USA > New York > Delaware County > Delaware County, New York, history of the century, 1797-1897, centennial celebration, June 9 and 10, 1897 > Part 11
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largely anti-Federal or Democratie, never giving less than four or five hundred Democratie majority of votes under regular organiza- tion, and it became part of the tactics of the day for the minority to divide and conquer, and as every year presented some 'ism' it generally happened that the Federalists were able to throw away their vote on some unobjectionable Democrat rather than going to the polls with a certainty of defeat. In this warfare, which was always unpleasant. we often succeeded in controlling the supervis- ion of the county and in subduing the tyrannies and injustices of our opponents."
In 1812 Mr. Sherwood was elected to Congress as a Federalist. The Federalists, as is well known, were opposed to the war of 1812 and presumably he was in sympathy with his party on that issue, but later he gave his support to the war measures proposed by the administration of President Madison.
In 1814 MIr. Sherwood, whose first wife had died in 1810, was married to Miss Laura Bostwick and they spent the following winter in Washington. This was the year following the burning of the public buildings in Washington by the British troops; the war was still in progress, the outlook gloomy; nevertheless there were. the usual ceremonial receptions at the White House. Mrs. Sher- wood's letters written at the time give an interesting picture of the manners and customs of the period, and an entertaining descrip- tion of the appearance of Mrs. Dolly Madison, the President's wife.
Mr. Sherwood, after serving his term in Congress, was not again a candidate for public office and later in life became a Democrat.
His law practice in Delaware county continued until 1830. Among those associated with him as law partners or students may be mentioned Amasa Parker, (father of the late Robert Parker of Delhi,) Judge Amasa J. Parker of Albany, Nelson Wheeler and Franklin Sherwood Kinney.
In the early days of the century he was generally pitted against
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General Root in legal as well as political matters. Some old papers in a libel suit entitled " Root vs. Sherwood " are still in existence and illustrate the conditions of polities about 1808. Root claimed that Sherwood had libelled him by publishing a political poster stating that he ( Root) was an adherent of Aaron Burr, and charg- ing Root with complicity in Burr's schemes in the west and urging the electors to "beware of Burrites." Root succeeded in getting one hundred dollars damages.
In the trial of James Graham for the murder of Cameron and McGillivrae the accused asked to have Erastus Root and Samuel Sherwood appointed his counsel. But Street, the District Attorney, had already secured Sherwood for the prosecution. The latter in at private letter describes the trial as a most impressive one. Great crowds of people were present. Even many ladies, among others the wife of the presiding judge, Ambrose Spencer.
About 1830 Mr. Sherwood moved to New York and established a successful legal practice, which he continued until about 1855, prominent in general practice his specialty perhaps was the man- agement of real estate cases, ejectment suits and the like. He was also distinguished as a Chancery lawyer. In early life he had been in active practice against Aaron Burr. In the Anti-rent trials in Delhi he appeared for the prosecution at the request of Mr. Van- Buren, the Attorney General.
Although engaged in business in New York he retained a deep interest in Delhi. He had been associated with most of the enter- prises of the early period of the history of the village; he was interested in the establishment of the Academy and was one of the founders of St. John's Episcopal Church.
His home, Woodland House, has sheltered four generations of his family as well as many visitors.
In appearance MIr. Sherwood was above the middle height, strongly built, with dark complexion, marked features. He was a man of few words but energetic and forcible. He died in 1862. Four of Mr. Sherwood's children survived him: Mrs. H. D. Goukl,
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John Sherwood, Robert H. Sherwood and Mrs. D. Collen Murray. All these are now dead.
John Sherwood was born in Delhi in 1820, was educated at the Delaware Academy and New York private schools and was grad- uated at Yale College in 1839. He studied law and practiced with his father. At one time he made a specialty of the law concerning trade marks and had been engaged in important cases concerning steamships and marine insurance. He was interested in historical literature and was especially conversant with the military history of the country.
He married in 1851 Miss Mary Elizabeth Wilson, daughter of General James Wilson of Keene, New Hampshire. One of their sons, Samnel Sherwood, is the owner of the old Sherwood place and spends a good deal of his time in Delhi. Another son, Arthur Murray Sherwood, is of the banking firm of Tower & Sherwood, Wall Street, New York. Mrs. Arthur M. Sherwood was Miss. Rosina Eunnet.
Robert H. Sherwood, son of the late Samuel Sherwood, had been a lawyer. He died the year after his father's death, in 1863. He married in 1852 Miss Mary Neal. daughter of John Neal of Maine. She survives him as do two daughters, Mrs. Picking, wife of Captain Picking, United States Navy, and Mrs. J. Wilson Patter- son of Baltimore.
Mrs. Herman D. Gould was the eldest daughter of the late Samuel Sherwood and was born in this county in 1800. She mar- ried Herman D. Gould, a prominent business man of Delhi village. He was a merchant and for some time president of the bank and Representative in Congress. They lived in the large and attractive house at the lower end of the village now owned and occupied by the Messrs. Bell.
Mr. and Mrs. Goukl had four sons: Sherwood D., S. Augustus, Herman and Charles. S. Augustus Gould is the only survivor of the four. He married Miss Weston and is now a resident of Chi- caro. Herman Gould had been prominent in railroad work and
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was a resident of Illinois at the time of his death. He left a widow and three children-the Misses Ruth and Katharine Gould and Edward L. Gould.
GENERAL HENRY LEAVENWORTH.
A monument to General Leavenworth stands on the brow of the hill above the village of Delhi. The situation is beautiful, but the grounds about it have been sadly neglected, and now the graceful shaft is almost concealed by the great trees and the encroaching underbrush. With my best endeavors I have been able to gather only a few facts concerning him of whom many were proud in his day, and to whose memory they erected this worthy monument.
Henry Leavenworth was born in New Haven, Connecticut, * in 1783. He belonged to the same stock as the noted General Elias W. Leavenworth of Syracuse who for so long a time was a promi- nent figure in New York publie life. Like many other young men of New England he had been smitten with the fever of emigration and followed friends into the county of Delaware. He had already begun the study of law before he left New England, and when he came to Delhi in 1805 at twenty-one years of age, he entered the office of General Erastus Root to continue his studies. In due time he was admitted to the bar and then became a partner of his pre- ceptor.
He imbibed from his partner not only a good knowledge of law and a ready and cordial manner with all who approached him, but particularly a keen liking for military matters with which the ex- periences of the Revolution made almost all the pioneer settlers familiar. From this military ardor came the movement of Mr. Leavenworth at the opening of the war of 1812. He raised a com- pany, (the 25th Infantry,) for service and was commissioned as a
* In a sketch of him in the Washington Globe (1834) his birthplace is given as Vermont, but it is believed that this is an error. The monument above re- forred to gives the place of his nativity as Connecticut.
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Captain in the United States Army. He was in the battle of Chip- powa where he was brevetted for bravery, and again in the battle of Niagara, where he was a second time brevetted. But in this last battle he had been severely wounded. Colonel Leavenworth had married Harriet Lovejoy just before setting out for the war, and bis wife accompanied him to the field of service. Fortunately she was present to nurse him and care for him in his wounded condition. But he recovered and was able again to give his services to the goverment.
After the close of the war Colonel Leavenworth was allowed a leave of absence from the army, and on his return to Delaware county he was elected a member of the State legislature. He ren- dered such service to his State and his party that pointed him out as a conspicuously rising man.
On re-entering the army he was appointed an Indian agent by the government in the Northwest territory. He repaired to his field of labor without his wife; but after a few years, she joined him in these then remote regions. There are still many reminiscences of Colonel Leavenworth's residence in that country. His duties were partly civil and partly military. As a reward for his faithfulness und bravery the War Department had conferred on him the rank of Brigadier General. For the purpose of protecting the frontier set- tlements against the Indians he erected many forts which would enable the slender forces of the United States to hold their own. One of them, Fort Leavenworth, has given its name to a city in the state of Missouri.
During the winter of 1834 he came to Washington, on duty connected with his mission in the West. During his visit he was admitted to the Supreme Court of the United States. He was put in command of the military department of the Southwest and returned to his duties in the spring. During his operations against the hostile Indians he was seized with an attack of malarial fever. He died from this at Cross Timbers in the Territory of Arkansas. Captain James Dean, who was with him at his death,
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wrote concerning the painful circumstances. General Leaven- worth, foreseeing that his death was near, said to Captain Dean: "To the people of Delaware county I owe all that I ever have been; and at the beautiful little village of Delhi, that delightful spot, 1 wish my bones to rest. Place my body in a coffin of bordock wood, and let it be buried here until the cold weather comes. Then carry me by way of New Orleans back to my home."
This was tenderly done, and accompanied by a detachment of his command his body was brought to Delhi. Here it was received by every demonstration of sorrow and respect by his townsmen and the military authorities of the State. The funeral was held May 22. 1835, and he was buried in the spot where his monument now stands. This was erected shortly afterwards by his admiring friends. It bears the following inscription:
On the West Front:
IN MEMORY OF HENRY LEAVENWORTHI, COLONEL OF THE U. S. 2D INFANTRY AND BRIGADIER GENERAL IN THE ARMY.
On the North Front :
AS A TESTIMONIAL
TO HIS PUBLIC AND PRIVATE WORTH HIS REGIMENT HAVE ERECTED THIS MONUMENT.
On the South Front :
BORN AT NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, DECEMBER 10, 1783. DIED IN THE SERVICE OF HIS COUNTRY
NEAR THE FALSE WASCHITA JULY 21, 1831.
On the East Front :
FOR HIS CIVIC VIRTUES HIS FELLOW-CITIZENS OF DELAWARE HONORED HIM WITH A SEAT
IN THE LEGISLATURE OF NEW YORK : THE FIELDS OF CHIPPEWA, NIAGARA AND AURICHAREE ESTABLISH HIS FAME AS A SOLDIER.
Mr. Jay Gould.
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WILLIAM B. OGDEN .*
The family to which William B. Ogdeu belonged came to Dela- ware county from Morristown, New Jersey. It seems to have enjoyed the special friendship of Governor Dickerson of that State, because we find that a younger brother of William B. was named after the governor Mahlon Dickerson Ogden. It is stated that Abraham the father of William started out to find a suitable place in which to settle. He had about determined upon Washington, the new capital of the nation; but he met a friend in Philadelphia, who had purchased a large tract of land in the wild regions on the upper Delaware. He set forth so attractively the opportunities for land and lumber in this picturesque region, that it ended in the agreement of the Ogdens to go to Delaware county instead of Washington.
Accordingly in 1797 a colony of this family, all bearing substan- tinh bible names, found their way into the valley of the Delaware nud settled at Walton. Here Isaac and Abraham established a saw mill for cutting up the vast amounts of timber which was found around them. Subsequently they added to their establishment a mill for fulling the cloth which the settlers brought to them.
Here William, the son of Abraham, was born in 1805. Long afterward when he had become a prosperous and well-known public man, he spoke of his early life: "I was born close by a saw mill, was carly left an orphan, was eradled in a sugar trough, christened in a mill pond, graduated at a log school house, and at fourteen fancied I could do anything I turned my hand to, and that nothing was impossible."
In his boyhood he was remarkably athletic, and was fond of hunting and fishing. His father was obliged to make it a rule for him, that he must not fish more than two days in the week. He
* I am indebted to Hon. Andrew H. Green of New York for the most of the information contained in this sketch. The pamphlet referred to is No. 17 of 1hr Fergus Historical Series, relating to early ( Chicago events.
10
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
was a notably good shot * in the days when good shooting was not
It had been determined in the family councils that William should study law, and he had begun to make preparation for his professional studies. At this time, 1820, his father suffered a stroke of paralysis from which he died in 1825. The duty of the son was to take up the responsibilities of the father and abandon his chosen career. This he did bravely and without hesitation. For the next ten years he was the intrepid business man of Walton. In 1834 when he was still a young man of twenty-nine he was elected to represent the county in the State Assembly. The scheme for building the Erie railway with State aid was in that year before the legislature. Mr. Ogden, although inexperienced in legislation, was put forward as a leader in the advocacy of the desired measures. He made a speech on the subject lasting through three days, which is still spoken of as showing the far-sighted discernment of the future financier.
It was during this winter that he became interested in the sub- ject of real-estate in the little village of Chicago. His friend Arthur Bronson of New York, and his future brother-in-law the late Charles Butler, had visited the west and had become impressed with the prospects of this place. A land company was formed and Mr. Og- den was asked to take up his residence there as its agent.
Mr. Ogden therefore removed to Chicago in 1835. and entered on that splendid career which ended only with his life. Chicago had then only 1,500 inhabitants. But he was one of those who saw its future possibilities at the head of lake navigation and as a rail- road center. Two years later it received a charter as a city, and had then reached a population of 3,500. Mr. Ogden was elected the
* Turkey shooting was a favorite amusement in those days. Usually a colored man owned the turkey and was paid twenty-five cents by each one who shot. If the marksman hit the head of the turkey it was his; but if he hit any other part it still was the negro's. When young Ogden shot he was- made to pay twire the regular rate. The poor darkey would shout, " Dodge, dodge old gobbler, Ogden is going to shoot. Shake yer head, darn ye, don't you See that riffe pinting at ye?" See Arnolt's memorial of W. B. Ogden.
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first mayor of the new city. To him more than to any other man it owes its position as the great mid-country metropolis.
It is impossible that he should have gone on with all his great enterprises without reverses. During the crisis of 1857 he was largely interested in the extension of the railroad which is now the Chicago and Northwestern. This corporation defaulted in the pay- ment of the interest on its floating debt. Mr. Ogden was the en- dorser of its paper to the extent of a million and a half of dollars. The response of his friends in this embarrassment is one of the most creditable things in financial history. Samuel Russell, the founder of the house of Russell & Co. in China, placed nearly half a million of dollars at his disposal; Robert Eaton, of Swansea, Wales, sent him eighty thousand dollars to use at his discretion: Matthew Laflin of Chicago tendered him from himself and his friends one hundred thousand dollars; and Col. E. D. Taylor repeatedly offered like sub- stantial assistance. But Mr. Ogden contrived to weather this storm without accepting this magnanimous aid. He was often heard to declare that it was worth while to become embarrassed in order to experience the generosity of such friends.
The active spirit of Mr. Ogden kept him busy during all these years in developing new lines of industry. He founded an immense lumbering establishment at Peshtigo in Northern Wisconsin; he organized great iron and coal works at Brady's Bend in Pensyl- vania; he was the leading spirit in the movements connected with the Union Pacific railroad, the Fort Wayne railroad, the Chicago and Northwestern railroad and many others.
So much of his time was now required in New York on account of his great interests, that in 1866 he purchased for himself a home on Fordham Heights near New York, which he called Boscobel. The Chicago people never quite forgave him for this desertion of the city he had done so much to build up. But he did not give up Chiengo. He always retained a house and a legal residence there. He considered himself as a Chicagoan living for convenience in New York.
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He was at Boscobel when word came to him in 1871 that Chicago was on fire. He started thither by the earliest train. On his way he received notice that his lumbering village at Peshtigo, two hun- dred miles from Chicago, was also entirely destroyed by fire. We may well suppose that Mr. Ogden was not the least brave of those who confronted the disasters of that terrible time. By their courage and intrepidity they turned the ruin of Chicago into lasting benefit, and gave it an impulse toward greatness which it has never lost.
Up to 1875 Mr. Ogden had lived a bachelor, both at Chicago and Boscobel. But in that year he married Mary Arnot, daughter of Judge John Arnot of Elmira, and took her to reside at Boscobel. Here he died in 1877 aged seventy-two years. He left behind him a great name for financial skill and enterprise, for open-hearted generosity, and for a most attractive and charming personality. He never forgot his native town or county. In his will there was a clause bequeathing a sum of money to be expended in the discretion of his executors for charitable objects. This clause was attacked in the courts but was settled by compromise, and from it the sum of $20,000 was received for the establishment of a library in the village of Walton. A beautiful building for this purpose has been erected at a cost of $14,500.
REV. DANIEL SHEPARD.
PRINCIPAL OF THE DELAWARE ACADEMY 1837-46.
No sketch of Delaware county would be complete without an account of the Rev. Daniel Shepard, the principal of the Delaware Academy from 1837 to 1846. All those who knew him and knew the work he had done for the Academy, and especially all those who were students under him, will be ready to testify to his high and exemplary character and his inspiring scholarship. When he came to Delhi in 1837 to take charge of the Academy he was only twenty- two years of age, and when he died in 1846 he was only thirty-one. We append a brief sketch of his short but brilliant life.
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He was born at Portland, Connecticut, in 1815. His parents were members of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and he was con- firmed and became a communicant at the age of sixteen. He was sent to Trinity College at Hartford, and was graduated in 1836. It was his purpose to enter the university of the Episcopal Church. but as he was still very young, he accepted an invitation to become the principal of the Delaware Academy. While he held this position he pursued his theological studies and was ordained a deacon by the Bishop of Connecticut in 1839, and a few years later was or- dained a priest by the Bishop of New York. During his principal- ship he occasionally officiated in the church at Delhi, and he never gave up the design to devote his life to the sacred ministry, but death came before he was able to change the plans of his life.
When he came to Delhi the academy was in a depressed con- dition, and the prospects might have deterred a less alert and enthusiastic man. But Mr. Shepard had youth and health and unbounded vigor, and entered on his duties with an assurance that speedily brought success. Nine years he remained principal, and each succeeding year of this period witnessed a marked advance in the standing and prosperity of the school. It had a patronage not only from the county of Delaware, but from the large cities of the country. Many boys were sent from New York, with the assured expectation that they would receive not only a sound educational training, but would profit by the bracing physical and moral atmos- phere in which they would be placed.
The academy had the confidence and the patronage of the best and most distinguished citizens of the county and especially of the village of Delhi. The old students will remember well the faithful- ness and vigilance of the trustees in watching over the institution; how General Root in his old age renewed his youth and his scholar- ship by visiting the school on every suitable occasion; how Colonel Amasa Parker, Judge Amasa J. Parker, and others, were constantly present on occasions of examination or at the exhibitions which were held at the close of the terms.
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Mr. Shepard was the principal character connected with the school. In the female department, however, which was separated from the male, Mrs. Ten Broeck (afterward Mrs. Howard) was for a long time the preceptress, and endeared herself, not only to the girls under her immediate care but to the boys in the male depart- ment. In classical learning particularly Mr. Shepard was an en- thusiastic scholar and teacher. Any of the lads who showed any special aptitude received from him every encouragement and assist- ance. He was a most successful disciplinarian, and maintained an easy and natural authority over his boys which made impossible the taking of any liberties with him. He had a good-natured wit of which they had a wholesome fear, and with which he occasionally lashed them .* But it was his natural dignity and the kind-hearted spirit in which he administered his little domain that made him au easy and successful ruler.
Mr. Shepard's career at the Delaware Academy was not long, although it was memorable. At the close of the academic year in 1846, he planned for himself a trip to the west. He went as far as St. Louis and was there seized with a congestive fever. He started on his return home, in spite of his illness. The facilities for travel were then by no means so great as they have since become; and the fatigue of lis exertions materially aggravated his disorder. He reached home suffering still from the attack of fever, and after a few weeks closed his young and promising life.
He had married, after coming to Delhi, Miss Hogan of Albany, who with a family of young children survived him. She still, after a period of more than fifty years, remains in a placid old age await- ing the sunnons to join her dear husband in the land of eternal rest.
* Dr. McGregor of New York, who was Mr. Shepard's pupil for several years, remembers once when he was engaged with a class, some of the other boys in the room took advantage of the opportunity to neglect their work. Mr. Shepard without a moment's hesitation said :
" Thomas Scott, you study not, Edward Bill, you're idle still, Walter Crear, come sit here."
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AMASA J. PARKER.
Of few of her citizens is Delaware county more proud than of the eminent and accomplished Judge Parker. Although he removed from his home in Delhi at an early age- only thirty-nine, yet he had remained long enough to be chosen to most of the honorable offices of the county, and to show by his professional ability and by his energetic private career, his true worth as a man and a citizen.
He was the son of Rev. Daniel Parker, a Congregational clergy- man who for many years was the pastor of a church in Sharon, Connecticut. He was born in Sharon in 1807; but in 1816 the father removed to Greenville, in Greene county, N. Y., where he took charge of the Academy of that place. The son, then only nine years old, here commenced the study of Latin, and in the usual studies of a classical education made notable advancement. In May. 1823, when only sixteen years old he became principal of the Hudson Academy. In 1825 he entered the senior class of Union College and was graduated, still retaining his position in the Hud- son Academy. After graduating he commenced the study of law in the office of Judge Jolm W. Edmonds.
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