USA > New York > Cayuga County > History of Cayuga County, New York > Part 36
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Martville is situated in the southeast part of the town, on Little Sodus Creek. It contains two churches, a district school, a hotel, two stores, a sawmill, a grist mill and sawmill combined, shoe shops, wagon shops, and blacksmith shops, and about one hundred and fifty inhabitants. Sterling Junction, North Sterling, and Sterling Valley station are small hamlets.
SUMMER HILL.
Summer Hill was formed from Locke, as Plato, April 26, 1831, but its name was changed March 16, 1832. It is situated in the southeast corner of the county, and has a rolling surface, ten hun- dred to eleven hundred feet above tide. Fall Brook, the principal stream, flows south through the east part and its valley, three hundred to four hundred feet below the hill summits, forms the only break of any account in the general surface level. Summer Hill Lake is a small sheet of water in the northeast part and discharges its water into Fall Brook. The soil is a clayey and gravelly loam, with clay predominating.
Summer Hill village in the south part contains about one hun- dred and seventy-five inhabitants.
The first settlement was made in 1797, by Hezekiah Mix, from Genoa, on lot 37, near the village. Soon came Nathaniel Fillmore, father of Millard Fillmore, once President of the United States, who was born in this town. Martin Barber, William Webster, Joseph Cone, William Honeywell, James Savage, Harvey Hough, and Joseph Walker. Nathaniel Fillmore taught the first school in 1804.
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The matter of the first birth in the town is unsettled, some claiming that Millard Fillmore was the first child born in the town, others granting the priority to Anson Cone; the first marriage was that of Ebenezer Crowe and Rosanna Mix, in 1803, and the first death that of Amos Mix, who was killed by the falling of a tree, in 1798. Joseph Cone kept the first inn, in 1803; Charles Cram the first store, and Ebenezer Bennett the first mill in 1816. The first church (Baptist) was formed in 1807 with Elder Whipple as the first pastor.
THROOP.
Throop was formed from Aurelius, Mentz and Sennett, April 8, 1859. It is an interior town, lying northwest of the center of the county. The surface is generally level, though broken in a few places by sand and gravel ridges, one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet high. Owasco Outlet and Cayuga Brook are the principle streams. The soil is a sandy and gravelly loam.
Throopsville village on Owasco Outlet, three miles from Auburn, was named after Enos T. Throop, in 1812, when he was county clerk, and had acquired the mill and other property for the purpose of booming the town. This was long before "Ene" or any of his chums ever dreamed that here was a future governor of the Empire State (in the 30's). In the fall of 1814 Mr. Throop was elected to Congress and about this time it became pretty hot in the political field and the boom in the village cooled off. After a period of over eighty years we find it a place of about two hundred and fifty inhabitants, two churches, two mills, foundry and machine shop, and two or three smaller manufacturing enterprises, and some very pleasant residences. But the old town has a bright future in its new trolley enterprise now nearing a reality.
The first settlement in the town was made on lot 2, in 1790, by Ezekiel Crane and his son Shadrack, from New Jersey. Among others who early settled in the town were Isaac Barnum, Otheniel
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Palmer and son, from Connecticut, Israel Clapp from Massachusetts, on lots 2 and 4; Jonas Ward and his son Caleb from the same state, on lot 92 in 1796; Christopher and Reverend John Jefferies, from Saratoga Springs on lot 16; Ephraim Wethey from Dutchess County ; Mannook Clark from Oneida County, on lot 14, in 1801. The first marriage was that of Shadrack Crane and Hannah Palmer; the first birth that of Ezekiel Crane. Edward Carpenter taught the first school, in 1800. Israel Clapp kept the first inn, in 1800; Luther Hamden, the first store in 1804, and Prentice erected the first saw and grist mill in 1798. The two churches are a Baptist and a Disciples.
VENICE.
Venice is an interior town in the south of the center of the county, and was formed from Scipio, January 30, 1823. Owasco Lake borders on the northeast corner and Salmon and Little Salmon creeks flow south in deep valleys which divide the surface into well defined ridges. The surface is a rolling upland with the highest summits three hundred to four hundred feet above Owasco Lake. The declivities on the lake and the west bank of Salmon Creek are steep but generally the hillsides are long narrow slopes.
Venice village, in the north part, contains one church and about thirty houses. Poplar Ridge, on the highest summit, in the south- west is about the same size; East Venice, and Venice Center are hamlets.
The first settlement was made in 1800. Henry Hewitt, Ezekiel Landon, Samuel Robinson and Zadoc Bateman at Stewart's Corners ; Samuel Childsey and Amos Rathbun, at Poplar Ridge; Luke Taylor and Thomas Cannon, all of whom came between 1790 and 1800, were the first settlers.
Lemon Cole was the first child born; the first death was that of a Mr. Herrick, a pioneer, killed by the falling of a tree. The first inn was kept by Samuel Robinson and the first mill was erected at Venice village, 1835. The first church (Baptist) was formed at
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Stewart's Corners (now Venice) in 1800 by Elder Irish. On the ridge east of Salmon Creek near the south border of the town are the remains of an ancient fortification. Upon the creek near the center of the town the whites at their advent found extensive fields cleared and cultivated, near which was an Indian burial ground.
VICTORY.
Victory was formed from Cato, March 16, 1821. It lies on the west border of the county, northwest of the center, and has a gently undulating surface, the highest points of which are scarcely fifty feet above the general level. Red and Little Sodus creeks are the principle streams. The underlying rocks consist of red shale and blue limestone deeply covered with drift deposit. The soil is a gravelly and sandy loam and a swamp in the southwest part covers several hundred acres.
Victory village near the center contains about thirty houses and Westbury, three miles away, on the line of Wayne County, about fifty houses.
John McNeal from Montgomery County, commenced the settle- ment of this town, in 1800, together with John and Samuel Martin from Ireland, on lot 65, Patrick Murphy from Ireland settled on lot 54, in February, 1806; Matthias Vanderheyden from Albany County, on lot 62, and Asheal Carter from Vermont, on lot 66, in 1810; John Ramsey, William and Daniel Griswold from Herkimer County on lot 25, in 1811; Jacob and Martin De Forrest from Washington County; Conrad Phrozine from Newburgh, on lot 43 ; Manasseh French from Scipio, Judge C. Smith from Saratoga County, on lot 42, Philander Phinney from Saratoga County, Silas Kellogg from Brutus on lot 39, and Ebenezer Bird from Onondaga County, on lot 29, all in 1812. Mrs. Jane Wood was the first child born, in 1804; and the first death was that of John McNeal in 1800. The first church, Methodist Episcopal, was formed in 1813; Reverend Zenas Jones the first pastor.
BIOGRAPHICAL.
DAVID MUNSON OSBORNE. To write a brief biography of a successful man that will please a thoughtful reader is a difficult task, because the mind searches the pages for clear information regarding the sources of the man's success, asks what quality of intelligence made him conspicuous, seeks sure knowledge of the workings of his mind, even hungers for a glimpse of his heart. And it is scarcely possible to satisfy this craving without going into the minutest details. Nevertheless it is hoped that these pages will reflect a faithful portraiture of David M. Osborne-his character and qualities-besides furnishing a record of his life and the work he accomplished.
David Munson Osborne was born at Rye, Conn., December 15, 1822, and was the son of John Hall, and Caroline (Bulkley) Osborne. He passed the first fifteen years of his life on his father's farm, and at that early age went to New York and took a position as clerk in a grocery store. So his opportunities for early education were limited indeed, but he sought to improve them by attending night school. But if denied the companionship of books and boys which make youthful days pleasant memories for later years, he learned to work, and laid the foundation of that self reliance which enabled him to breast the storms of a strenuous business life.
When he was but seventeen his father died, and to his struggle for personal success was added the responsibility of taking care of his younger brothers and sisters-a responsibility imposed by him- self. All through life, even after he had a family of his own, he never lost his affectionate interest in his mother and sisters.
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He quit the grocery business to enter a hardware store, and through that change became acquainted with James Watrous, of the firm of Watrous & Hyde, hardware merchants, who owned a store in Auburn, and with whom his employers did business. In 1848 Mr Hyde died and Mr. Watrous went to New York and offered the junior partnership in his firm to Mr. Osborne, for whom he had conceived a great liking. The offer was accepted, and in this way Mr. Osborne's fortunes were cast in this city, whose name he was destined to make known over two continents.
On September 3, 1851, he married Eliza Wright, daughter of David and Martha (Coffin) Wright of Auburn.
In 1852 Mr. Watrous retired from the hardware business, and the firm of Osborne, Barker & Baldwin was formed. This part- nership was of short duration, and Mr. Osborne started in business by himself. He bought a piece of ground on the corner of Genesee and Mechanic streets, put up a building and began the manufacture of straw cutters and corn shellers. That building is now part of the building occupied by the offices of the International Harvester Com- pany. In the erection of the building he was assisted by Henry Kosters, who remained in his employ for many years and who was honored not only by the friendship but by the confidence of Mr. Osborne.
To those who desire minute knowledge, yet entertain the opinion that success is nothing but the luck to bask in the constant smile of Fortune, these figures will be interesting: In February, 1854, D. M. Osborne's pay roll footed up $74.14; in 1886, it was $47,423.97. But between these years he had performed the labors of a Hercules and had seen some dark Saturdays. In April, 1855, he carried over a cash balance in his ledger of $3.05. The next month there was a deficit of $4.66. One Saturday when the faith- ful Kosters came for his wages, Mr. Osborne had only five dollars which he divided evenly with the workingman.
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D. M. Osborne owed none of his success to luck. It might truthfully be said that he never had any luck-didn't believe in it; never gambled; would not speculate. He made every dollar he ever owned by hard, honest work; not manual labor, although he did plenty of that, but the work by which his vigorous mind created wealth from ideas.
His first attempt as a manufacturer was not a financial success and regretfully he left Auburn to renew the attempt in Buffalo. At that time he had his wife and two daughters to support and was thousands of dollars in debt, but he courageously ventured into a strange city to strive for success.
In that year William Kirby had patented a combined reaper and mower, and was employed in a manufactory in Buffalo where the Forbush machine was being made. In looking about for a place in which he could begin the manufacture of straw cutters and other implements, Mr. Osborne decided upon the one where Kirby was working. So these two men met. The firm that had made Kirby's first machine was in financial difficulties and was willing to sell a half interest in the patent rights. From talking with Kirby Mr. Osborne came to believe there was a great future for his machine, and encouraged the inventor to go ahead. The result was that seven machines were built for the harvest of 1856, the first one being tried out on the Sherwood farm in Cayuga County. The success of a year's trial satisfied Mr. Osborne of the merits of the machine, and he borrowed $4,000 to buy an interest in it. In 1857, he made enough to pay off his debt, and completed arrange- ments for increasing the manufacture of the machine.
In the fall of 1858 he returned to Auburn and on December 8th of that year the firm of D. M. Osborne & Co. was formed, his partners being Charles P. Wood and Cyrus C. Dennis. They began business in the building erected by Mr. Osborne a few years previous, and from that nucleus grew the great Osborne Works, as they are still
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popularly known, although they have become a part of the system of the International Harvester Company.
The success of the business of D. M Osborne & Co. was due, primarily and mainly, to the enterprise and ability of Mr. Osborne. He was the head of the company in fact as well as in name; accus- tomed to toil and responsibility all his life he shouldered the heavy burdens of the business, and his judgment was the court of final resort for every perplexing problem.
In 'those days industrial establishments were not divided into separate departments each with a separate head, and the fact that Mr. Osborne was the head of all departments is a signal proof of his wonderful capacity. From the wholesale manufacture of machines to the sale at retail of a single machine, he knew all that transpired. The yearly reorganization of the shops to meet the demands of a rapidly increasing business was all planned by him and carried out under his eye. There were trials of machines in the harvest fields and trials over patent rights in the courts, and both of these had his personal attention. With a limited capital, acquired by his own efforts, he had to combat rich competitors, some of them none too scrupulous. He had to be ever on the alert for new inventions so as not to be left behind in the pursuit of customers, and those customers were a class particularly harassing to a man of active temperament. Sometimes he had all of these things to combat at once, and that constant cares neither soured nor hardened him proved the high quality of his mind and the richness of his character.
In 1862, Mr. Wood retired from the firm and John H. Osborne became a partner.
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In that year D. M. Osborne went to London, England, to exhibit his machines at the third great World's Fair, and get European patents. About that time, also, branch offices were opened in this country in Philadelphia, Cleveland, St. Louis and Chicago.
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In 1866, Mr. Dennis died, and his place in the firm was filled by C. H. Burdick, who had long been with them and who had acquired some reputation as an inventor.
In that year there was held in Auburn the second great national trial of mowers, reapers and other agricultural implements, under the auspices of the New York State Agricultural Society. There were forty-four mowers and thirty reapers in the competition, and D. M. Osborne & Co. were awarded a first prize and a second prize. The judges remarked upon the immense establishment of D. M. Osborne & Co., which indicates that their plant was large for those days, although it has since vastly increased.
In the first ten years of manufacturing reapers and mowers, Mr. Osborne attained prosperity, but he continued to prosecute the business with undiminished energy and zeal. Business seems to have been a pleasure to him, and this was doubtless the reason why its responsibilities and worries failed to effect his naturally genial nature.
In 1875 the Cayuga Chief Company assimulated with D. M. Osborne & Co., and the business was carried on under the latter name, D. M. Osborne being president of the new corporation, John H. Osborn, secretary, and A. G. Beardsley, treasurer.
In 1876, Gordon, the inventor of the Gordon binder came to Auburn to build his machine for D. M. Osborne & Co. This self- binding harvester proved a great success during the years of 1877 and 1878, and the business of the company increased with enormous strides. New buildings became necessary, and these were erected on the west side of Mechanic street, doubling the floor space of the company's shops. In 1881 a rolling mill and malleable shops were added and finally a railroad was built connecting all the shops of the concern. Mr. Osborne insisted on making from the raw material everything used in the construction of his machines, not only because it was economy to do so but because he then knew that every piece
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was of the best quality and make. So the railroad became a neces- sary accessory to transport material between shops.
But the self-binder which proved such a bonanza to D. M. Osborne & Co., was also the source of the worst shock that company - ever endured. Wire was first used as a binder to replace the primi- tive straw band on sheaves. Despite the utmost care bits of the wire would find their way into the grain, and with it into the mills, ruining the machinery. So the twine binder superseded the wire, and the Appleby machine came to the front. Here, it is conceded, Mr. Osborne made the one error of his business career. Heeding mechanics, who, he thought, knew their business, he tried to use an attachment on his wire binder, trusting it would do as good work as the Appleby binder. He put out his machines with this attachment in 1882, and the experiment proved a failure, entailing not only an enormous loss in money, but in prestige.
Then it was that the calibre of the man became manifest. With an honesty that would shame many a captain of industry and Napoleon of finance, he replaced every machine sold in that season without cost to the purchaser, and, with a pride in his business that proved honorable success dearer to him than dollars, he went out into the fields himself, and from Texas to Dakota worked to bring his machines to the front again.
He retrieved the error, but he overworked, and made the first break in his naturally strong constitution.
David M. Osborne had little, if any, ambition for public prefer- ment. His heart and mind were in his business, and he was essen- tially a business man. Yet the city of Auburn did itself the honor to elect him mayor in 1879, recognizing, even if tardily, the debt it owed him for the vast benefit derived from the great industry he had developed in the city. But it is doubtful if he derived much per- sonal pleasure from the dignity of the office. Auburn was dear to him, and every act of his honest soul was intended to benefit her. So those criticisms to which all officials are subjected were ungener-
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ous and cruel to him. He was one of the earliest advocates of good roads, and his endeavor to give Auburn good city streets aroused the resentment of the taxpayers, and the street roller which he had purchased was ridiculed until it gravely withdrew from sight, awaiting the wave of intelligence that should roll it out again. Schooled to be on the alert for the new, imbued with the spirit of progress, he was perhaps somewhat advanced to hold office in a place that, bearing the name of "city," was only just outgrowing the characteristics of a village.
In politics Mr. Osborne was a Republican, but politics were not a creed to him; he followed the line of right. In 1882, he voted for a Democrat for Governor, but in 1884 he was a delegate to the National Republican Convention at Chicago, which indicates that the party to which he nominally belonged did not lack confidence in him.
The worldly man would unhesitatingly pronounce the life of D. M. Osborne a successful one because he accumulated a fortune, and the philosophical man would concur in this verdict, but for a different reason. In building up for himself he did a great deal for others. The City of Auburn, for instance, would not be the flourishing city it is to-day, but for the great enterprise which he founded and nursed into permanent strength. By adding to industrial wealth and prosperity, he aided many to add to their own prosperity, which is the best and truest charity. Yet he was also charitable, as the word is generally understood, and did much for the many who seem to spring up and cluster about a successful man, as saplings spring up about a great tree, drawing sustenance from its roots and sheltering under its branches. He hated every- thing small, mean or ignoble, but loved truth, honor and justice; and such men are usually intense and sensitive. To the world he presented a kindly dignity ; to his own an affectionate guardianship. He was honest to a fault. If that phrase ever applied to any man it did to him. He gave every man credit for intelligence, but was so
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honest himself that he could not understand how any one could differ from him honestly on a question where he could see a space between right and wrong. But he thought kindly of all men. He knew nothing of the creed of to-day which rates every man a rogue until he proves himself honest. Mr. Osborne credited every man with honesty until he forfeited that good opinion. He was a success- ful man because he lived a clean, useful life, the influence of which still exists and is not latent, even though it may not always be referred to its true source.
David M. Osborne died July 6, 1886. His surviving children are: Emily, born in 1853, married Frederick Harris, of Springfield, Mass., in 1869; Thomas Mott Osborne, born in 1859, married Agnes Devens of Cambridge, Mass., in 1886; Helen, born in 1864, married James Jackson Storrow of Boston, Mass., in 1891. One daughter, Florence, born in 1856, died in 1877.
ROBERT LOUDON DRUMMOND, lawyer, of Auburn, N. Y., was born in New York City, August 21, 1842. In the spring of 1845 the Drummond family came to Cayuga County and settled upon a farm in the town of Victory. In those days boys were required to help with the farm work during the summer, so that until his sixteenth year the youthful Drummond attended school in the winter months only. He then took a course of study at Red Creek Union Academy, speedily preparing himself for the vocation of teacher, with that quick and accurate intelligence which has since reappeared as a rich legacy to his sons. He taught school for a few terms, in dif- ferent positions, among them that of principal of Public School No. 4 in the City of Auburn.
When the Civil War broke out, Mr. Drummond enlisted as a private in Company H, One Hundred and Eleventh New York Volunteer Infantry. The regiment was brigaded under Sherrill, Hayes and MacDougall, in Barlow's Division, Hancock's Corps,
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Army of the Potomac. After a period of faithful service, Mr. Drummond was taken prisoner in front of Fort Alexander Hayes, on October 30, 1864, and was confined successively at Petersburg and Libby prisons, Va., and Salisbury, N. C., until March 2, 1865, when he was released by the advance of Sherman's army as it came sweeping from Atlanta to the Sea.
After the war, and while he was recuperating from the effects of his long imprisonment, Mr. Drummond commenced the study of law. Subsequently he took a course in the Albany Law School, from which he was graduated in the class of 1871. He was admitted to the bar May 18th of that year, and immediately began the practice of his profession in Auburn, and with such success that he has long been regarded as one of the ablest advocates in Western New York, while, to-day, the firm of which he is the head ranks with any in the state.
Mr. Drummond has always taken a keen interest in the public affairs of the city and county, and often an active part. He served as school commissioner of the Northern District from 1866 to 1869, and in 1878 was elected district-attorney, retaining the office for nine years and achieving a high reputation for ability and the just discharge of the duties of prosecutor. Not a single conviction was reversed during his long incumbency of the office.
Although born and educated as a Democrat, he cast his first presidential vote for Lincoln in the fall of 1864, on the front line of the Union Army, and until Cleveland's second campaign Mr. Drummond was in accord with the Republican party, but in that campaign he again cast his political fortunes with the Democracy, and since then has favored the Democratic principles and policies and has twice been honored by that party with the nomination for member of Congress. He ranks high as an orator and his services are always in demand during political campaigns. He takes a pardonable pride in the fact that his first public speech was made standing amid the horrors of the Confederate prison at Salisbury,
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N. C., and addressed to Major-General Bradley T. Johnson, com- mandant of all the prisons of the South, upon the occasion of his visit to that prison. He has also delivered several lectures, notably Personal Reminiscences of Prison Life During the War of the Rebellion.
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