public men of the country ; and has long been regarded as one of the closest observers of public events, and as a specially sagacious politician in estimat- ing political forces and calculating probable results.
In the political struggle of 1848, he acted with that large and influential organization ot Democrats who then formally interposed their protest against the making of further concessions to what was then known as the " slave power." His position on this and kindred questions brought him into intimate and confidential relations with the friends of Governor Wright, and he uniformly acted with them on most political questions up to and including the presidential election of 1860. In that campaign he supported Stephen A. Douglas for President, and was himself the Democratic candidate for Con- gress in his district, and, like all other Demo- cratic candidates in that locality, he failed to be elected.
In all his connection with public affairs,
Mr. Starbuck has never allowed himself to be diverted from the duties of his profession. For several years after 1850, he held the office of public prosecutor for his county, and performed its duties in such a manner as prominently to call the public attention to his professional ability, and especially to his powers as an advocate. From that time he has occupied a conspicuous place in the front rank of his profession, and has probably tried more cases in the Supreme and Circuit Courts in his county, than any other man living. In these courts he was always pres- ent, actively engaged in the performance of his duties, and, when elected to the Senate, he had attended and tried causes at every Cir- cuit Court held in his county for more than twenty years.
No one who has observed Mr. Starbuck's action in his present office can fail to be im- pressed with the apparent extent of his edu- cation in the political doctrines of Jefferson and Madison, and with his fidelity on all occasions to those principles.
Any attempted invasion of the reserved rights of the States, any departure from the principle of home rule, any extravagance in the public expense, any interference with the freedom of religion or of the press, any inva- sion of the right of election by the people, any of these or kindred measures are always sure to encounter in Senator Starbuck a ready and inflexible adversary. His views were well epitomized in one of his speeches in the Senate, from which we make a brief extract :
" One hundred years ago, our fathers found themselves the victims of that same kind of in- termeddling legislation, interference with pri- vate rights, and denial of the principle of home rule, to which I have averted. They had seen the long atm of power stretch out from
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governmental centres and interfere with all the domestic and private affairs of the people. In their own case, they had seen it reach three thousand miles, across the ocean, levy enormous taxes, and even exact that stamp duties should be paid in order to validate any contract or agreement. They wisely deter- mined that all that kind of abuse should cease-and that self-government and home rule should be established. To that end they ordained the American system of gov- ernment, founding it upon the wise maxim that ' That government is best which governs least.' They therefore organized government upon the principle of the greatest possible power in the individual citizen and in his local government, and the least possible authority in the general goverment; and they took great care that the powers dele- gated to that government should be clearly defined and strictly limited, and that all powers not so expressly delegated should be 'reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.' "
Early in the session of 1876, Mr. Starbuck made his first speech in the Senate. It was on the bill which became widely known as The " Gray Nun" bill. Senator Starbuck regarded the measure as a deliberate attempt to create an excitement against one of the religious organizations of the country, and to revive and intensify sectarian hate and re- ligious intolerance. It was based upon the . idea of supposed danger to our institutions, and especially to our school system, to arise from the action of a few charitable Catholic ; women, who were known as " Gray Nuns." His speech was regarded at the time as a masterly exercise of the power of satire and ridicule, combined with good sense and strong argument. It commanded the closest attention of all who heard it, and had a :
wider publication and more extensive read- ing than any speech delivered in the Senate for many years.
The speech was also productive of great good. It proved, for the time being, the death-blow to that spirit of religious intol- erance and sectarian hate which it was in- tended to rebuke; and since then, the words "Gray Nuns" have proved a sufficient an- swer to any and all attempts to revive any undue excitement on the subject of sectarian appropriations for educational purposes, or the exhibition of religious intolerance in political affairs. From that time its author, by universal consent, assumed that position in the Senate which he has since maintained, and which entitles him to be regarded as one of the ablest members of that body.
Mr. Starbuck is always ready and able in debate, and has taken a prominent part in the discussion of nearly all the important questions that have come before the Senate. He is never tedious or prolix-generally brief-always pointed and clear ; and high evidence of his ability as a debater is found in the fact that he is always listened to with marked attention.
In the session of 1877 he was conspicu- ous in the debates on the numerous bills affecting the local government of the city of New York. Finding an adverse political majority determined to force upon the people of that city offensive measures, without their consent, and against their protest, he inter- posed a determined opposition, condemning them as invasions of the right of home rule and local self-government. He also made strenuous opposition to that feature of the scheme for the government of cities, which sought to establish a board of finance founded on a property qualification ; and he was chiefly instrumental in defeating the propo-
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sition to take the appointment of presidential electors from the State, and confer it upon the several congressional districts.
Senator Starbuck has always believed that the great error in American politics was com- mitted in 1848, and in the years following. up to 1860. In those years, the advice of Governor Wright's political friends was re- jected, and the majority of the Democratic party undertook the experiment of reversing the teachings of Jefferson on the subject of negro slavery and its relations to the Consti- tution. Then, for the first time, the doctrine was boldly avowed that slavery must be ac- copied, not as a temporary evil, but as a pos- itive good, and that it ought to be cherished, encouraged, and extended, by the active support and favor of the general gov- ernment. This error was seized upon by the fanatical men of the Northern States as the foundation on which to build up that great party, bounded on the South by Mason and Dixon's line, whose central idea was in- tolerance and hate; and to the existence of which the country traces, as Mr. Starbuck believes, its enormous public debt, its op- pressive taxation, its depreciated paper cur- rency, the destruction of its commerce, the creation of a multitude of banking corpora- tions of more than doubtful constitutionality, and most of the other disastrous results of the departure from the wise principles on which our government was founded. Believing that such a party must necessarily be de- structive to the best interests of the people, and that it was conceived in hostility to the warnings of Washington against the spirit of disunion, and against the formation of sec- tional parties, it encountered his determined opposition. Though zealously opposed to the unwarrantable aggressions of the slave power, and believing firmly in the principles
of Jefferson, Benton, and Wright, on the whole question of the relations of slavery to the government, he denied the right to vio- late the Constitution to make war upon any of the rights secured by that instrument to any of our people, and always maintained that persistence in such unwise action was likely, as Washington warned us, to result in a bloody war between the Northern and Southern portions of the country.
The result of the election of 1860 subjected these views to the crucial test of experience. The party of the North succeeded in electing their candidate for the presidency-he was inaugurated in March, 1861-and, in April following, the anticipated war was begun by the firing upon Fort Sumter. This was re- garded by Mr. Starbuck, in common with the great mass of right-thinking Democrats, as an act, not only of extreme folly, but as a great crime; they insisting that the commis- sion of one error or one crime ought never to be pleaded as the justification for another. They insisted that the wrong done by sec- tional organization and action should be cor- rected by peaceful methods, and that the unity of our government must be preserved and perpetuated.
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