USA > New York > Cayuga County > History of Cayuga County, New York > Part 46
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He has taken an active part in Republican politics in the city and county, and has served as delegate to many of the conventions.
J. FITCH WALKER, a leading real estate dealer and insurance man of Moravia, was born in this town October 31, 1846, and is the son of Thomas M. and Maria (Carpenter) Walker, and a lineal descendant of James Walker, the precise date of whose arrival in New England is unknown to the present writer, but who is supposed to have come in the wake of the "Mayflower," his name not being in the list of passengers of that historic vessel. Gene- alogists note several of this patronymic among the early settlers on the shores of Massachusetts Bay. Thomas M. Walker was
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born at Killingly, Conn., about 1812, and when only a boy came to Moravia to live with his uncle, Thomas Morey. He pursued the occupation of a farmer, and at the time of his death owned one of the finest farms in the town. He also engaged in the produce business, buying and shipping his goods by canal, in which under- taking he was very successful. He died in 1860. Mrs. Walker was born in Rhode Island, and settled with her family in the town of Sempronius, her father being one of the early pioneers of this vicinity. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas M. Walker had three children, namely: Mary, wife of the Hon. Mortimer V. Austin, of Auburn, N. Y., J. Fitch Walker and Ellen, wife of Edgar Alley, now deceased.
J. Fitch Walker received his early education in the district schools of Moravia and at the old academy. He afterward went on the farm, and managed that for a time. He then came to Moravia, and was here engaged in building and in the sale of real estate until 1876, when he opened a real estate and insurance office, being the only one in that line of business in the town. He at first represented only one insurance company, but is now agent for ten of the strongest and most reliable companies, including
the Ætna and the Hartford of Hartford, Conn., the German-Ameri- can, the Niagara, and the Pacific, of New York City, Royal of Liverpool, Commercial Union of London, London and Lancashire of London, Norwich Union of Norwich, and the Travellers' Accident of Hartford. Mr. Walker also does a large business in loaning and collecting money, besides dealing in all kinds of agricultural im- plements.
He was elected constable of this town for eleven years, part of which time he was deputy-sheriff. He has also been elected justice of the peace for several terms, having served in that capacity for a number of years, and is the oldest justice of the peace here in point of service. He has served as president of the village, and has been for some years vice-president of the Indian Mound Cemetery
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Association, and was active in the organization of the Lodge of Royal Templars of Temperance, being the first presiding officer, Mr. Walker has always been actively identified with the Repub- lican party.
He was married April 7, 1866, to Miss Dorlesca Hoagland, of this town, and has three children, namely: Florence, wife of John Murdock, of Venice Center; Thomas M., and Lee. Mrs. Walker is the daughter of Alfred Hoagland, an old resident of this town. who was born in 1809, and who served in the civil war. He is of the old Knickerbocker stock of New York. Mr. and Mrs. Walker are attendants and supporters of the Congregational Church, of which Mrs. Walker is a member. Mr. Walker has always been a practical temperance man, and ready at all times to do work in its cause, but is not a Prohibitionist.
FREDERICK COSSUM, was born in Cleveland, Oneida County in the year 1842. His father, Francis Cossum, was born in England and came to this country in young manhood, having been married before immigration to Susannah Crump. At first Mr. and Mrs. Cossum lived in Cleveland; but in 1846, when Frederick was only four years old, they came to Auburn, so that he was educated in the schools of this city, including the old academy.
Though the War of the Rebellion broke out when he was yet under nineteen he at once enlisted, September 1, 1861 in the Seventy-Fifth New York Infantry, as a private, sailing from New York to Key West, Fla. His first experience of active battle was in the bombardment of the island of Santa Rosa. Next came the contests at Thibodeaux and Brashear City, and the two days' fight at Camp Bisland, La. From May 29 till its surrender, the regiment took its part in the seige of Port Hudson. Already the youthful soldier had been made corporal and sergeant; and in the war records, on file at Washington (volume 33, page 519), may be found this entry: "Cossum, Sergeant Frederick, Seventy-
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fifth Regiment, New York. During the assault on the works at Port Hudson, in June, 1863, he was wounded, and went to the rear; but three successive times he returned to the fight, and was finally carried forcibly from the field, after receiving five wounds." This bravery won for him his commission as first lieutenant. The regiment was presently sent from New Orleans to Washington, D. C., by water, and was next heard of September 19, 1864, in the battle of Winchester, designed to protect the capital from General Early's raid. There Lieutenant Cossum was shot through his left arm One month from that day he was again in active battle at Cedar Creek, and the day after at Fisher's Hill, these battles being followed by a series of skirmishes up and down the valley, some of them very fierce, which lasted to the close of the cam- paign. The young hero was then rewarded with a captain's com- mission; but, as the war was over, he did not care to accept the title, unaccompanied by corresponding duty. The National Tribune, speaking of Lieutenant Cossum a few years later, called him the luckiest man in the army, as he had been wounded seven times, yet had not lost an arm or a leg
His four years of patriotic service having now expired, Mr. Cossum found employment in Auburn, in the hardware business, with Choate & Brothers, and then with Sartwell, Hough & Co., when they began the manufacture of shoes in the same city. After this he was associated with the Honorable Homer A. Lockwood and others in buying stock and in publishing the Auburn Daily Item, whereof Mr. Cossum was financial manager from 1870 to 1881, when he sold out his interest in the journal, and went into the paper business, helping to establish the new firm of Wicks & Cossum, with Forrest G. Wicks, the owner of an extensive paper- mill at Shaneateles. Two years later they took into partnership, M. S. Cuykendall. In 1887 the junior partners bought out Mr. Wicks, and the name of the firm has since been Cossum & Cuykendall.
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Mr. Cossum has been elected by the Republicans alderman from the second ward. At the spring election of 1894 he was elected by a very large majority a member of the city's Board of Education. In the erection of the beautiful new school-house, known as the James Street School, he took an active part, bending every effort and with success, to have a desirable, first-class building. Mr. Cossum is a Grand Army man, serving Seward Post for seven terms as its commander. He was a charter member of the old Avery Post, and mustered in the members of Seward Post at its organization. He has been an aid on the staff of the National Grand Commander-in-Chief, and one of the forty-five delegates to the National Encampment allowed by the rules of this state. Under the new law of 1893 for the relief of distressed veterans, Mr. Cossum attended to the disbursement of over eighteen hundred dollars to claimants in his neighborbood.
In 1866, August 15th, Mr. Cossum married Catherine E. Vorhis, of Auburn, daugh er of Joseph B. Vorhis, representing one of the old Holland families.
JAMES A. WRIGHT, attorney and counsellor-at-law, Moravia, N. Y , where he has been in active practice since 1869, was born near the village of Moravia, May 4, 1838, and is the son of Chauncey and Mary (Locke) Wright. The father was born in Williamstown, Mass., in 1796, and came to Moravia with his parents in 1797. The paternal grandfather, David Wright, who was one of the early pioneers of this county, bought land just north of the village, where he made his home, farming his land and plying his trade of a shoe- maker. He was a well-educated man, and in addition to his other duties found time to teach the younger generation in the village school . He opened the first store in Moravia in 1800, near the Quaker meeting-house. David Wright died August 17, 1869, at the advanced age of ninety-five years and six months, and left
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the following family: Irene, wife of Peter R. Robinson; Mrs. Cynthia Howard; Chauncey; Riley E .; and Sophia, wife of Isaac Cady.
Chauncey Wright was educated in Moravia, and after the com- pletion of his schooling learned the trade of a brick-maker, and carried on a large brickyard near Moravia for many years, he being the first man to engage in that business in the locality. Later in life he retired from active affairs, and took up his residence on the farm. Mrs. Wright was a daughter of John Locke, and was a native of Moravia. She was a finely educated woman, and for several years taught school. She reared a family of four children, namely: Franklin D., an attorney of Auburn; Caroline, now deceased; James A., the subject of this biographical sketch; and George L., now a resident of New York City. Both Mr. and Mrs. Wright were among the early members and ardent supporters of the First Congregational Church. The parents of Mrs. Wright were John and Esther Locke, who came here from Connecticut. Mr. Locke was accidentaly killed on February 22, 1807. He left a widow and the following family of children: Esther, wife of John H. Parker; Lucy A., wife of Allen Wood; Betsey, wife of John Kies; Mary; James; John; and Henry Locke.
James A. Wright received his early education in the district schools of his native village and at the Moravia Institute, a promi- nent local institution of learning, of which his father, Mr. Chauncey Wright, was a trustee for many years. In his early manhood James taught school for some time, and afterward read law with Wright & Waters, of Cortland, N. Y., the Wright of that firm being his brother, F. D., who is now located at Auburn. On June 6, 1864, he was admitted to the bar by examination held at Bing- hamton, his first location for business being the town of Waverly, N. Y., where he practised until April, 1868, when he returned to Moravia, and formed a partnership with J. L. Parker, the association continuing until 1870, since which time Mr. Wright has practised
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alone. Mr. Wright has been a justice of the peace for twelve years, and was elected special surrogate of the county on the Republican ticket, which office he filled for one term. giving general satisfaction. Mr. Wright has always been an active worker in the Republican ranks since the days of Abraham Lincoln, for whom he cast his first presidential ballot, and has stumped the country during many of the active campaigns. He has a very large practice, to which he gives most of his attention, and is noted as being one of the most forceful and well-read lawyers of the Cayuga County bar.
October 24, 1868, Mr. Wright was united in marriage to Miss Ella E. Rose, of Waverly, N. Y., three children being the fruit of the union, namely: Charles A., who is now a lawyer practising in Auburn, N. Y .; Nellie R., who received her educa- tion in the Moravia High School; and Harry F. Wright. The old homestead is still retained, the family making it their residence, a home of refinement and cultured taste. Mr. and Mrs. Wright are members of the Congregational church, in which body Mr. Wright has held various official positions.
Mr. Wright is the author of a History of the Town of Moravia, a book of two hundred and eighty-nine pages, duodecimo, which was published by himself. It is a work of much merit, and has met with a large and ready sale. He has gathered together incidents in the history of the town from living members, which would otherwise undoubtedly have been lost. It is a most pleasingly written book, giving full facts in regard to the settlement of the early families of the town. It has been purchased by residents of the town, and also by others who have now left this vicinity and gone elsewhere, but who still feel a great interest in their native place. Mr. Wright is a scholarly man and a deep thinker, and is held in the highest esteem and respect by all members of society.
RICHARD MORGAN was born in Aurora, Cayuga County, N. Y., March 21, 1818, and came of good old New England stock, his
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great-grandfather, Christopher Morgan, having been born in Groton, Conn., in 1747. Major Morgan, grandson of Christopher, settled in Aurora, N. Y. and had five sons, all of whom were notable men in Cayuga County. One of these was Richard Morgan. He was educated in the Aurora Academy and at a private school at Owasco Lake. At the age of eighteen he entered his father's store as a clerk and became a partner when he attained his majority. In September, 1837, he married Eliza W. Avery, who was also of New England ancestry. They had two children, only one of whom, Christopher B. Morgan, grew to maturity.
For a time Richard Morgan followed farming at Levanna, but in 1850 he entered into partnership with his brothers, Edwin and Henry, in the historic Morgan store at Aurora. In 1856 he became sole proprietor, and in 1863 took his son, Christopher B. Morgan, into partnership. In 1882 the son succeeded to the business. Richard Morgan was postmaster at Aurora for some time during his son's absence in the West, and was one of the most active and honored of the business men of the county in his day. He was also highly esteemed for his qualities of heart and head and was a worthy repre- sentative of the Morgan family. He died November 23, 1890.
JOHN BRUTON, was born in the town of Venice, Cayuga County, N. Y., September 23, 1863, and was educated in the local schools of that town and the town of Locke, to which he subsequently moved. He followed farming for some years; indeed he has been interested in farming all his life, and owns a fine farm in the town of Genoa. His first business, aside from farming, was the produce business in which he engaged for some years and then became proprietor of a hotel at Genoa. He next conducted the Empire House in Auburn, and then the Avery House. After conducting this hotel for three years he sold out, only to buy it back after a
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year's absence. He resumed control of the Avery in January, 1908, and has remodeled and refurnished it throughout. The Avery contains sixty-four rooms and under Mr. Bruton's management and with reasonable rates it is now one of the popular hostelries of Western New York.
EUGENE F. HILL has been in the carriage and wagon business in Auburn for the past sixteen years, and his business career has been successful and honorable. He is a native of Madison County, N. Y., and was engaged in the carriage business in the City of Oneida for many years prior to settling in Auburn. Here he opened his first stand on Dill street as the Auburn Carriage Company. Sub- sequently he bought out his partners and removed to his present premises at 19-21 Water street, where he occupies three floors, with storerooms, blacksmith shop, repair shop, etc.
Mr. Hill's parents were Isaac F. and Mary Ann (Van Sice) Hill. Isaac Hill was a native of Vermont and a son of Wait Hill, an old settler in that state. Eugene F. Hill married Anna V. Murney, a native of Canada, of Scotch descent.
AUBURN SILK MILL, incorporated February, 1908, and located in the old Bulletin building at 29 Clark street is starting with every prospect of becoming a most important industrial enterprise. The officers are well-known Auburnians noted for their enterprise and business ability and are as follows: Thomas H. Garrett, Jr., president; Louis E. Jenkins, M.D., vice-president and secretary, and Richard S. Kidney, treasurer and manager. They are manu- facturers and dealers in brood silks. A force of twenty-five opera- tors are employed and thirty-six looms utilized. They sell mail orders direct and through C. J. Bonnet, Kobhé & Co., 41 Greene street, New York. Richard S. Kidney is a native of Auburn and was educated in the schools of this city, and at Princeton University, graduating in the class of 1907.
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JAMES A. GARRETT, proprietor of the Garrett Café No. 78 State street, Auburn, is a native of the town of Waterloo, Albany County, N. Y., where he was born in the year 1868. At the age of eighteen he was a chef in Albany and was so employed in the Capital City for some years. He came to Auburn in 1892, in the employ of Averill & Gregory, as chef in the Avery House. He was after- wards chef in the Osborne House, and in 1902, he opened his café on State street. In 1907 he doubled the capacity of his restaurant by taking in the adjoining store; also he remodeled and fitted up the whole establishment so that now he has a capacity for seating sixty guests. The restaurants are decorated in Colonial color design with tarazia Mosaic floors and furnished with Mission furni- ture. Electricity and all modern and up-to-date appliances and improvements are utilized. His café is highly popular and has a large public patronage. It has the reputation of being one of the best, cleanest and most up-to-date in this part of the State. Mr. Garrett is also the inventor of a new patent side steering device for motor boats-which for simplicity of construction, and practica- bility is unexcelled. Mr. Garrett is a member of the Order of Elks, the Knights of Pythias, and the Maccabees.
JAMES G. COPP, sanitary plumbing and steam heating, 16 Clark street, Auburn, is one of the leading and most practical plumbers of this city. He was with John Holihan for twenty-four years and supervised some of the finest plumbing work done here, in- cluding the county jail, the sheriff's residence, the Auburn High School, the Osborne residence, the remodeling of the State Armory and others. He is a native of Cayuga County, his parents being George and Mary Etta (Spooner) Copp. He married Alice M. Carroll and they have one daughter, Florence. Mr. Copp is a member of Auburn Lodge, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and a Republican in politics.
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THE AUBURN WOOLEN COMPANY'S factory located near the "big dam," so called, was the first woolen mill in Auburn and was erected in 1844.
This enterprise is one of the largest and most important of Auburn's industries. Since 1844 it has been several times enlarged and has been owned and operated by several parties.
The plant has now one hundred and twelve broad looms, gives employment to three hundred operatives and the principal products fine woolen goods, are men's wear, woolens including meltons, suitings, coatings, undercollar cloths, Thibet, etc. The officers of the present company are Jesse H. Metcalf, president and Stephen O. Metcalf, treasurer, both of Providence, R. I. The mill is under the management of T. M. Clark, superintendent, who came to Auburn in 1895 and has been in full charge of the mill ever since. He has been in the woolen business all of his active life as were his father and grandfather before him.
HON. ENOS THOMPSON THROOP was born at Johnstown, Mont- gomery County, New York, August 21, 1784. At the age of four- teen he went to Albany, and commenced the study of the classics and law in the office of George Metcalfe, an eminent lawyer of Johnstown, who had a few months before removed to the state capital. Completing his studies under other instructors and with other connections, he was admitted to the bar in Albany, January, 1806. Two months later he came to Cayuga County, but did not fix his residence at Auburn until November of the same year. The controversy concerning the location of the county seat was then at its height, and Mr. Throop was instrumental in effecting the selection of Auburn for that purpose. The following year he entered into partnership with the Honorable Joseph L. Rich- ardson-afterward, for many years, first judge of this county. This business connection was dissolved in 1811, upon his appointment
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to the office of county clerk. About this time he purchased the mill property at the village now called Throopsville; shortly after which purchase the inhabitants, at a public meeting, named the place Throopsville in compliment to him. In the fall of 1814 he was elected to Congress from this district. Mr. Throop had been opposed to the election of Governor Clinton in the campaigns of 1817 and '19. Upon Clinton's re-election, in 1819, it was intimated to Mr. Throop, that, unless his opposition ceased, he would be re- moved from the office of county clerk; but the intimation not being heeded, his removal followed. In April, 1823, he was appointed circuit judge for the Seventh District, which position he held until the fall of 1828, when, receiving the nomination for lieutenant-gov- ernor, with Mr. Van Buren at the head of the ticket, he resigned, in order to render himself eligible to the latter office. In the ensuing campaign he was triumphantly elected. Mr. Van Buren resigned the governorship in March, 1829, in order to accept a position in the cabinet at Washington, and Mr. Throop then became governor. He was re-elected in 1830. In the winter of 1833 the position of naval officer of the port of New York was tendered him by President Jackson and accepted. This office he retained till 1838, when he was appointed charge d'affaires to the kingdoms of the Two Sicilies. Upon the election of Harrison he resigned, returned home, and retired from public life. Betaking himself to his quiet retreat on Owasco Lake-Willow Brook-he sought among agricultural pursuits the rest and happiness best fitted to grace his declining years. A few years later he transferred his property to his nephew, Honorable E. T. T. Martin, and re- moved to the vicinity of Kalamazoo, Mich., where he indulged his rural taste by purchasing, clearing and cultivating a large farm. He subsequently returned to Willow Brook to spend the remaining years of his life.
Governor Throop was one of the earliest settlers of this place and one of the most active citizens of that early day. He was
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a member of the first Board of Trustees of the village. He was in- strumental in changing the politics of the county from Federalism to Democracy. He was the second postmaster of Auburn; and he took an active part in the establishment of the Bank of Auburn. To Governor Throop the author of The Lives of the Governors of New York pays this will-deserved tribute:
"Starting in life without adventitious aid, self-reliant, enter- prising, and persevering, he achieved for himself an honorable fortune. Force of character and energy of purpose enabled him to triumph over every obstacle that impeded his way to distinction. Integrity, without spot or guile, was the pole star that guided his footsteps. He has filled, in every instance with credit, several of the most important offices in the State and under the General Government, and now, as he approaches the close of his well spent life, he presents an example to the young men of New York, worthy of imitation and full of encouragement."
GENERAL WILLIAM M. KIRBY enlisted at Auburn in the Third New York Artillery in January, 1862, as second lieutenant of Battery K. After the usual experiences which befell the volunteer soldier he, with thirty-two comrades, was captured at Newbern, N. C., February 2, 1864. His first day as a prisoner was far from pleasant, as the captives were marched twenty-five miles with scarcely a halt. They were taken first to Kingston and four or five days later they were forwarded to Richmond, where the enlisted men were sent to Bell Island and the general was confined in notorious Libby Prison. There he remained until May 7, when with others he was shipped in a box car to Macon, Ga. They were ten days in making the trip. He was confined in Camp Oglethorpe until August 12, when he was again moved southward to Charles- ton, S. C., where he was confined in the workhouse, the common jail and the marine hospital. Yellow fever broke out in the city and the prisoners were again moved, this time to Columbia. The
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move was made so suddenly that a prison pen was not constructed until after their arrival and they were turned out in an abandoned corn field which was later known as Camp Sorgham. There was a second growth of pine on the field and from this the prisoners made themselves frail shelters, but as there was not enough for every one, many burrowed in the ground for shelter while still others were compelled to sleep in the open air, exposed to all the vicissitudes of the weather.
There wasn't any fence about the camp and the general de- termined to attempt an escape. Several attempts were planned but all proved abortive until November 20th. Every morning a party was paroled to leave the camp to cut wood for fires and other purposes and this was taken advantage of to get away. In company with Colonel Thomas H. Butler of the Fifth Indiana Cavalry and Captain Sidney Mead of the One Hundred and Eleventh New York Infantry he went to the place where the paroled party was bringing in the wood. They engaged the guard in conversation and gave him the idea that they had been paroled to go out with a party which had gone and left them. Friends assisted them in their scheme, officers who had been paroled chiding them for being lazy, thus carrying out the deception that they, too, had been paroled. This was a critical time but the men retained their nerve. Fortunately the guard could not read and the bluff worked. They succeeded in getting across the dead line and away to the woods.
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