Growth of a Century : as illustrated in the history of Jefferson County, New York, from 1793 to 1894, Part 50

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

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In the winter of 1860 he met in Albany, Mr. John A. Haddock, the publisher of this History, who induced him to come to Water- town and engage on the Reformer. The Daily Times was started a year later, the out- come of the necessity created by war news.

In 1864 Reuben E. Fenton, then in Congress, was mentioned for Governor, and as Mr. Brockway had known him from boyhood, he strongly advocated his nomination and elec- tion. Gov. Fenton appointed him his private secretary, which position he filled with credit until appointed one of the board of canal appraisers a few months later. The last year he was on the board (1869), occurred the great flood on the Black River, which swept away nearly every dam between Forestport and Dexter, besides many mills, factories and tanneries, doing extended damage to all inter- ests along the river banks. Mr. Brockway was very active in his efforts to have the damages properly adjusted, and he partially succeeded, but the cases were appealed be- yond his jurisdiction and the board of ap- praisers dissolved, or rather was superseded by the Court of Claims. [See page 10.]

In 1870 Mr. Brockway returned to Water-

town and the newspaper business, this time purchasing a one-third interest in the Refor- mer and the Daily Times, the firm being Ingalls, Brockway & Skinner. In 1872, Mr. Brockway, who was bound by the closest ties of personal friendship to Horace Greeley, temporarily retired from editorial control of the paper, having, much against his will, been made the candidate of the liberal Repub- licans for Congress on the Greeley ticket. He was of course defeated, as he expected to be, but received a very flattering vote. The campaign over, he returned to his newspaper work, and a year or two thereafter had bought out both of his partners and became sole pro- prietor of the concern, into which he took his two sons, Jefferson W. and Henry A. Brock- way, making the firm name of B. Brockway & Sons, and so it continued until shortly before his death when a stock company was organ- ized under the name of the Brockway Sons Company.

The above brief statement of the life of Mr. Brockway, is condensed from the autobiog raphy with which he closes his volume of "Fifty Years in Journalism," a work which occupied much of his time toward the close of his life.

Very few knew Mr. Brockway unless closely associated with him. To most people he appeared a severe man, hard to approach. In truth he was one of the kindest and most approachable of men, and he had a vein of dry humor that made his company most agreeable as he drew from his long experience and large acquaintance with public men and public affairs. He was brought up in the New England school of grave and stern men, but he never accepted the New England orthodoxy, and was very broad and liberal in all his opinions. He had a gruff way and would say "Good Morning !" in an abrupt manner that was forbidding, but it was kindly meant, and the sentiment that inspired the greeting was hearty and sincere. In truth, in all things he sught to promise little and then to do much, He would be chary about making promises, but when he made one he carried it out at all hazards. He meant that his word should be better than any man's bond. He regarded every one else as being as sincere as himself, and was easily deceived once, but never twice. His confidence once lost was never regained. He was a loyal friend to friends and a good hater of enemies. Thatis, " hatred" is not the word, for he had no actual hatred for any one. But he never respected any one again who had deceived Lim or sought to do him an injury. He never allowed them a second chance, and years would not wipe out the effect when one had once misled or misused him.

Mr. Brockway in earlier life was a Barn- burner Democrat and one of the most enthusi- astic. In company with nearly all the Demo- crats of that stripe, he went into the Republi- can party at its foundation, to fight the exten- sion of slavery. He always asserted that the Republican party was the closest to the prin- ciples of Jefferson, and that he changed

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nothing in his principles in leaving the party which had substituted the principles of Cal- houn for those of Jefferson.

His religious convictions were strong, though not of the orthodox school. He be- lieved in God and immortality, and so tried to live as to please his own conscience. He was, in fact, orthodox in nothing. He had the old Pilgrim Fathers' hatred of authorita- tive rule or any close corporation of thought. He enjoyed being in the minority on any sub- ject and his sympathies were always with the under dog in every fight. His friends called this "obstinacy." He called it " independence" in not fearing to stand alone, and he used to quote with great glee a remark made of him that if he should be drowned in the Black river his friends would look for his body at Carthage and not at Dexter. In truth he did not fear to go against the current of public opinion, and sooner or later the current gener- ally turned and went with him. He had the courage of his convictions.

As a writer Mr. Brockway was clear and incisive. He had a sledge-hammer way of dealing with subjects, that marked him as one of the most forcible and best editorial writers in the State. He wrote in short sen-

tences and short paragraphs, and each was well considered and had a sharp point to it. He was not rapid in composition, because he condensed so much in a brief space. He always accomplished something in whatever place he was, as legislator, State officer or newspaperman, and had much influence, through his newspaper, on the thought of the locality where he happened to be in business. He was thoroughly interested in preserving the history of Jefferson county, and all his spare time in his later years was devoted to collecting relics and compiling data which would be of use to the future historian. He was first President of the Jefferson County Historical Society, and was active in the in- terests of the organization.

Mr. Brockway did much for Jefferson county-just how much we cannot say, for the results of the work of a newspaper man are intangible. But this is known, that he advocated every measure in the line of pro- gress, that he suggested lines of endeavor, and lent his aid to every good work. He won a worthy place as one of those who have had a part in putting Jefferson county in the com- manding and prosperous condition which it to-day enjoys. W. D. M.

HENRY KEEP.

PERHAPS no more graphic description of Henry Keep, the friendless Jefferson county boy, who became a millionaire after almost incredible hardship in his youth, could be given than what is contained in Governor Flower's address at the formal opening of the Henry Keep Home, in Watertown, on Decem- ber 31, 1883-just ten years before the close of Jefferson county's first century of settle- ment and growth.

The Home is located on Washington street, a short distance from the business centre of the city, and is surrounded by thirty-five acres of excellent tillable land, which is the property of the institution.

The building is a handsome brick structure of Gothic style of architecture, and is three stories high in front and rear gable. Its dimensions on the ground floor are 114x55 feet. A verandah extends entirely around the Home. Inside, the arrangements for comfort and living are intended to be com- plete. The building contains forty rooms for inmates, besides a dining room, kitchen, pantry, laundry, reception, reading room and parlor.

There are gas fixtures, steam radiators in every room, while bath rooms and closets are distributed throughout the building, with hot and cold water on every floor. The cellar is warm and dry, the bottom of which is laid in Rosendale cement. The sewerage system is complete.

This noble charity was the free gift of Mrs. Keep, the daughter of Norris M. Woodruff, whose biography may be found on page 89 of this History.

HON. ROSWELL P. FLOWER'S REMARKS.

Ladies and Gentlemen-In opening this institution, and on behalf of its Board of Trustees declaring we are ready to receive ap- plicants for admission, I feel that a few words should be said as to the nature and inception of the undertaking, the completion of which we are now celebrating, and as to the pur- poses for which it is intended.

It is many years since Henry Kecp, the poor boy whose energy and industry in after life were to be commemorated by such a monument as this, first saw the light in Jeffer- son county. His birth was humble, and the record of his life, until he reached middle age, was one of harsh and grinding poverty. He saw his father die by inches of a broken spirit. He felt himself an orphan, uncared for and hopeless. He found himself and his sisters bound out in a servitude little better than absolute slavery, deprived of education, ill-fed, ill-housed and exposed to all the in- clemencies of our Northern weather. The vicissitudes through which he passed in his endeavors to raise himself to a higher level, are almost incredible; but through them all, with an indomitable determination he pressed steadily forward. Wherever he was, in what- ever position, as a runaway apprentice, as a boot-black, as a canal-boat driver, as a travel- ing money broker and as a millionaire, he never faltered. Finally he attained a posi- tion where he could not only bury the misfor- tunes of his youth in the pleasures of success, but could alleviate the hardships of others whom he saw struggling with the obstacles he had himself confronted. His whole career

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is a lesson.for the rich and an example for the poor.

His early poverty and later success are en- couragements to the ambitious of every de- gree, while in this appropriate memorial which his widow has chosen to perpetuate his name, may be found a suggestion that those who succeed beyond their fellows would do well to follow. At the present time, when so many questions respecting poverty and wealth are being agitated, there is one aspect of this charity which is peculiarly interesting. In our almost perfect form of government, where each citizen has a share and responsibility, there can be nothing particularly dangerous while men of all conditions continue to exer- cise their privileges, to allow the same to others, and to feel an equal interest in the preservation of law and order and the com- mon welfare. If all men had the same abili- ties and opportunities and the same luck, we would probably be as nearly equal in circum- stances as we are before the law. The fact is that while the great majority of us in a free State are pretty nearly on a level, it neverthe- less happens that some, generally by good fortune, rise above the rest, while others, a comparatively small number, are, through ill- health or other misfortunes, worse off than the average, and unequal to the struggle with their competitors.

On the proportion of these two conditions of estate to the rest of the community, and their relations to each other, the prosperity of the country largely depends. * * *

On such an occasion as the present, when we recall the progress of Henry Keep from abject poverty to the greatest wealth, and see a part of the fortune he gained expended to relieve those of his earlier neighbors who are unable to support themselves in their declin- ing years, we can comprehend how near we are to one another, rich and poor, and how, by mutual support and assistance, we can maintain confidence between those who do not work because they cannot. and those who do not work because they need not.

The remedy for the evil is largely in the hands of the wealthy. While the wealth of the community is engaged in developing its resources, opening fields of industry, organ- izing, educating, protecting and employing labor, and founding institutions like this-its possessors will not be envied. While men in this country can rise by honorable ambition, success will not fail to command respect; while those who succeed continue to aid in the elevation of their fellows, they will be safe and secure in the enjoyment of their property and civil rights, and the common well-being will continue to be a matter of common solicitude.

Finally, so long as those who have a super- abundance will, following the patroness of this Home, provide for the comfort of those who by age or infirmity are debarred from working, and. compelled, through no fault of their own, to depend for support on charity- I speak with force of absolute conviction

when I say that caste and class lines will not be drawn, and communism will find no foot- hold on American soil.

At the death of Henry Keep, his widow, now Mrs. Schley, who had shared his strug- gles and appreciated his desire to benefit his poorer neighbors, made a will in which she directed that, after her death, a portion of her estate should be set apart as a perpetual fund for the maintenance of worthy and needy old persons, residents of Jefferson county, who were too poor to be comfortable on their own resources. In 1877, it occurred to her that while she was living would be the proper time to start such an institution. She pur- chased for $100,000 a large and valuable property in this city-the income, about $8,000, being set aside for the maintenance of the Home. She had expended about $16,000 in addition, in erecting and furnishing this commodious and elegant building, which, gentlemen of the Board of Trustees, you have kindly given your time and attention in secing prudently expended. In its now completed condition, the Home is capable of taking care of 65 persons. It has been regularly incor- porated under the laws of the State of New York, as an Eleemosynary Institution, and, with its 35 acres of ground, suitable for garden purposes, and its annual income, it will stand, I trust, forever a blessing to the county, a monument to the charity and loving kindness of Henry Keep, his wife, Emma Keep-Schley, and a refuge, for many genera- tions, of indigent but worthy persons in times of trouble.

The excellent remarks of Governor Flower, relative to Henry Keep, come with great ap- propriateness in this year, (1894), of great financial disturbance and of railroad rioting, the result of an attempt to antagonize capital and labor by a few foolish, we had almost said criminal, agitators, who assume to repre- sent labor, but whose hands rest while their mouths do their work. Mr. Keep has never been accurately described as a man, his im- mediate family appearing to shun publicity, feeling no desire to escape oblivion through the printed page. He was a genial, courteous and most amiable, handsome gen- tleman, well-known to the writer. Although, as the Governer says, his early life was spent amidst surroundings most forbidding, he showed the ability that was in him by readily taking on the bearing, the ease and the affabil- ity of the popular man of affairs. He was not a speaker nor a writer, as we now classify such men, but he had a common sense and a power to discriminate that was a much higher gift than anything claimed by them-he was able among the ablest business men of the country. It is not probable that he coveted great wealth, but the peculiar circumstances by which he was environed forced him along into great possessions. Dying early, he dis- tributed his wealth wisely and well, his sisters receiving a competency, and they remain with us, the best of among our people, respected and universally beloved.

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THE GROWTH OF A CENTURY.

JOHN F. MOFFETT.

JOHN F. MOFFETT was born in Paris Hill, Oneida county, on the 15th day of April, 1841. His parents, Charles D. and Emily H. Moffett, moved to Rodman in the spring of 1845. There he attended school until he was 17 years of age, and after that he put in two years at the old Jefferson County Institute.

In September, 1860, he obtained a situation in the Watertown Bank and Loan Company, of which Hon. George C. Sherman was President, and Charles Strang. Cashier. He remained in this bank until 1865, when he was for a short time in the employ of Wooster Sherman's bank. In 1866 he was elected cashier of the Merchants' Bank, then a pri- vate banking institution, owned by Hon. Norris Winslow.

He remained in this position until the Merchants' Bank was organized as a State bank in 1870, and then continued to be identi-

fied with that institution until 1882, when he engaged in building water works, electric light plants and railroads in many towns and cities throughout the country. His principal place of business is now in New York city, but his residence is with his family at 32 Sterling street, Watertown.

Mr. Moffett's career has been eventful and interesting. His mind is broad and not read- ily confined to petty details, though his edu- cation and rearing gave him a full knowledge of business both in trade and banking. Large enterprises, even though attended with some risks, are congenial to his mind. His com- prehensions are acute and critical, analyzing in an hour the details that a man of less in- dividuality might be a day in digesting. He is a broad man in his way of living, in his ways of thinking and in the management of affairs. He has been an enterprising, progres-

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sive citizen, advocating all the improvements that have built up Watertown, and it is a source of regret that his business takes him só much away, for his face is a pleasant one to meet, his manner eminently democratic, and by being friendly he has made many friends. When in the Merchants' Bank, he was ever favorably inclined to aid men who were conducting industrial establishments, a

class of people who had not, as a general thing, met with favors at the older banks in Watertown, when it was the fashion to re- quire three to four endorsers upon a $50 note, when the maker owned enough property to pay taxes on $5,000. Such limited methods, lets us hope, have forever passed away, and a broader system appears to be animating the breasts of financiers. J. A. H.

THE FAIRBANKS FAMILY.

THIS old and distinguished family has had larger recognition and more extended notice than any other in Jefferson county. Its founder in America came over in the May- flower, and the old homestead of this numer- ous tribe is still standing at Dedham, Mass., the oldest dwelling in New England.

It is undoubtly true that all of this name in the United States are from this original stock. Jasan Fairbanks, the one with whom we have made especially to deal. was born Sept. 9, 1785, the son of Capt. Samuel Fairbanks, of Mendon, Mass., who was an officer in the Revolutionary army.

JASAN FAIRBANKS.

Jasan Fairbanks was a living illustration of what one man may accomplish in this free country, when starting right in life, even though lacking powerful friends or favorable influences to advance his cause. At thirteen years of age he went to Boston, the Mecca of New England, where he bound himself as an apprentice to learn the saddle and harness trade with one James Bragg. In 1802, his master removing to Newport, Herkimer county, N. Y., the young apprentice accom-

panied him, and in 1807, he was sent by Mr. Bragg into Western New York, on business, but with the more important motive of finding a place to settle for himself. Remoteness from markets (for this was long before the Erie canal was even dreamed of), seemed to promise slender prospect of growth for that section, and young Fairbanks resolved upon removing to Ogdensburg, but the embargo temporarily checking business, he visited Watertown in June, 1808, where the county buildings were about being erected. The central location, the fine water power, and the beauty of the surrounding country presented a cheerful prospect to the enterprising artizan. At that time there were only five frame buildings in the village. On the 1st of Sep- tember, 1808, he removed thither, and the next day opened a saddle and harness shop in company with Calvin McKnight, and con- tinued that business uninterruptedly for 44 years, the firm undergoing several changes in name, but always having Jasan Fairbanks at the head. In 1810 he added shoemaking and tanning to his other handicraft, and was for many years connected with the business of carriage making and general merchandise.

In the course of these important operations, extending through so many years, he had more than 500 apprentices, 365 of whom served out their time, and at least 350 became respectable citizens. A former sheriff of Jef- ferson county was one of Mr. Fairbanks' apprentices.

It is not the design, however, of the writer to enter upon the details of Mr. Fairbanks' eventful life. We can only glance at his leading characteristics, and draw a useful lesson from his success-a lesson of encour- agement for all who are patient and hopeful in doing right.

In the first place he was pre-eminently a temperance man. On the very day he opened his shop he made a rule which he maintained throughout his career, that no intoxicating liquors should be used or brought in. This rule was seldom violated-never, with his knowedge-and he was led to its adoption from the fact that when he began his appren- ticeship, being the youngest in the shop, he was required to run half the time for rum and water. By a very natural course of reasoning he inferred that so much loss of time was alike destructive to morals, as well as a formidable barrier to business success; and, while yet a boy, he formed the resolution

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which he ever afterwards maintained. In the next place he was an exceptionally indus- trious man. The writer of this well re- members his own journeys from his board- ing house to the office at the early hour of sunrise, and scarcely ever failed to meet Mr. Fairbanks, usually on horseback, hurrying down Factory street to rouse the boys at the tannery. He generally rang the bell on that edifice, it being fastened to what appeared to be a bullock's head projecting from the eaves, and as the rope was pulled inside, the bull's head would turn from side to side, vigorously ringing the bell, which was the signal for all that end of the town to "get up." This habit of early rising followed Mr. Fairbanks through his career. Towards the close of his long life his peculiar voice in encouraging his horse, could be heard on Washington street almost any morning when on his way to his farm, long before sunrise.

He was always an honorable man in his deal. There was a time, over 50 years ago, when his multitudinous business appeared to all go wrong. He had manufactured largely, as well as packed a great deal of pork, expecting a lively market and brisk sales. Times turned against him, and he was caught, as a good many others have been, with plenty of property but hard up for ready cash. The narrow policy of the leading bank precluded any help from that source, and for a while he was forced to suspend payment. During his suspension several of his leading creditors proposed to take less than their full demands, sign off, and let the business go on. But this was not Mr. Fairbanks' way. He replied that he could pay 100 cents on the dollar, with interest, and should do it. And he did do it-coming out of a long business embar- ressment with comfortable property and every creditor fully paid.

Having suffered from the lack of early scholastic education, he took good care that his children should all have the early advan- tages denied to him. They were as well educated as any family ever brought up in Northern New York.

His natural abilities were of the highest order, and these, joined to his wonderful self-reliance, almost wholly removed that lack of confidence so often observed in uneducated men. Mr. Fairbanks would have been a man of note anywhere, and such men as Silas Wright, William L. Marcy, Martin Van Buren, and Preston King were glad to meet him, for his never-failing fund of anecdote and personal reminiscence instructed as well as amused. During the disastrous finale to what was known as the "Patriot War," his counsel and plea for moderation at Kingston had more weight in sparing life there than any other man's, for he had dealt largely with the leading merchants of Canada, and they all knew his word was good for all he promised.

Considering Mr. Fairbanks' wonderful suc- cess upon the comparatively limited theatre occupied by him-in a new country, then far removed from the great markets of the world -hampered by surroundings which were not

helpful to him, as illustrated in the course of the bank, when he needed ready money greatly and had so much with which to make the bank secure; maintaing his place through half a century as one of the leading business men of the county-we can but imagine what his life would have been, had he, like Astor and Girard, made a great city his home, and dealt in those articles of commerce which levied contributions on all countries and all climes. We believe that in such a position, no matter how important, his wonderful pluck and self-reliance, combined with his industry, temperance and strict integrity, would have made him the peer of any American business man, living or dead.

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Growth of a Century : as illustrated in the history of Jefferson County, New York, from 1793 to 1894, Part 50

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