Growth of a Century : as illustrated in the history of Jefferson County, New York, from 1793 to 1894, Part 30

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

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ERECTION OF PUBLIC BUILDINGS.

The governor, and council of appointment, accordingly designated Matthew Dorr, David Rodgers and John Van Bentheusen, commis- sioners to locate the site of the court house and jail; and a section in an act passed April 7, 1806, provided that their expenses should be audited by the comptroller, and paid by tax upon the counties. The portion paid by this county was $205. How faithfully their trust was executed, it may not be our duty to inquire ; but in Lewis county they were openly charged with having come predeter- mined in their choice, and an affidavit was procured from one who had overheard their conversation, in which this fact was distinctly indicated. As matters have since settled down, their decision here has doubtless been productive of the greatest benefit to thie county, although the precise locality has always been somewhat inconvenient on account of its distance from the business part of the village. This question of location was not settled without the most active efforts being made by Brownville, to secure the site ; but the balance of settlement was then south of Black River, and the level lands in the north part of the county were represented to the commissioners as swampy and incapable of settlement. Jacob Brown, finding it im- possible to secure this advantage to his place, next endeavored to retain it, at least, north of Black River, and offered an eligible site in the present town of Pamelia ; but in this he also failed. The influence of Henry Coffeen is said to have been especially strong with the commissioners, although he was seconded by others of much ability. It is said that the site was marked at some distance below the business part of the village of Watertown, to conciliate those who had been disappointed in its location. A deed of the premises was presented by Henry and Amos Coffeen, which were, it is said, intended to include the tri- angular lot since sold to private individuals.

The first meeting of the board of supervis- ors was held in the school house, on the site of the Universalist Church, in Watertown, October 1, 1805, and the following persons constituted the first board : Noadiah Hub- bard, Champion ; Cliff French, Rutland;

Corlis Hinds, Watertown; John W. Collins, Brownville ; Nicholas Salisbury, Adams ; Thomas White, Harrison ; Lyman Ellis, Ellisburgh ; Asa Brown, Malta. N. Hubbard was chosen president, and Zelotus Harvey, clerk. The meeting was adjourned to the house of Abijah Putnam. Cliff French, Thomas White and Corlis Hinds were ap- pointed a committee to procure a conveyance of the land on which the court house and jail were to be erected. The following was the aggregate of the real and personal estate in the several towns : Ellisburg, $80,109 ; Watertown, $69,986.50 ; Adams, $33,606 ; Brownville, $447,240 ; Harrison, $43,395 ; Malta, $49,248 ; Rutland, $44,829; Cham- pion, $42,578.50; total, $805,992. Henry Coffeen presented a bill of $85.86, and Jacob Brown of $100, for attendance at Albany, in procuring the division of Oneida county, which were rejected. The latter had been appointed by the convention at Denmark, for that purpose. Hart Massey was appointed sealer of weights and measures, and $45, and the next year $30 were voted to purchase a set of standards of specified materials.

In 1806, the board consisted of Jacob Brown, Corlis Hinds, Perley Keyes, Noadiah Hubbard, Jonathan Davis, Augustus Sacket, Ethni Evans, Jesse Hopkins, Asa Brown and Nicholas Salisbury. J. Brown and A. Sacket were appointed to settle all accounts pending with Oneida and Lewis counties, by . meeting at Whitestown, with committees to be chosen by them for the purpose. At a sub- sequent meeting they reported $328.61 due to Jefferson ; $293.54 to Lewis, and $1,670.73 to Oneida counties, from the funds on hand at the time of division. Messrs. Hinds, Salis- bury and J. Brown, were appointed to report the expediency and probable cost of a jail, and the most advisable course to be pursued. The expense of sending prisoners to Whites- town was found heavy, and it was appre- hended that public officers would reluctantly spend their time in going to and from thence. " Hence many criminals might escape a just punishment, and the county might be infested with criminals, to the great danger and injury of its inhabitants." The committee reported that two-thirds of all county charges were paid by non-resident taxes, and a prospect then existed that this law would be repealed. They, therefore, advised the immediate erec- tion of a jail, and it was estimated it could be built for $4,500 ; that $2,500 would provide one better for the interests of the county, than the existing system. J. Brown and A. Sackett were appointed to draft a petition to the Legis- lature, which procured on the 20th of Febru- ary, a law authorizing a tax of $2,500 for erecting a court house and jail, and February 19, 1808, a further tax of $2,500 was applied for. In 1867, Noadiah Hubbard and Zelotus Harvey were appointed a committee to meet a similar one from Lewis county, to ascertain the boundary of the two counties. William Smith, Gershem Tuttle and N. Hubbard were appointed to build a jail after a plan to be ap- proved by the board. . It was to be 40 by 60

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ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY, PUBLIC BUILDINGS, ETC.

feet, built of wood and fronting eastward, and was built in 1807-8, by Wm. Rice and Joel Mix, after the plans of Wm. Smith. It contained a jail in the first story, and stood a little south of the present jail. On the 30th of January, 1808, the superintendents were em- powered "to build a sufficient tower and cupola on the center of said building, and cover the dome of said cupola with tin, and so construct the said tower and cupola that it shall be sufficiently strong and convenient so as to hang a bell, and to erect a spire and vane, and also a suitable rod to conduct the lightning from said building." On the 5th of October, 1808, the accounts of the court house audited, including extra work and ser- vices of committee, amounted to $4,997.58. Wm. Smith was directed to purchase the necessary fixtures for the court house and jail, at an estimated cost of $262.87.

In 1807 (Aug. 13), the jail liberties were first established, and deserve mention from the singular manner in which they were laid out. They covered a small space around the Court House, and a part of the Public Square, and included most of the houses in the village, while between these localities, along the sides of the roads, and sometimes in the centre, were paths, from four to eight feet wide, with occasionaly crossings, so that by careful observing this route, turning right angles, and keeping himself in the strict ranges which the court had established, a man might visit nearly every building in the village; but if the route was by any accident obstructed by a pile of lumber, a pool of mud, or a loaded wagon, he must pass over, or through, or under ; or else expose himself to the peril of losing this precarious freedom, by close imprisonment, and subjecting his bail to prosecution for the violation of his trust. In several instances persons were thus dealt with, where they had inadvertently turned aside from the straight and narrow path, to which the statutes of that period allowed the creditor to consign his un- fortunate debtor. A map of these limits, prepared by Jonas Smith, who for several years had made these details a subject of daily observation from necessity, was prepared in July, 1811, and deposited in the clerk's office. It is interesting from its containing the names of those who then owned houses in the village, of whom there were about fifty. These limits were maintained till Feb. 23, 1821, when an act was passed defining a rectangular area around the village as the jail limits. A curious feature of the "jail limits" jurispru- dence was that if a debtor went beyond the limits after 12 p. m. Saturday night and re- turned before 12 p. m. Sunday night, he could not be arrested nor his bail prosecuted, for the reason that those hours constituting a dies non, no precept could therein issue, and consequently no breaking of the law could be alleged. By this interpretation many a poor debtor was able to go to his home and visit his family for a few hours, and vet re- turn in time to escape any penalty. Viewed from our later standpoint it seem to have been a cruel law. In 1808 a series of maps was

directed to be prepared by Jonas Smith, for the comptroller's office, at a cost of $100, and at the same session Messrs. Richardson, Hub- bard and Hopkins were appointed to petition the Legislature for a law to provide for the destruction of Canada thistles. On the 9th of October, 1815, the supervisors voted a petition for a tax of $1000 to build a fire-proof clerk's office, and April 5, 1816, an act was passed accordingly, allowing a tax not exceeding $1500 for this purpose, and Ebenezer Wood, Ethel Bronson and Egbert Ten Eyck were named as commissioners to build the same. The conduct of a certain senator, in substitut- ing the name of another man for that of Judge Brown on the committee, was most strongly condemned by a subsequent vote of the super- visors. A clerk's office was accordingly built between the present Episcopal Church and the Public Square, and was occupied until the present one was erected in 1831, in accord- ance with an act of Jan. 26, 1831. The super- visors in 1829 had appointed a committee to investigate the matter, and in 1830 had peti- tioned for the act, which named Daniel Ward- well, Eli West, and Stephen D. Sloan, com- missioners for this purpose, who were em- powered to borrow on the credit of the county $1000 for the purpose, and to sell the former office and lot.

In December, 1817, the Court House was injured by fire, which occasioned a meeting of the board, and $500 were voted for repairs. On the 9th of Feb. 1821, the Court House and jail were burned, and on the 12th the super- visors met to take into consideration the mea- sures necessary for the occasion. A petition was forwarded for a law authorizing a tax of $8000 to rebuild the county buildings, and a loan of $6000 for the same purpose. It was resolved to build the jail separate from the court house, and both buildings were to be of stone. Elisha Camp, Nathan Strong and John Brown were appointed commissioners to superintend the building. Premiums of $10 for a plan of a court house, and $15 for one of a jail, were offered. An act was accordingly passed, March 13, 1821, for the separate erec- tion of these buildings, at a cost not exceeding $8000, under the direction of. Eliphalet Edmonds, Henry H. Coffeen and Jabez Foster. The courts meanwhile were to be held at the brick academy, and criminals were to be sent to the Lewis county jail. A loan not exceed- ing $6000 was authorized from the State. On the 28th of March the board met, and the plan for a jail offered by Wm. Smith, was adopted, and a resolution was passed providing for solitary cells. The Court House was agreed to be 45 by 48 feet, after a plan by J. H. Bishop. This necessity of an outlay for new buildings revived the question of a new site, and among others, the citizens of Sackets Harbor made diligent efforts, by petition, to secure their location, but without success ; and in the same season a Court House and a jail were erected. which continued to be occupied until 1848, when the Hon. J. M. Comstock, one of the in- spectors of county and State prisons, reported to the Hon. Robert Lansing, judge of the

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THE GROWTH OF A CENTURY.

county, the entire failure of the county jail to meet the requirements of the statute in relation to the safety, health and proper classification of prisoners, and expressed his belief that the arrangements required by law could not be attained without the construction of a new prison building. This report, approved by the judge, and certified by the clerk of the board, was laid before the supervisors, a committee appointed, who visited the jail and confirmed the report, but after repeated efforts the board failed to agree upon a resolution pro- viding for the necessary rebuilding of the county prison. This led to the issue of a writ of mandamus by the Supreme court, in De- cember, on the motion of G. C. Sherman, re- quiring the board of supervisors to proceed without delay to the erection of a new jail, or the repair of the one then existing. This necessity for a new prison suggested the pro- ject of the divison of the county into two jury districts, and the erection of two sets of buildings, at other places than Watertown, and the question became, for a short time, one of considerable discussion in various sections of the county. The question was settled by the erection of an extensive addition to the jail, two stories high, and considered adequate for the wants of the county for some time to come, at least if the course adopted was that recommended by the board of supervisors, October 20, 1820, as set forth in the following' resolution :

" Whereas the maintenance of prisoners, committed to the county jail for small offen- ses, in the manner that they have been usually sentenced, has been attended with great ex- pense to the people of this county, and in many instances has operated to punish the county with taxes, more than the criminals for offenses, and whereas some courts of special sessions have sentenced them to imprisonment upon bread and water, which lessens the ex- pense to this county, and the same operates as a punishment more effectually than longer terms of imprisonment would in the ordinary way; the board of supervisors therefore re- commend generally to magistrates and courts of sessions in mittimuses, upon conviction of petty crimes, to make the length of confine- ment less, and direct the jailor to keep the offenders upon bread and water during the time of their imprisonment. The board would recommend in such cases that the prisoners be not sentenced to be kept longer than thirty days in any case, as it may endanger the health of the convicts.

" Resolved, that the jailer for the future be directed not to procure any thing more expen- sive for criminals than moccasins, at 50 cents a pair, instead of shoes, nor procure any hats, and to purchase as little clothing as possible, and that of the poorest and least expensive kind."

In 1857, a resolution looking to the erection of a new court house was passed at the annual session of the board of supervisors. A motion at the annual meeting in 1858, to proceed at once to the erection of the court-house, was tabled, and then taken up again, and amended

by changing the place of location, so as to leave it to the discretion of future boards to locate the same at Watertown or elsewhere in the county, and the amended resolution was laid on the table. The grand jury, in 1858, indicted the court-house as a nuisance, and as unfit and insufficient to hold court in. In 1859, a motion to rent Washington Hall, in Watertown, for holding the courts until the court-house could be repaired, at a rent of $250 per annum, was lost, fifteen members voting in the negative; whereupon, on motion of Supervisor Ingalls, the majority voting against the proposition were appointed a com- mittee to report a plan for repairing or re- building the court-house. This committee re- ported a resolution to appoint a committee to repair the court-house and rent Washington Hall, and receive plans and proposals to build a new court-house on the old site. On Decem- ber 10, 1860, the committee assembled and re- ceived plans and specifications, and appointed a sub-committee to visit the several court- houses in the State, or as many as they deemed necessary, and examine the same, and confer with W. N. White, an architect at Syracuse. The sub-committee procurred plans and drafts from Mr. White, and reported at a special meeting of the board, January 7, 1861, rec- ommending the adoption of White's plans, which placed the cost of the new building, erected in accordance therewith, at the sum of $25,000, The report of the committee was adopted by the board, and after a brisk and animated struggle the present site, corner of Arsenal and Benedict streets, in Watertown, was selected, the same being donated by the citizens of the city. A loan of $25,000 was authorized and made from the State at seven per cent., and a contract made with John Hose and Joseph Davis to erect the building for $24,000, and W. H. White appointed su- pervising architect, and the following-named supervisors a building committee: Joseph Atwell, A. W. Clark, A. C. Middleton, C. A. Benjamin, John H. Conklin, Henry Spicer, and Jacob Putman. At the annual meeting of the board in October, 1861, this committee was discharged as being too expensive on account of size, and a new committee ap- pointed, consisting of J. H. Conklin, D. W. Baldwin, and Octave Blanc. The building was completed in 1862, at a cost of $25,488.89. furnished. The roof over certain portions of the building was imperfect, and considerable sums of money were expended to repair and complete it. The basement was ill-drained, and until the sewerage of the city was com- pleted along Arsenal street, it was in a foul and unhealthy condition; but drains connect- ing with the main sewer soon obviated that difficulty, though at considerable expense. The entire expense of the court house as it now stands is not far from $35,000. It is built of brick, with stone trimmings and portico, and has an area of about 70 feet front on Arsenal street by 120 feet on Benedict street. It has two stories, and is provided with a fire-proof clerk's office in the rear of the building, and is surmounted with a tower in good proportion-

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ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY, PUBLIC BUILDINGS, ETC.

ate dimensions to the balance of the edifice, and with a well-kept lawn is an ornament to the city and a credit to the county.

In 1892 the board of supervisors authorized a complete overhauling and almost entire re- building of the jail, which is still retained upon the same site as that first selected. The full amount expended in this re-building is not yet fully known.

Previous to the adoption of the poor-house system, each town supported its own poor, and the records of the board show annual ap- propriations in many of the towns for that purpose, of from $50 to $800. In 1817, $50 was voted to build a town poor house in Le Ray, and in 1822 the supervisors recom- mended to the several towns to take into con- sideration at their next annual meetings the propriety of building a poor house and house of industry for the county, as advised by an act of March 3, 1820. In April, 1825, a meet- ing of the board was called, and a committee, consisting of Messrs. Hubbard, Hart and Stewart, was appointed to ascertain the most suitable site for erecting a poor house, and the price for which a farm could be pur- chased, within five miles of the court house. The cost of buildings was limited to $2,000. They were directed to advertise for proposals for purchasing a farm, if they should think proper. On the 7th of June, an adjourned meeting of the supervisors met to hear the above report. After visiting the premises in a body, it was resolved to purchase the Dudley farm in LeRay, five miles from Watertown, containing 150 acres, at $10 per acre. Com- mittees were appointed to procure titles, and fit up the premises, which continued to be oc- cupied for that purpose until November, 1832, when the supervisors voted a petition for the power to sell the property and borrow $4,000 on the credit of the county, for building a new one on a new site, if the interests of the county required it. They procured an act, January 25, 1833, granting this power, and providing for the execution of this trust, by three commissioners to be appointed by the supervisors. At their following session, the board, after much discussion, finally agreed to erect a new poor house, on a farm of 100 acres, purchased of J. Foster, for $1,500, about a mile below Watertown, north of the river, and Orville Hungerford, Joseph Graves and Bernard Bagley were appointed to carry the resolution into effect.

The distinction between town and county poor was abolished by a vote of the super- visors in November, 1834, and this has been since several times changed. In 1832, the ex- periment of picking oakum was tried with a profit of $154 the first year. The culture of the mulberry has also been attempted, but with small success. The first superintendents of the poor house, appointed in 826, were Or - ville Hungerford, Wm. S. Ely, Peter Yandes, John Hoover, and Asher Wilmot, and an equal number was annually appointed until the adoption of the present constitution. The persons elected under the general law, were David Montague, Charles F. Symonds and

Phineas Hardy, in 1848 ; Martin J. Hutchins, 1849 ; Peter S. Houck, 1850; Austin Everitt, 1851. It being thought by certain ones that the general law was not the best that could be devised for the county, an effort was made in 1852, which procured on the 12th of April an act which directed but one overseer of the poor to be hereafter elected in each town in this county, and the duties of overseers of the poor were conferred upon the supervisor and such overseer in the several towns, who were to be associated together in affording relief to the indigent within certain limits, to be pre- seribed by the board of supervisors for each town. No superintendents of the poor were to be thereafter elected, but one is to be ap- pointed by the board of supervisors, to hold his office during their pleasure. He was to re- side at the poor house, and be the keeper thereof. In case of vacancy, the county judge, clerk and treasurer, or any two of them, are to fill the vacancy by temporary appointment until another is chosen. In the fall of 1854, and annually, afterwards, two visitors are to be appointed by the board of supervisors, to visit the poor house every two months, and examine its books and manage- ment. Contracts for medicines and medical attendance are to be made by the supervisors, individually, in the several towns, and as a board for the poor house. They have also the power of directing the manner in which supplies for the poor house shall be purchased, which directions the superintendent is obliged to follow. The provisions of this act apply to no other county than this. The board of supervisors in accordance with powers thus conferred, appointed Alpheus Parker, super- intendent, who entered upon his duties Jan. 1, 1853. His salary was fixed at $600, by a resolution of the board, passed November, 1852.

Mr. Parker served as superintendent from 1853 to 1858, and was succeeded in the latter year by Nathaniel Havens, Jr., who held the position until 1860, when he was succeeded by Colonel Heman Strong, who continued to re- eeive the appointment annually until his death which occurred in April, 1876. From the commendatory reports of the inspectors and committees appointed to visit the poor-house and report thereon, we gather that Colonel Strong was peculiarly fitted for the delicate and arduous task of caring for the unfortunate class committed to his charge. Colonel Strong was succeeded by A. W. Wheelock. John R. Washburn, of Rodman followed Mr. Wheelock, and has proved an able and conscientions offi- cial, with high intelligence. He is the present incumbent of this highly responsible position.

Besides the care given to the poor in the county institution, a greater amount of relief is afforded in the towns outside, in the support, of partial relief, of the town poor, the distinc- tion between county and town charges being now (1894) maintained.

The late Mrs. Robert Lansing was the one who originated and brought to a successful organization the

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THE GROWTH OF A CENTURY.

JEFFERSON COUNTY ORPHAN ASYLUM.

She was a lady of much refinement and benevolence, and her Christian character great- ly aided in giving confidence to the effort. But with her usual modesty she gave another person, her carnest assistant, the greater mecd of praise. She wrote, in 1878:

"The Watertown Asylum for orphan and destitute children was opened March 1, 1859, and without a day's preparation, that a home might be made for the reception of two orphans, whose mother had been accidentally killed the night previous. Miss Frazier, from the highlands of Scottland, a woman of de- voted picty, manifested in gathering the little waifs of our community into a Sunday-school and most, persistently caring for them, had been asked if an exigeney like this should occur, would she at once take charge of a ' Home' as matron ? Without hesitation she assented. A small tenement-house in the suburbs of the town was rented, needful furni- ture from several homes sent in, wood sup- plied, a fire kindled, which has burned bright- ly now these eighteen years, and the Water- town Home was fairly begun. Many years before this a charter for a similar institution had been granted hy the Legislature, but the business men of the town advised postpone- ment of proceedings under the same from year to year, as 'this year was financially hard;' that many whose hearts were in sympa- thy with the project could not now co-operate in it, but that ' the next year would be more favorable;' so expired the charter. An im- promptu effort suggested itself, was tried, and succeeded. From this beginning came the 'Jefferson County Orphan Asylum ;' the name being changed when the board of super- visors of the county resolved to send to it as boarders the pauper children of the county in 1863. From the commencement of the 'Home' the number of children multiplied so rapidly that several removals of location were necessary, and then was agitated the feasibil- ity of a permanent home. Already the benefit from the institution had exceeded expectation. Two years found thirty children crowded into the small home, while quite a number had homes found for them elsewhere. Now there was an imperative necessity for an appeal to the benevolent. It was made, and five thou- sand dollars resulted therefrom, and which exhausted our liberality for a short time only. One year passed, and then a petition sent to Albany gave us, through the Legislature, another five thousand, which enabled us to build the large, convenient three-story brick building, with a plentiful supply of good water, well ventilated, warmed, and drained, built in the midst of a grove, and which is now emphatically an Orphan's Home. It was finished, furnished, and occupied April 20, 1864. Fifty children came in from the old home. The institution had no endow- ment, and had been sustained these five years by personal effort. Each month, as it came, all bills were paid. The sole management, disciplinary, educational, and moral, with dis- bursements of funds, devolved upon a board

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Growth of a Century : as illustrated in the history of Jefferson County, New York, from 1793 to 1894, Part 30

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