USA > New York > Tioga County > Owego > Early Owego, N.Y.; some account of the early settlement of the village in Tioga County, N.Y., called Ah-wa-ga by the Indians, which name was corrupted by gradual evolution into Owago, Owego, Owegy and finally Owego > Part 10
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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
Mr. Pumpelly by reason of his wealth and prominence, was at the head of nearly every public enter- prise. He was president of the old bank of Owego, treasurer of the Owe- go and Ithaca turnpike company, pres- ident of the Owego turnpike company,
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president of the Owego academy from its construction in 1827 until his death, president of the old Ithaca and Owego railroad . company, president of the Susquehanna steam navigation company, which built the first steam- boat on the Susquehanna river for commercial purposes in 1835, and the first president of the village of Owego from its incorporation in 1827, holding the office five consecutive years by re-election. In 1810 he represented Brome (now Tioga) county in the as- sembly of this state.
The children of James and Mary (Pixley) Pumpelly were as follows:
1. George James Pumpelly, born 11 . Dec., 1815, at Owego. Married Susan Isabella Pumpelly, daughter of Charles Pumpelly, 24 April, 1822. He died at Owego 9 May, 1873, and she 30 July, 1864.
2. Lydia Abby Pumpelly; born . 13 Feb., 1808, at Owego. Married Dr. Ezekiel Lovejoy. Died 28 Nov., 1881.
3. Frederick Henry Pumpelly, born 13 Jan., 1810, at Owego. Married Sarah . Hewitt, daughter of Gurdon Hewitt, of Owego. He died 15 May, 1867, at Owego, and she 28 June, 1881, in Paris, France.
4. Mary Eliza Pumpelly, born 9 April, 1814, at Owego. Married, first, Robert Charles Johnson, from whom she obtained a divorce. She married second, William H. Platt. She died 24 Jan., 1884, at Metuchen, N. J.
In his centennial history of Tioga county William F. Warner says of Mr. Pumpelly :
"Prominent among the citizens of the county, not only by reason of his wealth and the magnitude of his deal- ings in real estate, but by his upright- ness of character,his genial manners, and many other excellent qualities, this gentleman had no superior. He was a splendid specimen of the gentleman. He had an erect and com-
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manding figure, open and genial fea- tures, and a cheerful and . winning voice. In addition to his agency for others, Mr. Pumpelly became the owner of large tracts of land in this and adjoining counties, and accumu- lateda large estate. He used his large means in a most generous männer, and his unexpected death produced a deep gloom throughout the county and saddened the hearts of a large circle of friends outside."
George J. Pumpelly, the eldest son of James Pumpelly, after his gradu- ation from Yale college, was educated as a lawyer. He did not practise law but devoted his time to the manage- . ment of his father's property. His sons were James K., Charles F., Jo- siah Collins, and George B. Pumpelly. His only daughter, Mary Pumpelly, was married to Wordsworth Thomp- · son, who attained considerable celeb: rity as a painter, his subjects being generally revolutionary and colonial scenes.
Josiah C. Pumpelly has lived for many years in New York city. He is a graduate of Rutgers college and the Columbia college law school. He was admitted to the bar of Tioga county in December, 1863. He has travelled extensively abroad and has devoted much of his time to discussing and writing . upon historic, social, .eco- nomic, and philanthropic subjects. He is a member of various societies, before the members of which he has delivered addresses, some of which have been published.
Dr. Ezekiel Lovejoy was born July 6, 1803, at Stratford, Conn. He was graduated from Union college, in the state of New York in 1823. He studied medicine in New York city under Drs. Mott and Hosack. After
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taking his degree of doctor of medi- cine he was for a time a surgeon in the navy of the republic of Buenos Ayres. He came to Owego in Septem- ber, 1829, and opened an office over Charles Pumpelly's store on the south side of Front street, opposite where the Ahwaga house is now. He was the first physician in Owego to prac- tise Homoeopathy: He lived many years in the large white house, which was built about 1836 or 1837 and which still stands on the south side of Front street east of Academy street, and the building he occupied as his office still remains at the west end of the lot. Dr. Lovejoy held but one public office, that of supervisor of the town of Owego in 1854. He died in Owego August 15, 1871.
The portrait of James Pumpelly, illustrating this article, is from apaint- ing made at the studio of Waldo & Jewett in New York city and is owned by Mrs. Lydia A. Fordham, of Owego, whose first husband, James P. Love- joy, was a grandson of Mr. . Pum- pelly.
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CHARLES PUMPELLY.
Charles Púmpelly came to. Owego in 1803, a short time subsequent to the coming of the rest of the family. He was then 24 years of age. Feb. 7, 1803, he.and George Stevens, of Ca. naan Mills, Mass., purchased the old Bates tavern property which included the land now occupied by the. Ahwaga · house and the south end of Church street, together with the land opposite on the bank of the river. The tavern stood where the Ahwaga house now stands, and in a wing at the east end of it was a store.
Soon after making this purchase. Mr. Pumpelly returned to Salisbury, but came back to Owego · about a year afterward. He brought back from the east a stock of goods, prin- cipally hats, and occupied the store in .. the tavern building. He was a shrewd trader, a man of great geniality, and ,was very successful in his business. The year after opening his store he purchased Mr. Stevens's interest in the hotel property. Later he built a store on the south side of Front street, where he dealt in all kinds of merchandise, and purchased lumber, salt, and plaster, which he shipped down the river in arks and rafts. At this time he owned a saw mill three and one-half miles north of Owego. On the first of December, 1829, his son- in-law, . George . Bacon, became his partner in the business, and the firm of Pumpelly & Bacon continued sev- eral years.
In the summer of 1815 Mr. Pum- pelly built a new house on the lots now. occupied by the residences of judge H. A. Mead and Miss Anna M. Dean on the north side of Front
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street. This was a large and elegant mansion, painted white. It stood at the west end of the lot, about twenty feet back from the sidewalk, and the large yard east of it was covered with a small grove of pines and other trees. It was the largest and finest house that had been built in Owego up to that time. The lot extended back its full length to Main street.
In 1829 Mr. Pumpelly's brother, Harmon Pumpelly, built the hand- some brick residence now owned by James Forsyth in west Front street. When Harmon Pumpelly removed to Albany in 1841 Charles Pumpelly pur- chased the property of him and re moved thereto. . The : old residence. was afterward converted into a semi- nary for young ladies and was con- ducted by various teachers until 1865, when it was torn down.
Mr. Pumpelly was born at Salis- bury, Conn., Dec. 18, 1779. He was supervisor of the town of Owego sev- eral years and held other town offices, In 1811 he was appointed paymaster in lieutenant-colonel Oliver Hunting- ton's regiment. He was paymaster of Col. Elijah Shoemaker's 53d regiment at the time of his resignation in 1819. In 1821 he was a delegate from Broome county (this county being then within the limits of Broome county) to the. convention which framed the state constitution that year. In 1825 he was member of as- sembly. After the death of his brother, James Pumpelly, he suc- ceeded him as president of the Owego academy. He died at Owego Jan. 6, 1855. Mr. Pumpelly has been de- scribed as a man of great energy of character, possessed of a pleasant
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temperament, and highly respected for his many excellent qualities.
The children of Charles and Fran- ces (Avery) Pumpelly were as fol- lows:
1. John Charles Pumpelly, born. 28 Oct., 1804. Died at Owego 9 March, 1830.
2. Mary Ann ' Pumpelly, born 31 Dec., 1806. Married George Bacon
16 Nov., 1826. Died at Owego 11 Feb., 1845.
3. Susan Isabella Pumpelly, born 24 April, 1807. . Married George J. Pumpelly 24 April, .1832. Died at Owego 30 July, 1864.
4. Frances Eliza Pumpelly, born
19 . March, 1811. Married Joseph S. Bosworth 17 Sept., 1833. Died in New York city 30 March, 1879.
5. Catherine Ann Pumpelly, born 28 Feb., 1813. Married John M. Par- ker 18 Sept., 1835. Died at Owego 30 Dec., 1845.
6. Harriet Amelia Pumpelly, born 27 June, 1815. Married Theodore Freelinghuysen, of New Jersey, 14 Oct., 1857. Died 8 Feb., 1876, in Troy, N. Y.
7. Stella Avery Pumpelly; born 19 Sept., 1817. Married. John M. Parker 1 March, 1854. Died at Owego 28 Sept., 1894.
8. Caroline Augusta Pumpelly, born 6 Feb., 1820. Died at Owego 24 Oct., 1901.
9. James Pumpelly, born 23 Sept., 1822. Died at Owego 3 Dec., 1823.
10. Lydia Abby Pumpelly, born 26 June, 1827. Married James Forsyth, of Troy, N. Y., 25 July, 1860. Died in Troy 12 Aug., 1874.
Joseph S. Bosworth, who married Frances Eliza Pumpelly, was born at Lisle, Broome county, and practised law at Binghamton. He went to New York, where he became eminent as a lawyer and advocate, and was elected a justice of the supreme court.
Theodore Freelinghuysen, who mar- ried Harriet Pumpelly, was a distin,
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guished man of his time. He was born in 1787 at Franklin, N. J., and was graduated from Princeton col- lege in 1804: 'In the war of 1812 he raised and commanded a company of volunteers. In 1817 he became attor- ney general. of New Jersey, and in 1829 a United States senator. In 1858 he was made chancellor of the uni- versity of New York. In 1844 he was the Whig candidate for vice-president, of the United States. In 1850 he re- signed from the university and re- moved to New Brunswick, N. J., where he was president of Rutgers college from 1850 until his death, April 12, 1861.
George Bacon, who married Mary Ann Pumpelly, was born at Wood- burn, Mass., March 21, 1804. Three years subsequent to his marriage, Dec. 1, 1829, he became a partner of his father-in-law, Charles Pumpelly,. in the general mercantile. business in the Front street store under the firm name of Pumpelly & Bacon. Several years afterward he became sole pro- prietor of the business, which he con- ducted until the store burned in the great fire of 1849, when he retired from active business.
In March, 1829, Mr. Bacon bought of Elisha Coit the lot containing three acres of land on which Gurdon H. Pumpelly's residence now stands .on the south side of Front street, west of Academy street and built thereon a large and handsome house in which he lived several years. He sold the property to Lewis C. England in April, 1858. John R. Chatfield pur- chased it in September, 1862, and lived there until 1902, when he sold it to Mr. Pumpelly, who tore down the
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house and built his present residence on the site.
During the latter part of his life Mr. Bacon lived at the Ahwaga house, where he died April 3, 1862, aged 58 years. His children .were Col. Geo Albert Bacon, who was colonel of a cavalry regiment during the civil war and afterward for many years assist- ant doorkeeper of the house of repre- sentatives at Washington. He died March 6, 1905, at Carlyle, Ill., aged 73 years. His other son, Charles P. Bacon, died at Iowa City, Iowa, April 20, 1884, and his daughter, Fanny S. Bacon, who became the wife. of Charles T. Ransom, died Jan. 7, 1897, in Washington, D. C.
John M. Parker was born at Gran- ville, Washington county, N. Y., where his father, John C. Parker, was a dis- tinguished lawyer, June 14, 1805. He was graduated from Middlebury col- lege in Vermont in 1828. He and John J. Taylor were fellow students and friends in the law office of John - P. Cushman at Troy, N. Y. Mr. Tay- lor came to Owego in 1834. He in- duced Mr. Parker to also come here and he came in 1835, and became the law partner of William Platt. He was a sound lawyer and attained the front rank in his profession. In 1854 he was elected to congress and re- . elected in 1856. He was elected a jus- tice of the supreme court in 1859 and held the office at the time of his death on Dec. 16, 1873. During a part of his service as a judge he sat as a member of the court of appeals. He and his son, Charles E. Parker, enjoy the dis- tinction of having been the only two men ever elected to the supreme court bench from Tioga county. In
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his centennial history of Tioga county William F. Warner, himself a promi -. nent member of the bar, writes as fol- lows in praise of John Parker:
"He possessed ripe scholarship and a high order of intellect. His learn- ing as a jurist was exact and pro- foun'd, and his habits, manners, and culture eminently fitted him for the honorable and responsible positions he so long filled. His life was marked by invariable uprightness. . By quiet habits he escaped unpleasant .col- lisions which most professional men encounter. His even temper seemed never to be disturbed. Whatever his emotions, there was no outward sign of them. . He always enjoyed the highest respect of the bench and the bar. Few . equalled him in .marshal- ling the facts of a case, and the clear analysis and application of the law. He was a severe student, and indefat- igable in the' preparation of his de- cisions, and it is not improbable that by the severity of his labors of this kind he hastened his death, which was sudden and untimely."
Charles E. Parker was elected judge of Tioga county in 1883 and served until Jan. 1, 1888, when he re- signed, having been elected a justice of the supreme court. In 1895 he was appointed presiding justice of the ap- pellate division, and served until Aug- ust, 1906, when he resigned his office, having reached the age of seventy years, beyond which the law does not permit a judge to serve.
Another son of John M. Parker was Col. Francis H. Parker, who was edu- cated at the West Point military acad- emy and graduated therefrom in 1861. He served through the civil war in the ordnance department. . He was chief ordnance officer of the army and. department of the Tennessee under Gens. Grant and Meade until the sur-
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render at Appomattox. In 1865 he was appointed commanding officer of Charleston, S. C. He was afterward successively in charge, either as com- manding officer or assistant . com- manding officer of the arsenals at Rock Island, Ill., Detroit, Mich. ,For- tress Monroe, Va .; Watertown, Mass., San Antonio, Texas, Watervliet, . N. Y., and Pittsburgh, Pa. He died at the Allegheny arsenal at Pittsburgh Feb. 12, 1897.
WILLIAM PUMPELLY.
Wiliam Pumpelly was born June 17, 1788, at 'Salisbury, Conn., and was nearly fourteen years old when he came with his parents in the spring of 1802 to Beers's settlement.
He came to Owego in 1805. and en- tered the land office of his brother. James. He spent the summer. in the woods, surveying Watkins & Flint's purchase. He was employed in sur- ' veying until 1812, when he went to Ithaca, which had then grown into a 'a small settlement, where he pur- chased a general country store that had already been established. there, and went into the mercantile busi- ness. In 1814 he sold his stock of goods and returned to Owego.
Two men from Montreal-Sparrow. and Crocker-had previous to this time come to Owego and built a large square building, painted white, on the west side of Park street where Rob- ert Bandler's house now stands. This land was a part of the Dr. Samuel Tinkham estate. They had come to Owego direct from Montreal, bring- ing their stock of goods with them. At that time there was a pond of . water in front of the store in the
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present village park. This store building was afterward the property of James Pumpelly and was burned.
Mr. Pumpelly purchased Sparrow & Crocker's stock of goods and con- tinued the business until 1816 or 1817. Then he removed into a store on the .bank of the river, below where the bridge now is, where he remained until he purchased a store on the south side of Front street, opposite Church street.
This store was a red wooden build- ing and stood on the ground on which is now the brick building occupied by the Tioga club. Charles Pumpelly's store adjoined it on the east. Where Defiance hook and ladder company's building now stands on the west side ' was then a vacant lot, and George Bacon's store stood west of and ad- joining this space. There was a base- ment under Charles Pumpelly's store, to which access was had by doors on the east side of' the building, which was occupied by Wm. Gregory, a mar- ble cutter, and by John Arnold as a saloon. These buildings were all burned in the great fire of Sept. 27, 1849.
Mr. Pumpelly conducted the mer- cantile business in this store until 1844, when he retired from business with a handsome competence. He was for several years president of the old bank of Owego, now the First National bank of Owego.
Mr. Pumpelly lived for many years in a house which stood on ground now occupied by the Exchange hotel barn on the north side of Front street and west of Park street. The house was afterward occupied by Robert Cameron and was burned Oct. 5; 1867,
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in . a fire which burned many other valuable buildings in that part of the village. He afterward built and lived until his death in the house which is still standing on the north side of Front street, the third house west of Ross street, now occupied by T .. B. Oakley.
Mr. Pumpelly's first wife was Sarah Emily Tinkham, daughter of Dr. Sam- uel Tinkham. They were married in June, 1814. She died at Owego March 31, 1822, aged 27 years. They had one daughter, Emily Pumpelly, who was the second wife of William HI. Platt.
. Mr. Pumpelly's second wife was Mary H. Welles, daughter of George and Prudence (Talcott) Welles, of Athens, Pa., where she was born May 6, 1803 .. They were married Oct. 20, 1824. Her brothers, George .Henry Welles, of Athens, and Dr. Charles F. Welles, of Wyalusing, were two of the most distinguished men in Bradford . county in their day. They were sons of George Welles, a graduate of Yale college, who came from Glastenbury, Conn., in 1799 to Tioga Point, where he became land agent for Charles Carrol, of Carrolton, and where he died in 1813.
Mrs. Pumpelly was a. lady of cul- ture and refinement, an artist and a poet of considerable ability, and was educated in Philadelphia. She ac- companied her youngest son, Raph- ael, to Germany, where he pursued his studies in the universities, and she became an excellent German, French, and Italian linguist and scholar. In 1852 a volume containing three of her poems, "Belshazzar's Feast," ."Herod's Feast," and "Pilate's
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Wife's Dream," was published in New York She also contributed poems to . the "Atlantic Monthly" and the "Gal- axy." After the death of Mr. Pum- pelly, Nov. 17, 1876, she went abroad and. died in Paris, France, Dec. 14, 1879. Her body was brought to Owe- go in February, 1880, and buried in Evergreen cemetery.
The children of William and Mary HI. ( Welles) Pumpelly were as fol- lows:
1. John Hollenback Pumpelly, born 16 Aug., 1826. Married Mary Ann Foote, daughter. of Dr. Lyman Foote, a surgeon in the U. S. army, 28 Feb., 1868: She died in 1877. He died at Waltham, Mass:, Dec. 6, 1907:
2. Susan Welles Pumpelly, born 25 May, 1828. Died 9 Nov., 1830.
3. Marie Antoinette Pumpelly, born 3 March, 1832. Married. Jeremiah Loder, of New York city, 28 Jan., 1852 .. . Mr. Loder's father, Benjamin Loder, was president of the . Now York and Erie railroad from 1845 to 1853.
4. Josephine Pumpelly, born 3 Aug., 1835. Died 20 March, 1838. . 5. Raphael Pumpelly, .. . born 8 Sept., 1837. Married . Eliza F. Shep- ard, of Dorchester, Mass., 20 Oct., 1869.
Raphael Pumpelly has attained em- inence as a geologist. He was educa- ted at the Owego academy and in Paris, Hanover, and Frieberg-in-Sax- ony. He returned to America in 1860 and became interested in silver min- ing in Arizona and other parts of the far west. In 1861 he was employed by the Japanese government to de- termine the mineral resources of the island of Yesso, and in 1863 was em- ployed to survey the coal regions of Northern China. In 1866 he became professor of mining engineering at Harvard university. In 1870 he made
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,a survey of the copper regions of . Michigan and the next year became State geologist of Missouri. . In Ang- . ust, 1879, he was appointed director of the United States geological sur- vey of all territory east of the Miss- issippi river. In September, 1881, he resigned this position, having been en- gaged by the Oregon transcontinential company to make a full survey of the region traversed by the Northern Pacific railway and navigation com- pany, embracing a territory . 1,500 miles in extent from east to west and 500 miles from north to south and containing more than 500,000. square miles: hi 1900 he was engaged by the .Andrew Carnegie company of Pitts- burgh, Pa., to locate iron mines in the northwest and Canada. In 1904 he headed an expedition, backed by , Andrew Carnegie, to make archaeo- logical researches in the buried cities of western Afghanistan, and the Cri -. moa.
Mr. Pumpelly is . the author of "Geological Researches in China, Mongolia and Japan During the Years 1862. to 1865,", published at Washington in 1866, and. "Across America and Asia," an account of an overland journey from Japan through Mongolia, Siberia, and Russia, pub- lished in New York in 1869.
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HARMON PUMPELLY.
Harmon Pumpelly, the youngest son of John Pumpelly, was born at Salis- bury, Com., and was a little less than seven years of age when the family came to Beers's settlement. He came to Owego when he was twenty years of age and : with his brother, William Pumpelly, and was employed by their oldest brother, James Pumpelly,in sur- voying lands. Later he engaged in the mercantile business and luinber- ing. . Like his brothers he was very successful and became a large land
He married Delphine Drake, daugh- for of judge John R. Drake. After his marriage he lived with the family of judge Drake until 1829, when he pur- chased the lot on which James For -. syth's house stands, on the north side of Front street, west of and adjoining the lane extending from Front to Main streets and .known for many years as Camp afley and later as Par- ker's lane. This lot extended back to Main street. The property had been owned by Nathan Camp, who . brad intended to build a residence for himself on it but he died in 1819 be- fore he could begin the work. After , his death his son, Frederick M. Camp, of . Ulysses, Tompkins county, as guardian for Nathan H. Camp,sold the . lot in September, 1829, to Mr. Pum- polly, who built. thereon the large brick house which still stands there. In 1841 he sold the property to his brother, Charles Pumpelly, who lived there until his death in 1855. The house was afterward owned and occu- pied by Charles. Pumpelly's daughter, Mrs. John M. Parker, until her death
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.in 1894, and it then became the prop- erty, by devise, of her nephew, James Forsyth.
Harmon Pumpelly was active in public affairs. He was a member of the first board of village trustees and was re-elected four times .. He also served as an officer in the state .militia. In : 1821 he. was appointed lieutenant of a company of riflemen and in 1822 was promoted to captain in the 201st regiment of infantry, which was organized May 16 in that year. /
In 1841 Mr. Pumpelly removed from Owego to Alliany. He was already possessed of considerable wealth. He embarked in large financial opera- tions, which invariably proved suc- cesfal. He became prominently con- nected with the Albany savings bank, the Albany gaslight company, and the. Albany insurance company, all of which he was president. He lived in elegant style in that city for forty years. He lived in a large house, which he loved to fill with genial and cultured people. His entertainments were always in the best of taste, and his dinners were noted for the good wines, costly plate, and fine glass at a time when such things were not as common as they are to-day.
The children of Harmon and Del- phine (Drake) Pumpelly were Adeline Jerusha Pumpelly, who was born in Owego and who was married to Col. James Kidd, of Albany; a prominent man, who was county treasurer, post- master, etc., and Mary Delphine Pum- pelly, who was also born in. Owego and who became the wife of Gen
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John Meredith Read, of Philadelphia, Pa., April 7, 1859.
Mrs. Harmon . Pumpelly died at Owego . Feb. 27, 1839. After her death Mr. Punipelly travelled in Europe un- til his removal to Albany in the fol- . lowing year. His second wife was Maria Brinckerhoff, daughter of Poter : Brinckerhoff, a representative of one of the old Datel families of Albany. They were married in 1841. She was. a granddaughter of Rutger Bleecker, mayor of Albany from 1726 to 1728. She died in Albany April 23, 1887, aged 82 years. : Harmon Pumpelly died in Albany Sept. 29, 1882. He left an estate valued at $1,000,000
Gen. John . Meredith Read was a grandson of George Read. of Dela- ware, one of the signers of the decla- ration of independence, and his father was chief justice John Meredith Read of Pennsylvania, He was born in Philadelphia and was admitted to the bar in Albany. He was adjutant-gen- eral of the state of New York in 1860-66. Gen. Grant when president offered him a commission as major in the regular army and also the post of minister to Spain, both of which he "declined. In 1869 the new post of consulgeneral to France and Algeria was created for him.
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