USA > New York > Tioga County > Historical gazetter of Tioga County, New York, 1785-1888. Pt. 1 > Part 5
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March 17, 1795, the good people of the Nanticoke vicinity secured the passage of an act directing that the sheriff of Tioga
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county, from and after May 1, 1795, compute and receive mileage fees from Nanticoke bridge, in the town of Union, and from no other place.
The location of Chenango Village, in which the new court- house and jail had been erected, in 1793, was changed to Che- nango Point (now city of Binghamton) in 1799, but the citizens of that vicinity were still persistent to maintain local supremacy, and the contention seems to have continued until 1801. March 31, ISOI, the state legislature enacted that the judges and assistant justices in the County of Tioga, at the next term of their court, commencing on the first Tuesday in May, 1801, divide the county into two jury districts, "as nearly equal as may be convenient ;" and authorized the holding of the courts of common pleas and general sessions of the peace at the court-house "about to be erected at Chenango Point, in the town of Chenango, instead of the house of Joshua Whitney, in the town of Union, and at the court-house at Newtown alternately."
March 5, 1794, Onondaga county was formed, March 15, 179S, Chenango county was formed and March 28, 1806, Broome county was formed, all taken from Tioga county and embracing all of the territory east of Owego creek. The act of March 28, 1806, directed the holding of the courts for Broome county in the court-house then erected in Chenango, and for the county of Tioga at the court-house in the town of Newtown, and the pro- visions for two jury districts in the county of Tioga was abolished.
Meantime a large settlement had grown up at Spencer. The court-house at Newtown was a rude affair, constructed of logs and covered with clap-boards, situate approximately, upon the present corner of Church and Sullivan streets, in the city of Elmira. That new county buildings would soon have to be con- structed in Tioga county was manifest. What is now the town of Owego was known as the town of Tioga, and had been set off into the new county of Broome in 1806. Directly upon the formation of this new county of Broome, Spencer began to con- test with the Newtown community for the location of the antici- pated new county buildings, and for local supremacy. The name of the town Newtown was changed to Elmira, by act of legisla- ture April 6, 1808, so it will be proper hereafter to speak of the locality as Elmira. Spencer was then sometimes known as " Pumpkin Hook ;" but nothing daunted, she wrested from Elmira the sway of local dominancy and secured the location of the new county buildings there. February 17, IS10, an act was passed by
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the legislature appointing Nathaniel Locke, Anson Carey and Samuel Campbell, "commissioners to locate a new court-house site." In the winter of 1811, these commissioners removed the county seat from Elmira to Spencer. By the same act, Joshua Ferris, Isaac Swartout and Samuel Westbrook were appointed to superintend the erection of the new building. September 23, 1810, two acres of land, situate in Spencer, were purchased of Andrew Purdy out of his farm, for the price of $20.00. The new building was situate upon the corner where Messrs. Emmons Bros' store now is. This new court-house was built by Mr. Purdy, on contract, under the personal superintendence of Samuel Westbrook, and cost $5,595.60. It was a wooden build- ing, two stories high. On the ground floor were four appart- ments, one of which was used for a prison for criminals, another for the imprisonment of debtors, the other two for the jailers apartments. The second story contained the court-room proper and two jury-rooms.
The strife was still rife between the Elmira and Spencer local- ities for dominancy, and the Elmira community still persisted in maintaining a species of independence. Accordingly, June S, 1812, Tioga county was again divided into jury districts, the eastern and the western; and the courts of the county were held at Elmira and Spencer alternately. In January, 1821, the court- house in Spencer was destroyed by fire. It was occupied at the time by the jailor, John J. French, a revolutionary soldier. He was the father of three daughters, who occupied the jury-rooms in the second story for their appartments. The fire which des- troyed the building broke out at mid-night, in these rooms. They claimed that it originated in the chimney, but many were un- charitable enough to assert their belief that the jailor's girls set the building on fire at the instigation of certain persons who were desirous of having the county seat removed to Elmira.
The legislature, March 31, 1821, passed an act directing the next courts to be held where the sheriff of the county should designate, and the first court of common pleas so held was to designate where the next term should be held, and so on from term to term, till a new court-house should be erected. It was also made lawful to confine the prisoners in the Tompkins county jail, or in the jail at Elmira.
A temporary court-house, one story high, was erected about twenty or thirty rods west of the old one. It adjoined a school- house, the latter being used during sessions of the court, a door
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having been cut between the buildings in order to give access from one to the other. The buildings were used for court purposes until the spring of 1822. The temporary court-house was removed fifteen or twenty rods west of its original location, to where it now stands, between George Rosecrance's wagon shop and Seth O. Sabin's blacksmith shop, where it is used to store lumber in.
In the meantime, the legislature, by act of April 12, IS13, revised the division of the state into towns, and exchanged the names of the towns of Owego and Tioga one for the other, as they are now denominated. And by an act passed March 22, 1822, the towns of Berkshire, and Owego, then including the new towns of Richford and Newark Valley also in the county of Broome, were annexed to the county of Tioga; the county as reconstructed was divided into two jury districts; and the act authorized the construction of new court-houses and jails in both Elmira and Owego. The two jury districts were designated the eastern and western. The eastern district comprised the towns of Tioga, Spencer, Danby, Caroline, Candor, Berkshire and Owego. The western district comprised the towns of Cayuta, Catharine, Chenango and Elmira. This act made it the duty of the board of supervisors at their annual meeting in October, 1822, to levy a tax of $4,000.00 and, in 1823, an additional tax of $2,000.00, to pay for the construction of new buildings, on con- dition that $2,000.00 additional be raised by voluntary subscript- ions and paid in, and that lots for building sites should be con- veyed free of expense to the county. Three commissioners were appointed to take charge of the construction of each of the court-houses. John R. Drake, Gen. Anson Camp and Charles Pumpelly were nominated the commissioners to build the one in Owego.
This act dividing the county into two jury districts also direc- ted the courts for the eastern district to be held at the hotel of Erastus S. Marsh, which was situate upon the site of the present Ah-wa-ga House in Owego, until the new court-house should be erected. And the courts for the western jury district continued to be held at Elmira, until March 29, 1836, when it was made into an independent county and denominated Chemung county, by an act of the legislature.
February 28, 1799, the trustees of the Owego settlement ac- quired a considerable tract of land of James McMaster for a village park. In pursuance of the act of March 22, 1822, requir-
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ing that a lot for a building site for the new court-house and in Owego should be conveyed free of expense to the county further legislative act was passed April 17, 1822, authorizing : trustees of the village of Owego with the consent of the inha tants of said village, to convey to the supervisors such part. the lands originally conveyed by James McMaster and Kinh his wife, to the trustees of the inhabitants of the Owego settir. ment as may be necessary to be occupied for the use of a court house and jail to be erected in said village. Thereupon a Dire ing of the free holders and inhabitants of the village of Owego was held at Marsh's tavern, on the 12th day of October, :: : assent and authority given to the trustees of the public groun 5 in said village to deed to the supervisors of the county so much of the public grounds as they might "deem necessary to crect . court-house, and other necessary buildings upon as appenda.r. to the court-house." The trustees of Owego settlement accord ingly, on October 29, 1822, deeded to the supervisors of the county the ground on the corner of Main and Court streets, .: Owego village, upon which are now situate the new sherit's residence and jail, the old county clerk's office and the old ins: building. The court-house was built by contract, Ralph Manning of Berkshire, constructing the cellar and Seth Bacon, of Candor the structure. The work was completed in 1823. It fronted on Court street and had a hall running through its centre from cay to west. On the north side of the hall were a sheriff's litas room and an office. On the south side were two jail rooms al. : a kitchen. The stairs leading to the court-room proper, occupi. ing the whole upper floor, were at the east end of the builda:
At a special meeting of the board of supervisors, held Mat- 3, 1851, it was decided to build a new sheriff's residence and isat. It was first proposed to build the new jail between the court. house and the old county clerk's office. The ground was tirs occupied by a fire engine house, which had been built there : : the village in 1843, by permission of the supervisors. The p ... was afterward changed, and it was decided to build east of 1. court-house. The village trustees were requested to remove : engine house, as the rear part occupied a portion of the grous .. needed for the jail. But they did not feel authorized to remate it or relinquish the right of the village to the ground with first obtaining an expression of the inhabitants. The matter.# decided at a public meeting of the citizens of the village held .... the 20th of March, 1851, when the trustees were directed :
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remove the building before the first of April. On the day follow- ing that of the citizens' meeting, the supervisors directed the county treasurer to loan $6,000.00 to be expended in building the new sheriff's residence and jail. The jail was to be built of brick, lined with two-inch oak planks, with one-half inch iron spiked to the bond timbers and confined at the top and bottom by bars of iron two and one-half by three and one-half inches, placed horizontally, bolted to the bond timbers. It was built by J. Conklin, of Elmira. The sheriff's residence still stands, being the small brick structure on Main street east of the new sheriff's residence and jail, and occupied by the telephone company and others for offices. The old jail portion of the building was sold in 1884 to A. H. Keeler for $125.00 and torn down by him.
In the summer of 1852 the court-house was repaired and re- modeld by John Gorman and Chauncey Hungerford, at an expense of $1,500.00. The judges bench and bar, which had been at the west end of the court-room, were removed to the east end, and additional stairs were built at the west end of the building. A cupola, in which was afterwards, in 1855, placed a bell, was built upon the roof at the west end of the court-house, and various other changes were made. This court-house was sold to A. H. Keeler and torn down by him, in 1877, after the brick court-house in the park had been completed.
September 2, 1868, at the Tioga county oyer and terminer, the grand jury of the county indicted the court-house and jail of the county and " presented the Tioga county court-house as unsuitable and inconvenient for the transaction of the legal business of the county, and presented the Tioga county jail as insecure and in- convenient for the confinement of persons charged with crime ;" and "recommended that immediate action be taken by the proper authorities for the building of a new court-house and jail as soon as practical."
November 23, 1869, the board of supervisors passed a resolu- tion to appoint a committee of three to procure plans, specifica- tions and estimates for a new court-house, and to report at the next annual meeting of the board ; and Messrs. John A. Nichols, of Spencer, John H. Deming, of Richford, and Frederick O. Cable, of Owego, were appointed such committee, and made their report to the board November 17, 1870. On December I, 1870, a resolution was passed by the board of supervisors to pro- ceed with as little delay as practical to erect a new court-house and a new jail for the county, and a committee of three, consist-
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ing of Messrs. John. H. Deming, of Richford, John J. Taylor and Daniel M. Pitcher, of Owego, was appointed to obtain plans and estimates of builders or architects of the expense thereof. This committee reported at a special meeting of the board of supervisors held on December 28, 1870, and recommended the public square in the village of Owego for a site. On the 9th of January, 1871, a meeting of the citizens of Owego Village was held and consent given to convey the public square to the supervisors for a court-house site, which site was adopted by the supervisors at a special meeting held January 12, 1871, but no other building except the court-house was to be erected thereon. The state legislature passed an act authorizing the board of trustees of Owego village to convey the public park to the supervisors for a court-house site, January 20, 1871, which was done by deed bearing date February 14, 1871. The present elaborate court-house was thereupon constructed, in 1871-73, in pursuance of the plans and specifications of Miles F. Howes, a resident architect of Owego village, by Messrs. A. H. Keeler and Jonathan S. Houk, contractors at the contract price of $55,700.00. The plans were altered, however, subsequently, to the letting of the contract and important changes made. The structure was completed in 1873, and on November 26, 1873, accepted by the board of supervisors at a total cost of construct- ing and fitting of $65,318.90.
The building of a new jail was for the time being abandoned, but the board of supervisors in annual session, November 23, 1881, resolved to build a new jail, either on the bank of the river or on the site of the jail above referred to; and on December 6, the site on the corner of Main and Court streets, upon which the old court-house of 1823 had been built, was selected. At a special meeting of the board, held April 17, 1882, the plans for a new jail and sheriff's residence were finally adopted, and the contract for constructing the same was awarded to John F. Corchran, of Owego, and the contract for the iron work was awarded to the Owego Iron Works, and the finishing and the plumbing to E. H. Cook & Co., of Elmira, and May 18, 1882, the board passed an act authorizing the borrowing of $20,000.00 on the bonds of the county of Tioga for the purpose of building a new sheriff's resi- dence and jail. The new structure was erected in 1882-83, in pursuance of the foregoing plans and specifications. The sheriff's residence is built of brick and joined to it is the jail proper, built of solid stone masonery. The completed structure
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was accepted at a special meeting of the board of supervisors, held March 30, 1883, at a total cost of erecting, fitting with steam- heating, water and gas fixtures, grading grounds, etc., of $22,- 739.13.
An act of the state legislature, passed April 3, 1798, provided for the recording of deeds and conveyances made and executed after the first day of February, 1799, in Tioga county, among others, in the clerk's office of the county, in books to be pro- vided by the clerk of the county for that purpose. The county clerk's office was kept in Newtown from the time of the erection of the county, in 1791, until 1804. There was no specific county building used for a clerk's office at this era. The office was usually kept at the residence of the incumbent. March 20, 1804, the legislature, reciting a preamble that " sundry inhabitants of the county of Tioga had by their petition represented to the legislature that many inconveniences arise," enacted that from and after July 1, 1804, " the office of clerk of Tioga county should be kept in a central situation in said county, not more than three miles from the village of Owego, on the north side of the river Susquehanna." The clerk of the county at that time was Matthew Carpenter, of Newtown. Accordingly, in pur- suance of the provisions of the enactment, Mr. Carpenter, in July, 1804, opened an office in Owego (then Tioga) and placed the same in charge of Samuel Avery, whom he appointed deputy county clerk, July 4, 1804. The exact place where Mr. Avery kept his office it is now impossible to determine, after an exhaustive effort we have been unable to identify it for surety. It is conjectured that he probably had desk room in the law office of his brother, John H. Avery, who was a lawyer, and had his office in a build- ing on the bank of the Susquehanna river, on Front street, near the present residence of Dr. C. L. Stiles. Subsequently, Samuel Avery removed from Owego to Nanticoke, and thereupon, August 3, 1805, Mr. Carpenter appointed James Pumpelly, of Tioga (now Owego), as deputy county clerk of the county. Mr. Pumpelly moved the office to his land office, on Front street, where the building stood until a few years ago when it was moved back from the street, where it is still standing. Dr. William Jones, who was a cousin of Mrs. James Pumpelly, was also ap- pointed deputy county clerk of the county, to act in the absence of James Pumpelly, January 11, 1806 *. The clerk's office re-
*The official appointments of Samuel Avery, James Pumpelly, and William Jones, as deputy county clerks of Tioga county, by Matthew Carpenter, are to be found recorded in
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mained in the old Pumpelly land office building until the town of Owego (then Tioga) was set off into Broome county, March 2 -. 1806. Upon the foot of this, the office of the clerk of the county was removed back to Newtown, in pursuance of an act of the legislature of April 7, 1806, requiring that the "clerk of Tioga county should keep his office in the Village of Newtown, any law to the contrary notwithstanding," where it remained until re- moved to Spencer, in pursuance of an act of the legislature passed March 12, 1813, which required that the clerk's office of the county should be kept " within two miles of the new court- house in the town of Spencer.".
The first distinctive county clerk's office building was built in Spencer, in 1818. It was constructed of brick, at a cost of $1, 139.00 and stood a short distance south of the court-house. The builder was Andrew Purdy, of whom the land upon which it stood had been purchased, and the commissioners appointed to superintend its construction were Abel Hart, of Candor, and Judge Henry Miller and Joshua Ferris, of Spencer. After the building was completed the supervisors refused to pay Mr. Purdy the entire amount of his claim, which subsequent proceedings showed to be a fair and just one. An application was made to the legislature, which passed an act April 12, 1822, appointing Richard Townley, Richard Smith and Luther Gere commission- ers to audit Mr. Purdy's claims, which were subsequently allowed by them in full. After the destruction of the court-house in Spencer, in January, 1821, an act was passed by the legislature, April 15, 1823, repealing the act requiring the Tioga county clerk's office to be kept in Spencer. The same act appointed Parlee E. Howe, of the County of Onondaga, Henry Towar, of Ontario county, and Charles Kellogg, of Cayuga county, "a committee to determine a proper site for a county clerk's office in Tioga county, said site to be within one mile of one of the court-houses in the county," and the clerk was required to re- move his office to the place so designated within thirty days. The office was removed to Owego from Spencer in July, 1823, in conformity to the decision of these commissioners. The building in which it was kept was a small one-story structure on the bank of the Susquehanna river, on the south side of Front street, about twenty feet east of the present residence of Mr. William A. King. The basement of the building was occupied by the late Stephen
the Tioga county clerk's office, in Deed Book No. 6, at pages 25 and 328, and Deed Book No. 7, page 72, respectively.
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B. Leonard, deceased, as a printing office, where he published the Owego Gazette. The clerk of Tioga county at this time was Thomas Maxwell, who resided in Elmira. Upon the removal of the office to Owego, it was placed in charge of Major Horatio Ross, whom Maxwell appointed deputy county clerk.
April 10, 1824, the legislature of the state passed an act author- izing the supervisors to dispose of the old clerk's office in Spencer, built in ISI8, and April 21, 1825, the legislature passed another act which appointed Joseph Berry, Elizur Talcott and John Ripley, all of Owego, commissioners " to cause to be erected a suitable and sufficient fire-proof building for a clerk's office in the village of Owego," and authorized them to receive the monies realized from the sale of the clerk's office in Spencer, pursuant to the act of April 10, 1824. It also directed the supervisors at their next annual meeting to cause a tax to be levied not exceed- ing SI,ooo.co nor less than $Soo.oo including the amount received from the sale of the Spencer clerk's office, to be expended in building the new clerk's office. The Spencer clerk's office was sold to Andrew Purdy, April 23, 1825, for $210.00, and the board of supervisors at their annual meeting in November, 1825, directed that it be applied to the use of the commissioners for building a fire-proof clerk's office at Owego, and that an additional sum of $600.00 be levied and raised by tax on the towns of the eastern jury district for the purpose of erecting a fire-proof clerk's office in the village of Owego, making in all $810.00.
The office was built by Abner Beers, near the south-west cor- ner of the court-house lot, on Court street, in 1825, and cost $792.00. A committee of three, Messrs. Samuel Barager, of Can- dor, William H. Moore, of Berkshire, and William A. Ely, of Owego, appointed to settle the accounts of the commissioners, reported to the board of supervisors that the new clerk's office was completed and that there remained unexpended the sum of 818.oo, at the annual meeting of the board in November, 1826. The new building was one story high, with brick floors, and 18x28 feet insize. Its height was twelve feet. It contained two rooms with four windows and the shutters were of wood. cased with sheet iron. It was as near fire-proof as could be made.
This clerk's office, as the county grew in population and its business increased, became too small for the purposes intended, and, in 1854, it was deemed necessary to build a new one. In the fall of that year the supervisors resolved to build a new one at an expense of $2,000.00 and appointed Harvey Coryell, of Nichols,
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Samuel Mills, of Barton, and Josiah Rich, of Candor, to procure plans, etc. In April, 1855, the old clerk's office was torn down, and during the same year the brick one now occupied by the Owego Free Library, on Court street, was erected on its site. The mason work was done under the supervision of Thomas Ireland, and the carpenter work by Almerin S. Waring. The cost was $2,200.00. Mr. Waring made a poor job of it, in order to make his contract as profitable as possible to himself, and was conse. quently obliged to make several alterations to the interior before the supervisors would accept and pay for it. While the building was being constructed, the grand-jury room, in the northwest corner of the old court-house, was occupied as the clerk's office, the documents and records of the county being removed thereto.
The clerk's office was kept in the brick structure on Court street, from 1855 until the completion and acceptance of the new court-house, in 1873: Rooms for a clerk's office had been con- structed and fitted up in the southeast corner of the new court- house, into which the clerks office was moved in the winter and spring of 1874, where it has since been kept .*
JUDICIARY AND CIVIL LIST. Justice of the Supreme Court.
John M. Parker,. . 1859-67+
Surrogates.
John Mersereau, 1791 |Robert Lawrence, IS21
Balthazar De Haert, 1798
Charles Baker, IS25
William Woodruff, 1802
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