Growth of a Century : as illustrated in the history of Jefferson County, New York, from 1793 to 1894, Part 26

Author: Haddock, John A. 1823-
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : Sherman
Number of Pages: 1094

USA > New York > Jefferson County > Growth of a Century : as illustrated in the history of Jefferson County, New York, from 1793 to 1894 > Part 26

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"After toil and many troubles, self-exiled for many years,

Long delays and sad misfortunes, man's regrets and woman's tears ;

Unfulfilled the brilliant outset, broken as a chain of sand,

Were the golden expectations by Grande Rapides' promised land."

DEATH OF PIERRE PHAROUX.

One of the saddest incidents in the story of Castorland is the death of Pharoux, at the falls of Watertown, in 1795. In September of that year, after the river had been swollen by heavy rains, Pharoux set out with Brod- head, Tassart and others, all surveyors, on a journey to Kingston. In passing down the river on a raft, they were drawn over the falls. Mr. Brodhead and three men were saved, but Pharoux was drowned. The sur- vivors made unremitting search for Pharoux's body, but it was not found until the following

spring. It was washed ashore upon an island at the mouth of Black river, where it was found by Benjamin Wright, the surveyor, and by him deeently buried there. M. LeRay de Chaumont many years afterwards caused a marble tablet to be set in the rock near his grave, bearing this inscription :

TO THE MEMORY OF PIERRE PHAROUX,

THIS ISLAND IS CONSECRATED.

The reader will remember that the year be- fore his death, Pharoux had discovered and named the river Independence, in Castorland, and had selected a beautiful spot at its mouth on the Black river, near a large flat granite rock, for his residence. This spot, called by the Desjardines Brothers Independence Rock, was ever afterwards regarded by them with melancholy interest. They could not pass it without shedding tears to the memory of their long-tried and trusted friend. Under date of May 28, 1796, Simon Desjardines, the elder brother, recorded in his journal : " Landed at half-past two at Independence Rock, and visited once more this charming spot which had been so beautifully chosen by out friend Pharoux as the site for his house. The azaleas in full bloom loaded the air with their perfume, and the wild birds sang sweetly around their nests, but nature has no no longer any pleasant sights, nor fragrance, nor music, for me.

CASTORLAND, ADIEU !

And now ancient Castorland may be added to the long list of names once famous in the cities of Europe, and long celebrated in the forest annals of Northern New York, but now forgotten, and found only in history and song-feebly commemorated by the name of an insignificant railway station.

JEFFERSON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

PRESIDENT BROCKWAY'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS.

GENTLEMEN of the Jefferson County His- torical Society : I could not do less than re- turn to you my sincere thanks for selecting me to preside over your deliberations. I do not apprehend that the labor of doing it will be arduous, but such as it may be, I promise to perform it as well as I may be able.

As one grows old he loses his ambition, likewise his interest in the petty squabbles that so disturb the public tranquility ; and he is prone to dwell much upon the past. Young men make history; those of mature years write it. The work in which we have en- listed ought to have been performed by others, and a good deal of it a long while ago. But the men who settled Jefferson county had enough to do without compiling history. They furnished valuable materials and left their successors to collect them and put them in shape. The Masseys, the Hungerfords, the

Paddocks, the Woodruffs, the Bronsons, Cof- feens and Butterfields, werc too busy in their several callings, to kecp record of their oper- ations. The men who erected the first build- ings in Watertown were so engrossed in their work that they found little time to jot down their doings for the enlightenment of the present gencration. And the same is true of the merchants, the doctors and lawyers and clergymen, who flourished in this commun- ity, who walked our streets, serving their clients and-themselves, who visited the sick and buried the dead, and administered conso- lation to the afflicted, who waited upon custom- ers ; who, in a word, transacted the business of Watertown fifty and seventy-five years ago. What did they do in the way of writing his- tory ? They had no history to write ; at least, none that would have possessed any general interest to their contemporaries. They left

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JEFFERSON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

that duty to us, bidding us to look at their work ; to scan their lives and see if we could find aught therein worthy of note. I do not suppose that the men to whom I refer, Wm. Smith, Jason Fairbanks, Marinus W. Gilbert, Judge Foster, Micah Sterling, Egbert Ten Eyck, Perley Keyes, and scores of others I might name who lived when they did, were aware that they were doing anything that any one coming after them would consider worthy of mention. They were all very modest-as are those of our day-intent on doing what they conceived to be their duty, and allowing those who were to follow them to make such notice of their deeds as should be due them.

And that is what I believe this Society pro- poses to do. We will turn back the pages of history so far as it may relate to Jefferson county, see what has been going on in it during the past eighty years or more, see who have been the prominent men in it, and what has made them prominent, while taking cogniz- ance of such other facts and occurrences con- nected with this particular locality as may be deemed worthy of lasting remembrance.

History is valuable in so far as it affords in- struction-in so far as it lifts the present race of men to a higher plane than the one upon which their predecessors stood. For I take it the civilized world is advancing in knowledge and wisdom-growing. It certainly should be, for its opportunities are greater. There are those who are inclined to underrate the present ; to consider the world upon the down grade. So they go to the past for wisdom and instruction. If they are right, if we are really retrograding, we had better abandon our sys- tems of education and the instrumentalities by which we are endeavoring to advance civilization, and go back to barbarism. But I do not subscribe to the sentiment at all. I believe the present age is a good way in ad- vance of any previous one, that we have quite as able men, quite as profound, wise and virtuous ones as have existed at any former period, and a great many more of them. Of course I have no objection to paying homage to the men who founded our institutions ; I have great respect for Washington and Frank- lin and Jefferson and Adams and the rest ; but I have the impression that we have today just as great men and just as up- right men as they were, and those of even broader minds. I have due reverence for the past, but I never could see any sense in the adulation that is bestowed upon it. I don't understand why we should be all the while traveling into the misty past for heroes and patriots and other model men-why we should have to go back thousands of years to meet with righteous men and saints. On the contrary, I believe we have just as excellent men in our day as have ever existed ; and I ex- pect and rather hope that when we shall have been off the stage as long as "the good men of old," there will be those among us who will be remembered for some virtuous deed and good action. I expect that those who are to come after us will do justice to us, even if we fail to do justice to ourselves.

For this reason we should aim to do some- thing worthy of remembrance. We have been slow in commencing the work in which we have now embarked ; but we were waiting for others to act in this matter, and had other duties to perform. However, there is still time enough to accomplish much, if we make this Society what it should be, and what it should be our ambition to make it, a live one. We have abundant materials to make this or- ganization one of the most useful and best of its kind. I am sorry that so little has been done in the way of preserving newspaper files. Had we at hand copies of every newspaper that has been issued in the county, how our labors would be lightened ! Any fairly con- ducted public journal contains the most re- liable history of the time in which it is pub- lished, to be obtained ; and if the Legislature of the State had enacted a law a hundred years ago or more, requiring every person proposing to engage in the publication of a newspaper, to preserve files of the same and cause it to be bound and placed in the office of the clerk of the county, or in some other secure place, either at his own or the county's expense, and made this a condition of its pub- lication, it would have rendered a more valu- able service in the way of securing a correct history of the State than it could have per- formed in any other manner. But we must do the best we can with the materials we have as they exist. We expect to find them a good deal scattered, and many things are buried beneath vast amounts of dust and rubbish. We must, however, try to rescue the more important of them, write up such facts in the lives of the departed as have never been re- corded, and be careful and make an excellent record of events in this county from this time onward.

The Jefferson County Historical Society was organized May 10, 1886, at the lecture room of the Young Men's Christian Association by the election of officers. A preliminary meeting had been held at the law office of Frank H. Peck, in the City Opera House building, on April 6, 1886, pursuant to a call issued through the press of the city and county. The Hon. Charles R. Skinner, Colonel W. B. Camp, Daniel S. Marvin, Rev. Dr. R. Fisk and Col. A. D. Shaw, had been specially in- strumental in causing the call to be made and in preparing the way to success. The follow- ing named gentlemen were present at the pre- liminary meeting : W. B. Camp, of Sackets Harbor ; Dr. A. T. Jacobs, of Ellisburg ; Jus- tus Eddy, of Adams ; Philo M. Brown, of Lorraine ; J. A. Parker, of the town of Water- town; and Rev. J. Winslow, R. A. Oakes, Moses Eames, A. D. Shaw, Rev. R. Fisk, Sidney Cooper, E. M. Gates, E. J. Clark, B. Brockway and F. D. Rogers. Mr. Brockway was made chairman, and R. Fisk, secretary. Communications were read from the Hon. Charles R. Skinner, Marcellus Massey and James Mix. Mr. Skinner accompanied his encouraging communication with a draft of a constitution and by-laws. It was voted that

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THE GROWTH OF A CENTURY.

a committee of five be appointed by the chair to report on May 10, 1886, a plan of organi- zation to whom the draft of constitution and by-laws submitted by Mr. Skinner, be refer- red. The following named gentlemen were made such committee : Albert D. Shaw, P. M. Brown, R. A. Oakes, W. B. Camp and Sidney Cooper. On the report of this com- mittee, on May 10, 1886, the organization was perfected. Monthly meetings have been regu- larly held since, excepting in the summer months. Papers have been prepared for the Society by the following named persons and others : At the June meeting by Moses Eames, on the "Early History of Rutland ;" at the July meeting by D. S. Marvin, on the " Glacial History of Rutland Hollow;" at the October meeting, a stenographer's report of a visit by Col. Shaw to I. T. Atwood, on the "Early History of Depauville;" at the same meeting, by the Rev. W. M. Beauchamp, of Baldwins- ville, Onondaga county, on the " Aborigines of Jefferson County;" at the November meet- ing, by R. A. Oakes, on the "Gods of the Iroquois ;" at the December meeting, held in Carthage, by Prof. W. K. Wickes, on " His- tory, Its Claims and Charms ;" at the January meeting, by Wm. Fayel, of St. Louis, read by Col. Shaw, on "Historical Reminiscences of Jefferson County;" at the February meeting, by Miss Parnelle F. Hubbard, read by Col.

Shaw, on "Historical Incidents of Cham- pion;" at the March meeting, by D. S. Mar- vin, on "Mounds at Perch Lake ;" also at same meeting, by E. S. Sill, read by Colonel Shaw, on " Reminiscences of Watertown ;" at the April meeting, by Mrs. John A. Sherman, on "Early Cheese Makers and Making," read by E. J. Clark; also a paper by Marcellus Massey, on the " Early Settlement and Indus- tries of Watertown," read by Col. Shaw. Many other papers have been prepared and read before the Society by different authors, among whom were the Hon. L. Ingalls, on the "Press of Jefferson County;" by Mr. Dar- ling, of Utica, a poem; by Prof. Hill, on the "Province of Historical Societies;" by T. B. Townsend, on "Early Watertown;" by Prof. Mace and others, on various topics in the line of local historical events.

The present officers of the Society are Col. Walter B. Camp, of Sackets Harbor, Presi- dent ; E. J. Clark, 1st Vice-President ; John C. Sterling, 2d Vice-President ; L. Ingalls, Secretary ; N. P. Wardwell, Treasurer; D. S. Marvin, Librarian.

Much consideration has been given to rais- ing funds for fire-proof historical rooms, and Col. O. G. Staples recently subscribed $500 for that purpose, but the work has not yet been accomplished, though it is a very desir- able object.

THE AGRICULTURAL INSURANCE COMPANY.

THE history of this company has been so fully indentified with the history of Jefferson county that we depart from our custom and give it, in connection with its most distin- guished president, Dr. Isaac Munson, a chapter by itself. Strange as it may seem, and little as it may have been commented up- on, this company has more generally adver- tised Watertown than any or perhaps all the other industries or companies or institutions originated in this city. Its policies have gone into nearly all the States, particularly into the central and western portions of the Union, and its integrity in management, the high character of the men who have been and are now (1894) at its head, have made its name a synonym of strength and responsibili- ty. And the town, to-day, is remembered more through this insurance company than through any other medium.

In August. 1851, a meeting of farmers of Jefferson and Lewis counties was held at the village of Evans Mills, for the purpose of organizing an insurance company to take risks exclusively upon farm property. At that meeting the following gentlemen were named as a board of corporators, viz. : Alden Adams, Ira A. Smith, Harrison Blodgett, John C. Cooper, Gideon S. Sacket, Isaac Munson, Evelyn F. Carter, Joseph Fayel, Loveland Paddock, Wolcott Steel, Wm. P. Babcock, Ashley Davenport, Ira Beaman, Hiram Dewey and Levi Miller. At a subse- quent meeting Alden Adams was elected

president ; Isaac Munson, vice-president; U. A. Wright, secretary ; and E. B. Fowler, general agent.

There was considerable delay in perfecting its organization, which was finally completed, mainly through the persistent energy of E. B. Fowler, who appears to have been the real working force of the Mutual Company, in March, 1853. From this time until May. 1855, the company issued only about 1500 policies. In January, 1855, John C. Cooper was elected president, in place of Alden Adams, and by. special act of the Legislature the office was changed from the village of Evans Mills to the village of Watertown ; and on May 3, of that year, Isaac Munson was elected secretary in place of U. A. Wright. After the removal of the office to Watertown the business began gradually to increase, and the company to prosper, per- haps beyond any other mutual insurance company in the State, and continued to do so until 1862, when, in consequence of the fail- ure of the greater number of the mutual com- panies of this State, and the closing up of their business by collecting and prosecuting their premium-notes, it became extremely difficult, where a company was not well known, to obtain premium-notes sufficient to keep the capital of the company intact. At a meeting of the directors a proposition was made to change from a mutual to a stock com- pany. This requiring the consent of two- thirds of its policy-holders, it was deemed

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THE AGRICULTURAL INSURANCE COMPANY.

DR. ISAAC MUNSON.

best to defer the change for one year. In the mean time, the required number of policy- holders having signed a petition, the change was effected January 9, 1863.

During its existence as a mutual, the Agricultural paid all its losses promptly, never taxed its premium notes, and accumu- lated in ten years a surplus to the amount of $45,572.

This company has now been in existence in its present plan over 41 years, has during that time always met its losses promptly, and has accumulated cash assets to the amount of above $2,312,000.

Its offices are in one of the most central and attractive portions of the city. It has enjoyed a season of prolonged and uninter- rupted prosperity-due mainly to the effi- ciency of its management and the liberality of its policies. It has been wise, too, in distrib- uting its risks over large areas, and in con-

fining them to the range of least liability- contenting itself with a large, safe business, at a small profit, rather than incurring hazard- ous risks at higher premiums. The policy of the company has been to pursue this safer line, and it has manifested its wisdom in so doing, for while many good companies have gone into honorable liquidation, the Agricul- tural has kept straight along, sharing in the business depression that has been so preva- lent, but never failing to earn something for its stockholders.

The 41st annual statement of the Agricul- tural shows the following results : Capital, $500,000.00; Net assets, (to protect policy- holders,) $2,160,857.07; Net surplus to policy- holders, $761,199 83; Net surplus to stock- holders, $261,199.83.

RECAPITALATION.

Real Estate owned by the company, $294,-

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THE GROWTH OF A CENTURY.

801.32; Loans on Bonds and Mortgages, (1st lien,) $1,132,291.63; Municipal Bonds, and other Stocks, $399,227.87; Loans on Collater- als, $70,870.64 ; Interest due and accrued, $54,413.72 ; Cash in company's office, $6,304 .- 97; Cash in Banks, $193,426.54 ; Uncollected Premiums, $147,474.60 ; Premium Notes, $11,036.41; Miscellaneous, $2,828.49. Total Assets, $2,312,676,19.

LIABILITIES.

Unpaid Losses, $117,731.52; Unearned Premiums, $1,399,657.24 ; unpaid dividends, $55.00 ; Coms. and exps. on uncol. premiums, $34,032.60, $1,551,476.36 ; Total $761,199,36 ; Capital Stock, $500,000.00. Net Surplus, $261 199.83.

PRESENT OFFICERS.

Jean R. Stebbins, President ; A. H. Sawyer, Vice President ; C. Patterson, 2d Vice Presi- dent ; A. E. Dewey, General Agent ; H. Bar- num, Supt. of Agencies ; H. M. Stevens, Secretary ; W. H. Stevens, Assistant Secretary; Sidney Cooper, Treasurer; L. F. Phillips, Cashier.

PRESENT TRUSTEES.

Hon. Willard Ives. Jean R. Stebbins, H. M. Stevens, A. E. Dewey, C. Patterson. R. S. Whitman, Hon. Titus Sheard, Sidney Cooper, John O. Wheeler, A. H. Sawyer, F. H. Munson, P. C. Williams, H. F. Ingle- hart, J. Q. Adams, Wm. H. Stevens.

DR. ISAAC MUNSON.

THE history of the Agricultural Insurance Company would appear to me incomplete without at least a slight recognition, upon the printed page, of the ability and perseverance of one of its earliest and ablest Presidents, in- timately and engrossingly connected with its affairs for many years. Dr. Isaac Munson was born at Salisbury, Herkimer county, N. Y., in March, 1812. His father was a well-to-do farmer. He remained at home, working upon the farm during his school va- cations and sometimes most of the summer, until he was 17 years of age, when he left home to attend the Fairfield Academy, and in a few years entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Western New York, located at Fairfield, and at that time the most noted medical college north of Philadelphia. He remained at this place until January, 1834, when the college conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Soon after, he left his native county and located in the Black River country, forming a co-partner- ship with the late Dr. Ira A. Smith, of Evans Mills. This business connection lasted for three years. Having in the meantime formed a more intimate partnership with Miss Cor- nelia Stebbins, of Rutland, which occurred May 24, 1836, he was, at the solicitations of relatives and friends, induced to locate in that town, where he remained practicing his profession for 13 years, until the fall of 1849. Dr. Munson moved right along in his prac- tice, for he had patience and faith, and emi- nent skill, and to have called him once in sickness made him an esteemed friend of the family. Year by year he grew into the re- gard and estimation of the county at large, until he was perhaps the widest known and most successful among the able physicians of Jefferson county.

He was a Democrat from principle, because he thought that party came nearest to being the true friend of the common people. His merited popularity as a man and a physician, and his long adhesion to the Democratic faith, caused him to be nominated and elected County Clerk in 1849, and that same year he

removed to Watertown, entering upon his official duties January 1, 1850.

He served one term as County Clerk, and again took up his practice, the duties of which he had never been able entirely to es- cape from, and while in active practice as a physician he was prevailed to accept the posi- tion of Secretary of the Agricultural Insurance Company in 1855, remaining in that relation to the company until elected its President, which office he held until his death in 1886.

Dr. Munson was a man of many excellent parts. He was a distinguished and successful physician, a politician of large ability, a " man of affairs" in the best sense of that term, and the executive officer of a large and successful insurance company. The highest compli- ment that can be paid to his character is to say that in every department he filled, he came fully up to its requirements, and was never found derelict in any duty or in any capacity, either professionally, politically or morally.

He was especially the friend and able adviser of young men, particularly of poor and struggling young men. Such never were turned away, whether they came for assist- ance or for advice. I think no man in this city stood so high in this respect or accom- plished so much good as Dr. Munson. Em- inently democratic, easily approached, ever denying self in order to aid a friend by coun- cil or by means, he "passed on to join the great majority," univerally respected, and loved best by those who knew him best.

His varied intercourse with his fellows had made him an excellent judge of men. His

early habits had made him a close student. both of books and of character, something of great service to him in his varied career. Undoubtedly the most eventful acts of his life are his almost unparalleled success as the executive officer in the management of the Agricultural Company, which success has laid the foundation for the large insurance in- terests of the city of Watertown. He was the moving spirit in February, 1855, that made those radical changes in the company which

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BIOGRAPHIES.

saved the farmers from being taxed upon their premium notes to pay losses, which would have resulted in winding up its busi- ness and disbanding the company. In May of the same year, he was elected Secretary of the company, and for ten years, so to speak, carried the institution in his pocket; and in that ten years the company accumulated a surplus of over $100,000, on a business for the first eight years confined to only a few counties. In 1863 an effort was made to largely increase the business of the company, and at this time the Doctor gave evidence of the energy and executive ability he possessed. From one of the least companies of the State, it became one of the nine of the 104 doing the largest business, and but two outside the city of New York. This credit to Dr. Munson is not given in disparagement of the efforts of his co-laborers, who have so essentially aided in the prosperity of the company; but in its early history and until it was a success, he had comparatively little help in its executive management.

His presence was benignant, his counten- ance invited confidence, and he made friends by being himself friendly. There was a mag- netism in his smile that made a stranger instantly at ease in his presence. Viewed in all his characteristics as a private citizen, as a member of the laborious and exacting profes- sion of medicine, as a public official in a place of high responsibility, or as presiding officer of a rich and influential corporation, Dr. Munson was just and kind and able in them all. But as a husband and a parent, he was the peer of any other man on earth. The sunlight of his countenance made home happy, and what higher praise could he re- ceive than that? Surely such a character has nothing to fear as he enters heaven's Valhalla, and comes into the presence of the great and good who there hold council together. The Doctor left a widow to mourn for a good and noble husband. They had two children, Henry S., and Frank H., both living, and energetically engaged in the business of in- surance.

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Growth of a Century : as illustrated in the history of Jefferson County, New York, from 1793 to 1894, Part 26

Author: Haddock, John A. 1823- Publication date: 1894 Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : Sherman Number of Pages: 1094

Author: Haddock, John A. 1823-
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : Sherman
Number of Pages: 1094