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 33
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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
On the 13th of the following May, George Western, then celebrated as a low comedian, known as "The Great Western,"came to Owego as agent of
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Mr. Hough, and applied for license, which was refused. He was fortified with letters from L. M. Rexford, Judge E. C. Kattel, and other prominent citi- zens of Binghamton, commending the company in point of respectability and talent." Judge Avery interested him- self in the matter, and through his in- fluence Hough was granted a license, but at the exorbitant rate of $5 a. night.
Timothy P. Patch had the year pre -. vious (1850) built a brick block on the. ground now occupied by the L. N. Chamberlain brick block on the west side of Lake street. The third story .. was used as a hall and was known as Patch's hall.
Mr. Patch was for many years one of the most prominent merchants at Owego. He was born at Ashburnhanı, Mass., Dec. 3, 1809. He came to Owego in February, 1834, and opened a meat market in a wooden building in Lake street where the Chambelain block now stands. There he conducted the meat · business and subsequently the grocery business twenty-one years. His store was burned in the fire of 1849 and he erected a brick block on its site.
When Ahwaga hall was built in 1852 Patch's hall ceased to be in demand for public purposes. It was accessible only by a long flight of stairs up narrow staircases, and was a veritable death trap' in case of panic or fire. From May, 1853, to September, 1855, the hall was occupied by the Gazette printing office. The block was after- ward purchased by L. N. Chamberlain and the second and third floors occu- pied by him as a boot and shoe manu- factory until it was burned, together
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with Wilson hall, adjoining it on the north, in the night of April 24, 1868.
Mr. Patch removed in 1860 to To- wanda, Pa., where he died June 30, 1882. He had three sons, Calvin B., Robert Harlin, and Charles Patch, and one daughter, Albertine Patch, who was married to Oscar F. Saunders, and removed to Corning, N. Y.
The ceiling of Patch's hall was so low that a panorama was prevented from visiting Owego at the time the hall was opened, there not being room to erect it. Other panoramas were af- terward exhibited there. These pano- ramas were common in those days. They were painted on long strips of canvas ten or twelve feet high and suspended by up- right rollers at each end. As the panorama was shown it was moved by unrolling it from one roller at one side of the stage and rolling it on the other roller at the other side of the stage, the continuous picture being exhibited in a framework extending across the stage. A lecturer, with a long stick, pointed out the prominent features and described them as the panorama was moved. These panoramas were so heavy that they were carried in „sections. As fast as one had been ex- hibited another was shown. The most prominent of these panoramas was a panorama of New York, showing all the buildings in the principal streets. of that city at that time and which was twice shown here, and Banvard's panorama of the Mississippi river, painted by John Banvard, an artist, traveller poet, and author. This pano- rama was the largest ever made and covered three miles of canvas. It was
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one of the wonders of the day and was exhibited in this country and in Europe. Another panorama that drew large houses was known . as "The Burning of Moscow," in which moving. figures and battle effects were added to carry out the illusion.
Patch's hall was fifty-three feet long and forty-four feet wide. In this hall Mr. Hough opened his theatrical per- formances May 19, 1851, and played one week to fair houses. But this visit of Mr. Hough to Owego was so unsuccessful from a pecuniary point of view that a compromise was made on the license by the trustees.
The company was a small one, and played only light comedies and farces. The leading man was Alonzo R. Phelps, a tragic actor, who had made his first appearance in New York six years previous to this time as Othello at the Greenwich street theatre and who in 1854 sailed with Kate and Susan Denin for California. . He died in Philadelphia in 1888.
The low comedian was . George Western, one of the famous comic . actors, of his time. For a long time he drew crowded houses to Barnum's mu- seum in New York and was immensely popular. He excelled in Yankee char- acters, and was particularly famous for his personation of Diggory in the . old farce of "The Spectre Bride- grom." "He was the father of Lucille and Helen Western, both famous ac- tresses, but in an entirely different line of characters. When in Owego Western was in bad health. He was afflicted with consumption and was compelled to withdraw from the stage. He lived at Binghamton and became travelling agent for a cigar and to-
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bacco house, spending the winter in the south and the summer at Bing- hamton. He died at Bodle's Exchange hotel in that city in July, 1857.
Garry A. Hough was an excellent comedian. .He ' was particularly good in the parts made famous by William E. Burton, the celebrated comedian of that time; whom he in some respects resembled. In March, 1853, he brought to Owego the largest and best theatrical company that had ever been seen here and one which has never been surpassed even to this day. It was composed of ten men and five women. Mr. Hough carried his own scenery. There was no stage in Ahwaga hall at that time. He built a stage at the south end of the hall, about four feet above the floor. At the north end he caused to be con- structed of rough boards some seats similar to those in the modern circus. For these spectators were charged 25 cents each. On the rest of the floor between these seats, and the stage, were long wooden settees, seats on which were charged 50 cents each. The men's dressing room was at one side of the stage and the women's at the other. The company produced "Ingo- mar," "The Wife," "Pizarro," "Rich- ard III," "The Stranger," "The Serious Family," and other standard plays, the piece being followed each evening by a dance by Mlle. Eveline and a farce. The company played here two weeks to good houses.
The leading actor was T. B. Mul- holland, a tragedian of great power, whose equal has never since been seen in Owego. He is said to have been a native of Tompkins county. .
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Nothing is known of his origin nor of his end. In 1854, the year after his appearance here, he appeared at the old Broadway theatre in New York city, then managed by E. A. Marshall. From the moment of his appearance there he became a great favorite with both the management and the public, but in one of his eccentric periods he was obliged to leave. Later he was taken ill'and died, but · when and, where no one who was associated with him. was ever able to ascertain.
Mulholland was a refined and in- telligent actor, and quick at repartee, While playing in. Rochester, N. Y., some one in the gallery threw a piece of stove pipe at him on the stage. In- stead of resenting it he looked up quickly and asked why the stove had not been sent along with the pipe. This reply to what was intended as an insult put the entire audience in joy- ial accord with him at once and cap- tured it for the rest of the perform- ance.
The cast of Kotzebue's play of "The. Stranger," one of the plays produced. at Owego by Hough's company was as follows:
The Stranger: T. B. Mulholland
Count Wintersen Mr. Morris Baron Steinfort Mr. Goodenow
Solomon
Mr. Hough
Peter
Mr. Tozer
Tobias
. Mr. Ross
Francis :
Mr. Collins
Mrs. Haller. Miss Kate Ludlow
Countess. Wintersen. . Mrs. Wray Charlotte. Mrs. Hough
Annette . Mlle Eveline
Kate Ludlow, the leading lady of the company, was a fine actress. Her husband, Joseph Littell, was a popular actor but was not with Hough's com-
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pany. His first wife was Malvina Pray, from whom he was divorced and who was afterward married to Wm. J. Florence, the celebrated come- dian. He died in 1856.
Kate Ludlow was in her day one of the most prominent actresses in America. She was born in 1820 on the coast of Maine, and. at an early age was adopted by the officers .attached to the first United States artillery, then stationed at Fulton, Me. She was "educated at Gorham: semi- nary at Gorham, Mass .. . She made her first appearance on the stage in 1843 at the museum in Balti- more, Md. After her appearance with Ilough's company at Owego she went to New York, where she was leading. woman at the old Broadway theatre several seasons. Thence she went to Boston, where she supported Junius. Brutus Booth at the Hollis street the- atre, afterward travelling with Booth through the country. After Booth's death she supported James E. Mur- . dock, George Vandenhoff, and other stars. In June, 1899, she was . ad- mitted to the Edwin Forrest home at Holmesburg, Pa., near Philadelphia, where she is now'living at the ad- vanced age of 89 years. She is, prob- ably, the oldest : living actress in America.
Mr. Morris was Thomas E. Morris, who was born at Troy, N. Y., and who was 24 years old when he appeared at Owego. He was afterward manager for John Brougham, the celebrated Irish actor and author and married Brougham's step-daughter. He was manager of the Waverley theatre in New York, of the Park theatre in
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Brooklyn, and of the Grand opera house in New York when James Fiske . owned it, and was later a member of the famous Union Square theatre com- pany. He died in New York in Octo- ber, 1885.
Mr. Collins was Oliver B. Collins, who began his long career on the stage at Barnun's museum in New York in 1852, the year previous to his appearance at Owego. He spent most of his life on the stage, playing in the companies of Booth, Barrett, Forrest, and other eminent actors. He died in January, 1907, at the Victoria hotel at the Higlands of Neversink, N. J., of which hotel he was the owner, aged 78 years.
Mrs. Mary A. Wray, born at Ridge- field, Coun., in 1804, went on the stage at the old Chatham theatre in New York city in 1820: as a dancer: She supported the great actors of the time, Forrest, Junius Brutus Booth, and others. In 1848 she was with the Seguin opera company. In 1864, when she was sixty years of age, she retired. from the stage. She died in October, 1892, at Newton, L. I., in the home that had been purchased for her by her son, Billy Wray, the negro min- strel, who was lost in the burning of the steamer "Evening Star,". while on the way from New York to New Or- leans in 1866. The Mlle Eveline of Hough's company was Mrs. Wray's daughter, Eveline Wray. Another son of Mrs. Wray, Edward A. Wray, was with her when she was in Owego. He was only 14 years old. He also be- 'came a negro minstrel and died at Edwardsville, Ill., in 1866, the same . year of his brother's death.
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Mr. Goodenow was John Goodenow, popularly known as Jack Goodenow, a handsome nian and good actor, of whom little is now known. J. B. Tozer, the low comedian of the com: · pany, was a very popular actor and was with Hough when he played in Patch's hall in 1851. In 1854. he was the low comedian at Barnum's mu- seum in New York. He retired from the stage in 1859. Mr. Ross, who was known as Tony Ross, played old men. He was an excellent actor.
Garry A, Hough had an eventfn) career. He was born at Potsdam, N. Y., in 1814 and, at 14 years old be- came a printer's apprentice. He worked at one time as a printer for A. H. Calhoun in the old Owego Ad- vertiser office in this village. He bought the Honeyoye Falls Standard, which he published until 1836, when he quit the printing business on ac- count of ill health and became an ac tor. In 1845 he played in the company of Isaac Singer Merritt, who invented the sewing machine and died a mil- lionaire. lo 1865 and 1866 he played "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and other plays through the state under canvas. ' He afterward became manager succes- sively of the Atheneum theatre and the opera house at Detroit, Mich. He died in that city in January, 1896,
After the great fire of September, 1849, George W. Fay built the three- story brick building which stands on the north side of. Front street, the sec- ond store east of Lake street. It was the first brick building erected after the fire, and was completed and occu- pied in May, 1850. The lower floor was occupied by Mr. Fay as a drug store and the third floor was used as
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. a public hall and known as Fay's hall. Here all shows and public entertain- ments were given until Patch's hall was built in Lake street. No theat- rical company came to Owego during the short time this hall was in exist- ence. It was a small one and only an- swered a temporary purpose.
As the business portion of the vil- lage was gradually rebuilt . it was found that Patch's hall, was too small to hold the average Owego audience. When Patch's hall was built there was no further need of the smaller hall, and Fay's hall was closed. Mr. Fay, however, in turn thought that a larger hall than Patch's hall was needed. So he built the present block of two stores, over which is Ahwaga hall, on the site of the old Fay drug store on the north side of Front street, and completed it in May, 1853. Ahwaga hall had no stage, and when- ever one was needed a temporary one was built of rough boards. A few years later a stage was built with steps at each side, which stage could be moved from one part of the hall to another when desirable. There was a wide doorway on the east side opening into the Ahwaga house, which was used for the convenience of dancers when balls were given in the hall and suppers served to the dancers in the dining room of the hotel. The western part of the Ah- waga house block was subsequently sold to George S. Leonard and several years afterward the doorway was closed with a brick wall.
Ahwaga hall was for many years owned by Mr. Fay and Lyman Tru- man. In the summer of 1899, eigh-
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teen years after Mr. Truman's death, Lyman . T. Stanbrough, executor of the Lyman Truman estate, entirely re- constructed the hall. A new floor of Georgia pine was laid and the walls were wainscoated to the height of five feet. The ceiling and walls were cov- ered with steel and artistically painted. Other improvements were made, making it the handsomest pub- lic hall anywhere in this part of the state. The block was sold to Joel C. Kenyon in December, 1899.
The building of Ahwaga hall caused a renewed interest in theatricals, and the coming of dramatic companies be- came more frequent. In June, 1853, a company under the management of William H. Meeker played there. The opening piece was Coleman's "Iron Chest," in which Meeker, who was an excellent tragedian, played Sir Ed- ward Mortimer. The company . re- mained here a. week and drew fair houses. Meeker afterward played in the New York theatres, supporting Edwin and John Wilkes Booth, Edwin Forrest, E. I. Davenport, and other noted actors. He was on the stage 45 years from 1843 to 1888, and died at New Rochelle, N. Y., March 31, 1905, aged 83 years.
In the following October Tozer & Germon's theatre played a week at the hall. The managers were J. B. Tozer, the low comedian of G. A. Hough's company, and Greenbury C. Germon, who was the father of Effie Germon, who was at that time only eight years old and who afterward at- tained a brilliant reputation as a star. In the company was Frank S. Chan- frau, who a few years previous had made · a remarkable hit at Mitchell's
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Olympic theatre as Mose, the fireman; in "A Glance at New York," and . in · his excellent imitations of other ac -. tors in the part of Jerry Clip in the farce of "The "Widow's Victim," sonie- times known as "The Stage-Struck Barber."
When the company left New York it was under an agreement whereby Chanfrau was to receive one-half of the net receipts each evening. Chan- frau did not prove so great an attrac -. tion as had been expected, and the company broke up very soon after leaving Owego. Germon died in Chi- cago in the spring following his visit : to Owego: He was the original Uncle Tom when the play was produced for the first time in America at the Troy museum in 1853. His wife was the. granddaughter of old Joseph Jeffer- son and cousin of the Joseph Jeffer- son, who was famous as Rip Van- Winkle.
Chanfrau was supported here by . Mlle. Albertine, a danseuse in early life and afterward an actress. She . supported the elder Booth and later travelled with Chanfrau from 1850 to . 1857. In 1837 she went with Gustavus V. Brooke, the tragedian, to Australia and while there was stricken with a fever, which was followed by total blindness. Chanfrau's . last appear- ance in Owego was in "Kit, the Ar- kansas Traveller," at Wilson opera house. He died at Long Branch Oct. 2, 1884, leaving an estate, valued at $300,000.
In April, 1854, a company under the management of P. Page ran the play of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" one week. Mrs. Stowe's novel had been drama- tized two years previous, but it had
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not reached Owego, and as it had made a sensation . throughout the country the company drew good houses here. The leading actor was G. A. Nichols.
. The New York Dramatic Company, under the management of James .Ponisi, was at first refused a license by the board of trustees, but license. was afterward granted by each mem- ber of the board individually. . The company opened in "La Tour de Nesle" March 23, 1857. Mr. and Mrs. J. B. Turner played the leading parts and Daniel Myron acted Irish char- : acters in the farces. Lizzie Ross, a daughter of Tony Ross, of the G. A. Hough company and the wife of My- ron, was an excellent soubrette. The "old man" was H. O. Pardey, an Eng- lishman, an excellent actor and dra- matic author, who wrote the comedy of : "Nature's Nobleman" for Wm. E. Burton. He was somewhat dissi- pated, and was found dead in the street in Philadelphia March 3, 1865.
James Popisi, the manager of the company, was an Englishman, a poor actor, and the husband of Madame Ponisi, who was for many years a leading actress in the New York the- atres. J. B. Turner was stricken blind while playing with W. J. Scan- lan's company at Waterbury, Conn., in November, 1866. He had been on the stage thirty-six years at that time.
A unique dramatic combination was the company managed by John F. Breyer, which opened at Ahwaga hall Aug. 5, 1858. It was composed of members . of one family-Mrs. J. E. Breyer, her three sons and two daugh- ters. They had thirty pieces of
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scenery. The stage was built at the north end of the hall. The scenery, flies, and wings were held in place by an ingenions arrangement of poles and heavy cords, not a nail being driven. They had the most complete outfit of properties and costumes ever carried by a travelling theatre, all of which they had brought with then from Scotland a short time previous to their visit to Owego, and which had been used by the father of the family, John E. Breyer, who toured England and Scotland in Shakespearian plays for thirty years and who died in Scot- land in 1857, while travelling with his company.
The expenses of the Breyers here were small, and their stay of three weeks in Owego was a profitable one, although the houses. were light. They did not stay at a hotel, but hired the small house which is still standing on the south side of Temple street west of and adjoining the old grammar school building, where they "kept house," the same as their temporary neighbors. The music was supplied by a very large hand organ, which was kept behind the scenes. . The com- pany played "Don Caesar de Bazan," 'Pizarro," . "The . Castle . Spectre," "Macbeth,", "The Lady of. Lyons," "Othello," "Rob Roy," "King. Richard III," "The Honeymoon," "Douglas," and other standard plays, concluding each evening with a farce. The ver- satility and ingenuity shown by some of the members of the family in per- sonating three or four different char- acters in the same play was re- markable.
After leaving Owego the family · went west. Mrs. John F. Breyer, the
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mother, who was a most excellent actress, died at Fort Wayne, Ind., Inly 15, 1864. Then the family be- came scattered. John F. Breyer, the eldest son, was for several years the leading man in the stock companies in various cities of the west. He after- ward managed his own company, known as the Maggie Breyer Comedy Company, and was very successful. He died at Creston, Ill., Feb. 12, 1889.
William V. Breyer, the younger brother, was afterward a member of western stock companies and was manager later of the Enoch. Arden Combination, in which he sustained the principal roles. Several years ago he purchased a ranch near North Platte, Nebraska, and retired from the stage. He was too good an actor to have wasted his talent travelling in the west. Had he remained in New York he would have acquired reputa- tion and fortune.
The eldest . sister, : Miss Mary Breyer, was for many years known throughout the United States as a leading actress in city theatres and was manager of the Mary Breyer edy Company. While playing with Otis Skinner's company at Nashville, Tenn., in February, 1899, she was taken ill and died at a sanitarium. At one time there were three Breyer companies on the road, John F. Breyer heading the Breyer Dramatic Company in Illinois, Ohio, and West Virginia; Wm. V. Breyer heading the Enoch Arden' Combination, playing Enoch Arden, Rip Van Winkle, and other pieces in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa, and the Mary Breyer Com- edy Company, touring Indiana, Ken- tucky, and Virginia.
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A theatre under 'the management of . Morris & Brink opened at Ahwaga. hall January 29, 1859. Edw. H. Brink was a good. actor, but his partner, Morris, was a very bad one. . Jeuny Stanley was the leading lady. The low comedian was Thomas G. Riggs, an actor of Irish characters. He was. a comedian of the highest order and afterward played in all the large the- atres in the United States. He went to Australia and died in Tasmania in 1899.
In January, 1860, Charles Plunkett; an English actor, who came to Anter' ica in 1858 and was the leading actor 'at Placide's Varieties, the chief the- atre in . New Orleans, La., came . to Owego with a travelling company.
The low comedian, James S. Math -. ows, was also an Englishman, and was the father of the famous equestrienne known as Ella Madigan, who was then a child. He afterward managed a the- atrical company of his own. He was manager of a theatre in Rochester five . Years and there be lost the savings of many years. He studied law and. es- tablished himself at Oswego, where he. died in 1891.
Another member of the company was Edw. T. Clinton, a son of the famous tragic actress, Mrs. Shaw, whose second ' husband was Thomas S. Hamblin, the tragedian, who was for twenty-three years manager of the Bowery theatre in New York. Clinton was a fine tenor singer and had been a member of the Rosalia Durand opera troupe. In addition to appear- ing in all the plays he sang "Larboard Watch," "Sally in Our Alley,", and other old-time ballads between. the
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pieces. The leading lady was Jose- phine Woodward.
In the company was L. Chester Bartlett, of Binghamton. He was a brother of Rev. William Alvin Bartlett, who was pastor of the Owego Congre- gational church in 1857-8. He was then but a mere youth, but had consider- able talent. He abandoned theatri- cals, however, and became sheriff of Broome county and served as member of assembly.
Plunkett was a gifted actor, some- what resembling in . appearance Charles Fetcher, the celebrated French tragedian. He was a genial man socially, and in telling Irish or Scotch stories he was inimitable in his dialect imitations. The year previous to his appearance here he was was the tragedian at the New Bowery theatre in New York. He died . in Detroit, Mich., in April, 1882. His wife was a fine actress and one of the handsom- est women ever seen on the stage at Owego. She died at Fort Wayne, Ind., in September, 1867.
Ashley's hall was built in 1862 by Martin Ashley, who came to Owego a few years previous and opened a sa-, loon and restaurant on the west side of Lake street, in which business he was very successful. The ground on which Ashley hall stood is on the west side of Lake street and is now occu- pied by Hill & Parker's brick block. The land was owned . by Lorenzo Reeves, whose widow married Col. Benoni B. Curry. The buildings on the property were all burned in the - fire of 1849 and the land was subse- quently owned by Abner L. Ely, of New York city, of whom Mr. Ashley
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bought it January 28, 1862. Mr. Ash- ley built a brick block thereon, in the second story of which was a hall, which he called Ashley's hall. The hall had a level floor, with a stage at the west end with a gallery along the north side over the stairway.
One of the favorites at this time was Wiftiam A. Rouse, a popular comic actor, whose right name was William Augustus Fitznarding Berke -. ley and who came of an aristocratic English family at Cheltenham, Eng- land. He was a good actor even when badly intoxicated, which was fre- quently his condition. He died in New York city in 1885. His wife, Fanny Denham Rouse, had been a great favorite at the Bowery theatre in . New York and was a finished ac- . tress. She was a member of various companies in New York city after her husband's death.
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